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Page 32
Moralizing thus, but always with an architectural or house-building
background, she continued her work, noticing the sharp grooves and
projecting mouldings that caught the dust, the high, ugly thresholds,
the doors that swung the wrong way, compelling half a dozen extra steps
in passing through them; shelves that were too high or too narrow;
drawers that refused to "draw" or dropped helplessly on the floor as
soon as they were drawn out far enough to display the spoons and
spices they contained; window stools that came down behind tables and
shelves, forming a sort of receptacle for lost articles belonging to
the kitchen or pantry--all of which she resolved should not be
repeated. When Bessie arrived the house was in that most perfect order
which gives no sign of unusual preparation.
[Illustration: FIRST FLOOR OF THE CONTRIBUTION.]
"This is too perfectly lovely for anything," exclaimed Bessie. "I just
_dote_ on domestic duties. You can't help being overpoweringly happy,
Jill, with such a home and _such_ a husband. Then only to think of the
new house drives me completely frantic. What _will_ it be like? Are the
plans made? Oh! I do hope not, for I have a _million_ of things to tell
you about that are totally _unspeakable_."
"Then you are just in time. We had a long letter from the architect
this morning asking for instructions on various matters."
"How perfectly fascinating! Let's sit down this minute and begin upon
them."
But Jill preferred waiting till Jack came home, bringing with him his
younger brother, just home for summer vacation.
"It isn't necessary to announce dinner," said she. "The preliminary
odors have already advertised it through the entire house."
"I thought these observations were to be strictly confidential,"
observed Jack.
"That wasn't 'finding fault.' It was a mere casual remark. Some people
may think it pleasanter to be summoned by the odor of broiling fish
than by the noise of a dinner-bell."
"Indeed I do," said Bessie, taking Jack's proffered arm. "Odors are too
delicious for anything. They are so refined and spiritual I'm sure I
could live on them. I would far prefer the fragrance of a dish of
strawberries to the fruit itself."
"We shall get along capitally then. You can smell of the berries and
I'll eat them afterwards. You see now, Jill, the advantage of having a
house built like this. Cousin Bessie proposes that we live on the
fragrance of the food. It won't be necessary even to come to the
dining-room. We can all stay in the parlor or in our chambers and
absorb sustenance from the circumambient air, as the sprightly goldfish
gathers honey from the inside of a glass ball."
"Please don't make fun of me, Cousin Jack, for I do truly _revel_ in
fragrance, and I'm sure your house is _beautifully_ planned. Don't you
think so, Mr. James?"
"I realty don't know much about such things. I never did like to know
what I was going to have for dinner long beforehand--it makes me so
awfully hungry."
"Precisely so, Jim; it gives you am appetite. I had the house planned
in this way for that very purpose."
"Now that you have introduced the subject," said Jill, "I will tell you
how _I_ should have planned it. There should have been a 'cut-off'
somewhere--a little lobby between the kitchen and the rest of the
house, with a ventilating flue so large that neither smoke nor steam
nor perfumed air could pass it without being caught up and carried to
the sky. Of course these odors ought not to get away from the
ventilator above the range, but the best contrivances are not proof
against the carelessness of the cook when she is in a hurry--as she
always is just before dinner."
When they returned to the sitting-room Bessie brought down a set of
plans her father had sent for Jack and Jill to examine, thinking they
would suit their lot and taste. They did suit the lot fairly, but
Jill's mind was too fully made up to accept any change from her own
plan. The exterior she approved cordially, but to Bessie's despair
would not promise to imitate it, preferring to leave the outside to her
architect without reserve.
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