Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-09-17
Mrs. Kerr looked at him severely

/ ASJt lay speak uOTe Zee
| spectfully of my friends. Carelessness
IS fault you ought to have outgrown
! oeIore this. She may have her odd
ways, but she is good little soul and
won't have her trifled with, not even
by you."
Heaven bless me, Mrs. Kerr he
| CALCULATED, fervently, II didn't mean
| any offense.. She asked me to come,
ana II l hadn't taken fancy to her do
you suppose I would be wasting all
| this valuable time hunting her up?
/ But If you don't want to go, it's all
! right. Only didn't think you'd serve
| fellow such trick"
There was pleading in his eyes and
IN his voice and they went, of course.
Mrs Corley was hard at work on
another head by that time.
Pm glad to see you, Mr.-Brown,"
she chirped out, gayly. 81 haven't
| quite finished my Diogenes. I am in
doubt about one OF two strong lines.
Can you advise me? Oh, 1 forget. You
know nothing about heads. Just see
what a collection I have of them"
hensive gesture that took in the whole
room and he surveyed with indiscrim-
mate admiration the scores of heads
of ancient martyrs, philosophers and
| warriors and modern scholars and
rulers
did you do all that?" he gasped in
dismay.
'All that, and more. too," she re-
sponded proudly. But am not salts
| fled with anything. None of them is
good enough to enter at the exhibition.
l am going to do another for that. and
I intend to cut loose my devotion to
historical subjects and take my model
from real life. With nature to draw
from, I am sure 1 can accomplish far
more than have yet done. You must
come in now and then. Mr.-Brown.
and see how I am getting along"
He took her invitation at it's par
| value and went often. Had he been
| pressed to answer why, he could
| hardly have told. Certain it was, it
was with a view of assisting in paint
ing tire head for the exhibition, for she
told him that she was doing that
where she was freer from interruption
than she could be at her own home or
at the studio. But in spite Of the lack
of definite purpose in view he kept
tSeaa cad rA,lscHeyer7 he stepprl1tu
try to anafyze his motive for so doing
| his brief periods of introspection
seemed to convince him the most po-
| hof II G
an insane desire to experience the
pleasure derived from her hesitation
over that non-euphonious name of his,
and then crafty his ensuing contradic.
tory thrill Of exaspera tion and strangle
her because she held back as though
she disliked to utter it. A few addi-
tional moments deliberation always
he was actuated solely by wish to
break her Of a bad habit and teach
her to come out promptly on proper
names as other people did,
It was three months after he first
climbed the steps leading to the studio
in Unity terrace, In the wake Of Mrs
Kerr, before the head that was to be
her masterpiece was finished. But one
afternoon when he walked into the
CHEEKY apartment and found her sit
ting there with her blonde head laid
back peacefully against the crimson
cate face wore a new expression OF
satisfaction and joyfulness in the
knowledge Of something attempted
and something achieved, and he knew
it must be done. She saw that he hai
read Alright the explanation Of her un
wonted idleness, and smiled in answer
to his unspoken question.
"Yes," she said, after a short silence
''it is all over. 1t is there behind tina
curtain. I'll show it to you in /;
minute Only promise that you viii
not be too scathing in your criticism
I did the best could. In spite of N.
love for heads it seems that every da.
: I work Oh them they become harder t
master"
;. She led him to the side of the room
n that afforded the best vantage ground
O then drew aside the curtain. He studie
f it perhaps ten minutes, perhaps twenty
J. perhaps longer. When he had finished
$ his conception Of the peculiar twis
q and crooks in his own countenane
7 was tenfold clearer than it had eve
o been before, for the mirror betwee
q the windows told him that he had bee
II her model.
II He did not speak for time, but Sc
90 quietly down beside her at the tab
where she was writing.
p. what are you doing?" he asked, :
in length.
n Making out the card tha- accon
% panies my head to the committee ST
n said. 1 don't just know how to f
te it. Listen; is this all right? Numb
g Four and Fifty-Six Head. Painted
in Mrs."
th It was there again, that maddeni1
T. hesitation! She looked up and the
IN eyes met. There was something in b
ia face that made her pale cheeks flu
scarlet. He laid his hands on hers.
7r Brown" he said, finishing the sc