Gloriani turned to Rowland as he came up, and pointed back with his thumb to the statue, with a smile half sardonic, half good-natured."A pretty thing--a devilish pretty thing,"he said."It 's as fresh as the foam in the milk-pail.He can do it once, he can do it twice, he can do it at a stretch half a dozen times.But--but"He was returning to his former refrain, but Rowland intercepted him.
"Oh, he will keep it up," he said, smiling, "I will answer for him."Gloriani was not encouraging, but Roderick had listened smiling.
He was floating unperturbed on the tide of his deep self-confidence.Now, suddenly, however, he turned with a flash of irritation in his eye, and demanded in a ringing voice, "In a word, then, you prophesy that Iam to fail?"
Gloriani answered imperturbably, patting him kindly on the shoulder.
"My dear fellow, passion burns out, inspiration runs to seed.
Some fine day every artist finds himself sitting face to face with his lump of clay, with his empty canvas, with his sheet of blank paper, waiting in vain for the revelation to be made, for the Muse to descend.He must learn to do without the Muse!
When the fickle jade forgets the way to your studio, don't waste any time in tearing your hair and meditating on suicide.
Come round and see me, and I will show you how to console yourself.""If I break down," said Roderick, passionately, "I shall stay down.
If the Muse deserts me, she shall at least have her infidelity on her conscience.""You have no business," Rowland said to Gloriani, "to talk lightly of the Muse in this company.Mr.Singleton, too, has received pledges from her which place her constancy beyond suspicion."And he pointed out on the wall, near by, two small landscapes by the modest water-colorist.
The sculptor examined them with deference, and Singleton himself began to laugh nervously; he was trembling with hope that the great Gloriani would be pleased.
"Yes, these are fresh too," Gloriani said; "extraordinarily fresh!
How old are you?"
"Twenty-six, sir," said Singleton.
"For twenty-six they are famously fresh.They must have taken you a long time; you work slowly.""Yes, unfortunately, I work very slowly.One of them took me six weeks, the other two months.""Upon my word! The Muse pays you long visits." And Gloriani turned and looked, from head to foot, at so unlikely an object of her favors.
Singleton smiled and began to wipe his forehead very hard.
"Oh, you!" said the sculptor; "you 'll keep it up!"A week after his dinner-party, Rowland went into Roderick's studio and found him sitting before an unfinished piece of work, with a hanging head and a heavy eye.He could have fancied that the fatal hour foretold by Gloriani had struck.
Roderick rose with a sombre yawn and flung down his tools.
"It 's no use," he said, "I give it up!"
"What is it?"
"I have struck a shallow! I have been sailing bravely, but for the last day or two my keel has been crunching the bottom.""A difficult place?" Rowland asked, with a sympathetic inflection, looking vaguely at the roughly modeled figure.
"Oh, it 's not the poor clay!" Roderick answered.
"The difficult place is here!" And he struck a blow on his heart.
"I don't know what 's the matter with me.Nothing comes;all of a sudden I hate things.My old things look ugly;everything looks stupid."
Rowland was perplexed.He was in the situation of a man who has been riding a blood horse at an even, elastic gallop, and of a sudden feels him stumble and balk.As yet, he reflected, he had seen nothing but the sunshine of genius;he had forgotten that it has its storms.Of course it had!