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THE PORTRAIT. 251
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
+ -A^ Ghaptek V. It Lias "Been Affirmed ...
CHAPTER VI . It the heiht of the London seasonand the world of fashion was
was g , in its meridian splendour . Drawing-rooms , levees , the opera , " fetes , and exhibitions again divided the attention of the inhabitants of the
West-end and of those strangers whose rank and opulence enabled them to participate in the gaiety . It was the custom of Mr . and Mrs .
Martyn to have an evening reception once a fortnight , and with a natural curiosity to see the men and women whose works I had been
reading , and of whom I was constantly hearing either good or evil - —for even authorshave their personal enemies—I availed myself
, of these opportunities . For a few evenings I enjoyed the novelty amazingly ; afterwards I became wearied of hearing- the same
platitudes repeated , the same opinions reiterated , and found out that authors in public are not half so charming as in private , when we
have them ( in their books I mean ) all to ourselves . At one of those wholesale meetings , when the rooms appeared
more crowded than usual , I had crept into a corner , after I had seenas I supposedeverybody worth looking at . Mr . Martyn
generall , y took care , to inform me when any notabilities arrived hitherto unknown to me , or to point them out . Sometimes , when
they chanced to belong to the art-circle , of which he was the centre , as his wife was of the literary onehe extended his kindness , and
, introduced me as a young person who " showed signs of artistic taste /' and a few of those whose acquaintance was thus made proved
exceedingly agreeable , and , what is more , we continued friends ever after . Sitting , then , in my corner , in which stood a small table
covered with articles of antiquarian _virtii , I perceived Mr . Martyn making disquisition 1 virtuoso his ' doubtless on way E towards , _" tian I said embalming me to , accompanied myself ; Etrurian " and by now a remains gentleman for , a and tiresome . sucl " A
gyp , like . " I could not for the crowd distinguish more than the height of the companion of Mr . Martyn ; what , then , were my feelings when I
beheld _Arthur Cleveland close by my side ? "A young friend of mine who ";—Mr . Martwas going on as usual about my signs of
artisyn tic Cleveland taste , when stammering , to his surprise out in , a he confused was suddenl manner y interrupted " that he had by Mr the .
pleasure of being acquainted with Miss Lindores . " _"Ah , then , " equall said his y confused intended look introducer , te I shall , not leave observin you together g my chan to have ging a color talk , and for
there is Mr . H waiting to have my opinion on his last picture . By the by , Mr . Cleveland , what have you in the Exhibition this year ? " A sudden glow overspread the face of the artist ; he did
not immediately make any reply , and Mr . Martyn , not waiting for one A , went painful away to j ensued oin Mr . which Waddington neither . of us seemed to have tlie
pause , power to break . For my part I felt as if speech were an impossibility , and the longer the silence lasted the more crushing ' it became ! .
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The Portrait. 251
THE PORTRAIT . 251
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1861, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061861/page/35/
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