you judge of it with the floor half laid and its
wainscoting unnailed? I trow not, but you can trust me, pretty Juliet,
you can trust me; and Orrin, too, need not speak, for me to know just
how to finish this study for him. Up-stairs? You do not wish to go
up-stairs? Ah, then, you miss the very cream of the house. I have
worked with my own hand upon the rooms up-stairs, and there is a
little Cupid wrought into the woodwork of a certain door which I
greatly wish you to pass an opinion upon. I think the wings lack
airiness, but the workmen swear it is as if he would fly from the door
at a whisper. Come, Mistress Juliet; come, friend Orrin, if I lead the
way you need not hesitate. Come! come!"

Was he alone? Were those eager steps of his unaccompanied, and should
I not behold, if I looked within, the blooming face of Juliet and the
frowning brows of Orrin, crowding close behind him as he moved? The
fancy invoked by his words was so vivid, that for a moment I thought I
should, and I never shall forget the thrill which seized me as I
leaned forward and peered for one minute into the hall and saw there
his solitary figure pausing on the lower step of the stairs, with that
bend of the body which bespeaks an obeisance which is half homage and
half an invitation. He was still talking, and as he went up, he looked
back smiling and gossiping over his shoulder in a smooth and courtly
way which made it impossible for me to withdraw my fascinated eyes.

"No banisters, sweet Juliet? Not yet--not yet; but Orrin will protect
you from falling. No harm can come to you while he is at your side. Do
you admire this sweep to the stairs? I saw a vision when I planned it,
of a pretty woman coming down at the sound of her husband's step. The
step has changed in sound to my imagination, but the pretty woman is
prettier than ever, and will look her best as she comes down these
stairs. Oh, that is a window-ledge for flowers. A honeymoon is nothing
without flowers, and you must have forget-me-nots and pansies here
till one cannot see from the window. You do not like such humble
flowers? Fie! Mistress Juliet, it is hard to believe that,--even Orrin
doubts it, as I see by his chiding air."

Here the gentle and bantering tones ceased, for he had reached the top
of the stair. But in another moment I heard them again as he passed
from room to room, pausing here and pausing there, till suddenly he
gave a cheerful laugh, spoke her name in most inviting a