heir-looms, but hearthstones and door posts, endeared by long
associations, have a value beyond the power of insurance companies to
restore, and that protection against fire means also security against
many other ills to which the dwellers in houses are liable, not to
refer to the larger fact that there is no real wealth without
permanence, while the destruction of anything useful in the world,
wherever the loss may seem to fall, impoverishes the whole. Having
settled this point to his own satisfaction, he sought his pillow in a
comfortable frame of mind. Comfortable, but not wholly at rest, for no
sooner did he close his eyes than the "fever of futile protest"
asserted itself in turbulent visions of paper, paint and plastering.
Dados danced around in carnival dress; wall decorations went waltzing
up and down, changing in shape, size and color like the figures in a
kaleidoscope; Chinese pagodas on painted paper dissolved into brazen
sconces, and candelabra sat where no light would ever shine; glazed
plaques turned into Panama hats and cotton umbrellas, the classic
figures in the frieze began to chase the peacocks furiously across the
ceilings, the storks hopped wildly around on their one available leg,
draperies of every conceivable hue and texture, from spider webs to
sole leather, shaking the dust from their folds, slipped uneasily about
on their glittering rings, and showers of Japanese fans floated down
like falling apple blossoms in the month of May. He seemed to see the
Old Curiosity Shop, the uncanny room of Mr. Venus, a dozen foreign
departments of the Centennial, ancient garrets and modern household art
stores, all tumbled together in hopeless confusion, and over all an
emerald, golden halo that grew more and more concentrated till it burst
into gloom as one gigantic sunflower, which, suddenly changing into the
full moon just rising above the top of a neighboring roof, put an end
to his chaotic dreams.