“Merer than man,” she said and, as though from dislike, shrugged him off.
“Jealous again, dear heart?”
Although he had smiled with the question, her answer made him flush.
“A sensible woman isn’t jealous of a thought.”
“Be good enough, by processes of detection best known to your sex,” he instructed her more briskly, “to reduce this bevy to five of the most natural. I’ll see them in the studio.”
Something additional he murmured into her ear.
She returned him a strange look.
“In twenty minutes I’ll show in the five,” said she competently.
The shop-man addressed the array of applicants. “You will understand, young and pretty creatures, that refusal implies no aspersion, either upon your looks or, shall I say, your artful effect of artlessness. Unfortunately the house of Seff can utilize but one of you and stern business commands the selection of her best suited to our particular needs. Thanks for the sight of each and all.”
With a winning smile, generally distributed, he bowed low, backed to the chintz-curtained doorway through which he had entered and disappeared into what, evidently, was the studio.