“I try to. Though once I got hauled over the coals pretty sharply for doing so. My sitter happened to be a pretty society woman, possessed of about as much soul as would cover a threepenny-bit, and when I’d finished her portrait she simply turned and rent me. ‘I wanted a taking picture,’ she informed me indignantly, ‘not the bones of my personality laid bare for public inspection.’”
They were outside Magda’s dressing-room by this time, and Virginie, who had flown to her nurseling the moment the dance was at an end, opened the door in response to Lady Arabella’s preemptory knock. Gillian paused a moment before entering the room.
“Yours is a wonderful gift of perception,” she said quietly. “It ought to make you—very merciful.”
Michael looked at her swiftly. Her eyes seemed to be asking something of him—entreating. But before he could speak Lady Arabella’s voice interposed remorselessly.
“Come in, you two; and for goodness’ sake shut the door. There’s draught enough to waft one to heaven.”
There was no choice but to obey, and silently Quarrington followed Mrs. Grey into the room.
CHAPTER VI
MICHAEL CHANGES HIS MIND
Magda’s dressing-room at the Imperial Theatre was something rather special in the way of dressing-rooms. It had been designed expressly for her by the management, and boasted a beautifully appointed bathroom adjoining it where she could luxuriate in a refreshing dip immediately after the strain and fatigue of her work on the stage.