[Wife in Name Only by Charlotte M. Braeme (Bertha M. Clay)]@TWC D-Link bookWife in Name Only CHAPTER XXVIII 7/19
I will go to my room and prepare for the journey." He did not attempt to detain her, for he well knew that, if she made another appeal to him, he could not resist the impulse to clasp her in his arms, and at the cost of what he thought his honor to bid her stay. She lingered before him, beautiful, graceful, sorrowful. "Is there anything more you would like to say to me ?" she asked, with sad humility. "I dare not," he uttered, hoarsely; "I cannot trust myself." He watched her as with slow, graceful steps she passed down, the long gallery, never turning her fair face or golden head back to him, her white robes trailing on the parquetry floor.
When she had reached the end, he saw her draw aside the hangings and stand for a minute looking at the pictured faces of the Arleighs; then she disappeared, and he was left alone. He buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly. "I could curse the woman who has wrought this misery!" he exclaimed, presently. And then the remembrance of Philippa, as he had known her years before--Philippa as a child, Philippa, his mother's favorite--restrained him. * * * * * "Perhaps I too was to blame," he thought; "she would not have taken such cruel vengeance had I been more candid." Lady Arleigh went to her room.
The pretty traveling-costume lay where she had left it; the housekeeper had not put away anything.
Hastily taking off her white dress and removing the jewels from her neck, and the flowers from her hair, Madaline placed them aside, and then having attired herself for the journey, she went down stairs, meeting no one. Some little surprise was created among the servants when orders came for the carriage to be got ready. "Going out at this time of night.
What can it mean ?" asked one of them. "They are going to the Dower House," answered a groom. "Ah, then his lordship and her ladyship will not remain at the Abbey! How strange! But there--rich people have nothing to do but indulge in whims and caprices!" said the under house-maid, who was immediately frowned down by her superiors in office. Not a word was spoken by husband and wife as Lady Arleigh took her seat in the carriage.
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