Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 46 CHAPTER HI. moritubi Te Salutant It was near midnight; the fires were warm and tin' lights bright in the cedar drawing-room at White Ladies, flashing on the silver and azure panellings, thu countless trifles of art and luxury, the clusters of exotics, and the delicate hues of the women's jewels mid dresses. Some were playing chess or ecarte, sonic softly tlirting, some talking of sport and some of dlnndcr, while the clear contralto of Lady Chessville echoed from tho music-room beyond, where she and hor idolaters weiv singing the music of Figaro, which they would perform on the morrow in the pri- vnto theatre. Within, it was brilliant. still, peaceful, with no mmml higher Uui the nuirmur of voices attuned to om iKift languid key, which never varied in pain iu' In pUnwure, in repartee, flattery, or spleen. With- otlt, tlio w'uuU were rising shrill and high among theold monastic woods, and the lightning was swirling about the fretted pinnacles of the Abbey, and in the lull of the music the hollow, angry roar of the seas, answering the challenge of the storm, pealed through the silence. It was a rough night on the coast. Bad night out, said the Earl of Fernneley, with a suppressed yawn, as a blaze of lightning flashed through the length of the drawing-rooms, outdazzling the wax-lights. Plenty of casualties, suggested Sir Philip D'Orval. All the better for wreckers, they thank Heaven for foul weather said a pretty woman, castling her adversary's queen, and nestling herself in her causeuse to await his next move. Wreckers You touch our esprit du corps, Lady Adela. We are all Ministerialists here, said Johnnie Vaux, a whip and a wit. A languid but general laugh gave him the answer that flattered him most, as a minute gun was fired, faintly ...