They dined, and passed the evening much as before. The next morning, as they were ascending to the library to resume their pleasant labour, the doctor said to himself, 'I have passed along galleries wherein were many chambers, and the doors in the day were more commonly open than shut, yet this chamber door of my young friend is always shut. There must be a mystery in it.' And the doctor, not generally given to morbid curiosity, found himself very curious about this very simple matter. At last he mustered up courage to say, 'I have seen your library, dining-room, and drawing-room; but you have so much taste in internal arrangements, I should like to see the rest of the house.' _Mr. Falconer._ There is not much more to see. You have occupied one of the best bedrooms. The rest do not materially differ. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ To say the truth, I should like to see your own. _Mr. Falconer._ I am quite willing. But I have thought, perhaps erroneously, it is decorated in a manner you might not altogether approve. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Nothing indecorous, I hope. _Mr. Falconer._ Quite the contrary. You may, perhaps, think it too much devoted to my peculiar views of the purity of ideal beauty, as developed in Saint Catharine. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ You have not much to apprehend on that score. _Mr. Falconer._ You see, there is an altar, with an image of Saint Catharine, and the panels of the room are painted with subjects from her life, mostly copied from Italian masters. The pictures of St. Catharine and her legend very early impressed her on my mind as the type of ideal beauty--of all that can charm, irradiate, refine, exalt, in the best of the better sex. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ You are enthusiastic; but indeed, though she is retained as a saint in the Reformed Church, I am not very familiar with her history. And to me some of these pictures require explanation. _Mr. Falconer._ I will tell you her legend as briefly as I may. And we will pass from picture to picture as the subjects arise. THE LEGEND OF SAINT CATHARINE