It was carpeted so thick that the heaviest step could not have been heard,and the bed,richly heaped with down,was spread with an ample coverlet of silk and gold;from under which peeped forth cambric sheets and blankets as white as the lambs which yielded the fleece that made them.The curtains were of blue velvet,lined with crimson silk,deeply festooned with gold,and embroidered with the loves of Cupid and Psyche.On the toilet was a beautiful Venetian mirror,in a frame of silver filigree,and beside it stood a gold posset-dish to contain the night-draught.A pair of pistols and a dagger,mounted with gold,were displayed near the head of the bed,being the arms for the night,which were presented to honoured guests,rather,it may be supposed,in the way of ceremony than from any apprehension of danger.We must not omit to mention,what was more to the credit of the manners of the time,that in a small recess,illuminated by a taper,were disposed two hassocks of velvet and gold,corresponding with the bed furniture,before a desk of carved ebony.This recess had formerly been the private oratory of the abbot;but the crucifix was removed,and instead there were placed on the desk,two Books of Common Prayer,richly bound,and embossed with silver.With this enviable sleeping apartment,which was so far removed from every sound save that of the wind sighing among the oaks of the park,that Morpheus might have coveted it for his own proper repose,corresponded two wardrobes,or dressing-rooms as they are now termed,suitably furnished,and in a style of the same magnificence which we have already described.It ought to be added,that a part of the building in the adjoining wing was occupied by the kitchen and its offices,and served to accommodate the personal attendants of the great and wealthy nobleman,for whose use these magnificent preparations had been made.
The divinity for whose sake this temple had been decorated was well worthy the cost and pains which had been bestowed.She was seated in the withdrawing-room which we have described,surveying with the pleased eye of natural and innocent vanity the splendour which had been so suddenly created,as it were,in her honour.
For,as her own residence at Cumnor Place formed the cause of the mystery observed in all the preparations for opening these apartments,it was sedulously arranged that,until she took possession of them,she should have no means of knowing what was going forward in that part of the ancient building,or of exposing herself to be seen by the workmen engaged in the decorations.She had been,therefore,introduced on that evening to a part of the mansion which she had never yet seen,so different from all the rest that it appeared,in comparison,like an enchanted palace.And when she first examined and occupied these splendid rooms,it was with the wild and unrestrained joy of a rustic beauty who finds herself suddenly invested with a splendour which her most extravagant wishes had never imagined,and at the same time with the keen feeling of an affectionate heart,which knows that all the enchantment that surrounds her is the work of the great magician Love.
The Countess Amy,therefore--for to that rank she was exalted by her private but solemn union with England's proudest Earl--had for a time flitted hastily from room to room,admiring each new proof of her lover and her bridegroom's taste,and feeling that admiration enhanced as she recollected that all she gazed upon was one continued proof of his ardent and devoted affection.
How beautiful are these hangings!How natural these paintings,which seem to contend with life!How richly wrought is that plate,which looks as if all the galleons of Spain had been intercepted on the broad seas to furnish it forth!And oh,Janet!she exclaimed repeatedly to the daughter of Anthony Foster,the close attendant,who,with equal curiosity,but somewhat less ecstatic joy,followed on her mistress's footsteps --oh,Janet!how much more delightful to think that all these fair things have been assembled by his love,for the love of me!
And that this evening--this very evening,which grows darker every instant,I shall thank him more for the love that has created such an unimaginable paradise,than for all the wonders it contains.The Lord is to be thanked first,said the pretty Puritan,who gave thee,lady,the kind and courteous husband whose love has done so much for thee.I,too,have done my poor share.But if you thus run wildly from room to room,the toil of my crisping and my curling pins will vanish like the frost-work on the window when the sun is high.Thou sayest true,Janet,said the young and beautiful Countess,stopping suddenly from her tripping race of enraptured delight,and looking at herself from head to foot in a large mirror,such as she had never before seen,and which,indeed,had few to match it even in the Queen's palace--thou sayest true,Janet!she answered,as she saw,with pardonable self-applause,the noble mirror reflect such charms as were seldom presented to its fair and polished surface;I have more of the milk-maid than the countess,with these cheeks flushed with haste,and all these brown curls,which you laboured to bring to order,straying as wild as the tendrils of an unpruned vine.My falling ruff is chafed too,and shows the neck and bosom more than is modest and seemly.Come,Janet;we will practise state--we will go to the withdrawing-room,my good girl,and thou shalt put these rebel locks in order,and imprison within lace and cambric the bosom that beats too high.They went to the withdrawing apartment accordingly,where the Countess playfully stretched herself upon the pile of Moorish cushions,half sitting,half reclining,half wrapt in her own thoughts,half listening to the prattle of her attendant.