A curtain hung inside it, and, pulling this aside, he entered a
spacious apartment with a glass roof. But scanty light illuminated the
studio from one oil lamp which hung by a chain from a bracket in the wall,
and the rays of which were much dimmed by a red glass shade. Some easels,
mostly empty, stood about the sides of the great chamber; here and there on
the white walls were sketches in charcoal and daubs of paint. A German
stove appeared in the middle of the room, but it was not burning; skins of
beasts scattered the floor; upon one wall hung the "Negresses Bathing at
Tobago." For the rest the room appeared empty. Then, growing accustomed to
the dim red light, Noy made a closer examination until he caught sight of
an object which made him catch his breath violently and hurry forward.
Under the lofty open windows which rose on the northern side of the studio,
remote from all other objects, was a couch, and upon it lay a small,
straight figure shrouded in white sheets save for its face.
John Barron had been dead twenty-four hours, and he had hastened his own
end, by a space of time impossible to determine, through leaving his
sick-room two days previously, that he might visit the picture gallery
wherein hung "Joe's Ship." It was a step taken in absolute defiance of his
medical men. The day of that excursion had chanced to be a very cold one,
and during the night which followed it John Barron broke a blood vessel and
precipitated his death.
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