_Second M.-of-F.P._ No--(_hopefully_)--but perhaps it's intended for somebody else. But it's _not_ the place _I_ should choose to nurse an infant in. It doesn't look safe, and it can't be very comfortable. [_They go on into a smaller room, and come upon a sketch of a small child, with an immense red mouth, and no visible nose, eyes, or legs._ _First M.-of-F.P._ "_Little Girl in Black_"--what a very plain child, to be sure! _Second M.-of-F.P._ What there _is_ of it; but it looks to me as if the artist had spent so much time over the black that he forgot to put in the little girl--he's got her _mouth_, though. _First M.-of-F.P._. Well, if it was _my_ child, I should insist upon having the poor little thing more finished than that--even if I had to pay extra for it. [_A_ Superior Person _has entered the West Gallery, accompanied by a_ Responsive Lady, _who has already grasped the fact that a taste for Pastels is the sure sign of a superior nature._ _The R.L._. Isn't that portrait quite wonderful! Wouldn't you take it for an oil-painting? _The S.P._. One might--without some experience--which is just where it is so entirely wrong. A Pastel has no business to imitate the _technique_ of any other medium. _The R.L._ Oh, I think you are _so_ right. Because, after all, it _is_ only a Pastel, isn't it? and it oughtn't to pretend to be anything else. (_She looks reproachfully at the too ambitious Pastel_.) And it isn't as if it was _successful_, either--it won't bear being looked into at all closely. _The S.P._ You should never look at a Pastel closely; they are meant to be seen from a distance. _The R.L._ (_brightly_). Or else you miss the effect? I _quite_ see. Now, I like _this_--(_indicating a vague and streaky little picture_)--don't you? That's what I call a _real_ Pastel. _The S.P._ (_screwing up his eyes_). H'm! Yes. Perhaps. Clever-ish. Suggestive. _The R.L._ (_shocked_). Oh, _do_ you think so? I don't see anything of _that_ kind in it--at least, I don't think it can be _intentional_. _The S.P._ The beauty of Art _is_ to suggest, to give work for the imagination. _The R.L._ (_recovering herself_). I know so _exactly_ what you mean--just as one makes all sorts of things out of the patches of damp on an old ceiling? _The S.P._ Hardly. I should define Damp as the product of Nature--not _Art_. _The R.L._ Oh, yes; if you put it in that way, of _course_! I only meant it as an illustration--the two things are really as different as possible. (_Changes the subject._) They don't seem to mind _what_ coloured paper they use for Pastels, do they? _The S.P._ (_oracularly_). It is--er--always advisable in Pastels to use a tone of paper to harmonise as nearly as possible with the particular tone you--er--want. Because, you see, as the colour doesn't always cover the _whole_ of the paper, if the paper which shows through is different in tone, it--er--