United States or Saint Lucia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Do you understand, Pluma I command you to do it." "Yes," answered the child, dubiously. "Stay!" she called, as the child was about to turn from her. "Why is the house lighted up to-night?" Again the reckless spirit of the child flashed forth. "My father has brought home his bride," she said. "Don't you see him bending over her, toward the third window yonder?"
Poor little Daisy! no wonder her heart throbbed painfully and the look of fear deepened in her blue eyes as she sped rapidly up the path that led to the little cottage where Septima grimly awaited her with flushed face and flashing eyes. "So," she said, harshly, "you are come at last, are you? and a pretty fright you have given me. You shall answer to Miss Pluma herself for this.
I have not told her of the startling discovery I have made; for if anything should come of it, her hopes of a lifetime would be dashed. She believes herself sole heiress to my wealth. I have made up my mind, however," he continued, eagerly, "to confide in the young man who is to be my future son-in-law. If nothing ever comes of this affair, Pluma need never know of it."
On the evening which followed the one just described in our last chapter, Pluma Hurlhurst sat in her luxuriant boudoir of rose and gold, deeply absorbed in the three letters which she held in her lap. To one was appended the name of Septima Brooks, one was from Rex's mother, and the last and by far the most important one bore the signature of Lester Stanwick.
Did she know Pluma Hurlhurst, the proud, haughty heiress who had stolen her young husband's love from her? the dark, sparkling, willful beauty who had crossed her innocent young life so strangely whom she had seen bending over her husband in the pitying moonlight almost caressing him? She thought she would cry out with the bitterness of the thought. How strange it was!
"Please permit me to tell you why, Pluma," he said, taking her hand and leading her to a sofa, taking a seat by her side. "I could not," he continued, "in justice to either you or myself; for I never knew what love was," he said, softly, "until the night of the fête."
As Pluma took the seat Septima placed for her, the dark cloak she wore fell from her shoulders, and Septima saw with wonder she still wore the shimmering silk she had in all probability worn at the fête.
In the excitement of the moment Pluma was quite forgotten; for an instant only she glanced bitterly at the sweet, fair face resting against her father's shoulder, framed in a mass of golden hair. The child clinched her small hands until she almost cried aloud with the intense pain, never once deigning a glance at her father's face.
All the girls here had the same haughty way of tossing their heads and curling their lips and looking innumerable things out of their eyes, which reminded Daisy so strongly of Pluma Hurlhurst. Most of the girls had left the school-room, dividing off into groups and pairs here and there. Daisy sat watching them, feeling wretchedly lonely.
Last night he had said to himself: The time had come when he might as well marry; it might as well be Pluma as any one else, seeing she cared so much for him. Now all that was changed. "I sincerely hope she will not attach undue significance to the words I spoke last evening," he mused.
Word Of The Day