with them at the entrance that he might himself go back and look at two
or three things in the sculpture room which he had been told were
important and promising. There he came across the American, Edward
Wallace, who at once took him by the arm with the manner of an old friend
and a little burst of laughter.

'So you saw the introduction? What a man is Forbes! He is as young still
as he was at eighteen. I envy him. He took Miss Bretherton right round,
talked to her of all his favourite hobbies, looked at her in a way which
would have been awkward if it had been anybody else but such a
gentlemanly maniac as Forbes, and has almost made her promise to sit to
him. Miss Bretherton was a little bewildered, I think. She is so new to
London that she doesn't know who's who yet in the least. I had to take
her aside and explain to her Forbes's honours; then she fired up--there
is a naïve hero-worship about her just now that she is fresh from a
colony--and made herself as pleasant to him as a girl could be. I
prophesy Forbes will think of nothing else for the season.'

'Well, she's a brilliant creature,' said Kendal. 'It's extraordinary how
she shone out beside the pretty English girls about her. It is an
intoxicating possession for a woman, such beauty as that; it's like
royalty; it places the individual under conditions quite unlike those of
common mortals. I suppose it's that rather than any real ability as an
actress that has made her a success? I noticed the papers said as
much--some more politely than others.'

'Oh, she's not much of an actress; she has no training, no _finesse_. But
you'll see, she'll be the great success of the season. She has wonderful
grace on the stage, and a fine voice in spite of tricks. And then her
_Wesen_ is so attractive; she is such a frank, unspoilt, good-hearted