"To tell you the truth, sir," he replied, "I was asked not to name the party that I bought it from. It seems a pity to part with _h_eir-looms, but--it happens sometimes--I bought several things together of a family quite lately. The _portières_ have only come out of the workroom this morning. We hurried on with them to stop them fraying more--you see where they were before, they must have been nailed to the wall." Janet Miles, who was something of a connoisseur, had been examining the tapestry. "It is well worth what he asks," she said, in a low voice. "You don't often come across such tapestry in England." So the bargain was struck, and Hunter promised to see all that we had chosen, both purchased and hired, delivered at Finster the week before we proposed to come. Nothing interfered with our plans. By the end of the month we found ourselves at our temporary home--all of us except Nat, our third brother, who was at school. Dormer, the small boy, still did lessons with Sophy's governess. The two older "boys," as we called them, happened to be at home from different reasons--one, Nugent, on leave from India; Phil, forced to miss a term at college through an attack of the same illness which had treated mother and Dormy so badly. But now that everybody was well again, and going to be very much better, thanks to Finster air, we thought the ill wind had brought us some very distinct good. It would not have been half such fun had we not been a large family party to start with, and before we had been a week at the place we had added to our numbers by the first detachment of the guests we had invited. It was not a very large house; besides ourselves we had not room for more than three or four others. For some of the rooms--those on the top story--were really too dilapidated to suit any one but rats--"rats or ghosts," said some one laughingly one day, when we had been exploring them. Afterwards the words returned to my memory. We had made ourselves very comfortable, thanks to the invaluable Hunter. And every day the weather grew milder and more spring-like. The woods on the inland side were full of primroses. It promised to be a lovely season.