Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-02-02
An Artistic
.Courtship
By ETHEL HOLMES

last he gave it up and became an In
structor in his art. He was now a
widower, an old man, and had one
child, a daughter, Winifred, about
twenty years old. The rooms in which
he lived and gave lessons were In q
studio building for persons of his pro-
fession.
One spring morning Winifred was
sitting by an open window in the liv-
ing room, facing the street, making
clothes for herself, for her father had
no money with which to buy them.
She had a very sweet face and as
she bent over her work formed an at
tractive picture. Beardslee, who had
just returned from Florence, Italy,
where he had been studying and was
considered a genius, saw the girl at
the window, and-well, he fell in love
with her. l don't mean his love was
full hedged the moment he laid eyes ON
her, but that is when it began.
He noted the position of the room
in which she was sitting and, crossing
the street, entered the studio building,
mounted the stairs and proceeded to
the door leading to the room. His OBJ
ject was the acquaintance of that girl.
How he was to make 1t he didn't
know, but he was full of assurance
and resource and trusted to these and
luck. On the door was painted, ga
briel Martel, Instructor In Painting"
Opening the door, he saw Mr.. Martel
standing over a small boy whom he
was ~endeavoring to teach to draw the
outline of a goblet. Winifred sat In
an adjoining room.
beg pardon" said Beardslee; 81 am
DESTROYS of taking some. lessons in
painting"
"Are you a beginner?' asked the In
structor.
"Oh. no! l have had some practice"
Martel stated the terms, which were
satisfactory, and Beardslee said he
would take a lesson then and there.
He sat down at an easel faced toward
Winifred.
AS soon as Martel had disappeared
Beardslee took out some pieces of thin
ivory he had in his pocket and began
to paint a miniature portrait of Wini-
fred. If his love for the girl was not
yet full f1edged, his love for his sub
ject was. At any rate, he made one
Of those rapid strokes of genius which
will sometimes come without the slight
est effort, but which will elude an
artist on more p~retentious work. Mean
while other pupils had come In, and
Beardslee heard Martel talking to
them. In this way he kept a knowl-
edge of the instructors position, and
whenever he came nea the screen
Beardslee would hide the miniature
and begin to daub on the subject as
signed him. But he had asked that he
might not be disturbed, and his in
structor did not visit him till after he
had finished the miniature sketch.
A few days later Winifred was look
ing over the art columns of a Sunday
paper and saw among the pictures of
moment reproduced there a picture
called "At Work." by the newly ar
rived celebrity Clarence Beardslee. 1t
was a girl sitting by a window sewing.
The work was valued at $1,000.
Aoh L lndL Int Lille NiluOWB pdpds
she said, showing it to her father,
and that work stand is an exact re-
production Of mine"
"And the face Is yours, too," said the
parent.
1T says the picture will be on exhi-
bition at Gamb1elPs for a few days.
I'm going to see it."
Tho G q n q ftornOon che uiuitod Gam
brell's picture store, and there was the
miniature, into which the artist had
found room to give a suggestion of the
window and the work stand. She had
no sooner looked upon the face of the
girl than she recognized herself. The
likeness was perfect. She stood look
ing at it In a dream of wonder.
There is a break In the story which
cannot be supplied. When Winifred
went home to her father happiness
dubbed up In her like a spring of
limpid water. She had seen at the
picture store the would be pupil Of the
day before. The break in the story is
how did he come to be there when she
was there? Nobody but himself knows,
and he has never told. All Winifred
said to her father about the miniature
was that it was d rare work of art.
The mink had brought it home with
her.
There is more that does not appear
in this version of the story, and that
is. What was going OF between Boards
lee and Winifred during the next
month? at the end of which Martel re-
ceived the surprise of his life. His
former pupil of one lesson entered his
instruction room and presented a card,
on which was the name Clarence
Beardslee. Martel looked at it, then
up at the visitor and wondered if one
or the other of them had not lost his
senses
Winifred ran from the other room
o-l wu-o aVo1 10th o,po ot.O1.x1 h0n 90