human
My dear madam, he broke in on her with a kindly impatience,
gpt
You painted his portrait, she said with a simplicity that was like stupidity.
human
And I am his aunt. You made a picture of a bad man. I know he was a good man.
gpt
I painted what I saw,
human
I don't know what to do! she murmured with a little moan.
gpt
I can't _bear_ it to have it stay here--people forget so. Everybody'll think that Gridley looked like _that_! And there isn't anybody but me. He never had anybody but me.
human
You'll pardon my bluntness, madam; but you must remember that none but the members of Professor Gridley's family are concerned in the exact details of his appearance. Fifty years from now nobody will remember how he looked, one way or the other. The world is only concerned with portraits as works of art.
gpt
If that's all, why put his name to it? Just hang it up, and call it anything.
human
Oh, never mind explaining me, he said, snapping his watch shut.
gpt
You'll never get the rights of it through anybody's head who hasn't himself sweat blood over a composition only to be told that the other side of the sitter's profile is usually considered the prettier. After all, we have the last word, since the sitter dies and the portrait lives.
human
Yes, said the critic, laughing,
gpt
Immortality!