The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-07-05
line Widow I'm
White.
BY LOUISE MERRIFIELD.
copyrighted, 1907, Du G. II. sutcugc.


mobile whizzed by. Four easels crash
ed ON the fioor The model, q slender
dryad figure, with a spray of spring
bOughs over the bare shoulder and O
trail Of grass green velvet from bust
to ankle, broke her pose and turned hei
head.
Pasquale himself had been the first
to run and had front seat so to
speak, at the middle window, with
Jules lie Breton towering over him.
No one spoke until the moment of
suspense was passed and the white
auto had swerved around the corner of
the Boulevard DIES Anges. Then low,
intense breath of released suspense
sounded audibly through the bare
room, and the Pasquale students stared
into one another's eyes, rapturously,
eloatingly, just exactly as they had
done every day at the same hour for
six days.
'She is celestial" murmured lie Bre-
ton huskily as he lifted his fallen
easel.
But he did not place crayOn to paper
again that afternoon. He sat and
smoked short Amlens pipe and stared
ut 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
min n lu
In love again.
Pasquale crossed the room as soon
as the model had resumed the pose
and he bent affectonately forward
over lie Breton'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, l have discovered small
thing" he said In an undertone so that
Compton from Delaware would not
hear. Compton from Delaware was
c,nic. person utterly beyond the
gates of spring enchantment. He had
tie artistic temperament, but 1t show
o;l itself in his work, not his hair nor
his loves nor his words. And therein
Compton from Delaware was absolute
y IN original and unique character
atolg the art students at PasQuale's.
i 80 he was absolutely despised as q
Z, icless business proposition. But the
-cs of the girl with the spring boughs
paced over LIE Breton's blond ringlets
ga velvet blouse and fingered on the
cic5e cropped head of Little Compton
from Delaware.
1t was the way he had with women.
81 have discovered her habitation,"
v hispered PasQuale. "She is wild
CIV"
"a widow in winter lie Breton's
half closed eyes flashed open. "Ah,
but it is her within. 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 swathe her face in creamy
chiffon like an houri, to challenge ones
daring, to pique the curiosity, does it
not all prove the woman behind the
veil, the woman celestial, yet with the
dash, the mere touch, so like the high
light of the diabolique in her bereaved
nature? Where does she live, Pas
quale?"
PasQuale glanced sideways at Little
Compton. He was extremely busy CIV
ing touch to the clasp of gold on the
models left arm, 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
widow, Nine. Germaine-La Belle Ger
maine. And she lives at the Lombard.
So, my Jules, / give you the cue for
the romance. n'est-ce-pas?"
lie Breton rose and stretched his
arms widely until they touched the
gas jet above his head.
81 shall fling violets at her-vast
clusters of them, dew wet; Parma vio-
lets-straight into her arms as she
passes each day until she recognizes
me-" he said. II shall pierce the white
chiffon veil with opera glasses and see
If her eyes divine are melting blue or
gloriously, ravishingly dark, like la
Zingara. l 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 bakery over the Seinef'
lie Breton raised q 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 deftly, promptly
Moored him. And even the model had
laughed 1t was not a pleasant mem
DRY. Therefore lie Breton stayed his
hand and drank of the ice water.
The next day &c Breton vanished
from the atelier at a quarter Of pre-
clsely, but his intentions were public.
The windows of Pasquale's were oc- 4
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 glimpse of q