Gratia's Trials — page 170: what you’re looking at

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

GRATIA’S TRIALS. , 161 party for Melworth Hall were forced to set off, in a jingling, open carriage, without him. It was a long drive, and not a pleasant one, although the lanes were starred with daisies, and overhung by trails of dog- — roses and honeysuckle, while blossoming orchards freighted the air with perfume, and wheat meadows, walled in by peaceful woods, afforded the loveliest of perspectives. Mrs. Pennilon’s corns were troublesome, and she had spilled a cup of coffee on her new gray traveling-dress that morning. Mr. Pennilon was absorbed in a sheet of statistics concerning the steel trade in Sheffield ; and Francis, Roswell, and Hadley were fighting for the best place in the carriage. Gratia herself was compelled to ride backward, which always made her uncomfortable ; so, upon the whole, she was not sorry when they drew up in the grounds of Melworth Hall. ‘Oh, what splendid trees !” cried Gratia, looking up at the century-old elms, beneath which the carriage rolled, with glimpses of green, shaven turf, and here and there a sparkling fountain, a statue, or a sheet of ornamental water in the distance. ‘If you would bea little less theatrical, Miss Kempfeld, and pay a little more attention to the children,” said Mrs. Pennilon, tartly, ‘‘I think there would be less danger of Francis falling out of the carriage.” Melworth Hall wasa splendid old mansion—a picturesque jumble of two or three different ages and styles of architecture, - with stained glass oriels, inlaid floors, and broad staircases lead- ing to libraries, conservatories, and picture-galleries. Gratia had lingered in one of the anterooms to look at a stand of passion-flowers and azaleas, while the rest of the family, with the exception of Hadley, had proceeded to the grand draw- ing-room under the marshaling of the staid old housekeeper, when a party of ladies and gentlemen came “down the private stair-way beyond, the door leading to which Mrs, Hopwith had, through some inadvertence, left slightly ajar. GEomicbooks Cece) m: