Iris took it up.

Sitting by the only table in the room, she was in a position which placed her exactly opposite to one of the prints--the magnificent portrait of Mrs.Siddons as The Tragic Muse.
"I wonder if Mrs.Siddons was really as beautiful as that ?" she said, pointing to the print.

"Sir Joshua Reynolds is reported to have sometimes flattered his sitters." Mrs.Vimpany's solemn self-possessed eyes suddenly brightened; the name of the great actress seemed to interest her.

On the point, apparently, of speaking, she dropped the subject of Mrs.Siddons as she had dropped the subject of the theatre.

Mountjoy was left to answer Iris.
"We are none of us old enough," he reminded her, "to decide whether Sir Joshua's brush has been guilty of flattery or not." He turned to Mrs.
Vimpany, and attempted to look into her life from a new point of view.
"When Miss Henley was so fortunate as to make your acquaintance," he said, "you were travelling in Ireland.