"love, thou art bitter."

—blaine.

mr. amherst, having in a weak moment given his consent to the ball, repays himself by being as unamiable afterward as he can well manage.

"you can have your music and the supper from london, if you wish it," he says to marcia, one day, when he has inveighed against the whole proceeding in language that borders on the abusive; "but if you think i am going to have an army of decorators down here, turning the house into a fancy bazar, and making one feel a stranger in one's own rooms, you are very much mistaken."

"i think you are right, dear," marcia answers, with her customary meekness: "people of that kind are always more trouble than anything else. and no doubt we shall be able to do all that is necessary quite as well ourselves."

"as to that you can, of course, please yourself. though why you cannot dance without filling the rooms with earwigs and dying flowers i can't conceive."

mr. amherst's word being like the law of the medes and persians, that altereth not, no one disputes it. they couple a few opprobrious epithets with his name just at first, but finally, putting on an air of resolution, declare themselves determined and ready to outdo any decorators in the kingdom.

"we shall wake up in the morning after the ball to find ourselves famous," says lady stafford. "the county will ring with our praises. but we must have help: we cannot depend upon broken reeds." with a reproachful glance at sir penthony, who is looking the picture of laziness. "talbot lowry, of course, will assist us; he goes without saying."

"i hope he will come without saying," puts in sir penthony; "it would be much more to the purpose. any smart young tradesmen among your fellows, mottie?"

"unless grainger. you know grainger, lady stafford?"

"indeed i do. what! is he stationed with you now? he must have re-joined very lately."

"only the other day. would he be of any use to you?"

"the very greatest."

"what! spooney?" says tedcastle, laughing. "i don't believe he could climb a ladder to save his life. think of his pretty hands and his sweet little feet."

"and his lisp,—and his new eyeglass," says stafford.

"never mind; i will have him here," declares cecil, gayly. "in spite of all you say, i positively adore that grainger boy."

"you seem to have a passion for fools," says sir penthony, a little bitterly, feeling some anger toward her.

"and you seem to have a talent for incivility," retorts she, rather nettled. this ends the conversation.

nevertheless mr. grainger is asked to come and give what assistance he can toward adorning herst, which, when they take into consideration the ladylike whiteness of his hands and the general imbecility of his countenance, is not set at a very high value.

he is a tall, lanky youth, with more than the usual allowance of bone, but rather less of intellect; he is, however, full of ambition and smiles, and is amiability itself all round. he is also desperately addicted to lady stafford. he has a dear little moustache, that undergoes much encouragement from his thumb and first finger, and he has a captivating way of saying "how charming!" or, "very sweet," to anything that pleases him. and, as most things seem to meet his approbation, he makes these two brilliant remarks with startling frequency.

to cecil he is a joy. in him she evidently finds a fund of amusement, as, during the three days it takes them to convert the ball-room, tea-room, etc., into perfumed bowers, she devotes herself exclusively to his society.

perhaps the undisguised chagrin of sir penthony and talbot lowry as they witness her civility to grainger goes far to add a zest to her enjoyment of that young man's exceedingly small talk.

after dinner on the third day all is nearly completed. a few more leaves, a few more flowers, a wreath or two to be distributed here and there, is all that remains to be done.

"i hate decorating in october," cecil says. "there is such a dearth of flowers, and the gardeners get so greedy about the house plants. every blossom looks as if it had been made the most of."

"well, i don't know," replies mr. grainger, squeezing his glass into his eye with much difficulty, it being a new importation and hard to manage. when he has altered all his face into an appalling grin, and completely blocked the sight of one eye, he goes on affably: "i think all this—er—very charming."

"no? do you? i'm so glad. do you know i believe you have wonderful taste? the way in which you tied that last bunch of trailing ivy had something about it absolutely artistic."

"if it hadn't fallen to pieces directly afterward, which rather spoiled the effect," says sir penthony, with an unkind smile.

"did it? how sad! but then the idea remains, and that is everything. now, mr. grainger, please stand here—(will you move a little bit, sir penthony? thanks)—just here—while i go up this ladder to satisfy myself about these flowers. by the bye,"—pausing on one of the rungs to look back,—"suppose i were to fall? do you think you could catch me?"

"i only wish you would give me the opportunity of trying," replies he, weakly.

"beastly puppy!" mutters sir penthony, under his breath.

"perhaps i shall, if you are good. now look. are they straight? do they look well?" asks cecil.

"very sweet," replies mr. grainger.

"potts, hand me up some nails," exclaims lowry, impatiently, who is on another ladder close by, and has been an attentive and disgusted listener; addressing potts, who stands lost in contemplation of grainger. "look sharp, can't you? and tell me what you think of this." pointing to his design on the wall. "is it 'all your fancy painted it?' is it 'lovely' and 'divine?' answer."

"very sour, i think," returns mr. potts, hitting off grainger's voice to a nicety, while maintaining a countenance sufficiently innocent to border on the imbecile.

both sir penthony and lowry laugh immoderately, while cecil turns away to hide the smile that may betray her. grainger himself is the only one wholly unconscious of any joke. he smiles, indeed, genially, because they smile, and happily refrains from inquiry of any sort.

meantime in the tea-room—that opens off the supper-room, where the others are engaged—molly and philip are busy arranging bouquets chosen from among a basketful of flowers that has just been brought in by one of the under-gardeners.

philip is on his knees,—almost at molly's feet,—while she bends over him searching for the choicest buds.

"what a lovely ring!" says philip, presently, staying in his task to take her hand and examine the diamond that glitters on it. "was it a present?"

"of course. where could such a 'beggar-maid' as i am get money enough to buy such a ring?"

"will you think me rude if i ask you the every-day name of your king cophetua?"

"i have no king cophetua."

"then tell me where you got it?"

"what a question!" lightly. "perhaps from my own true love. perhaps it is the little fetter that seals my engagement to him. perhaps it isn't."

"yet you said just now——"

"about that eccentric king? well, i spoke truly. royalty has not yet thrown itself at my feet. still,"—coquettishly,—"that is no reason why i should look coldly upon all commoners."

"be serious, molly, for one moment," he entreats, the look of passionate earnestness she so much dislikes coming over his face, darkening instead of brightening it. "sometimes i am half mad with doubt. tell me the truth,—now,—here. are you engaged? is there anything between you and—luttrell?"

the spirit of mischief has laid hold of molly. she cares nothing at all for shadwell. of all the men she has met at herst he attracts her least. she scarcely understands the wild love with which she has inspired him; she cannot sympathize with his emotion.

"well, if you compel me to confess it," she says, lowering her eyes, 'there is."

"it is true, then!" cries he, rising to his feet and turning deadly pale. "my fears did not deceive me."

"quite true. there is a whole long room 'between me' and mr. luttrell and"—dropping her voice—"you." here she laughs merrily and with all her heart. to her it is a jest,—no more.

"how a woman—the very best woman—loves to torture!" exclaims he, anger and relief struggling in his tone. "oh, that i dared believe that latter part of your sentence,—that i could stand between you and all the world!"

"'fain would i climb, but that i fear to fall,'" quotes molly, jestingly. "you know the answer? 'if thy heart fail thee, do not climb at all.'"

"is that a challenge?" demands he, eagerly, going nearer to her.

"i don't know." waving him back. "hear the oracle again. i feel strong in appropriate rhyme to-night:

"'he either fears his fate too much,

or his deserts are small,

who fears to put it to the touch

to win or lose it all.'"

they are quite alone. some one has given the door leading to the adjoining apartment a push that has entirely closed it. molly, in her white evening gown and pale-blue ribbons, with a bunch of her favorite roses at her breast, is looking up at him, a little mocking smile upon her lips. she is cold,—perhaps a shade amused,—without one particle of sentiment.

"i fear nothing," cries philip, in a low impassioned tone, made unwisely bold by her words, seizing her hands and pressing warm, unwelcome kisses on them; "whether i win or lose, i will speak now. yet what shall i tell you that you do not already know? i love you,—my idol,—my darling! oh, molly! do not look so coldly on me."

"don't be earnest, philip," interrupts she, with a frown, and a sudden change of tone, raising her head, and regarding him with distasteful hauteur; "there is nothing i detest so much; and your earnestness especially wearies me. when i spoke i was merely jesting, as you must have known. i do not want your love. i have told you so before. let my hands go, philip; your touch is hateful to me."

he drops her hands as though they burned him; and she, with flushed cheeks and a still frowning brow, turns abruptly away, leaving him alone,—angered, hurt, but still adoring.

ten minutes later, her heart—a tender one—misgives her. she has been unjust to him,—unkind. she will return and make such reparation as lies in her power.

with a light step she returns to the tea-room, where she left him, and, looking gently in, finds he has neither stirred nor raised his head since her cruel words cut him to the heart. ten minutes,—a long time,—and all consumed in thoughts of her! feeling still more contrite, she approaches him.

"why, philip," she says, with an attempt at playfulness, "still enduring 'grinding torments?' what have i said to you? you have taken my foolish words too much to heart. that is not wise. sometimes i hardly know myself what it is i have been saying."

she has come very near to him,—so near that gazing up at him appealingly, she brings her face in dangerously close proximity to his. a mad desire to kiss the lips that sue so sweetly for a pardon fills him, yet he dares not do it. although a man not given to self-restraint where desire is at elbow urging him on, he now stands subdued, unnerved, in molly's presence.

"have i really distressed you?" asks she, softly, his strange silence rendering her still more remorseful. "come,"—laying her hand upon his arm,—"tell me what i have done."

"'sweet, you have trod on a heart,'" quotes philip, in so low a tone as to be almost unheard. he crosses his hand tightly over hers for an instant; a moment later, and it is she who—this time—finds herself alone.

in the next room success is crowning their efforts. when molly re-enters, she finds the work almost completed. just a finishing touch here and there, and all is ended.

"i suppose i should consider myself in luck: i have still a little skin left," says sir penthony, examining his hand with tender solicitude. "i don't think i fancy decorating: i shan't take to the trade."

"you—should have put on gloves, you know, and that," says grainger, who is regarding his dainty fingers with undisguised sadness,—something that is almost an expression on his face.

"but isn't it awfully pretty?" says lady stafford, gazing round her with an air of pride.

"awfully nice," replies molly.

"quite too awfully awful," exclaims mr. potts, with exaggerated enthusiasm, and is instantly suppressed.

"if you cannot exhibit greater decorum, potts, we shall be obliged to put your head in a bag," says sir penthony, severely. "i consider 'awfully' quite the correct word. what with the ivy and the gigantic size of those paper roses, the room presents quite a startling appearance."

"well, i'm sure they are far prettier than lady harriet nitemair's; and she made such a fuss about hers last spring," says cecil, rather injured.

"not to be named in the same day," declares luttrell, who had not been at lady harriet nitemair's.

"why, tedcastle, you were not there; you were on your way home from india at that time."

"was i? by jove! so i was. never mind, i take your word for it, and stick to my opinion," replies luttrell, unabashed.

"i really think we ought to christen our work." mr. potts puts in dreamily, being in a thirsty mood; and christened it is in champagne.

potts himself, having drunk his own and every one else's health many times, grows gradually gayer and gayer. to wind up this momentous evening without making it remarkable in any way strikes him as being a tame proceeding. "to do or die" suddenly occurs to him, and he instantly acts upon it.

seeing his two former allies standing rather apart from the others, he makes for them and thus addresses them:

"tell you what," he says, with much geniality, "it feels like christmas, and crackers, and small games, don't it? i feel up to anything. and i have a capital idea in my head. wouldn't it be rather a joke to frighten the others?"

"it would," says cecil, decidedly.

"would it?" says molly, diffidently.

"i have a first-rate plan; i can make you both look so like ghosts that you would frighten the unsuspecting into fits."

"first, plantagenet, before we go any further into your ghostly schemes, answer me this: is there any gunpowder about it?"

"none." laughing. "you just dress yourselves in white sheets, or that, and hold a plate in your hands filled with whiskey and salt, and—there you are. you have no idea of the tremendous effect. you will be more like a corpse than anything you can imagine."

"how cheerful!" murmurs cecil. "you make me long for the 'sheets and that.'"

"do the whiskey and the salt ever blow up?" asks molly, cautiously. "because if so——"

"no, they don't; of course not. say nothing about it to the others, and we shall astonish them by and by. it is an awfully becoming thing, too," says potts, with a view to encouragement; "you will look like marble statues."

"we are trusting you again," says cecil, regarding him fixedly. "plantagenet, if you should again be our undoing——"

"not the slightest fear of a fiasco this time," says potts, comfortably.