Dainty's Cruel Rivals; Or, The Fatal Birthday
With a well-bred bow he presented her with a card, on which she read,
with astonishment:
"LOVELACE ELLSWORTH.
"Introduced to Mrs. Chase by Judith Ellsworth."
"I am Mrs. Chase, and I am glad to see you," she said, wonderingly, as
she gave him a cordial handshake, and ushered him into the little
parlor, where he saw a girl, fairer than any flower, wiping the tears
away from lovely eyes that looked like violets drowned in dew.
"My daughter Dainty, Mr. Ellsworth," said the widow; and as he took the
soft little hand, he did not wonder that her cousins had feared to risk
her rivalry for his heart.
With his charmed eyes lingering on her perfect face, he explained:
"I have been in New York for a few days, and mother wrote me to stop in
Richmond and join a party of her nieces who would start to-day on a
visit to Ellsworth."
Dainty's bright eyes laughed through their tears as she replied:
"Oh, how sorry they will be to have missed you! But they went last
night!"
"But were not you, Miss Chase, to accompany them?" he demanded; and she
handed him the girls' note, saying, demurely:
"That explains everything."
Lovelace Ellsworth read it with a somewhat malicious smile, exclaiming:
"How fortunate that I came in time to protect you on your journey!"
Mrs. Chase hastened to say:
"We shall indeed be grateful for your escort, as Dainty was about to
give up her trip through her timidity at venturing alone. Now, as soon
as we have breakfast, she will be ready."
Oh, how angry Olive and Ela would have been to see that pleasant little
party at breakfast, and afterward setting forth for the station in
Ellsworth's carriage, Mrs. Chase accompanying to see her daughter off,
and both of them perfectly delighted with their genial new acquaintance,
of whom the mother could not help thinking:
"How admiringly he looks at my bonny girl, as if indeed Olive and Ela
were right in fearing her rivalry for his heart! And how good and true
he looks, as if he might make any girl a kind, loving husband! What a
grand thing it would be for Dainty--"
She broke off the thought abruptly, for the parting was at hand, and her
daughter clung tearfully about her neck.
In a minute it was all over, and Dainty was seated in the parlor-car
with Ellsworth by her side, saying in his musical voice:
"No more tears now, Miss Dainty; for you must try to amuse me, to make
up for your cousins, who have left us in the lurch. But how glad I am
they went on ahead of us--are not you? For we shall have such a lovely
_tete-a-tete_ journey!"
Dainty emerged from her wet handkerchief, like the sun from behind a
cloud, blushing and dimpling with girlish mischief, as she exclaimed:
"But they will be so sorry! They will never get over it!"
She was only a girl, not an angel, so she could not help being pleased
with the thought of the discomfiture of her scheming cousins who had so
cleverly overreached themselves.
The train sped on through the beautiful sunshine of early June, leaving
the heated city far behind, and Dainty's heart felt as buoyant as the
morning, her journey was so pleasant and her companion so attractive,
placing her so completely at her ease, except when he would fix his
brilliant dark eyes so ardently on her face that she would blush in
spite of herself and look down in sweet confusion while her innocent
heart throbbed wildly with a new, sweet sensation almost akin to pain.
After one of these confusing episodes, Dainty tried to shake off her
embarrassment by saying:
"Tell me all about Ellsworth! Is it indeed so grand that my aunt will be
ashamed of me, as my cousins declared?"
"No one could be ashamed of _you_!" declared Ellsworth, with another
glance that set her pulses beating wildly, though she answered,
demurely:
"Thank you; but, of course, you are not a judge of clothes. Olive and
Ela said I had nothing fit to wear at Ellsworth."
"I have never seen a prettier or more becoming gown than the one you
have on now," he replied, with an approving glance at her crisp, freshly
laundered blue linen, while he added: "We have some very nice young men
in the neighborhood of Ellsworth, and I am sure they will all fall in
love with you at sight."
"Flatterer!" she cried with shy archness; but his words and looks
thrilled her heart, and made her think, with sudden passion:
"If only he would fall in love with me, I could excuse all the rest!"
What a change had come to the tired and weary schoolgirl of only
yesterday! She was parted from her mother for the first time in her
young life, among new scenes and strangers, and Cupid was knocking at
the door of her heart. Hitherto she had known only tranquil happiness
and little sorrow. How would it be now?
"Love and pain
Are kinsfolk twain."
Love changes all the world to the heart that admits him as a guest; but
Dainty was not wise enough to bar the charming little stranger out.
CHAPTER II.
"THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE ROOM!"
Golden curls, a snare for Cupid.
Eyes of blue, a treacherous sea,
Where Love's votaries sink drowning,
Wrecked on hidden reefs; ah, me!
Lips of bloom like June's red roses,
Lily throat and dimpled chin,
Glowing cheeks like fragrant posies,
Made for smiles to gather in.
--_Mrs. Alex McVeigh Miller_.
Meanwhile, Olive and Ela, having reached Ellsworth in a high state of
glee at outwitting Dainty so cleverly, received a great shock on
learning from their aunt that Lovelace Ellsworth had expected to
accompany them from Richmond to his home.
Bitterness filled their hearts when they realized what would be the
outcome of their malice--that instead of Dainty having to give up her
trip through timidity at traveling alone, she would have the escort of
the man from whom they had tried so sedulously to keep her apart.
They had told their aunt that they decided to come earlier because it
would be cooler traveling at night, and accounted for Dainty's absence
by declaring that she was not quite decided on coming yet, being
reluctant to leave her mother alone. If she made up her mind to come
anyhow, she would do so later, they said; but they were very careful not
to add that Dainty was so timid she would very likely stay at home
after their base desertion.
When they were alone, they commiserated each other on the failure of
their deep-laid schemes.
"Only to think, that Dainty and Love Ellsworth are together at this
moment, and will be all day long! I can see her now in my mind's eye!
She is sitting beside him in the car, and the sunshine glints on her
curly, golden hair, and brings out the deep pansy-blue, of her big,
childish eyes, and the rose-leaf bloom of her flawless skin. She is
laughing at everything he says, just to show how deep her dimples are,
and how pearly her teeth, and how rosy her lips! It is enough to drive
one mad!" cried Ela, not underrating the least of her rival's charms in
her jealousy of them.
"We can never undo to-day's work, I fear," added Olive, most bitterly,
in her keen disappointment; for the thought of seeing Dainty the
mistress of Ellsworth was almost unbearable.
Since she had arrived at Ellsworth and seen how beautiful the estate
was, nestling among the green hills of West Virginia, close by the famed
Greenbrier River, she had been more anxious than ever to win the master
of this grand domain, and a bitter hatred for gentle Dainty crept into
her heart.
She knew that she was beautiful in a dark, queenly fashion, and she
could only hope that Love Ellsworth would prefer her dark style to
Dainty's fair and radiant one. On this chance hinged all her hopes,
while Ela, on her part, wondered if he might not find a wealth of brown
hair, waxen-skin, and limpid gray eyes as attractive as the more
pronounced brunette and blonde types.
Late that afternoon Mrs. Ellsworth invited the two girls into her
_boudoir_, saying she wished to have a private talk with them.
She was a woman of sixty years, with abundant snow-white hair,
contrasted with piercing dark eyes. In her youth she must have looked
like Olive Peyton, and she was still well-preserved and fine-looking for
her time of life. Her relatives considered her eccentric and
hard-hearted, and she was certainly a woman of strong prejudices and
unbending will--fond of having her own way.
She now looked approvingly at her handsome, stylish nieces, and
remarked, abruptly:
"I suppose neither of you girls have any idea why I invited you here, so
I may as well inform you and get it over. In the first place, have
either of you any entanglements?"
"Entanglements?" murmured Olive, questioningly.
"Entanglements?" echoed Ela, doubtfully, with a slight flush breaking
through her usual pallor.
"I mean, are either of you engaged to be married?"--sharply.
"Oh, dear no!" cried Olive.
"No, indeed!" muttered Ela, still faintly crimson.
"Or--in love with anybody?" added their aunt, anxiously.
"Only with each other. We are chums and sweethearts," laughed Olive, as
they looked at each other affectionately.
"Very good!" said curt Mrs. Ellsworth, smiling, as she continued: "And
you are both as poor as church mice; I know that without asking. Now,
don't color up and get angry. Poverty is inconvenient, but it's no
disgrace. Besides, I intend to change all that."
While they stared at her in wonder, she nodded her white head sagely,
adding:
"You two girls are the nearest kin I have in the world, and it's time I
made some provision for your future. Well, I'm going to do it. That's
why I sent for you to come to Ellsworth."
They began to murmur ecstatic thanks; but she cut them short, saying:
"You know that I have quite a large fortune left me by my husband, and
that my step-son, Love Ellsworth, is a millionaire. Well, I propose to
have you two girls succeed to these fortunes; one by inheritance from
me, the other by marrying my step-son."
"Oh, oh!" they cried, their faces shining with delight; and their aunt
went on, complacently:
"Love is heart-whole and fancy-free now, but he will fall in love some
day and marry, and why not one of my nieces, I'd like to know? Both of
you are as pretty as pictures, and I say to you, go in and win. The one
that he chooses will be lady of Ellsworth, the other I will adopt as my
heiress. How does the prospect please you? Better than drudging in a
school, eh?"
They overwhelmed her with rapturous thanks that pleased and amused her
at the same time; for she could guess well enough how they hated poverty
and longed for riches.
"But why do you look so blank, Ela?" she added, suddenly, and the young
girl answered, frankly:
"I was wondering why you invited Dainty Chase, if you wanted Olive or me
to marry your step-son? She is the prettiest girl in the world!"
"Dainty Chase pretty? But that can not be. Her father, my half-brother,
was a very homely man, and I never heard that his wife was a beauty. I
felt sorry for the poor little thing, and wanted to give her a good
time; that was why I invited her to come. Of course, I never saw her;
but she is my half-niece all the same, and I owe her some kindness,
though I don't want her to marry Love, or to inherit my money, so I hope
I didn't make a mistake!" the old lady exclaimed, uneasily.
"Wait till you see her!" both girls cried at once, breathlessly,
jealously.
"Is she indeed so pretty? But perhaps she will not come!" consoled Mrs.
Ellsworth.
"She will be sure to come if Mr. Ellsworth calls for her. She will not
miss such a chance to captivate him!" both girls assured her
disconsolately; but they were very careful not to tell how badly they
had treated their pretty cousin.
"But she is only a child--scarcely fifteen, I think."