The window curtains are of soft, apple-green taffeta, trimmed with a broad puffing of the same silk, edged on each side by black moss-trimming, two inches wide.  These curtains hang from dull-gold cornices of wood, with open carving, through which one gets glimpses of the green taffeta of the curtains.

The sash-curtains are of the very finest cream net, and the window shades are of glazed linen, a deep cream ground, with a pattern showing a green lattice over which climb pink roses.  The shades are edged at the bottom with a narrow pink fringe.

The bed has a cover of green taffeta exactly like curtains, with the same trimming of puffed taffeta, edged with a black moss-trimming.

The mantelpiece is true to artistic standards and realises the responsibility of its position as keynote to the room.  Placed upon it are a beautiful old clock and two vases, correct as to line and colour.

Always be careful not to spoil a beautiful mantel or beautiful ornaments by having them out of proportion one with the other.  Plate XXIV shows a mantel which fails as a composition because the bust, an original by Behnes, beautiful in itself, is too heavy for the mantel it stands on and too large for the mirror which reflects it and serves as its background.

Keep everything in correct proportion to the whole.  We have in mind the instance of some rarely beautiful walls taken from an ancient monastery in Parma, Italy.  They were ideal in their original setting, but since they have been transported to America, no setting seems right.  They belonged in a building where there were a succession of small rooms with low ceilings, each room perfect like so many pearls on a string.  Here in America their only suitable place would be a museum, or to frame the tiny “devotional” of some precieuse Flower of Modernity.

CHAPTER XXVIII

A MODERN HOUSE IN WHICH GENUINE JACOBEAN FURNITURE IS APPROPRIATELY SET

An original scheme for a dining-room was recently carried out in a country house in England by a woman whose hobby is illuminating.  It will appeal to experts in the advance guard of interior decoration.  The woman in question was stimulated for her task by coming into possession of some interesting Jacobean pieces of furniture, of oak, squarely and solidly made, with flat carvings, characteristic of the period.

PLATE XXIV

A beautiful mantel, a beautiful mirror, beautiful ornaments, and a rare and beautiful marble bust by Behnes, but because the bust is too large for both mantel and reflecting mirror, the composition is poor.

[Illustration:  Example of Lack of Balance in Mantel Arrangement]