ontinued to
discuss ways and means with Mr. Turner and Delia and to direct the
workmen, who presently took possession of the house, and made it seem
like a Bedlam into which order could never be restored.

"Oh, that's fine!" cried Nan, clapping her hands when she heard of the
governess' plans. "That hall closet was no good anyhow. Delia only
kept her brooms and dust-cloths there, and it's just the place for a
dumb-waiter. But if we turn the library into a dining-room, what are
you going to do with the books?"

"The best of them can be put on low shelves along the parlor walls, and
we'll take the rest upstairs and make a sort of cozy study of the front
room for your father."

"Splendid!" cried Nan.

For weeks the place was in a turmoil. Carpets were taken up, some of
them never to go down again, curtains were unhung, cleaned and folded
carefully away, and when the coast was clear the work of remodelling
began in earnest.

It seemed to Nan as if it would never come to an end, but little by
little things began to assume a more promising aspect, and at length
the last lingering workman dragged himself reluctantly away, and then
Delia descended upon the place, armed with scrubbing-brush and pail,
and waged a mighty war upon every spot of dust or paint anywhere to be
found.

The parlor had been freshly papered, and its walls no longer frowned
gloomily down upon the inoffensive guest, but seemed to cast a faint,
rosy smile at the redecorated hall and the new dining-room beyond.
Miss Blake stripped away every vestige of tarletan, and let the fine
oil paintings display themselves unveiled to the public eye.

"We can have the windows screened if we are afraid of flies," she said
as she folded away the unsightly shrouds, and Delia echoed, "Why, so we
can!" in the promptest assent, and as though it had been her own idea
all along.

The draperies were of the simplest sort, but Nan thought them
perfection. She fairly danced with delight as she fancied her father's
face when he should see his altered home. He would never recognize in
this attractive, tasteful room the old, gloomy parlor of former days.

The furniture was drawn out of its martial line and placed here and
there in inviting positions by loving, artful hands. Various pieces
were banished altogether, and where this chair or that had grown shabby
Miss Blake renewed its usefulness by covering it over with some odd
material that harmonized nicely with the o