Show ff HE COMMON LAW k kY BY y ROBERT ROBER T W. W CHAMBERS I 11 j INSTALMENT 4 4 I He turned toward her standing on onIs hi Is the big palette curving up er his ils left leU shoulder a wet brush ex- ex x- x in his right hand ii What hat shall I do he exclaimed so that she sat fat up straight ar tarried r led forgetting her Ought g stifle the vigor the energy the est sass ess desire that drives me to ex- ex resa re m that myself self that will not tolerate 1 le ertla of calculation and pondera ponder- ponder Is a Ought I to check cheek my- my it consider worry entangle m myself seek for tor subtleties hero her rP h none exist split exist split hairs relapse e et t philosophy when my nger itch for a a. lump of charcoal t every er color on my set palette yells time ft me e to be about my business business' He passed the hat flat tip of his wet rush ush through the mass of or rags In his I it Ct hand and with a graceful motion like i Ill to a sword I jell 1 ell you I do the things which I It ijas t as 11 easily as naturally as happily Tally any fool of a dicky-bird dicky does docs his f fernat r twittering on an an April morn morn- morn morn- p God knows whether theres there's any any- any any- in to m my work or in Jt ither he nor I are likely to Jm- Jm roye oVe our output by pondering and gli Please resume the Sh Shedid dl so lO her dark young eyes on oh on mand he continued painting and in his clear rapid decisive c a abler anner er i Pi name Is Louis Seville Neville em Th Thy They y I ll h me me Kelly Kelly my friends do heI he ire I I laughing Have Ha you ever er seen l my my work life laughed laughed again more Ie of l ng However ci I suppose you youn ou 1 w n TK pat at big canvas camas of mine for th the II ng of the Metropolitan museums museum's IS' IS W northwest wing wins The entire town i a Yes I saw raw It It t yoU vou care for I if it l Shaf had cared for it too intensely I gT e him any adequate answerer answer v er r I before had her sense of color Id d orm and beauty been so I ly satisfied by bv the painted magic of y j ivinS' ivinS painter So this was the an tn who ho had halt enck enveloped her swayed her senses whirled her upward Into his ocean of limpid light This was wat the man who had done done one that miracle before which all day long crowds of th tile e sober decent unimaginative the the solid BoUd essentials of the th nation nation had had lin lingered fascinated I This was the man across there on a stepladder And he was evidently not pot yet 30 10 and his name was Neville and hIs friends called caned him Kelly Kell Yes she sho said diffidently I 1 cared for tor I it L it I I i I 1 He 8 caught aUght h her r ey eye eyer l laughed and I went on with his work 1 The critics were savage savage he ho said Lord It hurts too But Ive I've simply simply sim sim- I. I ply IY got to be e ebu busy husy bu y What That good would it do me to sit down and draw casts with a thin pointed needle-pointed stick of hard charcoal Not ot that they sa say I J cant can't draw They admit that I can The They admit that I can can paint too He lie laughed stretched his arms Draw Drawl A blank canvas sets me mad When hen I look at one I feel like covering it with a thousand figures twisted into every intricacy and difficulty difficulty culty of foreshortening I wish I were like that Hindu god with a dozen arms and even then I c couldn't paint fast enough to satisfy what my eyes and arul bra brain n have already evoked upon arf a an untouched canvas its it's a sort of intoxication that gets hold of me Im I'm perfectly cool too which seems a paradox but And all the while inside me 15 It Is' a a constant hushed kind of laughter aughter bubbling which accompanies accompanies' every brush stroke with an I told you so and so-and and If you know what Im I'm trying to eay say say-do do doj I j you ou 7 I K not N not exactly But l I. I suppose you I mean that You ou are self confident I Lord Listen to this girl say In a doze dozer words what Im I'm t trying to say in a volume so that it wont won't scare Beare me me Yes Yes' Th That's ts t's it I J am confident I And its JL's that self confidence which sometimes scares me half to 10 death From Irom his ladder he pointed with his brush to th the preliminary sketch that faced her touching figure after figure Im going to draw them in now he said alil first this one Can you jou catch the pose pose Its It's going to be hard hardy Ill I'll block up your heels later that's It it Stand up straight stretch as though the next moment you were going to to rise on tiptoe and float upward upward upward up up- ward without an effort effort effort- He Ire was working like lightning in long beautiful clean outline strokes brushed h here re and there with shadow shapes and m masses And time flew at first then went slowly more sl slowly wl II until It dragged at her delicate 1 body and set every nerve aching T may T mav I rest a moment Sure thing he said co cordially laying lay lay- l laying ying y- y I ing aside palette and brushes Come on Miss West Vest and well we'll have luncheon lunch luncheon eon eon She hastily swathed herself in the wool robe I Do you jou mean mean here here Yes Theres There's a dumb w walter waiter alter rut Til I ring for the card card v vId Id ld ld like to she said but buL do do you jou OU think I had better I Why not oo You take mean take lunch with you Why hot not hot Ts Is it customary customary- No It isn't u w Then I think I will go out to lunch somewhere somewhere- Im not going to let you get away he said laughing Youre too good to be real Im I'm worried half to death for fear that you'll youl vanish in a golden cloud or something equally futile and I inconsiderate No Ko I J want you jou to I stay stav You dont don't mind do you you lie Ire was aiding her to descend from her eyrie her little white hand 1 balanced balanced bal bal- al- al I on his arm When she set foot on the floor she looked up at gt t him gravely You wouldn't let me do anything that I ought not to would you Mr 1 Kelly Kelly Kelly-I I mean Mr Neville sh she added added added add add- ed in confusion No Anyway I r dont don't know what you vou ought or ought not todo tedo ta do Luncheon Luncheon Luncheon Lunch Lunch- Lunch Lunch- I eon Is a simple matter of routine Its It's sole significance is two empty atom atom- aches I suppose if you ou go out you will come back but but Id Id I'd rather you'd remain I Why Why Well he admitted with a laugh Its Ils probably because I like to hear myself my talk to you B Besides Ive I've always at- at 1 I ways the hope that you'll suddenly become conversational and that's a 1 i I possibility exciting enough to give i anybody an appetite I But I have con conversed with you she said t tOnly I Only a little What That you said acted like a cocktail to inspire me mg for a I desire for more mor I T am afraid that you were w ere not i named Kelly In Vain aln I You m mean an bl blarney No Its It's merely merely mere mere- ly Ily frankness Le Let t me get you some som some i bath slippers slippers slippers- l j I Oh but Oh but if It r I am to lunch here here here- j jI I I cant can't do it this way way she exclaimed in flushed consternation I I Indeed you must learn to do th that t without embarrassment Miss West Tie up your robe at at the throat tuck i II up your jour our sleeves slip your feet teet into a anice anice anice nice pair of brand new bath th slippers suppers and Ill I'll ring for lor luncheon ba n. n I I j dont want to don't dont w want to to she be began an I I j but he went away Into the hall nan rang and presently she heard the ascending ascendIng ascending ascend ascend- ing clatter of a dumb waiter walter From I it he took the luncheon card and re returned returned returned re- re turned to where she was sitting at a rococo table She blushed as he l laid laic I I the card before her and would have nothing to do with it The result was that he did the ordering sent the dumb d dumbwaiter walter waiter down with his scribbled memorandum and came wandering back with long cool glances at his canvas and the work he had done on ItI It I mean to make a stunning thing I of It It he remarked eying the huge chassis critically All tills this deviltry deviltry f whatever it Itis Itil is inside of me must me-must must come out somehow And that canvas is the place for It it He laughed and andI sat down opposite her herMan I Man Is s born to folly boss W West West- st st. born full of It ft I get rid of mine on canvas Its It's a safer outlet for original sin than some other ways She lay back in her antique an glided gilded chair hands extended along the arms looking at him with a smile that was still shy My Mv idea dea of you you-o you you-of ou of an artist was artist was wasso so different she bhe said There are all kinds mostly the se- se I inspired and humorless variety va- va who makes a mystic religion of a aj 4 very respectable profession This world is full fun of pale enraptured artists full of muscular thumb- thumb smearing artists full rull of dreamy we weavers ers era of visions usually deficient in spinal process full of unwashed little lit lit- little little lit lit- tle tle- Inverts to whom the world really resembles a a. kaleidoscope full fun of things that wiggle wiggle ro To be continued |