wonderful that Lothair had accepted an invitation from Lord St. Jerome
to pass Easter at his country-seat.



CHAPTER 13


Vauxe, the seat of the St. Jeromes, was the finest specimen of the old
English residence extant. It was the perfection of the style, which had
gradually arisen after the Wars of the Roses had alike destroyed all the
castles and the purpose of those stern erections. People said Vauxe
looked like a college: the truth is, colleges looked like Vauxe, for,
when those fair and civil buildings rose, the wise and liberal spirits
who endowed them intended that they should resemble, as much as
possible, the residence of a great noble.

There were two quadrangles at Vauxe of gray-stone; the outer one of
larger dimensions and much covered with ivy; the inner one not so
extensive, but more ornate, with a lofty tower, a hall, and a chapel.
The house was full of galleries, and they were full of portraits.
Indeed there was scarcely a chamber in this vast edifice of which the
walls were not breathing with English history in this interesting form.
Sometimes more ideal art asserted a triumphant claim -- transcendental
Holy Families, seraphic saints, and gorgeous scenes by Tintoret and Paul
of Verona.

The furniture of the house seemed never to have been changed. It was
very old, somewhat scanty, but very rich -- tapestry and velvet
hangings, marvellous cabinets, and crystal girandoles. Here and there a