They had lived quite in Bohemian style at the studio, having no servants to wait upon them, only the concierge of the whole building and his underlings, who saw to the cleaning of the place and the arranging of the rooms, the carrying up of letters and water, wood or coal, as required. Everest had made their own coffee in the morning, and tea in the afternoon. For all else, they had relied on the restaurants outside. There had been a charm in the quietness, the simplicity of it all, in the utter absence of other eyes upon them, even of servants, in the sense of being absolutely alone together in this little niche of London, and to the girl a great, an indefinable charm, in knowing this was his own, his most private, particular niche, where he had lived and worked alone.
When they reached the flat, and Everest took her over it, Regina was surprised at its wonderful comfort and luxury. The rooms at the studio, where they had been staying, were large, well furnished and in perfect order, but there had been a certain simplicity about them, a suggestion that they were used by a bachelor in his hours of severe and solitary work. The whole appearance and air of the flat was totally different. It was full of beauty and luxury, and spoke of pleasure and ease, and the delight of the senses. Everest had been preparing it for her, and his heart had been in all the designing of it, while, as he did not care in the least what the bills came to, everything in it was of the most beautiful and most costly, extravagant type.
It was spacious, with a wide, high hall, square in shape, from which the various rooms opened, and contained two large bedrooms, dining and drawing rooms and an extra sitting-room, besides all the offices, servants' bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms. Regina thought the bedroom he had arranged for them the most beautiful specimen of furnishing she had ever seen. It was all in white and silver, with a silver chick—that is to say, long curtains composed of vertical, swinging threads of silver beads—enclosing the entire bed.
The walls were hung with white satin embroidered with silver, instead of being papered, and the curtains were white satin and velvet, lined with silver. The carpet was white velvet pile, with a design of lilies of the valley, and their pale green leaves wreathed over it, and outlined in silver, and all the furniture and china in the room bore out the same design. The whole was lighted by deep rose-coloured lamps, enclosed in fairy-like silver open-work, the tinted light flooding everything, which otherwise might have seemed too cold, with tender warmth.
"How exquisite! How truly lovely!" she exclaimed to him, and he flushed and laughed, and said nothing was good enough for her, and that he had designed the room to imitate the diamond-like radiance of her mind, and the satin whiteness of her skin.
They went on from room to room, Regina admiring everything, her eyes delighting in all the beauty and perfection of it, and her heart beating uncertainly to think of the homage it all expressed for her.
They came back finally to the drawing-room, where a little fire burned cheerily, though it was not at all cold, and the window was open. Tea was laid ready for them, on a table near the fire, and they sat down, opposite each other, looking into each other's eyes, and feeling that no two human beings could possibly be more happy than they were.
Everest had thought four servants would be enough for them: a cook, housemaid, footman, and his own valet. He had offered Regina a maid, but she had begged to be allowed to continue without one.
"I do everything so simply and quickly for myself. I am accustomed to it, and I don't want to become less independent."