[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.--Wood Carving, Lee Mansion.] In this hallway at the time of Lafayette's visit to the house, the banquet tables were set. The ever-loyal ladies of Marblehead sent for the entertainment some of their choicest belongings: table-cloths of wonderful damask brought from over the seas, rare old silver, and choice English glass. At the right of the hallway is the drawing-room in white and gray. Two Corinthian pilasters flank the fireplace, rising to the molding and following the line of the wall. The whole chimneyside of this room was panelled in huge white slabs. This was the living-room of the house, and here were doubtless entertained the members of the Secret Council. [Illustration: PLATE XXIX.--Banquet Hall, Lee Mansion; Fireplace, Lee Mansion.] On the opposite side of the hallway is the dining-room, which was known as the banquet hall. Here Washington was entertained, also Monroe and Jackson. This room shows a huge open fireplace and a richly carved mantel. So carefully have the chimneypieces been wrought, that there are no two alike in the large house. The tiles in many of the fireplaces are fascinating. We find some quaint and humorous, while others are sentimental. There is the wide-skirted shepherdess climbing the stile with the aid of the swain, a sailor taking leave of his lass, a ship lying in the offing, nymphs and shepherdesses piping and playing. These tiles of blue and pale pink afford a study of interesting pictures to the lover of the antique. In the former days scriptural texts and marble tablets were placed over the mantel in one of the chambers. One of these, a representation of Susannah and the Elders, was purchased from the family and is now found in the Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Great care as to detail has been exercised in the finish of every room. Notwithstanding the talk of secret stairways and mysterious trap-doors, there is nothing at all uncanny about the place, which was built for comfort and good living. It is easy to be carried back in imagination to the days when Colonel Lee and Mistress Martha, noted for their open-handed hospitality, dwelt in this mansion. Its great rooms echoed with the laughter of the gallants of the day, who in short clothes, silver buckles, and laces, made love to the stately dames in trailing gowns and powdered hair and danced in the state chamber over the parlor, used then as a dance hall. In this house the venerable Marquis de Lafayette accepted the hospitality of the Lees, when he came to America in 1824 at the invitation of Congress, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette. It was during this visit that he danced a minuet in the great southwest room. An old letter, discovered recently by Miss Dixie, of Marblehead, discloses the fact that her mother led the dance with the gallant Frenchman.