_"You acknowledge then that there are some joys?"_
_Here the painter, instead of replying, rose, searched out from among
drawings and sketches a much-thumbed manuscript, and returning to his
companion:_
_"We might argue like this," said he, "for ever so long without either
convincing the other. But since, notwithstanding my observations, you
seem determined to try marriage, here is a little work I beg you to
read. It is written--I would have you note--by a married man, much in
love with his wife, very happy in his home, an observer who, spending
his life among artists, amused himself by sketching one or two such
households as I spoke of just now. From the first to the last line of
this book, all is true, so true that the author would never publish it.
Read it, and come to me when you have read it. I think you will have
changed your mind."_
_The poet took the manuscript and carried it home with him; but he did
not keep the little book with all the needful care, for I have been able
to detach a few leaves from it and boldly offer them to the public._
[Illustration: p023-034]