Did that faint smile mean anything more than mere social complaisance?
Probably not, but could not a temperament so rich and full be awakened to feeling by his own?
When she was through playing he took occasion to say: "Wouldn't you like to stroll into the gallery?
Are you fond of pictures ?" He gave her his arm.
"Now, you know," said Mrs.Sohlberg, quaintly--very captivatingly, he thought, because she was so pretty--"at one time I thought I was going to be a great artist.

Isn't that funny! I sent my father one of my drawings inscribed 'to whom I owe it all.' You would have to see the drawing to see how funny that is." She laughed softly.
Cowperwood responded with a refreshed interest in life.

Her laugh was as grateful to him as a summer wind.

"See," he said, gently, as they entered the room aglow with the soft light produced by guttered jets, "here is a Luini bought last winter." It was "The Mystic Marriage of St.Catharine." He paused while she surveyed the rapt expression of the attenuated saint.

"And here," he went on, "is my greatest find so far." They were before the crafty countenance of Caesar Borgia painted by Pinturrichio.
"What a strange face!" commented Mrs.Sohlberg, naively.