One cannot think in
this whirl. A winter season in Washington followed by a summer
season in London, - one wants a breath of fresh air before beginning
another winter season somewhere else. Be a little patient, please.
I long for the calm that steals over me when I am absorbed in my
brushes and my oils."
"Work is all very well," said Mr. Beresford with determination, "but
I know your habits. You have a little way of taking your brush, and
with one savage sweep painting out a figure from your canvas. Now
if I am on the canvas of your heart, - I say 'if' tentatively and
modestly, as becomes me, - I've no intention of allowing you to paint
me out; therefore I wish to remain in the foreground, where I can
say 'Strike, but hear me,' if I discover any hostile tendencies in
your eye. But I am thankful for small favours (the 'no' you do not
quite dare say, for instance), and I'll talk it over with you to-
morrow, if the British gentry will give me an opportunity, and if
you'll deign to give me a moment alone in any other place than the
Royal Academy."
"I was alone with you to-day for a whole hour at least."
"Yes, first at the London and Westminster Bank, second in Trafalgar
Square, and third on the top of a 'bus, none of them congenial spots
to a man in my humour. Penelope, you are not dull, but you don't
seem to understand that I am head over-"
"What are you two people quarrelling about?" cried Salemina. "Come,
Penelope, get your wrap. Mrs. Beresford, isn't she charming in her
new Liberty gown? If that New York wit had seen her, he couldn't
have said, 'If that is Liberty, give me Death!' Yes, Francesca, you
must wear something over your shoulders. Whistle for two four-
wheelers, Dawson, please."
Part Second - In the country.
Chapter XV. Penelope dreams.
West Belvern, Holly House
August 189-.
I am here alone. Salemina has taken her little cloth bag and her
notebook and gone to inspect the educational and industrial methods
of Germany. If she can discover anything that they are not already
doing better in Boston, she will take it back with her, but her
state of mind regarding the outcome of the trip might be described
as one of incredulity tinged with hope. Francesca has accompanied
Salemina. Not that the inspection of systems is much in her line,
but she prefers it to a solitude a deux with me when I am in a
working mood, and she comforts herself with the anticipation that
the German army is very attractive.
