," said Celia; "I want these to be really
beautiful."

At the end of another hour Celia said she thought we'd better get on to
my workroom. My workroom, as the name implies, is the room to which I am
to retire when I want complete quiet. Sometimes I shall go there after
lunch ... and have it.

"We can come back to the drawing-room afterwards," she said. "It's
really very important that we should get the right ones for that. Your
room won't be so difficult, but, of course, you must have awfully nice
ones."

I looked at my watch.

"It's a quarter to one," I said. "At 2.15 on the seventeenth of June we
are due at St. Miriam's. If you think we shall have bought anything by
then, let's go on. If, as seems to me, there is no hope at all, then
let's have lunch to-day anyhow. After lunch we may be able to find some
way out of the _impasse_."

After lunch I had an idea.

"This afternoon," I said, "we will begin to get some furniture
together."

"But what about the electric fittings? We must finish off those."

"This is an experiment. I want to see if we can buy a chest of drawers.
It may just be our day for it."

"And we settle the fittings to-morrow. Yes?"

"I don't know. We may not want them. It all depends on whether we can
buy a chest of drawers this afternoon. If we can't, then I don't see
how we can ever be married on the seventeenth of June. Somebody's got to
be, because I've engaged the church. The question is whether it's going
to be us. Let's go and buy a chest of drawers this afternoon, and see."

The old gentleman in the little shop Celia knew of was delighted to see
us.

"Chestesses? Ah, you _'ave_ come to the right place." He led the way
into the depths. "There now. There's a chest--real old, that is." He
gave it a hearty smack. "You don't see a chest like that nowadays. They
can't _make_ 'em. Three pound ten. You couldn't have got that to-morrer.
I'd have sold it for four pound to-morrer."

"I knew it was our day," I said.

"Real old, that is. Spanish me'ogany, all oak lined. That's right, sir,
pull the drawers out and see for yourself. Let the lady see. There's no
imitation there, lady. A real old chest, that is. Come in 'ere in a week
and you'd have to pay five pounds for it. Me'ogany's going up, you see,
that's how."

"Well?" I said to Celia.

"It's perfectly sweet. Hadn't we better see some more?"

We saw two more. Both of them Spanish me'ogany, oak lined,
pull-the-drawers-out-and-see-f