"I think it very ugly."
"And the portrait of Andrea Doria, by Sebastian del Piombo?"
"Uglier still."
"And the Velasquez?"
"Ugliest of all."
"And the two large Claude Lorraines?"
"Rather pretty; but insipid. There isn't any reality or meaning in them."
"The Memling?"
"Oh, that is absolutely hideous, Mr. Noel; it hasn't a redeeming point."
Raymond Noel laughed with real amusement, and almost forgot his ill-humor.