CHAPTER XLIII. A FIRST EMBRACE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 365, 4 May 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER XLIII. A FIRST EMBRACE.

This act successfully accomplished, Tvlr V Denver sat and gazed with returning satisfaction at his futuro wifo, comforting himself by thinking what a sensation she would make next London season, when clothed in well-fitting Parisian gowns, and adorned bj' ■ such jewels as should drive aIL the other women half mad with jealousy. , Presently he pulled out his watch, and exclaimed, 'By Jove ! time's up. Your mother gave me particular instructions I was not to stay too long.' ' Good-bye,' she said, readily, for the first time exhibiting some symptoms of cheerfulnes?. He took her hand in his and looked steadily at her with his glittering grey eyes. ' Is that to be all, Dulcie ? Aren't you going to gfivo me a kis3 ? I've been very patient, I'm sine.' It had come at last, the thing &he so dreaded and shrank fiom, and &ho turned. ' her head away in silence. The flickering light from the fire fell full upon her lovely child teh profile, illumining the little shelllike car and alabaster thioat. They roused his passions into sudden life. He had borne with her whims long enough, but the time had arrived when he would not be gainsaid. What was the good of being engaged to co sweetly pretty a girl it a lover's privileges were denied him? Thus thirking, before she had time to realise hi 3 intention, he seized her face between his two hands, so that escape was a matter of impossibility, and stooped his lips to hers. Oh ! the agony and the shame, the loathing and despair of that embrace ! A minute ago she would hava refused to believe that she could have quietly r.ubmitted to it and still survive ; and yet here she was, sitting motionless in the aim-chair, with her heart benting like a sledgehammer, and her cheeks still smaiting from contact with his stubbly, odiovs, hoiiible beard. The dreaded opeiation was over and «he was alive, though bhc felt as it she could never hold up her head again, or be the same Dnlcie Shepperton as heretofore. A mysteiious and. degrading change seemed to have taken place in her inner consciousness, and she had fallen immeasurably in her own self-esteem. ' Come, that's much better !' said her betrothed, perfectly unconscious of the internal storm he hadsucceeded in raising. Tor my part I like demonstrative peoplo ; but you'll come to it all right in time, Dulcie. lou're just a little b ; t green at smarting.' She was ready to sink into the earth from shame, and yet, the ice onco broken, was forced to submit to another loathsome and altogether hateful embrace. Was he never going ? He had alluded to his rights already ; did ho consider this odious osculation a portion of them '! Oh ! what a bitter trial- whilst her whole frame vibrated at the meie thought of Bob — to be forced to endure such endearments as these. Mr Denver's eyes were shining with an exultant light, which sent the hot blood tingling to her white cheeks, making her tremble like the veriest coward. But at last, to her infinite and unspeakable relief, he took up his hat and prepared to depart in earnest. ' Good-bye once moie,' he said, cheerfully. ' I shall come and see you again to moirow, and every day, in fact, until the blissful one of all arrives, when tho necessity will be at an end.' The piospect of a daily vHt, a daily recurrence of the afternoon's performance, tilled her with unutterable dismay. She recalled all the married couples of her acquaintance who passed whole long days without any outward or visible caresses being exchanged between them, and in hert ignorance she fancied that, the cabali&ic words once pronounced which bound people together as man and wife, affection suddenly cooled, subsiding on either side into a placid, lukewarm, nega tive condition. Anyhow, no state of things, she argued, could be much woise than the present ; and she could not tiust herself to bear stoically for weeks, perhaps months, to come, what she had already borne. A sudden self-dread seized her, making her desire the fulfilment of her sacrifice before her good leso'ves all dwindled away. • Do you approve of long engagements, Mr Denver?' she asked, fevciish'y. '1! No, ceitainly not. I dUliko them extremely. Why ?' looking a little astonished. 'Don't you— don't you— think in that case it is better to — to — getmanied — pretty soon ?' trying hard to keep her voice from breaking. The suggestion took him aback. From hor manner she had not led him to suppose that she looked forward to their union with any special impatience, and yet here she was calmly hinting at the advisability of its taking place as quickly as possible, and actually pioposing an early celebration ot the event. ' What rum creatures these women are, to be "suie !' he mused. ' They are never the same two minutes together.' Pie was beginning to think that, after all, Dulcie's coldness and reluctance weic only assumed, being but a species of deeprooted coquetry; and that, despite contrary appearances, ho had made a considerable impression upon her heart, There are some people who can delude themselves into almost any belief, however absurd, and Mr Denver was one ol them. ' Get manied pretty soon ?' he repeated, in hicrh good humour. ' Mais certainement. The fcooner the better. Make haste and get well, DuJcie, and the ceremony shan't be delayed through any fault of the bridegroom. But we must have a swell Avedding, none of your quiet little family affairs which make no sensation in the beatomonde. We must ask the whole county to grace the festivity with its presence.' ' Yes,' she cried, with ghastly merriment, ' in order to see the lamb slaughtered, and , to witness its life-blood flowing at the Hymeneal altar. Oh, let them all come ! A few more or less make no difference, and they will be able to notice how happy the bride looks, how satisfied with her lot, how composed she is, and what scanty tears j she sheds on leaving home. Yes, if it pleases you, by all means ask everybody.' ♦Thats capital!' he answered, taking her speech quite seriously ; ' you're a regular little brick, Dulcie. But. now I positively must be off, or I shall catch a wigging from your mother. She will be pleased to hear how swimmingly we have got on together, for, curiously enough, she i seemed to look forward to our meeting with ( a certain amount of anxiety. What? Not even one more ? Oh, you stingy little darling !' And at length he departed, and relieved her from the humiliation of his presence. Her fh'st act when she found herself alone

wos to rush towards the •wash-stand, take up a nail brush, and scrub viciously at her cbeelcs until they were sore. Then, when she felt that she had, as far as possible, removed all outward traces of Mr Demer's embraces, she burst into a lit of agonised weeping. How should she over live through her life ? She had spent little more than fifteen minutes in the company of her affianced husband, and yet those fifteen minutes were indelibly branded upon her brain. She should nevor forget the shame, the self abasement, and the moral degradation she had experienced during that short &pace of I time.