The Argosy — page 330: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

369 BIDDING BY PROXY. ] MUST have that Cuyp” said Mr. Septimus Palecourt to him- self, as he stood gazing intently at a cattle piece, ‘‘on view” with several other pictures of various dimensions, exposed in readi- ness for the next day’s sale in a fashionable auction room. *‘Shouldn’t wonder if I got it cheap,” he went on, referring to the catalogue he held in-his hand. ‘Either from ignorance or want of judgment, this gem of a painting is described here as ‘ attributed’ to Cuyp—dquite enough to hinder anyone from bidding unless he happens to know better. Attributed, indeed! I should think so, and rightly. A more undoubted specimen of the master never hung on a wall.” After thus decidedly expressing his opinion, and bestowing a fare- well glance on the object of his admiration, the speaker put his spectacles and the catalogue into his pocket, and waddling out of the room hailed a passing Hansom, which speedily conveyed him to his home in Thurloe Square. Now, if there was one thing on which Mr. Palecourt prided him- self more than another, it was his knowledge of art; although where he could have picked it up was a puzzle not easy to solve. He was a stout little man of no patrician extraction, who, having realised a handsome fortune in business, had retired into private life at the age of fifty-two, and taken up his abode, as he was wont to express it, “‘ within a stone’s throw” of the South Kensington Museum: of which, as well as of every other artistic exhibition in London, he became an assiduous frequenter. Being afflicted, more- over, with the prevalent ‘‘collecting ” mania, he very soon converted the fairly spacious house occupied by him into a repository for all sorts of miscellaneous curiosities, more or less apocryphal, the fruits of many an exploring ramble through the highways and byways of the Metropolis. His special hobby was the formation of a picture gallery, and curious indeed were the examples of different schools unearthed, no one but himself knew where, but vouched for by their owner as originals of unimpeachable authenticity. He had now an opportunity, which he resolved not to miss, of adding to his collection a hitherto unrepre- sented name; and before reaching Hyde Park corner had already made up his mind in which room he would hang up his acquisition when he got it. “Women have a good eye for effect,” he said. ‘“T’ll talk it over with Sophy, but I’m pretty sure she will be of my opinion.” Mrs. Palecourt: one of the few ladies nowadays who prefer adopting their husband’s decision to the trouble of thinking for themselves: having, as was anticipated, placidly signified her NOOKS () COM (CO)