Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-09
The Advice Which Marsden's Pri.
vate Note Offered.

The Advice Which MarSden'S PHI
vate Note Offered.
l obediently took up the pages of
Marsden's private letter to my hus-
band, which the art editor had put
into the envelope enclosing the Off
cial notification. that Dicky's illustra-
tions for the Pennington novel had
been rejected by the distinguished
author.
Dear Old Boy" the letter began,
in Marsden's accustomed way.
Thought I'd better write you the
real dope on this mess. Don't go
into one of your usual spasms over
this, though ! will admit it's enough
to make a man see a snake or two
when he's worked as hard as you
have on those drawings. But you
know what a minded, pompous
old boy Pennington isl gave a
little gasp of surprise at this point
for | never can get over my amaze
ment at the flippant, unawed way i'll
which Dicky and his friends regard
the so-called great ones of the earth
-"and as soon as he saw your
sketches he staged fit on the cfhcc
rug and declared himself often you,
or words to that effect.
"Of course, Percy wilted at once,
and crawled at Pennington's feet,
asking him if your head OH a charger
wouldn't satisfy him. But Claude,
to my surprise, really put up quite a
fight for you, and Pennington finally
consented to see you in conference
Monday Now, for the love Of
Mike, don't straddle that high horse
of yours and start fer Pixies Peak.
Get this through that ivory dome of
yours-Pennington found no fault
with the quality Of the sketches. 1t
was the looks c.f the heroine he was
after. You see, those sketches !
showed him when he selected you
for the task OF illustrating his brain
chc-ild were from Day Dream, and
the model for that must have been
one tangerine. At any rate. cid Pen
fell for her with a dull thud that
Jared the office. He said she was
the ideal type of feminine pulchri-
tude. But how | am rambling! OF
course, you remember. You heard
him emit the same yelps when you
met him in conference over the
work.
Makes Man.
"Where in thunder is that other
model? | remember you told Pen
she was absolutely unavailable, but
you didn't say whether she was dead
or had married war prohteer. If
the latter, you ought to be good
looking and fascinating enough to
get her back long enough for these
sketches, anyway.
But cheer up, old boy, Penning-
ton isn't the only one, though Percy,
of course-this not to discourage
you, but to show you the importance
of pleasing Pennington--is letting
loose few bla-ats about our proba-
bly, overrating you, and that Pen
nington's O. k. makes man, the
lack of it mars him. and-you know
the usual spiel-oh, cuss it all, cid
top! l can't bear to write a screed
like this to you, but | think it's best
to let you know how things stand,
don't you?
"My best to everybody, and re-
member I'm standing by to the last
ditch.
"Yours, as always, STEVE
II nv heart was heavy when |
began the letter, it outrivalled the
traditional lead WIN l finished it.
Only too well did I remember whose
charms the fascinating heroine Of
"Dav Dream" perpetuated. Grace
Draper posed for those sketches
Grace Draper, whose iaultless
beauty, intelligence and knowledge of
posing Dicky never had ceased Ia
menting, even though she had
brought infinite trouble, even
tragedy, into our lives.
"It's the End"
"You see what it means, don't
your" Dicky's voice was heavy.
listless. It's the end for. me. all
right" he said witt, all the hope
lessness of the artistic temperament
when criticised upon him. II might
as we'll take up sign painting,
Wonder if l could get into the
union?"
There was bitter note even in
his gibing, which told me how deep
the barb in the, letter had pierced.
I tried, clumsily enough. to alleviate
its hurt.
But, Dicky. Mr.. Marsden says
the quality of the sketches is all
right | began.
You read what else he said,
didn't you?" Dicky rctorted gloomi-
! ly. That spiel about Percy. He's
the original dum-dum bullet when
he gets started, that iad."
| had no answer to this, for !
knew, absurd as they seemed,
Dicky's fears that his career was
virtually ended were in some sense
justified by the attitude of Percy"
private nickname bestowed by
Marsden upon the senior member
of the publishing firm which handled
Pennington's books. Claude" is
the nickname given by Marsden to
the junior partner, and he is a
square. likable chap with the cour-
age Of his convictions. But that