What, pray tell, is a counterpane?

In my haste to pay homage to Robert Louis Stevenson, I neglected to mention the wonderful blog that started me on the road to memory-land. Check out Knitting, Writing and other Joys sometime. The Land of Counterpane, posted November 19th, for a lovely photo of a counterpane.

For the youngsters out there, a counterpane's a bedspread.