at and
clean as a room could be. A semicircle of all the available chairs in
the house--drawing-room and bed-room chairs intermingled--ranged itself
symmetrically in front of the pictures. That imaginative classical
landscape, "The Golden Age," reposed grandly on its own easel; while
"Columbus in Sight of the New World"--the largest canvas Mr. Blyth had
ever worked on, encased in the most gorgeous frame he had ever ordered
for one of his own pictures--was hung on the wall at an easy distance
from the ground, having proved too bulky to be safely accommodated by
any easel in Valentine's possession.

Except Mr. Blyth's bureau, all the ordinary furniture and general litter
of the room had been cleared out of it, or hidden away behind convenient
draperies in corners. Backwards and forwards over the open space thus
obtained, Mr. Blyth walked expectant, with the elastic skip peculiar
to him; looking ecstatically at his pictures, as he passed and repassed
them--now singing, now whistling; sometimes referring mysteriously to a
small manuscript which he carried in his hand, jauntily tied round
with blue ribbon; sometimes following the lines of the composition in
"Columbus," by flourishing his right hand before it in the air, with
dreamy artistic grace;--always, turn where he would, instinct from
top to toe with an excitable activity which defied the very idea of
rest--and always hospitably ready to rush to the door and receive the
first enthusiastic visitor with open arms, at a moment's notice.

Above stairs, in the invalid room, the scene was of a different
kind. Here also the arrival of the expected visitors was an event of
importance; but it was awaited in perfect tranquillity and silence. Mrs.
Blyth lay in her usual position on the couch-side of the bed, turning
over a small portfolio of engravings; and Madonna stood at the front
window, where she could command a full view of the garden gate, and of
the approach from it to the house. This was always her place on the days
when the pictures were shown; for, while occupying this position, she
was able, by signs, to indicate the arrival of the different guests to
her adopted mother, who lay too far from the window to see them. On
all other days of the year, it was Mrs. Blyth who devoted herself
to Madonna's service, by interpreting for her advantage the pleasant
conversations that she could not hear. On this day, it was Madonna
who devoted herself to Mrs. Blyth's service, by ide