CHAPTER XII.
“HERE IS YOUR RING.”
Pretty little Zaidee would never have carried her coquetry so far if she had dreamed what would come of it that day.
It did not seem such a dreadful thing, either, to any one but Lelia, for the young girl to declare she was just dying for a ride on Saint, and wished Mr. Willoughby would come with her on Satan.
Laurie assented with pleasure. It never occurred to his mind that Lelia could find fault over such a trifle.
So he cheerfully helped Zaidee up to a seat on Saint’s back, and, vaulting lightly into his own saddle, away they went for a delightful canter over the mountain road.
When they returned they found Lelia gone.
Mrs. Thurston said she had been taken suddenly ill, and had asked Warren Beihl to drive her in the buggy back to The Crags.
Laurie, as in duty bound, made his excuses to the gay company, and galloped away with a grave face, following his betrothed home.
Significant smiles and shruggings of shoulders greeted his departure, and Bessie Hall, the vivacious brunette beauty, remarked:
“A nice row you have raised, Zaidee, by going off with Miss Ritchie’s lover! Her brow was as black as a thunder-cloud, and I think she could willingly murder you!”
“Oh, dear, I never meant any harm. Did she care, really?” cried the petite coquette.
“She was furious--she could not hide it, and kept glowering at the road you went, watching for your return. Every one could see that she was trying to keep down an attack of hysteria, and at last she could stand it no longer, so she got Warren Beihl to take her home, and, oh, won’t Laurie Willoughby catch it as soon as he gets there, poor fellow!”
“I am very sorry, but she ought not to be so jealous--if I were engaged to him, and he went for a ride with another girl, I shouldn’t consider it a hanging matter!” laughed merry little Zaidee.
“Oh, she will just pout a while, then they will kiss and make up,” said Geoffrey Graves.
“How do you know?” asked Irene Mays.
“Oh, I’ve been there myself,” he replied slangily, turning the laugh on himself, and then they proceeded to enjoy themselves. Warren Beihl returning presently with a message from Lelia to that effect.
“Did she find it necessary to call in the doctor?” they asked, with gentle sarcasm.
“Oh, no; not while I was there. She dismissed me as soon as we reached The Crags, telling me she would go and lie down till she felt better. As I met her recreant knight hurrying to her side, I presume her convalescence will not be long delayed,” he returned laughingly.
They all persisted in treating it as a little joke, and in bantering Zaidee on the lovers’ quarrel she had brought about; but while they amused themselves in the grove, Laurie Willoughby was going through a very unpleasant scene at The Crags.
When he had sent up to Lelia’s room, to ask after her health, she had hurried down to him in a towering rage.
Bitterly, hysterically she upbraided her lover for his imagined falsity, charging him with having transferred his love to a designing little coquette.
His short ride with little Zaidee was magnified into a heinous offense against Lelia’s rights.
“After escorting me there, you deserted me for that hateful little minx!”
“I was not absent as long as an hour, Lelia, and as the young lady asked for my escort, I could not refuse without discourtesy to our guest. I am sure the little girl is very sweet and innocent, and never dreamed she was doing anything offensive to you,” he answered gently.
“Oh, yes; ‘sweet and innocent,’ of course! Why don’t you add beautiful, also? I have seen all along she was winning your heart from me.”
With a sarcastic smile, the tortured lover retorted:
“You must credit me with a very elastic heart, indeed! Scarcely two weeks ago you were vowing I was in love with Gipsy Darke.”
“As, indeed, you were, until Zaidee Preston came and rivaled her in your fickle heart. And last night you stood by Irene Mays half an hour while she was at the piano.”
“Only turning her music, Lelia.”
“That will do for an excuse, of course, but I saw how she maneuvered to keep you there--and afterward you read poetry by the hour to Bessie Hall! Oh, I can never comprehend, never, why Aunt Cyrilla invited that trio of wretched flirts to The Crags, unless it was to torment me to death!” with an angry sob.
“She invited them because she thought these gay young girls would make your visit pleasant, dearest. She thought you had outgrown childish things, and put away jealousy and spite with them,” he answered, with latent sternness.
Lelia sprang up, towering over him in his seat like a beautiful Fury, her cheeks flushed, her blue eyes blazing with resentment.
“Jealousy and spite!--This to me!--To Lelia Ritchie! How dare you, sir? Now, indeed, I realize you never loved me!” she hissed, in wrath and scorn.
“I half-believe you are right, Lelia!” he answered, with sudden furious passion, goaded beyond endurance by her injustice.
“So you own the truth at last! But I knew it, I knew it before! Your heart is too fickle to keep faith with any one!” she raved.
“Have I not loved you always, Lelia?” he asked reproachfully.
“No, you owned it yourself just now that you had never loved me.”
“I spoke in anger, dear. You pushed me too hard, and I could not bear your injustice. Will you not believe that my heart is always true to you, and let us put an end to these unpleasant scenes forever?” he asked, with repressed feelings.
“I see your drift. You are weary of me, you long for freedom. Very well, here is your ring! Good-by!” sobbed Lelia tragically.
The large diamond lay sparkling in his hand like a big tear. He sighed from the bottom of his heart as he said:
“This is the third time you have broken our engagement, Lelia, and then called me back again. Let me save you a night of grief and repentance by putting it back on your finger now. Broken engagements are said to be very unlucky.”
“No, I have broken with you forever now. I do not love you any longer. You have tortured me with your cruel flirtations until you have driven me nearly mad,” she replied, with a tragic air.
“You really mean what you say, Lelia? All is ended between us forever?”
She saw with pleasure how pale and wretched he looked, the poor victim of her caprice whom she was torturing as usual, to whistle him back when she had punished him enough.
“Yes, I mean every word,” she said, with freezing hauteur. “You have killed the love I once had for you, and my heart has turned to another.” With this cruel thrust, she bowed to Laurie, and haughtily retired.