And prayed him, "If this last, they die of slowness!"
Whereat he stared, replying, half-amazed,
"What would you have me do—an animal painter—
For such as these?" "A Tableau paint," said she.
He laughed, and talked about Sir Peter Laurie.[12]
Then chucked her playfully beneath the chin;
"O, ay, ay, ay, you talk!" "Talk! yes!" she said.
"But paint it, and prove what I will not do."
And with a sly wink there was no mistaking,
He answered, "Ride you as the famed Godiva,"