But the old books in the old latticed shelves which the Puritan founder of the family had bought in the days of the Long Parliament were still there; so were the chairs in which that worthy had sat to read a tract of Milton's or of Baxter's, or the table at which he had penned his letters to Hampden or Fairfax, or to his old friend--on the wrong side--Edmund Verney the standard-bearer.

Only the worm-eaten shelves were dropping from their supports, and the books lay in mouldy confusion; the roofs had great holes and gaps, whence the laths hung dismally down, and bats came flitting in the dusk; and there were rotten places in the carpetless floor.
"I have tried my best," said Marcella, dolefully, stooping to look at a hole in the floor.

"I got a bit of board and some nails, and tried to mend some of these places myself.

But I only broke the rotten wood away; and papa was angry, and said I did more harm than good.

I did get a carpenter to mend some of the chairs; but one doesn't know where to begin.