Every colour is common
property
once it runs down,--even though you
do start it with a drop of oil.
do start it with a drop of oil.
Kipling - Poems
He, too, had
forgotten the state of the weather. They laughed together, and with that
laugh ended all serious discourse.
They ran inland across the waste to warm themselves, then turned to look
at the glory of the full tide under the moonlight and the intense black
shadows of the furze bushes. It was an additional joy to Dick that
Maisie could see colour even as he saw it,--could see the blue in the
white of the mist, the violet that is in gray palings, and all things
else as they are,--not of one hue, but a thousand. And the moonlight
came into Maisie's soul, so that she, usually reserved, chattered of
herself and of the things she took interest in,--of Kami, wisest of
teachers, and of the girls in the studio,--of the Poles, who will kill
themselves with overwork if they are not checked; of the French, who
talk at great length of much more than they will ever accomplish; of
the slovenly English, who toil hopelessly and cannot understand that
inclination does not imply power; of the Americans, whose rasping
voices in the hush of a hot afternoon strain tense-drawn nerves to
breaking-point, and whose suppers lead to indigestion; of tempestuous
Russians, neither to hold nor to bind, who tell the girls ghost-stories
till the girls shriek; of stolid Germans, who come to learn one thing,
and, having mastered that much, stolidly go away and copy pictures for
evermore. Dick listened enraptured because it was Maisie who spoke. He
knew the old life.
"It hasn't changed much," he said. "Do they still steal colours at
lunch-time? "
"Not steal. Attract is the word. Of course they do. I'm good--I only
attract ultramarine; but there are students who'd attract flake-white. "
"I've done it myself. You can't help it when the palettes are hung up.
Every colour is common property once it runs down,--even though you
do start it with a drop of oil. It teaches people not to waste their
tubes. "
"I should like to attract some of your colours, Dick. Perhaps I might
catch your success with them. "
"I mustn't say a bad word, but I should like to. What in the world,
which you've just missed a lovely chance of seeing, does success or want
of success, or a three-storied success, matter compared with----No, I
won't open that question again. It's time to go back to town. "
"I'm sorry, Dick, but----"
"You're much more interested in that than you are in me. "
"I don't know, I don't think I am. "
"What will you give me if I tell you a sure short-cut to everything you
want,--the trouble and the fuss and the tangle and all the rest? Will
you promise to obey me? "
"Of course. "
"In the first place, you must never forget a meal because you happen
to be at work. You forgot your lunch twice last week," said Dick, at a
venture, for he knew with whom he was dealing.
"No, no,--only once, really. "
"That's bad enough.
forgotten the state of the weather. They laughed together, and with that
laugh ended all serious discourse.
They ran inland across the waste to warm themselves, then turned to look
at the glory of the full tide under the moonlight and the intense black
shadows of the furze bushes. It was an additional joy to Dick that
Maisie could see colour even as he saw it,--could see the blue in the
white of the mist, the violet that is in gray palings, and all things
else as they are,--not of one hue, but a thousand. And the moonlight
came into Maisie's soul, so that she, usually reserved, chattered of
herself and of the things she took interest in,--of Kami, wisest of
teachers, and of the girls in the studio,--of the Poles, who will kill
themselves with overwork if they are not checked; of the French, who
talk at great length of much more than they will ever accomplish; of
the slovenly English, who toil hopelessly and cannot understand that
inclination does not imply power; of the Americans, whose rasping
voices in the hush of a hot afternoon strain tense-drawn nerves to
breaking-point, and whose suppers lead to indigestion; of tempestuous
Russians, neither to hold nor to bind, who tell the girls ghost-stories
till the girls shriek; of stolid Germans, who come to learn one thing,
and, having mastered that much, stolidly go away and copy pictures for
evermore. Dick listened enraptured because it was Maisie who spoke. He
knew the old life.
"It hasn't changed much," he said. "Do they still steal colours at
lunch-time? "
"Not steal. Attract is the word. Of course they do. I'm good--I only
attract ultramarine; but there are students who'd attract flake-white. "
"I've done it myself. You can't help it when the palettes are hung up.
Every colour is common property once it runs down,--even though you
do start it with a drop of oil. It teaches people not to waste their
tubes. "
"I should like to attract some of your colours, Dick. Perhaps I might
catch your success with them. "
"I mustn't say a bad word, but I should like to. What in the world,
which you've just missed a lovely chance of seeing, does success or want
of success, or a three-storied success, matter compared with----No, I
won't open that question again. It's time to go back to town. "
"I'm sorry, Dick, but----"
"You're much more interested in that than you are in me. "
"I don't know, I don't think I am. "
"What will you give me if I tell you a sure short-cut to everything you
want,--the trouble and the fuss and the tangle and all the rest? Will
you promise to obey me? "
"Of course. "
"In the first place, you must never forget a meal because you happen
to be at work. You forgot your lunch twice last week," said Dick, at a
venture, for he knew with whom he was dealing.
"No, no,--only once, really. "
"That's bad enough.
