The Veiled Man by Ambrose Pratt — Read

It is not to be supposed that Lord Fane felt his wife's death very keenly. The pair had been separated for a dozen years, and they had never been more than formal lovers. Nevertheless, the Marquis entertained old-fashioned and pronounced ideas on certain points, and he was deeply shocked when Dorothy proposed that he should dine abroad within four months of their bereavement. It was on a piece with his character, however, that he should plead indisposition as his reason for refusing. Moreover, he offered no objection when Dorothy announced her intention to attend, because he would have been unable to explain his displeasure without taking her in somewise to his confidence, and that he could not do, though he adored her. Dorothy had never succeeded in penetrating his reserve, and she despaired to guess the reason of his coolness in those days. She thought him needlessly unkind, and he considered her a too easily forgetful, pleasure-seeking woman. He had liked her better when devoted to her sorrow. Such misunderstandings grow up like poisonous mushrooms in the dark and oft-times bear bitter fruit. If he could but have brought himself to speak, both had infallibly lived happily thereafter in each other's affection and fuller comprehension; but the Marquis' shy soul declined to recognise the obligation, and preferred to suffer than to disclose itself even to the gaze of his daughter's loving eyes. So it came about that Dorothy went to her party feeling heartsore and rebellious; while the Marquis spent the evening in his study, alternately cursing his incurable disease of shyness, and sadly reflecting on a wasted and most lonely life.

The dinner was a culinary triumph, but a dismal social failure. Dorothy was preoccupied and silent. Sir Felix's gaiety was a forced and painful thing to witness. Lord Cawthorne confined his talk to politics, and even Francine's lamp shone feebly in the prevailing depression. She did her best to stir the others into cheerfulness, and sometimes she provoked a smile; but as the function neared its termination she grew listless too and angrily dejected. She visited her wrath on Cawthorne.