"It was bad for her, I know," proceeded that lady, "but she would
have her own way, poor soul, and he--well, he'd have had the top brick
of the chimney of a ten-story house off, if she had taken a fancy for
that article."
Those stoves and pipes were a great bait to Colonel Morris, as well as a
source of physical enjoyment to his servants.
He, too, had married a woman who was not always easy to please; but
River Hall did please her, as was natural, with its luxuries of heat,
ease, convenience, large rooms opening one out of another, wide
verandahs overlooking the Thames, staircases easy of ascent; baths, hot,
cold, and shower; a sweet, pretty garden, conservatory with a door
leading into it from the spacious hall, all exceedingly cheap at two
hundred pounds a year.
Accordingly, at first, the Colonel was delighted with the place, and not
the less so because Mrs. Morris was delighted with it, and because it
was also so far from town, that he had a remarkably good excuse for
frequently visiting his club.
Before the new-comers, local tradesmen bowed down and did worship.
Visitors came and visitors went, carriages appeared in shoals, and
double-knocks were plentiful as blackberries. A fresh leaf had evidently
been turned over at River Hall, and the place meant to give no more
trouble for ever to Miss Blake, or Mr.
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