第55章 Love Put to Work.(2)

But with a growing feeling of disquietude he saw that Van Berg also was deeply interested in Miss Burton,and,what was worse,he thought he detected an answering interest on her part.

Occasionally,when the artist's face was turned away so that she obtained a good profile view of it,Stanton observed her looking at him with an expression which both puzzled and troubled him.She seemed to forget everything and every one,and to gaze for a moment with a wistful,longing intensity that he would give his fortune for were the glance directed toward himself.And yet when Van Berg addressed her,sought her society,met her suddenly,there was no heightening of color,nor a trace of the "sweet confusion"that is usually inseparable from a new and growing affection in a maiden's heart.

Apart from this occasion,furtive,and wistful look during which her cheeks would grow pale and she appear for the moment oblivious of present surroundings,her manner toward the artist was as frank and natural as toward any one else.It was evident that she liked and respected him,but even his jealousy could not detect the certainty of anything more.

But what was the tendency of Van Berg's mind toward her?That was the question which troubled him more and more every day.From the time of their parting on the previous Sabbath evening there had been a growing reluctance on the part of each to speak of one who so largely occupied the thoughts of both.The old jest and banter about the "school ma'am"ceased utterly,and they mentioned her only occasionally as "Miss Burton."The old frank confidence between them diminished daily,and in their secret consciousness they began to recognize the fact that they might soon become open rivals.

The attitude of Van Berg toward the young stranger who had so deeply interested him from the first hour of their meeting,was peculiar but characteristic.His reason approved of her.Never before had he met a woman who had seemed endowed with so many attractive qualities.She was not beautiful,--a cardinal virtue with him--but her face often lighted up with something so near akin to beauty as to leave little cause to regret its absence and the conviction grew upon him that the spirit enshrined within the graceful and fragile form was almost perfection itself.

It became clearer to him every day that some deep experience or sorrow has so thoroughly refined away the dross of her nature as to make her seem the embodiment of truth and purity.What though she still maintained complete reticence as to the past,avoiding in their conversation all allusion to herself,as far as possible;he still,in his inmost soul,knew he could trust her,and that while her smiling face,like the sunlit rippling surface of mountain lakes not far away,might hide dark,silent depths,it concealed nothing impure.

He also felt that there was no occasion to imagine any deep mystery to be part of her past history.The facts that she was poor and orphaned suggested all the explanations needed,and he felt sure that the sorrows she so sacredly and unselfishly shrouded from the general view would be frankly revealed to the man who might win the right to comfort and sustain her.

Could he win that right?Did he wish to win it?As day after day passed he felt this question to be growing more and more vitally important.

He was not one he believed who,like Stanton,could be carried away by a sudden and absorbing passion.In any and every case,reason,judgment,and taste would offer their counsel,and their advice would be carefully weighed.With increasing distinctness,this cabinet within his own breast urged him to observe this maiden well lest the chief opportunity of his life pass beyond recall.

And he did study her character carefully.Stanton,with the keen pain of jealousy,and Ida Mayhew with a disquiet and sinking of heart that she could not understand,noted that he very quietly and unobtrusively sought her society.When she spoke,he listened.

When it was possible without attracting attention his eyes followed her,and yet his conduct was governed so thoroughly by good taste and chivalric regard for the lady herself,that only eyes rendered penetrating by the promptings of the heart would have seen anything more than the general friendliness which she inspired on every side.

Stanton,on the contrary,grew more undisguised and demonstrative in his attentions,although he aimed to conceal his feeling under the humorous and bantering style of address that was habitual with him.The guests of the house were not very long in recognizing in him an admirer of Miss Burton,but they imagined that his devotion was caused more by a wish to while away his idle hours than from any other motive;and it was also quite evident that the young lady herself took the same view.She gave a light and humorous aspect to everything she said,and permitted him scarcely an opportunity for a solitary "tete-a-tete."In vain he placed his bays and buggy at her disposal.

"I am social and gregarious in my tastes,"she would reply,"and need the exhilaration of a party to enjoy myself."Thus Stanton was led to a course of action decidedly in contrast with his past tendencies.He would attach his bays to a roomy carriage,giving her a "carte-blanche"in making up the party if she would be one of the number.He would perspire like a hero in any boating excursion or picnic that she would originate;and thus the fastidious and elegant fellow often found himself in unwonted company,for,with an instinct peculiarly her own,she soon found out the comparatively poor and neglected in the hotel,and appeared to derive her chief pleasure in enlivening their dull days.

Quick-witted Stanton early learned that the surest way to winning a smile from her was to be polite to people that,hitherto,he had habitually ignored.To Miss Burton herself he made no secret of the fact that his course was prompted only by a desire to please her,but she smiling persisted in ascribing it all to his good-nature and kindness of heart.