It is portrayed on a wall--oh, a grand portrayal, but without the subject, flutt!"....

and he made a hissing sound with his lips, "while Pier della Francesca, Carnevale, Melozzo,"....

he paused to find a word which would express the very complicated thought in his head, and he concluded: "That is painting." "But the Assumption by Titian, and the Transfiguration by Raphael," resumed the Countess, who added in Italian, with an accent of enthusiasm: "Ah, the bellezza!" "Do not worry, Countess," said Dorsenne, laughing heartily, "those are an artist's opinions.

Ten years ago, I said that Victor Hugo was an amateur and Alfred de Musset a bourgeois.

But," he added, "as I am not descended from the Doges nor the Pilgrim Fathers, I, a poor, degenerate Gallo-Roman, fear the dampness on account of my rheumatism, and ask your permission to reenter the house." Then, as he passed through the door of the salon: "Raphael, a builder! Titian, an upholsterer! Lorenzetti, a reproducer!" he repeated to himself.