The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-07

the habit Of saying that if Barnard
Hope had not lived such and such a
picture would not have been painted
which statement was probably quite
true.
Barney's people were naturally quite
proud of him. His father had always
admired him with the intense admira-
ton which very little man has for a
very big relative; his mother referred
to him as My son Barnard Hope, the
celebrated painter
To all appearances Barney was a
man greatly to be envied, but alas
how little does the public know the in
ner life of even the greatest fayoritel
All may be fair to outward view, with
in sits brooding care. Barney had a
secret trouble which he confided to
no one, and it caused him serious men,
tai dissatisfaction. He had told Edna
Sartwell that she had blighted his life.
and he fully believed this at the time
he made the gloomy statement. He
fsombrely pictured himself in the future
as disappointed man--successful per-
haps, but cynically bitter with exist
ence, living the life of a recluse, and
cherishing his broken heart. AS the
victim of hopeless passion, he pitied
himself, and yet took melancholy
pleasure in Eliminating over the wreck
reer To his dismay he, found it impos-
sible to live up to his ideal. The forced
laugh; the pessimistie Smile; the dark
mantle of great reserve which he
hoped TO fold around himself, did not
come natural to him, and he was con-
! tinually backsliding into being his own
/ hilarious, boisterouS self, and having a
! good time, when he should have been
moping alone over an aching void.
| Above all things, he expected him
/ self to foreSwear ladies' society and
never again indulge in the light flip
pant and complimentary talk in which
he had been an acknowledged master,
but it grieved him to discover that he
still took keen delight in their pres
ence, while they, poor dears, unblush
| ingly adored Barney as they had al
ways done. His arrival in any room
Immediately Frightened the occasion,
and he was by all odds the most pop
ular young man in his set. His failure
in the tragic role he had marked out
for himself at first worried Barney and
led him to suspect that he was not so
deep as he had imagined, but this dis
Quieting thought gave way under his
ultimate realization that the taciturn
recluse of fiction and the drama was
merely melancholy humbug who did
not exist in real life. This comforting
discovery did much to place Barney
and by and by he abandoned the at
tempt to pose as a stricken victim of
womans Interpretation, and was once
more the genial host of the welcome
guest.
AS time went on, and his fame con-
tinued to spread, he fell more and
more under the gentle influence of
Lady Mary Fanshaw, who was
modest, refined, and altogether charm
ing girl. She had an unbounded adj
miration for Barney's strength and
manliness; and his many deeds of
kindness and lavish generosity, which
he himself was at no particular pains
to conceal, won her deep regard. She
did not pretend to understand his
paintings, but was quite willing to
believe what appeared to be the uni
versal estimate, that they were works
of the very highest genius.
In the company of Lady Mary, Bar
neys heroic determination to lead
monastic life became fainter and
fainter. When Barney saw whittier he
was drifting, ne held serious consul
tation with himself. Six months had
elapsed since the episode at East
bourne, and this half year had been
the most fateful in his whole existence.
Even though there was lingering dis
appointment over the now self-ad-
mitted fact that his life had not been
wrecked, yet he felt he owed it to his
dignity not to propose to Lady Mary
until year at least had interviewed
between the two matrimonial excur-
sionS. To propose sooner would be TO
admit that he did not know his own |
he particularly prided him
self on his strength of mind. An
action that is indecent haste in SIX
may be the epitome of calm de-
liberation in II. Instances are on rec |
ord where a mans most cherished po- |
litical convictions have changed COM
pletely within year, and a grateful
has testified its appreciation of /
the honesty of the transformation by !
bestowing a peerage or a knighthood !
upon the man. Why, then. should not !
a great painter be deeply in love with /
two charming girls. if reasonable in
terval separated the declarations of
affection? Barney said to himself that /
it was undoubtedly wrong to be in love
with two or more at the same time,
and youth is an excuse which covers
a multitude of errors. This day six
months said Barney definitely. Il
shall ask Lady Narv to be my wife"
Having thus reached finality in his
he felt that sense of salts
faction which man always expert
ences when perplexing problem is
authoritatiyely settled one way or an
0ther Nothing is so demoralizing as
ndecision. Hitherto he had been al
most afraid to meet Lady Mary, much
as he delighted in her companionship;
but now there was no reason why he
should hold aloof from her. Therefore,
having written down the date on which
he momentous proposal was to take
place, he arose with a joyful exuber-
:nce cf spirits. and resolved to cele-