moved by this consideration, I turned to a new leaf in my memorandum-book, and put down in black and white the following facts thus summarily collected:
"A mysterious family with a secret.
"Rich, but with no visible means of wealth.
"Secluded, with no apparent reason for the same.
"A father who is a hermit.
"A son who is impenetrable.
"A daughter whose tastes are seldom gratified.
"The strange fact of a ball being given by this family after years of reserve and non-intercourse with their neighbors.
"The still stranger fact of it being a masquerade, a style of entertainment which, from its novelty and the opportunities it affords, makes this departure from ordinary rules seem marked and startling.
"The discovery of a letter appointing a rendezvous between two persons of the male sex, in the grounds of the party giving this ball, in which the opportunities afforded by a masquerade are to be used for forwarding some long-cherished scheme."
