De fact is,
Mrs. Archer Millington wants to be bainted--you know her sdyle? Well,
she prides herself on her likeness to little Gladys. And so ven she saw
dat bicture of yours at de Fake Show she made a note of your name, and
de udder day she sent for me and she says: 'Mr. Shepson, I'm tired of
Mungold--all my friends are done by Mungold. I vant to break away and
be orishinal--I vant to be done by the bainter that did Gladys Glyde."

Shepson waited to observe the result of this overwhelming announcement,
and Stanwell, after a momentary halt of surprise, brought out
laughingly: "But this _is_ a Mungold. Is this what she calls being
original?"

"Shoost exactly," said Shepson, with unexpected acuteness. "That's vat
dey all want--something different from what all deir friends have got,
but shoost like it all de same. Dat's de public all over! Mrs.
Millington don't want a Mungold, because everybody's got a Mungold, but
she wants a picture that's in the same sdyle, because dat's _de_ sdyle,
and she's afraid of any oder!"

Stanwell was listening with real enjoyment. "Ah, you know your public,"
he murmured.

"Vell, you do, too, or you couldn't have painted dat," the dealer
retorted. "And I don't say dey're wrong--mind dat. I like a bretty
picture myself. And I understand the way dey feel. Dey're villing to
let Sargent take liberties vid them, because it's like being punched in
de ribs by a King; but if anybody else baints them, they vant to look
as sweet as an obituary." He turned earnestly to Stanwell. "The thing
is to attract their notice. Vonce you got it they von't gif you dime to
sleep. And dat's why I'm here to-day--you've attracted Mrs.
Millington's notice, and vonce you're hung in dat new ball-room--dat's
vere she vants you, in a big gold panel--vonce you're dere, vy, you'll
be like the Pianola--no home gompleat without you. And I ain't going to
charge you any commission on the first job!"

He stood before the painter, exuding a mixture of deference and
patronage in which either element might predominate as events
developed; but Stanwell could see in the incident only the stuff for a
good story.

"My dear Shepson," he said, "what are you talking about? This is no
picture of mine. Why don't you ask me to do you a Corot at once? I hear
there's a great demand for them still in the West. Or an Arthur
Schracker--I can do Schracker as well as Mungold," he added, turning
around a small canvas at which a paint-pot seemed