"
"What sort of mistress is that?" cried Frenhofer. "She will betray him
sooner or later. Mine will be to me forever faithful."
"Well," returned Porbus, "then let us say no more. But before you
find, even in Asia, a woman as beautiful, as perfect, as the one I
speak of, you may be dead, and your picture forever unfinished."
"Oh, it is finished!" said Frenhofer. "Whoever sees it will find a
woman lying on a velvet bed, beneath curtains; perfumes are exhaling
from a golden tripod by her side: he will be tempted to take the
tassels of the cord that holds back the curtain; he will think he
sees the bosom of Catherine Lescaut,--a model called the Beautiful
Nut-girl; he will see it rise and fall with the movement of her
breathing. Yet--I wish I could be sure--"
"Go to Asia, then," said Porbus hastily, fancying he saw some
hesitation in the old man's eye.
Porbus made a few steps towards the door of the room. At this moment
Gillette and Nicolas Poussin reached the entrance of the house. As the
young girl was about to enter, she dropped the arm of her lover and
shrank back as if overcome by a presentiment. "What am I doing here?"
she said to Poussin, in a deep voice, looking at him fixedly.
"Gillette, I leave you mistress of your actions; I will obey your
will. You are my conscience, my glory. Come home; I shall be happy,
perhaps, if you, yourself--"
"Have I a self when you speak thus to me? Oh, no! I am but a child.
Come," she continued, seeming to make a violent effort.
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