Chapter 2 - Page 2

the moment we have waited for. Help me to
make it successful. Come! Crown me with your garland, give me the
bracelets that were your wedding gift--none can be too brilliant for
tonight. Now the gloves and fan. Stay, my sandals--you shall play
Dolores and tie them on."

With an air of smiling coquetry he had never seen before, Pauline
stretched out a truly Spanish foot and offered him its dainty covering.
Won by the animation of her manner, Manuel forgot his misgivings and
played his part with boyish spirit, hovering about his stately wife as
no assiduous maid had ever done; for every flower was fastened with a
word sweeter than itself, the white arms kissed as the ornaments went
on, and when the silken knots were deftly accomplished, the lighthearted
bridegroom performed a little dance of triumph about his idol, till she
arrested him, beckoning as she spoke.

"Manuel, I am waiting to assume the last best ornament you have given
me, my handsome husband." Then, as he came to her laughing with frank
pleasure at her praise, she added, "You, too, must look your best and
bravest now, and remember you must enact the man tonight. Before Gilbert
wear your stateliest aspect, your tenderest to me, your courtliest to
his wife. You possess dramatic skill. Use it for my sake, and come for
your reward when this night's work is done."

The great hotel was swarming with life, ablaze with light, resonant with
the tread of feet, the hum of voices, the musical din of the band, and
full of the sights and sounds which fill such human hives at a
fashionable watering place in the height of the season. As Manuel led
his wife along the grand hall thronged with promenaders, his quick ear
caught the whispered comments of the passers-by, and the fragmentary
rumors concerning themselves amused him infinitely.

"_Mon ami!_ There are five bridal couples here tonight, and there is the
handsomest, richest, and most enchanting of them all. The groom is not
yet twenty, they tell me, and the bride still younger. Behold them!"

Manuel looked down at Pauline with a mirthful glance, but she had not
heard.

"See, Belle! Cubans; own half the island between them. Splendid, aren't
they? Look at the diamonds on her lovely arms, and his ravishing
moustache. Isn't he your ideal of Prince Djalma, in The Wandering Jew?"

A pretty girl, forgetting propriety in interest, pointed as they passed.
Manuel half-bowed to the audible compliment, and the blushing damsel
vanished, but Pauline had not seen.

"Jack, there's the owner of the black span you fell into raptures over.
My lord and lady look as highbred as their stud. We'll patronize them!"

Manuel muttered a