"But yes, Monsieur. Be tranquil. Without doubt it was a letter that should exact time for the response."
It was on the fifth day that he met Mimi Chantal, the prettiest model on the left bank.
"Is monsieur by chance painting the great picture which shall put him between Velasquez and Caran d"Ache on the last day?"
"I am painting nothing," said Vernon. "And why is the prettiest model in Paris not at work?"
"I was in lateness but a little quarter of an hour, Monsieur. And behold me--chucked."
"It wasn"t for the first time, then?"
"A nothing one or two days last week. Monsieur had better begin to paint that _chef d"oeuvre_--to-day even. It isn"t often that the prettiest model in Paris is free to sit at a moment"s notice."
"But," said Vernon, "I haven"t an idea for a picture even. It is too hot for ideas. I"m going into the country at the end of the month, to do landscape."
"To paint a picture it is then absolutely necessary to have an idea?"
"An idea--or a commission."
"There is always something that lacks! With me it is the technique that is to seek; with you the ideas! Otherwise we should both be masters. For you have technique both hands full; I have ideas, me."
"Tell me some of them," said Vernon, strolling along by her side. It was not his habit to stroll along beside models. But to-day he was fretted and chafed by long waiting for that answer to his letter. Anything seemed better than the empty studio where one waited.
"Here is one! I have the idea that artists have no eyes. How they pose me ever as l"ete or La Source or Leda, or that clumsy Suzanne with her eternal old men. As if they knew better than I do how a woman holds herself up or sits herself down, or nurses a duck, or defends herself!"
"Your idea is probably correct. I understand you to propose that I should paint a picture called The Blind Artist?"
"Don"t do the imbecile. I propose for subject Me--not posed; me as I am in the Rest. Is it not that it is then that I am the most pretty, the most chic?"
"It certainly is," said he. "And you propose that I should paint you as you appear in the Rest?"
"Perfectly," she interrupted. "Tender rose colour--it goes to a marvel with my Cleo de Merode hair. And if you want a contrast--or one of those little tricks to make people say: "What does it mean?""
"I don"t, thank you," he laughed.
"Paint that white drowned girl"s face that hangs behind your stove.
Paint her and me looking at each other. She has the air of felicitating herself that she is dead. Me, I will have the air of felicitating myself that I am alive. You will see, Monsieur. Essay but one sole little sketch, and you will think of nothing else. One might ent.i.tle it "The Rivals.""
"Or "The Rest,"" said Vernon, a little interested. "Oh, well, I"m not doing anything.--I"ll make a sketch and give it you as a present. Come in an hour."
"Auntie, wake up, wake up!" Betty, white-faced and determined, was pulling back the curtain with fingers that rigidly would not tremble.
"Shut the door and spare my blushes," said her aunt. "What"s up now?"
She looked at the watch on the bed-table. "Why its only just six."
"I can"t help it," said Betty; "you"ve had all the night to sleep in. I haven"t. I want you to get up and dress and come to Paris with me by the early train."
"Sit down," said the aunt. "No, not on the bed. I hate that. In this chair. Now remember that we all parted last night in the best of spirits, and that as far as I know nothing has happened since."
"Oh, no--nothing of course!" said Betty.
"Don"t be ironical," said Miss Desmond; "at six in the morning it"s positively immoral. Tell me all--let me hear the sad sweet story of your life."
"Very well," said Betty, "if you"re only going to gibe I"ll go alone. Or I"ll get Mr. Temple to take me."
"To see the other man? That _will_ be nice."
"Who said anything about--?"
"You did, the moment you came in. Come child; sit down and tell me. I"m not unsympathetic. I"m only very, very sleepy. And I _did_ think everything was arranged. I was dreaming of orange blossoms and The Voice That Breathed. And the most beautiful trousseau marked E.T. And silver fish-knives, and salt-cellars in a case lined with purple velvet."
"Go on," said Betty, "if it amuses you."
"No, no. I"m sorry. Forgive the ravings of delirium. Go on. Poor little Betty! Don"t worry. Tell its own aunt."
"It"s not a joke," said Betty.
"So I more and more perceive, now that I"m really waking up," said the aunt, sitting up and throwing back her thick blond hair. "Come, I"ll get up now. Give me my stockings--and tell me--"
"They were under my big hat," said Betty, doing as she was told; "the one I wore the night you came. And I"d thrown it down on the chest of drawers--and they were underneath."
"My stockings?"
"No--my letters. Two of them. And one of them"s from Him. It"s a week old. And he says he won"t live if I don"t love him."
"They always do," said Miss Desmond, pouring water into the basin.
"Well?"
"And he wants me to marry him, and he was never engaged to Lady St.
Craye; and it was a lie. I"ve had a letter from _her_."
"I can"t understand a word you say," said Miss Desmond through splashings.
"My friend Paula, that I told you about. She never went home to her father. Mr. Vernon set her up in a restaurant! Oh, how good and n.o.ble he is! Here are your shoes--and he says he won"t live without me; and I"m going straight off to him, and I wouldn"t go without telling you. It"s no use telling father yet, but I did think _you"d_ understand."
"Hand me that green silk petticoat. Thank you. _What_ did you think I"d understand?"
"Why that I--that it"s him I love."
"You do, do you?"
"Yes, always, always! And I must go to him. But I won"t go and leave Bobbie to think I"m going to marry him some day. I must tell him first, and then I"m going straight to Paris to find him, and give him the answer to his letter."
"You must do as you like. It"s your life, not mine. But it"s a pity,"
said her aunt, "and I should send a telegram to prepare him."