e,
successful men in the commercial world M. Charles was for strong
men--men in the heyday of their success, the zenith of their ability.
The least variation from this standard of force and interest was
noticeable to him. If a man was going to fail--going to get sick and
lose his interest in life or have his viewpoint affected, it might be
very sad, but there was just one thing to do under such
circumstances--get away from him. Failures of any kind were dangerous
things to countenance. One must not have anything to do with them. They
were very unprofitable. Such people as Temple Boyle and Vincent Beers,
who had been his instructors in the past and who had heard of him in
Chicago at the time of his success, Luke Severas, William McConnell,
Oren Benedict, Hudson Dula, and others wondered what had become of him.
Why did he not paint any more? He was never seen in the New York haunts
of art! It was rumored at the time of the Paris exhibition that he was
going to London to do a similar group of views, but the London
exhibition never came off. He had told Smite and MacHugh the spring he
left that he might do Chicago next, but that came to nothing. There was
no evidence of it. There were rumors that he was very rich, that his art
had failed him, that he had lost his mind even, and so the art world
that knew him and was so interested in him no longer cared very much. It
was too bad but--so thought the rival artists--there was one less
difficult star to contend with. As for his friends, they were sorry, but
such was life. He might recover. If not,--well--.

As time went on, one year, another year, another year, the strangeness
of his suddenly brilliant burst and disappearance became to the talented
in this field a form of classic memory. He was a man of such promise!
Why did he not go on painting? There was an occasional mention in
conversation or in print, but Eugene to all intents and purposes was
dead.

When he came to New York it was after his capital had been reduced to
three hundred dollars and he had given Angela one hundred and
twenty-five of this to take her back to Blackwood and keep her there
until he could make such arrangements as would permit her to join him.
After a long discussion they had finally agreed that this would be best,
for, seeing that he could neither paint nor illustrate, there was no
certainty as to what he would do. To come here on so little money with
her was not advisable. She had her home where