"When I close my eyes and hark back to the flooding light of the valley of the Elk, then I can do these things; I can't if I don't. I have to forget all my other pictures. This is nearer my impression than anything else I've done."
"It has great charm," he said, after a pause, "and it also reminds me of my duty. I must return at once to the West."
"When do you go—actually?"
"Actually, I leave to-morrow at three o'clock; unless I receive word to the contrary, to-morrow morning."
"So soon? You are making a very short stay. Can't you remain over the holidays? Some friends of mine are coming on from New York. I'd like you to meet them."
"I think I must return. Jennie is preparing to give her little 'Ingines' a Christmas-tree, and I am told that my 'Sandy Claws' would add greatly to their joy, so I am making special effort to reach there on the 23d."
She looked at him musingly. "You really are interested in those ugly creatures? I don't understand it."
"To be really frank, I don't understand your lack of sympathy," he replied, smiling a little. "It isn't at all feminine."
She took a seat on the divan before she spoke again. "Oh, women are such posers. You think I am quite heartless, don't you?"
"No, I don't think that, but I do think you are a little unjust to these people, whose thought you have made very little effort to comprehend."