as
nature before him; this is why no true judge of pictures was ever
deceived as to the difference between an original and a copy. It
stands to reason that in every picture of a head, howsoever the
model's features may be idealised, Nature's own handiwork and
mastery must dominate.

Here Cyril gently took the magazine from Wilderspin's hand, but did
not silence him. 'As I told you in Wales,' said he to me, 'I had an
abundance of imagination, but I wanted some model in order to realise
it. I could never meet a face that came anything nigh my own ideal of
expression as the purely spiritual side of the beauty of woman; and
until I did that I knew that I should achieve nothing whereby the
world might recognise a new power in art. In vain did I try to
idealise such faces as did not please me. And this was because
nothing could satisfy me but the perfect type of expression which not
even Leonardo nor any other painter in the world had found--the true
Romantic type.'

'I understand you, Mr. Wilderspin,' I said. 'This I perfect type of
expression you eventually found--'

'In the daughter,' said Cyril, 'of the goddess Gudgeon.'

'By the blessing of Mary Wilderspin in heaven,' said Wilderspin.

And then the talk between the two friends ran upon artistic matters,
and I heard no more, for my mind was wandering up and down the London
streets.

Wilderspin and I left the house together. As we walked along, side by
side, I said to him: 'You spoke just now of your mother's blessing.
Am I really to understand that you in an age like this believe in the
power of human blessings and human curses?'

'Do I believe in blessings and curses, Mr. Aylwin?' said Wilderspin
solemnly. 'You are asking me whether I am with or without what your
sublime father calls the "most powerful of the primary instincts of
man." He tells us in _The Veiled Queen_ that "Even in this material
age of ours there is not a single soul that does not in its inner
depths acknowledge the power of the unseen world. The most hardened
materialist," says he, "believes in what he calls sometimes 'luck'
and sometimes 'fortune.'" Let me advise you, Mr. Aylwin, to study the
voice of your inspired father. I will send a set of his writings to
your hotel to-morrow. And, Mr. Aylwin, my duty compels me to speak
very plainly to you upon a subject that has troubled me since I had
the honour of meeting you in Wales. There is but one commandment in
the decalogue to which