ious
broiled mutton-bone."

Flora thought the picture would have suited the _Ornithorhyncus
paradoxus_ quite as well as the incomparable Muff. The drawing was too
bad to praise; she could not flatter, and she abhorred quizzing.

Miss Carr waited for her answer. Flora was dumb-foundered; fortunately
the offended vanity of the artist soon relieved her from the painful and
embarrassing silence.

"I perceive that you are no judge of good paintings, Mrs. Lyndsay, or
you must see some merit in the one before you. I showed that sketch to
an Italian artist of celebrity when I was at Rome; he said, 'That it
was worthy of the original,' which I considered no mean praise."

"Doubtless, he was right," said Flora. "His judgment must be more
correct than mine. Muff is so unlike the generality of dogs, that it is
difficult to recognise her as such."

"She's a fairy!" cried Wilhelmina, forgetting her anger, and hugging
Muff to her breast.

"A Brownie," suggested Flora, delighted to find the conversation taking
a turn.

"Brownies belong to an inferior order of immortals," quoth Wilhelmina,
still caressing her dog. "My Muff is among the aristocrats of her
species. But you have not seen the rest of my sketches. You will find a
great many original pieces in the portfolio."

Flora wished them all behind the fire, and turning with a rueful
seriousness to the sacred repository of _genius_, she drew forth several
daubs that were meant for landscapes, the contemplation of which would
have provoked the most indifferent person to mirth; but it was no
laughing matter to examine them while a being so odd as Miss Carr was
regarding you with a fixed gaze, hungry for applause and admiration.

Flora thought she had discovered the maddest point in Miss Carr's
character. At length she stumbled upon a portrait. The figure was meant
for that of a boy, but the head was as big as the head of a man, and
covered with a forest of red curling hair, and he held in his hand a
bunch of blue flowers as big as himself. "What an odd looking creature!"
burst involuntarily from her lips.

"Ah, my beautiful Adolphe!" cried Wilhelmina. "He was odd like
myself--he stood alone in the world in my estimation. I must tell you
the history of that child while you have his charming face before you."

Flora quietly slipped the portrait back into the portfolio. Her
inclination to laugh became almost irrepressible. Miss Wilhelmina laid
her right foot over her left knee