On the other side of the room was a tall mirror of startling newness, draped like the bedstead, in blue and white.

Thrown at random upon the floor was a pair of satin slippers that would have fitted Cinderella.

A dressing-gown lay across a settee; and opposite, upon a small easy-chair in the same blue and white livery, were a Bible, the Baptist Magazine, Wardlaw on Infant Baptism, Walford's County Families, and the Court Journal.

On and over the mantelpiece were nicknacks of various descriptions, and photographic portraits of the artistic, scientific, and literary celebrities of the day.
A dressing-room lay beyond; but, becoming conscious that his study of ancient architecture would hardly bear stretching further in that direction, Mr.Somerset retreated to the outside, obliviously passing by the gem of Renaissance that had led him in.
'She affects blue,' he was thinking.

'Then she is fair.' On looking up, some time later, at the new clock that told the seconds, he found that the hours at his disposal for work had flown without his having transferred a single feature of the building or furniture to his sketch-book.