Afternoon Tea Mysteries, Volume Two: A Collection of Cozy Mysteries
Page 107
How unspeakably sad it was, she thought to herself, this slow falling of the leaves, like the gradual but persistent loss of our hopes and illusions, which eventually make each human dweller in this world of change feel as bare and forlorn as the leafless winter trees.
On a branch a few feet away, a robin perched, and after looking at her critically for a few moments lifted up its voice in cheerful song.
But she took no heed of it, and continued to brood over her sorrows.
All men were faithless. With them, it was out of sight, out of mind, and she would assuredly never, never believe in one again. The best thing she could do, she decided, was to put away all thought of such things, and forget the man whom she had once been so vain as to imagine really cared for her.
And just as she told herself for the hundredth time that she had given up all hope and had resigned herself to the rôle of broken-hearted maiden, the door opened, and David was shown in.
By good luck, she was alone. Lady Byrne was not yet down, and her stepsisters were out; so there was no one to see her blushes and add to her embarrassment.
In the surprise of seeing him, all her presence of mind vanished, leaving her speechless and trembling with agitation.
For his part, David approached her with a confusion as obvious as her own.
“Juliet,” he stammered as soon as they were left alone together, “I know I oughtn’t to have come, but I simply couldn’t keep away.”
“Why oughtn’t you to have come?” was all she could ask foolishly.
“Because I know you can’t want to see me,” said the absurd young man, “though I do think you liked me pretty well before, didn’t you? when Maisie Tarver tied my tongue; or ought to have, I’m afraid I should say. But she had enough sense to drop me when I was arrested. She couldn’t stand a man arrested for murder any more than you or anyone else could?”
He said the last words with an air of shamefaced interrogation.
“Why,” said Juliet, who was being carried off her feet on the top of a rapturous flood, “what nonsense! You were as innocent as I was. What would it matter if you were arrested twenty times!”
“Well, I shouldn’t care to be, myself,” said David, without apparently deriving much satisfaction from such a suggestion. “Once is enough for me. And anyway,” he added inconsequently, “you can’t very well marry a fellow who is first cousin to a man who’s as good as hanged already!”
“Oh, David, David,” cried Juliet; “as if that mattered! But who do you suppose I am—don’t you know that he’s my first cousin just as he is yours?”
“By Jingo,” said David, “I never thought of that, somehow. Then we’re both in the same boat!” And he stepped forward and caught her by the hands.
“Yes, David,” she said, as he drew her to him tenderly, “both in the same boat. And what can be nicer than that?”
THE END
Table of Contents
Cozy Mystery One: The Sword of Damocles
Cozy Mystery Two: Raspberry Jam
Cozy Mystery Three: Mystery of the Gold Bag
Cozy Mystery Four: The Ashiel Mystery
The Sword of Damocles
BOOK I.
TWO MEN.
I. A WANDERER.
II. A DISCUSSION.
III. A MYSTERIOUS SUMMONS.
IV. SEARCHINGS.
V. THE RUBICON.
VI. A HAND CLASP.
VII. MRS. SYLVESTER.
VIII. SHADOWS OF THE PAST.
IX. PAULA.
X. THE BARRED DOOR.
XI. MISS STUYVESANT.
XII. MISS BELINDA MAKES CONDITIONS.
XIII. THE END OF MY LADY’S PICTURE.
BOOK II.
LIFE AND DEATH.
XIV. MISS BELINDA HAS A QUESTION TO DECIDE.
XV. AN ADVENTURE—OR SOMETHING MORE.
XVI. THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES.
XVII. GRAVE AND GAY.
XVIII. IN THE NIGHT WATCHES.
XIX. A DAY AT THE BANK.
XX. THE DREGS IN THE CUP.
XXI. DEPARTURE.
XXII. HOPGOOD.
BOOK III.
THE JAPHA MYSTERY.
XXIII. THE POEM.
XXIV. THE JAPHA MANSION.
XXV. JACQUELINE.
XXVI. A MAN’S JUSTICE AND A WOMAN’S MERCY.
XXVII. THE LONE WATCHER.
XXVIII. SUNSHINE ON THE HILLS.
XXIX. MIST IN THE VALLEY.
BOOK IV.
FROM A TO Z.
XXX. MISS BELINDA PRESENTS MR. SYLVESTER WITH A CHRISTMAS GIFT.
XXXI. A QUESTION.
XXXII. FULL TIDE.
XXXIII. TWO LETTERS.
XXXIV. PAULA MAKES HER CHOICE.
XXXV. THE FALLING OF THE SWORD.
XXXVI. MORNING.
XXXVII. THE OPINION OF A CERTAIN NOTED DETECTIVE.