Apparently the old earl had discovered
by experiment that the heavy, expensive wallpaper would not stick to
the glossy panelling, so he had purchased a cheaper paper, and had
pasted that on first. Higgins said he had gone all over the panelling
with a yellowish-white paper, and after that was dry, he pasted over
it the more expensive rolls.
'But,' I objected, 'the two papers were bought and delivered at the
same time; therefore, he could not have found by experiment that the
heavy paper would not stick.'
'I don't think there is much in that,' commented the earl; 'the heavy
paper may have been bought first, and found to be unsuitable, and then
the coarse, cheap paper bought afterwards. The bill merely shows that
the account was sent in on that date. Indeed, as the village of
Chizelrigg is but a few miles away, it would have been quite possible
for my uncle to have bought the heavy paper in the morning, tried it,
and in the afternoon sent for the commoner lot; but in any case, the
bill would not have been presented until months after the order, and
the two purchases were thus lumped together.'
I was forced to confess that this seemed reasonable.
Now, about the book ordered from Denny's.
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