On the night of the fifth Nell sang softly to herself as she stood
before the glass putting the last touches to her, toilet. She was
brimming over with happiness, and as she looked at the radiant
reflection she wondered whether her lover would be satisfied. It is the
question which every woman who loves asks herself. It is for the man of
her heart that she lives and has her being; it is that she may find
favor in his sight that she brushes the hair he has kissed; it is with
the hope that his eye may be caught, his fancy pleased, that she puts
the flower at her bosom or winds the filmy lace around her neck. And it
was of Drake--Drake--Drake--she thought and dreamed as she turned from
the glass and went down the stairs.
She had heard the wheels of the fly he had procured from Shallop, and
she found him in the little hall waiting for her.
He looked up at the lovely vision with startled admiration, for hitherto
he had only seen her in week-a-day attire; and this slight, graceful
form, clad in soft white, seemed so pure, so virginal and ethereal,
that, not for the first time, his joy in her loveliness was tempered
with awe.
"Nell!" was all he could say, and he stretched out his arms, then let
them fall. "I should crush you or break you," he said, half seriously.
"Is that the dress I saw you making up--that! It looked like----"
"A rag," she finished for him, her eyes shining down upon him with a
woman's gratitude for his admiration. "Will it do? Do I look--passable?"
"No," he said; "no one could pass you! Nell, my angel--yes, you are like
an angel to-night!" he broke off, in lower tones. "You--you frighten me,
dearest. I dread to see you spread your wings and fly away from me."
She laughed shyly and shook her head.
"And--and--how different you look!" she said; for it was the first time
she had seen Drake in the costume which we share with the waiter; and
her pride in him--in his tall figure and square shoulders--glowed in her
eyes. If he had been lame and halt she would have still loved him;
but--well, there is no woman who is not proud of her sweetheart's good
looks. Sometimes she is prouder of them than of her own.
"Let me put this wrap around you," he said; and as he did so she raised
her head with a blush and an invitation in her eyes, and he kissed her
on the lips. "See here, dearest," he said, "your first dance! And as
many as you will give me afterward. Did I ever mention that I was
jealous? Nell, I inform you of the gruesome fact now; and that I shall
endure agonies every time I see you dancing with another man."