Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/152

 "Ah, I think I could have shown Canova how," Roderick gaily rejoined. "It won't matter a rap what you call them—you 'll just know them for more than mortal. They shall be simply divine forms. They shall be Beauty; they shall be Wisdom; they shall be Power; they shall be Genius; they shall be Daring. That 's all the Greek divinities were."

"That 's rather depressingly abstract, you know," said Miss Blanchard.

"Cher beau jeune homme," Gloriani remarked, "there 's only one thing in the world that 's divine for us—which is to be twenty-five years old. You're delightfully young!"

"Isn't that indeed just it?" Singleton echoed with a flush of sympathy across his large white forehead. "You can do anything in the world, Mr. Hudson, that you try."

"Well, there are all the Forces and Elements and Mysteries of Nature," Mr. Hudson assentingly pursued. "I mean to do the Morning; I mean to do the Night! I mean to do the Ocean and the Mountains, the Moon and the West Wind. I mean to make a magnificent image of my Native Land."

"Your native land, your native mountains—why not say at once your native moon? You do make it shine on us!" Gloriani kindly laughed.

"I shall—and it will make you at least mad!" Roderick returned with expression. "My figures shall make no contortions, but they shall mean a tremendous deal."

"I 'm sure there are contortions enough in Michael 118