simply and elegantly dressed, whose
distinguished and reserved physiognomy was a strong contrast to the
first portrait.

While Saniel looked at these pictures Caffie studied him, trying to
discover the effect they produced.

"Now that you have seen them," he said, "let us talk of them a little.
If you knew me better, my dear sir, you would know that I am frankness
itself, and in business my principle is to tell everything, the good and
the bad, so that my clients are responsible for the decisions they make.
In reality, there is nothing bad about these two persons, because,
if there were, I would not propose them to you. But there are certain
things that my delicacy compels me to point out to you, which I do
frankly, feeling certain that a man like you is not the slave of narrow
prejudices."

An expression of pain passed over his face, and he clasped his jaw with
both hands.

"You suffer?" Saniel asked.

"Yes, from my teeth, cruelly. Pardon me that I show it; I know by
myself that nothing is more annoying than the sight of the sufferings of
others."

"At least not to doctors."

"Never mind; we will return to my clients. This one"--and he touched the
portrait of the bejewelled woman--"is, as you have divined already, a
widow, a very amiable widow. Perhaps she is a little older than you are,
but that is nothing. Your experience must have taught you that the man
who wishes to be loved, tenderly loved, pampered, caressed, spoiled,
should marry a woman older than himself, who will treat him as a husband
and as a son. Her first husband was a careful merchant, who, had he
lived, would have made a large fortune in the butcher business"--he
mumbled this word instead of pronouncing it clearly--"but although he
died just at the time when his affairs were beginning to develop, he
left twenty thousand pounds' income to his wife. As I have told you what
is good, I must tell you what is to be regretted. Carried away by gay
companions, this intelligent man became addicted to intemperance, and
from drinking at saloons she soon took to drinking at home, and his wife
drank with him. I have every reason to believe that she has reformed;
but, if it is otherwise, you, a doctor, can easily cure her--"

"You believe it?"

"Without doubt. However, if it is impossible, you need only let her
alone, and her vice will soon carry her off; and, as the contract will
be made according to my wishes in view of such an event, you will find
you