THE MERVEILLE                                 43
ness of the architect and the thoroughness of his study, we had best
return to the great hall, and pass through a low door in its extreme
outer angle, up a few steps into a little room some thirteen feet square,
beautifully vaulted, lighted warmed by a large stone fireplace, and in
the corner, a spiral staircase leading up to another square room above
opening directly into the cloister It is a little library or charter-house.
The arrangement is almost too clever for gravity, as is the case with
more than one arrangement in the Merveille. From the outside one
can see that at this corner the architect had to provide a heavy buttress
against a double strain, and he built up from the rock below a square
corner tower as support, into which he worked a spiral staircase lead-
ing from the cellar up to the cloisters Just above the level of the great
hall he managed to construct this little room, a gem. The place was
near and far; it was quiet and central, William of Saint-Pair, had he
been still alive, might have written his " Roman" there; monks might
have illuminated missals there A few steps upward brought them to
the cloisters for meditation, a few more brought them to the church
for prayer. A few steps downward brought them to the great hall, for
business, a few steps more led them into the refectory, for dinner. To
contemplate the goodness of God was a simple joy when one had such
a room to work in; such a spot as the great hall to walk in, when the
storms blew; or the cloisters in which to meditate, when the sun shone;
such a dining-room as the refectory; and such a view from one's
windows over the infinite ocean and the guiles of Satan's quicksands.
From the battlements of Heaven, William of Saint-Pair looked down
on it with envy.
Of all parts of the Merveille, in summer, the most charming must
always have been the cloisters. Only the Abbey of the Mount was
rich and splendid enough to build a cloister like this, all in granite,
carved in forms as light as though it were wood; with columns arranged
in a peculiar triangular order that excited the admiration of Viollet-le-
Duc. "Oneof the most curious and complete cloisters that we have in