state of mind, the man's confidence had
impressed me in spite of myself, and I had listened to him in
superstitious silence. But as he continued to rise, by regular
gradations, from one climax of upholstery to another, warning visions of
his bill disclosed themselves in the remote background of the scene of
luxury and magnificence which my friend was conjuring up. Certain sharp
professional instincts of bygone times resumed their influence over
me; I began to start doubts and ask questions; and as a necessary
consequence the interview between us soon assumed something like a
practical form.

Having ascertained what the probable expense of furnishing would amount
to and having discovered that the process of transforming the lean-to
(allowing for the time required to procure certain articles of
rarity from Bristol) would occupy nearly a fortnight, I dismissed the
upholsterer with the understanding that I should take a day or two for
consideration, and let him know the result. It was then the fifth of
September, and our Queen of Hearts was to arrive on the twentieth. The
work, therefore, if it was begun on the seventh or eighth, would be
begun in time.

In making all my calculations with a reference to the twentieth of
September, I relied implicitly, it will be observed, on a young lady's
punctuality in keeping an appointment which she had herself made. I
can only account for such extraordinary simplicity on my part on the
supposition that my wits had become sadly rusted by long seclusion from
society. Whether it was referable to this cause or not, my innocent
trustfulness was at any rate destined to be practically rebuked before
long in the most surprising manner. Little did I suspect, when I parted
from the upholsterer on the fifth of the month, what the tenth of the
month had in store for me.

On the seventh I made up my mind to have the bedroom furnished at once,
and to postpone the question of the sitting-room for a few days longer.
Having dispatched the necessary order to that effect, I next wrote
to hire the piano and to order the box of novels. This done, I
congratulated myself on the forward state of the preparations, and sat
down to repose in the atmosphere of my own happy delusions.

On the ninth the wagon arrived with the furniture, and the men set to
work on the bedroom. From this moment Morgan retired definitely to
the top of the tower, and Owen became too nervous to lay the necessary
amount of paint on