Rich people -- Fiction; Widows -- Fiction; Yachts -- Fiction
Mr. Burke too had urged her, especially as the building drew near to
completion, not to bother herself in the least about it, but to give him
the pleasure of presenting it to her entirely finished and ready for
occupancy. So even the painting and paper-hanging had been left to a
professional decorator, and Mrs. Cliff assured Burke that she was
perfectly willing to wait for the new dining-room until it was ready for
her.
This dining-room, large and architecturally handsome, was planned, as
has been said, so that one of its doors should fit exactly against the
side hall door of the little house, but the other door of the
dining-room opened into a wide and elegant hall, at one end of which was
a portico and spacious front steps. On the other side of this hall was a
handsome drawing-room, and behind the drawing-room and opening into it,
an alcove library with a broad piazza at one side of it. Back of the
dining-room was a spacious kitchen, with pantries, closets, scullery,
and all necessary adjuncts.
In the second and third stories of the edifice were large and beautiful
bedrooms, small and neat bedrooms, bath-rooms, servants' rooms,
trunk-rooms, and every kind of room that modern civilization demands.
Now that the building was finished, Mr. Burke almost regretted that he
had not constructed it upon the top of a hill in order that he might
have laid his smooth and slippery timbers from the eminence to the side
of Mrs. Cliff's house, so that when all should be ready he could have
knocked away the blocks which held the building, so that he could have
launched it as if it had been a ship, and could have beheld it sliding
gracefully and rapidly from its stocks into its appointed position. But
as this would probably have resulted in razing Mrs. Cliff's old house to
the level of the ground, he did not long regret that he had not been
able to afford himself the pleasure of this grand spectacle.
The night before the day on which the new building was to be moved, the
lot next to Mrs. Cliff's house was covered by masons, laborers, and
wagons hauling stones, and by breakfast-time the next morning the new
cellar was completed.
Almost immediately the great timbers, which, polished and greased, had
been waiting for several days, were put in their places, and the great
steam engines and windlasses, which had been ready as long a time, were
set in motion. And, as the house began to move upon its course, it
almost missed a parting dab from the brush of a painter who was at work
upon some final trimming.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account