The Arm Chair Library No. 79: The Haunted Homestead — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

1S Cet aS . ee Oe ee eres Se el es ~s sdafius. F. § Rai. So wins eet Sa in te A ae ee ee ee ee ee 148 ROSSITOR HOUSE. se ** Sweets to thesweet. Bonny brown tresses, { have tumbled them,” getting a kiss in the disorder. I beard a step behind us—soft, Nght asa step could be, but still I heard it, She stood, framed in the low, dark doorway, like a picture—Agnes Rossitor, as [ turned. She was not tall, but her perfect grace of motion, and the imperial carriage of the slender figure, made her appear so. I re- member ae dress—iti was of Persian silk, creamy and trailing in every fold, with the matchless white arms fully revealed in its wide falling sleeves, and bare, except for broad bands of African gold. From her low, waxen forebead, all the magnificent hair had been brushed back and knotted upon her neck aud fastened there by a singular bijou, I thought— a long, slender shaft, like a dagger, with ahilt alive with the scintillant eyes of a hundred precious gems. Thesunshine shot like astreak of fire across it, blending its coruseations in a weird dazzle of dancing, changeful light, as she crossed the room, and held out a hand to me like snow—as white and as cold, “For Grant’s sake, as well as your own,” spoke the low, withering voice, ** I should lravesought you before, Miss Darrow. Pardon me—but it was so late when you arrived last night, and to-day I have been—busy,” = laughed a littleas she pronounced the word. “You have, indeed,” said Grant, drily. She looked at him serenely over her fan of scarlet feathers. Those languishing eyes ! so large, so dark, that I could but think it was for such that Mark Anthony flupg a world away. ae You will not mind Grant,” to me, while her gaze still rested on him, as if she knew his pepe ‘he often slanders me, Miss Darrow, Ve have been famous for our family quarrels ever since childhood,” He shrugged his shoulders, The next words ee not intended for my ears, but I heard em, ‘| have brought ~ wild rose as a hostage for futureconduct, See that you keep her safe for me,” ‘* She is a violet.” ** Let no one seek to transform her, then.” She turned with a quick sigh to the window, unnoticed, I had nothing in common . = them. If my presencu there was rked at = all, it was by surprise alone, for the admittance | of a governess to those drawing-rooms must | have been a rare novelty. I feel it, - = dress looked oddl’ among their , er . = took the positio:; assigned mejand = questions, — Wyvil was in his element. {was proudand | content to watch his triumphs, taking then for my own. In the love of rt young gir § there is more or less of an ron 4 = hero-worship. He was my hero, AL iant, fascinating—I had’ never seen thes . 4 ualities shine more brightly than on thisday, § he life of table and company—the keen [ cynical wit, wounding even w he da and attracting to him whomsoever he - ¥ to — the since 0 Pie bare I one _ izno es, for, n for a ndthere § mas not ‘ns - the coahip, My -wumetien ae suspec our relationship, wom _ might have asserted itself in : brief pang, | perhaps, but that was all. I remained qui In my alcove, made dim and dusky by a sweep of purple damask and the shadow of a poplar tree just outside the window, Mrs. Rossitor was at the P mers Down the long length of the Ww could see the firsh of the dagger-hilt in her magnificent hair—the weird, scintillant hun- dred eyes! . It was an old German love gs that she sang—every note brimming with : passionate sweetness, Her voice hadacertain depth and pathos that I never heard excelled. , | As the pertumed air throbbed, sympathetic,to © > its dreamy, mournful pulations, therecameto =| me a memory of that old German legend of the Luler maids, warbling from the rocks of en chanted whirlpools their syren lays of destruc tion and cant W yvil stoud at: ~ | Ace side her, his face turn 7 , bis brow fe brocaie rutle ng: pac a 4 E : es , F contracted, Something li a behind in the alcove—a faintscentof heliotrope, | then a whisper, like the hiss of a snake, 4 Fi sare you are) A oh en aS 7 on, mademoiselle, ‘ aa “That is odd—it is rer phen iad 4 Wyvil was in love with her years a jilted him for the judge ~poor w! 3,2 ” a wah niher @ J tints al \ oe ul "t a The long, rolling swell of the surf boomed the rest of his sex!” Scher poi oe 2 a loudly up, the sands to us, and the sun lay |—‘ I hear that he is eng now to some littl: glaring and hot on the headlands and the little shing hamlet above the beach. ‘it isso dreary here!” she said, under her breath, ‘*Dreary ?” echoed Wyvil, with a touch of sarcasm, I have heard that where one loved and was belover l, that spot became an Eden,” flush, as faint as a seashell’s, stained the pearly cheek. | You should know”—coldly—‘ youare au s unknown ree dud, Isn’t she lovelyi—” The whisper ed, ‘ a = <a /_ nto space, angry, ng not fe ing, but straight Sebceads in an opening os a the damask, one pale, stern face, th = have been the mirror of my o BBY witb its fixed, darkenin eves, — Rosi =| tor, Had ho heard, too? I shrank bac a ing. There wasno need, He — his fait in such matters.’ peel the next moment and was lost in a le winved, 16 next moment the hall wa: e i soon came, Poor allina bustle, The sound of footsteps and Grant! Wee a pt By | fluttering dress threw out a warning, Judee blame him because he had once lo Rossitor itself stood in the doorwa Y, Quietly geous,golden-haired woman ? Howt asset chee Phe guests of the house were | that love must have been—how much he m Brom my quiet corner | could watch them Pe alo See ae F Mages a ee - wis Sige 5 i ST i 5 4 he: ‘oe BS * Ar ais ee “vez in ae : cil ae orm) | le y { ¢ ek a