The clothes that had come in
contact with my heretical person were ordered to be placed on one
side, I presume to be morally disinfected, and I can only trust
that the two old nuns did not get into serious trouble over their
little joke. I am sorry that my toilet was not completed; I should
like to have felt that just for once in my life I had taken the
veil, if for five minutes only.
In the "eighties" the city of Montreal spent large sums over their
Winter Carnival. It attracted crowds of strangers, principally
from the United States, and it certainly stimulated the retail
trade of the city. The Governor-General was in the habit of taking
a house in Montreal for the Carnival, and my brother-in-law was
lent the home of a hospitable sugar magnate. The dining-room of
this house, in which its owner had allowed full play to his
Oriental imagination and love of colour, was so singular that it
merits a few words of description. The room was square, with a
domed ceiling. It was panelled in polished satinwood to a height
of about five feet. Above the panelling were placed twelve owls in
carved and silvered wood, each one about two feet high, supporting
gas-standards.
Pages:
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380