Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-11-06

his books to value her. Bue she was
too happy by nature to indulge in
sentiment long. With flourish OF
her long whip and a noncouraging
word to her ponies she drove on again,
and sweeping round the lower side of
the park at a gallop, she pulled up be-
fore the door Of the house in a very
mastery style Of workmanship, flung
the reins to the groom, and sprang to
the ground as lightly as a bird, almost
before Armathwaite had time to
hold out his hand to help her.
And now,' she said, ''for the en-
chanted palace of fogeydom, and a
peep into the realms of dulness."
She ran up the steps with laugh,
and introduced him into the house with
a deep curtesy. Armathwaite followed,
full of interest and curiosity.
CHAPTER VIII.
From the very first step he made
inside the outer hall, with it's oaken
nail-studded door, tesselated pave
ment, and diamond-paned windows,
Armathwaite felt that the atmosphere
of this spick and span mansion was
as different from that of the desolate-
looking, rambling old house in which
he had passed the previous night as
light from darkness. The inner hall
was panelled and rooted with oak, the
floor was Of parqueterie, the walls
were laden with trophies of elk-horns,
boars' tusks, and Enthusiastically mod
ern armour. A great fire burned in
high tiled fireplace, square brass Ian
terms hung from the roof, and the sun
light streamed through stained glass,
and made the armour shine and the
tiles of the fireplace glitter, until the
incomer was dazzled whichever way
he looked. ArmathWaite was instant
ly and strongly conscious that he pre-
ferred the mOuldy old hall at the
CrosmOnt's house, with it's faded, buff
colored walls, and the untidy border
Of guns and coat-stands and fishing
rods, to this brand-new medieval
splendor although the wide oak stair
case, with it's acknowledgement
banisters, and the woodwork round the
doors, met with his approval, and
some tapestry hangings, arranged
curtainwise before one wide doorway
which were said to have belonged
to Marie Antoinette, but the history
of which did not become authentic
until their arrival in Regent street
gave harmonious resting-place to
the eye from the glittering brightness.
Lady Kildonan glanced at him
dOubtfully.
you didn't like this place, | see,"
she said with a dubious look at one
particularly .overpowering arrange
ment of weapons and banners crossed
behind a huge brass shield. Nor do
| much, [ think. My grandfather built
this house, and filled it with mahogany
chairs and tables that were neither
old nor interesting. So I gave one OF
the big London upholstery firms carte
blanche, and told them above all not
to make it gloomy. They've overdone
the Afghan guns, I think. 1t looks
like a shooting gallery, three shots a
penny
But her disappointment was only a
joke to her She darted through the
Marie AntOinette curtains with the
graceful agility which recalled to
Armathwaite's mind the movements of
a greyhound, and leading him along
a passage which was evidently re-
production of a convent cloister.
opened the door of one of the rooms
with an arch pout of penitentiaI de
mureneSs.
For what we are about to receive
- she whispered, and sprang into
the room like a ray Of sunshine.
1t was the morning-room, entirely
in the taste of fashionable London
room, with brentwood furniture and
plush-betasselled cushions, Japanese
vases and Japanese screens, reed
curtains and dried bulrushes, with an
antique cabinet, and lot of little
tiresOme tables, laden with objects O.
no value to the owner or to anybody
else Half dozen figures sprang up
like Jacks in the box from different
parts Of the room as Lady KildOnan
came in, and Armathwaite recognized
he had received. Only the master OF
the house and the accomplished arti-
tcer in oranges were absent. Mr..
Mason, his fingers still encountered
with a skein of wool which he had
been Obligingly assisting one of the
ladies to wind, ambled up to his host
esS at once in a burst Of enthusiasm.
told her that the morning air had
made her look quite too lovely" and
led the feminine chorus of welcoming
small-talk with the precision of a pre-
centOr. He was a small washed-out
looking fair man with a large head;
he wore a velvet coat, a huge dia-
mond ring around his tie, and another
on one of his fingers, and he spoke
with an effeminate voice and an af-
fected manner. Lady Kildonan cruelty
told him that he would have been
better employed making snowbaIs
out of doors than winding wool in
hot room, and after a few words to
everybody, and a glance round the
room in apparent search for someone
who was not there, she went to take
her hat off, carrying one of the girls
with her, and leaving Armathwaite.
not without giving him a glance full
of mischief, to the tender mercies of
a circle whose powers of entertain
ment his hostess had not maligned.
What a charming woman Lady /
Kildonan is" began Mr.. Mason, to /
whom, as the only member of his sex
present, the newcomer had Instructive |