those who begin ignorantly to do something in art and
eventually reach experience and understanding of how the world is
organized and what they will have to do to succeed.

Although Miss Channing's artistic sense did not rise to that definite
artistic expression in her material surroundings which characterized
Miss Finch's studio atmosphere, it went much farther in its expression
of her joy in life. Her voice, a rich contralto, deep, full, colorful,
had a note of pathos and poignancy which gave a touch of emotion to her
gayest songs. She could play well enough to accompany herself with
delicacy and emphasis. She was at present one of the soloists with the
New York Symphony Orchestra, with the privilege of accepting occasional
outside engagements. The following Fall she was preparing to make a
final dash to Germany to see if she could not get an engagement with a
notable court opera company and so pave the way for a New York success.
She was already quite well known in musical circles as a promising
operatic candidate and her eventual arrival would be not so much a
question of talent as of luck.

While these two women fascinated Eugene for the time being, his feeling
for Angela continued unchanged; for though she suffered in an
intellectual or artistic comparison, he felt that she was richer
emotionally. There was a poignancy in her love letters, an intensity
about her personal feelings when in his presence which moved him in
spite of himself--an ache went with her which brought a memory of the
tales of Sappho and Marguerite Gautier. It occurred to him now that if
he flung her aside it might go seriously with her. He did not actually
think of doing anything of the sort, but he was realizing that there was
a difference between her and intellectual women like Miriam Finch.
Besides that, there was a whole constellation of society women swimming
into his ken--women whom he only knew, as yet, through the newspapers
and the smart weeklies like Town Topics and Vogue, who were presenting
still a third order of perfection. Vaguely he was beginning to see that
the world was immense and subtle, and that there were many things to
learn about women that he had never dreamed of.

Christina Channing was a rival of Angela's in one sense, that of bodily
beauty. She had a tall perfectly rounded form, a lovely oval face, a nut
brown complexion with the rosy glow of health showing in cheeks and
lips, and a mass of blue black hair. Her gr