The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-09-05

at the end of which, the day being av,;.
 bright and fine, I sauntered leisn,sI
 westward through the crowded Strand Y
 the address of a well-known picture de,I
 CT, for whom my father had worked G.
 many years
 Mir. Shadrach was civil-spoken, sum,
 cheexy. afable little fellow. He h nro
 fessed great pleasure at meeting the so,
 of his "good friend" whom he v,,
 pleased to consider very nice, dec.n, gentleman" and very fair workman
 ] was too well accustomed to the com.
 mercial aspect of my fathers "studie<p to affect any surprise or take any offeno.
 at the little mans style of speech and va'
 soon engrossed in divers details rela,;vs
 to the business" Trade was bad. vsrs
 bad man and boy, Shadrach had neye,
 known things worse: thirty by twenty.
 four landscapes English, twenty-four by
 sixteen sea pieces, were moving a little.
 large canvases hopeless; some demand
 certainly for Highland glens with deer
 and so forth. In prattle of such sort hsi
 an hour slipped by, when Shadrach in.
 vieed me to look at some of his more val,
 uable stock. gladly accepted, and was
 shown into long, well-lighted room
 furnished with number of chairs and
 lounges, and containing a really excel.
 lent collection. How many were th.
 genuine product of the masters whoss
 names they bore l attempted not to dis. criminate. Nor did my guide have mu to say on the intrinsic merit of the works themselves, although he was voluoI. enough as to their reputed histories. th. hands through which they had passed be. tore coming into his, and the great sales at which some of them had 6gured-apd figured so highly, too, as he was pleased to add, with chuckle. l was gazing in. tently on modern battle-piece when my attention was arrested by the sound of loud, ringing, cheerful voice behind me, exclaiming: How do you do MT. Shad. rach. hope find you well?"
 An my very good friend, MT. Drew. enchanted to see youl" answered Shad. rach, lowing politely, and shaking hands thank you, And-I suppose need not ask after the state of your own health, you young Samson" 1"
 The first glance had told me that was face to face with the stranger of Tavistock whose physiognomy had SO exercised my memory.
 "Allow me to introduce you two gen. tlemen," said the picture-dealer withou, further ceremony. "You ought to know one another, and be good boys together"
 The stranger held out his hand with hearty fzankness and politeness. "Glad to meet you, sir, am sure," said he, his fresh-looking face and fine eyes beamipg with good-nature. But trust" he added with laugh, "you are not going to enlist under Shadrach's colors. It's all fight and no pay, let me tell you, even as it was with the Turks you have been ad. miring.-You know that's the truth. and nothing but the truth don't you, Shad-
 Ha, hal You will always make the big jokes, MT. Goliath, :" returned the lew. smiling blandly.
 Well, we'll" laughed MT. Drew, "l viii give you chance to redeem your character presently. Ihave just dropped in to afford you the pleasure of making out little check, payable to yours truly"
 Ho, ho! You make Mir. Charlton be- lieve anything you like" grinned Shad- rach, trihe disconcerted. "Have the goodness, then, MT. Samson, to point out one or two of your mountain pieces to my young friend, and we shall reioin him presently"
 Mir. Drew, with good.ha mored smile. placed me in front of large picture. and then went out with MT. Shadrach. The painting was certainly an admirable one, though with traces of a hasty execution. was turning away from it when my eye caught the imprint, Walter Drew, Tu- nior." can compare the shock this con- Junction of Christian and surname gave me to nothing more apt than a first ex- perience in handling an electric eel. There was no room, no necessity for reasoning. lnstino lively l knew that this gigantic, Jovial, unartistic artist was the son of the man who had caused my fathers mis- fortunes, and probably altered the whole tenor of my own career. The tace, too, that had so haunted me-was it not like. and yet strangely unlike, the portrait of the fashionable Mir. Drew which hung in my fathers study, and which 1 could re- member so well? It was the same head rather than the same face for, with the exception of the brows and the expression of the eyes, which were common to both, the elder Drew was by far the handsomer man.
 l continued standing, with my eyes fixed on the picture, without seeing it, strange medley of thoughts passing through my mind. My first impulse, when they reverted to my new acauain- tance, was quietly to disengage myself from any further ta,iiliaris;es to bid him a civil good-by, in fact, and depart. But after all, what had passed was 2 mere in. terchange of courtesies, that would nat uraiiy cease with the occasion. Nor could l repress strong feeling of curios- ity to know something more of this sin gular young fellow, arising partly per ssfs, from aa innate sondness for char acter-study, but more from a desire to know what manner of man the son of such father might be- My name evi- dently awoke no memories for him: if was certain, therefore, he knew nothing