After Polly secured the armchair, Eleanor bid upon and got a XVI century cabinet of the Lyonnaise school; and Dodo bought a Renaissance hall table. Mr. Fabian secured a Spanish Renaissance divan, and the Count managed to buy the pictures he wanted. Towards the end of the day, Polly and Eleanor secured a few odd things, such as an iron lock, chiselled from a solid block of metal that was said to date from the XV century; and Polly got an old door-knocker that was more than two hundred years old.
The last group of furniture pieces put up for sale, that day, was arranged on the dais just as Mr. Fabian was preparing to go. He turned and saw it, then the auctioneer called out: “Here is a splendid suite of furniture for a bachelor’s den. Now what am I bid for it?”
Mr. Fabian whispered to the girls: “It is a pity the man should try to sell that set by praising it as he did. He knows, only too well, that it is unsuitable for a man’s room. But tell me why, girls?”
Dodo curled her lips in scorn at the elaborate pieces and remarked: “Would one wish to decorate a ball-room with black crêpe?”
Her friends laughed at the very sarcastic criticism, and the Count said, smilingly: “But that is not mourning furniture!”
“No, but it is just as bad taste for a man’s room. Why should a bachelor’s den use soft tints and motifs of Louis XVI period, when they are more appropriate in a reception room, or a lady’s boudoir?”
That last retort from such a prepossessing girl, completed the havoc in the Count’s susceptible heart. He thenceforth planned to lay his title and encumbered Italian estate at Dodo’s feet. But he found it not as easy as he had thought for, when he took this fervent decision.
He invited the American party to be his guests that night, at dinner, and he arranged so that he could sit next to Dodo. But that was all the good it did him, for the girls were so full of the fun and joys of bargain hunting that they spoke of nothing else.
After the exultation of possession had calmed down, somewhat, Nancy Fabian said: “Daddy, why are some such atrocious pieces of furniture as we saw today flung to the people?”
“One reason why France has, of recent years, had some such uncouth furniture made, is because the Guild of Cabinet Makers is no longer in existence to enforce its laws. There was once a provision made, in 1645, that every piece of furniture made in France had to be passed upon by the Guild. And that is why old furniture from these French cabinet makers, is so highly prized by collectors, now.