"I don't know and I can't find out. She is baffling. She will not talk about herself. I think she despises us all, rather. Think of knowing you were a beauty, and going back to looking as she does to-day. She says it's better for her to be plain."
"I don't know how her looks ever got by me. Old Christiansen sweetly suggested that it was because she was not the obvious type. He asked all about her."
"How exciting! Tell me about the whole thing, Jerry, from the very first."
He obeyed, making a good story of it, with thumbnail sketches of characters as he went along. Bobs was hugely amused. When he came to the supper which Mrs. Brendon gave after the performance to a chosen few, she interrupted him.
"Who is Althea Morton, Jerry?"
"She's a great friend of Mrs. Brendon's."
"Are you going to paint her, Jerry?"
"Probably. I begin on Mrs. Brendon's portrait very soon, and several other commissions will follow, I think."
"I told you that they would get you, that crowd."
"Don't worry, Bobs. This is my opportunity and I am going to grab it."