THE
INNER
SHRINE
A NOVEL OF TODAY
ILLUSTRATED
HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON M.C.M.I.X
Copyright, 1908, 1909, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
All rights reserved.
Published May, 1909.
[Transcriber's note: The name of the author, Basil King, doesnot appear in the text.]
ILLUSTRATIONS
| SHE STOOD WATCHING THE RISE AND DIP OF THESTEAMER'S BOW (See page 61) | Frontispiece |
| THE BANKER TOOK A LONGER TIME THAN WAS NECESSARYTO SCAN THE POOR LITTLE LIST | Facing p.46 |
| PRESENTLY ALL FOUR WERE ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THEDRAWING-ROOM | " 78 |
| DIANE PROPPED THE CABLEGRAM IN A CONSPICUOUSPLACE | " 152 |
| "I'VE NO ONE TO SPEAK A WORD FOR ME BUT YOU" | " 202 |
| IT WAS WHAT MRS. WAPPINGER CALLED AN"OFF-DAY" | " 252 |
| MRS. BAYFORD WAS PURRING TO HER GUESTS | " 260 |
| HAVING MADE A COPY OF THIS LETTER, SHE CALLEDSIMMONS AND FULTON AND GAVE THEM THEIR INSTRUCTIONS | " 264 |
| "SINCE THE INNER SHRINE IS UNLOCKED—ATLAST—I'LL GO IN " | " 354 |
THE INNER SHRINE
I
Though she had counted the strokes of every hour since midnight,Mrs. Eveleth had no thought of going to bed. When she was notsitting bolt upright, indifferent to comfort, in one of thestiff-backed, gilded chairs, she was limping, with the aid of hercane, up and down the long suite of salons, listening for the soundof wheels. She knew that George and Diane would be surprised tofind her waiting up for them, and that they might even be annoyed;but in her state of dread it was impossible to yield to smallconsiderations.
She could hardly tell how this presentiment of disaster hadtaken hold upon her, for the beginning of it must have come asimperceptibly as the first flicker of dusk across the radiance ofan afternoon. Looking back, she could almost make herself believethat she had seen its shadow over her early satisfaction in herson's marriage