The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1898-12-21

by dodgers and mealers of various ages
and colors and conditions of servituGe.
In intervals of inspiration, and they
were not infrequent with Hillhouse, he
fell, between whiffs of his pipe, to spec
ulating on the daily occupation and the
heart stories of mis- heterogeneous
neighbors. One of his studio windows
looked almost impertinently into
ballroom of the most imposing house
in the row. TO IIillhouse's surprise,
his mirror one day reflected its occu-
pant, who rlv,ted his attention with
a fascination almost as irresistible as
that which wrought the ruin of Paul
Pry." Betram paused. The interest
in his auditors eyes urged him on.
"She was Il frail little woman he
said, at length, with a certain faded
splendor, the splendor of a brilliant au-
tumnal flower that defes drought
and frost, and with color and perfume
of its own, holds sway long after its
garden companions lie withered and
dead. She rarely went out save in the
flush of the morning or late in the twi-
light. Her room, like herself, bespoke
faded splendor, discernible even from
Hillhouse's studio. a windows garden
of oldfashioned bloom and a plentiful
ly-stocked bookcase that crowded the
small apartment almost to sutlocation,
absorbed her days.
Certain hours she was wont to sit
in the window, an open book in her
lap, her heavily -fringed gray eyes lost
in invisible worlds. know not whether
it was the style of her dress-the white
null fichu, closed on the low bosom TO
fall in graceful folds to the hem of her
voluminous dark skirt, or the outline
Of the couture, so like the mode preva-
lent when Hillhouse was the Beau
Brummel of his world-that attracted
his attention; but the sculptor soon
found himself modelling her delicate
profile. Hillhousc, it goes without say
ing, was bachelor, in whom the wine
of youth was scarcely less beady at so
than in the flush of youth"
Just such chap as our own Be.
tram interposed Pentland.
"Hillhouse's faith, devotion may say,
to the ideal in life, as an art" continued
Betram, has survived the gross mate
rialism of the times with which adj
vancing age found him curiously in
and out of tune. Away back i'll the
golden youth lay his romance-a ro-
nance that uHconsciously shaped and
colored his life, lending perennial
freshness to the man, which he strove
TO impart to his work. AS the delicate
features of his unknown neighbor grew
under his deft touch the chords of mem
DRY awoke, and Hillhouse had begun
to revel again in that golden past, when
suddenly his model moved.
"A carriage with the livery of an
exclusive world had drawn up at her
door. A lady muffled in sable alighted,
and soon Hillhouse beheld his little
neigh Dor in the arms of stranger.
1t was the first visitor that had come,
in Hillhouse's time, to that modest
door. The next day it showed steadily;
but about three in the afternoon his
neighbor surprised him by appearing
at the street door. bonneted With
rapid strides she disappeared down
the avenue-to appear before he had
SHuohtu tHTtt pes dt ntT ldNOI1te seat
in the window. The light fell strong
ly on the profile, which now seemed
rejuvenated by some inner glow Hill
house snatched the clay and made haste
TO finish the interrupted sitting He
had not worked long, however. until
he was sharing his models quiet mirth.
"A street fakir had evidently in
weighed her into buying a mechanical
toy, such as abound in the streets of
our large cities during the holiday sea-
son. Far into twilight this stately au-
tumnal flower sat playing with the
trivial thing; and the footprints of
time magically vanished from her
sweet face, as she repeatedly pulled the
string, and the grotesque wooden
monkey. with its multi-colored jacket,
slid up and down the yellow pole.
Through the veil of snowfiakes Hill
house continued to watch his neighbor.
and as her smiles at the monkeys an
ties broadened his outlaws filled the
lonely studio with companionable
echoes. Suddenly there was a rift in
the Lutte. The ineorrigible monkey