Their sitters, too, had mostly been sirs; Sir William, Sir John, or Sir George De Stancy--some undoubtedly having a nobility stamped upon them beyond that conferred by their robes and orders; and others not so fortunate.

Their respective ladies hung by their sides--feeble and watery, or fat and comfortable, as the case might be; also their fathers and mothers-in-law, their brothers and remoter relatives; their contemporary reigning princes, and their intimate friends.

Of the De Stancys pure there ran through the collection a mark by which they might surely have been recognized as members of one family; this feature being the upper part of the nose.
Every one, even if lacking other points in common, had the special indent at this point in the face--sometimes moderate in degree, sometimes excessive.
While looking at the pictures--which, though not in his regular line of study, interested Somerset more than the architecture, because of their singular dilapidation, it occurred to his mind that he had in his youth been schoolfellow for a very short time with a pleasant boy bearing a surname attached to one of the paintings--the name of Ravensbury.

The boy had vanished he knew not how--he thought he had been removed from school suddenly on account of ill health.

But the recollection was vague, and Somerset moved on to the rooms above and below.