here were dark patches under
the eyes; the discipline of the hair had been rather gravely neglected.
In front of George lay a number of large plans, mounted on thick
cardboard, whose upper surface had a slight convex curve. There were
plans of the basement of the projected town hall, of the ground floor,
of the building at a height of twelve feet from the ground, of the
mezzanine floor, of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth floors;
these plans were coloured. Further, in plain black and white, there were
a plan of the roof (with tower), a longitudinal section on the central
axis, two other sections, three elevations, and a perspective view of
the entire edifice. Seventeen sheets in all.

The sum of work seemed tremendous; it made the mind dizzy; it made
George smile with terrible satisfaction at his own industry. For he had
engaged very little help. He would have been compelled to engage more,
had not the Corporation extended by one month the time for sending in.
The Corporation had behaved with singular enlightenment. Its schedules
of required accommodation (George's copy was scored over everywhere in
pencil and ink and seriously torn) were held to be admirably drawn, and
its supplementary circular of answers to questions from competitors had
displayed a clarity and a breadth of mind unusual in corporations.
Still more to the point, the Corporation had appointed a second assessor
to act with Sir Hugh Corver. In short, it had shown that it was under no
mandarin's thumb, and that what it really and seriously wanted was the
best design that the profession could produce. Mr. Enwright, indeed, had
nearly admitted regret at having kept out of the immense affair. John
Orgreave had expressed regret with vigour and candour. They had in the
main left George alone, though occasionally at night Mr. Enwright, in
the little room, had suggested valuable solutions of certain problems.
In detail he was severely critical of George's design, and he would pour
delicate satires upon the idiosyncrasy which caused the wilful boy to
'impurify' (a word from Enwright's private vocabulary) a Renaissance
creation with Saracenic tendencies in the treatment of arches and
wall-spaces.

Nevertheless Mr. Enwright greatly respected the design in its entirety,
and both he and John Orgreave (who had collected by the subterranean
channels of the profession a large amount of fact and rumour about the
efforts of various competitors) opined that it