"I think her name--" began Nannie, but she was interrupted by a loud
crash which seemed to come from one of the adjoining rooms. In an
instant my twin was on her feet: "Oh, _Felix_!" she cried breathlessly,
"that came from the library! Papa has knocked over something!"
The _pater_ has an absent-minded way of upsetting things, and Nannie's
tone carried conviction with it; so, as fast as I could, I followed in
her wake as she threaded her way swiftly through the crowded room.
Nora raised her eyebrows with an air of mock resignation. "No use our
_all_ going," she said in an undertone as I went past her, and resumed
her conversation with the gentleman to whom she had been talking.
Some people had collected in the doorway of the library by the time I
got there, and I was delayed a minute or two in getting into the room;
then I saw, at one glance, that our worst fears were realised. There
stood my father, minus his spectacles, peering about him with a most
anxious, bewildered expression on his face,--I was struck with how ill
he looked! and around him on the polished floor lay the fragments of
one of the Doulton bowls! The small table on which it had stood
was-overturned, flowers were scattered in every direction, and among
the ruins shone my father's glasses, broken in several pieces.
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