The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-08
AS THE ARLESIAN VENUS.
BY ISABEL c. wHrTEnURsT.

l
 (Copyright, 1904. by Daily Story Pulp fishing Co.)
 I Arms and bust and throat were such
 as Praxiteles. or. rather, Canova, would lhave loved to model-tender. human, dimpled, but gleaming. nnarble-like, in their nobly statuesque lines. I From a curious caprice, said the world, for n tragic reason in reality, tConstance Thayer, the fair owner of these sculptured charms, Invariably wore black; the sable drapery, unre- lieved by a single jewel, throwing the perfect neck and bust into exquisite re- lief. if possible, more statuesquely faultless.
 1 As she sat at her box at the opera l that night, listening to the haunting strains of Aida, one read in her face the story of a tragedy, and I was moved to ask the man at my side Tor her history. I had been so long abroad. I felt an alien among my own peo- | pie.
 Her story? Yes. you are right; she has one. but too long and too tragic for an entracte. Let's go out instead, and have a drink" g
 But later. at Jack Denby's rooms, over our cigars and brandy and soda.
 I learned the woman's history Briefly. | 1t was this:
 1 George Thayer, the fair statues hus-
 band," began Denby, was and Is my friend. At college together. and in
 early manhood. we were closer than the proverbial brothers. Our ambition Lin spite of his wealth and my pow lerty-was the same, an artistic career.
 As usual, poverty spurred me on, and
 riches handicapped him. Today he Is
 renowned the world over as virtuoso and connoisseur. He has done nothing himself. but his collection Is worth a kings ransom
 | His chief treasure. however, is his wife-the woman you saw tonight in
 the box--and she, like any other object
 dart. was bought: marble statue. the only one of his collection. by the way, not upon a pedestal!' and Denby smil-
 ed a little grimly.
 s'The daughter of an old and proud but impoverished, family of New York, the sale was quickly made. with no
 suggestion of a virgin victim-wealth
 and position for beauty and grace-a
 fair exchange.
 | George Thayer was a virtuoso through and through. and like King
 Candaules of old. he ionged to share
 the beauty of his latest discovered treasure with all the world. He must have her modelled; her sculptured per- lection should go down to posterity a rival to the world-famous Venuses of
 ancient art.
 Consulting me as to fitting sculptor. I recommended Ernest Cleveland. a young fellow of undoubted genius, who had already made a name in Italy. To- gether we went one morning to his lstudio, and Ernest Cleveland and Con
 stance Thayer stood face to face. Icily icy. splendidly null, had always
 thought her. but that morning the soul of Undine awoke!
 l ''Thayer was difficile The thing must
 be perfect; his Venus must be strictly
 classic. At last. after much discussion,
 a pose and drapery similar to that of
 the Arlesian Venus were fixed upon
 An artist myself I was startled by the
 woman's beauty. As she stood there,
 half nude in the cold northern light.
 she might indeed have been a marble
 statue but for the dark, haunting eyes
 and red. mobile lips. The drapery gathered round her perfect hips fell in classic folds to her feet She was di-
 vinely fair and apparently as free from I shame as is the Venus of old Aries herself
 T cannot describe her: Arms such as the world has rarely seen-white gleaming. slender. tapering at wrist and dimpled at elbow; a neck and bos- | om like Clytie. with that delicious
 hollow at the base of the throat, and | the throat itself as firm and round as
 marble column. An. divine was shew
 And Denby leaned back with closed | eyes. while lit fresh cigar. Before I left the studio that morn-