The Secret Power - Marie Corelli (books to get back into reading TXT) đ
- Author: Marie Corelli
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âMadama, I think of your safety,ââhe said, curtly.
âIt is kind of you! But if I do not care for my safety?â
âI do!â he said, decisively.
âAnd I also!ââsaid Aloysius, earnestlyââDear lady, be advised! Think no more of flying in the vast spaces of air aloneâalone with an enormous piece of mechanism which might fail at any momentââ
âIt cannot fail unless the laws of nature fail!ââsaid Morgana, emphaticallyââHow strange it is that neither of you seems to realise that the force which moves the âWhite Eagleâ is natural force alone! Howeverâyou are but men!â Here she stopped in her walk, and her brilliant eyes flashed from one to the otherââMen!â with pre-conceived ideas wedged in obstinacy!âyes!âyou cannot help yourselves! Even Father Aloysiusââ she paused, as she met his grave eyes fixed full upon her.
âWell!â he said gentlyââWhat of Father Aloysius? He is âbut manâ as you say!âa poor priest having nothing in common with your wealth or your self-will, my child!âone whose soul admits no other instruction than that of the Great Intelligence ruling the universe, and from whose ordinance comes forth joy or sorrow, wisdom or ignorance. We are but dust on the wind before this mighty power!â even you, with all your study and attainment are but a little phantom on the air!â
She smiled as he spoke.
âTrue!â she saidââAnd you would save this phantom from vanishing into air utterly?â
âI would!â he answeredââI would fain place you in Godâs keeping,ââ and with a gesture infinitely tender and solemn, he made the sign of the cross above her headââwith a prayer that you may be guided out of the tangled ways of life as lived in these days, to the true realisation of happiness!â
She caught his hand and impulsively kissed it.
âYou are good!âfar too good!â she saidââAnd I am wild and wilfulâ forgive me! I will say good night hereâwe are just at the gate. Good night, Marchese! I promise you shall fly with me to the EastâI will not go alone. There!âbe satisfied!â And she gave him a bewitching smileâthen with another markedly gentle âGood nightâ to Aloysius, she turned away and left them, choosing a path back to the house which was thickly overgrown with trees, so that her figure was almost immediately lost to view.
The two men looked at each other in silence.
âYou will not succeed by thwarting her!ââsaid Aloysius, warningly.
Rivardi gave an impatient gesture.
âAnd you?â
âI? My son, I have no aim in view with regard to her! I should like to see her happyâshe has great wealth, and great gifts of intellect and abilityâbut these do not make real happiness for a woman. And yetâI doubt whether she could ever be happy in the ordinary womanâs way.â
âNo, because she is not an âordinaryâ woman,â said Rivardi, quickly- âMoreâs the pity I think-for HER!â
âAnd for you!â added Aloysius, meaningly.
Rivardi made no answer, and they walked on in silence, the priest parting with his companion at the gate of the monastery, and the Marchese going on to his own half-ruined villa lifting its crumbling walls out of wild verdure and suggesting the historic past, when a Caesar spent festal hours in its great gardens which were now a wilderness.
Meanwhile, Morgana, the subject of their mutual thoughts, followed the path she had taken down to the seashore. Alone there, she stood absorbed,âa fairylike figure in her shimmering soft robe and the diamonds flashing in her hairânow looking at the moonlit water,â now back to the beautiful outline of the Palazzo dâOro, lifted on its rocky height and surrounded by a paradise of flowers and foliageâthen to the long wide structure of the huge shed where her wonderful air-ship lay, as it were, in harbour. She stretched out her arms with a fatigued, appealing gesture.
âI have all I want!ââshe said softly aloud,ââAll!âall that money can buyâmore than money has ever bought!âand yetâthe unknown quantity called happiness is not in the bargain. What is it? Why is it? I am like the princess in the âArabian Nightsâ who was quite satisfied with her beautiful palace till an old woman came along and told her that it wanted a rocâs egg to make it perfect. And she became at once miserable and discontented because she had not the rocâs egg! I thought her a fool when I read that story in my childhoodâbut I am as great a fool as she to-day. I want that rocâs egg!â
She laughed to herself and looked up at the splendid moon, round as a golden shield in heaven.
âHow the moon shone that night in California!â she murmuredââAnd Roger Seatonâbear-man as he isâwould have given worlds to hold me in his arms and kiss me as he did once when he âdidnât mean it!â Ah! I wonder if he ever WILL mean it! Perhapsâwhen it is too late!â
And there swept over her mind the memory of Manellaâher rich, warm, dark beautyâher frank abandonment to passions purely primitive,â and she smiled, a cold little weird smile.
âHe may marry her,ââshe saidââAnd yetâI think not! Butâif he does marry her he will never love herâas he loves ME! How we play at cross-purposes in our lives!âhe is not a marrying manâI am not a marrying womanâwe are both out for conquest on other lines,âand if either of us wins our way, what then? Shall we be content to live on a triumph of power,âwithout love?â
CHAPTER XVII
âSo the man from Washington told you to bring this to me?â
Roger Seaton asked the question of Manella, twirling in his hand an unopened letter she had just given him. She nodded in the affirmative. He looked at her critically, amused at the evident pains she had taken with her dress and general appearance. He twirled the letter again like a toy in his fingers.
âI wonder what itâs all about? Do you know?â
Manella shrugged her shoulders with a charming air of indifference.
âI? How should I know? He is your friend I suppose?â
âNot a bit of it!â and Roger stretched himself lazily and yawnedâ âHeâs the friend of nobody who is poor. But heâs the comrade of everybody with plenty of cash. Heâs as hard as a dried old walnut, without the shred of a heartââ
âYou are wrong!â said Manella, flushing up suddenlyââYou are wrong and unjust! He is an ugly old man, but he is very kind.â
Seaton threw back his head and laughed heartily with real enjoyment.
âManella, oh, Manella!â he exclaimedââWhat has he said or done to you to win your good opinion? Has he made you some pretty compliments, and told you that you are beautiful? Every one can tell you that, my dear! It does not need Mr. Senator Gwentâs assurance to emphasise the fact! That you find him an ugly old man is naturalâ but that you should also think him âvery kindâ DOES surprise me!â
Manella gazed at him seriouslyâher lovely eyes gleaming like jewels under her long black lashes.
âYou mock at everything,ââshe saidââIt is a pity!â
Her tone was faintly reproachful. He smiled.
âMy dear girl, I really cannot regard Mr. Senator Gwent as a figure to be reverenced!ââhe saidââHeâs one of the dustiest, driest old dollar-grabbers in the States. I gave him the chance of fresh grabâ but he was too much afraid to take itââ
âAfraid of what?â asked Manella, quickly.
âOf shadows!âshadows of coming events!âyes, they scared him! Now if you are a good girl, and will sit very quiet, you can come into my hut out of this scorching sun, and sit down while I read the letterâI may have to write an answerâand if so you can post it at the Plaza.â
He went before her into the hut, and she followed. He bade her sit down in the chair by the window,âshe obeyed, and glanced about her shyly, yet curiously. The room was not untidy, as she expected it would be without a womanâs hand to set it in order,âon the contrary it was the perfection of neatness and cleanliness. Her gaze was quickly attracted by the bowl of perpetually moving fluid in the center of the table.
âWhat is that?â she asked.
âThat? Oh, nothing! An invention of mineâjust to look pretty and cool in warm weather! It reminds me of womenâs caprices and fancies- always on the jump! Yes!-donât frown, Manella!âthat is so! Nowâ let me see what Mr. Sam Gwent has to say that he didnât say beforeâ -âand seating himself, he opened the letter and began to read.
Manella watched him from under the shadow of her long-fringed eyelidsâher heart beat quickly and uncomfortably. She was fearful lest Gwent should have broken faith with her after all, and have written of her and her vain passion, to the man who already knew of it only too well. She waited patiently for the âgod of her idolatryâ to look up. At last he did so. But he seemed to have forgotten her presence. His brows were knitted in a frown, and he spoke aloud, as to himselfâ
âA syndicate! Old humbug! He knows perfectly well that the thing could not be run by a syndicate! It must be a Stateâs own single possessionâa Stateâs special secret. If I were as bent on sheer destructiveness as he imagines me to be, I should waste no more time, but offer it to Germany. Germany would take it at onceâ Germany would require no persuasion to use it!âGermany would make me a millionaire twice over for the monopoly of such a force!âthat is, if I wanted to be a millionaire, which I donât. But Gwentâs a foolâI must have scared him out of his wits, or he wouldnât write all this stuff about risks to my life, advising me to marry quickly and settle down! Good God! I?âMarry and settle down? What a tame ending to a lifeâs adventure! Hello, Manella!â
His eyes lighted upon her as if he had only just seen her. He rose from his chair and went over to where she sat by the window.
âPatient girl!â he said, patting her dark head with his big sun- browned handââAs good as gold and quieter than a mouse! Well! You may go now. Iâve read the letter and thereâs no answer. Nothing for me to write, or for you to post!â She lifted her brilliant eyes to hisâwhat glorious eyes they were! He would not have been man had he not been conscious of their amorous fire. He patted her head again in quite a paternal way.
âNothing for me to write or for you to postââhe repeated, abstractedlyââand how satisfactory that is!â
âThen you are pleased?â she said.
âPleased? My dear, there is nothing to be pleased or displeased about! The ugly old man whom you found so âvery kindâ tells me to take care of myselfâwhich I always do. Alsoâto marry and settle downâwhich I always donât!â
She stood upright, turning her head away from the touch of his hand. She had never looked more attractive than at that moment,âshe wore the white gown in which he had before admired her, and a cluster of roses which were pinned to her bodice gave rich contrast to the soft tone of her smooth, suntanned skin, and swayed lightly with the unquiet heaving of the beautiful bosom which might have served a sculptor as a perfect model. A faint, quivering smile was on her lips.
âYou always donât? That sounds very droll! You will be unlike every man in the world, then,âthey all marry!â
âOh, do they? You know all about it? Wise
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