The sharp clang of the bell made me shiver, and Dante's lines came into my mind rather inopportunely, 'All ye who enter here, leave hope behind.' But as soon as the door opened the scene was changed like magic; the long hall was deliciously warm and light: it looked almost like a corridor, with its dark marble figures holding sconces, and small carved tables between them.
'I will wait for you here, Ursula,' whispered Uncle Max; and I went off in charge of the same maid that I had seen before.

Lady Betty had called her Leah, and as I followed her upstairs I thought of that tender-eyed Leah who had been an unloved wife.
Leah was very civil, but I thought her manner bordered on familiarity: perhaps she had lived long in the family, and was treated more as a friend than a servant.

She was an exceedingly plain young woman, and her light eyes had a curious lack of expression in them, and yet, like Miss Darrell's, they seemed able to see everything.
Seeing me glance round the room,--it was a large, handsomely furnished bedroom, with a small dressing-room attached to it,--she said, 'This is Miss Darrell's room.

Mrs.Darrell used to occupy it, and Miss Etta slept in the dressing-room, but ever since her mother's death she has had both rooms.' 'Indeed,' was my brief reply: but I could not help thinking that Miss Darrell had very pleasant and roomy quarters.

There were evidences of luxury everywhere, from the bevelled glass of the walnut-wood wardrobe to the silver-mounted dressing-case and ivory brushes on the toilet-table.