The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-01-02
Markham's
RuSe
He Learned That He Was
Not Married For
His Money.
By ELINOR MARSH

IA nc IudITltu. tne HlTl he cnOSe WOuIu
place much higher value on his mon
ey than on himself He went abroad
thinking that he might meet some girl
with whom he might have a real affair
Of the heart. To conceal his wealth he
Travelled in second or third class rail
way carriages, stayed at pensions
boarding houses instead of hotels and
otherwise curtailed his expenses.
In Florence. where art Is the princi
pal attraction, he was one morning
looking at the pictures In the Ufliz
gallery when he came upon a young
girl copying a picture by Titan. The
sun, shining in at a window, glinted a
head of wavy hair the exact shade of
that belonging to a girl represented in
the painting she copied OF the real
girl and the painted one Markham
greatly preferred the former. Indeed,
his heart went out to her with one of
those sudden, unaccountable impulses
that are common In young persons.
Standing behind her, he pretended to
be examining her work, but his ewes
~
her, and she spoke few words Of sal.
utation in the English tongue without
the British accent. Markham Judged
that she was an American. and Ameri.
cans abroad need no Introduction. Our
country seems very far from them. a
distant land sunken far below the
western horizon. from which they are
cut off and from which they hear very
little. This makes them all akin.
Markham, who was fine Judge of
pictures, did not hesitate to express his
approval of the way the copyist was
doing her work and call her attention
to some differences between her copy
and the original She looked up at him.
saw admiration in his eyes and turned
hers back upon her work with a fiut-
tering of the heart that she had never
felt before Markham told her that he
was an American, and she admitted
being from the same land. After chat.
ting awhile he passed on.
She was Madeline Trevor. Having
some artistic ability and the necessity
OF making her own living, she had
used little money left her in a legacy
to study art IN Florence. Her funds
had been used up. and she was now
endeavoring to keep body and soul to,
gether by copying masterpieces for
such Americans as would give her an
order. Markham made up story
about himself to fit his being I'm Flor
ence. He had come abroad on n ven
ture to find pictures Of great artists to
sell to wealthy Americans at home on
commission. He had been disappoint-
ed in not finding such pictures for sale
and those that were to be had were
not acceptable in the American market
He let drop a hint that he was near
the end of his rope and had not money
enough to take him home.
He was looking at Miss Trevor when
he said this and saw by her expression
that he had touched sympathetic
chord. So he followed It up with a
show of resolution to conquer adverse.
ty which excited admiration. Sympa
thy and admiration are two effective
weapons with which to attack a WON.
ans heart, as Markham very well
knew, and by the time the first inter
view ended he congratulated himself
that he had made a beginning.
The next morning Markham passed
through the gallery again. and when
he stopped to have look at Miss Ire
vors work she received him with
smile. Again he gave her some points
as to her copy and let drop the infor-
nation that he had had very poor
breakfast There was no untruth in
this, for no one on the European con-
tinent takes anything but rolls and
coffee at breakfast, and It would be
impossible for him to call any coffee
to be procured there good. Indeed, 1t
is all bad. But the girl conceived the
idea that Markham was hungry on ac-
count of his poverty, and this excited
pity. Markham added to the fact of
the poor breakfast that even II he
came to eat sawdust he would not
finch.
His confidence drew forth confidence
from MISS Trevor. ana she, 100, at
times confessed to hunger. This very
nearly spoiled Markham's game, for it
was all he could do TO keep from in
viting her to dine at the best hotel in
Florence. He restrained himself for
the time being. but the next day join
cd her. radiant. Claiming to have
made a commission of 100 francs (Sa0
on the sale of a picture to an English
man. with true bohemian weakness
he filled Miss Trevor with viands so
expensive that they used up all his
pretended commission. For this he re-
ceived lecture from her on his short
sightedness and his generosity: but.
since that generosity was expended on
her, it only bound her closer to him.
Markham began his lovemaking by a
fit Of dependency. When asked the
cause he intimated that he had met
S with a change OF heart, He no longer
looked upon his poverty with uncon-
Germ. 1t was not long before Miss