A young girl--the village slavey Dick had engaged--stood under the porch
to welcome them, and demurely conducted Nell over the lodge.
They scrambled through a hasty meal, and Dick invited Nell--with a touch
of importance and dignity which made her smile, to "come up and see the
house."
They walked up a magnificent avenue, and stood for a moment or two
looking upon one of the finest specimens of Gothic domestic architecture
in England.
"Fine, isn't it?" said Dick, with bated breath. "Like a picture in a
Christmas number, eh, Nell? See the carving along the front, and the
terrace? And there's the peacock, there, perched behind that stone lion.
Fancy such a place as this belonging to you, your very own. Yes, Lord
Angleford's a lucky chap!"
They went up the stone steps to the terrace steps, up which Queen Bess
had ascended with stately stride, and, crossing the terrace, into the
hall.
The staircase, broad enough for a coach and four, had sheets of brown
holland hanging from it, and the pictures, statuary, cabinets, and
figures in armor were swathed in protecting covers; but enough was
visible of the magnificence, the antiquity of the grand old hall to
impress Nell.
Some men were at work, whitewashing and decorating, and they stopped
their splashing to permit Nell and Dick to go upstairs; and one or two
of them touched their hats respectfully to the pretty young lady and her
brother.
The corridors were wide and newly decorated, and lined with priceless
pictures which Nell longed to linger over; but Dick led her on from one
room to another; from suites in which the antique furniture had been
suffered to remain to others furnished with modern luxury.
As they went downstairs again they were met by a dignified old lady who
introduced herself as the housekeeper; and who, upon being informed that
Dick was "the gentleman from Bardsley & Bardsley," graciously conducted
them over the state apartments. Most of us know Anglemere, either from
having visited it, or from the innumerable photographs of it, but Nell
had not seen any pictorial representation of it, and its glories broke
upon her with all the force of freshness. In silent wonder she followed
the stately dame as she led them from one magnificent room to another,
remarking with a pleasant kind of condescension: "This is the great drawing-room. Designed by Onigo Jones. Pictures by
Watteau. Queen Elizabeth sat in that chair near the antique mantelpiece
of lapis-lazuli; this chair is never moved. This, the adjoining room, is
the ballroom. Pictures by Bouchier; notice the painted ceiling, the
finest in Europe, and costing over twenty thousand pounds. The next room
is the royal antechamber, so called because James II. used it for
writing letters while visiting Anglemere. We now pass into the banquet
hall. Carved oak by Grinling Gibbings. You will remark the lifesized
figures along the dado. It was here that Charles I., the Martyr, dined
with his consort, Henrietta. That buffet, large as it is, will not hold
the service of gold plate. That painted window's said to be the oldest
of any, not ecclesiastic, in Europe. It is priceless. The pictures round
the room are by Van Dyck and Carlo Dolci. The one over the mantelpiece
is a portrait of the seventh Earl of Angleford."