He told me afterwards that it wuz the anniversary of his mother’s death.

He looked sort o’ sad, and as if he really wanted company.  So we thanked him, or I did, and we walked in and sot down in some big, cool cane-seat easy-chairs.

And we sot there and visited back and forth for quite a spell, and took comfort.  Yes, indeed, we did.  This room wuz on the cool side of the house, and the still side.  And it wuz big and furnished beautiful.  It wuzn’t Miss Plank’s taste, I could see that.

No, her taste is fervent and gorgeous.  Gildin’ is her favorite embellishment, and chromos, high-colored, and red.

This room wuz covered with pure white mattin’, and such rugs on it scattered over the floor as I never see, and don’t know as I ever shall see agin.

Some on ’em was pure white silky fur, and some on ’em as rich in colorin’ as the most wonderful sunset colors you ever see in the red and golden west, or in the trees of a maple forest in October.

And such pictures as hung on the walls I never see.

Why, on one side of the room hung a picture that looked as if you wuz a-gazin’ right out into a green field at sunset.  There wuz a deep, cool rivulet a-gurglin’ along over the pebbles, and the green, moist rushes—­why, you could almost hear it.

And the blue sky above—­why, you could almost see right up through it, it looked so clear and transparent.  And the cattle a-comin’up through the bars to be milked.  Why, you could almost hear the girl call, “Co, boss! co, boss!” as she stood by the side of the bars with her sun-bunnet a-hangin’ back from her pretty face, and her milk-pail on her arm.

[Illustration:  “Co, boss! co, boss!”]

Why, you could fairly hear the swash, swash of the water, as the old brindle cow plashed through its cool waves.

It beat all I ever see, and Josiah felt jest as I did.  The beautiful face of the girl looked dretful familiar to me, though I couldn’t tell for my life who it wuz that she looked so much like.

And there on every side of us wuz jest as pretty pictures as that, and some white marble figures, that stood up almost as big as life on their marble pedestals, and aginst the dark red draperies.

Why, take it all in all, it was the prettiest room I had ever looked at in my life, and so I told Mr. Freeman.

And, if you’ll believe it, that man up and said right there that we wuz perfectly free to use that room jest as much as we wanted to.

He said he had another room as large as this that he staid in most of his time when he was at home—­his writin’-desk wuz in that room.  But he was not here much of the time, only to sleep and to his meals.

And as he said this, what should that almost angel man do but to put a key in my hand, so Josiah and I could come in any time, whether he wuz here or not.

Why, I wuz fairly dumbfoundered, and so wuz Josiah.  But we thanked him warm, very warm, warmer than the weather, and that stood more’n ninety in the shade.