"Silence, silence! enough of that!" exclaimed the count, waving him off.
"It is with me, as with the Elector. We both have manifold titles, but
they bring us in little enough, and no money appertains to them. You have
sketched me graphically, master; be quiet now, and listen to me again in
silence. I therefore take you into my pay and service, and give you from
this day forward an annuity of five hundred dollars, which will be
delivered to you quarterly. Hush, hush! do not speak! I read a question in
your eyes and features, and I will forthwith supply the answer. Your
question runs, What have I to do for this annuity? And the answer is,
travel about in the world as a free man to hunt up pictures, and when they
are worth it, to purchase them for me. But above all things, to tell no
one that you are in my service, but to keep this as a secret between us
two. Pictures you must buy for me; that is all you have to do, master. But
sometimes you must allow me to dictate to you--where to journey in quest
of my pictures. For example, now: You have been in Italy, prosecuting your
studies there, and have opportunely brought home to me, thence, a Venus,
because I desired you to make a few purchases for me. You have seen how
delighted I was with the beautiful picture, but, on the whole, I have
taken a greater fancy to landscapes and representations of comedy, and the
Flemish painters are the ones I peculiarly admire. There are the Teniers,
father and son, who have painted the most charming and amusing country
scenes and comic pieces, and there is another young man, Wouvermann by
name, who is said, although youthful in years, to possess great talents,
and to understand not merely how to paint splendid clowns, but battle
scenes as well. Now, I should like of all things to possess a couple of
pictures by each of these three painters, and since the Teniers lived at
Amsterdam and The Hague, and Wouvermann now resides at The Hague, I wish
you to go to The Hague and make a few purchases there for me. But, mark
well, without saying that you come there in my employ, or that you have a
contract with me. I should much prefer your assuming the appearance of