ught Grant's friendship. He had studied in the Julian Academy at
Paris, in his youth. He invited me to his house for tea, often; where I
met many of his students, but never, as I had hoped, the girl of the
moonlight....

But by careful and guarded inquiry I found out who she was ... a girl
from the central portion of the state, named Vanna Andrews.

When Grant asked me to pose for his class, sandals, open shirt,
corduroys, and all ... I agreed ... almost too eagerly ... he would pay
me twenty-five cents an hour.

My first day Vanna was not there. On the second, she came ... late ...
her tiny, white face, crowned with its dark head of hair ... "a star in
a jet-black cloud," I phrased, to myself. She sailed straight in like a
ship.

When she had settled herself,--beginning to draw, she appraised me
coolly, impartially, for a moment ... took my dimensions for her paper,
pencil held at arm's length....

Slowly, though I fought it back, a red wave of confusion surged over my
face and neck. I turned as red as ochre. I grew warm with perspiration
of embarrassment. I gazed fixedly out through the window....

"You're getting out of position," warned Professor Grant.

Vanna still observed me with steadfast, large, blue eyes. She started
her sketch with a few, first, swift lines.

"Excuse me," I rose, "I feel rather ill." I posed, "I've been up all
night drinking strong coffee and writing poems," I continued, my voice
rising in insincere, noisy falsetto.

"Step down a minute and rest, then, Mr. Gregory," advised Professor
Grant, puzzled, a grimace of distaste on his face.

"Isn't he silly," I overheard a girl student whisper to a loud-dressed
boy, whose easiness of manner with the female students I hated and
envied him for....

I resumed my pose. I blushed no more. I endured the cool, level,
impersonal glances of the girl I had fallen in love with....

"The model's a little wooden, don't you think, professor?" she observed,
to tease me, perhaps. She could not help but sense the cause of my
agitation. But then she was used to creating a stir among men. Her
beauty perturbed almost the entire male student body.

* * * * *

I noticed that her particular chum was a very homely girl. I straightway
found charms in this girl that no one had ever found before. And Alice
and I became friends. And, while posing, I came before the time, because
she, I discovered, was always beforehand, touching