On the port side of
the room, near the bookshelves, is a sofa with its back to the
windows. It is a sturdy mahogany article, oddly upholstered in
sailcloth, including the bolster, with a couple of blankets
hanging over the back. Between the sofa and the drawing-table is
a big wicker chair, with broad arms and a low sloping back, with
its back to the light. A small but stout table of teak, with a
round top and gate legs, stands against the port wall between the
door and the bookcase. It is the only article in the room that
suggests (not at all convincingly) a woman's hand in the
furnishing. The uncarpeted floor of narrow boards is caulked and
holystoned like a deck.
The garden to which the glass doors lead dips to the south before
the landscape rises again to the hills. Emerging from the hollow
is the cupola of an observatory. Between the observatory and the
house is a flagstaff on a little esplanade, with a hammock on the
east side and a long garden seat on the west.
A young lady, gloved and hatted, with a dust coat on, is sitting
in the window-seat with her body twisted to enable her to look
out at the view. One hand props her chin: the other hangs down
with a volume of the Temple Shakespeare in it, and her finger
stuck in the page she has been reading.
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