The dim, suggestive, and pathetic; twilight rather than
dawn, autumn rather than spring; yearning rather than fulfilment; "the
gleam" rather than noon-day: it was in this half-lit, richly colored
sphere that she and most of her friends saw the tent of Beauty pitched.
But Kitty would have none of it. She quoted French sceptical remarks
about the legs and joints of the Burne-Jones knights; she declared that
so much pattern made her dizzy; and that the French were the only nation
in the world who understood a
salon, whether as upholstery or
conversation. Accordingly, in days when these things were rare, the girl
of eighteen made her new husband provide her with white-panelled walls,
lightly gilt, and with a Persian carpet of which the mass was of a
plain, blackish gray, and only the border was allowed to flower. A few
Louis-Quinze girandoles on the walls, a Vernis-Martin screen, an old
French clock, two or three inlaid cabinets, and a collection of lightly
built chairs and settees in the French mode--this was all she would
allow; and while Lady Tranmore's room was always crowded, Kitty's, which
was much smaller, had always an air of space.
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