ggle with and interpret as he best could the baronial idea that
had been imposed on him. The hall was panelled half-way in dark oak, and
above the oak the walls were hung with a rough papering of old gold. But
what hit you in the eye as you came in was the oak staircase that went up
royally along the bottom wall. It had scarlet-and-gold Tudor roses on the
flank of the balustrade, and at every third banister there was a shield
picked out in scarlet and gold. And at the bottom of the balustrade and
at the turn a little oak lion sat on his haunches and held up yet another
shield (picked out in scarlet and gold) in his fore-paws. The bare oak
planks of the upper floor made the ceiling, and there was an enormous
Tudor rose in the middle of it, where other people might have had a
chandelier, and little Tudor roses blazed at intervals all along the
cornice. And there was a great stone hearth and chimney-piece, a Tudor
chimney-piece, mullioned, with a shield carved in the centre and the
motto: "_Dominus Defensor Domi_," and on either side the rose and the
grill, the rose and the grill, alternately. There were andirons on the
hearth and an immense log burning, and swords and daggers and suits of
armour hung on the gold walls above the panelling.

And I swear to you that the curtains and upholstery were in tapestry
cloth, the lilies of France in gold on a crimson ground. It was as if
Jimmy had wanted to say to the Thesigers that if it came to being Tudor,
he could be as Tudor as any of them, and more so. Thus deeply had he
absorbed the Canterbury atmosphere.

When she saw the suits of armour Norah squeezed my arm and breathed
"Oh--my _darling_ Wally!"--in an ecstasy that was anguish. Poor Mildred's
plump face turned as scarlet as the Tudor roses with an emotion that we
could not fathom, but judged to be painful.

We had come early with the idea of making ourselves useful, if necessary;
but there was hardly anybody there yet, only two or three guests drinking
coffee or champagne-cup at the long table under the windows, and Jimmy,
who stood in the middle of his Tudor hall, talking to one of the
confraternity, and rocking himself gently from his toes to his heels and
from his heels to his toes again, as a sign that he was not in the least
elated, but only at his ease.

He was delighted to see us, and for quite three seconds he ceased his
rocking and began to twinkle in a most natural and reassuring manner.
Then I remember him scu