Evening star., 1924-11-02

y OU learn, II you live in one OF
" Pluma Gogg's houses for two or
three years, to guess which type
L a young artist belongs to on
ten minutes acquaintance.
Thre are only three or four types.
There Is the young poseur. belated
child OF the eighteen nineties, when
Oscar Wilde appeared in Piccadilly
wearing q green carnation, and Whist .
Ter sued Ruskin for saying his pictures
were a pot of paint flung in the pub
lies face. There Is the young adver-
tising craftsman. always talking about
prices and contracts and putting 1t
over. There is the intense sort. living
on cornmeal mush and dried apples,
and burning with the desire to force
his vision on the world And there
is the interior decorator. born to love
rich stuffs-fabrics and colors and
forms. and sometimes to paint them.
There Is one more type, the amiable
chap who has taste and manners and
talent. everything but the drive, and
who consequently will never get any
where in the world, but will always be
pleasant about it.
Ann Wilkinson knew all these types
backward and forward. But she
guessed wrong about Dick Richards.
1t happened the winter Of the big
snow. You drove from Thirty-fourth
street up Murray Hill between high
walls Of snow in track just wide
enough for a single car. 1t was much
quicker to walk. That is what most
doctors did. 1t was important for
doctors to get about. 1t was the win
ter Of the influenza epidemic, and in
fuenza promised pneumonia.
The Wilkinsons gave a party that
February. Ann and Hiram had for
years leased the whole of Miss Gogg' S
second house. Hiram was one Of those
painters who are lucky to sell one
picture a year. Fortunately he did the
most charming etchings of his day. A
show of his etchings at the Orlando
Galleries always brought him thousands
Of dollars
As the months went by and the
money was spent, Ann sublet parts Of
the house. The top floor went first;
then the third floor: then the second.
BY Christmas they were usually living
in the basement Whereupon Hiram
would set up his etcher's press in the
kitchen. Ann received visitors in the
dining room, pausing at intervals to
give Hiram black coffee as he stood,
hour after hour, pulling proofs.
The Wilkinsons had only one idea
OF celebrating their annual returns to
the beautiful old rooms upstairs.
They roasted a dozen turkeys and a
dozen hams and baked innumerable
cakes and made an incredible guam
tity Of salad, and asked all New York
to a party.
The Winter OF the big snow and
the influenza epidemic Hiram sold
not only his etchings but two of his
Paintings. So there was not only a
supper for an army, but a dance band.
And all New York plowed through
the snow to East Twenty-Seventh
street.
DICK RICHARDS had had the top
~ hoor-rear studio all Fall and
Winter, and nobody knew anything
about him except that he had paid
the rent. He was not the sort to de-
mand attention. On the one occasion
when Ann had had him down to tea
she had instantly classified him as a
graceful ecaynp
Ann was armored against graceful
scamps. She knew how easily she
liked them and how bitterly disap-
out to be exactly what she had
guessed them to be In the beginning.
When Dick came downstairs at
midnight. feeling unaccountably tired
but unable any longer to resist the
hum Of talk and the strum OF banjos
that came UP the halls, Ann jumped
up to greet him. He was dressed like
an artists idea OF a French sailor,
in drill trousers with a gay sash. a
striped jersey and a tam-o-shanter.
IT struck Ann, who had studied under
Rodin and had an eye for such things,
that he was deeper-chested and
thicker -muscled in the close-fitting
jersey than she would have expected.
"Hello!" she said, shall I introduce
you round?"
Please don't" he asked, and smiled
his wistful smile.
Ann scanned the room. She led
Dick over to Brenda Berenson. think
ing how good 1T would be for him to
fall in love with a girl like Brenda
and to discover how little his ami
able weakness appealed to her.
Dick saw a handsome girl with red
hair and a creamy skin and a wide
mouth; girl who emanated life as
some people emanate weariness. She
was wearing the simplest sort of
black velvet evening dress, a dress
that set off her admirable neck and
shoulders as a shadow box sets Off
painting. Just to look at her warmed
him, made him feel less tired and
lonely and i'll.
Brenda Ann said. this is Mr..
Richards. He is a graceful scamp"
She turned to Dick. Miss Beren-
son." she said, "is hard-b boiled"
Dick looked gravely at Brenda
Berenson. will you dancer" he
asked. and put his arm around her.
He was a shy man who had discov-
cred that saying the direct thing
the thing he happened to be think
ing at the time-relieved his shyness
and often amused other people.
You dance awfully we'll don't
your he said to Brenda after two
silent minutes.
YES" said Brenda
The music stopped when they were
in the middle Of the room. Dick felt
suddenly conspicuous She was the
most striking girl In the room, the
kind Of girl everybody looks at and
everybody likes. But he wanted to
talk to her. II eoemed to him that
II he could sit quietly in q corner