The design, when finally developed, was a slight
disappointment to Monsieur Deplis, who had suspected Icarus of
being a fortress taken by Wallenstein in the Thirty Years' War,
but he was more than satisfied with the execution of the work,
which was acclaimed by all who had the privilege of seeing it as
Pincini's masterpiece.
"It was his greatest effort, and his last. Without even waiting
to he paid, the illustrious craftsman departed this life, and was
buried under an ornate tombstone, whose winged cherubs would have
afforded singularly little scope for the exercise of his favourite
art. There remained, however, the widow Pincini, to whom the six
hundred francs were due. And thereupon arose the great crisis in
the life of Henri Deplis, traveller of commerce. The legacy,
under the stress of numerous little calls on its substance, had
dwindled to very insignificant proportions, and when a pressing
wine bill and sundry other current accounts had been paid, there
remained little more than 430 francs to offer to the widow. The
lady was properly indignant, not wholly, as she volubly explained,
on account of the suggested writing-off of 170 francs, but also at
the attempt to depreciate the value of her late husband's
acknowledged masterpiece.
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