Within a few days Darrell and his father were domiciled in the Jewett

homestead, the physicians pronouncing it unwise to attempt to remove

Mrs. Britton to another home.

To Experience Jewett, who reigned supreme in her father's house, it

seemed as though two vandals had invaded her domain, so ruthlessly did

they open up the rooms for years jealously guarded from sunshine and

dust, while her cherished household gods were removed by sacrilegious

hands from their time-honored niches and consigned to the ignominy of

obscure back chambers or the oblivion of the garret.

Under Mr. Britton's supervision, soon after his arrival, the great

double parlors, which had not been used since the funeral of Mrs. Jewett

some seven years before, were thrown wide open, Sally, the "help,"

standing with open mouth and arms akimbo, aghast at such proceedings,

while Miss Jewett executed a lively quick-step in pursuit of a moth,

which, startled by the unusual light, was circling above her head.

Not only were the gayly flowered Brussels carpet and the black haircloth

furniture the same as when he had been a guest in those rooms nearly

thirty years before, but each piece of furniture occupied the same

position as then. He smiled as he noted the arm-chair by one of the

front windows, to which he had been invariably assigned and in which he

had slipped and slid throughout each evening to the detriment of the

crocheted "tidy" pinned upon its back. The vases and candlesticks upon

the mantel were arranged with the same mathematical precision. He could

detect only one change, which was that to the collection of family

photographs framed and hanging above the mantel, there had been added a

portrait of the late Mrs. Jewett.

Within a week the old furnishings had been relegated to other parts of

the house and modern upholstery had taken their places, the soft subdued

tints of which blended harmoniously, forming a general impression of

warmth and light.

Most of these innovations Miss Jewett viewed with disfavor, particularly

the staining of the floors preparatory to laying down two Turkish rugs

of exquisite coloring and design.

"I don't see any use in being so skimping with the carpets," she

remarked to Sally; "if I'd been in his place I'd have got enough to

cover the whole floor while I was about it, even if I'd bought something

a little cheaper. A carpet with bare floor showing all 'round it puts me

in mind of Dick's hat-band that went part way 'round and stopped."

"That's jest what it does!" Sally assented.

"I wanted to lay down some strips of carpeting along the edges, but he

wouldn't hear to it," Miss Jewett continued, regretfully.

"I s'pose," Sally remarked, sagely, "it's all on account of livin' out

west along with them wild Injuns and cow-boys so many years. Western

folks 'most always has queer ideas about things."




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