It was this, and a cold "What can you expect?'" from
Lisette that finally broke down her defences, and made her permit the
Goulds to make known that she was engaged to Gilbert.
Had they seized their prey at that moment of shame and despair, they
would have secured it, but their vanity or their self-esteem made
them wish to wash off the mire they had cast, or to conceal it by
such magnificence at the wedding as should outdo Fifth Avenue. The
English heiress must have a wedding-dress that would figure in the
papers, and, even in the States, be fabulously splendid. It must
come from Paris, and it must be waited for. All the bridesmaids were
to have splendid pearl lockets containing coloured miniature
photograph portraits of the beautiful bride, who for her part was
utterly broken-hearted. "I thought God had forgotten me, because I
deserved it; and I only hoped I might die, for I knew what the
sailors said of Gilbert."
Listless and indifferent, she let her tyrants do what they would with
her, and it was in Gilbert's company that she first saw Janet at the
photographer's. Fortunately he had never seen Miss Brownlow, and
Elvira had grown much too cautious to betray recognition; but the
vigilance had been relaxed since the avowal of the engagement, and
the colouring of the photographs from the life, was a process so
wearisome, that no one cared to attend the sitter, and Elvira could
go and come, alone and unquestioned.
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