Fata Morgana: A Romance of Art Student Life in Paris

by J. André Castaigne

CONTENTS

PART I
		PAGE
Ethel and Helia		[1]
CHAPTER
I	After the Quat’z-Arts Ball	[3]
II	The Fata Morgana	[17]
III	Remembering the Golden Days	[29]
IV	When Phil Came to Paris	[51]
V	An Initiation into Art	[65]
VI	The Hanging Gardens of Paris	[83]
VII	A Rude Awakening	[99]
VIII	The End of the Guitar	[102]
IX	Alas! Poor Helia!	[117]
X	Miss Ethel Rowrer of Chicago	[125]
XI	An Apartment in the Latin Quarter	[133]
XII	Ethel’s Idea of a Man	[139]
PART II
More than Queen		[151]
I	Wanted—a Duchess!	[153]
II	A Parisian Début	[167]
III	Phil, Champion of Miss Rowrer	[185]
IV	’Twixt Dog and Poet	[196]
V	Little Sister of a Star	[201]
VI	The Old, Old Story	[215]
VII	Caracal’s Narrow Escape	[232]
VIII	A Queen for Kings	[249]
PART III
Youthful Follies		[269]
I	Teuff-teuff! Teuff! Brrr!	[271]
II	In Camp	[284]
III	Grand’mère versus Grandma	[301]
IV	Through the Country Fair	[317]
V	A Banquet on the Sawdust	[330]
VI	Was Poufaille Right?	[347]
VII	“A True Heart Loves but Once”	[360]
PART IV
Conscience		[377]
I	On the Blue Sea	[379]
II	Ethel’s Victory	[392]
III	A Castle of the Adriatic	[398]
IV	The Little Duke	[410]
V	Visiting the Sorceress	[417]
VI	The Fight	[431]
VII	The Fateful Day Begins	[444]
VIII	Fata Morgana to the Rescue!	[452]
IX	Stricken in Triumph	[464]
X	“On Your Knees!”	[478]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
Helia at the very summit of the car	[Frontispiece]
The Concierge	[5]
The Cow Painting	[13]
The Great Canvas	[21]
The Little Saint John	[31]
Helia and her “Professor”	[35]
Phil courting Helia in the Yard	[43]
Phil arrives at the Hotel	[53]
Hammering the clay with a terrific blow of his fist	[59]
Socrate at Deux Magots	[69]
Stripped to the waist	[75]
“They are pigs!”	[79]
On the Roofs of the Louvre	[91]
“Only put your soul into it!”	[103]
He encumbered the room	[113]
A magnificent guardian stopped her	[123]
Miss Ethel and Empress Eugénie	[129]
Ethel, who was their leader	[145]
“Here is the engraving”	[159]
Giving the Flower to the Child	[169]
Cemetery	[173]
At the Circus	[181]
Phil rose up, pale with anger	[193]
Suddenly Socrate recognized Phil	[199]
“To whom shall I write?”	[205]
He approached in visible embarrassment	[217]
Poufaille’s Goods Ready for Auction	[227]
The Punch d’Indignation	[235]
Suzanne and Poufaille at the Louvre	[253]
Ethel and the Royal Throne	[265]
Watching the Arrival of the Rowrers	[273]
The Arrival of the Rowrers	[277]
Ethel and the Little Peasant Girls	[291]
Phil listening to Ethel	[297]
They went down into the garden	[311]
Suzanne and Poufaille at the Country Fair	[319]
The Banquet in the Ring of the Circus	[333]
Phil watching Helia and Socrate	[351]
Ethel stood upright in the ruined colonnade	[371]
She dreamed under a sky studded with stars	[389]
She arose angrily	[395]
The Searchlight on the Castle	[407]
Visiting the Castle	[413]
“Does the sight of so many weapons make you nervous?”	[421]
Helia facing the Assailants	[433]
The Return to the City	[439]
The Delegates	[447]
“Help me!” he cried	[457]
The peddler of pious pictures	[467]
The duke stood alone	[473]
“My people await their duchess”	[483]

PART I
ETHEL AND HELIA

FATA MORGANA

CHAPTER I
AFTER THE QUAT’Z-ARTS BALL

At daybreak, Phil Longwill, the young American painter, entered his studio, threw away his cigar, gulped down the contents of his water-jug—and then slipped into an arm-chair and dozed.