Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-09-30

| under his arm, tells me that he Is men,
Der of the fraternity of the brush. Mad
anne comes forward in her pleasant en-
| presse manner, and in reply to his inquiry
whether he can have room, escorts him
up stairs, and, probably, looks after him
! like mother
Presently he comes down. having got
rid of the dust of his walk, and seats him.
self at a table in my vicinity, where he
has meal of some sort served to him |
see him stealing an occasional admiring
| glance at Marthe from under his eye
! lashes, so tell the child to go in and see
If she cannot help Madame at will not
! do TO have the little things head turned
| by any wandering artist" | say to my
! self severely, as continue my sketch. |
| have not made many more strokes, when |
| hear voice behind me saying in French !:
| Excuse me, Madame-you have dropped
! your shawl; :" and that garment, which has
| slipped from my shoulders, Is gently re-
! placed on them
look up AID laugh. II am English"
say, "as ! can see you are, in spite Of
| your good French"
| am nc longer young, indeed am Of
certain age,' which Lord Byron says
means certainly aged" but | am still
| SuSCtptlDlC w SOOi lbOhS III young lidu :
| and the face which looks into mine is so
very good-looking that am afraid | give
a gracious and encouraging smile as if
should say: Pray, 60 on talking" He
evidently so interprets my facial express
sion; for he comes round and seats him
self on the bench beside me, and begins
to comment on my sketch, praising it
where it deserves, and making two or
grit
and discrimination that feel certain he
Is a painter of no mean order of merit
From my sketch the talk wanders to ait
generally then to artists We discover
that we have many mutual friends, and at
length he tells me his name is Stirling.
| remember at once having seen little
picture of his at one of the winter eXhi-
billions in London, and having been very
much struck by its talent and | say so.
"Ah," he says, " hope may get some
thing into the Academy next|year. | am
painting a picture for it; but | have no
interest, and am poor. | sold that little
picture you liked for eighty pounds, and
| have been spending that in seeing all
the great art galleries of Europe. 1t is
nearly exhausted, now," he concludes,
laughing.
BY the time Marthe comes back to tell
me that coffee is ready we seem to be
quite old friends Who is that lovely
little thing?" he asks She is perfect
Greuze. That is Just the head want for
my picture. | must sketch her"
Must your" | say dryly. 81 don't
think her aunt will allow it,
"But you will ask her for me, won't
your" he pleads "You don't know
what a help it will be to me- See! will
show you the sketch for my picture, and
you can judge And he tetches his
portfolio and selecting a drawing from it,
places it before ne. The moment | see it
[ am conquered i go over to the enemy
without struggle. 1t is full of genius;
and see that Marthe's is just the head
he wants for one of the princip' figures.
So the following morning he makes his
petition to the Madame, warmly seconded
by me. To my surprise, she consents at
once. 1t does not seem TO enter her head
that there can be any possible danger to
Marthe in being painted by cookbook
ing Englishman. Is she not a we'll
brought.up young person? And is she not
engaged to Oscar?
So young Stirling sets up his easel
among the flowers of the sunny court
yard, and begins to paint Marthe's
Greuze-like head against background
OF viue-leaves. | generally come and sit
by with my book or work and play pro
priety; but in spite of this, 1 can see that
Oscar does not like the arrangement; in
fact hear him demonstrating with his
mother about it. She is generally slave
to all his caprices; but Stirling has
bought her over entirely by promise OF
"A copy of the picture he is painting OF the
girl, to hang i'll her salon.
Nonsense, my son." she says IN an
swer to his objections "Where is the
harm? | am in and out of the court yard
all the time; and Madame is generally
there with her work.
Yes" Oscar says, with dark look in
his eyes "but he admires her. | know he
does by the way he looks at her.
"CGli" cries Madame; "only listen to
the child Do you suppose he would
want to paint her if he did not admire
her, great baby"
But Oscar looks unconvinced, as he
walks away, aud see panied expression
on his face as he looks across to wherr
Marthe is laughing gaily at something
the painter has just said TO her, As he
looks, Stirling goes over to Marthe, and,
taking her chm in his hand, turns her
head int the right position, from which
it HIS slipped-a n,tural action enough,
as every artist knows. But Oscar does
not know; and | think it is only my pres
encc which prev, ntS his giving more sig.
nidcant expression to his feelings than
the muttered Satr-r-ye, with which he
swings through the arch and down the