Look at his art, I say - look at it! Is it fit to be seen? Ask
him - is it fit to be sold? And it is for this, Monsieur and
Madame, that he condemns me to the most deplorable existence,
without luxuries, without comforts, in a vile suburb of a country
town. O non!" she cried, "non - je ne me tairai pas - c'est plus
fort que moi! I take these gentlemen and this lady for judges - is
this kind? is it decent? is it manly? Do I not deserve better at
his hands after having married him and" - (a visible hitch) - "done
everything in the world to please him."
I doubt if there were ever a more embarrassed company at a table;
every one looked like a fool; and the husband like the biggest.
"The art of Monsieur, however," said Elvira, breaking the silence,
"is not wanting in distinction."
"It has this distinction," said the wife, "that nobody will buy
it."
"I should have supposed a clerkship - " began Stubbs.
"Art is Art," swept in Leon. "I salute Art. It is the beautiful,
the divine; it is the spirit of the world, and the pride of life.
But - " And the actor paused.
"A clerkship - " began Stubbs.
"I'll tell you what it is," said the painter. "I am an artist, and
as this gentleman says, Art is this and the other; but of course,
if my wife is going to make my life a piece of perdition all day
long, I prefer to go and drown myself out of hand."
"Go!" said his wife.
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