Dawn: Chapter 46
Chapter 46
The departure of the Bellamys left Arthur in very low spirits. His
sensations were similar to those which one can well imagine an ancient
Greek might have experienced who, having sent to consult the Delphic
oracle, had got for his pains a very unsatisfactory reply,
foreshadowing evils but not actually defining them. Lady Bellamy was
in some way connected with the idea of an oracle in his mind. She
looked oracular. Her dark face and inscrutable eyes, the stamp of
power upon her brow, all suggested that she was a mistress of the
black arts. Her words, too, were mysterious, and fraught with bitter
wisdom and a deep knowledge distilled from the poisonous weeds of
life.
Arthur felt with something like a shudder that, if Lady Bellamy
prophesied evil, evil was following hard upon her words. And in
warning him not to place his whole heart's happiness upon one venture,
lest it should meet with shipwreck, he was sure that she was
prophesying with a knowledge of the future denied to ordinary mortals.
How earnestly, too, she had cautioned him against putting absolute
faith in Angela--so earnestly, indeed, that her talk had left a
flavour of distrust in his mind. Yet how could he mistrust Angela?
Nor was he comforted by a remark that fell from Mildred Carr the
afternoon following the departure of the mail. Raising her eyes, she
glanced at his hand.
"What are you looking at?" he said.
"Was not that queer emerald you wore your engagement ring?"
"Yes."
"What have you done with it?"
"I gave it to Lady Bellamy to give to Angela."
"What for?"
"To show her that I am alive and well. I may not write, you know."
"You are very confiding."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. At least, I mean that I don't think that I should care to
hand over my engagement ring so easily. It might be misapplied, you
know."
This view of the matter helped to fill up the cup of Arthur's nervous
anxiety, and he vainly plied Mildred with questions to get her to
elucidate her meaning, and state her causes of suspicion, if she had
any; but she would say nothing more on the subject, which then
dropped, and was not alluded to again between them.
After the Bellamys' departure, the time wore on at Madeira without
bringing about any appreciable change in the situation. But Mildred
saw that their visit had robbed her of any advantages she had gained
over Arthur, for they had, as it were, brought Angela's atmosphere
with them, and, faint though it was, it sufficed to overpower her
influence. He made no move forward, and seemed to have entirely
forgotten the episode on the hills when he had gone so very near
disaster. On the contrary, he appeared to her to grow increasingly
preoccupied as time went on, and to look upon her more and more in the
light of a sister, till at length her patience wore thin.
As for her passion, it grew almost unrestrainable in its confinement.
Now she drifted like a rudderless vessel on a sea which raged
continuously and knew no space of calm. And so little oil was poured
upon the troubled waters, there were so few breaks in the storm-walls
that rose black between her and the desired haven of her rest. Indeed,
she began to doubt if even her poor power of charming him, as at first
she had been able to do, with the sparkle of her wit and the half-
unconscious display of her natural grace, was not on the wane, and if
she was not near to losing her precarious foothold in his esteem and
affection. The thought that he might be tiring of her struck her like
a freezing wind, and for a moment turned her heart to ice.
Poor Mildred! higher than ever above her head bloomed that "blue rose"
she longed to pluck. Would she ever reach it after all her striving,
even to gather one poor leaf, one withered petal? The path which led
to it was very hard to climb, and below the breakers boiled. Would it,
after all, be her fate to fall, down into that gulf of which the
sorrowful waters could bring neither death nor forgetfulness?
And so Christmas came and went.
One day, when they were all sitting in the drawing-room, some eight
weeks after the Bellamys had left, and Mildred was letting her mind
run on such thoughts as these, Arthur, who had been reading a novel,
got up and opened the folding-doors at the end of the room which
separated it from the second drawing-room, and also the further doors
between that room and the dining-room. Then he returned, and, standing
at the top of the big drawing-room, took a bird's-eye view of the
whole suite.
"What _are_ you doing, Arthur?"
"I am reflecting, Mildred, that, with such a suite of apartments at
your command, it is a sin and a shame not to give a ball."
"I will give a ball, if you like, Arthur. Will you dance with me if I
do?"
"How many times?" he said, laughing.
"Well, I will be moderate--three times. Let me see--the first waltz,
the waltz before supper, and the last galop."
"You will dance me off my head. It is dangerous to waltz with any one
so pretty," he said, in that bantering tone he often took with her,
and which aggravated her intensely.
"It is more likely that my own head will suffer, as I dance so rarely.
Then, that is a bargain?"
"Certainly."
"Dear me, Mildred, how silly you are; you are like a schoolgirl!" said
Miss Terry.
"Agatha is put out because you do not offer to dance three times with
her."
"Oh! but I will, though, if she likes; three quadrilles."
And so the matter passed off in mutual badinage; but Mildred did not
forget her intention. On the contrary, "society" at Madeira was soon
profoundly agitated by the intelligence that the lady Croesus, Mrs.
Carr, was about to give a magnificent ball, and so ill-natured--or,
rather, so given to jumping to conclusions--is society, that it was
freely said it was in order to celebrate her engagement to Arthur
Heigham. Arthur heard nothing of this; one is always the last to hear
things about oneself. Mildred knew of it, however, but, whether from
indifference or from some hidden motive, she neither took any steps to
contradict it herself, nor would she allow Miss Terry to do so.
"Nonsense," she said; "let them talk. To contradict such things only
makes people believe them the more. Mind now, Agatha, not a word of
this to Mr. Heigham; it would put him out."
"Well, Mildred, I should have thought that you would be put out too."
"I!--oh, no! Worse things might happen," and she shrugged her
shoulders.
At length the much-expected evening came, and the arriving guests
found that the ball had been planned on a scale such as Madeira had
never before beheld. The night was lovely and sufficiently still to
admit of the illumination of the gardens by means of Chinese lanterns
that glowed all around in hundreds, and were even hung like golden
fruit amongst the topmost leaves of the lofty cabbage palms, and from
the tallest sprays of the bamboos. Within, the scene was equally
beautiful. The suite of three reception-rooms had been thrown into
one, two for dancing, and one for use as a sitting-room. They were
quite full, for the Madeira season was at its height, and all the
English visitors who were "anybody" were there. There happened, too,
to be a man-of-war in the harbour, every man-jack, or, rather, every
officer-jack of which, with the exception of those on watch--and they
were to be relieved later on--was there, and prepared to enjoy himself
with a gusto characteristic of the British sailor-man.
The rooms, too, were by no means devoid of beauty, but by far the
loveliest woman in them was Mrs. Carr herself. She was simply dressed
in a perfectly-fitting black satin gown, looped up with diamond stars
that showed off the exquisite fairness of her skin to great
perfection. Her ornaments were also diamonds, but such diamonds--not
little flowers and birds constructed of tiny stones, but large single
gems, each the size of a hazel-nut. On her head she wore a tiara of
these, eleven stones in all, five on each side, and surmounted over
the centre of the forehead by an enormous gem as large as a small
walnut, which, standing by itself above the level of the others,
flashed and blazed like a fairy star. Around her neck, wrists, and
waist were similar points of concentrated light, that, shining against
the black satin as she moved, gave her a truly magnificent appearance.
Never before had Mildred Carr looked so perfectly lovely, for her face
and form were well worthy of the gems and dress; indeed, most of the
men there that night thought her eyes as beautiful as her diamonds.
The ball opened with a quadrille, but in this Mrs. Carr did not dance,
being employed in the reception of her guests. Then followed a waltz,
and, as its first strains struck up, several applicants came to
compete for the honour of her hand; but she declined them all, saying
that she was already engaged; and presently Arthur, looking very tall
and quite the typical young Englishman in his dress-clothes, came
hurrying up.
"You are late, Mr. Heigham," she said; "the music has begun."
"Yes; I am awfully sorry. I was dancing with Lady Florence, and could
not find her old aunt."
"Indeed, to me Mrs. Velley is pretty conspicuous, with that green
thing on her head; but come along, we are wasting time."
Putting his arm round her waist, they sailed away together amidst of
the murmurs of the disappointed applicants.
"Lucky dog," said one.
"Infernal puppy," muttered another.
Arthur enjoyed his waltz very much, for the rooms, though full, were
not crowded, and Mildred waltzed well. Still he was a little uneasy,
for he felt that, in being chosen to dance the first waltz with the
giver of this splendid entertainment over the heads of so many of his
superiors in rank and position, he was being put rather out of his
place. He did not as a rule take any great degree of notice of
Mildred's appearance, but to-night it struck him as unusually
charming.
"You look very beautiful to-night, Mildred," he said, when they halted
for breath; "and what splendid diamonds you have on!"
She flushed with pleasure at his compliment.
"You must not laugh at my diamonds. I know that I am too insignificant
to wear such jewels. I had two minds about putting them on."
"Laugh at them, indeed. I should as soon think of laughing at the Bank
of England. They are splendid."
"Yes," she said, bitterly; "they would be splendid on your Angela.
They want a splendid woman to carry them off."
Oddly enough, he was thinking the same thing: so, having nothing to
say, he went on dancing. Presently the waltz came to an end, and
Mildred was obliged to hurry off to receive the Portuguese Governor,
who had just put in an appearance. Arthur looked at his card, and
found that he was down for the next galop with Lady Florence
Claverley.
"Our dance again, Lady Florence."
"Really, Mr. Heigham, this is quite shocking. If everybody did not
know that you belonged body and soul to the lovely widow, I should be
accused of flirting with you."
"Who was it made me promise to dance five times?"
"I did. I want to make Mrs. Carr angry."
"Why should my dancing five or fifty dances with you make Mrs. Carr
angry?"
Lady Florence shrugged her pretty shoulders.
"Are you blind?" she said.
Arthur felt uncomfortable.
In due course, however, the last waltz before supper came round, and
he, as agreed upon, danced it with his hostess. As the strains of the
music died away, the doors of the supper-room and tent were thrown
open.
"Now, Arthur," said Mildred, "take me in to supper."
He hesitated.
"The Portuguese Governor----" he began.
She stamped her little foot, and her eyes gave an ominous flash.
"Must I ask you twice?" she said.
Then he yielded, though the fact of being for the second time that
night placed in an unnecessarily prominent position made him feel more
uncomfortable than ever, for they were seated at the head of the top
table. Mildred Carr was in the exact centre, with himself on her right
and the Portuguese Governor on the left. To Arthur's left was Lady
Florence, who took an opportunity to assure him solemnly that he
really "bore his blushing honours, very nicely," and to ask him "how
he liked the high places at feasts?"
The supper passed off as brilliantly as most successful suppers do.
Mrs. Carr looked charming, and her conversation sparkled like her own
champagne; but it seemed to him that, as in the case of the wine,
there was too much sting in it. The wine was a little too dry, and her
talk a little too full of suppressed sarcasm, though he could not
quite tell what it was aimed at, any more than he could trace the
source of the champagne bubbles.
Supper done, he led her back to the ball-room. The second extra was
just beginning, and she stood as though she were expecting him to ask
her to dance it.
"I am sorry, Mildred, but I must go now. I am engaged this dance."
"Indeed--who to?" This was very coldly said.
"Lady Florence," he answered, confusedly, though there really was no
reason why he should be ashamed.
She looked at him steadily.
"Oh! I forgot, for to-night you are her monopoly. Good-bye."
A little while after this, Arthur thought that he had had about enough
dancing for awhile, and went and sat by himself in a secluded spot
under the shadow of a tree-fern in a temporary conservatory put up
outside a bow-window. The Chinese lantern that hung upon the fern had
gone out, leaving his chair in total darkness. Presently a couple,
whom he did not recognize, for he only saw their backs, strayed in,
and placed themselves on a bench before him in such a way as to
entirely cut off his retreat. He was making up his mind to disturb
them, when they began a conversation, in which the squeezing of hands
and mild terms of endearment played a part. Fearing to interrupt, lest
he should disturb their equanimity, he judged it best to stop where he
was. Presently, however, their talk took a turn that proved intensely
interesting to him. It was something as follows:--
_She_. "Have you seen the hero of the evening?"
_He_. "Who? Do you mean the Portuguese Governor in his war-paint?"
_She_. "No, of course not. You don't call him a hero, do you? I mean
our hostess's _fiance_, the nice-looking young fellow who took her in
to supper."_He_. "Oh, yes. I did not think much of him. Lucky dog! but he must be
rather mean. They say that he is engaged to a girl in England, and has
thrown her over for the widow."_She_. "Ah, you're jealous! I know that you would like to be in his
shoes. Come, confess."_He_. "You are very unkind. Why should I be jealous when----"
_She_. "Well, you need not hurt my hand, and will you _never_ remember
that black shows against white!"_He_. "It's awfully hot here; let's go into the garden." [_Exuent_.]