asquez down
at Madrid. Gee-rusalem! And the Titans, stuck up in a funny little
room! You never see anything so fine in your life."

"Oh, I've been there," smiled Wyndham.

The vigour and enthusiasm of his old friend, the nasalities of the deep
voice, had almost a complete freshness for him, after the long interval
since their last meeting. He was pleased at the encounter--it brought
him whiffs of old days of happy comradeship. He felt the stirring of the
war-horse.

"Then I put in a nice couple of years at Munich; saw some Boecklin. Gee!
He's great!"

"I once saw some wretched things of his, though," said Wyndham. "I
remember--at a modern exhibition at Venice."

"I grant there are one or two rotten ones," conceded Sadler; "but
they're interesting, if you take them in the right way--experiments that
failed, though they were fine as he had them in him. Well--then I did a
bit of a tour all over the shop--came along through Holland--made
cart-loads of sketches; and then I came right along here. Been getting
lots of fun in London; been round with the boys, and had a rattling good
time. Taking the opportunity, too, of getting some nice suits of
clothes." And here Sadler turned abruptly from art, and plunged into
sartorial details. His interest in such matters was astonishing, almost
touching. He revelled in fancy waistcoats and rioted in tweeds and
broadcloths. London was the only place in the world where you could get
the rakish cut. He, Sadler, had never suspected what a lovely figure he
had, till this latest cutter had revealed him to himself!

He paused at last for breath.

"Anything particular on with you?" he was presently impelled to ask,
observing that Wyndham was exercising a marked fastidiousness in the
choice of his canvas.

"A portrait," said Wyndham. "Not a bad little commission."

"Good!" ejaculated Sadler, his face shining enthusiastically. "A lady?"

"Yes," answered Wyndham, "and I've rather a charming scheme."

"Good!" roared Sadler again. "I heard you hadn't been doing much of
late. They were running your work down--some of the boys, and I said
they were talking rot. We nearly came to blows about it. I think I
fairly shut them up."

Wyndham had at first winced a little. Then he felt like shrugging his
shoulders. After all, the past had to be lived down. Besides, Sadler's
championship was genuine and influential.

"That was very kind of you. You always did stick up for me."

"Don't you mind