"Oh! I don't know; it is a portrait of some member of the family of the former proprietors, I suppose! We found it here with other rubbish, considered, I suppose, of too little value to remove after the Van Der Vaughans left; I washed its face and set it up for a firescreen. 'To such vile uses,' etc. By the way, look at it! It is a very remarkable countenance! Such expression might have been that of Semiramis when ordering the execution of Ninus." "No! I do not think so, there is no wickedness in this face! There is strength, sternness, perhaps cruelty (if necessary)," I replied, still studying the portrait. "Who could it have been?" "I know not indeed! some old, old member of the Vaughan family." "Nay, I do not think the portrait is of such ancient date! To be sure it is dilapidated; but that seems to be more from abuse than from time. And observe! the costume is modern." "So it is!" "I had not thought of that before! Well now since you said so, I begin to surmise that this may be the portrait of Madeleine Van Der Vaughan." "And who was she?" I inquired, with as much indifference as I could assume. "Oh! the last lineal descendant of the elder branch of the family and the last heiress of this old estate; she married her first cousin, Wolfgang Van Der Vaughan." "And what was her history and her fate?" I inquired, striving to restrain the betrayal of the intense interest I felt. "Oh, her history was as painful as her fate was tragic." "And--well?" "Hush! there is some one coming! I will tell you another time!" It was Mrs. Legare who entered, and smiling a sort of salutation to me, and opening a letter she held in her hand, said: "My dear Mathilde, we are to have more company. Your cousin Rachel Noales is coming; she will be here this afternoon!" "Oh! I should be so glad if we only had room for her!" exclaimed Mathilde, impulsively, and then she blushed deeply in having spoken thus freely of their crowded state in the presence of a guest. "My dear Mathilde," said I, "as mine is a double-bedded chamber, I should be very happy to have Miss Rachel for a roommate; that is, if it would be agreeable to herself." "Thank you, Agnes, dear. Agreeable! why it would be the very thing. Rachel Noales is the greatest coward that ever ran! and would no more sleep in a strange room, by herself, than she would in a churchyard! If you had not kindly offered, some of us girls would have to take her in, although we are all sleeping double now!" "But are you sure, my dear Agnes, that you will not be incommoded," kindly inquired Mrs. Legare. "Incommoded? Not in the least! The arrangement suits me to a nicety!" I replied. And so, in truth, it did; for let me confess that while I could not prevail upon myself to shorten my visit, and leave the house with its great mystery unsolved, the prospect of sleeping alone in that chamber cursed with crime appalled me, but, in company with a companion of my own age, it would be a very different affair.