Page:Sixteen years of an artist's life in Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.djvu/18

Rh was informed of our design, he testified his approval of it by at once giving me access to, and free use of, an infinitely better provided atelier than any that the most skilful even of us could have hoped to construct with such materials as we had been able to collect. To the intense disgust of the stewardess, he at once unlocked and ushered us into the State cabin, a spacious and richly furnished apartment, with luxurious ottomans, dazzling mirrors, the softest velvet, and finery of every description, the whole, in its solitary grandeur, contrasting so strongly with the comparative plainness of other parts of the ship, which was crowded to suffocation.

Our model, with his flowing robes, on being show in, seemed as highly pleased as any of the party, and the State cabin immediately became the centre of attraction to all in the ship. The general curiosity extended even to the steersman at his important post, and the attention of that functionary was not so entirely absorbed by the care requisite in the direction of the vessel, but that he ventured occasionally to look down upon us and to watch our proceedings. Our Moorish friend, however, no way abashed by the attention and curiosity of which he was the object, sat down with the composure and self-possession peculiar