Over the chimney-piece there was a veritable old master, one of the few
original pictures which Mr George Pontifex had brought from Italy. It
was supposed to be a Salvator Rosa, and had been bought as a great
bargain. The subject was Elijah or Elisha (whichever it was) being fed
by the ravens in the desert. There were the ravens in the upper right-
hand corner with bread and meat in their beaks and claws, and there was
the prophet in question in the lower left-hand corner looking longingly
up towards them. When Ernest was a very small boy it had been a constant
matter of regret to him that the food which the ravens carried never
actually reached the prophet; he did not understand the limitation of the
painter's art, and wanted the meat and the prophet to be brought into
direct contact. One day, with the help of some steps which had been left
in the room, he had clambered up to the picture and with a piece of bread
and butter traced a greasy line right across it from the ravens to
Elisha's mouth, after which he had felt more comfortable.
Ernest's mind was drifting back to this youthful escapade when he heard
his father's hand on the door, and in another second Theobald entered.
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