“No, madame,” replied Whistler.
“Why, that’s odd,” she murmured; “I met the King at a dinner-party last year, and he said that he knew you.”
“Oh,” said the painter, “that was just his brag.”
A London friend who was a member of the same club as Mr. Whistler writes me this, which I have not seen before in print. It seems that the gentle artist in making enemies had not paid his dues and was dunned for them in vain. He either took no notice of requests for a settlement, or replied to them with his usual airy mockery. Finally the secretary wrote to him:
“Dear Mr. Whistler—It is not a Nocturne in Purple, or a Symphony in Blue and Gray, that we are after, but An Arrangement in Gold and Silver.”
This drew forth the required pounds and shillings.
Here is another story typical of the great maker of enemies: