See!she has dressed herself this evening with severe simplicity;but the minx knows that thin white drapery is more becoming to her marble cheeks and neck than the richest colors.Besides,she remembers that it is a sultry evening,and so gets herself up as cool as a cucumber.By all the jolly gods!but she is statuesque,isn't she?Say what you please Van,the best of you artists couldn't imagine a much fairer semblance of a woman than you see yonder--but when you come to her mental and moral furniture--the Good Lord deliver us!""'Tis pity,'tis pity,"said Van Berg,in a low,regretful tone.
"An'pity 'tis,'tis true,"added Stanton,with a shrug.
"I can't think it is only affection that has made her appear ill the last two or three days,"resumed Van Berg,musingly."Her face suggests trouble and suffering of some kind.""Touch of dyspepsia,like enough.However,Sibley will be here in a few minutes and he will cheer her up,never fear.I'm disgusted with her that she takes so to that fellow;for although no saint myself,I can't stomach him."At the mention of Sibley's name,Van Berg frowned,turned on his heel and walked away.
"If Stanton is right about that fellow's power over her,"he muttered,"I'll tear up the sketch I made this afternoon and never give her another thought."The moment Ida became conscious of Van Berg's observant eyes her languor passed away.She had scarcely glanced at him while at dinner,but she had felt,by some subtle power of perception,that he was furtively watching her,and she also felt there was more of curiosity than kindliness in his regard.With an instinct as strong as that of self-preservation,she sought to hide her secret,and when a few moments later the stage was driven to the door,she was prepared to welcome the man she now detested,in order to conceal her heart from the man she loved.
Van Berg,leaning against a pillar near,saw Mr.Mayhew with his sallow,listless face and lifeless tread mount the steps to greet his wife and daughter;but,before he could take Ida's hand,Sibley,in snowy linen and a coat from which the stains and dust of earth seemed ever kept miraculously,brushed past him,and seizing the daughter's hand,exclaimed:
"You see I've kept my promise,and am here."And then he whispered in her ear:"By Jupiter,Miss Ida,you look like a houri just from Paradise to-night."Mr.Mayhew paused a moment and looked from the forward youth to his daughter's scarlet face,frowned heavily,and then gave her and her mother a very cool greeting before passing on to his room.
Ida could not forbear stealing a look at Van Berg,and her face grew pale again as she encountered his scornful glance.Pride was one of her predominant traits,and his manner touched it to the quick.She resolved to return him scorn for scorn,and to show him that in spite of her heart that had turned against her and become his ally,she could still be her old gay self.Therefore she gave Sibley back his badinage in kind;and in repartee that was bright and sharp as well as reckless,she answered the compliments of other gay young fellows who also gathered around her.
"Did I not tell you Sibley would revive her?"Stanton remarked as they went down to supper."Such humdrum fellows as you and I are not to the taste of one who has been brought up on a diet of cayenne pepper and chocolate cream.""But what kind of blood does such a diet make?""Judge for yourself.It looks well as it comes and goes in a pretty face.""Look here,Stanton,"said Van Berg,pausing at the dining room door;"there is that Sibley at our table.""Oh,certainly!He claims to be Ida's friend,and you see that Mrs.Mayhew is very gracious to him.He's rich,and will inherit his father's business also;and my sagacious aunt inquires no further.""Stanton,we both fee that he is not fit to sit at the same table with Miss Burton.""You are right,Van,"Stanton replied with a deep flush;"but I can do nothing without drawing attention to my relatives.After all,it is only a casual and transient association in a public place,over which we have no control.While she seems too near to him there you know that heaven is as near to hell as they are to each other.For the sake of poor Mr.Mayhew,if for no one else,let the matter pass.""Very well,Stanton;but it must not happen so another week;"and then the young men who had withdrawn into the hall-way entered,but the expression of coldness and displeasure did not wholly pass from their faces.