They were full of love, trust, pity, and hope. Douglas Dale
had by no means ceased to feel his brother's loss. No, the death of
Lionel, and, even more, the terrible manner of that death, still
pursued him in every waking hour--still haunted him in his dreams; but
sorrow, and especially its isolating tendency, does but quicken and
intensify feelings of tenderness in true and noble hearts.
He drove up to Hilton House with glad expectancy, and his eyes were dim
as he was ushered into the drawing-room in which Paulina sat.
Madame Durski's emotions on this occasion were unspeakably painful. So
well had Miss Brewer played her part, that she had persuaded Paulina
her only chance of escape from immediate arrest lay in borrowing money,
that very day, from Douglas Dale. Paulina's pride revolted; but the
need was pressing, and the unhappy woman yielded.
As she rose to return her visitor's greeting, and stood before him in
the cold January sunset, she was indeed, in all outward seeming, worthy
of any man's admiration.
Remorse and suffering had paled her cheeks; but they had left no
disfiguring traces on her perfect face.
The ivory whiteness of her complexion was, perhaps, her greatest charm,
and her beauty would scarcely have been enhanced by those rosy tints
so necessary to some faces.
To-day she had dressed herself to perfection, fully conscious of the
influence which a woman's costume is apt to exercise over the heart of
the man who loves her.
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