CONTENTS.
PAGE
Tale the First: A STRANGE IDYL 7
Interlude First: AN EPISODE IN MASK 55
Tale the Second: THE TUBEROSE 67
Interlude Second: AN EVENING AT WHIST 89
Tale the Third: SAUCY BETTY MORK 101
Interlude Third: MRS. FRUFFLES IS AT HOME 131
Tale the Fourth: JOHN VANTINE 141
Interlude Fourth: THE RADIATOR 155
Tale the Fifth: MÈRE MARCHETTE 163
Interlude Fifth: "SUCH SWEET SORROW" 189
Tale the Sixth: BARUM WEST'S EXTRAVAGANZA 201
Interlude Sixth: A BUSINESS MEETING 221
Tale the Seventh: A SKETCH IN UMBER 233
Interlude Seventh: THIRTEEN 253
Tale the Eighth: APRIL'S LADY 263
Interlude Eighth: A CUBAN MORNING 285
Tale the Ninth: DELIA GRIMWET 301
Tale the first.
A STRANGE IDYL.
A BOOK O' NINE TALES.
A STRANGE IDYL.
I.
He lay upon an old-fashioned bedstead whose carved quaintness would once
have pleased him, but to which he was now indifferent. He rested upon
his back, staring at the ceiling, on whose white surface were twinkling
golden dots and lines in a network which even his broken mind knew must
be the sunlight reflected from off the water somewhere. The windows of
the chamber were open, and the sweet summer air came in laden with the
perfume of flowers piquantly mingled with pungent sea odors. Now and
then a bee buzzed by the casement, or a butterfly seemed tempted to
enter the sick-room--apparently thought better of it, and went on its
careless way.
Of all these things the sick man who lay there was unconscious, and the
sweet young girl sitting by his bed was too deeply buried in her book
to notice them. For some time there was no movement in the chamber,
until, the close of a chapter releasing for an instant the reader's
attention, she looked to discover that the patient's eyes were open.
Seeing him awake, she rose and came a step nearer, thereby making the
second discovery, more startling than the first, that the light of
reason had replaced in those eyes the stare of delirium.
