The Project Gutenberg eBook, The House of the Vampire, by George Sylvester
Viereck

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Title: The House of the Vampire

Author: George Sylvester Viereck

Release Date: November 23, 2005 [eBook #17144]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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THE HOUSE OF THE VAMPIRE

by

GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK

Author of
Nineveh and Other Poems

New York
Moffat, Yard & Company
1912
Copyright, 1907, by
Moffat, Yard & Company
New York
Published September, 1907
Reprinted October, 1907
The Premier Press
New York

_To My Mother_

THE HOUSE

OF THE

VAMPIRE

I

The freakish little leader of the orchestra, newly imported from Sicily
to New York, tossed his conductor's wand excitedly through the air,
drowning with musical thunders the hum of conversation and the clatter
of plates.

Yet neither his apish demeanour nor the deafening noises that responded
to every movement of his agile body detracted attention from the figure
of Reginald Clarke and the young man at his side as they smilingly wound
their way to the exit.

The boy's expression was pleasant, with an inkling of wistfulness, while
the soft glimmer of his lucid eyes betrayed the poet and the dreamer.
The smile of Reginald Clarke was the smile of a conqueror. A suspicion
of silver in his crown of dark hair only added dignity to his bearing,
while the infinitely ramified lines above the heavy-set mouth spoke at
once of subtlety and of strength. Without stretch of the imagination one
might have likened him to a Roman cardinal of the days of the Borgias,
who had miraculously stepped forth from the time-stained canvas and
slipped into twentieth century evening-clothes.

With the affability of complete self-possession he nodded in response to
greetings from all sides, inclining his head with special politeness to
a young woman whose sea-blue eyes were riveted upon his features with a
look of mingled hate