The Car of Destiny

								

someone else would claim her for the next. If I could hide the girl before
it was over, perhaps I might keep her for a little time. Indeed, I must
keep her, if this meeting were not to end in failure; for there were
things I had to say.
The conservatory was too obvious; and the shallow staircase with its
rose-garlanded balusters, and its fat silk cushion for each step, would
soon be invaded by a dozen couples. What to do, then? I would have given
much to know the house.
"I must speak with you," I said at last. "Where can we go?"
She did not say in return, "Do you know me, then?" or any other
conventional thing. The hope in me that she had remembered well enough to
guess who I was, brightened. She would not have answered a person she
regarded as a stranger, as she answered me,
"There's a card-room at the end of the corridor to the left, off the big
hall, where we might rest for a moment or two," she said. "But I mustn't
stop long."
"No," I promised. "I won't try to keep you. I ask only a few moments. I
can't tell how I thank you for giving me those."
I threw a glance round for Carmona, and saw him dancing with a stately
Mary Stuart. I guessed his partner to be Lady Vale-Avon; and if I were
right, it was a bad omen. She was not a woman to care for extraneous
dancing, therefore she favoured Carmona in particular.
Still, for the moment he was occupied; and when his back was turned I
whisked Lady Monica out of the ball-room, past the decorated staircase in
the square hall, and to the room at the end of the corridor. There I
pushed aside a portière and followed her in.
She had been right; the room was unoccupied, though two or three bridge
tables were ready for players. In one corner was a small sofa. The girl
sat down, carefully leaving no place for me, even had I presumed; and,
leaning forward, clasped her little hands nervously round her knees.
Then she looked up at me through her mask; and I did not keep her waiting.
"I've no invitation to-night," I said. "But I had to come. I came to see
you. Do you forgive me for saying this?"
"I--think so," she answered.
"You would be sure, if you knew all."
"I do know. At least--I mean--but of course, I oughtn't to be here with
you."
"According to convention you oughtn't. Yet--"
"I'm not thinking of conventions. But--oh, I should hate you to
misunderstand!"
"I could never misunderstand."
I snatched off my mask and stood looking down at her, knowing that my face
would say what was in my heart, and not now wishing to hide the secret.
"You know," I said, "that I've worshipped you since the first moment I saw
you. It was impossible to meet you in any ordinary way, for you have no
friend who would introduce to you the Marqués de Casa Triana. Have you
ever heard that name before, Lady Monica?"
"Yes," she answered frankly. "I heard it yesterday. From Angèle de la
Mole."