140 Make- Believe

kept him chronically upon the verge of
bankruptcy, and excited the derision of
many excellent persons among his friends.

“ Tell me about them,” said the lady.
_ “There isn’t much to tell,” replied the
Visitor. ‘They are just pictures of Japan.
That man with the sword, who stands
- among the sedges, is an actor; that pink
one is just some girls going out for a holi-
day and taking turns to ride on a black
horse. Here is a lady, caught in the snow,
and this one has been out in the rain and
got wet: see, she is wringing the water out
of her dress.”

“ And this one?” asked Doris. |

She pointed to a lovely triptych whose
acquirement had been a piece of extrava-
gance only justified by the improvement
that was effected when it replaced a Tot-
tenham-Court-Road overmantel which had
been in the chambers when the Visitor first
entered into possession.

“Oh,” he said, “that is a picnic in the
springtime. All those girls have gone into