nowhere in the evening."

"Which reminds me that I can't remember whether I accepted an
invitation from you to dine at Kettner's to-night."

"On the other hand, I can remember with startling
distinctness not having asked you to."

"So much certainty is unbecoming in the young; so we'll
consider that settled. What were you talking about? Oh,
pictures. Personally, I rather like them; they are so
refreshingly real and probable, they take one away from the
unrealities of life."

"One likes to escape from oneself occasionally."

"That is the disadvantage of a portrait; as a rule, one's
bitterest friends can find nothing more to ask than the
faithful unlikeness that goes down to posterity as oneself.
I hate posterity--it's so fond of having the last word. Of
course, as regards portraits, there are exceptions."

"For instance?"

"To die before being painted by Sargent is to go to heaven
prematurely."

"With the necessary care and impatience, you may avoid that
catastrophe."