The faces which he successively outlined were all stiff, and though beautiful in feature, lacked the great charm of being expressive and lifelike.
"What is the matter with me ?" he exclaimed, impatiently.

"Is it impossible for me to succeed?
It's clear," he decided, "that I am not in the vein.

I will go out and take a walk, and perhaps while I am in the street something may strike me." He accordingly donned his coat and hat, and emerged into the great thoroughfare, where he was soon lost in the throng.

It was only natural that, as he walked, with his task uppermost in his thoughts, he should scrutinize carefully the faces of such young girls as he met.
"Perhaps," it occurred to him, "I may get a hint from some face I see.
It is strange," he mused, "how few there are, even in the freshness of childhood, that can be called models of beauty.

That child, for example, has beautiful eyes, but a badly cut mouth.