He placed chairs for us, and I perceived that my mother did not
intend to go.
'Well,' he continued, 'on that sunny morning I was impressed to
leave my studio and go out into the streets. It was then that I found
what I had been seeking,--the expression in the beautiful child-face
off the vignette.'
'In the street!' I heard my mother say to herself. 'How did it come
about?' she asked aloud.
'It had long been my habit to roam about the streets of London
whenever I could afford the time to do so, in the hope of finding
what I sought, the fascinating and indescribable expression on that
one lovely child-face. Sometimes I believed that I had found this
expression. I have followed women for miles, traced them home,
introduced myself to them, told them of my longings; and have then,
after all, come away in bitter disappointment. The insults and
revilings I have, on these occasions, sometimes submitted to I will
narrate to no man, for they would bring me no respect in a cynical
age like this--an age which Carlyle spits at and the great and good
John Ruskin chides.
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