The Master of Aberfeldie, Volume 1 (of 3)Grant, James
General
The Master of Aberfeldie, Volume 1 (of 3)
Grant, James
Fiction
He had seen Holcroft in rather close proximity to her during the most
of the day, and if piqued thereat, more than ever was he piqued and
startled now, and abruptly wheeling round his horse, he muttered some
excuse and joined his sister and his friend Cameron, while the words
of the song came ominously back to memory--
'Trust her not, she is fooling thee.'
The bangle! He blushed to think of it, and shrank as yet from
speaking of it, even to Eveline, for he was altogether unaware of
under what circumstances Holcroft came to possess it, or the effort
Olive had made to procure its return without success, but imagination
and jealousy now did much to fill his heart with secret fury.
Would the future hold love or hatred for these two cousins? It
seemed just then difficult to say.
Like Eveline, he thought the gift of the photo a trifle when compared
with this, yet the photo was eventually to prove the most serious and
troublesome gift of the two.
Wounded self-esteem, disquiet, and intense mortification reigned
supreme in the mind of the somewhat proud young Master of Aberfeldie;
but he felt himself necessitated to dissemble. Hawke Holcroft was
his father's guest, the son of his father's oldest and most valued
friend; and while at Dundargue it would be necessary to treat him
with courtesy, though Allan never doubted that he was a 'leg,' and
resolved that his courtesy would be blended with watchfulness,
if--bitter thought--Olive was now worth watching over!
Unprepared for such a crisis or catastrophe as the discovery of the
bangle, and ignorant that Allan had made it, when a carpet-dance took
place that evening at Dundargue, though Olive was arrayed in one of
her most becoming toilettes for him, and him alone, he never even
addressed her or looked near her; and, black though his brow, he
entirely occupied himself with Ruby Logan; and, provoked by this,
Olive again endured the attention of Holcroft, and thought to
play--or affect to play--with them _both_.
In this, however, the little scheme was doomed to be disappointed by
the events of the following day.
'I shall quit Dundargue for London, or give up my leave and go back
to the regiment, and never look upon her fair, false face again till
I have schooled myself into merely regarding her with a
brotherly--well, say cousinly--eye!' thought Allan, with great
bitterness of spirit.
But how about that absurd will and the settlement of the money?
CHAPTER XI.
EVELINE'S SUITOR.
'Verily,' says a writer, 'we miss our opportunities, and live our
lives as if they were all to come twice over; not as if each passing
sunset brought us nearer that day when the pulse must cease to beat,
and the heart with all its emotions must be stilled for ever.'
Olive was now experiencing the truth of this to a certain extent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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