Preston had approached the matter in a way that could not fail to
bring success--by flattering the vanity and pride of the Baroness.
So elated was she with the agreeable references to herself, that she
never suspected the young man's deep personal interest in the girl.
She believed in the beginning that he was showing Berene this kind
attention solely to please the mistress.
Berene entered the office as type-setter, and made such astonishing
progress that she was promoted to the position of proof-reader ere
six months had passed. And hour by hour, day by day, week by week,
the strange influence which she had exerted on her employer, from the
first moment of their meeting, grew and strengthened, until he
realised with a sudden terror that his whole being was becoming
absorbed by an intense passion for the girl.
Meantime the Baroness was growing embarrassing in her attentions.
The young man was not conceited, nor prone to regard himself as an
object of worship to the fair sex. He had during the first few
months believed the Baroness to be amusing herself with his society.
He had not flattered himself that a woman of her age, who had seen so
much of the world, and whose ambitions were so unmistakable, could
regard him otherwise than as a diversion.
But of late the truth had forced itself upon him that the woman
wished to entangle him in a serious affair. He could not afford to
jeopardise his reputation at the very outset of his career by any
such entanglement, or by the appearance of one. He cast about for
some excuse to leave the Palace, yet this would separate him in a
measure from his association with Berene, beside incurring the enmity
of the Baroness, and possibly causing Berene to suffer from her anger
as well.
He seemed to be caught like a fly in a net. And again the thought of
his future and his ambitions confronted him, and he felt abashed in
his own eyes, as he realised how far away these ambitions had seemed
of late, since he had allowed his emotions to overrule his brain.
What was this ignorant daughter of a French professor, that she
should stand between him and glory, riches and power? Desperate
diseases needed desperate remedies. He had been an occasional caller
at the Lawrence homestead ever since he came to Beryngford. Without
being conceited on the subject, he realised that Mabel Lawrence would
not reject him as a suitor.
The masculine party is very dull, or the feminine very deceptive,
when a man makes a mistake in his impressions on this subject.