There is a pinched hard
look about the lower part of her face which makes me fancy she is mean. I
believe she would hoard her money, and make a great talk and fuss about
nothing. Yes, I hope Granger will marry again. The house is very fine,
isn't it, since its renovation?"
"It is superb, papa. Dearly as I love the place, I did not think it could
be made so beautiful."
"Yes, and everything has been done in good taste, too," Mr. Lovel went on,
in rather a querulous tone. "I did not expect to see that. But of course a
man of that kind has only to put himself into the hands of a first-class
architect, and if he is lucky enough to select an architect with an
artistic mind, the thing is done. All the rest is merely a question of
money. Good heavens, what a shabby sordid hole this room looks, after the
place we have come from!"
The room was not so bad as to merit that look of angry disgust with which
Mr. Lovel surveyed it. Curtains and carpet were something the worse for
wear, the old-fashioned furniture was a little sombre; but the rich
binding of the books and a rare old bronze here and there redeemed it from
commonness--poor jetsam and flotsam from the wreck of the great house, but
enough to give some touch of elegance to meaner things.
"O, papa," Clarissa cried reproachfully, "the room is very nice, and we
have been peaceful and happy in it. I don't suppose all the splendour of
Arden would have made us much happier.
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