in ten minutes a fair lady may do much to enhance her fairness. as mistress bellairs took a last look at her mirror, while lydia bustled out to call a hired chair, she bestowed upon her reflection a smile of approval which indeed so charming an image could not fail to call forth. then she huddled herself in a mysterious and all enveloping cloak, caught up a little velvet mask from the table, and sped upon her errand. she sallied forth as the gallant soldier might to battle, with a beating heart yet a high one.
lord verney and captain spicer had just finished breakfast at the former's lodgings in pierrepoint street, near north parade. captain spicer, babbling ineptly of his own experience as a duellist, of his scorn of sir jasper's lunacy, yet of his full determination to slay the vile madman, had done ample justice to his young principal's table. but lord verney, his cheek now darkly flushed, now spread with an unwholesome pallor, found it hard to swallow even a mouthful of bread, and restlessly passed from the contemplation of the clock and the setting of his watch to the handling of his pistols, or the hasty addition of yet another postscript to the ill-spelt, blotted farewell epistle he had spent half the night in inditing to the dowager his mother: "in case, you know..." he had said to his friend, with a quiver in his voice.
captain spicer had earnestly promised to carry out his patron's last wishes in the most scrupulous manner.
"my dear lord," he had said, grasping him by the hand, "rely upon me. gad, sir jasper is a devil of a shot i hear, and of course, he, he! we all know the saying—the strength of a madman. but no sooner has he laid you, harry, than i vow, upon my honour, i shall hold him at my sword's point. i will revenge thee, harry, never fear of that. 'twill be a mighty genteel story, and the world will ring with it. egad, he will not be the first i have spitted as easy as your cook would spit a turkey. have i not learnt of the great angelo malevolti himself? he, he—'a woman's hand,' he would say, 'and the devil's head!'"
here captain spicer shook out his bony fingers from the encumbering ruffles and contemplated them with much satisfaction.
"oh, hang you, spicer, be quiet, can't you!" cried lord verney petulantly.
the captain leant back on his chair and began to pick his teeth with a silver toothpick.
"pooh, these novices!" said he, as if to himself. "keep your nerves steady, my lord, or, stab me, i may as well order the mourning-coach before we start. he, he! 'tis well, indeed, you have a friend to stand by you!"
a discreet tap was heard at the door, and lord verney's impassive new servant (especially engaged on his behalf by the captain, who indeed, some ill-natured wag had it, shared his wages and perquisites) stood in the doorway.
"there is a lady downstairs, my lord," he said in his mechanical voice. "she particularly requests to see your lordship and will take no denial, although i informed her that your lordship was like to be engaged until late in the morning."
lord verney merely stared in amazement; but captain spicer sprang up from his chair, his pale eyes starting with curiosity.
"a lady, gad! verney, you dog, what is this? a lady, ned? stay, is she tall and fair and slight?"
"no, sir, she is under-sized, and seems plump, though she is wrapt in so great a cloak i could hardly tell."
"pretty, man?"
"cannot say, sir, she wears a mask."
"a mask? he, verney, verney, this is vastly interesting! and she won't go away, eh, ned?"
"no, sir, she must see his lordship, she said, if only for five minutes."
"plump, under-sized, masked," ejaculated captain spicer in burning perplexity. "gad, we have ten minutes yet, we will have her up, eh, verney? show her up, ned."
the servant withdrew, unheeding lord verney's stammered protest.
"really, captain spicer," said he, "i would have liked to have kept these last ten minutes for something serious. i would have liked," said the lad with a catch in his voice and a hot colour on his cheek, "to have read a page of my bible before starting, were it only for my mother's sake, afterwards."
the led captain threw up hand and eye in unfeigned horror.
"a page of your bible! zounds! if it gets out, we are the laughing-stock of bath. a page of your bible! 'tis well no one heard you but i."
"hush!" said lord verney, for in the doorway stood their visitor. 'twas indeed a little figure, wrapt in a great cloak, and except for the white hand that held the folds, and the glimpse of round chin and cherry lip that was trembling beneath the curve of the mask, there was naught else to betray her identity, to tell whether she were young or old, well-favoured or disinherited. but it was a charming little hand, and an engaging little chin.
lord verney merely stood and stared like the boy he was. but captain spicer leaped forward with a spring like a grasshopper, and crossing his lean shanks, he presented a chair with the killing grace of which he alone was master. the lady entered the room, put her hand on the back of the chair, and turned upon captain spicer.
"i would see lord verney alone, sir," she said. it was a very sweet voice, but it was imperious. the masked lady had all the air of one who was accustomed to instant obedience.
in vain captain spicer leered and languished; the black eyes gleamed from behind the disguise very coldly and steadily back at him. forced to withdraw, he endeavoured to do so with wit and elegance, but he was conscious somehow of cutting rather a poor figure; and under the unknown one's hand the door closed upon him with so much energy as to frustrate utterly his last bow.
kitty bellairs deliberately turned the key in the lock, and put it in her pocket. lord verney started forward, but was arrested by the sound of his own name, pronounced in the most dulcet and plaintive tone he thought he had ever heard.
"lord verney," said kitty, flinging back her cloak and hood and allowing her pretty brown curls, and a hint of the most perfect shape in bath, to become visible to the young peer's bewildered gaze. "lord verney," said she, and clasped her hands, "a very, very unhappy woman has come to throw herself upon your compassion."
"madam," said lord verney, "what can i do for you?" his boyish soul was thrilled by these gentle accents of grief; he thought he saw a tear running down the white chin; the rounded bosom heaved beneath its bewitching disorder of lace. he glanced at the clock and back at the suppliant in a cruel perplexity. "madam," said he, "time presses; i have but a few minutes to give you. tell me, madam, how can i serve you? to do so will be a comfort to me in what is perhaps the last hour of my life."
the lady gave a cry as soft as a dove's, and as plaintive.
"oh," said she, "it is true, then, what i heard?" and the white hands were wrung together as in extremest anguish.
"madam," cried he, with outspread arms, and, though without daring to touch her, drawing closer, so close as to hear the quick catch of her breath and to inhale the subtle fragrance of violets that emanated from her.
"oh," said she, "it is true!" she staggered and caught at the fastenings of her cloak and threw it open.
"you are faint," he cried, strangely moved; "let me call."
but she caught him by the hand. her fingers were curiously warm for one seized with faintness, but the touch of them was pleasant to the young man as never woman's touch had been before. out flew the fellow hand to keep his prisoner, and they clung round his great boy's wrist.
he never knew how, but suddenly he was on his knees before her.
"you are going to fight," said she, "to fight with sir jasper. oh, my god, you do not know, but it is because of me, and if you fight it will break my heart." she leant forward to look eagerly at him as he knelt. her breath fanned his cheek. through her mask he saw beautiful black eyes, deep, deep. how white the skin was upon her neck and chin—how fine its grain! what little wanton curls upon her head! what a fragrance of flowers in the air! how he longed to pluck that mask away—and yet how the very mystery lured him, held him!
"who are you?" said he, in a low quick whisper. "let me see your face."
she forbade his indiscreet hand with a little shriek.
"no, no, no, you must never see, never know; that would be terrible."
then he placed both his hands, all unconsciously, upon hers, and then she caught them both and held them, and he felt that her weak grasp was to him as strong as iron.
"why do you fight?" said she. "tell me."
he blushed.
"'tis for nothing, the merest misunderstanding. sir jasper is mad, i think."
"sir jasper is jealous," breathed she, and nearer came the gaze of the eyes. "is it true that you love lady standish?"
"i?" cried he vehemently, and rapped out a great oath—so eager was he to deny. "i? no! god is my witness. no!"
"then do not fight," said she.
he wanted to look at the clock; he wanted to spring up and rush to the door; he was conscious that spicer was knocking gently, and that it was time to go where the conventions of honour called him. the soft clasp held him, and the mysterious eyes. he was a very boy, and had never loved before, and—she was masked!
"let me advise you," said she. "believe me, your welfare is dearer to me than you can imagine—dearer to me than i ought to tell you. believe me, if you give up this duel you will live to be glad of it. sir jasper will thank you no later than this very day, as never man thanked man before. and you will make me so happy! oh, believe me, your honour is safe with me."
"only let me see your face," said he, while spicer knocked louder. "i will see her, and kiss her," he thought to himself, "and that will be something to carry to my death."
"how dare you ask it?" she said. "must i grant your request when you refuse me mine?"
"and if i grant you yours," said he, as his heart beat very fast, "what will you give me?"
"oh, give," said she, "give! who cares for gifts? a man must take." her red lip beneath the mask here became arched so bewitchingly over a row of the whitest teeth in all the world, that harry verney, whose head had been rapidly going, lost it and his heart together.
"that is a challenge," said he, as he drew a hand away and lifted it to the mask.
"ah, traitor!" she cried, and made a dainty start of resistance. his fingers trembled on the soft scented locks.
"you shall not," said she, and bent her head to avoid his touch, so that as he knelt their faces were closer together than ever.
"oh!" cried he, and kissed her on the chin beneath the mask.
