walked farther and looked at a dozen other things. Newman pointed
out what pleased him, and Mademoiselle Noemie generally criticised it,
and proposed something else. Then suddenly she diverged and began to
talk about some personal matter.

"What made you speak to me the other day in the Salon Carre?" she
abruptly asked.

"I admired your picture."

"But you hesitated a long time."

"Oh, I do nothing rashly," said Newman.

"Yes, I saw you watching me. But I never supposed you were going to
speak to me. I never dreamed I should be walking about here with you
to-day. It's very curious."

"It is very natural," observed Newman.

"Oh, I beg your pardon; not to me. Coquette as you think me, I have
never walked about in public with a gentleman before. What was my father
thinking of, when he consented to our interview?"

"He was repenting of his unjust accusations," replied Newman.

Mademoiselle Noemie remained silent; at last she dropped into a seat.
"Well then, for those five it is fixed," she said. "Five copies as
brilliant and beautiful as I can make them. We have one more to choose.
Shouldn't you like one of those great Rubenses--the marriage of Marie de
Medicis? Just look at it and see how handsome it is."

"Oh, yes; I should like that," said Newman. "Finish off with that."

"Finish off with that--good!" And she laughed. She sat a moment, looking
at him, and then she suddenly rose and stood before him, with her hands
hanging and clasped in front of her. "I don't understand you," she said
with a smile. "I don't understand how a man can be so ignorant."

"Oh, I am ignorant, certainly," said Newman, putting his hands into his
pockets.

"It's ridiculous! I don't know how to paint."

"You don't know how?"

"I paint like a cat; I can't draw a straight line. I never sold a
picture until you bought that thing the other day." And as she offered
this surprising information she continued to smile.

Newman burst into a laugh. "Why do you tell me this?" he asked.

"Because it irritates me to see a clever man blunder so. My pictures are
grotesque."

"And the one I possess--"

"That one is rather worse than usual."

"Well," said Newman, "I like it all the same!"

She looked at him askance. "That is a very pretty thing to say," she
answered; "but it is my duty to warn you before you go farther. This
order of yours is impossible, you know. What do you take me for? It is
work for ten men. You pick out the six most