"I never started the yarn that I was a dub. The people who looked at
my work, and laughed, started that talk. I didn't shout out that I was
a great artist for the mighty good reason that if I had, and had been
believed, the people who posed for me either wouldn't have done it or
would have been so self-conscious that they would have tried to look
like some one else, and would never have shown me themselves at all.
Thinking me a joke, they just acted natural. Which, young man, is
about all you need to know."

Maggie looked on breathlessly at the two men, bewildered by this new
light in which Hunt was presented, and fascinated by the tense
alertness of her hero, Larry.

Slowly Larry's tensity dissipated. "I don't know about the rest of
your make-up," he said slowly, "but as a painter you're a whale."

"The rest of him's all right, too," put in the dry, unemotional voice
of the Duchess. "Dinner's ready. Come on."

As they moved to the table Hunt clapped a big hand on Larry's
shoulder. "And to think," he chuckled, "it took a crook fresh from
Sing Sing to discover me as a great artist! You're clever, Larry--
clever! Maggie, get the corkscrew into action and fill the glasses
with the choicest vintage of H2O. A toast. Here's to Larry!"




CHAPTER V