cape; and chambers, that a few days back were the gloomy abode of
the bat and the night-owl, became of a sudden cheerful and lightsome.

Stuccoed ceilings, mirror-panelled windows, gilded cornices, and carved
architraves--all of which would imply time and long labor--were there
at once and on the moment, for the good fairy who did these things
knows not failure,--the banker's check-book. From the great hall to the
uppermost chamber the aspect of all bespoke comfort. The elegances of
life, Linton well knew, are like all other refinements,--not capable of
being "improvised," but the daily comforts are. The meaner objects which
make up the sum of hourly want,--the lazy ottoman, the downy-pillowed
fauteuils, the little squabs that sit in windows to provoke flirtations
and inspire confidences; the tempting little writing-tables that suggest
pen and ink; the billiard-table, opening on the flower-garden, so
redolent of sweet odors that you feel exonerated for the shame of an
in-door occupation; the pianos and guitars and harps scattered about in
various places, as though to be ever ready to the touch; the books and
prints and portfolios that give excuse to the lounging mood, and text
for that indolent chitchat so pleasant of a morning,--all these, and a
thousand other things, seen through the long perspective of a handsome
suite of rooms, do make up that sum, for which our own dear epithet,
"comfort," has no foreign equivalent.

We have been often compelled, in this veracious history, to reflect with
harshness on certain traits of Mr. Linton's morality. Let us make him
the small _amende_ in our power to say, that in his present functions he
was unsurpassable; and here, for the moment, we leave him.

CHAPTER XXVI. BAD GENERALSHIP

"They alle agrede to disagree,
A moste united Familie!"

Great was the excitement and bustle in the Kennyfeck family on the
arrival of a brief note from Roland Cashel, setting forth that the house
at Tubbermore was at length in a state to receive his guests, who were
invited for the following Wednesday.

Although this visit had rarely been alluded to in Cashel's presence, it
was a very frequent topic of the family in secret committee, and many
were the fears inspired by long postponement that the event would
never come off. Each, indeed, looked forward to it with very different
feelings. Independent of all more purely personal views, Mrs. Kennyfeck
speculated on the immense inc