"It isn't only Eben's wages that I am thinking of, but the trust that Mr. Francis puts in him," remarked Flora. "It isn't often that a young man of Eben's age gets put into such a place."
"That's true, and I think all the more of it, coming from Mr. Francis. He is so very strict in his notions."
At last, after a great deal more talking, the matter was settled. Mr. Francis was evidently pleased, wrote Eben a gracious letter, and empowered him to take anything he needed from the furniture stored in the loft for the embellishment of his apartment, adding that he believed there were some rolls of old-fashioned wall-paper in a certain drawer which Eben might use to cover his walls.
All young folks and most old folks love to fit up a room, and to young folks at least the pleasure is wonderfully heightened by the necessity of shifts and expedients. Great was the delight felt by our three young friends in hunting up and pasting on the pretty though cheap and old-fashioned paper, in pulling out and putting in nice order the furniture necessary to Eben's room, and making wonderful discoveries, such as a pair of old plated candlesticks, some water-coloured pictures and engravings in tarnished gilt frames, and, best of all, a trunk full of books, principally travels and biographies, and a set of mahogany hanging shelves. Eben hesitated, however, about appropriating these till he consulted Mr. Antis.
"I don't think it will do any harm," said Mr. Antis. "However, if you think there is any doubt about the matter, you had better write to the old gentleman yourself."
Eben wrote, and received the following curt answer:
"DEAR FAIRCHILD: Yours of the 16th received and noted.
Of course! Anything you can find. Yours truly,"
"J. B. FRANCIS."
"P. S. It was very proper for you to ask, however."
When Eben's room was finally finished, it would have been hard to find a prettier or snugger little place, with its old-fashioned but roomy bureau, on the top of which stood the two plated candlesticks, which Mrs. Fairchild had cleaned up to look nearly as good as new, his well-filled book-shelves hanging over the cherry desk his father had given him long before, the walls hung with old engravings and all the various knickknacks which the girls had routed out of the garret. Eben loved what was pretty and elegant as well as any young lady, and as he looked around he thought he had never seen a room so much to his taste. He had a kind of house-warming, with Mr. Antis's permission, when he took possession of his new abode, and had his mother and the girls to spend the evening with him.
"Yes, it is all very nice," said his mother. "I'm only afraid it is too nice, and that Eben will be tempted to spend his evenings here."
"No danger," said Eben; "I am not so fond of my own company as all that."