t petals were thrown back to their fullest extent, and
shone with a luminous beauty in which its very perfume seemed visible;
the countless recurved stamens shot forth with the vigorous impulse and
vitality of sun rays; from the glowing centre to the dark fringe with
which the shattered sheath still accented its radiant outline it blazed
forth, fully revealed; and its sweet breath seemed the voice of a pride
and consciousness of beauty like that of the goddess on Mount Ida,
calmly triumphant in the certainty of perfect loveliness.

Alice had grown interested in her task, and looked up for only an
instant with her frank, clear eyes as Farnham entered. "Now, where
shall I sit?" he asked. "Here, behind your right elbow, where I can
look over your shoulder and observe the work as it goes on?"

"By no means. My hand would lose all its little cunning in that case."

"Then I will sit in front of you and study the artistic emotions in
your face."

"That would be still worse, for you would hide my subject. I am sure
you are very well as you are," she added, as he seated himself in a
chair beside her, a little way off.

"Yes, that is very well. I have the flower three-quarters and you in
profile. I will study the one for a panel and the other for a medal."

Miss Alice laughed gently. She laughed often from sheer good humor,
answering the intention of what was said to her better than by words.

"Can you sketch and talk too?" asked Farnham.

"I can sketch and listen," she said. "You will talk and keep me
amused."

"Amusement with malice aforethought! The order affects my spirits like
a Dead March. How do the young men amuse young ladies nowadays? Do they
begin by saying, 'Have you been very gay lately?'"

Again Miss Alice laughed. "She is an easy-laughing girl," thought
Farnham. "I like easy-laughing girls. When she laughs, she always
blushes a very little. It is worth while talking nonsense to see a girl
laugh so pleasantly and blush so prettily."

It is not worth while, however, to repeat all the nonsense Farnham
uttered in the next hour. He got very much interested in it himself,
and was so eager sometimes to be amusing that he grew earnest, and the
gentle laugh would cease and the pretty lips would come gravely
together. Whenever he saw this he would fall back upon his trifling
again. He had the soldier's fault of point-blank compliment, but with
it an open sincerity of manner which relieved his flattery of any
off