The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-06
THE EVENING STORY.
Romance of a Geranium Leaf.
INV Mary w Mo,,+

| His friends declared that Herbert
4 Wyndham would one day be recog-
nized as a great artist. Genius will
OUT, they insisted, grieving secretly
Iover the undisguisable poverty which
olung to man and studio.
They were jubilant in this declara-
ton when Miss Ruth GreviIle sat to
nlm for portrait. She was the nrst
butterfly who had drifted from the
g1lded realms of society into the op-
scure studio in Herkimer street. Win
ner came breath Of luxury from
| world which had long become sIran-
ger to Wyndham.
Her parents arranged with the ar
| uSl 1or her sittings. Now ana Ineh a.
three turned and looked at ner, SCI
| ting between them the pose IN winch
she was to be painted. The girl ner-
self said little. She appeared sWeelly
1 anxious to have the portrait paintSo
| exactly as her parents pleased "
personal vanity she seemed TO nave
/. none. Wyndharn stirred with keen
] pleasure as he noticed her apPrecla.
tive scrutiny of his pictures. Sne eYt
IDENTIFY understood something OF ar;
| Wyndham saw behind the roses ana
| lilies of her face, in its frame OF curl
ing hair, a mind to be explored. he
/ was eager to begin the portrait.
When he did his hand was unsteady.
| To the excitement OF nrst pronIap PIE
/ order of the kind he had longed Tor
| was added the excitement OF painting
| a face whose kindling beauty baffed
while it enchanted him.
| some uniformed idea of delightful
chats about art had fingered in his
! mind. to be brushed aside like a cob
| web at her first sitting. She was cold,
with a calm serenity which held him
| aloof as effectually as some lmpassa-
| BILE barrier Nothing of haught1ness
| tinged her manner. 1t seemed merely
not to occur to her that any social in
tercourse could exist between an arts
/ tocrat in Elmwood avenue and a dwell
| Ter in this small studio at the top of
three flights of dingy stairs. Her very
youth took off the sting of this inso-
| lence of wealth. She was so entirely
unconscious of 1t.
Perhaps this impalpable barrier of
reserve might have been brushed aside
| to some extent had Wyndham been
| less sensitive to it. He met her unre
| sponsiveness with like reserve, her un-
| cor1municativeness with silence.
But as he painted in the lines OF
her graceful figure, and the bloom Of
her face grew under his hand upon
| the canvas, he was acutely conscious
of every lovely contour and tint, mad
| ly rebellious that this girl, with her
| wide intellectual brow and soft, SYM
pathetic eyes, never vouchsafed him
single unnecessary word, never looked
his way with an even momentary SYM
pathy.
your hair battles mel" he declared
thing in his tone startled her. Are
artists always so intense?" she asked
herself
She raised her hand to the ripples
of her pale brown hair, where golden
lights shifted and changed with
warm glow as alluring as it was inn
possible to express. Her violet eyes
widened.
"Shall change my position?" she
asked.
ua r,,Sbad into an exnIanat{ou Of
the difficulty of painting light in hair.
She looked interested but made no
comment a2zz -a~~s -7s0
Wyndham saw that her observant
eyes noted every makeshift in the
studio. 1t hurt him to feel that she
comprehended every particle of the
poverty of his life. This hurt the more
when, toward the last, he thought that
he surprised look of pity in her eyes.
He hardly expected her to tell him
at parting that she meant to send all
her friends to him to be painted be-
cause he did it so beautifully. But she |
did, and she kept her word. Wynd- |
hams friends said that luck had come |
to him in a golden spoon.
To Wyndham, sitting alone in his
studio, porting over delicate sketch |
of beautiful girl, with eyes of tender |
est sympathy and golden lights in her |
curling hair, luck seemed to have de- |
parted All that was left of those |
weeks of poignant emotion was this |
secret sketch of a girl whose soft eyes
looked into his with an expression |
This, and a leaf of rose-geranium |
which she had dropped upon the floor |
She had missed it when she left, for |
he saw her glance at her dress and |
then about her, as though seeking |
netting. In a little memorandum |
book in an inside pocket he kept it, |
where he could peep at It whenever he |
jotted in a date or looked up a refer |
ence.
One day the glory of life seemed to |
flood his world again, for Ruth Gre
Vile came to his studio. A charity ba-
Ear was to be held. and she had
charge of the art table. She wanted
a picture for it. and she thought he
He promised more than that He
would superintend the erection of her
stall and decorate it himself. She won |
dered at his enthusiasm. When he
refused payment for the work she was
embarrassed. This had not been what
she intended. Nor did she realize till
long afterward that busy artist could
not spend two days overseeing the
erection and decoration of the most
beautiful booth in the bazaar without
some pecunfary loss.
She was charmed with his work and
unbent to be gracious-although she
had first cast q startled glance at the
DISTINGUISHED blocking man in evening 1
clothes who approached her, when
became a purchaser at her
stall. Il
Because he read her thought so
well, he made but small purchase
there-a trif1e decorated by her own
hands. She saw him spend freely at
another BOOTH
After that Wyndham removed to a
better studio. He would try to forget
her, he told himself. He did not sue
coed Every frou-frou of silken skirts !
upon his stairs made his heart pound :
expectantly. One day she came.
He hoped she had not noticed his