In this way he managed to lay aside quite a little sum of money, besides
paying his interest to Arthur, and when Maude came home from Europe in
March he felt himself warranted in beginning _to raise the roof_. He was
naturally a mechanic, and would have made a splendid carpenter; he was
also something of an architect, and sketched upon paper the changes he
proposed making. The roof was to be raised over Jerrie's room; there was
to be a pretty bay-window at the south, commanding a view of the
Collingwood grounds and the river. There was to be another window on a
side, but whether to the east or the west he could not quite decide.
There was to be a dressing-room and large closet, while the main room
was to be carried up in the centre, after the fashion of a church, and
to be ceiled with narrow strips of wood painted alternately with a pale
blue and gray. He showed the sketch to his grandmother, who approved it,
just as she approved everything he did, but suggested that he submit it
to Maude Tracy, who she heard, had become an artist and had a studio; so
he took the plan to Maude, explaining it to her, and saying it was to be
a surprise to Jerrie, when she came home for good in the summer. Maude
was interested and enthusiastic at once, and entered heart and soul into
the matter, making some suggestions which Harold adopted, and deciding
for him where the extra window was to be placed.
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