dressed in the costume of the First Empire, standing in a wood-path,
looking back over her shoulder at some one following--yet with such a
dash of something not altogether saint-like in the corners of her meek
eyes and baby-like lips, that it impressed me with the individuality of
life. Had it not been for the open dress, with its waist almost beneath
the armpits, the hair cut short on the forehead, and the perfection of
the neck and shoulders, I should have taken it for a literal portrait
of one of the ladies of the house. As it was, I could not rid myself of
the idea that one, if not both, of Mr. Leavenworth's nieces looked down
upon me from the eyes of this entrancing blonde with the beckoning
glance and forbidding hand. So vividly did this fancy impress me that I
half shuddered as I looked, wondering if this sweet creature did not
know what had occurred in this house since the happy yesterday; and if
so, how she could stand there smiling so invitingly,--when suddenly I
became aware that I had been watching the little crowd of men about me
with as complete an absorption as if nothing else in the room had
attracted my attention; that the face of the coroner, sternly
intelligent and attentive, was as distinctly imprinted upon my mind as
that of this lovely picture, or the clearer-cut and more noble features
of the sculptured Psyche, shining in mellow beauty from the
crimson-hung window at his right; yes, even that the various
countenances of the jurymen clustered before me, commonplace and
insignificant as most of them were; the trembling forms of the excited
servants crowded into a far corner; and the still more disagreeable
aspect of the pale-faced, seedy reporter, seated at a small table and
writing with a ghoul-like avidity that made my flesh creep, were each
and all as fixed an element in the remarkable scene before me as the
splendor of the surroundings which made their presence such a nightmare
of discord and unreality.