A Box of Dead Roses

Excerpt

THE old lady was a most amusing creature, and she had a past which was a record amongst pasts. Only that she was rich enough to buy the whole district, its "society" would have "cut" her long ago; as it was, people only talked about her with meaning looks and whispered condemnation. At least, the generation to which she belonged did that; the younger one only looked and wondered. Bent with rheumatism, bushy-browed., fierce-eyed and hard--featured--there remained no trace of the beauty and charm which (so report said) had sent more than one good man to the devil.