“Everything is as fine as a fiddle!” exclaimed Roger as they all stopped in one of the upstairs rooms.  “Now it’s up to us to do the papering and painting and to concoct some furniture.”

So it was decided that all the bedrooms should have white paint and walls of delicate hues and that Mrs. Schuler’s office should be pink with white paint and white curtains at the windows.

“We can get very pretty papers for ten cents a roll,” said Margaret.  “I saw some beauties when I went to the paperers to get some flowery papers for James to cut out when he was pasting decorations on to our Christmas Ship boxes.”

“Are you going to use wall paper?” asked Miss Merriam quickly.

“Aren’t we?” inquired Margaret.  “It didn’t occur to me that there was anything else.  There is paper on the walls now.”

“It’s a lot more sanitary to have the walls kalsomined, I know that,” said James in a superior tone.  “Haven’t you heard Father say so a dozen times?”

“I suppose I have, now I think about it,” replied Margaret.  “It stands to reason that there would be less chance for germs to hide.”

“Do you suppose these old walls are in good enough condition to go uncovered?” asked Roger, passing his hand over a suspicious bulge that forced the paper out, and casting his eye at the ceiling which was veined with hair cracks.

“Probably the walls will not be in the pink Of condition,” returned Mrs. Morton; “but, even so, color-washing will be better than papering.”

“We can go over them and fill up the cracks,” suggested Tom, “and we can whitewash the ceilings.”

“That’s what I should advise,” said Miss Merriam.  “Put the walls and ceilings in as good condition as you can, and then put on your wash.  Kalsomining is rather expensive, but there are plenty of color washes now that any one can put on who can wield a whitewash brush.”

“Me for the whitewash brush at an early date,” Roger sang gayly.  “What do you suggest for these upstairs floors, Miss Merriam?  Grandfather thought they weren’t bad enough to have new ones laid, but they do look rather rocky, don’t they?”

He cast a disparaging glance at the boards under his feet, and waited for help.

“Were you planning to paint them?”

“Yes,” Roger nodded.

“Then you ought to putty up the cracks first.  That will make them smooth enough.  They’re not really rough, you see.  It’s the spaces between the planks that make them seem so.”

“That’s easily done.  We thought we’d paint these old floors and stain the new ones down stairs.”

“I’d do that.  Paint these floors tan or gray, if you want them to confess frankly that they’re painted floors, or the shade of some wood if you want to pretend that they’re hard wood floors.”

James moved uneasily.  Roger guessed the reason.

“What’s the matter, old man?  Treasury low?”