[_The Solemn Gentleman goes on._

_Miss P._ (_as they reach the staircase_). Now just look at this
Titian, Mr. PODBURY! RUSKIN particularly mentions it. Do note the mean
and petty folds of the drapery, and compare them with those in the
TINTORETS in there.

_Podb._ (_obediently_). Yes, I will,--a--did you mean _now_--and will
it take me long, because--

[_Miss PRENDERGAST sweeps on scornfully._

_Podb._ (_following, with a desperate effort to be intelligent_). They
don't seem to have any Fiammingoes here.

_Miss P._ (_freezingly, over her shoulder_). Any _what_, Mr. PODBURY?
Flamingoes?

_Podb._ (_confidently, having noted down the name at the Accademia on
his shirt-cuff_). No, "Ignoto Fiammingo," don't you know. I like that
chap's style--what I call thoroughly Venetian.

[_Well-informed persons in front overhear and smile._

_Miss P._ (_annoyed_). That is rather strange--because "Ignoto
Fiammingo" happens to be merely the Italian for "an unknown Fleming,"
Mr. PODBURY. [_Collapse of PODBURY._

_Bob_. (_aside to PODBURY_). You great owl, you came a cropper _that_
time! [_He and PODBURY indulge in a subdued bear-fight up the stairs,
after which they enter the Upper Hall in a state of preternatural
solemnity._

_The Solemn G._ Now what _I_ want to see, my dear, is the
ork--ork--angel that RUSKIN thinks TINTORETTO painted the day after he
saw a rook--kic--kic--kic--kingfisher.

[_BOB nudges PODBURY, who resists temptation heroically._

_Miss P._ (_reading_).... "the fig-tree which, by a curious caprice,
has golden ribs to all its leaves."--Do you see the ribs, Mr. PODBURY.

_Podb._ (_feebly_). Y--yes. I _believe_ I do. Think they grew that
sort of fig-tree formerly, or is it--a--_allegorical_?

_Miss P._ (_receiving this query in crushing silence_). The ceiling
requires careful study. Look at that oblong panel in the centre--with
the fiery serpents, which RUSKIN finely compares to "winged lampreys."
You're not looking in the right way to see them, Mr. PODBURY!

_Podb._ (_faintly_). I--I did see them--_all_ of them, on my honour I
did! But it gives me such a crick in my neck!

_Miss P._ Surely TINTORET is worth a crick in the neck. Did you
observe "the intense delight in biting expressed in their eyes?"

_Bob._ (_frivolously_). _I_ did, 'PATIA--exactly the same look I
observed last night, in a mosquito's eye.

[_PODBURY has to use his handkerchief violently._

_The Stout Lady_.