Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/114
la Paix," "La Félicité de la Régence," etc. The prevailing tone of this room is Indian red, and the furniture—mostly Chippendale—corresponds to perfection.
The Dining-Room.
From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry.
What is unquestionably one of the brightest and biggest of the rooms in the house is devoted to the use of the children. The goldfinch is singing away as we enter. It seems quite as happy as its feathered friends outside in the open. It is named "Joe," after a canary who used to roam about the house, but one day hopped on a stove in the studio, and was burnt. The toy cupboard is a small edition of the Lowther Arcade, and a rocking-horse is resting in the corner. The mantel-board is given up to some figures of "The Blue Boy" type, and a funny little Chinaman nods his head, and often brings a smile to the faces of the younger members. Over a big black chest hangs an unfinished picture by Henry Woods. This chest has a small interest. It has been the repository of drawings and sketches ever since its owner was eighteen years of age. Its drawers are brimming over now—Studies for "Edwin Drood," "The Casuals," "Fair, Quiet, and Sweet Rest," and many more. We are in the midst of looking at them when the children troop in from the lawn.
It is a natural question to ask Mr. Fildes if any of his children have ever found their way into his pictures. The golden curls of little Phyllis seem familiar to me, and I am wondering where I have seen that old lamp before which now stands on the top of the big black case.
If you look at the frontispiece of this magazine, you will find a reproduction of a picture which is the most beautiful in sentiment and exquisite in pathos of any painted in modern times. A little girl is lying on the two chairs, her head propped up by a pillow. The shade of the lamp is raised so that the light may fall on her face. Yes, they were Phyllis's curls, but the sleeping child was Mr. Fildes' little boy Geoffrey!
"When he wanted his morning sleep," said Mr. Fildes, "he used to be brought up to the studio. The nurse would watch him as he lay on the chairs. As he slept I painted. You see the hand falling