Amethyst. Christabel R. Coleridge

      Christabel R. Coleridge

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"Amethyst"

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"The Story of a Beauty"

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Chapter One.

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      A Champagne Luncheon.

      “Well, my dear Annabel, very glad to see you. You don’t often give me a chance of entertaining you. Come and have some luncheon; one can’t talk business on an empty stomach.”

      “You’re very good, Haredale. I wish my errand was a pleasanter one; but—”

      “Well, we’ll hear all about it directly. Champagne? Ladies always like champagne, so I provided some for you.—It’s very good, it won’t disagree with you.”

      Miss Annabel Haredale did not like champagne in the middle of the day, and thought that it was sure to disagree with her; but she smiled at her brother and took it like a martyr.

      The scene was a rather shabbily appointed set of rooms in Duke Street, Saint James’s; in one of which an elegant little luncheon was laid for two. The actors were a lady and gentleman, both some years past fifty,