Do you remember that I posted the definition of Venerable not long ago? I came across the word again in The Valley of Fear, one of The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was neat that, having previously looked the word up, I knew exactly what Dr Watson meant when he said this.
“Three centuries had flowed past the old Manor House, centuries of births and homecomings, of country dances and of the meetings of fox-hunters. Strange that now in its old age this dark business should have cast its shadow upon the venerable walls!”
Dr Watson, The Valley of Fear, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, circa 1914