Page:Garman and Worse.djvu/84

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
82
Garman and Worse.

than naturally became a Miss Garman. It was this very assumption that seemed to shake her in her resolution.

Everything about Fanny's pretty and artistic house was always kept in the best of order. Old mahogany and horsehair were here quite inadmissible.

The furniture, which was mostly of carved walnut, and plush, had all come from Hamburg. Portiéres hung before the doors, and the windows and the corners of the rooms were gay with jardiniéres, and vases containing flowers and choice foliage plants; while small tables and luxurious armchairs were grouped about the room. The rooms were not large, but when all the doors stood open the general effect was very pleasing, enhanced by its china, paintings, bright carpets, and gilded mirrors.

Sandsgaard, with its large and lofty rooms, where the furniture was all arranged round the walls, was so cold and stiff that Madeleine could not help feeling she must move about noiselessly, or sit demurely in a corner. At Fanny's her feelings were very different; everything seemed so inviting; and the difficulty was to choose a seat among the many comfortable arm chairs and sofas.

Morten never seemed to be perfectly at home in his own house, where his heavy form was quite out of place. Fanny took but little notice of him, and his opinion was never consulted. However, he was easy-going, and preferred to keep pretty much to himself.

Morten Garman had the reputation of being a good-