THE MASTER.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9024, 9 February 1895, Page 2

THE MASTER.

£y I. Zakgwill*

BOOK Itt

CHAPTER V.—The OUTCAST,

Ifc was midsummer, Hud everybody who was anybody was pent in the a weltering city.

"The sort of weather to make one want to be a figure-model," Herbert eaid weariiy, na he flicked flr.ically at " Daniel* before Nebuchadnezzar," now well on its •way to completion. " But it seems to suit j the Old Gentleman. Yoit might lau>;b. Matt. I'm too languid myself."

Matt did not reply; he vrat leaning Against the niurblo mautelpisce, pale and perspiring.

"What do you think isbislatesbmove? ,, pursued Herbert. " Though that'e rather a bull, for the mischief v that he refuses to go on our annual autumn jaunt abroad, lest it should interfere with Daniel and Zfebby. However, lam to have a liorae of my own, and that'e some consolation. Talking of horses, how do you like Ncbuy's left leg? You see I've repainted it as you marked it, though my idea was to get a subtle suggestion of the quadruped into the anatomy, for Neb by was a beast, ■wasn't he? I've ordered greeu stuff for lunch to iuspire mc." He got up, walked backwards and surveyed the picture approvingly, brush in baud. "By Jove, it's coming oa splendidly. I could imagine I was in the palace. Taera Iβ something in following Nature after ail. The creative part lies in the invention and colour. What's the matter with you this morning, Matt? You don't say a word. Are you euustruck? or moon-struck?" "Both," said Matt with a ghastly smile, ** Why, what's up?" Herbert scrutinised ids cousin's face for the firat time. Matt looked towards the model. ••You know his English is limited," Herbert remarked reassuringly. " Unless you are bent on talking Arabic." But Matt still hesitated. At last, as in desperation, be extracted a letter from his breast pocket and tendered it to Herbert, who took it wonderingly, cast a glance ab l& and frowned. .., "The scoundrel?" he eaid. "How dare lie send it in so soon ? I shall never lecoinmend him to anybody agaio." '■"•** lt Isn'b soon," corrected Matfc, "It's more than three mouths." " You're not going to take any notice of him yet? ' "Oh,l must." •' Oh, nonsense! Why the shock would drive him silly. He only sends it in as a matter of form." " I don't like not to pay." •• All right," eaid Herbert sulkily; "only you'll spoil the market for us poor devils whore not Croeauaes, that's all. But don't give him the fifteen guineas at once, give him five on account." ' Matt struggled with himself. " I can t even do that," he faltered at last. "Unless you can manage to pay mc something." -.

"Oh, by Jove 1" said Herbert, whistling lugubriously. " I'd forgotten you were among my creditor?. But I'm stony-broke just now. So the old scoundrel will have to wait after all. Ha! ha 1 ha 1 When do you expect to be flush again? I auppoae you draw interest on bonds or something. All Americans do."

"I—l don't," said Matt, hi* bead droopIng shame-stricken. Then with the courage ol despair he burst out, "I've only not tenpence in the world, that's a fact." . Herbert gave a shrill whistle of surprise and dismay, and let himself drop upon Ills painting stool. " Here, go and play a little, Haroua Al Eaechid," he called over, to the model; and Nebuchadnezzar, shedding his purpureal splendours, cantered joyously downstairs. "Now then," he said sternly. "What In the devil have you been up to, my Methodist parson 8 Gambling, horsefacing, women V Matt shook hie head, a wan smile struggling with his shame-faced expression. He already felt happier—the false atmosphere in. which he had moved was dissipated for ever. "I've never had any mbney to lose," he confessed. "I, only saved up flfty or sixty pounds to study in London for a year, and now it's all gone, unless you can a> anage to repay mc the twenty-five pounds." •'Well, of alfa the—-," cried Herbert, and did not'finish the mysterious phrase. He leant his elbows on his knees, and supporting his face upon bis palms, stared severely at his cousin. "So this is the man who thinks art should be moral," he said, half musingly, half indignantly, "to go and let us all thins you were a capitalist 1 And to let mc in for borrowing money of a man; who was practically ft pauper I Why, I must have taken al most your last penny J" Matt, flushing afresh under his reproach-ful-gaze, did not attempt to deny it. "Wall, if that's your idea of cousinly behaviour or oven decent behaviour " eaid Herbert witheriugly. •"1 1 didn't mean to deceive you," Matt stammered apologetically. "You all took it for granted I was well-to-do. All I said was I had mqney enough to go Along with, and so I thought I had." . "Yes, but when I aaked you for the pony, you consented at once. I gave you an opportunity to explain, bat instead of that you intensified the original false impression." Matt was silent.

"And now you've put mc into the wretched position of owing money which I can't pay to a poor relaticu from whom I never would have borrowed It, had he been frauk and truthful," Now both "were eileut, meditating the painful situation. v"Theu you've got no money at all?" said Herbert at last Iα stern accents, in which a note of' astonishment atiii lingered. . - Matt shook his head. His throat felt parched. "Unless you can pay mc," he ■■ murmured. Herbert's face softened, his tones became sympathetic. • "Then what are you going to do? "he asked anxiously. Matt was touched by the transition from reproach to solicitude. " Ob, I shall inanago somehow," he said huskily. "I don't want to worry you— you've always been very good to mc." "Yes, that's all very well, but suppose you starve," eaid Herbert, sharply. "Oh I shall find something ko do," said Matt. "In fact I've already dove some illustrations for the Chnsiian Some, though they haven'c eaiU yet. I wouldn't have told you if it kadu'e beeu for this tailor's bill." "Confoundhim!" cried Herbert savagely. Til never recommend him another customer as long as I live." Hβ started promenading the studio angrily, muttering maledictions against the snip as tho source Of all the uihchlef. " What a pity the governor won't touch a new man's work !" he said, pausing. "Oh, I'd rather not trouble him," eaid Matt, shrinking from a supplementary explanation with the Vaudyke beard. Herbert resumed hi* promenade with knitted brow. "I wouder If Drucker •would take them. If you did seapieces—" "Oh. please don't.worry," pleaded Matt, concerned at his cousin's anxiety. "I daresay I shall fall on my feet." "Yes, but while falling? Tenpence Isn't enough to fail with. You don't owe •ny money Into the bar train, I hope." Matt turned red. " Three weeks' rent,' te murmured. "How much Is thatr Matt shrunk weakly from shredding hie Ust rag of dignity. *«!£? macV ' he S4ld - " She hMa ' fc eald **wl»riy. Bat I don't see toy reason to

j despair; it looks as if I can make my bread-and cheese by black and white. They were ail agreed that tfaac was the most paying kind of art. You remember that night at Cornpepper's !" " Yes, 1 remember." eaid Herbert, curtly. "But I can't let you go away with tenpence in your pocket. X wonder -' if I've got aoything." Hβ drew a handful of silver and copper coins out of his trousers pocket. " Eight and fourpence halfpenny," he announced dolefully. "And I ehall want seven for IXaroua al lijschid thh oveninff. I told you I waa etony broke. I suppose It's no use offering you one'and fourpeuce halfpenny." " lHo— then you'd hare nothing," said Slat.". " Don't bother." - " Oh, but I must bother. I wish I knew how to raise a little cash for you to ktep you going till you get work." The grave anxiety of his tones troubled Matt sympathetically. He was pained to see Herbert so distressed. Suddenly his eye 3 fell on Herbert's battalion of: boots ranged against the wall—brown boois. black boots, patent boots, riding boots, eboes, slippers—and a wild impish idea flew into his brain, breathing malicious suggestion, and even kindling a Hash of resentment. " Why should nob Herbert sell some of those serried boots if he was really in earnest?" But the impish idea was extruded in a moment. It savoured [ of ungenerous cynicism, and in so far as it meditated diminishing Hebert'a wardrobe touched indecency; it wae impossible to imagine Herbert with only a diugle pair cf broaches or without sub-varieties of ornamental shoes. He moved in a large atmosphere of discriminate waistcoats and superfluous neckties. " I'll give you an introduction to Drucker if you like," said Herbert. " I daresay you have some little things by you." " I—l've already been to Drucker," Matfc admitted. "A fellow ab Graiiiger'e told mc about him. Buc he won't look at my work." There was another embarrassing pause. Matt'a eyes wandered distractedly towards Herbert's boots. The spotless battalion fascinated him; the buttons winked maliciously. " How aboub portraits ?" eaid Herbert, suddenly.- " I thought you did portraits in Nova Scotia. Was that also—was that, er—true?" Matt did not a*t once answer; it had suddenly occurred to him that there was probably another battalion of boots in Herbert's dressing-room. When Herbert's question at last penetrated to iiia consciousness, he replied with a start: "Oh, yes. Perhaps I may get sitters I here, too. The only thing that really worries mc is that bill." "Oh, well, if that's all, you can make your mind easy. He cau'c touch you; you've no money." Herbert; laughed gleefully. " It'll serve him right, the scoundrel 1" "Bub he can put mc in prison," eaid Matt, blanching at the mere idea; "and that I could never survive." Herbert's laugh became more boisterous. " Oh, you innocent!" he gasped. " We're not living in the Dark Ages. A man without a farthing is the king of creation. "Nothing can touch him." "Oh, but they put people in prison for debt in Nova Scotia," said Matt, surprised. " Really ! " ejaculated Herbert surprised in his turn. "Well, I had no idea the country was so uncivilised as that. No, don't funk. And cheer up, d'ye hear? Why should you take other people's worries on your shoulders t" " Other people's ? " quoth Matt, puzzled. "Yes; the worry is for the tailor who o&n'c get his money, not for yo\i," explained Herbert, with the gay smile that showed his white teeth.

" I must pay him," Matt repeated stolidly, and, lunch coming up, he took himself off in spite of every protest. Now that Herbert knew him in his true colours his pride Would not endure sitting as a pauper at the mid-day banquet, though he had eaten nothing all day except a halfpenny roll. He saw Haroun al Baschid in the street luxuriating in the sultry sunshine, and sent him up to luncheon, then dragged himself along the hot pavements to his back room, brightened now with unsaleable sketches, and throw himself upon the little iron bed, and abandoned himself to bitter reflection.

He had already tried other dealers than Drucker with as little success. The Irishman at Grainger's was wont to boast that he always sold his work by pawning it. Matt had essayed to imitate him, speculating the outlay for a gold frame, but either his face betrayed him to the pawnbrokers, or his picture, and it eventually went for less than the price of the frame. He had broached to other students his desire to get on this or that paper, but could gain no sympathetic information from them, except that thoy had already refused the position he coveted. On tha strength of some specimens sent by post he had been permitted to illustrate five short stories for The Christian Home, but only two had yet been published, and none had yet been paid for. And so the dregs of hh savings had dripped away, slowly, slowly, like honey from an inverted pot, and more and more slowly the less there remained, till ouiy twenty drops (for he had come to couutiug in halfpennies), divided him from starvation. The arrears of rent had been an agony more gnawing than that at his stomach, and now this tailor's bill had come as the crowning catastrophe.

! Yet none or his bitterness was for Herbert, despite the impi»h suggestions of the buttons; he did riot even blame himself much. 'In a sense he had value tor his raouey ;he had bought experience,'if not quite of the kind for which he bad saved up his dollars. But for those f rightful fifteen guineas he might have weathered starvation point, even though by the practice of a form of art he had not contemplated. To pawn or sell the unfortu* nate clothee would be but to cut himself oft from Rentiltty without surmounting the crisis. His hopeless reverie was interrupted by. a tap at the door, and the landlady catered, bearing & letter. He jumped up from the bed in excitement—ib must be his cheque for the drawings. But the letter bore ah American stamp, andrwasta Billy's writing, and he tore ib open, fearful of new evils.

"Dear Matt,—l write notbecauee there is any tblng fresh, batt because there isn't. Life here is so dreary and monotonous, I can no longer endure it. It isn't my health for that is better, and the fits are very rare now, thank God ; bat sometimes I think I shall go mad or cut my throatif something doesn't happen. Don't yoa think I could come over and at*y with you? You've seen so much of the world, and I have always been tied down to one wretched little village. The people are so dismally religious, and between you and mc I am losing faith in everything, the more I think cf it and how bad the cood people are. Deacon Hailey and Rath have qnarreiied, and she has gone away to the States. She came to see us before she left — she Is Just lovely — I like to picture her before mc. I should not I bs much extra expense, dear Matt, because you could deduct something from the amount you are soon going: to send us monthly. I have mentioned this to Abner and he is willing. I am very little use here in the fields, and in London I mighc perhaps earn money by writing; I feel I have it in mc to write tales; I have already written one called the "Whale Hunters," and another called "Iα the Burning Desert." I do so long ta be famous. We should be a pair, dear Matt. Do you think you could get these tales priuted in a paper! I should not waot mouey at first. I did not like to send them toyou without asking, as the postage would be heavy, and the winter has been so unusually protracted we are delayed with the crops. Do please send mc some books it you can, 1 hare readamjtUogia

the school library twice over. Novels and books of travel are what I like best. The last we heard from Halifax was that mother was leas violent. Do write and say I may cozoe. and if you can let mc have the faVe I will repay you oat of my tales. Abuer and Harriet send their love and so do all the boys and girls (Amy is getting quite podgy), and with the same from me,—l remaiu, Your affectionate brother,

Billy. P.S.—Don'tyou think "William Strang, ,, would look n\ue ou the cover of a booic ?" - Matt suddenly felt faint and dizzy. Rai-jiug hi* eyes, he perceived that the landlady had not gone, that she was eilervesciug with unutcerea speech. "I am very sorry, Mrs Lipchild," he said, "I thought that your rent would have been in this letter." The lank, elderly woman looked grieved. "Lor' bless you, sir," said she, "I'm not wofryin* about the rent. Don't I know an honest face when I sec it? Us landladies are always made out so bad. We're always stealin.' the lodgers' provisions and what not, and we can't speak proper. I should like to see a book written on the. other side. Why, last year I had an old maid in this very room—she took her meals here, and said I wasn't to charge for attendance because she'd be always out; bub bless mc if the bell didn't go tinkely tinkoly every minute like an alarm clock gone wrong in its inside. Believe mz, Mr Strang, ie isn't the lodgers as is always taken in. I've often wished my son was a writer instead of an artist, I'd get him to write the book." "Your son is an artist?" said Matt in astonishment. . " Yea, Mr Strang, though not near so clever as you. I could show yeu some of his work if you didn't mind." " Oh, I should like to see it," said Matt, half amused ab this unexpected interlude, though his temples throbbed with a shooting pain. " Would you mind comin' down Into the parlour, air?" " Not at all," eaid Matfc. He followed his landlady down the narrow stairs into the musty little room, resplendent with oleographs and a gilt mirror and two fruit shades. "There," said Mrs Lipchild, proudly. " Mc and ray husbaud in uniform." Matt surveyed the large coloured presentments of Mr and Mrs Lipchild in oval mounts, further astonished to dis; cover that his landlord was a policeman. "What did he do them withi" asKed Matt, rather puzzled. " With his own hand," replied the proud mother. "They were taken quite plain, but he coloured them life-like, as you see. They would have charged half a-crown more each, but for a shilling, he bought a book telling him how to do it himself. My cousin Bob, who is in the Post Office, said he ought to ba an artist, but I wouldn't j let him give up his place at Brown Brothers; he's iv the grocery department, j and earnin' good money, and I've seen such a heap of artists sittin' on the pavement, with the risk any moment of the rain washin , all the pictures out; don't you think I was right, sir?" " Quite right," said Matt heartily. Mrs Lipchild thereupon produced a bottle of brandy, and what she called a " seedy-cake," from a cupboard under a sideboard, and insisted ba Matt partaking of the same. To refuse would pain her, to accept would refresh him, so he accepted. In the conversation which ensued It transpired that Mrs Lipchild's daughter was about to marry a young man from Brown Brothers (haberdashery department), that the young couple were now furnishing, and that it had occurred to Mrs Lipchild that they might get their parlour pictures from Matt, instead of from a shop, "if they could get them any cheaper."

So Matt and hie art-patroness remounted again to the bedroom studio, and*haggled over prices, Mrs Lipchlld pointing out that hie pictures were far inferior to shop pictures, not only by their unsympathetic subjects, but by their absence of frames and glass, and that she could get much bigger sizes than any of his for flre shillings apiece. But aa it came to be understood that ready money would, not be required, and that the price was to be reckoned off the rent, Mrs Lipchiid ultimately departed in possession of a month's worth of pictures—six of the prettiest landscapes and ladies in the collection. The poetic street scenes she scorned, much to Matt's relief, for he set no value on the earlier Nova Scotian work she had carried off.

This was Matt's first sale of pictures in the great metropolis of art. Considerably exhilarated by the change in his fortunes, and revived by the brandy and the "seedy cake," he reviewed the situation again, proof even against Billy's letter, which he put by for later considerations. Ho found himself actually smiling, fora phrase of Cornpepper's kept vibrating in his brain— "Art is neither moral nor immoral, any more than it is lunar or calendar." Mrs Lipchlld's last words had been " Very well, we'll reckon it a month," and he wondered whimsically whether the month was to be lunar or calendar.

Under the impulse of the gayer sentiments, he resolved to raise money by pawning whatever he could part with, and by persisting in the search for an adven* turous dealer; and reflecting that, after all, the tailor would be satisfied .with an instalment, he wound himself up to the pitch -of applying to Herbert by letter, tho ich he could not bring himself to a verbal request.

"Mr Dkab Herbert,—l am sorry to bother you again, but if you could let mc have only five guineas to offer the tailor I should be very grateful. I hope soon to find work, or sell some things; and you will be pleased to hear that I have got over the difficulty with the rent—ac least for the moment.—Yours sincerely.

Matt Stea.no, v; "P.S;-Don't pub yourself out if you cannot. You have been very kind to mc, andl shall never fprgef: it. I daresay 1 shall pull through somehow." -.-■-■.■

Matt carried this request to the pillarbox through the stuffy splendour of a summer night in Holborn back streets. As he heard the slight thud of the letter in. the box he .had a sense of something achieved, and had no compunction in spending one of hie nine remaining pennies on his supper of "baked 'fagob" in a mUKgy pork-butcheVa shop. Nightmare, followed by a giddy uprising with furred tongue and aching forehead, was the sequel of this devil-may-care diet, and early in the afternoon the' nightmare seemed to resume its riot in the guise of a reply from Herbert. •

"Dbab Matt,—What in the name of all that is unholy made you send that letter to my house instead of to the dub! There's been a devil of a row. The old gentleman opened the letter. He pretends he did so without noticing,.as it came mixed np with his, and so few come for mc to the house. When I got down to breakfast the mater was in tears and the old gentleman in blazes. Of course he'd misread it altogether—imagined you wanted to barrow money instead of to get i it back (isn't it comical? It's almost an idea for a farce for our dramatic society), and insisted you had been draining mc all along (yoa did write yoa were sorry to bother mc again, you old duffer). Of course I did my best to dispel the misconceptiou, but it was no use my swearing till all was blue that this was the first application, he wouldn't believe a word of It. He said he had had his suspicions all along, and ho called the mater to witness that the first I time he aaw you in the shop he said yoa were a> rogue. And then mater, who'd been standing up for you—l never thought she had so much backbone of her ownbroke down, and confessed with tears that yoa bad been here pretty uigu every daj—

and then the old gentleman swore yon should never set foot hero again, and dilated on the pretty return you had made for his kindness (sucking his boy'e blood, he called it/iv an unusual bant of poetry, and he likewise offered some general observations on the compara* tive keenness of a serpent's tooth and Ingratitude). And that's how it stands. There's nothing to be done, I fear, but to let the thing blow over—he'll cool down after a time. Meanwhile, you will have to write to mc at the dub if you wauc to meet mc. lam awfully sorry, us I enjoyed your visits immensely. Dα let mc kuow if I can do anything for you. I'm in a frightful financial uuss, bat I might give you introductions here or there. I kuow chaps on papers and that sort of thiug. I am sure you have sufficient talent to get along—and you can snap your fingers ac creditors, as you haven't got anything they can seize, and can flit any day you like. I wish I was you. With every good wish, Yours always, Hehbhrt Strang. Ifttt took this letter more stoically than he would have predicted. He even grinned like a lied Indian at the stake. In truth he was already so prostrated by illness, hunger, and above all oy the heac, that there vras nothing left in him to be prostrated. He crawled out soon after the receipt 01 the letter, ana recklessly bought a halfpenny currant loaf, wuichhe washed down with water. (To be continued.)