“Now look here, Hurst, don’t throw my beastly cash in my teeth. Am I to blame if I am rich? Do I allow it to make a difference between man and man? We were talking about art, not money.”
“So we were. About your pictures. Go on.”
“I only wanted to point out to you that one must take things philosophically. Now if Birmingham had rejected one of your pictures it would have depressed you for a week.”
“Birmingham has got me on the other alley, Barney. It has accepted two of mine. Hence my gloom after what you have told me.”
Barney beamed on his visitor. Here was his argument clinched, but he repressed his desire to say, “I told you so”; still he could not allow the occasion to pass without improving it with a little judicious counsel.
“There you are, Haldiman, there you are. Does not the fact that you are accepted of Birmingham make you pause and think?”
“I’m staggered. It’s a knock-down blow. I’ll be into the Academy next.”
“Oh, not so bad as that. You see, Haldiman, you have talent of a certain kind——”
“Now, Barney, you lay it on too thick. I like flattery, of course, but it must be delicately done. You are gross in your praise.”
“I am not flattering you, Haldiman, ’pon my soul, I’m not. Most other fellows would be offended at what I’m going to say, but you’re a sensible man——”