burst into flame when the doctors at Burlington House pronounced him unfit to serve his sovereign. The Squire suggested the Bar, a bank, or a junior partnership in a brewery. Mark shook his hea

much to the Squire's surprise, Lady Randolph susta

a thousand paths-most of 'em blind alleys. Mark may try one path after a

at the école des Beaux Arts. Saphir looked at his studies and shook his head. He was of opinion that Mark had

am so anxious t

reason than that?"

are alike," s

s better than none.

said Mark, "includ

he might join his atelier. "Only you must work

ver, deals with the struggle for supremacy between the academic and the "plein air" schools. When Mark entered the Beaux Arts, this struggle, although not at an end, had become equalised, the balance of power and popularity lying rather with the plein air party, of which Saphir was the bright particular star. Saphir introduced Mark to Pynsent, then considered one of the rising men. Born in the East of America, related on his mother's side to two of the Brook Farm celebrities, Pynsent had renounced a promising career as a lawyer in the hope of making his fortune out West. In California he lost what

of the Valois and Bourbon, the Paris of the Terror, of the Empire, and of the Republic. Pynsent had a prodigious memory, and an absorbing passion for colour. He was always hopeful, generous, proud, inordin

California. Because my energies were misdirected there, I have learned to direct them here. Great C?sar's ghost! What mistakes I have made! But you can b

g a mistake

rs. Pynsent smoked his cigarette for a full minute be

know, tell me

good degree; he could sing charmingly; he was handsome as Narcissus. At the end of the second year's work in Paris, Mark and Archie and Jim Corrance made a tour of France, with the intention of visiting the Gothic cathedrals; but, as a rule, after the dust and glare of the French roads, both Archie and Jim Corrance would seek and find some co

ut he thought of Betty Kirtling, now eighteen, and still abroad. Jim had mentioned (with a flushed cheek) that Betty was coming out

st the figure was tall and slight, with finely shaped extremities. Curiously enough, although ninety-nine out of a hundred persons would have pronounced Mark an ugly man; yet, dressed in petticoats, judiciously painted and bewigged, he made a captivating woman. At a dance in one of the studios, he impersonated an American heiress with so much spirit and appreciation of the attention he received, that before the night was out he had promised to become the wife of an impoverish

the Hunt Ball. He was standing beside Ar

e's Beatrice Cen

ngs in the Barberini Palace, not of the wooden counterfeit p

Betty," sa

be anybody els

r hunts, officers in scarlet, officers in dark green and silver, dignitaries of the Church, bland and superior; lesser luminaries, such as canons and archdeacons; masters from the college, supercilious gentlemen for the most part, and the sisters and wives and cousins of these. A roving eye might detect the difference between those of the county and those of the town, dividing

vely clear for the passage of Betty and her squires. Archibald went

dances apiece fo

Kirtling's eldest son, protested l

hese are my best and oldest friends. W

y was escorted in triumph to the corner sacred to the magnate

said Pynsent to Mark, ind

the Quest Hunt, was standing beside Betty, who wore

ie looks splen

ed her from a thin, prim, slightly acidulous spinster into a plump, smirking matron, whose skin seemed too tight for her face, even as her bodice seemed too tight for her figure. A volubl

tresses me dreadfully to think that he will never wear pink again. Betty is very handsome. What do you

mily?" said Mark. Lady Ran

al is anxious to see a coronet on his niece's head. Don't move, Mark! Ah! there is Lady Valence and her blind husband. Do tell me-I am so s

the room. Mark turn

uce? There is s-something a

Lady Randolph. "See! She has put the Duke to

t were flat and turned out at an absurd ang

w than he looks," whi

?" The Duke's voice was very pleasant.

n to Miss Kirtl

" he repeat

e more so because heretofore he had been proof against the assaults of the fair. Hullo! Lady Randolph was crossing the floor with her Duke-confound him! And now

k-isn't Bet

d on; Betty leant back in her chair, while Pynsent talked. It

who live in Paris, he is ignorant of the best side of English life. Eventually he must settle in L

exclaim

her," said J

f Betty, of the great match she ought to make, and so forth. Fortunately a polka gave an opportunity of letting off steam. After that, and a cooling glas

sent, is perfectly de

t you fou

miled d

he most interes

f," sai

N

ut y

the time, about a dear friend of m

r friends in every town

uette nodded. How

is dear friend

talking about-y

an ass, a silly, jealous ass.

and knew that Betty knew it, and that the knowledge was not displeasing to her. And she had made plain, without words, that this meeting of friends had stirred her to the core, quickening all those generous emotions of childhood which older people are

a dogcart to drive home with Pynsent, feeling, perhaps, more alive than he

art rolled up the High Street. "And it means work. Lady Randolph h

she can help you enormously. S

sent's pleas

hat it means to-night. Well, I hope to satisfy Lady Randolph. What I se

ou see

be no small thing to set on canvas the 'unexpectedness' of her face

nd become like everybody

motive; she is capable of a great passion, which, mind you, is more physical than mental, nine times out of ten. I'd like to make a

, and began to drive a

Archie, will

together to-night, somehow

Betty Kirtling. I loved her when she was a b-baby. I loved her when she wa

said P

kly what's in

o fit you int

urse, but I f-feel like

se, too! You're not an imbecile. Alps lie between you and Miss K

paint a grea

t was

ones that I shall get there, as you put it-wit

ry for this

t Pitt Hall which he always used, he lit the candles on each side

aimed disgustedl