ing to go home.

"Three more strokes," he said, quietly, "and you will have finished your
picture. I shall never finish mine; perhaps you will be good enough to
set it right for me. I am not coming here again. I don't seem to have
caught the true expression; what do you think? But I am not going to let
it worry me, for I am sure you will promise to do your best for me. See,
I will hand over these colours and these brushes to you, and no doubt
you will accept the palette as well. I have no further use for it."

Helen Stanley took the palette which he held out toward her, and looked
at him as though she would wish to question him.

"It is very hot here," he continued, "and I am going out. I am tired of
work."

He hesitated, and then added, "I should like you to come with me, if you
can spare the time."

She packed up her things at once, and the two friends moved slowly away,
he gazing absently at the pictures, and she wondering in her mind as to
the meaning of his strange mood.

When they were on the steps inside the building, he turned to Helen
Stanley and said:

"I should like to go back to the pictures once more. I feel as if I must
stand among them just a little longer. They have been my companions for
so long that they are almost part of myself. I can close my eyes and
recall them faithfully. But I want to take a last look at them; I want
to feel once more the presence of the great masters, and to refresh my
mind with their genius. When I look at their work I think of their life,
and can only wonder at their death. It was so strange that they should
die."

They went back together, and he took her to his favourite pictures, but
remained speechless before them, and she did not disturb his thoughts.
At last he said:

"I am ready to go. I have said farewell to them all. I know nothing
more wonderful than being among a number of fine pictures. It is almost
overwhelming. Once expects nature to be grand, but one does not expect
man to be grand."

"You know we don't agree there," she answered. "_I_ expect everything
grand and great from man."

They went out of the gallery, and into Trafalgar Square. It was a
scorching afternoon in August, but there was some cooling comfort in
seeing the dancing water of the fountains sparkling so brightly in the
sunshine.

"Do you mind stopping here a few minutes?" he said. "I should like to
sit down and watch. There is so much to see."

She led the way to a seat, one end o