m--hm! So--so! Fine--fine!" were the only critical remarks which he
uttered for the space of a quarter of an hour. Then, however, he began
to go into details, and, as he did so, all the strange traits of his
nature came into view.

For, just as his own fancy was inexhaustible in raising buds that never
bore fruit, so too, in regard to the works of others, he had gradually
lost the faculty of patiently following the slow maturing of a thought
in accordance with the inherent laws and quiet workings of Nature. For
young people especially he was dangerous, for he first excited them
powerfully, and led them in a perfect reel through a world of artistic
problems; and then, the moment they went to work in earnest upon a
particular task, his keenness and superior knowledge disgusted them
with the subject they had taken up, by demonstrating to them a variety
of other ways and methods in which the theme might be treated even more
happily. Then, if they decided to destroy what they had begun, and
begin anew according to one of the ways suggested, they found
themselves no better off than before, since the one decisive and final
solution always receded farther and farther into unattainable distance.
In this way they lost all disposition to strike out boldly and
energetically; became hair-splitters and theorists after the style of
their master; or, if they did not possess enough mind or money for
this, they gave themselves up in their desperation to mere mechanical
work, which they pursued in secret, taking good care never to knock
again at the door of their former oracle with a question about art.

"There is no one who sees into a picture, or out of it again, as
quickly as Rossel," Jansen had once said, and Felix now had an
unusually good opportunity of observing the force of this remark, in
the manner in which Rossel examined Kohle's designs. For since, in this
case, the critic was himself to lend a helping hand, his fancy was even
more active than usual in rearranging what had been done, in order that
it might, as far as possible, appropriate the picture to itself. How
the light effect was to be arranged for every picture, what problems of
color would enter into the question, how Giorgione would probably have
composed the background, and what effect it would have if, for
instance, the whole first scene should be transposed from broad day
into evening twilight--all these questions were weighed in the most
serious fashion; while al