From the window of his dressing-room he could see them talking together

in the little court below. He hurried on with his shaving, cutting his

chin twice. He heard them laugh, and thought to himself: "Well, they get

on all right, anyway!"

As he expected, Bosinney had come round to fetch him to look at the

plans.

He took his hat and went over.

The plans were spread on the oak table in the architect's room; and

pale, imperturbable, inquiring, Soames bent over them for a long time

without speaking.

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He said at last in a puzzled voice:

"It's an odd sort of house!"

A rectangular house of two stories was designed in a quadrangle round a

covered-in court. This court, encircled by a gallery on the upper floor,

was roofed with a glass roof, supported by eight columns running up from

the ground.

It was indeed, to Forsyte eyes, an odd house.

"There's a lot of room cut to waste," pursued Soames.

Bosinney began to walk about, and Soames did not like the expression on

his face.

"The principle of this house," said the architect, "was that you should

have room to breathe--like a gentleman!"

Soames extended his finger and thumb, as if measuring the extent of the

distinction he should acquire; and replied:

"Oh! yes; I see."

The peculiar look came into Bosinney's face which marked all his

enthusiasms.

"I've tried to plan you a house here with some self-respect of its own.

If you don't like it, you'd better say so. It's certainly the last

thing to be considered--who wants self-respect in a house, when you can

squeeze in an extra lavatory?" He put his finger suddenly down on the

left division of the centre oblong: "You can swing a cat here. This is

for your pictures, divided from this court by curtains; draw them

back and you'll have a space of fifty-one by twenty-three six. This

double-faced stove in the centre, here, looks one way towards the court,

one way towards the picture room; this end wall is all window; You've

a southeast light from that, a north light from the court. The rest of

your pictures you can hang round the gallery upstairs, or in the other

rooms." "In architecture," he went on--and though looking at Soames he

did not seem to see him, which gave Soames an unpleasant feeling--"as

in life, you'll get no self-respect without regularity. Fellows tell you

that's old fashioned. It appears to be peculiar any way; it never occurs

to us to embody the main principle of life in our buildings; we load

our houses with decoration, gimcracks, corners, anything to distract the

eye. On the contrary the eye should rest; get your effects with a few

strong lines. The whole thing is regularity there's no self-respect

without it."




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