It was really only just before the church bells began to ring that he
fell asleep at last, to dreams hardly less vivid than his waking
reflections.
XXIX
CRUEL PROOF OF THIS MAN'S STRENGTH.
As You Like It; i.--2.
Orin Stanton had been tolerably sure of getting the commission for the
_America_, and had been busily at work preparing his model for the
figure. By the time the decision of the committee was reached, his
study was practically complete, and only a day or two after he had been
officially notified that the choice had fallen upon him the public were
invited to his studio to view the statue.
Whatever else Orin might or might not be, he was undeniably energetic.
He missed no opportunities through neglect, and he never left undone
anything which was likely to tell for his own advantage. He had once
before called upon the world to admire his work on the completion of
his masterpiece, a figure called _Hop Scotch_, representing according
to Bently "a tenement-house girl having a fit on the sidewalk." He
therefore understood well enough the usual methods of managing these
affairs, and as the ladies who had taken him up felt bound to make a
point of patronizing the exhibition, the affair succeeded capitally.
Stanton had no regular studio in Boston, and had for this work secured
a room on the ground floor of a business building.
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