The Herbert Van Siderens were a couple who subsisted, socially, on
the fact that they had a studio. Van Sideren's pictures were chiefly
valuable as accessories to the _mise en scene_ which differentiated
his wife's "afternoons" from the blighting functions held in long
New York drawing-rooms, and permitted her to offer their friends
whiskey-and-soda instead of tea. Mrs. Van Sideren, for her part, was
skilled in making the most of the kind of atmosphere which a
lay-figure and an easel create; and if at times she found the
illusion hard to maintain, and lost courage to the extent of almost
wishing that Herbert could paint, she promptly overcame such moments
of weakness by calling in some fresh talent, some extraneous
re-enforcement of the "artistic" impression. It was in quest of such
aid that she had seized on Westall, coaxing him, somewhat to his
wife's surprise, into a flattered participation in her fraud. It was
vaguely felt, in the Van Sideren circle, that all the audacities
were artistic, and that a teacher who pronounced marriage immoral
was somehow as distinguished as a painter who depicted purple grass
and a green sky. The Van Sideren set were tired of the conventional
color-scheme in art and conduct.
Julia Westall had long had her own views on the immorality of
marriage; she might indeed have claimed her husband as a disciple.
In the early days of their union she had secretly resented his
disinclination to proclaim himself a follower of the new creed; had
been inclined to tax him with moral cowardice, with a failure to
live up to the convictions for which their marriage was supposed to
stand.
Pages:
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163