for I despise thee. I admire thee; but thou hast filled me with
horror. I love, and yet already I hate thee."

While Poussin listened to Gillette, Frenhofer drew a green curtain
before his Catherine, with the grave composure of a jeweller locking
his drawers when he thinks that thieves are near him. He cast at the
two painters a look which was profoundly dissimulating, full of
contempt and suspicion; then, with convulsive haste, he silently
pushed them through the door of his atelier. When they reached the
threshold of his house he said to them, "Adieu, my little friends."

The tone of this farewell chilled the two painters with fear.

* * * * *

On the morrow Porbus, alarmed, went again to visit Frenhofer, and
found that he had died during the night, after having burned his
paintings.