"
Mountjoy waited to hear something more. Nothing more was said. Perhaps
this reticent lady disliked looking back through a long interval of
years, or perhaps she had her reasons for leaving Mountjoy's guess at
the truth still lost in doubt. In either case, she deliberately dropped
the subject. Iris took it up. Sitting by the only table in the room,
she was in a position which placed her exactly opposite to one of the
prints--the magnificent portrait of Mrs. Siddons as The Tragic Muse.
"I wonder if Mrs. Siddons was really as beautiful as that?" she said,
pointing to the print. "Sir Joshua Reynolds is reported to have
sometimes flattered his sitters."
Mrs. Vimpany's solemn self-possessed eyes suddenly brightened; the name
of the great actress seemed to interest her. On the point, apparently,
of speaking, she dropped the subject of Mrs. Siddons as she had dropped
the subject of the theatre. Mountjoy was left to answer Iris.
"We are none of us old enough," he reminded her, "to decide whether Sir
Joshua's brush has been guilty of flattery or not." He turned to Mrs.
Vimpany, and attempted to look into her life from a new point of view.
"When Miss Henley was so fortunate as to make your acquaintance," he
said, "you were travelling in Ireland.
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