Our eyes met as she entered, but she was unaware that she gazed upon the woman who was her rival, and who hated her. She had stolen Ernest from me, and I felt that I could rise there, in that public place, and crush the life from that fragile body.
Ernest himself brushed past my chair, but without recognising me, and went down the room gaily with his companion.
"Do you notice who has just entered?" asked Ulrica.
I nodded. I could not speak.
"Who?" inquired Reggie quickly.
"Some friends of ours," she answered carelessly.
"Oh! everyone meets friends here," he remarked, as he raised his champagne unsuspectingly to his lips.
Reader, if you are a woman, you will fully understand how the sight of that man who held me by a fatal fascination, caused in my breast a whirl of passions. I hated and loved at the same instant. Even though we were parted, I had never ceased to think of him. For me the world had no longer any charm, since the light of my life had now gone out, and I was suffering in silence, just as so many women who have become the sport of Fate are bound to do.
Yes. Ulrica's notion was, after all, very true. No man whom I had ever met was really worth consideration. All were egoists. The rich believed that woman was a mere toy, while the poor were always ineligible.
Reggie spoke to me, but I scarcely heeded him. Now that the man I loved was near me, I felt an increasing desire to get rid of this male encumbrance. True, he was rich, and I knew, by my own feminine intuition, that he admired me, but for him I entertained no spark of affection. Alas! that we always sigh for the unattainable.