Photoplay (Oct 1917 - Mar 1918)

I Love You 3.5 It so happeneed that Jules Mardon was asked to loan his famous painting to a charitable bazaar. Never dreaming that Felice, the peasant girl who had been his model, was now the wife of De Gautier, Jules called upon him one afternoon to ask permission to make use of the painting for sweet charity's sake. De Gautier received him and listened courteously to his request. "Upon one condition I will loan you the painting," said De Gautier, "that is, of course, with my wife's permission. The condition is that you paint Madame De Gautier and our little son, as the Madonna and Child." Noting a slight hesitation on the part of Mardon, De Gautier touched a bell and summoned a servant. "Will you ask Madame to step into my study for a minute?" Then, to Mardon, with a smile, "You will soon see how I have honored you." Felice entered the room, and De Gautier, pride in his accents, presented her to Mardon. In her happiness, she had grown neglectful; and as the days lengthened into wesks and the weeks into months Felice spent long hours before the Virgin's little shrine. \ The artist looked up and was almost bereft of words, so great was his astonishment. Could it be possible that this regal, stately woman was the little gauche Felice? She was a thousand-fold more beautiful than when he painted her so long ago, a passion flower beside the old garden wall. It all came back to him: the moonlit nights, the scent of orange and jasmine blossoms, the little peasant girl looking up at him with great dark eyes of adoration. What a fool he had been! He had held this priceless jewel in his hands, and had thrown it away. Why, the woman was a queen! A flame swept over him; from the dead ashes of the old romance leaped a consuming fire. He had been first with her; he would be last He became aware that De Gautier was waiting for his answer. "I will be most humbly proud to be permitted to paint Madame as the Madonna," and Mardon bowed over her hand. "A thousand thanks for the loan of the picture. I will begin work on Madame's picture at once." Felice never knew how she got to her own apartment without betraying the tumult that was rending her. She ' could have cried out in horror when she heard her husband's proposition. She had never wanted to see Jules Mardon; this was playing right into his hands. She did not wish her husband to know that there had been anything between them; she must endure, passively, being near him, having him talk to her, touch her! A new thought struck her. She was safe now — no word from him would evermore disturb one beat of her heart — but if she could make him love her again? There had been the old look in his eyes — Her little hands clenched. She would play with him, and in the end he should know the agony of disappointed love — as she had known it. He should suffer as she had suffered. She sat late into the night thinking, planning. Shortly afterward, when the painting of the picture was well begun, De Gautier was called away on business. Seizing the opportunity, Mardon asked that he might dine with her, alone. Felice, with pretended reluctance, consented. She gave orders that dinner should be served in her private sitting room, and she selected the choicest fruits, flowers and wines. She spent hours over her toilet, and when she en"> tered, to await the coming of Jules, she knew she had never looked more .' lovely. She sat down, jj and while listening for his footsteps, the clanging of the village church bell, a discordant note, came to her ears. For a minute she wondered what the disturbance was about, then turning to greet Jules, forgot the occurrence, j As a cat plays with a 1 mouse, Felice played with Mardon during dinner. The climax came when he clasped her in his arms and declared (Continued on page 120)