Within--was the scene less fair? A single lamp shed over the
chamber a soft and sufficient light. The library of Stephen
Morley had been removed, but the place of his volumes had been
partly supplied, for the shelves were far from being empty.
Their contents were of no ordinary character: many volumes of
devotion, some of church history, one or two on ecclesiastical
art, several works of our elder dramatists, some good reprints
of our chronicles, and many folios of church music, which last
indeed amounted to a remarkable collection. There was no
musical instrument however in the room of any kind, and the
only change in its furniture, since we last visited the room
of Gerard, was the presence of a long-backed chair of antique
form, most beautifully embroidered, and a portrait of a female
saint over the mantel-piece. As for Gerard himself he sat
with his head leaning on his arm, which rested on the table,
while he listened with great interest to a book which was read
to him by his daughter, at whose feet lay the fiery and
faithful bloodhound.
"So you see, my father," said Sybil with animation, and
dropping her book which however her hand did not relinquish,
"even then all was not lost.
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