The staircase, towards which Trefusis led his visitors, was a broad one at the end opposite the door, and gave access to a gallery leading to the upper rooms.
"This house was built in 11780 by an ancestor of my mother," said Trefusis.

"He passed for a man of exquisite taste.

He wished the place to be maintained forever--he actually used that expression in his will--as the family seat, and he collected a fine library here, which I found useful, as all the books came into my hands in good condition, most of them with the leaves uncut.

Some people prize uncut copies of old editions; a dealer gave me three hundred and fifty pounds for a lot of them.

I came into possession of a number of family fetishes--heirlooms, as they are called.