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Show Magazine Section Ml oneuxor to Marshall Oaunt, I unexpectedly iummond to England la midwinter by a telegram from bit tollcitort saying that bo had died from bronchial pneumonia. Hla ifame at a portrait painter wat not to firmly eetabliahed that the public took any Interest tn hit health, and I had received no warning of hit ill nett from the English papers which came irregularly, five, tlx. or seven days after publication,, to Campl-tellmoreover, as be only wrote letters when business urged him, I had been compelled for a twelvemonth to content myself with hia general advice: "As lon as you don't hear from me you may assume, that I'm alive; the solicitors will know toon enough when I'm A) ,u o; ietjmu Even If, for once, be bad not spoken ironically, I felt confident that the announcement would not have to be made for another twenty years. Gaunt was a man of my own age a few months more or less, but certainly not a day older than 4S; and, thought thought and more than once In the last year had told him that he was beginning to eat too little and .drink too much, hia resilient constitution and his wiry, frame, which had come unscathed through the war, were more than a match for the excesees to which he subjected them; end, though I may have thought, too, that he shut himself up unduly In his studio, working and smoking with equal fury, I was not Ilfs justified In criticising ,his habit ofalterunless I oould suggest a practical ' ' native Six months before I had at least saved him from the cutting of his throat and had persuaded him that he was an artist with a future; If he chose to work himself to death his suicide was at least deand might yet be averted by the cayed deliberate mareh.of time and the stealing, slow stepa of forgetfulness. The' solicitors, lrt a consolatory postsuggested that I should not have script, to endure many days of the English winas the estate waa small and the will ter, elmple and precise; to his slBter. Mrs. Mountjoy, Marshall was bequeathing his exiguous savings, the lease of his Malda Vale house, and an almost worthless accumulation of tattered books and ram- shackle furniture; as I bad almost convinced him that he was a genius not yet come Into hla own and that we must nurse his reputation, the pictures unfln-ise- d or unsold were confided to me with instructions to hold or sell, according to the state of the market; and, though he did not cite me by name, I could think of no rival claimant under the clause which empowered the executor, in hia discretion, to give tokens of remembrance to any friends who cared to ask for them. I reflected, as I settled into ths train at Florence, that if .the whole of my duties were likely to be this discreet of claims between Mrs. Mountjoy' and her dead brother's friends. I might well have continued to sun myself In the ' ilia at which Catnpltello. In hta most normal I should call the years from cnod, the Slade school to the outbreak o'f the War. Marshall Gaunt had lacked friends with his Ironical detachment, lie did not need friends and even frlght-'eue- d them sway; if the propinquities of a mess and of joint service urged him intd ephemeral Intimacies, he made no to preserve them when the war ntempt was over and he could escape to Maids to Valo or Campitello; women, he gravely assured me, he would gladly have admitted to hla life had he had leisure for v them. The funeral took place on fhe day after my arrival, but the coffin waa already sealed and I could take no farewell of face with the deepset, the smoldering eyee which used to turn in certain lights and moods from brown to golden red, flashing with disconcerting mischief under their Mephtstophellan brows Mrs, Mountjoy told me that he had allowed hla beard, which he had shaved on joining the army, to grow and that this, with the again, narrow cheekbones, restored toprominent, 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 of year before hla death, with threads silver in the thick, black hair on his temno new the and wrlnklea, longer ples puckering of A quick smile, round his eyes. He was restless in manner, she said, and unconcentrated in expression; I should not have been surprised If she had substituted "wandering" and "haunted. "The truth la. Mr. Bandon," she concluded, "he never got over the war. To a man of hla temperament, sensitive and emotional. It must have been s greater strain than to anyone else. I'm sure you know what I mean. . . . And Ks not as though he waa s boy; Marshall was almost forty when he Joined the army, and at that age there's not the same recupower. perative As I had come to bury Marshall, not to praise him and still less to argue about Mrs. . him, 1 saw no purpose in reminding Mountjoy that he had declared hia age sa SI for the purpose of .obtaining commission and that he had applied for a commission because this temperament of hla forbade him ever to hesitate on the outskirts of an sdventure. Maybe mi slater had seen so much of him In the last weeks that the latest Impression obliterated all that he had left in earlier years, maybe she waa an unthinking woman Incapable of giving a period Ua date and if at any time Mai shall Gaunt ' place; showed himself emotional and sensitive In the twelve months between his was it demobilization and his death; If the quality was there before It was so uncompromisingly repressed that it played Its part only by night attacks and secret raids from his unconscious mind I Did death come very suddenlyT asked, as we returned from the cemetery. was taken til on Tuesday and "He died on Friday, Mrs. Mountjoy told me. "It was peaceful, I hope?" "Very. Im thankful to say. 1 dont think he even knew he was dying; It was all so unexpected that he didn't have time to resist." Again 1 saw no purpose In asking myself or her whether, granted the time and the warning, he would have shown any wish to resist. Was he unconscious? I Inquired. Not until the very end." ' "And I suppose, if hs didn't knew he was dying, he couldn't have left' any mes or Instructions?'' sage "No. I asked him If he didnt like you to be sent for, but he didn't want any one. As she, who had attended the deathbed, did not hint that even in the last mo rnenta of delirium he had let fall any phrases that Invited an explanation, I to put the ldsa into her did not choose neae. ' I "The will, gather. Is with the solicitors, I said, as we entered the house "He sent me a copy when it was drawn; it only remains for us to see If there are any codicils or later Instructions don't think so, said Mrs. Mountjoy.. - "I For at least seven years I had not atlrred ths ubiquitous dust of the studio; and In s friendship of four times that duration I had been admitted only to the room, to a study and once, at dining a season of sickness to Marshall's own bal-anc- white-cheek- ' old. shabby bedroom. His sister led me round quickly and without visible emotion, though in her very speed I seemed to detect a womans distaste for the squalid setting of an bachelor, a distaste mitigated bv wondsr that hs had remained perhaps a bachelor and by resentment, born of loyalty, that I should be the witness of these threadbare intimacies. In the matter-of-fadisposal of Marshall Gaunts useless efforts I copied her own impatience and detachment; hurriedly we set sable the books that were to be forwarded to her own house in Surrey, unsentimsntally we sorted the neglected .wardrobe and packed the clothes in shapeless bundles for his old School's mission In ct ' f ' '. v t ; find out more about her;, she interests - me , Then he went back to hi easel, end 1 saw hta narrow, white face lighting to a smile aa he painted in "A Daughter of Pan." ,, - " That was our- - first meeting, my own first warning; and, looking back on it all, I do not think that, if 1 had my time over again, I should act differently. Had Gaunt been a dissolute boy of twenty I might have counseled him not to lay up trouble for himself or others; but. In so far as I knew hint, he was a detached man of more than and rather forty, with a certain sense of responsibility and even stronger Instinct for general fitness of conduct. That he had any designs on Bianca was Improbable; that he would try to carry out any designs on her In the Intermittent presence of her scowling sweetheart and through the medium of an interpreter was Inconceivable. By day, so far as I could gather, he subordinated a all personal Interest to the ext- - Rortherhithe, I, too; waa anxious enough to escape from the gray lifelessness and the chill mists of Maids Vale in winter. "He wanted you to choose something for yourself,' said Mrs. Mountjoy, pausing, flushed over the last, unfinished parcels of books Its In the will. And even if it Werent. . . T hoped that perhaps there might be some sketch, I said. , Anything he has left in the studio. , . What I was seeking had so far eluded me, even In the of Marshalls it- - was destroyed, bedroom ; perhaps sanctity perbehind left unfinished in some unhaps explored corner of. my own villa. I believed, nevertheless, that the faculty of which came to ltfe when Marshall revealed himself as "sensitive and "emotional" would have preserved, for future mortification, the iron spike which he had bound Into his flesh a year before. And it-- was in the studio that I lighted upon the object of my quest: an unfinished drawing of an Italian peasant girl's head and ahoulders. not turned to the wall, not hidden, yet equally not thrust Into prominence, but left as a cripple might have exposed the boots and spurs of hla hard-rldlyouth. I was careful not to show thst it wakened any Interest In me; cautiously and I perambulated reverently the studio, half choosing and. 'wholly rejecting, twice the insufficient paying little Bianca tribute of a transitory cold,, glance, before I felt dispassionate enough to ask whether I might carry- - It away, as . a memento of mv friend and of his art, ths wistful, sullen portrait of this little Murillo face with the prominent cheekbones and , drooping mouth, ths ' rather broad nose and searing eyes. "I dont think I know that, said Mrs. Mountjoy, delicately wrapping her hand in a duster .before venturing to draw the glmy canvas into a better light. "I suppose that's one of the studies he did when ho was staying with you last year. "For a wonder, he doesnt seem to have dated kJKI said; and this lapse, .from candor 'was the last sacrifice of truth to friendship that I was compelled to make. "If you don't want to keep It "Touro most welcome to it, said Mrs. Mountjoy, stepping past me to lift the picture down from the ledge on which it was standing.' As she drew it away from the wall there was a metallic clatter, followed by the sound of something round and light rolling over bare boards. Before I could see what had fallen.- she had stooped and picked up a long, slender knife set In a rough wooden handle. "What a dangerous thing to leave about!" she exclaimed. This time I had no opportunity of walking Indifferently round the studio to impress her with my lack of Interest, but re t elmple Ingredients of our evening meal. It was my turn now to become conscious of atmospheric disturbance; and I cannot define tbs sensation better than bv saying that I seemed to hav interrupted a private emotional scene which ths actors Independently decided to suspend so long as I was present. From a distance I should have judged that It was a scene of anger, or, leas gloriously, of petulance, but, at close quarters, I appeared to have Interrupted a love passage, and for the first time I felt thst thev had reached an understanding from which I was excluded. Blanca, I felt very sure as I looked at her passionate eyes and hungry mouth, wanted to be kissed no whit less than Marshall Gaunt wanted to kies her; It was unsatisfied longing more than fatigue or artistic Impatience that made them so querulous and (brought that golden red restless eyes; and the light into Gaunt's fact that I had Interrupted their scene filled me with misgivings for Its end. at a little over forty, and Bianca, Gaunt, A Marshall Gaunts Ups met hers, she stood forth bare and unincumbered as the animal spirit. It was only by a flash o lightning, as It were, thst I saw her. By the time thst I had set the table with a flask of wine and glasses she had reverted to the guarded friendliness which she reserved for these repasts at the end of the days work, and It was in Gaunt that the change of manner lingered. Excited and boisterous from the beginning, with glittering eyes and a flush on his long, white face, he seemed to be atoning tor his moment of harshness by extravagant affection; when he was not filing Blanca's glass or pressing her favorite sweetmeats upon her he was patting her cheek, hand, or plating with her stroking herwere hah Both drinking more wine than usual, drinking It, too, without water. I had atood up to fetch another flask, and, while my back was turned and my head half inside the cupboard, I heard a scuffle. Gaunt had been sitting with hla rech. to do. The girl looked, from the quivering haft to the stain on Gaunt's shirt, then drew hersvif upright and plunged Into his arms aa though to stanch the bleeding with the touch of her bosom. As Gaunt'srsrm slipped, readily protecting, round her waist, 1 touched his shoulder. "You're with fire, both of you," I warned playing him, but he only laughed and held the pHant, swaving body tighter as he bent to kiss the Well, Ups. even if you pay no upturned .attention to me, remember that there are other people to consider," I added, as s familiar knock he answered evasively. "Thatl ths worst of your unpractical artist "Then let's think hers and now thl two of us. Are you going to carry het off, make her your mistress, get rid of her when you're tired of her, send her back spoiled and unfitted for any kind of life that she's used to with perhaps a child in the bargain? "Strange as U may seem, I am not", said Gaunt with an effort to shelter himself behind his usual Irony. "I'm give to understand that its a most praiseworthy and delightful thing to do, bui Tvs no experience, my technique would fell upon the studio door. break down. Besides what waa het Ths sound caused Gaunt at least to phrase? is sacred'? 8h 'My master his pew intoxication, bvft Blancs. wouldn't let me'body carry her off. even If J none too gently disengaged from hla arms, , wanted to, and, aa It happens. I dont looked at him with reproach and per- - want to." "Then you mustn't sea her again, I plexlty, aa though he had repulsed her. When the door opened and she saw the told him. "And, as you will see her H author of the interruption, she strode with you stay here, you must clear out, You swinging hip and shoulders across the realize that? The irony in Gaunt'a smile and tow echoing floor and screamed defiance Into the scowling face of Antonio, who at ones were evidence to me that ha was affect with In threats to jest for fear of bursting hla trail replied mingled Infective, and entreaties. bonds of Above their tumult It was difficult for I dont, h StranMs It may esem, us to make our voices heard snYwered. , What are they shouting about? de"Then, once again, what are you goln manded Gaunt. to do?" "She's explaining that she's tired of You've surely not exhausted all th him and hates him and always has hated xisstble solutions? What would vott say him and always will," I answered; "and f I suggested marrying BlanceY he'a threatening to murder you and her if I shouldn't readily think you oapable you lav a finger on her. Hea. also re- of being such a fool. You're middle-ageminding her of the vows they've ex- and ehe'a a child; you're an angular, . changed and of his undying love for her. moody bachelor, and ahe'e a young savThe rest can only ba described as vulgar age; you've been brought up In a certain abuse on both sides. way, and ahe'e a peasant. Good God, he's loosed off quits you'd have to hire me e Interpreter beWell, I think enough, said Gaunt with decision, sa he fore you proposed to her!" marched .to the door and Joined eagerly "I don't, think that'll be necessary. After and unintelligibly tn the altercation. all, we re naturally intelligent, though eur For five minutes three angry voices education haa been neglected; ahe can learn English, ' and I can learn Italian. I know half a dozen words already. Tvs proposed readable' romance. "I Fromeasl 6posl" Mark you, I won't swear thst she quite understood what I was driving at, but I hammered away; and ahe'a coming tomorrow to give me While he was In this mood I knew it would be fruitless to argue with him. "Let's talk IS over In the morning," I said, when you're cool. And now come out for a walk." "Ill come for a walk with pleasure, but I don't know what there is to talk over. I shall be grateful, all the same, If you can spare time to be present. , . " Our Interview next day waa the etran-- . the gest that I have ever attended, Could be strangest that any man, aurely. required to attend. My duty wea to convey to one helpless creature an offer of marriage fom anothdfTjilsituse so betpleas y that he said to me, tn trembling appre-4 henelon. Youre going to play the game, aren't you? Swear you wont try to set her against mal" I employed the, shortest, simplest formula that I could devise, and Bianca, hanging her head, answered: "I'understood. He told me yesterday. "Well, he wants' to know what you sa? to It Her answer reminded me of a phrase that Gaunt had once used In praise of her "sublime common sense." "It's impossible, absurd. I sometimes wonder whether, to the hour of his death, Marshall Gaunt believed that I was keeping my word and arguing, not In his Interests, Heaven knows, but loyally and honorably bn bla behalf, in tha terms of toy brief, Bianca talked for ten minutes, I should say, the short phreeee and letting trickle broken sentences of one who had never been trained to think comprehensively or to express herself coherently. A dozen times she came beck to her uncompromising statement that it waa Impossible, absurd for such a man to marry such a girl as aha was; they would be miserable; they had nothing In common but their love; luxury of dress and living had no power to tempt her into forgetting this Insuperable bar; the urgency of Gaunt, vehement tn unintelligible English and passionate in dumb show, shook, but never overbalanced her. 'Tvs done my beet," I told him at the end. I d, alreadyXbat-eelebrsted-but-ui- -- - in calling Sunday, August 14, 1921 , ths knife dangerous she had given ms my cue. "He must have brought thst back, too, I said. "It's an ordinary gardening knife; you sea them by the thousand anywhere In Italy. I believe they're used, among other things, for pruning ths vines. If you're afalrd that some-oh- e will cut his fingers with It. . . Of utility the knife showed little promise; of beauty or worth none at all. Before I left the house that afternoon It had been riven to me; and, when I. returned to Italy a week later, It accompanied me with a stout cork over Its dagger point and a wad of felt round Its murderous blade In the trunk that already contained the mediocre portrait behind which it had so appropriately sheltered Itself for the best part of a year. Though Marshall Gaunt was my guest during the whole time that he was painting Blanca, I never saw him at work on this portrait. On morning, I remember, he told me In high Jubilation that he had discovered an Incomparable model; but an important collection was being dispersed . In Florence, and, when I returned making a wholly undesigned dramatic entry It was In time to see him painting his signature with free and grandiose sweeps of the brush. Blana I never heard her other name-h- ad crept down from the dais to inspect and criticise, and was standing at his elbow, munching, with a box of chocolates pressed jealously to her waist. In the studio, face to face with the canvas and looking from ths one to the other with an esthetic Judgment, I felt that Marshall had painted an indifferent picture of a girl who was unprepossessing by almost everv artistic standard. In ths framework of her bones, in the molding of her flesh and tn the coloring of her hair and eyes, poor Blanca was Innocent of all beautv; a great Tirtlst, seeing her curiosity and gratification In staring at her own portrait: seeing, too, the tenacity with which she gripped the chocolate box, and guessing, no doubt, ths acquisitiveness with whlcj shk had seised it. might have painted her symbolically as a wolf In the early stages of domestication by food; but Marshall Gaunt would have been the first to admit that ha waa not a great symbolic artist. "Hullo! I say, you've missed the time of your life!" he cried aa he caught sight of me. This picture. . . , Don't try to think of polite things to say about It. because I know as well as you that Its bad But Ive had great fun with this young It's all right; she doesn't underlady. stand English. First of all, luring her here from a mother who entertained the unworthlest suspicions of my moral character; then persuading her that I did not tn the least want a study of ths node. Her mind is that of a maiden aunt. . . . Then the dally duel with Antonio; I don't know if that's his name, but he's ths young man who comes here every evening to fetch her away, and. incidentally, to murder me If he thinks I've been poaching on his preservea "I couldnt very' well explain to either of them thst Its the childs ugliness thit attracts me. The moment I saw her. . . Half starved and cunning. Ignorant and credulous with an astounding shrewdness, a sublime common sense running through It all avaricious, but so honest that you could leave her alone and famished, she wouldnt go off with a penny-piecVirtuous . . . When I tilted her chin In posing her, she slapped my face for me; and yet I've never seen more animal greed and passion on a human face. Fascinating! I must be getting very old or decadent or something when I find ugliness so attractive, but I confess that her variety of it bowls ms over. I'm going to paint her again. And again and again until I get that transcendent beauty of ugliness. . . . Now I suppose she wants some fobd. You might suggest It to her; I'm getting rather tired of dumb show. As I had myself eaten no. food for ten hours I welcomed the excuse for at least a glass of wine and crust of bread. Gaunt also had fasted since early morning, and the three of us sat down on the divan to refresh ourselves until Biancas cavalier cams to fetch h?way. Supported by an Interpreter, GsunsvProjected a aeries of sdemlngly dlscofftiected Inquires about her life and upbringing, to which the girl replied with a brevity conditioned half bv reserve and half by Inability to grasp his abstract questiona I cannot pretend that the conversation amused me. aa ths onlv interest lay in Gaunt's intellectual Infatuation for ths girl or for the mental image of her which hs had created, and this I considered certainly foolish and perhaps undesirable. That It even held seeds of danger became apparent when Blanca, relieved of shy-nand suspicion by the presence of a third party, began to respond gently to the warming flattery of Gaunte whimsical attention. I noticed that the sullen eyes from time to time raised themselves for s fleeting glance at him; etray. attractive words of F.nglish were repeated under her breath with a caressing woner; end, when her sweetheart knocked defiantly at the studio door, we had charmed one husky laught from' her and more than one smile. "Tell her I want her to come again tomorrow," aald Gaunt, aa we surrendered Blanca to an aggresaive youth whose naturally unamlable face had been twisted Into a permanent scowl by a shrapnel wound that had displaced the muscles of one cheek. "And mind you're here." he added when we were alone. "I want to ... e. ... fs but But-- T, . . stammered "Blancs! I waited for a moment and then slipped sway Forgetful of my presence or indifferent to it, Gaunt waa beginning to speak and to gesticulate in a way which he would not care afterward to be re- -, minded of; end, as hs raved in this conscious delirium. I could not look alt ihs twisted, damp face nor at Bianca's fasn cinated and eyes. As I hurried out of earehot I Wondered for a moment whether I did well in leaving them with no one to check this lava stream of primitive, pent desire; I hurried on when I had taken time to realise that neither I nor anyone else could reason or wreetla with a man In Gaum s mood until he had overwhelmed the girl's resistance or allowed himself to be convinced bv It. When I returned to the darkening studio he was alone, sprawling on the dtvan as though his arms end legs had broken their union with his body, and gasping for breath like a man who has run to a standstill, As my footsteps rang out on the tiled floor he raised his head eagerly and then let It fall with a groan. "Something to drink! Water! Anything" he panted "Where Is she?" ' Tve not seen her," I answered "I must talk to her; shs doesnt understand. I won't let her gq. , . She must! I ettempted a remonstrance, but before I could finish It hs had stumbled to his feet and staggered out of the studio, knocking from my hand ths glass of water that I was bringing him. Whether he found her or not I never Inquired; whether In a long week of hungry prowl ing he ever caught another of her I do not know; for most ofglimpse ths day and night he was absent, end. though we took our meals together. It was In silence. The end came one night when I observed him making prodigious efforts to recover his old Ironical manner; and In ths course of dinner he Informed mo that he wee returning to Fpfand "It must he pgrfrthl for you to part with so chsrmltrk a guest, he added, "but I must steel myself against your most frantic efforts to retain me." "I'm sorry to lose you," I said, but I won't pretend that a complete change st isn't for you. thing In the world ' In the autumn, I shant be alive In the "Pleas God. perhaps1 autumn," he interrupted Though I told him not to talk nonsense, I wee sufficiently concerned for his health and sanity to come over In the summer and spend a couple of months in London. Though perhaps' I flatter myself. I believe that when one of his now recurrent attacks of melancholia threatened to master him I was the means of pulling him up on the brink of suicide, and when I left he had settled down to at least a slower method of by excessive work end somewhat excessive drinking. In time I hoped he would recover enough of hie old Indifference to dispense i with even these elds tn oblivion; but Illness attacked a weakened constitution and a broken moral resistance, and he flickered out like a rushlight, as I have already suggested, before he had given himself time to struggle against death. That he made no reference to Blanca hardly surprised me, though I wraa glsd to be spared questiona which would only have elicited that' mv prophecy wes being fulfilled. Her passion for Gaunt, held In check and mastered by the shrewd knowledge that she could never make him a suitable wife, waa unhappily not killed when she ran sway from his Importunity nor even when he paid good-b- y to Italy. As I had predicted, her mind wes unsettled. for' a time at least she oould think of no one else; and her obsession was most pathetic In that her old sweetheart, from association with her tragedy, waa the man of all men whom she refused even to meet, I used to sey. " He and In time -- terror-stricke- t Imm srhmst in reaching the divan in time ta grip and drn hack the brawn, powerful little hand that was grouping and had already pricked Count e cheat. Then I tried Is make hr drop it without cutting my fingert off. at. I suppose, seventeen, had this In common. that sex had played little part in their conscious life Gaunt, I believe, had experienced a romance In bovhood and had lived faithful to Ita memory for twenty years, Bianca. I dare say. had never could not look back on those before been kissed. If thev had been days so complacently, for I can see now overwrought all dav, that broken moment that there were danger signals which I of embrace had maddened them. Until I cculd see some hope of avoidought to have regarded. Little by little. In voice and manner, Gaunt showed anying disaster it was Impossible to banish one who cared to see that he was falling the misgivings. Even if Gaunt recovered In love with Bianca; little by little. In his senses in time to pack up for En the new concern for her meager little gland before any more harm waa done, person, tn her efforts to learn English, he still could not undo the harm of havand most of all In her trick of following unsettled the foundations of this little ing him with devoted eyes as he moved savages mind; It was likely enough that about the studio, Bianca began timidly to he had given her a distaste for the simreturn his love; and the best excuse thst pler appeal cf her scowling sweetheart, I can make for my own blindness is that it was even possible that, bv lighting a the Idea of love between two such people fire in her and not feeding It. he would wat so fantastic1 that I refused to con compel the flames to lick their way. In tentative exploration, until thev found template It. I might be refusing to this day if I had something else to consume not had the forced If. on the other hand. Gaunt allowed notiae. upon my proof The first- - picture had been followed by a himself to he swept away, blind and mad, Inthe second a third that second, by realising his madness and rushing on different, unfinished portrait which I car- Indifferent to it, there would be bodily to ried back Campitello from the studio disaster and sordid tragedy for Blanca's In Malda Vale. One afternoon, as It portion, spiritual disaster and remorse for neared completion, I observed a change In his own; that he could protect , himself Marshall Gaunt'a demeanor; a new from the vengeance of the family was making him restless, and the and friends by carrying Tier togirl's distant serestlessness reacted on Blanca until she, curity, I was ready to assume, though a patient sitter made perfect bv her lov- shy general survev of his risks could not ing desire to please him, .moved and overlook the hundredth chance that he fidgeted beyond the limit of the most Inmight be followed across Europe and left with g knife between h s ribs. dulgent artists toleration. If ever It were worth s man's while to In my room next to the studio I heard him first ask and then tell her to sit still; break head or heart against such obwas her murmured reply peevish Intone, stacles. it was not worth white with poor and when next Gaunt spoke there waa an little Bianca as sole prise. As I grew to unpleasing snap In hia voire. As Blanca's know her better I did Indeed realize thst English was on the primitive level of beauty of ugliness which bad first exGaunta Itsllan, I felt that they were get- cited Gaunt's artistic Interest; I am preting at cross purposes and was about to pared to go further and to say that I volunteer my services aa peacemaker or discovered in it a sinister attraction. at least as Interpreter when the fast In the portrait Snd It Is the solenerif crumbling endurance of 'the artist was of that unsatisfactory work Gaunt conblown away by an explosion of Irrational trived to bring out what I thought tbpn and disproportionate anger. and believe more strongly now to have "Damnation!" I heard. "For the love been the essence of Blanca; the pure anti of God, sit (till, can't you?" Whatever mal In the guise of woman which led him ths words) conveyed, there waa no mis- to christen her a daughter of Pan. Retaking tha tone, and I caught a pathetic ligion and some rudimentary education whimper of surprise and fear. It waa fol- affected. Indeed, to bind her at least with lowed by a quick softening of Gaunt's ropes of sand; but I always felt that these voice. "Here, it's all right! pon't cry, conventions, In which at heart she did not Blanca. I didn't mean it. It's absolutely believe, obscured the essential Bianca as ell right! Im not angry with you, but I her conventional clothes blurred the outexpect wsrs both a bit tired. Let's have line of her animal body When first I a breather. saw her, voraciously gobbling chocolates When I came Into the studio he was and suspiciously clutching the box, I on one arm the with dais likened her to a wolf In the early stages round standing the girl's heaving ahoulders, patting her of domestication bv food; but. as I obhead with his other hand, drying her served her day after day for a month, eyes, and. at the end, kissing her cheeks she seemed, tn every movement that reand then tie llpa. At the scrape of mv vealed her nature to shed domestication, . dog that from afar boots on the tiled floor she shook him off like a and turned away until she felt composed hears the forgotten, ancestral pack In enough to face us, while I tock Gaunt's cry until .In the tense, thunderous atgencies of the sitting; and It wat onlv In ths evening, when I Joined them in their crust and glass of wine, that they dropped the relation of artist and model for that of one human being to another. Had I enjoyed greater opportunities of observation I hla-tl- arm round Blanca's shoulders: when I came back he had drawn her on his In b moment he was bending to knees kiss her again, and I was fortunate In reaching the dtvan in time to grip and drag back the brown, powerful little hand that was grasping a long knife and had already pricked Gaunt'a chest till his shirt showed a widening circle of blocd I remember wondering before all else, to the exclusion of all else, where she had concealed so ungainly a weapon snf how she could move so supplely with ten Inches of naked steel and four of wooden haft disposed among her clothing Then tried to make her drop It without cutting mv fingers off; and, when It had clattered to the floor and 'I had my foot on It, I could attend to Gaunt, who was from the slain, of blood to hid looking would-b- e murderess with such amaxement as Would have moved me to laughter at a moment less grave. The little devil! . . . You see that, Bandon . . . She actually tried to stab me" The prick of the knife had sobered him and destroyed all desire to continue his caresses. "What's she jabbering about?" "She sa her body is sacred, I translated. At a secure distance Gaunt dabbed at his chest with a reddening handkerchief and kept hla eyes averted from me. Well. 1 know that," he muttered. 'I wasnt go'ng to harm he t , , She didn't mind the time before when I kissed her. . . . You saw. "Perhaps she didn't realize what was happening then or now. You may be thankful It's no worse. Brightly, through all ths confusion of shocked excitement. I seemed to see an unexpected escape for Gaunt from thia entanglement. "You'd better pay what you owe her and get rid of her And Ill put the fear of God Into her so that she doesn't go about telling Antonio and the rest thst you insulted her."" I was Just turning to impress Blanca with the enormity or trying to stab undemonstrative Englishmen when I was astonished to see her crumple up and fall to her knees, burying her face in her hands and then stretching them in entreaty to Gaunt. She nays she's mad She's asking you to kill her now," I Interpreted. He stared at her and then broke Into a laugh. "What a bloodthirsty little ruffian it is.' he commented. "Look here, explain to her that my Intentions are strictly honorable and say that, if she feels I took any liberties with her, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I don't want to kill her, and she mustn't try to kill me. By the same token. I think we'll put this little toy outcof harm's way. Drawing the knife from under my foot, he drove the point of It Into the woodmosphere of the day and moment when work of the wall a yard above Blajtca'a half-tam- arm and mads him help me lay out ths V 1 J m long knife , held forth in two languages to ths limit of lung capacity and with a rich accomAt the end. paniment of pantomime Gaunt turned on his heel and led Blanca back Into the atudio; the rejected lover vowed vengeance in an operatic speech, but at length, when he could find no one to answer him or even to listen, was compelled to go swayt "And Its time for you to be going, too," 1 told Blanca. Whatever ltfe she and Gaunt chose to make for themselves, I ass determined that they should not embark upon it until hs at least had thought over It for twelve hours in cold blood. she murmured, without "My knife," looking at me. "W hgt's she talking about?" asked Gaunt. "She wants her knife." I translated "She says the other man will kill her at, s.ght." "O, will he? drawled Gaunt. "Then I think I II see her home." After one glance at the knife, he decided to leave it where it was. "Here, my child, 1 m not going to rob you, but 1 think that's, rather an unsafe thing to carry about; you d better have something that shuts up even If it's not se useful as a weapon of defense.- - Explain to her, Baden, that I L want to effect an exchange." My services as Interpreter were hardly needed when once Gaunt had exhibited to her delighted eyes a knife with two blades and s corkscrew, a spike, and saw, a file and the long steel hook traditionally designed for removing stones from a horse's hoof She was turning It over with eager fingers and Inspecting ths Inname set sliver plate as they left the studio; I saw Blanca look up with a am le of rapture; and her ugliness was burnt sway by the radiance of her eyes, revealing a new beauty underneath. Nev. erthelees. though I, too, realised this new beauty in her. It was a sinister beautv; and 1 was oppressed with what I must call panic fear because I was afraid without a reason. When Gaunt returned an hour later, I cduld see that he would have preferred to be left In peace; but I felt that, for all the disorder of hla wound and hta excited emotions, I must force him to look ahead before he committed himself irrevocably. We'd better be quite frank about "I see how things this," I suggested. stand at present. What are you going to " do next? "Thata what I can't tell you Just yet," he answered, then, with an attempted bolt, "She's made the deuce of a hole In my chest I went Into a chemist's for some antiseptic" "Don't run away from my questions, Marshall," I Interrupted. "Are you going to carry her off?" know whet I',m going "I really don t i ... the-be- ... 0 Oostiazed ee Page Yew 1 . |