Mrs. Marley listened eagerly, as the girl ran on. And it was thus talking that they arrived at the Rooms, where they readily obtained admission as servants of Mrs. Tomkin-Jones.
Jane was bewildered at the light, the sound of music, the buzz of voices and tramp of feet, and the, to her, unwonted splendour of the surroundings.
The Bath Assembly Rooms are, perhaps, the best constructed in England. There is not a step or staircase throughout. Ballroom, octagon, card and tea rooms, all are on one level; and the suite is so contrived as to have four exits in the event of fire. A central cross with an octagonal vestibule adorned with columns gives access to the ballroom, great octagon, and tea-room. The whole was gilded, and sparkled with wax lights. We have advanced vast strides in illumination, but no amount of glare can compensate for the mellowness and beauty of the light that came from innumerable wax candles.
Into the principal portions of the building, the servants were not admitted; but they hung about the entrance to the vestibule, and were even allowed to encroach somewhat further, to invade the vestibule itself.
Jane penetrated to the pillars sustaining the entablature, and stood there, seeing the gleam of dresses as they flashed by the open door of the ballroom, and observing the dancers, who, heated or thirsty, came forth to sit or become cool, or enter the tea-room for refreshment.
There were benches in the octagonal vestibule against the wall, and near where Jane stood were a couple of elderly bucks, commenting on those who swept by, or exchanging opinions on the difference in style in the woman of the present from the past.
'By the way, Gorges,' said one of these in a blue coat with brass buttons and white waistcoat, 'what is your opinion of the newcomer?'
'I should say that Audrey had slipped into Rosalind's cast clothes.'
'Ah! a case of female Christopher Sly.'