'But are you going to become a monk?' 'I am not sure that I should not prefer the world to be my monastery.' 'Now you are talking nonsense.' 'Now you are beginning to be rude, mother. ... We were discussing the question of beauty in women.' 'Well, what fault, I should like to know, do you find with Lucy?' John laughed, and after a moment's hesitation, he said-- 'Her face is a pretty oval, but it conveys nothing to my mind; her eyes are large and soft, but there is no, no---' John gesticulated with his fingers. 'No what?' 'No beyond.' 'No what?' 'No suggestiveness in her face, no strangeness; she seems to me too much like a woman.' 'I think a woman ought to be like a woman. You would not like a man to be like a woman, would you?' 'That's different. Women are often beautiful, but their beauty is not of the highest type. You admit that Kitty is a pretty girl. Well, she's not nearly so womanly in face or figure as Lucy. Her figure is slight even to boyishness. She's like a little antique statue done in a period of decadence. She has the far-away look in the eyes which we find in antique sculpture, and which is so attractive to me. But you don't understand.' 'I understand very well. I understand you far better than you think,' Mrs. Norton answered angrily. She was angered by what she deemed her son's affectations, and by the arrival of the architect before whom John was to lay his scheme for the reconstruction of the house. Mr. Egerton seemed to think John's architecture somewhat wild, but he promised to see what could be done to overcome the difficulties he foresaw, and in a week he forwarded John several drawings for his consideration. Judged by comparison with John's dreams, the practical architecture of the experienced man seemed altogether lacking in expression and in poetry of proportion; and comparing them with his own cherished project, John hung over the billiard-table, where the drawings were laid out. He could think of nothing but his monastery; his Latin authors were forgotten; he drew facades and turrets on the cloth during dinner, and he went up to his room, not to bed, but to reconsider the difficulties that rendered the construction of a central tower an impossibility. Once again he takes up the architect's notes. _'The interior would be so constructed as to make it impossible to carry up the central tower. The outer walls would not be strong enough to take the large gables and roof. Although the chapel could be done easily, the ambulatory would be of no use, as it would lead probably from the kitchen offices. 'Would have to reduce work on front facade to putting in new arched entrance. Buttresses would take the place of pilasters. 'The bow-window could remain. 'The roof to be heightened somewhat. The front projection would throw the front rooms into almost total darkness.'_