ch other by strips of thin cork at the
corners, and they made a clumsy bundle. I had not looked at my client's
card until now. Whilst he gave his directions to the landlady I took
it up, and learned that his name was John Gregory; and that he lived
in Westbourne Terrace. When my landlady had gone, he spoke to me, with
another glance round the room.

'Been hard up?' he asked.

'I have been totally without money,' I answered him frankly, for I began
to understand him.

'These things belong to you?' he asked again, waving his hand at the
piano and the violin and the violoncello.

'Yes,' I answered.

'Why didn't you sell 'em? Better than starving.'

'I would sooner starve than part with any of them,' I told him.

He turned sharply upon me.

'Why?'

'My mother played them.' There seemed no reason, for all his brusquerie,
why I should not tell him this.

'Didn't play the fiddle, did she?' 'Divinely,' I told him.

'And the 'cello?' 'Yes.'

'Singular,' he said. 'Oh, ah, foreign lady. Yes, of course. Not at all
remarkable. Good morning. Don't forget the Fridays. Glad to see you.'

As he was going out he caught sight of the portfolio of sketches. He
stopped and turned them over without remark or apology until he came to
one which pleased him. It was a large sketch, sixteen inches by twelve,
in water-colour, and had some little finish. He held it up and took it
to the light.

'I meant to say just now, but I forgot it, he said, turning the picture
upside down and looking at it so--'I meant to tell you that you're
making a mistake in painting so small. A larger canvas would suit your
style. Let me have this, now, in oil. Say eighty by sixty. Give you
fifty pounds for it. What do you say?'

What was I likely to say? I told him I would do my best.

'_I_ know that,' he answered. 'Couldn't help it. Good morning.'

This time he really went away. I was confounded by my good fortune. I
scarcely knew what had happened, until my landlady came upstairs again
and asked me if she should get me something to eat. Then I remembered
that I was ravenous. She brought me eggs and ham and coffee; and when I
had finished breakfast I despatched her for a portmanteau which lay in
the care of my estimable uncle, and for certain parcels of clothing and
boots and jewellery. Twenty-three pounds went in this way. I spread my
clothing about the room to freshen it after its long confinement. Then I
dressed, and was delighted to feel once mo