The Essential Elinor Glyn Collection. Glyn Elinor

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СКАЧАТЬ introduced them to her husband, and Lord Bracondale said:

      "Mrs. McBride is always late. I have found out which is your father's table; don't you think we might go and sit down?"

      And they did. Theodora got well into the corner of the velvet sofa, the Count on one side and Lord Bracondale on the other, with Josiah beyond the Count.

      They made conversation. The Frenchman was voluble and agreeable, and the next ten minutes passed without incident.

      Josiah, not quite at ease, perhaps, but on the whole not ill-pleased with his situation. The Count took all ups and downs as of the day's work, sure of a good breakfast, sooner or later, unpaid for by himself. And Lord Bracondale's thoughts ran somewhat thus:

      "She is even more beautiful in daylight than at night. She can't be more than twenty--what a skin! like a white gardenia petal--and, good Lord, what a husband! How revolting, how infamous! I suppose that old schemer, her father, sold her to him. Her eyes remind one of forgotten fairy tales of angels. Can anything be so sweet as that little nose and those baby-red lips. She has a soul, too, peeping out of the blue when she looks up at one. She reminds me of Praxiteles' Psyche when she looks down. Why did I not meet her long ago? I believe I ought not to stay now--something tells me I shall fall deeply into this. And what a voice!--as gentle and caressing as a tender dove. A man would give his soul for such a woman. As guileless as an infant saint, too--and sensitive and human and understanding. I wish to God I had the strength of mind to get up and go this minute--but I haven't--it is fate."

      "Oh, how naughty of papa," said Theodora, "to be so late! Are you very hungry, Josiah? Shall we begin without them?"

      But at that moment, with rustling silks and delicate perfume, the widow and Captain Fitzgerald came in at the door and joined the party.

      "I am just too sorry," the lady said, gayly. "It is all Captain Fitzgerald's fault--he would try to restrain me from buying what I wanted, and so it made me obstinate and I had to stay right there and order half the shop."

      "How I understand you!" sympathized Lord Bracondale. "I know just that feeling of wanting forbidden fruit. It makes the zest of life."

      He had foreseen the disposition of the party, and by sitting in the outside corner seat at the end knew he would have Theodora almost _en tte--tte_, once they were all seated along the velvet sofa beyond Josiah Brown.

      "What do you do with yourself all the time here?" he asked, lowering his voice to that deep note which only carries to the ear it is intended for. "May one ever see you again except at a chance meal like this?"

      "I don't know," said Theodora. "I walk up and down in the side alles of the Bois in the morning with my husband, and when he has had his sleep, after djeuner, we drive nearly all the afternoon, and we have tea, at the Pr Catalan and drive again until about seven, and then we come in and dine, and I go to bed very early. Josiah is not strong enough yet for late hours or theatres."

      "It sounds supernaturally gay for Paris!" said Lord Bracondale; and then he felt a brute when he saw the cloud in the blue eyes.

      "No, it is not gay," she said, simply. "But the flowers are beautiful, and the green trees and the chestnut blossoms and the fine air here, and there is a little stream among the trees which laughs to itself as it runs, and all these things say something to me."

      He felt rebuked--rebuked and interested.

      "I would like to see them all with you," he said.

      That was one of his charms--directness. He did not insinuate often; he stated facts.

      "You would find it all much too monotonous," she answered. "You would tire of them after the first time. And you could if you liked, too, because I suppose you are free, being a man, and can choose your own life," and she sighed unconsciously.

      And there came to Hector Bracondale the picture of her life--sacrificed, no doubt, to others' needs. He seemed to see the long years tied to Josiah Brown, the cramping of her soul, the dreary desolation of it. Then a tenderness came over him, a chivalrous tenderness unfelt by him towards women now for many a long day.

      "I wonder if I can choose my life," he said, and he looked into her eyes.

      "Why can you not?" She hesitated. "And may I ask you, too, what you do with yourself here?"

      He evaded the question; he suddenly realized that his days were not more amusing than hers, although they were filled up with racing and varied employments--while the thought of his nights sickened him.

      "I think I am going to make an immense change and learn to take pleasure in the running brooks," he said. "Will you help me?"

      "I know so little, and you know so much," and her sweet eyes became soft and dreamy. "I could not help you in any way, I fear."

      "Yes, you could--you could teach me to see all things with fresh eyes. You could open the door into a new world."

      "Do you know," she said, irrelevantly, "Sarah--my eldest sister--Sarah told me it was unwise ever to talk to strangers except in the abstract--and here are you and I conversing about our own interests and feelings--are not we foolish!" She laughed a little nervously.

      "No, we are not foolish because we are not strangers--we never were--and we never will be."

      "Are not strangers--?"

      "No--do you not feel that sometimes in life one's friendships begin by antipathy--sometimes by indifference--and sometimes by that sudden magnetism of sympathy as if in some former life we had been very near and dear, and were only picking up the threads again, and to such two souls there is no feeling that they are strangers."

      Theodora was too entirely unsophisticated to remain unmoved by this reasoning. She felt a little thrill--she longed to continue the subject, and yet dared not. She turned hesitatingly to the Count, and for the next ten minutes Lord Bracondale only saw the soft outline of her cheek.

      He wondered if he had been too sudden. She was quite the youngest person he had ever met--he realized that, and perhaps he had acted with too much precipitation. He would change his tactics.

      The Count was only too pleased to engage the attention of Theodora. He was voluble; she had very little to reply. Things went smoothly. Josiah was appreciating an exceedingly good breakfast, and the playful sallies of the fair widow. All, in fact, was _couleur de rose_.

      "Won't you talk to me any more?" Lord Bracondale said, after about a quarter of an hour. He felt that was ample time for her to have become calm, and, beautiful as the outline of her cheek was, he preferred her full face.

      "But of course," said Theodora. She had not heard more than half what the Count had been saying; she wished vaguely that she might continue the subject of friendship, but she dared not.

      "Do you ever go to Versailles?" he asked. This, at least, was a safe subject.

      "I have been there--but not since--not this time," she answered. "I loved it: so full of memories and sentiment, and Old-World charm."

      "It would give me much pleasure to take you to see СКАЧАТЬ