The Castle of the Shadows

Castle Of The Shadows, by Alice
Muriel Williamson

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Title: The Castle Of The Shadows
Author: Alice Muriel Williamson
Release Date: November 23, 2006 [EBook #19901]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: Book cover]
THE CASTLE OF THE SHADOWS

Books by C. N. and A. M. WILLIAMSON
THE LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR THE PRINCESS PASSES MY
FRIEND THE CHAUFFEUR LADY BETTY ACROSS THE WATER
ROSEMARY IN SEARCH OF A FATHER MY LADY
CINDERELLA THE CAR OF DESTINY THE CHAPERON THE
PRINCESS VIRGINIA SET IN SILVER ETC., ETC.

The Castle of the Shadows By MRS. C. N. WILLIAMSON
[Illustration: Doubleday logo]
New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1909

AUTHORIZED EDITION DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.

TO A GOOD MARCHESE THIS STORY OF A WICKED
MARCHESE

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE

I. Where Dreamland Began 3 II. The Story Told by Two 31 III. A
Mystery and a Bargain 61 IV. The Closed Door 84 V. The Lady on the
Verandah 108 VI. The End of the World 134 VII. The Gates Open 158
VIII. Number 1280 178 IX. A Cry Across the Water 201 X. "Once on
Board the Lugger" 224 XI. Virginia's Great Moment 248 XII. Stand
and Deliver! 270 XIII. The Game of Bluff 294

THE CASTLE OF THE SHADOWS

The Castle of the Shadows
CHAPTER I
WHERE DREAMLAND BEGAN
According to the calendar it was winter; but between Mentone and the
frontier town of Ventimiglia, on the white road inlaid like a strip of
ivory on dark rocks above the sapphire of the Mediterranean, it was
fierce summer in the sunshine. A girl riding between two men, reined
in her chestnut mare at a cross-road which led into the jade-green
twilight of an olive grove. The men pulled up their horses also, and all
three came to a sudden halt at a bridge flung across a swift but shallow
river, whose stony bed cleft the valley.
The afternoon sunshine poured down upon them, burnishing the coils
of the girl's hair to gold, and giving a dazzling brilliancy to a
complexion which for twenty years to come need not fear the light of
day. She was gazing up the valley shut in on either side with thickly
wooded hills, their rugged heads still gilded, their shoulders already
half in shadow; but the eyes of the men rested only upon her. One was
English, the other Italian; and it was the Italian whose look devoured
her beauty, moving hungrily from the shining tendrils of gold that
curled at the back of her white neck, up to the small pink ear almost
hidden with a thick, rippling wave of hair; so to the piquant profile
which to those who loved Virginia Beverly, was dearer than cold

perfection.
"Oh, the olive woods!" she exclaimed. "How sweet they are! See the
way the sunshine touches the old, gnarled trunks, and what a lovely
light filters through the leaves. One never sees it anywhere except in an
olive grove. I should like to live in one."
"Well, why not?" laughed the Englishman. "What prevents you from
buying two or three? But you would soon tire of them, my child, as you
do of everything as soon as it belongs to you."
"That's not fair," replied the girl. "Besides, if it were, who has helped to
spoil me? I will buy an olive grove, and you shall see if I tire of it.
Come, let's ride up the valley, and find out if there are any for sale. It
looks heavenly cool after this heat."
"You'll soon discover that it's too cool," said the Italian, in perfect
English. "The sun is only in these valleys for a few hours, and it's gone
for the day now. Besides, there's nothing interesting here. One sees the
best from where we stand."
Virginia Beverly turned her eyes upon him, and let them dwell on his
face questioningly. "Of course, you must know every inch of this
country," she said, "as you used to live just across the Italian border."
For once he did not answer her look. "I haven't spent much time here
for several