The Craze of Christina — page 87: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Craze of Christina. 83 were speedily placed in order for the reception of the guests. The hot-houses were rified for flowers and grapes, the unoccupied rooms were ransacked for tables and chairs, and a Hun- - garian band, specially ordered down from Lon- don, arrived early in the day to take up a posi- tion at the end of the hall. Docker remained suspicious and intensely disagreeable, but as it was beyond his power to arrest the flow of events, he lent himself un- willingly to the furtherance of the proceedings. As to the maids in the house, from the cook down to the dairy-maid, they all were delighted and full of joyful excitement, and ran about gayly and merrily all the morning, so that the great man found himself in a minority of one, for even his own footman turned against him and rejoiced in the unwonted festivity. Nevertheless, in one unhappy house on the. eventful morning there was weeping and woe and gnashing of teeth. Noone had been more enchanted than Miss Ashley to receive Mr. Clifford’s invitation card, for above all things she longed for an excuse to re-enter the house from which she and her two companions in mis- fortune had been so ignominiously routed. Miss Ashley was quite sure that by dexterous wheedling she would be able to induce Mr, Comichooksico