"They are what I call right homely. What a colour they have got. Is it damp, or what?"
"Don't you know? these dark ones come from Herculaneum, and were locked up in lava; the others, the greenish ones, are from Pompeii, where the covering was lighter and they were exposed to damp, as you say."
"Well, I suppose they are curious, being so ancient."
"Rupert, they are most beautiful."
But Rupert as well as Dolly found a mine of interest in the Greek and gladiatorial armour and weapons.
"It makes my head turn!" said Rupert.
"What?"
"Why, it is eighteen hundred years ago. To think that men lived and fought with those helmets and weapons and shields, so long back! and now here are the shields and helmets, but where are the men?"
Dolly said nothing.
"Do you think they are anywhere?"