The only lively people in the house were the little children.

They were playing quite riotously in an upper room, under the care of the Canadian girl, Eliza; but their shouts only elicited sighs from Mrs.Rexford's elder daughters, who were helping her to wash the dinner dishes in the kitchen.
These two elder daughters had, since childhood, always been dressed, so far as convenient, the one in blue, the other in red, and were nicknamed accordingly.

Their mother thought it gave them individuality which they otherwise lacked.

The red frock and the blue were anything but gay just now, for they were splashed and dusty, and the pretty faces above them showed a decided disposition to pout and frown, even to shed tears.
The kitchen was a long, low room.

The unpainted wood of floor, walls, and ceiling was darkened somewhat by time.