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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bambi, by Marjorie Benton Cooke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Bambi
+
+Author: Marjorie Benton Cooke
+
+Release Date: February 20, 2004 [eBook #11197]
+[Most recently updated: November 21, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Susan Woodring and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAMBI ***
+
+
+
+
+BAMBI
+
+by Marjorie Benton Cooke
+
+Illustrated by Mary Greene Blumenschein
+
+Originally Published in 1914
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+TO BAMBI
+
+With thanks to her for being Herself!
+
+M.B.C.
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+She saw Jarvis before the curtain, making a first-night speech.
+
+Bambi fluttered the joy-bringing letter above her head and circled the
+breakfast-room in a whirl of happiness.
+
+"Good evening, Mrs. New York, and all you people out there! We're here,
+Jarvis and I."
+
+"Well, believe me, that high-brow stuff is on the toboggan."
+
+"Tell your husband to put you in a play, and I'll put it on." "Much
+obliged, I'll tell him. Good morning."
+
+Her tale had the place of honour and was illustrated by James Montgomery
+Flagg, the supreme desire of every young writer.
+
+"Softlings! Poor softlings!" Jarvis muttered, Bambi's words coming back
+to him.
+
+"I have got to do something violent, Ardelia. I am going to jerk the
+stems off of berries, chop the pits out of cherries, and skin peaches."
+
+He taught himself to abandon his old introspective habits during these
+days on the box.
+
+
+
+
+BAMBI
+
+
+
+I
+
+"Professor James Parkhurst, I consider you a colossal failure as an
+educator," said Francesca, his daughter, known to friend and family as
+Bambina, or Bambi for short.
+
+Professor Parkhurst lifted a startled face from his newspaper and
+surveyed his only child across the breakfast table.
+
+"My dear, what causes this sweeping assertion of my incompetence?"
+
+"I do! I do! Just what did you expect me to do when I grew up?"
+
+"Why, to be happy."
+
+"That's the profession you intended me for? Who's to pay the piper? It's
+expensive to be happy and also unlucrative."
+
+"I have always expected to support you until your husband claimed that
+privilege."
+
+"Suppose I want a husband who can't support me?"
+
+"Dear me, that would be unfortunate. It is the first duty of a husband
+to support his wife."
+
+"Old-fashioned husbands, yes--but not modern ones. Lots of men marry to
+be supported nowadays. How on earth could I support the man I love?"
+
+"You are not without talents, my dear."
+
+"Talents? You almost said accomplishments! If you were not living in the
+Pliocene age, Professor James Parkhurst, you would know that
+accomplishments are a curse--accomplishment is the only thing that
+counts. I can sing a little, play the piano a little, auction bridge a
+good deal; I can cook, and sew fancy things. The only thing I can do
+well is to dance, and no real man wants to be supported by his
+wife's toes."
+
+The Professor smiled mirthlessly. "Is this a general discussion, or are
+you leading to a specific point, Bambi?" he inquired.
+
+"It's a specific charge of incompetence against you and me. Why didn't
+you teach me something? You know more about mathematics than the man who
+invented them, and I am not even sure that two and two make four."
+
+"You're young yet, my dear; you can learn. What is it you want to
+study?"
+
+"Success, and how to get it."
+
+"Success, in the general sense of the word, has never seemed very
+important to me. To do your work well----"
+
+"Yes, I know. It is the fact that you have not thought success important
+that hampers me so in the choice of a husband."
+
+"Bambina, that is the second time a husband has been mentioned in this
+discussion. Have you some individual under consideration?"
+
+"I have. I have practically decided on him."
+
+"You don't tell me! Do I know the young man?"
+
+"Oh, yes--Jarvis Jocelyn."
+
+"He has proposed to you?"
+
+"Oh, no. He doesn't know anything about it. I have just decided on him."
+
+"But, my dear, he is penniless."
+
+"That's why I reproach you that you haven't brought me up to support
+Jarvis in a luxury he will have to get used to."
+
+"But why have you settled on this youth? I seem to recall a great many
+young men who are always about. I presume they admire you. Certainly
+this dreamer is the most ineligible of them all."
+
+"Oh, that--yes. That's why I must take him. He'll starve to death unless
+some one takes him on, and looks after him."
+
+"Isn't there some asylum, perhaps?"
+
+Bambi's laugh rang out like a chime.
+
+"A home for geniuses. There's an idea! No, Professor Parkhurst, Society
+does not yet provide for that particular brand of incompetents."
+
+"It seems as if you were going rather far in your quixotism to marry
+him."
+
+Again the girl laughed.
+
+"I total him up like this: fine family, good blood, decent habits,
+handsome, healthy, poetic. He might even be affectionate. His one fault
+is that he is not adjusted to modern commercial standards. He cannot
+make money, or he will not--it comes to the same thing."
+
+"I am unable to see why you are elected to take care of him. He must fit
+his time, or perish. You don't happen to be in love with him, do you?"
+
+"No, I--I think not. He interests me more than anybody. I suppose I am
+fond of him rather."
+
+"Have you any reason for thinking him in love with you?"
+
+"Mercy, no! He hardly knows I'm alive. He uses me for a conversational
+blotting-pad. That's my only use in his eyes."
+
+"He's so very impractical."
+
+"I am used to impractical men. I have taken care of you since I was five
+years old."
+
+"Yes, my dear. But I am not trying to feed the world bread when it
+demands cheese."
+
+"No, you are distinctly practical. You are only trying to prove a fourth
+dimension, when three have sufficed the world up to date."
+
+"Yes, but----"
+
+"No buts. If it had not been for me you would have gone naked and been
+arrested, or have forgotten to eat and starved to death."
+
+"Now, my dear Bambi, I protest----"
+
+"It will do you no good. Don't I remember how you started off to meet
+your nine o'clock class clad in your pyjamas?"
+
+"Oh, my child!"
+
+"Don't talk to me about impracticality. It's my birthright."
+
+"Well, I can prove to you----"
+
+"I never believe anything you have to prove. If I can't see it, first
+thing, without any process, it isn't true."
+
+"But if you represent yourself as Y, and Jarvis as X, an unknown
+quantity----"
+
+"Professor Parkhurst, stop there! There's nothing so unreliable as
+figures, and everybody but a mathematician knows that. Figures lie right
+to your face."
+
+"Bambina, if you could coin your conversation----" Professor Parkhurst
+began.
+
+"I am sorry to find you unreasonable about Jarvis, Professor."
+
+He gazed at her, in his absent-minded, startled way. He had never
+understood her since she was first put into his hands, aged six months,
+a fluffy bundle of motherless babyhood. She never ceased to startle him.
+She was an enigma beyond any puzzle in mathematics he had ever brought
+his mind to bear upon.
+
+"How old are you, Bambina?"
+
+"Shame on you, and you a mathematician. If James is forty-five, and
+Bambina is two thirds of half his age, how old is Bambi? I'm nineteen."
+
+His startled gaze deepened.
+
+"Oh, you cannot be!" he objected.
+
+"There you are. I told you figures lie. It says so in the family Bible,
+but maybe I'm only two."
+
+"Nineteen years old! Dearie me!"
+
+"You see I'm quite old enough to know my own mind. Have you a nine
+o'clock class this morning?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"Well, hasten, Professor, or you'll get a tardy mark. It's ten minutes
+of nine now."
+
+He jumped up from his chair and started for the door.
+
+"Don't you want this notebook?" she called, taking up the pad beside his
+plate.
+
+"Yes, oh, yes, those are my notes. Where have I laid my glasses? Quick,
+my dear! I must not be late."
+
+"On your head," said she.
+
+She followed him to the hall, reminded him of his hat, his umbrella,
+restored the notebook, and finally saw him off, his thin back, with its
+scholarly stoop, disappearing down the street.
+
+Bambina went back to the breakfast table, and took up the paper. She
+read all the want "ads" headed "female."
+
+"Nothing promising here," she said. "I wonder if I could bring myself to
+teach little kids one, two, and one, two, three, in a select dancing
+class? I'd loathe it."
+
+A ponderous black woman appeared in the door and filled it.
+
+"Is you froo?"
+
+"Yes, go ahead, Ardelia."
+
+"Hab the Perfessor gone already?"
+
+"Yes, he's gone."
+
+"Well, he suttinly did tell me to remin' him of suthin' this mohnin',
+and I cain't des perzactly bemember what it was."
+
+"Was it important?"
+
+"Yassum. Seemed lak I bemember he tell me it was impo'tant."
+
+"Serves him right for not telling me."
+
+"It suttinly am queer the way he can't bemember. Seem lak his haid so
+full of figgers, or what you call them, ain' no room for nuthin' else."
+
+"You and father get zero in memory--that's sure."
+
+"I ain't got no trubble dat way, Miss Bambi. I bemember everything,
+'cepting wot you tell me to bemember."
+
+The dining-room door flew open at this point, and a handsome youth, with
+his hair upstanding, and his clothes in a wrinkle, appeared on the
+threshold. Bambi rose and started for him.
+
+"Jarvis!" she exclaimed. "What has happened? Where have you been?"
+
+"Sleeping in the garden."
+
+"Dat's it--dat's it! Dat was wat I was to remin' the Perfessor of, dat a
+man was sleepin' in the garden."
+
+"Sleeping in our garden? But why?"
+
+"Because of the filthy commercialism of this age! Here I am, at the
+climax of my big play, a revolutionary play, I tell you, teeming with
+new and vital ideas, for a people on the down-slide, and a landlady, a
+puny, insignificant ant of a female, interrupts me to demand money, and
+when I assure her, most politely, that I have none, she puts me out,
+actually puts me out!"
+
+Bambi choked back a laugh.
+
+"Why didn't you come here?"
+
+"I did. Your father refused to see me; he was working at his crazy
+figures. I burst in, and demanded you, but he couldn't remember where
+you had gone."
+
+"What a pity! Well----"
+
+"I told him I would wait in the garden. If necessary, I would sleep
+there."
+
+"Yas'm, yas'm, dat's when he called me in, to tell me to bemin' him."
+
+"That will do, Ardelia."
+
+"Yassum," said the handmaiden, and withdrew.
+
+"Now, go on."
+
+"I was full of my big act, so I walked and walked for hours. Then I lay
+down in the summer-house, and I must have gone to sleep."
+
+"Go up and take a bath, and come down to some breakfast. I will send
+Ardelia to get some of father's things for you if you need them."
+
+"All right, but don't delay with breakfast. If I don't get this act
+down, I may lose it. That fiend, in female guise, held my paper."
+
+"Go on! Get ready!"
+
+He plunged out, and Bambi went to send Ardelia to him, while she cooked
+his eggs and fried his bacon. As she worked, she smiled, out of sheer
+amusement.
+
+In due course of time, he appeared, freshened up, and with renewed
+eagerness to be at work. He scarcely noticed Bambina as she served his
+breakfast. He ate as if he were starved.
+
+"I suppose the landlady held your clothes?"
+
+"I don't know. I didn't ask. It was unimportant."
+
+"How much do you owe her?"
+
+He looked at her in surprise.
+
+"I have no idea."
+
+"Have you any money at all?"
+
+"Certainly not. I'd have given it to her if I had, so she wouldn't
+interrupt me."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. I can't think about it now. I am full of this big
+idea. It's a dramatization of the Brotherhood of Man, of a sublime,
+socialistic world----"
+
+"Has it occurred to you, ever, Jarvis, that the world isn't ready for
+the Brotherhood of Man yet? It's just out of the tent stage, where War
+is the whole duty of Man."
+
+"But it must be ready," he urged, seriously, "for I am here with my
+message."
+
+She smiled at him as one would at a conceited child.
+
+"Poor old Jarvis, strayed out of Elysian fields! Were you thinking of
+sleeping in the summer-house permanently?"
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter; only the play matters. Give me some paper,
+Bambi, and let me get to work."
+
+She rose and went to stand before him.
+
+"Would you mind looking at me?"
+
+He turned his eyes on her.
+
+"Not just your eyes, Jarvis. Look at me with your mind."
+
+"What's the matter with you?" he asked, slightly irritated.
+
+"Do you like my looks?"
+
+"I've never noticed them."
+
+"That's what I'm asking you to do. Look me over."
+
+He stared at her.
+
+"Yes, you're pretty--you're very pretty. Some people might call you
+beautiful."
+
+"Don't overdo it, Jarvis! Have you ever noticed my disposition?"
+
+"No--yes. Well, I know you're patient, and you must be good-natured."
+
+"I am. I am also healthy and cheerful."
+
+"I don't doubt it. Where is the paper?"
+
+She put her hands on his shoulders and shook him gently.
+
+"Jarvis, I want you to give me your full attention for five minutes."
+
+"What ails you to-day, Bambi?"
+
+"The only thing I lack is a useful education, so that I am not sure I
+can make a very big living just at first, unless I dance on the stage."
+
+"What are you driving at?"
+
+"Would you have any special objection to marrying me, Jarvis?"
+
+"Marrying you? Are you crazy?"
+
+"Obviously. Have you?"
+
+"Certainly I won't marry you. I am too busy. You disappoint me, Bambi;
+you do, indeed. I always thought you were such a sensible girl----"
+
+"Father can help out a little, at first, but I may as well tell you, he
+doesn't approve of you as a son-in-law."
+
+"I don't approve of him, impractical dreamer! Where is that paper?"
+
+"You've got to be taken care of until you get an awful tumble. Then you
+will wake up and do big things, but in the meantime you must eat."
+
+"You talk nonsense, and you're interrupting me. If I don't get at that
+scene----"
+
+"Will you marry me? I can't take care of you if you don't, because the
+neighbours will talk."
+
+"I won't marry you. I don't love you."
+
+"No more do I love you. That's got nothing to do with it. Here's one of
+father's empty notebooks. Say yes, and you can have it."
+
+His eyes fairly glistened as they fell on the book.
+
+"For heaven's sake, don't torture me. Give me the book and have it your
+own way, whatever it is you want."
+
+She laughed, gave him the book, and he was at the table instantly,
+sweeping back the dishes with a ruthless hand.
+
+"No, no, into the study you go, while I make a descent on your landlady,
+rescue your clothes, and get the license and the minister, my
+liege lord."
+
+She settled him at his desk, where he was immediately lost to his
+surroundings.
+
+Bambi slipped out noiselessly, dressed for the street, humming a little
+song, and presently departed.
+
+Meanwhile, his first recitations being over, the Professor returned for
+two hours' research in his study, to find Jarvis ensconced there,
+oblivious to the outside world. "Go away, go away!" he shouted to
+Professor Parkhurst.
+
+"I'll trouble you to get out of my study," said the Professor.
+
+"You'll get your filthy money in due time, my good woman, so go away!"
+cried Jarvis.
+
+"Whom are you addressing? Good woman, indeed!"
+
+At this moment Bambi returned, and sensed the situation.
+
+"Oh, I didn't expect you back, Father Professor. This is Jarvis. You see
+he's come. He has no objection at all to my marrying him, so I got a
+minister."
+
+"A minister? You got him?"
+
+"Yes, you see Jarvis is busy. There is no need of our waiting, so we are
+going to be married in half an hour or so."
+
+"To-day? Here?"
+
+"Yes, right here, as soon as Jarvis finishes this scene."
+
+"Is he going to occupy my library permanently?" wailed the Professor.
+
+"No, no. I'll fix him a place on the top floor."
+
+"He's not at all my choice," said Professor Parkhurst firmly, gazing at
+the unconscious Jocelyn. "You can see by the way he tosses paper about
+that he is neither methodical nor orderly."
+
+"Those are husband traits that I can do without, thank you."
+
+Ardelia appeared.
+
+"'Scuse me, but yo' all expectin' the preacher up here? He say Miss
+Bambi tol' him to cum here at eleben o'clock."
+
+"Yes, show him right in here."
+
+"Yassum."
+
+Ardelia reappeared with the Reverend Dr. Short at her heels. Bambi
+greeted him, and Professor Parkhurst shook hands absently. Bambi went to
+lean over Jarvis. He suddenly threw down his pen, stretched himself,
+and groaned.
+
+"Now, if I can just get the last act outlined----"
+
+"Jarvis, just a minute, please."
+
+He suddenly looked at her, and at the other two.
+
+"This is Reverend Dr. Short, Mr. Jarvis Jocelyn."
+
+"I have nothing to say to orthodoxy," Jarvis began, but Bambi
+interrupted him.
+
+"Doctor Short has come to marry us. Stand up here for a few moments, and
+then you can go on with your third act."
+
+She laid her hand on his arm, and drew him to his feet.
+
+"The shortest possible service, please, Doctor Short. Jarvis is so busy
+to-day."
+
+Doctor Short looked from the strange pair to Professor Parkhurst, who
+looked back at him.
+
+"You are sure this is all right?" he questioned.
+
+"Do tell him to be quick, Bambi. If it's about that landlady I cannot----"
+
+"'Sh! Go ahead, Doctor Short."
+
+Doctor Short read the service, and between the three of them they
+induced Jarvis to make the proper responses. He seemed utterly unaware
+of what was going on about him, and at the end of a brief service, when
+Bambi's hand was taken from his arm, he sat down to work at once. Bambi
+led the other two men from the room.
+
+"He acted as if he were drunk, or drugged, but he isn't. He's just full
+of an idea," she smilingly explained.
+
+"Have you known this young man long?" Doctor Short asked the Professor.
+
+"Have we, my dear?"
+
+"We have known him fifteen years," she answered.
+
+"Well, of course that makes a difference," murmured the reverend
+gentleman. "I wish you every happiness, Mrs. Jocelyn," he added, and
+took his departure.
+
+"How soon can you get him out of my study?" asked the Professor, looking
+at his watch. "I have only one hour left before lunch."
+
+"Felicitate me, Professor, felicitate me on my marriage."
+
+"I hope you will be happy, my dear, but I doubt it. His lack of
+consideration in taking my study----"
+
+Bambina looked at him, and began to laugh. Peal followed peal of
+laughter until tears stood in her eyes.
+
+"I'll go rescue the study, Herr Professor. Oh, this is too rich! Bernard
+Shaw ought to know about me," she laughed, as she tripped upstairs.
+
+So it was that Bambina acquired a husband.
+
+
+
+II
+
+Two days later Jarvis, shaved, properly dressed, and apparently sane,
+appeared on the piazza, where Bambi and the Professor were at lunch. He
+hesitated on the threshold until they both turned toward him.
+
+"Good morning," he ventured.
+
+"Good morning, Jarvis," said Bambi gayly.
+
+"Morning," tersely, from the head of the house.
+
+"Might I ask how long I have been sojourning on the top floor of this
+house, and how I got there?"
+
+"Do you mean to say you don't know?"
+
+"Haven't an idea. I have a faint recollection of a big disturbance, and
+then peace, heavenly peace, with black coffee every once in a while, and
+big ideas flowing like Niagara."
+
+Bambina's eyes shone at him, but her father looked troubled.
+
+"You know what the big disturbance was, don't you?" he asked.
+
+"It seems to me I wanted paper--that somebody was taking my things
+away----"
+
+"You'd better tell him, Francesca; he doesn't remember, so I don't think
+it can be legal."
+
+Jarvis looked from one to the other.
+
+"What's all this? I don't seem to get you."
+
+Bambi's laugh bubbled over.
+
+"You get me, all right."
+
+"For goodness' sake, talk sense."
+
+"You came here, three days ago, in a trance, and announced that you had
+been bounced from the boarding-house, and that you needed paper to blot
+up the big ideas--the Niagara ideas----"
+
+"Did I?"
+
+"So I took you in, redeemed your clothes for you----"
+
+"It was you who planted me upstairs in that heavenly quiet place, and
+brought black coffee?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"God bless you for it."
+
+"I did something else, too."
+
+"Did you? What?"
+
+"I married you."
+
+He looked at her, dazed, and then at the Professor.
+
+"What's the joke?" he asked.
+
+"There is no joke," said the Professor sternly. "She did it. I tried to
+stop her, but she never listens to me."
+
+"Do you mean, Bambi----" he began.
+
+"I mean you told me to go ahead, so I got a license and a minister, and
+married you."
+
+"But where was I when you did it?"
+
+"You were there, I thought, but it didn't seem to take. Can't you
+remember anything at all about it, Jarvis?"
+
+"Not a thing. Word of honour! How long have we been married?"
+
+"Three days. You couldn't come out of the play, so I dragged you
+upstairs, fed you at stated periods, and let you alone."
+
+He looked at her as if for the first time.
+
+"Why, Bambi," he said, "you are a wonderful person."
+
+"I have known it all along," she replied, sweetly.
+
+"But why, in God's name, did you do it?"
+
+"That's what I say," interpolated the Professor.
+
+"Oh, it just came to me when I saw you needed looking after----"
+
+"Don't you believe it. She intended to do it all along," said her
+father, grimly. "I tried to dissuade her. I told her you were a dreamer,
+penniless, and always would be, but she wouldn't listen to my
+practical talk."
+
+"I seem to get a pretty definite idea of your opinion of me, sir. Why
+didn't you wake me up, so I could prevent this catastrophe?"
+
+"I supposed you were awake. I didn't know you worked in a cataleptic
+fit."
+
+"Catastrophe!" echoed Bambina.
+
+"Certainly. Why don't you look at it in a practical way, as your father
+says? I never had any money. I probably never will. I hate the stuff.
+It's the curse of the age."
+
+"I know all that."
+
+"You will be wanting food and clothes no doubt, and you will expect me
+to provide them."
+
+"Oh, never! You don't think I would take such an advantage of you,
+Jarvis, as to marry you when you were in a work fit and then expect you
+to support me?"
+
+The Professor shook his head in despair, and arose.
+
+"It's beyond me, all this modern madness. I wash my hands of the whole
+affair."
+
+"That's right, Professor Parkhurst. I married him, you know; you
+didn't."
+
+"Well, keep him out of my study," he warned.
+
+Then he gathered up his scattered belongings, and turned his absent gaze
+on Bambi.
+
+"What is it I want? Oh, yes. Call Ardelia."
+
+Bambi rang, and Ardelia answered the summons.
+
+"Ardelia, did I ask you to remind me of anything this morning?"
+
+She scratched her head in deep thought.
+
+"No, sah, not's as I recolleck. It was yistiddy you tol' me to remin'
+you, and I done forgot what it was."
+
+"Ardelia, you are not entirely reliable," he remarked, as he passed her.
+
+"No, sah. I ain't jes' what you call----" she muttered, following him out.
+
+Bambi brought up the rear, chuckling over this daily controversy, which
+never failed to amuse her.
+
+When the front door slammed, she came back to where Jarvis sat, his
+untouched luncheon before him. He watched her closely as she flashed
+into the room, like some swift, vivid bird perching opposite him.
+
+"I spoiled your luncheon," she laughed.
+
+"Bambi, why did you do this thing?"
+
+"Good heavens, I don't know. I did it because I'm I, I suppose."
+
+"You wanted to marry me?" he persisted.
+
+"I thought I ought to. Somebody had to look after you, and I am used to
+looking after father. I like helpless men."
+
+"So you were sorry for me? It was pity----"
+
+"Rubbish. I believe in you. If you have a chance to work out your
+salvation you will be a big man. If you are hectored to death, you will
+kill yourself, or compromise, and that will be the end of you."
+
+"You see that--you understand----"
+
+He pushed back his chair and came to her.
+
+"You think that little you can stand between me and these things that I
+must compromise with?"
+
+She nodded at him, brightly. He leaned over, took her two small hands,
+and leaned his face against them.
+
+"Thank you," he said, simply; "but I won't have it."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I am not worth it. You saw me in a work fit. I'm a devil. I'm
+like one possessed. I swear and rave if I am interrupted. I can't eat
+nor sleep till I get the madness out of me. I am not human. I am not
+normal. I am not fit to live with."
+
+"Very well, we will build a cage at the top of the house, and when you
+feel a fit coming on you can go up there. I'll slip you food through a
+wire door so you can't bite me, and I'll exhibit you for a fee as the
+wildest genius in captivity."
+
+"Bambi, be serious. This is no joke. This is awful!"
+
+"You consider it awful to be married to me?"
+
+"I am not thinking of myself. I am thinking of you. You have got
+yourself into a pretty mess, and I've got to get you out of it."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I'll divorce you."
+
+"You've got no grounds. I've been a kind, dutiful wife to you. I haven't
+been near you since I married you, except to give you food."
+
+"How do you expect we are to live? Nobody wants my plays."
+
+"How do you know? You never try to sell them. You told me so yourself.
+You feel so superior to managers and audiences that you never
+offer them."
+
+"I know. I occasionally go to the theatre, by mistake, and I see what
+they want."
+
+"That's no criterion. We won't condemn even a Broadway manager until he
+proves himself such a dummy as not to want your plays."
+
+"Broadway? Think of a play of mine on Broadway! Think of the fat swine
+who waddle into those theatres!"
+
+"My dear, there are men of brains writing for the theatre to-day who do
+not scorn those swine."
+
+"Men of brains? Who, who, I ask you?"
+
+"Bernard Shaw."
+
+"Showman, trickster."
+
+"Barrie."
+
+"Well, maybe."
+
+"Pinero?"
+
+"Pinero knows his trade," he admitted.
+
+"Galsworthy, Brieux."
+
+"Galsworthy is a pamphleteer. Brieux is no artist. He is a surgeon. They
+have nothing to say to Broadway. Broadway swallows the pills they offer
+because of their names, but they might just as well give them the sugar
+drip they want, for all the good it does."
+
+"Well, they get heard, anyhow. What's the use of writing a play if it
+isn't acted? Of course we'll sell your plays."
+
+"But if we don't, where will you be?"
+
+"Oh, I'll be all right. I mean to support myself, anyhow, and you, too,
+if the plays don't go."
+
+He laughed.
+
+"You are an amusing mite. Queer I never noticed you before."
+
+"You'll like me, if you continue to be aware of me. I'm nice," she
+laughed up at him, and he smiled back.
+
+"How do you intend to make this fortune, may I ask?"
+
+"I haven't decided yet. Of course I can dance. If worst came to worst, I
+can make a big salary dancing."
+
+"Dancing?" he exploded.
+
+"Yes, didn't you ever hear of it? With the feet, you know, and the body,
+and the eyes, and the arms. So!"
+
+She twirled about him in a circle, like a gay little figurine. He
+watched her, fascinated.
+
+"You can dance, can't you?"
+
+"I can. At times I am quite inspired. Now, if you and the Professor will
+be sensible, and let me go to New York and take a job, I could support
+us all in luxury. You could write and he could figure."
+
+"I don't see that it is any business of ours what you do, but I
+certainly won't let you support me."
+
+"Do you really mean it isn't your business?"
+
+"Why should it be?"
+
+"Well, if I am your wife, and his daughter, some people would think that
+it was distantly related to your business."
+
+"Why New York? Why not here?"
+
+"In this town they think I am crazy now. But if I burst out as a
+professional dancer----Wow!"
+
+"That's so. It's a mean little town, but it's quiet. That's why I stay.
+It's quiet."
+
+"You wouldn't mind my being away, if I went to New York, would you?"
+
+"Oh, no. I'd be busy."
+
+"That's good. I really think you are almost ideal."
+
+"Ideal?"
+
+"As a husband. They are usually so exacting and interfering."
+
+"I've not decided yet to be your husband."
+
+"But you are it."
+
+"Suppose you should fall in love with somebody else?"
+
+"I'm much more apt to fall in love with you."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" he exclaimed, and came to her side quickly. "Bambi,
+promise me that no matter what happens you will not do that. You will
+not fall in love with me."
+
+She looked at him a minute, and then laughed contagiously.
+
+"I am serious about this. My work is everything to me. Nothing matters
+but just that, and it might be a dreadful interruption if you fell in
+love with me."
+
+"I don't see why, unless you fell in love with me."
+
+"No danger of that," said he, and at her laugh turned to her again. "If
+ever you see any signs of my being such a fool as that, you warn me,
+will you?"
+
+"And what will you do then?"
+
+"I'll run away. I will go to the ends of the earth. That particular
+madness is death to creative genius."
+
+"All right. I'll warn you."
+
+"I've got to begin to polish my first draft to-day, so I'll go upstairs
+and get at it."
+
+"Will you be gone two days this trip?"
+
+He turned to smile at her.
+
+"Some people would think you were eccentric," he said.
+
+"They might," she responded.
+
+"I am almost sane when I polish," he laughed. "It's only when I create
+that I am crazy."
+
+"It's all right then, is it? We go on?"
+
+"Go on?"
+
+"Being married?"
+
+"Well, I have no objection, if you insist, but you'd better think over
+what I told you. I think you have made a mistake; and you shall never
+support me."
+
+"I never think over my mistakes," said Bambi. "I just live up to them."
+
+"I agree with your father that you risk a good deal."
+
+"Risks are exciting."
+
+"If you don't like it, you can divorce me the next time I am in a work
+fit. I'll never know it, so it will be painless."
+
+"Jarvis, that's unfair."
+
+He came back quickly.
+
+"That was intended for humour," he explained.
+
+"I so diagnosed it," she flashed back at him.
+
+He looked down at her diminutive figure with its well-shaped, patrician
+head, its sensitive mouth, its wide-set, shining eyes.
+
+"Star-shine," he smiled.
+
+She poked him with a sharp "What?"
+
+"You don't think I ought to--to--kiss you, possibly, do you?"
+
+"Mercy, no!"
+
+"Good! I was afraid you might expect something of me."
+
+"Oh, no. Think what you have done for the girl," she quoted, and he
+heard her laugh down the hall and out into the garden. He took a step as
+if to follow her. Then, with a shake of his shoulders, he climbed the
+stairs to his new workshop with a smile on his lips.
+
+
+
+III
+
+The Professor was working in his garden. It was one of his few
+relaxations, and he took it as seriously as a problem. He had great
+success with flowers, owing to what he called his system. He was
+methodical as a machine in everything he did, so the plants were fed
+with the regularity of hospital patients, and flourished accordingly.
+To-day he was in pursuit of slugs. He followed up one row, and down the
+next, slaying with the ruthlessness of fate.
+
+The general effect of his garden was rather striking. He laid out each
+bed in the shape of an arithmetical figure. The pansy beds were in
+figure eights, the nasturtiums were pruned and ordered into stubby
+figure ones, while the asters and fall flowers ranged from fours
+to twenties.
+
+The Professor carried his arithmetical sense to extremes. He insisted
+that figures had personality, just as people have, and it was a
+favourite method of his to nickname his friends and pupils according to
+a numeral. He was watching the death-throes of a slug, with scientific
+indifference, as his son-in-law approached him, carrying a
+wide-brimmed hat.
+
+"Professor Parkhurst, your daughter desires you to put on your hat. You
+forgot it."
+
+"Oh, yes. Thank you!"
+
+"I should like the opportunity of a few words with you, sir, if you can
+spare the time."
+
+"Well, I cannot. My time is very precious. If you desire to walk along
+with me while I destroy these slugs, I will listen to what you say."
+
+He pursued his course, and Jarvis, perforce, followed.
+
+"I have been in your house for a week, now, Professor Parkhurst, and I
+have merely encountered you at meals."
+
+"Often enough," said the Professor, making a sudden turn that almost
+upset Jarvis. "I go fifty steps up, and fifty steps back," he explained,
+and Jarvis stared at him open-mouthed.
+
+"You count your steps?" he repeated.
+
+"Certainly, no matter what I do, I count. When I eat, when I sleep,
+walk, talk, think, I always count."
+
+"How awful! A human metronome. I must make a note of that." And Jarvis
+took out a notebook to make an entry.
+
+"You have the notebook habit?" snorted the Professor.
+
+"Yes, I can't afford to waste ideas, suggestions, thoughts."
+
+"Bah! A most offensive habit."
+
+"I gather, from your general attitude," Jarvis began again, "that you
+dislike me."
+
+"I neither like nor dislike you. I don't know you."
+
+"You never will know me, at this rate."
+
+"I am not sure that I care to."
+
+"Why not? What have you against me?"
+
+"You are not practical."
+
+"Do you consider yourself practical?"
+
+"I do. I am the acme of practical. I am mathematical."
+
+He slew another bug.
+
+"How can you do that?" cried Jarvis, his concern in his face. "That slug
+has a right to life. Why don't you get the point of view of the slug?"
+
+"He kills my roses," justified the Professor. "He's a murderer. Society
+has a right to extinguish him."
+
+"The old fallacy, a tooth for a tooth?"
+
+"You'd sacrifice my roses to save this insect?"
+
+"I'd teach the rose to take care of itself."
+
+"You're crazy," he snapped, and walked on, Jarvis at his heels.
+
+"I didn't come to quarrel with you about our views of gardening, or of
+life. I realize that we have no common ground. You are of the Past, and
+I am of the Future."
+
+"There is nobody more modern than I am!" cried the Professor.
+
+"Rubbish! No modern wastes his life in rows of inanimate numerals. We
+get out and work at humanity and its problems."
+
+"What are the problems of humanity?"
+
+"Food, employment, education, health."
+
+"All of them mathematical. Economics is mathematical."
+
+"Well, I wish instead of teaching a few thousand students higher algebra
+that you had taught your own daughter a little common sense."
+
+"Common sense is not taught. It is a gift of the gods, like genius,"
+said the Professor.
+
+Jarvis glanced at him quickly, and took out the notebook.
+
+"Put that thing away!" shouted the Professor. "I will not be annotated."
+
+Jarvis meekly returned it to his pocket, but as the Professor
+right-about faced, he exploded:
+
+"For heaven's sake, sit down and listen to me! This mathematical
+progression makes me crazy."
+
+"I have just so many rows to do," the Professor replied, as he marched
+along. "Do I understand you to criticise my daughter's education?"
+
+"I don't know anything about her education. I didn't know she had one,"
+said Jarvis, "but this whim of hers, in marrying me, is very trying to
+me. It is most upsetting."
+
+"Have it annulled. It can't possibly be legal."
+
+"She won't hear of it. She desires to be married to me."
+
+The Professor rose and faced him.
+
+"Then you may as well resign yourself. I have lived with her nineteen
+years and I know."
+
+"But it is absurd that a child like that should always have her own way.
+You have spoiled her."
+
+Even the Professor's bent back showed pity.
+
+"You have a great deal to learn, young man."
+
+"Can't you persuade her to divorce me?"
+
+"I cannot. I tried to persuade her to do that before she married you."
+
+"I suppose you think I ought to make a living for her?"
+
+"At the risk of being called a back number, I do."
+
+"Just when I am beginning to count."
+
+"Count? Count what?"
+
+"Count as a creative artist."
+
+"Just what is it you do, Jocelyn?"
+
+"I try to express the Philosophy of Modernism through the medium of the
+Drama."
+
+"Who buys it?"
+
+"Nobody."
+
+"How are you beginning to count, then?"
+
+"Oh, not in the market-place. In my own soul."
+
+"Forty-nine, fifty," said the Professor. "Turn here. In your own soul,
+you say?" He glanced at the youth beside him. "Bambi has sold her
+birthright for a mess of pottage," he muttered.
+
+"That's just the question. Whose duty is it to provide the pottage?"
+
+"Maybe you think it's mine?"
+
+"Why shouldn't Science support Art?"
+
+"Humph! Why not let Bambi support you? She says she wants to."
+
+"I am willing she should support herself, but not me."
+
+"So the only question is, will I support you?"
+
+"Exactly. With Bambi off your hands, you will have no other
+responsibility, and you could not do a bigger thing for the world than
+to help me to instruct and inspire it."
+
+"Aristophanes!" exclaimed the Professor. "You are unique! You are number
+twenty-three."
+
+"Why twenty-three?"
+
+"Because that is neither much nor little."
+
+"Your daughter thinks my plays will sell, but I tell you frankly I doubt
+it."
+
+"How can you instruct and inspire if nobody listens?"
+
+"They must listen in the end, else why am I here?"
+
+The Professor relinquished his chase, to stare again. "You are at least
+sincere in your belief in yourself--twenty-three. I'd like to hear some
+of these great ideas of yours."
+
+"Very well. I am going to read a play to your daughter this evening. If
+you care to come, you may listen. Then you will see that it would pay
+you to stake me for a couple of years."
+
+"I'll come and listen."
+
+"If you decide to undertake me, I insist that you shall not continue
+this scornful avoidance of me. If we three are to live together, we must
+live in harmony, which is necessary to my work."
+
+"Whose favour is this, yours or mine?"
+
+"Favour? Good heavens! you don't think it is a favour to give me food
+and a roof for two years, do you? I thought it was an opportunity
+for you."
+
+The Professor, not easily moved to mirth, did an imitation of laughter,
+holding both his sides. Jarvis turned his charming, boyish smile upon
+him, and walked up the path to the house. Strange what things amused
+Bambi and her parent!
+
+That night, after dinner, Bambi arranged the electric reading light in
+the screened porch, drew a big chair beside it, placed the Professor's
+favourite chaise-lounge near by, and got him into it. Then she went in
+search of her performer. She looked all over the house for him, to
+finally discover him on the top floor in hiding.
+
+"Come on! I've got everything all ready, even the Professor."
+
+"I am terrified," Jarvis admitted. "Suppose you should not understand
+what I have written? Suppose you thought it was all rubbish?"
+
+"If I think so, I will say so. Isn't that the idea? You are trying it on
+the dog to see if it goes?"
+
+"If you think it is rubbish, don't say anything."
+
+"How silly! If you are spending your time on trash, you ought to know
+it, and get over it, and begin to write sense."
+
+"I feel like one of the Professor's slugs," he muttered.
+
+"Better try us on the simplest one."
+
+"Well, I will read you 'Success.'"
+
+She ran downstairs, and he followed, to the piazza.
+
+There was no sign of the Professor.
+
+"Ardelia," called Bambi, "where is the Professor?"
+
+"I don't know, ma'am. I seen him headed for the garden."
+
+"Professor Parkhurst, come in here!" Bambi called. "We are to hear
+Jarvis's play."
+
+"Oh, that is it. I couldn't remember why I was placed in that chair, and
+Ardelia couldn't remember. So it occurred to me that I had forgotten my
+trowel," he said. He put the trowel, absent-mindedly, in the tea basket,
+and took the seat arranged for Jarvis.
+
+"Here, you sit in your regular seat," Bambi objected, hauling him up.
+
+"That isn't wise, my dear. I am sure to go to sleep."
+
+"We'll see that you don't," she laughed.
+
+"I've never heard a play read aloud that I can remember," said the
+Professor.
+
+"You will probably be very irritating, then. Don't interrupt me. If you
+fumble things, or make a noise, I'll stop."
+
+"That knowledge helps some," retorted the Professor, with a twinkle. "If
+I can't stand it, I'll whistle."
+
+"Be quiet," said his daughter. "Go ahead, Jarvis."
+
+"What is this play supposed to be about?" Professor Parkhurst inquired.
+
+"The title is 'Success.' It is about a woman who sold herself for
+success, and paid with her soul."
+
+"Is it a comedy?"
+
+"Good Lord, no! I don't try to make people laugh. I make them think."
+
+"Go ahead."
+
+"Don't interrupt again, father."
+
+Jarvis began to read, nervously at first, then with greater confidence.
+He read intelligently, but without dramatic value, and Bambi longed to
+seize the manuscript and do it herself. Once, during the first act, the
+Professor cleared his throat.
+
+"Don't do that!" said Jarvis, without pausing for the Professor's hasty
+apology.
+
+The play told the story of a woman whose God was Success. She sacrificed
+everything to him. First her mother and father were offered up, that she
+might have a career. Then her lover. She married a man she did not love,
+that she might mount one step higher, and finally she sacrificed her
+child to her devouring ambition. When she reached the goal she had
+visioned from the first, she was no longer a human being, with powers of
+enjoyment or suffering. She was, instead, a monster, incapable of
+appreciating what she had won, and in despair she killed herself.
+
+There were big scenes, some bold, telling strokes, in Jarvis's handling
+of his theme. Again, it was utterly lacking in drama. The author stopped
+the action and took to the pulpit.
+
+At the end of the first act he stopped and looked at the faces of his
+audience. The Professor was awake and deeply puzzled. This strange young
+man was holding up to his view a perfectly strange anomaly which he
+called a woman. The Professor had never dreamed of such a hybrid. He
+couldn't grasp it. He gasped at Jarvis's audacity.
+
+Bambi sat curled up in the end of a wicker couch, her feet drawn under
+her, like a Chinese idol, every nerve attuned to attention. He noticed
+how, without words, she seemed to emanate responsiveness and
+understanding.
+
+"Well?" he said.
+
+"Let's wait until you have finished to discuss it," she said.
+
+"Is it any good?"
+
+"In spots it's great. In other spots it is incredibly rotten."
+
+"My child," protested the Professor.
+
+"Go on!" she ordered.
+
+The second act began well, mounted halfway to its climax, and fell flat.
+Some of the lines, embodying the new individualistic philosophy of
+woman, roused the Professor to protest.
+
+"Rubbish, sir!" he cried. "Impossible rubbish! No woman ever thought
+such things."
+
+"Take your nose out of your calculus, and look about you, Professor,"
+retorted Jarvis. "You haven't looked around since the stone age."
+
+Bambi gurgled with laughter, then looked serious.
+
+"He's fallen on an idea just the same, Jarvis. Your woman isn't
+convincing."
+
+"But she's true," he protested.
+
+"We don't care a fig whether she's true, unless she's true to us," she
+answered him. "Go on with your last act."
+
+"You don't like it--what's the use?"
+
+"Don't be silly. I am deeply interested. Go on!"
+
+He began a little hopelessly, feeling the atmosphere, by that subtle
+sense that makes the creative artist like a sensitive plant where his
+work is at stake. The third act failed to ascend, or to resolve the
+situation. He merely carried it as far as it interested him, and then
+dropped it. As he closed the manuscript Bambi reached out her hand
+for it.
+
+"Give it to me, in my hand!" she ordered. He obeyed, questioningly.
+
+"I feel as if it was such a big thing, mangled and bleeding. I want to
+hold it and help it."
+
+"Mangled?"
+
+"Yes. Don't you feel it? She isn't a woman! She's a monster. You don't
+believe her. You won't believe her, because you hate her."
+
+"But she's true. She lives to-day. She is the woman of now," he
+repeated.
+
+"No, no, no! Woman may approximate this, but she doesn't reason it out.
+Let her be fine, and big, and righteously ambitious. Make us sympathize
+with her."
+
+"But I am preaching against her."
+
+"All the better. Make her a tragedy. Show the futility of it all. She
+didn't kill herself. You killed her."
+
+"Do you write plays?" he asked her.
+
+"No, but I feel drama. This is big, but it is all man psychology. You
+don't know your woman."
+
+"I should hope not," said the Professor. "You needn't tell me there are
+such women in the world. She is worse than Lucretia Borgia."
+
+"Of course she is in the world, Father Professor. You haven't looked at
+a woman since mother died, nineteen years ago, so you are not strictly
+up-to-date."
+
+"I have hundreds of young women in my classes."
+
+"Learning Euclid," interpolated Jarvis.
+
+"Well, Euclid is more desirable than what your heroine learned and
+taught."
+
+"Not at all. She learned life."
+
+The Professor turned to Bambi.
+
+"Have you any ideas in common with this person, my dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, some. All of us are freebooters in this generation."
+
+"Why have you never spoken to me of them?"
+
+"Oh, Professor, I never bother you with ideas. Jarvis, I think if you do
+it over, you could sell it."
+
+"I hate doing things over--the spontaneity all gone."
+
+"Well, you've got to do it over, that's all. You've murdered that woman,
+and it is wicked. She must be resuscitated and given another chance."
+
+"Will you help me?"
+
+She looked at him with a quick flash of pleasure.
+
+"Oh, I would so love to. I can't help you build it, but I can tell you
+what I feel is wrong."
+
+"We will begin to-morrow."
+
+"Are all your works as extreme as this?" queried the Professor.
+
+"They are all cross-sections of life, which is extreme," replied Jarvis.
+
+"You young people read riddles into life. It is as simple as two plus
+two is four."
+
+"There you are--two plus two does not necessarily make four. It makes
+five or forty. It depends on the symbols. Nothing in the world is exact,
+or final. Everything is changeable, fluidic. That's the whole fabric of
+modern thought."
+
+The Professor's horrified glance was turned upon them.
+
+"Oh, dear, oh, dear, there you go, upsetting everything. You are a pair
+of maniacs, both of you. You ought to be shut away from people, with
+your wild ideas."
+
+He rushed out into his garden, sure of its calm, its mathematical
+exactness. He was really disturbed by the ultra-modern theories these
+ardent young iconoclasts forced him to consider.
+
+"Poor Father Professor," laughed Bambi, at his retreat.
+
+"Why do you let him stay back there in the Middle Ages?"
+
+"He's happier there. It's peaceful. Modern times distress him so when he
+remembers them."
+
+"I suppose you are not an average family, are you?" he asked.
+
+"I suppose not," she admitted.
+
+"You are irritating, but interesting."
+
+"I warn you to let father alone. He's too old to be hauled up-to-date.
+Just consider him an interesting survival and let him be."
+
+"I'll let him be. I'll put him in a play. He's good copy."
+
+"He'll never know himself, so it won't matter."
+
+They talked late about Jarvis's work, his methods of writing, the length
+of time it took him to conceive and work out a play. It all fascinated
+Bambi. She felt that a wonderful interest had come into her life. A new
+thing was to be created, each day, under her roof, near her. She was to
+have part in it, help in its shaping to perfection. She gloated over the
+days to come, and a warm rush of gratitude to Jarvis for bringing her
+this sense of his need of her made her burst out:
+
+"Oh, life is such fun!"
+
+He looked at her closely.
+
+"You are a queer little mite," said he.
+
+"The mite is mightier than the sword," she laughed, starting for the
+garden. "You go to bed, so you can get an early start on that play. I'll
+round up the Professor. He's forgotten to bring himself in."
+
+He obeyed without objection. He felt, all at once, like a ship at anchor
+after long years of floating aimlessly, but, manlike, he took his good
+fortune as his just right, and it never occurred to him to thank Bambi
+for his new sense of peace and well-being.
+
+
+
+IV
+
+The marriage of Jarvis and Bambi furnished the town with a ten days'
+topic of conversation, a fact to which they were perfectly indifferent.
+Then it was accepted, as any other wonder, such as a comet passing, or
+an airship disaster.
+
+In the meantime the strangely assorted trio fell into a more or less
+comfortable relationship. Jarvis and the Professor almost came to blows,
+but for the most part the diplomatic Bambi kept peace. Both men appealed
+to her for everything and she took care of them like babies. She called
+them the "Heavenly Twins" and found endless amusement in their
+dependence on her. Sometimes she did not see Jarvis for days. His study
+and bedroom were on the top floor, and when he was in a work fit he
+forgot to come to meals. She let him alone, only seeing that he ate what
+she sent up to him. Sometimes his light burned all night. She would go
+to the foot of the stairs and listen to him reading scenes aloud in the
+early dawn, but she never interfered with him in any way. He plunged
+into the remaking of "Success" with characteristic abandon. He destroyed
+the old version entirely, and began on a new one. When he had the
+framework completed, he summoned Bambi for a private view. She condemned
+certain parts, praised others, flashed new thoughts upon him, forced him
+to new viewpoints. He raved at her, defended his ideas, refuted her
+arguments, and invariably accepted every contribution. When he came to
+an impasse, he howled through the house for her, like a lost child
+wailing for its mother.
+
+These daily councils of war, his incessant need of her, interfered with
+her plan of a career as a danseuse. She found that her days were
+resolving themselves into two portions--times when Jarvis needed her,
+and times when he did not. The hours they devoted together to his work
+constituted the core of her day, her happy time. She considered Jarvis
+as impersonally as she did the typewriter. It was the sense of being
+needed, of helping in his work, that filled her with such new zest. But
+the hours hung heavy between the third-floor summons, and one day, as
+she lay in the hammock, a book in her hand, it came to her that she
+might try it herself. She might put down her thoughts, her dreams, her
+ambitions, and make a story of them. Thought and action were one with
+Bambi. In five minutes' time she had pencil and paper, and had set forth
+on her new adventure.
+
+For the next few days she was so absorbed in her experiment that she
+almost neglected the "Heavenly Twins." The Professor commented on her
+abstraction, and Ardelia complained that "everybody in dis heah house is
+crazy, all of them studyin' and writin'; yo' cain't even sing a
+hallelujah but somebody is a shoutin', 'Sh!'"
+
+Only Jarvis failed to note any change. It was too much to expect that
+the great Jocelyn could concentrate on any but his own mental attitudes.
+
+Like most facile people, Bambi was bored with her masterpiece at the end
+of a week, and abandoned it without a sigh. She decided that literature
+was not to be enriched by her. In fact, she never gave a thought to her
+first-born child until a month after its birth, when a New York magazine
+fell into her hands offering a prize of $500 for a short story. She took
+out her manuscript and read it over with a sense of surprise. She
+marched off to a stenographer, had it typed, and sent it to the contest,
+using a pen name as a signature, and then she promptly forgot about it.
+
+Six weeks more of hard labour brought "Success" almost to completion.
+Bambi was absorbed in the play. It was undoubtedly much better; her
+hopes were high that it would get a production. If only Jarvis could get
+to New York with it and show it to the managers; but that meant money,
+and they had none. Her busy brain spent hours scheming, but no
+light came.
+
+Then out of the blue fell a shining bolt! A long envelope, with a
+magazine imprint on it, came with her morning's mail and nearly ended a
+young and useful life. The editor begged to inform her that the
+committee of judges had awarded her the short-story prize, that her tale
+would be published in the forth-coming issue, and she would please find
+check enclosed. Had she any other manuscript that they might see? Would
+she honour them with a visit the next time she came to New York? They
+would like to talk over a series of stories similar to the prize winner.
+
+The Professor and Jarvis had both departed to their lairs, or they would
+have witnessed the best pas seul of Bambi's life. She fluttered the
+joy-bringing letter above her head, and circled the breakfast room in a
+whirl of happiness. Ardelia entered as she reached her climax.
+
+[Illustration: BAMBI FLUTTERED THE JOY-BRINGING LETTER ABOVE HER HEAD
+AND CIRCLED THE BREAKFAST-ROOM IN A WHIRL OF HAPPINESS.]
+
+"Mah good Lud, Miss Bambi, yo' sho' can dance better'n Jezebel! I 'low
+the debil do git into yo', the way yo' all dance! Go 'way frum me! Don'
+yo' drag me into no cunjer dance."
+
+"Ardelia, the gods do provide!" cried Bambi. "Such unutterably crazy
+good luck--to think of my getting it!"
+
+"Did yo' get a lottery prize, Miss Bambi?"
+
+"That's just what I got--a lottery prize."
+
+"Foh the Lud's sake! What you gwine to do with it?"
+
+"I am going to take Jarvis Jocelyn to New York, and between us we are
+going to harness Fame and drive her home."
+
+"Well, I don' know who Fame is, but if she's a hoss, wher' yo' goin' to
+keep her when yo' get her? We ain't got no barn for her."
+
+Bambi laughed.
+
+"We'll stable her all right, Ardelia, if we can catch her. This is a
+secret between you and me. Don't you breathe it to a soul that I have
+won anything."
+
+"No, ma'am; yo' kin trust me to the death."
+
+"I'll bring you a present from New York if you won't tell."
+
+She rushed off to her own room, to look over her clothes and plan.
+Having married Jarvis out of hand, she would now take him on a
+moneymoon; they would seek their fortune instead of love. He would
+peddle his play; she would honour the publisher with a visit. She hugged
+herself with joy over the prospect. She worked out various schemes by
+which she could break it to Jarvis and the Professor that she had money
+enough for a trip to New York, without saying how she got it.
+Fortunately, they were not of an inquiring mind, so she hoped that she
+could convince them without much difficulty. She tried out a scene or
+two just to prove how she would do it. At luncheon she paved the way.
+
+"How much more work is there on the play, Jarvis?"
+
+"I ought to finish it this week," he answered. "It is good, too. It is a
+first-rate play."
+
+"You ought to go to New York with it, and see the managers," she said.
+
+"Ugh!"
+
+"Well, it's got to be done. You can't teach school unless you have
+pupils."
+
+"I am not a pedant," he protested.
+
+"You're a reformer, and you've got to get something to reform."
+
+"The work itself satisfies me."
+
+"It doesn't satisfy me. You have got to produce and learn before you
+will grow."
+
+"You're a wise body for such a small package."
+
+"That's the way wisdom comes."
+
+"Perhaps, O sibyl, you will read the future and tell me how I am to
+finance a trip to New York."
+
+"Oh, the money will be provided," airily.
+
+"Yes, I suppose it will. It always is when actual need demands it, but
+how?"
+
+"Never mind how. Just rest in the assurance that it will."
+
+He looked at her, smiling.
+
+"Do you know I sometimes suspect that Fate had a hand in bringing us
+together? We are so alike."
+
+"We are so alike we're different," she amended, laughing.
+
+She waited until next day to explode her bomb.
+
+"I think if you finish up the play this week, Jarvis, we can have it
+typed early next week, and get off to New York on Friday or Saturday."
+
+He stared at her.
+
+"On foot?" he inquired.
+
+"Oh, no. I find I have the money."
+
+"You find you have it! You had that much and didn't know it?" he
+exploded so loudly that the Professor came to, and paid attention.
+
+"I am careless about these things," Bambi murmured.
+
+"What's all this?" queried the Professor.
+
+"What I can't see is that if you had money enough to pay up my board
+bill, why you married me," continued Jarvis.
+
+"Just one of my whims. I am so whimsical," retorted Bambi.
+
+"Would you mind telling me?" begged the Professor.
+
+"She's got money enough to take us to New York," repeated Jarvis.
+
+"Thank you. I don't wish to go to that terrible place. Of all the
+distressing, improbable places, New York is the worst," replied
+Professor Parkhurst.
+
+"Be calm, Professor. I was not planning to take you," soothed his
+daughter.
+
+"But what is to be done with me?" he inquired, anxiously.
+
+"You are to be left the one sole duty of Ardelia, to be overfed and
+pampered until you aren't fit to live with."
+
+"But you can't go off alone with Jarvis."
+
+"Why not? I am married to him."
+
+"Yes, I suppose you are, but you seem so unmarried," he objected.
+
+"We will have to practise up a few married poses, Jarvis. You must not
+act so interested in me. Father says we don't act married."
+
+"I am not in the least interested in you," Jarvis defended himself,
+valiantly.
+
+"There, father, could anything be more husband-like?"
+
+"Where did you get the money, Jarvis?" the Professor asked.
+
+"I didn't get it. She got it."
+
+"Why, my dear," protested her father, "where did you get any money?"
+
+"I have turned lady burglar."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Cheer up. It's butter-'n'-eggs money."
+
+"Butter-'n'-eggs money?" repeated Jarvis.
+
+"Certainly. The downtrodden farmer's wife always gives up her
+butter-'n'-eggs money to save the family fortunes, or build a new barn."
+
+"What are you talking about?" interrupted the Professor.
+
+"I don't know why the fact that I have a little money saved up should
+start a riot in this family. I have to go to New York on business, and
+as Jarvis has to go to see managers about 'Success,' I merely proposed
+that we go together."
+
+"What business have you in New York, my dear?"
+
+"My own, Professor darling."
+
+"Excuse me," he hastened to add.
+
+"Certainly," she replied, blithely.
+
+"I hate New York," said Jarvis. "How long do you suppose we will have to
+stay?"
+
+"I adore New York, and we will stay as long as the money holds out."
+
+"Would you mind stating, in round figures, how much you have?" the
+Professor remarked.
+
+"I would. I detest figures, round or oblong. I have enough."
+
+"I hope you won't get there, and then call on me for a supply, as you
+usually do, my dear. I am a little short this spring."
+
+"You two have no confidence in me. If you will just put your trust in
+Bambi, I'll mend the fortunes of this family so you will never be able
+to find the patch."
+
+The two men laughed in spite of themselves, and the matter was dropped,
+but Bambi herself took the manuscript of "Success" to the stenographer,
+with strict orders as to a time limit; she led Jarvis, protesting, to a
+tailor's, to order a suit of clothes; she restocked him in collars,
+shirts, and ties. In fact, she handled the situation like a diplomat,
+buying the railroad tickets with a thrill of anticipation.
+
+Jarvis made no protest at all, until the night before they were to
+start. He came to her and offered her a little black notebook.
+
+"What is this?"
+
+"I want you to put down every cent we spend. This is a loan, you
+understand."
+
+"It's a gift from the gods. Go offer libations. I don't want your old
+debit and credit book."
+
+He laid his hand on her shoulder, and looked into her shining eyes.
+
+"Good little fairy," he said, "I want to put some gold dust in the pot,
+too."
+
+"Wait until we get to the end of the rainbow."
+
+"Just keep a record for me. My mind is such a sieve," he said, offering
+the spurned black book.
+
+"All right. Give me the Black Maria. I will ride your figures in it."
+
+"That was a pun. You ought to be spanked."
+
+"Oh, Jarvis, isn't it fun?" she cried to him.
+
+"Is it? I feel that turning salesman and approaching a manager is like
+marching to the block."
+
+"Poor old dreamer! Suppose you stay home, and let me peddle the play."
+
+"Not much. I will shoulder my own pack."
+
+"I feel like a Crusader myself. I'd rather be _me_ than anybody on
+earth."
+
+"The most extraordinary thing about you is your rapture," he commented,
+seriously.
+
+She ran away, singing "Then Longen folke to go on Pilgrimauges."
+
+The next day they set forth on their journey. Bambi left lists all over
+the house as reminders for the Professor. Ardelia had orders enough to
+manoeuvre an army. The Professor went to the station with them, and
+absent-mindedly kissed Jarvis good-bye, which infuriated his victim and
+nearly sent Bambi into hysterics. As the train pulled out, she leaned
+from the window and called, "Go home, now, Professor!" and with a
+mechanical jerk he turned and started off in the direction indicated.
+
+"I never leave him with any comfort," she admitted to Jarvis. "He is so
+apt to mislay himself."
+
+"He always makes me think of a mechanical toy, ever since he told me
+that he always counted whatever he did. I am sure that you wind him up,
+like a watch, every night."
+
+"Poor old dear! Funny I should have chosen him for a father, isn't it?"
+
+"I think your choice of relations is distinctly queer."
+
+"My queer relations! That's a good title. Everybody would understand it
+at once."
+
+"Thank heaven, I haven't any, queer, or otherwise."
+
+"Didn't you ever have any?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Just growed?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"I remember a funny old man you lived with, when I first knew you.
+Wasn't he a relative?"
+
+"No, he found me some place. What's the difference? Do you care?"
+
+"No, I'm glad. I am sure I couldn't abide 'in-laws.'"
+
+Over the luncheon table he suddenly looked at her, as if for the first
+time. He noticed that all the eyes in the crowded diner were upon her.
+
+"What's the matter?" she asked, intercepting his glance.
+
+"Do people always stare at you?" he inquired.
+
+She swept the car with an indifferent glance.
+
+"I don't know. I never noticed."
+
+"It's queer for us to be going off like this," he said, in a startled
+tone.
+
+"It seems perfectly natural to me. Are you embarrassed?" she asked,
+suddenly aware of a new quality in him.
+
+"No, certainly not," he defended himself.
+
+It was five o'clock when they drew into Grand Central Station, a time
+when the whole duty of man seems to be to get out of New York and into
+the suburbs. An army of ants ran through the great blue-vaulted rotunda,
+streaming into the narrow tunnels, where the steel horses were puffing
+and steaming. The sense of rushing waters was upon Jarvis. He halted,
+stunned and helpless.
+
+"Isn't it great? All the tribes of Shem, Ham, and Japhet," cried Bambi,
+at his elbow. She piloted him through--big, powerful, bewildered Jarvis.
+Many a hurrying suburbanite slowed up enough to look after them, the
+tall, blond giant, and a little girl with shining eyes.
+
+"Where are we going?" Jarvis asked, with child-like confidence that she
+would know.
+
+[Illustration: "GOOD EVENING, MRS. NEW YORK, AND ALL YOU PEOPLE OUT
+THERE! WE'RE HERE, JARVIS AND I."]
+
+"Gramercy Park. We'll put up at a club. We'll act rich and take a taxi."
+
+She ordered the driver to go down the avenue slowly, and as he jolted
+around the crowded corner of Forty-second Street, on to the smooth
+asphalt, Bambi leaned forward eagerly.
+
+"Good evening, home of the books," she nodded to the Library. "Good
+evening, Mrs. New York, and all you people there! We're here, Jarvis
+and I."
+
+She turned and caught his rare smile.
+
+"You're happy, aren't you?" he remarked.
+
+"Perfectly. I feel as if I were breathing electricity. Don't you like
+all these people?"
+
+"No, I feel that there are too many of them. There should be half as
+many, and better done. Until we learn not to breed like rabbits, we will
+never accomplish a creditable race."
+
+"Such good-looking rabbits though, Jarvis."
+
+"Yes. Sleek and empty-headed."
+
+"All hopping uptown, to nibble something," she chuckled.
+
+"Life is such foolishness," he said, in disgust.
+
+"Oh, no. Life is such ecstasy," she threw back at him, as the cab drew
+up to the clubhouse door.
+
+
+
+V
+
+Bambi was out of bed and at her window the next morning early. Her room
+faced on Gramercy Park, and the early morning sun fell across the little
+square so sacred to the memory of past glories, and bathed the trees in
+their new green drapery with a soft, impressionistic colour. Her eyes
+swept around the square, hastening over the great white apartment
+buildings, our modern atrocities, to linger over the old houses, which
+her swift imagination peopled with the fashion and pomp of another day.
+
+"Spring in the city!" breathed Bambi. "Spring in New York!"
+
+She was tempted to run to Jarvis's door and tap him awake, to drink it
+in too, but she remembered that Jarvis did not care for the flesh-pots,
+so she enjoyed her early hour alone. It was very quiet in the Park; only
+an occasional milk wagon rattled down the street. There is a sort of
+hush that comes at that hour, even in New York. The early traffic is out
+of the way. The day's work is not yet begun. There comes a pause before
+the opening gun is fired in the warfare of the day.
+
+Many a gay-hearted girl has sat, as Bambi sat, looking off over the
+housetops in this "City of Beautiful Nonsense," dreaming her dreams of
+conquest and success. Youth makes no compromise with life. It demands
+all, passionately; loses all, or wins, with anguish of spirit. So it was
+with Bambi, the high-handed, imperious little mite. She willed Fame and
+Fortune for Jarvis and herself in full measure. She wanted to count in
+this great maelstrom of a city. She wanted two pedestals--one for Jarvis
+and one for herself--to lift them above the crowd. If all the young
+things who think such thoughts as these, in hall bedrooms and attic
+chambers, could mount their visioned pedestals, the traffic police would
+be powerless, and all the road to Albany lined like a Hall of Fame.
+
+But, fortunately, our practical heroine took no account of failure. She
+planned a campaign for Jarvis. She would go first to Belasco with his
+play. Mr. Belasco would receive him at once, recognize a master mind,
+and accept the play after an immediate hearing. Of course Jarvis would
+insist on reading his play aloud, so that Mr. Belasco might get the
+points clearly. He would come away with a thousand dollars advance
+royalty in his pocket, and then would come the delicious excitement of
+rehearsals, in which she would help. She saw Jarvis before the curtain
+making a first-night's speech. A brilliant series of pictures followed,
+with the Jarvis Jocelyns as central figures, surrounded by the wealth
+and brains of New York, London, Paris!
+
+While Jarvis was mounting like a meteor, she was making a reputation as
+a writer. When her place in the literary ranks was so assured that the
+_Saturday Evening Post_ accepted her stories without so much as reading
+them; when everybody was asking "Who is this brilliant writer?--this
+combination of O. Henry, Edith Wharton, and W.D. Howells?" then, and
+only then, would she come out from behind her _nom-de-plume_ and assume
+her position as Mrs. Jarvis Jocelyn, wife of the famous playwright.
+
+So absorbed was she in her moving pictures that Jarvis's rap sounded to
+her like a cannon shot.
+
+"Yes? Who is it?" she called.
+
+"Jarvis," he answered. "Are you ready for breakfast?"
+
+"Just a minute," she prevaricated. "Wait for me in the library."
+
+She plunged into her tub and donned her clothes in record time.
+Fortunately, Jarvis did not fret over her tardiness. He was lost in an
+article on the drama in a current magazine.
+
+"Good morrow, my liege lord," quoth Bambi, radiant, fresh, bewitching.
+
+"This man has no standards at all," he replied, out of the magazine.
+
+She quietly closed it and took it from him.
+
+"I prefer to test the breakfast standards of this club," she laughed.
+"Did you sleep?" she added.
+
+"I always sleep."
+
+"Let's play to-day," she added, over the coffee cups.
+
+"Play?"
+
+"Yes. We've never been anywhere together before. I've put aside an
+appropriation for amusement. I say we draw on that to-day."
+
+"All right. Where shall we go?"
+
+"Let's go on top of the stage to Claremont for lunch, and then we might
+see some pictures this afternoon, dine here, and the theatre to-night."
+
+"Had it all thought out, did you?"
+
+"What would you plan?" she inquired.
+
+"We will do my way to-morrow, and your way to-day," he said.
+
+"All right. I promise to enjoy your way if you will promise to enjoy
+mine, not just endure it scornfully."
+
+"You must think I'm a boor."
+
+"No. But I think that until you learn that an artist cannot afford to
+scorn any phase of life that is human, you will never do great work."
+
+He looked at her keenly.
+
+"Fifth Avenue isn't human. It's an imitation," he objected.
+
+"You're very young, Jarvis," she commented.
+
+"Upon my soul," he laughed, so spontaneously that an old fogy at the
+next table said audibly to his waitress, "Bride and groom," and for some
+reason Bambi resented it with a flare of colour.
+
+"It's true," she continued; "until you realize that Fifth Avenue and the
+Bowery are as inevitable as the two ends of the teeter-totter, you won't
+see the picture true."
+
+"Sometimes you show a most surprising poise," he granted her. "But of
+course you are not the stuff of which creative artists are made."
+
+She chuckled, and patted her bag where the bill fold lay, with its crisp
+hundreds due to some imitation of creative impulse.
+
+"Just where, and in what, am I lacking?" she asked, most humbly.
+
+"A creative artist would not care a fig for truth. He creates an
+impression of truth out of a lie if necessary."
+
+"But I am in the direct line from Ananias," she protested. "I inherit
+creative talent of that brand."
+
+So they laughed and chattered, in the first real companionship they had
+ever known.
+
+True to the plan, they ascended the stage at Eighteenth Street, Bambi in
+a flutter of happiness. As the panorama of that most fascinating highway
+unrolled before them, she constantly touched this and that and the other
+object with the wand of her vivid imagination. Jarvis watched her with
+amused astonishment, for the first time really thoroughly aware of her.
+Again he noticed that wherever she was she was a lodestone for all eyes.
+He decided that it was not beauty, in the strictest sense of the word,
+but a sort of radiance which emanated from her like an aura.
+
+Twenty-third Street cut across their path with its teeming throngs.
+Madison Square lay smiling in the sunshine like a happy courtesan, with
+no hint of its real use as Wayside Inn for all the old, the poor, the
+derelict, whose tired feet could find refuge there. The vista of the
+avenue lay ahead.
+
+"It's like a necklace of sparkling pearls," Bambi said, with incessant
+craning of her neck. "I feel like standing up and singing 'The Song of
+the Bazaars.' There isn't a stuff, nor a silk, nor a gem from Araby to
+Samarkand that isn't here."
+
+"It bewitches you, doesn't it?" Jarvis commented.
+
+"Think of the wonder of it! Camel trains, and caravans, merchant ships
+on all the seas, trains, and electric trucks, all bringing the booty of
+the world to this great, shining bazaar for you and me. It's thrilling."
+
+"So it is," he agreed. "I hope you mark the proportion of shops for
+men--dresses, hats, jewels, furs, motor clothes, tea rooms, candy shops,
+corsetières, florists, bootmakers, all for women. Motor cars are full of
+women. Are there no men in this menagerie?"
+
+"No. They are all cliff-dwellers downtown. They probably wear loin
+cloths of a fashionable cut," she laughed back at him.
+
+"They all look just alike--so many manikins on parade. I suppose there
+are distinctions in class. There must be some shopgirls in this crowd.
+Can you distinguish them?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes. Not by cut, for the general line is the same for 'Judy O'Grady
+and the Captain's Lady,' but there is a subtle difference to the
+feminine eye."
+
+"But you don't look like all the rest of them."
+
+"No, alas, I look distinctly suburban. All I need is a package to make
+the disguise complete. Oh, Jarvis, do let's hurry and make much red
+gold, so I can look like these finished things that trip up
+Fifth Avenue."
+
+"You want to be like them--like those dolls?" he scorned, with a
+magnificent gesture.
+
+"Yes. I'd like to be so putrid with wealth that I could have rows of
+wardrobe trunks, with full sets of clothes for every me."
+
+"How many of you are there?"
+
+"Oh, lots. I've never counted myself. Some days I'd dress up like a
+Broadway siren, some days I'd be a Fifth Avenue lady, or a suburbanite,
+or a reformer, or a ballet dancer, or a visitor from Boston."
+
+"What would I be doing while you were all these?"
+
+"Oh, you'd be married to all of us. We'd keep you busy."
+
+"The idea is appalling. A harem of misfits."
+
+"We'd be good for your character."
+
+"And death to my work."
+
+"You'd know more about life when you had taken a course of us."
+
+"Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing," he remarked. "Shall we get
+off and go into the Library?"
+
+"Not to-day. That's part of your day. I want just people and things in
+mine."
+
+"What are you to-day?" he inquired.
+
+"An houri, a soulless houri," she retorted.
+
+As they approached the University Club, Jarvis recognized it with scorn.
+
+"Monument to the stupidity of modern education, probably full this
+minute of provincials from Harvard and Yale, all smugly resting in the
+assurance that they are men of culture."
+
+"I adore the way you demolish worlds," Bambi sparkled up at him.
+
+"Another monument," he remarked, indicating a new church lifting its
+spires among the money-changers' booths.
+
+"_Hic jacet,_ education and religion. Look at that slim white lady
+called the Plaza."
+
+"You ought to name her 'Miss New York.'"
+
+"Good, Jarvis. In time you will learn to play with me."
+
+He frowned slightly.
+
+"I know," she added, "I am scheduled under _Interruptions_ in that
+famous notebook. Unless you play with me occasionally I shall become
+actively interruptive."
+
+"You are as clever as a squirrel," he said. "Always hiding things and
+finding them."
+
+"_Hic jacet_ Bambi, along with the other self-important, modern
+institutions," she sighed humbly.
+
+They rattled across the Circle and up Broadway. Bambi was silent, bored
+with its stupidity. It was not until they turned on to Riverside Drive
+that her enthusiasm bubbled up again.
+
+"Don't you love rivers?" she exclaimed, as the Hudson sparkled at them
+in the sun.
+
+"I've never known any," he replied.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Jocelyn," she said, instantly. "I thought, of
+course, you had met."
+
+"You absurdity!" laughed Jarvis. "What is it that you love about
+rivers?"
+
+"Oh, their subtlety, I suppose. They look and act so aimless, and they
+are going somewhere all the time. They are lazy and useful and--wet. I
+like them."
+
+"Is there anything in the universe you don't like?" Jarvis inquired.
+
+"Yes, but I can't think what it is just now," she answered, and sang
+"Ships of mine are floating--will they all come home?" so zestfully that
+an old gentleman in the front seat turned, with a smiling "I hope so,
+my dear!"
+
+She nodded back at him gayly, to Jarvis's annoyance. As they approached
+Grant's Tomb, she glanced at him suspiciously. When they got safely by,
+she sighed with content.
+
+"If you had said anything bromidic about Grant's Tomb, Jarvis Jocelyn, I
+should have thrown myself off the top of the stage to certain death."
+
+"At times you underestimate me," he replied.
+
+At Claremont, Bambi ordered a most enticing repast, and they were very
+gay. Everybody seemed gay, too. The sun shone, the early spring air was
+soft, and a certain gala "stolen sweets" air of Claremont made it seem
+their most intimate meal.
+
+Everybody smiled at Bambi and she smiled back.
+
+"Nice sort of hookey place, isn't it?" she commented.
+
+"Do you know the man at the next table?"
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"The fat one, who is staring so."
+
+"Oh, no. I thought you meant the one who lifts his glass to me every
+time he drinks."
+
+Jarvis pushed back his chair furiously.
+
+"I will smash his head," he said, rising.
+
+"Jarvis! Sit down! You silly thing! He's only in fun. It's the spirit of
+the place."
+
+"I won't have you toasted by strange men," he thundered.
+
+"All right. I'll make a face at him next time," she said, soothingly;
+but somewhere, down in the depths of her being, where her cave ancestor
+lurked, she was pleased. As they finished their coffee, Bambi picked up
+the check, which the waiter laid beside Jarvis's plate.
+
+"Do you mind my paying it? Would you rather do it?"
+
+"Certainly not. It's your money. Why should I pretend about it?"
+
+She could have hugged him for it. Instead, she overfed the waiter.
+
+"It's too heavenly, out of doors, for pictures, after all," she said, as
+they came out on to the drive. "What shall we do?"
+
+"Let's get that double-decker again, and ride until we come to the end
+of the world."
+
+"Righto. Here it comes, now."
+
+Downtown they went, to Washington Square, where they dismounted, to
+wander off at random. All at once they were in another world. It was
+like an Alice in Wonderland adventure. They stepped out of the quiet of
+the green, shady quadrangle into a narrow street, swarming with life.
+
+Innumerable children, everywhere, shrieking and running at games. Fat
+mothers and babies along the curb, bargaining with pushcart men. A
+wheezing hurdy-gurdy, with every other note gone to the limbo of lost
+chords, rasped and leaked jerky tunes. All the shops had foreign names
+on the windows--not even an "English spoken here" sign. The fresh wind
+blew down the dirty street, and peppered everything with dust.
+Newspapers increased their circulation in a most irritating manner under
+foot. The place was hideous, lifting its raucous cry to the fair
+spring sky.
+
+Jarvis looked at Bambi, silenced, for once. Her face registered a loud
+protest.
+
+"Well?" he challenged her.
+
+"Oh, I hate ugliness so. It's like pain. Is it very weak of me to hate
+ugliness?" she begged.
+
+"It's very natural, and no doubt weak."
+
+"I wouldn't mind the thought of poverty so much--not hunger, nor thirst,
+nor cold--but dirt and hideousness--they are too terrible."
+
+"This is life in the raw. You like it dressed for Fifth Avenue better,"
+he taunted.
+
+"Do you prefer this?"
+
+"Infinitely."
+
+She looked about again, with a sense of having missed his point.
+
+"Because it's fight, hand-to-throat fight?"
+
+"Yes. You can teach these people. They don't know anything. They are
+dumb beasts. You can give them tongue. It's too late to teach your
+Upper End."
+
+A woman passed close, with a baby, covered with great sores. Bambi
+caught at Jarvis's sleeve and tottered a step.
+
+"I feel a little sick," she faltered.
+
+He caught her hand through his arm, and hurried her quickly back the way
+they had come. As they mounted the stage, he looked at her white face.
+
+"We will have to expurgate life for you, Miss Mite."
+
+"No, no. I want it all. I must get hardened."
+
+Back at the club, she hurried into her hot bath, with a vague hope of
+washing off all traces of that awful street. But their talk at dinner
+was desultory and rather serious. Jarvis talked for the most part,
+elaborating schemes of social reform and the handling of our
+immigrant brothers.
+
+They started off to the theatre, with no definite plan. Bambi's spirits
+rose to the lights of Broadway, like a trout to a silver shiner. There
+is a hectic joyousness on Broadway, a personification of the "Eat, drink
+and be merry, for to-morrow we die" spirit which warms you, like
+champagne, or chills you, like the icy hand of despair, according to
+your mood. Bambi skipped along beside Jarvis, twittering gayly.
+
+"People are happy, aren't they?"
+
+"Surface veneer."
+
+"Jarvis, you old bogie-man, hiding in the dark, to jump out and say
+'Boo!'"
+
+"That's my work--booing frauds. Let's go in here," he added.
+
+"'Damaged Goods,'" Bambi read on the theatre poster. "Do you know
+anything about it?"
+
+"I've read it. It is not amusing," he added.
+
+She followed him without replying. The theatre was packed with a motley
+audience of unrelated people. Professors and their wives, reformers,
+writers, mothers with adolescent sons, mothers with young
+daughters--what, in Broadway parlance, is called a "high-brow"
+audience--a striking group of people gathered together to mark a daring
+experiment of our audacious times; a surgical clinic on a social sore,
+up to this moment hidden, neglected, whispered about.
+
+Bambi came to it with an open mind. She had heard of Brieux, his
+dramatic tracts, but she had not seen the text of this play, nor was she
+prepared for it. The first act horrified her into silence during the
+whole intermission. The second act racked her with sobs, and the last
+act piled up the agony to the breaking point. They made their way out to
+the street, part of that quiet audience which scarcely spoke, so deep
+was the impression of the play.
+
+Broadway glared and grinned and gambolled, goat-like. Bambi clung to
+Jarvis tightly. He looked down at her swollen face, red eyes, and
+bewildered mouth without a word. He put her into a taxicab and got in
+after her. In silence she looked out at the glittering white way.
+
+"The veneer is all rubbed off. I can see only bones," she said, and
+caught her breath in a sob.
+
+Jarvis awkwardly took her hand and patted it.
+
+"I am sorry we went to that play to-night. You must not feel things so,"
+he added.
+
+"Didn't you feel it?"
+
+"I felt it, didactically, but not dramatically. It's a big sermon and a
+poor play."
+
+"I feel as if I had had an appendicitis operation, and I am glad it is
+over."
+
+"I must meet young Richard Bennett. He has contributed to the big issues
+of the day. He's a fine actor. He must be an intelligent man."
+
+For the rest of the way they drove in silence.
+
+"Tired?" Jarvis asked as they neared the club.
+
+She looked so little and crumpled, with all the shine drowned in her
+eyes.
+
+"Life has beaten me raw to-day," she answered him, with a shadowy smile.
+
+
+
+VI
+
+Bambi announced the next morning that she had to have an entire day in
+which to get over "Damaged Goods." Jarvis was nothing loath to put off
+the evil hour when he was to start on his manager-hunt. So they agreed
+on one more day of freedom.
+
+The clouds threatened, so they looked over the papers for an
+announcement of picture exhibitions, concerts, and lectures. The choice
+was bewildering. They finally decided on a morning lecture, at Berkeley
+Lyceum, entitled "The Religion of the Democrat." They made their way to
+the little theatre, in a leisurely manner, to find the street blocked
+with motor cars, the sidewalk and foyer crowded with fashionable women,
+fully half an hour before the lecture was announced. Distracted ushers
+tried to find places for the endless stream of ardent culturites, until
+even the stage was invaded and packed in solid rows.
+
+"This is astonishing," said Jarvis. "What on earth do these fine birds
+care for democracy?"
+
+"Must be the lecturer," said wise Bambi.
+
+"Humph! A little mental pap before they run on to lunch."
+
+The cackle and babble ceased suddenly as the chairman and lecturer
+appeared. After a few announcements, the leading man was introduced.
+Bambi was right. It was the man. You felt personality in the slow way he
+swept the audience with his eyes, in the charming, friendly smile, in
+the humour of his face. The women fairly purred.
+
+Jarvis grunted impatiently, and Bambi felt a sense of guilt for her
+ready response to this man, who had not yet spoken. Then he began, in a
+good, resonant voice, to hook this lecture to the one of the
+week before.
+
+"Oh, it's a course," Bambi whispered.
+
+Jarvis nodded. He wished he was well out of it. He hated the woman-idol
+kind of lecturer. Then a stray phrase caught his wandering attention,
+and he began to listen. The man had the "gift of tongues." That was
+evident. This was his last conscious comment. It seemed but a few
+minutes later that he turned to Bambi, as the lecturer sat down. She sat
+forward in her chair, with that absorbed responsiveness he had marked in
+her before. He touched her before she realized that it was time to go.
+
+"That was big, wasn't it?" she said.
+
+"It was. He is somebody. He gave them real meat instead of pap."
+
+"And they liked it," Bambi said, reaching for her furs, her bag, and her
+umbrella, strewn under the seat in her trance.
+
+"That fellow is all right. He makes you feel that there are fine, big
+things to be done in the world, and that you must be about it--not
+to-morrow, but to-day," Jarvis said, as they pushed their way out.
+
+"I wonder what these women are doing about it?" Bambi speculated.
+
+"Talking."
+
+"Boo!" she scoffed at him.
+
+They strolled, with the strollers, on the avenue. They ate what Jarvis
+dubbed "a soupçon" of lunch in a tea-shop, and to elude a dribble of
+rain they betook themselves to the Armory, down on Seventeenth Street,
+to the much-talked-of International Modern Art Exhibition.
+
+Adam and Eve, the first day in the Garden, could not have been any more
+dazed than these two young things who had strayed in out of the rain. No
+sated sensibilities here, prodded by the constant shocks of metropolitan
+"latest thing," but fresh, enthusiastic interest was their priceless
+possession. They wandered aimlessly through several rooms, until they
+emerged into the Cubist and Futurist sections and stood rooted to the
+floor with surprise and horror.
+
+"What are these?" Bambi demanded.
+
+"Damaged Goods," Jarvis laughed, with a rare attempt at a joke.
+
+"Are they serious?"
+
+"Tragic, I should say."
+
+He looked about with an expression of amusement, but Bambi felt actual,
+physical nausea at the sight of the vivid blue and orange and purple.
+
+"It's wicked!" she said, between closed teeth.
+
+"Let's sit down and try to get the idea," said Jarvis.
+
+"There isn't any idea."
+
+"Oh, yes, there must be. The directors would never get together an acre
+of these atrocities unless there was some excuse."
+
+"It's low and degenerate. It's a school of hideousness. Come away!"
+
+"You go sit in another room if you like. I am going to give these
+fellows a fair chance. Maybe they've got hold of something new."
+
+"There is nothing new about that awful woman with a decayed face. She
+has been dead for weeks."
+
+"Just put your emotions away, Bambi, and train your mind on this thing.
+Here is a whole school of men, working in a new medium, along new ideas.
+They can't all be crazy, you know."
+
+"You like it?"
+
+"Of course I don't like it, but it interests me. I haven't read or heard
+anything about it, so it is a shock."
+
+"You shall not make for yourselves false images," she said, shaking her
+head.
+
+"Maybe these maniacs are trying to break up the conventions of Painting
+and Sculpture. They want more freedom."
+
+"They are anarchists, vandals!"
+
+"Possibly, but if they are necessary to the development of a bigger art
+expression----"
+
+"They ought to work in secret, and exhibit in the dark."
+
+"No, no! We have to be prepared for it. Our old standards have got to
+go."
+
+"I feel as medieval as the Professor. I never really understood him
+before."
+
+"We ought to bring him here."
+
+"I think it would kill him," Bambi answered.
+
+They spent a couple of hours, and then went back to the club. For some
+reason the Cubists had stirred Jarvis deeply. He divined something new
+and sincere, where Bambi felt only pose and degeneracy.
+
+"When you think of that awful street, and 'Damaged Goods,' and that
+exhibit of horrors, all in two days, I don't wonder I feel like an old,
+old woman," she said.
+
+"Suppose we stay in to-night? There is some kind of special meeting
+announced here, to discuss the drama. We might go in for a
+little while."
+
+"All right. But 'early to bed,' for to-morrow we set out on our
+careers."
+
+"You haven't told me what yours is, yet," he objected.
+
+"Mine is a secret."
+
+The dining-room of the club was entirely full when they went down, and
+the hum of talk and laughter roused Bambi's tired sensibilities.
+
+"It's quite jolly," she said. "Some of the people look interesting,
+don't they?"
+
+"I talked to that little man, over there, with the red necktie, while I
+was waiting for you, and he has ideas."
+
+"Lovely woman with him."
+
+They chatted personalities for a while.
+
+"Seems ages since we left home, doesn't it?"
+
+"Yes. Big mental experiences obliterate time."
+
+"The Professor has forgotten to write, of course."
+
+"He has probably forgotten us."
+
+"Oh, no!"
+
+"I feel that I am getting rather well acquainted with you," he nodded
+and smiled.
+
+"How do you like me, now that you have met me?" she teased.
+
+"You are an interesting specimen over-sensitized."
+
+"Jarvis!" she protested. "I sound like a Cubist picture."
+
+After dinner they drifted with the crowd into the art gallery, where
+they talked to several people who introduced themselves. It was very
+friendly and social. The lecturer they had heard in the morning was
+there. Jarvis went to speak to him, and brought him back to Bambi. She
+found him jolly and responsive. She even dared to twit him about his
+feminine audience.
+
+People seated themselves in groups, and finally a chairman made some
+remarks about the Modern Drama and invited a discussion. A dramatic
+critic made cynical comment on the so-called "uplift plays," which
+roused Jarvis to indignation. To Bambi's surprise, he was on his feet
+instantly, and a torrent of words was spilled upon the dramatic critic.
+He held the attention closely, in an impassioned plea for thoughtful
+drama, not necessarily didactic, but the serious handling of vital
+problems in comedy, if necessary, or even in farce. It need not be such
+harrowing work as Brieux makes it, but if the man who had things to say
+could and would conquer the technique of dramatic writing, he would
+reach the biggest audiences that could be provided, which ought to pay
+him for the severity of his apprenticeship.
+
+Bambi thrilled with pride in him, his handsome face, his passionate
+idealism, and his eloquence. He sat down, amid much applause, and Bambi
+knew he had made his place among these clever people. He took some part
+in the discussion that followed, and when they went upstairs she marked
+the flush of excitement and the alive look of his face.
+
+"I was proud of you, Jarvis," she said, as they stopped at her door.
+
+"Nonsense. The man I talked against was a duffer, but this has been a
+great day," he said. "This place stimulates you every minute."
+
+"Tomorrow we move on Broadway, Captain Jocelyn. Get your forces in order
+to advance."
+
+"Very good, General. Good night, sir."
+
+"Good-night."
+
+As she closed her door she skipped across the room. She knew the first
+gun had been fired when Jarvis rose to speak. If she was to act as
+commander in the making of his career, she was glad she had a
+personality to work with. Nobody would forget that Greek head, with its
+close-cropped brown curls, those dreaming blue eyes, and that sensitive,
+over-controlled mouth. Her own dreams were wrought about them.
+
+
+
+VII
+
+The day which Bambi foretold would some time be famous in history dawned
+propitiously, with sun and soft airs. A sense of excitement got them up
+early. Breakfast was over, and Jarvis ready for action, by eight-thirty.
+
+"I don't believe Mr. Belasco will be down this early, Jarvis," Bambi
+said.
+
+"Well, he is a busy man. He'll probably get an early start. I want to be
+on the ground when he arrives, anyhow. If he should want me to read the
+play this morning, we should need time."
+
+She made no more objections. She straightened his tie, and brushed his
+coat, with shining eyes, full of excitement.
+
+"Just think! In five hours we may know." He took up his hat and his
+manuscript.
+
+"Yes," he answered confidently. "Shall we lunch here?"
+
+"Yes, and do hurry back, Jarvis."
+
+At the door he remembered her.
+
+"Where are you going? Do you want to come?"
+
+"No. I have something to attend to myself. Good luck."
+
+She held out her hand to him. He held it a second, looking at it as if
+it was a specimen of something hitherto unknown.
+
+"I am not forgetting that you are giving me this chance," he said, and
+left abruptly.
+
+Bambi leaped about the rooms in a series of joy-leaps that would have
+shamed Mordkin, before she began the serious business of the day.
+
+Jarvis had carefully looked up the exact location of the Belasco
+Theatre. He decided to walk uptown, in order to arrange his thoughts,
+and to make up his mind just how much and what he would say to Mr.
+Belasco. The stir, the people, the noise and the roar were unseen,
+unheard. He strolled along, towering above the crowd, a blond young
+Achilles, with many an admiring eye turned in his wake.
+
+None of the perquisites of success, so dear to Bambi's dreams, appealed
+to him. He saw himself, like John the Baptist, crying in the wilderness,
+which was the world, and all the people, in all the cities, were roused
+out of their lethargy and dull submission at his call--not to prayer,
+but to thought. It was a great mission he was upon, and even Broadway
+became consecrated ground. He walked far beyond the cross street of the
+theatre in his absorption, so it was exactly half-after nine when he
+arrived at the box office.
+
+"I want to speak to Mr. Belasco," he said to the man there.
+
+"Three flights up."
+
+"Is there an elevator?"
+
+"Naw."
+
+He resented the man's grin, but he made no reply. He began to climb the
+long flights of dark stairs. Arrived at the top, the doors were all
+locked, so he was forced to descend again to the box office.
+
+"There is nobody up there," he said.
+
+"You didn't expect anybody to be there at this hour of the dawn, did
+you?"
+
+"What time does Mr. Belasco usually come?"
+
+"There is nothing usual about him. He is liable to land here any time
+between now and midnight, if he comes at all."
+
+"He doesn't come every day, then?"
+
+The man grinned.
+
+"Say, you're new to this game, ain't you? Sometimes he don't show up for
+days. The steno can tell you whether he is coming to-day."
+
+"The steno?"
+
+"Yes. The skirt that's in his office."
+
+"When does she come?"
+
+"Oh, about ten or eleven."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"Don't mention it."
+
+Jarvis made the ascent again. He stood about for nearly an hour before
+the office girl arrived. "Those stairs is the limit," she gasped. "You
+waiting for me?"
+
+"I am waiting for Mr. Belasco."
+
+"Oh! Appointment?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Got a letter to him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What do you want to see him about? A job?"
+
+"No. About a play."
+
+She ushered him in, opened the windows, took off her hat, looked at
+herself in the mirror, while she patted her wonderful hair. She powdered
+her nose, fixed her neck ruffle, apparently oblivious of Jarvis.
+
+"What time do you expect Mr. Belasco?"
+
+"Goodness only knows."
+
+"Do you think he will come to-day?"
+
+"Far be it from me to say."
+
+"But I wish to see him."
+
+"Many a blond has twirled his thumbs around here for weeks for the same
+reason."
+
+"But I am only in New York for a little while."
+
+"I should worry," said she, opening her typewriter desk. "Give me your
+play. I'll see that it gets to him."
+
+"I'd rather talk to him myself."
+
+"Suit yourself."
+
+"I suppose I can wait here?"
+
+"No charge for chairs," said the cheerful one.
+
+An hour passed, broken only by the click of the typewriter. Conventional
+overtures from the cheerful one being discouraged, she smashed the keys
+in sulky silence. From eleven to twelve things were considerably
+enlivened. Many sleek youths, of a type he had seen on Broadway,
+arrived. They saluted the cheerful one gayly as "Sally" and indulged in
+varying degrees of witty persiflage before the inevitable "The
+Governor in?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Expect him to-day?"
+
+"I dunno."
+
+"Billy here?"
+
+"Dunno."
+
+"Thank you, little one."
+
+Sometimes they departed, sometimes they joined Jarvis's waiting party.
+Lovely ladies, and some not so lovely. Old and young, fat and thin, they
+climbed the many stairs and met their disappointment cheerfully. They
+usually fell upon Jack, or Billy, or Jim, of the waiters, who, in turn,
+fell upon Belle, or Susan, or Fay.
+
+"What are you with? How's business?" were always the first questions,
+followed by shop talk, unintelligible to Jarvis. One youth said that he
+had been to this office ten successive mornings without getting an
+appointment. The others laughed, and one woman boasted that she had the
+record, for she had gone twenty-eight times before she saw Frohman, the
+last engagement she sought.
+
+"But he engaged me the 29th," she laughed.
+
+They impressed Jarvis as the lightest-hearted set he had ever
+encountered. They laughed over everything and nothing. By one o'clock
+Jarvis and the cheerful one were again in sole possession.
+
+"Don't you ever eat?" she asked him.
+
+"Oh, is it lunch time?" he inquired.
+
+"Come out of the trance."
+
+She went through the entire performance before the mirror, in putting on
+her hat.
+
+"Shall I bring you anything, dearie?" she asked him, as she completed
+her toilette.
+
+"I'm going, too," he said. "I'll be back."
+
+He plunged down the stairs. When he reached the street he thought of
+Bambi's face when he returned with the announcement of his futile
+morning. He went into a shop, telephoned the club that he had been
+detained and would not be back to lunch. Then he foraged for food and
+went back to his sitting on the top floor of the Belasco.
+
+"Well, little stranger," said the cheerful one, on her return.
+
+His interest in the afternoon callers waned. At five o'clock he gave it
+up. He arranged with his new friend to call her up in the morning to see
+if she had any news from the front. Then he slowly turned his footsteps
+toward the club. He was irritated at the long delay, and for the first
+time aware that there might be more difficulty in seeing managers than
+he had anticipated. He had thought the condescension all on his part,
+but eight hours of airing his heels in the outer purlieus had altered
+his viewpoint a trifle.
+
+His main concern was Bambi's disappointment. She had sent him out with
+such high hopes--she would receive him back with his Big Chief feathers
+drooping. He was sorrier than he would admit to drown the shine in her
+eyes. He walked downtown to postpone the evil hour, but in the end it
+had to be faced.
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+After Jarvis had departed on his conquering way Bambi turned her
+attention to herself. She made a most careful toilette. When she was
+hatted, and veiled, and gloved, she tripped up and down before her
+mirror, trying herself out, as it were. She made several entrances into
+editorial sanctums. Once she entered haltingly, drawn to her full
+five-feet-one; once she bounced in, confidently, but she vetoed that,
+and decided upon a dignified but cordial entrance. One more trip to the
+mirror for a close inspection.
+
+"Oh, you pretty thing!" she nodded to herself.
+
+She set forth, as Jarvis had done, with the address on the publisher's
+letter clasped in her hand. She marched uptown with a singing heart. She
+saw everything and everybody. She wondered how many of them carried
+happy secrets, like hers, in their thoughts--how many of them were going
+toward thrilling experiences. She shot her imagination, like a
+boomerang, at every passing face, in the hope of getting back secrets
+that lay behind the masks. She was unaware how her direct gaze riveted
+attention to her own eager face. She thought the people who smiled at
+her were friendly, and she tossed them back as good as they gave. Even
+when a waxed and fashionable old dandy remarked, "Good morning, my
+dear," she only laughed. Naturally, he misunderstood, and fell in step
+beside her.
+
+"Are you alone?" he asked, coyly.
+
+She gave him a direct glance and answered seriously.
+
+"No. I am walking with my five little brothers and sisters." He looked
+at her in such utter amazement that she laughed again. This time he
+understood.
+
+"Good day," said he, and right-about-faced.
+
+She knew she had plenty of time, so she sauntered into a bookshop and
+turned over the new books, thinking that maybe some day she would come
+into such a shop and ask for her own books, or Jarvis's published plays.
+She chatted with a clerk for a few minutes, then went back to the
+avenue, like a needle to a magnet.
+
+In and out of shops she went. She looked at hats and frocks, and touched
+with envious fingers soft stuffs and laces.
+
+"Some day," she hummed, "some day!"
+
+She even turned in at Tiffany's seductive door. Colour was a madness
+with her, and her little cries of delight over a sapphire encouraged a
+young clerk to take it out of the case and lay it on the velvet square.
+
+"Oh, it's so beautiful it hurts!" Bambi exclaimed.
+
+He smiled at her sympathetically.
+
+"Magnificent, isn't it? Are you interested in jewels?" he added.
+
+"I am interested, but I am not a buyer," she admitted to him. "I adore
+colour."
+
+"Let me show you some things," he said.
+
+"Oh, no. I mustn't take up your time."
+
+"That's all right. I have nothing else to do just now."
+
+So he laid before her enraptured gaze the wealth of the Indies--the
+treasure baubles of a hundred queens--blue and green, and red and
+yellow, they gleamed at her. In an instinctive gesture she put out her
+hand, then drew it back quickly.
+
+"Mustn't touch?" she asked, so like a child that he laughed.
+
+"Take it up if you like."
+
+She took the superb emerald. "Do you suppose it knows how beautiful it
+is?"
+
+"It takes a fine colour on your hand. Some people kill stones, you know.
+You ought to wear them."
+
+He told her some of the history of the jewels he showed her. He
+explained how stones were judged. He described the precautions necessary
+when famous jewels were to be taken from one place to another. Bambi sat
+hypnotized, and listened. She might have spent the entire day there if
+the man had not been called by an important customer. "I have been here
+hours, haven't I? I feel as if I ought to buy something. Could you show
+me something about $1.55?" The man laughed so spontaneously and Bambi
+joined him so gayly, that they felt most friendly.
+
+"Come in next week. I'll show you a most gorgeous string of pearls which
+is coming to be restrung," he said.
+
+"Oh, thank you. I have had such a good time."
+
+He took her to the door as if she were a Vanderbilt, and bowed her out.
+The carriage man bowed, too, and Bambi felt that she was getting on.
+
+This time she loitered no longer. She inspected her address for the
+hundredth time, and went to the magazine office, where she was to find
+the golden egg. She was impressed by the elegance of the busy reception
+room, with its mahogany and good pictures. She sent her card to the
+editor and waited fifteen minutes, then the card bearer returned. She
+was sorry, but the editor was extremely occupied this morning. Was there
+anything she could do for Mrs. Jocelyn? Bambi's face registered her
+disappointment.
+
+"Would it do any good for me to wait?"
+
+"Have you a letter of introduction? Mr. Strong seemed not to know your
+name."
+
+"He told me to come."
+
+"Told you? How do you mean?"
+
+Bambi offered the letter to her. As she read it her face changed.
+
+"Oh, are you the girl who won the prize?" Bambi nodded.
+
+"You are?" she protested her amazement.
+
+"I'm just as surprised as you are," Bambi assured her.
+
+"Of course Mr. Strong will see you. He didn't understand." She was off
+in great haste, and back in a jiffy.
+
+"Come right in," she invited.
+
+Bambi wanted to run. Her breath came in little, short gasps. She wished
+she could take hold of the other girl's hand and hold on tight. A door
+stood open into an outside office, and several clerks stared at her. The
+sanctum door was open.
+
+"Mr. Strong, this is Mrs. Jocelyn," said her guide, and the door closed
+behind her. A tall, pleasant-faced young man rose and tried to cover
+his surprise.
+
+"How do you do?" he said cordially, with outstretched hand.
+
+Bambi laid hers in it.
+
+"I'm frightened to death," she answered.
+
+"Frightened--of me?"
+
+"Well, not you, exactly, but editorism." He laughed.
+
+"I can match amazement with your terror, then. You are a surprise."
+
+"You are disappointed in me," she said quickly.
+
+"I expected a--a--well, a bigger woman, and older."
+
+"I see. You didn't expect a half portion?"
+
+"Exactly," he smiled. "Well, we were extremely interested in your
+story."
+
+"I am so glad."
+
+"What else have you done?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"That your first story?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How did you happen to write it, Mrs. Jocelyn?"
+
+"I am looking for a career," she began, but his surprised glance stopped
+her. "You see I ought to dance. That's what the Lord intended me to do.
+I can dance."
+
+"I can imagine that."
+
+"But dancing would take me away from home so much, and the 'Heavenly
+Twins' need me so."
+
+"Twins? You haven't twins!"
+
+"Yes. Oh, no, not real ones, but my father and Jarvis."
+
+"Jarvis?"
+
+"Jarvis is a poet and a dreamer."
+
+"Is Jarvis a friend?"
+
+"Oh, no, I am married to him. They are both so helpless. My father is a
+mathematician. I have to take care of them both, you see."
+
+"You mean in a financial way?"
+
+"My father makes a fair income, and of course Jarvis may sell his plays,
+but when I married him I expected to support him."
+
+"He is delicate, I suppose?"
+
+She laughed.
+
+"He's six feet and over, wide and strong as a battleship."
+
+"And he expects you to support him?"
+
+"No. He protests, but you see I took a sort of advantage of him when I
+married him. He didn't want to marry me."
+
+"You are a most extraordinary young woman," remarked Mr. Strong.
+
+"Oh, no, I am usual enough. I help Jarvis with his plays, and what I say
+seems to have sense. Do you know?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"So just for fun I wrote the story, and just for fun I sent it to your
+contest."
+
+"Well, just for fun we gave you the prize."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"We want a whole series of tales about that girl. She's new."
+
+"How many is a series?"
+
+"Oh, eight or ten, if you have material enough."
+
+"Oh, yes, I live--I mean I get material all the time."
+
+"What do you want for them?"
+
+"Oh, I'd like a lot for them. New York is full of things I want."
+
+He laughed again.
+
+"We could give you $150 a story. That would be $1,500 for the ten. Then,
+eventually, we would make a book of them, and you would get 10 per
+cent. on that."
+
+"A book? A book, with illustrations, and covers, and all?"
+
+He nodded. "Are those terms satisfactory?"
+
+"Oh, mercy, yes. It sounds like a fortune!"
+
+"When could you begin, Mrs. Jocelyn?"
+
+"Right away, to-day!"
+
+"Well, that will hardly be necessary. If you send copy to us by the
+fifth, that will be soon enough."
+
+"All right. Jarvis is selling a play to-day, so probably we will be rich
+shortly."
+
+"To whom is Mr. Jocelyn selling his play?"
+
+"Belasco."
+
+"So! That's fine! You'll never have to support him, at that rate."
+
+"He doesn't know about my getting the prize and coming to see you, and
+all. I want to keep it a secret for a time."
+
+"I understand."
+
+"It would be rather awful for me to be famous first."
+
+"I don't know about that. It would be selfish of your husband to stand
+in your way."
+
+"Oh, Jarvis is selfish. He's utterly, absorbedly selfish, but not just
+that way. He'd never stand in my way."
+
+"I'd like to meet Jarvis."
+
+"Well, when the secret is out I'll bring him here. He's unusual, Jarvis
+is. Some day he'll be great."
+
+"He is in luck to be Mr. to your Mrs."
+
+She flushed furiously.
+
+"Yes, I think he is," she admitted, as she rose.
+
+"How long are you to be in New York?"
+
+"As long as your five hundred holds out."
+
+"You must come in again. If I can be of any use to you, while you are
+here, give you letters to anybody, have you meet people, I'll be
+delighted to do so."
+
+"You're a very nice man," said she. "You have removed the ban from the
+whole tribe of editors in twenty minutes' talk."
+
+"That's a tribute worth living for. It has been a delightful twenty
+minutes. Come in again."
+
+Out in the office, and in the impressive reception room, interested
+faces turned toward her. The girl who had acted sponsor for her nodded.
+She tasted the first fruits of success, and they were sweet. The only
+imperfection was the fact she could not tell Jarvis. She could not brag
+of her triumphs nor repeat the friendly chat with Mr. Strong. It would
+be such fun to see his surprise at the news--he had so lately patronized
+her. "You are not the stuff of which creative artists are made,
+of course."
+
+Tra-la-la! She'd make him eat those words.
+
+Then she began at once to do the next story of the series, and by the
+time she reached the club she had it all thought out. It was then that
+Jarvis's telephone message came to her, and she decided that he was even
+now reading his play aloud to Belasco; that he, too, had found a
+golden key.
+
+She worked on the new story all the afternoon, and waited for Jarvis's
+triumphant return, in a seventh heaven of joyous anticipation.
+
+
+
+IX
+
+Jarvis marshalled his reluctant feet into "Forward, March!" down the
+hall, and trod softly in the hope that he could get past Bambi's door;
+but at his first step on the corridor it was flung open, and the small
+figure silhouetted against the light of the room behind.
+
+"You read him the play?"
+
+He led her gently into the room, closed the door, and faced her.
+
+"Jarvis, he refused it?" she cried.
+
+"I have spent seven hours sitting in an anteroom with a blond steno,
+waiting. Nobody has been near, all day, excepting fat old girls and
+Billy boys, looking for jobs."
+
+"Belasco didn't come?"
+
+"He did not. What's more, he sometimes does not come for days."
+
+"Couldn't they send him word you were there?"
+
+Even Jarvis smiled at this.
+
+"My dear, they treated me with the same consideration afforded the
+janitor. It occurred to me, during those seven hours of enforced
+thought, that our ideas of the simplicity of selling a play were a
+trifle arrogant. It seems to have unforeseen complications."
+
+Bambi sat down on the bed, her brow knitted.
+
+"Seven hours sitting? That's awful!"
+
+"The blond young woman suggested a letter of introduction or an
+appointment, but I don't know any one to give me a letter. I doubt if he
+will give me the appointment without it."
+
+"I can get it for you!" she said.
+
+"You can? Where? How?"
+
+"I know a way. Never you mind."
+
+"I was afraid you would be so disappointed I was tempted not to come
+back at all," he remarked.
+
+"Disappointed? Not I! Why, we can wait seven years, if need be. In the
+end we will win."
+
+"You are a very good sport, Miss Mite."
+
+"I are," laughed she. "I am a very able woman, Jarvis. Some day you will
+be proud of me."
+
+"You are a terrible egotist," he objected.
+
+"If I didn't believe in myself, where would I be? You and father
+scarcely notice me."
+
+"I'm beginning to notice you," Jarvis interrupted. "I was really
+surprised to find how concerned I was not to disappoint you."
+
+"That was nice of you, Jarvis," she beamed at him.
+
+"Don't do that," he said sharply.
+
+"Do what?"
+
+"Smile like a cat at a mouse," he said.
+
+"I intended that for a grateful smile."
+
+"It didn't turn out that. It was possessive. If I can't be friendly with
+you without your over-occupying my thoughts, I shall ignore you."
+
+"You mustn't worry about liking me, Jarvis. It's inevitable. People
+always like me. I become a necessity, like salt and pepper. Just accept
+me cheerfully, for here I am."
+
+He looked at her, frowning.
+
+"Yes, there you are."
+
+"That scowl is very becoming to you. You look like an angry viking."
+
+"I am in no good mood to play."
+
+"Oh, very well, Grandfather Grunt. I had such a nice day. Why don't you
+ask me about it?"
+
+"I should be interested to hear what you did."
+
+"Your manners are painful but impeccable," she laughed. "Well, I
+flittered and fluttered up and down the avenue, like a distracted
+butterfly. I spent a few hours in Tiffany's with such a pleasant man."
+
+"Who was he?"
+
+"I don't know. He was a clerk there. I went in to look at jewels."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Just for the joy of it."
+
+"And a clerk spent two hours with you?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because I'm so charming, stupid. He asked me to come in next week to
+see some famous pearls. I also inspected a bookshop. I asked about the
+sale of published plays. I thought we might make your things into
+a book."
+
+"If Broadway doesn't want them?"
+
+"Better still if Broadway does."
+
+"Do you always go about making acquaintances?" he inquired.
+
+"Always. People like to talk to me. I look so inoffensive."
+
+He smiled at her saucy, tip-tilted face.
+
+"Any more adventures?"
+
+"Oh, yes. A gay old man asked me if I was alone?"
+
+"What?" he exploded.
+
+"He did. He liked my looks enormously. I could see it."
+
+"Did you call a policeman?"
+
+"Not I. Do you think I am a 'bitty-lum'?"
+
+"A what?" he asked.
+
+  "Once a pig molicepan,
+  Saw a bitty-lum,
+  Sitting on a surbcone,
+  Chewing gubber rum.
+  Hi, said the molicepan,
+  Will you sim me gome?
+  Tinny on your nintype,
+  Said the bitty-lum."
+
+"How old _are_ you?" inquired Jarvis.
+
+"Well, I've got all my teeth."
+
+"What did you do with the old masher?"
+
+"I squelched him."
+
+"Did he go away?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"You must be more careful on the streets, Bambi. People misunderstand
+you."
+
+"Well, I can always explain myself," she added, laughing.
+
+"Then what did you do?"
+
+"More or less directly, I came here, and lunched, in the conviction that
+you were closeted with Belasco. Did you have any lunch?"
+
+"Yes. The blond one drove me out for half an hour."
+
+"I should have gone with you."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I would never sit anywhere seven hours."
+
+"What would you have done?"
+
+"Gone to Belasco's house, or telephoned something startling that would
+have brought him down quickly."
+
+"For instance?"
+
+"Well, that the theatre was on fire."
+
+"But when he got there?"
+
+"I'd have made him see it was a joke."
+
+"Maybe he hasn't that kind of a sense of humour?"
+
+"Then I should have perished bravely."
+
+So the incidents of their first day's careering ended jocularly.
+
+Bambi called Mr. Strong on the wire next day, and told him of Jarvis's
+unprofitable sitting. Could he get her a letter to Belasco? Or to any
+other leading manager? He laughed, said he did not know Belasco, but
+thought he could arrange it for her. He promised to send a letter to
+the club.
+
+With this assurance to fall back upon, she persuaded Jarvis to go to the
+office of one of the newer managers who seemed to be of an open mind in
+regard to untried playwrights. She showed him a magazine article about
+this "live wire," named over his productions, and repeated his cordial
+invitation to new writers.
+
+Jarvis set forth reluctantly. He liked salesman work as little as he had
+expected to. But he felt he owed some effort to Bambi, since he was her
+guest, and her mind was so set on his success.
+
+This time the cheeky-faced office boy admitted that the manager was in.
+He accepted and scrutinized Jarvis's card with disdain, but on his
+return from the inner office he ejaculated, "Wait!" So Jarvis sat down
+for his second endurance feat. The same Johnnies and Billies and Fays
+came to this office in their endless seeking. He began to vision the
+great, ceaseless army of them "making the rounds," as they call it,
+often hungry and tired. They were most of them uneducated, you could
+tell by their speech, for all their long "a's" and short "r's." That
+they were physically unadapted to the profession was obvious enough in
+many cases. They were probably badly trained. How did they live? Where
+did they go? They began to haunt him.
+
+He was interrupted by hearing his name called. He rose mechanically, and
+followed the boy into a very large and ornate office. A fat Jewish man,
+in loud clothes, a brown derby hat, and a cigar, sat at a desk,
+dictating.
+
+"H'are ye?" he ejaculated as Jarvis entered. He went on dictating and
+smoking, until Jarvis finally interrupted him, saying he wanted to see
+the manager. The fat man glared at him.
+
+"Sit down until I get through!" he shouted. "I'm the manager."
+
+Jarvis took a chair and looked at the man closely. What would such a
+creature find in his play, with its roots in a modern condition, no more
+grasped by this man than by Professor Parkhurst? The absurdity of the
+idea struck Jarvis so forcibly that he laughed out loud.
+
+"Let's have it, if it's any good," said the fat man.
+
+"I beg your pardon," Jarvis replied.
+
+The manager dismissed the stenographer, took up Jarvis's card, looked at
+it, and then at his victim.
+
+"Jarvis Jocelyn," he read. "Good stage name. What's your line, Jarvis?"
+
+[Illustration: "WELL, BELIEVE ME, THAT HIGH-BROW STUFF IS ON THE
+TOBOGGAN."]
+
+"I've come to see you about a play."
+
+"Oh, you're a writer? What have you done?"
+
+"Several plays, and some poetry."
+
+"Nix on the poetry. Who brought out the plays?"
+
+"Nobody yet. I am just beginning to offer them."
+
+"What sort of stuff is it?"
+
+"It's a dramatic handling of the feminist movement."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"The emancipation of woman."
+
+"I hadn't heard about it. Is your stuff funny?"
+
+"No. It is a serious presentation of an unique revolution----"
+
+"Well, believe me, that high-brow stuff is on the toboggan. I knew it
+couldn't last. I gave it to them when they demanded it, but I am cutting
+it out now. Haven't you got a good melodrama, or a funny show?"
+
+"I have not," superbly.
+
+"Say, do you know any Jews? I got a great idea for a Jew play that would
+take like the measles if some fellow would work it up. Pile of money
+in it."
+
+Jarvis rose, furious.
+
+"It is so apparent that we have nothing to say to each other that I'll
+bid you good morning."
+
+"If you fellows who come in here from the country to run Broadway could
+put _yourselves_ in a show, it would be the scream of the town," said
+the fat man in Jarvis's wake.
+
+"I'd rather starve than endure a pig like you!" cried Jarvis, as he
+fled.
+
+The fat man's laugh followed him to the street. He hated himself, and
+the whole situation. It galled him to think he had deliberately
+submitted himself to such treatment. Even Bambi could not expect it of
+him,--to set him to sell his dreams in such a market. He charged down
+Broadway, clearing a wake as wide as a battleship in action. He saw red.
+He was unconscious of people. He only felt the animus of the atmosphere,
+the sense of things tugging at him, which had to be cast off. Why was he
+here? He wanted the quiet, the open stretches, and his own free
+thoughts. What turn of the wheel had brought him into this maelstrom?
+Bambi! The old story, Samson and Delilah! He had visioned great things.
+She had shorn him, and pushed him into a net of circumstances. He would
+not endure it. He would sweep her out of his life, and be about
+his work.
+
+He was disappointed to find her out when he returned to the club. He had
+his opening speech all ready and it was annoying to have his scene
+delayed. He raged about, to keep his wrath hot, until she came.
+"Greeting," she began; then saw his face, and added, "Jungle beast!"
+
+"I'll not stay here another day!" he cried.
+
+"You saw the manager?"
+
+"He asked me if the stuff was funny! He invited me to write a Jew play,
+and make a pot of money! He said 'Nix on the high-brow stuff,' and never
+heard of the feminist movement," he blurted out in one breath.
+
+She sat down under the onslaught, trying to arrange her rebellious
+features.
+
+"'Nix on the high-brow stuff.' To me!" he repeated.
+
+Bambi gave up. She rolled on the bed, and laughed.
+
+Jarvis raged the room up and down. There was no gleam of humour in it
+for him. When her paroxysm had passed, she sat up and looked at him.
+
+"Poor old Knight with the Broken Lance," she said. "It's tough, but it
+had to be done."
+
+"What had to be done?"
+
+"This morning's work. It was part of your training. You must know just
+what the situation is here, in the market-place."
+
+"But there is no place for me here."
+
+"After two days' failure, you give up?"
+
+"I told you I couldn't sell my things. They are too good."
+
+"That's rubbish. Nothing you, nor I, nor any other human can think, is
+too good. If we have big thoughts, and want to tell them to our brothers
+who speak another tongue, if we have the brains, we must learn their
+tongue, not hope for them to acquire ours. That is what I hoped you
+would see."
+
+"You think I've got to learn the Broadway lingo?"
+
+"I do. If you have anything to say, Broadway needs it."
+
+"I can't translate what I want to say into that speech."
+
+"But you can. It will mean hard work, hard work and heartache, and
+disappointment, but you can do it, because you have the soul stuff of a
+great man."
+
+Her eyes shone now, misted with feeling. He saw again his multitudes
+flocking to him in the wilderness. He saw them aroused, revived,
+triumphant over life through him.
+
+"Will you help me?" he cried to her. It was his first uttered need of
+her, and her heart beat high in response.
+
+"I will, if you will let me, Jack o' Dreams."
+
+"Don't let me give up! Don't let me lose heart!"
+
+"No, I won't. I'll push, or haul you, to the top!"
+
+"I came to scoff, and I stay to pray," said Jarvis, cryptically. "God
+bless you, Bambi!" he added, as he left her.
+
+
+
+X
+
+No letter from Mr. Strong arrived in the morning's mail, so Bambi
+induced Jarvis to go over to the Cubist show, by himself, on the plea
+that she had a headache. He went, most willingly, anywhere,
+except Broadway.
+
+The minute he was out of the way her languid, headachey manner changed
+to one of brisk energy. She donned her smartest frock and hat. She was
+more earnest in her effort to allure the eye than she was on the day of
+her own conquest. "You must look your best, you little old Bambi, you,
+and see what you can do for big Jarvis!"
+
+After the last nod of approval at her reflected self, she tucked
+Jarvis's manuscript under her arm, and started forth. She had made a
+close study of all the theatrical columns of the papers and magazines
+since their arrival in New York, so she was beginning to have a formal
+bowing acquaintance with the names of the leading managers.
+
+In spite of her cheerful acceptance of Jarvis's mood of despair, the day
+before, she was really deeply touched by it, and appealed to by his
+helplessness to cope with the situation. She remembered her words to her
+father, "He cannot accommodate himself to the commercial standards of
+the times." It was so true. And was she right in submitting him to them
+so ruthlessly? Was she blunting something fine in him by this ugly
+picture she was holding up for him to see, of a thoroughly
+commercialized drama, the laws and restrictions of which he must know
+and conquer, or be silenced? All the mother in her hated to have him
+hurt, but the sensible helpmeet part of her knew that it must be done.
+Of course he could not be expected to know how to approach managers, all
+at once. He was probably very tactless. He admitted that he had called
+the enemy of yesterday a "pig." Naturally that was no way to help his
+cause. Perhaps, after this experience, and his new cognizance of
+conditions, it would be better for him to write in quiet and solitude,
+while she acted as salesman.
+
+"I'm just plain adventuress enough to love the fight of it," she
+admitted to herself as she approached the office she had selected for
+her first try. She tripped in, confidently, and addressed the
+office boy.
+
+"Mr. Claghorn in?" she asked.
+
+"Nope."
+
+"When do you expect him?"
+
+"Oh, any time. He's in and out."
+
+"I'll wait."
+
+"Probably won't be back until after lunch."
+
+A railing shut off the hall where she stood from the office proper,
+where the boy was on guard. Doors opened off this central room into the
+private offices. There were no chairs in this hall, and the boy made no
+move to open the railing.
+
+"Is that large armchair in there rented for the day?" Bambi inquired.
+
+"Not so far as I know," he grinned.
+
+"Does this thing open, or do I have to jump it?" she smiled.
+
+"Where are you goin'?"
+
+"To the large armchair."
+
+"Welcome to our city," said he, as he lifted the rail. "Nobody allowed
+in here except by appointment."
+
+"That's all right. I understand that," she said nonchalantly, and sank
+into the haven of the chair.
+
+All the details of the office, which bored Jarvis, or which he entirely
+failed to see, fascinated Bambi. She set herself to the subjection of
+the office boy, by a request for the baseball score.
+
+"Say, are you a fan?" he asked.
+
+"Can't you see it in my eye?"
+
+He was launched. He gave her a minute biographical sketch of every
+player on the team, his past and future possibilities. He went over all
+the games of the past season, while Bambi turned an enraptured face
+upon him.
+
+He was frequently interrupted by actors and actresses who came by
+appointment, or otherwise, and he gave her all the racy details
+concerning them at his disposal. By indirection she obtained a
+description of Claghorn, so that he might not escape her if he came in.
+
+All the actors looked at her with interest, the actresses with disdain.
+One whispered to the boy, who shook his head.
+
+"Say, what you wid?" he asked her later.
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+His look became suspicious. "What show you with?"
+
+"With 'Success,'" she answered hastily, patting the manuscript.
+
+"Roadshow?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Playing New York?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Gimme two pasteboards when you come to town. I'd like to see you."
+
+"All right. What's your name?"
+
+"Robert Mantell Moses. I'm going on, in comic opera, some day."
+
+"So?" said Bambi.
+
+"Song and dance. Are you a dancer?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Toe or Tango?"
+
+"I beg pardon."
+
+"Toe dancer, or Tango artist?"
+
+"Oh, I do them both."
+
+"Do you do the Kitchen Sink? And the Wash Tub?"
+
+Bambi thought fast. "Yes. And the One-legged Smelt. Also the Jabberwock
+Jig."
+
+He inspected her suspiciously.
+
+"Say, those are new ones on me." "Really?"
+
+She was thoroughly enjoying herself when the brazen-mouthed clock
+twanged twelve.
+
+"Goodness! Is it as late as that? Claghorn's ins are mostly outs."
+
+"Give me that again."
+
+"You said he was in and out."
+
+"Nix on the rough stuff."
+
+"What a lovely phrase! I must tell that to Jarvis."
+
+"Who's Jarvis? Your steady?"
+
+"No. He's a--relative by marriage."
+
+"Nix on the 'in-laws' for me."
+
+He suddenly straightened up to attention as a big, fierce-looking man
+plunged in, nearly demolished the railing in passage, and made for a
+door marked "Private."
+
+"Any mail?" he shouted.
+
+"No. Lady to see you, sir," the boy replied.
+
+Bambi rose to meet the foe, who never glanced at her. He jerked open the
+door, but he was not quick enough for the originator of the Jabberwock
+Jig. Her small foot was slid into the space between the door and the
+threshold. It was at the risk of losing a valuable member, but she was
+so angry at being ignored that she never thought of it. When the
+gentleman found that the door would not close, he stuck his head out,
+and nearly kissed Bambi, whose smiling countenance happened to be in
+the way.
+
+"Well?" he ejaculated.
+
+"Quite well, thank you," she replied as she slid in the crack. He looked
+her over.
+
+"Where did you come from?" he demanded.
+
+"I was out there when you swept the horizon with your eye, but you must
+have missed me. I didn't run up a flag."
+
+She was so little and so saucy that he had to smile.
+
+"What do you want?" he asked directly.
+
+"I want to talk with you, for about three minutes."
+
+"I don't engage people for the shows."
+
+"I don't want a job."
+
+"Well, what do you want? Talk fast. My time is precious."
+
+"I have here a very fine play, called 'Success,' which would be a good
+investment for you."
+
+"Who wrote it?"
+
+"My husband."
+
+He glanced at her.
+
+"I thought child marriage was prohibited in this state."
+
+She dimpled back at him, deliciously.
+
+"It is modern, dramatic."
+
+"Comedy?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nothing else has much chance. Leave it, and I will read it."
+
+"When?"
+
+[Illustration: "TELL YOUR HUSBAND TO PUT YOU IN A PLAY, AND I'LL PUT IT
+ON." "MUCH OBLIGED, I'LL TELL HIM. GOOD MORNING."]
+
+"As soon as I can."
+
+"But we have to go home next Thursday."
+
+"You don't expect me to read it before then?"
+
+"Couldn't you?"
+
+"I wouldn't read Pinero's latest before then."
+
+"How soon would you read it?"
+
+"I've got nine productions to look after. I only read on trains. I'm
+going to Buffalo to-night."
+
+"Then you could take it along to-night?" she cried happily.
+
+"Say, who let you in here, anyhow?"
+
+"You did."
+
+"I've got no time to talk to anybody."
+
+"I'm not anybody. I'm I. Just promise me you'll read it to-night and
+I'll go."
+
+"Is this it? Name and address on it?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"All right. To-night. Now get out!"
+
+"Thanks. I've had such a nice call." As she reached the door he spoke.
+
+"Tell your husband to put you in a play and I'll put it on."
+
+"Much obliged. I'll tell him. Good morning."
+
+She made her farewells to Robert Mantell Moses, went out and down the
+street. It was definitely settled in her mind that she was to market
+Jarvis's wares. She had a gift for it, a desperate courage in a crisis,
+that made her do anything to win her point and get what she came for.
+Jarvis would, no doubt, be sitting, still. He was waiting for her at
+the club.
+
+"I was getting anxious about you. Did you go to a doctor?"
+
+"Doctor?"
+
+"For your head?"
+
+"Oh, my head. I'd forgotten all about it. After you left, I felt so much
+better that I decided to go out."
+
+"Looking for more adventures?"
+
+"I never look for them. They--flock to my standard. No, I took the play
+and stormed a manager's office. I saw him, in spite of himself, and got
+him to promise to read the play to-night on the way to Buffalo."
+
+"Who was he?"
+
+"Claghorn."
+
+"How did you get to him?"
+
+"He ran through the big office into his private one, and was just about
+to pull up the drawbridge, when I sprang in after him."
+
+"Just tell it to me in plain English, Bambi."
+
+She described her entrance, with the subjection of the office boy, the
+ruse by which she got into the inner office, her interview with
+Claghorn, and his subsequent promise.
+
+"You are a wonder!" he exclaimed. "I never could have thought of it."
+
+"I should say you wouldn't. You'd have been sitting there yet."
+
+"Did you tell him about the play?"
+
+"In three minutes? I should say not! I had to cram my words in, like
+loading a rapid-fire gun. Pouf! Pouf! And out!"
+
+"Did he seem intelligent?"
+
+"Yes, rather. I have decided to see managers after this, Jarvis. It will
+be Jocelyn & Co. You do the work and I'll sell it. It's fun."
+
+"It's wonderful how the gods look after me," he said.
+
+"Gods nothing! It's wonderful how I look after you. You can burn incense
+to me."
+
+"I do."
+
+The play came back shortly, with a brief note from Claghorn. It had some
+good points, but it was too serious. Not dramatic enough. The third
+act was weak.
+
+"All the silly asses want me to make them laugh," raged Jarvis.
+
+"I am disappointed in my new friend, but the letter to Belasco is here
+now, so we'll have a talk with him. Will you go, or shall I?"
+
+"I think I'd like to talk with him, and tell him my views," Jarvis said.
+
+They sent in the letter, with a request for an interview. In the course
+of a few days a reply came saying that Mr. Belasco had gone West to see
+a new production, but if Mr. Jocelyn would send his play to the office
+it would receive the earliest possible attention. It was a blow to their
+hopes, but there was nothing else to do, so they dispatched it by
+messenger.
+
+"I think, maybe, we had better plan to go back home to-morrow, and wait
+the decision there. The money is vanishing, and I am getting anxious
+about the Professor. He forgets to write anything of importance."
+
+"All right. I'll be glad to go back."
+
+"Let's go shop this afternoon, and take the morning train to-morrow."
+
+"Good. Suits me."
+
+"What shall I take the Professor? I've thought and thought. He's so hard
+to shop for."
+
+"Get him an adding machine!"
+
+Bambi withered him.
+
+"He would disinherit me on the spot. That's like sending Paderewski a
+pianola."
+
+"We must get something for Ardelia, too."
+
+"I got her a red dress, a red hat, a salmon-pink waist, and
+handkerchiefs with a coloured border."
+
+Once their thoughts turned toward the little house, and the arithmetical
+garden, they were anxious to get back. Their shopping tour was a gay
+affair, because it was their last outing.
+
+"Don't you feel differently about New York?" she asked him as they
+walked back. "It seems to me like a fascinating new friend I have made.
+I am sorry to leave it."
+
+"I'm not. I'm not made for cities. People interest me for a while, then
+I forget them, and they are always under foot, in places like this. I
+trip over them, and they interrupt my thoughts."
+
+"I'm so glad you are true to type," she smiled up at him.
+
+"I'm deeply grateful and appreciative of your bringing me here," he
+added awkwardly.
+
+"That was out of character, Jarvis. A month ago you would have taken it
+as your right."
+
+"I'm beginning to realize that others may have rights, that even you may
+have some, Miss Mite."
+
+"Never fear. I'll protect mine," she boasted.
+
+On the morrow they turned their faces toward home and the Professor.
+
+
+
+XI
+
+"It looks very out-of-the-worldly, doesn't it?" Bambi said as they came
+in sight of home.
+
+"It looks like Paradise to me," sighed Jarvis, holding open the gate for
+her.
+
+"Enter Eve, dragging the serpent," she laughed as she passed in. "Eve
+never played in an arithmetical garden," she added. "If she had, there
+would probably have been no immortal fall."
+
+"The number eights look tired," Jarvis commented, ignoring her
+witticism.
+
+She spied the Professor afar sitting at work on the piazza. She flew
+along the path and burst in upon him.
+
+"Daddy!" she cried, and enveloped him. His astonishment was poignant.
+
+"My dear," he said, "my dear. Why, I must have forgotten that you were
+coming. I would have been at the station."
+
+"I knew you'd forget, so I didn't bother you with it. How are you? Have
+you been lonesome? Did you miss us? Where's Ardelia?" all in a breath.
+The Professor smiled.
+
+"Question one, I am well. Two, I cannot say that I have been lonesome.
+Three, I did not miss you. Four, Ardelia is in the kitchen. How are you,
+Jarvis?" he added as his son-in-law appeared.
+
+"I am well, sir. I trust you are the same."
+
+"Thank you. I enjoy good health."
+
+"Stop it! Sounds like the first aid to manners. Here's Ardelia. Well,
+how do you do?"
+
+Ardelia's face was decorated with a most expansive grin.
+
+"Howdy, Miss Bambi? Howdy, Massa Jarvis? I sho'r am glad to see you
+folks home again." She shook hands with both of them.
+
+"How's everything, Ardelia?"
+
+"All right, Miss. Eberything is all right. We got 'long fine together,
+the Perfessor and me. We des went about forgettin' eberyting and habin'
+a mighty comfortable time. Did you all have a good time on your
+honeymoon?"
+
+"Fine," said Bambi. "We brought you some presents, that will make your
+eyes ache, and, 'Delia, we're famished."
+
+"Dog's foot! Heah I stan' a-gassin' and a-talkin' and you all hungry as
+wolfses." She hurried off, muttering.
+
+Jarvis and Bambi sat down.
+
+"Isn't there something you want to tell me? I can't just remember what
+you went to New York for?"
+
+"We went to sell my play," Jarvis prompted.
+
+"To be sure. It had escaped me for a moment. Were you successful?"
+
+"We were not."
+
+"Oh, Jarvis, how can you say that? We don't know yet. Belasco is
+considering it."
+
+"What is this Belasco?"
+
+Bambi looked at Jarvis, and they both laughed.
+
+"Isn't he refreshing?" she remarked. "I've thought for two weeks in
+terms of managers. They fill the universe. They are the gods. Their nod
+is life or death, and now my nearest relative says, 'What is Belasco?'"
+
+"It's a sort of meat sauce, isn't it?"
+
+Consternation on both their faces, then an outburst from Bambi.
+
+"No, no! That's tabasco, you dear, blessed innocent."
+
+"Belasco is one of the leading managers in New York, Professor,"
+explained Jarvis, patiently. "He is as well known as Pierpont Morgan or
+Theodore Roosevelt."
+
+"Indeed! Well, I am not surprised at my ignorance. I have no interest in
+present-day drama. It is degenerate mush."
+
+"Have you seen anything, since 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'?" Jarvis inquired.
+
+"I have seen 'The Second Mrs. Tanqueray,'" he replied conclusively.
+
+"That was considered strong meat in its day, but now we have 'Damaged
+Goods,'" mused Jarvis.
+
+"And what are 'Damaged Goods'?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"What are Yonkers? Don't tell him, Jarvis--he's too young to know. It's
+an ugly modern play. We saw some things you might have enjoyed. Oh, I
+often wished for you."
+
+"Thank you, my dear, but I have no desire to enter that cauldron of
+humanity."
+
+"I agree with you, Professor Parkhurst."
+
+"That is a rare occurrence, I may say," answered the Professor, with a
+twinkle.
+
+"Thank goodness, you have me to prod you into life. You would both sit
+in your dens and figure and write until you blinked like owls in the
+night. I have stored up energy enough, from these two weeks in the
+cauldron, to run me for months. I didn't miss one thing, ugly or
+beautiful. I shall use it all."
+
+"Use it? How use it, my dear?"
+
+"In my thoughts, my opinions, my life."
+
+"Dear me!" said her father, staring at her. "What odd things you say!"
+
+"It's true, what she says," Jarvis ejaculated. "She rolled New York up
+on reels, like a moving-picture show, and I have no doubt she could give
+us a very good performance."
+
+"I shall," quoth Bambi.
+
+"It is rather a pity you waste your impressions, Bambi. Why don't you
+write them down?" Jarvis patronized.
+
+"In a young lady's diary, I suppose. No, thanks."
+
+"One author in a family is enough," commented the Professor, heartily.
+
+"You ought to tell us your conclusion about your career. Did you settle
+it in your mind?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"A career?" anxiously, from Professor Parkhurst.
+
+"Yes, wealth and fame are in my grasp."
+
+"You haven't done anything rash, my dear?"
+
+"Well, slightly rash, but not the rashest I could do."
+
+"Is it dancing?" from Jarvis.
+
+"Of a sort."
+
+"Not public dancing?"
+
+"No, private," she giggled.
+
+"Will it take you away much?" Jarvis asked her.
+
+"Oh, I'll go to New York occasionally."
+
+"It is to be a secret, I take it?" the Professor said.
+
+"It is, old Sherlock Holmes."
+
+They slipped back into their routine of life as if it had never been
+broken. Jarvis, after two perturbed days of restlessness, went into a
+work fit over a new play. The Professor was busy with final
+examinations, so Bambi was left alone with plenty of leisure in which to
+do her next story.
+
+She wisely decided to write herself--in other words, to dramatize her
+own experiences, to draw on her emotions, her own views of life. She
+must leave it to Jarvis to rouse and stir people. She would be content
+to amuse and charm them. So she boldly called her tale by her own name,
+"Francesca," and she shamelessly introduced the Professor and Jarvis,
+with a thin disguise, and chortled over their true likeness after she
+had dipped them in the solution of her imagination. She relied on the
+fact that neither of them ever looked between the covers of a magazine.
+Besides, even if they chanced upon the story, they would never recognize
+their own portraits.
+
+[Illustration: HER TALE HAD THE PLACE OF HONOUR AND WAS ILLUSTRATED BY
+JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG, THE SUPREME DESIRE OF EVERY YOUNG WRITER.]
+
+A few days before the prize story was published, a special copy came to
+her from Mr. Strong. She hid it until the "Twins" were gone. Then she
+hurried out to the piazza and the hammock with it. It was a thrilling
+moment. "Prize Story by a Wonderful New Writer" stared up at her from
+the front page. Her tale had the place of honour in the makeup, and it
+was illustrated--double-page illustrations--by James Montgomery Flagg,
+the supreme desire of every young writer. She hugged the magazine. She
+scanned it over and over. She laid it on the table, picked it up
+casually, and turned to the first story indifferently, just to squeeze
+the full joy out of it. Then she pounded a pile of pillows into shape,
+drew her feet up under her, and began to read her own work. She smiled a
+good deal, she chuckled, finally she laughed outright, hugging herself.
+At this unfortunate moment Jarvis appeared. She looked as guilty as a
+detected criminal.
+
+"What's the joke?"
+
+"Oh, I was laughing at a story in here."
+
+"How can you read that trash?"
+
+"It isn't trash. It's perfectly delightful."
+
+"What is it?" He came nearer to her, and she clutched the magazine
+tightly.
+
+"Oh, just a prize story."
+
+"A prize story? And funny enough to make you laugh? Not O. Henry?"
+
+"Of course not. He's dead. A new writer, it says."
+
+He held out his hands for it, and, perforce, she resigned it to him.
+
+"Francesca!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Odd, isn't it? That's what attracted me to it," Bambi lied.
+
+"Well, I suppose there are other Francescas. I came to ask you to listen
+to a scenario."
+
+"Good! I shall be delighted," she replied cordially, folding the
+magazine over her finger.
+
+So the fatal moment came and passed. Her secret was safe. She kept the
+cherished magazine in her own room, read and reread it, patting its
+cover, as one would a curly head.
+
+Upon the receipt of her second story came a telegram from Strong, "Can
+you see me on Thursday? New plan for stories. Arrive in Sunnyside ten in
+the morning." She wired him to come, then sat down to work up an
+explanation of him for the "Heavenly Twins." He would be there for
+lunch--he must be accounted for. She discarded several plans, and
+finally decided to introduce him as the brother of a college classmate,
+in town for the day. She would get rid of the family speedily, so that
+she and Mr. Strong might have time for the conference. What on earth did
+he want to see her about? It must be important, to bring him from New
+York. Maybe he was disappointed with the second story, and wanted to
+break the contract. It was his kind way to come and say it, instead of
+writing it, but it was a blow. She had felt that the second tale was so
+much better than the first. She went over it, in her mind, trying to
+pick flaws in it. Well, she could always go to dancing, if everything
+else failed.
+
+At lunch she casually remarked, "Richard Strong is coming to lunch on
+Thursday. I hope you will both be here."
+
+"Who may Richard Strong be?" inquired her father.
+
+"He is the brother of an old classmate, Mary Strong."
+
+"Does he live here?" Jarvis asked.
+
+"No. He lives in New York."
+
+"What brings him to Sunnyside?"
+
+"He didn't say."
+
+"I never heard of him before," Professor Parkhurst said.
+
+"Oh, yes. I used to talk about him a great deal. He's a fine fellow."
+
+"Was he a special friend?" Jarvis asked, roused to some interest.
+
+Bambi hesitated. She was getting in deeper than she planned.
+
+"Yes, rather special. Not intimate, but special."
+
+"What is his business?" asked her father.
+
+"I don't remember."
+
+"Rich idler, I suppose," Jarvis scorned.
+
+"He used to work when I knew him."
+
+"Well, we shall be glad to see the young man. Would you like me to
+change off my afternoon classes and remain at home?"
+
+"Oh, no. Don't think of it!" Bambi cried, with unpremeditated warmth,
+which focussed Jarvis's eyes upon her. "He'll be here only a little
+while, and we will reminisce. He would bore you to death."
+
+"I like to be cordial to your beaus."
+
+"Professor Parkhurst, I am a married woman."
+
+"Dear me, so you are. I am always forgetting Jarvis. If he is a bore,
+I'll lunch at the club."
+
+"Possibly you would prefer me to lunch out, too," said Jarvis,
+pointedly.
+
+"Not at all. I want you both here," said Bambi, with irritation, closing
+the incident. She had a feeling that she had not handled the situation
+as well as she had planned to do.
+
+
+
+XII
+
+Thursday, and Mr. Strong arrived with the inevitableness of dreaded
+events. Bambi felt convinced that his coming meant the premature death
+of her new-born career, so, naturally, she was prepared for grief. An
+element of amusement was added, however, by Jarvis's astonishing
+behaviour. Ever since the first mention of Mr. Strong's name he had
+shown unmistakable signs of dislike for that gentleman. 'It was the most
+remarkable revelation of his strange character. Having totally ignored
+Bambi himself, it distressed him to think of any other man being
+attracted by her. His references to Mr. Strong's coming were many and
+satirical. This display of manly inconsistency was nuts and ale to
+Bambi. She wondered how much Mr. Strong would play up, and she decided
+to give Jarvis Jocelyn an uncomfortable hour. She herself was an adept
+in amatory science, but she was a trifle unsure of Mr. Strong. However,
+she remembered a certain twinkle in his eye that augured well.
+
+Because it was necessary to enlighten him as to the situation in
+advance, she arrayed herself most carefully to go and meet him. She
+encountered Jarvis on the stairs. He inspected her charming self, in a
+frock the colour of spring green leaves, topped by a crocus-coloured
+hat, like a flower. She deliberately pranced before him.
+
+"Aren't I a delight to the eye?"
+
+He stared at her coldly.
+
+"Such ardent admiration embarrasses me, Jarvis," she protested.
+
+"You look very nice," he admitted.
+
+"Nice! Nice! I look like a daffodil, or a crocus, or some other pleasant
+spring beauty."
+
+"I am glad you are so pleased with yourself. I trust Strong will be
+equally appreciative."
+
+"I hope so when I have gone to so much trouble for him," she tossed back
+over her shoulder, in punishment.
+
+As Mr. Strong stepped off the train and faced her, it would be hard to
+say whether admiration or astonishment constituted the greater part of
+his expression.
+
+"Mrs. Jocelyn, why this is too kind of you!"
+
+"Not at all. City people are so unused to our devious country ways that
+I was afraid you would get lost."
+
+Admiration was certainly on top now.
+
+"If you don't mind, we will walk. It isn't far."
+
+"The farther the better," he replied gallantly.
+
+They set forth, down the shady village street, where the trees almost
+met overhead. Strong drew in deep breaths of the fresh morning air. His
+eyes kept returning to the little French figure at his side, so
+metropolitan, and yet so much the dominant note in any setting in which
+he had seen her. She chattered on, about the town, the university, and
+the sights.
+
+"I refrain from pointing out the town hall, and the Carnegie Library,"
+she said.
+
+"I am grateful," he bowed.
+
+"Are you married?" she darted at him, out of their impersonality.
+
+"No, alas!"
+
+"That helps a little."
+
+His surprise was evident.
+
+"I'm afraid I've got you into rather a box."
+
+"I don't mind, if you will play Pandora."
+
+"Thanks. You remember that I told you that my--my career was to be a
+secret from the 'Heavenly Twins'?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I suppose my career is about over, but I don't want them to know about
+it."
+
+"Excuse me. What's that--about your career being over?"
+
+"That's why you've come, isn't it? You didn't like the last story?"
+
+He stared at her, and then burst out laughing.
+
+"You thought I would come way out here from New York to tell you I
+didn't like it?"
+
+"I have a high opinion of your kindness," she nodded.
+
+"You nice little girl!" he added impetuously. "I came partly because I
+wanted to talk to you again, partly because I wanted to see Jarvis and
+the Professor."
+
+She smiled and nodded encouragement.
+
+"Then, too, we've had such a raft of letters about the 'Francesca' story
+that I want to talk to you about making a novel of it, to run serially,
+instead of the short stories we arranged for."
+
+"A novel? You want me to write a novel?"
+
+"We do."
+
+"But I wonder if I could?" she said, in an awed voice.
+
+"Of course you could. The second story was ripping."
+
+"Was it? Was it?" She clapped her hands joyously.
+
+"We can use it as Chapter Two, with very few changes, and from now on
+you can build your story about the characters you have introduced, with
+a spinal cord of plot to give it shape."
+
+"It frightens me to death, to think of doing it. I have always thought
+it took genius to write a novel."
+
+"My dear young woman, not in this day, when publishing houses gush books
+like so many geysers. Anybody with your gift of words and vivid
+reactions ought to find writing the line of least resistance. Of course
+you can do it."
+
+"I'd adore trying if you'd help me."
+
+"That's agreed."
+
+He watched the concentration of her face with interest. She was wrapped
+in the thought of the book. She was attacking it, on all sides, with the
+lance of her mind. When she threw herself into every new interest with
+such abandon, it was no wonder that she gave out impressions with the
+same intensity.
+
+"What about the box I'm in?" he reminded her. She came out of her trance
+with a start.
+
+"I'd forgotten all about you," she said frankly. "I had to explain you
+to the 'Heavenly Twins,' somehow. If I said you were an editor, they
+would naturally ask why you came to see me?"
+
+"I never thought of that. I am afraid I've put you in an embarrassing
+position."
+
+"Oh, not at all. I've put you in one. I told them you were the brother
+of an old classmate, stopping over in town for a day, and that you were
+to look me up."
+
+"Did I know you well when you were in college?", he smiled.
+
+"I didn't intend to have you know me well, but Jarvis showed such
+unexpected interest in you that you are suspected of having known me
+rather well."
+
+"Sort of an old affair?"
+
+"Sort of," she laughed up at him.
+
+"I get the idea. Have I your permission to play the rôle in my own way?"
+
+"Yes, only don't betray me. The 'Twins' will only be around at
+lunch-time. After that, we can talk book."
+
+"Good! I'll play up with my best amateur theatrical manner," he
+responded, as they entered the garden. "This is the arithmetical
+garden," he said "It's true. Why, it's just like an 'Alice in
+Wonderland' experience, coming into something I have known in some other
+state of consciousness."
+
+"Oh, yes, it's true. That's all I am, a sort of a camera."
+
+"What a picture-book house!" he added. "It's just right for you."
+
+As they went into the screened porch Jarvis arose, slowly, from the
+hammock. Mr. Strong stopped, really amazed, as the splendid figure, with
+its Apollo head, advanced. Bambi, too, was struck with some new alive
+quality in Jarvis that was compelling.
+
+"This is Mr. Strong, Jarvis." The two men measured each other swiftly.
+
+"I am glad to meet you," said Jarvis, with determined politeness.
+
+"Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet Mrs. Jocelyn's husband."
+
+Bambi laughed.
+
+"Mrs. Jocelyn's husband is a new rôle for Jarvis," said she.
+
+"I understand you and Mrs. Jocelyn are old friends," said Jarvis,
+perfunctorily.
+
+"We are indeed old and dear friends."
+
+"It has been some years since you met?"
+
+"Yes, although I couldn't realize it this morning. There is a vivid
+quality about Mrs. Jocelyn which makes it impossible to forget anything
+about her. Don't you think so?"
+
+Jarvis looked at Bambi, who grinned.
+
+"Do you find me vivid, Jarvis?"
+
+"You are certainly highly coloured."
+
+"Ugh! That sounds like a Sunday supplement."
+
+Conversation limped along like a tired cab horse. Even Bambi could not
+prod it into a semblance of life. Besides, she was choked with laughter
+at the picture of Jarvis sitting up, during his sacred work hours, full
+of bromides and manners. A discussion of New York almost released him.
+He thundered against modern cities with force. New York, discovered to
+be the home of Strong, became anathema to his host. It was the Goliath
+of Tyranny, Wealth, Degeneration, against which, David-like, he aimed
+his sling. Strong led him on, interested in his personality.
+
+"Mrs. Jocelyn does not share your opinion of New York?"
+
+"There are many of my opinions in which Mrs. Jocelyn does not share."
+
+"Fortunately. Same opinions ought to constitute grounds for divorce,"
+said Bambi.
+
+"I understand you write plays, Mr. Jocelyn?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"You will have to endure New York, now and again, I suppose, when you
+begin to produce."
+
+"We have formed a partnership," Bambi interpolated. "He writes and I
+sell."
+
+"You are a lucky man," Strong complimented him.
+
+Jarvis ignored the remark. Strong wondered why on earth Bambi had
+married him. He was wonderful to look at, but his manners were
+impossible. If he was in love with her, he disguised it successfully.
+The entrance of the Professor saved the situation.
+
+"This is Mr. Strong, Professor. My father, Professor Parkhurst."
+
+The Professor's hand-clasp and absent-minded smile seemed like a perfect
+character make-up. It was the kind of thing David Warfield would have
+played excellently. Strong had to shake himself to realize that these
+were real people, they were so individualized, so emphasized, like
+characters in a play.
+
+"I am always glad to welcome my daughter's old friends," he said. "I
+forget when it was you knew each other, my dear."
+
+"At college."
+
+"Ah, yes, I remember. In college. How is your sister?"
+
+"My sister?" repeated Strong. Bambi gasped. She had forgotten to tell
+him about Mary.
+
+"I refer to your sister Mary," the Professor went on.
+
+"Oh, sister Mary? Oh----" Strong recovered himself.
+
+"You have other sisters?"
+
+"Yes, oh, yes. Many."
+
+"Many, indeed! How many, may I ask?"
+
+"Thirteen," at a venture.
+
+"Thirteen sisters! That is astonishing! And you are the only brother?"
+
+"The only one."
+
+"Are they all living?"
+
+"No. All dead."
+
+"Not Mary?" exclaimed Bambi.
+
+"No, no, I meant to omit Mary. All but Mary are gone."
+
+"That is very sad," sighed the Professor. "Thirteen sisters! How were
+they named?"
+
+"After the thirteen original states," replied Ananias Strong.
+
+"Extraordinary, but Mary----"
+
+"Short for Maryland," prompted Strong.
+
+Bambi almost choked. The subject seemed to fascinate her father.
+
+"Is Mary married?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes, quite. Quite married."
+
+"I forget whether she visited us, my dear."
+
+"No, Mary never came to Sunnyside."
+
+"What a pity the friendships of our young days pass away, isn't it?"
+
+"Not at all. It's a blessing," snapped Jarvis. "When you think of all
+the donkeys you played with in your youth----"
+
+"Mary was not a donkey," giggled Bambi.
+
+"I wasn't speaking of Mary," he remarked.
+
+"I thought you said you were going to lunch in your room to-day, Jarvis,"
+the Professor remarked.
+
+"That was yesterday," Bambi said quickly.
+
+"Oh, I can never remember details."
+
+"I thought that was what you did remember," challenged Jarvis.
+
+"You refer to figures. They, are not details. They are of enormous
+importance," began Professor Parkhurst.
+
+"Now, children, let us not trot out the family skeleton. The 'Heavenly
+Twins' can talk from now until doomsday tolls on the importance or
+non-importance of mathematics. It's as thrilling as modern warfare when
+they get started, but I can't afford to let them go, because they get
+so excited."
+
+"Luncheon am served, Miss Bambi," announced Ardelia.
+
+Bambi led the way, with a sigh of relief. If she could only get through
+with it, and get the happy family out of the way! Jarvis must be
+punished for bad behaviour, and she set herself to the task at once. She
+turned her attention wholly upon Mr. Strong. She laughed and shined her
+eyes at him, referring to the dear, old days in the most shameless
+manner. She fairly caressed him with her voice, and his devotion
+capped her own.
+
+The Professor ate his lunch oblivious to the comedy, but Jarvis scarcely
+touched his. Some new, painful thing was at work in him. He resented it
+every time this man looked at Bambi. He wanted to knock him down, and
+order her off to her room. Most of all, he was furious with himself for
+caring. He had the same instinct which possessed him in New York when he
+rushed to the club to sweep her out of his life, and so save himself. He
+determined to leave the moment luncheon was over. She must never know
+what a bad hour she had given him. Poor, ostrich Jarvis, with his head
+in the sands!
+
+The luncheon was one of the most amusing events in Richard Strong's
+experience, and as for Bambi, she was at her best. She enjoyed herself
+utterly, until coffee put a period to Act Two.
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+Mr. Strong's visit left its impress on all three members of the
+household. The Professor referred to him as the man with the thirteen
+sisters, and wished him reinvited to the house. Bambi treasured the day
+he spent with her as a turning point in her life. Surely new vistas
+opened up to her as a result of his coming. But to Jarvis the memory of
+the day was extremely painful. He took Bambi's punishment very
+seriously. He conceived Strong to be a former lover whom she welcomed
+back with affectionate ardour. He knew enough of her odd personality to
+be totally in the dark as to what she would do if she found herself
+suddenly in love with Strong. The main difficulty was, however, that he
+cared what she did--he, Jarvis, the free man! He realized that this was
+a flag of danger, and he answered the warning by sedulously avoiding
+Bambi for the next few days. She was too busy with the plans for the
+book to notice, although she caught him looking at her once or twice in
+a strange, speculative way. Their peace was broken, however, a few days
+after Mr. Strong's famous visit by a letter from the Belasco office,
+accompanied by the play. Mr. Belasco regretted that the play was not
+just what he wanted. It had some excellent points, etc., but as he had
+already arranged for so many productions during the coming season, he
+felt he could not take on anything more at present. He would be glad to
+read anything Mr. Jocelyn might submit. Jarvis handed it on to Bambi.
+
+"As I told you," he remarked.
+
+"It never got to Belasco," said Bambi, confidently. "If it had, he would
+have seen its possibilities."
+
+"Is something the matter?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"Belasco has refused Jarvis's play."
+
+"So. He didn't like that abominable woman any better than I did."
+
+"She is not abominable!" from Jarvis.
+
+"Be quiet, you two, and let me think."
+
+"If you would learn concentration you would not need quiet in which to
+think," protested her parent.
+
+"Oh, if I would learn to be a camel I wouldn't need a hump," returned
+Bambi, shortly.
+
+"I don't think a hump would be becoming to you," mused the Professor,
+turning back to his book.
+
+"We'll send it to Parke, Jarvis."
+
+"What's the use?"
+
+"Don't be silly. Every manager in New York shall see that play before we
+stop. We will send it to his wife. Maybe she will read it."
+
+"Do as you like about it," he answered, with superb impersonality.
+
+She took his advice and got it off at once, addressed to the actress. In
+a week came a letter in reply saying that Miss Harper would like to talk
+to Mr. Jocelyn about the play, and making an appointment at her house
+two days later.
+
+This letter threw them into great excitement. Jarvis protested, first,
+that he could not be interrupted at his present work, which interested
+him. Bambi pooh-poohed that excuse. Then he said he had never talked to
+an actress, and he had heard they were a fussy lot. She would probably
+want him to change the play; as he would not do that, there was no use
+seeing the woman. Bambi informed him that if Miss Harper would get the
+play produced, it would pay Jarvis to do exactly what she wanted done.
+Then he protested he hated New York. He didn't want to go back there.
+Bambi finally lost her temper.
+
+"If you are going to act like a balky horse, I give you up. Until you
+get started, you will have to do a great many things you will not like,
+but if I were a man, I would never let any obstacles down me."
+
+"When can I get a train?" meekly.
+
+"You can take the same train we took before, to-morrow morning."
+
+A great light broke for Jarvis.
+
+"I can't go. I haven't any money."
+
+"I have. I'll lend it to you."
+
+"I must owe you thousands now."
+
+"Not quite. We can do this all right."
+
+"Have you got it all down?"
+
+"In the Black Maria," she nodded.
+
+So the long and the short of it was that Jarvis went off to New York
+again. No martyr ever approached the stake with a more saddened visage
+than he turned upon Bambi as the train pulled out. She waved her hand at
+him, smiling pleasantly, but he was sorrowful to the last glimpse.
+
+"Poor old baby!" she laughed. "He shall stay in New York a while. He is
+getting too dependent on mamma."
+
+She really welcomed his absence. It gave her so much more time for her
+own work, which absorbed and delighted her. She had never known any
+sensation so pleasurable as that sense of adventure with which, each
+morning, she went to work. First, she patted the manuscript pile, which
+grew so amazingly fast. Then she filled her fountain pen and looked off
+over the treetops, beyond her window, until, like Peter Pan, she slipped
+off into another world, the Land of Make Believe, a country she had
+discovered for herself and peopled with human beings to suit her own
+taste. To be sure, heir story concerned itself mainly with herself,
+Jarvis, and the Professor, but only the traits that made them
+individual, that made them "they," were selected, and the experiences
+she took them through were entirely of her own making. It was such fun
+to make them real by the power of words; to make many people know them
+and love them, or condemn them, as the case might be. In fact, creation
+was absorbing.
+
+"It's very quiet around here since Jarvis left," commented the Professor
+a few days later.
+
+"I never thought Jarvis was noisy."
+
+"Well, he's like distant thunder."
+
+"And heat lightning," laughed Bambi.
+
+"Do you happen to miss him?"
+
+"Me? Oh, not at all. Do you?"
+
+"It always frets me to have things mislaid that I am used to seeing
+around. When you change the furnishings about, it upsets me."
+
+"Do you look upon Jarvis as furniture?" she teased him.
+
+"I look upon him as an anomaly."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"William Morris said, 'You should never have anything in your house
+which you do not know to be useful, and believe to be beautiful.'"
+
+"I think Jarvis is beautiful."
+
+"That great mammoth?"
+
+"He's like Apollo, or Adonis."
+
+"He certainly needs all Olympus to stretch out on. He clutters up this
+little house."
+
+"I am sorry you don't like Jarvis, Professor."
+
+"I do like him. I am used to him. I enjoy disagreeing with him. I wish
+he would come home."
+
+His daughter beamed on him.
+
+"Then he is also useful as a whetstone upon which you sharpen your wits.
+William Morris had nothing on me when I added Jarvis to our Penates."
+
+Jarvis's first letter she read aloud to her father, and they both
+laughed at it, it was so Jarvis-like.
+
+"Dear Bambi," he wrote, "I am in this vile cesspool of humanity again,
+and I feel like a drowning gnat. I did not go to the club, as you told
+me to, because I thought I could live more economically if I took a room
+somewhere and 'ate around,' I left my bag at the station, while I went
+to an address given me by a young man I met on the train. He said it was
+plain but clean. He told me some experiences he had had in boarding and
+lodging houses. They were awful! This place is an old three-story house,
+of the fiendish mid-Victorian brand--dark halls, high ceilings, and
+marble mantels. It seemed clean, so I took a room, almost as large as
+your linen closet, where I shall spend the few days I am here. My room
+has a court outlook, and was hotter than Tophet last night, but of
+course you expect to be hot in summer.
+
+"I went to see Miss Harper, at the time appointed, this morning. She
+lives up Riverside Drive. She is a pleasant woman, who seems to know
+what she wants. She thinks that if I write a new third act, and change
+some things in the second act, Mr. Parke might produce it. I defended
+the present form, and tried to show her that the changes she wants will
+weaken the message of the play. She says she doesn't care a fig for my
+message. She wants a good part. My impulse was to take my work and
+leave, but I remembered how important this chance seemed to you, so I
+swallowed my pride, though it choked me, and promised to make a scenario
+of the changes, to submit at once. I may have to stay on a few days to
+do things over as she wants me to do. The play is ruined for
+me, already.
+
+"I suppose it is cool and quiet where you are. The noise and heat are
+terrible here. I forgot to say that I have to hurry with 'Success,'
+because the lady is going to Europe in a fortnight, and insists it must
+be finished by that time. I hope she won't crack the whip. It makes me
+nervous. I am such a new trained bear.
+
+"I'd rather argue with the Professor to-night than be here, or even talk
+with you. I wish you didn't want me to be a success, Bambi. Couldn't you
+let me off? My regards to you both. Tell Ardelia that nobody in New York
+knows anything about cooking. There seem to be thousands of people
+eating around, and oh, such food! Good night.
+
+                                        "JARVIS."
+
+"He is homesick," said the Professor, as Bambi finished and folded the
+letter.
+
+"Homesick to argue with you," snapped Bambi.
+
+"He said, 'Or talk with you.'"
+
+"Excuse me. He said, 'Or even talk with you.' I shall punish him for
+that."
+
+"He isn't comfortable. Hot and mid-Victorian. He isn't responsible,"
+excused her father.
+
+"He won't be comfortable when he gets the penalty," said Bambi,
+fiercely.
+
+"I am surprised that he consented to change his play. Samson's locks are
+certainly shorn."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"You have shaved him, my dear."
+
+"Are you calling me Delilah?"
+
+"You can't deny that he would never be where he is, doing what he is
+now, if he were not married to you."
+
+"What of it? Time he had a little discipline. He needs it and his work
+needs it."
+
+"Well, he's getting it."
+
+"Are you pitying him because he isn't as mad as he was when I caught
+him?"
+
+"He's still mad, nor' by nor'east."
+
+"I'll make a human being and a big artist out of Jarvis before I am
+through."
+
+"Be careful that you don't lose everything in him that makes him
+Jarvis."
+
+"Do you think that I can't do it?"
+
+"I only say that creation, like vengeance, is God's. It is dangerous
+when man tampers with it."
+
+Upon a sudden impulse, she went to lean over him and kiss his bald head.
+
+"I'll remember that, Herr Vater," said she.
+
+As the result of their talk, her reply to Jarvis was not so fierce as
+she had planned to make it, in her first indignation at his "even you."
+She did not pat him on the back for making concessions about the play.
+She merely said she was glad he was acting so sensibly about it, and
+that if she was the mainspring of that action she was proud. As for
+letting him off, he was the only living person who could keep him on, or
+let him off. If he was the sort of softling who could not stand up under
+life's discipline because it was uncomfortable or unpleasant, then no
+power on earth could hold him to accomplishment. But, endowed as he was,
+with brain, imagination, sensibilities, health, it lay in his power to
+actually create himself, to say "such and such a man will I be," making
+every touch of life's sculpturing fingers count, "even the pinches," she
+added, picturesquely. Of course he must stay in New York as long as
+necessary. If he was uncomfortable, he must move. He could not do good
+work under irritating conditions. She told him that the Professor missed
+him, and Ardelia contemplated sending a box of goodies. She omitted any
+mention of her own state of mind or feelings in regard to him or his
+actions. Here was the punishment for his "even you," and he pondered
+long over it.
+
+"What on earth did she marry me for? She doesn't care a straw about me,
+only what I can make of myself," he mused, a trifle bitterly. But he
+went to work at "Success" with the abandon of a house-wrecker, pulling
+it to the foundation. He used the sledgehammer on scenes he loved. He
+loosened and pitched out phrases he had mulled over long, and in the
+dust of the affray he forgot the sting that lay behind Bambi's words. If
+she wanted him famous, famous would he be.
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+Three boiling days, and the major part of three boiling nights, Jarvis
+sweated and toiled over the scenario for the revised two acts. It was
+work that irked him, because he hated doing things over when the first
+glad joy of inspiration was gone, but he stuck to it. And the fourth day
+he set out for the house far up the Riverside Drive, armed with his
+manuscript and a sense of triumph.
+
+Arrived at his destination, the butler announced that Miss Harper had
+gone on a motor trip for two days. No, she had left no word. Angry at
+himself for not having provided against such a situation by an
+appointment with the lady, furious at the thought of two days' delay, he
+betook himself to the Parke offices in the hope of finding some word for
+him there. Mr. Parke was busy and could not see him, announced the
+keeper of the keys to heaven, who sat at the outer gate. No, Mrs. Parke
+had left no word for a Mr. Jocelyn. No, she knew nothing of Mrs. Parke's
+plans or movements. No, she could not ask Mr. Parke. Besides, he
+wouldn't know.
+
+Jarvis descended the many stairs in a thickening gloom. Wait, wait,
+wait! That was part of the discipline Bambi talked of so wisely. Well,
+he then and there decided that the day would come when he would walk
+past every managerial outpost in the city, and invade the sanctum
+without so much as presenting a visiting-card.
+
+The automobile trip lasted four days instead of two, and he spent them
+in a fret of impatience. He worked at the third act, sure of her
+approval. On the fifth day she received him. She liked the idea of the
+second act--she would have none of the new third act. At the end of his
+enthusiastic sketch of how it would run, the reading of new scenes, the
+telling of new business, she yawned slightly, and said she didn't like
+it at all. Unless he could get a good third act, she wouldn't care for
+the piece. He assured her this would be a good third act when it was
+worked up. No use working it up. She knew now she would never like it.
+Jarvis rose.
+
+"I will submit the new third act to-morrow. Have you any suggestions you
+wish to incorporate?"
+
+"Oh, no. If I could write plays, I would not be acting them. It's easier
+and more lucrative to write."
+
+"I don't find it easy enough to be a bore," replied Jarvis. "I will be
+here at eleven to-morrow."
+
+"Make it three."
+
+"Very well, three."
+
+"Some of the pinches," he muttered as he climbed the bus to go back to
+his hot hall bedroom, his mind a blank, and only twenty-five hours in
+which to work out a new third act.
+
+He stripped for action and worked until midnight. Then he foraged on
+Fourth Avenue for food at an all-night cafe patronized by car-men,
+chauffeurs, and messenger boys. He ate ravenously. Afterward he swung
+downward to Madison Square Park, to stretch his tired body. The stars
+were very bright, but a warm wind crowded people on to the streets. A
+restless, aimless crowd of strollers! Several of them spoke to Jarvis.
+Many of them marked him. But he paid no attention to individuals. His
+mind was full of the whole picture. Mile after mile of narrow streets
+between blocks of stone and brick and wood. Thousands of people tramping
+the miles like so many animals driven from the jungle by fire or flood.
+This men called civilization--this City of Stone Blocks! How far was it
+from the jungle? Hunger, thirst, lust, jealousy, anger, courage, and
+cowardice--these were the passions of both fastnesses. How far was Man
+from his blood brother, the Wolf?
+
+[Illustration: "SOFTLINGS! POOR SOFTLINGS!" JARVIS MUTTERED, BAMBI'S
+WORDS COMING BACK TO HIM.]
+
+He reached the green square, and started to cross it. On every bench,
+crowded together, huddled the sleepers. He walked slowly, and looked at
+them closely. Most of them were old--old men and old women--warped out
+of all semblance to human beings, their hideous faces and crooked bodies
+more awful in the abandon of sleep. Some young ones there were, too: a
+thin boy with a cough; a tired girl of the streets, snatching a moment
+of sleep before she went about her trade. It was like some
+fantastic dream.
+
+"Softlings! Poor softlings!" Jarvis muttered, Bambi's words coming back
+to him. The tawdry little girl stirred, saw him, spoke to him, her hand
+upon his arm.
+
+"Go get a decent bed, child," he said, giving her some money.
+
+Her eyes shone at him in the half light like Bambi's, and he shuddered.
+As she sped away a sudden rage possessed him. Why did they endure, these
+patient beasts? They numbered thousands upon thousands, these
+down-and-outs. Why did they not stand together, rise up, and take? Why
+didn't he shout them awake, and lead them himself? "Gimme a nickel to
+get a drink?" whined a voice at his elbow.
+
+"Here, you, move on!" said the policeman, roughly, arousing Jarvis from
+his trance.
+
+On the way uptown to his room he thought it over. If they could organize
+and stand together, they wouldn't be what they were. It was because they
+were morally and physically disintegrated that they were derelicts. This
+waste was part of the price we must pay for commercial supremacy, for
+money power, for--oh, sardonic jest!--for a democracy.
+
+He went back to work with squared shoulders, and worked until dawn. At
+three the next afternoon he again presented himself to the Parke butler.
+Madame was indisposed, could see no one. Mr. Jocelyn was to come the
+next day at three.
+
+This time he wasted no energy in rage at the delay. He began to see that
+this was no sham battle on a green hillside of a summer's day, but a
+real hand-to-hand fight. It was to place him, for all time, at the head
+of the regiment or with the discards. He had believed that what he had
+to say was the most important thing, that this errand Bambi had sent him
+on was a stupid interruption. But all at once he saw it straight. This
+was his fight, here and now. He would not go back to her until he had
+won. He must find the way to finance himself in the meantime. No more
+provisions from the Professor or his daughter. As he made his way
+downtown he thought over all the possibilities of making enough to live
+on. He had never bothered his head about it before. Like the sparrow, he
+had been provided for. But something of his arrogant demanding of life
+seemed to have fled, a sort of terror had been planted in him by that
+view of the park-bench sleepers.
+
+How he wished Bambi were here to advise him, to laugh at him, or with
+him! The thought of her was constantly creeping into his mind, to be
+shoved out by a determined effort of his will. He told himself he was
+becoming as boneless as the Professor, who relied on her for everything.
+That night he wrote to her:
+
+"I seem to have come to my senses to-day for the first time. Queer how a
+man can go on walking, talking, and thinking in his sleep. I don't know
+why I should have wakened up to-day, but a walk I took last night at
+midnight stirred something in me. And a futile attempt to see Miss
+Harper to-day did the rest. You saw clearly, as you so often do. This is
+my fight, right here and now. I must make somebody believe in this play
+and produce it. It may take a long time--months, perhaps--but I must
+stay and face it out.
+
+"I wanted you sorely to-night, Miss Mite, to talk it over with me. I am
+always coming upon things I want to talk over with you, these days. You
+have such a decided way of seeing things.
+
+"I shall not be needing any more money, because I am about to make
+something, on the side, for myself. Keep the Black Maria, and when the
+play goes we will have a mighty reckoning. I am not going to say thanks
+for what you and the Professor have done for me. I am going to
+act thanks.
+
+"I shall read the scenario of the third act to Miss Harper to-morrow, the
+gods and the lady permitting. This is the _third_ third act. I trust it
+will be 'three and out,' or, rather, three and on. My regards to the
+Professor and you. It is very hot here, and I relax by thinking myself
+in the arithmetical garden. It seems years ago since I was there. Has
+the Professor laid out any new figures? I think the 'X' bed ought to be
+wild orchids. He will understand."
+
+He took the letter out to mail, and went for another walk. The night
+crowds began to interest him. He planned to take a different walk every
+night, and learn something of this city which he was setting out
+to conquer.
+
+The next morning he went from one newspaper office to another trying to
+get a job. His lack of experience handicapped him everywhere. Cub
+reporters were as thick as summer flies. He walked, to save carfare.
+
+At three he gained admittance to Miss Harper and read her the new
+scenario. She decided that she liked the second one better. He arranged
+to go to work on it at once, so that she might have Mr. Parke read it
+before she sailed. The siren Hope sang a happy song to Jarvis as he
+swung down the drive. He had the golden apple in his grasp this time.
+
+"I'm coming, oh, you people," he apostrophized them with his old
+assurance. "You'll hear from me soon!"
+
+He celebrated his coming fortune with a fifty-cent table d'hôte, to
+which he did full justice. Up in the hot hall bedroom he took stock of
+ammunition. If he went light on food, he could afford to keep right at
+the play until he finished it. He estimated just what amount he could
+spend a day, and divided up his cash into the daily portion, each in an
+envelope. He purchased an alcohol stove and a coffee-pot, and set
+to work.
+
+There were only twelve days in which to do or die, and he went at it in
+a frenzy. Day faded into night, night faded into day, marked only by the
+thumping of the outraged chambermaid, at whom he thundered. When he
+remembered, he dashed out for food, but for the most part he drank
+coffee, and more coffee.
+
+Once he went for a long walk. He could never remember, afterward,
+whether it was day or night. But during it he thought out a new scene,
+and ran miles to get back and get it down. He grew thinner and more
+hollow-eyed each day, but he cared for nothing but accomplishing this
+thing. He knew the act was good. He felt sure Miss Harper would like it.
+
+At dawn of the day he was to finish it he rushed into a dairy lunch to
+get a sandwich and a glass of milk. While he waited for the heavy-eyed
+clerk to get it, he picked up a morning paper. The date caught his eye.
+This was his last day of grace, sure enough. He must call up and get an
+appointment for the afternoon, for Miss Harper would be sailing
+to-morrow. Idly his eye travelled across the page, and suddenly was
+riveted by a headline: "Bertram Parke and his wife, Helen Harper, sail
+on the Mauretania to-day. They will hasten to London, to sign a contract
+for a play for Miss Harper by Galsworthy, which will be produced in New
+York immediately on her return."
+
+The print blurred before Jarvis's eyes. Everything swayed and swam. Out
+of the chaos came the voice of the tired clerk, shouting: "Say, you,
+what's the matter with you? Can't you take your sandwich? Think I'm
+going to hold it all day?"
+
+Jarvis didn't understand him. He didn't even hear him. He just laid down
+his last quarter and went out, a bit unsteadily.
+
+"Soused!" grinned the clerk, looking after him.
+
+
+
+XV
+
+Bambi sat, chin on hand, staring off into the distance so long that the
+Professor's attention was finally attracted to her. She held Jarvis's
+letter in her hand--his call-to-arms letter.
+
+"No bad news, I hope?" ventured her father.
+
+"Oh, no; good news. The best. Jarvis is alive!"
+
+"Why, you didn't think he was dead?"
+
+"Yes, in a sense he was dead."
+
+"Strange I never noticed it."
+
+"I mean that he was only fully alive to himself. He was dead to other
+people. He has been dangerously self-centred."
+
+"And now----"
+
+"Now many hands are knocking at his postern gate!"
+
+"What enigmatic things you do say, my child!"
+
+"Don't you understand? Jarvis has built a high wall about himself, his
+precious self. He was a sort of superman, called to sit in a high tower
+and dream, to think, to formulate a message to the world. No claims of
+earth were allowed to enter in."
+
+"But you climbed over the wall? You were a claim of earth?"
+
+"You know how I sneaked in when he wasn't looking."
+
+"If you could read me the letter, Bambina, or such portions of it as are
+not private, I might understand better what you are trying to say."
+
+"I'll read it to you. It's none of it private. He has nothing private to
+say to me."
+
+The Professor composed himself to listen, while she read Jarvis's long
+screed aloud. At the end he, too, sat thoughtfully a few moments, his
+finger tips neatly matched in church steeples before him.
+
+"I'm sometimes amazed at your judgment," he said.
+
+"Why my judgment?"
+
+"I never would have seen any possibilities, myself, in the Jarvis whom
+you married."
+
+"Speaking of cryptic remarks----"
+
+"I was trying to convey to your mind my belief that he may turn out a
+real man."
+
+"Oh, Jarvis was a good investment. I knew it at the time. Poor old
+thing, he's frightfully lonesome."
+
+"He ought to come home for a while, on a visit. I am saving several
+topics for disagreement."
+
+"No, it's better for him to stick it out. No human being ever treated
+Jarvis like this Miss Harper is treating him, and it's fine for him."
+
+"Aren't you rather Spartan, my dear?"
+
+"I am. I have felt all along that I had pushed him overboard before I
+was sure he could swim. Now I know he can."
+
+"You may tell him for me that our agreement was for two years, and it
+holds good."
+
+"I don't know what your agreement was, Herr Professor, but if it had
+money in it, cancel it. I want him to learn that lesson, too."
+
+"Poor old Jarvis!"
+
+"Don't you poor old Jarvis me. Remember the abuse you heaped on him when
+I married him. I want him to be practical!"
+
+The Professor rose and started for the garden.
+
+"It's your own affair, my dear."
+
+The outcome of Bambi's thoughts was a letter to Mr. Strong. She invited
+him to spend the weekend with her father and herself, to talk over the
+book and other things. She added that she hoped that he would prepare
+himself with data about the thirteen sisters, because her father would
+be primed with questions about them. Mr. Strong's acceptance came by
+return mail, and he, himself, followed Saturday morning.
+
+Bambi met him, as on the other occasion, and at sight of his cordial
+smile she suddenly felt as if he were an old friend.
+
+"I am so glad to see you!" she exclaimed in her impulsive way.
+
+Mr. Strong shook her hand vigorously.
+
+"It's mutual, I may say," and he fell into step. "Bless this old town,
+it's like----"
+
+"A soporific," she supplied, and joined his laugh.
+
+"How's the Professor? And my old friend Jarvis?"
+
+"The Professor is in a quiver of expectation to talk sisters with you."
+
+"Good! I am ready for him. And Jarvis?"
+
+"Jarvis was the 'other things' I asked you here to talk about."
+
+"I see."
+
+"He's in New York."
+
+"He is? Why didn't he look me up?"
+
+"He doesn't like you."
+
+"He took us seriously the other day?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Jealous, is he? That isn't why he is in New York?"
+
+"Oh, no! He went to sell a play."
+
+"Belasco refused it?"
+
+"Yes, and two others. The Parkes have it now. They are going to take
+it."
+
+"That's good."
+
+"Jarvis may have to stay in the city for some time. He doesn't know any
+one. He hates cities. I suspect he is economizing too much to be
+comfortable. I thought maybe you would look him up--keep an eye on him."
+
+"I should be delighted to, if you think he doesn't dislike me too much."
+
+"Oh, no, he was annoyed that day we flirted so outrageously, but I know
+he would be glad to see you."
+
+"I had a wonderful time that day, myself."
+
+"It was fun. Everybody was so at cross purposes."
+
+"Do I continue the rôle of old beau?"
+
+"Oh, no. You've established yourself with father, so there's no use in
+playing up."
+
+"Old beau exit with regret," he sighed.
+
+"You're a nice man, and I'm glad of you."
+
+"Thanks. Give me Jocelyn's address before you forget it. Ah, there's the
+Professor now," he added, as he pocketed the card and hastened into
+the garden.
+
+The rest of the two days they spent in easy companionship. They played
+tennis, they drove through the woods in an old surrey, Bambi as whip.
+Then, when the Professor's early bedtime removed him to the second
+story, they sat on the moonlit piazza and talked.
+
+The novel had grown into ten chapters. Three instalments had been
+published, and the public was showing a most flattering interest in it.
+Strong brought a box of letters for her to read from enthusiastic
+readers.
+
+"It's extraordinary how real you make your characters when you are such
+a novice," he said to her.
+
+"I tell you I am a photographer. The musician in my story is Jarvis,
+with a thin disguise. The old fiddler is my father, and the girl is
+shamelessly 'me.'"
+
+"Delightfully you," he corrected her. "Has the Professor or your husband
+read any of your stories?"
+
+"No. They never read magazines. Jarvis saw the announcement of the prize
+story, and commented on the use of my name, but I threw him off the
+scent easily."
+
+"I don't see why you don't 'fess' up, now that the thing is an
+established success."
+
+"No, not yet. It's such a lovely secret. I want to wait for just the
+moment to spring it on them."
+
+"Couldn't you invite me in when that moment comes?"
+
+"We'll see. I may invite the neighbours in, and crown myself with a
+laurel wreath."
+
+"I'd rely on your doing it in a novel way."
+
+"The surest way of being considered eccentric is just to be yourself. So
+few of us have the nerve."
+
+They talked late. He told her his plans and hopes for the magazine. He
+spoke of his people, of his past life, of his preparation for his work,
+and when the clock finally interrupted with twelve strokes, they arose,
+nearer friends than ever.
+
+After Strong's departure Bambi wrote Jarvis to prepare him for the
+friendly visit:
+
+"You'll remember Richard Strong, the brother of Maryland and the
+thirteen sisters? He came to spend the weekend with us, and expressed
+such disappointment at your absence that I gave him your address so he
+could look you up. Do be nice to him. I am sure you will like him when
+you get to know him. He is a fine, sensible fellow. He might find
+something for you to do on a magazine, if you wanted it. I did not speak
+to him about it, thinking you could do it best yourself, if you chose
+to. We had a pleasant two days' visit--much talk, tennis, drives, and
+more talk. It seemed to please and rest him, and we enjoyed him greatly.
+The Professor has taken a great liking to him.
+
+"By the time this reaches you, you will have read the new third act to
+your leading lady. I feel so confident that she is going to like it.
+Wire me when she accepts. I can't wait for a letter. Good luck and
+congratulations, from both of us.
+
+                                        "BAMBI."
+
+"P.S. Will you come home after the contract is signed?"
+
+She tripped down to the corner in the moonlight to mail the letter,
+congratulating herself that she had handled the report of Mr. Strong's
+visit with great tact. She recalled Jarvis's unexpected jealousy with a
+smile. Where was he at this moment? Tossing in a hot bedroom, or
+prowling the streets, as he seemed prone to do these nights?
+
+She pondered the processes which made success so easy for some
+people--hers, for instance, a happy accident--while others, Jarvis-like,
+had to be tied to the wheel before the fickle goddess released them and
+crowned them. Was it all chance? Or was there some big plan back of it
+all? Was she spared this incarnation that she might strive harder in the
+next? Was Jarvis expiating for past immunity? It was all a tangle,
+surely, to our mortal eyes.
+
+She gave it up, snapped off her light, and went to bed. A shaft of
+silver, like a prayer rug, lay across the floor.
+
+"Lady Moon, shine softly on my Knight of the Broken Lance," she
+whispered, as she closed her eyes.
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+There was a faint idea in Jarvis's mind, as he staggered out of the
+all-night lunch, of swimming after the Mauretania to overtake the
+Parkes. Then his wandering senses collected themselves. He realized that
+the vessel did not sail until eleven, or thereabouts; that there were
+still several hours before that.
+
+He hurried back to his room, dressed carefully, took the manuscript, and
+started out. It never occurred to him to telephone. Arrived at the
+house, the butler informed him that the Parkes had left in the motor at
+8:30. No word had been left for Mr. Jocelyn.
+
+Jarvis's jaw was set as he started downtown. He went to the wharf where
+the steamer lay, but there was only fifteen minutes left before her
+sailing. It was impossible to find out anything from anybody. So, with a
+sardonic calm, he watched the steamer slowly loosing from the wharf and
+making her stately exit.
+
+On the way uptown he made up his mind as to the next move. He would
+begin action to-day on the Charles Frohman forces. He must also try to
+find a job. His resources were about exhausted.
+
+At the Empire Theatre, where the king of managers rules, there was
+actually an elevator to carry one up to the throne room and its
+antechambers. At a window, in a sort of cashier's booth, a boy received
+Jarvis's manuscript, numbered and entered it on the file.
+
+"How soon will it be read?" Jarvis asked.
+
+"Oh, six weeks or so," said the youth.
+
+"No possible chance of seeing Mr. Frohman?"
+
+"Only by appointment. He is in Europe now."
+
+Jarvis relinquished his precious bundle and departed. It occurred to
+him, when he reached the street, that part of his depression was from
+hunger. He bought a sandwich and coffee at a Childs restaurant. Later,
+he went into a drug store and looked up magazine offices in the
+telephone book. Then he set out. From _Collier's_ to the _Cosmopolitan_
+is many a weary mile. And Jarvis walked it, visiting all the
+intervening offices.
+
+In only one case did he get to the editor. Mr. Davis, of _Munsey's_, let
+him come in, and was decent to him, promised to read anything he sent in
+at once, took his address, and made him feel like a human being. Many a
+young writer besides Jarvis has to thank Mr. Bob Davis for just such a
+bit of encouragement. For the most part, he saw clerks or secretaries
+who made excuses for the editor, took his name and address with the same
+old "Come in again." Out in the hot sun the pavement wavered and melted
+into hillocks before his dizzy eyes. So he went back to the hot bedroom,
+which seemed, all at once, a haven of rest.
+
+He threw himself on the hard bed and was asleep in a second. It seemed
+aeons later that he was dragged up from the depths of slumber by
+continued pounding on his door. The slattern chambermaid announced that
+a gentleman wished to see him. He called to her it must be a mistake. He
+didn't know any gentlemen.
+
+"'E h'ast for Jarvis Jocelyn. 'Ere's 'is card," she retorted, opening
+the door and marching to the bed with it.
+
+"Richard Strong. Tell him I'm out."
+
+"Hi've already said you was in. Hi see you come hup."
+
+"The devil! Where is he?"
+
+"Coolin' 'is 'eels in the 'all."
+
+"Say I'll be down in a minute. Ask him to wait."
+
+"Hi get you," said she, and clomped out.
+
+Then Jarvis's eye fell on Bambi's letter on his table, unopened. It must
+have come the day before, when he was lost in his play. He glanced
+through it. At the mention of Strong's visit he frowned. He read that
+part twice. There was no doubt of it. Strong had the only chance with
+her. He made no secret of his devotion to her, and the probabilities
+were that now that he, Jarvis, was out of the way, she would realize how
+much she cared for Strong.
+
+"Well, what is, is," he muttered. He'd have no favours from Strong,
+though, that was sure.
+
+Twenty minutes later, shaved and dressed, he descended upon his guest,
+who sat in torment, on a hall-tree shelf, in Stygian darkness.
+
+"How do you do?" said Jarvis, stiffly. "Sorry to keep you waiting in
+this hole of Calcutta."
+
+"How are you, Jocelyn?" said Strong, cordially. "Your wife gave me your
+address, and I thought you might save me from a deadly evening by dining
+with me at Claremont."
+
+"Thank you, I have dined," replied Jarvis.
+
+"So early? Well, come with me while I get a bite somewhere, and we will
+go to a show, or hear some music."
+
+"Much obliged. I am engaged for the evening."
+
+"Oh, that's a pity. Your wife told me you were a friendless stranger in
+a foreign land, so I lost no time in coming to look you up."
+
+"Very kind of you."
+
+"I had a charming weekend in the country. We missed you very much."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"You're a lucky chap, Jocelyn. Your wife is one of the most enchanting
+women I ever met. She is unique."
+
+"I am glad she pleases you."
+
+"My dear fellow, I hope I haven't annoyed you. I meant no disrespect in
+complimenting you on Mrs. Jocelyn's charm."
+
+"You made your admiration a trifle conspicuous the last time I saw you,"
+said Jarvis in a rage.
+
+"I apologize, I assure you. I bid you good night."
+
+"Unmannerly boor," was Strong's comment as he turned toward the avenue.
+
+"Hope that settles Mr. Richard Strong," fumed Jarvis as he turned away
+from the avenue.
+
+Two letters were written Bambi that night concerning this meeting. Mr.
+Strong wrote:
+
+"DEAR LADY: I cannot possibly tell you how much of the fragrance of the
+garden, and of you, stays with me even in the heat and ugliness of New
+York. I am so grateful to you and the Professor for your hospitality and
+your friendship.
+
+"I went to see your Jarvis to-night, as I promised to do, but he made it
+exceedingly plain to me that he desired neither my visit nor my
+acquaintance. I thought he looked very tired and a trifle hectic. No
+doubt the heat has worn on him. I don't mean to alarm you. I am only
+searching for some excuse for my own comfort for his reception of me.
+
+"I shall look for the next chapters with eagerness. None of your many
+readers knows my proprietary delight in that tale of yours.
+
+"My cordial regards to your father, and to yourself my thanks and my
+best wishes. Faithfully,
+
+                                        "RICHARD STRONG."
+
+Jarvis was not so politic. He permitted himself some rancor.
+
+"DEAR BAMBINA: I did not get your letter announcing Strong's visit, and
+his approaching descent upon me, until this evening. He followed close
+upon its heels. I have no doubt you intended it kindly sending him here
+to look me up, but the truth is I am in no mood for callers, and I fear
+I made that rather plain to your friend. I may as well say, frankly, I
+disliked him exceedingly on the occasion of his visit to you. It would
+be useless for me to try to disguise the fact. I would never dream of
+asking him for work on his magazine, which I consider of a very
+low grade.
+
+"By some misunderstanding the Parkes sailed sooner than they expected,
+and failed to see my play. I have offered it to Charles Frohman. I
+should prefer him to any other New York manager.
+
+"The weather here is extremely hot, and I have been working rather hard,
+so I am a little knocked out. Will you send me the manuscript of my two
+unfinished plays you will find on the table in my study? With regards to
+the Professor and yourself. Hastily,
+
+                                        "JARVIS."
+
+Having got this off his mind and into the mailbox, Jarvis went for his
+nightly prowl. His steps turned toward the crowded East Side district,
+where a new interest was beginning to attract him. Until now "men" were
+his only concern. These hot nights, as he tramped along, discouraged
+with his own futility, he was beginning to discover "Man."
+
+It seemed to him that all the children in the world were playing in
+these crowded streets. He had never turned his attention to children
+before. And he began to look at the shrewd, old faces, even to talk to a
+group here and there. They made him think of monkeys, clever, nervous
+little beasts.
+
+He skirted several mothers' meetings conducted on the sidewalk. He even
+went into a saloon to have a look at the men, but the odour of stale
+beer and hot bodies was insufferable and drove him out. As he sauntered
+along, he passed an unlighted business building. Out of the shadow a
+girl stole, and fell in step beside him.
+
+"Hello, kid!" she began, her hand tucked under his arm. Before she could
+complete her sentence, a policeman was upon them. He laid hold of the
+girl roughly.
+
+"Now I got you! I told you to keep off'n this block," he growled.
+
+"What's the matter with you? What do you want?" Jarvis demanded.
+
+"I want her to come along with me. That's what I want."
+
+"She hasn't done anything."
+
+"You bet she hasn't. I didn't give her time."
+
+"Let go of her! What charge are you taking her on?"
+
+"Don't get fresh, young guy. The charge is s'licitin'."
+
+"That's a lie! She's a friend of mine, and she merely said, 'Good
+evening.'"
+
+The copper laughed derisively, and the girl turned a cynical young-old
+face to Jarvis.
+
+"Much obliged, kid, but it ain't no use. He's got me spotted."
+
+"If you arrest her, you must arrest me."
+
+"I got nottin' on you."
+
+"Yes, you have. I said 'Good evening' to her, just what she said to me."
+
+"Get the hell out of here, and don't give me none of your lip, or I'll
+run you in. Come along!" the policeman ordered, and he and the girl
+started on toward Jefferson Market. Jarvis marched beside them. When
+they turned in at the door where prisoners are entered, the policeman
+again ordered Jarvis off.
+
+"Go round in front if you're crazy to be in on this," he said.
+
+Jarvis hurried round to the front door and went in. The courtroom was
+packed. He had trouble in finding a seat, but he finally got into the
+front row, just behind the rail that divides the dock from the
+spectators. One half of the room was full of swine--fat, blowse-necked
+Jewish men, lawyers, cadets, owners of houses--all the low breeds who
+fatten off the degradation of women. Their business was to pay the fines
+or go bail.
+
+The other half of the room, to Jarvis's horror, was full of young boys
+and girls, some almost children, there out of curiosity. A goodly number
+of street walkers sat at the back. It was their habit to come into court
+to see what judge was sitting. If it was one who levied strict fines, or
+was prone to send girls up to Bedford, they spent the evening there,
+instead of on the streets.
+
+The first case called, after Jarvis's entrance, was that of the keeper
+of a disorderly house. She was horrible. He felt she ought to be branded
+in some way, so that she and her vile trade would be known wherever she
+went. A man went her bail, and she flounced out in a cloud of patchouli.
+
+Two coloured girls were brought in, and sent up for thirty days. Then
+several old women, the kind of human travesties Jarvis had seen sleeping
+on the benches, were marched before the judge, who called them all
+by name.
+
+"Well, Annie," he said to one of them, "you haven't been here for some
+weeks. How did it happen this time?"
+
+"I've been a-walkin' all day, your honour. I guess I fell asleep in the
+doorway."
+
+"You've been pretty good lately. I'll let you off easy. Fine, one
+dollar."
+
+"Oh, thanks, your honour." She was led off, and Jarvis sickened at the
+sight.
+
+A series of young girls followed, cheaply modish, with their willow
+plumes and their vanity bags. Some cheerful, some cynical, some defiant.
+One slip of a thing heard her sentence, looked up in the judge's face,
+and laughed. Jarvis knew that never, while he lived, would he forget
+that girl's laugh. It was into the face of our whole hideous Society
+that she hurled that bitter laugh.
+
+Then his girl was brought in. He saw her clearly for the first time. A
+thin, wizened little face, framed in curly red hair, with bright,
+birdlike eyes. Her thin, flat child's figure was outlined in a tight,
+black satin dress, with a red collar and sash. Her quick glance darted
+to him, and she smiled. The policeman made his charge. The judge
+glanced at her.
+
+"Anything to say for yourself?"
+
+She shook her head wearily. Jarvis was out of his seat before he
+thought.
+
+"I have something to say for her. I am the man she was supposed to have
+approached."
+
+"Silence in the courtroom," said the judge, sternly.
+
+"She didn't say one word to me, except 'Good evening,'" shouted Jarvis.
+
+"Is that the man?" the judge asked the officer.
+
+"Yes. He's made a lot of trouble, too, trying to make me arrest him."
+
+"If you have any evidence to give in this case, come to the front and be
+sworn in."
+
+Jarvis jumped the railing and stood before him. The oath was
+administered.
+
+"Now, tell me, briefly, what the girl said to you."
+
+"She said, 'Hello, kid!'"
+
+A titter went over the courtroom. The clerk rapped for order.
+
+"Then what happened?"
+
+"This officer arrested her. I told him what had passed between us, and
+insisted on being arrested, too. We said the same thing, the girl
+and I."
+
+"The girl has been here before. She has a record."
+
+"Where are the men she made the record with?" demanded Jarvis.
+
+"We do not deal with that feature of it," replied the judge, turning to
+the officer.
+
+"And why not?" demanded Jarvis. "It takes a solicitor and the solicited
+to make a crime. What kind of laws are these which hound women into the
+trade and hound them for following it?"
+
+"It is neither the time nor the place to discuss that. The case is
+dismissed. This court has no time to waste, Flynn, in cases where
+there's no evidence," he added, sternly, to the detective.
+
+The girl nodded to Jarvis and beckoned him, but instead of following her
+he went back to his seat. He would follow this ghastly puppet show
+to its end.
+
+At a word from the judge a tall, handsome, gray-haired woman approached
+the bench. She wore no hat, and Jarvis marked her broad brow and
+pleasant smile and the wise, philosophic eyes. Her face looked cheerful
+and normal in this place of abnormalities.
+
+"Who is that woman?" Jarvis asked his neighbour.
+
+"Probation officer," came the answer.
+
+Jarvis watched her with passionate interest. He noted her low-voiced
+answers to the judge's questions about the girl in hand. The curiosity
+seekers in the audience could not hear, no matter how they craned their
+necks. He watched her calm smile as she turned to take the girl off into
+her own office. He made up his mind to talk with her before the
+night was over.
+
+Case followed case as the night wore on. It seemed to Jarvis that this
+bedraggled line had neither beginning nor end. He saw it winding through
+this place night after night, year after year, the old-timers and the
+new recruits. Uptown reputable citizens slept peacefully in their beds;
+this was no concern of theirs. He was no better than the rest, with his
+precious preaching about the brotherhood of man. What the body politic
+needed was a surgeon to cut away this abscess, eating its youth
+and strength.
+
+The screams of a girl who had just been given a sentence to Bedford
+startled him out of his thoughts. She pleaded and cried, she tried to
+throw herself at the judge's feet, but the policeman dragged her out,
+the crowd craning forward with avid interest. She was the last case
+before the court adjourned. Jarvis leaned across the rail and asked the
+probation officer if he might speak to her.
+
+"Perhaps you will walk along with me toward my home?" she suggested. He
+gladly assented. In a few moments she came out, hatted and ready for the
+street. She looked keenly at this tall, serious youth who had so
+unexpectedly arraigned the court.
+
+"My name is Jarvis Jocelyn," he began. "There are so many things I want
+to ask you about."
+
+"I shall be glad to tell you what I can," she said quietly.
+
+"Have you been in this work long?"
+
+"Eleven years."
+
+"Good God! how can you be so calm? How can you look so hopeful?"
+
+"Because I am hopeful. In all the thousands of cases I have known I have
+never once lost hope. When I do, my work is over."
+
+"You're wonderful!" he exclaimed.
+
+"No, I am reasonable. I don't expect the impossible. I am glad of every
+inch of ground gained. I don't demand an acre. If one girl is rescued
+out of twenty----"
+
+"But why does it need to be at all?" Jarvis interrupted her.
+
+"Why does disease need to be? Why does unhappiness need to be, or war,
+or the money-lust that will one day wreck us? We only know that these
+things are. Our business is to set about doing what we can."
+
+"One girl out of twenty," he repeated. "What becomes of the other
+nineteen?"
+
+"I said I was glad of one girl in twenty. Sometimes several of the
+nineteen come out all right. Bedford helps a great many. They marry,
+they keep straight, or--they die very soon."
+
+"Tell me about Bedford."
+
+She outlined the work done in that farm home, which is such a credit to
+New York. She told him of the honour system, and all the modern methods
+employed there.
+
+"Can you get opportunities for girls who want the chance?"
+
+"Plenty of them. I have only to ask. When I need money, it comes. Lots
+of my girls are employed in uptown shops, leading good,
+hard-working lives."
+
+"Where does this money come from?"
+
+"Private donations. That is one of my hope signs--the widespread
+interest in rescue work."
+
+"The old ones--those aged women?"
+
+She sighed. "Yes, I know, they are terrible! There is a mighty army of
+them in New York. We grind them in and out of our courts, month after
+month. The institutions are all full. There is so much grafting that the
+poor-farm has been delayed, year after year, so there is no place to
+send them."
+
+"Where do they go?"
+
+"Into East River, most of them, in the end."
+
+"Do you mean to say that we pay the machinery of the law to put these
+cases through the courts, over and over again, and then provide no place
+to harbour the derelicts?"
+
+"That's about the case," she replied.
+
+"How can we live and endure such things?" Jarvis demanded passionately.
+
+"I used to feel that way about it. I used to be sick through and through
+with it, but I have grown to see that there is improvement, that there
+is a new social sense growing among us. Uptown women of leisure come to
+our night courts, take part in our working-girls' strikes, and women,
+mind you, are always slowest to feel and react to new forces. Don't be
+discouraged," she smiled at him, stopping at the door.
+
+"May I come and see you, some time? Are you ever free, or would that be
+asking too much?"
+
+"No. Come! Come in Sunday afternoon if you like."
+
+She held out her hand, and he grasped it warmly.
+
+"You're great," he said boyishly, at which she laughed.
+
+"We need you young enthusiasts," she said.
+
+As he walked uptown to his lodgings Jarvis faced the fact that up to
+this present moment he had been on the wrong track. He had tried to pull
+from the top. That was all right, if only he also tried to push from the
+bottom. The world needed idealists, but not the old brand, blind to the
+actual, teaching out of a great ignorance. This probation officer woman,
+she was the modern idealist, as modern as Jesus Christ, who worked in
+the same spirit.
+
+He would finish his vision-plays, as he called them, because he believed
+in them. But, in the meantime, he would learn something of the real
+issues of men and women as they live in great cities, so that he could
+write a play which would be so true, so vital, that it would be like
+watching the beating of the hot heart of life. That night was the
+beginning of a new era for Jarvis.
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+Bambina Parkhurst was a young woman not much given to wrath, but as she
+read the two letters from New York she grew thoroughly enraged at
+Jarvis. Evidently, he had been exceedingly rude to Mr. Strong, and
+evidently Mr. Strong had been exceedingly annoyed. She was so furious at
+him that when she sat down to her desk to write her daily chapters no
+ideas came. Her mind just went over and over the situation of kind Mr.
+Strong putting himself out to be polite for her sake--Jarvis, stiff and
+ill-mannered, repulsing him. She determined to omit the daily letter to
+the offender until she cooled off. She gave up work for the morning and
+descended upon Ardelia.
+
+"Ardelia, I am so mad I can't think of anything to do but put up fruit."
+
+"Law, Miss Bambi, you ain't mad wif me, is you?"
+
+"No. I'm mad with man."
+
+"Man! Wat's the Perfessor bin doin'? Has he don' forgot somfin'?"
+
+"It isn't the Professor. It's the sex."
+
+"Well, don' you go meddlin' round wid fruit and gettin' yo' hands
+stained up, jus' caus' yo's mad wid de sex."
+
+"I have got to do something violent, Ardelia. I am going to jerk the
+stems off of berries, chop the pits out of cherries, and skin peaches."
+
+"Laws a-massy, you suttinly is fierce this mohnin'. All right, go ahead,
+but der ain't no need of it. I mos' generally always has put up the
+fruit for the fam'ly wifout no help."
+
+"I know you don't need me, Ardelia, but I need you."
+
+"Well, chile, heah's de fust few bushels ob cherries."
+
+"Bushels? Mercy on us! Are you going to do all those?"
+
+"Yassum. And den some more. Dat's the Perfessor's favourite fruit."
+
+Bambi was promptly enveloped in a huge apron and settled on the back
+piazza, surrounded with pans and baskets. Ardelia stood by, and handed
+her things, until she got started.
+
+"Hurry up, and come out, Ardelia. I want you to talk to me and take my
+mind off of things."
+
+"I'll be 'long, by and by."
+
+[Illustration "I HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING VIOLENT, ARDELIA. I AM GOING
+TO JERK THE STEMS OFF OF BERRIES, CHOP THE PITS OUT OF CHERRIES, AND
+SKIN PEACHES."]
+
+Bambi held up a bright-red cherry, named it Jarvis, pulled out its stem,
+cut out its heart, and finally plumped it into her mouth and chewed it
+viciously. Then she felt better. There was a cool morning breeze lifting
+the leaves of the big elms, and nodding the hollyhocks' heads. The sound
+of late summer buzzing and humming, and bird songs, made the back porch
+a pleasant, placid spot--no place in which to keep rage hot.
+
+Ardelia lumbered out, after a while, to sit near by, her slow movements
+and her beaming smile far from conducive to a state of excitement.
+
+"Mighty purty out here, ain't it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I reckon Massa Jarvis be mighty glad to be home, a-sittin' here
+a-seedin' cherries 'longside ob you?"
+
+"Jarvis never did anything so useful. As for being alongside of me, that
+doesn't interest him at all."
+
+"Yo're suttinly the onlovingest bride and groom I've eber seen. You
+ain't neber lovin' nor kissin' nor nottin', when I come aroun'."
+
+"Mercy no, Ardelia!"
+
+"I 'low if I was married to such a han'som' man, like Massa Jarvis, I'd
+be a lovin' ob him all the time."
+
+"Suppose he wouldn't let you?"
+
+"Can't tell me der's a man libin' who wouldn't be crazy fur yo' to lub
+him, Miss Bambi. Look at dat Mister Strong keeps a-comin' here."
+
+"What about him?" asked Bambi in surprise.
+
+"I see him lookin' at you. I see him."
+
+"Nonsense! He has to look at me to talk with me."
+
+"He don' need to do no talkin', wid his eyes a-workin' like dat."
+
+"You old romancer!"
+
+"Look a-heah, chile, dose cherries fo' to preserve. Dey ain't fo'
+eatin'. You're eatin' two and puttin' one in de pan."
+
+Bambi made a face at her.
+
+"What is your opinion of men, Ardelia?"
+
+"I tink dey's all right in dey place."
+
+"Where's their place?"
+
+"Out in the kennel wid the dawg!" said Ardelia, shaking with laughter.
+"All 'cepin' the Perfessor and Massa Jarvis," she added.
+
+"You think they are a lower order, do you?"
+
+"Yassum. I sho' do. Mos' of dem just clutterin' up the earth."
+
+"That's the reason you don't take that Johnson man on for good, is it?"
+
+"Sho'! I ain't a-goin' to cook and wash fo' no nigger dat ain't got no
+appreciashun, when I can cook and wash fo' the Perfessor dat know a lady
+when he sees her."
+
+"But he so infrequently sees her," giggled Bambi, _sotto voce_.
+
+"No, ma'am, I's eatin' my white bread right here, and I knows it. I
+ain't goin' to experimentify wid no marryin', nor givin' in marriage."
+
+"In your case, I believe you're right. In my own, however, I know that,
+mad as I am this morning, 'experimentification' is the breath of life
+to me."
+
+They spent the morning in such peaceful converse. While Bambi may not
+have added greatly to the cherry-pitting, she rose rested and with a
+collected mind.
+
+"Ardelia, I thank you for a dose of calm," she said, laying her hand
+affectionately on the black woman's broad shoulder.
+
+"Law, honey, I done enjoyed your sassiety," she said, laughing and
+patting her hand.
+
+Within the course of a few days Bambi had an appeal from Jarvis:
+
+"Are you ill? Is anything the matter? Are you merely tired of me that
+you do not write? Your letters are the only event of my days."
+
+This gave her the chance she wanted.
+
+"You seem to be unaware, my dear Jarvis, that in offering a rude rebuff
+to Mr. Strong you offended me, since he is my good friend and came to
+see you at my request. I think you made as poor an impression on him as
+he did upon you, at the time of your meeting, and it was as a politeness
+to me that he came to look you up. I think an apology to both of us is
+rather necessary."
+
+A week elapsed, with no reply. Then came a characteristic answer:
+
+"DEAR BAMBI: Please find enclosed copy of apology sent Strong to-day. I
+don't like him, but I have apologized. I also apologize to you. Please
+don't omit letters any more. They mean a great deal these days."
+
+She pondered this for some time. That Jarvis was going through new and
+trying experiences she realized. But this human appeal for her letters
+was so unlike the old Jarvis that she had to read it many times to
+believe it was actually there.
+
+She wrote him at once, accepting his apology gracefully.
+
+"Can't you come out for a few days' rest here, and go back in time to
+hear Frohman's verdict? We'd love to have you, especially the Professor
+and Ardelia."
+
+He answered that it was impossible to get away now. Later, possibly, he
+might come. He was grateful for the invitation. He never mentioned how
+he lived, and she did not ask him. The Professor's check he returned,
+with a note of thanks, saying he did not need it. The summer went by and
+fall came to town. Still there was no word of his return.
+
+"My, this is a fat letter from Jarvis! Frohman must have accepted the
+play!" exclaimed Bambi one morning in September. She opened out the
+thick, folded paper.
+
+"It's poetry," she added. "'Songs of the Street,' If he's gone back to
+poetry, I'm afraid he's lost."
+
+She began to glance through them.
+
+"My dear, I've asked you for coffee twice."
+
+"These are powerful and ugly. Think of Jarvis seeing these things."
+
+"Coffee," reiterated the Professor.
+
+"Yes, yes. You must read these. They're upsetting. I wonder what is
+happening to Jarvis."
+
+"Is he in trouble?"
+
+"No, he doesn't say so. But there's a new note in these."
+
+"Coffee," repeated the Professor, patiently.
+
+"For goodness' sake, father, stop shouting coffee. You are the epitome
+of the irritating this morning."
+
+"I always am until I have my coffee."
+
+All day long Bambi thought about Jarvis's "Street Songs." It was not the
+things themselves. They were crude enough, in spots, but it was the new
+sense in Jarvis that made him see and understand human suffering. She
+felt an irresistible impulse to take the next train and go to him. Would
+he be glad to see her? For the first time she wanted him, eagerly. But
+the impulse passed, and weeks stretched into months. She worked steadily
+at the book, which grew apace. She loved every word of it. Sometimes she
+wondered what would become of her without that work, during this waiting
+time, while Jarvis was making his career. For, in her mind, she always
+thought of herself and her writing as a side issue of no moment.
+Jarvis's work was the big, important thing in her life.
+
+He wrote freely about his work on the other plays, asking her judgment
+and advice, as he had on "Success." She gave her best thought and
+closest attention to the problems he put to her, and he showed the same
+respect for her decisions.
+
+The six weeks grew into two months, and no answer from the Frohman
+offices. He wrote her that he went in there every other day, but could
+get no satisfaction. They always said his play was in the hands of the
+readers. It had to take its turn.
+
+He finished "The Vision" and offered it to Winthrop Ames, of the Little
+Theatre. "I am hopeful of this man. I have never seen him, but the
+theatre is well bred, and, to my surprise, a capable, intelligent
+secretary received me courteously in the office and promised a quick
+reading. This augurs well for the man at the head of it, I think."
+
+In reply to her insistence that he must come for Thanksgiving, he told
+her that he had made a vow that he would never come back to her until he
+had absolutely succeeded or hopelessly failed. "If you knew how hard it
+is to keep that resolve you would be kind, and not ask me again,"
+he added.
+
+A little piqued, and yet proud, Bambi reported his decision to the
+Professor, and began to turn over in her busy mind a plan to carry the
+mountain to Mohammed, if Christmas found the wanderer still obdurate.
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+Jarvis certainly had matriculated in the school of experience, and he
+entered in the freshman class. He first wrote a series of articles
+dealing with the historical development of the drama. He took them to
+the Munsey offices and offered them to Mr. Davis.
+
+"Did you intend these for _Munsey's_ Magazine?"
+
+"Yes. I thought possibly----"
+
+"Ever read a copy of the _Magazine_?"
+
+"No. I think not."
+
+"Well, if you intend to make a business of selling stuff to magazines,
+young man, it would pay you to study the market. What you are trying to
+do is to unload coal on a sugar merchant. This stuff belongs in the
+_Atlantic Monthly_, or some literary magazine."
+
+"Isn't your magazine literary?"
+
+"Certainly not in that sense. We publish a dozen magazines and this kind
+of thing doesn't fit any of them. We entertain the public--we rarely
+instruct them."
+
+"I see. I'm obliged to you for your trouble. I'll try the _Atlantic_."
+
+"Bring in some stories, light, entertaining stuff with a snap, and we
+will take them."
+
+"Thanks! 'Fraid that isn't in my line."
+
+Jarvis went over to the Public Library and deliberately studied the
+style of stuff used by the various monthly publications, making notes.
+
+For the next few days he worked all day and a good part of the night on
+things he thought he could sell, according to these notes. Then he began
+a campaign to peddle them. The _Atlantic_ refused his drama articles,
+and he tried them elsewhere, with no success. The other things were
+equally a drug on the market. He saved postage by taking them to the
+editors' offices himself, and calling for them in ten days or so. He
+always found them ready for him. He took a cheaper room, and got down to
+one square meal a day. Finally, an opportunity came for him to review
+some books for a literary supplement of a newspaper. Confident that his
+luck had changed, he proceeded to demolish three out of the four books
+assigned to him in the most scathing reviews, whereupon the editor paid
+him half price and dismissed him.
+
+The week when things reached the lowest ebb he was summoned by a postal
+from an acquaintance, made during one of his night prowls, an old
+English cabman. When he arrived at the address indicated he found the
+old man sick in bed with rheumatism. He wanted Jarvis to drive his
+hansom for a week, on a percentage, until he could get about again.
+There was no choice. It was that or the park benches, so Jarvis
+accepted. Old Hicks fitted, or rather misfitted, him in a faded blue
+tailed coat and a topper, Jarvis looked like an Otto Gushing cartoon of
+Apollo in the attire, but he never once thought of that. He hitched up
+the bony old horse, mounted the box, with full instructions as to
+traffic rules, and headed for the avenue. He found the new trade
+amusing. He drove ladies on shopping tours, took nurses and their
+charges around the Park. He did not notice that his face and manners
+caused many a customer to stare in astonishment. When one woman said
+audibly to her companion, "Good heavens! what a handsome creature!" he
+never dreamed she referred to him.
+
+It was the fourth day of his employment as a cabby when a summons came
+from the Frohman offices bidding him appear at the theatre at eleven
+o'clock on the following day. It was embarrassing. Old Hicks was
+entirely dependent on what Jarvis brought in at night, and they could
+neither of them afford to have the cab idle a full day. So he decided to
+stop at the theatre in the morning, and then deduct his time off duty.
+Promptly at eleven the cab arrived at the Empire Theatre and Jarvis
+descended from the box. He gave the boy a cent to hold his horse,
+although nothing except a bushel of oats could have urged the old
+bone-rack into motion. Up to the booth window he marched, and presented
+the letter. The boy inspected the old blue coat, the topper, and the
+worn gloves.
+
+"Character costume," he grinned: then he opened the letter, and his face
+changed.
+
+"Excuse me, sir, I'll see if Mr. Frohman will see you."
+
+He was out and back, almost at once, bowing and holding the door open.
+
+"Right ahead, into the private office," he said, importantly. A clerk
+took charge of our hero at the far door, announcing formally, "Mr.
+Jarvis Jocelyn, Mr. Frohman."
+
+Jarvis entered the big room and crossed eyes with the man at the far
+end. What Mr. Frohman saw was a tall, splendidly set-up youth, with a
+head held high, and a fearless, free carriage, attired in the very
+strange and battered habiliments of a cabby. What Jarvis saw was a fat
+little man, with a round face, sharp, twinkling eyes, and a genial
+mouth. The whole face had a humorous cast, a kindly expression.
+
+"You are Jarvis Jocelyn?" said Mr. Frohman, as Jarvis reached him.
+
+"I am."
+
+"You wrote a play called 'Success'?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"I've read your play."
+
+"That's good."
+
+"Well, the play isn't," Frohman interrupted, "It is extremely bad, but
+there are some ideas in it, and one good part."
+
+"The woman, you mean?"
+
+"The woman nothing. She's a wooden peg to hang your ideas on. I mean the
+man she married."
+
+"But he is so unimportant," Jarvis protested.
+
+"He was important enough to get this interview. I never would have
+bothered with you, or with your play, if it hadn't been for that
+character. He's new."
+
+"You want me to make him a bigger part in the play?"
+
+"My advice is to throw this play in the wastebasket and write one about
+that man."
+
+"Will you produce it if I do?"
+
+"Probably not, but I'll look it over. What else have you done?"
+
+"I have finished two things. One I call 'The Vision'--this is a
+Brotherhood of Man play--the other I call 'Peace,' and it's a
+dramatization of the Universal Peace idea."
+
+"Why don't you write something human? Nobody wants dramatized movements.
+The public wants people, personalities, things we all know and feel. You
+can't get much thrill out of Universal Peace."
+
+"But I believe the public should be taught."
+
+"Yes, I know. I get all of you 'uplift boys' sooner or later. Teach them
+all you like, but learn your trade so thoroughly that they will have no
+idea that they are being taught. That is the function of the
+artist-playwright. What do you do besides write plays?"
+
+"Just at present I drive a cab," Jarvis answered simply.
+
+"You don't say? How does that happen?"
+
+"I was up against it for money, and I took this to oblige a friend cabby
+who has rheumatism."
+
+"'Pon my word! How long have you been at it?"
+
+"This is my fifth day."
+
+"Business good?" The manager's eyes twinkled. Jarvis smiled gravely.
+
+"I have been wishing it would rain," he confessed.
+
+"When do you write?"
+
+"At night, now. But this is only temporarily."
+
+"What do you think of my idea of another play?"
+
+"The idea is all right, if you will only take it when I've done it."
+
+"How long have you been at this play writing?"
+
+"Three years."
+
+"How long do you suppose it took me to learn to be a manager?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Well, nearer three times ten than three years, and I am still learning.
+You writing fellows never want to learn your trade like other people.
+You talk about inspiration and uplifting the public, and all that, and
+you want to do it in six months. You go to work on this new idea, and
+come back here when you've finished it. Then it will be time enough to
+talk about my end of it."
+
+Jarvis rose.
+
+"I am obliged to you, sir. I shall do it."
+
+[Illustration: HE TAUGHT HIMSELF TO ABANDON HIS OLD INTROSPECTIVE HABITS
+DURING THESE DAYS ON THE BOX.]
+
+Mr. Frohman held out his hand. "Good luck to you. I shall hope for
+rain."
+
+"Thanks! Good morning, sir."
+
+With the perfect ease of a lack of self-consciousness Jarvis made his
+exit, leaving Mr. Frohman with a twinkle in his eyes.
+
+The rest of the day a certain blond cabman on the avenue drove to
+Franklin Simon's when he was ordered to Altman's, drew up in state at
+McCreery's when he was told Bonwit Teller's.
+
+"You must be drunk, driver," said one passenger. She held up her dollar
+bill, indignantly, to dismiss him. He lifted his hat, perfunctorily, and
+swept a bow.
+
+"I am, madam, intoxicated with my own thoughts." He rattled off down the
+street, leaving the woman rooted to the curb with astonishment.
+
+He taught himself to abandon his old, introspective habits during these
+days on the box, and forced his attention to fix itself upon the crowds,
+his customers, the whole uptown panorama, so different from the night
+crowds he sought. He recalled Bambi's saying to him that until he
+learned not to exclude any of the picture he would never do big work.
+Her words had a tantalizing way of coming back to him, things she had
+tossed off in the long ago of their visit to New York together. He
+longed for her vivid phrasing, her quick dart at the heart of the things
+they talked of. It seemed incredible now that he had ever taken her as a
+matter of course. As for the enigma of her marrying him, he never ceased
+to ponder it.
+
+True to his promise, he went to call on the "Probation Lady," as he
+named her, and they became friends. He admired her enormously, and owed
+much to her wise philosophy. He asked her to go riding in his cab, and
+she accepted without hesitation. They rode from five to seven, one
+afternoon, conversing through the shutter in the top of the cab,
+laughing and enjoying themselves hugely, to the great amusement of
+pedestrians along the way.
+
+At the end of two weeks he and Hicks divided the spoils, and Hicks
+resumed the box. It cemented a friendship which Jarvis enjoyed greatly,
+for the old Englishman was ripe with humour and experience. He, too,
+taught the teacher.
+
+The day after he was free from cab duty Jarvis went to the Little
+Theatre to get a report from "The Vision." The secretary said Mr. Ames
+had asked to see him when he came in. He found him a lean student type
+of man, finished in manner, and pleasant of speech.
+
+"I have been interested in this play of yours, Mr. Jocelyn. I couldn't
+do it, in my theatre, but I thought I would like to have a talk with you
+and ask you what else you've done."
+
+"A woman-question play, called 'Success,' this one, and one on Universal
+Peace."
+
+"All serious?"
+
+"Certainly. Why do managers always ask that?"
+
+"Because serious plays are so many, I suppose. Good comedies are so
+few."
+
+"I thought you always gave serious things in the Little Theatre?"
+
+"I am forced to, but I am always looking for good comedy. I would like
+to see your other plays."
+
+They sat, discussing things of the theatre, tendencies in drama,
+fashions and fads, Gordon Craig's book, the Rheinhardt idea. They spent
+a pleasant half hour, like an oasis in Jarvis's desert. He felt that Mr.
+Ames had time for him, was sincere in his interest in him. He left the
+Little Theatre cheered in some inexplicable way.
+
+When he returned to his lodgings that day he found a note from Strong,
+forwarded from the old address. It acknowledged Jarvis's apology
+gracefully, and suggested that they dine together the night of this very
+day, unless Jarvis was again engaged, in which case he might telephone,
+and they would make other plans. Jarvis frowned over it ten minutes.
+
+"Might as well go and get it over," he remarked ungraciously. He
+telephoned Strong his acceptance, and asked if he might meet him at the
+restaurant. He did not wish Strong to know the new address. He would
+keep his struggle and his poverty to himself. That was certain.
+
+The two men met at a roof garden, each determined to suppress his
+instinctive dislike of the other because of Bambi. They found a table,
+and after a short period of stiffness they fell into easy talk of books
+and plays and men.
+
+"How do you like New York? I remember you confessed to hating cities
+when I saw you."
+
+"I still hate cities, but I am getting a new point of view about it
+all."
+
+"It's a great school."
+
+"So it is."
+
+"Is Mrs. Jocelyn well, and the Professor?"
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+"It is some time since you were home?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I had a note from Mrs. Jocelyn a few days ago."
+
+"Did you?"
+
+"I wonder if you would let me see your 'Songs of the Street,' she told
+me about?"
+
+"She spoke of them to you?"
+
+"In the highest terms. Said she had no idea of your plans in regard to
+them, but that the poems were strong and true."
+
+"I am glad she liked them."
+
+"Would you consider letting me have them for the magazine if they seemed
+to fit our needs?"
+
+"You can look them over, if you like. They won't fit, though. They'll
+stick out like a sore thumb. The only editor I showed them to said they
+weren't prose, and they weren't poetry, and, besides, he didn't
+like them."
+
+"Mail them to me to-night when you go home. Better still, bring them
+in."
+
+Jarvis drew out an envelope that he pushed across the table to Strong.
+
+"Look them over now," he said.
+
+Strong lifted his brows slightly, but took the proffered pages and began
+to read. While his host was so busied, Jarvis smoked a good cigar, the
+first in months, and enjoyed it. He didn't care whether Strong liked
+them or not. Strong looked up suddenly.
+
+"I'll take these, Jocelyn. What do you want for them?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. What are they worth to you?"
+
+"I'll pay two hundred dollars for them. Is that satisfactory?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"I'll mail you a check in the morning. I should say you have been
+learning things, Jocelyn. That is good stuff."
+
+"I told you I was getting a new point of view."
+
+At the close of the evening the two men parted with a surreptitious
+feeling that they would have liked each other under any other
+circumstances. They promised to meet soon again. As for Jarvis, he felt
+that a golden egg had been laid for him in the middle of the table on
+the Astor roof! The one thing that stood out in his mind was the thought
+that he could go home--home, to see Bambi. The only regret was that
+Strong had made it possible.
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+The day came, in early December, when Bambi put the last word, the last
+period, to her book. Instead of a moment of high relief and of pride, as
+she had foreseen it, it was with a sigh of regret that she laid down her
+pen. She felt as a mother might feel who sends her child out to make its
+own way when she had put her last, finishing mother-touch upon his
+training. There would never be another first book. No matter how crude
+or how young this firstling might come to seem to her, there would never
+be such another. No such thrills, no such building as made this
+first-born dear, could go in another book. Then there was the pleasure
+in her new bank account, with the sense of freedom it brought. She could
+indulge herself in pretty things. She could buy little presents for
+people she loved. Best of all, she laid aside an amount which she called
+the "Homeseeker's Fund," to be used for that home which she and Jarvis
+would establish some day. She had won her independence, and it
+was sweet.
+
+Mr. Strong was attending to the publication of the story in book form.
+And it was to be on the Christmas stalls, appearing simultaneously with
+the last chapters of the magazine. He was already begging her to promise
+a new serial for the coming year.
+
+It seemed incredible that so much could have happened to her in the ten
+months that she had been married to Jarvis. Her threatened career, which
+seemed such a joke to her family, was here; she was well launched upon
+it, with the two scoffers still in ignorance of the fact. So she mused,
+as she sat at her desk, the heap of completed last chapters piled before
+her. Ardelia broke in upon her meditations.
+
+"Mr. Strong in here!"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Mr. Strong!"
+
+"Mr. Strong! Why, he sent me no word. I didn't expect him!"
+
+"I can't help that. He's here, settin' in the liberry."
+
+"Dear me!" said Bambi. "Say I'll be down at once. Wait! Help me to get
+into my gray gown before you go."
+
+"You look all right de way you is."
+
+"No, no. This man lives in New York, Ardelia. He's used to real
+clothes."
+
+"I wish he'd stay in New York."
+
+"What's the matter with Mr. Strong? I thought you liked him!"
+
+"He's gettin' too frequentious round here, to suit me."
+
+"You silly thing, we have business to talk over. Hurry on, now, and say
+I'll be down in a minute."
+
+Ardelia lumbered out, disapproval in every inch of her back.
+
+Richard Strong turned away from the log fire at the sound of Bambi's
+footsteps running down the stairs. The soft gray gown clung to her, and
+floated behind her, its ashen monotone making her face more vivid than
+ever. Her cheeks were pink, and her eyes looked gray-green in the
+shadowy room, with the deep, shining fire of opals. Both hands went out
+to his impulsive greeting.
+
+"Welcome!" she said, smiling.
+
+"Aren't you surprised?"
+
+"I'm pleased. Why should I be surprised?"
+
+"It is so unheard of, for me to be running out of town on unexpected
+visits to a lady, that it seems as if everybody must be as surprised
+as I am."
+
+"The lady was thinking of you when your name was announced, which may
+account for her nonsurprise."
+
+"Really?" he said so warmly that she blushed a bit.
+
+"Yes, I finished the book to-day. I was thinking it all over--this last
+year. My new sense of getting somewhere, and of you--the big part you
+play in it all. Have I ever told you how utterly grateful I am?"
+
+He looked down at her, sunk among the cushions of the big couch, before
+replying.
+
+"I think you need not say it," he replied. "I have been so richly
+rewarded in knowing you."
+
+"Thanks, friend."
+
+"You've been my secret garden this last year."
+
+"Oh, that is nice of you," she interrupted, sensing an undercurrent of
+feeling. "If I am your secret garden, you're my secret well, because
+nobody knows about us."
+
+"You haven't told them yet?"
+
+"No. When the book comes out I shall give them each a copy, and run and
+hide while they read it."
+
+"Little girl," he smiled at her, "what do you think brought me down here
+to-day?"
+
+"No idea."
+
+"Guess."
+
+"Can't. Never guessed anything in my life."
+
+He took a letter from his pocket and handed it to her.
+
+"I am to read this?"
+
+He nodded. She opened it and read:
+
+_"Mr. Richard Strong, New York City._
+
+"My DEAR MR. STRONG: I have read, with very great interest, a serial
+story, published in your magazine, entitled 'Francesca.' I feel that
+there is the making of a delightful comedy in the plot of this novel,
+and I write to ask you whether it would be possible for me to secure the
+dramatic rights from the author. As the story is anonymous, I appeal to
+you to put me in touch with the writer in question. I shall appreciate
+an immediate reply.
+
+"With thanks to you, in advance, Sincerely,
+
+                                        "CHARLES FROHMAN,
+                                        "Empire Theatre, New York City."
+
+"Am I dreaming this? Does this mean my book?"
+
+He smiled at her earnestness.
+
+"It does. I came down to talk it over with you and see what you wanted
+me to do."
+
+"What do you think about it, yourself?"
+
+"I think it's a great idea. It will advertise the book enormously. The
+book will help the play. In the meantime, they both advertise you."
+
+"A play made of my thoughts? It's too wonderful," said Bambi. "Do you
+suppose he'd let me make the play?"
+
+"I don't know. Would you like to? Do you think you could?"
+
+"I do. I've learned lots through----" She stopped of a sudden, and gazed
+at him. "Why, Jarvis must make the play, of course. Why didn't I
+think of it?"
+
+"Mr. Frohman would, no doubt, wish to choose the playwright, in case you
+didn't make the dramatic version yourself."
+
+"But why couldn't Jarvis?"
+
+"Jarvis is totally unknown, you know, and so far unsuccessful in
+playmaking. You could hardly expect Mr. Frohman to risk a tyro."
+
+She looked at him indignantly. He rated Jarvis like a Dun's Agency.
+
+"But I'm a tyro. Yet you think he might let me do it?"
+
+"Excuse me, you are not a tyro. You are the author of one of the
+season's most-talked-of books. Your name, in a double rôle, on Mr.
+Frohman's three-sheets, will be a fine card."
+
+"All I know about play writing I learned from Jarvis," she protested.
+
+"Well, I didn't come to argue about Jarvis's ability or accomplishment,
+you know. Do you wish me to tell Frohman who you are, or will you come
+to town and see him yourself?"
+
+"I'd love to go see him. Isn't this exciting?" she cried, as the full
+force of what she was saying came to her. "Oh, it's fun to do things,
+and be somebody, isn't it?"
+
+"I don't know. I never tried it."
+
+"You! How absurd! Distinguished you, saying that to a nouveau like me,
+when there would have been no me except for you."
+
+"That's complicated, but delightful of you, no matter how untrue it is."
+
+"It is true. If you hadn't happened to like the first story I happened
+to write, we would never be here discussing my first play, which Mr.
+Frohman happens to want. It's all you."
+
+Mr. Strong suddenly leaned over her, so that she felt his breath on her
+hair.
+
+"Francesca, if it only were all me," he said with unexpected passion.
+She looked up at him, frightened, amazed.
+
+"Oh, you mustn't do that!" she breathed. He straightened up at once.
+
+"You're right. I beg your pardon. 'Twas just a slip."
+
+He took a turn up and down the room, and when he came back to the hearth
+rug he spoke in his usual matter-of-fact way.
+
+"I am to make an appointment, then, for you, with Mr. Frohman, at his
+office?"
+
+"If you will," she answered gratefully.
+
+"When will you come to New York?"
+
+"Any day you can get the appointment. The sooner the better."
+
+"All right." He looked at his watch. "I must get that 5:40 back to New
+York."
+
+"Oh, you'll stay to dinner, and spend the night?"
+
+"No, thanks. I must get back."
+
+"But the Professor will never forgive me."
+
+"You must make a good case for me. I really must go."
+
+She rose to give him her hand.
+
+"It was so good of you to come with this wonderful news, that 'thank
+you' is inadequate."
+
+"I thought we had agreed not to say 'thank you' to each other."
+
+"You never have any occasion to say it to me," she smiled ruefully.
+
+"Haven't I? I think you don't know----" She interrupted him nervously.
+
+"Friends don't need thank-yous. We will discard them."
+
+"Good! Can I be of service in getting you to Mr. Frohman's office?"
+
+"Oh, no. Jarvis will take me."
+
+"To be sure. For the moment I had forgotten Jarvis."
+
+"I'll telephone you when I go to town, and find out about my plans."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+He took her hand and held it a moment.
+
+"Forgive me when I seem a bad friend. Trust me."
+
+"I do, Richard, I do."
+
+"Oh, thank you. May I say Francesca?"
+
+"If you like. No one ever calls me by that name."
+
+"That's why I choose it. Good-bye. My regards to the father."
+
+"Good-bye, friend. I'm ecstatic over your news."
+
+"So am I over any news that brings you happiness. Good night."
+
+After he left she sank down on the couch again, her brain awhirl of her
+new sensations and ideas. That Richard Strong had learned to care for
+her, during these months of intimate association over the story, came
+with as great a surprise as the astonishing demand of Mr. Frohman. Her
+own thoughts had been so free of sentiment in regard to him; she went
+over every step of their advancing friendship, asking herself how much
+she was to blame for his outburst. She had only exerted her wiles for
+histrionic purposes on the occasion of his first visit. He certainly
+could not have misunderstood her intentions, then, when she had
+deliberately explained them to him. After close examination she
+exonerated herself.
+
+Then, and only then, was she free to indulge her thoughts in the joyous
+news he had brought her. Chin on hand, before the fire, she worked it
+out. She and Jarvis would write the play together, together they would
+go through all the exciting stages of rehearsal and trying out, together
+they would make their bow before the curtain and their first-night's
+speech. She decided what kind of frock she would wear. It was all
+picturesque and successful. She never faced the possibility of failure.
+Jarvis's name would be made as a playwright. At the thought that she was
+to bring him his opportunity at last, she flushed and smiled, though her
+eyes misted.
+
+Then she began to plan how she would tell it to Jarvis, the story of her
+adventuring into the new field, her swift success, and now this last
+laurel leaf. Suddenly a new idea lifted its head. Suppose Jarvis refused
+to come into his own, under her mantle, as it were? He would be proud
+and glad for her, of course, but maybe he would resent taking his first
+chance from her hands. With knitted brow she pondered that for some
+time. The more she thought of it, the more convinced she became that
+even though he accepted it, and showed gratitude, deep down in his heart
+would be the feeling that he would be only contributing to her success,
+that was in no way his own. Long she sat, and finally she laughed,
+nodded her head, and clapped her hands.
+
+"Oh, yes, that's the way!" said she.
+
+The Professor came in upon her at this point.
+
+"Are you saying an incantation, my dear?"
+
+"No, offering thanks to the gods."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For the most unconscionable luck."
+
+"In what form, may I ask?"
+
+"Look at me!" she ordered.
+
+He fixed his faded eyes on her closely.
+
+"I see you."
+
+"See how pretty I am?"
+
+"You're not bad-looking."
+
+"Bad-looking? I'm extremely near to being a beauty. Look at the father I
+have--distinguished, delightful!"
+
+"Oh, my dear!"
+
+"Look at the husband the gods gave me!"
+
+"Yes, your long-distance husband."
+
+"Look at Ardelia! Who ever heard of such a cook? Consider my brains."
+
+"There, I grant you."
+
+"Besides that, I am the sole possessor of a secret which is too
+perfectly delicious to be true."
+
+"Do you intend to tell this secret to me?"
+
+"Yes, as soon as it is ripe."
+
+She caught his hands and whirled him about.
+
+"Oh, Professor, Professor, you ought to be very glad that you are
+related to me!"
+
+"Bambina, one moment. I dislike being jerked around like a live
+jumping-jack."
+
+"It's evident I didn't get my dancing talents from you, old centipede.
+Sit down, and I'll dance a joy dance."
+
+She pushed him on the couch, and began a wild, fantastic dance on the
+hearth rug before him, the firelight flashing through the thin, gray
+draperies. Even the Professor breathed a little faster as the lithe
+figure swayed and bent and curved into wonderful lines, which melted
+ever into new ones. It was young, elemental joy, every step of it;
+sexless, no Bacchante dance, but rather a paeon of ecstasy, such as a
+dryad might have danced in the woods. At the climax she stood poised,
+her arms lifted in exultation. Then she dropped beside him.
+
+"My child!" he exclaimed. "That was most extraordinary! Where did you
+learn it?"
+
+"Ages back, when I lived in a tree."
+
+"It must be a happy secret to make you dance like that."
+
+"Oh," said she, snuggling up to him, putting her head on his shoulder,
+"it is the gayest, pleasantest, hopefulest secret a girl ever had. If I
+don't hold my hands over my mouth, it will break out of me."
+
+"Does Jarvis know?"
+
+  "Oats, peas, beans, and barley grows,
+  You, nor he, nor nobody knows!"
+
+she laughed. "It's going to be the most amusing moment of my life when I
+spring it on the two of you."
+
+"When is that to be?"
+
+"Curiosity is death to mathematicians," she warned him, nor could he
+extract another word from behind the hand she held over her
+laughing mouth.
+
+
+
+XX
+
+"Appointment at three o'clock, Tuesday afternoon," announced Strong's
+wire on Monday morning.
+
+"Hurray!" shouted Bambi, rushing into the kitchen to break the news to
+Ardelia, since the Professor was not there.
+
+"Noo Yawk, bress yo'! Ain't dat fine? Yo' gwine see Mistah Jarvis?"
+
+"Of course I'll see him."
+
+"Yo' can tote him back home, mebbe."
+
+"I'll take the early morning train to-morrow."
+
+"I reckon I'll fry up some chicken an' bake some cakes, so yo' can tote
+it right along wid yo'."
+
+"Now, look here, Ardelia. I'm not going to pack any basket along on the
+train to New York. Jarvis can buy his fried chicken there."
+
+"He say dey ain't no cookin' lak' dere is in dis town."
+
+"Well, it will have to do for a little longer. I'll have my bag and
+plenty to carry."
+
+"Yo' ain't got no nat'chal feelin' fo' dat boy," Ardelia scolded her.
+
+When the Professor heard the news he evinced a mild surprise.
+
+"Have you any money for this trip? I'm a trifle short, now. The bank
+notified me yesterday that I was overdrawn."
+
+"Professor, not again? What is the use of being a mathematician if you
+are always overdrawn?"
+
+"The trouble is I forget to look at my balance. I just continue to draw
+until I am notified. You will see Jarvis, of course?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You say you have business to attend to in the city?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"About the secret?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is the moment of disclosure approaching?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Well, I wish you the best of luck, my dear."
+
+"Thanks, Herr Professor."
+
+She took the early train in high good humour the next morning, clad in
+her most fetching frock.
+
+"Even a stony-hearted manager could not be impervious to this hat," was
+her parting comment to her glass.
+
+She was very undecided as to whether she would go straight to Jarvis's
+lodgings and surprise him, or wait until after the interview with
+Frohman. She finally decided that she could not wait until four o'clock,
+but that she would give Jarvis no hint of the coming momentous
+appointment. As she came into the city, she noted the bright, crisp
+winter day with pleasure--very different from that spring day when she
+and Jarvis had entered the gates together. But to-day was to-day and she
+was glad of it.
+
+She took a taxi, with that sense of affluence which attacks one like a
+germ on entering the City of Spenders. The driver looked at her again as
+she gave the address. The trim, smart little figure did not look much
+like the neighbourhood she was headed for. Probably one of these
+settlement workers, he decided.
+
+At first Bambi did not notice where she was going, so happy was she to
+be back in this gay city.
+
+"I know you're a Painted Lady, but you're so pretty!" she smiled, as the
+streets ran by. Downtown and still downtown the taxi sped, past the
+Washington Square district, which they had explored together, shooting
+off at a tangent into the kind of neighbourhood where Bambi had fallen
+sick at the sights and the filth. They drew up before an old-fashioned
+house, with dirty steps and windows and curtains. It looked like a
+better-class citizen on the down grade, beside the neighbouring houses,
+which were frankly low-class. The driver opened the door and Bambi
+stared up at the place.
+
+"Why, this can't be it!" she exclaimed.
+
+"This is the number you gave me."
+
+"Wait," she said. She ran up the rickety steps, her heart sick with
+fear. She rang and waited and rang. Finally, a dirty head appeared out
+of an upstairs window.
+
+"What d'yer want?" a voice demanded.
+
+"Does Mr. Jarvis Jocelyn live here?"
+
+"Three flights up-back," and the window slammed.
+
+"Wait for me, driver," she called. She began to climb the dirty stairs,
+tears in her eyes.
+
+"Oh, my dear, my dear!" she said, over and over again.
+
+She knocked at the third-floor back, with no response; so she opened the
+door and entered. One dark area window, a bed, a chair, a dresser, an
+improvised table with piles of manuscript. It was cleaner than the awful
+entrance suggested. But, oh, it was pitiful! Such a place for a dreamer!
+Bambi leaned her head on the dresser and sobbed. That he had been
+reduced to this, that he had never told them, that he had refused the
+Professor's money and chosen poverty! It nearly killed her, while it
+thrilled her with a pride unspeakable. If he had the strength for such a
+fight, nothing could conquer him. She started at a step outside,
+thinking that it might be he.
+
+Suddenly she realized that he might not want even her to see this; that
+he might not want her to know of this drab tent where he crawled for
+sleep off the field of battle. She went to the narrow bed and laid her
+hand gently where his cheek would rest.
+
+"Jarvis, my dear!" she whispered.
+
+Then she went down the rickety stairs, out to the waiting cab. She was
+sick, heart and body, at the revelation of what his struggle meant. All
+the mother in her cried out at the physical distress of such
+surroundings to a nature sensitive to environment.
+
+He could have come back to the sunny, airy rooms he had made his, at
+home; but he had chosen to stay and win. So many things she had not
+understood about him were made clear now, and she wondered if Richard
+Strong had found him there. No wonder Jarvis had repulsed him, taken
+unawares, and at such a disadvantage!
+
+"Oh, why didn't you let me know and help?" she repeated. She had the man
+take her round and round the Park, where it was quiet. She must get
+herself in hand. She felt that at the slightest excuse she would burst
+into hysterics! More than ever, now, must she be mistress of herself for
+the coming interview. She must fight to catch the big manager's
+attention, and win her way with him. She drew her furs about her, closed
+her eyes, and tried to shut out the sight of that sordid, wretched room,
+where handsome big Jarvis was paying the toll to success--toll of blood
+and brain and nerves, paid by every man or woman who mounts to the top!
+She saw him climbing wearily those dirty stairs, coming into the cell.
+Over and over she saw it, like a moving-picture film repeated
+indefinitely.
+
+At quarter before three she ordered the driver to the Empire Theatre.
+This time his face cleared. Actress, of course. Probably went to the
+slums to look up a drunken husband. He drew up at the theatre, demanded
+a queen's ransom for her release, and stood at attention. She was too
+nervous to notice the amount, and paid it absently, dismissed him, and
+hurried to the elevator.
+
+She was first shown into the general-domo's office, where she was
+catechised as to her name and her business. She waited fifteen minutes
+while her name was passed down the line. Word came back that Mr. Frohman
+was engaged. Would she please wait?
+
+"I'll wait, but my appointment was at three," she said.
+
+The major-domo looked at her as if such _lèse majesté_ deserved hanging.
+In fifteen minutes more she was conducted into an anteroom, where she
+was turned over to a secretary. Her business was explained to him. In
+due course of time word came out that Mr. Frohman would be through in
+ten minutes. She was moved, then, to a tiny room next the sacred door
+leading into the inner mystery. Twenty minutes passed, then a
+youth appeared.
+
+"Mr. Frohman will receive you now," he announced in solemn tones.
+
+Bambi refrained from an impulse to say, "Thank you, St. Peter," and
+followed into the private office. For a second she was petrified with
+fear, then with the courage of the terror-stricken she marched down the
+long room to the desk where Mr. Frohman sat looking at her.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting," said he.
+
+Bambi fixed her shining eyes upon him and smiled confidently.
+
+"I feel as if I'd gotten into the Kingdom of Heaven for a short talk
+with God!"
+
+The smile on the manager's face broke into a laugh. "Is it as bad as
+that? Sit down and see how you like it up here?"
+
+"Thanks," she said, sinking into the big chair beside the desk.
+
+"So you wrote 'Francesca,' did you?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"You look pretty young to know as much about life as that book tells."
+
+"Oh, I'm old in experience," she boasted.
+
+He looked closely at her ingenuous face, and laughed again.
+
+"You don't look it. I think there's a play in that book."
+
+"So do I."
+
+"Did you ever write a play?"
+
+"No, but I've helped on several plays. I know a great deal about them,"
+she assured him.
+
+"Do you? Well, that's more than I do. Any of the plays that you have
+helped on been produced?"
+
+"That isn't fair of you," she protested. "I should have boasted about it
+if they had."
+
+"A skilled playwright could take the heart of your story and build up a
+clever comedy."
+
+"Could we have Richard Bennett, Marguerite Clarke, and Albert Bruning
+play the parts?"
+
+"Oh, ho, you've got it all cast, have you?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"And I know just the man to make the play."
+
+"Do you? So do I. Whom do you choose?"
+
+"Jarvis Jocelyn."
+
+"Jarvis Jocelyn? Who's he?"
+
+"He's a young playwright. He hasn't had anything produced yet, but he's
+extremely clever, and I do so want him to have the chance."
+
+"Jarvis Jocelyn! Seems as though I had heard that name. Oh, your name is
+Jocelyn," he added. "Is this a relative?"
+
+"Sort of--husband."
+
+"Husband? So you're married?" in surprise.
+
+"Yes. If you don't mind, I think I'll have to tell you some personal
+history."
+
+"Go ahead. I wish I could think where I had heard that fellow's name."
+
+"He submitted a play to you, called 'Success.'"
+
+"What--the cab-driver? You mean to say you're married to the
+cab-driver?"
+
+"Cab-driver?"
+
+"The 'Success' fellow came in here, in a long coat and a top hat. Said
+he was driving a hansom to help a friend and incidentally turn a penny
+himself. Big, handsome, blond fellow. I remember, I liked him."
+
+Surprise, pain, then understanding, flashed across her face, and somehow
+the manager knew that he had betrayed a secret to her and that it hurt.
+She controlled herself quickly, and answered him.
+
+"Yes, that was Jarvis. We were married last spring, and we both set out
+on a career. I kept mine a secret, and just by luck I succeeded. But
+Jarvis"--here her eyes filled with tears--"you've no idea how hard it is
+to be a playwright! Everybody thinks what a snap it is to collect
+royalties when you are a Broadway favourite, but they don't know all
+those terrible days and nights before you get there, and what it means
+if you never do get there."
+
+"I know," he nodded. "So you want to give this fellow the chance to make
+this play?"
+
+"I want to more than I ever wanted anything in my life."
+
+"Well, well!" he said, in surprise at her earnestness.
+
+"I want you to send for him, give him the commission, and never mention
+me."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I do not want him to know that I had anything to do with it."
+
+"He doesn't know you wrote the book?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And you're married to him, you say?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Upon my word, you're a queer pair! Are you Francesca, and is he the
+musician of the story?"
+
+"Well, they are based on us, rather."
+
+He laughed.
+
+"Dear, kind Mr. Frohman, will you do this?"
+
+"I told the fellow to try his hand at a comedy. He might handle this, if
+we could hold him down. Awful preacher, isn't he?"
+
+"He's young," she answered patronizingly. The manager covered a smile.
+
+"Won't he recognize himself and you in the book?"
+
+"I think not. He's so unobserving, and he does not suspect me at all.
+He'll never know."
+
+"You may have to work with him on the play."
+
+"Oh, he'll appeal to me for help. He always does. We will do it
+together, only he will not know about the author."
+
+"You will have to come to rehearsals."
+
+"I'll come as wife of the playwright, or co-author."
+
+"You've got it all thought out, haven't you?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"Sounds like a farce plot to me. Give me my instructions again. You want
+me to send for him, tell him to make a play out of this book----"
+
+She smiled and nodded.
+
+"Suppose he asks me who the author is?"
+
+"You could say that she insisted upon preserving her anonymity."
+
+"What else do I do?"
+
+"That's all."
+
+"If this is your idea of a short interview with God, you certainly make
+good in dictating his policy to him!"
+
+Bambi's laughter rippled and sang.
+
+"But you will do it?"
+
+"I'll make a start by calling the cabby."
+
+She rose and held out her hand.
+
+"I'm so glad you're like this," she said. "I shall love doing things
+with you."
+
+"Much obliged. I'm glad you came in. You'll probably hear from one of us
+as to the next move in the matter. Good-bye!"
+
+"Good-bye and thanks, Mr. God."
+
+His laugh followed her out. He sat for several minutes thinking about
+her and her plan. He recalled Jarvis's fine, unconscious exit at the
+time of his interview. He rang for a boy, and demanded Jarvis's address.
+
+Bambi walked out, treading on air. She had won her point. She had got
+Jarvis his chance. She thought it all out--the coming of Frohman's
+letter, his joy over the commission, how he would announce it to her.
+She laughed aloud, so that several people turned to look at her and a
+man slowed up and fell in step.
+
+She went into a tea-shop to have tea, calm down, and decide on the next
+step. Would she stay over-night, summoning Jarvis to meet her next day,
+or should she go home on the night train and not see him at all? Could
+she bear to see his face with the imprint of poverty and discouragement?
+He had been so reduced as to be forced to drive a cab, she might even
+meet him on the avenue! No, she would go home to-night, and let Jarvis
+come to her with news of his victory.
+
+So she surprised the Professor at breakfast.
+
+"Morning!" she cried.
+
+"Bambi! We didn't expect you so soon."
+
+"I finished what I had to do, so here I am."
+
+"And Jarvis?"
+
+"Oh, he's well."
+
+"Was he surprised to see you?"
+
+"Very."
+
+"Is he getting on?"
+
+"Slowly. But he will win."
+
+"If he can learn to be practical----"
+
+"He's learning," said Bambi, grimly.
+
+"When is he coming home?"
+
+"He did not say."
+
+"Nobody buys his plays yet?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"I'm not surprised. That woman, you know, in the play he read us----"
+
+"Don't talk about her till I get my breakfast."
+
+He looked at her in surprise, she was so seldom irritated. She rang for
+Ardelia.
+
+"Why, Miss Bambi, honey! I didn't see yo' all comin'."
+
+"Here I am, and hungry, too."
+
+"How's Mistah Jarvis?"
+
+"All right. Breakfast, Ardelia, I perish."
+
+"Did you have a successful trip?" inquired her father.
+
+"I did, very."
+
+"How did you find Babylon?"
+
+"As Babylonish as ever."
+
+She seemed strangely disinclined for conversation, so her wise parent
+left her to her meditations and her breakfast. But he patted her as he
+passed to go out.
+
+"We're glad to have you back, my daughter."
+
+She brushed his cheek with her lips, understandingly.
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+"God's in his heaven! All's right with the world!" carrolled Bambi gayly
+the next day.
+
+She wrote Mr. Strong of her interview with Mr. Frohman and its happy
+outcome. It gave her some satisfaction to announce that the manager was
+willing to entrust Jarvis with the play. She explained that she was
+obliged to come home on the night train, so she had missed the pleasure
+of seeing him. Would he see that Mr. Frohman had the first bound copy
+of the book?
+
+She added that she was happy, but it was superfluous. It sang itself
+through the note, so that Strong patted the paper, as he finished it, as
+if it were a personal belonging of the sender.
+
+The letter finished, she mounted the stairs to Jarvis's house, as she
+always called the top floor. She wandered about, comparing it with that
+place of confinement where he now dwelt. To-day he would write or
+telegraph to her his news, if he had the interview with Frohman.
+
+She began work on the play, up in his study. She outlined the main plot,
+marked scenes in the book she thought vital, scraps of conversation
+which would be effective. She planned the sets for the different acts,
+even deciding upon Francesca's clothes. Ever and anon, in the midst of
+her happy scheming, she fell to dreaming of the days to come, with
+Jarvis home again, and their work together resumed.
+
+Whenever the doorbell rang she stopped and waited for Ardelia's heavy
+foot upon the stairs as she toiled up with the telegram or special
+delivery. But the morning passed, plus half the afternoon, with no word
+from him. She went down to the post-office herself in the hope that the
+late mail would reward her. There was nothing for her.
+
+The next day brought only a note from Strong congratulating her
+enthusiastically, and prophesying a great success for the Jocelyn
+family. She spent a restless day waiting for the postman, afraid to
+leave the house for fear she would miss a wire. She grew so nervous that
+she scolded Ardelia and fussed at the Professor. Night found her
+entirely discouraged. Something had happened. Frohman had changed his
+mind, or Jarvis had refused. She had known all along that it was too
+good to be true. She tossed all night, sleepless, her mind running
+around like a squirrel in a trap, planning another trip to see
+the manager.
+
+The early morning found her pacing the paths of the frostbitten garden,
+where the Professor found her later.
+
+"Why, good morning, Bambi mia," said he, in surprise.
+
+"Good day, Herr Vater!"
+
+"What brings you forth so early, lady-bird?"
+
+"My hateful thoughts! Oh, daddy, there's a crick in the secret."
+
+"A crick? Dear me, what a pity!"
+
+"If it doesn't get itself straightened out to-day, I shall go to New
+York again, to see what I can do."
+
+"The companionship of a secret is often corruptive to good habits, such
+as sleep and appetite. Better tell me this mystery."
+
+"If it isn't settled to-day, I will tell you."
+
+"Very good."
+
+"These late asters are hardy things?"
+
+"Yes. The rest of the poor beds are full of ghosts."
+
+"Ghosts always stalk, don't they?"
+
+He looked at her in concern. "You are upset," he said, and they both
+laughed.
+
+She followed him about for an hour, talking, watching his exact,
+methodical movements. The early morning air was keen, in spite of the
+sun. When the postman appeared on the block she ran to the gate to meet
+him. He was an old friend, on the route ever since she could remember.
+
+"Hello, Miss Bambi, you're early this morning," he called.
+
+"I couldn't sleep for my sins. If you don't give me a letter, Mr. Ben,
+I'll scream."
+
+"Go ahead!"
+
+"You mean----"
+
+He laughed at her discomfited face and handed her the letter. A quick
+glance showed the Empire Theatre in one corner. She blew him a kiss on
+her finger tips.
+
+"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me, dear Mr. Ben. That's it!"
+
+"I tell you I'm a regular little Cupid. Don't know what the girls in
+this town would do without me," he laughed, as he trudged away.
+Bambi read:
+
+"MY DEAR MRS. JOCELYN: It gives me pleasure to announce that Mr. Jarvis
+Jocelyn has almost agreed to accept the commission. I think he feels
+that it is condescension on his part, but he accepts conditionally. He
+carried off the copies of the magazine to read your story, and he is to
+give me his answer to-day. As I am sure of a favourable one, I think we
+may consider the matter settled.
+
+"Hoping that this meets with your entire approval,
+
+"I am, faithfully,
+
+                                        "CHARLES FROHMAN.
+
+"P.S. I told him that I understood the author was an unhappy wife, who
+desired to be unknown."
+
+The Professor looked up as Bambi pirouetted around the beds, waving a
+fluttering white sheet in good melodrama style.
+
+"This letter that I longed for, it has come!" she sang, lifting a
+pointed toe over the top of a withered sunflower stalk.
+
+"My dear, that ballet step is a trifle exaggerated for a lady!"
+
+"The sunflower's dead, so it couldn't be shocked. The secret is working
+fine. Oh, I'm so happy, I'm so happy!" she trilled, and whirled off
+toward the house.
+
+"If you are still thinking of a career, why not a whirling dervish?"
+called her father.
+
+She stopped, and turned to him.
+
+"Career? Career, did you say, for stupid little me?"
+
+"I never called you stupid," he protested.
+
+"I should hope not. I'm the smartest child you ever had!" she cried as a
+period to their discourse.
+
+All day she waited for word from Jarvis and none came. She could have
+cried with disappointment. Could he have been insane enough to refuse,
+after he had read the story? Or did he think she was indifferent to his
+good fortune? She went to bed determined to write him on the morrow.
+
+The morning mail brought a second letter from the Empire Theatre. It
+contained a line from Mr. Frohman, "He accepts," and an enclosure. This
+proved to be a letter from Jarvis:
+
+_"To the Author of 'Francesca,' care of Mr. Frohman, Empire Theatre, New
+York._
+
+"MY DEAR MADAM: Mr. Charles Frohman has given me your story 'Francesca'
+to read, with a view to making it into a play. Of course you are
+familiar with his plans in this respect. He has offered to entrust me
+with the dramatization, and I have consented to accept, on the condition
+that both you and he will allow me to use my own discretion in the work,
+and not hamper me by superimposing your own ideas and desires. When I
+have finished all I can do with it, I will then try to incorporate any
+ideas you may have in the final version.
+
+"I think the story very charming, the characters interesting. The part
+of the musician seems to me rather fantastic, but I suppose there are
+such men. The girl, Francesca, is delightful; the old fiddler, a
+fine study.
+
+"You are to be congratulated on your work, and I trust I may be able to
+make as good a play as you have made a book.
+
+"Very truly yours,
+
+                                        "JARVIS JOCELYN."
+
+Bambi chuckled as she read, and patted the part which praised her.
+Whatever else had happened, Jarvis's dignity was still intact. He calmly
+told the author to keep her hands off her own book! She flew to the
+typewriter to answer him.
+
+_"Mr. Jarvis Jocelyn, care of Mr. Charles Frohman, Empire Theatre, New
+York._
+
+"MY DEAR MR. JOCELYN: Your letter in regard to the dramatization of my
+book, 'Francesca,' seems to demand immediate assurance that you will
+have free rein in the work you are to do. Mr. Frohman has told me
+something of you and of your work, and I shall be very happy if my story
+gives you your first opportunity to succeed as a playwright.
+
+"I am glad you are pleased with my story. Did you know that it was my
+first one? Your comment on the character of the musician interested me,
+as it is a close portrait of a friend.
+
+"Trusting that we may work together to a successful end, I am
+
+"Sincerely,
+
+                                        "THE AUTHOR.
+
+"P.S. For private reasons I prefer to remain unknown to you. You can
+always reach me through Mr. Frohman's office. You must forgive
+typed letters."
+
+This she sent to the Frohman office, with a request that it be
+forwarded. The next day brought Jarvis's news:
+
+"DEAR BAMBI: For three days I have resisted the constant temptation to
+send you word of what seemed to be extraordinarily good news, but many
+disappointments have made me a doubting Thomas, so I held off until I
+was really sure. To begin at the beginning, I was at the lowest ebb of
+disgust with myself last week for my inability to get in step with the
+grand march. Only a fool can be excused for failure, and I am not that.
+So a summons from the Frohman office somewhat restored my self-respect.
+It seems that Mr. Frohman has never forgotten my previous interview, so
+when he decided to make a play of a popular novel entitled 'Francesca,'
+he immediately thought of me.
+
+"Of course this is not the kind of play I want to do, so I said I would
+look over the book and if I liked it I would have a try at it. The long
+and the short of it is I have accepted. The woman who wrote the thing
+has promised to keep out of it. She seems to be a nice kind of person,
+but for some reason wants to make a mystery of herself. Frohman hints at
+a domestic tragedy as her reason. I'm sure I do not care about her
+private affairs.
+
+"She has written a clever and delightful book. The heroine, oddly enough
+called Francesca, suggests you in places, except that she is a more
+practical sort than you are. The hero, a musician, is a sort of
+sublimated madman. The best character of all is an old fiddler. There is
+a play in it. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced
+of that.
+
+"Would you care to help me on it? Both of our names could go on the
+bill. I have come to know, these last months, since I have been working
+at things here alone, how much the growth in my work is due to you. The
+human touch you have given my characters, or helped me to give them, is
+the essential element in my improvement. You started a good many wires
+to jangling that spring day when you indulged your mad impulse to marry
+an impossibility!
+
+"Regards to the Professor.
+
+"Yours,
+
+                                        "JARVIS."
+
+Bambi went to the telegraph office and wired him:
+
+"Congratulations. Of course I'll help! Come home.
+
+                                        "BAMBI."
+
+He answered, by letter, that he thought it best to stay on until Mr.
+Frohman and the author were both satisfied with the framework of the
+play. Then he would come, most gladly, to work in the old study. He
+would submit his ideas for a scenario the next day or so.
+
+From that moment the fun began for Bambi. He wrote daily about the
+outline, and weekly letters to the author were forwarded to her from the
+Frohman office. These she answered, disguised as the author, with many a
+chuckle of amusement. A sort of friendliness crept into these letters as
+they increased in number.
+
+Christmas week arrived with no definite assurance from Jarvis as to his
+plans, but Bambi was confident that he would be at home for the holiday.
+Professor Parkhurst demanded daily bulletins of his son-in-law's
+intentions, while Ardelia bemoaned and bewailed lest he fail to return.
+
+The day before Kris Kringle was due a white snow descended like a
+benediction. Bambi and the Professor sat before a huge, crackling fire
+in the library. She was restless as a spirit. She sat at the piano and
+sang "O Lonely Pine Tree Standing," until the Professor objected.
+
+"Sing something gay, my child."
+
+     "God rest ye, merry gentleman,
+        Let nothing ye dismay,
+     For Jesus Christ, the Saviour,
+        Was born on Christmas Day,"
+
+she sang gladly.
+
+All at once her hands fell silent on the keys, while she stared at the
+doorway a full second before she rose. Jarvis stood there looking at
+her. He was powdered with snowflakes. He held his soft hat crushed
+against him, showing his hair, glistening with snow, and curled close to
+his head with dampness. It was his face that focussed her attention. The
+old proud carriage of the head was there, but an asking look had come
+into his eyes and mouth in place of the old arrogance. In the second she
+hesitated she saw all this--caught the glow and the beauty of him, as
+well as the appeal.
+
+"Jarvis!" she cried, and met him halfway across the room, both hands
+out.
+
+"Bambi!" he answered her huskily, and she knew that he was moved at the
+sight of her. He crushed her hands in his, and drank her in, from her
+shining eyes to her boots, oblivious to the startled Professor, who
+stood looking on.
+
+"Welcome home!" said Bambi, unsteadily.
+
+"Did you come through the roof?" inquired Professor Parkhurst.
+
+"I had a passkey. How are you?" Jarvis laughed, mangling the Professor's
+hand. The latter rescued and inspected his limp fingers.
+
+"I am well, but I shall never use that hand again."
+
+"You have come home," said Bambi, foolishly.
+
+"I have. My, but it's good to be here! I got Frohman's approval on the
+framework of the play to-day, and ran for the first train."
+
+"Does the author approve, too?"
+
+"She does. She is more or less a figurehead, but she seems reasonable."
+
+"Oh, Jarvis, you're a nice Christmas present. Go put these wet things in
+the hall, call on Ardelia, and come back. It will take at least a week
+to say all the things I want to say to you."
+
+He smiled at her, and marched off to do her bidding.
+
+"He looks fine, doesn't he? I never realized before how handsome he is,"
+said the Professor.
+
+"He's thrilling!" replied Bambi.
+
+Her father inspected her thoughtfully.
+
+"What a talent you have for hitting people off! That is just it: he
+thrills you with a feeling of youth and power."
+
+"Plus some new and softer quality," added Bambi, as if to herself.
+
+The powwow in the kitchen could be heard all over the house, Ardelia
+welcoming home the Prodigal Son. It was only after long argument he
+escaped the fatted calf. She could not conceive of him except as hungry
+after many months in the heathen city.
+
+When he came back into the library he swept with his eyes its caressing
+harmony of colour, tone, and atmosphere. He had never noticed it before.
+The Professor's beautiful profile, like a fine steel engraving, thrown
+into high relief by the lamplight, seemed a part of it. The vibrant
+little figure on the hearth rug, in a flame-coloured gown, was the high
+note that gave it all climax. His mind swept the gamut of dirty hall
+bedrooms, back to this, and the sigh with which he sank into the big
+couch caught Bambi's amused attention.
+
+"It was satisfaction," he assured her. "For the first time in my life,
+I've got the home feeling."
+
+She nodded understandingly. Her mind, too, swept up those dirty stairs,
+peeped into the cell, and flew back, singing.
+
+The Professor moved over beside Jarvis, and the wander tales began.
+Bambi fluttered about like a scarlet tanager, tantalizing Jarvis with a
+desire to catch her in his hand and hold her still.
+
+At eleven the Professor said good night. Immediately Bambi led the talk
+to their proposed work, and held it there, firmly, until midnight
+chimed. Jarvis told her of the sale of the "Street Songs" to Strong's
+magazine, and announced that one hundred dollars of it was to be set
+down in the Black Maria account. She laughed and congratulated him.
+
+Finally she rose.
+
+"Your rooms are always ready for you, so I do not need to go up and see
+about them. A Merry Christmas, Jarvis Jocelyn."
+
+He laid his hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. He
+thought he felt her tremble under his touch, but her glance was as frank
+and emotionless as a boy's.
+
+"A Merry Christmas to you, Miss Mite," he answered, with a sigh. She
+laughed, unexpectedly patted his cheek with her hand, and ran upstairs.
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+Christmas day in the little house was a real celebration. It was the
+first one in the Jocelyns' married life, and the entire household
+entered into the spirit of Yuletide with enthusiasm. At Bambi's
+suggestion, they hid the presents all over the house. The subsequent
+search and discovery were carried on with much laughter and shouting.
+Ardelia's delight over her gifts was vocal and extreme. The Professor
+continually forgot which presents were his, and collected every one
+else's into his pile, from which the owner laughingly rescued them. A
+pair of silk stockings for Bambi which he absent-mindedly appropriated
+caused much mirth.
+
+Jarvis's gift to Bambi was a dull gold chain, hung with tassels of
+baroque pearls, an exquisite feminine bauble.
+
+"Oh, Jarvis, how charming! It's like a lovely lady's happy tears!" she
+exclaimed.
+
+He blushed happily.
+
+"I thought it looked like you."
+
+"A thousand thanks! Fasten the clasp for me."
+
+He fumbled it awkwardly, but with final success. She turned for
+inspection, her eyes avid for praise. He nodded.
+
+"It is where it belongs," he said.
+
+The day passed happily. Ardelia's dinner was a Christmas poem. When the
+Professor complimented her on the success of everything, she replied:
+
+"Yassuh, dis heah day been all right. But I hopes befo' nex' Chris'mus
+we all gwine to have some chilluns to make dis a sho' nuff pahty."
+
+Bambi's face was scarlet, but she faced it out.
+
+"Oh, not children, Ardelia--singular, you mean, I hope."
+
+"No, I don't mean sing'lar. We don' want no singular chilluns. I mean
+jes' plain chilluns."
+
+"The holiday seems to be peculiarly the children's day," said the
+Professor, unaware of the situation, and so saved it!
+
+Thus it was that Jarvis was welcomed into the family circle again, and
+this time he became an integral part as he had never been before. The
+day after Christmas he came to Bambi with her story.
+
+"You told me you had read this book, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, I've read it."
+
+"What do you think of it?" he asked her, curiously.
+
+"I adore it!" she replied.
+
+He sat down beside her, gravely.
+
+"It's a strange thing, but the book grows on you. When I first read it,
+I thought it was a clever little trifle. But as I work with it, I have
+come to see that it is remarkable in its human quality. You feel the
+charm of the author all through it."
+
+"Do you?" eagerly.
+
+"Didn't you?"
+
+"I don't know. I loved the girl. She seemed very true to me."
+
+"I've never known any girls except you, and I don't know you very well,
+but there are spots where you and the other Francesca are strikingly
+alike. I suppose it is not you, but _feminine_. I mix them up."
+
+"If we are to make a play of it, I am glad we both love it."
+
+"I find myself intensely interested in the mysterious woman who wrote
+it. To me there is no hint in the story of the infelicity Mr. Frohman
+hinted at. I would like to know her."
+
+"Don't you expect to see her when the play is finished?"
+
+"She says she wishes me not to know her."
+
+"But she will have to come to rehearsals?"
+
+"I must ask her about that. Maybe she will come, then."
+
+"You write to her?"
+
+"Oh, yes. I have to keep her in touch with my progress."
+
+"I thought you told her to keep out."
+
+"I did. But she has been so agreeable about it that I decided to keep
+her posted as I went along."
+
+Bambi rose.
+
+"I've no doubt she is very fascinating," she said, coldly.
+
+"You don't object to my interest in her?"
+
+"Object? My dear Jarvis, you may be interested in all the women in
+creation without any objection from me!"
+
+"And you have the same freedom?"
+
+"Naturally. Now let's get to work. I was surprised at what you said
+about the young musician in the book. I thought he was so real."
+
+"Strange. That is what the author said, that it was a close portrait of
+a near friend."
+
+"What is it, about him, that you do not like?"
+
+"Oh, I like him, in a way. But these reformers, idealists, thinking they
+can dream the world into Arcadia!"
+
+Bambi's clear laugh startled him.
+
+"What amuses you so?" he asked, shortly.
+
+"I suppose I rather like the idealist type."
+
+He looked at her closely.
+
+"Good heavens, you don't think I'm like that, do you?"
+
+"A little," she admitted.
+
+"If I thought that I was that particular brand of idiot I'd learn
+bookkeeping and be a clerk," was the reply.
+
+"Maybe it isn't you--maybe it is just _man_ I recognize."
+
+"You can see how terribly clever the woman is--to set each of us
+accusing the other."
+
+"She is just a student of types, that's all," Bambi disparaged the lady.
+
+So they began their co-partnership. The shyness, the appeal, the new
+self-conscious element Bambi had sensed in Jarvis gave way to the old
+mental relationship as fellow workman. They had regular office hours, as
+they called it. They experimented to see whether they obtained the best
+results, when they each worked at a scene alone and went over it
+together for the final polishing; or when they actually worked on it in
+unison. Four hours in the morning they laboured, took an hour of recess
+after lunch, then two hours more, followed by a tramp off into the
+country, talking play, play, play.
+
+These were days of keen delight to them both. They worked together so
+smoothly and so well. Jarvis's high-handed superiority had given way to
+a well-grounded respect for Bambi's quick apprehension of a false note,
+an unnatural line, or a bungled climax.
+
+The first interruption came with the advent of Richard Strong to spend
+the weekend, and Jarvis made no comment when Bambi announced his coming
+and declared Saturday a holiday. He even agreed to meet their guest at
+the station. The two men came back together in amicable converse.
+
+"I am so glad you could come, Richard," Bambi greeted him, in her eager
+way.
+
+Jarvis started at the Christian name, and flushed angrily at Strong's
+reply.
+
+"Happy New Year, Francesca!"
+
+Richard and Francesca--so they had gone as far as that on the road to
+intimacy was Jarvis's hurt comment to himself.
+
+After that he watched Strong every minute for signs of special devotion,
+and before the day was over he had satisfied himself that these two
+cared deeply for each other. The way Strong's eyes followed her every
+movement, the way he anticipated her wants, understood her before she
+spoke--they were all damning evidences of the situation. That Bambi
+showed herself grateful, as vividly as she did everything else, entirely
+escaped Jarvis. She loved him, that was the truth, and he alone stood
+between her and happiness.
+
+The two days dragged by, in torment, for him. It seemed as if they would
+never be over, so that he might face the truth by himself, with Strong
+out of the picture, and decide what must be done. Bambi noticed his
+strained politeness to their guest, but set it down to the same
+inconsistency he had shown before, of being jealous of what he did not
+especially value himself.
+
+Monday, after Strong's departure, she began to realize that there was a
+change in him. He was taciturn and moody. The work went badly. He
+disagreed with her at every point, and when she suggested that they stop
+an hour earlier than usual, he went off by himself, without asking her
+to go. She began to wonder whether his dislike of Strong was really
+serious and something to be taken cognizance of.
+
+Jarvis strode off into the country in a state of nerves unknown before.
+A sleepless night and the irritation of the day's work had played their
+havoc with him. He went over the thing again and again. Bambi and Strong
+loved each other--he stood in the way. Why should he not take himself
+out of the situation at once? "She married me for a whim; she will
+unmarry me the same way," he reiterated to himself. "Why did she do it,
+in the first place, unless she cared something for me? But she told me
+she had no sentiment for me," he replied to his other self. "It was
+ambition that made her do it. She thought I would be famous. I've
+disappointed her, and she's through with me." He went over every
+incident of their reunion--his thrill at her welcome. "She didn't really
+care; it was just her way," he assured himself.
+
+For hours he plunged through the woods, pursued by his bitter thoughts.
+When he turned back at last, into the garden, he knew that a precious,
+new-born thing, which he had brought back with him after his exile, was
+laid away, never to be allowed to come into full flower and maturity.
+
+His decision was made. He temporized on one point. He would stay on
+until the play was produced, so that if it succeeded, as he was
+determined it should, Bambi would have that much satisfaction from her
+matrimonial experiment. Then he would let her divorce him, and he would
+take himself out of her life.
+
+She was in the library when he went in. She caught sight of his face,
+and exclaimed:
+
+"Jarvis, my dear, how tired you look!"
+
+He started to go, but she detained him.
+
+"Is anything the matter, Jarvis?"
+
+"No, what should be the matter?"
+
+"I don't know, but if there is anything you want to talk out with me,
+let's have it now. We can't afford to have any misunderstandings
+between us."
+
+"There is nothing," he said, and left the room.
+
+That night, after dinner, he sat late in his study, writing. Two days
+later the result of the evening's work came to Bambi:
+
+"DEAR AUTHOR LADY: Some days ago I sent you my new address, so that you
+need not send letters to the theatre, but so far I have not heard from
+you. To-night, for some reason, I feel moved to write to you as I would
+wish to talk to you were you near me.
+
+"I say for some reason, and yet I know the reason. It is because of your
+human understanding of the things that make men glad or sad. I am
+beginning to know that only through the ache of experience can we come
+to understand each other. Surely there must be something of sadness back
+of your life, Lady of Mystery, to give you this power.
+
+"To-day I have fought out a bitter fight with myself, and I feel the
+loneliness that comes in a crisis, when each man of us must stand or
+fall, alone.
+
+"The play goes ahead rapidly. As I told you, Mrs. Jocelyn and I have
+great satisfaction in our work on it. I am determined to wring success
+from it. Both for your sake and for mine, I must!
+
+"Is this personal letter distasteful to you? Do I depend too much upon
+your gracious understanding? If I do, say so, and I will not
+offend again.
+
+                                        "Faithfully,
+                                        "JARVIS JOCELYN."
+
+Bambi read this letter over and over again, behind the locked door of
+her bedroom. What did it all mean? What was the bitter fight that drove
+Jarvis to this other woman for solace? How far did she dare draw him out
+on it, without offending her own sense of fitness? Had this innocent
+plot of hers, to startle him into amazed admiration, led them both into
+a labyrinth of misunderstanding?
+
+She answered Jarvis's letter and sent it to the theatre, asking them to
+forward it:
+
+"DEAR MR. JOCELYN: Your letter touched me very much in its appeal for my
+sympathy and understanding. I am regretful that sorrow has found you
+out. I think of you always as young and strong and happy, with a young
+wife, and the world before you. I hate to have you spoil my picture.
+
+"I repeat my satisfaction that you and your wife enjoy your work on
+'Francesca.' I found such happiness myself in doing her, that I like to
+think we share the pleasure between us, we three.
+
+"Is it your own ambition that drives you so that you say 'I must,' in
+regard to success? Sometimes, if we set our hearts too much on a thing,
+our very determination thwarts us. Is it not so? Perhaps it is for the
+sake of some one else that you are so eager for accomplishment. I feel
+that it is to come to you in this play, and I am glad.
+
+"Be of good cheer, Comrade. Even the memory of bitter fights grows dim.
+I will not think of you as daunted by anything life can offer. No, nor
+death. Why have I this confidence in you, I wonder?
+
+                                        "In all friendliness,
+                                        "THE LADY OF MYSTERY."
+
+The day this letter came to Jarvis marked a change in him to Bambi's
+watchful eye. He threw himself with renewed ardour into the work. For
+the first time in many days they walked together, and he seemed more
+himself than he had been since Strong's unfortunate visit. Was it the
+effect of this letter? He was beginning to be easily influenced by this
+supposed stranger! The idea was too fantastic.
+
+"What kind of a woman do you imagine the author of 'Francesca' to be?"
+she asked him as they trudged along a wintry road. He started a little,
+she thought.
+
+"I scarcely know," he evaded. "I always think of her as tall and thin
+and frail, with a rather sad face, white, with humorous gray eyes, and a
+sensitive mouth."
+
+"I always think of her as little and fat and cuddly."
+
+"Oh, not cuddly!" he protested.
+
+She laughed.
+
+"Any news from her lately?"
+
+"Yes. I had a letter to-day."
+
+"Did you ask if she was coming to rehearsals?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Haven't you any curiosity about her?"
+
+"In a way, yes. But I respect her desire in the matter."
+
+"I don't. If I could get it out of Richard Strong who she is, I'd go
+look her up in a minute."
+
+"Have you tried?" eagerly.
+
+"He won't tell. He's the King of Clams."
+
+"He has no right to tell."
+
+"It is very smart of her to work up all this mystery about herself. No
+doubt she is a wobbly old fatty, instead of the Beatrice you think her."
+
+He made no answer, but she saw by his face how he resented it.
+
+A wicked design grew in Bambi's mind. She would make Jarvis Jocelyn fall
+so desperately and hopelessly in love with this dream-woman of his that
+she would be revenged upon him for the way he had shut her out since
+Strong's visit. It never once occurred to her that it was a hurt she had
+given him which drove him to this other woman. But the something which
+he had offered her the night of his return he had deliberately
+withdrawn, before she had a chance to accept or refuse it. Well, here
+was a chance to punish him and she would take it.
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+From the day of her resolve absolute impersonality characterized their
+relations during Work hours. Sometimes they walked together; sometimes
+Bambi went alone or made visits to her friends. Jarvis felt more and
+more her withdrawal from him. He attributed it to her increased
+affection for Strong and a consequent abhorrence of her
+husband's presence.
+
+One morning she announced that she was going to New York for the day.
+
+"But we were to work on the big climax to-day," Jarvis protested.
+
+"You work at it. You can do it without me," she said, airily.
+
+"You are as tired of the play as you are of me," said Jarvis earnestly.
+
+"Absurd. I am much interested in the play and I am not tired of you."
+
+"Shall you see Strong?"
+
+"Yes. I shall spend part of the day with him. Did you wish to send him a
+message?"
+
+"It wouldn't be fit for you to carry," he answered, fiercely.
+
+"Richard is not your favourite companion, is he?" she tantalized.
+
+"He is not!"
+
+"Sorry. I am very fond of him."
+
+"That does not need saying."
+
+"I have never tried to disguise it."
+
+"No, I should say you were both frank about it."
+
+"Why shouldn't we be, Jarvis?" said Bambi with irritation.
+
+"Exactly. Why shouldn't you be?"
+
+"You naturally cannot expect to regulate or choose my friends."
+
+"I expect nothing."
+
+"Then I would be obliged to you if you made your dislike of my friend a
+trifle less conspicuous."
+
+"If you will let me know when he is expected, I will always go
+elsewhere."
+
+It was the first hint of disagreement that had ever occurred between
+them, and Bambi took the train to New York with a disagreeable taste in
+her mouth. She was going for a conference with Strong about the book,
+which had got a splendid start in the holiday sales. He had some plans
+to feature it in various conspicuous ways, so that it might
+advertise the play.
+
+Arrived in Grand Central Station, she wired Jarvis, "Sorry was horrid
+about Strong," just to make her self-esteem less flat. Then she went to
+Strong's office. He greeted her in his cordial way, only his eyes
+admitting his joy at sight of her.
+
+"It is good to see you," he said.
+
+"You won't like me. I'm utterly detestable to-day. I was nasty to Jarvis,
+and cross with Ardelia."
+
+"I can't imagine you either nasty or cross."
+
+"Me? Oh, I scratch and spit and bite!"
+
+"You are the most human person I ever encountered," he laughed.
+
+"Be nice to me, and I may cheer up."
+
+"I shall try. I have news about the sale of the book that ought to cheer
+a tombstone. I think we have a best-seller on our hands."
+
+"I'm not a bit ashamed of it."
+
+"Why should you be?"
+
+"Aren't you a literary pariah, if you're a best-seller?"
+
+He laughed.
+
+"How is the play coming on?"
+
+"Pretty well, I think. We're up to the climax of the second act. Jarvis
+is working on it to-day."
+
+"Still no suspicion of you?"
+
+"Not a grain. I think he's falling in love with the author of
+'Francesca,' though."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Through their letters."
+
+"You certainly have a talent for comedy," he laughed, and added,
+gravely, "I thought Jocelyn had always been in love with the author of
+'Francesca'?"
+
+"No-o."
+
+"I have always known that the author of 'Francesca' cared about Jarvis."
+
+"You must have dreamed that, Richard. Poor old Jarvis! Sometimes I think
+I will confess. Maybe I have no right to make game of him this way."
+
+"Doesn't he suspect your style in your letters? I would know a letter
+from you, no matter what the circumstances."
+
+"Oh, I don't write like myself. I write like an author. I found out what
+he thought she looked like, and I write tall, pale, sensitive-mouthed
+kind of letters, with a hint of sadness."
+
+"You imp!" he laughed.
+
+"Improves my style. You ought to be glad. Let's hear about the plans for
+the book."
+
+They settled down to discussing advertising plans, which kept them busy
+until late afternoon. When the last detail was settled, Bambi rose
+with a sigh.
+
+"Whew! That was a long siege. Like Corp in 'Sentimental Tommy,' it makes
+me sweat to think."
+
+"I should not have kept it up so long. I forget you are not used to this
+drill," he apologized.
+
+"I think I'll live. Remember the first time I came to see you?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Wasn't I scared?"
+
+"Were you?"
+
+"You were so kind and fatherly."
+
+"Fatherly?" he said.
+
+"What lots of things have happened to me since then," she mused.
+
+"And to me," said Richard, under his breath.
+
+"Heigho! Life is a bubble."
+
+"You'll feel better after a cup of tea. Where shall we go?"
+
+"Let's walk up to the Plaza."
+
+"Done," said he, closing his desk.
+
+It was a cold, crisp day, which stimulated the blood like a cocktail.
+Bambi breathed deep as she tried to fall in step with her companion.
+
+"I can't keep step with you. I'm too little and my skirt's too tight."
+
+"I'll keep step with you, my lady."
+
+"Mercy, don't try. Jarvis says I hop along like a grasshopper."
+
+"I resent that. Your free, swaying walk is one of your charms. You
+always make me think of a wind-blown flower."
+
+She looked up at him, radiantly.
+
+"Richard, you say the charmingest things!"
+
+"Francesca, you do inspire them."
+
+"I'm a vain little peacock, and Jarvis never notices how I look."
+
+"Too bad to mate a peacock and an owl."
+
+A brilliant sunset bathed the avenue in a red, gold light. The steady
+procession of motors, taxis, and hansom cabs made its slow way uptown.
+The shop windows blazed in their most seductive moments. The sidewalks
+were crowded with smart men; fashionable women swathed in magnificent
+furs; slim, little pink-cheeked girls. All of them made their way up the
+broad highroad toward home or tea, as the case might be.
+
+"Oh, you blessed flesh-pots, how I adore you!"
+
+"Referring to the men or the women?"
+
+"Naughty Richard! I mean all the luxury and sensuousness which New York
+represents."
+
+"You hungry little beggar, how you do eat up your sensations!"
+
+"They give me indigestion sometimes."
+
+The foyer of the Plaza was like a reception. The tea-room was a-clatter
+and a-clack with tongues.
+
+"Like the clatter of sleek little squirrels," said Bambi, as she
+followed the head-waiter to their table.
+
+Her comments on people about them, the nicknames she donated to them,
+convulsed Strong. He would never again see that pompous head-waiter
+except as "Papa Pouter!"
+
+"Would you get tired of it if you were here all the time?"
+
+"I suppose so. It is all so alike. The women all look alike, and the
+men, and the waiters. If you dropped through the ceiling, you could
+hardly tell whether you were in the Ritz, the Plaza, the Manhattan, or
+the Knickerbocker. You would know it was New York--that's all."
+
+"What train do you take to-night, or shall you stay over?"
+
+"I shall go on the 11:50, if you'll play with me until then."
+
+He smiled at her affectation.
+
+"Suppose we try another kind of crowd to-night, and dine at the
+Lafayette."
+
+"Delighted! I've never been there."
+
+"It's jolly. You'll like it, I think."
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"Way downtown--University Place. What shall we do between now and
+dinner-time?"
+
+"Let's walk down."
+
+"Oh, that's a long walk."
+
+"But I love to walk, unless it is too much for you."
+
+"Sheer impudence!"
+
+The walk was one never to be forgotten by Strong. To have Bambi all to
+himself, to look forward to hours of such bliss, to have her swinging
+along beside him, laughing and chattering, now and again laying her hand
+on his arm in confident friendliness--it was intoxicating.
+
+By sheer force of will he kept his hand on the throttle of his emotions.
+One look, one false move, would ruin it all. He knew, without any doubts
+that she did not love him. He even told himself she loved Jocelyn. He
+knew that he must make himself a valuable friend and not an undesired
+lover, but his want of her was great, and his fury at Jarvis's
+indifference white hot. She caught his set look.
+
+"Richard!"
+
+He turned his eyes on her.
+
+"You're tired of me. I won't talk any more."
+
+He drew her hand through his arm, and held her there.
+
+"Don't say that sort of thing, please; it isn't fair."
+
+"Take it back."
+
+The Lafayette filled her with excitement. They had a table on a raised
+balcony overlooking the main dining-room. Richard pointed out
+celebrities, bowed to many friends, talked charming personalities. A
+feast of Lucullus was served them. Music and wine and excitement
+bewitched Bambi. She sparkled and laughed. She capped his every sally
+with a quick retort. She was totally different from the girl-boy who had
+walked downtown beside him.
+
+"What are you thinking about me?" she challenged him, her head tipped
+back provokingly.
+
+"Daughter of Joy!"
+
+"I have spent a very pleasant fortnight with you, Richard!"
+
+"Has it seemed that long?"
+
+"Since I left Sunnyside this morning? Quite."
+
+"How many personalities have you been since then?"
+
+"Oh, not nearly all my mes."
+
+"Protean artist?"
+
+"Headliner," she nodded.
+
+They drank to the success of the play. Later, as he stood beside her in
+the car, a few minutes before she was to leave, she put her hand in his.
+
+"I've had the loveliest time," she said. "You are the most accomplished
+playmate I ever had."
+
+"It has been a happy day."
+
+"Come to Sunnyside soon."
+
+The train began to move out and he hurried to get off. She waved to him
+from the window. She was tired, so she went to bed at once, with never a
+dream of the emptiness her small presence left in New York for the
+"Playmate."
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+"What luck did you have with the climax, yesterday?" she asked Jarvis,
+next day, as she came into the workroom.
+
+"None at all. I worked all day, and tore it up last night."
+
+"Oh, why did you do that?"
+
+"It was hopeless. If you wanted to teach me how vital you are to this
+work, you did it."
+
+"Such a thing never entered my mind."
+
+"Shall we begin at it now?"
+
+"Of course. I'm keen to get at it."
+
+She plunged into the situation and swept all obstacles before her. The
+entire reaction from yesterday's pleasure and change went into her work.
+Lunch-time came as a shock, the morning had fled so fast. Jarvis sighed
+as he piled up the pages.
+
+"You work like an electric dynamo," he remarked.
+
+"I always work better after a happy vacation. Why don't you run off for
+a day, to get your breath, as it were?"
+
+"Where would I run to?"
+
+"You might go look up the author-lady you're so interested in," she
+remarked, wickedly.
+
+He made no answer to that.
+
+The noon mail brought Bambi's latest letter from Jarvis. All mail was
+brought immediately to her, so she had a chance to extract the telltale
+letters. Jarvis wrote:
+
+"DEAR LADY: Your letters are fast becoming a necessity to me. I look for
+them as eagerly as a boy. I find myself more and more absorbed in the
+'Francesca' of your fancy, whom I feel sure is the essence of you. Is
+it not so?
+
+"I am bitterly unhappy these days--lonely, as I have never been before.
+The emotional side of life has always been a closed book to me, one I
+disdained to read. So once my heart begins to call attention to itself,
+I suppose the more poignant will be my experience.
+
+"I have lately come back from a long exile spent in a hideous place. I
+brought with me the first hunger for love I had ever known. But I found
+no answering need in the heart I turned to. I have been thrown back on
+myself, to eat my heart out, because I know now that it is my own fault.
+If I had tried sooner to make myself a lover, I would not have to resign
+that place to another man.
+
+"Why do I pour these personal sorrows upon you, my Lady of Sympathy? I
+am heartsick for comfort.
+
+                                        "Yours,    "J."
+
+Bambi laid her cheek against the poor, hurt letter, and cried.
+
+"My poor, bungling Jarvis, how I must have hurt you!"
+
+She read it again, and all at once light flooded in.
+
+"Why, it's Richard, of course! He thinks I am in love with Richard! The
+dear old goose! He sees so little and sees that crooked."
+
+She went in search of him, determined to tell the whole foolish story,
+to explain the imaginary obstacles that divided them. But he was not to
+be found, so the impulse died, and she determined to play the farce out
+to its end, and now, that she knew the core of the whole situation, she
+could make it count for their final readjustment.
+
+She wrote him at once:
+
+"MY DEAR JARVIS: At last I feel that there is truth between us. I have
+suspected that you were not happy in your love life. But I wanted not to
+pry into locked chambers. Now we can be glad of the bond that lies
+between us, for I, too, go heart hungry through the days.
+
+"I have not spoken to you of my home, or my husband, but now that you
+have become such a part of my thought life, I feel no disloyalty in
+the truth.
+
+"My husband is a man who has never felt the want of affection. He is so
+self-centred in his devotion to his work that I have always been shut
+out of his heart. At first this did not trouble me, for I was ambitious,
+too. But so many things have happened to develop me this last year, to
+awaken me to my full womanhood!
+
+"I have had to face, as you do, the ache of an unwanted love, tossed
+back to eat its way like a corrosive acid. Once, not long ago, I
+thought, perhaps, things were going to change for me. I thought he
+wanted me. But now I have come to know that it is to another woman he
+turns for sympathy and understanding.
+
+"So, you see, my dear, we two have the same heart history. No wonder we
+have felt our way through time and space, to clasp hands in such deep
+affinity. I lay my hands upon your head, Jarvis.
+
+                                        "YOUR LADY."
+
+His reply came by the first mail.
+
+"Oh, my dear, my dear, we have found each other
+at last, in all truth. It was meant from the beginning
+of time that it should be so. Let me come to
+you. I cannot bear to live another hour without
+the touch of your hand. To think that I do not
+know your name, or the colour of your kind eyes!
+Say that I may come?
+
+                                        "Devotedly,
+                                        "JARVIS."
+
+"JARVIS, MY BIG BOY: You may not come yet. It is part of a dream,
+cherished since you came to be the heart of me, that we should not come
+together until the night of the opening of our play. I know you will
+poohpooh this as sentimental nonsense. You may even call it theatrical.
+But let me have my way, this last one time. Afterward, my way shall be
+yours, beloved. Write me to say you will be patient with my foolishness!
+
+"I am afraid of our meeting. Suppose I should fall short of your ideal
+of me? That you should think me ugly or old, I could not bear it. I have
+come to know all my happiness lies in the balance of that one night,
+toward which we walk, you and I, every minute of every day.
+
+                                        "YOUR LADY."
+
+His answer came, special delivery:
+
+"It shall be as you wish, dear heart. But if anything should happen to
+delay the opening of the play, I think I should ask you to remit the
+sentence of banishment. I live only to look into your eyes!
+
+"How can you say that you may disappoint me? If you were old,
+humpbacked, ugly--what difference? You are mine! We must find freedom
+for ourselves and a new life. I adore you.
+
+                                        "JARVIS."
+
+"I wouldn't have thought it of Jarvis," said Bambi as she read it. "He
+makes a very creditable lover."
+
+"My DEAR ONE: I am as impatient as you are for our meeting. I gladly
+agree that we shall bring it about, at once, if anything happens to
+postpone the play opening.
+
+"What you say about being indifferent to my looks makes me happy. I
+shall not try you too far, my lover. I'm quite pretty and young. Did you
+know I was young?
+
+"You speak so confidently of freedom and a new life together. Are we to
+shed our old mates, like Nautilus shells? My new coming into love makes
+me pitiful. Must we be ruthless?
+
+                                        "YOUR OWN."
+
+"DEAR, GENTLE HEART: I do not wish to seem ruthless to you, much less to
+be so. But has our suffering not entitled us to some joy? I know my wife
+to be absorbed in another man; you say your husband turns to another
+woman. We represent to them stumbling-blocks between them and their
+happiness. Surely it is only right that we should all be freed to find
+our true mates.
+
+"I find it daily more of a burden to carry this secret in my heart, when
+knowledge of it would lighten my wife's unhappiness. Shall we not
+confess the situation, and discuss plans for separation? I owe this girl
+who bears my name more than I can ever pay. I would not do anything to
+hurt her pride. Tell me what you think about it, dear one?
+
+                                        "YOUR JARVIS."
+
+"JARVIS DEAR: Again I must seem to oppose you. Please let us keep our
+secrets to ourselves until our meeting. Suppose that something should
+happen even yet? Suppose we should not wish to take this step when the
+time comes? I do not want you to hurt your wife. I respect and love you
+for your sense of obligation to her. How can she help loving you,
+my Jarvis?
+
+"When the day comes for me to prove my devotion, may you say about me
+that you owe me more than you can ever pay.
+
+"I live only for the completion of the play.
+
+                                        "YOUR LOVE."
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+Bambi felt the renewed vigour with which Jarvis attacked the final
+problems of their task. He was working toward the goal of his
+affections, a meeting with his lady. She, too, felt the strain of the
+situation, and keyed herself up to a final burst of speed. The middle of
+February came, bringing the day which ended their labours.
+
+"Well, I believe that is the best we can do with it," Jarvis said.
+
+"Yes, our best best. For my part, I feel quite fatuously satisfied. I
+think it is perfectly charming."
+
+"I hope the author will be pleased," he said earnestly.
+
+"I'm much more concerned with Mr. Frohman's satisfaction. If he likes
+it, hang the author!"
+
+"But I want to please her more than I can say."
+
+"You have a great interest in that woman, Jarvis. What is it about her
+that has caught your attention?"
+
+"It is difficult to say. As I have grown into her book, so that it has
+become a part of my thought, I have been more and more absorbed in the
+personality of the woman."
+
+"You told me the heroine was like me--once."
+
+"Did I?" in surprise.
+
+"You've changed your mind, evidently?"
+
+"No-o. Her brilliance is like you."
+
+"But not her other qualities?"
+
+"She seems softer, more appealingly feminine to me, than you do. You
+have so much more executive ability----"
+
+"You think I'm not feminine?"
+
+"I didn't say that," he evaded.
+
+"Why do you insist upon thinking the author and heroine to be one
+person?"
+
+"Just a fancy, I suppose. But the book is so intimate that I feel
+consciously, or otherwise, the woman has written herself into
+'Francesca.'"
+
+"You may be approaching an awful shock, my dear Jarvis, when you meet
+her."
+
+"I think not."
+
+"These author folk! She'll be a middle-aged dowd, mark my words."
+
+He rose indignantly, and put the last sheets of the manuscript away. She
+watched him, smiling.
+
+"Shall you go to New York to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes, if I can get an appointment by wire. I am going to see about it
+now."
+
+"I do hope he will be sensible enough to put it on right away."
+
+"He told me to rush it. I think he means an immediate production."
+
+"The end of our work together," mused Bambi.
+
+He turned to her quickly.
+
+"You care?"
+
+"Don't you?"
+
+"It has really been your work, Bambi."
+
+It was her turn to be startled, but evidently he had no ulterior
+meaning.
+
+"Not at all. I think it is wonderful how well we work together,
+considering----"
+
+"Considering?" he insisted.
+
+"Oh, our difference in point of view, and, oh, everything!" she added.
+
+"It would disappoint you if it were our last work together?"
+
+"What an idea, Jarvis! I look forward to years and years of annual
+success by the Jocelyns."
+
+He frowned uncomfortably, as if to speak, thought better of it, and kept
+silence.
+
+"I'll go send my wire," he said. She kissed her finger tips to his
+receding back. Later, too, she went to the telegraph office and sent the
+following wire.
+
+"_Mr. Charles Frohman:_
+
+"See Jarvis, if possible, to-morrow. Play finished. Sure success.
+
+                                        "FRANCESCA JOCELYN."
+
+The secretary answered Jarvis's wire at once, making the appointment at
+eleven o'clock on the morrow.
+
+"It seems incredible that anything could run as smoothly as this for
+me," said Jarvis, as he read the dispatch.
+
+"That's because I'm in it," boasted Bambi, with a touch of her old
+impudence. "I'm your mascot."
+
+"That must be it."
+
+"It means a midnight train for you, to make it comfortably. Do you
+suppose you will stay more than a day?"
+
+"I should think not. I don't know."
+
+Ardelia came in with a yellow envelope.
+
+"Sumpin' doin' roun' dis heah house. Telegram boy des' a-ringin' at de'
+do' bell stiddy."
+
+"For me?" said Bambi.
+
+"_Mrs. Jarvis Jocelyn, Sunny side, New York._
+
+"Mr. Frohman will see you at three o'clock to-morrow."
+
+Bambi gazed at it a moment, a bit dazed, then she laughed.
+
+"Anything the matter?" Jarvis inquired.
+
+"No-o. Oh, no."
+
+This was how it happened that Mr. Jarvis Jocelyn took the midnight train
+to New York, while Mrs. Jarvis Jocelyn followed on an early morning one.
+
+"But why, if you both have to go to that city of abominations, do you
+not go together?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"Part of the secret," she reminded him.
+
+"Dear me, I had forgotten we were living in a plot. How is it coming
+out?"
+
+"I will know to-day, definitely, just how, when, and where it is coming
+out."
+
+Jarvis presented himself at the theatre at eleven sharp, and felt a
+thrill of righteous pride when he was ushered into the private office
+without delay. His vow that he would enter without so much as a
+calling-card had come true sooner than he had hoped.
+
+Mr. Frohman smiled in his friendly way, and shook hands.
+
+"How's my friend, the ex-Jehu?" he laughed.
+
+"Fine! I hope you are well."
+
+"I'm all right. How's the play?"
+
+"I have it here. It is good."
+
+"Good, is it?" Mr. Frohman's eyes twinkled.
+
+"Yes. My--Mrs. Jocelyn worked at it with me, and I have to admit that
+the success, if it is one, is largely due to her."
+
+"She is a writer, too?"
+
+"No, but she has a keen dramatic sense. She understands character, too."
+
+"So? Lucky for you. Does she want her name on the bills?"
+
+"She has never spoken of it, but I wish her to go on as co-dramatist."
+
+"All right. Clever wife is an asset. Now we've got just two hours. Go
+ahead--read me what you've got there."
+
+Jarvis unpacked the manuscript and began. He had worked over the scenes
+so often with Bambi that he fell into her dramatic way of "doing" the
+scenes. Once or twice the manager chuckled as he recognized her touch
+and intonation on a line. Certainly Jarvis had never read so well. He
+was encouraged by frequent laughs from his audience. There were
+interruptions now and then, criticisms and suggestions. As he read and
+laid down the last page, Mr. Frohman nodded his head.
+
+"Pretty clever work for amateurs," he said.
+
+"You think it will go?"
+
+"With some changes and rearrangements. Yes, I should say so."
+
+"Are you thinking of producing it soon?"
+
+"Yes, if I can make satisfactory arrangements with the author I'll put
+it in rehearsal right away."
+
+"I think the author will be satisfied."
+
+The manager looked a question.
+
+"We have been corresponding during my work on it," Jarvis explained.
+
+Mr. Frohman stared, then laughed.
+
+"We can soon find out whether she's pleased. She is due here at three
+o'clock to-day."
+
+"She is coming here to-day?" Jarvis exclaimed.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Could I talk to her then--there is so much----"
+
+"Sorry. I promised there would be no one here. Some crazy idea about
+keeping her name a secret."
+
+"Of course. I would not intrude," said Jarvis, hastily. "She wrote me
+that she would leave rehearsals to you and me."
+
+"Did she? Will your wife want to come to rehearsals?"
+
+"I think so. Would there be any objections?"
+
+"Not if she is co-author."
+
+"She is very clever."
+
+"I don't doubt it. You leave that copy here. I'll go over it, in part,
+with the author, and let her take it to look over. I will wire you what
+day I want to get the company together for a reading."
+
+"All right, sir."
+
+"If the author is satisfied with this, I'll have a contract made out to
+submit to you and your wife. In the meantime, do you want an advance?"
+
+"No, thanks."
+
+"All right. You'll hear from me. You've done surprisingly well with
+this, Jocelyn--you, or your wife."
+
+"Thank you. Good-day."
+
+"Good-day."
+
+At three o'clock the other member of the Jocelyn family arrived.
+
+"You are good to see me. I would have burst with curiosity before Jarvis
+got back," she began the minute she got inside the door.
+
+"I naturally wanted to consult the author before I accepted the play."
+
+"Is it any good? Are you going to take it?"
+
+"What do you think about it? Are you satisfied?"
+
+"Yes. I think it's a love of a play."
+
+He laughed.
+
+"How much of it did Jarvis do?"
+
+"Oh, a great deal!"
+
+"Not enough to spoil it, eh?"
+
+"He has worked very hard," she said seriously.
+
+"He tells me he has corresponded with the author during his work, and he
+begged to be here for this meeting."
+
+"Did he? Bless his heart! It has been so funny--that correspondence!
+He's crazy about that author-lady."
+
+"Either you are very clever, or he's very stupid, which is it?"
+
+"Both."
+
+"When are you going to tell him the truth?"
+
+"The opening night."
+
+"Upon my word, you _have_ got a dramatic sense. Blaze of success,
+outbursts of applause, husband finds wife is the centre and cause of it.
+That sort of thing, eh?"
+
+"Yes, but don't say it like that. It sounds silly and cheap."
+
+"Husband will be mad as fury at the whole thing."
+
+"You don't think that, do you? That would spoil the whole thing so
+entirely," she said in concern.
+
+"You're the dramatist, I'm only the manager," he laughed.
+
+They talked about the cast, the sets, and other practical details.
+
+"You're coming to rehearsals, aren't you?" he asked her.
+
+"Rather!"
+
+"Jarvis prepared me for that."
+
+"Did he? Well, he won't be much good. He can't act."
+
+"I told him you would look over the play, then I would call the company
+together for a reading."
+
+"Consider the script looked over. Do call it quick, Mr. Frohman; I can
+hardly wait."
+
+"What about contracts? Do you want one as author, with another to you
+and Jarvis as playwrights?"
+
+"No, that's too complicated. Let's have one for the whole thing, then we
+can divvy up what there is."
+
+"Suits me. I'll see you next week, then. Better make arrangements to
+stay in town during rehearsals."
+
+"Oh, yes, we will"
+
+"I think we will pull off a success. This is very human, this stuff.
+Good-bye."
+
+"You've been such a dear. We've just got to succeed for your sake.
+Good-bye, and thanks."
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+Bambi hurried to catch the 5:30 train for home, and as it rushed through
+the station she spied Jarvis striding on ahead, evidently bound for the
+same train. With the caution of a lady detective she kept behind him
+until he got aboard. Then she rushed ahead and got into the first car.
+At Sunnyside she astonished the town hack-man by leaping into his cab and
+ordering him to drive her home, top speed.
+
+The situation appealed to her taste for intrigue. Into the house she
+sped and to her room. The Professor and Ardelia were in bed and asleep.
+When Jarvis came in she descended, to inquire about the fate of their
+play, with the calm of a finished actress.
+
+"I'm waiting for you! What news?" she demanded.
+
+"He likes it. If the author is satisfied, we go ahead at once."
+
+"Hooray!" shouted Bambi, pirouetting madly. "Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis
+Jocelyn, the talk of the town," she sang.
+
+"You did want your name on the bills, then?"
+
+She stopped in alarm. Had she given it away after all her trouble?
+
+"How do you mean on the bills?"
+
+"As co-author? Mr. Frohman asked me. I told him you had never spoken of
+it, but that I wanted you to have full credit."
+
+"What else did you tell Mr. Frohman about me?"
+
+"I told him you were clever."
+
+"What did he say?" she laughed.
+
+"Said he didn't doubt it. He will allow you to come to rehearsals."
+
+"I should hope so! So it's all settled?"
+
+"Yes, if the author consents. She was to see the play at three this
+afternoon."
+
+"Was she? Why didn't you wait and see her?"
+
+"She wished to talk to Mr. Frohman alone."
+
+"Isn't she tiresome, with all her mystery? You don't think she could
+hold us up on it now, at the last minute, do you?"
+
+"She could, but I don't think she will. Rehearsals will be called next
+week."
+
+"Oh, goody! Jarvis, aren't you happy about it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But you aren't happy enough!"
+
+He sighed. It was all so different from the way he had planned to bring
+her his first success.
+
+"Something seems to have gone amiss with us, doesn't it, Bambi?"
+
+"I haven't noticed it."
+
+"You're satisfied to go on as we are now?"
+
+"I can think of a few improvements. I'll tell you about them later."
+
+"So many things seem to hinge on the success of this play!"
+
+"They do! May the gods take notice," she laughed.
+
+On the following Tuesday came the call for a reading of the play with
+the company, Wednesday, at eleven. Bambi was as excited as a child over
+the announcement.
+
+"I think we had better plan to stay at the National Arts Club again,
+during rehearsals, Jarvis."
+
+"I am not sure I can finance that. I told Mr. Frohman I did not need an
+advance."
+
+"I've got some left. You can borrow back the hundred you paid me, to
+start off on."
+
+"You're like the old woman with the magic purse."
+
+"I'm thrifty and saving."
+
+"Well, if we can accomplish it without robbing you I agree with you that
+it would be better to stay in town."
+
+"Settled. You go pack your things, and I'll look after mine."
+
+They prepared to make their second pilgrimage, this time to the "Land of
+Promise."
+
+The Professor showed an unusual amount of interest in the matter.
+
+"How long will it take to rehearse it?" he asked.
+
+"We don't know yet, we're such amateurs. But as soon as we know the date
+set for the opening you and Ardelia are to prepare to come. You can come
+up the day of the performance, and if you can't stand it, you may come
+home the next day."
+
+"A trip to New York? What an upsetting idea!"
+
+"Would you rather stay here, and miss the first play Jarvis and I ever
+did together?" said Bambi, disappointedly.
+
+"No, certainly not. I'll come. Just make a note of it, and put it in a
+conspicuous place," he added.
+
+"We'll keep you reminded, never fear."
+
+Ardelia gasped when she heard she was to go.
+
+"I'll send you a list of the clothes to bring for the Professor in
+plenty of time. I shall give you a new black silk dress for the
+occasion."
+
+"Lawd a' massy, Miss Bambi! I'se so excited I cain't talk. A noo silk
+dress an' a-goin' to Noo Yawk wid de Perfessor. I decla' dey ain't no
+niggah woman in dis heah town got sech quality to work fo' as dis old
+niggah has."
+
+"Why, Ardelia, we couldn't have it without you."
+
+"Am I gwine sit wid de' white folks in de' theatre, or up in niggah
+heaven?"
+
+"You'll sit in a box with the rest of us."
+
+"Gawd-a'mighty, honey, dis gwine to be de happies' 'casion ob my life."
+
+The co-authors took the night train.
+
+"Not quite a year ago since our first journey together," said Bambi.
+
+"That's so. It seems a century, doesn't it?"
+
+"That is a distinctly husband remark."
+
+"I was only thinking of how much had happened in that time."
+
+"Two new beings have happened--a new you and a new me," she answered
+him.
+
+"Are you as changed as I am?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. You haven't noticed me enough to realize it, I suppose."
+
+He made no reply to that. Arrived in New York, they went to the
+clubhouse, and took the same rooms they had before. As Bambi looked
+about the room, she turned to Jarvis in the doorway:
+
+"It is a century since I knelt at that window and arranged our
+spectacular success."
+
+"Well, we're a year nearer to it. Let's get a good night's rest, for
+to-morrow we enter on a new chapter."
+
+"It's jolly we enter it together, isn't it, Jarvis?"
+
+He nodded, embarrassed.
+
+"I should like to wish you luck in the new venture, Mr. Jarvis Jocelyn."
+
+"I wish you the same, Miss Mite," he said, clasping her hand warmly.
+
+"You haven't called me Miss Mite for a long time," she said, softly. "I
+like it."
+
+"Good-night," said Jarvis abruptly, and left.
+
+"You're a poor actor, my Jarvis," she chuckled to herself.
+
+At eleven o'clock they presented themselves at the theatre. The reading
+was to take place in Mr. Frohman's big room. Jarvis and Bambi were
+admitted at once.
+
+"Good-morning," said Mr. Frohman.
+
+"Good-morning. This is Mrs. Jocelyn, Mr. Frohman."
+
+Bambi offered her hand to the manager with a solemn face, but the laugh
+twinkled in her eyes.
+
+"How do you do, Mrs. Jocelyn? I understand that you had a great deal to
+do with this play?"
+
+"I did," she admitted. "Without me this play would have been nothing."
+
+"This leaves you no ground to stand on, Mr. Jocelyn," he laughed.
+
+The members of the company arrived and were presented to the authors.
+Bambi kept them all laughing until Mr. Frohman called order. They sat in
+state around the big table.
+
+"I propose that Mrs. Jocelyn read us the play," Mr. Frohman said.
+
+"Oh, shall I? It is really Jarvis----"
+
+"If you please," said Mr. Frohman, indicating a chair.
+
+So Bambi began, with a smile at Jarvis, and another at the audience.
+They all felt in a good humour. The play was so peculiarly hers, the
+intimate quality which had made the book "go" had been wonderfully
+retained, so that spontaneous laughter marked her progress through the
+comedy. It was all so true and universal, the characters so well drawn,
+the denouement so happy! At the climax of the third act the company
+broke into irresistible and unpremeditated applause.
+
+"Oh, God bless you for that!" said Bambi, her eyes wet with gratitude.
+
+"We ought to cast you for the girl. You are enough like her to have sat
+for the portrait," said Mr. Frohman, wickedly.
+
+Jarvis turned to look at Bambi in his earnest way. He marked the
+likeness, again, himself.
+
+"I shall play it just as you read it, Mrs. Jocelyn," said the girl who
+was cast for the lead.
+
+"You will greatly improve on my Francesca, I'm sure," Bambi nodded to
+her.
+
+Parts were distributed, much discussion followed as to character drawing
+and business, then they separated to meet for rehearsal the next day at
+10:30. Mr. Frohman had an immediate appointment, so the Jocelyns had no
+opportunity for a word in private.
+
+"Queer that Mr. Frohman should think that you are like Francesca, too,"
+said Jarvis, on their way to the club.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. We are the same type. That's all."
+
+"You could play the part wonderfully."
+
+"Could I? It would be fun! Still, I think we can make more money and
+have more fun writing plays."
+
+She seemed always to be harping on their future together!
+
+The next day was full of surprises for them both. They were entirely
+ignorant of conditions in and about the theatre. The big, dark house,
+with its seats all swathed in linen covers, the empty, barn-like stage,
+with chairs set about to indicate properties; the stage hands coming and
+going, the stage manager shouting directions--it was all new to them.
+The members of the company were as businesslike as bank clerks. No hint
+of illusion, no scrap of romance!
+
+"Mercy! it's like a ghost house," said Bambi.
+
+A deal table was set at one side, down stage, for the Jocelyns, with two
+scripts of the play. They sat down like frightened school children,
+bewildered as to what would be expected of them.
+
+The actors sat in a row of chairs at one side. The stage manager made
+some explanations and remarks about rehearsals, and then the first act
+was called. It was slow and tedious work. Over and over again the scenes
+were tried. Some of the actors fumbled their lines as if they had never
+read English before. Now and then the manager appealed to the authors
+for the reading of a line, or an intonation, and Bambi always answered.
+At the end of one scene the man who was to play the young musician
+came to them.
+
+"I've been thinking over my part, Mrs. Jocelyn, and I think that if you
+could write in a scene right here, in act first, to let me explain to
+the old fiddler my reason for being in this situation----"
+
+"Oh, no, you mustn't explain. The whole point of the first act is that
+you explain nothing."
+
+"Yes, but it would play better," he began, in the patronizing tone
+always used to newcomers in the theatre.
+
+"I can't help that. I cannot spoil the truth of a whole character, even
+if it does play better," said Bambi, smiling sweetly.
+
+The actor took it up with the stage manager after rehearsal, and was
+referred to the authors.
+
+"These new playwrights always have to learn at our expense," he said,
+importantly.
+
+"Can't be helped. We have to use playwrights, however irritating they
+are," remarked the stage manager.
+
+Day after day they assembled at the same hour and slowly built up the
+structure of the play. Many nights Jarvis and Bambi worked on new
+scenes, or the rearrangement of the old ones. The first act was twisted
+about many times before it "played" to the stage manager's satisfaction.
+New lines had to be introduced, new business worked out every day. It
+was hard work for everybody except Bambi, and she declared it was fun.
+No matter how trying the rehearsals, nor how hard she had to work, she
+enjoyed every minute of it. They soon discovered that Jarvis had no
+talent for rehearsing. In fact, the mechanics of the thing bored him.
+When a new scene was demanded quickly, his mind refused to work. It was
+Bambi's quick wits that saved the day. After the first few days she was
+the only one to be consulted and appealed to by everybody.
+
+"I can't see that you need me at all in this business. I'm no good at
+it."
+
+"Yes, you are, too. You saw where that new scene in the third act
+belonged at once."
+
+"Yes, after you wrote the scene."
+
+"But this is why we need each other. I didn't see where the scene
+belonged at all. If we both could do the same thing, we wouldn't need to
+collaborate. Thank heaven, we don't have the author underfoot
+interfering all the time."
+
+"I don't believe she would interfere."
+
+"Heard anything from her, lately?"
+
+"No, she is waiting for the production, I suppose."
+
+"And then the deluge! I may lose you to that story-writing female yet!"
+she teased him.
+
+"Don't!" he protested, quickly.
+
+"I won't," she retorted, meaningly.
+
+In late March the date of the production was set. It gave Bambi
+unbelievable pleasure to read the announcements on the billboards, and
+to stand in front of the three-sheets in the foyer of the theatre.
+
+She wrote Ardelia full directions in regard to packing the Professor's
+dress clothes; she told her the train they were to take; she worked out
+every detail, so that nothing might be left to the sieve-like memories of
+the principals on this foreign journey.
+
+She ordered a new frock for herself, and succeeded in getting Jarvis
+measured for new dress clothes. Then she threw herself, heart and soul,
+into the last few days of work at the theatre, helping to polish and
+strengthen the play. The night of dress rehearsal came, and with it a
+new development for her consideration and management.
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+Dress rehearsal was called at midnight, as two of the principals were
+playing in other theatres. There was an air of suspense and confusion on
+the stage, where the new sets were being put on, which threw Jarvis into
+a cold sweat of terror. It only added one degree to Bambi's mounting
+excitement. She and Jarvis made their way to the front of the house,
+where Mr. Frohman, the leader of the orchestra, and a few other people
+interested in the production were assembled.
+
+"I never realized before how many people, how much work and money and
+brain go into the production of the simplest comedy for one night's
+amusement," she said to Mr. Frohman.
+
+"And yet managers are always blamed because they don't take more chances
+on new playwrights," he smiled.
+
+"Jarvis looks as if he were walking to the guillotine, doesn't he?"
+
+"It is a strain, isn't it, Jocelyn? You get used to it after a few
+first-nights."
+
+Jarvis nodded, wetting his dry lips with a nervous tongue.
+
+The curtain went down and came up. The first act began. Bambi scarcely
+breathed. Jarvis could be heard all over the house. The first part of
+the act hitched along and had to be repeated; the stage manager came out
+and scolded, while Mr. Frohman called directions from the front. Bambi
+turned to Jarvis.
+
+"It's going to be a failure," she said.
+
+"Oh, don't say that!" he fairly groaned.
+
+"Don't be discouraged!" said Mr. Frohman, noting their despairing looks.
+"Dress rehearsals are usually the limit."
+
+"But it can't go like this, and succeed," Bambi wailed.
+
+"Don't you worry. It won't go like this."
+
+The night wore on, miserably, for the authors. Everything had to be done
+over--lines were forgotten--everybody was in a nervous stew.
+
+"The awful part of it is that we've done all we can do," moaned Bambi.
+"If they ruin it, we can't prevent them."
+
+"We'll make them rehearse all day to-morrow," said Jarvis, fiercely.
+"They were better than this two weeks ago."
+
+The end of the agony finally came. The stage manager assembled the weary
+company and gave them a few select and sarcastic remarks as to their
+single and collective failure. Mr. Frohman added a few words, and
+ordered them all to dismiss the play from their minds until the morrow
+night. Bambi tried to say a word of encouragement and thanks to them,
+but in the midst of it she broke down and wept.
+
+"Take her home and keep her in bed to-morrow, Jocelyn," Mr. Frohman
+said.
+
+Jarvis hurried her into a cab, and she sobbed softly all the way home.
+He made no effort to touch her or comfort her; he was in torment
+himself. At the club he ordered eggnog and sandwiches sent to her room,
+whither he followed her, helpless to cope with her tears.
+
+She threw her things off and bathed her eyes, while he set out the table
+for the food. When the boy appeared with it, Jarvis led her to her chair
+and served her. She smiled mistily at him.
+
+"It's nerves and excitement and overwork," she explained. He nodded.
+
+"If it failed now, it would be too awful," he said.
+
+"Don't say that word; don't even think it!" she cried.
+
+"You mustn't care so much," he begged her.
+
+"Don't you care?"
+
+"Of course, more than you know. But I am prepared for failure, if it
+comes."
+
+"I can't be prepared for it. It cannot happen!" she sobbed.
+
+He stood looking down at her helplessly.
+
+"What can I do for you? What is it you want?" he demanded gently.
+
+"I want to be rocked," she sobbed.
+
+"To be----"
+
+She pushed him into a big chair, and climbed into his arms.
+
+"Rocked," she finished.
+
+He held her a minute closely, then he rose and set her down.
+
+"I can't do it," he began. "I have something to tell you that must be
+said----"
+
+"Not to-night, Jarvis, I'm too tired."
+
+"Yes, to-night, before another hour passes. Sit down there, please."
+
+She obeyed, curiously.
+
+"Do you remember Christmas Eve, when I came home?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you notice anything different about me?"
+
+"How, different?"
+
+"Did it occur to you that I cared about you, for the first time?"
+
+"I--I--suspicioned it a little."
+
+"Then you deliberately ignored it because you did not want my love?"
+
+"I--I--didn't mean to ignore it."
+
+"But you did."
+
+"I wasn't sure; you never spoke of it, never said you cared. After that
+first night I thought I must have been mistaken."
+
+"But you were glad to be mistaken?"
+
+"No. I was sorry," she said, softly.
+
+"What?" sharply.
+
+"I wanted your love, Jarvis."
+
+"You can't mean that."
+
+"But I do!"
+
+"But, Strong--you love Strong----"
+
+She rose quickly, her face flushed.
+
+"I love Richard Strong as my friend, and in no other way."
+
+"Certainly he loves you."
+
+"He has never told me so."
+
+"You let me believe you cared for him; you tortured me with your show of
+preference for him."
+
+"You imagined that, Jarvis. It is not true!"
+
+"It is true!" he cried, passionately. "I came to you, eager for your
+love, wanting you as I had never wanted anything. You flaunted this man
+in my face, you shut me out, you drove me back on myself----"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"What did you expect me to do? Endure forever in silence?"
+
+"What did you do? Or what do you mean to do?"
+
+"I have come to care for a woman who understands me----"
+
+"A woman, Jarvis?"
+
+"The woman who wrote 'Francesca.' I cared first because she had put into
+her heroine so many things that were like you."
+
+"Well?" she said again.
+
+"She has come to care for me. I wanted to tell you so long ago, when we
+first knew, but she begged me not to until after the play was tried out.
+But I can't stand it another minute. There must be truth between us,
+Bambi. I want you to read her letters. I want you to try to understand
+how this has crept into my heart."
+
+"You wish to be free--to go to her?"
+
+"There is no happiness for us, is there?"
+
+"I'm too tired to think it out now, Jarvis. You must go away and let me
+get myself together."
+
+She looked like a pitiful little wraith, and his heart ached for her.
+
+"I'm sorry I had to add to your hard day, but I had to say this
+to-night."
+
+"It's all right. I must ask you not to speak to me of it again until
+after to-morrow night. I need all my strength for that ordeal. After
+that, we must turn our attention to this new problem, and work it out
+together, somehow."
+
+"Thank you. I'm sorry I've been such a disappointment to you, my dear,"
+he added.
+
+"Good-night. Take the letters--I could not bear to read them."
+
+With an agonized look he took them and left her.
+
+"Dear lord, I'm through with plots! I'm sick unto death of the secret,"
+she sighed, as she climbed into bed.
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+Bambi kept to her room next day until it was time to meet the train on
+which Ardelia and the Professor were to arrive. It was due at four
+o'clock. She went to Jarvis's door, but he was not in his room. She had
+heard nothing of him since his confession of the night before.
+
+Her telephone bell startled her, and she took up the receiver to hear
+Jarvis's voice.
+
+"Bambi?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How are you?"
+
+"All right."
+
+"Don't you want me to meet the Professor and Ardelia? There's no need of
+your going up to Grand Central."
+
+"I'd rather go thank you, Jarvis. Where are you?"
+
+"At the theatre."
+
+"Anything the matter?"
+
+"Oh, no. I came to talk to the stage manager. He says everything will be
+all right to-night. Are you resting?"
+
+"Yes. I've had a quiet day, sitting on my nervous system. Where have you
+been?"
+
+"Walking the streets."
+
+"Come home and take some rest. I'll meet the train. Thank you just as
+much for thinking of it."
+
+"I'll be at the information booth at five minutes to four."
+
+"All right."
+
+She hung up the phone with a dazed face. The idea of Jarvis taking care
+of her, inquiring after her health, and trying to spare her!
+
+"Every blessed thing is topsy-turvy," she exclaimed aloud.
+
+At four o'clock she walked up to the booth, and there he stood,
+anxiously scanning the faces that passed.
+
+"Hello!" she said cheerfully.
+
+He looked grateful and smiled.
+
+"You look as if you had had a spell of sickness, you're so white," he
+said.
+
+"I'm all right, but you look like a nervous pros. case. Aren't we
+pitiful objects for eminently successful playwrights?"
+
+"I suppose one gets used to this strain in time," he said, taking her
+arm to help her through the crowd.
+
+No sooner had the train come to a stop than they saw Ardelia's huge
+frame descend from the car, holding a dress suitcase in each hand. After
+her came the Professor, looking very small and shrunken. Ardelia saw
+them afar, and waved the heavy suitcase in the air like a banner as she
+hurried toward them.
+
+"Howdy, Miss Bambi? Howdy, Mistah Jarvis? Heah we is."
+
+"Bless your old hearts!" said Bambi, hugging them both.
+
+"How are you, children?" the Professor inquired.
+
+"We're fine! Did you have a comfortable time on the trip? Why did you
+sit in the day coach, father?"
+
+"De Perfessor, he won't set in de' chaih cah, cause'n dey won't let me
+in dere, an' he's 'fraid he fergit to git off less'n he was 'longside
+ob me."
+
+"But the train stops here--it doesn't go any farther. My! Ardelia, you
+do look stylish!"
+
+"Yas'm. Wait until yo' see my noo black silk. I'se got me a tight skirt,
+an' a Dutch neck--Lawzee, honey, but dis ole niggah's gittin'
+mighty frisky."
+
+She and Jarvis had an argument about the bags. She insisted upon
+carrying them herself, and indignantly refused the help of the
+coloured porter.
+
+"Go way f'um heah, boy. Yo' reckon I gwine trust yo' all wid ma' noo
+silk dress an de Perfessor's dress suit? No, sah!"
+
+She kept them laughing all the way to the club with her tales of their
+difficulties and excitements in getting off. Her exclamations on
+everything she saw were convulsing. When they arrived at the club, and
+she discovered that she was to have the little room next to Bambi's, her
+satisfaction was complete.
+
+Bambi ordered the entire family to repose on its respective backs for an
+hour before they dressed for dinner. So they parted to obey orders. For
+that hour Bambi held herself firmly upon her bed, completing her plans.
+They had agreed, she and Jarvis, that if there should be a call for the
+author, they would take it together, and Jarvis would speak. She was not
+sure just how she was to make the revelation to him of her dual
+personality. She decided to leave it to chance.
+
+Never in her life had she been so excited. The double responsibility as
+author and playwright shrank to second place in comparison with the fact
+that this night she was to tell Jarvis of her love for him--hear him
+speak his love for her.
+
+Before the hour of enforced quiet was over she could hear Ardelia
+tiptoeing about her room. Presently her head was cautiously inserted
+through the door. When she saw a hand waved at her, she bounced in.
+
+"Laws, honey, I'se so excited, I cain't hol' my eyes shet. I got de
+Perfessor's dress suit cloes all laid out smooth, wif de buttons in de
+shirt, an' de white tie ready. Now, yo' let me help yo' all git dressed
+befo' I begin to wrassle wid dat tight skirt ob mine."
+
+"All right, sit down and hold your hands till I jump into my bath."
+
+While Bambi bathed, Ardelia shouted all the gossip of home through the
+bathroom door. Upon Bambi's reappearance, she insisted upon dressing her
+like a child. She put on her silk stockings and slippers, getting
+herself down and up with many a grunt. She constituted herself a
+critical judge in the hairdressing process, and fussed about every pin.
+
+"Why ain't yo' all had one ob dese heah hair-fixers do yo' haid?"
+
+"And make me look like a hair-shop model? Not much!"
+
+"Well, yo' done purty good."
+
+"Wait till I curl it," said Bambi, throwing up the window and popping
+her head out into the night air.
+
+"Fo' de Lawd's sake, yo' curl yo' haih in Noo Yawk jes' lak yo' do at
+home."
+
+"Why not? This cold, damp air is just the thing. Now look at me," she
+boasted, shaking her head so that the soft, curly rings fluttered like
+little bells about her face.
+
+"Yo'll do," said Ardelia.
+
+Bambi disappeared into the closet, and presently she popped out her
+head.
+
+"Ardelia, prepare to die of joy. When you have seen my new dress, life
+has nothing more to offer you."
+
+"I ain' gwine to die till after dis show."
+
+Out of the closet Bambi danced, her arms full of sunset clouds
+apparently She held it up, and Ardelia's eyes bulged.
+
+"Yo' don' call dat a dress?"
+
+"Put it on me, and you'll call it a poem."
+
+"Dey ain't nuthin' to it," she protested, as she slipped it over Bambi's
+head.
+
+It was certainly a diaphanous thing of many layers of chiffon,
+graduating in colour from flame to palest apricot pink. It hung straight
+and simple on Bambi's lithe figure, bringing out all the colour, the
+dash, the fire-like quality in the girl's personality. The flush in her
+cheeks, the glow in her eyes, even the little curls, were like twisted
+tongues of flame. She whirled for Ardelia's inspection.
+
+"I know dat ain't no decent dress, but yo' sho' is beautiful as
+Pottypar's wife."
+
+"Who's she?"
+
+"She's in the Bible!"
+
+Bambi laughed.
+
+"I look like the 'fire of spring,'" she nodded to her reflection. "Of
+course I'm beautiful! This is the biggest, happiest night of my life!"
+
+A boy came for the Professor's clothes, and a little later that
+distracted gentleman presented himself to have his tie arranged, and to
+be looked over generally in case of omissions.
+
+"My dear!" he exclaimed at sight of his daughter.
+
+"_Aren't_ I wonderful?"
+
+He put his hand under her chin and tipped her face to him.
+
+"There is something about you to-night--elemental is the word--fire,
+water, and air."
+
+She hugged him.
+
+"Oh, but you've got a surprise coming to you this night. You are about
+to discover other unsuspected elements in your offspring."
+
+"My dear, I'm so excited now I'm counting backward. Don't explode
+anything on me or I'll lose control."
+
+"The secret is coming out to-night."
+
+"Is it painful?"
+
+"No, it's heavenly!"
+
+Jarvis rapped.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He stood on the threshold a moment, a truly magnificent figure in his
+evening clothes.
+
+"Jarvis!" breathed Bambi.
+
+"Bambi!" exclaimed Jarvis, and they stood a-gaze. She recovered first.
+
+"Do you like me?" she coquetted.
+
+He walked about her slowly, considering her from all sides.
+
+"Ariel!" he said at last.
+
+"Oh, thank you, Apollo," she laughed, to cover the lump in her throat at
+his awed admiration.
+
+They sent Ardelia's supper up to her, and the rest of them made an
+attempt at dining, but nobody could eat a thing. Bambi talked
+incessantly from excitement, and all eyes in the dining-room were
+focussed upon her.
+
+Ardelia was in a tremor of pride when they went upstairs again. She
+shone like ebony, and grinned like a Hindoo idol. They admired her, to
+her heart's content, and she descended to the cab in a state of
+sinful pride.
+
+Although they were early, the motors were already unloading before the
+theatre. They were to sit in the stage box, and as soon as the rest of
+them were seated Bambi went back on the stage to say good-evening to the
+company. The first-night excitement prevailed back there. Every member
+of the company was dressed and made up a good half hour too soon. They
+all assured the perturbed author that she need have no fears, everything
+would go off in fine shape. Somewhat relieved, she started to go out
+front, when she ran into Mr. Frohman.
+
+"Good-evening. If you are as well as you look, you're all right," he
+smiled at her.
+
+"I feel like a loaded mine about to blow to pieces," she answered.
+
+"Hold on for a couple of hours more. Does Jarvis know yet?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+He laughed and went on. Bambi returned to the box, where she sat far
+back in the corner. The house was filling fast now. More than a little
+interest was evinced in the strange box party of big Jarvis, the
+Professor, and Ardelia. Richard Strong nodded and smiled from a
+nearby seat.
+
+"We should have come in late, just as the curtain rose," whispered
+Bambi. "We must not be so green again."
+
+"Why so, daughter?"
+
+"Then we wouldn't be stared at."
+
+"Are we stared at? By whom?"
+
+The overture interrupted her reply. The seats were full now as high as
+the eye could reach the balconies. Bambi scanned the faces eagerly.
+Would they like the play? If they only knew what it meant to Jarvis and
+to her to have them like it!
+
+The curtain rose. For two full moments she could not breathe. The act
+started off briskly, and little by little her tension relaxed. She laid
+her hand on Jarvis's knee and it was stiff with nervous concentration.
+The first genuine laugh came to both of them like manna from heaven.
+
+"It's all right," Bambi whispered to Jarvis. He nodded, his eyes glued
+to the stage. Of all kinds of creative work, dramatic writing can be the
+most poignant or the most satisfactory. It is the keenest pleasure to
+see characters whom you have invented given life and personality if the
+actors are clever. The Jocelyns had the aid of practically a perfect
+cast. The sense of power that comes with the laughter or the tears of an
+audience aroused by your thoughts is a very real experience. Bambi "ate
+up her sensations," as Strong had said. As the curtain descended after
+the first act the applause was instantaneous and long.
+
+"They like it," Bambi said with a sigh.
+
+"Yes, thank God!" from Jarvis.
+
+"You told me not to take this seriously, Jarvis," she reminded him.
+
+"Does anybody know who wrote this book?" the Professor inquired.
+
+"Not yet. We are to know to-night. I wonder where she is?" Jarvis added
+to Bambi.
+
+"I've thought that fat old one in the opposite box," she said wickedly.
+"Why did you ask, father?"
+
+"It is a diverting idea. The girl is like you, or maybe it is the
+similarity of the names that suggests it."
+
+"What do you think about the play, Ardelia?"
+
+"Law, honey, 'tain't no play-actin' to me. It's jes' lak' bein' home wid
+yo' an' de' Perfessor and Marse Jarvis. Dose folkses is jes' lak
+yo' all."
+
+Bambi laughed outright. Ardelia was the only one who guessed.
+
+"I trust you do not compare me to that impractical old fiddling man,"
+the Professor protested to Ardelia.
+
+"Sh! Here's the curtain!" warned Bambi.
+
+The second act went like a breeze. Laughter and applause punctuated its
+progress. The house was warming up. Bambi slipped her hand into
+Jarvis's, and he held it so tight that she could feel his heart beat
+through his palm. There was no doubt about it at the end of the second
+act. It was going. The company took repeated curtain calls, smiling at
+the Jocelyns.
+
+"I'm grinning so I shall never get my face straight again," Bambi said
+to Richard, who came to the box to congratulate them.
+
+"Looks like a go," he said, cordially.
+
+Even Jarvis unbent to him, and insisted upon his sitting with them for
+the third act. Bambi added a smiling second. She had explained to
+Richard, in advance, why she did not invite him to share the box.
+
+"I am having a most unexpectedly good time," the Professor admitted to
+them all.
+
+Jarvis's state of mind was painful as the last act began. In the next
+thirty minutes he was to meet the woman he thought he loved. Since his
+confession to Bambi the night before, a doubt had raised its head to
+stare at him as to the real depth of his feeling for his unknown
+inamorata. Had he really been moved by love, or was it only a need of
+sympathy for his hurt pride that had driven him to her? Bambi's strange
+behaviour, her admission that she did not love Strong, most of all those
+moments when she lay in his arms--they had upset all his convictions and
+emotions. He paid no attention to the act at all, torn as he was as to
+what the night would bring him.
+
+He was aroused by storms of applause. The curtain went up again, and
+again; the company bowed solo and in a group. Then calls of "Author!
+Author!" were heard all over the house. Bambi clutched Jarvis's sleeve
+and drew him back of the box.
+
+"Go on! You've got to go out and bow. You do it alone, Jarvis----"
+
+In answer he took her arm and propelled her in front of him, back on the
+stage.
+
+"Here they are! give them full stage!" said the stage manager, ringing
+up the curtain. "Now, go ahead, right out there!"
+
+He opened a door in the set and Jarvis and Bambi went on. There was a
+hush for a second, then a big round of applause. Bambi laughed and waved
+her hand. There was a hush of expectancy.
+
+"Now, Jarvis, go on!" she prompted him.
+
+Jarvis, cold as death, began to speak. He thanked everybody in the
+prescribed way, beginning with the audience, ending with the company. He
+said he was happy that they liked the play, but that he was making the
+speech under false pretenses. All the credit for the success must go to
+two women, his wife and collaborator----Here he turned to include Bambi,
+but to his astonishment she was gone. The audience laughed at his
+discomfiture, but he turned it off wittily. The other woman, the one to
+whom most of the credit was due, was the author of the book. She had so
+far hidden behind an anonymity, but he believed she was in the house
+to-night, and it was to her that their congratulations should be offered.
+Cries of "Author! Author of the book!" with much clapping of hands.
+Jarvis stood there, scarcely breathing, cold sweat on his brow, waiting
+for her to come. The applause became a clamour. The door opened and
+Bambi floated in. She did not see the audience, her eyes were fixed on
+Jarvis's face, and the strange expression she saw there. She came to
+him, put her hand in his, and smiled. He was so obviously nonplussed
+that the people grasped a new situation and were suddenly still. Bambi
+smiled at him and spoke:
+
+"Dear People: If you have had as much fun to-night as I have, we owe
+each other nothing! And the most fun of all is the astonishment of Mr.
+Jarvis Jocelyn, who discovers himself to be a bigamist. He's married to
+the co-dramatist and the author, and he never knew it! That I wrote the
+book has been a secret until this minute. If you hadn't liked the play,
+I never _would_ have admitted that I wrote it. You're the very nicest
+first-nighters I ever met, and we are both most grateful to you, the
+bigamist and I."
+
+There was wild applause, flowers were tossed from the boxes, calls of
+"Brava!" greeted the little bowing figure clinging tightly to the big
+man's hand. They finally made their escape to the wings, and Bambi
+turned to Jarvis for what was to her the real climax of the evening.
+
+He looked at her so strangely that she laid her hand on his arm.
+
+"You aren't glad?" she questioned, anxiously.
+
+Some members of the company surrounded them with congratulations, and
+when they were free they had to hurry out to rescue the rest of
+the family.
+
+"What did you think of the secret, Daddy?"
+
+"My child, I am past all thought. I wish to be taken home, put to bed,
+and allowed to recover slowly. I have had a shock of surprise that would
+kill a less vigorous man."
+
+"But you liked it? You were glad I did it?"
+
+"I am so proud of you that I am imbecile. Let us go home."
+
+Richard shook both her hands in silent congratulation.
+
+"Where is Jarvis?" asked her father.
+
+A search failed to find him. Richard made a trip back on the stage, but
+he was not there.
+
+"We won't wait, if you will put us into our cab," Bambi said to him.
+
+He saw them all off, promising to send Jarvis along if he saw him.
+
+"What do you suppose became of him?" demanded the Professor.
+
+But Bambi did not answer. All the triumph of the evening counted for
+nothing to her now. Jarvis had been hurt or angered at her revelation.
+He had deliberately gone off and left her, regardless of appearances.
+She spent the night in anxious listening for his return, but morning
+found his rooms vacant, his bed untouched. Bambi's heart misgave her.
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+Jarvis was never sure what happened to him after he came off the stage
+with Bambi. Something had exploded in his brain, and his only thought
+was to get away, away from all the noisy, chattering, hand-shaking
+people, to some quiet place, where he could think.
+
+On the way back to the box in Bambi's train, he had been separated from
+her a minute, long enough to spy the stage door, to slip out and away.
+He headed uptown without design, walking, walking, at a furious pace.
+Bambi, herself, was the Lady of Mystery to whom he had offered his
+devotions. The thing which hurt him was that she had tricked him into
+declaring himself, probably laughed at his ardour. It made him rage to
+think of it. What had been her object? He could not decipher her riddle
+at all. If she wanted his love, she might have had it for the taking,
+without all this play-acting nonsense. These was no use in his ever
+expecting to understand her or her motives. He might as well give it up
+and be done with it.
+
+He built up the whole story, bit by bit. Her mysterious trips to town
+were in regard to the book, of course. The "butter-'n'-eggs" money came
+from royalties. Strong had published the story in his magazine: hence
+their intimacy. His thought attacked this idea furiously, then he
+remembered Bambi's words, "I love Richard Strong as my good friend, and
+in no other way."
+
+There was no doubting the sincerity of that declaration. Besides, Bambi
+never lied. She had not deceived him, then, with any deliberate plan to
+alienate his affections so that she could be free to go to Strong. No
+light along that line of questioning.
+
+He went on, feeling his way, step by step, to the point of the
+dramatization of the book. Here he paused long. Surely he had not been
+her dupe here. He was Frohman's choice as dramatist. But was he? She and
+Frohman had come to some understanding, because she had gone to see him
+the day the play was delivered. No, that could not be, for he found her
+at home when he returned. He could not find a piece to fit into the
+puzzle at this point. He went over their joint work on the book--her
+book. He understood, now, how she was so sure of every move, why she
+knew her characters so well. What a blind fool he had been not to see
+that Francesca was herself! How she had played with him about that, too.
+How she drew him out about the other characters. He stopped in his
+tracks as the last blow fell. The musician was intended for a study of
+him--that hazy, impossible dreamer, with his half-baked, egotistical
+theories of his own divine importance. Why, in God's name, had she
+married him if that was her opinion of him? His brain beat it over and
+over, to the click of his heels on the pavement.
+
+The fiddler was the Professor, of course. Any one but a blind man would
+have seen it. So she had made mock of them, the two men nearest to her,
+for all the world to laugh at! That she wanted to punish him for not
+coming up to her expectations, that he could understand, but why had she
+betrayed the Professor whom she loved?
+
+He reviewed the period of rehearsals--her sure touch revealed again. She
+knew every move. She even saw herself so clearly that she could correct
+the actress in a false move. She had held herself up for public
+inspection, too. He had to admit that. It seemed so shameless to him, so
+lacking in reserve.
+
+He urged his mind on to the night now passing, the night he had looked
+forward to, for so many months, as the first white stone along the road
+to success. Well, it had been a success, but none of his. Bambi's--all
+Bambi's. She had conceived the book, worked out the play, and rehearsed
+it, to a triumphant issue. It was all hers! The only part he could claim
+was that Frohman had sent for him. But had he? Was it possible he had
+only humoured Bambi in her desire to give him a chance? He would find
+out the truth about that, and if it were so, he could never forgive her.
+
+He saw her coming toward him in reply to the calls for "Author!" her
+eyes fixed on him, shining and expectant! What had she wanted him to do?
+Was it possible she expected him to be pleased?
+
+Broad daylight found him far up toward the Bronx, weary, footsore, and
+hungry. When he came to himself he realized that he must send some word
+to the club of his whereabouts. He wrote a message to Bambi:
+
+"I shall not come back to-day. I cannot. You have hurt me very deeply.
+
+                                        "JARVIS."
+
+He put a special delivery stamp on it and mailed it. He found some
+breakfast, and went into the Bronx Park, where he sat down under the
+bare trees to face himself.
+
+In the meantime Bambi, after a sleepless night, was up betimes. At
+breakfast she protested that she was not at all worried. Jarvis had no
+doubt decided to celebrate the success in the usual masculine way. He
+would come home later, with a headache.
+
+"But Jarvis isn't a drinking man, is he?" the Professor inquired.
+
+"No, but it's the way men always celebrate, isn't it?"
+
+The Professor wanted the whole story of the writing of the book, the
+prize winning, Mr. Frohman's order, and all, so, after breakfast, she
+made a clean breast of it, and they laughed over it for a couple of
+hours. Then Jarvis's message came. Her face quivered as she read it.
+
+"What is it, dear? Is it Jarvis?"
+
+She nodded, the slow tears falling.
+
+"He isn't hurt?"
+
+"Not physically hurt, but I've hurt his feelings. Oh, Daddy, I've made
+such a mess of it. I wanted to be dazzled by my success, because he
+thinks I'm a helpless sort of thing, and now he only hates me for it."
+
+She broke down and wept bitterly. The Professor, distressed and
+helpless, took her into his arms and petted her.
+
+"There, there, Baby, it will work out all right. Just let us go home,
+where we're used to things, and everything will look different."
+
+"Yes, that's it, we'll all go home," sobbed Bambi, wiping her eyes.
+
+"Where is Jarvis?"
+
+"I don't know. But I can leave word for him here that we've gone back
+home."
+
+"Then we can get the two o'clock train. Nothing but misery comes to
+people in these cities."
+
+By dint of much hurry they caught the train, Ardelia protesting up to
+the moment when the train started that they couldn't possibly make it.
+Bambi sat, chin on hand, all the way, a sad, pale-faced figure. No one
+could suspect, to see her now, that she had been the brilliant
+flame-thing of the night before. Once the Professor patted her hand and
+she tried to smile at him, but it wasn't much of a success.
+
+When they entered the house, and Ardelia bustled about to get them some
+tea, Bambi sat dejectedly, with all her things on, among the
+travelling-bags.
+
+"Be of good courage, little daughter," her father said.
+
+"Oh, Father Professor, are the fruits of success always so bitter--so
+bitter?" she cried to him.
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+The first week of the play went by, and it was an assured success. The
+royalty for the first seven days was a surprise, which would have thrown
+Bambi into raptures under ordinary circumstances. But the Bambi of these
+days and rapture were no longer playmates.
+
+There had been no word from Jarvis since that time of the first brief
+message. Bambi went about the house a thin, white-faced, little ghost,
+with never a song or a smile.
+
+"Fo' Gawd, Perfessor, it makes me cry to look at Miss Bambi, an' I don'
+dare ask her what's de mattah."
+
+"I think we must just let her alone, Ardelia. She'll work this thing out
+for herself." But he, too, was alarmed at the change in her.
+
+The more she thought of how she had thrown away Jarvis's love, the more
+she lacerated herself with reproaches. Her fatal love of play-acting had
+brought her sorrow this time. How could she have done it? Why didn't she
+see that Jarvis would never understand what made her do it, that he
+would resent it.
+
+Some days she was in a fury at him for not understanding her. Other days
+she wanted him so that she could scarcely refrain from taking a train to
+New York and looking for him. In her sane moments she knew that the only
+thing she could do now was to wait.
+
+Richard Strong came down to dine and spend the night, and one thing he
+said added to her misery.
+
+"Jarvis stayed in town, didn't he?" he remarked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Looking after things there, I suppose? I passed him on the street
+yesterday, but he didn't see me."
+
+"You passed him yesterday?" breathlessly.
+
+"Yes. The opening and the strain of the rehearsal knocked him out,
+didn't it? He looked as gaunt as a monk."
+
+"Jarvis takes things very seriously."
+
+"By the way, how did he take your joke?"
+
+She looked directly at him and answered frankly: "He didn't think it was
+funny at all."
+
+"Oh, that's a pity."
+
+"I'm through with jokes, Richard, through with them for all time," she
+said, her lips quivering.
+
+"Oh, no--try one on me, I'd like it," he laughed to cover her emotion,
+and changed the subject quickly.
+
+When he returned to town he called up the Frohman offices, asking for
+Jarvis's address. He was still at the National Arts Club, they assured
+him. So that evening he presented himself there unannounced. He found
+Jarvis alone in the reading-room, a book open before sightless eyes. He
+rose to greet Strong, with evident reluctance.
+
+"I'm glad to find you, Jocelyn. I have something particular to say to
+you."
+
+"So? Sit down, won't you?"
+
+"I've just come back from Sunnyside, where I spent the night. I wanted
+to settle the details of your wife's next serial."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you seen her since the opening night?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I think she is either very ill, or very unhappy, possibly both. She
+seems such a frail little thing that one dreads any extra demands on
+her. I knew you stayed on to look after the business here, of course....
+You know the dear, blind, old Professor. Naturally you are the person to
+look after her, and I thought it would be just like her not to say a
+word to you about it all, so here I am, playing tame cat, carrying
+tales. Go down to-night, Jocelyn, and take that girl away somewhere."
+
+"They think she's ill?" Jarvis repeated.
+
+"She looks it to me. If she were my wife, I'd be alarmed."
+
+He rose as he finished, and Jarvis rose, too. They looked each other in
+the eyes.
+
+"Thank you!" said Jarvis.
+
+He suddenly realized, without words of any kind, that this man suffered
+as he did, because he, too, loved Bambi. He was big enough to come to
+her husband with news of her need. By a common impulse their hands met
+in a warm hand-clasp.
+
+"She needs you, Jocelyn," Strong said.
+
+"You're a good friend, Strong," Jarvis answered.
+
+When he had gone, Jarvis hurried to his room and began to pack his bag.
+His heart beat like a trip-hammer with excitement. He was going to
+Bambi! She needed him. He had endured a week of the third degree,
+practised upon himself. He had peered into every nook and corner of his
+own soul. He knew himself for a blind, selfish egotist. He was ready now
+to fling his winter garments of repentance into the fires of spring. He
+understood himself, though Bambi baffled him more than ever. Never mind.
+She needed him. Strong said so--and he was going to her.
+
+He was at the station an hour before the train left, pacing up and down
+the platform like an angry lion. Aboard the sleeper, and on the way, he
+tossed and turned in his berth in wakefulness. At dawn he was up and
+dressed, to sit in a fever of impatience while the landscape slowly slid
+by the car window.
+
+At Sunnyside he hurried along the deserted street, where only the
+milkman wound his weary way in the early morning. There was a hint of
+spring in the air, fresh and exhilarating, with a faint earth smell.
+
+The house lay, with closed blinds, still asleep. He let himself in with
+his latch-key, dropped his bag, hat, and coat in the hall, and rushed
+upstairs to Bambi's rooms. No hesitation now. He would storm the citadel
+in truth. He opened her bedroom door softly and peered in. It was
+unknown country to him. The bed was empty. He entered and walked swiftly
+to the door beyond, where he heard a faint crackling, as of a fire
+burning. At the door he paused.
+
+She was crouched before a fire, cross-legged, her face cupped on her
+hands. In her pink robe and cap she looked more like a child than ever.
+She half turned her head, as if feeling his presence, so he saw how pale
+she was, how black the circles round her eyes.
+
+"My little love!" he cried to her. "My little love!"
+
+She sprang to her feet, facing him; her hands went swiftly to her heart,
+as if a spasm shook her. As Jarvis came toward her, a great light in his
+face, she put her hands out to fend him off.
+
+"I want you to know that I realize just how silly and cheap and
+theatrical I've been. I didn't mean to hurt you," she began in a
+monotone, as if it tired her too much to speak. He tried to stop her,
+but she shook her head.
+
+"I have to say it all now. I cared so much when you came home that time,
+and after the first night I thought you didn't care for me."
+
+"My best beloved, let me----"
+
+"No, no--please. I was piqued and angry and I thought I could punish you
+by pretending to be the other woman you thought you were writing to. I
+wanted to make you care for her, and then----"
+
+"It was you I cared for--you, you, you!"
+
+"I thought that, when you knew I was both of us, you'd be so glad----" She
+broke off into a sob.
+
+"I am, dearest, I am."
+
+"I never meant to hurt you. This week has nearly killed me."
+
+He took her into his arms, and sat in the big chair, holding her close,
+while she clung to him and sobbed out her heart. He kissed her hair, her
+wet eyes, and her lips, saying over and over, "Oh, littlest, I love you
+so, I love you so!" When the sobs ceased, he lifted her face to his.
+
+"I want to see the shine in your eyes, dearest, and then I want you to
+listen to me."
+
+She drew his head down to her and kissed him.
+
+"The shine will come back now, beloved. Oh, Big"--she said with a
+sigh--"my old Jarvis."
+
+"No, your new Jarvis, little wife. The old, crazy Jarvis will be more to
+your liking. I may not understand you very well yet, but I know my need
+of you my pride in you----"
+
+"And my need of you?"
+
+"And your need of me. We're in step, now, honey girl--and we'll march
+along together without any more misunderstandings, won't we?"
+
+"Oh, we will, if you'll take short steps, so I can keep up."
+
+"I'm the one to do the running now, Miss Mite. A famous novelist and a
+successful playwright!" he laughed, pinching her cheek.
+
+"None of it counts. The only title that means anything to me is Mrs.
+Jarvis Jocelyn."
+
+His comment on that was inaudible.
+
+"Would you mind telling me just why you married me?"
+
+"Because I was a seeress, and foresaw this day."
+
+More comment, inaudible. The door opened, cautiously, the Professor
+tiptoed in, followed by Ardelia, with a tray. At the sight of the two
+before him, engrossed in the inaudible comments, he stepped back into
+Ardelia and rattled the contents of the tray. Jarvis looked up and
+caught his astonished expression. He rose with Bambi in his arms.
+
+"Good-morning, Father. I'm home," he said.
+
+"Thank de good Lawd!" from Ardelia.
+
+"It's Jarvis," said Bambi, fatuously, patting his cheek.
+
+"I suspected that it was when I saw him," the Professor admitted. "I'm
+glad that you're back, and I hope you'll stay. This child needs a firmer
+hand than mine."
+
+"You're speaking of a woman with a well-advanced career, Herr Professor
+Parkhurst!"
+
+"Ardelia, we are not needed. She is well. A dose of Jarvis Jocelyn was
+the correct prescription."
+
+"Well, thank Gawd fo' some sho' nuff lovin' at las'" said Ardelia, as
+she backed out behind the Professor, and closed the door.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bambi, by Marjorie Benton Cooke
+
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