Evening star., 1928-12-16
THE TYRANT

! ing, if you had clothes worth the
name" she said.
"Oh-clothesl I don't care about
clothes"
Dent say silly things. OF course
you care about clothes. And, If send
for you to come to Florida and paint
rooms for half dozen of my friends
don't come looking like a scarecrow ~
Mrs. Doerrs kept her word about
showing her bridgeroon-she could
hardly help it. since she played practi-
cally every night and all night, and
Avery found herself in Florida with
orders for two more rooms to be painted
directly on the walls, and, while she
was doing them, she picked up a COM
mission for a couple of screens and a
set of overdoor panels Mrs Madden
went south with Avery and they lived
in the cheapest boarding house they
could find, which wasn't so very cheap.
All day long Avery worked, and at night
she and her mother walked out in the
magical Florida nights of blue chiffon
ragged out with stars far larger and
brighter than stars have any business
to be.
One afternoon as she was reluctantly
putting the last touches on room de-
signed to bring indoors the great tropi-
cal garden just outside she heard a
mans voice speaking behind her. He
said-and she never forgot the words
nor the voice-"It's glorious! The artist
should be given banquet of roasted
f1amingo, served on a dish of lapis
laZuli." AS she turned slightly, and the
speaker perceived that the one he'd
spoken of was present, he added,
smiling, II beg your pardon-but it's
rT1aic &c hox,aY4d iy,1 rrtr1 Of firNr1 -
Avery smiled polite, stiff little smile
and made the slightest nod. Her rich
patrons ignored her socially, so she had
become equally remote. But this man
sounded different, interesting. She
watched him stealthily as he looked
over the room, and the woman with
him fluttered and exclaimed. He looked
real and he looked strong and he looked
proud.
LIE was gone In ten minutes, but he
l. stuck in Avery's memory She
wondered if the tinkling little blonde
with him was his wife. Probably. The
thought was unpleasant. That man
deserved something better than a piece
of tin. She gave her work last
critical survey-and was through. The
check was already in her pocket.
"
She walked back to the boarding house,
haunted by perception of the great
gaps in her life, of warmth and beauty
and human relationship she had never
known, and the limitations these lacks
imposed on her. She wanted something
she wasn't quite sure what it was
but she wanted it. She counted the
money she had made, and the sum
crystallized her vague longings into
action.
Mother" she said to Mrs. Madden
as soon as she reached the boarding
house, "I'm going to Paris. You can
come along or you can stay in New
York, wherever you think you'll be
most comfortable and happy"
Mrs. Madden wouldn't have missed
goiJ2g to Paris for several blocks of
Florida real estate. Once there, al
though she considered French coffee
personal offenSe and Shuddered at the
price of comfortable fire, the magical
city bewitched her. She began to make
friends with such Americans as she
could find. Mrs. Madden was, though
loath to admit 1t, having the time of
her life.
So was Avery. She had enough
money saved for two years at the
modest rate she and her mother were
living so that she was not hag-ridden
by poverty. Something of the natural
gayety of her youth came back to her,
and the cleverly dressed French women.
were a challenge to her dowdiness.
Avery had not been in Paris two weeks
before she was buying clothes Avery
in straight russet crepe, with whop-
ping gilt buckle on shiny black
leather belt, cape of russell wool,
rowdy little black hat on her red hair,
was figure to make heads turn along
the boulevards Avery in the evening
In slip Of reseda green and string
of beads that pretended to be crystal,
but were only clear glass (but oh
how superlatively Partisan was the
pretense D-this Avery was a parsonage.
After a little she began to study
under the stiffeSt martinez in the whole
art world of Paris, a man who believed
that drawing is the backbone of all art,
and who was reputed to say his prayers
to Michelangelo Though Avery had
little French and M. Roulaix no English
at all, he saw that here was a pupil
who had the energy and the will to
work and the intelligence to guide It.
With M Roulaix her staleness vanish
ed, her confidence returned. She began
to think Of murals and to work toward
them.
A VERY was established in this rou-
tine when Mrs. Doerrs descended
on Paris for her seasons wardrobe and