Only allow me to give you a word of advice:
keep your credulity out of your pockets! Don't pay for the picture till
it's delivered. You have not been treated to a peep at it, I imagine! No
more have your fifty predecessors in the faith. There are people who
doubt whether there is any picture to be seen. I fancy, myself, that if
one were to get into his studio, one would find something very like the
picture in that tale of Balzac's--a mere mass of incoherent scratches and
daubs, a jumble of dead paint!"
I listened to this pungent recital in silent wonder. It had a painfully
plausible sound, and was not inconsistent with certain shy suspicions of
my own. My hostess was not only a clever woman, but presumably a
generous one. I determined to let my judgment wait upon events. Possibly
she was right; but if she was wrong, she was cruelly wrong! Her version
of my friend's eccentricities made me impatient to see him again and
examine him in the light of public opinion. On our next meeting I
immediately asked him if he knew Mrs. Coventry.
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