And some of them, I'm sorry to say, are not quite so considerate as they might be. For instance, I had nearly chosen Mr. CLAUSEN'S _Shepherd Boy: Sunrise_. I was imagining the hush, the solitude. Suddenly two inexorable hats were thrust between me and the canvas, while two inexorable voices carried on a detailed discussion about what Doris (whoever Doris may be) was wearing at the wedding yesterday. It wasn't fair to me; and it wasn't fair to the _Shepherd Boy_. I know he hasn't got a face, poor fellow. But is that a reason for putting ideas into his head? It seems to me the crush is fiercer than ever in front of the picture over there. Probably I shall find that to be the best of all; _No. 274_: Mr. J. J. SHANNON'S _Sir Oswald Stoll_. Ah, I see. These ladies are simply using the unfortunate gentleman as a looking-glass to tidy their hair in. But oh, Sir OSWALD, do I really look as tired as all that? Yes, you're right; I _am_ tired. I'll go and sit down. Not a vacant seat anywhere.... Yes, there is--quick! At the far end of the Galleries. Now isn't it just like the _Supreme War Council_ to have left that one chair empty for me at their table? No, it's a trick! The artist knew I should never have the effrontery to sit there, right under the PRIME MINISTER'S nose. Very well, Mr. OLIVIER, exhausted though I am, I shall not vote for you either. There's a dull pain all down my spine. My feet are like lead. Give it up? Never! I will not leave until I have found the masterpiece. But I can stem the tide no longer. I surrender myself to the mob and let it bear me whither it wills.... Where am I? Oh, the Architectural Room. Thronged this afternoon, like all the others. And yet, once upon a time, before I grew old and weary--heavens, how weary!--I remember this room with only one other person in it, and she---- Why, here! Right in front of me; _No. 1235: London County Westminster and Parr's Bank, Ltd.: Brondesbury branch_. That's it. That's the best picture in the Academy! Not so much because of its chiaroscuro, not because of its romantic associations, but because, immediately opposite that branch-bank, there's a place where at last, at long, long last--ah!--I can sit down. * * * * * OPEN DIPLOMACY. Stung to the quick by the accusation of secrecy hurled at him by a portion of the Press in connection with the conference at Lympne, Mr. LLOYD GEORGE has arranged with M. MILLERAND, we understand, to make the next encounter, on French soil, a vastly different affair. As a delicate compliment to the Welsh blood shared by the PRIME MINISTER and the greatest of our Tudor kings, and through the courtesy of Sir PHILIP SASSOON who has kindly promised to defray the whole of the expenses, the _mise en scene_ will be arranged to resemble, almost to the minutest detail, the Field of the Cloth of Gold. * * * * *