3

It was at dinner that the charm of the house was most apparent To
Henrietta. Even on these spring evenings the curtains were Drawn and
the candles lighted, for Caroline said she could not Dine comfortably
in daylight. The pale flames were repeated in The mahogany of the
table; the tall candlesticks, the silver appointments, were reflected
also in a blur, like a grey mist; the furniture against the walls
became merged into the shadows and Susan, hovering there, was no more
than an attentive spirit.

There was little talking at this meal, for Caroline and Sophia loved
good food and it was very good. Occasionally Caroline murmured, 'Too
much pepper,' or 'One more pinch of salt and this would have been
perfect,' and bending over her plate, the diamonds in her ears
sparkled to her movements, the rings on her fingers glittered; and
opposite to her Sophia drooped, her pale hair looking almost white,
the big sapphire cross on her breast gleaming richly, her resigned
attitude oddly at variance with the busy handling of her knife and
fork.

The gold frame round General Mallett's portrait dimly shone, the
flowers on the table seemed to give out their beauty and their scent
with conscious desire to please, to add their offerings, and for
Henrietta the grotesqueness of the elder aunts, their gay attire,
their rouge and wrinkles, gave a touch of fantasy to what would
otherwise have been too orderly and too respectable a scene.

In this room of beautiful inherited things, where tradition had built
strong walls about the Malletts, the sight of Caroline was like a gate