His admiration for Jane had been based originally on her essential
qualities; certainly he had received no quickening impulse, at the
beginning, from a contemplation of her mere exterior. He had looked upon
her as a valuable text put at a disadvantage by an unprepossessing
binding. But now there came the issue of a new edition, in a tastefully
designed cover, with additions and corrections, with extra illustrations,
too--illustrations of a startling social aptitude; and with even a hint
of illumination--the illumination that comes from the consciousness
of a noble purpose. Brower now began to feel, with a rising pride and
pleasure, that Jane was at last doing herself the fullest justice.
Jane, in the meanwhile, with no thought of a possible competition between
rival collectors for a certain rare old volume, was helping Tom Bingham
to build the new house. She went out southward two or three times a week,
and carried a tape-line with her. As she once explained it to Bingham:
"You can't be too sure of having things right at the start." So she
measured the foundations with her tape-line when the distances were
short, and paced them off when they were long. She kept a close eye on
the work through each advancing stage, and saw that it was good.
One Sunday morning in mid-May, Jane took the street-car--one of those
leisurely green ones that run to the Old People's Home--and went out to
satisfy herself that the first courses of dressed stone were going into
place as they should.
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