However, Ellen believed in no danger till she came on two
monstrous stains of damp on the walls, with a whole crop of curious
fungi in one corner, and discovered that all the holland was flabby,
and all the damask clammy! Then she enforced the instant lighting of
fires, and shivered so decidedly, that Caroline and Jessie begged her
to return to the fire in the library, while Jessie went in search of
Rob to drive her home.
All the rest of the younger population had deserted the state
apartments, and were to be heard in the distance, clattering along
the passages, banging doors, bawling and shouting to each other, with
freaks of such laughter as had never awakened those echoes during the
Barnes' tenure, but Jessie returned not; and her aunt, going in quest
of her up a broad flight of shallow stairs, found herself in a grand
gallery, with doors leading to various corridors and stairs. She
called, and the tramp of the boots of youth began to descend on her,
with shouts of "All right!" and downstairs flowed the troop,
beginning with Jock, and ending with Armine and Babie, each with some
breathless exclamation, all jumbled together—-
Jock. "Oh, mother! Stunning! Lots of bats fast asleep."
Johnny. "Rats! rats!"
Rob. "A billiard-table.
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