ignified personage
in black, who asked me if I would go up to Lady ----'s room. She welcomed
me warmly, said that Lord ---- had been called away for a few hours, and
offered me tea from a tiny table at her side. And, by the way, you are
usually asked to come at a time which brings you to five-o'clock tea. This
gives you an opportunity to rub off the rough edge of strangeness, before
you dress for dinner. Lady ----'s own room was large and hung with
tapestry, and yet it was cosy and homelike. The hall is large and square,
and the walls are covered with old arms. The staircase is good, but not so
grand as others that I have seen; that at ----, for instance, where there
was an oriel window on the first landing. This one has no landing; it is
of polished oak, but is carpeted.

Lady ---- is a very attractive and elegant woman, sensible, sensitive, and
with a soft, gentle way of speech and action, which is all the more
charming, as she is tall. Her tea was good. She talked well, and we got on
together very satisfactorily. Presently a nurse brought in her two little
daughters. I thought she must have approved of her savage Yankee guest;
for she encouraged them to come to me and sit upon my knees; and all
mothers are shy about that. Soon in popped Lord ----, and gave me the
heartiest welcome that I have received since I have been in England. He
has altered somewhat since he was in New York; is grown a little stouter,
and a very little graver, but is just the same frank, simple fellow as
when you saw him. About seven o'clock I was asked if I would like to go up
to my room. He went with me,--an attention which I found general; and
"directly he had left me," according to the phrase here, a very
fine-mannered person, in a dress coat and a white tie, appeared, and asked
me for my keys.

I apprehended the situation at once, and submitted to his ministrations.
He did everything for me except actually to wash my face and hands and put
on my clothes. He laid everything that I could need, opened and laid out
my dressing-case, and actually turned my stocking's. Dinner at eight. I
take in Lady ----. Butler, a very solemn personage, but not stout nor
red-faced. I have seen no stout, red-faced butler since I have been in
England. Dining room large and handsome. Some good portraits. Gas in
globes at the walls; candles on the table. Dinner very good, of course.
Menu written in pencil on a porcelain card, with the formula in gilt and a
coronet