I snatched at the relief held out to me. To sit in the company of that
condescending prig, to bore him and to be bored by him, was a doleful
grievance I did not wish to inflict upon myself, and I eagerly
answered that the day had been a long and hard one, and that I would
be glad to go to bed.
This was an assertion which was doubly false, for I was not in the
least tired or sleepy; and just as I had made the statement and was
entering the hall I saw that the young lady was standing at the parlor
door; but it was too late now for me to change my mind.
"Brownster," said Mr. Putney to his butler, "will you give this
gentleman a candle and show him to his room?"
Brownster quietly bowed, and stepping to a table in the corner, on
which stood some brass bed-room candlesticks, he lighted one of the
candles and stood waiting.
The gentleman moved towards his daughter, and then he stopped and
turned to me. "We have breakfast," he said, "at half-past eight But if
that is too late for you," he added, with a certain hesitation, "you
can have--"
At this moment I distinctly saw his daughter punch him with her elbow,
and as I had no desire to make an early start, and wished very much to
enjoy a good breakfast in Cathay, I quickly declared that I was in no
hurry, and that the family breakfast hour would suit me perfectly.
The young lady disappeared into the parlor, and I moved towards the
butler; but my host, probably thinking that he had not been quite as
attentive to me as his station demanded, or wishing to let me see what
a fine house he possessed, stepped up to me and asked me to look into
the billiard-room, the door of which I was about to pass. After some
remarks of deprecatory ostentation, in which he informed me that in
building his house he thought only of comfort and convenience, and
nothing of show, he carelessly invited my attention to the
drawing-room, the library, the music-room, and the little
sitting-room, all of which were furnished with as much stiffness and
hardness and inharmonious coloring as money could command.
When we had finished the round of these rooms he made me a bow as
stiff as one of his white and gold chairs, and I followed the butler
up the staircase. The man with the light preceded me into a room on
the second floor, and just as I was about to enter after him I saw the
young lady come around a corner of the hall with a lighted candle in
her hand.