“St. Cadmus’s church. It is an altar piece; very handsome and old; by Michael Angelo. You see, I give you my secret; in confidence, of course.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Cowdrick, “I am a regular attendant at St. Cadmus’s and I was one of four subscribers for that picture. The balance of the amount we made up by mortgaging the organ. Mr. Tunicle, the incumbent, said it was indisputably genuine.”
“Oh, well,” said Mr. Weems, laughing; “if it looks like a genuine one, and everybody thinks it is genuine, what difference is there? The people are every bit as happy as if it were real. If one of my pictures sells better with the name of some old chap who has been dead for two or three centuries tagged to it, why shouldn’t I let it go in that way? It does not hurt him, and it helps me.”
“From your point of view the theory is excellent; but from mine, as the owner of a couple of old masters, it looks a little thin.”
“Well, to be fair,” said Mr. Weems, “I acknowledge that I painted those you have, but I am willing to find you a market for them, to oblige you; or I will sell you two or three more, if you prefer it. I have just run off a fine Salvator Rosa, and a Titian, as kind of ‘pot-boilers,’ and you can have them for almost nothing if you want them.”
“Thank you, no,” said Mr. Cowdrick. “My interest in art is gradually cooling off. And then, besides, if you are going to turn out pictures every time you want a suit of clothes, or a box of cigars, it seems likely there will soon be a glut of old masters in the market.”
“But to come back to the point, Mr. Cowdrick,” said Mr. Weems. “What may I accept as your decision respecting my claim to your daughter’s hand?”
“Have you ever had an affair of this kind before, Mr. Weems? Pardon me for asking. Is Leonie your first love?”
“Well, you know, every man does foolish things in his youth. I have been involved in one or two trifling matters of the sort. But I am a careful man, and to avoid any unpleasant demonstrations in the future, I have procured formal decrees of divorce from eleven different girls; all, in fact, with whom I have ever had any acquaintance that was at all sentimental. I obtained six decrees from the State of Indiana, at a cost of ten dollars apiece, and the remainder from Utah, at a little higher rate.”
“And you were never married to any of the parties?”