A Mere Chance: A Novel. Vol. 1

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Ada Cambridge. A Mere Chance: A Novel. Vol. 1

CHAPTER I. A MARSHAL NEIL ROSE

CHAPTER II. FAMILY COUNSELS

CHAPTER III. MR. KINGSTON'S QUESTION

CHAPTER IV. THE ANSWER

CHAPTER V. SO SOON!

CHAPTER VI. A RASH PROMISE

CHAPTER VII. TWO LOVE LETTERS

CHAPTER VIII. HOW RACHEL MET "HIM."

CHAPTER IX. A BLACK SHEEP

CHAPTER X. OUTSIDE THE PALE

CHAPTER XI. MR. DALRYMPLE HAS TO CONSULT GORDON

CHAPTER XII "OH, IF THEY HAD!"

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THE drawing-room of the house in Toorak where our heroine lived, looked very cosy and comfortable a few hours later in the ruddy glow of the firelight. It was a little before the days of domestic high art in Victoria, and it was by no means the charming apartment that it is now. There was no dado, no parquetry floor, no tiled hearth, no étagère mantelpiece – nor Persian rugs under foot, nor Limoges plaques and Benares dishes on the walls, nor Japanese screens and jars, nor treasures of jade and china, nor anything, in fact, that there ought to have been.

The pleasant firelight danced upon a whitewashed ceiling, plentifully adorned with plaster-of-Paris mouldings, and upon whitey-grey walls sprigged with golden flowers. The floor was completely covered with a vivid green carpet, also sprinkled with flowers; and the windows were draped with brilliant damask to match, depending from immense gilt cornices in festoons looped with cords and tassels. There was a cut-glass chandelier hanging down in the middle, and there was a gigantic pier-glass reaching from the marble chimney-piece to the plaster-of-Paris frieze, with little gold cupids sitting on the top of it, tying wreaths of gold flowers into a knot. The chairs and couches shone in slippery satin, with wonderful rosewood convolutions wriggling out from them, that one could hardly venture to call legs; and there was a terrible chiffonniere, full of looking-glasses, with a marble top, reflecting all these splendours over and over again – which was quite unnecessary.

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"I think you don't understand her, mamma. I think she really saw no more in Mr. Kingston than she would have seen in any poor young man without a penny."

"No, Beatrice. She talked about his new house, and all the money he was going to spend on it, in a ridiculous way. She was completely fascinated by the subject."

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