'EN COSTUME DE VILLE' 227 



mured in about equal proportions. The owner of 

 the studio, a conscientious but unpicturesque person, 

 proposed to innnolate himself upon the altar of art. 

 The suggestion was received by his colleagues without 

 enthusiasm. The fortunes of the class visibly tot- 

 tered, when a tap was heard at the studio door. 

 Vainly endeavouring to conceal his ecstasy, the 

 studio's owner hastened to the door. He had ex- 

 pected the elderly milkman whose morning unpunc- 

 tuality was the theme of some of Madame Rougemont's 

 most impassioned invective. He had even arranged 

 a suitably abusive greeting, but a lady, young and 

 charming, met his gaze. He stood, stricken to 

 silence by astonishment, but the lady's self-possession 

 did not falter. She understood that Monsieur re- 

 quired a model, she mentioned her " conditions,'''' 

 and before Monsieur had more than realised what 

 bad French he spoke, she had crossed the room and 

 posed herself on the model stand. It is to his credit 

 that he induced his fellows to believe he had arranged 

 the whole affair. 



The lady posed to perfection, read a novel in 

 decorous retirement near the stove during the ten 

 minutes' pause, and, at the end of the evening, 

 carefully counted the earnings that were placed 

 deferentially in her small, gloved hand, and was 

 again lost in the mystery of the night. Madame 

 Rougemont had no explanation to offer; the solitary 

 working hypothesis is that the sitting amounted 

 to an act of indemnity, consequent on financial 

 difficulties between the Lady and the Milkman. 



