ight."

"I wish you wouldn't use that horrible word, Felicity," he groaned.

"What horrible word?"

"Artistic."

"Sorry, Papa; I forgot. On the other hand," she continued unabashed, "if
you show him anything that _isn't_ it causes him terrible suffering. He
will cover his eyes with one hand and shoo it away with the other."

"You mustn't mind my little daughter's nonsense," he said. "Someone told
her the other day she had a sense of humour. It was a great mistake."

"That's one up to you, Papa," she returned cheerfully; "but before the
House adjourns I should like to move that we all go to the Academy this
afternoon."

"I should love it," I replied, "but I'm afraid I must get back to work."

"Do you _work_?" she exclaimed with rapture. "How frightfully exciting."

***

At a Flapper dance in the evening I met Felicity again and she gave me
the second "Hesitation Waltz." Afterwards she led me to some nice basket
chairs in the conservatory.

"Well, did the Academy come off?" I asked.

"Did it come off?" said Felicity. "I should say so. It was the nicest
afternoon I've had for weeks. You _ought_ to have been there."

"I suppose your father was in hot form criticising the pictures?"

"Hush," she whispered, holding her finger to her lips. "Papa as an Art
critic is temporarily under a cloud. I'll tell you. It came about in
this way: Papa is a great admirer of Sargent, and to-day he was in a
particularly Sargentesque mood. 'The great drawback to the Academy,' he
said, as we were setting forth, 'is that the Sargents are spoiled by the
other pictures. The huge mass of these all over the place entirely
destroys one's perceptions of colour value. What I should like to do
would be to see only the Sargents, turning a blind eye meanwhile to the
other paintings.'"

"'You ought to wear blinkers,' I suggested.

"He was all for it at once.

"'That's a capital idea, Felicity.'

"'Then you'll go by yourself, Papa,' I said. 'I'll do some shopping and
call for you at the police station on the way home.'

"Well, he abandoned the blinker idea eventually, but stuck to his scheme
for concentrating on Sargent, and suddenly I saw how the afternoon might
be made both amusing and instructive. So I said, 'There's one thing
that's rather pleasing, Papa. You won't have to buy a catalogue, because
I've got one. Some people I had tea with yesterday gave me theirs, and
I'll bring it if you like.'"

She looked at me mischievo