"And it would make such a beautiful flower-room, lying to the south and west!"
Joe would have said, "What! the loom?" But dear, rollicking Joe was not there to catch anybody tripping in absence of mind.
"So it would. Yes, you shall have it, Hal."
For Granny would have given him her two eyes, if it would have done him any good, and been satisfied to be led about by a dog and a string all the rest of her life.
They ran up stairs to survey. The afternoon sun was shining in at the windows, covering half the floor.
"Oh, it would be splendid! We can put up a little stove here; and I can have it for a kind of study besides. And a room full of flowers!"
The tears fairly stood in Hal's eyes.
There was not much time to lose; for in ten days school would begin. And now Hal considered what he must do.
The windows came almost down to the floor, the ceiling being low. But it would not do to have all the flowers stand on a level, as the sun would not reach them alike. And then a brilliant idea occurred to Hal.
He went over to Mr. Sherman's, and gathered some pieces of joist that had been sawed off, and thrown by as nearly useless. He found eight that he made of a length, about three feet high, and bespoke a number of rough hemlock-boards. Out of these he made a sort of counter, with the joists for support; and then, nailing a piece all round, he had quite a garden-bed. This was to stand back from the windows, and have slips and various seeds planted in it. Charlie and Kit helped bring up the soil to fill it.