tist talked with his host of art, and Bessie learnt that he had seen
Italy, Spain, Greece, that he had friends and patrons of distinction,
and that he had earned success enough to set him above daily cares. Mr.
Chiverton had a great opinion of his future, and there was no better
judge in the circle of art-connoisseurs.

"Mr. Christie has an exquisite taste and refinement--feelings that are
born in a man, and that no labor or pains can enable him to acquire,"
her host informed Bessie. It was these gifts that won him a commission
for a portrait of the beautiful Mrs. Chiverton, though he was not
professedly a painter of portraits.

After dinner, Miss Fairfax and he had a good talk of Beechhurst, of
Harry Musgrave, and other places and persons interesting to both. Bessie
asked after that drop-scene, at the Hampton theatre, and Mr. Christie,
in nowise shy of early reminiscences, gave her an amusing account of how
he worked at it. Then he spoke of Lady Latimer as a generous soul who
had first given him a lift, and of Mr. Carnegie as another effectual
helper. "He lent me a little money--I have long since paid it back," he
whispered to Bessie. He was still plain, but his countenance was full of
intelligence, and his air and manner were those of a perfectly simple,
cultivated, travelled gentleman. He did salaam to nobody now, for in his
brief commerce with the world he had learnt that genius has a rank of
its own to which the noblest bow, and ambition he had none beyond
excelling in his beloved art. Harry Musgrave was again, after long
separation, his comrade in London. He said that he was very fond of
Harry.

"He is my constant Sunday afternoon visitor," he told Bessie. "My
painting-room looks to the river, and he enjoys the sunshine and the
boats on the water. His own chambers are one degree less dismal than
looking down a well."

"He works very hard, does he not?--Harry used to be a prodigious
worker," said Bessie.

"Yes, he throws himself heart and soul into whatever he undertakes,
whether it be work or pleasure. If he had won that fellowship the other
day I should have been glad. It would have made him easier."

"I did not know he was trying for one. How sorry I am! It must be very
dull studying law."

"He lightens that by writing articles for some paper--reviews of books
chiefly. There are five years to be got through before he can be called
to the bar--a long probation for a young fellow in his circumstances."