_The hall at Markswayde is square; in decoration strictly eighteenth
century. The floor polished. Then comes six feet of soberly painted
wainscot and above the greenish blue and yellowish green wall painted
into panels. At intervals are low relief pilasters; the capitals of
these are gilded. The ceiling is white and in the centre of it there is
a frosted glass dome through which a dull light struggles. Two sides
only of the hall are seen._
_In the corner is a hat stand and on it are many cloaks and hats and
beneath it several pairs of very muddy boots._
_In the middle of the left hand wall are the double doors of the
dining-room led up to by three or four stairs with balusters, and on
either side standing against the wall long, formal, straight backed
sofas._
_In the middle of the right hand wall is the front door; glass double
doors can be seen and there is evidently a porch beyond. On the left of
the front door a small window. On the right a large fireplace, in which
a large fire is roaring. Over the front door, a clock (the hands
pointing to half-past one.) Over the fireplace a family portrait (temp.
Queen Anne) below this a blunderbuss and several horse-pistols. Above
the sofa full-length family portraits (temp. George I.) Before the front
door a wooden screen, of lighter wood than the wainscot, and in the
middle of it a small glass panel. Before this a heavy square table on
which are whips and sticks, a hat or two and brushes; by the table a
wooden chair. On either side the fire stand tall closed-in armchairs,
and between the fireplace and the door a smaller red-baize screen._
_When the dining-room doors are thrown open another wooden screen is to
be seen._
_There are a few rugs on the floor, formally arranged._
MRS. OPIE _stands in the middle of the hall, holding out a woman's brown
cloak: she drops one side to fetch out her handkerchief and apply it to
her eye_. DIMMUCK _comes in by the front door, which he carefully closes
behind him. He is wrapped in a hooded cloak and carries a pair of boots
and a newspaper. The boots he arranges to warm before the fire. Then he
spreads the Chronicle newspaper upon the arm of a chair, then takes off
his cloak and hangs it upon a peg close to the door._
DIMMUCK. Mrs. Opie . . will you look to its not scorching?
MRS. OPIE _still mops her eyes_. DIMMUCK _goes towards the dining-room
door, but turns_.
DIMMUCK. Will you kindly see that the _Chronicle_ newspaper does not
burn?
MRS. OPIE. I was crying.
DIMMUCK. I leave this tomorrow sennight . . thankful, ma'am, to have
given notice in a dignified manner.
MRS. OPIE. I understand . . Those persons at table . .
DIMMUCK. You give notice.
MRS. OPIE. Mr. Dimmuck, this is my home.
LORD ARTHUR CARP _comes out of the dining-room. He is a thinner and more
earnest-looking edition of his brother_. MRS. OPIE _turns a chair and
hangs the cloak to warm before the fire, and then goes into the
dining-room_.
LORD ARTHUR. My chaise round?
DIMMUCK. I've but just ordered it, my lord. Your lordship's man has give
me your boots.
LORD ARTHUR. Does it snow?
DIMMUCK. Rather rain than snow.
LORD ARTHUR _takes up the newspaper_.
DIMMUCK. Yesterday's, my lord.
LORD ARTHUR. I've seen it. The mails don't hurry hereabouts. Can I be in
London by the morning?
DIMMUCK. I should say you might be, my lord.
LORD ARTHUR _sits by the fire, while_ DIMMUCK _takes off his pumps and
starts to put on his boots_.