The Queen's Terrace run all along the western wing, and was shaded by whispering lime trees.
Afterward I found many relics of this ancient time of royal possessions--antique, out-of-the-way things, with the crown and royal arms of England upon them.

I was not a little proud of these historical treasures.

A broad flight of steps led from the lawn to a broad porch.
As I passed under it I figured to myself the gorgeous splendor of other days, when "knights and dames of high degree" had entered there.
An old butler, evidently an old family retainer, was the first person I saw.

He bowed low when I told him that I was Sir Edgar Trevelyan, "the heir come to take possession." I went through the magnificent house like a man in a dream.

Could it be possible that all this magnificence, all this grandeur, was mine?
Mine, these grand old rooms, with furniture and hangings that once served a queen; mine, these superb pictures and statues, these gems of art, this profusion of gold and silver plate?
I laughed and cried in the same breath.