The advent of half a score of young men from the city naturally made dancing the order of the occasion on Saturday evening.Mr.
Burleigh,however,gave Sibley a hint that the features he had introduced the previous week must be omitted tonight,since nothing that would in the slightest degree lower the character of his house would be tolerated.The excitement therefore that Sibley had formerly received from Cognac,he now sought to obtain by pursuing with greater ardor his flirtation with Ida.Indeed,to such a nature as his,her beauty was quite as intoxicating as the "spirit of wine."There was a brilliancy in her appearance to night and a piquancy in her words that struck him as very unusual.
Nor was he alone in his admiration.The young men from the city thronged about her,and her hand was soon engaged for every dance until late in the evening;but on this occasion she had no opportunity,as before,of declining invitations from Van Berg.
The solicitations of others went for little,the admiring eyes that she saw following her on every side could not compensate for the lack of all attention from him.He danced several times,but it was with those who seemed to be neglected by others.In his quiet,dignified bearing,in his unselfish affability toward those who otherwise would have had a dull evening,he appeared to her in most favorable contrast to the giddy young fellows who fluttered around her,and whose supreme thoughts were always of themselves,and of her only as she could minister to their pleasure.
"Miss Burton has so plainly won him,"she thought,"that he has adopted her tactics of looking after those whom every one neglects.
I could soon show him the one he has the greatest power of cheering,and I know that she has the deepest need of cheer of any one in this crowded house,but I'd rather die than give one hint of our first meeting he has humiliated me,and I in return love him!But he shall never know it.My looks can be as cold as his."And so they were toward him,but for all others she had had the gayest smiles and repartee.Vividly conscious of the secret she would so jealously guard,she sought by every means in her power to mask it from him and all others.She would even permit her name for a time to be associated with a man she detested and despised,since thus the truth could be more effectively concealed.
Sibley's attentions were certainly ardent enough to attract attention,and occasionally there was a boldness in his compliments,which she,even in her reckless mood,sharply resented.His eyes seemed to grow more wolfish every time she encountered them,and more than once the thought crossed her mind:
"What a heaven it would be to look up into the eyes of a man Icould trust,and who honored me."
What torture it was to see such a man present,and yet to feel that he justly scorned her.
Excitement and her strong will kept her up for a long time,but as the evening advanced despondency and weariness began to gain the mastery.Sibley came to her and said:"Miss Ida,I have your hand for the next waltz,but I see you are worn and tired.Let us go out on the cool piazza instead of dancing."Listlessly she took his arm and passed through one of the open windows near.Van Berg had disappeared some time before,and there was no longer any motive to keep up the illusion of gayety.
Hardly had she stepped on the piazza before she heard her father say:
"Miss Burton,if it will give you any pleasure to know that you have made this evening memorably bright to one whose life is peculiarly clouded,you can certainly enjoy that assurance in the fullest measure.You have kept your word and have not preached at me at all;and yet I feel I ought to be a better man for this interview.""O,Miss Ida,"exclaimed Sibley,"this is the opportunity that Ihave been wishing for all the evening.I cannot tell you how gladly I exchange the glare of that room for the light of your eyes only.
Would that life were but one long summer evening,and your eyes the only starts in my sky.""Absurd,"she carelessly replied;and then they passed out of hearing.
"Good-night,Miss Burton,"said Mr.Mayhew abruptly;and he hastily descended the steps and was soon lost from view in the darkness.
His daughter and the man who seemed to be the companion of her choice,brought back at once the old conditions of his life.The prison walls closed around him again,the air seemed all the more foul and stifling in contrast with the pure atmosphere which he had been breathing,and the gloom of the night was light in comparison with his thoughts as he muttered: