xceedingly bright eyes and her exceedingly
white hair seemed to accentuate her animation of manner; there was so
much sparkle in her face that even her silence did not lack point.

She had accomplished her tortuous passage among the easels without
meeting with any mishaps in the shape of Cremnitz-white or
crimson-lake. She had paused occasionally and had bestowed a critical
nod upon the one "blocked-in" countenance, or had drawn her brows
together questioningly over a study in which the nose had a
startlingly finished appearance in a still sketchy environment, but
not until she had successfully avoided the last easel, planted at an
erratic angle just where the unwary would be sure to stub his toe, did
she make any remark.

"A lot of them, aren't there?" she observed.

"Yes, the school is pretty full," Mr. Salome replied. "In fact, we're
a little bothered for room."

"Any imagination among them?"

"Well, as to that, it's rather early to form an opinion. Our aim just
now is to keep them to facts. Some of them," the artist added with a
smile, "are rather too much inclined to draw upon their imagination.
Now there is one girl there who is, humanly speaking, certain to paint
the model's hair jet-black, or as black as paint can be made. And yet,
you see, there is not a black thread in it."

"I wonder whether you would object to my making an experiment?" Mrs.
Jacques asked, abruptly.

And from that seemingly unpremeditated question of Mrs. Jacques', and
from the consultation that ensued, grew the Prize Contest, destined to
be famous in the annals of the school.

When, on that very afternoon, the students were assembled for the
occasion, they had not yet had time to adjust their minds to the
magnitude of the interests involved. Yet the conditions were simple
enough. That student who should, in the space of two hours, produce
the best composition illustrative of "Hope" was to receive a prize of
five hundred dollars! The conviction prevailed among them that the
vivacious little old lady with the white hair could be none other than
the fairy godmother of nursery lore, and it was only too delightful to
find that agile and beneficent myth interesting herself in the cause
of Art.

When once the class was fairly launched upon its new emprise, a change
in the usual aspect of things became apparent. In the first place,
most of the students were seated; for, in a task of pure composition,
there was no occasion either for stan