There was electric light
everywhere.
Babylon, who, as being most accustomed to them, held the bunch
of keys, opened the great door, and then they were in the first
cellar - the first of a suite of five. Racksole was struck not only by
the icy coolness of the place, but also by its vastness. Babylon had
seized a portable electric handlight, attached to a long wire, which
lay handy, and, waving it about, disclosed the dimensions of the
place. By that flashing illumination the subterranean chamber
looked unutterably weird and mysterious, with its rows of
numbered bins, stretching away into the distance till the radiance
was reduced to the occasional far gleam of the light on the
shoulder of a bottle. Then Babylon switched on the fixed electric
lights, and Theodore Racksole entered upon a
personally-conducted tour of what was quite the most interesting
part of his own property.
To see the innocent enthusiasm of Felix Babylon for these stores
of exhilarating liquid was what is called in the North 'a sight for
sair een'.
He displayed to Racksole's bewildered gaze, in their due order, all
the wines of three continents - nay, of four, for the superb and
luscious Constantia wine of Cape Colony was not wanting in that
most catholic collection of vintages. Beginning with the
unsurpassed products of Burgundy, he continued with the clarets
of M?doc, Bordeaux, and Sauterne; then to the champagnes of Ay,
Hautvilliers, and Pierry; then to the hocks and moselles of
Germany, and the brilliant imitation champagnes of Main, Neckar,
and Naumburg; then to the famous and adorable Tokay of
Hungary, and all the Austrian varieties of French wines, including
Carlowitz and Somlauer; then to the dry sherries of Spain,
including purest Manzanilla, and Amontillado, and Vino de Pasto;
then to the wines of Malaga, both sweet and dry, and all the
'Spanish reds' from Catalonia, including the dark 'Tent' so often
used sacramentally; then to the renowned port of Oporto.
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