When Cornelius asked for an opinion it was all very well, but when he asked for a candid opinion he would never tolerate any save that which he himself favoured. He was now in one of his most positive moods, so I prepared for submission--an easy task, for I always thought him in the right, and whatever my original opinion might have been, I invariably came back to his in the end, as to the only true one. He led me to his easel, on which I saw the long neglected Stolen Child. "I had forgotten all about it," said Cornelius, "but finding this morning that I could not get on with Medora in the absence of Miriam, I looked amongst the old things, whence I fished out this. Now, admitting that it will not do for a picture, I think it will at least make an excellent study--eh?" "Yes, Cornelius, a very good study indeed." "Why not a picture?" he asked, frowning. "It is not good enough," I replied, confidently. "You silly little thing, you must have forgotten all about pictures and painting, to say so," rather hotly answered Cornelius. "Why a baby could tell you I never began anything that promised better. Oh, Daisy! what am I to think of your judgment? At all events," he added, softening down, "if you are not yet a first-rate critic, you are a first-rate sitter. So get ready. You need not mind about your Gipsy attire; all I want is the face and attitude." I looked at the picture, drew back a few steps, and placed myself in the old position. "The very thing," cried Cornelius, delighted. "Oh, Daisy, you are invaluable to me." He began at once, and worked hard until breakfast, during which he could speak of nothing but his Stolen Child. "A much better subject than Medora," he said, decisively; "there has been too much of Byron's heroines." "Do you mean to throw it of one side?" asked Kate. "Oh no, I hope to have both pictures ready for next year's Academy; pressed for time, I shall work all the harder and the better, Kate." "Which will you finish first?" "The Stolen Child." "Well," said Kate, very quietly, "I have a fancy that it will be Medora." "How can it? Miriam is away for two months, you know." "Yes, but I have a fancy the sea-air will not agree with her," continued Kate, in the same quiet way. Cornelius looked at his sister with a somewhat perplexed air. "I don't know anything about that," he said, at length; "but I can go on with the Stolen Child, and I hope to go on quickly too, Daisy sits so well, you know." "I know she is as bad as you are; look at her swallowing down her tea as fast as she can, to be in time." "She is a good little thing," he replied, patting my neck, "though I cannot say she yet thoroughly knows what constitutes a good picture. Don't hurry, Daisy; there is plenty of time." "But I am quite ready," I replied eagerly. "So am I; let us see who shall be upstairs first."