The Ruby of Kishmoor | Page 7

and the sumptuous
paintings that hung against the ivory-tinted paneling, so that in
appearance the beauties of the apartment were continued in bewildering
vistas upon every side toward which the beholder directed his gaze.
Bidding our hero to be seated, which he did with no small degree of
embarrassment and constraint, and upon the extreme edge of the gilt
and satin-covered chair, the negress who had been his conductor left
him for the time being to his own contemplation.
Almost before he had an opportunity to compose himself into anything
more than a part of his ordinary sedateness of demeanor, the silken

curtains at the doorway at the other end of the apartment were suddenly
divided, and Jonathan beheld before him a female figure displaying the
most exquisite contour of mould and of proportion. She was clad
entirely in white, and was enveloped from head to foot in the folds of a
veil of delicate silver gauze, which, though hiding her countenance
from recognition, nevertheless permitted sufficient of her beauties to be
discerned to suggest the extreme elegance and loveliness of her
lineaments. Advancing toward our hero, and extending to him a
tapering hand as white as alabaster, the fingers encircled with a
multitude of jewelled rings, she addressed him thus:
"Sir," she said, speaking in accents of the most silvery and musical
cadence, "you are no doubt vastly surprised to find yourself thus
unexpectedly, and almost as by violence, introduced into the house of
one who is such an entire stranger to you as myself. But though I am
unknown to you, I must inform you that I am better acquainted with my
visitor, for my agents have been observing you ever since you landed
this afternoon at the dock, and they have followed you ever since, until
a little while ago, when you stopped immediately opposite my garden
gate. These agents have observed you with a closeness of scrutiny of
which you are doubtless entirely unaware. They have even informed
me that, owing doubtless to your extreme interest in your new
surroundings, you have not as yet supped. Knowing this, and that you
must now be enjoying a very hearty appetite, I have to ask you if you
will do me the extreme favor of sitting at table with me at a repast
which you will doubtless be surprised to learn has been hastily
prepared entirely in your honor."
So saying, and giving Jonathan no time for reply, she offered him her
hand, and with the most polite insistence conducted him into an
exquisitely appointed dining room adjoining.
Here stood a table covered with a snow-white cloth, and embellished
with silver and crystal ornaments of every description. Having seated
herself and having indicated to Jonathan to take the chair opposite to
her, the two were presently served with a repast such as our hero had
not thought could have existed out of the pages of certain extraordinary

Oriental tales which one time had fallen to his lot to read.
This supper (which in itself might successfully have tempted the taste
of a Sybarite) was further enhanced by several wines and cordials
which, filling the room with the aroma of the sunlit grapes from which
they had been expressed, stimulated the appetite, which without them
needed no such spur. The lady, who ate but sparingly herself, possessed
herself with patience until Jonathan's hunger had been appeased. When,
however, she beheld that he weakened in his attacks upon the dessert of
sweets with which the banquet was concluded, she addressed him upon
the business which was evidently entirely occupying her mind.
"Sir," said she, "you are doubtless aware that every one, whether man
or woman, is possessed of an enemy. In my own case I must inform
you that I have no less than three who, to compass their ends, would
gladly sacrifice my life itself to their purposes. At no time am I safe
from their machinations, nor have I any one," cried she, exhibiting a
great emotion, "to whom I may turn in my need. It was this that led me
to hope to find in you a friend in my perils, for, having observed
through my agents that you are not only honest in disposition and
strong in person, but that you are possessed of a considerable degree of
energy and determination, I am most desirous of imposing upon your
good-nature a trust of which you cannot for a moment suspect the
magnitude. Tell me, are you willing to assist a poor, defenceless female
in her hour of trial?"
"Indeed, friend," quoth Jonathan, with more vivacity than he usually
exhibited, with a lenity to which he had heretofore in his lifetime been
a stranger--being warmed into such a spirit, doubtless, by the generous
wines of which he had partaken--"indeed,