To my inexperienced eye the whole lot did not look worth five
shillings, for they seemed to be dead.
At the head of the room stood the rostrum, where sat a gentleman with
an extremely charming face. He was engaged in selling by auction so
rapidly that the clerk at his side must have had difficulty in keeping
a record of the lots and their purchasers. In front of him was a
horseshoe table, round which sat buyers. The end of this table was
left unoccupied so that the porters might exhibit each lot before it
was put up for sale. Standing under the rostrum was yet another table,
a small one, upon which were about twenty pots of flowers, even more
wonderful than those on the large table. A notice stated that these
would be sold at one-thirty precisely. All about the room stood knots
of men (such ladies as were present sat at the table), many of whom
had lovely orchids in their buttonholes. These, I found out
afterwards, were dealers and amateurs. They were a kindly-faced set of
people, and I took a liking to them.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55