and, like those in the elder days of art,

'wrought with greatest care,
Each minute and hidden part,'

we should not be trembling before a black and ragged chasm in the wall,
afraid to go to bed lest the fire should break out anew and burn us in
our sleep."

"There's not the least danger. We are as safe as a barrel of gunpowder
in a mill pond. There is nothing to set us on fire. That bit of dry
wood was the key to the whole situation. We have captured that and can
make our own terms. Still, if you feel nervous we will sit up and 'talk
house' till the fire goes out."

Jill acceded to this proposal and began to discourse, taking moral
number four for a text.

"I wish it were possible," said she, "to build a house with everything
in plain sight, the chimneys, the hot-air pipes from the furnace, if
there are any, the steam pipes, the ventilators, the gas pipes, the
water pipes, the speaking tubes, the cranks and wires for the
bells--whatever really belongs to the building. They might all be
decorated if that would make them more interesting, but even if they
were quite unadorned they ought not to be ugly. If we could see them we
shouldn't feel that we are surrounded by hidden mysteries liable at any
time to explode or break loose upon us unawares. Those things that get
out of order easily ought surely to be accessible. I don't believe
there would have been half the trouble with plumbing, either in the way
of danger to health or from dishonest and ignorant work, if it had not