Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/362

 "That's a woman's answer! And do you like art?"

She paused a moment. "I think I 've never seen any—except Roderick's. Of course I 've liked that."

"Ah, that proves nothing!" Rowland freely declared. "You must try other people's."

"I 'm sure she 'll only want to try," Mrs. Hudson interposed. "You 've great advantages now, my dear, with Roderick and Mr. Mallet," she said to Mary. "No young lady can ever have had greater. You come straight to the highest authorities. Roderick, I suppose, will show you the practice of art, and Mr. Mallet, perhaps, if he will be so good, will show you the theory. As an artist's wife you ought to know something at least about that."

"One learns a good deal about it here by simply living one's life," said Rowland; "by going and coming about one's daily avocations."

"Dear, dear, how wonderful that we should be here in the midst of it!" murmured Mrs. Hudson. "To think of art being out there in the streets! We did n't see much of it last evening as we drove from the station. But the streets were so dark, and we should n't have known, at any rate, where to look. Now, however, we 're quite ourselves, and Mary, I think, is really enjoying the revulsion."

"Oh, I 'm all right," this young woman replied; and she wandered again to the window, as if the very largeness of their case defied expansion.

Roderick came in at this moment and kissed his mother, and then went over and joined her companion. Rowland sat wth Mrs. Hudson, who evidently had a 328