as a sort of lounging room with gay, bright wall paper picturing tall herons standing in river reeds. There were pretty, painted chairs in gray and gold, matching a table and a lounge which had cushions of black silk embroidered with gold herons. Underfoot was a handsome, silky rug in the blue and yellow designs of the Chinese weaver. It showed no wear or soil; nothing showed use.
Ethel stood amazed at the beauty and brightness of the place; as she had never viewed the interior and had observed the exterior only when all the windows were shuttered, she had thought of the rooms as gloomy or, at least, as severe and masculine; but now she found herself thinking of a woman in connection with this house on Resurrection Rock,—a woman of positive and good tastes.
Draperies hung in a wide doorway opening into a big room at the front. Ethel advanced and looked in and a moment later she entered, with Asa no longer holding her sleeve, but close at her side.
This room, which extended the full width of the house, had windows to the east and south and west and was so large that Ethel could not be certain at a glance that it was unoccupied. The bright, diffused light from the clear dawn flooded the place through the many windows and fell upon a large, heavy, carved table near the center of the room; upon chairs and a couch on one side; upon a grand piano at the east end with a tall lamp and a music cabinet near-by. In the wall to Ethel's left, which was the interior wall, was a large and beautiful fireplace with a high, marble mantel. A small table by one of the south windows displayed an old bronze figure; a larger statue of marble stood upon a graceful pedestal. Bookcases full
