t
mysterious manner, when he might have been admitted to where they were
talking without any trouble at all. What could Ladywell have to say, as
an acquaintance calling upon her for a few minutes, that he was not to
hear? Indeed, if it came to that, what right had Ladywell to call upon
her at all, even though she were a widow, and to some extent chartered to
live in a way which might be considered a trifle free if indulged in by
other young women. This was the first time that he himself had ventured
into her house on that very account--a doubt whether it was quite proper
to call, considering her youth, and the fertility of her position as
ground for scandal. But no sooner did he arrive than here was Ladywell
blundering in, and, since this conjunction had occurred on his first
visit, the chances were that Ladywell came very often.

Julian walked up and down the room, every moment expanding itself to a
minute in his impatience at the delay and vexation at the cause. After
scrutinizing for the fifth time every object on the walls as if afflicted
with microscopic closeness of sight, his hands under his coat-tails, and
his person jigging up and down upon his toes, he heard her coming up the
stairs. When she entered the apartment her appearance was decidedly that
of a person subsiding after some little excitement.

'I did not calculate upon being so long,' she said sweetly, at the same
time throwing back her face and smiling. 'But I--was longer than I
expected.'

'It seemed rather long,' said Christopher gloomily, 'but I don't mind
it.'

'I am glad of that,' said Ethelberta.

'As you asked me to stay, I was very pleased to do so, and always should
be; but I think that now I will wish you good-bye.'

'You are not vexed with me?' she said, looking quite into his face. 'Mr.
Ladywell is nobody, you know.'

'Nobody?'

'Well, he is not much, I mean. The case is, that I am sitting to him for
a subject in which my face is to be used--otherwise than as a
portrait--and he called about it.'

'May I say,' said Christopher, 'that if you want yourself painted, you
are ill-advised not to let it be done by a man who knows how to use the
brush a little?'

'O, he can paint!' said Ethelberta, rather warmly. 'His last picture was
excellent, I think. It was greatly talked about.'

'I imagined you to say that he was a mere nobody!'

'Yes, but--how provoking you are!--nobody, I mean, to talk to. He is a
true artist, neve