The statue passed formally into Rowland's possession, and was paid for as if an illustrious name had been chiseled on the pedestal.

Poor Roderick owed every franc of the money.

It was not for this, however, but because he was so gloriously in the mood, that, denying himself all breathing-time, on the same day he had given the last touch to the Adam, he began to shape the rough contour of an Eve.
This went forward with equal rapidity and success.

Roderick lost his temper, time and again, with his models, who offered but a gross, degenerate image of his splendid ideal; but his ideal, as he assured Rowland, became gradually such a fixed, vivid presence, that he had only to shut his eyes to behold a creature far more to his purpose than the poor girl who stood posturing at forty sous an hour.

The Eve was finished in a month, and the feat was extraordinary, as well as the statue, which represented an admirably beautiful woman.