umination, glittered in prismatic
fragments with all the varied colors of the rainbow, so that a mellow
yet brilliant radiance filled the entire apartment. Polished mirrors of
a spotless clearness, framed in golden frames and built into the walls,
reflected the waxed floors, the rich Oriental carpets, and the
sumptuous paintings that hung against the ivory-tinted paneling, so
that in appearance the beauties of the apartment were continued in
bewildering vistas upon every side toward which the beholder directed
his gaze.

Bidding our hero to be seated, which he did with no small degree of
embarrassment and constraint, and upon the extreme edge of the gilt and
satin-covered chair, the negress who had been his conductor left him
for the time being to his own contemplation.

Almost before he had an opportunity to compose himself into anything
more than a part of his ordinary sedateness of demeanor, the silken
curtains at the doorway at the other end of the apartment were suddenly
divided, and Jonathan beheld before him a female figure displaying the
most exquisite contour of mould and of proportion. She was clad
entirely in white, and was enveloped from head to foot in the folds of
a veil of delicate silver gauze, which, though hiding her countenance
from recognition, nevertheless permitted sufficient of her beauties to
be discerned to suggest the extreme elegance and loveliness of her
lineaments. Advancing toward our hero, and extending to him a tapering
hand as white as alabaster, the fingers encircled with a multitude of
jewelled rings, she addressed him thus:

"Sir," she said, speaking in accents of the most silvery and musical
cadence, "you are no doubt vastly surprised to find yourself thus
unexpectedly, and almost as by violence, introduced into the house of
one who is such an entire stranger to you as myself. But though I am
unknown to you, I must inform you that I am better acquainted with my
visitor, for my agents have been observing you ever since you landed
this afternoon at the dock, and they have followed you ever since,
until a little while ago, when you stopped immediately opposite my
garden gate. These agents have observed you with a closeness of
scrutiny of which you are doubtless entirely unaware. They have even
informed me that, owing doubtless to your extreme interest in your new
surroundings, you have not as yet supped. Knowing this, and that you
must now be enjoying a very hearty appetite, I h