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28 between these rival powers; indeed the humble and patient nature of the Indian rendered dispute all but impossible. To the children such a visit was a great treat; they looked forward to what seemed to them Mrs. Whyte's inexhaustible stores of cakes and preserves; moreover any change was an amusement to those who rarely stirred beyond the boundaries of their own Park. Five o'clock saw them seated round the walnut-tree table, shining like a looking-glass. To Ellen and Julia it was a constant source of amusement seeing themselves reflected in the polished surface, while the said polish was a perpetual triumph to Mrs. Whyte, who boasted that her new mistress might go over the furniture with her white cambric handkerchief, and find it unsoiled when she had done. The room was small, but lofty; and the chill of a November evening excluded by scarlet stuff curtains: it had been panelled with oak, which however had been painted white, a proceeding which added to the cheerfulness rather than to the beauty. It was lined with closets,