Faversham already foresaw the gleaming splendour
of the show, when all should be done, and these marvels of a most lovely
art--these silver nymphs and fauns, these dainty sea-horses and dolphins,
these temples and shrines, now holding a Hercules, now a St. Sebastian,
these arabesques, garlands, festoons, running in a riot of beauty over
the surface of cup and salver--had been restored to daylight and men's
sight, after the burial of a generation.
But the value of what the house contained! In these days of huge prices
and hungry buyers, it must be simply enormous.
Faversham often found himself speculating eagerly upon it, and always
with the query in the background "For _whom_ is it all piling up?"
As they left the silver room, Melrose had made the grim remark that the
contents of that room alone would make it prudent to let loose an extra
couple of bloodhounds in the park at night. Dixon's frowning countenance
as he followed in their wake showed an answering anxiety. For he had now
been made guardian of the collections; and a raw nephew of his, chosen
apparently for his honesty and his speechlessness, had been put on as
manservant, Mrs. Dixon had two housemaids under her, and a girl in the
kitchen. It was sometimes evident to Faversham that the agitation of
these changes which had come so suddenly upon them, had aged the two old
servants, just as it had tried their master.
Faversham on dismounting was told by Joseph, the new man, that Mr.
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