The Portland daily press., 1893-12-18
MUMMY BROWN.

| Richardson picked up the soft little cyl
Under and looked at it again.
tsWhat did you call it?" he asked.
"Munomy brown, - replied Knowlton, tax
ing brush from between his lips to speak
and touching the canvas before him with
it.
"Brown it undoubtedly ISL remarked
his friend, "but where does the mummy
come imp
"In the tube, my boy" returned the
painter, half closing his eyes and putting
his head on one side to observe the effect
OF his last stroke. because it is made Of
pulveriGed Egyptian mummies, and it is
one of the best colors we have"
Richardson put the tube back upon the
much Uttered studio table, and whistled
softly.
'sWeal. said he, "you may count me out
if ever became a painter, when it comes
to using dead mems bodies to make pic
lures with. I'd be afraid they would come
back again!''
] Nonsense" said Knowlton, laughing;
is'they are entirely too dead for anything
of that sort, you may be sure, and if they
are sensitive to feelings they never show
it. Observe how am using this tube,
for instance; upon this Frenchman's coat.
Do you suppose any we'll meaning Egyp-
tian would like to have himself clothing a
foreigner in any such manner, if he knew
it?"
"No, suppose not. n The color
ing is rich, too" remarked Richardson,
thrusting his hands deep into his pockets
and surveying his friends work with the
eye of an uneducated CRITIC "though the
same can't be said of the models, judging
from appearances. And by the powers
that be, Francis" he added suddenly,
'syou've made that tall fellow very good
likeness of you! Did you know its''
Knowlton shrugged his shoulders. 81
had an idea his face was something like
NINE" he answered, "but as that is a
common trick of ours have not given it
a second thought. What I am striving
for is good picture, not portraits, and I
must realize something from it too. By
heavens, Richardson, it has come to be a
case of dire necessity, and that's all there
is to it!o
''Rent not paid?" asked his friend.
"That's too bad-I've been there myself,
and then it is very uncomfortable thing
to have hanging over one. As long as one
can climb up and down the water pipe,
and thus avoid meeting the landlady on
the stairs, life is made endurable, but with
you, ] suppose"--
There isn't water pipe within 90 feet
OF my window. No. must sell, or get
out, so-the mummy brown again, if you
pleased"
Richardson handed tn, paint to him
once more, somewhat gingerly. ~ can't
help feeling I'm dealing with piece of
dead body" he said, co1oring at Knowl-
toms plying look, 'sand I should think
you would do the same, believing, as you
say you do, in tEansmigration and rein
lcarnation, and all that sort of stuff. Sup
pose, for instance, that you were painting
this picture with piece of your own
fathers body, when he was an Egyptian,
no. 900 years agov'
"Or, better still, - returned Knowlton,
squeezing fresh supply of the paint out
upon his palette, "my own old time body,
sayp' AS he spoke, he touched the paint
with the tip of one finger, and a shiver at
the same time passed over him, leaving
him strangely pale and shaken.
q "Yes, but-hellc, what's wrong?" ex-
claimed Richardson, noticing the change
in his friends face.
tNothing-I don't know-a touch of
vertigo, that's all, T" returned the painter
confusedly. "f-what were you saying?"
Z "Only that if your supposition were so
the contact of the two bodies-the new
and the old-would make itself felt in the
new"
"Yes?" said Knowlton, smiling again
and returning to his work. "But do not
believe in TRANSPORTATION to that extent,
my dear fellow. There is line, you
know, that even we fanatics have to draw,
and rather imagine it is somewhere near
that point in this case. But, to change the
subject, will you be at the Idler tonight as
usual? If Mrs. McGwiginn should happen
to take it into her good old head to ask
me to pay or skip out, I'll have to realize
on some of my personal property, and as
don't know the best places in town |
want you to steer me around. Won't OBJ
ject, will you?''
mot in the least. My services are al
ways at your disposal, ana I'll be at the
club at half after or 8. And now l must
tear myself away; SO, until them and
the end of the sentence was lost in the
slight slam of the door as he went out.
The artist listened until the echo of his
friends retreating footsteps had died into
the murmurous silence Of the great tene-
ment in which he lived, and then going
softly to the door himself he turned the
key in it. Coming back to the table, he
drew his chair close up to it and cast a
furtive glance about the unhomelike room
and into the deep shadows that lurked in
the cobwebby corners. Then with com
pressed lips and trembling hands, he drew
the palette to him and gently pressed Il
finger into tie little daub of mummy
brown still upon it.
A cold thrill shot up his arm, shaking
the very f:2rve centers of his body as it did
50 md NM l-i,cr Linn ShI1.lGat nccain and