whose modesty forbade him to answer the question directly. 'I saw some
lovely landscapes, and there were some babies' frocks,' he added
satirically. 'In one of these pictures I saw a rattle painted to
perfection.'

'Ah, yes, yes! You don't like the pettiness of family feeling dragged
into art; but if you only condescend to take a little more notice of the
craft--the craft is, after all--'

'I am carried along too rapidly by my feelings. I feel that I must get
my idea on canvas. But when I was in London I saw such a lovely
woman--one of the most exquisite creatures possible to imagine! Oh, so
sweet, and so feminine! I have it all in my head. I shall do something
like her to-morrow.'

Here he began to sketch with his stick in the dust, and from his face it
might be judged he was satisfied with the invisible result. At last he
said:

'You needn't say anything about it, but she sent me some songs, with
accompaniments written for the guitar. You shall hear some of the songs
to-night. . . . Ah, there is the dinner-bell!'

Olive was placed next to Milord, and the compliments paid to her by the
old courtier delighted her. She pretended to understand when he said:
'_La femme est comme une ombre: si vous la suives, elle vous fuit; si
vous fuyez, elle vous poursuit_.' A little later the champagne she had
drunk set her laughing hysterically, and she begged him to translate (he
had just whispered to her mother, '_L'amour est la conscience du plaisir
donné et reçu, la certitude de donner et de recevoir_'); and he would