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52 down the eyeball a little; there, so; a little more."

Then he sings: What a difficult thing it is to paint! I shall never be more than a tyro.

"If your picture as a whole is anything like that leg, to give you your due, it will be the very worst picture in the salon, and you might as well subscribe it: Grocer pinxit. Don't abuse the bitumen, I say again. Come, George, you may take a rest; I am going out. I will be back in an hour and a half; if any one comes and inquires for me, tell him I have gone to discover the sources of the Niger."

Eugène leaves the house. A few minutes after he has gone a commissionaire comes up the stairs and asks for Eugène. George, who is smoking Levant tobacco in a Turkish pipe, sends him away with his letter.

That letter is from Arthur. This is what has happened him:

He left the house, as we have said, bright and early he felt hungry and went into a café; when he came to leave he found that he had no money. He gave an order for something to be served him and wrote to Eugène to look for his purse and send it to him.

The commissionaire returns, bringing back his letter. How is he to pay for what he has eaten and drunk at the café? He cannot leave the café without settling his check, he cannot discharge the commissionaire without paying him. His only course is to keep the commissionaire under pay and remain at the café; he sends the man to a friend and calls for his fifth glass of sugar and water.