“I sha’n’t be lonesome,” Miss Clergy answered. They were a strange pair, this wild-rose girl and the little ghost-lady who had quickened just in time to make the wild rose become hothouse variety. “What were you looking at so intently?” Hobart paused before they went ahead. “That picture of your wife,” Thurley answered without delay. He laughed. “Dear me, that is a very famous person who is an intimate friend of mine and a friend of my other intimate friends. Her name is Ernestine Christian and she is a pianist. Paderewski thinks no one plays Beethoven as well as Ernestine—you may meet her some day. But remember that in New York the portraits of ladies hanging nearest gentlemen’s desks are never likely to be their wives. Tell me, what do you think of the painting?” “That it was by the same artist who did those.” Thurley pointed childishly. “Right—Collin Hedley—you’ve heard of him?” She shook her head. “We live at Birge’s Corners,” she said demurely. “Then you will hear of him, particularly if you meet Miss Christian. Collin painted her portrait as a revenge, because she insisted that men with Van Dyke beards always have a queer sense of humor. I take it you understand who boasts of a Van Dyke beard. Then they gave me the picture because I am so fond of them both.” He was leading the way across the room. As she stepped inside the anteroom, Hobart closed the door. Looking about she saw tawny, rough plaster walls, highly polished floors, a white marble mantel seemingly unconscious of the fire of birch logs ready to be kindled. Gold-colored curtains shut out daylight; peasant chairs with rush seats and a great, dark-wooded settle piled with cushions gave the proper background for the piano which stood in the center of the room. “Sit down,” Hobart said pleasantly. “I was so interested in your fairy godmother that I have not had a good look at you. There—so—I can see your eyes. How old are you?” His voice changed to that of an impersonal and rather impatient stranger’s. “A little past twenty. Does it matter how old a person is?”