white. Only one
small piece by the dining-room door, a very agreeable design, is in
pinkish marbles.

[Illustration: THE HOUSE: THE ARAB HALL]

On the left, down a short passage, is the Arab Hall. It is so unlike
anything else in Europe that its reputation has withdrawn all
attention from the rest of the house. It certainly is a most sumptuous
piece of work. Elsewhere Leighton satisfied his love of chastened form;
in this room and its approach he gave full scope to his delight in rich
colours. The general scheme is a peacock blue, known technically as
Egyptian green, and gold, with plentiful black and white. Here and there
tiny spots of red occur, but they are rare. The harmony begins in the
staircase hall. The walls, except in the recessed part, where there are
genuine oriental tiles, are lined to the level of the first floor with
tiles of a fine blue, from the kilns of Mr. De Morgan, and the soffitt
of the stairs is coloured buff, with gold spots. In the passage the tone
increases in richness. The ceiling is silver and the cornice gold, while
the walls, except for a fine panel of oriental tiles over the
drawing-room door, are lined with the same tiles as the staircase. Then
between two grand columns of red Caserta marble, with gilt capitals
modelled by Randolph Caldecott, we pass into the Arab Hall itself, and
we come upon the full magnificence of the effect. It is made up of
polished marbles of many colours, gilt and sculptured capitals,
alabaster, shining tiles, glistening mosaic of gold and colours, brass
and copper in the hanging corona, and coloured glass in the little
pierced windows, in fact, of every form of enrichment yet devised by
Eastern or Western Art. From the floor, which is black and white, the
tone rises through blue to lose itself in the gloom of a golden dome,
sparsely lit by jewel-like coloured lights.

In the centre a jet of water springs up, to fall back into a basin of
black marble. The form of the basin which deepens towards the centre in
successive steps, is an adaptation of the pattern of a well-known
oriental fountain. All is equally black in this pool, and the border
unfortunately is barely distinguishable from the water. After a dinner
party at which Sir E. Burne-Jones, Mr. Whistler, Mr. Albert Moore, and
many others were present, I recollect how, when we were smoking and
drinking coffee in this hall, somebody, excitedly discoursing, stepped
unaware right into the fountain. Two larg