“Yes,” said Philip, “but it’s at my hotel. It’s good for a week, but I didn’t bring it to-day”; and he went on to explain just how matters stood, offering to do whatever was right. “But,” he said, “I’ll tell you one thing—I don’t want to pay two dollars just to carry this camera through the grounds on a cloudy day at five o’clock.”
THE WHALEBACK.
UPPER DECK.
“I should think not!” said the man, laughing good-humoredly. “I’ll find the inspector and see what he says”; and he walked out along the dock. In a few moments he came back saying, “It’s all right; take it in. The inspector says he couldn’t let you if it wasn’t after four o’clock. You won’t try for any pictures?”
“No,” said Philip, much relieved; and away he went, feeling that honesty was the best policy.
Walking through the Court of Honor just at dusk, they were again delighted with the appearance of the buildings in the soft evening light. The Peristyle was especially artistic, for they saw through the columns the heavy, curling black smoke of the “Whaleback,” as she set out on her return trip to the city. The gilt decorations upon graceful Machinery Hall shone brightly, and they had to stop and gaze around them with renewed delight.
THE WHALEBACK.
LOWER DECK.
“Perhaps it is just as well that these buildings are not to be permanent,” Mr. Douglass remarked, as they walked on. “We like them all the better for knowing that they are, after all, mere bubbles of staff, blown to delight the eyes for a little while. The architect whom we met on the coach said to me, ‘Somebody hit the nail on the head when he called these Fair buildings an architectural spree—it has been a bit of fun for the architects to show in plaster what they could do in marble; but why can’t some of our cities make a similar smaller show in marble—say an ornamental building like this Peristyle, around a harbor?’”
When they asked for the keys of their rooms, Mr. Douglass received also a letter. “Ah!” he said, “here’s the letter from your father, Harry. Come up into my room and we will read it.” The letter was as follows: