All the tapers for which places could be found had been gathered together,and the room was a blaze of light.In the midst of it,before her mirror,Clorinda stood attired in her bridal splendour of white satin and flowing rich lace,a diamond crescent on her head,sparks of light flaming from every point of her raiment.When she caught sight of Anne's reflection in the glass before her,she turned and stood staring at her in wonder.
"What--nay,what is this?"she cried."What do you come for?On my soul,you come for something--or you have gone mad."Anne started forward,trembling,her hands clasped upon her breast,and fell at her feet with sobs.
"Yes,yes,"she gasped,"I came--for something--to speak--to pray you -!Sister--Clorinda,have patience with me--till my courage comes again!"and she clutched her robe.
Something which came nigh to being a shudder passed through Mistress Clorinda's frame;but it was gone in a second,and she touched Anne--though not ungently--with her foot,withdrawing her robe.
"Do not stain it with your tears,"she said "'twould be a bad omen."Anne buried her face in her hands and knelt so before her.
"'Tis not too late!"she said--"'tis not too late yet.""For what?"Clorinda asked."For what,I pray you tell me,if you can find your wits.You go beyond my patience with your folly.""Too late to stop,"said Anne--"to draw back and repent.""What?"commanded Clorinda--"what then should I repent me?""This marriage,"trembled Mistress Anne,taking her poor hands from her face to wring them."It should not be.""Fool!"quoth Clorinda."Get up and cease your grovelling.Did you come to tell me it was not too late to draw back and refuse to be the Countess of Dunstanwolde?"and she laughed bitterly.
"But it should not be--it must not!"Anne panted."I--I know,sister,I know--"Clorinda bent deliberately and laid her strong,jewelled hand on her shoulder with a grasp like a vice.There was no hurry in her movement or in her air,but by sheer,slow strength she forced her head backward so that the terrified woman was staring in her face.
"Look at me,"she said."I would see you well,and be squarely looked at,that my eyes may keep you from going mad.You have pondered over this marriage until you have a frenzy.Women who live alone are sometimes so,and your brain was always weak.What is it that you know.Look--in my eyes--and tell me."It seemed as if her gaze stabbed through Anne's eyes to the very centre of her brain.Anne tried to bear it,and shrunk and withered;she would have fallen upon the floor at her feet a helpless,sobbing heap,but the white hand would not let her go.
"Find your courage--if you have lost it--and speak plain words,"Clorinda commanded.Anne tried to writhe away,but could not again,and burst into passionate,hopeless weeping.
"I cannot--I dare not!"she gasped."I am afraid.You are right;my brain is weak,and I--but that--that gentleman--who so loved you--"
"Which?"said Clorinda,with a brief scornful laugh.
"The one who was so handsome--with the fair locks and the gallant air--""The one you fell in love with and stared at through the window,"said Clorinda,with her brief laugh again."John Oxon!He has victims enough,forsooth,to have spared such an one as you are.""But he loved you!"cried Anne piteously,"and it must have been that you--you too,sister--or--or else--"She choked again with sobs,and Clorinda released her grasp upon her shoulder and stood upright.
"He wants none of me--nor I of him,"she said,with strange sternness."We have done with one another.Get up upon your feet if you would not have me thrust you out into the corridor."She turned from her,and walking back to her dressing-table,stood there steadying the diadem on her hair,which had loosed a fastening when Anne tried to writhe away from her.Anne half sat,half knelt upon the floor,staring at her with wet,wild eyes of misery and fear.
"Leave your kneeling,"commanded her sister again,"and come here."Anne staggered to her feet and obeyed her behest.In the glass she could see the resplendent reflection;but Clorinda did not deign to turn towards her while she addressed her,changing the while the brilliants in her hair.
"Hark you,sister Anne,"she said."I read you better than you think.You are a poor thing,but you love me and--in my fashion--Ithink I love you somewhat too.You think I should not marry a gentleman whom you fancy I do not love as I might a younger,handsomer man.You are full of love,and spinster dreams of it which make you flighty.I love my Lord of Dunstanwolde as well as any other man,and better than some,for I do not hate him.He has a fine estate,and is a gentleman--and worships me.Since I have been promised to him,I own I have for a moment seen another gentleman who MIGHT--but 'twas but for a moment,and 'tis done with.
'Twas too late then.If we had met two years agone 'twould not have been so.My Lord Dunstanwolde gives to me wealth,and rank,and life at Court.I give to him the thing he craves with all his soul--myself.It is an honest bargain,and I shall bear my part of it with honesty.I have no virtues--where should I have got them from,forsooth,in a life like mine?I mean I have no women's virtues;but I have one that is sometimes--not always--a man's.'Tis that Iam not a coward and a trickster,and keep my word when 'tis given.
You fear that I shall lead my lord a bitter life of it.'Twill not be so.He shall live smoothly,and not suffer from me.What he has paid for he shall honestly have.I will not cheat him as weaker women do their husbands;for he pays--poor gentleman--he pays."And then,still looking at the glass,she pointed to the doorway through which her sister had come,and in obedience to her gesture of command,Mistress Anne stole silently away.
