Do do that doodle that you do so well

He used to come here all the time with the other artists. He once offered to pay for his meal with a sketch that he had made on a napkin. It was a distorted view of one of my waiters. The head was hugely out of proportion to the body and the features were concentrated together in an unnatural way. I looked at it and shook my head.

"Monsieur", he said, "can you not believe that, even if you do not like my little offering, one day, these few letters" (he pointed to his signature) "will make this trifle worth more than a good week's takings?"

"On the contrary," I answered, "I am convinced of your place in posterity. It is just that, with this sketch, as with much of your recent work, I believe that you are content to challenge convention but not to challenge yourself. You are merely (forgive me) repeating your own iconoclasms."

He took back the napkin and looked at his sketch for a long minute before bowing his head in agreement.

He tore the napkin up and I ripped his bill in two.