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Question
Trace the thoughts that went on in the mind of the narrator when picture after picture was put up and sold at the auction.
Solution
The author was enthusiastically participating in the bid at Christie with very little money on him. He sailed smoothly for a long time raising the stakes on many paintings and carefully staying behind other competitors. It was fun watching till he got trapped in a net, set by his own tongue. When one particular painting was offered for 4000 guineas, the bidders maintained an uncomfortable silence when the author heard himself foolishly saying “and fifty”. The auctioneer banged the hammer finalizing the deal in the narrator’s favor.
It was then the narrator realized with alarm that he had no money on him. Suddenly he lost interest in fun bidding. He started thinking fast for a way out of the tight comer he had created for himself. Many small and big paintings were offered and sold out fast. The Barbizon pictures were selling fast like hot cakes for 2000 to 3000 guineas. The author was running over the names of friends, relatives, and even money lenders who might bail him out of the tight comer. He even speculated on the possibility of confessing his poverty to the staff of Christie and request them to put up the picture again for sale. Such a genuine mistake could have been rectified at the early stages of the auction. As he had enthusiastically participated in the bid for many paintings,
the auctioneers wouldn’t buy his justification for the “genuine mistake”. As bidders stood in a queue to hand in their cheques/cash to collect their paintings, the narrator stood deliberately at the end. He never felt such a fool or had colder feet all his life.
“People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are will to
remain actually fools but wait in patience for the right time
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