oment the eager,
apologetic smile vanished suddenly out of her face, and was succeeded by
an expression of blank disappointment.

"_Tiens_!" she said bluntly. "I don't see one bit of likeness."

I turned hot from head to foot, but Mueller's serene effrontery was equal
to the occasion.

"I dare say not, Madame," he replied, coolly. "I dare say not. This
portrait is not intended to be like."

Madame Tapotte's eyes and mouth opened simultaneously.

"_Comment_!" she exclaimed.

"I should be extremely sorry," continued Mueller, loftily, "and his
lordship would be extremely sorry, if there were too much resemblance."

"But a--a likeness--it seems to me, should at all events be--like,"
stammered Madame Tapotte, utterly bewildered.

"And if M'sieur is to paint my wife," added Monsieur Tapotte, who had by
this time joined the group at the easel, "I--I..._Dame_! it must be a
good deal more like than this."

Mueller drew himself up with an air of great dignity.

"Sir," he said, "if Madame does me the honor to sit to me for her
portrait--for her _own_ portrait, observe--I flatter myself the
resemblance will be overwhelming. But you must permit me to inform you
that Milord Smithfield is not sitting for his own portrait."

The Tapottes looked at each other in a state bordering on stupefaction.

"His lordship," continued Mueller, "is sitting for the portrait of one of
his illustrious ancestors--a nobleman of the period of Queen Elizabeth."

Tapotte _mari_ scratched his head, and smiled feebly.

"_Parbleu_!" said he, "_mais c'est bien drole, ca_!"

The artist shrugged his shoulders.

"It so happens," said he, "that his lordship's gallery at Smithfield
Castle has unhappily been more than half destroyed by fire. Two
centuries of family portraits reduced to ashes! Terrible misfortune!
Only one way of repairing the loss--that is of partially repairing it. I
do my best. I read the family records--I study the history of the
period--his lordship sits to me daily--I endeavor to give a certain
amount of family likeness; sometimes more, you observe, sometimes less
... enormous responsibility, Monsieur Tapotte!"

"Oh, enormous!"

"The taste for family portraits," continued Mueller, still touching up
the Titian, "is a very natural one--and is on the increase. Many
gentlemen of--of somewhat recent wealth, come to me for their
ancestors."

"No!"

"_Foi d'honneur_. Few persons, however, are as conscientious as his
lordship i