" said Mrs. Copley, "haven't they learned here _yet_ to turn the
front of their houses to the street?"

"Perhaps they never will," said Lawrence. "Why should they?"

"Because things ought to be right, if it is only the fronts of houses,"
said the lady.

"I wouldn't mind which _way_ they looked, if they would only hold up
straight," said Rupert. "What ails the town?"

"Bad soil, most likely," returned Lawrence. "The foundations of Holland
are moral, not physical."

"What do you mean by that?" said Mrs. Copley. "I am sure they have
plenty of money. Is this the cathedral we are coming to?"

"St. Jans Kirk ."

"Well, if that's all!--It isn't handsome a bit!"

"It's real homely, that's a fact," said Rupert.

"You came to see the glass windows," said Lawrence. "Let us go in, and
then pass judgment."

They went in, and then a low exclamation from Rupert was all that was
heard. The ladies were absolutely mute before the blaze of beauty that
met them.

"Well!" said Rupert after a pause of deep silence--"now I know what
folks mean when they say something 'beats the Dutch.' That beats all
_I_ ever saw!--hollow."

"But how delicious!" exclaimed Dolly. "The work is so delicate. And oh,
the colours! Mother, do you see that purple? Who is the person
represented there, Mr. St. Leger?"

"That is Philip the Second. And it is not likely, I may remark, that
any Dutchman painted it. That broken window was given to the church by
Philip."

"Who did paint it, then?"

"I cannot say, really."

"What a pity it is broken!"

"But the others are mostly in very good keeping. Come on--here is the
Duke of Alva."

"If I were a Dutch woman, I would break that," said Dolly.

"No, you wouldn't. Consider--he serves as an adornment of the city
here. Breaking his effigy would not be breaking _him_, Miss Dolly."

"It must be a very strange thing to live in an old country," said
Dolly. "I mean, if you belong to it. Just look at these windows!--How
old is the work itself, Mr. St. Leger?"

"I am not wise in such things;--I should say it must date from the best
period of the art. I believe it is said so."

"And when was that?"

"Really, I don't know; a good while ago, Miss Dolly."

"Philip II. came to reign about the middle of the sixteenth century,"
Rupert remarked.

"Exactly," St. Leger said, looking annoyed.

"Well, sir," Rupert went on, "I would like to ask you one thing--can't
they paint as good a glass window now as they c