They went about the house together, Nita admiring everything, as if she were seeing those old rooms for the first time. The alterations to be made were of the smallest. Nita would allow scarcely any change.
“Whatever was nice enough for Lady Jane must be good enough for me,” she said, decisively, when Godfrey proposed improvements which would have changed the character of his mother’s morning room, a conservatory, and a large bay window opposite the fireplace, for instance.
“But it is such a shabby old hole, compared with your room at Cheriton.”
“It is a dear old hole, sir, and I won’t have it altered in the smallest detail. I adore those deep-set windows and wide window-seats; and this apple-blossom chintz is simply delicious. Faded, sir? What of that? One can’t buy such patterns nowadays, for love or money. And that old Chinese screen must have belonged to a mandarin of the highest rank. My only feeling will be that I am a wretch in appropriating dear Lady Jane’s surroundings. This room fitted her like a glove.”
“She is charmed to surrender it to you, love; and your forbearance in the matter of improvement will delight her.”
“Your improvements would have been destruction. A conservatory opening out of that window would suggest a city man’s drawing-room at Tulse Hill. I have seen such in my childhood, when mother used to visit odd people on the Surrey side of the river.”
“Loveliest insolence!”
“Oh, I am obliged to cultivate insolence. It is a parvenu’s only defensive weapon. We new-made people always give ourselves more airs than you who were born in the purple.”
She roamed from room to room, expatiating upon everything with a childlike pleasure, delighted at the idea of this her new kingdom, over which she was to reign with undivided sovereignty. Cheriton was ever so much grander; but at Cheriton she had only been the daughter of the house; indulged in every fancy, yet in somewise in a state of subjection. Here she was to be sole mistress, with Godfrey for her obedient slave.
“And now show me your rooms, sir,” she exclaimed, with pretty authority. “I may wish to make some improvements there.”