[…] the hands of the same exalted young lady being also well calculated to give any man such a 'buckhorse' as would have sent him whirling round the presence-chamber […]

I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old, familiar carols play, / And wild and sweet / The words repeat / Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

The mother is a spiritualist—has been for years—and, being on the lookout for it, naturally discovered what she calls 'mediumship' in Viola when a child.

I'm not drinking that mop water!