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Page 41
"Perhaps I ought not to have done so. Indeed, I tried hard not to. Are
you very angry?"
"No, I am not angry at all. I am glad to see you." She held out her hand.
"So is Leo, too--only see him caper."
The dog was leaping upon Mr. Castrani, with the liveliest demonstrations
of joy. He patted the silky head.
"It is something to be welcomed by a brute, Miss Harrison; their
instincts are seldom at fault, I believe. Have you been well, Miss
Harrison?"
"Very well, thank you. And you? But I need not ask. Your looks answer for
you. When did you leave New York?"
"I have been in New York only a fortnight since I last saw you. Business
has kept me elsewhere. I came from New York three days ago. What a
beautiful spot you have hidden yourself in!"
"I am pleased to hear you say so. Isn't it lovely? But you must tell me
about home. How are all my friends?"
"They are well. How mellowy the sunshine falls on the rough crags
opposite, and what a picture for a painter to transfer to canvas!"
"Yes, I have wished I were an artist, over and over a gain. But I have no
talent in that direction. My friends are all well, you say? What of Miss
Lee? Did you see her?"
"Yes. She is well. What are you reading?" lifting the book from the
ground where it had fallen.
Margie turned suddenly upon him, and regarded him searchingly.
"Why do you evade answering my questions, Mr. Castrani? It is natural
that I should want to hear something of the home from which I have been
so long away, is it not? Why do you refuse to satisfy my reasonable
curiosity on that subject?"
Castrani's handsome face clouded--he looked at her with tender pity in
his eyes.
"Miss Harrison, why will you press me further? Your friends are all
well."
"I know. But there is something behind that. Tell it to me at once."
"I cannot--indeed, I cannot! You must hear it from some other lips.
I would rather die, than cause you one single pang of sorrow!"
"You are very kind, Mr. Castrani--you mean generously--but I want to
know." Some subtle instinct seemed to tell her what she was to hear--for
she added, "Is it of Miss Lee?"
"I told you Miss Lee was well."
"Mr. Castrani. I have given you more of my confidence than I have ever
bestowed on any other person, because I respect you above all men, and
because I have perfect confidence in your honor. Has this matter, of
which you hesitate to tell me, anything to do with--with Mr. Archer
Trevlyn?"
Her voice sank to a whisper, before the sentence was finished, for she
had never spoken his name since that fearful night on which his guilt had
been revealed to her.
"I will reply to your question by asking another; and, if it seems
impertinent, remember that it is not so intended, and that I do not ask
it from any vulgar feeling of curiosity."
"You can ask nothing impertinent, Mr. Castrani," she replied, earnestly.
"Thank you. I do not intend to. Are you betrothed to Archer Trevlyn?"
She grew very pale, but her eyes met his fearlessly.
"I _was_ once. But it is all over, now," with a dreary sigh, that was
like the breath of the autumn wind through the dead leaves.
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