gold top, or a cambric pocket-handkerchief in lieu of the horrid pig,
with a pink coronet in the corner? or suppose you covered the man's hand
(which is very coarse and strong), and gave him the decency of a kid
glove? But a piece of pork in a naked hand? O nerves and eau de Cologne,
hide it, hide it!

In spite of this lamentable coarseness, my noble sergeant, give me thy
hand as nature made it! A great, and famous, and noble handiwork I have
seen here. Not the greatest picture in the world--not a work of the
highest genius--but a performance so great, various, and admirable, so
shrewd of humour, so wise of observation, so honest and complete of
expression, that to have seen it has been a delight, and to remember it
will be a pleasure for days to come. Well done, Bartholomeus Van der
Helst! Brave, meritorious, victorious, happy Bartholomew, to whom it has
been given to produce a masterpiece!

... Was it a dream? It seems like one. Have we been to Holland? Have we
heard the chimes at midnight at Antwerp? Were we really away for a week,
or have I been sitting up in the room dozing, before this stale old
desk? Here's the desk; yes. But if it has been a dream, how could I have
learned to hum that tune out of _Dinorah?_ Ah, is it that tune, or
myself that I am humming? If it was a dream how comes this yellow NOTICE
DES TABLEAUX DU MUSÉE D'AMSTERDAM AVEC FASCIMILE DES MONOGRAMMES before
me, and this signature of the gallant

Bartholomeus van der Helst fecit A; 1648.

Yes, indeed, it was a delightful little holiday; it lasted a whole
week.