"I lose myself--"

"Where?"

"In your eyes, Madame. One, two, three, four--are you sure a tiger has
only four claws? Where is the creature's thumb--what do you call it? It
looks awkward."

"The dew-claw?" asked Orsino. "It is higher up, behind the paw. You
would hardly see it in the skin."

"But a cat has five claws," said Madame d'Aragona. "Is not a tiger a
cat? We must have the thing right, you know, if it is to be done at
all."

"Has a cat five claws?" asked Anastase, appealing anxiously to Orsino.

"Of course, but you would only see four on the skin."

"I insist upon knowing," said Madame d'Aragona. "This is dreadful! Has
no one got a tiger? What sort of studio is this--with no tiger!"

"I am not Sarah Bernhardt, nor the emperor of Siam," observed Gouache,
with a laugh.

But Madame d'Aragona was not satisfied.

"I am sure you could procure me one, Prince," she said, turning to
Orsino. "I am sure you could, if you would! I shall cry if I do not have