orking at odd moments. I could not make up my mind to
go to the studio. I would not leave that poor fellow until somebody
claimed him. What an interesting face he has! If he were only better, I
would make a sketch. His countenance is just my beau ideal of the young
Saxon knight in a historical picture I am painting. A man always finds
materials for art just beneath his hand, if he only has wit and thrift
to stoop and gather them as he goes. But I fear I am interrupting you.
Make yourself at home. I will leave you while you are writing. Really, I
cannot express how glad I am that you have come at last. I have been
looking for you--that is, for somebody who knew M. de Gramont--every
moment for two days."

After drawing back the curtains to give M. de Bois more light, and
glancing around to see that he was supplied with all he could require,
the young artist returned to the apartment of Maurice.

Ronald Walton was born of South Carolinian parents,--their only child.
His boyhood was not passed in a locality calculated to develop artistic
instincts, nor had his education afforded him artistic advantages, nor
had he been thrown into a sphere of artistic associates; yet from the
time his tiny fingers could hold brush or pencil he had seized upon
engravings of romantic scenery, copied them upon an enlarged scale, and
painted them in oil, to the astonishment of his parents and friends.
When his young companions extracted enjoyment from fish-hook and gun,
and hilariously filled game-bags and fishing-baskets, he sat quietly
drinking in a higher, more humane delight before his easel. These
tastes, as they strengthened, caused his father, though a liberal and
cultivated man, severe disappointment. At times he was even disposed to
place a compulsory check upon his son's artist proclivities; but the
soft, persuasive voice of the gentle, refined, clear-sighted mother
interposed. She had made the most loving study of her child's character,
and had faith in his fitness for the vocation he desired to adopt. She
pleaded that his obvious gift might be tested, and proved spurious or
genuine, before it was trampled under foot as unworthy of recognition;
and her heart-wisdom finally prevailed.

Ronald was sent to Paris to study under a distinguished master. During
three years he had made golden use of his opportunities. He was
remarkable among his fellow-students for his indomitable perseverance,
and his power of concentrating all his though