"
The unheard-of presumption of her demand inoculated him with the
idea, and at length he consented to this as well.
"The rooms must be refurnished," she gravely commanded. "The one
next to the balcony which is to be built under here shall be in
yellow pine, and the floor must be polished." She pointed with her
long delicate hand. "ALL the floors must be polished. I will give
you the design for the room above, I have thought it carefully
out." And in imagination she papered the walls, arranged the
furniture, and hung up curtains of wondrous patterns.
"I know, too, how the other rooms are to be done," she added. And
she went from one to the other, remaining a little while in each.
He followed, like an old horse led by the bridle.
Before their visit was half over he most coolly neglected three
out of his four guests.
His deep-set eyes twinkled with the liveliest admiration whenever
she approached. He sought in the faces of the others the
admiration which he himself felt: he would amble round her like an
old photographic camera which had the power of setting itself up.
But from the day when she took down from his bookshelf a French
work on mechanics, a subject with which she was evidently
acquainted and for which she declared that she had a natural
aptitude, it was all over with him.
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