passages, out of furniture and woven stuffs, out of metal and
earthenware, she had made a home. From the lawn, in the beautiful
sadness of the autumn evening, any one might have seen and enjoyed the
sight of its high French windows, its glowing sun-blinds, its
faintly-tinted and beribboned curtains, its creepers, its glimpses of
occasional tables, tall vases, and dressing-mirrors. But Leonora, as she
sat holding the letter in her long white hand, could call up and see
the interior of every room to the most minute details. She, the
housemistress, knew her home by heart. She had thought it into
existence; and there was not a cabinet against a wall, not a rug on a
floor, not a cushion on a chair, not a knicknack on a mantelpiece, not a
plate in a rack, but had come there by the design of her brain. Without
possessing much artistic taste, Leonora had an extraordinary talent for
domestic equipment, organisation, and management. She was so interested
in her home, so exacting in her ideals, that she could never reach
finality; the place went through a constant succession of improvements;
its comfort and its attractiveness were always on the increase. And the
result was so striking that her supremacy in the woman's craft could not
be challenged. All Hillport, including her husband, bowed to it. Mrs.
Stanway's principles, schemes, methods, even her trifling dodges, were
mentioned with deep respect by the ladies of Hillport, who often
expressed their astonishment that, although the wheels of Mrs. Stanway's
household revolved with perfect smoothness, Mrs. Stanway herself
appeared never to be doing anything. That astonishment was Leonora's
pride. As her brain marshalled with ease the thousand diverse details of
the wonderful domestic machine, she could appreciate, better than any
other woman in Hillport, without vanity and without humility, the
singular excellence of her gifts and of the organism they had perfected.
And now this creation of hers, this complex structure of mellow
brick-and-mortar, and fine chattels, and nice and luxurious habit,