y, and with ardent reverence, to Moor,
whose fellow-pupil he had been in Florence and Venice. During the
Netherlander's first visit to Madrid, he had not disdained to seek
counsel and instruction from his senior, and even now frequently visited
his studio, bringing with him his children Sanchez and Isabella as
pupils, and watched the Master closely while he painted.

At first Ulrich was not specially pleased with his new companions, for
in the strangely visionary life he led, he had depended solely upon
himself and "Fortune," and the figures living in his imagination were
the most enjoyable society to him.

Formerly he had drawn eagerly in the morning, joyously anticipated
Sophonisba's visit, and then gazed out over his paper and dreamed.
How delightful it had been to let his thoughts wander to his heart's
content. This could now be done no longer.

So it happened, that at first he could feel no real confidence in
Sanchez, who was three years his senior, for the latter's thin limbs
and close-cut dark hair made him look exactly like dark-browed Xaver.
Therefore his relations with Isabella were all the more friendly.

She was scarcely fourteen, a dear little creature, with awkward limbs,
and a face so wonderfully changeful in expression, that it could not
fail to be by turns pretty and repellent. She always had beautiful eyes;
all her other features were unformed, and might grow charming or
exactly the reverse. When her work engrossed her attention, she bit her
protruded tongue, and her raven-black hair, usually remarkably smooth,
often became so oddly dishevelled, that she looked like a kobold; when,
on the other hand, she talked pleasantly or jested, no one could help
being pleased.

The child was rarely gifted, and her method of working was an exact
contrast to that of the German lad. She progressed slowly, but finally
accomplished something admirable; what Ulrich impetuously began had a
showy, promising aspect, but in the execution the great idea shrivelled,
and the work diminished in merit instead of increasing.

Sanchez Coello remained far behind the other two, but to make amends, he
knew many things of which Ulrich's uncorrupted soul had no suspicion.

Little Isabella had been given by her mother, for a duenna, a watchful,
ill-tempered widow, Senora Catalina, who never left the girl while she
remained with Moor's pupils.

Receiving instruction with others urged Ulrich to rivalry, and also
improved his know