“Why, this is ever so much more lovely than I had expected!” said Marjorie.
“Yes, it’s perfect!” agreed Marie Louise.
A stone house with white woodwork and green shutters stood before them. It was not a very large house, yet it appeared roomy. Like the ground which it occupied, it was wide, rather than deep, so that the greater part faced the road. The hospitable double doors and spreading fan-light above them gave promise of a wide hallway within. Extending across the entire front and along each side ran a broad covered porch, an ideal place for serving tea in hot weather; and the windows, which were boarded up, reached the floor. A short distance in the rear stood a combination stable and garage.
Marjorie took in the details with sparkling eyes, noticing how admirably situated it was for their purpose. The curving gravel driveway with a double entrance would permit motors to enter and leave without turning around; the house was close enough to the highway to be in evidence, but not too close for privacy. The vines and shrubs growing about the porch, which before very long would be in leaf again, would give just the proper amount of obscurity. Large shade trees were numerous at each side and to the rear; but the front, from the drives to the road, was an expanse of lawn, unbroken save by a few shrubs and flower beds. On the right a continuation of the drive ran back to the garage; on the left, a rose arbor led down to a rustic summer-house in the middle of the lawn. In summer, when the foliage became profuse, it would be impossible for anyone seated on the porch to see the neighboring houses on either side; and the view across the highway was of the gardens of a large private estate.
Marjorie turned to John and said, with a laugh:
“And to think that the most I expected was some old barn! This is heavenly; so nice, in fact, that I can’t believe we shall ever get it.”
They sat in the machine and discussed their plans until a chilliness in the air warned them that it was getting late, and time for them to be starting homeward.
CHAPTER V
THE WEDDING
Marjorie returned to college bubbling over with the plans for the new enterprise. Fortunately, she found Lily in her room, and into her interested ears she poured the details.
“John is going to let me know as soon as he hears anything definite,” she concluded, as she finished her description of the attractive place they hoped to rent. “In the meantime I want to study up all I can about tea-room management. I wonder whether there are any books on the subject.”