Several times already, when I had been speaking of myself, he had pulled out a writing-pad and scribbled a brief note; and now, when we entered the studio, I saw it in his hand again, and the pencil go to his mouth, as he cast a comprehensive glance round the uncomfortable building.
"Are you going to make a sketch of it ?" I could not help asking, as I unveiled the Genius of Muskegon.
"Ah, that's my secret," said he.

"Never you mind.

A mouse can help a lion." He walked round my statue and had the design explained to him.

I had represented Muskegon as a young, almost a stripling, mother, with something of an Indian type; the babe upon her knees was winged, to indicate our soaring future; and her seat was a medley of sculptured fragments, Greek, Roman, and Gothic, to remind us of the older worlds from which we trace our generation.
"Now, does this satisfy you, Mr.Dodd ?" he inquired, as soon as I had explained to him the main features of the design.
"Well," I said, "the fellows seem to think it's not a bad bonne femme for a beginner.

I don't think it's entirely bad myself.