Page:Zangwill-King of schnorrers.djvu/251

Rh Mrs. Windpeg sitting over her dessert, and paced up and down in the little cultivated enclosure which separated the hotel from the parade. It was a balmy evening; the moon was up, silvering the greenery, stretching a rippling band across the sea, and touching Ethelberta's face to a more marvellous fairness. The air was heavy with perfume; everything combined to soften my mood. Tears came into my eyes as I thought that this was the very last respite. Those tears seemed to purge my vision: I saw the beauty of truth and sincerity, and felt that I could not go away without telling her who I really was; then, in future years, whatever she thought of me, I, at least, could think of her sacredlv, with no cloud of falseness between me and her.

"Ethelberta!" I said, in low trembling tones.

"Lord Everett!" she murmured responsively.

"I have a confession to make."

She flushed and lowered her eyes.

"No, no!" she said agitatedly; "spare me that confession. I have heard it so often; it is so conventional. Let us part friends."

She looked up into my face with that frank, heavenly glance of hers. It shook my resolution, but I recovered myself and went on:

"It is not a conventional confession. I was not going to say I love you."

"No?" she murmured.

Was it the tricksy play of the moon among the clouds, or did a shade of disappointment flit across her face? Were her words genuine, or was she only a coquette? I stopped not to analyse; I paused not to enquire; I forgot everything but the loveliness that intoxicated me.

"I—I—mean I was!" I stammered awkwardly; "I have loved you from the first moment I saw you."