The days went by, and towards the middle of the winter Claude’s courage revived once more.  One day, while putting some old frames in order, he came upon a roll of canvas which had fallen behind the other pictures.  On opening the roll he found on it the nude figure, the reclining woman of his old painting, ‘In the Open Air,’ which he had cut out when the picture had come back to him from the Salon of the Rejected.  And, as he gazed at it, he uttered a cry of admiration: 

‘By the gods, how beautiful it is!’

He at once secured it to the wall with four nails, and remained for hours in contemplation before it.  His hands shook, the blood rushed to his face.  Was it possible that he had painted such a masterly thing?  He had possessed genius in those days then.  So his skull, his eyes, his fingers had been changed.  He became so feverishly excited and felt such a need of unburthening himself to somebody, that at last he called his wife.

’Just come and have a look.  Isn’t her attitude good, eh?  How delicately her muscles are articulated!  Just look at that bit there, full of sunlight.  And at the shoulder here.  Ah, heavens! it’s full of life; I can feel it throb as I touch it.’

Christine, standing by, kept looking and answering in monosyllables.  This resurrection of herself, after so many years, had at first flattered and surprised her.  But on seeing him become so excited, she gradually felt uncomfortable and irritated, without knowing why.

‘Tell me,’ he continued, ’don’t you think her beautiful enough for one to go on one’s knees to her?’

‘Yes, yes.  But she has become rather blackish—­’

Claude protested vehemently.  Become blackish, what an idea!  That woman would never grow black; she possessed immortal youth!  Veritable passion had seized hold of him; he spoke of the figure as of a living being; he had sudden longings to look at her that made him leave everything else, as if he were hurrying to an appointment.

Then, one morning, he was taken with a fit of work.

‘But, confound it all, as I did that, I can surely do it again,’ he said.  ’Ah, this time, unless I’m a downright brute, we’ll see about it.’

And Christine had to give him a sitting there and then.  For eight hours a day, indeed, during a whole month he kept her before him, without compassion for her increasing exhaustion or for the fatigue he felt himself.  He obstinately insisted upon producing a masterpiece; he was determined that the upright figure of his big picture should equal that reclining one which he saw on the wall, beaming with life.  He constantly referred to it, compared it with the one he was painting, distracted by the fear of being unable to equal it.  He cast one glance at it, another at Christine, and a third at his canvas, and burst into oaths whenever he felt dissatisfied.  He ended by abusing his wife.