that the picture was to be
exhibited," she said, falteringly.

"Oh, no. I shall not permit Dick Garstin to exhibit that picture."

Now intense curiosity was born in her and seemed for the moment to
submerge her uneasiness and fear.

"But wasn't it understood?" she said.

"Please, what do you say was understood?"

"Didn't Mr. Garstin say he meant to exhibit the picture and afterwards
give it to you?"

"But I say that I shall not permit Dick Garstin to exhibit my picture."

"Why won't you allow it?" she asked.

In her curiosity she was at last regaining some of her usual
self-possession. She scented a struggle between these two men, both of
them of tough fibre, both of them, she believed, far from scrupulous,
both of them likely to be enormously energetic and determined when
roused.

"Do you not know?" he asked.

"No! How can I know such a thing? How can I know what is in your mind
unless you tell me?"

"Oh, but I will tell you then! I will not let Dick Garstin exhibit that
picture because it is a lie about me."

"A lie? How can that be?"

"A man can speak a lie. Is it not so?"

"Of course."

"Cannot a man write a lie?"

"Yes."

"And a man can paint a lie. Dick Garstin has painted a lie about me."

"But then--if it is so--"

"Certainly it is so."

There was now a hard sound in his voice, and, when she looked at him,
she saw that his face had changed. The quiet self-control which had
amazed her in the studio was evidently leaving him. Or he no longer
cared to exercise it.

"But, then, do you wish to possess the picture? Do you wish to possess a
lie?"

"Is it not right that I possess it rather than someone else?"

"Yes, perhaps it is."

"Certainly it is. I shall take that picture away."

"But Dick Garstin intends to exhibit it. I know that. I know he will not
let you have it till it has been shown."

"What is the law in England that one man should paint a wicked portrait
of another man and that this other should be helpless to prevent it from
being shown to all the world? Is that just?"

"No, I don't think it is."

He stopped abruptly and stood by the river wall. It was a cold and
dreary afternoon, menacing and dark. Few people were out in that place.
She stood still beside him.

"Miss Van Tuyn," he said, looking hard at her with an expression
of--apparently--angry sincerity in his eyes. "This happens. I sit
quietly in the Cafe Royal, a public place. A strange man comes up. Never
h