pair of make-shift glasses, till the right kind could be procured
from London, was unprepared for obstacles in familiar regions,
stumbled over an ottoman, and upset a table with the breakage of a
vase.

He apologized, with much regret; but the younger brothers made an
outcry. "What has come to the place? Here's the table all over
everything!"

"And where are the bronzes?"

"And the humming-birds? Miles's birds, that he brought home after
his first voyage."

"And the clock with the two jolly little Cupids? Don't you remember
Miles and Will Bowater dressing them up for men-of-war's men?
Mother could not bring herself to have them undressed for a year,
and all the time the clock struck nohow!"

"This is an anatomical study instead of a clock," lamented Frank.
"I say, Cecil, do you like your friends to sit in their bones, like
Sydney Smith?"

"I never saw such a stupid old set of conservatives!" broke in
Rosamond, feeling for Cecil's mortification. "In an unprejudiced
eye the room looks infinitely better, quite revivified! You ought
to be much obliged to Cecil for letting you see all her beautiful
things."

"Why don't you favour us with yours?" said Charlie.