perfectly still again. The water was a cool dim sound. Jenny spoke, suddenly confidential.
“Say, you know what she wants Pete to do?”
“No: What?” asked the niece quickly.
“Well— Say, what kind of a girl is she? Do you know her very good?”
“What does she want Pete to do?” the other insisted.
Jenny was silent. Then she blurted in prim disapproval: “She wants Pete to let her paint him.”
“Yes? And then what?”
“That’s it. She wants Pete to let her paint him in a picture.”
“Well, that’s the way she usually goes about getting men, I guess. What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, it’s the wrong way to go about getting Pete. Pete’s not used to that,” Jenny replied in that prim tone.
“I don’t blame him for not wanting to waste his time that way. But what makes you and Pete so surprised at the idea of it? Pete won’t catch lead poisoning just from having his portrait painted.”
“Well, it may be all right for folks like you all. But Pete says he wouldn’t let any strange woman see him without any clothes on. He’s not used to things like that.”
“Oh,” remarked the niece. Then: “So that’s the way she wants to paint him, is it?”
“Why, that’s the way they always do it, ain’t it? In the nude?” Jenny pronounced it nood.
“Good Lord, didn’t you ever see a picture of anybody with clothes on? Where’d you get that idea from? From the movies?”
Jenny didn’t reply. Then she said suddenly: “Besides, the ones with clothes on are all old ladies, or mayors or something. Anyway, I thought . . .”
