The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-21
PART I.

turned to England, most OF the people
who had once expected remarkable
things of him seemed quite to have
forgotten that there had ever been such
young man. He went about London
for couple of days, calling here and
there at a house. only to find former
acquaintances out of town or living
elsewhere, and looking into clubs where
hall portcrs did not recognize the name
he pronounced.
Even abroad, his habit had been to
avoid large cities; this vast Indifferent
London became in those two days a
horror to his nerves. Against the de-
pressing background of it's crowded
loneliness unpleasant visions began to
define themselves. He had in his pocket
u little account book containing proofs
that it was very nearly time for him
to be thinking of earning some mon
ey; and its columns of delicately in
Scribed figures, which at the outset
had barely interested him. started up
an evil trick of coming into the fore
ground of his thoughts and displaying
themselves there with some devilish
effect of phosphorescence.
At luncheon time on the third day
1t dawned upon him that the gloom OF
his mind had broken the heart of his
appetite. He looked at the bill of fare
handed him by the stranger who wore
the livery of the Applied Arts club.
and after a minutes labored scrutiny
lifted his head and glanced about him.
A score of members at other tables
We're eating-undoubtedly eating as If
they enjoyed themselves. The spectacle
surprised him because-he verified the
impression by another look at the card
the viands set forth were nothing
less than abhorrent; their very names
revolted his senses. He tried to think
of something not enumerated, some
favoritc dish which might be prepared
to his order; but all food revealed it,
self to his Interrogation as an Offense.
a little shiver of vague alarm caused
him to push back his chair and half
rise to his feet.
II think" he began, intent upon JUS
tifying himself to the waiter, and then
stopped. A newcomer had moved to-
ward the table. viii the light of rec
ognition on his face and the beginnings
of gesture which might mean gret-
ing. Passy intuitively completed his
rising, and turned the words on his
lips without hitch to a new use.
II thing this is my old friend. Lau-
renee Mole" he said, with a strenuous
geniality. They shook hands warmly.
and Passy, who hated having his hand
squeezed, for the once rather liked
the effect of powerful and energetic
grasp. Even as he twisted his cramped
fingers about to get the blood back in
to them, he smiled gratefully into
MOle's face: MY dear fellow, l can't
tell you" he started, and then let an
other smile, still more beaming. finish
his sentence for him, as the other
obeyed his mute invitation, and took
the opposite chair.
Really, it was amazing to think how
glad he was to see Mole. The recol-
lection that they had never been more
than smOking-rOom acquaintance rose
in his mind he even recalled that he
had rather Stunned Mole as common
place and uninspired creature, in the
old days-but none the less he well
coined him now as a brother. 1t re-
quired an effort to keep utter Stiffness
out of the grin with which he continued
to regard MOle's broad shoulders, and
buoyant If uhillumined countenance. 1t
came to him that he had heard much
Of the money Mole got for his land
scapes. His sOlvency was notorious
among fellow-artists, along with his
supreme Willingness to have 1t imposed
upon. To look at him, he was more
the strong stockbroker than the paint
er. His linen. his cheerful chuckle,
the fine, hard surface of his carefully
shaven cheek and chin, We're badges of
a philistine prosperity. 1t was not to
be forgotten, too, that Mole never talk
ed shop: one might meet him for years,
and not gather that he knew the diff
ference between cadmium and tur-
pentine. Indeed his great point was
that be didn't talk at all. He listened
superbly, though, with an unapprOach-
able patience and show of interest," and
Passy felt suddenly that what he had
wanted most of all was listener.
The tale spread for MOle's unflag-
ging ears was long and diffuse one.
He ate as he listened, with a robust,
matter-of-cOurse ZeSt which greatly
strengthened Passv's confidence A
brain so nourished and buttressed with
extra helpings and duplicated portions
must of necessity be serenely stead
fast and sensible the ideal brain for
the advisor to an unemployed gentle
man with nerves. Passy scarcely noted
that he himself was now able to eat
as well. and to drink freely of the old
brown ale in cobwebbed bottles which
Mole prescribed. He set forth his case
with eagerness, enforcing it's salient
points with veined and flexible thin
fOrefinger on the cloth.
Summarized, Passy's was the narra-
tive of large satisfaction, insid-
iously undermined and at last brought
down In ruins by the burrowing of a
group of ambitions at crOss-purposes
with one another. There had been at
the outset notable talent-he thought
OF 1t Sow as a fatal talent--for appre-
ciation. His passion for music an
swered across the deeps to his awed
reverence for architecture. His intui-
tive feeling for the right thing in paint
ing looked askanCe at his delicate per-
ception of sculptures inmost signifi-
cance. He commanded the languages
of armor. of block printing, of tapes
tries and fooled bindings and carved
OAK; but when they spoke to him all
at once the effect was confusion. The
severe and complicated charms of her
aidry peckoned him one way; the looser
Establishments Of medieval pottery ap-
pealed from another quarter The jap
anese thing had laid lighter hand upon
him than might have been predicted.
but stained glass of the Burgundian
period bore Gown heavily, and the
earlier schools of miniature painting
cried aloud to him. Treading roughly
on the heels of these antique lures, and
often elbowing them aside, for that
matter. and thrusting' itself to the fore,
came that grossly up-to-date affair,
amateur photography. Passy had mo-
ments of deep shame in it's company
and yet-and yet-might 1t not prove
after all the true friend in need? The
others were admittedly finite; their
fascination had been all ascertained
and ticketed: the completed set of
their tricks was to be found in cata-
lOgues. But who could tell what novel
conquests the bromides and nitrates
might not be reserving for the real
Prince Charming among connoisseurs?
"The upshot of 1t Is, then" said Mole.
at last, that between them all you
don't know which to pick"
"Yes, that seems to be it," Passy ad-
mitted. They were in the members
smoking room now. and regarded each
other from the depths of big easy chairs
before the fire, what time they did not
stare torpidly through their cigar haze
at the Goals and vacancy. "Yes, that is
precisely it. I must find a profession
among them somewhere. I. need not
l,n o,.tros,,ol.. a4is.o. I III. l. "a ~ |