"
"Is furnishing part of your business?" inquired the girl, eyeing him in
bewilderment.
"Business?" said the other. "Oh, no. I did it for amusement. I chose
and the captain paid. It was a delightful experience. The sordid
question of price was waived; for once expense was nothing to me. I wish
you'd just step up to your room and see how you like it. It's the one
over the kitchen."
Miss Drewitt hesitated, and then curiosity, combined with a cheerful idea
of probably being able to disapprove of the lauded decorations, took her
indoors and upstairs. In a few minutes she came down again.
"I suppose it's all right," she said, ungraciously, "but I don't
understand why you should have selected it."
"I had to," said Mr. Tredgold, confidentially. "I happened to go to
Tollminster the same day as the captain and went into a shop with him.
If you could only see the things he wanted to buy, you would understand."
The girl was silent.
"The paper the captain selected for your room," continued Mr. Tredgold,
severely, "was decorated with branches of an unknown flowering shrub, on
the top twig of which a humming-bird sat eating a dragonfly.
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