Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-02-23

them. Presently Wallace was I'll advised
enough to ask her which pictures she had
liked tho best mt tho Private View; she re-
piled by picking out ball room scene at
Forth's aud an unuttcrnblc mawkish thing Of
Halford's-a troubadour in a pink dressing
gown, gracefully intcrtwined with violet
scarfs, singing TO a party Of robust young
women In light which never was ON sea or
land You could count all tho figures
In tho first she said, 1T was 80 lifclike; 20
real and then Halford was romantic, tho
picture was pretty, and she liked it. | looked
at Forbes with somo amusement; it was gratl-
flying, remembering tho rodomontnde with
which Wallace and i had been crushed on
tho night OF tho white Lady to SEQ him
vince under Miss Brethcrton's liking Of tho
worst art In Englandi Is the critical spirit
worth something. or is IL supcrfuous in the.
atrical matters and only indispensable In
matters Of pnntingl think hc caught the
challenge IN my eye, for he evidently felt
himself In some little difficulty.
"'Oh, you couldn't he said, with a groan,
you couldn't like that ball room-and that
troubadour, heaven forgive usl Well, there
must be something In it-there must bc some
thing In it, IL 1t really gives you pleasure-I
dare say there Is: wore so confoundedly up
pish In the way we look at things. II either
Of them had particle Of drawing or a scrap
of taste il both Of them weren't as bare as
broomstick Of tho least vestigc OF gift, or
any suspicion Of knowledge there might be a
good deal TO say for theml Only, my dear
Miss Brethcrton, you see it's really not mat
ter Of opinion; assure you it isn't could
prove TO you as plain as two and two mako
four, that IIalfords figures don't join In tho
middle, and that Forths men and women are
ms fat as my hand--tbere isn't back among
theml And then the taste, and the color, and
tho claptrap idiocy Of the sentimentl No, I
don't think can stand 1t. am all for people
getting enjoyment where they cam with a
defiant look at mo, and swapping their I'm
gers at the critics. But ono must draw the
line somewhere. Therc'sso art that's ont
Of court from the beginning
IL couldn't resist it.
"Dont listen to him, Miss Brethcrton,'I
cried. III I were you wouldn't let him spoil
your pleasure. The great thing is TO feel;
defend your feeling against himl It's worth
more than this criticism
FORBES eyes looked laughing daggers at
me from under his shaggy white brows Mrs
Stuart and Wallace kept their countenances
to perfection; but l had him; there's no
denying It.
"'Oh, know nothing about it. said Isabel
Bretherton, divinely unconscious of tho little
si;irmish going on around her. you must
teach me, Mr.. Forbes. only know what
touches me, what lke-that's all know in
anything
"'Its all we any Of us know said Wal
lace. airily. We begin with ~ like" and II
don't like" then we begin to DO proud and
make distinctions and find reasons; but tho
thing beats us, and we como back in the end
to 81 like and II don't like.n'
"Tho lunch over, we strolled out along the
common, through heather which as yet was
n mere brown expanse of fowcrless under
growth and copes which overhead were q
canopy of golden oak leaf and carpcted
underneath with primroses and the young
upcurling bracEcn. Presently through a
little wood wo came upon a pond lying vida
and blue before us under the breezy May sky,
its shores fringed with scented fr wood and
the whole dir alive with birds. We sat down
under pile of logs fresh cut and fragrant
and talked away vigorously. 1t was a little
difficult often to keep tho conversation on
lines which did not exclude Miss Bretherton
Forbes, the Stuarts, Wallace and are accus
toned to bo together, and ono never realizes
whnt Freemasonry the intercourse even
OF a capital ia until one tries TO introduce an
outsider into il. We tailed the theatre. of
course; the ways of different actors, the for
tunes of managers. Isabel Brctherton nat
urally has as yet seen very little; her COM
ments were mainly personal and all Of q
friendly, enthusiastic kind, for the pro-
fession has been very cordial to her.
A month or five weeks moro and
her engagement at tho Calliopo will
be over. There aro other theatres open
TO her, OF course, and all the managers are
at her feet; but she has set her heart upon
going abroad for some time, and has, l
imagine, made so much money this season
that the family cannot In deccncy object to
her having her own way. Il am wild to get
to Italy,, sho said to me in her emphatic, i'm
petuous way, Sir Walter Rutherford has
talked to inc so much about it that l am be-
ginning to dream Of it. long to havo done
with London and be OIL This English sun
seems to mo SO chilly and she drew her win
ter cloak about her with little shiver, al
though the day was really an English summer
day, and Mrs. Stuart was in cotton. Il camo
from such warmth, and l loved it. / have
BEEN making acquaintance with all sorts Of
horrors since came TO LOndon-face ache and
rheumatism and colds-I scarcely knew thero
were such things in the world And mover
knew what it was to DO tired before. Some
times can hardly drag through my work.
hate IL SO; it makes INC cross like a naughty
childr
DO you KNOW said, flinging myself
down beside her on the grass and looking up
at her, that it's altogether wrongl Nature
never meant you to feel tired; it's mon
strous, it's against the natural order Of
thingsr
It's London she said with her little sigh
ana tho dropping lid that Is SO prettily
f.nf 81 H.,
and it seems 10 DO humming through my
sleep at night. And then the crowd, and tho
hurry people arc in, and the quickness and
sharpness of things! But have only few
weeks more,' she added, Frightening, 'and
then by October l shall be moro used to
Europe-tho climate and the lfe.'
81 am much impressed, and so Is Mrs.
Stuart, by the struggle her nervous strength
Is making against London. All my nurs-
ing Of you, Marie, and of your mother
has taught me to notice these things in
women, aud find myself taking often very
physical and medical view Of Miss Bretber-
ton. Nou see, 1t is n case Of northern tenn
permanent and constitution relaxed by tropi-
cal conditions, aud then exposed once moro
in an exceptional degree TO tho strain and
stress OF northern life. rage when think Of
such a piece of physical excellence marred
and dimmed 10y our harsh English struggle.
And all for whati For a commonplace.
make believe art, vulgarizing in tho long run
both to tho artist and the publcl There is
q sense Of tragic waste about il. Suppose
London destroys her health-there are somo
signs Of it-what a futile, ironical pathos
there would DO in it. long to step in, to
have at somebody, TO stop it.
"a little incident later on throw q curious
light upon her. We had moved on to tho
other side of the pond and were basking in
the fir wood. The afternoon sun was slant
ing through the branches on to tho bosom Of
the pond; splendid Scotch fir just beside us
l. L