This little affair of the piano and the foreigner has set the whole town to talking, and people are putting on grave faces, and inquiring how they can afford it.

But it seems they do afford it, and also to have the best of carpets on their parlor floor.

And they have shown a taste for art in several engravings hung on the walls.
The Chapmans expected company from the city that night.

A bright coal fire and a globe lamp on the centre-table are shedding a soft, mellow light, and adding an air of comfort and cheerfulness to everything in the room.
Mattie was sitting alone in the parlor reading a letter by the light on the centre-table.

Her dress was a plain black silk, made high at the neck, and with an open stomacher, disclosing an aggravating bit of white lace.