Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/336

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THE TENANT

unspeakable grimaces, offered his arm to me; and I was condemned to sit between himself and Mr. Boarham. But afterwards, when we were all again assembled in the drawing room, I was indemnified for so much suffering by a few delightful minutes of conversation with Mr. Huntingdon.

In the course of the evening, Miss Wilmot was called upon to sing and play for the amusement of the company, and I to exhibit my drawings, and, though he likes music, and she is an accomplished musician, I think I am right in affirming that he paid more attention to my drawings than to her music.

So far, so good;—but, hearing him pronounce, sotto voce, but with peculiar emphasis concerning one of the pieces, "This is better than all!"—I looked up, curious to see which it was, and, to my horror, beheld him complacently gazing at the back of the picture—It was his own face that I had sketched there and forgotten to rub out! To make matters worse