Chapter IV
Every morning brought the young heir of Earlescourt to the bright
sunny gardens where Dora worked among the strawberries. As the
days passed she began to lose something of her shy, startled
manner, and laughed and talked to him as she would have done to
her own brother. His vanity was gratified by the sweetest homage
of all, the unconscious, unspoken love and admiration of the
young girl. He liked to watch the blushes on her face, and the
quivering of her lips when she caught the first sound of his
coming footsteps. He liked to watch her dark eyes droop, and
then to see them raised to his with a beautiful, startled light.
Insensibly his own heart became interested. At first he had
merely thought of passing a pleasant hour; then he admired Dora,
and tried to believe that reading to her was an act of pure
benevolence; but, as the days passed on, something stronger and
sweeter attracted him. He began to love her--and she was his
first love.
Wonderful to say, these long tete-a-tetes had not attracted
observation. No rumor of them escaped, so that no thorn appeared
in this path of roses which led to the brink of a precipice.
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