bol of the
ending of almost all the grief for me.

My foreman came over to where I was standing with the Stoddards.

"You gonna put a bell in that belfry?" he asked.

George Stoddard looked at him as if he'd gone mad.

"What for?" he demanded.

"So you can _use_ the belfry," the foreman said.

"Don't be so ridiculous, my good man," Stoddard snorted. "It will be of
pleasurable use enough to us, just _looking_ at it."

When the foreman had marched off, scratching his head, I turned to the
Stoddards.

"Well, it's almost done," I said. "Pleased with it?"

Stoddard beamed. "You have no idea, Mr. Kermit," he said solemnly, "what
a tremendous moment this is for my wife and me."

I looked at the plain, drab, smiling Laura Stoddard. From the shine in
her eyes, I guess Stoddard meant what he said. Then I looked up at the
belfry, and shuddered.

As I remarked before, even the belfry wasn't quite like any belfry human
eyes had ever seen before. It angled in all the way around in as
confusing a maze of geometrical madness you have ever seen. It was a
patterned craziness, of course, having some rhyme to it, but no reason.

Looking at it, serenely topping that crazy-quilt house, I had the
impression of its being an outrageously squashed cherry topping, the
whipped cream of as madly a concocted sundae that a soda jerk ever made.
A pleasant impression.

Stoddard's voice broke in on my somewhat sickish contemplation.

"When will we be able to start moving in?" he asked eagerly.

"The latter part of next week," I told him. "We should have it set by
then."

"Good," said Stoddard. "Splendid." He put his arm around his wife, and
the two of them stared starry eyed at their home. It made a lump come to
your throat, seeing the bliss in their eyes as they stood there
together. It made a lump come into your throat, until you realized what
they were staring at.

"Incidentally," I said casually, figuring now was as good a time as any
to get them used to the idea. "The startlingly different construction
pattern you've had us follow will result in, ah, minor repairs in the
house being necessary from time to time. Remember my telling you that at
the start?"

Stoddard nodded, brushing the information away casually.

"Yes, certainly I remember your saying something about that. But don't
worry. I won't hold you responsible for any minor repairs which the
unique construction causes."

"Thanks," I told him dryly. "I just wanted to