or spout on the hustings, like Robert Elton. I kill pheasants in England, and lions in Africa. It is a waste of good material."
"Brains can be wasted as well as muscle, if it comes to that."
"I have no brains. I have a heart—that is all, besides my arms and legs."
"Why did you leave the Guards?"
"I have just told you—because I am a fool. If I had brains, and no heart, I should not have made such a mess of my life as I have."
This certainly invited a rejoinder, but again Elizabeth was silent. Her brush was not very steady, as she touched the golden lights upon the beard in the portrait before her; but this her sitter could not see. After a moment's pause he continued—
"Perhaps you are wondering how I have made a fool of myself?"
There was no pause now. She cut him short at once.
"No, I am not. I know you have lost a lot of money."
"Yes," he proceeded, in his soft monotone, and his right eye turned slowly towards her as he spoke. "But that is not the worst. The heart had nothing to do with that—only folly. But now, because I am such a duffer, I have fallen in love with an angel, who is quite indifferent—indeed, blind—to my devotion. Idiotic, isn't it, Miss Shaw?"
"Very." She caught the glance of that right eye. "Turn your head rather more to the left, please."
"Won't you say you pity me? You're awfully unkind."
No doubt, to a cold looker-on, there would have seemed
