The mistress came in, and having looked at my work, said to her husband:
"Beat him!"
But the master said peaceably:
"That's all right; I myself did not begin any better."
Obliterating the spoiled house with a red pencil, he gave me some paper.
"Try once more."
The second copy came out better, except that a window appeared in place of the front door. But I did not like to think that the house was empty, so I filled it with all sorts of inmates. At the windows sat ladies with fans in their hands, and cavaliers with cigarettes. One of these, a non-smoker, was making a "long nose" at all the others. A cabman stood on the steps, and near him lay a dog.
"Why, you have been scribbling over it again!" the master exclaimed angrily.
I explained to him that a house without inhabitants was a dull place, but he only scolded me.
"To the devil with all this foolery! If you want to learn, learn! But this is rubbish!"