“Oh, I see. You wish it to stand as a kind of object-lesson picture. Is that it?”
“Exactly.”
“Then I give way at once. I did not quite understand you. I thought you meant to monopolise the personages represented in it.”
“Well, so I do,” asserted Genius, smiling. “They are in some ways very nearly allied to me.”
“Indeed?” said Plucritus, affecting astonishment.
“Indeed and indeed,” replied the other. “The Spirit who accompanies the man in this picture is my twin brother—at least I please to think so.”
“How you must feel for him,” said Plucritus, sympathetically.
“But do you know, Genius, without wishing to tread on your corns in the least, I must admit to being a little vain.”
“Of what?”
“Well, of my histrionic powers.”