the mantel. She caught the dumfounded expres-
sion with which her guest was surveying his sur-
roundings, and gave a merry little laugh.

"This is my workshop," she explained. "I
keep this for the things I do badly, -- things I fool
with. If I want to paint, or model in clay, or
bind books, or write, or draw, or turn on the
lathe, or do some carpentering, here's where I
do it. All the things that make a mess which
has to be cleaned up -- they are kept out here --
because this is as far as the servants are allowed
to come."

She unlocked still another door as she spoke,
-- a door which was also concealed behind a
curtain.

"Now," she said, holding up the candle so
that its reddish flare rounded with warmth the
creamy fulness of her chin and throat, and glowed
upon her hair in a flame of orange light -- "now
I will show you what is my very own."

-283-