his tone.

"I've come!" says Perpetua, advancing into the room. "I have done
with Aunt Jane _for ever,"_ casting wide her pretty naked arms, "and
I have come to you!"

As if in confirmation of this decision, she flings from her on to a
distant chair the white opera cloak around her, and stands revealed
as charming a thing as ever eye fell upon. She is all in black, but
black that sparkles and trembles and shines with every movement. She
seems, indeed, to be hung in jet, and out of all this sombre
gleaming her white neck rises, pure and fresh and sweet as a little
child's. Her long slight arms are devoid of gloves--she had
forgotten them, no doubt, but her slender fingers are covered with
rings, and round her neck a diamond necklace clings as if in love
with its resting place.

Diamonds indeed are everywhere. In her hair, in her breast, on her
neck, her fingers. Her father, when luck came to him, had found his
greatest joy in decking with these gems the delight of his heart.

The professor turns to Hardinge. That young man, who had risen with
the intention of leaving the room on Perpetua's entrance, is now
staring at her as if bewitched. His expression is half puzzled, half
amused. Is _this_ the professor's troublesome ward? This lovely,
graceful----

"Leave us!" says the professor sharply. Hardinge, with a profound
bow, quits the room, but not the house. It would be impossible to go
without hearing the termination of this exciting episode. Everett's