The fittings
of the desk are of dark red leather, like that of many of the
book-bindings, and the personal touch that makes the desk _mine_ is a
bowl of roses. Between the two windows in the shallow recess, I have
placed an aquarium, a recent acquisition that delights my soul. The
aquarium is simply an oblong glass box mounted on a teak stand, with a
tracery of teak carving outlining the box, which is the home of the most
gorgeous fan-tailed goldfish. There are water plants in the box, too,
and funny little Chinese temples and dwarf trees. I love to house my
little people happily--my dogs and my birds and my fish. Wee Toi, my
little Chinese dog, has a little house all his own, an old Chinese
lacquer box with a canopy top and little gold bells. It was once the
shrine of some little Chinese god, I suppose, but Wee Toi is very happy
in it, and you can see that it was meant for him in the beginning. It
sits by the fireplace and gives the room an air of real hominess. I was
so pleased with the aquarium and the Chinese lacquer bed for Wee Toi
that I devised a birdcage to go with them, a square cage of gilt wires,
with a black lacquer pointed canopy top, with little gilt bells at the
pointed eaves. The cage is fixed to a shallow lacquer tray, and is the
nicest place you can imagine for a whistling bullfinch to live in.
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