While the Banqueting-Hall remained--owing to the
admiral's inadequate pecuniary resources--in its damp and dismantled
state, and while the interior of St. Crux was thus comfortlessly divided
into two separate residences, no more convenient arrangement than this
could well have been devised. Now and then (as Magdalen understood from
her informant) there were days, both in winter and summer, when the
admiral became anxious about the condition of the rooms which he was not
occupying at the time, and when he insisted on investigating the state
of the furniture, the pictures, and the books with his own eyes. On
these occasions, in summer as in winter, a blazing fire was kindled for
some days previously in the large grate, and the charcoal was lighted
in the tripod-pan, to keep the Banqueting-Hall as warm as circumstances
would admit. As soon as the old gentleman's anxieties were set at rest
the rooms were shut up again, and "Freeze-your-Bones" was once more
abandoned for weeks and weeks together to damp, desolation, and decay.
The last of these temporary migrations had taken place only a few days
since; the admiral had satisfied himself that the rooms in the east wing
were none the worse for the absence of their master, and he might now be
safely reckoned on as settled in the north wing for weeks, and perhaps,
if the season was cold, for months to come.
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