"I? Oh, no. Old fellow always kept her shut up too close, I fancy. They say she was pretty, and you are the first pretty woman I have seen in these parts, Co." [103] [103] "More cream, Monsieur?"—page 101. "Well, then, I'm sorry you didn't," quoth Cora, "for from [104]motives of delicacy I really don't care to inquire of others, and I have just curiosity enough to wish to know how she looked." [104] "Sorry I can't enlighten you, Co. Get it all out of the old fellow after the joyful event." "Umph! Well, that business prospers, mon brave. We shall win, I think, as usual." "Yes; and never easier, Co." "Well, I don't anticipate much trouble in landing our fish. But come along, Lucian, this romantic dell might make you forget luncheon; it can't have that effect on me." Cora gathered her draperies about her, and prepared to quit the little grove, her companion following half reluctantly. CHAPTER IX. GONE! Hours that seemed days; days that seemed years; weeks that seemed centuries; yet they all passed, and Madeline Payne scarce knew, when they were actually gone, that they were not all a dream. Life, after that first yielding of heart and brain, had been a delirium; then a conscious torture of mind and body; next a burden almost too great to bear; and then a dreamy lethargy. Heaven be praised for such moods; they are saviors of life and reason in crises such as this through which the stricken girl was passing. Madness had wrought upon her, and her ravings had revealed some otherwise dark places and blanks in her story to her guardian[105] and nurses. Pain had tortured her. Death wrestled with her, and then, because he could inspire her with no fear of him, because she mocked at his terrors and wooed him, fled away. [105] In his place came Life, to whom she gave no welcoming smile. But Life stayed, for Life is as
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