Humorous stories; Mistaken identity -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
And whither did he go? He went straight to a slopshop and bought as
neat and reasonably well-fitting a suit of clothes as an Englishman
could be persuaded to wear. He said—_to_ himself, but _at_ his
conscience—“I know it’s wrong; but it would be wrong _not_ to do it;
and two wrongs do not make a right.”
This satisfied him, and made his heart light. Perhaps it will also
satisfy the reader—if he can make out what it means.
The old people were troubled about Gwendolen at dinner, because she was
so distraught and silent. If they had noticed, they would have found
that she was sufficiently alert and interested whenever the talk
stumbled upon the artist and his work; but they didn’t notice, and so
the chat would swap around to some other subject, and then somebody
would presently be privately worrying about Gwendolen again, and
wondering if she were not well, or if something had gone wrong in the
millinery line. Her mother offered her various reputable patent
medicines, and tonics with iron and other hardware in them, and her
father even proposed to send out for wine, relentless prohibitionist
and head of the order in the District of Columbia as he was, but these
kindnesses were all declined—thankfully, but with decision. At bedtime,
when the family were breaking up for the night, she privately looted
one of the brushes, saying to herself, “It’s the one he has used, the
most.”
The next morning Tracy went forth wearing his new suit, and equipped
with a pink in his button-hole—a daily attention from Puss. His whole
soul was full of Gwendolen Sellers, and this condition was an
inspiration, art-wise. All the morning his brush pawed nimbly away at
the canvases, almost without his awarity—awarity, in this sense being
the sense of being aware, though disputed by some authorities—turning
out marvel upon marvel, in the way of decorative accessories to the
portraits, with a felicity and celerity which amazed the veterans of
the firm and fetched out of them continuous explosions of applause.
Meantime Gwendolen was losing her morning, and many dollars. She
supposed Tracy was coming in the forenoon—a conclusion which she had
jumped to without outside help. So she tripped down stairs every little
while from her work-parlor to arrange the brushes and things over
again, and see if he had arrived. And when she was in her work-parlor
it was not profitable, but just the other way—as she found out to her
sorrow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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