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007 - The Struggle of the Outliers · O. Henryana

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  Speaker 1: Section seven of O. Henryanna by O. Henry Miss LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by Phil Schamp
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  Speaker 1: The Struggle of the Outliers Again today. At a certain
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  Speaker 1: street on the ragged boundaries of the city, Lawrence Holcombe
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  Speaker 1: stopped the trolley car and got off. Holcombe was a handsome,
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  Speaker 1: prosperous businessman of forty, a man of high social standing
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  Speaker 1: and connections. His comfortable suburban residence was some five miles
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  Speaker 1: further out on the car line from the street where
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  Speaker 1: so often of late he had dropped off the outgoing car.
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  Speaker 1: The conductor winked at a regular passenger and nodded his
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  Speaker 1: head archly in the direction of Holcombe's hurrying figure. Getting
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  Speaker 1: to be a regular thing, commented the conductor. Holcombe picked
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  Speaker 1: his way gingerly down a roughly grated side street, infested
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  Speaker 1: with ragged urchins and impeded by abandoned tinware. He stopped
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  Speaker 1: at a small cottage fenced in with a patch of
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  Speaker 1: stony ground, with a few stunted shade trees growing about it.
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  Speaker 1: A stout, middle aged woman was washing clothes in a
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  Speaker 1: tub at one side of the door. She looked around
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  Speaker 1: and smiled a smile of fat recognition. Good evening, mister Holcombe,
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  Speaker 1: is it yourself again? You'll find Katie inside? Sir? Did
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  Speaker 1: you speak to her for me? Asked Holcombe in a
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  Speaker 1: low voice. Did you try to help me gain her
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  Speaker 1: consent as you promised to do? Sure? And I did that,
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  Speaker 1: But sir, you know girls will be girls, and the
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  Speaker 1: more you coax em, the wilfuler they gets. Tis your
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  Speaker 1: own pleadin' that'll get her if anything will, and I
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  Speaker 1: hopes you may, for I tells her she'll never get
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  Speaker 1: a better offer than yours, sir. Tis a good girl
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  Speaker 1: she is, and a tidy hand for anything from the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen to the parlor. And she's never a fault, except
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  Speaker 1: maybe a bit too much like for dances and ruffles
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  Speaker 1: and ribbons, but that's natural to her age and good looks.
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  Speaker 1: If I do say it myself, being her miller, mister Holcombe,
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  Speaker 1: ye can spake again to Katie, sir, and maybe this
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  Speaker 1: time you'll have luck, unless Danny Conlin, the wild gust
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  Speaker 1: soon has been at it again over persuading her against you.
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  Speaker 1: Hocumb turned slightly pale, and his lips closed tightly. For
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  Speaker 1: a moment I've heard of this fellow common before. Why
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  Speaker 1: does he interfere? Why does he stand in the way?
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  Speaker 1: Is there anything between him and Katie? Does Katie care
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  Speaker 1: for him? Missus Flynn gave a sigh like a puff
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  Speaker 1: of a locomotive, and flapped upon the washboard with a
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  Speaker 1: sodden garment that sent Holcombe well splashed six feet away.
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  Speaker 1: Ask me no questions about what's in a girl's heart,
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  Speaker 1: and I'll tell ye no lies. Her own mother can't
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  Speaker 1: tell any more than yourself, mister Holcombe. Holcombe stepped inside
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  Speaker 1: the cottage Katie Flynn, and with whirlled up sleeves, was
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  Speaker 1: ironing address a flounced muslin criticism of Holcombe's deviation from
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  Speaker 1: his own sphere to this star of lower orbit must
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  Speaker 1: have waned at the sight of the girl. Her beauty
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  Speaker 1: was of the most solvent and convincing sort, dusky irish eyes,
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  Speaker 1: one great braid of jetty shining hair, a crimson mouth,
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  Speaker 1: dimpling and shaping itself to every mood of its owner.
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  Speaker 1: A figure strong and graceful, seemingly full of imperishable life
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  Speaker 1: and action. Katie Flynn was one to be sought after
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  Speaker 1: and striven for. Holcomb went and stood by her side
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  Speaker 1: as she ironed and watched the life play of muscles
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  Speaker 1: rolling beneath the satiny skin of her rounded forearms. Katie,
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  Speaker 1: he said, his voice concealing a certain anxiety beneath the
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  Speaker 1: wooing tenderness. I have come for my answer. It isn't
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  Speaker 1: necessary to repeat what we have talked over so often.
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  Speaker 1: But you know how anxious I am to have you.
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  Speaker 1: You know my circumstances and possition, and that you will
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  Speaker 1: have every comfort and every privilege that you could ask for.
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  Speaker 1: Say yes, Katie, and I'll be the luckiest man in
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  Speaker 1: this town today. Kate set her iron down with a
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  Speaker 1: metallic click and leaned her elbows upon the ironing board.
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  Speaker 1: Her great blue black eyes went in their Irish way,
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  Speaker 1: from sparkling fun to thoughtful melancholy. Oh, mister Holcombe, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what to say. I know you'd be kind
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  Speaker 1: to me and give me the best home I could
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  Speaker 1: ever expect. I'd like to see, Yes, indeed I would.
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  Speaker 1: I'd about decided to tell you so, But there's Danny object.
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  Speaker 1: So Danny again. Holcombe strode up and down the room, impatiently, frowning.
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  Speaker 1: Who is this fellow Conlin? Katie he asked. Every time
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  Speaker 1: I nearly get your consent, he comes between us. Does
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  Speaker 1: he want you to live always in this cottage for
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  Speaker 1: the convenience of his mightiness? Why do you listen to him?
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  Speaker 1: He wants me, said Katie in the voice of a
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  Speaker 1: small oiled child. Well I want you too, said Holcombe masterfully.
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  Speaker 1: If I could see this wonderful mister convent of the
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  Speaker 1: persuasive tongue, I'd argue the matter with him. He's been
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  Speaker 1: the champion middleweight fighter of this town, said Katy, a
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  Speaker 1: bit mischievously. Oh has he? Well that doesn't frighten me, Katy.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I'm not sure, but what I'd tackle him
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  Speaker 1: a few rounds myself with you for the prize, although
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  Speaker 1: I'm somewhat rusty with the gloves. Quist. There he comes now,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Katy, her eyes widening a little with apprehension. Holcombe
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  Speaker 1: looked out the door and saw a young man coming
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  Speaker 1: up from the gate. He walked with an easy swagger.
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  Speaker 1: His face was smooth and truculent, but not bad. He
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  Speaker 1: wore a cap pulled down to one eye. He walked
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  Speaker 1: inside the house and stopped at the door of the
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  Speaker 1: room in which stood his rival and the bone of contention.
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  Speaker 1: You're after my girl again, aren't you, he grumbled, huskily anominously.
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  Speaker 1: I don't like it, Dacey. I told her so. When
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you so she stays here for ten cents,
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  Speaker 1: I'd knock your block off. You see, now, mister Conlan,
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  Speaker 1: began Holcombe, striving to avoid the Argumentum ad homonym, Listen
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  Speaker 1: to reason. It's only fair to let Katy choose for herself.
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  Speaker 1: Is it quite the square thing to try to prevent
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  Speaker 1: her from doing what she prefers to do? If it
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  Speaker 1: had not been for your interference, I would have had
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  Speaker 1: her a long time ago. For five cents, pursued the
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  Speaker 1: unmoved mister Conlan, lowering his terms, I'd knock your block off.
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  Speaker 1: Into Holcombe's eye, there came the light of desperate resolve.
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  Speaker 1: He saw but one way to clear the obstacle from
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  Speaker 1: his path. I am told, he said, quietly and firmly,
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  Speaker 1: that you are a fighter. Your mind seems to dwell
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  Speaker 1: upon physical combat as the solution to all questions. Now, Conlan,
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  Speaker 1: I'm no scrapper, but I'll fight you to a finish
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  Speaker 1: anytime within the next three minuts to see who gets
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  Speaker 1: the girl. If I win, she goes with me. If
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  Speaker 1: you win, you have your way and I'll not trouble
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  Speaker 1: her again. Are you a game? Danny Conlin's hard blue
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  Speaker 1: eyes looked a sudden admiration. You're all right, he conceded,
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  Speaker 1: with gruff candor. I didn't think you was that sort.
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  Speaker 1: You're all right. It's a dead, fair sporting prop and
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  Speaker 1: i'm your company. I'll stand by the results according to terms.
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  Speaker 1: Come on and I'll show you where it can be
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  Speaker 1: pulled off. You're all right. Katie tried to interfere, but
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  Speaker 1: Danny silenced her. He led Holcombe down the hill to
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  Speaker 1: a deep gully that sheltered them from view. Night was
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  Speaker 1: just closing in upon the twilight. They laid aside their
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  Speaker 1: coats and hats. Here was a situation in the methodical
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  Speaker 1: existence of Lawrence Holcombe, real estate and bond broker, representative
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  Speaker 1: businessmen of unquestionable habits and social position, fighting with a
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  Speaker 1: professional tough in a gully in a squalid settlement for
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  Speaker 1: the daughter of an Irish washerwoman. The combat was a
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  Speaker 1: short one. If it had lasted longer, Holcombe would have lost,
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  Speaker 1: for both his wind and his science had deteriorated. From
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  Speaker 1: long lack of training. Therefore, he forced the fighting from
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  Speaker 1: the start. It is difficult to say to what he
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  Speaker 1: owed his victory over the once champion middleweight. One thing
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  Speaker 1: in his favor was that mister Conlin's nerve and judgment
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  Speaker 1: had been somewhat shattered by the effects of a recent spree.
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  Speaker 1: Another must have been that Holcombe was stimulated to supreme
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  Speaker 1: exertion by an absorbing incentive to win, a prompting more
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  Speaker 1: powerful than the instinct of the gladiator, deeper than all
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  Speaker 1: motives of gallantry, and more important than the vital influence
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  Speaker 1: of love itself. A third fortuitous adjunct was, without doubt,
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  Speaker 1: a chance blow upon the projecting chin of the middleweight,
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  Speaker 1: under which the warrior sank to the gullies grime and
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  Speaker 1: remained incapable, while Holcombe stood above him and leisurely counted
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  Speaker 1: him out. Danny got shakily to his feet and proved
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  Speaker 1: to be a true sport. You're all right, he said,
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  Speaker 1: but if we had it by rounds twould have ended different.
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  Speaker 1: The girl goes with you, d'ye see, I'm on the square.
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  Speaker 1: They climbed back to the cottage. It's settled, announced Holcombe.
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  Speaker 1: Mister common removes his objections. That's straight, said Danny. He's
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  Speaker 1: all right. Hocum had only a scratch and slightly reddened
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  Speaker 1: chin from a vicious glancing uppercut from Danny's left. Danny
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  Speaker 1: showed punishment. One eye was nearly closed, his lip was bleeding.
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  Speaker 1: Katy was a true woman. Such do not at once
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  Speaker 1: crown the victor in the turney for their favor. Pity
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  Speaker 1: comes first. The victor must wait for his own. It
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  Speaker 1: will come to him. She flew to the vanquished champion
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  Speaker 1: and comforted him, ministering to his bruises. Hocumb stood serene
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  Speaker 1: and smiling, without jealousy. Tomorrow, he said to Katy. With
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  Speaker 1: head erect and bea eyes tomorrow if you like, answered Katy.
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  Speaker 1: Holcomb minced his precarious way up the ragged hill among
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  Speaker 1: the obsolete tinware. His car came along a glitter with
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  Speaker 1: electric lights and jammed with passengers. He jumped to the
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  Speaker 1: rear platform and stood there. At his side he found Weatherley,
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  Speaker 1: a friend and neighbor who had also built a house
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  Speaker 1: in the suburbs, a few squares from his own. Hello, Holcombe,
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  Speaker 1: yelled Weatherley, above the crash of the car, been looking
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  Speaker 1: over some real estate out here. How's missus Holcombe and
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  Speaker 1: the young hes first rate? Shouted Holcombe. When I left
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  Speaker 1: home this morning? How's the family with you? Only so
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  Speaker 1: so usual? Suburban troubles. Servants won't stay so far out.
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  Speaker 1: Tradesmen object to delivering goods in the country, cars break down, etc.
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  Speaker 1: What's pleasing you? So made a lucky deal today? Holcombe's
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  Speaker 1: face wore an ecstatic look. He was fingering a little
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  Speaker 1: scratch on his chin with one hand. He leaned his
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  Speaker 1: head towards Weatherly's ear. Say, Bob, do you remember that
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  Speaker 1: Irish girl Katy Flynn that was with the Spafford so
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  Speaker 1: long a time I've heard of her, said Weatherley. They
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  Speaker 1: say she stayed a year with them without a single
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  Speaker 1: day off. But I don't believe any fairy story like that.
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  Speaker 1: Twas a fact. Well, I engaged her to day for
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  Speaker 1: a cook. She's going out to the house tomorrow. Count
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  Speaker 1: found you for a lucky dog, shouted Weatherley, with envy
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  Speaker 1: in his tones and his heart. And you live four
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  Speaker 1: blocks further out than we do. End of section seven.
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  Speaker 1: End of O Henrianna by O Henry