The huxtables live at Denmark Hill, for mr. Huxtable is the surviving partner in the well-known Peckham drapery establishment of Roberts <9 Huxtable, and the situation, besides being salubrious, is therefore convenient. It is a new house. Mr. Huxtable bought it half finished, so that the interior might be to his liking; its exterior the builder said one might describe as of a Free Queen Anne Treatment; to which mr. Huxtable rejoined, after blinking at the red brick spotted with stone ornament, that After all it was inside they were going to live, you know. Through the stained, grained front door, rattling with col oured glass, one reaches the hall, needlessly narrow, needlessly dark, but with its black and white tessel lated pavement making for cleanliness. On the left is the stained and grained staircase, with its Brus sels carpet and twisted brass stair rods, on the right the drawing-room. The drawing-room can hardly be said to express the personality of mr. Huxtable. The foundations of its furnishings are in the taste of mrs. Huxtable. For fifteen years or so addi tions to this family museum have been disputed into their place by the six miss huxtables: laura (aged thirty-nine), minnie, clara, julia, emma, jane (aged twenty-six). The rosewood cabinets.
