Tilghman and the ladies were just getting out of the landau as the dog-cart rattled up to the portico of the main front. Gilderman jumped out and stood looking about him. The view was beautiful. He had not seen it since the summer before. He was surprised at the change. When he had last been there he had looked out upon a rather garish, sloping meadow open to the sky. There had been a great deal of lumber scattered about, and the earth was trampled naked and bare. There had been a mortar-bed, and beyond, down the slope, there had been a fence and a field, shaggy with long, rusty, feathery grass. Now everything was trim and neat. A long gravel roadway circled in a great sweep around a wide spread of lawn, framed in by clumps and clusters of trees and rhododendron bushes. You got a glimpse of the stream at the bottom of the slope and a fringe of willows; beyond that a strip of lawnlike paddock, another hill, and then, far away, a thread of the broad stretch of water. The trees were bare of leaves as yet, but Gilderman could see that it would all be very beautiful in the later spring and summer. They stood for a while enjoying the view. Then they all went into the house. Marcy, who was the architect, met them in the hall. With fine tact, he had not intruded his presence upon them until now. He was a soft, refined, gentle-spoken man, with a delicate, sensitive, almost effeminate face. His hair was parted in the middle, and his beard trimmed to a point. "Well, Mr. De Witt," he said, "I hope you are satisfied with the final result." "Yes, indeed, Marcy," said De Witt. "You have done admirably, Mr. Marcy," said Mrs. De Witt, in her stateliest manner. Mr. Marcy smiled indefinitely, with another flash of his white teeth under his brown mustache. "This hall is stunning," said Gilderman, looking about him. Marcy turned towards him. "I'm glad you like it, Mr. Gilderman," he said. "It'll be very much improved when the paintings are hung. I think the stairway and the landing above is rather a happy inspiration, if I may say so." "Stunning!" said Tilghman. "Where did you get those chairs, De Witt?" said Gilderman. "Inkerman picked them up for me at the Conti sale. They came from the Pinazi Palace, you know. Good, ain't they?" and De Witt passed his hand over the tapestried upholstery almost affectionately. Just then the housekeeper appeared and dropped a courtesy as she came in at the library doorway. "Oh, Mrs. Lukens," said Mrs. De Witt, "I wish you'd have luncheon promptly at one o'clock. Mr. Gilderman wants to go back to town on the half-past two o'clock train." "Yes, ma'am," said Mrs. Lukens, dropping another courtesy, and again Mr. Marcy smiled with a flash of his beautiful white teeth. "I'd like to begin by taking you up-stairs, Mr. De Witt," he said. "Very well," said De Witt. And then the whole party moved across the hall to begin the inspection of the house. * * * * *