But whoever has repaired an old house needs not to be told that the cost is always greater than was anticipated, and that there are a thousand difficulties which beset the unwary workman and hinder his progress.  And Harold found it so.  Still he worked bravely on, early and late, taking no rest except for an hour or so in the afternoon, when he found it a very pleasant change to walk through the leafy woods, so full of summer life and beauty, to where Maude waited for him, with her sunny face and bright smile, which always grew brighter at his coming.  How could he know what was in her mind?—­he, who never dreamed it possible that she, of all other girls, could fall in love with him—­’that Hastings chap, poor as poverty,’ as he knew Tom sometimes called him.

That Maude liked him, he was sure; but he supposed it was mostly for the amusement he afforded her, and for the sake of Jerrie, of whom she was never tired of talking.  Maude’s friendship was very sweet to the young man, who had so few means of enjoyment, and whose life was one of toil and care.  So he went blindly on toward the pitfall in the distance, and began at last to look forward with a great deal of pleasure to the readings or talks with Maude, even though he did not find her very intellectual.  She amused and rested him, and that was something to the tired and overworked man.

The room was finished inside at last, and looked exceedingly cool and pleasant in its dress of blue and gray, and its two rows of colored glass in each window; for Harold had carried out Tom’s suggestion in that respect, and by going without a new hat and a pair of pants, which he needed, had managed to get the glass, which he set himself; for, as he said to Maude, who assisted him in the matching and arrangement, he was a kind of jack-at-all-trades.  Maude had also helped him to putty up the nail-holes, and had tried her hand at the painting until it gave her a sick-headache, and she was obliged to quit.

When Arthur first heard of the raised roof, he went down to see it, and approving of everything which had thus far been done, insisted upon furnishing the room himself.  But Harold refused, saying decidedly that it was his own surprise for Jerrie, and no one must help him.  So Arthur went away, and told Maude confidentially that the young man Hastings was made of the right kind of stuff, that he liked his independence, and that, although he should allow him to pay his debt, he should deposit the money as fast as received to his credit in the savings bank, so that he would eventually get it all.

‘You are the darlingest uncle in the world!’ Maude said, rubbing her soft cheek against his, in that purring way many men like, which made Arthur kiss her, and tell her she was a little simpleton, but rather nice on the whole.

‘And you’ll not tell Jerrie a word about the room!’ Maude charged him again and again, while they were in New York selecting the dress.