The Unseen Bridegroom | Page 7

gentleman of
taste to see me play yet and not take a violent fancy to me. Pray go on."
If Miss Dane wished, in her wickedness, to utterly disconcert her
middle-aged admirer, she could not have adopted a surer plan. For fully
five minutes he sat staring in hopeless silence.
"Have you anything more to say?" queried the dauntless Mollie, pulling
out her watch. "Because, if you have, you will please say it at once. My
time is precious, I assure you. Rehearsal is at three, and after rehearsal
there are the spangles to sew on my dress, and after that--"
"I beg your pardon, Miss Dane; I have a great deal more to say, and if
you will listen you need never attend rehearsal again, and never sew on
spangles any more."
"Indeed!"
The blue eyes opened very wide in a fixed, unwinking stare.
"I like you very much, Miss Dane--so much that I think it is a thousand
pities you should waste your youth, and beauty, and genius on desert
air. So--"
"Yes," said Miss Dane--"so you have fallen in love with me at first
sight. Is that what you are trying to say?"
"No!" responded Mr. Walraven, emphatically. "I am not in the least in
love with you, and never mean to be--in that way."
"Oh, in what way, then, Mr. Walraven?"
"I am a rich man, Miss Dane, and a lonely man very often, and I should
like to have a daughter to cheer my old age--a daughter like you,

Mistress Cricket, saucy and bright, and so pretty that it will be a
pleasure only to look at her."
"And a very complimentary papa you will make. Have you no
daughters of your own, Mr. Walraven?"
"None, Miss Mollie. I have the misfortune to have no wife."
"And never mean to have?"
"Can't say about that. I may one day."
"And you are quite sure you will never want me to fill that vacant
honor?"
"Surer than sure, my dear little girl I want you only for my adopted
daughter."
"And you never saw me before last night?"
"Never," said Carl Walraven, unflinchingly.
"You are a very rich man, you say?"
"Very rich--a millionaire--and you shall be my heiress when I die."
"I am afraid I shall be a very long time out of my inheritance, then.
Well, this is a surprise, and you are the oddest gentleman I have met for
some time. Please let me catch my breath! You are quite certain you are
not playing a practical joke at my expense all this time?"
"No! upon my word and honor, no! I mean precisely what I say."
"And supposing I say yes--supposing I agree to go with you, for the fun
of the thing, what do you mean to do with me, Mr. Walraven?"
"To treat you as I would a Miss Walraven of seventeen years old, if
there were such a person; to fill your pockets with money, and your
wardrobe with fine clothes; to give you a horse to ride, and a piano to

play, a carriage to drive in, and a waiting-maid to scold. What more can
I do? I will give you masters to teach you everything under the sun.
Balls, parties, and the opera at will--everything, in short, your heart can
desire."
The starry eyes sparkled, the rose-tinted cheeks flushed with delight.
"I can not believe it; it is too good to be true. Oh, you can't mean it, Mr.
Walraven. No one ever had their wildest flight of fancy realized in this
manner."
"You shall if you will become my daughter. If my promise proves false,
are you not free to return? There are no ogres nowadays to carry young
ladies off to enchanted palaces and eat them. Come with me to my
home in New York. If I fail in aught I have promised, why, return
here."
Mollie brought her two little palms together with an enthusiastic slap.
"I'll do it, Mr. Walraven! I know it's all a dream and an illusion, but still
I'll see the dream to the end; that is, if you can make it all right with Mr.
Harkner, the manager."
"I can make it all right!" exclaimed Mr. Walraven. "Money can do
anything under the sun. He has his price, like other men, and I can pay
it. If Mr. Harkner and I come to terms, will you be ready to start with
me to-morrow, Mollie?"
"Quite ready. But you won't make it right. He will never let me go; you
will see."
"I am not afraid. I will call upon him at once, and after the interview I
will let you know the result. He is in the house now, is he not?"
"Down at the bar, very likely. I will wait