" He looked at the waiting canvas. "Clinch it
to-day. Hurry it through."
He spoke with a factitious vivacity which almost gave a sense of chill. She
looked at him with a shade of dissatisfaction and discomfort.
"What! must it all be done in a drive?" she asked.
"By no means. Watch me relax. Is that my chair? See me drop into complete
physical and mental passivity--the _kef_ of the Arabs."
He mounted the model-throne, sank into the wide chair, and placed his hands
luxuriously on its arms. His general pose mattered little: she had not gone
beyond his head and shoulders.
Hortense stared. Would he push her on the moment into the right mood? Would
he have her call into instant readiness her colors and brushes? Why, even a
modest amateur must be allowed her minutes of preparation and approach.
"Passivity?" she repeated, beginning to get under way. "Shall I find you
very entertaining in that condition?"
"Entertaining? Me, the sitter? Why, I've always heard it was an important
part of a portrait-painter's work to keep the subject interested and
amused."
He smiled in his cold, distant way.
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