The herald., 1893-12-02
AN INVESTMENT.


I'M three small, cheap rooms lived old
Parkes and his daughter Rose. She
was a very pretty girl, and her figure
was so good that she always provoked
a favorable comment from the men
about town who sometimes strayed into
the precincts OF that Bohemian quarter
in New York, Washington square. But
Rose, as she went through the park,
kept her eyes modestly bent ON the as
phalt walk, apparently quite uncon-
scious Of tho admiration she excited. 1t
was the opinion of those who were ac-
quainted with old Parkes' works that
she was by far the best thing he had
ever produced.
The truth is, old Parkes did not get
along very we'll. How he got along at
all was mystery until Rose and he
became acquainted with little Spacer,
one of the best fellows that ever lived.
Rose, who was born fnancier, per-
haps could have explained how they
managed to exist. At ridiculously
early hour in the morning she went to
market with basket, and she had the
knack Of making deliciously appetiz-
ing dish with very little for founda-
tion. In short, Rose was a genius, and
without her old Parkes would have
found himself long ago in the poorhouse.
Though he was an excellent painter,
who had spent years of his life in study
abroad, his pictures somehow never
seemed to sell we'll. Speaking from
mercantile point Of view, his handling
was too broad and free, and the people
were not up to him. Then, too, his
canvases were generally SO large that
they were not adapted to the walls Of
the average drawing room, and he cap
ped it all by putting price on them
that frightened buyers off. As one we'll
known critic put it, he would have done
much better so years hence. Certainly
he would not have done worse.
The few of his fellow artists who knew
him did not like old Parkes very much,
though they fully approved of Rose.
His lifelong struggle with poverty had
soured his disposition, and the nasty,
cutting things he said were by no means
relished. His overwhelming conceit
rendered him most disagreeable per-
son. He rated himself far above the
younger and more successful men-"pot
boilers" he contemptuously referred to
them-and it dazed him to think that
they should do so we'll and he so badly.
Rose was the only person he could get
along with, and he had never said an I'M
kind word to her in his life. Whenever
he looked at her, he would always think
of her mother, dead so many years, and
then he would sigh to himself. Rose,
who knew what he was thinking of,
would come to him and throw her arms
around his neck, with never word.
When little Spacer fell head over
heels in love with Rose, their financial
condition materially improved. AS
have already said, he was one of the
best fellows that ever lived, and he was
on the staff of a metropolitan newspaper
and enjoyed very good salary.
He knew nothing at all about art,
which was the reason why perhaps the
city editor gave him SO many assign
ments to write of it. With few stock
words and phrases, such as 'chiaroscu-
TO, fine atmosphere, ""m mastery han
ding" etc., he wrote up the exhibi-
tions, on the whole, quite creditably.
Little Spacer first saw Rose when he
came to her fathers studio for infor-
nation as to where he was to spend the
summer He had been instructed to
prepare an article with the title Where
Artists viii Spend the Summer. Old
Parkes gruffiy told him that he wasn't
going anywhere, and he carefully noted
down the fact. When he went away,
he carried with him vision of Roses
soft black eyes and Roses creamy
cheeks, and he was thinking of them
still down at the Office when he wrote
these words, ''Mr. Godfrey Parkes, the
distinguished landscape painter, will
remain in the city to execute a number
Of important commissions.
After that, upon one pretext or an
other, little Spacer kept coming 80 Of
ten that Ne grew to be a source of pos
itive dislike to old Parkes. With Rose,
however, it was different. The two
had become such good friends that it
would have grieyed her very much if
he had never come again. Little Spacer
had two rooms near by, in West Tenth
street, and he haunted the park in the
hope of seeing her. Once, when he had
been detained at the Office very late and
he was coming home completely tagged
out at dawn, he had been refreshed by
the sight of Rose going to market, and
he had carried her basket for her, and
they had had jolly time.
AS their friendship grew stronger he
: could see how miserably poor she was,
and often in his lonely rooms he pom
idered over some way of helping her.
As Rose was such proud little be-
ing, he realized that he would have to
act with the utmost delicacy. Finally
he decided that the best plan to follow
was to buy some of her fathers pic
tures, and with no other thought than
to benefit her he began to recklessly in
vest In them. "a
When Rose appeared in charming
new gown and dainty bonnet, little
Spacer fairly beamed with delight, and
the arch hypocrite continued his invest
ments even more rechlessly than before.
His bare white walls filed up with
canvases for which he honestly did not
give snap Of his fingers. Old Parkes
let them all go at summer prices, " in
one case sacrificing his View of the
1amar" vr'' hich he had