HOW THE HOUSE WAS BUILT 17 



better to have left matters alone. My greatest error in 

 this way was in altering the placing of the casements 

 (hinged lights that open). In every long range of 

 lights he had marked as a casement not the end lights 

 but the ones next to them. I thought the end lights 

 would be more easily accessible, especially in bedi-ooms, 

 on account of the rather unusually large and long 

 dressing-tables, that I like ; and the casements were 

 placed accordingly. Afterwards I found this arrange- 

 ment so inconvenient, on account of rain wetting cur- 

 tains, and of the flying in and out of the thin linen 

 ones that act as blinds, that within a year I had them 

 altered so as to be as originally designed. 



N'aturally in the course of our discussions we had 

 many an amicable fight, but I can only remember one 

 when one might say that any " fur flew." I do not 

 now remember the details of the point in question, 

 only that it was about something that would have 

 added a good bit to the expense for the sake of 

 external appearance ; and I wound up my objections 

 by saying with some warmth : " My house is to be 

 built for me to live in and to love ; it is not to be 

 built as an exposition of architectonic inutility ! " I 

 am not in the habit of using long words, and as these 

 poured forth like a rushing torrent under the pressm'e 

 of fear of overdoing the cost, I learnt, from the archi- 

 tect's crushed and somewhat frightened demeanour, 

 that long words certainly have their use, if only as 

 engines of warfare of the nature of the battering-ram. 



B 



