"But my father has complained to you," said Mademoiselle Noemie.

"He says you are a coquette."

"He shouldn't go about saying such things to gentlemen! But you don't
believe it."

"No," said Newman gravely, "I don't believe it."

She looked at him again, gave a shrug and a smile, and then pointed to a
small Italian picture, a Marriage of St. Catherine. "How should you like
that?" she asked.

"It doesn't please me," said Newman. "The young lady in the yellow dress
is not pretty."

"Ah, you are a great connoisseur," murmured Mademoiselle Noemie.

"In pictures? Oh, no; I know very little about them."

"In pretty women, then."

"In that I am hardly better."

"What do you say to that, then?" the young girl asked, indicating a
superb Italian portrait of a lady. "I will do it for you on a smaller
scale."

"On a smaller scale? Why not as large as the original?"