It was a splendid opportunity for a
fellow with a "message" to be introduced into the tents of the
Philistine, and Stanwell was charged to drive a long sharp nail into
the enemy's skull. But presently Arran began to suspect that the
portrait was not as comminatory as he could have wished. Mungold,
the most kindly of rivals, let drop a word of injudicious praise:
the picture, he said, promised to be delightfully "in keeping" with
the decorations of the ball-room, and the lady's gown harmonized
exquisitely with the window-curtains. Stanwell, called to account by
his monitor, reminded the latter that he himself had been selected
by Mungold to do the Cupids for Mrs. Millington's ball-room, and
that the friendly artist's praise could, therefore, not be taken as
positive evidence of incapacity.
"Ah, but I didn't do them--I kicked him out!" Caspar rejoined; and
Stanwell could only plead that, even in the cause of art, one could
hardly kick a lady.
"Ah, that's the worst of it. If the women get at you you're lost.
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