d the marble counterparts been ordered and paid for
nothing would have induced him to part with the originals. Now he was
advised to sell them by auction in order that he might rival those
grotesque tradesmen whose business it is to populate the gardens of
wealthy but tasteless Britons! It was thus that the idea represented
itself to him. He simply smiled; but Sir Thomas did not fail to
appreciate the smile.

"And now about this young lady?" said Sir Thomas, not altogether in
so good a humour as he had been when he began his suggestion. "It's a
bad look out for her when, as you say, you cannot sell your work when
you've done it."

"I think you do not quite understand the matter, Sir Thomas."

"Perhaps not. It certainly does seem unintelligible that a man should
lumber himself up with a lot of things which he cannot sell. A
tradesman would know that he must get into the bankruptcy court if
he were to go on like that. And what is sauce for the goose will
be sauce for the gander also." Mr. Hamel again smiled but held his
tongue. "If you can't sell your wares how can you keep a wife?"

"My wares, as you call them, are of two kinds. One, though no doubt
made for sale, is hardly saleable. The other is done to order. Such
income as I make comes from the latter."

"Heads," suggested Sir Thomas.

"Busts they are generally called."

"Well, busts. I call them heads. They are heads. A bust, I take it,
is--well, never mind." Sir Thomas found a difficulty in defining his
idea of a bust. "A man wants to have something more or less like some
one to put up in a church and then he pays you."

"Or perhaps in his library. But he can put it where he likes when he
has bought it."

"Just so. But there ain't many of those come in your way, if I
understand right."

"Not as many as I would wish."

"What can you net at the end of the year? That's the question."

Lucy had recommended him to tell Sir Thomas everything; and he had
come there determined to tell at any rate everything referring to
money. He had not the slightest desire to keep the amount of his
income from Sir Thomas. But the questions were put to him in so
distasteful a way that he could not bring himself to be confidential.
"It varies with various circumstances, but it is very small."

"Very small? Five hundred a year?" This was ill-natured, because Sir
Thomas knew that Mr. Hamel did not earn five hundred a year. But he
was becoming acerbated by the young man's mann