said finally, 'The only one
that really suits is this one at Heather Road, Blackstead.'

'Then let us go there first,' agreed Amy.

'I expect the name attracted you, Miss Wharton,' said Eva, with a
twinkle in her eye.

Stella laughed. 'It is an attractive name to us; but I am not so foolish
as that, I hope; and it has fruit-trees in the garden, which do attract
me, and I thought would attract you,' she replied.

'So they do, and it sounds too good to be true. Forty pounds, and the
man would come down to thirty-eight. Let's go there on Saturday,' agreed
Eva.

'There is one thing that I wanted to say,' observed Stella, looking a
little uncomfortable, 'and that is, that I--I mean we--would rather have
a very little furniture at first, and get it by degrees. We only need a
bed and a washstand in our bedroom, and we have only enough money to
furnish a sitting-room and half what is necessary for the kitchen and
hall.'

'Oh but you need not worry about that. We can furnish on the
hire-system; they will let you have any amount!' cried Eva.

'I would rather not,' persisted Stella.

Amy looked grave. 'I don't see how we are to manage without hiring, and
I don't think our landlord would feel satisfied if we had no furniture
to speak of, and I have only ten pounds to spend, and Eva has less, I
believe.'

'I should think that the landlord would be better satisfied if we did
not run into debt,' said Stella.

'I'd sooner go to a workhouse than live in a room with only a bed and a
washstand! Where would you hang your clothes or keep your linen? Why, it
would not be a home at all,' protested Eva.

'Of course I did not mean to dictate to you,' said Stella hastily; 'but
Vava and I will be quite satisfied with a comfortable sitting-room, and
we shall receive the landlord there, not in our bedroom,' she added with
a smile.

'That is true, and as long as we have pretty curtains and blinds there
is no need to furnish completely at once; besides, we have nearly two
months to quarter-day, and we can save a few pounds if we are very
economical,' agreed Amy.

'We will save in advance,' agreed Eva; but on the way home she observed
to her friend Amy, 'Those two Wharton girls are as narrow-minded as
possible, and I am going to have a proper suite in my room, whatever
they say; I should never feel comfortable unless I had looked at myself
in a long glass before I went out.'

'I think they are right, and I shall not get anything I