It was not to be supposed that
a man who went to bed at daybreak would get up again before the sun was
in the zenith, for the sake of Mr. Smithson's society, or Mr. Smithson's
Strasbourg pie, for the manufacture whereof a particular breed of geese
were supposed to be set apart, like sacred birds in Egypt, while a
particular vineyard in the Gironde was supposed to be devoted wholly and
solely to the production of Mr. Smithson's claret. It was a cabinet
wine, like those rare vintages of the Rhineland which are reserved
exclusively for German princes.
Breakfast was served in Mr. Smithson's smallest dining-room--there were
three apartments given up to feasting, beginning with a spacious
banqueting-room for great dinners, and dwindling down to this snuggery,
which held about a dozen comfortably, with ample room and verge enough
for the attendants. The walls were old gold silk, the curtains a tawny
velvet of deeper tone, the cabinets and buffet of dark Italian walnut,
inlaid with lapis-lazuli and amber. The fireplace was a masterpiece of
cabinet work, with high narrow shelves, and curious recesses holding
priceless jars of Oriental enamel.
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