In a secret place in Nancy’s mind, however, she saw a picture of her own pretty face occupying at least one-third of a newspaper page and underneath, blazoned in large letters:  “The Beautiful Miss Anne Starbuck Brown, One of the Famous Motor Maids.”

CHAPTER V.

In the library.

The house Mr. Campbell had sub-let for the summer was somewhat labyrinthian in design, since it was only one story high and contained many rooms for living and sleeping, besides the servants’ quarters in the rear.  Mr. Spears had engaged a Japanese architect to build the house and Japanese and European ideas were curiously combined in its construction.  Down the middle ran a broad hall, intersected at the back by another hall running across the house.  This was known as “the passage,” and it was in a manner a social boundary line, dividing the quarters of master and servants.  Only one opening broke the monotony of the uninterrupted partition on the far side of the passage.  This was the door into the library which had been placed in a quiet and out-of-the-way corner overlooking the garden.

This library was decidedly the most attractive and home-like room in the villa.  There was a large open fireplace at one end where a pile of blazing logs now crackled cheerfully.  It would have taken an immense “go-down” to accommodate all the books which lined the walls.  But Mr. Spears was evidently not afraid of fire, for they stood in serried ranks, rows and rows of them, and between each group of shelves was a panel of carved and polished wood.  Over the mantel hung a beautiful Japanese print.  Curtains of some heavy material, old rose in color, hung at the windows, and instead of the usual three by six mats, the floor was covered with an Oriental rug in soft warm colors.  There were many low, comfortable chairs about and several tables on which stood shaded lamps.

Later in the evening after Mr. Campbell’s dinner party, the three older members of the company sat down in the drawing-room for a quiet game, while the young people repaired to the library where they might talk and laugh freely without fear of disturbing the players.

“Oh, I say, what a jolly room,” exclaimed Reginald Carlton, looking about him with interest.

“Isn’t it?” agreed Billie.  “Papa says that if people would only stick to Japanese notions of decoration and add a few comfortable chairs to sit in, they would never make any mistakes.  You see, there’s only one picture in this room, but that’s considered very fine.  It’s by a famous Japanese artist.”

“I like that one-picture idea,” put in Nicholas Grimm, “especially if it is at a comfortable elevation.  Just pull up an easy chair and raise your eyes and you have seen all there is to see.  There’s a delightful simplicity about that to me.  But I suppose Yoritomo would call this room crowded, nevertheless.  How about it, old man?  It wouldn’t take you fifteen minutes to pull down the curtains and roll up the rug and store them in the ‘go-down.’  Would it, now, honor bright?”