In less than a quarter of an hour the room was full of people, and the unfortunate picture was the butt of everybody's laughter.

My poor brother felt almost dying, and thanked his stars that no one knew him personally.
The state of his mind was such that I heartily pitied him; I rose with the intention of going to some other room, and to console him I told him that M.de Marigny would soon come, and that his approbation of the picture would avenge him for the insults of the crowd.

Fortunately, this was not my brother's opinion; we left the room hurriedly, took a coach, went home, and sent our servant to fetch back the painting.

As soon as it had been brought back my brother made a battle of it in real earnest, for he cut it up with a sword into twenty pieces.

He made up his mind to settle his affairs in Paris immediately, and to go somewhere else to study an art which he loved to idolatry; we resolved on going to Dresden together.
Two or three days before leaving the delightful city of Paris I dined alone at the house of the gate-keeper of the Tuileries; his name was Conde.