The White Shadow | Page 6

put in another gentleman fish, then, if you're following Nature,"
said Clifford, with an attempt at cynicism which drew the merriest
laugh from Sweetheart.
"Oh, how funny is Monsieur Clifford when he wants to be like
Frenchmen!" she murmured.
"Jack," said Elliott, as I came from the studio and picked up a cup of

tea grown cold, "Clifford's doing the world-worn disenchanted roueÌ."
"And--and I fear he will next make love to me!" cried Sweetheart.
"You'd better look out, Jack," said Clifford darkly, and pretended to
sulk until Sweetheart sent him off to buy the bonbons she would need
for the train.
"They're packed," I said, "every trunk of them!"
Sweetheart was enchanted. "All my new gowns, and the shoes from
Rix's--O Jack, you didn't forget the shoes--and the bath robes-- and--"
"All packed," I said, swallowing the tea with a wry face.
"Oh," she cried reproachfully, "don't drink that! Here, I will have some
hot tea in a moment," and she ran over and perched on the arm of the
garden bench while I lighted the alcohol lamp and then a cigarette.
Rowden came up with his offering of lilacs, and she decorated each of
us with a spray.
It was growing late. The long shadows fell across the gravel walks and
flecked the white walls of the sculptor's studio opposite.
"It's the nine-o'clock train, isn't it?" said Elliott.
"We will meet you at the station at eight-thirty," added Rowden.
"You don't mind, do you, our dining alone?" said Sweetheart shyly;
"it's our last day--Jack's and mine--in the old studio."
"Not the last, I hope," said Elliott sincerely.
We all sat silent for a moment.
"O Paris, Paris-how I fear it!" murmured Sweetheart to me; and in the
same breath, "No, no, we must love it, you and I."

Then Elliott said aloud, "I suppose you have no idea when you will
return?"
"No," I replied, thinking of the magic second that had become a year.
And so we dined alone, Sweetheart and I, in the old studio.
At half-past eight o'clock the cab stood at the gate with all our traps
piled on top, and Joseph and his wife and the two brats were crying,
"Au revoir, madame! au revoir, monsieur! We will keep the studio well
dusted. Bon voyage! bon voyage!" and all of a sudden my arm was
caught by Sweetheart's little gloved hand, and she drew me back
through the long ivy-covered alley to the garden where the studio stood,
its doorway closed and silent, the hollow windows black and grim.
Truly the light had passed away with the passing of Sweetheart. Her
hand slipped from my arm, and she went and knelt down at the
threshold and kissed it.
"I first knew happiness when I first crossed it," she said; "it breaks my
heart to leave it. Only that magic second! but it seems years that we
have lived here."
"It was you who brought happiness to it," I said.
"Good-bye! good-bye, dear, dear, old studio!" she cried. "Oh, if Jack is
always the same to me as he has been here--if he will be faithful and
true in that new home!"
The new home was to be in a strange land. Sweetheart was a little
frightened, but was dying to go there. Sweetheart had never seen the
golden gorse ablaze on the moors of Morbihan.
VI.
I went inside the brass railing and waited my turn to buy the tickets.
When it came, I took two first class to QuimperleÌ, for it was to be an
all-night ride, and there was no sleeping car. Clifford had taken charge
of the baggage, and I went with him to have it registered, leaving

Sweetheart with Elliott and Rowden. All the traps were there-the big
trunks, the big valises, my sketching kit, the zitherine in a leather case,
two handbags, a bundle of umbrellas and canes, and a huge package of
canvases. The toilet case and the rugs and waterproofs we took with us
into the compartment.
The compartment was empty. Sweetheart nestled into one corner, and
when I had placed our traps in the racks overhead I sat down opposite,
while Clifford handed in our sandwiches, a bottle of red wine, and
Sweetheart's box of bonbons.
We didn't say much; most had been said before starting. Clifford was
more affected than he cared to show--I know by the way he grasped my
hand. They are dear fellows, every one. We did not realize that we were
actually going--going, perhaps, forever. She laughed, and chatted, and
made fun of Clifford, and teased Rowden, aided and abetted by Elliott,
until the starting gong clanged and a warning whistle sounded along the
gaslit platform.
"Jack," cried Clifford, leaning in the window, "God bless you! God
bless you both!"
Elliott touched her