The Opposite House: A Novel — page 42: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Lhe Opposite Flouse. a7 Their glances met only for a moment; then the golden-haired child suddenly started, the rose petals fell to the floor in a shower, the white curtain shook ; but she had vanished, and he saw nothing except the rigid features of a portrait hanging on the wall. Was he excited, or was he the sport of some spec- tral illusion? The portrait seemed to raise its white hands and, with a beseeching gesture, wave the young man back. What did you fear, Barbara von Rotterswyl? % * * * * * Gerrald stood at the window half an hour longer, staring fixedly at the baronial house, as if he hoped the weather-beaten stones would open and afford him another glimpse of the vision which had so surprised him that he could scarcely appreciate the details of its beauty. But, like the elusive Fata Morgana, the sunny phantom of the desert, the ap- parition had vanished behind the rose-bushes, leav- ing him nothing save the ugly, bare reality—the empty window in the house of a hostile family. No golden locks glimmered through the green foliage, and the lovely eyes and swift smile had disap- peared as completely as if he had never seen them. cComiclsoo <S