“This is what I call a worldly paradise!” A girl with a face like dear Lady Disdain’s sank into a divan placed near the conservatory; her voice chimed in prettily with the music of a spraying fountain and the soft strains of remote stringed instruments.
“Is it a frivolous conceit?” she continued, laughing up to the man who stood beside her; “or do the soft light of many candles, faint music, radiant women, and courtly men, satisfy your predilections also that such a place is as near heaven as this wicked world approaches?”
“You forget; paradise was occupied by but two. To my notion, nothing can be farther removed from Elysium than a modern drawing-room full of guests.”
“And leaving out the guests?”
“They say imagination can make a paradise of a desert, given the necessary contingencies.”
“A solitude of two who love? Dr. Kemp, methinks you are a romantic.”
“You supplied the romance, Miss Gwynne. My knowledge is of the hard, matter-of-fact sort.”
“Such as bones, I suppose. Still you seem to be interested in the soft-looking piece of humanity over by that cabinet.”
“Yes; his expression is reminiscent of a boy’s definition of a vacuum,—a large space with nothing in it. Who is he?”
“And I thought you not unknown! He is the husband of a brilliant woman, Mrs. Ames, who has written a novel.”
“Clever?”
“Decidedly so; it stands the test of being intoxicating and leaving a bad taste in the mouth,—like dry champagne.”
“Which is not made for women.”
“You mean school-girls. There she is,—that wisp of a creature listening so eagerly to that elegant youth of the terrier breed. No wonder he interests her; he is as full of information in piquant personal history as a family lawyer, and his knowledge is as much public property as a social city directory.”
“You have studied him to advantage. Are you sure you have not stolen a leaf from him?”
“Dr. Kemp!” she exclaimed in pouting reproach, “do I appear as promiscuous as that? You may call me a ‘blue book,’ but spare my snobbery the opprobrious epithet of ‘directory.’ There goes the fascinating young Mrs. Shurly with Purcell Burroughs in her toils. Did you catch the fine oratory of the glance she threw us? It said, ‘Dorothy Gwynne, how dare you appropriate Dr. Kemp for ten long minutes? Hand him over; pass him around. I want him; you are only boring him, though you seem to be amusing yourself.”
Kemp’s grave lips twitched at the corners; he was without doubt amused.
“Aren’t you improvising?” he asked. A man need only offer an occasional bumper of a remark to keep the conversation from flagging, when his companion is a woman.
“No; you evidently do not know what a feminine sneer is in words. Ah, here comes the Queen of Sheba.” She broke off with a pleased smile as Ruth Levice approached on the arm of her cousin, Louis Arnold.
Singly, each would have attracted attention anywhere; together they were doubly striking-looking. Arnold, tall and slight, carrying his head high, fair of complexion as a peachy-cheeked girl, was a peculiarly distinguished-looking man. The delicate pince-nez he wore emphasized slightly the elusive air of supercilious courtliness he always conveyed. Now, as he spoke to Ruth, who, although a tall girl, was some inches shorter than he, he maintained a strict perpendicular from the crown of his head to his heels, only looking down with his eyes. Short women resented this trick of his, protesting that it made them stand on tiptoe to speak to him.
There was something almost Oriental about Ruth, with her creamy, colorless face, like a magnolia blossom; her dusky hair was loosely rolled from her forehead and temples; her eyes were soft and brown beneath delicately pencilled brows, and matched the pure oval of her face. But the languorous air of Southern skies was wholly wanting in the sweet sympathy of her glance, and in a certain alertness about the poise of her head.
Arnold stopped perforce at Miss Gwynne’s slight signal.
“Where are you hastening?” she asked as they turned to greet her. “One would think you saw your Nemesis before you, so oblivious were you to the beauties scattered about.” She looked up pertly at Arnold, after giving one comprehensive glance over Ruth’s toilet.
“We both wished to see the orchids of which one hears,” he answered, with pronounced French accent and idiom; adding, with a slight smile, “I did not overlook you, but you were so busily contemplating other ground that it would have been cruelty to disturb you.” He spoke the language slowly, as a stranger upon foreign ground.
“Oh, yes; I forgot. Dr. Kemp, are you acquainted with the Queen of Sheba and her doughty knight Louis, surnamed Arnold?” She paused a moment as the parties acknowledged the curious introduction, and then broke in rather breathlessly: “There, Doctor, I shall leave you with royalty; do not let your republican ignorance forget her proper title. Mr. Arnold, Mrs. Merrill is beckoning to us; will you come?” and with a naive, superbly impish look at Ruth, she drew Arnold away before he could murmur an excuse.
At the impertinent words the soft, rich blood suffused Ruth’s face.
“Will you sit here awhile and wait for Mr. Arnold, or shall we go and see the orchids?” The pleasant, deep voice broke in upon her confusion and calmed her self-consciousness. She raised her eyes to the dark, clever face above her; it was a strong, rather than a handsome face. From the broad sweep of the forehead above the steady scrutiny of the gray eyes, to the grave lip and firm chin under the dark, pointed beard, strength and gentleness spoke in every line. His personality bore the stamp of a letter of credit.
“Thank you,” said she; “I think I shall sit here. My cousin will probably be back soon.”
The doctor seated himself beside her. Miss Gwynne’s appellation was not inaptly chosen, still he would have preferred to know her more conventional title.
“This is a peaceful little corner,” he said. “Do you notice how removed it seems from the rest of the room?”
“Yes,” she answered, meeting and disconcerting his pleasantly questioning look with one of swift resolve. “Dr. Kemp, I wish to tell you that my father has confided to me your joint secret.”
“Your father?” he looked bewildered; his knowledge of the Queen of Sheba’s progenitors was vague.
“My father, yes,” she repeated, smiling at his perplexity. “Our name is not very common; I am Jules Levice’s daughter.”
He was about to exclaim “NO!” The kinship seemed ridiculous in the face of this lovely girl and the remembered picture of the little plain-faced Jew. What he did say was,—
“Mr. Levice is an esteemed friend of mine. He is present, is he not?”
“Yes. Have you met my mother yet?”
The mother would probably unravel the mysterious origin of this beautiful face and this strange, sweet voice, whose subdued tones held an uncommon charm.
“No; but your father is diplomat enough to manage that before the evening is over. So you know our little scheme. Pardon the ‘shop’ which I have of a necessity brought with me this evening, but have you seen any signs of illness in your mother?”
“No; I have been very blind and selfish,” she replied, somewhat bitterly, “for every one but me seems to have seen that something was wrong. She has been very anxious to give me pleasure, and I fear has been burning the candle at both ends for my light. I wish I had known—probably it lay just within my hand to prevent this, instead of leading her on by my often expressed delight. What I wish to ask you is that if you find anything serious, you will tell me, and allay my father’s fears as much as possible. Please do this for me. My father is not young; and I, I think, am trustworthy.”
She had spoken rapidly, but with convincing sincerity, looking her companion full in the face.
The doctor quietly scrutinized the earnest young face before he answered. Then he slightly bowed in acquiescence.
“That is a pact,” he said lightly; “but in all probability your father’s fears are exaggerated.”
“‘Where love is great, the smallest doubts are fears,’” she quoted, softly flushing. The doctor had a singular impersonal habit of keeping his eyes intently bent upon the person with whom he conversed, that made his companion feel that they two were exclusively alone,—a sensation that was slightly bewildering upon first acquaintance. By and by one understood that it was merely his air of interest that evoked the feeling, and so gradually got used to it as to one of his features.
“That is so,” he replied cheerily; “and—I see some one is about to play. Mrs. Merrill told me we should have some music.”
“It is Louis, I think; I know his touch.”
“Your cousin? He plays?”
Ruth looked at him in questioning wonder. Truth to say, the doctor could not but betray his surprise at the idea of the cold-looking Arnold in the light of a musician; his doubts took instant flight after the opening chords. Rubenstein’s Melody in F, played by a master-hand, is one long sound of divine ecstasy thrilling the listener to exquisite rapture. Played by Louis Arnold, what the composer had conceived in his soul was magnificently interpreted. As he finished, there was not a murmur; and the next minute he had dashed into a quaint tarantelle that instantly dispelled the former spell of grandeur.
“An artist,” said some one standing near.
“Something more,” murmured Kemp, rising as he saw Ruth do so. He was about to offer her his arm when Mrs. Merrill, a gently-faced woman, stepped up to them, and laying her hand upon Ruth’s shoulder, said rather hurriedly,—
“I am sorry to trouble you, Doctor, but Mrs. Levice—do not be alarmed, Ruth dear—has become somewhat hysterical, and we cannot calm her; will you come this way, please, and no one need know she is in the study.”
“My family is making itself prominent to-night,” said Ruth, with a little catch in her voice, as they turned with Mrs. Merrill through the conservatory and so across the hall.
“I shall be here, Doctor, if you wish anything,” said Mrs. Merrill, standing without as he and Ruth entered and immediately shut the door after them.
“Stay there,” he said with quiet authority to Ruth, and she stood quite still where he left her. Mrs. Levice was seated in a large easy-chair with her back to the door; her husband had drawn her head to his bosom. There was no one else in the room, and for a second not a sound, till Mrs. Levice began to sob in a frightened manner.
“It’s nothing at all, Jules,” she cried, trying to laugh and failing lamentably; “I—I’m only silly.”
“There, dear, don’t talk.” Levice’s face was white as he soothingly stroked her hair.
“Oh!”
The doctor stepped in front of them, and laying both hands upon her shoulders, motioned Levice aside.
“Hush! Not a word!”
At the sound of his stern, brusque voice, the long quivering shriek stopped halfway.
“Be perfectly still,” he continued, holding her firmly. “Obey this instant,” as she began to whimper; “not a sound must I hear.”
Ruth and her father stood spell-bound at the effect of the stranger’s measures. For a moment Mrs. Levice had started in affright to scream; but the deep, commanding tone, the powerful hands upon her shoulders, the impressive, unswerving eye that held hers, soon began to act almost hypnotically. The sobbing gradually ceased; the shaking limbs slowly regained their calm; and as she sank upon the cushions the strained look in her eyes melted. She was feebly smiling up at the doctor in response to his own persuasive smile that gradually succeeded the gravity of his countenance.
“That is well,” said he, speaking soothingly as to a child, and still keeping his smiling eyes upon hers. “Now just close your eyes for a minute; see, I have your hand,—so. Go to sleep.”
There was not a sound in the room; Ruth stood where she had been placed, and Mr. Levice was behind the doctor, his face quite colorless, scarcely daring to breathe. Finally the faint, even breathing of Mrs. Levice told that she slept.
Kemp turned to Mr. Levice and spoke low, not in a whisper, which hisses, but his voice was so hushed that it would not have disturbed the lightest sleeper.
“Put your hand, palm up, under hers. I am going to withdraw my hand and retire, as I do not wish to excite her; she will probably open her eyes in a few moments. Take her home as quietly as you can.”
“You will call to-morrow?” whispered Levice.
He quietly assented.
“Now be deft.” The transfer was quickly made, and nodding cheerfully, Dr. Kemp left the room.
Ruth came forward. Five minutes later Mrs. Levice opened her eyes.
“Why, what has happened?” she asked languidly.
“You fell asleep, Esther,” replied her husband, gently.
“Yes, I know; but why is Ruth in that gown? Oh—ye-es!” Consciousness was returning to her. “And who was that handsome man who was here?”
“A friend of Ruth.”
“He is very strong,” she observed pensively. She lay back in her chair for a few minutes as if dreaming. Suddenly she started up.
“What thoughtless people we are! Let us go back to the drawing-room, or they will think something dreadful has happened.”
“No, Mamma; I do not feel at all like going back. Stay here with Father while I get our wraps.”
Before Mrs. Levice could demur, Ruth had left the room. As she turned in the direction of the stairs, she was rather startled by a hand laid upon her shoulder.
“Oh, you, Louis! I am going for our wraps.”
“Here they are. How is my aunt?”
“She is quite herself again. Thanks for the wraps. Will you call up the carriage, Louis? We shall go immediately, but do not think of coming yourself.”
“Nonsense! Tell your mother you have made your adieux to Mrs. Merrill,—she understands; the carriage is waiting.”
A few minutes later the Levices and Louis Arnold quietly stole away. Mrs. Levice has had an attack of hysteria. “Nothing at all,” the world said, and dismissed it as carelessly as most of the quiet turning-points in a life-history are dismissed.
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