The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1909-05-20
The Tragic
Touch =. !.
By FRANCIS HOWARD WILLIAMS
Copyright, by J. B. Lippincott Coz

a~(Copyright, by J. B. Lippincott Coz
The breakfast-room, having a north
light, had been fitted up as a studio.
It looked out upon a pretty lawn that
fell off in green gradations to a little
runnel which meandered toward the
river a mile away. The house was
pretty because a touch of art had
fallen upon its commonplace lines and
angles; it had porches on two. sides,
with trellised creepers, and a bullying
gable toward the road.
When Edward Steelman, artist and
dreamer, had taken unto himself a
wife 20 years his Junior he had
brought her here for two very good
reasons-frst, because he wanted to
have her to himself, and, secondly,
because he was weary of the unend-
ing conventions and thought thus to
escape them.
Deep In his heart also there was
perhaps a half fear that the discrep-
ancy in their ages might some day
impel his wife to mental comparisons
not altogether in his favor. He was
only As, but even at that age a man
begins to grow sensitive. He couldn't
forget that to Hope, with her quick
perceptions and imaginative tempera-
ment, he must seem almost old; nor
could he conceal from himself the
feeling of resentment with which he
thought of her taking an interest in
the society of younger men.
So he came to Abbeyvale and
bought the house, with it's porches
and bullying gable and breakfast-room
with a north light.
The light was doing him a particu-
larly valuable service this morning,
for somehow it seemed to be bringing
him an inspiration long prayed for
and hitherto denied. The picture on
the easel was all but finished; it
needed only a touch at the eyes. The
casual observer scarcely could have
detected such a need, but the artist
was conscious of it and had long been
SO. For how many weary weeks had
he labored, only to be at last N.
fronted with a problem which ap-
peared beyond his power to solve!
Why he had chosen so antique a
subject as Phaedra he could not quite
say. He was in a general way a be-
lever in the modern, both in subject
and in treatment, but Phaedra had
appealed to him and would not be
denied, so that at last he decided to
lay the ghost by painting the picture.
This was before his marriage; the
picture had been started and put
aside, taken up and put aside again.
Now that he was settled and had fled
the pressure of convention, he had
once more essayed the work, and was
putting on the finishing strokes in his
cozy studio at Abbeyvale. F.
The eyes were the trouble. Steel.
man was perplexed and a bit angry
His work had faltered on the
threshold of realization. Somehow
this morning he began to hope; there
was the quality of inspiration in the
air. He looked into the face of his
creation, studying those eyes, fateful
and deep, yet still lacking the touch
which should make them Phaedra's.
Oh! if he could but catch the CLEAN,
the intense spark of a consuming de.
sire, the smothered blaze of a passion
born into life and waiting but the sig.
nal to leap all bounds to it's goal!
A light breeze cantered across the
lawn and came idly in at the biz
north window, tanning Steelman's
forehead gratefully and fetching a
breath Of clover to his nostrils; then
there was a step without and Lal
looked in, smiling.
Flows it going to-day, Dad?"
Better, I hope, boy. I actually fee
as if I were going to accomplish some
thing-as if something we're going tc
happen"
Guess something always does hap
pen when the time comes"
eyes, that's philosophy. BY Jove!
believe you've got more of the coldly
rational in your makeup than I have
That's because I didn't bring you u1
to be a poor painter with an ideal
You've got a lot to thank me for
Lal."
II know it, Dad. But I also know
I'll never amount to half as much as
you. Here I've been golfng while
you've been working"
"Well for a chap who's just comine
of age you're doing pretty well. Yor
seem a boy to me, you know, and
don't hegrudge boys their playtime.'
Lal laughed. He hitched at his belt
pulled himself into shape and pushed
back a heavy mass of brown hail
which lay upon his forehead. Their
he went out upon the porch and threw
himself at full length upon a wicker
couch, with a pile of cushions unde,
his head. He was a splendid fellow
tall, sinewy, brown from sun anc
weather and with a strong coloring Of
the good red blood which coursec
through his veins. He was Steel
mans only son, the child of his youth
whose mother had yielded up her life
TO. him. The story was a sad one
Steelman was a mere boy when he
had met Esther Mainwaring and mar
ried her against her parents wishes