Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-09-10

II Vi q ulOllCAl NC Na6 blCn vi HIS i40
It seemed that there stood before him,
In that place of historic wraiths and
memories, a girl, her eyes sad, but
loyal. and without reproof.
You look" said Adrienne, studying
his c~ountenance in the pallor of the
moonlight, "as though you were see
ing ghosts"
Il am" said Samson. Let's GO"
Adrienne had not yet seer her por
trait. Samson had needed a few hours
of finishing when he left New York.
though 1t was work which could be
done away from the model. So 1t was
natural that when the party reached
Paris Adrienne should loon insist on
crossing the Pont d'Alexandre III to
his studio near the "Boule Mich" for an
inspection of her commissioned canvas,
For a while she wandered about the
~businesslike place, Uttered with the
gear of the painters craft. 1t was, in
a way, a form of mind-reading, for
Samson's brush was the tongue of his
soul.
The girls eyes grew thoughtful as
she saw that he still drew the leering,
s~aturnine face of Jim Asberry. He
had not outgrown hate. then? But
she said nothing until he brought out
and set on an easel her own portrait.
For a moment she gasped with sheer
delight for the colorful mastery of the
technique, and she would have been
hard to please had she no been de-
lighted with the conception of her.
self mirrored in the canvas. 1t was a
face through which the soul showed,
and the soul was strong and f1awless.
The girls personality radiated from
the canvas-and yet A disappointed
little look crossed and clouded her
eyes. She was conscious of an in
definable catch of pain at her heart.
Samson stepped forward, and his
waiting eyes, too, were disappointed.
You don't like it, Drennie?" he
anxiously questioned. But she smiled
In answer, and declared:
Il love it."
He went out a few minutes later to
telephone for her to Mrs. Lescott, and
gave Adrienne carte blanche to browse
among his portfolios and stacked can
vases until his return. In a few min
utes she discovered one of those ef-
forts which she called his "rebellious
pictures" :
These were such things as he paint
ed, using no model except memory
perhaps, not for the making of finished
pictures, but merely to give outlet to
his feelings; an outlet which some
men might have found in talk.
This particular canvas was roughly
blocked in, and it was e~lementally
simple, but each brush stroke had
been thrown against the surface with
the concentrated fire and energy of a
blow, except the strokes that had
painted the face, and there the brush
had seemed to kiss the canvas. The
picture showed a barefooted girl,
standing, in barbaric simplicity Of
dress, in the glare of the arena, while
a gaunt lion crouched cycling her. Her
head was lifted as though she were
listening TO faraway music. In the
ayes was indomitable courage. That
canvas was at once a declaration OF
love, and a miserere. Adrienne set
it up beside her own portrait, and, as
she studied the two with her chin rest
ing on her gloved hand, her eyes
cleared Of questioning. Now she knew
what she missed In her own more
beautiful likeness. 1t had been paint
ed with all the admiration of the mind.
The other had been dashed OF straight
from the heart-and this other was
Sally! She replaced the sketch where
she had found 1t, and Samson return
ing found her busy with little sketches
OF the Seine.
"Drennie," pleaded Wilfred Horton.
as the two leaned on the rail of the
Mauretania, returning from Europe,
ARE you going to hold me on in.
definitely? I've served my seven
years for Rachel. and thrown in some
extra time. Am l no nearer the goal?"
The girl looked at the oily heave OF
the leaden and cheerless Atlantic, and
its somber tones found reflection In
her eyes. She shook her head.
81 wish | knew" she said, YEARLY.
Then she added vehemently: I'm not
worth It, Wilfred. Let me go. Chuck
me out of your life as a little pig who
can't read her own heart; who is too
utterly selfish to decide upon her own
life"
rs THE put the question with
foreboding-"that, after all, was a
prophet? Have you and South :
wiped your feet on the doormat
marked 'Platonic friendship? Have
you done that, Drennie?"
She looked up into his eyes. Her
own were wide and honest and very
full Of pain.
NO." she said, I'VE haven't done
that, yet. l guess we won't. !.
/ think he'd rather stay outside, Will