"Oh, it isn't cold," said Laura Russell; "and while we're here, let's go
through the house."

"Yes," said Marian; "examine it carefully, lest some of its numerous
advantages should escape your notice. Observe the hardwood floors, the
magnificent mahogany stair-rail, and the lofty ceilings!"

The old floors were creaky, worm-eaten, and dusty; the stair-rail was in
a most dilapidated condition, and the ceilings were low and smoky; so
Marian scored her points.

"But it is antique," said Ethel Holmes, with the air of an auctioneer.
"Ah, ladies, what would you have? It is a fine specimen of the Colonial
Empire period, picked out here and there with Queen Anne. The mantels,
ah,--the mantels are dreams in marble."

"Nightmares in painted wood, you mean," said Lillian.

"But so roomy and expansive," went on Ethel. "And the wall-papers!
Note the fine stage of complete dilapidation left by the moving
finger of Time."

"The wall-papers are all right," said Patty. "They look as if they'd peel
off easily. Come on upstairs."

The chambers were large, low, and rambling; and the house, in its best
days, must have been an interesting specimen of its type. But after a
short investigation, Patty was as firmly convinced as Marian that its
charms could not offset its drawbacks.