I was not disappointed.  It was at the time when artists—­I mean American artists principally—­went in very strongly for that sort of thing.  Only a few years before they had all been going to Paris, not so much to paint as to find out and imitate how artists do and live.  I was greeted by a small, wiry, lean-looking individual arrayed in a bicycle suit, whose countenance could be best described as wearing a perpetual look of astonishment.  He had one eye which fixed you with a strange, unmoving solemnity, owing to the fact that it was glass.  His skin was anything but fair, and might be termed sallow.  He wore a close, sharp-pointed Vandyke beard, and his gold-bridge glasses sat at almost right angles upon his nose.  His forehead was high, his good eye alert, his hair sandy-colored and tousled, and his whole manner indicated thought, feeling, remarkable nervous energy, and, above all, a rasping and jovial sort of egotism which pleased me rather than otherwise.

I noticed no more than this on my first visit, owing to the fact that I was very much overawed and greatly concerned about the price which he would charge me, not knowing what rate he might wish to exact, and being desirous of coming away at least unabashed by his magnificence and independence.

“What’s it for?” he asked, when I suggested a drawing.

I informed him.

“You say you want it for a double-page center?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’ll do it for three hundred dollars.”

I was taken considerably aback, as I had not contemplated paying more than one hundred.

“I get that from all the magazines,” he added, seeing my hesitation, “wherever a supplement is intended.”

“I don’t think I could pay more than one hundred,” I said, after a few moments’ consideration.

“You couldn’t?” he said, sharply, as if about to reprove me.

I shook my head.

“Well,” he said, “let’s see a copy of your publication.”

The chief value of this conversation was that it taught me that the man’s manner was no indication of his mood.  I had thought he was impatient and indifferent, but I saw now that he was not so, rather brusque merely.  He was simply excitable, somewhat like the French, and meant only to be businesslike.  The upshot of it all was that he agreed to do it for one hundred and fifty, and asked me very solemnly to say nothing about it.

I may say here that I came upon S——­ in the full blush of his fancies and ambitions, and just when he was verging upon their realization.  He was not yet successful.  A hundred and fifty dollars was a very fair price indeed.  His powers, however, had reached that stage where they would soon command their full value.

I could see at once that he was very ambitious.  He was bubbling over with the enthusiasm of youth and an intense desire for recognition.  He knew he had talent.  The knowledge of it gave him an air and an independence of manner which might have been irritating to some.  Besides, he was slightly affected, argue to the contrary as he would, and was altogether full of his own hopes and ambitions.