“Spare me rapsodies that accord neither with your years nor my sentiments.  Understand, it is a mere bargain and a sale, and I am carefully arranging the conditions.  For myself I ask little; but as you are aware, my daughter is grown, is now in her seventeenth year, and the man whom the world regards as my husband must share his name and fortune with my child.  Doubtless you deem me calculating and mercenary, and for her dear sake I am forced to do so; for all the tenderness that remains in my nature is centred in my little girl.  She has been reared as carefully as a princess, is accomplished and very beautiful, and when you see her I think you will scarcely refuse the tribute of your admiration and affection.”

For an instant a grey pallor spread from lip to brow, and the unhappy woman shuddered; but rallying, she moved across the floor to her writing desk, and the infatuated man followed, whispering: 

“If she resembles her mother, can you doubt her perfect and prompt adoption into my heart?”

“My daughter is unlike me; is so entirely the image of her lost father, that the sight of her beauty sometimes overwhelms me with torturing memories.  Here.  General Laurance is a carefully written paper, which I submit for your examination and mature reflection.  When in the presence of proper witnesses you sign that contract, you will have purchased the right to claim my hand—­mark you, only my hand—­at the altar.”

It was a cautiously worded marriage settlement, drawn up in conformity with legal requirements; and its chief exaction was the adoption of Regina, the transmission of the name of Laurance, and the settlement upon her of a certain amount of money in stocks and bonds, exclusive of any real estate.  As he received the paper and opened it, Mrs. Orme added:  “Take your own time, and weigh the conditions carefully and deliberately.”

“Stay, Odille; do not leave me.  A few moments will suffice for this matter, and I am in no mood to endure suspense.”

“Within an hour you can at least comprehend what I demand.  I am going to the terrace of the Villa Reale, and when in accordance with that contract you decide to adopt my child, and present her to the world as your own, you will find me on the terrace.”

He would have taken her hand, but she walked away and disappeared, closing a door behind her.

His hat had rolled out of sight, and as he searched hurriedly for it, Mrs. Waul spoke from her distant recess: 

“General Laurance will find his hat between the ottoman and the window.”

The winding walks of the Villa were comparatively deserted, when Mrs. Orme began to pace slowly to and fro beneath the trees, whose foliage swayed softly in the mild evening air.  When the few remaining groups had passed beyond her vision, she threw back the long thick veil that had effectually concealed her features, and approaching the parapet that overhung the sea, sat down.  Removing her hat and veil, she placed them beside her on the seat, and resting her hands on the iron railing, bowed her chin upon them, and looked out upon the sea murmuring at the foot of the wall.