Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-08-31

had lust terminated, and that lnd1Vld-
ual, surrounded by the three pet dogs
which it was his duty take for an air
ing after dinner had been served, was
receding in the distance. Mr.. Wat
kins was mixing colors with an air of
great industry. SAINT, approaching
more nearly, was surprised to see the
color in question was as harsh and
brilliant an emerald green as it i6 pos
sible to imagine. Having cultivated
an extreme sensibility to color from
his earliest years, he drew the air IN
sharply between his teeth at the very
first glimpse of this brew. Mr.. Wat
kins turned round. He looked an
noyed.
"What on earth are you going to do
with that beastly green?" said SAINT.
Mr.. Watkins realized that his zeal
to appear busy in the eyes of the but
Ter had evidently betrayed him into
some technical error. He looked at
SAINT and hesitated.
Pardon my rudeness, said SAINT !;
"but, really, that green IS altogether
too amazing. 1t came as a shock.
| What do Won mean to do with it?'
Mr.. Watkins was collecting his re-
sources. Nothing could save the
situation but decision. eff you come
here interrupting my work, he said,
'pm a-goin' to paint your face with
It,
| SAINT retired, for he was a humorlst
and a peaceful man. Going down the
hill he met Person and Wainwright
either that man is a genius or he IS
dangerous lunatic," said he. 'Just
80 up and look at his green" And
he continued his way, his countenance
frightened by pleasant anticipation
of a cheerful ARRAY round an easel in
the cleaning, and the shedding of
much green paint,
But to Person and Wainwright Mr..
Watkins was less aggressive, and ex-
planned that the green was intended
to be the first coating of his picture.
It was, he admitted in response to a
remark, an absolutely new method,
invented by himself But subse-
quently he became more reticent; he
explained ne was not going to tell
every passer-by the secret of his own
particular style, and added some
scathing remarks upon the meanness
of people hanging about" to pick up
such tricks of the masters as they
could, which Immediately relieved him
of their company,
Twilight deepened; first one, then
another star appeared. The rocks
amid the tall trees to the left of the
house had long since lapsed into
slumberous silence, the house itself
lost all the details of its architecture
and became dark gray outline, and
then the windows of the salon shone
out brilliantly, the conservatory was
| lighted up, and here and there a bed
room window burnt yellow. Had any
one approached the easel in the park
it would have been found deserted.
One brief, uncivil word in brilliant
green sullied the purity of its canvas.
Mr. Watkins was busy in the shrub
berry with his assistant, who had dis
creetly joined him from the carriage
| drive.
Mr.. Watkins was inclined to be self
congratulatory upon the ingenious de-
vice by which he had carried all his
apparatus boldly, and in the sight of
oil men, right up to the scene of op-
Grafton. chats the dressing room, !"
he said to his assistant, ''and, as soon
as the maid takes the candle away and
goes down to supper, we'll call in.
My! how nice the house do look, to
be sure, against the starlight, and
with all its windows and lights !!
Swopme, Jim, I almost wish I was a
painter chap. Have you fixed that
there wire across the path from the
laundry?'
He cautiously approached the house
until he stood below the dressing room
window, and began to put together his
| folding ladder. He was much too ex-
perienceda practitioner to feel any
unusual excitement. Jim was recon
NOTHING the smokingrOom. Suddenly,
close beside Mr.. Watkins in the bushes
there was u violent crash and a stif1ed
curse. Some one had tumbled over
the wire which his assistant had Just
arranged. He heard feet running on
the gravel pathway beyond. Mr.. Wat
kins, like all true artists, was a singu-
larly shy man, and lie incontinently
dropped his folding ladder and began
running circumspectly through the
shrubbery.
He was indistinctlY aware Of two
people hot upon his heels, and he fan
cied that he distinguished the outline
of his assistant in front of him. In
another moment he had vaulted the
low stone wall bounding the shrub
berry, and was in the open park. Two
thuds on the turf followed his own
leap.
1t YVES a close chase in the darkness
through the trees. Mr.. Watkins was
Il loosely built man and in good train
ing, and he gained hand-over- hand
upon the hoarsely painting figure. in
| front
: Neither spoke, but, as Mr.. Watkins
pnlled mp alongside, a qualm of awful
doubt came over him. The other man
turned his head at the same moment
and gave an exclamation of slrprise
'It's not Jim" thought Mr.. Watkins,
aud simultaneously the stranger flung
| himself, as it were. at Watkins knee,
and they were forthwith graphing on
the ground together. LEND n hand,
Bill, cried the stranger, as the third
man came up. And Bill did-two
hands, in fact, and some accentuated
feet. The fourth man, presumably
Jim, had apparently turned aside and
made off in a different direction. At
any rate, he did not join the trio
Mr.. Watkins's memory of the Incl
dents of the next two minutes is ex-
tremely vague. He has dim recol-
lection of having his thumb in the
corner of the mouth of the first man,
and feeling anxious about its safety,
and for some seconds at least he held
the head of the gentleman answering
to the name of Bill to the ground by
the hair. He was also kicked in q
great number OF different places, ap-
parently by vast multitude of people