Delia came and hung about his neck.
Joe, dear, you are silly. You must keep on at your studies. It is not as if I had quit my music and gone to work at something else. While I teach I learn. I am always with my music. And we can live as happily as millionaires on $15 a week. You mustnt think of leaving Mr. Magister.
All right, said Joe, reaching for the blue scalloped vegetable dish. But I hate for you to be giving lessons. It isnt Art. But youre a trump and a dear to do it.
When one loves ones Art no service seems too hard, said Delia.
Magister praised the sky in that sketch I made in the park, said Joe. And Tinkle gave me permission to hang two of them in his window. I may sell one if the right kind of a moneyed idiot sees them.
Im sure you will, said Delia, sweetly. And now lets be thankful for Gen. Pinkney and this veal roast.
During all of the next week the Larrabees had an early breakfast. Joe was enthusiastic about some morning-effect sketches he was doing in Central Park, and Delia packed him off breakfasted, coddled, praised and kissed at 7 oclock. Art is an engaging mistress. It was most times 7 oclock when he returned in the evening.
At the end of the week Delia, sweetly proud but languid, triumphantly tossed three five-dollar bills on the 8×10 (inches[62]) centre table of the 8×10 (feet[63]) flat parlour.
Sometimes, she said, a little wearily, Clementina tries me. Im afraid she doesnt practise enough, and I have to tell her the same things so often. And then she always dresses entirely in white, and that does get monotonous. But Gen. Pinkney is the dearest old man! I wish you could know him, Joe. He comes in sometimes when I am with Clementina at the piano he is a widower, you know and stands there pulling his white goatee. And how are the semiquavers and the demisemiquavers progressing? he always asks.
I wish you could see the wainscoting in that drawing-room, Joe! And those Astrakhan rug portières[64]. And Clementina has such a funny little cough. I hope she is stronger than she looks. Oh, I really am getting attached to her, she is so gentle and high bred. Gen. Pinkneys brother was once Minister to Bolivia.
And then Joe, with the air of a Monte Cristo, drew forth a ten, a five, a two and a one all legal tender notes and laid them beside Delias earnings.
Sold that watercolour of the obelisk to a man from Peoria[65], he announced overwhelmingly.
Dont joke with me, said Delia, not from Peoria!
All the way. I wish you could see him, Dele. Fat man with a woollen muffler and a quill toothpick. He saw the sketch in Tinkles window and thought it was a windmill at first. He was game, though, and bought it anyhow. He ordered another an oil sketch of the Lackawanna freight depot to take back with him. Music lessons! Oh, I guess Art is still in it.
Im so glad youve kept on, said Delia, heartily. Youre bound to win, dear. Thirty-three dollars! We never had so much to spend before. Well have oysters to-night.
And filet mignon with champignons, said Joe. Where is the olive fork?
On the next Saturday evening Joe reached home first. He spread his $18 on the parlour table and washed what seemed to be a great deal of dark paint from his hands.
Half an hour later Delia arrived, her right hand tied up in a shapeless bundle of wraps and bandages.
How is this? asked Joe after the usual greetings. Delia laughed, but not very joyously.
Clementina, she explained, insisted upon a Welsh rabbit after her lesson. She is such a queer girl. Welsh rabbits at 5 in the afternoon. The General was there. You should have seen him run for the chafing dish, Joe, just as if there wasnt a servant in the house. I know Clementina isnt in good health; she is so nervous. In serving the rabbit she spilled a great lot of it, boiling hot, over my hand and wrist. It hurt awfully, Joe. And the dear girl was so sorry! But Gen. Pinkney! Joe, that old man nearly went distracted. He rushed downstairs and sent somebody they said the furnace man or somebody in the basement out to a drug store for some oil and things to bind it up with. It doesnt hurt so much now.
Whats this? asked Joe, taking the hand tenderly and pulling at some white strands beneath the bandages.
Its something soft, said Delia, that had oil on it. Oh, Joe, did you sell another sketch? She had seen the money on the table.
Did I? said Joe; just ask the man from Peoria. He got his depot to-day, and he isnt sure but he thinks he wants another parkscape[66] and a view on the Hudson. What time this afternoon did you burn your hand, Dele?
Five oclock, I think, said Dele, plaintively. The iron I mean the rabbit came off the fire about that time. You ought to have seen Gen. Pinkney, Joe, when
Sit down here a moment, Dele, said Joe. He drew her to the couch, sat beside her and put his arm across her shoulders.
What have you been doing for the last two weeks, Dele? he asked.
Five oclock, I think, said Dele, plaintively. The iron I mean the rabbit came off the fire about that time. You ought to have seen Gen. Pinkney, Joe, when