en he
addressed her, and when, after dinner was over, she came and sat at his
side, and laying her hand on his, said to him, "Father, there is
something I very much wish to do, and I want your consent," he answered,
unhesitatingly: "You shall have it, no matter what you ask."

"Thanks," Bessie said, with a triumphant look at Grey, who was standing
near. "I thought you would not oppose me, even if Grey did. You see, I
have so much money that it burns my fingers, and I think I must have
lived in America long enough to have caught your fever for change, or
else the smell of plaster and paint at Stoneleigh awakened in me a
desire for more, for, what I wish to do is to tear down this old house
and build another one, where we can spend our summers. This house,
though very nice and comfortable, is falling to pieces, and will tumble
down in some high wind. The plastering is off in two of the rooms up
stairs, and a part of the roof has fallen in over the bedroom and
wood-shed. Aunt Hannah says the snow was suffered to lie there last
winter while she was with us in Wales. So you see we must do something,
and I have the plan of such a pretty place, which I want to call
Stoneleigh Cottage after my old home. Your room and Aunt Hannah's are to
be the pleasantest of all, with a bow-window and fire-place in both, and
there is to be a fire-place in the hall, which is to be finished in oak,
with a wide staircase and a tall clock on the landing, and the windows
are to have little colored panes of glass at the top, and the floors are
to be inlaid and waxed, with rugs of matting instead of carpets, as we
want everything cool for summer, and we will have a big piazza where we
can have tea or breakfast, or even a dance, if we like. Won't that be
nice?"

Bessie had talked very rapidly, with a feeling that she did not have the
sympathy of her hearers. She had conceived the idea of pulling down the
old house and building a new one while she was in Wales, alleging to
herself as one reason that both Hannah and Grey would enjoy themselves
better under a roof which did not cover a grave, while the other reason
was not then quite clear enough in her own mind to be put into words,
but she had said nothing to any one until the morning of the day when
she broached the subject to his father. Together with Grey, she had gone
over the old house, which, from having been shut up so long, seemed more
dilapidated than ever. But Grey opposed her plan, and Hann