to pieces."

"But they have no feathers," said the little girl with a quaint smile,
as she folded up her work and ran her needle through it. Then she put it
in a large silken bag that hung on a nail, and remembered with a
half-guilty conscience that there were some stockings to darn, and she
almost expected to hear Patty ask about them and call her back.

Down over the wide steps she tripped. She was half minded to take a
plunge amid the down cushions on the settle. She had sometimes turned
somersaults in the grass when no one was by, being very careful not to
let Aunt Lois surprise her. She felt like that now, but she walked along
decorously. The great company room was always a marvel to her. It held
so many wonderful things.

There was, even then, a good deal of luxury for those who had the money
to buy it. England did not care how much her colonists spent so that it
passed through her hands. She brought treasures from the far East--there
were only a very few ports allowed to the Americans.

And here were Oriental rugs on the polished floor; furniture carved and
padded in brocade, tables with massive claw feet, and others in thin
spindles that seemed hardly stout enough to hold up the top. There was a
great carved chimney-piece with some tiles let in, and some curious
iridescent bulbs not unlike the "bullseyes" over the wide hall door, but
in different phases of light they gave out varied colors. There were
queer, beautiful, and grotesque ornaments, some ugly Chinese gods that
had been brought hither by sea captains, but if to convert the new
continent, the scheme certainly would prove a failure. Primrose always
looked at them with a shudder, and instinctively thought of the Friends'
meeting with the soft gray gowns and shawls with fine fringes, or in
summer just a plain white kerchief crossed over the bosom. Then there
was a great blue-and-white Chinese pagoda, ornamented with numerous
bells, every story growing smaller. It stood on a solid clawfoot table,
and beside it, also in china, a mandarin with flowing sleeves and a long
pigtail in dark-blue.

There were curious chairs as well, and no end of square ottomans covered
with brocade or tapestry, sadly faded now and some of the edges worn.
Everywhere about were candlesticks and snuffers, for sometimes the room
was brilliantly lighted.

Adjoining this, with a wide doorway between, was a room not quite so
long, but jutting out at the side. In a sort of alcove s