Murder in Any Degree

and fell in with the Foreign Legion, Jacobus and Chatterton, the architects, were living through that fine, rebellio

r among the table-pounders of the Café des Lilacs, and his first words were like the fanfare of trumpets. He had been christened, in the felicitous language of the Quarter, Don Furioso Barebones Rantoul, and for cause. He

ember of the sex at the corner creamery trusted him for eggs and fresh milk, a

k gown, and a pair of earrings that will reach to

tions that were the pride of Chatterton, who was a nabob. When his credit at one restaurant expired,

ake your walls famous. At the end of the month I will immortalize your wife; on the same terms, your sister, your father, your mother, and all the little children. Besides, every Saturday night I will bring here a band

maginative, and withal close bargainers, at the end of a

I can see colors to-day that I never saw before. And to think that if Sherman had never gotten it in his head to march to the sea I should never have e

f traditions he

rimitive, a Preraph?lite. He understood nothing of form, of composition. He was a poet who wandered into the drama as a sheep strays into the pasture of the bulls, a colorist who imagines he can be a sculptor. The influence of Victori

e others, availing themselves of the breath

another

rd-boil

don't forget

te of our century; turbulence, strife, materialism, the mob, machinery, masses, not units. Why paint a captain of industry against a Fran?ois I tapestry? Paint him at his desk. The desk is a throne; interpret it. We are ruled by mobs. Who paints mobs? What is wrong is this, that art is in the b

o, Ra

, old

the s

he gall

ith tra

nd more

a furore of denunciation so much as they were the impulsive chafing of the creative energy within him. In the school he was already a marked man to set the p

uilt in the last hour of discussion. "The artist must always rebel-acc

" said Herkimer i

Don't I

k mo

the day over his statues and his clays. But Rantoul, while living life to its fullest, haunting the wharves and the markets with avid eyes, roaming the woods and trudging the banks of the Seine, mingling in th

They made a triumphal entry into a real studio in the Montparnasse Quarter, clients came

ith the invitations that his Southern aristocr

rful growl. "What the deuce do you want with society, a

once a week," said Ranto

o become, a parlor celebrity? Society

d

up in a hole, work. What's society, anyhow? A lot of bored people who want you to amuse them. I don't approve. Better marr

ew and cook for you," said Ra

," said Herkimer,

ha

'll

ul, seriously. "If I go into society,

s,

hat I rebe

cour

the freedom of

ak

hink I am not a rebel. My dear boy, I am ten times as big

castes, reorganizing republics and empires, while Herkimer, grumbling to hims

e. The first time their eyes met and lingered, by the mysterious chemistry of the passions Rantoul fell desperately in love with this little slip of a girl, who sc

he seldom expressed an opinion, but she listened to every one with a flattering smile, and the reputations of brilliant talkers have been built

ass field, went down to meet him at the boat, and by the time the train entered the St. Lazare Station, he had been completely disciplined and brought to understand that a painter was one thing and that a Rantoul, who happened to pa

wife for pocketmoney." Herkimer was the best man, and the Quarter attended in force, with much outward enthusiasm. The bride and groom

in Paris; that he had found just the wife who was suited to him, wh

d to Herkimer's studio to continue the celebration, "let me re

erton, and the choru

r marry," con

a tattoo on the piano with his hee

my opinion is that Rantoul

ru

s nothing at all about art, w

ra

ows nothing about anything e

e clever women,

's a r

e wife of an artist should be a cr

ru

. Everything he will do will be the most wonderful thing in the world, and

ry complimentary to the

like her,"

tterton and Jacob

rries me," said Bennett, serious

or Ran

a re

'll stir up the

e ways of Tina Glover had convinced him, and as he was concerned only with the fut

ot quite so spontaneous as he had expected, but filled with the wonder of the ancien

omewhere near New York, but he waited in vain for the news of the sti

s father-in-law into the organization of some new railroad or trust. But even this report was vague, and as he

was a figure in the public eye. Reporters rushed to meet him on his arrival, societies organized dinners to him, magazines sought the details of his life's struggle. Withal, however, he felt a strange loneliness, and an

Old

that you have remember

a week at least. I'

all the days of the Ca

ds her gree

yd

there. With some misgivings he packed his bag and took the train, calling up again to his mind the picture of Rantoul, with h

in the reclining sun, and fled noiselessly along the macadam road that twined through a formal grove. All at once they were before the house, red brick and marble, with wide-flung porte-cochère and verandas, beyond which could be seen immaculate lawns, and in the middle dista

kimer, i

der the panama that topped the pleasant effect of her white polo-coat he looked into the eyes

ou are Clyde's, won't you? And I may call you B

so. She had learned the art of being a woman, and sh

ly, freezing all at

o your room first? I didn't ask any one in for dinner. I supposed you would rather chat togeth

room now," he

his valise and smoothing out his e

hat," he said cur

f the June day, frowning to himself. "By George! I

Rantoul in slippers and lilac dressing-gown

nfounded match. We beat 'em, too; lost six pounds doing it, though. Jove! but you look natural! I say, that was a stunning thing you did for Philadelphi

social change that had taken place in him. The old aggressiveness, the look of the wolf, had gone; about him was an enthusiastic urbanity. He seemed clean

ive minutes when a knock came on t

s you not to be lat

nce. "I always forget the time. Jove! it's good to see you

series of drawings by Boucher, a replica or two of his own work; but he sought without success for something from the brush of Clyde Rantoul. At dinner he was aware of a sudden uneasiness. Mrs. R

as called to the telephone for

ntoul, with an approving smile. "Father says he's the strength

the globe-the possibilities of concentration and simplification here in business. It's a great game, too, matching

it, the succession of unrecognizable dishes, the constant jargon of social eavesdroppings that Mrs. Rantoul pressed into action the moment her husband's recollections exiled her from the conversation; but above

his arm about his wife and said something in h

she said with a little bob of her head in whi

for a little smoke in t

said instantly, with a shade of vagu

ching her ear. "Our chatter won't interest yo

nding irresolutely tapping with her thin finger on the table, and he said to himsel

er the high-flung network of stars, hearing o

ainting?" said Her

e old Don Furioso. "Talk to me of the Quarter. Who's at the Café des Lilacs now? They tell me that little Ragin we used to torment so has

ows?" "Yes, yes. You know I sent her the s

nger group of landscapists; of the old types that still came faithfully to the Café des Lilacs,-the old chess-players, the fat proprietor, with his fat wife

said Rantoul, as t

The porch windows were open, and in the golden lamplight Herkimer saw the figure of Tina Glover bent intently over an embroidery, drawing her needle with uneven stitches, her head seeming inclined to catch the faintest sound. The wai

hat's passing through that litt

e as I am," said Rantoul, a

es

't under

Herkimer, shortly, with a sure feeling

years

isten. I know what I'm talking about,-I've seen the whole procession in the last ten years,-you were one in a thousand. You were a creator. You had ideas; you wer

en," said Rantoul, sl

er, furiously. "I say wh

hand and drank his coffee, but without knowing what he

t w

t out of yourself, looked at yourself and at your life as a spectator?-saw the strange strings that had pulled you this wa

I wanted to go," said

he first time," said Rantoul. Then he added meditati

why

lieve that. Everything we do from morning to night is dictated by the direction of those about us. An enemy, some one in the open, we can combat and resist; but it is those that are nearest to us who disarm us because they lov

. Instead, he glanced down the dimly flushed path to the house where Mrs. Rantoul was s

e, do you want t

not? We are at the age when

ti

She loves me absolutely; nothing else in this world exists for her. It has always been so; she cannot bear even to have me out of her sight. I am very happy. Only there is in such a love something of the tiger-a fierce ani

tand your art, she hated it," sai

creates? The sense of privacy, the power to isolate his own genius from everything in the world, to be absolutely concentrated. To create we must be alone, have strange, unuttered thoughts, jus

, I

ove, all that we instinctively seek to rid ourselves of, this awful solitude o

not make her un

d, and I could not bear even to see a frown of unhappiness clo

t's

hen I took my easel; every stroke of my brush seemed like a miracle. A hundred times she would cry out her deligh

he ske

n to be difficult. She could not understand that I wanted to work eighteen hours a day. She begged for my afternoons. I gave in. She embrac

g," said Herk

fly, sending me a kiss from her dainty fingers whenever I looked her way. She watched over my shoulder every stroke, and w

y?" said

ry d

you had

f the corners of her eyes. Her demonstration of affection redoubled, her caresses never stopped,

stand it?" said H

as a man. To be loved so absolutely, especially if you are sensitive to such

aordi

ened to me solemnly, with only a little quiver of her lips, and let me go. Wh

r arms and promised neve

and I neglected my studio for a morning. The same thing happened again and again. I had a period of wi

ou nev

short; it is better to be loved than to wait for glory.' One afternoon, under the pretext of examining the grove, I stole away to the studio, and pulled out some of the old things

you doing

some of the

gret tho

cours

ant to put me out of your life altogether? You used to tell me that I inspired you. If you want, we'll give up

aid everything that she wished me to say, h

ve hours trudging in the night-pulled back and forth. I remembered my children. I came

I was miserable. She saw

n't happy doing nothing. I'v

ent, as she continued, clap

o into his office. You'll do big things. He's

other man, domesticated, conservative, living my life, a

n," said Her

have left a name?" sa

o tell me all thi

explanation. W

ie

hy

ce, it is impossible for you ev

sens

s go

imer led the way. Rantoul, after a

itt. I don't revolt any more. I'

trouble," said

lling her silk and needles on the floor. She gave her husband

be a very interesting ta

ered, bowing. "If you'll exc

nd he took it with almost the physical repulsion with which on