Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/123

 Rh  petunia and these two geraniums that are suffering so for sunshine. I think I could make it from the boards in that soap box."

"Oh, thank you!" cried Bettie, "I don't believe there's anything you don't know how to do."

The piano-box, transformed by Miss Blossom and the four girls into a very good imitation of a Flemish oak sideboard, did indeed make such an imposing piece of furniture that the rest of the room looked shabbier than ever by contrast.

"I'm afraid," said Miss Blossom, surveying the effect, with an air of comical dismay, "that the rest of our dining room really looks worse than it did before. It's like trying to wear a new hat with an old gown; but I'm proud of our handiwork."

"Yes," said Jean, "it's a great deal more like a sideboard than it is like a piano-box."

"It's the sideboardiest sideboard I ever saw," said Mabel, "but it's certainly too fine for this room."