“I will wait till he has gone,” the planter replied. At the door he turned as if to say something, but he only looked steadily, sadly at her, and then was gone.
She stood where he had left her, gazing in melancholy abstraction at the door through which he had passed. There were footsteps without in the hall-way. The door was opened, and a servant announced M. Laflamme. The painter-prisoner entered followed by the soldier. Immediately afterward Mrs. Angers, Marie’s elderly companion, sidled in gently.
Laflamme bowed low, then turned and said coolly to the soldier: “You may wait outside to-day, Roupet. This is my last morning’s work. It is important, and you splutter and cough. You are too exhausting for a studio.”
But Roupet answered: “Monsieur, I have my orders.”
“Nonsense. This is the Governor’s house. I am perfectly safe here. Give your orders a change of scene. You would better enjoy the refreshing coolness of the corridors this morning. You won’t? Oh, yes, you will. Here’s a cigarette—there, take the whole bunch—I paid too much for them, but no matter. Ah, pardon me, mademoiselle. I forgot that you cannot smoke here, Roupet; but you shall have them all the same, there! Parbleu! you are a handsome rascal, if you weren’t so wheezy! Come, come, Roupet, make yourself invisible.”
The eyes of the girl were on the soldier. They did the work better; a warrior has a soft place in his heart for a beautiful woman. He wheeled suddenly, and disappeared from the room, motioning that he would remain at the door.
The painting began, and for half an hour or more was continued without a word. In the silence the placid Angers had fallen asleep.
Nodding slightly towards her, Rive Laflamme said in a low voice to Marie: “Her hearing at its best is not remarkable?”
“Not remarkable.”
He spoke more softly. “That is good. Well, the portrait is done. It has been the triumph of my life to paint it. Not that first joy I had when I won the great prize in Paris equals it. I am glad: and yet—and yet there was much chance that it would never be finished.”