"Oh, Fred, when are you going back down there?"
"I'm going to-night."
"Well, can I go back with you?"
"Not just yet. I want you to go with me, though, and help me select two carpets, which will be on the floor of your home."
So she ran upstairs and got her hat and gloves, and went out with him.
She wanted to select coarse ingrain carpets, saying that fine carpets were not needed on a ranch.
"Evelyn, you must select the very best velvet carpets that can be found in this city."
"Fred, that is reckless extravagance."
"No, it isn't. A good velvet carpet will last just twice as long as an ingrain one. I'm not going to buy anything cheap. The best is always the cheapest. I want sofas, chairs, rockers, and tables, and then such other dainties as your good taste may suggest. It is to be the home of my sweetheart and Terry's sister, and we expect you to have quite a number of young ladies from Crabtree to go down there and spend as long a time as they choose, to be company for you. Then I'll buy a bookcase and have plenty of books and magazines; for both Terry and you, as well as I, are fond of good reading. Then we must have some good strong oilcloth to put on the kitchen and dining room floors," and she followed Fred's instructions, and made her choice of the carpets, and Fred, in paying for them, offered them to the dealer to have them made up at once. Then they selected chairs, tables, bureaus, a bookcase, and everything else that was conductive to comfort.
Evelyn was a little bit surprised when she saw what the total amount came to, but Fred told her that she must not put in any objections, whatever. He said that if she wanted to rough it she could go out of doors into the barn lot, the cow lot, and the lot in which the pigs and chickens were kept and amuse herself to her heart's content.