Averted as this was from the door,
I was unable to see its face; but at last, sickened by the vacant misery
of the spot, I passed behind Theobald, eagerly and tenderly. I can
hardly say that I was surprised at what I found--a canvas that was a mere
dead blank, cracked and discoloured by time. This was his immortal work!
Though not surprised, I confess I was powerfully moved, and I think that
for five minutes I could not have trusted myself to speak. At last my
silent nearness affected him; he stirred and turned, and then rose and
looked at me with a slowly kindling eye. I murmured some kind
ineffective nothings about his being ill and needing advice and care, but
he seemed absorbed in the effort to recall distinctly what had last
passed between us. "You were right," he said, with a pitiful smile, "I
am a dawdler! I am a failure! I shall do nothing more in this world.
You opened my eyes; and, though the truth is bitter, I bear you no
grudge. Amen! I have been sitting here for a week, face to face with
the truth, with the past, with my weakness and poverty and nullity.
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