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Rh the plaisance adjoining the house, planning, as we all plan, circumstances which never arrive; and framing speeches which, when the time comes, we never make. His musings were interrupted by a summons from Sir Robert, whom he found seated in a small oratory that had been his mother's favourite room. It was panelled in black oak, but on each panel the arms of the family were painted in bright colours. The mantel-piece was of great rarity, being pure white marble, like an arch wreathed around with palm branches; and above it was a Venetian mirror, set in a silver frame, and surmounted by a dove with outspread wings. A large picture hung opposite the fire-place; it represented Sir Robert and Lady Evelyn, and had been painted soon after their marriage. He was dressed in a rich suit of purple velvet, a short cloak laced with gold, and his hair flowing down in waving curls, with a brow open as the morning; a firm, compressed lip, and an eye full of spirit and intelligence. The robe of the lady was of pearl-white satin, and her bright golden tresses played in small corkscrew ringlets round her face. Her hands, remarkable for their delicate size and colour, were filled with flowers, her fondness for which amounted to a passion—if that feverish word may be applied to