The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-03-23
ARTIST ARCHERS HONESTY.

ed his ability to console her. He tool
her hands down from her face, and for :
while reasoned some very pretty reason
ing.
But he was surprised and puzzled to
find that Kitty refused to listen to him
1t took a long time. but finally he under
stood that she was determined to go on
with her work.
I'D teach you all 1 could, Kitten" he
urged. You're wrong about this. You
ought to marry me. You could paint all
you chose-you dear child
But Kitty was SO firm-evcn to the
point OF more tears-that he gave up try
ing to convince her of the folly of not
loving him. He even went farther than
that.
Il want you to believe in me-" Kitty
pleaded. "To-haye respect for my ambi-
tion-for my art"
And he really promised that he would.
In another week Kitty sailed for
Paris.
The same week Miss Grey remained
away from the studio, thinking bitterly
of what Mr.. Archer bad written her.
Then she wrote:
Dear Mr.. Archer:
II al preciate the candor of what you
say of my drawing but / cannot agree
with you. / know the estimate you put
upon woman's work. You are unfair.
CHI To hat inf fr
l know my capacity for work-it is great.
So shall continue to study.
please send me line If you have not
time for me hereafter. Sincerely,
CECILIA GREY"
Mr.. Archer laughed when he read this
note. 1t amused him immensely for mo-
ment, but then he said: Poor girl. she'd
better do that than nothing, 1 suppose; &"
SO he laid aside his scruples and wrote her
a pretty little note, saying that he would
be glad to help her as far as was possible.
She painted all winter, and Mr.. Archer
came to reason with himself that if she
desired happiness from the work it was
just as well for her to give her time to it.
1t was only half happiness, however.
to Miss Grey, and yet, to the disheartened.
disappointed girl of twenty-eight it was
an exquisite misery just to be near the
handsome artist in the studio.
And but for the prejudces of her CEN
fury, and the limitations set by society
she would have told him so long before
the winter was over.
Meanwhile after the novelty of it had
worn Off Kitty did not find art in Paris all
she had fancied. She went to the studio
regularly enough, with half hundred
more-English, American, French-who
toiled and gossiped and talked studio
slang, and smudeed themselves with paint
to safety.
once week the master came in. After
his invariable Bon jour, mesdemoiselles, "
he laid his overcoat down and his hat on
top of that, then made his perfunctory
round of the eascls, taking a brush or a
crayon, and putting in a critical stroke or
two on the more promising studies. The
others he passed by without seeming to
see them.
Kitty couldn't disguise the fact that
he passed her easel oftener and oftener;
and then she would go to her room and
cry herself to sleep, only to begin again
the next morning.
She stayed in Paris ten months.
One night, as she was washing her
brushes, she looked particularly at the
professors favorite student, one over
whose work he fingered the longest
How old she was. Thirty-five or more,
and wrinkled! She made Kitty think of
Miss Grey. She wondered if she herself
would look like that by the time she could
paint.
She stopped, and laid down the dirty
brushes, pushed back the hair from her
forehead with back of her hand, and said:
Il believe I'll do it."
Then she thought of Miss Grey again.
shes there all this while. / suppose
she went on to herself. II will do it,"
she said again, and that night she began
to pack her trunks.
1t was spring when Kitty came home
again. One morning-she knew when Mr..
Archer was at leisure-she walked into
his studio.
. He had not even known of her return
She shut the door behind her, and still
clinging to the knob, she said, with some
thing between laugh and sob. as he
came up to her holding out his hands:
"Oh, I'm not bit of a success at paint
ing, Mr.. Archer" and again her face was
buried in his coat front.
But you're not to think she COM
manded, that women can't paint-some
one of them
In the summer time Miss Grey, too, con-
cluded to give up art.