At length, without arriving at any mutual understanding, but being rested from their long walk, they all arose to go through the house. Such a rambling house! with stairs going up and stairs going down in such out-of-the-way places; doors opening into rooms in such unexpected quarters; when they thought they were going to look into a small closet they found a large chamber; and when they walked through a side passage, which they thought led outdoors on a porch, behold! it led into some wing containing more rooms. Wynnette and Elva chose at least half a dozen different rooms in succession--this, because it had such a lovely little fireplace and mantelpiece; that, because it had such funny little cupboards; the other, because it had such quaint little windows. Finally they gave up in despair, saying that they must think it over at home before they could choose among so many. Odalite, who thought that there was no time to lose if the house was to be ready for Leonidas on his return, selected the wall paper and the suits of furniture for all the rooms from the patterns before her, and having carefully marked them and written her directions, she requested Mr. Copp to set the mechanics to work at once, and to hurry on the repairs as fast as justice to the business would permit. And Col. Anglesea, watching these proceedings, smiled sarcastically. Having done their errand at Greenbushes, the little party left the house. "Mr. Beever! Oh! please, where are the big chincapin thickets we have heard so much about?" inquired Elva, in whose ideas these nuts were, after all, the most immediately important item in their errand to the farm. "Yes, honey, you'll find 'em all along both sides of the footpath through the woods betwixt here and your place, but 'specially where you cross Chincapin Creek." "The woods! There! We'll have to go back that way. Ah, Col. Anglesea, how lovely it will be when Odalite and Leonidas live here! There are so many lovely ways of going between the two places. Just listen now while I tell you. We may walk by the shore, as we did this morning, or we may walk through the woods, as we shall this afternoon. We may ride horseback along the shore or through the woods, or we may drive in a carriage along the shore or along the turnpike road through the woods; or, best of all, we may row in a boat from the landing at the foot of our hill to the landing at the foot of this hill. Oh, it will be perfectly delightful!" Col. Anglesea looked at the child with his sinister smile, but she was too happy to notice anything evil in it. They took leave of the lawyer and the farmer, and started to walk home through the woods, chattering all the way of the beauty of Greenbushes even now, and the delight of the prospect ahead. "It is too late this season; but mind, Odalite, next spring you are to have a mansard roof, and bay windows, and--balconies, and--and--towers and things," said Elva. "Perhaps," quietly replied Odalite.