ve cents."

"But for that little room, Tony----"

"Twenty-five cents a roll is all we can allow," insisted Anthony firmly.
"And less than that everywhere else."

The salesman was very obliging, and showed the best things possible for
the money. It was impossible to resist the appeal in the eyes of this
critical but restricted young buyer.

"There, that will do, I think," said Juliet at length, with a long breath.
"The green for the living-room and for the bit of a hall--No, no, Tony;
I've just thought! You must take away that little partition and let the
stairs go up out of the living-room. That will improve the apparent size
of things wonderfully."

"All right," agreed Anthony obediently.

"Then we'll put that rich red in the dining-room. For upstairs there is
the tiny rose pattern, and the Delft blue, and that little pale yellow and
white stripe. In the kitchen we'll have the tile pattern. We won't have a
border anywhere--the rooms are too low; just those simplest mouldings, and
the ivory white on the ceilings. The woodwork must all be white. There
now, that's settled. Next come the floors."

There could be no doubt that Juliet was becoming interested in her task.
Though the July heat was intense she led the way with rapid steps to the
place where she meant to select her rugs. Here the three spent a trying
two hours. It was hard to please Miss Marcy with Japanese jute rugs,
satisfactory in colouring though many of them were, when she longed to buy
Persian pieces of distinction. If Juliet had a special weakness it was for
choice antique rugs.

She cornered Anthony at last, while Mrs. Dingley and the salesman were
politely but unequivocally disputing over the quality of a certain piece
of Chinese weaving.

"Tony," she begged, "please let me get that one dear Turkish square for
the living-room. It will give character to the whole room, and the colours
are perfectly exquisite. I simply can't get one of those cheap things to
go in front of that beautiful old fireplace. Imagine the firelight on that
square; it would make you want to spend your evenings at home. Please!"

"Do you imagine that I shall ever want to spend them anywhere else?" asked
Tony softly, looking down into her appealing face. "Why, chum, I'd like to
get that Tabriz you admire so much, if it would please you, in spite of
the fact that we should have to pull the whole house up forty notches to
match it. But even the Turkish square is out of the q