tone-paved rooms, stares at
the faded pictures, and wonders at the lofty chimney-pieces hopelessly
out of reach. Sometimes it sits on chairs which are as cold and as hard
as iron, or timidly feels the legs of immovable tables which might be
legs of elephants so far as size is concerned. When these marvels have
been duly admired, and the guide books are shut up, the emancipated
tourists, emerging into the light and air, all find the same social
problem presented by a visit to Mount Morven: "How can the family live
in such a place as that?"

If these strangers on their travels had been permitted to ascend to the
first floor, and had been invited (for example) to say good-night to
Mrs. Linley's pretty little daughter, they would have seen the stone
walls of Kitty's bed-chamber snugly covered with velvet hangings which
kept out the cold; they would have trod on a doubly-laid carpet, which
set the chilly influences of the pavement beneath it at defiance; they
would have looked at a bright little bed, of the last new pattern,
worthy of a child's delicious sleep; and they would only have discovered
that the room was three hundred years old when they had drawn aside the
window curtains, and had revealed the adamantine solidity of the outer
walls. Or, if they had been allowed to pursue their investigations a
little further, and had found their way next into Mrs. Linley's sitting
room, here again a transformation scene would have revealed more modern
luxury, presented in the perfection which implies restraint within the
limits of good taste. But on this occasion, instead of seeing the head
of a lively little child on the pillow, side by side with the head of
her doll, they would have encountered an elderly lady of considerable
size, fast asleep and snoring in a vast armchair, with a book on
her lap. The married men among the tourists would have recognized a
mother-in-law, and would have set an excellent example to the rest; that
is to say, the example of leaving the room.

The lady composed under the soporific influence of literature was a
person of importance in the house--holding rank as Mrs. Linley's mother;
and being otherwise noticeable for having married two husbands, and
survived them both.

The first of these gentlemen--the Right Honorable Joseph Norman--had
been a member of Parliament, and had taken office under Government. Mrs.
Linley was his one surviving child. He died at an advanced age; leaving
his handsome widow