CHAPTER XI.

LOVE'S PRESENTIMENTS.

"Oh, friendships falter when misfortunes frown,

The blossoms vanish when the leaves turn brown,

The shells lie stranded when the tide goes down,

But you, dear heart, are ever true.

Let the silver mingle with your curls of gold,

Let the years grow dreary, and the world wax old,

But the love I bear to you will ne'er grow cold,

I love you, darling, only you!"

Olive Peyton would never forget the unpleasant notoriety of that night,

when Love Ellsworth had so coolly exposed her identity, though she

carried it off with a high hand, by explaining that the gypsy woman had

been called away by her husband's illness, and she had taken her place

for the fun of the thing, and to keep the church from losing the money

it was to have gained by the fortune-telling. Of course, she knew as

much of the future as any lying old gypsy woman; so she did not consider

that there was any harm done, as she had also earned several dollars for

the church. She had given a few of them bad fortunes, just to see if

they would really believe such stuff, meaning to tease them over their

credulity to-morrow, when she intended to declare her identity as the

gypsy.

No one ventured to dissent from Olive's declaration, that no harm had

been done by her personation of the gypsy; for no one suspected the real

truth, which was, that she had actually bribed the gypsy to give her

her place, hoping thus to work on the feelings of Dainty and her lover.

But baffled and detected in her wicked scheme, she carried it off coolly

as a joke, declaring that no harm had been done.

No one took issue with her except an old physician, who was known to

have the courage of his own opinion so strongly that he was even

ungallant enough to contradict a lady if he believed that she was in the

wrong.

So when she asserted that no harm had been done, old Doctor Platt

rumpled up his bushy-gray eyebrows severely at her, and snorted:

"I beg leave to differ with you, miss."

Olive turned on the bold doctor with an imperious frown; but he was not

in the least abashed.

He continued, testily:

"I give it as my professional opinion, without charge, that the dreadful

prediction you made to that timid, nervous girl, Miss Chase, would have

preyed so deeply on her sensitive mind as to cause her premature death,

had not the cruel joke been discovered in time to allay her fears."

"Nonsense!" Olive answered, sharply, turning her back on him in anger.

But she knew in her heart that she had counted on just what the old

doctor said, and hoped, indeed, in her cruel jealousy, to frighten poor

Dainty into an early grave.

She hated Love Ellsworth for thwarting her plans--hated and loved him,

in a breath; for his splendid, manly beauty had made an ineffaceable

impression on her heart. All his indifference did not chill the fire of

her passion; so that this love made an added incentive to become the

mistress of Ellsworth.

Though she knew he had discovered several of her schemes, and feared

that he secretly despised her; and even though she knew he was in love

with Dainty, and hoped to marry her in three weeks, she did not lose

hope of winning him yet herself. She would try plan after plan to come

between them, she vowed; and surely she must at last succeed.

So it was no part of her plan to have Love think ill of her; and after

the physician had so publicly expressed his opinion, she went up to the

lovers, where they stood a little apart, and exclaimed, sweetly:

"Doctor Platt has given me quite a scare over you, Dainty, and I am very

glad now that Mr. Ellsworth discovered my identity so soon, though

indeed I meant to reveal it myself to-morrow. But still, as you are so

weak and nervous, you might have spent a bad night, and I am glad it is

spared you. I meant no harm, only to worry you girls awhile; but I am

very sorry now, and you must forgive me, will you not, for my practical

joke?"

Dainty looked frankly surprised at this condescension, but she had too

sweet a nature to hold malice; so she murmured a gentle assent, and

Olive remained talking with them a few moments, dilating lightly on the

ridiculous fortunes she had given the girls, just to see their

consternation and disappointment over it all.

"I am afraid I am very wicked, for I have always been fond of playing

practical jokes on people; but after to-night I shall try to restrain

that propensity," she sighed; and wondered why Love gave her such a

strange, piercing look.

A strange suspicion indeed had flashed over his mind; for her plot of

to-night had made him deeply anxious and uneasy.

He did not believe in her pretty penitence. It rang hollow in his ears,

and a sudden terror possessed him that Olive, in her angry rivalry,

would do Dainty bitter harm if possible.

He looked down at the dear white form by his side, and trembled with the

fear of losing her forever--a fear that was almost a premonition, it was

so strong.

He thought, in anguish:

"I must watch closely over my darling by day and night, lest these

deceitful plotters find some way to part us."

Olive began to feel her presence irksome to the lovers, and hurried

away, saying, carelessly:

"I must go and find Ela; I have not seen her for some time."

Ela had gone with her to bribe the gypsy, and since they had parted

company at the door of the tent, Olive had not seen her at all. It now

began to seem strange to her, and she had decided to look for her

cousin.

Ela had walked away from the crowd and the lights, nursing a secret

unhappiness, love and ambition waging a desperate war in her heart.

She had loved Vernon Ashley very dearly; but the ambition to make a

grand match had caused her to throw him over in the most heartless

fashion, ignoring his letters, and refusing him a single interview,

though he prayed for it so humbly.

The discovery to-day of Ellsworth's engagement to Dainty discouraged her

hopes of marrying him; but still there remained the hope of being made

her aunt's heiress, so she steeled her heart and fought down her

murdered love in its heaving grave, saying to herself, consolingly:

"It is painful at first, because I really loved him well; but I shall

soon get over the worst, and forget."

She was turning toward the crowd and the lights again, when suddenly a

dark form emerged from behind the tree, a pair of hands grasped her

wrists in a steely grip, and a low, menacing voice hissed in her ear:

"Cruel, heartless girl, you shall stay and hear me at last!"