The Castle of the Shadows | Page 7

admiration for her, and fall seriously in love
with some one else.
She, too, was curious concerning mademoiselle and her past, but with a
very different curiosity from Virginia's, and she determined to learn the
story of the Dalahaides and their château above the Valley of the
Shadow. She did not, however, wish to appear curious before Virginia
or her brother, and hoped that the American girl, with her wonted
audacity, would at once approach the topic when they had rejoined Sir
Roger Broom and the Marchese Loria. But Virginia asked no questions,
contenting herself with answering those of her cousin, which for some
reason confined themselves entirely to the château. Lady Gardiner was
sure, since he admitted having known the Dalahaides, that, being
human, Roger would have liked to hear something of the girl who lived

there like Mariana in the Moated Grange; and it would have been
interesting to know why he refrained from mentioning her.
As they rode through the valley, dark and sad now, in the chill of its
early dusk, she brought her horse to Virginia's side in so narrow a defile
of the road that Roger, who was with the girl, dropped behind.
"Have you noticed that the Marchese hasn't asked us a single question
about your château?" she remarked. "He is a changed man since we
came into this valley. I wonder if there was ever anything between him
and that tragic-looking girl up there? Perhaps Sir Roger knows, and
that's the reason he didn't speak of her."
"Perhaps," echoed Virginia listlessly, and Kate Gardiner said no more.
An odd restraint seemed to have settled on the whole party, which had
started out so gaily in the sunshine. Each one was sunk deep in his or
her own thoughts, as if the twilight had touched them with its delicate
melancholy.
They were stopping at the Cap Martin hotel, high on the hill in its
beautiful garden, and among its pines; and there was a dance that night,
for which Virginia had promised Loria several waltzes; but she
complained that the ride had tired her.
Instead of dancing she went after dinner to the private sitting-room
which she and Lady Gardiner shared, having quietly asked Roger
Broom if he would come to her there for a few minutes. He found her,
not in the room, but on the balcony, in floods of moonlight, which gave
her beauty an unearthly charm as she lay on a chaise longue, wrapped
in an evening cloak of white and silver brocade.
"You don't mind leaving the dance a little while--for me?" she asked.
Roger smiled his quiet, pleasant smile. "There's nothing in the world I
would mind leaving for you, Virginia," he said, "and I think you know
that very well."

"Sometimes I believe it's true. I should like to believe it to-night," she
answered, "because I need your help. There's a secret, and I must find it
out."
As the girl spoke there was a slight sound in the room beyond the big,
open window.
"What's that?" exclaimed Roger. "Who is there?"
"Nobody," said Virginia. "It must be a log of olive-wood falling in the
fireplace."
CHAPTER II
THE STORY TOLD BY TWO
Roger waited. He knew that Virginia was gathering her forces together,
and that he might expect the unexpected.
"I want you to tell me all about that girl in mourning who lives at the
Château de la Roche," she said after a moment; "and what her brother
did."
Roger was slow in answering. "It's not a pleasant story for your ears. I
was sorry this afternoon that I had spoken even as freely as I did about
it before you. Loria took me to task rather, after you'd gone up to the
château, and he was right. By Jove! Virginia, I believe that if I'd said
nothing, the idea of buying the place would never have occurred to
you."
"Perhaps not," she admitted. "But it has occurred to me, and once I
have an idea in my head I keep it tenaciously--as all my long-suffering
friends know to their sorrow. Will you go to-morrow to the agent
whose address I have and make inquiries?"
"Certainly, if you wish."
"Oh, you think if no one thwarts me, I'll get over the fancy. But I won't!

I'm going to have that château among the olive trees for mine if it costs
me fifty thousand pounds (which it won't, I know), even if I only live in
it for one month out of five years. The thing is, to feel it's my own. So
now, you see, as the place is practically my property, naturally I'd like
to know something of the people who have been its owners."
"I don't see why. When one buys a house one doesn't usually