‘I should like to paint something that would be better than me,’ said the padrona, ‘but I cannot. I have to work for their bread,--and you feel for me when I tell you this. And don’t you see,--don’t you see why I bid you work?’ cried the artful woman, suddenly turning upon him, standing on her own heart, as it were, to reach him. ‘There is nothing to urge you into execution, to compel you to exhibit and sell and get money. Why don’t you take the good of your blessed leisure, you foolish boy? Never think of the Academy, nor of what you will paint, nor of what people think. Make yourself a painter, Laurie, now that you have your life in your hands, and heaps of time, and nothing to urge you on. But, good heavens! here are people coming,’ cried Mrs. Severn,--‘to find me flushed and half crying over all this, I declare. Talk to them till I come back, and I will send down the child to help you; and don’t forget what I’ve been saying,’ she said, as she rushed out of the room. This assault had been so sudden, so trenchant, so effective;--he had been led so artfully to the softness of real feeling, in order to have the thrust made at his most unguarded moment, that Laurie stood confused when his Mentor left him, not quite sure where he was, or what had happened. Had it been any stranger who had appeared, Mrs. Severn’s young friend would have made a poor impression upon her visitor; but, happily, it was Alice who came in,--Alice with her curls,--harmonious spirit, setting the house to music, as her mother said. This was all poor Laurie made by his honesty in carrying his Edith, in her earliest conception, for the approval of the Square. THE END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. LONDON: STRANGEWAYS AND WALDEN, PRINTERS, 28 Castle St. Leicester Sq. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Brothers; vol. 1/3, by Mrs. Margaret Oliphant