_The figure of HARRY becomes indistinct and fades from sight. When
the haze lifts we are looking at the room as it was some thirty
years earlier on the serene afternoon that began its troubled story.
There are rooms that are always smiling, so that you may see them
at it if you peep through the keyhole, and MRS. MORLAND’S little
drawing-room is one of them. Perhaps these are smiles that she has
left lying about. She leaves many things lying about; for instance,
one could deduce the shape of her from studying that corner of the
sofa which is her favourite seat, and all her garments grow so like
her that her wardrobes are full of herself hanging on nails or
folded away in drawers. The pictures on her walls in time take on a
resemblance to her or hers though they may be meant to represent a
waterfall, every present given to her assumes some characteristic
of the donor, and no doubt the necktie she is at present knitting
will soon be able to pass as the person for whom it is being knit.
It is only delightful ladies at the most agreeable age who have this
personal way with their belongings. Among MRS. MORLAND’S friends in
the room are several of whom we have already heard, such as the blue
curtains from which HARRY pounced upon the castaway, the sofa on
which he had his first swimming lessons, the peacock on the wall, the
clock with the smart smith ready to step out and strike his anvil,
and the apple-tree is in full blossom at the open window, one of its
branches has even stepped into the room._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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