ad always fancied she would be an ideal housekeeper and now that
she had her Eugene she was anxious to begin. It would be such a pleasure
to show him what a manager she was, how everything would go smoothly in
her hands, how careful she would be of his earnings--their joint
possessions.

She was sorry, now that she saw that art was no great producer of
wealth, that she had no money to bring him, but she knew that Eugene in
the depth of his heart thought nothing of that. He was too impractical.
He was a great artist, but when it came to practical affairs she felt
instinctively that she was much the wiser. She had bought so long,
calculated so well for her sisters and brothers.

Out of her bag (for her trunks had not yet arrived) she extracted a neat
house dress of pale green linen which she put on after she had done up
her hair in a cosy coil, and together with Eugene for a temporary guide,
they set forth to find the stores. He had told her, looking out the
windows, that there were lines of Italian grocers, butchers and
vegetable men in the side streets, leading south from the square, and
into one of these they now ventured. The swarming, impressive life of
the street almost took her breath away, it was so crowded. Potatoes,
tomatoes, eggs, flour, butter, lamb chops, salt--a dozen little
accessories were all purchased in small quantities, and then they
eagerly returned to the studio. Angela was a little disgusted with the
appearance of some of the stores, but some of them were clean enough. It
seemed so strange to her to be buying in an Italian street, with Italian
women and children about, their swarthy leathern faces set with bright,
almost feverish eyes. Eugene in his brown corduroy suit and soft green
hat, watching and commenting at her side, presented such a contrast. He
was so tall, so exceptional, so laconic.

"I like them when they wear rings in their ears," he said at one time.

"Get the coal man who looks like a bandit," he observed at another.

"This old woman here might do for the witch of Endor."

Angela attended strictly to her marketing. She was gay and smiling, but
practical. She was busy wondering in what quantities she should buy
things, how she would keep fresh vegetables, whether the ice box was
really clean; how much delicate dusting the various objects in the
studio would require. The raw brick walls of the street, the dirt and
slops in the gutter, the stray cats and dogs hungry and lean, the