The warm reds and greens and russets of their garments made an unbelievable patch of colour in the grey March day.

And this in New York! A friendly truck driver, feeding his horses, saw my bewilderment, and laughed.
[Illustration: A GREENWICH STUDIO.

Choosing models.] "That's Macdougal's Alley," he volunteered.
That meant nothing to me then.
"What is it ?" I demanded, devoured by curiosity; "the stage door of a theatre,--or what ?" He laughed again.
"It is just Macdougal's Alley!" he repeated, as though that explained everything.
So it did, when I came to find out about it.
The Alley and Washington Mews are probably the most famous artist quarters in the city, and some of our biggest painters and sculptors once had studios in one or the other,--those, that is, that haven't them still.

Of course the picturesquely attired individuals I had caught sight of were models--taking the air, or snatching a moment for flirtation.

Naturally they would not have appeared in costume in any other street in New York, but this, you see, was Macdougal Alley, and as my friend, the truck driver, seemed to think, that explains everything! As for the Mews, they are fixing it up in great shape; and as for those Eighth-Street studios, they are too beautiful for words.