the artist. Virginie became the color of her hair, lowered her eyes,
and turned aside her head to look at the sketches. Pierre Grassou
thought these little affectations charming, Virginie had such grace;
happily she didn't look like her father or her mother; but whom did
she look like?

During this sitting there were little skirmishes between the family
and the painter, who had the audacity to call pere Vervelle witty.
This flattery brought the family on the double-quick to the heart of
the artist; he gave a drawing to the daughter, and a sketch to the
mother.

"What! for nothing?" they said.

Pierre Grassou could not help smiling.

"You shouldn't give away your pictures in that way; they are money,"
said old Vervelle.

At the third sitting pere Vervelle mentioned a fine gallery of
pictures which he had in his country-house at Ville d'Avray--Rubens,
Gerard Douw, Mieris, Terburg, Rembrandt, Titian, Paul Potter, etc.

"Monsieur Vervelle has been very extravagant," said Madame Vervelle,
ostentatiously. "He has over one hundred thousand francs' worth of
pictures."

"I love Art," said the former bottle-dealer.

When Madame Vervelle's portrait was begun that of her husband was