Mr. Halkett’s Romance
The Free Lance no. 69, week ending Sat. January 25, 1902, p. 418
[Note: The editors are indebted to Arthur Robinson for this rare item.]
Mr. G.R. Halkett, the present editor of the “Pall Mall Magazine,” is an artist-journalist. He has had a curiously romantic career. His story reads like the motif of some novel. All the materials of emotional fiction are there—the struggling young artist, the millionaire’s beautiful daughter, the stern father. It was at Manchester that it happened. Mr. Halkett was at that time doing his best to get a footing on the ladder of success with his brush. The brush was mightier than the pen in those days. Commissions were few and very far between, but one day Fortune smiled upon him. A very wealthy merchant prince of the town brought his daughter to the studio to have her portrait painted. The young couple fell violently in love with one another, and in spite of the vigorous opposition of the young lady’s father, were married.
Stern Father
The father thereupon acted as a father—in a novel—is expected to act. He refused to see his daughter, and cut himself off altogether from her. This, however, did not discourage Mr. Halkett. He worked with redoubled energy at his profession, and slowly but surely made a name for himself. But the culminating point of the story is still to come. The interdict of the father did not extend to his grandchildren, and so it came about that they were sent on a visit to him. The experienced novel reader can guess the rest. The children came, were seen, and conquered. A complete reconciliation took place, and the merchant prince makes no secret of his intention of leaving them at his death his fortune.