"He has just gone to dress."
"How far has he got with you?"
"I shall be finished to-morrow, or the day after."
"Then it will be my turn; I am looking forward to it so--I mean to the portrait. I should so like to know what I look like. However often I do so"--she drew her soft finger slowly along her profile--"and that is just like looking in the glass, yet you never know how you look till a great artist shows it to you in your portrait. Justus is going to do me in life-size too."
"But he might have given you that small satisfaction long ago."
"It is not a small thing, even though he does work so wonderfully quick," answered Cilli eagerly; "every hour, every minute is precious to him; he owes them all to his work. Now that he can make use of me for his work, it is different of course."
"Do you know then, dear Cilli, what we all look like?"
"Perfectly; you are a tall man, with curly hair and beard, and a broad forehead, and blue eyes. Justus is not so tall, is he?"
"He is a little shorter, dear Cilli."
"But only a very little," Cilli went on triumphantly; "and his hair is not so thick, is it?" The last words were said with some hesitation.