The carpet had a pattern of pink peonies on a delicate buff ground, and was shamefully dirty.

And the vast apartment, with its white paint and gilding and Italian sketches in water-colour and statuettes under glass, might have been a lady's drawing-room.

But paint and gilding were tarnished; the chintz chair-covers soiled and torn; the pictures hung askew; and a smell of dog filled the air.
Squire Moyle sat huddled in a deep chair beside the fire-place, facing the middle of the room, where a handsome, high-complexioned gentleman, somewhat past middle age, lounged on a settee and dangled a gold-mounted riding crop.

A handsome boy knelt at the back of the settee and leaned over the handsome gentleman's shoulder.

On the floor, between the two men, lay a canvas bag; and something moved inside it.