perhaps furnished in such a manner, Sir Artist," said she
teasingly, "that the characters of the Bible and the Greek Gods meet
each other therein as they do on Master Colins' facade!" Then she
blushed at her own boldness, but Felice's boundless veneration was too
great a temptation to a little naughtiness on the part of this young
Thing just fresh from school, who missed not a little her daily
scrimmages with the aristocratic young ladies of the Stift.

"When you speak of a want of harmony," said the Artist, a little
excited at Klytia's want of veneration for his learning as a man, "you
allude above all to the insipid German texts in monkish verse, which
the deceased plump Count Palatine stuck under the Gods and Heroes, in
place of which I would willingly read a classic epigram in the latin
language. But you are quite right, the entire facade is an emblem of
the contention which takes place in our mortal life. The beauties of
Greece and the virtues of Christianity strive for mastery in our
hearts. And not only are the figures in contradiction, but the Antique
and Gothic forms are at variance with one another. The harmony of
construction, which composes true classic architecture is wanting. How
discordantly do the Gothic arms and shields contrast with the Antique
lines of the portal. The highest beauty consists in the artistic
blending of the red sandstone and the blue sky, and when the Kurfuerst
lately stated that he wished he could burn down the, to him, hated
sculptured casket, I could not help involuntarily thinking, how
beautifully the ruin would stand out, when the blue sky should be seen
through the voided casements."

"Gracious powers," cried Lydia. "As long as we live up so high, do not
try such an experiment; and now go on with your work; I do not want to
hear any lecture which may end by your falling down and breaking your
neck."

Pale and hurt Felix drew back. His hopes nevertheless stood higher than
he thought; but Lydia had remarked, how the neighbours were craning
their necks to look up at the scaffolding, on which Felix was carrying
on his assault, and she heard the "red headed Frenz" say that Lydia's
windows must have needed an extraordinary amount of repairing, as the
Italian gentleman never seemed to leave them. "They will make a
handsome couple," Herr Bachmann now asserted in no low tones, "the tall
dark Italian, and the fair haired maiden. I shall be rejoiced, Frau
Barbara, when they make their f