Edward Hopper Painting

Edward Hopper Painting
Perhaps you have heart disease," said the Tin Woodman.
"It may be," said the Lion.
"If you have," continued the Tin Woodman, "you ought to be glad, for it proves you have a heart. For my part, I have no heart; so I cannot have heart disease."
"Perhaps," said the Lion thoughtfully, "if I had no heart I should not be a coward."
"Have you brains?" asked the Scarecrow.
Edward Hopper Painting
I suppose so. I've never looked to see," replied the Lion.
"I am going to the Great Oz to ask him to give me some," remarked the Scarecrow, "for my head is stuffed with straw."
"And I am going to ask him to give me a heart," said the Woodman.
"And I am going to ask him to send Toto and me back to Kansas," added Dorothy.
Edward Hopper Painting

van gogh sunflower

van gogh sunflower
"What makes you a coward?" asked Dorothy, looking at the great beast in wonder, for he was as big as a small horse.
"It's a mystery," replied the Lion. "I suppose I was born that way. All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be brave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the King of Beasts. I learned that if I roared very loudly every living thing was frightened and got out of my way. Whenever I've met a man I've been awfully scared; but I just roared at him, and he has always run away as fast as he could go. If the elephants and the tigers and the bears had ever tried to fight me, I should have run myself -- I'm such a
van gogh sunflower
coward; but just as soon as they hear me roar they all try to get away from me, and of course I let them go."
"But that isn't right. The King of Beasts shouldn't be a coward," said the Scarecrow.
"I know it," returned the Lion, wiping a tear from his eye with the tip of his tail. "It is my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy. But whenever there is danger, my heart begins to beat fast."
van gogh sunflower

Mary Cassatt painting

Mary Cassatt painting
"Do you think Oz could give me courage?" asked the Cowardly Lion.
"Just as easily as he could give me brains," said the Scarecrow.
"Or give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman.
"Or send me back to Kansas," said Dorothy.
"Then, if you don't mind, I'll go with you," said the Lion, "for my life is simply unbearable without a bit of courage."
Mary Cassatt painting
You will be very welcome," answered Dorothy, "for you will help to keep away the other wild beasts. It seems to me they must be more cowardly than you are if they allow you to scare them so easily."
"They really are," said the Lion, "but that doesn't make me any braver, and as long as I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy.
Mary Cassatt painting

Van Gogh Painting

Van Gogh Painting
Of course he's stuffed," replied Dorothy, who was still angry.
"That's why he went over so easily," remarked the Lion. "It astonished me to see him whirl around so. Is the other one stuffed also?"
"No," said Dorothy, "he's made of tin." And she helped the Woodman up again.
"That's why he nearly blunted my claws," said the Lion. "When they scratched against the tin it made a
Van Gogh Painting
cold shiver run down my back. What is that little animal you are so tender of?"
"He is my dog, Toto," answered Dorothy.
"Is he made of tin, or stuffed?" asked the Lion.
"Neither. He's a -- a -- a meat dog," said the girl.
"Oh! He's a curious animal and seems remarkably small, now that I look at him. No one would think of biting such a little thing, except a coward like me," continued the Lion sadly.
Van Gogh Painting

Henri Matisse Painting

Henri Matisse Painting his mouth to bite the dog, when Dorothy, fearing Toto would be killed, and heedless of danger, rushed forward and slapped the Lion upon his nose as hard as she could, while she cried out:
"Don't you dare to bite Toto! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a big beast like you, to bite a poor little dog!"
"I didn't bite him," said the Lion, as he rubbed his nose with his paw where Dorothy had hit it.
Henri Matisse Painting
No, but you tried to," she retorted. "You are nothing but a big coward."
"I know it," said the Lion, hanging his head in shame. "I've always known it. But how can I help it?"
"I don't know, I'm sure. To think of your striking a stuffed man, like the poor Scarecrow!"
"Is he stuffed?" asked the Lion in surprise, as he watched her pick up the Scarecrow and set him upon his feet, while she patted him into shape again.
Henri Matisse Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting
So once more the little company set off upon the journey, the Lion walking with stately strides at Dorothy's side. Toto did not approve this new comrade at first, for he could not forget how nearly he had been crushed between the Lion's great jaws. But after a time he became more at ease, and presently Toto and the Cowardly Lion had grown to be good friends.
Jack Vettriano Painting
During the rest of that day there was no other adventure to mar the peace of their journey. Once, indeed, the Tin Woodman stepped upon a beetle that was crawling along the road, and killed the poor little thing. This made
Jack Vettriano Painting

Marc Chagall Painting

Marc Chagall Painting "How long will it be," the child asked of the Tin Woodman, "before we are out of the forest?"
"I cannot tell," was the answer, "for I have never been to the Emerald City. But my father went there once, when I was a boy, and he said it was a long journey through a dangerous country, although nearer to the city where Oz dwells the country is beautiful. But I am not afraid so long as I have my oil-can, and nothing can hurt the Scarecrow, while you bear upon your forehead the mark of the Good Witch's kiss, and that will protect you from harm."
Marc Chagall Painting
"But Toto!" said the girl anxiously. "What will protect him?"
"We must protect him ourselves if he is in danger," replied the Tin Woodman.
Just as he spoke there came from the forest a terrible roar, and the next moment a great Lion bounded into the road. With one blow of his paw he sent the Scarecrow spinning over and over to the edge of the road, and then he struck at the Tin Woodman with his sharp claws. But, to the Lion's surprise, he could make no impression on the tin, although the Woodman fell over in the road and lay still.
Marc Chagall Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting
slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more the tinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of joints, so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did not care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.
Gustav Klimt Painting
"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me. There was only one danger -- that my joints would rust; but I kept an oil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and, being caught in a rainstorm, before I thought of the danger my joints had rusted, and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help me. It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a
Gustav Klimt Painting

Bouguereau William

Bouguereau William
heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz to give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin maiden and marry her."
Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to get a new heart.
"All the same," said the Scarecrow, "I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one."
Bouguereau William
"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."
Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of her two friends was right, and she decided if she could only get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it did not matter so much whether the Woodman had no brains and the Scarecrow no heart, or each got what he wanted.
Bouguereau William

Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Gustav Klimt The Kiss
my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinsmith, and again he made me a leg out of tin. After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after the other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with tin ones. The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmith happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.
Gustav Klimt The Kiss
"I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be. She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden, and made my axe
Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Modern Art Painting

Modern Art Painting
was so lazy she wished the girl to remain with her and do the cooking and the housework. So the old woman went to the Wicked Witch of the East, and promised her two sheep and a cow if she would prevent the marriage. Thereupon the Wicked Witch enchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new house and my wife as soon as possible, the axe slipped all at once and cut off my left leg.
Modern Art Painting
"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I went to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin. The leg worked very well, once I was used to it. But my action angered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again
Modern Art Painting

Famous artist painting

Famous artist painting
True," the Tin Woodman returned. "So, if you will allow me to join your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz to help me."
"Come along," said the Scarecrow heartily, and Dorothy added that she would be pleased to have his company. So the Tin Woodman shouldered his axe and they all passed through the forest until they came to the road that was paved with yellow brick.
Famous artist painting
The Tin Woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil-can in her basket. "For," he said, "if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again, I would need the oil-can badly."
It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the party, for soon after they had begun their journey again they came to a place where the trees and branches grew so thick over the road that the travelers could not pass. But the Tin Woodman set to work with his axe and chopped so well that soon he cleared a passage for the entire party.
Famous artist painting

Abstract Painting

Abstract Painting
and kill a deer for you. You can roast it by the fire, since your tastes are so peculiar that you prefer cooked food, and then you will have a very good breakfast."
"Don't! Please don't," begged the Tin Woodman. "I should certainly weep if you killed a poor deer, and then my jaws would rust again."
But the Lion went away into the forest and found his own supper, and no one ever knew what it was, for he didn't mention it.
Abstract Painting
And the Scarecrow found a tree full of nuts and filled Dorothy's basket with them, so that she would not be hungry for a long time. She thought this was very kind and thoughtful of the Scarecrow, but she laughed heartily at the awkward way in which the poor creature picked up the nuts. His padded hands were so clumsy and the nuts were so small that he dropped almost as many as he put in the basket. But the Scarecrow did not mind how long it took him to fill the basket, for it enabled him to keep away from the fire, as he feared a spark might get into his straw and burn him up. So he kept a good distance away from the flames, and only came near to cover Dorothy with dry leaves when she lay down to sleep. These kept her very
Abstract Painting

Rembrandt Painting

Rembrandt Painting
very carefully, with his eyes on the road, and when he saw a tiny ant toiling by he would step over it, so as not to harm it. The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.
"You people with hearts," he said, "have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful. When Oz gives me a heart of course I needn't mind so much."
Rembrandt Painting
They were obliged to camp out that night under a large tree in the forest, for there were no houses near. The tree made a good, thick covering to protect them from the dew, and the Tin Woodman chopped a great pile of wood with his axe and Dorothy built a splendid fire that warmed her and made her feel less lonely. She and Toto ate the last of their bread, and now she did not know what they would do for breakfast.
"If you wish," said the Lion, "I will go into the forest
Rembrandt Painting

The Singing Butler

The Singing Butler
the Tin Woodman very unhappy, for he was always careful not to hurt any living creature; and as he walked along he wept several tears of sorrow and regret. These tears ran slowly down his face and over the hinges of his jaw, and there they rusted. When Dorothy presently asked him a question the Tin Woodman could not open his mouth, for his jaws were tightly rusted together.
The Singing Butler
He became greatly frightened at this and made many motions to Dorothy to relieve him, but she could not understand. The Lion was also puzzled to know what was wrong. But the Scarecrow seized the oil-can from Dorothy's basket and oiled the Woodman's jaws, so that after a few moments he could talk as well as before.
"This will serve me a lesson," said he, "to look where I step. For if I should kill another bug or beetle I should surely cry again, and crying rusts my jaws so that I cannot speak."
The Singing Butler

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus
What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. To be sure neither the Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.
The Birth of Venus
All this time Dorothy and her companions had been walking through the thick woods. The road was still paved with yellow brick, but these were much covered by dried branches and dead leaves from the trees, and the walking was not at all good.
There were few birds in this part of the forest, for birds love the open country where there is plenty of sunshine. But now and then there came a deep growl from some wild animal hidden among the trees. These sounds made the little girl's heart beat fast, for she did not know
The Birth of Venus

Art Painting

Art Painting
So, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodman told the following story:
"I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the forest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up, I too became a woodchopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother as long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of living alone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.
Art Painting
"There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part, promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better house for her; so I set to work harder than ever. But the girl lived with an old woman who did not want her to marry anyone, for she
Art Painting

Famous painting

Famous painting
Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along that she did not notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole and rolled over to the side of the road. Indeed he was obliged to call to her to help him up again.
"Why didn't you walk around the hole?" asked the Tin Woodman.
"I don't know enough," replied the Scarecrow cheerfully. "My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am going to Oz to ask him for some brains."
Famous painting

"Oh, I see," said the Tin Woodman. "But, after all, brains are not the best things in the world."
"Have you any?" inquired the Scarecrow.
"No, my head is quite empty," answered the Woodman. "But once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart."
"And why is that?" asked the Scarecrow.
"I will tell you my story, and then you will know."
Famous painting

Decorative painting

Decorative painting
So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely; and he thanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very polite creature, and very grateful.
"I might have stood there always if you had not come along," he said; "so you have certainly saved my life. How did you happen to be here?"
"We are on our way to the Emerald City to see the Great Oz," she answered, "and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night."
Decorative painting
"Why do you wish to see Oz?" he asked.
"I want him to send me back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants him to put a few brains into his head," she replied.
The Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said:
"Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?"
"Why, I guess so," Dorothy answered. "It would be as easy as to give the Scarecrow brains."
Decorative painting

Abstract Painting

Abstract Painting
man attacked a woman and nearly killed her by beating her over the head with his manacles before the jailer could come to the rescue. The jailer restored peace by giving the man a sound clubbing about the head and shoulders-then the carousing ceased; and after that, all had an opportunity to sleep who did not mind the annoyance of the moanings and groanings of the two wounded people.
Abstract Painting
During the ensuing week, the days and nights were of a monotonous sameness, as to events; men whose faces Hendon remembered more or less distinctly came, by day, to gaze at the "impostor" and repudiate and insult him; and by night the carousing and brawling went on, with symmetrical regularity. However, there was a change of incident at last. The jailer brought in an old man, and said to him
Abstract Painting

Rembrandt Painting

Rembrandt Painting
But gradually his confused and tormenting thoughts settled down into some sort of order, and then his mind centered itself upon Edith. He turned her conduct over, and examined it in all lights, but he could not make anything satisfactory out of it. Did she know him?-or didn't she know him? It was a perplexing puzzle, and occupied him a long time; but he ended, finally,
Rembrandt Painting
with the conviction that she did know him, and had repudiated him for interested reasons. He wanted to load her name with curses now; but this name had so long been sacred to him that he found he could not bring his tongue to profane it.
Wrapped in prison blankets of a soiled and tattered condition, Hendon and the king passed a troubled night. For a bribe the jailer had furnished liquor to some of the prisoners; singing of ribald songs, fighting, shouting, and carousing, was the natural consequence. At last, awhile after midnight
Rembrandt Painting

van gogh sunflower

van gogh sunflower
and this will soften her heart, and she will no more betray me, but will confess me. There is no treacherous blood in her-no, she was always honest and true. She has loved me in those old days-this is my security; for whom one has loved, one cannot betray."
He stepped eagerly toward the door; at that moment it opened, and the Lady Edith entered. She was very pale, but she walked with a firm step, and her carriage was full of grace and gentle dignity. Her face was as sad as before.
van gogh sunflower
Miles sprang forward, with a happy confidence, to meet her, but she checked him with a hardly perceptible gesture, and he stopped where he was. She seated herself, and asked him to do likewise. Thus simply did she take the sense of old-comradeship out of him, and transform him into a stranger and a guest. The surprise of it, the bewildering unexpectedness of it, made him begin to question, for a moment, if he was the person he was pretending to be, after all. The Lady Edith said
van gogh sunflower

The Singing Butler

The Singing Butler
The cells were all crowded; so the two friends were chained in a large room where persons charged with trifling offenses were commonly kept. They had company, for there were some twenty manacled or fettered prisoners here, of both sexes and of varying ages-an obscene and noisy gang. The king chafed bitterly over the stupendous indignity thus put upon his royalty, but Hendon was moody and taciturn. He was pretty thoroughly bewildered. He had come home, a jubilant prodigal
The Singing Butler
expecting to find everybody wild with joy over his return; and instead had got the cold shoulder and a jail. The promise and the fulfilment differed so widely, that the effect was stunning; he could not decide whether it was most tragic or most grotesque. He felt much as a man might who had danced blithely out to enjoy a rainbow, and got struck by lightning.
The Singing Butler

Henri Matisse Painting

Henri Matisse Painting
Peace! What are thy paltry domains, thy trivial interests, contrasted with matters which concern the weal of a nation and the integrity of a throne!" Then he added, in a gentle voice, as if he were sorry for his severity, "Obey and have no fear; I will right thee, I will make thee whole-yes, more than whole. I shall remember, and requite."
Henri Matisse Painting
So saying, he took the pen, and set himself to work. Hendon contemplated him lovingly awhile, then said to himself:
"An it were dark, I should think it was a king that spoke; there's no denying it, when the humor's upon him he doth thunder and lighten like your true king-now where got he that trick? See him scribble and scratch away contentedly at his meaningless pot-hooks, fancying them to be Latin and Greek-and except my wit shall serve me with a lucky device for diverting him from his purpose, I shall be forced to pretend to post away to-morrow on this wild errand which he hath invented for me."
Henri Matisse Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting
Go-do not hesitate. If you lack money, take this purse, I beg of you, and bribe the servants to let you pass. Oh, be warned, poor soul, and escape while you may."
Miles declined the purse with a gesture, and rose up and stood before her.
"Grant me one thing," he said. "Let your eyes rest upon mine, so that I may see if they be steady. There-now answer me. Am I Miles Hendon?"
"No. I know you not."
"Swear it!"
The answer was low, but distinct:
Jack Vettriano Painting
"I swear."
"Oh, this passes belief!"
"Fly! Why will you waste the precious time? Fly and save yourself."
At that moment the officers burst into the room and a violent struggle began; but Hendon was soon overpowered and dragged away. The king was taken also, and both were bound and led to prison.
Jack Vettriano Painting

Mary Cassatt painting

Mary Cassatt painting
She bent upon Miles that same steady look once more, and added: "If you were Miles Hendon, and he knew it and all the region knew it-consider what I am saying, weigh it well-you would stand in the same peril, your punishment would be no less sure; he would deny you and denounce you, and none would be bold enough to give you countenance."
"Most truly I believe it," said Miles, bitterly. "The power that can command one lifelong friend to betray and disown another, and be obeyed, may well look to be obeyed in quarters where bread and life are on the stake and no cobweb ties of loyalty and honor are concerned."
Mary Cassatt painting

"I have warned you, I must still warn you, to go hence. This man will destroy you else. He is a tyrant who knows no pity. I, who am his fettered slave, know this. Poor Miles, and Arthur, and my dear guardian, Sir Richard, are free of him, and at rest-better that you were with them than that you bide here in the clutches of this miscreant. Your pretensions are a menace to his title and possessions; you have assaulted him in his own house-you are ruined if you stay.
Mary Cassatt painting

Edward Hopper Painting

Edward Hopper Painting Sir, I have come to warn you. The mad cannot be persuaded out of their delusions, perchance; but doubtless they may be persuaded to avoid perils. I think this dream of yours hath the seeming of honest truth to you, and therefore is not criminal-but do not tarry here with it; for here it is dangerous." She looked steadily into Miles's face a moment, then added, impressively, "It is the more dangerous for that you are much like what our lost lad must have grown to be, if he had lived."
Edward Hopper Painting
"Heavens, madam, but I am he!"
"I truly think you think it, sir. I question not your honesty in that-I but warn you, that is all. My husband is master in this region; his power hath hardly any limit; the people prosper or starve, as he wills. If you resembled not the man whom you profess to be, my husband might bid you pleasure yourself with your dream in peace; but trust me, I know him well, I know what he will do; he will say to all that you are but a mad impostor, and straightway all will echo him."
Edward Hopper Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting
A beautiful lady, richly clothed, followed Hugh, and after her came several liveried servants. The lady walked slowly, with her head bowed and her eyes fixed upon the floor. The face was unspeakably sad. Miles Hendon sprang forward, crying out:
"Oh, my Edith, my darling-"
But Hugh waved him back, gravely, and said to the lady:
"Look upon him. Do you know him?"
Gustav Klimt Painting
At the sound of Miles's voice the woman had started slightly, and her cheeks had flushed; she was trembling now. She stood still, during an impressive pause of several moments; then slowly lifted up her head and looked into Hendon's eyes with a stony and frightened gaze; the blood sank out of her face, drop by drop, till nothing remained but the gray pallor of death; then she said, in a voice as dead as the face, "I know him not!" and turned, with a moan and stifled sob, and tottered out of the room.
Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Gustav Klimt The Kiss
"Ah, my king," cried Hendon, coloring slightly, "do not thou condemn me-wait, and thou shalt see. I am no impostor-she will say it; you shall hear it from the sweetest lips in England. I an impostor? Why I know this old hall, these pictures of my ancestors, and all these things that are about us, as a child knoweth its own nursery. Here was I born and bred, my lord; I speak the truth; I would not deceive thee; and should none else believe, I pray thee do not thou doubt me-I could not bear it."
Gustav Klimt The Kiss
I thank thee out of my heart!" exclaimed Hendon, with a fervency which showed that he was touched. The king added, with the same gentle simplicity:
"Dost thou doubt me?"
A guilty confusion seized upon Hendon, and he was grateful that the door opened to admit Hugh, at that moment, and saved him the necessity of replying.
Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Modern Art Painting

Modern Art Painting
Then God be praised, my joy is whole again! Speed thee, brother-let her come to me! An she say I am not myself-but she will not; no, no, she will know me, I were a fool to doubt it. Bring her-bring the old servants; they, too, will know me."
"All are gone but five-Peter, Halsey, David, Bernard, and Margaret."
So saying, Hugh left the room. Miles stood musing awhile, then began to walk the floor, muttering:
Modern Art Painting
"The five arch villains have survived the two-and-twenty leal and honest-"tis an odd thing."
He continued walking back and forth, muttering to himself; he had forgotten the king entirely. By and by his majesty said gravely, and with a touch of genuine compassion, though the words themselves were capable of being interpreted ironically:
"Mind not thy mischance, good man; there be others in the world whose identity is denied, and whose claims are derided. Thou hast company."
Modern Art Painting

Famous artist painting

Famous artist painting
"Imagination hath naught to do with it! Dost thou pretend thou knowest me not for thy brother Miles Hendon?"
An expression of pleased surprise flitted across Hugh's face, and he exclaimed:
"What! thou art not jesting! can the dead come to life? God be praised if it be so! Our poor lost boy restored to our arms after all these cruel years! Ah, it seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true-I charge thee, have pity, do not trifle with me! Quick-come to the light-let me scan thee well!"
Famous artist painting
He seized Miles by the arm, dragged him to the window, and began to devour him from head to foot with his eyes, turning him this way and that, and stepping briskly around him and about him to prove him from all points of view; whilst the returned prodigal, all aglow with gladness, smiled, laughed, and kept nodding his head and saying
Famous artist painting

Van Gogh Painting

Van Gogh Painting
The next moment Sir Miles's thoughts had gone back to the recent episode. So absorbed was he in his musings, that when the king presently handed him the paper which he had been writing, he received it and pocketed it without being conscious of the act. "How marvelous strange she acted," he muttered. "I think she knew me-and I think she did not know me. These opinions do conflict, I perceive it plainly; I cannot reconcile them, neither can I, by argument, dismiss either of the two, or even persuade one to outweigh the other. The matter standeth simply thus
Van Gogh Painting
she must have known my face, my figure, my voice, for how could it be otherwise? yet she said she knew me not, and that is proof perfect, for she cannot lie. But stop-I think I begin to see. Peradventure he hath influenced her-commanded her-compelled her to lie. That is the solution! The riddle is unriddled. She seemed dead with fear-yes, she was under his compulsion. I will seek her; I will find her; now that he is away, she will speak her true mind. She will remember the old times when we were little playfellows together
Van Gogh Painting

Marc Chagall Painting

Marc Chagall Painting
"Indeed! Doth it not strike you as being passing strange that the land is not filled with couriers and proclamations describing my person and making search for me? Is it no matter for commotion and distress that the head of the state is gone?-that I am vanished away and lost?"
"Most true, my king, I had forgot." Then Hendon sighed, and muttered to himself. "Poor ruined mind-still busy with its pathetic dream."
Marc Chagall Painting
"But I have a plan that shall right us both. I will write a paper, in three tongues-Latin, Greek, and English-and thou shall haste away with it to London in the morning. Give it to none but my uncle, the Lord Hertford; when he shall see it, he will know and say I wrote it. Then he will send for me."
"Might it not be best, my prince, that we wait here until I prove myself and make my rights secure to my domains? I should be so much the better able then to-"
The king interrupted him imperiously:
Marc Chagall Painting

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus He is armed, Sir Hugh, and we are weaponless."
"Armed? What of it, and ye so many? Upon him, I say!"
But Miles warned them to be careful what they did, and added:
"Ye know me of old-I have not changed; come oh, an it like you."
This reminder did not hearten the servants much; they still held back.
The Birth of Venus

The king sat musing a few moments, then looked up and said:
"'Tis strange-most strange. I cannot account for it."
"No, it is not strange, my liege. I know him, and this conduct is but natural. He was a rascal from his birth."
"Oh, I spake not of him, Sir Miles."
"Not of him? Then of what? What is it that is strange?"
"That the king is not missed."
"How? Which? I doubt I do not understand." The Birth of Venus

Bouguereau William

Bouguereau William
Miles Hendon sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands. After a pause, his brother said to the servants:
"You have observed him. Do you know him?"
They shook their heads; then the master said:
"The servants know you not, sir. I fear there is some mistake. You have seen that my wife knew you not."
Bouguereau William
"Thy wife!" In an instant Hugh was pinned to the wall, with an iron grip about his throat. "Oh, thou fox-hearted slave, I see it all! Thou'st writ the lying letter thyself, and my stolen bride and goods are its fruit. There-now get thee gone, lest I shame mine honorable soldiership with the slaying of so pitiful a manikin!"
Hugh, red-faced and almost suffocated, reeled to the nearest chair, and commanded the servants to seize and bind the murderous stranger. They hesitated, and one of them said
Bouguereau William

Art Painting

Art Painting "I pray heaven it may prove so, and that other eyes may find the resemblances that are hid from mine. Alack, I fear me the letter spoke but too truly."
"What letter?"
"One that came from oversea, some six or seven years ago. It said my brother died in battle."
"It was a lie! Call thy father-he will know me."
"One may not call the dead."
Art Painting
"Dead?" Miles's voice was subdued, and his lips trembled. "My father dead!-oh, this is heavy news. Half my new joy is withered now. Prithee, let me see my brother Arthur-he will know me; he will know me and console me."
"He, also, is dead."
"God be merciful to me, a stricken man! Gone-both gone-the worthy taken and the worthless spared in me! Ah! I crave your mercy!-do not say the Lady Edith-"
"Is dead? No, she lives." Art Painting

Famous painting

Famous painting
"Go on, brother, go on, and fear not; thou"lt find nor limb nor feature that cannot bide the test. Scour and scan me to thy content, my dear old Hugh-I am indeed thy old Miles, thy same old Miles, thy lost brother, is"t not so? Ah, "tis a great day-I said "twas a great day! Give me thy hand, give me thy cheek-lord, I am like to die of very joy!"
Famous painting
He was about to throw himself upon his brother; but Hugh put up his hand in dissent, then dropped his chin mournfully upon his breast, saying with emotion:
"Ah, God of his mercy give me strength to bear this grievous disappointment!" Miles, amazed, could not speak for a moment; then he found his tongue, and cried out:
"What disappointment? Am I not thy brother?"
Hugh shook his head sadly, and said
Famous painting

Decorative painting

Decorative painting

But Hugh only drew back, after betraying a momentary surprise, and bent a grave stare upon the intruder-a stare which indicated somewhat of offended dignity at first, then changed, in response to some inward thought or purpose, to an expression of marveling curiosity, mixed with a real or assumed compassion. Presently he said, in a mild voice
Decorative painting
"Thy wits seem touched, poor stranger; doubtless thou hast suffered privations and rude buffetings at the world's hands; thy looks and dress betoken it. Whom dost thou take me to be?"
"Take thee? Prithee, for whom else than whom thou art? I take thee to be Hugh Hendon," said Miles, sharply.
The other continued, in the same soft tone:
"And whom dost thou imagine thyself to be?"
Decorative painting

Jack Vettriano Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting
He went back to the table, obediently, and sat down as a child rebuked might have done.,
And then his landlady Left him.
"Well?" said Bunting cheerily. "Everything went off quite all right. And Daisy's a lucky girl - that she is! Her Aunt Margaret gave her five shillings."
But Daisy did not look as pleased as her father thought she ought to do.
Jack Vettriano Painting
"I hope nothing's happened to Mr. Chandler," she said a little disconsolately. "The very last words he said to me last night was that he'd be there at ten o'clock. I got quite fidgety as the time went on and he didn't come."
"He's been here," said Mrs. Bunting slowly.
"Been here?" cried her husband. "Then why on earth didn't he go and fetch Daisy, if he'd time to come here?"
Jack Vettriano Painting

Mary Cassatt painting

Mary Cassatt painting
Mr. Sleuth hurried after her, and she shrank back a little. She had never been quite so near to the lodger before, save on that first day when she had been showing him her rooms.
Side by side they stood, looking out of the window. And, as if aware that someone was standing there, Daisy turned her bright face up towards the window and smiled at her stepmother, and at the lodger, whose face she could only dimly discern
Mary Cassatt painting
"A very sweet-looking young girl," said Mr. Sleuth thoughtfully. And then he quoted a little bit of poetry, and this took Mrs. Bunting very much aback.
"Wordsworth," he murmured dreamily. "A poet too little read nowadays, Mrs. Bunting; but one with a beautiful feeling for nature, for youth, for innocence."
"Indeed, sir?" Mrs. Bunting stepped back a little. "Your breakfast will be getting cold, sir, if you don't have it now."
Mary Cassatt painting

Edward Hopper Painting

Edward Hopper Painting
he would carry out some elaborate experiment this afternoon.
"Still snowing?" he said doubtfully. "How very, very quiet and still London is when under snow, Mrs. Bunting. I have never known it quite as quiet as this morning. Not a sound, outside or in. A very pleasant change from the shouting which sometimes goes on in the Marylebone Road."
"Yes," she said dully. "It's awful quiet to-day - too quiet to my thinking. 'Tain't natural-like."
Edward Hopper Painting
The outside gate swung to, making a noisy clatter in the still air.
"Is that someone coming in here?" asked Mr. Sleuth, drawing a quick, hissing breath. "Perhaps you will oblige me by going to the window and telling me who it is, Mrs. Bunting?"
And his landlady obeyed him.
"It's only Bunting, sir - Bunting and his daughter."
"Oh! Is that all?"
Edward Hopper Painting

van gogh sunflower

van gogh sunflower
At last Mr. Sleuth's bell rang - a quiet little tinkle. But when she went up with his breakfast the lodger was not in his sitting-room.
Supposing him to be still in his bedroom, Mrs. Bunting put the cloth on the table, and then she heard the sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs, and her quick ears detected the slight whirring sound which showed that the gas-stove was alight. Mr. Sleuth had already lit the stove; that meant that he would carry out some elaborate experiment this afternoon.
van gogh sunflower
Still snowing?" he said doubtfully. "How very, very quiet and still London is when under snow, Mrs. Bunting. I have never known it quite as quiet as this morning. Not a sound, outside or in. A very pleasant change from the shouting which sometimes goes on in the Marylebone Road."
"Yes," she said dully. "It's awful quiet to-day - too quiet to my thinking. 'Tain't natural-like."
van gogh sunflower

Van Gogh Painting

Van Gogh Painting
"Do," she said. "Do, Joe. You'll be welcome," but there was no welcome in her tired voice.
She let him go alone to the door, and then she went down to her kitchen, and began cooking Mr. Sleuth's breakfast.
The lodger would be sure to ring soon; and then any minute Bunting and Daisy might be home, and they'd want something, too. Margaret always had breakfast even when "the family" were away, unnaturally early.
Van Gogh Painting
As she bustled about Mrs. Bunting tried to empty her mind of all thought. But it is very difficult to do that when one is in a state of torturing uncertainty. She had not dared to ask Chandler what they supposed that man who had gone into the public-house was really like. It was fortunate, indeed, that the lodger and that inquisitive young chap had never met face to face.
Van Gogh Painting

Henri Matisse Painting

Henri Matisse Painting
Mrs. Bunting stared at Chandler with a scared expression. "Whatever makes them think such a silly thing as that?"
"Well, just before closing-time a very peculiar-looking gent, with a leather bag in his hand, went into the bar and asked for a glass of milk. And what d'you think he did? Paid for it with a sovereign! He wouldn't take no change - just made the girl a present of it! That's why the young woman what served him seems quite unwilling to give him away.
Henri Matisse Painting
She won't tell now what he was like. She doesn't know what he's wanted for, and we don't want her to know just yet. That's one reason why nothing's being said public about it. But there! I really must be going now. My time'll be up at three o'clock. I thought of coming in on the way back, and asking you for a cup o' tea, Mrs. Bunting."
Henri Matisse Painting

Marc Chagall Painting

Marc Chagall Painting
And then Mrs. Bunting sat down. She felt better now. It was natural the police should suspect a public-house loafer. "Then that's why you wasn't able to go and fetch Daisy, I suppose?"
He nodded. "Mum's the word, Mrs. Bunting! It'll all be in the last editions of the evening newspapers - it can't be kep' out. There'd be too much of a row if 'twas!"
Marc Chagall Painting
Are you going off to that public-house now?" she asked.
"Yes, I am. I've got a awk'ard job - to try and worm something out of the barmaid."
"Something out of the barmaid?" repeated Mrs. Bunting nervously. "Why, whatever for?"
He came and stood close to her. "They think 'twas a gentleman," he whispered.
"A gentleman?"
Marc Chagall Painting

Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Gustav Klimt The Kiss
Scarcely aware that it was so, both Bunting and his wife felt more cheerful than they had done for a long time. They had quite a pleasant little chat when Mrs. Bunting came and sat down for a bit, before going down to prepare Mr. Sleuth's breakfast.
"Daisy will be surprised to see you - not to say disappointed!" she observed, and she could not help laughing a little to herself at the thought.
Gustav Klimt The Kiss
And when, at eleven, Bunting got up to go, she made him stay on a little longer. "There's no such great hurry as that," she said good-temperedly. "It'll do quite well if you're there by half-past twelve. I'll get dinner ready myself. Daisy needn't help with that. I expect Margaret has worked her pretty hard."
But at last there came the moment when Bunting had to startGustav Klimt The Kiss

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus
"But where - and how?" faltered Mrs. Bunting.
"Well, 'twas just a bit of luck being able to keep it dark for the present" - he still spoke in that stifled, hoarse whisper. "The poor soul' was found dead on a bench on Primrose Hill. And just by chance 'twas one of our fellows saw the body first. He was on his way home, over Hampstead way. He knew where he'd be able to get an ambulance quick, and he made a very clever, secret job of it. I 'spect he'll get promotion for that!"
The Birth of Venus
"What about the clue?" asked Mrs. Bunting, with dry lips. "You said there was a clue?"
"Well, I don't rightly understand about the clue myself. All I knows is it's got something to do with a public-house, 'The Hammer and Tongs,' which isn't far off there. They feels sure The Avenger was in the bar just on closing - time."
The Birth of Venus

Modern Art Painting

Modern Art Painting
She walked back into their sitting-room. "There!" she said. "There it is, Bunting. You just read it."
"Am on duty this morning. Cannot fetch Miss Daisy as arranged. - Chandler."
"I wonder why he's on duty?" said Bunting slowly, uncomfortably. "I thought Joe's hours was as regular as clockwork - that nothing could make any difference to them. However, there it is. I suppose it'll do all right if I start about eleven o'clock? It may have left off snowing by then. I don't feel like going out again just now. I'm pretty tired this morning."
Modern Art Painting
You start about twelve," said his wife quickly.
"That'll give plenty of time."
The morning went on quietly, uneventfully. Bunting received a letter from Old Aunt saying Daisy must come back next Monday, a little under a week from now. Mr. Sleuth slept soundly, or, at any rate, he made no sign of being awake; and though Mrs. Bunting often, stopped to listen, while she was doing her room, there came no sounds at all from overhead.
Modern Art Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting and his wife went with him to the front door. It was still snowing, less heavily, but still snowing. There were very few people coming and going, and only just a few cabs and carts dragging cautiously along through the slush.
Mrs. Bunting was still in the kitchen when there came a ring and a knock at the door - a now very familiar ring and knock. "Joe thinks Daisy's home again by now!" she said, smiling to herself.
Gustav Klimt Painting
Before the door was well open, she heard Chandler's voice. "Don't be scared this time, Mrs. Bunting!" But though not exactly scared, she did give a gasp of surprise. For there stood Joe, made up to represent a public-house loafer; and he looked the part to perfection, with his hair combed down raggedly over his forehead, his seedy-looking, ill-fitting, dirty clothes, and greenish-black pot hat.
Gustav Klimt Painting

Bouguereau William

Bouguereau William
"I haven't a minute," he said a little breathlessly. "But I thought I'd just run in to know if Miss Daisy was safe home again. You got my telegram all right? I couldn't send no other kind of message."
"She's not back yet. Her father hasn't been gone long after her." Then, struck by a look in his eyes, "Joe, what's the matter?" she asked quickly.
Bouguereau William
There came a thrill of suspense in her voice, her face grew drawn, while what little colour there was in it receded, leaving it very pale.
"Well," he said. "Well, Mrs. Bunting, I've no business to say anything about it - but I will tell you !"
He walked in and shut the door of the sitting-room carefully behind him. "There's been another of 'em!" he whispered. "But this time no one is to know anything about it - not for the present, I mean," he corrected himself hastily. "The Yard thinks we've got a clue - and a good clue, too, this time."
Bouguereau William

Abstract Painting

Abstract Painting
She flew downstairs. "Bunting," she said a little breathlessly, "the lodger would like you just to lend him the Sun."
Bunting handed it over to her. "I've read it through," he observed. "You can tell him that I don't want it back again."
On her way up she glanced down at the pink sheet. Occupying a third of the space was an irregular drawing, and under it was written, in rather large characters:
Abstract Painting
We are glad to be able to present our readers with an authentic reproduction of the footprint of the half-worn rubber sole which was almost certainly worn by The Avenger when he committed his double murder ten days ago."
She went into the sitting-room. To her relief it was empty.
"Kindly put the paper down on the table," came Mr. Sleuth's muffled voice from the upper landing.
Abstract Painting

Rembrandt Painting

Rembrandt Painting
There was a long silence between them. Then he spoke, making a great effort to appear unconcerned.
"And where did it happen?" he asked. "Close to the other one?"
She hesitated, then: "I don't know. He didn't say. But hush!" she added quickly. "Here's Daisy! Don't let's talk of that horror in front of her-like. Besides, I promised Chandler I'd be mum."
And he acquiesced.
Rembrandt Painting
"You can be laying the cloth, child, while I go up and clear away the lodger's breakfast." Without waiting for an answer, she hurried upstairs.
Mr. Sleuth had left the greater part of the nice lemon sole untouched. "I don't feel well to-day," he said fretfully. "And, Mrs. Bunting? I should be much obliged if your husband would lend me that paper I saw in his hand. I do not often care to look at the public prints, but I should like to do so now.
Rembrandt Painting

The Singing Butler

The Singing Butler
"He was on the way to his job," his wife answered. "You run along, child, downstairs. Now that you are here you can make yourself useful."
And Daisy reluctantly obeyed. She wondered what it was her stepmother didn't want her to hear.
"I've something to tell you, Bunting."
"Yes?" He looked across uneasily. "Yes, Ellen?"
The Singing Butler
"There's been another o' those murders. But the police don't want anyone to know about it - not yet. That's why Joe couldn't go over and fetch Daisy. They're all on duty again."
Bunting put out his hand and clutched hold of the edge of the mantelpiece. He had gone very red, but his wife was far too much concerned with her own feelings and sensations to notice it.
The Singing Butler

Art Painting

Art Painting Perhaps Ellen was right after all. It didn't do for one to be always thinking of dreadful subjects, of murders and such-like. It made one go dotty - that's what it did.
And just as he was telling himself that, there came to the door a loud knock, the peculiar rat-tat-tat of a telegraph boy. But before he had time to get across the room, let alone to the front door, Ellen had rushed through the room, clad only in a petticoat and shawl.
Art Painting
"I'll go," she cried breathlessly. "I'll go, Bunting; don't you trouble."
He stared at her, surprised, and followed her into the hall.
She put out a hand, and hiding herself behind the door, took the telegram from the invisible boy. "You needn't wait," she said. "If there's an answer we'll send it out ourselves." Then she tore the envelope open - "Oh!" she said with a gasp of relief. "It's only from Joe Chandler, to say he can't go over to fetch Daisy this morning. Then you'll have to go." Art Painting

Famous painting

Famous painting
The lodger and me came in together last night," he observed genially. "He's certainly a funny kind of gentleman. It wasn't the sort of night one would have chosen to go out for a walk, now was it? And yet he must'a been out a long time if what he said was true."
"I don't wonder a quiet gentleman like Mr. Sleuth hates the crowded streets," she said slowly. "They gets worse every day - that they do! But go along now; I want to get up."
Famous painting
He went back into their sitting-room, and, having laid the fire and put a match to it, he sat down comfortably with his newspaper.
Deep down in his heart Bunting looked back to this last night with a feeling of shame and self-rebuke. Whatever had made such horrible thoughts and suspicions as had possessed him suddenly come into his head? And just because of a trifling thing like that blood. No doubt Mr. Sleuth's nose had bled - that was what had happened; though, come to think of it, he had mentioned brushing up against a dead animal.
Famous painting

Famous artist painting

Famous artist painting
"Daisy'll stay here just as long as she can," he said shortly. "It's too bad of you, Ellen, to talk like that! She helps you all she can; and she brisks us both up ever so much. Besides, 'twould be cruel - cruel to take the girl away just now, just as she and that young chap are making friends-like. One would suppose that even you would see the justice o' that!"
But Mrs. Bunting made no answer.
Famous artist painting
Bunting went off, back into the sitting-room. The water was boiling now, so he made the tea; and then, as he brought the little tray in, his heart softened. Ellen did look really ill - ill and wizened. He wondered if she had a pain about which she wasn't saying anything. She had never been one to grouse about herself.
Famous artist painting

Decorative painting

Decorative painting
Mrs. Bunting made no comment. Instead, she lay back and closed her eyes.
"What time d'you expect Daisy?" she asked languidly. "You didn't say what time Joe was going to fetch her, when we was talking about it yesterday."
"Didn't I? Well, I expect they'll be in to dinner."
Decorative painting
"I wonder, how long that old aunt of hers expects us to keep her?" said Mrs. Bunting thoughtfully. All the cheer died out of Bunting's round face. He became sullen and angry. It would be a pretty thing if he couldn't have his own daughter for a bit - especially now that they were doing so well!
Decorative painting

Abstract Painting

Abstract Painting
had, taken up with another young woman. It had been supposed that this fact would not be elicited by the coroner; but it had been, quietly, remorselessly; more, the dead girl's letters had been read out - piteous, queerly expressed letters, full of wild love and bitter, threatening jealousy. And the jury had censured the young man most severely; she remembered the look on his face when the people, shrinking back, had made a passage for him to slink out of the crowded room.
Abstract Painting
Come to think of it now, it was strange she had never told Bunting that long-ago tale. It had occurred years before she knew him, and somehow nothing had ever happened to make her tell him about it.
She wondered whether Bunting had ever been to an inquest. She longed to ask him. But if she asked him now, this minute, he might guess where she was thinking of going.
Abstract Painting

Rembrandt Painting

Rembrandt Painting
low-ceilinged room. "Ought not Miss Ellen Green," so the man had asked, "to have told someone of the girl's threat? If she had done so, might not the girl have been prevented from throwing herself into the lake?" And she, the witness, had answered, with some asperity - for by that time the coroner's kind manner had put her at her ease - that she had not attached any importance to what the girl had threatened to do, never believing that any young woman could be so silly as to drown herself for love!
Rembrandt Painting
Vaguely Mrs. Bunting supposed that the inquest at which she was going to be present this afternoon would be like that country inquest of long ago.
It had been no mere perfunctory inquiry; she remembered very well how little by little that pleasant-spoken gentleman, the coroner, had got the whole truth out - the story, that is, of how that horrid footman, whom she, Ellen Green, had disliked from the first minute she had set eyes on him
Rembrandt Painting

The Singing Butler

The Singing Butler
Everyone there had been particularly nice and polite to her, to Ellen Green; there had been a time of waiting in a room upstairs in the old inn, and the witnesses had been accommodated, not only with chairs, but with cake and wine.
She remembered how she had dreaded being a witness, how she had felt as if she would like to run away from her nice, easy place, rather than have to get up and tell the little that she knew of the sad business.
The Singing Butler
But it had not been so very dreadful after all. The coroner had been a kindly-spoken gentleman; in fact he had complimented her on the clear, sensible way she had given her evidence concerning the exact words the unhappy girl had used.
One thing Ellen Green had said, in answer to a question put by an inquisitive juryman, had raised a laugh in the crowded
The Singing Butler

Jack Vettriano Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting
Mrs. Bunting put on her outdoor clothes, preparatory to going out, she recalled very clearly all the details of that dreadful affair, and of the part she herself had unwillingly played in it.
She visualised the country inn where the inquest on that poor, unfortunate creature had been held.
Jack Vettriano Painting
The butler had escorted her from the Hall, for he also was to give evidence, and as they came up there had been a look of cheerful animation about the inn yard; people coming and going, many women as well as men, village folk, among whom the dead girl's fate had aroused a great deal of interest, and the kind of horror which those who live on a dull countryside welcome rather than avoid.
Jack Vettriano Painting

Edward Hopper Painting

Edward Hopper Painting
"Oh, I won't leave the house, don't you be afraid, Ellen - not while you're out"
"Not even if I'm out a good while, Bunting."
"No fear. Of course, you'll be a long time if it's your idea to see that doctor at Ealing?"
He looked at her questioningly, and Mrs. Bunting nodded. Somehow nodding didn't seem as bad as speaking a lie.
Edward Hopper Painting
ny ordeal is far less terrifying, far easier to meet with courage, when it is repeated, than is even a milder experience which is entirely novel.
Mrs. Bunting had already attended an inquest, in the character of a witness, and it was one of the few happenings of her life which was sharply etched against the somewhat blurred screen of her memory. Edward Hopper Painting

van gogh sunflower

van gogh sunflower
Then hesitatingly, and looking narrowly at her husband, she went on, twisting a bit of her black apron with her fingers as she spoke: - "I suppose he'll be going over this afternoon to fetch her? Or - or d'you think he'll have to be at that inquest, Bunting?"
"Inquest? What inquest?" He looked at her puzzled.
"Why, the inquest on them bodies found in the passage near by King's Cross."
van gogh sunflower
Oh, no; he'd have no call to be at the inquest. For the matter o' that, I know he's going over to fetch Daisy. He said so last night - just when 'you went up to the lodger."
"That's just as well." Mrs. Bunting spoke with considerable satisfaction. "Otherwise I suppose you'd ha' had to go. I wouldn't like the house left - not with us out of it. Mr. Sleuth would be upset if there came a ring at the door."
van gogh sunflower

Mary Cassatt painting

Mary Cassatt painting
In a country house where the then Ellen Green had been staying for a fortnight with her elderly mistress, there had occurred one of those sudden, pitiful tragedies which occasionally destroy the serenity, the apparent decorum, of a large, respectable household.
Mary Cassatt painting
The under-housemaid, a pretty, happy-natured girl, had drowned herself for love of the footman, who had given his sweetheart cause for bitter jealousy. The girl had chosen to speak of her troubles to the strange lady's maid rather than to her own fellow-servants, and it was during the conversation the two women had had together that the girl had threatened to take her own life.
Mary Cassatt painting

Van Gogh Painting

Van Gogh Painting
But there was plenty of time. Daisy wouldn't be eighteen till the week after next. They might wait till she was twenty. By that time Old Aunt might be dead, and Daisy might have come into quite a tidy little bit of money.
"What are you smiling at?" said his wife sharply.
Van Gogh Painting
And he shook himself. "I - smiling? At nothing that I knows of." Then he waited a moment. "Well, if you will know, Ellen, I was just thinking of Daisy and that young chap Joe Chandler. He is gone on her, ain't he?"
"Gone?" And then Mrs. Bunting laughed, a queer, odd, not unkindly laugh. "Gone, Bunting?" she repeated. "Why, he's out o' sight - right, out of sight!"
Van Gogh Painting

Bouguereau William

Bouguereau William
What Mrs. Bunting had been looking for - what at last she had found - was the time and place of the inquest which was to be held that day. The hour named was a rather odd time - two o'clock in the afternoon, but, from Mrs. Bunting's point of view, it was most convenient.
Bouguereau William
By two o'clock, nay, by half-past one, the lodger would have had his lunch; by hurrying matters a little she and Bunting would have had their dinner, and - and Daisy wasn't coming home till tea-time.
She got up out of her husband's chair. "I think you're right," she said, in a quick, hoarse tone. "I mean about me seeing a doctor, Bunting.' I think I will go and see a doctor this very afternoon."
Bouguereau William

Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting
Even when her husband had come in with the tray Mrs. Bunting had gone on reading, only lifting up her eyes for a moment. At last he said rather crossly, "Put down that paper, Ellen, this minute! The omelette I've cooked for you will be just like leather if you don't eat it."
Gustav Klimt Painting
But once his wile had eaten her breakfast - and, to Bunting's mortification, she left more than half the nice omelette untouched - she took the paper up again. She turned over the big sheets, until she found, at the foot of one of the ten columns devoted to The Avenger and his crimes, the information she wanted, and then uttered an exclamation under her breath.
Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Gustav Klimt The Kiss
And to-day will take place the inquest on the double crime of ten days ago. To my mind it would be well if a preliminary public inquiry could be held at once. Say, on the very day the discovery of a fresh murder is made. In that way alone would it be possible to weigh and sift the evidence offered by members of the general public. For when a week or more has
Gustav Klimt The Kiss
by members of the general public. For when a week or more has elapsed, and these same people have been examined and cross-examined in private by the police, their impressions have had time to become blurred and hopelessly confused. On that last occasion but one there seems no doubt that several people, at any rate two women and one man, actually saw the murderer hurrying from the scene of his atrocious double crime - this being so, to-day's investigation may be of the highest value and importance. To-morrow I hope to give an account of the impression made on me by the inquest, and by any statements made during its course."
Gustav Klimt The Kiss

Art Painting

Art Painting
years and years ago. He didn't know how she would take his doing such a thing after what she had said; but never mind, she would enjoy the omelette when done. Ellen hadn't been eating her food properly of late.
And when he went up again, his wife, to his relief, and, it must be admitted, to his surprise, took it very well. She had not even noticed how long he had been downstairs, for she had been reading with intense, painful care the column that the great daily paper they took in had allotted to the one-time famous detective.
Art Painting
According to this Special Investigator's own account he had discovered all sorts of things that had escaped the eye of the police and of the official detectives. For instance, owing, he admitted, to a fortunate chance, he had been at the place where the two last murders had been committed very soon after the double crime had been discovered - in fact within half an hour, and he had found, or so he felt sure, on the slippery, wet pavement imprints of the murderer's right foot.
Art Painting

Famous painting

Famous painting
But though Ellen had tolerated, she had never encouraged, that sort of talk between the two men. More than once she had exclaimed reproachfully: "To hear you two, one would think there was no nice, respectable, quiet people left in the world!"
But now all that was changed. She was as keen as anyone could be to hear the latest details of an Avenger crime. True, she took her own view of any theory suggested.
Famous painting
But there! Ellen always had had her own notions about everything under the sun. Ellen was a woman who thought for herself - a clever woman, not an everyday woman by any manner of means.
While these thoughts were going disconnectedly through his mind, Bunting was breaking four eggs into a basin. He was going to give Ellen a nice little surprise - to cook an omelette as a French chef had once taught him to do
Famous painting

Henri Matisse Painting

Henri Matisse Painting
Not to anyone who didn't know Joe," she said sharply.
"Well, I don't know. He didn't look like a real man - nohow. If he's a wise lad, he won't let our Daisy ever see him looking like that!" and Bunting laughed, a comfortable laugh.
He had thought a good deal about Daisy and young Chandler the last two days, and, on the whole, he was well pleased.
Henri Matisse Painting
It was a dull, unnatural life the girl was leading with Old Aunt. And Joe was earning good money. They wouldn't have long to wait, these two young people, as a beau and his girl often have to wait, as he, Bunting, and Daisy's mother had had to do, for ever so long before they could be married. No, there was no reason why they shouldn't be spliced quite soon - lf so the fancy took them. And Bunting had very little doubt that so the fancy would take Joe, at any rate.
Henri Matisse Painting

Marc Chagall Painting

Marc Chagall Painting
"Yes," she said briefly, "I've a pain in my head, at the back of my neck. It doesn't often leave me; it gets worse when anything upsets me, like I was upset last night by Joe Chandler."
"He was a silly ass to come and do a thing like that!" said Bunting crossly. "I'd a good mind to tell him so, too. But I must say, Ellen, I wonder he took you in - he didn't me!"
Marc Chagall Painting
"Well, you had no chance he should - you knew who it was," she said slowly.
And Bunting remained silent, for Ellen was right. Joe Chandler had already spoken when he, Bunting, came out into the hall, and saw their cleverly disguised visitor.
"Those big black moustaches," he went on complainingly, "and that black wig - why, 'twas too ridic'lous - that's what I call it!" Marc Chagall Painting

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus
"Wouldn't you like me to go with you?" he asked.
"No, that I wouldn't. In fact I wouldn't go at all you was to go with me."
"All right," he said vexedly. "Please yourself, my dear; you know best."
"I should think I did know best where my own health is concerned."
Even Bunting was incensed by this lack of gratitude. "'Twas I said, long ago, you ought to go and see the doctor; 'twas you said you wouldn't!" he exclaimed pugnaciously.
The Birth of Venus
"Well, I've never said you was never right, have I? At any rate, I'm going."
"Have you a pain anywhere?" He stared at her with a look of real solicitude on his fat, phlegmatic face.
Somehow Ellen didn't look right, standing there opposite him. Her shoulders seemed to have shrunk; even her cheeks had fallen in a little. She had never looked so bad - not even when they had been half starving, and dreadfully, dreadfully worded.
The Birth of Venus

Modern Art Painting

Modern Art Painting
The paper reproduced the impression of a half-worn rubber sole. At the same time, he also admitted - for the Special Investigator was very honest, and he had a good bit of space to fill in the enterprising paper which had engaged him to probe the awful mystery - that there were thousands of rubber soles being worn in London. . . .
Modern Art Painting
And when she came to that statement Mrs. Bunting looked up, and there came a wan smile over her thin, closely-shut lips. It was quite true - that about rubber soles; there were thousands of rubber soles being worn just now. She felt grateful to the Special Investigator for having stated the fact so clearly.
The column ended up with the words: Modern Art Painting

Famous artist painting

Famous artist painting
that was what was the matter with her, that and the universal excitement about these Avenger murders, which were shaking the nerves of all London. Even Bunting, unobservant as he was, had come to realise that his wife took a morbid interest in these terrible happenings. And it was the more queer of her to do so that at first she refused to discuss them, and said openly that she was utterly uninterested in murder or crime of any sort.
Famous artist painting
He, Bunting, had always had a mild pleasure in such things. In his time he had been a great reader of detective tales, and even now he thought there was no pleasanter reading. It was that which had first drawn him to Joe Chandler, and made him welcome the young chap as cordially as he had done when they first came to London.
Famous artist painting

Decorative painting

Decorative painting
out. He didn't mind it when she spoke sharply and nastily to him. He was used to that. But now she was so up and down; so different from what she used to be! In old days she had always been the same, but now a man never knew where to have her.
And as he went downstairs he pondered uneasily over his wife's changed ways and manner.
Decorative painting
Take the question of his easy chair. A very small matter, no doubt, but he had never known Ellen sit in that chair - no, not even once, for a minute, since it had been purchased by her as a present for him.
They had been so happy, so happy, and so - so restful, during that first week after Mr. Sleuth had come to them. Perhaps it was the sudden, dramatic change from agonising anxiety to peace and security which had been too much for Ellen - yes

Abstract Painting

Abstract Painting
"But now, France must know - the whole world must know, that, on the very evening on which Monsieur Darzac was arrested, young Rouletabille entered our editorial office and informed us that he was about to go away on a journey. 'How long I shall be away,' he said, 'I cannot say; perhaps a month - perhaps two - perhaps three perhaps I may never return.
Abstract Painting
Here is a letter. If I am not back on the day on which Monsieur Darzac is to appear before the Assize Court, have this letter opened and read to the court, after all the witnesses have been heard. Arrange it with Monsieur Darzac's counsel. Monsieur Darzac is innocent. In this letter is written the name of the murderer; and - that is all I have to say.
Abstract Painting

Rembrandt Painting

Rembrandt Painting
In both those cases we were able to discover the truth long before even the excellent ingenuity of Frederic Larsan had been able to unravel it. These reports were written by our youngest reporter, Joseph Rouletabille, a youth of eighteen, whose fame to-morrow will be world-wide. When attention was first drawn to the Glandier case, our youthful reporter was on the spot and installed in the chateau
Rembrandt Painting
when every other representative of the press had been denied admission. He worked side by side with Frederic Larsan. He was amazed and terrified at the grave mistake the celebrated detective was about to make, and tried to divert him from the false scent he was following; but the great Fred refused to receive instructions from this young journalist. We know now where it brought Monsieur Robert Darzac.
Rembrandt Painting

The Singing Butler

The Singing Butler
and generally so successful, as Monsieur Frederic Larsan, may be excused for having been misled by them. Up to now everything has gone against Monsieur Robert Darzac in the magisterial inquiry. To-day, however, we are going to defend him before the jury, and we are going to bring to the witness stand a light that will illumine the whole mystery of the Glandier. For we possess the truth.
The Singing Butler
"If we have not spoken sooner, it is because the interests of certain parties in the case demand that we should take that course. Our readers may remember the unsigned reports we published relating to the 'Left foot of the Rue Oberkampf,' at the time of the famous robbery of the Credit Universel, and the famous case of the 'Gold Ingots of the Mint.
The Singing Butler

Jack Vettriano Painting

Jack Vettriano Painting
husband and whom the prosecution would send to the scaffold. It is to be hoped that Mademoiselle Stangerson will shortly recover her reason, which has been temporarily unhinged by the horrible mystery at the Glandier. The question before the jury is the one we propose to deal with this very day.
"We have decided not to permit twelve worthy men to commit a disgraceful miscarriage of justice.
Jack Vettriano Painting
We confess that the remarkable coincidences, the many convicting evidences, and the inexplicable silence on the part of the accused, as well as a total absence of any evidence for an alibi, were enough to warrant the bench of judges in assuming that in this man alone was centered the truth of the affair. The evidences are, in appearance, so overwhelming against Monsieur Robert Darzac that a detective so well informed, so intelligent
Jack Vettriano Painting

Mary Cassatt painting

Mary Cassatt painting
incomprehensible, and inexplicable points. And yet the prosecution has not hesitated to put into the prisoner's dock a man who is respected, esteemed, and loved by all who knew him - a young savant, the hope of French science, whose whole life has been devoted to knowledge and truth. When Paris heard of Monsieur Robert Darzac's arrest a unanimous cry of protest arose from all sides.
Mary Cassatt painting
The whole Sorbonne, disgraced by this act of the examining magistrate, asserted its belief in the innocence of Mademoiselle Stangerson's fiance. Monsieur Stangerson was loud in his denunciation of this miscarriage of justice. There is no doubt in the mind of anybody that could the victim speak she would claim from the jurors of Seine-et-Oise the man she wishes to make her
Mary Cassatt painting

Edward Hopper Painting

Edward Hopper Painting
"Are you not afraid that other attempts may be made while you're away?"
"No! Not now that Darzac is in prison," he answered.
With this strange remark he left. I was not to see him again until the day of Darzac's trial at the court when he appeared to explain the inexplicable.
Edward Hopper Painting

Chapter XXVI
In Which Joseph Rouletabille Is Awaited with Impatience
n the 15th of January, that is to say, two months and a half after the tragic events I have narrated, the "Epoque" printed, as the first column of the front page, the following sensational article: "The Seine-et-Oise jury is summoned to-day to give its verdict on one of the most mysterious affairs in the annals of crime. There never has been a case with so many obscure
Edward Hopper Painting

van gogh sunflower

van gogh sunflower
Rouletabille arrived next day at the hour agreed on. He was dressed in a suit of English tweed, with an ulster on his arm, and a valise in his hand. Evidently he had prepared himself for a journey.
"How long shall you be away?" I asked.
"A month or two," he said. "It all depends."
I asked him no more questions.
van gogh sunflower
Do you know," he asked, "what the word was that Mademoiselle Stangerson tried to say before she fainted?"
"No - nobody heard it."
"I heard it!" replied Rouletabille. "She said 'Speak!'"
"Do you think Darzac will speak?"
"Never."
I was about to make some further observations, but he wrung my hand warmly and wished me good-bye. I had only time to ask him one question before he left.
van gogh sunflower

Van Gogh Painting

Van Gogh Painting
Rouletabille shook his head, going close up to Darzac.
"Listen to what I am about to say," he said in a low tone, "and let it give you confidence. You do not know the name of the murderer. Mademoiselle Stangerson knows it; but only half of it; but I know his two halves; I know the whole man!"
Van Gogh Painting
hat same evening Rouletabille and I left the Glandier. We were very glad to get away and there was nothing more to keep us there. I declared my intention to give up the whole matter. It had been too much for me. Rouletabille, with a friendly tap on my shoulder, confessed that he had nothing more to learn at the Glandier; he had learned there all it had to tell him. We reached Paris about eight o'clock, dined, and then, tired out, we separated, agreeing to meet the next morning at my rooms.
Van Gogh Painting

Modern Art Painting

Modern Art Painting
The examination had proceeded thus far when, to our surprise, Frederic Larsan returned to the chateau. He was accompanied by one of the employes of the railway. At that moment Rance and I were in the vestibule discussing Mathieu's guilt or innocence, while Rouletabille stood apart buried, apparently
Modern Art Painting
in thought. The examining magistrate and his Registrar were in the little green drawing-room, while Darzac was with the doctor and Stangerson in the lady's chamber. As Frederic Larsan entered the vestibule with the railway employed, Rouletabille and I at once recognised him by the small blond beard. We exchanged meaningful glances. Larsan had himself announced to the examining magistrate by the gendarme and entered with the railway servant as Daddy Jacques came out.
Modern Art Painting

Henri Matisse Painting

Henri Matisse Painting
Monsieur Darzac was hurried out of the room and placed in the vestibule to wait for the vehicle Larsan had gone to fetch. We were all overcome by emotion and even Monsieur de Marquet had tears in his eyes. Rouletabille took advantage of the opportunity to say to Monsieur Darzac:
"Are you going to put in any defense?"
"No!" replied the prisoner.
"Very well, then I will, Monsieur."
Henri Matisse Painting
You cannot do it," said the unhappy man with a faint smile.
"I can - and I will."
Rouletabille's voice had in it a strange strength and confidence.
"I can do it, Monsieur Robert Darzac, because I know more than you do!"
"Come! Come!" murmured Darzac, almost angrily.
"Have no fear! I shall know only what will benefit you."
"You must know nothing, young man, if you want me to be grateful."
Henri Matisse Painting

Famous artist painting

Famous artist painting
Monsieur Stangerson confirmed what Rance had said, adding that he had not asked Rance to dine with him because his friend had taken his final leave of them both earlier in the evening. Monsieur Rance had had tea served him in his room, because he had complained of a slight indisposition.
Famous artist painting
Bernier testified, instructed by Rouletabille, that the keeper had ordered him to meet at a spot near the oak grove, for the purpose of looking out for poachers. Finding that the keeper did not keep his appointment, he, Bernier, had gone in search of him. He had almost arrived at the donjon, when he saw a figure running swiftly in a direction opposite to him
Famous artist painting

Marc Chagall Painting

Marc Chagall Painting
"Monsieur Darzac! - in the name of the law, I arrest you!"
The magistrate had no sooner pronounced the words than I saw Rouletabille move quickly towards Monsieur Darzac. He would certainly have spoken to him, but Darzac, by a gesture, held him off. As the gendarme approached his prisoner, a despairing cry rang through the room: Marc Chagall Painting
Mademoiselle Stangerson, with a face of deathly pallor, had risen on her bed, in spite of the restraining efforts of two doctors and her father. She was holding out her trembling arms towards Robert Darzac, on whom Larsan and the gendarme had laid hands. Her distended eyes saw - she understood - her lips seemed to form a word, but nobody made it out; and she fell back insensible.
Marc Chagall Painting

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus "That night," said Monsieur Darzac, interrupting, "at half-past ten - it is quite true."
An interval of silence followed.
"Monsieur Darzac," the magistrate went on in a tone of deep emotion, "Monsieur Darzac, what were you doing that night, at Epinay-sur-Orge - at that time?"
Monsieur Darzac remained silent, simply closing his eyes.
The Birth of Venus
"Monsieur Darzac," insisted Monsieur de Marquet, "can you tell me how you employed your time, that night?"
Monsieur Darzac opened his eyes. He seemed to have recovered his self-control.
"No, Monsieur."
"Think, Monsieur! For, if you persist in your strange refusal, I shall be under the painful necessity of keeping you at my disposition." The Birth of Venus

Bouguereau William

Bouguereau William
Almost immediately after Monsieur Robert Darzac came out. He was very pale. He looked at us and, his eyes falling on the railway servant, his features stiffened and he could hardly repress a groan.
We were all much moved by the appearance of the man. We felt that what was about to happen would decide the fate of Monsieur Robert Darzac. Frederic Larsan's face alone was radiant, showing a joy as of a dog that had at last got its prey.
Bouguereau William
Pointing to the railway servant, Monsieur de Marquet said to Monsieur Darzac:
"Do you recognise this man, Monsieur?"
"I do," said Monsieur Darzac, in a tone which he vainly tried to make firm. "He is an employe at the station at Epinay-sur-Orge."
"This young man," went on Monsieur de Marquet, "affirms that he saw you get off the train at Epinay-sur-Orge -"
Bouguereau William

Gustav Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt Painting On reaching the door of Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber, Monsieur de Marquet knocked. A chambermaid appeared. It was Sylvia, with her hair all in disorder and consternation showing on her face.
"Is Monsieur Stangerson within?" asked the magistrate.
"Yes, Monsieur."
"Tell him that I wish to speak with him."
Stangerson came out. His appearance was wretched in the extreme.
Gustav Klimt Painting
"What do you want?" he demanded of the magistrate. "May I not be left in peace, Monsieur?"
"Monsieur," said the magistrate, "it is absolutely necessary that I should see Monsieur Darzac at once. If you cannot induce him to come, I shall be compelled to use the help of the law."
The professor made no reply. He looked at us all like a man being led to execution, and then went back into the room.
Gustav Klimt Painting