The Arm Chair Library No. 79: The Haunted Homestead — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. ss 168 gg ROSATI RAMI Dina, AE ihe ESSN a RTD RETF ladies’ entrance to a carriage drawn up beforo | had seen the carriage driving away from this it. avon Sead gt ay handed his companion in, door; I remembe the hue of the cress, I took her hand in saying good-by, then turned searched the beautiful face for & susuvw vs and went down Broadway, while the vehicle | falsehood; it was, appar ently, as clear to read rolled away up Fifth Avenue. | as the fairest book. It did not seem possibie “That was Mrs. Uhester,” said Chester, in- | for deception to hide itself in those eyes, inno- voluntarily quickening his steps. ‘If she had | cent and unfaltering asa child’s. et I was seen us'she would have given us séats in 'the | certain, by the eagerness with which she intro- carriage. I was not aware she had friends | duced a new topic, and by a slight embarrass- stopping at the hotel. That gentleman was 4 ment which marred, for a few moments, her ‘stranger to me. { think she must have noticed | ordinary almdst stately self -possession, that, their arrival in the morning paper and gone for once at least, and for some reason, Mrs. immediately to call upon them.” ) *" Chester had not been entirely frank. That his wife was in the carriage was enough| [ did spend a jiléasant evening. Aftera to keep the eyes of the bridegroom fixed upon | well-serv dinder I had to go over the house, it, but it was driven too rapidly for us to keep} and give my opirion about curtains, carpets, aah with it, and ‘it’ soon turned off at West) books, the color and arrangement of hangings y_-_- Street, upon which the Chesters re-| and furniture,etc.—an opinion quite worthiss, i was certain, but solicited with charming erness by my hostess. * Excuse mé, Ralph, that room is notin Vis- iting order,” said Mrs. Chester, advancing rapidly, and of hoe. her hand on the door-knob as her husband was about to throw open a uest-room on the second floor. “ What has happened toit, Augusta? I fur- nished that upfor you, old fellow, whenever you please to want.a night's lodging. I’msor- ry you can’t see how faithfully I’ve remem- bered your preference—black walnut farniture with crimson accessories. Quite gorgeous, but in-your style, I believe.” *T am sorry, too, that you cannot see your room to-night; but I have turned it into Blue sided. As we reached the street we met it re- turning. having, apparently, just turned away from the mansion, the steps of which we now ascended. The parlors were vacant when we entered them, but in a few moments Mrs. Chester came in, most freshly and becomingly dressed in full dinner costume. Iam not proficient in the details of feminine attire. only knew that she looked lovely, and that her dress was of a new green tint, like the lightest ray of an emer- ald, which was just coming into fashion. I had remarked it on the la cy who came out of the hotel. I had always admired her, and I ment on this evening, that she surpassed P ashe Be pene was Pally ganps008 of er charms. ough not guilty, even before : me, his most intimate friend, of fot little en-| Beard’s chamber for the chet You es dearnients in which some voung married peo-| Come Seal! soon, and then you will not only ple publicly it enter but occupy it.” ng his Santon aise Bi Seer sae Py I was fully sensible of the cordial kindness me ne came near being home first,” he said, with which my friend’s wife said this, and yet after the welcomes were over. “We saw you I was disagreeable enough to fancy that | oming out of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Have noticed a return of the nervousness she had you friends stopping there ?” Pap shown before dinner, in her manner of holding : “ “¥oun must have seen some other lady. the door, while she directed us to the nextroom. 5 have not been out of the house this after- It seemed to me that Chester also Observed noon.” | alates A something unusual in her manner, though he hy, it was you /—this very dress, too.” | made the attempt not to notice it, and be- shocks Has t his and my looks of surprise.| came more gay An talkative than before. T would like to see the woman who so much | After we had made the tour of the new estab resembles me as to deceive you, Ralph—and | lishment, which I admired and praised with our friend, too. You could not have been very | evident sincerity, we the remainder of Rear her, 1 think. I have been at home a the evening in tne library, we all three having day. ‘Let me see. At the time you were pass- ing - on Square I must have been eee. aq -ribbons, or trying my new corals.’ dressing. ' How do you like them— a X > > u voted it the most attractive part of the house. A book or two on the table appeared as if re- cently in use; one little volume of blue and gold lay open, with a mark init, and during a tise in our friendly conversation I lifted it Saad was and glanced into it, more from habit than ry much. Red looks well with black | from any desire to ascertain the poetical tastes draperies.” ‘of the lady of the mansion, The title of the sat silent while she con-} poem was “ The Wifes Tragedy,” and the ~ His mind was busy with the | jines upon which my eyes fell were: cont Sg - eet tee om ‘‘ You, who do profess to see yes how care- In the face the written mind, . cireum- Look in that face and tell me H lightly. - In what part of it_you find : 8 wife estly while : 1 Ore i es t00, ” All the falsehood, and the wro E, ;was she whom we saw coming And the sin, which must have Treealled also the fact that we Hid in baleful beauty long, 3 ———— | es j a hits pscapikes “Pd ie fae Sl ead 2S. FS ty ee ‘eeu ah Y ys af es bk ay Sag e a ek + : 7s ‘ 2 ii < i Be - ae ; rie ~ | oe «ee ox th, pink oe x ; , pe ee ae ‘ wt : ks & me on Like the worm thatlurks uaseep