The Rutherfurd Saga. Anna Buchan

It was a wonderful flute! A note was heard all over the mansion, in the garden, and in the forest, for many miles into the country, and with the sound came a storm that roared, “Everything in its proper place!” And then the baron flew, just as if he were carried by the wind, right out of the mansion and straight into the herdsman’s cottage. But in the dining-room the young baroness flew to the upper end of the table, and the tutor got the seat next to her, and there the two sat as if they were a newly-married couple. An old count, one of the oldest families in the county, remained undisturbed in his seat of honour . . . a rich merchant and his family who were driving in a coach and four were blown right out of the coach, and could not even find a place behind it, two rich farmers who had grown too rich to look after their fields were blown into the ditch. It was a dangerous flute!

Fortunately it burst at the first note, and that was a good thing; it was put back in the player’s pocket again, and everything was in its proper place.

Hans Andersen.

CHAPTER I

Table of Contents

“This young gentlewoman had a father

—O, that ‘had’ how sad a passage ’tis.”

All’s Well that Ends Well.

“How many bedrooms does that make?”

Mrs. Jackson asked the question in a somewhat weary tone. Since her husband had decided, two months ago, that what they wanted was a country-house, she had inspected nine, and was frankly sick of her task.

The girl she addressed, Nicole Rutherfurd, was standing looking out of the window. She turned at the question and “I beg your pardon,” she said, “how many bedrooms? There are twelve quite large ones, and eight smaller ones.”

They were standing in one of the bedrooms, and Nicole felt that never had she realised how shabby it was until she saw Mrs. Jackson glance round it. That lady said nothing, but Nicole believed that in her mind’s eye she was seeing it richly furnished in rose-pink. Gone the faded carpet and washed-out chintzes; instead there would be a thick velvet carpet, pink silk curtains, the newest and best of bedroom suites, a rose-pink satin quilt on

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