"Since you permit me not to call you mademoiselle, let me tell you an important piece of news in _the world of art_, as our friend Bernard says. Ah! there's a rhyme;[1] but what I am going to tell you has neither rhyme nor reason. "Fancy that yesterday, after boring you with my visit, I found, on returning to my rooms, an English milord (by the way, perhaps he isn't a milord; but he surely is an Englishman), who said to me in his dialect: "'Are you a painter?' "'Yes, milord.' "'You paint faces?' "'Yes, milord.' "'And the hands?' "'Yes, milord; also the feet.' "'Good!' "'Very good!' "'Oh! I am sure of it! well, would you like to paint my portrait?' "'Yours?' "'Why not?' "The _why not_ was said with so much good humor, that I ceased to take him for an idiot, especially as this son of Albion is a magnificent man. He has the head of an Antinous on the shoulders of--well, of an Englishman; he is a Greek type of the best epoch on the bust, somewhat strangely dressed and cravatted, of a perfect specimen of Britannic _fashion_. "'Faith!' said I, 'you are a fine model, that is sure, and I should like to make a study of you for my own benefit; but I cannot paint your portrait.' "'Why not, pray?' "'Because I am not a portrait-painter.' "'Oh! Do you pay here in France for a license to practise this or that specialty in art?' "'No; but the public doesn't permit us to follow more than one branch. They insist upon knowing what to expect, especially when we are young; and if I who am speaking, and who am very young, should have the ill-luck to paint a good portrait of you, I should find it very difficult to succeed at the next Exposition with anything but portraits; and, in like manner, if I made only a moderately good one, I should be forbidden ever to try another: the public would pass judgment to the effect that I had not the essential qualities of a portrait-painter, and that I was a presumptuous fellow to make the attempt.' "I told my Englishman much more nonsense, which I spare you, and which made him open his eyes; after which he began to laugh, and I saw clearly that my arguments inspired in him the most profound contempt for France, if not for your humble servant. "'Let us say the word,' he said. 'You do not like portrait-painting.'