hat the matter was
not even discussed. Hope and Theo took refuge at the vicarage, Steve
with a bachelor friend; Barney was to remain at school until the
half-term; and Madge decreed that no one was to approach the flat until
all preparations were finished, and the artistic beauty of the whole
ready to burst upon the enraptured sight. Philippa thought of the
chimney-pots, and the soot, and the narrow passages, and the weary
flight of stairs, coldly clean, with bottles of fire-extinguisher ranged
on the wall at each landing, to remind the dwellers on the top story of
the peril in which they lived! She thought of the narrow, begrimed
windows, of the cheap fireplaces, and the saffron paper in the
sitting-room, and felt it her painful duty to undeceive the young
enthusiast lest the blow might fall too heavily upon her. But Madge
refused to be cast down, and went through the ordeal of the first
inspection with an undaunted smile.

"My hat!" she exclaimed as she peered out of the first window and beheld
the roof-scape in all the beauty of a drizzling autumn rain; and though
the expression was neither lady-like nor elegant, nor in the least
degree appropriate, it yet had a quaint, whimsical sound which made
Philippa laugh and draw a breath of relief.

"Yes! I told you so. I didn't exaggerate, you see. Cheerful and
comprehensive, isn't it? This is the dining-room. Not much room to
spare when you have the table in the middle. I don't know if we can get
it in at all."

"If we can't we'll dine at small tables like a restaurant--far more
_chic_. Not a bad little den when it is dressed up. Jolly cosy in
winter. When summer comes I shall live up on the leads and make a
roof-garden. Is there any way out?"

"Don't know, I'm sure. Come and look at the bedrooms. We can have
first choice, I suppose, as I'm the eldest; but if you don't mind, I'd
like the girls to be at the front. You could hardly imagine that the
one at the side could be smaller and more dreary, but it is; and Theo
would be so wretched! Do you think we could possibly get our things in
here?"

Madge stood prospecting the small square box with a ruminating gaze.
"Bed there--dressing-table there--wash-stand there--chest of--No; can't
be done. We shall have to do without a dressing-table, and use the top
of the bureau. We can manage all right that way; but you will always
have to get up first, and make way for me while I have my last little
snooze. I