Produced by Hillie Plantinga and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's notes: Four typographical errors have been corrected: Page 88, "seemes" changed to "seems" (it seems such a wasteful way to live somehow,) Page 162, "Ellen" changed to "Ellen," ("I'm very glad you feel that way about it, Ellen,") Page 199, "accomodating" changed to "accommodating" (He felt his mind accommodating to) Page 252, "Weatherall" changed to "Weatheral" (Mr. Weatheral had some papers) THE LOVELY LADY _By the same author_ A WOMAN OF GENIUS THE ARROW MAKER THE GREEN BOUGH CHRIST IN ITALY [Illustration: _"It was one thin web of rose and gold over lakes of burnished light...."_] THE LOVELY LADY BY MARY AUSTIN [Illustration: ] _Frontispiece by Gordon Grant_ GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1913 _Copyright, 1913, by_ DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into Foreign Languages, including the Scandinavian._ To J. AND E. THE COMPANIONS OF THE GONDOLA CONTENTS PAGE PART ONE In which Peter meets a Dragon, and the Lovely Lady makes her appearance. 3 PART TWO In which Peter becomes invisible on the way to growing rich. 37 PART THREE In which Peter becomes a bachelor. 59 PART FOUR In which the Lovely Lady makes a final appearance. 107 ILLUSTRATIONS "It was one thin web of rose and gold over lakes of burnished light...." PART ONE IN WHICH PETER MEETS A DRAGON, AND THE LOVELY LADY MAKES HER APPEARANCE PART ONE IN WHICH PETER MEETS A DRAGON, AND THE LOVELY LADY MAKES HER APPEARANCE I The walls of the Wonderful House rose up straight and shining, pale greenish gold as the slant sunlight on the orchard grass under the apple trees; the windows that sprang arching to the summer blueness let in the scent of the cluster rose at the turn of the fence, beginning to rise above the dusty smell of the country roads, and the evening clamour of the birds in Bloombury wood. As it dimmed and withdrew, the shining of the walls came out more clearly. Peter saw then that they were all of coloured pictures wrought flat upon the gold, and as the glow of it increased they began to swell and stir like a wood waking. They leaned out from the walls, looking all one way toward the increasing light and tap-tap of the Princess' feet along the halls. "Peter, oh, Peter!" The tap-tapping grew sharp and nearer like the sound of a crutch on a wooden veranda, and the voice was Ellen's.