Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/175

 have been an ogle, she led Scarlett within the house again, and held aside the curtain from a doorway.

"In here, please," she cooed. "Mrs. Hol-bo-row comes directly. Pardon ze darkness—zese mees-er-able clouds!"

She vanished with a look which made the young man consider. "By George, she is pretty! But if she weren't Aunt Julia's friend, I'd say she almost made eyes at people."

He stumbled into a chair. The room was black as midnight, damp, and airless; he could neither see nor feel the stir of any punkah. Gradually, as he sat in this funereal darkness, the two windows glowed brighter, till a faint yellow gleam told of sunshine without: faint, because heavy green reed curtains, barred with wide vertical stripes, thickly veiled both windows. Through them glimmered the white