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Page 6
"The heat!" she said, faintly. "Take me away--take me into the
air!"
Lieutenant Crayford instantly led her out of the dance, and took
her into the cool and empty conservatory, at the end of the room.
As a matter of course, Captain Helding and Mrs. Crayford left the
quadrille at the same time. The captain saw his way to a joke.
"Is this the trance coming on?" he whispered. "If it is, as
commander of the Arctic expedition, I have a particular request
to make. Will the Second Sight oblige me by seeing the shortest
way to the Northwest Passage, before we leave England?"
Mrs. Crayford declined to humor the joke. "If you will excuse my
leaving you," she said quietly, "I will try and find out what is
the matter with Miss Burnham."
At the entrance to the conservatory, Mrs. Crayford encountered
her husband. The lieutenant was of middle age, tall and comely. A
man with a winning simplicity and gentleness in his manner, and
an irresistible kindness in his brave blue eyes. In one word, a
man whom everybody loved--including his wife.
"Don't be alarmed," said the lieutenant. "The heat has overcome
her--that's all."
Mrs. Crayford shook her head, and looked at her husband, half
satirically, half fondly.
"You dear old innocent!" she exclaimed, "that excuse may do for
_you_. For my part, I don't believe a word of it. Go and get
another partner, and leave Clara to me."
She entered the conservatory and seated herself by Clara's side.
Chapter 2.
"Now, my dear!" Mrs. Crayford began, "what does this mean?"
"Nothing."
"That won't do, Clara. Try again."
"The heat of the room--"
"That won't do, either. Say that you choose to keep your own
secrets, and I shall understand what you mean."
Clara's sad, clear gray eyes looked up for the first time in Mrs.
Crayford's face, and suddenly became dimmed with tears.
"If I only dared tell you!" she murmured. "I hold so to your good
opinion of me, Lucy--and I am so afraid of losing it."
Mrs. Crayford's manner changed. Her eyes rested gravely and
anxiously on Clara's face.
"You know as well as I do that nothing can shake my affection for
you," she said. "Do justice, my child, to your old friend. There
is nobody here to listen to what we say. Open your heart, Clara.
I see you are in trouble, and I want to comfort you."
Clara began to yield. In other words, she began to make
conditions.
"Will you promise to keep what I tell you a secret from every
living creature?" she began.
Mrs. Crayford met that question, by putting a question on her
side.
"Does 'every living creature' include my husband?"
"Your husband more than anybody! I love him, I revere him. He is
so noble; he is so good! If I told him what I am going to tell
you, he would despise me. Own it plainly, Lucy, if I am asking
too much in asking you to keep a secret from your husband."
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