She had stayed with the Lesters before, but in schoolroom days.
They were indolent and uninterested, and had never shown her any of
the permanent wonders of London, despising these as only fit for
country cousins, whereas we had grown up to think of them with
intelligent affection. To me, however, much was as new as to Ellen.
Country life had done so much for me that I could venture on what I
had never attempted before. The Admiral said it was getting away
from doctors and their experiments, but I had also done with the
afflictions of attempts at growth in wrong directions. Old friends
did not know me, and more than once, as I sat in the carriage,
addressed me for one of my brothers--a compliment which, Griff said,
turned my head. Happily I was too much accustomed to my own
appearance, and people were too kind, for me to have much shyness on
that score. Our small dinner parties were great enjoyment to me,
and the two girls were very happy in their little gaieties.
Braham and Catalani, Fanny Kemble, and Turner's landscapes at his
best, rise in my memory as supreme delights and revelations in their
different lines, and awakening trains of thought; and then there was
that entertainment which Griffith and Clarence gave us in their
rooms, when they regaled us with all the delicacies of the season,
and Peter and Gooch looked all pride and hospitality! The dining-
parlour, or what served as such, was Griff's property, as any one
could see by the pictures of horses, dogs, and ladies, the cups,
whips, and boxing-gloves that adorned it; the sitting-room had
tokens of other occupation, in Clarence's piano, window-box of
flowers, and his one extravagance in engravings from Raffaelle, and
a marine water-colour or two, besides all my own attempts at family
portraits, with a case of well-bound books.
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