E. Nesbit

“ The panelled parlour was there all right, but the tea was cold, there were no muffins, and the fire was out.
The candlesticks were there, it is true, and so was Saccharissa, but she was not smiling.
"Tut, tut!" I said a little petulantly, perhaps, for muffins are muffins, and I was disappointed. "You ought to radiate joy as the sun does heat. The candlesticks!"
"That's just it," she said.
"Did Henry kill you?" I asked as sympathetically as I could, for I like my tea warm, and, as I said before, muffins are muffins. ”

“ If you happen to like the kind of things that Saccharissa likes, it is safer to pass the den of a lion whose front door has been carelessly left open than to pass Ilford's. Ilford has in his window the most seductive things in the world. Salt-cellars and snuffer trays, old china, old paintings on glass, enamelled snuff-boxes that have belonged to people's grand-uncles, and tortoiseshell tea-caddies that have belonged to people's grandmothers. I had bought those candlesticks there. ”

“ SACCHARISSA collects candlesticks. Most of us collect something or other—postage stamps, or butterflies, or botanical specimens, or hearts, or memories. Even in our village there are collectors. Captain Smeeth collects old maps; Miss Eversleigh old music. Saccharissa collects candlesticks. I believe she has eighty-seven, and she makes it a point of honour never to spend more than five shillings on a pair. The number of candlesticks added to her collection is strictly regulated by her income, and that, in turn, is regulated by the number of the fortunes made in trade. ”