"
He turned to his work as though she were no longer present and the girl
prepared to depart.
"I'll bid you good-arternoon now, sir," she said timidly.
He looked up with surprise.
"Haven't you gone, Joan? I thought you had started. Good-by until Monday.
Remember, if it is cold or rainy I shall not be here."
The girl trotted off; and when she had gone Barren drew her from memory in
the center of his sketch. The golden glories of the gorse were destined to
be no more than a frame for something fairer.
CHAPTER FIVE
COLD COMFORT
John Barron made other preparations for his picture besides those detailed
to Joan Tregenza. He designed a large canvas and proposed to paint it in
the open air according to his custom. His health had improved, and the
sustained splendor of the spring weather flattered hopes that, his model
once won, the work he proposed would grow into an accomplished fact. There
was no cottage where he might house his picture and materials within half a
mile of Gorse Point, but a granite cow-byre rose considerably nearer, at a
corner of an upland field. Wind-worn and lichen-stained it stood, situated
not more than two hundred yards from the spot on which Barron's picture was
to be painted. A pathway to outlying farms cut the fields hard by the byre,
and about it lay implements of husbandry--a chain harrow and a rusty plow.
Black, tar-pitched double doors gave entrance to the shed, and light
entered from a solitary window now roughly nailed up from the outside with
boards.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64