"Dear me," she said, "I hope I am not intruding upon the claims of some absent affinity." Aaron King gravely held out his hand with the package of letters, saying quietly, "They are from my mother." And the woman had sufficient grace to blush, for once, with unfeigned shame.
When he had received her apologies, and, putting aside the letters, had succeeded in making her forget the incident, he said, "And now, if you are ready, shall we begin ?" For some time the painter stood before the picture on his easel, without touching palette or brush, studying the face of the woman who posed for him.

By a slight movement of her eyes, without turning her head, she could look him fairly in the face.

Presently as he continued to gaze at her so intently, she laughed; and, with a little shrug of her shoulders and a pretense as of being cold, said, "When you look at me that way, I feel as though you had surprised me at my bath." The artist turned his attention instantly to his color-box.

While setting his palette, with his eyes upon his task, he said deliberately, "'Venus Surprised at the Bath.' Do you know that you would make a lovely Venus ?" With a low laugh, she returned, daringly.

"Would you care to paint me as the Goddess of Love ?" He, still, did not look at her; but answered, while, with deliberate care, he selected a few brushes from the Chinese jar near the easel, "Venus is always a very popular subject, you know." She did not speak for a moment or two; and the painter felt her watching him.