The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-03-12

not dreaming of hattering; for the mo-
ment 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, II will show you how lovely
you will look in a finished picture. VIII
your"
She was too thoroughly lost in devour-
ing the sketch to give ear to what he was
saying; but she did not fail to hear his
remark about her beauty, for she was a
woman. The little picture itself was, by
some irradiating process, Installing into
her heart a delicious sense Of her own
charms, a something never reflected from
mirror or heard in the indulgent fattery
OF father and mother. 1t was as If q
warm, exhilarating watt from some far
away Eden of perfume and joy had flowed
over her heart, stirring it strangely and
sweetly.
orion watched her with growing adj
miration of her half-childish expression
and also with a fine inner acknowledge
ment Of the significant compliment she
was unconsciously 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:
Gam l like that? Am I so very, very
beautiful, Mo'sieu Orton2"
Indeed you are" the young man an
swered with cordial promptness, speak
ing as he would have done to a spoiled
but fascinating child.
Tears of JOY leaped into her eyes and
believed the black laShes as for a moment
they dropped as if weighted with a
thought.
"Then, Mo'sieu," she said, looking up
again with eager, vivid" insistence, in her
face, "then, Mo'sieu, / am as lovely as
Ma'm'zelle Rochon, am I not2"
Certainly you are, +" he responded, but
this time with a vague uneasiness. "But
now let me pose you for a better sketch"
Lalie was trembling with delight. Any
thing that he wished now she would do.
Her heart was swinging in her breast
like a merry bell and filling her whole be-
ing with its fine, fairy chime.
Orton, with a 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 a rich old brocaded curtain of red
duO SO1U. dCI0 he SOdG0U Q0r W1GQ 00G
cat on her arm and a mandolin beside her,
while the short, heavy gun she loved to
shoot with lay across her lap, its dark,
richly carved stock appearing just below
the arm upon which lounged the tawnY
cat. Her dress was of white stuff heavily
lowered with purple and vermillion one
foot, shod in a high heeled slipper of fine
leather knotted with ribbons, showed it.
| oole 1o1o~r AZ -c1-soA . Oh l11lI
would imagine a savage princess might
who had just returned from a hunt in the
jungle or from a journey over the desert
For several days Orion worked before
the girl wholly lost III his art purpose, ma
ware 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 him
the power of absolute vision, and he was
painting the girl as this vision dictated.
| softening some of her traits, intensifying
others, blending, ~dimming, clarifying,
idealizing.
Sometimes Madame Garcin came and
looked on in wrapt content; but Garcin
himself appeared for most of the time too
restless and anxious about something else
or give more than a passing glance now
and then at the rapidly growing picture
Orion noticed that certain dark-faced
men came quite often lately, and con-
suited in a mysterious way with Garcin.
These visitors appeared at any hour of
the day or night, coming as a rule by way
| of the bayou. Evidently there was urgent
business of some sort on hand, but the
young man did not trouble himself to find
out what it was. When the picture was
finished, 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. It was as if they were antici-
pating calamity, but were unwilling to
admit the fact. All this was lrath
shadowy than real in appearsnnel and
scarcely disturbed the young man'sTeh
ioyment of the rambles in the woods
which he had resumed with fresh energy.
The picture, covered with a light cloth,
sat in Lalie's room, and she for a time
faund her chief pleasure in lifting the veil
and sitting before the beautiful counter
felt Of herself and feasting upon it's de-
ceitful fattery. This could o content
her long, however, for she grew restless
when Orion was away wandering from
room to room, straying listlessly 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 a sudden and strange
maturity for one so young. She looked
taller, the was more reserved and quiet of
manner and her face wore the expressions
of one who pondered over sweet but dis
turbing things.
Meantime some rather startling matters
were in progress in the Bay St Louis
region. Old Gaspard Rochon had determ-
med upon crushing Garcin and his free
boeters because he found them out-witting
him in collecting the valuable revenue
afforded by unlawful traffic with certain
co~ast-cruisers. Indeed Rochon had been
I e - e. L. IL I'll