Kemp.
"Good-evening," she said, holding out her disengaged hand, which he grasped
and shook heartily.
"Is it Santa Filomena?" he asked, smiling into her eyes.
"No, only Ruth Levice, who is pleased to see you. Will you step into the
library? We are having a little home evening together."
"Thank you. Directly." He slipped out of his topcoat, and turning quietly
to her, said, "But before we go in, and I enact the odd number, I wish to
say a few words to you alone, please."
She bent a look of inquiry upon him, and meeting the gaze of his compelling
eyes, led him across the hall into the drawing-room. He noticed how the
soft light she held made her the only white spot in the dark room, till,
touching a tall silver lamp, she threw a rosy halo over everything. That
it was an exquisite, graceful apartment he felt at a glance.
She placed her candle upon a tiny rococo table, and seated herself in a
quaint, low chair overtopped by two tiny ivory horns that spread like hands
of blessing above her head. The doctor declined to sit down, but stood
with one hand upon the fragile table and looked down at her.
"I am inclined to think, after all," he said slowly, "that you are in truth
the divine lady with the light. It is a pretty name and a pretty fame,
--that of Santa Filomena.
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