canvas painting

And issuing from my asylum with precaution, I sought a backstairs
which conducted directly to the kitchen. All in that region was fire
and commotion; the soup and fish were in the last stage of projection,
and the cook hung over her crucibles in a frame of mind and body
threatening spontaneous combustion. In the servants' hall two coachmen
and three gentlemen's gentlemen stood or sat round the fire; the
abigails, I suppose, were upstairs with their mistresses; the new
servants, that had been hired from Millcote, were bustling about
everywhere. Threading this chaos, I at last reached the larder;
there I took possession of a cold chicken, a roll of bread, some
tarts, a plate or two and a knife and fork: with this booty I made a
hasty retreat. I had regained the gallery, and was just shutting the
back-door behind me, when an accelerated hum warned me that the ladies
were about to issue from their chambers. I could not proceed to the
schoolroom without passing some of their doors, and running the risk
of being surprised with my cargo of victualage; so I stood still at
this end, which, being windowless, was dark: quite dark now, for the
sun was set and twilight gathering.