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Page 42
"Before you left New York--was it over before that?"
"Yes, before I left New York. It was why I left there. I cannot tell you
how it was--I can never tell any human being. But a terrible necessity
arose which forced us apart."
"Did he--did Arch Trevlyn desert you, Miss Harrison?" asked Castrani, his
brow contracting, his dark eyes glowing with indignation.
"No; it was my hand that severed the engagement. Do not blame him for
that. It was impossible that it should be fulfilled."
"You, Miss Harrison? You broke the engagement?" he asked, eagerly.
Perhaps she read something in the beautiful hope that sprung up in his
heart from the glad light in his eyes, and she crushed it at once.
"Yes, I. But not because I had ceased to love him. No, no. He
was--is--and will be always, the one love of my lifetime. I shall
never love another. Now, I have trusted in you--be frank and free
with me."
"Well--since you ask it, Mr. Trevlyn and Miss Lee are to be married in
September."
"To Miss Lee--married to Miss Lee? Great Heaven! And she is aware of
his--What am I saying? What did I say? O, Mr. Castrani, excuse me--I am
so--surprised--" She groped blindly for something to cling to, fell
forward, and he received her senseless form in his arms.
He held her silently, a moment, his face wearing a look of unutterable
love and sadness; then he put her down on the grass, and brought water
in a large leaf from the stream. He bathed her forehead, tenderly as a
mother might, murmuring over her words of gentleness and affection.
"My poor Margie! my poor little darling!"
He pressed the little icy hands in his, but he did not kiss the lips
he would have given half his life to have felt upon his. He was too
honorable to take advantage of her helplessness. She revived after a
while, and met his eyes, as he knelt beside her.
"Are you better?" he asked, gently.
"Yes, it is over now. I am sorry to have troubled you. I must depend on
you to go to the house with me. Nurse Day will be glad to welcome you.
And I must ask you not to alarm her by alluding to my sudden illness. I
am quite well now."
He gave her his arm, and they went up to the house together followed by
Leo.
* * * * *
Archer Trevlyn and Alexandrine Lee were married in September. It was a
very quiet wedding, the bridegroom preferring that there should be no
parade or show on the occasion. Alexandrine and her mother both desired
that it should take place in the fashionable church, where they
worshipped, but they yielded to the wishes of Mr. Trevlyn. He deserved
some deference, Mrs. Lee declared, for having behaved so handsomely.
His presents to his bride were superb. A set of diamonds, that were
a little fortune in themselves, and a settlement of three thousand a
year--pin-money. The brown-stone house was furnished, and there was no
more elegant establishment in the city.
Trevlyn House, the fine old residence of the late John Trevlyn, was
closed. Only the old butler and his wife remained in a back-wing, to air
the rooms occasionally, and keep the moths out of the upholstery. For
some reasons, unexplained even to himself, Archer never took his wife
there. Perhaps the quiet room too forcibly reminded him of the woman he
had loved and lost.
Alexandrine's ambition was satisfied. At last, she was the wife of the
man whose love and admiration she had coveted since her first
acquaintance with him. From her heart she believed him guilty of the
murder of Paul Linmere; but in spite of it, she had married him. She
loved him intensely enough to pardon even that heinous crime.
Her husband's admiration Alexandrine possessed, but she soon came to
realize that he had told her the truth, when he said his heart was buried
too deep to know a resurrection. He was kind to her--very gentle, and
kind, and generous--for it was not in Archer Trevlyn's nature to be
unkind to anything--and he felt that he owed her all respect and
attention, in return for her love. Her every wish was gratified. Horses,
carriages, servants, dress, jewelry--everything that money could
purchase--waited her command, but not what she craved more than all--_his
love_.
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