"What! for nothing?" they said.
Pierre Grassou could not help smiling.
"You shouldn't give away your pictures in that way; they are money,"
said old Vervelle.
At the third sitting pere Vervelle mentioned a fine gallery of
pictures which he had in his country-house at Ville d'Avray--Rubens,
Gerard Douw, Mieris, Terburg, Rembrandt, Titian, Paul Potter, etc.
"Monsieur Vervelle has been very extravagant," said Madame Vervelle,
ostentatiously. "He has over one hundred thousand francs' worth of
pictures."
"I love Art," said the former bottle-dealer.
When Madame Vervelle's portrait was begun that of her husband was
nearly finished, and the enthusiasm of the family knew no bounds. The
notary had spoken in the highest praise of the painter. Pierre Grassou
was, he said, one of the most honest fellows on earth; he had laid by
thirty-six thousand francs; his days of poverty were over; he now
saved about ten thousand francs a year and capitalized the interest;
in short, he was incapable of making a woman unhappy. This last remark
had enormous weight in the scales. Vervelle's friends now heard of
nothing but the celebrated painter Fougeres.
The day on which Fougeres began the portrait of Mademoiselle Virginie,
he was virtually son-in-law to the Vervelle family. The three
Vervelles bloomed out in this studio, which they were now accustomed
to consider as one of their residences; there was to them an
inexplicable attraction in this clean, neat, pretty, and artistic
abode.
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