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Dreadful Temptation

<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> "Mrs. St. John, allow me to present to you Lord Dudley." Xenie turned with a languid smile and bowed to the tall, elegant gentleman who bent admiringly before her. Only ten minutes before Mrs. Egerton had whispered to her eagerly: "My dear, Lord Dudley, the great English peer, is present. There's a catch for you." "I am not looking for a catch," Xenie said, almost bruskly. "No," said her aunt, who was an indefatigable matchmaker; "but then you are too young and beautiful to remain always single. You are sure to marry some day again, and why not Lord Dudley?" "He has not asked me, aunt," said Xenie, half-smiling, half-provoked. "I am not even acquainted with him." "No, but you will be," said Mrs. Egerton. "I heard him asking just now about you. He said you were the most beautiful woman he had ever seen—a compliment worth having from such a man as Lord Dudley, so elegant and distinguished, with such an air of culture and travel. Besides, he is so wealthy, owning several castles in England, I'm told, and a fabulous bank account." "A distinguished parti, certainly," said Xenie, indifferently, and then, as her aunt moved away, she completely forgot Lord Dudley's existence. She stood leaning carelessly against a tall flower-stand,[Pg 71] looking at the dancers, a little later, when Mrs. Egerton approached, leaning on the arm of a handsome gentleman, and then she found herself bowing and smiling in acknowledgement of an introduction to Lord Dudley. "I have been watching you a long time, Mrs. St. John," he said, taking his place by her side. "Your face puzzled me." "Indeed?" she said, raising her dark eyes to him with a kind of languid wonder. "Yes, it is true," he said. Then suddenly, as the intoxicating strains of a waltz began to pulsate on the perfumed air, he exclaimed, in a different tone: "Will you give me this waltz, Mrs. St. John?" She assented indifferently, and a moment later she was whirling down the long room, the envy of every woman at the ball, for every feminine present had set her cap at the distinguished traveler. His tall, proud form in the black evening dress showed to the most perfect advantage, as clasping her petite and graceful form closely in his arm, they whirled round and round to the enchanting strains, looking, in the perfect accord and gracefulness with which they moved, like the spirit of harmony embodied. "That will be a match," predicted some of the wiseacres around, and those that did not say that much thought it to themselves. Among the latter class was a gentleman who had entered a moment before and now stood talking courteously to the hostess. It was she who had directed his attention to the handsome pair. "Look at Xenie," she said with a spice of malicious triumph in her tone. "That is Lord Dudley with whom she is waltzing. She has quite captivated him. Doubtless it will be a match." His eyes followed the flying form a moment steadily, then he answered calmly: "They are a handsome pair, certainly, Mrs. Egerton. I am acquainted with Lord Dudley." "You met him abroad, I suppose?" "No, we came over from England in the same——" But at that moment someone came hastily up and claimed his attention. Then a little excited group formed around him, and even the waltzers began to see that an unusual interest was agitating the wall-flowers. Xenie looked carelessly at first, then more closely as she saw that her aunt stood in the center of the group. [Pg 72] "Aunt Egerton has suddenly become the center of attraction," she said, laughingly, to her companion. Then she started and the room seemed to swim around her, the lights, the flowers, the black suits of the men, the gay, butterfly robes of the women seemed to be blending in an inextricable maze. Her heart seemed beating in her ears, so loudly it sounded. She had caught a flitting glimpse of a man's form standing just beyond her aunt. It was he around whom the excited little throng buzzed and eddied. He was tall, straight, graceful as a young palm tree, handsome as Apollo, in his elegant evening dress. His head, crowned with fair, curling locks, was held aloft with half-haughty grace; his Grecian profile, clearly-cut as a cameo head, was turned toward Xenie, and she saw the smile that curved the fair, mustached lips, the flash in the proud, blue eyes. For a moment she lost the step, and hung droopingly on her partner's arm. "You are tired," he said, stopping and looking down into her deathly-white face. "Pardon me, I kept you on the floor too long; but your step was so perfect, the music so entrancing, I forgot myself." He was leading her to a seat as he spoke. She came back to herself with a quick start. "No, do not blame yourself," she answered. "The fact is I am not accustomed to waltzing of late. This is the first time for almost two years, and it is so easy to—to grow dizzy—to lose one's head." "Yes, indeed, it is," he answered. "Shall I get you a glass of water?" "If you please," she murmured, faintly. He went away, and she tried to rally from her sudden shock. By the time he returned she was calm, nonchalantly fanning herself with a languid, indolent grace. No one but herself knew how hard and fast her heart was beating yet. "Thank you," she murmured; then, as she lifted her head, she saw her aunt coming to her, leaning on the arm of a gentleman. Lord Dudley stared and exclaimed: "Heaven! it is Howard Templeton! The sea has given up its dead!" "Do you know him?" asked Xenie. "Yes, we crossed together. That is—until the terrible storm that wrecked us—I was one of the seven that were saved. It was supposed that Templeton was lost." "Xenie," said Mrs. Egerton, vivaciously, and yet with a[Pg 73] note of warning in her tones that was distinguishable only to her ears for whom it was intended, "here is an old friend whom we all thought dead. Bid him welcome." Xenie arose, languid, careless, pale as a ghost, yet wearing a gracious smile for the eyes of the little social world that watched her keenly. He took the half-extended hand in his a moment, and bowed low over it, touching it an instant to his mustached lips. "I kiss the hand that smites me," he murmured in her ear, sarcastically; then turned aside to greet Lord Dudley. Fervent congratulations were exchanged between these two, who had been ocean voyagers together, and who had parted on the deck of the broken vessel, expecting to meet again only upon the other shore of eternity. "I am dying of impatience to hear how you were rescued from the horrors of that terrible shipwreck," said Lord Dudley. "Is the story too long to tell us to-night?" "It is a long story, but it may be told in a few words," said Howard. "I was tossed about for some time, clinging desperately to a slender spar, then picked up by a blockade runner bound for Cuba. "This, in turn, was captured by a Spanish war vessel. I remained a prisoner of Spain until such time as the vessel put into port, and I reported to our American consul in that country. "He immediately wrote to America for the necessary papers to prove my identity as a citizen of America. These being obtained and examined, I was released, after a tedious delay, and came home as fast as wind and tide could carry me. There, my lord, you have the whole story in a nutshell." "And a very interesting one, too, I doubt not, had it been related in detail. I heartily rejoice that you were saved to tell it," said Lord Dudley, with interest. Then he added, as if some afterthought had suddenly struck him: "And, Templeton, the lady—who came over in your care—was she also saved?" Templeton started, and flashed a hurried glance at Xenie. She was toying with her jeweled fan, and looking away as carelessly as if she had forgotten his existence. He did not know that she was listening intently to every word. He looked back carelessly at the nobleman. "Yes, she was rescued with me. We clung to the spar together. I would have lost my own life rather than that frail and helpless girl should have perished!" "She returned with you, then?" said Lord Dudley. [Pg 74] "Yes, she returned in my care. She was a helpless young widow," said Howard, evasively. "She lost all her friends in Europe." Then other friends claimed him, and he turned away. "So Mr. Templeton is an old acquaintance of yours, Mrs. St. John?" "Yes; he was my late husband's nephew," she answered, with languid indifference. He saw that she did not care to pursue the subject. "It puzzled me when I first saw you to-night that I could not account for the strange familiarity of your face," he said; "but since I have so unexpectedly met with my fellow-voyager, Howard Templeton, I distinctly recall the reason. You are singularly like a lady who traveled in his care—your very height, your very features; though, as I remember now, very different in expression. She appeared almost heart-broken; yet she was very beautiful. I need not tell you that, though, since I have already said she looks like you," he added, with an admiring bow. "What was her name?" asked Mrs. St. John, eagerly, quite oblivious of the delicate compliment. "I have forgotten it," said Lord Dudley. "Forgetting names is a weakness of mine. Yet I remember that Templeton called her by her Christian name—a very soft and sweet one. Let me see—Laura, perhaps." Xenie sat silent and thoughtful. There was a strange pain at her heart. She could not understand it. "It cannot be that I am sorry he is living," she said to herself. "My triumph is greater than if he were dead. He knows that I have my sweet revenge. It was never sweet until I knew him living to feel its pangs! For all his haughty bearing it must be that he feels it in all its bitterness." Then a sudden irrelevant thought flashed across these self-congratulations. "I wonder who that Laura can be? Is he in love with her?" It was the most natural thought in the world for a woman; yet she put it away from her with a sort of angry impatience. "What if he does love her?" she thought, scornfully, "He cannot marry her. He is a beggar. I have stripped him of everything. She will leave him for lack of gold, as he left me. Then he may feel something of what I suffered through his sin!" And she felt gladder than ever before at the thought of Howard Templeton's poverty. She knew that he could not marry the girl for whom he said he would have lost his own life—that beautiful, mysterious Laura. [Pg 75] Mrs. Egerton was passing and she called her. "I am going home," she said. "I have danced too much. I am tired, and the rooms are suffocating." "A multiplicity of excuses," laughed Lord Dudley. "Ossa upon Pelion piled. Mrs. St. John, you will not be so cruel?" "I must; my head aches," she replied; and though he pleaded and Mrs. Egerton protested, she was obstinate. Mrs. Egerton saw her depart, feeling sorely vexed with her. Howard Templeton saw her leaving, and crossed the room to her. "I shall do myself the pleasure of calling upon you to-morrow," he said, quietly, as he lightly touched her hand. They had to wear a mask, these two deadly foes, before the curious eyes of the world. She flashed a sudden, haughty look of inquiry into his steadfast eyes. He stooped over her quickly. "Yes," he whispered, hurriedly and lowly; "it is vendetta still. War to the knife!" Then Lord Dudley, full of regrets, attended her to her carriage. <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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