`` I should very much , if you could work as well as she does , and show as strong a pair of arms as she can . I have n't seen a prettier picture for some time than she made of herself this morning , up to the elbows in suds , singing like a blackbird whilst she scrubbed on the back stoop . '' `` Well , I do think you are the queerest man that ever lived ! '' was all Rose could find to say after this display of bad taste . `` I have n't begun to show you my oddities yet , so you must make up your mind to worse shocks than this , '' he said , with such a whimsical look that she was glad the sound of a bell prevented her showing more plainly what a blow her little vanities had already received . `` You will find your box all open up in auntie 's parlor , and there you can amuse her and yourself by rummaging to your heart 's content ; I 've got to be cruising round all the morning getting my room to rights , '' said Dr. Alec , as they rose from breakfast . `` Ca n't I help you , uncle ? '' asked Rose , quite burning to be useful . `` No , thank you , I 'm going to borrow Phebe for a while , if Aunt Plenty can spare her . '' `` Anybody anything , Alec . You will want me , I know , so I 'll give orders about dinner and be all ready to lend a hand '' ; and the old lady bustled away full of interest and good-will . `` Uncle will find that I can do some things that Phebe ca n't , so now ! '' thought Rose , with a toss of the head as she flew to Aunt Peace and the long-desired box . Every little girl can easily imagine what an extra good time she had diving into a sea of treasures and fishing up one pretty thing after another , till the air was full of the mingled odours of musk and sandalwood , the room gay with bright colours , and Rose in a rapture of delight . She began to forgive Dr. Alec for the oatmeal diet when she saw a lovely ivory workbox ; became resigned to the state of her belt when she found a pile of rainbow-coloured sashes ; and when she came to some distractingly pretty bottles of attar of rose , she felt that they almost atoned for the great sin of thinking Phebe the finer girl of the two . Dr. Alec meanwhile had apparently taken Aunt Plenty at her word , and was turning the house upside down . A general revolution was evidently going on in the green-room , for the dark damask curtains were seen bundling away in Phebe 's arms ; the air-tight stove retiring to the cellar on Ben 's shoulder ; and the great bedstead going up garret in a fragmentary state , escorted by three bearers . Aunt Plenty was constantly on the trot among her store-rooms , camphor-chests , and linen-closets , looking as if the new order of things both amazed and amused her . Half the peculiar performances of Dr. Alec can not be revealed ; but as Rose glanced up from her box now and then she caught glimpses of him striding by , bearing a bamboo chair , a pair of ancient andirons , a queer Japanese screen , a rug or two , and finally a large bathing-pan upon his head . `` What a curious room it will be , '' she said , as she sat resting and refreshing herself with `` Lumps of Delight , '' all the way from Cairo .
`` I fancy you will like it , deary , '' answered Aunt Peace , XXXXX up with a smile from some pretty trifle she was making with blue silk and white muslin .
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