"
"That's so!" said Mrs. Lapham. Her husband merely made
a noise in his throat.
"Then, were you thinking of having your parlours together,
connected by folding doors?" asked the architect deferentially.
"Yes, of course," said Lapham. "They're always so,
ain't they?"
"Well, nearly," said the architect. "I was wondering
how would it do to make one large square room at the front,
taking the whole breadth of the house, and, with this
hall-space between, have a music-room back for the
young ladies?"
Lapham looked helplessly at his wife, whose quicker
apprehension had followed the architect's pencil
with instant sympathy. "First-rate!" she cried.
The Colonel gave way. "I guess that would do.
It'll be kind of odd, won't it?"
"Well, I don't know," said the architect. "Not so odd,
I hope, as the other thing will be a few years from now."
He went on to plan the rest of the house, and he showed
himself such a master in regard to all the practical
details that Mrs. Lapham began to feel a motherly affection
for the young man, and her husband could not deny in his
heart that the fellow seemed to understand his business.
He stopped walking about the room, as he had begun to
do when the architect and Mrs. Lapham entered into the
particulars of closets, drainage, kitchen arrangements,
and all that, and came back to the table.
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