Robert W. Chambers

“ If you will, I will promise to help you—not to become an artist's model; that is silly. But I promise you, on my honor, that you shall have an offer which no woman need refuse; an offer suitable and honorable, where you may enjoy absolute independence and freedom from all annoyance, live your own life freely, without taxing your mother's resources, and without care or dread of importunities from anybody attempting to marry you. Will you?"
"If—if you could do that for me I'd be grateful enough to do anything for you," she said slowly.
The Ghost of Chance sat watching them. ”

“ There was not a day of grace named in the contract; there was no grace to be expected from Thorne, who cared no more for the frieze that hid part of his golden-lacquered paneling than for the gilded sconces below. If one or the other did not suit him, he'd tear them out without a word and cover the raw space with ten thousand dollars' worth of hothouse roses for his housewarming. Leeds understood that. He was beginning to appreciate the man. He must try to beat him. ”

“ She heard her mother leave the room; then her maid tiptoeing about, and presently the click of the electric button. She opened her eyes in darkness, and lying there fell a-thinking of the ghost of a chance a man had lost forever—or was it the man who had lost it? Was it not the maid after all?
"Men kiss pretty women when they can," she reasoned, raising her hands to her heated cheeks. ”

“ Come with Jack Terriss and Prince Minsksky."
"Oh, do you already number me with the Jack Terrisses?" he drawled.
"Certainly. Am I not pretty? Wouldn't you kiss me if you—could? He always wants to; others have wanted to. Then I number you with the others; they were no more serious than you are."
"Is it they or you who are not serious?" he asked. "I think if you gave any of them the chance you have given Thorne——"
"Yes, but I don't love any of them. And Mr. Thorne is inevitable."
"I see," said Leeds carelessly. "So I am to say to-night: 'Much happiness!' and other stupidities. ”

“ And now he seemed to hold the whole power of the world in his grasp. The color-wet point of every brush hovered, then left its message of beauty on an enchanted canvas. Power was his; he dominated; he could do anything, achieve anything—with her before him. Difficulties? There were none. He had but to wet a brush with purest tints, look her in the eyes, and the thing was wrought. ”

“ Leeds's heart turned heavy. "I don't know what Thorne means to do," he said. "I'm not much on contracts; I've done my best. I suppose he will rip it out if he wants to. If he does, and if he cancels the contract, it will about ruin me. I never had but four other commissions; it cost me more to execute them than I was paid."
The big Irishman studied the younger man with keen, kindly eyes. He knew what Leeds's frieze really was—a piece of work that for sheer inspired beauty had not its equal in modern mural art. He knew—even his artisans knew. ”

“ I'm Naida. Do you really remember me? I wish I could be civil and say the same to you, but I don't, Mr. Leeds, though since everybody says you are a very great artist, I pretend I do know you, and I say: 'Oh, yes, James Leeds; he was such a jolly fellow when he was a boy at Narragansett!'
"But I'm careful not to tell them that I was so little that you never even looked at me, or that I was so young I couldn't remember you. Oh, dear, what frauds we all are! And here I am, compromising myself and not caring, after having driven my mother distracted, jilted my fiancé, and beggared myself. ”

“ But, though he had foreseen trouble and delay from models, and the dozens of vexations artists fall heir to, he could not have foreseen that a young girl he never heard of should, at a critical moment, bring out a side of Thorne's character he did not suspect existed in him—the sharp, ugly brutality of wounded arrogance, which vents itself where opportunity offers; the fiercely sullen desire to hurt, to stamp its power upon those who have no defense. ”

“ An artist is as amenable to the commercial code of responsibility as any man I deal with—I don't care a damn who he is or how he likes it. ... Is there anything more I can do for you, Mr. Leeds?"
"No," said Leeds thoughtfully, "unless you choose to take a kindergarten course in the elements of decency."
Leaving the door ajar as he went out, and far too amazed and furious to notice Mr. Farren, the amused secretary, he crossed the corridor, followed by the Ghost of Chance, entered an elevator, and shot up to the top floor. ”

“ McManus set the key panel in the ballroom Thursday morning. Now, I've probably got to spend to-day chasing up a red-haired model; and if I do, I cannot finish by Thursday. Couldn't you give me one day more?"
"Mr. Leeds," said Thorne, biting off his words unpleasantly, "a contract is a contract. Can you fulfill yours?"
"I've told you," began Leeds, astonished—for never before had Thorne looked or spoken in that way—"I told you that my model——"
"Can you keep your contract?" repeated Thorne sharply.
"There's a ghost of a chance if I can get a proper model," replied Leeds, keeping his temper. ”

“ One doesn't understand how to take it coolly; I was very awkward—and fool enough to cry. My head aches. I fancy I look perfectly disreputable. Mother, will you—there he is now!—will you please keep off your Thornes and your Russians until I can escape? I will be in the dressing room—quite ready to go, mother dear."
"Naida," she said, her voice trembling, "I tell you now that if you are actually in love——"
"Yes, dear?"
"If you are, don't consider my my wishes——"
"About Mr. Thorne?"
"About anybody—even a man disreputable enough to kiss you——"
"Any man—to save my inheritance, mother?" ”

“ She scarcely knew his face, lighted into quick enthusiasm.
"Never, never, have I had such a model!" he cried, delighted as a boy. "Never have I seen such color, such exquisite loveliness. Good Heavens! A man might really paint with you before him! Don't—don't look at me that way—don't be frightened. I'm simply astonished at my fortune—I don't mean to be rude—you know I don't!"
"Yes, I know it," she said tremulously.
"May I suggest how you should tie the sandals?" ”

“ Then you'd better take that ghost of a chance, Mr. Leeds. On reflection it will occur to you that my housewarming can scarcely be postponed to suit your rather erratic convenience. If the key panel is not in place, the room will be as attractive as a man in evening clothes without a collar. I'd rather tear out the entire frieze, and call the contract void! ”

“ Fury choked her.
"I only desire to marry your daughter, madam."
"Naida!"
"Yes, mamma."
She hesitated, turned to the man beside her, and looked up at him.
"Good-by," she said; "don't forget."
Forget what, silly child? A flirt whom he had so easily kissed in a conservatory? Why, men find them everywhere—and not too difficult. Her first? Why, some man must be a coquette's first—and in her case it happened to be Leeds.
So she walked slowly to the door, and her mother took her arm, and she looked back at the man standing there, his hands fumbling the shreds of her broken fan. ”

“ He began to adjust the delicate machinery of the complex easel, turning a silver screw to regulate the pitch of the heavy canvas, twisting a cogwheel here, a lever there, until he had brought that part of the canvas within reach whereon he expected to work.
He was one of those modest, dissatisfied young men who can never be content with the work done, perfectly aware of possibilities not yet attained, willing to try for them, vaguely confident of attaining them; a young man who would go far—had gone far—farther than he realized. ”

“ He listened a moment; the music rang distantly; somebody was missing a dance with the woman whose gloved hands lay in his.
"If you are going to marry for pure cupidity, why not take me?" he asked. "Any man would do for your amiable grandfather—and it seems to be all the same to you."
"I did not know you well enough to ask you," she said audaciously.
"Would I have done as well as anybody?" he demanded.
"Yes, as well—for me. Mother prefers the inevitable one." ”

“ Glancing up at the gilded musicians gallery to verify his bearings, he struck a circle, as he would have done in the woods, and presently came across young Terriss, who was also in love with her—but Leeds did not know that.
"Thorne took her off," said Terriss sullenly. "They're in the conservatory. By the way, I didn't know you knew her."
"I do," growled Leeds.
"That pasty-white Russian prince, the fellow with a fat face and a thin nose splitting a brace of eyes too close together"—Terriss shrugged his shoulders—"he's hanging about, looking for her, too. Her mother steered him off. ”

“ Thorne, I cannot do it!' You know what I said. That Irishman told you!"
Leeds nodded.
"So that's all; I simply ran away from him; and I won't go home and live on my mother, because we are as poor as mice and rabbits, and if I don't marry Mr. Thorne my mother will probably expire of mortification, and if I don't marry at all by Monday next, I'll lose what my grandfather left me in a horrid will, which forces me to marry before I'm twenty-one—and that's next Monday. All my sisters did it—Mrs. Egerton, and Mrs. Clay-Dwyning, and another you don't know. ”

“ The horses halted with a snowy thud of dancing hoofs; the wintry air rushed into her face as the carriage door was opened by two tall Irishmen wearing very shiny silk hats.
"Naida, Mr. McManus—Mr. Kenna——"
The tall hats of the tall Irishmen swept the snow; to each in turn she offered an unsteady little hand; then leaning on Leeds's arm she entered the iron gateway, the two contractors following.
"The purty lady," purred Kenna; "d'ye mind the little hand of her, McManus?" ”

“ She returned to earth presently: "Jim, shall we stop and breakfast with—our mother?"
He pressed her hand in agonized acquiescence; he was too scared to speak. At the same time he seemed to be conscious of something at his elbow, laughing in silence. It was the Ghost of Chance bidding them au revoir. Then the brougham drove up at a signal from Kenna; the bride entered, and Leeds turned to McManus: "At five o'clock this morning I wired Thorne that the key panel was finished and ready to deliver. We leave for Florida this afternoon. Will you see that the contract is carried out?" ”

“ I was wild; but I sez to meself, lave him talk his talk; it's all wan on pay-day. An' so it is, Misther Leeds; it is so. G'wan into ye're workshop, an shpit on ye're hands, an' we'll ploog that key space by 5 p.m., come Thursday, bad cess to the bad, an' luck to the likes of us, glory be!"
Leeds stood half inside his threshold, the edge of the open door grasped in his hand, gazing thoughtfully at the floor.
"All right, McManus," he said quietly; "I'll do what I can to save my bread, but"—he looked straight at the Irishman—"it's bitter bread we learn to eat sometimes—we who are employed." ”

“ Every normal man is always reckless; every normal woman is, once in a lifetime. It's a crisis; you've reached it. I'm a decent sort of fellow—safer than the next man, maybe. And now I'm keyed up, ready to listen, ready to talk, seriously or frivolously—ready to make love—either way. ”

“ Farren, could I see Mr. Thorne for half a second?"
Farren's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "If it's a favor you want to ask, don't ask it now——"
"It is, and I've got to——"
"Better not; he's in a devilish humor; he'd foreclose on his own grandmother to-day."
"But I can't wait! I'll use your telephone while you're taking my card."
Farren shrugged, turned, and led the way across the rotunda, ushered Leeds into the outer office, and took his card. Leeds went to a desk and used the telephone vigorously until Farren reappeared, nodding; and Leeds walked into the president's private room. ”

“ I have so, Misther Leeds. Bide the time, sorr. An' phwin it comes!—paste him wan."
"Oh, I'll have forgotten him by that time," said Leeds, laughing, as McManus, with a significant and powerful gesture, turned on his broad heel and strode off toward his own rooms, where Kenna, his partner, had been making frantic signals to him for the last five minutes.
Leeds entered his studio, the Ghost of Chance at his heels, closing the door behind him. Through the golden gloom of the room his huge picture loomed up, somber in the subdued light ”

“ At last he lay back on his chair, and the arm supporting his palette dropped to his side.
"Won't you have mercy?" she asked in a low voice.
"Are you tired? Oh, I am so sorry!" he cried, springing to his feet. ”

“ Minute after minute sped; the elevators whizzed up and down in their gilded cages; people passed and repassed; the ornamental marble pavement of the rotunda echoed the clatter of footsteps. Several people he knew nodded to him as they entered or left the elevators: an architect domiciled on the top floor in the east wing, McManus, of the Belden Building and Construction Company; young Farren, private Secretary to De Peyster Thorne, president of the great Algonquin Trust Company, and director of about everything worth directing in the five boroughs.
"Mr. Farren!" called out Leeds ”

“ Go on."
"I—I think——"
"Yes——"
"That we—that we might further degrade ourselves by——"
"Yes—go on!"
"By taking tea together."
"Do you think so?"
"I do," he said solemnly.
She reflected for a moment. "But what after that?"
"We must consider the situation at the tea table," he said gravely. "We'll go out as soon as you can change your gown. And—is there any likelihood of our jumping any of your family if we go to Sherry's?" ”