The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-08-21
A Strange Romance of an
Artist Who Fell tn Love
tCith "the Beauty of
Ugliness.

OS StfkCcSs
A sole executor to Marshall Gaunt. I
~ was unexpectedly summoned to Eng
IA land In midwintsr by . telegram from
his solicitors saying that he had died from
bronchial pneumonia His fame a. . portrait
painter was not 90 firmly established that
the public took any interest In his health.
and had received no warning Of his illness
from the Engiish papers which came trregu-
larry. I'VE, stx. or seven days altar publica-
ton, to Campitsllo: moreover. - he only
wrote lsttsrs when business urged him. I
had bean compelled for . tveivemonth TO con-
tent myself with his general advioss Al
long - you don't hear from me you may
assume that I'm alive; the solicitors viii let
you know soon enough when I'm dead
Even II. for once. he had not spoken IRON
iezIly felt confident that the announcement
would not have to be made for another
twenty years. Gaunt was . man Of my own
ags-s few months, more or less. but GER
tainly not = day older than forty-hve; and.
though ! thought and more than once In the
last year had told him that he was beginning
to eat too little and drink too much. his resil.
had come unscathed through the war. were
more than a match for the excuses to which
he subjected them; and. though may have
thought, too, that he shut himself up unduly
In his studio, working and smoking with
equal fury, was not justified In criticizing
his habit Of Life unless I could suggest q
practical alternative.
Six months before had at least saved him
from the cutting Of his throat and had per-
suaded him that he was an artist with a
future; Il he chose to work himself to death
his suicide was at least delayed and might
yet Be ayerted by the deliberate march OF
time and the stealing. slow steps Of forgetful-
49,.
The solicitors, IN . consolatory postscript,
suggested that should not have to endure
many days Of the English winter. as the
estate was small and the win simple and
Precise to his sister, Mrs. Mountjoy, Mar
shan was bsqueathins his exiguous savings.
ths lsass Of his Mazda Vale house, and an
almost worthless accumulation Of tattered
bsoss and ramshackle furniture; as had al.
nnst convinced him that he was q genius
nj yet come into bis own and that We must
BWss his reputation. the pictures unfinished
- unsoid were confded to me with fnstruc-
lions to hold or sell. according to the state Of
ths market; and. though he did not cite me
~ name, could think Of no rival claimant
under the clause which empowered the execu.
tor. In his discretion. to give tokens Of re-
menbrancs to any friends who cared to ask
for them
reflected. - settled into the train at
Florence, that Il the whole Of my duties were
likely to be this discreet balancing Of claims
between Mrs Mountjoy and her dead broth.
er's friends might well have continued to
Sun myself IN the villa at Campitello. In his
most normal period. which should call the
years from the slade School to the outbreak
Of war. Marshall Gaunt had lacked friends
because. with his ironical detachment, he did
not need friends and even frightened them
away; II the propinquities Of q mess and Of
Joint service urged him into ephemeral init
macies. he made no attempt toepreserve them
when the war was over and he could escape
to MAZDA Vale or to Campitello; women, be
grayeIy assured me, he would gladly have
admitted to his life had he had leisure for
them
The funeral took place on the day after
my arrival. but the comm was already sealed
and I could take no farewell Of the white
checked face with the deepset, smoldering
eyes which used to turn In certain lights and
moods from brown to golden red. flashing
with disconcerting mischief under their
Mephistopheran brows- Mrs. Mountjoy told
me that he had allowed his beard. which he
had shaved on joining the army. to grow
again and that this with the prominent, mar
row cheek bones. restored to his face that
unbalanced length without breadth which
made all my amateur sketches Of him seem
out Of drawing. She added that he had
GROWN old and careworn in the year before
his death. with threads Of silver in the thick.
black hair on his temples and new wrinkles,
no longer the puckertng Of . quick smile.
round his eyes. He was restless in manner,
she said, and unconcentrated In expression;
should not have been surprised II she had
substituted, . wandering and haunted"
The truth Is, Mr.. Bandon," she concluded,
he never got over the war. To q man Of
his temperament, sensitive and emotional,
It must have been q greater strain than to
any one else. I'm sure you know what
mean And It's not as though he was
. boy: Marshall was almost forty when he
Joined the army. and at that age there's not
the same recuperative power"
A had come to bury Marshall. not to
praise him and stin less to argue about him.
saw no purpose In reminding Mrs. Mount
10Y that he had declared his age as thirty one
tor ths rt1rnoss NJ obtaining n commission
and that he had applied for q commission be-
cause this temperament Of his forbade him
ever 10 hesitate on the outskirts Of an adven-