Two Fair Deceivers - Page 2

fashion paper, I want
to consult you, dear, about a visitor."

Clementine raised her blue eyes, dropped her paper, and said, "Who is
it, Fan?"

"It is John Selden. If Mr. Clare had not married me, he would have
inherited the Clare estate. I think he is coming now in order to see if
it is worth while asking for, encumbered by his cousin's widow."

"What selfishness! Write and tell him that you are just leaving for the
Suez Canal, or the Sandwich Islands, or any other inconvenient place."

"No; I have a better plan than that--Clementine, do stop reading a few
minutes. I will take that pretty cottage at Ryebank for the summer, and
Mr. Selden and his friend shall visit us there. No one knows us in the
place, and I will take none of the servants with me."

"Well?"

"Then, Clementine, you are to be the widow Clare, and I your poor
friend and companion."

"Good! very good! 'The Fair Deceivers'--an excellent comedy. How I shall
snub you, Fan! And for once I shall have the pleasure of outdressing
you. But has not Mr. Selden seen you?"

"No; I was married in Maryland, and went immediately to Europe. I came
back a widow two years ago, but Mr. Selden has never remembered me until
now. I wonder who this friend is that he proposes to bring with him?"

"Oh, men always think in pairs, Fan. They never decide on anything until
their particular friend approves. I dare say they wrote the letter
together. What is the gentleman's name?"

The widow examined the note. "'My friend Mr. Cleve Sullivan.' Do you
know him, Clementine?"

"No; I am quite sure that I never saw Mr. Cleve Sullivan. I don't fall
in love with the name--do you? But pray accept the offer for both
gentlemen, Fan, and write this morning, dear." Then Clementine returned
to the consideration of the lace in _coquilles_ for her new evening
dress.

The plan so hastily sketched was subsequently thoroughly discussed and
carried out. The cottage at Ryebank was taken, and one evening at the
end of June the two ladies took possession of it. The new widow Clare
had engaged a maid in New York, and fell into her part with charming
ease and a very pretty assumption of authority; and the real widow, in
her plain dress and pensive, quiet manners, realized effectively the
idea of a cultivated but dependent companion. They had two days in which
to rehearse their parts and get all the household machinery in order,
and then the gentlemen arrived at Ryebank.

Fan and Clementine were quite ready for their first call; the latter in
a rich and exquisite morning costume, the former in a simple dress of
spotted lawn.