Part 36 (1/2)

”What's up outside of that?” I asked

”I'ue at the international convention”

”I didn't know you were an architect,” I said

”Well, I'm not,” he answered, ”professionally I've studied it pretty thoroughly”

”Well, you see all right,” he answered

He went on working at his easel as if his fate depended upon what he was doing He had the fortunate quality of being able to work and converse ly at the same time He seemed to enjoy company under such circumstances

”You didn't knoas a baron, did you?” he finally observed

”No,” I answered, thinking he was exercising his fancy for the moment

”Where do you keep your baronial lands, ly

Then in his customary excitable mood he dropped his brushes and stood up

”You don't believe lasses

”Why, certainly I believe you, if you are serious Are you truly a baron?”

”It was this way,” he said ”My grandfather was a baron My father was the younger of two brothers His brother got the title and as left of the estate That he h with, and then he died

Now, no one has bothered about the title--”

”And you're going back to claihtly at first, but in tian to perceive that it was a serious ambition He truly wanted to be Baron S---- and add to himself the luster of his ancestors

With all this, the man was really not so much an aristocrat in hisa baron was merely a new experience, or promised to be He had the liveliest sympathies for republican theories and institutions--only he considered his life a thing apart He had a fine ically poised

He could reason upon all things, from the latestsotoward any belief in the latter, but was never weary of discussing the power of mind--a universal mind even--its wondrous ralish school of philosophy, and loved to get up mathematical and mechanical demonstrations of certain philosophic truths Thus he worked out by ths, a theory of friendshi+p which is too intricate to explain here

From now on I watched his career with the liveliest interest He was a charlected for a ations which such a relationshi+p demands

I heard froularly every second or third week, and rejoiced with hi he went to Europe and spent the su up various artists and scientists and attending several scientific s here and there at the sa's fast express stories which one of the azines published, and came back flushed and ready to try hard for a membershi+p in the Aet his anxiety to get into thaton several pictures which should not only be hung on the line but enlist sufficient interest aain him a vote of admission He mentioned it frequently and fixed ht of hiht to membershi+p perhaps than many another I know Try hard”

He painted not one, but four, pictures, and sent the after their kind Tere scenes froreat railroad terminal yards; the others, landscapes in mist or rain Three of these pictures were passed and two of the on the line The third was _skyed_, but he was adhted for his sake, for I could see, when he gave ence, that it was a matter which had keyed up his whole nervous syste on Broadway, one drizzly autu, on our way to the theater Life, ambition, and our future were the _small_ subjects under discussion The street, as usual, was crowded On every hand blazed the fire signs The yellow lights were beautifully reflected in the wet sidewalks and gray wet cobblestones glistening ater