They come here a great deal in summer and if I were to do the work wrong they would put my name in the papers as a dreadful person.
But I must live here, as I have no other house, except the one in London, and hence I must make the place habitable.

I do hope I can trust to your judgment ?' 'I hope so,' he said, with diffidence, for, far from having much professional confidence, he often mistrusted himself.

'I am a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a Member of the Institute of British Architects--not a Fellow of that body yet, though I soon shall be.' 'Then I am sure you must be trustworthy,' she said, with enthusiasm.
'Well, what am I to do ?--How do we begin ?' Somerset began to feel more professional, what with the business chair and the table, and the writing-paper, notwithstanding that these articles, and the room they were in, were hers instead of his; and an evenness of manner which he had momentarily lost returned to him.

'The very first step,' he said, 'is to decide upon the outlay--what is it to cost ?' He faltered a little, for it seemed to disturb the softness of their relationship to talk thus of hard cash.

But her sympathy with his feeling was apparently not great, and she said, 'The expenditure shall be what you advise.' 'What a heavenly client!' he thought.