Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-08-24

cOii &c, dh very SOIll. 1Ou are q
fine young fellow, and could have loved
you"
Bernard Dene took his pipe from his
mouth and bent forward eagerly
THANK you," he said, ''it was good of
you to say that. / shall never forget that
/ suppose you would not shake hands with
me-would your"
"By all MEANS answered the umbrella
mender, warmly, and he held out his
hand, which Bernard Dene grasped firmly.
81 am pleased to have made your acquaint-
ance. You seem to be a gallant young
man, and you must not lose heart about
yourself All, but forgot that you had
not long to live. | suppose that you will
kill yourself to-night?'
''Yes, but not for an hour or so" said the
artist, rising. 81 should like first to show
you some of my paintings such as they
are. | made portrait of him. You may
be interested in that. If it pleases you |
trust you will accept it as little remem-
brance of him and me- What a terrible
night. 1t is still showing hard. l do not
know how you will manage about getting
home. 1t was not fair to bring you out.
Perhaps it will be better for you to re-
main here. | can easily make up bed for
you, or you could have mine. | shall not
need mine, you know"
"Thank you" said the umbrella member,
"but / think Twill so home when it leaves
off showing"
At that moment his eye detected an UNI
brella resting against the window. He
rose from his chair by the fire and exam
ined the umbrella.
at wants mending," he said. "The
frame work is strong, but it ought to be re-
covered. If you go in for usefulness, and
not merely for elegance, l should recon-
mend alpaca will take it home with me,
and you must call for it at your own con-
venience. / shall make no charge. All
l beg your pardon-I had forgotten. You
will not require twill your
Probably not" said the artist smiling.
"There is the portrait of your son. 1t is
the best painting l have ever done. Let
US take it to the bedside, and then you can
see what an excellent likeness it isl
So the two men stood together by the
bedside of Marius Croker, now looking at
his features fixed in death, and now look
ing at the portrait, which seemed to be a
living thing. There was light in those
eyes, there was life in every thread of hair,
there was life in every vein.
The umbrella member turned away with
a nervous laugh from the portrait
" Put it in the dark" he said g Put it
where | cannot see it"
Bernard Dene placed it with its face
toward the wall.
''That laugh was the laugh of a mad
man." he said, half aloud. 81 thought
from the first you were mad, now l am
sure of it."
The umbrella member laughed again,
quietly. He warmed his hands by the
fire.
" Do you mind burning that portrait ?"
he asked, suddenly. THE very thought
of it troubles me. | insist on its being
burned at once. 1t is not agreeable of you
TO hesitate. 1t cannot possibly matter to
you, as you are going TO die so soon. And
1t matters very much to me-"
He darted forward and seized the picture
with both hands, and would have carried
it at once to the fire, but the artist, reused
to anger, roughly prevented him, and for
a moment the two men struggled desper-
ately.
Neither the one nor the other con-
quered; for suddenly something fell from
the bed yonder, and the artist looked at
the umbrella member, and the umbrella
mender looked at the artist, and they stood
there together, paralyzed with fear, hold
ing the picture between them; and the
candle gave feeble flicker and went out,
and the tick of the clock during that sus-
pense seemed to have become louder and
more painfully regular.
Then the artist spoke in whisper.
"What was that ?" he asked. "Perhaps
he is not dead after all. We will speak to
him. You call his name. Lean on my
arm, for you are trembling"
And you are trembling, too," whis-
pered the umbrella member. "Let me be-
seech you to be quite calm. l will speak
to him. Marius Mariusp' he said, in an
awful tone of voice.
But there was no answer. The artist
put the portrait in the umbrella members
hands, and struck match and lit another
bit of candle and then peered around the
bed. A book had fallen from the bed.
Bernard Dene picked it up and showed it
to the umbrella member. He smiled sor-
rowfully as he turned over the leaves and
looked at the simple illustrations.
al remember now" he said quietly.
''This is my little girls book. He was
fond of my little girl. That was the one
good thing about him. He played with
her and read to her and talked to her, and
| do believe he was as tender as any mother
with her. But even for this hated him,
for she loved him better than she loved
me. | always knew there was no place
for me in this world. He bought her this
book. He probably cheated some one out
of the money and then came home and
gave her pleasure. That was his way of
doing things. By the way, will you take
care of my little girl when Pm gone? Her
name is Bernardine. You cannot but love
her"
q was going to propose that to you,"
said the umbrella member kindly II
should like to have her, and think /
have changed my mind about that portrait.
l should much like to have it."
81 am glad of that" anwered the artist
warmly. 81 do not care about my life, but
am jealous for the life of my pictures.
leave them all to you. They will help to
pay You for Bernardine The only one /
do not wish you to sell is the portrait of
your son. You must hang that in your
umbrella shop, Now / will go and fetch
my little girl, and then you must go home.
/ am sure you will trust me to kill myself.
! flatter myself that have never broken
my word to any one. l was born a gentle
man and l will die gentleman. At least
can do that"
The Embellishments held out his hand.
Il trust you implicitly" he said. II
viii call in tomorrow morning and look
kindly and regretfully at you. / shall
always think kindly Of you, and | hope
that you viii do the same of me. ! only
wish that we had met under happier cir
cumstances. But, unfortunately, we have
no choice in these matters-no choice. |
should tell you, though, that think you
are undoubtedly mad. | fatter myself
that | am an excellent Judge of character.
/ should not make this remark about you,