hem with great attention, they went aside
and whispered. "He'll do," I heard one say; "Yes, he'll do," said
another; and then they came to me, and one of them, a little man with a
hump on his back, who is a watchmaker, assumed the office of spokesman,
and made a long speech--(the old town has been always celebrated for
orators)--in which he told me how much they had been pleased with my
productions--(the old town has been always celebrated for its artistic
taste)--and, what do you think? offered me the painting of the mayor's
portrait, and a hundred pounds for my trouble. Well, of course I was
much surprised, and for a minute or two could scarcely speak; recovering
myself, however, I made a speech, not so eloquent as that of the
watchmaker of course, being not so accustomed to speaking; but not so bad
either, taking everything into consideration, telling them how flattered
I felt by the honour which they had conferred in proposing to me such an
undertaking; expressing, however, my fears that I was not competent to
the task, and concluding by saying what a pity it was that Crome was
dead. "Crome," said the little man, "Crome; yes, he was a clever man, a
very clever man in his way; he was good at painting landscapes and farm-
houses, but he would not do in the present instance were he alive. He
had no conception of the heroic, sir. We want some person capable of
representing our mayor striding under the Norman arch out of the
cathedral." At the mention of the heroic an idea came at once into my
head. "Oh," said I, "if you are in quest of the heroic, I am glad that
you came to me; don't mistake me," I continued, "I do not mean to say
that I could do justice to your subject, though I am fond of the heroic;
but I can introduce you to a great master of the heroic, fully competent
to do justice to your mayor. Not to me, therefore, be the painting of
the picture given, but to a friend of mine, the great master of the
heroic, to the best, the strongest, [Greek text]" I added, for, being
amongst orators, I thought a word of Greek would tell.'

'Well,' said I, 'and what did the orators say?'

'They gazed dubiously at me and at one another,' said my brother; 'at
last the watchmaker asked me who this Mr. Christo was; adding, that he
had never heard of such a person; that, from my recommendation of him, he
had no doubt that he was a very clever man; but that they should like to
know something more about him before giving the