It struck four.  Claude, who had accompanied Bongrand, still went on talking to him in the deserted streets.  He did not want to go to bed; he was waiting for daylight, with impatient fury, so that he might set to work at his picture again.  This time he felt certain of painting a masterpiece, exalted as he was by that happy day of good-fellowship, his mind pregnant with a world of things.  He had discovered at last what painting meant, and he pictured himself re-entering his studio as one returns into the presence of a woman one adores, his heart throbbing violently, regretting even this one day’s absence, which seemed to him endless desertion.  And he would go straight to his canvas, and realise his dream in one sitting.  However, at every dozen steps or so, amidst the flickering light of the gaslamps, Bongrand caught him by a button of his coat, to repeat to him that, after all, painting was an accursed trade.  Sharp as he, Bongrand, was supposed to be, he did not understand it yet.  At each new work he undertook, he felt as if he were making a debut; it was enough to make one smash one’s head against the wall.  The sky was now brightening, some market gardeners’ carts began rolling down towards the central markets; and the pair continued chattering, each talking for himself, in a loud voice, beneath the paling stars.

IV

SIX weeks later, Claude was painting one morning amidst a flood of sunshine that streamed through the large window of his studio.  Constant rain had made the middle of August very dull, but his courage for work returned with the blue sky.  His great picture did not make much progress, albeit he worked at it throughout long, silent mornings, like the obstinate, pugnacious fellow he was.

All at once there came a knock at his door.  He thought that Madame Joseph, the doorkeeper, was bringing up his lunch, and as the key was always in the door, he simply called:  ‘Come in!’

The door had opened; there was a slight rustle, and then all became still.  He went on painting without even turning his head.  But the quivering silence, and the consciousness of some vague gentle breathing near him, at last made him fidgety.  He looked up, and felt amazed; a woman stood there clad in a light gown, her features half-hidden by a white veil, and he did not know her, and she was carrying a bunch of roses, which completed his bewilderment.

All at once he recognised her.

‘You, mademoiselle?  Well, I certainly didn’t expect you!’

It was Christine.  He had been unable to restrain that somewhat unamiable exclamation, which was a cry from the heart itself.  At first he had certainly thought of her; then, as the days went by for nearly a couple of months without sign of life from her, she had become for him merely a fleeting, regretted vision, a charming silhouette which had melted away in space, and would never be seen again.

’Yes, monsieur, it’s I. I wished to come.  I thought it was wrong not to come and thank you—­’