"Not a word, mind," Mr. Dix cautioned Amory. "It's only because the circumstances in your case are special that I have Mr. Hugh's permission to tell you this at all. But you see the difficulty it places him in. Poor Herbertson's exhibition will be ten times as valuable if it comes while the papers are still full of his obituary--valuable to poor Mrs. Herbertson, I mean--I'm sure you'll see that----" Even the little thrill of being taken into Mr. Dix's confidence did not altogether compensate for Amory's disappointment. Another postponement now would mean no exhibition until the autumn. Slowly she took down from the easel the canvas she had last placed there. "In that case I suppose there's no hurry," she said, plunging into dejection once more. But Mr. Dix's plump white hand went so far as to pat her reassuringly on the shoulder. The touch of his hand was only slightly more a contact than the resting of his eye. "But you mustn't suppose that that is all I came to tell you," he said. "My dear young lady, Mr. Crozier isn't that kind of man. He quite appreciates the hardship this is on you, and--don't look dismayed--it doesn't at all suit those pretty eyes--he has authorized me to make you a proposal." "What?" said Amory. She did not like the remark about her pretty eyes. Cosimo never spoke of her pretty eyes. "It is this: that I am empowered to ask you if it would be convenient to you that he should pay you a sum of money now, in advance and on account of sales, at our customary rate of interest in such cases, the pictures themselves to be our security, at a valuation to be arrived at in consultation between Mr. Crozier and yourself? In fact, substantially the same terms that were accepted by poor Herbertson." Amory's heart had given a leap. She did not entirely understand, but there was one thing that she did understand, namely, that Mr. Dix was offering her money at once. Money at once would enable her to begin her tenancy at Cheyne Walk at once.... Mr. Dix looked into the pretty eyes again, smiled, and continued. "Well, what shall we say? If you were to ask my private opinion--but there, I've no right to try to influence you. But a considerable sum now--say a hundren pounds--eh----?" He almost winked at Amory. It was as if he advised her to cry "Done" at once before Mr. Crozier had time to change his mind. A hundred pounds! Amory thought.... "Mr. Crozier doesn't mean that he buys the pictures for a hundred pounds, does he?" she asked presently. Mr. Dix laughed heartily. "My dear Miss Towers!... I can assure you that if Mr. Crozier had meant that he'd have had to find another messenger. No, no. You may regard this, if you like, as a mere _solatium_ for the postponement--to be a first charge, of course, on whatever the pictures may ultimately fetch. That, we trust, will be a far greater sum. We're watching the market very keenly, and you may trust Mr. Crozier to make the most of it when it comes.... Well, what am I to tell him?"