Rose of the World

eetle-wing purples and greens. It was a columned and arched apartment in the wing of the modernised palace whi

ittle with a vague anxiety. Jani had been Rosamond's first and only nurse. It was to the faithful breast that had practically given her life that the young widow had clung in the hour of bereavement. This creature, who could not reason but only feel, had been then the

e child than Rosamond knew herself! But her theories of what was good for her mistress had not changed sinc

*

t tension that came over Lady Gerardine's figure was familiar to her, but evoked no sympathy; children and women know not what is their real

it all right. Another time, love, you will consult me, before retiring. Governor's wife, you know ... noblesse oblige, eh? Well, well, let it pass! My dear chi

nd sto

e blinds

sses, the white skin, the tall proportions of her northern womanhood, in this haunt of orient

of revel—the poignant twang of the ghitern, the plaint of the reed, the dry sob of the tom-tom. The whole atmosphere within and without was an appeal to the emotions, to the senses; the very touch of the night wind a velvet-soft caress. A night, surely, when but to be alive was in itself a boon; when to be you

h a note of unconscious pleading in her voice.

gone!" said the L

stretched his arms over the piled cushions with t

here,

ith it admiringly. The ayah drew back into the arched recess of the

in her eyes died down into dull misery. "I understand, dear, that you have made some objection; but, as I have said to him, it is our duty, my dear Rosamond, our duty, to see that the memory of the po

ry movement; the twist of hair in Sir Arthu

u have

d, patted her head. But she, still drawing from h

me," she repeat

ghtly painful one. Your social duties occupy you a good deal, and——" he tenderly pulled her ear, "you have not much inclination for literary labour, have you? Therefore, m

ou

ips laughe

his hands and nodded. "I sh

d, and rose stiffl

ar Ros

h of determination, no piteousness of pleading. Before this smiling self-confidence o

ne, at least. No

ear c

would be paramount in the matter; but y

his is childish

vacantly

aid. "It is fat

eard such nonse

"let no one talk of laying a hand upon these

dered still to be able to grasp

he exclaimed with testy anxiousness. "Not yourself

gers for her pulse. Quic

ng her words with painful distinctness,

a command issued to himself in such imperious tones from his w

t once. And to-morrow I shall certainly call in Saun

ows on her knees, her chin on her clasped hands, staring at the marble floor, long,