At Love's Cost Part 40

There was but a short stay made in the drawing-room, and before ten o'clock the guests streamed into the magnificent ball-room.

There were a number of the neighbouring gentry who were making their acquaintance with the Villa for the first time, and they regarded the splendour around them with an amazement which was not without reason; for to-night the artistically designed and shaded electric lamps, the beautiful rooms with their chaste yet effective decorations, on which money had been lavished like water, were seen to their greatest advantage; and the Vaynes, the Bannerdales, and the local gentry generally exchanged glances and murmured exclamations of surprise and admiration, and wondered whether there could be any end to the wealth of a man who could raise such a palace in so short a time.

From the gallery of white-and-gold the famous band, every man of which was a musician, presently began to send forth the sweet strains of a Waldteufel waltz, and Stafford found Lady Clansford for the first dance. Though he had paid little attention to Howard's remarks about Maude Falconer, he remembered them, and he did not ask her for a dance until the ball had been running about an hour; then he went up to where she was standing talking to Lord Bunnerdale, her last partner. His lords.h.i.+p and Stafford had already met, and Lord Bannerdale, who admired and liked Stafford, nodded pleasantly.

"I was just saying to Miss Falconer that I wish Fate had made me a great financier instead of a country squire, Orme! By Jove! this place is a perfect--er--dream; and, when I think of my damp old house--"

"What frightful language!" said Stafford.

Lord Bannerdale laughed.

"If Miss Falconer had not been present, I might just as well have used the other word. I say I can't help envying your father that magician's wand with which he manages to raise such marvels. I'm going to find him and tell him so!"

"A dance?" said Maude, as Stafford proffered his request. "Yes, I have one, only one; it is this."

He put his arm round her, and as he did so her eyes half closed and her lip quivered at his touch. Stafford waltzed well, and Maude was far and away the best dancer in the room; they moved as one body in the slow and graceful modern waltz, and Stafford, in the enjoyment of this perfect poetry of motion, forgot everything, even his partner; but he came back from his reverie as she suddenly paused.

"Are you tired?" he asked. "By George! how perfectly you waltz! I've never enjoyed a dance more."

A faint colour rose to her face--it had been very pale a moment before--and she looked at him with an earnestness which rather puzzled him.

"They say that to agree in waltzing is an unfortunate thing for those who wish to be friends."

"Do they?" he said, with a smile. "I wonder who it is says all those silly things? Now, what nonsense this one is, for instance! To enjoy a dance as I've just enjoyed this, puts a man in a good temper with himself and his partner; and, of course, makes him feel more friendly.

I'm not a good logician, but that sounds all right, doesn't it?"

"Yes," she said in a low voice. "No, I won't dance any more. I--I am a little tired to-night and disinclined for dancing."

"All right," he said. "I'm sorry--both that you won't dance and the cause. You have been doing too much to-day--too long a ride, I expect.

These hills are rather trying to those who are not used to them. Shall we go and sit in that recess? I'll bring you some wine--"

"No, thanks," she said, quickly; she could not bear him to leave her.

He led her to one of the recesses leading on to the fernery, and found her a seat near a softly plas.h.i.+ng fountain. The lights were shaded with rose-coloured silk and threw a soft, warm glow upon her face and snowy neck.

For the hundredth time, as he looked at her, he thought how beautiful she was, and for the hundredth time compared her to Ida, of course to his sweetheart's advantage. She leant back in the luxurious lounge with her eyes bent on her jewelled fan, and seemed lost in thought. Then suddenly she said:

"Do you know how long we have been here, Mr. Orme? It is a tremendous time. I told my father to-night that we must take our departure."

"Oh, no!" he said. "Pray don't think of it--if you care to stay, if you are happy. You would be a very serious loss to us."

"If I care--if I am happy!" She laughed a low, strange laugh and raised her eyes to his for an instant. "Do you think I have not been happy?"

"Oh, I hope so," he said. "My father would be awfully cut up if he thought you had not: if he thought there had been anything to prevent your being happy he would remove it even if it--it were one of those mountains outside," he added, with a laugh.

"You admire your father?" she said. "You--are fond of him?"

Stafford nodded. It seemed an unnecessary question.

"Rather!" he said. "There never was such a father as mine!"

"And Sir Stephen thinks there never was such a son as his," she said in a low voice. "I suppose you are both quite willing to make sacrifices for each other. Would you do--would you give up much for your father, Mr. Orme?"

She raised her eyes again, and let them rest on his.

Stafford tried to smile, but his face grew grave.

"Just my life, if it were any use to him," he said.

Her lips moved.

"That is so little!" she said. "We can all die for those we love, but few of us can live for them--go on living a life which has to be moulded to a plan, bent on another's will--Could you do that?"

"Yes," he said, after a pause. "There is no sacrifice I would not make for my father's sake; but"--he laughed and cleared the gravity from his brow--"all the sacrifice seems to be on his side. He has worked for me all his life, is working still, I'm afraid--Here is _your_ father, Miss Falconer; and looking for you, I'm afraid."

Ralph Falconer stood in the doorway looking round, his heavy face seeming heavier than usual, his thick lips drooping. As he saw the two young people, his lips straightened and he went over to them slowly.

"I hope you are not going to take Miss Falconer away, sir?" said Stafford.

Ralph Falconer shook his head, and, avoiding his daughter's eye, said:

"Sir Stephen wants to see you in the library, Mr. Orme, and wishes me to accompany you."

"Certainly, if Miss Falconer will excuse me."

He rose, and he fancied her hand trembled slightly as it rested almost as lightly as a feather on his arm.

"I'll take you to Lady Clansford--"

"There is no need: here is my next partner," she said, as the "beautiful, bountiful Bertie" came up smiling and buoyant.

"Anything the matter, sir?" asked Stafford, as he and Falconer made their way round the room through which was floating the last thing in waltzes, a soft and sensuous melody which sang the soul to rest.

"I think not. A matter of business, I think," said Ralph Falconer. "His secretary, Mr. Murray, has just come from London: it may be something to do with the papers he had brought."

Stafford nodded, though the explanation seemed unsatisfactory: for what concern had Stafford with the "papers"? As they went through the hall they saw the financiers cl.u.s.tered together with an expectant air, as if they were waiting for the result of the arrival of the man by the special train; and they stared at Falconer and exchanged glances as he and Stafford pa.s.sed them and went to the library door.

Sir Stephen's voice came cheerily in response to Stafford's knock, and Stafford entered; Falconer following him with bent head and the same heavy look.

Sir Stephen was sitting at the table before a despatch box, and he held out his hand and uttered a little cry of pleasure as he saw who it was.

"Stafford, my boy! You could not have come at a better moment--Don't go, Falconer! I'd like you to hear me tell him the good news. I've got it here!"

He patted the despatch case. "This is Pandora's box, Staff! With something better than Hope at the bottom: Certainty!"

He laughed quietly, confidently, and his bright eyes flashed under their dark brows from one to the other.

"Murray has just arrived, Falconer, with the good news!" he took out the gold chain to which the key of the despatch box was fastened, and inserted it in the lock. "The good news, Staff! I haven't bothered and bored you with details; but you know, my dear boy, that I have had a big scheme on hand for some time past--a very big scheme. It has been rather a touch-and-go business, but I think I have managed to pull it off--eh, Falconer? The last day or two has been one of suspense--great suspense--but success has come. You don't care for money, Staff, I know. Nor do I. Honestly, no! Not for the mere money, but for what it can buy and bring. But even you will have some respect for a million and a half, Staff."