It was not Charles’s first ride upon a train, therefore when she asked
some question about their wonderful mode of travel he fell to explaining
it all carefully to her, with a learned manner that fascinated her, and
before she knew it she was watching his face and his eyes, and her heart
was glowing with the thought of him. Then he suddenly caught her hand
that lay in her lap, and, taking its forefinger between his own thumb
and finger, her hand enclosed in his, he made it point to a tiny white
house nestled upon a hillside far away, with a glimpse of water in the
distance and a shelter of feathery trees all about.
"There! See there!" he cried. "Do you see that house up there? How
would you like it if you and I lived there?"
Instantly that little house seemed to Dawn a very heaven of peace, to
which she would gladly fly from the grander house that she thought
awaited her at the end of her journey. She caught her breath and
pressed her free hand hard upon her frightened, happy heart, and cried,
"Oh! Oh!" so wistfully that he stooped and kissed her once, and then
again, and whispered, "Darling! My darling!"
They were alone in their carriage, you remember, and as the train was
not then going round a curve, but was sleepily jogging through a lovely
wooded place, no one in any of the other carriages could see.
Dawn felt the thrill of his touch go through her again, and then her
conscience roused, and she drew herself away, quite shyly, and not at
all as if she were angry. Her cheeks were crimson under her drooping
lashes.
Her lover watched her adoringly. He was shy himself, and felt that
maybe he had gone too far in a public place like a railway carriage; but
she had been so charming, and was she not his?
Then her trembling lips brought out a question which shot a pang of
jealous pain through his heart.
"Won’t you tell me—please—where is—m’—where is——" She hesitated
painfully, wishing he would understand and finish the sentence for her;
but he only looked down anxiously, trying to understand what she wanted.
"Won’t you please tell me where—Mr. Winthrop is?"
He understood at once that she did not mean his father, but his
scoundrel brother. His face shadowed with a frown. Was she, then,
thinking only of him who had tried to cover her with shame and disgrace?
And would it always be so, that she would hark away from his love to
that which had gone before? He sighed impatiently, but tried to answer
her gently, a strange pity in his voice:
"I thought they had told you. It was strange they did not. He took the
train at once. He found it was necessary, you understand."
"Oh!" There was immense relief in Dawn’s exclamation, and the color
came back to her cheeks, which had grown pale with apprehension when she
asked the question.
"Then he will not come on this train at all?" she asked, and a light
broke into her eyes.
"You poor child!" said he gently. "Were you afraid of that?" He laid
his hand over hers comfortingly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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