Hilary St. Ives (Volume 1-2); A Novel (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. Mrs. Radcliffe. Mrs. Radcliffe was in her boudoir, where she always passed the morning, and very often the entire day. The room in which the invalid lady spent so much time was charmingly fitted up, the whole of the furniture being Parisian. While elegance was studied, comfort was not neglected. The boudoir was luxurious as well as tasteful. So soft were the sofas and easy chairs, that they seemed stuffed with eider-down. Delicious little groups copied from Watteau, in Sevres china, and the prettiest of pendules, likewise of china, graced the chimney-piece, which was covered with blue velvet, and had curtain screens of the same stuff to moderate the heat of the fire. The skin of a superb tiger, which had been shot in India by Captain Dela- combe, lay upon the hearth. Beautiful bronzes adorned the pier-tables, and rare objects of art were displayed in open cabinets. Choice water-colour pictures added to the attractions in the room, and miniatures were hung on either side of the mantel-piece. Rose- coloured curtains subdued the light, and cast a warm glow on the pale cheeks of the invalid. The windows looked out upon the garden, but were rarely opened, for Mrs. Radcliffe could not endure a breath of air.As far as possible an equable temperature was maintained, but it was the temperature of a hothouse, or of an Indian bungalow. Mrs. Radcliffe being a hot-house plant, enjoyed this high temperature. Other people, however, found it inconvenient, and Mr. Radcliffe never remained in his wife's boudoir more than ten minutes, without complaining of headache. The invalid and indolent lady of Hazlemere passed her life in a pleasant dream, from which she did not care to be aroused. She did not desire rude health, which would have necessitated exertion, and she disliked all exerti...