So she went out of the drawing-room and down the stairs, and Robin
heard the front door close behind her with a slight thud. She had
evidently opened and closed it herself without waiting for the
footman.
The upper rooms in London houses--even in the large ones--are
usually given up to servants' bedrooms, nurseries, and school
rooms. Stately staircases become narrower as they mount, and the
climber gets glimpses of apartments which are frequently bare,
whatsoever their use, and, if not grubby in aspect, are dull and
uninteresting.
But, in Lady Etynge's house, it was plain that a good deal had
been done. Stairs had been altered and widened, walls had been
given fresh and delicate tints, and one laid one's hand on cream
white balustrades and trod on soft carpets. A good architect had
taken interest in the problems presented to him, and the result was
admirable. Partitions must have been removed to make rooms larger
and of better shape.
"Nothing could be altered without spoiling it!" exclaimed Robin,
standing in the middle of a sitting room, all freshness and exquisite
colour--the very pictures on the wall being part of the harmony.
All that a girl would want or love was there. There was nothing
left undone--unremembered. The soft Chesterfield lounge, which
was not too big and was placed near the fire, the writing table,
the books, the piano of satinwood inlaid with garlands; the lamp
to sit and read by.
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