the old stucco walls
remained laden with wistaria and honeysuckle, and the alley of ancient
box trees required clipping only.

In the centre of the lawn he built a circular pool and piped the water
from Spring Brook. It fell in a slender jet, icy cold, powdering pool,
basin and grass with spray.

Where half-dead locust and cedar trees had to be felled Clive set tall
arbor vitae and soft maples. He was an expensive young man where
Athalie's pleasure was concerned; and as he worked there in the lovely
May weather his interest and enthusiasm grew with every fresh fragrant
spadeful of brown earth turned.

The local building genius repainted the aged house after bay window and
gingerbread had been stripped from its otherwise dignified facade;
replaced broken slates on the roof, mended the great fat chimneys,
matched the traces of pale bluish-green that remained on the window
shutters, filled in the sashes with small, square panes, instituted
modern plumbing, drainage, sewage, and electric lights--all of which was
emergency work and not too difficult as the city improvements had now
been extended as far as the village a mile to the eastward. But it was
expensive.

At first Clive had decided to leave the interior to Athalie, but he
finally made up his mind to restore the place on its original lines
with the exception of her mother's room. This room he recognised from
her frequent description of it; and he locked it, pocketed the key,
and turned loose his men.

All that they did was to plaster where it was needed, re-kalsomine all
walls and ceilings, scrape, clean, mend, and re-enamel the ancient
woodwork. Trim, casings, wainscot, and stairs were restored to their
original design and finish; dark hardwood floors replaced the painted
boards which had rotted; wherever a scrap of early wall-paper remained
he matched it as closely as possible, having an expert from New York
to do the business; and the fixtures he chose were simple and graceful
and reflected the period as nearly as electric light fixtures can
simulate an era of candle-sticks and tallow dips.

He was tremendously tempted to go ahead, so fascinating had the work
become to him, but he realised that it was not fair to Athalie. All
that he could reasonably do he had done; the place was clean and
fresh, and restored to its original condition outside and in, except
for the modern necessities of lighting, heating, plumbing, and running
water in pantry, laundry, kitc