She shivered, and her eyes burned almost supernaturally large and lustrous.

Charmed by her beauty and grace, which had from the beginning of their acquaintance attracted him more powerfully than any other woman had ever done, and encouraged by the colossal vanity that had always predominated in his character, he merely laughed and caressed her hand.

“Can any hazard deter me when the reward will be the privilege, the right to fold you in my arms?  I am afraid of nothing that can result from making you my wife.  Do not cloud my happiness by conjuring up spectres that only annoy you, that cannot for an instant influence me.  Your hands are icy and you have no shawl.  Let me take you home.”

Silently she accepted his arm, and as the fringy acacias trembled and sighed above her, she walked by his side; wondering if the black shadow that hung like a pall over the distant crest of Vesuvius were not a fit symbol of her own wretched doomed existence, threatening a sudden outbreak that would scatter ruin and despair where least expected?

Nearing the Villa gate General Laurance asked: 

“What is the character of your drama?  Is it historic?”

“Eminently historic.”

“In what era?”

“In the last eighteen or twenty years.”

“When may I read the MS?  I am impatient to see all that springs from your dear hands.”

“The dramatic effect will be finer, when you see me act it.  Pardon me if I am vain enough to feel assured that my little play will touch my husband’s heart as ever Racine, Shakespeare, and Euripides never did!”

There was a triumphant, exultant ring in her silvery voice that only charmed her infatuated companion, and tenderly pressing the hand that lay on his arm, he added pleadingly;

“At least, my dear Odille, you will tell me the title?”

She shook off his fingers, and answered quietly: 

“General Laurance, I call it merely—­Infelice.”

CHAPTER XXVI.

For some days subsequent to Mrs. Carew’s departure, Regina saw little of her guardian, whose manner was unusually preoccupied, and entirely devoid of the earnest interest and sympathy he had displayed at their last interview.  Ascribing the change to regret at the absence of the guest whose presence had so enlivened the house, the girl avoided all unnecessary opportunities of meeting him, and devoted herself assiduously to her music and studies.

The marriage of a friend residing in Albany had called Olga thither, and in the confusion and hurried preparation incident to the journey she had found, or at least improved, no leisure to refer to the subject of the remarks made by Mrs. Carew and Mr. Chesley relative to Mr. Eggleston.

Mr. Congreve and Mrs. Palma had accompanied Olga to the railroad depot, and she departed in unusually high spirits.