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CHAPTER XV.
"He scanned, with a rapid but scrutinising glance, each of the papers contained in the parcel."
The Buccaneer.
It was a large, long room, whose height, though disproportioned to its other dimensions, had this advantage, that the painted ceiling was distinctly seen. That ceiling was covered with square compartments, each filled with strange figures, flowers, fruit, heraldic devices—all blazoned in the richest colours, so minute, so fantastic, and so highly finished, that the painting might well have exhausted a whole imagination, while its execution was the business of a complete and busy life. It was supported by a gilded cornice, carved into a thousand curious shapes and emblems, among which the horned wolf, the crest of the Avonleigh family, was conspicuous. Beneath was a black oaken wainscot, each of whose panels was set in gilded frames, to match the cornice. Little, however, of the wall was seen, for it was nearly
