The Fever of Life by Fergus Hume — Read

"An elderly dragon with cold grey eyes, Tongue that gibes at a lover rash, Ears quite deaf to pathetic sighs Uttered by men who are scant of cash. / / "But when a millionaire comes to woo, The dragon inspires him not with fear. Her sole idea of love that is true Is measured by so many pounds a year. "

Thornstream Manor, the residence of the Pethrams for many generations, was a quaint old house, surrounded by pleasant grounds. A grey weather-beaten structure of two stories, built on a slight rise, on which were wide terraces down to the green lawns below, which were girt some distance away by a circle of ancient trees. The house itself was a long, low, embattlemented place between two sharply pointed gables, beneath which were diamond-paned oriel windows. Along the front other wide low windows, and a massive door set in a heavy stone porch. The roofs above of deep-red tiles, with twisted chimneys here and there, and the whole house covered with a clinging garment of dark green ivy, as if to shelter it from the cold winds blowing across the park. Seen at the end of the drive as it emerged from the trees, the white terraced rise topped by the grey ivy-covered house, with the tint of red afforded by the roof, looked singularly peaceful and pleasant.