h had swelled his bank balance to seventeen hundred dollars;
however, on this he had to live now until additional pictures were
disposed of. He daily hoped to hear of additional sales, but none
occurred.

Moreover, his exhibition in January did not produce quite the impression
he thought it would. It was fascinating to look at; the critics and the
public imagined that by now he must have created a following for
himself, else why should M. Charles make a feature of his work. But
Charles pointed out that these foreign studies could not hope to appeal
to Americans as did the American things. He indicated that they might
take better in France. Eugene was depressed by the general tone of the
opinions, but this was due more to his unhealthy state of mind than to
any inherent reason for feeling so. There was still Paris to try and
there might be some sales of his work here. The latter were slow in
materializing, however, and because by February he had not been able to
work and because it was necessary that he should husband his resources
as carefully as possible, he decided to accept Angela's family's
invitation as well as that of his own parents and spend some time in
Illinois and Wisconsin. Perhaps his health would become better. He
decided also that, if his health permitted, he would work in Chicago.

CHAPTER XI

It was in packing the trunks and leaving the studio in Washington Square
(owing to the continued absence of Mr. Dexter they had never been
compelled to vacate it) that Angela came across the first evidence of
Eugene's duplicity. Because of his peculiar indifference to everything
except matters which related to his art, he had put the letters which he
had received in times past from Christina Channing, as well as the one
and only one from Ruby Kenny, in a box which had formerly contained
writing paper and which he threw carelessly in a corner of his trunk. He
had by this time forgotten all about them, though his impression was
that he had placed them somewhere where they would not be found. When
Angela started to lay out the various things which occupied it she came
across this box and opening it took out the letters.

Curiosity as to things relative to Eugene was at this time the dominant
characteristic of her life. She could neither think nor reason outside
of this relationship which bound her to him. He and his affairs were
truly the sum and substance of her existence. She looked at the letters
oddly