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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-28 05:25:53 -0800 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-28 05:25:53 -0800 |
| commit | 33955bde6a3eb0e7cd0f86e22f06a6dc01d9f26a (patch) | |
| tree | c61e6467ac4f3e7ecef28fcd9bc65f27f98361bd /47432-h | |
| parent | 6aaeb6f9f80131465d8fc5c311d24396f761e0e8 (diff) | |
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diff --git a/47432-h/47432-h.htm b/47432-h/47432-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29e8c4b --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/47432-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5331 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + Babylon, by Grant Allen + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47432 ***</div> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BABYLON + </h1> + <h2> + By Grant Allen + </h2> + <h4> + (Cecil Power) + </h4> + <h3> + Author Of 'Fhilistia', 'Strange Stories', Etc. <br /> <br /> In Three + Volumes <br /> <br /> Vol. II. + </h3> + <h5> + With Twelve Illustrations By P. Macnab <br /> <br /> London <br /> Chatto + & Windus, Piccadilly <br /> 1885 + </h5> + <p> + <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/0005m.jpg" alt="0005m " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/0005.jpg"><i>Original</i></a> + </h5> + <p> + <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/0006m.jpg" alt="0006m " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/0006.jpg"><i>Original</i></a> + </h5> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER XV. A DOOR OPENS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER XVI. COLIN'S DEPARTURE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER XVII. A LITTLE CLOUD LIKE A MAN'S HAND. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER XVIII. HIRAM IN WONDERLAND. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER XIX. UNWARRANTABLE INTRUSION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER XX. THE STRANDS CONVERGE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER XXI. COLIN SETTLES HIMSELF. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER XXII. HIRAM GETS SETTLED. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER XXIII. RECOGNITION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER XXIV. GWEN AND HIRAM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XXV. MINNA BETTERS HERSELF. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XXVI. BREAKING UP. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XXVII. THE DEACON MAKES A GOOD END. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XXVIII. AN ART PATRON. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. A DOOR OPENS + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>nother year had + passed, and Colin, now of full age, had tired of working for Cicolari. It + was all very well, this moulding clay and carving replicas of afflicted + widows; it was all very well, this modelling busts and statuettes and + little classical compositions; it was all very well, this picking up stray + hints in a half-amateur fashion from the grand torsos of the British + Museum and a few scattered Thorwaldsens or antiques of the great country + houses; but Colin Churchill felt in his heart of hearts that all that was + not sculpture. He was growing in years now, and instead of learning he was + really working. Still, he had quite made up his mind that some day or + other he should look with his own eyes on the glories of the Vatican and + the Villa Albani. Nay, he had even begun to take lessons in Italian from + Cicolari—counting his chickens before they were hatched, Minna said—so + that he might not feel himself at a loss whenever the great and final day + of his redemption should happen to arrive. The dream of his life was to go + to Rome, and study in a real studio, and become a regular genuine + sculptor. Nothing short of that would ever satisfy him, he told Minna: and + Minna, though she trembled to think of Colin's going so far away from her—among + all those black-eyed Italian women, too—(and Colin had often told + her he admired black eyes, like hers, above all others)—poor little + Minna could not but admit sorrowfully to herself that Rome was after all + the proper school for Colin Churchill. 'The capital of art,' he repeated + to her, over and over again; must it not be the right place for him, who + she felt sure was going to be the greatest of all modern English artists? + </p> + <p> + But how was Colin ever to get there? + </p> + <p> + Going to Rome costs money; and during all these years Colin had barely + been able to save enough to buy the necessary books and materials for his + self-education. The more deeply he felt the desire to go, the more utterly + remote did the chance of going seem to become to him. 'And yet I shall go, + Minna,' he said to her almost fiercely one September evening. 'Go to Rome + I will, if I have to tramp every step of the way on foot, and reach there + barefoot. + </p> + <p> + Minna sighed and the tears came into her eyes; but strong in her faith and + pride in Colin, strong in her eager desire that Colin should give free + play to his own genius, she answered firmly with a little quiver of her + lips, 'You ought to go, Colin; and if you think it'd help you, you might + take all that's left of my savings, and I'd go back again willingly to the + parlour-maiding.' + </p> + <p> + Colin looked at the pretty little pupil-teacher with a look of profound + and unfeigned admiration. 'Minna,' he said, 'dear little woman, you're the + best and kindest-hearted girl that ever breathed; but how on earth do you + suppose I could possibly be wretch enough to take away your poor little + savings? No, no, little woman, you must keep them for yourself, and use + them for making yourself—I was going to say into a lady—but + you couldn't do that, Minna, you couldn't do that, for you were born one + already. Still, if <i>you</i> want <i>me</i> to be a real sculptor, I want + <i>you</i>, little woman, just as much to be a real educated gentlewoman.' + Colin said the last word with a certain lingering loving cadence, for it + had a good old-fashioned ring about it that recommended it well to his + simple straightforward peasant nature. + </p> + <p> + 'Well, Colin,' Minna went on, blushing a bit (for that last quiet hint + seemed half unintentionally to convey the impression that Colin really + possessed a proprietary right in her whole future), 'we must try our best + to find out some way for you to go to Rome at last in spite of everything. + You know, meanwhile, you've got good employment, Colin, and that's always + something.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah yes, Minna,' Colin answered with his youthful enthusiasm coming strong + upon him, 'I've got employment, of course; but I don't want employment; I + want opportunities, I want advice, I want instruction, I want the means of + learning, I want to perfect myself. Here in London, somehow, I feel as if + I was tied down by the leg, and panting to get loose again. I like + Cicolari, and in my own native untaught fashion I've done my best to + improve myself with him; but I feel sadly the lack of training and + competition. I should like to see how other men do their work; I should + like to pit myself against them and find out whether I really am or am not + a sculptor. Let me but just go to Rome, and I shall mould such things and + carve such statues—ah, Minna, you shall see them! And the one + delight I have in life now, Minna, is to get out like this, and talk it + over with you, and tell you what I mean to do when once I get at it. For + you can sympathise with me more than any of them, little woman. I feel + that you can realise my longing to do good work—the work I know I'm + fitted for—a thousand times better than a mere decent respectable + marble-hacking workman like Cicolari.' + </p> + <p> + Poor little Minna! She sighed again, and her heart beat harder than ever. + It was such a privilege for her to feel that Colin Churchill, with all + that great future looming large before his young imagination, still loved + her best to sympathise with him in his artistic yearnings. She pressed his + arm a little, in her sweet simplicity, but she said nothing. + </p> + <p> + 'You see,' Colin went on, musingly, for he liked to talk it all over again + and again with Minna, 'art doesn't all come by nature, Minna, as most + people fancy; it wants such a lot of teaching. Of course, you've got to + have the thing born in you to begin with; but you might be born a + Pheidias, it's my belief, Minna, and yet, without teaching, the merest + wooden blockhead at the Academy schools would beat you hollow as far as + technicalities went. Look at the dissecting now! If I hadn't saved that + five pounds that Sir William gave me for carving the group on the + mantelpiece, I should never have known anything at all about anatomy. But + just going in my spare time for those six months to the anatomy class at + the University College Hospital—why, it gave me quite a different + idea altogether about the human figure. It showed me how to clothe my bare + skeletons, Minna.' + </p> + <p> + 'I never could bear your going and doing that horrible dissection, all the + same, Colin,' Minna said with a chilly little shudder. 'It's so dreadful, + you know, cutting up dead bodies and all that—just as bad as if you + were going to be a medical student.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, but no sculpture worth calling sculpture's possible without it, I + tell you, Minna,' Colin answered warmly. 'Why, Michael Angelo, you know—Michael + Angelo was a regular downright out-and-out anatomist. It can't be wrong to + do like Michael Angelo, now can it? That was a man, Michael Angelo! And + Leonardo, too, he was an awful stickler for anatomy as well, Leonardo was. + Why, every great sculptor and every great painter that ever I've read of, + Minna, had to study anatomy. I suppose the Greeks did it, even; yes, I'm + sure the Greeks did it, for just look at the legs of the Discobolus and + the arms of the Theseus; how the muscles in them show the knowledge of + anatomy in the old sculptors. Oh yes, Minna, I'm quite sure the Greeks did + it. And the Greeks! well, the Greeks, you know, they were really even + greater, I do believe, than Michael Angelo.' + </p> + <p> + 'Well, Colin,' Minna answered, with the charming critical confidence of + love and youth and inexperience, 'I've seen all your engravings of images + by Michael Angelo, and I've seen the broken-nosed Theseus, don't you call + him, at the Museum, and I've seen all the things you've sent me to look at + in the South Kensington; and it's my belief, Rome or no Rome, that there + isn't one of them fit to hold a candle any day to your Cephalus and + Aurora, that you made when you first came to London; and I should say so + if the whole Royal Academy was to come up in a lump and declare your + figures weren't worth anything.' + </p> + <p> + A week or two passed, and Minna, busy at staid Miss Woollacott's with her + little pupils, saw no more chance than ever, though she turned it over + often in her mind, of helping Colin on his way to Rome. Indeed, the North + London Birkbeck Girls' School was hardly the place where one might + naturally expect to find opportunities arise of such a nature. But one + morning, in the teachers' room, Minna happened to pick up the 'Times,' + which lay upon the table, and, looking over it, her eye fell casually upon + an advertisement which at first sight would hardly have attracted her + attention at all, but for the word Rome printed in it in small capitals. + It was merely one of the ordinary servants' advertisements, lumped + together promiscuously under the head of Wanted. + </p> + <p> + 'As Valet, to go abroad (to Rome), a young man, not exceeding 30. Good + wages. Some knowledge of Italian would be a recommendation. Apply to Sir + Henry Wilberforce, 27 Ockenden Square, S.W.' + </p> + <p> + Minna laid down the paper with a sickening feeling at her heart: she + thought she saw in it just a vague chance by which Colin could manage to + get to Rome and begin his education as a sculptor. After all, it was the + getting there that was the great difficulty. Colin had ten or eleven + pounds put away, she knew, and though that would barely suffice to pay the + railway fare on the humblest scale, yet it would be quite a little fortune + to go on upon when once he got there. Minna knew from her own experience + how far ten pounds will go for a careful person with due economy. Now, if + only Colin would consent to take this place as valet—and Minna knew + that he had long ago learnt a valet's duties at the old vicar's—he + might get his passage paid to Rome for him, and whenever this Sir Henry + Wilberforce got tired of him, or was coming away, or other reasonable + cause occurred, Colin might leave the place and employ all his little + savings in getting himself some scraps of a sculptor's education at Rome. + Wild as all this would seem to most people who are accustomed to count + money in terms of hundreds, it didn't sound at all wild to poor little + Minna, and it wouldn't have sounded so to Colin Churchill. + </p> + <p> + But should she tell Colin anything about it? Could she bear to tell him? + Let him go away from her across the sea to that dim far Italy of his own + accord, if he liked; it was his fortune, his chance in life, his natural + place; she knew it; but why should she, Minna Wroe, the London + pupil-teacher, the Wootton fisherman's daughter—why should she go + out of her way to send him so far from her, to banish herself from his + presence, to run the risk of finally losing him altogether? 'After all,' + she thought, 'perhaps I oughtn't to tell him. He might be angry at it. He + might think I shouldn't have looked upon such a place as at all good + enough for him. He's a sculptor, not a servant; and I got to be a + schoolmistress myself on purpose so as to make myself something like equal + to him. It wouldn't be right of me to go proposing to him that he should + take now to brushing coats and laying out shirt studs again, when he ought + to be sculpturing a statue a great deal more beautiful than those great + stupid, bloated, thick-legged Michael Angelos. I dare say the wisest thing + for me to do would be to say nothing at all to him about it.' + </p> + <p> + 'Miss Wroe,' a small red-haired pupil called out, popping her shock head + through the half-open doorway, and shouting out her message in her loudest + London accent, 'if yer please, ye're ten minutes late for the fourth + junerer, and Miss Woollacott, she says, will yer please come at once, and + not keep the third junerer waitin' any longer.' + </p> + <p> + Minna ran off hurriedly to her class, and tried to forget her troubles + about Colin forthwith in the occult mysteries of the agreement of a + relative with its antecedent. + </p> + <p> + But when she got back to Miss Woollacott's lodgings at Kentish Town that + evening, and had had her usual supper of bread and cheese and a glass of + water—Miss Woollacott took beer, but Minna as a minor was restricted + to the beverage of nature—and had heard prayers read, and had gone + up by herself to her small bare bedroom, she sat down on the bedside all + alone, and cried a little, and thought it all out, and tried hard to come + to the right decision. It would be very sad indeed to lose Colin; she + could scarcely bear that; and yet she knew that it was for Colin's good; + and what was for Colin's good was surely for her own good too in the + long-run. Well, was it? that was the question. Of course, she would dearly + love for Colin to go to Rome, and learn to be a real sculptor, and get + fame and glory, and come back a greater man than the vicar himself—almost + as great, indeed, as the Earl of Beaminster. But there were dangers in it, + too. Out of sight, out of mind; and it was a long way to Italy. Perhaps + when Colin got there he would see some pretty Italian girl or some grand + fine lady, and fall in love with her, and forget at once all about his + poor little Minna. Ah, no, it wasn't altogether for Minna's good, perhaps, + that Colin should go to Italy. + </p> + <p> + She sat there so long, ruminating about it on her bedside without + undressing, that Miss Woollacott, who always looked under the door to see + if the light was out and prevent waste of the candles, called out in quite + a sharp voice, 'Minna Wroe, how very long you are undressing!' And then + she blew out the candle in a hurry, and undressed in the dark, and jumped + into bed hastily, and covered her head up with the bedclothes, and had a + good cry, very silently; and after that she felt a little better. But + still she couldn't go to sleep, thinking about how very hard it would be + to lose Colin. Oh, no, she couldn't bear to tell him; she wouldn't tell + him; it wasn't at all likely the place would suit him; and if he wanted to + go to Rome and leave her, he must just go and find a way for himself; and + so that was all about it. + </p> + <p> + And then a sudden glow of shame came over Minna's cheeks, as she lay there + in the dark on the little iron bedstead, to think that she should have + been so untrue for a single moment to her better self and to Colin's best + and highest interests. She <i>loved</i> Colin! yes, she <i>loved</i> him! + from her childhood onward, he had been her one dream and romance and + ideal! She knew Colin could make things lovelier than any other man on + earth had ever yet imagined; and she knew she ought to do her best to put + him in the way of fulfilling his own truest and purest instincts. Should + she selfishly keep him here in England, when it was only at Rome that he + could get the best instruction? Should she cramp his genius and clip his + wings, merely in order that he mightn't fly away too far from her? Oh, it + was wicked of her, downright wicked of her, to wish not to tell him. Come + of it what might, she must go round and see Colin the very next day, and + let him decide for himself about that dreadful upsetting advertisement. + And having at last arrived at this conclusion, Minna covered her head a + second time with the counterpane, had another good cry, just to relieve + her conscience, and then sank off into a troubled sleep from which she + only woke again at the second bell next morning. + </p> + <p> + All that day she taught with the dreadful advertisement weighing heavily + on her mind, and interposing itself terribly between her and the rule of + three, or the names and dates of the Anglo-Saxon sovereigns. She couldn't + for the life of her remember whether Ethel-bald came before or after + Ethelwulf; and she stumbled horribly over the question whether <i>this</i> + was a personal or a demonstrative pronoun. But when the evening came, she + got leave from Miss Woollacott to go round and see her cousin (a + designation which was strictly correct in some remote sense, for Minna's + mother and Cohn's father were in some way related), and she almost ran the + whole way to the Marylebone Road to catch Colin just before he went away + for the night from Cicolari's. + </p> + <p> + When Colin saw the advertisement, and heard Minna's suggestion, he turned + it over a good many times in his own mind, and seemed by no means + disinclined to try the chances of it. 'It's only a very small chance, of + course, Minna,' he said dubitatively, 'but at any rate it's worth trying. + The great thing against me is that I haven't been anything in that line + for so very long, and I can't get any character, except from Cicolari. The + one thing in my favour is that I know a little Italian. I don't suppose + there are many young men of the sort who go to be valets who know Italian. + Anyhow, I'll try it. It'll be a dreadful thing if I get it, having to + leave you for so long, Minna,' and Minna's cheek brightened at that + passing recognition of her prescriptive claim upon him; 'but it'll only be + for a year or two; and when I come back, little woman, I shall come back + very different from what I go, and then, Minna—why, then, we shall + see what we shall see!' And Colin stooped to kiss the little ripe lips + that pretended to evade him (Minna hadn't got over that point of etiquette + yet), and held the small brown face tight between his hands, so that Minna + couldn't manage to get it away, though she struggled, as in duty bound, + her very hardest. + </p> + <p> + So early next day Colin put on his best Sunday clothes—and very + handsome and gentlemanly he looked in them too—and walked off to + Ockenden Square, S.W., in search of Sir Henry Wilberforce. + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry was a tall, spare, wizened-up old gentleman, with scanty grey + hair, carefully brushed so as to cover the largest possible area with the + thinnest possible layer. He was sitting in the dining-room after breakfast + when Colin called; and Colin was shown in by the footman as an ordinary + visitor. 'What name?' the man asked, as he ushered him from the front + door. + </p> + <p> + 'Colin Churchill.' + </p> + <p> + 'Mr. Colin Churchill!' the man said, as Colin walked into the dining-room. + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry stared and rose to greet him with hand extended. 'Though upon my + word,' he thought to himself, 'who the deuce Mr. Colin Churchill may be, + I'm sure I haven't the faintest conception.' + </p> + <p> + This was decidedly awkward. Colin felt hot and uncomfortable; it began to + dawn upon him that in his best Sunday clothes he looked perhaps a trifle + <i>too</i> gentlemanly. But he managed to keep at a respectful distance, + and Sir Henry, not finding his visitor respond to the warmth of his + proposed reception, dropped his hand quietly and waited for Colin to + introduce his business. + </p> + <p> + 'I beg your pardon, sir,' Colin said a little uncomfortably—he began + to feel, now, how far he had left behind the Dook's early lessons in + manners—'I—I've come about your advertisement for a valet. I—I've + come, in fact, to apply for the situation.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry glanced at him curiously. 'The deuce you have,' he said, + dropping back chillily into his easy chair, and surveying Colin over from + head to foot with an icy scrutiny. 'You've come to apply for the + situation! Why, Wilkinson said, “<i>Mr</i>. Colin Churchill.'” 'He mistook + my business, I suppose,' Colin answered quietly, but with some hesitation. + It somehow struck him already that he would find it hard to drop back once + more into the long-forgotten position of a valet. 'I came to ask whether + it was likely I would suit you. I can speak Italian.' + </p> + <p> + That was his trump card, in fact, and he thought it best to play it + quickly. + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry looked at him again. 'Oh, you can speak Italian. Well, that's + good as far as it goes; but how much Italian can you speak, that's the + question?' And he added a few words in the best Tuscan he could muster up, + to test the applicant's exact acquirements. + </p> + <p> + Colin answered him more quickly and idiomatically than Sir Henry had + expected. In fact, Cicolari's lessons had been sound and practical. Sir + Henry kept up the conversation, still in Italian, for a few minutes, and + then, being quite satisfied on that score, returned with a better grace to + his native English. 'Have you been out as a valet before?' he asked. + </p> + <p> + 'Not for some years, sir.' Colin replied frankly. 'I went out to service + at first, and was page and valet to a clergyman in Dorsetshire—Mr. + Howard-Bussell, of Wootton Mandeville——-' + </p> + <p> + 'Knew him well,' Sir Henry repeated to himself reflectively. 'Old + Howard-Russell of Wootton Mandeville! Dead these five years. Knew him + well, the selfish old pig; as conceited, self-opinionated an old fool as + ever lived in all England. He declared my undoubted Pinturicchio was only + a Giovanni do Spagno. Whereas it's really the only quite indubitable + Pinturiccliio in a private gallery anywhere at all outside Italy.' + </p> + <p> + 'Except the St. Sebastian at Knowle, of course,' Colin put in, innocently. + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry turned round and stared at him again. 'Except the St. Sebastian + at Knowle,' he echoed coldly. 'Except the St. Sebastian at Knowle, no + doubt. But how the deuce did he come to know the St. Sebastian at Knowle + was a Pinturiccliio, I wonder? Anyhow, it shows he's lived in very decent + places. Well, and so you used to be with old Mr. Howard-Russell, did you? + And since then—since then—what have you been doing?' + </p> + <p> + 'At present, sir,' Cohn went on, 'I'm working as a marble-cutter; but + circumstances make me wish to go back again to service now, and as I + happen to know Italian, I thought perhaps your place might suit me.' + </p> + <p> + 'No doubt, no doubt. I dare say it would. But the question is, would you + suit <i>me</i>, don't you see? A marble-cutter, he says—a + marble-cutter! How deuced singular! Have you got a character?' + </p> + <p> + 'I could get one from Mr. Russell's friends, I should think, sir; and of + course my present employer would speak for my honesty and so forth.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry asked him a few more questions, and then seemed to be turning + the matter over in his own mind a little. 'The Italian,' he said, speaking + to himself—for he had a habit that way, 'the Italian's the great + thing. I've made up my mind I'll never go to Rome again with a valet who + doesn't speak Italian. Dobbs was impossible, quite impossible. This young + man has some Italian, but can he valet, I wonder? Here, you! come into my + bedroom, and let me see what you can do in the way of your duties.' + </p> + <p> + Colin followed him upstairs, and, being put through his paces as a + body-servant, got through the examination with decent credit. Next came + the question of wages and so forth, and finally the announcement that Sir + Henry meant to start for Rome early in October. + </p> + <p> + 'Well, he's a very fair-spoken young man,' Sir Henry said at last, 'and he + knows Italian. But it's devilish odd his being a marble-cutter. However, + I'll try him. I'll write to your master, Churchill—what's his name—I'll + write to him and enquire about you.' + </p> + <p> + Colin gave him Cicolari's name and address, and Sir Henry noted them + deliberately in his pocket-book. 'Very good,' he said; 'I'll write and ask + about your character, and if everything's all correct, I shall let you + know and engage you.' + </p> + <p> + Colin found it rather hard to answer 'Thank you, sir;' but it was for Rome + and art, and he managed to say it. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. COLIN'S DEPARTURE. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">W</span>hen Minna learnt + from Colin that he had finally accepted Sir Henry Wilberforce's situation, + her heart was very heavy. She wanted her old friend to do everything that + would make him into a great sculptor, of course; but still, say what you + will about it, it's very hard to have your one interest in life taken far + away from you, and to be left utterly alone and self-contained in the + great dreary world of London. Have you ever reflected, dear sir or madam, + how terrible is the isolation of a girl in Minna Wroe's position—nay, + for the matter of that, of your own housemaid, of cook, or parlour-maid, + in that vast, unsympathetic, human ant-hill? Think, for a moment, of the + warm human heart within her, suddenly cramped and turned in upon itself by + the unspeakable strangeness of everything around her. She has come up from + the country, doubtless, to take a 'better' place in London, and there she + is thrown by pure chance into one situation or another, with two or three + more miscellaneous girls from other shires, having other friends and other + interests; and from day to day she toils on, practically alone, among so + many unknown, or but officially known, and irresponsive faces. Is it any + wonder that, under such circumstances, she looks about her anxiously for + some living object round which to twine the tendrils of her better nature?—it + may be only a bird, or a cat, or a lap-dog; it may be Bob the postman or + policeman Jenkins. We laugh about her young man, whom we envisage to + ourselves simply as a hulking fellow and a domestic nuisance; we never + reflect that to <i>her</i> all the interest and sympathy of life is + concentrated and focussed upon that one single shadowy follower. He may be + as uninteresting a slip of a plough-boy, turned driver of a London railway + van, as ever was seen in this realm of England; or he may be as full of + artistic aspiration and beautiful imaginings as Colin Churchill; but to + her it is all the same; he is her one friend and confidant and social + environment; he represents in her eyes universal society; he is the + solitary unit who can play upon the full gamut of that many-toned and + exquisitely modulated musical instrument, her inherited social nature. + Take him away, and what is there left of her?—a mere automatic human + machine for making beds or grinding out arithmetic for junior classes. + </p> + <p> + Has not humanity rightly pitched, by common consent, for the main theme of + all its verse and all its literature, upon this one universal passion, + which, for a few short years at least, tinges with true romance and + unspoken poetry even the simplest and most commonplace souls? + </p> + <p> + Colin felt the sadness of parting, too, but by no means so acutely as + Minna. The door of fame was opening at last before him; Rome was looming + large upon the mental horizon; dreams in marble were crystallising + themselves down into future actuality; and in the near fulfilment of his + life-long hopes, it was hardly to be expected that he should take the + parting to heart so seriously as the little pupil-teacher herself had + taken it. Besides, time, in anticipation at least, never looks nearly so + long to men as to women. Don't we all know that a woman will cry her eyes + out about a few months' absence, which to a man seems hardly worth making + a fuss about? 'It's only for three or four years, you know, Minna,' Colin + said, as lightly as though three or four years were absolutely nothing; + and ah me, how long they looked to poor, lonely, heartsick little Minna! + She felt almost inclined to give up this up-hill work of teaching and + self-education altogether, and return once more to the old fisherman's + cottage away down at Wootton Mandeville. There at least she would have + some human sympathies and interests to comfort and sustain her. + </p> + <p> + But Colin had lots of work to do, getting himself ready for his great + start in life; and he hardly entered to the full into little Minna's fears + and troubles. He had to refurbish his entire wardrobe on a scale suited to + a gentleman's servant—Minna was working hard in all her spare hours + at making new shirts for him or mending old ones: he had to complete + arrangements of all sorts for his eventful journey; and he had to select + among his books and drawings which ones should accompany him upon his + journey to Rome, and which should be consigned to the omnivorous + secondhand book-stall. Milton and Shelley and Bohn's 'Æschylus' he + certainly couldn't do without; they were an integral part of his + stock-in-trade as a sculptor, and to have left them behind would have been + an irreparable error; but the old dog-eared 'Euripides' must go, and the + other English translations from the classics would have made his box quite + too heavy for Sir Henry to pay excess upon at Continental rates—so + Cicolari told him. Still, the Flaxman plates must be got in somewhere, + even if Shelley himself had to give way to them; and so must his own + designs for his unexecuted statues, those mainstays of his future artistic + career. Minna helped him to choose and pack them all, and she was round so + often at Cicolari's in the evening that prim Miss Woollacott said somewhat + sharply at last, 'It seems to me a very good thing, Minna Wroe, that this + cousin of yours is going to Rome at last, as you tell me; for even though + he's your only relation in London, I don't think it's quite proper or + necessary for you to be round at his lodgings every other evening.' Colin + took a few lessons, too, in his future duties, from a gentleman's + gentleman in Regent's Park. It wasn't a pleasant thing to do, and he + sighed as he put away his books and sketches, and went out to receive his + practical instruction from that very supercilious and elegant person; but + it had to be done, and so he did it. Colin didn't care particularly for + associating with the gentleman's gentleman; indeed, he was beginning + slowly to realise now how wide a gulf separated the Colin Churchill of the + Marylebone Road from the little Colin Churchill of Wootton Mande-ville. He + had lived so much by himself since he came to London, he had seen so + little of anybody except Minna and Cicolari, and he had been so entirely + devoted to art and study, that he had never stopped to gauge his own + progress before, and therefore had never fully felt in his own mind how + great was the transformation that had insensibly come over him. Without + knowing it himself, he had slowly developed from a gentleman's servant + into an artist and a gentleman. And now he was being forced by accident or + fate to take upon him once more the position of an ordinary valet. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, during the month that intervened between Colin's engagement by Sir + Henry Wilberforce and his start for Rome, he wrote to his brother Sam over + in America; and, shadowy memory as Sam had long since become to him, + though he told him of his projected trip, and enlarged upon his hopes of + attaining to the pinnacle of art in Rome, he was so ashamed of his mode of + getting there that he said nothing at all upon that point, but just glided + easily over the questions of means and method. He didn't want his thriving + brother in America to know that he was going to Rome, with all his high + ideals and beautiful dreams, in no better position than as an old man's + valet. + </p> + <p> + At last the slow month wore itself away gradually for Colin—how + swift and short it seemed to Minna!—and the day came when he was + really to set out for Paris, on his way to Italy. He was to start with his + new master from Charing Cross station, and he had taken possession of his + post by anticipation a couple of days earlier. Minna mustn't be at the + station to see him off, of course; that would be unofficial; and if + servants indulge in such doubtful luxuries as sweethearts, they must at + least take care to meet them at some seemly time or season; but at any + rate she could say good-bye to him the evening before, and that was always + something. Would he propose to her this time, at last, Minna wondered, or + would he go away for that long, long journey, and leave her as much in + doubt as ever as to whether he really did or didn't love her? + </p> + <p> + 'It won't be for long, you see, little woman,' Colin said, kissing away + her tears in Regent's Park, as well as he was able; 'it won't be for long, + Minna; and then, when we meet again, I shall have come back a real + sculptor. What a delightful meeting we shall have, Minna, and how awfully + learned and clever you'll have got by that time! I shall be half afraid to + talk to you. But you'll write to me every week, won't you, little woman? + You'll promise me that? You <i>must</i> promise me to write to me every + week, or at the very least every fortnight.' + </p> + <p> + It was some little crumb of comfort to Minna that he wanted her to write + to him so often. That showed at any rate that he really cared for her just + ever such a tiny bit. She wiped her eyes again as she answered, 'Yes, + Colin; I'll take great care never to miss writing to you.' + </p> + <p> + 'That's right, little woman. And look here, you mustn't mind my giving you + them; there's stamps enough for Italy to last you for a whole twelvemonth—fifty-two + of them, Minna, so that it won't ever be any expense to you; and when + those are gone, I'll send you some others.' + </p> + <p> + 'Thank you, Colin,' Minna said, taking them quite simply and naturally. + 'And you'll write to me, too, won't you, Colin?' + </p> + <p> + 'My dear Minna! Why, of course I will. Who else on earth have I got to + write to?' + </p> + <p> + 'And you won't forget me, Colin?' + </p> + <p> + 'Forget you, Minna! If ever I forget you, may my right hand forget her + cunning—and what more dreadful thing could a sculptor say by way of + an imprecation than that, now!' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, Colin, don't! Don't say so! Suppose it was to come true, you know!' + </p> + <p> + 'But I don't mean to forget you, Minna; so it won't come true. Little + woman, I shall think of you always, and have your dear little gipsy face + for ever before me. And now, Minna, this time we must really say good-bye. + I'm out beyond my time already. Just one more; thank you, darling. + Goodbye, good-bye, Minna. Good-bye, dearest. One more. God bless you!' + </p> + <p> + 'Good-bye, Colin. Good-bye, good-bye. Oh, Colin, my heart is breaking.' + </p> + <p> + And when that night Minna lay awake in her own bare small room at prim + Miss Woollacott's, she thought it all over once more, and argued the pros + and cons of the whole question deliberately to herself with much + trepidation. 'He called me “dearest,” she thought in her sad little mind, + 'and he said he'd never forget me; that looks very much as if he really + loved me: but, then, he never asked me whether I loved him or not, and he + never proposed to me—no, I'm quite sure he never proposed to me. I + should have felt so much easier in my own mind if only before he went away + he'd properly proposed to me!' And then she covered her head with the + bed-clothes once more, and sobbed herself to sleep, to dream of Colin. + </p> + <p> + The very next evening, Colin was at Paris. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. A LITTLE CLOUD LIKE A MAN'S HAND. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>t the Gare de + Lyon, Colin put his master safely into his <i>coupe-lit</i>, and then + wandered along the train looking out for a carriage into which he might + install himself comfortably for the long journey. All the carriages, as on + all French express trains, were first-class; and Colin soon picked one out + for himself, with a vacant place next the window. He jumped in and took + his seat; and in two minutes more the train was off, and he found himself, + at last, beyond the possibility of a doubt, on his way to Rome. + </p> + <p> + Rome, Rome, Rome! how the very name seemed to bound and thrill through + Colin Churchill's inmost nature! He looked at the little book of coupon + tickets which his master had given him; yes, there it was, as clear as + daylight, 'Paris, P.L.M., à Rome;' not a doubt about it. Rome, Rome, Rome! + It had seemed a dream, a fancy, hitherto; and now it was just going to be + converted into an actual living reality. He could hardly believe even now + that he would ever get there. Would there be an accident at the summit + level of the Mont Cenis tunnel, to prevent his ever reaching the goal of + his ambition? It almost seemed as if there must be some hitch somewhere, + for the idea of actually getting to Rome—that Rome that Cicolari had + long ago told him was the capital of art—seemed too glorious and + magnificent to be really true, for Colin Churchill. + </p> + <p> + For a while, the delightful exhilaration of knowing that that very + carriage in which he sat was actually going straight through to Rome left + him little room to notice the faces or personalities of his + fellow-travellers. But as they gradually got well outside the Paris ring, + and launched into the country towards Fontainebleau, Colin had leisure to + look about him and take stock of the companions he was to have on his way + southward. Three of them were Frenchmen only going to Lyon and Marseille—<i>only</i>, + Colin thought to himself, naively, for he despised anybody now who was + bound for anywhere on earth save the city of Michael Angelo and Canova and + Thorwaldsen; but the other two were bound, by the labels on their luggage, + for Rome itself. One of them was a tall military-looking gentleman, with a + grizzled grey moustache, a Colonel somebody, the hat-box said, but the + name was covered by a label; the other, apparently his daughter, was a + handsome girl of about twenty, largely built and selfpossessed, like a + woman who has lived much in the world from her childhood upward. Colin saw + at once, that, unlike little Minna (who had essentially a painter's face + and figure), this graceful full-formed woman was entirely and exquisitely + statuesque. The very pose of her arm upon the slight ledge of the window + as she leaned out to look at the country was instinct with plastic + capabilities. Colin, with his professional interest always uppermost, felt + a perfect longing to have up a batch of clay forthwith and model it then + and there upon the spot. He watched each new movement and posture so + closely, in fact (of course in his capacity as a sculptor only), that the + girl herself noticed his evident admiration, and took it sedately like a + woman of the world. She didn't blush and shrink away timidly, as Minna + would have done under the same circumstances (though her skin was many + shades lighter than Minna's rich brunette complexion, and would have shown + the faintest suspicion of a blush, had one been present, far more + readily); she merely observed and accepted Colin's silent tribute of + admiration as her natural due. It made her just a trifle more + self-conscious, perhaps, but that was all; indeed, one could hardly say + whether even so the somewhat studied attitudes she seemed to be taking up + were not really the ones which by long use had become the easiest for her. + There are some beautiful women so accustomed to displaying their beauty to + the best advantage that they can't even throw themselves down on a sofa in + their own bedrooms without instinctively and automatically assuming a + graceful position for all their limbs. + </p> + <p> + After a while, they fell into a conversation; and Colin, who was the most + innocent and unartificial of men, was amused to find that even he, on the + spur of the moment, had arrived at a very obvious, worldly-wise principle + upon this subject. Wishing to get into a talk with the daughter, he felt + half-unconsciously that it wouldn't do to begin by addressing her + outright, but that he should first, with seeming guilelessness, attack her + father. A man who is travelling with a pretty girl, in whatever relation, + doesn't like you to begin an acquaintanceship of travel by speaking to her + first; he resents your intrusion, and considers you have no right to talk + to ladies under his escort. But when you begin by addressing himself, that + is quite another matter; lured on by his quiet good sense, or his + conversational powers, or his profound knowledge, or whatever else it is + that he specially prides himself upon, you are soon launched upon general + topics, and then the ladies of the party naturally chime in after a few + minutes. To start by addressing him is a compliment to his intelligence or + his social qualities; to start by addressing his companion is a distinct + slight to himself, at the same time that it displays your own cards far + too openly. You can convert him at once either into a valuable ally or + into an enemy and a jealous guardian. Of course every other man feels this + from his teens; but Colin hadn't yet mixed much in the world, and he + smiled to himself at his acumen in discovering it at all on the first + trial. + </p> + <p> + 'Beautifully wooded country about here,' he said at the earliest + opportunity the military gentleman gave him by laying down his <i>Times</i> + (even in France your Englishman will stick to his paper). 'Not like most + of France; so green and fresh-looking. This is Millet's country, you know; + he always works about the outskirts of Fontainebleau.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, indeed, does he?' the colonel responded, having only a very vague + idea floating through his mind that Millet or Millais or something of the + sort was the name of some painter fellow or other he had somewhere heard + about. 'He works about Fontainebleau, does he, now? Dear me! How very + interesting!' + </p> + <p> + Whenever people dismiss a subject from their minds by saying 'How very + interesting!' you know at once they really mean that it doesn't interest + them in the slightest degree, and they don't want to be bothered by + hearing anything more about it; but Colin's observations upon mankind and + the niceties of the English language had not yet carried him to this point + of interpretative science, so he took the colonel literally at his word, + and went on enthusiastically (for he was a great admirer of the peasant + painter whose story was so like his own), 'Yes, he works at Fontainebleau. + It was here, you know, that he painted his Angelus. Have you ever seen the + Angelus?' + </p> + <p> + The colonel fidgeted about in his seat uneasily, and fumbled in a nervous + way with the corner of the <i>Times</i>. 'The Angelus!' he repeated, + meditatively. 'Ah, yes, the Angelus. Gwen, my dear, have we seen Mr. + Millet's Angelus P Was it in the Academy?' + </p> + <p> + 'No, papa,' Gwen answered, smiling sweetly and composedly. 'We haven't + seen it, and it wasn't in the Academy. M. Millet is the <i>French</i> + painter, you remember, the painter who wears <i>sabots</i>. So + delightfully romantic, isn't it,' turning to Colin, 'to be a great painter + and yet still to wear <i>sabots?</i>' This was a very cleverly delivered + sentence of Miss Gwen's, for it was intended first to show that she at + least, if not her father, knew who the unknown young artist was talking + about (Gwen jumped readily at the conclusion that Colin <i>was</i> an + artist), and secondly, to exonerate her papa from culpable ignorance in + the artist's eyes by gently suggesting that a slight confusion of names + sufficiently accounted for his obvious blunder. But it was also, quite + unintentionally, delivered point-blank at Colin Churchill's tenderest + susceptibilities. This grand young lady, then, so calm and selfpossessed, + could sympathise with an artist who had risen, and who, even in the days + of his comparative prosperity, still wore <i>sabots</i>. To be sure, Colin + didn't exactly know what <i>sabots</i> were (perhaps the blue blouses + which he saw all the French workmen were wearing?), for he was still + innocent of all languages but his own, unless one excepts the Italian he + had picked up in anticipation from Cicolari; but he guessed at least it + was some kind of dress supposed to mark Millet's peasant origin, and that + was quite enough for him. The grand young lady did not despise an artist + who had been born in the ranks of the people. + </p> + <p> + 'Yes,' he said warmly, 'it's very noble of him. Noble not merely that he + has risen to paint such pictures as the Gleaners and the Angelus, but that + he isn't ashamed now to own the peasant people he has originally sprung + from.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, ah, certainly,' the colonel replied in a short sharp voice, though + the remark was hardly addressed to him. 'Very creditable of the young man, + indeed, not to be ashamed of his humble origin. Very creditable. Very + creditable. Gwen, my dear, would you like to see the paper?' + </p> + <p> + 'No, thank you, papa,' Gwen answered with another charming smile (fine + teeth, too, by Jingo). 'You know I never care to read in a train in + motion. Yes, quite a romantic story, this of Millet's; and I believe even + now he's horribly poor, isn't he? he doesn't sell his pictures.' + </p> + <p> + 'The highest art,' Colin said quietly, 'seldom meets with real recognition + during the lifetime of the artist.' + </p> + <p> + 'You're a painter yourself?' asked Gwen, looking up at the handsome young + man with close interest. + </p> + <p> + 'Not a painter; a sculptor; and I'm going to Rome to perfect myself in my + art.' + </p> + <p> + 'A sculptor—to Rome!' Gwen repeated to herself. 'Oh, how nice! Why, + we're going to Rome, too, and we shall be able to go all the way together. + I'm so glad, for I'm longing to be told all about art and artists.' + </p> + <p> + Colin smiled. 'You're fond of art, then?' he asked simply. + </p> + <p> + 'Fond of it is exactly the word,' Gwen answered. 'I know very little about + it; much less than I should like to do; but I'm intensely interested in + it. And a sculptor, too! Do you know, I've often met lots of painters, but + I never before met a sculptor.' + </p> + <p> + 'The loss has been theirs,' Colin put in with professional gravity. 'You + would make a splendid model.' + </p> + <p> + The young man said it in the innocence of his heart, thinking only what a + grand bust of a Semiramis or an Artemisia one might have moulded from Miss + Gwen's full womanly face and figure; but the observation made the colonel + shudder with awe and astonishment on his padded cushions. 'Gwen, my dear,' + he said, feebly interposing for the second time, 'hadn't you better change + places with me? The draught from the window will be too much for you, I'm + afraid.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh dear no, thank you, papa; not at all. I haven't been roasted, you + know, for twenty years in the North-West Provinces, till every little + breath of air chills me and nips me like a hothouse flower. So you think I + would make a good model, do you? Well, that now I call a real compliment, + because of course you regard me dispassionately from a sculpturesque point + of view. I've been told that a great many faces do quite well enough to + paint, but that only very few features are regular and calm enough to be + worth a sculptor's notice. Is that so, now?' + </p> + <p> + 'It is,' Colin answered, looking straight into her beautiful bold face. + 'For example, some gipsy-looking girls, who are very pretty indeed with + their brown skins and bright black eyes, and who make exceedingly taking + pictures—Esthers, and Cleopatras, and so forth, you know—are + quite useless from the plastic point of view: their good looks depend too + much upon colour and upon passing shades of expression, while sculpture of + course demands that the features should be almost faultlessly perfect and + regular in absolute repose.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel looked uneasy again, and pulled up his collar nervously. 'Very + fine occupation indeed, a sculptor's,' he edged in sideways. 'Delightful + faculty to be able to do the living marble and all that kind of thing; + very delightful, really.' The colonel was always equal to a transparent + platitude upon every occasion, and contributed very little else to the + general conversation at any time. + </p> + <p> + 'And so delightful, too, to hear an artist talk about his art,' Gwen added + with a touch of genuine enthusiasm. 'Do you know, I think I should love to + be a sculptor. I should love even to go about and see the studios, and + watch the beautiful things growing under your hands. I should love to have + my bust taken, just so as to get to know how you do it all. It must be so + lovely to see the shape forming itself slowly out of a raw block of + marble.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, you know, we don't do it all in the marble, at first,' Colin said + quickly. 'It's rather dirty work, the first modelling. If you come into a + sculptor's studio when he's working in the clay, you'll find him all + daubed over with bits of mud, just like a common labourer.' + </p> + <p> + 'How very unpleasant!' said the colonel coldly. 'Hardly seems the sort of + profession fit for a gentleman—now does it?' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, papa, how can you be so dreadful! Why, it's just beautiful. I should + love to see it all. I think in some ways sculpture's the very finest and + noblest art of all—finer and nobler even than painting.' + </p> + <p> + 'The Greeks thought so,' Colin assented with quiet assurance; 'and they + say Michael Angelo thought so too. Perhaps I may be prejudiced, but I + certainly think so myself. There's a purity about sculpture which you + don't get about painting or any other alternative form of art. In painting + you may admit what is ugly—sparingly, to be sure, but still you may + admit it. In sculpture everything must be beautiful. Beauty of pure form, + without the accidental aid of colour, is what we aim at. Every limb must + be in perfect proportion, every feature in exquisite harmony. Any + deformity, any weakness of outline, any mere ungracefulness, you see, + militates against that perfection of shape to which sculpture entirely + devotes itself. The coldness, hardness, and whiteness of marble make it + appeal only to the highest taste; its rigorous self-abnegation in refusing + the aid of colour gives it a special claim in the eyes of the purest and + truest judges.' + </p> + <p> + 'Then you don't like tinted statues?' the colonel put it. (He knew his + ground here, for had he not seen Gibson's Venus?) 'Neither do I. I always + thought Gibson made a great mistake there.' + </p> + <p> + 'Gibson was a very great artist,' Colin replied, curling his lip almost + disdainfully, for he felt the absurdity of the colonel's glibness in + condemning the noblest of modern English sculptors off-hand in this easy, + mock-critical fashion. 'Gibson was a very great artist, but I think his + Venus was perhaps a step in the wrong direction for all that. Its quite + true that the Greeks tinted their statues——' + </p> + <p> + 'Bless my soul, you don't mean to say so! the colonel ejaculated + parenthetically. + </p> + <p> + 'And modern practice was doubtless founded on the mistake of supposing + that, because the torsos we dig up are white now, they were white + originally. But even the example of the Greeks doesn't settle every + question without appeal. We've tried white marble, and found it succeed. + We've tried tinting, and found it wanting. The fact is, you see, the + attention of the eye can't be distracted. Either it attends to form, or + else it attends to colour; rarely and imperfectly to both together. Take a + vase. If it's covered with figures or flowers, our attention's distracted + from the general outline to the painted objects it encloses. If its + colouring's uniform, we think only of the beauty of form, because our + attention isn't distracted from it by conflicting sensations. That's the + long and the short of it, I think. Beauty of form's a higher taste than + beauty of colour—at least, so we sculptors always fancy.' + </p> + <p> + Colin delivered these remarks as if he intended them for the colonel + (though they were really meant for Miss Gwen's enlightenment), and the + colonel was decidedly flattered by the cunning tribute to his tastes and + interests thus delicately implied. But Gwen drank in every word the young + man said with the deepest attention, and managed to make him go on with + his subject till he had warmed to it thoroughly, and had launched out upon + his own peculiar theories as to the purpose and function of his chosen + art. All along, however, Colin pointed his remarks so cleverly at the + colonel, while giving Gwen her fair share of the conversation, that the + colonel quite forgot his first suspicions about the young sculptor, and + grew gradually quite cordial and friendly in demeanour. So well did they + get on together that, by the time they had had lunch out of the colonel's + basket, Colin had given the colonel his ideas as to the heinousness of + palming off as sculpture veiled ladies and crying babies (both of which + freaks of art, by the way, the colonel had hitherto vastly admired); while + the colonel in return had imparted to Colin his famous stories of how he + was once nearly killed by a tiger in a jungle at Boolundshuhr in the + North-West Provinces, and how he had assisted to burn a fox out in a hunt + at Gib., and how he had shot the biggest wapiti ever seen for twenty years + in the neighbourhood of Ottawa. All which surprising adventures Colin + received with the same sedulous show of polite interest that the colonel + had extended in turn to his own talk about pictures and statues. + </p> + <p> + At last, they reached Dijon, and there Colin got out, as in duty bound, to + inquire whether his master was in want of anything. Sir Henry didn't need + much, so Colin returned quickly to his own carriage. + </p> + <p> + 'You have a friend in a <i>coupé-lit</i>, I see,' the colonel said, + opening the door for the young stranger. 'An invalid, I suppose.' Colin + blushed visibly, so that Miss Gwen noticed his colour, and wondered what + on earth could be the meaning of it. Till that moment, to say the truth, + he had been so absorbed in his talk about art, and in observing Gwen (who + interested him as all beautiful women interest a sculptor), that he had + almost entirely forgotten, for the time being, his anomalous position. + 'No, not an invalid,' he answered evasively, 'but a very old gentleman.' + 'Ah,' the colonel put in, as the train moved away from Dijon station, 'I + don't wonder people travel by <i>coupe-lit</i> when they can afford it, in + spite of the prohibitive prices set upon it by these French companies. + It's most unpleasant having nothing but first-class carriages on the + train. You have to travel with your own servants.' + </p> + <p> + Colin smiled feebly, but said nothing. It began to strike him that in the + innocence of his heart he had made a mistake in being beguiled into + conversation with these grand people. And yet it was their own fault. Miss + Gwen had clearly done it all, with her seductive inquiries about art and + artists. + </p> + <p> + 'Or rather,' the colonel went on, 'one can always put one's own servants, + of course, into another carriage; but one's never safe against having to + travel with other people's. We're lucky to-day in being a pleasant party + all together (these French gentlemen, though they're not companionable, + are evidently very decent people); but sometimes, I know, I've had to + travel on the Continent here, wedged in immovably between a fat + lady's-maid and a gentleman's gentleman.' + </p> + <p> + Colin's face burned hot and crimson. 'I beg your pardon,' he said, in a + faltering voice, almost relapsing in his confusion into his aboriginal + Dorsetshire, 'but I ought, perhaps, to have told you sooner who you are + travelling with. I am valet to Sir Henry Wilberforce: he is the gentleman + in the <i>coupé-lit</i>, and he's my master.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel sank back on his cushions with a face as white as marble, + while Colin's now flushed as red as a damask rose. 'A valet!' he cried + faintly. 'Gwen, my dear, did he say a valet? What can all this mean? + Didn't he tell us he was a sculptor going to Rome to practise his + profession?' + </p> + <p> + 'I did,' Colin answered defiantly, for he was on his mettle now. 'I did + tell you so, and it's the truth. But I'm going as a valet. I couldn't + afford to go in any other way, and so I took a situation, meaning to use + my spare time in Rome to study sculpture.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel rocked himself up and down irresolutely for a while; then he + leant back a little more calmly in his seat, and gave himself up to a + placid despair. 'At the next stopping station,' he thought to himself, 'we + must get out and change into another carriage.' And he took up the + 'Continental Bradshaw' with a sigh, to see if there was any chance of + release before they got to Ambérieu. + </p> + <p> + But if the colonel was quite unmanned by this shocking disclosure, Miss + Gwen's self-possession and calmness of demeanour was still wholly + unshaken. She felt a little ashamed, indeed, that the colonel should so + openly let Colin see into the profound depths of his good Philistine soul; + but she did her best to make up for it by seeming not in any way to notice + her father's chilling reception of the charming young artist's strange + intelligence. 'A valet, papa,' she cried in her sprightly way, as + unconcernedly as if she had been accustomed to associating intimately with + valets for the last twenty years; 'how very singular! Why, I shouldn't be + at all surprised if this was that Mr. Churchill (I think the name was) + that Eva told us all about, who did that beautiful bas-relief, you know, + ever so long ago, for poor dear uncle Philip.' Colin bowed, his face still + burning. 'That is my name,' he said, pulling out a card, on which was + neatly engraved the simple legend, 'Mr. Colin Churchill, Sculptor.' + </p> + <p> + 'And you used to live at Wootton Mandeville?' Gwen asked, with even more + of interest in her tone than ever. + </p> + <p> + 'I did.' + </p> + <p> + 'Then, papa, this <i>is</i> the same Mr. Churchill. How very delightful! + How lucky we should happen to meet you so, by accident! I call this really + and truly a most remarkable and fortunate coincidence.' + </p> + <p> + 'Very remarkable indeed,' the colonel moaned half inarticulately from his + cushion. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gwen was a very clever woman, and she tried her best to whip up the + flagging energies of the conversation for a fresh run; but it was all to + no purpose. Colin was too hot and uncomfortable to continue the talk now, + and the colonel was evidently by no means anxious to recommence it. His + whole soul had concentrated itself upon the one idea of changing carriages + at Ambérieu. So after a while Gwen gave up the attempt in despair, and the + whole party was carried forward in moody silence towards the next station. + </p> + <p> + 'How awfully disappointing,' Gwen thought to herself as she relapsed, + vanquished, into her own corner. 'He was talking so delightfully about + such beautiful things, before papa went and made that horrid, stupid, + unnecessary observation. Doesn't papa see the difference between an + enthusiast for art and a common footman? A valet! I can see it all now. + Every bit as romantic as Millet, except for the <i>sabots</i>. No wonder + his face glowed so when he spoke about the painter who had risen from the + ranks of the people. I think I know now what it is they mean by + inspiration.' + </p> + <p> + At last the train reached Amberieu. Great wits jump together; and as the + carriage pulled up at the platform, both the colonel and Colin jumped out + unanimously, to see whether they could find a vacant place in any other + compartment. But the train was exactly like all other first-class + expresses on the French railways; every place was taken through the whole + long line of closely packed carriages. The colonel was the first to + return. 'Gwen,' he whispered angrily to his daughter, in a fierce + undertone, 'there isn't a solitary seat vacant in the whole of this + confounded train: we shall have to go on with this manservant fellow, at + least as far as Aix, and perhaps even all the way to Modane and Turin. Now + mind, Gwen, whatever you do, don't have anything more to say to him than + you can possibly help, or I shall be very severely displeased with you. + How <i>could</i> you go on trying to talk to him again after he'd actually + told you he was a gentleman's servant? I was ashamed of you, Gwen, + positively ashamed of you. You've no proper pride or lady-like spirit in + you. Why, the fellow himself had better feelings on the subject than you + had, and was ashamed of himself for having taken us in so very + disgracefully.' + </p> + <p> + 'He was not,' Gwen answered stoutly. 'He was ashamed of <i>you</i>, papa, + for not being able to recognise an artist and a gentleman even when you + see him.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel's face grew black with wrath, and he was just going to make + some angry rejoinder, when Colin's arrival suddenly checked his further + colloquy. + </p> + <p> + The young man's cheeks were still hot and red, but he entered the carriage + with composure and dignity, and took his place once more in solemn + silence. After a minute he spoke in a low voice to the colonel: 'I've been + looking along the train, sir,' he said, 'to see if I could find myself a + seat anywhere, but I can't discover one. I think you would have felt more + comfortable if I could have left you, and I don't wish to stay anywhere, + even in a public conveyance, where my society is not welcome. However, + there's no help for it, so I must stop here till we reach Turin, when some + of the other passengers will no doubt be getting out. I shall not molest + you further, and I regret exceedingly that in temporary forgetfulness of + my situation I should have been tempted into seeming to thrust my + acquaintance unsolicited upon you.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel, misunderstanding this proud apology, muttered half-audibly to + himself: 'Very right and proper of the young man, of course. He's sorry he + so far forgot his natural station as to enter into conversation with his + superiors. Very right and proper of him, under the circumstances, + certainly, though he ought never to have presumed to speak to us at all in + the first instance.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen bit her lip hard, and tried to turn away her burning face, now as red + almost as Colin's; but she said nothing. + </p> + <p> + That evening, about twelve, as they were well on the way to the Mont + Cenis, and Colin was dozing as best he might in his own corner, he + suddenly felt a little piece of pasteboard thrust quietly into his + half-closed right hand. He looked up with a start. The colonel was snoring + peacefully, and it was Miss Gwen's fingers that had pushed the card into + his hollow hand. He glanced at it casually by the dim light of the lamp. + It contained only a few words. The engraved part ran thus: 'Miss Gwen + Howard-Russell, Denhurst.' Underneath, in pencil, was a brief note—'Excuse + my father's rudeness. I shall come to see your studio at Rome. G. H. R.' + </p> + <p> + Minna was the prettiest girl Colin Churchill had ever seen; but Miss + Howard-Bussell had exquisitely regular features, and when her big eyes met + his for one flash that moment, they somehow seemed to thrill his nature + through and through with a sort of sudden mesmeric influence. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. HIRAM IN WONDERLAND. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">J</span>ust a week after + Colin Churchill reached Rome, three passengers by an American steamer + stood in the big gaudy refreshment-room at Lime Street Station, Liverpool, + waiting for the hour for the up express to start for London. + </p> + <p> + 'We'd better have a little lunch before we get off,' St in Churchill said + to his two companions, 'Don't you think so, Mr. Audouin?' + </p> + <p> + Audouin nodded. 'For my part,' he said, 'I shall have a Bath bun and a + glass of ale. They remind one so delightfully of England, Will you give me + a glass of bitter, please.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram drew back a little in surprise. He gazed at the gorgeous young lady + who pulled the handle of the beer-engine (of course he had never seen a + woman serving drink before), and then he glanced inquiringly at Sam + Churchill. 'Do tell me,' he whispered in an awe-struck undertone; 'is that + a barmaid?' Sam hardly took in the point of the question for the moment, + it seemed so natural to him to see a girl drawing beer at an English + refreshment-room, though in the land of his adoption that function is + always performed by a male attendant, known as a saloon-keeper; but he + answered unconcernedly: 'Well, yes, she's about that, I reckon, though I + dare say she wouldn't admire at you to call her so.' Hiram looked with all + his eyes agog upon the gorgeous young lady. 'Well,' he said slowly, half + to himself, 'that's just charming. A barmaid! Why it's exactly the same as + if it were in “Tom Jones” or “Roderick Random.”' + </p> + <p> + Sam Churchill's good-humoured face expanded slowly into a broad smile. + That was a picturesque point of view of barmaids which he had never before + conceived as possible 'What'll you take, Hiram?' he asked. 'This is a + pork-pie here; will you try it?' + </p> + <p> + 'A pork-pie!' Hiram cried, enchanted. + </p> + <p> + 'A pork-pie! You don't mean to say so! Will I try it? I should think I + would, rather. Why, you know, Sam, one reads about pork-pies in Dickens!' + </p> + <p> + This time Audouin laughed too. 'Really, Hiram,' he said, 'if you're going + on at this rate you'll find all Europe one vast storehouse of bookish + allusiveness. A man who can extract a literary interest out of a pork-pie + would be capable of writing poetry, as Stella said, about a broomstick. I + assure you you'll find the crust sodden and the internal compound + frightfully indigestible.' + </p> + <p> + 'But, I say,' Hiram went on, scanning the greasy paper on the outside with + the deepest attention. 'Look here, ain't this lovely, either? It says, + “Patronised by his Grace the Duke of Rutland and the Gentlemen of the + Melton Mowbray Hunt.” I shall have some of that, anyway, though it seems + rather like desecration to go and actually eat them. One can fancy the red + coats and all the rest of it, can't you: and the hare running away round + the corner just the same as in “Sandford and Merton”?' + </p> + <p> + ''Twouldn't be a hare,' Sam replied, with just a faint British curl of the + lip at the Yankee blunder (the Englishman was beginning to come uppermost + in him regain now his foot was once more, metaphorically, upon his native + heath). 'It'd be a fox, you know, Hiram.' + </p> + <p> + 'Better and better,' Hiram cried enthusiastically, forgetting for once in + his life his habitual self-restraint. 'A fox! How glorious! + </p> + <p> + Just fancy eating a Dickens's pork-pie patronised by a man they call a + duke, and the red-coated squire people who hunt foxes across country with + a horn and a halloo. It's every bit as good as going back to the old + coaching days or the reign of Queen Elizabeth.' + </p> + <p> + 'The pork-pies are quite fresh, sir,' put in the gorgeous young lady in an + offended manner, evidently taking the last remark as an unjust aspersion + upon the character of her saleable goods and chattels. 'We get them direct + twice a week from the makers in Leicestershire.' + </p> + <p> + 'There again,' Hiram exclaimed, with a glow of delight; 'why, Mr. Audouin, + it's just like fairy-land. Do you hear what the lady says? she says they + come from Leicestershire. Just imagine; from Leicestershire! Queen + Elizabeth and the ring, and all the rest of it. Goodness gracious, I do + believe this country'll be enough to turn one's head, almost, if it goes + on like this much longer.' + </p> + <p> + The gorgeous young lady evidently quite agreed with him upon that + important point, for she retired to a tittering conversation with three + other equally gorgeous persons at the far end of the marble-covered + counter. Hiram, however, was too charmed with the intense Britainicity (as + Audouin called it) of everything around him to take much notice of the + gorgeous young lady's personal proceedings. It was all so new and + delightful, so redolent of things he had read about familiarly from his + childhood upward, but never before thoroughly realised as tangible and + visible actualities. Pork-pies, then, positively existed in the flesh and + crust; London stout was no mere airy figment of the novelist's + imagination; red-cheeked women talked before his very eyes to blue-coated + policemen; and porters in mediæval uniforms bundled soldiers in still more + mediæval scarlet garb into cars which they positively described as + carriages, and which were seen to be divided inside into small + compartments by a transverse wooden partition. Those were the third-class + passengers he had read about in fiction, and yet they did not seem + inclined to rise against their oppressors, but smoked and chaffed as + merrily as the favoured occupants of the cushioned carriages—to say + the plain truth, indeed, a great deal more merrily. All was wonderful, + admirable, phantasmagoric beyond his wildest and dearest expectations. He + had looked forward to a marvellous, poetical England of cathedrals and + castles, but he had hardly expected that all-pervading mediæval tone which + came out even in the dedication of the practical pork-pie of commerce to + the cult of his Grace the Duke of Rutland and the Gentlemen of the Melton + Mowbray Hunt. + </p> + <p> + To every intelligent young American, indeed, the first glimpse of England + is something more than a mere introduction to a new country; it is as + though the sun had gone back upon the dial of history, and had carried one + bodily from the democratic modern order of tilings into the midst of an + older semifeudal and vastly more heterogeneous state of society. But to + Hiram Winthrop in particular, that journey by the London and North-Western + Line from Liverpool to Euston was, as it were, a new spiritual birth, a + first transference into the one world for which alone he was congenitally + fitted. Audouin himself, with his cold Boston criticism and his cultivated + indifference, was quite surprised at the young man's undisguised + enthusiasm. All along the line, the panorama of England seemed but one + long unfolding of half-familiar wonders—things pictured, and read + about, and dreamt of, for many years, yet never before beheld or realised. + First it was the carefully tilled fields, the trim hedges, the parks and + gardens, the snug English farmhouses, the endless succession of cultivated + land, and beautiful pleasure grounds, and well-timbered copses. Hiram cast + his eye back upon Syracuse and the deacon's farm with a feeling of awe and + gratitude. Great heavens, what a contrast from the bare wheat fields and + treeless roads and long unlovely snake-fences of Geauga County! Here, in + fact, was tillage that even the deacon would have admired as good farming, + and yet it had not succeeded in defacing the natural beauty of the + undulating Cheshire country, but had rather actually improved and + heightened it. Yes, this was Cheshire, and those were Cheshire cows, + ultimately responsible for the historical Cheshire cheeses; while yonder + was a Cheshire cat, sleeping lazily on an ivy-grown wall, though Hiram was + fain to admit, without the grin for which alone the Cheshire cat is + proverbially famous. Ivy—lie had never seen ivy before—ay, ivy + actually clinging to an old church tower, a tower that even Hiram's + unaccustomed eyes could readily date back to the Plantagenet period. That + church positively had a rector; and the broken stone by the yew-tree in + the churchyard (Sam Churchill being witness) was the last relic of the + carved cross of Catholic antiquity. And those little white flowers + scattered over the pastures, Audouin told him, were really daisies. Take + it how he would, Hiram could hardly believe his own senses, that here he + was, being whirled by an express train in a small oblong box of a thing + they called a first-class compartment, right across the very face of that + living fossil of a country, beautiful, old-fashioned, antique England. + </p> + <p> + To most of us, the journey from Liverpool to Euston lies only through a + high flat country, past a number of dull, ordinary, uninteresting railway + stations. It is, in fact, about as unpicturesque a bit of travelling as a + man can do within the four girdling sea-walls of this beautiful isle of + Britain. But to Hiram Winthrop it was the most absolutely fairylike and + romantic journey he had ever undertaken in the whole course of his mundane + existence. First they passed through Lancashire, and then through + Cheshire, and then on over the impalpable boundary line into + Staffordshire. Why, those tall towers over yonder were Lichfield + Cathedral; and that little town on the left was Sam Johnson's countrified + Lichfield! Here comes George Eliot's Nuneaton, and after it Tom Brown's + and Arnold's Bugby. At Bletchley, you read on the notice-board: 'Change + here for Oxford'; great heavens, just as if Oxford, <i>the</i> Oxford, + were nothing more than Orange or Chattawauga! And here is Tring, where + Robert Stephenson made his great cutting; and there is Harrow-on-the-Hill, + where Paul Howard, the marauding buccaneer of the Caribbean Sea, received + the first rudiments of faith and religion. Not a village along the line + but had its resonant echo in the young man's memory; not a manor house, + steeple, or farmyard but had its glamour of romance for the young man's + fancy. The very men and women seemed to take the familiar shapes of + well-known characters. Colonel Newcome, tall and bronzed by Indian suns, + paced the platform alone at Crewe; Dick Swiveller, penniless and jaunty as + ever, lounged about the refreshment-room at Blisworth Junction; even + Trulliber himself, a little modernised in outer garb, but essentially the + same in face and feature, dived red-cheeked after his luggage into the + crowded van at Willesden. And so, by rapid stages, through a world of + unspeakable delight, the engine rolled them swiftly into the midst of + seething, grimy, opulent, squalid, hungry, all-embracing London. + </p> + <p> + 'I do hope,' Hiram said to Sam, as they drove together through the strange + labyrinth of narrow, dirty streets, to the big modern hotel of Audouin's + choosing—'I do hope we shall be in time to catch your brother before + he goes to Rome. Europe does look just too delicious; but you'll admit + it's pretty bustling and hurrying in some places. I don't know that I'd + care so much to go alone as if I had him with me.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, he's sure to be here,' Sam answered confidently. 'Since I wired him + from New York, I've made my mind easy about that. He'd wait to see me + before starting; that's certain.' + </p> + <p> + 'And if he isn't, Hiram,' Audouin put in, 'I'll go on with you. It's + rather an undertaking to go touring alone in Europe, when you're fresh to + it. We're wild men of the woods, you and I, more at home among the + woodchucks and sheldrakes, I conceive, than among the hotels, and streets, + and railway stations. You were born in the wilderness: I have fled to it: + we're both of us out of our element in the stir and bustle here; so to + fortify one another, we'll face it together.' + </p> + <p> + The fact is, their joint journey had been altogether a very hasty and + unpremeditated affair. Audouin had long been urging Hiram to go to Europe, + and study art in real earnest; and Hiram had been putting it off and + putting it off on various pretences, but really because he didn't want to + go until he was able to pay his way honestly out of his own resources. At + last, however, Sam Churchill had received a letter from his brother Colin, + full of Colin's completed project of going to Rome. This was a chance for + Hiram, both Sam and Audouin argued, which he oughtn't lightly to throw + away. Colin had been working with an Italian marble-cutter in London; he + would be going to Rome with the intention of studying the highest art at + the lowest possible prices; and he would probably be glad enough to meet + with another young man to share expenses and to keep him company in the + unknown city. So between the two, almost before he knew what he was doing, + Hiram had been bustled off down to New York, put on board a White Star + liner, and conveyed triumphantly over to Europe, between a double guard of + Sam and Audouin. Sam had long been contemplating a visit to the old + country, to see his father and mother before they died; and now the + occasion thus afforded by Colin's resolution seemed propitious for taking + his voyage in good company; while as to Audouin, he was so fully in + earnest about redeeming Hiram from the advertising style of art, and + sending him to Rome to study painting in real earnest, that he undertook + to convey him in person, lest any infirmity of purpose should chance to + overcome him by the way. He had at last persuaded Hiram to accept a small + loan for the necessary expenses of his first year at Rome: and he had also + managed to make his young friend believe that at the end of that time his + art would begin to bring him in enough to live upon. For which pious + fraud, Audouin earnestly trusted the powers that be would deal leniently + with him, judging him only by the measure of his good intentions. For if + at the end of the first year, Hiram's exchequer still showed a chronic + deficit, it would be easy enough, he thought, to float another loan upon + himself by way of lightening the temporary tightness of the money market. + </p> + <p> + It was late that night when they reached the hotel, so they contented + themselves with dinner in the coffee-room (mark that word—a + coffee-room—exactly where they used to dine in David Copperfield!) + without making any attempt to see Colin the same evening. But early the + next day the three sallied forth together into the streets of London, and + made their way, by lanes and cross-cuts, whose very names seemed + historical to Hiram, up to Cicolari's studio in the Marylebone Road. The + little Italian bowed them in with great unction—three American + customers by the look of them, good perhaps for a replica of the + celebrated Cicolari Ariadne—and inquired politely what might be + their business. + </p> + <p> + 'My name is Churchill,' Sam said abruptly. 'My brother has been working + with you here. Is he still in London?' + </p> + <p> + Cicolari went quickly through a short pantomime expressive of deep regret + that Sam should have come to make inquiries a week too late, mingled with + effusive pleasure at securing the acquaintance of Colin's most excellent + and highly respected brother. 'If you had come a week ago,' he added, + supplementarily, in spoken language, 'you would have been in time to see + my very dear friend, your brozzer. But you are not in time; your brozzer + is gone away. He is gone to Rome, to Rome' (with a spacious wave of the + hand) 'to become ze greatest of living sculptors. He is a genius, and all + geniuses must go to Rome. Zat is ze proper home for zem.' And Cicolari, + drawing his finger rapidly round in an ever-diminishing circle, planted it + at last on a spot in the very centre, supposed to symbolise the metropolis + of art. + </p> + <p> + 'Gone to Rome!' Sam cried disappointed. 'But why did he go so soon? Didn't + he get my telegram?' + </p> + <p> + 'He has had no telegram from you or he would tell me of it,' answered the + Italian, with a pantomimic expression of the closest intimacy between + himself and Colin. 'He went away a week ago.' + </p> + <p> + 'Do you know where he's gone to in Rome?' asked Audouin. + </p> + <p> + 'I do not know where he is gone to, but he has gone as valet to Sir + Somebody—Sir Henry Wilberforce I sink zey call him'—Cicolari + answered with open hands spread before him. + </p> + <p> + Sam Churchill's democratic instincts rose at once in horror and + astonishment. 'As what!' he cried. 'As <i>valet?</i>' + </p> + <p> + Cicolari only replied by going through the operation of brushing an + imaginary coat with an aerial clothes-brush and folding it neatly on a + non-existent chair by the side of the inconsolable marble widow. + </p> + <p> + After twelve years of America, Sam Churchill was certainly a little, + shocked and annoyed at the idea of his own brother Colin—the future + great sculptor and artist—having gone to Rome as another man's + body-servant. It hurt not only his acquired republican feelings, but what + lies far deeper than those, his amour propre. And he was vexed, too, that + Cicolari should have blurted out the plain truth so carelessly before + Hiram and Audouin. His cheeks burned hot with his discomfiture; but he + only turned and said to them as coolly as he was able: 'Our bird has + flown, it seems. We must fly after him.' + </p> + <p> + 'How soon?' asked Audouin quickly. + </p> + <p> + 'This very day,' Sam answered with decision. + </p> + <p> + 'And you, Hiram?' Audouin said. + </p> + <p> + 'I am as clay in the hands of the potter,' Hiram replied, smiling. 'For my + own part, I should have liked to stop a week or two in London, and see + some of the places one has heard and read so much about. But you've + brought me over by main force between you, Mr. Audouin, and I suppose I + must let you both do as you will with me. If Sam wants to follow his + brother immediately, I'm ready to go with you and leave London for some + future visit.' + </p> + <p> + Sam got what further particulars he could from Cicolari, hailed a passing + cab impetuously, and drove straight back to the hotel. In an hour they had + packed their valises again after their one night in England, and were off + to Charing Cross, to catch the tidal train for Paris, on their way to + Italy. Hiram watched the cliffs of Folkestone fading behind him with a + somewhat heavy heart; for artist as he was, he somehow felt in the corners + of his being as though England were the real unknown lady of his love, and + Rome, which he had never seen, likely to prove but a cold and irresponsive + sort of mistress. Still, in Audouin's care, he was just what he himself + had said, clay in the hands of the potter; for Hiram Winthrop was one of + those natures that no man can drive, but that any man can lead with the + slightest display of genuine sympathy. + </p> + <p> + Yet he had one other cause of regret at leaving England: for Chester is in + England, and Gwen was presumably at Chester. Gwen—Chester, Gwen—Chester, + Gwen—Chester: absurd, romantic, utterly ridiculous; yet all the way + from Folkestone to Boulogne, as the vessel lurched from side to side, it + made a sort of long-drawn see-saw melody in Hiram Winthrop's brain to the + reiterated names of Gwen and Chester. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX. UNWARRANTABLE INTRUSION. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">S</span>ir Henry + Wilberforce sat sipping his morning coffee in his most leisurely fashion + by the table in his own private salon at the Hôtel de l'Allemagne in Rome. + 'Capital man, this fellow Churchill,' he said to himself approvingly, as + he saw Colin close the door noiselessly behind him! 'By far the best + person for the place I've ever had since that fool Simpson went off so + suddenly and got married, confound him. He's so quiet and unobtrusive in + all his movements, and he talks so well, and has such a respectable accent + and manner. Now Dobbs's accent was quite enough to drive a man wild. I + always wanted to throw a boot at him—indeed I've done it more than + once—he was so utterly unendurable. This fellow, on the other hand, + talks really just like a gentleman; in fact, the only thing I've got to + say against him, so far (there's always something or other turning up in + the long run), the only thing I've got to say against him yet, is that + he's positively a deuced sight <i>too</i> gentlemanly and nice-looking and + well-mannered altogether. A servant oughtn't to be <i>too</i> + well-mannered. Why, that old Mrs. Cregoe, with the obvious wig and the + powdered face, who sits at the table d'hote nearly opposite me, actually + went up and spoke to him in the passage yesterday, taking him for one of + the visitors! Awkward, exceedingly awkward, when people mistake your man + for your nephew, as she did! But otherwise, the fellow's really a capital + servant. He—well, what the dickens do <i>you</i> want now, I + wonder?' + </p> + <p> + 'A signorina below wishes to speak with you, excellency,' the Italian + servant put in, bowing. + </p> + <p> + 'A signorina! What the deuce! Did she give her card, Agostino?' + </p> + <p> + 'The signorina said you would not know her, signor. Shall I introduce her? + Ah! here she is.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry rose and made a slight stiff inclination, as who should say: + 'Now what the devil can <i>you</i> want with me, I wonder?' Gwen, nothing + abashed, laid down her card upon the table, which Sir Henry then and there + took up and looked at narrowly, putting on his eyeglass for the purpose. + </p> + <p> + 'What an ill-mannered surly old bear,' Gwen thought to herself; 'and what + an absurd thing that that delightful Mr. Churchill should have to go as + the old wretch's valet. I shall take care to put a stop to that + arrangement, anyhow.' + </p> + <p> + 'Well,' Sir Henry said, glancing suspiciously from the card to Gwen 'May I + ask—ur—to what I owe the honour of this visit?' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, certainly,' Gwen answered with perfect composure (she was never + lacking in that repose that stamps the caste of Vere de Vere). 'But as + it's rather a long story to tell, perhaps you'll excuse my sitting down + while I tell it.' And Gwen half took a chair herself, but at the same time + half compelled Sir Henry to push it towards her also, with a sort of + grudging unmannerly politeness. Sir Henry, after standing himself for a + second or two longer, and then discovering that Gwen was waiting for him + to be seated before beginning to disclose her business, dropped in a + helpless querulous fashion into the small armchair opposite, and prepared + himself feebly for the tête-à-tête. + </p> + <p> + 'The business I've come about,' Gwen went oft quietly, is a rather + peculiar one. The fact is my father and I travelled to Rome the other day + in the same railway carriage with your servant, whose name, he told us, is + Colin Churchill.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry nodded a non-committing acquiescence. 'The deuce!' he thought to + himself. 'Something or other turned up already against him.—I hope, + I'm sure, Miss—ur—let me see your card here once more—ur—Miss + Howard-Russell—I hope, I'm sure, he didn't in any way behave + impertinently, or make himself at all disagreeable to you. You see, one's + obliged to put one's servants into carriages with other people on these + continental lines, which of course is very unpleasant for—ur—for + those other people.' + </p> + <p> + 'Not at all,' Gwen answered with a charming smile, which almost melted + even stony old Sir Henry. 'Not at all; quite the contrary, I assure you. + His society and conversation were really quite delightful. Indeed, that's + just what I've come about.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry wriggled uneasily in his chair, put up his eyeglass for the + third time, and stared at Gwen in puzzled wonderment. His valet's society + was really quite delightful! How extraordinary! Could this very handsome + and quite presentable young woman—with a double-barrelled surname + too—be after all nothing more than a lady's maid who had had a + flirtation with his new valet? But if so, and if she had come to propose + for Churchill, so to speak, what the deuce could she want to see <i>him</i> + for? He dropped his eyeglass once more in silent dubitation, and merely + muttered cautiously: 'Indeed!' + </p> + <p> + 'Yes, very much so altogether,' Gwen went on boldly, in spite of Sir + Henry's freezing rigidity. 'The fact is, I wanted to speak to you about + him, because, you know, really and truly, he isn't a valet at all, and he + oughtn't to be one.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry started visibly. 'Not a valet!' he cried. 'Why, if it conies to + that, I've found him a very useful and capable person for the place. But I + don't quite understand you. Am I to gather that you mean he's an impostor—a + thief in disguise, or something of that sort? I picked him up, certainly, + under rather peculiar circumstances, just because he could speak a little + Italian.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen laughed a little joyous ringing laugh. 'Oh, no!' she said quickly, + 'nothing of that sort, certainly. I meant quite the opposite. Mr. + Churchill's a sculptor, and a very accomplished well-read artist.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry rose from his chair nervously. + </p> + <p> + 'You don't mean to say so!' he cried in surprise. 'You quite astonish me. + And yet, now you mention it, I've certainly noticed that the young man had + a very gentlemanly voice and accent. And then his manners—quite + unexceptionable. But what the deuce—excuse an old man's freedom of + language—what the deuce, my dear madam, does he mean by playing such + a scurvy trick upon me as this—passing himself off for an ordinary + valet?' + </p> + <p> + 'That's just what I've come about, Sir Henry. He happened to mention your + name to my father and myself, and to allude to the nature of his relations + with you; and I was so much interested in the young man that I looked your + name up in the visitors' list in the “Italian Times,” and came round to + speak to you about him.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry raised his eyebrows slightly, but answered nothing. + </p> + <p> + 'And he's not playing you any trick; that's the worst of it,' Gwen went on + boldly, taking no notice of Sir Henry's indifferent politeness. 'He's + poor, and he's a sculptor. He's been working for several years with a + small Italian artist in the Marylebone Road.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah! yes, yes; I remember. He said he'd been engaged as a marble-cutter + since he left his last situation. Why, bless my soul, his last situation + was with old Mr. Philip Howard-Russell, of Wootton Mandeville. Let me see—your + card—ah! quite so. He must have been some relation of yours, I + should imagine.' + </p> + <p> + 'My uncle,' Gwen answered, glancing up at him defiantly. To her the + relationship was no introduction. + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry bowed again slightly. 'Excuse my stupidity,' he said, with more + politeness than he had hitherto shown. 'I ought of course to have + recognised your name at once. I knew your uncle. A most delightful man, + and a brother collector.—The selfish old pig,' he thought to himself + with an internal sneer; 'he was the most disagreeable bumptious old fellow + I ever met in the whole course of my experience. Why, he pretended to + doubt the genuineness of my Pinturicchio! But at least he was a man of + good family, and his niece, in spite of the interest she evidently takes + in my servant Churchill, is no doubt a person whom one ought to treat + civilly.' For Sir Henry was one of those ingenuous people who don't think + there is any necessity at all for treating civilly that inconsiderable + section of humanity which doesn't happen to be connected with men of good + family. + </p> + <p> + 'Yes,' Gwen went on, 'Mr. Churchill, as we learnt quite incidentally, was + a long time since, when he was quite a boy, in my Uncle Philip's + employment. But he has risen by his own talent since then, and now he's a + sculptor: there's his card which he gave me, and he has described himself + there correctly, as you see. Now, he's poor, it seems, and as he was very + anxious to come to Rome, and could find no other way of coming, he decided + to come here as a valet. Wasn't that splendid of him! You can see at once + that such devotion to art shows what a very remarkable young man he must + really be—you're a lover of art yourself, and so you can sympathise + with him—to come away as a servant, so as to get to Rome and see the + works of Michael Angelo, and Raphael, and—and—and—all + that sort of thing, you know,' Gwen added feebly, breaking down in her + strenuous effort for a completion to her imagined trio. + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry hawed a moment. 'Well, 'he said slowly, 'I must confess I don't + exactly agree with you that it was such a very splendid thing of him to + palm himself off upon me as a servant in this abominable underhand manner. + You'll excuse me, my dear madam, but it seems to me—I may be wrong, + but it seems to me certainly—that a man's either a servant or a + sculptor: confound it all, he can't very well be both together. If he + comes to me and gets a place on the representation that he's a valet, and + then goes and represents to you that he's a sculptor, why, in that case—in + that case, I say, it's the very devil. You'll excuse my saying it, but + hang me if I can see what there is after all so very fine or splendid + about it.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen bit her lip. 'If you'd heard how beautifully he talked about art in + the train,' she said persuasively, 'and how much he knew about Millet and + Thorwaldsen and the old masters, and how at home he was in all the great + picture-galleries in England, you wouldn't be surprised that he should + wish, by hook or by crook, to come to Italy. Why, he can talk quite + charmingly and delightfully about—about—about Titian and + Perugino and Caravaggio, and I'm sure I don't know how many other great + painters and people.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry bent his head again in silent acquiescence. He remembered now + that mysterious remark of Colin's, on the day of their first meeting, as + to the rival Pinturicchio in the Knowle gallery. The woman was evidently + right: that fellow Churchill was a bit of an artist, and had been quizzing + his personal peculiarities for a whole fortnight, under cover of acting as + valet. Now it's all very well for an enthusiastic young sculptor to go + coming to Rome as a man-servant, in order to study Michael Angelo and + Thorwald-sen, so long as he comes as somebody else's man-servant; but when + he comes as one's own attendant, hang it all, you know, that's quite + another matter. 'Well,' Sir Henry said, looking curiously at Gwen's + embarrassed face, 'and what do you wish to ask me about my man Churchill?' + </p> + <p> + Gwen flushed up angrily at the obvious insolence of his inquiry, but she + took no notice of it in words for the sake of her errand. 'I only called,' + she said quietly, 'though it's a little unusual for a lady to do so' (Sir + Henry inclined his head gravely once more, as who should say I quite agree + with you), 'because I felt so much interested in Mr. Churchill. I think it + isn't right to let him remain as a servant; he ought to be allowed to + continue his work as a sculptor without delay. Sir Henry, you'll release + him from his engagement, I'm sure, and let him go on with his own proper + studies.' + </p> + <p> + 'Release him, my dear young lady,' Sir Henry answered sardonically. + 'Release him! release him! By Jove, that's hardly the word I should myself + apply to it. I shall certainly send him packing, you may be sure, at the + earliest convenient opportunity, and he may consider himself deuced lucky + if I don't get him into serious trouble for engaging himself to me under + what comes perilously near being false pretences. You must excuse my + frankness, Miss Howard-Russell; but I'm an old man, and I don't see why I + should be left at a minute's notice here in Rome, at the mercy of these + confounded foreigners, without a valet. After what you tell me, it's plain + I can't have him here spying upon me all the time in every action; but + it's devilish uncomfortable, I can tell you, to be left a thousand miles + away from home without anybody on earth to do anything for one.' + </p> + <p> + What could Gwen say? She felt instinctively in her own mind that Sir + Henry's complaint was perfectly natural and excusable. When a man engages + a man-servant, he means to engage a person of a certain comparatively + fixed and recognisable social status, and he certainly doesn't want to + have his habits and manners of life made an open secret to a fellow-being + of something like his own level of intelligence and education; But, on the + other hand, she could see, too, that this nice distinction was never + likely to occur to Colin's simple intelligence. Little as she had seen of + him, and little as he had told her of his story, she quite understood that + the old vicar's expageboy wouldn't be able, in all probability, to feel + the difference to Sir Henry Wilberforce between having him for a valet and + having any ordinary gentleman's servant. However, happily, it didn't much + matter what Sir Henry thought about it: the important point was that that + clever young Mr. Churchill was to be released forthwith from his absurd + engagement and left free to follow his own natural artistic promptings. + That was all, of course, that Gwen, for her part, really cared about. + </p> + <p> + 'Then you'll dismiss him, I suppose?' she asked again after an awkward + pause. 'You'll allow him to take to his proper work as a sculptor?' + </p> + <p> + 'Why, really, my dear lady, I don't care twopence, so far as that goes, + what the dickens he chooses to take to as soon as he's left me; but I'm + certainly not going to keep an educated sculptor fellow spying about me + any longer and collecting notes to retail by-and-by to half Rome upon my + personal peculiarities. Oh dear no, certainly not. I shall pay him his + month's wages and compensation for board and lodging, and I shall send him + about his business this very minute.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen rose and bowed slightly in her most stately manner. 'If that's so,' + she said quietly, 'the object of my visit's more than attained already. I + won't keep you any longer. Good morning.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry rose in return and answered, + </p> + <p> + 'Good morning,' with frigid courtesy. + </p> + <p> + Gwen moved towards the door, which Sir Henry was just about to open for + her, when Agostino flung it wide once more from outside, and announced in + a loud voice: 'Signor Churchill, Signor Vintrop.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen trembled a little. Mr. Churchill! Must she meet him, then, face to + face under these very awkward circumstances? It seemed so, for there was + no escape from it. She couldn't get away before they entered. + </p> + <p> + The two strangers thus announced walked into the salon together, and in a + moment Gwen saw that it wasn't Colin, but somebody else, somewhat older, + yet a little like him. At the very same moment Hiram Winthrop, entering + that unknown room in that unknown city, felt a sudden thrill course + fiercely through his inmost marrow, and looked up with a glance of + instantaneous recognition to the strange lady. How wonderful! how + magnificent! how unexpected! It was she; it was the glorious apparition of + the Thousand Islands; it was (he knew no other name for her), it was Gwen + of Chester! + </p> + <p> + Shy and retiring as he was by nature, Hiram so far forgot everything else + at that moment, except his joy at this unexpected meeting, that he + advanced quite naturally and held out his hand to Gwen, who took it + frankly, but with a curious smile of half-inquiring welcome. + </p> + <p> + 'You don't remember me, Miss Gwen,' he said in a voice of some little + disappointment (he could only call her by her Christian name, which mode + of address sounds far less familiar to American ears than to us more + ceremonious English). 'My name is Winthrop, and I've had the pleasure of + meeting you before—once—have you forgotten?... at the Thousand + Islands.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen shook her head a little doubtfully. 'Well, to say the truth,' she + answered with a pleasant smile, 'I don't quite recollect you. We met so + many people, you see, while we were in America.' + </p> + <p> + 'But I was painting a sketch of a little island near Alexandria Bay,' + Hiram went on eagerly, but somewhat crestfallen (how strange that he + should remember her every feature so well, while she! she had utterly + forgotten him). 'Don't you recollect? you were walking with your father + near the river, and you came across two of us sketching, under a little + cliff at Alexandria Bay, and you came down and looked at my picture.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, yes,' Gwen cried, a sudden flash of recognition spreading over her + face. 'I remember all about it now. I remember your picture perfectly.' + (Hiram's eyes brightened immediately.) 'There was a single little island + in it, of course, with a solitary great dark pine towering above it, + against a liquid deep blue background of cloudless sky.' (Hiram nodded in + delight at her accurate description.) 'Oh yes, I remember the picture + perfectly, though I've quite forgotten you yourself. + </p> + <p> + But I recollect your friend so well; such a charming person, the most + delightful conversation—a Mr. Audouin, he said his name was. I + remember him more distinctly than almost anybody else we met during the + whole of our American visit.' + </p> + <p> + Poor Hiram! How little Gwen knew as she said those simple words she was + plunging a dagger into his very heart! He almost reeled beneath that + crushing, terrible disappointment. Here for all those long months he had + been treasuring up the picture of Gwen upon his mental vision, thinking of + her, looking at her, dreaming about her; he had come to Europe hoping and + trusting somewhere or other at last to find her; he had stumbled up + against her accidentally his very first day in Rome, and now that he stood + there actually face to face with her, the queen of his fancy, his heart's + ideal—why, she herself had positively forgotten all about him! + </p> + <p> + She remembered Audouin, that supplanter Audouin; but she had clean + forgotten poor solitary yearning Hiram! What else could he expect, indeed? + It was all perfectly natural. Who was he, that such a one as Gwen should + ever remember him? What presumption, what folly on his part to expect he + could have left the slightest image imprinted upon her memory! And yet, + somehow, in spite of sober reason, he couldn't help feeling horribly and + unutterably disappointed. His face fell with a sudden collapse, but he + managed feebly to mutter half aloud: 'Oh, yes, a most delightful person, + Mr. Audouin.' + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Sir Henry, fidgeting with the back of a chair in his hand, + stood waiting to hear what was the meaning of this singular irruption of + American barbarians. Who were they? Had they come by appointment? Why did + they recognise this real or pretended niece of that old idiot, + Howard-Russell? Was it all a plant to rob or intimidate him? Why the deuce + did they all stand there, shaking hands and exchanging reminiscences in + his own hired salon, and take no notice at all of him, Sir Henry + Wilberforce, the real proprietor and sole representative authority of that + sacred apartment? It was really all most extraordinary, most irregular, + most mysterious. + </p> + <p> + Sam broke the momentary silence by coming forward towards the old man, and + saying in his clear, half-American tone: 'I presume I'm addressing Sir + Henry Wilberforce?' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry nodded. A Yankee, clearly. And yet he gave his name as + Churchill, and wanted no doubt to represent himself as the other + Churchill's brother! + </p> + <p> + 'Well,' Sam went on (and Gwen could not help but wait and listen), 'I've + come to see you about my brother. I asked for him from the person in the + white choker——' + </p> + <p> + 'Agostino,' Sir Henry murmured feebly. + </p> + <p> + 'But he said, as far as I could make out his lingo, that my brother was + gone out. So I just thought the best thing, under the circumstances, would + be to come in and speak to you.' 'And may I ask,' Sir Henry inquired, + still fingering the back of the chair in a nervous manner, 'who your + brother may be, and what the devil I have got to do with him?' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, his name's Churchill,' Sam answered, with some little confusion, + glancing over towards Gwen, who stood listening, half-amused and + half-embarrassed. 'Colin Churchill. + </p> + <p> + That's my card, you see, colonel——-' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry took it and looked at it languidly. 'I see,' he said. 'You are—ahem—my + valet's brother.' + </p> + <p> + Sam flushed a little angrily. 'That's the very business I've come here + about,' he said, looking as though he would like to knock down the feeble + supercilious old Pantaloon who stood there quavering and shivering before + him. 'My brother being determined to come to Rome to be a sculptor, and + not having the means to come with of his own, you see, colonel——-' + </p> + <p> + 'My precise military rank, if any, must be a matter of absolute + indifference to you, sir,' Sir Henry interrupted coolly. + </p> + <p> + 'Well, he didn't apply to his family for the means to do so, as he might + have done,' Sam went on, without noticing the interruption, 'but chose to + take a place, quite beneath his natural position, as <i>your</i> valet, + Sir Henry Wilberforce. I happened to come to England at the time from + America, where I've been residing for some years, and learnt on inquiry + that he had taken this very foolish step; so I followed him at once to + Rome, to release him from such an unwise arrangement, if possible, and to + make things pleasant all round, as between the whole lot of us. I ain't + sorry that Colin's gone out, for it enables us to clear off the whole + thing right away, without telling him anything about it. What I propose, + Sir Henry Wilberforce,'—Sam repeated the full name each time a + little viciously, with some adopted republican aversion—'is just + this: I'll telegraph to London to the Couriers' Society to get you a + suitable person sent out here to replace him. If you like, I'll get you a + selection sent out on approval, and I'll pay their expenses; we don't want + to put you to any inconvenience, you understand, Sir Henry Wilberforce. + But what we stick at is only one point—my brother Colin can't stop + here with you another minute; that's certain. He's got to leave right + away, and go straight off to his own business.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry Wilberforce wrung his hands in helpless despair at this + inexplicable inroad of so many aggressive strangers. 'Upon my word,' he + said piteously, 'I wish to goodness I'd never seen or heard at all of this + extraordinary young man Churchill. Such a deuce of a hullabaloo and + corrobboree as they're kicking up about him, the whole three of them, I + never heard in all my confounded lifetime. Dash their geniuses! Who the + dickens wants a genius for a valet? I'll take precious good care, when + once I'm out of this deuced hobble, that I never engage a fellow who's + been first cousin to a marble-cutter as my servant in future. First this + young lady comes down upon me and lectures me in the name of high art, + what the devil do I mean by keeping this delightful young sculptor + pottering about as my own body-servant. And then this pair of Yankees come + down upon me, in the name of brotherly affection, and ask me what the + devil do I mean by keeping this eminently respectable brother of theirs in + a menial position that I never for a moment wanted him to get into.—Why, + what the devil do you mean yourself, sir, by invading my premises in this + unceremonious manner? Who the devil cares twopence about you or your + brother? If your brother's a sculptor, why the devil doesn't he stick to + his own profession? What the devil does he mean by coming and passing + himself off upon me as a servant? Will you have the kindness, all of you, + to leave my rooms at your earliest convenience, and be dashed to you? And + will you tell this interesting young sculptor, if you see him, that he may + pack up his traps and clear out as soon as possible? That'll do, thank + you. Good morning. Good morning.' And Sir Henry stood with the door in his + hand, waiting for the three to take their departure. + </p> + <p> + That same evening, when Sir Henry came in from dinner much agitated, he + found an envelope lying on his table, which he took up and opened in a + surly fashion, saying to himself meanwhile: 'Some deuced impertinence of + that fellow Churchill, I'll be bound—the confounded rascal.' But it + contained only a couple of English bank-notes; a small memorandum of + Colin's railway expenses and other disbursements made by Sir Henry on his + account, as well as of the month's wages, due by a servant who voluntarily + leaves his master without full notice; and finally a sheet of white + note-paper, bearing the words, 'With Saml. Churchill's compliments.' + </p> + <p> + Sir Henry crumpled up the paper and memorandum angrily, with hardly a + glance, and flung them into the empty grate; but he folded the notes + carefully, and put them into the inner compartment of his purse. Then he + sat down at his davenport and wrote out a telegram from Wilberforce, Rome, + to Dobbs, 74 Albert Terrace, Dalston, London. 'Come here at once; expenses + paid; wages raised five pounds; no boots thrown. Answer immediately. W.' + </p> + <p> + 'And if ever I have anything to do again with these confounded + marble-cutters and sculptors,' he soliloquised vehemently, 'why, my name + isn't Henry Wilberforce.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX. THE STRANDS CONVERGE. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">C</span>olin and Hiram + slept that night under the same roof, at Audouin's hotel. The wheel of + Fate had at last brought the two young enthusiasts together, and they + fraternised at once by mere dint of the similarity of their tastes and + natural circumstances. Their lives had been so like—and yet so + unlike; their fortunes had been so much the same—and yet so + different. It was pleasant to compare notes with one another in the + smoking-room about Wootton Mande ville and Geauga County, about the deacon + and the vicar, Cicolari and Audouin; all things on earth, save only Gwen + and Minna. Even Hiram didn't care to speak about Gwen. Young men in + America are generally far more frank with one another about their love + affairs than we sober, suspicious, unromantic English; they talk among + themselves enthusiastically about their sweethearts, much as girls talk + together in confidence in England. But Hiram in this respect was not + American. His self-contained, self-restraining nature forbade him to hint + a word even of the interest he felt in the beautiful stranger he had so + oddly recognised in Sir Henry's salon. + </p> + <p> + But he would meet her again—that was something! He knew her name + now, and all about her. As they left Sir Henry's hotel together, Gwen had + turned with one of her gracious smiles to Sam, flooding his soul with her + eyes, and said in that delicious trilling voice of hers: 'I can't forbear + to tell you, Mr. Churchill, that I'd been to see Sir Henry, as he hinted + to you, on the very self-same errand as yourself, almost. I met your + brother in the train coming here, and I learnt from him accidentally what + he'd come for, and how he was coming; and I couldn't resist going to tell + that horrid old man the whole story. It was so delightful, you know, so + very romantic. Of course I thought he'd be only too delighted to hear it, + and admire your brother's pluck and resolution so much, exactly as I did. + I thought he'd say at once “A sculptor! How magnificent! Then he shan't + stay here with me another minute. I'm a lover of art myself. I know what + it must be to feel that divine yearning within one,” or something of that + sort. “I won't allow a born artist to waste another moment of his precious + time upon such useless and unworthy occupations. Let him go immediately + and study his noble profession; I'll use all my interest to get him the + best introductions to the very first masters in all Italy.” That's what a + man of any heart or spirit would have said on the spur of the moment. + Instead of that, the horrid old creature put up his eyeglass and stared at + me so that I was frightened to death, and swore dreadfully, and said your + brother oughtn't to have engaged himself under the circumstances; and used + such shocking language, that I was just going to leave the room in a + perfect state of terror when you came in and detained me for a minute. And + then you saw yourself the dreadful rage he got into—the old wretch! + I should like to see him put into prison or something. I've no patience + with him.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram felt in his own soul at that moment a certain fierce demon rising up + within him, and goading him on to some desperate vengeance. Was he alone + the only man that Gwen didn't seem to notice or care for in any way? She + was so cordial to Audouin, she was so cordial to Sam, and now she was so + interested in Sam's unknown brother, whom she had only met casually in a + railway carriage, that she had actually faced, alone and undaunted, this + savage old curmudgeon of a British nobleman (Hiram's views as to the + status of English baronets were as vague as those of the Tichborne + Claimant's admirers), in order to release him from the necessary + consequences of an unpleasant arrangement. But him, Hiram, she had utterly + forgotten; and even when reminded of him, she only seemed to remember his + personality in a very humiliating fashion as a sort of unimportant pendant + or corollary to that brilliant Mr. Audouin. To him, she was all the world + of woman; to her, he was evidently nothing more than an uninteresting + young man, who happened to accompany that delightfully clever American + whom she met at the Thousand Islands! + </p> + <p> + How little we all of us are to some people who are so very, very much to + us! + </p> + <p> + But when she was leaving them at the door of her own hotel, Gwen handed + Hiram a card with a smile that made amends for everything, and said so + brightly: 'I hope we may see you again, Mr. Winthrop. I haven't forgotten + your delightful picture. I'm so fond of everything at all artistic. And + how nice it is, too, that you've got that charming Mr. Audouin still with + you. You must be sure to bring him to see us here, or rather, I must send + papa to call upon you. And, Mr. Churchill, as soon as your brother sets up + a studio—I suppose he will now—we won't forget to drop in and + see him at it. I'm so very much interested in anything like sculpture.' + </p> + <p> + Poor Hiram's heart sank again like a barometer to Very Stormy. She only + wanted to see him again, then, because he'd got Audouin with him! Hiram + was too profoundly loyal to feel angry, even in his own heart, with his + best friend and benefactor; but he couldn't help feeling terribly grieved + and saddened and downcast, as he walked along silently the rest of the way + through those novel crowded streets of Rome towards the Hôtel de Russie. + He felt sure he should cordially hate this horrid, interesting, + interloping fellow, Sam's brother. + </p> + <p> + Sam had left a little note at the Allemagne to be given to Mr. Colin + Churchill—Sir Henry's valet—as soon as ever he came back. In + the note he told Colin he was to call round at once, without speaking to + Sir Henry, for a very particular purpose, at the Hôtel de Russie. The + letter was duly signed: 'Your affectionate brother, Sam Churchill.' Colin + took it up and looked at it again and again. Yes, there was no denying it; + it was Sam's handwriting, But how on earth had Sam got to Rome, and what + on earth was Sam doing there? It was certainly all most mysterious. Still, + the words 'without speaking to that old fool Sir Henry' were trebly + underlined, and Colin felt sure there must be some sufficient reason for + them, especially as the arrangement of epithets was at once so correct and + so forcible. So he turned hastily to the Hôtel de Russie, filled with + amazement at this singular adventure. + </p> + <p> + In Colin's mind, the Sam of his boyish memory was a Dorsetshire labourer + clad in Dorsetshire country clothes, a trifle loutish (if the truth must + be told), and with the easy, slouching, lounging gait of the ordinary + English agricultural workman. When he called at the Russie, he was ushered + up into a room where he saw three men sitting on a red velvet sofa, all + alike American in face, dress, and action, and all alike, at first sight, + complete strangers to him. When one of the three, a tall, handsome, + middle-aged man, with a long brown moustache, and a faultless New Yorker + tourist suit, rose hastily from the sofa, and came forward to greet him + with a cry of 'Colin!' he could hardly make his eyes believe there was any + relic of the original Sam about this flourishing and eminently respectable + American citizen. + </p> + <p> + 'Well, Colin,' his brother said kindly, but with such an unexpected Yankee + accent, 'I surmise you ain't likely to recognise me, anyhow; that's so, + ain't it? You were only such a little chap when I first went away across + the millpond.' + </p> + <p> + When one sees a member of one's own family after a separation of many + years, one judges of him as one judges of a stranger; and Colin was + certainly pleased with the first glimpse of this resurrected and wholly + transfigured Sam—he seemed such a good-humoured, easygoing, + kindly-confidential sort of fellow, that Colin's heart warmed to him + immediately. They fell to talking at once about old times at Wootton + Mandeville, and Sam told Colin the whole story of how he came to cross the + Atlantic again, and what reception he had met with that morning from Sir + Henry Wilberforce. Hiram and Audouin went out while the two brothers + discussed their family affairs and future prospects, ostensibly to see + something of the sights of Rome, but really to let them have their talk + out in peace and quietness. + </p> + <p> + 'And now, Colin,' Sam said in a blunt, straightforward, friendly fashion, + 'of course you mustn't see this Wilberforce man again, whatever happens. + It's no use exposing yourself to a scene with him, all for nothing. You've + just got to go back to the Hôtel d'Allamain on the quiet, pack up your + things without saying a word to him, and walk it. I've written a note to + him that'll settle everything, and I've put in two bills.' + </p> + <p> + 'Two what?' Colin asked doubtfully. + </p> + <p> + 'Bills,' Sam repeated with a hasty emphasis. 'Notes I think you call 'em + in England; bank-notes to cover all expenses of your journey, don't you + see, and baggage, and so forth. No, never you mind thanking me like that + about a trifle, Colin, but just sit there quietly like a sensible fellow + and listen to what I've got to say to you. It's a long time since I left + the old country, you know, my boy; and I've kind o' forgotten a good deal + about it. I've forgotten that you were likely to be so hard up for money + as you were, Colin, or else I'd have sent you over a few hundred dollars + long ago to pay your expenses. When you wrote to me that you were working + with a sculptor in London, I took it for granted, anyhow, that you were + making a pretty tidy thing out of it; and when you wrote that you were + going to Rome to continue your studies, I thought I'd bring Hiram Winthrop + along just to keep you company. But I never imagined you'd come over as I + find you have done. Why, when that Sickolary man told me you'd gone as a + valet, I was so ashamed I couldn't look Mr. Audouin straight in the face + again for half-an-hour. And what I want to know now's just this, Who's the + very best sculptor, should you say, in all Rome, this very minute?' + </p> + <p> + 'There's only one really great sculptor in Rome at all, at present, that I + know of,' Colin answered without a moment's hesitation. + </p> + <p> + 'Nicola Maragliano.' + </p> + <p> + 'Well,' Sam continued in a business-like fashion; 'I suppose he takes + pupils?' + </p> + <p> + 'I should doubt it very much, Sam, unless they were very specially + recommended.' + </p> + <p> + 'What, really? At least, we'll try, Colin. We'll see what Mr. Maragliano's + terms are, any way.' + </p> + <p> + 'But, my dear fellow, whatever his terms are, I can't afford them. I must + work for my livelihood one way or another.' + </p> + <p> + 'Nonsense,' Sam answered energetically. 'You just leave this business + alone. I've got to manage it my own way, and don't you go and interfere + with it. I pay, you work; do you see, Colin?' + </p> + <p> + Colin looked back at his brother with a look half incredulity, half pride. + 'Oh, Sam,' he said, 'I can't let you. I really can't let you. You mustn't + do it. It's too kind of you, too kind of you altogether.' + </p> + <p> + 'In America,' Sam answered, taking a cigar from his pocket and lighting a + vesuvian, 'we're a busy people. We haven't got time for thanks and that + sort of thing, Colin; we just take what we get, and say nothing about it. + I'm going out now, to have a look after one of their Vaticans, or + Colosseums, or triumphal arches, or something; you'd better go and pack up + your traps meanwhile at this Wilberforce creature's. You'll sleep here + tonight; I'll bespeak a room for you; then you and Hiram can talk things + over and arrange all comfortable. They have dinner here at the wrong end + of the day—seven o'clock; mind you're back for it. Now, good-bye for + the present. I'm off to hunt up some of these ancient Roman ruins.' + </p> + <p> + Sam put on his hat before Colin could thank him any further, and in half + an hour more, he was meditating, with the aid of his cigar, among the big + gloomy arches of the Colosseum. + </p> + <p> + So Colin took the proffered freedom, with an apologetic note to poor old + Sir Henry, whom he didn't wish to treat badly; and that evening he and + Hiram met to make one another's acquaintance in earnest. Hiram's spleen + against the young Englishman who had had the audacity to attract Gwen's + favourable attention didn't long outlast their introduction. To say the + truth, both young men were too simple and too transparent not to take a + sincere liking for one another almost immediately. Sam and Audouin were + both delighted at the success of their scheme for bringing them together; + and Sam was really very proud of his brother's drawings and designs which + Colin brought down for their inspection after dinner. He had enough, of + Colin's leaven in him to be able at least to recognise a true and + beautiful work of art when it was set before him. + </p> + <p> + 'I shall just wait a bit here in Rome so as to fix up Colin with this man + Maragliano, Mr. Audouin,' Sam said, after the two younger men had retired, + as they sat talking over the prospect in the billiard-room of the hotel; + 'and then I shall run back to England to pay a visit to the old folk, + before I return to work at Syracuse.' + </p> + <p> + 'And I,' said Audouin, 'will stop the winter so as to set Hiram fairly on + the right way, and let him get free play for his natural talents. He's + going to be the greatest American painter ever started, Mr. Churchill; and + I'm going to see that he has room and scope to work in.' + </p> + <p> + But all that night, Hiram dreamt of Chattawauga Lake, and Gwen, and the + Thousand Islands, and the green fields he had seen in England. And when he + woke to look out on the broad sunshine flooding the neighbourhood of the + Piazza del Popolo, his heart was sad within him. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXI. COLIN SETTLES HIMSELF. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>fter breakfast + next morning, Sam rose resolutely from the table, like a man who means + business, and said to his brother in a tone of authority, 'Come along, + Colin; I'm going to call on this Mr. Maragliano you were telling me + about.' + </p> + <p> + 'But, Sam,' Colin expostulated, 'he won't receive us. We haven't got any + introduction or anything.' + </p> + <p> + 'Not got any introduction? Yes, I guess we have, Colin. Just you bring + along those drawings and designs you showed us last night, and you bet Mr. + Maragliano won't want any other introduction, I promise you. In America, + we'd rather see what a man can do, any day, than what all his friends put + together can say to crack him up in a letter of recommendation.' + </p> + <p> + Colin ran upstairs trembling with excitement, and brought down the big + portfolio—Minna's portfolio, made with cloth and cardboard by her + own small fingers, and containing all his most precious sketches for + statues or bas-reliefs. They turned out into the new Rome of the English + quarter, and following the directions of the porter, they plunged at last + into the narrow alleys down by the Tiber till they came to the entrance of + a small and gloomy-looking street, the Via Colonna. It is the headquarters + of the native Italian artists. Colin's heart beat fast when at length they + stopped at a large house on the left-hand side and entered the studio of + Nicola Maragliano. + </p> + <p> + The great sculptor was standing in the midst of a group of friends and + admirers, his loose coat all covered with daubs of clay, and his shaggy + hair standing like a mane around him, when Sam and Colin were ushered into + his studio. Colin stood still for a moment, awestruck at the great man's + leonine presence; for Maragliano was one of the very few geniuses whose + outer shape corresponded in majesty to the soul within him. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003"> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/0152m.jpg" alt="0152m " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/0152.jpg"><i>Original</i></a> + </h5> + <p> + But Sam, completely unabashed by the novelty of the situation, walked + straight up to the famous artist, and said with a rapid jerk in his own + natural, easy-going manner, 'Speak any English?' + </p> + <p> + 'A leetle,' Maragliano answered, smiling at the brusqueness of the + interrogation. + </p> + <p> + 'Then what we want to know, sir, without wasting any time over it, is just + this: Here's my brother. He wants to be made into a sculptor. Will you + take him for a pupil, and if so, what'll your charge be? He's brought some + of his drawings along, for you to look at them. Will you see them?' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano smiled again, this time showing all his white teeth, and looked + with an air of much amusement at Colin. The poor fellow was blushing + violently, and Maragliano saw that he was annoyed and hurt by Sam's + brusqueness. So he took the portfolio with a friendly gesture (for he was + a true gentleman), and proceeded to lay it down upon his little + side-table. 'Let us see,' he said in Italian, 'what the young American has + got to show me.' + </p> + <p> + 'Not American,' Colin answered, in Italian too. 'I am English; but my + brother has lived long in America, and has perhaps picked up American + habits.' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano looked at him keenly again, nodded, and said nothing. Then he + opened the portfolio and took out the first drawing. It was the design for + the Cephalus and Aurora—the new and amended version. As the great + sculptor's eye fell upon the group, he started and gave a little cry of + suppressed astonishment. Then he looked once more at Colin, but said + nothing. Colin trembled violently. Maragliano turned over the leaf, and + came to the sketch for the bas-relief of the Boar of Calydon. Again he + gave a little start, and murmured to himself, 'Corpo di Bacco!' but still + said nothing to the tremulous aspirant. So he worked through the whole + lot, examining each separate drawing carefully, and paying keener and + keener attention to each as he recognised instinctively their profound + merit. At last, he came to the group of Orestes and the Eumenides. It was + Colin Churchill's finest drawing, and the marble group produced from it is + even now one of the grandest works that ever came out of that marvellous + studio. Maragliano gave a sharper and shorter little cry than ever. + </p> + <p> + 'You made it?' he asked, turning to Colin. + </p> + <p> + Colin nodded in deep suspense, not unmixed with a certain glorious + premonition of assured triumph. + </p> + <p> + Maragliano turned to the little group, that stood aloof around the clay of + the Calabrian Peasant, and called out, 'Bazzoni!' + </p> + <p> + 'Master!' + </p> + <p> + 'See this design. It is the Englishman's. What think you of it?' + </p> + <p> + The scholar took it up and looked at it narrowly. 'Good;' he said shortly, + in an Italian crescendo; 'excellent—admirable—surprising—extraordinary.' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano drew his finger over the curve of the Orestes' figure with a + sort of free sweep, like a sculptor's fancy, and answered simply, turning + to Colin, 'He says true. It is the touch of genius.' + </p> + <p> + As Maragliano said those words, Colin felt the universe reeling wildly + around him, and clutched at Sam's arm for support from falling. Sam didn't + understand the Italian, but he saw from Colin's face that the tremor was + excess of joy, not shock of disappointment. 'Well,' he said inquiringly to + Maragliano. 'You like his drawings? You'll take him for a pupil? You'll + make a sculptor of him?' + </p> + <p> + 'No,' Maragliano answered in English, holding up the Orestes admiringly + before him; 'I cannot do zat. Ze great God has done so already.' + </p> + <p> + Sam smiled a smile of brotherly triumph. 'I thought so, Colin,' he said + approvingly. + </p> + <p> + 'I told him so last night, Mr. Maragliano. You see, I'm in the artistic + business myself, though in another department—the advertising block + trade—and I know artistic work when I look at it.' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano showed his white teeth once more, but didn't answer. + </p> + <p> + 'And what'll your terms be for taking him?' Sam asked, in as business-like + a fashion as if the famous sculptor had been a flourishing greengrocer, or + a respectable purveyor of kippered herrings. + </p> + <p> + Maragliano glanced around him with a nervous glance. 'Zere are many people + here,' he said, shrugging his shoulders. 'We cannot talk at leisure. Let + us go into my private chamber.' And he led the way into a small parlour + behind the studio. + </p> + <p> + Sam took a chair at once with republican promptitude, but Colin stood, his + hands folded before him, still abashed by the great man's presence. + Maragliano looked at him once more with his keenly interested look. 'That + is well,' he said in Italian. 'Greatness always pays the highest homage to + greatness. I know a true artist at sight by the way he first approaches + me. Rich men condescend; pretenders fawn; ordinary men recognise no + superiority save rank or money; but greatness shows its innate reverence + at once, and thereby securely earns its own recognition. Be seated, I pray + you. Your drawings are wonderful; but you have studied little. They are + full of genuine native power, but they lack precise artistic teaching. + Where have you taken your first lessons?' + </p> + <p> + 'Nowhere,' Colin answered, his face glowing with pleasure at Maragliano's + hearty encomium. 'I am almost entirely self-taught, and I have come to + Rome to learn better.' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano listened intently. 'Wonderful!' he said; 'wonderful, truly! And + yet, I could almost have guessed it. Your work is all vigour and nature—it + is Greek, purely Greek—but there is not yet art in it. Tell me all + about how you have learned what you know of sculpture.' + </p> + <p> + Thus invited, Cohn began, and confided to the great sculptor's sympathetic + ear the whole story of his youth and boyhood. He began with the time when + he moulded little clay images for Minna from the bank at Wootton + Mandeville; and he went on with all the story of his acquaintance with + Cicolari, down to his coming to Rome with Sir Henry Wilberforce. + Maragliano nodded his interest from time to time, and when Colin had + finished, he took his hand warmly in his, and cried in English, so that + Sam too understood him: 'It is well. You shall be my pupil.' + </p> + <p> + 'And your terms?' Sam asked with mercantile insistence. 'We're ready to + agree to anything reasonable.' + </p> + <p> + 'Are nossing,' Maragliano answered; 'nossing, nossing. I will teach you + for ze love of art, as you will learn for it. No, no,' he went on, + breaking into Italian again, as Colin tried to thank him or to expostulate + with him. 'You needn't thank me. It is but the repayment of a debt. I owe + it to your own Gibson, as Gibson owed it before to Canova. It is a + tradition among us Roman sculptors; you will keep it up, and will repay it + in due time hereafter to some future follower. Many years ago I came to + Rome. I was an unknown lad from Genoa. I came as a model to Gibson's + studio. I sat for an Antinous. Gibson saw me modelling little bits of clay + for amusement in my off times, and said to me, “You would make a + sculptor.” I laughed. He gave me a little clay, and saw what I could do; I + modelled a head after his Venus. Then he took me on as his pupil; and now—I + am Nicola Maragliano. I am glad to repay an Englishman the debt I owe to + the illustrious Gibson. You must take my lessons, as I took his, in trust + for art, and not talk between brother artists about such dirt as money.' + </p> + <p> + Colin seized his hand eagerly. 'Oh, sir,' he cried in English, 'you are + too noble, too generous. I shall never be able sufficiently to thank you. + If you will only condescend to give me instruction—to make me your + pupil—to let me model in your studio, I shall be eternally grateful + to you for such unexpected kindness.' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano wrung the young man's hand with a kindly fervour. 'That is more + than enough already,' he answered. 'Those who love art are all of one + family. When will you come to the studio? Let me see; you have not been + long in Rome?' + </p> + <p> + 'We've only just come here,' put in Sam, proud of having caught the + meaning of the Italian. + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, well; then you will want a little time, no doubt, to look about and + see the sights of Rome. What do you say to Tuesday fortnight?' + </p> + <p> + 'If it's equally convenient for you, signor,' Colin answered, all aglow, + 'I shall be at the studio to-morrow morning.' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano patted him gently on the head as though he were a child. 'My + friend,' he said, 'you speak courageously. That is the sentiment of all + true artists. You are impatient to get to work; you will not need a long + apprenticeship. Let it be so then. Tomorrow morning.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXII. HIRAM GETS SETTLED. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">H</span>iram,' Audouin + said, as soon as Sam and Colin had left the hotel, 'it's time for us, I + surmise, to be setting about the same errand. Before we begin to look at + the sights of Rome, we must arrange where you ought to locate yourself, + and when you ought to commence your artistic studies. + </p> + <p> + Hiram looked blankly enough out of the window into the dusty piazza, and + answered in a tone of some regret, 'Well, Mr. Audouin, if you think so, I + suppose it'll be best to do it, though I can't say I'm in any particular + hurry. Where do you contemplate making inquiries?' + </p> + <p> + 'Why,' Audouin replied in his easy confident fashion, 'there's only one + really great painter now in Rome in whose studio I should like to put you, + Hiram, and that's Seguin.' Hiram's face sank. 'Seguin,' he echoed somewhat + gloomily. 'Ah, Seguin! But he's a figure painter, isn't he, surely, Mr. + Audouin?' Audouin smiled his pleasant smile of superior wisdom. 'Well, + Hiram,' he said, 'you don't come to Rome to paint Chattawauga Lake, do + you? Yes, Seguin's a figure painter. And you'll be a figure painter, too, + my dear fellow, before you've finished—yes, and a great one. + Seguin's one of the finest living artists, you know, in all Europe. It's a + great honour to be admitted into the studio of such a master.' + </p> + <p> + If somebody in authority had said to Hiram Winthrop, 'You must go to + Seguin's and paint heroic figure pictures, or have your head cut off,' + Hiram Winthrop would no doubt have promptly responded with dogged + cheerfulness, 'A sainte guillotine, done,' or words to that effect, + without a moment's hesitation. But when Lothrop Audouin, his guide and + benefactor, said to him in a voice of friendly sympathy, 'You'll be a + figure painter too, before you've finished, Hiram,' he no more dreamt of + refusing or doubting (save in his own inmost soul) than a docile child + dreams of resisting its parents in the matter of their choice of its + school or its lessons. So he took his hat down from its peg, and followed + Audouin blindly, out into that labyrinth of dirty lanes and ill-paved + alleys which constitutes the genuine Rome of the native-born modern + Romans. + </p> + <p> + Audouin led the way, through the modernised shops and gay bustle of the + Corso, to a small side street, with squalid blotchy houses rising high + against the sky on either hand, and a crowd of dirty ragged children + loitering in the gutter, save when an occasional rickety carriage, drawn + by a tottering skinny horse, dashed round the dark corners with a sudden + swoop, and scattered them right and left with loud chattering cries into + the gloomy archways. All was new and strange to Hiram, and, if the truth + must be told, not particularly inviting. Past the Spaccio di Vino, the + squalid temple of Dionysus, where grimy Romans in grubby coatsleeves sat + drinking sour red wine from ill-washed tumblers; past the tinker's shop, + where some squat Etruscan figure crouched by a charcoal stove hammering + hopelessly at dilapidated pannikins; past the foul greengrocery, where + straw-covered flasks of rancid oil hung up untemptingly between long + strings of flabby greens and mouldering balls of country cheese; past many + other sights and sounds, dimly visible to Hiram's eyes or audible to his + ears in the whirl and confusion of an unknown city; till at last Audouin + wheeled round the corner into the Via Colonna (where Colin had gone + before), and stopped in front of a large and decently clean house, bearing + on the lintel of its great oak door a little painted tin plate, 'Atelier + de M. J.-B. Seguin.' Audouin turned with a smile to Hiram, poor dazzled, + half-terrified Hiram, and said in a tone of some little triumph, 'There, + you see, Hiram, here we are at last; in Rome, and at the great man's + studio!' + </p> + <p> + And was this Rome! And was this the end of all his eager youthful + aspirations! Hiram had hardly the courage to smile back in his friend's + face, and assume an air of pretended cheerfulness. Already he felt in his + heart that this great, squalid, sordid city was really no place for such + as him. He knew he would never like it; he knew he could never succeed in + it. England, beautiful, smiling England, had quite unaffectedly charmed + and delighted him. There, he could find a thousand subjects ready to his + hand that would exactly suit his taste and temper. It was so rich in + verdure and tillage; it was so pregnant with the literary and historical + interests that were nearest and dearest to him. But Rome! the very first + glimpse of it was to Hiram Winthrop a hideous disillusionment. Its dirt, + its mouldiness, its gloom, its very antiquity—nay, in one word, to + be quite frank, its picturesqueness itself, were all to his candid + American soul unendurably ugly. He hated it from top to bottom at first + sight with a deadly hatred; and he felt quite sure he should hate it + cordially as long as he lived in it. + </p> + <p> + Very Philistine, of course, this feeling of dissatisfaction on Hiram + Winthrop's part; but then, you know, the Americans are a nation of + Philistines, and after all, no man can rise wholly superior to the + influence of his lifelong social environment. Indeed, it isn't easy even + for an Englishman to take kindly just at first to the dirt and discomfort + of southern European cities. He may put the best face upon the matter that + he can; he may sedulously and successfully disguise his disgust lest he be + accounted vulgar, narrowminded, insular, inartistic; he may pretend to be + charmed with everything, from St. Peter's to the garlic in the cookery; + yet in his heart of hearts he feels distinctly that the Vatican barely + outweighs the smells of the Ghetto, and that the Colosseum scantily atones + for the filthy alleys of the Tiberside slums that cover what was once the + Campus Martius. It takes some residence to get over the initial + disadvantages of an Italian city. But to an American-born, an + unregenerate, not yet cosmopolitanised or Italianate American, fresh from + the broad clean streets and neat white houses of American cities, the + squalor and griminess of Rome is a thing incredible and almost + unutterable. Hiram gazed at it, appalled and awestruck, wondering how on + earth he could ever manage to live for a year or two together in that + all-pervading murky atmosphere of dust-laden malaria. + </p> + <p> + Besides, was he not a little sore and disappointed that Gwen had seen him, + and had utterly forgotten him? Was he not just a trifle jealous, not only + of Audouin, but also of Colin Churchill? All these things go to colour a + man's opinion of towns and places quite as much as those recognised and + potent refractive agents, the nature of his digestion or the state of the + weather. + </p> + <p> + They were duly ushered up into M. Seguin's private room, and there the + great painter, after a few minutes' delay, came to see them. He was a + short, dry-looking, weazened-up little man, with a grizzled French + moustache waxed at the ends, and an imperturbable air of being remarkably + well pleased with himself, both physically and mentally. Audouin took him + in hand at once, as if by agreement, and did all the talking, while Hiram + stood silent and confused quite in the background. Indeed, a casual + observer might easily have imagined that it was Audouin who wished to be + the Frenchman's pupil, and that Hiram Winthrop was merely there as a + disinterested and unconcerned bystander. + </p> + <p> + 'Has Monsieur got any specimens of his work with him?' M. Seguin asked + Hiram at last condescendingly. 'Anything on which one might form a + provisional judgment of his probable talents?' + </p> + <p> + 'I've brought a few landscapes with me from America, if you would care to + see them,' Hiram answered submissively. + </p> + <p> + 'To see them! Not at all, Monsieur. Do I wish to look at landscapes for my + part? Far from it! Let us admit that you do not come here to me to learn + landscape. The human figure—the divine human figure in all its + sublime grandeur—there, Monsieur, is the goal of the highest art; + there is the arena of the highest artist.' M. Seguin brought his hand + carelessly down upon the fragment of ribbon on his own left breast as he + finished this final sentence, as though to imply with due delicacy of + feeling that he considered the highest artist and Jean Baptiste Seguin as + practically convertible expressions. + </p> + <p> + Hiram inclined his head a little, partly to hide a smile. 'I'm afraid, + Monsieur,' he said humbly, 'I have nothing to show you in the way of + figure painting.' + </p> + <p> + 'Well, well,' Seguin answered with a polite expansion of his two hands, + 'give yourself the trouble to come here to-morrow morning and prepare to + copy a head of mine for the Salon of last year. You have seen it?—no? + then this way, Messieurs, '<i>I will show it to you!''</i> + </p> + <p> + The tone of exalted condescension in which he uttered those four words, + 'Je vous la montrerai,' was as though he meant to afford them a glorious + treat which would render them for ever after perfectly happy. + </p> + <p> + Hiram and Audouin followed the weazened-up little man into another room, + where on an easel in the light stood his great Salon painting of + Sardanapalus and the Egyptian Princess. As in everything that Seguin has + painted, there was undoubtedly a certain meretricious beauty and force + about it. The technique, indeed, was in its way absolutely perfect. The + flesh tones had a satiny transparency; the draperies were arranged with + exquisite skill and supreme knowledge; the touch was everywhere firm and + solid: the art displayed was throughout consummate. Even the figures + themselves, viewed as representing their historical namesakes, were not + lacking in a certain theatrical grace and dignity. + </p> + <p> + Hiram felt instinctively that Sardanapalus was the masterpiece of a great + artist, who had a marvellous hand and a profound knowledge of painting, + but no soul in him; and <i>even</i> Audouin recognised at once that though + the workmanship was as nearly perfect as the deepest study and the finest + eye could possibly make it, yet there was a something still more + profoundly artistic that was evidently wanting to the first conception of + Seguin's masterpiece. + </p> + <p> + M. Seguin himself stood still for a minute or two with his hand on his + hip, lips half parted and eye entranced, as though absorbed in + contemplation of his own great work of art, and then glanced round + sideways quite accidentally to see how its beauty affected the minds of + the two strangers. Having furtively satisfied himself that Hiram was just + then really appreciative of the clever light that fell obliquely upon + Sardanapalus's dusky shoulder, and that Audouin was duly admiring the + exquisitely painted full round arm of the Egyptian Princess, he turned to + them in front once more, like one recalled from the realms of divine art + to the worky-day world of actuality, and resumed the discussion of their + present business. + </p> + <p> + 'You will come then, to-morrow, Monsieur, and do me a study of the head of + Sardanapalus. If by the time you have finished it, you display a talent + worthy of being evoked, I will then accept you as one of my pupils. If not—which + I do not, for the rest, anticipate—you will understand, Monsieur, in + that case, that it will be with the greatest regret that I shall be + compeled—ah, good; you recognise the necessity laid upon an artist.—Antoine! + These gentlemen—my time, the time of an artist, is very precious. + Good day, Monsieur, good day to you.' + </p> + <p> + 'And if he accepts you, Hiram,' Audouin said, when they got outside, + 'you'd better arrange to take an apartment somewhere with young Churchill—furnished + apartments suitable for art-students are cheap at Rome, they tell me—and + get your meals at a trattoria. That'll make your money go farther, I + estimate.'. + </p> + <p> + Hiram sighed, and almost wished in his own heart that M. Seguin would have + the kindness not to recognise in him a talent worthy of being evoked by so + great a master. But alas, fate willed it otherwise. M. Seguin pronounced + the head, though but feebly representing the mixed virile force and + feminine delicacy of his own Sardanapalus, 'sufficiently well painted, as + the work of a beginner;' and Hiram was forthwith duly enrolled among the + great French painter's select pupils, to start work as soon as he had had + a fortnight with Audouin, 'for inspecting the sights of the city.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIII. RECOGNITION. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">M</span>y dear,' said the + Colonel, as Gwen and he sat at breakfast together a few mornings later, + 'now, what's your programme for to-day? An off day, I hope, for, to tell + you the truth, I'm beginning to get rather tired of so much sight-seeing. + Yesterday, San Clemente, wasn't it? (that place with the very + extraordinary frescoes!) and the Forum, and the temple of Fortuna + something-or-other, where an extortionate fellow wanted to charge me a + lira for showing us nothing; Wednesday, St. Peter's, which, thank + goodness, we did thoroughly' and won't have to go to again in the course + of our lifetimes; Tuesday—I'm sure I can't recollect what we did on + Tuesday, but I know it was somewhere very tiring. I do hope today's to be + an off day, Gwen. Have you made any arrangements?' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh yes, papa. Don't you remember? That delightful Mr. Audouin is coming + to take us round to some of the studios.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel pushed his chair away from the table somewhat testily. 'The + Yankee man, you mean, I suppose?' he said, with a considerable trace of + acerbity in his manner. 'That fellow who kept talking so much the other + day about some German of the name of Heine (I find out from Mrs. Wilmer, + by the way, that this man Heine was far from being a respectable person). + So you've promised to go mooning about the studios with him, have you?' + </p> + <p> + 'Yes, papa, and he'll be here at ten; so please now go at once and get + ready.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel grumbled a little—it was his double privilege, as a + Briton and a military man, to grumble as much as he thought necessary, on + all possible occasions; but by the time Audouin arrived, he was quite + ready, with his silk hat brushed up to the Bond Street pattern, and his + eminently respectable kid gloves shaming Audouin's bare hands with their + exquisite newness. + </p> + <p> + 'How kind of you to take us, Mr. Audouin,' Gwen said, with one of her + artless smiles: 'I'm really so delighted to get a chance of seeing + something of the inner life of artists. And you're going to introduce us + to Maragliano, too! What an honour!' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, quite so,' the colonel assented readily; 'most gratifying, certainly. + A very remarkable painter, Signor Maragliano!' + </p> + <p> + 'But most remarkable of all as a sculptor,' Audouin put in quickly, before + Gwen had time to correct her father's well-meant blunder. 'A magnificent + figure, his Psyche. This way, Miss Russell, down the Corso.' + </p> + <p> + 'Our name is Howard-Russell, Mr. Audouin, if you please—two + surnames, with a dash between them,' the colonel interrupted (one can + hardly expect the military mind to discriminate accurately between a dash + and a hyphen). 'My ancestor, the fourth earl, who was a Howard, you know, + married a Lady Mary Russell, daughter of the fifth Marquis of Marsh wood—a + great heiress—and took her name. That was how the Russell connection + first got into the Howard family.' + </p> + <p> + 'Indeed!' Audouin answered, with forced politeness. (The best bred + Americans find it hard to understand our genealogical interest.) 'But the + double name's a little long, isn't it, for practical purposes? In an + easy-going old-world country like Europe, people can find time for so many + syllables, I dare say; but I'm afraid we hurry-scurrying Americans would + kick against having to give one person two surnames every time we spoke to + him, colonel.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel drew himself up rather stiffly. That any man could make light + of so serious a subject as the Howard-Russell name and pedigree was an + idea that had hardly before even occurred to his exalted consideration. + </p> + <p> + They walked along the Corso, and through the narrow street till they + arrived at the Via Colonna. Then Audouin dived down that abode of artists, + with Gwen chatting away to him gaily, and the colonel stalking beside them + in solemn silence, till they reached Maragliano's studio. + </p> + <p> + As they entered, the great sculptor was standing aside behind a big lump + of moist clay, where Colin Churchill was trying to set up a life-size + model from the Calabrian Peasant. Colin's back was turned towards the + visitors, so that he did not see them enter; and the colonel, who merely + observed a young man unknown kneading up some sticky material on a board, + 'just the same as if he were a baker,' didn't for the moment recognise + their late companion in the French railway carriage. But Gwen saw at once + that it was Colin Churchill. Indeed, to say the truth, she expected to + meet him there, for she had already heard all about his arrangement with + Maragliano from Audouin; and she had cleverly angled to get Audouin to + offer to take them both to Maragliano's, not without the ulterior object + of starting a fresh acquaintance, under better auspices, with the + interesting young English sculptor. + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, yes,' Maragliano said to the colonel as soon as the formalities of + introduction were over. 'That, signor, is my Calabrian Peasant, and that + young man you see there, trying to model it, has really a most + extraordinary plastic genius. He's a new pupil, and he's going to do + wonders. But first, if you will wait and see, in ten minutes his Calabrian + Peasant will come all to pieces.' + </p> + <p> + 'Dear me!' exclaimed the colonel, with much show of polite interest. 'Come + all to pieces! Really! How very extraordinary! And what is the object of + that, now, signor?' + </p> + <p> + Maragliano laughed. 'He doesn't know it'll fall yet,' he answered, half + whispering. 'He's quite new to this sort of work, you see, and I told him + when he came the other day to begin copying the Peasant. Of course, as + your knowledge of the physical laws will immediately suggest to you, + signor, the arm can't possibly hold together in moist clay in that + position. In fact, before long, the whole thing will collapse altogether.' + </p> + <p> + 'Naturally,' the colonel answered, looking very wise, and glancing with a + critical eye towards the marble original. 'That's a work, of course, that + couldn't possibly be produced in clay, but only in bronze or marble.' + </p> + <p> + 'But why did you set him to do it, then?' asked Gwen, a little doubtfully. + 'Surely it wasn't kind to make him begin it if it can only end by getting + broken.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, signorina,' the great sculptor answered, shrugging his shoulders, 'we + learn most of all by our errors. For a model like that, we always employ + an iron framework, on which, as on a skeleton, we build up the clay into + flesh and muscles. But this young compatriot of yours, though he has great + native genius, is still quite ignorant of the technical ways of + professional sculptors. He has evidently modelled hitherto only in his own + self-taught fashion, with moist clay alone, letting it support its own + weight the best way possible. So he has set to work trying to mould an + outline of my Peasant, as he has been used to do with his own stiff + upright figures. By-and-by it will tumble down; then we will send for a + blacksmith; he will fix up a mechanical skeleton with iron bars and + interlacing crosses of wood and wire; on that, my pupil will flesh out the + figure with moist clay; and then it'll be as firm as a rock for him to + work upon.' + </p> + <p> + 'But it seems a great shame, all the same,' Gwen cried warmly, 'to make + him do it all for nothing. It looks to me like a waste of time.' + </p> + <p> + 'Not so,' Maragliano answered. 'He will get on all the faster for it in + the end. He's too enthusiastic now. He must learn that art goes softly.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel turned aside with Maragliano to examine some of the other + works in the studio, but Gwen and Audouin went up to watch the new pupil + at his futile task. Colin turned round as they approached, and felt his + face grow hot as he suddenly recognised his late beautiful + fellow-traveller. But Gwen advanced to meet him so frankly, and held out + her delicate hand with such an air of perfect cordiality, that he half + forgot the awkwardness of the situation, and only said with a smile, 'You + see my hands are not in a fit state for welcoming visitors, Miss + Howard-Russell; a sculptor must be excused, you know, for having muddy + fingers. But I'm so glad to see you again. I learnt from my brother how + kindly you had interested yourself on my behalf with Sir Henry + Wilberforce. It was very good of you, and I shall not forget the trouble + you took for me.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen coloured a little. Now that she looked back upon it in a calmer + moment, her interference in Colin Churchill's favour had certainly been + most dreadfully unconventional. + </p> + <p> + 'I'm only too glad, Mr. Churchill,' she said, 'that you've got away at + last from that horrid old man. He almost frightened me out of my senses. + You ought to be here working, as you're doing now, of course, and I shall + watch your progress in future with so much interest. Signor Maragliano has + such a high opinion of you. He says you'll do wonders.' + </p> + <p> + 'Yes,' Colin answered, eagerly. 'He's a splendid man, Maragliano. It's + grand to hear his generous appreciation of others, down even to the merest + beginners. Whenever he talks of any other sculptor, dead or living, + there's such a noble absence of any jealousy or petty reserve about his + approbation. He seems as if he could never say enough in praise of + anybody.' 'He looks it,' Audouin put in. 'He has a fine head and a + speaking eye. I've seldom seen a grander bust and profile. Don't you think + so, Miss Russell?' + </p> + <p> + 'Very fine indeed,' Gwen answered. 'And so you're working at this + Calabrian Peasant, Mr. Churchill. It's a beautiful piece of sculpture.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, yes,' Colin said, standing still and regarding it for a moment with + loving attention. 'It's beautiful, beautiful. When I can model a figure + like that, I shall think I've done something really. But it's quite + painful to me to look round and see the other men here—some of them + younger than myself—to watch their power and experience, their + masterly way of sketching in the figure, their admirable imitation of + nature—and then to think how very little I myself have yet + accomplished. It almost makes one feel despondent for one's own powers. + When I watch them, I feel humbled and unhappy.' + </p> + <p> + 'No, no,' Audouin said warmly. 'You needn't think so, I'm sure, Churchill. + The man who distrusts his own work is always the truest workman. It's only + fools or poor creatures who are satisfied with their own first tentative + efforts. The true artist underrates himself, especially at first, and + thereby both proves himself and makes himself the true artist.' + </p> + <p> + 'Just what I felt myself,' Gwen murmured, half inaudibly (though somebody + standing in the shade behind heard her quite distinctly), only I don't + know how to put it nearly so cleverly.' + </p> + <p> + 'And Maragliano tells me,' Audouin went on, 'that you've got some splendid + designs for bas-reliefs with you, which were what really determined him to + take you for his pupil. He says they're the finest things he ever yet saw + done by a self-taught beginner, and that they display extraordinary + promise.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, do show them to us, Mr. Churchill,' Gwen cried, looking at him with + obvious admiration (as the somebody behind again noticed). 'Have you got + them here? Do show them to us!' + </p> + <p> + Colin smiled and looked a little embarrassed. Then he went off and got his + portfolio, and showed the drawings one after another to Gwen and Audouin. + Gwen watched them all with deep interest; Audouin praised and criticised + and threw in a word or two here and there of transcendental explanation; + while Colin himself now and then pointed out a motive or described his + idea of the various personages. When they came to Orestes and the + Eumenides, Colin held out the drawing at arm's length for a moment + lovingly. 'Maradiano admired that the most,' he said with a touch of not + ungraceful vanity; and Gwen, looking at it with her untutored eye, at once + agreed that Maragliano had chosen wisely. 'It's beautiful,' she said, + 'very beautiful. Oh, Mr. Churchill, what a splendid thing to be able to + make such lovely figures! I don't think even painting can compare for a + moment for nobility and purity with sculpture.' + </p> + <p> + Somebody standing beside in the shade—he was by trade a painter—felt + a stab in his heart as the beautiful Englishwoman said those simple + natural words of outspoken admiration. + </p> + <p> + 'But, oh, Miss Russell,' Colin cried, looking up again from his own + drawings to the Calabrian Peasant, in its exquisite grace of attitude, + 'what's the use of looking at my poor things with such a statue as that + before you?' + </p> + <p> + Gwen glanced quickly and appreciatively from one to the other. 'Why, do + you know, Mr. Churchill,' she answered, with that easy boldness of + criticism which distinguishes her sex, 'it may be only my ignorance of art + that makes me say so, but I really prefer your Orestes even to + Maragliano's Calabrian Peasant; and yet the Peasant's a magnificent + statue.' + </p> + <p> + Somebody behind, putting his head a little on one side, and comparing + hastily the drawing and the marble figure, confessed to his own heart, + with a painful sinking sense of personal failure, that after all Gwen's + judgment in the matter was not far wrong even to the more trained artistic + perception. + </p> + <p> + Colin laughed. 'Ah, that's flattery, I'm afraid,' he said, turning round + to her innocently; 'quite too obvious and undeserved flattery. It'd be + absurd to compare my poor little drawings of course with the finished work + of such an accomplished sculptor as Maragliano. You must be given to + paying compliments I'm sure, Miss Russell.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen thought the conversation was taking perhaps a rather dangerous turn, + so she only said, 'Oh no,' a little coldly, and then changed the subject + as quickly as she was able. 'So you're going to settle down in Rome for + the present?' she said. 'You've taken lodgings, I suppose, have you?' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh yes, I've taken lodgings in such a funny little street—to dine + at a trattoria—with a friend of Mr. Audouin's, who's come from + America to study painting. You've met him before. He's here this morning. + He came round with me to see the studio, and I'm sure I don't know now + where he's gone to. Winthrop, Winthrop, where are you?' + </p> + <p> + Hiram Winthrop stepped out of the gloom behind with bashful eyes and + cheeks burning; for he had heard all that Gwen had said to Colin, and he + felt as if his own hopes and aspirations were all that moment finally + crushed out of him. How much notice she took of this fluent, handsome + English sculptor! how little she seemed to think of him, the poor shy, + retiring, awkward, shock-headed American painter! + </p> + <p> + But Gwen didn't seem to be at all conscious of Hiram's embarrassment. She + held out her hand to him just as cordially as she had held it out five + minutes before to Colin; and Hiram, luckier in the matter of clay, was + able to take it, and to feel its touch thrill through him inwardly with a + delicious tremor. She talked to him about the ordinary polite nothings for + a minute or two—had he done the Vatican yet? was he going to the + Colosseum? did he like Rome as far as he had seen it?—and then + Maragliano and the colonel drew a little nearer to the group, still + talking to one another quite confidentially. + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, yes,' Maragliano was saying, in a somewhat lower tone than before; 'a + very remarkable pupil indeed, signor. If I were inclined to jealousy, I + should say, a pupil who will soon outstrip his master. He will be a great + sculptor—a very great sculptor. You will hear of his name one day; + he will not be long in achieving celebrity.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, indeed,' the colonel answered, in his set tone of polite + indifference. 'Very interesting, really. And what might the young man's + name be, signor? so that one may recognise it, you know, when it comes to + be worth hearing.' + </p> + <p> + Before Maragliano could reply, there was a noise of something falling + behind, and then, with a sodden sound, like dough flung down upon a board, + Colin Churchill's Calabrian Peasant collapsed utterly, and sank of its own + weight upon the low table where he was modelling it. There it lay in a + ludicrously drunken and inglorious attitude, still present ing some outer + semblance of humanity, but flattened and distorted into a grotesque + caricature of the original statue. As it lay there helpless, a perfect Guy + Fawkes of a Calabrian, with its pasty featureless face staring blankly + upward towards the vacant ceiling, Gwen couldn't resist bursting out gaily + into a genuine laugh of girlish amusement. Everybody else laughed, except + two: and those two stood with burning faces beside the shattered model, + glaring at one another indignantly and defiantly. Colin Churchill's cheeks + were flushed with natural shame at this absurd collapse of his carefully + moulded figure before the eyes of so many spectators. The colonel's were + flushed with anger and horror when he saw that the promising pupil with + whom his daughter had been talking so eagerly was none other than their + railway acquaintance of the journey Rome ward—Sir Henry + Wilber-force's valet, Colin Churchill. + </p> + <p> + 'Gwen,' he cried, coming up to her with ill-concealed anger, 'I think we'd + better be going. I'm afraid—I'm afraid our presence has possibly + contributed to this very unfortunate catastrophe. Good morning, Mr. + Churchill. I didn't know we were to have the pleasure of meeting you here + this morning. Good morning.' + </p> + <p> + But Gwen wouldn't be dragged away so easily. 'Wait a minute or two, papa,' + she cried in her authoritative way. 'Signor Maragliano will explain all + this, and we'll go as soon as Mr. Churchill is ready to say goodbye to us. + At present, you see, he's too busy with his model to pay any attention to + stray visitors. I'm so sorry, Mr. Winthrop, it should have occurred while + we were here, because I take so much interest in Mr. Churchill, and now + I'm afraid he'll think we were all in league to raise a laugh against him. + But I couldn't help it, you know; I really couldn't help it; the thing + does certainly look so very comical.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram hated himself for it in his heart, but he couldn't help feeling a + certain sense of internal triumph in spite of himself at this unexpected + discomfiture of his supposed rival. + </p> + <p> + When they were walking home together a few minutes later, and had passed + from the narrow street into an empty sleepy-looking piazza, the colonel + turned and said angrily to his daughter, 'Gwen, I'm thoroughly ashamed of + you, going and talking in that way to that common valet fellow. Have you + no feeling for your position that you choose to lower yourself by actually + paying court before my very eyes to a person in his station?' + </p> + <p> + Gwen bit her lip in silence for a minute or two, and made no reply. Then, + after letting her internal indignation cool for a while, she condescended + to use the one mean Philistine argument which she thought at all likely to + have any effect upon the colonel's personality. + </p> + <p> + 'Papa,' she said very quietly, 'it's no use telling <i>you</i>, of course, + that he's a wonderful artist, and that he's going to make beautiful + statues that everybody'll admire and talk about, for you don't understand + art, and you don't care for it or see anything in it: but can't you at + least understand that Mr. Churchill is a gentleman by nature, that he's + rising to be a gentleman by position, that he'll come at last to be a + great sculptor, and be made President of the Royal Academy, and be + knighted, and entertain the Prince of Wales to dinner—and then, you + know, you'd be glad enough to get an invitation anywhere to meet him.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel coughed. 'It'll be quite time to consider that question,' he + said drily, 'when we see him duly gazetted. Every French soldier carries a + marshal's bâton in his knapsack, I've been given to understand; but for my + part, I prefer not sitting down to dinner with him, all the same, until + the marshal's bâton has been properly taken out of the knapsack.' + </p> + <p> + That night, Hiram Winthrop, creeping up the dim creaking staircase to his + small dark bedroom in the narrow dirty Roman lane, said to himself, with + something of despair in his soul, 'She will fall in love with Churchill. I + feel sure she will fall in love with Churchill. And yet he doesn't seem to + notice it, or care for it. While I——' + </p> + <p> + That night, Colin Churchill, coming back, once more enthusiastic, from + Maragliano's, (where the great sculptor had with his own hands rebuilt for + him in outline round an iron framework the shattered Calabrian Peasant), + and mounting the quaint old Roman staircase to his own funny little attic + room, next door to Winthrop's, said to himself casually, in a passing idle + moment, 'A beautiful girl, that Miss Howard-Bussell, certainly. More + statuesque than Minna, though not perhaps so really pretty. But still, + very beautiful. One of the finest profiles, I think, I have ever met with. + And what an interest she seems to take in art, too! So anxious to come and + see Maragliano, Mr. Audouin told me. Only, she was quite too flattering, + really, about Orestes pursued by the Eumenides.' + </p> + <p> + And that night, away over yonder in lonely London, little Minna read and + re-read a long letter from Colin at Rome ten times over, and pressed it + tenderly to her heart, and cried to herself over it, and wondered whether + Cohn would ever forget her, or would fall in love with one of those + splendid dark-eyed treacherous-looking Italian women. And then, as of old, + she lay awake and thought of Cohn, and the dangers of absence, with tears + in her eyes, till she cried herself to sleep at last with his open letter + still pressed tight against her tremulous eager little bosom. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIV. GWEN AND HIRAM. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">E</span>verybody who went + to Audouin's picnic at the Alban lake agreed that it was one of the most + delightful entertainments given at Rome during the whole of that season. + </p> + <p> + The winter—Hiram and Cohn's first winter in Italy—had worn + away quickly enough. Hiram had gone every day, as in duty bound, to paint + and be chidden at M. Seguin's studio; for Seguin was one of those exalted + teachers who instruct rather by example than by precept; who seem to say + perpetually to their pupils, 'See how much better I have done it or would + have done it than you do;' and he never for a moment succeeded in + inspiring the very slightest respect or enthusiasm in Hiram's simple, + quiet, unostentatious, straightforward American nature. Of course Hiram + worked hard; he felt he ought to work hard. Audouin expected it of him, + and he would have done anything on earth to please Audouin; but his heart + was not really in it for all that, though he wouldn't for the world have + acknowledged as much even to himself, and he got on far less well than + many other people would have done with half his talent and half his + industry. He hated the whole artifice of drapery and models, and clever + arrangement of light and shade, and marvellous minuteness of technical + resources, in which his French master positively revelled. He longed for + the beautiful native wildness of the American woodlands, or still more, + even, for the green hedgerows and parks and meadows of that enchanted + England, which he had seen but in a glimpse for two days in his whole + lifetime, but in whose mellow beauty, nevertheless, his heart had + immediately recognised its true fatherland. It may have been narrow and + sectarian and unappreciative in Hiram; no doubt it was; but he couldn't + for the life of him really care for Seguin's very greatest triumphs of + artistic ingenuity. He recognised their extraordinary skill, he admitted + their unrivalled cleverness as <i>tours de force</i> of painting, he even + admired their studied grace and exquisite composition as bits of + harmonious form and colour; but he never could fall down before them in + the least as works of art in the highest sense, or see in them anything + more than the absolute perfection of cold, hard, dry, unspiritualised + mechanical aptitude. + </p> + <p> + As for Colin, now that Sam had gone back to England, on his way home to + America (Sam used the expression himself quite naturally now), he had + thrown himself with the utmost fervour into the work of Maragliano's + studio, where he soon rose to the acknowledged position of the great + master's most favourite pupil. The model of the Calabrian Peasant which he + built up upon the blacksmith's framework was the last copy he had to do + for Maragliano. As soon as it was finished, the master scanned the clay + figure with his quick critical eye, and cried almost contemptuously, 'Why, + this is mere child's play for such a man as you, I see, Churchill. You + must do no more copying. To-morrow you shall begin modelling from the + life.' Colin was well pleased indeed to go on to this new and untried + work, and he made such rapid progress in it that even Maragliano himself + was quite surprised, and said confidentially to Bazzoni more than once, + 'The young Englishman will go far. He has the spark of genius in him, my + friend; he is a born sculptor.' + </p> + <p> + It was all so different too in Rome, from London, where Colin had been + isolated, unknown, and almost friendless. There was nobody there except + Cicolari—and Minna; dear little woman, he had almost omitted her—with + whom he could talk on equal terms about his artistic longings and ideas + and interests. But at Rome it was all so different. There was such a great + society of artists! Every man's studio was open to his fellows; a lively + running fire of candid criticism went on continually about every work + completed or in progress. To live in such an atmosphere of art, to move + amongst it and talk about it all day long, to feast his eyes upon the + grand antiques and glorious Michael Angelos of the Vatican—all this + was to Colin Churchill as near an approach to unmixed happiness as it is + given to human beings to know in this nether world of very mixed + experiences. If only he had had Minna with him! But there! Colin Churchill + loved art so earnestly and singlemindedly that for its sake he could well + endure even a few years' brief absence in Rome away from poor, little, + loving, sorrowing Minna. + </p> + <p> + Gwen meanwhile, in spite of the colonel, had managed to see a great deal + from time to time both of Colin and of Audouin. The colonel had indeed + peremptorily forbidden her in so many words to hold any further + communications of any sort with either of them. Colin, he said, was a + person clearly beneath her both in birth and education, while Audouin was + the most incomprehensible prig of a Yankee fellow he had ever had the + misfortune to set eyes upon in the whole course of his lifetime. But the + colonel was one of those forcible-feeble people who are very vehement + always in language, but very mild in actual fact; who threaten and bluster + a great deal about what they will never do, or what they will never + permit, but who do or permit it all the same on the very next occasion + when opportunity arises. The consequence was that Gwen, who was a vigorous + young lady with a will of her own, never took much serious notice of the + colonel when he was in one of his denunciatory humours, but went her own + way peacefully, and did as she chose to do herself the very next minute. + </p> + <p> + Now, at the same hotel where the Howard-Russells were stopping there was a + certain Mrs. Wilmer, a lady with two daughters (perfect sticks, Gwen + called them), to whom Gwen, being herself alone and motherless, thought it + well to attach herself for purposes of society. It's so convenient, you + know, to have somebody by way of a chaperon who can take you about and get + invitations for you. Happily Mrs. Wilmer, though herself as commonplace a + village Lady Bountiful as ever distributed blankets and read good books to + the mothers' meeting every Wednesday, was suddenly seized at Rome, under + the influence of the genius loci, with a burning desire to know something + about art and artists; and Gwen made use of this new-born fancy freely to + go round the studios with Mrs. Wilmer, and of course to meet at times with + Colin and Audouin. + </p> + <p> + At last April came, and Audouin, who had been getting very tired of so + much city life (for his hermit love for the woods and solitude was only + one half affected), began to long once more for the lonely delights of his + own beloved solitary Lakeside. He would have been gone long before, + indeed, had it not been for a curious feeling which for the first time in + his life, he felt growing up within him—Audouin was falling in love + with Gwen Howard-Russell. The very first day he ever met her by the Lake + of the Thousand Islands, he had greatly admired her frank bold English + beauty, and since he had seen a little more of her at Rome, he had found + himself insensibly gliding from admiration into a less philosophical and + more human attitude. Yes, he had almost made up his mind that before he + left Rome, he would ask Gwen whether she would do him the supreme honour + of accompanying him back to America as the mistress of Lakeside. + </p> + <p> + 'Papa,' Gwen said, one bright morning in April, 'Mrs. Wilmer wants me to + go with her to-day to a picnic at the Lago d'Albano.' + </p> + <p> + 'A picnic!' the colonel cried severely. 'And in the Campagna, too! My dear + child, as sure as fate, you'll all get the Roman fever.' + </p> + <p> + 'Albano isn't in the Campagna, papa,' Gwen answered quietly. 'At least + it's right up ever so high among the mountains. And Mrs. Wilmer's going to + call for me at halfpast eleven.' + </p> + <p> + 'Who gives the picnic?' + </p> + <p> + Gwen bit her lip. 'Mr. Audouin,' she answered shortly. + </p> + <p> + 'Mr. Audouin! What, that mad Yankee man again! Then, mind, Gwen, I say + you're not to go on any account.' + </p> + <p> + 'But, papa, Mrs. Wilmer has accepted for me.' + </p> + <p> + 'Never mind. I say, I won't allow you. Not a word more upon the subject: I + won't allow you. Now, remember, I positively forbid it, and pray don't + re-open the question.' + </p> + <p> + At half-past eleven, however, Gwen came down, dressed and ready. 'Papa + dear,' she said, as unconcernedly as if nothing at all had been said about + it, 'here's Mrs. Wilmer waiting for me outside, and I must go. I hope we + shan't be back late for dinner. Good morning.' + </p> + <p> + The colonel only muttered something inarticulate as she left the room, and + turned to his cigar for consolation. + </p> + <p> + 'What, you here, Mr. Churchill,' Gwen cried, as they all met together a + few minutes later at the Central Railway Station. 'I had no idea you were + to be of the party. I thought you were so perfectly wedded to art that you + never took a minute's holiday.' + </p> + <p> + 'I don't often,' Colin answered, smiling; 'I have so much leeway to make + up that I have to keep always at it, night and morning. But Maragliano, + who's the best and most considerate of men, when he heard that Mr. Audouin + had been kind enough to invite me, insisted upon it that I must give + myself a day's recreation. Besides, you see,' he added after a momentary + pause, looking down as if by accident into Gwen's beautiful eyes, 'there + were such very special attractions.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen made a little mock curtsey. 'What a pretty speech!' she said + laughingly. 'Since you've come to Rome, Mr. Churchill, you seem to have + picked up the Roman habit of paying compliments.' + </p> + <p> + Colin blushed, with some inward embarrassment. The fact was, Gwen had + misunderstood his simple remark: he was thinking, not of her, but only of + the tomb of Pompey and the old Roman Emissary. But Gwen noticed the faint + crimson rising to his cheek, and said to herself, not without a touch of + pardonable vanity, 'Our young sculptor isn't quite so wholly swallowed up + in his art as he wants us to believe, then. He dreams already of flying + high. If he flies high enough, who knows but he may be successful.' + </p> + <p> + What a handsome young fellow he was, to be sure, and what a natural + gentleman! And what a contrast, too, in his easy unselfconscious manner, + to that shy, awkward, gawky slip of a Yankee painter, Mr. Hiram Winthrop! + Hiram! where on earth did he get the name from? It sounded for all the + world just like a fancy character out of 'Martin Chuzzlewit.' + </p> + <p> + 'And you too, Mr. Winthrop! Of course we should have expected you. I don't + wonder you're always about so much with Mr. Audouin. I think him, you + know, the most charming talker I've ever met with.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram could have sunk into the ground with mortification at having thus + always to play second fiddle to Audouin, whose grizzling hair made him + seem to Gwen so much a confirmed old bachelor that she didn't think there + could be any danger at all in openly speaking out her admiration for his + powers as a talker. + </p> + <p> + They went by train to the station at Albano, and then drove up to the + shores of the lake in carriages which Audouin had ready in waiting. + Recluse and hermit as he was, when he went in for giving an entertainment, + he gave it regally; and the picnic was universally pronounced to be the + most splendid success of the Roman season. After lunch they dispersed a + little, as people always do at picnics (or else what would be the use of + that form of reunion?) and Colin somehow found himself, he didn't quite + know how, strolling with Gwen down the Galleria di Sopra, that beautiful + avenue of shady evergreen oaks which leads, with innumerable lovely + glimpses of the lake below, from Albano towards Castel Gandolfo. Gwen, + however, knew well enough how it had all happened; for she had angled most + cleverly so as to avoid the pressing attentions of Audouin, and to pair + off in apparent unconsciousness with the more favoured Colin. Mrs. Wilmer, + walking behind with another guest to do the proprieties, had acquiesced + most heartily in this arrangement, and had even managed to promote it + diligently: for did it not compel Mr. Audouin to link himself for the + afternoon to dear Lilian, and was it not well known that Mr. Audouin, + though an American, was otherwise a most unexceptionable and eligible + person, with quite sufficient means of his own to marry most comfortably + upon? Whereas this young Mr. Churchill, though no doubt wonderfully + clever, and a most estimable young man in his own way, was a person of no + family, and with all his fortune still to make by his own exertions. And + Mr. Audouin had really hardly a trace, after all, of that horrid American + singsong. + </p> + <p> + 'Yes,' Gwen was saying, as they reached the point of view near the + Emissario: 'Signor Maragliano told me that before many months were over, + he should advise you to begin modelling a real life-size figure from the + life of your own invention; for he thinks you would be only wasting your + time in working much longer at mere copying or academy work. He wants to + see you begin carrying out some of your own beautiful original + conceptions. And so do I too, you know: for we feel in a way, papa and I, + as if we had discovered you, Mr. Churchill.—Shall we sit down here + awhile, under the oak trees? This broad shade is so very delicious.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004"> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/0220m.jpg" alt="0220m " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/0220.jpg"><i>Original</i></a> + </h5> + <p> + She gave Colin her hand, to help her down the first bit of the side path + to the old Roman conduit; and as she did so, she looked into his face with + her lovely eyes, and smiled her thanks to him expressively. Cohn took her + hand and helped her gently down. 'You're very good to interest yourself so + much in my work,' he said, with no trace of shyness or awkwardness in his + manner. 'I shall be glad indeed when I'm able to begin producing something + worthy in real earnest.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen was really very beautiful and very kind and very cordial. He never + for a moment remembered with her the original disparity of their stations, + as he did with so many other grand ladies. She seemed to put him at his + ease at once, and to be so frank and complimentary and even pressing. And + then, her profile was magnificent, and her eyes were really splendid! + </p> + <p> + Ah, Minna, Minna, poor little Minna, in your big noisy schoolroom away + over yonder in big noisy London, well may you tremble with a cold shiver + running strangely through you, you know not why, and murmur to yourself, + in your quaint old-world superstition, that somebody must be walking over + your grave to-day somewhere or other! + </p> + <p> + 'Rome's a perfect paradise to me, you know, Mr. Churchill,' Gwen went on, + musingly. 'I never fully knew, before I came here, how much I loved art. I + perfectly revel in the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, and in studios such + as Signor Maragliano's. What a fortunate life yours will be—to live + always among so much exquisite beauty! I should love an artist's life + myself—only I suppose I should never get beyond the most amateur + water-colours. But a sculptor, especially! A sculptor's career seems to me + to be the grandest thing on earth a man can live for! I'd willingly give + half my days, do you know, if only I could be a sculptor.' + </p> + <p> + 'It's a glorious profession, certainly,' Colin answered, with kindling + eyes. 'It's such a grand thing to think one belongs, however humbly, to + the same great troop as Pheidias, and Michael Angelo, and Gibson, and + Thorwaldsen. That, alone, of course, is something in one's life to be + really proud of.' + </p> + <p> + 'Poor boy! he's obtuse,' Gwen thought to herself, commiseratingly. 'He + doesn't follow up the openings one gives him. But never mind. He's very + young still, and doesn't know when one's leading up to him. There's plenty + of time yet. By-and-by he'll grow older and wiser.—What a beautiful + reflection down there in the water, Mr. Churchill! No, not there: on the + broader part beyond the Roman mason-work. I wish Mr. Winthrop could see + it. It's just the thing he'd like so much to put on paper or canvas.' + </p> + <p> + 'You're interested in Winthrop, then, are you?' Cohn asked innocently. + </p> + <p> + 'Interested in him? Oh, yes, I'm interested in all art and in all artists—though + not of course in all equally. I mean, I like sculpture even better than + painting. But I saw a water-colour drawing of Mr. Winthrop's when I was in + America, you know, where I first met him, which I thought very pretty. I + can remember it yet—a sketch of blended trees and water among the + channels of the Thousand Islands.' + </p> + <p> + 'I've seen it,' Cohn answered: 'he's brought it with him, as well as + several other American landscapes. Winthrop draws admirably, I know, and + his treatment of foliage and water seems to me quite extraordinarily good. + He'll make a fine artist, I'm quite confident, before he's done with it.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen pouted a little to herself. 'It's plain,' she thought, 'that Mr. + Churchill isn't a person to be easily piqued by praising anybody else.' + And must it not be candidly admitted that in most women's eyes such + complete absence of jealousy is regarded rather as a fault in a man's + nature than as a virtue? (Mind, fair and courteous reader, if I may for a + moment address you personally, I say 'in most' not 'in all women's.' You + yourself, like present company generally, always, of course, form one of + the striking and praiseworthy exceptions to every vile masculine innuendo + aimed at the real or supposed peculiarities of 'most women.' Indeed, it is + on purpose to allow you that flattering loophole of escape that I always + artfully employ the less exclusive or general expression.) + </p> + <p> + They sat for a while talking idly on the slope by the path that leads to + the Emissary, till at last Audouin, having managed to shift off dear + Lilian for a while upon another man of the party, strolled up as though by + accident to join them. 'Do I intrude upon a <i>tete-a-tete</i>?' he asked + with apparent carelessness, as he sat down upon the rocky ledge beside + them. 'Is Mr. Churchill discoursing high art to you, Miss Russell, and + peopling the romantic glen below with yet unhewn Egerias and Faunuses? How + well this Italian scenery lends itself to those pretty half-theatrical + Poussinesque embellishments! and how utterly out of place they would all + look among the perfectly unkempt native savagery of our American woods and + waters!' + </p> + <p> + Gwen smiled. 'We weren't discussing high art, Mr. Audouin,' she said as + she drew a circle in the dust with the tip of her parasol. 'In fact we + want you here to throw a little touch of fancy and idealism into the + conversation. To tell you the truth, Mr. Churchill and I were only pulling + to pieces the Miss Wilmers' dresses.' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, but even dress itself is in its way a liturgy, Miss Russell,' Audouin + went on quickly, glancing half aside as he spoke at her own dainty bodice + and little frill of coffee-coloured laces. (Gwen hadn't the least idea + what he meant by a liturgy in this connection; but she thought it was + something very beautiful and poetical to say, and she felt sure it was + meant for a compliment; so she smiled graciously at it). 'People sometimes + foolishly say that young ladies think a great deal too much about dress. + For my part, it often occurs to me, when I look at <i>other</i> women; + that they think a great deal too little of it. How rarely, after all, does + one see art subservient here to nature—a beautiful woman whose dress + rather expresses and accentuates than mars or clashes with her own + individual type of beauty.' + </p> + <p> + 'How complimentary he is,' thought Gwen; 'and at his age too! Why, I + positively believe he must be very nearly forty!' + </p> + <p> + 'Shall we go down and look at the Emissary?' Colin asked, interrupting + Audouin's flow of pretty sentimentalities. 'It's very old, you know, Miss + Russell: one of the oldest existing works of Roman engineering anywhere in + Europe.' + </p> + <p> + Audouin jumped up again, and led the way down to the Emissary, where the + guide was already standing, impatiently expecting so many visitors, with + the little taper in his hands which he lights and sets floating down the + stream in order to exhibit to the greatest advantage the full extent of + the prehistoric tunnel. 'Can't I manage to shake off this fellow Churchill + somehow or other,' Audouin thought to himself in inward vexation, and get + half an hour's chat alone with Miss Bussell? I do believe the creature'll + checkmate me now, all by his ridiculous English heavy persistency! And + yet, what a scholars mate, too, to go and be shelved by such a mere + hobbledehoy of a fellow as this young man Churchill!' + </p> + <p> + Half way down the steep path, they came unexpectedly upon a solitary + figure, sitting with colour-box open and sheet of paper before him, just + above the entrance to the old tunnel. Audouin started when he saw him. + 'Why, Hiram,' he cried, 'so there you are! I've been hunting everywhere + for you, my dear fellow. We couldn't, any of us, imagine where on earth + you had evanished.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram didn't look up in reply, and Gwen's quick eye immediately caught the + reason, though she couldn't guess at its explanation—the young + American painter had certainly been crying! Sitting here alone by himself, + and crying! Gwen's heart interpreted the tears at once after a true + woman's fashion. He had left some little rustic sweetheart behind in + America, and he didn't care to sit and chat gaily among so many other + women, while she was alone without him; but had crept down here with his + paint-box by himself, to make a small sketch in perfect solitude, and + think about her. But who would ever have imagined that that gawky + shock-headed American boy had really got so much romance in him! + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, I just came down here, Mr. Audouin, to take a little view of the + lake,' Hiram answered evasively, without raising his eyes. 'The bit was so + pretty that, as I'd brought my things along, I couldn't resist painting + it.' + </p> + <p> + 'But what a shame of you,' Gwen cried, 'to run away and desert us, Mr. + Winthrop. You might at least have given us the pleasure of watching you + working. It's always so delightful to see a picture growing slowly into + form and shape under the hands of the artist.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram's voice had a touch of gratitude in it as he answered slowly, 'I + didn't know, Miss Russell, you were likely to care about it.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, he always loves solitude,' Audouin answered lightly, in a tone that + cut Hiram to the quick. 'He doesn't care for society at all. I'm afraid, + in that respect, Winthrop and I are both alike—lineal descendants of + the old Red Indian. There's nothing he loves so much as to get away to a + corner by himself, and commune with nature, with or without his colours, + just as he's been doing now, in perfect solitude. And after all, + solitude's really the best society: solitude's an excellent fellow by way + of a companion. Even when we're most alone, we have, not only nature with + us, but such a glorious company of glorified humanity that has gone before + us. We walk with Shelley down the autumn avenues of falling leaves, or we + meditate with Pascal beside the great breakers of Homer's much-resounding + sea. We look with Claude at the shifting lights and shades on the craggy + hillside opposite there, or we gaze upon the clouds and the sunset with + something of the halo that flooded the dying eyes of Turner. Somebody has + well said somewhere, Miss Russell, that without solitude no great thing + was ever yet accomplished. When the regenerators of the world—the + Messiahs and the Buddhas—wish to begin their mission as seer and + founder, they first retire for forty days' fast and meditation in the + lonely wilderness. And yet, I begin to think that our solitude oughtn't to + be too profound or too continuous. (Perhaps mine has been so.) It ought to + be tempered, I fancy, by continual congenial intercourse with some one + other like-minded spirit. After all, there's a profound truth of human + nature expressed in the saying of the old Hebrew cosmogonist—“It is + not good that man should be alone.”' + </p> + <p> + 'So I've always thought,' assented Colin Churchill gravely. + </p> + <p> + Audouin was vexed at the interruption, partly because he was just in the + middle of one of his fluent, high-flown, transcendental periods, but still + more because it came from that wretched interloper of a young English + sculptor. He was just about to go on with a marked tone of continuity, + when Gwen prevented him by taking up Hiram's unfinished picture. 'Why, + this is beautiful!' she cried, with genuine enthusiasm. 'This is even + better than the Alexandria Bay drawing, Mr. Winthrop: I like it immensely. + What a lovely tint of purple on the crests of the little wavelets! and how + beautifully you've done the steep sides of the old crater. Why, I do + believe you ought to be a landscape painter, instead of going in for those + dreadful historical pictures that nobody cares about. What a pity you've + gone into Mr. Seguin's studio! I'm sure you'd do a thousand times better + at this sort of subject.' + </p> + <p> + 'We've considered very carefully the best place in which to develop my + friend Winthrop's unusual powers,' Audouin answered in a cold tone; 'and + we've both quite come to the conclusion that there's no teacher better for + him anywhere than Seguin. Seguin's a really marvellous colourist, Miss + Russell, and his mastery of all the technical resources of art is + something that has never yet been approached, far less equalled, in the + whole history of painting.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram looked up very shyly into Gwen's face, and said quite simply, 'I'm + <i>so</i> glad you like it, Miss Russell. Your appreciation is worth a + great deal to me.' + </p> + <p> + 'More compliments!' Gwen thought to herself, smiling. 'They're all at it + this afternoon. What on earth can be the meaning of it? My new poplin must + be really awfully fetching.' But her smile was a kindly one, and poor + Hiram, who hadn't much to treasure up in his soul, treasured it up + sedulously for months to come among his dearest and most precious + possessions. + </p> + <p> + In the end, as it happened, Audouin never got the chance of speaking alone + with Gwen during the whole picnic. It was very annoying, certainly, for he + had planned the little entertainment entirely for that very purpose; but + really, as he reflected to himself at leisure in his own room that + evening, it was after all only a postponement. 'In any case,' he thought, + 'I wouldn't have insulted her by proposing to her to-day; for it <i>is</i> + insulting to a woman to ask her for her hand until you can see quite + clearly that she really cares for you. A human soul isn't a thing of so + light value that you can beg for the gift of it into your safe keeping on + a shorter acquaintance than would warrant you in asking for the slightest + favour. A woman's heart, a true and beautiful woman's heart, is a dainty + musical instrument to be carefully learnt before one can play upon it + rightly. To take it up by force, as it were, and to say at a venture, “Let + me see whether perchance I can get a tune out of this anyhow,” is to treat + it with far less tenderness and ceremony than one would bestow upon an + unconscious Stradivarius. So perhaps it was wisely ordained by the great + blind Caprice which rules this universe of ours that she and I should not + speak alone and face to face together to-day at Albano.' + </p> + <p> + But Hiram lulled himself to sleep by thinking over and over again to + himself that night, 'She smiled at me, and she admired my drawing.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXV. MINNA BETTERS HERSELF. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>way over in + London, the winter had passed far less happily for poor little Minna than + it had passed at Rome for Colin Churchill. While he had been writing home + enthusiastically of the blue skies and invigorating air of that delicious + Italy, the fogs in London had been settling down with even more than their + customary persistency over the great grey gloomy winter city. While he had + been filled with the large-hearted generosity of that noble fellow + Maragliano—'May I not be proud, Minna,' he wrote, 'to have known + such a man, to have heard his soft Genoese accents, to have watched his + wonderful chisel at its work, to have listened to his glorious sentiments + on art?'—she, poor girl, had found prim, precise, old-maidish Miss + Woollacott harder to endure and more pernicketty to live with than ever. + Now that Colin was gone, she had nobody to sympathise with her; nobody to + whose ear she might confide those thousand petty daily personal annoyances + which are to women (with all sympathetic reverence be it written) far more + serious hindrances to the pursuit of happiness than the greatest + misfortunes that can possibly overtake them. Worst of all, Colin, she was + afraid, didn't even seem to miss her. She was so miserable in London + without him; so full of grief and loneliness at his absence; while he was + apparently enjoying himself in Rome quite as much without her as if she + had been all the time within ten minutes' walk of his attic lodging. How + perfectly happy he seemed to be in his intercourse with this Signor + Maragliano that he wrote to her about! How he revelled in the nymphs, and + the Apollos, and the Niobes! How his letters positively overflowed with + life and enthusiasm! She was glad of it, of course, very glad of it. It + was so nice to think that dear Colin should at last be mingling in the + free artistic life for which she knew he was so well fitted: should be + moving about among those splendid Greek and Roman things he was so very + fond of. But still... well, Minna did wish that there was just a <i>little</i> + more trace in his letters of his being sorry to be so very, very far away + from her. + </p> + <p> + Besides, what dreadful note of warning was this that sounded so ominously + on Sunday mornings, when she had half an hour later to lie in bed and read + over all Colin's back letters—for she kept them religiously? What + dreadful note of warning was this that recurred so often?—'Miss + Howard-Russell, a niece of the old vicar's, and a cousin of Lord + Beaminster's, who, I told you, came with me from Paris to Rome in the same + carriage'... And then again, 'Miss Howard-Russell, whose name I daresay + you remember'—oh, didn't she?—'came into the studio this + morning and was full of praise of my figure in the clay from the living + model.' And now here once more, in to-day's letter, 'Miss Howard-Russell + was at the picnic, looking very pretty,' (oh, Colin, Colin, how could + you!) 'and I took her round through a beautiful gallery of oaks' + (Italianisai for avenue, already, but uncritical little Minna never + spotted it) 'to an old Roman archway where Winthrop was painting a clever + water-colour. I believe Winthrop admires her very much' (Minna fervently + hoped his admiration would take a practical form:) 'but she doesn't seem + at all to notice him.' Why, how closely Colin must have watched her! Minna + wasn't by any means satisfied with the habits and manners of this Miss + Howard-Russell. And the insolence of the woman too! to go and be a cousin + to the Earl of Beaminster! Unless you happen to have lived in the western + half of Dorsetshire yourself, you can have no idea how exalted a personage + a cousin of the Earl of Beaminster appeared in the eyes of the Wootton + Mande-ville fisherman's daughter. + </p> + <p> + 'Minna Wroe,' Miss Woollacott observed in her tart voice, as the little + pupil-teacher came down to breakfast on the Sunday morning after the + picnic, 'you're nearly seven minutes late—six minutes and forty-nine + seconds, to be precisely accurate: and I've been all that time sitting + here with my hands before me waiting prayers for you. And, Minna Wroe, + I've noticed that since that young man you describe as your cousin went to + Rome, you've had a letter with a foreign stamp upon it every Sunday. And + when those letters arrive I observe that you're almost invariably late for + breakfast. Now, Minna Wroe, I should advise you to write to your <i>cousin</i>'—with + a strong emphasis of sarcastic doubt upon the last word—'asking him + to make his communications a little less frequent: or else not to lie in + bed quite so late in the morning reading your <i>cousin's</i> weekly + effusions. Family affection's an excellent thing in its way, no doubt, but + it may go a little too far in the table of affinities.' + </p> + <p> + Instead of answering, to Miss Woollacott's great surprise, poor little + Minna burst suddenly into an uncontrollable flood of tears. + </p> + <p> + Now Miss Woollacott wasn't really cruel or ill-natured, but merely + desiccated and fossilised, after the fashion of her kind, by the long + drying-up process incidental to her unfortunate condition and unhappy + calling: and moreover, she shared the common and pardonable inability of + all women (I say 'all' this time advisedly) to see another woman crying + without immediately kneeling down beside her, and taking her hands in + hers, and trying with all her heart to comfort and console her. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005"> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/0244m.jpg" alt="0244m " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/0244.jpg"><i>Original</i></a> + </h5> + <p> + So in a few minutes, what with Miss Woollacott saying 'There, there, dear, + I didn't mean to hurt your feelings,' and smoothing Minna's hair tenderly + with her skinny old fingers (worn to the bone in the hard struggle), and + muttering to herself audibly, 'I hadn't the least idea that <i>that</i> + was what was really the matter,'—Minna was soon restored to + equanimity for the present at least, and Miss Woollacott, forgetting even + to read prayers in her discomposure ('Which it's the only time, mum,' said + Anne the slavey to the landlady, 'as ever I know'd the ole cat to miss + them since fust she come here') went on with the breakfast, beaten all + along the line, and trying to pass off 'this unpleasantness' by pretending + to talk as unconcernedly as possible about every distracted idea that + happened to come uppermost in her poor old scantily-furnished and + disconnected cranium. But when breakfast was over, and Minna had + positively kissed Miss Woollacott (an unheard-of liberty), and begged her + not to trouble herself any more about the matter, for she wasn't really + offended, and didn't in the least mind about it she went off upstairs to + her own room alone, and sat down, and had a good cry all by herself with + Colin's letters, and sent down word by Anne the slavey, that if Miss + Woollacott would kindly excuse her she didn't feel equal to going to + church that morning. 'And the ole cat, she acshally up and says, you'd + hardly believe it, mum, says she, “Well, Anne, an' if Miss Wroe doesn't + feel equal to it,” says she, “I think as how she'd better lie down a bit + and rest herself, poor thing,” says she: and when she said it, mum, you + could 'a knocked me down with a feather, a'most, I was that took aback at + the ole cat's acshally goin' and sayin' it. Which I do reely think she + must be goin' to be took ill or somethin', or else what for should she go + an' answer one back so kind and chrischun-like, mum, if she didn't feel + her end was a comin'?' + </p> + <p> + And old Miss Woollacott, putting on her thin-worn thread gloves for Church + upon her thin-worn skinny fingers, felt softened and saddened, and + remembered with a sigh that though she had never positively had a lover + herself—not a declared one, that is to say—for who knows how + many hearts she may have broken in silence?—she was once young + herself, and fancied she might some day have one of her own, just as well + as her sister Susan, who married the collector of water-rates; and if so, + she was dimly conscious in her own poor old shrivelled feminine heart, + much battered though it was in its hard struggle for life till it had + somewhat hardened itself on the strictest Darwinian principles in + adaptation to the environment, that she too under the same circumstances + would have acted very much as Minna Wroe did. + </p> + <p> + But as Minna lay on her bed alone through that Sunday morning, only for a + short time disturbed by the obtrusive sympathy of Anne the slavey, she + began to think to herself that it was really very dangerous after all to + let Colin remain at Rome without her; and that she ought to try sooner or + later to go over and join him there. And as she turned this all but + impossible scheme over in her head (for if even Cohn found it hard to get + over to Italy, how could she, poor girl, ever expect to find the money for + such a long journey, or subsistence afterwards?), a sudden glorious and + brilliant possibility flashed all unexpectedly upon her bewildered mental + vision:— + </p> + <p> + Why not try to go to Rome as a governess? + </p> + <p> + It was a wild and impossible idea—too impossible to be worth + discussing almost—and yet, the more she thought about it, the more + feasible did it seem to become to her excited imagination. Not + immediately, of course: not all at once and without due preparation. Minna + Wroe had learnt the ways of the world in too hard a school of slow + self-education not to know already how deep you must lay your plans, and + how long you must be prepared to work them, if you hope for success in any + difficult earthly speculation. But she might at least make a beginning and + keep her eyes open. The first thing was to get to be a governess; the next + was, to look out for openings in the direction of Italy. + </p> + <p> + It seems easy enough at first sight to be a governess; the occupation is + one open to any woman who knows how to spell decently, which is far from + being a rare or arduous accomplishment; and yet Minna Wroe felt at once + that in her case the difficulties to be got over were practically almost + insuperable. If she had only been a man, now, nobody would have asked who + she was, or where she came from: they would have been satisfied with + looking at her credentials and reading over the perfunctory testimonials + of her pastors and masters to her deserts and merits. But as she was only + a woman, they would of course want to inquire all about her; and if once + they discovered that she had been in a place as a servant, it would be all + up with her chances of employment for ever. The man who rises makes for + himself his own position; but the woman who rises has to fight all her + life long to keep down the memory of her small beginnings. That is part + and parcel of our modern English Christian conception of the highest + chivalry. + </p> + <p> + Little Minna Wroe, however, with her round gipsy face and pretty black + eyes, was not the sort of person to be put down in what she proposed to do + by any amount of initial difficulty. If the thing was possible, she would + stoutly fight her way through to it. So the very next morning, during + recess time, she determined to strike while the iron was hot, and went off + bravely through the rain to a neighbouring Governesses' Agency. It was one + of the wretched places where some lazy hulking agent fellow, assisted by + his stout wife, makes a handsome living by charging poor helpless girls + ten per cent, on their paltry pittance of a first year's salary, in return + for an introduction to patrons too indolent to hunt up a governess for + themselves by any more humane and considerate method. These are the + relatively honest and respectable agencies: the dishonest and disreputable + ones make a still simpler livelihood by charging an entrance-fee + beforehand, and never introducing anybody anywhere. + </p> + <p> + Minna put her name down upon the agent's list, but was wise enough not to + be inveigled into paying the preliminary two-and-sixpence. The consequence + was that the agent, seeing his only chance of making anything out of her + lay in the result of getting her a situation, sent her from time to time + due notice of persons in want of a nursery governess. Minna applied to + several of these in rotation, her idea being, first to get herself started + in a place anyhow, and then to look out for another in a family who were + going to Italy. But as she made it a matter of principle to tell inquiring + employers frankly that she had once been out at service, before she went + to the North London Birkbeck Girls' School, she generally found that they, + one and all, made short shrift of her. Of course it's quite impossible + (and in a Christian land, too,) to let one's children be brought up by a + young person who has once been a domestic servant. + </p> + <p> + One day, however, before many weeks, Minna received a note from the + agency, asking her whether she could call round at half-past eleven, to + see two persons who were in want of nursery governesses. It was + recess-hour, luckily, so she buttoned up her neat plain cloth jacket, and + put on her simple straw hat, and went round to meet the inquiring + employers. + </p> + <p> + The first inquiry, the agent said, was from a clergyman—Reverend + Walton and wife, now waiting in the ante-room. Reverend Walton, Miss Wroe: + Miss Wroe, Reverend Walton and Mrs. Walton. + </p> + <p> + Minna bowed. The Reverend Walton (as the agent described him with official + brevity), without taking the slightest notice of Minna, whispered audibly + to his wife: 'This one really looks as if she'd do, Amelia. Dress + perfectly respectable. No ribbons and laces and fal-lal tomfoolery. + Perfectly presentable, perfectly.' + </p> + <p> + Minna coloured violently; but the Reverend Walton's wife answered in the + same stage aside: 'Quite a proper young woman as far as appearance goes, + certainly, Cyril. <i>And</i> fifteen pounds a year, Mr. Coppinger said, + would probably suit her.' + </p> + <p> + Minna coloured still more deeply. It couldn't be called a promising + beginning. (She had sixteen pounds already, by the way, when she had been + a parlour-maid. Such are the prizes of the higher education for women in + the scholastic profession.) + </p> + <p> + They whispered together for a little while longer, less audibly, and then + Mrs. Walton began closely to cross-question the little pupil-teacher. + Minna answered all her questions satisfactorily—she had been + baptised, confirmed, was a member of the Church of England, played the + piano, could teach elementary French, had an excellent temper, didn't mind + dining with the children, would go to early communion, could mend dresses + and tuckers, wasn't particular about her food, never read books of an + irreligious tendency, and would assist in the housework of the nursery + whenever necessary. + </p> + <p> + 'In fact,' Minna said, with as much quiet dignity as she could command, + 'I'm not at all afraid of house-work, because (I think I ought to tell + you) I was out at service for some years before I went to the Birkbeck + Schools.' Reverend Walton lifted his eyebrows in subdued astonishment. + Mrs. Walton coughed drily. Then they held another whispered confabulation + for a few minutes, and at the end of it Mrs. Walton suggested blandly, in + a somewhat altered tone of voice, 'Suppose in that case we were to say + fourteen pounds and all found, and were to try to do altogether without + the nursemaid?' + </p> + <p> + Though Minna saw that this was economy with a vengeance—cutting her + down another pound, and saving the whole of the nursemaid's wages—she + was so anxious to find some chance of rejoining Colin that she answered + somewhat reluctantly, 'If you think that would be best, I shouldn't mind + trying it.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, if it comes to that,' Mrs. Walton said loftily, 'we don't want + anybody to come to us by way of a favour. Whoever accepts our post must + accept it willingly, thankfully, and in a truly religious spirit, as a + door thrown open to them liberally for doing good in.' + </p> + <p> + Minna bowed faintly. 'I would accept the situation,' she said as well as + she was able, though the words stuck in her throat (for was she not taking + it as a horrid necessity, for Colin's sake only?) 'in just that spirit.' + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Walton nodded her triumph. 'That'll do then,' she said 'What did she + say her name was, Cyril? We'll inquire about you of this Miss Jigamaree.' + </p> + <p> + Reverend Walton took out a pencil and note-book ostentatiously to put down + the address. + </p> + <p> + 'My name is Minna Wroe,' the poor girl said, colouring once more + violently. + </p> + <p> + 'Minna!' Reverend Walton said, biting the end of his pencil with a + meditative frown. 'You must mean Mary. You can't have been christened + Minna, you know, can you?' + </p> + <p> + 'Yes, I was,' Minna answered defiantly. + </p> + <p> + 'I was christened Minna, quite simply. M-I-N-N-A, Minna.' + </p> + <p> + Reverend Walton entered it in his notebook under protest. 'M-I-N-N-A,' he + said, 'Minna; R-O-W-E, Rowe, I suppose.' + </p> + <p> + 'No,' Minna answered, 'not R-O-W-E: W-R-O-E, Wroe.' + </p> + <p> + Reverend Walton sucked the other end of his pencil in evident hesitation. + 'Never heard of such a name in all my life,' he said, dubitatively. 'Must + be some mistake somewhere. + </p> + <p> + All the Rowes I ever heard of were R-O-W-E's.' + </p> + <p> + Minna didn't tell him that the names Rowe and Wroe are perfectly distinct + in origin and meaning, because she wasn't aware of that interesting fact + in the history and etymology of English nomenclature: but she did answer + stoutly, with some vehemence, 'My family have always spelt the name as I + spell it.' + </p> + <p> + Reverend Walton sneered visibly. 'Probably,' he said, 'your family didn't + know any better. Nothing's more common in country parishes than to find + that people don't know even how to spell their own names. At any rate, + while you remain a member of our household, you'd better arrange to call + yourself Mary Bowe, R-O-W-E, spelt in the ordinary proper civilised + manner.' + </p> + <p> + Poor Minna's smothered indignation could restrain itself no longer. 'No,' + she said firmly, with flashing eyes (in spite of her guaranteed good + temper), 'I'll call myself nothing of the sort. I'm not ashamed of my name, + and I won't change it.' (A rash promise that, on the part of a young + lady.) 'And you needn't take the trouble to apply to Miss Woollacott, + thank you, for on further consideration I've come to the conclusion that + your place won't suit me. And so good morning to you.' + </p> + <p> + Reverend Walton and wife conferred together in a loud whisper with one + another for a few minutes more, and then with a profound salutation walked + with dignity in perfect silence out of the ante-room. 'And I think, + Cyril,' Mrs. Walton observed in a stage aside as they held the door ajar + behind them, 'we're very lucky indeed to have seen the young woman in one + of her exhibitions of temper, for besides her unfortunate antecedents, + dear, I'm quite convinced, in my own mind, that she isn't a really + Christian person.' + </p> + <p> + 'Won't do, that lot?' the agent said, popping his head in at the door to + where Minna stood alone and crimson; 'ah, I thought not. Too much in this + line, aren't they?'—and the agent cleverly drove in an imaginary + screw into the back of his left hand with a non-existent screw-driver in + his right. 'Well, well, one down, t'other come on. You'll see Reverend + O'Donovan, now, miss, won't you?' 'What, another clergyman?' Minna cried a + little piteously. 'Oh, no, not now, if you please, Mr. Coppinger. I feel + so flurried and frightened and agitated.' + </p> + <p> + 'Bless your heart, miss,' the agent said, not unkindly, 'you needn't be a + bit afraid, you know, of Reverend O'Donovan. He's a widower, he is—four + children—nice old fatherly person—you needn't be a bit afraid + of seeing him. Besides, he's waiting for you.' Thus reassured, Minna + consented with some misgivings to go through the ordeal of a further + interview with the Reverend O'Donovan. + </p> + <p> + In a minute the agent returned, ushering into the room a very + brutal-looking old gentleman, the most surprising that Minna remembered + ever to have seen in the whole course of her experience. In spite of his + old-fashioned clerical dress, she could hardly believe that he could + really be a clergyman. He seemed to her at first sight the exact model of + the Irish villain of Mr. Tenniel's most distorted fancy in the 'Punch' + cartoons. She couldn't make out all his features at once, she was so much + afraid of him; but she saw immediately that what made his face so + especially ugly was the fact that he had a broken nose, just like a + prizefighter. Minna quite shrank from him as he came in, and felt she + should hardly have courage to get through the interview. + </p> + <p> + But the old clergyman put a chair for her with old-fashioned politeness, + and then said in a gentle musical voice which quite astonished her coming + from such a person, 'Pray be seated, Miss Wroe; I learned your name from + Mr. Coppinger. We may have to talk over matters at a little length—I'm + an old man and prosy—so we may as well make ourselves comfortable + together beforehand. That's my name, you see, Cornelius O'Donovan; a very + Irish one, isn't it? but we don't live in Ireland; in fact I've never been + there. We live at a very quiet little country village in the weald of + Surrey. Do you like the country?' + </p> + <p> + There was something so sweet and winning in the old clergyman's cultivated + voice, in spite of his repulsive appearance, that Minna plucked up heart a + little, and answered timidly, 'Oh, yes, I'm a country girl myself, and I'm + awfully fond of the country, though I've had to live for some years in + London. I come from Dorsetshire.' + </p> + <p> + 'From Dorsetshire!' Mr. O'Donovan answered in the same charming gentle + accent. + </p> + <p> + 'Why, that's quite delightful—indeed, almost providential. I was + born in Dorsetshire myself, Miss Wroe; my father had a parish there, a + sweet little fisher village parish—Moreton Freshwater: do you happen + to know it?' + </p> + <p> + 'Moreton!' Minna repeated warmly. 'Moreton! oh yes, of course I do. Why, + it's just close to our home. My folks live at Wootton Mandeville.' + </p> + <p> + 'God bless my soul!' exclaimed the old clergyman with a little start. + 'This is really providential, quite providential. I knew Wootton + Mandeville when I was a boy—every stone in it. Dear me! and so you + come from Wootton Mandeville, do you? Ah, well, I'm afraid all the people + I knew at Wootton must be dead long ago. There was old Susan who sold + apples at the corner by the Buddie, where the coach used to stop to set + down passengers; she must have been dead, well, before you were born, I + should say, certainly. And old Jack Legge that drove the coach; a fine old + fellow, he was, with a green patch on the eye that Job Puddicombe blinded; + I can remember his giving me a lift, as what we used to call a super—defrauding + his employers, I'm sorry to say; but in the West Country, you know, in the + old days, people did those things and thought no harm of them. And Ginger + Radford, the smuggler; I'm afraid he was a bad lot, poor man, but by Jove, + what a fine, hearty, open, manly fellow. Ah yes, capital people, even the + worst of them, those good old-fashioned West Country folks.' + </p> + <p> + The old clergyman paused a moment to wipe his glasses, and looked at Minna + pensively. Minna began to notice now that, though his face was so very + dreadful to look at, his eyes were tender and bright and fatherly. Perhaps + after all he wasn't really quite so terrible as she at first imagined him. + </p> + <p> + 'Ah,' Mr. O'Donovan went on, replacing his spectacles, 'and there was Dick + Churchill and his son Fiddler Sam, too, who used to draw pictures. You + might have known Fiddler Sam; though, bless my heart, even Sam must be an + old man nowadays, for he was older than I was. And then there was + Fisherman Wroe, and his son Geargey; fine young fellow, Geargey, with a + powerful deal of life and spirit in him—why.... God bless my soul, + they said your name was Miss Wroe, didn't they? If I may venture to ask + you, now—excuse me if I'm wrong—you don't happen to be a + daughter of George Wroe's of Wootton, do you?' + </p> + <p> + 'Yes,' Minna answered, warming a little towards the old gentleman, in + spite of his repulsive countenance (it didn't look half so bad already, + either, and she noticed that when once you got accustomed to the broken + nose, it began to beam with courtesy and benevolence.) 'I'm George Wroe's + daughter.' + </p> + <p> + Mr. O'Donovan's face lighted up at once with a genial smile of friendly + recognition. 'George Wroe's daughter!' he cried, with much animation. + 'George Wroe's daughter! Why, this is really most providential, my dear. + God bless my soul, we don't need any introduction to one another. I knew + your father well: many's the time we've been out fishing for whiting + pollock on the Swale Daze together; a fine young fellow as ever lived, my + dear, your father. When you see him again—he's living, I trust—that's + well; I'm glad to hear it—whenever you see him again, my child, just + you ask him whether he remembers Con O'Donovan (that's my name, you see, + Cornelius; fifty years ago they used to call me Con O'Donovan). And just + you ask him, too, whether he remembers how we got chased by the revenue + cutter from Portland Roads mistaking us for the gig of the French smack, + that brought over brandy (smuggled, I'm sorry to say—ah, dear me, + dear me!) to tranship into old Gingery Radford's “Lively Sally “; and how + we ran, and the cutter chased us, and we put on all sail, and made for + Golden Cap, and the cutter went fifteen miles out of her way bearing down + upon us, and caught us at last, and overhauled us, and found after all + we'd nothing aboard but a small cargo of lob-worms and launces! Ah, bless + my soul, that was a splendid run, that was! Oh, ho, ho! a splendid run, + that one!' and Mr. O'Donovan laughed to himself a big, gentle, + good-humoured laugh at the recollection of the boisterous jokes of fifty + years ago, and of the captain of the cutter, who swore at them most + terribly, in a varied and extensive assortment of English profanity, after + the fashion of the United Service at the beginning of the present century. + </p> + <p> + 'And now, my dear,' he went on, after another short pause—'I won't + call you Miss Wroe any longer, if you're my old friend Geargey's daughter—excuse + our plain old Dorsetshire dialect. So you want to be a governess? Well, + well, tell me all about it, now. How did it all happen?' + </p> + <p> + By this time Minna had got so far accustomed to the old gentleman, that + she began her whole story from the very beginning, and told it without + shame or foolish hesitation. When Mr. O'Donovan had heard it through with + profound attention, he looked at the little gipsy face with a look of + genuine admiration, and then murmured to himself quite softly, 'God bless + my soul, what a very remarkable plucky young lady! Quite a worthy daughter + of my dear brave old friend Geargey! Went out to service to begin with; + perfectly honourable of her; the Wroes were always a fine, manly, honest, + courageous, self-respecting lot, but never above doing a turn of decent + work either, whenever it was offered to them. And then turned + schoolmistress; and now wants to better herself by being a governess. Most + natural, most natural; and very praiseworthy. A most excellent thing, + honest domestic service—too many of our girls nowadays turn up their + noses at it—but not of course at all suitable for a young lady of + your attainments and natural refinement, my dear; oh no, no—far from + it, far from it.' 'Well, my dear,' he continued, looking at her gently + once more, 'this is just what the matter is. We want a nursery governess + for four little ones—girls—the eldest nine; motherless—motherless.' + </p> + <p> + As Mr. O'Donovan repeated that word pathetically, as if to himself, Minna + saw that his face would have been quite handsome but for the broken nose + which disfigured it for the first twenty minutes of an acquaintance only. + 'Are they your daughters, sir?' she ventured to ask, with a sympathetic + tinge of feeling in her voice. + </p> + <p> + 'No, my dear, no,' Mr. O'Donovan answered, with the tears standing in the + corners of his bright eyes. 'Granddaughters, granddaughters. I never had + but one child, their mother; and she, my dear——' he pointed + above, and then, turning his hand vaguely eastward, muttered softly, + 'India.' + </p> + <p> + There was a moment's silence, before Minna went on to ask further + particulars; and as soon as the old clergyman had answered all her + questions to her perfect satisfaction, he asked in a quiet, assured sort + of tone, 'Then I may take it for granted, may I, that you'll come to us?' + </p> + <p> + 'Why, certainly,' Minna answered, her heart throbbing a little, 'if you'll + take me, sir.' 'Take you!' Mr. O'Donovan echoed. 'Take you! God bless my + soul, my dear, why, of course we'll be only too glad to get my old friend + Geargey's daughter. And when you're writing to your father, my child, just + you mention to him that you're going to Con O'Donovan's, and ask him if he + remembers——' + </p> + <p> + But the remainder of Mr. O'Donovan's reminiscence about how that + astonishingly big conger-eel bit the late vicar in the hand ('I never + laughed so much in my life, my dear, as to see the astonishment and + indignation of that pompous self-satisfied old fellow—a most + exemplary man in every respect, of course, but still, we must admit, an + absurdly pompous old fellow ') has no immediate connection with the + general course of this history. + </p> + <p> + However, before Minna finally closed with the old rector's offer, she felt + it incumbent upon her to tell him the possibility of her leaving her + situation in the course of time, in order to go to Rome; and the rector's + face had now grown so peculiarly mild in her eyes, that Minna even + ventured to hint indirectly that the proposed visit was not wholly + unconnected with the story of her cousin Colin, which story she was + thereupon compelled to repeat forthwith to the patient old man with equal + minuteness. Mr. O'Donovan smiled at her that placid gentle smile, devoid + of all vulgar innuendo or nonsense, with which an old gentleman can + sometimes show that he reads the secret of a young girl's bosom. + </p> + <p> + 'And are you engaged to your cousin Colin, my dear?' he asked at last, + quite innocently and simply. + </p> + <p> + 'Not exactly engaged, you know,' Minna answered, blushing, 'but——' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, yes, quite so, quite so; I know all about it,' Mr. O'Donovan replied + with a kindly gesture. 'Well, my dear, I don't see why you shouldn't come + and live with us for the present, at least as a stop-gap; and meanwhile, + I'll try my best to look out for some family who are going to Rome for + you. We might advertise in the <i>Guardian</i>; capital paper for + advertisements of that sort, the <i>Guardian</i>. Anyhow, meanwhile, + you'll come and take us as we are; and very providential, too, very + providential. To think I should have been lucky enough, quite by accident + (as the world says), to hit upon a daughter of my old friend Geargey! And + I'm so glad you're not afraid of me, either, because of my misfortune. A + great many people are, just at first, especially. But it wears off, it + wears off with habituation. A cricket-ball, my dear, that's all—when + I was under twenty; off Sam Churchill's bat, too; but no fault of his, of + course—I was always absurdly short-sighted. You'll get accustomed to + it in time, my child, as I myself have.' + </p> + <p> + But Minna didn't need time to get accustomed to it, for she could now see + already that old Mr. O'Donovan's face was really a very handsome, gentle, + and cultivated one; and that even in spite of the broken nose, you felt at + once how handsome it was, as soon as it was lighted up by his genial smile + and the pleasant flash of his bright old eyes. And in one month from that + morning, she was comfortably installed, under Mr. O'Donovan's guidance, in + the delightful ivy-covered parsonage of a remote and beautiful little + Surrey village. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVI. BREAKING UP. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>nd in a few weeks, + Miss Russell, we shall all be scattered to the four winds of heaven! + You'll be gone to England, the Wilmers to Aix, I to America, and except + Winthrop and Churchill, our whole little Anglo-American colony will have + deserted Rome altogether for summer quarters! I'm sorry for it, in some + ways, for our winter has really been a most enjoyable one.' + </p> + <p> + 'And so am I, Mr. Audouin, very sorry. But we must all meet here again + some day or other. Papa's promised that in four years he'll bring me back + for another trip. His next three winters will be taken up with his new + duties at York, of course; but as soon as he's free again, he's going to + bring me to Rome for a second visit. Perhaps by that time you'll be over + once more, on a journey of inspection to look up your clever young + protégé, Mr. Winthrop.' + </p> + <p> + Audouin hesitated. Should he propose to her then and there, or should he + wait for four more long solitary American winters? he would lead up to it + tentatively, first of all, and see whether fortune favoured his present + adventure. 'Well,' he answered, dubiously, 'I hardly know whether to say + yes or no to that invitation, Miss Russell. I'm not fond of cities, and + I've longed many, many times this winter for the expansive breadth of our + American woodlands. I wasn't born to be in populous city pent; I pine for + the resinous smell of the primæval forest. Only one thing, indeed, has + kept me here so long this journey; your presence at Rome, Miss Russell.' + </p> + <p> + He looked at her as he spoke those words to see whether there was any + response in her eyes or not; but Gwen only answered carelessly, 'What + pretty things you always say to one, Mr. Audouin! Our English young men + have quite lost the fine old-fashioned art of paying compliments, I + imagine; but you and Mr. Winthrop seem to have kept it up beyond the + Atlantic in a state of the highest original perfection. You almost remind + one of Sir Charles Grandison.' + </p> + <p> + Audouin's eyes dropped. Clearly there was no chance of pressing the + question with the beautiful Englishwoman just at present. Well, well, she + was very young yet; better wait a year or two for her ideas to expand and + ripen. Very young people always think anyone above thirty so extremely + ancient; as they grow older themselves, their seniors by a decade or so + seem to grow progressively younger, as if to meet them. 'Well, I'll close + with your suggestion and make it an engagement, Miss Russell,' he said, + half sighing. + </p> + <p> + 'If you'll come back to Rome in four years' time, I'll come back the same + winter to see how friend Hiram progresses with his artistic studies. Four + years is a short space of time in a human life, after all; and if you + contemplate being here at the end of that space, why, Rome will at least + have one more attraction for me then than ever.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen laughed, and turned off the conversation to the latest nothing of + Roman society. + </p> + <p> + A week later, Audouin went away to sail for America. But he carried back + with him a little memento which strangely surprised the servants at + Lakeside, when he set it up in a velvet-covered frame, among the Greek + vases and tiny Egyptian sardonyx mummies, on his study mantelpiece. It was + the photograph of a young lady in an English riding costume, by Montabone + of the Piazza di Spagna; and when the housemaid slipped it out, 'jest to + see who on airth could hev give it to him,' she found on the back the + little inscription, 'For Mr. Audouin, with Gwen Howard-Russells best + remembrances.' + </p> + <p> + Gwen herself, too, went before long; but before she went, she mentioned + casually to Colin Churchill that she expected to be back at Rome in about + four winters. + </p> + <p> + 'We shall all be delighted to see you in Italy again, Miss + Howard-Russell,' Colin answered, with hardly more than mere formal + politeness. 'Won't we, Winthrop? Miss Russell is such a sincere admirer of + painting and sculpture.' + </p> + <p> + Was that man's heart as cold and hard as the marble from which he cut his + weeping nymphs and Calabrian peasants? Did he want a woman to go down upon + her knees before him, or didn't he see when she was making as easy running + for him as any man can expect from civilised society? He was really too + provoking. + </p> + <p> + The night before Gwen left Rome, however, a little oblong parcel arrived + at the hotel for her, containing a picture or something of the sort, left + at the door by an English signor, the porter said. Was it one of Colin + Churchill's designs for his unexecuted statues, Gwen wondered? She cut the + string hastily, and opened the packet with a little internal flutter. No—wrong—evidently + not from Mr. Churchill. It was a watercolour sketch of the Emissario at + the Lago d'Albano, carefully finished in the minutest detail; and at the + back was written in pencil, somewhat shakily, 'With Hiram Winthrop's + compliments.' + </p> + <p> + 'How very polite of Mr. Winthrop,' Gwen said in a careless voice that + hardly hid her disappointment. 'He saw I was taken with the picture, and + he's finished it off beautifully, and sent it to me for a parting present. + It's a beautiful sketch, papa, isn't it? Come and see what Mr. Winthrop + has sent me, Mrs. Wilmer.' + </p> + <p> + 'A very well-behaved young man indeed,' the colonel put in, looking at the + sketch casually, as if it were an object unworthy of a British + field-officer's serious attention. 'A very well-behaved young man, + although an American, and much less forward than that sculptor fellow, + who's always thrusting himself upon us on every conceivable occasion.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram Winthrop had no photographs, but he had a great many little pencil + sketches of a certain beautiful, proud-faced Englishwoman, which he didn't + display upon the mantelpiece of his attic bedroom down the narrow Roman + alley, because he preferred to keep them securely locked up in a small + box, whence he took them out religiously every night and morning during + the four years he spent in exile in that terrible, grimy, unnatural city. + It was a very clear-cut, sculpturesque face indeed, but in spite of all + Hiram's efforts at softening, it somehow managed to look most terribly + inexorable. If Gwen found Colin Churchill blind, Hiram Winthrop found Gwen + herself absolutely adamantine. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVII. THE DEACON MAKES A GOOD END. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span>n his bright + little study at Lakeside, Lothrop Audouin had just laid down a + parchment-bound volume of Carlyle's 'French Revolution' and turned to look + out of the pretty bay-window, embowered in clematis and Virginia creeper, + that opened on to the placid tawny creek and the blue expanse of more + distant Ontario. 'How unawares the summer has crept upon us,' he murmured + to himself, half-audibly, as was his fashion. 'When I first got back from + Rome in early May, the trees were all but leafless; and now July is far + gone, and before many weeks we shall be beginning to think of the melting + tints of our golden autumn. That's the difference, really, between + revolution and evolution. The most truly important events make no stir on + their first taking place; they grow, surely but silently. The changes to + which all things conspire, and for which they have prepared the way + beforehand, produce no explosion, because they are gradual, and the + universe consents to them. A birth takes place in silence, and sums up the + result of endless generations; but a murder, which is at war with the + constitution of things, creates a tumult immediately. What a fracas over + Camille at the Café Foy! and yet, with a whiff of grapeshot, the whole + fabric of liberty disappears bodily. What a slow growth the democratic + constitution of Massachusetts! and yet, when a convulsion seizes on the + entire continent, and north and south tear one another to pieces for a + grand idea, the democratic constitutions float unhurt upon the sea of + commotion, and come out intact in the fulness of time with redoubled + splendour! A good idea! I'll enter it in my diary, elaborated a little + into better English.' For Audouin was a writer by instinct, and though he + had never yet perpetrated a printed book, he kept a dainty little journal + in his desk, in which he jotted down side by side his pretty thoughts, as + they occurred to him, and his observations, half-scientific, + half-fanciful, on the progress of nature all around him. This diary he + regarded as his chief literary testament; and he meant to leave it in his + will to Hiram Winthrop, with strict injunctions that it should be + published after his death, for private circulation only, among the select + few who were competent to understand it. Surely a good man and true may be + permitted, in the byways and background of his inner nature, to indulge in + his harmless little foibles and affectations. + </p> + <p> + He had risen to take out the diary, full of his little poetical conceit, + when the maid (Audouin wasn't such a recluse that he didn't like to keep + his hermitage well-appointed) brought in a note for him on a quaintly + chased Japanese salver. He took the note and glanced at it casually. It + hadn't come by post, but by hand—a rare event in the isolation of + Lakeside, where neighbours were none, and visitors few and distant. He + broke open the envelope, and read the few pencilled lines within hastily:— + </p> + <p> + 'Deacon Winthrop would be obliged if you would come over at once to see + him, as I am seriously ill, and the Lord is calling me. For Deacon + Winthrop, faithfully, Keziah H. Hoptree.' + </p> + <p> + Audouin put on his hat at once, and went to the porch, with its clambering + roses, to see the bearer, who sat in a high buggy, flipping the flies off + his horse's ear with his long whipcord. + </p> + <p> + 'Wal,' the man said, 'I guess, Mr. Audouin, you'd better look alive if you + want to see the deacon comfortably afore the Lord's taken him.' + </p> + <p> + 'All right,' Audouin answered, with Yankee irreverence, jumping up hastily + into the tall buggy. 'Drive right away, sir, and we'll run a race to see + which gets there first, ourselves, or Death, the Great Deliverer.' + </p> + <p> + The man drove along the rough unmade roads as only an American farmer can + drive in a life-and-death hurry. + </p> + <p> + Geauga County hadn't altered greatly to the naked eye since the days long, + long ago, when Hiram Winthrop used to sulk and hide in the blackberry + bottom. The long straight road still stretched as of yore evenly between + its two limits, in a manner calculated to satisfy all the strictest + requirements of a definition in Euclid; and the parallel lines of snake + fence on either hand still ran along at equal distances till they seemed + to meet on the vanishing point of the horizon, somewhere a good deal on + the hither side of mathematical infinity. The farms were still all bare, + gaunt, dusty, and unlovable; the trees were somewhat fewer even than of + old (for this was now acknowledged to be an unusually fine agricultural + section), and the charred and blackened stumps that once diversified the + weedy meadows had long for the most part been pulled up and demolished by + the strenuous labours of men and horses. But otherwise Audouin could + notice little difference between the Muddy Creek of fifteen years ago, and + the Muddy Creek of that present moment. Fifteen more crops of fall and + spring wheat had been reaped and garnered off the flat expanses; fifteen + more generations of pigs (no, hogs) had been duly converted into prime + American pork, and thence by proper rotation into human fat, bone, and + muscle; fifteen winters had buried with their innocent sheet of white the + blank desolation of fifteen ugly and utilitarian summers; but the farmers + and farmhouses, though richer and easier than before, had not yet wakened + one whit the more than of old to a rudimentary perception of the fact that + the life of man may possibly consist of some other elements than corn, and + pork, and the rigorous Calvinistic theology of Franklin P. Hopkins. Beauty + was still crying in the streets of Muddy Creek, and no man regarded her. + </p> + <p> + At last the long dreary drive was over—a drive, Audouin thought to + himself with a sigh, which couldn't be equalled anywhere in the world for + naked ugliness, outside this great, free, enlightened, and absolutely + materialised republic—and the buggy drew up at the gate of Deacon + Zephaniah Winthrop's homestead, in the exact central spot of that wide and + barren desert of utter fruitfulness. Audouin leaped from the buggy + hastily, and went on through the weedy front yard to the door of the bare + white farmhouse. + </p> + <p> + 'Wal, I'm glad you've kem, anyhow,' the hired help (presumably Keziah H. + Hoptree) exclaimed in her shrill loud voice as she opened the door to him; + 'for deacon's jest tearin' mad tew see you afore the Lord takes him; he + says he wants tew give you a message fur Hiram, an' he can't die in peace + until he's given it.' + </p> + <p> + 'Is he very ill?' Audouin asked. + </p> + <p> + 'Not so sick tew talk to,' the girl answered, harshly; 'but Dr. Eselman, + he says he ain't goin' to live a week longer. He's bin doctoring himself, + that's whar it is, with Chief Tecumseh's Paregoric Elixir; an' now he's + gone so fur that Dr. Eselman reckons he can't never git that thar Elixir + out of his con-stitooshun nohow. Jest you step right in here, judge, an' + see him.' + </p> + <p> + Audouin followed her into the sick room, where the old deacon, thinner, + bonier, and more sallow than ever, lay vacantly on his propped-up pillows. + </p> + <p> + 'You set you down thar, mister,' he began feebly, as soon as he was aware + of Audouin's presence, 'an' make yourself right comfortable. I wanted to + see you, you may calkilate, to give you a message for Hiram.' He paused a + little between each sentence, as if he spoke with difficulty; and Audouin + waited patiently to hear what it might be, with some misgiving. + </p> + <p> + 'You tell him,' the deacon went on in his slow jerky manner, 'when you see + him or correspond to him, that I forgive him.' + </p> + <p> + It was with some effort that Audouin managed to answer seriously, 'I will, + Mr. Winthrop, you may rely upon it.' + </p> + <p> + 'Yes,' the deacon continued with as much Christian magnanimity as his + enfeebled condition would permit him to express; 'I forgive him. Freely + and on-reservedly, I forgive him. Hiram ain't bin a son to me as I might + hev anticipated. Thar was too much of his mother's family in him + altogether, I reckon. The Winthrops was never a wild lot, an' wouldn't hev + gone off paintin' pictures and goin' to Italy as that thar boy's done, + anyhow. I might hev expected that Hiram would hev stopped to home to help + me with the farm, and git things comfortable some; but thar, he was allus + one o' the idlest, sulkiest, onaccountablest boys I ever met with, nowhar. + He's gone off, foolin' around with them thar pictures, an' I don't suppose + he'll never come to any good, nohow. But I forgive him, mister; I freely + forgive him.'Tain't what one might hev looked fur from a young man who was + raised in the Hopkinsite confession, an' whose parents were both of 'em + believers; but these things do come out most onaccountably, that they + might all be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in + on-righteousness.' + </p> + <p> + Audouin merely bowed his head in solemn silence. The picture of the gaunt, + hard-faced old man, sitting up in bed upon his pillows in his loneliness, + and speaking thus, after his kind, of the son whom he had alienated from + him by his unsympathetic harshness, was one too dreary for him to look at + without an almost visible shudder. + </p> + <p> + 'It's a mercy,' the deacon meandered on, after a short pause, gasping for + breath, 'that his poor mother didn't never live to see the worst of it. + Hiram might hev kem home, and helped me look after the farm and the + cattle; instead of which, I've had to git in hired helps, since Mis' + Winthrop died, while he was off somewhere or other painting pictures. He's + in Italy now, learnin' still, he says, when he wrote to me last; I should + hev expected he'd hev learnt the trade completely afore this, an' be + practisin' it for a livin', as anybody might expect at his age, nat'rally. + But he'll hev to come home, now, anyhow, and take to the farm; fur of + course it goes to him, mister, an' I hope now he'll give up them thar + racketty ways he's got into, and begin to settle down a bit at last, into + a decent farmer. He's no boy now, Hiram ain't, an' he ought to be gettin' + steady. I don't say I hev any complaint against you personally, mister, on + that score,' the deacon went on, shaking his head magnanimously. 'You've + led him into it, I know; but I understand you meant it for the best, + though it's turned out oncommon bad; an' I'm a Christian man, I hope, an' + I bear you no grudge for it. But what I want you to write an' tell him's + jest this. You write an' say that his father, afore he died, freely + forgave him, an' left him the farm and fixins. In time to come, mister, I + dessay that thar boy'll often regret an' think to himself, “While my + father was here, I might have made more of him.” But it'll be a comfort to + him anyhow to know that I forgave him; an' you jest take an' write it to + him, an' I'll be obliged to you.' Audouin sat a long time by the old man's + bed, wondering whether any word of regret or penitence would come from him + for his own grievous error in making his son's young life a burden and a + misery to him (for Hiram, with all his reticence, had let his friend see + by stray side hints how sad his days had been in Geauga County); but no + word came, nor was the possibility of it within the deacon's narrow + self-righteous self-satisfied soul. The hours wore away, and Audouin + watched and waited, but still the deacon went on at intervals, all about + his own goodness to Hiram, and Hiram's natural unregenerate liking for + painting pictures. At last, Keziah came in, and warned Audouin that the + deacon mustn't be allowed any longer to excite himself. So Audouin went + away, sad and disheartened. 'Great heavens!' he said to himself, as he + jumped up again into the buggy, which was waiting to take him back to + Lakeside; 'in spite of our common schools, and our ten thousand + newspapers, and all our glib American buncombe about enlightenment, and + education, and our noble privileges, is there any country in the world, I + wonder, where the gap between those who think and feel and know, and those + who wallow in their own conceited ignorance and narrowness and brutality, + yawns wider and deeper than in these United States of ours, at the latter + end of this emancipated nineteenth century? Look at the great gulf fixed + between Boston, or even Chicago, and Geauga County! Why, the Florentines + of the middle ages, the old Etruscans, the naked Egyptian, the Chinaman, + the Hindoo coolie, are all of them a whole spiritual world ahead of Deacon + Winthrop! They at least know, or knew, that the human heart has in it some + higher need than corn, or pork, or rice, or millet; that man shall not + live by bread alone; that of all the gifts God gave to man, He gave none + better than the knowledge of beauty! Ay, even the monkey that plays among + the mango trees considers the feathers in the parrot's tail as worthy of + his passing attention as the biggest cocoanut. + </p> + <p> + 'And yet, not higher, after all, those Chinamen, when one comes to think + of it; for is there not mysteriously inherent somehow, in the loins of + that utterly sensual materialised clod, the potentiality of begetting + Hiram Winthrop? + </p> + <p> + 'I wonder what sort of people my own eight great-grandparents would be, if + I could only get them into the little sitting-room at Lakeside, and + compare notes with them about heaven and earth, and Herbert Spencer, and + the Apollo Belvedere!' + </p> + <p> + A week later, Audouin had to write to Hiram, and tell him that the deacon + had passed away, and had forgiven him. 'How, my dear Hiram,' Audouin + wrote, towards the end of his letter, 'your father leaves the farm at + Muddy Creek to you; and if you take my advice, you will sell it at once, + for what it'll fetch (not much, I doubt me) and apply the principal to + paying your expenses for a year or two more at Seguin's studio. You hold + your pictorial talents in trust for the American nation, which even now + sadly needs them; and you mustn't throw away your chances of the highest + self-improvement for the sake of a little filthy lucre, which, even if + invested, would really bring you in next to nothing. Nay, rather, to use + it in studying at Rome is really to invest it in the best possible manner; + for, merely judging the result as a Wall Street speculator would judge it, + by the actual return in dollars and cents, United States currency, your + pictures will bring you in tenfold in the end of what you spend in + preparing to paint them. Though not for money, I hope, Hiram, not for + money, but for art's sake, and for the highest final development of this + our poor groping humanity, which is still so base, take it for all in all, + that I sometimes almost wonder whether it can be really worth our while to + try to do anything to improve it.' + </p> + <p> + Yet so strangely compounded is this human nature of ours for all that, + that when Hiram Winthrop read that letter to himself in his own small room + beneath the roof of the Roman attic, he lay down upon his bed, and cried + passionately in the dusk for the poor narrow-minded old deacon; and + thought with a sort of regretful tenderness of the dim old days in the + blackberry bottom; and murmured to himself that when he was a boy he was + no doubt terribly obstinate and perverse and provoking. And now that he + was a man, must he not strive to do as Audouin told him? the one true + friend he had yet met with. And then he undressed and lay awake a long + time, with the sense of utter loneliness pressing upon his poor solitary + head more drearily than ever. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII. AN ART PATRON. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>he four years that + passed before Gwen Howard-Russell and Lothrop Audouin returned to Rome, + were years of bright promise and quick performance for Cohn Churchill. He + hadn't been eighteen months with Maradiano, when the master took him aside + one day and said to him kindly, 'My friend, you will only waste your time + by studying with me any longer. You must take a studio on your own + account, and begin earning a little money.' + </p> + <p> + 'But where can I get one?' Colin asked. + </p> + <p> + 'There is one vacant five doors off,' Maragliano answered. 'I have been to + see it, and you can have it for very little. It's so near, that I can drop + in from time to time and assist you with my advice and experience. But + indeed, Churchill, you need either very little; for I fear the time is + soon coming when the pupil is to excel the master.' + </p> + <p> + 'If I thought that, master,' Cohn replied smilingly, 'I should stop here + for ever. But as I know I can never hope to rival you, I shall take the + studio, and tempt fortune.' + </p> + <p> + It was one morning during the next winter that Cohn was hard at work upon + his clay group of Autumn borne by the Breezes, then nearly completed, when + the door of the new studio opened suddenly, and a plain, farmer-looking + old man in a tweed suit, entered unannounced. + </p> + <p> + 'Good morning, Mr. Churchill,' he said, in a voice of infinite + condescension. 'My niece sent me here to look at your statues, you know. + You've got some very pretty things here, really. Some very pretty things + indeed, as Gwen told me.' + </p> + <p> + 'Oh, I see,' Colin answered, with a smile of recognition. 'It was Miss + Howard-Russell, then, who told you where to find me.' + </p> + <p> + 'Well, not exactly,' the visitor went on, peering at the Autumn with a + look of the intensest critical interest; 'she told me I should find you at + the studio of a man of the name of Miaragliano—or something—I + think she called him. Well, I went there, ferreted out the place, and + found a fuzzy-headed foreigner Italian fellow, all plastered over with mud + and rubbish, who spoke the most ridiculous broken English; and <i>he</i> + told me you'd moved to these new quarters. So I came on here to look you + up and give you a commission, you know—I think you call it. My niece—she's + really a first cousin once removed, or something equally abstruse, I fancy—but + I always speak of her as my niece for short, because she's a good deal + younger than I am, and I stand to her <i>in loco avunculi; in loco + avunculi</i>, Mr. Churchill. Well, she positively insisted upon it that I + must come and give you a commission.' + </p> + <p> + 'It was very good of her, I'm sure,' Colin answered, his heart fluttering + somewhat; for this was positively his first nibble. 'May I ask if you are + also a Mr. Howard-Russell?' + </p> + <p> + The visitor drew himself up to his utmost height with much dignity, as + though he felt surprised to think that Colin could for a single moment + have imagined him to be nothing more on earth than a plain Mister. 'No,' + he said, in a chilly voice; 'I fancied my niece had mentioned my name to + you. I am Lord Beaminster.' + </p> + <p> + Colin bowed his head slightly. He wasn't much used to earls and viscounts + in those days, though he grew afterwards to understand the habits and + manners of the species with great accuracy; but he felt that after all the + Earl of Beaminster, mighty magnate and land-owner as he was, didn't really + differ very conspicuously in outer appearance from any other respectable + fox-hunting country gentleman. Except that, perhaps, he looked, if + anything, a trifle stupider than the average. + </p> + <p> + The earl considerately left Colin a minute or so to accustom himself to + the shock of suddenly mixing in such exalted society, and then he said + again, narrowly observing the Autumn, 'Some very pretty things, indeed, I + must admit. Now, what do you call this one? A capital group. I've half a + mind to commission it.' + </p> + <p> + 'That's Autumn borne by the Breezes,' Colin answered, gazing up at it for + the thousandth time with a loving attention. 'My idea was to represent + Autumn as a beautiful youth, scattering leaves with his two hands, and + upheld by the wild west wind—“the breath of autumn's being,” as + Shelley calls it.' + </p> + <p> + 'Quite so,' the earl said, assuming once more a studied critical attitude; + 'but I don't see the leaves, you know—I don't see the leaves, Mr. + Churchill.' + </p> + <p> + 'It would be impossible, of course,' Colin replied, 'to represent any of + the leaves as falling through the air unsupported; and so I didn't care to + put any in Autumn's hands, even, preferring to trust so much to the + imagination of the spectator. In art it's a well-known canon that one + ought, in fact, always to leave something to the imagination.' + </p> + <p> + 'But might I suggest,' Lord Beaminster said, putting his head a little on + one side, and surveying the figure with profound gravity, 'that you might + easily support the falling leaves by an imperceptible wire passing neatly + through a small drilled eye into the legs of the Breezes.' + </p> + <p> + Colin smiled. 'I don't think,' he said, 'that that would be a very + artistic mode of treatment.' + </p> + <p> + 'Indeed,' the earl answered with some hesitation 'Well, I'm surprised to + hear you say that, now; for my father, who was always considered a man of + very remarkable taste, and a great patron of art and artists, had a Triton + constructed for our carp-pond at Netherton, blowing a spout of water, in + marble, from his trumpet, and the falling drops, where the spout broke + into spray, were all secured by wires in the way I mention. Still, of + course,' this with a deferential air of mock-modesty, 'I couldn't <i>dream</i> + of pitting my opinion—a mere outsider's opinion—against yours + in such a matter. But couldn't you at least make the leaves tumble in a + sort of spire, you know, reaching to the ground; touching one another, of + course, so as to form a connected column, which would give support to the + right arm, now so very extended and aerial-looking.' + </p> + <p> + 'Why,' Colin answered, beginning to fancy that perhaps even admission to + the British peerage didn't naturally constitute a man a great art-critic, + 'I don't think marble's a good medium in any case for representing + anything so thin and delicate as falling leaves; and though of course a + clever sculptor might choose to make the attempt, by way of showing his + skill in overcoming a technical difficulty, for my part I look upon such + mere mechanical <i>tours de force</i> as really unworthy of a true artist. + Obedience to one's material rather than defiance of it is the thing to be + aimed at. And, to tell you the truth, the pose of that right arm that you + so much object to is the very point in the whole group that I most pride + myself upon. Maragliano says it's a very fine and original conception.' + </p> + <p> + The earl stared at him intently for two seconds, in blank astonishment. + What a very-extraordinary and conceited young fellow, really! The idea of + his thus contradicting him, the Earl of Beaminster, in every particular! + Still, Gwen had specially desired him to buy something from this man + Churchill, and had said that he was going to become a very great and + distinguished sculptor. For Gwen's sake, he would try to befriend the + young man, and take no notice of his extraordinary rudeness. + </p> + <p> + 'Well,' he said slowly, after a long pause, + </p> + <p> + 'I won't quarrel with you over the details. I should like to have that + group in marble, and if you'll allow me, I'll commission it. Only, as we + don't agree about the pose of the Autumn, I'll tell you what we'll do, Mr. + Churchill; we'll compromise the matter. Suppose you remove the figure + altogether, and put a clock-dial in its place. Then it'd do splendidly, + you see, for the top of the marble mantelpiece at Netherton Priory.' + </p> + <p> + Colin leant back against the parapet of the wainscot in blank dismay. What + on earth was he to say to this terrible Goth of a Lord Beaminster? He + wanted a first commission, badly enough, in all conscience, but how could + he possibly consent to throw away the labour of so many days, and to + destroy the beauty of that exquisite group by putting a dial in the place + of Autumn. The idea was plainly too ridiculous. It was sacrilege, it was + crime, it was sheer blasphemy against the divinity of beauty. 'I'm very + sorry, Lord Beaminster,' he said, at last, regretfully. 'I should much + have liked to execute the group for you in marble; but I really can't + consent to sacrifice the Autumn. It's the central figure and inspiring + idea of the entire composition. If you take it at all, I think you ought + to take it exactly as the sculptor himself has first designed it. An + artist, you know, gives much time and thought to what he is working upon. + Be it merely the particular turn or twist of the bit of drapery he is just + then modelling, his whole soul for that one day is all fixed and centred + upon that single feature. The purchaser ought to remember that, and + oughtn't to alter on a moment's hasty consideration what has cost the + artist whole weeks and months of patient thought and arduous labour. And + yet, I'm sorry not to perform my first work in marble for you; for I'm a + West Dorset man myself by birth and training, and I should have liked well + to see my “Autumn and the Breezes” standing, where it ought to stand, in + one of the big oriel windows of Nether ton Priory.' That last touch of + unconscious and unintentional flattery just succeeded in turning the sharp + edge of Lord Beaminster's anger. When Colin at first positively refused to + let him have the group with the dial in the centre, the earl could hardly + conceal in his face his smouldering indignation. Such conceit, indeed, and + such self-will he could never have believed in if he hadn't himself + actually met with them. It positively took his breath away. But when Colin + so far relented as to touch his territorial pride upon the quick (for the + earl regarded himself as the personal embodiment of all West Dorset), Lord + Beaminster relented too, and answered with something like geniality, + 'Well, well! I'm always pleased when one of my own people rises to + artistic or literary eminence, Mr. Churchill. We won't quarrel about + trifles. You come from Wootton Mande ville, don't you? Ah, yes! Well, I'm + the lord of the manor of Wootton, as you know, of course, and I'm pleased + to think you should have come from one of my own places. We'll take the + figures as they stand; we'll take them as they stand, and I'll find a + place for them somewhere at Netherton, I can promise you. Now how much + will you charge me for this group, Autumn and all, in marble?' + </p> + <p> + Colin stood for a moment perfectly irresolute. That was a question about + which, in his abstract devotion to the goodness of his artistic work, he + had never yet given the slightest consideration. 'Well, I should think,' + he said hesitatingly—'I don't know if I'm asking too much—it's + a big composition, and there are a good many figures in it. Suppose we + were to say five hundred guineas?' + </p> + <p> + The earl nodded a gracious acquiescence. + </p> + <p> + 'But perhaps,' Colin went on timidly, 'I may have asked too much in my + inexperience.' 'Oh, no; not at all too much,' the earl answered, with a + munificent and expansive wave of his five big farmer fingers. 'I like to + encourage art—and above all art in a West Dorset man.' + </p> + <p> + 'You're very kind,' Colin murmured, rather humbly, feeling as though he + had much to be grateful for. 'I shall do my best to execute the group in + marble to your satisfaction, so that it may be worthy of its place in the + oriels at Netherton.' + </p> + <p> + 'I've no doubt you will,' the earl put in with noble condescension: 'no + doubt at all in the world about it. I'm glad to have the opportunity of + extending my patronage to a Wootton sculptor. I'm devoted to art, Mr. + Churchill, quite devoted to it.' + </p> + <p> + Colin smiled, but answered nothing. + </p> + <p> + The earl stopped a little longer, inspecting the drawings and models, and + then took his departure with much stately graciousness, to Colin's intense + relief and satisfaction. As he went out, the door happened to open again, + and in walked Hiram Winthrop. + </p> + <p> + 'My dear Winthrop!' Colin cried out in exultation, 'congratulate me! I've + just got a commission for Autumn and the Breezes!' + </p> + <p> + 'What, in marble?' Hiram said, grasping his hand warmly. + </p> + <p> + 'Yes, in marble.' + </p> + <p> + 'My dear fellow, I'm delighted. And you deserve it, too, so well. But who + from? Not that fat old gentleman with the vacant face that I met just now + out there upon the doorstep!' + </p> + <p> + 'The same, I assure you. Our great Dorsetshire magnate, the Earl of + Beaminster!' Hiram's face fell a little. 'The Earl of Beaminster!' he + echoed with a voice of considerable disappointment. 'You don't mean to say + an earl only looks like that! and dresses like that, too! Why, one would + hardly know him from a successful dry-goods man!—Besides,' he + thought to himself silently, '<i>she</i> must have sent him. He's her + cousin.' + </p> + <p> + Colin had no idea what manner of thing a dry-goods man might be, but he + recognised that it probably stood for some very prosaic and everyday + employment. 'Yes,' he said, half laughing, 'that's an earl; and as you + say, my dear fellow, he hardly differs visibly to the naked eye from you + and me poor common mortals.' + </p> + <p> + 'But, I say, Churchill,' Hiram put in with American practicality, 'what + are you going to let this Beaminster person have the group for?' + </p> + <p> + 'Well, I didn't know exactly what to charge him for it, never having sold + a work on my own account before; but I said at a venture, five hundred + guineas. I should think that wasn't bad, you know, for a first + commission.' + </p> + <p> + Hiram raised his eyebrows ominously. 'Five hundred guineas, Churchill,' he + muttered with obvious mistrust; 'five hundred guineas! Why, my dear + fellow, have you asked yet what would be the cost even of the block of + marble?' + </p> + <p> + 'The block of marble!' Colin repeated, blankly. 'The cost of the marble! + Why, upon my soul, Winthrop, I never took that at all into consideration.' + </p> + <p> + 'Let's go round to Maragliano's at once,' Hiram suggested, in some alarm, + 'and ask him what he thinks of your bargain. I'm awfully afraid, do you + know, Churchill, that you've put your foot in it.' + </p> + <p> + When the great sculptor heard that Colin had really got a commission for + his beautiful group, he was at first extremely jubilant, clapping his + hands, laughing, and crying out eagerly many times over, 'Am I a prophet, + then?' with Italian demonstrativeness. But as soon as Colin went on to say + that he had promised to execute the thing in marble for 12,500 lire, + Maragliano ceased from his capering immediately, and assumed an expression + of the most profound and serious astonishment. 'Twelve thousand lire!' he + cried in horror, lifting up both his hands with a deprecatory gesture; + 'twelve thousand lire! Why, my dear friend, the marble alone will cost you + nearly that, without counting anything for your own time and trouble, or + the workmen's wages. A splendid stroke of business, indeed! If I were you, + I'd go and ask the Count of Beaminster at once to let me off the bargain.' + </p> + <p> + Colin's disappointment was, indeed, a bitter one; but he had too keen a + sense both of commercial honour and of personal dignity to think of + begging off a bargain once completed. 'Oh, no,' he said, 'that would never + do, master. I shall execute the commission at the price I named, even if + I'm actually out of pocket by it. At any rate, it'll be a good + advertisement for me. But, after all, I'm really sorry I ever said I'd let + him have it! Just think, Winthrop, of my spending so much loving, patient + care upon every twist and fold of the robes of those delightful Breezes, + and then having to sell them in the end to a monster of a creature who + wanted me to replace the Autumn by a bronze dial. It's really too + distressing!' + </p> + <p> + 'Ah, my friend,' Maragliano said sympathetically, 'that is the Nemesis of + art, and you'll have to get accustomed to it from the beginning. It is the + price we pay for the nature of our clientele. We get well paid, because we + have to work chiefly for the very wealthy. But after we have worked up + some statue or picture till every line and curve of it exactly satisfies + our own critical taste, we have to sell it perhaps to some vulgar rich + man, who buries it in his own drawing-room in New York or Manchester. The + man of letters gets comparatively little, because no rich man can buy his + work outright, and keep it for his own personal glorification; but in + return, he feels pretty sure that those whose opinion he most wishes to + conciliate, those for whose appreciative taste he has polished and + repolished his rough diamond, will in the end see and admire the work he + has so carefully and lovingly performed for them. We are less lucky in + that respect; we have to cast our pearls before swine too often, and all + for the sake of filthy lucre.' + </p> + <p> + As it turned out, however, the group of Autumn and the Breezes, in spite + of this unpromising beginning, really formed the foundation of all Colin + Churchill's future fortunes. Colin worked away at it with a will, nothing + daunted by the discovery that it would probably cost him something more + than he got for it; and in due time he despatched it to the earl in + England, at a loss to himself of a little over twenty guineas. Still, the + earl, being a fussy, consequential man, sent more than one friend during + the progress of the work to see the group that Churchill was making for + him. 'One of my own people, you know—a poor boy off my Dorsetshire + estate—conceited I'm afraid, but not without talent; and I've taken + it into my head to patronise him, just for the sake of the old feudal + connection and all that sort of thing.' Some of the friends were better + judges of sculpture than the earl himself, and when the Autumn was nearly + finished, Colin was pleased to find that that distinguished connoisseur, + Sir Leonard Hawkins, was much delighted with its execution. Next time Sir + Leonard came he looked over Colin's designs carefully, and was greatly + struck with the sketch for the Clytemnestra. He asked the price, and Cohn, + wise by experience, stipulated for time to consult Maragliano. When he had + done so, he said 700L.; and this time he made for himself a clear 250L. + That was a big sum for a man in Colin Churchill's position; but it was + only the beginning of a great artist's successful career. Commissions + began to pour in upon him freely; and before Gwen Howard-Russell returned + to Rome, Colin was already making far more money than in his wildest + anticipation he had ever dreamt of. He must save up, now, to repay Sam; + and when Sam's debt was fairly cancelled, then he must save up again for + little Minna. + </p> + <h3> + END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + </h3> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47432 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/47432-h/images/0005.jpg b/47432-h/images/0005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..097b5cc --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0005.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0005m.jpg b/47432-h/images/0005m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2b8bfb --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0005m.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0006.jpg b/47432-h/images/0006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..91dd319 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0006.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0006m.jpg b/47432-h/images/0006m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c166ab5 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0006m.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0152.jpg b/47432-h/images/0152.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f393619 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0152.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0152m.jpg b/47432-h/images/0152m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a69814 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0152m.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0220.jpg b/47432-h/images/0220.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ba169a --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0220.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0220m.jpg b/47432-h/images/0220m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..21a486b --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0220m.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0244.jpg b/47432-h/images/0244.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..20445cd --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0244.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0244m.jpg b/47432-h/images/0244m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8406d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0244m.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0304.jpg b/47432-h/images/0304.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dfe41d --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0304.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/0304m.jpg b/47432-h/images/0304m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1e4e07 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/0304m.jpg diff --git a/47432-h/images/cover.jpg b/47432-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e102e28 --- /dev/null +++ b/47432-h/images/cover.jpg |
