THE READING-KOOM. 147 



" What sort of a place ?" asked John. 



" The reading-room at the hotel near the pier," said Law- 

 rence. " There is a charming reading-room there, with a 

 very large round table in the centre covered with maga- 

 zines and pictorial papers, and pretty desks and comforta- 

 ble arm-chairs at the windows all around the room. There 

 is also quite a large library of books, in a handsome case, 

 on one side." 



"That will be just the place for me to study my other 

 two hours," said John. 



This reading-room, which is really a very attractive 

 room more so than any other room of the kind that I 

 have seen in any hotel in England is a very appropriate 

 and desirable part of the accommodations of a hotel at a 

 sea-port, where people are liable to be weather-bound, so 

 as to have to spend some hours, and perhaps days, in wait- 

 ing for a storm to abate or for a heavy sea to go down. 



Lawrence and John arrived at Folkestone about morn- 

 ing. The town is situated in a kind of dell, opening be- 

 tween the cliffs of the coast. This dell was probably 

 formed in the course of ages by a stream of water, the 

 mouth of which has been deepened and enlarged in mod- 

 ern times, and inclosed in long piers extending out from 

 the land so as to make a harbor. Near the pier on one 

 side is a level plateau, which is laid out in ornamental 

 grounds, in the centre of which stands the hotel, which is 

 called the Pavilion, and which is arranged specially for the 

 accommodation of the travelers departing or arriving by 

 the steamers. 



The first thing that John did on his arrival, after giving 

 the porter instructions about the baggage, or the luggage, 

 as they always call it in England, was to walk a little 

 about the house and grounds to gratify his curiosity by ex- 

 amining the locality. The main building of the hotel is 



