"I saw you talking to a man," said Belle. "Who was he? Do you know many men? Are you deceiving me, Annie Colchester?"

"Deceiving you? What do you mean?" said Annie.

"If you contemplate marriage you had better tell me so at once."

Notwithstanding all her misery, Annie could not help laughing.

"The man I was speaking to is my brother," she said.

"Your brother? I thought you were an orphan and alone."

"I have one brother; his name is Rupert."

"And that was he? Why in the world didn't you ask him to come home with us; I am sure mother would be delighted to see him."

"He is coming to see me this evening," said Annie, her heart in her mouth. "Do you suppose that your mother will think that it is--"

"Think what?"

"That he is taking a liberty?"

"Of course not. It is quite natural that a sister should like to talk to a brother: and mother will be full of sympathy. Yes, he is welcome, provided he does not come more than once. Give him to understand, please, Annie, that we have no time to waste in idle conversation with him. Yes, I will say it frankly, if there is a creature in the wide world I thoroughly despise, it is man in his first adolescence."

At lunch Belle mentioned to her mother that Annie Colchester had a brother, and that he proposed to call that evening.

"I shall give him a hearty welcome for your sake, my dear," said Mrs.

Acheson. "What a pity I did not know, and I would have asked him to share our dinner."

"It is very kind of you to see him at all," said Annie, who felt more wretched each moment. If Mrs. Acheson really knew the sort of man she was receiving into her house would she ever forgive Annie?

CHAPTER x.x.x

ANNIE IN THE TOILS.

At seven the Achesons dined. Soon after eight o'clock there came a ring to the front door, and Rupert Colchester was announced. He came in looking brisk, smart, and handsome. He had managed, Annie could not imagine how, to get himself up well. He wore a frock-coat of the newest cut, his tie was immaculate, so were his collar and cuffs. He had a hemst.i.tched handkerchief in his pocket with a slight scent about it. His hair had been cut, his face was clean-shaven; he was so good-looking that poor, foolish Annie felt a glow at her heart when she saw him enter the room.

Mrs. Acheson was kind to Annie's brother, and Annie's brother managed to make himself extremely agreeable. He talked to Mrs. Acheson, but he looked at Belle.

Now Belle, although she declared that there was no one in the world she despised like a man in his first adolescence, was disturbed by these glances from Rupert's dark eyes. She pretended not to remark them, nevertheless she found her own short-sighted orbs meeting his again and again. After the fourth or fifth meeting of the two pairs of eyes Rupert got up, left his seat by Mrs. Acheson, and came over to where Belle sat.

"Do you know," he said, dropping into a chair by her side, "that you interest me immensely?"

"Indeed," answered Belle, "I am rather surprised to hear you say so. I never yet knew the man who wanted to look at me a second time. I know I am extremely plain, and the fact is I glory in being so."

"It is my turn now to be surprised," said Rupert very gently; "good looks are a great gift. You are quite mistaken in considering yourself plain. However, it is not your coloring, nor the size of your mouth, nor the shape of your face which specially strikes me; it is the remarkable development of your forehead. I spent several of my early years in America, and I remember when there meeting a man with a forehead like yours. He was the greatest cla.s.sical scholar at Harvard College, near Boston."

Belle could not help blushing with intense gratification.

"Ah," she said, "I also have the same tastes. I pa.s.sionately love the cla.s.sics."

Rupert dropped his voice. He began to talk to Belle at once about Cicero, Socrates, Homer, and her other favorite writers of antiquity.

Soon they were in the full flow of a most animated conversation. Belle spoke eagerly and well; she unfolded the riches of her really great knowledge, and Rupert cleverly led her on. He had a smattering of Greek and Latin at his fingers' ends, but no more. He managed, however, to use his very little knowledge to the best advantage; and Belle was so flattered by his covert glances, by his skillfully veiled compliments, by his pretended comprehension of her and her moods, that she never guessed how shallow were his acquirements, and opened out herself more and more.

If Annie was nice, her brother was even nicer. He was the exception that proves the rule. After all, there always was an exception-always, always.

A faint color came into her thin cheeks. Coffee was brought in, very fragrant, strong coffee. A servant approached Belle with a tray, but she waved it aside.

"Not now," she said. Then she turned to Rupert. "Why will mother always insist upon spoiling a great intellectual treat with those tiresome attentions to creature comforts. Who wants coffee at a moment like this?"

Now Rupert, who had not been able to indulge in a good dinner, would have liked a cup of fragrant coffee immensely; but he instantly took his cue from Belle, and declined it with a wave of the hand.

"None for me," he said. "Yes, Miss Acheson, I agree with you; at a moment like the present one cannot think of sublunary matters."

"Do go on," said Belle; "So you really studied--" And then once more the conversation a.s.sumed its cla.s.sical complexion.

Annie, looking on from afar, felt more and more dreadful each moment.

Rupert was undoubtedly trying to be agreeable to Belle for a purpose.

Annie knew her brother quite sufficiently well to be certain that Belle's manners, her attachment to the cla.s.sics, her whole style, would be the very last that Rupert, in easier moments of his career, would have deigned to notice.

At last, soon after ten o'clock, he took his leave. In the meantime he had learned, not only all that Belle could tell him of her own college life, but also the darling hope of the future. The little wooden box which contained the eighty-nine pounds odd was pointed out to Rupert.

He nodded to Annie as he left the room. She followed him into the hall.

"Well, how did I get on?" he inquired.

"I don't understand you," answered Annie; "you frighten me dreadfully."

"What a little goose you are. Well, I'm coming again. I shall come to-morrow or next day. Be sure you follow up the impression I have made with the fair Belle." Then he made a grimace, kissed Annie lightly on her forehead, and left the house.

She went to bed feeling intensely uncomfortable. By the first post in the morning she received a letter. It was from Rupert, and ran as follows:

"My Dear Annie:

"For the desperate, only desperate devices. I am desperate. I have made up my mind. The fair and delightful Miss Belle shall be my deliverer. I want you and she to meet me in the Broad Walk in Regent's Park between four and five this afternoon. I mean boldly to secure forty pounds out of her wooden box. She herself shall give it to me.

While I am talking to her you must be engaged in another way.

Excellent! Get the good mamma to come too. You and the mamma can walk behind, the fascinating Belle and I in front. I foretell that I can twist my fair Belle round my little finger. Help me now, Annie, as you value your brother's future. You perceive how n.o.bly I take the matter out of your hands. Miss Belle Acheson has her sphere in life, but it is not what she thinks. It is not to open a hostel for idiotic women who think themselves learned, but to help Rupert Colchester in his hour of need.

"Your Affectionate Brother."

Annie read this letter twice. At each perusal her sense of dismay grew greater. The worst of it was, too, that Rupert had given no address. She could not write in reply, or send him a telegram, or do anything to stop him. He would walk in the Broad Walk in Regent's Park that afternoon, and if Annie and Belle did not appear would go boldly to the house in Newbolt Square. Annie felt that she herself was a guest in that house more or less on false pretenses; but that Rupert should take advantage of Mrs. Acheson's hospitality was more than the poor girl could stand.

"I must have it out with him," she said to herself; "but Belle shall not come with me. I must go and brave him alone. Oh, I know what he will say, and what torture I shall have to endure; for, great sins as he has committed, I still love him. No. I will be brave now. I won't sin again for him. But G.o.d help me, I do not know how to bear all this awful burden."

The poor girl looked so miserable at breakfast that Mrs. Acheson remarked it.