eded painting. The Chinaman answered in his own good
time. He looked a little sodden; doubtless he employed much of his large
leisure with the opium pipe. Magdalena bade him follow her to her aunt's
apartments. As she ascended the imposing staircase she withdrew her hand
hastily from the banister.

"Why do you not keep things clean?" she asked disgustedly.

"Whattee difflence? Nobody come," he replied with the philosophy of his
kind.

The very air was musty and dusty. The black walnut doors, closed and
locked, looked like the sealed entrances to so many vaults. The sound of
a rat gnawing echoed through the hollow house. It seemed what it was,
this house,--the sarcophagus of a beautiful woman's youth and hopes.

For a year or two after the house was built Mrs. Polk had given
magnificent entertainments, scattering her husband's dollars in a manner
that made his thin nostrils twitch, and without the formality of his
consent. Magdalena paused at a bend of the stair and tried to conjure up
a brilliant throng in the dark hall below, the great doors of the
parlours rolled back, the rooms flooded with the soft light of many
candles; her aunt, long, willowy, of matchless grace, her marvellous
eyes shooting scorn at the Americans crowding about her, standing
against the gold-coloured walls in the blood-red satin she had shown
once to her small admirers. But the vision would not rise. There was
only a black well below, a rat crunching above.

She reached the door of her aunt's private apartments on the second
floor and entered. She stepped back amazed. There was no dust here, no
musty air, no dimness of window. A fire burned on the hearth. The gas
was lit and softly shaded. The vases on the mantel were full of flowers.
On one table was a basket of fruit; on another were the illustrated
periodicals.

"Mrs. Polk is here?" she said to Ah Sin.

"No, missee."

"She is expected, then? How odd--"

"Donno, missee. Evey day, plenty days, one, two, thlee weeks, me fixee
rooms all same this."

"But why?"

"Kin sabbee, missee. Mr. Polk tellee me, and me do allee same whattee he
say."

Magdalena's lips parted, and her breath came short.

She gave the necessary instructions about the picture. The Chinaman
followed her down the stairs and opened the door. As she was passing
out, she turned suddenly and said to him,--

"It is not necessary to tell Mr. Polk about this, nor that I have been
here. He does not like to be bothered a