“Just as you like,” said the friend. “Every one to his fancy. But it strikes me that you could not do a more sensible thing than make Clara Deville your wife. You at once have a home, a pleasant companion, and come into the possession of sufficient property to relieve you of all care about the common and perplexing concerns of life. Think with what delight, ardor, and success you could then devote yourself to painting.” When these things were first said by the friend they did not make much impression on the mind of the young artist. But a seed was sown, and in a few days it began to send forth little fibres into the earth, and to shoot up a tender blade. From that time Ellison thought more and more about the suggestion of his friend. Whenever he met Clara he observed her more closely, and her image, when it arose in his mind, associated itself with the idea of a life-companionship. Particularly did his mind dwell upon the happy change that would come over his worldly affairs if Clara, possessing the handsome little property of twenty thousand dollars, were his wife. It did not take a very long time for the young man to be able to look at Clara Deville in a different light from that in which he had previously viewed her. The oftener he met the young lady, the more did he find in her that was attractive. Even her plain features underwent a change, and he could see in her face many points of beauty. In fact, before two months had elapsed, he was, or imagined himself to be, deeply in love with the maiden. The desire of possession comes next after the passion of love. It proved so in this case, and in a much shorter time than the friend who suggested the alliance had dreamed of such an event taking place, Clara was not only wooed and won, but wedded. CHAPTER II. It was one of the happiest days in Ellison’s life when he pressed upon the lips of the gentle girl whom he had won, the sweet bridal kiss. Over his future course through life hung a cloudless sky. The doubt and difficulty that had been on his way for years were removed—success to the utmost extent of his wishes was before him. Already, in imagination, he was in Italy, among the glorious creations of the old masters, drinking in from their sublime works an inspiration that was to him half immortal in his art.