Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
290
Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
12
The
Christmas
holidays
were
at
hand,
and
before
long
she
got
an
engagement.
It
was
a
great
evening
for
her.
Her
repertory
was,
it
must
be
confessed,
old
and
obvious;
but
the
children,
in
deference
to
their
hostess,
pretended
not
to
know
how
the
tricks
were
done,
and
assumed
their
prettiest
airs
of
wonder
and
delight.
One
of
them
even
pretended
to
be
frightened,
and
was
led
howling
from
the
room.
In
fact,
the
whole
thing
went
off
splendidly.
The
hostess
was
charmed,
and
told
Zuleika
that
a
glass
of
lemonade
would
be
served
to
her
in
the
hall.
Other
engagements
soon
followed.
Zuleika
was
very,
very
happy.
I
cannot
claim
for
her
that
she
had
a
genuine
passion
for
her
art.
The
true
conjurer
finds
his
guerdon
in
the
consciousness
of
work
done
perfectly
and
for
its
own
sake.
Lucre
and
applause
are
not
necessary
to
him.
If
he
were
set
down,
with
the
materials
of
his
art,
on
a
desert
island,
he
would
yet
be
quite
happy.
He
would
not
cease
to
produce
the
barber’s-pole
from
his
mouth.
To
the
indifferent
winds
he
would
still
speak
his
patter,
and
even
in
the
last
throes
of
starvation
would
not
eat
his
live
rabbit
or
his
gold-fish.
Zuleika,
on
a
desert
island,
would
have
spent
most
of
her
time
in
looking
for
a
man’s
foot-print.
She
was,
indeed,
far
too
human
a
creature
to
care
much
for
art.
I
do
not
say
that
she
took
her
work
lightly.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
