Part 20 (1/2)

”That is very probable, Miss Macks.”

Miss Macks thought this an odd reply. ”He is so queer, with all his smoothness!” she said to her mother afterwards. ”He never says what you think he will say. Now, any one would suppose that he would have answered that he would try to make me agree, or something like that.

Instead, he just gave it right up without trying! But I expect he sees how independent I am, and that I don't intend to _reflect any_ one.”

”Well, they made a great impression,” she resumed. ”And as you seemed to think, Mr. Noel, that no one could do well in painting who had not seen and studied the old pictures over here, I made up my mind to come over at any cost, if it was a possible thing to bring it about. It wasn't easy, but--here we are. In the lives of all--almost all--artists, I have noticed--haven't you?--that there comes a time when they have to live on hope and their own pluck more than upon anything tangible that the present has to offer. They have to take that risk. Well, I have taken it; I took it when we left America. And now I will tell you what it is I want from _you_. I haven't any hesitation in asking, because I am sure you will feel interested in a case like mine, and because it was your writings really that brought me here, you know. And so, then, first: I would like your opinion of all that I have done so far. I have brought everything with me to show you. Second: I want your advice as to the best teacher; I suppose there is a great choice in Rome. Third: I should be glad if you would give a general oversight to all I do for the next year. And last, if you would be so kind, I should much enjoy making visits with you to all the galleries and hearing your opinions again by word of mouth, because that is always so much more vivid, you know, than the printed page.”

”My dear Miss Macks! you altogether over-estimate my powers,” said Noel, astounded by these far-reaching demands, so calmly and confidently made.

”Yes, I know. Of course it strikes you so--strikes you as a great compliment that I should wish to put myself so entirely in your hands,”

answered Miss Macks, smiling. ”But you must give up thinking of me as the usual young lady; you must not think of me in that way any more than I shall think of you as the usual young gentleman. You will never meet me at a reception again; now that I have found _you_, I shall devote myself entirely to my work.”

”An alarming girl!” said Noel to himself. But, even as he said it, he knew that, in the ordinary acceptation of the term at least, Miss Macks was not alarming.

She was twenty-two; in some respects she looked older, in others much younger, than most girls of that age. She was tall, slender, erect, but not especially graceful. Her hands were small and finely shaped, but thin. Her features were well cut; her face oval. Her gray eyes had a clear directness in their glance, which, combined with the other expressions of her face, told the experienced observer at once that she knew little of what is called ”the world.” For, although calm, it was a deeply confident glance; it showed that the girl was sure that she could take care of herself, and even several others also, through any contingencies that might arise. She had little color; but her smooth complexion was not pale--it was slightly brown. Her mouth was small, her teeth small and very white. Her light-brown hair was drawn back smoothly from her forehead, and drawn up smoothly behind, its thickness braided in a close knot on the top of her head. This compact coiffure, at a time when most feminine foreheads in Rome and elsewhere were shaded almost to the eyebrows by curling locks, and when the arched outline of the head was left unbroken, the hair being coiled in a low knot behind, made Miss Macks look somewhat peculiar. But she was not observant of fas.h.i.+on's changes. That had been the mode in Tuscolee; she had grown accustomed to it; and, as her mind was full of other things, she had not considered this one. One or two persons, who noticed her on the voyage over, said to themselves, ”If that girl had more color, and if she was graceful, and if she was a little more womanly--that is, if she would not look at everything in such a direct, calm, impartial, impersonal sort of way--she would be almost pretty.”

But Miss Macks continued without color and without grace, and went on looking at things as impersonally and impartially as ever.

”I shall be most happy, of course, to do anything that I can,” Noel had answered. Then to make a diversion, ”Shall I not have the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Macks?” he asked.

”Mrs. Macks? Oh, you mean mother. My mother's name is Spurr--Mrs. Spurr.

My father died when I was a baby, and some years afterwards she married Mr. Spurr. She is now again a widow. Her health is not good, and she sees almost no one, thank you.”

”I suppose you are much pleased with the picturesqueness of Roman life, and--ah--your apartment?” he went on.

”Pleased?” said Miss Macks, looking at him in wonder. ”With our apartment? We get along with it because we must; there seems to be no other way to live in Rome. The idea of having only a story of a house, and not a whole house to ourselves, is dreadful to mother; she cannot get used to it. And with so many families below us--we have a clock-mender, a dress-maker, an engraver, a print-seller, and a cobbler--and only one pair of stairs, it does seem to me dreadfully public.”

”You must look upon the stairway as a street,” said Noel. ”You have established yourselves in a very short time.”

”Oh yes. I got an agent, and looked at thirty places the very first day.

I speak Italian a little, so I can manage the house-keeping; I began to study it as soon as we thought of coming, and I studied hard. But all this is of secondary importance; the real thing is to get to work. Will you look at my paintings now?” she said, rising as if to go for them.

”Thanks; I fear I have hardly time to-day,” said Noel. He was thinking whether it would be better to decline clearly and in so many words the office she had thrust upon him, or trust to time to effect the same without an open refusal. He decided upon the latter course; it seemed the easier, and also the kinder to her.

”Well, another day, then,” said Miss Macks, cheerfully, taking her seat again. ”But about a teacher?”

”I hardly know--”

”Oh, Mr. Noel! you _must_ know.”

And, in truth, he did know. It came into his mind to give her the name of a good teacher, and then put all further responsibilities upon him.

Miss Macks wrote down the name in a clear, ornamental handwriting.

”I am glad it isn't a foreigner,” she said. ”I don't believe I should get on with a foreigner.”

”But it is a foreigner.”

”Why, it's an English name, isn't it?--Jackson.”