,,the ,,collectors ,being ,cases mostly under the ,ninth and ,tenth ,commandments by ,,frank ,,jewett ,,mather1 ,junr4 #aiab ,comprising a ,ballade1 wherein the ,wrongfulness of ,art ,collecting is conceded1 and as well ,certain ,stories3 ,campbell ,corot1 which recounts the career of an able and candid ,picture ,forger4 ,the del ,puente ,giorgione1 which tells of an artful ,great ,lady and an ,artless ,expert4 ,the ,lombard ,runes1 a mere interlude1 but revealing a certain duplicity in ,professional ,seekers for ,truth4 ,their ,cross1 so called from an inanimate ,object of ,price which wrought ,woe to a well meaning ,new ,york ,couple4 ,the ,missing ,st ,michael1 a tale of ,italianate ,americans which is full of ,vanities and1 though alluring to the ,sophisticated1 quite unfit for the ,simple ,reader4 ,the ,lustred ,pots1 again a mere interlude1 but of a grim sort1 as it grazes the ,sixth ,commandment and ,the ,balaklava ,coronal1 which1 notwithstanding its exotic title1 is mostly of our own ,people1 showing the ,triumph of a resourceful ,dealer over two ,critics and a ,captain of ,industry4 ,to which seven stories are added some ,reflections upon ,art ,collecting1 setting forth ,excuses and ,palliations for a ,practice usually regarded as ,pernicious4 ,,foreword ,of the seven stories of art collecting that make up this book ,campbell ,corot and the ,missing ,st4 ,michael first appeared under the pseudonym of ,francis ,cotton1 in ,scribner's ,magazine1 and are now reprinted by its courteous permission4 ,similar acknowledgment is due the ,nation for allowing the sketch on art collecting to be republished4 ,many readers will note the similarity between the story ,the del ,puente ,giorgione and ,paul ,bourget's brilliant novelette1 ,la ,dame qui a perdu son ,peintre4 ,my story was written in the winter of #aijg1 and it was not until the summer of #aiaa that ,m4 ,bourget's delightful tale came under my eye4 ,clearly the same incident has served us both as raw material1 and the noteworthy differences between the two versions should sufficiently advise the reader how little either is to be taken as a literal record of facts or estimate of personalities4 ,,contents ,a ,ballade of ,art ,collectors ,campbell ,corot ,the del ,puente ,giorgione ,the ,lombard ,runes ,their ,cross ,the ,missing ,st4 ,michael ,the ,lustred ,pots ,the ,balaklava ,coronal ,on ,art ,collecting ,a ,,ballade ,,of ,,art ,,collectors ,oh ,lord6 ,we are the covetous4 ,our neighbours' goods afflict us sore4 ,from ,frisco to the ,bosphorus ,all sightly stuff1 the less the more1 ,we want it in our hoard and store4 ,nor sacrilege doth us appal-- ,egyptian vault--fane at ,cawnpore-- ,collector folk are sinners all4 ,our envoys plot in partibus4 ,they've small regard for chancel door1 ,or ,buddhist bolts contiguous ,to lustrous jade or gold galore ,adorning idol squat or tall-- ,these be strange gods that we adore-- ,collector folk are sinners all4 ,of ,romulus ,augustulus ,the signet ring ,i proudly wore4 ,some rummaging in ossibus ,i most repentantly deplore4 ,my taste has changed2 ,i now explore ,the sepulchres of ,senegal ,and seek the pots of ,singapore-- ,collector folk are sinners all4 ,lord6 ,crave my neighbour's wife6 ,what for8 ,i much prefer his crystal ball ,from far ,cathay4 ,then1 ,lord1 ignore ,collector folk who're sinners all4 ,,campbell ,,corot ,the ,academy reception was approaching a perspiring and vociferous close when the ,antiquary whispered an invitation to the ,painter1 the ,patron1 and the ,critic4 ,a ,scotch woodcock at ,dick's weighs heavily1 even against the more solid pleasures of the mind1 so terminating four conferences on as many tendencies in modern art1 and abandoning four hungry souls1 four hungry bodies bore down an avenue toward ,dick's smoky realm1 where they found a quiet corner apart from the crowd4 ,it is a place where one may talk freely or even foolishly--one of those rare oases in which an artist1 for example1 may venture to read a lesson to an avowed patron of art4 ,all the way down the ,patron had bored us with his new ,corot1 which he described at tedious length4 ,now the ,antiquary barely tolerated anything this side of the eighteenth century1 the ,painter was of ,courbet's sturdy following1 the ,critic had been writing for a season that the only hope in art for the rich was to emancipate themselves from the exclusive idolatry of ,barbizon4 ,accordingly the ,patron's rhapsodies fell on impatient ears1 and when he continued his importunities over the ,scotch woodcock and ale1 the ,painter was impelled to express the sense of the meeting4 ,speaking of ,corot1 he began genially1 there are certain misapprehensions about him which ,i am fortunately able to clear up4 ,people imagine1 for instance1 that he haunted the woods about ,ville d',avray4 ,not at all4 ,he frequented the gin-mills in ,cedar ,street4 ,we are told he wore a peasant's blouse and sabots2 on the contrary1 he sported a frock-coat and congress gaiters4 ,his long clay pipe has passed into legend1 whereas he actually smoked a tilted ,pittsburg stogy4 ,we speak of him by the operatic name of ,camille2 he was prosaically called ,campbell4 ,you think he worked out of doors at rosy dawn2 he painted habitually in an air-tight attic by lamplight4 ,as the ,painter paused for the sensation to sink in1 the ,antiquary murmured soothingly1 ,get it off your mind quickly1 ,old ,man1 the ,critic remarked that the ,campbells were surely coming1 and the ,patron asked with nettled dignity how the ,painter knew4 ,know8 he resumed1 having had the necessary fillip4 ,because ,i knew him1 smelled his stogy1 and drank with him in ,cedar ,street4 ,it was some time in the early '#gjs1 when a passion for ,corot's opalescences 7with the ,critic's permission7 was the latest and most knowing fad4 ,as a realist ,i half mistrusted the fascination1 but ,i felt it with the rest1 and whenever any of the besotted dealers of that rude age got in an ',early ,morning' or a ',dance of ,nymphs1' ,i was there among the first4 ,for another reason1 my friend ,rosenheim1 then in his modest beginnings as a marchand-amateur1 was likely to appear at such private views4 ,with his infallible tact for future salability1 he was already unloading the ,institute1 and laying in ,barbizon4 ,find what he's buying now1 and ,i'll tell you the next fad4 ,the ,critic nodded sagaciously1 knowing that ,rosenheim1 who now poses as collecting only for his pleasure1 has already begun to affect the drastic productions of certain clever young ,spanish realists4 ,rosenheim1 the ,painter pursued1 really loved his ,corot quite apart from prospective values4 ,i fancy the pink silkiness of the manner always appeals to ,jews1 recalling their most authentic taste1 the eighteenth-century ,frenchman4 ,anyhow1 ,rosenheim took his new love seriously1 followed up the smallest examples religiously1 learned to know the forgeries that were already afloat--in short1 was the best informed ,corotist in the city4 ,it was appropriate1 then1 that my first relations with the poet-painter should have the sanction of ,rosenheim's presence4 ,lingering upon the reminiscence1 the ,painter sopped up the last bit of anchovy paste1 drained his toby1 and pushed it away4 ,the rest of us settled back comfortably for a long session1 as he persisted4 ,rosenheim wrote me one day that he had got wind of a ,corot in a ,cedar ,street auction room4 ,it might be1 so his news went1 the pendant to the one he had recently bought at the ,bolton sale4 ,he suggested we should go down together and see4 ,so we joggled down ,broadway in the 'bus1 on what looked rather like a wild-goose chase4 ,but it paid to keep the run of ,cedar ,street in those days2 one might find anything4 ,the gilded black walnut was pushing the old mahogany out of good houses2 ,wyant and ,homer ,martin were occasionally raising the wind by ventures in omnibus sales2 then there were old masters which one cannot mention because nobody would believe4 ,but that particular morning the ,corot had no real competitor2 its radiance fairly filled the entire junk-room4 ,rosenheim was in raptures4 ,as luck would have it1 it was indeed the companion-piece to his1 and his it should be at all costs4 ,in ,cedar ,street1 he reasonably felt1 one might even hope to get it cheap4 ,then began our duo on the theme of atmosphere1 vibrancy1 etc4--brand new phrases1 mind you1 in those innocent days4 ,as ,rosenheim for a moment carried the burden alone1 ,i stepped up to the canvas and saw1 with a shock1 that the paint was about two days old4 ,under what conditions ,i wondered--for did ,i not know the ways of paint--could a real ,corot have come over so fresh8 ,i more than scented trickery4 ,a sketch overpainted---or it seemed above the quality of a sheer forgery--or was the case worse than that8 ,meanwhile not a shade of doubt was in ,rosenheim's mind4 ,as ,i canvassed the possibilities his sotto-voce ecstasies continued1 to the vast amusement1 as ,i perceived1 of a sardonic stranger who hovered unsteadily in the background4 ,this ill-omened person was clad in a statesmanlike black frock-coat with trousers of similar funereal shade4 ,a white lawn tie1 much soiled1 and congress gaiters1 much frayed1 were appropriate details of a costume inevitably topped off with an army slouch hat that had long lacked the brush4 ,he was immensely long and sallow1 wore a drooping moustache vaguely blonde1 between the unkempt curtains of which a thin cheroot pointed heavenward4 ,as he walked nervously up and down1 with a suspiciously stilted gait1 he observed ,rosenheim with evident scorn and the picture with a strange pride4 ,he was not merely odd1 but also offensive1 for as ,rosenheim whispered ',comme c'est beau6' there was an unmistakable snort2 when he continued1 ',mais c'est exquis6' the snort broadened into a mighty chuckle2 while as he concluded ',most luminous6' the chuckle became articulate1 in an ',oh1 shucks6' that could not be ignored4 ',you seem to be interested1 sir1' ,rosenheim remarked4 ',you bet6' was the terse response4 ',may ,i inquire the cause of your concern8' ,rosenheim continued placidly4 ,with a most exasperating air of willingness to please1 the stranger rejoined3 ',why1 ,i jest took a simple pleasure1 sir1 in seeing an amachoor like you talking ,french about a little thing ,i painted here in ,cedar ,street4' ,for a moment ,rosenheim was too indignant to speak1 then he burst out with3 ',it's an infernal lie2 you could no more paint that picture than you could fly4' ',i did paint it1 jest the same1' pursued the stranger imperturbably1 as ,rosenheim1 to make an end of the insufferable wag1 snapped out sarcastically1 ',perhaps you painted its mate1 then1 the ,bolton ,corot4' ',the one that sold for three thousand dollars last week8 ,of course ,i painted it2 it's the best nymph scene ,i ever done4 ,don't get mad1 mister2 ,i paint most of the ,corots4 ,i'm glad you like 'em4' ,for a moment ,i feared that little ,rosenheim would smite the lank annoyer dead in his tracks4 ',for heaven's sake be careful6' ,i cried4 ',the man is drunk or crazy or he may even be right2 the paint on this picture isn't two days old4' ',correct1' declared the stranger4 ',i finished it day before yesterday for this sale4' ,then a marked change came over ,rosenheim's manner4 ,he grew positively deferential4 ,it delighted him to meet an artist of talent2 they must know each other better4 ,cards were exchanged1 and ,rosenheim read with amazement the grimy inscription ',campbell ,corot1 ,landscape ,artist4' ',yes1 that's my painting name1' ,campbell ,corot said modestly2 'and my pictures are almost equally as good as his'n1 but not quite4 ,they do for ordinary household purposes4 ,i really hate to see one get into a big sale like the ,bolton2 it don't seem honest1 but ,i can't help it2 nobody'd believe me if ,i told4' ,rosenheim's demeanour was courtly to a fault as he pleaded an engagement and bade us farewell4 ,already apparently he divined a certain importance in so remarkable a gift of mimicry4 ,i stayed behind1 resolved on making the nearer acquaintance of ,campbell ,corot4 99 99 99 99 99 ,rosenheim clearly understands the art of business1 interrupted the ,antiquary4 ,and the business of art1 added the ,critic4 ,could your seedy friend have painted my ,corot8 said the ,patron in real distress4 ,why not8 continued the ,painter remorselessly4 ,only hear me out1 and you may judge for yourself4 ,anyhow1 let's drop your ,corot2 we were speaking of mine4 ,to make ,campbell ,corot's acquaintance proved more difficult than ,i had expected4 ,he confided to me immediately that he had been a durn fool to give himself away to my friend1 but talk was cheap1 and people never believed him1 anyway4 ,then gloom descended1 and my professions of confidence received only the most surly responses4 ,he unbent again for a moment with1 ',painter feller1 you knowed the pesky ways of paint1 didn't yer8' but when ,i followed up this promising lead and claimed him as an associate1 he repulsed me with1 ',stuck up1 ain't yer8 ,parley ,french like your friend8 ,s'pose you've showed in the ,saloon at ,paris4' ,giving it up1 ,i replied simply3 ',i have2 ,i'm a landscape painter1 too1 but ,i'd like to say before ,i go that ,i should be glad to be able to paint a picture like that4' ,looking me in the eye and seeing ,i meant it1 ',shake6' he replied cordially4 ,as we shook1 his breath met me fair3 it was such a breath as was not uncommon in old-time ,cedar ,street4 ,gentlemen who affect this aroma are1 ,i have noticed1 seldom indifferent to one sort of invitation1 so ,i ventured hardily3 ',you know ,nickerson's ,glengyle1 sir2 perhaps you will do me the favour to drink a glass with me while we chat4' ,here ,i could tell you a lot about ,nickerson's4 ,don't1 begged the ,critic1 who is abstemious4 ,i will only say1 then1 that ,nickerson's1 once an all-night refuge1 closes now at three--desecration has made it the yellow marble office of a teetotaler in the banking line--and the ,glengyle1 that blessed essence of the barley1 heather1 peat1 and mist of ,old ,scotland1 has been taken over by an exporting company1 limited4 ,sometimes ,i think ,i detect a little of it in the poisons that the grocers of ,glasgow and ,edinburgh send over here1 or perhaps ,i only dream of the old taste4 ,then it was itself1 and by the second glass ,campbell ,corot was quite ready to soliloquise4 ,you shall have his story about as he told it1 but abridged a little in view of your tender ages and the hour4 99 99 99 99 99 ,john ,campbell had grown up contentedly on the old farm under ,mount ,everett until one summer when a landscape painter took board with the family4 ,at first the lad despised the gentle art as unmanly1 but as he watched the mysterious processes he longed to try his hand4 ,the good-natured ,dsseldorfian willingly lent brushes and bits of millboard upon which ,john proceeded to make the most lurid confections4 ,the forms of things were1 of course1 an obstacle to him1 as they are to everybody4 ',i never could drore1' he told me1 'and ,i never wanted to drore like that painter chap4 ,why he'd fill a big canvas with little trees and rocks and ponds till it all seemed no bigger than a ,noah's ark show4 ,i used to ask him1 ,why don't you wait till evening when you can't see so much to drore8' ,to such criticism the painter naturally paid no attention1 while ,john devoted himself to sunsets and the tube of crimson lake4 ,from babyhood he had loved the purple hour1 and his results1 while without form and void1 were apparently not wholly unpleasing1 for his master paid him the compliment of using one or two such sketches as backgrounds1 adding merely the requisite hills1 houses1 fences1 and cows4 ,these collaborations were mentioned not unworthily beside the sunsets of ,kensett and ,cropsey next winter at the ,academy4 ,from that summer ,john was for better or worse a painter4 ,his first local success was1 curiously enough1 an historical composition1 in which the village hose company1 almost swallowed up by the smoke1 held in check a conflagration of ,vesuvian magnitude4 ,the few visible figures and ,smith's turning-mill1 which had heroically been saved in part from the flames1 were jotted in from photographs4 ,happily this work1 for which the ,alert ,hose ,company subscribed no less than twenty-five dollars1 providing also a fifty-dollar frame1 fell under the appreciative eye of the insurance adjuster who visited the very ruins depicted4 ,recognising immediately an uncommonly available form of artistic talent1 this gentleman procured ,john a commission as painter in ordinary to the ,vulcan1 with orders to come at once to town at excellent wages4 ,by his twentieth year1 then1 ,john was established in an attic chamber near the ,north ,river with a public that1 barring change in the advertising policy of the ,vulcan1 must inevitably become national4 ,for the lithographers he designed all manner of holocausts2 at times he made tours through the counties and fixed the incandescent mouth of ,vulcan's forge1 the figures within being merely indicated1 on the face of a hundred ledges4 ,that was a shame1 he freely admitted to me2 the rocks looked better without4 ,in fact1 ,john ,campbell's first manner soon came to be a humiliation and an intolerable bondage4 ,he felt the insincerity of it deeply4 ',you see1 it's this way1' he explained to me1 'you don't see the shapes by firelight or at sunset1 but you have seen them all day and you know they're there4 ,nobody that don't have those shapes in his brush can make you feel them in a picture4 ,everybody puts too little droring into sunsets4 ,nobody paints good ones1 not even ,inness we must remember it was in the early '#gjs1 except a ,frenchman called ,roosoo4 ,he takes 'em very late1 which is best1 and he can drore some too4' ,a very decent critic1 your alcoholic friend1 the ,critic remarked4 ,he was full of good ideas1 as you shall see1 the story-teller replied4 ,i quite agree with you1 if the bad whisky could have been kept away from him he might have shone in your profession4 ,anyhow1 he had the makings of an honest man in him1 and when the ,vulcan enlarged its cliff-painting programme1 he cut loose bravely4 ,then followed ten lean years of odd jobs1 with landscape painting as a recreation1 and the occasional sale of a canvas on a street corner as a great event4 ,when his need was greatest he consented to earn good wages composing symbolical door designs for the ,meteor ,coach ,company1 but that again he could not endure for long4 ,later in the intervals of colouring photographs1 illuminating window-shades1 or whatever came to hand1 he worked out the theory which finally led him to the feet of ,corot4 ,it was1 in short1 that the proper subject for an artist deficient in linear design is sunrise4 ,he explained the matter to me with zest4 ',by morning you've half forgotten the look of things4 ,all night you've seen only dreams that don't have any true form1 and when the first light comes1 nothing shows solid for what it is4 ,the mist uncovers a little here and there1 and you wonder what's beneath4 ,it's all guesswork and nothing sure4 ,take any morning early when ,i look out of my attic window to the ,north ,river4 ,there's nothing but a heap of fog1 grey or pink1 as there's more or less sun behind4 ,it gets a little thick over toward ,jersey1 and that may be the shore1 or again it mayn't4 ,then a solid bit of vi'let shows high up1 and ,i guess it's ,castle ,stevens1 but perhaps it ain't4 ,then a pale-yellow streak shoots across the river farther up and ,i take it to be the ,palisades1 but again it may be jest a ray of sunshine4 ,you see there really ain't no earth2 it's all air and light4 ,that's what a man that can't drore ought to paint2 that's what my namesake1 ,cameel ,corot1 did paint better than any one that ever lived4' ,at this point of his confession ,john ,campbell glared savagely at me for assent1 and set down a sadly frayed and noxious stogy on ,nickerson's black walnut4 ,i hastened to agree1 though much of the doctrine was heresy to a realist1 only objecting3 ',but one really has to draw a scene such as you describe just like any other4 ,in fact1 the drawing of atmosphere is the most difficult branch of our art4 ,many very good painters1 like my master1 ,courbet1 have given it up4' ',corbet6' he replied contemptuously2 'he didn't give it up2 he never even seen it4 ,but don't ,i know it's hard1 sir8 ,for years ,i tried to paint it1 and ,i never got nothing but the fog2 when ,i put in more ,i lost that4 ,they're pretty1 those sketches--like watered silk or the scum in the docks with the sun on it2 but1 ,lord1 there ain't nothing into 'em1 and that's the truth4 ,at last1 after fumbling around for years1 ,i happened to walk into ,vogler's gallery one day and saw my first ,corot4 ,ther' it was--all ,i had been trying for4 ,it was the kind of droring ,i knew ought to be1 where a man sets down more what he feels than what he knows4 ,i knew ,i was beginning too late1 but ,i loved that way of working4 ,i saw all the ,corots ,i could1 and began to paint as much as ,i could his way4 ,i got almost to have his eye1 but of course ,i never got his hand4 ,nobody could1 ,i guess1 not even an educated artist like you1 or they'd all a don' it4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,after this awakening ,john ,campbell began the artist's life afresh with high hopes4 ,his first picture in the sweet new style was honestly called ',sunrise in ,berkshire1' though he had interwoven with his own reminiscences of the farm several motives from various compositions of his great exemplar4 ,he signed the canvas ,campbell ,corot1 in the familiar capital letters1 because he didn't want to take all the credit2 because he desired to mark emphatically the change in his manner1 and because it struck him as a good painting name justified by the resemblance between his surname and the master's ,christian name4 ,it was a heartfelt homage in intention4 ,if the disciple had been familiar with ,renaissance usages1 he would undoubtedly have signed himself ,john of ,camille4 ',sunrise in ,berkshire' fetched sixty dollars in a downtown auction room1 the highest price ,john had ever received2 but this was only the beginning of a bewildering rise in values4 ,when ,john next saw the picture1 ,campbell had been deftly removed1 and the landscape1 being favourably noticed in the press1 brought seven hundred dollars in an uptown salesroom4 ,john happened on it again in ,beilstein's gallery1 where the price had risen to thirteen hundred dollars--a tidy sum for a small ,corot in those early days4 ,at that figure it fell to a noted collector whose walls it still adorns4 ,here ,campbell ,corot's ,new ,england conscience asserted itself4 ,he insisted on seeing ,beilstein in person and told him the facts4 ,beilstein treated the visitor as an impostor and showed him the door1 taking his address1 however1 and scornfully bidding him make good his story by painting a similar picture1 unsigned4 ,for this1 if it was worth anything1 the dealer promised he should be liberally paid4 ,naturally ,campbell ,corot's professional dander was up1 and he produced in a week a ,corotish ',dance of ,nymphs1' if anything1 more specious than the last4 ,for this ,beilstein gave him twenty-five dollars1 and within a month you might have seen it under the skylight of a country museum1 where it is still reverently explained to successive generations of school-children4 ,if ,campbell ,corot had been a stronger character1 he might have made some stand against the fraudulent success his second manner was achieving4 ,but1 unhappily1 in those experimental years he had acquired an experimental knowledge of the whisky of ,cedar ,street4 ,his irregular and spend-thrift ways had put him out of all lines of employment4 ,besides1 he was consumed by an artist's desire to create a kind of picture that he could not hope to sell as his own4 ,nor did the voice of the tempter1 ,beilstein1 fail to make itself heard4 ,he offered an unfailing market for the little canvases at twenty-five and fifty dollars1 according to size4 ,there was a patron to supply unlimited colours and stretchers1 a pocket that never refused to advance a small bill when thirst or lesser need found ,campbell ,corot penniless4 ,almost inevitably he passed from occasional to habitual forgery1 consoling himself with the thought that he never signed the pictures and1 before the law at least1 was blameless4 ,but signed they all were somewhere between their furtive entrance at ,beilstein's basement and their appearance on his walls or in the auction rooms4 ,of course it wasn't the blackguard ,beilstein who forged the five magic letters2 he would never take the risk1 ',blast his dirty soul6' cried ,campbell ,corot aloud1 as he seethed with the memory of his shame4 ,he rose as if for summary vengeance1 to the amazement of the quiet topers in the room4 ,for some time his utterance had been getting both excited and thick1 and now ,i saw with a certain chagrin that the ,glengyle had done its work only too well4 ,it was a question not of hearing his story out1 but of getting him home before worse befell4 ,by mingled threats and blandishments ,i got him away from ,nickerson's1 and after an adventurous passage down ,cedar ,street1 ,i deposited him before his attic door1 in a doubtful frame of mind1 being alternately possessed by the desire to send ,beilstein to hell and to pray for the eternal welfare of the only genuine ,corot4 ,you certainly make queer acquaintances1 ejaculated the ,patron uneasily4 ,hurry up and tell us the rest2 it's growing late1 insisted the ,antiquary1 as he beckoned for the bill4 ,i saw ,campbell ,corot only once more1 but occasionally ,i saw his work1 and it told a sad tale of deterioration4 ,the sunrises and nymphals no longer deceived anybody1 having fallen nearly to the average level of auction-room impressionism4 ,i was not surprised1 then1 when running into him near ,nickerson's one day ,i felt that drink and poverty were speeding their work4 ,he tried to pass me unrecognised1 but ,i stopped him1 and once more the invitation to a nip proved irresistible4 ,my curiosity was keen to learn his attitude toward his own work and that of his master1 and ,i attempted to draw him out with a crass compliment4 ,he denied me gently4 ',the best things ,i do1 or rather did1 young feller1 are jest a little poorer than his worst4 ,between ourselves1 he painted some pretty bum things4 ,some ,i suppose he did1 like me1 by lamplight4 ,some he sketched with one hand while he was lighting that there long pipe with the other4 ,sometimes1 ,i guess1 he was in a hurry for the money4 ,now1 when ,i'm painting my level best1 like ,i used to could1 mine are about like that4 ,but people don't know the difference about him or about me2 and mine1 as ,i told your ,jew friend1 are plenty good enough for every-day purposes4 ,used to be1 anyway4 ,nobody can paint like his best4 ,think of it1 young feller1 you and me is painters and know what it means--jest a little dirty paint on white canvas1 and you see the creeping of the sunrise over the land1 the breathing of the mist from the fields1 and the twinkling of the dew in the young leaves4 ,nobody but him could paint that1 and ,i guess he never knowed how he done it2 he jest felt it in his brush1 it seems to me4' ,after this outburst little more was to be got from him4 ,in a word1 he had gone to pieces and knew it4 ,beilstein had cast him off2 the works in the third manner hung heavy in the auction places4 ,leaning over the table1 he asked me1 ',who was the gent that said1 ,my ,god1 what a genius ,i had when ,i done that68' ,i told him that the phrase was given to many1 but that ,i believed ,swift was the gent4 ',jest so1' ,campbell ,corot responded2 'that's the way ,i felt the last time ,i saw ,beilstein4 ,he'd been sending back my things and1 for a joke1 ,i suppose1 he wrote me to come up and see a real ,corot1 and take the measure of the job ,i was tackling4 ,so up to the avenue ,i went1 and ,beilstein first gave me my dressing down and then asked me into the red-plush private room where he takes the big oil and wheat men when they want a little art4 ,there on the easel was a picture4 ,he drew the cloth away and said3 ,now1 ,campbell1 that's what we want in our business4 ,as sure as you're born1 sir1 it was a ,dance of ,nymphs that ,i done out of photographs eight years ago4 ,but ,i can't paint like that no more4 ,i know the way your friend ,swift felt2 only ,i guess my case is worse than his4' ,the mention of photographs gave me a clue to ,campbell ,corot's artistic methods4 ,it appeared that ,beilstein had kept him in the best reproductions of the master4 ,but on this point the disciple was reticent1 evading my questions by a motion to go4 ',i'm not for long probably1' he said1 as he refused a second glass4 ',you've been patient while ,i've talked--,i can't to most--and ,i don't want you to remember me drunk4 ,take good care of yourself1 and1 generally speaking1 don't start your whisky till your day's painting is done4' ,i stood for some minutes on the corner of ,broadway as his gaunt form merged into the glow that fell full into ,cedar ,street from the setting sun4 ,i wondered if the hour recalled the old days on the farm and the formation of his first manner4 ,however that may be1 his premonition was right enough4 ,the next winter ,i read one morning that the body of ,campbell ,corot had been taken from the river at the foot of ,cedar ,street4 ,it was known that his habits were intemperate1 and it was probable that returning from a saloon he had walked past his door and off the dock4 ,his cards declared him to be a landscape painter1 but he was unknown in the artistic circles of the city4 ,i wrote to the authorities that he was indeed a landscape painter and that the fact should be recorded on his slab in ,potter's ,field4 ,i was poor and that was the only service ,i could do to his memory4 ,the ,painter ceased4 ,we all rose to go and were parting at the doorway with sundry hems and haws when the ,patron piped up anxiously1 ,do you suppose he painted my ,corot8 ,i don't know and ,i don't care1 said the ,painter shortly4 ,damn it1 man1 can't you see it's a human not a picture-dealing proposition8 sputtered the ,antiquary4 ,that's right1 echoed the ,critic1 as the three locked arms for the stroll downtown1 leaving the bewildered ,patron to find his way alone to the ,park ,east4 ,,the ,,del ,,puente ,,giorgione ,the train swung down a tawny ,new ,england river towards ,prestonville as ,i reviewed the stages of a great curiosity4 ,at last ,i was to see the ,del ,puente ,giorgione4 ,long before1 when the old pictures first began to speak to me1 ,i had learned that the critic ,mantovani1 the master of us all1 owned an early ,giorgione1 unfinished but of marvellous beauty4 ,at his death1 strangely enough1 it was not found among his pictures1 which were bequeathed as every one knows to the ,san ,marcello ,museum4 ,the next word ,i had of it was when ,anitchkoff1 ,mantovani's disciple and successor1 reported it in the ,del ,puente ,castle in the ,basque mountains4 ,he added a word on its importance though avowedly knowing it only from a photograph4 ,it appeared that ,mantovani in his last days had given the portrait to his old friend the ,carlist ,marquesa del ,puente1 in whose cause--picturesque but irrelevant detail--he had once drawn sword4 ,anitchkoff's full enthusiasm was handsomely recorded after he had made the pilgrimage to the ,marquesa's crag4 ,one may still read in that worthy but short-lived organ of sublimity1 ,le ,mihrab1 his appreciation of the ,del ,puente ,giorgione1 which he describes as a ,giambellino blossoming into a ,titian1 with just the added exquisiteness that the world has only felt since ,big ,george of ,castelfranco took up the brush4 ,how the panel exchanged the ,pyrenees for the ,north ,shore passed dimly through my mind as barely worth recalling4 ,it was the usual story of the rich and enterprising ,american collector4 ,hanson ,brooks had bought it and hung it in ,the ,curlews1 where it bid fair to become legendary once more1 but at last had lent it with his other pictures to the ,prestonville ,museum of ,science and the ,fine ,arts1 the goal of my present quest4 ,while the picture lay perdu at ,brooks's1 there had been disquieting gossip2 the ,pretorian ,club1 which is often terribly right in such matters1 agreed that he had been badly sold4 ,none of this ,i believed for an instant4 ,what could one doubt in a picture owned by ,mantovani and certified by ,anitchkoff8 ,upon this point of rumination the train stopped at ,prestonville4 ,my approach to the masterpiece was reverently deliberate4 ,at the ,american ,house ,i actually lingered over the fried steak and dallied long with the not impossible mince pie4 ,thus fortified1 ,i followed ,main ,street to the ,museum--one of those depressingly correct new-,greek buildings with which the country is being filled4 ,skirting with a shiver the bleak casts from the antique in the atrium and mounting an absurdly spacious staircase1 ,i reached a doorway through which the chef d'oeuvre of my dreams confronted me cheerlessly4 ,its nullity was appalling2 from afar ,i felt the physical uneasiness that an equivocal picture will usually produce in a devotee4 ,to approach and study it was a civility ,i paid not to itself but to its worshipful provenance4 ,a slight inspection told all there was to tell4 ,the paint was palpably modern2 the surface would not have resisted a pin4 ,in style it was a distant echo of the ,giorgione at ,berlin4 ,yet1 as ,i gazed and wondered sadly1 ,i perceived it was not a vulgar forgery--indeed not a forgery at all4 ,it had been done to amuse some painter of antiquarian bent4 ,i even thought1 too rashly1 that ,i recognised the touch of the youthful ,watts1 and ,i could imagine the studio revel at which he or another had valiantly laid in a ,giorgione before the punch1 as his contribution to the evening's merriment4 ,the picture upon the pie wrought a black depression that some excellent ,japanese paintings were powerless to dispel4 ,as my train crawled up the tawny river1 now inky1 my thoughts moved helplessly about the dark enigma--,how could ,mantovani have possessed such rubbish8 ,how could ,anitchkoff1 enjoying the use of his eyes and mind1 have credited it for a moment8 ,my reflections preposterously failed to rest upon the obvious clue1 the mysterious ,marquesa del ,puente1 and it was not until ,i met ,anitchkoff1 some years later1 that ,i began to divine the woman in the case4 ,after ten years of absence he had come back to ,america on something like a triumphal tour4 ,i had promptly paid my respects and now through a discreet persistency was to have a long evening with him at the ,pretorian4 ,as ,i studied the dinner card1 guessing at his gastronomic tastes1 my mind was naturally on his remarkable career4 ,anitchkoff1 brought from ,russia in childhood1 had grown up in decent poverty in a small ,new ,england city4 ,very early he showed the intellectual ambition that distinguished all the family4 ,our excellent public schools made his way to the nearest country college easy and inevitable4 ,there began the struggle the traces of which might be read in an almost melancholy gravity quite unnatural in a man become famous at thirty-five4 ,with the facility of his race he learned all the languages in the curriculum and read ferociously in many literatures4 ,in his junior year the appearance of a great and genial work on psychology made him the metaphysician he has remained through all digressions in the connoisseurship and criticism of art4 ,how his search for ultimate principles involved a mastery of the minutiae of the ,venetian school ,i could only guess4 ,but one could imagine the process4 ,seeking to ground his personal preferences in a general esthetic1 he would have found his data absolutely untrustworthy4 ,how could he presume to interpret a ,giorgione or a ,titian when what they painted was undetermined8 ,upon these shifting sands he declined to rear his tabernacle4 ,to the work of classifying the ,venetians1 accordingly1 he set himself with dogged honesty4 ,as a matter of course ,mantovani became his chief preceptor--,mantovani who first discovered that the highly complex organism we call a work of art has a morphology as definite as that of a trilobite2 that the artist may no more transcend his own forms than a crustacean may become a vertebrate4 ,for a matter of ten years ,anitchkoff1 espousing a fairly ,franciscan poverty1 gave himself to this ungrateful task4 ,how he contrived to live in the shadow of the great galleries was a mystery the solution of which one suspected to be bitter and heroic4 ,gradually recognition as an expert came to him and with it an irksome success4 ,his fame had developed duties1 and while his studies in esthetics remained fragmentary1 he was persistently consulted on all manner of trivialities4 ,from ,piedmont to the confine of ,dalmatia he knew every little master that ever made or marred panel or plaster1 and he paid the penalty of such knowledge4 ,surmising the tragedy of his career and its essential nobility ,i had discounted the ugly rumours connecting him with the sale of the ,del ,puente ,giorgione4 ,when every fool learned that the ,giorgione at ,the ,curlews was false1 many inferred that ,anitchkoff1 having praised it1 must have a hand in ,brooks's bad bargain--a conclusion sedulously put about and finally hinted in cold type by certain rival critics4 ,personally ,i knew that ,brooks had bagged his find under quite other advice1 but while ,i would always have sworn to ,anitchkoff's complete integrity in the whole ,del ,puente matter1 my wonder also grew at so hideous a lapse of judgment4 ,i hopelessly fell back upon such banalities as the errability of mankind1 being conscious all the time that some special and most curious infatuation must underlie this particular error4 ,anitchkoff's card interrupted some such train of thought4 ,he came in quietly as sunshine after fog4 ,his face between the curtains reminded me strangely of the awful moment in the ,prestonville ,museum--paradoxically1 for he was as genuine and reassuring as the ,del ,puente ,giorgione had been baffling and false4 ,we began dinner with the stiffness of men between whom much is unsaid4 ,as the oystershells departed1 however1 we had found common memories4 ,he recalled delightfully those little northern towns in the debatable region which from a critic's point of view may be considered ,lombard or ,venetian1 with a tendency to be neither but rather a ,transalpine ,bavaria4 ,to me also the glow of the ,burgundy on the tablecloth brought back strange provincial altarpieces in this territory--marvels in crimson and gold1 and a riddle for the connoisseur4 ,then the talk reached higher latitudes4 ,he mused aloud about that very simple reaction which we call the sense of beauty and have resolutely sophisticated ever since criticism existed--,i intent meanwhile and eating most of a mallard as sanguine as a decollation of the ,baptist4 ,by the cheese ,anitchkoff seemed confident of my sympathy1 and ,i1 having found nothing amiss in him except an imperfect enjoyment of the pleasures of the table1 was planning how least imprudently might be raised the topic of the ,del ,puente ,giorgione4 ,but it was he who spoke first4 ,at the coffee he asked me with admirable simplicity what people said about the affair1 and ,i answered with equal candour4 ,you too have wondered1 he continued4 ,of course1 but nothing worse1 ,i replied4 ,then with the hesitancy of a man approaching a dire chagrin1 and yet with a rueful appreciation of the humour of the predicament that ,i despair of reproducing1 he began3 ,it happened about this way4 ,when ,i first came to ,italy and began to meet the friends of ,mantovani1 they told me of an early ,giorgione he owned but rarely showed4 ,he used to speak of it affectionately as 'il mio ,zorzi1' to distinguish it perhaps from the more important example he had sold to one of our dilettante iron-masters4 ,the little unfinished portrait ,i heard of1 from those whose opinion is sought1 as a superlatively lovely thing4 ,it was mentioned with a certain awe2 to have seen it was a distinction4 ,for years ,i hoped my time would come1 but the opportunity was provokingly delayed4 ,how should you feel if ,mrs4 ,warrener should show you all her things but the great ,botticelli8 ,i nodded understandingly4 ,mrs4 ,warrener1 for a two minutes' delay in an appointment1 had debarred me her ,whistlers for a year4 ,that's the way ,mantovani treated me1 ,anitchkoff continued4 ,whenever ,i dared ,i asked for the ',zorzi1' and he always put me off with a smile4 ,that mystified me1 for ,i knew he took a paternal pride in my studies1 but ,i never got any more satisfactory answer from him than that the ',zorzi' was strong meat for the young2 one must grow up to it1 like ,s---- and ,p---- and ,c---- 7naming some of his closest disciples74 ,these allusions he made repeatedly and with a queer sardonic zest4 ,occasionally he would volunteer the encouragement--for ,i had long ago dropped the subject--',cheer up1 my boy2 your turn will come4' ,when he so ,quixotically gave the picture to the ,marquesa del ,puente1 it seemed1 though1 as if my turn could never come1 but ,i noted that he had been true to his doctrine that the ',zorzi' was only for the mature2 the ,del ,puente was said to be some years his senior4 ,one knew exasperatingly little about her4 ,it was said vaguely that ,mantovani entertained a tender friendship for her1 having been her husband's comrade in arms in half a dozen ,carlist revolts4 ,that seemed enough to explain the gift4 ,at this point ,anitchkoff must have caught my raised eyebrows1 for he added contritely1 ,it was odd for ,mantovani to give away a ,giorgione4 ,you're quite right4 ,i was ridiculously young4 ,you may imagine1 he pursued1 that the flight of the ,giorgione to the ,pyrenees only embittered my curiosity4 ,for years ,i might have seen it--shabbily to be sure--by merely opening a door when ,mantovani was occupied1 now it had departed to another planet4 ,remember those were my 'prentice days when ,i lived obscurely and absolutely without acquaintance in the ,marquesa's world4 ,she seemed as inaccessible as the ,grand ,lama4 ,but you know how things will come about in least expected ways3 ,jane ,morrison1 quite the only human being who could possibly have known both the ,marquesa and me1 actually gave me a very good letter of introduction4 ,then almost oppressive good luck1 came a note from her mountain ,castle1 telling that the ,chatelaine would be glad to receive me whenever my travels led me her way4 ,she mentioned our common enthusiasm for the ,venetians and graciously wanted my opinion on the ,giorgione1 which the enemies of ,mantovani1 her friend and my spiritual father1 as she called him1 had spitefully slandered4 ,such slanders had never happened to reach my ears but ,i was already eager to refute them4 ,it was two years later that ,i made the visit on the way to the ,prado4 ,all day long the diligence rattled up hill away from the railroad1 and it was dusk before ,i saw the ,del ,puente stronghold on its crag1 evidently a half hour's walk from the miserable fonda where the diligence dropped me4 ,it was no hour to present an introduction1 but ,i bribed a boy to take the letter up that night4 ,he returned1 disappointingly1 without an answer4 ,the next morning wore on intolerably amid a noisy squalor that ,i could not escape until my summons came4 ,it was early afternoon before an equerry arrived on muleback bearing the ,marquesa's note4 ,she was enchanted to meet me but desolated at the unlucky time of my arrival4 ,tomorrow she crossed the ,pyrenees for ,paris and hoped my route might lie that way4 ,meanwhile her home was wholly dismantled for the winter1 and the ordinary hospitalities were denied her4 ,but she counted on the pleasure of seeing me at four2 we might at least chat1 drink a cup of tea1 and pay our homage to ,mantovani's ',zorzi4' ,nothing could have been more charming or more tantalising4 ,as ,i toiled up towards the ,del ,puente barbican ,i could feel the precious afternoon light dwindling4 ,breathless ,i set the castle bell a-jangling with something like despair4 ,heavy doors opened in front of me as ,i passed the sallyport and the grassgrown courtyard4 ,at the entrance a majordomo in shabby but fairly regal livery greeted me and conducted me through empty corridors and up a massive staircase4 ,the castle was indeed dismantled--apparently had been in that condition from all time4 ,as my superb guide halted before a door which1 exceptionally1 was curtained1 and knocked1 my heart failed me4 ,i dreaded meeting this strange noblewoman1 almost regretted the nearness of the ',zorzi1' knowing the actual colours could hardly surpass those of my fancy4 ,the little speeches ,i had been rehearsing resolved themselves into silence again as ,i saw her by a tiny fire2 a compelling apparition1 erect1 with snowy hair waving high over burning black eyes4 ,to-day when ,i coldly analyse her fascination ,i recall nothing but these simple elements4 ,she permitted not a moment of the shyness that has always plagued me4 ,what our words were ,i do not now know1 but ,i know that ,i kissed the two hands she held out to me as she called me ,mantovani's son and her friend4 ,then ,i talked as never before or since1 told her of my struggles and ambitions1 and from time to time ,i was mute so that ,i might hear the deep contralto of the ,french she spoke perfectly but with ,spanish resonance4 ,there was probably tea4 ,anyhow the light went away from the deep casements unnoticed1 and it was she who1 with a chiding finger1 recalled me to duty and the ,giorgione4 ',wretch1' said she1 'you are here to see it not me4 ,the light is going and your devoirs yet unpaid4' ,as she took my arm and led me through the gallery1 ,i had an odd presentiment of going towards a doom4 ,while ,i followed her up a winding stair1 the misgiving increased4 ,did venerable lemurs inhabit the ,basque mountains8 ,could so magnificent2 an old age be of this earth8 ,an ancestral shudder from the ,steppes came over me4 ,it was her ruddy train rustling round the turns ahead that aroused these atavistic superstitions4 ,but when we stood together on the landing all doubts fell away2 a broad ray of sunlight that struck through an open doorway showed her spectral beauty to be after all reassuringly corporeal4 ,over the threshold she fairly pushed me with the warning1 ',the place is holy1 we must be silent4' ,for a moment ,i was staggered by the wide pencil of light that shot through a porthole and cut the room in two4 ,the little octagon1 a tower chamber ,i took it to be1 was a prism of shadow enclosing a shaft of flying golddust4 ,outside it must have been full sunset4 ,near the border line of light and darkness ,i faintly saw the ',zorzi1' which borrowed a glory from the moment and from her4 ,i felt her hand on my shoulder and knelt1 it seemed for minutes1 it probably was for seconds only4 ,the picture1 which ,i had not seen1 much less examined1 swam in the twilight and became the most gracious that had ever met my eyes4 ,the dusk grew as the disc of light climbed up the wall and faded4 ,she whispered in my ear1 ',it is enough for now4 ,you shall come again many times4' ,i recall nothing more except the ,marquesa's silvery hair and the long line of her crimson gown as she bade me ',au revoir' at the head of the great stairs4 ,that night in the miserable fonda below ,i wrote out feverishly the notes which you have doubtless read in the ',mihrab1' and ,i would give my right hand to be able to forget4 ,there was a long pause1 during which ,anitchkoff sipped his cognac nervously1 waiting for my comment4 ,i pressed him ruthlessly for the bitter end of the tale4 ,your hypnotism ,i grant1 but what about ,mantovani and ,brooks8 ,i asked bluntly4 ,for ,mantovani ,i have no right to speak1 ,anitchkoff replied with dignity4 ,he was my master and ,i can admit no imputation on his memory4 ,besides1 your guess is as good as mine4 ,whether he bought the picture in his precritical days1 keeping it as a warning and imposing it upon his followers as a hoax--this ,i can merely conjecture4 ,as for ,brooks1 the case is simple2 he couldn't resist a ,giorgione at a bargain4 ,but since you will1 you may as well hear the rest of the story--at least my part of it4 ,three years later ,i wintered in ,paris4 ,i had run into ,bing's for a chat and a look at the ,hokusais1 when who should come in but ,hanson ,brooks in a high state of elation4 ,an important purchase had just arrived4 ,he urged us both to dine and inspect it4 ,bing was engaged2 ,i glad to accept4 ,at dinner ,brooks teased me to the top of his bent4 ,i was to imagine absolutely the most important old master in private possession1 his for a beggarly price4 ,i declined to humour him by guessing1 and we slurred his sweets and coffee to hasten to the apartment4 ,on a dressing table faced to the wall was a little panel which he slowly turned into view4 ,for a moment ,i gasped for joy1 it was the ,del ,puente ,giorgione2 and then an awful misgiving overcame me--,i saw it as it was4 ,brooks marked my amazement and1 misreading the cause1 slapped me on the back and asked what ,i thought of that for a hundred thousand pesetas4 ,the figure again bowled me over4 ,for the picture as it stood it was a thousand times too much1 while a mere tithe of the value of the name the panel bore4 ,i blurted out that the price was suspiciously wrong1 and added that ,i must see the portrait by daylight before venturing an opinion4 ,the thought that ,mantovani had owned it for twenty years and more made a sleepless night hideous2 at sunrise my loyalty reasserted itself by a lame compromise4 ,i daresay you will not blame me for hoping against hope1 as ,i did the next day and for some months after1 that somewhere under that modern paint there was indeed a sketch by ,giorgione's hand4 ,you must remember that ,i could as little doubt my own existence as ,mantovani's judgment on such a point4 ,in the sequel it seemed as if no humiliation were to be spared me4 ,it was ,mantovani's chief rival and favourite victim1 ,merck1 who after a torturing correspondence had the pleasure of telling me he had seen the ',zorzi' painted by the amateur ,ricard2 it was ,campbell who1 after recommending it to ,brooks1 publicly accused me of dishonest brokerage4 ,that's all ,i can tell you about the ,del ,puente ,giorgione4 ,i seized his hand impulsively1 and clumsily offered him1 in a breath1 whisky1 shuffleboard1 or cowboy pool--sound ,pretorian remedies for all human woes4 ,these consolations he refused and took his leave4 ,midnight found me in the same chair1 thinking less of ,anitchkoff1 whose case now lay clear1 than of ,mantovani and the ,marquesa del ,puente1 about whom it seemed there still might be something to say4 ,the chances of a roving life have brought some slight addition to the evidence4 ,stopping over a boat at ,dieppe1 a few summers ago1 ,i happened to see my good friend ,mme4 ,vezin registered at the ,casino1 where ,i recognised an acquaintance or two4 ,that decided me to spend the night and call at her villa4 ,her salon never failed to divert me1 for1 drawing together the most disparate people1 she handled them with easy generalship4 ,under her chandelier ardent art students from the ,middle ,west and the poor relations of royalty might be heard exchanging confidences and foreign tongues4 ,so1 as ,i climbed the hill at the verge of the chalk and pasture1 ,i felt sure of the unexpected1 nor was ,i disappointed4 ,shrill voices from my fellow countrywomen came down the garden path and assured me that art had accompanied ,mme4 ,vezin in her annual retreat from the ,luxembourg ,gardens4 ,entering ,i found the same perfect hostess and much the old dear1 queer scene4 ,i was bracing myself for a polyglot evening--being with all my travel quite incapable of languages--when the little maid announced importantly ,mme4 la ,marquise del ,puente4 ,all rose instinctively as there entered an erect white-haired woman simply dressed in a black gown along which hung a notable crimson scarf4 ,murmuring the indispensable banalities ,i bowed distantly1 meaning to observe her impersonally before an encounter4 ,but she disarmed me by throwing herself on my mercy4 ,she knew me already through dear ,mr4 ,hanson ,brooks4 ,it was her first visit here2 ,i1 she saw1 was of the household4 ,would ,i not show her the curiosities and protect her from the bores8 ,sullenly ,i followed her while she discussed the bijoux that littered the shelves1 and the deep modulations of her voice insensibly mollified me4 ,i had intended in ,anitchkoff's behalf to count every wrinkle of her seventy-five unhallowed years1 but found myself instead admiring her cloud of silver hair1 avoiding the gaze of her black eyes1 and noting with a kind of fascination the precise gestures of her fine hand as she took up or set down ,mme4 ,vezin's poor little things4 ,at last she settled into an armchair1 beckoning me to a footstool1 and ,i began to talk unconscionably1 she urging me on4 ,she professed to know my writings--it was of course impossible that she should have seen those rare anonymous letters to the most ladylike of ,boston newspapers3 she touched my dearest hobby1 that republics and governments generally must be judged not by their politics but by the amenity of the social life they foster4 ,feeling that this was witchcraft or divination even more questionable1 and dreading she had another ,giorgione to sell1 ,i made a last futile effort for freedom1 proposing introductions4 ,with a phrase she subdued me1 and my halting ,french began to be eloquent4 ,i confessed my innermost ambition1 the creation of a criticism learned and judicial in substance but impressionistic in form4 ,she dwelt upon the beauties of her eyrie in the ,basque mountains which ,i must one day see4 ,as we chatted on obliviously an audience of marvelling art students and baigneurs formed about us quietly4 ,their serried faces suddenly revealed to me my ignominious surrender4 ,i started as from a dream and1 as she bade me not forget to call1 ,i kissed her long hand and fled with only a curt farewell to my hostess4 ,the channel breeze and the scent of the clover sobered me up4 ,my pity went out to ,anitchkoff and then ,i remembered that ,i had seen ,fouquart at the ,casino4 ,it seemed too good to be true4 ,here at ,dieppe were both this enigmatic ,marquesa and the prime repository of all authentic scandal of our times4 ,for the old dandy ,fouquart had lived not wisely but too well through three generations of cosmopolitan gallantry4 ,had the censorship and his literary parts permitted1 he could have written a chronicle of famous ladies that would put the ,sieur de ,brantme's modest attempt to shame4 ,i found him among the rabble1 moodily playing the little horses for five-franc pieces1 but at the mention of the ,marquesa del ,puente he kindled4 ,a grand woman1 he said emphatically1 as he dragged me to a safe corner1 a true model to the anemic and neurotic sex of the day4 ,when asked to specify he told me how the energy and passion of twenty generations of robber noblefolk had flowered in her4 ,scruples or fears she had never known4 ,from childhood attached to the ,carlist cause1 she had become the soul of that movement in the ,pyrenees4 ,it was she who haggled with ,british armourers1 traced routes1 planned commissariats1 and most of all drew from far and near soldiers of fortune to captain a hopeless cause4 ,in such recruiting1 ,fouquart implied1 her loyalty had not flinched at the most personal tests4 ,what seemed to mystify ,fouquart was that none of these whilom champions ever attained the grace of forgetfulness4 ,every year many of these tottering old gentlemen still reported at ,castle del ,puente1 and there she held court as of old4 ,he himself1 although their relations had been not military but civil1 occasionally made so idle a pilgrimage4 ,to the shrine of our ,lady of the crimson teagown1 ,i ventured4 ,you too1 mon vieux6 he chuckled with ironical congratulations4 ,ignoring the impertinence1 ,i interposed the name of ,mantovani4 ,our respected colleague1 ,fouquart exclaimed delightedly4 ,before ,mantovani fuddled his head about pictures he had been a good blade1 taking anyone's pay4 ,for ten years and through half as many little wars he had been the ,marquesa's titular chief of staff4 ,her husband8 ,well1 her husband was a good ,carlist--and a true philosopher4 ,as ,i tore myself away from the impending flow of scandal1 ,fouquart murmured regretfully4 ,must you go8 ,it is a pity4 ,we have only begun1 demain4 ,but we had really ended1 for the next morning1 shaking off a nightmare of a red-robed ,lilith who tried to sell me a questionable ,zeuxis1 ,i took the early steamer4 ,of the ,marquesa del ,puente1 whom ,i believe to be still at her castle1 ,i have seen or heard nothing since4 99 99 99 99 99 ,after some reflection in the corner of the ,pretorian where ,anitchkoff once told me his story1 ,i have come measurably into the clear about the whole matter4 ,mantovani's position is plain up to a certain point4 ,either the ',zorzi' was given to him or else he bought it in his hopeful youth4 ,in either case he surely kept it merely as a solemn hoax on his learned contemporaries4 ,he may have withheld it from ,anitchkoff maliciously1 or again out of simple considerateness for a trusting disciple4 ,when ,mantovani came to set his worldly affairs in order1 however1 it must have struck him that the joke could not be perpetuated on the walls of the ,san ,marcello gallery1 while the panel was one that a great connoisseur would not willingly have inventoried by his executors4 ,it was at this time that he bestowed the ',zorzi' upon the ,marquesa del ,puente1 as a final token between them4 ,it may fairly be assumed that he knew her to be incapable of believing the precious souvenir to be a veritable ,giorgione4 ,such simplicity as that gift and credulity presuppose lay neither in his nature nor in hers4 ,beyond this point certitudes fail us lamentably1 and we are reduced to an exasperating balance of possibilities4 ,did he send the picture as an elaborate and unavoidable slight8 or was it essentially a delicate alms1 in view of the ,marquesa's known poverty and proved resourcefulness8 or1 again1 did he with a deeper perversity set the thing afloat to trouble the critical world after he was gone1 foreseeing perhaps some such international comedy as was actually played with the ',zorzi' as leading gentleman8 ,all these things must remain problematical for ,mantovani cannot tell1 and the ,marquesa del ,puente will not if indeed she knows4 ,,the ,,lombard ,,runes ,professor ,hauptmann dropped wearily into his chair at the noisy ,milanese table d'hte and snarled out a surly ,mahlzeit to the assembled feasters4 ,it was echoed sweetly from his left with a languishing ,mahlzeit1 ,herr ,professor4 ,the advance disconcerted him4 ,resolving upon a policy of complete indifference to the fluffy and amiable vision beside him1 he devoted himself singly to the food4 ,the risotto diminished as his knife travelled rhythmically between the plate and his bearded lips4 ,conceding only the inevitable1 nay the exacted courtesies to his neighbour1 he performed still greater prodigies with the green peas1 and it was not until he leaned back for a deft operation with a pocket comb1 that the vivacious1 blue-eyed one got her chance to ask if it were not the ,herr ,professor ,hauptmann1 the great authority on the ,lombard tongue4 ,the query floored him2 he could not deny that it was1 and as curlylocks began to evince an intelligent interest in ,lombard matters1 his stiffness melted like wax under a burning glass4 ,he was soon if not the protagonist at least the object of an animated1 yes fairly intimate conversation4 ,to non-,german eyes the pair were worth looking at4 ,he was clad in tightfitting sage-green felt1 so it appeared1 with a superfluity of straps1 buttons1 lacings1 and harness of all sorts4 ,a conical ,tyrol hat garnished with a cock's plume and faded violets was crushed between his back and that of the chair4 ,as his large nervous feet reached for the chairlegs below1 one could see an expanse of moss-green stockings1 only half concealed at the extremities by resplendent yellow sandals4 ,bearded and moustached after the military fashion1 nothing betrayed the professor except the myopic droop of the head4 ,as for ,fralein ,linda ,gritz1 no mere man may adequately describe her4 ,a ,german new woman of the artistic stamp1 she was pastelling through ,lombardy where the ,professor was archeologising4 ,short1 crisp curls gathered about her boyish head4 ,her general effect was of a plump bonniness that might yield agreeably to an audacious arm4 ,she cultivated an aggressive pertness that would have seemed vulgar1 had it not been redeemed by something merely frank and ,german4 ,shortskirted1 she wore a high-strapped variant of the prevalent sandals4 ,the sides of her blue bolero were adorned with stilted yellow lilies in the top of the ,viennese new-art mode4 ,in front her shirtwaist appeared cool and white1 at the sleeves it flowered alarmingly into something like an ,india shawl4 ,a string of massive amethysts completed a discord as elaborate as a harmony of ,richard ,strauss4 ,her whole impression was almost as inviting as it was grotesque4 ,one could not chat with her without liking her1 and it is to be suspected that only a very guileless or austere male could like her without proceeding to manifest attentions4 ,by the cheese1 she had captured her amazed professor1 and then she carried him off bodily for coffee in the ,arcade4 ,he talked little1 but it didn't matter1 for she talked much and well4 ,nor could a provincial ,saxon scholar be quite indifferent at finding himself known to an intelligent and much travelled ,viennese4 ,a cousin1 it appeared1 had followed his lectures and had highly extolled the ingenuity of his phonology of the ,lombard tongue1 a language which was1 she must remember--a hesitating pause--yes1 surely ,east--,east ,germanic1 ,ja wohl6 responded the ,professor thunderously1 though idiots had written to the contrary4 ,and then he told her at length the reasons why1 until she pleaded her early morning sketching and firmly bound him to accompany her the next afternoon to the ,certosa of ,pavia4 ,the ,herr ,professor rarely paid much attention to hands1 but as he held ,fralein ,gritz's for ,good ,night he could not but note that it was soft and filled his big grip so well that he was sorry when it was gone4 ,he dismissed the observation1 however1 as unworthy a philologer and went to sleep pondering a new destruction for the knaves who held the ,lombard tongue to be not ,east but ,west ,germanic4 ,and here1 to appreciate the weight and importance of ,linda's fish1 a little explanation is necessary4 ,hauptmann was not merely a philologer1 which is a formidable thing in itself1 but he belonged to the esoteric group that deals with languages which have no literature4 ,as he had often remarked1 any fool could compile a grammar of a language that has left extensive documents2 the process was almost mechanical1 but to reconstruct a grammar of a language that has left practically no remains1 that required acumen4 ,hauptmann did not belong1 however1 to the transcendental school that creates purely inferential languages--,east ,germanic and ,west1 ,general ,teutonic1 ,original ,slavic1 ,indo-,european and the like4 ,these are the ,dii majores and their inventions are as complete as if one should detect1 say1 the relation of the little to the big fleas not by the cunning use of the microscope but by sheer inference4 ,this larger game ,hauptmann sagaciously left to others1 ranging himself with those who piece together the scanty and uncertain fragments of languages that have existed but have failed to perpetuate themselves in documents and inscriptions4 ,vandalic had powerfully allured him1 and so had ,old ,burgundian3 he had had designs also upon ,visigothic1 and had finally chosen ,lombard rather than the others because the material was not merely defective but also delightfully vague1 affording a wide opportunity for genuine philological insight4 ,and indeed to classify a language on the basis of a phrase scratched on a brooch1 the misquotations of alien chroniclers1 the shifting forms of misspelled proper names1 is a task compared with which the fabled reconstruction of leviathan from a single bone is mere child's play4 ,from the mere scraps and hints of ,lombard words in ,paul the ,deacon and other historians anybody but a ,german would have declined to draw any conclusion whatever4 ,but just as every ,german citizen however humble1 becomes eventually a privy counsellor1 a knight of various eagles of diverse classes1 an overstationmaster1 or a royal postman1 so ,german science for the past hundred years has permitted no fact to languish in its native insignificance4 ,all have been promoted to be the sponsors of imposing theories4 ,and ,hauptmann's theory1 which got him the degree of ,ph4,d41 maxima cum laude1 was that ,lombard is an ,east ,germanic tongue4 ,this he simple intuited1 needing the degree1 for the fifty mangled ,lombard words displayed none of those consonants which tending to double or of those vowels which still vexing us as umlauts1 mark a language as belonging to the great ,eastern or ,western group4 ,but ,hauptmann was first in the field1 and if it was impossible for him to demonstrate that he was right1 it was equally impossible for anybody else to prove that he was wrong4 ,so he stood his ground and by dint of continually hitting the same nail on the same head he had so greatly flourished that he was mentioned respectfully as far as the ,lombard tongue was known1 and at thirty-four had passed from the honourable but unpaid condition of ,privat-dozent to that of ,professor ,extraordinarius4 ,now if the ,lombards1 having ignominiously taken to ,latin after their descent upon ,italy1 had had to wait for ,hauptmann to provide them with a language1 they had left certain more substantial traces of themselves in the valley of the ,po4 ,they died and were buried in state with their arms and utensils for the other world4 ,so that1 while one might well be in doubt whether an inscription was ,lombard or not1 an antiquary will tell you without fail whether a clasp1 a spearhead or a sword is or is not the work of this conquering but too adaptable race4 ,in these archaeological matters ,hauptmann took a forced and languid interest4 ,during nightmarish hours1 when the beer and cheese had not mingled aright1 he was haunted by lines of ,lombard runes4 ,sometimes they were ,east ,germanic1 and that was a grief1 taking1 as it were1 the bloom from the guess that had made him great2 and again they were ,west ,germanic1 and that was awful1 the hallucination ending in a mortal struggle with the feather bed under which ,german science is incubated1 and passing off with an anguished ,donnerwetter6 ,it cannot be ,lombard4 ,it is not possible4 ,his not infrequent ,italian trips had1 then1 an archaeological pretext1 and this had been more or less the purpose of the pilgrimage in which ,fralein ,linda had become by main force an alluring if disquieting incident4 ,if there is anywhere in the world a more satisfactory sight than the ,pavian ,certosa1 certainly neither ,hauptmann nor his chance acquaintance had ever seen it4 ,and indeed is there anywhere else such spaciousness of cloisters1 such profusion of minutely cut marble1 such incrustation1 for better or worse1 of semiprecious stones4 ,surely nothing in a sightseeing way approaches it as a money's worth4 ,fralein ,linda1 a superior person who had begun to entertain doubts as to the externals of modern ,austrian palaces and the internals of new ,german liners1 reserved her enthusiasms for the pale ,borgonones so strangely misplaced amid all that splendour4 ,hauptmann1 on the contrary1 admired it all impartially4 ,the sense of bulk and inordinate expensiveness made him for a moment almost regret that these later ,lombards who reared this pile were not of the same race-stock with himself4 ,there was a moment in which he could have claimed them1 had principle permitted1 as ,west ,germans4 ,rather he soon forgot the ,lombards in the alternate rapture and dismay aroused by the petulant yet strangely winning personality beside him4 ,professor ,hauptmann was used neither to being contradicted nor managed by mere women folk1 and this afternoon he was undergoing both experiences simultaneously4 ,it was with a feeling of relief that he left the ,certosa1 which seemed in a way her territory1 and started out with her upon the neutral highroad that led to the station4 ,they lingered1 for the hour was propitious1 and their plan was to kill an hour or so before the evening train4 ,as the glow came over the lowlying fields1 the weary forms of the labourers began to fill the road4 ,at a distance ,hauptmann perceived one who importunately offered a small object to the sightseers and was as regularly repulsed4 ,without waiting for the professor1 who stood at attention while ,fralein ,linda sketched1 this beggar or pedlar approached and prayed to be allowed to show a rare and veritable object of antiquity4 ,a gruff refusal had already been given when she pleaded that they hear the peasant talk1 and inspect his treasure4 ,who knows1 ,herr ,professor1 but it might be ,lombard8 ,wohlan1 he replied1 and sullenly took the proffered spearhead4 ,it was of iron1 patined rather than rusted1 ,lombard in form1 and of evident antiquity4 ,hauptmann gave it a nearsighted look and was about to return it contemptuously when the peasant urged1 ,but look again1 sir1 there are letters1 a rarity4 ,i dare you to read them1 cried ,fralein ,linda1 and the ,professor read painfully and copied roughly in his notebook a short inscription in some ,runic alphabet4 ,a scowl followed the reading and the abrupt challenge ,where did you find this piece8 ,in the fields1 digging1 ,padrone1 was the answer1 where ,i dug up also this1 displaying a bronze clasp of unquestionable ,lombard workmanship4 ,bravo1 exclaimed ,linda1 now perhaps we shall know more about your dear ,lombards4 ,i congratulate you1 ,herr ,professor1 from the heart4 ,aber nein1 he growled back1 there were monuments enough already1 and this is only a bore1 for ,i must buy and publish it4 ,others too may be found in the same field1 and ,lombard will become a popular pastime4 ,it is disgusting2 compassionate me4 ,it was the single language that permitted truly a-priori approach4 ,it would be almost a duty to suppress these accursed runes for the sake of scientific method4 ,but no2 the harm is done4 ,we must be patient4 ,what the ,herr ,professor said and continued to say as he drove a hard bargain with the peasant was but half the story4 ,a glance at the runes had shown an awful double consonant1 and1 as if that were not enough1 an appalling modified vowel4 ,by a single word scratched by the untutored hand of a rude warrior the most ingenious linguistic hypothesis of our times was shattered beyond hope of repair4 ,the spearhead was ,lombard1 and ,lombard1 dire reflection to one who had gained fame by maintaining the contrary1 belonged to the ,west ,germanic group of the ,teutonic tongues4 ,wild thoughts went through his head4 ,he recalled that ,paris had seemed worth a mass1 and considered a plenary retraction with a facsimile publication of the runes4 ,but as he pondered this course the inexpediency of sacrificing so fair a theory to this mere brute fact seemed indisputable4 ,he thought also of ascribing the doubled consonant and the modified vowel to the illiterate blundering of the spearman who chiselled the letters4 ,but as his fingers traced the sharp and purposeful strokes he realised that such a contention would be laughed out of the philological court4 ,for a mad moment he thought of destroying the miserable bit of iron1 but in the first place that was in itself difficult1 and then the chattering lady at his side knew that he was in possession of a ,runic inscription1 probably ,lombard4 ,she was widely connected and would certainly babble in the very city where his bitter rival ,professor ,anlaut had maintained that ,lombard was ,west ,germanic4 ,as ,hauptmann noticed that the road had become deserted1 that the dusk had increased1 and that ,fralein ,linda's observations on the luckiness of the find were interminable1 a homicidal fancy just grazed the border of his agitated consciousness4 ,but no1 that would not do either2 the scientific conscience forbade the destruction of any datum however embarrassing4 ,destroy the spearhead he could not1 and with a flash of intuition it came over him that it must simply be lost as promptly and hopelessly as possible4 ,but this too was by no means easy4 ,as they strolled down the road1 ditch after ditch in the lower fields presented itself as apt for the purpose1 but never the favourable moment4 ,in fact ,fralein ,linda's talk came back to the accursed runes with exasperating persistency4 ,they would confirm his theory4 ,she was happy in being present at this auspicious discovery4 ,it would be a cause wherefore she should not wholly be forgotten4 ,it was this sentimental hint that gave a reasonable hope of taking her mind off the runes1 and the harassed philologer set himself resolutely to the task4 ,for her slight advances he found bolder responses1 and still scanning the irrigating ditches closely for an especially oozy bottom1 he expatiated on the loveliness of the afterglow and confirmed the recollection of last evening that ,fralein ,linda's dimpled hand might be an eminently pleasant thing to hold4 ,thus gradually she was won from the ,lombard runes to more personal interests1 and as in the slow progress towards the station they neared a bridge1 ,hauptmann divined the spot where the ,east ,germanic hypothesis lately in peril of death might receive an indefinite reprieve4 ,he found ,linda1 as he now called her1 neither disinclined to sit on the parapet nor to receive the support of his arm4 ,her chatter had dwindled to sighs and exclamations4 ,he felt the need of a competing sound as the chug of the spearhead in the ditch should announce the discomfiture of the ,west ,germans4 ,but before committing the telltale runes to this ditch1 ,hauptmann scanned it carefully over ,linda's curly head1 and considered thoughtfully its worthiness to receive so important a deposit4 ,the survey could not have been more reassuring4 ,like so many of the main irrigating ditches that carry the water of ,father ,po and his tributaries to the lower fields1 the sluggish stream consisted equally of water1 weeds1 and ooze4 ,no ,lombard or other object held in that mixture was likely soon to be found4 ,there was a moment of tense silence and then a single plucking sound which various eavesdroppers might have located at the surface of the ditch or near ,linda's plump left cheek4 ,neither guess would have been wrong1 for if she sighed once more it was not for the vanishing ,lombard runes4 ,fralein ,linda ,gritz is1 if something of a sentimentalist1 also a bit of an analyst1 and when1 in the train1 she learned that the spearhead was lost she accepted ,hauptmann's cheerful comment with a certain scepticism4 ,he insisted with a suspicious vivacity that it didn't matter1 that indeed he preferred to have the merely professional reminiscence eliminated from an experience that had personally moved him so deeply4 ,to this reading of the affair she naturally could not object1 but as she gave him her hand quite formally for farewell1 she said3 ,to-night you have forgotten the runes1 tomorrow you forget me1 nicht wahr8 ,you are wrong4 ,them you will not find again3 there are many of me4 ,you should have forgotten me first4 ,she escaped while a protest was on his lips4 ,since that evening ,fralein ,gritz has followed ,professor ,hauptmann's brilliant career with a certain interest and perplexity4 ,he has ceased to be an ,extraordinarius1 but his promotion was based on his ingenious researches in ,vandalic4 ,after that trip to the ,certosa he discontinued all ,lombard studies1 and1 it is said1 actually withdrew from publication a scathing article in which the ,west ,germanic contingent were handled according to their deserts4 ,she has a vague and not wholly comfortable feeling of having counted for something as a deterrent1 and she has been heard to hint that his strange distaste for his favourite ,lombard investigations1 is due to a deep and intimates cause--an unfortunate affair of the heart associated with that historic region4 ,,their ,,cross ,how their cross reached ,fourth ,avenue one may only surmise1 but there surely was knavery at some point of its transit4 ,it was too splendid in its enamelling1 too subtle in the chiselling of its gilded silver to have slipped into the byways of the antiquary's trade with the consent of the ,tuscan bishop who controlled or should have controlled its sale4 ,for the matter of that1 it still contained one of ,st4 ,lucy's knuckles1 which in case of a regular transaction would have been transferred to a less precious reliquary4 ,no1 there must have been a pilfering sacristan1 or worse1 a faithless priest1 to explain its translation from the ,chianti hills to ,novelli's shop in ,fourth ,avenue4 ,once there it was certain that one day or another ,john ,baxter must find it4 ,how he became infected with the collector's greed and acquired the occult knowledge that feeds that malady it would take too long to tell4 ,yet it may be said that the yearning amateur was about the only potent ingredient in the mild composite that was ,john ,baxter4 ,his eyes1 skin1 hair1 and raiment had never seemed of any particular colour1 nor did he as a whole seem of any especial size4 ,his parents1 who were neither rich nor poor1 cultured nor the contrary1 had sent him to an indifferent school and college4 ,in the latter he had joined a middling chapter of a poorish fraternity1 and1 was graduated with a rank that was neither high nor low4 ,during those four easy going years he had played halfhearted baseball and football1 and had all but made the ,literary ,monthly4 ,on entering the world1 as the phrase goes1 he came into possession of a small patrimony and accepted a minor editorial position on a feeble religious monthly4 ,for the ensuing fifteen years ,john ,baxter overtly read manuscripts1 composed headlines for edifying extracts1 even wrote didactic little articles on his own account4 ,secretly1 meanwhile1 the lust of the eye was claiming him1 and he was becoming surcharged with a single great passion4 ,his ascent through books1 prints1 ,colonial furniture1 miniatures1 rugs1 and ,european porcelain to the dizzy heights of ,chinese porcelain and ,japanese pottery and painting1 it would be tedious and unprofitable to follow4 ,it is enough to say that all along the course his dull grey eye emphatically proved itself the one thing not mediocre about him4 ,it grasped the quality of a fine thing unerringly2 it sensed a stray good porcelain from the back row of the auction room4 ,how he knew without knowing why was a mystery to his fellows and even to himself4 ,for if he frequented the museums of ,new ,york1 and had made one memorable pilgrimage to the ,oriental collections of ,boston1 he was quite without travel1 and his education had been chiefly that of the shops and salesrooms4 ,thus his finds represented less knowledge than an active faith which served as well4 ,a ,gubbio lustre jug of museum rank had been bought before he knew the definition of majolica4 ,before he had learned the peril of such a hazard he had fearlessly rescued a real ,kirman mat from an omnibus sale4 ,his scraps of old ,chinese bronze and stoneware represented the promptings of a demon who had yet to discover the difference between ,sung and ,yungching4 ,these achievements gave ,john ,baxter a certain notoriety in his world and the unusual luxury of self esteem4 ,what brought him the scorn of blunter associates1 who openly derided him as a crank1 assured him a certain deference from the cognoscenti4 ,the small dealers respected him as an authority2 the auctioneers greeted him by name as he slipped into his chair1 and appealed to him personally when a fine lot hung shamefully4 ,he had the entre at two or three of the more discerning among the great dealers1 who occasionally asked his opinion or gave him a bargain4 ,in short a really impressive ,john as he sees himself was growing up within the skin of poor ,john ,baxter1 feeble scribbler for the weak-kneed religious press4 ,as he looked about his cluttered room of an evening he could whisper proudly1 ,no1 it's not a collection1 but ,i can wait4 ,and there is meanwhile nothing in this room that is not good1 very good of its type4 ,sometimes in more expansive musings he would take out of its brocaded bag a wooden tobacco box artfully incrusted with lacquer1 pewter1 and mother of pearl1 the work of the great ,krin1 and would declare aloud1 ,nobody has anything better than this1 no museum1 certainly no mere millionaire4 ,such days and nights had fed an already inordinate craving4 ,he burned for the beautiful things just beyond his grasp1 suffered for them amid his morning moralisings1 dreamt of them at night4 ,his was never the disinterested love of the beautiful that certain lucky collectors retain through all the sordidness of the quest4 ,had you observed ,john in the auction room you would have felt something concentratedly feline in his attitude and would hardly have been surprised had he pounced bodily upon a fine object as it passed near him down the aisle4 ,no other ghost of the auction rooms--and strange enthusiasts they are1 had an eye that gleamed with so ominous a fire4 ,there is peril in turning even a weak will into a narrow channel4 ,it may exert amazing pressures--like the slender column of mere water that lifts a loaded car to1 or with bad direction1 through1 the roof4 99 99 99 99 99 ,whether we should call ,john ,baxter's courtship and marriage a digression or the culmination of his career as a collector might have remained doubtful were it not for the cross in ,fourth ,avenue4 ,when he found it1 hardly a week before he met ,miriam ,trent1 he naturally did not take it for a touchstone4 ,that it was in a manner such1 may be inferred from the fact that the anxious morning before the wedding1 he stopped at ,novelli's for a last look1 a ceremony strangely parodying the bachelor supper of more ordinary bridegrooms4 ,after a lingering survey of its deep translucent enamels penned within crisply chiselled silver1 like tiny lakes rimmed by ledges1 he handed the cross back to the reverent ,novelli4 ,it had never looked more desirable1 he barely heard ,novelli's genial congratulation on the coming of the great day1 as he wondered how so splendid a rarity had stayed in that little shop for two years4 ,on reflection the reason was simple4 ,the price1 six hundred dollars1 was a shade high for another dealer to pay1 while the cross itself was so fine an object as merely to excite the distrust of ,novelli's average customers4 ,fools1 muttered ,john1 how little they know1 and hurried towards the florist's4 ,as he made his way back towards an impressive frock-coat1 his first1 he found himself recalling with a certain satisfaction that even if this were not his wedding day1 he really never could have hoped to buy the cross4 ,what ,miriam ,trent would have thought had she learned that her bridegroom waived all comparison between herself and the cross only because it was unattainable1 one may hardly surmise4 ,but as a sensible person who already knew ,john's foible and was accustomed to making allowances1 she possibly would have been amused and just a bit relieved4 ,she was everything that he was not4 ,where one passion absorbed him1 she gave herself gladly to many interests and duties4 ,a second mother to her numerous small brothers and sisters1 and to her amiable inefficient father as well1 she had somehow managed school and college for herself1 and in accepting ,john and his worldly goods she gave up a decently paid library position4 ,the insides of books were also familiar to her1 in impersonal concerns she had a shrewd sense of people1 in general she faced the world with a brave and delicate assurance4 ,finally she believed with fervour the creed and ethics that ,john happened to inculcate every week1 and it is to be feared that she took him for a prophet of righteousness4 ,armed at all points that did not involve her personal interests1 there was she peculiarly vulnerable4 ,she must have accepted ,john1 aside from the glamour of his edifying articles1 simply because of his evident and plaintively reasserted need of her4 ,yet they were very happy together1 as people who marry on this unequal basis often are4 ,after their panoramic week at ,niagara1 along the ,st4 ,lawrence1 and home by the two lakes and the ,hudson1 they settled down in ,john's room1 which by the addition of two more had been promoted to being the living room of an apartment4 ,her few personal possessions made a timid1 tolerated appearance between his gilt ,buddhas and pewter jugs4 ,but she herself queened it easily over the bizarre possessions now become hers4 ,had you seen her of an evening1 alert1 fragile1 golden under the lamp1 and had you seen ,john's vague glance turn from a moongrey row of ,korean bowls to her deeper eyes1 you would have been convinced not merely that he regarded her as the finest object in his collection1 but also that he was right4 ,it would be intrusive to dwell upon the joys and sorrows of light housekeeping in ,new ,york on a small income4 ,enough to say that the joys preponderated in this case4 ,they read much together1 he gradually cultivated an awkward acquaintance with her friends--he had practically none1 and at times she made the rounds of the curiosity shops and auctions with him4 ,here1 she explained1 her part was that of discourager of enthusiasm1 but repression was never practised in a more sympathetic and discerning spirit4 ,her taste became hardly inferior to his1 and their barren quests together established a new comradeship between them4 ,it was probably1 then1 merely an accident that he never included ,novelli's in these aimless rounds1 and so never showed her the enamelled cross4 ,in the long run their imaginary foraging1 always a recreation to her1 became a sore trial to him4 ,with the demonstration that two really cannot live cheaper than one1 the old covetousness smouldering for want of an outlet once more burned hotly within4 ,it expressed itself outwardly in a general uneasiness and irritability4 ,the little fund1 her money and his1 that lay in savings bank began to spend itself fantastically4 ,one day he reckoned that two-thirds of the cross had been put by1 and banished the disloyal thought with difficulty4 ,visionary plans of selling something and making the collection pay for itself were entertained1 but when it came to the point nothing could be spared4 ,perhaps the gnawings of this hunger might have been controlled1 had he thought to confide in ,miriam4 ,more likely yet1 a system of rare and strictly limited indulgence might have banked the fires between times4 ,however that be1 the thwarted collector was to be sunk for a time in the devoted husband4 ,miriam lay ill of a wasting fever4 ,after a two days' trial of the rooms1 the doctor and the trained nurse1 who scornfully slept amid the collection1 regarding it as a permanent centre of infection1 declared the situation impossible1 and with the slightest preliminary consultation of bewildered ,john1 white-coated men were sent for1 who carried ,miriam to the hospital4 ,about her door ,john hung like a miserable debarred ghost1 for after the first few days her mind wandered painfully1 and his presence excited her dangerously4 ,for weeks he vacillated between perfunctory work at the office1 unsatisfactory talks with busy doctors and impatient nurses1 and long apprehensive hours in what had been home4 ,in ,little ,venice1 in the best powder-blue jar and the rest1 he found no solace1 on the contrary1 the occasion of revolting suggestions4 ,there was an imp that whispered that she must die and that he should resume collecting4 ,with horror he fled the evil place1 and spent an endless night on tolerance within hearing of her moanings4 ,fevers have this of merciful1 that a term is set for them4 ,her malady though it often maims cruelly rarely kills4 ,the temperature line on the chart1 which for days had described a ,himalaya1 dwindled suddenly to a ,sierra1 as quickly to an ,appalachian1 and then became a level plain4 ,terribly wracked by the ordeal but safe they pronounced her4 ,the visiting physician occasionally omitted her in his daily round4 ,but convalescence was more trying than the struggle with the fever4 ,the lethargic hours seldom brought either sleep or rest4 ,beset by nervous fears1 the collective suffering of the giant building weighed upon her1 and she begged to be taken home4 ,it was a pathetic triumphal entry that she made among their household gods4 ,the sheer grotesqueness of her home struck her painfully for the first time1 as she was helped to an ancient chair that stood before the suspended ,kirman rug--her throne ,john had always called it4 ,as she once more occupied it1 there came a curious revulsion against her gorgeously shabby domain4 ,other women1 she reflected1 had neat places1 cool expanses of wallpaper1 furniture seemly set apart4 ,she resented the stuffiness of it all1 the air of musty preciousness that pervaded the room4 ,and when ,john took both her hands and said3 ,now the collection is itself again2 the queen has come home1 she broke down and cried4 ,she did much of that in the weeks that followed4 ,you would have supposed her another person than plucky ,miriam ,baxter4 ,but the situation hardly made for cheerfulness4 ,light housekeeping being no longer practicable1 they depended on the unwilling ministrations of a slovenly maid4 ,john1 who1 to do him justice1 had never boasted much surplus vitality1 felt vaguely that something was now due from him that he could not supply4 ,to escape an inadequacy that was painful he drifted back to the exhibitions and sales1 this time alone4 ,he never bought anything1 for he was saving manfully for a purpose that daily increased in his mind4 ,he would pay with his pocketbook what with his person he could not4 ,his always modest luncheon reduced itself to a sandwich1 he walked to save carfares1 cut off two ,sunday newspapers1 wore a threadbare spring overcoat into the winter4 ,then one day he took ,miriam to a famous specialist from whom they learned very much what they already knew1 but with the advantage of working orders4 ,the great man told ,john in brief that it was a bad recovery which might readily become worse4 ,a change and open air life were imperative2 a sea voyage would be best4 ,if such a change were not made1 and soon1 he would not be answerable for the consequences4 ,all this ,john retold in softened form to ,miriam in the waiting room4 ,we might as well give it up1 she said resignedly4 ,of course we can't travel4 ,we haven't the money1 and you can't get away4 ,with the nearest approach to pride he had ever shown in a nonaesthetic matter ,john protested that he could get away1 and better yet that there was money1 five hundred good dollars1 more than enough for a glimpse at the ,azores and ,gibraltar1 a hint of rocky ,sardinia1 a day at ,naples1 a quiet fortnight on the sunny ,genoese ,riviera1 and then home again by the long sea route4 ,his thin voice rose as he pictured the voyage4 ,even she caught something of his spirits1 and as they got off the car near ,novelli's1 by a sudden inspiration ,john said1 ,now for being a good girl1 and doing what the doctor says1 you shall see the most beautiful thing in ,new ,york4 ,in a minute ,novelli was carefully taking the precious thing from its drawer and solemnly unfolding the square of ruby velvet in which it lay4 ,miriam saw the rigid ,christ1 at the left ,mary ,mother in azure enamel1 at the right the ,beloved ,apostle in ,crimson4 ,from the top ,god ,father sent down the pearly dove through the blue4 ,below1 a stately pelican offered its bleeding breast to the eager bills of its young4 ,and it all glowed translucently within its sharp ,gothic mouldings4 ,behind1 the design was simpler--in enamelled discs the symbols of the evangelists4 ,st4 ,lucy's knuckle lay visible under a crystal lens at the crossing1 and surely relic of a saint was seldom encased more splendidly4 ,even pathetic ,miriam kindled to it4 ,yes1 it is the most beautiful thing in ,new ,york1 she admitted4 ,i suppose it costs a fortune1 ,mr4 ,novelli4 ,no1 a mere nothing1 for it1 six hundred dollars4 ,why1 we might almost buy it1 she cried4 ,it's lucky you haven't saved more1 ,john4 ,i really believe you would buy it4 ,i'd like to sell it to ,mr4 ,baxter1 said ,novelli1 he understands it1 only to be cut short with a brusque1 ,no1 it's out of our class1 but ,i wanted ,mrs4 ,baxter to see it1 and ,i wanted you to know that she appreciates a fine object as much as ,i do4 ,evidently1 said ,novelli as they parted4 ,i hope she will do me the honour of coming in often2 there are few who understand1 and whether they buy or not ,i am always glad to have them in my place4 ,about a week later ,john ,baxter closed and locked his office desk1 hurried down to the savings bank1 and drew five hundred dollars4 ,most of it was to go into steamer tickets forthwith1 a little balance was to be changed into ,italian money4 ,as he meditated a route downtown1 he recalled the only adieu still left unpaid4 ,to be sure the cross had remained for three years at ,novelli's but it might go forever any day1 and with it a great resource for a weary moralist4 ,farewells were plainly in order1 and with no other thought he walked back to the shop and greeted ,novelli1 who without waiting to be asked produced the crimson parcel that contained the precious relic4 ,as ,john looked it over from panel to panel1 as if to stamp every composition upon his memory1 ,novelli watched him1 reflected1 hesitated1 smiled benevolently1 and spoke4 ,mr4 ,baxter1 ,i am in great need of money and must sacrifice the cross4 ,i want you to take it4 ,vogelstein has offered me four hundred and fifty dollars for it but he shall not have it if ,i can sell it to anybody who deserves it better and will value it4 ,it is yours at that price4 ,what do you say8 ,john tried for words that failed to come4 ,it's a bargain1 ,mr4 ,baxter1 pursued ,novelli1 but of course if you don't happen to have the money there's nothing more to say4 ,but ,i have it right here1 retorted ,john in perplexity1 only it's for quite a different purpose4 ,you know your own business1 of course1 and ,i don't urge you1 but if you have the money and don't take it1 you make a great mistake4 ,you know that well enough1 and then remember how ,mrs4 ,baxter admired it the other day4 ,yes-s1 faltered ,john dubiously4 ,then why do you hesitate8 ,you know what it is1 and what it is worth1 as an investment1 ,i mean4 ,by taking your time and selling it right you can surely double your money4 ,but-- ,no1 there it is4 ,i am honestly doing you a favour1 and ,novelli thrust the swathed cross into the hands of his fairly hypnotised customer4 ,john's left hand clutched it instinctively1 while with the frightened fingers of his right he counted off nine fifty dollar bills4 ,thank you1 ,mr4 ,baxter1 neither you nor your wife will ever regret it4 ,nobody in ,america has anything finer1 and that you know4 ,these words pounded terribly in ,john's brain as he found his way home1 stumbled up stairs1 and boggled with the latchkey4 ,all the way down1 unheeded passersby had wondered at the crimson burden 7he had not waited for a parcel to be made7 hugged closely to the shabby black cutaway4 ,the danger signal smote ,miriam in the eyes as she rose to be kissed4 ,standing away from her1 he placed the shrouded cross on the table and tried for the confession that would not say itself4 ,why1 it's our cross1 she cried wonderingly4 ,mr4 ,novelli has lent it to us for a last look before we go where the lovely thing was made4 ,but1 ,john1 what's the matter8 ,how you do look6 ,has something awful happened8 ,yes1 and the pale nondescript head sunk into his hands4 ,i have bought it4 ,i don't know how4 ,i had the money1 ,i was there1 and ,i bought it4 ,she repressed the word that was on her lips1 and the harder thought that was in her mind1 looked long at his humiliation until the pity of a mother came over her tired face4 ,she had mercifully escaped scorning him4 ,then she spoke4 ,it was a bad time to buy it1 wasn't it1 ,dear1 but it is a beautiful thing1 almost worth a real trip to ,italy4 ,she added with a curious air of a suppliant1 ,and then perhaps we can sell it4 ,yes1 that's so1 perhaps we can sell it1 echoed ,john listlessly1 wrapping the cross closely in its crimson cover and laying it in his most treasured lacquer box4 ,yes1 perhaps we can sell it1 he repeated1 and there was a long silence between them4 ,,the ,,missing ,,st4 ,,michael ,dennis1 our ,epicurean sage1 addressed us all as we lolled on his terrace1 drank his tea1 and divided our attention between his fluent wisdom and his spacious view of the ,valdarno4 ,the question is1 he repeated1 what will ,emma do8 ,will she be brave1 or1 rather ordinary enough1 to act for herself and him1 or will she refuse him because of what she thinks we shall think of them both8 ,as we calmly sit here she may be deciding4 ,that is if you are sure1 ,harwood1 that ,crocker was really bound for ,emma's when you saw him4 ,how could anybody mistake his beaming ,emma face8 growled ,harwood4 ,he was marching like a squad of ,bersaglieri4 ,and she knows that ,crocker wants it terribly8 added the ,sage's wife4 ,she does1 indeed1 sighed ,frau ,stern repentantly1 for that demon 7pointing to ,harwood7 did tell me and ,i haf1 babylike1 told her4 ,here is the case1 then1 resumed ,dennis3 ,she knows we know ,crocker wants her and it1 but she doesn't know he doesn't know she has it4 ,precisely1 most clearly and gracefully put1 my dear1 laughed ,mrs4 ,dennis4 ,and she knows1 too1 he pursued imperturbably1 that we may think he wants her merely for it4 ,bravo6 puffed ,harwood smokily from his camp-stool4 ,she is too clever to expect any weak generosity from any of us4 ,she believes we will think the worst4 ,and won't we8 ,viva ,nietzsche1 and perish pity6 ,shame upon us1 then1 cried ,frau ,stern4 ,she will gif up that fine young man for fear of our talk8 ,never6 ,she will send him away1 dear ,frau ,stern1 the moment he gives her the chance1 declared ,dennis4 ,what else can she do8 ,she can never take the chance of our surmises4 ,behold us1 the destroyers6 ,the victims are prepared4 ,can't we do something about it8 ,harwood chuckled4 ,repent8 ,be as harmless as doves8 ,let's write a roundrobin solemnly stating that1 to the best of our knowledge and belief1 he wants her for herself and not for it4 ,gently1 exclaimed ,mrs4 ,dennis1 as she blew out ,harwood's poised and lighted match4 ,you surely don't imagine ,crocker will propose the very day she shows it to him4 ,my dear1 protested ,dennis1 don't we all know him well enough to understand that any shock will produce that effect8 ,if his mother died or his horse1 his vines got the scale1 his ,ghirlandaio sprung a crack1 his university gave him an honorary degree--these would all be reasons for proposing to ,emma4 ,dear old ,crocker is like that2 any jolt would affect him that way4 ,has it occurred to anybody that ,emma may have foreseen just this complication and quietly got rid of it first8 suggested ,mrs4 ,dennis1 the really practical member of our group1 adding1 ,that's how ,i'd have served you if ,i'd wanted him4 ,never1 responded ,dennis4 ,she loves it too well1 and then she would feel we felt she had spirited it away on purpose4 ,besides1 continued ,harwood1 whose buried aspirations ,emmawards had long ago flowered into a minute analysis of her moods1 she is true blue1 you know4 ,she will never serve us like that4 ,she may immolate the mighty ,crocker upon the altar of our collective curiosity1 but she will never dodge us4 ,cannot we all go back to our own countries and leave them alone1 suggested ,frau ,stern almost tearfully2 but no2 we no longer haf countries4 ,here we belong2 elsewhere the air is too strong for our little lungs4 ,i pity us1 and ,i pity more those poor young people4 ,if only they will but haf the sense to trample on our talk4 ,that1 too1 would be a sensation1 ,dennis added cheerfully1 and we went our ways1 as usual1 without having reached anything so vulgar as a conclusion4 99 99 99 99 99 ,meanwhile ,emma ,verplanck stood in the loggia of her tiny villa and winced in the focus of the curiosities she despised4 ,she scanned the white road that rimmed her valley before descending sharply to ,florence beyond the hill1 and especially the crescent of dust where an approaching figure would first appear4 ,now and then1 as if for a rest1 her eye traced the line of flaming willows down toward the plunge of her brook into the larger valley1 or the file of spectral poplars that led into the vineyards hanging on the declivity of ,fiesole4 ,above all1 the gaunt and gashed bulk of ,monte ,ceceri glistened hotly against a pale blue sky1 for if it was a backward ,april1 the first stirring of summer was already in the air4 ,she thrilled with disgust as she asked herself why she dreaded this call4 ,why should she fear lest an elementary test1 a very simple explanation such as she planned for that afternoon1 should compromise an established friendship8 ,interrupting this self-examination the mighty but unwieldy form of ,morton ,crocker loomed in the white dust crescent1 and his premature panama swiftly followed the curve of the low grey wall towards her gate4 ,as his steps were heard1 her mind flew to the forbidding ,st4 ,michael on his gold background in her den and she could fairly hear ,harwood saying to all of us1 ,three to one on the ,saint1 who takes me8 ,the jangling of the bell recalled her to ,crocker1 and she braced herself in the full sunlight to receive him4 ,for a moment1 as he loomed in the archway1 she indulged that especial pride which we reserve for that which we might possess but austerely deny ourselves4 ,her mingled moods produced an unusual softness4 ,crocker felt it and wondered as she gave him her hand and had him sit for a prudent moment outside4 ,all the hot way up the valley he had had a sense of a crisis4 ,it was odd to be summoned whither he had been drifting for four years1 and now the sight of ,emma disarmed1 perplexed him4 ,it seemed ominous4 ,one finds such transparent kindness in clever people generally at parting1 when one would be remembered for one's self and not for a phrase4 ,then ,crocker for an instant glimpsed the wilder hope that the softening was for him and not for an occasion4 ,emma had never seemed more desirable than to-day4 ,a white strand or two in her yellow hair1 the tiny wrinkles at the corners of her steady grey eyes1 and the untimely thinness of her long white fingers made him eager to ward off the advancing years at her side1 to keep unchanged1 as it were1 these precious evidences that she had lived4 ,some sense of his tenderness she must have had1 for as she chatted gravely about his farming1 about the lateness of the almond blossoms1 about everything except people1 who always tempted her sharp tongue1 her manner became almost maternally solicitous4 ,to-day you shall have your first tea in my den1 ,crocker 7so much she presumed on her two years' seniority71 she said at last1 and you are commanded to like my things4 ,what has thy servitor done to deserve this grace8 he managed to reply4 ,nothing1 she said1 graces never are for deserts4 ,or1 rather1 you poor fellow1 you have been asked to tramp out here in this glare and really deserve to sit where it is cool4 ,as they walked through the hall and the little drawing-room ,crocker still felt uneasily that no road with ,emma ,verplanck could be quite as smooth as it seemed4 ,the den deserved its name1 being a tiny brown room with a single arched window that looked askance at the cypresses and bell towers of ,fiesole4 ,beside a couch1 an ,empire desk1 and solid shelves of books1 the den contained only a couple of chairs and the handful of things that ,emma laughingly called her collection4 ,as ,crocker took in vaguely bits of ,hispano-,moresque and mellow ivories1 a broad medal or so and a well-poised ,renaissance bronze1 a ,japanese painting on the lighted wall1 and one or two drawings by great contemporaries1 ,emma's friends1 he was amazed at the quality of everything4 ,a sense of extreme fastidiousness rebuked1 in a way1 his more indiscriminate zeal as a collector4 ,uncomfortably near him on the dark wall he began to be aware of something marvellous on old gold when tea interrupted his observations4 ,tea with ,emma was always engrossing4 ,the mere practice and etiquette of it brought the gentlewoman in her into a lovely salience4 ,her hands and eyes became magical1 her talk light and constant without insistency4 ,a symbolist might imagine eternal correspondence between the amber brew and her sunny hair4 ,it was easy to adore ,emma at tea1 and generally she did not resent a discreetly pronounced homage4 ,but this afternoon she grew almost petulant with ,crocker as they talked at random1 and finally laughed out impatiently3 ,i really can't bear your ignoring my ,st ,michael1 especially as you have never seen him before and may never see him again4 ,st4 ,michael1 ,mr4 ,morton ,crocker4 ,my respects1 smiled ,crocker1 as he turned lazily toward the gilded panel4 ,there was the warrior saint1 his lines stiff1 expressive and hieratic1 his armour glistening in grey-blue fastened with embossed gilded clasps2 here and there gorgeous hints of a crimson doublet--the unmistakable enamel1 the grave and delicate tension of a masterpiece by the rare ,venetian1 ,carlo ,crivelli4 ,crocker gasped and started from his seat1 losing at once his cup1 his muffin1 and his manners4 ,by ,jove1 ,miss ,verplanck1 ,emma1 it's my missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,where did you ever find it8 ,i must have it4 ,his toasted muffin rolled unconsidered beside the spoon at his feet4 ,emma retrieved the cup--one of a precious six in old ,meissen--he retained the saucer painfully gripped in both hands4 ,i was afraid it was1 she answered1 but look well and be sure4 ,of course we must be sure4 ,you'll let me measure it1 won't you8 ,it's the only way4 ,assuming his permission he climbed awkwardly upon the chair1 happily a stout ,italian construction1 and as she watched him with a strange pity1 he read off from a pocket rule3 ,one metre thirty-seven4 ,a shade taller than mine1 but there is no frame4 ,thirty-one centimetres2 the same thing4 ,yes1 it is my missing ,st4 ,michael1 and as he climbed down excitedly he hurried on3 ,how strange to find it here4 ,i never talked to you about it1 did ,i8 ,that's odd1 too4 ,i've been hunting for it for years4 ,you didn't know1 ,i suppose4 ,i want it awfully4 ,what can we do about it8 ,for ,crocker1 this fairly amounted to a speech1 and before replying ,emma gave him time to sit down1 and thrust another cup of tea into his unwilling hands4 ,having thus occupied and calmed him1 she said1 ,i'm very sorry1 ,i hoped it would turn out to be something else4 ,i only learned last week that you wanted it4 ,you have seldom talked about your collecting to me4 ,there's nothing to do about it4 ,i wish there were4 ,you want it so much4 ,but ,i can't give it to you4 ,that wouldn't do4 ,and ,i won't sell it to you4 ,i wouldn't to anybody1 and then that wouldn't do1 either4 ,so there we are4 ,only think of their talk1 and you'll see the situation is impossible4 ,crocker's eyes flashed4 ,there's a lot we might do about it if you will1 ,emma4 ,damn the ,st4 ,michael4 ,if his case is so complicated1 and ,i don't see it1 leave him out of the reckoning between us4 ,can't you see what ,i need and want8 ,they wouldn't see it1 and ,i'm shamefully afraid of them1 she said simply1 and then she added indignantly1 ,how could you dare1 to-day8 ,i can't trust you for any perception1 can ,i8 ,not perceiving that her scruple was belated1 ,crocker blurted out ruefully4 ,i'm an ass1 and ,i'm sorry and ,i'm not4 ,it's what ,i have wanted to say these many days1 and perhaps it might as well be so4 ,but ,i've wounded you and for that ,i'm more than sorry4 ,let's not talk about it1 ,emma said gently4 ,of course ,i'll forgive an old friend for saying a little more than he should4 ,only you must stop here4 ,you'll forgive me1 too1 for owning your ,st4 ,michael4 ,i'm honestly sorry it happened so4 ,i would dismiss him if ,i could1 for he is likely to cost me a good friend4 ,but he creates a kind of impossibility between us1 doesn't he1 and for a while it's best you shouldn't come1 not till things change with you4 ,it's kindest so1 isn't it1 ,crocker8 ,there was more debate to this effect before the impassive ,st4 ,michael1 until at last ,crocker agreed impatiently1 ,you're right1 ,emma1 or at least you have me at a disadvantage1 which comes to the same thing4 ,and yet it's all wrong4 ,you are putting a painted saint between yourself and a friend who wants to be more4 ,it's logical1 but it isn't human4 ,as for their talk1 they'll talk1 anyhow1 and we might as well stand it together4 ,i'm probably off for a long time1 ,emma4 ,i hope you'll find your ,st4 ,michael companionable4 ,when you decide to throw him out of the window1 let me know4 ,forgive me again4 ,good-by4 ,she gave him her hand silently and followed him out into the loggia4 ,as she watched him striding angrily down the valley and away1 she had the air of a woman who would have cried if she were not ,emma ,verplanck4 99 99 99 99 99 ,crocker was right1 we all did talk4 ,and naturally1 for had we not all been eagerly awaiting the collision announced by the cessation of his visits and the rumour that he was bound north4 ,in council on ,dennis's terrace1 however1 we came to no unanimous reading of the affair4 ,generally1 we felt that even if ,emma wanted a way out1 which we guessed to be the fact1 she would never expose herself to our batteries1 and with regret we opined that there was no way1 had we wished1 to divest ourselves of our collective formidableness4 ,on all sides we divined a deadlock1 with ,dennis the only dissenting voice4 ,he insisted scornfully that we none of us knew ,emma1 that we underestimated both her emotional capacity and her resourcefulness1 and1 finally1 in a burst of rash clairvoyancy he declared that she would give away both the ,st4 ,michael and herself1 but in her own time and manner1 and with some odd personal reservation that would content us all4 ,we should see4 ,given the rare mixture of the conventional and instinctive that was ,emma ,verplanck1 something of the sort did indeed seem probable4 ,for ten years she had inhabited her nook1 becoming as much of a fixture among us as the ,campanile below4 ,she came1 like so many1 for the cheapness and dignity of it primarily4 ,here her little patrimony meant independence1 safety from perfunctory and uncongenial contacts at home1 and more positively all those purtenances of the gentlewoman that she required4 ,but1 unlike the merely thrifty ,italianates1 she never became blunted by our incessant tea giving and receiving4 ,with familiarity1 the ineffable sweetness of the country penetrated her with ever-new impressions4 ,she loved the overlapping blue hills that stretched away endlessly from the rim of her valley1 and the scarred crag that closed it from behind4 ,she loved the climbing white roads1 her chalky brook--sung as a river by the early poets--with its bordering poplars and willows and its processional display of violets1 anemones1 primroses1 blueflags1 and roses4 ,she loved even better that constant passing trickle of fine intelligences which feeds the ,arno valley as her brook refreshed its vineyard4 ,the best of these came gladly to her1 for she was an open and a disillusioned spirit1 with something of a man's downrightness under her sensitive appreciation4 ,hers was the calm of a temperament fined but not dulled by conformity and experience4 ,mrs4 ,dennis1 whose sources of information were excellent1 said it was rather an unhappy girlish affair with an unworthy cousin4 ,within the limits of the possible1 the ,verplancks always married cousins1 and ,emma1 it was thought1 had in her 'teens paid sentimental homage to the family tradition4 ,in any case she remained surprisingly youthful under her nearly forty years4 ,her capacity for intellectual adventure seemed only to increase as she passed from the first glow to proved impressions of books1 art1 persons1 and the all-inclusive ,tuscan nature4 ,her ,stuyvesant ,square aunts1 who were authorities on self-sacrifice1 agreed that the only sacrifice ,emma had made in a thoroughly selfish life was the purchase of the ,st4 ,michael4 ,she had found it1 on a visit in ,romagna1 in the hands of a noble family who knew its value and needed to sell it1 but dreaded the vulgarity of a transaction through the antiquaries4 ,to ,emma1 accordingly1 whom they assumed to be rich1 they offered it at a price staggering for her1 though still cheap for it4 ,from the first she had adored it4 ,there had been a swift exchange of despatches with ,new ,york1 and the ,st4 ,michael went home with her to ,florence4 ,after that adventure the small victoria1 the stocky pony1 and the solemn coachman had never reappeared4 ,emma walked to teas or1 when she must1 suffered the promiscuity of the trams4 ,to those of us who knew the store she set by her equipage its exchange for the ,st4 ,michael indicated a fairly fanatical devotion4 ,to her aunts it meant that she had spent her principal1 which1 in their eyes1 was an approximation to the mysterious sin against the ,holy ,ghost4 ,it was ,dennis who speculated most audaciously1 and perhaps truly1 about the ,st4 ,michael4 ,when he learned that ,emma secreted it in her den1 where she rarely admitted anyone1 he maintained that it had become her incorporeal spouse4 ,the daintiness with which it fingered a golden sword-hilt1 as if fearing contamination1 symbolised the aloofness of her spirit4 ,the solitary enjoyment of a great impression of art made her den a sanctuary1 absolving her from commoner or shared pleasures4 ,and in a manner the ,saint was the type of the ultra-virginal quality she had retained through much contact with books and life4 ,for her to sell the ,st4 ,michael1 ,dennis felt1 would be a sort of vending of her soul1 to give it away in the present instance would imply1 he insisted1 an instinctive self-surrender of which he judged her incapable4 ,to ,crocker's side of the affair we gave very little thought1 considering that he1 after all1 had created the thrilling importance of the ,st4 ,michael4 ,but our general attitude toward the unwonted was one of indifference1 and ,crocker was too unlike us to permit his orbit to be calculated4 ,the element of foible in him was almost null4 ,none of our guesses ever stuck to him1 and we had grown weary of rediscovering that anything so simple could also be so impermeable to our ingenuity4 ,in a word1 ,crocker's case was as much plainer than ,emma's as noonday is than twilight4 ,when one says that he was born in ,boston and from birth dedicated to the ,harvard nine1 eleven1 or crew--as it might befall2 that he was graduated a candidate for the right clubs1 that he took to stocks so naturally that he quickly and safely increased an ample inherited fortune1 and this without neglecting horse1 or rod1 or gun2 finally that he carried into maturity a fine boyish ease--when this has been said all has been told about ,morton ,crocker except the whimsical chance that made him an ,italianate4 ,some reminiscence of his grand tour had beguiled a tedious convalescence and1 following the gleam for want of more serious occupation1 he had set sail for ,naples with a motor-car in the hold4 ,at thirty-three he brought the keenness of a girl to the galleries1 the towns1 and the ineffable whole thing4 ,it was ,tuscany that completed his capture4 ,he bought a villa and1 as his strength came back1 began to add new vineyards and orchards to his estate4 ,but this was his play2 his serious work became collecting and more particularly1 as has been hinted1 the quest of the missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,when he learned1 as a man of means soon must1 that good pictures may still be bought in ,italy1 he promptly succumbed to the covetousness of the collector1 and the motor-car became predatory4 ,its tonneau had contained surreptitious ,lottos and ,carpaccios4 ,its gyrations became an object of interest to the ,ministry of ,public ,instruction4 ,once on crossing the ,alps it had been searched to the linings4 ,while ,crocker had his ups and downs as a collector1 from the first his sense of reality stood him in stead4 ,being a ,bostonian he naturally studied1 but even before he at all knew why1 he disregarded the pastiches and forgeries1 and made unhesitatingly for the good panel in an array of rubbish4 ,it was this sense for reality that impelled him to settle where the rest of us merely perched4 ,fifty contadini tilled his domain and actually began to earn out the costly improvements he had introduced4 ,his wine and oil were sought by those who knew and were willing to pay4 ,in the intervals of the major passion ,crocker walked up and down the grassy roads superintending the larger operations4 ,his muscular and hulking blondness--he had rowed four years--towered above the dark little men who served1 feared1 and worshipped him4 ,unlike the rest of us who preferred to live in a delightful ,cloud ,cuckoo ,town1 which happened to be ,florence also1 he had chosen to take root in ,tuscany4 ,first he purged his castellated villa of the international abuses it had undergone for a century4 ,it had hardly regained its fifteenth century spaciousness and simplicity before it began to fill up again1 but this time with pictures and fittings of the time4 ,in all directions he bought with enthusiasm1 but his real vocation1 after the cultivation of ,emma's society1 soon came to be the completion of his great and growing altar-piece by ,carlo ,crivelli4 ,what is usually a frigid exercise1 a mere ascertainment that the parts of a scattered ancona are at ,london1 ,berlin1 ,st4 ,petersburg1 ,boston1 etc4--a patient compilation of measurements1 documents and probabilities2 what is generally a mere pretext for a solid article in a heavy journal--or at best a question of pasting photographs together in the order the artist intended--,crocker converted into an eager and most practical pursuit4 ,bit by bit he gradually reconstituted his ,crivelli in its ancient glory of enamel on gold within its ornate mouldings4 ,the quest prospered capitally until he stuck hopelessly at the missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,as it stood for a couple of years complete except for the void where the ,st4 ,michael should be1 the altar-piece represented less ,crocker's abundant resources than his tireless patience and energy4 ,he had picked up the first fragment1 a slender ,st4 ,catherine of ,alexandria demurely leaning upon her spiked wheel1 at a provincial antiquary's in ,romagna1 not far from where the ancona had been impiously dismembered4 ,fortunately the original ,gothic frame remained to give a clue to other panels4 ,next1 word of a ,crivelli ,madonna with ,donors at ,christie's took him posthaste to ,london4 ,frame1 period and measurements proved that it was the central panel1 and the tiny donors1 a husband and wife with a boy and girl1 indicated that the wings had contained two female and two male saints4 ,between the ,st4 ,lucy 7which turned up more than a year later in an un-heard-of ,swedish collection1 and was had only by a hard exchange for a rare ,lorenzo ,monaco and a plausible ,fra ,angelico7 and the sumptuous ,st4 ,augustine1 which was brought to the villa in a barrow by a little dealer1 there was a longer interval4 ,meanwhile the frame had been reconstructed1 and a niche for the missing saint rose in melancholy emptiness4 ,a little before the sensational rencontre in ,emma's den1 the chance of finding a rude pilgrim woodcut on the ,quai ,voltaire revealed the saint's identity4 ,this ugly print informed the faithful that the prodigious image of ,our ,lady existed in the ,church of the ,carmelites at ,borgo ,san ,liberale4 ,one might distinguish at the extreme right of the five compartments a willowy ,st4 ,michael in armour1 like ,chaucer's ,squire in a black-letter folio1 or if the identification had been doubtful1 there was the name below in all letters4 ,when the print was shown to the scheming ,harwood over the afternoon vermouth1 he suspended a long discourse on the contemptible fate of being born an ,anglo-,saxon1 and it came over him with a blessed shock that ,emma had the missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,penetrated by the joy of the situation1 he hesitated for a moment whether to give the initiative to the man or the woman4 ,a glance at ,crocker's uncompromising sturdiness convinced him that on that side the situation might be quickly exhausted4 ,emma he could trust to do it full justice4 ,excusing himself abruptly1 he made for ,frau ,stern's lodgings1 and with the taste of ,crocker's vermouth still in his faithless mouth1 told her that ,emma's ,crivelli was no other than the missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,to make matters sure he solemnly bound ,frau ,stern to secrecy4 ,that accomplished1 he strode whistling down through the purple twilight to his well-earned fritto at ,paoli's4 ,the next day began our wondering what ,emma would do4 ,she did1 as is known1 a thing that her simple ,knickerbocker ancestresses would have approved--presented ,crocker to the ,st4 ,michael and left the decision modestly to the men4 ,behind the frankness of her procedure lay1 perhaps1 a curiosity to see how ,crocker would bear himself in a delicate emergency4 ,it was to be in some fashion his ordeal4 ,thus she might at least shake the appalling equanimity with which he had passed from the stage of comrade to that of suppliant4 ,not that she doubted him2 nobody did that1 but she resented a little in retrospect his silence on the subject of the great quest4 ,was it possible that for these five years he had chatted only about his college pranks1 his fishing trips1 his orchards and vineyards1 and the views8 ,as she reviewed their countless walks and teas1 it really seemed as if he had never paid her the compliment of being impersonal4 ,well1 that was ended now at any rate4 ,a little misgiving filled her that she had never revealed the presence of the ,st4 ,michael to so good a play-fellow4 ,a delicacy1 knowing his incorrigible zeal as a collector1 had restrained her1 and then1 as ,dennis had guessed1 her den was her sanctuary1 admission to which implied an intimacy difficult to concede4 ,whatever the merits of the case1 the rupture had produced in a milieu consumed by the desire to guess what ,emma would do1 at least one person who was solely interested in what ,crocker's next move might be4 ,for the first time in a singularly calculable life he had become an object of genuine curiosity4 ,he acted with his usual simplicity4 ,to ,emma he wrote a brief note upbraiding her for fearing the voices of the valley1 professing his eagerness to return when the ,st4 ,michael had been put out of the reckoning1 and declaring that if it were not soon1 he would willy-nilly come back and see how things were between them4 ,it was a letter that wounded ,emma1 yet somehow warmed her1 too1 and from its reception we found her in an unwonted attitude of nonconformity to the verdicts of the valley4 ,she began to speak up in behalf of this or that human specimen under our diminishing lenses with the unsubtle and disconcerting bluntness of ,morton ,crocker himself4 ,the phenomenon kept alive our waning interest during nearly a year of waiting4 ,as for ,crocker he gave it out ostentatiously that he was bound for a wonderful ,cima in ,northumbria and afterward was to try dry-fly fishing on the ,itchen4 ,beyond that he had no plans4 ,all this was characteristically the truth2 he bought the ,cima1 wrote of his baskets to ,harwood1 but stayed away past his melons1 his grapes and his olives4 ,by early winter we heard of him shooting the moose in ,new ,brunswick1 and later planning a system of art education in the ,massachusetts schools1 and it was not till the brisk days of ,march that we learned the west wind was bringing him our way again4 ,meanwhile ,emma had acquired a few more grey hairs and had resolutely declined to dispossess herself of the ,st4 ,michael4 ,a couple of months after ,crocker's leave-taking1 a note had come to her from ,crespi1 the unfrocked priest and consummate antiquarian1 who1 to the point of improvising a chef d'oeuvre1 will furnish anything that this gilded age demands4 ,crespi most respectfully begged to represent an urgent client1 a ,russian prince1 who desired a fine ,crivelli4 ,would the most gentle ,miss ,verplanck haply part with hers8 ,the price should be what she chose to name4 ,it was no question of money1 but of obliging a client whom ,crespi could ill afford to disappoint4 ,emma curtly declined the offer4 ,the ,st4 ,michael was valued for personal reasons and was not for sale4 ,six weeks later came a more insidious suggestion4 ,the ,director of the ,uffizi1 learning that she possessed a masterpiece of a school sparsely represented in the first ,italian gallery1 pleading that such an object should not pass from ,italy1 and representing a number of generous art-lovers who desired to add it to the collections under his care1 made the following offer1 trusting1 however1 not to any pecuniary inducement but to her loyalty as an honorary citizen of ,florence4 ,the price named was something less than the ,london value1 but its acceptance would have perpetually endowed the victoria1 and perhaps--4 ,if the malicious ,harwood had not passed the word that the offer was a ruse of the wily ,crocker1 we all believed that she would have accepted4 ,indeed1 we regretted her obduracy4 ,it would have been such a capital way out1 with no sacrifice of her scruples nor waiver of our collective impressiveness4 ,so ,harwood came in for mild reprehension1 the ,sage ,dennis remarking with some asperity that when the gods have provided us with farces1 comedies1 and tragedies in from one to five acts it is unseemly to string them out to six or seven4 ,early ,march1 then1 saw the deadlock unbroken4 ,the ,st4 ,michael had not been dislodged4 ,emma still was unwavering so far as we knew4 ,we were unable1 had we willed1 to divest ourselves of our deterrent attributes4 ,but the situation had changed to this extent that ,crocker was said to be on his way down to oversee a new system of spring tillage in person4 ,emma took his approach with something between terror and an unwonted resignation4 ,from the day when he had planted himself firmly beside her fireplace with a boyish wonder at finding himself so much at home1 he had represented the incalculable in her carefully planned life4 ,declining to accept the attitude of other people toward her1 he had almost upset her attitude toward herself4 ,he was the first man since the scapegrace cousin who had neither feared nor yet provoked her sharp tongue4 ,while he relished her wit1 it had always been with an unspoken deprecation of its cutting edge4 ,he gave her a queer feeling of having allowances made for her--a condescension that in anybody but this big1 likable boy she would have requited with sarcasm4 ,but against him the cheveux de frise she successfully presented to the world seemed of no avail4 ,he knew it was not timber but twigs1 and that at worst one was scratched and not impaled4 ,day by day she watched the cropping of the long line of flaming willow plumes that escorted her brook toward the level4 ,the line dwindled as the shorn pollards gave up their withes to bind the vines to the dwarf maples4 ,she felt the miles between herself and ,crocker lessening1 and 7at rare moments7 her scruples ready to be garnered for some sweet and ill-defined but surely serviceable use4 ,but she would not have been ,emma ,verplanck if the manner of her not impossible surrender had not troubled her more than the act itself4 ,any lack of tact on the part of the husbandman might still spoil things4 ,she had a whimsical sense that any one of the flaming willows might refuse its contribution to the vineyard should the pruner approach with anything short of a persuasive con permesso4 ,crocker's by your leave was so far from persuasive that it left her with a panicky desire to run away--again a new sensation4 ,he wrote3 ,,dear ,,emma-- ,we have had an endless year to think it over1 and the only change on my side is that ,i need you more than ever4 ,i will go away for real reasons1 for your reasons1 but for no others4 ,if it is only their talk that separates us1 their talk has had twelve good months and shall have no more4 ,i must see you4 ,may ,i come tomorrow at the old hour8 ,as always yours1 ,,morton ,,crocker4 ,something between wrath and dismay was the result of this challenge4 ,she sat down to answer him according to his impudence1 and the words would not come4 ,the greatness of the required sacrifice came over her and therewith the desire to temporise4 ,the voice of many ,knickerbocker ancestresses spoke in her1 and between herself and a real emergency she interposed the impenetrable buckler of a conventionality4 ,she wrote3 ,,pensioin ,,schalck1 ,bad ,weisstein1 ,austrian ,tyrol4 ,,my ,,dear ,,crocker-- ,it would be pleasant to see you and talk over your trip1 but you see by this address it is for the present impossible4 ,as always1 ,cordially yours1 ,,emma ,,verplanck4 ,when ,crocker found ,emma's valley as effectually barred as if a battery guarded the approaches1 he gave way to a deep resentment4 ,instinctively hating anything like a trick1 to be tricked by ,emma at this point was intolerable4 ,his gloom was such that he confided to the malicious ,harwood a profound disgust with the irreality of the life ,italianate4 ,the podere should be sold as soon as it could be put in order4 ,such pictures as the ,italian ,government coveted1 it should keep1 the rest should go to the ,museum at ,boston4 ,he himself would grow orange trees in ,north ,cuba where there were things to shoot and1 thank heaven1 no civilisation4 ,harwood came breathlessly to ,dennis's with the tale1 gloating openly that there was to be a seventh act if not an eighth4 ,a long hard day with his bailiff and the peasants restored ,crocker's poise4 ,he looked for the hundredth time over into ,emma's valley and divined her attitude4 ,dreading an interview1 she had left the way open to parley4 ,she virtually pleaded for a delay4 ,it was a new and1 in a way1 delightful sensation to be feared4 ,for the first time in any human relation he exploited a personal advantage and wrote1 addressing ,bad ,weisstein3 ,,dearest ,,emma-- ,you have wanted a delay4 ,well1 you have it--probably a week already4 ,make the most of it1 for two weeks from this date--,i give you time to recover from your journey--,i am coming for tea in the old way4 ,meanwhile you can hardly imagine the impatience of ,yours more than ever1 ,,morton ,,crocker4 ,whether ,crocker or ,emma was more miserable during the fortnight even ,dennis could not have told4 ,but there was in his woe something of the sublime stolidity of the man who is going to stand up to be shot or reprieved1 whereas she suffered the uncertainty of the soldier who has been drawn to make up the firing party for a comrade4 ,she feared that she would not have courage enough to despatch him1 and then she feared she would4 ,meantime the days passed1 and she woke up one morning with an odd little shiver reminding her that it was no longer possible to get a note to him by way of ,bad ,weisstein4 ,nor had she the heart to move to a nearer coign of constructive absence4 ,of half measures she was1 after all1 a foe4 ,her determination to send ,crocker away daily increased1 and the implacable ,st4 ,michael seemed to command that course4 ,you are not for him4 ,you represent a whole artificial world in which he cannot breathe4 ,i1 the finest incarnation of the most exquisite mannerism of a bygone time1 am your spiritual spouse1 and you may not lightly renounce me4 ,you have devoted yourself to graceful irrealities and must now abide by your choice4 ,thus the ,st4 ,michael had spoken in a dream in the troubled hours before daybreak1 and when ,emma went to her den late the next morning she confronted him and admitted1 ,you are right1 ,st4 ,michael4 ,it's all true4 ,that afternoon ,crocker was coming for tea1 and if her ,new ,york aunts could have known1 even they would have granted that1 for the second time in a thoroughly selfish life1 ,emma was displaying capacities for self-sacrifice4 ,as ,emma and ,crocker shook hands that afternoon1 one might see that both had aged a little1 but he most4 ,something of the appealing boyishness had gone out of his eyes4 ,he had become her contemporary4 ,a certain moral advantage1 too1 had passed to his side and she1 whose prerogative it had been to take the leading part1 now waited for him to begin4 ,as if on honour to do nothing abruptly1 he sketched his year for her--his sports and committees1 his kinsfolk and hers2 their fresh1 invigorating1 half-made land4 ,she listened almost in silence until he turned to her and said3 ,with me1 ,emma1 it is and always will be the same4 ,you know that4 ,has anything changed with you8 ,i don't think so1 ,crocker4 ,how can ,i tell8 ,i'm glad you're here1 in spite of the shabby trick ,i've played you4 ,let me say just that ,i'm heartily glad to see an old friend4 ,no1 ,i must have more than that or less4 ,i want much more than that4 ,you want too much4 ,you want more than ,i can give to anybody4 ,o6 ,why can't you see it all8 ,you are alive1 even here in ,florence but1 ,i1 ,i am no longer a real person that can love or be loved4 ,can't you see that ,i am only a sensibility that absorbs the sweetness of this valley1 a mere bundle of scruples and fears1 a weather-cock veering with the talk of the rest of them8 ,think of that and take back what you have thought about me4 ,emma1 you admit a need1 and that is very sweet to me4 ,you want some one to strengthen you against all this that you call the valley4 ,mightn't that helper be ,i8 ,you shan't be committed to anything so hopeless4 ,it isn't as hopeless as it seems4 ,the strength of the valley is only in its weakness1 and we shall be strong together4 ,i have forgotten how to be strong1 for years ,i have only been clever4 ,you'd be dull enough with me as you well know4 ,i can do that for both4 ,but don't talk as if there were some fate between us4 ,there can be none except your indifference1 and ,i believe you do care a little and will more4 ,of course1 ,i care1 ,crocker1 but not as you wish4 ,you have refreshed me in this opiate air4 ,you have represented the real country ,i have exchanged for this illusion1 the real life ,i might have lived had ,i been braver or more fortunate4 ,but you can have no part in what ,i have come to be4 ,go1 for both our sakes4 ,not for any such reason4 ,i can't surrender my happiness for a phrase2 ,i can't leave you to these delusions about yourself4 ,it is no delusion2 ,i wish it were4 ,it's in my blood and breeding4 ,for generations my people have lived the unreal life4 ,i am the fine flower of my race1 and in coming to this valley of dreams and this no-life ,i am merely fulfilling a destiny--a fate1 as you say--and coming to my own4 ,but ,emma1 the worthy ,verplancks8 ,no1 listen to me4 ,for generations the ,verplancks have been what people expected them to be1 incarnate formulas of etiquette and timid living4 ,they took their colour from the gossiping society in which they seemed to live4 ,they prudently married other ,verplancks1 cousins or cousins' cousins4 ,they hoarded their little fortunes without increasing them1 and if what they called the rabble had not peopled ,new ,york and raised the price of land1 which my people were merely too stolid to sell1 we should long ago have gone under in penury4 ,we have led nobody and made nothing1 but have been maintained by stronger forces and persons1 toward whom we have always taken the air of doing a favour4 ,that mistake at least ,i shall not make with you1 ,crocker4 ,i want you to feel the full nullity of me4 ,as ,i see you now ,i have a twinge because my great grandfather1 who was a small banker1 would have called yours1 who was a farmer--you see ,i have looked you up--not ',mister' but ',my ,good ,man4' ,for a moment she paused1 and ,crocker groped for a reply4 ,all this may be true1 ,emma1 he said at last1 and yet mean very little to you and me4 ,besides1 ,i'm quite willing you should call me your ,good ,man4 ,in fact1 ,i'd rather like it4 ,you must take me seriously--you shall4 ,i cannot marry4 ,i'm married already4 ,dennis says ,i am4 ,come and see my bridegroom4 ,and she fairly dragged the bewildered ,crocker into her den and set him once more before the missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,there he is1 an incarnated weakness and fastidiousness4 ,his hand is too delicate to draw his own sword4 ,if he really cast out ,satan1 it must have been by merely staring him down4 ,his helmet rests with no weight upon his curled and perfumed locks--his buckles are soft gold where iron should be4 ,he represents the dull1 collective1 aristocratic intolerance of ,heaven for the only individualist it ever managed to produce4 ,he pretends to be a warrior and is as feminine as your ,st4 ,catherine4 ,he is the imperturbable champion of celestial good form1 and ,dennis1 who sees through things1 says he is my spiritual husband4 ,he is the weakest of the weak and is too strong for you1 ,crocker4 ,for a space that seemed minutes they faced each other1 ,emma excited1 with a diffused indignation that defied impartially the missing ,st4 ,michael and the puzzled man before her2 ,crocker with a perplexity that renewed the old boyish expression in his eyes4 ,he seemed to be thinking1 and1 as he thought1 the tension of ,emma's attitude relaxed1 she forgot to look at the ,st4 ,michael and wondered at the even1 steady patience of the big likable boy she was dismissing4 ,she pitied him in advance for the futile argument he must be revolving4 ,she had despatched him as in duty bound and was both sorry and glad4 ,but his counterplea when it came was of a disconcerting briefness and potency4 ,he said very slowly1 ,yes1 ,i see it all4 ,there is your spiritual husband2 there are they 7indicating the valley with a sweep of a big hand71 and there are you1 ,emma1 caught in a web of baffling and false ideas2 and here am ,i1 a real man who loves you1 fearing neither the ,st4 ,michael nor them 7another gesture7 nor your doubts4 ,i set myself1 ,morton ,crocker1 your lover1 against them all and take my own so4 ,there was a frightened second in which his sturdy arms closed about her4 ,there was a little shudder1 as the same big hand that had defied the valley sought her head and pressed it to his shoulder4 ,when ,emma at last looked up the mockery she always carried in her eyes had given place to a new serenity1 and her hand reached up timidly for his4 ,crocker and ,emma--we now instinctively gave him the precedence--were inconsiderate enough to remove themselves without making clear the fate of the no longer missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,we still speculated indolently as to the nature of the afterpiece in which we assumed this ex-hero of our comedy might yet appear4 ,then we learned that ,emma was to be married without delay from the stone manor house under the ,taconics where her people had dwelt since patroon days4 ,only a handful of friends with ,crocker's nearest kin and her inevitable ,new ,york aunts were to be present4 ,these venerable ladies had admitted that in marrying1 even opulently1 out of the family1 ,emma had once more shown velleities of self-sacrifice4 ,then we heard of ,crocker and ,emma on his boat along the coast ,down ,east4 ,later we were shocked by rumours of a canoe trip through ,canadian waterways4 ,hereupon the usually benevolent ,dennis protested as he glanced approvingly at the well-kept ,tuscan landscape4 ,crocker needn't rub it in1 he opined4 ,why1 it's the same scrubby spruce tree from the ,plains of ,abraham to ,james's ,bay-and ,emma1 who hated being bored6 ,why1 it's marriage by capture2 it's barbaric4 ,it's worse2 it's rheumatic1 shuddered ,harwood as he declined ,marsala and took whisky4 ,but he'll have to bring her back to civilisation some time1 if only to hospital4 ,we shall have her again4 ,he will bring her back1 but we shall never have her again1 said ,dennis solemnly4 ,she has renounced us and all our works4 ,renouncing our works isn't so difficult1 smiled ,mrs4 ,dennis1 and then the talk drifted elsewhere1 to new ,emmas who were just beginning to eat the ,tuscan lotus4 ,before the year had turned to ,june again we had nearly forgotten our runaways1 when a quite unusual activity about her villa and ,crocker's warned us that they were coming back4 ,harwood had seen in transit a box which he thought corresponded to the ,st4 ,michael's stature1 but was not sure4 ,in a few days came a circular note from ,crocker through ,dennis saying that they were fairly settled and he glad to see any or all of us4 ,she1 however1 was still fatigued by the journey and must for a time keep her room4 ,harwood straightway volunteered to undertake the preliminary reconnaissance1 while ,frau ,stern engaged to penetrate to ,emma herself4 ,on a beatific afternoon we sat in council on ,dennis's terrace awaiting the envoys4 ,below1 the misty plain rose on and on till it gathered into an amber surge in ,monte ,morello and rippled away again through the ,fiesolan hills4 ,nearer1 torrid bell-towers pierced the shimmering reek1 like stakes in a sweltering lagoon4 ,in the centre of all1 the great dome swam lightly1 a gigantic celestial buoy in a vaporous sea4 ,the spell that bound us all was doubly potent that day4 ,the sense of a continuous life that had made the dome and the belfries an inevitable emanation from the clean crumbling earth1 lulled us all1 and we hardly stirred when ,harwood bustled in1 saying1 ,cheer up4 ,i have seen ,crocker1 and it isn't there4 ,you mean1 said the cautious ,dennis1 that ,crocker still possesses only the hole1 aperture1 frame1 or niche that the missing ,st4 ,michael may yet adorn4 ,i only know that it isn't there now1 growled ,harwood4 ,i deal merely in facts1 but you may get theories1 if you must have them1 from ,frau ,stern1 who heroically forced her way to ,emma over ,crocker's prostrate form4 ,as he spoke we heard ,frau ,stern's timid1 well-meaning ring1 and in a moment her smile filled the archway4 ,we don't need to ask if you have news1 cried ,mrs4 ,dennis from afar4 ,if ,i haf news4 ,guess what it is4 ,it is too lovely4 ,you cannot think8 ,well1 there will be a baby next autumn1 what you call it8 ,michaelmas1 ,i suppose1 grunted ,harwood through his pipe-smoke and subsided into indifference4 ,all this is most charming and interesting1 ,frau ,stern1 expostulated ,dennis1 but1 as our enthusiastic friend ,harwood delicately hints1 what we really let you go for was to locate the ,missing ,st4 ,michael4 ,i haf almost forgot that1 she apologised as she nibbled her brioche1 ,emma was so happy4 ,but for the bothersome ,st4 ,michael there is no change4 ,i saw it in what she calls her new den4 ,she laughed to me and said1 ',i cannot let him have it1 you see1 you would all say he married me for it4' ,bravo6 shouted ,dennis and ,harwood in unison1 and the ,sage added with unction1 ,so she has not been able to renounce us utterly4 ,it is not now for long1 rejoined ,frau ,stern1 it is only to the time we haf said4 ,michaelmas1 repeated ,harwood disgustedly4 ,yes1 that is it1 she pursued tranquilly1 ,emma told me in confidence1 ',to ,crocker ,i cannot give it because of you all1 but to our child ,i may1 and it shall do with it what it will4' ,now do you prevail1 ,misters ,dennis and ,harwood8 ,we are a bit downcast but not discomfited1 acknowledged ,dennis1 while ,harwood remained glumly within his smoke4 ,emma has escaped us1 but she still pays us the tribute of a subterfuge4 ,it is enough1 we will forgive her1 even if her way lies from us dozers here4 ,for to-day the same sunshine drenches her and us4 ,it is a bond4 ,let us enjoy it while we may4 ,,the ,,lustred ,,pots ,haul away1 ,sam4 ,this is the real thing came from the depths of the well4 ,sam ,cleghorn stumbled in the gloom towards the windlass1 avoiding on the way a rude handpump and two heaps of dirt and broken pottery that sloped threateningly upon the low curb1 where balanced a perforated disc of marble1 the great bottom-stone of the well4 ,all these properties caught a little light from a beam that came through a slit in the wall1 casting most of its uncertain bloom up into a low groined vault1 the heavy round arches of which were separated from squat piers by clumsy brackets4 ,outside at the level of the reticulated stone floor one could hear the rushing of a river4 ,as ,cleghorn leaned over the well-mouth before seizing the crank1 a glimmer of yellow light flooded his face and again came up the hollow impatient cry1 ,haul away1 ,sam4 ,this lot's a good one1 and it's mine4 ,replying ,all right1 ,dick1 ,cleghorn bent to the crank4 ,with much creaking the coils crept along the spindle and the light burden began to rise jerkily4 99 99 99 99 99 ,although neither the well nor the vaulted cellar chamber belonged to ,sam ,cleghorn or to ,dick ,webb1 their presence and actions there were not surreptitious4 ,stanton ,mayhew1 who ignorantly owned the well1 had given them plenary permission to pump and dig1 mildly pitying their apparent lunacy4 ,the palace above was his in virtue of his sensible preference for living twice as well on the ,arno for half the cost on the ,hudson4 ,this rule of two1 like so many foreign residents of ,florence1 he unquestioningly obeyed1 and it constituted practically the whole of his philosophy and maxims4 ,hence he was not the man to prize a ,tuscan well dug in the fourteenth century1 cleaned perhaps never1 and gradually filled to the brim with what the forwardlooking past benightedly took for rubbish4 ,so when ,cleghorn and ,webb made him an overture for the right to clean the well1 he had genially replied1 ,why1 go ahead1 boys1 and enjoy yourselves4 ,it's you who ought to be paid1 but for your healths' sake you really ought to wait till ,i've punched some decent windows through that damp cellar wall and let the air in4 ,if neither ,sam nor ,dick waited even a day1 it was because each was a bit afraid that the other would begin alone4 ,college mates1 collectors both1 they were fast friends in a way and rivals beyond dispute4 ,their common taste for antiquity and adequacy of means had made their graduate course chiefly one of travel4 ,and when travel wore out its novelty they naturally settled in the easiest1 as the least exacting1 ,european city1 occupying two halves of one floor in the same palace4 ,their apartments started full1 and quickly overflowed with objects of curiosity and art--all old1 for their knowledge was considerable2 some fine1 for neither was without taste4 ,but taste neither had in any austere sense1 for they collected art much as a dredge collects marine specimens4 ,nothing came amiss to them4 ,wood1 ivory1 silver1 bronze1 marble1 plaster--they repudiated no material or period4 ,stuffs1 glass1 pictures1 porcelains1 potteries--it was all one to them so the object were old and rare4 ,inevitably1 then1 they had come to primitive pots1 and simultaneously1 for they not only watched each other closely1 but almost read each other's minds4 ,and when they came to primitive pots it was certain that they would beg1 borrow1 or steal a well1 since in old wells1 and cisterns1 besides less mentionable places1 primitive pots abide4 ,many pots were there1 as we shall see1 from the first1 and the maids and children of the centuries1 by way of concealing breakages1 have usually made notable secondary contributions4 ,so when amiable ,stanton ,mayhew freely conceded a most ancient well to ,cleghorn and ,webb1 it was like receiving ,pandora's box1 with the difference that the well might safely be opened4 ,here had ensued a most delicate negotiation concerning the division of the spoil4 ,a mathematical partition of the fragmentary material that an old ,italian well contains is extremely difficult if at all possible4 ,after much debate it was agreed that after they struck pay dirt1 each should dig in turn1 each to have the bucketful that came under his trowel or fingers4 ,scattered fragments of the same pot and other complications were to be adjudicated by ,mayhew1 whose ignorance and disinterestedness were safe to assume4 ,but the well gave up quantities of noncontentious matter before ,mayhew's services were required4 ,the first five feet had revealed nothing but fragments of kitchen pottery of our time and a fairly perfect hoopskirt of ,garibaldian date4 ,a little lower had emerged the skeleton of a cat4 ,similar tragedies were in evidence1 on an average1 at every quarter century of depth4 ,between the second and third cat1 lay ,ginori imitations of ,sevres and ,wedgewood1 scraps too of gilded glass--the earnest of better things below4 ,five cats down1 some eighteenth-century apothecary pots1 damaged but amenable to repair1 had inaugurated the alternation of buckets under the agreement4 ,it were tedious to follow the ascending scale of excellence as the digging went deeper4 ,enough to say that below the mixed ingredients and the nethermost cat they found a homogeneous layer of beautiful fourteenth-century shards1 affording many buckets full1 and promising delicate adjudication to the referee4 ,before the lustred pots themselves shed a baleful gleam over this narrative1 something should obviously be said about ,italian wells and why they contain pots4 ,beyond those casually acquired from careless or secretive servants1 there is1 if the well be old and of good make1 a certain number of intact pieces put in to serve as a filter4 ,often a group of pitchers or similar crocks is imprisoned between the two bottom-stones4 ,sometimes there are two such layers4 ,after this filter had been made there was frequently scattered a bushel or more of small shards above4 ,from these by careful sorting complete or nearly complete pieces may be recovered4 ,through all this mass of whole or broken pottery the water had to find its way up1 for the cement sides of an ,italian well are watertight4 ,thus1 barring the indiscretions of housemaids and cats1 the early ,italians drank pure water4 ,naturally ,cleghorn and ,webb were conversant with these refinements of mediaeval hydraulics4 ,in fact when ,webb1 the sturdier of the two1 hauled up the bottom-stone all dripping1 ,cleghorn promptly declared that in the sense of the contract it was a bucketful2 hence his first go at the now uncovered pots4 ,so heated grew the debate1 that finally the grimy excavators climbed to the upper air and appealed to ,mayhew1 who promptly denied the quibble1 deciding that stones and pots were not interchangeable4 ,the diversion drew attention from the great perforated disc itself1 and as the sullen ,cleghorn let the exultant ,webb down upon the ancient pots1 it lay badly bestowed near the curb on the crumbling slope of a rubbish heap4 ,and now ,cleghorn with bitterness of heart was reeling up ,webb's find4 ,as the coils broadened on the windlass a small iron bucket rose above the parapet1 brimming with something that glinted metallically under the dirt4 ,beside the bucket flapped the rude swing in which the entrances and exits of the partners were made4 ,as ,cleghorn grasped the bail and swung the precious cargo clear of the well1 came up once more the voice of ,webb3 ,hustle1 ,old ,man1 ,i'm keen to see them1 they feel good4 ,good they were indeed4 ,cleghorn1 who for fifteen years had haunted shops and museums had never seen the like in equal compass4 ,as he took them cautiously one by one and held them high in the uncertain light1 each revealed a desirable point4 ,here was a coat of arms1 a date1 the initial of an owner4 ,there were grotesque birds and beasts4 ,differing in form and colour1 the entire lot agreed in possessing that dull early ,italian lustre1 which perhaps accidental and less distinguished than that of ,spain1 is even dearer in a collector's eyes4 ,they hinted of all enamelled things that come out of the ,east--of the peacock reflections of the tiles of ,damascus and ,cordova1 of the franker polychromy of ,rhodian kilns1 of the subtler bloom of the dishes of ,moorish ,spain1 of the brassier glazes of ,minorca and ,sicily--all these things lay enticingly in epitome in these lustred ,italian pots1 as they glimmered with a furtive splendour4 ,yes1 they were a good lot1 thought ,cleghorn as he placed them reverently on the flagging4 ,it was the find of a lifetime4 ,a man with nothing else in his cupboard must be mentioned respectfully among collectors from ,dan to ,beersheba4 ,again the impatient voice of ,webb below3 ,hurry up1 ,i say4 ,it's getting cold3 the water is gaining4 ,all right1 called ,cleghorn1 giving a few strokes of the pump1 but never taking his eyes from the lustred pots4 ,then as if by a sudden inspiration he asked1 ,any more in that lot1 ,dick8 ,not a one1 cried ,webb jubilantly1 there was just a bucketful and a squeeze at that4 ,but there may be others beneath4 ,there's another bottom-stone1 and it's your next turn4 ,but why don't you hurry up8 ,a scowl passed over ,cleghorn's thin face set unswervingly towards the pots4 ,they glimmered in the shadow with an unholy phosphorescence--green1 blue1 carmine1 strange purplish browns4 ,so the glittering coils of the serpent may have bewildered our first ,mother4 ,there were other pots below1 reflected ,cleghorn1 yes1 but there never could be again such a batch as these4 ,and then his dazed eye for a second left the fascinating pots1 and mechanically searched the vaulted chamber4 ,to his excited gaze the rubbish heaps centring about the curb seemed already in movement4 ,the massive bottom-stone overhung the parapet1 resting only on loose dirt and shards4 ,with horror he noted that a breath might send it down4 ,if it slipped1 whose were the lustred pots8 ,against his will the phrase said itself over and over again throbbingly behind his eyes1 and again he forgot everything in the vision of the lustred pots4 ,damn it1 hurry up1 came thunderously from below4 ,cleghorn stumbled with a curious hesitation between the crank and the poised bottom-stone4 ,the clumsy movement loosened a handful of shards which went clattering down2 the great stone slid1 caught on the parapet1 and hung once more in uncertain oscillation4 ,profanity unrestrained transpired from the mouth of the well4 ,it was a tremulous ,cleghorn that sent down the bucket and reeled up an irate and vociferous ,webb4 ,words abounded without explanations1 and blows seemed possible1 when ,cleghorn1 as it were apologetically raised a pitcher and a bowl into the shaft of light that came through the oubliette4 ,they're all like that1 ,dick1 he protested4 ,it's your lucky day4 ,i congratulate you4 ,it was a silenced and mollified ,webb that clutched at the pots1 and noted wisely that every one had been brushed by the peacock's tail4 ,with a kind of pity at last he turned to the deprecating ,cleghorn and said1 ,that was an awkward business of yours about the shards1 and the bottom-stone there is a pretty sight for a man who left it so and went down to work under it1 but one couldn't wait for such pots as these4 ,on my soul1 ,old ,man1 if you had dumped it all down on me ,i could hardly have blamed you4 ,welcomed with a loud laugh by its maker1 the joke jarred on ,cleghorn1 who merely answered1 ,it's very good of you1 ,dick1 to say so4 ,but there may be quite as good ones below1 pursued ,webb genially4 ,we'll rest up a bit and then you have your go and finish the job4 ,if you don't mind1 ,dick1 ,i'd rather not1 was the embarrassed answer4 ,the fact is ,i'm too nervous and absentminded for this work4 ,he looked down into the blackness with a shudder and said4 ,no1 ,i don't want to go down there again4 ,one can't tell what might happen there4 ,then you've dropped your nerve4 ,sorry for it1 came from a baffled and disgusted partner1 but as he spoke a smile drew across the broad1 amiable face1 and he added insinuatingly1 ,then the rest are mine1 ,old ,man8 ,yes they're yours fast enough4 ,it's mighty good of you1 ,sam4 ,i won't forget it4 ,i'll share sometime on a good thing like this4 ,i'm all ready to go down again when you've had a smoke4 ,only we'll set that stone right and you'll be more careful about the shards4 ,if you'll excuse me1 ,dick1 ,i'd rather not4 ,cleghorn looked at his watch4 ,you see ,i ought to be out of these duds already4 ,i have a very particular tea outside4 ,didn't ,i tell you about it8 ,i'll send ,mayhew down to help4 ,all right1 just as you please1 was the indifferent reply4 ,but as ,cleghorn turned up the narrow steps1 ,webb muttered perplexedly1 ,to funk at this point and for a tea6 ,the man is touched or in love4 99 99 99 99 99 ,webb with ,mayhew's dispassionate aid made a considerable haul below the second stone1 though in truth there was nothing there to compare with the first lot4 ,the batch of lustred pots is the pride of his eye1 and when it is suggested that he values them highly he answers1 ,well rather1 they're pretty good1 you know1 and then they nearly cost me a broken head4 ,i was so keen for them that ,i set a big stone where it might easily have tumbled on me4 ,then the rest of the anecdote1 which ,cleghorn1 in whose presence it frequently is told1 never hears with complete equanimity4 ,the causes of his uneasiness ,i do not engage to analyse1 for1 unlike ,webb1 ,cleghorn is imaginative and difficult4 ,,the ,,balaklava ,,coronal ,as the dinner wore on endlessly1 ,i consoled myself by the thought of the ,balaklava ,coronal4 ,there in the toastmaster's seat was ,morrison who had bought it1 at my right loomed ,vogelstein who had sold it1 far across1 towards the foot of the board1 sat the critic ,brush in whose presence ,i understood the infamous sale had been made4 ,i missed only ,sarafoff1 the marvellous peasant-silversmith1 who wrought the coronal in his prison workshop in the ,viennese ghetto4 ,now there was nothing strange about ,vogelstein's selling it1 nor yet about ,morrison's buying it2 only the making of it by the illiterate ,sarafoff and the silence of ,brush when it was sold required explanation4 ,vogelstein1 who breathed heavily beside me1 undoubtedly held the secret4 ,i felt so hopeful that time and the champagne which we were drinking for the sake of art would give him to me that ,i took no pains meanwhile to disturb his elaborate indifference to my presence4 ,between him and me little love was lost4 ,as the editor of a moneylosing art magazine in the interior1 it was my duty occasionally to visit his galleries4 ,after such visits the remnant of my ,new ,england conscience usually forced me to diminish or actually to spoil many a sale of the dubious or merely fashionable antiquities in which he dealt4 ,but in the main my power to harm him was slight4 ,he held in a knowing grip the strings of his patrons' vanity and taste4 ,so he regarded me with something between scorn and uneasiness--as a pachyderm might take a predatory bee4 ,for the sake of my steady production of the honey of free advertising he forgave a sting from which he was after all immune4 ,at the beginning of the dinner he had greeted me with what was meant for a civility and then had relapsed into silence4 ,to escape the loquacity of my other neighbour ,i gave myself to parallel observation of ,vogelstein and ,morrison--the great dealer and his greater customer4 ,both plainly belonged to the same species and it pleased my whim to symbolise them as a mastodon and a rogue elephant4 ,morrison1 the dreaded agent and operator1 was unquestionably the finer creature4 ,he moved more precisely and with a sense of wieldy power4 ,his phrases cut where ,vogelstein's merely smote4 ,his bigness had something genial about it4 ,he looked the amateur1 and indeed does not the rogue elephant trample down villages chiefly for the joy of the affray8 ,one felt that something more than ,morrison's preposterous winnings had been involved in the clashes of railroads and cataclysms on the exchange which had for years past been his major recreation4 ,vogelstein1 though evidently of coarser fibre1 belonged to the same formidable breed4 ,the mastodon1 we must suppose1 lacked much of the finesse of the rogue elephant of later evolution4 ,and ,vogelstein's ,semitism was of the archaic1 potent1 monumental type4 ,his abundant fat looked hard4 ,for all the sagging double chin1 his jaw retained the character of a clamp4 ,among the strong race of art dealers he was feared4 ,whole collections not single objects were his quarry4 ,he paid lavishly1 foolishly1 counting as confidently on the ignorance and vanity of his clients1 as ever ,morrison upon the brute expansion of the national wealth4 ,but ,vogelstein looked and was as completely the professional as ,morrison the amateur4 ,there remained this essential difference that if nothing could be too big to stagger ,vogelstein1 nothing likewise could be too small to deter him4 ,i knew his shop1 or rather his palace1 and had observed the relish with which he could shame a timorous art student into giving three prices for a print4 ,it afforded him no more pleasure1 one could surmise1 to impose a false ,rembrandt at six figures upon a wavering iron-master1 or1 indeed to unload an historic but rather worthless collection upon ,morrison himself4 ,for ,vogelstein was after all of primitive stamp1 to wit the militant publican4 ,so he took toll and plenty1 it mattered little where or whence4 ,to ,morrison and ,vogelstein no better foil could be imagined than ,brush4 ,if they recalled the tusked monsters that charged in the van of ,asiatic armies1 his analogue was the desert horse4 ,small1 spare1 sensitive1 shy1 his every posture suggested race1 training1 spirit1 and docility4 ,his flair for classical art had become proverbial4 ,by mere touch he detected those remarkable counterfeits of ,syracusan coins4 ,it was he who segregated the ,renaissance intaglios at ,bloomsbury only the winter before he exposed the composite figurines at ,berlin4 ,to him the ,balaklava ,coronal must have proclaimed its nullity as far as its red gold could be seen4 ,for that matter the coronal was a bye-word1 and why not8 ,the same dealers who had landed the more famous ,tiara in the ,louvre had the selling of it4 ,the greater museums in ,europe and ,america had refused it at a bargain4 ,on ,fifth ,avenue and the ,rue ,lafitte all the dealers were joking about the ,balaklava ,coronal4 ,the name of ,sarafoff1 its maker1 had even become accepted slang4 ,for a season we ,sarafoffed our intimates instead of hoaxing them4 ,and in the face of all this ,vogelstein had sold the ,coronal to ,morrison under ,brush's very nose4 ,it seemed so wholly incredible that ,i began counting ,vogelstein's heavy respirations1 to make sure ,i was really awake4 ,then the pale1 tense mask of ,brush--so isolated in the apoplectic row across the table--calmed me4 ,that he was ,vogelstein's or anyone's tool was unthinkable4 ,mercenary suspicions1 to be sure1 had been put about1 but those who knew him merely laughed at such a notion4 ,vogelstein also laughed1 shaking volcanically within1 whenever the ,coronal1 the genuineness of which he still maintained1 was mentioned4 ,and he always treated ,brush with a curious and almost tender condescension1 much in fact as the mastodon might have regarded that fragile ancestor of the horse1 the five-toed protohippos4 ,i have neglected to explain that the occasion which brought me at one table with such major celebrities as ,morrison1 ,vogelstein1 and ,brush was a public dinner in behalf of civic art4 ,for just as we find the celestial compromised by the naughty ,aphrodite1 so we distinguish two antithetical sorts of art4 ,there is a bad private art which is produced for dealers and millionaires and takes care of itself1 and there is a virtuous public art which we hope to have some day and meanwhile has to be taken care of by special societies4 ,it was one of these that was now dining for the good of the cause4 ,under the benevolent eye of ,morrison1 our acting president1 we had put pompano upon a soup underlaid with oysters1 and then a larded fillet upon some casual tidbit of terrapins4 ,whereupon a frozen punch4 ,thus courage was gained1 the consecrated sequence of sherry1 hock1 claret and champagne being absolved1 for the proper discussion of woodcock in the red with a famous old burgundy--,morrison's personal compliment to the apostolate of civic art4 ,at the dessert1 ,morrison himself spoke a few words4 ,the little speech came brusquely from him1 and no one who knew his rapacity for the beautiful could doubt his faith in the universal superlatives he now advocated4 ,our art1 he held1 must weigh with our mills and railroads1 else our life is out of balance4 ,we never grudged millions to burrow beneath ,new ,york for light1 or for drink or speed1 why then should we grudge them for the beautiful inutilities that might make the surface of the city splendid4 ,a craving for fine objects was his own dearest emotion1 he wanted to see cities1 states1 and the nation ready to spend with equal fervour4 ,it all came apparently to a matter of spending4 ,morrison entertained no doubt that an imperious demand would create an abundant supply of what he called the best art4 ,whether we were to transport bodily the great monuments of ,europe to ,america1 or merely were to supply beauty off our indigenous bat1 was not clear from ,morrison's address1 and possibly was not wholly so in his own mind4 ,but the talk was solid and forceful1 and ,i could hear ,vogelstein grunt with inward joy when he contemplated the city1 the state1 and the nation in their predicted rle as customers4 ,i too felt that a real if an incoherent voice had spoken1 and that if civic art were indeed to come1 it would be through such neo-,roman visionaries as ,morrison4 ,then the mood changed and a willowy1 hirsute1 and earnest reviver of tapestry weaving rose and pleaded for the ,city ,beautiful1 castigating the ,philistine the while1 and looking forward to a time when the pomp1 and chronicle of our time should be splendidly committed to illumined window and pictured wall1 with some slight allusion to those ancient webs through which the ,middle ,ages still speak glowingly to us4 ,about midway in the speech ,morrison1 who had another public dinner down the avenue slipped away4 ,as he nodded ,see you later perhaps ,i marked the adoring eye and smile of ,vogelstein1 and then the great folds settled back into their places about his mouth and my neighbour once more gave an uneasy attention to the weaver of beautiful phrases1 meanwhile drinking repeated glasses of burgundy4 ,soon his huge form heaved with an inarticulate discontent1 and as the speaker sat down amid perfunctory applause ,vogelstein snorted twice into the air4 ,it is rather absurd1 as you say1 ,i ventured4 ,it's sickening1 wheezed ,vogelstein4 ,why can't he sell his tapestries without all that talk8 ,oh1 he enjoys the talk and probably believes it1 and you and ,i do better after all to hear his talk than to see his tapestries4 ,a mastodonic chuckle welcomed this mild sally4 ,the burgundy was taking effect4 ,as the diners rose stiffly or alertly1 according to their several grades of repletion1 ,vogelstein attached himself to me almost affectionately4 ,do stop in the caf and talk to me1 he urged4 ,it's queer1 here are a lot of my customers1 some of my artists1 besides you literary chaps1 and except ,morrison1 nobody wants to talk to me4 ,morrison and ,i1 we understand each other4 ,it's early yet4 ,come along with me and talk4 ,i've wanted to talk to you for a long time1 but always was too busy in my place4 ,you see you writers don't buy1 in fact those that know almost never do4 ,it's really queer4 ,knowing the might of burgundy when a due foundation of champagne has been laid1 ,i hardly took this effusion as personal to myself1 but ,i also saw no reason1 too1 why ,i should not profit by the occasion4 ,i'll gladly chat with you1 ,mr4 ,vogelstein1 ,i answered1 but you must let me choose the subject4 ,we will talk about the ,balaklava ,coronal4 ,as he led me into the elevator by the arm he whispered ,all right1 ,old ,man1 but why8 ,you know just as much as ,i about it4 ,there was no chance to reply until he had selected his table and ordered two ,scotches and soda4 ,yes1 ,i know something about it1 ,i said at last2 everyone does apparently except ,morrison4 ,i know that ,sarafoff made the ,coronal1 but ,i don't know who taught him how to make it1 nor yet how ,morrison was idiot enough to buy it1 when anybody could have told him what it was1 nor yet how ,brush came to let it be sold4 ,these are the interesting parts of the story1 and ,i'll drink no drink of yours unless you tell4 ,at the mention of idiocy in connection with ,morrison ,vogelstein shuddered and raised a massive deprecating hand4 ,the gesture was arrested by the entrance of ,brush1 who with a slight nod to us passed to a distant corner4 ,suddenly ,vogelstein's expression had become one beaming1 condescending paternalism4 ,good man but impracticable1 he muttered4 ,thinks knowing it is everything4 ,knowing it is something1 but selling it is the real thing4 ,now ,i hardly know at all1 not a tenth as much as ,brush1 not a half as much as you even1 but so long as ,i can sell1 ,i don't really care to know4 ,what's the use8 ,but you did know about the ,balaklava ,coronal and you sold it too1 ,i interrupted4 ,how did you dare8 ,that's my secret--but here are our drinks4 ,a bargain's a bargain4 ,how funny it is to be talking truth4 ,why1 much of it would make even your job difficult4 ,and yours impossible1 but we're not getting to the ,coronal1 ,i insisted4 ,as for that1 responded ,vogelstein obligingly1 the first thing was of course the making4 ,you know all about ,sarafoff yourself4 ,well1 he only did the work4 ,it was ,schnfeld who put in the brains4 ,you don't know him8 ,few do4 ,great man though4 ,university professor of archaeology1 trouble with a woman1 next trouble with money1 now one of us4 ,yes ,schnfeld thought it out and saw it through4 ,and certainly made a good job of it1 ,i admitted4 ,as you see1 we wanted something unique--something that could not be compared with anything in the museums4 ,precisely1 ,i interposed1 ,product of the local1 semi-barbaric school of the ,crimea4 ,you've hit it1 grinned ,vogelstein4 ,scythian influence1 to take the professors4 ,schnfeld said we must have that4 ,and that's why it had to be found at ,balaklava4 ,but it had to look ,scythian too4 ,how did you manage that8 ,oh1 that was ,sarafoff's business4 ,he had been a servant and then a novice at one of the monasteries of ,mount ,athos4 ,could make beautiful tenth-century ,byzantine madonnas4 ,i've sold some4 ,then he carved ikons in wood1 ivory1 silver1 or what came4 ,his things really looked ,scythian enough to those who didn't know their modern ,greece and ,russia4 ,so we set him to work in a back alley of ,vienna at three kroners a day--double pay for him--and ,schnfeld ran down from ,petersburg now and then to coach him4 ,you could trust him8 ,i inquired1 recalling how ,sarafoff had subsequently won fame by confessing to his most famous forgery4 ,as much as one can anybody4 ,you see he doesn't speak any civilised language1 and at that time we couldn't tell that the ,tiara would spoil him as it did the entire deal4 ,but ,schnfeld's coaching8 ,i suggested4 ,vogelstein here winked solemnly and drank deeply from his tall glass4 ,first ,i want to tell you all about ,sarafoff1 he persisted1 of course we had him watched all the same1 and whenever he got an evening off1 which was seldom1 we had him filled up with schnapps4 ,he was a quiet drunk which is an excellent thing1 ,sir4 ,as ,i nodded assent to this great truth1 he continued3 ,yes ,schnfeld1 as ,i was saying1 managed everything4 ,wonderful scholar4 ,you would respect him ,i'm sure4 ,why1 every bit of the pattern of the ,coronal was taken from some real antique1 every word of the inscription too4 ,wasn't that a bit dangerous8 ,with ,schnfeld in charge1 not so very4 ,everything was taken from little ,russian museums that even you critics don't visit4 ,almost no published thing was used1 you see4 ,then there was ,sarafoff-- ,to give it all that quaint ,scythian look1 ,vogelstein added joyously4 ,yes1 we had just the best brains and the best hands for the job1 and it was beautiful4 ,better than the ,tiara8 ,yes1 far better4 ,the ,tiara was all a mistake1 as ,i told ,schnfeld2 it was too big and too good to be true4 ,except for ,steinbach1 who fell in love with its queerness and chipped in some money1 we never could have sold it to a museum4 ,and it was a bad thing to have it there1 it aroused opposition1 it was bound to be exposed4 ,i was always against it1 and sure enough it spoiled the game for us4 ,but the ,balaklava ,coronal that was just right4 ,it had a sort of well-bred modest beauty4 ,we should have begun instead of ending with it4 ,yes1 ,sir1 there never was a more beautiful thing1 a more plausible thing1 a finer object to sell than the ,balaklava ,coronal4 ,as he bellowed the word and beat the table in confirmation1 ,brush looked over from his corner apprehensively4 ,quietly1 ,mr4 ,vogelstein1 ,i hinted1 this is between ourselves1 and we might be overheard4 ,that's right1 he admitted1 and moodily lit another cigar4 ,where were we8 he asked uneasily4 ,oh yes1 we were at the ,tiara4 ,now the ,coronal and what we could have sold on the strength of it was worth ten of the ,tiara1 and if it hadn't been for the cursed thing1 we could have landed the ,coronal as a starter in any one of half a dozen museums4 ,as a matter of fact they were all shy of it4 ,of course4 ,once the ,tiara was being looked into1 the museum game was up1 and there was only ,morrison left4 ,vogelstein lurched around nervously4 ,he may drop in soon1 he explained4 ,i'd like to make you acquainted4 ,ignoring the offer1 ,i persisted1 ,you've got to the interesting point at last4 ,tell me why there was only ,morrison left4 ,to begin with ,morrison knows something about such matters1 and next he can have the best advice for the asking4 ,and yet you tell me that ,morrison was the only great collector in the world to whom that notoriously false bauble could be sold4 ,vogelstein swayed uncomfortably in his chair1 puffed1 swallowed1 cleared his throat1 and said1 ,there are some things one can't say right out2 you know that as well as ,i1 but ,i can say this3 there are many great and enterprising collectors in ,america1 and ,morrison is the only one who never doubts anything he has once bought4 ,an ideal client then4 ,quite so4 ,you see the others get worried by the critics4 ,that means exchanging1 refunding--all sorts of trouble4 ,but ,morrison never8 ,never2 he's a true sport4 ,he never squeals4 ,doesn't have to because he doesn't know he's hurt4 ,that's right1 concluded ,vogelstein1 his face corrugating into one ample1 contented smile4 ,then the big game reduces itself into selling to ,morrison4 ,that's more or less it1 ,sir4 ,for a critic you have a business head4 ,you will excuse a rather personal question1 but how do you feel about selling your best customer at enormous prices objects which you know to be false8 ,it's a fair question since we are talking between ourselves1 and you shall have a straight answer4 ,first my business isn't just a nice one4 ,in the nature of the case it wouldn't do for sensitive people4 ,i suppose you and ,brush1 for instance1 couldn't and wouldn't make much out of it4 ,then as regards ,morrison1 ,i'm not so sure he could complain if he knew4 ,i give him the things he likes and the treatment he likes at the prices he likes4 ,what more can any merchant do8 ,i saw the subject rapidly exhausting itself and tried one more tack4 ,yes1 it's simpler than ,i supposed1 ,i admitted1 but it doesn't seem quite an every-day thing to sell the ,balaklava ,coronal to anybody under ,brush's nose4 ,it's easier than you think1 echoed ,vogelstein4 ,you don't know ,morrison4 ,hope he'll look in to-night4 ,you ought to meet him4 ,my last bolt was shot4 ,it was my turn to sit silent and drink4 ,what could be this strange infatuation of the hardheaded ,morrison1 this avowedly simple magic of the grossly cunning ,vogelstein8 ,as ,i pondered the case ,i noticed ,brush give a startled glance towards the entrance1 heard heavy steps behind us1 and then a deep voice saying1 ,hallo again1 ,vogelstein1 ,i'm lucky not to be too late to catch you4 ,vogelstein lumbered to his feet and muttered an introduction4 ,we all took our seats1 as the headwaiter bustled obsequiously up to take ,morrison's order of champagne4 ,as if also obeying ,morrison's nod1 but reluctantly1 ,brush crawled over from his corner1 a scarcely deferential attendant transporting his lemonade4 ,while casual greetings and some random talk went on ,i tried to picture the scene we must present4 ,neither ,brush nor myself is contemptible physically or in other ways1 yet we both seemed curiously the inferiors of these troglodytic giants4 ,our scruples1 the voluntary complication of our lives1 seemed to constitute at least a disadvantage when measured against the primitiveness1 perhaps the rather brutal simplicity1 of our companions4 ,it was ,morrison who cut these reflections short4 ,you will excuse me1 gentlemen1 he said1 for introducing a matter of business here1 but the case is pressing and it may even interest you as critics of art4 ,we nodded permission and he continued1 ,it's about the ,bleichrode ,raphael1 as of course you know1 ,vogelstein4 ,i like it1 ,i want it1 but ,i hear all sorts of things about it1 and frankly it strikes me as dear at the price4 ,how do you feel about it8 ,at the mention of the ,bleichrode ,raphael1 ,brush and ,i started4 ,the forgery was more than notorious4 ,the ,bleichrode panel had begun life poorly but honestly as a ,franciabigio--a portrait of an unknown ,florentine lad with a beretta1 the type of which ,raphael's portrait of himself is the most famous example4 ,the picture hung long in a private gallery at ,rome and was duly listed in the handbooks4 ,one day it disappeared and when it once more came to light it had become the ,bleichrode ,raphael4 ,its ,raphaelisation had been effected1 as many of us knew1 by the consummate restorer ,vilgard of ,ghent1 and for him the task had been an easy one4 ,it had needed only slight eliminations and discreet additions to produce a portrait of ,raphael by himself far more obviously captivating than any of the genuine series4 ,soon the picture vanished from ,schloss ,bleichrode1 and it became anybody's guess what amateur had been elected to become its possessor4 ,the museums naturally were forewarned4 ,while this came into ,brush's memory and mine1 ,vogelstein's countenance had become severe1 almost sinister1 and he was answering ,morrison as follows3 ,mr4 ,morrison1 ,i have offered you the ,bleichrode ,raphael for half a million dollars4 ,you will hear all sorts of gossip about it4 ,doubtless these gentlemen 7indicating us7 believe it is false and will tell you so 7we nodded feebly74 ,but ,i offer it not to their judgment but to yours4 ,you and ,i know it is a beautiful thing and worth the money4 ,i make no claims1 offer no guarantee for the picture4 ,you have seen it1 and that's enough4 ,if you don't want it1 it makes no difference to me1 ,i can sell it to ,theiss 7the great ,parisian amateur1 ,morrison's only real rival71 or ,i will gladly keep it myself1 for ,i shall never have anything as fine again4 ,morrison sat impassively while ,vogelstein watched him narrowly4 ,brush and ,i felt for something that ought to be said yet would not come4 ,at the end of his speech1 or challenge1 ,vogelstein's expression had softened into one of the most courtly ingenuousness1 now it hardened again into a strange arrogance4 ,his eyes snapped as he continued with affected indifference1 ,since you have raised the question1 ,mr4 ,morrison1 the ,bleichrode ,raphael is yours to take or leave--to-night4 ,there was a pause as the two giants faced each other4 ,then ,morrison smiled beamingly1 as one who loved a good fighter1 and said1 ,send it round tomorrow1 of course ,i want it4 ,well1 that's settled1 and if these gentlemen will spare you1 ,i'll give you a lift down town4 ,vogelstein's arrogance melted once more into fulsomeness as he said1 almost forgetting his ,goodnight to us1 ,i'm sure it's very good of you1 ,mr4 ,morrison4 ,the forms of ,morrison and ,vogelstein almost blocked the generous intercolumnar space as shoulder to shoulder they moved away between the yellow marble pillars and under the green and gold ceiling4 ,the brown leather doors swung silently behind them1 and we were left together with our amazement4 ,never mind1 ,old ,fellow1 said ,brush at last4 ,it's the first time for you4 ,you'll get used to it4 ,it's my second time2 ,i happened to be there1 you know1 when the ,balaklava ,coronal was sold4 ,,some ,,reflections ,,on ,,art ,,collecting ,morally considered1 the art collector is tainted with the fourth deadly sin2 pathologically1 he is often afflicted by a degree of mania4 ,his distinguished kinsman1 the connoisseur1 scorns him as a kind of mercenary1 or at least a manner of renegade4 ,i shall never forget the expression with which a great connoisseur--who possesses one of the finest private collections in the ,val d',arno--in speaking of a famous colleague1 declared1 ,oh1 ,x----6 ,why1 ,x---- is merely a collector4 ,the implication is1 of course1 that the one who loves art truly and knows it thoroughly will find full satisfaction in an enjoyment devoid alike of envy or the desire of possession ,he is to adore all beautiful objects with a ,platonic fervour to which the idea of acquisition and domestication is repugnant4 ,before going into this lofty argument1 ,i should perhaps explain the collection of my scornful friend4 ,he would have said3 ,i see that as ,i put ,x---- in his proper place1 you look at my pictures and smile4 ,you have rightly divined that they are of some rarity1 of a sort1 in fact1 for which ,x---- and his kind would sell their immortal souls4 ,but ,i beg you to note that these pictures and bits of sculpture have been bought not at all for their rarity1 nor even for their beauty as such1 but simply because of their appropriateness as decorations for this particular villa4 ,they represent not my energy as a collector1 nor even my zeal as a connoisseur1 but simply my normal activity as a man of taste4 ,in this villa it happens that ,italian old masters seem the proper material for decoration4 ,in another house or in another land you might find me employing1 again solely for decorative purposes1 the prints of ,japan1 the landscapes of the modern impressionists1 the rugs of the ,east1 or the blankets of the ,arizona desert4 ,free me1 then1 from the reproach implied in that covert leer at my ,early ,sienese4 ,yes1 we must1 ,i think1 exclude from the ranks of the true zealots all who in any plausible fashion utilise the objects of art they buy4 ,excess1 the craving to possess what he apparently does not need1 is the mark of your true collector4 ,now these visionaries--at least the true ones--honour each other according to the degree of eye that each possesses4 ,by eye the collector means a faculty of discerning a fine object quickly and instinctively4 ,and1 in fact1 the trained eye becomes a magically fine instrument4 ,it detects the fractions of a millimetre by which a copy belies its original4 ,in colours it distinguishes nuances that a moderately trained vision will declare non-existent4 ,nor is the trained collector bound by the evidence of the eye alone4 ,of certain things he knows the taste or adhesiveness4 ,his ear grasps the true ring of certain potteries1 porcelains1 or qualities of beaten metal4 ,i know an expert on ,japanese pottery who1 when a sixth sense tells him that two pots apparently identical come really from different kilns1 puts them behind his back and refers the matter from his retina to his finger-tips4 ,thus alternately challenged and trusted1 the eye should become extraordinarily expert4 ,a ,florentine collector once saw in a junk-shop a marble head of beautiful workmanship4 ,ninety-nine amateurs out of a hundred would have said4 ,what a beautiful copy6 for the same head is exhibited in a famous museum and is reproduced in pasteboard1 clay1 metal1 and stone ad nauseam4 ,but this collector gave the apparent copy a second look and a third4 ,he reflected that the example in the museum was itself no original1 but a school-piece1 and as he gazed the conviction grew that here was the original4 ,since it was closing time1 and the marble heavy1 a bargain was struck for the morrow4 ,after an anxious night1 this fortunate amateur returned in a cab to bring home what criticism now admits is a superb ,desiderio da ,settignano4 ,the incident illustrates capitally the combination of keenness and patience that goes to make the collector's eye4 ,we may divide collectors into those who play the game and those who do not4 ,the wealthy gentleman who gives carte blanche to his dealers and agents is merely a spoilsport4 ,he makes what should be a matter of adroitness simply an issue of brute force4 ,he robs of all delicacy what from the first glow of discovery to actual possession should be a fine transaction4 ,not only does he lose the real pleasures of the chase1 but he raises up a special clan of sycophants to part him and his money4 ,a mere handful of such--amassers1 let us say--have demoralised the art market4 ,according to the length of their purses1 collectors may also be divided into those who seek and those who are sought4 ,wisdom lies in making the most of either condition4 ,the seekers unquestionably get more pleasure2 the sought achieve the more imposing results4 ,the seekers depend chiefly on their own judgment1 buying preferably of those who know less than themselves2 the sought depend upon the judgment of those who know more than themselves1 and1 naturally1 must pay for such vicarious expertise4 ,and1 rightly1 they pay dear4 ,let no one who buys of a great dealer imagine that he pays simply the cost of an object plus a generous percentage of profit4 ,no1 much-sought amateur1 you pay the rent of that palace in ,bond ,street or ,fifth ,avenue2 you pay the salary of the gentlemanly assistant or partner whose time is at your disposal during your too rare visits2 you pay the commissions of an army of agents throughout the world2 you pay1 alas6 too often the cost of securing false sale records in classic auction rooms2 and1 finally1 it is only too probable that you pay also a heavy secret commission to the disinterested friend who happened to remark there was an uncommonly fine object in ,y----'s gallery4 ,by a cheerful acquiescence in the suggestions that are daily made to you1 you may accumulate old masters as impersonally1 as genteelly1 let me say1 as you do railway bonds4 ,but1 of course1 under these circumstances you must not expect bargains4 ,now1 in objects that are out of the fashion--a category including always many of the best things--and if approached in slack times1 the great dealers will occasionally afford bargains1 but in general the economically minded collector1 who is not necessarily the poor one1 must intercept his prey before it reaches the capitals4 ,that it makes all the difference from whom and where you buy1 let a recent example attest4 ,a few years ago a fine ,giorgionesque portrait was offered to an ,american amateur by a famous ,london dealer4 ,at #fj1jjj the refusal was granted for a few days only1 subject to cable response4 ,the photograph was tempting1 but the besought amateur1 knowing that the authenticity of the average ,giorgione is somewhat less certain than1 say1 the period of the ,book of ,job1 let the opportunity pass4 ,a few months after learning of this incident1 ,i had the pleasure of meeting in ,florence an ,english amateur who expatiated upon the beauty of a ,giorgione that he had just acquired at the very reasonable price of #ae1jjj4 ,for particulars he referred me to one of the great dealers of ,florence4 ,the portrait1 as ,i already suspected1 was the one ,i had heard of in ,america4 ,forty-five thousand dollars represented the difference between buying it of a ,florentine rather than a ,london dealer4 ,of course1 the picture itself had never left ,florence at all1 the limited refusal and the rest were merely part of the usual comedy played between the great dealer and his client4 ,on the other hand1 if the lucky ,english collector had had the additional good fortune to make his find in an ,italian auction room or at a small dealer's1 he would probably have paid little more than #e1jjj1 while the same purchase made of a wholly ignorant dealer or direct from the reduced family who sold this ancestor might have been made for a few hundred francs4 ,with the seekers obviously lie all the mystery and romance of the pursuit4 ,the rest surely need not be envied to the sought4 ,one thinks of ,consul ,j4,j4 ,jarves gradually getting together that little collection of ,italian primitives1 at ,new ,haven1 which1 scorned in his lifetime and actually foreclosed for a trifling debt1 is now an object of pilgrimage for ,european amateurs and experts4 ,one recalls the mouse-like activities of the ,brothers ,dutuit1 unearthing here a gorgeous enamel1 retrieving there a ,rembrandt drawing1 fetching out a ,gothic ivory from a junk-shop4 ,one sighs for those days1 and declares that they are forever past4 ,does not the sage ,m4 ,eudel warn us that there are no more finds--,surtout ne comptez plus sur les trouvailles4 ,yet not so long ago ,i mildly chid a seeker1 him of the ,desiderio1 for not having one of his rare pictures photographed for the use of students4 ,he smiled and admitted that ,i was perfectly right1 but added pleadingly1 ,you know a negative costs about twenty francs1 and for that one may often get an original4 ,why1 even ,i who write--but ,i have promised that this essay shall not exceed reasonable bounds4 ,for the poor collector1 however1 the money consideration remains a source of manifold embarrassment1 morally and otherwise4 ,how many an enthusiast has justified an extravagant purchase by a flattering prevision of profits accruing to his widow and orphans8 ,let the recording angel reply4 ,and such hopes are at times justified4 ,there have been instances of men refused by the life insurance companies who have deliberately adopted the alternative of collecting for investment1 and have done so successfully4 ,obviously1 such persons fall into the class which the ,french call charitably the marchand-amateur4 ,note1 however1 that the merchant comes first4 ,now1 to be a poor yet reasonably successful collector without becoming a marchand-amateur requires moral tact and resolution4 ,the seeker of the short purse naturally becomes a sort of expert in prices4 ,as he prowls he sees many fine things which he neither covets nor could afford to keep1 but which are offered at prices temptingly below their value in the great shops4 ,the temptation is strong to buy and resell4 ,naturally1 one profitable transaction of this sort leads to another1 and soon the amateur is in the attitude of making the collection pay for itself4 ,the inducement is so insidious that ,i presume there are rather few persistent collectors not wealthy who are not in a measure dealers4 ,now1 to deal or not to deal might seem purely a matter of social and business expediency4 ,but the issue really lies deeper4 ,the difficulty is that of not letting your left hand know what your right hand does4 ,a morally ambidextrous person may do what he pleases4 ,he keeps the dealer and collector apart1 and subject to his will one or the other emerges4 ,the feat is too difficult for average humanity4 ,in nearly every case a prolonged struggle will end in favour of the commercial self4 ,i have followed the course of many collector-dealers1 and ,i know very few instances in which the collection has not averaged down to the level of a shop--a fine shop1 perhaps1 but still a shop4 ,i blame no man for following the wide road1 but ,i feel more kinship with him who walks scrupulously in the narrow path of strict amateurism4 ,let me hasten to add that there are times when everybody must sell4 ,collections must periodically be weeded out2 one may be hard up and sell his pictures as another in similar case his horses2 artists will naturally draw into their studios beautiful objects which1 occasion offering1 they properly sell4 ,with these obvious exceptions the line is absolutely sharp4 ,did you buy a thing to keep8 ,then you are an amateur1 though later your convenience or necessity dictates a sale4 ,did you buy it to sell8 ,then you are a dealer4 ,the safety of the little collector lies in specialisation1 and there1 too1 lies his surest satisfaction4 ,to have a well-defined specialty immediately simplifies the quest4 ,there are many places where one need never go4 ,moreover1 where nature has provided fair intelligence1 one must die very young in order not to die an expert4 ,as ,i write ,i think of ,d----1 one of the last surviving philosophers4 ,born with the instincts of a man of letters1 he declined to give himself to the gentler pursuit until he had made a little competence at the law4 ,as he followed his disinterested course of writing and travel1 his enthusiasm centred upon the antiquities of ,greece and ,rome4 ,in the engraved gems of that time he found a beautiful epitome of his favourite studies4 ,for ten years study and collecting have gone patiently hand in hand4 ,he possesses some fifty classical gems1 many of the best ,greek period1 all rare and interesting from material1 subject1 or workmanship1 and he may have spent as many dollars in the process1 but ,i rather doubt it4 ,he knows his subject as well as he loves it4 ,naturally he is writing a book on intaglios1 and it will be a good one4 ,meanwhile1 if the fancy takes him to visit the site of the ,bactrian ,empire1 he has only to put his collection in his pocket and enjoy it en route4 ,i cannot too highly commend his example1 and yet his course is too austere for many of us4 ,has untrammelled curiosity no charms8 ,would ,i1 for example1 forego my casual kakemonos1 my ignorantly acquired majolica1 some trifling accumulation of ,greek coins1 that handful of ,eastern rugs8 ,could ,i prune away certain excrescent minor ,whistlers8 those bits of ivory cutting from old ,italy and ,japan8 those tarnished ,tuscan panels8--in truth1 ,i could and would not4 ,yet had ,i stuck to my first love1 prints1 ,i should by this time be mentioned respectfully among the initiated1 my name would be found in the card-catalogues of the great dealers1 my decease would be looked forward to with resignation by my junior colleagues4 ,as it is1 after twenty years of collecting1 and an expenditure shameful in one of my fiscal estate1 ,i have nothing that even courtesy itself could call a collection4 ,in apology1 ,i may plead only the sting of unchartered curiosity1 the adventurous thrill of buying on half or no knowledge1 the joy of an instinctive sympathy that1 irrespective of boundaries1 knows its own when it sees it4 ,and you austerely single-minded amateurs1 you experts that surely shall be1 ,i revere if ,i may not follow you4 ,we have left dangling from the first paragraph the morally important question1 ,is collecting merely an habitual contravention of the tenth commandment8 ,now1 ,i am far from denying that collecting has its pathology1 even its criminology1 if you will4 ,the mere lust of acquisition may take the ugly form of coveting what one neither loves nor understands4 ,this pit is digged for the rich collector4 ,poor collectors1 on the other hand1 have at times forgotten where enterprise ends and kleptomania begins4 ,but these excesses are1 after all1 rare1 and for that matter they are merely those that attach to all exaggerations of legitimate passion4 ,as for the notion that one should love beautiful things without desiring them1 it seems to me to lie perilously near a sort of pseudo-,platonism1 which1 wherever it recurs1 is the enemy of life itself4 ,as ,i write1 my eye falls upon a ,japanese sword-guard4 ,i have seen it a thousand times1 but ,i never fail to feel the same thrill4 ,out of the disc of blued steel the artisan has worked the soaring form of a bird with upraised wings4 ,it is indicated in skeleton fashion by bars extraordinarily energetic1 yet suavely modulated4 ,there must have been feeling and intelligence in every touch of the chisel and file that wrought it4 ,could that same object seen occasionally in a museum showcase afford me any comparable pleasure8 ,is not the education of the eye1 like the education of the sentiments1 dependent upon stable associations that can be many times repeated8 ,shall ,i seem merely covetous because ,i crave besides the casual and adventurous contact with beauty in the world1 a gratification which is sure and ever waiting for me8 ,but let me cite rather a certain collector and man of great affairs1 who perforce spends his days in adjusting business interests that extend from the arctic snows to the tropics4 ,his evenings belong generally to his friends1 for he possesses in a rare degree the art of companionship4 ,the small hours are his own1 and frequently he spends them in painting beautiful copies of his ,japanese potteries4 ,it is his homage to the artisans who contrived those strange forms and imagined those gorgeous glazes4 ,in the end he will have a catalogue illustrated from his own designs4 ,meanwhile1 he knows his potteries as the shepherd knows his flock4 ,what casuist will find the heart to deny him so innocent a pleasure8 ,and he merely represents in a very high degree the sort of priestliness that the true collector feels towards his temporary possessions4 ,and this sense of the high1 nay1 supreme value of beautiful things1 has its evident uses4 ,that the beauty of art has not largely perished from the earth is due chiefly to the collector4 ,he interposes his sensitiveness between the insensibility of the average man and the always exiled thing of beauty4 ,if we have in a fractional measure the art treasures of the past1 it has been because the collector has given them asylum4 ,museums1 all manner of overt public activities1 derive ultimately from his initiative4 ,it is he who asserts the continuity of art and illustrates its dignity4 ,the stewardship of art is manifold1 but no one has a clearer right to that honourable title4 ,private vices1 public virtues1 ,i hear a cynical reader murmur4 ,so be it4 ,i am ready to stand with the latitudinarian ,mandeville4 ,the view makes for charity4 ,i only plead that he who covets his neighbour's tea-jar--,i assume a desirable one1 say1 in old brown ,kioto--shall be judged less harshly than he who covets his neighbour's ox4