River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-06-12
George Verney's
Pictures
By DOROTHY MAYNARD.

NOME IL months after the purchase
y bv Henry Bellamy of young Yer
news picture, "The Worship of Bac-
chus," the artist had been asked to
dine at the bankers house and had met
Grace Bellamy. That first meeting,
in which the sympathy of the two
young people was instantaneous, was
the prelude to many others-to duets
sung in the twilight, to long discus
gions upon art and pictures, and, finally,
to a question and answer.
In the conservatory, under the fronds
of q white fernlike palm, George Yer
ney had spoken, in accents which
trembled in spite of his effort to con-
troll them, of his love, and with one
quick, crimson flush from neck to
brow, one look of trust and love from
the beautiful blue eyes, Grace Bellamy's
fair head had nestled to the young
painters shoulder, and their lips had
I1et in one long lovers kiss. Ten min
Iltes later George Verney left the
house after a short but stormy inter
view with his loves father.
81 have other views for my daugh-
ter, Verney," Henry Bellamy said,
firmly, but not unllindly, "and it will
be better for you not to visit her again
until she marries."
For some time after this there was
almost q quarrel between the banker
and the daughter, whom he loved so
passionately. For many days the girl,
who had never known what it was to
have single wish lIngratified, treat
ed her father as harsh and cruel
tyrant, and refused almost to speak
to him. Then, one afternoon, she had
apparently thrown off her sense of
injury, had conversed with him on top
les which interested both of them.
and had, he thought, with pleasure,
forgotten -Yerney. He was mistaken.
She had married him. For many months
they kept their secret well, and the
married lovers met by stealth, without
the knowledge of the banker. One day
Mrs. Verney left his house, went to
her husband once for all, and wrote to
tell her father that she had done So.
Four years later Grace Verney died
at Perugia of typhoid fever, and the
young painter was left alone in the
world with one little girl to remind
him constantly of the sweet compan-
iOnship which he had lost so soon.
During the four short years of that
sweet intercourse George Verney had
worked but little, and his work had
not been good. The pictures he had
painted, three in number, had all been
purchased by New Yorker.
After his young wife died, Verney
worked hard and almost desperately. He
sold his work to a dealer, and this
man alone of all the art world knew
that the real buyer of George Verney's
work was Bellamy, the banker. The
dealer thought, as Verney himself
might have perhaps believed, if he had
known the purchasers identity, that
the pictures were bought up by Bell
amy, not so much as an investment, as
for the purpose of providing his little
grandchild with the necessaries of life;
but even so, it came as q surprise to
picture-lOvers when Bellamy one day
threw open his gallery to the public
for an hour or two Il week, and it was
with the exception of the three in
ferior works which had been bought
by the New York collector, were all
upon its walls. Then came the recon-
citation. How the two men had met
nobody knew, but meet they did, and
it was a great surprise to all who knew
the stern, unbending character of
Henry Bellamy when he took George
Verney and his little daughter into the
great, lonely house, and to all intents
and purposes made son of him.
Ease and comfort, unfortunately,
were not good for the young artist.
Never a strong character, the actual
need of work had spurred him to great
effort, and the double necessity of
providing for his little girl and of
working to forget his sorrow had urged
him to paint.
After his return, however, his work
fell off considerably. The few pictures
which he produced while he was living
at his father-in-law's were good in
their way, but they lacked the vigor of
his earlier efforts, and one after an
other he destroyed them. 81 want
he said to Bellamy, one day, when the
old man had asked him, with that grim
smile of his, why he DESTROYED work
that, although below the standard of
his best, he could undoubtedly have
sold, Il want the name of little Gracie's
father to be remembered only for his
finest work. shall never paint again
as have painted, that know, but until
I can do something worthy to rank
with what [ have already done, I shall
destroy my pictures" Then illness
came. George Yerney grew languid
and dispirited, and gradually, although
the doctor could put no specific name
to his disease, sank into decline.
Before the last great weakness
grew upon him he had painted one
great picture. 1t was a portrait Of
his dead wife as she had been in the
days of her joyous girlhood. The day
after it was finished George Verne1
took to his bed, and the doctor.
warned Mr.. Bellamy that his son-in
laws last day was drawing near.
A few days later, while Henry Bel
lamy sat By the bedside of the dyin: