"
Was this peerless beauty so fond of Hubert Tracy? Did she entertain,
such high opinion of this fashionable young man? No! He had riches--
that was all in all. That was one reason; and another, it would be
the means of outwitting Philip Lawson, whom she hated with a bitter
hate.
When Evelyn Verne gave her hand to Montague Arnold she never gave
her heart.
Her marriage was in the eyes of the world a good match, and that was
all that was necessary. Mr. Arnold was a man of the world, addicted
to many habits that were not what the better side of life would
approve of; but his wife had her failings, likewise, and she availed
herself of the license thus given her--the liberties of fashionable
folly. Mrs. Arnold being a beauty, was courted by the gay and
fashionable world. She flirted without restraint, and took delight
in making conquests among the degenerated nobility, and lost no
opportunity of displaying her charms. Excitement was as necessary to
Mrs. Arnold's nature as the air is necessary for the support of
animal life. She was buoyed up by excitement and kept alive by
excitement. Life was one giddy round of delights--the dejeuner fete,
opera, and ball-room.
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