nce." The Invalid rose from his
chair, and taking Merry's arm, the four descended the piazza-steps.

"Of course," explained Hope as we walked slowly under the grand old
trees of the hotel park--"of course the carpenter and the painter and
the glazier are to intervene, and Merry and I must make no end of
curtains and things. But it will be ever so much cheaper, when all is
done, than living at the hotel, besides being so much more cozy; and if
we are to farm, we really should be on the spot."

"Meantime, I shall retain my room at the hotel," said the Pessimist,
letting down the bars.

"You are expected to do that," retorted Merry, disdaining the bars and
climbing over the fence. "It will be quite as much as you deserve to be
permitted to take your meals with us. But there! can you deny that that
is beautiful?"

The wide field in which we were walking terminated in a high bluff above
the St. John's. A belt of great forest trees permitted only occasional
glimpses of the water on that side, but to the northward the ground
sloped gradually down to one of the picturesque bays which so frequently
indent the shores of the beautiful river. Huge live-oaks stood here and
there about the field, with soft gray Spanish moss swaying from their
dark branches. Under the shadow of one more mighty than the rest stood
the cottage, or rather the two cottages, which formed the much-discussed
residence--two unpainted, windowless buildings, with not a perpendicular
line in their whole superficial extent.

The Pessimist withdrew the stick which held the staple and threw open
the unshapely door. There were no steps, but a little friendly pushing
and pulling brought even the Invalid within the room. There was a
moment's silence; then, from Hope, "Oh, the magnificent chimney! Think
of a fire of four-foot lightwood on a chilly evening!"

"I should advise the use of the chimney as a sleeping-room: there seems
to be none other," said the Pessimist.

"But we can curtain off this entire end of the room. How fortunate that
it should be so large! Here will be our bedroom, and this corner shall
be for Merry. And when we have put one of those long, low Swiss windows
in the east side, and another here to the south, you'll see how pleasant
it will be."

"It appears to me," he remarked perversely, "that windows will be a
superfluous luxury. One can see out at a dozen places already; and as
for ventilation, there is plenty of that through the roof."