The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-06-30
CHAPTER LII.
Continued.


about the picture on the day we came
home from Eastbourne, but it wa
really such a frightful evening
didn't like to send my man out"
1T only wants one more sitting,
he said, "and then shall not have tt
trouble you like this again.
"Oh, don't mind any necessary
inconvenience. Now tell me, do yor
want quite such glare of light as
you have here? should have
thought it so unbecoming to any com
plexion-but you are the best judge
no doubt. I'm going to settle myself
down as comfortably as / can, and
you get to work, and let US have ii
over. You surely haven't left Will
loughby in the carriage, Sybil; ah, no,
there he is. Willoughby, come here,
sir, and keep mistress company.
Willoughby was the pug, who re-
luctantly abandoned the tour of in
spection he had begun, to lie by her
side in little Oriental divan, the one
oasis of luxury in that artistic desert
in which Mrs. Staniland was now es-
tablished with a work basket, books
and papers as specific for enlui.
There was mischievous sparkle in
SYPHILIS eye when she turned her head
toward him. "Willoughby is fright
ened of that very hideous little image
over there on the pedestal. Is that a
new acquisition. l don't remember
seeing it here last time!" She said
this with the utmost Inconsistencies,
only her eyes danced.
1T was given to me only yester-
day" Campion replied, by friend. "
You must have thought just when
you first saw it that your friend was
laughing at you"
He frowned slightly. II have
thought SO ever since-never more
than now. And yet l have tried to
believe, too that my-my friend
would not have deliberately stopped
to trifie with me-"
Sybil's eyes were soft and repent
ant at once. Il think you are right, {"
she said, softly, and she forgot that
she had no right to clasp his hands
Just then. Very likely your friend
bought it because at the time he real
1y thought it was curiosity and in
teresting in it's way. Perhaps he
fancied, too, that whatever it was
coming from-from him, you know,
you would value it."
Nov you have put it in that way,
feel sure of it. And the friend was
not mistaken. do value it. There's
something in its face that distinctly
grows upon one"
Willoughby, who had evidently
taken violent prejudice against the
inoffensive stranger, had been growl-
ing and shifting around it's pedestal
for some time, and now, unable to
refrain from more open manifesto
tons of dislike, he was barking furi-
ously.
"Mr. Campion," said Mrs. Stani-
land, may l ask you once more to
bring Willoughby to me; it's not good
for him, all this excitement. He's so
sensitive about any ugliness, poor pet,
and that image of yours seems to
affect his nerves; do put it where it
won't aggravate him.
Campion had just fallen back to
catch the effect of his latest touches,
and, as he dispersed some of the col
or with his thumb, and looked about
for rag, he said, 81 should have said
the aggrayation was all on Willough-
by's side" but in another moment,
"by Jove, he's brought the whole
thing overt"
"Oh, Ronald" cried Sybil, forget
ting where they were for a moment,
"see-the poor dog! Oh! it's hor-
rible-move it, quick!"
The idol lay face upward, wearing
what the immortal biographer of
Honorable Chief Justice Mookjeree"
would describe as the soft and fas-
cinating beams Ola SHIPPER" and un-
derneath it lay the ill-starred pug,
past all insults.
Mrs. Standard was bending over
him. Willoughby-oh my poor pug
speak to me! Oh, don't know
what I'm saying! Sybil, fetch my
SALTS"
Sybil stood by, looking rather pale,
and distressed for her aunt's sake,
for she had never been warmly at
tached to the deceased Willoughby.
"Oh, Aunt Hilary" she said. 81 am
so very, very sorry-such an unfor-
tunate accident"
Mrs. Standard rose, gray and grim
and turned toward Campion. "It
was no accident" she said harshly
ut was wilful, culpable carelessness
IL no worse. To leave heavy stone
on a rickety pedestal, where breath
might upset 1t. No; 1t could not have
been left there without some motive.
Campion could hardly believe hi,
own ears. "Do you really sugges
that planned this?. he asked.
And then the was an awkward
pause, for the, studio door hac
opened, and Lionel Babcock came
self-satisfied and serene as usual, in
to the highly electrical atmosphere
He was all geniality and boyisl
heartiness Just then. He shook hands
warmly, as If he had not seen then
for months.
Wen" he SAID, land now do yoi
think this young lady's portrait j!
getting on. Mrs. Staniland?"
i have been given other things tt
think about" said Mrs. Standard
stiffly.
Have you, thought" said Bah
cock. sHallo! why, Sybil, what's oul
cross-legged friend the idol doing