I am delighted that my successors will appreciate the place, but I am still seeking for quarters. Had I choked my anger and swallowed my pride, when the owner refused to keep his word about the stable-doors, I would still be enjoying my cozy Studio.
Mr. Fabian then told the ladies how he had taken the stable in its raw state and turned it into the lovely dwelling it now was. He had paid for all the hardwood floors, for the partitions on the ground-floor, and for the kitchen plumbing.
Why, it must have cost you a small fortune, ventured Anne. And now it seems too bad that you cant enjoy it.
But I did enjoy it, my dear young lady for five years. And I only paid sixty dollars a month, during that time, too. When the owner raised me, this year, to ninety I rebelled, because I had spent so much money on beautifying the rooms. I thought he would really relent and say I could have it for about seventy-five a month. I was mistaken.
Were paying a hundred and fifty a month and make all repairs, ourselves, Anne ventured.
He took advantage of the unusual conditions. But you have a better bargain, even so, than if you had rented a seven-room apartment, uptown, for two or three thousand a year.
By this time they were standing on the corner once more, and Mr. Fabian seemed ready to leave them. Then Polly remembered that the cashier had said the bed and high-boy she just bought had come from the Studio.
Oh, Mr. Fabian, excuse me for speaking of it, but did you really own the four-poster I got at the sale just now?
Yes, my dear. It was in the room my little daughter occupied when she was home. She is now in Paris taking an art course. The girls were deeply interested in this intimate information. That box-spring with the mattress on the bed was made to order of the best material I could buy. Youll find the silk-floss in that mattress is so soft youll never care to get up, once you rest upon it.
But I didnt know the spring and mattress went with the bed, Polly said, amazed.
Oh, yes. That is the way they generally sell other folks goods. But I wish to say, that Nancy only used the bed a few weeks, as she had a splendid opportunity to enter a class in a friends school in Paris, so we started her across without delay. My wife went, too, to look after her; that is one reason I refused to pay the increased rent; I thought it was too much for one lone man to pay.
It almost makes me feel as if we ought to take you in to live with us, said Mrs. Stewart, sympathetically. If there only was one extra bedroom, now, we could make you a member of our family just as well as not.
But we havent that extra room! laughed Anne, wondering what this stranger would think of her mothers free western hospitality.
What he thought was soon expressed. I certainly appreciate such unusual kindness and I see it is genuine. So I will dare to do this: I shall love to drop in, now and then, and see how you all are doing. Perhaps I can be of some assistance to you, in various ways.
I know you can! declared Eleanor, eagerly. Polly and I are taking up art and interior decorating and we need lots of ideas from grown-ups who have had experience. You can advise us that way.
Begin your regular home visits a week from Sunday, Mr. Fabian. We will be settled then and ready to welcome you to our house, added Anne.
Then they parted and Mr. Fabian went downtown, while the four companions walked northwards to the hotel. As they walked, Anne said: It certainly was queer how that gentleman sent us past his own home and we saw it. Now, he turns out to be just the kind of a friend Polly and Eleanor will need to advise them about art school.
Anne, what shall we do with the rest of the afternoon? We still have two hours before dinner-time, said Eleanor, glancing at her wristwatch.
We can go over to the nearest shop and get Polly an everyday hat. I cant bear to see this lovely one hacked out at auction rooms. She needs complete outfits of underwear, too, but we may be too late at the shops, for that.
Anne, I saw in the paper this morning, when you were looking for apartments, that a fine Fifth avenue shop is having a sale of early fall models. Lets go up and get Pollys hat there, advised Eleanor, eagerly.
Anne laughed. You are willing to get one for yourself, too, eh?
So both girls were supplied with chic hats before they returned to the hotel. There they found an invitation from the Latimers
napped dark-toned Beloochistan rugs.
The long library opened out from the parlor, and here there was an atmosphere of rest, because the entire wall spaces were lined with dark cabinets whose shelves were well filled with volumes in bindings made to harmonize with the rich paper that showed above the book-cases. The window-seats were built in and upholstered in tapestry to match the paper. The tables and leather armchairs were not so glaringly out of keeping with the room as the furniture in the first two rooms had been.
Mrs. Wellington waved her hand carelessly at this room: When I bought this house, all the books went with it, just as you see them now. The window-seats are still covered as they were, but I hope soon to spend some money in making this library more cheerful for the girls. I like bright colors, but that dun wall paper and that dull tapestry on the window cushions gives me the blues. If the books had not been such a bargain the executor of the estate was most anxious to dispose of them I never would have taken them. Their dull green morocco bindings make the room seem heavy, dont you think?