He rebuked my brother for having agitated me unnecessarily by telling me at all of so idle a tale; and was pleased to write a few lines to me at Worth Maltravers, felicitating me on my shrewdness of perception, but speaking banteringly of the whole matter.
On the evening of the 14th of November my brother and his friend were sitting talking in the former's room.

The position of the bookcase had been changed on the morning of that day, and Mr.Gaskell had come round to see how the books looked when placed at the end instead of at the side of the room.

He had applauded the new arrangement, and the young men sat long over the fire, with a bottle of college port and a dish of medlars which I had sent my brother from our famous tree in the Upper Croft at Worth Maltravers.

Later on they fell to music, and played a variety of pieces, performing also the "Areopagita" suite.

Mr.Gaskell before he left complimented John on the improvement which the alteration in the place of the bookcase had made in his room, saying, "Not only do the books in their present place very much enhance the general appearance of the room, but the change seems to me to have affected also a marked acoustical improvement.