It were hard to say which was the stronger motive,his ambition or the love of his art;but it seemed certain that between the two,such talent as he had been endowed with would be developed quite thoroughly.And he did possess decided talent,if not genius.But his artistic gift accorded with his character,and was controlled by judgement,correct taste,and intellectuality rather than by strong and erratic impulses.His aims were definite and decided rather than vague and diffusive;but his standards were so high that,thus far,he had scarcely attempted more than studies that were like the musician's scales by which he seeks to acquire a skill in touch that shall enable him to render justly the works of the great composers.
His family had praised his work unstintedly,and honestly thought it wonderful;he had also been deluged with that kind of flattery which relaxes the rules of criticism in favor of the wealthy.Thus it was not strange that the young fellow,at one time,believed that he was born to greatness by a kindly decree of fate.But as his horizon widened he was taught better.His mind,fortunately,grew faster than his vanity,and as he compared his crude but promising work with that of mature genius,he was not stricken with that most helpless phase of blindness--the inability to see the superiority of others to one's self.Every day,therefore,of study and observation was now chastening Harold Van Berg and preparing him to build his future success on the solid ground of positive merit as compared with that of other and gifted artists.
Van Berg's taste and talent led him to select,as his specialty,the human form and countenance,and he chiefly delighted in those faces which were expressive of some striking or subtle characteristic of the indwelling mind.He would never be content to paint surfaces correctly,giving to features merely their exact proportions.Whether the face were historical,ideal,or a portrait,the controlling trait or traits of the spirit within must shine through,or else he regarded the picture as scarcely half finished.
A more sincere idolator than Van Berg,in his worship of beauty,never existed;but it was the beauty of a complete man or a complete woman.Even in his early youth he had not been so sensuous as to be captivated by that opaque fragment of a woman--an attractive form devoid of a mind.Indeed with the exception of a few boyish follies,his art had been his mistress thus far,and it was beginning to absorb both heart and brain.
With what a quiet pulse--with what a complacent sense of security we often meet those seemingly trivial events which may change the whole character of our lives!The ride had been taken,the dinner enjoyed,and the two friends were seated in the large cool hallway off the concert garden,where they could smoke without offence.The unrivalled leader,Thomas,had just lifted his baton--that magic wand whose graceful yet mysterious motion evokes with equal ease,seemingly,the thunder of a storm,the song of a bird,the horrid din of an inferno,or a harmony so pure and lofty as to suggest heavenly strains.One of Beethoven's exquisite symphonies was to be rendered,and Van Berg threw away his half-burned cigar,settled himself in his chair and glanced around with a congratulatory air,as if to say,"Now we are to have one of those pleasures which fills the cup of life to overflowing."Oh,that casual glance!It was one of those things that we might justly call "little."Could anything have been more trivial,slight,and apparently inconsequential than this half involuntary act?Indeed it was too aimless even to have been prompted by a conscious effort of the will.But this book is one of the least results of that momentary sweep of the eye.Another was,that Van Berg did not enjoy the symphony at all,and was soon in a very bad humor.That casual glance had revealed,not far away,a face that with his passion for beauty,at once riveted his attention.His slight start and faint exclamation,caused Ik Stanton to look around also,and then,with a mischievous and observant twinkle in his eyes,the bon vivant resumed his cigar,which no symphony could exorcise from his mouth.