insist on a great work; that the five-act tragedy might come at his
convenience; that we merely asked for something to keep us from yawning,
some inexpensive little _lever de rideau_. Hereupon the poor man took
his stand as a genius misconceived and persecuted, an _ame meconnue_, and
washed his hands of us from that hour! No, I believe he does me the
honour to consider me the head and front of the conspiracy formed to nip
his glory in the bud--a bud that has taken twenty years to blossom. Ask
him if he knows me, and he will tell you I am a horribly ugly old woman,
who has vowed his destruction because he won't paint her portrait as a
pendant to Titian's Flora. I fancy that since then he has had none but
chance followers, innocent strangers like yourself, who have taken him at
his word. The mountain is still in labour; I have not heard that the
mouse has been born. I pass him once in a while in the galleries, and he
fixes his great dark eyes on me with a sublimity of indifference, as if I
were a bad copy of a Sassoferrato! It is a long time ago now that I
heard that he was making studies for a Madonna who was to be a _resume_
of all the other Madonnas of the Italian school--like that antique Venus
who borrowed a nose from one great image and an ankle from another. It's
certainly a masterly idea. The parts may be fine, but when I think of my
unhappy portrait I tremble for the whole. He has communicated this
striking idea under the pledge of solemn secrecy to fifty chosen spirits,
to every one he has ever been able to button-hole for five minutes. I
suppose he wants to get an order for it, and he is not to blame; for
Heaven knows how he lives. I see by your blush," my hostess frankly
continued, "that you have been honoured with his confidence. You needn't
be ashamed, my dear young man; a man of your age is none the worse for a
certain generous credulity. Only allow me to give you a word of advice:
keep your credulity out of your pockets! Don't pay for the picture till
it's delivered. You have not been treated to a peep at it, I imagine! No
more have your fifty predecessors in the faith. There are people who