She made several futile trips to the Maury residence before she succeeded in getting possession of the precious letters.
Having purposely made herself look as phantom-like as possible, she was seen by several persons, and the report that her spirit walked became noised about.
Having obtained the letters, she resolved not to venture forth again, lest she should be followed and her identity discovered.
But, as we have seen, by Maybelle’s story, her discretion came too late, and she was fated to a severe ordeal—the result of last night’s adventure.
Through the fragrant gloom of the summer night Otho Maury was gliding toward the house, wriggling his lean body through the shadows like a hungry panther about to spring upon its prey, and as his stealthy step pressed the threshold, he kept muttering, darkly, with horrible exultation:
“She can not escape me now!”
CHAPTER XXVI.
“I WILL SELL MY LIFE AND HONOR DEARLY!” CRIED THE MADDENED GIRL.
The room where Floy sat had been her mother’s bedchamber. It was a large, handsome apartment, with stenciled walls and deep mahogany wainscoting after the old style, and the dark, massive furniture was of the richest mahogany. The dark polished floor was covered with rich rugs from Persia, and a magnificent full-length mirror between the two windows had reflected many a beautiful face and form of Floy’s ancestors.
They had been handsome people, the Nellests, but Floy’s beauty was of quite a different type.