At last he screwed it up in a wooden case and put it at the bottom of his strong box, resolving never to look at it again.

Many years had passed since he had laid eyes upon it.
The idea which had come to him when Paolo had communicated the order to him on the previous evening, had seemed absolutely new.

It had appeared to him as a glorification of the work he had executed in secret so long ago.

Time, and the habit of dissatisfaction had effaced from his mind the precise image of the work of the past, and the emotions of the present had seemed something new to him.

He had drawn and modelled during many hours, and yet he was utterly disappointed with the new result.