Dodd. I'm not your equal in culture or talent."
"You know nothing about that," I interrupted. "I have
seen your work, but you haven't seen mine.
"No more I have," he cried; "and let's go see it at
once! But I know you are away up; I can feel it here."
To say truth, I was almost ashamed to introduce him to
my studio--my work, whether absolutely good or bad,
being so vastly superior to his. But his spirits were
now quite restored; and he amazed me, on the way, with
his light-hearted talk and new projects. So that I
began at last to understand how matters lay: that this
was not an artist who had been deprived of the practice
of his single art; but only a business man of very
extended interests, informed (perhaps something of the
most suddenly) that one investment out of twenty had
gone wrong.
As a matter of fact, besides (although I never
suspected it), he was already seeking consolation with
another of the muses, and pleasing himself with the
notion that he would repay me for my sincerity, cement
our friendship, and (at one and the same blow) restore
my estimation of his talents.
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