Eugène expected Paul to return to the discussion of the previous evening, and in fact, when they were going early in the morning to visit the works, Paul did not fail to throw out hints about it. But he did not know how to give his curiosity a definite shape. His cousin would not help him, but wished to give him full leisure to bring his ideas to a focus.
“Is M. Durosay a judge of architecture?” said Paul, at last.
“Well, he talks about it like a person who has some acquaintance with the art.”
“But yet you did not seem disposed to accede to what he asked.”
“What did he ask?”
“Why——you know very well what I mean——. He would have liked Marie’s house to be——more——.”
“More what?”
“More——less severe; that it should have a portico and a loggia. What is a loggia?”
“It is a wide covered balcony, most frequently closed on the two sides, but opening in front—whether on the ground floor or the upper stories—to the high road or the country.”
“And why should not a loggia be added to Marie’s house?”