"Yep! Polly is just daffy over interior decorating, and since she showed me all her magazines and other books on it, I am crazy about it, too."
"But you don't have to study that!" declared Kenneth.
"That shows how little a man knows about it. Why, not only must a decorator—a real one, we mean—know all about periods in architecture and furnishings of all kinds, but she must know at a glance, whether an object is genuine antique or a counterfeit," explained Eleanor, glad to impress her male friends with her understanding of what is essentially a woman's profession.
"Besides that," added Polly, "a good interior decorator must know the name of a painter of pictures,—whether an old master or a modern artist. Not an engraving or etching shown but the good decorator ought to be able to say who did it, and name its date.
"There are lots of counterfeit antique china sold to-day, but a good decorator can tell instantly whether it is real antique or not.
"Besides china and pictures, one must be able to name a rug—its qualities and value, at a glance. As for draperies and wall-hangings, well! It all has to be thoroughly learned," said Polly.
"I always thought a man took up interior decorating just because he happened to have been an upholsterer or fresco painter. I never knew there was any studying to be done, first," said Jim.
"You didn't, eh! Well then, let me tell you this much; Polly and I intend to use our money from the mine, to put us both through school in New York. Any other city would do, I suppose, only Anne Stewart will be there, and I never can study under any one else! So I have to attend class in New York," Eleanor spoke with the greatest assurance that all she said had already been agreed to by Polly's family.
"Then when Polly and I have had a year or two with Anne, we will take a special course in some one of the best schools on the subject. This course finished, we propose going to Europe to study Italian, French, Spanish, and English periods and styles. If we have an extra year or so, to spare, we might go to Japan and Egypt, as I just adore those two lands."
"W-h-y! Eleanor! You never mentioned a word of this to me before! Who told you we could go?" gasped Polly.