and
decorated
here and
there with
a
Christmas
green.
Hams,
tongues,
and
flitches
of bacon
were
suspended
from the
ceiling; a
smokejack
made its
ceaseless
clanking
beside the
fireplace,
and a
clock
ticked in
one
corner. A
well-scoured
deal table
extended
along one
side of
the
kitchen,
with a
cold round
of beef
and other
hearty
viands
upon it,
over which
two
foaming
tankards
of ale
seemed
mounting
guard.
Travelers
