Gripp's cottage is small and cluttered. It is surrounded by a yard and a low wall. Behind the front door is a dim hallway which leads to a lighted sitting room. On one side of the sitting room stands a black stove, where items for making tea are also stored, such as mugs, a kettle, and great mugs. In front of the stove is a sagging armchair. Gripp's usual daytime spot is by the front window, from where he can see the whole of Del harbour. Near Gripp's chair is a little wooden stool that Britta always sits on during her visits. In front of Gripp's chair by the window is a rickety little table used for drinking tea.
The wall opposite the black stove is lined with open shelves crammed with the books of traders' tales. The end nearer to the front window is devoted to glass-fronted cabinets filled with Gripp's souvenirs of his life at sea — oddly shaped shells, the skulls of strange beasts, brass gongs, painted fans, carvings and curios of all kinds. And ranged on top of the cabinets are exquisitely detailed models of ships, made by Gripp himself in the days before his hands grew knobbly and swollen due to arthritis. And on a long, low table in front of the cabinets, dominating that corner of the room, was the largest and most intricate model of all — a perfect replica of the Star of Deltora.[1]
