And when the princely castle was cleared of its crowds, and once more
restored to order, beauty and peace, Sir Lemuel Levison went back to
London to bring his daughter home.

Salome, submissive to her father's will, yet disappointed in her wish to
take the vail, met every event in life with apathy.

Even when the splendors of Lone broke upon her vision she regarded them
with an air of indifference that amused, while it mortified, her father.

"I see how it is, my girl," he said. "You have renounced the world, and
are pining for the convent. But you know nothing of the world. Give it a
fair trial of three years. Then you will be twenty-one years old, of
legal age to act for yourself, with some knowledge of that which you
would ignorantly renounce; and then if you persist in your desire to take
the vail--well! I shall then have neither the power nor the wish to
prevent you," added the wise old banker, who felt perfectly confident
that at the end of the specified time his daughter would no longer pine
to immure herself in a convent.

Salome, grateful for this concession, and feeling perfectly self-assured
that she would never be won by the world, kissed her father, and roused
herself to be as much of a comfort and solace to him as she might be in
the three years of probation. And she took her place at the head of her
father's magnificent establishment at Lone with much of gentle quiet and
dignity.

And now it is time to give you some more accurate knowledge of the
outward appearance and the inner life of this motherless, convent-reared
girl, who, though a young and wealthy heiress, was bent on forsaking the