The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-02-04
The Pink Persian.


her study, said as a desperate man:
You have some highly interesting
| works OF art heref'
what have the family got here. sr?''
she said wi1h respectful ferocity.
1.-THE pictu-es." I said "the-the Bar
tholomew van der Hellst'
"Ahi" she returned. dryly. them, Is III
Wen. come in and see them, sir"
We wiped our boots ostentatiously and
tncckly on a cocoanut fibre mat. She
called me @sir," but 1 felt that 'arsa
| sneak" was what she meant the title TO
c,rvey.to me. u came home TO me espee-
ia!y when Yvette umbrella got mixed
under the macldnlOsh with mandolin
string, which twnnged foisily az We
stepped on The oak boards OF the hail.
The hail was almost bare, stripped OF
all but a table and lie cocoanut mat
One loud note Of color. quite out OF KEY
with the sombre space, was struck by
lsrge three-quarter length portrait in tie
school OF. say, the Royal Academy OF
$50.
The house struck chill to us as we
| walked crealSinR through It's maze -
| ways. Yvette nesting against me. ana
! whispering that we would have frc
ina the sitting room II ever We went 1ome
again. 1t was a beautiful old house. IL
| might have been. that is If only tlie
cheerful logs had naned up suddenly ard
era, killed. and Kissed I'm the great fire
places l know we should have claimed
! II as the home we used 10 dream %. and
| furnish out with beautiful things made 'ot
imagings. But no one lived there. The
rooms We're only places whore people had
died. behind drawn curtains. and that
! long while since. But--
"'The picture galleryG' announced the
big. grim woman. turning OF us again as
we entered IL. and Yyette shrunk from
me. nearly dropping the mandolin. II
was a low-celled. square room OF great
size, with dark shadowy corners. III by
| three long narrow windows with square
| panes. three in row. -
Built by Sir George Tuke. second bar
rernete. I'm seventeen hundred and six.
The carving along under the ceiling il
| considered very fine by Iggins. who exc
| cuted likewise those In the chapel"
She seid this musingly, as II II were a
lesson long learned that she had not been
called upon 10 repeat for many years.
| Perhaps she hadn't Her very vaice
sounded SO far back In the years that its
sadness sounded like regret for the sec
ond "barrernet." And the pictures?
Yvette caught my arm again, and look
| ed in my eyes TO see whether we saw the
same sight. There were many frames up
on the walls, perhaps thirty OF all sizes.
/ But in them. where pictures should have
! smirked and scowled were blind, dingy
white spaces. Each picture had been
carefully covered with neatly trimmed
! squares OF old newspapcrs-"Morning
Post" STANDARD" and THE County Mer-
| curry"
| The housekeeper's was n moment OF
sombre triumph. Then. standing under
| the largest frame. she went on:
'ApPerodyty surrounded by ferns and
gracies. by Rubens. Civ to the second
! barrernet by Prince Eujune."
But" | gasped don't those papers
come orr
| mo" she replied firmly. they're
! gummed on. II don't hurt them
| but can't we see them ! said. Are
| they always"-
Yes, they're always" she answered
| firmly. YOU wouldn't like this lady
you've brought here TO see a picture like
! Rubens: I'm sure you wouldn't wish me
TO. The graoies are the shamelessest. In
Sir Georges time, Lord Byron came TO
look at those gracies, and YOU must have
read what he was. Come, sir"
We stood I'm am2zcment while she mov-
ed on TO the next picture. She would not
abate word OF her ancient duty. Cob
| yon Tuke. ESQ, in--a--fill-suit--of-h
mer er-done-=hY--Holh ng-and-attrihnied
| -to--him--buider-of -of--the--old- hsll-in-7
one--fve-four-one-- domino"
"Wouidn't you like us to see him?"
asked Yvette cautiously.
HE was a prosecutor of the Wesleyans.
III not | ask you--why the harmer?"
| remember little more that the grim
woman. said, but we halted before each
picture and the history OF each picture
was summarized I'm bewildering fashion.
One ancestor was denied us because ne
drank the efigv lurking under newspa-
pers being appealed 20 for corrobat tion
positive. We were almost sorry that we
inquired the reasons for shrouding Mis-
tress Bridget and Mistress Angela Tuke
by Kuelierd and T.ely, for these reasons
dealt with the costume Of the Restoration
period. and were given In no mincine
fashion
Then I think we came away. leaving
one OF our last two shilling pieces in the
waste OF her great pale hand. whence II
disappeared apparently absorbed into the
| system. and we were conducted out and
seen of the premises with distrustful
coughs delivered through an embrasurs
I'm her stout fingers.
The door changed and Yvette. seizin2
my hand with the one unoccupied with
her macintosh and mandolin made me
run down the path beside her.
Come away from that hateful house
Ugh That woman would starve cana
ries How can any one live there who
wasn't an extinct baronet2'
We ran through the garden whose
FEATURES were lHUNt pl vie rlNbNhIu -
here burned and waste with the summer
heat-here rank ard lush and tangled. Al
tho corner Of the elm grove we turned e
look at the house.
Look shriokcd Yvctie. ION th'
oof-hcside those red tiles, what's that2'
From some recess in hdforest Of Chin
! neys something furry and pink stole out
, and. poisiug for a moment on gutter
edge. slthered down hy a gutter pipe ans
scampercd toward Ne.
Rum" said Yvette.
And run we did pursued from tha
weird house by its demon. a gsunt, Ions
haired. pink cat
] We LETT Il behind when we reached th'
p | road.
3 We did not play any more that day, bu
; came home fcotsore
. III.
= About this ilric. said Yvette. "if w
> had only worked IKE good gleemen. W.
should have spread a newspaper over th'
p table and poured there a whole sack o
sticky brown pennies and worn three
penny bits and the three halfpcnnie
. pitched us from the top OF four-in
J, \ nand A"