justed the shade. "May I set it
on the big table over here? Right in the center, please, if you don't mind
moving that bowl of carnations. There!--Of course you can send it back to
oblivion over there on the bookcase if you really don't like it.--But you
do like it--don't you?"

"It's handsomer than I thought it was," Judith admitted without
enthusiasm. Juliet glanced up at the blazing chandelier overhead.

"May I turn off some of this light?" she asked. "You won't get the full
beauty of your lamp till you give it a chance by itself."

Judith assented. Juliet snapped off three out of the four lights, and
smiled mischievously at her friend. Then she extinguished the fourth, so
that the only luminary left in the room was the lamp. Judith groaned.

"Maybe you like a gloomy room like this. I don't. Look at it. I can hardly
see anything in the corners."

"Wait a little bit. You're so used to the glare your eyes are not good for
seeing what I mean. Study the lamp itself a minute. Did you ever see
anything so fascinating as the gleam through those jewels? An electric
bulb inside would add to the brilliancy, though it's not so soft a light
to read by, and the effect in the room isn't so warm. Observe those
carnations under the lamplight, honey? Come over here to the doorway and
look at your whole room under these new conditions. Isn't it
charming?--enticing?--Let's draw that lovely Morris chair up close to the
table, as if you were expecting Wayne to come in and read the evening
paper by the lamp. _There!_"

Juliet softly clapped her hands, her face shining with friendly
enthusiasm. There could be no question that the whole room, as she had
said, had taken on a new look of homelike comfort and cheer which it had
lacked before. Even Judith was forced to see it.

"It looks very well," she admitted. "But I should have more light from
above. I like plenty of light."

"So do I, if you manage it well." Whereupon the guest, having gained her
point and made sufficient demonstration of it, turned the conversation
into other channels. But the lamp was not yet through with its position of
reformer. The two men, having finished their cigars, and hearing sounds of
merriment from the adjoining room, came strolling in. Anthony,
comprehending at a glance the change which had come over the aspect of the
room and the cause thereof, advanced, smiling. But Carey came to a
standstill upon the threshold, his lips drawn into an astonished whi