The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice

ed to the mountains and lakes of the Highlands, her ladyship positively declined to improve her acquaintance

ment from an errand on which Agnes had sent her. Passing the door of a fashionable dentist, she had met Lord Montbarry himself just leaving the house. The good woman's rep

mpression of nervous uneasiness. If she trusted herself in the streets by daylight while Lord Montbarry remained in London, how could she be sure that his next chance-meeting might not be a meeting with herself? She waited at

roved by the prospect of going abroad. But one other servant accompanied the travellers-Lady Montbarry's maid, rather a silent, unsociable woman, so far as Em

an old friend and school companion who happened to see her during a brief visit to London, was inexpressibly distressed by the change that she detected in Agnes. This lady was Mrs. Westwick, the wife of that brother of Lord Montbarry who came next to him in age, and who was described in the 'Peerage' as presumptive heir to the title. He was then away, looking after his interests in some mining property which he possessed in America. Mrs. Westwick insisted on taking Agnes back with her to her home in Ireland. 'Come and keep me company while my husband is away. My three little girls will make you their playfellow, and the only str

ch she was most anxious to forget. After the first kissings and greetings were over, the old nurse (who had bee

nd, inquiring when you would be back. Her husband has left Lord Montba

ishment. 'Are you sure of wh

the secretary, Miss Agnes, the secretary himself!' Hearing this, Agnes began to feel alarmed as well as surpris

hich it was not easy to control. Her narrative, when she was at last a

ling uneasy, she had gone to the office in Golden Square, to inquire if he had been heard of there. The post of the morning had brought a letter to the secreta

a friend of Ferrari, he had gone to pay him a visit. Ringing at the door that opened on the canal, and failing to make anyone hear him, he had gone round to a side entrance opening on one of the narrow

ich his monthly salary (then due to him) could be paid. Amazed at this reply, the courier inquired if any person had offended Ferrari, or quarrelled with him. The lady answered, 'To my knowledge, certainly not. I am Lady Montbarry; and I can positively

d) relating to the date and the time of day at which F

was discovered who did the housework at the palace, arriving in the morning and going away again at night. She had never seen the lost courier-she had never even seen Lord Montbarry, who was then confined to his room. Her ladyship, 'a most gracious and adorable mistress,' was in constant attendance on her noble husband. There was no other servant then in the house (so far as the old woman knew) but herself. The meals were sent in from a restaurant. My lord, it was said, disliked strangers. My lord's brother-in-law, the Baron, was generally shut up in a remote part of the palace, occupied (the gracious mistress said) with experiments in chemistry. The experiments sometimes made a nasty smell. A doctor

urier-friend. The police were on the look-out for the lost man-and that was

the poor woman asked eagerly. '

the courier's letter to Montbarry-the report of his illness, the melancholy picture of his secluded life-had reopen

nswered. 'I have had no experience

read my husband's letters to me? There are onl

ionately read

ch like my lord. He is proud and cold, and, between ourselves, stingy in money matters. I have had to dispute such trifles as a few centimes in the hotel bill; and twice already, some sharp remarks have passed between the newly-married couple, in consequence of her ladyship's fre

etter was da

when her ladyship is not present. We were to have stopped at Genoa, but he hurried us on. The same thing at Florence. Here, at Rome, my lady insists on resting. Her brother has met us at this place. There has been a quarrel

last letter,

s a matter of honour with him; he hates parting with his money, but he does it because he has given his word. I receive my salary regularly at the end of each month-not a franc extra, though I have done many things which are not part of a courier's proper work. Fancy the Baron trying to borrow money of me! he is an inveterate gambler. I didn't believe it when my lady's maid first told me so-but I have seen enough since to satisfy me that she was right. I have seen other things besides, which-well! which don't increase my respect for my lady and the Baron. The maid says she means to give warning to leave. She is a respectable British female, and does

infatuation by the man who had deserted her!-with feelings of shame and distress,

'is that we should consult a person of greater experience than ours. Suppose I write and ask my l

arranged for the meeting on the next day; the correspondence was l

er mistress's overburdened mind. They were still talking quietly, when they were startled by a loud knock at the house door. Hurried footsteps ascended the stairs. The door of the sitting-room was thrown open violently; the courier

ary measures to restore the fainting woman. 'What's this?' she

) to 'Mrs. Ferrari.' The post-mark was 'Venice.' The contents of the

ritten. It was again in a feigned hand

for the loss o

ed the enc

England note for