Latest / Flappers and Philosophers / Flappers and Philosophers

Transcript

Flappers and Philosophers · Flappers and Philosophers

• 0:00
  The off shore pirate one. This unlikely story begins on a sea that was
• 0:08
  a blue dream, as colorful as blue silk stockings, and under a sky
• 0:14
  as blue as the irises of children's eyes. From the western half of the
• 0:19
  sky, the sun was shying little golden disks at the sea. If you
• 0:24
  gazed intently enough, you could see them skip from wave tip to wave tip
• 0:28
  until they joined a broad collar of golden coin that was collecting half a mile
• 0:33
  out and would eventually be a dazzling sunset. About half way between the Florida
• 0:39
  shore and the golden collar, a white steam yacht, very young and graceful,
• 0:44
  was riding at anchor and under a blue and white awning aft. A
• 0:49
  yellow haired girl reclined in a wicker city, reading The Revolt of the Angels
• 0:54
  by Anatole France. She was about nineteen, slender and supple, with a
• 1:00
  spoiled a luring mouth and quick gray eyes full of our radiant curiosity. Her
• 1:06
  feet stalkingless and adorned rather than clad in blue satin slippers, which swung nonchalantly
• 1:12
  from her toes, were perched on the arm of a settee adjoining the one
• 1:17
  she occupied, and as she read she intermittently regaled herself by a faint application
• 1:23
  to her tongue of a half lemon that she held in her hand. The
• 1:26
  other half, sucked dry, lay on the deck at her feet, and
• 1:30
  rocked very gently to and fro at the almost imperceptible motion of the tide.
• 1:36
  The second half lemon was well nigh pulpless, and the golden collar had grown
• 1:40
  astonishing in width, when suddenly, the drowsy silence which enveloped the yacht was
• 1:45
  broken by the sound of heavy footsteps, and an elderly man, topped with
• 1:49
  orderly gray hair and clad in a white flannel suit, appeared at the head
• 1:53
  of the companionway. There he paused for a moment until his eyes became accustomed
• 1:59
  to the sun, and then seeing the girl under the awning, he uttered
• 2:02
  a long, even grunt of disapproval. If he had intended thereby to obtain
• 2:07
  a rise of any sort, he was doomed to disappointment. The girl calmly
• 2:13
  turned over two pages, turned back one, raised the lemon mechanically to tasting
• 2:17
  distance, and then, very faintly, but quite unmistakably, yawned. Ardita,
• 2:23
  said the gray haired man sternly. Ardita uttered a small sound, indicating
• 2:30
  nothing. Ardita, He repeated, Ardita. Ardita raised the lemon languidly,
• 2:38
  allowing three words to slip out before it reached her tongue. Oh shut up,
• 2:45
  Ardita. What will you listen to me? Or will I have to
• 2:51
  get a servant to hold you while I talk to you? The lemon descended
• 2:54
  very slowly and scornfully put it in writing. Will you have the decency to
• 3:01
  close that abominable book and discard that damn lemon for two minutes? Oh?
• 3:07
  Can't you let me alone for a second, Ardeed, I have just received
• 3:13
  a telephone message from the shore telephone, she showed for the first time,
• 3:20
  a faint interest. Yes it was, do you mean to say, she
• 3:27
  interrupted wonderingly. And they let you run a wire out here? Yes,
• 3:31
  and just now won't other boats bump into it? No, it's run along
• 3:38
  the bottom five minute. Well, I'll be darned. Gosh, science is
• 3:44
  golden or something isn't it? Will you let me say what I started to
• 3:51
  shoot? Well, it seems well. I am up here, He paused
• 3:57
  and swallowed several times, distractedly. Oh yes, young woman, Colonel Morland
• 4:02
  has called me up again to ask me to be sure to bring you in
• 4:05
  to dinner. His son Toby has come all the way from New York to
• 4:10
  meet you, and he's invited several other young people for the last time.
• 4:14
  Will you no, said Ardita shortly. I won't. I came along on
• 4:18
  this darn cruise with the one idea of going to Palm Beach, and you
• 4:21
  knew it. And I absolutely refuse to meet any Darnald colonel, or any
• 4:27
  darn young Toby, or any darnald young people, or to set foot in
• 4:32
  any other darnald town in this crazy state. So you either take me to
• 4:36
  Palm Beach or else shut up and go away very well. This is the
• 4:44
  last straw in your infatuation for this man, a man who is notorious for
• 4:48
  his excesses, a man your father would not have allowed to so much as
• 4:53
  mention your name. You have reflected the demi Mond rather than the circles in
• 4:57
  which you have presumably grown up. From now on, I know, interrupted
• 5:02
  Ardita, ironically, From now on, you go your way and I go
• 5:06
  mine. I've heard that story before, you know, I'd like nothing better.
• 5:12
  From now on, he announced, grandiloquently, you are no niece of
• 5:15
  mine. I oh, The cry was wrung from Ardita with the agony of
• 5:21
  a lost soul. Will you stop boring me? Will you go away?
• 5:28
  Will you jump overboard and drown? Do you want me to throw this book
• 5:30
  at you? If you dare do edny smack. The revolt of the angel
• 5:36
  sailed through the air, missed its target by the length of a short nose,
• 5:41
  and bumped cheerfully down the companionway. The gray haired man made an instinctive
• 5:46
  step backward, and then two cautious steps forward. Ardita jumped to her five
• 5:53
  feet four and stared at him defiantly, her gray eyes blazing. Keep off,
• 6:00
  How dare you, he cried, because I darn please, you've grown
• 6:08
  unbearable your disposition. You've made me that way. No child ever has a
• 6:14
  bad disposition unless it's her family's fault. Whatever I am, you did it.
• 6:20
  Muttering something under his breath, her uncle turned and, walking forward,
• 6:26
  called in a loud voice for the launch. Then he returned to the awning,
• 6:30
  where Ardita had again seated herself and resumed her attention to the lemon.
• 6:35
  I am going ashore, he said, slowly. I will be able to
• 6:40
  get at nine o'clock to night. When I return, we start back to
• 6:44
  New York, whither I shall turn you over to your aunt for the rest
• 6:47
  of your natural, or rather unnatural life. He paused and looked at her,
• 6:55
  and then all at once something in the utter childishness of her beauty he
• 7:00
  seemed to puncture his anger like an inflated tire and render him helpless, uncertain,
• 7:06
  utterly fatuous, Ardita, he said, not unkindly, I'm no fool.
• 7:13
  I've been round. I know men and child confirmed libertines don't reform until
• 7:18
  they're tired, and then they're not themselves. They're husks of themselves. He
• 7:26
  looked at her as if expecting agreement, but receiving no sight or sound of
• 7:30
  it. He continued, Perhaps the man loves you, that's possible. He's
• 7:35
  loved many women, and to love many more. Less than a month ago,
• 7:41
  one month, Ardita, he was involved in a notorious affair with that
• 7:45
  red haired woman, Mimi Merrill. Promise to give her the diamond bracelet that
• 7:50
  the Tsar of Russia gave his mother. You know you read the papers,
• 7:57
  thrilling scandals by an anxious uncle yond Ardita, have it filmed, wicked clubman
• 8:03
  making eyes at virtuous flapper. Virtuous flapper, conclusively vamped by his lurid past,
• 8:11
  plans to meet him at Palm Beach, foiled by anxious uncle. Will
• 8:18
  you tell me why the devil you want to marry him? I'm sure I
• 8:22
  couldn't, say, said Ardita shortly. Maybe it's because he's the only man,
• 8:28
  good or bad, with an imagination and the courage of his convictions.
• 8:33
  Maybe it's to get away from the young fools that spend their vacuous hours pursuing
• 8:37
  me around the country. But as for the famous Russian bracelet, you can
• 8:41
  set your mind at rest on that score. He's going to give it to
• 8:45
  me at Palm Beach if you'll show a little intelligence. How about the red
• 8:50
  haired woman? He hasn't seen her for six months, she said angrily.
• 8:54
  Don't you suppose I have enough pride to see that? Don't you know by
• 8:58
  this time I can do any darn thing with any darn man I want to.
• 9:03
  She put her chin in the air, like the statue of France aroused,
• 9:07
  and then spoiled the pose somewhat by raising the lemon for action. Is
• 9:13
  it the Russian bracelet that fascinates you? No, I'm merely trying to give
• 9:18
  you the sort of argument that would appeal to your intelligence. And I wish
• 9:22
  you'd go away, she said, her temper rising again. You know I
• 9:26
  never changed my mind. You've been boring me for three days until I'm about
• 9:30
  to go crazy. I won't go ashore, won't do you, hear,
• 9:33
  won't very well, he said, And you won't go to Palm Beach either
• 9:41
  of all the selfish, spoiled, uncontrolled, disagreeable, impossible girls. I
• 9:46
  have splush. The half lemon caught him in the neck. Simultaneously came a
• 9:52
  hail from over the side. The launch is ready, mister Varnham, too
• 9:58
  full of words and rage to speak, Mister Farnham cast one utterly condemning glance
• 10:05
  at his niece, and turning, ran swiftly down the ladder. Two five
• 10:13
  o'clock rolled down from the sun and plumped soundlessly into the sea. The golden
• 10:18
  collar widened into a glittering island, and a faint breeze that had been playing
• 10:24
  with the edges of the awning and swaying. One of the dangling blue slippers
• 10:28
  became suddenly freighted with song. It was a chorus of men in close harmony
• 10:33
  and in perfect rhythm to an accompanying sound of oars cleaving the blue waters.
• 10:39
  Ardita lifted her head and listened. Carrots and peas, beans on their knees,
• 10:45
  pigs in the sea's lucky fellows. Blow us a breeze, Blow us
• 10:50
  a breeze, Blow us a breeze with your bellows. Ardita's brow wrinkled in
• 10:56
  astonishment. Sitting very still, she listened and eagerly as the chorus took up
• 11:01
  a second verse onions and beans, marshals and deans, goldbergs and greens,
• 11:07
  and costellos. Blow us a breeze, Blow us a breeze, Blow us
• 11:13
  a breeze with your bellows. With an exclamation, she tossed her book to
• 11:18
  the deck, where it sprawled at a straddle, and hurried to the rail.
• 11:22
  Fifty feet away, a large row boat was approaching, containing seven men,
• 11:28
  six of them rowing and one standing up in the stern, keeping time
• 11:31
  to their song with an orchestra leader's baton, oysters and rocks, sawdust and
• 11:37
  socks, who could make clocks out of cellos. The leader's eyes suddenly rested
• 11:43
  on Ardita, who was leaning over the rail. Spellbound with curiosity. He
• 11:48
  made a quick movement with his baton, and the singing instantly ceased. She
• 11:54
  saw that he was the only white man in the boat. The six rowers
• 11:56
  were Negroes Narses. A hooy, he called, politely, what's the idea
• 12:03
  of all the discord? Demanded Ardita cheerfully. Is this l varsity crew from
• 12:07
  the county not farm? By this time the boat was scraping the side of
• 12:13
  the yacht, and a great hulking Negro in the bow turned round and grasped
• 12:16
  the ladder. Thereupon, the leader left his position in the stern, and
• 12:22
  before Ardita had realized his intention, he ran up the ladder and stood breathless
• 12:26
  before her on the deck. The women and children will be spared, he
• 12:31
  said briskly. All crying babies will be immediately drowned at all males put in
• 12:35
  double irons. Digging her hands excitedly down into the pockets of her dress,
• 12:41
  Ardita stared at him, speechless with astonishment. He was a young man with
• 12:46
  a scornful mouth and the bright blue eyes of a healthy baby set in a
• 12:50
  dark, sensitive face. His hair was pitch black, damp and curly,
• 12:56
  the hair of a Grecian statue gone brunette. He was true built, trimly
• 13:01
  dressed, and graceful as an agile quarterback. Well, I'll be a son
• 13:05
  of a gun, she said dazedly. They eyed each other coolly. Do
• 13:13
  you surrender the ship? Is this an outburst of wit? Demanded Ardita?
• 13:18
  Are you an idiot or just being initiated to some fraternity? I asked you
• 13:22
  if you surrendered the ship. I thought the county was dry, said Ardita
• 13:28
  disdainfully. Have you been drinking fingernail enamel? You'd better get off this yacht.
• 13:33
  What the young man's voice expressed incredulity. Get off the yacht, you
• 13:41
  heard me? He looked at her for a moment, as if considering what
• 13:45
  she had said. No, said his scornful mouth slowly. No, I
• 13:50
  won't get off the yacht. You can get off if you wish. Going
• 13:54
  to the rail, he gave a kurt command, and immediately the crew of
• 13:58
  the rowboat scrambled up the ladder and ranged themselves in line before him, a
• 14:03
  coal black and burly darky at one end, and a miniature mulatto of four
• 14:07
  feet nine at the other. They seemed to be uniformly dressed in some sort
• 14:13
  of blue costume ornamented with dust, mud and tatters. Over the shoulder of
• 14:18
  each was slung a small, heavy looking white sack, and under their arms
• 14:24
  they carried large black cases, apparently containing musical instruments. Tan Shun commanded the
• 14:30
  young man, snapping his own heels together, crisply, right dress front,
• 14:37
  Step out here, Babe, The smallest negro, took a quick step forward
• 14:41
  and saluted, Yau, take command, Go down below, catch the crew
• 14:46
  and tie him up. All except the engineer bring him up to me.
• 14:50
  Oh, and pile those bags by the rail there, Yes, sir,
• 14:56
  Babe saluted again, and, wheeling about, motioned for the five to gather
• 15:00
  about him. Then, after a short whispered consultation, they all filed noiselessly
• 15:05
  down the companionway. Now, said the young man cheerfully to Ardita, who
• 15:11
  had witnessed this last scene in withering silence. If you will swear on your
• 15:16
  honor as a flapper, which probably isn't worth match, that you'll keep that
• 15:20
  spoiled little mouth of yours tight shut for forty eight hours, you can row
• 15:24
  yourself ashore in our rowboat. Otherwise, what otherwise you're going to see in
• 15:31
  a ship with a little sigh. As for a crisis well passed. The
• 15:37
  young man sank into the city. Ardita had lately vacated and stretched his arms
• 15:41
  lazily. The corners of his mouth relaxed appreciatively as he looked round at the
• 15:48
  rich striped awning, the polished brass, and the luxurious fittings of the deck.
• 15:54
  His eye fell on the book, and then on the exhausted lemon hum
• 15:58
  he said. Stonewall Jackson claimed that lemon juice cleared his head. Your head
• 16:03
  feel pretty clear, Ardita disdained to answer, because the inside of five minutes
• 16:08
  you'll have to make a clear decision whether it's go or stay. He picked
• 16:14
  up the book and opened it curiously. The Revolt of the Angels sounds pretty
• 16:19
  good, French, eh, he stared at her with new interest. You
• 16:26
  French, No, what's your name? Farnum? Farnum? What Ardita?
• 16:34
  Farnum? Well, Ardita, no use standing up there and chewing out the
• 16:40
  insides of your mouth. You ought to break those nervous habits while you're young.
• 16:44
  Come over here and sit down. Ardita took a carved jade case from
• 16:48
  her pocket, extracted a cigarette, and lit it with a conscious coolness,
• 16:52
  though she knew her hand was trembling a little. Then she crossed over with
• 16:57
  her supple swinging walk and sitting down in the other city, blew a mouthful
• 17:03
  of smoke at the awning. You can't get me off this yacht, she
• 17:07
  said steadily, And you haven't got very much sense. If you think you'll
• 17:11
  get far with it. My uncle'll have wireless is zig zagging all over this
• 17:15
  ocean by half past six. Hum. She looked quickly at his face,
• 17:22
  caught anxiety stamped there plainly in the faintest depression of the mouth's corners. It's
• 17:26
  all the same to me, she said, shrugging her shoulders. Tisn't my
• 17:30
  yacht. I don't mind going for a couple hours cruise. I'll even lend
• 17:34
  you that book said you have something to read on the revenue boat that takes
• 17:37
  you up to sing Sing, he laughed, scornfully. If that's advice,
• 17:42
  you needn't bother. This is part of a plan arranged before I ever knew
• 17:47
  this yacht existed. If it hadn't been this one, it'd have been the
• 17:51
  next one. We passed anchor along the coast. Who are you, demanded
• 17:56
  Ardita suddenly and what are you You've decided not to go ashore. I never
• 18:03
  even faintly considered it. We're generally known, he said, all seven of
• 18:10
  us, as Curtis Carlyle and his six black buddies, late of the winter
• 18:14
  garden and the midnight frolic. You're singers. We were until to day at
• 18:22
  present, due to those white bags you see there, were fugitive from justice.
• 18:26
  And if the reward offered for our capture hasn't by this time reached twenty
• 18:30
  thousand dollars, I, miss my guess what's in the bags, asked Ardita
• 18:36
  curiously. Well, he said, for the president, we'll call it mud
• 18:42
  Florida Mud three. Within ten minutes after Curtis Carlyle's interview with a very frightened
• 18:51
  engineer, the yacht Narcissus was under way, steaming south through a balmy tropical
• 18:56
  twilight. The little gulatto babe, who seemed to have Carlyle's implicit confidence,
• 19:03
  took full command of the situation. Mister Farnham's valet and the chef, the
• 19:07
  only members of the crew on board except the engineer, having shown fight,
• 19:11
  were now reconsidering. Strapped securely to their bunks below trombone Mose, the biggest
• 19:18
  negro, was set busy with a can of paint, obliterating the name Narcissus
• 19:22
  from the bow and substituting the name Hula. Hula and the others congregated aft
• 19:29
  and became intently involved in the game of crabs. Having given orders for a
• 19:33
  meal to be prepared and served on deck, at seven thirty, Carlyle rejoined
• 19:38
  Ardita, and, sinking back into his set, he half closed his eyes
• 19:42
  and fell into a state of profound abstraction. Ardita scrutinized him carefully and clasped
• 19:51
  him immediately. As a romantic figure, he gave the effect of towering self
• 19:55
  confidence, erected on a slight foundation. Just under the surface of each of
• 20:00
  his decisions. She discerned a hesitancy that was in decided contrast to the arrogant
• 20:04
  curl of his lips. He's not like me, she thought, there's a
• 20:11
  difference somewhere. Being a supreme egotist, Ardita frequently thought about herself. Never
• 20:18
  having had her egotism disputed, she did it entirely, naturally and with no
• 20:22
  detraction from her unquestioned charm. Though she was nineteen, she gave the effect
• 20:27
  of a high spirited, precocious child, and in the present glow of her
• 20:32
  youth and beauty, all the men and women she had known were but driftwood
• 20:36
  on the ripples of her temperament. She had met other egotists. In fact,
• 20:41
  she found that selfish people bored her rather less than unselfish people, but
• 20:45
  as yet there had not been one she had not eventually defeated and brought to
• 20:49
  her feet. But though she recognized an egotist in the city next to her,
• 20:56
  she felt none of that usual shutting of doors in her mind, which
• 20:59
  meant clear ship for action. On the contrary, her instinct told her that
• 21:03
  this man was somehow completely pregnable and quite defenseless. While Ardita defied convention,
• 21:11
  and of late it had been her chief amusement, it was from an intense
• 21:15
  desire to be herself, and she felt that this man, on the contrary,
• 21:21
  was preoccupied with his own defiance. She was much more interested in him
• 21:26
  than she was in her own situation, which affected her as the prospect of
• 21:30
  a matinee might affect a ten year old child. She had implicit confidence in
• 21:36
  her ability to take care of herself under any and all circumstances. The night
• 21:41
  deepened, A pale new moon smiled misty eyed upon the sea, and as
• 21:47
  the shore faded dimly out and dark clouds were blown like leaves along the far
• 21:52
  horizon, a great haze of moonshine suddenly bathed the yacht and spread an avenue
• 21:59
  of glittering mail in her swift path. From time to time there was the
• 22:03
  bright flare of a match as one of them lighted a cigarette, But except
• 22:07
  for the low undertone of the throbbing engines and the even wash of the waves
• 22:11
  about the stern, the yacht was quiet as a dream boat star bound through
• 22:17
  the heavens. Round them. Followed the smell of the night's sea, bringing
• 22:22
  with it an infinite languor. Carlyle broke the silence at last. Lucky girl,
• 22:27
  he sighed, I've always wanted to be rich and buy all this beauty
• 22:33
  Ardita yawned. I'd rather be you, she said, frankly. You would
• 22:41
  for about a day. But you do seem to possess a lot of nerve
• 22:45
  for a flapper. I wish you wouldn't call me that. Beg your pardon
• 22:53
  as to nerve, she continued, slowly, it's my one redeeming feature.
• 23:00
  I'm not afraid of anything in heaven or earth. Hum I am to be
• 23:07
  afraid, said Ardita. A person has either to be very great and strong,
• 23:11
  or else a coward. I'm neither. She paused for a moment,
• 23:18
  and eagerness crept into her tone. But I want to talk about you.
• 23:22
  What on earth have you done? And how did you do it? Why?
• 23:26
  He demanded, cynically, going to write a movie about me? Go
• 23:32
  on, she urged, Lie to me by the moonlight, do a fabulous
• 23:36
  story. A Negro appeared, switched on a string of small lights under the
• 23:41
  awning, and began setting the wicker table for supper. And while they ate
• 23:47
  cold sliced chicken, salad, artichokes, and strawberry jam from the plentiful larder
• 23:52
  below, Carlyle began to talk, hesitatingly at first, but eagerly as he
• 23:56
  saw she was interested. Ardita scarcely touched her food as she watched his dark,
• 24:03
  young face, handsome, ironic, faintly ineffectual. He began life as
• 24:08
  a poor kid in a Tennessee town. He said, so poor that his
• 24:14
  people were the only white family in their street. He never remembered any white
• 24:18
  children, But there were inevitably a dozen piccaninnies streaming in his trail, passionate
• 24:23
  admirers, whom he kept in tow by the vividness of his imagination and the
• 24:27
  amount of trouble he was always getting them in and out of. And it
• 24:32
  seemed that this association diverted a rather unusual musical gift into a strange channel.
• 24:40
  There had been a colored woman named Belle Pope Calhoun who played the piano at
• 24:45
  parties given for white children, nice white children that would have passed Curtis Carlyle
• 24:49
  with a sniff. But the ragged little pole White used to sit beside her
• 24:56
  piano by the hour and try to get in a alto with one of those
• 24:59
  kazoos that boys hum through. Before he was thirteen, he was picking up
• 25:03
  a living teasing ragtime out of a battered vilein in little cafes round Nashville.
• 25:08
  Eight years later, the ragtime craze hit the country and he took six darkies
• 25:12
  on the orpheum circuit. Five of them were boys he had grown up with.
• 25:17
  The other was a little mulatto Babe Divine, who was a warfinger round
• 25:22
  New York. And long before that, a plantation hand in Bermuda until he
• 25:26
  stuck an eight inch stiletto in his master's back. Almost before Carlyle realized his
• 25:32
  good fortune, he was on Broadway, with offers of engagements on all sides,
• 25:37
  and more money than he had ever dreamed of. It was about then
• 25:40
  that a change began in his whole attitude, a rather curious, embittering change.
• 25:47
  It was when he realized that he was spending the golden years of his
• 25:49
  life gibbering round a stage with a lot of black men. His act was
• 25:55
  good of its own kind, three trombones, three saxophones, and Carlyle flute,
• 26:00
  and it was his own peculiar sense of rhythm that made all the difference.
• 26:04
  But he began to grow strangely sensitive about it, began to hate the
• 26:08
  thought of appearing, dreaded it. From day to day, they were making
• 26:12
  money. Each contract he signed called for more. But when he went to
• 26:18
  managers and told them he wanted to separate from his sextet and go on as
• 26:22
  a regular pianist, they laughed at him and told him he was crazy.
• 26:26
  It would be an artistic suicide. He used to laugh afterward at the phrase
• 26:30
  artistic suicide. They all used it half a dozen times. They played at
• 26:36
  private dances at three thousand dollars a night, and it seemed as if these
• 26:41
  crystallized all his distaste for his mode of livelihood. They took place in clubs
• 26:45
  and houses that he couldn't have gone into in the daytime. After all,
• 26:51
  he was merely playing the role of the eternal monkey, a sort of sublimated
• 26:55
  chorus man. He was sick at the very smell of the theater of powder
• 27:00
  and rouge, and the chatter of the green room, and the patronizing approval
• 27:03
  of the boxes. He couldn't put his heart into it any more. The
• 27:08
  idea of a slow approach to the luxury of leisure drove him wild. He
• 27:14
  was, of course progressing toward it, but like a child eating his ice
• 27:18
  cream so slowly that he couldn't taste it at all. He wanted to have
• 27:22
  a lot of money and time, and opportunity to read and play, and
• 27:26
  the sort of men and women round him that he could never have the kid
• 27:30
  to if they thought of him at all, would have considered him rather contemptible.
• 27:36
  In short, he wanted all those things which he was beginning to lump
• 27:38
  under the general head of aristocracy, an aristocracy which had seemed almost any money
• 27:45
  could buy, except money made as he was making it. He was twenty
• 27:48
  five then, without family or education or any promise that he would succeed in
• 27:53
  a business career, he began speculating wildly, and within three weeks he had
• 27:59
  lost whist every cent he had saved. Then the war came. He went
• 28:04
  to Plattsburgh, and even there his profession followed him. A brigadier general called
• 28:10
  him up to headquarters and told him he could serve the country better as a
• 28:12
  band leader. So he spent the war entertaining celebrities behind the line with a
• 28:18
  headquarters band. It was not so bad, except that when the infantry came
• 28:22
  limping back from the trenches, he wanted to be one of them. The
• 28:26
  sweat and mud they wore seemed only one of those ineffable symbols of aristocracy that
• 28:30
  were forever eluding him. It was the private dances that did it. After
• 28:36
  I came back from the war, the old routine started. We had an
• 28:38
  offer from a syndicate of Florida hotels. It was only a question of time.
• 28:42
  Then he broke off, and Ardita looked at him expectantly, but he
• 28:48
  shook his head. No, he said, I'm not going to tell you
• 28:52
  about it. I'm enjoying it too much, and I'm afraid I'd lose a
• 28:55
  little of that enjoyment if I shared it with anyone else. I want to
• 28:57
  hang on to those few breathless, heroic moments when I stood out before them
• 29:02
  all and let them know I was more than a damn bobbing, squawking clown.
• 29:07
  From up forward, came suddenly the low sound of singing. The Negroes
• 29:12
  had gathered together on the deck, and their voices rose together in a haunting
• 29:15
  melody that soared in poignant harmonics towards the moon. And Ardita listened in enchantment.
• 29:23
  Oh down, oh down, Mammy wanna take me down a milky way,
• 29:30
  Oh down, oh down. Pappy say to Morra, But Mammy say
• 29:38
  to day, Yes, Mammy say to day. Carlyle sighed and was silent
• 29:47
  for a moment, looking up at the gathered host of stars blinking like arc
• 29:51
  lights in the warm sky. The Negro's song had died away to a plaintive
• 29:56
  humming, and it seemed as if minute by minute, the brightness and the
• 30:00
  great silence were increasing until he could almost hear the midnight toilet of the mermaids
• 30:06
  as they combed their silver dripping curls under the moon and gossiped to each other
• 30:11
  of the fine wrecks they lived in on the green opalescent avenues below. You
• 30:17
  see, said Carlyle softly. This is the beauty I want. Beauty's got
• 30:22
  to be astonishing, astounding. It's got to burst in on you like a
• 30:27
  dream, like the exquisite eyes of a girl. He turned to her,
• 30:33
  but she was silent. You see, don't you, Anita? I mean
• 30:38
  Ardita again, She made no answer. She had been sound asleep for some
• 30:45
  time. Four In the dense sun flooded noon of next day, a spot
• 30:53
  in the sea before them resolved casually into a green and gray islet, apparently
• 30:57
  composed of a great granite cliff at its northern end, which slanted south through
• 31:03
  a mile of vivid coppice and grass to a sandy beach, melting lazily into
• 31:08
  the surf. When Ardita, reading in her favorite seat, came to the
• 31:14
  last page of The Revolt of the Angels and slamming the book shut, looked
• 31:18
  up and saw it. She gave a little cry of delight and called to
• 31:22
  Carlyle, who was standing moodily by the rail. Is this it? Is
• 31:27
  this where you're going? Carlyle shrugged his shoulders carelessly. You've got me,
• 31:34
  he raised his voice and called up to the acting skipper, O, babe,
• 31:40
  is this your island? The mulatto's miniature head appeared from round the corner
• 31:45
  of the deck house. Yes, sir, this is it, Carlyle joined
• 31:51
  Ardita. Looks sort of sporting, doesn't it. Yes, she agreed,
• 31:56
  but it doesn't look big enough to be much of a hiding place. You
• 32:00
  still putting your faith in those wirelesses. Your uncle was going to have zigzagging
• 32:04
  round. No, said Ardita frankly. I'm all for you. I'd really
• 32:08
  like to see you make a getaway, he laughed. You're our lady.
• 32:14
  Luck guess we'll have to keep you with us as a mascot for the present.
• 32:17
  Anyway, you couldn't very well ask me to swim back, she said
• 32:22
  coolly. If you do, I'm going to start writing dime novels founded on
• 32:25
  that interminable history of your life you gave me last night. He flushed and
• 32:30
  stiffened slightly. I'm very sorry. I bored you. Oh you didn't until
• 32:36
  just at the end with some story about how furious you were because you couldn't
• 32:39
  dance with the ladies you played music for. He rose angrily. You've got
• 32:45
  a darn mean little tongue. Excuse me, she said, melting into laughter.
• 32:52
  But I'm not used to having men regale me with the story of their
• 32:54
  life ambitions, especially if they've lived such deathly plactonic lives. Why what do
• 33:00
  men usually regale you with? They talk about me, she yawned. They
• 33:07
  tell me I'm the spirit of youth and beauty. What do you tell them?
• 33:13
  Oh? I agree quietly. Does every man you meet tell you he
• 33:16
  loves you? Ardita nodded, why shouldn't he? All life is just a
• 33:22
  progression toward and then a recession from one phrase, I love you. Carlyle
• 33:29
  laughed and sat down. That's very true. That's that's not bad. Did
• 33:35
  you make that up? Yes? Or rather I found it out. It
• 33:40
  doesn't mean anything, especially, it's just clever. It's the sort of remark
• 33:45
  he said gravely. That's typical of your class. Oh, she interrupted impatiently.
• 33:52
  Don't start that lecture on aristocracy again. I distrust people who can be
• 33:57
  intense at this hour in the morning. It's a mild form of an insanity,
• 34:00
  a sort of breakfast food jag. Morning's the time to sleep, swim,
• 34:05
  and be careless. Ten minutes later they had swung round in a wide
• 34:08
  circle as if to approach the island from the north. There's a trick somewhere,
• 34:14
  commented Ardida thoughtfully. He can't mean just to anchor up against this cliff.
• 34:20
  They were heading straight in now toward the solid rock, which must have
• 34:23
  been well over a hundred feet tall, and not until they were within fifty
• 34:29
  yards of it did Ardida see their objective. Then she clapped her hands in
• 34:32
  delight. There was a break in the cliff, entirely hidden by a curious
• 34:37
  overlapping of rock, and through this break the yacht entered, and very slowly
• 34:43
  traversed a narrow channel of crystal clear water between high gray walls. Then they
• 34:50
  were riding at anchor in a miniature world of green and gold, a gilded
• 34:53
  bay, smooth as glass and set round with tiny palms, the whole resu
• 35:00
  ming the mirror lakes and twig trees that children set up in sand piles.
• 35:05
  Not so darn bad, cried Carlyle excitedly. I guess that little coon knows
• 35:09
  his way round this corner of the Atlantic. His exuberance was contagious, and
• 35:15
  Ardita became quite jubilant. It's an absolutely sure fire hiding place, Lordie.
• 35:21
  Yes, t's the sort of island you read about. The rowboat was lowered
• 35:27
  into the Golden Lake and they pulled ashore. Come on, said Carlyle,
• 35:31
  as they landed in the slushy sand. We'll go exploring. The fringe of
• 35:37
  palms was in turn ringed in by a round mile of flat sandy country.
• 35:43
  They followed it south and, brushing through a farther rim of tropical vegetation,
• 35:47
  came out on a pearl gray Virgin beach, where Ardita kicked off her brown
• 35:52
  golf shoes she seemed to have permanently abandoned stockings, and went waiting. Then
• 36:00
  they sauntered back to the yacht, where the indefatigable Babe had luncheon ready for
• 36:05
  them. He had posted a lookout on the high cliff to the north to
• 36:08
  watch the sea on both sides, though he doubted if the entrance to the
• 36:12
  cliff was generally known. He had never even seen a map on which the
• 36:15
  island was marked. What's its name, asked Ardita. The island, I
• 36:21
  mean, no name, tall, chuckled Babe, Reckon, She just the
• 36:27
  island, that's all. In the late afternoon, they sat with their backs
• 36:31
  against great boulders on the highest part of the cliff, and Carlyle sketched for
• 36:37
  her his vague plans. He was sure they were hot after him by this
• 36:40
  time. The total proceeds of the coup he had pulled off, and concerning
• 36:45
  which he still refused to enlighten her, he estimated it just under a million
• 36:50
  dollars. He counted on lying up here several weeks and then setting off southward,
• 36:55
  keeping well outside the usual channels of travel, rounding the Horn and heading
• 37:00
  for Caiao in Peru. The details of colding and provisioning he was leaving entirely
• 37:06
  to Babe, who it seemed, had sailed these seas in every capacity,
• 37:09
  from cabin boy aboard a coffee trader to virtual first mate on a Brazilian pirate
• 37:15
  craft whose skipper had long since been hung. If he'd been white, he'd
• 37:20
  have been King of South America long ago, said Carlyle emphatically. When it
• 37:24
  comes to intelligence, he makes Booker T. Washington look like a moron.
• 37:29
  He's got the guile of every race and nationality whose blood is in his veins,
• 37:32
  and that's half a dozen or I'm a liar. He worships me because
• 37:37
  I'm the only man in the world who can play better rag time than he
• 37:39
  can. We used to sit together on the wharves down on the New York
• 37:44
  water front, he with a bassoon and me with an oboe, and we'd
• 37:46
  blend minor keys in African harmonics a thousand years old, until the rats would
• 37:52
  crawl up the posts and sit round, groaning and squeaking like dogs will in
• 37:55
  front of a phonograph. Ardita roared, how you can tell him? Carlyle
• 38:02
  grinned, I swear that's the goss. What are you going to do when
• 38:07
  you get to Kayaw? She interrupted, Take you for India. I want
• 38:10
  to be a Rajah. I mean it. My idea is to go up
• 38:15
  in to Afghanistan somewhere, buy up a palace and a reputation, and then
• 38:20
  after about five years, appear in England with a foreign accent and a mysterious
• 38:23
  past. But India first. Do you know they say that all the gold
• 38:30
  in the world drifts very gradually back to India. Something fascinating about that to
• 38:35
  me, And I want leisure to read an immense amount. How about after
• 38:42
  that? Then he answered, defiantly, comes aristocracy life if you want to.
• 38:50
  But at least you'll have to admit that I know what I want,
• 38:52
  which I imagine is more than you do. On the contrary, contradicted Ardita,
• 38:58
  reaching in her pocket for his cigarette case. When I met you,
• 39:01
  I was in the midst of a great uproar of all my friends and relatives,
• 39:06
  because I did know what I wanted. What was it a man?
• 39:12
  He started, You mean you were engaged after a fashion if you hadn't come
• 39:17
  aboard, I had every intention of sloping ashore yesterday evening, how long ago,
• 39:22
  it seems, And meeting him in Palm Beach, he's waiting there for
• 39:28
  me with a bracelet that once belonged to Catherine of Russia. Now, don't
• 39:31
  mutter anything about aristocracy, she put in quickly. I liked him simply because
• 39:37
  he had an imagination and the utter courage of his convictions. But your family
• 39:42
  disapproved. Eh, what there is of it? Only a silly uncle and
• 39:45
  a sillier aunt, it seems, he got into some scandal with a red
• 39:50
  haired woman named Mimi something he was all frightfully exaggerated, he said, And
• 39:54
  men don't lie to me, and anyway, I don't care. What he'd
• 39:59
  done was the future that counted, and I'd see to that. When a
• 40:02
  man's in love with me, he doesn't care for other amusements. I told
• 40:07
  him to drop her like a hotcake, and he did. I feel rather
• 40:10
  jealous, said Carlyle, frowning, and then he laughed. I guess I'll
• 40:16
  just keep you along with us until we get to Kayao. Then I'll lend
• 40:20
  you enough money to get back to the States. By that time, you
• 40:22
  all have had a chance to think that gentleman over a little more. Don't
• 40:28
  talk to me like that, fired up Ardita. I won't tolerate the parental
• 40:31
  attitude from anybody. Do you understand me, he chuckled, and then stopped,
• 40:37
  rather abashed, as her cold anger seemed to fold him about and chill
• 40:43
  him. I'm sorry, he offered, uncertainly. Oh, don't apologize.
• 40:49
  I can't stand men who say I'm sorry in that manly reserved tone. Just
• 40:54
  shut up. A pause ensued, a pause which Carl found rather awkward.
• 41:00
  But which Ardita seemed not to notice at all as she sat contentedly enjoying her
• 41:06
  cigarette and gazing out at the shining sea. After a minute, she crawled
• 41:10
  out on the rock and lay with her face over the edge, looking down.
• 41:15
  Carlyle, watching her, reflected how it seemed impossible for her to assume
• 41:22
  an ungraceful attitude. Oh look, she cried, there's a lot of sort
• 41:27
  of ledges down there, wide ones of all different heights. He joined her,
• 41:32
  and together they gazed down the dizzy height. We'll go swimming to night,
• 41:37
  she said, excitedly, by moonlight. Wouldn't you rather go in at
• 41:42
  the beach on the other end, Not a chance. I like to dive.
• 41:47
  You can use my uncle's bathing suit, only it'll fit you like a
• 41:51
  gunnysack, because he's a very flappy man. I've got a one piece of
• 41:55
  air that shocked the natives all along the Atlantic coast from Biddeford poolas Saint Augustine.
• 42:01
  I suppose you're a shark. Yes, I'm pretty good, and I
• 42:06
  look cute too. A sculptor up at Rye last summer told me my caws
• 42:09
  were worth five hundred dollars. There didn't seem to be any answer to this,
• 42:15
  so Carlyle was silent, permitting himself only a discreet interior smile. Five.
• 42:24
  When the night crept down in shadowy blue and silver, they threaded the
• 42:29
  shimmering channel in the rowboat, and, tying it to a jutting rock,
• 42:32
  began climbing the cliff together. The first shelf was ten feet up wide and
• 42:38
  furnishing a natural diving platform. There they sat down in the bright moonlight and
• 42:45
  watched the faint, incessant surge of the waters almost stilled. Now as the
• 42:51
  tide set seaward, are you happy, he asked? Suddenly, she nodded,
• 42:58
  always happy near the sea, you know, She went on. I've
• 43:02
  been thinking all day that you and I are somewhat alike. Were both rebels,
• 43:07
  only for different reasons. Two years ago, when I was just eighteen
• 43:12
  and you were twenty five. Well, we were both conventional successes. I
• 43:19
  was an utterly devastating debutante, and you are a prosperous musician, just commissioned
• 43:23
  in the army, gentlemen by act of Congress, he put in, ironically,
• 43:30
  Well, at any rate, we both fitted if our corners were not
• 43:36
  rubbed off they were at least pulled in, but deep in us both was
• 43:39
  something that made us require more for happiness. I didn't know what I wanted.
• 43:45
  I went from man to man, restless, impatient, month by month,
• 43:51
  getting less acquiescent and more dissatisfied. I used to sit sometimes chewing at
• 43:55
  the insides of my mouth and thinking I was going crazy. I had a
• 44:00
  frightful sense of transiency. I wanted things now, now, now here.
• 44:05
  I was beautiful, I am, aren't I yes, agreed, Carlyle tentatively.
• 44:14
  Ardita Rose suddenly, wait a second, I want to try this delightful
• 44:19
  looking sea. She walked to the edge of the ledge and shot out over
• 44:23
  the sea, doubling up in mid air and then straightening out and entering the
• 44:28
  water straight as a blade in a perfect jack knife dive. In a minute,
• 44:32
  her voice floated up to him. You see, I used to read
• 44:37
  all day and most of the night. I began to resent society. Come
• 44:43
  on up here, he interrupted, What on earth are you doing just floating
• 44:47
  round on my back. I'll be up in a minute. Let me tell
• 44:51
  you. The only thing I enjoyed was shocking people wearing something quite impossible and
• 44:57
  quite charming to a fancy dress party, going round with the fastest men in
• 45:01
  New York and getting into some of the most hellish scrapes imaginable. The sounds
• 45:06
  of the splashing mingled with her words, and then he heard her hurried breathing
• 45:10
  as she began climbing up the side to the ledge. Go on in,
• 45:15
  she called, obediently. He rose and dived. When he emerged, dripping,
• 45:22
  and made the climb, he found that she was no longer on the
• 45:25
  ledge, but after a frightened second he heard her light laughter from another shelf
• 45:30
  ten feet up. There. He joined her, and they both sat quietly
• 45:36
  for a moment, their arms clasped round their knees, panting a little from
• 45:40
  the climb. The family were wild, she said. Suddenly they tried to
• 45:45
  marry me off. And then, when I'd begun to feel that, after
• 45:49
  all, life was scarcely worth living, I found something. Her eyes went
• 45:53
  skyward exultantly. I found something, Carlyle waited, and her words came with
• 46:01
  a rush. Courage. Just that courage as a rule of life and something
• 46:07
  to cling to always. I began to build up this enormous faith in myself.
• 46:14
  I began to see that in all my idols. In the past,
• 46:17
  some manifestation of courage had unconsciously been the thing that attracted me. I began
• 46:23
  separating courage from the other things of life, all sorts of courage. The
• 46:29
  beaten, bloody prize fighter coming up for more. I used to make men
• 46:32
  take me to prize fights. The declasse woman sailing through a nest of cats
• 46:37
  and looking at them as if they were mud under her feet. The liking
• 46:40
  point you like always, the utter disregard for other people's opinions. Just to
• 46:46
  live as I liked always, and to die in my own way. Did
• 46:50
  you bring up the cigarettes? He handed one over and held a match for
• 46:53
  her silently. Still, Ardita continued. The men kept old and young men,
• 47:02
  my mental and physical inferiors, most of them, but all intensely desiring
• 47:07
  to have me to own this rather magnificent, proud tradition I'd built up round
• 47:13
  me. Do you see sort of You never were beaten, and you never
• 47:19
  apologized. Never. She sprang to the edge, poised for a moment like
• 47:24
  a crucified figure against the sky, then describing a dark parabola plunked without a
• 47:31
  splash between two silver ripples twenty feet below. Her voice floated up to him
• 47:37
  again. And courage to me meant plowing through that dull, gray mist that
• 47:43
  comes down on life, not only overriding people and circumstances, but overriding the
• 47:49
  bleakness of living, a sort of insistence on the value of life and the
• 47:52
  worth of transient things. She was climbing up now, and at her last
• 47:59
  words, her head, with the damp yellow hair slicked symmetrically back, appeared
• 48:04
  on his level. All very well, objected, Carlyle. You can call
• 48:08
  it courage, but your courage is really built, after all, on a
• 48:13
  pride of birth. You were bred to that defiant attitude. On my gray
• 48:17
  days, even courage is one of the things that's gray and lifeless. She
• 48:22
  was sitting near the edge, hugging her knees and gazing abstractedly at the white
• 48:27
  moon. He was farther back, crammed like a grotesque god into a niche
• 48:31
  in the rock. I don't want to sound like Pollyanna, she began.
• 48:37
  But you haven't grasped me yet. My courage is faith, faith in the
• 48:42
  eternal resilience of me, that joyle come back and hope and spontaneity, And
• 48:49
  I feel that till it does. I've got to keep my lips shut and
• 48:52
  my chin high and my eyes wide, not necessarily any silly smiling. Oh,
• 48:58
  I've been through hell without wine quite often, and the female hell is
• 49:02
  deadlier than the male. But supposing, suggested Carlyle that before joy and hope
• 49:08
  and all that come back, the curtain was drawn on you for good Ardita
• 49:14
  rose, and, going to the wall, climbed with some difficulty to the
• 49:17
  next ledge, another ten or fifteen feet above. Why, she called back,
• 49:23
  that I'd have won, he edged out till he could see her.
• 49:28
  Better. Not dive from there, You'll break your back, he said,
• 49:30
  quickly. She laughed, not I Slowly she spread her arms and stood there
• 49:39
  swan like, radiating a pride in her young perfection that lit a warm glow
• 49:45
  in Carlyle's heart. We're going through the black air with our arms wide,
• 49:51
  she called, and our feet straight out behind us like a dolphin's tail,
• 49:54
  and we're going to think that we'll never hit the silver down there till suddenly
• 49:59
  it'll be the all warm round us and full of little kissing, caressing waves.
• 50:05
  Then she was in the air, and Carlyle involuntarily held his breath.
• 50:08
  He had not realized that the dive was nearly forty feet. It seemed an
• 50:14
  eternity before he heard the swift, compact sound as she reached the sea,
• 50:19
  And it was with his glad sigh of relief when her light, watery laughter
• 50:23
  curled up the side of the cliff and into his anxious ears that he knew
• 50:29
  he loved her. Six time, having no axe to grind, showered down
• 50:37
  upon them three days of afternoons. When the sun cleared the porthole of Ardida's
• 50:43
  cabin an hour after dawn, she rose, cheerily, donned her bathing suit
• 50:46
  and went up on deck. The Negroes would leave their work when they saw
• 50:51
  her, and crowd chuckling and chattering to the rail as she floated an agile
• 50:57
  minnow on and under the surface of the clear water. Again, in the
• 51:01
  cool of the afternoon, she would swim and lull and smoke with Carlyle upon
• 51:07
  the cliff, or else they would lie on their sides in the sands of
• 51:09
  the southern beach, talking little, but watching the day fade colorfully and tragically
• 51:15
  into the infinite languor of a tropical evening, and with the long sunny hours,
• 51:22
  Ardida's idea of the episode as incidental mad cap, a sprig of romance
• 51:28
  in a desert of reality, gradually left her. She dreaded the time when
• 51:32
  he would strike off southward. She dreaded all the eventualities that presented themselves to
• 51:38
  her. Thoughts were suddenly troublesome and decisions odious. Had prayers found place in
• 51:46
  the pagan rituals of her soul, she would have asked of life, only
• 51:52
  to be unmolested for a while, lazily acquiescent to the ready naive flow of
• 51:57
  Carlyle's ideas, his vivid, boyish imagination, and the vein of monomania that
• 52:02
  seemed to run crosswise through his temperament and colored his every action. But this
• 52:09
  is not a story of two on an island, nor concerned primarily with love
• 52:14
  bread of isolation. It is merely the presentation of two personalities, and its
• 52:20
  idyllic setting among the palms of the Gulf Stream is quite incidental. Most of
• 52:24
  us are content to exist and breed, and fight for the right to do
• 52:29
  both, and the dominant idea, the fore doomed attempt to control one's destiny,
• 52:35
  is reserved for the fortunate or unfortunate few to me. The interesting thing
• 52:42
  about Ardita is the courage that will tarnish with her beauty and youth. Take
• 52:50
  me with you, she said late one night, as they sat lazily in
• 52:53
  the grass under the shadowy spreading palms. The Negroes had brought ashore their must
• 53:00
  instruments, and the sound of weird ragtime was drifting softly over on the warm
• 53:05
  breath of the night. I'd love to reappear in ten years as a fabulously
• 53:09
  wealthy high caste Indian lady, she continued. Carlyle looked at her quickly.
• 53:16
  You can you know, she laughed? Is it a proposal of marriage?
• 53:22
  Extra? Ardita Farlan becomes Pirate's bride, Society girl kidnapped by ragtime bank robber.
• 53:31
  It wasn't a bank What was it? Why? Why won't you tell
• 53:36
  me? I don't want to break down your illusions, my dear man,
• 53:42
  I have no illusions about you. I mean your illusions about yourself. She
• 53:50
  looked up in surprise, about myself. What on earth have I got to
• 53:55
  do with whatever stray felonies you've committed that remains to be seen? She reached
• 54:04
  over and patted his hand. Dear mister, Curtis Carlyle, She said softly,
• 54:09
  Are you in love with me? As if it mattered? But it
• 54:15
  does because I think I'm in love with you. He looked at her ironically,
• 54:24
  thus swelling your January total to half a dozen. He suggested, Suppose
• 54:29
  I call your bluff and ask you to come to India with me? Shall
• 54:32
  i? He shrugged his shoulders. We can get married in Caiao. What
• 54:40
  sort of life can you offer me? I don't mean that unkindly, but
• 54:45
  seriously, what would become of me if the people who want that twenty thousand
• 54:49
  dollar reward ever catch up with you? I thought you weren't afraid. I
• 54:54
  never am, but I won't throw my life away just to show one man.
• 54:59
  I'm I wish you'd been poor, just a little poor girl dreaming over
• 55:06
  a fence in a warm cow country. Huh, wouldn't it have been nice?
• 55:12
  I'd have enjoyed astonishing you, watching your eyes open on things if you
• 55:16
  only wanted things, don't you see? I know, like girls who stare
• 55:23
  into the windows of jewelry stores, yes, and want the big oblong watch
• 55:30
  that's platinum and has diamonds all round the edge. Only you decide it was
• 55:35
  too expensive, and choose one of the white gold for a hundred dollars.
• 55:39
  Then I'd say expensive, I should say not, and we'd go into the
• 55:44
  store, and pretty soon the platinum one would be gleaming on your wrist.
• 55:49
  That sounds so nice and vulgar and fun, doesn't it, murmured Ardia.
• 55:54
  Doesn't it? Can't you see us traveling round and spending money left and right,
• 55:59
  and being worshiped by bell boys and waiters. Oh, blessed are the
• 56:05
  simple rich, for they inherit the earth. I honestly wish we were that
• 56:08
  way. I love you, Ardita, he said gently. Her face lost
• 56:15
  its childish look for a moment and became oddly grave. I love to be
• 56:21
  with you, she said, more than any man I've ever met. And
• 56:24
  I like your looks and your dark old hair, and the way you go
• 56:29
  over the side of the rail when we come ashore. In fact, Curtis
• 56:32
  Carlyle, I like all the things you do when you're perfectly natural. I
• 56:37
  think you've got nerve, and you know how I feel about that. Sometimes,
• 56:42
  when you're around, I've been tempted to kiss you suddenly and tell you
• 56:45
  that you were just an idealistic boy. With a lot of cast nonsense in
• 56:49
  his head. Perhaps if I were just a little bit older and a little
• 56:52
  more bored, I'd go with you. As it is, I think I'll
• 56:57
  go back and marry that other man over across the silver lake. The figures
• 57:02
  of the Negroes writhed and squirmed in the moonlight, like acrobats who, having
• 57:08
  been too long inactive, must go through their tricks from sheer surplus energy.
• 57:15
  In single file, they marched, weaving in concentric circles, now with their
• 57:20
  heads thrown back, now bent over their instruments like piping fawns, and from
• 57:25
  trombone and saxophone, ceaselessly whined a blended melody, sometimes riotous and jubilant,
• 57:32
  sometimes haunting and plaintive, as a death dance from the congo's heart. Let's
• 57:38
  dance, cried Ardita, I can't sit still with that perfect jazz going on.
• 57:44
  Taking her hand, he led her out into a broad stretch of hard
• 57:47
  sandy soil that the moon flooded with great splendor. They floated out like drifting
• 57:53
  moths under their rich, hazy light, and as the fantastic symphony wept and
• 57:59
  exalted in wavered and despaired Ardita's last sense of reality dropped away, and she
• 58:05
  abandoned her imagination to the dreamy summer scents of tropical flowers and the infinite starry
• 58:10
  spaces overhead, feeling that if she opened her eyes it would be to find
• 58:15
  herself dancing with a ghost in a land created by her own fancy. This
• 58:21
  is what I should call an exclusive private dance, he whispered. I feel
• 58:27
  mad, but delightfully mad. We're enchanted. The shades of unnumbered generations of
• 58:34
  cannibals are watching us from high up on the side of the cliff there,
• 58:38
  and I'll bet that the cannibal women are saying that we danced too close,
• 58:42
  and that it was immodest of me to come without my nose ring. They
• 58:46
  both laughed softly, and then their laughter died as over across the lake they
• 58:52
  heard the trombones stop in the middle of a bar, and the saxophones give
• 58:57
  a startled moan and fade out. What's the matter, called Carlyle. After
• 59:02
  a moment's silence, they made out the dark figure of a man rounding the
• 59:07
  silver lake at a run. As he came closer, they saw it was
• 59:12
  Babe, in a state of unusual excitement. He drew up before them and
• 59:16
  gasped out his news in a breath. Ships stand off show about half a
• 59:21
  mile, Sir, mos he's on watch, he say, looks as if
• 59:24
  she's not anchored a ship. What kind of a ship? Demanded Carlyle,
• 59:30
  anxiously. Dismay was in his voice, and Ardida's heart gave a sudden wrench
• 59:36
  as she saw his whole face suddenly droop. He say, he don't know,
• 59:40
  sir. Are they landing a boat? No, sir, we'll go
• 59:46
  up, said Carlyle. They ascended the hill in silence. Ardita's hands still
• 59:52
  resting in Carlyle's as it had when they finished dancing. She felt it clinch
• 59:55
  nervously from time to time, as though he were unaware of the contact,
• 1:00:00
  but though he hurt her, she made no attempt to remove it. It
• 1:00:05
  seemed an hour's climb before they reached the top, and crept cautiously along the
• 1:00:08
  silhouetted plateau to the edge of the cliff. After one short look, Carlyle
• 1:00:14
  involuntarily gave a little cry. It was a revenue boat with six inch guns
• 1:00:19
  mounted fore and aft. They know, he said, with a short intake
• 1:00:23
  of breath. They know they picked up the trail somewhere. Are you sure
• 1:00:29
  they know about the channel? They may be only standing by to take a
• 1:00:31
  look at the island in the morning. From where they are, they couldn't
• 1:00:36
  see the opening in the cliff. They could with field glasses, he said
• 1:00:40
  hopelessly. He looked at his wrist watch. It's nearly two now. They
• 1:00:45
  won't do anything until dawn, that's certain. Of course, there's always the
• 1:00:50
  faint possibility that they're waiting for some other ship to join, or for a
• 1:00:53
  coaler. I suppose we may as well stay right here. The hours passed,
• 1:01:00
  and they lay there, side by side, very silently, their chins
• 1:01:04
  in their hands, like dreaming children. In back of them squatted the Negroes,
• 1:01:09
  patient, resigned, acquiescent, announcing now and then with sonorous snores that
• 1:01:15
  not even the presence of danger could subdue their unconquerable African craving for sleep.
• 1:01:22
  Just before five o'clock, Babe approached Carlyle. There were half a dozen rifles
• 1:01:28
  aboard the Narcissus, he said, had it been decided to offer no resistance,
• 1:01:32
  a pretty good fight might be made, he thought. If they worked
• 1:01:35
  out some plan Carlyle laughed and shook his head. That isn't a spick army
• 1:01:42
  out there, Babe, that's a revenue boat. It'd be like a bow
• 1:01:45
  and arrow trying to fight a machine gun. If you want to bury those
• 1:01:47
  bags somewhere and take advance on recovering them later, go on and do it.
• 1:01:52
  But it won't work. They'd dig this island over from one end to
• 1:01:55
  the other. It's a lost battle all round, babe. Babe inclimbed his
• 1:02:00
  head silently and turned away, and Carlyle's voice was husky as he turned to
• 1:02:06
  Ardita. There's the best friend I ever had. He'd die for me and
• 1:02:10
  be proud to if I'd let him. You've given up. I've no choice,
• 1:02:17
  of course. There's always one way out, the sure way, but
• 1:02:22
  that can wait. I wouldn't miss my trial for anything. It'll be an
• 1:02:25
  interesting experiment. In notoriety, Miss Farnham testifies that the pirate's attitude to her
• 1:02:31
  was at all times that of a gentleman, don't she said, I'm awfully
• 1:02:37
  sorry. When the color faded from the sky and lustreless blue changed to leaden
• 1:02:44
  gray, a commotion was visible on the ship's deck and they made out a
• 1:02:49
  group of officers clad in white duck gathered near the rail. They had field
• 1:02:53
  glasses in their hands and were attentively examining the islet. It's all, said
• 1:03:00
  Carlyle grimly. Damn whispered Ardita. She felt tears gathering in her eyes.
• 1:03:08
  We'll go back to the yacht, he said, I prefer that to being
• 1:03:12
  hunted out up here like a possum. Leaving the plateau, they descended the
• 1:03:16
  hill and, reaching the lake, were rowed out to the yacht by the
• 1:03:21
  silent negroes. Then pale and weary, they sank into the settees and waited.
• 1:03:28
  Half an hour later, in the dim gray light, the nose of
• 1:03:30
  the revenue boat appeared in the channel and stopped, evidently fearing that the bay
• 1:03:35
  might be too shallow. From the peaceful look of the yacht, the man
• 1:03:38
  and the girl in the settees and the negroes lounging curiously against the rail,
• 1:03:44
  they evidently judged that there would be no resistance, for two boats were lowered
• 1:03:49
  casually over the side, one containing an officer and six blue jackets, and
• 1:03:53
  the other four rowers, and in the stern two gray haired men in yachting
• 1:03:59
  flannels. Ardita and Carlyle stood up and half unconsciously started toward each other.
• 1:04:05
  Then he paused, and putting his hands suddenly into his pocket. He pulled
• 1:04:10
  out a round, glittering object and held it out to her. What is
• 1:04:15
  it, she asked, wonderingly. I'm not positive, but I think from
• 1:04:19
  the Russian inscription inside that it's your promised bracelet. Where where on earth it
• 1:04:27
  came out of one of those bags you see Curtis Carlyle and his six black
• 1:04:30
  buddies, in the middle of their performance in the tea room of the hotel
• 1:04:34
  at Palm Beach, suddenly changed their instruments for automatics and held up the crowd.
• 1:04:40
  I took this bracelet from our pretty overrouged woman with red hair. Ardita
• 1:04:45
  frowned, and then smiled. So that's what you did? You have got
• 1:04:50
  nerve, he bowed. A well known bourgeois quality, he said, And
• 1:04:58
  then Dawn slanted Dynah across the deck and flung the shadows, reeling into gray
• 1:05:02
  corners. The dew rose and turned a golden mist, then as a dream,
• 1:05:08
  enveloping them until they seemed gossamer relics of the late night, infinitely transient
• 1:05:13
  and already fading. For a moment, sea and sky were breathless, and
• 1:05:18
  Dawn held a pink hand over the young mouth of life. Then from out
• 1:05:24
  in the lake came the complaint of a row boat, and the swish of
• 1:05:27
  oars suddenly against the golden furnace low in the east. Their two graceful figures
• 1:05:33
  melted into one, and he was kissing her spoiled young mouth. It's a
• 1:05:39
  sort of glory, he murmured. After a second, she smiled up at
• 1:05:45
  him, happy are you? Her sigh was a benediction, an ecstatic surety
• 1:05:49
  that she was youth and beauty now, as much as she would ever know.
• 1:05:54
  For another instant, life was radiant, and time a phantom, and
• 1:05:59
  their strength eternal. Then there was a bumping, scraping sound as the rowboat
• 1:06:02
  scraped alongside up the ladder scrambled the two gray haired men, the officer and
• 1:06:10
  two of the sailors, with their hands on their revolvers. Mister Farnham folded
• 1:06:14
  his arms and stood looking at his niece, so he said, nodding his
• 1:06:19
  head slowly with a sigh. Her arms unwound from Carlyle's neck, and her
• 1:06:26
  eyes transfigured and far away fell upon the boarding party. Her uncle saw her
• 1:06:31
  upper lip slowly swell into that arrogant pout he knew so well, so he
• 1:06:36
  repeated savagely. So this is your idea of romance, A runaway affair with
• 1:06:42
  a high seased pirate Ardita glanced at him carelessly. What an old fool you
• 1:06:49
  are, she said, quietly. Is that the best you can say for
• 1:06:54
  yourself? No, she said, as if considering, no, there's something
• 1:07:00
  else. There's that well known phrase with which I have ended most of our
• 1:07:03
  conversations for the past few years. Shut up, and with that she turned,
• 1:07:10
  included the two old men, the officer and the two sailors in a
• 1:07:14
  curt glance of contempt, and walked proudly down the companionway. But had she
• 1:07:19
  waited an instant longer, she would have heard a sound from her uncle,
• 1:07:25
  quite unfamiliar in most of their interviews. He gave vent to a whole hearted,
• 1:07:30
  amused chuckle, in which the second old man joined. The latter.
• 1:07:36
  Turned briskly to Carlyle, who had been regarding this scene with an air of
• 1:07:41
  cryptic amusement. Well, Toby, he said, genially, you incurable hair
• 1:07:46
  brained romantic chaser of rainbows. Did you find that she was the person you
• 1:07:50
  wanted? Carlyle smiled confidently. Why naturally, he said, I've been perfectly
• 1:07:59
  sure ever since I first heard tell of her wild career. That's why I
• 1:08:02
  had Babe send up the rocket last night. I'm glad you did, said
• 1:08:08
  Colonel Morland gravely. We've been keeping pretty close to you in case you should
• 1:08:13
  have trouble with those six strange niggers, and we hoped we'd find you two
• 1:08:17
  in some such compromising position. He sighed, Well, set a crank to
• 1:08:24
  catch a crank. Your father and I sat up all night hoping for the
• 1:08:28
  best, or perhaps it's the worst. Lord knows. You're welcome to her.
• 1:08:31
  My boy, she's run me crazy. Did you give her the rush
• 1:08:34
  em bracelet my detective got from that Mimi woman. Carlyle nodded. Sh He
• 1:08:43
  said, she's coming on deck. Ardita appeared at the head of the companionway
• 1:08:47
  and gave a quick, involuntary glance at Carlyle's wrists. A puzzled look passed
• 1:08:54
  across her face. Back aft, the Negroes had begun to sing, and
• 1:08:59
  the cool lake, fresh with dawn echoed serenely to their low voices. Ardita
• 1:09:05
  said, Carlyle unsteadily. She swayed a step toward him. Ah, Ardita,
• 1:09:14
  he replied, breathlessly, I've got to tell you the truth. It
• 1:09:17
  was all a plant, Ardida. My name isn't Carlyle, It's Morland,
• 1:09:24
  Toby Morland. The story was invented, Ardida, invented out of thin Florida
• 1:09:28
  air. She stared at him, bewildered, amazement, disbelief, and anger
• 1:09:33
  flowing in quick waves across her face. The three men held their breaths.
• 1:09:39
  Morland Senior took a step toward her. Mister Farnum's mouth dropped a little open
• 1:09:45
  as he waited, panic stricken for the expected crash, But it did not
• 1:09:48
  come. Ardita's face became suddenly radiant, and with a little laugh. She
• 1:09:55
  went swiftly to young Morland and looked up at him without a trace of ra
• 1:10:00
  in her gray eyes. Will you swear, she said, quietly, that
• 1:10:04
  it was entirely a product of your own brain? I swear, said the
• 1:10:10
  young Morland. Eagerly. She drew his head down and kissed him gently.
• 1:10:15
  What an imagination, she said, softly, and almost enviously. I want
• 1:10:20
  you to lie to me just as sweetly as you know how, for the
• 1:10:24
  rest of my life. The negro's voices floated drowsily back mingled in an air
• 1:10:30
  that she had heard them sing before. Time is a thief, gladness and
• 1:10:34
  grief, cling to belief as it yellows. What was in the bags?
• 1:10:42
  She asked softly, Florida mud. He answered, that was one of the
• 1:10:46
  two true things I told you. Perhaps I can guess the other one,
• 1:10:51
  she said, and reaching up on her tiptoes, she kissed him softly.
• 1:10:57
  In the illustration the Ice Palace one, the sunlight dripped over the house like
• 1:11:06
  golden paint over an art jar, and the freckling shadows here and there only
• 1:11:11
  intensified the rigor of the bath of light. The Butterworth and Larkin houses flanking
• 1:11:16
  were intrenched behind great stodgy trees. Only the Happer house took the full sun,
• 1:11:23
  and all day long faced the dusty road street with a tolerant, kindly
• 1:11:28
  patience. This was the city of Tarleton in southernmost Georgia. September afternoon.
• 1:11:35
  Up in her bedroom window, Sally Carrol Happer rested her nineteen year old chin
• 1:11:41
  on a fifty two year old Sill and watched Clark Darrow's ancient Ford turn the
• 1:11:45
  corner. The car was hot, Being partly metallic, it retained all the
• 1:11:51
  heat it absorbed or evolved, and Clark Darrow, sitting bolt upright at the
• 1:11:56
  wheel, wore a pained, strained expression, as though he considered himself a
• 1:12:00
  spare part and rather likely to break. He laboriously crossed two dust ruts,
• 1:12:08
  the wheels squeaking indignantly at the encounter, and then with a terrifying expression,
• 1:12:13
  he gave the steering gear a final wrench and deposited self and car approximately in
• 1:12:17
  front of the Happer steps. There was a plaintive heaving sound, a death
• 1:12:24
  rattle, followed by a short silence, and then the air was rent by
• 1:12:29
  a startling whistle. Sally Carroll gazed down sleepily. She started to yawn,
• 1:12:34
  but finding this quite impossible unless she raised her chin from the window, Sill
• 1:12:40
  changed her mind and continued silently to regard the car, whose owner sat brilliantly,
• 1:12:45
  perfunctorily at attention as he waited for an answer to his signal. After
• 1:12:50
  a moment, the whistle once more split the dusty air. Good morning,
• 1:12:58
  with difficulty, Clark twisted his tall body round and bent a distorted glance on
• 1:13:01
  the window. Tain't mornin', Salie Carroll, Isn't it sure enough? What
• 1:13:11
  you doin ain't an apple? Come on? Those swimming won't do reckon?
• 1:13:18
  So how about hurrying up? Sure enough? Sallie Carroll sighed voluminously and raised
• 1:13:29
  herself with profound inertia from the floor, where she had been occupied in alternately
• 1:13:32
  destroying parts of a green apple and painting paper dolls for her younger sister.
• 1:13:39
  She approached a mirror, regarded her expression with a pleased and pleasant languor,
• 1:13:43
  dabbed two spots of rouge on her lips and a grain of powder on her
• 1:13:46
  nose, and covered her bobbed corn colored hair with a rose littered sunbonnet.
• 1:13:53
  Then she kicked over the painting water, said oh damn, but let it
• 1:13:57
  lay, and left the room. How you Clark, she inquired a minute
• 1:14:03
  later, as she slipped nimbly over the side of the car. Mighty find
• 1:14:08
  Sally Carrol? Where we go swimmin out to Walley's pool? Toll Marlin,
• 1:14:15
  we'd call by and get her and Joe Ewing Clark was dark and lean,
• 1:14:20
  and when on foot was rather inclined to stoop. His eyes were ominous,
• 1:14:25
  and his expression somewhat petulant, except when startlingly illuminated by one of his frequent
• 1:14:30
  smiles. Clark had a income just enough to keep himself in ease and his
• 1:14:38
  car in gasoline, and he had spent the two years since he had graduated
• 1:14:42
  from Georgia Tech In dozing round the lazy streets of his home town, discussing
• 1:14:46
  how he could best invest his capital for an immediate fortune. Hanging round he
• 1:14:51
  found not at all difficult. A crowd of little girls had grown up beautifully,
• 1:14:57
  the amazing Sally Carrol foremost among them, and they enjoyed being swum with,
• 1:15:01
  and danced with and made love to in the flower filled summary evenings.
• 1:15:05
  And they all liked Clark immensely. When feminine company paulled, there were half
• 1:15:11
  a dozen other youths who were always just about to do something, and meanwhile
• 1:15:15
  were quite willing to join him in a few holes of golf, or in
• 1:15:17
  a game of billiards, or the consumption of a quart of hard yellow laquor.
• 1:15:24
  Every once in a while one of these contemporaries made a farewell round of
• 1:15:28
  calls before going up to New York or Philadelphia or Pittsburgh to go into business.
• 1:15:31
  But mostly they just stayed round in this languid paradise of dreamy skies and
• 1:15:36
  firefly evenings and noisy, niggery street fairs, and especially of gracious, soft
• 1:15:43
  voiced girls who were brought up on memories instead of money. The Ford having
• 1:15:49
  been excited into a sort of restless, resentful life, Clark and Sally Carroll
• 1:15:55
  rolled and rattled down Valley Avenue into Jefferson Street, where the dust road became
• 1:16:00
  a pavement, a long, opiate, millicent place where there were half a
• 1:16:03
  dozen prosperous, substantial mansions, and on into the downtown section. Driving was
• 1:16:11
  perilous here, for it was shopping time. The population idled casually across the
• 1:16:16
  streets, and a drove of low, moaning oxen were being urged along in
• 1:16:20
  front of a placid street car. Even the shops seemed only yawning their doors
• 1:16:26
  and blinking their windows in the sunshine before retreating into a state of utter and
• 1:16:30
  finite coma. Sally Carrol said Clark, suddenly, in a fact, that
• 1:16:36
  you're engaged. She looked at him quickly. Where'd you hear that? Sure
• 1:16:45
  enough you engaged. That's a nice question. Girl told me you were engaged
• 1:16:51
  to a yankee you met up in Asheville last summer. Sally Carrol sighed,
• 1:16:59
  never saw such an old town from rumors. Don't marry a yankee, Sally
• 1:17:04
  Carrol. We need you round here. Sally Carroll was silent a moment.
• 1:17:13
  Clark, she demanded, suddenly, who on earth shall I marry? Why?
• 1:17:18
  I offer my services? Honey, you couldn't support a wife, she
• 1:17:25
  answered cheerfully. Anyway, I know you too well to fall in love with
• 1:17:28
  you. That doesn't mean you ought to marry a yankee, he persisted.
• 1:17:33
  Suppose I love him? He shook his head. You couldn't. He'd be
• 1:17:39
  a lot different from us every way. He broke off. As he halted
• 1:17:44
  the car in front of a rambling, dilapidated house. Marilyn Wade and Joe
• 1:17:48
  Ewing appeared in the doorway. Lo Sally Carroll, I how you all,
• 1:17:58
  Sally Carrol demanded, as they started off again. You engaged, lordie?
• 1:18:03
  Where'd all this start? Can I look at him? Man? Without everybody
• 1:18:08
  in town engaging me to him? Clark stared straight in front of him at
• 1:18:12
  a bolt on the clattering windshield Sally Carroll, he said, with a curious
• 1:18:17
  intensity. Don't you like us? What us down here? Why? Clark?
• 1:18:28
  You know I do? I adore all you boys? Then why you
• 1:18:34
  getting engaged to a Yankee? Clark? I don't know. I'm not sure
• 1:18:41
  what I'll do, but well, I want to go places and see people.
• 1:18:45
  I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen
• 1:18:47
  on a big scale. What you mean, oh Clark? I love you,
• 1:18:55
  and I love Joe here and Ben Arett and you all, but you'll
• 1:18:59
  you'll we'll all be failures. Yes, I don't mean only money failures,
• 1:19:06
  but just sort of ineffectual and sad. And how can I tell you?
• 1:19:15
  You mean because we stay here in Tarleton, yes, Clark, And because
• 1:19:23
  you like it and never want to change things or think or go ahead.
• 1:19:28
  He nodded, and she reached over and pressed his hand. Clark, she
• 1:19:32
  said softly, I wouldn't change you for the world. You're sweet, the
• 1:19:38
  way you are, the things that'll make you fail. I'll love always living
• 1:19:44
  in the past, the lazy days and nights you'll have, and all your
• 1:19:47
  carelessness and generosity. But you're going away, Yes, because I couldn't ever
• 1:19:56
  marry you. You've a place in my heart no one else said could have.
• 1:20:01
  But tied down here, I'd get restless, I'd feel I was wastin
• 1:20:06
  myself. There's two sides to me, you see. There's the sleepy old
• 1:20:13
  side you love. And there's a sort of energy, the feeling that makes
• 1:20:16
  me do wild things. That's the part of me that may be useful somewhere,
• 1:20:21
  that'll last when I'm not beautiful anymore. She broke off with characteristic suddenness
• 1:20:29
  and sighed, oh, sweet cooky, as her mood changed, half closing
• 1:20:35
  her eyes and tipping back her head till it rested on the seat back.
• 1:20:40
  She let the savory breeze fan her eyes and ripple the fluffy curls of her
• 1:20:44
  bobbed hair. They were in the country now, hurrying between tangled growths of
• 1:20:49
  bright green coppice and grass, and tall trees that sent sprays of foliage to
• 1:20:55
  hang a cool welcome over the road. Here and there they passed a battered
• 1:21:00
  Negro cabin, its oldest white haired inhabitants smoking a corn cob pipe beside the
• 1:21:04
  door, and half a dozen scantily clothed piccaninnies parading tattered dolls on the wild
• 1:21:11
  grown grass in front. Farther out were lazy cotton fields, where even the
• 1:21:16
  workers seemed intangible shadows lent by the sun to the earth, not for toil,
• 1:21:21
  but to while away some age old tradition. In the golden September fields,
• 1:21:28
  and round the drowsy picturesqueness over the trees and shacks and muddy rivers flowed
• 1:21:33
  the heat, never hostile, only comforting, like a great, warm,
• 1:21:41
  nourishing bosom for the infant earth. Sally Carol were here, poor childs sound
• 1:21:49
  asleep, Honey, you dead at last? Out of sheer laziness. Water
• 1:21:58
  Sally carrow, coo, cool water, waitin for ye. Her eyes opened
• 1:22:04
  sleepily, Hi, she murmured, smiling. Two in November, Harry Bellamy,
• 1:22:17
  tall, broad and brisk, came down from his northern city to spend
• 1:22:21
  four days. His intention was to settle a matter that had been hanging fire
• 1:22:28
  since he and Sally Carrol had met in Asheville, North Carolina, in Midsummer.
• 1:22:33
  The settlement took only a quiet afternoon and an evening in front of a
• 1:22:38
  glowing open fire. For Harry Bellamy had everything she wanted, and besides she
• 1:22:43
  loved him, loved him with that side of her she kept, especially for
• 1:22:46
  loving Sally. Carroll had several rather clearly defined sides. On his last afternoon,
• 1:22:55
  they walked, and she found their steps tending half unconsciously toward one of
• 1:22:59
  her favorite haunts, the cemetery. When it came in sight, gray white
• 1:23:04
  and golden green under the cheerful late sun, she paused, irresolute by the
• 1:23:10
  iron gate. Are you mournful by nature? Harry, she asked, with
• 1:23:15
  a faint smile. Mournful not I? Then Let's go in here. It
• 1:23:24
  depresses some folks, but I like it. They passed through the gateway and
• 1:23:30
  followed a path that led through a wavy valley of graves, dusty gray and
• 1:23:35
  moldy for the fifties, quaintly carved with flowers and jars for the seventies,
• 1:23:42
  ornate and hideous for the nineties, with fat marble cherubs lying in sodden sleep
• 1:23:47
  on stone pillows, and great impossible growths of nameless granite flowers. Occasionally they
• 1:23:56
  saw a kneeling figure with tributary flowers, but over most of the graves lay
• 1:24:00
  silence and withered leaves, with only the fragrance that their own shadowy memories could
• 1:24:05
  waken in living minds. They reached the top of a hill, where they
• 1:24:12
  were affronted by a tall, round headstone, freckled with dark spots of damp
• 1:24:16
  and half grown over with vines. Marjorie Lee, she read eighteen forty four
• 1:24:25
  to eighteen seventy three. Wasn't she nice? She died when she was twenty
• 1:24:30
  nine. Dear Marjorie Lee, she added softly. Can't you see her,
• 1:24:36
  Harry, Yes, Sally Carrol. He felt a little hand insert itself into
• 1:24:44
  his. She was dark, I think, and she always wore her hair
• 1:24:48
  with a ribbon in it, and gorgeous hoop skirts of alice blue and old
• 1:24:53
  rose. Yes, Oh, she was sweet, Harry. And she was
• 1:25:00
  the sort of girl born to stand on a wide pillared porch and welcome folks
• 1:25:04
  in. I think perhaps a lot of men went away to warm meny to
• 1:25:09
  come back to her, but maybe none of em ever did. He stooped
• 1:25:14
  down close to the stone, hunting for any record of marriage. There's nothing
• 1:25:18
  here to show, of course, not how could there be anything better there
• 1:25:25
  than just Marjorie Lee. That eloquent date. She drew close to him,
• 1:25:30
  and an unexpected lump came into his throat as her yellow hair brushed his cheek.
• 1:25:35
  You see how she was, don't ye, Harry, I see,
• 1:25:40
  he agreed gently. I see through your precious eyes. You're beautiful now,
• 1:25:45
  so I know she must have been silent and close. They stood, and
• 1:25:49
  he could feel her shoulders trembling. A little an ambling breeze swept up the
• 1:25:55
  hill and stirred the brim of her floppity hat. Let's go down there,
• 1:26:01
  she was pointing to a flat stretch on the other side of the hill,
• 1:26:04
  where along the green turf were a thousand grayish white crosses stretching in endless ordered
• 1:26:11
  rows, like the stacked arms of a battalion. Those are the Confederate dead,
• 1:26:17
  said Sally Carrol simply. They walked along and read the inscriptions, always
• 1:26:25
  only a name and a date, sometimes quite indecipherable. The last row is
• 1:26:30
  the saddest. See way over there, Every cross has just a date on
• 1:26:36
  it and the word unknown. She looked at him, and her eyes brimmed
• 1:26:42
  with tears. I can't tell you how real it is to me, darling.
• 1:26:47
  If you don't know how you feel about it, is beautiful to me.
• 1:26:54
  No, no, It's not me, it's them that old time I've
• 1:26:59
  tried to have live in me. These were just men unimportant, evidently,
• 1:27:03
  or they wouldn't have been unknown. But they died for the most beautiful thing
• 1:27:09
  in the world, the dead South, you see, She continued, her
• 1:27:14
  voice still husky, her eyes glistening with tears. People have these dreams,
• 1:27:19
  they fasten on to things, and I've always grown up with that dream.
• 1:27:24
  It was so easy because it was all dead and there weren't any disillusions coming
• 1:27:29
  to me. I've tried, in a way to live up to those past
• 1:27:31
  standards of no bless oblige. There's just the last remnants of it, you
• 1:27:36
  know, like the roses of an old garden dying all round us, streaks
• 1:27:41
  of strange courtliness and chivalry, and some of these boys and stories I used
• 1:27:45
  to hear from a Confederate soldier who lived next door, and a few darkies.
• 1:27:50
  Oh, Harry, there was something. There was something I couldn't never
• 1:27:56
  make you understand, but it was there, I understand, he assured her
• 1:28:00
  again quietly. Sally Carrol smiled and dried her eyes on the tip of a
• 1:28:06
  handkerchief protruding from his breast pocket. You don't feel depressed? Do you love
• 1:28:13
  her? Even when I cry? I'm happy here and I get a sort
• 1:28:15
  of strength from it. Hand in hand, they turned and walked slowly away,
• 1:28:24
  finding soft grass, She drew him down to a seat beside her,
• 1:28:27
  with their backs against the remnants of a low broken wall. Wish these three
• 1:28:32
  old women would clear out, he complained. I want to kiss you,
• 1:28:36
  Sally Carrol May too. They waited impatiently for the three bent figures to move
• 1:28:44
  off, and then she kissed him until the sky seemed to fade out and
• 1:28:47
  all her smiles and tears to vanish in an ecstasy of eternal seconds. Afterward,
• 1:28:55
  they walked slowly back together, while on the corners Twilight played its somnal
• 1:29:00
  black and white checkers with the end of day. You'll be up about mid
• 1:29:04
  January, he said, and you've got to stay a month at least.
• 1:29:09
  It'll be slick. There's a winter carnival on, and if you've never really
• 1:29:13
  seen snow, it'll be like fairy land to you. There'll be skating and
• 1:29:17
  skiing and tobogganing and sleigh riding and all sorts of torchlight parades on snow shoes.
• 1:29:24
  They haven't had one for years, so they're going to make it a
• 1:29:26
  knockout. Will I be cold, Harry, she asked suddenly, You certainly
• 1:29:32
  won't. You may freeze your nose, but you won't be shivery cold.
• 1:29:36
  It's hard and dry, you know. I guess I'm a summer child.
• 1:29:42
  I don't like any cold I've ever seen. She broke off, and they
• 1:29:47
  were both silent for a minute. Sally Carrol, he said, very slowly,
• 1:29:55
  what do you say to March? I say I love you, March.
• 1:30:03
  March Harry three. All night in the Pullman, it was very cold.
• 1:30:12
  She rang for the porter to ask for another blanket, and when he
• 1:30:15
  couldn't give her one, she tried vainly by squeezing down into the bottom of
• 1:30:18
  her berth and doubling back the bedclothes to snatch a few hours sleep. She
• 1:30:25
  wanted to look her best in the morning. She rose at six, and,
• 1:30:30
  sliding uncomfortably into her clothes, stumbled up to the diner for a cup
• 1:30:33
  of coffee. The snow had filtered into the vestibules and covered the floor with
• 1:30:39
  a slippery coating. It was intriguing this cold. It crept in everywhere.
• 1:30:45
  Her breath was quite visible, and she blew into the air with a naive
• 1:30:49
  enjoyment. Seated in the diner, she stared out the window at white hills
• 1:30:55
  and valleys and scattered pines, whose every branch was a green platter for a
• 1:31:00
  cold feast of snow. Sometimes a solitary farmhouse would fly by, ugly and
• 1:31:05
  bleak and lone on the white waste, and with each one she had an
• 1:31:10
  instant of chill compassion for the souls shut in there, waiting for spring.
• 1:31:15
  As she left the diner and swayed back into the pullman, she experienced a
• 1:31:19
  surging rush of energy, and wondered if she was feeling the bracing air of
• 1:31:24
  which Harry had spoken. This was the North, the North, her land.
• 1:31:30
  Now then blow ye winds, hey ho, a roving eye will go,
• 1:31:38
  she chanted exultantly to herself. What's at? Inquired the porter, politely,
• 1:31:45
  I said, brush me off. The long wires of the telegraph poles
• 1:31:51
  doubled. Two tracks ran up beside the train. Three four came a succession
• 1:32:00
  of white roofed houses, A glimpse of a trolley car with frosted windows.
• 1:32:03
  Streets moor streets, the city. She stood for a dazed moment in the
• 1:32:11
  frosty station before she saw three fur bundled figures descending upon her. There she
• 1:32:18
  is, Oh, Sally Carrol. Sallie Carroll dropped her bag. Hi,
• 1:32:29
  A faintly familiar, icy cold face kissed her, And then she was in
• 1:32:32
  a group of faces, all apparently emitting great clouds of heavy smoke. She
• 1:32:38
  was shaking hands. There were Gordon, a short, eager man of thirty
• 1:32:43
  who looked like an amateur knocked about model for Harry, and his wife,
• 1:32:46
  Myra, a listless lady with flaxen hair under a fur automobile cap. Almost
• 1:32:54
  immediately, Sallie Carroll thought of her as vaguely Scandinavian. A cheerful chauffeur opted
• 1:33:00
  her bag, and, amid ricochets of half phrases, exclamations and perfunctory listless
• 1:33:05
  my DearS from Myra, they swept each other from the station. They were
• 1:33:11
  in a sedan bound through a crooked succession of snowy streets, where dozens of
• 1:33:15
  little boys were hitching sleds behind grocery wagons and automobiles. Oh, cried Sally
• 1:33:21
  Carrol, I want to do that, can we, Harry? Now that's
• 1:33:26
  for kids, But we might. It looks like such a circus, she
• 1:33:32
  said regretfully. Home was a rambling frame house set on a white lap of
• 1:33:40
  snow, and there she met a big, gray haired man of whom she
• 1:33:44
  approved, and a lady who was like an egg and who kissed her.
• 1:33:47
  These were Harry's parents. There was a breathless, indescribable hour, crammed full
• 1:33:54
  of half sentences, hot water, bacon and eggs and confusion. And after
• 1:33:59
  that she was alone with Harry in the library, asking him if she dared
• 1:34:02
  smoke. It was a large room with a madonna over the fireplace, and
• 1:34:09
  rose upon rows of books in covers of light gold and dark gold and shiny
• 1:34:14
  red. All the chairs had little lace squares where one's head should rest.
• 1:34:19
  The couch was just comfortable. The books looked as if they had been read
• 1:34:25
  some and Sally Carroll had an instantaneous vision of the battered old library at home,
• 1:34:30
  with her father's huge medical books and the oil paintings of her three great
• 1:34:34
  uncles, and the old couch that had been mended up for forty five years
• 1:34:39
  and was still luxurious to dream in. This room struck her as being neither
• 1:34:45
  attractive nor particularly otherwise it was simply a room with a lot of fairly expensive
• 1:34:49
  things in it that all looked about fifteen years old. What do you think
• 1:34:55
  of it up here? Demanded Harry eagerly. Does it surprise you? Is
• 1:35:00
  it what you expected? I mean, you are, Harry, she said
• 1:35:04
  quietly, and reached out her arms to him, But after a brief kiss,
• 1:35:11
  he seemed anxious to exhort enthusiasm from her. The town. I mean,
• 1:35:15
  do you like it? Can you feel a pep in the air?
• 1:35:18
  Oh, Harry, she laughed. You'll have to give me time. You
• 1:35:24
  can't just fling questions at me. She puffed at her cigarette with a sigh
• 1:35:29
  of contentment. One thing I want to ask you, he began, rather
• 1:35:33
  apologetically. You Southerners put quite an emphasis on family and all that. Not
• 1:35:40
  that it isn't quite all right, But you'll find it a little different here.
• 1:35:44
  I mean you'll notice a lot of things that seem to you sort of
• 1:35:46
  vulgar display at first, Sally Carrol, But just remember that this is a
• 1:35:51
  three generation town. Everybody has a father, and about half of us have
• 1:35:57
  grandfathers. Back of that, we don't go, of course, she murmured,
• 1:36:04
  Our grandfathers. You see founded the place, and a lot of them
• 1:36:08
  had to take some pretty queer jobs while they were doing the founding. For
• 1:36:12
  instance, there's one woman who had present is about the social model for the
• 1:36:15
  town. Well, her father was the first public ash man. Things like
• 1:36:19
  that. Why, said Sally Carroll, puzzled, Did you suppose I was
• 1:36:25
  going to make remarks about people? Not at all, interrupted Harry. And
• 1:36:30
  I'm not apologizing for anyone either. It's just that, well, a southern
• 1:36:34
  girl came up here last summer and said some unfortunate things, and oh,
• 1:36:40
  I just thought i'd tell you. Sally Carroll felt suddenly indignant, as though
• 1:36:45
  she had been unjustly spanked. But Harry evidently considered the subject closed, for
• 1:36:50
  he went on with a great surge of enthusiasm. It's carnival time, you
• 1:36:56
  know, first in ten years, and there's an ice palace they're building.
• 1:37:00
  Now, that's the first they've had since eighty five, build out of blocks
• 1:37:04
  of the clearest ice they could find, on a tremendous scale. She rose,
• 1:37:11
  and, walking to the window, pushed aside the heavy Turkish portieres and
• 1:37:15
  looked out. Oh, she cried, Suddenly, there's two little boys makin
• 1:37:19
  a snow man, Harry, do you reckon? I can go out and
• 1:37:23
  help em. You dream come here and kiss me. She left the window
• 1:37:29
  rather reluctantly. I don't guess this is a very kissable climate, is it.
• 1:37:33
  I mean it makes you so you don't want to sit round, doesn't
• 1:37:36
  it. We're not going to I've got a vacation the first week you're here,
• 1:37:43
  and there's a dinner dance to night. Oh, Harry, she confessed,
• 1:37:47
  subsiding in a heap, half in his lap, half in the pillows.
• 1:37:51
  I sure do feel confused. I haven't got an idea whether I'll like
• 1:37:56
  him or not, and I don't know what people expect or anything. You'll
• 1:38:00
  have to tell me, honey, I'll tell you, he said, softly,
• 1:38:03
  if you'll just tell me. You're glad to be here. Glad,
• 1:38:10
  just awful glad, she whispered, insinuating herself into his arms in her own
• 1:38:15
  peculiar way. Where you are is home for me, Harry. And as
• 1:38:19
  she said this, she had the feeling, for almost the first time in
• 1:38:23
  her life, that she was acting a part. That night, amid the
• 1:38:28
  gleaming candles of a dinner party where the men seemed to do most of the
• 1:38:31
  talking, while the girl sat in a haughty and expensive aloofness. Even Harry's
• 1:38:36
  presence on her left failed to make her feel at home. They're a good
• 1:38:41
  looking crowd, don't you think, he demanded. Just look round. There's
• 1:38:45
  Spud Hubbard tackle at Princeton last year, and Juny Morton. He and the
• 1:38:49
  red haired fellow next to him were both Yale hockey captains. Juny was my
• 1:38:54
  class. Why the best athletes in the world come from these states round here?
• 1:38:59
  This is man's country, I tell you. Look at John J.
• 1:39:02
  Fishburn. Who's he asked Sally Carroll innocently. Don't you know I've heard the
• 1:39:12
  name, greatest wheat man in the Northwest and one of the greatest financiers in
• 1:39:17
  the country. She turned suddenly to a voice on her right. I guess
• 1:39:24
  they forgot to introduce us. My name's Roger Patten. My name is Sally
• 1:39:30
  Carrol Happer, she said, graciously. Yes, I know Harry told me
• 1:39:35
  you were coming. You a relative. No, I'm a professor. Oh,
• 1:39:43
  she laughed, at the university. You're from the South, aren't you.
• 1:39:47
  Yes, Tarlton, Georgia. She liked him immediately. A reddish brown
• 1:39:54
  mustache, under watery blue eyes that had something in them that these other eyes
• 1:39:58
  lacked, some of appreciation. They exchanged stray sentences through dinner, and she
• 1:40:04
  made up her mind to see him again. After coffee, she was introduced
• 1:40:10
  to numerous young men who danced with conscious precision and seemed to take it for
• 1:40:14
  granted that she wanted to talk about nothing except Harry. Heavens, she thought,
• 1:40:19
  they talk as if my being engaged made me older than they are,
• 1:40:23
  as if I'd tell their mothers on them. In the South, an engaged
• 1:40:28
  girl, even a young married woman, expected the same amount of half affectionate
• 1:40:31
  badinage and flattery that would be accorded a debutante. But here all that seemed
• 1:40:36
  banned. One young man, after getting well started on the subject of Sally
• 1:40:42
  Carrol's eyes and how they had allured him ever since she entered the room,
• 1:40:45
  went into a violent confusion when he found she was visiting the Bellamies was Harry's
• 1:40:50
  fiance. He seemed to feel as though he had made some risky and inexcusable
• 1:40:56
  blunder became immediately formal, and after at the first opportunity, she was rather
• 1:41:02
  glad when Roger Patten caught in on her and suggested that they sit out.
• 1:41:05
  Awhile, well, he inquired, blinking cheerily, how's Carmen from the south?
• 1:41:14
  Mighty fine? How's dangerous? Dan McGrew? Sorry, but he's the
• 1:41:19
  only Northerner I know much about. He seemed to enjoy that, of course,
• 1:41:26
  he confessed, as a professor of literature, I'm not supposed to have
• 1:41:29
  read dangerous, Dan McGrew. Are you a native? No, I'm a
• 1:41:34
  Philadelphian imported from Harvard to teach French. But I've been here ten years,
• 1:41:42
  nine years, three hundred and sixty four days longer than me. Like it
• 1:41:46
  here? Uh huh? Sure? Do really? Well? Why not?
• 1:41:54
  Don't I look as if I were having a good time. I just saw
• 1:41:58
  you look out the window a minute ago and shiver. Just my imagination,
• 1:42:03
  laughed Sally Carrol. I'm used to having everything quiet outside, and sometimes I
• 1:42:09
  look out and see a flury of snow, and it's just as if something
• 1:42:12
  dead was moving, He nodded, appreciatively. Ever been north before? Spent
• 1:42:17
  two julys in Asheville, North Carolina. Nice looking crowd, aren't they,
• 1:42:23
  suggested Patten, indicating the swirling floor Sally Carrol started. This had been Harry's
• 1:42:30
  remark, sure are they're canine? What? She flushed? I'm sorry that
• 1:42:40
  sounded worse than I meant it. You see, I always think of people
• 1:42:44
  as feline or canine, irrespective of sex. Which are you? I'm feline?
• 1:42:53
  So are you? So are most Southern men and most of these girls
• 1:42:57
  here. What's Harry Harry's canine? Distinctly all the men I've met tonight seem
• 1:43:03
  to be canine. What does canine imply? A certain conscious masculinity as opposed
• 1:43:11
  to subtlety reckon? So I never analyzed it. Only I just look at
• 1:43:16
  people and say canine or feline? Right off? It's right absurd, I
• 1:43:21
  guess not at all. I'm interested. I used to have a theory about
• 1:43:27
  these people. I think they're freezing up. What I think they're growing like
• 1:43:32
  swedes. Ibsen asque, you know, very gradually getting gloomy and melancholy.
• 1:43:39
  It's these long winters. Ever read any Ibsen? She shook her head.
• 1:43:45
  Well, you find in these characters a certain brooding rigidity. They're righteous,
• 1:43:50
  narrow and cheerless, without infinite possibilities for great sorrow or joy, without smiles
• 1:43:59
  or tears exactly. That's my theory. You see, there are thousands of
• 1:44:03
  Swedes up here. They came, I imagine because the climate is very much
• 1:44:08
  like their own, and there's been a gradual mingling. There are probably not
• 1:44:12
  half a dozen here tonight. But we've had four Swedish governors. Am I
• 1:44:17
  boring you? I'm mighty interested. Your future sister in law is half Swedish.
• 1:44:25
  Personally, I like her. But my theory is that Swedes react rather
• 1:44:28
  badly on us as a whole. Scandinavians, you know, have the largest
• 1:44:31
  suicide rate in the world. Why do you live here if it's so depressing?
• 1:44:39
  Oh doesn't get me. I'm pretty well cloistered, and I suppose books
• 1:44:43
  mean more than people to me anyway. But riters all speak about the South
• 1:44:48
  being tragic, you know, Spanish senoritas, black hair and daggers and haunting
• 1:44:54
  music. He shook his head. No, the northern races, the tragic
• 1:45:00
  races. They don't indulge in the cheering luxury of tears. Sally Carroll thought
• 1:45:06
  of her graveyard. She supposed that that was vaguely what she had meant when
• 1:45:12
  she said it didn't depress her. The Italians are about the gayest people in
• 1:45:16
  the world. But it's a dull subject. He broke off. Anyway,
• 1:45:20
  I want to tell you you're marrying a pretty fine man. Sally Carroll was
• 1:45:27
  moved by an impulse of confidence. I know I'm the sort of person who
• 1:45:31
  wants to be taken care of after a certain point, and I feel sure
• 1:45:35
  I will be. Shall we dance, you know? He continued as they
• 1:45:41
  rose. It's encouraging to find a girl who knows what she's marrying for nine
• 1:45:45
  tents of them. Think of it as a sort of walking into a moving
• 1:45:47
  picture sunset. She laughed and liked him immediately. Two hours later, on
• 1:45:55
  the way home, she nestled near Harry in the back seat. Oh Harry,
• 1:46:00
  she whispered, it's so cold, but it's warm in here, darling
• 1:46:04
  girl, but outside it's cold, and oh that howling wind. She buried
• 1:46:13
  her face deep in his fur coat and trembled involuntarily as his cold lips kissed
• 1:46:17
  the tip of her ear. Four the first week of her visit passed in
• 1:46:26
  a whirl. She had her promise to Boggain ride at the back of an
• 1:46:30
  automobile through a chill January twilight, Swathed in furs. She put in a
• 1:46:35
  morning to boggaining on the country club hill, even tried skiing to sail through
• 1:46:41
  the air for a glorious moment, and let land in a tangled, laughing
• 1:46:44
  bundle on a soft snow drift. She liked all the winter sports except an
• 1:46:48
  afternoon spent snowshoeing over a glaring plain under pale yellow sunshine. But she soon
• 1:46:55
  realized that these things were her children, that she was being humored, and
• 1:47:00
  that the enjoyment round her was only a reflection of her own. At first,
• 1:47:04
  the Bellamy family puzzled her. The men were reliable, and she liked
• 1:47:09
  them. To mister Bellamy, especially with his iron gray hair and energetic dignity,
• 1:47:14
  she took an immediate fancy once she found that he was born in Kentucky.
• 1:47:18
  This made of him a link between the old life and the new.
• 1:47:23
  But toward the women, she felt a definite hostility. Myra her future sister
• 1:47:29
  in law seemed the essence of spiritless conventionality. Her conversation was so utterly devoid
• 1:47:34
  of personality that Sally Carroll, who came from a country where a certain amount
• 1:47:39
  of charm and assurance could be taken for granted, in the women was inclined
• 1:47:43
  to despise her. If those women aren't beautiful, she thought, they're nothing.
• 1:47:49
  They just fade out when you look at them. They're glorified domestics.
• 1:47:55
  Men are the center of every mixed group. Lastly, there was Missus Bellamy,
• 1:48:01
  whom Sally Carroll detested. The first day's impression of an egg had been
• 1:48:05
  confirmed an egg with a cracked, veiny voice and such an ungracious dumpiness of
• 1:48:12
  carriage that Sally Carroll felt that if she once fell, she would surely scramble.
• 1:48:18
  In addition, Missus Bellamy seemed to typify the town in being innately hostile
• 1:48:23
  to strangers. She called Sally Carroll Sallie, and could not be persuaded that
• 1:48:29
  the double name was anything more than a tedious, ridiculous nickname. To Sally
• 1:48:33
  Carrol, this shortening of her name was like presenting her to the public half
• 1:48:38
  clothed. She loved Sally Carrol, she loathed Sallie. She knew also that
• 1:48:45
  Harry's mother disapproved of her bobbed hair, and she had never dared smoke downstairs
• 1:48:50
  after that first day, when Missus Bellamy had come into the library sniffing violently
• 1:48:57
  Of all the men she met, she preferred Roger Hatten, who was a
• 1:49:00
  frequent visitor at the house. He never again alluded to the Ibsenesque tendency of
• 1:49:05
  the populace. But when he came in one day and found her curled upon
• 1:49:10
  the sofa, bent over pure gint, he laughed and told her to forget
• 1:49:13
  what he'd said, that it was all rot. And then one afternoon in
• 1:49:18
  her second week, she and Harry hovered on the edge of a dangerously steep
• 1:49:23
  quarrel. She considered that he precipitated it entirely, though the Serbia in the
• 1:49:29
  case was an unknown man who had not had his trousers pressed. They had
• 1:49:33
  been walking homeward between mounds of high piled snow and under a sun which Sally
• 1:49:39
  Carrol scarcely recognized. They passed a little girl done up in gray wool until
• 1:49:44
  she resembled a small teddy bear, and Sally Carrol could not resist a gasp
• 1:49:48
  of maternal appreciation. Look, Harry, what that little girl? Did you
• 1:49:58
  see her face? Yes? Why it was red as a little strawberry.
• 1:50:03
  Oh, she was cute. Why your own face is almost as red as
• 1:50:09
  that. Already, everybody's healthy here we're out in the coal as soon as
• 1:50:13
  we're old enough to walk. Wonderful climate. She looked at him and had
• 1:50:18
  to agree. He was mighty healthy looking, so was his brother, and
• 1:50:24
  she had noticed the new red in her own cheeks that very morning. Suddenly
• 1:50:29
  their glances were caught and held, and they stared for a moment at the
• 1:50:31
  street corner ahead of them. A man was standing there, his knees bent,
• 1:50:36
  his eyes gazing upward with a tense expression, as though he were about
• 1:50:41
  to make a leap toward the chilly sky. And then they both exploded into
• 1:50:45
  a shout of laughter. For coming closer, they discovered it had been a
• 1:50:48
  ludicrous momentary illusion produced by the extreme bagginess of the man's trousers. Reckon,
• 1:50:56
  that's one on us, she laughed. He must be a Southern, and
• 1:51:00
  are judging by those trousers, suggested Harry mischievously. Why Harry, her surprised
• 1:51:06
  look must have irritated him, Those damn Southerners, Sally Carrol's eyes flashed.
• 1:51:15
  Don't call em that. I'm sorry, dear, said Harry, malignantly apologetic,
• 1:51:21
  But you know what I think of them. They're sort of sort of
• 1:51:25
  degenerates. Not at all like the old Southerners. They've lived so long down
• 1:51:30
  there with all the colored people that they've gotten lazy and shiftless. Hush your
• 1:51:33
  mouth, Harry, she cried angrily. They're not. They may be lazy,
• 1:51:39
  anybody would be in that climate, but they're my best friends, and
• 1:51:43
  I don't want to hear em criticized in any such sweeping way. Some of
• 1:51:46
  em are the finest men in the world. Now. I know they're all
• 1:51:51
  right when they come north to college. But of all the hangdog, ill
• 1:51:56
  dressed, slovenly lot I ever saw a bunch of small towns, Southerners are
• 1:52:00
  the worst. Sally Carrol was clenching her gloved hands and biting her lip furiously.
• 1:52:09
  Why, continued Harry. There was one in my class at New Haven,
• 1:52:12
  and we all thought that at last we'd found the true type of Southern
• 1:52:15
  aristocrat. But it turned out that he wasn't an aristocrat at all, just
• 1:52:18
  the son of a northern carpetbagger who owned about all the cotton round mobile.
• 1:52:25
  A Southerner wouldn't talk the way you're talking now, she said evenly. They
• 1:52:30
  haven't the energy or the something else. I'm sorry, Sally Carroll but I've
• 1:52:38
  heard you say yourself that you'd never marry. That's quite different. I told
• 1:52:42
  you I wouldn't want to tie my life to any of the boys that are
• 1:52:45
  round Tarlton now. But I never made any sweep in generalities. They walked
• 1:52:49
  along in silence. I probably spread it on a bit thick. Sally Carroll,
• 1:52:56
  I'm sorry. She nodded, but made no answer. Five minutes later,
• 1:53:01
  as they stood in the hallway, she suddenly threw her arms round him.
• 1:53:05
  Oh, Harry, she cried, her eyes brimming with tears, Let's
• 1:53:10
  get married next week. I'm afraid of having fusses like that. I'm afraid,
• 1:53:15
  Harry. It wouldn't be that way if we were married. But Harry,
• 1:53:19
  being in the wrong, was still irritated. That'd be idiotic. We
• 1:53:24
  decided on March. The tears in Sally Carroll's eyes faded, her expression hardened
• 1:53:30
  slightly. Very well, I suppose I shouldn't have said that. Harry melted.
• 1:53:36
  Dear little nut. He said, come and kiss me, and let's
• 1:53:40
  forget that. Very night, at the end of a vaudeville performance, the
• 1:53:45
  orchestra played Dixie, and Sally Carrol felt something stronger and more enduring than her
• 1:53:50
  tears and smiles of the day brim up inside her. She leaned forward,
• 1:53:55
  gripping the arms of her chair until her face grew Crimson. Sort of get
• 1:54:00
  you, dear, whispered Harry, But she did not hear him. To
• 1:54:04
  the spirited throb of the violins and the inspiring beat of the kettle drums,
• 1:54:09
  her own old ghosts were marching by and on into the darkness, and as
• 1:54:14
  fifes whistled and sighed in the low encore, they seemed so nearly out of
• 1:54:17
  sight that she could have waved good bye, away away away, down south
• 1:54:25
  in Dixie, Away away, away, down south in Dixie. Five.
• 1:54:33
  It was a particularly cold night. A sudden thaw had nearly cleared the streets
• 1:54:39
  the day before, but now they were traversed again with a powdery wraith of
• 1:54:43
  loose snow that traveled in wavy lines before the feet of the wind and filled
• 1:54:47
  the lower air with a fine, particled mist. There was no sky,
• 1:54:51
  only a dark, ominous tent that draped in the tops of the streets,
• 1:54:57
  and was in reality a vast approaching army of snow flakes, while over it
• 1:55:00
  all chilling away the comfort from the brown and green glow of lighted windows,
• 1:55:05
  and muffling the steady trot of the horse pulling their sleigh interminably washed the north
• 1:55:12
  wind. It was a dismal town, after all, she thought, dismal.
• 1:55:17
  Sometimes at night. It had seemed to her as though no one lived
• 1:55:20
  here. They had all gone long ago, leaving lighted houses to be covered
• 1:55:26
  in time by toombing heaps of sleet. Oh, if there should be snow
• 1:55:30
  on her grave, to be beneath great piles of it all winter long,
• 1:55:35
  where even her headstone would be a light shadow against light shadows her grave,
• 1:55:42
  a grave that should be flower strewn and washed with sun and rain. She
• 1:55:47
  thought again of those isolated country houses that her train had passed, and of
• 1:55:53
  the life there, the long winter, through the ceaseless glare through the windows,
• 1:55:58
  the crust forming on the soft drifts of snow. Finally, the slow,
• 1:56:02
  cheerless melting, and the harsh spring of which Roger Patten had told her
• 1:56:08
  her spring to lose it forever, with its lilax and the lazy sweetness it
• 1:56:14
  stirred in her heart. She was laying away that spring. Afterward, she
• 1:56:19
  would lay away that sweetness with a gradual insistence, the storm broke. Sally
• 1:56:28
  Carrol felt a film of flakes melt quickly on her eyelashes, and Harry reached
• 1:56:31
  over a furry arm and threw down her complicated flannel cap. Then the small
• 1:56:36
  flakes came in skirmish line, and the horse bent his neck patiently as a
• 1:56:42
  transparency of white appeared momentarily on his coat. Oh he's cold, Harry,
• 1:56:47
  she said, quickly, Who the horse? Oh no, he isn't he
• 1:56:53
  likes it. After another ten minutes they turned a corner and came in sight
• 1:56:58
  of their destination. On a tall hill, outlined in vivid, glaring green
• 1:57:02
  against the wintry sky, stood the Ice Palace. It was three stories in
• 1:57:08
  the air, with battlements and embrasures and narrow icicled windows, and the innumerable
• 1:57:14
  electric lights inside made a gorgeous transparency of the great central hall. Sally Carrol
• 1:57:20
  clutched Harry's hand under the fur robe. It's beautiful, he cried excitedly.
• 1:57:26
  My Gully, it's beautiful, isn't it. They haven't had one here since
• 1:57:30
  eighty five. Somehow the notion of their not having been one since eighty five
• 1:57:35
  oppressed her. Ice was a ghost, and this mansion of it was surely
• 1:57:41
  peopled by those shades of the eighties, with pale faces and blurred snow filled
• 1:57:45
  hair. Come on, dear, said Harry. She followed him out of
• 1:57:51
  the sleigh and waited while he hitched the horse. A party of four Gordon,
• 1:57:58
  Myra, Roger and another girl drew up beside them with a mighty jingle
• 1:58:02
  of bells. There were quite a crowd already bundled in fur or sheepskin,
• 1:58:09
  shouting and calling to each other as they moved through the snow, which was
• 1:58:13
  now so thick that people could scarcely be distinguished a few yards away. It's
• 1:58:19
  a hundred and seventy feet tall, Harry was saying to a muffled figure beside
• 1:58:24
  him. As they trudged toward the entrance cover six thousand square yards, she
• 1:58:30
  caught snatches of conversation. One main hall walls twenty to forty inches thick,
• 1:58:39
  and the ice cave has almost a mile of this canock who built it?
• 1:58:45
  They found their way inside, and dazed by the magic of the great crystal
• 1:58:49
  walls, Sally Carrol found herself repeating over and over two lines from Kublai Khan.
• 1:58:56
  It was a miracle of rare device, a sunny pleasure dome with caves
• 1:59:00
  of ice in the great glittering cavern, with the dark shut out. She
• 1:59:06
  took a seat on a wooden bench, and the evening's oppression lifted. Harry
• 1:59:12
  was right, It was beautiful, and her gaze traveled the smooth surface of
• 1:59:16
  the walls, the blocks for which had been selected for their purity and clearness
• 1:59:20
  to obtain this opalescent, translucent effect. Look here we go, ah boy,
• 1:59:29
  cried Harry. A band in a far corner struck up Hail, Hail,
• 1:59:33
  the gangs all here, which echoed over to them in wild, muddled
• 1:59:38
  acoustics, and then the lights suddenly went out. Silence seemed to flow down
• 1:59:43
  the icy sides and sweep over them. Sally Carrol could still see her white
• 1:59:47
  breath in the darkness, and a dim row of pale faces over on the
• 1:59:51
  other side. The music eased to a sighing complaint, and from outside drifted
• 1:59:58
  in the full throated rest chant of the marching clubs. It grew louder,
• 2:00:02
  like some peon of a Viking tribe traversing an ancient wild. It swelled.
• 2:00:09
  They were coming nearer. Then a row of torches appeared, and another and
• 2:00:14
  another, and keeping time with their moccasined feet, a long column of gray
• 2:00:18
  mackinawed figures swept in snow, shoes slung at their shoulders, torches soaring and
• 2:00:24
  flickering as their voices rose along the great walls. The gray column ended,
• 2:00:30
  and another followed, the light streaming luridly, this time over red toboggan caps
• 2:00:34
  and flaming crimson mackinaws, And as they entered they took up the refrain.
• 2:00:41
  Then came a long platoon of blue and white, of green, of white,
• 2:00:45
  of brown and yellow. Those white ones are the Wakuta Club, whispered
• 2:00:50
  Harry eagerly. Those are the men you've met. Round it dances. The
• 2:00:57
  volume of the voices grew. The cavern was a phantasmagoria of torches waving in
• 2:01:02
  great banks, of fire, of colors, and the rhythm of soft leather
• 2:01:06
  steps. The leading column turned and halted. Platoon deployed in front of platoon,
• 2:01:13
  until the whole procession made a solid flag of flame, And then from
• 2:01:17
  thousands of voices burst a mighty shout that filled the air like a crash of
• 2:01:23
  thunder, and set the torches wavering it was magnificent. It was tremendous.
• 2:01:29
  To Sally Carol, it was the North offering sacrifice on some mighty altar to
• 2:01:33
  the gray pagan god of snow. As the shout died, the band struck
• 2:01:40
  up again, and there came more singing, and then long reverberating cheers by
• 2:01:45
  each club. She sat very quiet, listening while the staccato cries rent the
• 2:01:49
  stillness, and then she started, for there was a volley of explosion,
• 2:01:55
  and great clouds of smoke went up here and there through the cavern. The
• 2:02:00
  flashlight photographers at work, and the council was over. With the band at
• 2:02:05
  their head. The clubs formed in column once more, took up their chant
• 2:02:11
  and began to march out. Come on, shouted Harry, we want to
• 2:02:15
  see the labyrinths downstairs. Before they turned the lights off. They all rose
• 2:02:20
  and started toward the chute, Harry and Sally Carrol in the lead, her
• 2:02:25
  little mitten buried in his big fur gauntlet. At the bottom of the chute
• 2:02:30
  was a long, empty room of ice, with the ceiling so low that
• 2:02:32
  they had to stoop, and their hands were parted. Before she realized what
• 2:02:38
  he intended, Harry had darted down one of the half dozen glittering passages that
• 2:02:43
  opened into the room, and was only a vague, receding blot against the
• 2:02:46
  green shimmer. Harry, she called, come on, he cried back.
• 2:02:54
  She looked round the empty chamber. The rest of the party had evidently decided
• 2:02:59
  to go home. We're already outside, somewhere in the blundering snow. She
• 2:03:04
  hesitated, and then darted in after Harry. Harry, she shouted. She
• 2:03:12
  had reached a turning point thirty feet down. She heard a faint, muffled
• 2:03:15
  answer far to the left, and with a touch of panic, flew toward
• 2:03:19
  it. She passed another turning two more yawning alleys. Harry, no answer.
• 2:03:28
  She started to run straight forward, and then turned like lightning and sped
• 2:03:31
  back the way she had come, enveloped in a sudden icy terror. She
• 2:03:36
  reached a turn Was it here? Took the left and came to what should
• 2:03:42
  have been the outlet into the long, low room, But it was only
• 2:03:45
  another glittering passage with darkness at the end. She called again, but the
• 2:03:49
  walls gave back a flat, lifeless echo with no reverberations. Retracing her steps,
• 2:03:57
  she turned another corner, this time fallowing a wide passage. It was
• 2:04:01
  like the green lane between the parted waters of the Red Sea, like a
• 2:04:05
  damp vault connecting empty tombs. She slipped a little now as she walked,
• 2:04:12
  for ice had formed on the bottom of her overshoes. She had to run
• 2:04:15
  her gloves along the half slippery, half sticky walls to keep her balance.
• 2:04:20
  Harry still no answer. The sound she made bounced mockingly down to the end
• 2:04:27
  of the passage. Then on an instant, the lights went out and she
• 2:04:31
  was in complete darkness. She gave a small, frightened cry and sank down
• 2:04:38
  into a cold, little heap on the ice. She felt her left knee
• 2:04:42
  do something as she fell, but she scarcely noticed it, as some deep
• 2:04:45
  terror, far greater than any fear of being lost, settled upon her.
• 2:04:51
  She was alone with this presence that came out of the north, the dreary
• 2:04:56
  loneliness that rose from ice bound whalers in the Arctic seas, from smokeless,
• 2:05:00
  trackless wastes where were strewn the whitened bones of adventure. It was an icy
• 2:05:06
  breath of death. It was rolling down low across the land to clutch at
• 2:05:12
  her with a furious, despairing energy. She rose again and started blindly down
• 2:05:17
  the darkness. She must get out. She might be lost in here for
• 2:05:21
  days, freeze to death, and lie embedded in the ice like corpses she
• 2:05:26
  had read of, kept perfectly preserved until the melting of a glacier. Harry
• 2:05:30
  probably thought that she had left with the others. He had gone by now,
• 2:05:35
  no one would know until the next day. She reached pitifully for the
• 2:05:40
  wall forty inches thick, they had said, forty inches thick. Oh.
• 2:05:48
  On both sides of her. Along the walls, she felt things, creeping,
• 2:05:53
  damp souls that haunted this place, this town, this north, oh
• 2:05:59
  sends somebody, Send somebody, she cried aloud, Clark Darrow, he would
• 2:06:06
  understand, or Joe ewing. She couldn't be left here to wander forever,
• 2:06:13
  to be frozen heart, body and soul. This her, this Sally Carol.
• 2:06:18
  Why she was a happy thing. She was a happy little girl.
• 2:06:23
  She liked warmth and summer and dixie. These things were foreign, foreign.
• 2:06:30
  You're not crying, something said aloud. You'll never cry any more. Your
• 2:06:35
  tears would just freeze, all tears freeze up here. She sprawled full length
• 2:06:43
  on the ice. Oh god, she faltered. A long single file of
• 2:06:49
  minutes went by, and with a great weariness, she felt her eyes closing.
• 2:06:56
  Then someone seemed to sit down near her and take her face in warm,
• 2:07:00
  soft hands. She looked up gratefully. Why it's Marjorie Lee, she
• 2:07:08
  crooned softly to herself. I knew you'd come. It really was Marjorie Lee,
• 2:07:15
  and she was just as Sally Carrol had known she would be, with
• 2:07:18
  a young white brow and wide welcoming eyes, and a hoop skirt of some
• 2:07:25
  soft material that was quite comforting to rest on. Marjorie Lee. It was
• 2:07:31
  getting darker now and darker. All those tombstones ought to be repainted, sure
• 2:07:36
  enough, Only that would spoil him, of course, still he ought to
• 2:07:42
  be able to see him. Then, after a succession of moments that went
• 2:07:46
  by fast and then slow, but seemed to be ultimately resolving themselves into a
• 2:07:51
  multitude of blurred rays converging toward a pale yellow sun, she heard a great
• 2:07:58
  cracking noise break her new found stillness. It was the sun. It was
• 2:08:03
  a light, a torch, and a torch beyond that, and another one,
• 2:08:07
  and voices. A face took flesh below the torch. Heavy arms raised
• 2:08:13
  her and she felt something on her cheek. It felt wet. Some one
• 2:08:18
  had seized her and was rubbing her face with snow. How ridiculous with snow.
• 2:08:26
  Sally Carrol, Sally Carrol, It was dangerous, Dan McGrew, and
• 2:08:33
  two other faces. She didn't know. Child, Child, We've been looking
• 2:08:37
  for you for two hours. Harry's half crazy things came rushing back into place,
• 2:08:43
  the singing the torches, the great shout of the marching clubs. She
• 2:08:48
  squirmed in Patten's arms and gave a long, low cry, Oh, I
• 2:08:54
  want to get out of here. I'm going back home, Take me home.
• 2:09:00
  Her voice rose to a scream that sent a chill to Harry's heart.
• 2:09:03
  As he came racing down the next passage. To morrow, she cried with
• 2:09:09
  delirious, unrestrained passion, to morrow, to morrow, to morrow. Six.
• 2:09:18
  The wealth of golden sunlight poured a quite enervating, yet oddly comforting heat
• 2:09:22
  over the house where day long it faced the dusty stretch of road. Two
• 2:09:28
  birds were making a great to do in a cool spot found among the branches
• 2:09:33
  of a tree. Next door, and down the street, a colored woman
• 2:09:35
  was announcing herself melodiously as a purveyor of strawberries. It was April afternoon.
• 2:09:43
  Sally Carrol Happer, resting her chin on her arm and her arm on an
• 2:09:48
  old window seat, gazed sleepily down over the spangled dust. Whence the heat
• 2:09:52
  waves were rising for the first time this spring. She was watching a very
• 2:09:58
  ancient ford in a perilous corner and rattle and groan to a jolting stop at
• 2:10:03
  the end of the walk. She made no sound, and in a minute
• 2:10:07
  a strident, familiar whistle rent the air. Sally Carroll smiled and blinked,
• 2:10:16
  good morning. A head appeared tortuously from under the car top below. Tain't
• 2:10:22
  moanin, Sally Carroll, Sure enough, she said, in affected surprise.
• 2:10:26
  I guess maybe not. What you doing eating green peach? Spect to die
• 2:10:35
  any minute? Clark twisted himself a last impossible notch to get a view of
• 2:10:39
  her face. Water as warm as a kendless steam, Sally Carroll, one
• 2:10:45
  of you swimming? I hate to move, sighed Sally Carroll lazily, but
• 2:10:52
  I reckon so head and shoulders. One. In nineteen fifteen, Horace Tarbax
• 2:11:03
  was thirteen years old. In that year, he took the examinations for entrance
• 2:11:07
  to Princeton University and received the grade A excellent in Caesar Cicero, Virgil,
• 2:11:15
  Xenophon, Homer, Algebra, Plain geometry, solid geometry, and Chemistry.
• 2:11:22
  Two years later, while George M. Cohan was composing over there, Horace
• 2:11:26
  was leading the sophomore class by several lengths and digging out theses on the syllogism
• 2:11:31
  as an obsolete scholastic form. And during the Battle of Chateau Tieri, he
• 2:11:37
  was sitting at his desk deciding whether or not to wait until his seventeenth birthday
• 2:11:41
  before beginning his series of essays on the pragmatic bias of the new Realists.
• 2:11:46
  After a while, some newsboy told him that the war was over, and
• 2:11:50
  he was glad because it meant that Pete Brothers publishers would get out their new
• 2:11:54
  edition of Spinoza's Improvement of the Understanding. Wars were all very well in their
• 2:11:58
  way, made young men self reliant or something, but Horace felt that he
• 2:12:03
  could never forgive the president for allowing a brass band to play under his window
• 2:12:07
  the night of the false Armistice, causing him to leave three important sentences out
• 2:12:13
  of his thesis on German idealism. The next year he went up to Yale
• 2:12:18
  to take his degree as Master of Arts. He was seventeen then, tall
• 2:12:22
  and slender, with near sighted gray eyes and an air of keeping himself utterly
• 2:12:26
  detached from the mere words he let drop. I never feel as though I'm
• 2:12:33
  talking to him, expostulated Professor Dillinger to a sympathetic colleague. He makes me
• 2:12:39
  feel as though I were talking to his representative. I always expect him to
• 2:12:41
  say, well, I'll ask myself and find out, And then, just
• 2:12:48
  as nonchalantly as though Horace Tarbox had been mister Beef the butcher, or mister
• 2:12:52
  Hat the haberdasher, life reached in, seized him, handled him, stretched
• 2:12:58
  him him, and unrolled him like a piece of Irish lace on a Saturday
• 2:13:03
  afternoon bargain counter to move in the literary fashion. I should say that this
• 2:13:09
  was all because when, way back in colonial days, the hardy pioneers had
• 2:13:11
  come to a bald place in Connecticut and asked of each other, now which
• 2:13:16
  we build here? The hardiest one among them, it answered, let's build
• 2:13:20
  a town where theatrical managers can try out musical comedies. How afterward they've founded
• 2:13:26
  Yale College there to try the musical comedies on is a story everyone knows at
• 2:13:31
  any rate. One December, Home James opened at the Schubert and all the
• 2:13:37
  students on coard Marcia Meadow, who sang his song about the blundering Blimp in
• 2:13:41
  the first act and did a shaky, shivery celebrated dance in the last.
• 2:13:48
  Marcia was nineteen. She didn't have wings, but audiences agreed generally that she
• 2:13:52
  didn't need them. She was a blonde by natural pigment, and she wore
• 2:13:58
  no paint on the street at high noon. Outside of that, she was
• 2:14:03
  no better than most women. It was Charley Moon who promised her five thousand
• 2:14:09
  pal miles if she would pay a call on Horace Tarba's prodigy extraordinary. Charley
• 2:14:13
  was a senior in Sheffield, and he and Horace were first cousins. They
• 2:14:18
  liked and pitied each other. Horace had been particularly busy that night. The
• 2:14:24
  failure of the Frenchman Laurier to appreciate the significance of the new Realists was preying
• 2:14:28
  on his mind. In fact, his only reaction to a low, clear
• 2:14:33
  cut rap at his study was to make him speculate as to whether any rap
• 2:14:37
  would have actual existence without an ear there to hear it. He fancied he
• 2:14:41
  was verging more and more toward pragmatism, But at that moment, though he
• 2:14:48
  did not know it, he was verging with astounding rapidity towards something quite different.
• 2:14:54
  The rap sounded three seconds leaked by the rap sounded. Come in,
• 2:15:03
  muttered Horace automatically. He heard the door open and then close, but bent
• 2:15:07
  over his book in the big arm chair before the fire. He did not
• 2:15:11
  look up. Leave it on the bed in the other room, he said,
• 2:15:15
  absently, Leave what on the bed in the other room? Martial Meadow
• 2:15:20
  had to talk her songs, but her speaking voice was like by play on
• 2:15:26
  a harp the laundry. I can't, Horace stirred impatiently in his chair.
• 2:15:35
  Why can't you? Why? Because I haven't got it? Hum he replied
• 2:15:41
  testily. Suppose you go back and get it. Across the fire from Horace
• 2:15:46
  was another easy chair. He was accustomed to change to it in the course
• 2:15:50
  of an evening by way of exercise and variety. One chair he called Barkley,
• 2:15:56
  the other he called Hume. He suddenly heard a sound of a rustling
• 2:16:01
  diaphanous form sinking into Hume. He glanced up, well, said Marcia,
• 2:16:07
  with the sweet smile she used in act too. Oh, the Duke so
• 2:16:11
  liked my dancing. Well, Oh, Mark, I am here, I
• 2:16:15
  am beside you, singing in the wilderness. Horace stared at her dazedly.
• 2:16:20
  The momentary suspicion came to him that she existed there only as a phantom of
• 2:16:24
  his imagination. Women didn't come into men's rooms and sink into men's humes.
• 2:16:31
  Women brought laundry and took your seat in the street car and married you later
• 2:16:35
  on, when you were old enough to know fetters. This woman had clearly
• 2:16:39
  materialized out of Hume. The very froth of her brown gauzy dress was an
• 2:16:45
  emanation from Hume's leather arm. There. If he looked long enough, he
• 2:16:48
  would see Hume right through her, and then he would be alone again in
• 2:16:52
  the room. He passed his fist across his eyes. He really must take
• 2:16:56
  up those trapeze exercises again, for Pete's sake. Don't look so critical,
• 2:17:03
  objected the emanation pleasantly. I feel as if you were going to wish me
• 2:17:05
  away with that patent dome of yours, and then there wouldn't be anything left
• 2:17:09
  of me except my shadow in your eyes. Horace coughed. Coughing was one
• 2:17:16
  of his two gestures. When he talked, he forgot he had a body
• 2:17:20
  at all. It was like hearing a phonograph record by a singer who had
• 2:17:22
  been dead a long time. What do you want, he asked, I
• 2:17:28
  want them letters, whined Marcia, melodramatically, them letters of mine you bought
• 2:17:33
  for my grandsire in eighteen eighty one. Horace considered, I haven't got your
• 2:17:39
  letters, he said, evenly. I'm only seventeen years old. My father
• 2:17:45
  was not born until March third, eighteen seventy nine. You evidently have me
• 2:17:48
  confused with some one else. You're only seventeen, repeated Marcia, suspiciously.
• 2:17:58
  Only seventeen. I knew a girl, said Marcia, reminiscently, who went
• 2:18:03
  on the ten twenty thirty when she was sixteen. She was so stuck on
• 2:18:07
  herself that she could never say sixteen without putting me. Only before it,
• 2:18:11
  we got to calling her only Jesse. And she's just where she was when
• 2:18:16
  she started, only worse. Only is a bad habit Omar sounds like an
• 2:18:20
  alibi. My name is not Omar, I know, agreed, Marcia nodding.
• 2:18:28
  Your name's Horace. I just call you Omar because you remind me of
• 2:18:31
  a smoked cigarette, and I haven't your letters. I I doubt if I've
• 2:18:35
  ever met your grandfather. In fact, I think it very improbable that you
• 2:18:39
  yourself were alive in eighteen eighty one. Marcia stared at him in wonder me
• 2:18:46
  eighteen eighty one? Why sure I was second line stuff when the floridor a
• 2:18:52
  sextette was still in the convent. I was the original nurse to missus soul
• 2:18:56
  Smith's Juliet. Why Omar I was a canteen singer the War of eighteen twelve.
• 2:19:01
  Horace's mind made a sudden, successful leap, and he grinned. Did
• 2:19:05
  Charlie Moon put you up to this? Marcia regarded him inscrutably. Who's Charley
• 2:19:13
  Moon? Small, wide nostrils, big ears. She grew several inches and
• 2:19:20
  sniffed, I'm not in the habit of noticing my friend's nostrils. Then it
• 2:19:26
  was Charlie. Marcia bit her lip and then yawned, Oh, let's change
• 2:19:31
  the subject, Omar, I'll pull a snore in this chair in a minute,
• 2:19:35
  yes, replied Horace gravely. Home has often been considered soporific. Who's
• 2:19:41
  your friend? And will he die? Then of a sudden Horace Tarbox rose
• 2:19:48
  slenderly and began to pace the room with his hands in his pockets. This
• 2:19:52
  was his other gesture. I don't care for this, he said, as
• 2:19:56
  if he were talking to himself at all. Not that I mind your being
• 2:20:01
  here, I I I don't. You're quite a pretty little thing, but
• 2:20:05
  I don't like Charlie Moon's sending you up here? Am I a laboratory experiment
• 2:20:09
  on which the janitors as well as the chemists can make experiments? Is my
• 2:20:13
  intellectual development humorous in any way? Do I look like the pictures of the
• 2:20:18
  little Boston boy in the comic magazines? Has that callow ass Moon with his
• 2:20:22
  eternal tales about his week in Paris? Any right to no? Interrupted Marcia
• 2:20:28
  emphatically. And you're a sweet boy, Come here and kiss me. Horace
• 2:20:35
  stopped quickly in front of her. Why do you want me to kiss you?
• 2:20:39
  He asked intently. Do you just go round kissing people? Why?
• 2:20:43
  Yes, admitted Marcia, unruffled. That's all life is, just goin round,
• 2:20:48
  kissin people well, replied Horace emphatically, I must say your ideas are
• 2:20:52
  horribly garbled. In the first place, life isn't just that. And in
• 2:20:56
  the second place, I won't kiss you. It might get to be a
• 2:21:01
  habit, and I can't get rid of habits. This year, I've got
• 2:21:03
  in the habit of lolling in bed until seven thirty. Marcia nodded understandingly.
• 2:21:09
  Do you ever have any fun? She asked, What do you mean by
• 2:21:15
  fun? See here, said Marcia sternly. I like you, oh,
• 2:21:20
  mar but I wish you'd talk as if you had a line on what you
• 2:21:22
  were saying. You sound as if you were gargling a lot of words in
• 2:21:24
  your mouth and lost a bet every time you spilled a few. I asked
• 2:21:28
  you if you ever had any fun. Horace shook his head. Later,
• 2:21:35
  perhaps he answered, you see, I'm a plan, I'm an experiment.
• 2:21:39
  I don't say that I don't get tired of it. Sometimes I do.
• 2:21:43
  Yet, Oh, I can't explain. But what you and Charlie moonkauf On
• 2:21:48
  wouldn't be fun to me? Please explain. Horace stared at her, started
• 2:21:56
  to speak, and then, changing his mind, resumed his walk. After
• 2:22:00
  an unsuccessful attempt to determine whether or not he was looking at her. Marcius
• 2:22:05
  smiled at him. Please explain, Horace, turned If I do, will
• 2:22:11
  you promise to tell Charley Moon that I wasn't in Uh huh, very well.
• 2:22:16
  Then here's my history. I was a wide child. I wanted to
• 2:22:22
  see the world go round. My father was a young economics professor at Princeton.
• 2:22:28
  He brought me up on the system of answering every question I asked him
• 2:22:31
  to the best of his ability. My response to that gave him the idea
• 2:22:35
  of making an experiment in precocity to aid in the massacre. I had ear
• 2:22:39
  trouble seven operations between the age of nine and twelve. Of course, this
• 2:22:43
  kept me away from other boys and made me ripe for forcing. Anyway,
• 2:22:48
  while my generation was laboring through Uncle Remus, I was honestly enjoying Catullus in
• 2:22:52
  the original. I passed off my college examinations when I was thirteen because I
• 2:22:58
  couldn't help it. My chief associates were professors, and I took a tremendous
• 2:23:03
  pride in knowing that I had a fine intelligence. For though I was unusually
• 2:23:07
  gifted, I was not abnormal in other ways. When I was sixteen,
• 2:23:11
  I got tired of being a freak. I decided that some one had made
• 2:23:15
  a bad mistake. Still, as I'd gone that far, I concluded to
• 2:23:18
  finish it up by taking my degree of Master of Arts. My chief interest
• 2:23:24
  in life is the study of modern philosophy. I am a realist in the
• 2:23:26
  school of Anton Laurier with Brigsonian trimmings. And I'll be eighteen years old in
• 2:23:31
  two months. That's all. Whew, exclaimed Marsha, that's enough. You
• 2:23:37
  do a neat job with the parts of speech. Satisfied. No, you
• 2:23:45
  haven't kissed me. It's not in my program, demurred Horace. Understand that
• 2:23:50
  I don't pretend to be above physical things. They have their place. But
• 2:23:54
  oh, don't be so darned reasonable. I can't help it. I hate
• 2:24:01
  these slot machine people, I assure you, I began, Horace, Oh,
• 2:24:07
  shut up my my own rationality. I didn't say anything about your nationality.
• 2:24:13
  You're American, aren't you. Yes, well that's okay with me.
• 2:24:18
  I got a notion. I want to see you do something that isn't in
• 2:24:20
  your high brow program. I want to see if what you call him with
• 2:24:24
  Brazilian trimmings. That thing he said you were can be a little human.
• 2:24:30
  Horace shook his head again. I won't kiss you. My life is blighted,
• 2:24:37
  muttered Marsha tragically. I'm a beaten woman. I'll go through life without
• 2:24:41
  ever having a kiss with Brazilian trimmings. She sighed. Anyways, Omar,
• 2:24:46
  will you come and see my show? What show? I'm a wicked actress
• 2:24:50
  from home James Light opera. Yes, at a stretch. One of the
• 2:24:58
  characters is a Brazilian rice platter that might interest you. I saw the bohemian
• 2:25:03
  girl, once, reflected Horace aloud. I enjoyed it to some extent.
• 2:25:09
  Then you'll come, well, I'm I'm oh. I know you've got to
• 2:25:13
  run down to Brazil for the weekend. Not at all. I'd be delighted
• 2:25:16
  to come. Marcia clapped her hands. Good for you. I'll mail you
• 2:25:20
  a ticket Thursday night. Why I good Thursday night it is? She stood
• 2:25:28
  up, and, walking close to him, laid both hands on his shoulders.
• 2:25:33
  I like you, Omar. I'm sorry. I tried to kid you.
• 2:25:35
  I thought you'd be sort of frozen, but you're a nice boy.
• 2:25:41
  He eyed her sardonically. I'm several thousand generations older than you are. Now
• 2:25:46
  you carry your age well. They shook hands gravely. My name's Marcia Meadow,
• 2:25:52
  she said emphatically. Remember it Marcia Meadow, and I won't tell Charley
• 2:25:58
  Moon you were in an instant Later, as she was skimming down the last
• 2:26:03
  flight of stairs three at a time, she heard a voice call over the
• 2:26:07
  upper banister, Oh say. She stopped and looked up, made out a
• 2:26:13
  vague form leaning over oh say, called the prodigy again. Can you hear
• 2:26:18
  me? Here's your connection, Omar. I hope. I haven't given you
• 2:26:22
  the impression that I consider kissing intrinsically irrational impression. Why you didn't even give
• 2:26:30
  me the kiss? Never fret so long? Two doors near her opened curiously
• 2:26:37
  at the sound of a feminine voice. A tentative cough sounded from above.
• 2:26:43
  Gathering her skirts, Marcia dived wildly down the last flight and was swallowed up
• 2:26:48
  in the murky Connecticut air outside. Up stairs, Horace paced the floor of
• 2:26:56
  his study. From time to time he glanced toward Berkeley, waiting there in
• 2:27:00
  suave, dark red respectability, and open book, lying suggestively on his cushions.
• 2:27:05
  And then he found that his circuit of the floor was bringing him each
• 2:27:09
  time nearer to Hume. There was something about Hume that was strangely and inexpressibly
• 2:27:15
  different. The diaphanous form still seemed hovering near, and had Horace sat there,
• 2:27:22
  he would have felt as if he were sitting on a lady's lap.
• 2:27:24
  And though Horace couldn't have named the quality of difference, there was such a
• 2:27:30
  quality, quite intangible to the speculative mind, but real. Nevertheless, Hume
• 2:27:35
  was radiating something that in all the two hundred years of his influence, he
• 2:27:41
  had never radiated before. Hume was radiating Atar of Roses two. On Thursday
• 2:27:50
  night, Horace Tarbox sat in an aisle seat in the fifth row and witnessed
• 2:27:56
  Home James. Oddly enough, he found that he was enjoying himself. The
• 2:28:03
  cynical students near him were annoyed at his audible appreciation of the time honored jokes
• 2:28:07
  in the Hammerstein tradition. But Horace was waiting with anxiety for Marcia Meadow singing
• 2:28:13
  her song about a jazz bound blundering blimp. When she did appear radiant under
• 2:28:20
  a floppity flower faced hat, a warm glow settled over him, and when
• 2:28:24
  the song was over, he did not join in the storm of applause.
• 2:28:28
  He felt somewhat numb. In the intermission after the second act, an usher
• 2:28:33
  materialized beside him, demanded to know if you or mister tarbox, and then
• 2:28:39
  handed him a note written in a round adolescent hand. Horace read it in
• 2:28:43
  some confusion, while the usher lingered with withering patience in the aisle. Dear
• 2:28:50
  Omar, after the show, I always grow an awful hunger. If you
• 2:28:54
  want to satisfy it for me in the taft grill, just communicate your answer
• 2:28:58
  to the big timber guide that brought this and oblige your friend Marcia Meadow.
• 2:29:05
  Tell her, he coughed. Tell her that it will be quite all right.
• 2:29:09
  I'll meet her in front of the theater. The big timber guide smiled
• 2:29:15
  arrogantly. I guess she meant for you to come round to the stage door.
• 2:29:20
  Where is it aside? Turn your left downey alley? What outside?
• 2:29:28
  Turned you left downy alley? The arrogant person withdrew a freshman behind. Horace
• 2:29:35
  snickered. Then, half an hour later, sitting in the taft grill opposite
• 2:29:41
  the hair that was yellow by natural pigment, the prodigy was saying, an
• 2:29:45
  odd thing. Do you have to do that dance in the last act?
• 2:29:48
  He was saying earnestly, I mean, would they dismiss you if you refuse
• 2:29:52
  to do it? Marcia grinned it's fun to do it. I like to
• 2:30:00
  do it, and then Horace came out with a faux pas. I should
• 2:30:05
  think you'd detest it, he remarked succinctly. The people behind me were making
• 2:30:09
  remarks about your bosom. Marsha blushed fiery red. I can't help that,
• 2:30:16
  she said quickly. The dance to me is only a sort of acrobatic stunt.
• 2:30:22
  Lord, it's hard enough to do. I rubbed liniment into my shoulders
• 2:30:24
  for an hour every night. Do you have fun while you're on the stage?
• 2:30:31
  Uh? Huh sure. I got into the habit of having people look
• 2:30:33
  at me, Omar, and I like it. Hm. Horace sank into
• 2:30:37
  a brownish study. How's the Brazilian trimmings? Hm, repeated Horace, And
• 2:30:45
  then after a pause, where does the play go from? Here? In
• 2:30:50
  New York? But for how long? All depends? Winter? Maybe?
• 2:30:56
  Oh? Cut have to lay eyes on me, Omar? Or aren't you
• 2:31:01
  interested? Not as nice? Here? Is it as it? Was up
• 2:31:05
  in your room. I wish we was there now. I feel idiotic in
• 2:31:11
  this place, confessed Horace, looking round him nervously. Too bad. We
• 2:31:16
  got along pretty well at this He looked suddenly, so melancholy that she changed
• 2:31:22
  her tone and reaching over, patted his hand. Ever taken actress out to
• 2:31:26
  supper before no, said Horace miserably, and I never will again. I
• 2:31:33
  don't know why I came to night here, under all these lights and with
• 2:31:37
  all these people laughing and chattering. I feel completely out of my sphere.
• 2:31:41
  I don't know what to talk to you about. We'll talk about me.
• 2:31:46
  We talked about you last time. Very well. Well, my name really
• 2:31:52
  is Meadow, but my first name isn't Marcia, it's Veronica. I'm nineteen.
• 2:31:58
  Question how did the girl make her leap to the footlights? Answer?
• 2:32:03
  She was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and up to a year ago
• 2:32:05
  she got the right to breathe by pushing obiscos in Marcel's tea room in Trenton.
• 2:32:11
  She started going with a guy named Robbins, a singer in the trent
• 2:32:13
  House cabaret, and he got her to try a song and dance with him.
• 2:32:16
  One evening in a month, we were filling the supper room every night.
• 2:32:20
  Then we went to New York with Meet my friend. Letters thick as
• 2:32:22
  a pile of napkins. In two days we'd landed a job at Divanari's,
• 2:32:28
  and I'd learned a shimmy from a kid at the Palais Royal. We stayed
• 2:32:31
  at Divanari's six months until one night Peter Boyce Wendel, the columnist, ate
• 2:32:35
  his milk toast there. Next morning a poem about marvelous Marsha came out in
• 2:32:39
  his newspaper, and within two days I had three vaudeville offers and a chance.
• 2:32:45
  The midnight frolic I wrote Wendell a thank you letter, and he printed
• 2:32:48
  it in his column, said that the style was like Carlyle's, only more
• 2:32:52
  rugged, and that I ought to quit dancing and do North American literature.
• 2:32:58
  That got me a couple more vaudeville offs and a chance, as an honor
• 2:33:01
  to you in a regular show. I took it, and here I am
• 2:33:03
  Omar. When she finished, they sat for a moment in silence, she
• 2:33:09
  draping the last skeins of a Welsh rabbit on her fork, and waiting for
• 2:33:11
  him to speak. Let's get out of here, he said. Suddenly,
• 2:33:18
  Marcia's eyes hardened. What's the idea? Am I making you sick? No?
• 2:33:22
  But I don't like it here. I don't like to be sitting here
• 2:33:26
  with you. Without another word, Marcia signaled for the waiter. What's the
• 2:33:31
  check? She demanded, briskly, my part, the rabbit and the jujer
• 2:33:35
  ail. Horace watched blankly as the waiter figured it. See here, he
• 2:33:41
  began, I intend to pay for yours too. You're my guest. With
• 2:33:46
  a half sigh, Marcia rose from the table and walked from the room.
• 2:33:50
  Horace, his face a document in bewilderment, lay a bill down and followed
• 2:33:54
  her out up the stairs and into the lobby. He overtook her in front
• 2:33:58
  of the elevator and they faced each other. See here, he repeated,
• 2:34:01
  you're my guest. Have I said something to offend you? After an instant
• 2:34:07
  of wonder, Marcia's eyes softened. You're a rude fellow, she said slowly.
• 2:34:13
  Don't you know you're rude? I can't help it, said Horace,
• 2:34:16
  with a directness she found quite disarming. You know I like you. You
• 2:34:22
  said you didn't like being with me. I didn't like it. Why not,
• 2:34:28
  fire blazed suddenly from the gray forests of his eyes. Because I didn't.
• 2:34:33
  I've formed the habit of liking you. I've been thinking of nothing much
• 2:34:37
  else for two days. Well, if you wait a minute, he interrupted,
• 2:34:41
  I've got something to say. It's this. In six weeks, i'll
• 2:34:46
  be eighteen years old. When I'm eighteen years old, I'm coming up to
• 2:34:48
  New York to see you. Is there some place in New York we can
• 2:34:52
  go and not have a lot of people in the room, Sure, smiled
• 2:34:56
  Marcia. You can come up to my partment, sleep on the couch if
• 2:35:01
  you want to. I can't sleep on couches, he said shortly. But
• 2:35:05
  I want to talk to you. Why, Sure, repeated Marcia in my
• 2:35:09
  apartment. In his excitement, Horace put his hands in his pockets. All
• 2:35:15
  right, just so I can see you alone. I just want to talk
• 2:35:18
  to you. As we talked in my room, honey boy, cried Marsha,
• 2:35:22
  laughing. Is it that you want to kiss me? Yes, Horace
• 2:35:26
  almost shouted, I'll kiss you if you want me to. The elevator man
• 2:35:31
  was looking at them reproachfully. Marcia edged toward the grated door I'll drop you
• 2:35:37
  a postcard, she said. Horace's eyes were quite wild. Send me a
• 2:35:41
  postcard. I'll come up any time after January first. I'll be eighteen then,
• 2:35:46
  And as she stepped into the elevator, he coughed enigmatically, yet with
• 2:35:50
  a vague challenge, at the ceiling, and walked quickly away. Three.
• 2:35:58
  He was there again. She saw him when she took her first glance at
• 2:36:03
  the restless Manhattan audience, down in the front row, with his head bent
• 2:36:07
  a bit forward and his gray eyes fixed on her, and she knew that
• 2:36:11
  they were alone together in a world where the high, rouged row of ballet
• 2:36:13
  faces and the masked whines of the violins were as imperceivable as powder on a
• 2:36:18
  marble venus. An instinctive defiance rose within her. Silly boy, she said
• 2:36:26
  to herself hurriedly, and she didn't take her encore. What do they expect
• 2:36:31
  for a hundred a week perpetual motion, she grumbled to herself in the wings,
• 2:36:37
  what's the trouble, Marcia? Guy? Don't like down in front.
• 2:36:43
  During the last act, as she waited for her specialty, she had an
• 2:36:46
  odd attack of stage fright. She had never sent Horace the promised postcard.
• 2:36:52
  Last night, she had pretended not to see him, had hurried from the
• 2:36:56
  theater immediately after her dance to pass a sleepless night in her thinking, as
• 2:37:01
  she had so often in the last month of his pale rather intent face his
• 2:37:05
  slim, boyish figure, the merciless, unworldly abstraction that made him charming to
• 2:37:11
  her. And now that he had come, she felt vaguely sorry, as
• 2:37:16
  though an unwonted responsibility was being forced on her infant prodigy. She said aloud,
• 2:37:24
  what demanded the Negro comedian standing beside her. Nothing, just talking to
• 2:37:28
  myself on the stage. She felt better. This was her dance, and
• 2:37:35
  she always felt that the way she did it wasn't suggestive any more than to
• 2:37:39
  some men every pretty girl is suggestive. She made it a stunt uptown downtown,
• 2:37:46
  jelly on a spoon after sundown's shiver by the moon. He was not
• 2:37:50
  watching her now she saw that clearly. He was looking very deliberately at a
• 2:37:56
  castle on the back drop, wearing that expression he had worn in the taft.
• 2:38:01
  A wave of exasperation swept over her. He was criticizing her. That's
• 2:38:05
  the vibration that thrills me. Funny how affection fills me uptown downtown. Unconquerable
• 2:38:16
  revulsion seized her. She was suddenly and horribly conscious of her audience as she
• 2:38:22
  had never been since her first appearance. Was that a leer on a pallid
• 2:38:26
  face in the front row, A droop of disgust on one young girl's mouth.
• 2:38:33
  These shoulders of hers, these shoulders shaking? Were they hers? Were
• 2:38:37
  they real? Surely shoulders weren't made for this? Then you'll see at a
• 2:38:43
  glance, I'll need some funeral ushers. With Saint Fida's dance at the end
• 2:38:48
  of the World aisle, the basoon and two cellos crashed into a final cord,
• 2:38:54
  she paused and poised a moment on her toes, with every muscle tense,
• 2:38:58
  her young face looking out dully at the audience in what one young girl
• 2:39:01
  afterward called such a curious, puzzled look, and then, without bowing,
• 2:39:07
  rushed from the stage into the dressing room. She sped, kicked out of
• 2:39:11
  one dress and into another, and caught a taxi outside. Her apartment was
• 2:39:16
  very warm, small. It was with a row of professional pictures and sets
• 2:39:22
  of Kipling and o Henry, which she had bought once from a blue eyed
• 2:39:24
  agent and read occasionally. And there were several chairs which matched, but none
• 2:39:30
  of them were comfortable, and a pink shaded lamp with blackbirds painted on it,
• 2:39:33
  and an atmosphere of rather stifled pink throughout. There were nice things in
• 2:39:39
  it, nice things unrelentingly hostile to each other, offsprings of a vicarious,
• 2:39:45
  impatient taste, acting in stray moments. The worst was typified by a great
• 2:39:50
  picture framed in oak bark of passaic, as seen from eerie railroad. Altogether
• 2:39:54
  a frantic, oddly extravagant, oddly penurious attempt to make a cheerful room.
• 2:40:01
  Marcia knew it was a failure. Into this room came the prodigy and took
• 2:40:05
  her two hands awkwardly. I followed you this time, he said. Oh,
• 2:40:13
  I want you to marry me, he said. Her arms went out
• 2:40:18
  to him. She kissed his mouth with a sort of passionate wholesomeness. There,
• 2:40:24
  I love you, he said. She kissed him again, and then,
• 2:40:28
  with a little sigh, flung herself into an armchair and half lay there,
• 2:40:31
  shaken with absurd laughter. Why you infant prodigy, she cried, Very
• 2:40:39
  well, call me that if you want to I once told you I was
• 2:40:41
  ten thousand years older than you. I am, she laughed. Again.
• 2:40:48
  I don't like to be disapproved of. No one's ever going to disapprove of
• 2:40:52
  you again, Omar, she asked, why do you want to marry me?
• 2:40:58
  The Prodigy rose and put his hands in his pockets. Because I love
• 2:41:03
  you, Marcia mettaw and then she stopped calling him Omar. Dear boy,
• 2:41:09
  She said, you know, I sort of love you. There's something about
• 2:41:13
  you. I can't tell what that just puts my heart through the ringer every
• 2:41:18
  time I'm round you. But honey, she paused, but what but lots
• 2:41:26
  of things. But you're only just eighteen and I'm nearly twenty. Nonsense,
• 2:41:31
  he interrupted. Put it this way that I'm in my nineteenth year and you're
• 2:41:35
  nineteen. That makes us pretty close, without counting that other ten thousand years
• 2:41:41
  I mentioned. Marcia laughed. But there are some more butts. Your people,
• 2:41:50
  my people, exclaimed the Prodigy ferociously. My people tried to make a
• 2:41:54
  monstrosity out of me. His face grew quite crimson at the enormity of what
• 2:41:58
  he was going to say. My people can go way back and sit down.
• 2:42:05
  My heavens cried Marcia in alarm. All that on tax I suppose tax?
• 2:42:11
  Yes, he agreed wildly on anything. The more I think of how
• 2:42:15
  they allowed me to become a little dried up mummy. What makes you think
• 2:42:18
  you're that, asked Marcia quietly. Me yes, every person I've met on
• 2:42:26
  the streets since I met Hugh has made me jealous because they knew what love
• 2:42:30
  was before I did. I used to call it the sex impulse. Heavens,
• 2:42:35
  there's more butts, said Marcia. What are they? Ah? How
• 2:42:41
  could we live? I'll make a living. You're in college. Do you
• 2:42:48
  think I care anything about taking a Master of Arts degree? You want to
• 2:42:54
  be master of me? Eh? Yes, what I mean? No,
• 2:43:00
  Marcia laughed, and, crossing swiftly over, sat in his lap. He
• 2:43:03
  put his arm round her wildly and implanted the vestige of a kiss somewhere near
• 2:43:07
  her neck. There's something white about you, mused Marcia. But it doesn't
• 2:43:13
  sound very logical. Oh, don't be so darned reasonable. I can't help
• 2:43:20
  it, said Marcia. I hate these slot machine people. But we oh,
• 2:43:26
  shut up, And as Marcia couldn't talk through her ears, she had
• 2:43:33
  to four. Horace and Marcia were married early in February. The sensation in
• 2:43:41
  academic circles, both at Yale and Princeton was tremendous. Horace Tarbox, who
• 2:43:46
  at fourteen had been played up in the Sunday magazine sections of Metropolitan newspapers,
• 2:43:52
  was throwing over his career his chance of being a world authority on American philosophy
• 2:43:56
  by marrying a chorus girl. They made Marsha a chorus girl, but like
• 2:44:01
  all modern stories, it was a four and a half day wonder. They
• 2:44:05
  took a flat in Harlem. After two weeks search, during which his idea
• 2:44:11
  of the value of academic knowledge faded. Unmercifully, Horace took a position as
• 2:44:16
  a clerk with the South American Export Company. Some one had told him that
• 2:44:20
  exporting was the coming thing. Marcia was to stay in her show for a
• 2:44:24
  few months anyway, until he got on his feet. He was getting a
• 2:44:28
  hundred and twenty five to start with, and though of course they told him
• 2:44:31
  it was only a question of months until he would be earning double that,
• 2:44:35
  Marcia refused even to consider giving up the hundred and fifty a week that she
• 2:44:39
  was getting at the time. We'll call ourselves head and shoulders dear, she
• 2:44:43
  said softly, And the shoulders will have to keep shaking a little longer until
• 2:44:48
  the old head gets started. I hate it, he objected gloomily. Well,
• 2:44:54
  she replied emphatically. Your salary wouldn't keep us in a tenement, don't
• 2:44:58
  they. I want to be public, I don't. I want to be
• 2:45:01
  yours. But i'd be a half wit to sit in one room and count
• 2:45:05
  the sunflowers on the wallpaper while I waited for you. When you pull down
• 2:45:09
  three hundred a month, I'll quit. And much as it hurt his pride,
• 2:45:15
  Horace had to admit that hers was the wiser course. March mellowed into
• 2:45:20
  April. May read a gorgeous ride act to the parks and waters of Manhattan,
• 2:45:26
  and they were very happy. Horace, who had no habits whatsoever he
• 2:45:31
  had never had time to form any, proved the most adaptable of husbands,
• 2:45:35
  and as Marcia entirely lacked opinions on the subjects that engrossed him, there were
• 2:45:41
  very few jottings and bumpings. Their minds moved in different spheres. Marcia acted
• 2:45:48
  as practical factotum, and Horace lived either in his old world of abstract ideas
• 2:45:52
  or in a sort of triumphantly earthy worship and adoration of his wife. She
• 2:45:58
  was a continual source of astonishment to him, the freshness and originality of her
• 2:46:03
  mind, her dynamic, clear headed energy, and her unfailing good humor.
• 2:46:09
  And Marcia's co workers in the nine o'clock Show, whither she had transferred her
• 2:46:13
  talents, were impressed with her tremendous pride in her husband's mental powers. Horace,
• 2:46:18
  they knew only as a very slim, tight lipped, and immature looking
• 2:46:22
  young man who waited every night to take her home. Horace, said Marcia
• 2:46:28
  one evening when she met him as usual at eleven. You looked like a
• 2:46:33
  ghost standing there against the street lights. You losing weight? He shook his
• 2:46:37
  head vaguely. I don't know. They raised me to a hundred and thirty
• 2:46:41
  five dollars to day, and I don't care, said Marcia severely. You're
• 2:46:46
  killing yourself working at night. You read those big books on economy economics,
• 2:46:52
  corrected Horace. Well, you read em every night, long after I'm asleep,
• 2:46:56
  and you're getting all stooped over like you were before we were married.
• 2:47:00
  But Marcia, I've got to no, you haven't, Dear, I guess
• 2:47:03
  I'm running this shop for the present, and I won't let my fellow ruin
• 2:47:07
  his health and eyes. You got to get some exercise I do every morning.
• 2:47:13
  I oh, I know, but those dumb bells of yours wouldn't give
• 2:47:16
  a consumptive two degrees of fever. I mean real exercise. You've got to
• 2:47:20
  join a gymnasium. Remember you told me you were such a trick gymnast once
• 2:47:26
  that they tried to get you out for the team in college, and they
• 2:47:28
  couldn't because you had a standing date with Herb Spencer. I used to enjoy
• 2:47:33
  it, mused Horace, but it would take up too much time. Now,
• 2:47:37
  all right, said Marcia. I'll make a bargain with you. You
• 2:47:39
  join a jim and I'll read one of those books from the brown row of
• 2:47:43
  em Peep's diary. Why that ought to be enjoyable? He's very light.
• 2:47:50
  Not for me, he isn't. It'll be like digesting plate glass. But
• 2:47:54
  you've been telling me how much it'll broaden my outlook. Well, you go
• 2:47:56
  to a gym three nights a week, and I'll take one big dose of
• 2:48:00
  sammy. Horace hesitated. Well, come on, now, you do some
• 2:48:07
  giant swings for me, and I'll chase some culture for you. So Horace
• 2:48:13
  finally consented, and all through a baking summer he spent three and sometimes four
• 2:48:18
  evenings a week experimenting on the trapeze in Skipper's gymnasium, and in August he
• 2:48:22
  admitted to Marcia that it made him capable of more mental work during the day
• 2:48:28
  mens sana incorpre sano, he said. Don't believe it, replied Marcia.
• 2:48:33
  I tried one of those patent medicines once and they are all bunk. You
• 2:48:37
  stick to gymnastics. One night in early September, while he was going through
• 2:48:43
  one of his contortions on the rings in the nearly deserted room, he was
• 2:48:46
  addressed by a meditative fat man whom he had noticed watching him for several nights.
• 2:48:52
  Say, lad, do that stunt you were doing last night? Horace
• 2:48:58
  grinned at him from his perch. I invented it, he said, I
• 2:49:01
  got the idea from the fourth proposition of euclid. What circus he with?
• 2:49:07
  He's dead? Well, he must have broke his neck. Doin that stunt?
• 2:49:11
  I said your last night, thinking sure he was going to break yours
• 2:49:16
  like this, said Horace, and swinging on to the trapeze, he did
• 2:49:20
  his stunt. Don't it kill your neck and shoulder muscles? It did at
• 2:49:26
  first, but inside of a week, I wrote the quad araus demonstrant him
• 2:49:28
  on it. Hum Horace swung idly on the trapeze. Ever think of taking
• 2:49:37
  it up? Professionally, asked the fat man. Not I good money in
• 2:49:43
  it if you're willing to do stunts like that and can get away with it.
• 2:49:46
  Here's another, chirped Horace eagerly, and the fat Man's mouth dropped suddenly
• 2:49:52
  agape as he watched this pink jerseyed Prometheus again defy the gods and Isaac Newton.
• 2:50:00
  The night following this encounter, Horace got home from work to find a
• 2:50:03
  rather pale Marcia stretched out on the sofa waiting for him. I fainted twice
• 2:50:09
  to day. She began, without preliminaries, what yep, you see babies
• 2:50:16
  do in four months now? Doctor says, I ought to quit dancing two
• 2:50:18
  weeks ago. Horace sat down and thought it over. I'm glad, of
• 2:50:24
  course, he said, pensively. I mean glad that we're going to have
• 2:50:28
  a baby. But this means a lot of expense. I've got two hundred
• 2:50:33
  and fifty in the bank, said Marcia hopefully, and two weeks pay coming.
• 2:50:39
  Horace computed quickly, including my salary, that'll give us nearly fourteen hundred
• 2:50:43
  for the next six months. Marcia looked blue. That all course, I
• 2:50:50
  can get a job singing somewhere this month, and I can go to work
• 2:50:52
  again in March. Of course, nothing, said Horace gruffly. You'll stay
• 2:50:58
  right here. Let's see now there'll be doctor's bills and a nurse besides the
• 2:51:03
  maid. We've got to have some more money, well, said Marsha wearily.
• 2:51:09
  I don't know where it's coming from. It's up to the old head.
• 2:51:11
  Now, shoulders is out of business. Horace rose and pulled on his
• 2:51:18
  coat. Where are you going, I've got an idea, he answered,
• 2:51:22
  I'll be right back. Ten minutes later, as he headed down the street
• 2:51:26
  towards Skipper's gymnasium, he felt a placid wonder, quite unmixed with humor at
• 2:51:33
  what he was going to do. How he would have gaped at himself a
• 2:51:37
  year before, how every one would have gaped. But when you opened your
• 2:51:41
  door at the rap of life, you let in many things. The gymnasium
• 2:51:46
  was brightly lit, and when his eyes became accustomed to the glare, he
• 2:51:50
  found the meditative fat Man seated on a pile of canvas mats, smoking a
• 2:51:54
  big cigar, Say, began Horace directly. Were you an ernest last night
• 2:52:00
  when he said I could make money on my trapeze stunts? Why? Yes,
• 2:52:05
  said the fat Man in surprise. Well, I've been thinking over and
• 2:52:09
  I believe i'd like to try it. I could work at night and on
• 2:52:13
  Saturday afternoons, and regularly if the pay is high enough. The Fat Man
• 2:52:20
  looked at his watch. Well, he said, Charlie Paulson's the man to
• 2:52:24
  see. He'll book you inside of four days once he sees you work out.
• 2:52:28
  He won't be in now, but I'll get hold of him for tomorrow
• 2:52:31
  night. The Fat Man was as good as his word. Charlie Paulson arrived
• 2:52:37
  next night and put in a wondrous hour watching the Prodigy swoop through the air
• 2:52:41
  in amazing parabolas, And on the night following he brought two large men with
• 2:52:46
  him who looked as though they had been born, smoking black cigars and talking
• 2:52:48
  about money in low passionate voices. Then on the Succeeding Saturday, Horace Tarbox's
• 2:52:54
  Torso made its first professional appearance in a gymnastic exhibition at the Coleman's Gardens.
• 2:53:01
  But though the audience numbered nearly five thousand people, Horace felt no nervousness.
• 2:53:07
  From his childhood, he had read papers to audiences, learned that trick of
• 2:53:11
  detaching himself. Marcia, he said cheerfully. Later that night, I think
• 2:53:16
  we're out of the woods. Paulson thinks he can get me an opening at
• 2:53:20
  the Hippodrome, and that means an all winter engagement. The Hippodrum, you
• 2:53:24
  know, is a big Yes, I believe I've heard of it, interrupted
• 2:53:28
  Marcia. But I want to know about this stunt you're doing. It isn't
• 2:53:31
  any spectacular suicide, is it. It's nothing, said Horace quietly. But
• 2:53:37
  if you could think of any nicer way of a man killing himself than taking
• 2:53:41
  a risk for you, why that's the way I want to die. Marsha
• 2:53:46
  reached up and wound both arms tightly round his neck. Kiss me, she
• 2:53:52
  whispered, And call me dear heart. I love to hear you say,
• 2:53:54
  dear heart. And bring me a book to read tomorrow. No more,
• 2:53:58
  Sam peeps, but something trick and trashy. I've been wild for something to
• 2:54:03
  do all day. I felt like writing letters, but I didn't have anybody
• 2:54:07
  to write. To write to me, said Horace. I'll read them.
• 2:54:11
  I wish I could breathed, Marcia. If I knew words enough, I
• 2:54:13
  could write you the longest love letter in the world and never get tired.
• 2:54:18
  But after two more months Marcia grew very tired, indeed, and for a
• 2:54:22
  row of nights it was a very anxious, weary looking young athlete who walked
• 2:54:26
  out before the hippodrome crowd. Then there were two days when his place was
• 2:54:31
  taken by a young man who wore pale blue instead of white, and got
• 2:54:35
  very little applause. But after the two days, Horace appeared again, and
• 2:54:39
  those who sat close to the stage remarked an expression of beatific happiness on that
• 2:54:45
  young acrobat's face, even when he was twisting breathlessly in the air in the
• 2:54:48
  middle of his amazing and original shoulder swing. After that performance, he laughed
• 2:54:54
  at the elevator man and dashed up the stairs to the flat five steps at
• 2:54:56
  a time, and then tiptoed very carefully into the quiet room. Marcia he
• 2:55:03
  whispered, hullo. She smiled up at him warmly. Horace, there's something
• 2:55:09
  I want you to do. Look at my top bureau drawer and you'll find
• 2:55:13
  a big stack of paper. It's a book, sort of, Horace.
• 2:55:18
  I wrote it down in these last three months, while I've been laid up.
• 2:55:22
  I wish you'd take it to that Peter Boyce Wendell who put my letter
• 2:55:26
  in his paper. He could tell you whether it'd be a good book.
• 2:55:30
  I wrote it just the way I talk, just the way I wrote that
• 2:55:33
  letter to him. It's just a story about a lot of things that happened
• 2:55:35
  to me. Will you take it to him? Horace? Yes, darling.
• 2:55:41
  He leaned over on the bed till his head was beside her on the
• 2:55:43
  pillow, and began stroking back her yellow hair. Dearest Marcia, he said
• 2:55:50
  softly. No. She murmured, call me what I told you to call
• 2:55:54
  me, dear heart, He whispered, passionately, dearest, dear restart,
• 2:56:01
  what do we call her? They rested a minute in happy, drowsy content,
• 2:56:07
  while Horace considered, we'll call her Marcia Hume tarbox. He said at
• 2:56:13
  length, Why the hume, because he's the fellow who first introduced us.
• 2:56:20
  That's so, she murmured, sleepily, surprised, I thought his name was
• 2:56:26
  Moon. Her eyes closed, and after a moment, the slow lengthening surge
• 2:56:31
  of the bedclothes over her breast showed that she was asleep. Horace tiptoed to
• 2:56:37
  the bureau, and opening the top drawer, found a heap of closely scrawled,
• 2:56:41
  lad smeared pages. He looked at the first sheet, Sandra Peeps syncopated
• 2:56:48
  by Marcia Tarbox. He smiled, so Samuel Peeps had made an impression on
• 2:56:56
  her, after all. He turned a page and began to read. His
• 2:57:00
  smile deepened. He read on. Half an hour passed, and he became
• 2:57:05
  aware that Marcia had waked and was watching him from the bed. Honey came
• 2:57:09
  in a whisper, What Marcia, do you like it? Horace coughed.
• 2:57:18
  I seem to be reading on. It's bright. Take it to Peter Boyce
• 2:57:22
  Wendell. Tell him you've got the highest marks in Princeton once, and that
• 2:57:26
  you ought to know when a book's good. Tell him this one's a world
• 2:57:28
  beater, all right, Marcia said Horace gently. Her eyes closed again,
• 2:57:35
  and Horace, crossing over kissed her forehead, stood there for a moment with
• 2:57:41
  a look of tender pity. Then he left the room. All that night,
• 2:57:48
  the scrawly writing on the pages, the constant mistakes in spelling and grammar,
• 2:57:52
  and the weird punctuation danced before his eyes. He woke several times in
• 2:57:56
  the night, each time full of a welling, chaotic sympathy for this desire
• 2:58:01
  of Marcia's soul to express itself in words. To him, there was something
• 2:58:05
  infinitely pathetic about it, and for the first time in months, he began
• 2:58:09
  to turn over in his mind his own half forgotten dreams. He had meant
• 2:58:15
  to write a series of books to popularize the new realism, as Schopenhauer had
• 2:58:18
  popularized pessimism and William James's pragmatism. But life hadn't come that way. Life
• 2:58:26
  took hold of people and forced them into flying rings. He laughed to think
• 2:58:31
  of that rap at his door, the diaphanous shadow in hume, Marcia's threatened
• 2:58:37
  kiss, and it's still me, he said aloud in wonder as he lay
• 2:58:41
  awake in the darkness. I'm the man who sat in Berkley with temerity to
• 2:58:46
  wonder if that rap would have had actual existence had my ear not been there
• 2:58:50
  to hear it. I'm still that man. I could be electrocuted for the
• 2:58:54
  crimes he committed, Poor gauzy souls trying to express ourselves in something tangible,
• 2:59:01
  Marcia with her written book, I with my unwritten ones, trying to choose
• 2:59:05
  our mediums and then taking what we get and being glad. Five Sandra Peeps
• 2:59:15
  syncopated with an introduction by Peter Boyce Wendell. The columnist appeared serially in Jordan's
• 2:59:20
  magazine and came out in book form in March. From its first published installment,
• 2:59:26
  it attracted attention far and wide. I tried enough subject a girl from
• 2:59:31
  a small New Jersey town coming to New York to go on the stage.
• 2:59:35
  Treated simply with a peculiar vividness of phrasing and a haunting undertone of sadness in
• 2:59:39
  the very inadequacy of its vocabulary, it made an irresistible appeal. Peter Boyce
• 2:59:48
  Wendell, who happened at that time to be advocating the enrichment of the American
• 2:59:52
  language by the immediate adoption of expressive vernacular words, stood as its sponsor and
• 2:59:56
  thundered his endorsement over the placid bromide the conventional reviewers. Marsha received three hundred
• 3:00:03
  dollars an installment for the serial publication, which came at an opportune time.
• 3:00:09
  For though Horace's monthly salary at the Hippodrome was now more than Marsha's had ever
• 3:00:13
  been, young, Marcia was emitting shrill cries, which they interpreted as a
• 3:00:18
  demand for country air. So early April found them installed in a bungalow in
• 3:00:24
  Westchester County, with a place for a lawn, a place for a garage,
• 3:00:28
  and a place for everything, including a sound proof, impregnable study,
• 3:00:31
  in which Marcia faithfully promised mister Jordan she would shut herself up when her daughter's
• 3:00:37
  demands began to be abated, and compose immortally illiterate literature. It's not half
• 3:00:43
  bad, thought Horace one night, as he was on his way from the
• 3:00:46
  station to his house. He was considering several odd prospects that had opened up
• 3:00:52
  a four months Vaudeville offer in five figures a chance to go back to Princeton
• 3:00:58
  in charge of all gymnasium works. Odd he had once intended to go back
• 3:01:03
  there in charge of all philosophic work. And now he had not even been
• 3:01:07
  stirred by the arrival in New York of Anton Laurier, his old idol.
• 3:01:13
  The gravel crunched raucously under his heel. He saw the lights of his sitting
• 3:01:18
  room gleaming, and noticed a big car standing in the drive, probably mister
• 3:01:22
  Jordan, again come to persuade Marcia to settle down to work. She had
• 3:01:28
  heard the sound of his approach, and her form was silhouetted against the lighted
• 3:01:33
  door as she came out to meet him. There's some frenchman here, she
• 3:01:37
  whispered nervously. I can't pronounce his name, but he sounds awful deep.
• 3:01:41
  You ought to jaw with him. What a Frenchman. You can't prove it
• 3:01:46
  by me. He drove up an hour ago with mister Jordan and said he
• 3:01:50
  wanted to meet Sandra peeps and all that sort of thing. Two men rose
• 3:01:56
  from chairs as they went inside Hullo. Tarbox said Jordan, I've just been
• 3:02:01
  bringing together two celebrities. I've brought Monsieur Laurier out with me. Monsieur Laurier,
• 3:02:05
  let me present mister Tarbox, missus. Tarbox's husband not on tone Laurier
• 3:02:13
  exclaimed Horace. But yes, I must come. I have to come.
• 3:02:18
  I have read the book of Madame and I have been charmed. He fumbled
• 3:02:22
  in his pocket. Ah, I have read of you too, in this
• 3:02:26
  newspaper which I read to day. It has your name. He finally produced
• 3:02:31
  a clipping from a magazine. Read it, he said, eagerly. It
• 3:02:35
  has about you too. Horace's eye skipped down the page. A distinct contribution
• 3:02:41
  to American dialect literature, it said, no attempt at literary tone. The
• 3:02:46
  book derives its very quality from this fact, as did Huckleberry Finn. Horace's
• 3:02:52
  eyes caught a passage lower down. He became suddenly aghast, read on hurriedly.
• 3:03:00
  Marcia Tarbox's connection with the stage is not only as a spectator, but
• 3:03:05
  as the wife of a performer. She was married last year to Horace Tarbox,
• 3:03:09
  who every evening delights the children at the Hippodrome with his wondrous flying ring
• 3:03:15
  performance. It is said that the young couple have dubbed themselves head and shoulders,
• 3:03:20
  referring doubtless to the fact that missus Tarbox supplies the literary and mental qualities,
• 3:03:26
  while the supple and agile shoulders of her husband contribute their share to the
• 3:03:31
  family fortunes. Missus Tarbox seems to merit that much abused title prodigy only twenty
• 3:03:39
  Horace stopped reading, and, with a very odd expression in his eyes,
• 3:03:43
  gazed intently at Nton Laurier. I want to advise you, he began,
• 3:03:48
  hoarsely, What about wraps. Don't answer them, let them alone have a
• 3:03:56
  padded door. The cut glass bowl one. There was a rough stone age,
• 3:04:07
  and a smooth stone age, and a bronze age, and many years
• 3:04:11
  afterward a cut glass age. In the cut glass age, when young ladies
• 3:04:18
  had persuaded young men with long curly mustaches to marry them, they sat down
• 3:04:22
  several months afterward and wrote thank you notes for all sorts of cut glass presents,
• 3:04:26
  punch bowls, finger bowls, dinner glasses, wine glasses, ice cream
• 3:04:33
  dishes, bonbon dishes, decanters, and vases for Though cut glass was nothing
• 3:04:39
  new in the nineties, it was then especially busy, reflecting the dazzling light
• 3:04:43
  of fashion from the back Bay to the fastnesses of the Middle West. After
• 3:04:50
  the wedding, the punch bowls were arranged in the sideboard, with the big
• 3:04:52
  bowl in the center. The glasses were set up in the china closet,
• 3:04:56
  the candlesticks were put at both ends of things, and then the struggle for
• 3:05:01
  existence began. The bonbon dish lost its little handle and became a pin tray.
• 3:05:07
  Upstairs, a promenading cat knocked the little bowl off the sideboard, and
• 3:05:11
  the hired girl chipped the middle sized one with the sugar dish, and even
• 3:05:16
  the dinner glasses disappeared one by one like the ten little niggers, the last
• 3:05:20
  one ending up scarred and maimed as a toothbrush holder among other shabby genteels on
• 3:05:26
  the bathroom shelf. But by the time all this had happened, the cut
• 3:05:30
  glass age was over anyway. It was well past its first glory. On
• 3:05:35
  the day the curious Missus Roger Ferbolt came to see the beautiful Missus Harold Piper,
• 3:05:41
  My dear, said the curious Missus Roger Faibold. I love your house.
• 3:05:46
  I think it's quite artistic. I'm so glad, said the beautiful Missus
• 3:05:52
  Harold Piper, lights appearing in her young dark eyes. And you must come
• 3:05:56
  often. I'm almost always al in the afternoon. Missus fair Bold would have
• 3:06:03
  liked to remark that she didn't believe this at all and couldn't see how she'd
• 3:06:05
  be expected to. It was all over town that mister Freddy Gedney had been
• 3:06:09
  dropping in on Missus Piper five afternoons a week for the past six months.
• 3:06:15
  Missus Fairbold was at that ripe age where she distrusted all beautiful women. I
• 3:06:20
  love the dining room most, she said, all that marvelous china and that
• 3:06:24
  huge cut glass bowl. Missus Piper laughed so prettily that Missus Fairbolt's lingering reservations
• 3:06:33
  about the Freddy Gedney story quite vanished. Oh that big bowl, Missus Piper's
• 3:06:39
  mouth forming the words was a vivid rose petal. There's a story about that
• 3:06:43
  bowl. Oh you remember young Carlton Canby. Well, he was very attentive
• 3:06:52
  at one time. And the night I told him I was going to marry
• 3:06:54
  Harold seven years ago in ninety two, he drew himself away up and said,
• 3:07:01
  Evelyn, I'm going to give you a present that's as hard as you
• 3:07:03
  are, and as beautiful, and as empty and as easy to see through.
• 3:07:09
  He frightened me a little. His eyes were so black I thought he
• 3:07:11
  was going to deed me a haunted house or something that would explode when you
• 3:07:15
  opened it. That bowl came, and of course it's beautiful. It's diameter
• 3:07:20
  or circumference or something as two and a half feet, or perhaps it's three
• 3:07:24
  and a half. Anyway, the sideboard is really too small for it.
• 3:07:28
  It sticks way out, My dear, wasn't that odd? And he left
• 3:07:33
  town about then, didn't he? Missus Fairbolt was scribbling italicized notes on her
• 3:07:39
  memory. Hard, beautiful, empty, and easy to see through. Yes
• 3:07:46
  he went west or south or somewhere, answered Missus Piper, radiating that divine
• 3:07:52
  vagueness that helps to lift beauty out of time. Missus Fairbolt drew on her
• 3:07:58
  gloves, approving the effect of largeness given by the open sweep from the spacious
• 3:08:03
  music room through the library, disclosing a part of the dining room beyond.
• 3:08:07
  It was really the nicest smaller house in town, and Missus Piper had talked
• 3:08:11
  of moving to a larger one on Devereux Avenue. Harold Piper must be coining
• 3:08:16
  money. As she turned into the sidewalk under the gathering autumn dusk, she
• 3:08:22
  assumed that disapproving faintly unpleasant expression that almost all successful women of forty were on
• 3:08:28
  the street. If I were Harold Piper, she thought, I'd spend a
• 3:08:33
  little less time on business and a little more time at home. Some friend
• 3:08:39
  should speak to him. But if Missus Fairbolt had considered it a successful afternoon,
• 3:08:45
  she would have named it a triumph had she waited two minutes longer,
• 3:08:48
  For while she was still a black receding figure. A hundred yards down the
• 3:08:52
  street, a very good looking, distraught young man turned up the walk to
• 3:08:58
  the Piper house. Missus Piper answered the door bell herself, and with a
• 3:09:03
  rather dismayed expression, led him quickly into the library. I had to see
• 3:09:09
  you, he began wildly. You don't played the devil with me? Did
• 3:09:11
  Harold frighten you into this? She shook her head. I'm through, Fred,
• 3:09:18
  she said slowly, and her lips had never looked to him so much
• 3:09:22
  like tearings from a rose. He came home last night sick with it.
• 3:09:28
  Jesse Piper's sense of duty was too much for her, so she went down
• 3:09:31
  to his office and told him he was hurt. And oh, I can't
• 3:09:35
  help seeing it this way, Fred, He says, we've been club gossip
• 3:09:39
  all summer, and he didn't know it, and now he understands snatches of
• 3:09:43
  conversation. He's caught and veiled hints people have dropped about me. He's mighty
• 3:09:48
  angry, Fred, and he loves me, and I love him rather.
• 3:09:54
  Gedney nodded slowly and half closed his eyes. Yes, he said, Yes,
• 3:10:01
  My trouble's like yours. I can see other people's points of view too.
• 3:10:05
  Plainly, his gray eyes met her dark ones. Frankly, the blessed
• 3:10:11
  thing's over, My god, Evelyn, I've been sitting down at the office
• 3:10:15
  all day, looking at the outside of your letter, and looking at it
• 3:10:18
  and looking at it. You've got to go, Fred, she said steadily,
• 3:10:22
  and the slight emphasis of hurry in her voice was a new thrust for
• 3:10:26
  him. I gave him my word of honor. I wouldn't see you.
• 3:10:30
  I know just how far I can go with Harold, and being here with
• 3:10:33
  you this evening is one of the things I can't do. They were still
• 3:10:37
  standing, and as she spoke, she made a little movement toward the door.
• 3:10:41
  Gedney looked at her, miserably, trying here at the end to treasure
• 3:10:46
  up a last picture of her, And then suddenly both of them were stiffened
• 3:10:50
  into marble at the sound of steps on the walk outside. Instantly, her
• 3:10:56
  arm reached out, grasping the lapel of his coat. Half urged, half
• 3:11:00
  swung him through the big door into the dark dining room. I'll make him
• 3:11:03
  go upstairs, she whispered, close to his ear. Don't move till you
• 3:11:09
  hear him on the stairs, then go out the front way. Then he
• 3:11:13
  was alone, listening as she greeted her husband in the hall. Harold Piper
• 3:11:18
  was thirty six, nine years older than his wife. He was handsome,
• 3:11:22
  with marginal notes, these being eyes that were too close together, and a
• 3:11:26
  certain woodenness when his face was in repose. His attitude toward this Getney matter
• 3:11:33
  was typical of all his attitudes. He had told Evelyn that he considered the
• 3:11:37
  subject closed and would never reproach her nor allude to it in any form,
• 3:11:41
  And he told himself that this was rather a big way of looking at it.
• 3:11:46
  That she was not a little impressed. Yet, like all men who
• 3:11:50
  are preoccupied with their own broadness, he was exceptionally narrow. He greeted Evelyn
• 3:11:56
  with emphasized cordiality. This evening, you'll have to hurry and dress Harold,
• 3:12:01
  she said, eagerly. We're going to the Bronsen's. He nodded, it
• 3:12:05
  doesn't take me long to dress, dear, and his words trailing off,
• 3:12:09
  he walked on into the library. Evelyn's heart clattered loudly, Harold. She
• 3:12:18
  began with a little catch in her voice, and followed him in. He
• 3:12:22
  was lighting a cigarette. You'll have to hurry, Harold, she finished,
• 3:12:26
  standing in the doorway. Why, he asked the trifle impatiently. You're not
• 3:12:33
  dressed yourself yet, Evie. He stretched out in a Morris chair and unfolded
• 3:12:37
  a newspaper with a sinking sensation. Evelyn saw that this meant at least ten
• 3:12:43
  minutes, and Gedney was standing breathless in the next room. Supposing Harold decided
• 3:12:48
  that before he went upstairs, he wanted a drink from the decanter on the
• 3:12:52
  sideboard. Then it occurred to her to forestall this contingency by bringing him the
• 3:12:56
  decanter and a glass. She dreaded pulling his attention to the dining room in
• 3:13:01
  any way, but she couldn't risk the other chance. But at the same
• 3:13:05
  moment, Harold rose and, throwing his paper down, came toward her.
• 3:13:11
  Evie, Dear, He said, bending and putting his arms about her.
• 3:13:15
  I hope you're not thinking about last night. She moved close to him,
• 3:13:20
  trembling. I know, he continued, it was just an imprudent friendship on
• 3:13:24
  your part. We all make mistakes. Evelyn hardly heard him. She was
• 3:13:30
  wondering if by sheer clinging to him, she could draw him out and up
• 3:13:33
  the stairs. She thought of playing sick, asking to be carried up.
• 3:13:37
  Unfortunately, she knew he would lay her on the couch and bring her whiskey.
• 3:13:41
  Suddenly, her nervous tension moved up a last impossible notch. She had
• 3:13:46
  heard a very faint but quite unmistakable creak from the floor of the dining room.
• 3:13:52
  Fred was trying to get out the back way. Then her heart took
• 3:13:56
  a flying leap as a hollow, ringing note like a gall echoed and re
• 3:14:01
  echoed through the house. Gedney's arm had struck the big cut glass bowl.
• 3:14:07
  What's that, cried Harold, Who's there? She clung to him, but
• 3:14:13
  he broke away, and the room seemed to crash about her ears. She
• 3:14:16
  heard the pantry door swing open, a scuffle, the rattle of a tin
• 3:14:20
  pan, and in wild despair, she rushed into the kitchen and pulled up
• 3:14:24
  the gas. Her husband's arm slowly unwound from Gedney's neck, and he stood
• 3:14:31
  there very still, first in amazement, then with pain dawning in his face.
• 3:14:37
  My golly, he said, in bewilderment, and then repeated, my
• 3:14:43
  golly. He turned as if to jump again at Gedney stopped. His muscles
• 3:14:48
  visibly relaxed, and he gave a bitter little laugh. You people, you
• 3:14:54
  people. Evelyn's arms were around him, and her eyes were pleading with him
• 3:15:00
  frantically, but he pushed her away and sank, dazed into a kitchen chair,
• 3:15:05
  his face like porcelain. You've been doing things to me, Evelyn.
• 3:15:09
  Why you little devil, You little devil. She had never felt so sorry
• 3:15:16
  for him, she had never loved him so much. It wasn't her fault,
• 3:15:22
  said Gedney, rather humbly. I just came. But Piper shook his
• 3:15:28
  head, and his expression when he started up was as if some physical accident
• 3:15:33
  had jarred his mind into a temporary inability to function. His eyes grown suddenly
• 3:15:39
  pitiful. Struck a deep, unsounded chord in Evelyn, and simultaneously a furious
• 3:15:46
  anger surged in her. She felt her eyelids burning, She stamped her foot
• 3:15:52
  violently, her hands scurried nervously over the table, as if searching for a
• 3:15:56
  weapon, and then she flung herself wildly at Gedney. Get out. She
• 3:16:01
  screamed, dark eyes blazing, little fists beating helplessly on his outstretched arm.
• 3:16:07
  You did this. Get out of here, Get out, Get out,
• 3:16:11
  Get out. Two. Concerning missus Harold Piper, at thirty five, opinion
• 3:16:22
  was divided. Women said she was still handsome, men said she was pretty
• 3:16:26
  no longer, and this was probably because the qualities in her beauty that women
• 3:16:31
  had feared and men had followed had vanished. Her eyes were still as large
• 3:16:37
  and as dark and as sad, but the mystery had departed. Their sadness
• 3:16:43
  was no longer eternal, only human, and she had developed a habit when
• 3:16:48
  she was startled or annoyed of twitching her brows together and blinking several times.
• 3:16:54
  Her mouth also had lost The red had receded, and the faint downturning of
• 3:16:58
  its corners when she smiled that had added to the sadness of the eyes and
• 3:17:03
  been vaguely mocking and beautiful was quite gone when she smiled. Now the corners
• 3:17:09
  of her lips turned up. Back in the days when she had reveled in
• 3:17:13
  her own beauty, Evelyn had enjoyed that smile of hers. She had accentuated
• 3:17:18
  it. When she stopped accentuating it, it faded out, and the last
• 3:17:24
  of her mystery with it. Evelyn had ceased accentuating her smile within a month
• 3:17:30
  after the Freddy Gedney affair. Eventually, things had gone on very much as
• 3:17:35
  they had before. But in those few minutes during which she had discovered how
• 3:17:39
  much she loved her husband, Evelyn had realized how indelibly she had heard him.
• 3:17:45
  For a month, she struggled against aching silences, wild reproaches and accusations.
• 3:17:50
  She pled with him, made quiet, pitiful little love to him,
• 3:17:56
  and he laughed at her bitterly. And then she too slipped gradually into silence,
• 3:18:01
  and a shadowy, impenetrable barrier dropped between them. The surge of love
• 3:18:07
  that had risen in her she lavished on Donald, her little boy, realizing
• 3:18:13
  him almost wonderingly, as a part of her life. The next year,
• 3:18:18
  a piling up of mutual interests and responsibilities, and some stray flicker from the
• 3:18:24
  past brought husband and wife together again. But after a rather pathetic flood of
• 3:18:30
  passion, Evelyn realized that her great opportunity was gone. There simply wasn't anything
• 3:18:35
  left. She might have been youth and love for both, but that time
• 3:18:41
  of silence had slowly dried up the springs of affection, and her own desire
• 3:18:45
  to drink again of them was dead. She began for the first time to
• 3:18:50
  seek women friends, two prefer books she had read before, to sew a
• 3:18:54
  little where she could watch her two children, to whom she was devoted.
• 3:19:00
  She worried about little things. If she saw crumbs on the dinner table,
• 3:19:03
  her mind drifted off the conversation. She was receding gradually into middle age.
• 3:19:11
  Her thirty fifth birthday had been an exceptionally busy one, for they were entertaining
• 3:19:15
  on short notice that night, and as she stood in her bedroom window in
• 3:19:18
  the late afternoon, she discovered that she was quite tired. Ten years before,
• 3:19:24
  she would have lain down and slept, but now she had a feeling
• 3:19:28
  that things needed watching. Maids were cleaning downstairs, bric a brac was all
• 3:19:33
  over the floor, and there was sure to be a grocery man that had
• 3:19:37
  to be talked to. Imperatively, and then there was a letter to write
• 3:19:41
  Donald, who was fourteen and in his first year away at school. She
• 3:19:46
  had nearly decided to lie down, nevertheless, when she heard a sudden familiar
• 3:19:50
  signal from little Julie downstairs. She compressed her lips. Her brows twitched together,
• 3:19:58
  and she blinked. Julie. She called, oh, prolonged Julie plaintively.
• 3:20:07
  Then the voice of Hilda, the second maid floated up the stairs.
• 3:20:13
  She cut herself, a little miss piper. Evelyn flew to her sewing basket,
• 3:20:18
  rummaged until she found a torn handkerchief, and hurried downstairs. In a
• 3:20:24
  moment, Julie was crying in her arms as she searched for the cut,
• 3:20:28
  faint disparaging evidence of which appeared on Julie's dress. My thumb, exclaimed Julie,
• 3:20:35
  Oh turts, it was the bull here the he one, said Hilba
• 3:20:41
  apologetically. It was waitin on the floor while I polished the sideboard, and
• 3:20:46
  Julie come along and went to foolin with it. She must scratch herself.
• 3:20:50
  Evelyn frowned heavily at Hilda, and, twisting Julie decisively in her lap,
• 3:20:56
  began tearing strips off the handkerchief. Now let's see it, dear. Julie
• 3:21:03
  held it up and Evelyn pounced. There Julie surveyed her suathed thumb. Doubtfully,
• 3:21:11
  she crooked it it waggled. A pleased, interested look appeared in her
• 3:21:16
  tear stained face. She sniffed and waggled it again. You precious, cried
• 3:21:24
  Evelyn, and kissed her. But before she left the room, she leveled
• 3:21:28
  another frown at Hilda careless servants all that way and nowadays if she could get
• 3:21:33
  a good Irish woman, but you couldn't any more, and these swedes.
• 3:21:41
  At five o'clock, Harold arrived and, coming up to her room, threatened
• 3:21:46
  in a suspiciously jovial tone to kiss her thirty five times for her birthday.
• 3:21:50
  Evelyn resisted. You've been drinking, she said shortly, and then added qualitatively
• 3:21:58
  a little. You know. I loathed the smell of it, Evie,
• 3:22:03
  he said, after a pause, seating himself in a chair by the window,
• 3:22:07
  I can tell you something now. I guess you've known things haven't been
• 3:22:11
  going quite right down town. She was standing at the window, combing her
• 3:22:16
  hair, but at these words she turned and looked at him. How do
• 3:22:20
  you mean you've always said there was room for more than one wholesale hardware house
• 3:22:24
  in town. Her voice expressed some alarm there was, said Harold significantly.
• 3:22:31
  But this Clarence a Hearne is a smart man. I was surprised when you
• 3:22:37
  said he was coming to dinner, Evie. He went on with another slap
• 3:22:41
  at his knee. After January first, the Clarence a Hearne Company becomes the
• 3:22:46
  Aherne Piper Company and Piper Brothers. As the company ceases to exist, Evelyn
• 3:22:54
  was startled. The sound of his name in second place was somehow hostile to
• 3:22:58
  her. Still he appeared jubilant. I don't understand, Harold. Well,
• 3:23:05
  Evie a Hearne has been fooling around with Marx. If those two had combined,
• 3:23:09
  we'd have been the little fellow struggling along, picking up the smaller orders,
• 3:23:15
  hanging back on risks. It's a question of capital, Evie, and
• 3:23:18
  a hearn and Marx would have had the business, just like a Hernon Piper
• 3:23:22
  is going to Now. He paused and coughed, and a little cloud of
• 3:23:26
  whiskey floated up to her nostrils. Tell you the truth, Evie, I've
• 3:23:31
  suspected that a Hearne's wife had something to do with it. Ambitious little lady,
• 3:23:35
  I'm told because she knew the Marxes couldn't help her much. Here is
• 3:23:41
  she? Common, asked b V. Never mat her. I'm sure,
• 3:23:46
  but I don't doubt it. Clarence Hearn's name's been up at the country club
• 3:23:50
  five months, no action taken. He waved his hand disparagingly. A Herne
• 3:23:58
  and I had lunch together today and just at clinched it. So I thought
• 3:24:01
  it'd be nice to have him and his wife up tonight, just have nine
• 3:24:05
  mostly family. After all, it's a big thing for me. And of
• 3:24:09
  course we'll have to see something of the Evie. Yes, said Evie thoughtfully.
• 3:24:15
  I suppose we will. Evelyn was not disturbed over the social end of
• 3:24:20
  it, but the idea of Piper Brothers becoming the Aherne Piper Company startled her.
• 3:24:26
  It seemed like going down in the world. Half an hour later,
• 3:24:33
  as she began to dress for dinner, she heard his voice from downstairs.
• 3:24:37
  Oh, Evie, come down. She went out into the hall and called
• 3:24:43
  over the banister, what is it. I want you to help me make
• 3:24:48
  some of that punch before dinner. Hurriedly rehooking her dress, she descended the
• 3:24:54
  stairs and found him grouping the essentials on the dining room table. She went
• 3:24:58
  over to the sideboard, and, lifting one of the bulls, carried it
• 3:25:03
  over. Oh no, he protested, Let's use the big one. There'll
• 3:25:07
  be a Hearne and his wife and you and I and Milton that's five,
• 3:25:11
  and Tom and Jesse that's seven, and your sister and Joe Ambler that that's
• 3:25:16
  nine. You don't know how quick that stuff goes when you make it.
• 3:25:20
  We use this bull, she insisted. It'll hold plenty. You know how.
• 3:25:24
  Tom is Tom Lowry, husband to Jesse, Harold's first cousin, was
• 3:25:30
  rather inclined to finish anything in a liquid way. That he began. Harold
• 3:25:33
  shook his head. Don't be foolish. That one holds only about three quarts,
• 3:25:37
  and there's nine of us, and the servants'll want some. And it
• 3:25:41
  isn't strong punch. It's so much more cheerful to have a lot. Evie,
• 3:25:46
  we don't have to drink all of it. I say this small one
• 3:25:52
  again. He shook his head obstinately. No, be reasonable, I am
• 3:25:58
  reasonable, she said shortly. I don't want any drunken men in the house
• 3:26:03
  who said you did, Then use the small bowl now, Evie. He
• 3:26:09
  grasped the smaller bowl to lift it back instantly her hands were on it,
• 3:26:15
  holding it down. There was a momentary struggle, and then with a little
• 3:26:20
  exasperated grunt, he raised his side, slipped it from her fingers, and
• 3:26:24
  carried it to the sideboard. She looked at him and tried to make her
• 3:26:28
  expression contemptuous, but he only laughed, acknowledging her defeat but disclaiming all future
• 3:26:35
  interest in the punch. She left the room three at seven thirty, her
• 3:26:43
  cheeks glowing and her high piled hair gleaming. With a suspicion of brilliantine,
• 3:26:48
  Evelyn descended the stairs. Missus Ahearn, a little woman concealing a slight nervousness
• 3:26:54
  under red hair and an extreme empire gown, greeted her volubly. Evelyn disliked
• 3:27:01
  her on the spot, but the husband she rather approved of. He had
• 3:27:05
  keen blue eyes and a natural gift of pleasing people that might have made him
• 3:27:11
  socially had he not so obviously committed the blunder of marrying too early in his
• 3:27:16
  career. I'm glad to know Piper's wife, He said, simply, it
• 3:27:20
  looks as though your husband and I are going to see a lot of each
• 3:27:22
  other in the future. She bowed, smiled graciously, and turned to greet
• 3:27:28
  the others, Milton Piper, Harold's quiet, unassertive younger brother, the two
• 3:27:33
  Lowries, Jessie and Tom, Irene her own unmarried sister, and finally Joe
• 3:27:39
  Ambler, a confirmed bachelor and Irene's perennial beaux. Harold led the way in
• 3:27:46
  to dinner. We're having a punch evening, he announced jovially. Evelyn saw
• 3:27:52
  that he had already sampled his concoction, so there won't be any cocktails except
• 3:27:56
  the punch. It's my wife's greatest achievement. Missus ehre. She'll give you
• 3:28:01
  the recipe if you want it. But owing to a slight he caught his
• 3:28:05
  wife's eye and paused to a slight indisposition, I'm responsible for this batch.
• 3:28:09
  Here's how All through dinner there was punch, and Evelyn, noticing that Aherne
• 3:28:16
  and Milton Piper and all the women were shaking their heads negatively at the maid,
• 3:28:22
  knew she had been right about the bowl. It was still half full.
• 3:28:26
  She resolved to caution Harold directly afterward, But when the women left the
• 3:28:31
  table, missus Ahearn cornered her, and she found herself talking cities and dressmakers
• 3:28:35
  with a polite show of interest. We've moved around a lot, chattered missus
• 3:28:39
  Ahearn, her red head nodding violently. Oh yes, we've never stayed so
• 3:28:45
  long in a town before. But I do hope we're here for good.
• 3:28:48
  I like it here, don't you. Well, you see I've always lived
• 3:28:52
  here so naturally. Oh that's true, said missus Ahearn and laughed. Clarence
• 3:28:58
  always used to tell me he had to a wife he could come home to
• 3:29:01
  and say, well, we're going to Chicago tomorrow to live, so pack
• 3:29:03
  up. I got so I never expected to live anywhere. She laughed her
• 3:29:09
  little laugh again. Evelyn suspected that it was her society laugh. Your husband
• 3:29:15
  is a very able man, I imagine. Oh yes, missus Ahearn assured
• 3:29:20
  her eagerly. He's brainy. Clarence's idea is an enthusiasm, you know,
• 3:29:24
  finds out what he wants and then goes and gets it. Evelyn nodded.
• 3:29:31
  She was wondering if the men were still drinking punch back. In the dining
• 3:29:33
  room, missus Ahearn's history kept unfolding jerkily, but Evelyn had ceased to listen.
• 3:29:41
  The first odor of massed cigars began to drift in. It wasn't really
• 3:29:45
  a large house, she reflected. On an evening like this, the library
• 3:29:48
  sometimes grew blue with smoke, and next day one had to leave the windows
• 3:29:54
  open for hours to air the heavy staleness out of the curtains. Perhaps this
• 3:29:58
  partnership might she began to speculate on a new house. Missus Ahearn's voice drifted
• 3:30:05
  in on her. I really would like the recipe if you have it written
• 3:30:09
  down somewhere. There was a sound of chairs in the dining room, and
• 3:30:13
  the men strolled in. Evelyn saw at once that her worst fears were realized.
• 3:30:18
  Harold's face was flushed and his words ran together at the ends of sentences,
• 3:30:22
  while Tom Lowry lurched when he walked and narrowly missed Irene's lap when he
• 3:30:28
  tried to sink onto the couch beside her. He sat there, blinking dazedly
• 3:30:31
  at the company. Evelyn found herself blinking back at him, but she saw
• 3:30:35
  no humor in it. Joe Ambler was smiling contentedly and puffing on his cigar.
• 3:30:43
  Only A Hearne and Milton Piper seemed unaffected. It's a pretty fine town,
• 3:30:48
  Ahearne, said, Ambler. You'll find that I've found it, so
• 3:30:54
  said a Hearne, pleasantly. You find it more, Aharne, said Harald,
• 3:30:58
  nodding him. Fat if I've anthn't do with it. He soared into
• 3:31:03
  a eulogy of the city, and Evelyn wondered uncomfortably if it bored everyone as
• 3:31:09
  it bored her. Apparently not, they were all listening attentively. Evelyn broke
• 3:31:16
  in at the first gap. Where have you been living, mister Aharne,
• 3:31:20
  she asked interestedly. Then she remembered that missus ahearn had told her, but
• 3:31:24
  it didn't matter. Harold mustn't talk so much. He was such an ass
• 3:31:28
  when he'd been drinking. But he plopped directly back in. Tell you,
• 3:31:35
  a Hearne. First, you want to get a house up here on the
• 3:31:37
  hill, get Sternhouse or Ridgeway house. Want to have it so people say
• 3:31:41
  there's a Hern house solid you know, that's the fact it gives Evelyn flushed.
• 3:31:48
  This didn't sound right at all still. A hearn didn't seem to notice
• 3:31:52
  anything amiss, only nodded gravely, have you been looking? But her words
• 3:32:00
  trailed off unheard as Harold's voice boomed on get house, that's start. Then
• 3:32:05
  you get no people snobbish town first toward outside her, but not long,
• 3:32:11
  not after, know you people like you, He indicated a Hearne and his
• 3:32:16
  wife with a sweeping gesture. All right, cordial as anathin. Once get
• 3:32:20
  by first berber ber He swallowed, and then said Barrier, repeated it masterfully.
• 3:32:28
  Everybody looked appealingly at her brother in law, But before he could intercede,
• 3:32:33
  a thick mumble had come, crowding out of Tom Lowry, hindered by
• 3:32:35
  the dead cigar, which he gripped firmly with his teeth. Hammama, hamma
• 3:32:41
  i um what demanded Harold earnestly, resignedly, and with difficulty, Tom removed
• 3:32:50
  the cigar, that is, he removed part of it, and then blew
• 3:32:54
  the remainder with a watt sound, across the room, where it landed languidly
• 3:32:58
  and limply in Missus a Hearne's life up beg pardon, he mumbled, and
• 3:33:03
  rose with the vague intention of going after it. Milton's hand on his coat
• 3:33:07
  collapsed him in time, and missus Ahearn not ungracefully flounced the tobacco from her
• 3:33:13
  skirt to the floor, never once looking at it. I was saying,
• 3:33:18
  continued Tom thickly. Before that happened. He waved his hand apologetically towards missus
• 3:33:22
  Ahearn. I was saying, I heard all truth, that country, good
• 3:33:26
  matter. Milton leaned and whispered something to him. Let me alone, he
• 3:33:31
  said, petulantly, know what I'm doing, That's what they came for.
• 3:33:37
  Evelyn sat there in a panic, trying to make her mouth form words.
• 3:33:41
  She saw her sister's sardonic expression and missus Ahearn's face turning a vivid red.
• 3:33:48
  A Hearn was looking down at his watch chain, fingering it. I heard
• 3:33:52
  who's been keeping you out, and he's not a bit better'n you. I
• 3:33:56
  can fix all damned thing up would have before, but I didn't know.
• 3:34:01
  Harold told me you felt bad about the thing. Milton Piper rose suddenly and
• 3:34:05
  awkwardly to his feet. In a second, every one was standing tensely,
• 3:34:09
  and Milton was saying something very hurriedly about having to go early, and the
• 3:34:15
  Hearns were listening with eager intentness. Then missus Ahearn swallowed and turned with a
• 3:34:20
  forced smile toward Jessie. Evelyn saw Tom lurch forward and put his hand on
• 3:34:24
  Hearne's shoulder, and suddenly she was listening to a new anxious voice at her
• 3:34:30
  elbow, and turning found Hilda the second maid. Please, miss Piper,
• 3:34:35
  I think Julie got her hand poisoned. It's all swollen up, and her
• 3:34:39
  cheeks is hot, and she's moaning and groaning Julia's, Evelyn asked sharply.
• 3:34:46
  The party suddenly receded. She turned quickly sought with her eyes for missus Ahearn
• 3:34:52
  slipped toward her. If you'll excuse me, missus she had momentarily forgotten the
• 3:34:58
  name, but she went right on. My little girl's been taken sick.
• 3:35:01
  I'll be down when I can. She turned and ran quickly up the stairs,
• 3:35:07
  retaining a confused picture of rays of cigar smoke and a loud discussion in
• 3:35:11
  the center of the room that seemed to be developing into an argument. Switching
• 3:35:16
  on the light in the nursery, she found Julie tossing feverishly and giving out
• 3:35:20
  odd little cries. She put her hand against the cheeks. They were burning.
• 3:35:26
  With an exclamation, she followed her arm down under the cover until she
• 3:35:30
  found the hand. Hilda was right. The whole thumb was swollen to the
• 3:35:33
  wrist, and in the center was a little inflamed sore blood poisoning. Her
• 3:35:39
  mind cried in terror. The bandage had come off the cut and she'd gotten
• 3:35:45
  something in it. She cut it at three o'clock. It was now nearly
• 3:35:48
  eleven eight hours. Blood poisoning couldn't possibly develop so soon. She rushed to
• 3:35:56
  the phone. Doctor Martin across the street was out. Doctor Folk, their
• 3:36:01
  family physician didn't answer. She racked her brains and in desperation called her throat
• 3:36:07
  specialist and bit her lip furiously while he looked up the numbers of two physicians.
• 3:36:13
  During that interminable moment, she thought she heard loud voices downstairs, but
• 3:36:18
  she seemed to be in another world. Now. After fifteen minutes, she
• 3:36:22
  located a physician who sounded angry and sulky at being called out of bed.
• 3:36:28
  She ran back to the nursery, and looking at the hand, found it
• 3:36:31
  was somewhat more swollen. O God, she cried, and, kneeling beside
• 3:36:37
  the bed, began smoothing back Julie's hair over and over. With a vague
• 3:36:43
  idea of getting some hot water, she rose and started toward the door,
• 3:36:46
  but the lace of her dress caught on the bed rail and she fell forward
• 3:36:50
  on her hands and knees. She struggled up and jerked frantically at the lace.
• 3:36:56
  The bed moved and Julie groaned, then quietly, but with suddenly fumbling
• 3:37:01
  fingers, she found the pleat in front, tore the whole pantier completely off,
• 3:37:07
  and rushed from the room. Out in the hall, she heard a
• 3:37:11
  single, loud, insistent voice, but as she reached the head of the
• 3:37:15
  stairs, it ceased, and an outer door banged. The music room came
• 3:37:20
  into view. Only Harold and Milton were there, the former leaning against a
• 3:37:24
  chair, his face very pale, his collar open, and his mouth moving
• 3:37:30
  loosely. What's the matter? Milton looked at her anxiously. There was a
• 3:37:35
  little trouble. Then Harold saw her, and, straightening up with an effort,
• 3:37:39
  began to speak, some myn cousin maun house, goddamn common neu volriche,
• 3:37:46
  some ung cousin, some my own cousin Tom had trouble with a hern
• 3:37:52
  and Harold interfered, said Milton, my lord, Milton, couldn't you have
• 3:37:58
  done something? I tried. I Julie's sick, she interrupted, She's poisoned
• 3:38:03
  herself. Get him to bed if you can. Harold looked up, Julie
• 3:38:11
  sick, paying no attention. Evelyn brushed by through the dining room, catching
• 3:38:16
  sight with a burst of horror, of the big punch bowls still on the
• 3:38:20
  table, the liquid from melted ice in its bottom. She heard steps on
• 3:38:24
  the front stairs. It was Milton helping Harold up, and then a mumble,
• 3:38:31
  why Julie's all right? Don't let him go into the nursery, she
• 3:38:35
  shouted. The hours blurred into a nightmare. The doctor arrived just before midnight,
• 3:38:43
  and within a half hour had lanced the wound. He left it too,
• 3:38:48
  after giving her the addresses of two nurses to call up and promising to
• 3:38:50
  return at half past six. It was blood poisoning at four, Leaving Hilda
• 3:38:58
  by the bedside, she went to her room and, slipping with a shudder,
• 3:39:01
  out of her evening dress, kicked it into a corner. She put
• 3:39:05
  on a house dress and returned to the nursery while Hilda went to make coffee.
• 3:39:09
  Not until noon could she bring herself to look into Harold's room. But
• 3:39:13
  when she did, it was to find him awake and staring very miserably at
• 3:39:16
  the ceiling. He turned bloodshot, hollow eyes upon her. For a minute,
• 3:39:22
  she hated him, couldn't speak. A husky voice came from the bed.
• 3:39:28
  What time is it noon? I made a damn fool. It doesn't
• 3:39:35
  matter, she said, sharply. Julie's got blood poisoning. They may,
• 3:39:41
  she choked over the words. They think she'll have to lose her hand.
• 3:39:46
  What she cut herself on that that bowl last night? Oh what does it
• 3:39:54
  matter? She cried, She's got blood poisoning. Can't you hear? He
• 3:39:58
  looked at her, bewildered, sat half way up in bed. I'll get
• 3:40:03
  dressed, he said. Her anger subsided, and a great wave of weariness
• 3:40:09
  and pity for him rolled over her. After all, it was his trouble
• 3:40:13
  too, Yes, she answered listlessly, I suppose you'd better. Four.
• 3:40:24
  If Evelyn's beauty had hesitated in her early thirties, it came to an abrupt
• 3:40:28
  decision just afterward and completely left her a tentative outlay of wrinkles on her face
• 3:40:35
  suddenly deepened, and flesh collected rapidly on her legs and hips and arms.
• 3:40:39
  Her mannerism of drawing her brows together had become an expression. It was habitual
• 3:40:46
  when she was reading or speaking, and even while she slept. She was
• 3:40:50
  forty six. As in most families whose fortunes have gone down rather than up,
• 3:40:56
  she and Harold had drifted into a colorless antagonism in repose. They looked
• 3:41:01
  at each other with the toleration they must have felt for broken old chairs.
• 3:41:05
  Evelyn worried a little when he was sick, and did her best to be
• 3:41:07
  cheerful under the wearying depression of living with a disappointed man. Family bridge was
• 3:41:15
  over for the evening, and she sighed with relief. She had made more
• 3:41:18
  mistakes than usual this evening, and she didn't care. Irene shouldn't have made
• 3:41:22
  that remark about the infantry being particularly dangerous. There had been no letter for
• 3:41:28
  three weeks now, and while this was nothing out of the ordinary, it
• 3:41:30
  never failed to make her nervous. Naturally, she hadn't known how many clubs
• 3:41:35
  were out. Harold had gone upstairs, so she stepped out on the porch
• 3:41:41
  for a breath of fresh air. There was a bright glamor of moonlight diffusing
• 3:41:46
  on the sidewalks and lawns, and with a little half yawned, half laugh,
• 3:41:50
  she remembered one long moonlight affair of her youth. It was astonishing to
• 3:41:54
  think that life had once been the sum of her current love affairs. It
• 3:41:58
  was now the summer of her current problems. There was the problem of Julie.
• 3:42:03
  Julie was thirteen, and lately she had been growing more and more sensitive
• 3:42:07
  about her deformity and preferred to stay always in her room reading. A few
• 3:42:11
  years before, she had been frightened at the idea of going to school,
• 3:42:16
  and Evelyn could not bring herself to send her. So she grew up in
• 3:42:18
  her mother's shadow, a pitiful little figure with the artificial hand that she made
• 3:42:22
  no attempt to use, but kept forlornely in her pocket. Lately, she
• 3:42:28
  had been taking lessons in using it because Evelyn had feared she would cease to
• 3:42:31
  lift the arm altogether. But after the lessons, unless she made a move
• 3:42:37
  with it in listless obedience to her mother, the little hand would creep back
• 3:42:41
  to the pocket of her dress. For a while. Her dresses were made
• 3:42:45
  without pockets. But Julie had moped around the house so miserably at a loss
• 3:42:48
  all one month that Evelyn weakened and never tried the experiment again. The problem
• 3:42:54
  of Donald had been different from the start. She had attempted vainly to keep
• 3:43:00
  him near her, as she had tried to teach Julie to lean less on
• 3:43:03
  her. Lately, the problem of Donald had been snatched out of her hands.
• 3:43:07
  His division had been abroad for three months. She yawned again. Life
• 3:43:13
  was a thing for youth. What a happy youth she must have had.
• 3:43:18
  She remembered her pony Bijou, and the trip to Europe with her mother when
• 3:43:22
  she was eighteen. Very very complicated, she said aloud and severely to the
• 3:43:28
  moon, and stepping inside, was about to close the door when she heard
• 3:43:33
  a noise in the library and started. It was Martha, the middle aged
• 3:43:37
  servant. They kept only one. Now, why Martha, she said in
• 3:43:43
  surprise. Martha turned quickly. Oh, I thought you was upstairs. I
• 3:43:48
  was just Is anything the matter? Martha hesitated, No. I She stood
• 3:43:56
  there fidgeting. It was a letter, missus Piper, that I put somewhere
• 3:44:01
  a letter. Your own letter, asked Evelyn, switching on the light.
• 3:44:07
  No, it was to you twas this afternoon, missus Piper. In the
• 3:44:11
  last mail, the postman give it to me, and then the back door
• 3:44:13
  bell rang. I had it in my hand, so I must have stuck
• 3:44:18
  it somewhere. I thought I'd just slip in now and find it. What
• 3:44:22
  sort of a letter from mister Donald? No, it was an advertisement maybe,
• 3:44:28
  or a business letter. It was a long, narrow one, I
• 3:44:30
  remember. They began a search through the music room, looking on trays and
• 3:44:37
  mantelpieces, and then through the library, feeling on the tops of rows of
• 3:44:41
  books. Martha paused in despair. I can't think where. I went straight
• 3:44:48
  to the kitchen, the dining room maybe. She started hopefully for the dining
• 3:44:52
  room, but turned suddenly at the sound of a gasp behind her. Evelyn
• 3:44:58
  had sat down heavily in a mor chair, her brows drawn very close together,
• 3:45:03
  eyes blinking furiously. Are you sick? For a minute, there was
• 3:45:07
  no answer. Evelyn sat there very still, and Martha could see the very
• 3:45:13
  quick rise and fall of her bosom. Are you sick, she repeated,
• 3:45:18
  No, said Evelyn slowly, But I know where the letter is go away,
• 3:45:24
  Martha, I know, wonderingly, Martha withdrew, and still Evelyn sat
• 3:45:31
  there, only the muscles around her eyes moving, contracting and relaxing and contracting
• 3:45:37
  again. She knew now where the letter was. She knew as well as
• 3:45:43
  if she had put it there herself, And she felt instinctively and unquestionably what
• 3:45:48
  the letter was. It was long and narrow, like an advertisement, but
• 3:45:52
  up in the corner, in large letters it said war Department, and in
• 3:45:56
  smaller letters below official business. She knew it lay there in the big bowl,
• 3:46:03
  with her name in ink on the outside, and her soul's death within.
• 3:46:07
  Rising uncertainly, she walked toward the dining room, feeling her way along
• 3:46:13
  the bookcases and through the doorway. After a moment, she found the light
• 3:46:16
  and switched it on. There was the bowl, reflecting the electric light,
• 3:46:22
  and crimson squares edged with black and yellow squares edged with blue, ponderous and
• 3:46:28
  glittering grotesquely and triumphantly ominous. She took a step forward and paused again.
• 3:46:37
  Another step and she would see over the top and into the inside. Another
• 3:46:41
  step and she would see an edge of white. Another step. Her hands
• 3:46:45
  fell on the rough, cold surface in a moment she was tearing it open,
• 3:46:50
  fumbling with an obstinate fold, holding it before her while the tybrit and
• 3:46:54
  page glared out and struck at her. Then it fluttered like a bird to
• 3:46:58
  the floor. The house that had seemed whirring buzzing a moment since, was
• 3:47:05
  suddenly very quiet. A breath of air crept in through the open front door,
• 3:47:09
  carrying the noise of a passing motor. She heard faint sounds from upstairs,
• 3:47:15
  and then a grinding racket in the pipe behind the bookcases, her husband
• 3:47:18
  turning off a water tap, and in that instant it was as if this
• 3:47:24
  were not, after all, Donald's hour, except in so far as he
• 3:47:28
  was a marker in the insidious contest that had gone on in sudden surges and
• 3:47:33
  long, listless interludes between Evelyn and this cold, malignant thing of beauty,
• 3:47:39
  a gift of enmity from a man whose face she had long since forgotten.
• 3:47:43
  With its massive, brooding passivity, it lay there in the center of her
• 3:47:48
  house as it had lain for years, throwing out the ice like beams of
• 3:47:52
  a thousand eyes, perverse glitterings, merging into each other, never aging,
• 3:47:58
  never changing. Evelyn sat down on the edge of the table and stared at
• 3:48:03
  it, fascinated. It seemed to be smiling now, a very cruel smile,
• 3:48:09
  as if to say, you see, this time I didn't have to
• 3:48:11
  hurt you directly, I didn't bother You know, it was I who took
• 3:48:16
  your son away. You know how cold I am, and how hard and
• 3:48:20
  how beautiful, because once you were just as cold and hard and beautiful.
• 3:48:28
  The bowl seemed suddenly to turn itself over, and then to distend and swell,
• 3:48:33
  until it became a great canopy that glittered and trembled over the room,
• 3:48:37
  over the house, and as the walls melted slowly into mist, Evelyn saw
• 3:48:41
  that it was still moving out, out and far away from her, shaking
• 3:48:46
  off far horizons and suns and moons and stars, except as inky blots seen
• 3:48:52
  faintly through it. And under it walked all the people, and the light
• 3:48:56
  that came to them was refracted and twisted until shadow seemed light, and light
• 3:49:01
  seemed shadow, until the whole panorama of the world became changed and distorted under
• 3:49:09
  the twinkling heaven of the bowl. Then there came a far away, booming
• 3:49:13
  voice, like a low, clear bell. It came from the center of
• 3:49:18
  the bowl and down the great sides to the ground, and then bounced toward
• 3:49:24
  her eagerly. You see, I am fate, it shouted, and stronger
• 3:49:28
  than your puny plans. And I am how things turn out. And I
• 3:49:33
  am different from your dreams. And I am the flight of time and the
• 3:49:37
  end of beauty and unfulfilled desire. All the accidents and imperceptions, and the
• 3:49:43
  little minutes that shape the crucial hours are mine. I am the exception that
• 3:49:48
  proves no rules, the limits of your control, the condiment in the dish
• 3:49:54
  of life. The booming sound stopped. The echoes rolled a way over the
• 3:50:00
  wide land to the edge of the bowl that bounded the world, and up
• 3:50:03
  the great sides and back to the center, where they hummed for a moment
• 3:50:07
  and died. Then the great walls began slowly to bear down upon her,
• 3:50:13
  growing smaller and smaller, coming closer and closer, as if to crush her.
• 3:50:18
  And as she clenched her hands and waited for the swift bruise of the
• 3:50:22
  cold glass, the bowl gave a sudden wrench and turned over and lay there
• 3:50:28
  on the sideboard, shining and inscrutable, reflecting in a hundred prisms, myriad
• 3:50:35
  many colored glints and gleams, and crossings and interlacings of light. The cold
• 3:50:41
  wind blew in again through the front door, and with a desperate, frantic
• 3:50:46
  energy, Evelyn stretched both her arms around the bowl. She must be quick,
• 3:50:52
  she must be strong. She tightened her arms until they ached, totted
• 3:50:58
  the thin strips of muscle under her soft flesh, and with a mighty effort,
• 3:51:03
  raised it and held it. She felt the wind blow cold on her
• 3:51:07
  back, where her dress had come apart from the strain of her effort,
• 3:51:11
  and as she felt it, she turned toward it and staggered under the great
• 3:51:15
  weight out through the library and on toward the front door. She must be
• 3:51:20
  quick, she must be strong. The blood in her arms throbbed dully,
• 3:51:26
  and her knees kept giving way under her, but the feel of the cool
• 3:51:30
  glass was good. Out the front door, she tottered and over to the
• 3:51:33
  stone steps, and there, summoning every fiber of her soul and body for
• 3:51:39
  a last effort, swung herself half around for a second. As she tried
• 3:51:45
  to loose her hold, her numb fingers clung to the rough surface, and
• 3:51:48
  in that second she slipped and losing balance, toppled forward with a despairing cry,
• 3:51:54
  her arms still around the bowl. Down over the way, lights went
• 3:52:03
  on far down the block. The crash was heard, and pedestrians rushed up
• 3:52:09
  wonderingly. Upstairs, a tired man awoke from the edge of sleep, and
• 3:52:13
  a little girl whimpered in a haunted doze. And all over the moonlit sidewalk,
• 3:52:20
  around the still black form, hundreds of prisms and cubes and splinters of
• 3:52:26
  glass reflected the light in little gleams of blue and black, edged with yellow
• 3:52:31
  and yellow and crimson edged with black. Bernice bobs her hair. One after
• 3:52:41
  dark on Saturday night, one could stand on the first tee of the golf
• 3:52:46
  course and see the country club windows as a yellow expanse over a very black
• 3:52:50
  and wavy ocean. The waves of this ocean, so to speak, were
• 3:52:54
  the heads of many curious caddies, a few of the more ingenious chauffeurs,
• 3:53:00
  the golf professional's deaf sister, and there were usually several stray, diffident waves
• 3:53:05
  who might have rolled inside had they so desired. This was the gallery.
• 3:53:11
  The balcony was inside. It consisted of the circle of wacker chairs that lined
• 3:53:16
  the wall of the combination club room and ball room. At these Saturday night
• 3:53:20
  dances, it was largely feminine, a great babble of middle aged ladies with
• 3:53:26
  sharp eyes and icy hearts behind lorgnettes and large bosoms. The main function of
• 3:53:33
  the balcony was critical. It occasionally showed grudging admiration, but never approval,
• 3:53:37
  for it is well known among ladies over thirty five that when the younger set
• 3:53:41
  dance in the summer time, it is with the very worst intentions in the
• 3:53:45
  world. And if they are not bombarded with stony eyes, stray couples will
• 3:53:48
  dance weird, barbaric interludes in the corners, and the more popular, more
• 3:53:54
  dangerous girls will sometimes be kissed in the parked limousines of unsuspecting dowry. But
• 3:54:01
  after all, this critical circle is not close enough to the stage to see
• 3:54:05
  the actor's faces and catch the sutler by play. It can only frown and
• 3:54:09
  lean, ask questions, and make satisfactory deductions from its set of postulates,
• 3:54:16
  such as the one which states that every young man with a large income leads
• 3:54:20
  the life of a hunted partridge. It never really appreciates the drama of the
• 3:54:24
  shifting semi cruel world of adolescence. No boxes, orchestra, circle, principles
• 3:54:31
  and chorus are represented by the medley of faces and voices that sway to the
• 3:54:35
  plaintive African rhythm of Dyer's dance Orchestra. From sixteen year old Otis Ormond,
• 3:54:41
  who has two more years at Hill School, to g Rhes Stoddard over whose
• 3:54:46
  bureau at home hangs a Harvard Law diploma. From little Madeline Hoague, whose
• 3:54:50
  hair still feels strange and uncomfortable on top of her head, to Bessie mc
• 3:54:56
  crae, who has been the life of the party a little too long more
• 3:55:00
  than ten years. The medley is not only the center of the stage,
• 3:55:03
  but contains the only people capable of getting an unobstructed view of it. With
• 3:55:09
  a flourish and a bang, the music stops. The couples exchange artificial,
• 3:55:13
  effortless smiles, facetiously repeat Ladi Da Da Dum dumb, and then the clatter
• 3:55:20
  of young feminine voices soars over the burst of clapping. A few disappointed stags
• 3:55:26
  caught in mid floor as they had been about to cut in, subsided listlessly
• 3:55:30
  back to the walls. Because this was not like the riotous Christmas dances.
• 3:55:35
  These summer hops were considered just pleasantly warm and exciting, where even the younger
• 3:55:39
  marrieds rose and performed ancient waltzes and terrifying foxtrots to the tolerant amusement of their
• 3:55:46
  younger brothers and sisters. Warren McIntyre, who casually attended Yale, being one
• 3:55:54
  of the unfortunate stags, felt in these dinner coat pocket for a cigarette and
• 3:55:58
  strolled out onto the wide, semi dark veranda, where couples were scattered at
• 3:56:03
  tables filling the lantern hung night with vague words and hazy laughter. He nodded
• 3:56:09
  here and there at the less absorbed, and as he passed each couple,
• 3:56:11
  some half forgotten fragment of a story played in his mind, for it was
• 3:56:16
  not a large city, and every one was whose who to everyone else's past.
• 3:56:20
  There, for example, was Jim Strain and Ethel de Moorrist, who
• 3:56:24
  had been privately engaged for three years. Everyone knew that as soon as Jim
• 3:56:30
  managed to hold a job for more than two months, she would marry him.
• 3:56:33
  Yet how bored they both looked, and how wearily Ethel regarded Jim,
• 3:56:37
  sometimes as if she wondered why she had trained the vines of her affection on
• 3:56:41
  such a wind shaken poplar. Warren was nineteen and rather pitying with those of
• 3:56:48
  his friends who hadn't gone east to college, but like most boys, he
• 3:56:52
  bragged tremendously about the girls of his city when he was away from it.
• 3:56:56
  There was Genvievormond, who regularly made the rounds of dances, house parties in
• 3:57:01
  football games at Princeton, Yale, Williams, and Cornell. There was Black
• 3:57:05
  Eyed ROBERTA Dillon, who was quite as famous to her own generation as Hiram
• 3:57:09
  Johnson or Ty Cobb. And of course there was Marjorie Harvey, who,
• 3:57:15
  besides having a fairy like face and a dazzling, bewildering tongue, was already
• 3:57:20
  justly celebrated for having turned five cartwheels in succession during the past pump and Slipper
• 3:57:24
  dance at New Haven. Warren, who had grown up across the street from
• 3:57:28
  Marjorie, had long been crazy about her. Sometimes she seemed to reciprocate his
• 3:57:35
  feeling with a faint gratitude, but she had tried him by her infallible test
• 3:57:39
  and informed him gravely that she did not love him. Her test was that
• 3:57:43
  when she was away from him, she forgot him and had affairs with other
• 3:57:46
  boys. Warren found this discouraging, especially as Marjorie had been making little trips
• 3:57:52
  all summer, and for the first two or three days after each arrival home,
• 3:57:56
  he saw great heaps of mail on the Harvey's Hall tape addressed to her
• 3:58:01
  in various masculine handwritings. To make matters worse, all during the month of
• 3:58:05
  August, she had been visited by her cousin Bernice from eau Claire, and
• 3:58:09
  it seemed impossible to see her alone. It was always necessary to hunt round
• 3:58:13
  and find some one to take care of Bernice. As August waned, this
• 3:58:18
  was becoming more and more difficult. Much as Warren worshiped Marjorie, he had
• 3:58:24
  to admit that cousin Bernice was sort of dopeless. She was pretty, with
• 3:58:30
  dark hair and high color, but she was no fun on a party.
• 3:58:33
  Every Saturday night he danced a long, arduous duty dance with her to please
• 3:58:37
  Marjorie, but he had never been anything but bored in her company. Warren,
• 3:58:43
  a soft voice at his elbow broke in upon his thoughts, and he
• 3:58:46
  turned to see Marjorie flushed and radiant as usual. She laid a hand on
• 3:58:52
  his shoulder, and a glow settled, almost imperceptibly on him. Warren,
• 3:58:56
  she whispered, do something for me, dance with Bernice. She's been stuck
• 3:59:03
  with little Otis Ormond for almost an hour. Warren's glow faded. Why sure,
• 3:59:11
  he answered, half heartily, You don't mind, do you. I'll
• 3:59:15
  see that you don't get stuck. S all right? Marjorie smiled. That
• 3:59:22
  smile was thanks enough. You're an angel, and I'm obliged. Loads with
• 3:59:28
  a sigh, the angel glanced round the verandah, but Bernice and Otis were
• 3:59:31
  not in sight. He wandered back inside, and there, in front of
• 3:59:37
  the women's dressing room, he found Otis in the center of a group of
• 3:59:39
  young men who were convulsed with laughter. Otis was brandishing a piece of timber
• 3:59:45
  he had picked up and discoursing volubly. She's gone to fix her hair,
• 3:59:50
  he announced wildly. I'm waiting to dance another hour with her. Their laughter
• 3:59:56
  was renewed. Why don't some of you cut in, cried Otis resentfully.
• 4:00:01
  She likes more variety, Why, Otis suggested a friend you've just barely got
• 4:00:07
  used to her. Why the two by four, otis, inquired Warren,
• 4:00:11
  smiling. The two by four, Oh, this this is a club.
• 4:00:18
  When she comes out, I'll hit her on the head and knock her in
• 4:00:20
  again. Warren collapsed on a set he and howled with glee. Never mind,
• 4:00:28
  otis, he articulated. Finally, I'm relieving you this time. Otis
• 4:00:33
  simulated a sudden fainting attack and handed the stick to Warren. If you need
• 4:00:39
  it, old man, he said hoarsely. No matter how beautiful or brilliant
• 4:00:46
  a girl may be, the reputation of not being frequently cut in on makes
• 4:00:50
  her position at a dance unfortunate. Perhaps boys prefer her company to that of
• 4:00:54
  the butterflies with whom they dance a dozen times in evening. But youth in
• 4:00:58
  this as nourished generation is temperamentally restless, and the idea of fox trotting more
• 4:01:05
  than one full foxtrot with the same girl as distasteful, not to say odious.
• 4:01:09
  When it comes to several dances and the intermissions between, she can be
• 4:01:13
  quite sure that a young man, once relieved, will never tread on her
• 4:01:16
  wayward toes again. Warren danced the next full dance with Bernice, and finally,
• 4:01:24
  thankful for the intermission, he led her to a table on the verandah.
• 4:01:28
  There is a moment's silence while she did unimpressive things with her fan.
• 4:01:35
  It's a hotter here than in eau Claire, she said. Warren stifled a
• 4:01:41
  sigh and nodded. It might be. For all he knew or cared.
• 4:01:46
  He wondered idly whether she was a poor conversationalist because she got no attention,
• 4:01:52
  or got no attention because she was a poor conversationalist. You going to be
• 4:01:56
  here much longer, he asked, and then turned rather red. She might
• 4:02:01
  suspect his reasons for asking another week, she answered, and stared at him
• 4:02:07
  as if to launch at his next remark. When it left his lips,
• 4:02:11
  Warren fidgeted. Then, with a sudden charitable impulse, he decided to try
• 4:02:16
  a part of his line on her. He turned and looked at her eyes.
• 4:02:22
  You've got an awfully kissable mouth, he began quietly. This was a
• 4:02:26
  remark that he sometimes made to girls at college proms when they were talking in
• 4:02:31
  just such half dark as this. Bernice distinctly jumped. She turned an ungraceful
• 4:02:37
  red and became clumsy with her fan. No one had ever made such a
• 4:02:41
  remark to her before Fresh. The word had slipped out before she realized it,
• 4:02:46
  and she bit her lip too late. She decided to be amused and
• 4:02:50
  offered him a flustered smile. Warren was annoyed, though not accustomed to have
• 4:02:56
  that remark taken seriously, still usually provoked a laugh or a paragraph of sentimental
• 4:03:03
  banter, and he hated to be called Fresh, except in a joking way.
• 4:03:07
  His charitable impulse died and he switched the topic, Jim Strain and Ethel
• 4:03:13
  Demorris sitting out as usual. He commented this was more in Bernice's line,
• 4:03:20
  but a faint regret mingled with her relief as the subject changed. Men did
• 4:03:24
  not talk to her about kissable mouths, but she knew that they talked in
• 4:03:28
  some such way to other girls. Oh yes, she said, and laughed.
• 4:03:35
  I hear they've been mooning round for years without a red penny, Isn't
• 4:03:39
  it silly? Warren's disgust increased. Jim Strain was a close friend of his
• 4:03:46
  brother's in any way, he considered it bad form to sneer at people for
• 4:03:50
  not having money, but Bernice had had no intention of sneering. She was
• 4:03:54
  merely nervous. Two. When Marjorie and Bernice reached home at half after midnight,
• 4:04:03
  they said good night at the top of the stairs. Though cousins,
• 4:04:07
  they were not intimates. As a matter of fact, Marjorie had no female
• 4:04:11
  intimates. She considered girls stupid. Bernice, on the contrary, all through
• 4:04:16
  this parent arranged visit, had rather longed to exchange those confidences favored with giggles
• 4:04:22
  and tears that she considered an indispensable factor in all feminine intercourse. But in
• 4:04:28
  this respect she found Marjorie rather cold, felt somehow the same difficulty in talking
• 4:04:33
  to her that she hadn't talking to men. Marjorie never giggled, was never
• 4:04:37
  frightened, seldom embarrassed, and in fact had very few of the qualities which
• 4:04:41
  Bernice considered appropriately and blessedly feminine. As Bernice busied herself with tooth brush and
• 4:04:48
  paste this night, she wondered for the hundredth time why she never had any
• 4:04:52
  attention when she was away from home. That her family were the wealthiest denu
• 4:04:58
  Claire, that her mother entertained tremendously gave little dinners for her daughter before all
• 4:05:03
  dances, and bought her a car of her own to drive round in never
• 4:05:07
  occurred to her as factors in her hometown social success. Like most girls,
• 4:05:13
  she had been brought up on the warm milk prepared by Annie Fellows Johnson,
• 4:05:16
  and on novels in which the female was beloved because of certain mysterious womanly qualities
• 4:05:22
  always mentioned but never displayed. Bernice felt a vague pain that she was not
• 4:05:28
  at present engaged in being popular. She did not know that, had it
• 4:05:31
  not been for Marjorie's campaigning, she would have danced the entire evening with one
• 4:05:35
  man. But she knew that even in eau Claire, other girls with less
• 4:05:39
  position and less palkratude were given a much bigger rush. She attributed this to
• 4:05:46
  something subtly unscrupulous in those girls. It had never worried her, and if
• 4:05:50
  it had, her mother would have assured her that the other girls cheapened themselves,
• 4:05:54
  and that men really respected girls like Bernice. She turned out the light
• 4:06:00
  in her bathroom, and, on an impulse, decided to go in and
• 4:06:03
  chat for a moment with her aunt Josephine, whose light was still on her
• 4:06:07
  soft slippers bore her noiselessly down the carpeted hall, but hearing voices inside,
• 4:06:13
  she stopped near the partly opened door. Then she caught her own name,
• 4:06:18
  and without any definite intention of eavesdropping, lingered, and the thread of the
• 4:06:24
  conversation going on inside pierced her consciousness sharply, as if it had been drawn
• 4:06:30
  through with a needle. She's absolutely hopeless, it was Marjorie's voice. I
• 4:06:37
  know what you're going to say. So many people have told you how pretty
• 4:06:41
  and sweet she is, and how she can cook. What of it?
• 4:06:45
  She has a bum time? Men don't like her. What's a little cheap
• 4:06:50
  popularity? Missus Harvey sounded annoyed. It's everything when you're eighteen, said Marjorie
• 4:07:00
  emphatically. I've done my best. I've been polite, and I've made men
• 4:07:05
  dance with her, but they just won't stand being bored. When I think
• 4:07:09
  of that gorgeous coloring wasted on such a ninny, and think of what Martha
• 4:07:13
  Carey could do with it. Oh, there's no courtesy these days. Missus
• 4:07:20
  Harvey's voice implied that modern situations were too much for her. When she was
• 4:07:24
  a girl, all young ladies who belonged to nice families, had glorious times.
• 4:07:31
  Well, said Marjorie. No girl can permanently bolster up a lame duck
• 4:07:35
  visitor, because these days it's every girl for herself. I've even tried to
• 4:07:39
  drop hints about clothes and things, and she's been furious, giving me the
• 4:07:43
  funniest looks. She's sensitive enough to know she's not getting away with much.
• 4:07:48
  But I'll bet she consoles herself by thinking that she's very virtuous, and that
• 4:07:52
  I'm too gay and fickle and will come to a bad end. All unpopular
• 4:07:56
  girls think that way. Sour Grape Sarah Hopkins refers to Junviaevin, Roberta and
• 4:08:03
  Me as Guardena girls. I bet she'd give ten years of her life and
• 4:08:07
  her European education to be a Guardena girl and have three or four men in
• 4:08:13
  love with her and be cut in on every few feet it dances. It
• 4:08:18
  seems to me, said missus Harvey rather wearily, that you ought to be
• 4:08:22
  able to do something for Bernice. I know she's not very vivacious, Marjorie
• 4:08:28
  groaned. Vivacious, Good grief. I've never heard her say anything to a
• 4:08:33
  boy except that it's hot or the floor's crowded, or that she's going to
• 4:08:37
  school in New York next year. Sometimes she asks them what kind of car
• 4:08:43
  they have and tells them the kind she has, thrilling. There was a
• 4:08:48
  short silence, and then missus Harvey took up her refrain. All I know
• 4:08:52
  is that girl's not half so sweet and attractive get partners. Martha Carey,
• 4:08:58
  for instance, says stout and loud, and her mother is distinctly common.
• 4:09:03
  Roberta Dylan is so thin this year that she looks as though Arizona were the
• 4:09:07
  place for her. She's dancing herself to death, but mother objected Marjorie impatiently.
• 4:09:15
  Martha is cheerful and awfully witty and an awfully slick girl. And Roberta's
• 4:09:18
  a marvelous dancer. She's been popular for ages. Missus Harvey yawned. I
• 4:09:26
  think it's that crazy Indian blood in Bernice, continued Marjorie. Maybe she's a
• 4:09:31
  reversion to type Indian women all just sat round and never said anything. Go
• 4:09:37
  to bed, you silly child, laughed Missus Harvey. I wouldn't have told
• 4:09:43
  you that if I'd thought you were going to remember it. And I think
• 4:09:46
  most of your ideas are perfectly idiotic, she finished sleepily. There was another
• 4:09:52
  silence while Marjorie considered whether or not convincing her mother was worth the trouble.
• 4:09:58
  People over forty seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen, our convictions
• 4:10:03
  are hills from which we look. At forty five, there are caves in
• 4:10:07
  which we hide. Having decided this, Marjorie said good night. When she
• 4:10:13
  came out into the hall, it was quite empty. Three. While Marjorie
• 4:10:20
  was breakfasting late next day, Bernice came into the room with a rather formal
• 4:10:24
  good morning, sat down opposite, stared intently over, and slightly moistened her
• 4:10:30
  lips. What's on your mind, inquired Marjorie, rather puzzled, Bernice paused
• 4:10:37
  before she threw her hand grenade. I heard what you said about me to
• 4:10:41
  your mother last night. Marjorie was startled, but she showed only a faintly
• 4:10:46
  heightened color, and her voice was quite even when she spoke, where were
• 4:10:52
  you in the hall? I I didn't mean to listen at first. After
• 4:11:00
  an involuntary look of contempt, Marjorie dropped her eyes and became very interested in
• 4:11:05
  balancing a stray corn flake on her finger. I guess I'd better go back
• 4:11:11
  to old Claire if I'm such a nuisance. Benice's lower lip was trembling violently,
• 4:11:18
  and she continued on a wavering note. I I've tried to be nice
• 4:11:22
  and and I've been first neglected and then insulted. No one ever visited me
• 4:11:28
  and got such treatment. Marjorie was silent. But I'm in the way.
• 4:11:33
  I see I'm a drag on you. Your friends don't like me. She
• 4:11:39
  paused, and then remembered another one of her grievances. Of course, I
• 4:11:43
  was furious last week when you tried to hint to me that my dress was
• 4:11:46
  unbecoming. Don't you think I know how to dress myself? No, murmured
• 4:11:52
  Marjorie, less than half aloud. What I didn't hint anything, said Martin
• 4:12:00
  succinctly, I said, as I remember that it was better to wear a
• 4:12:03
  becoming dress three times straight than to alternate it with two frights. Do you
• 4:12:07
  think that was a very nice thing to say? I wasn't trying to be
• 4:12:13
  nice. Then, after a pause, when do you want to go?
• 4:12:20
  Bernice drew in her breath sharply. Oh, it was a little half cry.
• 4:12:28
  Marjorie looked up in surprise. Didn't you say you were going? Yes?
• 4:12:33
  But oh, you were only bluffing. They stared at each other across
• 4:12:39
  the breakfast table for a moment. Misty waves were passing before Bernice's eyes,
• 4:12:43
  while Marjorie's face wore that rather hard expression that she used when slightly intoxicated undergraduates
• 4:12:50
  were making love to her. So you were bluffing, she repeated, as
• 4:12:54
  if it were what she might have expected. Bernice admitted it by bursting into
• 4:13:00
  tears. Marjorie's eyes showed boredom you, my cousin, sobbed Bernice. I'm
• 4:13:09
  visiting you. I was to stay a month, and if I go home,
• 4:13:13
  my mother will know it. Choke what wonder? Marjorie waited until the
• 4:13:18
  shower of broken words collapsed into little sniffles. I'll give you my month's allowance,
• 4:13:24
  she said, coldly, and you can spend this last week anywhere you
• 4:13:28
  want. There's a very nice hotel. Bernice's sobs rose to a flute note,
• 4:13:33
  and rising of a sudden, she fled from the room. An hour
• 4:13:37
  later, while Marjorie was in the library, absorbed in composing one of those
• 4:13:41
  non committal, marvelously elusive letters that only a young girl can write. Bernice
• 4:13:46
  reappeared very red eyed and consciously calm. She cast no glance at Marjorie,
• 4:13:54
  but took a book at random from the shelf and sat down as if to
• 4:13:56
  read. Marjorie seemed absorbed in her letter and continued writing. When the clock
• 4:14:03
  showed noon, Bernice closed her book with a snap. I suppose i'd better
• 4:14:09
  get my railroad ticket. This was not the beginning of the speech she had
• 4:14:13
  rehearsed upstairs, but as Marjorie was not getting her cues, wasn't urging her
• 4:14:18
  to be reasonable. It's all a mistake. It was the best opening she
• 4:14:22
  could muster. Just wait till I finish this letter, said Marjorie, without
• 4:14:26
  looking round. I want to get it off in the next mail. After
• 4:14:31
  another minute, during which her pen scratched busily, she turned round and relaxed
• 4:14:37
  with an air of at your service again, Bernice had to speak. Do
• 4:14:43
  you want me to go home? Well, said Marjorie, considering, I
• 4:14:48
  suppose if you're not having a good time, you'd better go. No use
• 4:14:52
  being miserable. Don't you think common kindness? Oh please, don't quote little
• 4:14:58
  women, cried Marjorie impatiently. That's out of style, you think so heavens,
• 4:15:05
  yes, what modern girl could live like those inane females. They were
• 4:15:09
  the models for our mothers, Marjorie laughed, Yes they were not. Besides,
• 4:15:18
  our mothers are all very well in their way, but they know very
• 4:15:20
  little about their daughter's problems. Bernice drew herself up. Please don't talk about
• 4:15:26
  my mother, Marjorie laughed. I don't think I mentioned her. Bernice felt
• 4:15:33
  that she was being led away from her subject. Do you think you've treated
• 4:15:39
  me very well? I've done my best. You're rather hard material to work
• 4:15:45
  with, the lids of Bernice's eyes reddened. I think you're hard and selfish,
• 4:15:50
  and you haven't a feminine quality in you. Oh, my lord,
• 4:15:56
  cried Marjorie in desperation. You little not like you were responsible for all the
• 4:16:00
  tiresome, colorless marriages, all those ghastly inefficiencies that passes feminine qualities. What
• 4:16:07
  a blow it must be when a man with imagination marries the beautiful bundle of
• 4:16:12
  clothes that he's been building ideas around and finds that she's just a weak,
• 4:16:17
  whining, cowardly massive affectations. Bernice's mouth had slipped half open. The womanly
• 4:16:25
  woman, continued Marjorie, her whole early life is occupied in whining criticisms of
• 4:16:30
  girls like me. You really do have a good time. Bernice's jaw descended
• 4:16:36
  farther as Marjorie's voice rose. There's some excuse for an ugly girl whining.
• 4:16:42
  If I'd been irretrievably ugly, i'd never have forgiven my parents for bringing me
• 4:16:45
  into the world. But you're starting life without any handicap. Marjorie's little fist
• 4:16:52
  clinched. If you expect me to weep with you, you'll be disappointed.
• 4:16:56
  Go or stay just as you like. And picking up her letters, she
• 4:17:00
  left the room. Bernice claimed a headache and failed to appear at luncheon.
• 4:17:07
  They had a matinee date for the afternoon, but the headache persisting. Marjorie
• 4:17:11
  made explanations to a not very downcast boy, but when she returned late in
• 4:17:17
  the afternoon, she found Bernice with a strangely set face waiting for her in
• 4:17:22
  her bedroom. I've decided, began Bernice, without preliminaries, that maybe you're
• 4:17:27
  right about things, possibly not, But if you'll tell me why your friends
• 4:17:32
  aren't aren't interested in me, I'll see if I can do what you want
• 4:17:37
  me to. Marjorie was at the mirror shaking down her hair. Do you
• 4:17:41
  mean it? Yes? Without reservations? Will you do exactly what I say?
• 4:17:49
  Well? I well nothing. Will you do exactly as I say?
• 4:17:56
  If they're sensible things? They're not? And you're no case for sensible things?
• 4:18:03
  Are you going to make to recommend? Yes? Everything? If I
• 4:18:08
  tell you to take boxing lessons, you'll have to do it right home and
• 4:18:12
  tell your mother you're going to stay another two weeks. If you'll tell me
• 4:18:18
  all right, I'll just give you a few examples. Now, First,
• 4:18:23
  you have no ease of manner. Why cause you're never sure about your personal
• 4:18:29
  appearance. When a girl feels that she's perfectly groomed and dressed, she can
• 4:18:33
  forget that part of her that's charm. The more parts of yourself you can
• 4:18:38
  afford to forget, the more charm you have, don't I look all right?
• 4:18:44
  No? For instance, you never take care of your eyebrows. They're
• 4:18:48
  black and lustrous, but by leaving them straggly, they're a blemish. They'd
• 4:18:52
  be beautiful if you'd take care of them in one tenth the time you take
• 4:18:56
  doing nothing. You're going to brush them so that they'll grow straight. Bernice
• 4:19:00
  raised the browsing question. Do you mean to say that men notice eyebrows?
• 4:19:08
  Yes, subconsciously, And when you go home you ought to have your teeth
• 4:19:12
  straightened a little. It's almost imperceptible still. But I thought, interrupted Bernice,
• 4:19:18
  in bewilderment, that you despised little, dainty feminine things like that.
• 4:19:26
  I hate dainty minds, answered Marjorie. But a girl has to be dainty
• 4:19:30
  in person. If she looks like a million dollars, she can talk about
• 4:19:33
  Russia, ping pong or the League of Nations and get away with it.
• 4:19:37
  What else, Oh, I'm just beginning. There's your dancing. Don't I
• 4:19:44
  dance? All right? No? You don't you lean on a man?
• 4:19:48
  Yes, you do, ever so slightly. I noticed it when we were
• 4:19:53
  dancing together yesterday, and you dance standing up straight instead of bending over a
• 4:19:57
  little. Probably some little old lady on the sideline once told you that you
• 4:20:02
  looked so dignified that way. But except with a very small girl, it's
• 4:20:07
  much harder on the man, and he's the one that counts. Go on.
• 4:20:12
  Bernice's brain was reeling, well, you've got to learn to be nice
• 4:20:18
  to men who are sad birds. You look as if you'd been insulted whenever
• 4:20:22
  you're thrown with any except the most popular boys. Why, Bernice, I'm
• 4:20:26
  cutting on every few feet, and who does most of it? Why those
• 4:20:30
  very sad birds. No girl can afford to neglect them. They're the big
• 4:20:34
  part of any crowd. Young boys too shy to talk are the very best
• 4:20:40
  conversational practice. Clumsy boys are the best dancing practice. If you can follow
• 4:20:45
  them and yet look graceful. You can follow a baby tank across a barb
• 4:20:48
  wire skyscraper. Bernice sighed profoundly, but Marjorie was not through. If you
• 4:20:56
  go to a dance and really amuse, say three sad birds that dance with
• 4:21:00
  you, if you talk so well to them that they forget they're stuck with
• 4:21:03
  you, you've done something. They'll come back next time, and gradually,
• 4:21:07
  so many sad birds will dance with you that the attractive boys will see there's
• 4:21:12
  no danger of being stuck. Then they'll dance with you. Yes, agreed
• 4:21:19
  Bernice. Faintly, I think I begin to see, and finally concluded Marjorie,
• 4:21:26
  poise and charm will just come. You'll wake up some morning knowing You've
• 4:21:30
  attained it and men will know it too. Bernice Rose, It's been awfully
• 4:21:37
  kind of you, but nobody's ever talked to me like this before, and
• 4:21:41
  I feel sort of startled. Marjorie made no answer, but gazed pensively at
• 4:21:47
  her own image in the mirror. You're a peach to help me, continued
• 4:21:52
  Bernice. Still Marjorie did not answer, and Bernice thought she had sounded too
• 4:21:56
  grateful. I know you don't like sentiment, she said timidly. Marjorie turned
• 4:22:06
  to her quickly. Oh, I was thinking about that. I was considering
• 4:22:10
  whether we hadn't better bob your hair. Bernice collapsed backwards upon the bed.
• 4:22:19
  Four On the following Wednesday evening, there was a dinner dance at the country
• 4:22:25
  Club. When the guests strolled in, Bernice found her place card with a
• 4:22:30
  slight feeling of irritation. Though at her right sat g Rhee Stoddard, a
• 4:22:34
  most desirable and distinguished young bachelor, the all important left held only Charlie Paulson.
• 4:22:42
  Charlie lacked height, beauty, and social shrewdness, and in her new
• 4:22:48
  enlightenment, Bernice decided that his only qualification to be her partner was that he
• 4:22:52
  had never been stuck with her, but this feeling of irritation left with the
• 4:22:56
  last of the soup plates, and Marjorie specific instruction came to her. Swallowing
• 4:23:03
  her pride, she turned to Charlie Paulson and plunged, do you think I
• 4:23:08
  ought to bob my hair, mister Charley Paulson. Charley looked up in surprise.
• 4:23:15
  Why, because I'm considering it. It's such a sure and easy way
• 4:23:22
  of attracting attention. Charlie smiled pleasantly. He could not know that this had
• 4:23:29
  been rehearsed. He replied that he didn't know much about Bobare, but Bernice
• 4:23:34
  was there to tell him. I want to be a society vampire, you
• 4:23:38
  see, she announced coolly, and went on to inform him that bob Haare
• 4:23:44
  was the necessary prelude. She added that she wanted to ask his advice because
• 4:23:48
  she had heard he was so critical about girls. Charley, who knew as
• 4:23:52
  much about the psychology of women as he did of the mental states of Buddhist
• 4:23:56
  contemplatives, felt vaguely flattered. So I've decided, she continued, her voice
• 4:24:03
  rising slightly, that early next week, I'm going down to the Sevier hotel
• 4:24:07
  barber shop, sit in the first chair and get my hair bobbed. She
• 4:24:11
  faltered, noticing that the people near her had paused in their conversation and were
• 4:24:15
  listening. But after a confused second, Marjorie's coaching told and she finished her
• 4:24:21
  paragraph to the vicinity at large. Of course I'm charging admission, but if
• 4:24:26
  you'll all come down and encourage me, I'll issue passes for the inside seats.
• 4:24:30
  There was a ripple of appreciative laughter, and under cover of it g
• 4:24:34
  Reese Stoddard leaned over quickly and said, close to her ear, I'll take
• 4:24:38
  a box right now. She met his eyes and smiled as if he had
• 4:24:44
  said something surpassingly brilliant. Do you believe in bobbed hair? Asked g Reese
• 4:24:51
  in the same undertone. I think it's unmoral, affirmed Bernice gravely. But
• 4:24:56
  of course you've either got to amuse people or feedom more shock eem Marjorie had
• 4:25:03
  called this from Oscar Wilde. It was greeted with a ripple of laughter from
• 4:25:07
  the man and a series of quick intent looks from the girls, And then,
• 4:25:11
  as though she had said nothing of wit or moment, Bernice turned again
• 4:25:15
  to Charley and spoke confidentially in his ear. I want to ask your opinion
• 4:25:21
  of several people. I imagine you're a wonderful judge of character. Charlie,
• 4:25:26
  thrilled, faintly paid her some compliment by overturning her water. Two hours later,
• 4:25:33
  while Warren MacIntyre was standing passively in the stag line, abstractedly watching the
• 4:25:37
  dancers and wondering whither and with whom Marjorie had disappeared, an unrelated perception began
• 4:25:45
  to creep slowly upon him, a perception that Bernice, cousin to Marjorie,
• 4:25:49
  had been cut in on several times in the past five minutes. He closed
• 4:25:55
  his eyes, opened them and looked again. Several minutes back, she had
• 4:25:59
  been dancing with a visiting boy, a matter easily accounted for a visiting boy
• 4:26:03
  would know no better. But now she was dancing with someone else, and
• 4:26:07
  there was Charlie. Paulsen headed for her with enthusiastic determination in his eye.
• 4:26:14
  Funny Charlie seldom danced with more than three girls an evening. Warren was distinctly
• 4:26:21
  surprised when the exchange having been effected, the man relieved proved to be none
• 4:26:26
  other than g Reese Stoddard himself, and g Reese seemed not at all jubilant
• 4:26:32
  at being relieved. Next time Bernice danced near, Warren regarded her intently.
• 4:26:38
  Yes, she was pretty, distinctly pretty, and to night her face seemed
• 4:26:45
  really vivacious. She had that look that no woman, however histrionically proficient,
• 4:26:49
  can successfully counterfeit. She looked as if she were having a good time.
• 4:26:56
  He liked the way she had her hair arranged, wondered if it was brilliantine
• 4:27:00
  that made it glisten so and that dress was becoming a dark red that set
• 4:27:06
  off her shadowy eyes and high coloring. He remembered that he thought her pretty
• 4:27:10
  when she first came to town, before he realized that she was dull,
• 4:27:14
  too bad. She was dull, dull girls, unbearable, certainly pretty,
• 4:27:18
  though his thoughts zigzagged back to Marjorie. This disappearance would be like other disappearances.
• 4:27:27
  When she reappeared, he would demand where she had been, would be
• 4:27:32
  told emphatically that it was none of his business. What a pity. She
• 4:27:36
  was so sure of him, she basked in the knowledge that no other girl
• 4:27:40
  in town interested him. She defied him to fall in love with jenviev A
• 4:27:45
  ROBERTA. Warren sighed, the way to Marjorie's affections was a labyrinth. Indeed,
• 4:27:52
  he looked up Bernice was again dancing with the visiting boy. Unconsciously,
• 4:28:00
  he took a step out from the stag line in her direction and hesitated.
• 4:28:06
  Then he said to himself that it was charity. He walked toward her,
• 4:28:10
  collided suddenly with g Ree' stoddard. Oh pardon me, said Warren, But
• 4:28:15
  g Ree had not stopped to apologize. He had again cut in on Bernice.
• 4:28:22
  That night, at one o'clock, Marjorie, with one hand on the
• 4:28:25
  electric light switch in the hall, turned to take a last look at Bernice's
• 4:28:29
  sparkling eyes. And so it worked, oh Marjorie, yes, cried Bernice.
• 4:28:37
  I saw you were having a gay time. I did. The only
• 4:28:41
  trouble was that about midnight I ran short of talk. I had to repeat
• 4:28:47
  myself with different men. Of course, I hope they won't compare notes.
• 4:28:52
  Men don't, said Marjorie, yawning, And it wouldn't matter if they did,
• 4:28:57
  they'd think you were even trickier. She snapped out the light, and
• 4:29:03
  as they started up the stairs, Bernice grasped the banister thankfully. For the
• 4:29:07
  first time in her life, she had been danced tired. You see,
• 4:29:15
  said Marjorie, at the top of the stairs, one man sees another man
• 4:29:18
  cut in, and he thinks there must be something there. Well, we'll
• 4:29:22
  fix up some new stuff to morrow. Good night, good night. As
• 4:29:29
  Bernice took down her hair, she passed the evening before her in review.
• 4:29:33
  She had followed instructions exactly, even when Charlie Paulson cut in for the eighth
• 4:29:38
  time. She had simulated delight and had apparently been both interested and flattered.
• 4:29:45
  She had not talked about the weather, or Eau Claire, or automobiles or
• 4:29:48
  her school, but had confined her conversation to me, you and us.
• 4:29:56
  But a few minutes before she fell asleep, a rebellious thought was churning drowsily
• 4:30:00
  in her brain. After all, it was she who had done it.
• 4:30:06
  Marjorie, to be sure, had given her conversation. But then Marjorie got
• 4:30:08
  so much of her conversation out of things she read. Bernice had bought the
• 4:30:14
  red dress, though she had never valued it highly before Marjorie dug it out
• 4:30:18
  of her trunk, and her own voice had said the words, Her own
• 4:30:22
  lips had smiled, her own feet had danced. Marjorie, nice girl,
• 4:30:27
  vain though, nice evening, nice boys like Warren, Warren, Warren,
• 4:30:37
  Ah, what's his name? Warren Warren. She fell asleep five to Bernice.
• 4:30:49
  The next week was a revelation with the feeling that people really enjoyed looking
• 4:30:56
  at her and listening to her came the foundation of self confidence. Of course,
• 4:31:00
  there were numerous mistakes. At first. She did not know, for
• 4:31:03
  instance, that dracott Dale was studying for the ministry. She was unaware that
• 4:31:07
  he had cut in on her because he thought she was a quiet, reserved
• 4:31:11
  girl. Had she known these things, she would not have treated him to
• 4:31:15
  the line which began Hello shell Shock and continued with the bathtub story. It
• 4:31:21
  takes a frightful lot of energy to fix my hair in the summer, There's
• 4:31:25
  so much of it. So I always fix it first and powder my face
• 4:31:27
  and put on my hat. Then I get into the bath tub and dress
• 4:31:32
  afterward. Don't you think that's the best planned? Though draycott Dale was in
• 4:31:37
  the throes of difficulties concerning baptism by immersion and might possibly have seen a connection,
• 4:31:44
  it must be admitted that he did not he considered feminine bathing and immoral
• 4:31:48
  subject, and gave her some of his ideas on the depravity of modern society.
• 4:31:52
  But to offset that unfortunate occurrence, Bernice had several signal successes. To
• 4:31:57
  her credit, little miss Ormond pleaded off from a tribeast and elected instead to
• 4:32:03
  follow her with a puppy like devotion, to the amusement of his crowd and
• 4:32:07
  to the irritation of Geeve Stoddard, several of whose afternoon calls. Otis completely
• 4:32:11
  ruined by the disgusting tenderness of the glances he bent on Bernice. He even
• 4:32:17
  told her the story of the two by four in the dressing room to show
• 4:32:19
  her how frightfully mistaken he and everyone else had been in their first judgment of
• 4:32:23
  her. Bernice laughed off that incident with a slight sinking sensation. Of all
• 4:32:32
  Bernice's conversation, perhaps the best known and most universally approved was the line about
• 4:32:37
  the bobbing of her hair. Oh Bernice, when you going to get the
• 4:32:41
  hair bobbed day after tomorrow? Maybe she would reply, laughing, will you
• 4:32:48
  come and see me? Because I'm counting on you, you know, will
• 4:32:52
  we you know, but better hurry up. Bernice used tonsorial intention and were
• 4:33:00
  strictly dishonorable. Would laugh again pretty soon now he'd be surprised. But perhaps
• 4:33:06
  the most significant symbol of her success was the great car of the hypercritical Warren
• 4:33:11
  MacIntyre parked daily in front of the Harvey house. At first, the parlor
• 4:33:17
  maid was distinctly startled when he asked for Bernice instead of Marjorie. After a
• 4:33:22
  week of it, she told the cook that miss Bernice had got a hold
• 4:33:23
  of Miss Marjorie's best fellow, and Miss Bernice had Perhaps it began with Warren's
• 4:33:30
  desire to rouse jealousy in Marjorie. Perhaps it was the familiar, though unrecognized
• 4:33:36
  strain of Marjorie and Bernice's conversation. Perhaps it was both of these, and
• 4:33:41
  something of sincere attraction besides. But somehow, the collective mind of the younger
• 4:33:45
  set knew within a week that Marjorie's most reliable beau had made an amazing face
• 4:33:51
  about and was giving an indisputable rush to Marjorie's guest. The question of the
• 4:33:56
  moment was how Marjorie would take it. Warren called Bernice on the phone twice
• 4:34:02
  a day, sent her notes, and they were frequently seen together in his
• 4:34:04
  roadster, obviously engrossed in one of those tense significant conversations as to whether or
• 4:34:10
  not he was sincere. Marjorie, on being twitted, only laughed. She
• 4:34:15
  said she was mighty glad that Warren had at last found some one who appreciated
• 4:34:18
  him. So the younger set laughed too, and guessed that Marjorie didn't care,
• 4:34:22
  and let it go at that. One afternoon, when there were only
• 4:34:27
  three days left of her visit, Bernice was waiting in the hall for Warren,
• 4:34:32
  with whom she was going to a bridge party. She was in rather
• 4:34:36
  a blissful mood, and when Marjorie, also bound for the party, appeared
• 4:34:40
  beside her and began casually to adjust her hat in the mirror, Bernice was
• 4:34:44
  utterly unprepared for anything in the nature of a clash. Marjorie did her work
• 4:34:48
  very coldly and succinctly. In three sentences. You may as well get Warren
• 4:34:53
  out of your head, she said coldly, what Bernice was utterly astounded.
• 4:35:00
  You may as well stop making a fool of yourself over Warren MacIntyre. He
• 4:35:04
  doesn't care a snap of his fingers about you. For a tense moment they
• 4:35:11
  regarded each other, Marjorie scornful, aloof Bernice astounded, half angry, half
• 4:35:17
  afraid. Then two cars drove up in front of the house, and there
• 4:35:22
  was a riotous honking. Both of them gasped, faintly, turned and side
• 4:35:26
  by side hurried out all through the bridge party. Bernice strove in vain to
• 4:35:32
  master a rising uneasiness. She had offended Marjorie, the Sphinx of sphinxes,
• 4:35:38
  with the most wholesome and innocent intentions in the world. She had stolen Marjorie's
• 4:35:42
  property. She felt suddenly and horribly guilty. After the bridge came, when
• 4:35:49
  they sat in an informal circle and the conversation became general, the storm gradually
• 4:35:55
  broke. Little otis Ormond inadvertently precipitated it. When you going back to kindergarten.
• 4:36:02
  Notice someone had asked me, dey Bernice gets her hair bobbed, then
• 4:36:08
  your education's over, said Marjorie quickly. That's only a bluff of hers.
• 4:36:12
  I should think you'd realized that a fact demanded otis giving Bernice a reproachful glance.
• 4:36:22
  Bernice's ears burned as she tried to think of an effectual comeback. In
• 4:36:26
  the face of this direct attack, her imagination was paralyzed. There's a lot
• 4:36:30
  of bluffs in the world, continued Marjorie, quite pleasantly. I should think
• 4:36:34
  you'd be young enough to know that otis well, said otis. Maybe so,
• 4:36:40
  But gee, with a line like Bernice's, really, yawned Marjorie,
• 4:36:45
  what's her latest bon mow? No one seemed to know. In fact,
• 4:36:51
  Bernice, having trifled with her muses Beaux, had said nothing memorable of late.
• 4:36:56
  Was that really all a line? Asked roberta curiously. Bernice hesitated.
• 4:37:04
  She felt that wit in some form was demanded of her, but under her
• 4:37:08
  cousin's suddenly frigid eyes, she was completely incapacitated. I don't know, she
• 4:37:15
  stalled, Splush, said Marjorie, admit it. Bernice saw that Warren's eyes
• 4:37:22
  had left a eukulele he had been tinkering with and were fixed on her questioningly.
• 4:37:27
  Oh, I don't know, she repeated steadily. Her cheeks were glowing,
• 4:37:33
  Splush, remarked Marjorie again. Come through, Bernice urged ODIs tell her
• 4:37:40
  where to get off. Bernice looked round again. She seemed unable to get
• 4:37:45
  away from Warren's eyes. I like bobbed hair, she said, hurriedly,
• 4:37:51
  as if he had asked her a question, and I intend to bob mine.
• 4:37:56
  When demanded Marjorie, any time, No time like the present, suggested
• 4:38:03
  Roberta. Otis jumped to his feet. Good stuff, he cried, We'll
• 4:38:07
  have a summer bobbing party. Cepier, Hotel, barbershop, I think you
• 4:38:11
  said. In an instant, all were on their feet. Bernice's heart throbbed
• 4:38:18
  violently. What she gasped out of the group came Marjorie's voice, very clear
• 4:38:25
  and contemptuous. Don't worry, she'll back out. Come on, Bernice cried,
• 4:38:33
  Otis, starting towards the door. Four eyes, Warren's and Marjorie's stared
• 4:38:40
  at her, challenged her, defied her for another second. She wavered wildly.
• 4:38:48
  All right, she said, swiftly, I don't care if I do.
• 4:38:52
  An eternity of minutes later, riding downtown through the late afternoon, beside
• 4:38:56
  Warren, the others following in Roberta's car close behind, Bernice had all the
• 4:39:02
  sensations of Marie Antoinette bound for the guillotine in a tumbril. Vaguely, she
• 4:39:07
  wondered why she did not cry out that it was all a mistake. It
• 4:39:11
  was all she could do to keep from clutching her hair with both hands,
• 4:39:12
  to protect it from the suddenly hostile world. Yet she did neither. Even
• 4:39:19
  the thought of her mother was no deterrent. Now this was the test supreme
• 4:39:25
  of her sportsmanship, her right to walk unchallenged in the starry heaven of popular
• 4:39:30
  girls. Warren was moodily silent, and when they came to the hotel,
• 4:39:37
  he drew up at the curb and nodded to Bernice to precede him out.
• 4:39:41
  Roberta's car emptied a laughing crowd into the shop, which presented two bold plate
• 4:39:45
  glass windows to the street. Bernice stood on the curb and looked at the
• 4:39:51
  sign. It was a guillotine, indeed, and the hangman was the first
• 4:39:56
  barber, who attired in a white coat and smoking a cigarette, leaned nonchalantly
• 4:40:02
  against the first chair. You must have heard of her. He must have
• 4:40:06
  been waiting all week, smoking eternal cigarettes. Beside that portentous too often mentioned
• 4:40:11
  first chair. They'd blindfold her, no, but they would tie a white
• 4:40:17
  cloth round her neck lest any of her blood, nonsense hair should get on
• 4:40:22
  her clothes, all right, Bernice said Warren. Quickly, with her chin
• 4:40:29
  in the air, she crossed the sidewalk, pushed open the swinging screen door,
• 4:40:33
  and, giving not a glance to the uproarious, riotous row that occupied
• 4:40:38
  the waiting bench, went up to the first barber. I want you to
• 4:40:42
  bob my hair. The first barber's mouth slid somewhat open, his cigarette dropped
• 4:40:49
  to the floor. Huh, my hair, bob it. Refusing further preliminaries,
• 4:41:00
  Bernice took her seat on high. A man in the chair next to
• 4:41:03
  her turned on his side and gave her a glance half lather, half amazement.
• 4:41:10
  One barber started and spoiled little Willie Schunemann's monthly hair cut. Mister O'Reilly
• 4:41:15
  in the last chair grunted and swore musically an ancient Gaelic as a razor bit
• 4:41:19
  into his cheek. Two bootblacks became wide eyed and rushed for her feet.
• 4:41:26
  No, Bernice didn't care for a shine outside. A passer by stopped and
• 4:41:32
  stared. A couple joined him. Half a dozen small boys, noses sprang
• 4:41:37
  into life, flattened against the glass, and snatches of conversation borne on the
• 4:41:42
  summer breeze drifted in through the screen door. Look her long hair on a
• 4:41:47
  kid, where'd you get at stuff? That's a bearded lady. He just
• 4:41:51
  finish shaven. But Bernice saw nothing, heard nothing. Her only living sense
• 4:41:59
  told her that this man in the white coat had removed one tortoise shell comb
• 4:42:03
  and then another, That his fingers were fumbling clumsily with unfamiliar hairpins. That
• 4:42:10
  this hair, this wonderful hair of hers, was going. She would never
• 4:42:15
  again feel its long, voluptuous pull as it hung in a dark brown glory
• 4:42:19
  down her back. For a second she was near breaking down, and then
• 4:42:23
  the picture before her swam mechanically into her vision, Marjorie's mouth curling into a
• 4:42:30
  faint ironic smile, as if to say, give up and get down.
• 4:42:33
  You tried to buck me, and I called your bluff. You see,
• 4:42:37
  you haven't got a prayer? And some last energy rose up in Bernice,
• 4:42:41
  for she clinched her hands under the white cloth, and there was a curious
• 4:42:45
  narrowing of her eyes that Marjorie remarked on to some one long afterward. Twenty
• 4:42:52
  minutes later, the barber swung her round to face the mirror, and she
• 4:42:56
  flinched at the full extent of the damage that had been wrought. Her hair
• 4:43:00
  was not curly, and now it lay in lank, lifeless blocks on both
• 4:43:06
  sides of her suddenly pale face. It was ugly as sin. She had
• 4:43:12
  known it would be ugly as sin. Her face's chief charm had been a
• 4:43:17
  madonna like simplicity. Now that was gone, and she was well, frightfully
• 4:43:22
  mediocre, not stagy, only ridiculous, like a Greenwich villager who had left
• 4:43:29
  her spectacles at home. As she climbed down from the chair, she tried
• 4:43:33
  to smile, failed miserably. She saw two of the girls exchange glances.
• 4:43:41
  Noticed Marjorie's mouth curved in attenuated mockery, and that Warren's eyes were suddenly very
• 4:43:47
  cold. You see Her words fell into an awkward pause. I've done it.
• 4:43:56
  Yes, you've done it, admitted Warren. Do you like it?
• 4:44:03
  There was a half hearted sure from two or three voices, another awkward pause,
• 4:44:11
  and then Marjorie turned swiftly and with serpent like intensity to Warren. Would
• 4:44:17
  you mind running me down to the cleaners, She asked, I've simply got
• 4:44:21
  to get a dress there before supper. Robert is driving right home, and
• 4:44:25
  she can take the others. Warren stared abstractedly at some infinite speck out the
• 4:44:30
  window, Then, for an instant his eyes rested coldly on Bernice before they
• 4:44:36
  turned to Marjorie. Be glad to, he said slowly. Six. Bernice
• 4:44:45
  did not fully realize the outrageous trap that had been set for her until she
• 4:44:49
  met her aunt's amazed glance just before dinner. Why, Bernice, I've bobbed
• 4:44:59
  it, Aunt josephe Why Child? Don't you like it? Why? Bernice,
• 4:45:08
  I suppose I've shocked you. No, But what do missus Dale think
• 4:45:12
  tomorrow night? Bernice? You should have waited until after the Dao's dance.
• 4:45:18
  You should have waited if you wanted to do that. It was sudden,
• 4:45:22
  Aunt Josephine. Anyway, what does it matter to missus Dale? Particularly why
• 4:45:29
  child? Cried missus Harvey in her paper on the Foibles of the Younger Generation
• 4:45:33
  that she read at the last meeting of the Thursday Club, she devoted fifteen
• 4:45:37
  minutes to bobed hare. It's her pet abomination and the dance is for you
• 4:45:42
  and Marjorie. I'm sorry, oh Bernice, what'll your mother say? She'll
• 4:45:52
  think I let you do it? I'm sorry. Dinner was an agony.
• 4:46:00
  She had made a hasty attempt with a curling iron and burned her finger and
• 4:46:04
  much hair. She could see that her aunt was both worried and grieved,
• 4:46:10
  and her uncle kept saying I'll be darned over and over in a hurt and
• 4:46:15
  faintly hostile tone, and Marjorie sat very quietly, intrenched behind a faint smile,
• 4:46:23
  a faintly mocking smile. Somehow she got through the evening. Three boys
• 4:46:30
  called. Marjorie disappeared with one of them, and Bernice made a listless,
• 4:46:36
  unsuccessful attempt to entertain the two others. Sighed thankfully as she climbed the stairs
• 4:46:41
  to her room at half past ten, What a day. When she had
• 4:46:48
  undressed for the night, the door opened and Marjorie came in Bernice. She
• 4:46:52
  said, I'm awfully sorry about the day o dance. I'll give you my
• 4:46:56
  word of honor. I'd forgotten all about it, sorry, said Bernice.
• 4:47:02
  Shortly Standing before the mirror, she passed her comb slowly through her short hair.
• 4:47:08
  I'll take you down to morrow, continued Marjorie. And I heard are
• 4:47:11
  so I'll fix it so you'll look slick. I didn't imagine you go through
• 4:47:15
  with it. I'm really mighty sorry. Oh it's all right. Still,
• 4:47:23
  it's your last night, so I suppose it won't matter much. Then Bernice
• 4:47:29
  winced as Marjorie tossed her own hair over her shoulders and began to twist it
• 4:47:33
  slowly into two long, blonde braids, until in her cream colored negligee she
• 4:47:37
  looked like a delicate painting of some Saxon princess. Fascinated, Bernice watched the
• 4:47:44
  braids grow heavy and luminous. They were moving under the supple fingers like restive
• 4:47:51
  snakes, and to Bernice remained this relic and the curling iron, and a
• 4:47:56
  tomorrow full of eyes. She could see Gee Rhes Stoddard, who liked her,
• 4:48:00
  assuming his Harvard manner and telling his dinner partner that Bernice shouldn't have been
• 4:48:04
  allowed to go to the movies so much. She could see Dracott do exchanging
• 4:48:10
  glances with his mother and then being conscientiously charitable to her. But then perhaps
• 4:48:15
  by tomorrow missus Dale would have heard the news, would send round an icy
• 4:48:18
  little note requesting that she failed to appear, and behind her back they would
• 4:48:23
  all laugh and know that Marjorie had made a fool of her that her chance
• 4:48:27
  at beauty had been sacrificed to the jealous whim of a selfish girl. She
• 4:48:33
  sat down suddenly before the mirror, biting the inside of her cheek. I
• 4:48:38
  like it, she said, with an effort. I think it'll be becoming.
• 4:48:44
  Marjorie smiled. It looks all right. For Heaven's sake. Don't let
• 4:48:48
  it worry you. I won't. Good night, Bernice. But as the
• 4:48:56
  door closed something snapped within. She sprang dynamically to her feet, clinching her
• 4:49:03
  hands, then swiftly and noiselessly crossed over to her bed, and from underneath
• 4:49:08
  it dragged out her suit case. Into it, she tossed toilet articles in
• 4:49:12
  a change of clothing. Then she turned to her trunk and quickly dumped in
• 4:49:17
  two drawer fulls of lingerie and summer dresses. She moved quietly but with deadly
• 4:49:22
  efficiency, and in three quarters of an hour her trunk was locked and strapped,
• 4:49:26
  and she was fully dressed in a becoming new traveling suit that Marjorie had
• 4:49:30
  helped her pick out. Sitting down at her desk, she wrote a short
• 4:49:33
  note to missus Harvey in which she briefly outlined her reasons for going. She
• 4:49:40
  sealed it, addressed it, and laid it on her pillow. She glanced
• 4:49:42
  at her watch. The train left at one, and she knew that if
• 4:49:45
  she walked down to the Marlborough Hotel, two blocks away, she could easily
• 4:49:49
  get a taxicab. Suddenly, she drew in her breath sharply, and an
• 4:49:56
  expression flashed into her eyes that a practiced character reader might have connected vaguely with
• 4:50:00
  the set look she had worn in the barber's chair, somehow a development of
• 4:50:06
  it. It was quite a new look for Bernice, and it carried consequences.
• 4:50:11
  She went stealthily to the bureau, picked up an article that lay there,
• 4:50:15
  and, turning out all the lights, stood quietly until her eyes became
• 4:50:19
  accustomed to the darkness. Softly, she pushed open the door to Marjorie's room.
• 4:50:26
  She heard the quiet, even breathing of an untroubled conscience asleep. She
• 4:50:33
  was by the bedside, Now very deliberate and calm, she acted swiftly.
• 4:50:38
  Bending over, she found one of the braids of Marjorie's hair, followed it
• 4:50:42
  up with her hand to the point nearest the head, and then holding it
• 4:50:45
  a little slack, so that the sleeper would feel no pull. She reached
• 4:50:49
  down with the shears and severed it. With the pigtail in her hand,
• 4:50:55
  she held her breath. Marjorie had muttered something in her sleep. Bernice deftly
• 4:51:02
  amputated the other braid, paused for an instant, and then flitted swiftly and
• 4:51:07
  silently back to her own room downstairs. She opened the big front door,
• 4:51:12
  closed it carefully behind her, and, feeling oddly happy and exuberant, stepped
• 4:51:18
  off the porch into the moonlight, swinging her heavy grip like a shopping bag.
• 4:51:25
  After a minute's brisk walk, she discovered that her left hand still held
• 4:51:27
  the two blond braids. She laughed unexpectedly, had to shut her mouth hard
• 4:51:33
  to keep from emitting an absolute peal. She was passing Warren's house now,
• 4:51:38
  and on the impulse, she set down her baggage, and, swinging the
• 4:51:42
  braids like pieces of rope, flung them at the wooden porch, where they
• 4:51:47
  landed with a slight thud. She laughed again. No longer restraining herself,
• 4:51:52
  ha she giggled wildly, scalp the selfish thing. Then picking up her suitcase,
• 4:52:00
  she set off at a half run down the moonlit street Benediction One.
• 4:52:08
  The Baltimore station was hot and crowded, so Lois was forced to stand by
• 4:52:12
  the telegraph desk for interminable, sticky seconds while a clerk with big front teeth
• 4:52:18
  counted and recounted a large Lady's Day message to determine whether it contained the innocuous
• 4:52:25
  forty nine words or the fatal fifty one. Lois Waiting decided she wasn't quite
• 4:52:32
  sure of the address, so she took the letter out of her bag and
• 4:52:34
  ran over it again. Darling, it began, I understand, and I'm
• 4:52:41
  happier than life ever meant me to be if I could give you the things
• 4:52:45
  you've always been in tune with. But I can't, Lois, we can't
• 4:52:49
  marry, and we can't let all this glorious love end in nothing. Until
• 4:52:55
  your letter came, dear, I'd been sitting here in the half dark and
• 4:52:57
  thinking where I could go and never forget you. Abroad, perhaps to drift
• 4:53:03
  through Italy or Spain and dream away the pain of having lost you, where
• 4:53:07
  the crumbling ruins of older, melloware civilizations would mirror only the desolation of my
• 4:53:11
  heart. And then your letter came, sweetest, bravest girl, if you'll
• 4:53:18
  wire me, I'll meet you in Wilmington till then I'll be here, just
• 4:53:22
  waiting and hoping for every long dream of you to come true. Howard.
• 4:53:27
  She had read the letter so many times that she knew it word by word,
• 4:53:30
  yet it still startled her. In it, she found many faint reflections
• 4:53:36
  of the man who wrote it, the mingled sweetness and sadness in his dark
• 4:53:40
  eyes, the furtive, restless excitement she felt sometimes when he talked to her,
• 4:53:45
  his dreamy sensuousness that lulled her mind to sleep. Lois was nineteen and
• 4:53:52
  very romantic, and curious and courageous. The large lady and the clerk having
• 4:53:57
  compromised on fifty words, Lois took a blank and wrote her telegram, and
• 4:54:03
  there were no overtones to the finality of her decision. It's just destiny,
• 4:54:08
  she thought, It's just the way things work out in this damned world.
• 4:54:12
  If cowardice is all that's been holding me back, there won't be any more
• 4:54:15
  holding back. So we'll just let things take their course and never be sorry.
• 4:54:22
  The clerk scanned her telegram, arrived Baltimore to day spend day with my
• 4:54:29
  brother. Meet me Wilmington, three p m. Wednesday, Love Lois fifty
• 4:54:37
  four cents, said the clerk, admiringly. And never be sorry, thought
• 4:54:41
  Lois, And never be sorry. Two trees filtering light on to dapple grass.
• 4:54:52
  Trees like tall languid ladies with feather fans, coquetting airily with the ugly
• 4:54:57
  roof of the monastery. Trees like butlers, bending courteously over placid walks and
• 4:55:04
  paths. Trees trees over the hills on either side, and scattering out in
• 4:55:10
  clumps and lines and woods all through Eastern Maryland. Delicate lace on the hems
• 4:55:17
  of many yellow fields, dark opaque backgrounds for flowered bushes or wild climbing garden.
• 4:55:26
  Some of the trees were very gay and young, but the monastery trees
• 4:55:30
  were older than the monastery, which, by true monastic standards wasn't very old
• 4:55:34
  at all, and as a matter of fact, it wasn't technically called a
• 4:55:38
  monastery, but only a seminary. Nevertheless, it shall be a monastery here,
• 4:55:44
  despite its Victorian architecture, or its Edward the Seventh editions, or even
• 4:55:48
  its Woodrow Wilsonian patented last dysentery roofing out. Behind was the farm, where
• 4:55:56
  half a dozen lay brothers were sweating lustily as they moved with dead efficiency around
• 4:56:00
  the vegetable gardens. To the left, behind a row of elms, was
• 4:56:06
  an informal baseball diamond, where three in offices were being batted out by a
• 4:56:10
  fourth and made great chasings and puffings and blowings. And in front, as
• 4:56:15
  a great mellow bell boomed the half hour, a swarm of black human leaves
• 4:56:21
  were blown out over the checkerboard of paths under the courteous trees. Some of
• 4:56:26
  these black leaves were very old, with cheeks furrowed like the first ripples of
• 4:56:30
  a splashed pool. Then there was a scattering of middle aged leaves, whose
• 4:56:36
  forms, when viewed in profile in their revealing gowns, were beginning to be
• 4:56:41
  faintly unsymmetrical. These carried thick volumes of Thomas Aquinas and Henry James, and
• 4:56:47
  Cardinal Mercier and Immanuel Kant, and many bulging note books filled with lecture data.
• 4:56:55
  But most numerous were the young leaves, blonde boys of nineteen with very
• 4:57:00
  stern, conscientious expressions, men in the late twenties with a keen self assurance
• 4:57:06
  from having taught out in the world for five years, several hundreds of them
• 4:57:11
  from city and town and country in Maryland and Pennsylvania and Virginia and West Virginia
• 4:57:15
  and Delaware. There were many Americans, and some Irish, and some tough
• 4:57:21
  Irish, and a few French, and several Italians and Poles. And they
• 4:57:26
  walked informally arm in arm with each other, in twos and threes, or
• 4:57:30
  in long rows, almost universally distinguished by the straight mouth and the considerable chin.
• 4:57:37
  For this was the Society of Jesus, founded in Spain five hundred years
• 4:57:41
  before by a tough minded soldier who trained men to hold a breach or a
• 4:57:45
  salon, preach a sermon, or write a treaty, and do it and
• 4:57:49
  not argue. Lois got out of a bus into the sunshine down by the
• 4:57:56
  outer gate. She was nineteen, with yellow hair and eyes that people were
• 4:58:00
  tactful enough not to call green. When men of talent saw her in a
• 4:58:06
  street car, they often furtively produced little stub pencils and backs of envelopes and
• 4:58:11
  tried to sum up that profile or the thing that the eyebrows did to her
• 4:58:15
  eyes. Later they looked at their results, and usually tore them up with
• 4:58:19
  wondering sighs. Though Lois was very jauntily attired in an expensively appropriate traveling affair,
• 4:58:27
  she did not linger to pat out the dust which covered her clothes,
• 4:58:32
  but started up the central walk with curious glances at either side. Her face
• 4:58:37
  was very eager and expected. Yet she hadn't at all that glorified expression that
• 4:58:41
  girls wear when they arrived for a senior prom at Princeton or New Haven.
• 4:58:47
  Still, as there were no senior proms here, perhaps it didn't matter.
• 4:58:52
  She was wondering what he would look like, whether she'd possibly know him from
• 4:58:56
  his picture in the picture which hung over her mud bureau at home, he
• 4:59:00
  seemed very young and hollow cheeked and rather pitiful, with only a well developed
• 4:59:07
  mouth and an ill fitting probationer's gown to show that he had already made a
• 4:59:10
  momentous decision about his life. Of course, he had been only nineteen then,
• 4:59:15
  and now he was thirty six. Didn't look like that at all in
• 4:59:19
  recent snapshots. He was much broader, and his hair had grown a little
• 4:59:22
  thin. But the impression of her brother she had always retained was that of
• 4:59:27
  the big picture, and so she had always been a little sorry for him.
• 4:59:33
  What a life for a man, Seventeen years of preparation, and he
• 4:59:37
  wasn't even a priest yet wouldn't be for another year. Lois had an idea
• 4:59:42
  that this was all going to be rather solemn if she let it be.
• 4:59:45
  But she was going to give her very best imitation of undiluted sunshine, the
• 4:59:49
  imitation she could give even when her head was splitting, or when her mother
• 4:59:53
  had a nervous breakdown, or when she was particularly romantic and curious and courageous.
• 5:00:00
  This brother of hers undoubtedly needed cheering up, and he was going to
• 5:00:03
  be cheered up, whether he liked it or not. As she drew near
• 5:00:10
  the great homely front door, she saw a man break suddenly away from a
• 5:00:14
  group, and, pulling up the skirts of his gown, run toward her.
• 5:00:18
  He was smiling, she noticed, and he looked very big and and
• 5:00:23
  reliable. She stopped and waited, knew that her heart was beating unusually fast.
• 5:00:30
  Lois. He cried, and in a second she was in his arms.
• 5:00:34
  She was suddenly trembling. Lois. He cried again, Why this is
• 5:00:40
  wonderful? I can't tell you, Lois how much I've been looking forward to
• 5:00:44
  this. Why, Lois, You're beautiful, Lois, gasped. His voice,
• 5:00:51
  though restrained, was vibrant with energy and that odd sort of enveloping personality
• 5:00:56
  she had thought that she only of the family possessed. I'm mighty glad too,
• 5:01:00
  Keith. She flushed, but not unhappily at this first use of his
• 5:01:07
  name. Lois, Lois Lois, he repeated, in wonder child. We'll
• 5:01:12
  go in here a minute because I want you to meet the rector, and
• 5:01:15
  then we'll walk around. I have a thousand things to talk to you about.
• 5:01:19
  His voice became graver. How's mother? She looked at him for a
• 5:01:26
  moment, and then said something that she had not intended to say at all,
• 5:01:30
  the very sort of thing she had resolved to avoid. Uh oh,
• 5:01:37
  Keith, she's she's getting worse all the time every way. He nodded slowly,
• 5:01:42
  as if he understood nervous. Well, you can tell me about that
• 5:01:48
  later. Now she was in a small study with a large desk, saying
• 5:01:55
  something to a little jovial, white haired priest who retained her hand for some
• 5:01:59
  seconds. So this is Lois, he said it, as though he had
• 5:02:03
  heard of her for years. He entreated her to sit down. Two other
• 5:02:08
  priests arrived enthusiastically and shook hands with her and addressed her as Keith's little sister,
• 5:02:15
  which she found she didn't mind a bit, how assured they seemed.
• 5:02:18
  She had expected a certain shyness reserve. At least. There were several jokes
• 5:02:25
  unintelligible to her which seemed to delight every one, and the little Father Rector
• 5:02:29
  referred to the trio of them as dim old monks, which she appreciated because
• 5:02:33
  of course they weren't monks at all. She had a lightning impression that they
• 5:02:37
  were especially fond of Keith. The Father Rector called him Keith, and one
• 5:02:42
  of the others had kept a hand on his shoulder all through the conversation.
• 5:02:48
  Then she was shaking hands again and promising to come back a little later for
• 5:02:51
  some ice cream, and smiling and smiling, and being rather absurdly happy.
• 5:02:56
  She told herself that it was because Keith was so delighted and showing her off.
• 5:03:02
  Then she and Keith were strolling along a path arm in arm, and
• 5:03:06
  he was informing her what an absolute jewel the Father Rector was Lois. He
• 5:03:11
  broke off suddenly I want to tell you before we go any farther how much
• 5:03:15
  it means to me to have you come up here. I think it was
• 5:03:19
  mighty sweet of you. I know what a gay time you've been having,
• 5:03:25
  Lois gasped. She was not prepared for this at first. When she had
• 5:03:30
  conceived the plan of taking the hot journey down to Baltimore, staying the night
• 5:03:33
  with a friend, and then coming out to see her brother, she had
• 5:03:37
  felt rather consciously virtuous, hoped he wouldn't be priggish or resentful about her not
• 5:03:41
  having come before. But walking with him under the trees seemed such a little
• 5:03:47
  thing, and surprisingly a happy thing. Why Keith, she said quickly.
• 5:03:52
  You know I couldn't have waited a day longer. I saw you when I
• 5:03:56
  was five, but of course I didn't remember, and how could I have
• 5:03:59
  gone on without practically ever having seen my only brother. It was mighty sweet
• 5:04:04
  of you, Lois, he repeated. Lois blushed. He did have personality.
• 5:04:12
  I want you to tell me all about yourself, he said, after
• 5:04:15
  a pause. Of course I've a general idea what you and mother did in
• 5:04:19
  Europe those fourteen years, and then we were all so worried, Lois when
• 5:04:25
  you had pneumonia and couldn't come down with mother. Let's see, that was
• 5:04:29
  two years ago. And then, well, I've seen your name in the
• 5:04:32
  papers, but it's all been so unsatisfactory. I haven't known you, Lois.
• 5:04:38
  She found herself analyzing his personality as she analyzed the personality of every man
• 5:04:42
  she met. She wondered if the effect of intimacy that he gave was bred
• 5:04:48
  by his constant repetition of her name. He said it as if he loved
• 5:04:53
  the word, as if it had an inherent meaning to him. Then you
• 5:04:57
  were at school, he continued, Yes, at Farmington. Mother wanted me
• 5:05:03
  to go to a convent, but I didn't want to. She cast aside,
• 5:05:07
  glance at him to see if he would resent this, but he only
• 5:05:11
  nodded slowly. Had enough convents abroad, eh, Yes, and Keith,
• 5:05:18
  convents are so different there anyway, here, even in the nicest ones,
• 5:05:23
  there are so many common girls. He nodded again. Yes, he agreed.
• 5:05:30
  I suppose there are. And I know how you feel about it,
• 5:05:33
  he grated on me here at first, Lois, though I wouldn't say that
• 5:05:37
  to anyone, but you were rather sensitive, you and I to things like
• 5:05:41
  this. You mean the men here. Yes. Some of them, of
• 5:05:47
  course were fine, the sort of men I'd always been thrown with. But
• 5:05:49
  there were others, a man named Reagan, for instance. I hated the
• 5:05:55
  fellow, and now he's about the best friend. I have a wonderful character,
• 5:05:59
  Lois, You'll meet a later sort of man you'd like to have with
• 5:06:02
  you in a fight. Lois was thinking that Keith was the sort of man
• 5:06:06
  she'd like to have with her in a fight. How did you, How
• 5:06:10
  did you first happen to do it? She asked, rather shyly, to
• 5:06:14
  come here? I mean, of course mother told me the story about the
• 5:06:17
  pullman car. Oh that he looked rather annoyed. Tell me that I'd like
• 5:06:25
  to hear you tell it. Oh, it's nothing except what you probably know.
• 5:06:30
  It was evening and I'd been riding all day and thinking about about a
• 5:06:33
  hundred things, Lois, And then suddenly I had a sense that some one
• 5:06:37
  was sitting across from me, felt that he'd been there for some time,
• 5:06:40
  and had a vague idea that he was another traveler. All at once he
• 5:06:45
  leaned over toward me, and I heard a voice say, I want you
• 5:06:48
  to be a priest. That's what I want. Well, I jumped up
• 5:06:52
  and cried out, oh my god, not that made an idiot of myself
• 5:06:57
  before about twenty people. You see, there wasn't any one sitting there at
• 5:07:02
  all. A week after that, I went to the Jesuit College in Philadelphia
• 5:07:06
  and crawled up the last flight of stairs to the rector's office on my hands
• 5:07:08
  and knees. There was another silence, and Lois saw that her brother's eyes
• 5:07:14
  wore a far away look, that he was staring unseeingly out over the sunny
• 5:07:18
  fields. She was stirred by the modulations of his voice and the sudden silence
• 5:07:23
  that seemed to flow about him when he finished speaking. She noticed now that
• 5:07:27
  his eyes were of the same fiber as hers, with the green left out,
• 5:07:32
  and that his mouth was much gentler really than in the picture. Or
• 5:07:36
  was it that the face had grown up to it? Lately? He was
• 5:07:38
  getting a little bald just on top of his head. She wondered if that
• 5:07:42
  was from wearing a hat. So much seemed awful for a man to grow
• 5:07:47
  bald and no one to care about it. Were you pious when you were
• 5:07:52
  young, Keith? She asked, you know what I mean? Were you
• 5:07:55
  religious? If you don't mind these personal questions, yes, he said,
• 5:08:00
  with his eyes still far away, and she felt that his intense abstraction was
• 5:08:06
  as much a part of his personality as his attention. Yes, I suppose
• 5:08:11
  I was when I was sober, Lois thrilled slightly. Did you drink?
• 5:08:18
  He nodded. I was on the way to making a bad hash of things.
• 5:08:25
  He smiled, and, turning his gray eyes on her, changed the
• 5:08:27
  subject. Child, tell me about mother. I know it's been awfully hard
• 5:08:33
  for you there lately. I know you've had to sacrifice a lot and put
• 5:08:37
  up with a great deal, and I want you to know how fine of
• 5:08:40
  you I think it is. I feel, Lois, that you're sort of
• 5:08:42
  taking the place of both of us there. Lois thought quickly how little she
• 5:08:48
  had sacrificed, how lately she had constantly avoided her nervous half invalid mother.
• 5:08:55
  Youth shouldn't be sacrificed to age, Keith, she said steadily. I know,
• 5:09:02
  he sighed, and you oughtn't to have the weight on your shoulders,
• 5:09:04
  child. I wish I were there to help you. She saw how quickly
• 5:09:10
  he had turned her remark, and instantly she knew what this quality was that
• 5:09:14
  he gave off he was sweet. Her thoughts went off on a side track,
• 5:09:19
  and then she broke the silence with an odd remark. Sweetness is hard,
• 5:09:26
  she said suddenly, what nothing? She denied in confusion. I didn't
• 5:09:33
  mean to speak aloud. I was thinking of something of a conversation with a
• 5:09:37
  man named Freddy Kebbll, Maury Kebble's brother. Yes, she said, rather
• 5:09:42
  surprised to think of having known Maury Kebll. Still, there was nothing strange
• 5:09:48
  about it. Well, he and I were talking about sweetness a few weeks
• 5:09:52
  ago. Oh, I don't know. I said that a man named Howard,
• 5:09:57
  that a man I knew was sweet, and he didn't agree with me,
• 5:10:00
  and we began talking about what sweetness in a man was. He kept
• 5:10:04
  telling me I meant a sort of soppy softness, but I knew I didn't
• 5:10:10
  yet I didn't know exactly how to put it. I see now, I
• 5:10:14
  meant just the opposite. I suppose real sweetness is a sort of hardness and
• 5:10:18
  strength. Keith nodded. I see what you mean. I've known old priests
• 5:10:25
  who had it. I'm talking about young men, she said, rather defiantly.
• 5:10:32
  They had reached the now deserted baseball diamond and pointing her to a wooden
• 5:10:37
  bench he sprawled full length on the grass. Are these young men happy here,
• 5:10:42
  Keith? And don't they look happy? Laws? I suppose so.
• 5:10:48
  But those young ones, those two we just passed, have they are they?
• 5:10:55
  Are they signed up? He laughed? No, but they will be
• 5:10:59
  next month permanently, Yes, until they break down mentally or physically. Of
• 5:11:07
  course, in a discipline like ours, a lot drop out. But those
• 5:11:11
  boys, are they giving up fine chances outside like you did? He nodded,
• 5:11:18
  Some of them? But Keith, they don't know what they're doing.
• 5:11:22
  They haven't had any experience of what they're missing. No, I suppose not.
• 5:11:29
  It doesn't seem fair. Life has just sort of scared them at first.
• 5:11:33
  Do they all come in so young? No? Some of them have
• 5:11:37
  knocked around that pretty wild lives Reagan, for instance. I should think that
• 5:11:42
  sort would be better, she said meditatively, Men that have seen life.
• 5:11:48
  No, said Keith earnestly. I'm not sure that knocking about gives a man
• 5:11:52
  the sort of experience he can communicate to others. Some of the broadest men
• 5:11:56
  I've known have been absolutely rigid about themselves and reformed Libertines are a notoriously intolerant
• 5:12:03
  class. Don't you think so, Lois? She nodded, still meditative,
• 5:12:08
  and he continued. It seems to me that when one weak reason goes to
• 5:12:14
  another, it isn't help they want. It's a sort of companionship in guilt,
• 5:12:18
  Lois. After you were born, when mother began to get nervous,
• 5:12:22
  she used to go and weep with a certain missus comstock Lord. It used
• 5:12:27
  to make me shiver, she said, it comforted her, poor old mother.
• 5:12:33
  No, I don't think that to help others, you've got to show
• 5:12:34
  yourself at all. Real help comes from a stronger person whom you respect,
• 5:12:41
  and their sympathy is all the bigger because it's impersonal. But people want human
• 5:12:45
  sympathy, objected, Lois. They want to feel the other persons being tempted,
• 5:12:52
  Lois in their hearts. They want to feel that the other person's being
• 5:12:55
  weak. That's what they mean by human here in this old monkery law,
• 5:13:00
  he continued with a smile, they try to get all that self pity and
• 5:13:03
  pride in our own wills out of us right at the first. They put
• 5:13:07
  us to scrubbing floors and other things. It's like that idea of saving your
• 5:13:11
  life by losing it. You see, we sort of feel that the less
• 5:13:15
  human a man is in your sense of human, the better servant he can
• 5:13:19
  be to humanity. We carry it out to the end too. When one
• 5:13:23
  of us dies, his family can't even have him, then he's buried here
• 5:13:27
  under plain wooden cross with a thousand others. His tone changed suddenly, and
• 5:13:33
  he looked at her with a great brightness in his gray eyes. But way
• 5:13:37
  back in a man's heart, there are some things he can't get rid of,
• 5:13:41
  and one of them is that I'm awfully in love with my little sister.
• 5:13:45
  With his sudden impulse, she knelt beside him in the grass, and,
• 5:13:48
  leaning over, kissed his forehead. You're hard, Keith, she said,
• 5:13:52
  And I love you for it, and you're sweet. Three Back in
• 5:14:00
  the reception room, Lois met a half dozen more of Keith's particular friends.
• 5:14:04
  There was a young man named Jarvis, rather pale and delicate looking, who
• 5:14:10
  she knew must be a grandson of old missus Jarvis at home, and she
• 5:14:14
  mentally compared this ascetic with a brace of his riotous uncle's. And there was
• 5:14:19
  Reagan, with a scarred face and piercing intent eyes that followed her about the
• 5:14:23
  room and often rested on Keith with something very like worship. She knew then
• 5:14:30
  what Keith had meant about a good man to have with you in a fight.
• 5:14:34
  He's the missionary type, she thought, vaguely, China or something.
• 5:14:40
  I want Keith's sister to show us what the shimmy is, demanded one young
• 5:14:44
  man with a broad grin. Lois laughed, I'm afraid the father Rector would
• 5:14:48
  send me shimmying out the gate. Besides, I'm not an expert. I'm
• 5:14:53
  sure it wouldn't be the best for Jimmy's soul anyway, said Keith solemnly.
• 5:14:57
  He's inclined to brood it about things like Shimmy's. They were just starting to
• 5:15:02
  do the mashishi, wasn't it Jimmy when he became a monk and had haunted
• 5:15:07
  him his whole first year. He'd seen when he was peeling potatoes, putting
• 5:15:11
  his arm around the bucket and making irreligious motions with his feet. There was
• 5:15:15
  a general laugh in which Lois joined, an old lady who comes here to
• 5:15:19
  mass sent Keith this ice cream, whispered Jarvis under cover of the laugh,
• 5:15:23
  because she'd heard you were coming. It's pretty good, isn't it. There
• 5:15:27
  were tears trembling in Lois's eyes. Four Then half an hour later in the
• 5:15:36
  chapel, things suddenly went all wrong. It was several years since Lois had
• 5:15:41
  been at Benediction, and at first she was thrilled by the gleaming monstrance,
• 5:15:45
  with its central spot of white, the air rich and heavy with incense,
• 5:15:49
  and the sun shining through the stained glass window of Saint Francis Xavier overhead,
• 5:15:55
  and falling in warm red tracery on the cassock of the man in front of
• 5:15:57
  her. But the first notes of the O salutaris hostia, a heavy weight
• 5:16:03
  seemed to descend upon her soul. Keith was on her right, and young
• 5:16:08
  Jarvis on her left, and she stole uneasy glances at both of them.
• 5:16:14
  What's the matter with me, she thought, impatiently. She looked again.
• 5:16:19
  Was there a certain coldness in both their profiles that she had not noticed before?
• 5:16:25
  A pallor about the mouth, and a curious set expression in their eyes?
• 5:16:30
  She shivered slightly. They were like dead men. She felt. Her
• 5:16:37
  soul suddenly recede from Keith's. This was her brother, This this unnatural person.
• 5:16:45
  She caught herself in the act of a little laugh. What is the
• 5:16:49
  matter with me? She passed her hand over her eyes, and the weight
• 5:16:53
  increased. The incense sickened her, and a stray, ragged note from one
• 5:17:00
  of the tenors in the choir grated on her ear like the shriek of a
• 5:17:03
  slate pencil. She fidgeted, and, raising her hand to her hair,
• 5:17:07
  touched her forehead, found moisture on it. It's hot in here. Hot
• 5:17:14
  is the deuce again? She repressed a faint laugh, and then in an
• 5:17:19
  instant, the weight on her heart suddenly diffused into cold fear. It was
• 5:17:25
  that candle on the altar. It was all wrong, wrong. Why didn't
• 5:17:30
  somebody see it? There was something in it, There was something coming out
• 5:17:34
  of it, taking form and shape above it. She tried to fight down
• 5:17:38
  her rising panic, told herself it was the wick. If the wick wasn't
• 5:17:44
  straight, candles did something, but they didn't do this with incalculable rapidity,
• 5:17:49
  a force was gathering within her, a tremendous assimilative force, drawing from every
• 5:17:56
  sense, every corner of her brain, and as it surged up inside her,
• 5:18:00
  she felt an enormous terrified repulsion. She drew her arms in close to
• 5:18:06
  her side, away from Keith and Jarvis. Something in that candle she was
• 5:18:11
  leaning forward. In another moment, she felt that she would go forward toward
• 5:18:15
  it. Didn't anyone see it? Anyone? Uugh. She felt a space
• 5:18:22
  beside her, and something told her that Jarvis had gasped and sat down very
• 5:18:26
  suddenly. Then she was kneeling, and as the flaming monstrance slowly left the
• 5:18:33
  altar in the hands of the priest, she heard a great rushing noise in
• 5:18:37
  her ears. The crash of the bells was like hammer blows, and then,
• 5:18:41
  in a moment it seemed eternal, a great torrent rolled over her heart.
• 5:18:47
  There was a shouting there and a lashing as of waves. She was
• 5:18:51
  calling, felt herself calling for Keith, her lips mouthing the words that would
• 5:18:56
  not come Keith, Oh, my God, Keith. Suddenly she became aware
• 5:19:03
  of a new presence, something external in front of her, consummated and expressed
• 5:19:08
  in warm red tracery. Then she knew it. It was the window of
• 5:19:12
  Saint Francis Xavier. Her mind gripped at it, clung to it finally,
• 5:19:18
  and she felt herself calling again, endlessly impotently, Keith, Keith. Then,
• 5:19:27
  out of the great stillness came a voice. Blessed be God. With
• 5:19:34
  a gradual rumble sounded the response rolling heavily through the chapel. Blessed be God.
• 5:19:42
  The words sang instantly in her heart. The incense lay mystically and sweetly
• 5:19:48
  peaceful upon the air, and the candle on the altar went out, Blessed
• 5:19:53
  be his Holy Name. Blessed be His Holy Name. Everything blurred into a
• 5:20:02
  swinging mist. With a sound, half gasp, half cry. She rocked
• 5:20:07
  on her feet and reeled backward into Keith's suddenly outstretched arms. Five, Lie
• 5:20:17
  still, child, She closed her eyes again. She was on the grass
• 5:20:22
  outside, pillowed on Keith's arm, and Reagan was dabbing her head with a
• 5:20:26
  cold towel. I'm all right, she said, quietly. I know,
• 5:20:32
  but just lie still a minute longer. It was too hot in there.
• 5:20:37
  Jarvis felt it too, she laughed, as Reagan again touched her gingerly with
• 5:20:41
  the towel. I'm all right, she repeated, But though a warm peace
• 5:20:47
  was falling on her mind and heart, she felt oddly broken and chastened,
• 5:20:52
  as if some one had held her stripped soul up and laughed. Six half
• 5:21:00
  an hour later, she walked, leaning on Keith's arm, down the long
• 5:21:03
  central path toward the gate. It's been such a short afternoon, he sighed,
• 5:21:11
  and I'm so sorry you were sick, Lois Keith. I'm feeling fine
• 5:21:15
  now. Really, I wish you wouldn't worry, poor old child. I
• 5:21:21
  didn't realize that benediction would be a long service for you, after your hot
• 5:21:23
  trip out here and all, She laughed cheerfully. I guess the truth is
• 5:21:30
  I'm not much used to benediction. Mass is the limit of my religious exertions.
• 5:21:36
  She paused, and then continued quickly. I don't want to shock you,
• 5:21:41
  Keith, but I can't tell you how how inconvenient being a Catholic is.
• 5:21:45
  It really doesn't seem to apply any more as far as morals go.
• 5:21:49
  Some of the wildest boys I know are Catholics, and the brightest boys,
• 5:21:55
  I mean, the ones who think and read a lot, don't seem to
• 5:21:56
  believe in much of anything any more. Tell me about it. The boss
• 5:22:02
  won't be here for another half hour. They sat down on a bench by
• 5:22:06
  the path. For instance, Gerald Carter, he's published a novel. He
• 5:22:11
  absolutely roars when people mention immortality, And then how well, another man I've
• 5:22:17
  known well lately, who was Phi Beta Cappa at Harvard, says that no
• 5:22:22
  intelligent person can believe in supernatural Christianity. He says Christ was a great socialist.
• 5:22:27
  Though, am I shocking you? She broke off suddenly, Keith smiled.
• 5:22:34
  You can't shock a monk. He's a professional shock absorber. Well,
• 5:22:40
  she continued, that's about all. It seems so so narrow church schools,
• 5:22:45
  for instance, there's more freedom about things that Catholic people can't see, like
• 5:22:52
  birth control. Keith winced almost imperceptibly, but Lois saw it. Oh,
• 5:22:59
  she said quickly. Everybody talks about everything now. It's probably better that way.
• 5:23:04
  Oh, yes, much better. Well that's all, Keith. I
• 5:23:08
  just wanted to tell you why I'm a little lukewarm at present. I'm not
• 5:23:12
  shocked, Lois. I understand better than you think. We all go through
• 5:23:18
  those times. But I know it'll come out all right, child. There's
• 5:23:22
  that gift of faith that we have, you and I that'll carry us past
• 5:23:25
  the bad spots. He rose as he spoke, and they started again down
• 5:23:30
  the path. I want you to pray for me sometimes, Lois, I
• 5:23:34
  think your prayers would be about what I need. Because we've come very close
• 5:23:40
  in these few hours. I think her eyes were suddenly shining. Oh we
• 5:23:45
  have, we have, she cried. I feel closer to you now than
• 5:23:48
  to anyone in the world. He stopped suddenly and indicated the side of the
• 5:23:53
  path we might just a minute. It was a pare, a life sized
• 5:24:00
  statue of the Blessed Virgin sat within a semicircle of rocks. Feeling a little
• 5:24:06
  self conscious, she dropped on her knees beside him and made an unsuccessful attempt
• 5:24:11
  at prayer. She was only half through when he rose. He took her
• 5:24:15
  arm again. I wanted to thank her for letting us have this day together,
• 5:24:19
  he said simply. Lois felt a sudden lump in her throat, and
• 5:24:25
  she wanted to say something that would tell him how much it had meant to
• 5:24:27
  her too, but she found no words. I'll always remember this, he
• 5:24:33
  continued, his voice, trembling a little. This summer day with you.
• 5:24:38
  It's been just what I expected. You're just what I expected, Lois.
• 5:24:45
  I'm awfully glad Keith. You see, when you were little, they kept
• 5:24:49
  sending me snapshots of you, first as a baby, and then as a
• 5:24:53
  child in socks, playing on the beach with a pale and shovel, and
• 5:24:56
  then suddenly as a wistful little girl with wondering, pure eyes. And I
• 5:25:03
  used to build dreams about you. A man has to have something living to
• 5:25:07
  cling to. I think, Lois, it was your little white soul.
• 5:25:11
  I tried to keep near me even when life was at its loudest, and
• 5:25:15
  every intellectual idea of God seemed the sheerest mockery, and desire and love and
• 5:25:22
  a million things came up to me and said, look here at me.
• 5:25:25
  See I'm life. You're turning your back on it. All the way through
• 5:25:29
  that shadow, Lois, I could always see your baby's soul flitting on ahead
• 5:25:33
  of me, very frail and clear and wonderful. Lois was crying softly.
• 5:25:41
  They had reached the gate, and she rested her elbow on it and dabbed
• 5:25:45
  furiously at her eyes. And then later, child, when you were sick,
• 5:25:49
  I knelt all one night and asked God to spare you for me,
• 5:25:53
  for I knew then that I wanted more. He had taught me to want
• 5:25:57
  more. I wanted to know you moved and breathed in the same world with
• 5:26:02
  me. I saw you growing up, that white innocence of yours, changing
• 5:26:07
  to a flame and burning to give light to other weaker souls. And then
• 5:26:11
  I wanted some day to take your children on my knee and hear them call
• 5:26:15
  the crabbed old monk uncle Keith. He seemed to be laughing now as he
• 5:26:21
  talked, Oh, Lois, Lois, I was asking God for more.
• 5:26:25
  Then I wanted the letters you'd write me, and the place i'd have at
• 5:26:29
  your table. I wanted an awful lot, Lois, Dear, you've got
• 5:26:33
  me, Keith. She sobbed, you know it, say you know it.
• 5:26:38
  Oh, I'm acting like a baby, But I didn't think you'd be
• 5:26:41
  this way, and i'd oh Keith, Keith. He took her hand and
• 5:26:48
  patted it softly. Here's the bus. You'll come again, won't you.
• 5:26:53
  She put her hands on his cheeks, and, drawing his head down,
• 5:26:57
  pressed her tear wet face against tis. Oh Keith, brother, some day,
• 5:27:03
  I'll tell you something. He helped her in, saw her take down
• 5:27:10
  her handkerchief and smile bravely at him as the driver kicked his whip and the
• 5:27:15
  bus rolled off. Then a thick cloud of dust rose around it, and
• 5:27:19
  she was gone. For a few minutes. He stood there on the road,
• 5:27:23
  his hand on the gate post, his lips half parted in a smile.
• 5:27:30
  Lois, he said aloud, in a sort of wonder, Lois,
• 5:27:34
  Lois. Later, some probationers passing noticed him kneeling before the pieta, and
• 5:27:42
  coming back after a time, found him still there. And he was there
• 5:27:47
  until twilight came down, and the courteous trees grew garrulous overhead, and the
• 5:27:52
  crickets took up their burden of song in the dusky grass. Seven, the
• 5:28:00
  first clerk in the telegraph booth in the Baltimore station whistled through his buck teeth
• 5:28:04
  at the second clerk, smatter, see that girl, No, the pretty
• 5:28:11
  one with the big black dots on her veil. Too late, she's gone.
• 5:28:15
  You missed somethin'. What about her? Nothin sept she's damn good.
• 5:28:21
  Lookin. Came in here yesterday and sent a wire to some guide to meet
• 5:28:23
  her somewhere. Then a minute ago she came in with the telegram all written
• 5:28:27
  out, and was standin there, goin to give it to me. When
• 5:28:30
  she'd changed her mind or something, and all of a sudden tore it up.
• 5:28:33
  Hum The first clerk came around the tile counter, and, picking up
• 5:28:38
  the two pieces of paper from the floor, put them together idly. The
• 5:28:44
  second clerk read them over his shoulder and subconsciously counted the words as he read.
• 5:28:48
  There were just thirteen. This is in the way of a permanent good
• 5:28:52
  bye. I should suggest Italy, lois it up eh, said the second
• 5:29:02
  clerk. Dalyrymple goes wrong. One in the millennium, an educational genius will
• 5:29:11
  write a book to be given to every young man on the date of his
• 5:29:15
  disillusion. This work will have the flavor of Montaigne's essays in Samuel Butler's note
• 5:29:21
  Books, and a little of Tolstoy and Marcus Aurelius. It will be neither
• 5:29:26
  cheerful nor pleasant, but will contain numerous passages of striking humor. Since first
• 5:29:32
  class minds never believe anything very strongly until they have experienced it, its value
• 5:29:37
  will be purely relative. All people over thirty will refer to it as depressing.
• 5:29:44
  This prelude belongs to the story of a young man who lived as you
• 5:29:47
  and I do before the book two. The generation which numbered Brian Dalrymple drifted
• 5:29:56
  out of adolescence to a mighty fanfare of trumpets. Bryan played the star in
• 5:30:00
  an affair which included a Lewis gun and a nine day romp behind the retreating
• 5:30:06
  German lines. So luck triumphant or sentiment rampant awarded him a row of medals,
• 5:30:11
  and on his arrival in the States, he was told that he was
• 5:30:15
  second in importance only to General Pershing and Sergeant Yorke. This was a lot
• 5:30:19
  of fun. The governor of his state, a stray congressman, and as
• 5:30:25
  Citizens Committee gave him enormous smiles and by God, sirs. On the deck
• 5:30:29
  at Hoboken, there were newspaper reporters and photographers who said, would you mind,
• 5:30:33
  and if you could just and back in his home town there were old
• 5:30:38
  ladies, the rims of whose eyes grew red as they talked to him,
• 5:30:42
  and girls who hadn't remembered him so well since his father's business went blah in
• 5:30:47
  nineteen twelve. But when the shouting died, he realized that for a month
• 5:30:52
  he had been the house guest of the mayor, that he had only fourteen
• 5:30:55
  dollars in the world, and that the name that will live forever in the
• 5:30:59
  annals and legends of this state was already living there, very quietly and obscurely.
• 5:31:04
  One morning, he lay late in bed, and just outside his door
• 5:31:07
  he heard the upstairs maid talking to the cook. The upstairs maid said that
• 5:31:12
  Missus Hawkins, the mayor's wife, had been trying for a week to hint
• 5:31:17
  Dalyrymple out of the house. He left at eleven o'clock in intolerable confusion,
• 5:31:22
  asking that his trunk be sent to Missus Beebe's boarding house. Dalyrymple was twenty
• 5:31:30
  three and he had never worked. His father had given him two years at
• 5:31:33
  the State University and passed away about the time of his son's nine day romp,
• 5:31:37
  leaving behind him some mid Victorian furniture in a thin packet of folded paper
• 5:31:41
  that turned out to be grocery bills. Young Dalyrymple had very keen gray eyes,
• 5:31:48
  a mind that delighted the army psychological examiners, a trick of having read
• 5:31:52
  it whatever it was some time before, and a cool hand in a hot
• 5:31:57
  situation. But these things did not save him a final, unresigned sigh when
• 5:32:03
  he realized that he had to go to work right away. It was early
• 5:32:08
  afternoon when he walked into the office of Thorn G. Macy, who owned
• 5:32:12
  the largest wholesale grocery house in town. Plump, prosperous, wearing a pleasant
• 5:32:18
  but quite unhumorous smile. Theoryon G. Macy greeted him warmly, Well,
• 5:32:25
  how do you do, Brian, what's on your mind? To Dalrymple,
• 5:32:30
  straining with his admission, His own words when they came sounded like an Arab
• 5:32:34
  beggar's whine for alms. Why this question of a job, this question of
• 5:32:41
  a job, seemed somehow more clothed than just a job. A job.
• 5:32:48
  An almost imperceptible breeze blew across mister Macy's expression. You see, mister Macy,
• 5:32:56
  continued Dalrymble, I feel I'm wasting time. I want to get started
• 5:33:00
  something. I had several chances about a month ago, but they all seemed
• 5:33:03
  to have gone. Let's see, interrupted mister Macy. What were they?
• 5:33:11
  Well, just at first the governor said something about a vacancy on his staff.
• 5:33:14
  I was sort of counting on that for a while, but I hear
• 5:33:17
  he's given it to allan greg you know, son of g. P.
• 5:33:19
  Greg He sort of forgot what he said to me, and just talking,
• 5:33:23
  I guess you ought to push these things. Then there was that engineering expedition,
• 5:33:30
  but they decided they'd have to have a man who knew hydraulics, so
• 5:33:33
  they couldn't use me unless I paid my own way. You had just a
• 5:33:40
  year at the university two but I didn't take any science or mathematics. Well.
• 5:33:47
  The day the battalion paraded, mister Peter Jordan said something about a vacancy
• 5:33:51
  in his store. I went around there today and I found he meant a
• 5:33:53
  sort of floor walker. And then you said something one day. He paused
• 5:34:00
  and waited for the older man to take him up, but noting only on
• 5:34:03
  minute winds, continued about a position, so I thought i'd come and see
• 5:34:07
  you. There was a position, confessed mister Macy reluctantly. But since then
• 5:34:15
  we've filled it. He cleared his throat again. You've waited quite a while,
• 5:34:22
  Yes, I suppose I did. Everybody told me there was no hurry,
• 5:34:26
  and I'd had these various offers. Mister Macie delivered a paragraph on present
• 5:34:33
  day opportunities, which Dalingrymple's mind completely skipped. Have you had any business experience.
• 5:34:42
  I worked on a ranch two somers as a rider. Oh well,
• 5:34:48
  mister Macie disparaged this neatly, and then continued, what do you think you're
• 5:34:52
  worth? I don't know. Well, Brian, I tell you I'm willing
• 5:34:57
  to strain a point and give you a chance. Dalrymple nodded. Your salary
• 5:35:03
  won't be much. You'll start by learning the stock, then you'll come in
• 5:35:07
  the office for a while, then you'll go on the road. When could
• 5:35:11
  you begin? How? But tomorrow, all right, report to mister Hanson
• 5:35:18
  in the stock room. He'll start you off. He continued to regard Dally
• 5:35:22
  Marymple steadily until the latter, realizing that the interview was over, rose awkwardly,
• 5:35:27
  well, mister maisie, I'm certainly much obliged. That's all right,
• 5:35:33
  glad to help you, Brian. After an irresolute moment, Dalrymple found himself
• 5:35:38
  in the hall. His forehead was covered with perspiration and the room had not
• 5:35:44
  been hot. Why the devil did I thank the son of a gun?
• 5:35:48
  He muttered. Three next morning, mister Hanson informed him coldly of the necessity
• 5:35:56
  of punching the time clock at seven every morning, and delivered him for instruction
• 5:36:00
  into the hands of a fellow worker, one Charlie Moore. Charley was twenty
• 5:36:07
  six, with that faint musk of weakness hanging about him that is often mistaken
• 5:36:11
  for the scent of evil. It took no psychological examiner to decide that he
• 5:36:17
  had drifted into indulgence and laziness as casually as he had drifted into life and
• 5:36:22
  was to drift out. He was pale, and his close stank of smoke.
• 5:36:26
  He enjoyed burlesque shows, billiards, and Robert's service, and was always
• 5:36:30
  looking back upon his last intrigue or forward to his next one. In his
• 5:36:37
  youth, his taste had run to loud ties, but now it seemed to
• 5:36:40
  have faded like his vitality, and was expressed in pale, lilac foreign hands
• 5:36:45
  and indeterminate gray collars. Charley was listlessly struggling that losing struggle against mental,
• 5:36:52
  moral, and physical anemia that takes place ceaselessly on the lower fringe of the
• 5:36:56
  middle classes. The morning he stretched himself on a row of cereal cartons and
• 5:37:03
  carefully went over the limitations of the Theron g Macy Company. It's a piker
• 5:37:07
  organization. My gosh, look at what they give me. I'm quitting in
• 5:37:11
  a couple of months. Hell me stay with this bunch. The Charlie Moores
• 5:37:18
  are always going to change jobs next month. They do about once or twice
• 5:37:22
  in their careers, after which they sit around comparing their last job with the
• 5:37:26
  present one to the infinite disparagement of the latter. What do you get,
• 5:37:32
  asked Dally Marymple curiously. Me I get sixty this rather defiantly. Did you
• 5:37:41
  start at sixty? Me? No, I started at thirty five. He
• 5:37:48
  told me he'd put me on the road after I learned the stalk. That's
• 5:37:51
  what he tells them all. How long have you been here, asked Dallianrymple,
• 5:37:56
  with a sinking sensation. Me four years. My last year too,
• 5:38:03
  You bet your boots. Dalrymple rather resented the presence of the store detective as
• 5:38:08
  he resented the time clock, and he came into contact with him almost immediately
• 5:38:14
  through the rule against smoking. This rule was a thorn in his side.
• 5:38:18
  He was accustomed to his three or four cigarettes in a morning, and after
• 5:38:22
  three days without it, he followed Charley Moore by a circuitous route up a
• 5:38:26
  flight of back stairs to a little balcony where they indulged in peace. But
• 5:38:32
  this was not for long. One day in his second week, the detective
• 5:38:36
  met him in a nook of the stairs on his descent and told him sternly
• 5:38:40
  that the next time he'd be reported to mister Macie. Dalrymple felt like an
• 5:38:45
  errants schoolboy. Unpleasant facts came to his knowledge. There were cave dwellers in
• 5:38:52
  the basement who had worked there for ten or fifteen years at sixty dollars a
• 5:38:56
  month, rolling barrels and carrying boxes through damp, cement walled corridors, lost
• 5:39:03
  in that echoing half darkness between seven and five thirty, and like himself,
• 5:39:07
  compelled several times a month to work until nine at night. At the end
• 5:39:12
  of a month, he stood in line and received forty dollars. He pawned
• 5:39:17
  a cigarette case and a pair of field glasses, and managed to live,
• 5:39:19
  to eat, sleep and smoke. It was, however, a narrow scrape,
• 5:39:25
  as the ways and means of economy were a closed book to him,
• 5:39:27
  and the second month brought no increase. He voiced his alarm. If you've
• 5:39:33
  got a drag with old Macy, maybe he'll raise you, was Charley's disheartening
• 5:39:37
  reply, but he didn't raise me till I'd been here nearly two years.
• 5:39:44
  I've got to live, said Dolly Trymple, simply. I could get more
• 5:39:48
  pay as a laborer on the railroad, but golly, I want to feel
• 5:39:51
  on where there's a chance to get ahead. Charles shook his head skeptically,
• 5:39:56
  and mister Macy's answer next day was equally unste satisfactory. Dalrymple had gone to
• 5:40:02
  the office just before closing time. Mister Macy, I'd like to speak to
• 5:40:07
  you. Why, Yes, the unhumorous smile appeared. The voice was faintly
• 5:40:15
  resentful. I want to speak to you in regard to More's salary. Mister
• 5:40:21
  Macy nodded, well, he said, doubtfully, I don't know exactly what
• 5:40:26
  you're doing. I'll speak to mister Hanson. He knew exactly what Dalrymple was
• 5:40:32
  doing, and Dalrymple knew he knew. I'm in the stock room, and
• 5:40:37
  sir, while I'm here, I'd like to ask you how much longer I'll
• 5:40:40
  have to stay there? Why? I'm not sure exactly. Of course,
• 5:40:45
  it takes time to learn the stock you told me two months when I started,
• 5:40:52
  Yes, well, i'll speak to mister Hanson. Dalrymple paused, irresolute,
• 5:41:00
  thank you sir. Two days later he again appeared in the office with
• 5:41:04
  the result of account that had been asked for by mister Hess, the bookkeeper.
• 5:41:10
  Mister Hess was engaged, and Dalyrymple waiting began idly fingering in a ledger
• 5:41:15
  on the stenographer's desk. Half unconsciously he turned a page. He caught sight
• 5:41:21
  of his name. It was a salary list, Dalyrymple, Demming, Donahoe,
• 5:41:27
  Everett. His eyes stopped Everett sixty dollars, so Tom Everett, Macy's
• 5:41:37
  weak chidden nephew had started at sixty and in three weeks he had been out
• 5:41:42
  of the packing room and into the office. So that was it. He
• 5:41:48
  was to sit and see man after man pushed over him, sons, cousins,
• 5:41:52
  sons of friends, irrespective of their capabilities, while he was cast for
• 5:41:57
  a pawn with going on the road dangled before his eyes, put off with
• 5:42:03
  the stalk remark, I'll see, I'll look into it. At forty,
• 5:42:07
  perhaps he would be a bookkeeper like old Hess. Tired, lifeless Hess with
• 5:42:11
  a dull routine for his stint, and a dull background of boarding house conversation.
• 5:42:18
  This was a moment when a genie should have pressed into his hand the
• 5:42:21
  book for Disillusioned young Men. But the book has not been written. A
• 5:42:29
  great protest, swelling into revolt, surged up in him. Ideas half forgotten,
• 5:42:34
  chaotically perceived and assimilated filled his mind. Get on, that was the
• 5:42:41
  rule of life, and that was all how he did. It didn't matter
• 5:42:45
  but to be Hesse or Charlie Moore. I won't, he cried aloud.
• 5:42:51
  The bookkeeper and the stenographers looked up in surprise. What for a second?
• 5:42:56
  Dalyrymple stared. Then he walked up to the desk. Here's that data,
• 5:43:02
  he said, brusquely. I can't wait any longer. Mister Hess's face expressed
• 5:43:07
  surprise. It didn't matter what he did, just so he got out of
• 5:43:11
  this rut. In a dream, he stepped from the elevator into the stock
• 5:43:15
  room, and, walking to an unused aisle, sat down on a box,
• 5:43:19
  covering his face with his hands. His brain was whirring with the frightful
• 5:43:25
  jar of discovering a platitude for himself. I've got to get out of this,
• 5:43:30
  he said aloud, and then repeated, I've got to get out,
• 5:43:34
  and he didn't only mean out of Macie's wholesale house. When he left at
• 5:43:41
  five thirty, it was pouring rain, but he struck off in the opposite
• 5:43:45
  direction from his boarding house, feeling in the first cool moisture that oozed soggily
• 5:43:49
  through his old suit, an odd exultation and freshness. He wanted a world
• 5:43:56
  that was like walking through rain, even though he could not see far ahead
• 5:43:59
  of him. But fate had put him in the world of mister Macy's fetid
• 5:44:03
  store rooms and corridors. At first, merely the overwhelming need of change took
• 5:44:08
  him. Then half plans began to formulate in his imagination. I'll go east
• 5:44:15
  to a big city, meet people, bigger people, people who will help
• 5:44:18
  me interesting work. Somewhere, my God, there must be With sickening truth,
• 5:44:26
  it occurred to him that his facility for meeting people was limited. Of
• 5:44:30
  all places, it was here in his own town that he should be known,
• 5:44:33
  was known famous. Before the water of oblivion had rolled over him,
• 5:44:38
  he had to cut corners. That was all pull relationship, wealthy marriages for
• 5:44:45
  several miles The continued reiteration of this preoccupied him, And then he perceived that
• 5:44:52
  the rain had become thicker and more opaque in the heavy gray of twilight,
• 5:44:56
  and that the houses were falling away. The district of full blocks, then
• 5:45:00
  of big houses, then of scattering little ones, past, and great sweeps
• 5:45:07
  of misty country opened out on both sides. It was hard walking here.
• 5:45:11
  The sidewalk had given place to a dirt road, streaked with furious brown rivulets
• 5:45:17
  that splashed and squashed around his shoes. Cutting corners, the words began to
• 5:45:23
  fall apart, forming curious phrasings, little illuminated pieces of themselves. They resolved
• 5:45:30
  in descendences, each of which had a strangely familiar ring. Cutting corners meant
• 5:45:36
  rejecting the old childhood principles, that success came from faithfulness to duty, that
• 5:45:41
  evil was necessarily punished or virtue necessarily rewarded, that honest poverty was happier than
• 5:45:48
  corrupt riches. It meant being hard. This phrase appealed to him, and
• 5:45:55
  he repeated it over and over. It had to do somehow with mister Macy
• 5:45:59
  and Charlie More, the attitudes the methods of each of them. He stopped
• 5:46:04
  and felt his clothes. He was drenched to the skin. He looked about
• 5:46:11
  him, and, selecting a place in the fence where a tree sheltered,
• 5:46:14
  it, perched himself there. In my credulous years, he thought, they
• 5:46:19
  told me that evil was a sort of dirty hue, just as definite as
• 5:46:25
  a soiled collar. But it seems to me that evil is only a matter
• 5:46:27
  of hard luck or heredity and environment or being found out. It hides in
• 5:46:34
  the vacillations of doves like Charlie Moore as certainly as it does in the intolerance
• 5:46:40
  of Macy, And if it ever gets much more tangible, it becomes merely
• 5:46:44
  an arbitrary label to paste on the unpleasant things in other people's lives. In
• 5:46:48
  fact, he concluded, it isn't worth worrying over what's evil and what isn't
• 5:46:53
  good. And evil aren't any standard to me, and they can be a
• 5:46:57
  devil of a bad hindrance. When I want want something, when I want
• 5:47:00
  something bad enough, common sense tells me to go and take it and not
• 5:47:04
  get caught. And then suddenly dalarruple knew what he wanted. First, he
• 5:47:11
  wanted fifteen dollars to pay his overdue board bill. With a furious energy,
• 5:47:17
  he jumped from the fence, whipped off his coat, and from its black
• 5:47:21
  lining, cut with his knife a piece about five inches square. He made
• 5:47:26
  two holes near its edge, and then fixed it on his face, pulling
• 5:47:30
  his hat down to hold it in place. It flapped grotesquely and then dampened
• 5:47:34
  and clung to his forehead and cheeks. Now the twilight had merged to dripping
• 5:47:41
  dusk, black as pitch, He began to walk quickly toward town, not
• 5:47:47
  waiting to remove the mask, but watching the road with difficulty through the jagged
• 5:47:52
  eye holes. He was not conscious of any nervousness. The only tension was
• 5:47:56
  caused by a desire to do the thing as soon as possible. He reached
• 5:48:02
  the first sidewalk, continued on until he saw a hedge far from any lamp
• 5:48:07
  post, and turned in behind it. Within a minute, he heard several
• 5:48:11
  series of footsteps. He waited. It was a woman, and he held
• 5:48:15
  his breath until she passed, and then a man, a laborer. The
• 5:48:21
  next passer he felt would be what he wanted. The laborer's footfalls died far
• 5:48:26
  up the drenched street. Other steps grew near grew suddenly louder, Delarymple braced
• 5:48:33
  himself. Put up your hands. The man stopped, uttered an absurd little
• 5:48:40
  grunt, and thrust pudgy arms skyward. Delivrymple went through the waistcoat. Now
• 5:48:47
  you shrimp, he said, setting his hands suggestively to his own hip pocket.
• 5:48:52
  You run and stamp loud. If I hear your feet stop, I'll
• 5:48:56
  put a shot after you. Then he stood there sudden uncontrollable laughter as audibly
• 5:49:03
  frightened footsteps scurried away into the night. After a moment, he thrust the
• 5:49:07
  roll of bills into his pocket, snatched off his mask, and running quickly
• 5:49:11
  across the street, darted down an alley four. Yet, however, Dallyrymple
• 5:49:19
  justified himself intellectually. He had many bad moments in the weeks immediately following his
• 5:49:25
  decision. The tremendous pressure of sentiment and inherited ambition kept raising riot with his
• 5:49:32
  attitude. He felt morally lonely. The noon after his first venture, he
• 5:49:40
  ate in a little lunch room with Charlie Moore and watching him unspread the paper
• 5:49:44
  waited for a remark about the hold up of the day before, but either
• 5:49:48
  the hold up was not mentioned or Charlie wasn't interested. He turned listlessly to
• 5:49:52
  the Sporting sheet, read Doctor Crane's crop of seasoned bromides, took in an
• 5:49:59
  editorial on Ammie ambition with his mouth slightly ajar, and then skipped to Mutton
• 5:50:03
  Jeff, Poor Charley with his faint aura of evil and his mind that refused
• 5:50:10
  to focus, playing a lifeless solitaire with cast off mischief. Yet Charlie belonged
• 5:50:17
  on the other side of the fence. In him could be stirred up all
• 5:50:21
  the flamings and denunciations of righteousness. He could weep at a stage heroine's lost
• 5:50:26
  virtue. He could become lofty and contemptuous at the idea of dishonor on my
• 5:50:32
  side, thought Dalenrymple, there aren't any resting places. A man who's a
• 5:50:36
  strong criminal is after the weak criminals as well, so it's all guerrilla warfare
• 5:50:41
  over here. What will it all do to me, he thought, with
• 5:50:45
  a persistent weariness. Will it take the color out of life with the honor?
• 5:50:49
  Will it scatter my courage and dull my mind, despiritualize me completely?
• 5:50:56
  Does it mean eventual barrenness, eventual remorse, failure with a great surge of
• 5:51:02
  anger, he would fling his mind upon the barrier and stand there with the
• 5:51:06
  flashing bayonet of his pride. Other Men who broke the laws of justice and
• 5:51:11
  charity lied to all the world, He, at any rate, would not
• 5:51:14
  lie to himself. He was more than byronic now, not the spiritual rebel
• 5:51:18
  Don Juan, not the philosophical rebel Faust, but a new psychological rebel of
• 5:51:25
  his own century, defying the sentimental a priori forms of his own mind.
• 5:51:30
  Happiness was what he wanted, a slowly rising scale of gratifications of the normal
• 5:51:36
  appetites. And he had a strong conviction that the materials, if not the
• 5:51:40
  inspiration, of happiness, could be bought with money. Five the night came
• 5:51:48
  that drew him out upon his second venture, And as he walked to the
• 5:51:52
  dark street, he felt in himself a great resemblance to a cat, a
• 5:51:56
  certain supple, swinging litheness. His muscles were rippling, smoothly and sleekly under
• 5:52:03
  his spare, healthy flesh. He had an absurd desire to bound along the
• 5:52:07
  street, to run, dodging among the trees, to turn cartwheels over soft
• 5:52:11
  grass. It was not crisp, but in the air lay a faint suggestion
• 5:52:17
  of acerbity, inspirational rather than chilling. The moon is down. I have
• 5:52:23
  not heard the clock. He laughed in delight at the line which an earlier
• 5:52:29
  memory had endowed with a hushed, awesome beauty. He passed a man,
• 5:52:33
  and then another quarter of a mile afterward. He was on Fillmore Street now,
• 5:52:40
  and it was very dark. He blessed the city council for not having
• 5:52:44
  put in new lamp posts, as a recent budget had recommended. Here was
• 5:52:48
  the red brick Sterner residence, which marked the beginning of the avenue. Here
• 5:52:53
  was the Jordan House, the Eisenhower's, the Dents, the Markhams, the
• 5:52:57
  Frasers, the Hawkins, where he had been a guest, the Willoughbies,
• 5:53:03
  the Everett's, colonial and ornate, the little Cottage where lived the Watts old
• 5:53:07
  Maids, between the imposing fronts of the Macys and the Krupstats, the Craigs
• 5:53:15
  ah. There he paused, wavered violently. Far up the street was a
• 5:53:22
  blot a man walking, possibly a policeman. After an eternal second, he
• 5:53:26
  found himself following the vague, ragged shadow of a lamp post across a lawn
• 5:53:33
  running bent very low. Then he was standing tense, without breath or need
• 5:53:37
  of it, in the shadow of his limestone prey. Interminably, he listened
• 5:53:44
  a mile off, a cat howled a hundred yards away. Another took up
• 5:53:48
  the hymn in a demoniacal snarl, and he felt his heart dip and swoop,
• 5:53:52
  acting as a shock absorber for his mind. There were other sounds,
• 5:53:57
  the faintest fragment of song far away, strident gossiping, laughter from a back
• 5:54:03
  porch diagonally across the alley, and crickets crickets singing in the patched patterned,
• 5:54:10
  moonlit grass of the yard. Within the house, there seemed to lie an
• 5:54:14
  ominous silence. He was glad he did not know who lived here. His
• 5:54:19
  slight shiver hardened to steal, the steel softened, and his nerves became pliable
• 5:54:26
  as leather. Gripping his hands, he gratefully found them supple, and taking
• 5:54:30
  out knife and pliers, he went to work on the screen. So sure
• 5:54:36
  was he that he was unobserved that from the dining room, where in a
• 5:54:38
  minute he found himself. He leaned out and carefully pulled the screen up into
• 5:54:42
  position, balancing it so it would neither fall By chance nor be a serious
• 5:54:48
  obstacle to a sudden exit. Then he put the open knife in his coat
• 5:54:52
  pocket, took out his pocket flash, and tiptoed around the room. There
• 5:54:59
  was nothing here could use. The dining room had never been included in his
• 5:55:03
  plans, for the town was too small to permit disposing of silver. As
• 5:55:07
  a matter of fact, his plans were of the vaguest. He had found
• 5:55:11
  that with a mind like his, lucrative in intelligence, intuition and lightning decision,
• 5:55:17
  it was best to have but the skeleton of a campaign. The machine
• 5:55:19
  gun episode had taught him that, and he was afraid that a method preconceived
• 5:55:23
  would give him two points of view in a crisis, and two points of
• 5:55:27
  view meant wavering. He stumbled slightly on a chair, held his breath,
• 5:55:33
  listened, went on, found the hall, found the stairs, started up.
• 5:55:40
  The seventh stair creaked at his step, the ninth, the fourteenth.
• 5:55:45
  He was counting them automatically. At the third creek. He paused again for
• 5:55:48
  over a minute, and in that minute he felt more alone than he had
• 5:55:52
  ever felt before between the lines on patrol. Even when alone, he had
• 5:55:56
  behind him the moral support of half a bill people. Now he was alone,
• 5:56:02
  putted against that same moral pressure a bandit. He had never felt this
• 5:56:07
  fear, yet, he had never felt this exultation. The stairs came to
• 5:56:12
  an end. A doorway approached. He went in and listened to regular breathing.
• 5:56:18
  His feet were economical of steps, and his body swayed, sometimes as
• 5:56:22
  stretching as he felt over the bureau, pocketing all articles which held promise,
• 5:56:27
  he could not have enumerated them. Ten seconds afterward, he felt on a
• 5:56:32
  chair for possible trousers, found soft garments, woman's lingerie. The corners of
• 5:56:37
  his mouth smiled mechanically. Another room, the same breathing, enlivened by one
• 5:56:45
  ghastly snort that sent his heart again on its tour of his breast. Round
• 5:56:49
  object, watch, chain, roll of bills, stick pins, two rings.
• 5:56:56
  He remembered that he had got rings from the other bureau. He stop
• 5:57:00
  it out winced as a faint glow flashed in front of him, facing him
• 5:57:03
  God. It was the glow of his own wrist watch on his outstretched arm.
• 5:57:08
  Down the stairs, he skipped two crumbling steps, but found another.
• 5:57:14
  He was all right, now, practically safe. As he neared the bottom,
• 5:57:18
  he felt a slight boredom. He reached the dining room, considered the
• 5:57:22
  silver again, decided against it. Back at his room at the boarding house,
• 5:57:26
  he examined the additions to his personal property. Sixty five dollars in bills,
• 5:57:33
  a platinum ring with three medium diamonds worth probably about seven hundred dollars diamonds
• 5:57:37
  were going up. A cheap gold plated ring with the initials O s and
• 5:57:42
  the date inside O three, probably a class ring from school, worth a
• 5:57:48
  few dollars unsaleable. A red cloth case containing a set of false tath a
• 5:57:55
  silver watch, a gold chain worth more than the watch, an empty ring
• 5:58:00
  box, a little ivory Chinese god, probably a desk ornament, a dollar
• 5:58:07
  and sixty two cents in small change. He put the money under his pillow,
• 5:58:12
  and the other things in the toe of an infantry boot, stuffing a
• 5:58:15
  stalking in on top of them. Then for two hours his mind raised like
• 5:58:19
  a high power engine, here and there through his life, past and future,
• 5:58:25
  through fear and laughter, with a vague, inopportune wish that he were
• 5:58:30
  married. He fell into a deep sleep about half past five six. Though
• 5:58:37
  the newspaper account of the burglary failed to mention the false teeth. They worried
• 5:58:41
  him considerably. The picture of a human waking in the cool dawn and groping
• 5:58:45
  for them in vain, of a soft, toothless breakfast, of a strange,
• 5:58:51
  hollow, lisping voice calling the police station, of weary dispirited visits to
• 5:58:56
  the dentist roused a great though fatherly pity in him. Trying to ascertain whether
• 5:59:03
  they belonged to a man or a woman, he took them carefully out of
• 5:59:07
  the case and held them up near his mouth. He moved his own jaws
• 5:59:11
  experimentally. He measured with his fingers, but he failed to decide they might
• 5:59:15
  belong either to a large mouthed woman or a small mouthed man. On a
• 5:59:22
  warm impulse, he wrapped them in brown paper from the bottom of his army
• 5:59:25
  trunk and printed false teeth on the package in clumsy pencil letters. Then the
• 5:59:30
  next night he walked down Fillmore Street and shied the package into the lawn so
• 5:59:36
  that it would be near the door. Next day, the paper announced that
• 5:59:40
  the police had a clue. They knew that the burglar was in town,
• 5:59:45
  However, they didn't mention what the clue was. Seven At the end of
• 5:59:51
  the month burglar bill of the Silver District was the nurse Girls stand by for
• 5:59:56
  frightening children. Five burglaries were at tributed to him, but though Dalrymple had
• 6:00:02
  only committed three, he considered that the majority had it and appropriated the title
• 6:00:06
  to himself. He had once been seen a large, bloated creature with the
• 6:00:12
  meanest face you ever laid eyes on. Missus Henry Coleman, awaking at two
• 6:00:18
  o'clock at the beam of an electric torch flashed in her eye, could not
• 6:00:22
  have been expected to recognize Brian Dalrymple, at whom she had waved flags last
• 6:00:26
  fourth of July, and whom she had described as not at all the dare
• 6:00:30
  devil type? Do you think when Dalrumple kept his imagination at white heat,
• 6:00:36
  he managed to glorify his own attitude, his emancipation from petty scruples and remorses.
• 6:00:41
  But let him once allow his thought to rove unarmored, great unexpected horrors
• 6:00:47
  and depressions would overtake him. Then for reassurance, he had to go back
• 6:00:52
  to think out the whole thing over again. He found that it was on
• 6:00:55
  the whole better to give up considering himself as a rebel. He was more
• 6:00:59
  consoling to think of everyone else as a fool. His attitude toward mister Macie
• 6:01:03
  underwent a change. He no longer felt a dim animosity and inferiority in his
• 6:01:08
  presence. As his fourth month in the store ended, he found himself regarding
• 6:01:12
  his employer in a manner that was almost fraternal. He had a vague but
• 6:01:18
  very assured conviction that mister Macy's innermost soul would have abetted and approved. He
• 6:01:23
  no longer worried about his future. He had the intention of accumulating several thousand
• 6:01:29
  dollars and then clearing out, going east back to France down to South America.
• 6:01:34
  Half a dozen times in the last two months. He had been about
• 6:01:37
  to stop work, but a fear of attracting attention to his being in funds
• 6:01:41
  prevented him. So he worked on, no longer in listlessness, but with
• 6:01:47
  contemptuous amusement. Eight Then, with astounding suddenness, something happened that changed his
• 6:01:53
  plans and put an end to his burglaries. Mister Macie sent for him one
• 6:02:00
  afternoon, and with a great show of jovial mystery, asked him if he
• 6:02:03
  had an engagement that night, If he hadn't, would he please call on
• 6:02:07
  mister Alfred J. Fraser At eight o'clock. Dalrymple's wonder was mingled with uncertainty.
• 6:02:15
  He debated with himself whether it was not his cue to take the first
• 6:02:18
  train out of town. But an hour's consideration decided him that his fears were
• 6:02:22
  unfounded, and at eight o'clock he arrived at the big Fraser House in Fillmore
• 6:02:26
  Avenue. Mister Fraser was commonly supposed to be the biggest political influence in the
• 6:02:33
  city. His brother was Senator Fraser, his son in law was Congressman Denning,
• 6:02:37
  and his influence, though not wielded in such a way as to make
• 6:02:41
  him an objectionable boss, was strong. Nevertheless, he had a great,
• 6:02:47
  huge face, deep set eyes, and a barn door of an upper lip,
• 6:02:51
  the milange approaching a worthy climax in a long professional jaw. During his
• 6:02:56
  conversation with Dalrymple, his expression kept starting toward a smile, reached a cheerful
• 6:03:02
  optimism, and then receded back down to imperturbability. How do you do,
• 6:03:07
  sir, he said, holding out his hand. Sit down. I suppose
• 6:03:11
  you're wondering why I wanted you sit down, Dalrymple sat down. Mister Dalrymple,
• 6:03:19
  how old are you? I'm twenty three. Ah, you're young,
• 6:03:25
  but that doesn't mean you're foolish, mister Dalrumble. What I've got to say
• 6:03:29
  won't take long. I'm going to make you a proposition to begin at the
• 6:03:33
  beginning. I've been watching you ever since last fourth of July when you made
• 6:03:37
  that speech in response to the Loving Cup. Dalrymple murmured disparagingly, but Fraser
• 6:03:42
  waved him to silence. It was a speech I've remembered. It was a
• 6:03:45
  brainy speech, straight from the shoulder, and it got to everybody in that
• 6:03:49
  crowd. I know, I've watched crowds for years. He cleared his throat
• 6:03:55
  as if tempted to digress on his knowledge of crowds, then continued, But,
• 6:04:00
  mister Dalrymple, I've seen too many young men who promised brilliantly go to
• 6:04:04
  pieces, fail through want of steadiness, too many high power ideas and not
• 6:04:10
  enough willingness to work. So I waited. I waited to see what you'd
• 6:04:15
  do. I waited to see if you'd go to work and if you'd stick
• 6:04:18
  to what you started Dlingrumple felt a glow settle over him, so continued Fraser.
• 6:04:26
  When Thair and Macie told me you'd started down at his place, I
• 6:04:30
  kept watching you, and I've followed your record through him the first month.
• 6:04:33
  I was afraid for a while. He told me you were getting restless,
• 6:04:37
  too good for your job, hinting around for a raise. Delingruple started,
• 6:04:44
  but he said, after that, you evidently made up your mind to shut
• 6:04:45
  up and stick to it. That's the stuff I like in a young man.
• 6:04:49
  That's the stuff that wins out. And don't think I don't understand.
• 6:04:53
  I know how much harder it was for you, after all that silly flattery
• 6:04:56
  A lot of old women had been giving you. I know what a fight
• 6:05:00
  it must have been. Dalrymple's face was burning brightly. It felt young and
• 6:05:06
  strangely ingenuous. Dalrymple, you've got brains and you've got the stuff in you,
• 6:05:12
  and that's what I want. I'm going to put you into the State
• 6:05:15
  Senate. The what the State Senate? We want a young man who's got
• 6:05:22
  brains, but he's solid and not a loafer. And when I say State
• 6:05:26
  Senate, I don't stop there. We're up against it here, Dalrymple,
• 6:05:30
  We've got to get some young man into politics, you know, the old
• 6:05:33
  blood that's been running on the party ticket year in and year out. Delli
• 6:05:37
  Marumple licked his lips. You'll run me for the state Senate. I'll put
• 6:05:44
  you in the state Senate. Mister Fraser's expression had now reached the point nearest
• 6:05:48
  a smile, and Dallianrymple, in a happy frivolity, felt himself urging it
• 6:05:53
  mentally on. But it stopped locked and slid from him. The barn door
• 6:05:59
  and the jaw were separated by a line straight as a nail. Dalrymple remembered
• 6:06:04
  with an effort that it was a mouth and talked to it. But I'm
• 6:06:07
  through, he said. My notoriety's dead. People are fed up with me.
• 6:06:11
  Those things, answered mister Fraser, are mechanical. Linotype is a resuscitator
• 6:06:17
  of reputations. Wait, do you see the herald beginning next week? That
• 6:06:22
  is, if you're with us, that is, and his voice hardened slightly.
• 6:06:27
  If you haven't got too many ideas yourself about how things ought to be
• 6:06:30
  run, No, said Dalyrymple, looking him frankly in the eye. You'll
• 6:06:37
  have to give me a lot of advice at first. Very well, I'll
• 6:06:41
  take care of your reputation. Then just keep yourself on the right side of
• 6:06:45
  the fence. Dalrymple started at this repetition of a phrase he had thought of
• 6:06:49
  so much lately. There was a sudden ring at the door bell. That's
• 6:06:55
  me, see now, observed Fraser rising. I'll go let him in.
• 6:07:00
  The servants have gone to bed. He left Dalyruple there in a dream.
• 6:07:04
  The world was opening up suddenly, the State Senate, the United States Senate.
• 6:07:11
  So life was this after all? Cutting corners, common sense, that
• 6:07:15
  was the rule. No more foolish risks now, and less necessity called.
• 6:07:21
  But it was being hard that counted. Never to let remorse or self reproach
• 6:07:26
  lose him a night's sleep, Let his life be a sword of courage.
• 6:07:30
  There was no payment. All that was drivel, drivel. He sprang to
• 6:07:37
  his feet with clinched hands in a sort of triumph. Well, Brian,
• 6:07:41
  said mister Macie, stepping through the portieres. The two older men smiled their
• 6:07:47
  half smiles at him. Well Brian, said mister Macie. Again, Dalrymple
• 6:07:53
  smiled, Also, how do you mister macye. He wondered if some till
• 6:08:00
  between them had made this new appreciation possible, some invisible realization. Mister macy
• 6:08:07
  held out his hand. I'm glad we're to be associated in this scheme.
• 6:08:11
  I've been for you all along, especially lately. I'm glad we're to be
• 6:08:15
  on the same side of the fence. I want to thank you, sir,
• 6:08:22
  said Dallyrymple simply. He felt a whimsical moisture gathering back of his eyes.
• 6:08:30
  The four fists one. At the present time, no one I know
• 6:08:37
  has the slightest desire to hit Samuel Meredith. Possibly this is because a man
• 6:08:42
  over fifty is liable to be rather severely cracked at the impact of a hostile
• 6:08:47
  fist. But for my part, I am inclined to think that all his
• 6:08:52
  hitable qualities have quite vanished. But it is certain that at various times in
• 6:08:56
  his life, hitable qualities were in his face as surely as kissable qualities have
• 6:09:03
  ever looked in a girl's lips. I'm sure everyone has met a man like
• 6:09:07
  that, been casually introduced, even made a friend of him, yet felt
• 6:09:11
  he was the sort who aroused passionate dislike expressed by some in the involuntary clinching
• 6:09:17
  of fists, and in others by mutterings about taking a poke and land in
• 6:09:22
  a Swiss smash in the eye. In the juxtaposition of Samuel Meredith's features,
• 6:09:27
  this quality was so strong that it influenced his entire life. What was it
• 6:09:36
  not the shape, certainly, for he was a pleasant looking man from earliest
• 6:09:40
  youth, broad browed, with gray eyes that were frank and friendly. Yet
• 6:09:45
  I've heard him tell a room full of reporters angling for a success story,
• 6:09:48
  that he'd be ashamed to tell them the truth, that they wouldn't believe it,
• 6:09:52
  that it wasn't one story but four, that the public would not want
• 6:09:56
  to read about a man who had been walloped into prominence. It all started
• 6:10:02
  at Philip's Andover Academy when he was fourteen. He had been brought up on
• 6:10:06
  a diet of caviare and bellboy's legs and half the capitals of Europe. And
• 6:10:11
  it was pure luck that his mother had nervous prostration and had to delegate his
• 6:10:15
  education to less tender, less biased hands. At Andover he was given a
• 6:10:21
  room mate named Gilly Hood. Gilly was thirteen undersized, and rather the school
• 6:10:26
  pet from the September day, when mister Meredith's valet stowed Samuel's clothing in the
• 6:10:33
  best bureau and asked, on departing if there was anything helse Master Samuel,
• 6:10:38
  Gilly cried out that the faculty had played him false. He felt like an
• 6:10:42
  irate frog in whose bowl has been put goldfish. Good gosh, he complained
• 6:10:48
  to his sympathetic contemporaries. He's a damn stuck up Willie. He said,
• 6:10:53
  are the crowd here gentlemen? And I said no, they're boys? And
• 6:10:59
  he said age didn't matter, And I said, who said it did?
• 6:11:03
  Let him get fresh with me the old pie face. For three weeks Gilly
• 6:11:08
  endured in silence. Young Samuel's comments on the clothes and habits of Gilly's personal
• 6:11:14
  friends endured, French phrases in conversation, endured a hundred half feminine meannesses that
• 6:11:21
  show what a nervous mother can do to a boy if she keeps close enough
• 6:11:23
  to him. Then a storm broke in the aquarium. Samuel was out.
• 6:11:30
  A crowd had gathered to hear Gilly be wrathful about his roommate's latest sins.
• 6:11:37
  He said, oh, I don't like the windows open at night, he
• 6:11:41
  said, except only a little bit, complained Gilly. Don't let em boss
• 6:11:48
  you boss me? You bet he won't I open those windows, I guess,
• 6:11:52
  But the darn fool won't take turns shutting'em in the morning. Make him,
• 6:11:56
  Gilly, why don't you I'm going to Gilly nodded his head in fierce
• 6:12:03
  agreement. Don't you worry. You needn't think I'm any old butler. Let's
• 6:12:07
  see you make em. At this point, the darned fool entered in person
• 6:12:12
  and included the crowd in one of his irritating smiles. Two boys said,
• 6:12:18
  Lo, Meredith. The others gave him a chilly glance and went on talking
• 6:12:22
  to Gilly. But Samuel seemed unsatisfied. Would you mind not sitting on my
• 6:12:30
  bed, he suggested politely to two of Gilly's particulars, who were perched very
• 6:12:36
  much at ease. Huh my bed. Can't you understand English? This was
• 6:12:44
  adding insult to injury. There were several comments on the bed's sanitary condition and
• 6:12:49
  the evidence within it of animal life. Smatter with your old bed, demanded
• 6:12:55
  Gilly truculently. All the beds all right, but Gilly interrupted this sentence by
• 6:13:02
  rising and walking up to Samuel. He paused several inches away and eyed him
• 6:13:07
  fiercely. You in your crazy old bed, he began, You in,
• 6:13:11
  You're crazy, go to it. Gilly murmured, someone show the darn fool.
• 6:13:19
  Samuel returned the gaze coolly well, he said, finally, it's my
• 6:13:25
  bed. He got no further for Gilly hold off and hit him succinctly in
• 6:13:30
  the nose. Yeah, Gilly, show the big bully. Just let him
• 6:13:37
  touch you. He'll see. The group closed in on them, and for
• 6:13:41
  the first time in his life, Samuel realized the insuperable inconvenience of being passionately
• 6:13:47
  detested. He gazed around helplessly at the glowering, violently hostile faces. He
• 6:13:55
  towered a head taller than his room mate, so if he hit back,
• 6:13:57
  he'd be called a bully and had half a dozen morphites on his hands within
• 6:14:02
  five minutes. Yet if he didn't, he was a coward. For a
• 6:14:07
  moment, he stood there facing Gilly's blazing eyes, and then with a sudden
• 6:14:11
  choking sound, he forced his way through the ring and rushed from the room.
• 6:14:18
  The month following bracketed the thirty most miserable days of his life. Every
• 6:14:25
  waking moment he was under the lashing tongues of his contemporaries. His habits and
• 6:14:30
  mannerisms became butts for intolerable witticisms, and of course the sensitiveness of adolescence was
• 6:14:36
  a further thorn. He considered that he was a natural pariah, that the
• 6:14:41
  unpopularity at school would follow him through life. When he went home for the
• 6:14:45
  Christmas holidays, he was so despondent that his father sent him to a nerve
• 6:14:49
  specialist. When he returned to Andover, he arranged to arrive late so that
• 6:14:56
  he could be alone in the bus during the drive from station to school.
• 6:15:00
  Of course, when he had learned to keep his mouth shut, everyone promptly
• 6:15:03
  forgot all about him. The next autumn, with his realization that consideration for
• 6:15:08
  others was the discreet attitude, he made good use of the clean start given
• 6:15:14
  him by the shortness of boyhood memory. By the beginning of his senior year,
• 6:15:18
  Samuel Meredith was one of the best liked boys of his class, and
• 6:15:22
  no one was stronger for him than his first friend and constant companion, Gilly
• 6:15:27
  Hood two. Samuel became the sort of college student who in the early nineties
• 6:15:37
  drove tandems and coaches and tallyhos between Princeton and Yale and New York City to
• 6:15:41
  show that they appreciated the social importance of football games. He believed passionately in
• 6:15:48
  good form. His choosing of gloves, his tying of ties, his holding
• 6:15:52
  of reins were imitated by impressionable freshmen. Outside of his own set, he
• 6:15:57
  was considered rather a snob, but as his set was these sat it never
• 6:16:03
  worried him. He played football in the autumn, drank high balls in the
• 6:16:07
  winter, and rode in the spring. Samuel despised all those who were merely
• 6:16:11
  sportsmen without being gentlemen, or merely gentlemen without being sportsmen. He lived in
• 6:16:18
  New York and often brought home several of his friends for the weekend. Those
• 6:16:22
  were the days of the horse car, and in case of a crush,
• 6:16:25
  it was of course the proper thing for any one of Samuel's set to rise
• 6:16:29
  and deliver his seat to a standing lady with a formal bow. One night
• 6:16:33
  in Samuel's junior year, he boarded a car with two of his intimates.
• 6:16:38
  There were three vacant seats when Samuel sat down. He noticed a heavy eyed
• 6:16:44
  laboring man sitting next to him, whose smelt objectionably of garlic. Sagged slightly
• 6:16:49
  against Samuel, and, spreading a little as a tired man will, took
• 6:16:53
  up quite too much room. The car had gone several blocks when it stopped
• 6:16:59
  for a quarter head of young girls, and of course the three men of
• 6:17:03
  the world sprang to their feet and proffered their seats with few observance of form.
• 6:17:07
  Unfortunately, the laborer, being unacquainted with the coat of neckties and tally
• 6:17:11
  hose, failed to follow their example, and one young lady was laughed at
• 6:17:15
  an embarrassed stance. Fourteen eyes glared reproachfully at the barbarian, seven lips curled
• 6:17:25
  slightly, but the object of scorn stared stolidly into the foreground in sturdy unconsciousness
• 6:17:30
  of his despicable conduct. Samuel was the most violently affected. He was humiliated
• 6:17:38
  that any male should so conduct himself. He spoke aloud, there's a lady
• 6:17:45
  standing, he said sternly. That should have been quite enough, but the
• 6:17:48
  object of scorn only looked up blankly. The standing girl tittered and exchanged nervous
• 6:17:55
  glances with her companions, but Samuel was aroused. There's a lady standing,
• 6:18:00
  he repeated, rather raspingly. The man seemed to comprehend. I pay my
• 6:18:07
  fare, he said quietly. Samuel turned red and his hands clinched, but
• 6:18:15
  the conductor was looking their way, so at a warning nod from his friends,
• 6:18:18
  he subsided into sullen gloom. They reached their destination and left the car,
• 6:18:23
  but so did the laborer who followed them, swinging his little pail.
• 6:18:29
  Seeing his chance, Samuel no longer resisted his aristocratic inclination. He turned round,
• 6:18:34
  and, launching a full featured dime novel sneer, made a loud remark
• 6:18:40
  about the right of the lower animals to ride with human beings. In a
• 6:18:45
  half second, the workman had dropped his pail and let fly at him.
• 6:18:49
  Unprepared, Samuel took the blow neatly on the jaw and sprawled full length into
• 6:18:55
  the cobblestone gutter. Don't laugh at me, cried his assailant. I've been
• 6:18:59
  working all day. I'm tired as hell. As he spoke, the sudden
• 6:19:04
  anger died out of his eyes, and the mask of weariness dropped again over
• 6:19:08
  his face. He turned and picked up the pail. Samuel's friends took a
• 6:19:15
  quick step in his direction. Wait, Samuel had risen slowly and was motioning
• 6:19:21
  back. Sometime somewhere he had been struck like that before. Then he remembered
• 6:19:27
  Gilly hood in the silence as he dusted himself off. The whole scene in
• 6:19:33
  the room at Andover was before his eyes, and he knew intuitively that he
• 6:19:37
  had been wrong again. This man's strength, his rest was the protection of
• 6:19:42
  his family. He had more use for his seat in the street car than
• 6:19:47
  any young girl. It's all right, said Samuel gruffly. Don't touch him.
• 6:19:52
  I've been a damned fool. Of course. It took more than an
• 6:19:57
  hour or a week for Sena to re arrange his ideas on the essential importance
• 6:20:02
  of good form. At first he simply admitted that his wrongness had made him
• 6:20:07
  powerless, as it had made him powerless against Gilly. But eventually his mistake
• 6:20:11
  about the workmen influenced his entire attitude. Snobbishness is, after all, merely
• 6:20:18
  good breeding grown dictatorial. So Samuel's code remained, but the necessity of imposing
• 6:20:23
  it upon others had faded out in a certain gutter. Within that year,
• 6:20:29
  his class had somehow stopped referring to him as a snob. Three. After
• 6:20:38
  a few years, Samuel's university decided that it had shone long enough in the
• 6:20:42
  reflected glory of his neck ties, so they declaimed to him in Latin,
• 6:20:47
  charged him ten dollars for the paper, which proved him irretrievably educated, and
• 6:20:51
  sent him into the turmoil with much self confidence, a few friends, and
• 6:20:55
  the proper assortment of harmless bad habits. His family had by that time started
• 6:21:00
  back to shirt sleeves through a sudden decline in the sugar market, and it
• 6:21:06
  had already unbuttoned its vest, so to speak. When Samuel went to work,
• 6:21:11
  his mind was that exquisite tabula rasa that a university education sometimes leaves.
• 6:21:17
  But he had both energy and influence, so he used his former ability as
• 6:21:21
  a dodging half back in twisting through Wall street crowds as a runner for a
• 6:21:25
  bank. His diversion was women. There were half a dozen, two or
• 6:21:32
  three debutantes, an actress in a minor way, a grass widow, and
• 6:21:36
  one sentimental little brunette who was married and lived in a little house in Jersey
• 6:21:40
  City. They had met on a ferry boat Samuel was crossing from New York
• 6:21:45
  on business. He had been working several years by this time, and he
• 6:21:48
  helped her look for a package that she had dropped in the crush. Do
• 6:21:53
  you come here often, he inquired, casually, Just a shop, she
• 6:22:00
  said, shyly. She had great brown eyes and the pathetic kind of little
• 6:22:03
  mouth. I've only been married three months, and we find it cheaper to
• 6:22:07
  live over here. Does he does your husband like being alone like this?
• 6:22:15
  She laughed, a cheery, young laugh. Oh, dear me, no,
• 6:22:21
  we were to meet for dinner, but I must have misunderstood the place.
• 6:22:23
  He'll be awfully worried, well, said Samuel, disapprovingly. He ought
• 6:22:29
  to be. If you'll allow me, i'll see you home. She accepted
• 6:22:33
  his offer thankfully, so they took the cable car together. When they walked
• 6:22:37
  up the path to her little house, they saw a light there. Her
• 6:22:41
  husband had arrived before her. He's frightfully jealous, she announced, laughingly.
• 6:22:48
  Apologetic very well, answered Samuel, rather stiffly. I'd better leave you here,
• 6:22:56
  She thanked him, and, waving a good night, he left her.
• 6:23:00
  That would have been quite all if they hadn't met on Fifth Avenue one
• 6:23:03
  morning a week later, she started and blushed, and seemed so glad to
• 6:23:08
  see him that they chatted like old friends. She was going to her dressmaker's,
• 6:23:12
  eat lunch alone at Taine's shop all afternoon, and meet her husband on
• 6:23:17
  the ferry at five. Samuel told her that her husband was a very lucky
• 6:23:22
  man. She blushed again and scurried off. Samuel whistled all the way back
• 6:23:27
  to his office, But about twelve o'clock he began to see that pathetic,
• 6:23:32
  appealing little mouth everywhere, and those brown eyes. He fidgeted when he looked
• 6:23:37
  at the clock. He thought of the grille downstairs where he lunched and the
• 6:23:41
  heavy male conversation thereof and opposed to that picture appeared another, a little table
• 6:23:48
  at Taine's, with the brown eyes and the mouth a few feet away.
• 6:23:52
  A few minutes before twelve thirty, he dashed on his hat and rushed for
• 6:23:56
  the cable car. She was quite surprised to see him. Why hello,
• 6:24:02
  she said. Samuel could tell that she was just pleasantly frightened. I thought
• 6:24:07
  we might lunch together. It's so dull eating with a lot of men,
• 6:24:12
  she hesitated. Why I suppose there's no harm in it? How could there
• 6:24:18
  be. It occurred to her that her husband should have taken lunch with her,
• 6:24:22
  but he was generally so hurried. At noon she told Samuel all about
• 6:24:27
  him. He was a little smaller than Samuel, but oh much better looking.
• 6:24:33
  He was a book keeper and not making a lot of money, but
• 6:24:36
  they were very happy and expected to be rich within three or four years.
• 6:24:41
  Samuel's grass widow had been in a quarrelsome mood for three or four weeks,
• 6:24:45
  and through contrast, he took an accentuated pleasure in this meeting. So fresh
• 6:24:49
  was she and earnest and faintly adventurous. Her name was Marjorie. They made
• 6:24:55
  another engagement. In fact, for a month they lunched together two or three
• 6:25:00
  times a week. When she was sure that her husband would work late,
• 6:25:03
  Samuel took her over to New Jersey on the ferry, leaving her always on
• 6:25:07
  the tiny front porch after she had gone in and lit the gas to use
• 6:25:11
  the security of his masculine presence outside. This grew to be a ceremony and
• 6:25:17
  had annoyed him whenever the comfortable glow fell out through the front windows. That
• 6:25:22
  was his conge. Yet he never suggested coming in and Marjorie didn't invite him.
• 6:25:29
  Then, when Samuel and Marjorie had reached a stage in which they sometimes
• 6:25:33
  touched each other's arms gently, just to show that they were very good friends,
• 6:25:38
  Marjorie and her husband had one of those ultra sensitive, supercritical quarrels that
• 6:25:44
  couples never indulge in unless they care a great deal about each other. It
• 6:25:48
  started with a cold mutton chop or a leak in the gas jet, and
• 6:25:52
  one day Samuel found her in tains with dark shadows under her brown eyes and
• 6:25:56
  a terrifying pout. By this time, Samuel thought he was in love with
• 6:26:02
  Marjorie, so he played up the quarrel for all it was worth. He
• 6:26:07
  was her best friend and patted her hand and leaned down close to her brown
• 6:26:11
  curls while she whispered in little sobs what her husband had said that morning,
• 6:26:15
  and he was a little more than her best friend when he took her over
• 6:26:18
  to the ferry and a handsome Marjorie, he said gently when he left her
• 6:26:23
  as usual on the porch, if at any time you want to call on
• 6:26:26
  me, remember that I'm always waiting, always waiting. She nodded gravely and
• 6:26:33
  put both her hands in his I know, she said, I know you
• 6:26:37
  my friend, my best friend. Then she ran into the house and he
• 6:26:44
  watched there until the gas went on. For the next week, Samuel was
• 6:26:49
  in a nervous turmoil. Some persistently rational strain warned him that at bottom,
• 6:26:55
  he and Marjorie had little in common, but in such cases there is usually
• 6:27:00
  so much mud in the water that one can seldom see to the bottom.
• 6:27:03
  Every dream and desire told him that he loved Marjorie, wanted her, had
• 6:27:07
  to have her. The quarrel developed. Marjorie's husband took the staying in New
• 6:27:14
  York until late at night, came home several times disagreeably, overstimulated, and
• 6:27:19
  made her generally miserable. They must have had too much pride to talk it
• 6:27:23
  out, for Marjorie's husband was, after all, pretty decent, so it
• 6:27:29
  drifted on from one misunderstanding to another. Marjorie kept coming more and more to
• 6:27:34
  Samuel. When a woman can accept masculine sympathy, it is much more satisfactory
• 6:27:40
  to her than crying to another girl. But Marjorie didn't realize how much she
• 6:27:45
  had begun to rely on him, how much he was part of her little
• 6:27:48
  cosmos. One night, instead of turning away, when Marjorie went in and
• 6:27:52
  lit the gas, Samuel went in too, and they sat together on the
• 6:27:57
  sofa in the little parlor. He was very happy. He envied their home,
• 6:28:03
  and he felt that the man who neglected such a possession out of stubborn
• 6:28:07
  pride was a fool and unworthy of his wife. But when he kissed Marjorie
• 6:28:11
  for the first time, she cried softly and told him to go. He
• 6:28:15
  sailed home on the wings of desperate excitement, quite resolved to fan this spark
• 6:28:21
  of romance, no matter how big the blazer, who was burned at the
• 6:28:26
  time, he considered that his thoughts were unselfishly of her. In a later
• 6:28:30
  perspective, he knew that she had meant no more than the white screen in
• 6:28:33
  a motion picture. It was just Samuel blind, desirous. Next day,
• 6:28:41
  at Taines, when they met for lunch, Samuel dropped all pretense and made
• 6:28:45
  frank love to her. He had no plans, no definite intentions, except
• 6:28:48
  to kiss her lips again, to hold her in his arms and feel that
• 6:28:52
  she was very little and pathetic and lovable. He took her home, and
• 6:28:57
  this time they kissed until both their hearts beat high, words and phrases formed
• 6:29:03
  on his lips, and then suddenly there were steps on the porch. A
• 6:29:07
  hand tried the outside door. Marjorie turned dead white. Wait, she whispered
• 6:29:14
  to Samuel in a frightened voice, but in angry impatience at the interruption,
• 6:29:18
  he walked to the front door and threw it open. Everyone has seen such
• 6:29:22
  scenes on the stage, seen them so often that when they actually happened,
• 6:29:26
  people behave very much like actors. Samuel felt that he was playing a part,
• 6:29:30
  and the lines came quite naturally. He announced that all had a right
• 6:29:34
  to lead their own lives, and looked at Marjorie's husband menacingly, as if
• 6:29:38
  daring him to doubt it. Marjorie's husband spoke of the sanctity of the home,
• 6:29:45
  forgetting that it hadn't seemed very holy to him lately. Samuel continued along
• 6:29:48
  the line of the right to happiness. Marjorie's husband mentioned firearms and the divorce
• 6:29:55
  cord. Then suddenly he stopped and scrutinized both of them. Margorine in a
• 6:30:00
  pitiful collapse on the sofa, Samuel haranguing the furniture in a consciously heroic pose,
• 6:30:07
  go upstairs, Marjorie, he said, in a different tone. Stay
• 6:30:11
  where you are, Samuel countered quickly. Marjorie rose, wavered and sat down,
• 6:30:18
  rose again and moved hesitatingly toward the stairs. Come outside, said her
• 6:30:23
  husband to Samuel, I want to talk to you. Samuel glanced at Marjorie,
• 6:30:30
  tried to get some message from her eyes. Then he shut his lips
• 6:30:33
  and went out. There was a bright moon, and when Marjorie's husband came
• 6:30:38
  down the steps, Samuel could see plainly that he was suffering, but he
• 6:30:42
  felt no pity for him. They stood and looked at each other a few
• 6:30:48
  feet apart, and the husband cleared his throat as though it were a bit
• 6:30:52
  husky. That's my wife, he said quietly, and then a wild anger
• 6:30:56
  surged up inside him. Damn you, he cried, and hit Samuel in
• 6:31:03
  the face with all his strength. In that second, as Samuel slumped to
• 6:31:07
  the ground, it flashed to him that he had been hit like that twice
• 6:31:11
  before, and simultaneously the incident altered like a dream. He felt suddenly awake.
• 6:31:18
  Mechanically, he sprang up to his feet and squared off. The other
• 6:31:22
  man was waiting fists up a yard away, but Samuel knew that though physically
• 6:31:26
  he had him by several inches and many pounds, he wouldn't hit him.
• 6:31:30
  The situation had miraculously and entirely changed. A moment before, Samuel had seemed
• 6:31:37
  to himself heroic. Now he seemed the cad, the outsider, and Marjorie's
• 6:31:42
  husband, silhouetted against the lights of the little house, the eternal heroic figure,
• 6:31:48
  the defender of his home. There was a pause, and then Samuel
• 6:31:52
  turned quickly away and went down the path for the last time. Four Of
• 6:32:02
  course, after the third blow, Samuel put in several weeks at conscious introspection.
• 6:32:07
  The blow years before at Andover had landed on his personal unpleasantness. The
• 6:32:12
  workmen of his college days had jarred the snobbishness out of his system, and
• 6:32:18
  Marjorie's husband had given a severe jolt to his greedy selfishness. It threw women
• 6:32:23
  out of his can until a year later when he met his future wife.
• 6:32:26
  For the only sort of woman worth while seemed to be the one who could
• 6:32:30
  be protected as Marjorie's husband had protected her. Samuel could not imagine his grass
• 6:32:37
  widow, missus Defarriac, causing any righteous blows on her own account. His
• 6:32:44
  early thirties found him well on his feet. He was associated with old Peter
• 6:32:48
  Carhart, who was in those days a national figure. Carhart's physique was like
• 6:32:53
  a rough model for a statue of Hercules, and his record was just as
• 6:32:57
  solid a pile made for the pure joy of it, without cheap exhortation or
• 6:33:02
  shady scandal. He had been a great friend of Samuel's father, but he
• 6:33:07
  watched the sun for six years before taking him into his own office. Heaven
• 6:33:11
  knows how many things he controlled at that time, mines, railroads, banks,
• 6:33:15
  whole cities. Samuel was very close to him, knew his likes and
• 6:33:21
  dislikes, his prejudices, weaknesses, and many strengths. One day, Carhart
• 6:33:26
  sent for Samuel, and, closing the door of his inner office, offered
• 6:33:30
  him a chair and a cigar. Everything okay, Samuel, he asked,
• 6:33:37
  why, Yes, I've been afraid you were getting but stale, stale.
• 6:33:45
  Samuel was puzzled, you've done no work outside the office for nearly ten years,
• 6:33:52
  but I've had vacations in the adder on. Carhart waved this aside.
• 6:33:57
  I mean outside work, seeing the things move that we've always pulled the strings
• 6:34:03
  of here, no, admitted Samuel. I I haven't, so he said
• 6:34:10
  abruptly, I'm going to give you an outside job that'll take about a month.
• 6:34:15
  Samuel didn't argue. He rather liked the idea, and he made up
• 6:34:18
  his mind that whatever it was, he would put it through just as Carhart
• 6:34:22
  wanted it. That was his employer's greatest hobby, and the men around him
• 6:34:26
  were as dumb under direct orders as infantry subalterns. You go to San Antonio
• 6:34:32
  and see Hamil, continued Carhart. He's got a job on hand, and
• 6:34:36
  he wants a man to take charge. Hamil was in charge of the Carhart
• 6:34:41
  interests in the Southwest, a man who had grown up in the shadow of
• 6:34:44
  his employer, and with whom though they had never met, Samuel had much
• 6:34:48
  official correspondence. When do I leave, You'd better go to morrow, answered
• 6:34:53
  Carhart, glancing at the calendar. That's the first of May. I'll expect
• 6:34:59
  to report here on the first of June. Next morning, Samuel left for
• 6:35:03
  Chicago, and two days later he was facing Hamil across a table in the
• 6:35:07
  office of the Merchant's Trust in San Antonio. It didn't take long to get
• 6:35:11
  the gist of the thing. It was a big deal in oil, which
• 6:35:15
  concerned the buying up of seventeen huge adjoining ranches. This buying up had to
• 6:35:21
  be done in one week, and it was a pure squeeze. Forces had
• 6:35:25
  been set in motion that had put the seventeen owners between the devil and the
• 6:35:29
  deep sea, and Samuel's part was simply to handle the matter from a little
• 6:35:33
  village near Pueblo with tact and deficiency. The right man could bring it off
• 6:35:37
  without any friction, for it was merely a question of sitting at the wheel
• 6:35:41
  and keeping a firm hold. Hamil, with an astuteness many times valuable to
• 6:35:47
  his chief, had arranged a situation that would give a much greater clearer gain
• 6:35:51
  than any dealing in the open market. Samuel shook hands with Hamil, arranged
• 6:35:56
  to return in two weeks, and left for San Philippe in New Mexico.
• 6:36:02
  It occurred to him, of course, that Carhart was trying him out.
• 6:36:04
  Hamill's report on his handling of this might be a factor in something big for
• 6:36:08
  him, but even without that he would have done his best to put the
• 6:36:11
  thing through. Ten years in New York had made him sentimental, and he
• 6:36:17
  was quite accustomed to finish everything he began, and a little bit more.
• 6:36:22
  All went well. At first there was no enthusiasm, but each one of
• 6:36:26
  the seventeen ranchers concerned knew Samuel's business, knew what he had behind him,
• 6:36:32
  and that they had as little chance of holding out his flies on a window
• 6:36:34
  pane. Several of them were resigned, some of them cared like the devil,
• 6:36:40
  but they talked it over, argued it with lawyers, and couldn't see
• 6:36:42
  any possible loophole. Five of the ranchers had oil. The other twelve were
• 6:36:48
  part of the chance, but quite as necessary to Hamill's purpose. In any
• 6:36:52
  event, Samuel soon saw that the real leader was an early settler named MacIntyre,
• 6:36:59
  a man of perhaps fifty, gray haired, clean shaven, bronzed by
• 6:37:03
  forty New Mexico summers, and with those clear, steady eyes that Texas and
• 6:37:07
  New Mexico weather are apt to give. His ranch had not yet shown oil,
• 6:37:12
  but it was in the pool, and if any man hated to lose
• 6:37:15
  his land, MacIntyre did. Everyone had rather looked at him at first to
• 6:37:21
  avert the big calamity, and he had hunted all over the territory for the
• 6:37:23
  legal means with which to do it. But he had failed, and he
• 6:37:29
  knew it. He avoided Samuel assiduously, but Samuel was sure that when the
• 6:37:33
  day came for the signatures, he would appear. It came a baking May
• 6:37:41
  day, with hot waves rising off the parched land as far as eyes could
• 6:37:45
  see, and as Samuel sat stewing in his little improvised office a few chairs,
• 6:37:51
  a bench, and a wooden table, he was glad the thing was
• 6:37:53
  almost over. He wanted to get back east the worst way, and join
• 6:37:59
  his wife and children for a week at the sea shore. The meeting was
• 6:38:03
  set for four o'clock, and he was rather surprised at three thirty when the
• 6:38:07
  door opened and MacIntyre came in. Samuel could not help respecting the man's attitude
• 6:38:12
  and feeling a bit sorry for him. MacIntyre seemed closely related to the Prairies,
• 6:38:18
  and Samuel had the little flicker of envy that city people feel toward men
• 6:38:22
  who live in the open. Afternoon, said mac Intyre, standing in the
• 6:38:27
  open doorway, with his feet apart and his hands on his hips. Hullo,
• 6:38:33
  mister MacIntyre. Samuel rose, but omitted the formality of offering his hand
• 6:38:38
  he imagined the rancher cordially loathed him, and he hardly blamed him. Mac
• 6:38:44
  Intyre came in and sat down leisurely. You got us, he said,
• 6:38:48
  suddenly. This didn't seem to require any answer. When I heard Carhart was
• 6:38:56
  back of this, he continued, I gave up, mister Carhart, Is,
• 6:39:02
  began Samuel, but MacIntyre waved him silent. Don't talk about that dirty
• 6:39:07
  sneak thief, mister MacIntyre, said Samuel briskly. If this half hour is
• 6:39:11
  to be devoted to that sort of talk, oh, dry up, young
• 6:39:15
  man, mac Intyre interrupted, You can't abuse a man who'd do a thing
• 6:39:18
  like this. Samuel made no answer. It's simply a dirty filch. They're
• 6:39:26
  just are skunks like him, too big to handle. You're being paid,
• 6:39:30
  liberally, offered Samuel. Shut up, roared mac intyre. Suddenly, I
• 6:39:37
  want the privilege of talking. He walked to the door and looked out across
• 6:39:41
  the land, the sunny, steaming pasturage that began almost at his feet and
• 6:39:45
  ended with the gray green of the distant mountains. When he turned round,
• 6:39:49
  his mouth was trembling. Do you fellows love Wall Street? He said,
• 6:39:56
  hoarsely, or wherever you do, you're dirty s he paused, I suppose
• 6:40:03
  you'd do. No. Critter gets so low that he doesn't sort of love
• 6:40:06
  the place he's worked, where he sweated out the best he's hat in him.
• 6:40:11
  Samuel watched him awkwardly. McIntyre wiped his forehead with a huge blue handkerchief
• 6:40:15
  and continued, I reckon, this rotten old devil had to have another million.
• 6:40:21
  I reckon, we're just a few of the poor. He's blotted out
• 6:40:23
  by a couple more carriages or something. He waved his hand toward the door.
• 6:40:29
  I built a house out there when I was seventeen with these two hands.
• 6:40:33
  I took a wife there at twenty one, added two wings, and
• 6:40:37
  with four mangy steers. I started out forty summers. I've saw the sun
• 6:40:41
  come up over those mountains and drop down red as blood in the evening,
• 6:40:45
  before the heat drifted off and the stars came out. I've been happy in
• 6:40:49
  that house. My boy was born there, and he died there late one
• 6:40:55
  spring, in the hottest part of an afternoon like this, And the wife
• 6:41:00
  and I lived there alone like we'd lived before, and we sort of tried
• 6:41:03
  to have a home after all, I'm not a real home, but nigh
• 6:41:06
  it, cause the boy always seemed around close somehow, and we expected a
• 6:41:11
  lot of knights to see him running up the path to supper. His voice
• 6:41:15
  was shaking, so he could hardly speak, and he turned again to the
• 6:41:18
  door. His gray eyes contracted. That's my land out there, he said,
• 6:41:23
  stretching out his arm, My land. By God, it's all I've
• 6:41:26
  got in the world, and never wanted. He dashed his sleeve across his
• 6:41:33
  face, and his tone changed as he turned slowly and faced Samuel. But
• 6:41:40
  I suppose it's got to go when they want it, it's got to go.
• 6:41:45
  Samuel had to talk. He felt that in a minute more he would
• 6:41:48
  lose his head, so he began as level voiced as he could, in
• 6:41:53
  the sort of tone he saved for disagreeable duties. It's a business, mister
• 6:42:00
  MacIntyre, he said, it's inside the law. Perhaps we couldn't have bought
• 6:42:03
  out two or three of you at any price, but most of you did
• 6:42:07
  have a price. Progress demands. Some things never had he felt so inadequate.
• 6:42:15
  And it was with the greatest relief that he heard hoof beats a few
• 6:42:18
  hundred yards away. But at his words, the grief in MacIntyre's eyes had
• 6:42:22
  changed to fury you and your dirty gang of crooks. He cried, Not
• 6:42:26
  one of you's got an honest love for anything on God's earth. You're a
• 6:42:30
  herd of money swine. Samuel rose, and MacIntyre took a step toward him.
• 6:42:37
  You long winded dude, you got our land. Take that for Peter
• 6:42:41
  Carhart. He swung from the shoulder quick as lightning, and down went Samuel
• 6:42:48
  in a heap. Dimly, he heard steps in the doorway and knew that
• 6:42:52
  someone was holding MacIntyre, but there was no need. The rancher had sunk
• 6:42:56
  down in his chair and dropped his head in his hand. Samuel's brain was
• 6:43:03
  worrying. He realized that the fourth fist had hit him, and a great
• 6:43:07
  flood of emotion cried out that the law that had inexorably ruled his life was
• 6:43:11
  in motion again in half days. He got up and strode from the room.
• 6:43:18
  The next ten minutes were perhaps the hardest of his life. People talk
• 6:43:22
  of the courage of convictions, but in actual life, a man's duty to
• 6:43:26
  his family may make a rigid corpse seem a selfish indulgence. Of his own
• 6:43:32
  righteousness. Samuel thought mostly of his family, yet he never really wavered that
• 6:43:37
  jolt had brought him too. When he came back in the room, there
• 6:43:42
  were a lot of worried faces waiting for him, but he didn't waste any
• 6:43:45
  time explaining. Gentlemen, he said, mister MacIntyre has been kind enough to
• 6:43:52
  convince me that in this matter you are absolutely right and the Peter Carhart interests
• 6:43:57
  absolutely wrong. As far as I'm concerned, you can keep your ranches to
• 6:44:02
  the rest of your days. He pushed his way through an astounded gathering,
• 6:44:07
  and within a half hour had sent two telegrams that staggered the operator into complete
• 6:44:11
  unfitness for business. One was to Hammel in San Antonio. One was to
• 6:44:17
  Peter Carhart and New York. Samuel didn't sleep much that night. He knew
• 6:44:23
  that for the first time in his business career, he had made a dismal,
• 6:44:26
  miserable failure. But some instinct in him, stronger than will, deeper
• 6:44:33
  than training, had forced him to do what would probably end his ambitions and
• 6:44:37
  his happiness. But it was done, and it never occurred to him that
• 6:44:41
  he could have acted otherwise. Next morning, two telegrams were waiting for him.
• 6:44:47
  The first was from Hamil. It contained three words, you blamed idiot.
• 6:44:55
  The second was from New York. Deal off. Come to New York
• 6:44:59
  immediately. Within a week things had happened. Hamill quarreled furiously and violently defended
• 6:45:08
  his scheme. He was summoned to New York and spent a bad half hour
• 6:45:12
  on the carpet in Peter Carhart's office. He broke with the Carhart interests in
• 6:45:18
  July and in August. Samuel Meredith, at thirty five years old, was
• 6:45:23
  to all intents, made Carhart's partner. The Fourth Fist had done its work.
• 6:45:32
  I suppose that there's a Cattish streak in every man that runs crosswise across
• 6:45:36
  his character and disposition and general outlook. With some men, it's secret,
• 6:45:41
  and we never know it's there until they strike us in the dark one night.
• 6:45:45
  But Samuel showed when it was in action, and the sight of it
• 6:45:48
  made people see red. He was rather lucky in that, because every time
• 6:45:53
  his little devil came up, it meant a reception that sent it scurrying down
• 6:45:57
  below in a sickly feeble condition. It was the same devil, the same
• 6:46:03
  streak that made him order Gilly's friends off the bed that made him go inside
• 6:46:07
  Marjorie's house. If you could run your hand along Samuel Meredith's jaw, you'd
• 6:46:14
  feel a lump. He admits he's never been sure which fist left it there,
• 6:46:18
  but he wouldn't lose it for anything. He says there's no cad like
• 6:46:22
  an old cad, and that sometimes, just before making a decision, it's
• 6:46:26
  a great help to stroke his chin. The reporters call it a nervous characteristic,
• 6:46:32
  but it's not that. It's so he can feel again the gorgeous clarity,
• 6:46:36
  the lightning sanity of those four fists,