"And the Sienese and the Lorenzetti, of whom you once raved? You wrote
to me of them, with regard to my article on your exposition of 'eighty-
six; do you remember?" inquired the writer.

"Raphael?" replied Maitland.... "Do you wish me to tell you what
Raphael really was? A sublime builder. And Titian? A sublime
upholsterer. It is true, I admired the Sienese very much," he added,
turning toward Dorsenne. "I spent three months in copying the Simone
Martini of the municipality, the Guido Riccio, who rides between two
strongholds on a gray heath, where there is not a sign of a tree or a
house, but only lances and towers. Do I remember Lorenzetti? Above all,
the fresco at San Francesco, in which Saint Francois presents his order
to the Pope, that was his best work.... Then, there is a cardinal, with
his fingers on his lips, thus!" another gesture. "Well, I remember it,
you see, because there is an anecdote. It is portrayed on a wall--oh,
a grand portrayal, but without the subject, flutt!".... and he made a
hissing sound with his lips, "while Pier della Francesca, Carnevale,
Melozzo,".... he paused to find a word which would express the very
complicated thought in his head, and he concluded: "That is painting."

"But the Assumption by Titian, and the Transfiguration by Raphael,"
resumed the Countess, who added in Italian, with an accent of enthusiasm:
"Ah, the bellezza!"

"Do not worry, Countess," said Dorsenne, laughing heartily, "those are an
artist's opinions. Ten years ago, I said that Victor Hugo was an amateur
and Alfred de Musset a bourgeois. But," he added, "as I am not descended
from the Doges nor the Pilgrim Fathers, I, a poor, degenerate Gallo-
Roman, fear the dampness on account of my rheumatism, and ask your
permission to reenter the house." Then, as he passed through the door of