Chapter 3

“But it will come,” Madeleine thought to herself. “I am not of the
‘clinging vine’ type, I know; but after we are married, surely Schuyler
will be less formally polite, and more,—well,—chummy.”

Yet Madeleine herself was chummy with nobody save Tom.

They two were always chatting and laughing together, and though they
differed sometimes, and even quarrelled, it was quickly made up, and
forgotten in a new subject of merry discussion.

But, after all, they rarely quarrelled except regarding Madeleine’s
approaching marriage.

“Don’t throw yourself away on that iceberg, Maddy,” Tom would plead.
“He’s a truly fine man, I know, but he can’t make you happy.”

“How absurd you are, Tom! Give me credit, please, for knowing my own
mind, at least. I love Schuyler Carleton, and I am proud that he is to
be my husband. He is the finest man I have ever known in every way, and
I am a fortunate girl to be chosen by such a man.”

“Oho, Maddy! Don’t do the humble; it doesn’t suit you at all. You are
the type who ought to have ‘kings and crown princes at your feet.’ And
Carleton is princely enough in his effects, but he’s by no means at your
feet.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Madeleine angrily.

“Just what I say. Schuyler Carleton admires you greatly, but he doesn’t
love you—at least, not as I do!”

“Don’t be foolish, Tom. Naturally you know nothing about Mr. Carleton’s
affection for me—he does not proclaim it from the housetops. And I
desire you not to speak of it again.”

“Why should I speak of what doesn’t exist? Forgive me, Maddy, but I love
you so myself, it drives me frantic to see that man treating you so
coolly.”

“He doesn’t treat me coolly. Or, if he does, it’s because I don’t wish
for tender demonstrations before other people. I’m fond of you, Tom, as
you know, but I won’t allow even you to criticise the man I am about to
marry.”

“Oh, very well, marry him, then, and a precious unhappy life you’ll lead
with him,—and I know why.”

Madeleine turned on him, her eyes blazing with anger.

“What do you mean? Explain that last remark of yours.”

“Small need! You know why as well as I do;” and Tom pushed his hands
into his pockets and strode away, whistling, well knowing that he had
roused his cousin’s even temper at last.

In addition to some of her Mapleton friends, Madeleine had invited two
girls from New York to be her bridesmaids. Kitty French and Molly
Gardner had already come and were staying at the Van Norman house the
few days that would intervene before the wedding.

Knowing Madeleine well, as they did, they had not expected confidence
from her, nor did they look forward to cosy, romantic boudoir chats,
such as many girls would enjoy.

But neither had they expected the peculiar constraint that seemed to
hang over all the members of the household.

Mrs. Markham had been so long housekeeper, and even companion, for
Madeleine that she was not looked upon as a servant, and to her Kitty
French put a few discreet questions regarding the exceeding reserve of
Mr. Carleton.

“I don’t know, Miss French,” said the good woman, looking sadly
disturbed. “I love Madeleine as I would my own child. I know she adores
Mr. Carleton,—and—yes, I know he greatly admires her,—and yet there
_is_ something wrong. I can’t express it—it’s merely a feeling,—an
intuition, but there _is_ something wrong.”

“You know Mr. Willard is in love with Maddy,” suggested Miss French.

“Oh, it isn’t that. They’ve always had a cousinly affection for each
other, and,—yes, Tom is in love with her,—but what I mean is aside
from all that. The real reason that Madeleine flirts with Tom—for she
_does_ flirt with him—is to pique Mr. Carleton. There! I’ve said more
than I meant to, but you’re too good a friend to let it make any
trouble, and, any way, in a few days they will be married, and then I’m
sure it will be all right,—I’m _sure_ of it.”

Like many people, Mrs. Markham emphasized by repetition a statement of
whose truth she was far from sure.

II

MISS MORTON ARRIVES

The day before the wedding the old house was a pleasant scene of bustle
and confusion.

Professional decorators were in charge of the great drawing-room,
building a canopy of green vines and flowers, beneath which the bridal
pair should stand the next day at high noon.

This work was greatly hindered by a bevy of young people who thought
they were helping.

At last, noting a look of dumb exasperation on the face of one of the
florist’s men, Molly Gardner exclaimed, “I don’t believe our help is
needed here; come on, Kitty, let’s go in the library and wait for
tea-time.”

It was nearly five o’clock, and the girls found most of the house guests
already assembled in the library, awaiting the arrival of the tea-tray.

Several other young people were there also, most of them being those who
were to be of the wedding cortège next day.

Robert Fessenden, who was to be best man, had just come from New York,
and had dropped in to see Miss Van Norman.

Although he was an old friend of Carleton’s, Madeleine did not know him
very well, and though she made him welcome, it was with that coldly
formal air that did not greatly attract the young man, but he could not
fail to be impressed by her great beauty.

“Lucky fellow, Carleton,” he said to Tom Willard. “Why, that woman would
create a sensation in any great city in the world.”

“Yes, she is too handsome to live all her life in a small village,”
agreed Tom. “I think they intend to travel a great deal.”

“An heiress, too, I believe.”

“Yes, she has all the desirable traits a woman can possess.”

“All?” Fessenden’s tone was quizzical.

“What do you mean?” asked Tom sharply.

“Nothing; only, if I were to marry, I should prefer a little more
softness of nature.”

“Oh, that’s only her manner. My cousin is most sweet and womanly, I
assure you.”

“I’m sure she is,” returned Fessenden, who was a bit ashamed of his
outspokenness; “and she’s getting a sterling good fellow for a husband.”

“She is so,” said Tom, heartily, which was kind of him, considering his
own opinion of Carleton.

And then both men strolled over to where Madeleine sat at the tea-table.
She was reading a telegram that had just been brought to her, and she
laughingly explained to Tom that it meant a bother for him.