d one after another. "Superb!" "Superb!"

The little Mayor was especially enthusiastic. He stood near the Baron,
and holding up both hands he cried:

"Marvellous! Miraculous! Fit to take its place beside the masterpieces
of old Rome!"

"But surely this is 'Hamlet' without the prince," said the Baron. "You
set out to make a fountain representing Christ and His twelve apostles,
and the only figure you leave unfinished is Christ Himself."

He pointed to the central figure above the dish, which was merely shaped
out and indicated.

"Not only one, your Excellency," said Don Camillo. "Here is another
unfinished figure--intended for Judas, apparently."

"I left them to the last on purpose," said Roma. "They were so
important, and so difficult. But I have studies for both of them in the
boudoir, and you shall give me your advice and opinion."

"The saint and the satyr, the God and the devil, the betrayed and the
betrayer--what subjects for the chisel of the artist!" said Don Camillo.

"Just so," said the Mayor. "She must do the one with all the emotions of
love, and the other with all the faculties of hate."

"Not that art," said Don Camillo, "has anything to do with life--that is
to say, real life...."

"Why not?" said Roma sharply. "The artist has to live in the world, and
he isn't blind. Therefore, why shouldn't he describe what he sees around
him?"

"But is that art? If so, the artist is at liberty to give his views on
religion and politics, and by the medium of his art he may even express
his private feelings--return insults and wreak revenge."

"Certainly he may," said Roma; "the greatest artists have often done
so." Saying this, she led the way upstairs, and the others followed with
a chorus of hypocritical approval.

"It's only human, to say the least." "Of course it is!" "If she's a
woman and can't speak out, or fight duels, it's a lady-like way, at all
events." And then further tittering, tapping of fans, and significant
nods at Rossi when his back was turned.

Two busts stood on pedestals in the boudoir. One of them was covered
with a damp cloth, the other with a muslin veil. Going up to the latter
first, Roma said, with a slightly quavering voice:

"It was so difficult to do justice to the Christ that I am almost sorry
I made the attempt. But it came easier when I began to think of some one
who was being reviled and humiliated and degraded because he was poor
and wasn't ashamed of it, and who was a