San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-10-18
The Gypsie's Curse;
BY THE AUTHOR OF GUILTY WITHOUT
CRIME" THE "WRECKERS OF
ERNER Doom" ETC.
Fir Chapter began October 18th. !

the warm light on ner golden nalr anC
deeper light in her wondrous eyes.
Would she ever know why he was silent
for a moment and stunned her cloudless,
fearless gaze?
81 suppose" he said, after that pause,
"that, though lima is the youngest here,
she must be commander of the expedition,
as she is the stranger. You all know the
Court as well as-perhaps better than-I
do. Miss Durnford tells me she would
prefer to remain here for little, and then
intends to steer for the Conservatives,
where wilkins will be superior guide to
myself, for | am the worst of Horticulture
lists. So, lima, where is it, to be first for
you?"
lima hesitated; and then she said
81 am sure to like it alr'-thnking that
perhaps Sir Philip would not like to 90 to
the picture-galleries, which she would visit
when he was away again.
"Would you like to see the picture-ga
leries?" asked Darrell, divining what
was in her mind. "Yes? This way
then"
As they paused before an old Sevres vase
in a a corridor, he said
cit was very kind of you to think of me {;
but have no objection at all to the pic
ture-galleries. Perhaps we had better
commence with the one containing the FAM
lily portraits" he added, as Roland and
Rose approached, jamie having gone off
somewhere else.
1t took some time to reach the galleries,
there being SO many things to admire and
hear about on the way. But for Ilma's
company, Roland would far rather have
been in the stables. He had not much
taste for curious carvings, statues, and
things Of a kindred nature. He could not
have told the difference between the Re-
Nuisance and any other period, any more
than he could have assigned painting to
any given school. Sir Philip however had
it all at his finger's-ends, and lima seemed
in her glory; but in her heart she felt
more and more, as she went on, that this
grand place was not home. A shadow
seemed to hang over it. Sir Philip was
proud of the Court; he loved it passion
ately in way, but not word passed his
lips such as would have been natural for
its master, in the flower of his manhood,
indicating that he regarded it as an abid-
ing-place. Nor had it an air of home
Everything was redolent of the past. H.
ma felt as if she were back in the middle
ages. A laugh sounded odd and harsh, a
commonplace speech seemed out of char
acter. If Sir Philip had called her sfair
maiden" and "thee'd' and ..thou'd," she
would hardly have been surprised. He in
deed was suitably framed; but Roland and
Rose looked painfully out of place amid
such surroundings. Yet lima wished she
could see one room that looked as if it had
been lived in within the last hundred
years, as if children had ever played there
or young girls dreamed there. What a
grand, bright, happy home this might be,
but for the heavy curse that lay OH 1t like =
black pail
The picture-galleries Sir Philip told his
youngest guest, occupied the whole Of
what was called Sir Damian's wing, hav-
ing been built by that lord in the four
teenth century.
81 dare say" said Sir Philip, as he OPEN
ed the doors of the pOrtrait-gallery, "yOu
will desire to take mere general survey
to-day, as you will have so many opportu-
mites of seeing all that is to be seen; but
don't let me hurry you. l only want you
to take your own time and pleasure" 4,
lima thanked him, and they passed in
among crusading knights and ladies in
colts and farthingales. Even the stiff, i'm
perfect thinning of the earlier periods
could not hide the marked characteristics
of the race, dark, naughty ltaian-ooking
faces, all more OF less handsome, some re-
markably so; though none, lima thought,
had such beauty as Sir Philip. In the
last representative of the house all its
graces seemed to have reached their high
est point.
GLOW is it," asked lima, "that the OAR
rellS have such an Italian type of face? 1t
is strongest in you, Sir Philip; but none
of these faces are English
''The tradition, you know, is, he repli-
ed, "that the first Darrell was an Italian
noble, who fled his country for some pOliti-
cal reason, or for some crime, real or
charged to him; and think it must have
been so. Several times in later ages we
have intermarred with Italians. The
mother of Sir IngeIhard of the Curse was
an Italian, and so was my great-grandmo-
ther. They say am more like Sir Ingel-
hard than any of the Others"
care you?" said lima, with sharp
pang at her heart. Was there any fate in
this resemblance between the man who
had brought the doom on this noble house
and the one who was to be its last vic
tim?
N"You will see," replied Sir Philip, as
the girl stopped silently before a stately
dame of the reign of Henry W.; and,
glancing around he saw that Rose and Ro-
land had loitered behind, and he heard q
laugh from Rose which echoed through the
lofty arches.
china started and her brow contracted
with look of pain.
elbow sensitive you are ~ said Sir Phil
lip, smiling. 81 suppose you think it
sounds odd tO l1uUh here Won have NOT