“Yes, and other things: houses, and gardens, and sometimes people.”
“It must be very difficult. Did you have someone to show you how?”
“Yes,” answered the painter gravely. He thought of New York, and Paris, and the great galleries.
“Ah! That is different. My cousin says faces are very hard, unless you have a master. But he does bragozzi well because he knows all about them. His father builds them. He sold one once for ten francs. Do you sell yours?”
“Sometimes. But I paint a great many more than I sell.”
“So does my cousin. He gives them to people to hang in their houses. And in the shops he buys more cheaply if he gives a bragozzo. Do you do anything else?”
It was evident that the fisherman’s conception of the picture market was based on the sale effected by his relative, and that his deductions regarding the painter’s income were therefore not dazzling.
The painter was pleased. He had feared lest a breach separate him and his companion too early in their relations.
“No,” he confessed. “I don’t know how to do anything else.”
The fisherman looked at him in surprise.