Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-30

to music; 1t swayed them, dominated
them, reused them to fierce kissing or
-soothed them to trance-like quiet And
of music Melton was a master; what
ever instrument he touched, and SEEM
ingly however he touched it, vibrated
harmoniously. He played for me that
day; l am fond Of music and thought L
understood somewhat Of 1t, but here I
was completely at a loss; the room was
fun of signing sounds, wild, mournful
and sweet; and I forgot the grinning
skulls, the snakes and all the other
oddities, in perfect trance of delight.
Bessie at first, when the music began
rose and moved round restlessly, then
sat down again, and L forgot her, but
when it ceased, looked at her once
more and started She sat stif1y UP,
almost rigidly, gazing straight in front
OF her with strange, uncanny look in
her pretty eyes. Her hands were
clenched tightly in her lap. her lips
slightly parted though she hardly
seemed to breathe. I turned toward
Melton and caught a look Of half annoy
ance, half anxiety, in his nervous face;
he walked across the room, and rather
clumsily, I thought, stumbled over a
stool, bringing it down with a crash.
When l recovered from my start, Bessie
was rubbing her eyes and looking round
as if she had just walked up. Melton
seemed to have gotten into a different
mood, and, selling a mahle stick, he be-
gan to poke viciously into the cages of
some of the unoffending pets" and
soon raised up a most horrible Kissing
that successfully served to distract my
attention, if such was his intent.
During the next few days I did con-
siderable thinking. I felt quite certain
that there had been something queer
about Bessie that afternoon. She had
the same helpless look that the snakes
had when the music got control Of them.
Could it be possible that it acted in the
same manner on her, and if so, did she
know it? 1 could not help thinking that
Melton, at least, knew it. l remem-
bered his disconnected look when he saw
that 1 noticed her; then the clumsy up
setting of the stool. doubtless to rouse
her If SO, what did 1t all mean? Did
he know himself? Was he trying to get
control of her with his ffendish music?
And she, could it be possible that she
cared, beyond the effect of the music?
l remembered she was often in his
studio-posing, presumably-yet now
come to think, l had often heard the
faint sounds of the violin for half an
hour at a stretch, while knew she was
there. If she were posing, for whom?
He couldn't fiddle and paint at the same
time, and I knew she could not play a
note; had seen her handle the instru-
ments, and the result was discords ap-
palling. Well, it was no business Of
mine, l suppose, so I determined to
cudgel my brain no longer; If she chose
to care for fellow Of that kind, well
let her
One afternoon, about ten days later,
Bessie was posing for me, for some
black and white illustrations. The whole
place was intensely STILL most of the
men being out drumming up work" or
gathering Inspirations on the "Rialto."
The faint notes of a violin reached up
from behind Meltons closed doors and
l confess, the plaintive melody soothed
me, despite my still, irritable feelings
against the performer.
Bessie was sitting more quietly that
usual. Generally when the head was
finished she kept up a pretty continu-
Gus flow of chatter and laughter; but
today she was quite silent Once or
twice 1 endeavored to start her talking
but met with nothing but monosyllables
in return, and finally, thinking she was
tired or drowsy, / let her alone and be-
came absorbed in bit Of delicate fore
shortening I was vaguely conscious of
the continuance of the music for some
time, but later got so engrossed in my
work that I did not notice when 1t
ceased. Then l saw Bessie pass her
hand YEARLY across her eyes, and,
thinking she was tired, told her to rest
looked up moment later; she was
still sitting in the same position but
there was some indehnable change in
her; her whole attitude seemed one of
strained eagerness, and as / watched
her her lips parted and her head in
clined little forward, as if listening in
tently; then suddenly her whole figure
seemed to start and stiffen rigidly; she
gave a half shudder and rose up, her
hand to her head and strange,
frightened look on her face
Yes, yes, | hear; | am coming" she
muttered. | jumped up, thinking she
was ILL.,
Bessie, what is it?' But she waved
me to one side, walked quickly to the
door, unlocked and opened 1t and start