said Penelope.

Corey looked at her, and saw that she was shorter than
her sister, and had a dark complexion.

"It's very exciting," said Irene.

"Come up," said the Colonel, rising, "and look round
if you'd like to."

"I should like to, very much," said the young man.
He helped the young ladies over crevasses of carpentry
and along narrow paths of planking, on which they had
made their way unassisted before. The elder sister left
the younger to profit solely by these offices as much
as possible. She walked between them and her father,
who went before, lecturing on each apartment, and taking
the credit of the whole affair more and more as he
talked on.

"There!" he said, "we're going to throw out a bay-
window here, so as get the water all the way up and down.
This is my girls' room," he added, looking proudly at
them both.

It seemed terribly intimate. Irene blushed deeply
and turned her head away.

But the young man took it all, apparently, as simply
as their father. "What a lovely lookout!" he said.