Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: bert’s serenade, and as he played the room was no longer lonely; sympathy had brought him friends. It seemed to him that among them came a woman who laid her hand on his shoulder and smiled on him. Her face was hidden, but her touch was there, living and vibrant. On his cheek above the mellow instrument he felt his own tears begin to creep and then?silence. But as he stood calmer, looking down into the night, a movement in the shrubbery attracted him back to earth; he called aloud: Who is there? A pause and the tall figure of the octoroon crossed the white walk. Rita, was the answer. The gate was left open. CHAPTER V. THE STRANGER IN THE LIBRARY. Edward was up early and abroad for exercise. Despite his gloom he had slept fairly well and had awakened but once. But that once! He could not rid himself of the memory of the little picture and it had served him a queer trick. He had simply found himself lying with open eyes and staring at the woman herself; it was the same face, but now anxious and harassed. He was not superstitious and this was clearly an illusion; he rubbed his eyes deliberately and looked again. The figure had disappeared. But the mind that entertains such fancies needs something?ozone and exercise, he thought; and so he covered the hills with his rapid pace and found himself an hour later in the city and with an appetite. The day passed in the arrangement of those minor requirements when large estates descend to new owners. There was an accounting, an examination of securities, the passing of receipts and a consultation of records. Judge Eldridge gave him assistance everywhere, but there was no time for private and past histories. In passing he dropped in at Barksdale’s office and left a card. One of the distinctly marked features of the day…