'So this is the Aspasie, is it,' said Spiridion, lighting a cigarette and seating himself in a chair opposite the easel; 'this is the picture which next spring is to bring our friend two or three thousand pounds and a large addition to his fame? I cannot say with Browning, "I could have painted pictures like this youth's," for everything he does is immeasurably beyond me. This head, for instance, is remarkably fine, and there is a certain calm dignity, and sense of power about it which pleases me very much. Eardley has caught the right idea, no doubt. One can fancy that being the sort of woman to whom Socrates would give way, and whom Pericles would adore. A delightful person in her way,' he murmured, leaning back in his chair and shading his eyes with his hands, 'but scarcely the kind of person to have always about with you--to make one's wife, for instance. My idea of a wife is a little lovable creature like Eleanor Irvine, kind and gentle, but with plenty of spirit about her, as she showed last night at dinner in her defence of Lady Forestfield. If I am to marry, I do not see that I could do better than choose that little girl. She has no money, to be sure, but I have plenty, and she is quite the sort of person who will do one credit by her appearance. There is nothing objectionable in her surroundings either, which is a great point; for though Chadwick is not polished, every one knows him and he receives the best people, and there would be no real reason for seeing more of him than we chose. The question is, whether I ought to marry at all? I am not growing younger,' said Mr. Pratt, rising and surveying himself in the glass, 'and I have begun to get deuced liney round the mouth and eyes, and if I intend to do it at all, I had better do it now. It is a mistake, I believe, to suppose that marriage destroys your prestige with women. There are a lot of fellows of my acquaintance who seem to have infinitely more on their hands since their marriage than they had before--not that I think I should go in for that sort of thing myself. I should not either object, if I were once married, to settling down and becoming the most exemplary husband, that is to say, if people would only let me. When one has a certain amount of good looks and romantic feeling, and that kind of thing, it is almost impossible to go straight, and I know I have never had the heart to join in any of the abuse which I have heard showered upon the Forestfields, and wretched people of that kind, knowing how deserving I am of it myself. That is another reason, too, which makes me think it would be advisable to marry and get out of the way of temptation--the fear of any _éclaircissement_, and being dragged up before the world and written about in the newspapers. When a man regularly goes in for _bonne fortune_, such a thing does him no harm, and the more he is talked about the better he likes it; but I am not strong, and the mere worry of the thing would wear me to a shadow.