The things we do!

Miss Cann painted flowers and card-screens elegantly, and "finished"
pencil-drawings most elaborately for her pupils. She could copy prints,
so that at a little distance you would scarcely know that the copy in
stumped chalk was not a bad mezzotinto engraving. She even had a little
old paint-box, and showed you one or two ivory miniatures out of the
drawer. She gave John James what little knowledge of drawing she had, and
handed him over her invaluable recipes for mixing water-colours--"for
trees in foregrounds, burnt sienna and indigo"--"for very dark foliage,
ivory black and gamboge"--"for flesh-colour," etc. etc. John James went
through her poor little course, but not so brilliantly as she expected.
She was forced to own that several of her pupils' "pieces" were executed
much more dexterously than Johnny Ridley's. Honeyman looked at the boy's
drawings from time to time, and said, "Hm, ha!--very clever--a great deal
of fancy, really." But Honeyman knew no more of the subject than a deaf
and dumb man knows of music.


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