thing more finished than that--even if I had to
pay extra for it.

[_A_ Superior Person _has entered the West Gallery,
accompanied by a_ Responsive Lady, _who has already grasped
the fact that a taste for Pastels is the sure sign of a
superior nature._

_The R.L._. Isn't that portrait quite wonderful! Wouldn't you take it
for an oil-painting?

_The S.P._. One might--without some experience--which is just where
it is so entirely wrong. A Pastel has no business to imitate the
_technique_ of any other medium.

_The R.L._ Oh, I think you are _so_ right. Because, after all, it _is_
only a Pastel, isn't it? and it oughtn't to pretend to be anything
else. (_She looks reproachfully at the too ambitious Pastel_.) And it
isn't as if it was _successful_, either--it won't bear being looked
into at all closely.

_The S.P._ You should never look at a Pastel closely; they are meant
to be seen from a distance.

_The R.L._ (_brightly_). Or else you miss the effect? I _quite_
see. Now, I like _this_--(_indicating a vague and streaky little
picture_)--don't you? That's what I call a _real_ Pastel.

_The S.P._ (_screwing up his eyes_). H'm! Yes. Perhaps. Clever-ish.
Suggestive.

_The R.L._ (_shocked_). Oh, _do_ you think so? I don't see anything of
_that_ kind in it--at least, I don't think it can be _intentional_.

_The S.P._ The beauty of Art _is_ to suggest, to give work for the
imagination.

_The R.L._ (_recovering herself_). I know so _exactly_ what you
mean--just as one makes all sorts of things out of the patches of damp
on an old ceiling?

_The S.P._ Hardly. I should define Damp as the product of Nature--not
_Art_.

_The R.L._ Oh, yes; if you put it in that way, of _course_! I only
meant it as an illustration--the two things are really as different
as possible. (_Changes the subject._) They don't seem to mind _what_
coloured paper they use for Pastels, do they?

_The S.P._ (_oracularly_). It is--er--always advisable in Pastels
to use a tone of paper to harmonise as nearly as possible with the
particular tone you--er--want. Because, you see, as the colour doesn't
always cover the _whole_ of the paper, if the paper which shows
through is different in tone, it--er--

_The R.L._ Won't match? I _see_. How clever! (_She arrives at a highly
eccentric composition, and ventures upon an independent opinion._) Now
I can't say I care for _that_--there's so very little done to it, and
what there is is so gl