he books he gets from a library, is he better off when you teach
him that the street is mean and ugly, the house an outrage on
architectural taste, the wall-papers revolting, the pictures daubs, and
the books trash? Upon my word I don't think so. I am afraid I am a
Philistine."

"But you are an artist, are you not, Mr. Hartington," Miss Treadwyn
said, looking at the sketch which had already made considerable
progress.

"Unfortunately, no; I have a taste for art, but that is all. I should be
better off if I had not, for then I should be contented with doing
things like this; as it is I am in a perpetual state of grumble because
I can do no better."

"You know the Latin proverb _meliora video_, and so on, Mr. Hartington,
does it apply?"

"That is the first time I have had Latin quoted against me by a young
lady," Cuthbert said, smilingly, but with a slight flush that showed the
shaft had gone home. "I will not deny that the quotation exactly hits my
case. I can only plead that nature, which gave me the love for art, did
not give me the amount of energy and the capacity for hard work that are
requisite to its successful cultivation, and has not even given me the
stimulus of necessity, which is, I fancy, the greatest human motor."

"I should be quite content to paint as well as you do, Mr. Hartington,"
Anna Treadwyn said. "It must add immensely to the pleasure of travelling
to be able to carry home such remembrances of places one has seen."

"Yes, it does so, Miss Treadwyn. I have done a good deal of wandering
about in a small way, and have quite a pile of portfolios by whose aid I
can travel over the ground again and recall not only the scenery but
almost every incident, however slight, that occurred in connection
therewith."

"Well, Anna, I think we had better be continuing our walk."

"I suppose we had. May I ask, Mr. Hartington, where you are staying? I
am sure my mother will be very pleased if you will call upon us at
Porthalloc. There is a glorious view from the garden. I suppose you will
be at work all day, but you are sure to find us in of an evening."

"Yes, I fancy I shall live in the open air as long as there is light
enough to sketch by, Miss Treadwyn, but if your mother will be good
enough to allow me to waive ceremony, I will come up some evening after
dinner; in the meantime may I say that I shall always be found somewhere
along the shore, and will be glad to receive with due humility any
chidings