pretty; but she could not
gush over the effect, which, in truth, was in no way original or
striking. There seemed little to be done in the room itself, so she
suggested an adjournment into the outer hall, which seemed to offer
unique opportunities.

"That space underneath the staircase!" she cried eagerly. "Oh,
Rosalind, we could make it look perfectly sweet with all the beautiful
Eastern things that you have brought home from your travels! Let us
make a little harem, with cushions to sit on, and hanging lamps, and
Oriental curtains for drapery. We could do it while the men are
finishing this room, and be ready to come back to it after lunch."

"Oh, what a sweet idea! Mawiquita, you are quite too clever!" cried
Rosalind, aglow with pleasure. "Let us begin at once. It will be ever
so much more intewesting than hanging about here."

She thrust her hand through Peggy's arm as she spoke, and the two girls
went off on a tour through the house to select the most suitable
articles for their decoration of the "harem." There was no lack of
choice, for the long suite of reception-rooms was full of treasures, and
Peggy stopped every few minutes to point with a small forefinger and
say, "That screen, please! That table! That stool!" to the servants
who had been summoned in attendance. The smaller things, such as
ornaments, table-cloths, and lamps she carried herself, while Rosalind
murmured sweetly, "Oh, don't twouble! You mustn't, weally! Let me help
you!" and stood with her arms hanging by her side, without showing the
faintest sign of giving the offered help.

As the morning passed away, Peggy found indeed that the Honourable Miss
Darcy was a broken reed to lean upon in the way of assistance. She sat
on a stool and looked on while the other workers hammered and pinned and
stitched--so that Peggy's prophecy as to her own subordinate position
was exactly reversed, and the work of supervision was given entirely
into her hands.

It took nearly two hours to complete the decorations of the "harem," but
when all was finished the big ugly space beneath the staircase was
transformed into as charming a nook as it is possible to imagine.
Pieces of brilliant flag embroidery from Cairo draped the farther wall,
a screen of carved work shut out the end of the passage, gauzy curtains
of gold and blue depended in festoons from the ascending staircase, and
stopped just in time to leave a safe place for a hanging lamp of wrough