"Is it as good really, Mrs. Mowbray, as it looks here?" she asked. "It is better. Don't you think colour goes for anything? and the sound of a cowbell, and the rush of the torrents that come from the mountains?" "I can hear cowbells and the rush of brooks here," said Rotha. "It sounds different there." Slowly and unwillingly and after long looking at it, Rotha laid the Swiss valley away. Her next view happened to be the ruins of the Church at Fountain's Abbey; and with that a new nerve of pleasure seemed to be stirred. This was something in an entirely new department, of knowledge and interest both. "How came people to let such a beautiful church go to ruin?" Mrs. Mowbray went back to the Reformation, and Henry the Eighth, and the monkish orders; and the historical discussion grew into length. Then a very noble view of the Fountain's Abbey cloisters opened a new field of inquiry; and Rotha's eye gazed along the beautiful arches with an awed apprehension of the life that once was lived under them; gazed and marvelled and queried. "That was an ugly sort of life," she said at last; "why do I like to look at these cloisters, Mrs. Mowbray?" Mrs. Mowbray laughed. "I suppose your eye finds beauty in the lines of the architecture." "Are they beautiful?" "People say so, my dear." "But do you think they are?" "My dear, I must confess to you, I never paid much attention to architecture. I never asked myself the question." "I do not think there is any _beauty_ about them," said Rotha; "but somehow I like to look at them. I like to look at them _very_ much." "Here is another cloister," said Mrs. Mowbray; "of Salisbury cathedral. The arches and lines here are less severe. How do you like that?" "Not half so well," Rotha answered, after making the comparison. "I think Fountain's Abbey _is_ beautiful, compared with this." "It is called, I believe, one of the finest ruins in England. My dear, if you want to study architecture, I shall turn you over to Mr. Fergusson's book. It is in the corner stand in the breakfast room--two octavo volumes. There you can find all your questions answered."