"Do you devote yourself entirely to sketching?"
"Oh no! I paint as well. We have a large gallery at home, and it is an excellent school. The family portraits are, many of them, very fine."
"Does it go far back in the English school?"
"Oh, you should see the great wigs of the Charleses and jack-boots of the cavaliers! We were all cavaliers, I suppose, for I don't see a single roundhead among them."
"And the ladies?"
"Oh, such hoops and farthingales! such pyramids of muslin on their heads, and pillars of red leather upon their heels!"
"And is the painting good of that ancient date? How do you like it compared to the modern?"
"We have very few modern portraits; and none of any ladies later than George II."
"No?" enquired the young man anxiously. "No lady later than that? Ah, then I have been misinformed!" he added in a disappointed tone.
"Had you heard of our collection, then?"