Lady Molly - The EndFor a moment it seemed as if Felkin would refuse to obey. The two men stood looking at
each other, measuring one another's power of will and strength of passion. Hate and jealousy
were clearly written in each pair of glowering eyes. Philip Baddock looked defiant, and Felkin
taciturn and sulky.
Close to them stood my dear lady. Her beautiful eyes literally glowed with triumph. That
these two men loved her, each in his own curious, uncontrolled way, I, her friend and
confidante, knew very well I had seen, and often puzzled over, the feminine attacks which she
had made on the susceptibilities of that morose lout Felkin. It had taken her nearly two years
to bring him to her feet. During that time she had alternately rendered him happy with her
smiles and half mad with her coquetries, whilst Philip Baddock's love for her was fanned by
his ever-growing jealousy.
I remember that I often thought her game a cruel one. She was one of those women whom
few men could resist; if she really desired to conquer she invariably succeeded, and her
victory over Felkin seemed to me as purposeless as it was unkind. After all, she was the
lawful wife of Captain de Mazareen, and to rouse hatred between two friends for the sake of
her love, when that love was not hers to give, seemed unworthy of her. At this moment, when
I could read deadly hatred in the faces of these two men, her cooing laugh grated
unpleasantly on my ear.
"Never mind, Mr. Felkin," she said, turning her luminous eyes on him. "Since you have so
hard a taskmaster, you must do your duty now. But," she added, throwing a strange, defiant
look at Mr. Baddock, "I shall be at home this evening; come and have our cozy chat after
dinner."
She gave him her hand, and he took it with a certain clumsy gallantry and raised it to his lips.
I thought that Philip Baddock would strike his friend with his open hand. The veins on his
temples were swollen like dark cords, and I don't think that I ever saw such an evil look in
anyone's eyes before.
Strangely enough, the moment Mr. Felkin's back was turned my dear lady seemed to set
herself the task of soothing the violent passions which she had willfully aroused in the other
man. She invited him to come into the house, and, some ten minutes later, I heard her
singing to him. When, later on, I went into the boudoir to join them at tea, she was sitting on
the music stool whilst he half bent over her, half knelt at her feet; her hands were clasped in
her lap, and his fingers were closed over hers.
He did not attempt to leave her side when he saw me entering the room. In fact, he wore a
triumphant air of possession, and paid her those attentions which only an accepted lover
would dare to offer.
He left soon after tea, and she accompanied him to the door. She gave him her hand to kiss,
and I, who stood at some little distance in the shadow, thought that he would take her in his