Mrs. Gainsborough's Diamonds, Chapters I-IV [pp. 430-442]

APPLETONS' JOURNAL.
She had been absently puckering her handkerchief into folds in her lap. Now she looked up.
"Why do you wish to know where we are going?"
"Because I've taken a great fancy to-to Mr.
Slurk, and I can't bear to think of losing sight of
him!"
I had expected her to laugh and perhaps blush;
instead of that, an expression of something like terror swept over her face, and she laid her finger on
her lip.
"Don't talk of him!" she whispered.
Her emotion had so astonished me that I could
only stare in silence. Here was another mysteryor stay! could it be that Slurk was at the bottom of
all those strange signs and enigmas that I had been
puzzling myself over from the first? I was prepared
to believe whatever amount of evil concerning the
fellow might be required. But what could he have
done, or have it in his power to do, that could so
affect Miss Birchmore? Had he held her life or fortune at the mercy of a word, she could hardly have
betrayed more dismay at my jesting satire.
"It's nothing," she said, recovering herself after
a moment. "Only I don't like him much, and you
-and I wasn't expecting to hear his name just then."
"Heaven knows, it is a very different name I
should have spoken!"
"No, no, no. You have amused yourself with
me to-day; and to-morrow you must find some one
else to amuse you, that's all!"
"Amused myself, Miss Birchmore!
"We!l, Mr. Gainsborough, I'm sorry if I failed
to entertain you. I'm sure I tried hard. But it's
so difficult to entertain an Englishman!"
"Upon my word, I believe you've been laughing
at me from the beginning! But however ridiculous
I may be, Miss Birchmore, I can have thoughts and
feelings that are not ridiculous-"
"Oh, please-please don't be angry. And I'm
sure I never thought you ridiculous-I-oh, anything
but that!"
The tone, the look which accompanied these last
words, made me forget caution and self-possession for
the moment. "Miss Birchmore-O Kate! I cannot lose sight of you-I cannot lose you! Do you
care-is it nothing to you if we never meet after today? Kate, I love you!"
Had the confession come too soon? Was she
offended? She shrank away from me, with a glance,
searching, yet pathetically appealing.
"Do not forget yourself, sir! You are an honorable English gentleman. What have you said?"
"I love you-yes, love you!"
"He loves me," she repeated, slowly, and caught
her breath with a kind of sob. Her eyes fixed themselves on me with an inward look, as of intense reverie. "It must not be! it must not be!-but he
does love me!" Her hands fell in her lap; there were
tears now in her eyes, but a smile quivered over her
lips.
"Why do you say it must not be, Kate? It is!
it shall be!"
I took her hand, which she scarcely attempted to
withdraw; I felt that I had won her, and would hold
her against all comers. Just then a knock came at
the door; she snatched her hand away, and rose to
her feet. Mr. Slurk entered.
"The band is going to play in the court," he
said, in German. "I have kept chairs and a table
for the lady and gentleman beneath the trees."
He made a low obeisance as he spoke, but his
malignant glance never swerved from Kate; and
she, half turning toward him, seemed impelled, by a
power stronger than her own will, to meet it, though
slightly shivering the while with pure aversion. For
my own part, I longed with all my heart to kick the
varlet into the hall, or throw him out of the window.
But prudence warned me to bide my time. If I obtained the footing to which I aspired in Mr. Birchmore's family, I would settle summarily with Mr.
Slurk; meanwhile, I should best consult my interests by conducting myself with all due quietness and
decorum. I offered Kate my arm to lead her from
the room, but, with a barely-perceptible gesture, she
declined it, and walked swiftly before me through
the doorway, Slurk making another deep obeisance
as we passed. The fellow had a smooth, unimpeachable way of getting the better of one that made my
blood boil. I commanded myself, not without an
effort, and nursed my wrath to keep it warm.
When we reached the court the brass-band had
established itself in the little pagoda erected there
for its accommodation, and was just striking up, and
there, sure enough, were a table and chairs awaiting
us beneath the trees. But neither of us was in a
humor to face a crowd of people; and, by a tacit
agreement; we turned to the left, and, crossing the
little plank bridge which spanned the narrow stream
that skirted the hotel-grounds, we found ourselves in
the high-road leading up the valley. Along this we
walked for some distance, both of us silent. At
length the opening of a path presented itself, which
climbed by a zigzag route to the summit of the pineclad hill. Into this we turned, and in a few moments were out of sight of alien eyes amid the thickgrowing hemlocks. The ascent was steep, and at
the first turning in the path my beautiful companion
paused for breath.
"Will you take my arm now, Kate?" I said.
With a faint smile she complied.
"Just for this once," I heard her murmur, seemingly speaking to herself. "Never again-but this
once I will."
"Now, Kate," I said, resolutely, bending forward
so as to catch her eye, "let us have done with mysteries. No more' never-agains' and'just-this-onces,'
if you please! First, I want you to tell me whether
you love me."
She drew her breath hard.
"I can tell you nothing, Mr. Gainsborough-"
"You shall not call me'Mr. Gainsborough.'
If you can't call me' Tom,' call me nothing; but I
will never be' Mr. Gainsborough' to you again!"
"I thought we were to have no more'neveragains?'" she rejoined, with a passing sparkle of
the old playfulness in her air.
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