I don't wonder you paused and retreated.""Spare me,Miss Ida;I already feel that it was a faint-hearted retreat,in which I suffered serious loss.I have accounted for myself since we parted;how did YOU spend the time?Of course you yawned over your morning's fatigue,and took a long nap.""Indeed I did not sleep a wink.Why should I be any more indolent than yourself?I read most of the afternoon,and drummed on the piano in the evening.""I know that I like your drumming,but am not yet sure about your author;but he must be an exceedingly interesting one,to hold your attention a long hot afternoon."Ida colored in sudden embarrassment,but said,after a moment:"Ishall not gratify your curiosity any further,for you would laugh at me again if I told you.""Now,indeed,you have piqued my curiosity.""Since you,a man,admit having so much of this feminine weakness,I who am only a woman may be pardoned for showing just a little.
What work was it that so absorbed you yesterday afternoon that you ceased to be human in your needs?""Miss Mayhew,you have been laughing at me in your sleeve ever since you came this morning.I shall take my revenge on you at once by heaping coals of fire on your head,"and he turned towards her a large picture,all of which was yet in outline,save Mr.Eltinge's bust and face.
Ida sprang down on her knees before it,exclaiming:"O!my dear,kind old friend!He's just speaking to me.Mr.Van Berg,I'll now maintain you are a genius against all the world.You have put kindness,love,fatherhood into his face.You have made it a strong and noble,and yet tender and gentle as the man himself.Inever knew it was possible for a portrait to express so much,"and tears of strong,grateful feeling filled her eyes.
Was it success in his art or praise from her lips that gave her listener such an exquisite thrill of pleasure?He did not stop to consider,for he was not in an analytical mood at that time.
He was on the crest of the spiritual wave that was sweeping him heavenward,or towards some beatific state of which he had not dreamt before.His face glowed with pleasure as he said:
"Since it pleases you,it's no more than justice that you should know that your visit was the cause of my success.Either your laugh or your kind parting words brushed the cobwebs from my mind,and I was able to do better work in a few hours than I might have accomplished in weeks."She tried to look at the picture more closely,but fast-coming tears blinded her.Then she rose,and averting her face hastily,wiped her eyes,as she said in a low tone:"I can't understand it at all,and the memory of Mr.Eltinge's kindness always overcomes me.Please pardon my weakness.There,I won't waste any more of your time,"and she returned to her chair.But her face still wore the uncertainty of an April day.
"Your affection for Mr.Eltinge,"he said gently,"is as beautiful as it is natural.No manifestation of it needs any apology,and least of all to me,for I owe to him far more than life.But I am paining you by recalling the past,"he said regretfully,as Ida's tears began to gather again."Let me try to make amends by returning at once to the present and to my work.Before I go on any farther with your portrait I want you to put this rose-bud in your hair,"and from a hidden nook he brought a little vase containing only one exquisite bud.Ida had barely time to see that it was in color and size precisely like the emblem of herself that he had thrown away,and for a few minutes she utterly lost her self-control.She buried her face in her hands,and her low,stifled sobs filled Van Berg with the keenest distress and perplexity.
"Miss Ida,"he said earnestly,"I would rather every tear you are shedding were a drop of my blood,"but his words only made them flow faster still.
Suddenly she sprang up,and turning her back upon him,dashed away her tears almost fiercely."Oh!this is shameful!"she exclaimed,in low,indignant tones."Mr.Van Berg,what must you think of me?Please turn Mr.Eltinge's face away,for he is looking at me just as he did when my heart was breaking,and--and--I've lost my self-control,and I had better not come here till I can cease being so weak and foolish.""Is it weak to be grateful?"he asked,gently."Is it foolish to love one so thoroughly entitled to your love?I honor you for your deep and tender affection for Mr.Eltinge,and every tear you have shed proves to me that in this perfect flower I am now finding the true emblem of yourself.""No,"she said,almost passionately,"I have no right to it.The other one that you threw away is true of me,and always will be.
This but mocks me with its perfection.I would be a hypocrite if I should put it in my hair,and smile complacently while you painted it.My heart clings to the other emblem,and I know I must develop as best I can,as that would have done after its destroyer was taken away.No,Mr.Van Berg.I have seen myself in the strong,sharp light of truth.If you are willing to be my friend,please be an honest one.My faithful old friend in the country would scarcely take my portrait if this perfect flower were introduced with any such meaning as you attach to it,and I certainly would be ashamed to give it to him.Mr.Van berg,we MUST let bygones by bygones,or we never can get on.See how absurdly I have acted both yesterday and to-day,and all through recalling the past.
Indeed,indeed,it will never do for me to come here again,and if you can make such a marvellous likeness of Mr.Eltinge as you have,I scarcely think there will be any need.""My success with Mr.Eltinge's portrait is the result of a few happy strokes that I might not be able to give again if I tried a year.