Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/113

Rh and I determined to unravel it. I seized every opportunity that offered for conversing with her former friends; but they always spoke of her with a reserve that left me more in doubt and more curious than before.

In the meantime, I had become well acquainted with her maid, who, I knew, had been with her a long time, and was much attached to her. It was, however, not until after much solicitation that I prevailed on her to tell me the story.

"It has been more than fifteen years," she said, "since I first became acquainted with my mistress. She was, at that time, scarcely eighteen years old, and was one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen; but, in her countenance, even at that age, could be detected traces of that pride which has ever been her ruling passion. Her mother had died when she was a child. Her father was engaged in a large, and apparently very lucrative business. He had in his employment, a young man some twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, who frequently had occasion to call at the house, to bring letters, messages, etc., to Mr.. This young man was tall and well-formed, and although his features were not at all regular, still he was very handsome. When he was in conversation, there was a peculiar fascination in his manner, which it was almost impossible to resist.

"I had been engaged in the house some months before I observed any alteration in the manner of my mistress. Whenever James came into her presence, with any message for her father, she always had many questions to ask him, and seemed anxious to prolong his stay as much as possible. When he had gone,