The Common LawChambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
General
The Common Law
Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
She cautiously and daintily extended first one leg then the other under
the wool robe, then eased the cramped muscles of her back, straightening
her body and flexing her arms with a little sigh of relief. As her shy
sidelong gaze reverted to him she saw to her relief that he was not
noticing her. A slight sense of warmth, suffused her body, and she
stretched herself again, more confidently, and ventured to glance
around.
"Speaking of terms," he said in an absent way, apparently preoccupied
with the palette which he was carefully scraping, "do you happen to know
what is the usual recompense for a model's service?"
She said that she had heard, and added with quick diffidence that she
could not expect so much, being only a beginner.
He polished the surface of the palette with a handful of cheese cloth:
"Don't you think that you are worth it?"
"How can _I_ be until I know how to pose for you?"
"You will never have to learn how to pose, Miss West."
"I don't know exactly what you mean."
"I mean that some models never learn. Some know how already--you, for
example."
She flushed slightly: "Do you really mean that?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say so if I didn't. It's merely necessary for you to
accustom yourself to holding a pose; the rest you already know
instinctively."
"What is the rest?" she ventured to ask. "I don't quite understand what
you see in me--"
"Well," he said placidly, "you are beautifully made. That is
nine-tenths of the matter. Your head is set logically on your neck, and
your neck is correctly placed on your spine, and your legs and arms are
properly attached to your torso--your entire body, anatomically
speaking, is hinged, hung, supported, developed as the ideal body should
be. It's undeformed, unmarred, unspoiled, and that's partly luck, partly
inheritance, and mostly decent habits and digestion."
She was listening intently, interested, surprised, her pink lips
slightly parted.
"Another point," he continued; "you seem unable to move or rest
ungracefully. Few women are so built that an ungraceful motion is
impossible for them. You are one of the few. It's all a matter of
anatomy."
She remained silent, watching him curiously.
He said: "But the final clincher to your qualifications is that you are
intelligent. I have known pretty women," he added with, sarcasm, "who
were not what learned men would call precisely intelligent. But you are.
I showed you my sketch, indicated in a general way what I wanted, and
instinctively and intelligently you assumed the proper attitude. I
didn't have to take you by the chin and twist your head as though you
were a lay figure; I didn't have to pull you about and flex and bend and
twist you. You knew that I wanted you to look like some sort of an
ethereal immortality, deliciously relaxed, adrift in sunset clouds. And
you _were_ it--somehow or other."
She looked down, thoughtfully, nestling to the chin in the white wool
folds. A smile, almost imperceptible, curved her lips.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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