ot want to see a nice
and interesting boy make a fool of himself. Yet Craven was on the verge
of doing that, if he had not already done it. Lady Wrackley and Mrs.
Ackroyde had seen how things were, had taken in the whole situation in
a moment. Miss Van Tuyn knew that, and in her knowledge there was
bitterness. These two women had seen Lady Sellingworth preferred before
her by a mere boy, had seen her beauty and youth go for nothing beside a
woman of sixty's fascination.

There must be something quite extraordinary in Craven. He must be
utterly unlike other young men. She began to wonder about him intensely.

On the following morning, as usual, she went to Glebe Place to take what
she had called her "lesson" from Dick Garstin. She arrived rather early,
a few minutes before eleven, and found Garstin alone, looking tired and
irritable.

"You look as if you had been up all night," she said as he let her in.

"So I have!"

She did not ask him what he had been doing. He would probably refuse to
tell her. Instead she remarked:

"Will you be able to paint?"

"Probably not. But perhaps the fellow won't come."

"Why not. He always--" She stopped; then said quickly, "So he was up all
night too?"

"Yes."

"I didn't know you knew him out of the studio."

"Of course I know him wherever I meet him. What do you mean?"

"I didn't know you did meet him."

Garstin said nothing. She turned and went up the staircase to the big
studio. On an easel nearly in the middle of the room, and not very far
from the portrait of the judge, there was a sketch of Nicolas Arabian's
head, neck and shoulders. No collar or clothes were shown. Garstin had
told Arabian flatly that he wasn't going to paint a magnificent torso
like his concealed by infernal linen and serge, and Arabian had been
quite willing that his neck and shoulders should be painted in the nude.

In the strong light of the studio Garstin's unusual appearance of
fatigue was more noticeable, and Miss Van Tuyn could not help saying:

"What on earth have you been doing, Dick? You always seem made of iron.
But to-day you look like an ordinary man who has been dissipating."

"I played poker all night," said Garstin.

"With Arabian?"

"And two other fellows--picked them up at the Cafe Royal."

"Well, I hope you won."

"No, I didn't. Both Arabian and I lost a lot. We played here."

"Here!"

"Yes. And I haven't had a wink since they left. I don't suppose he'll
turn up. An