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Page 6
The older woman patted the hand that wore the ruby, then turned to
Isabel. "Come," she said, "and be glad you're indoors."
The three women stood at the wide window, looking out across the snow,
lighted only by the stars and a ghostly crescent of moon. The evergreens
were huddled closely together as though they kept each other warm.
Beyond, the mountains brooded in their eternal sleep, which riving
lightnings and vast, reverberating thunders were powerless to change.
Suddenly, across the purple darkness between the pale stars, flamed a
meteor--an uncharted voyager through infinite seas of space. It left a
trail of fire across the heavens, fading at last into luminous mist, the
colour of the stars. When the light had quite died out, Madame Bernard
spoke.
"A passing soul," she sighed.
"A kiss," breathed Rose, dreamily.
"Star-dust!" laughed Isabel.
II
WELCOME HOME
"Great news, my dears, great news!" cried Madame Bernard, gaily waving an
open letter as she came into the room where Rose was sewing and Isabel
experimenting with a new coiffure. "I'll give you three guesses!"
"Somebody coming for a visit?" asked Isabel.
"Wrong!"
"Somebody coming, but not for a visit?" queried Rose.
"You're getting warmer."
"How can anybody come, if not for a visit?" inquired Isabel, mildly
perplexed. "That is, unless it's a messenger?"
"The old Kent house is to be opened," said Madame, "and we're to open
it. At last we shall have neighbours!"
"How exciting," Rose answered. She did not wholly share the old lady's
pleasure, and wondered with a guilty consciousness of the long hours she
spent at her music, whether Aunt Francesca had been lonely.
"Listen, girls!" Madame's cheeks were pink with excitement as she sat
down with the letter, which had been written in Paris.
"MY DEAR MADAME FRANCESCA:
"'At last we are coming home--Allison and I. The boy has a fancy to see
Spring come again on his native heath, so we shall sail earlier than we
had otherwise planned.
"'I wonder, my dear friend, if I dare ask you to open the house for us?
I am so tired of hotels that I want to go straight back. You have the
keys and if you will engage the proper number of servants and see that
the place is made habitable, I shall be more than ever your debtor. I
will cable you when we start.
"'Trusting that all is well with you and yours and with many thanks,
believe me, my dear Madame,
"'Most faithfully yours,
"'RICHARD KENT.'"
"How like a man," smiled Rose. "That house has been closed for over ten
years, and he thinks there is nothing to be done but to unlock the front
door and engage two or three servants who may or may not be
trustworthy."
"What an imposition!" Isabel said. "Aunt Francesca, didn't I meet
Allison Kent when I was here before?"
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