"Oh, yes. I don't notice it when it is not addressed to me.... Please tell me what you paint—if I am permitted to ask."
"Soldiers."
"Only soldiers?"
"Portraits, sometimes, and landscapes out of doors—anything that appeals to me. Do pictures interest you?"
"I used to go to the Louvre and the Luxembourg when I was a child. It was interesting. Did you say that you would like to make a portrait of me?"
"I said that if I ever did make a portrait of you I'd paint you as you really are."
Her perplexed gaze had the disconcerting directness of a child's.
"I don't understand," she said.
"Shall I explain?"
"If you would be so kind."