The Star In the Window

"As she sat and sewed this afternoon she kept her face steadfastly turned away from the familiar details of the room behind her. It was an ugly room. It was the back-parlor made over into a bedroom for her mother, who couldn't go over the stairs. It was square and high-studded, h'eavily corniced in dark brown plas ter, and in the center of the ceiling there was a rosette, round and ornate, which suggested the summer canna beds. From it hung a heavy glass chandelier, with six bronze arms, holding up six white frosted globes. In one corner of the room stood the bed - black wal nut, solid and substantial, its pillows covered with hand - crocheted shams, red-initialed in the center. Over the bed, suspended from the ceiling and fastened to the ..."