The Castle Of The Shadows

								

"I knew them too," said Roger Broom, "and I'll stay down here and keep
Loria company."
Lady Gardiner looked at George Trent, with whom she was having an amusing
flirtation, which would certainly have been more than amusing if he had
been only a quarter as rich as his half-sister.
"I'll take you and Virgie up to the door, anyhow," he responded to the
look, and springing from his horse, he pushed open the tall gate of rusty
iron.
Then, mounting again, the three passed between the gray stone gate-posts
with an ancient carved escutcheon obliterated with moss and lichen. They
rode along the grass-grown avenue which wound up the hill among the
cypresses and olive trees, coming out at last, as they neared the
château, from shadow into a pale, chastened sunshine which among the
gray-green trees had somewhat the effect of moonlight.
"Have you ever heard of the Dalahaides?" Virginia demanded of her
chaperon.
"If I have, I've forgotten," said Lady Gardiner. "And yet there does seem
to be a dim memory of something strange hovering at the back of my
brain."
They were above the grove now, on a terrace with a perspective of ruined
garden, whence the battered faces of ancient statues peeped out,
yellow-white from behind overgrown rose bushes and heliotrope. The
château was before them, the windows still reflecting the sunlight; but
this borrowed glitter was all the brightness it had. Once beautiful, the
old battlemented house had an air of proud desolation, as if scorning
pity, since it could no longer win admiration.
"You would have to spend thousands of pounds in restoring this old ruin
if you should really buy it, Virginia," said Lady Gardiner.
"Well, wouldn't it be worth while to spend them?" asked the girl. "I
certainly----" She stopped in the midst of her sentence, a bright flush
springing to her face; for turning a corner of the avenue which brought
them close to the château, they came suddenly upon a young woman, dressed
in black, who must have heard their last words.
Instantly George Trent had his hat in his hand, and before Virginia could
speak he had dismounted and plunged into explanations. He begged pardon
for the intrusion, and said that, as they had seen the announcement that
the château was for sale, they had ventured to ride up in the hope of
being allowed to see the house. As he spoke, in fairly good though rather
laboured French, he smiled on the girl in black with a charming smile,
very like Virginia's. And Lady Gardiner looked from one to the other
gravely. She was not as pleased as she had been that George Trent had
come here with them, for the girl in the shabby black dress had a
curiously arresting, if not beautiful face, and her surroundings, the
background of the desolate castle, and the circumstances of the meeting,
framed her in romance.
Lady Gardiner did not like the alacrity with which Trent had snatched off
his hat and sprung from his horse, nor did she approve of the expression