The returns from this and from
her husband's life insurance secured to Edith and her son a small
income, which was considerably increased by the sale of Fenton's
pictures which was soon after organized by the artists of the St.
Filipe Club.
It was about a month after Ninitta's death that Grant Herman went to
visit Helen. He had chosen to see her at her studio rather than at her
home. Poignant memories of the past were less likely to be aroused by
the unfamiliar appearance of this room which he had never before
entered. It was late in the afternoon, and Helen was standing by the
figure of a child upon which she had been working. She gave him her
hand impulsively, forgetting that the fingers were stained with clay.
"I beg your pardon," she said.
"It is no matter," he returned, and the commonplace phrases bridged the
awkwardness which belongs to the meeting of two people whose minds are
full of intense feeling which they are not prepared to speak. Helen led
him toward another modelling stand.
"I want you to see this bust," she remarked. "It's quite in the manner
which you used to say was my best."
He stood watching her with a swelling heart as she removed the damp
wrappings which kept the clay moist. Keen in the minds of both was the
knowledge that now there were no barriers between them; that the time
had come at last when they were free to love each other and to unite
their lives.
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