The Birthday Party, parts 3883 - 3886

 3883. Emily had to do her drawing of the horse from memory because she was expected to never see the beloved animal ever again, but seeing the horse was not necessary because Emily was able to draw horses almost with her eyes closed.

 3884. It is a well known fact that at all times in history, and in all places in the world, whenever a 13 year old girl begins to ride horses, simultaneously that same girl will begin to do a series of drawings of horses. The drawings of horses that the 13 year old girls do begin as simple outlines or even tracings and progress gradually to complete studies just short of being anatomically perfect.

 3885. The pleasure the doing of these drawings provides to the young artist can only be dimly imagined by anyone not so afflicted with the passionate pursuit of such drawing perfection. Simply considering the sheer volume of drawings a person like Emily was likely to produce in any given month can provide some insight.

3886. Emily had a drawing instructor who came once a week, and try as he might he could not get Emily to consider any other subject matter for her drawing other than horses. In vain did he introduce flowers, it was a waste of time to suggest landscape, the figure was out of the question, drawing the figure from life or a plaster cast was not even considered as a possibility.

The Birthday Party, parts 3879 - 3882

 3879. What Emily had done seemed so monstrous that her parents were unable even to confront her about it. It seemed to them that if they pretended it had never happened it would diminish its reality, and to talk about it would give it a reality they could not bear to accept. 

 3880. Regardless of the fact that they were loath to confront Emily about her attempt to run away, still, they felt compelled to punish her in some significant way. The punishment was this, Emily was never to ride any horses again, and furthermore she was not allowed to even enter the stables to help the grooms with cleaning the stalls and feeding the horses.

 3881. For Emily, this punishment was somehow worse that a sentence of life in prison for a convict. It was worse because she was to be denied access to the only thing she truly loved in the world. From the day her punishment began Emily was a changed person. She was moody and despondent where before she had been always of a gay and carefree disposition.

3882. Perhaps it was instinct, or on the other hand, perhaps it was a deep insight that led Frida to make the suggestion she made when Emily was handed down her terms of punishment. As soon as she was alone with her charge she made the offhand request that Emily do a drawing on her favorite horse from memory.

The Birthday Party, parts 3875 - 3878

 3875. He was probably suffering from guilt and remorse because he returned home and then stood around in the early morning in the portico, looking cast down and out of sorts.

 3876. The family was shocked to find a bag tied to the horse containing seven apples, Emily’s collection of antique gold coins, and her best dress folded up in two blankets. The antique coins were gifts from her Godmother, given to her each year on her Saint’s day. 

 3877. At first they had no idea why these things could be in a sack on the horse, neither did they know that Emily was missing. It was only later in the day that the servants and the tutor put the odd facts together and realized that Emily must have ridden off on the horse in the night, and was apparently intending to run away. 

3878. The servants would never dare to state such a thing, even if it was an obvious fact, but a few hints brought Emily’s parents to the terrible truth about the question of the horse, and so they set out in search for their daughter who was soon found about a mile from home suffering from a concussion.

The Birthday Party, parts 3871 - 3874

 3871. The punishment was the result of Emily’s untoward love of horses. She had been riding horses as long as she could remember, but had recently fallen in love with a very unmanageable but beautiful horse and she would not listen to anyone’s advice about the danger of riding him.

 3872. She not only wanted to ride the dangerous horse, but positively wanted to buy it for herself so she could have complete control of the animal. Unfortunately she was forbidden to ride the animal under any circumstances, so she had to contend herself with grooming, feeding, and tending to the animal which she did with the typical slavish devotion of a 13 year old.

 3873. Emily was an entirely obedient child, but as she entered her 13th year she began to evidence a certain restlessness and anxiety. Her distress was not apparent to anyone, not even to Frida, her closest friend, so the entire family was astounded when she slipped out of the house in the middle of the night, went to the stables, saddled up the dangerous horse and rode off into the woods.

3874. She managed to get some considerable distance away from the house because she was an excellent rider, but finally the angry animal managed to throw her off. Perhaps the brute felt some guilt at what he had done, seeing as he completely understood that the little girl loved him to detraction.

The Birthday Party, parts 3867 - 3870

 3867. When Emily was upset about some affront or insult her thirteen year old spirit suffered at the hands of her older brothers, Frida’s eyes would glow with a silent flame of anger, exactly as if she herself was the victim of the incessant persecution the older brother subject their sister to.

 3868. As for Frida, she saw in Emily a more perfect and complete version of herself, but a version of herself devoid of hesitation, uncertainty, and fear. Emily would instantly voice some idea that the elder Frida had spent years trying to formulate.

  3869. Frida was like one of those persons who try for years hopelessly to learn a foreign language, and then stand dumbfounded to see some child master the foreign sounds with ease and speed.

3870. Frida and Emily were sitting on Emily’s bed in her room deep in conversation. Only Frida was allowed into Emily’s room that week, for her instruction, otherwise she sat there in silence and alone. Emily was being severely punished for something she had done.

The birthday Party, parts 3863 - 3866

 3863. Years later the sculptor would come to regret making an enemy of his partner on the trip to Harriet’s home, but that is a different story. For now I will just point out that the two of them were not on friendly terms when they entered Harriet’s house; far from it.

 3864. At the very time the painter and the sculptor were traveling in a carriage and talking about Russian church architecture, another conversation about art was going on upstairs in Harriet’s home. It was a conversation between the tutor and Harriet's daughter Emily.

 3865. Emily and the tutor were very close, and had been good friends for several years. Emily was thirteen, and the tutor, whom you will remember was named Frida, was 28. Theirs was a friendship of equals even though they were so unequal in age. Emily loved her tutor because she knew so many things.

3866. Emily also loved Frida because she seemed to know instinctively what she was thinking and feeling. Indeed, sometimes Emily and Frida appeared to be two flowers on the same stem, so similar were they. This similarity was only obvious to them, and nobody else ever saw it.

The Birthday Party, parts 3859 - 3862

3859. So the sculptor finished the painter’s story, because he had heard it all before many times. He went on to point out that the story was actually an amalgamation of two separate stories; the first was about a person named Aristotele Fioravanti, who was an Italian engineer who was falsely accused of counterfeiting and fled to Russia.

3860. The second story was about one Postnik Yakovlev who was said to have been blinded by Ivan the Terrible after completing Saint Basil’s Cathedral in the Kremlin. “Neither of these stories have anything to do with the architect Salvino, who was neither Jewish or Italian, and was born in Piskov, and whose mother was a serf, and whose father was a landowner,” said the sculptor.

3861. Everything the painter said was wrong, and everything the sculptor said was true, nevertheless, the result of the conversation could have been the beginning of a happy and fruitful friendship between the two artists. Instead the result was the opposite.

3862. As a result of their conversation the painter developed a loathing for the sculptor and it was simply because the sculptor chose to use a condescending and patronizing tone when he corrected the story. This superior tone was not necessary, but it is irresistible to certain types of people in a discussion.