field--he, Adolph, who had a little laid by, would lend him the
necessary money, and would write his brother in advance of the great
opportunity he was sending him.

Ultimately, with a very ill grace on Stefan's part--who could hardly be
persuaded that even a temporary return to America was preferable to
starvation--it was so arranged. The second-class passage money was 250
francs; for this and incidentals, he had enough, and Adolph lent him
another 250 to tide him over his arrival. He felt unable to afford
adequate crating, so his canvases were unstretched and made into a roll
which he determined should never leave his hands. His clothing was packed
in two bags, one contributed by Adolph. Armed with his roll, and followed
by his enthusiastic friend carrying the bags, Stefan departed from the
Gare Saint-Lazare for Dieppe, Liverpool, and the Lusitania.

Reacting to his friend's optimism, Stefan had felt confident enough on
leaving Paris, but the discomforts of the journey had soon flattened his
spirits, and now, limp in his berth, he saw the whole adventure mistaken,
unreal, and menacing. In leaving the country of his adoption for that of
his birth, he now felt that he had put himself again in the clutches of a
chimera which had power to wither with its breath all that was rare and
beautiful in his life. Nursing a grievance against himself and fate, he
at last fell asleep, clothed as he was, and forgot himself for a time in
such uneasy slumber as the storm allowed.




IV