Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-03-26
THE VIOLIN.

lSHeu IdDle anu pldqu 1uOi'' NN '0'
Marie Iabarthe flung up her hands and
let them fall hopelessly at her sides. She
hated the trimness of the fiat, the turnl-
ture of which he had so proudly chosen
1.-TWO years ago. Yet across the tiny hall,
under red duvet, lay baby Maurice,
taking his morning nap with forefinger
tucked in his mouth. What did that
matter when at the far corner OF the
salon lay the cause of the trouble-the
violin, so tenderly packed in its case!
Marie was a housebred woman; but IN
her rage she crossed the room with the
step of prairie wolf, and unclasplng
the case, flung it open. 1t was the work
of moment to snatch up penknife and
hack the strings of the hated thing that
had taken her place in her husbands
thoughts. Night after night he came
back from his office to this, instead OF
to her. There were no Sunday trips now;
no flowers, no boxes of chocolate, no love
a la Menier, as he used to call it.
Half an hour later the front door
Iclosed on an elegant woman in black and
orange, with a veil tied as they tie them
across the channel-to ravish hearts. The
llady carried a violin case, and walked
fercely, like grande dame in passion.
Pictures of the future came where the
dismal pictures of the past had been.
She would 90 back to the life she had
left for husband-to her painting, to
lher student friends For jacques and
Maurice she had toiled and shaved. Now
she was free-and. hacked and mutilated,
down the Seine should go the fiddle.
Artist as she was, she instinctiyely
H., Id l. ,,N ora1 nf
the past; for in picture galleries one
nights work. In the Louvre she stood
before the most wonderful thing in the
world, the Norma Lisa of da Vinci-the
ipicture that suggests every secret of a
woman, yet tells none.
ut says everything that a woman's
eyes ever said, or will say" cried fat
Frenchwoman at Marie's elbow.
Not everything said Nine. Labarthe
wanting something that even Norma
Lisa did not understand | don't know
what it is, but I'm sure of it."
From this mystery of woman she
Ipassed to the two other glories of the
lLouyre-The Winged Victory of the
lSamothrace, with its supreme expression
of power, and the Botticelli frescoes, with
their ultimate expression of the youth
of the world But they brought no com
fort; only pain So far above the fret
of common life, above the loneliness,
above the aching pain for something un-
known were they all.
Cold and shivering at last, she walked
between the trees of the Luxembourg
IGardens, where the fauns peeped at her
from their pedestals. They, like the
Norma Lisa, could mock and torture,
heartless in the perfection OF their
strength. In the warm rooms of the
Luxembourg she sank with a half sob
ON cushioned seat. She had taken
nothing but little soup all day; and
physical fatigue was racking her. Jacques
would soon be coming back to the fiat
now-to the child. to the warmth of the
cosy stove, to the scent of coffee He
would miss it; her lips curled under her
veil as her hand clasped and unclasped
above the violin case. He would care for
the loss of that Then her eve caught the
great modern incarnation of passion, the
Baiser of Rodin She understood; but
it seemed merely like horrible ehasm
that opened before her feet, and she rose
to leave this last shelter.
! Opposite to her, as she raised her eyes,
was bronze group-a man and WON
an. 0 no large, lovely life, these two,
Tar removed from human pain, but ILL
clad, lll-ted, bowed with toll and grief
they still chung to one another in the
sorrow of a common loss borne together
As she gazed they seemed to breathe
And Marie understood; for even the babe
at the breast of the bronze figure could
not make the mother forget the other
e child she had lost.
That was what the Norma Lisa did
not know" said Marie. Love and loss
4 and motherhood"
a 1t was lie Peuple le Picture, the most
wonderful m0de-a st ltu, of the pity of
r the sorrowful earth, As Nine. Labarthe
= seemed to see the child move its tiny
hand a panic descended on her. For baby
: Maurice had been alone without her all
, the long hours of this miserable day.
1t was quite dark in the hall. and from
the salon came the sound of a child's
sobs and a mans voice, soothing the babe
Intellectually She pushed open the door.
and her husband turned from the red
glow of the stove with Maurice i'm his
arms.
Give him to me-" she cried. pushing
up her veil and holding out her arms,
1 To the cool freshness of the outdoor air
y on her face the child held up his hot Inns
= and. cuddling his feet in her hands. she
. comforted him Nothing hurt now not
e even the mutilated violin. She nodded
t Icurtly toward the case and said. "Open
4 it and look; l did that. And I'm NOT
4 sorry. You starved me You cared for
, nothing but it. / was an artist once
and that's why I understood how it had
, taken my place with you l hated it,"
why did you come back!"
r TO get Maurice" she said. "He cried
. for me. He is quiet now He wants