"
And with one supreme gesture she tore into pieces the will which she
held, and sank all aglow with woman's divinest joy into the arms held
out to receive her.
* * * * * *
I was present at the wedding-reception given them by the Countess De
Mirac in her elegant apartments at the Windsor. I never saw a happier
bride, nor a husband in whose eyes burned a deeper contentment. To
all questions as to who this extraordinary woman could be, where she
was found, and in what place and at what time she was married, the
Countess had apt replies whose art of hushing curiosity without
absolutely satisfying it, was one of the tokens she yet preserved, of
her short sway as grand lady, in the gayest and most hollow city of
the world.
As I prepared to leave a scene perhaps the most gratifying in many
respects that I had ever witnessed, I felt a slight touch on my arm.
It came from Mrs. Blake who with her husband had crossed the room to
bid me farewell.
"Will you allow me to thank you," said she, "for the risk you ran for
me one day and of which I have just heard. It was an act that merits
the gratitude of years, and as such shall be always remembered by me.
If the old French artist with the racking cough ever desires a favor
at my hands, let him feel free to ask it.
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