ooks came into my hands in good condition,
most of them with the leaves uncut. Some people prize uncut copies of
old editions; a dealer gave me three hundred and fifty pounds for a
lot of them. I came into possession of a number of family
fetishes--heirlooms, as they are called. There was a sword that one of
my forbears wore at Edgehill and other battles in Charles the First's
time. We fought on the wrong side, of course, but the sword fetched
thirty-five shillings nevertheless. You will hardly believe that I
was offered one hundred and fifty pounds for a gold cup worth about
twenty-five, merely because Queen Elizabeth once drank from it. This is
my study. It was designed for a banqueting hall."

They entered a room as long as the wall of the house, pierced on one
side by four tall windows, between which square pillars, with Corinthian
capitals supporting the cornice, were half sunk in the wall. There
were similar pillars on the opposite side, but between them, instead of
windows, were arched niches in which stood life-size plaster statues,
chipped, broken, and defaced in an extraordinary fashion. The flooring,
of diagonally set narrow boards, was uncarpeted and unpolished. The
ceiling was adorned with frescoes, which at once excited Sir Charles's
interest, and he noted with indignation that a large portion of the
painting at the northern end had been destroyed and some glass roofing
inserted. In another place bolts had been driven in to support the ropes
of a trapeze and a few other pieces of gymnastic apparatus. The walls
were whitewashed, and at about four feet from the ground a dark band
appeared, produced by pencil memoranda and little sketches scribbled on
the whitewash. One end of the apartment was unfurnished, except by the
gymnastic apparatus, a photographer's camera, a ladder in the corner,
and a common deal table with oil cans and paint pots upon it. At the
other end a comparatively luxurious show was made by a large bookcase,
an elaborate combination of bureau and writing desk, a rack with a
rifle, a set of foils, and an umbrella in it, several folio albums on a
table, some comfortable chairs and sofas, and a thick carpet under foot.
Close by, and seeming much out of place, was a carpenter's bench with
the usual implements and a number of boards of various thicknesses.

"This is a sort of comfort beyond the reach of any but a rich man," said
Trefusis, turning and surprising his visitors in the act of exchang