She grew cold with
dread. It was the impulse of her self-pleasing nature to want that
most which seemed the most denied, and she reasoned, "He is angry
because Arnault is at my side as usual, in spite of all he said. He
is determined to bring me to a decision, and won't approach me at
Arnault's side. Yet I dare not openly shake Arnault off, and he's so
attentive that I must do it openly if at all. Graydon's manner was
so very strange and cold that I feel that I should do something to
conciliate him at once; and yet how can I when Arnault is bent upon
monopolizing the whole evening? He gives me no chance to leave him
unless I am guilty of the shameful rudeness of telling him to leave
me. Oh, if I could only see Graydon alone, even for a moment!"
Arnault was indeed a curious study, and yet he was acting
characteristically. He had virtually given up hope of ever winning
Stella Wildmere. He had wooed devotedly, offered wealth, and played
his final card, and in each had failed. When he left the city he
still had hope that his promise of immediate wealth and Mr. Wildmere's
necessity and influence might turn the scale in his favor; and he
believed that having secured her decision she, as a woman of the
world, would grow content and happy in the future that he could
provide for her.
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