Madeline evaluated the proprietor of La Palette Galerie even as she was sized up in turn. The fact that she was not attired as formally as she was sent a storm of self doubts through her. It made her wonder if she misjudged the formality of the interview. The owner was not precisely under dressed, in fact, it was a far cry from casual, but she was not as starched and pressed as Madeline's own outfit was. Madeline in no way wanted to start off on the wrong foot, as it were. After reaffirming her conviction that it was better to be safe than sorry, which gave her flagging self confidence a bolster, she answered "Yes, Madeline Morozov. Delighted to meet you, Ma'am."
So saying, she approached the other woman with a hand held out for a shake. The narrow metal bracelet on her wrist tinkled down her arm as she moved, making Madeline take a mental note to not wear jewelry to an interview again. The bracelet, while charming, was likely to be a distraction. As she entered into the gallery, she got her first full look at the place.
She found it to be tasteful. Comfortable. Nothing garish or shocking, hypermodern and deliberately perplexing. In short, it felt somewhat like the owner looked: well put together and comfortable in its own existence. Madeline quite liked it. Despite the raging storm outside, the room had a sense of peace. A feeling of time outside of time, the sort of sanctity or sacredness that a library has. Sometimes, when studying at the university library, with its hundreds of thousands of books, she can sit back and feel the impressive weight of knowledge barely caged. The place felt eternal, that it had always existed and will continue to do so in the future.
Of course, she knew that the library was erected shortly after the university, so that thought was patently untrue and irrational. Still, this place gave her the same feeling, and it called to mind a phrase from the dredges of her mind, 'Ars longa, vita brevis'. Given some artistic license, which she rarely used, it would me 'Life is short, but art is forever'. (Her own translation at the time, 'Art long, life brief', had been docked points for capturing the words, but not the spirit of the phrase. She never liked Latin anyway.)