imself. He followed at heel; his laugh
was ready chorus; our friends gave him the nickname of "The Henchman."
It was in this insidious form that servitude approached me.

Pinkerton and I read and re-read the famous news: he, I can swear, with
an enjoyment as unalloyed and far more vocal than my own. The statue was
nearly done: a few days' work sufficed to prepare it for exhibition; the
master was approached; he gave his consent; and one cloudless morning
of May beheld us gathered in my studio for the hour of trial. The
master wore his many-hued rosette; he came attended by two of my French
fellow-pupils--friends of mine and both considerable sculptors in Paris
at this hour. "Corporal John" (as we used to call him) breaking for once
those habits of study and reserve which have since carried him so
high in the opinion of the world, had left his easel of a morning to
countenance a fellow-countryman in some suspense. My dear old Romney
was there by particular request; for who that knew him would think
a pleasure quite complete unless he shared it, or not support a
mortification more easily if he were present to console? The party
was completed by John Myner, the Englishman; by the brothers
Stennis,--Stennis-aine and Stennis-frere, as they used to figure on
their accounts at Barbizon--a pair of hare-brained Scots; and by the
inevitable Jim, as white as a sheet and bedewed with the sweat of
anxiety.

I suppose I was little better myself when I unveiled the Genius of
Muskegon. The master walked about it seriously; then he smiled.

"It is already not so bad," said he, in that funny English of which he
was so proud. "No, already not so bad."

We all drew a deep breath of relief; and Corporal John (as the most
considerable junior present) explained to him it was intended for a
public building, a kind of prefecture--

"He! Quoi?" cried he, relapsing into French. "Qu'est-ce que vous me
chantez la? O, in America," he added, on further information being
hastily furnished. "That is anozer sing. O, very good, very good."

The idea of the required certificate had to be introduced to his mind
in the light of a pleasantry--the fancy of a nabob little more advanced
than the red Indians of "Fennimore Cooperr"; and it took all our talents
combined to conceive a form of words that would be acceptable on
both sides. One was found, however: Corporal John engrossed it in his
undecipherable hand, the master lent it the sanction of his name