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 listen to talk of this kind from a man of Mr. Keller's polish. The chair was most comfortable, and how good it was to be in front of the bright fire! Her nerves were being lulled more and more as if by a drug; the sense of her peril amid this sea of danger into which she had plunged began to grow less.

"I expect," said Mr. Keller, in a tone so friendly and so casual that it fed the new sense of peace which was now upon June, "I expect you are pretty well used to the altogether?"

Even if she did not know in the least what was meant by "the altogether," it did not seem to be quite wise to confess such ignorance. "Ye-es, I suppose I am." And in a weak attempt to rise to his own agreeable plane of intimacy she laughed rather foolishly.

"Capital!" said Adolph Keller. "You are a well built girl." He sipped a little whisky. "Excellent shoulders. Figure's full of fine lines. Bust well developed. Plenty of heart room. Everything just right."

She coloured at the literal way in which he catalogued her points; even if it was done in the manner of an artist and a gentleman, one was a little reminded of a dog or a horse.

"I'll fix you up a screen. And then you can get ready." He sipped a little more whisky, and rose briskly and cheerfully. "Near the fire; it's real chill-*some to-night. And when you pose you can sit on top of it if you like." He opened the lid of the coal box, and replenished the fire. "We must take care you don't catch cold. If you feel a draught, you can have a rug round your knees. I only want to make a rough sketch of the lines of the figure, to begin with; the shoulders