"It was because I knew the Wilde Salome that I was able to do it at all."
"You are an actress?"
"Oh, no. I'm—I'm not anything."
"Excuse me; yours was the only distinguished impersonation to-night. You made these beautiful dolls worth enduring," he said in a low tone.
"Oh!" breathed Jane, looking at him directly, to be sure he wasn't laughing at her, then hastily gazing toward Mrs. Brendon, to make sure she had not heard him. But that great lady had swept on.
"Who is Jerry Paxton?"
"Every one asks that. Mrs. Brandon says,—" Here she gave so perfect an imitation of Mrs. Brendon's words and manner that Christiansen laughed heartily.
"So, he is a painter. I seem to remember him faintly. Is he a good painter?"
"I'm not a critic."
"You like him—the man, I mean?"