The Second Class Passenger: Fifteen Stories

which he abode and call Rufin to come and bid him farewell. The great artist always came; he never failed to show himself humble to humble people, and, besides, Papa

ant at which Rufin was used to lunch, and rose to his feet as the tall, cloaked

d be here at one o'clock," he

not late," said Rufin politely, acc

perhaps twelve-gave

k there will approach an artist with

ouch hat, the picturesque amplitude of hair which were once the uniform of the artist. But these, in his final effect, were subordinate to 'a certain breadth and majesty of brow, a cast of countenance at once benign and austere, as though the art he p

is he?" he asked of the boy.

have seen him. He lies in be

to suffer. Well, tell him I will come this afternoon to visit hi

polite deprecation. They parted with mutual salutations, two gentlemen who had carried an honorable transaction to a wort

"maitre;" and then the Paris of sleek magnificence lay behind him and the street sloped uphill to the Place Pigalle and all that region where sober, industrious Parisians work like beavers to furnish vice for inquiring

in was not certain whether Musard lived on the fourth floor or the fifth, and would have been glad to inquire, but he had not the courag

answer to his knocking. A flight higher there was another which stood an inch or so ajar, and this he ventured

rth, and some one, it was plain, had promoted it to the uses of a studio. An easel stood in the middle of the floor with a canvas upon it; the walls were covered with gross caricatures draw

as coming up the stairs, and then tiptoed

urmured, "an arti

e upon a full view of it suddenly, and forthwith forgot all his precautions to be unheard. Here was a thing no man could keep quiet! With

laimed amazedly. "

ttiness, the alertness, the predatory quality which belong to wild creatures civilized by force. It was set on the canvas with a skill that made Rufin smile with frank pleasure; but the skill, the artifice of the thing, were the least part o

gazed at it, absorbed and reverent. He realized that in this picture his age

dignation. "And while he paints here and

as to a great thought. As though he had greeted a living princess

it rather shocking that a distinguished artist should enter the presence of a dying man like

ptly, "who is the artist who

ufin, this is the last time I shall appeal to you. Before long I shall

r Corot and death. He waved an imperious arm,

oom below?" repeated Rufin

-an Italian, a ruffian, an apache, a man with hair

d and tempestuously bearded, which had been perpetuated by a hundred labori

has no more right to strip a man of his pose than of hi

artists are all alike. Show us a picture and our mann

ncient of days. "Coming in roaring li

you who know pictures better than us all!" He surveyed the invalid, who was softening. Musard kne

"I have seen few pictures wh

in hastily. "But I have just seen a p

ow resisted the charm of his man

room underneath? Not one of the daubs of th

" he said, "how genius will roost on any perch? It is true, then, that he i

chair and sat down ne

hey speak of him as Peter the Lucky-it is a nickname he has on the streets, an apache name. He has been in prison

"But did you say he

s, in fact, a criminal. Once he threw an egg at a gendarme. And yet you

Rufin, "it

Rufin resigned himself to the inevitable; and, although he was burning with eagerness to find the painter of the picture he

three-quarters of an hour. "Perhaps I have not had my full share of recognition. Si

do our best. Here is a small matter of money that may help to mak

ing?" deman

I go into the country for some

left an old man to die

thoug

while he could. Papa Musard in an ho

memory, to be assured that he had not endowed the work with virtue not its own. The trivial, cheaply pretty face fronted him again, with its little art

ted her greedy and tyrannical eyes at the tall figure of Rufin, with its suggestion of s

tual habit-no! How often have I waked in the blackness of night, upon a frightful uproar of the bell, to admit him, and he making observations at

crupulously. "His door is unlocked, Madame, and the

dow, and the bell-push, and a bucket of mine which I had neglec

d, which I beg you to give him. I am obliged to leave Paris to-morrow, but on m

work on the concierge

nd was for the while

fter all, artists must have their experiences. Doubtle

t painter,"

vital work on his great picture, "Promesse," a revelation of earth gravid with life, of the opulent promise and purpose of spring. It is the greater for what lodged in his mind of the picture he had seen in the Montmartre tenement. It was constant in his thought, th

galleries in America, in Russia, in the palaces of kings, could assure the painter

arance, and at the sight of him she was so moved that she ros

ietor does not make these distinctions. After three weeks he would expel Michelangelo himself. The monsieur who was driven out-he resisted. He employed blasphe

w whither he went

mpounded for the rent, else one might have followed it. He took away

he would take that,

ing to make outcries at us," said the concierge. "He uttered menaces; he was dangerous. Coul

hinking, by an odd momentary turn of fancy, how well he could

s friends?"

e could tell him

Our poor honest people- he treated them with

fin, "I shall come

r face reminded him that he had a standard to live up to. He produced another

is obscurity the great picture. It was the memory of that consummate thing that held Rufin to his task of finding the author; he pictured it to himself, housed in some garret, making the mean place wonderful. He obtained the unofficial aid of the police and of many other people whose business in life

memory, poorer by a failure. Not till then came the last accident in

r of mixed voices. He did not visit it often enough to know that the crowd was larger than usual and strongly leavened with an element of furtive shabby men and desperate calm women. He found his offi

ch matter for an artist. These faces, eh? All the brigands of Paris are here to-day. In

lly towards the door which his companion indicated. "Of c

ale, as though waiting in a patient agony for news, for tidings of the fates that were being decided within. From the moment his eyes rested on her he was sure; there wa

h his own sword. A grotesque touch, that-vous ne trouvez pas? tres

here. I cannot talk with her in this crowd, and I must

ubt. But he reflected that one is not a great artist

our eye upon all this crowd and at once, in a single glance, you pluck forth

eyes to the tall, grave man who loo

o say to you," he s

ed. Girls of her world are practiced in discounting such requests. But Rufin's co

ill islands about its floor; it had the forlorn atmosphere of a waiting-room. The little official whose workshop it was held open the door for them, followed t

on the back of it, but did not sit down. She did not understand why she had been brought to

a picture I saw some

re," sai

picture, the wor

h. "Monsieur knows him, then? And knows that h

a living fervor of conviction

replied Rufin. "Everybody will know it very soon. It is

it," she

in. "You have a great trust. And

dered. "The painter? The

said Rufin.

icial, who had the air of presiding at a cere

er face; she uttered a

have taken him, and in there"-her forefinger shot out and pointed to the wall and beyond it-"

sion as by a fit. "Then there is an artist-the artist of wh

with teeth bared as though in a snarl. But

name-quickly?

," she a

n at the little official

Lucky?" h

ded dej

was he," he said, "who did the throat-cu

the man, Papa Musard's slanderous-sounding complaints of him, the fat concierge's reports of his violence, had gathered towards this culmination. He had insisted upon thinking of him as a full-blooded man of genius, riotou

he reflected. "Tha

ow had painted the picture. No one verdict can account for both art and morals, and there was reason to fear,

iously speaking aloud-"no

whose composure had broken utterly at his

She lifted clasped hands and blinded eyes; she was like a child saying its prayers but for

r mercy-for blessed charity-ah, M'sieur, M'sieur, I will carry your sins for you; I will go to hell in your place

it made the place august and awful. Rufin bent to her

he said earnestly. "All! I

forth, and she was weak and empty. She strained to find furth

is trial," he said to the little off

. "It!-is a situation, is it not? Ah, the cre

ached them. They entered it to find the c

ing on tiptoe to see over the heads in front of

ns to get them through to the front of the c

nly finished," murm

. Others followed, and they came down toward the entrance. In the midst of them, their shabby civilian cl

Rufin, and half turned his head to ask

rill of excitement. A young man-not more than twenty-five-built like a bull for force and wrath. His was that colossal physique that develops in the South; his shoulders were mighty under his mean coat, and his chained wrists were square and knotty. He held his head up with a sort of truculence in its poise; it was the

some one near Rufin. "L

here and there in his narrative. "Called the judges a set of old . . . Laughed aloud when they asked

ing him. "It is too late. They are condemned t

y back to the office. But it

t she heard of the sentence and knew

ly, frowning at the floor-"or el

s been an experience, hein? Piquant, picturesque, moving, too

t goes on in the world. And I thought I knew life!" With a gesture

se grey head of the Minister of Justice-a wily politician who knew the uses of advertisement. The apaches are distinctively a Parisian produce, and if only Paris could be won over, intrigued by the romance and strangeness of the genius that had flowered in

rders and outrages, the last of which they effected on the very fringe of the show-Paris. It was not a

ng to do. See for yourself-here are the papers!

him across a great desk

three will serve

hook his head. He looked

e to crying for more, what old man can be sure of dying in his bed?

newspapers before him-"this is clam

r. "I am always afraid of a frightened Frenchman. Bu

wspapers from him and

as deft and unassuming as his own; it masked a cynic

it," was his

remains to see the Pr

. If you are interested in gardening, you will find him cha

inter is to be sacrificed to the newspapers and your epigrams

Minister bowed. "I

e date is fixed I will

an interview; it shou

fin waited for

sieur Rufin and Monsieur Giaconi, an

y; he had brought the negoti

, rising to shake his visitor

energy while fate wasted none. The picture came to hang in his studio till the Luxembourg should demand it; daily it

e a well shut in by high houses whose every window was lighted. There was already a crowd waiting massed under the care of mounted soldiers, and the cab slowed to a walk to pass through them. From the window a

ed and recognized him. "Good morning, maitre," he said, and was gone. Maitre-master! Men did him honor in so nami

needed his hand on her arm to rouse her to dismount. She followed him obediently between more men in uniform, and they fou

with which he had been provided. "I have been warned to expect Monsieur Ruf

are coming?

s voice so that the mute, abstracted girl should not overhear. "The hair above the neck,

tly at his comely, insignificant face,

er thin face vacant, staring, as though in a mood of deep thou

uired, in tones of an almost arrogant c

t directness, no less than the to

tested, as though at an in

" repeated

lle what she wishes to

ortably. "You see, there is a regular course in these matters, a

shop; she invited him, it seemed, to take note of a trivial imposture. Her manner and ges

ow can I--" Rufin turned on him gravel

n the presence of a traged

gesture; the shadow of it fl

number of people. At the farther end of it a table against the wall had been converted into a sort of altar, with wan candles alight upon it, an

. "Regret we cannot l

as some disorder of his dress which Rufin noted automatically, but it was not for some minutes that he perceived its cause-the collar of his coat had been shorn away. The man sat under all those fascinated eyes impatiently; his tired and wh

e said hes

odded. "Yes,

toward the seated man.

as though to move her aside, for

do you not need me

the condemned man, wi

e is not a moment to

es, kneel down;

hough to acknowledge the caress of a dog, he let one hand fall

ld come. Say-is it be

one all that I could to save

ave told me. You like it, then-my

e desired to say under the eyes of those uniformed m

n my studio. Nothing shall ever hang in

he seemed to have forgotten where he was and what

can paint. So can you, Monsieu

hall," he said. "I never shall! Ah, it is horrible! A man is two peop

stead and leave you to paint-oh, believe me, I would go now gladly,

He strove with himself fiercely and looked up again to see that three men had entered the room a

upon him. "Just a moment." They took no notice. "Monsieu

ll. He saw Giaconi's intent face across their shoulders, his o

ey lashed their man's hands behind his back, forcing them back with rough skill. The chief of them motioned his subordinates to take him by the elbows and signed to the priest with hi

mned man toward the door. He twisted his

he cried loudly. The k

e, M'sie

orward and bowe

aitre," h

if in triumph. Then they passed out, and Rufin, after standing for a moment in uncert