32 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



CHAPTER III. 



Next morning Miss O'Flannigan went out sketch- 

 ing. The casual reader may skim this information 

 permissively, as a harmless, picturesque thing, very 

 proper for young ladies ; but to the companion 

 of Miss O'Flannigan's travels it has other aspects. 

 For example, the aspect of Miss O'Flannigan her- 

 self, as she sat on a paling with her feet tucked 

 up, her hat tilted over a scarlet face, and her teeth 

 clenched on a spare paint-brush ; or mine, as I 

 leaned on the rail of a footbridge over against 

 her, in the furnace heat of the sun, with what 

 negligence remains to the model who has stiffened 

 for twenty minutes in the attitude so lightly and 

 luxuriously undertaken. It must be admitted, 

 however, that the cold caught the night before 



