The Price He Paid — page 242: what you’re looking at

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

THE CY NOSURE OF INTEREST. 233 looked suspicious. I wish I had _not let myself be led away to speak so openly before him.” —) nr CHAPTER XVIII. THE CYNOSURE OF INTEREST. It was evening, but in spite of the lateness of the hour and the chilly inclement weather, the streets of the capital were yet alive with all the busy rest- less movement which characterizes a great city. Carriages rolled hither and thither in every direc- tion, pedestrians hustled each other on the pave- ment and before the brightly-lighted shops, and it was only in the more aristocratic quarter, which lay a little aside from the main streets and chief . arteries of traffic, that acertain stately peace and quiet reigned supreme. In the room which she was at present occupying in the Selteneck mansion, Gabrielle von Harder sat alone, buried in one of those deep troubled reveries which so often came upon her now, and which threatened to transform the bright vivacious girl into a dreamy, pensive heroine. She was in full dress, for she was going with her party to the opera _ that evening; but as she lay back in her arm-chair heedlessly crushing the dainty laces on her dress, her thoughts were evidently far from the amuse- ments of the hour. If anything could have diverted Gabrielle from her unwonted sadness, it would have been this visit to the capital, where she and her mother had been most graciously received. 190 The Countess Selteneck was an old and intimate friend of the baroness. She had been a frequent visitor at the Harders’ house in the old days, and since the baron’s death had remained in constant correspondence with his widow. ‘The pleasure felt by the ladies on meeting again was great and mu- tual, and the countess, who had no children of her own, indulged and spoiled her friend’s sweet daughter in every imaginable way. The baroness, on her arrival in town, came to GEomichboo gs) (E(0)