'Come along,' cried Miss Doria, 'for I'm sure you are starving, Mr Brand.

And Launcelot has bicycled ten miles.' The dining-room was very unlike the hall.

The panelling had been stripped off, and the walls and ceiling were covered with a dead-black satiny paper on which hung the most monstrous pictures in large dull-gold frames.

I could only see them dimly, but they seemed to be a mere riot of ugly colour.

The young man nodded towards them.