登陆注册
15528800000094

第94章 Puzzled.(3)

She was a little late in appearing at the super-table,for her return from the wanderings of the afternoon had required more time than she supposed.She was very weary;moreover,the hours spent in solitude with nature had quieted her overstrung nerves.The sun had shone upon her,though the world seemed to frown.Flowers had looked shyly and sweetly into her face as if they saw nothing there to criticise.She had plucked a few and fastened them into her breast-pin,and their faint perfume was like a low,soothing voice.She was in a softened and receptive mood,and a kind word,even a kind glance,might have tuned the scale in favor of better thoughts and better living.

But she did not receive them.Her coming to the table was greeted with an ominous silence,for each one was conscious of thoughts so greatly to her prejudice that they scarcely wished to meet her eye.Mrs.Mayhew looked excessively worried and anxious.Stanton was flushed and angry.The artist was icy as he only knew how to be when he deemed there was sufficient occasion;and in his opinion,the presence of the prospective and willing bride of the man who had attempted his life,and,what was far worse,insulted the woman he most honored,was occasion,indeed.

From time to time he gave her a cold,curious glance,as one might look at some strange,abnormal thing for which there is no accounting;but his slight scrutiny was no longer furtive.He looked at her openly as he would at an OBJECT,and not at a woman whose feelings he would not wound for the world.His thought was:"A creature akin to Sibley deserves no consideration,and can put in no just claim for delicacy."Indeed he felt a peculiar vindictiveness towards her to-night,because she had so thwarted him,and was about to carry her extraordinary dower of beauty to the moral slough that seemingly awaited her.Therefore,his glance swept carelessly over her with a cold indifference that chilled her very soul.

But these transient glances caught enough to trouble him with a vague uneasiness.Although he was steeled against her by prejudice and anger,something in her appearance so pleaded in her favor that misgivings would arise.Once he thought she met his eyes with something like an appeal in her own,but he would not look long enough to be sure.A moment later he was vexed with himself that he had not.

The silence or the forced remarks at the table were equally oppressive,and Ida immediately felt that she was the cause of the restraint.

She was about to leave the table in order to relieve them of her presence,when Miss Burton unexpectedly entered and took her chair,which hitherto had been vacant.She was a little pale and wan,but this only made her look the more interesting,and both Stanton and Van Berg welcomed her as they would the sunshine after a dreary storm.Even Mrs.Mayhew seemed to find a wonderful relief in her coming,and added her voluble congratulations.

"I have had nervous headaches myself,and know how to sympathize with you,"she concluded.

"She does not know how to sympathize with me,"sighed her daughter.

The sigh caught Van Berg's attention,and he was surprised to see that the maiden's eyes were full of tears.She bowed her head a moment to hide them,and then abruptly left the table and the room.

The artist's misgivings ended in something like compunction,as he thought:"Her tears are caused by the contrast between the icy reception we gave her,and the cordial welcome we have just given Miss Burton.Confound it all!I wish I knew the exact truth,or that she would leave for parts unknown where I could never see her again."Miss Burton glanced wistfully after the retreating maiden,but no explanation was offered.Then,as if feeling that she had lost a day's opportunity for diffusing sunshine,she became more genial and brilliant than Van Berg had ever known her to be.They lingered long at the table;Mr.Burleigh and others joined them.Their laughter rang out and up to the dusky room in which poor Ida was sobbing,"I wish I were dead and out of every one's way."Van Berg laughed with the others,but never for a moment did he lose the uneasy consciousness that he might possibly be misjudging Ida Mayhew.Although Mr.Burleigh's portly form occupied her chair,it did not prevent him from seeing a pale tearful face that was far too beautiful,far too free from all gross and sensual elements,to harmonize with the character he was supposing her to possess.He re-called what she had said about the "fragrance"of the rose-bud he had torn and tossed away,rising to him like "a low,timid appeal for mercy."Had she shyly and timidly appealed to him for a kinder judgement that evening,and had he been too blind and prejudiced to see anything save the stains left by Sibley's name?If she proposed to go to Sibley,why was she not like him in manner?It was strange that one akin to such a fellow should fasten wild flowers on her bosom,and still more strange that they should be so becoming.

The cool and sagacious Van Berg,who so prided himself on his correct judgment,was decidedly perplexed and perturbed.

同类推荐
  • 洞玄灵宝千真科

    洞玄灵宝千真科

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 药性切用

    药性切用

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Mob

    The Mob

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 崇祯朝野纪

    崇祯朝野纪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 圆宗文类

    圆宗文类

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 邪宠逆天狂妃

    邪宠逆天狂妃

    她,二十一世纪的金牌杀手,“神挡杀神佛挡杀佛”,一朝穿越,成为无人不知,无人不晓的云府废材嫡系大小姐?当眼朦再度睁开,废柴变成天才,又会怎么样呢......他,在别人眼中,是冷神一枚,可是却不知道他的冷也是看人的...
  • 杜诗里的唐朝往事:杜诗女读者新选评级

    杜诗里的唐朝往事:杜诗女读者新选评级

    本书是诗歌评选小集。通过约100首杜诗以及评论文章,还原了当初杜子美所处时代唐朝人的爱恨情仇。为生活在当代,却十分关注中国古典文学作品的女读者们奉献了一本令他们喜欢的杜子美诗歌评选小集。备受到大家的喜爱。
  • 青城道士

    青城道士

    主角子时出身,字偏阴,不慎被阴司白无常的勾魂锁打中导致身体内阴阳之气乱串,在生死关头被一位道士救活,道士陆天齐为了保护我却让我离开了亲人,他带着年幼的我离开了蜀都,带我走南闯北,教我道法,,,长大后青城道家本源,宗教之战,灵异事件处理,黑道火拼,
  • 网上的故事

    网上的故事

    谴责丧失人性的战争,互联网的出现使得天南地北的亲人朋友得以相聚。
  • 暗黑王国

    暗黑王国

    自小被拐至一个小岛接受非人训练的叶飞,经历了几年杀手生涯后,再一次执行任务中,假死新生,回国寻亲。却发现母亲改嫁,父亲去世。十五年前的刑讯逼供案,谁才是杀害父亲的真正凶手?
  • 凤栖梧

    凤栖梧

    内容简介:无情最是帝王家。武则天最宠爱的小女儿御凤公主李悦自幼身患宿疾,遭太平公主猜忌,厌倦了宫廷争斗的她穷尽心力逃出宫闱,遁隐江湖,偶遇神秘清绝的少年郤炀和冷峻疏离的妙手圣医谢君恺。世事变迁,人心难测,她虽贵为公主,却连连被人误解,频遭暗算,怨怼委屈不一而足。何为《御凤诀》?何为冷香谷?江湖恩怨,兵荒战乱,若有似无的情愫,她深陷其中,在患得患失中苦苦徘徊。是喜?是悲?是怨?在这场惊天之迷中,她该何去何从?
  • 茅山小子出道记

    茅山小子出道记

    这个世界上存在着人类肉眼所无法看到的黑暗一族,它们时刻等待机会张牙舞爪准备袭向无知的人类。而茅山小子钟小鸣,为了保护人类免受各种各样的妖魔鬼怪的魔爪的侵害,见钱开眼的他就踏上了与一大群恶形恶状的妖魔鬼怪的惊栗战斗……
  • 韩冰之心

    韩冰之心

    三个原来美好纯真的女孩,因为自己的命运转折。而踏上了艰辛的复仇之路。因有共同的遭遇,她们被同一个人收养。成了千金。在那时,她们对一切毫无兴趣。但是有一天,他们闯进了他们的生活。
  • 阳间鬼差

    阳间鬼差

    阳间鬼差,乃是阴间地府选出的阳间工作人员,负责在阳间协助地府抓捕游魂怨鬼。陈潜所在的陈家,从千年之前开始,便一直作为阳间鬼差为地府工作,然而在陈潜18岁的时候,却因为已经逝去的爷爷留下的一封信,而来到了远离家乡的江海市,作为江海市新任的阳间鬼差,卷进了一次次的风波中……
  • 古武高手闯都市

    古武高手闯都市

    萝莉?住我家!御姐?住我家!女王?住我家!美女们,统统住我家。