Elinor Dryden's Probation (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I. ELINOR MARKHAM. The writing-room at Flairs was neither striking in its dimensions, nor handsome in its furnishing, but it was an enticing place to remain in. It was a long room, with a projecting fireplace of carved oak at one end, and a deep three-sided bay window, with narrow panes full of painted glass, at the other. On each side of the fire-place were recessed doors, screened with heavy curtains, to secure quiet from passers-by in the stone gallery outside, and from these curtained doors to thewindow ran bookshelves, filled with volumes chiefly of modern appearance, for this was essentially the " writing-room;" the library itself opened from it by a small doorway on the left as you faced the fire-place, screened like the two others with a heavy red curtain. That curtain was moving now, and presently a slender hand appeared slightly withdrawing it. A minute more and the cloth folds were violently pushed aside, and a young girl stood in the doorway. Dark-skinned, with the hair and eyes of a gipsy, she was remarkable, rather than pretty; so slender in form, so wonderfully intelligent in face, it was difficult to picture Elinor Markham as ever having been a child, or to associate her in one's mind with the dimpled repose of soft, plump babyhood. She stood hesitating, surprised at the sudden daring which had nerved her to dash the curtain aside, and invade her uncle's solitude; one hand still grasped the heavy cloth folds, while her great, black eyes wandered round, as if they were taking an inventory of all she saw. She wastrying to gain a moment's respite before she looked at her uncle. Mr. Dryden sat at a table beside the fire, with his back towards her; he did not move, his head remained bent over the half-finished letter on his desk. He...