Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/121

 Rh  to cover the floor where some industrious former occupant had daubed paint of various gaudy hues while trying, perhaps, to find the right shade for the woodwork.

Moreover, what little furniture there was in the dining room showed very plainly that it had not been intended originally for dining room use; the buffet, in particular, proclaimed loudly in big black letters that it was nothing but a soap box, and Bettie's best efforts could not make anything else of it. Now that the day for the long postponed dinner party was actually set, the girls' attention was more than ever directed toward the forlorn appearance of the little dining room.

"Dear me," said Bettie, one day when the five friends, seated around the table, were cutting out pictures for a wonderful scrap-book for the little lame boy that Miss Blossom had discovered living near one of the churches, "I do wish this dining room didn't look so sort of bedroomy."