ly, and that
settled the fate of my pleasant dreamings forever.

But I seldom argue these things with Alice. The conservatory is now a
shattered dream, and the butler's pantry is inevitable. The graceful
alcove, which was to have been the conservatory (with aviary features),
is to be provided with a permanent, stationary seat which Adah is to
upholster in a pattern which Maria has promised to send from St. Joe.
Whenever I think of it there rise up before my mind's eye visions of
stolen meetings in that alcove, and whispered interviews, in which I
fancy I see our daughter Fanny figuring as an active participant, and
then I devoutly pray that little Erasmus' vigilance may be increased a
thousand-fold.

I was informed in good time that the library was to be virtually the
living-room for the family. It was here that casual callers were to be
received and entertained; here the errand boys who delivered packages
from the downtown shops were to leave their goods and get their
receipts; here the laundryman was to wait every Monday morning while
Adah gathered up my hebdomadal bundle of linen for the wash; here were
the children to gather for a frolic every evening after the humble
vesper meal.

I am wondering whether Alice and Adah and the neighbors will approve of
my dearly cherished plan to have one of the tall clocks stationed in
one corner, and my very old Suffolk oak table in another corner, and in
still another the curious old sofa which Aunt 'Gusty has promised to
send me from Darien, Georgia. I am painfully aware that Alice and Adah
and the neighbors regard the beautiful furniture in which I delight as
"old trumpery."

When we first looked at the Schmittheimer place Alice exclaimed, upon
being ushered into one of the rooms: "Now this is just the room for
Reuben and his old trumpery!" It is twenty-two feet long and eighteen
feet wide, and there are windows to the north, west, and south.
Curiously enough, the chimney runs up through the middle of this room,
presenting an appearance at once novel and grotesque. Alice assures me
that this will prove a unique and charming feature, for she intends to
put innumerable shelves around the chimney, and place thereon the
interesting and valuable curios, the purchase of which has kept me
involved in financial embarrassment for the last twenty years.

Alice has settled it in her own mind just where in my new room each bit
of my beloved furniture shall be located--the mahog