samund
was summoned from Egypt. With all speed she travelled to St. Jean de
Luz. When she arrived, her father was no longer in danger; but there
seemed no hope of his being able to return to England for some months,
so Rosamund remained with him and her sister, and was soon writing to
her friend at Walham Green in a strain of revived enthusiasm for the
country of the Basques. A postscript to one of these letters, written
in the middle of May, ran as follows: "I hear that N. F. has a picture
in the Academy called 'A Ministering Angel,' and that it promises to be
one of the most popular of the year. Have you seen it?" To this,
Rosamund's correspondent was able to reply that she had seen "N.F's"
picture, and that it certainly was a good deal talked about; she added
no opinion as to the merits of the painting, and, in her next letter,
Miss Elvan left the subject untouched. Bertha was glad of this. "A
Ministering Angel" seemed to her by no means a very remarkable
production, and she liked much better to say nothing about it than to
depreciate the painter; for to do this would have been like seeking to
confirm Rosamund in her attitude towards Norbert Franks, which was not
at all Bertha's wish.

A few weeks later, Rosamund returned to the topic. "N. F's picture,"
she wrote, "is evidently a great success--and you can imagine how I
feel about it. I saw it, you remember, at an early stage, when he
called it 'The Slummer,' and you remember too, the effect it had upon
me. Oh, Bertha, this is nothing less than a soul's tragedy! When I
think what he used to be, what I hoped of him, what he hoped for
himself! Is it not dreadful that he should have fallen so low, and in
so short a time! A popular success! Oh, the shame of it, the bitter
shame!"

At this point, the reader's smile threatened laughter. But, feeling
sure that her friend, if guilty of affectation, was quite unconscious
of it, she composed her face to read gravely on.

"A soul's tragedy, Bertha, and _I_ the cause of it One can see now, but
too well, what is before him. All his hardships are over, and all his
struggles. He will become a popular painter--one of those whose name is
familiar to the crowd, like--" instances were cited. "I can say, with
all earnestness, that I had rather have seen him starved to death.
Poor, poor N. F.! Something whispers to me that perhaps I was always
under an illusion about him. _Could_ he so rapidly sink to this, if he
were indeed the man