by Elinor Glyn
V
Theodora was sitting rather on the outskirts of the party in the_bosquet_, her two devoted admirers still on either side of her. All thechairs were arranged informally, and hers was against the opening, sothat it proved easy for Lord Bracondale to come up behind herunperceived.
She believed he had gone. She could not see distinctly from where shewas, but she had thought she saw the automobile whizzing by. Sherecognized Mrs. Ellerwood's hat. An unconscious feeling of blanknesscame over her. She grew more silent.
A lady beyond the Prince spoke to him, and at that moment Mr.Hoggenwater rose to put down her coffee-cup, and in this second ofloneliness a deep voice said in her ear:
"I could not go--I wanted to say good-night to you!"
Then Theodora experienced a new emotion; she could not have told herselfwhat it was, but suddenly a gladness spread through her spirit; themoon looked more softly bright, and her sweet eyes dilated and glowed,while that voice, gentle as a dove's, trembled a little as she said:
"Lord Bracondale! Oh, you startled me!"
He drew a chair and sat down behind her.
"How shall we get rid of your Hogginheimer millionaire?" he whispered."I feel as if I wanted to kill every one who speaks to you to-night."
The half light, the moon, Paris, and the spring-time! Theodora spent thenext hour in a dream--a dream of bliss.
Mrs. McBride, with her all-seeing eye, perceived the turn events hadtaken. She was full of enjoyment herself; she had quite--almostquite--decided to listen to the addresses of Captain Fitzgerald,therefore her heart, not her common-sense, was uppermost this night.
It could not hurt Theodora to have one evening of agreeableconversation, and it would do Herryman Hoggenwater a great deal of goodto be obstacled; thus she expressed it to herself. That last successwith Princess Waldersheim had turned his empty head. So she called himand planted him in a safe place by an American girl, who would know howto keep him, and then turned to her own affairs again.
The Prince was a man of the world, and understood life. So Theodora andLord Bracondale were left in peace.
The latter soon moved his chair to a position where he could see herface, rather behind her still, which entailed a slightly leaning overattitude. They were beyond the radius of the lights in the _bosquet_.
Lord Bracondale was perfectly conversant with all moves in the game; heknew how to talk to a woman so that she alone could feel the strength ofhis devotion, while his demeanor to the world seemed the leastcompromising.
Theodora had not spoken for a moment after his first speech. It made herheart beat too fast.
"I have been watching you all through dinner," he continued, with only alittle pause. "You look immensely beautiful to-night, and those two toldyou so, I suppose."
"Perhaps they did!" she said. This was her first gentle essay atfencing. She would try to be as the rest were, gay and full of badinage.
"And you liked it?" with resentment.
"Of course I did; you see, I never have heard any of these nice thingsmuch. Josiah has always been too ill to go out, and when I was a girl Inever saw any people who knew how to say them."
She had turned to look at him as she said this, and his eyes spoke anumber of things to her. They were passionate, and resentful, andjealous, and full of something disturbing. Thrills ran through poorTheodora.
His eyes had been capable of looking most of these things before toother women, when he had not meant any of them, but she did not knowthat.
"Well," he said, "they had better not return or recommence theircompliments, because I am not in the mood to be polite to themto-night."
"What is your mood?" asked Theodora, and then felt a little frightenedat her own daring.
"My mood is one of unrest--I would like to be away alone with you, wherewe could talk in peace," and he leaned over her so that his lips werefairly close to her ear. "These people jar upon me. I would like to besitting in the garden at Amalfi, or in a gondola in Venice, and I wantto talk about all your beautiful thoughts. You are a new white flowerfor me, as different as an angel from the other women in the world."
"Am I?" said she, in her tender tones. "I would wish that you shouldalways keep that good thought of me. We shall soon go our differentways. Josiah has decided to leave next week, and we are not likely tomeet in England."
"Yes, we are likely to meet--I will arrange it," he said.
There was nothing hesitating about Hector Bracondale--his way with womenhad always been masterful--and this quality, when mixed with a suddenbending to their desires, was peculiarly attractive. To-night he wasdrifting--drifting into a current which might carry him beyond hiscontrol.
It was now several years since he had been in love even slightly. Hisposition, his appearance, his personal charm, had all combined to spoila nature capable of great things. Life had always been too smooth. Hismother adored him. He had an ample fortune. Every marriageable girl inhis world almost had been flung at his head. Women of all classes withone consent had done their best to turn him into a coxcomb and a beast.But he continued to be a man for all that, and went his own way; only asno one can remain stationary, the crust of selfishness and cynicism wasperhaps thickening with years, and his soul was growing hidden stilldeeper beneath it all. From the beginning something in Theodora hadspoken to the best in him. He was conscious of feelings ofdissatisfaction with himself when he left her, of disgust with the daysof unmeaning aims.
He had begun out of idle admiration; he had continued from inclination;but to-night it was _plus fort que lui_, and he knew he was in love.
The habit of indulging any emotion which gave him pleasure was stillstrong upon him; it was not yet he would begin to analyze where thispassion might lead him--might lead them both.
It was too deliciously sweet to sit there and whisper to her sophistriesand reasonings, to take her sensitive fancy into new worlds, to playupon her feelings--those feelings which he realized were as fine and asfull of tone as the sounds which could be drawn from a Stradivariusviolin.
It was a night of new worlds for them both, for if Theodora had neverlooked into any world at all, he also had never even imagined one whichcould be so quite divine as this--this shared with her in the moonlight,with the magic of the Tzigane music and the soft spring night.
He had just sufficient mastery over himself left not to overstep thebounds of respectful and deep interest in her. He did not speak a wordof love. There was no actual sentence which Theodora felt obliged toresent--and yet through it all was the subtle insinuation that they weremore than friends--or would be more than friends.
And when it was all over, and Theodora's pulses were calmer as she layalone on her pillow, she had a sudden thrill of fear. But she put itaside--it was not her nature to think herself the object of passions. "Iwould be a very silly woman to flatter myself so," she said to herself,and then she went to sleep.
Lord Bracondale stayed awake for hours, but he did not sup withEsclarmonde de Chartres or Marion de Beauvoison. And the Cafe deParis--and Maxims--and the afterwards--saw him no more.
Once again these houris asked each other, "Mais qu'est-ce qu'il a! Cebel Hector? Ou se cache-t-il?"