his ample Flemish inexpressibles.

'Pshaw!' said the young man aloud,
'would that picture, devils, saint, and all,
were where they should be--in hell!'

A short, sudden laugh, uttered start

lingly close to his ear, instantly responded
to the ejaculation.

The artist turned sharply round, and
now for the first time became aware that
his labours had been overlooked by a
stranger.

Within about a yard and a half, and
rather behind him, there stood what was,
or appeared to be, the figure of an elderly
man: he wore a short cloak, and broad-
brimmed hat with a conical crown, and in
his hand, which was protected with a
heavy, gauntlet-shaped glove, he carried a
long ebony walking-stick, surmounted with
what appeared, as it glittered dimly in the
twilight, to be a massive head of gold,
and upon his breast, through the folds
of the cloak, there shone what appeared
to be the links of a rich chain of the same
metal.