Fathers and sons -- Fiction; People with disabilities -- Fiction; Princes -- Fiction; Refugees -- Fiction
He jumped out of bed and went to a table near the window. There was
paper and a pencil lying on it. A street lamp exactly opposite threw
into the room quite light enough for him to see by. He half knelt by the
table and began to draw. He worked for about twenty minutes steadily,
and he tore up two or three unsatisfactory sketches. The poor drawing
would not matter if he could catch that subtle look which was not
slyness but something more dignified and important. It was not
difficult to get the marked, aristocratic outline of the features.
A common-looking man with less pronounced profile would have been less
easy to draw in one sense. He gave his mind wholly to the recalling of
every detail which had photographed itself on his memory through its
trained habit. Gradually he saw that the likeness was becoming clearer.
It was not long before it was clear enough to be a striking one. Any one
who knew the man would recognize it. He got up, drawing a long and
joyful breath.
He did not put on his shoes, but crossed his room as noiselessly as
possible, and as noiselessly opened the door. He made no ghost of a
sound when he went down the stairs. The woman who kept the lodging-house
had gone to bed, and so had the other lodgers and the maid of all work.
All the lights were out except the one he saw a glimmer of under the
door of his father's room. When he had been a mere baby, he had been
taught to make a special sign on the door when he wished to speak to
Loristan. He stood still outside the back sitting-room and made it now.
It was a low scratching sound--two scratches and a soft tap. Lazarus
opened the door and looked troubled.
"It is not yet time, sir," he said very low.
"I know," Marco answered. "But I must show something to my father."
Lazarus let him in, and Loristan turned round from his writing-table
questioningly.
Marco went forward and laid the sketch down before him.
"Look at it," he said. "I remember him well enough to draw that. I
thought of it all at once--that I could make a sort of picture. Do you
think it is like him?" Loristan examined it closely.
"It is very like him," he answered. "You have made me feel entirely
safe. Thanks, Comrade. It was a good idea."
There was relief in the grip he gave the boy's hand, and Marco turned
away with an exultant feeling. Just as he reached the door, Loristan
said to him:
"Make the most of this gift. It is a gift. And it is true your mind has
had good training. The more you draw, the better. Draw everything you
can."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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