which I could see the
nodding tops of the trees. The furniture was all green and of a
lighter, daintier make than any I had hitherto seen. The walls were
covered with pictures, the mantelshelf with flowers. Whilst I was
busily employed noting all these details, the door of the room opened,
and the threshold was gorgeously illuminated by a brilliant sunbeam,
from which suddenly evolved the figure of a young and lovely girl.

I can see her now as I saw her then--tall, and slender, with masses
of golden hair, waved artistically aside from a low forehead of
snowy white; finely-pencilled brows, and long eyes of the most
lustrous violet; a straight, delicately-moulded nose, a firm,
beautifully-proportioned chin, and a bewitching mouth. At her bosom
was a bunch of heliotrope, which, deftly undoing, she raised to her
nose and then laughingly held out to me. I was charmed; I took a step
forward towards her. The instant I did so, a wild look of terror
distorted her face, she waved me back, something jarred against my
knee, and, in the place of the room, I saw only the blurred outline
of trees through the yellow window-panes.

Bitterly disappointed, but absolutely sure that what I had seen was
objective, I retraced my steps to my bedroom and passed the remainder
of the night in sound sleep.

After breakfast, however, unable to restrain my curiosity longer, I
sought Miss Amelia, who was easier to approach than her sister, and,
managing after several efforts to screw up courage, blurted out the
story of my nocturnal escapade.

My aunt listened in silence. She was always gentle, but on this
occasion she surpassed herself.

"I am not going to scold you, Esther," she said, smoothing out my
curls. "After what you have seen it is useless to conceal the truth
from you. God perhaps intends you to know all. Years ago, Esther, this
house was not as you see it now. It had two wings, and, in the one
that no longer exists was the bedroom you saw in your vision. We
called it the Green Room because everything in it was green, your Aunt
Alicia--an aunt you have never heard of--who slept there, having a
peculiar fancy for that colour.

"Alicia was our youngest sister, and we all loved her dearly. She was
just as you describe her--beautiful as a fairy, with golden hair, and
violet eyes, and she always wore a bunch of heliotrope in her dress.

"One night, Esther, one lovely, calm, midsummer night, forty years
ago, this house was broken into