"Landseer, ah!" said Mr. Tidd. "When I think of that man, and the prices he gets, my blood boils, sir--boils! That the British public should care about and pay for a lot of stupid horses and cattle-pieces, and be indifferent to real art, is--well, never mind!" and Mr. Tidd gave himself a great blow in the chest, and asked, "What else?" "Nothing else--O yes! I heard from Rushworth, who's on the Council, you know, that they had been tremendously struck by Geoff Ludlow's pictures, and that one or two more of the same sort are safe to make him an Associate." "What!" said Mr. Tidd, eagerly biting his nails. "What!--an Associate! Geoffrey Ludlow an Associate!" "Ah, that seems strange to you, don't it, Tidd?" said Bowker, speaking for the first time. "I recollect you and Geoff together drawing from the life. You were going to do every thing in those days, Tidd; and old Geoff was as quiet and as modest as--as he is now. It's the old case of the hare and the tortoise; and you're the hare, Tidd;--though, to look at you," added Mr. Bowker under his breath, "you're a d--d sight more like the tortoise, by Jove!" "Geoffrey Ludlow an Associate!" repeated Mr. Tidd, ignoring Mr. Bowker's remark, and still greedily biting his nails. "Well, I should hardly have thought that; though you can't tell what they won't do down in that infernal place in Trafalgar Square. Theyve treated me badly enough; and it's quite like them to make a pet of him." "How have they treated you badly, Tidd?" asked Potts, in the hope of turning the conversation away from Ludlow and his doings. "How!" screamed Tidd; "in a thousand ways! Theyve a personal hatred of me, sir--that's what they have! Ive tried every dodge and painted in every school, and they won't have me. The year after Smith made a hit with that miserable picture 'Measuring Heights,' from the _Vicar of Wakefield_, I sent in 'Mr. Burchell cries Fudge!'--kicked out! The year after, Mr. Ford got great praise for his wretched daub of 'Dr. Johnson reading Goldsmith's Manuscript.' I sent in 'Goldsmith, Johnson, and Bozzy at the Mitre Tavern'--kicked out!--a glorious bit of humour, in which I'd represented all three in different stages of drunkenness--kicked out!" "I suppose you've not been used worse than most of us, Tidd," growled Mr. Bowker. "She's an unjust stepmother, is the R.A. of A. But she snubs pretty nearly every body alike." "Not at all!" said Tidd. "Here's this Ludlow--" "What of him?" interposed Potts quickly. "Can any one say that his painting is--ah, well! poor devil! it's no good saying any thing more about him; he'll have quite enough to bear on his own shoulders soon." "What, when he's an Associate!" said Bowker, who inwardly was highly delighted at Tidd's evident rage. "Associate!--stuff! I mean when he's married." "Married? Is Ludlow going to be married?"