Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-10
CHAPTER ".
From BRUsH To SWORD.

pencils making water-color notes of what
ever pleased his fancy in the surrounding
landscapes, from mere bits of natural history
set in sepIa, to broad, vivid views of marsh
and boyou made to glow with tropic fervol
of color.
By most adroit management, through slow
degrees of persuasion, he had finally OBJ
tanned Lalie's consent to sit for him. HI
made one rapid sketch to show her how well
she would look in picture. 1t was not 6
little idealized. An inspiration, had, in
fact, flung into it that nameless charm Sc
often indicated in the half-accidental work
OF over-imaginative artists. She was
pleased, fascinated; NOT more by the beauty
of herself reflected therein than by some in.
definite but infinitely sweet consciousness OF
its higher significance, the relation it bore
| in some way to the cultured and teeming
world whence the artist had come and Of
which she had had her dreams
"How do you like its' he demanded,
holding it up before her in such way that
she had the best possible view of it. "Does
it look like you, Nam 'zelle?"
'Ohl obi" she cried, clasping her hands
before her and catching her underlip be-
beautiful, magnificent Let me take it in
| nv hands,"
For awhile he kept it away from her,
knowing well the value of arousing her to
the highest pitch of feeling. 1t was
charming to watch the color come and go in
her expressive face, where the shadows were
so deep and where the sunshine was so
strong, a face typical of the hot, shady,
wind-swept, sea-cradled tropic islands ofthe
| farther south. The pleading of her half
! gentle, half-savage voice, the eager, hungry
! fash of admiration in her yellow brown
| eyes, and the nearly audible palpitating of
| her breast filled Orton with a new conscious
ness of her uncommon beauty.
Presently he handed the sketch to her and
said:
''It is not half so beautiful as you are,
| Ma m 'zelle Garcin, not half" He was not
dreaming of fattery; for the moment he was
| carried away with the thought of what a
portrait he could make of her, and he was
/ quite sincere in what he said. ''If you will
permit me-" he went on, 81 will show you
how lovely you will look in a finished pic
ture. Will you?"
She was too thoroughly lost in devouring
| the sketch to give ear to what he was say
ing; but she did not fail-to heat his remark
about her beauty, for she was a woman.
The little picture itself was, by some ir-
radating process, instilling into her heart q
delicious sense of her own charms, a some
thing never reflected from mirror or heard
in the indulgent fattery of father and
mother. 1t was as if a warm, exhilarating
watt from some far away Eden of perfume
and joy had flowed over her heart, stirring
it strangely and sweetly.
OrtoE watched her with growing admira-
tion of her half-childish expression and also
with a fine inner acknowledgment of the
significant compliment she was uncon-
sciously giving him.
Suddenly she started, held the sketch
before her at arms length, and looking
from it up into Orton's face, exclaimed in
wondering inquiry: 4,
"Am l like that? Am I so very, very
beautiful, Mo'sieu Orton?"
Indeed you are" the young man an
swered with cordial promptness. speaking
as he would have done to spoiled but fas-
cinating child.
Tears OF joy leaped into her eyes and be-
dewed the black lashes, as for moment
they dropped as if weighted with thought.
''Then, Mo'sieu," she said, looking up
again with eager, vivid insistence in her
face, ''then, Mo'sieu, I am as lovely as
Ma'a'zelle Rochon, am not?'
Certainly, you are" he responded, but
this time with a vague uneasiness. "But
now let me pose you for better SKETCH"
Lalie was trembling with delight Any
thing that he wished now she would do.
Her heart was swinging in her breast like
merry bell and filling her whole being with
its fine, fairy chime.
Orton, with decided reverence for the
barbaric in form and color, arranged a
background of palm-leaves against the wall
on the veranda, in front of which he placed
Lalie's low chair draped in the folds of
rich old brocade curtain of red and gold.
Here he seated her with her cat on her arm
and mandolin beside her. while the short,
heavy gun she loved to shoot with lay across
her lap, its dark, richly carved stock ap-
pearing just below the arm upon which
lounged the tawny cat Her dress was of
white stuff heavily howered with purple
and vermilion; one foot, shod in high
heeled slipper of fine leather knotted with
ribbons, showed itself below the skirt. She
looked as one would imagine a savage prin-
cess might, who had just returned from a
hunt in the jungle or from journey over
the desert.
For several days Orton worked before the
girl wholly lost in his art purpose, unaware
of the rapid progress of the spring or of the
almost delirium of happiness in which
Lalie Garcin was reveling. The creative
mood was upon him giving the power of ab-
solute vision, and he was painting the girl
as this vision dictated, softening some of
her traits. lntensifying others, blending,
dimming, glorifying, idollzing.
Sometimes Madame Garcin came and
looked on in wrapt content; but Garc1n
himself appeared for most of the time too
restless and anxious about something else
to give more than passing glance now and
then at the rapidly growing picture.
Orton noticed that certain dark-faced
men came quite often lately, and consulted
= IL. NH
visitors appeared at any hour of the day or
night, coming, as a rule, by wav of the
bayou. Evidently there was urgent busi-
ness of some sort on hand, but the young
man did not trouble himself TO find out
what it was. When the picture was fin
ished, however, and he had shaken off the
abstraction its making had induced, he
could not fail to discover that his host and
hostess were trying to hide a matter of
trouble. 1t was as if they were anticipating
calaVity, but were unwilling to admit the
fact. All this was rather shadowy than real
in appearance, and 1t scarcely disturbed the
young mans enjoyment of the rambles in
the woods which he resumed with fresh
energy.
The picture, covered with light cloth,
sat in Lalie's room, and she for time found
her chief pleasure in lifting the veil and sit
ting before the beautiful counterfeit of her
self and feasting upon its deceitful fattery.
This could not content her long, however,
for she grew restless when Orton was away,
wandering from room to room, straying list
lessly in the large garden. or sitting upon
the dock and gazing into the gray-green
water of the bayou. In some way these few
days had flung into her life sudden and
strange maturity for one so young. She
looked taller, she was more reserved and
quiet of manner and her face wore the ex-
preston of one who pondered over sweet but
disturbing things.