" Then, as he came to her laughing with frank
pleasure at her praise, she added, "You, too, must look your best and
bravest now, and remember you must enact the man tonight. Before Gilbert
wear your stateliest aspect, your tenderest to me, your courtliest to
his wife. You possess dramatic skill. Use it for my sake, and come for
your reward when this night's work is done."
The great hotel was swarming with life, ablaze with light, resonant with
the tread of feet, the hum of voices, the musical din of the band, and
full of the sights and sounds which fill such human hives at a
fashionable watering place in the height of the season. As Manuel led
his wife along the grand hall thronged with promenaders, his quick ear
caught the whispered comments of the passers-by, and the fragmentary
rumors concerning themselves amused him infinitely.
"_Mon ami!_ There are five bridal couples here tonight, and there is the
handsomest, richest, and most enchanting of them all. The groom is not
yet twenty, they tell me, and the bride still younger. Behold them!"
Manuel looked down at Pauline with a mirthful glance, but she had not
heard.
"See, Belle! Cubans; own half the island between them. Splendid, aren't
they? Look at the diamonds on her lovely arms, and his ravishing
moustache. Isn't he your ideal of Prince Djalma, in The Wandering Jew?"
A pretty girl, forgetting propriety in interest, pointed as they passed.
Pages:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28