'Enter
only!'
So they all went in, wiping their feet on a very clean mat, and
putting the carpet in a safe corner of the veranda.
'The most beautiful days of my life,' said the lady, as she shut
the door, 'did pass themselves in England. And since long time I
have not heard an English voice to repeal me the past.'
This warm welcome embarrassed every one, but most the boys, for the
floor of the hall was of such very clean red and white tiles, and
the floor of the sitting-room so very shiny--like a black
looking-glass--that each felt as though he had on far more boots
than usual, and far noisier.
There was a wood fire, very small and very bright, on the
hearth--neat little logs laid on brass fire-dogs. Some portraits
of powdered ladies and gentlemen hung in oval frames on the pale
walls. There were silver candlesticks on the mantelpiece, and
there were chairs and a table, very slim and polite, with slender
legs. The room was extremely bare, but with a bright foreign
bareness that was very cheerful, in an odd way of its own.
At the end of the polished table a very un-English little boy sat
on a footstool in a high-backed, uncomfortable-looking chair. He
wore black velvet, and the kind of collar--all frills and lacey--
that Robert would rather have died than wear; but then the little
French boy was much younger than Robert.
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