th
goin' to that there ain't somethin' to eat at!' And Mrs. Graham is going
to take charge of all that part, anyhow, so I don't feel like finding
fault. There won't be any expense, with everything contributed."

"They might have given the money instead of ice-cream and cakes."

"O, Dorcas, Dorcas, you would expect people to be all made over. Did you
ever read Stevenson's fable of the reformer who thought the first step
in reforming the world was to abolish mankind? Let's not worry about it.
I know it's going to be a success. Isn't this room the cleanest spot you
ever saw?" And Catherine threw back her arms with a gesture to rest her
tired shoulders, and looked about her with affection and pride. Bare
white walls, with one good engraving, loaned by Judge Arthur, for
ornament; plain shelves with rows of neat books, their orderly labels
smiling like sets of teeth; the reading-table in the exact center of the
room, with three chairs in military array on each side of it, and a few
contributed magazines in mathematical piles between two student lamps;
and last, Algernon's small charging desk, with its mysterious cards and
rubber stamps under one of the bracket lamps, shining from the polishing
Agnes had just given it.

"Isn't it spick and span?" repeated Catherine, sitting down with
precision in the arm-chair, discovered in somebody's attic.

"Ye-es," answered Dot slowly, dropping upon one of the arms. "But for
all its cleanness it's about as bare and as inviting as the contagious
ward of a hospital, or the dining-room of a state's prison."

"Don't say discouraging things like that, Dot dear," pleaded Agnes,
taking the other arm and snuggling her head against Catherine's cheek.
"A library isn't supposed to be a parlor, and that engraving is really
valuable."

"I'd rather have a chromo that comes with soap, myself," said Bert. "Its
cold steely look only adds to that hygienic and sanitary aspect Dot
detected. It makes me homesick for sunflowers and red flannel."

"I have an idea," and Dorcas rose and departed with her usual
abruptness.

As she went out of the door, Bess came in.

"O dear!" she said. "Are you all here? I hoped nobody would be."

"Shall we withdraw?" asked Bert. "We were just commenting on the
barrenness of this place, but your presence causes it to blossom as the
rainbow. We bask in the refulgence."

Bess laughed. "That's really what I came for, to prettify it a little.
It seemed such a pity not to