The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1907-08-23
The Widow I'm
White
By LOUISE MERRlFIELD.
copyrighted, 1907. by c. II. Satellite.
By LOUISE MERRlFIELD.

"Illere she gocs!''
Little Compton gave the alarm, and
everybody in the Pasqualc studio leap
cd for the windows as the white auto
mobile whizzed by. -Four easels crash
ed on the floor. The model, a slender,
dryad figure, with a spray of spring
boughs over the bare shoulder and a
trail of grass green velvet from bust
to ankle, broke her pose and turned her
head.
Pasqualc himself had been the first
speak, at the middle window, with
Jules lie Breton towering ovcr him.
No one spoke until the moment of
suspense vas passed and the white
auto had swcrvcd around the corner Of
the Boulevard DIES Anges. Then a low,
intense breath of released suspense
sounded audibly through the bare
room, and the P~asqualc students stared
into one another's eyes, rapturOusly,
gloatingly, just exactly as they had
done every day at the same hour for
six days.
"She is celestial" murmured lie Brc-
ton hlskily as he lifted his fallen
easel.
But he did not place crayon to paper
again that afternoon. He sat and
smoked Il short Amicns pipe and stared
at the spray of spring boughs on the
models bare shoulder, and the blood
bounded through his veins %joyously,
bubblingly, like the little mountain
brooks breaking through thin April ice.
lie Breton had spring fever; also, in
a minor degree, lie Breton was newly
in love again.
Pasquale crossed the room as soon
as the model had resumed the pose,
and he bent ~affectionately forward
over lie Brcton's chair and tapped on
the plump bowl of the Amiens pipe to
recall lie Breton's soul from the as
phodel meadow of day dreams.
Mon ami, ! have discovered a small
thing" he said in an undertonc SO that
| Compton from Delaware would not
hear. Compton from Delaware was Il
cynic, a person utterly beyond the
gates Of spring cnchantment. He had
the artistic temperament, but it show
cd itself in his work, not his hair nor
his loves nor his words. And therein
Compton from Delaware was absolute
ly an original and unique character
among the art students at Pnsquale'S.
Also he was absolutely dcspised rs a
hopeless business proposition. But the
eyes OF the girl with the spring boughs
passed over LIE Brcton's blond ringlcts
ana velvet blouse and fingered on the
from Delaware.
Ii was the way he had with N
81 have discovered her habitation,"
whispered Pasquale. "She is a wild
ow."
ga widow in white!!" lie Breton's
hall closed eyes flashed open. "Ah,
but 1t is her whim. 1t is her divinity
revealing itself. 1t is her symbol of
release. She did not love him if she
can MOURN IN white. But the art elu-
sive, enchanting, mysterious, to garb
herself from top to toe in svelte white
suede, to swathc her face in creamy
chiffon like an houri, to challenge ones
daring, to piquc the curiosity, does it
not all prove the woman behind the
vcil. the woman celestial, yet with the
dash, the mere touch, so like the high
light of the diabolique in her bcreaved
nature? Where does she live, Pas,
quale?"
Pnsquale glanced sideways at Little
Compton. He was extremely busy Civ
ing a touch to the clasp Of gold on the
models left arm, a touch to make it
CLEAN.
"At the Hotel Lombard" said Pas
quale. II have engaged the interest of
the small boy at the garage. She is a
widow, Nine. Germaine-La Belle Ger
maine. And she lives at the Lombard.
So, my Jules, I give you the cue for
the romance. n'est-ce-pasW
lie Breton rose and stretched his
arms widely until they touched the
gas jet above his head.
"I shall fling violets ut her-vast
clusters Of them, dew wet; Parma VIC
lets-straight into her arms as she
passes each day until she recognizes
me-" he said. 81 shall pierce the white
chiffon veil with opera glasses and see
If her eyes divine are melting blue or
g%lorlously, ravishingly dark, like Ia
Zingara. I shall"-
"You will make the customary bloom
ing idiot Of yourself, Jules" called
Compton from Delaware over his
shoulder with cheerful JUNCTION. "How
many children did the last divinity
have after you had followed the trail
Of romance for two weeks and finally
landed her in q bakery over the Seine?"
LIE Breton raised u glass of ice wa
ter to deposit it below the adjacent
coat collar, but he stayed his hand and
drank the water automatically. Once,
once long ago, he had not stayed his
hand, and the memory Of the resultant
episode fingered yet. Little Compton
had risen swiftly and deity, promptly
floored him. And even the model had
laughed. It was not a pleasant men,
DRY. Therefore LIE Breton stayed his
hand and drank. Of the ice water.
The next dag LIE Breton vanished
from the atelier ut a quarter of 3 pre-
cisely, but his intentions were public.
The windows of Pasquale's were oc-
cupied by an absorbed audience long
before the whir Of the white auto
sounded on the still hush Of the mid.
afternoon. By leaning from the win
dows one could catch n glimpse Of a
figure standing on the corner, a pa
tisut noble figure under the quaint
wrought iron street lamp, the figure of
the knight errant, in paint daubed vel
vet blouse. cap rakishly. romantically