the owners of the house and attractive furniture. It was that the land
was sure to improve in value before the mortgage became due, and as for
the carpets and curtains and other outlays, a few points in the stock
market would pay for them at any time.

Wilbur Littleton did not possess the ready money to buy; consequently he
took a lease of his new house for three years, and paid promptly for the
furniture he bought, the selection of which was gradual. Gregory
Williams had a marvellous way of entering a shop and buying everything
which pleased his eye at one fell swoop, but Wilbur, who desired to
accomplish the best æsthetic effects possible consistent with his
limited means, trotted Selma from one shop to another before choosing.
This process of selecting slowly the things with which they were to pass
their lives was a pleasure to him, and, as he supposed, to Selma. She
did enjoy keenly at first beholding the enticing contents of the various
stores which they entered in the process of procuring wall-papers,
carpets, and the other essentials for house-keeping. It was a revelation
to her that such beautiful things existed, and her inclination was to
purchase the most showy and the most costly articles. In the adornment
of her former home Babcock had given her a free hand. That is, his
disposition had been to buy the finest things which the shopkeepers of
Benham called to his attention. She understood now that his taste and
the taste of Benham, and even her's, had been at fault, but she found
herself hampered now by a new and annoying limitation, the smallness of
their means. Almost every thing was very expensive, and she was obliged
to pass by the patterns and materials she desired to possess, and accept
articles of a more sober and less engaging character. Many of these, to
be sure, were declared by Wilbur to be artistically charming and more
suitable than many which she preferred, but it would have suited her
better to fix on the rich upholstery and solid furniture, which were