set out upon it.
Charity was commenting upon this ensemble as Val entered.

"Doesn't this red and green plaid seem a bit--well, bright?" The corners
of her mouth twitched betrayingly.

"No," Ricky returned firmly. "This cloth matches the ducks."

"Oh, yes, the ducks," Charity eyed them. "So you consider that the ducks
are the note you wish to emphasize?"

"Certainly." Ricky surveyed the picture hanging opposite her. "I
consider them unique. Not everyone can have ducks in the dining-room
nowadays."

"For which they should be eternally thankful," observed Rupert. "They
are rather gaudy, aren't they?"

"Oh, but I like the expression in this one's glassy eye," Ricky pointed
out. "You might call this study 'Gone But Not Forgotten.'"

"Corn-bread, please," Val asked, thus attempting to put an end to the
art-appreciation class.

"I think," continued Ricky, undisturbed as she passed him the plate
heaped with golden squares, "that they are slightly surrealist. They
distinctly resemble the sort of things one is often pursued by in one's
brighter nightmares."

"Do you have any really good pictures?" asked Charity, resolutely
averting her gaze from the ducks.

"Three, but they've been loaned to the museum," answered Rupert. "Not by
well-known painters, but they're historically interesting. There's one
of the first Lady Richanda, and one of the missing Rick. That's the best
of the lot, according to LeFleur. I saw a photograph of it once. Come to
think about it, Val looks a lot like the boy in the picture. He might
have sat for it."

They all turned to eye Val. He arose and bowed. "I find these
compliments too overwhelming," he murmured.

Rupert grinned. "And how do you know that that remark was intended as a
compliment?"

"Naturally I assumed so," his brother retorted with a dignity which
disappeared as the piece of corn-bread in his hand broke in two, the
larger and more liberally buttered portion falling butter side down on
the table. Ricky smiled in a pained sort of way as she attempted to
judge from her side of the table just how much damage Val's awkwardness
had done.

"If you were the graceful hostess," he informed her severely, "you would
now throw your piece in the middle to show that anyone could suffer a
like mishap."

Ricky changed the subject hurriedly by passing beans to Charity.

"So Val looks like the ghost," Charity said a moment later. "Now I will
have to go to town and see that portrait. Just