"You see, what we want, or rather what Fox wants," he explained, "is a kind of series of studies of celebrities _chez eux_. Of course, they are not broken down. But if you can treat them as you treated Jenkins --get them in their studies, surrounded by what in their case stands for the broken lay figures and the faded serge curtains--it will be exactly the thing. It will be a new line, or rather--what is a great deal better, mind you--an old line treated in a slightly, very slightly different way. That's what the public wants." "Ah, yes," I said, "that's what the public wants. But all the same, it's been done time out of mind before. Why, I've seen photographs of you and your arm-chair and your pen-wiper and so on, half a score of times in the sixpenny magazines." Callan again indicated bland superiority with a wave of his hand. "You undervalue yourself," he said. I murmured--"Thanks." "This is to be--not a mere pandering to curiosity--but an attempt to get at the inside of things--to get the atmosphere, so to speak; not merely to catalogue furniture." He was quoting from the prospectus of the new paper, and then cleared his throat for the utterance of a tremendous truth. "Photography--is not--Art," he remarked. The fantastic side of our colloquy began to strike me. "After all," I thought to myself, "why shouldn't that girl have played at being a denizen of another sphere? She did it ever so much better than Callan. She did it too well, I suppose." "The price is very decent," Callan chimed in. "I don't know how much per thousand, ...but...." I found myself reckoning, against my will as it were. "You'll do it, I suppose?" he said. I thought of my debts ... "Why, yes, I suppose so," I answered. "But who are the others that I am to provide with atmospheres?" Callan shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, all sorts of prominent people--soldiers, statesmen, Mr. Churchill, the Foreign Minister, artists, preachers--all sorts of people." "All sorts of glory," occurred to me. "The paper will stand expenses up to a reasonable figure," Callan reassured me. "It'll be a good joke for a time," I said. "I'm infinitely obliged to you." He warded off my thanks with both hands.