Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-25

poet.) And il WIS very unkind of her to mis-
understand him, and, above all, to go of in that
manner. when she bad said-nnd how sweetly
tooi-so few hours back, "And don't dislike
you neither, Charlie
| At the recollection of this he nes.rly knocked
| his head against the wall. As n vent to his
feelings he seized his chalks and set to work to
put his borrow ipto his art. Quite different
we're the pictures he now drew from the airy
productions OF the morning. He depicted an
earthquake as his imagination dictated, then a
battlefield, and the ground strewn with
dead and diving. Fame comes to the broken
hearted; genius is the child of despair. SO, In
his little way. Charlie Sprigget, the pavement
artist, learned that afternoon. Never had he
earned SO mach. nor attracted so much atten-
| ton; but oh his heart was heavy as leaving his
masterpieces in the hope that Belinda would see
them in the morning, he wended his way home
ward. But that night it rained again, that
the battlefield and the earthquake and the dead
and diving were all washed away 60 blurred as
| to be indistinct and unacceptable, and all the
next day il rained and the day after that; SO
that, but for his unusual harvest, it would have
have gone badly with Charlie, who had no
balance in hand, and whose appetite was apt
! to be unpleasantly self-assertive.
But the third day ii cleared, and he went to
his studio. and. once more hope reigned in his
heart. The morning passed and no Belinda
| came along. and in the afternoon he knew, or
guessed, she would be engaged. He could not
work, for though excitement is q stimulus.
dreariness is the very reverse. No man yet
produced a masterpiece through depression,
though he might through despair. So poor
Sprieget only scratched aimlessly on the pave
Inent with his dullest gray chalk and cursed the
day ne was born.
That afternoon, however, he did see his lady
love, though not in the manner he had ex-
pected. Miss Belinda was quite as anxious to
look upon his face he to look upon hers and
fully as repentant. though not quite so wretched,
G lint oh otc 1auf~ ~
ing to him that she was not going to be trampled
! on, and that she was 9 person Of spirit. Ac-
cordingly she had persuaded her "pal'--a
young woman several years her senior and who
was in reality the head and manager Of the
frm-to try q fresh locality for their barrow.
And now she walked triumphantly behind it
and helped to pitch it exactly opposite Mr.
SpEigget's studio. Charlie was thnnderstruck
when he beheld her and realized the signifi-
canoe Of the action. There she was, DISTRICT
ingly pretty, arranging the tiny platefuls Of
whelks, quantities of which fish, garnished with
parsely, were heaped on the barrow. She cast
look upon Mr.. sprigget, but took no further
notice OF him, and, when his eyes met hers,
turned and addressed laughing remark to her
partner. Her audacity and her fascination
above all her apparent indifference to himself
reduced the onlOoker to state Of utter misery.
He knew not what to do; go he dared not. stay
he must-Ehe should not have the satisfaction Of
putting him to flight. But what he suffered
And worse followed For the whelks were
largely patronized, and, as Belinda had said.
they were 'oncommon poplar with men," and
now several people stopped, and Belinda it was
who handed them the little plates, shook on the
pepper, and suggested what would be desir-
able quantity OF vinegar. and supplied them
with the bread and butter which she had cut
with her own hands. And how she laughed,
too, and made little jokes! Whenever he saw
her white teeth cleaning he gnashed his own
IN impotent wrath and jealousy, poor Sprigget;
for he had not the satisfaction Of knowing what
heavy heart that bright-faced Belinda had in
her bosom. Where a man sulks a woman
laughs. He went away at last unable to bear II
any longer. And, perhaps, not the least bitter
drop in his cup was this, that while he had
earned not one penny by his art, she of the
despised trade had accumulated quite a little
pile of coppers.
The next day she came again and every dav
that week, and still it was his fate to sit and
watch her and love her ever more deeply and
never have SO much satisfaction as to touch her
hand or hear her voice except when she adj
dressed another and he would speculate how
far otherwise it might have been by now but for
his presumption, for it would have been his
privilege to kiss her and to tell her all his
thoughts and claim her sympathy as a right
Oh, he was doubly lonely by contrast with what
might have been.
And he earned very, very little that week
less than he had ever done since he had taken
to the profession-sO that when he encountered
by chance his old friend and the latter told him
Of a sandwich man who had died that day and
advised him to apply for the boards at once, he
accepted the suggestion o wise one and
driven by that stern master, hunger, spent
three hours parading up and down the streets
between two advertisements of a sale Of boots
He had time for meditation, and perhaps his
occupation tended to foster the humility which
Mr.. Sprigget lacked. He resolved that as ad-
verstty had come to him and prosperity to
Belinda he must give up all thoughts of her,
and that it was no less than his duty to tell her
so and 10 apologize for having presumed to
dictate to her. Yes. he saw now that though it
might be very well to have high-fown notions,
yet people must live, and those were wise who
| did that which remunerated them, provided it
were only honest. After all, he was now little
better than beggaf, and there could be no
work too mental for one who might otherwise
have to face starvation. Providence, he
thought, had deserted him to teach him q
lesson; at any rate, his good luck (Which was to
Charlie a anonymous term had done 80, and
the lesson being learned he thought it probable
that If he profted by the teaching fortune
would favor him again.
Thus thinking he noticed little where they
were going, but just followed the man In front
OF him, his own eyes cast down upon the pave
ment. Suddenly the blood leaped to his face
He saw upon the ground the faint mark of his
work and he knew where he was He looked
behind it. Attracted by the row of sandwich
men she watched them as they passed, and SO 1t
came about that poor, shamed Charlie met her
gaze. Her eyes fell. And he did not. there
fore, note the surprise and the pity which were
in them. He felt that now, indeed, all was over
with him. A sudden thought came to him. He
dropped ont Of rank, and drawing from his
pocket piece of chalk stopped and wrote in
the usual printed characters, which were the
only ones he or Belinda could read with ease:
pride MUST HAVE FORL- wELKs ARE GOOD"
And he underlined ''forl.r
When he had done this he rejoined the others,
but without glancing any more at Belinda.
81 must see what that man has written." said
she to her companion in casual tone as she
could assume, and she ran round and looked,
spelling it out carefully. Then her eyes filled
with tears and her heart went out to Charlie,
the more that there flashed across her the IDEA,
which had never occurred to him, that some Of
the pennies which might have gone to Sprigget
had found their way to her little TILL
But Charlie had lot completed his humilia-
tlon be was too much of an artist not to do
the thing thoroughly. And besides he was desir-
Gus of seeing what effect his words had had upon
her, Accordingly the next day he walked down
to the old haunt and presented himself at the
stall. His face was very red as he pushed q
penny toward the other woman Che dared not
look at Belinda and asked for plate of whelks
II this WIS comic there was not wanting an els-
ment Of pathos The little plate vas given him