"Yes, miss," said the maid. "Fashions change so soon, don't they?"
It was beautifully done, and Celia laughed again, appreciatively. The
place had seemed to her a kind of Paradise, and certainly it was
inhabited, judging by the specimens she had seen, by persons of angelic
amiability. She was so excited that she could scarcely drink her tea,
and when Mrs. Dexter reappeared, she sprang up all eagerness. For half
an an hour she went from room to room, almost speechless with admiration
and a delighted awe. It was her first experience of a house of the size
and grandeur of Thexford Hall, and almost at every step she took she was
trying to realize that she was actually going to live there. And to be
paid £150 per annum for doing so!
"Now I'll show you the library," said Mrs. Dexter. "Naturally, that will
interest you more than anything else, though our state-rooms are
considered to be very fine. Indeed, the drawing-room, with the Inigo
chimneypieces, is said to be unique. This is the library."
She opened a thick mahogany door, and as Celia crossed the threshold an
exclamation of ecstatic delight escaped her lips. And not without cause;
for the Thexford library is a famous one. Celia was not unduly impressed
by the number of the books, though the collection is by no means a small
one, for she had spent weeks and months at the British Museum Reading
Room; but the subdued splendour of the room, its vaulted roof, its ebony
bookcases, enriched by Wedgwood plaques, the great fireplace, with its
marble mantelpiece rising to the very ceiling, kept her for a minute or
two dumb with amazement.
"No doubt you will spend a great deal of your time here," said Mrs.
Dexter. "I have had the fire lit; we burn wood only in the larger
rooms." She nodded towards the great logs glowing between the brazen
dogs and giving the room not only warmth but an air of comfort and
homeliness. "I hope you will find everything you want; but if not, you
have only to ask for it. His lordship sent me special instructions that
I was to provide you with everything you required."
"As if anyone could want anything more than there is here," said Celia,
with a smile and upraised brows. "The Marquess must be a very kind man;
he has been so good and thoughtful."
"He is," said Mrs. Dexter. "But people of his rank always are kind to
those in their service. At least, that is my experience. You have not
seen his lordship?"