"It's almost finished, thank you. Patching is the artist. You know Patching, of course--one of the most promising painters of the modern school. There were several Patchings very much praised by the Sunday papers, at the last National Academy Exhibition, though the hanging committee put them either among the dirt or the cobwebs. This conspiracy against Patching is far-reaching. It would seem as if his rivals of the Academy actually went about town calling upon people, and cautioning them _not_ to buy Patchings. Indeed, to such an extent has this outrageous attempt to put down a fellow artist been carried, that I know of but one Patching to be publicly seen in the city. It is an attic interior--a sweet thing, quite equal to Frère, and hangs behind a bar near Spring street. Perhaps you would like to examine it?" "Hem! Not to-day. Some other time," answered Marcus, who, strangely enough, interpreted the question as an invitation to drink at his (Marcus's) expense. "I did not mean to-day," said Wesley Tiffles. "Any time will do. Well, I have engaged this brilliant but neglected creature to paint my panorama. At first he refused--as I expected. He said that it would hurt his reputation. I argued to him, that, the larger the picture, the more the reputation; and said that I would put his name on the bills in type second only to my own. But he could not bring himself to see the matter as I did, and consented to paint it only on condition of profound secrecy. Price, one hundred dollars. You will therefore understand (Tiffles lowered his voice) that what I am saying to you is strictly confidential--as, indeed, all is that I say about my panorama. Secrecy alone gives value to these grand, original ideas." Wesley Tiffles was always unbosoming himself to the world, and informing each individual hearer that his disclosure was strictly confidential. "I give you my word," said Marcus. He wondered where Tiffles raised the money to pay the artist, but did not like to ask him. "Now I have caught you, you must come and see how we get along. The work is going on at my room in the Bartholomew Buildings, only a few steps from here." (According to Tiffles, the Bartholomew Buildings were only a few steps from anywhere, when he wanted to take anybody to them.) "Patching will object to bringing in a stranger; but I can pass you off as a capitalist, who thinks of taking an interest in the panorama. Good joke, that!" Marcus drew back a little at the joke; but Wesley Tiffles had proved so great a relief to his low spirits, that he determined to keep on taking him, and expressed his ardent desire to see the panorama.