The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-05-15

her. I shouldn't miss her In the least if
( saw her again, and that's evil
denee enough, l suppose. OF course, 1
wish : hadn't been drawn into it, but 1
cart very well get out of it now-at
least. not without appearing rather dis
honorable and giving a good deal of
pain"
"Now, look here, Teddy" I said,
warmly, you've put two distinct issues
before me. Either you are acting from
a mistaken sense of honor, sacrificing
both yourself and your art to the vain
hope of making one woman happy,
which you can never do if you don't
love her, or else you are cheating your
self into the idea that you can save your
art by selling your manhood and do true
work while your daily life is a lie.'
81 don't think that's quite a fair way
Of putting it" said Teddy. an the first
place, I'm rather honestly sorry for the
girl, and should feel rather mean in
backing out after I've allowed her to
get fond of me; though, 1 assure you,
I've never made love to her, or ompro-
missed myself in any way except by talk
ing rather indiscreetly about what work
l could do if / had a free hand and a
place like Templecombe. And 1 don't
think you quite realize how impossible
it is for me to do the work 1 want to do
as things r with me now. I've been
pretty low down here more than once
in these last three years, as you know,
and if it came to that again, 1 think /
should go under. But Violet's greatest
wish is to give me the chance of doing
my own real work; and 1 might not
have such another chance in a lifetime"
So he rambled on with the incon-
sistent apologies of a man torn by con-
ficting motives and desires. Honest
ambition, thwarted by poverty, strove
painfully in him with a chivalrous SEN
sitiSness which shrank alike from the
pain of giving pain, and from the
grosser discourtesy of falsehood.
l argued, protested and entreated de-
lay, until at last the anxious lines which
] now saw for the first time on Teddy's
smooth brow subsidized a little, and l
consoled myself that he was safe for
the present from Mrs. Roxburgh's
snare.
But two mornings later 1 received a
short note from Teddy. 81 am going
down to Templecombe tomorrow it
said. 81 kave made up my mind that
/ ought to do it, both for my sake and
hers; so it is best to go at once. You
can make what explanations you like,
if YOU are asked for any,"
OF course, I rushed off to his rooms
with a last expostulation. But a man
dressing hastily and packing his
trunks, with n eye on breakfast and
the other on the timetable, is not very
open to n total change of plans. Ted
dy had a quiet way of declining further
discussion when his arrangements were
made, and now he assumed that 1 had
only come round to bid him a personal
good-by. He knelt on the floor, strap
ping a portmanteau, the flush of ex-
ertion on his bright face heightened,
l knew, by a secret annoyance. and his
straight brows contracting with some
thing more than a physical strain. $
"Teddy, old man." 1 broke out,
you're not really going to that wretch,
ed woman! For Gods sake, don't make
such a fool of yourself-let me get you
out of it-there's time yet"
He gave a last tug at the strap and
got up, facing ME sharply.
"Look here, old chap" he said, 81
think you'd better leave me alone;
you'll do no good now. I'm awfully
sorry, but I hope our friendship
Then he stopped short and set his lips
~nervously and held out his hand in
friendly but irSA dismissal. "Good-
by" he just muttered, as I gripped it
and turned reluctantly away.
1t is 20 years to-day since Teddy went
to Templecombe. And now he is a IA
nous man: Sir Edwin Brownlow, r
A., the fashionable portrait painter, the
drawing-room darling of a London
spring-why, even the illustrated pa
pers are full of "Sir Edwin Brownlow's
house at Kensington," and corners oil
Sir Edwin Brownlow's studio" and
portraits of his beautiful wife," pow.
dered and made up now with a less
honorable art than Teddy's. All, Ted.
dy! has that unhappy vampire sucked
all the youth out of you yet?
To-day is Show Sunday, and I have
been with the large, gaping crowd tc
Sir Edwin Brownlow's studio. 1 hac
seen very little of him during the year:
Of his steady rise to fame. He seemed
to know how keenly 1 felt the inevitable
decadence that overlook his work anc
to shrink from any criticism of mine
upon the pictures which, season by sea
son, were multiplied o n the Academy
walls. each more vapid and i~nsincert
in treatment than the last. But thii
year he had sent me the formal invita-
ton card, with a written postscript OF
the back: "Do drop in for an hour il
you can. Violet wants you to see tht
girls; their portraits are going in"
So 1 went, and endured for half tn,
requested hour the polite inaninities O.
the occasion. Teddy gave me a quicl
handshake and passed me on to hel
ladyship, who was beaming over blu
teacups and yellow ~primroses, which
threw unkind reflections at her face
How well 1 remembered that face, too
it's charp vvhita features and 4hiY