What harm was there in living in the home of the man she loved, seeing that they were so far apart in heart as well as in purpose?
"No, I can not tear myself away from the only one I have ever loved!" she cried. "If I were living here with Eugene Mallard as his wife, then my duty would be plain--I would have to leave here at once."
No, no! Come what might, she could not tear herself away from Eugene Mallard.
In the drawer of her writing-desk lay a roll of bills which Eugene had handed her the day before, to purchase new furniture for her suite of rooms.
"Select it the first day you go to the city," he had said.
She had intended purchasing it the following week.
Now she went hurriedly to her desk, took out the roll of bills, and counted them.
There was just a thousand dollars. She drew a great sigh of relief. That would buy Royal Ainsley's eternal silence. Before handing it to him, she would swear him to secrecy forever.
She never knew how she lived through the next day.
There was not a moment that Royal Ainsley's handsome, cruel, sneering face did not appear before her.
How she loathed him! She hated, with fierce, intense hatred, the very sound of his name.
The few guests that were stopping at the house were assembled in the drawing-room, and it was not an easy matter to find some convenient excuse to get away from them.
But when the hands of the clock on the mantel pointed to the hour of eight, she felt that she must get away.
Some one suggested playing a piece of music which she had taken to her room the day before to study.
"I will go and search for it," she said; and with that remark she glided from the room.
How dark the night was! She almost shivered as she touched the graveled walk and hurried down to the brook-side.
When this night had passed away, a life-time of happiness would lay before her. The wind moaned fitfully among the trees, and the branches of the tall oaks swayed to and fro. She heard the murmur of the brook before she reached it, and as she drew near and became accustomed to the dim light, she saw a tall man pacing up and down.
He did not hear the light step on the grass. He was muttering imprecations that made the girl's heart turn cold with dread as she listened. Then he saw her.