"I have been fit to hang myself over her!" said Bentley, pointing to the
Queen. "I tried model after model. At last I've got the very thing! She
comes to-day for the first time. You'll see her! Before she comes, I
must scrape out Joanna, so as to look at the thing quite fresh. But I
daresay I shall only make a few sketches of the lady to-day."
"Who is she, and where did you get her!"
Bentley laughed. "You won't like her, my dear! Never mind. Her
appearance is magnificent--whatever her mind and morals may be."
And he described how he had heard of the lady from an artist friend who
had originally seen her at a music-hall, and had persuaded her to come
and sit to him. The comic haste and relief with which he had now
transferred her to Bentley lost nothing in Bentley's telling. Of course
she had "a fiend of a temper." "Wish you joy of her! Oh, don't ask me
about her! You'll find out for yourself." "I can manage her," said Uncle
Charles tranquilly. "I've had so many of 'em."
"She is Spanish?"
"Not at all.
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