At length she said: "You have made no reply to my last remark. Are we to
be friends, and not lovers? Or shall you cherish enmity against me? Or,
worse still,"--and here she laughed, I thought, a little
ironically,--"avoid me, and be as icy as you have been--fervid?"
"Mrs. Falchion," I said, "your enemy I do not wish to be--I could not be
if I wished; but, for the rest, you must please let me see what I may
think of myself to-morrow. There is much virtue in to-morrow," I added.
"It enables one to get perspective."
"I understand," she said; and then was silent. We walked the deck slowly
for several minutes. Then we were accosted by two ladies of a committee
that had the fancy-dress ball in hand. They wished to consult Mrs.
Falchion in certain matters of costume and decoration, for which, it had
been discovered, she had a peculiar faculty. She turned to me half
inquiringly, and I bade her good-night, inwardly determined (how easy it
is after having failed to gratify ourselves!) that the touch of her
fingers should never again make my heart beat faster.
I joined Colonel Ryder and Clovelly in the smoking-room.
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