After lunch was over Mrs. Dollman begged to see Miss Stratton’s sketches. The portfolio, therefore, was fetched out, and the little drawings it contained were duly admired. The local views were not shown yet. They were intended to account for time that Miss Stratton expected to devote to other pursuits than sketching, and would not be shown at all if events developed themselves as quickly as she hoped. Truth to tell, she was not very clever with pencil or brush, and such artistic achievements as she was able to show were due to the “amour propre” of her drawing master. He, knowing that in nineteen cases out of twenty it is usual for young ladies to discard their school pursuits as soon as their education is pronounced complete, thought it a pity that they should not have something to show their fond parents for all the money spent upon them, and made a point of doing their work himself if he found that his pupils showed no special aptitude for it. In this way he built himself a fine reputation as an art teacher, for the vanity of the majority of his pupils forbade them to betray the fact that they had really had very little to do with the production of the pictures bearing their signature. Miss Stratton had not started upon her present enterprise without having first matured her plans, and she had even taken the precaution to change the initials of the little pictures with which she meant to support her assumption of the role of an artist. But, all used as she was becoming to the necessity for a certain amount of deception, she felt very uncomfortable when listening to the praises lavished upon work to which she could lay very little claim. When this little farce was over there was a general adjournment, and Miss Stratton betook herself to her own room to prepare for the intended excursion, in the rôle of a complaisant inamorata, with her mortal enemy. The latter, after meeting her outside, as per arrangement, did all in his power to amuse his companion, and was highly pleased with his afternoon’s entertainment. When he was once more left alone, at the end of the street leading to Mrs. Dollman’s house, he was vainer than he had ever been in his life before, and anticipated not the slightest drawback to the success of the love affair upon which he had just entered.