The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-12-08
tie Sights thai DgIpetIaIIy reminded

$1,000
tie Sights tha1 D~sTpetia1Iys reminded
them 81 him.
Quincy agreed cordially with this
sentiment He was spending the year
Id England and meant 10 have at least
six weeks alone to finish his great
panel palnting Of the destruction Of
Alexandria, the order for which from
the pubic library In his home city
had held out to him the hope Of rec
ignition and success after his many
years Of loneliness and poverty.
Mrs. Epping's a bit Of an invalid
the agent said one day, just after
Quincy had moved in. "She says she'd
be very pleased to make your &C
quaintance II you would care to call
any afternoon at Chilworth.'
He scowled at me something aw-
full" the agent told Mrs. Epping af-
terward. He seems cut out to be q
hermit, that young man does"
Yet, somehow the panel painting
made little progress. The fact IL.
Quincy found what many people have
found : that It IL. easier to be alone In
company, than when n has ones
own thoughts for companions. Life
In this old English house proved de
lightfully puxzle-provoking. He ex-
plored every nook Of the rambling old
building. But he always came back
to the long central hall. where the
portraits Of the Eppings hung.
Some OF them bore names upon the
frames, but she was unnamed, this
beauty o. the long ago, dressed IN the
big Gainsborough hat and w~ide-sleeved
gown of the days Of the third George.
Quincy was fascinated BY this pic
ture. And she must have been dead
nearly d Gentry!
Gurney:s work was abandoned; he
would spend hours before the picture.
Work. He don't work any more
said old Mrs. Smith, the village Cos
sip. 4He just moons around and
stares at the pictures. l think the
young man must be In love-"
In due time this piece Of news
reached the ears Of the kind-hearted
Mrs. Epping.
perhaps the young man lives too
much alone,'' she said. Martha, tell
James to harness the pony to the dog
cart"
When the invalid made a decision
she acted upon it. In little over an
hour she had driven up to the manor
house. and at the gate found herself
confronted by a young man with wild
eyes and touseled hair-and yet unmis-
takably q gentleman.
"Mr. Gurney?" she asked, II am
Mrs. Epping." And seeing that he
made no move to ask her in, she added
tactfully:
II have heard about your paintings
and thought / would ask you to let
me see them"
In half an hour she had completely
won his heart. She departed, carry
ing his promise to pay her q call at
no distant date. He spent the night
before the picture.
In the morning old Mrs. Smith
found him lying in a delirium In the
hall.
brain fever" pronounced the doc
tor. ''The cause? Well, l should say
overwork. combined with solitude, per
haps."
II shall never forgive myself
never" said Mrs. Epping. James.
harness the pony to the dog-cart."
This time she had ONE to stay, as
two well-flled trunks that accompa-
MED her attested. She and Sylvia
took up their residence at the Manor,
and for two weeks they assiduously
nursed Quincy through the crisis Of
his malady.
"When he wakes" said the doctor,
'he will be in his right mind again"
Now whether Mrs. Epping had
shrewdly guessed the source OF the
disjointed mutterings, which escaped
the artists lips during his delirium
and made her plans accordingly or
whether it was kindly chance, nobody
can say. but when Quincy opened his
eyes again to reason he saw bending
over him the face of the woman In
the portrait. But it was the living
face of a young and charming girl,
and blushing red under the young
mans earnest scrutiny.
"Well," said Mrs. Epping, entering
the room, you two are looking at
each other as though you had never
seer a person of the opposite sex be-
fore. MI. Quincy. this is my daugh-
ter. Sylvia. whose portrait you may
have seen in the hall, in fancy dress,
representing a lady of the last CEN
fury
Quincy lay back on his pillows, ut
tarly content. 1t was a miracle, the
doctor said. which brought him back
to health so swiftly. But Sylvia knew.
differently.
"You gave me back my life" he
said softly, as they left the parish
church together, man and wife, three
months later, "and / am going to de-
vote my life 10 you."
1t is S.ylvia's face which. forms the
central panel OF Gurney's treat paint
ing N the Museum sof. 2 ;.rsp'rf;h-hhlls,
masterpiece.
a MINOR POINT.
"Have you amy reference books OF
Napoleon Bonaparte," asked the timit
old lady In q public library.
TA@8 ssNNr 49, 49, %E = = - -