“Him an' that hired man o' his, they have took more stuff over to them Rooms than you c'd shake a stick at! I never see nothing like it--never! Waxed that floor, they have, and put more mats onto it--fur and colored. An' the stuff--oh, Lord! China--all that blue china he got fr'm ol' Mis' Simms, an' them ol' stoneware platters that Mis' Rivers was goin' to fire away, an' he give her two dollars for the lot--all that's scattered round on tables and shelves. An' that ol' black secr'tary he got fr'm Lord knows where, an' brakes growin' in colored pots standin' right up there, an' statyers o' men an' women--no heads onto 'em, some ain't got; it's all one to him--he'd buy any ol' thing so's 'twas broke, you might say. An' them ol' straight chairs--no upholsterin' on 'em, an' some o' them wicker kind that bends any way, with piliers in 'em. An' cups and sassers, with a tea-pot 'n' kittle; an' he makes tea himself an' drinks it--I swear it's so. An' a guitar, an', Lord, the pictures! You can't see no wall for 'em! “'It's a mighty lucky thing, havin' this room, Thompson,' says he to that hired man, 'the things was spillin' over. We'll make it a bower o' beauty, Thompson,' says he. 'Yes, sir,' says the man. That's all he ever says, you might say. I never see nothin' like it, never, the way that hired man talks to him; you'd think he was the Queen o' Sheba. “An' he goes squintin' about here an' there, changin' this an' that, an' singin' away an' laughin'--you'd think he'd have a fit. Seems's if he loved to putter about 'n' fool with things in a room, like women. I heard him say so myself. I was helpin' Miss Gould with the other rooms--she ain't seen his; she don't know no more'n the dead what he's got in there--an' I was by the door when he said it. “'Thompson,' says he, 'if I don't keep my present situation,' says he, 'I c'n go out as a decorator an' furnisher. Don't you think I'd succeed, Thompson?' says he. 'Yes, sir,' says Thompson. “'You see, we've got to do something Thompson,' says he. 'We've got ter justify our existence, Thompson,' an' he commenced to laugh. 'Yes, sir,' says Thompson. Beats all I ever see, the way that man answers back!” An almost unprecedented headache, brought on by her unremitting labor in effecting the change in the Rooms, kept Miss Gould in the house for two days after the new headquarters had been satisfactorily arranged; and as Mr. Welles had refused to open his office for inspection till it was completely furnished, she did not enter that characteristic apartment till the third day of its official existence.