RHODA OF THE UNDERGROUND [Illustration: “He listened with her hand clasped in his.”] RHODA OF THE UNDERGROUND By FLORENCE FINCH KELLY Author of “With Hoops of Steel,” “The Delafield Affair,” etc., etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE KINNEYS New York STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 1909 Copyright 1909 By STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1909 THE MASON-HENRY PRESS SYRACUSE AND NEW YORK ILLUSTRATIONS “He listened, with her hand clasped in his.” Frontispiece FACING PAGE “‘You won’t shoot him?’ she demanded, turning sharply around” 68 “Inside were a withered rose and a letter” 100 “‘Don’t Jeff, please don’t!’ she pleaded” 250 RHODA OF THE UNDERGROUND CHAPTER I The benediction of God was in the sunshine that lay still and bright upon green fields and blooming gardens. The town, marshaled along the river side, nestled quietly under the caressing warmth. Down by the steamboat landing it stirred into sudden noisy activity as the up-river boat drew in and made ready to discharge cargo and passengers. But farther back, where the streets, lined with maple and butternut trees and white-blossomed locusts, climbed the long sloping hill, the May sunshine seemed to have kissed the earth into radiant peace. Here and there, from some white-painted cottage set in a grassy, tree-shaded yard, came the sound of a woman’s voice in speech or song, or the shrilly sweet accents of children at play floated out from porch or shady nook. The lilac bushes in a yard at the top of the hill, hedging the walk from front door to gate, lazily stirred their lavender foam and sent forth waves of fragrance. The house, uncompromisingly white and square and solid-looking, with green shutters at the windows, had a wide, columned veranda across the southward front and down the eastern side. Upon the balmy stillness in which it too was enveloped there came a sound of dancing steps and girlish laughter, and a young woman ran out of the front door, teasing with a leafy switch a gray kitten that scampered at her side. Her spreading skirts, crinolined and beruffled, tilted back and forth, and with a sudden twist she caught the kitten within their cage. As it peeked out, with a half-frightened face, ready to spring away, she caught it by the back of the neck and lifted it to the bend of her arm. “No, you didn’t, Prince of Walesy!” she laughed. “You’re not smart enough yet to get away from me like that!” Leaning against the veranda rail she gazed watchfully down the street while she pinched the kitten’s ears until it squeaked and then stroked it into purring content. The sunlight brought out reddish and golden gleams in her dark brown hair.