Page:The Tragic Muse (London & New York, Macmillan & Co., 1890), Volume 2.djvu/174

166 then she would fire off a pistol. As soon as Nick had closed the door she said, without sitting down:

"I dare say you saw I didn't like that at all."

"My having a sitter, that way? I was very much annoyed at it myself," Nick answered.

"Why were you annoyed? She's very handsome," said Mrs. Dallow, perversely.

"I didn't know you looked at her!" Nick laughed.

Julia hesitated a moment. "Was I very rude?"

"Oh, it was all right. It was only awkward for me, because you didn't know," Nick replied.

"I did know; that's why I came."

"How do you mean? My letter couldn't have reached you."

"I don't know anything about your letter," said Mrs. Dallow, casting about her for a chair and then seating herself on the edge of a sofa, with her eyes on the floor.

"She sat to me yesterday; she was there all the morning; but I didn't write to tell you. I went at her with great energy and, absurd as it may seem to you, found myself very tired afterwards. Besides, in the evening I went to see her act."

"Does she act?" asked Mrs. Dallow.

"She's an actress; it's her profession. Don't you remember her that day at Peter's, in Paris? She's already a celebrity; she has great talent; she's engaged at a theatre here and is making a sensation. As I tell you, I saw her last night."

"You needn't tell me," Mrs. Dallow replied, looking up at him with a face of which the intense, the tragic sadness startled him.

He had been standing before her, but at this he instantly