Yet she skidded to a halt as she threw open the door, for she was unprepared for the magnificence that had resulted from her few suggestions on color and design. Suggestions she now gave serious second thought. The furnishings, selected by the duke’s mother in the days before the French Revolution, were primarily Louis XVI, with an occasional English piece from the early days of the reign of poor mad George III. The tester above her bed was light and airy, painted in cream, gold, and pale green, as were two matching bedside cupboards and washstand. The tall cheval glass was also English, but the towering walnut and satinwood armoire was French, as were the fruitwood dressing table and the elegant roll-front desk with cabriole legs. The elaborate wood carving of the overmantel above the fireplace was in the style of Grinling Gibbons. An exquisite piece of workmanship. In truth, Jen thought, awed, it was entirely possible Gibbons had done the work himself, for Longville House was not newly built.
