"
'"Then your interest in me," I said, with a smile, "was that which
you would feel towards a puppy or a kitten."
'"I perceive that you have a turn for satire," he said, laughing.
"I will not deny that I have an extraordinarily strong passion for
watching the movements of animals. I have, to the sorrow of my
neighbours, filled my garden in London with all kinds of purchases
from Jamrach's. But from the moment that I knew you, who combined the
fascination of a fawn and a child with that of a sylph or a fairy, my
poor little menagerie was neglected, and what became of its members I
scarcely know. I suppose I am very uncomplimentary to you, but you
would have the truth. The moment that I felt myself threatened by the
fiend _Ennui_ I used to tell Mrs. Titwing, who was in the habit of
calling you her baby, to bring you into the studio, and at once the
fiend fled. At last I grew so attached to you that your presence was
a positive necessity of my life. Unless I knew that you were in the
studio I could not paint. It was necessary for me at intervals to
look across the room at that divan and see you there amusing
yourself--playing with yourself, so to speak, sometimes like a
kitten, sometimes like a child.
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