In the dining-room a corner of the mantel has its sandstone
deeply worn away, and a much-elbowed architect, who was taking
measurements of the chimney, agreed that this carf was the effect
of the host or the butler flying to the place and sharpening his
knife for whatever haunch of venison or round of beef was toward.
It was a fine memento of the domestic past, and there was a
secret chamber where the refugees of this cause or that in other
times were lodged in great discomfort. Besides, there was a ghost
which was fairly crowded out of its accustomed quarters, where so
far from being able to walk, it would have had much ado to stand
upright by flattening itself against the wall.
VI
In fact, there was not much more room that day in the Plas Mawr,
than in the Smallest House in the World, which is the next
chiefest attraction of Conway. This, too, was crammed with damp
enthusiasts, passionately eager to sign their names in the guest-
book. They scarcely left space in the sitting-room of ten by
twelve feet for the merry old hostess selling photographs and
ironically inviting her visitors' guests to a glimpse of the
chamber overhead, or so much of it as the bed allowed to be seen.
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