It was like the end of a country ball, where everything
has been supplied by contract. Brackenbury had indeed some matter
for reflection. First, the guests, who were no real guests after
all, had been dismissed; and now the servants, who could hardly be
genuine servants, were actively dispersing.
'"Was the whole establishment a sham?" he asked himself. "The
mushroom of a single night which should disappear before morning?"
Watching a favourable opportunity, Brackenbury dashed upstairs to
the highest regions of the house. It was as he had expected. He
ran from room to room, and saw not a stick of furniture nor so much
as a picture on the walls. Although the house had been painted and
papered, it was not only uninhabited at present, but plainly had
never been inhabited at all. The young officer remembered with
astonishment its specious, settled, and hospitable air on his
arrival
It was only at a prodigious cost that the imposture could have been
carried out upon so great a scale.
Who, then, was Mr. Morris? What was his intention in thus playing
the householder for a single night in the remote west of London?
And why did he collect his visitors at hazard from the streets?
Brackenbury remembered that he had already delayed too long, and
hastened to join the company. Many had left during his absence;
and counting the Lieutenant and his host, there were not more than
five persons in the drawing-room - recently so thronged.
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