f plans and secrets as she could hold. By
agreement, she was to have a free hand to the extent of $15,000 for the
house and the carriage barn. I never really examined the plans, though I
saw the blue prints of what appeared to be a large house with a driving
entrance on the east and a great wide porch along the whole south side.
I did not know until it was nearly finished how large, convenient, and
comfortable it was to be. A hall, a great living-room, the dining room,
a small reception room, and an office, bedroom, and bath for me, were
all on the ground floor, besides a huge wing for the kitchen and other
useful offices.

Above stairs there was room for the family and a goodly number of
friends. We had agreed that the house should be simple in all ways, with
no hard wood except floors, and no ornamentation except paint and paper.
It must be larger than our needs, for we looked forward to delightful
visits from many friends. We were to have more leisure than ever before
for social life, and we desired to make the most of our opportunities.

A country house is by all odds the finest place to entertain friends and
to be entertained by them. They come on invitation, not as a matter of
form, and they stay long enough to put by questions of weather, clothes,
and servant-girls, and to get right down to good old-fashioned visiting.
Real heart-to-heart talks are everyday occurrences in country visits,
while they are exceptional in city calls. We meant to make much of our
friends at Four Oaks, and to have them make much of us. We have
discovered new values even in old friends, since we began to live with
them, weeks at a time, under the same roof. Their interests are ours,
and our plans are warmly taken up by them. There is nothing like it
among the turmoils and interruptions of town life, and the older we grow
the more we need this sort of rest among our friends. The guest book at
the farm will show very few weeks, in the past six years, when friends
haven't been with us, and Polly and I feel that the pleasure we have
received from this source ought to be placed on the credit side of the
farm ledger.

Another reason for a company house was that Jack and Jane would shortly
be out of school. It was not at all in accord with our plan that they
should miss any pleasure by our change. Indeed, we hoped that the change
would be to their liking and to their advantage.

CHAPTER XXVIII

DISCOUNTING THE MARKET

We broke gr