River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1898-12-22

sand, at length, with certain faded
sp'endor, the splendor Of a brilliant au-
tumnal flower that defes drought
and frost, and with a color and perfume
of its own, holds sway long after its
garden companions lie wi .hered and
dead. She rarely went out save in the
flush of the morning or late in the twi-
light. Her room, like herself, bespoke
a faded splendor, discernible even from
Hillhouse's studio. \ window garden
of old-fashioned bloom and a plentiful
ly-stocked bookcase that crowded the
small apartmt Mt almost to sutIocation,
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
volumuous dark skirt, or the outline
Of the couture, so like the mode preya-
lent when Hillhouse was the Beau
Brummel of his world-that attracted
his attentions; but the sculptor soon
found himself modelling her delicate
profile Hillhouse, it goes without say
iHg. was a bachelor. in whom the wine
Of youth was scarcely less beady at 80
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 in the
golden youth lay his romance-a ro-
nance that unconsciously shaped and
colored his life, lending a 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
ory 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. \ lady muffled in sable alighted,
and soon Hillhouse beheld his little
neighbor in the arms of a stranger
Ii 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
smoked three pipes at her favorite seat
in the window. The light fell strong
" on the profile, which aow seemed
r. iuvenated 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
.ov. 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 snowfakes Hill
house continued to watch his neigh Dor,
and as her smiles at the monkeys an
tics broadened his outlaws filled the
lonely studio with compauionable
echoes Suddenly there was a rift in
the lutte The iucorrigible monkey
was perched at the top of the pole
and refused 10 bulge In vain the sor-
Ceress east her spell The toy fell
from her hands a wreck; disaster, dire
distress, beclouded her face. Not
shadow escaped Hillhouse. In jitfy
he had seized his hat aud was knocking
1t her door
81 have observed from my window
am your neighbor, he exclaimed. To-
eating his eerie den across the way
that you have met with an accident.
I am not without some mechanical
skill. and thought might be of sery-
ice.
she opened the door wide for him
to enter In the dignity Of her pres
ence the shabby gentiIity of her sur,
roundiugs vanished
"'You are kind sir she said. To
morrow is Christmas
"'Ah, SO ii is said HilIhouse. 4 had
forgotten.
~ promised TO take Christmas din
ner yesterday after long years of sep
aration. There is u little boy in the
family. and thought the toy would
amuse him.
"'And so it will laughed Hillhouse.
as it has you and me.
she colored like an old-fashioned
garden pink. and her Iimpid gray eyes
dropped as he picked up the INITIATED
monkey. In less time than il takes TO