Page:The Ruby of Kishmoor (1908).djvu/32

 prodigious a grin that, in the moonlight, it appeared as though the whole lower part of her face had been transformed into shining teeth. “You be a brave Buckra,” says she, in her gibbering English. “You come wid Melina, and Melina take you to pretty lady, who want you to eat supper wid her.”

Thereupon, and allowing our hero no opportunity to decline this extraordinary invitation, even had he been of a mind to do so, she took him by the hand, and led him toward the large and imposing house which commanded the garden. “Indeed,” says Jonathan to himself, as he followed his sable guide—himself followed in turn by the gigantic negro—“indeed, I am like to have my fill of adventure, if anything is to be judged from such a beginning as this.”

Nor did the interior sumptuousness of the mansion at all belie the imposing character of its exterior, for, entering by way of an illuminated veranda, and so coming into a brilliantly lighted hallway beyond, Jonathan beheld himself to be surrounded by such a wealth of exquisite and well-appoint-