The San Francisco call., 1904-08-14

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She loosened her cloak and bent
toward the flaming logs. The room in
which they sat was ill-lighted enough,
but she could see something of its i'm
mensity and Of that strange melange
of riches and poverty it displayed. The
chimney piece, she thought, must be
the largest in the world. You could
have roasted an OK upon its hearth,
and high above the ingle bizarre figures
carved in jet black oak, lifted a bald
achino to the very ceiling. A buffet,
just as odd matched this giant Chin
ney-piece. The walls were hung with
torn and tattered tapestry. Chairs and
tables of oak might have been hacked
by the swords of an army.
There was no carpet on the floor,
but the candlesticks were of pure sill
yer and worthy a kings house. Es-
theirs first impression of this room
was of its homeliness in spite of all.
The weird scenes she had quilted in
the mountains had left her a little
awed and afraid She was like one
who had found a haven from the
night. 1t was all shut out now-all
behind her; these amazing walls were
her defense. Her lover stood beside
her; the blazing fire brought the blood
back to her stiffened limbs.
ct am sure that I shall like it, Ar
thur" she exclaimed upon an impulse
of her gratitude. How kind you are
to me! Imagine being alone on that
dreadful road I shall never let you
out of my sight while 1 am here!"
He knelt beside her and took both
her hands in his own.
''Never!" he said, 1T is a promise
never until my life's end"
They dined alone in the great hall,
the old steward, Martinez, waiting
upon them. When dinner was done,
Arthur showed her a prettier room.
furnished in the fashion of France,
with Louis XIV ornaments and an old
piano, which, like all old pianos, had
once been the property of Chopin.
Here for an hour she played to him
and then at his bidding Cfor her IA
tigue was unmistakable) she followed
an old woman of the house up a mar
row stairway to her bedroom and was
left for the time being alone. That
sense of homeliness she had discov-
cred below was not lacking upstairs,
despite walls of white stone and win
dOws which recalled the years of
chivalry. Blazing logs upon an open
hearth suffused n gentle warmth and
cast their welcome glow upon the high
groined ceiling. The bed was cur
tanned with dimity, white and spotless.
Many candles stood upon wide dress
ing table; there were even fresh roses
from the valleys in vases Of Sevres.
From the windows, which were but
little more than loopholes in tremen-
dous walls of stone. a vista of the pass
could be seen and the road by which
they had come UP to the castle.
The night fell calm and still and
the wailing wind had ceased. A moon,
waxing full and enshrouded in golden
mist, rose up between two frowning
peaks and pointed the untrodden snow
with gems Of fire. The sky itself was
luminously blue and altogether bereft
of cloud. Esther perceived that the
castle stood upon a spur of rock and
thence thrust out its Moorish gables
above an immense ABYSS. The road
10 Folk resembled nothing so much
as a winding stairway, zigzagging
from peak to peak and oft so narrow
that she wondered a carriage might
pressions were of the country to
which the day had introduced her, this
moonlight scene surpassed all the
grandeur of it's changing shapes and
the variety of its weird defiles. Mighty
precipices abounded there at the
height of the pass. Black basins of
rock, prodigiously deep and surmount-
ed by spires and pinnacles which evil
spirits might have shaped, suggested
a neither world, unknown and pro-
foundly mysterious. The snow caps
themselves won beauty of the moon
light some of them were but rounded
domes, gentle TO the eye and pleasing:
others, jagged and twisted, leaned at
such odd angles and were so tilted
from the perpendicular that you might
have thought a touch of the hand
would have sent them headlong into
the valleys below.
Esther found this scene Of gorge and
crag so alluring that she delayed un-
dressing for many minutes TO enjoy it..
She was alone in the room and none
troubled her Her maid, Suzanne, was
TO follow them from Paris tomorrow
the willing housekeeper spoke Spanish
other tongue. Esther was very pleased
when the old woman went about her
business and left her to herself She
had never been a lover Of strange faces
and at such an hour she did not desire
them at all. If amid the natural ex-
citement of that night her thoughts
passed in any way from her present
occupations 1t was to remind her how
far she had journeyed from England
and in what circumstances of isolation
and dependence. Arthurs love meant
much to her in this lonely house.
She clung to it as to something which
would safeguard her wherever they
might be and sooner or later would
carry her back to the world again. If
she had ever questioped the meaning
of her love this night answered her
finally. She was naturally a girl of
great courage, but she joined to this
a disposition to rely both upon the
fidelity Rnd the affection of the friend
she trusted. This gaunt castle, so si-
lent. so remote. asked of her those