Jill therefore made a careful study of the first installment, not doubting that others of superior merit would be forthcoming.  She found many things to approve.  The hall promised comfort and good cheer, whether stylish or not.  The vista across through the parlor bay and the wide library window would give a pleasant freedom and breadth.  The stairs were well placed, the second landing with its window of stained glass being especially attractive, whether as a point of observation or as a cosy retreat, itself partly visible from the hall below.  Every chamber had a closet of its own, not to mention several extra ones, and there was a place for every bed.

“As for your sanctum, Jack, I don’t at all approve.  It will be hard enough, I’ve no doubt, to keep you from lapsing into barbarism, and I shall never allow you to set up a den, a regular Bluebeard’s room, all by yourself.  I promise never to put your table in order, but I wouldn’t trust the best of men with the care of a closet or a bureau-drawer for a single week, much less of an entire room with two closets, a case of drawers, a cupboard and a chimney-piece.  But the chief fault of the plan is that it doesn’t happen to suit our lot.  The entrances are not right, the outlooks are not right, the chimneys are not right.”

“Turn it around.”

“And spoil it?  No; I learned a second lesson on our journey, and it was well worth what it cost.  We shall never find a plan made for somebody else that will suit us.”

“Not good enough?”

“It isn’t a question of goodness—­it’s a question of fitness.  Neither Cousin George’s, nor any other house I ever saw, is precisely what we need.”

“Moral:  Draw your own plans.”

“We must, and we’ll begin to-morrow.”

“Why not this evening?”

“We couldn’t see.”

“Light the gas.”

“Oh, but we must make the plans out of doors on the lot.  We shall then know where every room will be, every door and especially every window.  We must fix the centre of the sitting-room in the most commanding situation, and be certain that the dining-room windows do not look straight into somebody’s wood-shed.  Then, if there are any views of blue hills and forests far away over the river, I shall be uncomfortable if we do not get the full benefit of them.”

“Don’t you expect to have anything interesting inside the house?”

“Except my husband?  Oh yes! but it would be a wicked waste of opportunities not to accept the blessings provided for us without money and without price, which only require us to stand in the right places and open our hearts and windows to receive them.”

Jill’s second lesson was indeed worth learning, even if it cost a wedding journey.  Every house must suit its own ground and fit its own household, otherwise it can neither be comfortable nor beautiful.