"No, I'm a Macalister, of the clan of——"
"Oh, please, I don't want to hear about the clan. What I wanted to say was this, that I have got the tapes and measures in my pocket; Hester tells me I mustn't use them on account of paining the Lorrimers, but as you are not one, of course you won't mind. I see you have got carpets on all the floors."
"Yes, why not? Carpets are put on most floors—at least they used to be when I was young."
"But Antonia says that we ought to have parquetry and slippery rugs."
"And do you mean to tell me," exclaimed Jane, "that you are going to heed the words of that poor daft lassie? It's nothing to me what you do, of course, but that poor girl has not got her proper wits, and if I were you I would try to follow someone with a grain of sense."
Susy laughed heartily.
"Antonia is as right as anyone else," she said "only she has a passion for art."
"Preserve me from such a craze," exclaimed Jane. "How much longer are we to stand in the middle of this floor while we talk about tapes and measurements and that silly girl?"
"But may I measure?"