PAGE 2
The Fatal Error
by
But there was one thing which at first Clinton did not understand. It was this. Frequently, when in company where Margaret was present, he would, if he turned his eyes suddenly upon her, find that she was looking at him with an expression which told him plainly that he was not indifferent to her. This occurred so often, and was so frequently attended with evident confusion on her part, that he began to have a suspicion of the real truth, and to feel disgust at so marked an exhibition of insincerity. Besides, the thought of being experimented upon in this way, did not in the least tend to soften his feelings towards the fair one. He believed in frankness, honesty and reciprocal sincerity. He liked a truthful, ingenuous mind, and turned instinctively from all artifice, coquetry or affectation.
The game which Miss Hubert was playing had been in progress only a short time, when her friend Lizzy Edgar, who was on terms of close intimacy, spent the day with her, occupying most of the time in preparation for a fancy ball that was to come off that night. The two young ladies attired themselves with much care, each with a view to effect. Margaret looked particularly to the assumption of a certain dignity, and her costume for the evening had been chosen with that end in view. A ruff, and her grand-mother’s rich silk brocade, did give to her tall person all the dignity she could have desired.
At the proper time the father of Miss Hubert accompanied the young ladies to the ball, preparations for which had for some time been in progress. As soon almost as Margaret entered the room, her eyes began to wander about in search of Mr. Clinton. It was not long before she discovered him–nor long before his eyes rested upon and recognized her stately figure.
“If she be playing a part, as I more than half suspect,” said the young man to himself, “her performance will end to-night, so far as I am concerned.”
And with the remark, he moved towards that part of the room where the two young ladies were standing. Lizzy returned his salutations with a frank and easy grace, but Margaret drew herself up coldly, and replied to his remarks with brief formality. Clinton remained with them only long enough to pass a few compliments, and then moved away and mingled with the crowd in another part of the large saloon, where the gay company were assembled. During the next hour, he took occasion now and then to search out Margaret in the crowd, and more than once he found that her eyes were upon him.
“Once more,” he said, crossing the room and going up to where she was leaning upon the arm of an acquaintance.
“May I have the pleasure of dancing with you in the next set?”
“Thank you, sir,” replied Margaret, with unbending dignity; “I am already engaged.”
Clinton bowed and turned away. The fate of the maiden was sealed. She had carried her experiment too far. As the young man moved across the room, he saw Lizzy Edgar sitting alone, her face lit up with interest as she noted the various costumes, and observed the ever-forming and dissolving tableaux that filled the saloon, and presented to the eye a living kaleidoscope.
“Alone,” he said, pausing before the warm-hearted, even tempered girl.
“One cannot be alone here,” she replied, with a sweet smile irradiating her countenance. “What a fairy scene it is,” she added, as her eyes wandered from the face of Clinton and again fell upon the brilliant groups around them.
“Have you danced this evening?” asked Clinton.
“In one set,” answered Lizzy.
“Are you engaged for the next in which you may feel disposed to take the floor?”
“No, sir.”
“Then may I claim you for my partner?”
“If it is your pleasure to do so,” replied Lizzy, smiling.
In a cotillion formed soon afterward in that part of the room, were Margaret Hubert and her sweet friend Lizzy Edgar. Margaret had a warmer color on her cheeks than usual, and her dignity towered up into an air of haughtiness, all of which Clinton observed. Its effect was to make his heart cold towards her, instead of awakening an ardent desire to win a proud and distant beauty.