Wasn't it worth the
whiskey?
Kipling - Poems
"
Torpenhow looked at the head of a woman who laughed,--a full-lipped,
hollow-eyed woman who laughed from out of the canvas as Dick had
intended she would.
"Who taught you how to do it? " said Torpenhow. "The touch and notion
have nothing to do with your regular work. What a face it is! What eyes,
and what insolence! " Unconsciously he threw back his head and laughed
with her. "She's seen the game played out,--I don't think she had a good
time of it,--and now she doesn't care. Isn't that the idea? "
"Exactly. "
"Where did you get the mouth and chin from? They don't belong to Bess. "
"They're--some one else's. But isn't it good? Isn't it thundering good?
Wasn't it worth the whiskey? I did it. Alone I did it, and it's the best
I can do. " He drew his breath sharply, and whispered, "Just God! what
could I not do ten years hence, if I can do this now! --By the way, what
do you think of it, Bess? "
The girl was biting her lips. She loathed Torpenhow because he had taken
no notice of her.
"I think it's just the horridest, beastliest thing I ever saw," she
answered, and turned away.
"More than you will be of that way of thinking, young woman. --Dick,
there's a sort of murderous, viperine suggestion in the poise of the
head that I don't understand," said Torpenhow.
"That's trick-work," said Dick, chuckling with delight at being
completely understood. "I couldn't resist one little bit of sheer
swagger. It's a French trick, and you wouldn't understand; but it's got
at by slewing round the head a trifle, and a tiny, tiny foreshortening
of one side of the face from the angle of the chin to the top of the
left ear. That, and deepening the shadow under the lobe of the ear. It
was flagrant trick-work; but, having the notion fixed, I felt entitled
to play with it,--Oh, you beauty!
Torpenhow looked at the head of a woman who laughed,--a full-lipped,
hollow-eyed woman who laughed from out of the canvas as Dick had
intended she would.
"Who taught you how to do it? " said Torpenhow. "The touch and notion
have nothing to do with your regular work. What a face it is! What eyes,
and what insolence! " Unconsciously he threw back his head and laughed
with her. "She's seen the game played out,--I don't think she had a good
time of it,--and now she doesn't care. Isn't that the idea? "
"Exactly. "
"Where did you get the mouth and chin from? They don't belong to Bess. "
"They're--some one else's. But isn't it good? Isn't it thundering good?
Wasn't it worth the whiskey? I did it. Alone I did it, and it's the best
I can do. " He drew his breath sharply, and whispered, "Just God! what
could I not do ten years hence, if I can do this now! --By the way, what
do you think of it, Bess? "
The girl was biting her lips. She loathed Torpenhow because he had taken
no notice of her.
"I think it's just the horridest, beastliest thing I ever saw," she
answered, and turned away.
"More than you will be of that way of thinking, young woman. --Dick,
there's a sort of murderous, viperine suggestion in the poise of the
head that I don't understand," said Torpenhow.
"That's trick-work," said Dick, chuckling with delight at being
completely understood. "I couldn't resist one little bit of sheer
swagger. It's a French trick, and you wouldn't understand; but it's got
at by slewing round the head a trifle, and a tiny, tiny foreshortening
of one side of the face from the angle of the chin to the top of the
left ear. That, and deepening the shadow under the lobe of the ear. It
was flagrant trick-work; but, having the notion fixed, I felt entitled
to play with it,--Oh, you beauty!
