The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-05-25
MR.. SINGLETON'S MODEL.

NH. NlNGLElUNN MUDEL.
"What is it guides my hand, what thoughts
possess me,
That l have drawn her face2" y y n
y n = = - ooh, sweet dreams,
That through the vacant chambers of my
heart
Walk in the silence, as familiar phantoms
Frequent an ancient house, what will ye
with me?"
-LongfeUow.
When Cissy Denzil came of age (she
was al orphan she determined that
she would indulge her own caprices to
the fullest extent. She sent for her
aunt, an inoffensive old lady of sixty,
to chaperOne her, and rented a house in
Bryanston square, not for the sake of
the commanding situation, but because
it was a dull neighborhood. respectfully
fashionable and calculated to exercise
a soporitic effect on her lively magma
ton. The agent declared the house to
be thoroughly well-drained and up
hOlstered, and, as it happened to please
her, in less than a week she was as
much at home there as if she had,
lived in town all her life.
Cissy Denzil undoubtedly possessed
a dangerous originality. Without
intending it, she was a constant thorn
in her aunt's side. No sooner had Miss
Webster recovered from one moral
sho wer-bath than she received another.
Now, Miss Webster did not like shower
baths (; they gave her cold and inter-
rupted her in the pursuit of the whole
duty of woman, which was, in her
case, to eat, drink and dress well, to
go to church regularly, and to awaken
Cissy to a sense of her many short
comings.
But Cissy merrily refused to be
reused. She was not at all over
whelmed by her iniquities. 81 do like
TO see things for myself" she would
say. what is the use of living if l
am to be always wrapped up in cotton
wool, taken out for an airing, and then
brought back again like those impossi-
BILE dolls which children buy in the
Lowther arcade? How can L live my
life if | do not know what existence
really is like? Owing to my ignorance
of the world 1 shall make some dread
full mistake, and then it will be all
your fault, aunty. viii it not. MI.
Singleton?"
Mr.. Singleton was an artist who
readily commanded a large price for
his pictures. He was an old man, and
had known Cissy Denzil from her
childhood. To him she was wont to
appeal when Miss Webster became
plaintiff. Cissy amused hin; he abetted
her vagaries, provided that he saw
they were harmless.
81 did not know that you had such
a taste for realism" he replied. "Evi-
IDENTIFY Miss Webster will have q bad
time of it, unless we can cure YOU"
Poor aunty," said the girl, crossing
the room and kneeling ca%ressingly at
the old lady's feet. 81 am sure that l
shall some day give you a fit"
IF you want to get a little insight
into what human nature really u.s."
said Singleton, jokingly. "come to my
studio any morning and study the
models. Put on a plain dress and bon
net, and get there early. Ten o'clock
will be sOon enough. You can easily
reach Holland Park road from here. II
you will come, I'll lave some of the
litter cleared away, and you can watch
me paint, sit, or do what you like.
often see twenty or Thirty models in a
day. Patient Griselda, Cardinal VOL
sey, Fair RoSamond, Lucrezia Borgia
and other well known characters CONT
to me by the dozen. If L don't want
them, they try the next studio. Artists
are clustered as thickly together W
there as lawyers are in Bedford row
That bareheaded, disguised very
much disguised, sometimes-a mar
with a history-French nobleman who
sold papers in the strand was a fire.
quent sitter of mine; he's dead now
poor fellow"
II am to sit on the usual terms?'
asked Cissy. "What are the usua
terms, Mr.. Singleton?
"a shilling an hour, and lunchecI
found said Singleton. "In your case
Cissy. the luncheon shall be unexcep
tionable."
agreed" gayly cried Cissy. "D,
not groan, aunty." Miss Webster al
ways made sepulchral noises when sh
did not approve of anything ether
Is nothing wrong in going to a studio
especially if it be swept and garn,shed.i
Singleton went away and speedil
forgot all about the matter. Cissy II
membered.
The next morning Cssy started fo
1ollan1 Park road, intent upon view