Alec saw him off, and returned to find the General, who had contrived to avoid more than a distant bow of farewell to Beaumaroy, standing on the hearthrug apparently in a state of some agitation.

Indeed he passed by her and joined a group that had gathered on the hearthrug, leaving her alone.

He was standing on the hearthrug with his arm round Cynthia's waist, and his other hand raising one of hers to his lips.

" Mrs. Cartwright stopped with Barbara, who brought a footstool to the hearthrug, and sitting down leaned against her knee.

CHAPTER VI A NASTY KNOCK Frost sparkled on the office windows and Cartwright, with his feet on the hearthrug studied an Atlantic weather chart.

Etta was standing on the hearthrug, beautifully dressedtoo beautifully dressed, it is possible, to sit down.

He was a famous judge of upholstery, and the softest chair or sofa, hearthrug or divan, was instantly appropriated.

He was fully dressed in a grey tweed suit, but he had taken off one bootthe leftand it lay at his feet on the hearthrug.

An evening paper lay upon the hearthrug.

Mr. Silk, very pale and upright, was standing on the hearthrug, shaking all over with nervous excitement.

He clenched his fists and paced boldly up and down the hearthrug.

Lady Denyer stood a little way in advance of the group on the hearthrug, fanning herself, with her eye on the door, while she listened languidly to the remarks of a youthful diplomatist, a sprig of a lordly tree, upon the last début at Her Majesty's Theatre.

Infinitely bored by the whiskerless attaché, who had entered upon a disquisition on the genius of Rossini as compared with this new man Meyerbeer, her ladyship made believe to hear, while she listened intently to the confidential murmurs of the group on the hearthrug, the little knot of personages clustered round Lord Denyer.

The breakfast-room furniture fit to outlast the Pyramids, the maroon leather of deep armchairs, the marble clock ticking to half-past nine beneath the bronze figure with the scythe and hourglass, the boots set to warm upon the hearthrug, the crisp bacon sizzling gently beneath its silver cover, the pleasant wife murmuring gently behind the silver urn, the paper set beside the master's plate.

He read the letter slowly, pondering every sentence and every word, and when he had finished it his hand dropped upon his knee; and when the letter fell upon the hearthrug he did not stoop to pick it up, but sat looking into the fire, convinced that everything was over and done.

A man, recently washed and brushed, stood on the hearthrug before a pier glass, arranging a white necktie, part of his evening dress.

To soften it, he placed a comfortable chair on the hearthrug, and said, in his ordinary friendly way: "Sit nearer the fire: we can talk more comfortably.

" He turned upon the hearthrug, and studied the carefully designed slits upon his cloth shoes.

" "Exactly so," said Bensington, and came and stood on the hearthrug and took off his spectacles to wipe them.

There this incredible man stood, on his official hearthrug, talking, talking with enormous power and skill, talking as though a pause in his talk, his explanations, his presentation of standpoints and lights, of considerations and expedients, would permit some antagonistic influence to leap into beinginto vocal being, the only being he could comprehend.

The old dog on the hearthrug came thrusting his nose into your hands, making almost too great friends, being perfectly well aware (cunning old fellow) that he could coax more out of a visitor than one of the family, who knew how he had stuffed all day.

The book he had been reading lay where he had put it down, on the hearthrug at her feet.

He stands on the hearthrug of his own special sanctum in his handsome house in Dorset Square, with his back to the fire, cigarette in his mouth, his hands now in his pockets, now waving in the air, as he vivaciously tells me the story of his busy, energetic and wonderfully interesting life.

"And how do you prepare your sketches?" said I, as Mr. Grossmith lit another cigarette, and took up his position on the hearthrug again.

"] Mr. Leo Maxixe, writing in The Irrational Review, states that he has it on the best authority that when the GERMAN EMPEROR read the Criccieth New Year's interview with Mr. LLOYD GEORGE he exclaimed, "This beats the Tango," and fell heavily on the hearthrug.