A cool, shady hall, hung round with coats, hats, stockwhips; a gun in the corner, and on a slab, the most beautiful nosegay you can imagine. Remarkable that for a bachelor's establishment;—but there is no time to think about it, for a tall, comfortable-looking housekeeper, whom Sam has never seen before, comes in from the kitchen and curtseys.
"Captain Brentwood not at home, is he?" said Sam.
"No, sir! Away on the run with Mr. James."
"Oh! very well," says Sam; "I am going to stay a few days."
"Very well, sir; will you take anything before lunch?"
"Nothing, thank you."
"Miss Alice is somewhere about sir. I expect her in every minute."
"Miss Alice!" says Sam, astonished. "Is she come home?"
"Came home last week, sir. Will you walk in and sit down?"
Sam got his coat out of his valise, and went in. He wished that he had put on his plain blue necktie instead of the blue one with white spots. He would have liked to have worn his new yellow riding-trousers, instead of breeches and boots. He hoped his hair was in order, and tried to arrange his handsome brown curls without a glass, but, in the end, concluded that things could not be mended now, so he looked round the room.