All man's seemliness and affection for the
natural things of earth were absent. Here was only a brutal and bald
order, as of an intelligence like that of the yellow-locked,
swift-footed creature behind me. Perhaps also it was the mere
unfamiliarity of much I saw there that estranged me. All lay in
neglect, cracked and marred with rough usage,--coarse strands of a
kind of rope, strips of hide, gaping tubs, a huge and rusty brazier,
and in one corner a great cage, many feet square and surmounted with
an iron ring.
I know not. I almost desired Sallow at my side, and would to heaven
Rosinante's nose lay in my palm.
Within the house a wood-fire burned in the sun, its smoke ascending to
the roof, and flowing thence through a rude chimney. A pot steamed
over the fire, burdening the air with a savour at first somewhat faint
and disgusting,--perhaps because it was merely strange to me. The
walls of this lofty room were of rough, substantial timber, bare and
weatherproof; the floor was of the colour of earth, seemingly earth
itself. A few rude stools, a bench, and a four-legged table stood
beside the unshuttered window.
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