The Argosy — page 349: what you’re looking at

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

T April, 1068. Anne Hereford. 327 “ Harry, we cannot answer for it. Again, on Ethel’s account a stranger in the house is not desirable. Emily might have thought of that.” The voices ceased ; I suppose the speakers quitted the library; and down I sat, overwhelmed with shame and consternation. To be in- troduced in this unwelcome manner into a house, bringing annoyance and discomfort to its inmates, seemed to me little less than a crime; I could scarcely have felt more guilty had I committed one. And what was the mystery? That something or other was amiss in the family was all too evident. ‘ Have they got a ghost here?” I said to myself in peevishness. Involuntarily the long-past words of Annette Barlieu flashed into my mind; and I had never thought of them since they were spoken. ‘ There is always a cloud hanging over Chandos, They do not care to have a governess residing there, Miladi said it to me.” Then what was the cloud p—what was the fear? Hill came in again, saying I was to keep the chintz-room. Lady Chandos, in passing just now along the gallery to her own apartments in the west wing, saw for the first time that the blue-room was not ready. So it was decided between her and Hill that I should occupy the chintz one. The luggage was brought up, and I began to dress for dinner. A question occurred to me—are companions expected to dress, in the wide sense of the term? I really did not know, in my inexperience. My birth entitled me to do so; but did my position? <A minute's hesitation told me I was a guest at Chandos, treated and regarded as one, and might appear accordingly. So I put on a pretty low blue silk, with my necklace of real pearls, that had once been mamma’s, round my neck, end the pale blue enamelled bracelets with the pearl clasps. I had been obliged to dress a good deal at Mrs. Paler’s in the evening ; and—to confess the truth—TI liked it. I stood at the door, hesitating whether to go down, as one is apt to do in a house, the ways of which are unfamiliar, when Mr. Chandos, ready for dinner, came suddenly out of the room opposite to the library, nearly opposite to mine, the one that I spoke of as looking to the back of the house, and adjoining the back rooms of the east wing. I con- cluded that it was his bed-chamber. He smiled at me as he crossed to the stairs, but did not say anything. Dhrectly after, Emily de Mellissie appeared in the gallery, radiant in white silk, with an apple-blush rose in her hair, and a: diamond aigrette embedded in it. They said she was full of whims—as I knew for myself. How ardently I hoped that some whim would send her speedily away from Chandos! We went into the first drawing-room, one of the most beautiful rooms I had ever seen, its fittings violet and gold. Lady Chandos was there, and did not appear to have changed her dress. The dinner was served in the oak-parlour; not once in a year did they use the great dining- COMIC OOOKS. EO