rm, brown skin and large, soft eyes, gave her
almost an Oriental expression, in spite of the conventional frills and
furbelows in which she was dressed.

"Here she is, Betsy," said Tom, gayly, as he sat down with the
youngster on his lap. "Now tell me what you want her to do, and I will
translate for you, for I must leave her with you while I go to the
office." Elizabeth looked at the child, who was gravely inspecting the
studio with wise-looking eyes.

"But, Tom, suppose she should cry or anything; what am I to do? She
can't understand me, and I shouldn't know what to say, anyway."

"And this is what comes of being an independent woman," he said,
looking at her in disapproval. "Well, you will have to take a chance,
and get on the best you know how, but I shall have luncheon sent in
here, and come back to eat it with you, for I can't trust the child's
diet to a bachelor maid."

Carlotta was frightened when Tom left, and Elizabeth began, rather
timidly, to comfort her; but she found it an easier task than she had
imagined. The feeling of the warm young body against her breast, the
sweet perfume of the child's hair and the caressing touch of the
little hands as they crept about her neck, were grateful to the lonely
artist, and somewhere in the womanhood within her, she found words
which Carlotta could understand, although they belonged to no language
known to grownups. After the first feeling of strangeness had worn
off, the child was quite contented with her, and so comfortable and
comforting in her arms that but little progress had been made with the
portrait when a waiter brought in the luncheon which Tom had ordered
from a neighboring restaurant. Tom came back to eat it with them, and
he was entirely satisfied with the friendship which had sprung up
between the woman and the child.

"I was asked to give you this; it seems that it is an Italian custom
to pay part in advance," he said, handing her an envelope as he left
her, and when she opened it she found a crisp and substantial bank
note. He took the little girl home that night, and when he returned to
take Elizabeth out to dinner, she was so elated that she seemed to be
walking on air; but she insisted that they go to a little Italian
restaurant, where she had been in the habit of dining.

"I was getting awfully tired of it, Tom, but Carlotta has given me a
liking for everything Italian," she said, merrily, and Tom, in the
happiness which the change in her br