Page:The Awkward Age (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1899).djvu/423

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, for a fortnight after Mr. Longdon's return, had found much to think of; but the bustle of business became, visibly for us, particularly great with her on a certain Friday afternoon in June. She was in unusual possession of that chamber of comfort in which so much of her life had lately been passed, the redecorated and rededicated room, upstairs, in which she had enjoyed a due measure both of solitude and society. Passing the objects about her in review, she gave especial attention to her rather marked wealth of books; changed repeatedly, for five minutes, the position of various volumes, transferred to tables those that were on shelves and rearranged shelves with an eye to the effect of backs. She was flagrantly engaged throughout indeed in the study of effect, which moreover, had the law of an extreme freshness not inveterately prevailed there, might have been observed to be traceable in the very detail of her own appearance. "Company," in short, was in the air and expectation in the picture. The flowers on the little tables bloomed with a consciousness sharply taken up by the glitter of knickknacks and reproduced, in turn, in the light exuberance of cushions on sofas, and the measured drop of blinds in windows. The friends in the photographs in particular were highly prepared, with 413