Darrell seated himself with a curious expression. It was not the first
time Kate had eluded him thus within the last few days. He had missed of
late certain pleasant little familiarities and light, tender caresses,
to which he had become accustomed, and he began to wonder at this
change in his child companion, as he regarded her.
"What has come over the child?" he soliloquized; "two weeks ago if I had
given her a challenge for a waltz she would have taken me up, but lately
she is as demure as a little nun! We will have to give it up, won't we,
Duke, old boy?" he continued, addressing the collie, whose intelligent
eyes were fastened on his face with a shrewd expression, as though,
aware of the trend of Darrell's thoughts, he, too, considered his
beloved young mistress rather incomprehensible.
The ensuing days were so crowded with preparations for the coming event
and with such constant demands upon Kate's time that Darrell seldom saw
her except at meals, and opportunities for anything like their
accustomed pleasant interchange of confidence were few and far between.
On those rare occasions, however, when he succeeded in meeting her
alone, Darrell could not but be impressed by the subtle and to him
inexplicable change in her manner. She seemed in some way so remotely
removed from the young girl who, but a few days before, in response to
the violin's tale, had confided to him the loneliness of her own life. A
shy, sweet, but impenetrable reserve seemed to have replaced the
childlike familiarity. Her eyes still brightened with welcome at his
approach, but their light was quickly veiled beneath drooping lids, and
through the cadences of her low tones he caught at times the vibration
of a new chord, to whose meaning his ear was as yet unattuned.
He did not know, nor did any other, that within that short time she had
learned her own heart's secret. Child that she was, she had met Love
face to face, and in that one swift, burning glance of recognition the
womanhood within her had expanded as the bud expands, bursting its
imprisoning calyx under the ardent glance of the sun. But Darrell,
seeing only the effect and knowing nothing of the cause, was vaguely
troubled.
On the day of the reception both Mr. Underwood and Darrell lunched and
dined down town, returning together to The Pines in the interim between
the afternoon and evening entertainments. As Darrell sprang from the
carriage and ran up the stairs the servants were already turning on the
lights temporarily suspended within the veranda and throughout the
grounds, so that the place seemed transformed into a bit of fairyland.
He heard chatter and laughter, and caught glimpses of young
ladies--special guests from out of town--flitting from room to room, but
Kate was nowhere to be seen.