The Governors | Page 4

you know,
was brought up at a farmhouse."
Her eyes smiled at him across the table.

"You should see my room," she said, "at home. It is just about as large
as the cupboard in which I am supposed to keep my dresses here."
"I hope," he said, "that you will like where Mrs. Perrin has put you."
"Like!" she gasped. "I don't believe that I could have ever imagined
anything like it. Do you know that I have a big bathroom of my own,
with a marble floor, and a sitting-room so beautiful that I am afraid
almost to look into it. I don't believe I'll ever be able to go to bed."
"In a week," he said indulgently, "you will become quite used to these
things. In a month you would miss them terribly if you had to give
them up."
Her face was suddenly grave. He looked across at her keenly.
"What are you thinking of?" he asked.
"I was thinking," she answered, after a moment's hesitation, "of Stella. I
was wondering what it must be to her to have to give up all these
beautiful things."
His expression hardened a little. The smile had passed from his lips.
"You never knew your cousin, I think?" he asked.
"Never," she admitted.
"Then I do not think," he said, "that you need waste your sympathy
upon her. Tell me, do you see that young lady in a mauve-coloured
dress and a large hat, sitting three tables to the left of us?"
She looked across and nodded.
"Of course I do," she answered. "How handsome she is, and what a
strange-looking man she has with her! He looks very clever."
Her uncle smiled once more, but his face lacked its benevolent
expression.

"The man is clever," he answered. "His name is Norris Vine, and he is
a journalist, part owner of a newspaper, I believe. He is one of those
foolish persons who imagine themselves altruists, and who are always
trying to force their opinions upon other people. The young lady with
him--is my daughter and your cousin."
Virginia's great eyes were opened wider than ever. Her lips parted,
showing her wonderful teeth. The pink colour stained her cheeks.
"Do you mean that that is Stella?" she exclaimed.
Her uncle nodded, and paused for a moment to give an order to a
passing _maître d'hôtel_.
"Yes!" he resumed, "that is Stella, and that is the man for whose sake
she robbed me."
Virginia was still full of wonder.
"But you did not speak to her when she came in!" she said. "You
nodded to the man, but took no notice of her!"
"I do not expect," he said quietly, "ever to speak to her again. I have
been a kind father; I think that on the whole I am a good-natured man,
but there are things which I do not forgive, and which I should forgive
my own flesh and blood less even than I should a stranger."
The colour faded from her cheeks.
"It seems terrible," she murmured.
"As for the man," he continued, "he is my enemy, although it is only a
matter of occasional chances which can make him in any way
formidable. We speak because we are enemies. When you have had a
little more experience, you will find that that is how the game is played
here."
She was silent for several minutes. Her uncle turned his head, and
immediately two _maîtres d'hôtel_ and several waiters came rushing up.

He gave a trivial order and dismissed them. Then he looked across at
his niece, whose appetite seemed suddenly to have failed her.
"Tell me," he said, "what is the matter with you, Virginia?"
"I am a little afraid of you," she answered frankly. "I should be a little
afraid of any one who could talk like that about his own child."
He smiled softly.
"You have the quality," he said, "which I admire most in your sex, and
find most seldom. You are candid. You come from a little world where
sentiment almost governs life. It is not so here. I am a kind man, I
believe, but I am also just. My daughter deceived me, and for deceit I
have no forgiveness. Do you still think me cruel, Virginia?"
"I am wondering," she answered frankly. "You see, I have read about
you in the papers, and I was terribly frightened when mother told me
that I was to come. Directly I saw you, you seemed quite a different
person, and now again I am afraid."
"Ah!" he sighed, "that terrible Press of ours! They told you, I suppose,
that I was hard, unscrupulous, unforgiving, a money-making machine,
and all the rest of it. Do you think that I look like that, Virginia?"
"I am very sure