She was listening to a mouse behind
the wainscotting, and spying out a nail-hole which she was sure was big
enough for it to come out of, and she insisted that her husband should
ring and have the place stopped up.
When the party reached Seascape the summer clouds that floated over the
ocean were beginning to glow with the warmth of coming sunset. The sea
lay so tranquil that the flash of the waves on the pebbly shore sounded
like the rythmic accompaniment to the beautiful vision of earth and sky,
and the boom of the water against the cliffs beyond came now and then,
accentuating this like the beat of a heavy drum muffled or distant. The
mansion at Seascape with its forty rooms, although new, was so
substantial and stately that as they drove up the avenue Lady Dacre,
accustomed to grandeur, ran her quick eye over its ample dimensions, its
gambrel roof, its immense chimneys, its generous hall door, and turning
to Archdale, without her condescension, she asked him how he had
contrived to combine newness and dignity.
"One sees it in nature sometimes," he answered. "Dignity and youth are a
fascinating combination.
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