"I'm Mrs. Ferrard.
Mr. Poppins told me you were coming, and he said you were a
terribly nice man, and I was to be sure and welcome you. Come
right in."
Her indolence turned to energy as she charged down the hall to
the large double door on the right and threw it open, revealing
to him a scene of splendor and revelry by night.
Several persons [they seemed dozens, in their liveliness] were
singing and shouting to piano music, in the midst of a general
redness and brightness of furnishings--red paper and worn red
carpet and a high ceiling with circular moldings tinted in pink.
Hand-painted pictures of old mills and ladies brooding over
salmon sunsets, and an especially hand-painted Christmas scene
with snow of inlaid mother-of-pearl, animated the walls. On a
golden-oak center-table was a large lamp with a mosaic shade, and
through its mingled bits of green and red and pearl glass
stormed the brilliance of a mantle-light.
The room was crowded with tufted plush and imitation-leather
chairs, side-tables and corner brackets, a couch and a "lady's
desk.
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