A pupil told him proudly she had studied with Bouguereau.

"Bouguereau! Bouguereau! Who is Bouguereau?"

* * * * *

One young lady in the class offended him. She received a polite note,
signed with a neat butterfly, requesting her not to attend further.
"It was worth being expelled to get the note," she said. Whistler
heard of the comment.

"Well, they'll all have a note some day," he observed. His retirement
soon followed.

* * * * *

H. Villiers Barnett, editor of the _Continental Weekly_, when in the
employ of the _Magazine of Art_ visited the Dowdeswell Gallery at a
press view of the Venice pastels. He alone of the critics developed
some interest, and soon found himself alone with Whistler.

"I beg your pardon," said the latter, "but do you represent a
religious journal?"

"No," Barnett replied, jokingly, "mine is an out-and-out sporting
paper!"

"Oh," said Whistler, "that accounts for it."