The Opposite House: A Novel — page 90: what you’re looking at

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

The Opposite FLouse. 85 eer ee “We ’ll see,’’ was the careless reply. Brand turned to the table and held the bottle up to the light to examine the label. “This is undoubtedly fiery,” he said, with a smile of satisfaction. “I thought so. Chartreuse! By King Artus, Heloise, your cupboard must be re- markably well supplied! A short time ago you produced a capital Benedictine, and now almost daily a different variety. We'll hope that this "— he patted the corpulent bottle—“ will prove a worthy successor. Where do you get your stock, if I may ask?” “ Drink and tell me your story!” replied Heloise, curtly. Then she placed a /gueur glass on the table before him, and took her seat on the comfort- able lounge. “Won't you bear me company?” he asked, with a side-glance at the single glass. “No!” was the sullen reply. “So you are eager for my story?” he went on, with cruel composure. ‘So much the better; you will listen politely.” As he spoke he closed one eye, held the glass up to the light and took a sip with the air of a connoisseur. ‘‘ Yes, our chances so far are brilliant,” he began, leaning comfortably back inacorner. “At first it was, of course, some- what hard work to approach the good fellow; he seemed fairly panoplied by his beloved work and cComiclsoo S