the place where Milly and I were sitting.

'Any more sketching since I was here last, Miss Darrell?' he asked.

'No. I have been doing nothing for the last day or two.'

'Do you know I have been thinking of your work in that way a good
deal since I called here. I am stronger in criticism than in
execution, you know. I think I was giving you a little lecture on
your shortcomings, wasn't I?'

'Yes; but you left off so abruptly in the middle of it, that I don't
fancy it was very profitable to me,' Milly answered in rather a
piqued tone.

'Did I really? O yes, I remember. I was quite startled by Mrs.
Darrell's appearance. She is so surprisingly like a lady I knew a
long time ago.'

'That is rather a curious coincidence,' I said.

'How a coincidence?' asked Mr. Egerton.

'Mrs. Darrell said almost the same thing about your portrait when we
were at Cumber one day. It reminded her of some one she had known
long ago.'

'What an excellent memory you have for small events, Miss Crofton!'
said a voice close behind me.