Near the end of the block we stopped to listen to a particularly vociferous barker. I saw my companion take his pad from his pocket and place it under his arm, while he sharpened a pencil.
"Come!" cried the secretary. "Come across the square and let me show you our beautiful bronze fountain. Draw that!"
But my companion was already beginning to sketch. He was drawing the barker and the crowd.
Meanwhile an expression of horror came into the secretary's face. Looking at him, I became conscience-stricken.
"Come away," I said gently, taking him by the arm. "Don't watch him draw. He draws wonderfully, but Art for Art's sake doesn't appeal to you just now. The better he draws the worse it will make you feel. Let me get your mind off all this. Let me take you over to the autodrome, where we can see Mr. O. K. Hager and his beautiful sister, Miss Olive Hager, the 'Two Daredevil Motorcyclists, in the Thrilling Race against Death.' That will make you forget."
"No," said the secretary, shaking his head with a despondency the very sight of which made me sad; "I have letters to sign at the office."
"And we have taken up your whole day!"
"It has been a pleasure," he said kindly. "There is only one thing that worries me. Those drawings are not going to represent what is typical of Montgomery life. Not in the least!"
There arose in me a sudden desire to comfort him.
"How would it be," I suggested, "if I were to print that statement in my book?"