"Is it worth the years of waiting?" she whispered beneath my kisses.
"God knows it!" I answered and lifted her hand to my lips and then
stood utterly still, cold with a sudden, horrible sickness--staring at
this white hand, where, amid sparkling gems, I saw the dull oval of a
scarabaeus ring.
"What is it, Peregrine?" she questioned, a little breathlessly. "This
scarab? It is one my dear pal bought me in Egypt. Come away, dear, let
us run from the crowd--let us steal away together, somewhere--anywhere
--you and I." And speaking, she drew about her shoulders a scarf, a filmy
thing of gossamer, spangled with gold stars. "Quick, Peregrine!" she
breathed. "There is the duke--coming this way, quick--before he spies us!"
"Impossible!" I answered, wondering to hear myself speaking so
lightly. "His Grace has seen us already--besides, your duty lies here
to-night."
"Very well, dear Peregrine," she sighed, "but I had hoped you--you
would have bade me forget duty--a little while."
So she turned away and indistinctly I heard the duke begging her to
sing again; then I watched her go, smiling and bowing to her, but with
a buzzing in my brain and all hell raging in my breast.
A black-bodied chaise--picked out in yellow--red wheels--Captain
Danby!
For a long time I stood in the shadow of the window curtains staring
out upon a moon hidden ever and anon in flying cloud-wrack; but at
last I turned and wandered away with some vague idea of finding
Anthony, and as I went, the lights and glitter, the sounds of voices
and laughter grew ever more distasteful, and turning my back on it
all, I found my way into a wide corridor.
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