estates were a fair slice of two counties, and
many of his relatives had sumptuous homes stored with priceless
legacies of art. He had approached the great house which Byng had built
for himself with some trepidation; for though Byng came of people whose
names counted for a good deal in the north of England, still, in newly
acquired fortunes made suddenly in new lands there was something that
coarsened taste--an unmodulated, if not a garish, elegance which "hit
you in the eye," as he had put it to himself. He asked himself why Byng
had not been content to buy one of the great mansions which could
always be had in London for a price, where time had softened all the
outlines, had given that subdued harmony in architecture which only
belongs to age. Byng could not buy with any money those wonderful
Adam's mantels, over-mantels and ceilings which had a glory quite their
own. There must, therefore, be an air of newness in the new mansion,
which was too much in keeping with the new money, the gold as yet not
worn smooth by handling, the staring, brand-new sovereigns looking like
impostors.

As he came upon the great house, however, in the soft light of evening,
he was conscious of no violence done to his artistic sense. It was a
big building, severely simple in design, yet with the rich grace,
spacious solidity, and decorative relief of an Italian palace: compact,
generous, traditionally genuine and wonderfully proportionate.

"Egad, Byng, you had a good architect--and good sense!" he said to
himself. "It's the real thing; and he did it before Jasmine came on the
scene too."

The outside of the house was Byng's, but the inside would, in the
essentials, of course, be hers; and he would see what he would see.

When the door opened, it came to him instantly that the inside and
outside were in harmony. How complete was that harmony remained to be
seen, but an apparently unstudied and delightful reticence was
noticeable at once. The newness had been rubbed off the gold somehow,
and the old furniture--Italian, Spanish--which relieved the
spaciousness of the entrance gave an air of Time and Time's eloquence
to this three-year-old product of modern architectural skill.

As he passed on, he had more than a glimpse of the ball-room, which
maintained the dignity and the refined beauty of the staircase and the
hallways; and only in the insistent audacity and intemperate colouring
of some Rubens pictures did he find anything of that