Sir Rohan's Ghost; A Romance (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1860. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... III. MIRIAM. IT was a long time since he had entered these grand districts of the house, and, closed and deserted, the walls had gathered damp, the panels dust, the whole region a funereal gloom. As he looked down, he saw without surprise, since he had grown incapable of such emotion, that the gay curtains and carpets were dim and faded, the ornaments fallen from their brackets, and thick, silvery, shaking webs woven from cornice to cornice of the long drawing-room. He saw without a shudder the rare cast of some antique statue staring sad and forlorn from its nook of tarnished tapestry, like a corpse risen with the mould and mire of the grave upon it; and no question arose in his mind at the wideopen hall door, and the sweet, fresh draught bearing thence through the close rooms. Still looking down, as if under the influence of another dream that made him motionless, his eye rested on a figure standing by the old clavichord, and he waited till the dream should pass and the spell loosen its chain. A girl, tall and in the gloom, standing by the old clavichord and noiselessly moving her fingers over the stained keys. Had he seen her before? A singular face, totally destitute of any roseate glow, but by no means wan, -- rather, one would say, a soft, creamy skin that should not be otherwise. The chin extremely short and upturned; the mouth compensating for some width by rich, velvet curves and handsome teeth, the upper lip a haughty, disdainful feature; the nose well moulded, with thin nostrils, and occupying more than its classical third in length. A face whose first impression was one of peculiar loveliness, the next, a captious sentiment that it was greatly too wide; but few, perhaps, saw it without recurring to the first. The forehead was low and wide, the dark m...