II.

"We became acquainted in a rather singular manner. I had just
finished a study which appeared to me to display genius and
power; as it must have, since it was sold for ten thousand
francs, fifteen years later. It was as simple, however, as that
two and two make four, and had nothing to do with academic rules.
The whole of the right side of my canvas represented a rock, an
enormous rock, covered with sea-wrack, brown, yellow, and red,
across which the sun poured like a stream of oil. The light,
without which one could see the stars concealed in the
background, fell upon the stone, and gilded it as if with fire.
That was all. A first stupid attempt at dealing with light, with
burning rays, with the sublime.

"On the left was the sea, not the blue sea, the slate-colored
sea, but a sea of jade, as greenish, milky, and thick as the
overcast sky.

"I was so pleased with my work that I danced from sheer delight
as I carried it back to the inn. I wished that the whole world
could have seen it at one and the same moment. I can remember
that I showed it to a cow, which was browsing by the wayside,
exclaiming, at the same time: 'Look at that, my old beauty; you
will not often see its like again.'

"When I had reached the front of the house, I immediately called
out to Mother Lecacheur, shouting with all my might:

" 'Ohe! Ohe! my mistress, come here and look at this.'