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XLVIII

hen Philip returned to Amitrano’s he found that Fan-
Wny Price was no longer working there. She had given
up the key of her locker. He asked Mrs. Otter whether she
knew what had become of her; and Mrs. Otter, with a shrug
of the shoulders, answered that she had probably gone back
to England. Philip was relieved. He was profoundly bored
by her ill-temper. Moreover she insisted on advising him
about his work, looked upon it as a slight when he did not
follow her precepts, and would not understand that he felt
himself no longer the duffer he had been at first. Soon he
forgot all about her. He was working in oils now and he
was full of enthusiasm. He hoped to have something done
of sufficient importance to send to the following year’s Sa-
lon. Lawson was painting a portrait of Miss Chalice. She
was very paintable, and all the young men who had fallen
victims to her charm had made portraits of her. A natu-
ral indolence, joined with a passion for picturesque attitude,
made her an excellent sitter; and she had enough techni-
cal knowledge to offer useful criticisms. Since her passion
for art was chiefly a passion to live the life of artists, she
was quite content to neglect her own work. She liked the
warmth of the studio, and the opportunity to smoke innu-
merable cigarettes; and she spoke in a low, pleasant voice of
the love of art and the art of love. She made no clear distinc-

Of Human Bondage