The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-09-09


soft eyes modestly to his, and then
lowering them beneath his ardent gaze,
''you are wrong; genius like yours is
humble only to itself. 1t signs over
what to all other minds is perfection
and even when it most triumphs, un-
conscious of it's power, it most des-
pairs"
"Speak again!" said the youth. "Years
of toll, of dependency, of solitude and
hopeless gloom are repaid by the sound
of your voice. Oh speak again"
"You may claim from us of the pres
ent day what will be certainly paid you
by posterity-the need of praise. Re
port speaks of your having travelled"
81 am but just returned from Elan
ders-"
"Whare you have been studying the
delightful in which you so far excel all
your contemporaries"
"Did you mark that p said Castagna,
Florentine fist, in an uncertone to
his companion.
"Silence," said the other, 'let us hear
the rest"
"My time was devoted to study and
one other occupation"
"What was it 7"
Grief for the absence of one loved. "
'Is it in the north that you have
learned this matchless skill with the pen
Gil p
81 am the possessor Of a secret p
ga secret p
GAY, by which, more than by any
skill of my own, | produce on canvas
the effects which please you"
"By such frank acknowledgement you
make us feel that you have something
better than skillful hand generous
heart. You are every way fortunate.
We have on this side Of the Alps seen
nothing 50 beautiful. In what way can
express my gratitude for the pleasure
YOU have caused me in matter more sub
stantial than words T.
"You embolden me to give utterance
to a wish which has long dwelt in my
breast"
Speak it. | know you would ask
nothing which | may not grant before
you name it.
"Yonder face said the painter, in a
lower tone, sis the copy of one borne
only IN my memory, and till Iapproach
ed the original, / deemed it not wholly
unworthy. But now-I am in despair
my pencil is uninspired until | attain
the triumph of my art by copying it
anew from nature. am claimant for
the honor of painting your portrait.
a slight color grew deeper at this re-
quest. and their eyes met. The lady
opened her lips to utter negative to
request couched in such bold language,
but as she encountered the glance of this
young aspirant after immortality, she
changed her mind, as women sometimes
will, and said
"Sgnor Dominica, l consent; you
may take my portrait. Addio, slgnor.
The artist bowed.
CAT four tomorrow, at the palazza
D. And they parted
Dominica had received from nature
the gift of genius. The same partial
providence which had invested him with
inspiration bad also bestowed upon him
the form of Narcissus and the heart of
Leander. 1t sometimes happens that
some beings appear among men recalling
the golden days when the gods walked
through the woods and Mingled among
the shepherds. The lady of his dreams
was like himself, Of half celestial mind
and form. To his enthusiastic soul this
young creature had presented herself as
the star of evening. He watched and
worshipped it as something not Of earth
above his reach "a light creature to
illume other and distant spheres-thrice
happy he if, like a sad wanderer DER tho
deep, he might sometimes behold it, and
utter to It's kindling beams his unre.
Quilted, his unheard prayers What was
his wild emotion when certain tokens
awoze in his bosom a hope, dream, an
instinct indehnable as the light which
first heralds the morn, but more intoXi-
eating than the breath which rises from
the valleys and plains, when the grass,
trees and flowers are mois.ened with
evening dew. He had cherished only
two burning hopes-the one was fame,
the other love. The first he had acquir-
ed. Europe began to murmur his name
with applause, and it was already re-
corded where future generations might
read and now, as if fortune in laugh
I l.. Ia