The Washington weekly post., 1900-09-25

Bertnthia Lambert was the only daueh-
Ter OF q Door and unworthy couple. who
had suffered her to grow up like Wild
seed on their dingy hearth until such
ume as she was able TO shift in some
measure for herself. Both her father
and mother had been. and were. models
Dy PROFESSION and rogues by natural in
stinct and disposi'ion-the father a loaf
ing, drunken scoundrel. with the head of
handsome Italian brigand: the mother
dark-eyed, semi-savage Italian girl who
had nrst come TO London in comnany
WIN an organ-grinder and had after
ward drifted into the studios, where her
sWarthy beauty was greatly in request
among artists who affected foreign sub
Jects generally and Scriptural ones mar
ucuiar!y. Late in life, when her good
looks were fast disappearing, the woman
had cast In her lot with the idle scamp
VINO was now her husband, and Berinthia
was the result of the union.
Berinthias first Introduction to Art was
made when she was baby in her moth
er 5 arms. and before she was eighteen
months Old she had gained the glory of
being hung on the line" at the Academy
as the black-eyed infant in a study bv
John Philip, called Spanish Mother and
Child" Later on she figured again ana
again on canvas as d sWarthy child
sanity or insanity, English or Eastern
and by the time she was fifteen wears Of
age, she was as familiar with the studios
as If she had been born and bred there
as indeed was almost the case.
AT sixteen years old she had so devel-
oped into budding womsnhood and beauty
that she might easily have passed for
eighteen or nineteen. Rather u-der than
over the middle height, exauis!.elv knit
perfect In shape slender without thinness
with admirable feet and hands. she COM
bined the 1.-THE, supple vigor of a Won n
with the softness and deliesey Of a girl
Hair black as the ravens wirg. eyes br !
liant, Yet black as a sloes. a merry, mob le
mouth, sun-tanned cheeks, completed hsr
resemblance TO the old Greek type OF a.h-
,etic maidenhood She Was as alert AID
bright as a young faun. and as gamesome
as an elf. In a word. she was an Enelieh
CANINE" with all the heal h ard all 'ha
audacity of her class, plus a degree OF
physical beauty not often to be found in
our sua'ess streets
Accustomed from earliest girlhooi to the
lie OF the studio. she pursued her profess
lion az a model without the slighies'
'arriere persee." and in a thoroughlv
careless and business-like spiri'. Where
there was no feeling OF indel caey th4re
could be no shame, and 20 s-eak frankly.
BUrlnthia was as pure-minded and hone Z
4 girl as could be found within the SQUAD
of Bow Bells. Her purity was the more
.mpregnable. In so far as il was not found
cd on ignorance or inexperlenee She
knew the seany side OF life thoroughlv-
she had been familiar both at horne and
abroad, with all that is evil and ugly in
our modern civilization; she had heard
the ''argot' OF vice even in her cradle.
Her father was a drunken sGtyr. who
had struck her when a child. ana who
cursed her when she was TOO old 10 Re
beaten. Her mother had developed into
a scolding hag, ready al any moment 10
sell her child 10 the highest bidder. hut
otherwise quite Indifferent 20 her com 'ngs
and goiugs. Ia spite OF all this. Rerlnihia
remained uneontaminated. frank. fearle :
auasclous. and fully capable Of being hrr
own protector even In the most question
abe society.
More than once, as she increased in ner-
sonal beauty, temptation came to her, but
d slipped or her shoulders as water sllns
OF a ducks back. she could defend her.
self against al comers: II need be, with
teeth and aalls Those who imagined that