Miss Langley's Will A Tale Author:Langley General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1869 Original Publisher: Rivingtons Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can sele... more »ct from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER XV. ALL Leamington was now in excitement at the prospect of this out-door party, for which an excellent site had been chosen. The owner of the painting just disposed of by raffle seemed to have brought himself to penury expressly that his forsaken dwelling might afford the requisite accommodation. The donors of the fete neglected nothing on their part: the principal rooms were thrown open, and temporarily furnished the extensive grounds hastily put into some degree of order, the general air of desolation sufficiently removed for a single day's entertainment. But in what should that entertainment consist ? What means of gratification could be provided for a company of critically-refined habits during somany hours ? The associated inviters found this question not a little perplexing -- the unfailing resource of the present time, the excitement of croquet, being as yet unknown. Some one suggested an attempt to impart local interest to the course of diversions. A bronze figure of Warwickshire's glory stood conspicuously on the lawn: would it be possible to exhibit on that spot some tolerable resemblance to the antique exercise of morris-dancing, commemorated by his passing notice ? The proposal was soon negatived. Nothing, it was agreed, would more certainly provoke ridicule than a clumsy endeavour to revive a bygone sport; let them be rational, at all events. And so it came at last to little more than the familiar method of whiling away time : walking up and down a smooth space of ground to the measure of pretty airs. But the weather, the point above all important ...« less