It positively
inclines one to vegetarianism, though I'm sure nuts are bad for the
complexion.'
'I don't intend to be eaten yet,' Henrietta said gaily. She was very
much excited and she hardly heeded Sophia's whisper at the door:
'It's not true, dear--the kindest people in the world, but Caroline
has such a sense of humour.'
Henrietta found that the Batty lions were luxuriously housed. The
bright yellow gravel crunched under her feet as she walked up the
drive; the porch was bright with flowering plants arranged in tiers; a
parlourmaid opened the door as though she conferred a privilege and,
as Henrietta passed through the hall, she had glimpses of a statue
holding a large fern and another bearing a lamp aloft.
She was impressed by this magnificence; she wished she could pause
to examine this decently draped and useful statuary but she was
ushered into a large drawing-room, somewhat over-heated, scented
with hot-house flowers, softly carpeted, much-becushioned, and she
immediately found herself in the embrace of Mrs. Batty, who smelt of
eau-de-cologne. Mrs. Batty felt soft, too, and if she were a lioness
there were no signs of claws or fangs; and her husband, a tall, spare
man with grey hair and a clean-shaven face, bowed over Henrietta's
hand in a courtly manner, hardly to be expected of the best-trained
of wild beasts.
But for these two the room seemed to be empty, until Mrs. Batty said
'Charles!' in a tone of timid authority and Henrietta discovered that
a fair young man, already showing a tendency to baldness, was sitting
at the piano, apparently studying a sheet of music.
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