In the center of the wall was a large canvas by Guillemet, a bit of the Normandy coast under a lowering sky. Below it a wood, by Harpignies, and a plain in Algeria, by Guillemet, with a camel on the horizon, a tall camel with long legs, like some strange monument. Monsieur Walter passed on to the next wall, and announced in a grave tone, like a master of the ceremonies: “High Art.” There were four: A Hospital Visit , by Gervex; A Harvester , by Bastien-Lepage; A Widow , by Bouguereau; and An Execution , by Jean Paul Laurens. The last work represented a Vendean priest shot against the wall of his church by a detachment of Blues. A smile flitted across the governor’s grave countenance as he indicated the next wall. “Here the fanciful school.” First came a little canvas by Jean Beraud, entitled, Above and Below . It was a pretty Parisian mounting to the roof of a tramcar in motion. Her head appeared on a level with the top, and the gentlemen on the seats viewed with satisfaction the pretty face approaching them, while those standing on the platform below considered the young woman’s legs with a different expression of envy and desire. Monsieur Walter held the lamp at arm’s length, and repeated, with a sly laugh: “It is funny, isn’t it?” Then he lit up A Rescue , by Lambert. In the middle of a table a kitten, squatted on its haunches, was watching with astonishment and perplexity a fly drowning in a glass of water. It had its paw raised ready to fish out the insect with a rapid sweep of it. But it had not quite made up its mind. It hesitated. What would it do? Then the governor showed a Detaille, The Lesson , which represented a soldier in a barrack-room teaching a poodle to play the drum, and said: “That is very witty.”
Duroy laughed a laugh of approbation, and exclaimed: “It is charming, charm—” He stopped short on hearing behind him the voice of Madame de Marelle, who had just come in.
The governor continued to light up the pictures as he explained them. He now showed a watercolor by Maurice Leloir, “The Obstacle.” It was a sedan chair checked on its way, the street being blocked by a fight