The Loves of the Lady Arabella

The Loves of the Lady Arabella
Arabella
by MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL
Author of The Fortunes Of Fifi Children Of Destiny, etc.
With Illustrations by Clarence F. Underwood Decorations by Franklin Booth
INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1898 Molly Elliot Seawell Copyright 1906 The Bobbs-Merrill Company
October
PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y.
The Loves of the Lady Arabella
’Tis not in my nature to be cowed by any woman whatever. Therefore, when I found myself in the presence of my Lady Hawkshaw, in her Chinese drawing-room, with her great black eyes glaring at me, and her huge black plume of feathers nodding at me, as she sat, enveloped in a vast black velvet robe like a pall, I said to myself, “After all, she is but a woman.” So I stared back at her with all the coolness in the world—and I was a seeker after favor, too—and but fourteen years of age, and had only seven and sixpence in my pocket. The tall footman who stood behind Lady Hawkshaw’s chair made a grimace at me; and I responded by a fierce look, as if I were about to run him through the body.
“Jeames,” said her ladyship, “go and make my compliments to Sir Peter Hawkshaw, and say to him that his roistering kept me awake half the night, and consequently I feel very ill this morning; and that his great-nephew, Master Richard Glyn from America, is come after a midshipman’s warrant in his Majesty’s navy,—and I desire Sir Peter to attend me in my bowdwor immediately.”