And so it was. Over the dull green a large, irregular lacework of dull
yellow had spread itself, and the more we looked the better we liked it.
Just why the chemical affinity between plaster and paper should produce
that particular effect we could not imagine, but there it was and there
it stayed, for the process did not go any farther. Later on, when our
furniture and pictures were in place, visitors used to say, "_Wherever_
did you get that wonderful paper?" If they were true friends and worthy,
we told them. Otherwise we would vaguely hint of a special pattern, and
that there was no more to be had of the kind.