At first Amory thought that Dorothy was not going to introduce her friend, but when Dorothy did so, in three words--"My cousin Stan"--she was able to guess that even Dorothy was not quite without some sense of shame and confusion. Her cousin! Such unfertility of invention would have done discredit even to Jellies! But of course Dorothy was embarrassed, and had said the first thing that had come into her head. Amory bowed with reserve to "the cousin," who, for his part, seemed inclined to laugh. Very rudely, he pulled out his watch. "By Jove, a quarter to two! I must cut, Dot. Dusty'll be looking for me. See you at tea-time? Right, I'll ring you up. So long." And with scarce a look at Amory he was off. No sooner had he gone than Amory broke into voluble speech. "My dear, _what_ a place! I've been looking everywhere for you this last half-hour--upstairs, downstairs, everywhere! I was almost sure I remembered the way to the studio--wasn't it past a square room that has a painting in it now?" "It was, but they moved us two months ago," Dorothy replied. "Did you ask for me?" "Do you mean how did I get in? I just walked up. Nobody stopped me. Is it against the rules?" "It doesn't matter, as it happens. But I'm afraid I've had lunch." "Oh, thanks awfully, but I always go to one of those Food Reform places now; I feel ever so much better for it. I was only passing, and thought I'd look in." "Good of you," said Dorothy, and there was a longish pause. Amory thought it was not very clever of Dorothy not to be able to conceal her chagrin. Amory herself always tried to behave better than that to people who went out of their way to call on her. Probably what was really the matter was Dorothy's conscience; one cannot hold aloof from the noble movements of the day without at times feeling a little uneasy about it. But Causes can afford to be magnanimous. If Dorothy wanted to out-pause Amory, Amory would let her; and, that absurd picture being uppermost in her mind, she gave a little laugh and spoke of that. "It's easy to see _you're_ not the art-adviser to Hallowells', Dorothy," she said. "_Must_ they buy such things? And what are they going to do with it? Get it lithographed, I suppose, for a supplement or something?" When the subject of painting was raised Dorothy was still a little afraid of Amory and her superior knowledge--but less so than she had been. Twice in the course of its production she had seen "Barrage," and had stood apologetically silent before Amory's picture. At another time she would not have excited herself one way or the other about Sir Walter, but new forces thrust some of us into conservatism whether we will or not, and "Barrage" had made Dorothy almost ready to swallow Sir Walter holus-bolus. Therefore she said a little defensively, "What's the matter with it?" "The matter!" Amory exclaimed. She was smiling. If Dorothy meant this for a joke she was quite willing to enter into it.