Pray step into my little sanctum.

A small place, miss, but furnished to my own liking.

An oasis of art in the howling desert of South London." We were all astonished by the appearance of the apartment into which he invited us.

In that sorry house it looked as out of place as a diamond of the first water in a setting of brass.

The richest and glossiest of curtains and tapestries draped the walls, looped back here and there to expose some richly-mounted painting or Oriental vase.