Henry C. Rowland

“ Ailsa liked his laugh. It was boyish and merry, and showed a double row of very nice white teeth.
“Is that a joke?” he asked.
“Not at all,” she protested. “I should much rather be a sign painter than a nursery governess. One is more free and independent, and lives out in the open air. Besides, I like to paint—and really I'm not half bad at it.”
“You can paint better than I,” he answered, and stared at her thoughtfully. “It's rather hard work; but, after all, you have the rainy days to rest up.”
“On rainy days one could make sketches and block them out to enlarge to scale,” said Ailsa. ”

“ He is a bull, not a bulldog. However, you are more au courant of such matters than I. Don't you want to paint in the cow getting up while I smoke a pipe? Speaking of the bull reminds me that I have not yet had my morning's heart poison. Besides, I have forgotten how Sukie yonder looked when she got up, and don't like to disturb her again.”
Nothing loath, Ailsa took a couple of brushes, and mounted the ladder. She had made quite a study of sheep and cattle, and with a few deft strokes drew in the rising bovine, doing it remarkably well. ”

“ However, if we are industrious, you may be able to save enough from your summer's work to take a small studio and try to do some magazine illustrating during the winter. That line of work is scarcely on the same elevated plane as this, but they tell me it pays better. I might even do some sketches myself of the well-dressed gentlemen who appear in the advertising supplement.”
In this cheerful and light-hearted manner, the morning passed. But Ailsa quickly discovered that her newly found employer was not an idler. ”