The Opposite House: A Novel — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

40 a Lhe Opposite House. hat, and let the cool evening breeze fan his burning brow caressingly. The bell pealed shrilly through the corridor ; light steps approached the door. Susanne fairly started back : “You, Herr Gerrald ?”’ “Yes, I,” he answered curtly. ‘Is mademoiselle at home ?” The girl flew rather than walked over the soft carpet back to her mistress. A loud exclamation, which sounded almost like a cry of delight, reached his ears; then Susanne returned and threw the door wide open : “Mademoiselle Heloiseis dressing for the opera, but will come presently.” Gerrald again stood in the little doudozr which had formerly seemed to him an Elysium. She had so often reclined in yonder chair, while, kneeling on a cushion at her side, he talked about eternal love. Folly! The sweet odor of heliotrope seemed to oppress his breathing ; the magical dusk, the em- bers glimmering on the hearth, the heavy fragrance of the flowers—all combined to stupefy his senses. He felt too weak to cope with this task. If only she did not keep him waiting too long, the delay was so tiresome. Hewas about to seek refuge in flight— his hand already grasped the velvet portzere—when the vision in the bow-window rose before him, and ComicboOoks.c©