Priam Farll was the first English painter to enjoy this supreme social reward.
And now he was inhabiting the puce dressing-gown.
_The Dreadful Secret_ A bell startled the forlorn house; its loud old-fashioned jangle came echoingly up the basement stairs and struck the ear of Priam Farll, who half rose and then sat down again.

He knew that it was an urgent summons to the front door, and that none but he could answer it; and yet he hesitated.
Leaving Priam Farll, the great and wealthy artist, we return to that far more interesting person, Priam Farll the private human creature; and come at once to the dreadful secret of his character, the trait in him which explained the peculiar circumstances of his life.
As a private human creature, he happened to be shy.
He was quite different from you or me.

We never feel secret qualms at the prospect of meeting strangers, or of taking quarters at a grand hotel, or of entering a large house for the first time, or of walking across a room full of seated people, or of dismissing a servant, or of arguing with a haughty female aristocrat behind a post-office counter, or of passing a shop where we owe money.

As for blushing or hanging back, or even looking awkward, when faced with any such simple, everyday acts, the idea of conduct so childish would not occur to us.

We behave naturally under all circumstances--for why should a sane man behave otherwise?
Priam Farll was different.