s of which rose above the second story. The portico was flanked by
a parapeted balcony, upon which faced, on each side, a row of French
windows, closed and curtained, but not shuttered.

CHAPTER XVII

Leighton rang. The door was opened by a man in livery. So pompous was he
that Lewis gazed at him open-mouthed. He could hardly tear his eyes from
him to follow his father, who was being conducted by a second footman
across the glassy, waxed hall into a vast drawing-room.

The drawing-room might have been a tomb for kings, but Lewis felt more
awed by it than depressed. It was a room of distances. Upon its stately
walls hung only six paintings and a tapestry. Leighton did not tell his
son that the walls carried seven fortunes, because he happened to be one
of those who saw them only as seven things of joy.

There were other things in the room besides the pictures: a few chairs,
the brocade of which matched the tapestry on the wall; an inlaid spinet;
three bronzes. Before one of the bronzes Lewis stopped involuntarily.
From its massive, columned base to the tip of the living figure it was
in one piece. Out of the pedestal itself writhed the tortured, reaching
figure--aspiring man held to earth. Lewis stretched out a reverent hand
as though he would touch it.

The lackey had thrown open a door and stood waiting. Leighton turned and
called:

"Come on, boy."

Lewis followed them through a second drawing-room and into a library.
Here they were asked to sit. Never had Lewis dreamed of such a room. It
was all in oak--in oak to which a century of ripening had given a rare
flower.

There was only one picture, and that was placed over the great
fireplace. It was the portrait of a beautiful woman--waves of gray hair
above a young face and bright black eyes. The face laughed at them and
at the rows upon rows of somber books that reached from floor to
ceiling.

Before the fireplace were two leather chairs and a great leather couch.
At each end of the couch stood lighted lamps, shaded to a deep-amber
glow.

The lackey returned.

"Her ladyship waits for you in her room, sir."

Leighton nodded, and led Lewis down a short hall. The library had been
dark, the hall was darker. Lewis felt depressed. He heard his father
knock on a door and then open it. Lewis caught his breath.

The door had opened on a little realm of light. Fresh blue and white
cretonnes and chintzes met his unaccustomed eyes; straight chairs,
easy-ch