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remember them,' he answered, evasively.
"'But they are beautiful, are they not?'
"'And horrible withal,' quoth he.
"'Like the god-like corpse of Antinöus, seen by the silvery light of the opaline moon, floating on the lurid waters of the Nile,' I said.
"All the young men looked astonished at me. Briancourt laughed in a jarring way.
"'You are a poet or a painter,' said Teleny, gazing at me with half-shut eyes. Then, after a pause: 'Anyhow you are right to quiz me, but you must not mind my visionary speeches, for there is always so much of the madman in the composition of every artist.' Then, darting a dim ray from his sad eyes deep into mine, 'When you are better acquainted with me, you will know that there is so much more of the madman than of the artist in me.'
"Thereupon he took out a strongly-scented fine lawn handkerchief, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.
"'And now,' added he, 'I must not keep you here a minute longer with my idle talk, otherwise the lady patronesses will be angry,
