escape. And I shall always, henceforth, affirm that Mr. Gordon is the worst bred, the very worst bred, young man, whom I had ever the misfortune to know!" 305 CHAPTER XIV. I love you, loved you... loved you first and last, ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. "GABRIELLE, may I come in? Good child, to stay in bed so quietly!" "Olivia sent Talbot, quite early, to say that I must not go down to breakfast." "She would send her again with a dose of nitre, if she could see how feverish you look! You have caught cold, you naughty, wicked girl. Dissipation doesn't suit you at all. And, by-the-by, what were you about in the conservatory, last night? and why did you run off to bed without saying a word to anybody? There was quite a sensation, I assure you. First, Mr. Godfrey coming VOL. II. X up to me, and asking if I knew where you were; and then I looking round and about, and seeing Nothing-that I wanted; and then Olivia inquiring of whom I was in search, and I, darkly apprehensive, answering 'Gabrielle;' and Janet Chamberlain bustling up to say that you were gone with James into the conservatory: whither, a prey to sinister forebodings, I repaired, not knowing what terrific vision might await me. But still finding nothing, I returned to the ball-room, and sought oblivion in the giddy mazes of the dance. Then, suddenly, behold James alone! preoccupied, pale, and grave. Whereupon, confronting him with a Tell-me-the-worst-at-once countenance, I demanded to know-if he knew-the place of your concealment. He replied that he had not seen you for some time, but believed you to be gone to bed: which every day, or every night dénouement, was, to the ear of romance, unpalatable, but to that of friendship, grateful in the extreme and so ended my dismay, and Where did you get that splendiferous rose?" cried Cissy, with a sudden rush at a little flower-glass on Gabrielle's table. "James gathered it for me.' “He did, did he? And its counterpart― I remember now-was in his own buttonhole at supper. Humph.-There's the breakfast bell. What a pity it is that you can't come down, Gabrielle! You won't be able to wish him good-bye." 66 66 'Good-bye! Is he going away?" Yes, dear; he's going away. But not to New Zealand, quite, yet,-or to Hightytighty-Hong Kong, I mean: you need not look so dismayed. He's only going to Rotherbridge, to the Petty Sessions; he'll be back to dinner. Good-bye. I must fly to refresh my inward woman." And Cissy vanished; returning a moment later, to put her head in at the door, and inquire: "Gabrielle, will you give me that white rose? I've fallen in love with it." "Then go to the conservatory, and get another." "But I want this, dear. Do let me take it. You shall have another, if you like." "Cissy, you will get no breakfast, unless you go down.” "And you no peace," said Cissy, disappearing in earnest. When Gabrielle, in her turn, descended, she found a comparatively desolate scene. The visitors were all gone; Cissy was performing a solitary pirouette in the ballroom and singing that she "felt like one who treads alone, some banquet hall deserted," and not only felt like one, but was one. |