The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-04-16

having found commission at last.
''Well, sir, | want you to paint the
portrait of my daughter.
with pleasure, sir, said Harry,
eagerly. ''When can the lady give me
the first sitting?"
ALAS, sir, she is dead-dead to me
these twenty years, and killed her. |
broke her heart with my seltishness
and cruelty" exclaimed the old man
in a trembling, excited voice.
A strange chill came over Harry as
the idea that his visitor might be an
escaped lunatic crossed his mind
Mastering his emotion at last the
stranger said:
Pardon me, young sir. This is of
no interest to you. My daughter is
dead and | want you to paint her por-
trait from my description, as l perfect
ly we'll remember her twenty years
ago"
Il will do my best, sir, but it is by
no means an easy task. and you must
be prepared for many di appoint
ments," said Harry, when having
lost daughter the old man rose to de-
part.
For weeks he worked necessarily on
the portrait of the dead girl, making
sketch after sketch, each OF which was
rejected by the remOrse-stricken father,
until the work began 10 possess a sin
gular fascination 10 him and he sketch
ed face after face as under Il spell.
AT last, one enIng, wearied with a
day of fruitless exertion, he was sitting
over the fire watching his wife, who
was busy with some dainty needle
work, when an idea suddenly flashed
upon him.
Tall, fair, with golden hair and
dark blue eyes! Why. Helen, it is the
very picture of YOURSELF" he cried
starting TO his feet and taking his
wife's sweet face between his two
hands. Without losing a moment he sat
down and commenced to sketch Helen s
face, and when his patron called the
next morning he was so busily en-
gagged in putting the finishing touches
to the portrait that he did not hear him
enter the room, and worked on for
some moments unconscious of his
presence until with cry of "Helen,
my daughterr' the old man hurried
him aside and stood entranced before
the picture.
After gazing for some moments in
silence only broken by his suppressed
sobs, the old man turned to Harry and
asked him in an eager voice where he
had obtained the original of the
picture.
1T is the portrait of my wife," said
he.
Your wife, sir-who was she? Par
don me for asking the question:" he
added; ''but | have heard lately that
my poor Helen left an orphan daugh-
ter, and for year l have been search
ing for her, hoping to atone for the
wrong | did her mother
Harry was beginning to tell him the
story of how he met Helen, when the
door opened and his wife entered the
room.
Perceiving that her husband was en-
gagged she was about to retire from the
room when the old man stopped her re-
spectfully.
Pardon me. madam" he said, ''but
would you tell me your mother S
maiden name?"
Helen 1reherne, sad Harry S
wife wonderingly.
Il knew it-I knew it!' exclaimed
the old man in an excited voice 'sAt
last | have found the child of my long
lost daughter
In few words he explained how he
had cast off his daughter twenty years
ago for having married poor officer,
and refused even to Open her letters in
which she begged forgiveness.
But, thank heavenn' he said, when
he had finished his sad story, Il can
in some way atone for my harshness to
my Helen by taking her Helen to my
heart and making her my daughter "
SO, after all. Helen became the mis-
tress of Marston Hall, in the picture
gallery of which there is no painting so
highly valued as The Mysterious Por-
trait"