All
his instincts bade him recognise Sylvie as the completion and
fulfilment of his life, and this consciousness was so strong and
imperative that it made him more than gentle to her as he spoke his
first few words, and obtained her consent to escort her to a seat
not far off from the Cardinal, yet removed sufficiently from the
rest of the people to enable them to converse uninterruptedly for a
time. Angela watched them, well pleased;--she too had quick
instincts, and as she noted Sylvie's sudden flush under the
deepening admiration of Aubrey's eyes, she thought to herself, "If
it could only be! If she could forget Fontenelle--if--"
But here her thoughts were interrupted by her own "ideal",--Florian
Varillo who, catching her hand abruptly, drew her aside for a
moment.
"Carissima mia, why did you not introduce the Princesse D'Agramont
to Mr. Leigh rather than the Comtesse Hermenstein? The Princesse is
of his way of thinking,--Sylvie is not!" and he finished his
sentence by slipping an arm round her waist quickly, and whispering
a word which brought the colour to her cheeks and the sparkle to her
eyes, and made her heart beat so quickly that she could not speak
for a moment. Yet she was supposed by the very man whose embrace
thus moved her, to be "passionless!"
"You must not call her 'Sylvie'," she answered at last, "She does
not like such familiarity--even from you!"
"No? Did she tell you so?" and Florian laughed, "What a confiding
little darling you are, Angela! I assure you, Sylvie Hermenstein is
not so very particular--but there! I will not say a word against any
friend of yours! But do you not see she is already trying to make a
fool of Aubrey Leigh?"
Angela looked across the room and saw Leigh's intellectual head
bending closely towards the soft gold of Sylvie's hair, and smiled.
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