--1.
All the world feels the pathos of helplessness hurt and wounded; but
only some recognize how this applies to a great and noble nature
attacked by unscrupulousness. In an encounter with dishonesty, nobility
of soul may be, in its effect for the moment, utter weakness. Assailed
by deceit or treachery the great heart has often no resource but
endurance; and while endurance may save, it cannot defend.
The moment Grant Herman's eyes fell upon the _Fatima_, he understood
fully why Fenton had so volubly remarked that he had painted the
picture from old studies. He tried to fight with his conviction that
what the artist said was false, although even as he did so he could not
crush down the feeling of having been wounded by the hand of a friend.
It seemed to him incredible that Fenton, even though the painter's
defection from the Pagans had caused something of a breach between
them, could have been guilty of this outrage. He choked with an
intolerable sense of shame for himself, for the artist, and for
Ninitta. A terrible anguish wrung his heart as he looked across the
crowded gallery gay with lights, with the rich dresses, with laughter,
and with the beauty of women, to where hung the picture of the mother
of his boy, an image of sensuous enticement. The fact that Fenton had
substituted another face for that of Ninitta did not, for the moment,
console him.
Pages:
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342