er picture, and I will urge my suit. If she accepts me I
will take her away at once. Evelin's picture is ready for framing; I
will send it to the dealer's to-morrow. I wish to God I could get away
before she comes again!"

"Why not? You have nothing to keep you. If the girl really loves you she
will marry you out of hand, and be only too glad to cut loose from all
unpleasant associations. And now let's take a last look at the
pictures," he said.

They had been walking slowly in the direction of Goetze's cottage. They
entered now, and the artist lighted the gas. Then he arranged the
portraits of the two women as he had done for his friend's inspection
nearly a half-year previous. Both were thinking of that evening now. How
long ago it seemed. Harry sat silent before them for a long time.

"They are wonderful portraits, Goetze," he said, at length; "but, do you
know, it doesn't seem to me that they have quite the artistic value of
the first sketches."

"You are right, Harry; they are too minute. I shall destroy some of that
to-morrow."

The other was silent. After a long pause he said, thoughtfully, "There
_is_ something-- I can't tell where it is, either; but it is certainly
there."

"You refer to the resemblance?"

"Yes; it is hardly that, however."

"I have thought very little about it lately. It troubled me terribly for
a while."

"Well, good-night, Julian," said Lawton, rising. "If there are to be any
orange-blossoms, I suppose I am best man."

"Yes, Harry. Good-night!"

Two days later, when Eva Delorme came to the studio, the artist thought
he had never seen her so beautiful.

And now the whiteness of his own soul was turned to view. He resembled
as little the man who had trembled before Evelin March, as Evelin March
was like this beautiful being before him.

With all the ardor and fervid eloquence of his nature he urged his suit;
and she, tearful and trembling before him, half consented. He caught her
to his breast and covered her face with kisses.

"My darling--my darling," he murmured, "we will leave this smoky, dingy
city; I will take you to a beautiful land where the flowers never fade
and the air is forever filled with their fragrance. Where the blue skies
of an eternal summer are above us, and the blue waves of a whispering
sea shall lull us to peace. There is a tiny island in the Mediterranean
on the coast of France. I was there once; it is like heaven. I will take
you there. Say that you