Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/162

 fiercely, and frowned down upon the painter, who waited, wondering what Robert could have to say to him.

"Archie," he said at last, dropping his voice to a whisper, "what do you know about Atalanta?"

"Atlanta? Why, it 's the capital of Georgia, man," answered the artist promptly. "Populalation — thousand, founded in — by —, chiefly important from the fact of its being a great railroad centre. It is also widely known from its introduction in a popular Yankee war-song,—

The girls are pretty, and the business interests have been looking up lately. That 's all I know about the place. Do you think of settling there?"

"No, no; it has n't anything to do with the city," objected Robert; "it 's somebody in history, I fancy, some girl who ran races and always won them."

"Female pedestrian, eh? I begin to understand you. Don't happen to remember if she was a Roman lady, or a Sabine girl, or an Amazon?" asked the artist.

"No, but you ought to know," said Robert reproachfully. "I have seen her represented in a work of art," he continued. "She