"Ah! my boy," he answered, "life is very short, yet it is long enough to
have no need in it for hurry."
The same day, Colonel Morris appeared in our office. Within a fortnight,
that gallant officer was our tenant; within a month, Mrs. Morris, an
exceedingly fine lady, with grown-up children, with very young children
also, with ayahs, with native servants, with English servants, with a
list of acquaintances such as one may read of in the papers the day
after a Queen's drawing-room, took possession of the Uninhabited House,
and, for about three months, peace reigned in our dominions.
Buckingham Street, as represented by us, stank in the nostrils of no
human being.
So far we were innocent of offence, we were simply ordinary solicitors
and clerks, doing as fully and truly as we knew how, an extremely good
business at rates which yielded a very fair return to our principal.
The Colonel was delighted with the place, he kindly called to say; so
was Mrs. Morris; so were the grown-up sons and daughters of Colonel and
Mrs. Morris; and so, it is to be presumed, were the infant branches of
the family.
The native servants liked the place because Mr. Elmsdale, in view of his
wife's delicate health, had made the house "like an oven," to quote Miss
Blake.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50