Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-11-18
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
The Model.

on classical study. He was doing
neck and shoulder work at the time,
and his model was stranger to me.
sat smoking and watching him, or. to
be candid. her: for half an hour Then
| her time was up. and she left for din
ner or something.
''WhO is she. Danvers:"
II believe she is engaged tOian artist
somewhere this side of the Pyrenees
who is also relat'onless. He went blind
/ a few months hack. Her whole soul
| Is wrapped up in him. She could think
OF no other means of making money, so
/ she came over here. where she knows
no one. and determined to De Il model;
| only for certain work. you understand
! "a high class model She has found
| one or two men like me To whom her
services are valuable. and now she's
| as happy rs Il sandboy. with the
thought OF bringing her bind painter
| god over some time next month as her
| husband. He'll he the advising part
ner, 1 SUPPOSE and she'll earn the
| money"
"Oh, well. she certainly is the
Hush, Here she comes"
! So | left then amt started oW my an
nual trip 10 the south next day.
Three months afteEward L walked in
to Danvers' studio again and fairly
| gasped when j looked mt his model. 1t
| was the same girl. and Danvers was at
! the same kind Of work. but-wen, she
! ieft the room for something after bit,
and looked at DanNers.
''Is she in training for Il pose asa dy-
ing ascetic? What in the world have
you beeg doing with her, Dauvers?
| What the deuce good can she be in
| your work now? Sad, man, the girls
! dying"
Yes. l know" said Danvers: scrap
ing his palette saVaseS. 'Beastly
nuisance. isn't it? I don't know what
the devil 10 make of it."
We'll, hut what's tbe-I mean,
how
You remember the blind;painter god
chap"
Yes"
We'll. he fell into some Ueastly lake
on the day before they We've to have
been married and was drowned. She's
been getting a little bit more nke-that,
every day since. She doesn't skaep and
she doesn't eat. She just does exactly
what she's told. She's lay figCre. and
OF a skeleton at that. Best u:odel L
ever had too. Isn't il sickening="
HIN, And | don't suppose its ex-
actly cheerful for her"
! We'll. of course. As m;tter of
fact. I'm beastly sorry for her L rather
like the girl. she's SO pathetic. But
| what can a man do:'
what she wants. old man. is simply
| a new interest of some kind. She's
simply dying for want of some interest
in living. That blind chap represented
all the beauty in her life. He's gone.
She must he made 10 see some other
kind of beauty
Him! And you think that would
cure herr"
Certain"
"Ah. well. / must get to work, old
chap"
Yes. GoOdby.'
Now, for a good time / dropped into
| Danvers' studio pretty nearly every
day, and I'm not joking when L say L
watched the reincarnatiOn of that girl
physically, anyhow. Then. just as L
was getting interested, and-well. it
was weirdly beautiful prOcess-I had
to start on that wretched South Amer
lean expedition.
That occupied almost year, When 1
returned, L went out to St. Johns
! Wood TO look up Danvers.
Miss Retours-that was her name
was still there. and / found she never
went into any other studio. She grave
ly excused herself from sitting for me-
and as she did so she looked across at
| Danvers-great Scott and he was whiS-
thing vile thing from Il pantOmime.
/ But she was i'm perfect health and a
poem OF southern European beauty.
Only when she looked at me she didn't
see me. only through me dreamily to
Danyers. When she looked at him, her
great, big, fine, forest eyes shone and
glistened-a mixture of Madonna and
| Bacchante.
How did you do it. Danvers?' L ask
ed when she went out. How did you
give her the new INTEREST,""
"Who? Adile? oh. bless you. she's
been happy as possible for ever so long
Forgotten all about the blind chap.
fancy. In fact. l sometimes think she
must he a bit sentimentally inclined
about some other fellow"
Some other fellow! Yes. How did
you do it,
LET me see. Well. really II think
talked an awful lot OF rot about poetry
and art. and-oh. yes, | remember
painted a little Ideal paradise for her
somewhere in the Mediterranean, 1
think It was. That she seemed to catch
on to wonderfully. All talk, you
| know" All talk, And j, who might
have done this thing, was fooling about
in South America.
Yes. it's evidently given her a new
interest in life. l suppose it began
about the time l went away-a year
ago:"
About then, think. Anyhow, she's
as right as possible nova bit pensive
at times. but plastic as wax, and lights
up beautifully at a word. AS a woman,
I confess she rather bores me now, but