The Briskows had just moved into their new home, and the place was still in some confusion when Gray mounted the steps. Pa answered the bell in his shirt sleeves and with a claw hammer in his hand, for he had been hanging pictures. He favored his visitor with a wide smile of welcome and a hearty greeting-quite a feat, inasmuch as his mouth was full of nails--then, having rid it of its contents, he explained: "We got a slave that tends the door, but I 'ain't got gentled up to bells an' things yet. Allie's away an' Ma's layin' down, so--" "Ma isn't ill, I hope?" "N--no. Just ailin'. I thought mebbe one of the neighbors had run in to see her, but--I guess they're busy. We got lots of neighbors here, rich ones, an' we made up our minds to like 'em, if they'll give us a chance." "You were in luck to find a house in such a smart neighborhood, Gus. Now show me around, quickly, for I'm dying to see it." "Lord, I'm dyin' to show it to _somebody!_ You're the first one that's dropped in an' we been here 'most two weeks. Say, you'll stay an' eat supper, won't you?" "Of course I will, and breakfast, too, if you can take care of me." "Pshaw! Didn't we take keer of you when you come to the ranch? We got three niggers now, just doin' the housework." As if in justification of this riotous mode of life, the oil man explained: "Ma wanted to do it herself, but she's porely, an' Allie vetoed it complete. She says we'll be stylish an' enjoy life if it kills all three of us. I'd of bought a bigger house if they'd of let me, but--" "It is large enough. Anything more would merely add to your cares." "Her and Ma picked out the furniture. Swell, ain't it?" "Beautiful!" Gray exclaimed. Inwardly he groaned, for, although the contents of the home appeared to be expensive, almost ostentatious, they nevertheless betrayed a conspicuous lack of taste both in character and in arrangement. Here and there were color combinations so atrocious that they positively hurt the caller. On the whole, however, the place looked better than he had expected, and such indications of harmony and restraint as he detected he attributed to Allie. It was a nice enough home, and with a little change, a little rearrangement, it could be made attractive even to one of elegant tastes. Those changes, of course, Gray determined to make. Gus, plainly, was not yet accustomed to the sense of ownership, and he hung with eagerness upon his guest's expressions of approval. After a tour of inspection the men wound up in the library--an absurd misnomer under the circumstances, inasmuch as the shelves were entirely bare except for Allie's dog-eared school books--and there, before a blazing gas log, they discussed the miracle. "Allie's gone out to the old farm to get some stuff for Ma," the father explained in due time. "Some pitchers of her an' Buddy when they was little, an' a rockin'-chair, an' Ma's favorite bedspread, an' some other things she likes."