The girl rose and gave her arm to
Bryce; with her other arm linked through her uncle's she turned
toward the dining room.
Just inside the entrance Bryce paused. The soft glow of the candles
in the old-fashioned silver candlesticks upon the table was reflected
in the polished walls of the room-walls formed of panels of the most
exquisitely patterned redwood burl Bryce Cardigan had ever seen. Also
the panels were unusually large.
Shirley Sumner's alert glance followed Bryce's as it swept around the
room. "This dining room is Uncle Seth's particular delight, Mr.
Cardigan," she explained.
"It is very beautiful, Miss Sumner. And your uncle has worked wonders
in the matter of having it polished. Those panels are positively the
largest and most beautiful specimens of redwood burl ever turned out
in this country. The grain is not merely wavy; it is not merely
curly; it is actually so contrary that you have here, Colonel
Pennington, a room absolutely unique, in that it is formed of bird's-
eye burl. Mark the deep shadows in it. And how it does reflect those
candles!"
"It is beautiful," the Colonel declared. "And I must confess to a
pardonable pride in it, although the task of keeping these walls from
being marred by the furniture knocking against them requires the
utmost care.
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