The throne and huge easel were disposed so as to receive as much light as was possible.
Beyond the studio was the bedroom, but here there was only the regulation furniture.

Some scores of photographs of Vandover's friends were tacked upon the walls, or thrust between the wood and glass of the mirror.
A new life now began for Vandover, a life of luxury and aimlessness which he found charming.

He had no duties, no cares, no responsibilities.

But there could be no doubt that he was in a manner changed; the old life of dissipation seemed to have lost its charm.

For nearly twenty-six years nothing extraordinary had happened to break in upon the uneventful and ordinary course of his existence, and then, suddenly, three great catastrophes had befallen, like the springing of three successive mines beneath his feet: Ida's suicide, the wreck, and his father's death, all within a month.