Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/217

 "Rowland knows it 's a wonderful thing," said Roderick smiling. "I can tell that by his face. The other day I finished something he thought really bad, and he looked very differently from this."

"How can Mr. Mallet look?" asked Christina.

"My dear Rowland," said Roderick, "I 'm speaking of my poor listening lady. You looked as if you had on a pair of tight boots."

"Ah my child, you 'll not understand that!" cried Mrs. Light. "You never yet had a pair that were small enough."

"It's a pity, Mr. Hudson," said Christina gravely, "that you could n't have introduced my feet into the bust. But we can hang a pair of satin shoes round the neck."

"I nevertheless like your finished portraits, Roderick," Rowland observed, "better than your rough sketches. This is a great commemoration of a great subject. Miss Light, you may really be proud!"

"Thank you, Mr. Mallet, for the permission," returned the girl.

"I'm dying to see it in the marble—I make it out in a kind of violet velvet niche," said Mrs. Light.

"Placed there on the mosaic table and under the Sassoferrato!" Christina went on. "We have a Sassoferrato, you know, from which we 're inseparable — we travel with our picture and our poodle. I hope you keep well in mind, Mr. Hudson, at all events, that you 've not a grain of property in your work and that if mamma chooses she may have it photographed and the copies sold in the Piazza di Spagna at five francs apiece without your having a sou of the profits." 183