There was a very fine hall in the centre, and a really beautiful old oak staircase wound round it, being adorned with carving, and having a fine old fireplace on one of the landings.

This hall was the only good room in the house: on the right of it were the kitchens and the kitchen offices, on its left was the dining-room, which was a thoroughfare to the drawing-room, and through that again you reached a pleasant library; John Mortimer's own particular den or smoking room being beyond again.

All these rooms had thorough lights excepting the last, and in fine weather every one entered them, back or front, from the garden.
Up-stairs there were a great many bedrooms, and not one good one: most of them had sloping roofs.

Then there was a long school-room, with a little staircase of its own.

You could make a good deal of noise in that room, and not be heard beyond it; but this circumstance is no particular advantage, if your father has no nerves at all, and scarcely observes whether there is a noise or not.
John and Valentine Mortimer had a cheerful dinner, and after that a riotous game at romps with the children.