s,--I'd have the nursery--a day-nursery--down-stairs;
that is, if I could coax you into it."

"It seems the new pivot is two very large 'ifs,'" said Frank,
laughing. "And not much space to turn in, either. Would you take the
cellar, or build out? And if so, where?"

"I'd take the dining-room, Frank; and eat in the back parlor."

"I wish you would. I don't like dining-rooms. I was brought up to a
back parlor."

"You do? You don't? You were? Why, Frank, I thought you'd hate it,"
cried Asenath, pouring forth her exclamations all in a heap, and
coming round to lean upon his shoulder. "I wish I'd told you before!
Just think of those south dining-room windows that they'll have the
good of all the forenoon, and that all we do with is to shade them
down at dinner-time! And the horse-chestnut tree, and the
grape-vines, making it green and pleasant, by and by! And the saving
of going over the stairs, and the times one of the girls might help
me when I _couldn't_ ring her away up to my room; and the tending of
table, with baby only to be looked after in here. Why, I should sit
here, myself, mornings, always; and everything would be all together
and the up-stairs work,--it would be better than two nurse-girls to
have it so!"

"Then why not have it so right off? The more you turn on your pivot,
the smoother it gets, you know. And the more nicely you balance and
concentrate, the longer your machine will last."

Asenath lay awake late, and woke early, that night and the next
morning, "planning."

When Frank saw a certain wide, intent, shining, "don't-speak-to-me"
look in her eyes, he always knew that she was "planning." And he had
found that out of her plans almost always resulted some charming
novelty, at least, that gave one the feeling of beginning life over
again; if it were only the putting of his bureau on the other side
of the room, so that he started the wrong way for a few days,
whenever he wanted to get a clean collar; or the setting the
bedstead with side instead of head to the wall; issuing in
delightful bewilderments of mind, when wakened suddenly and asked to
find a match or turn up the dressing-room gas in the night, to meet
some emergency of the baby's.

This time the development was a very busy Friday forenoon; in which
the silver rubbing was omitted, and the dinner preparations put
off,--the man who came for "chores" detained for heavy lifting,--the
large dining-table turned up on edge and rolled into the