The Woman in the Alcove | Page 5

no one in
the world I envied less.
The ball was a private and very elegant one. There were some notable
guests. One gentleman in particular was pointed out to me as an
Englishman of great distinction and political importance. I thought him
a very interesting man for his years, but odd and a trifle self-centered.
Though greatly courted, he seemed strangely restless under the fire of
eyes to which he was constantly subjected, and only happy when free to
use his own in contemplation of the scene about him. Had I been less
absorbed in my own happiness I might have noted sooner than I did
that this contemplation was confined to such groups as gathered about
the lady with the diamond. But this I failed to observe at the time, and
consequently was much surprised to come upon him, at the end of one
of the dances, talking With this lady in an animated and courtly manner
totally opposed to the apathy, amounting to boredom, with which he
had hitherto met all advances.
Yet it was not admiration for her person which he openly displayed.
During the whole time he stood there his eyes seldom rose to her face;
they lingered mainly-and this was what aroused my curiosity--on the
great fan of ostrich plumes which this opulent beauty held against her
breast. Was he desirous of seeing the great diamond she thus
unconsciously (or was it consciously) shielded from his gaze? It was
possible, for, as I continued to note him, he suddenly bent toward her
and as quickly raised himself again with a look which was quite
inexplicable to me. The lady had shifted her fan a moment and his eyes
had fallen on the gem.
The next thing I recall with any definiteness was a tete-a-tete
conversation which I held with my lover on a certain yellow divan at
the end of one of the halls.
To the right of this divan rose a curtained recess, highly suggestive of
romance, called "the alcove." As this alcove figures prominently in my
story, I will pause here to describe it.
It was originally intended to contain a large group of statuary which our
host, Mr. Ramsdell, had ordered from Italy to adorn his new house. He
is a man of original ideas in regard to such matters, and in this instance
had gone so far as to have this end of the house constructed with a

special view to an advantageous display of this promised work of art.
Fearing the ponderous effect of a pedestal large enough to hold such a
considerable group, he had planned to raise it to the level of the eye by
having the alcove floor built a few feet higher than the main one. A
flight of low, wide steps connected the two, which, following the curve
of the wall, added much to the beauty of this portion of the hall.
The group was a failure and was never shipped; but the alcove
remained, and, possessing as it did all the advantages of a room in the
way of heat and light, had been turned into a miniature retreat of
exceptional beauty.
The seclusion it offered extended, or so we were happy to think, to the
solitary divan at its base on which Mr. Durand and I were seated. With
possibly an undue confidence in the advantage of our position, we were
discussing a subject interesting only to ourselves, when Mr. Durand
interrupted himself to declare: "You are the woman I want, you and
you only. And I want you soon. When do you think you can marry me?
Within a week--if--"
Did my look stop him? I was startled. I had heard no incoherent phrase
from him before.
"A week!" I remonstrated. "We take more time than that to fit ourselves
for a journey or some transient pleasure. I hardly realize my
engagement yet."
"You have not been thinking of it for these last two months as I have."
"No," I replied demurely, forgetting everything else in my delight at
this admission.
"Nor are you a nomad among clubs and restaurants."
"No, I have a home."
"Nor do you love me as deeply as I do you."
This I thought open to argument.
"The home you speak of is a luxurious one," he continued. "I can not
offer you its equal Do you expect me to?"
I was indignant.
"You know that I do not. Shall I, who deliberately chose a nurse's life
when an indulgent uncle's heart and home were open to me, shrink
from braving poverty with the man I love? We will begin as simply as
you please--"
"No," he peremptorily put in, yet with a certain hesitancy which

seemed to speak of doubts he hardly acknowledged to himself, "I will