The house Mr. Campbell had sub-let for the summer was somewhat
labyrinthian in design, since it was only one story high and contained
many rooms for living and sleeping, besides the servants' quarters in the
rear. Mr. Spears had engaged a Japanese architect to build the house and
Japanese and European ideas were curiously combined in its construction.
Down the middle ran a broad hall, intersected at the back by another hall
running across the house. This was known as "the passage," and it was in
a manner a social boundary line, dividing the quarters of master and
servants. Only one opening broke the monotony of the uninterrupted
partition on the far side of the passage. This was the door into the
library which had been placed in a quiet and out-of-the-way corner
overlooking the garden.

This library was decidedly the most attractive and home-like room in the
villa. There was a large open fireplace at one end where a pile of
blazing logs now crackled cheerfully. It would have taken an immense
"go-down" to accommodate all the books which lined the walls. But Mr.
Spears was evidently not afraid of fire, for they stood in serried ranks,
rows and rows of them, and between each group of shelves was a panel of
carved and polished wood. Over the mantel hung a beautiful Japanese
print. Curtains of some heavy material, old rose in color, hung at the
windows, and instead of the usual three by six mats, the floor was
covered with an Oriental rug in soft warm colors. There were many low,
comfortable chairs about and several tables on which stood shaded lamps.

Later in the evening after Mr. Campbell's dinner party, the three older
members of the company sat down in the drawing-room for a quiet game,
while the young people repaired to the library where they might talk and
laugh freely without fear of disturbing the players.