come at the same hour on
Tuesday?"

"Yes," she said, and laughed. "Good-bye, Mrs. Paxton. So nice to meet
you."

Jane bowed silently. Adieux followed and their voices trailed off down
the hall.

"Damned snobs!" remarked Bobs.

"I thought they behaved very well," said Jerry haughtily.

"Thank God I don't have to cater to them. You were just right, Jane.
Kept them where they belonged."

"I'm afraid I was a failure. They didn't seem real to me. They were like
people on the stage. I couldn't talk to them."

"You were all right. They were crazy about you," said Jerry.

Jane laughed at that and startled them both. She laughed so rarely.

"If I were Mrs. Jerry Paxton, I'd tell 'em to go plumb to ----. He could
just manage them himself."

"Free woman!" taunted Jerry.

"You were a dear to come. I know it bored you," Jane interrupted.

"You didn't need me," said Bobs, as she left.

Jane sighed, and went to the dismantled table. Jerry, idly smoking,
watched her.

"Where did you get the grand air, Jane?"

"Have I it?"

"You certainly have. It's a great thing for a beginner.... Two
portraits, and of those two women. It is a very good start indeed, Mrs.
Jerome Paxton."

"I'm glad."

"Do you want to be rich, Jane?"

"No. I think it hampers people."

"How?"

"Things collect and get to be important. Possessions smother you. Oh!
no, I should hate to be rich."

"Jane, I sometimes feel as if I had married a female Bernard Shaw!"

Again she laughed, and he noticed it was a pleasant sound.

CHAPTER XIV

The day of Mrs. Brendon's first sitting began a new era for Jane. As
soon as the studio was in order, on the morning she was expected, Jane
appeared in hat and coat, ready for the street.

"Aren't you going to stay to receive Mrs. Brendon?" Jerry asked, faintly
aggrieved.

"Why, no. It is scarcely necessary, is it? I have some other things to
do."

"Just as you like, of course."

She nodded to him, and went out. Once on the street, she drew a deep
breath, and turned her steps into an old and frequent walk, across the
square to the crooked street, where grew the model tenement, where Jane
Judd had spent her nights for so many years. She climbed the stairs
gaily, and found Mrs. Biggs at home.

"I got yer letter," she said, after a cordial greeting, "and I ain't
done nuthin' to the room, just like you told me."

"Thanks. I mean to keep it for awhile, Mrs. Biggs, to store some of my
things in.