Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-03-13

and acclaimed. The fires of genius
burned within her soul and lent i'm
pulse TO her heaven-gifted brush, the
critics said. To-day had been the houl
of triumph for her art. The salon;
first prize decked her masterpiece. A
| host of friends and connoisseurs pre-
dicted for her a future wherein fame
and luxury waited at her bidding-and
then came before her that stern white
face, and its eyes held her trembling
in their cold, unwavering stare.
She drew her hands from her face
and looked fxedly at the dim study
upon the easel above her as she
crouched upon the rug. In the faint
light it seemed the fantastic home OF
elusive shadows. Yet as her gaze grew
firmer the penciled lines started from
the background and revealed them
selves with clearness.
Repentance" a title read below. a
woman in an October wood, half
cleared. She was looking to the west,
where a falling sun had nearly crept
beyond her straining gaze. Her hair
had fallen in wind-driven glory be-
hind her, her arms were stretched in a
pathetic gesture of recall and invita-
ton, and across her face fell a somber
look of heart-wringing longing and re-
greet. And yet-suchis the divine touch
of genius-one who with clear eye
could read, might have seen in some
Elusive, intangible line the birth Of
golden hope that repentance had not
come too late; that the sNift-falling
sun would rise once more.
There was a dignity, a poise and
grace, an inexpressible pathos in this
lone figure of the wood which stirred
the heart and moved the very soul
to cry out that the mute prayer
must find an answer; that within
the ashes of its crushed past there
must Turk a spark which should rise
to a living fame.
One could not but know, as they
faced each other, in that light Of
shadows, that these two women
were in truth but one. She who sat
disheveled upon the rug surely was
none other than the sun-imploring
creature of the autumn wood. 1t
was not that the likeness of Inca
ment was striking, but in the Bit
ter abandonment Of pose, in the wild
craving of their speaking silence, in
the tender wooing of the arms which
called out their woe, they
were the same, and indivisible, one
the insensate shadow of a living
cry, one the sensate bodiment of a
sorrow.
Eleanor sat long, and still. What T
tempests tossed her heart in that
deep communion cannot be told. 1t
was herself, her SOUL she had limned
upon her canvased "Repentance,
and in the revelations of the night it
seemed all too plain to her that she
lad painted on a signboard the Sc
ret of her heart and invited him who
an TO read
The December sun shone in her
window when she rose from her
strange vigil by the living dead.
There was a newborn resolution in
Ter look. She laved her face care
ully to hide its stains of tears.
Then she brushed her glorious crown
# hair and put on her coat.
"A walk will do me good" she said
o herself THE morning is SPLEEN
i'd AS soon as l can after noon
will withdraw my picture from the
-allery. 1t has told too much al
eady. He, at least, shall never
now"
She put on her iaunty fur hat. A
ong look in her mirror told her the
races of the night of watching had
anished beneath the impulses of the
corning. She was still beautiful. no
oubt, despite her score and five of ,
ears; despite the tragedy of her }
cart.
She tore the study Of Repentance"
rom its easel and thrust it upon the j.;
lazing asbestos log. Then she slow ;
7 and thoughtfully drew on her :
loves. =
The studio bell uttered long, i'm
erative summons. Eleanor started
harply What impossible call was
nat At sunrise W no could 1t
e abroad so early, or so late? Well,
t them ring. She was not at home.
Again the bell called her, as If in =
Imperative demand. Its tone was :,
Iasculine, demanding. Who could il
e? Well
She flung wide the door ;,
Upon the threshold stood a figure, ).
III, manly, strong, with barred head .
$ il before a shrine Out Of the q
ark eyes set in pallid frame a glance =
lrned in upon her, devoured her, !,
latched up her spirit unresisting I
to its wild earess, and then her Il
.ver came upon her with wide
FETCHED arms .
Harold" she cried. "Ohl Har- u
d! Have you come at last" a
And they set their faces to the east. .
here the risen sun spread a new =
DRY across the snowy world. o
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