Page:The Fate of Fenella (1892).djvu/150

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FLORENCE MARRYAT.
135

passion for Lord Francis Onslow, but that was over now—quenched as effectually as though it had never been—and she was determined not to let the colonel's dollars slip through her fingers a second time. For many reasons, too, America would suit her better than England. How could she have been such a fool as to think of giving it up for a foolish love dream?

She looked more than handsome—she looked bewitchingly seductive as she advanced with a soft, luminous gaze to meet Clutterbuck, and asked his pardon for the trouble she had given him.

"But something has occurred since last night, my dear friend," she said, "that makes it necessary for me to take a short sea voyage. My doctor is rather alarmed about my health, and insists on my obedience. So, as I have always had a supreme longing to visit your delightful country, I have decided to go to America for the autumn, and want you to tell me the best means of getting there. You must know so much," she concluded, as she slipped her arm confidingly through his.

"Ah! Mrs. der Vin-yay!" exclaimed the colonel, patting her little hand, "why can't you make up your mind to let me take you there? You should travel like a queen, Loo-cill, and there's a house waiting for you in New York City that might satisfy an empress. Say the word,