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diff --git a/3374-h/3374-h.htm b/3374-h/3374-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9300c78 --- /dev/null +++ b/3374-h/3374-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,49130 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Entire March Family Trilogy, by William Dean Howells + </title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The March Family Trilogy, Complete +by William Dean Howells + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + +Title: The March Family Trilogy, Complete + +Author: William Dean Howells + +Release Date: September 1, 2006 [EBook #3374] +Last Updated: February 25, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARCH FAMILY TRILOGY, COMPLETE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <h1> + THE ENTIRE MARCH FAMILY TRILOGY + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THEIR WEDDING JOURNEY </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0015"> A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0083"> THEIR SILVER WEDDING JOURNEY. </a> + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By William Dean Howells + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>THEIR WEDDING JOURNEY</b></big></a> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I. </a>THE OUTSET. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0003"> II. </a>MIDSUMMER-DAY'S DREAM. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III. </a>THE NIGHT BOAT. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0005"> IV. </a>A DAY'S RAILROADING <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0006"> V. </a>THE ENCHANTED CITY, AND BEYOND. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VI. </a>NIAGARA. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0009"> VII. </a>DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0010"> VIII. </a>THE SENTIMENT OF MONTREAL. + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> IX. </a>QUEBEC. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0012"> X. </a>HOMEWARD AND HOME. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0014"> XI. </a>NIAGARA REVISITED. <br /><br /><br /> <br /> + <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> <big><b>A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES</b></big> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART1a"> <b>PART FIRST</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> XII. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART2a"> <b>PART SECOND</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0034"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0035"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0036"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0037"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0038"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0039"> X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0040"> XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0041"> XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0042"> XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0043"> XIV. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART3a"> <b>PART THIRD</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0045"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0046"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0047"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0048"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0049"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0050"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0051"> VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0052"> VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0053"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART4a"> <b>PART FOURTH</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0055"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0056"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0057"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0058"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0059"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0060"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0061"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0062"> VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0063"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART5a"> <b>PART FIFTH</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0065"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0066"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0067"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0068"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0069"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0070"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0071"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0072"> VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0073"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0074"> X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0075"> XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0076"> XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0077"> XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0078"> XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0079"> XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0080"> XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0081"> XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0082"> XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0083"> <big><b>THEIR SILVER WEDDING + JOURNEY.</b></big> </a><br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART1b"> <b>PART I.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0085"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0086"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0087"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0088"> IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0089"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0090"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0091"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0092"> VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0093"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0094"> X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0095"> XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0096"> XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0097"> XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0098"> XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0099"> XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0100"> XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0101"> XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0102"> XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0103"> XIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0104"> XX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0105"> XXI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0106"> XXII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0107"> XXIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0108"> XXV. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART2b"> <b>PART II.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0110"> XXVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0111"> XXVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0112"> XXVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0113"> XXIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0114"> XXX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0115"> XXXI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0116"> XXXII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0117"> XXXIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0118"> XXXIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0119"> XXXV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0120"> XXXVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0121"> XXXVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0122"> XXXVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0123"> XXXIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0124"> XL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0125"> XLI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0126"> XLII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0127"> XLIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0128"> XLIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0129"> XLV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0130"> XLVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0131"> XLVII. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART3b"> <b>PART III.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0133"> XLIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0134"> L. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0135"> LI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0136"> LII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0137"> LIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0138"> LIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0139"> LV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0140"> LVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0141"> LVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0142"> LVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0143"> LIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0144"> LX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0145"> LXI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0146"> LXII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0147"> LXIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0148"> LXIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0149"> LXV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0150"> LXVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0151"> LXVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0152"> LXVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0153"> LXIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0154"> LXX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0155"> LXXI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0156"> LXXII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0157"> LXXIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0158"> LXXVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0159"> LXXV. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THEIR WEDDING JOURNEY + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. THE OUTSET + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9013}.jpg" alt="{9013}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9013}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + + <p> + They first met in Boston, but the match was made in Europe, where they + afterwards saw each other; whither, indeed, he followed her; and there the + match was also broken off. Why it was broken off, and why it was renewed + after a lapse of years, is part of quite a long love-story, which I do not + think myself qualified to rehearse, distrusting my fitness for a sustained + or involved narration; though I am persuaded that a skillful romancer + could turn the courtship of Basil and Isabel March to excellent account. + Fortunately for me, however, in attempting to tell the reader of the + wedding-journey of a newly married couple, no longer very young, to be + sure, but still fresh in the light of their love, I shall have nothing to + do but to talk of some ordinary traits of American life as these appeared + to them, to speak a little of well-known and easily accessible places, to + present now a bit of landscape and now a sketch of character. + </p> + <p> + They had agreed to make their wedding-journey in the simplest and quietest + way, and as it did not take place at once after their marriage, but some + weeks later, it had all the desired charm of privacy from the outset. + </p> + <p> + “How much better,” said Isabel, “to go now, when nobody + cares whether you go or stay, than to have started off upon a wretched + wedding-breakfast, all tears and trousseau, and had people wanting to see + you aboard the cars. Now there will not be a suspicion of honey-moonshine + about us; we shall go just like anybody else,—with a difference, + dear, with a difference!” and she took Basil's cheeks between + her hands. In order to do this, she had to ran round the table; for they + were at dinner, and Isabel's aunt, with whom they had begun married + life, sat substantial between them. It was rather a girlish thing for + Isabel, and she added, with a conscious blush, “We are past our + first youth, you know; and we shall not strike the public as bridal, shall + we? My one horror in life is an evident bride.” + </p> + <p> + Basil looked at her fondly, as if he did not think her at all too old to + be taken for a bride; and for my part I do not object to a woman's + being of Isabel's age, if she is of a good heart and temper. Life + must have been very unkind to her if at that age she have not won more + than she has lost. It seemed to Basil that his wife was quite as fair as + when they met first, eight years before; but he could not help recurring + with an inextinguishable regret to the long interval of their broken + engagement, which but for that fatality they might have spent together, he + imagined, in just such rapture as this. The regret always haunted him, + more or less; it was part of his love; the loss accounted irreparable + really enriched the final gain. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” he said presently, with as much gravity + as a man can whose cheeks are clasped between a lady's hands, + “you don't begin very well for a bride who wishes to keep her + secret. If you behave in this way, they will put us into the 'bridal + chambers' at all the hotels. And the cars—they're + beginning to have them on the palace-cars.” + </p> + <p> + Just then a shadow fell into the room. + </p> + <p> + “Wasn't that thunder, Isabel?” asked her aunt, who had + been contentedly surveying the tender spectacle before her. “O dear! + you'll never be able to go by the boat to-night, if it storms. It's + actually raining now!” + </p> + <p> + In fact, it was the beginning of that terrible storm of June, 1870. All in + a moment, out of the hot sunshine of the day it burst upon us before we + quite knew that it threatened, even before we had fairly noticed the + clouds, and it went on from passion to passion with an inexhaustible + violence. In the square upon which our friends looked out of their + dining-room windows the trees whitened in the gusts, and darkened in the + driving floods of the rainfall, and in some paroxysms of the tempest bent + themselves in desperate submission, and then with a great shudder rent + away whole branches and flung them far off upon the ground. Hail mingled + with the rain, and now the few umbrellas that had braved the storm + vanished, and the hurtling ice crackled upon the pavement, where the + lightning played like flames burning from the earth, while the thunder + roared overhead without ceasing. There was something splendidly theatrical + about it all; and when a street-car, laden to the last inch of its + capacity, came by, with horses that pranced and leaped under the stinging + blows of the hailstones, our friends felt as if it were an effective and + very naturalistic bit of pantomime contrived for their admiration. Yet as + to themselves they were very sensible of a potent reality in the affair, + and at intervals during the storm they debated about going at all that + day, and decided to go and not to go, according to the changing complexion + of the elements. Basil had said that as this was their first journey + together in America, he wished to give it at the beginning as pungent a + national character as possible, and that as he could imagine nothing more + peculiarly American than a voyage to New York by a Fall River boat, they + ought to take that route thither. So much upholstery, so much music, such + variety of company, he understood, could not be got in any other way, and + it might be that they would even catch a glimpse of the inventor of the + combination, who represented the very excess and extremity of a certain + kind of Americanism. Isabel had eagerly consented; but these aesthetic + motives were paralyzed for her by the thought of passing Point Judith in a + storm, and she descended from her high intents first to the Inside Boats, + without the magnificence and the orchestra, and then to the idea of going + by land in a sleeping-car. Having comfortably accomplished this feat, she + treated Basil's consent as a matter of course, not because she did + not regard him, but because as a woman she could not conceive of the steps + to her conclusion as unknown to him, and always treated her own decisions + as the product of their common reasoning. But her husband held out for the + boat, and insisted that if the storm fell before seven o'clock, they + could reach it at Newport by the last express; and it was this obstinacy + that, in proof of Isabel's wisdom, obliged them to wait two hours in + the station before going by the land route. The storm abated at five o'clock, + and though the rain continued, it seemed well by a quarter of seven to set + out for the Old Colony Depot, in sight of which a sudden and vivid flash + of lightning caused Isabel to seize her husband's arm, and to + implore him, “O don't go by the boat!” On this, Basil + had the incredible weakness to yield; and bade the driver take them to the + Worcester Depot. It was the first swerving from the ideal in their wedding + journey, but it was by no means the last; though it must be confessed that + it was early to begin. + </p> + <p> + They both felt more tranquil when they were irretrievably committed by the + purchase of their tickets, and when they sat down in the waiting-room of + the station, with all the time between seven and nine o'clock before + them. Basil would have eked out the business of checking the trunks into + an affair of some length, but the baggage-master did his duty with + pitiless celerity; and so Basil, in the mere excess of his disoccupation, + bought an accident-insurance ticket. This employed him half a minute, and + then he gave up the unequal contest, and went and took his place beside + Isabel, who sat prettily wrapped in her shawl, perfectly content. + </p> + <p> + “Isn't it charming,” she said gayly, “having to + wait so long? It puts me in mind of some of those other journeys we took + together. But I can't think of those times with any patience, when + we might really have had each other, and didn't! Do you remember how + long we had to wait at Chambery? and the numbers of military gentlemen + that waited too, with their little waists, and their kisses when they met? + and that poor married military gentleman, with the plain wife and the two + children, and a tarnished uniform? He seemed to be somehow in misfortune, + and his mustache hung down in such a spiritless way, while all the other + military mustaches about curled and bristled with so much boldness. I + think 'salles d'attente' everywhere are delightful, and + there is such a community of interest in them all, that when I come here + only to go out to Brookline, I feel myself a traveller once more,—a + blessed stranger in a strange land. O dear, Basil, those were happy times + after all, when we might have had each other and didn't! And now we're + the more precious for having been so long lost.” + </p> + <p> + She drew closer and closer to him, and looked at him in a way that + threatened betrayal of her bridal character. + </p> + <p> + “Isabel, you will be having your head on my shoulder, next,” + said he. + </p> + <p> + “Never!” she answered fiercely, recovering her distance with a + start. “But, dearest, if you do see me going to—act absurdly, + you know, do stop me.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very sorry, but I've got myself to stop. Besides, I + didn't undertake to preserve the incognito of this bridal party.” + </p> + <p> + If any accident of the sort dreaded had really happened, it would not have + mattered so much, for as yet they were the sole occupants of the waiting + room. To be sure, the ticket-seller was there, and the lady who checked + packages left in her charge, but these must have seen so many endearments + pass between passengers,—that a fleeting caress or so would scarcely + have drawn their notice to our pair. Yet Isabel did not so much even as + put her hand into her husband's; and as Basil afterwards said, it + was very good practice. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0020}.jpg" alt="{0020}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0020}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Our temporary state, whatever it is, is often mirrored in all that come + near us, and our friends were fated to meet frequent parodies of their + happiness from first to last on this journey. The travesty began with the + very first people who entered the waiting-room after themselves, and who + were a very young couple starting like themselves upon a pleasure tour, + which also was evidently one of the first tours of any kind that they had + made. It was of modest extent, and comprised going to New York and back; + but they talked of it with a fluttered and joyful expectation as if it + were a voyage to Europe. Presently there appeared a burlesque of their + happiness (but with a touch of tragedy) in that kind of young man who is + called by the females of his class a fellow, and two young women of that + kind known to him as girls. He took a place between these, and presently + began a robust flirtation with one of them. He possessed himself, after a + brief struggle, of her parasol, and twirled it about, as he uttered, with + a sort of tender rudeness inconceivable vapidities, such as you would + expect from none but a man of the highest fashion. The girl thus courted + became selfishly unconscious of everything but her own joy, and made no + attempt to bring the other girl within its warmth, but left her to + languish forgotten on the other side. The latter sometimes leaned forward, + and tried to divert a little of the flirtation to herself, but the + flirters snubbed her with short answers, and presently she gave up and sat + still in the sad patience of uncourted women. In this attitude she became + a burden to Isabel, who was glad when the three took themselves away, and + were succeeded by a very stylish couple—from New York, she knew as + well as if they had given her their address on West 999th Street. The lady + was not pretty, and she was not, Isabel thought, dressed in the perfect + taste of Boston; but she owned frankly to herself that the New-Yorkeress + was stylish, undeniably effective. The gentleman bought a ticket for New + York, and remained at the window of the office talking quite easily with + the seller. + </p> + <p> + “You couldn't do that, my poor Basil,” said Isabel, + “you'd be afraid.” + </p> + <p> + “O dear, yes; I'm only too glad to get off without + browbeating; though I must say that this officer looks affable enough. + Really,” he added, as an acquaintance of the ticket-seller came in + and nodded to him and said “Hot, to-day!” “this is very + strange. I always felt as if these men had no private life, no friendships + like the rest of us. On duty they seem so like sovereigns, set apart from + mankind, and above us all, that it's quite incredible they should + have the common personal relations.” + </p> + <p> + At intervals of their talk and silence there came vivid flashes of + lightning and quite heavy shocks of thunder, very consoling to our + friends, who took them as so many compliments to their prudence in not + going by the boat, and who had secret doubts of their wisdom whenever + these acknowledgments were withheld. Isabel went so far as to say that she + hoped nothing would happen to the boat, but I think she would cheerfully + have learnt that the vessel had been obliged to put back to Newport, on + account of the storm, or even that it had been driven ashore at a + perfectly safe place. + </p> + <p> + People constantly came and went in the waiting-room, which was sometimes + quite full, and again empty of all but themselves. In the course of their + observations they formed many cordial friendships and bitter enmities upon + the ground of personal appearance, or particulars of dress, with people + whom they saw for half a minute upon an average; and they took such a keen + interest in every one, that it would be hard to say whether they were more + concerned in an old gentleman with vigorously upright iron-gray hair, who + sat fronting them, and reading all the evening papers, or a young man who + hurled himself through the door, bought a ticket with terrific + precipitation, burst out again, and then ran down a departing train before + it got out of the station: they loved the old gentleman for a certain + stubborn benevolence of expression, and if they had been friends of the + young man and his family for generations and felt bound if any harm befell + him to go and break the news gently to his parents, their nerves could not + have been more intimately wrought upon by his hazardous behavior. Still, + as they had their tickets for New York, and he was going out on a merely + local train,—to Brookline, I believe, they could not, even in their + anxiety, repress a feeling of contempt for his unambitious destination. + </p> + <p> + They were already as completely cut off from local associations and + sympathies as if they were a thousand miles and many months away from + Boston. They enjoyed the lonely flaring of the gas-jets as a gust of wind + drew through the station; they shared the gloom and isolation of a man who + took a seat in the darkest corner of the room, and sat there with folded + arms, the genius of absence. In the patronizing spirit of travellers in a + foreign country they noted and approved the vases of cut-flowers in the + booth of the lady who checked packages, and the pots of ivy in her + windows. “These poor Bostonians,” they said; “have some + love of the beautiful in their rugged natures.” + </p> + <p> + But after all was said and thought, it was only eight o'clock, and + they still had an hour to wait. + </p> + <p> + Basil grew restless, and Isabel said, with a subtile interpretation of his + uneasiness, “I don't want anything to eat, Basil, but I think + I know the weaknesses of men; and you had better go and pass the next + half-hour over a plate of something indigestible.” + </p> + <p> + This was said 'con stizza', the least little suggestion of it; + but Basil rose with shameful alacrity. “Darling, if it's your + wish—” + </p> + <p> + “It's my fate, Basil,” said Isabel. + </p> + <p> + “I'll go,” he exclaimed, “because it isn't + bridal, and will help us to pass for old married people.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, Basil, be honest; fibbing isn't your forte: I wonder + you went into the insurance business; you ought to have been a lawyer. Go + because you like eating, and are hungry, perhaps, or think you may be so + before we get to New York. + </p> + <p> + “I shall amuse myself well enough here!” + </p> + <p> + I suppose it is always a little shocking and grievous to a wife when she + recognizes a rival in butchers'-meat and the vegetables of the + season. With her slender relishes for pastry and confectionery and her + dainty habits of lunching, she cannot reconcile with the idea (of) her + husband's capacity for breakfasting, dining, supping, and hot meals + at all hours of the day and night—as they write it on the + sign-boards of barbaric eating-houses. But Isabel would have only herself + to blame if she had not perceived this trait of Basil's before + marriage. She recurred now, as his figure disappeared down the station, to + memorable instances of his appetite in their European travels during their + first engagement. “Yes, he ate terribly at Susa, when I was too full + of the notion of getting into Italy to care for bouillon and cold roast + chicken. At Rome I thought I must break with him on account of the + wild-boar; and at Heidelberg, the sausage and the ham!—how could he, + in my presence? But I took him with all his faults,—and was glad to + get him,” she added, ending her meditation with a little burst of + candor; and she did not even think of Basil's appetite when he + reappeared. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0026}.jpg" alt="{0026}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0026}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + With the thronging of many sorts of people, in parties and singly, into + the waiting room, they became once again mere observers of their kind, + more or less critical in temper, until the crowd grew so that individual + traits were merged in the character of multitude. Even then, they could + catch glimpses of faces so sweet or fine that they made themselves felt + like moments of repose in the tumult, and here and there was something so + grotesque in dress of manner that it showed distinct from the rest. The + ticket-seller's stamp clicked incessantly as he sold tickets to all + points South and West: to New York, Philadelphia, Charleston; to New + Orleans, Chicago, Omaha; to St. Paul, Duluth, St. Louis; and it would not + have been hard to find in that anxious bustle, that unsmiling eagerness, + an image of the whole busy affair of life. It was not a particularly sane + spectacle, that impatience to be off to some place that lay not only in + the distance, but also in the future—to which no line of road + carries you with absolute certainty across an interval of time full of + every imaginable chance and influence. It is easy enough to buy a ticket + to Cincinnati, but it is somewhat harder to arrive there. Say that all + goes well, is it exactly you who arrive? + </p> + <p> + In the midst of the disquiet there entered at last an old woman, so very + infirm that she had to be upheld on either hand by her husband and the + hackman who had brought them, while a young girl went before with shawls + and pillows which she arranged upon the seat. There the invalid lay down, + and turned towards the crowd a white, suffering face, which was yet so + heavenly meek and peaceful that it comforted whoever looked at it. + </p> + <p> + In spirit our happy friends bowed themselves before it and owned that + there was something better than happiness in it. + </p> + <p> + “What is it like, Isabel?” + </p> + <p> + “O, I don't know, darling,” she said; but she thought, + “Perhaps it is like some blessed sorrow that takes us out of this + prison of a world, and sets us free of our every-day hates and desires, + our aims, our fears, ourselves. Maybe a long and mortal sickness might + come to wear such a face in one of us two, and the other could see it, and + not regret the poor mask of youth and pretty looks that had fallen away.” + </p> + <p> + She rose and went over to the sick woman, on whose face beamed a tender + smile, as Isabel spoke to her. A chord thrilled in two lives hitherto + unknown to each other; but what was said Basil would not ask when the + invalid had taken Isabel's hand between her own, as for adieu, and + she came back to his side with swimming eyes. Perhaps his wife could have + given no good reason for her emotion, if he had asked it. But it made her + very sweet and dear to him; and I suppose that when a tolerably unselfish + man is once secure of a woman's love, he is ordinarily more affected + by her compassion and tenderness for other objects than by her feelings + towards himself. He likes well enough to think, “She loves me,” + but still better, “How kind and good she is!” + </p> + <p> + They lost sight of the invalid in the hurry of getting places on the cars, + and they never saw her again. The man at the wicket-gate leading to the + train had thrown it up, and the people were pressing furiously through as + if their lives hung upon the chance of instant passage. Basil had secured + his ticket for the sleeping-car, and so he and Isabel stood aside and + watched the tumult. When the rash was over they passed through, and as + they walked up and down the platform beside the train, “I was + thinking,” said Isabel, “after I spoke to that poor old lady, + of what Clara Williams says: that she wonders the happiest women in the + world can look each other in the face without bursting into tears, their + happiness is so unreasonable, and so built upon and hedged about with + misery. She declares that there's nothing so sad to her as a bride, + unless it's a young mother, or a little girl growing up in the + innocent gayety of her heart. She wonders they can live through it.” + </p> + <p> + “Clara is very much of a reformer, and would make an end of all of + us men, I suppose,—except her father, who supports her in the + leisure that enables her to do her deep thinking. She little knows what we + poor fellows have to suffer, and how often we break down in business + hours, and sob upon one another's necks. Did that old lady talk to + you in the same strain?” + </p> + <p> + “O no! she spoke very calmly of her sickness, and said she had lived + a blessed life. Perhaps it was that made me shed those few small tears. + She seemed a very religious person.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Basil, “it is almost a pity that religion is + going out. But then you are to have the franchise.” + </p> + <p> + “All aboard!” + </p> + <p> + This warning cry saved him from whatever heresy he might have been about + to utter; and presently the train carried them out into the gas-sprinkled + darkness, with an ever-growing speed that soon left the city lamps far + behind. It is a phenomenon whose commonness alone prevents it from being + most impressive, that departure of the night-express. The two hundred + miles it is to travel stretch before it, traced by those slender clews, to + lose which is ruin, and about which hang so many dangers. The draw bridges + that gape upon the way, the trains that stand smoking and steaming on the + track, the rail that has borne the wear so long that it must soon snap + under it, the deep cut where the overhanging mass of rock trembles to its + fall, the obstruction that a pitiless malice may have placed in your path,—you + think of these after the journey is done, but they seldom haunt your fancy + while it lasts. The knowledge of your helplessness in any circumstances is + so perfect that it begets a sense of irresponsibility, almost of security; + and as you drowse upon the pallet of the sleeping car, and feel yourself + hurled forward through the obscurity, you are almost thankful that you can + do nothing, for it is upon this condition only that you can endure it; and + some such condition as this, I suppose, accounts for many heroic facts in + the world. To the fantastic mood which possesses you equally, sleeping or + waking, the stoppages of the train have a weird character; and Worcester, + Springfield, New Haven, and Stamford are rather points in dream-land than + well-known towns of New England. As the train stops you drowse if you have + been waking, and wake if you have been in a doze; but in any case you are + aware of the locomotive hissing and coughing beyond the station, of + flaring gas-jets, of clattering feet of passengers getting on and off; + then of some one, conductor or station-master, walking the whole length of + the train; and then you are aware of an insane satisfaction in renewed + flight through the darkness. You think hazily of the folk in their beds in + the town left behind, who stir uneasily at the sound of your train's + departing whistle; and so all is a blank vigil or a blank slumber. + </p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9032}.jpg" alt="{9032}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9032}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + + <p> + By daylight Basil and Isabel found themselves at opposite ends of the car, + struggling severally with the problem of the morning's toilet. When + the combat was ended, they were surprised at the decency of their + appearance, and Isabel said, “I think I'm presentable to an + early Broadway public, and I've a fancy for not going to a hotel. + Lucy will be expecting us out there before noon; and we can pass the time + pleasantly enough for a few hours just wandering about.” + </p> + <p> + She was a woman who loved any cheap defiance of custom, and she had an + agreeable sense of adventure in what she proposed. Besides, she felt that + nothing could be more in the unconventional spirit in which they meant to + make their whole journey than a stroll about New York at half-past six in + the morning. + </p> + <p> + “Delightful!” answered Basil, who was always charmed with + these small originalities. “You look well enough for an evening + party; and besides, you won't meet one of your own critical class on + Broadway at this hour. We will breakfast at one of those gilded + metropolitan restaurants, and then go round to Leonard's, who will + be able to give us just three unhurried seconds. After that we'll + push on out to his place.” + </p> + <p> + At that early hour there were not many people astir on the wide avenue + down which our friends strolled when they left the station; but in the + aspect of those they saw there was something that told of a greater heat + than they had yet known in Boston, and they were sensible of having + reached a more southern latitude. The air, though freshened by the + over-night's storm, still wanted the briskness and sparkle and + pungency of the Boston air, which is as delicious in summer as it is + terrible in winter; and the faces that showed themselves were sodden from + the yesterday's heat and perspiration. A corner-grocer, seated in a + sort of fierce despondency upon a keg near his shop door, had lightly + equipped himself for the struggle of the day in the battered armor of the + day before, and in a pair of roomy pantaloons, and a baggy shirt of + neutral tint—perhaps he had made a vow not to change it whilst the + siege of the hot weather lasted,—now confronted the advancing + sunlight, before which the long shadows of the buildings were slowly + retiring. A marketing mother of a family paused at a provision-store, and + looking weakly in at the white-aproned butcher among his meats and flies, + passes without an effort to purchase. Hurried and wearied shop-girls + tripped by in the draperies that betrayed their sad necessity to be both + fine and shabby; from a boarding-house door issued briskly one of those + cool young New Yorkers whom no circumstances can oppress: breezy-coated, + white-livened, clean, with a good cigar in the mouth, a light cane caught + upon the elbow of one of the arms holding up the paper from which the + morning's news is snatched, whilst the person sways lightly with the + walk; in the street-cars that slowly tinkled up and down were rows of + people with baskets between their legs and papers before their faces; and + all showed by some peculiarity of air or dress the excess of heat which + they had already borne, and to which they seemed to look forward, and gave + by the scantiness of their number a vivid impression of the uncounted + thousands within doors prolonging, before the day's terror began, + the oblivion of sleep. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0034}.jpg" alt="{0034}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0034}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + As they turned into one of the numerical streets to cross to Broadway, and + found themselves in a yet deeper seclusion, Basil-began to utter in a + musing tone: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “A city against the world's gray Prime, + Lost in some desert, far from Time, + Where noiseless Ages gliding through, + Have only sifted sands and dew, + Yet still a marble head of man + Lying on all the haunted plan; + The passions of the human heart + Beating the marble breast of Art, + Were not more lone to one who first + Upon its giant silence burst, + Than this strange quiet, where the tide + Of life, upheaved on either aide, + Hangs trembling, ready soon to beat + With human waves the Morning Street.” + </pre> + <p> + “How lovely!” said Isabel, swiftly catching at her skirt, and + deftly escaping contact with one of a long row of ash-barrels posted + sentinel-like on the edge of the pavement. “Whose is it, Basil?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! a poet's,” answered her husband, “a man of + whom we shall one day any of us be glad to say that we liked him before he + was famous. What a nebulous sweetness the first lines have, and what a + clear, cool light of day-break in the last!” + </p> + <p> + “You could have been as good a poet as that, Basil,” said the + ever-personal and concretely-speaking Isabel, who could not look at a + mountain without thinking what Basil might have done in that way, if he + had tried. + </p> + <p> + “O no, I couldn't, dear. It's very difficult being any + poet at all, though it's easy to be like one. But I've done + with it; I broke with the Muse the day you accepted me. She came into my + office, looking so shabby,—not unlike one of those poor shop-girls; + and as I was very well dressed from having just been to see you, why, you + know, I felt the difference. 'Well, my dear?' said I, not + quite liking the look of reproach she was giving me. 'You are going + to leave me,' she answered sadly. 'Well, yes; I suppose I + must. You see the insurance business is very absorbing; and besides, it + has a bad appearance, your coming about so in office hours, and in those + clothes.' 'O,' she moaned out, 'you used to + welcome me at all times, out in the country, and thought me prettily + dressed.' 'Yes, yes; but this is Boston; and Boston makes a + great difference in one's ideas; and I'm going to be married, + too. Come, I don't want to seem ungrateful; we have had many + pleasant times together, I own it; and I've no objections to your + being present at Christmas and Thanksgiving and birthdays, but really I + must draw the line there.' She gave me a look that made my heart + ache, and went straight to my desk and took out of a pigeon hole a lot of + papers,—odes upon your cruelty, Isabel; songs to you; sonnets,—the + sonnet, a mighty poor one, I'd made the day before,—and threw + them all into the grate. Then she turned to me again, signed adieu with + mute lips, and passed out. I could hear the bottom wire of the poor thing's + hoop-skirt clicking against each step of the stairway, as she went slowly + and heavily down to the street.” “O don't—don't, + Basil,” said his wife, “it seems like something wrong. I think + you ought to have been ashamed.” + </p> + <p> + “Ashamed! I was heart broken. But it had to come to that. As I got + hopeful about you, the Muse became a sad bore; and more than once I found + myself smiling at her when her back was turned. The Muse doesn't + like being laughed at any more than another woman would, and she would + have left me shortly. No, I couldn't be a poet like our + Morning-Street friend. But see! the human wave is beginning to sprinkle + the pavement with cooks and second-girls.” + </p> + <p> + They were frowzy serving-maids and silent; each swept down her own door + steps and the pavement in front of her own house, and then knocked her + broom on the curbstone and vanished into the house, on which the hand of + change had already fallen. It was no longer a street solely devoted to the + domestic gods, but had been invaded at more than one point by the bustling + deities of business in such streets the irregular, inspired doctors and + doctresses come first with inordinate door-plates, then a milliner filling + the parlor window with new bonnets; here even a publisher had hung his + sign beside a door, through which the feet of young ladies used to trip, + and the feet of little children to patter. Here and there stood groups of + dwellings unmolested as yet outwardly; but even these had a certain + careworn and guilty air, as if they knew themselves to be cheapish + boarding-houses or furnished lodgings for gentlemen, and were trying to + hide it. To these belonged the frowzy serving-women; to these the rows of + ash-barrels, in which the decrepit children and mothers of the streets + were clawing for bits of coal. + </p> + <p> + By the time Basil and Isabel reached Broadway there were already some + omnibuses beginning their long day's travel up and down the + handsome, tiresome length of that avenue; but for the most part it was + empty. There was, of course, a hurry of foot-passengers upon the + sidewalks, but these were sparse and uncharacteristic, for New York proper + was still fast asleep. The waiter at the restaurant into which our friends + stepped was so well aware of this, and so perfectly assured they were not + of the city, that he could not forbear a little patronage of them, which + they did not resent. He brought Basil what he had ordered in barbaric + abundance, and charged for it with barbaric splendor. It is all but + impossible not to wish to stand well with your waiter: I have myself been + often treated with conspicuous rudeness by the tribe, yet I have never + been able to withhold the 'douceur' that marked me for a + gentleman in their eyes, and entitled me to their dishonorable esteem. + Basil was not superior to this folly, and left the waiter with the + conviction that, if he was not a New Yorker, he was a high-bred man of the + world at any rate. + </p> + <p> + Vexed by a sense of his own pitifulness, this man of the world continued + his pilgrimage down Broadway, which even in that desert state was full of + a certain interest. Troops of laborers straggled along the pavements, each + with his dinner-pail in hand; and in many places the eternal building up + and pulling down was already going on; carts were struggling up the slopes + of vast cellars, with loads of distracting rubbish; here stood the + half-demolished walls of a house, with a sad variety of wall-paper showing + in the different rooms; there clinked the trowel upon the brick, yonder + the hammer on the stone; overhead swung and threatened the marble block + that the derrick was lifting to its place. As yet these forces of + demolition and construction had the business of the street almost to + themselves. + </p> + <p> + “Why, how shabby the street is!” said Isabel, at last. “When + I landed, after being abroad, I remember that Broadway impressed me with + its splendor.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! but you were merely coming from Europe then; and now you arrive + from Burton, and are contrasting this poor Broadway with Washington + Street. Don't be hard upon it, Isabel; every street can't be a + Boston street, you know,” said Basil. Isabel, herself a Bostonian of + great intensity both by birth and conviction, believed her husband the + only man able to have thoroughly baffled the malignity of the stars in + causing him to be born out of Boston; yet he sometimes trifled with his + hardly achieved triumph, and even showed an indifference to it, with an + insincerity of which there can be no doubt whatever. + </p> + <p> + “O stuff!” she retorted, “as if I had any of that silly + local pride! Though you know well enough that Boston is the best place in + the world. But Basil! I suppose Broadway strikes us as so fine, on coming + ashore from Europe, because we hardly expect anything of America then.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. Perhaps the street has some positive + grandeur of its own, though it needs a multitude of people in it to bring + out its best effects. I'll allow its disheartening shabbiness and + meanness in many ways; but to stand in front of Grace Church, on a clear + day,—a day of late September, say,—and look down the swarming + length of Broadway, on the movement and the numbers, while the Niagara + roar swelled and swelled from those human rapids, was always like strong + new wine to me. I don't think the world affords such another sight; + and for one moment, at such times, I'd have been willing to be an + Irish councilman, that I might have some right to the pride I felt in the + capital of the Irish Republic. What a fine thing it must be for each + victim of six centuries of oppression to reflect that he owns at least a + dozen Americans, and that, with his fellows, he rules a hundred helpless + millionaires!” + </p> + <p> + Like all daughters of a free country, Isabel knew nothing about politics, + and she felt that she was getting into deep water; she answered buoyantly, + but she was glad to make her weariness the occasion of hailing a stage, + and changing the conversation. The farther down town they went the busier + the street grew; and about the Astor House, where they alighted, there was + already a bustle that nothing but a fire could have created at the same + hour in Boston. A little farther on the steeple of Trinity rose high into + the scorching sunlight, while below, in the shadow that was darker than it + was cool, slumbered the old graves among their flowers. + </p> + <p> + “How still they lie!” mused the happy wife, peering through + the iron fence in passing. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, their wedding-journeys are ended, poor things!” said + Basil; and through both their minds flashed the wonder if they should ever + come to something like that; but it appeared so impossible that they both + smiled at the absurdity. + </p> + <p> + “It's too early yet for Leonard,” continued Basil; + “what a pity the church-yard is locked up. We could spend the time + so delightfully in it. But, never mind; let us go down to the Battery,—it's + not a very pleasant place, but it's near, and it's historical, + and it's open,—where these drowsy friends of ours used to take + the air when they were in the fashion, and had some occasion for the + element in its freshness. You can imagine—it's cheap—how + they used to see Mr. Burr and Mr. Hamilton down there.” + </p> + <p> + All places that fashion has once loved and abandoned are very melancholy; + but of all such places, I think the Battery is the most forlorn. Are there + some sickly locust-trees there that cast a tremulous and decrepit shade + upon the mangy grass-plots? I believe so, but I do not make sure; I am + certain only of the mangy grass-plots, or rather the spaces between the + paths, thinly overgrown with some kind of refuse and opprobrious weed, a + stunted and pauper vegetation proper solely to the New York Battery. At + that hour of the summer morning when our friends, with the aimlessness of + strangers who are waiting to do something else, saw the ancient promenade, + a few scant and hungry-eyed little boys and girls were wandering over this + weedy growth, not playing, but moving listlessly to and fro, fantastic in + the wild inaptness of their costumes. One of these little creatures wore, + with an odd involuntary jauntiness, the cast-off best drew of some happier + child, a gay little garment cut low in the neck and short in the sleeves, + which gave her the grotesque effect of having been at a party the night + before. Presently came two jaded women, a mother and a grandmother, that + appeared, when they had crawled out of their beds, to have put on only so + much clothing as the law compelled. They abandoned themselves upon the + green stuff, whatever it was, and, with their lean hands clasped outside + their knees, sat and stared, silent and hopeless, at the eastern sky, at + the heart of the terrible furnace, into which in those days the world + seemed cast to be burnt up, while the child which the younger woman had + brought with her feebly wailed unheeded at her side. On one side of these + women were the shameless houses out of which they might have crept, and + which somehow suggested riotous maritime dissipation; on the other side + were those houses in which had once dwelt rich and famous folk, but which + were now dropping down the boarding-house scale through various + un-homelike occupations to final dishonor and despair. Down nearer the + water, and not far from the castle that was once a playhouse and is now + the depot of emigration, stood certain express-wagons, and about these + lounged a few hard-looking men. Beyond laughed and danced the fresh blue + water of the bay, dotted with sails and smokestacks. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Basil, “I think if I could choose, I should + like to be a friendless German boy, setting foot for the first time on + this happy continent. Fancy his rapture on beholding this lovely spot, and + these charming American faces! What a smiling aspect life in the New World + must wear to his young eyes, and how his heart must leap within him!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Basil; it's all very pleasing, and thank you for + bringing me. But if you don't think of any other New York delights + to show me, do let us go and sit in Leonard's office till he comes, + and then get out into the country as soon as possible.” + </p> + <p> + Basil defended himself against the imputation that he had been trying to + show New York to his wife, or that he had any thought but of whiling away + the long morning hours, until it should be time to go to Leonard. He + protested that a knowledge of Europe made New York the most uninteresting + town in America, and that it was the last place in the world where he + should think of amusing himself or any one else; and then they both + upbraided the city's bigness and dullness with an enjoyment that + none but Bostonians can know. They particularly derided the notion of New + York's being loved by any one. It was immense, it was grand in some + ways, parts of it were exceedingly handsome; but it was too vast, too + coarse, too restless. They could imagine its being liked by a successful + young man of business, or by a rich young girl, ignorant of life and with + not too nice a taste in her pleasures; but that it should be dear to any + poet or scholar, or any woman of wisdom and refinement, that they could + not imagine. They could not think of any one's loving New York as + Dante loved Florence, or as Madame de Stael loved Paris, or as Johnson + loved black, homely, home-like London. And as they twittered their little + dispraises, the giant Mother of Commerce was growing more and more + conscious of herself, waking from her night's sleep and becoming + aware of her fleets and trains, and the myriad hands and wheels that + throughout the whole sea and land move for her, and do her will even while + she sleeps. All about the wedding-journeyers swelled the deep tide of life + back from its night-long ebb. Broadway had filled her length with people; + not yet the most characteristic New York crowd, but the not less + interesting multitude of strangers arrived by the early boats and trams, + and that easily distinguishable class of lately New-Yorkized people from + other places, about whom in the metropolis still hung the provincial + traditions of early rising; and over all, from moment to moment, the + eager, audacious, well-dressed, proper life of the mighty city was + beginning to prevail,—though this was not so notable where Basil and + Isabel had paused at a certain window. It was the office of one of the + English steamers, and he was saying, “It was by this line I sailed, + you know,”—and she was interrupting him with, “When who + could have dreamed that you would ever be telling me of it here?” So + the old marvel was wondered over anew, till it filled the world in which + there was room for nothing but the strangeness that they should have loved + each other so long and not made it known, that they should ever have + uttered it, and that, being uttered, it should be so much more and better + than ever could have been dreamed. The broken engagement was a fable of + disaster that only made their present fortune more prosperous. The city + ceased about them, and they walked on up the street, the first man and + first woman in the garden of the new-made earth. As they were both very + conscious people, they recognized in themselves some sense of this, and + presently drolled it away, in the opulence of a time when every moment + brought some beautiful dream, and the soul could be prodigal of its bliss. + </p> + <p> + “I think if I had the naming of the animals over again, this + morning, I shouldn't call snakes 'snakes'; should you, + Eve?” laughed Basil in intricate acknowledgment of his happiness. + </p> + <p> + “O no, Adam; we'd look out all the most graceful euphemisms in + the newspapers, and we wouldn't hurt the feelings of a spider.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. MIDSUMMER-DAY'S DREAM. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9047}.jpg" alt="{9047}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9047}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + They had waited to see Leonard, in order that they might learn better how + to find his house in the country; and now, when they came in upon him at + nine o'clock, he welcomed them with all his friendly heart. He rose + from the pile of morning's letters to which he had but just sat + down; he placed them the easiest chairs; he made a feint of its not being + a busy hour with him, and would have had them look upon his office, which + was still damp and odorous from the porter's broom, as a kind of + down-town parlor; but after they had briefly accounted to his amazement + for their appearance then and there, and Isabel had boasted of the + original fashion in which they had that morning seen New York, they took + pity on him, and bade him adieu till evening. + </p> + <p> + They crossed from Broadway to the noisome street by the ferry, and in a + little while had taken their places in the train on the other side of the + water. + </p> + <p> + “Don't tell me, Basil,” said Isabel, “that Leonard + travels fifty miles every day by rail going to and from his work!” + </p> + <p> + “I must, dearest, if I would be truthful.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, darling, there are worse things in this world than living up + at the South End, aren't there?” And in agreement upon Boston + as a place of the greatest natural advantages, as well as all acquirable + merits, with after talk that need not be recorded, they arrived in the + best humor at the little country station near which the Leonards dwelt. + </p> + <p> + I must inevitably follow Mrs. Isabel thither, though I do it at the cost + of the reader, who suspects the excitements which a long description of + the movement would delay. The ladies were very old friends, and they had + not met since Isabel's return from Europe and renewal of her + engagement. Upon the news of this, Mrs. Leonard had swallowed with + surprising ease all that she had said in blame of Basil's conduct + during the rupture, and exacted a promise from her friend that she should + pay her the first visit after their marriage. And now that they had come + together, their only talk was of husbands, whom they viewed in every light + to which husbands could be turned, and still found an inexhaustible + novelty in the theme. Mrs. Leonard beheld in her friend's joy the + sweet reflection of her own honeymoon, and Isabel was pleased to look upon + the prosperous marriage of the former as the image of her future. Thus, + with immense profit and comfort, they reassured one another by every + question and answer, and in their weak content lapsed far behind the + representative women of our age, when husbands are at best a necessary + evil, and the relation of wives to them is known to be one of pitiable + subjection. When these two pretty, fogies put their heads of false hair + together, they were as silly and benighted as their great-grandmothers + could have been in the same circumstances, and, as I say, shamefully + encouraged each other, in their absurdity. The absurdity appeared too good + and blessed to be true. “Do you really suppose, Basil,” Isabel + would say to her oppressor, after having given him some elegant extract + from the last conversation upon husbands, “that we shall get on as + smoothly as the Leonards when we have been married ten years? Lucy says + that things go more hitchily the first year than ever they do afterwards, + and that people love each other better and better just because they've + got used to it. Well, our bliss does seem a little crude and garish + compared with their happiness; and yet”—she put up both her + palms against his, and gave a vehement little push—“there is + something agreeable about it, even at this stage of the proceedings.” + </p> + <p> + “Isabel,” said her husband, with severity, “this is + bridal!” + </p> + <p> + “No matter! I only want to seem an old married woman to the general + public. But the application of it is that you must be careful not to + contradict me, or cross me in anything, so that we can be like the + Leonards very much sooner than they became so. The great object is not to + have any hitchiness; and you know you ARE provoking—at times.” + </p> + <p> + They both educated themselves for continued and tranquil happiness by the + example and precept of their friends; and the time passed swiftly in the + pleasant learning, and in the novelty of the life led by the Leonards. + This indeed merits a closer study than can be given here, for it is the + life led by vast numbers of prosperous New Yorkers who love both the + excitement of the city and the repose of the country, and who aspire to + unite the enjoyment of both in their daily existence. The suburbs of the + metropolis stretch landward fifty miles in every direction; and everywhere + are handsome villas like Leonard's, inhabited by men like himself, + whom strict study of the time-table enables to spend all their working + hours in the city and all their smoking and sleeping hours in the country. + </p> + <p> + The home and the neighborhood of the Leonards put on their best looks for + our bridal pair, and they were charmed. They all enjoyed the visit, said + guests and hosts, they were all sorry to have it come to an end; yet they + all resigned themselves to this conclusion. Practically, it had no other + result than to detain the travellers into the very heart of the hot + weather. In that weather it was easy to do anything that did not require + an active effort, and resignation was so natural with the mercury at + ninety, that I am not sure but there was something sinful in it. + </p> + <p> + They had given up their cherished purpose of going to Albany by the day + boat, which was represented to them in every impossible phase. It would be + dreadfully crowded, and whenever it stopped the heat would be + insupportable. Besides it would bring them to Albany at an hour when they + must either spend the night there, or push on to Niagara by the night + train. “You had better go by the evening boat. It will be light + almost till you reach West Point, and you'll see all the best + scenery. Then you can get a good night's rest, and start fresh in + the morning.” So they were counseled, and they assented, as they + would have done if they had been advised: “You had better go by the + morning boat. It's deliciously cool, travelling; you see the whole + of the river, you reach Albany for supper, and you push through to Niagara + that night and are done with it.” + </p> + <p> + They took leave of Leonard at breakfast and of his wife at noon, and + fifteen minutes later they were rushing from the heat of the country into + the heat of the city, where some affairs and pleasures were to employ them + till the evening boat should start. + </p> + <p> + Their spirits were low, for the terrible spell of the great heat brooded + upon them. All abroad burned the fierce white light of the sun, in which + not only the earth seemed to parch and thirst, but the very air withered, + and was faint and thin to the troubled respiration. Their train was full + of people who had come long journeys from broiling cities of the West, and + who were dusty and ashen and reeking in the slumbers at which some of them + still vainly caught. On every one lay an awful languor. Here and there + stirred a fan, like the broken wing of a dying bird; now and then a + sweltering young mother shifted her hot baby from one arm to another; + after every station the desperate conductor swung through the long aisle + and punched the ticket, which each passenger seemed to yield him with a + tacit malediction; a suffering child hung about the empty tank, which + could only gasp out a cindery drop or two of ice-water. The wind buffeted + faintly at the windows; when the door was opened, the clatter of the rails + struck through and through the car like a demoniac yell. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0052}.jpg" alt="{0052}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0052}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Yet when they arrived at the station by the ferry-side, they seemed to + have entered its stifling darkness from fresh and vigorous atmosphere, so + close and dead and mined with the carbonic breath of the locomotives was + the air of the place. The thin old wooden walls that shut out the glare of + the sun transmitted an intensified warmth; the roof seemed to hover lower + and lower, and in its coal-smoked, raftery hollow to generate a heat + deadlier than that poured upon it from the skies. + </p> + <p> + In a convenient place in the station hung a thermometer, before which + every passenger, on going aboard the ferry-boat, paused as at a shrine, + and mutely paid his devotions. At the altar of this fetich our friends + also paused, and saw that the mercury was above ninety, and exulting with + the pride that savages take in the cruel might of their idols, bowed their + souls to the great god Heat. + </p> + <p> + On the boat they found a place where the breath of the sea struck cool + across their faces, and made them forget the thermometer for the brief + time of the transit. But presently they drew near that strange, irregular + row of wooden buildings and jutting piers which skirts the river on the + New York aide, and before the boat's motion ceased the air grew + thick and warm again, and tainted with the foulness of the street on which + the buildings front. Upon this the boat's passengers issued, passing + up through a gangway, on one side of which a throng of return-passengers + was pent by a gate of iron barn, like a herd of wild animals. They were + streaming with perspiration, and, according to their different + temperaments, had faces of deep crimson or deadly pallor. + </p> + <p> + “Now the question is, my dear,” said Basil when, free of the + press, they lingered for a moment in the shade outside, “whether we + had better walk up to Broadway, at an immediate sacrifice of fibre, and + get a stage there, or take one of these cars here, and be landed a little + nearer, with half the exertion. By this route we shall have sights end + smells which the other can't offer us, but whichever we take we + shall be sorry.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I say take this,” decided Isabel. “I want to be + sorry upon the easiest possible terms, this weather.” + </p> + <p> + They hailed the first car that passed, and got into it. Well for them both + if she could have exercised this philosophy with regard to the whole day's + business, or if she could have given up her plans for it, with the same + resignation she had practiced in regard to the day boat! It seems to me a + proof of the small advance our race has made in true wisdom, that we find + it so hard to give up doing anything we have meant to do. It matters very + little whether the affair is one of enjoyment or of business, we feel the + same bitter need of pursuing it to the end. The mere fact of intention + gives it a flavor of duty, and dutiolatry, as one may call the devotion, + has passed so deeply into our life that we have scarcely a sense any more + of the sweetness of even a neglected pleasure. We will not taste the fine, + guilty rapture of a deliberate dereliction; the gentle sin of omission is + all but blotted from the calendar of our crimes. If I had been Columbus, I + should have thought twice before setting sail, when I was quite ready to + do so; and as for Plymouth Rock, I should have sternly resisted the + blandishments of those twin sirens, Starvation and Cold, who beckoned the + Puritans shoreward, and as soon as ever I came in sight of their granite + perch should have turned back to England. But it is now too late to repair + these errors, and so, on one of the hottest days of last year, behold my + obdurate bridal pair, in a Tenth or Twentieth Avenue horse-car, setting + forth upon the fulfillment of a series of intentions, any of which had + wiselier been left unaccomplished. Isabel had said they would call upon + certain people in Fiftieth Street, and then shop slowly down, ice-creaming + and staging and variously cooling and calming by the way, until they + reached the ticket-office on Broadway, whence they could indefinitely + betake themselves to the steamboat an hour or two before her departure. + She felt that they had yielded sufficiently to circumstances and + conditions already on this journey, and she was resolved that the present + half-day in New York should be the half-day of her original design. + </p> + <p> + It was not the most advisable thing, as I have allowed, but it was + inevitable, and it afforded them a spectacle which is by no means wanting + in sublimity, and which is certainly unique,—the spectacle of that + great city on a hot day, defiant of the elements, and prospering on with + every form of labor, and at a terrible cost of life. The man carrying the + hod to the top of the walls that rankly grow and grow as from his life's + blood, will only lay down his load when he feels the mortal glare of the + sun blaze in upon heart and brain; the plethoric millionaire for whom he + toils will plot and plan in his office till he swoons at the desk; the + trembling beast must stagger forward while the flame-faced tormentor on + the box has strength to lash him on; in all those vast palaces of commerce + there are ceaseless sale and purchase, packing and unpacking, lifting up + and laying down, arriving and departing loads; in thousands of shops is + the unspared and unsparing weariness of selling; in the street, filled by + the hurry and suffering of tens of thousands, is the weariness of buying. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0058}.jpg" alt="{0058}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0058}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Their afternoon's experience was something that Basil and Isabel + could, when it was past, look upon only as a kind of vision, magnificent + at times, and at other times full of indignity and pain. They seemed to + have dreamed of a long horse-car pilgrimage through that squalid street by + the river-side, where presently they came to a market, opening upon the + view hideous vistas of carnage, and then into a wide avenue, with + processions of cars like their own coming and going up and down the centre + of a foolish and useless breadth, which made even the tall buildings + (rising gauntly up among the older houses of one or two stories) on either + hand look low, and let in the sun to bake the dust that the hot breaths of + wind caught up and sent swirling into the shabby shops. Here they dreamed + of the eternal demolition and construction of the city, and farther on of + vacant lots full of granite boulders, clambered over by goats. In their + dream they had fellow-passengers, whose sufferings made them odious and + whom they were glad to leave behind when they alighted from the car, and + running out of the blaze of the avenue, quenched themselves in the shade + of the cross-street. A little strip of shadow lay along the row of + brown-stone fronts, but there were intervals where the vacant lots cast no + shadow. With great bestowal of thought they studied hopelessly how to + avoid these spaces as if they had been difficult torrents or vast expanses + of desert sand; they crept slowly along till they came to such a place, + and dashed swiftly across it, and then, fainter than before, moved on. + They seemed now and then to stand at doors, and to be told that people + were out and again that they were in; and they had a sense of cool dark + parlors, and the airy rustling of light-muslined ladies, of chat and of + fans and ice-water, and then they came forth again; and evermore + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The day increased from heat to heat.” + </pre> + <p> + At last they were aware of an end of their visits, and of a purpose to go + down town again, and of seeking the nearest car by endless blocks of + brown-stone fronts, which with their eternal brownstone flights of steps, + and their handsome, intolerable uniformity, oppressed them like a + procession of houses trying to pass a given point and never getting by. + Upon these streets there was, seldom a soul to be seen, so that when their + ringing at a door had evoked answer, it had startled them with a vague, + sad surprise. In the distance on either hand they could see cars and carts + and wagons toiling up and down the avenues, and on the next intersecting + pavement sometimes a laborer with his jacket slung across his shoulder, or + a dog that had plainly made up his mind to go mad. Up to the time of their + getting into one of those phantasmal cars for the return down-townwards + they had kept up a show of talk in their wretched dream; they had spoken + of other hot days that they had known elsewhere; and they had wondered + that the tragical character of heat had been so little recognized. They + said that the daily New York murder might even at that moment be somewhere + taking place; and that no murder of the whole homicidal year could have + such proper circumstance; they morbidly wondered what that day's + murder would be, and in what swarming tenement-house, or den of the + assassin streets by the river-sides,—if indeed it did not befall in + some such high, close-shuttered, handsome dwelling as those they passed, + in whose twilight it would be so easy to strike down the master and leave + him undiscovered and unmourned by the family ignorantly absent at the + mountains or the seaside. They conjectured of the horror of midsummer + battles, and pictured the anguish of shipwrecked men upon a tropical + coast, and the grimy misery of stevedores unloading shiny cargoes of + anthracite coal at city docks. But now at last, as they took seats + opposite one another in the crowded car, they seemed to have drifted + infinite distances and long epochs asunder. They looked hopelessly across + the intervening gulf, and mutely questioned when it was and from what far + city they or some remote ancestors of theirs had set forth upon a wedding + journey. They bade each other a tacit farewell, and with patient, pathetic + faces awaited the end of the world. + </p> + <p> + When they alighted, they took their way up through one of the streets of + the great wholesale businesses, to Broadway. On this street was a throng + of trucks and wagons lading and unlading; bales and boxes rose and sank by + pulleys overhead; the footway was a labyrinth of packages of every shape + and size: there was no flagging of the pitiless energy that moved all + forward, no sign of how heavy a weight lay on it, save in the reeking + faces of its helpless instruments. But when the wedding-journeyers emerged + upon Broadway, the other passages and incidents of their dream faded + before the superior fantasticality of the spectacle. It was four o'clock, + the deadliest hour of the deadly summer day. The spiritless air seemed to + have a quality of blackness in it, as if filled with the gloom of + low-hovering wings. One half the street lay in shadow, and one half in + sun; but the sunshine itself was dim, as if a heat greater than its own + had smitten it with languor. Little gusts of sick, warm wind blew across + the great avenue at the corners of the intersecting streets. In the upward + distance, at which the journeyers looked, the loftier roofs and steeples + lifted themselves dim out of the livid atmosphere, and far up and down the + length of the street swept a stream of tormented life. All sorts of + wheeled things thronged it, conspicuous among which rolled and jarred the + gaudily painted Stages, with quivering horses driven each by a man who sat + in the shade of a branching white umbrella, and suffered with a moody + truculence of aspect, and as if he harbored the bitterness of death in his + heart for the crowding passengers within, when one of them pulled the + strap about his legs, and summoned him to halt. Most of the + foot-passengers kept to the shady side, and to the unaccustomed eyes of + the strangers they were not less in number than at any other time, though + there were fewer women among them. Indomitably resolute of soul, they held + their course with the swift pace of custom, and only here and there they + showed the effect of the heat. One man, collarless, with waistcoat + unbuttoned, and hat set far back from his forehead, waved a fan before his + death-white flabby face, and set down one foot after the other with the + heaviness of a somnambulist. Another, as they passed him, was saying + huskily to the friend at his side, “I can't stand this much + longer. My hands tingle as if they had gone to sleep; my heart—” + But still the multitude hurried on, passing, repassing, encountering, + evading, vanishing into shop-doors and emerging from them, dispersing down + the side streets, and swarming out of them. It was a scene that possessed + the beholder with singular fascination, and in its effect of universal + lunacy, it might well have seemed the last phase of a world presently to + be destroyed. They who were in it but not of it, as they fancied, though + there was no reason for this,—looked on it amazed, and at last their + own errands being accomplished, and themselves so far cured of the madness + of purpose, they cried with one voice, that it was a hideous sight, and + strove to take refuge from it in the nearest place where the soda-fountain + sparkled. + </p> + <p> + It was a vain desire. At the front door of the apothecary's hung a + thermometer, and as they entered they heard the next comer cry out with a + maniacal pride in the affliction laid upon mankind, “Ninety-seven + degrees!” Behind them at the door there poured in a ceaseless stream + of people, each pausing at the shrine of heat; before he tossed off the + hissing draught that two pale, close-clipped boys served them from either + side of the fountain. Then in the order of their coming they issued + through another door upon the side street, each, as he disappeared, + turning his face half round, and casting a casual glance upon a little + group near another counter. The group was of a very patient, + half-frightened, half-puzzled looking gentleman who sat perfectly still on + a stool, and of a lady who stood beside him, rubbing all over his head a + handkerchief full of pounded ice, and easing one hand with the other when + the first became tired. Basil drank his soda and paused to look upon this + group, which he felt would commend itself to realistic sculpture as + eminently characteristic of the local life, and as “The Sunstroke” + would sell enormously in the hot season. “Better take a little more + of that,” the apothecary said, looking up from his prescription, + and, as the organized sympathy of the seemingly indifferent crowd, smiling + very kindly at his patient, who thereupon tasted something in the glass he + held. “Do you still feel like fainting?” asked the humane + authority. “Slightly, now and then,” answered the other, + “but I'm hanging on hard to the bottom curve of that icicled S + on your soda-fountain, and I feel that I'm all right as long as I + can see that. The people get rather hazy, occasionally, and have no + features to speak of. But I don't know that I look very impressive + myself,” he added in the jesting mood which seems the natural + condition of Americans in the face of all embarrassments. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0064}.jpg" alt="{0064}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0064}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “O, you'll do!” the apothecary answered, with a laugh; + but he said, in answer to an anxious question from the lady, “He + mustn't be moved for an hour yet,” and gayly pestled away at a + prescription, while she resumed her office of grinding the pounded ice + round and round upon her husband's skull. Isabel offered her the + commiseration of friendly words, and of looks kinder yet, and then seeing + that they could do nothing, she and Basil fell into the endless + procession, and passed out of the side door. “What a shocking thing!” + she whispered. “Did you see how all the people looked, one after + another, so indifferently at that couple, and evidently forgot them the + next instant? It was dreadful. I shouldn't like to have you + sun-struck in New York.” + </p> + <p> + “That's very considerate of you; but place for place, if any + accident must happen to me among strangers, I think I should prefer to + have it in New York. The biggest place is always the kindest as well as + the cruelest place. Amongst the thousands of spectators the good Samaritan + as well as the Levite would be sure to be. As for a sun-stroke, it + requires peculiar gifts. But if you compel me to a choice in the matter, + then I say, give me the busiest part of Broadway for a sun-stroke. There + is such experience of calamity there that you could hardly fall the first + victim to any misfortune. Probably the gentleman at the apothecary's + was merely exhausted by the heat, and ran in there for revival. The + apothecary has a case of the kind on his hands every blazing afternoon, + and knows just what to do. The crowd may be a little 'ennuye' + of sun-strokes, and to that degree indifferent, but they most likely know + that they can only do harm by an expression of sympathy, and so they + delegate their pity as they have delegated their helpfulness to the proper + authority, and go about their business. If a man was overcome in the + middle of a village street, the blundering country druggist wouldn't + know what to do, and the tender-hearted people would crowd about so that + no breath of air could reach the victim.” + </p> + <p> + “May be so, dear,” said the wife, pensively; “but if + anything did happen to you in New York, I should like to have the + spectators look as if they saw a human being in trouble. Perhaps I'm + a little exacting.” + </p> + <p> + “I think you are. Nothing is so hard as to understand that there are + human beings in this world besides one's self and one's set. + But let us be selfishly thankful that it isn't you and I there in + the apothecary's shop, as it might very well be; and let us get to + the boat as soon as we can, and end this horrible midsummer-day's + dream. We must have a carriage,” he added with tardy wisdom, hailing + an empty hack, “as we ought to have had all day; though I'm + not sorry, now the worst's over, to have seen the worst.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. THE NIGHT BOAT. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9068}.jpg" alt="{9068}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9068}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + There is little proportion about either pain or pleasure: a headache + darkens the universe while it lasts, a cup of tea really lightens the + spirit bereft of all reasonable consolations. Therefore I do not think it + trivial or untrue to say that there is for the moment nothing more + satisfactory in life than to have bought your ticket on the night boat up + the Hudson and secured your state-room key an hour or two before + departure, and some time even before the pressure at the clerk's + office has begun. In the transaction with this castellated baron, you have + of course been treated with haughtiness, but not with ferocity, and your + self-respect swells with a sense of having escaped positive insult; your + key clicks cheerfully in your pocket against its gutta-percha number, and + you walk up and down the gorgeously carpeted, single-columned, two-story + cabin, amid a multitude of plush sofas and chairs, a glitter of glass, and + a tinkle of prismatic chandeliers overhead, unawed even by the + aristocratic gloom of the yellow waiters. Your own stateroom as you enter + it from time to time is an ever-new surprise of splendors, a magnificent + effect of amplitude, of mahogany bedstead, of lace curtains, and of marble + topped wash-stand. In the mere wantonness of an unalloyed prosperity you + say to the saffron nobleman nearest your door, “Bring me a pitcher + of ice-water, quick, please!” and you do not find the half-hour that + he is gone very long. + </p> + <p> + If the ordinary wayfarer experiences so much pleasure from these things, + then imagine the infinite comfort of our wedding-journeyers, transported + from Broadway on that pitiless afternoon to the shelter and the quiet of + that absurdly palatial steamboat. It was not yet crowded, and by the + river-side there was almost a freshness in the air. They disposed of their + troubling bags and packages; they complimented the ridiculous princeliness + of their stateroom, and then they betook themselves to the sheltered space + aft of the saloon, where they sat down for the tranquiller observance of + the wharf and whatever should come to be seen by them. Like all people who + have just escaped with their lives from some menacing calamity, they were + very philosophical in spirit; and having got aboard of their own motion, + and being neither of them apparently the worse for the ordeal they had + passed through, were of a light, conversational temper. + </p> + <p> + “What an amusingly superb affair!” Basil cried as they glanced + through an open window down the long vista of the saloon. “Good + heavens! Isabel, does it take all this to get us plain republicans to + Albany in comfort and safety, or are we really a nation of princes in + disguise? Well, I shall never be satisfied with less hereafter,” he + added. “I am spoilt for ordinary paint and upholstery from this + hour; I am a ruinous spendthrift, and a humble three-story swell-front up + at the South End is no longer the place for me. Dearest, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind,' +</pre> + <p> + never to leave this Aladdin's-palace-like steamboat, but spend our + lives in perpetual trips up and down the Hudson.” + </p> + <p> + To which not very costly banter Isabel responded in kind, and rapidly + sketched the life they could lead aboard. Since they could not help it, + they mocked the public provision which, leaving no interval between + disgraceful squalor and ludicrous splendor, accommodates our democratic + 'menage' to the taste of the richest and most extravagant + plebeian amongst us. He, unhappily, minds danger and oppression as little + as he minds money, so long as he has a spectacle and a sensation, and it + is this ruthless imbecile who will have lace curtains to the steamboat + berth into which he gets with his pantaloons on, and out of which he may + be blown by an exploding boiler at any moment; it is he who will have for + supper that overgrown and shapeless dinner in the lower saloon, and will + not let any one else buy tea or toast for a less sum than he pays for his + surfeit; it is he who perpetuates the insolence of the clerk and the + reluctance of the waiters; it is he, in fact, who now comes out of the + saloon, with his womenkind, and takes chairs under the awning where Basil + and Isabel sit. Personally, he is not so bad; he is good-looking, like all + of us; he is better dressed than most of us; he behaves himself quietly, + if not easily; and no lord so loathes a scene. Next year he is going to + Europe, where he will not show to so much advantage as here; but for the + present it would be hard to say in what way he is vulgar, and perhaps + vulgarity is not so common a thing after all. + </p> + <p> + It was something besides the river that made the air so much more + sufferable than it had been. Over the city, since our friends had come + aboard the boat, a black cloud had gathered and now hung low upon it, + while the wind from the face of the water took the dust in the neighboring + streets, and frolicked it about the house-tops, and in the faces of the + arriving passengers, who, as the moment of departure drew near, appeared + in constantly increasing numbers and in greater variety, with not only the + trepidation of going upon them, but also with the electrical excitement + people feel before a tempest. + </p> + <p> + The breast of the black cloud was now zigzagged from moment to moment by + lightning, and claps of deafening thunder broke from it. At last the long + endurance of the day was spent, and out of its convulsion burst floods of + rain, again and again sweeping the promenade-deck where the people sat, + and driving them disconsolate into the saloon. The air was darkened as by + night, and with many regrets for the vanishing prospect, mingled with a + sense of relief from the heat, our friends felt the boat tremble away from + her moorings and set forth upon her trip. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! if we had only taken the day boat!” moaned Isabel. + “Now, we shall see nothing of the river landscape, and we shall + never be able to put ourselves down when we long for Europe, by declaring + that the scenery of the Hudson is much finer than that of the Rhine.” + </p> + <p> + Yet they resolved, this indomitably good-natured couple, that they would + be just even to the elements, which had by no means been generous to them; + and they owned that if so noble a storm had celebrated their departure + upon some storied river from some more romantic port than New York, they + would have thought it an admirable thing. Even whilst they contented + themselves, the storm passed, and left a veiled and humid sky overhead, + that gave a charming softness to the scene on which their eyes fell when + they came out of the saloon again, and took their places with a largely + increased companionship on the deck. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0073}.jpg" alt="{0073}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0073}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They had already reached that part of the river where the uplands begin, + and their course was between stately walls of rocky steepness, or wooded + slopes, or grassy hollows, the scene forever losing and taking grand and + lovely shape. Wreaths of mist hung about the tops of the loftier + headlands, and long shadows draped their sides. As the night grew, lights + twinkled from a lonely house here and there in the valleys; a swarm of + lamps showed a town where it lay upon the lap or at the foot of the hills. + Behind them stretched the great gray river, haunted with many sails; now a + group of canal-boats grappled together, and having an air of coziness in + their adventure upon this strange current out of their own sluggish + waters, drifted out of sight; and now a smaller and slower steamer, making + a laborious show of keeping up was passed, and reluctantly fell behind; + along the water's edge rattled and hooted the frequent trains. They + could not tell at any time what part of the river they were on, and they + could not, if they would, have made its beauty a matter of conscientious + observation; but all the more, therefore, they deeply enjoyed it without + reference to time or place. They felt some natural pain when they thought + that they might unwittingly pass the scenes that Irving has made part of + the common dream-land, and they would fair have seen the lighted windows + of the house out of which a cheerful ray has penetrated to so many hearts; + but being sure of nothing, as they were, they had the comfort of finding + the Tappan Zee in every expanse of the river, and of discovering + Sunny-Side on every pleasant slope. By virtue of this helplessness, the + Hudson, without ceasing to be the Hudson, became from moment to moment all + fair and stately streams upon which they had voyaged or read of voyaging, + from the Nile to the Mississippi. There is no other travel like river + travel; it is the perfection of movement, and one might well desire never + to arrive at one's destination. The abundance of room, the free, + pure air, the constant delight of the eyes in the changing landscape, the + soft tremor of the boat, so steady upon her keel, the variety of the + little world on board,—all form a charm which no good heart in a + sound body can resist. So, whilst the twilight held, well content, in + contiguous chairs, they purred in flattery of their kindly fate, imagining + different pleasures, certainly, but none greater, and tasting to its + subtlest flavor the happiness conscious of itself. + </p> + <p> + Their own satisfaction, indeed, was so interesting to them in this + objective light, that they had little desire to turn from its + contemplation to the people around them; and when at last they did so, it + was still with lingering glances of self-recognition and enjoyment. They + divined rightly that one of the main conditions of their present felicity + was the fact that they had seen so much of time and of the world, that + they had no longer any desire to take beholding eyes, or to make any sort + of impressive figure, and they understood that their prosperous love + accounted as much as years and travel for this result. If they had had a + loftier opinion of themselves, their indifference to others might have + made them offensive; but with their modest estimate of their own value in + the world, they could have all the comfort of self-sufficiency, without + its vulgarity. + </p> + <p> + “O yes!” said Basil, in answer to some apostrophe to their + bliss from Isabel, “it's the greatest imaginable satisfaction + to have lived past certain things. I always knew that I was not a very + handsome or otherwise captivating person, but I can remember years—now + blessedly remote—when I never could see a young girl without hoping + she would mistake me for something of that sort. I couldn't help + desiring that some fascination of mine, which had escaped my own analysis, + would have an effect upon her. I dare say all young men are so. I used to + live for the possible interest I might inspire in your sex, Isabel. They + controlled my movements, my attitudes; they forbade me repose; and yet I + believe I was no ass, but a tolerably sensible fellow. Blessed be + marriage, I am free at last! All the loveliness that exists outside of + you, dearest,—and it's mighty little,—is mere pageant to + me; and I thank Heaven that I can meet the most stylish girl now upon the + broad level of our common humanity. Besides, it seems to me that our + experience of life has quieted us in many other ways. What a luxury it is + to sit here, and reflect that we do not want any of these people to + suppose us rich, or distinguished, or beautiful, or well dressed, and do + not care to show off in any sort of way before them!” + </p> + <p> + This content was heightened, no doubt, by a just sense of their contrast + to the group of people nearest there,—a young man of the second or + third quality—and two young girls. The eldest of these was carrying + on a vivacious flirtation with the young man, who was apparently an + acquaintance of brief standing; the other was scarcely more than a child, + and sat somewhat abashed at the sparkle of the colloquy. They were + conjecturally sisters going home from some visit, and not skilled in the + world, but of a certain repute in their country neighborhood for beauty + and wit. The young man presently gave himself out as one who, in pursuit + of trade for the dry-goods house he represented, had travelled many + thousands of miles in all parts of the country. The encounter was visibly + that kind of adventure which both would treasure up for future celebration + to their different friends; and it had a brilliancy and interest which + they could not even now consent to keep to themselves. They talked to each + other and at all the company within hearing, and exchanged curt speeches + which had for them all the sensation of repartee. + </p> + <p> + Young Man. They say that beauty unadorned is adorned the most. + </p> + <p> + Young Woman (bridling, and twitching her head from side to side, in the + high excitement of the dialogue). Flattery is out of place. + </p> + <p> + Young Man. Well, never mind. If you don't believe me, you ask your + mother when you get home. + </p> + <p> + (Titter from the younger sister.) + </p> + <p> + Young Woman (scornfully). Umph! my mother has no control over me! + </p> + <p> + Young Man. Nobody else has, either, I should say. (Admiringly.) + </p> + <p> + Young Woman. Yes, you've told the truth for once, for a wonder. I'm + able to take care of myself,—perfectly. (Almost hoarse with a sense + of sarcastic performance.) + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0078}.jpg" alt="{0078}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0078}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Young Man. “Whole team and big dog under the wagon,” as they + say out West. + </p> + <p> + Young Woman. Better a big dog than a puppy, any day. + </p> + <p> + Giggles and horror from the younger sister, sensation in the young man, + and so much rapture in the young woman that she drops the key of her + state-room from her hand. They both stoop, and a jocose scuffle for it + ensues, after which the talk takes an autobiographical turn on the part of + the young man, and drops into an unintelligible murmur. “Ah! poor + Real Life, which I love, can I make others share the delight I find in thy + foolish and insipid face?” + </p> + <p> + Not far from this group sat two Hebrews, one young and the other old, + talking of some business out of which the latter had retired. The younger + had been asked his opinion upon some point, and he was expanding with a + flattered consciousness of the elder's perception of his importance, + and toadying to him with the pleasure which all young men feel in winning + the favor of seniors in their vocation. “Well, as I was a-say'n', + Isaac don't seem to haf no natcheral pent for the glothing business. + Man gomes in and wands a goat,”—he seemed to be speaking of a + garment and not a domestic animal,—“Isaac'll zell him + the goat he wands him to puy, and he'll make him believe it 'a + the goat he was a lookin' for. Well, now, that's well enough + as far as it goes; but you know and I know, Mr. Rosenthal, that that's + no way to do business. A man gan't zugzeed that goes upon that + brincible. Id's wrong. Id's easy enough to make a man puy the + goat you want him to, if he wands a goat, but the thing is to make him puy + the goat that you wand to zell when he don't wand no goat at all. + You've asked me what I thought and I've dold you. Isaac'll + never zugzeed in the redail glothing-business in the world!” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” sighed the elder, who filled his armchair quite full, + and quivered with a comfortable jelly-like tremor in it, at every + pulsation of the engine, “I was afraid of something of the kind. As + you say, Benjamin, he don't seem to have no pent for it. And yet I + proughd him up to the business; I drained him to it, myself.” + </p> + <p> + Besides these talkers, there were scattered singly, or grouped about in + twos and threes and fours, the various people one encounters on a Hudson + River boat, who are on the whole different from the passengers on other + rivers, though they all have features in common. There was that man of the + sudden gains, who has already been typified; and there was also the + smoother rich man of inherited wealth, from whom you can somehow know the + former so readily. They were each attended by their several retinues of + womankind, the daughters all much alike, but the mothers somewhat + different. They were going to Saratoga, where perhaps the exigencies of + fashion would bring them acquainted, and where the blue blood of a quarter + of a century would be kind to the yesterday's fluid of warmer hue. + There was something pleasanter in the face of the hereditary aristocrat, + but not so strong, nor, altogether, so admirable; particularly if you + reflected that he really represented nothing in the world, no great + culture, no political influence, no civic aspiration, not even a pecuniary + force, nothing but a social set, an alien club-life, a tradition of + dining. We live in a true fairy land after all, where the hoarded treasure + turns to a heap of dry leaves. The almighty dollar defeats itself, and + finally buys nothing that a man cares to have. The very highest pleasure + that such an American's money can purchase is exile, and to this + rich man doubtless Europe is a twice-told tale. Let us clap our empty + pockets, dearest reader, and be glad. + </p> + <p> + We can be as glad, apparently, and with the same reason as the poorly + dressed young man standing near beside the guard, whose face Basil and + Isabel chose to fancy that of a poet, and concerning whom, they romanced + that he was going home, wherever his home was, with the manuscript of a + rejected book in his pocket. They imagined him no great things of a poet, + to be sure, but his pensive face claimed delicate feeling for him, and a + graceful, sombre fancy, and they conjectured unconsciously caught flavors + of Tennyson and Browning in his verse, with a moderner tint from Morris: + for was it not a story out of mythology, with gods and heroes of the + nineteenth century, that he was now carrying back from New York with him? + Basil sketched from the colors of his own long-accepted disappointments a + moving little picture of this poor imagined poet's adventures; with + what kindness and unkindness he had been put to shame by publishers, and + how, descending from his high, hopes of a book, he had tried to sell to + the magazines some of the shorter pieces out of the “And other Poems” + which were to have filled up the volume. “He's going back + rather stunned and bewildered; but it's something to have tasted the + city, and its bitter may turn to sweet on his palate, at last, till he + finds himself longing for the tumult that he abhors now. Poor fellow! one + compassionate cut-throat of a publisher even asked him to lunch, being + struck, as we are, with something fine in his face. I hope he's got + somebody who believes in him, at home. Otherwise he'd be more + comfortable, for the present, if he went over the railing there.” + </p> + <p> + So the play of which they were both actors and spectators went on about + them. Like all passages of life, it seemed now a grotesque mystery, with a + bluntly enforced moral, now a farce of the broadest, now a latent tragedy + folded in the disguises of comedy. All the elements, indeed, of either + were at work there, and this was but one brief scene of the immense + complex drama which was to proceed so variously in such different times + and places, and to have its denouement only in eternity. The contrasts + were sharp: each group had its travesty in some other; the talk of one + seemed the rude burlesque, the bitter satire of the next; but of all these + parodies none was so terribly effective as the two women, who sat in the + midst of the company, yet were somehow distinct from the rest. One wore + the deepest black of widowhood, the other was dressed in bridal white, and + they were both alike awful in their mockery of guiltless sorrow and + guiltless joy. They were not old, but the soul of youth was dead in their + pretty, lamentable faces, and ruin ancient as sin looked from their eyes; + their talk and laughter seemed the echo of an innumerable multitude of the + lost haunting the world in every land and time, each solitary forever, yet + all bound together in the unity of an imperishable slavery and shame. + </p> + <p> + What a stale effect! What hackneyed characters! Let us be glad the night + drops her curtain upon the cheap spectacle, and shuts these with the other + actors from our view. + </p> + <p> + Within the cabin, through which Basil and Isabel now slowly moved, there + were numbers of people lounging about on the sofas, in various attitudes + of talk or vacancy; and at the tables there were others reading “Lothair,” + a new book in the remote epoch of which I write, and a very fashionable + book indeed. There was in the air that odor of paint and carpet which + prevails on steamboats; the glass drops of the chandeliers ticked softly + against each other, as the vessel shook with her respiration, like a + comfortable sleeper, and imparted a delicious feeling of coziness and + security to our travellers. + </p> + <p> + A few hours later they struggled awake at the sharp sound of the pilot's + bell signaling the engineer to slow the boat. There was a moment of + perfect silence; then all the drops of the chandeliers in the saloon + clashed musically together; then fell another silence; and at last came + wild cries for help, strongly qualified with blasphemies and curses. + “Send out a boat!” “There was a woman aboard that + steamboat!” “Lower your boats!” “Run a craft right + down, with your big boat!” “Send out a boat and pick up the + crew!” The cries rose and sank, and finally ceased; through the + lattice of the state-room window some lights shone faintly on the water at + a distance. + </p> + <p> + “Wait here, Isabel!” said her husband. “We've run + down a boat. We don't seem hurt; but I'll go see. I'll + be back in a minute.” + </p> + <p> + Isabel had emerged into a world of dishabille, a world wildly unbuttoned + and unlaced, where it was the fashion for ladies to wear their hair down + their backs, and to walk about in their stockings, and to speak to each + other without introduction. The place with which she had felt so familiar + a little while before was now utterly estranged. There was no motion of + the boat, and in the momentary suspense a quiet prevailed, in which those + grotesque shapes of disarray crept noiselessly round whispering + panic-stricken conjectures. There was no rushing to and fro, nor tumult of + any kind, and there was not a man to be seen, for apparently they had all + gone like Basil to learn the extent of the calamity. A mist of sleep + involved the whole, and it was such a topsy-turvy world that it would have + seemed only another dream-land, but that it was marked for reality by one + signal fact. With the rest appeared the woman in bridal white and the + woman in widow's black, and there, amidst the fright that made all + others friends, and for aught that most knew, in the presence of death + itself, these two moved together shunned and friendless. + </p> + <p> + Somehow, even before Basil returned, it had become known to Isabel and the + rest that their own steamer had suffered no harm, but that she had struck + and sunk another convoying a flotilla of canal boats, from which those + alarming cries and curses had come. The steamer was now lying by for the + small boats she had sent out to pick up the crew of the sunken vessel. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I only heard a little tinkling of the chandeliers,” said + one of the ladies. “Is it such a very alight matter to run down + another boat and sink it?” + </p> + <p> + She appealed indirectly to Basil, who answered lightly, “I don't + think you ladies ought to have been disturbed at all. In running over a + common tow-boat on a perfectly clear night like this there should have + been no noise and no perceptible jar. They manage better on the + Mississippi, and both boats often go down without waking the lightest + sleeper on board.” + </p> + <p> + The ladies, perhaps from a deficient sense of humor, listened with + undisguised displeasure to this speech. It dispersed them, in fact; some + turned away to bivouac for the rest of the night upon the arm-chairs and + sofas, while others returned to their rooms. With the latter went Isabel. + “Lock me in, Basil,” she said, with a bold meekness, “and + if anything more happens don't wake me till the last moment.” + It was hard to part from him, but she felt that his vigil would somehow be + useful to the boat, and she confidingly fell into a sleep that lasted till + daylight. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, her husband, on whom she had tacitly devolved so great a + responsibility, went forward to the promenade in front of the saloon, in + hopes of learning something more of the catastrophe from the people whom + he had already found gathered there. + </p> + <p> + A large part of the passengers were still there, seated or standing about + in earnest colloquy. They were in that mood which follows great + excitement, and in which the feeblest-minded are sure to lead the talk. At + such times one feels that a sensible frame of mind is unsympathetic, and + if expressed, unpopular, or perhaps not quite safe; and Basil, warned by + his fate with the ladies, listened gravely to the voice of the common + imbecility and incoherence. + </p> + <p> + The principal speaker was a tall person, wearing a silk travelling-cap. He + had a face of stupid benignity and a self-satisfied smirk; and he was + formally trying to put at his ease, and hopelessly confusing the loutish + youth before him. “You say you saw the whole accident, and you're + probably the only passenger that did see it. You'll be the most + important witness at the trial,” he added, as if there would ever be + any trial about it. “Now, how did the tow-boat hit us?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, she came bows on.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! bows on,” repeated the other, with great satisfaction; + and a little murmur of “Bows on!” ran round the listening + circle. + </p> + <p> + “That is,” added the witness, “it seemed as if we struck + her amidships, and cut her in two, and sunk her.” + </p> + <p> + “Just so,” continued the examiner, accepting the explanation, + “bows on. Now I want to ask if you saw our captain or any of the + crew about?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a soul,” said the witness, with the solemnity of a man + already on oath. + </p> + <p> + “That'll do,” exclaimed the other. “This gentleman's + experience coincides exactly with my own. I didn't see the + collision, but I did see the cloud of steam from the sinking boat, and I + saw her go down. There wasn't an officer to be found anywhere on + board our boat. I looked about for the captain and the mate myself, and + couldn't find either of them high or low.” + </p> + <p> + “The officers ought all to have been sitting here on the promenade + deck,” suggested one ironical spirit in the crowd, but no one + noticed him. + </p> + <p> + The gentleman in the silk travelling-cap now took a chair, and a number of + sympathetic listeners drew their chairs about him, and then began an + interchange of experience, in which each related to the last particular + all that he felt, thought, and said, and, if married, what his wife felt, + thought, and said, at the moment of the calamity. They turned the disaster + over and over in their talk, and rolled it under their tongues. Then they + reverted to former accidents in which they had been concerned; and the + silk-capped gentleman told, to the common admiration, of a fearful escape + of his, on the Erie Road, from being thrown down a steep embankment fifty + feet high by a piece of rock that had fallen on the track. “Now just + see, gentlemen, what a little thing, humanly speaking, life depends upon. + If that old woman had been able to sleep, and hadn't sent that boy + down to warn the train, we should have run into the rock and been dashed + to pieces. The passengers made up a purse for the boy, and I wrote a full + account of it to the papers.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said one of the group, a man in a hard hat, “I + never lie down on a steamboat or a railroad train. I want to be ready for + whatever happens.” + </p> + <p> + The others looked at this speaker with interest, as one who had invented a + safe method of travel. + </p> + <p> + “I happened to be up to-night, but I almost always undress and go to + bed, just as if I were in my own house,” said the gentleman of the + silk cap. + </p> + <p> + “I don't say your way isn't the best, but that's + my way.” + </p> + <p> + The champions of the rival systems debated their merits with suavity and + mutual respect, but they met with scornful silence a compromising spirit + who held that it was better to throw off your coat and boots, but keep + your pantaloons on. Meanwhile, the steamer was hanging idle upon the + current, against which it now and then stirred a careless wheel, still + waiting for the return of the small boats. Thin gray clouds, through rifts + of which a star sparkled keenly here and there, veiled the heavens; + shadowy bluffs loomed up on either hand; in a hollow on the left twinkled + a drowsy little town; a beautiful stillness lay on all. + </p> + <p> + After an hour's interval a shout was heard from far down the river; + then later the plash of oars; then a cry hailing the approaching boats, + and the answer, “All safe!” Presently the boats had come + alongside, and the passengers crowded down to the guard to learn the + details of the search. Basil heard a hollow, moaning, gurgling sound, + regular as that of the machinery, for some note of which he mistook it. + “Clear the gangway there!” shouted a gruff voice; “man + scalded here!” And a burden was carried by from which fluttered, + with its terrible regularity, that utterance of mortal anguish. + </p> + <p> + Basil went again to the forward promenade, and sat down to see the morning + come. + </p> + <p> + The boat swiftly ascended the current, and presently the steeper shores + were left behind and the banks fell away in long upward sloping fields, + with farm-houses and with stacks of harvest dimly visible in the generous + expanses. By and by they passed a fisherman drawing his nets, and bending + from his boat, there near Albany, N. Y., in the picturesque immortal + attitudes of Raphael's Galilean fisherman; and now a flush mounted + the pale face of the east, and through the dewy coolness of the dawn there + came, more to the sight than any other sense, a vague menace of heat. But + as yet the air was deliciously fresh and sweet, and Basil bathed his + weariness in it, thinking with a certain luxurious compassion of the + scalded man, and how he was to fare that day. This poor wretch seemed of + another order of beings, as the calamitous always seem to the happy, and + Basil's pity was quite an abstraction; which, again, amused and + shocked him, and he asked his heart of bliss to consider of sorrow a + little more earnestly as the lot of all men, and not merely of an alien + creature here and there. He dutifully tried to imagine another issue to + the disaster of the night, and to realize himself suddenly bereft of her + who so filled his life. He bade his soul remember that, in the security of + sleep, Death had passed them both so close that his presence might well + have chilled their dreams, as the iceberg that grazes the ship in the + night freezes all the air about it. But it was quite idle: where love was, + life only was; and sense and spirit alike put aside the burden that he + would have laid upon them; his revery reflected with delicious caprice the + looks, the tones, the movements that he loved, and bore him far away from + the sad images that he had invited to mirror themselves in it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. A DAY'S RAILROADING + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9092}.jpg" alt="{9092}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9092}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + Happiness has commonly a good appetite; and the thought of the fortunately + ended adventures of the night, the fresh morning air, and the content of + their own hearts, gifted our friends, by the time the boat reached Albany, + with a wholesome hunger, so that they debated with spirit the question of + breakfast and the best place of breakfasting in a city which neither of + them knew, save in the most fugitive and sketchy way. + </p> + <p> + They decided at last, in view of the early departure of the train, and the + probability that they would be more hurried at a hotel, to breakfast at + the station, and thither they went and took places at one of the many + tables within, where they seemed to have been expected only by the flies. + The waitress plainly had not looked for them, and for a time found their + presence so incredible that she would not acknowledge the rattling that + Basil was obliged to make on his glass. Then it appeared that the cook + would not believe in them, and he did not send them, till they were quite + faint, the peppery and muddy draught which impudently affected to be + coffee, the oily slices of fugacious potatoes slipping about in their + shallow dish and skillfully evading pursuit, the pieces of beef that + simulated steak, the hot, greasy biscuit, steaming evilly up into the face + when opened, and then soddening into masses of condensed dyspepsia. + </p> + <p> + The wedding-journeyers looked at each other with eyes of sad amaze. They + bowed themselves for a moment to the viands, and then by an equal impulse + refrained. They were sufficiently young, they were happy, they were + hungry; nature is great and strong, but art is greater, and before these + triumphs of the cook at the Albany depot appetite succumbed. By a terrible + tour de force they swallowed the fierce and turbid liquor in their cups, + and then speculated fantastically upon the character and history of the + materials of that breakfast. + </p> + <p> + Presently Isabel paused, played a little with her knife, and, after a + moment looked up at her husband with an arch regard and said: “I was + just thinking of a small station somewhere in the South of France where + our train once stopped for breakfast. I remember the freshness and + brightness of everything on the little tables,—the plates, the + napkins, the gleaming half-bottles of wine. They seemed to have been + preparing that breakfast for us from the beginning of time, and we were + hardly seated before they served us with great cups of 'cafe-au-lait', + and the sweetest rolls and butter; then a delicate cutlet, with an + unspeakable gravy, and potatoes,—such potatoes! Dear me, how little + I ate of it! I wish, for once, I'd had your appetite, Basil; I do + indeed.” + </p> + <p> + She ended with a heartless laugh, in which, despite the tragical contrast + her words had suggested, Basil finally joined. So much amazement had + probably never been got before out of the misery inflicted in that place; + but their lightness did not at all commend them. The waitress had not + liked it from the first, and had served them with reluctance; and the + proprietor did not like it, and kept his eye upon them as if he believed + them about to escape without payment. Here, then, they had enforced a + great fact of travelling,—that people who serve the public are + kindly and pleasant in proportion as they serve it well. The unjust and + the inefficient have always that consciousness of evil which will not let + a man forgive his victim, or like him to be cheerful. + </p> + <p> + Our friends, however, did not heat themselves over the fact. There was + already such heat from without, even at eight o'clock in the + morning, that they chose to be as cool as possible in mind, and they + placidly took their places in the train, which had been made up for + departure. They had deliberately rejected the notion of a drawing-room car + as affording a less varied prospect of humanity, and as being less in the + spirit of ordinary American travel. Now, in reward, they found themselves + quite comfortable in the common passenger-car, and disposed to view the + scenery, into which they struck an hour after leaving the city, with much + complacency. There was sufficient draught through the open window to make + the heat tolerable, and the great brooding warmth gave to the landscape + the charm which it alone can impart. It is a landscape that I greatly love + for its mild beauty and tranquil picturesqueness, and it is in honor of + our friends that I say they enjoyed it. There are nowhere any considerable + hills, but everywhere generous slopes and pleasant hollows and the wide + meadows of a grazing country, with the pretty brown Mohawk River rippling + down through all, and at frequent intervals the life of the canal, now + near, now far away, with the lazy boats that seem not to stir, and the + horses that the train passes with a whirl, and, leaves slowly stepping + forward and swiftly slipping backward. There are farms that had once, or + still have, the romance to them of being Dutch farms,—if there is + any romance in that,—and one conjectures a Dutch thrift in their + waving grass and grain. Spaces of woodland here and there dapple the + slopes, and the cozy red farm-houses repose by the side of their capacious + red barns. Truly, there is no ground on which to defend the idleness, and + yet as the train strives furiously onward amid these scenes of fertility + and abundance, I like in fancy to loiter behind it, and to saunter at will + up and down the landscape. I stop at the farm-yard gates, and sit upon the + porches or thresholds, and am served with cups of buttermilk by old Dutch + ladies who have done their morning's work and have leisure to be + knitting or sewing; or if there are no old ladies, with decent caps upon + their gray hair, then I do not complain if the drink is brought me by some + red-cheeked, comely young girl, out of Washington Irving's pages, + with no cap on her golden braids, who mirrors my diffidence, and takes an + attitude of pretty awkwardness while she waits till I have done drinking. + In the same easily contented spirit as I lounge through the barn-yard, if + I find the old hens gone about their family affairs, I do not mind a + meadow-lark's singing in the top of the elm-tree beside the pump. In + these excursions the watch-dogs know me for a harmless person, and will + not open their eyes as they lie coiled up in the sun before the gate. At + all the places, I have the people keep bees, and, in the garden full of + worthy pot-herbs, such idlers in the vegetable world as hollyhocks and + larkspurs and four-o'clocks, near a great bed in which the asparagus + has gone to sleep for the season with a dream of delicate spray hanging + over it. I walk unmolested through the farmer's tall grass, and ride + with him upon the perilous seat of his voluble mowing-machine, and learn + to my heart's content that his name begins with Van, and that his + family has owned that farm ever since the days of the Patroon; which I + dare say is not true. Then I fall asleep in a corner of the hayfield, and + wake up on the tow-path of the canal beside that wonderfully lean horse, + whose bones you cannot count only, because they are so many. He never + wakes up, but, with a faltering under-lip and half-shut eyes, hobbles + stiffly on, unconscious of his anatomical interest. The captain hospitably + asks me on board, with a twist of the rudder swinging the stern of the + boat up to the path, so that I can step on. She is laden with flour from + the valley of the Genesee, and may have started on her voyage shortly + after the canal was made. She is succinctly manned by the captain, the + driver, and the cook, a fiery-haired lady of imperfect temper; and the + cabin, which I explore, is plainly furnished with a cook-stove and a flask + of whiskey. Nothing but profane language is allowed on board; and so, in a + life of wicked jollity and ease, we glide imperceptibly down the canal, + unvexed by the far-off future of arrival. + </p> + <p> + Such, I say, are my own unambitious mental pastimes, but I am aware that + less superficial spirits could not be satisfied with them, and I can not + pretend that my wedding-journeyers were so. + </p> + <p> + They cast an absurd poetry over the landscape; they invited themselves to + be reminded of passages of European travel by it; and they placed villas + and castles and palaces upon all the eligible building-sites. Ashamed of + these devices, presently, Basil patriotically tried to reconstruct the + Dutch and Indian past of the Mohawk Valley, but here he was foiled by the + immense ignorance of his wife, who, as a true American woman, knew nothing + of the history of her own country, and less than nothing of the barbarous + regions beyond the borders of her native province. She proved a + bewildering labyrinth of error concerning the events which Basil + mentioned; and she had never even heard of the massacres by the French and + Indians at Schenectady, which he in his boyhood had known so vividly that + he was scalped every night in his dreams, and woke up in the morning + expecting to see marks of the tomahawk on the head-board. So, failing at + last to extract any sentiment from the scenes without, they turned their + faces from the window, and looked about them for amusement within the car. + </p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9100}.jpg" alt="{9100}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9100}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + + <p> + It was in all respects an ordinary carful of human beings, and it was + perhaps the more worthy to be studied on that account. As in literature + the true artist will shun the use even of real events if they are of an + improbable character, so the sincere observer of man will not desire to + look upon the heroic or occasional phases, but will seek him in his + habitual moods of vacancy and tiresomeness. To me, at any rate, he is at + such times very precious; and I never perceive him to be so much a man and + a brother as when I feel the pressure of his vast, natural, unaffected + dullness. Then I am able to enter confidently into his life and inhabit + there, to think his shallow and feeble thoughts, to be moved by his dumb, + stupid desires, to be dimly illumined by his stinted inspirations, to + share his foolish prejudices, to practice his obtuse selfishness. Yes, it + is a very amusing world, if you do not refuse to be amused; and our + friends were very willing to be entertained. They delighted in the + precise, thick-fingered old ladies who bought sweet apples of the boys + come aboard with baskets, and who were so long in finding the right + change, that our travellers, leaping in thought with the boys from the + moving train, felt that they did so at the peril of their lives. Then they + were interested in people who went out and found their friends waiting for + them, or else did not find them, and wandered disconsolately up and down + before the country stations, carpet-bag in hand; in women who came aboard, + and were awkwardly shaken hands with or sheepishly kissed by those who + hastily got seats for them, and placed their bags or their babies in their + laps, and turned for a nod at the door; in young ladies who were seen to + places by young men the latter seemed not to care if the train did go off + with them, and then threw up their windows and talked with girl-friends, + on the platform without, till the train began to move, and at last turned + with gleaming eyes and moist red lips, and panted hard in the excitement + of thinking about it, and could not calm themselves to the dull level of + the travel around them; in the conductor, coldly and inaccessibly + vigilant, as he went his rounds, reaching blindly for the tickets with one + hand while he bent his head from time, to time, and listened with a faint, + sarcastic smile to the questions of passengers who supposed they were + going to get some information out of him; in the trainboy, who passed + through on his many errands with prize candies, gum-drops, pop-corn, + papers and magazines, and distributed books and the police journals with a + blind impartiality, or a prodigious ignorance, or a supernatural + perception of character in those who received them. + </p> + <p> + A through train from East to West presents some peculiar features as well + as the traits common to all railway travel; and our friends decided that + this was not a very well-dressed company, and would contrast with the + people on an express-train between Boston and New York to no better + advantage than these would show beside the average passengers between + London and Paris. And it seems true that on a westering' line, the + blacking fades gradually from the boots, the hat softens and sinks, the + coat loses its rigor of cut, and the whole person lounges into increasing + informality of costume. I speak of the undressful sex alone: woman, + wherever she is, appears in the last attainable effects of fashion, which + are now all but telegraphic and universal. But most of the passengers here + were men, and they mere plainly of the free-and-easy West rather than the + dapper East. They wore faces thoughtful with the problem of buying cheap + and selling dear, and they could be known by their silence from the + loquacious, acquaintance-making way-travellers. In these, the mere coming + aboard seemed to beget an aggressively confidential mood. Perhaps they + clutched recklessly at any means of relieving their ennui; or they felt + that they might here indulge safely in the pleasures of autobiography, so + dear to all of us; or else, in view of the many possible catastrophes, + they desired to leave some little memory of themselves behind. At any + rate, whenever the train stopped, the wedding-journeyers caught fragments + of the personal histories of their fellow-passengers which had been + rehearsing to those that sat next the narrators. It was no more than fair + that these should somewhat magnify themselves, and put the best complexion + on their actions and the worst upon their sufferings; that they should all + appear the luckiest or the unluckiest, the healthiest or the sickest, + people that ever were, and should all have made or lost the most money. + There was a prevailing desire among them to make out that they came from + or were going to same very large place; and our friends fancied an actual + mortification in the face of a modest gentleman who got out at Penelope + (or some other insignificant classical station, in the ancient Greek and + Roman part of New York State), after having listened to the life of a + somewhat rustic-looking person who had described himself as belonging near + New York City. + </p> + <p> + Basil also found diversion in the tender couples, who publicly comported + themselves as if in a sylvan solitude, and, as it had been on the bank of + some umbrageous stream, far from the ken of envious or unsympathetic eyes, + reclined upon each other's shoulders and slept; but Isabel declared + that this behavior was perfectly indecent. She granted, of course, that + they were foolish, innocent people, who meant no offense, and did not feel + guilty of an impropriety, but she said that this sort of thing was a + national reproach. If it were merely rustic lovers, she should not care so + much; but you saw people who ought to know better, well-dressed, stylish + people, flaunting their devotion in the face of the world, and going to + sleep on each other's shoulders on every railroad train. It was + outrageous, it was scandalous, it was really infamous. Before she would + allow herself to do such a thing she would—well, she hardly knew + what she would not do; she would have a divorce, at any rate. She wondered + that Basil could laugh at it; and he would make her hate him if he kept + on. + </p> + <p> + From the seat behind their own they were now made listeners to the history + of a ten weeks' typhoid fever, from the moment when the narrator + noticed that he had not felt very well for a day or two back, and all at + once a kind of shiver took him, till he lay fourteen days perfectly + insensible, and could eat nothing but a little pounded ice—and his + wife—a small woman, too—used to lift him back and forth + between the bed and sofa like a feather, and the neighbors did not know + half the time whether he was dead or alive. This history, from which not + the smallest particular or the least significant symptom of the case was + omitted, occupied an hour in recital, and was told, as it seemed, for the + entertainment of one who had been five minutes before it began a stranger + to the historian. + </p> + <p> + At last the train came to a stand, and Isabel wailed forth in accents of + desperation the words, “O, disgusting!” The monotony of the + narrative in the seat behind, fatally combining with the heat of the day, + had lulled her into slumbers from which she awoke at the stopping of the + train, to find her head resting tenderly upon her husband's + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + She confronted his merriment with eyes of mournful rebuke; but as she + could not find him, or the harshest construction, in the least to blame, + she was silent. + </p> + <p> + “Never mind, dear, never mind,” he coaxed, “you were + really not responsible. It was fatigue, destiny, the spite of fortune,—whatever + you like. In the case of the others, whom you despise so justly, I dare + say it is sheer, disgraceful affection. But see that ravishing placard, + swinging from the roof: 'This train stops twenty minutes for dinner + at Utica.' In a few minutes more we shall be at Utica. If they have + anything edible there, it shall never contract my powers. I could dine at + the Albany station, even.” + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0104}.jpg" alt="{0104}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0104}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + In a little while they found themselves in an airy, comfortable + dining-room, eating a dinner, which it seemed to them France in the flush + of her prosperity need not have blushed to serve; for if it wanted a + little in the last graces of art, it redeemed itself in abundance, + variety, and wholesomeness. At the elbow of every famishing passenger + stood a beneficent coal-black glossy fairy, in a white linen apron and + jacket, serving him with that alacrity and kindliness and grace which make + the negro waiter the master, not the slave of his calling, which + disenthrall it of servility, and constitute him your eager host, not your + menial, for the moment. From table to table passed a calming influence in + the person of the proprietor, who, as he took his richly earned money, + checked the rising fears of the guests by repeated proclamations that + there was plenty of time, and that he would give them due warning before + the train started. Those who had flocked out of the cars, to prey with + beak and claw, as the vulture-like fashion is, upon everything in reach, + remained to eat like Christians; and even a poor, scantily-Englished + Frenchman, who wasted half his time in trying to ask how long the cars + stopped and in looking at his watch, made a good dinner in spite of + himself. + </p> + +<div class="figright" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{8105}.jpg" alt="{8105} " width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{8105}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + + <p> + “O Basil, Basil!” cried Isabel, when the train was again in + motion, “have we really dined once more? It seems too good to be + true. Cleanliness, plenty, wholesomeness, civility! Yes, as you say, they + cannot be civil where they are not just; honesty and courtesy go together; + and wherever they give you outrageous things to eat, they add indigestible + insults. Basil, dear, don't be jealous; I shall never meet him + again; but I'm in love with that black waiter at our table. I never + saw such perfect manners, such a winning and affectionate politeness. He + made me feel that every mouthful I ate was a personal favor to him. What a + complete gentleman. There ought never to be a white waiter. None but + negroes are able to render their service a pleasure and distinction to + you.” + </p> + <p> + So they prattled on, doing, in their eagerness to be satisfied, a homage + perhaps beyond its desert to the good dinner and the decent service of it. + But here they erred in the right direction, and I find nothing more + admirable in their behavior throughout a wedding journey which certainly + had its trials, than their willingness to make the very heat of whatever + would suffer itself to be made anything at all of. They celebrated its + pleasures with magnanimous excess, they passed over its griefs with a wise + forbearance. That which they found the most difficult of management was + the want of incident for the most part of the time; and I who write their + history might also sink under it, but that I am supported by the fact that + it is so typical, in this respect. I even imagine that ideal reader for + whom one writes as yawning over these barren details with the life-like + weariness of an actual travelling companion of theirs. Their own silence + often sufficed my wedded lovers, or then, when there was absolutely + nothing to engage them, they fell back upon the story of their love, which + they were never tired of hearing as they severally knew it. Let it not be + a reproach to human nature or to me if I say that there was something in + the comfort of having well dined which now touched the springs of + sentiment with magical effect, and that they had never so rejoiced in + these tender reminiscences. + </p> + <p> + They had planned to stop over at Rochester till the morrow, that they + might arrive at Niagara by daylight, and at Utica they had suddenly + resolved to make the rest of the day's journey in a drawing-room + car. The change gave them an added reason for content; and they realized + how much they had previously sacrificed to the idea of travelling in the + most American manner, without achieving it after all, for this seemed a + touch of Americanism beyond the old-fashioned car. They reclined in luxury + upon the easy-cushioned, revolving chairs; they surveyed with infinite + satisfaction the elegance of the flying-parlor in which they sat, or + turned their contented regard through the broad plate-glass windows upon + the landscape without. They said that none but Americans or enchanted + princes in the “Arabian Nights” ever travelled in such state; + and when the stewards of the car came round successively with tropical + fruits, ice-creams, and claret-punches, they felt a heightened assurance + that they were either enchanted princes—or Americans. There were + more ladies and more fashion than in the other cars; and prettily dressed + children played about on the carpet; but the general appearance of the + passengers hardly suggested greater wealth than elsewhere; and they were + plainly in that car because they were of the American race, which finds + nothing too good for it that its money can buy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. THE ENCHANTED CITY, AND BEYOND. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9109}.jpg" alt="{9109}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9109}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + They knew none of the hotels in Rochester, and they had chosen a certain + one in reliance upon their handbook. When they named it, there stepped + forth a porter of an incredibly cordial and pleasant countenance, who took + their travelling-bags, and led them to the omnibus. As they were his only + passengers, the porter got inside with them, and seeing their interest in + the streets through which they rode, he descanted in a strain of cheerful + pride upon the city's prosperity and character, and gave the names + of the people who lived in the finer houses, just as if it had been an + Old-World town, and he some eager historian expecting reward for his + comment upon it. He cast quite a glamour over Rochester, so that in + passing a body of water, bordered by houses, and overlooked by odd + balconies and galleries, and crossed in the distance by a bridge upon + which other houses were built, they boldly declared, being at their wit's + end for a comparison, and taken with the unhoped-for picturesqueness, that + it put them in mind of Verona. Thus they reached their hotel in almost a + spirit of foreign travel, and very willing to verify the pleasant porter's + assurance that they would like it, for everybody liked it; and it was with + a sudden sinking of the heart that Basil beheld presiding over the + register the conventional American hotel clerk. He was young, he had a + neat mustache and well-brushed hair; jeweled studs sparkled in his + shirt-front, and rings on his white hands; a gentle disdain of the + travelling public breathed from his person in the mystical odors of Ihlang + ihlang. He did not lift his haughty head to look at the wayfarer who + meekly wrote his name in the register; he did not answer him when he + begged for a cool room; he turned to the board on which the keys hung, + and, plucking one from it, slid it towards Basil on the marble counter, + touched a bell for a call-boy, whistled a bar of Offenbach, and as he + wrote the number of the room against Basil's name, said to a friend + lounging near him, as if resuming a conversation, “Well, she's + a mighty pooty gul, any way, Chawley!” + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0111}.jpg" alt="{0111}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0111}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + When I reflect that this was a type of the hotel clerk throughout the + United States, that behind unnumbered registers at this moment he is + snubbing travellers into the dust, and that they are suffering and + perpetuating him, I am lost in wonder at the national meekness. Not that I + am one to refuse the humble pie his jeweled fingers offer me. Abjectly I + take my key, and creep off up stairs after the call-boy, and try to give + myself the genteel air of one who has not been stepped upon. But I think + homicidal things all the same, and I rejoice that in the safety of print I + can cry out against the despot, whom I have not the presence to defy. + “You vulgar and cruel little soul,” I say, and I imagine + myself breathing the words to his teeth, “why do you treat a weary + stranger with this ignominy? I am to pay well for what I get, and I shall + not complain of that. But look at me, and own my humanity; confess by some + civil action, by some decent phrase, that I have rights and that they + shall be respected. Answer my proper questions; respond to my fair + demands. Do not slide my key at me; do not deny me the poor politeness of + a nod as you give it in my hand. I am not your equal; few men are; but I + shall not presume upon your clemency. Come, I also am human!” + </p> + <p> + Basil found that, for his sin in asking for a cool room, the clerk had + given them a chamber into which the sun had been shining the whole + afternoon; but when his luggage had been put in it seemed useless to + protest, and like a true American, like you, like me, he shrank from + asserting himself. When the sun went down it would be cool enough; and + they turned their thoughts to supper, not venturing to hope that, as it + proved, the handsome clerk was the sole blemish of the house. + </p> + <p> + Isabel viewed with innocent surprise the evidences of luxury afforded by + all the appointments of a hotel so far west of Boston, and they both began + to feel that natural ease and superiority which an inn always inspires in + its guests, and which our great hotels, far from impairing, enhance in + flattering degree; in fact, the clerk once forgotten, I protest, for my + own part, I am never more conscious of my merits and riches in any other + place. One has there the romance of being a stranger and a mystery to + every one else, and lives in the alluring possibility of not being found + out a most ordinary person. + </p> + <p> + They were so late in coming to the supper-room, that they found themselves + alone in it. At the door they had a bow from the head-waiter, who ran + before them and drew out chairs for them at a table, and signaled waiters + to serve them, first laying before them with a gracious flourish the bill + of fare. + </p> + <p> + A force of servants flocked about them, as if to contest the honor of + ordering their supper; one set upon the table a heaping vase of + strawberries, another flanked it with flagons of cream, a third + accompanied it with plates of varied flavor and device; a fourth + obsequiously smoothed the table-cloth; a fifth, the youngest of the five, + with folded arms stood by and admired the satisfaction the rest were + giving. When these had been dispatched for steak, for broiled white-fish + of the lakes,—noblest and delicatest of the fish that swim,—for + broiled chicken, for fried potatoes, for mums, for whatever the lawless + fancy, and ravening appetites of the wayfarers could suggest, this fifth + waiter remained to tempt them to further excess, and vainly proposed some + kind of eggs,—fried eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, + or omelette. + </p> + <p> + “O, you're sure, dearest, that this isn't a vision of + fairy-land, which will vanish presently, and leave us empty and forlorn?” + plaintively murmured Isabel, as the menial train reappeared, bearing the + supper they had ordered and set it smoking down. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a look of apprehension dawned upon her face, and she let fall her + knife and fork. “You don't think, Basil,” she faltered, + “that they could have found out we're a bridal party, and that + they're serving us so magnificently because—because—O, I + shall be miserable every moment we're here!” she concluded + desperately. + </p> + <p> + She looked, indeed, extremely wretched for a woman with so much broiled + white-fish on her plate, and such a banquet array about her; and her + husband made haste to reassure her. “You're still demoralized, + Isabel, by our sufferings at the Albany depot, and you exaggerate the + blessings we enjoy, though I should be sorry to undervalue them. I suspect + it's the custom to use people well at this hotel; or if we are + singled out for uncommon favor, I think I can explain the cause. It has + been discovered by the register that we are from Boston, and we are merely + meeting the reverence, affection, and homage which the name everywhere + commands! + </p> + <p> + “It's our fortune to represent for the time being the + intellectual and moral virtue of Boston. This supper is not a tribute to + you as a bride, but as a Bostonian.” + </p> + <p> + It was a cheap kind of raillery, to be sure, but it served. It kindled the + local pride of Isabel to self-defense, and in the distraction of the + effort she forgot her fears; she returned with renewed appetite to the + supper, and in its excellence they both let fall their dispute,—which + ended, of course, in Basil's abject confession that Boston was the + best place in the world, and nothing but banishment could make him live + elsewhere,—and gave themselves up, as usual, to the delight of being + just what and where they were. At last, the natural course brought them to + the strawberries, and when the fifth waiter approached from the corner of + the table at which he stood, to place the vase near them, he did not + retire at once, but presently asked if they were from the West. + </p> + <p> + Isabel smiled, and Basil answered that they were from the East. + </p> + <p> + He faltered at this, as if doubtful of the result if he went further, but + took heart, then, and asked, “Don't you think this is a pretty + nice hotel”—hastily adding as a concession of the probable + existence of much finer things at the East—“for a small hotel?” + </p> + <p> + They imagined this waiter as new to his station in life, as perhaps just + risen to it from some country tavern, and unable to repress his exultation + in what seemed their sympathetic presence. They were charmed to have + invited his guileless confidence, to have evoked possibly all the simple + poetry of his soul; it was what might have happened in Italy, only there + so much naivete would have meant money; they looked at each other with + rapture and Basil answered warmly while the waiter flushed as at a + personal compliment: “Yes, it's a nice hotel; one of the best + I ever saw, East or West, in Europe or America.” + </p> + <p> + They rose and left the room, and were bowed out by the head-waiter. + </p> + <p> + “How perfectly idyllic!” cried Isabel. “Is this + Rochester, New York, or is it some vale of Arcady? Let's go out and + see.” + </p> + <p> + They walked out into the moonlit city, up and down streets that seemed + very stately and fine, amidst a glitter of shop-window lights; and then, + less of their own motion than of mere error, they quitted the business + quarter, and found themselves in a quiet avenue of handsome residences,—the + Beacon Street of Rochester, whatever it was called. They said it was a + night and a place for lovers, for none but lovers, for lovers newly + plighted, and they made believe to bemoan themselves that, hold each other + dear as they would, the exaltation, the thrill, the glory of their younger + love was gone. Some of the houses had gardened spaces about them, from + which stole, like breaths of sweetest and saddest regret, the perfume of + midsummer flowers,—the despair of the rose for the bud. As they + passed a certain house, a song fluttered out of the open window and + ceased, the piano warbled at the final rush of fingers over its chords, + and they saw her with her fingers resting lightly on the keys, and her + graceful head lifted to look into his; they saw him with his arm yet + stretched across to the leaves of music he had been turning, and his face + lowered to meet her gaze. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Basil, I wish it was we, there!” + </p> + <p> + “And if they knew that we, on our wedding journey, stood outside, + would not they wish it was they, here?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so, dearest, and yet, once-upon-a-time was sweet. Pass + on; and let us see what charm we shall find next in this enchanted city.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is an enchanted city to us,” mused Basil, aloud, as + they wandered on, “and all strange cities are enchanted. What is + Rochester to the Rochesterese? A place of a hundred thousand people, as we + read in our guide, an immense flour interest, a great railroad entrepot, + an unrivaled nursery trade, a university, two commercial colleges, three + collegiate institutes, eight or ten newspapers, and a free library. I dare + say any respectable resident would laugh at us sentimentalizing over his + city. But Rochester is for us, who don't know it at all, a city of + any time or country, moonlit, filled with lovers hovering over + piano-fortes, of a palatial hotel with pastoral waiters and porter,—a + city of handsome streets wrapt in beautiful quiet and dreaming of the + golden age. The only definite association with it in our minds is the + tragically romantic thought that here Sam Patch met his fate.” + </p> + <p> + “And who in the world was Sam Patch? + </p> + <p> + “Isabel, your ignorance of all that an American woman should be + proud of distresses me. Have you really, then, never heard of the man who + invented the saying, 'Some things can be done as well as others,' + and proved it by jumping over Niagara Falls twice? Spurred on by this + belief, he attempted the leap of the Genesee Falls. The leap was easy + enough, but the coming up again was another matter. He failed in that. It + was the one thing that could not be done as well as others.” + </p> + <p> + “Dreadful!” said Isabel, with the cheerfullest satisfaction. + “But what has all that to do with Rochester?” + </p> + <p> + “Now, my dear, you don't mean to say you didn't know + that the Genesee Falls were at Rochester? Upon my word, I'm ashamed. + Why, we're within ten minutes' walk of them now.” + </p> + <p> + “Then walk to them at once!” cried Isabel, wholly unabashed, + and in fact unable to see what he had to be ashamed of. “Actually, I + believe you would have allowed me to leave Rochester without telling me + the falls were here, if you hadn't happened to think of Sam Patch.” + </p> + <p> + Saying this, she persuaded herself that a chief object of their journey + had been to visit the scene of Sam Patch's fatal exploit, and she + drew Basil with a nervous swiftness in the direction of the railroad + station, beyond which he said were the falls. Presently, after threading + their way among a multitude of locomotives, with and without trains + attached, that backed and advanced, or stood still, hissing impatiently on + every side, they passed through the station to a broad planking above the + river on the other side, and thence, after encounter of more locomotives, + they found, by dint of much asking, a street winding up the hill-side to + the left, and leading to the German Bierhaus that gives access to the best + view of the cataract. + </p> + <p> + The Americans have characteristically bordered the river with + manufactures, making every drop work its passage to the brink; while the + Germans have as characteristically made use of the beauty left over, and + have built a Bierhaus where they may regale both soul and sense in the + presence of the cataract. Our travellers might, in another mood and place, + have thought it droll to arrive at that sublime spectacle through a + Bierhaus, but in this enchanted city it seemed to have a peculiar fitness. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0120}.jpg" alt="{0120}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0120}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + A narrow corridor gave into a wide festival space occupied by many tables, + each of which was surrounded by a group of clamorous Germans of either sex + and every age, with tall beakers of beaded lager before them, and slim + flasks of Rhenish; overhead flamed the gas in globes of varicolored glass; + the walls were painted like those of such haunts in the fatherland; and + the wedding-journeyers were fair to linger on their way, to dwell upon + that scene of honest enjoyment, to inhale the mingling odors of beer and + of pipes, and of the pungent cheeses in which the children of the + fatherland delight. Amidst the inspiriting clash of plates and glasses, + the rattle of knives and forks, and the hoarse rush of gutturals, they + could catch the words Franzosen, Kaiser, Konig, and Schlacht, and they + knew that festive company to be exulting in the first German triumphs of + the war, which were then the day's news; they saw fists shaken at + noses in fierce exchange of joy, arms tossed abroad in wild + congratulation, and health-pouring goblets of beer lifted in air. Then + they stepped into the moonlight again, and heard only the solemn organ + stops of the cataract. Through garden-ground they were led by the little + maid, their guide, to a small pavilion that stood on the edge of the + precipitous shore, and commanded a perfect view of the falls. As they + entered this pavilion, a youth and maiden, clearly lovers, passed out, and + they were left alone with that sublime presence. Something of definiteness + was to be desired in the spectacle, but there was ample compensation in + the mystery with which the broad effulgence and the dense unluminous + shadows of the moonshine invested it. The light touched all the tops of + the rapids, that seemed to writhe sway from the brink of the cataract, and + then desperately breaking and perishing to fall, the white disembodied + ghosts of rapids, down to the bottom of the vast and deep ravine through + which the river rushed away. Now the waters seemed to mass themselves a + hundred feet high in a wall of snowy compactness, now to disperse into + their multitudinous particles and hang like some vaporous cloud from the + cliff. Every moment renewed the vision of beauty in some rare and + fantastic shape; and its loveliness isolated it, in spite of the great + town on the other shore, the station with its bridge and its trains, the + mills that supplied their feeble little needs from the cataract's + strength. + </p> + <p> + At last Basil pointed out the table-rock in the middle of the fall, from + which Sam Patch had made his fatal leap; but Isabel refused to admit that + tragical figure to the honors of her emotions. “I don't care + for him!” she said fiercely. “Patch! What a name to be linked + in our thoughts with this superb cataract.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Isabel, I think you are very unjust. It's as good a + name as Leander, to my thinking, and it was immortalized in support of a + great idea, the feasibility of all things; while Leander's has come + down to us as that of the weak victim of a passion. We shall never have a + poetry of our own till we get over this absurd reluctance from facts, till + we make the ideal embrace and include the real, till we consent to face + the music in our simple common names, and put Smith into a lyric and Jones + into a tragedy. The Germans are braver than we, and in them you find facts + and dreams continually blended and confronted. Here is a fortunate + illustration. The people we met coming out of this pavilion were lovers, + and they had been here sentimentalizing on this superb cataract, as you + call it, with which my heroic Patch is not worthy to be named. No doubt + they had been quoting Uhland or some other of their romantic poets, + perhaps singing some of their tender German love-songs,—the + tenderest, unearthliest love-songs in the world. At the same time they did + not disdain the matter-of-fact corporeity in which their sentiment was + enshrined; they fed it heartily and abundantly with the banquet whose + relics we see here.” + </p> + <p> + On a table before them stood a pair of beer-glasses, in the bottoms of + which lurked scarce the foam of the generous liquor lately brimming them; + some shreds of sausage, some rinds of Swiss cheese, bits of cold ham, + crusts of bread, and the ashes of a pipe. + </p> + <p> + Isabel shuddered at the spectacle, but made no comment, and Basil went on: + “Do you suppose they scorned the idea of Sam Patch as they gazed + upon the falls? On the contrary, I've no doubt that he recalled to + her the ballad which a poet of their language made about him. It used to + go the rounds of the German newspapers, and I translated it, a long while + ago, when I thought that I too was in 'Arkadien geboren'. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0124}.jpg" alt="{0124}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0124}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'In the Bierhauagarten I linger + By the Falls of the Geneses: + From the Table-Rock in the middle + Leaps a figure bold and free. + + Aloof in the air it rises + O'er the rush, the plunge, the death; + On the thronging banks of the river + There is neither pulse nor breath. + + Forever it hovers and poises + Aloof in the moonlit air; + As light as mist from the rapids, + As heavy as nightmare. + + In anguish I cry to the people, + The long-since vanished hosts; + I see them stretch forth in answer, + The helpless hands of ghosts.'” + </pre> + <p> + “I once met the poet who wrote this. He drank too much beer.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see that he got in the name of Sam Patch, after all,” + said Isabel. + </p> + <p> + “O yes; he did; but I had to yield to our taste, and where he said, + I 'Springt der Sam Patsch kuhn and frei',' I made it + 'Leaps a figure bold and free.'” + </p> + <p> + As they passed through the house on their way out, they saw the youth and + maiden they had met at the pavilion door. They were seated at a table; two + glasses of beer towered before them; on their plates were odorous crumbs + of Limburger cheese. They both wore a pensive air. + </p> + <p> + The next morning the illusion that had wrapt the whole earth was gone with + the moonlight. By nine o'clock, when the wedding-journeyers resumed + their way toward Niagara, the heat had already set in with the effect of + ordinary midsummer's heat at high noon. The car into which they got + had come the past night from Albany, and had an air of almost conscious + shabbiness, griminess, and over-use. The seats were covered with cinders, + which also crackled under foot. Dust was on everything, especially the + persons of the crumpled and weary passengers of overnight. Those who came + aboard at Rochester failed to lighten the spiritual gloom, and presently + they sank into the common bodily wretchedness. The train was somewhat + belated, and as it drew nearer Buffalo they knew the conductor to have + abandoned himself to that blackest of the arts, making time. The long + irregular jolt of the ordinary progress was reduced to an incessant + shudder and a quick lateral motion. The air within the cars was deadly; if + a window was raised, a storm of dust and cinders blew in and quick gusts + caught away the breath. So they sat with closed windows, sweltering and + stifling, and all the faces on which a lively horror was not painted were + dull and damp with apathetic misery. + </p> + <p> + The incidents were in harmony with the abject physical tone of the + company. There was a quarrel between a thin, shrill-voiced, highly + dressed, much-bedizened Jewess, on the one side, and a fat, greedy old + woman, half asleep, and a boy with large pink transparent ears that stood + out from his head like the handles of a jar, on the other side, about a + seat which the Hebrew wanted, and which the others had kept filled with + packages on the pretense that it was engaged. It was a loud and fierce + quarrel enough, but it won no sort of favor; and when the Jewess had given + a final opinion that the greedy old woman was no lady, and the boy, who + disputed in an ironical temper, replied, “Highly complimentary, I + must say,” there was no sign of relief or other acknowledgment in + any of the spectators, that there had been a quarrel. + </p> + <p> + There was a little more interest taken in the misfortune of an old + purblind German and his son, who were found by the conductor to be a few + hundred miles out of the direct course to their destination, and were with + some trouble and the aid of an Americanized fellow-countryman made aware + of the fact. The old man then fell back in the prevailing apathy, and the + child naturally cared nothing. By and by came the unsparing train-boy on + his rounds, bestrewing the passengers successively with papers, magazines, + fine-cut tobacco, and packages of candy. He gave the old man a package of + candy, and passed on. The German took it as the bounty of the American + people, oddly manifested in a situation where he could otherwise have had + little proof of their care. He opened it and was sharing it with his son + when the train-boy came back, and metallically, like a part of the + machinery, demanded, “Ten cents!” The German stared + helplessly, and the boy repeated, “Ten cents! ten cents!” with + tiresome patience, while the other passengers smiled. When it had passed + through the alien's head that he was to pay for this national gift + and he took with his tremulous fingers from the recesses of his + pocket-book a ten-cent note and handed it to his tormentor, some of the + people laughed. Among the rest, Basil and Isabel laughed, and then looked + at each other with eyes of mutual reproach. + </p> + <p> + “Well, upon my word, my dear,” he said, “I think we've + fallen pretty low. I've never felt such a poor, shabby ruffian + before. Good heavens! To think of our immortal souls being moved to mirth + by such a thing as this,—so stupid, so barren of all reason of + laughter. And then the cruelty of it! What ferocious imbeciles we are! + Whom have I married? A woman with neither heart nor brain!” + </p> + <p> + “O Basil, dear, pay him back the money—do.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't. That's the worst of it. He's money + enough, and might justly take offense. What breaks my heart is that we + could have the depravity to smile at the mistake of a friendless stranger, + who supposed he had at last met with an act of pure kindness. It's a + thing to weep over. Look at these grinning wretches! What a fiendish + effect their smiles have, through their cinders and sweat! O, it's + the terrible weather; the despotism of the dust and heat; the wickedness + of the infernal air. What a squalid and loathsome company!” + </p> + <p> + At Buffalo, where they arrived late, they found themselves with several + hours' time on their hands before the train started for Niagara, and + in the first moments of tedium, Isabel forgot herself into saying, “Don't + you think we'd have done better to go directly from Rochester to the + Falls, instead of coming this way?” + </p> + <p> + “Why certainly. I didn't propose coming this way.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it, dear. I was only asking,” said Isabel, meekly. + “But I should think you'd have generosity enough to take a + little of the blame, when I wanted to come out of a romantic feeling for + you.” + </p> + <p> + This romantic feeling referred to the fact that, many years before, when + Basil made his first visit to Niagara, he had approached from the west by + way of Buffalo; and Isabel, who tenderly begrudged his having existed + before she knew him, and longed to ally herself retrospectively with his + past, was resolved to draw near the great cataract by no other route. + </p> + <p> + She fetched a little sigh which might mean the weather or his + hard-heartedness. The sigh touched him, and he suggested a carriage-ride + through the city; she assented with eagerness, for it was what she had + been thinking of. She had never seen a lakeside city before, and she was + taken by surprise. “If ever we leave Boston,” she said, + “we will not live at Rochester, as I thought last night; we'll + come to Buffalo.” She found that the place had all the + picturesqueness of a sea-port, without the ugliness that attends the + rising and falling tides. A delicious freshness breathed from the lake, + which lying so smooth, faded into the sky at last, with no line between + sharper than that which divides drowsing from dreaming. But the color was + the most charming thing, that delicate blue of the lake, without the depth + of the sea-blue, but infinitely softer and lovelier. The nearer expanses + rippled with dainty waves, silver and lucent; the further levels made, + with the sun-dimmed summer sky, a vague horizon of turquoise and amethyst, + lit by the white sails of ships, and stained by the smoke of steamers. + </p> + <p> + “Take me away now,” said Isabel, when her eyes had feasted + upon all this, “and don't let me see another thing till I get + to Niagara. Nothing less sublime is worthy the eyes that have beheld such + beauty.” + </p> + <p> + However, on the way to Niagara she consented to glimpses of the river + which carries the waters of the lake for their mighty plunge, and which + shows itself very nobly from time to time as you draw toward the cataract, + with wooded or cultivated islands, and rich farms along its low shores, + and at last flashes upon the eye the shining white of the rapids,—a + hint, no more, of the splendor and awfulness to be revealed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. NIAGARA. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9131}.jpg" alt="{9131}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9131}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + As the train stopped, Isabel's heart beat with a child-like + exultation, as I believe every one's heart must who is worthy to + arrive at Niagara. She had been trying to fancy, from time to time, that + she heard the roar of the cataract, and now, when she alighted from the + car, she was sure she should have heard it but for the vulgar little + noises that attend the arrival of trains at Niagara as well as everywhere + else. “Never mind, dearest; you shall be stunned with it before you + leave,” promised her husband; and, not wholly disconsolate, she rode + through the quaint streets of the village, where it remains a question + whether the lowliness of the shops and private houses makes the hotels + look so vast, or the bigness of the hotels dwarfs all the other buildings. + The immense caravansaries swelling up from among the little bazaars (where + they sell feather fans, and miniature bark canoes, and jars and vases and + bracelets and brooches carved out of the local rocks), made our friends + with their trunks very conscious of their disproportion to the + accommodations of the smallest. They were the sole occupants of the + omnibus, and they were embarrassed to be received at their hotel with a + burst of minstrelsy from a whole band of music. Isabel felt that a single + stringed instrument of some timid note would have been enough; and Basil + was going to express his own modest preference for a jew's-harp, + when the music ceased with a sudden clash of the cymbals. But the next + moment it burst out with fresh sweetness, and in alighting they perceived + that another omnibus had turned the corner and was drawing up to the + pillared portico of the hotel. A small family dismounted, and the feet of + the last had hardly touched the pavement when the music again ended as + abruptly as those flourishes of trumpets that usher player-kings upon the + stage. Isabel could not help laughing at this melodious parsimony. “I + hope they don't let on the cataract and shut it off in this frugal + style; do they, Basil?” she asked, and passed jesting through a pomp + of unoccupied porters and tallboys. Apparently there were not many people + stopping at this hotel, or else they were all out looking at the Falls or + confined to their rooms. However, our travellers took in the almost weird + emptiness of the place with their usual gratitude to fortune for all + queerness in life, and followed to the pleasant quarters assigned them. + There was time before supper for a glance at the cataract, and after a + brief toilet they sallied out again upon the holiday street, with its + parade of gay little shops, and thence passed into the grove beside the + Falls, enjoying at every instant their feeling of arrival at a sublime + destination. + </p> + <p> + In this sense Niagara deserves almost to rank with Rome, the metropolis of + history and religion; with Venice, the chief city of sentiment and + fantasy. In either you are at once made at home by a perception of its + greatness, in which there is no quality of aggression, as there always + seems to be in minor places as well as in minor men, and you gratefully + accept its sublimity as a fact in no way contrasting with your own + insignificance. + </p> + <p> + Our friends were beset of course by many carriage-drivers, whom they + repelled with the kindly firmness of experienced travel. Isabel even felt + a compassion for these poor fellows who had seen Niagara so much as to + have forgotten that the first time one must see it alone or only with the + next of friendship. She was voluble in her pity of Basil that it was not + as new to him as to her, till between the trees they saw a white cloud of + spray, shot through and through with sunset, rising, rising, and she felt + her voice softly and steadily beaten down by the diapason of the cataract. + </p> + <p> + I am not sure but the first emotion on viewing Niagara is that of + familiarity. Ever after, its strangeness increases; but in that earliest + moment when you stand by the side of the American fall, and take in so + much of the whole as your glance can compass, an impression of having seen + it often before is certainly very vivid. This may be an effect of that + grandeur which puts you at your ease in its presence; but it also + undoubtedly results in part from lifelong acquaintance with every variety + of futile picture of the scene. You have its outward form clearly in your + memory; the shores, the rapids, the islands, the curve of the Falls, and + the stout rainbow with one end resting on their top and the other lost in + the mists that rise from the gulf beneath. On the whole I do not account + this sort of familiarity a misfortune. The surprise is none the less a + surprise because it is kept till the last, and the marvel, making itself + finally felt in every nerve, and not at once through a single sense, all + the more fully possesses you. It is as if Niagara reserved her + magnificence, and preferred to win your heart with her beauty; and so + Isabel, who was instinctively prepared for the reverse, suffered a vague + disappointment, for a little instant, as she looked along the verge from + the water that caressed the shore at her feet before it flung itself down, + to the wooded point that divides the American from the Canadian Fall, + beyond which showed dimly through its veil of golden and silver mists the + emerald wall of the great Horse-Shoe. “How still it is!” she + said, amidst the roar that shook the ground under their feet and made the + leaves tremble overhead, and “How lonesome!” amidst the people + lounging and sauntering about in every direction among the trees. In fact + that prodigious presence does make a solitude and silence round every + spirit worthy to perceive it, and it gives a kind of dignity to all its + belongings, so that the rocks and pebbles in the water's edge, and + the weeds and grasses that nod above it, have a value far beyond that of + such common things elsewhere. In all the aspects of Niagara there seems a + grave simplicity, which is perhaps a reflection of the spectator's + soul for once utterly dismantled of affectation and convention. In the + vulgar reaction from this, you are of course as trivial, if you like, at + Niagara, as anywhere. + </p> + <p> + Slowly Isabel became aware that the sacred grove beside the fall was + profaned by some very common presences indeed, that tossed bits of stone + and sticks into the consecrated waters, and struggled for handkerchiefs + and fans, and here and there put their arms about each other's + waists, and made a show of laughing and joking. They were a picnic party + of rude, silly folks of the neighborhood, and she stood pondering them in + sad wonder if anything could be worse, when she heard a voice saying to + Basil, “Take you next, Sir? Plenty of light yet, and the wind's + down the river, so the spray won't interfere. Make a capital picture + of you; falls in the background.” It was the local photographer + urging them to succeed the young couple he had just posed at the brink: + the gentleman was sitting down, with his legs crossed and his hands + elegantly disposed; the lady was standing at his side, with one arm thrown + lightly across his shoulder, while with the other hand she thrust his cane + into the ground; you could see it was going to be a splendid photograph. + </p> + <p> + Basil thanked the artist, and Isabel said, trusting as usual to his + sympathy for perception of her train of thought, “Well, I'll + never try to be high-strung again. But shouldn't you have thought, + dearest, that I might expect to be high-strung with success at Niagara if + anywhere?” She passively followed him into the long, queer, + downward-sloping edifice on the border of the grove, unflinchingly mounted + the car that stood ready, and descended the incline. Emerging into the + light again, she found herself at the foot of the fall by whose top she + had just stood. At first she was glad there were other people down there, + as if she and Basil were not enough to bear it alone, and she could almost + have spoken to the two hopelessly pretty brides, with parasols and + impertinent little boots, whom their attendant husbands were helping over + the sharp and slippery rocks, so bare beyond the spray, so green and mossy + within the fall of mist. But in another breath she forgot them; as she + looked on that dizzied sea, hurling itself from the high summit in huge + white knots, and breaks and masses, and plunging into the gulf beside her, + while it sent continually up a strong voice of lamentation, and crawled + away in vast eddies, with somehow a look of human terror, bewilderment, + and pain. It was bathed in snowy vapor to its crest, but now and then + heavy currents of air drew this aside, and they saw the outline of the + Falls almost as far as the Canada side. They remembered afterwards how + they were able to make use of but one sense at a time, and how when they + strove to take in the forms of the descending flood, they ceased to hear + it; but as soon as they released their eyes from this service, every fibre + in them vibrated to the sound, and the spectacle dissolved away in it. + They were aware, too, of a strange capriciousness in their senses, and of + a tendency of each to palter with the things perceived. The eye could no + longer take truthful note of quality, and now beheld the tumbling deluge + as a Gothic wall of careen marble, white, motionless, and now as a fall of + lightest snow, with movement in all its atoms, and scarce so much cohesion + as would hold them together; and again they could not discern if this + course were from above or from beneath, whether the water rose from the + abyss or dropped from the height. The ear could give the brain no + assurance of the sound that felled it, and whether it were great or + little; the prevailing softness of the cataract's tone seemed so + much opposed to ideas of prodigious force or of prodigious volume. It was + only when the sight, so idle in its own behalf, came to the aid of the + other sense, and showed them the mute movement of each other's lips, + that they dimly appreciated the depth of sound that involved them. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0137}.jpg" alt="{0137}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0137}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “I think you might have been high-strung there, for a second or two,” + said Basil, when, ascending the incline; he could make himself heard. + “We will try the bridge next.” + </p> + <p> + Over the river, so still with its oily eddies and delicate wreaths of + foam, just below the Falls they have in late years woven a web of wire + high in air, and hung a bridge from precipice to precipice. Of all the + bridges made with hands it seems the lightest, most ethereal; it is + ideally graceful, and droops from its slight towers like a garland. It is + worthy to command, as it does, the whole grandeur of Niagara, and to show + the traveller the vast spectacle, from the beginning of the American Fall + to the farthest limit of the Horse-Shoe, with all the awful pomp of the + rapids, the solemn darkness of the wooded islands, the mystery of the + vaporous gulf, the indomitable wildness of the shores, as far as the eye + can reach up or down the fatal stream. + </p> + <p> + To this bridge our friends now repaired, by a path that led through + another of those groves which keep the village back from the shores of the + river on the American side, and greatly help the sight-seer's + pleasure in the place. The exquisite structure, which sways so tremulously + from its towers, and seems to lay so slight a hold on earth where its + cables sink into the ground, is to other bridges what the blood horse is + to the common breed of roadsters; and now they felt its sensitive nerves + quiver under them and sympathetically through them as they advanced + farther and farther toward the centre. Perhaps their sympathy with the + bridge's trepidation was too great for unalloyed delight, and yet + the thrill was a glorious one, to be known only there; and afterwards, at + least, they would not have had their airy path seem more secure. + </p> + <p> + The last hues of sunset lingered in the mists that sprung from the base of + the Falls with a mournful, tremulous grace, and a movement weird as the + play of the northern lights. They were touched with the most delicate + purples and crimsons, that darkened to deep red, and then faded from them + at a second look, and they flew upward, swiftly upward, like troops of + pale, transparent ghosts; while a perfectly clear radiance, better than + any other for local color, dwelt upon the scene. Far under the bridge the + river smoothly swam, the undercurrents forever unfolding themselves upon + the surface with a vast rose-like evolution, edged all round with faint + lines of white, where the air that filled the water freed itself in foam. + What had been clear green on the face of the cataract was here more like + rich verd-antique, and had a look of firmness almost like that of the + stone itself. So it showed beneath the bridge, and down the river till the + curving shores hid it. These, springing abruptly from the water's + brink, and shagged with pine and cedar, displayed the tender verdure of + grass and bushes intermingled with the dark evergreens that comb from + ledge to ledge, till they point their speary tops above the crest of + bluffs. In front, where tumbled rocks and expanses of caked clay varied + the gloomier and gayer green, sprung those spectral mists; and through + them loomed out, in its manifold majesty, Niagara, with the seemingly + immovable white Gothic screen of the American Fall, and the green massive + curve of the Horseshoe, solid and simple and calm as an Egyptian wall; + while behind this, with their white and black expanses broken by dark + foliaged little isles, the steep Canadian rapids billowed down between + their heavily wooded shores. + </p> + <p> + The wedding-journeyers hung, they knew not how long, in rapture on the + sight; and then, looking back from the shore to the spot where they had + stood, they felt relieved that unreality should possess itself of all, and + that the bridge should swing there in mid-air like a filmy web, scarce + more passable than the rainbow that flings its arch above the mists. + </p> + <p> + On the portico of the hotel they found half a score of gentlemen smoking, + and creating together that collective silence which passes for sociality + on our continent. Some carriages stood before the door, and within, around + the base of a pillar, sat a circle of idle call-boys. There were a few + trunks heaped together in one place, with a porter standing guard over + them; a solitary guest was buying a cigar at the newspaper stand in one + corner; another friendless creature was writing a letter in the + reading-room; the clerk, in a seersucker coat and a lavish shirt-bosom, + tried to give the whole an effect of watering-place gayety and bustle, as + he provided a newly arrived guest with a room. + </p> + <p> + Our pair took in these traits of solitude and repose with indifference. If + the hotel had been thronged with brilliant company, they would have been + no more and no less pleased; and when, after supper, they came into the + grand parlor, and found nothing there but a marble-topped centre-table, + with a silver-plated ice-pitcher and a small company of goblets, they sat + down perfectly content in a secluded window-seat. They were not seen by + the three people who entered soon after, and halted in the centre of the + room. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Kitty!” said one of the two ladies who must be in any + travelling-party of three, “this is more inappropriate to your + gorgeous array than the supper-room, even.” + </p> + <p> + She who was called Kitty was armed, as for social conquest, in some kind + of airy evening-dress, and was looking round with bewilderment upon that + forlorn waste of carpeting and upholstery. She owned, with a smile, that + she had not seen so much of the world yet as she had been promised; but + she liked Niagara very much, and perhaps they should find the world at + breakfast. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the other lady, who was as unquiet as Kitty was + calm, and who seemed resolved to make the most of the worst, “it isn't + probable that the hotel will fill up overnight; and I feel personally + responsible for this state of things. Who would ever have supposed that + Niagara would be so empty? I thought the place was thronged the whole + summer long. How do you account for it, Richard?” + </p> + <p> + The gentleman looked fatigued, as from a long-continued discussion + elsewhere of the matter in hand, and he said that he had not been trying + to account for it. + </p> + <p> + “Then you don't care for Kitty's pleasure at all, and + you don't want her to enjoy herself. Why don't you take some + interest in the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, if I accounted for the emptiness of Niagara in the most + satisfactory way, it wouldn't add a soul to the floating population. + Under the circumstances I prefer to leave it unexplained.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think it's because it's such a hot summer? Do + you suppose it's not exactly the season? Didn't you expect + there'd be more people? Perhaps Niagara isn't as fashionable + as it used to be.” + </p> + <p> + “It looks something like that.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, what under the sun do you think is the reason?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” interposed Kitty, placidly, “most of the + visitors go to the other hotel, now.” + </p> + <p> + “It's altogether likely,” said the other lady, eagerly. + “There are just such caprices.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Richard, “I wanted you to go there.” + </p> + <p> + “But you said that you always heard this was the a most fashionable.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it. I didn't want to come here for that reason. But + fortune favors the brave.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's too bad! Here we've asked Kitty to come to + Niagara with us, just to give her a little peep into the world, and you've + brought us to a hotel where we're—” + </p> + <p> + “Monarchs of all we survey,” suggested Kitty. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and start at the sound of our own,” added the other + lady, helplessly. + </p> + <p> + “Come now, Fanny,” said the gentleman, who was but too clearly + the husband of the last speaker. “You know you insisted, against all + I could say or do, upon coming to this house; I implored you to go to the + other, and now you blame me for bringing you here.” + </p> + <p> + “So I do. If you'd let me have my own way without opposition + about coming here, I dare say I should have gone to the other place. But + never mind. Kitty knows whom to blame, I hope. She's your cousin.” + </p> + <p> + Kitty was sitting with her hands quiescently folded in her lap. She now + rose and said that she did not know anything about the other hotel, and + perhaps it was just as empty as this. + </p> + <p> + “It can't be. There can't be two hotels so empty,” + said Fanny. “It don't stand to reason.” + </p> + <p> + “If you wish Kitty to see the world so much,” said the + gentleman, “why don't you take her on to Quebec, with us?” + </p> + <p> + Kitty had left her seat beside Fanny, and was moving with a listless + content about the parlor. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder you ask, Richard, when you know she's only come for + the night, and has nothing with her but a few cuffs and collars! I + certainly never heard of anything so absurd before!” + </p> + <p> + The absurdity of the idea then seemed to cast its charm upon her, for, + after a silence, “I could lend her some things,” she said + musingly. “But don't speak of it to-night, please. It's + too ridiculous. Kitty!” she called out, and, as the young lady drew + near, she continued, “How would you like to go to Quebec, with us?” + </p> + <p> + “O Fanny!” cried Kitty, with rapture; and then, with dismay, + “How can I?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, very well, I think. You've got this dress, and your + travelling-suit; and I can lend you whatever you want. Come!” she + added joyously, “let's go up to your room, and talk it over!” + </p> + <p> + The two ladies vanished upon this impulse, and the gentleman followed. To + their own relief the guiltless eaves-droppers, who found no moment + favorable for revealing themselves after the comedy began, issued from + their retiracy. + </p> + <p> + “What a remarkable little lady!” said Basil, eagerly turning + to Isabel for sympathy in his enjoyment of her inconsequence. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, poor thing!” returned his wife; “it's no + light matter to invite a young lady to take a journey with you, and + promise her all sorts of gayety, and perhaps beaux and flirtations, and + then find her on your hands in a desolation like this. It's + dreadful, I think.” + </p> + <p> + Basil stared. “O, certainly,” he said. “But what an + amusingly illogical little body!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand what you mean, Basil. It was the only + thing that she could do, to invite the young lady to go on with them. I + wonder her husband had the sense to think of it first. Of course she'll + have to lend her things.” + </p> + <p> + “And you didn't observe anything peculiar in her way of + reaching her conclusions?” + </p> + <p> + “Peculiar? What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, her blaming her husband for letting her have her own way about + the hotel; and her telling him not to mention his proposal to Kitty, and + then doing it herself, just—after she'd pronounced it absurd + and impossible.” He spoke with heat at being forced to make what he + thought a needless explanation. + </p> + <p> + “O!” said Isabel, after a moment's reflection. “That! + Did you think it so very odd?” + </p> + <p> + Her husband looked at her with the gravity a man must feel when he begins + to perceive that he has married the whole mystifying world of womankind in + the woman of his choice, and made no answer. But to his own soul he said: + “I supposed I had the pleasure of my wife's acquaintance. It + seems I have been flattering myself.” + </p> + <p> + The next morning they went out as they had planned, for an exploration of + Goat Island, after an early breakfast. As they sauntered through the + village's contrasts of pigmy and colossal in architecture, they + praisefully took in the unalloyed holiday character of the place, enjoying + equally the lounging tourists at the hotel doors, the drivers and their + carriages to let, and the little shops, with nothing but mementos of + Niagara, and Indian beadwork, and other trumpery, to sell. Shops so + useless, they agreed, could not be found outside the Palms Royale, or the + Square of St. Mark, or anywhere else in the world but here. They felt + themselves once more a part of the tide of mere sight-seeing + pleasure-travel, on which they had drifted in other days, and in an eddy + of which their love itself had opened its white blossom, and lily-like + dreamed upon the wave. + </p> + <p> + They were now also part of the great circle of newly wedded bliss, which, + involving the whole land during the season of bridal-tours, may be said to + show richest and fairest at Niagara, like the costly jewel of a precious + ring. The place is, in fact, almost abandoned to bridal couples, and any + one out of his honey-moon is in some degree an alien there, and must + discern a certain immodesty in him intrusion. Is it for his profane eyes + to look upon all that blushing and trembling joy? A man of any sensibility + must desire to veil his face, and, bowing his excuses to the collective + rapture, take the first train for the wicked outside world to which he + belongs. Everywhere, he sees brides and brides. Three or four with the + benediction still on them, come down in the same car with him; he hands + her travelling-shawl after one as she springs from the omnibus into her + husband's arms; there are two or three walking back and forth with + their new lords upon the porch of the hotel; at supper they are on every + side of him, and he feels himself suffused, as it were, by a roseate + atmosphere of youth and love and hope. At breakfast it is the same, and + then, in his wanderings about the place he constantly meets them. They are + of all manners of beauty, fair and dark, slender and plump, tall and + short; but they are all beautiful with the radiance of loving and being + loved. Now, if ever in their lives, they are charmingly dressed, and + ravishing toilets take the willing eye from the objects of interest. How + high the heels of the pretty boots, how small the tender-tinted gloves, + how electrical the flutter of the snowy skirts! What is Niagara to these + things? + </p> + <p> + Isabel was not willing to own her bridal sisterhood to these blessed + souls; but she secretly rejoiced in it, even while she joined Basil in + noting their number and smiling at their innocent abandon. She dropped his + arm at encounter of the first couple, and walked carelessly at his side; + she made a solemn vow never to take hold of his watch-chain in speaking to + him; she trusted that she might be preserved from putting her face very + close to his at dinner in studying the bill of fare; getting out of + carriages, she forbade him ever to take her by the waist. All ascetic + resolutions are modified by experiment; but if Isabel did not rigorously + keep these, she is not the less to be praised for having formed them. + </p> + <p> + Just before they reached the bridge to Goat Island, they passed a little + group of the Indians still lingering about Niagara, who make the barbaric + wares in which the shops abound, and, like the woods and the wild faces of + the cliffs and precipices, help to keep the cataract remote, and to invest + it with the charm of primeval loneliness. This group were women, and they + sat motionless on the ground, smiling sphinx-like over their laps full of + bead-work, and turning their dark liquid eyes of invitation upon the + passers. They wore bright kirtles, and red shawls fell from their heads + over their plump brown cheeks and down their comfortable persons. A little + girl with them was attired in like gayety of color. “What is her + name?” asked Isabel, paying for a bead pincushion. “Daisy + Smith,” said her mother, in distressingly good English. “But + her Indian name?” “She has none,” answered the woman, + who told Basil that her village numbered five hundred people, and that + they were Protestants. While they talked they were joined by an Indian, + whom the women saluted musically in their native tongue. This was somewhat + consoling; but he wore trousers and a waistcoat, and it could have been + wished that he had not a silk hat on. + </p> + <p> + “Still,” said Isabel, as they turned away, “I'm + glad he hasn't Lisle-thread gloves, like that chieftain we saw + putting his forest queen on board the train at Oneida. But how shocking + that they should be Christians, and Protestants! It would have been bad + enough to have them Catholics. And that woman said that they were + increasing. They ought to be fading away.” + </p> + <p> + On the bridge, they paused and looked up and down the rapids rushing down + the slope in all their wild variety, with the white crests of breaking + surf, the dark massiveness of heavy-climbing waves, the fleet, smooth + sweep of currents over broad shelves of sunken rock, the dizzy swirl and + suck of whirlpools. + </p> + <p> + Spell-bound, the journeyers pored upon the deathful course beneath their + feet, gave a shudder to the horror of being cast upon it, and then hurried + over the bridge to the island, in the shadow of whose wildness they sought + refuge from the sight and sound. + </p> + <p> + There had been rain in the night; the air war full of forest fragrance, + and the low, sweet voice of twittering birds. Presently they came to a + bench set in a corner of the path, and commanding a pleasant vista of + sunlit foliage, with a mere gleam of the foaming river beyond. As they sat + down here loverwise, Basil, as in the early days of their courtship, began + to recite a poem. It was one which had been haunting him since his first + sight of the rapids, one of many that he used to learn by heart in his + youth—the rhyme of some poor newspaper poet, whom the third or + fourth editor copying his verses consigned to oblivion by carelessly + clipping his name from the bottom. It had always lingered in Basil's + memory, rather from the interest of the awful fact it recorded, than from + any merit of its own; and now he recalled it with a distinctness that + surprised him. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + AVERY. + + I. +All night long they heard in the houses beside the shore, Heard, or +seemed to hear, through the multitudinous roar, Out of the hell of the +rapids as 'twere a lost soul's cries Heard and could not believe; and +the morning mocked their eyes, Showing where wildest and fiercest the +waters leaped up and ran Raving round him and past, the visage of a man +Clinging, or seeming to cling, to the trunk of a tree that, caught Fast +in the rocks below, scarce out of the surges raught. Was it a life, +could it be, to yon slender hope that clung Shrill, above all the tumult +the answering terror rang. + + II. +Under the weltering rapids a boat from the bridge is drowned, Over the +rocks the lines of another are tangled and wound, And the long, fateful +hours of the morning have wasted soon, As it had been in some blessed +trance, and now it is noon. Hurry, now with the raft! But O, build it +strong and stanch, And to the lines and the treacherous rocks look well +as you launch Over the foamy tops of the waves, and their foam-sprent +sides, Over the hidden reefs, and through the embattled tides, Onward +rushes the raft, with many a lurch and leap,—Lord! if it strike him +loose from the hold he scarce can keep! No! through all peril unharmed, +it reaches him harmless at least, And to its proven strength he lashes +his weakness fast. Now, for the shore! But steady, steady, my men, and +slow; Taut, now, the quivering lines; now slack; and so, let her go! +Thronging the shores around stands the pitying multitude; Wan as his +own are their looks, and a nightmare seems to brood Heavy upon them, +and heavy the silence hangs on all, Save for the rapids' plunge, and the +thunder of the fall. But on a sudden thrills from the people still +and pale, Chorussing his unheard despair, a desperate wail Caught on a +lurking point of rock it sways and swings, Sport of the pitiless waters, +the raft to which he clings. + + III. +All the long afternoon it idly swings and sways; And on the shore the +crowd lifts up its hands and prays: Lifts to heaven and wrings the hands +so helpless to save, Prays for the mercy of God on him whom the rock and +the ways Battle for, fettered betwixt them, and who amidst their strife +Straggles to help his helpers, and fights so hard for his life, Tugging +at rope and at reef, while men weep and women swoon. Priceless second by +second, so wastes the afternoon. And it is sunset now; and another boat +and the last Down to him from the bridge through the rapids has safely +passed. + + IV. +Wild through the crowd comes flying a man that nothing can stay +Maddening against the gate that is locked athwart his way. “No! we keep +the bridge for them that can help him. You, Tell us, who are you?” “His +brother!” “God help you both! Pass through.” Wild, with wide arms of +imploring he calls aloud to him, Unto the face of his brother, scarce +seen in the distance dim; But in the roar of the rapids his fluttering +words are lost As in a wind of autumn the leaves of autumn are tossed. +And from the bridge he sees his brother sever the rope Holding him +to the raft, and rise secure in his hope; Sees all as in a dream the +terrible pageantry, Populous shores, the woods, the sky, the birds +flying free; Sees, then, the form—that, spent with effort and fasting +and fear, Flings itself feebly and fails of the boat that is lying so +near, Caught in the long-baffled clutch of the rapids, and rolled and +hurled Headlong on to the cataract's brink, and out of the world. +</pre> + <p> + “O Basil!” said Isabel, with a long sigh breaking the hush + that best praised the unknown poet's skill, “it isn't + true, is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Every word, almost, even to the brother's coming at the last + moment. It's a very well-known incident,” he added, and I am + sure the reader whose memory runs back twenty years cannot have forgotten + it. + </p> + <p> + Niagara, indeed, is an awful homicide; nearly every point of interest + about the place has killed its man, and there might well be a deeper stain + of crimson than it ever wears in that pretty bow overarching the falls. + Its beauty is relieved against an historical background as gloomy as the + lightest-hearted tourist could desire. The abominable savages, revering + the cataract as a kind of august devil, and leading a life of demoniacal + misery and wickedness, whom the first Jesuits found here two hundred years + ago; the ferocious Iroquois bloodily driving out these squalid + devil-worshippers; the French planting the fort that yet guards the mouth + of the river, and therewith the seeds of war that fruited afterwards in + murderous strifes throughout the whole Niagara country; the struggle for + the military posts on the river, during the wars of France and England; + the awful scene in the conspiracy of Pontiac, where a detachment of + English troops was driven by the Indians over the precipice near the great + Whirlpool; the sorrow and havoc visited upon the American settlements in + the Revolution by the savages who prepared their attacks in the shadow of + Fort Niagara; the battles of Chippewa and of Lundy's Lane, that + mixed the roar of their cannon with that of the fall; the savage forays + with tomahawk and scalping-knife, and the blazing villages on either shore + in the War of 1812,—these are the memories of the place, the links + in a chain of tragical interest scarcely broken before our time since the + white man first beheld the mist-veiled face of Niagara. The facts lost + nothing of their due effect as Basil, in the ramble across Goat Island, + touched them with the reflected light of Mr. Parkman's histories,—those + precious books that make our meagre past wear something of the rich + romance of old European days, and illumine its savage solitudes with the + splendor of mediaeval chivalry, and the glory of mediaeval martyrdom,—and + then, lacking this light, turned upon them the feeble glimmer of the + guide-books. He and Isabel enjoyed the lurid picture with all the zest of + sentimentalists dwelling upon the troubles of other times from the shelter + of the safe and peaceful present. They were both poets in their quality of + bridal couple, and so long as their own nerves were unshaken they could + transmute all facts to entertaining fables. They pleasantly exercised + their sympathies upon those who every year perish at Niagara in the + tradition of its awful power; only they refused their cheap and selfish + compassion to the Hermit of Goat Island, who dwelt so many years in its + conspicuous seclusion, and was finally carried over the cataract. This + public character they suspected of design in his death as in his life, and + they would not be moved by his memory; though they gave a sigh to that + dream, half pathetic, half ludicrous, yet not ignoble, of Mordecai Noah, + who thought to assemble all the Jews of the world, and all the Indians, as + remnants of the lost tribes, upon Grand Island, there to rebuild + Jerusalem, and who actually laid the corner-stone of the new temple there. + </p> + <p> + Goat Island is marvelously wild for a place visited by so many thousands + every year. The shrubbery and undergrowth remain unravaged, and form a + deceitful privacy, in which, even at that early hour of the day, they met + many other pairs. It seemed incredible that the village and the hotels + should be so full, and that the wilderness should also abound in them; yet + on every embowered seat, and going to and from all points of interest and + danger, were these new-wedded lovers with their interlacing arms and their + fond attitudes, in which each seemed to support and lean upon the other. + Such a pair stood prominent before them when Basil and Isabel emerged at + last from the cover of the woods at the head of the island, and glanced up + the broad swift stream to the point where it ran smooth before breaking + into the rapids; and as a soft pastoral feature in the foreground of that + magnificent landscape, they found them far from unpleasing. Some such pair + is in the foreground of every famous American landscape; and when I think + of the amount of public love-making in the season of pleasure-travel, from + Mount Desert to the Yosemite, and from the parks of Colorado to the Keys + of Florida, I feel that our continent is but a larger Arcady, that the + middle of the nineteenth century is the golden age, and that we want very + little of being a nation of shepherds and shepherdesses. + </p> + <p> + Our friends returned by the shore of the Canadian rapids, having traversed + the island by a path through the heart of the woods, and now drew slowly + near the Falls again. All parts of the prodigious pageant have an eternal + novelty, and they beheld the ever-varying effect of that constant + sublimity with the sense of discoverers, or rather of people whose great + fortune it is to see the marvel in its beginning, and new from the + creating hand. The morning hour lent its sunny charm to this illusion, + while in the cavernous precipices of the shores, dark with evergreens, a + mystery as of primeval night seemed to linger. There was a wild fluttering + of their nerves, a rapture with an under-consciousness of pain, the + exaltation of peril and escape, when they came to the three little isles + that extend from Goat Island, one beyond another far out into the furious + channel. Three pretty suspension-bridges connect them now with the larger + island, and under each of these flounders a huge rapid, and hurls itself + away to mingle with the ruin of the fall. The Three Sisters are mere + fragments of wilderness, clumps of vine-tangled woods, planted upon masses + of rock; but they are part of the fascination of Niagara which no one + resists; nor could Isabel have been persuaded from exploring them. It + wants no courage to do this, but merely submission to the local sorcery, + and the adventurer has no other reward than the consciousness of having + been where but a few years before no human being had perhaps set foot. She + crossed from bridge to bridge with a quaking heart, and at last stood upon + the outermost isle, whence, through the screen of vines and boughs, she + gave fearful glances at the heaving and tossing flood beyond, from every + wave of which at every instant she rescued herself with a desperate + struggle. The exertion told heavily upon her strength unawares, and she + suddenly made Basil another revelation of character. Without the slightest + warning she sank down at the root of a tree, and said, with serious + composure, that she could never go back on those bridges; they were not + safe. He stared at her cowering form in blank amaze, and put his hands in + his pockets. Then it occurred to his dull masculine sense that it must be + a joke; and he said, “Well, I'll have you taken off in a boat.” + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0158}.jpg" alt="{0158}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0158}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “O do, Basil, do, have me taken off in a boat!” implored + Isabel. “You see yourself the bridges are not safe. Do get a boat.” + </p> + <p> + “Or a balloon,” he suggested, humoring the pleasantry. + </p> + <p> + Isabel burst into tears; and now he went on his knees at her side, and + took her hands in his. “Isabel! Isabel! Are you crazy?” he + cried, as if he meant to go mad himself. She moaned and shuddered in + reply; he said, to mend matters, that it was a jest, about the boat; and + he was driven to despair when Isabel repeated, “I never can go back + by the bridges, never.” + </p> + <p> + “But what do you propose to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know, I don't know!” + </p> + <p> + He would try sarcasm. “Do you intend to set up a hermitage here, and + have your meals sent out from the hotel? It's a charming spot, and + visited pretty constantly; but it's small, even for a hermitage.” + </p> + <p> + Isabel moaned again with her hands still on her eyes, and wondered that he + was not ashamed to make fun of her. + </p> + <p> + He would try kindness. “Perhaps, darling, you'll let me carry + you ashore.” + </p> + <p> + “No, that will bring double the weight on the bridge at once.” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't you shut your eyes, and let me lead you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, it isn't the sight of the rapids,” she said, + looking up fiercely. “The bridges are not safe. I'm not a + child, Basil. O, what shall we do?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Basil, gloomily. “It's + an exigency for which I wasn't prepared.” Then he silently + gave himself to the Evil One, for having probably overwrought Isabel's + nerves by repeating that poem about Avery, and by the ensuing talk about + Niagara, which she had seemed to enjoy so much. He asked her if that was + it; and she answered, “O no, it's nothing but the bridges.” + He proved to her that the bridges, upon all known principles, were + perfectly safe, and that they could not give way. She shook her head, but + made no answer, and he lost his patience. + </p> + <p> + “Isabel,” he cried, “I'm ashamed of you!” + </p> + <p> + “Don't say anything you'll be sorry for afterwards, + Basil,” she replied, with the forbearance of those who have reason + and justice on their side. + </p> + <p> + The rapids beat and shouted round their little prison-isle, each billow + leaping as if possessed by a separate demon. The absurd horror of the + situation overwhelmed him. He dared not attempt to carry her ashore, for + she might spring from his grasp into the flood. He could not leave her to + call for help; and what if nobody came till she lost her mind from terror? + Or, what if somebody should come and find them in that ridiculous + affliction? + </p> + <p> + Somebody was coming! + </p> + <p> + “Isabel!” he shouted in her ear, “here come those people + we saw in the parlor last night.” + </p> + <p> + Isabel dashed her veil over her face, clutched Basil's with her icy + hand, rose, drew her arm convulsively through his, and walked ashore + without a word. + </p> + <p> + In a sheltered nook they sat down, and she quickly “repaired her + drooping head and tricked her beams” again. He could see her + tearfully smiling through her veil. “My dear,” he said, + “I don't ask an explanation of your fright, for I don't + suppose you could give it. But should you mind telling me why those people + were so sovereign against it?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, dearest! Don't you understand? That Mrs. Richard—whoever + she is—is so much like me.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him as if she had made the most satisfying statement, and he + thought he had better not ask further then, but wait in hope that the + meaning would come to him. They walked on in silence till they came to the + Biddle Stairs, at the head of which is a notice that persons have been + killed by pieces of rock from the precipice overhanging the shore below, + and warning people that they descend at their peril. Isabel declined to + visit the Cave of the Winds, to which these stairs lead, but was willing + to risk the ascent of Terrapin Tower. “Thanks; no,” said her + husband. “You might find it unsafe to come back the way you went up. + We can't count certainly upon the appearance of the lady who is so + much like you; and I've no fancy for spending my life on Terrapin + Tower.” So he found her a seat, and went alone to the top of the + audacious little structure standing on the verge of the cataract, between + the smooth curve of the Horse-Shoe and the sculptured front of the Central + Fall, with the stormy sea of the Rapids behind, and the river, dim seen + through the mists, crawling away between its lofty bluffs before. He knew + again the awful delight with which so long ago he had watched the changes + in the beauty of the Canadian Fall as it hung a mass of translucent green + from the brink, and a pearly white seemed to crawl up from the abyss, and + penetrate all its substance to the very crest, and then suddenly vanished + from it, and perpetually renewed the same effect. The mystery of the + rising vapors veiled the gulf into which the cataract swooped; the sun + shone, and a rainbow dreamed upon them. + </p> + <p> + Near the foot of the tower, some loose rocks extend quite to the verge, + and here Basil saw an elderly gentleman skipping from one slippery stone + to another, and looking down from time to time into the abyss, who, when + he had amused himself long enough in this way, clambered up on the plank + bridge. Basil, who had descended by this time, made bold to say that he + thought the diversion an odd one and rather dangerous. The gentleman took + this in good part, and owned it might seem so, but added that a + distinguished phrenologist had examined his head, and told him he had + equilibrium so large that he could go anywhere. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0163}.jpg" alt="{0163}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0163}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “On your bridal tour, I presume,” he continued, as they + approached the bench where Basil had left Isabel. She had now the company + of a plain, middle-aged woman, whose attire hesitatingly expressed some + inward festivity, and had a certain reluctant fashionableness. “Well, + this is my third bridal tour to Niagara, and my wife's been here + once before on the same business. We see a good many changes. I used to + stand on Table Rock with the others. Now that's all gone. Well, old + lady, shall we move on?” he asked; and this bridal pair passed up + the path, attended, haply, by the guardian spirits of those who gave the + place so many sad yet pleasing associations. + </p> + <p> + At dinner, Mr. Richard's party sat at the table next Basil's, + and they were all now talking cheerfully over the emptiness of the + spacious dining-hall. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Kitty,” the married lady was saying, “you can + tell the girls what you please about the gayeties of Niagara, when you get + home. They'll believe anything sooner than the truth.” + </p> + <p> + “O yes, indeed,” said Kitty, “I've got a good deal + of it made up already. I'll describe a grand hop at the hotel, with + fashionable people from all parts of the country, and the gentlemen I + danced with the most. I'm going to have had quite a flirtation with + the gentleman of the long blond mustache, whom we met on the bridge this + morning and he's got to do duty in accounting for my missing glove. + It'll never do to tell the girls I dropped it from the top of + Terrapin Tower. Then you know, Fanny, I really can say something about + dining with aristocratic Southerners, waited upon by their black servants.” + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0165}.jpg" alt="{0165}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0165}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + This referred to the sad-faced patrician whom Basil and Isabel had noted + in the cars from Buffalo as a Southerner probably coming North for the + first time since the war. He had an air at once fierce and sad, and a + half-barbaric, homicidal gentility of manner fascinating enough in its + way. He sat with his wife at a table farther down the room, and their + child was served in part by a little tan-colored nurse-maid. The fact did + not quite answer to the young lady's description of it, and yet it + certainly afforded her a ground-work. Basil fancied a sort of bewilderment + in the Southerner, and explained it upon the theory that he used to come + every year to Niagara before the war, and was now puzzled to find it so + changed. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said, “I can't account for him except as + the ghost of Southern travel, and I can't help feeling a little + sorry for him. I suppose that almost any evil commends itself by its ruin; + the wrecks of slavery are fast growing a fungus crop of sentiment, and + they may yet outflourish the remains of the feudal system in the kind of + poetry they produce. The impoverished slave-holder is a pathetic figure, + in spite of all justice and reason, the beaten rebel does move us to + compassion, and it is of no use to think of Andersonville in his presence. + This gentleman, and others like him, used to be the lords of our summer + resorts. They spent the money they did not earn like princes; they held + their heads high; they trampled upon the Abolitionist in his lair; they + received the homage of the doughface in his home. They came up here from + their rice-swamps and cotton-fields, and bullied the whole busy + civilization of the North. Everybody who had merchandise or principles to + sell truckled to them, and travel amongst us was a triumphal progress. Now + they're moneyless and subjugated (as they call it), there's + none so poor to do them reverence, and it's left for me, an + Abolitionist from the cradle, to sigh over their fate. After all, they had + noble traits, and it was no great wonder they got, to despise us, seeing + what most of us were. It seems to me I should like to know our friend. I + can't help feeling towards him as towards a fallen prince, heaven + help my craven spirit! I wonder how our colored waiter feels towards him. + I dare say he admires him immensely.” + </p> + <p> + There were not above a dozen other people in the room, and Basil + contrasted the scene with that which the same place formerly presented. + “In the old time,” he said, “every table was full, and + we dined to the music of a brass band. I can't say I liked the band, + but I miss it. I wonder if our Southern friend misses it? They gave us a + very small allowance of brass band when we arrived, Isabel. Upon my word, + I wonder what's come over the place,” he said, as the Southern + party, rising from the table, walked out of the dining-room, attended by + many treacherous echoes in spite of an ostentatious clatter of dishes that + the waiters made. + </p> + <p> + After dinner they drove on the Canada shore up past the Clifton House, + towards the Burning Spring, which is not the least wonder of Niagara. As + each bubble breaks upon the troubled surface, and yields its flash of + infernal flame and its whiff of sulphurous stench, it seems hardly strange + that the Neutral Nation should have revered the cataract as a demon; and + another subtle spell (not to be broken even by the business-like composure + of the man who shows off the hell-broth) is added to those successive + sorceries by which Niagara gradually changes from a thing of beauty to a + thing of terror. By all odds, too, the most tremendous view of the Falls + is afforded by the point on the drive whence you look down upon the + Horse-Shoe, and behold its three massive walls of sea rounding and + sweeping into the gulf together, the color gone, and the smooth brink + showing black and ridgy. + </p> + <p> + Would they not go to the battle-field of Lundy's Lane? asked the + driver at a certain point on their return; but Isabel did not care for + battle-fields, and Basil preferred to keep intact the reminiscence of his + former visit. “They have a sort of tower of observation built on the + battle-ground,” he said, as they drove on down by the river, “and + it was in charge of an old Canadian militia-man, who had helped his + countrymen to be beaten in the fight. This hero gave me a simple and + unintelligible account of the battle, asking me first if I had ever heard + of General Scott, and adding without flinching that here he got his + earliest laurels. He seemed to go just so long to every listener, and + nothing could stop him short, so I fell into a revery until he came to an + end. It was hard to remember, that sweet summer morning, when the sun + shone, and the birds sang, and the music of a piano and a girl's + voice rose from a bowery cottage near, that all the pure air had once been + tainted with battle-smoke, that the peaceful fields had been planted with + cannon, instead of potatoes and corn, and that where the cows came down + the farmer's lane, with tinkling bells, the shock of armed men had + befallen. The blue and tranquil Ontario gleamed far away, and far away + rolled the beautiful land, with farm-houses, fields, and woods, and at the + foot of the tower lay the pretty village. The battle of the past seemed + only a vagary of mine; yet how could I doubt the warrior at my elbow?—grieved + though I was to find that a habit of strong drink had the better of his + utterance that morning. My driver explained afterwards, that persons + visiting the field were commonly so much pleased with the captain's + eloquence, that they kept the noble old soldier in a brandy-and-water + rapture throughout the season, thereby greatly refreshing his memory, and + making the battle bloodier and bloodier as the season advanced and the + number of visitors increased. There my dear,” he suddenly broke off, + as they came in sight of a slender stream of water that escaped from the + brow of a cliff on the American side below the Falls, and spun itself into + a gauze of silvery mist, “that's the Bridal Veil; and I + suppose you think the stream, which is making such a fine display, yonder, + is some idle brooklet, ending a long course of error and worthlessness by + that spectacular plunge. It's nothing of the kind; it's an + honest hydraulic canal, of the most straightforward character, a poor but + respectable mill-race which has devoted itself strictly to business, and + has turned mill-wheels instead of fooling round water-lilies. It can + afford that ultimate finery. What you behold in the Bridal Veil, my love, + is the apotheosis of industry.” + </p> + <p> + “What I can't help thinking of,” said Isabel, who had + not paid the smallest attention to the Bridal Veil, or anything about it, + “is the awfulness of stepping off these places in the night-time.” + She referred to the road which, next the precipice, is unguarded by any + sort of parapet. In Europe a strong wall would secure it, but we manage + things differently on our continent, and carriages go running over the + brink from time to time. + </p> + <p> + “If your thoughts have that direction,” answered her husband, + “we had better go back to the hotel, and leave the Whirlpool for + to-morrow morning. It's late for it to-day, at any rate.” He + had treated Isabel since the adventure on the Three Sisters with a + superiority which he felt himself to be very odious, but which he could + not disuse. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not afraid,” she sighed, “but in the words of + the retreating soldier, I—I'm awfully demoralized;” and + added, “You know we must reserve some of the vital forces for + shopping this evening.” + </p> + <p> + Part of their business also was to buy the tickets for their return to + Boston by way of Montreal and Quebec, and it was part of their pleasure to + get these of the heartiest imaginable ticket-agent. He was a colonel or at + least a major, and he made a polite feint of calling Basil by some + military title. He commended the trip they were about to make as the most + magnificent and beautiful on the whole continent, and he commended them + for intending to make it. He said that was Mrs. General Bowdur of + Philadelphia who just went out; did they know her? Somehow, the titles + affected Basil as of older date than the late war, and as belonging to the + militia period; and he imagined for the agent the romance of a life spent + at a watering-place, in contact with rich money-spending, pleasure-taking + people, who formed his whole jovial world. The Colonel, who included them + in this world, and thereby brevetted them rich and fashionable, could not + secure a state-room for them on the boat,—a perfectly splendid Lake + steamer, which would take them down the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and on + to Montreal without change,—but he would give them a letter to the + captain, who was a very particular friend of his, and would be happy to + show them as his friends every attention; and so he wrote a note ascribing + peculiar merits to Basil, and in spite of all reason making him feel for + the moment that he was privileged by a document which was no doubt part of + every such transaction. He spoke in a loud cheerful voice; he laughed + jollily at no apparent joke; he bowed very low and said, “GOOD-evening!” + at parting, and they went away as if he had blessed them. + </p> + <p> + The rest of the evening they spent in wandering through the village, + charmed with its bizarre mixture of quaintness and commonplaceness; in + hanging about the shop-windows with their monotonous variety of feather + fans,—each with a violently red or yellow bird painfully sacrificed + in its centre,—moccasins, bead-wrought work-bags, tobacco-pouches, + bows and arrows, and whatever else the savage art of the neighboring + squaws can invent; in sauntering through these gay booths, pricing many + things, and in hanging long and undecidedly over cases full of feldspar + crosses, quartz bracelets and necklaces, and every manner of vase, + inoperative pitcher, and other vessel that can be fashioned out of the + geological formations at Niagara, tormented meantime by the heat of the + gas-lights and the persistence of the mosquitoes. There were very few + people besides themselves in the shops, and Isabel's purchases were + not lavish. Her husband had made up his mind to get her some little + keepsake; and when he had taken her to the hotel he ran back to one of the + shops, and hastily bought her a feather fan,—a magnificent thing of + deep magenta dye shading into blue, with a whole yellow-bird transfixed in + the centre. When he triumphantly displayed it in their room, “Who's + that for, Basil?” demanded his wife; “the cook?” But + seeing his ghastly look at this, she fell upon his neck, crying, “O + you poor old tasteless darling! You've got it for me!” and + seemed about to die of laughter. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you start and throw up your hands,” he + stammered, “when you came to that case of fans?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—in horror! Did you think I liked the cruel things, with + their dead birds and their hideous colors? O Basil, dearest! You are + incorrigible. Can't you learn that magenta is the vilest of all the + hues that the perverseness of man has invented in defiance of nature? Now, + my love, just promise me one thing,” she said pathetically. “We're + going to do a little shopping in Montreal, you know; and perhaps you'll + be wanting to surprise me with something there. Don't do it. Or if + you must, do tell me all about it beforehand, and what the color of it's + to be; and I can say whether to get it or not, and then there'll be + some taste about it, and I shall be truly surprised and pleased.” + </p> + <p> + She turned to put the fan into her trunk, and he murmured something about + exchanging it. “No,” she said, “we'll keep it as a—a—monument.” + And she deposed him, with another peal of laughter, from the proud height + to which he had climbed in pity of her nervous fears of the day. So + completely were their places changed, that he doubted if it were not he + who had made that scene on the Third Sister; and when Isabel said, “O, + why won't men use their reasoning faculties?” he could not for + himself have claimed any, and he could not urge the truth: that he had + bought the fan more for its barbaric brightness than for its beauty. She + would not let him get angry, and he could say nothing against the + half-ironical petting with which she soothed his mortification. + </p> + <p> + But all troubles passed with the night, and the next morning they spent a + charming hour about Prospect Point, and in sauntering over Goat Island, + somewhat daintily tasting the flavors of the place on whose wonders they + had so hungrily and indiscriminately feasted at first. They had already + the feeling of veteran visitors, and they loftily marveled at the greed + with which newer-comers plunged at the sensations. They could not conceive + why people should want to descend the inclined railway to the foot of the + American Fall; they smiled at the idea of going up Terrapin Tower; they + derided the vulgar daring of those who went out upon the Three Weird + Sisters; for some whom they saw about to go down the Biddle Stairs to the + Cave of the Winds, they had no words to express their contempt. + </p> + <p> + Then they made their excursion to the Whirlpool, mistakenly going down on + the American side, for it is much better seen from the other, though seen + from any point it is the most impressive feature of the whole prodigious + spectacle of Niagara. + </p> + <p> + Here within the compass of a mile, those inland seas of the North, + Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and the multitude of smaller lakes, all + pour their floods, where they swirl in dreadful vortices, with resistless + under-currents boiling beneath the surface of that mighty eddy. Abruptly + from this scene of secret power, so different from the thunderous + splendors of the cataract itself, rise lofty cliffs on every side, to a + height of two hundred feet, clothed from the water's edge almost to + their create with dark cedars. Noiselessly, so far as your senses + perceive, the lakes steal out of the whirlpool, then, drunk and wild, with + brawling rapids roar away to Ontario through the narrow channel of the + river. Awful as the scene is, you stand so far above it that you do not + know the half of its terribleness; for those waters that look so smooth + are great ridges and rings, forced, by the impulse of the currents, twelve + feet higher in the centre than at the margin. Nothing can live there, and + with what is caught in its hold, the maelstrom plays for days, and whirls + and tosses round and round in its toils, with a sad, maniacal patience. + The guides tell ghastly stories, which even their telling does not wholly + rob of ghastliness, about the bodies of drowned men carried into the + whirlpool and made to enact upon its dizzy surges a travesty of life, + apparently floating there at their pleasure, diving and frolicking amid + the waves, or frantically struggling to escape from the death that has + long since befallen them. + </p> + <p> + On the American side, not far below the railway suspension bridge, is an + elevator more than a hundred and eighty feet high, which is meant to let + people down to the shore below, and to give a view of the rapids on their + own level. From the cliff opposite, it looks a terribly frail structure of + pine sticks, but is doubtless stronger than it looks; and at any rate, as + it has never yet fallen to pieces, it may be pronounced perfectly safe. + </p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9176}.jpg" alt="{9176}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9176}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + + <p> + In the waiting-room at the top, Basil and Isabel found Mr. Richard and his + ladies again, who got into the movable chamber with them, and they all + silently descended together. It was not a time for talk of any kind, + either when they were slowly and not quite smoothly dropping through the + lugubrious upper part of the structure, where it was darkened by a rough + weatherboarding, or lower down, where the unobstructed light showed the + grim tearful face of the cliff, bedrabbled with oozy springs, and the + audacious slightness of the elevator. + </p> + <p> + An abiding distrust of the machinery overhead mingled in Isabel's + heart with a doubt of the value of the scene below, and she could not look + forward to escape from her present perils by the conveyance which had + brought her into them, with any satisfaction. She wanly smiled, and shrank + closer to Basil; while the other matron made nothing of seizing her + husband violently by the arm and imploring him to stop it whenever they + experienced a rougher jolt than usual. + </p> + <p> + At the bottom of the cliff they were helped out of their prison by a humid + young Englishman, with much clay on him, whose face was red and bathed in + perspiration, for it was very hot down there in his little inclosure of + baking pine boards, and it was not much cooler out on the rocks upon which + the party issued, descending and descending by repeated and desultory + flights of steps, till at last they stood upon a huge fragment of stone + right abreast of the rapids. Yet it was a magnificent sight, and for a + moment none of them were sorry to have come. The surges did not look like + the gigantic ripples on a river's course as they were, but like a + procession of ocean billows; they arose far aloft in vast bulks of clear + green, and broke heavily into foam at the crest. Great blocks and + shapeless fragments of rock strewed the margin of the awful torrent; + gloomy walls of dark stone rose naked from these, bearded here and there + with cedar, and everywhere frowning with shaggy brows of evergreen. The + place is inexpressibly lonely and dreadful, and one feels like an alien + presence there, or as if he had intruded upon some mood or haunt of Nature + in which she had a right to be forever alone. The slight, impudent + structure of the elevator rises through the solitude, like a thing that + merits ruin, yet it is better than something more elaborate, for it looks + temporary, and since there must be an elevator, it is well to have it of + the most transitory aspect. Some such quality of rude impermanence + consoles you for the presence of most improvements by which you enjoy + Niagara; the suspension bridges for their part being saved from + offensiveness by their beauty and unreality. + </p> + <p> + Ascending, none of the party spoke; Isabel and the other matron blanched + in each other's faces; their husbands maintained a stolid + resignation. When they stepped out of their trap into the waiting room at + the top, “What I like about these little adventures,” said Mr. + Richard to Basil, abruptly, “is getting safely out of them. + Good-morning, sir.” He bowed slightly to Isabel, who returned his + politeness, and exchanged faint nods, or glances, with the ladies. They + got into their separate carriages, and at that safe distance made each + other more decided obeisances. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” observed Basil, “I suppose we're + introduced now. We shall be meeting them from time to time throughout our + journey. You know how the same faces and the same trunks used to keep + turning up in our travels on the other side. Once meet people in + travelling, and you can't get rid of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Isabel, as if continuing his train of thought, + “I'm glad we're going to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “O dearest!” + </p> + <p> + “Truly. When we first arrived I felt only the loveliness of the + place. It seemed more familiar, too, then; but ever since, it's been + growing stranger and dreadfuller. Somehow it's begun to pervade me + and possess me in a very uncomfortable way; I'm tossed upon rapids, + and flung from cataract brinks, and dizzied in whirlpools; I'm no + longer yours, Basil; I'm most unhappily married to Niagara. Fly with + me, save me from my awful lord!” + </p> + <p> + She lightly burlesqued the woes of a prima donna, with clasped hands and + uplifted eyes. + </p> + <p> + “That'll do very well,” Basil commented, “and it + implies a reality that can't be quite definitely spoken. We come to + Niagara in the patronizing spirit in which we approach everything + nowadays, and for a few hours we have it our own way, and pay our little + tributes of admiration with as much complacency as we feel in + acknowledging the existence of the Supreme Being. But after a while we are + aware of some potent influence undermining our self-satisfaction; we begin + to conjecture that the great cataract does not exist by virtue of our + approval, and to feel that it will not cease when we go away. The second + day makes us its abject slaves, and on the third we want to fly from it in + terror. I believe some people stay for weeks, however, and hordes of them + have written odes to Niagara.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't understand it, at all,” said Isabel. “I + don't wonder now that the town should be so empty this season, but + that it should ever be full. I wish we'd gone after our first look + at the Falls from the suspension bridge. How beautiful that was! I rejoice + in everything that I haven't done. I'm so glad I haven't + been in the Cave of the Winds; I'm so happy that Table Rock fell + twenty years ago! Basil, I couldn't stand another rainbow today. I'm + sorry we went out on the Three Weird Sisters. O, I shall dream about it! + and the rush, and the whirl, and the dampness in one's face, and the + everlasting chirr-r-r-r of everything!” + </p> + <p> + She dipped suddenly upon his shoulder for a moment's oblivion, and + then rose radiant with a question: “Why in the world, if Niagara is + really what it seems to us now, do so many bridal parties come here?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps they're the only people who've the strength to + bear up against it, and are not easily dispersed and subjected by it.” + </p> + <p> + “But we're dispersed and subjected.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, my dear, we married a little late. Who knows how it would be if + you were nineteen instead of twenty-seven, and I twenty-five and not + turned of thirty?” + </p> + <p> + “Basil, you're very cruel.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no. But don't you see how it is? We've known too + much of life to desire any gloomy background for our happiness. We're + quite contented to have things gay and bright about us. Once we couldn't + have made the circle dark enough. Well, my dear, that's the effect + of age. We're superannuated.” + </p> + <p> + “I used to think I was before we were married,” answered + Isabel simply; “but now,” she added triumphantly, “I'm + rescued from all that. I shall never be old again, dearest; never, as long + as you love me!” + </p> + <p> + They were about to enter the village, and he could not make any open + acknowledgment of her tenderness; but her silken mantle (or whatever) + slipped from her shoulder, and he embracingly replaced it, flattering + himself that he had delicately seized this chance of an unavowed caress + and not allowing (O such is the blindness of our sex!) that the + opportunity had been yet more subtly afforded him, with the art which + women never disuse in this world, and which I hope they will not forget in + the next. + </p> + <p> + They had an early dinner, and looked their last upon the nuptial gayety of + the otherwise forlorn hotel. Three brides sat down with them in + travelling-dress; two occupied the parlor as they passed out; half a dozen + happy pairs arrived (to the music of the band) in the omnibus that was to + carry our friends back to the station; they caught sight of several about + the shop windows, as that drove through the streets. Thus the place + perpetually renews itself in the glow of love as long as the summer lasts. + The moon which is elsewhere so often of wormwood, or of the ordinary green + cheese at the best, is of lucent honey there from the first of June to the + last of October; and this is a great charm in Niagara. I think with + tenderness of all the lives that have opened so fairly there; the hopes + that have reigned in the glad young hearts; the measureless tide of joy + that ebbs and flows with the arriving and departing trains. Elsewhere + there are carking cares of business and of fashion, there are age, and + sorrow, and heartbreak: but here only youth, faith, rapture. I kiss my + hand to Niagara for that reason, and would I were a poet for a quarter of + an hour. + </p> + <p> + Isabel departed in almost a forgiving mood towards the weak sisterhood of + evident brides, and both our friends felt a lurking fondness for Niagara + at the last moment. I do not know how much of their content was due to the + fact that they had suffered no sort of wrong there, from those who are apt + to prey upon travellers. In the hotel a placard warned them to have + nothing to do with the miscreant hackmen on the streets, but always to + order their carriage at the office; on the street the hackmen whispered to + them not to trust the exorbitant drivers in league with the landlords; yet + their actual experience was great reasonableness and facile contentment + with the sum agreed upon. + </p> + <p> + This may have been because the hackmen so far outnumbered the visitors, + that the latter could dictate terms; but they chose to believe it a + triumph of civilization; and I will never be the cynic to sneer at their + faith. Only at the station was the virtue of the Niagarans put in doubt, + by the hotel porter who professed to find Basil's trunk enfeebled by + travel, and advised a strap for it, which a friend of his would sell for a + dollar and a half. Yet even he may have been a benevolent nature unjustly + suspected. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9184}.jpg" alt="{9184}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9184}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + They were to take the Canadian steamer at Charlotte, the port of + Rochester, and they rattled uneventfully down from Niagara by rail. At the + broad, low-banked river-mouth the steamer lay beside the railroad station; + and while Isabel disposed of herself on board, Basil looked to the + transfer of the baggage, novelly comforted in the business by the + respectfulness of the young Canadian who took charge of the trunks for the + boat. He was slow, and his system was not good,—he did not give + checks for the pieces, but marked them with the name of their destination; + and there was that indefinable something in his manner which hinted his + hope that you would remember the porter; but he was so civil that he did + not snub the meekest and most vexatious of the passengers, and Basil + mutely blessed his servile soul. Few white Americans, he said to himself, + would behave so decently in his place; and he could not conceive of the + American steamboat clerk who would use the politeness towards a waiting + crowd that the Canadian purser showed when they all wedged themselves in + about his window to receive their stateroom keys. He was somewhat awkward, + like the porter, but he was patient, and he did not lose his temper even + when some of the crowd, finding he would not bully them, made bold to + bully him. He was three times as long in serving them as an American would + have been, but their time was of no value there, and he served them well. + Basil made a point of speaking him fair, when his turn came, and the + purser did not trample on him for a base truckler, as an American + jack-in-office would have done. + </p> + <p> + Our tourists felt at home directly on this steamer, which was very + comfortable, and in every way sufficient for its purpose, with a visible + captain, who answered two or three questions very pleasantly, and bore + himself towards his passengers in some sort like a host. + </p> + <p> + In the saloon Isabel had found among the passengers her semi-acquaintances + of the hotel parlor and the Rapids-elevator, and had glanced tentatively + towards them. Whereupon the matron of the party had made advances that + ended in their all sitting down together and wondering when the boat would + start, and what time they would get to Montreal next evening, with other + matters that strangers going upon the same journey may properly marvel + over in company. The introduction having thus accomplished itself, they + exchanged addresses, and it appeared that Richard was Colonel Ellison, of + Milwaukee, and that Fanny was his wife. Miss Kitty Ellison was of Western + New York, not far from Erie. There was a diversion presently towards the + different state-rooms; but the new acquaintances sat vis-a-vis at the + table, and after supper the ladies drew their chairs together on the + promenade deck, and enjoyed the fresh evening breeze. The sun set + magnificent upon the low western shore which they had now left an hour + away, and a broad stripe of color stretched behind the steamer. A few + thin, luminous clouds darkened momently along the horizon, and then mixed + with the land. The stars came out in a clear sky, and a light wind softly + buffeted the cheeks, and breathed life into nerves that the day's + heat had wasted. It scarcely wrinkled the tranquil expanse of the lake, on + which loomed, far or near, a full-sailed schooner, and presently melted + into the twilight, and left the steamer solitary upon the waters. The + company was small, and not remarkable enough in any way to take the + thoughts of any one off his own comfort. A deep sense of the coziness of + the situation possessed them all which was if possible intensified by the + spectacle of the captain, seated on the upper deck, and smoking a cigar + that flashed and fainted like a stationary fire-fly in the gathering dusk. + How very distant, in this mood, were the most recent events! Niagara + seemed a fable of antiquity; the ride from Rochester a myth of the Middle + Ages. In this cool, happy world of quiet lake, of starry skies, of air + that the soul itself seemed to breathe, there was such consciousness of + repose as if one were steeped in rest and soaked through and through with + calm. + </p> + <p> + The points of likeness between Isabel and Mrs. Ellison shortly made them + mutually uninteresting, and, leaving her husband to the others, Isabel + frankly sought the companionship of Miss Kitty, in whom she found a charm + of manner which puzzled at first, but which she presently fancied must be + perfect trust of others mingling with a peculiar self-reliance. + </p> + <p> + “Can't you see, Basil, what a very flattering way it is?” + she asked of her husband, when, after parting with their friends for the + night, she tried to explain the character to him. “Of course no art + could equal such a natural gift; for that kind of belief in your + good-nature and sympathy makes you feel worthy of it, don't you + know; and so you can't help being good-natured and sympathetic. This + Miss Ellison, why, I can tell you, I shouldn't be ashamed of her + anywhere.” By anywhere Isabel meant Boston, and she went on to + praise the young lady's intelligence and refinement, with those + expressions of surprise at the existence of civilization in a westerner + which westerners find it so hard to receive graciously. Happily, Miss + Ellison had not to hear them. “The reason she happened to come with + only two dresses is, she lives so near Niagara that she could come for one + day, and go back the next. The colonel's her cousin, and he and his + wife go East every year, and they asked her this time to see Niagara with + them. She told me all over again what we eavesdropped so shamefully in the + hotel parlor;—and I don't know whether she was better pleased + with the prospect of what's before her, or with the notion of making + the journey in this original way. She didn't force her confidence + upon me, any more than she tried to withhold it. We got to talking in the + most natural manner; and she seemed to tell these things about herself + because they amused her and she liked me. I had been saying how my trunk + got left behind once on the French side of Mont Cenis, and I had to wear + aunt's things at Turin till it could be sent for.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't see but Miss Ellison could describe you to her + friends very much as you've described her to me,” said Basil. + “How did these mutual confidences begin? Whose trustfulness first + flattered the other's? What else did you tell about yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “I said we were on our wedding journey,” guiltily admitted + Isabel. + </p> + <p> + “O, you did!” + </p> + <p> + “Why, dearest! I wanted to know, for once, you see, whether we + seemed honeymoon-struck.” + </p> + <p> + “And do we?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” came the answer, somewhat ruefully. “Perhaps, + Basil,” she added, “we've been a little too successful + in disguising our bridal character. Do you know,” she continued, + looking him anxiously in the face, “this Miss Ellison took me at + first for—your sister!” + </p> + <p> + Basil broke forth in outrageous laughter. “One more such victory,” + he said, “and we are undone;” and he laughed again, + immoderately. “How sad is the fruition of human wishes! There's + nothing, after all, like a good thorough failure for making people happy.” + </p> + <p> + Isabel did not listen to him. Safe in a dim corner of the deserted saloon, + she seized him in a vindictive embrace; then, as if it had been he who + suggested the idea of such a loathsome relation, hissed out the hated + words, “Your sister!” and released him with a disdainful + repulse. + </p> + <p> + A little after daybreak the steamer stopped at the Canadian city of + Kingston, a handsome place, substantial to the water's edge, and + giving a sense of English solidity by the stone of which it is largely + built. There was an accession of many passengers here, and they and the + people on the wharf were as little like Americans as possible. They were + English or Irish or Scotch, with the healthful bloom of the Old World + still upon their faces, or if Canadians they looked not less hearty; so + that one must wonder if the line between the Dominion and the United + States did not also sharply separate good digestion and dyspepsia. These + provincials had not our regularity of features, nor the best of them our + careworn sensibility of expression; but neither had they our complexions + of adobe; and even Isabel was forced to allow that the men were, on the + whole, better dressed than the same number of average Americans would have + been in a city of that size and remoteness. The stevedores who were + putting the freight aboard were men of leisure; they joked in a kindly way + with the orange-women and the old women picking up chips on the pier; and + our land of hurry seemed beyond the ocean rather than beyond the lake. + </p> + <p> + Kingston has romantic memories of being Fort Frontenac two hundred years + ago; of Count Frontenac's splendid advent among the Indians; of the + brave La Salle, who turned its wooden walls to stone; of wars with the + savages and then with the New York colonists, whom the French and their + allies harried from this point; of the destruction of La Salle's + fort in the Old French War; and of final surrender a few years later to + the English. It is as picturesque as it is historical. All about the city, + the shores are beautifully wooded, and there are many lovely islands,—the + first indeed of those Thousand Islands with which the head of the St. + Lawrence is filled, and among which the steamer was presently threading + her way. They are still as charming and still almost as wild as when, in + 1673, Frontenac's flotilla of canoes passed through their labyrinth + and issued upon the lake. Save for a light-house upon one of them, there + is almost nothing to show that the foot of man has ever pressed the thin + grass clinging to their rocky surfaces, and keeping its green in the + eternal shadow of their pines and cedars. In the warm morning light they + gathered or dispersed before the advancing vessel, which some of them + almost touched with the plumage of their evergreens; and where none of + them were large, some were so small that it would not have been too bold + to figure them as a vaster race of water-birds assembling and separating + in her course. It is curiously affecting to find them so unclaimed yet + from the solitude of the vanished wilderness, and scarcely touched even by + tradition. But for the interest left them by the French, these tiny + islands have scarcely any associations, and must be enjoyed for their + beauty alone. There is indeed about them a faint light of legend + concerning the Canadian rebellion of 1837, for several patriots are said + to have taken refuge amidst their lovely multitude; but this episode of + modern history is difficult for the imagination to manage, and somehow one + does not take sentimentally even to that daughter of a lurking patriot, + who long baffled her father's pursuers by rowing him from one island + to another, and supplying him with food by night. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0191}.jpg" alt="{0191}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0191}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Either the reluctance is from the natural desire that so recent a heroine + should be founded on fact, or it is mere perverseness. Perhaps I ought to + say; in justice to her, that it was one of her own sex who refused to be + interested in her, and forbade Basil to care for her. When he had read of + her exploit from the guide-book, Isabel asked him if he had noticed that + handsome girl in the blue and white striped Garibaldi and Swiss hat, who + had come aboard at Kingston. She pointed her out, and courageously made + him admire her beauty, which was of the most bewitching Canadian type. The + young girl was redeemed by her New World birth from the English heaviness; + a more delicate bloom lighted her cheeks; a softer grace dwelt in her + movement; yet she was round and full, and she was in the perfect flower of + youth. She was not so ethereal in her loveliness as an American girl, but + she was not so nervous and had none of the painful fragility of the + latter. Her expression was just a little vacant, it must be owned; but so + far as she went she was faultless. She looked like the most tractable of + daughters, and as if she would be the most obedient of wives. She had a + blameless taste in dress, Isabel declared; her costume of blue and white + striped Garibaldi and Swiss hat (set upon heavy masses of dark brown hair) + being completed by a black silk skirt. “And you can see,” she + added, “that it's an old skirt made over, and that she's + dressed as cheaply as she is prettily.” This surprised Basil, who + had imputed the young lady's personal sumptuousness to her dress, + and had thought it enormously rich. When she got off with her chaperone at + one of the poorest-looking country landings, she left them in hopeless + conjecture about her. Was she visiting there, or was the interior of + Canada full of such stylish and exquisite creatures? Where did she get her + taste, her fashions, her manners? As she passed from sight towards the + shadow of the woods, they felt the poorer for her going; yet they were + glad to have seen her, and on second thoughts they felt that they could + not justly ask more of her than to have merely existed for a few hours in + their presence. They perceived that beauty was not only its own excuse for + being, but that it flattered and favored and profited the world by + consenting to be. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0193}.jpg" alt="{0193}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0193}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + At Prescott, the boat on which they had come from Charlotte, and on which + they had been promised a passage without change to Montreal, stopped, and + they were transferred to a smaller steamer with the uncomfortable name of + Banshee. She was very old, and very infirm and dirty, and in every way + bore out the character of a squalid Irish goblin. Besides, she was already + heavily laden with passengers, and, with the addition of the other steamer's + people had now double her complement; and our friends doubted if they were + not to pass the Rapids in as much danger as discomfort. Their + fellow-passengers were in great variety, however, and thus partly atoned + for their numbers. Among them of course there was a full force of brides + from Niagara and elsewhere, and some curious forms of the prevailing + infatuation appeared. It is well enough, if she likes, and it may even be + very noble for a passably good-looking young lady to marry a gentleman of + venerable age; but to intensify the idea of self-devotion by furtively + caressing his wrinkled front seems too reproachful of the general public; + while, on the other hand, if the bride is very young and pretty, it + enlists in behalf of the white-haired husband the unwilling sympathies of + the spectator to see her the centre of a group of young people, and him + only acknowledged from time to time by a Parthian snub. Nothing, however, + could have been more satisfactory than the sisterly surrounding of this + latter bride. They were of a better class of Irish people; and if it had + been any sacrifice for her to marry so old a man, they were doing their + best to give the affair at least the liveliness of a wake. There were five + or six of those great handsome girls, with their generous curves and + wholesome colors, and they were every one attended by a good-looking + colonial lover, with whom they joked in slightly brogued voices, and + laughed with careless Celtic laughter. One of the young fellows presently + lost his hat overboard, and had to wear the handkerchief of his lady about + his head; and this appeared to be really one of the best things in the + world, and led to endless banter. They were well dressed, and it could be + imagined that the ancient bridegroom had come in for the support of the + whole good-looking, healthy, light-hearted family. In some degree he + looked it, and wore but a rueful countenance for a bridegroom; so that a + very young newly married couple, who sat next the jolly + sister-and-loverhood could not keep their pitying eyes off his downcast + face. “What if he, too, were young at heart!” the kind little + wife's regard seemed to say. + </p> + <p> + For the sake of the slight air that was stirring, and to have the best + view of the Rapids, the Banshee's whole company was gathered upon + the forward promenade, and the throng was almost as dense as in a six-o'clock + horse-car out from Boston. The standing and sitting groups were closely + packed together, and the expanded parasols and umbrellas formed a nearly + unbroken roof. Under this Isabel chatted at intervals with the Ellisons, + who sat near; but it was not an atmosphere that provoked social feeling, + and she was secretly glad when after a while they shifted their position. + </p> + <p> + It was deadly hot, and most of the people saddened and silenced in the + heat. From time to time the clouds idling about overhead met and sprinkled + down a cruel little shower of rain that seemed to make the air less + breathable than before. The lonely shores were yellow with drought; the + islands grew wilder and barrener; the course of the river was for miles at + a stretch through country which gave no signs of human life. The St. + Lawrence has none of the bold picturesqueness of the Hudson, and is far + more like its far-off cousin the Mississippi. Its banks are low like the + Mississippi's, its current, swift, its way through solitary lands. + The same sentiment of early adventure hangs about each: both are haunted + by visions of the Jesuit in his priestly robe, and the soldier in his + mediaeval steel; the same gay, devout, and dauntless race has touched them + both with immortal romance. If the water were of a dusky golden color, + instead of translucent green, and the shores and islands were covered with + cottonwoods and willows instead of dark cedars, one could with no great + effort believe one's self on the Mississippi between Cairo and St. + Louis, so much do the great rivers strike one as kindred in the chief + features of their landscape. Only, in tracing this resemblance you do not + know just what to do with the purple mountains of Vermont, seen vague + against the horizon from the St. Lawrence, or with the quaint little + French villages that begin to show themselves as you penetrate farther + down into Lower Canada. These look so peaceful, with their dormer-windowed + cottages clustering about their church-spires, that it seems impossible + they could once have been the homes of the savages and the cruel peasants + who, with fire-brand and scalping-knife and tomahawk, harassed the borders + of New England for a hundred years. But just after you descend the Long + Sault you pass the hamlet of St. Regis, in which was kindled the torch + that wrapt Deerfield in flames, waking her people from their sleep to meet + instant death or taste the bitterness of a captivity. The bell which was + sent out from France for the Indian converts of the Jesuits, and was + captured by an English ship and carried into Salem, and thence sold to + Deerfield, where it called the Puritans to prayer, till at last it also + summoned the priest-led Indians and 'habitans' across hundreds + of miles of winter and of wilderness to reclaim it from that desecration,—this + fateful bell still hangs in the church-tower of St. Regis, and has invited + to matins and vespers for nearly two centuries the children of those who + fought so pitilessly and dared and endured so much for it. Our friends + would fair have heard it as they passed, hoping for some mournful note of + history in its sound; but it hung silent over the silent hamlet, which, as + it lay in the hot afternoon sun by the river's side, seemed as + lifeless as the Deerfield burnt long ago. + </p> + <p> + They turned from it to look at a gentleman who had just appeared in a + mustard-colored linen duster, and Basil asked, “Shouldn't you + like to know the origin, personal history, and secret feelings of a + gentleman who goes about in a duster of that particular tint? Or, that + gentleman yonder with his eye tied up in a wet handkerchief, do you + suppose he's travelling for pleasure? Look at those young people + from Omaha: they haven't ceased flirting or cackling since we left + Kingston. Do you think everybody has such spirits out at Omaha? But behold + a yet more surprising figure than any we have yet seen among this + boat-load of nondescripts.” + </p> + <p> + This was a tall, handsome young man, with a face of somewhat foreign cast, + and well dressed, with a certain impressive difference from the rest in + the cut of his clothes. But what most drew the eye to him was a large + cross, set with brilliants, and surmounted by a heavy double-headed eagle + in gold. This ornament dazzled from a conspicuous place on the left lappet + of his coat; on his hand shone a magnificent diamond ring, and he bore a + stately opera-glass, with which, from time to time, he imperiously, as one + may say, surveyed the landscape. As the imposing apparition grew upon + Isabel, “O here,” she thought, “is something truly + distinguished. Of course, dear,” she added aloud to Basil, “he's + some foreign nobleman travelling here”; and she ran over in her mind + the newspaper announcements of patrician visitors from abroad and tried to + identify him with some one of them. The cross must be the decoration of a + foreign order, and Basil suggested that he was perhaps a member of some + legation at Washington, who had ran up there for his summer vacation. The + cross puzzled him, but the double-headed eagle, he said, meant either + Austria or Russia; probably Austria, for the wearer looked a trifle too + civilized for a Russian. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed! What an air he has. Never tell me. Basil, that there's + nothing in blood!” cried Isabel, who was a bitter aristocrat at + heart, like all her sex, though in principle she was democratic enough. As + she spoke, the object of her regard looked about him on the different + groups, not with pride, not with hauteur, but with a glance of + unconscious, unmistakable superiority. “O, that stare!” she + added; “nothing but high birth and long descent can give it! + Dearest, he's becoming a great affliction to me. I want to know who + he is. Couldn't you invent some pretext for speaking to him?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I couldn't do it decently; and no doubt he'd snub + me as I deserved if I intruded upon him. Let's wait for fortune to + reveal him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I suppose I must, but it's dreadful; it's really + dreadful. You can easily see that's distinction,” she + continued, as her hero moved about the promenade and gently but loftily + made a way for himself among the other passengers and favored the scenery + through his opera-glass from one point and another. He spoke to no one, + and she reasonably supposed that he did not know English. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time it was drawing near the hour of dinner, but no dinner + appeared. Twelve, one, two came and went, and then at last came the + dinner, which had been delayed, it seemed, till the cook could recruit his + energies sufficiently to meet the wants of double the number he had + expected to provide for. It was observable of the officers and crew of the + Banshee, that while they did not hold themselves aloof from the passengers + in the disdainful American manner, they were of feeble mind, and not only + did everything very slowly (in the usual Canadian fashion), but with an + inefficiency that among us would have justified them in being insolent. + The people sat down at several successive tables to the worst dinner that + ever was cooked; the ladies first, and the gentlemen afterwards, as they + made conquest of places. At the second table, to Basil's great + satisfaction, he found a seat, and on his right hand the distinguished + foreigner. + </p> + <p> + “Naturally, I was somewhat abashed,” he said in the account he + was presently called to give Isabel of the interview, “but I + remembered that I was an American citizen, and tried to maintain a decent + composure. For several minutes we sat silent behind a dish of flabby + cucumbers, expecting the dinner, and I was wondering whether I should + address him in French or German,—for I knew you'd never + forgive me if I let slip such a chance,—when he turned and spoke + himself.” + </p> + <p> + “O what did he say, dearest?” + </p> + <p> + He said, “Pretty tejious waitin,' ain't it? in she best + New York State accent.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't mean it!” gasped Isabel. + </p> + <p> + “But I do. After that I took courage to ask what his cross and + double-headed eagle meant. He showed the condescension of a true nobleman. + 'O,' says he, 'I'm glad you like it, and it's + not the least offense to ask,' and he told me. Can you imagine what + it is? It's the emblem of the fifty-fourth degree in the secret + society he belongs to!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe it!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, ask him yourself, then,” returned Basil; “he's + a very good fellow. 'O, that stare! nothing but high birth and long + descent could give it!'” he repeated, abominably implying that + he had himself had no share in their common error. + </p> + <p> + What retort Isabel might have made cannot now be known, for she was + arrested at this moment by a rumor amongst the passengers that they were + coming to the Long Sault Rapids. Looking forward she saw the tossing and + flashing of surges that, to the eye, are certainly as threatening as the + rapids above Niagara. The steamer had already passed the Deplau and the + Galopes, and they had thus had a foretaste of whatever pleasure or terror + there is in the descent of these nine miles of stormy sea. It is purely a + matter of taste, about shooting the rapids of the St. Lawrence. The + passengers like it better than the captain and the pilot, to guesses by + their looks, and the women and children like it better than the men. It is + no doubt very thrilling and picturesque and wildly beautiful: the children + crow and laugh, the women shout forth their delight, as the boat enters + the seething current; great foaming waves strike her bows, and brawl away + to the stern, while she dips, and rolls, and shoots onward, light as a + bird blown by the wind; the wild shores and islands whirl out of sight; + you feel in every fibre the career of the vessel. But the captain sits in + front of the pilothouse smoking with a grave face, the pilots tug hard at + the wheel; the hoarse roar of the waters fills the air; beneath the + smoother sweeps of the current you can see the brown rocks; as you sink + from ledge to ledge in the writhing and twisting steamer, you have a vague + sense that all this is perhaps an achievement rather than an enjoyment. + When, descending the Long Sault, you look back up hill, and behold those + billows leaping down the steep slope after you, “No doubt,” + you confide to your soul, “it is magnificent; but it is not + pleasure.” You greet with silent satisfaction the level river, + stretching between the Long Sault and the Coteau, and you admire the + delightful tranquillity of that beautiful Lake St. Francis into which it + expands. Then the boat shudders into the Coteau Rapids, and down through + the Cedars and Cascades. On the rocks of the last lies the skeleton of a + steamer wrecked upon them, and gnawed at still by the white-tusked wolfish + rapids. No one, they say, was lost from her. “But how,” Basil + thought, “would it fare with all these people packed here upon her + bow, if the Banshee should swing round upon a ledge?” As to Isabel, + she looked upon the wrecked steamer with indifference, as did all the + women; but then they could not swim, and would not have to save + themselves. “The La Chine's to come yet,” they exulted, + “and that's the awfullest of all!” + </p> + <p> + They passed the Lake St. Louis; the La Chin; rapids flashed into sight. + The captain rose up from his seat, took his pipe from his mouth, and waved + a silence with it. “Ladies and gentlemen,” said he, “it's + very important in passing these rapids to keep the boat perfectly trim. + Please to remain just as you are.” + </p> + <p> + It was twilight, for the boat was late. From the Indian village on the + shore they signaled to know if he wanted the local pilot; the captain + refused; and then the steamer plunged into the leaping waves. From rock to + rock she swerved and sank; on the last ledge she scraped with a deadly + touch that went to the heart. + </p> + <p> + Then the danger was passed, and the noble city of Montreal was in full + sight, lying at the foot of her dark green mountain, and lifting her many + spires into the rosy twilight air: massive and grand showed the sister + towers of the French cathedral. + </p> + <p> + Basil had hoped to approach this famous city with just associations. He + had meant to conjure up for Isabel's sake some reflex, however + faint, of that beautiful picture Mr. Parkman has painted of Maisonneuve + founding and consecrating Montreal. He flushed with the recollection of + the historian's phrase; but in that moment there came forth from the + cabin a pretty young person who gave every token of being a pretty young + actress, even to the duenna-like, elderly female companion, to be detected + in the remote background of every young actress. She had flirted + audaciously during the day with some young Englishmen and Canadians of her + acquaintance, and after passing the La Chine Rapids she had taken the + hearts of all the men by springing suddenly to her feet, apostrophizing + the tumult with a charming attitude, and warbling a delicious bit of song. + Now as they drew near the city the Victoria Bridge stretched its long tube + athwart the river, and looked so low because of its great length that it + seemed to bar the steamer's passage. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” said one of the actress's adorers, a + Canadian, whose face was exactly that of the beaver on the escutcheon of + his native province, and whose heavy gallantries she had constantly + received with a gay, impertinent nonchalance,—“I wonder if we + can be going right under that bridge?” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir!” answered the pretty young actress with shocking + promptness, “we're going right over it!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “'Three groans and a guggle, + And an awful struggle, + And over we go!'” + </pre> + <p> + At this witless, sweet impudence the Canadian looked very sheepish—for + a beaver; and all the other people laughed; but the noble historical + shades of Basil's thought vanished in wounded dignity beyond recall, + and left him feeling rather ashamed,—for he had laughed too. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. THE SENTIMENT OF MONTREAL. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9207}.jpg" alt="{9207}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9207}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + The feeling of foreign travel for which our tourists had striven + throughout their journey, and which they had known in some degree at + Kingston and all the way down the river, was intensified from the first + moment in Montreal; and it was so welcome that they were almost glad to + lose money on their greenbacks, which the conductor of the omnibus would + take only at a discount of twenty cents. At breakfast next morning they + could hardly tell on what country they had fallen. The waiters had but a + thin varnish of English speech upon their native French, and they spoke + their own tongue with each other; but most of the meats were cooked to the + English taste, and the whole was a poor imitation of an American hotel. + During their stay the same commingling of usages and races bewildered + them; the shops were English and the clerks were commonly French; the + carriage-drivers were often Irish, and up and down the streets with their + pious old-fashioned names, tinkled American horse-cars. Everywhere were + churches and convents that recalled the ecclesiastical and feudal origin + of the city; the great tubular bridge, the superb water-front with its + long array of docks only surpassed by those of Liverpool, the solid blocks + of business houses, and the substantial mansions on the quieter streets, + proclaimed the succession of Protestant thrift and energy. + </p> + <p> + Our friends cared far less for the modern splendor of Montreal than for + the remnants of its past, and for the features that identified it with + another faith and another people than their own. Isabel would almost have + confessed to any one of the black-robed priests upon the street; Basil + could easily have gone down upon his knees to the white-hooded, pale-faced + nuns gliding among the crowd. It was rapture to take a carriage, and + drive, not to the cemetery, not to the public library, not to the rooms of + the Young Men's Christian Association, or the grain elevators, or + the new park just tricked out with rockwork and sprigs of evergreen,—not + to any of the charming resorts of our own cities, but as in Europe to the + churches, the churches of a pitiless superstition, the churches with their + atrocious pictures and statues, their lingering smell of the morning's + incense, their confessionals, their fee-taking sacristans, their + worshippers dropped here and there upon their knees about the aisles and + saying their prayers with shut or wandering eyes according as they were + old women or young! I do not defend the feeble sentimentality,—call + it wickedness if you like,—but I understand it, and I forgive it + from my soul. + </p> + <p> + They went first, of course, to the French cathedral, pausing on their way + to alight and walk through the Bonsecours Market, where the habitans have + all come in their carts, with their various stores of poultry, fruit, and + vegetables, and where every cart is a study. Here is a simple-faced young + peasant-couple with butter and eggs and chickens ravishingly displayed; + here is a smooth-checked, blackeyed, black-haired young girl, looking as + if an infusion of Indian blood had darkened the red of her cheeks, + presiding over a stock of onions, potatoes, beets, and turnips; there an + old woman with a face carven like a walnut, behind a flattering array of + cherries and pears; yonder a whole family trafficking in loaves of + brown-bread and maple-sugar in many shapes of pious and grotesque device. + There are gay shows of bright scarfs and kerchiefs and vari-colored yarns, + and sad shows of old clothes and second-hand merchandise of other sorts; + but above all prevails the abundance of orchard and garden, while within + the fine edifice are the stalls of the butchers, and in the basement below + a world of household utensils, glass-ware, hard-ware, and wooden-ware. As + in other Latin countries, each peasant has given a personal interest to + his wares, but the bargains are not clamored over as in Latin lands + abroad. Whatever protest and concession and invocation of the saints + attend the transacting of business at Bonsecours Market are in a subdued + tone. The fat huckster-women drowsing beside their wares, scarce send + their voices beyond the borders of their broad-brimmed straw hats, as they + softly haggle with purchasers, or tranquilly gossip together. + </p> + <p> + At the cathedral there are, perhaps, the worst paintings in the world, and + the massive pine-board pillars are unscrupulously smoked to look like + marble; but our tourists enjoyed it as if it had been St. Peter's; + in fact it has something of the barnlike immensity and impressiveness of + St. Peter's. They did not ask it to be beautiful or grand; they + desired it only to recall the beloved ugliness, the fondly cherished + hideousness and incongruity of the average Catholic churches of their + remembrance, and it did this and more: it added an effect of its own; it + offered the spectacle of a swarthy old Indian kneeling before the high + altar, telling his beads, and saying with many sighs and tears the prayers + which it cost so much martyrdom and heroism to teach his race. “O, + it is only a savage man,” said the little French boy who was showing + them the place, impatient of their interest in a thing so unworthy as this + groaning barbarian. He ran swiftly about from object to object, rapidly + lecturing their inattention. “It is now time to go up into the + tower,” said he, and they gladly made that toilsome ascent, though + it is doubtful if the ascent of towers is not too much like the ascent of + mountains ever to be compensatory. From the top of Notre Dame is certainly + to be had a prospect upon which, but for his fluttered nerves and + trembling muscles and troubled respiration, the traveller might well look + with delight, and as it is must behold with wonder. So far as the eye + reaches it dwells only upon what is magnificent. All the features of that + landscape are grand. Below you spreads the city, which has less that is + merely mean in it than any other city of our continent, and which is + everywhere ennobled by stately civic edifices, adorned by tasteful + churches, and skirted by full foliaged avenues of mansions and villas. + Behind it rises the beautiful mountain, green with woods and gardens to + its crest, and flanked on the east by an endless fertile plain, and on the + west by another expanse, through which the Ottawa rushes, turbid and dark, + to its confluence with the St. Lawrence. Then these two mighty streams + commingled flow past the city, lighting up the vast Champaign country to + the south, while upon the utmost southern verge, as on the northern, rise + the cloudy summits of far-off mountains. + </p> + <p> + As our travellers gazed upon all this grandeur, their hearts were humbled + to the tacit admission that the colonial metropolis was not only worthy of + its seat, but had traits of a solid prosperity not excelled by any of the + abounding and boastful cities of the Republic. Long before they quitted + Montreal they had rallied from this weakness, but they delighted still to + honor her superb beauty. + </p> + <p> + The tower is naturally bescribbled to its top with the names of those who + have climbed it, and most of these are Americans, who flock in great + numbers to Canada in summer. They modify its hotel life, and the objects + of interest thrive upon their bounty. Our friends met them at every turn, + and knew them at a glance from the native populations, who are also easily + distinguishable from each other. The French Canadians are nearly always of + a peasant-like commonness, or where they rise above this have a bourgeois + commonness of face and manner, and the English Canadians are to be known + from the many English sojourners by the effort to look much more English + than the latter. The social heart of the colony clings fast to the + mother-country, that is plain, whatever the political tendency may be; and + the public monuments and inscriptions celebrate this affectionate union. + </p> + <p> + At the English cathedral the effect is deepened by the epitaphs of those + whose lives were passed in the joint service of England and her loyal + child; and our travellers, whatever their want of sympathy with the + sentiment, had to own to a certain beauty in that attitude of proud + reverence. Here, at least, was a people not cut off from its past, but + holding, unbroken in life and death, the ties which exist for us only in + history. It gave a glamour of olden time to the new land; it touched the + prosaic democratic present with the waning poetic light of the + aristocratic and monarchical tradition. There was here and there a title + on the tablets, and there was everywhere the formal language of loyalty + and of veneration for things we have tumbled into the dust. It is a + beautiful church, of admirable English Gothic; if you are so happy, you + are rather curtly told you may enter by a burly English figure in some + kind of sombre ecclesiastical drapery, and within its quiet precincts you + may feel yourself in England if you like,—which, for my part, I do + not. Neither did our friends enjoy it so much as the Church of the + Jesuits, with its more than tolerable painting, its coldly frescoed + ceiling, its architectural taste of subdued Renaissance, and its + black-eyed peasant-girl telling her beads before a side altar, just as in + the enviably deplorable countries we all love; nor so much even as the + Irish cathedral which they next visited. That is a very gorgeous cathedral + indeed, painted and gilded 'a merveille', and everywhere stuck + about with big and little saints and crucifixes, and pictures incredibly + bad—but for those in the French cathedral. There is, of course, a + series representing Christ's progress to Calvary; and there was a + very tattered old man,—an old man whose voice had been long ago + drowned in whiskey, and who now spoke in a ghostly whisper,—who, + when he saw Basil's eye fall upon the series, made him go the round + of them, and tediously explained them. + </p> + <p> + “Why did you let that old wretch bore you, and then pay him for it?” + Isabel asked. + </p> + <p> + “O, it reminded me so sweetly of the swindles of other lands and + days, that I couldn't help it,” he answered; and straightway + in the eyes of both that poor, whiskeyfied, Irish tatterdemalion stood + transfigured to the glorious likeness of an Italian beggar. + </p> + <p> + They were always doing something of this kind, those absurdly sentimental + people, whom yet I cannot find it in my heart to blame for their folly, + though I could name ever so many reasons for rebuking it. Why, in fact, + should we wish to find America like Europe? Are the ruins and impostures + and miseries and superstitions which beset the traveller abroad so + precious, that he should desire to imagine them at every step in his own + hemisphere? Or have we then of our own no effective shapes of ignorance + and want and incredibility, that we must forever seek an alien contrast to + our native intelligence and comfort? Some such questions this guilty + couple put to each other, and then drove off to visit the convent of the + Gray Nuns with a joyful expectation which I suppose the prospect of the + finest public-school exhibition in Boston could never have inspired. But, + indeed, since there must be Gray Nuns, is it not well that there are + sentimentalists to take a mournful pleasure in their sad, pallid + existence? + </p> + <p> + The convent is at a good distance from the Irish cathedral, and in going + to it the tourists made their driver carry them through one of the few old + French streets which still remain in Montreal. Fires and improvements had + made havoc among the quaint houses since Basil's first visit; but at + last they came upon a narrow, ancient Rue Saint Antoine,—or whatever + other saint it was called after,—in which there was no English face + or house to be seen. The doors of the little one-story dwellings opened + from the pavement, and within you saw fat madame the mother moving about + her domestic affairs, and spare monsieur the elderly husband smoking + beside the open window; French babies crawled about the tidy floors; + French martyrs (let us believe Lalement or Brebeuf, who gave up their + heroic lives for the conversion of Canada) sifted their eyes in + high-colored lithographs on the wall; among the flower-pots in the + dormer-window looking from every tin roof sat and sewed a smooth haired + young girl, I hope,—the romance of each little mansion. The antique + and foreign character of the place was accented by the inscription upon a + wall of “Sirop adoucissant de Madame Winslow.” + </p> + <p> + Ever since 1692 the Gray Nuns have made refuge within the ample borders of + their convent for infirm old people and for foundling children, and it is + now in the regular course of sight-seeing for the traveller to visit their + hospital at noonday, when he beholds the Sisters at their devotions in the + chapel. It is a bare, white-walled, cold-looking chapel, with the usual + paraphernalia of pictures and crucifixes. Seated upon low benches on + either side of the aisle were the curious or the devout; the former in + greater number and chiefly Americans, who were now and then whispered + silent by an old pauper zealous for the sanctity of the place. At the + stroke of twelve the Sisters entered two by two, followed by the + lady-superior with a prayerbook in her hand. She clapped the leaves of + this together in signal for them to kneel, to rise, to kneel again and + rise, while they repeated in rather harsh voices their prayers, and then + clattered out of the chapel as they had clattered in, with resounding + shoes. The two young girls at the head were very pretty, and all the pale + faces had a corpse-like peace. As Basil looked at their pensive sameness, + it seemed to him that those prettiest girls might very well be the twain + that he had seen here so many years ago, stricken forever young in their + joyless beauty. The ungraceful gowns of coarse gray, the blue checked + aprons, the black crape caps, were the same; they came and went with the + same quick tread, touching their brows with holy water and kneeling and + rising now as then with the same constrained and ordered movements. Would + it be too cruel if they were really the same persons? or would it be yet + more cruel if every year two girls so young and fair were self-doomed to + renew the likeness of that youthful death? + </p> + <p> + The visitors went about the hospital, and saw the old men and the little + children to whom these good pure lives were given, and they could only + blame the system, not the instruments or their work. Perhaps they did not + judge wisely of the amount of self-sacrifice involved, for they judged + from hearts to which love was the whole of earth and heaven; but + nevertheless they pitied the Gray Nuns amidst the unhomelike comfort of + their convent, the unnatural care of those alien little ones. Poor 'Soeurs + Grises' in their narrow cells; at the bedside of sickness and age + and sorrow; kneeling with clasped hands and yearning eyes before the + bloody spectacle of the cross!—the power of your Church is shown far + more subtly and mightily in such as you, than in her grandest fanes or the + sight of her most august ceremonies, with praying priests, swinging + censers, tapers and pictures and images, under a gloomy heaven of + cathedral arches. There, indeed, the faithful have given their substance; + but here the nun has given up the most precious part of her woman's + nature, and all the tenderness that clings about the thought of wife and + mother. + </p> + <p> + “There are some things that always greatly afflict me in the idea of + a new country,” said Basil, as they loitered slowly through the + grounds of the convent toward the gate. “Of course, it's + absurd to think of men as other than men, as having changed their natures + with their skies; but a new land always does seem at first thoughts like a + new chance afforded the race for goodness and happiness, for health and + life. So I grieve for the earliest dead at Plymouth more than for the + multitude that the plague swept away in London; I shudder over the crime + of the first guilty man, the sin of the first wicked woman in a new + country; the trouble of the first youth or maiden crossed in love there is + intolerable. All should be hope and freedom and prosperous life upon that + virgin soil. It never was so since Eden; but none the less I feel it ought + to be; and I am oppressed by the thought that among the earliest walls + which rose upon this broad meadow of Montreal were those built to immure + the innocence of such young girls as these and shut them from the life we + find so fair. Wouldn't you like to know who was the first that took + the veil in this wild new country? Who was she, poor soul, and what was + her deep sorrow or lofty rapture? You can fancy her some Indian maiden + lured to the renunciation by the splendor of symbols and promises seen + vaguely through the lingering mists of her native superstitions; or some + weary soul, sick from the vanities and vices, the bloodshed and the tears + of the Old World, and eager for a silence profounder than that of the + wilderness into which she had fled. Well, the Church knows and God. She + was dust long ago.” + </p> + <p> + From time to time there had fallen little fitful showers during the + morning. Now as the wedding-journeyers passed out of the convent gate the + rain dropped soft and thin, and the gray clouds that floated through the + sky so swiftly were as far-seen Gray Sisters in flight for heaven. + </p> + <p> + “We shall have time for the drive round the mountain before dinner,” + said Basil, as they got into their carriage again; and he was giving the + order to the driver, when Isabel asked how far it was. + </p> + <p> + “Nine miles.” + </p> + <p> + “O, then we can't think of going with one horse. You know,” + she added, “that we always intended to have two horses for going + round the mountain.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Basil, not yet used to having his decisions reached + without his knowledge. “And I don't see why we should. + Everybody goes with one. You don't suppose we're too heavy, do + you?” + </p> + <p> + “I had a party from the States, ma'am, yesterday,” + interposed the driver; “two ladies, real heavy apes, two gentlemen, + weighin' two hundred apiece, and a stout young man on the box with + me. You'd 'a' thought the horse was drawin' an + empty carriage, the way she darted along.” + </p> + <p> + “Then his horse must be perfectly worn out to-day,” said + Isabel, refusing to admit the pool fellow directly even to the honors of a + defeat. He had proved too much, and was put out of court with no hope of + repairing his error. + </p> + <p> + “Why, it seems a pity,” whispered Basil, dispassionately, + “to turn this man adrift, when he had a reasonable hope of being + with us all day, and has been so civil and obliging.” + </p> + <p> + “O yes, Basil, sentimentalize him, do! Why don't you + sentimentalize his helpless, overworked horse?—all in a reek of + perspiration.” + </p> + <p> + “Perspiration! Why, my dear, it's the rain!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, rain or shine, darling, I don't want to go round the + mountain with one horse; and it's very unkind of you to insist now, + when you've tacitly promised me all along to take two.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, this is a little too much, Isabel. You know we never mentioned + the matter till this moment.” + </p> + <p> + “It's the same as a promise, your not saying you wouldn't. + But I don't ask you to keep your word. I don't want to go + round the mountain. I'd much rather go to the hotel. I'm + tired.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, then, Isabel, I'll leave you at the hotel.” + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0221}.jpg" alt="{0221}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0221}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + In a moment it had come, the first serious dispute of their wedded life. + It had come as all such calamities come, from nothing, and it was on them + in full disaster ere they knew. Such a very little while ago, there in the + convent garden, their lives had been drawn closer in sympathy than ever + before; and now that blessed time seemed ages since, and they were further + asunder than those who have never been friends. “I thought,” + bitterly mused Isabel, “that he would have done anything for me.” + “Who could have dreamed that a woman of her sense would be so + unreasonable,” he wondered. Both had tempers, as I know my dearest + reader has (if a lady), and neither would yield; and so, presently, they + could hardly tell how, for they were aghast at it all, Isabel was alone in + her room amidst the ruins of her life, and Basil alone in the one-horse + carriage, trying to drive away from the wreck of his happiness. All was + over; the dream was past; the charm was broken. The sweetness of their + love was turned to gall; whatever had pleased them in their loving moods + was loathsome now, and the things they had praised a moment before were + hateful. In that baleful light, which seemed to dwell upon all they ever + said or did in mutual enjoyment, how poor and stupid and empty looked + their wedding-journey! Basil spent five minutes in arraigning his wife and + convicting her of every folly and fault. His soul was in a whirl, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “For to be wroth with one we love + Doth work like madness in the brain.” + </pre> + <p> + In the midst of his bitter and furious upbraidings he found himself + suddenly become her ardent advocate, and ready to denounce her judge as a + heartless monster. “On our wedding journey, too! Good heavens, what + an incredible brute I am!” Then he said, “What an ass I am!” + And the pathos of the case having yielded to its absurdity, he was + helpless. In five minutes more he was at Isabel's side, the + one-horse carriage driver dismissed with a handsome pour-boire, and a pair + of lusty bays with a glittering barouche waiting at the door below. He + swiftly accounted for his presence, which she seemed to find the most + natural thing that could be, and she met his surrender with the openness + of a heart that forgives but does not forget, if indeed the most gracious + art is the only one unknown to the sex. + </p> + <p> + She rose with a smile from the ruins of her life, amidst which she had + heart-brokenly sat down with all her things on. “I knew you'd + come back,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “So did I,” he answered. “I am much too good and noble + to sacrifice my preference to my duty.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't care particularly for the two horses, Basil,” + she said, as they descended to the barouche. “It was your refusing + them that hurt me.” + </p> + <p> + “And I didn't want the one-horse carriage. It was your + insisting so that provoked me.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think people ever quarreled before on a wedding journey?” + asked Isabel as they drove gayly out of the city. + </p> + <p> + “Never! I can't conceive of it. I suppose if this were written + down, nobody would believe it.” + </p> + <p> + “No, nobody could,” said Isabel, musingly, and she added after + a pause, “I wish you would tell me just what you thought of me, + dearest. Did you feel as you did when our little affair was broken off, + long ago? Did you hate me?” + </p> + <p> + “I did, most cordially; but not half so much as I despised myself + the next moment. As to its being like a lover's quarrel, it wasn't. + It was more bitter, so much more love than lovers ever give had to be + taken back. Besides, it had no dignity, and a lover's quarrel always + has. A lover's quarrel always springs from a more serious cause, and + has an air of romantic tragedy. This had no grace of the kind. It was a + poor shabby little squabble.” + </p> + <p> + “O, don't call it so, Basil! I should like you to respect even + a quarrel of ours more than that. It was tragical enough with me, for I + didn't see how it could ever be made up. I knew I couldn't + make the advances. I don't think it is quite feminine to be the + first to forgive, is it?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm sure I can't say. Perhaps it would be rather + unladylike.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you see, dearest, what I am trying to get at is this: whether + we shall love each other the more or the less for it. I think we shall get + on all the better for a while, on account of it. But I should have said it + was totally out of character it's something you might have expected + of a very young bridal couple; but after what we've been through, it + seems too improbable.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said Basil, who, having made all the concessions, + could not enjoy the quarrel as she did, simply because it was theirs; + “let's behave as if it had never been.” + </p> + <p> + “O no, we can't. To me, it's as if we had just won each + other.” + </p> + <p> + In fact it gave a wonderful zest and freshness to that ride round the + mountain, and shed a beneficent glow upon the rest of their journey. The + sun came out through the thin clouds, and lighted up the vast plain that + swept away north and east, with the purple heights against the eastern + sky. The royal mountain lifted its graceful mass beside them, and hid the + city wholly from sight. Peasant-villages, in the shade of beautiful elms, + dotted the plain in every direction, and at intervals crept up to the side + of the road along which they drove. But these had been corrupted by a more + ambitious architecture since Basil saw them last, and were no longer + purely French in appearance. Then, nearly every house was a tannery in a + modest way, and poetically published the fact by the display of a sheep's + tail over the front door, like a bush at a wine-shop. Now, if the + tanneries still existed, the poetry of the sheeps' tails had + vanished from the portals. But our friends were consoled by meeting + numbers of the peasants jolting home from market in the painted carts, + which are doubtless of the pattern of the carts first built there two + hundred years ago. They were grateful for the immortal old wooden, crooked + and brown with the labor of the fields, who abounded in these vehicles; + when a huge girl jumped from the tail of her cart, and showed the thick, + clumsy ankles of a true peasant-maid, they could only sigh out their + unspeakable satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + Gardens embowered and perfumed the low cottages, through the open doors of + which they could see the exquisite neatness of the life within. One of the + doors opened into a school-house, where they beheld with rapture the + school-mistress, book in hand, and with a quaint cap on her gray head, and + encircled by her flock of little boys and girls. + </p> + <p> + By and by it began to rain again; and now while their driver stopped to + put up the top of the barouche, they entered a country church which had + taken their fancy, and walked up the aisle with the steps that blend with + silence rather than break it, while they heard only the soft whisper of + the shower without. There was no one there but themselves. The urn of holy + water seemed not to have been troubled that day, and no penitent knelt at + the shrine, before which twinkled so faintly one lighted lamp. The white + roof swelled into dim arches over their heads; the pale day like a visible + hush stole through the painted windows; they heard themselves breathe as + they crept from picture to picture. + </p> + <p> + A narrow door opened at the side of the high altar, and a slender young + priest appeared in a long black robe, and with shaven head. He, too as he + moved with noiseless feet, seemed a part of the silence; and when he + approached with dreamy black eyes fixed upon them, and bowed courteously, + it seemed impossible he should speak. But he spoke, the pale young priest, + the dark-robed tradition, the tonsured vision of an age and a church that + are passing. + </p> + +<div class="figright" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{8227}.jpg" alt="{8227} " width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{8227}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + + <p> + “Do you understand French, monsieur?” + </p> + <p> + “A very little, monsieur.” + </p> + <p> + “A very little is more than my English,” he said, yet he + politely went the round of the pictures with them, and gave them the names + of the painters between his crossings at the different altars. At the high + altar there was a very fair Crucifixion; before this the priest bent one + knee. “Fine picture, fine altar, fine church,” he said in + English. At last they stopped next the poor-box. As their coins clinked + against those within, he smiled serenely upon the good heretics. Then he + bowed, and, as if he had relapsed into the past, he vanished through the + narrow door by which he had entered. + </p> + <p> + Basil and Isabel stood speechless a moment on the church steps. Then she + cried, + </p> + <p> + “O, why didn't something happen?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, my dear! what could have been half so good as the nothing that + did happen? Suppose we knew him to have taken orders because of a + disappointment in love: how common it would have made him; everybody has + been crossed in love once or twice.” He bade the driver take them + back to the hotel. “This is the very bouquet of adventure why should + we care for the grosser body? I dare say if we knew all about yonder pale + young priest, we should not think him half so interesting as we do now.” + </p> + <p> + At dinner they spent the intervals of the courses in guessing the + nationality of the different persons, and in wondering if the Canadians + did not make it a matter of conscientious loyalty to out-English the + English even in the matter of pale-ale and sherry, and in rotundity of + person and freshness of face, just as they emulated them in the cut of + their clothes and whiskers. Must they found even their health upon the + health of the mother-country? + </p> + <p> + Our friends began to detect something servile in it all, and but that they + were such amiable persons, the loyally perfect digestion of Montreal would + have gone far to impair their own. + </p> + <p> + The loyalty, which had already appeared to them in the cathedral, + suggested itself in many ways upon the street, when they went out after + dinner to do that little shopping which Isabel had planned to do in + Montreal. The booksellers' windows were full of Canadian editions of + our authors, and English copies of English works, instead of our pirated + editions; the dry-goods stores were gay with fabrics in the London taste + and garments of the London shape; here was the sign of a photographer to + the Queen, there of a hatter to H. R. H. the Prince of Wales; a barber was + “under the patronage of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales, H. E. the Duke + of Cambridge, and the gentry of Montreal.” 'Ich dien' + was the motto of a restaurateur; a hosier had gallantly labeled his stock + in trade with 'Honi soit qui mal y pense'. Again they noted + the English solidity of the civic edifices, and already they had observed + in the foreign population a difference from that at home. They saw no + German faces on the streets, and the Irish faces had not that truculence + which they wear sometimes with us. They had not lost their native + simpleness and kindliness; the Irishmen who drove the public carriages + were as civil as our own Boston hackmen, and behaved as respectfully under + the shadow of England here, as they world have done under it in Ireland. + The problem which vexes us seems to have been solved pleasantly enough in + Canada. Is it because the Celt cannot brook equality; and where he has not + an established and recognized caste above him, longs to trample on those + about him; and if he cannot be lowest, will at least be highest? + </p> + <p> + However, our friends did not suffer this or any other advantage of the + colonial relation to divert them from the opinion to which their + observation was gradually bringing them,—that its overweening + loyalty placed a great country like Canada in a very silly attitude, the + attitude of an overgrown, unmanly boy, clinging to the maternal skirts, + and though spoilt and willful, without any character of his own. The + constant reference of local hopes to that remote centre beyond seas, the + test of success by the criterions of a necessarily different civilization, + the social and intellectual dependence implied by traits that meet the + most hurried glance in the Dominion, give an effect of meanness to the + whole fabric. Doubtless it is a life of comfort, of peace, of + irresponsibility they live there, but it lacks the grandeur which no sum + of material prosperity can give; it is ignoble, like all voluntarily + subordinate things. Somehow, one feels that it has no basis in the New + World, and that till it is shaken loose from England it cannot have. + </p> + <p> + It would be a pity, however, if it should be parted from the parent + country merely to be joined to an unsympathetic half-brother like + ourselves and nothing, fortunately, seems to be further from the Canadian + mind. There are some experiments no longer possible to us which could + still be tried there to the advantage of civilization, and we were better + two great nations side by side than a union of discordant traditions and + ideas. But none the less does the American traveller, swelling with + forgetfulness of the shabby despots who govern New York, and the swindling + railroad kings whose word is law to the whole land, feel like saying to + the hulling young giant beyond St. Lawrence and the Lakes, “Sever + the apron-strings of allegiance, and try to be yourself whatever you are.” + </p> + <p> + Something of this sort Basil said, though of course not in apostrophic + phrase, nor with Isabel's entire concurrence, when he explained to + her that it was to the colonial dependence of Canada she owed the ability + to buy things so cheaply there. + </p> + <p> + The fact is that the ladies' parlor at the hotel had been after + dinner no better than a den of smugglers, in which the fair contrabandists + had debated the best means of evading the laws of their country. At heart + every man is a smuggler, and how much more every woman! She would have no + scruple in ruining the silk and woolen interest throughout the United + States. She is a free-trader by intuitive perception of right, and is + limited in practice by nothing but fear of the statute. What could be + taken into the States without detection, was the subject before that + wicked conclave; and next, what it would pay to buy in Canada. It seemed + that silk umbrellas were most eligible wares; and in the display of such + purchases the parlor was given the appearance of a violent thunder-storm. + Gloves it was not advisable to get; they were better at home, as were many + kinds of fine woolen goods. But laces, which you could carry about you, + were excellent; and so was any kind of silk. Could it be carried if simply + cut, and not made up? There was a difference about this: the friend of one + lady had taken home half a trunkful of cut silks; the friend of another + had “run up the breadths” of one lone little silk skirt, and + then lost it by the rapacity of the customs officers. It was pretty much + luck, and whether the officers happened to be in good-humor or not. You + must not try to take in anything out of season, however. One had heard of + a Boston lady going home in July, who “had the furs taken off her + back,” in that inclement month. Best get everything seasonable, and + put it on at once. “And then, you know, if they ask you, you can say + it's been worn.” To this black wisdom came the combined + knowledge of those miscreants. Basil could not repress a shudder at the + innate depravity of the female heart. Here were virgins nurtured in the + most spotless purity of life, here were virtuous mothers of families, here + were venerable matrons, patterns in society and the church,—smugglers + to a woman, and eager for any guilty subterfuge! He glanced at Isabel to + see what effect the evil conversation had upon her. Her eyes sparkled; her + cheeks glowed; all the woman was on fire for smuggling. He sighed heavily + and went out with her to do the little shopping. + </p> + <p> + Shall I follow them upon their excursion? Shopping in Montreal is very + much what it is in Boston or New York, I imagine, except that the clerks + have a more honeyed sweetness of manners towards the ladies of our nation, + and are surprisingly generous constructionists of our revenue laws. Isabel + had profited by every word that she had heard in the ladies' parlor, + and she would not venture upon unsafe ground; but her tender eyes looked + her unutterable longing to believe in the charming possibilities that the + clerks suggested. She bemoaned herself before the corded silks, which + there was no time to have made up; the piece-velvets and the linens smote + her to the heart. But they also stimulated her invention, and she bought + and bought of the made-up wares in real or fancied needs, till Basil + represented that neither their purses nor their trunks could stand any + more. “O, don't be troubled about the trunks, dearest,” + she cried, with that gayety which nothing but shopping can kindle in a + woman's heart; while he faltered on from counter to counter, + wondering at which he should finally swoon from fatigue. At last, after + she had declared repeatedly, “There, now, I am done,” she + briskly led the way back to the hotel to pack up her purchases. + </p> + <p> + Basil parted with her at the door. He was a man of high principle himself, + and that scene in the smugglers' den, and his wife's + preparation for transgression, were revelations for which nothing could + have consoled him but a paragon umbrella for five dollars, and an + excellent business suit of Scotch goods for twenty. + </p> + <p> + When some hours later he sat with Isabel on the forward promenade of the + steamboat for Quebec, and summed up the profits of their shopping, they + were both in the kindliest mood towards the poor Canadians, who had built + the admirable city before them. + </p> + <p> + For miles the water front of Montreal is superbly faced with quays and + locks of solid stone masonry, and thus she is clean and beautiful to the + very feet. Stately piles of architecture, instead of the foul old + tumble-down warehouses that dishonor the waterside in most cities, rise + from the broad wharves; behind these spring the twin towers of Notre Dame, + and the steeples of the other churches above the city roofs. + </p> + <p> + “It's noble, yes, it's noble, after the best that Europe + can show,” said Isabel, with enthusiasm; “and what a pleasant + day we've had here! Doesn't even our quarrel show 'couleur + de rose' in this light?” + </p> + <p> + “One side of it,” answered Basil, dreamily, “but all the + rest is black.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean, my dear?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, the Nelson Monument, with the sunset on it at the head of the + street there.” + </p> + <p> + The affect was so fine that Isabel could not be angry with him for failing + to heed what she had said, and she mused a moment with him. + </p> + <p> + “It seems rather far-fetched,” she said presently, “to + erect a monument to Nelson in Montreal, doesn't it? But then, it's + a very absurd monument when you're near it,” she added, + thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + Basil did not answer at once, for gazing on this Nelson column in Jacques + Cartier Square, his thoughts wandered away, not to the hero of the Nile, + but to the doughty old Breton navigator, the first white man who ever set + foot upon that shore, and who more than three hundred years ago explored + the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, and in the splendid autumn weather + climbed to the top of her green height and named it. The scene that + Jacques Cartier then beheld, like a mirage of the fast projected upon the + present, floated before him, and he saw at the mountain's foot the + Indian city of Hochelaga, with its vast and populous lodges of bark, its + encircling palisades, and its wide outlying fields of yellow maize. He + heard with Jacques Cartier's sense the blare of his followers' + trumpets down in the open square of the barbarous city, where the soldiers + of many an Old-World fight, “with mustached lip and bearded chin, + with arquebuse and glittering halberd, helmet, and cuirass,” moved + among the plumed and painted savages; then he lifted Jacques Cartier's + eyes, and looked out upon the magnificent landscape. “East, west, + and north, the mantling forest was over all, and the broad blue ribbon of + the great river glistened amid a realm of verdure. Beyond, to the bounds + of Mexico, stretched a leafy desert, and the vast hive of industry, the + mighty battle-ground of late; centuries, lay sunk in savage torpor, + wrapped in illimitable woods.” + </p> + <p> + A vaguer picture of Champlain, who, seeking a westward route to China and + the East, some three quarters of a century later, had fixed the first + trading-post at Montreal, and camped upon the spot where the convent of + the Gray Nuns now stands, appeared before him, and vanished with all its + fleets of fur-traders' boats and hunters' birch canoes, and + the watch-fires of both; and then in the sweet light of the spring + morning, he saw Maisonneuve leaping ashore upon the green meadows, that + spread all gay with early flowers where Hochelaga once stood, and with the + black-robed Jesuits, the high-born, delicately nurtured, and devoted nuns, + and the steel-clad soldiers of his train, kneeling about the altar raised + there in the wilderness, and silent amidst the silence of nature at the + lifted Host. + </p> + <p> + He painted a semblance of all this for Isabel, using the colors of the + historian who has made these scenes the beautiful inheritance of all dream + era, and sketched the battles, the miracles, the sufferings, and the + penances through which the pious colony was preserved and prospered, till + they both grew impatient of modern Montreal, and would fain have had the + ancient Villemarie back in its place. + </p> + <p> + “Think of Maisonneuve, dearest, climbing in midwinter to the top of + the mountain there, under a heavy cross set with the bones of saints, and + planting it on the summit, in fulfillment of a vow to do so if Villemarie + were saved from the freshet; and then of Madame de la Peltrie romantically + receiving the sacrament there, while all Villemarie fell down adoring! Ah, + that was a picturesque people! When did ever a Boston governor climb to + the top of Beacon hill in fulfillment of a vow? To be sure, we may yet see + a New York governor doing something of the kind—if he can find a + hill. But this ridiculous column to Nelson, who never had anything to do + with Montreal,” he continued; “it really seems to me the + perfect expression of snobbish colonial dependence and sentimentality, + seeking always to identify itself with the mother-country, and ignoring + the local past and its heroic figures. A column to Nelson in Jacques + Cartier Square, on the ground that was trodden by Champlain, and won for + its present masters by the death of Wolfe.” + </p> + <p> + The boat departed on her trip to Quebec. During supper they were served by + French waiters, who, without apparent English of their own, miraculously + understood that of the passengers, except in the case of the furious + gentleman who wanted English breakfast tea; to so much English as that + their inspiration did not reach, and they forced him to compromise on + coffee. It was a French boat, owned by a French company, and seemed to be + officered by Frenchmen throughout; certainly, as our tourists in the joy + of their good appetites affirmed, the cook was of that culinarily + delightful nation. + </p> + <p> + The boat was almost as large as those of the Hudson, but it was not so + lavishly splendid, though it had everything that could minister to the + comfort and self-respect of the passengers. These were of all nations, but + chiefly Americans, with some French Canadians. The former gathered on the + forward promenade, enjoying what little of the landscape the growing night + left visible, and the latter made society after their manner in the + saloon. They were plain-looking men and women, mostly, and provincial, it + was evident, to their inmost hearts; provincial in origin, provincial by + inheritance, by all their circumstances, social and political. Their + relation with France was not a proud one, but it was not like submersion + by the slip-slop of English colonial loyalty; yet they seem to be troubled + by no memories of their hundred years' dominion of the land that + they rescued from, the wilderness, and that was wrested from them by war. + It is a strange fate for any people thus to have been cut off from the + parent-country, and abandoned to whatever destiny their conquerors chose + to reserve for them; and if each of the race wore the sadness and + strangeness of that fate in his countenance it would not be wonderful. + Perhaps it is wonderful that none of them shows anything of the kind. In + their desertion they have multiplied and prospered; they may have a + national grief, but they hide it well; and probably they have none. + </p> + <p> + Later, one of them appeared to Isabel in the person of the pale, slender + young ecclesiastic who had shown her and Basil the pictures in the country + church. She was confessing to the priest, and she was not at all surprised + to find that he was Basil in a suit of medieval armor. He had an immense + cross on his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “To get this cross to the top of the mountain,” thought + Isabel, “we must have two horses. Basil,” she added, aloud, + “we must have two horses!” + </p> + <p> + “Ten, if you like, my dear,” answered his voice, cheerfully, + “though I think we'd better ride up in the omnibus.” + </p> + <p> + She opened her eyes, and saw him smiling. + </p> + <p> + “We're in sight of Quebec,” he said. “Come out as + soon as you can,—come out into the seventeenth century.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. QUEBEC. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9240}.jpg" alt="{9240}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9240}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + Isabel hurried out upon the forward promenade, where all the other + passengers seemed to be assembled, and beheld a vast bulk of gray and + purple rock, swelling two hundred feet up from the mists of the river, and + taking the early morning light warm upon its face and crown. Black-hulked, + red-illumined Liverpool steamers, gay river-craft and ships of every sail + and flag, filled the stream athwart which the ferries sped their swift + traffic-laden shuttles; a lower town hung to the foot of the rock, and + crept, populous and picturesque, up its sides; from the massive citadel on + its crest flew the red banner of Saint George, and along its brow swept + the gray wall of the famous, heroic, beautiful city, overtopped by many a + gleaming spire and antique roof. + </p> + <p> + Slowly out of our work-day, business-suited, modern world the vessel + steamed up to this city of an olden time and another ideal,—to her + who was a lady from the first, devout and proud and strong, and who still, + after two hundred and fifty years, keeps perfect the image and memory of + the feudal past from which she sprung. Upon her height she sits unique; + and when you say Quebec, having once beheld her, you invoke a sense of + medieval strangeness and of beauty which the name of no other city could + intensify. + </p> + <p> + As they drew near the steamboat wharf they saw, swarming over a broad + square, a market beside which the Bonsecours Market would have shown as + common as the Quincy, and up the odd wooden-sidewalked street stretched an + aisle of carriages and those high swung calashes, which are to Quebec what + the gondolas are to Venice. But the hand of destiny was upon our tourists, + and they rode up town in an omnibus. They were going to the dear old Hotel + Musty in Street, wanting which Quebec is not to be thought of without a + pang. It is now closed, and Prescott Gate, through which they drove into + the Upper Town, has been demolished since the summer of last year. Swiftly + whirled along the steep winding road, by those Quebec horses which expect + to gallop up hill whatever they do going down, they turned a corner of the + towering weed-grown rock, and shot in under the low arch of the gate, + pierced with smaller doorways for the foot-passengers. The gloomy masonry + dripped with damp, the doors were thickly studded with heavy iron spikes; + old cannon, thrust endwise into the ground at the sides of the gate, + protected it against passing wheels. Why did not some semi-forbidding + commissary of police, struggling hard to overcome his native politeness, + appear and demand their passports? The illusion was otherwise perfect, and + it needed but this touch. How often in the adored Old World, which we so + love and disapprove, had they driven in through such gates at that morning + hour! On what perverse pretext, then, was it not some ancient town of + Normandy? + </p> + <p> + “Put a few enterprising Americans in here, and they'd soon + rattle this old wall down and let in a little fresh air!” said a + patriotic voice at Isabel's elbow, and continued to find fault with + the narrow irregular streets, the huddling gables, the quaint roofs, + through which and under which they drove on to the hotel. + </p> + <p> + As they dashed into a broad open square, “Here is the French + Cathedral; there is the Upper Town Market; yonder are the Jesuit Barracks!” + cried Basil; and they had a passing glimpse of gray stone towers at one + side of the square, and a low, massive yellow building at the other, and, + between the two, long ranks of carts, and fruit and vegetable stands, + protected by canvas awnings and broad umbrellas. Then they dashed round + the corner of a street, and drew up before the hotel door. The low + ceilings, the thick walls, the clumsy wood-work, the wandering corridors, + gave the hotel all the desired character of age, and its slovenly state + bestowed an additional charm. In another place they might have demanded + neatness, but in Quebec they would almost have resented it. By a chance + they had the best room in the house, but they held it only till certain + people who had engaged it by telegraph should arrive in the hourly + expected steamer from Liverpool; and, moreover, the best room at Hotel + Musty was consolingly bad. The house was very full, and the Ellisons (who + had come on with them from Montreal) were bestowed in less state only on + like conditions. + </p> + <p> + The travellers all met at breakfast, which was admirably cooked, and well + served, with the attendance of those swarms of flies which infest Quebec, + and especially infested the old Musty House, in summer. It had, of course, + the attraction of broiled salmon, upon which the traveller breakfasts + every day as long as he remains in Lower Canada; and it represented the + abundance of wild berries in the Quebec market; and it was otherwise a + breakfast worthy of the appetites that honored it. + </p> + <p> + There were not many other Americans besides themselves at this hotel, + which seemed, indeed, to be kept open to oblige such travellers as had + been there before, and could not persuade themselves to try the new Hotel + St. Louis, whither the vastly greater number resorted. Most of the faces + our tourists saw were English or English-Canadian, and the young people + from Omaha; who had got here by some chance, were scarcely in harmony with + the place. They appeared to be a bridal party, but which of the two + sisters, in buff linen 'clad from head to foot' was the bride, + never became known. Both were equally free with the husband, and he was + impartially fond of both: it was quite a family affair. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Isabel harbored the desire to see the city in company with + Miss Ellison; but it was only a passing weakness. She remembered directly + the coolness between friends which she had seen caused by objects of + interest in Europe, and she wisely deferred a more intimate acquaintance + till it could have a purely social basis. After all, nothing is so + tiresome as continual exchange of sympathy or so apt to end in mutual + dislike,—except gratitude. So the ladies parted friends till dinner, + and drove off in separate carriages. + </p> + <p> + As in other show cities, there is a routine at Quebec for travellers who + come on Saturday and go on Monday, and few depart from it. Our friends + necessarily, therefore, drove first to the citadel. It was raining one of + those cold rains by which the scarce-banished winter reminds the Canadian + fields of his nearness even in midsummer, though between the bitter + showers the air was sultry and close; and it was just the light in which + to see the grim strength of the fortress next strongest to Gibraltar in + the world. They passed a heavy iron gateway, and up through a winding lane + of masonry to the gate of the citadel, where they were delivered into the + care of Private Joseph Drakes, who was to show them such parts of the + place as are open to curiosity. But, a citadel which has never stood a + siege, or been threatened by any danger more serious than Fenianism, soon + becomes, however strong, but a dull piece of masonry to the civilian; and + our tourists more rejoiced in the crumbling fragment of the old French + wall which the English destroyed than in all they had built; and they + valued the latter work chiefly for the glorious prospects of the St. + Lawrence and its mighty valleys which it commanded. Advanced into the + centre of an amphitheatre inconceivably vast, that enormous beak of rock + overlooks the narrow angle of the river, and then, in every direction, + immeasurable stretches of gardened vale, and wooded upland, till all melts + into the purple of the encircling mountains. Far and near are lovely white + villages nestling under elms, in the heart of fields and meadows; and + everywhere the long, narrow, accurately divided farms stretch downward to + the river-shores. The best roads on the continent make this beauty and + richness accessible; each little village boasts some natural wonder in + stream, or lake, or cataract: and this landscape, magnificent beyond any + in eastern America, is historical and interesting beyond all others. + Hither came Jacques Cartier three hundred and fifty years ago, and + wintered on the low point there by the St. Charles; here, nearly a century + after, but still fourteen years before the landing at Plymouth, Champlain + founded the missionary city of Quebec; round this rocky beak came sailing + the half-piratical armament of the Calvinist Kirks in 1629, and seized + Quebec in the interest of the English, holding it three years; in the + Lower Town, yonder, first landed the coldly welcomed Jesuits, who came + with the returning French and made Quebec forever eloquent of their zeal, + their guile, their heroism; at the foot of this rock lay the fleet of Sir + William Phipps, governor of Massachusetts, and vainly assailed it in 1698; + in 1759 came Wolfe and embattled all the region, on river and land, till + at last the bravely defended city fell into his dying hand on the Plains + of Abraham; here Montgomery laid down his life at the head of the boldest + and most hopeless effort of our War of Independence. + </p> + <p> + Private Joseph Drakes, with the generosity of an enemy expecting + drink-money, pointed out the sign, board on the face of the crag + commemorating 'Montgomery's death'; and then showed them + the officers' quarters and those of the common soldiers, not far + from which was a line of hang-dog fellows drawn up to receive sentence for + divers small misdemeanors, from an officer whose blond whiskers drooped + Dundrearily from his fresh English cheeks. There was that immense + difference between him and the men in physical grandeur and beauty, which + is so notable in the aristocratically ordered military services of Europe, + and which makes the rank seem of another race from the file. Private + Drakes saluted his superior, and visibly deteriorated in his presence, + though his breast was covered with medals, and he had fought England's + battles in every part of the world. It was a gross injustice, the triumph + of a thousand years of wrong; and it was touching to have Private Drakes + say that he expected in three months to begin life for himself, after + twenty years' service of the Queen; and did they think he could get + anything to do in the States? He scarcely knew what he was fit for, but he + thought—to so little in him came the victories he had helped to win + in the Crimea, in China, and in India—that he could take care of a + gentleman's horse and work about his place. He looked inquiringly at + Basil, as if he might be a gentleman with a horse to be taken care of and + a place to be worked about, and made him regret that he was not a man of + substance enough to provide for Private Drakes and Mrs. Drakes and the + brood of Ducklings, who had been shown to him stowed away in one of those + cavernous rooms in the earthworks where the married soldiers have their + quarters. His regret enriched the reward of Private Drakes' service,—which + perhaps answered one of Private Drakes' purposes, if not his chief + aim. He promised to come to the States upon the pressing advice of Isabel, + who, speaking from her own large experience, declared that everybody got + on there,—and he bade our friends an affectionate farewell as they + drove away to the Plains of Abraham. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0248}.jpg" alt="{0248}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0248}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The fashionable suburban cottages and places of Quebec are on the St. + Louis Road leading northward to the old battle-ground and beyond it; but, + these face chiefly towards the rivers St. Lawrence and St. Charles, and + lofty hedges and shrubbery hide them in an English seclusion from the + highway; so that the visitor may uninterruptedly meditate whatever emotion + he will for the scene of Wolfe's death as he rides along. His + loftiest emotion will want the noble height of that heroic soul, who must + always stand forth in history a figure of beautiful and singular + distinction, admirable alike for the sensibility and daring, the poetic + pensiveness, and the martial ardor that mingled in him and taxed his + feeble frame with tasks greater than it could bear. The whole story of the + capture of Quebec is full of romantic splendor and pathos. Her fall was a + triumph for all the English-speaking race, and to us Americans, long + scourged by the cruel Indian wars plotted within her walls or sustained by + her strength, such a blessing as was hailed with ringing bells and blazing + bonfires throughout the Colonies; yet now we cannot think without pity of + the hopes extinguished and the labors brought to naught in her overthrow. + That strange colony of priests and soldiers, of martyrs and heroes, of + which she was the capital, willing to perish for an allegiance to which + the mother-country was indifferent, and fighting against the armies with + which England was prepared to outnumber the whole Canadian population, is + a magnificent spectacle; and Montcalm laying down his life to lose Quebec + is not less affecting than Wolfe dying to win her. The heart opens towards + the soldier who recited, on the eve of his costly victory, the “Elegy + in a Country Churchyard,” which he would “rather have written + than beat the French to-morrow;” but it aches for the defeated + general, who, hurt to death, answered, when told how brief his time was, + “So much the better; then I shall not live to see the surrender of + Quebec.” + </p> + <p> + In the city for which they perished their fame has never been divided. The + English have shown themselves very generous victors; perhaps nothing could + be alleged against them, but that they were victors. A shaft common to + Wolfe and Montcalm celebrates them both in the Governor's Garden; + and in the Chapel of the Ursuline Convent a tablet is placed, where + Montcalm died, by the same conquerors who raised to Wolfe's memory + the column on the battle-field. + </p> + <p> + A dismal prison covers the ground where the hero fell, and the monument + stands on the spot where Wolfe breathed his last, on ground lower than the + rest of the field; the friendly hollow that sheltered him from the fire of + the French dwarfs his monument; yet it is sufficient, and the simple + inscription, “Here died Wolfe victorious,” gives it a dignity + which many cubits of added stature could not bestow. Another of those + bitter showers, which had interspersed the morning's sunshine, drove + suddenly across the open plain, and our tourists comfortably + sentimentalized the scene behind the close-drawn curtains of their + carriage. Here a whole empire had been lost and won, Basil reminded + Isabel; and she said, “Only think of it!” and looked to a + wandering fold of her skirt, upon which the rain beat through a rent of + the curtain. + </p> + <p> + Do I pitch the pipe too low? We poor honest men are at a sad disadvantage; + and now and then I am minded to give a loose to fancy, and attribute + something really grand and fine to my people, in order to make them + worthier the reader's respected acquaintance. But again, I forbid + myself in a higher interest; and I am afraid that even if I were less + virtuous, I could not exalt their mood upon a battle-field; for of all + things of the past a battle is the least conceivable. I have heard men who + fought in many battles say that the recollection was like a dream to them; + and what can the merely civilian imagination do on the Plains of Abraham, + with the fact that there, more than a century ago, certain thousands of + Frenchmen marched out, on a bright September morning, to kill and maim as + many Englishmen? This ground, so green and oft with grass beneath the + feet, was it once torn with shot and soaked with the blood of men? Did + they lie here in ranks and heaps, the miserable slain, for whom tender + hearts away yonder over the sea were to ache and break? Did the wretches + that fell wounded stretch themselves here, and writhe beneath the feet of + friend and foe, or crawl array for shelter into little hollows, and behind + gushes and fallen trees! Did he, whose soul was so full of noble and + sublime impulses, die here, shot through like some ravening beast? The + loathsome carnage, the shrieks, the hellish din of arms, the cries of + victory,—I vainly strive to conjure up some image of it all now; and + God be thanked, horrible spectre! that, fill the world with sorrow as thou + wilt, thou still remainest incredible in its moments of sanity and peace. + Least credible art thou on the old battle-fields, where the mother of the + race denies thee with breeze and sun and leaf and bird, and every blade of + grass! The red stain in Basil's thought yielded to the rain sweeping + across the pasture-land from which it had long since faded, and the words + on the monument, “Here died Wolfe victorious,” did not + proclaim his bloody triumph over the French, but his self-conquest, his + victory over fear and pain and love of life. Alas! when shall the poor, + blind, stupid world honor those who renounce self in the joy of their + kind, equally with those who devote themselves through the anguish and + loss of thousands? So old a world and groping still! + </p> + <p> + The tourists were better fitted for the next occasion of sentiment, which + was at the Hotel Dieu whither they went after returning from the + battlefield. It took all the mal-address of which travellers are masters + to secure admittance, and it was not till they had rung various wrong + bells, and misunderstood many soft nun-voices speaking French through + grated doors, and set divers sympathetic spectators doing ineffectual + services, that they at last found the proper entrance, and were answered + in English that the porter would ask if they might see the chapel. They + hoped to find there the skull of Brebeuf, one of those Jesuit martyrs who + perished long ago for the conversion of a race that has perished, and + whose relics they had come, fresh from their reading of Parkman, with some + vague and patronizing intention to revere. An elderly sister with a pale, + kind face led them through a ward of the hospital into the chapel, which + they found in the expected taste, and exquisitely neat and cool, but + lacking the martyr's skull. They asked if it were not to be seen. + “Ah, yes, poor Pere Brebeuf!” sighed the gentle sister, with + the tone and manner of having lost him yesterday; “we had it down + only last week, showing it to some Jesuit fathers; but it's in the + convent now, and isn't to be seen.” And there mingled + apparently in her regret for Pere Brebeuf a confusing sense of his actual + state as a portable piece of furniture. She would not let them praise the + chapel. It was very clean, yes, but there was nothing to see in it. She + deprecated their compliments with many shrugs, but she was pleased; for + when we renounce the pomps and vanities of this world, we are pretty sure + to find them in some other,—if we are women. She, good and pure + soul, whose whole life was given to self-denying toil, had yet something + angelically coquettish in her manner, a spiritual-worldliness which was + the clarified likeness of this-worldliness. O, had they seen the Hotel + Dieu at Montreal? Then (with a vivacious wave of the hands) they would not + care to look at this, which by comparison was nothing. Yet she invited + them to go through the wards if they would, and was clearly proud to have + them see the wonderful cleanness and comfort of the place. There were not + many patients, but here and there a wan or fevered face looked at them + from its pillow, or a weak form drooped beside a bed, or a group of + convalescents softly talked together. They came presently to the last + hall, at the end of which sat another nun, beside a window that gave a + view of the busy port, and beyond it the landscape of village-lit plain + and forest-darkened height. On a table at her elbow stood a rose-tree, on + which hung two only pale tea-roses, so fair, so perfect, that Isabel cried + out in wonder and praise. Ere she could prevent it, the nun, to whom there + had been some sort of presentation, gathered one of the roses, and with a + shy grace offered it to Isabel, who shrank back a little as from too + costly a gift. “Take it,” said the first nun, with her pretty + French accent; while the other, who spoke no English at all, beamed a + placid smile; and Isabel took it. The flower, lying light in her palm, + exhaled a delicate odor, and a thrill of exquisite compassion for it + trembled through her heart, as if it had been the white, cloistered life + of the silent nun: with its pallid loveliness, it was as a flower that had + taken the veil. It could never have uttered the burning passion of a lover + for his mistress; the nightingale could have found no thorn on it to press + his aching poet's heart against; but sick and weary eyes had dwelt + gratefully upon it; at most it might have expressed, like a prayer, the + nun's stainless love of some favorite saint in paradise. Cold, and + pale, and sweet,—was it indeed only a flower, this cloistered rose + of the Hotel Dieu? + </p> + <p> + “Breathe it,” said the gentle Gray Sister; “sometimes + the air of the hospital offends. Not us, no; we are used; but you come + from the outside.” And she gave her rose for this humble use as + lovingly as she devoted herself to her lowly taxes. + </p> + <p> + “It is very little to see,” she said at the end; “but if + you are pleased, I am very glad. Goodby, good-by!” She stood with + her arms folded, and watched them out of sight with her kind, coquettish + little smile, and then the mute, blank life of the nun resumed her. + </p> + <p> + From Hotel Dieu to Hotel Musty it was but a step; both were in the same + street; but our friends fancied themselves to have come an immense + distance when they sat down at an early dinner, amidst the clash of + crockery and cutlery, and looked round upon all the profane travelling + world assembled. Their regard presently fixed upon one company which + monopolized a whole table, and were defined from the other diners by + peculiarities as marked as those of the Soeurs Grises themselves. There + were only two men among some eight or ten women; one of the former had a + bad amiable face, with eyes full of a merry deviltry; the other, clean + shaven, and dark, was demure and silent as a priest. The ladies were of + various types, but of one effect, with large rolling eyes, and faces that + somehow regarded the beholder as from a distance, and with an impartial + feeling for him as for an element of publicity. One of them, who caressed + a lapdog with one hand while she served herself with the other, was, as + she seemed to believe, a blonde; she had pale blue eyes, and her hair was + cut in front so as to cover her forehead with a straggling sandy-colored + fringe. She had an English look, and three or four others, with dark + complexion and black, unsteady eyes, and various abandon of back-hair, + looked like Cockney houris of Jewish blood; while two of the lovely + company were clearly of our own nation, as was the young man with the + reckless laughing face. The ladies were dressed and jeweled with a kind of + broad effectiveness, which was to the ordinary style of society what + scene-painting is to painting, and might have borne close inspection no + better. They seemed the best-humored people in the world, and on the + kindliest terms with each other. The waiters shared their pleasant mood, + and served them affectionately, and were now and then invited to join in + the gay talk which babbled on over dislocated aspirates, and filled the + air with a sentiment of vagabond enjoyment, of the romantic freedom of + violated convention, of something Gil Blas-like, almost picaresque. + </p> + <p> + If they had needed explanation it would have been given by the + announcement in the office of the hotel that a troupe of British blondes + was then appearing in Quebec for one week only. + </p> + <p> + After dinner they took possession of the parlor, and while one strummed + fitfully upon the ailing hotel piano, the rest talked, and talked shop, of + course, as all of us do when several of a trade are got together. + </p> + <p> + “W'at,” said the eldest of the dark-faced, black haired + British blondes of Jewish race,—“w'at are we going to + give at Montrehal?” + </p> + <p> + “We're going to give 'Pygmalion,' at Montrehal,” + answered the British blonde of American birth, good-humoredly burlesquing + the erring h of her sister. + </p> + <p> + “But we cahn't, you know,” said the lady with the + fringed forehead; “Hagnes is gone on to New York, and there's + nobody to do Wenus.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you know,” demanded the first speaker, “oo's + to do Wenus? + </p> + <p> + “Bella's to do Wenus,” said a third. + </p> + <p> + There was an outcry at this, and “'Ow ever would she get + herself up for 'Venus?” and “W'at a guy she'll + look!” and “Nonsense! Bella's too 'eavy for Venus!” + came from different lively critics; and the debate threatened to become + too intimate for the public ear, when one of their gentlemen came in and + said, “Charley don't seem so well this afternoon.” On + this the chorus changed its note, and at the proposal, “Poor + Charley, let's go and cheer 'im hop a bit,” the whole + good-tempered company trooped out of the parlor together. + </p> + <p> + Our tourists meant to give the rest of the afternoon to that sort of + aimless wandering to and fro about the streets which seizes a foreign city + unawares, and best develops its charm of strangeness. So they went out and + took their fill of Quebec with appetites keen through long fasting from + the quaint and old, and only sharpened by Montreal, and impartially + rejoiced in the crooked up-and-down hill streets; the thoroughly French + domestic architecture of a place that thus denied having been English for + a hundred years; the porte-cocheres beside every house; the French names + upon the doors, and the oddity of the bellpulls; the rough-paved, rattling + streets; the shining roofs of tin, and the universal dormer-windows; the + littleness of the private houses, and the greatness of the high-walled and + garden-girdled convents; the breadths of weather-stained city wall, and + the shaggy cliff beneath; the batteries, with their guns peacefully + staring through loop-holes of masonry, and the red-coated sergeants + flirting with nursery-maids upon the carriages, while the children tumbled + about over the pyramids of shot and shell; the sloping market-place before + the cathedral, where yet some remnant of the morning's traffic + lingered under canvas canopies, and where Isabel bought a bouquet of + marigolds and asters of an old woman peasant enough to have sold it in any + market-place of Europe; the small, dark shops beyond the quarter invaded + by English retail trade; the movement of all the strange figures of cleric + and lay and military life; the sound of a foreign speech prevailing over + the English; the encounter of other tourists, the passage back and forth + through the different city gates; the public wooden stairways, dropping + flight after flight from the Upper to the Lower Town; the bustle of the + port, with its commerce and shipping and seafaring life huddled close in + under the hill; the many desolate streets of the Lower Town, as black and + ruinous as the last great fire left them; and the marshy meadows beyond, + memorable of Recollets and Jesuits, of Cartier and Montcalm. + </p> + <p> + They went to the chapel of the Seminary at Laval University, and admired + the Le Brun, and the other paintings of less merit, but equal interest + through their suggestion of a whole dim religious world of paintings; and + then they spent half an hour in the cathedral, not so much in looking at + the Crucifixion by Vandyck which is there, as in reveling amid the + familiar rococo splendors of the temple. Every swaggering statue of a + saint, every rope-dancing angel, every cherub of those that on the carven + and gilded clouds above the high altar float— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,”— +</pre> + <p> + was precious to them; the sacristan dusting the sacred properties with a + feather brush, and giving each shrine a business-like nod as he passed, + was as a long-lost brother; they had hearts of aggressive tenderness for + the young girls and old women who stepped in for a half-hour's + devotion, and for the men with bourgeois or peasant faces, who stole a + moment from affairs and crops, and gave it to the saints. There was + nothing in the place that need remind them of America, and its taste was + exactly that of a thousand other churches of the eighteenth century. They + could easily have believed themselves in the farthest Catholic South, but + for the two great porcelain stoves that stood on either side of the nave + near the entrance, and that too vividly reminded them of the possibility + of cold. + </p> + <p> + In fact, Quebec is a little painful in this and other confusions of the + South and North, and one never quite reconciles himself to them. The + Frenchmen, who expected to find there the climate of their native land, + and ripen her wines in as kindly a sun, have perpetuated the image of home + in so many things, that it goes to the heart with a painful emotion to + find the sad, oblique light of the North upon them. As you ponder some + characteristic aspect of Quebec,—a bit of street with heavy stone + houses opening upon a stretch of the city wall, with a Lombardy poplar + rising slim against it,—you say, to your satisfied soul, “Yes, + it is the real thing!” and then all at once a sense of that Northern + sky strikes in upon you, and makes the reality a mere picture. The sky is + blue, the sun is often fiercely hot; you could not perhaps prove that the + pathetic radiance is not an efflux of your own consciousness that summer + is but hanging over the land, briefly poising on wings which flit at the + first dash of rain, and will soon vanish in long retreat before the snow. + But somehow, from without or from within, that light of the North is + there. + </p> + <p> + It lay saddest, our travellers thought, upon the little circular garden + near Durham Terrace, where every brightness of fall flowers abounded,—marigold, + coxcomb, snap-dragon, dahlia, hollyhock, and sunflower. It was a + substantial and hardy efflorescence, and they fancied that fainter-hearted + plants would have pined away in that garden, where the little fountain, + leaping up into the joyless light, fell back again with a musical shiver. + The consciousness of this latent cold, of winter only held in abeyance by + the bright sun, was not deeper even in the once magnificent, now neglected + Governor's Garden, where there was actually a rawness in the late + afternoon air, and whither they were strolling for the view from its + height, and to pay their duty to the obelisk raised there to the common + fame of Wolfe and Montcalm. The sounding Latin inscription celebrates the + royal governor-general who erected it almost as much as the heroes to whom + it was raised; but these spectators did not begrudge the space given to + his praise, for so fine a thought merited praise. It enforced again the + idea of a kind posthumous friendship between Wolfe and Montcalm, which + gives their memory its rare distinction, and unites them, who fell in + fight against each other, as closely as if they had both died for the same + cause. + </p> + <p> + Some lasting dignity seems to linger about the city that has once been a + capital; and this odor of fallen nobility belongs to Quebec, which was a + capital in the European sense, with all the advantages of a small + vice-regal court, and its social and political intrigues, in the French + times. Under the English, for a hundred years it was the centre of + Colonial civilization and refinement, with a governor-general's + residence and a brilliant, easy, and delightful society, to which the + large garrison of former days gave gayety and romance. The honors of a + capital, first shared with Montreal and Toronto, now rest with half-savage + Ottawa; and the garrison has dwindled to a regiment of rifles, whose + presence would hardly be known, but for the natty sergeants lounging, + stick in hand, about the streets and courting the nurse-maids. But in the + days of old there were scenes of carnival pleasure in the Governor's + Garden, and there the garrison band still plays once a week, when it is + filled by the fashion and beauty of Quebec, and some semblance of the past + is recalled. It is otherwise a lonesome, indifferently tended place, and + on this afternoon there was no one there but a few loafing young fellows + of low degree, French and English, and children that played screaming from + seat to seat and path to path and over the too-heavily shaded grass. In + spite of a conspicuous warning that any dog entering the garden would be + destroyed, the place was thronged with dogs unmolested and apparently in + no danger of the threatened doom. The seal of a disagreeable desolation + was given in the legend rudely carved upon one of the benches, “Success + to the Irish Republic!” + </p> + <p> + The morning of the next day our tourists gave to hearing mass at the + French cathedral, which was not different, to their heretical senses, from + any other mass, except that the ceremony was performed with a very full + clerical force, and was attended by an uncommonly devout congregation. + With Europe constantly in their minds, they were bewildered to find the + worshippers not chiefly old and young women, but men also of all ages and + of every degree, from the neat peasant in his Sabbath-day best to the + modish young Quebecker, who spread his handkerchief on the floor to save + his pantaloons during supplication. There was fashion and education in + large degree among the men, and there was in all a pious attention to the + function in poetical keeping with the origin and history of a city which + the zeal of the Church had founded. + </p> + <p> + A magnificent beadle, clothed in a gold-laced coat aid bearing a silver + staff, bowed to them when they entered, and, leading them to a pew, + punched up a kneeling peasant, who mutely resumed his prayers in the aisle + outside, while they took his place. It appeared to Isabel very unjust that + their curiosity should displace his religion; but she consoled herself by + making Basil give a shilling to the man who, preceded by the shining + beadle, came round to take up a collection. The peasant could have given + nothing but copper, and she felt that this restored the lost balance of + righteousness in their favor. There was a sermon, very sweetly and + gracefully delivered by a young priest of singular beauty, even among + clergy whose good looks are so notable as those of Quebec; and then they + followed the orderly crowd of worshippers out, and left the cathedral to + the sacristan and the odor of incense. + </p> + <p> + They thought the type of French-Canadian better here than at Montreal, and + they particularly noticed the greater number of pretty young girls. All + classes were well dressed; for though the best dressed could not be called + stylish according to the American standard, as Isabel decided, and had + only a provincial gentility, the poorest wore garments that were clean and + whole. Everybody, too, was going to have a hot Sunday dinner, if there was + any truth in the odors that steamed out of every door and window; and this + dinner was to be abundantly garnished with onions, for the dullest nose + could not err concerning that savor. + </p> + <p> + Numbers of tourists, of a nationality that showed itself superior to every + distinction of race, were strolling vaguely and not always quite happily + about; but they made no impression on the proper local character, and the + air throughout the morning was full of the sentiment of Sunday in a + Catholic city. There was the apparently meaningless jangling of bells, + with profound hushes between, and then more jubilant jangling, and then + deeper silence; there was the devout trooping of the crowds to the + churches; and there was the beginning of the long afternoon's + lounging and amusement with which the people of that faith reward their + morning's devotion. Little stands for the sale of knotty apples and + choke-cherries and cakes and cider sprang magically into existence after + service, and people were already eating and drinking at them. The + carriage-drivers resumed their chase of the tourists, and the unvoiceful + stir of the new week had begun again. Quebec, in fact, is but a pantomimic + reproduction of France; it is as if two centuries in a new land, amidst + the primeval silences of nature and the long hush of the Northern winters, + had stilled the tongues of the lively folk and made them taciturn as we of + a graver race. They have kept the ancestral vivacity of manner; the + elegance of the shrug is intact; the talking hands take part in dialogue; + the agitated person will have its share of expression. But the loud and + eager tone is wanting, and their dumb show mystifies the beholder almost + as much as the Southern architecture under the slanting Northern sun. It + is not America; if it is not France, what is it? + </p> + <p> + Of the many beautiful things to see in the neighborhood of Quebec, our + wedding-journeyers were in doubt on which to bestow their one precious + afternoon. Should it be Lorette, with its cataract and its remnant of + bleached and fading Hurons, or the Isle of Orleans with its fertile farms + and its primitive peasant life, or Montmorenci, with the unrivaled fall + and the long drive through the beautiful village of Beauport? Isabel chose + the last, because Basil had been there before, and it had to it the poetry + of the wasted years in which she did not know him. She had possessed + herself of the journal of his early travels, among the other portions and + parcels recoverable from the dreadful past, and from time to time on this + journey she had read him passages out of it, with mingled sentiment and + irony, and, whether she was mocking or admiring, equally to his confusion. + Now, as they smoothly bowled away from the city, she made him listen to + what he had written of the same excursion long ago. + </p> + <p> + It was, to be sure, a sad farrago of sentiment about the village and the + rural sights, and especially a girl tossing hay in the field. Yet it had + touches of nature and reality, and Basil could not utterly despise himself + for having written it. “Yes,” he said, “life was then a + thing to be put into pretty periods; now it's something that has + risks and averages, and may be insured.” + </p> + <p> + There was regret, fancied or expressed, in his tone, that made her sigh, + “Ah! if I'd only had a little more money, you might have + devoted yourself to literature;” for she was a true Bostonian in her + honor of our poor craft. + </p> + <p> + “O, you're not greatly to blame,” answered her husband, + “and I forgive you the little wrong you've done me. I was + quits with the Muse, at any rate, you know, before we were married; and I'm + very well satisfied to be going back to my applications and policies + to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + To-morrow? The word struck cold upon her. Then their wedding journey would + begin to end tomorrow! So it would, she owned with another sigh; and yet + it seemed impossible. + </p> + <p> + “There, ma'am,” said the driver, rising from his seat + and facing round, while he pointed with his whip towards Quebec, “that's + what we call the Silver City.” + </p> + <p> + They looked back with him at the city, whose thousands of tinned roofs, + rising one above the other from the water's edge to the citadel, + were all a splendor of argent light in the afternoon sun. It was indeed as + if some magic had clothed that huge rock, base and steepy flank and crest, + with a silver city. They gazed upon the marvel with cries of joy that + satisfied the driver's utmost pride in it, and Isabel said, “To + live there, there in that Silver City, in perpetual sojourn! To be always + going to go on a morrow that never came! To be forever within one day of + the end of a wedding journey that never ended!” + </p> + <p> + From far down the river by which they rode came the sound of a cannon, + breaking the Sabbath repose of the air. “That's the gun of the + Liverpool steamer, just coming in,” said the driver. + </p> + <p> + “O,” cried Isabel, “I'm thankful we're only + to stay one night more, for now we shall be turned out of our nice room by + those people who telegraphed for it!” + </p> + <p> + There is a continuous village along the St. Lawrence from Quebec, almost + to Montmorenci; and they met crowds of villagers coming from the church as + they passed through Beauport. But Basil was dismayed at the change that + had befallen them. They had their Sunday's best on, and the women, + instead of wearing the peasant costume in which he had first seen them, + were now dressed as if out of “Harper's Bazar” of the + year before. He anxiously asked the driver if the broad straw hats and the + bright sacks and kirtles were no more. “O, you'd see them on + weekdays, sir,” was the answer, “but they're not so + plenty any time as they used to be.” He opened his store of facts + about the habitans, whom he praised for every virtue,—for thrift, + for sobriety, for neatness, for amiability; and his words ought to have + had the greater weight, because he was of the Irish race, between which + and the Canadians there is no kindness lost. But the looks of the + passers-by corroborated him, and as for the little houses, open-doored + beside the way, with the pleasant faces at window and portal, they were + miracles of picturesqueness and cleanliness. From each the owner's + slim domain, narrowing at every successive division among the abundant + generations, runs back to hill or river in well-defined lines, and beside + the cottage is a garden of pot-herbs, bordered with a flame of bright + autumn flowers; somewhere in decent seclusion grunts the fattening pig, + which is to enrich all those peas and onions for the winter's broth; + there is a cheerfulness of poultry about the barns; I dare be sworn there + is always a small girl driving a flock of decorous ducks down the middle + of the street; and of the priest with a book under his arm, passing a + way-side shrine, what possible doubt? The houses, which are of one model, + are built by the peasants themselves with the stone which their land + yields more abundantly than any other crop, and are furnished with + galleries and balconies to catch every ray of the fleeting summer, and + perhaps to remember the long-lost ancestral summers of Normandy. At every + moment, in passing through this ideally neat and pretty village, our + tourists must think of the lovely poem of which all French Canada seems + but a reminiscence and illustration. It was Grand Pre, not Beauport; and + they paid an eager homage to the beautiful genius which has touched those + simple village aspects with an undying charm, and which, whatever the land's + political allegiance, is there perpetual Seigneur. + </p> + <p> + The village, stretching along the broad interval of the St. Lawrence, + grows sparser as you draw near the Falls of Montmorenci, and presently you + drive past the grove shutting from the road the country-house in which the + Duke of Kent spent some merry days of his jovial youth, and come in sight + of two lofty towers of stone,—monuments and witnesses of the tragedy + of Montmorenci. + </p> + <p> + Once a suspension-bridge, built sorely against the will of the neighboring + habitans, hung from these towers high over the long plunge of the + cataract. But one morning of the fatal spring after the first winter's + frost had tried the hold of the cable on the rocks, an old peasant and his + wife with their little grandson set out in their cart to pass the bridge. + As they drew near the middle the anchoring wires suddenly lost their grip + upon the shore, and whirled into the air; the bridge crashed under the + hapless passengers and they were launched from its height, upon the verge + of the fall and thence plunged, two hundred and fifty feet, into the ruin + of the abyss. + </p> + <p> + The habitans rebuilt their bridge of wood upon low stone piers, so far up + the river from the cataract that whoever fell from it would yet have many + a chance for life; and it would have been perilous to offer to replace the + fallen structure, which, in the belief of faithful Christians, clearly + belonged to the numerous bridges built by the Devil, in times when the + Devil did not call himself a civil engineer. + </p> + <p> + The driver, with just unction, recounted the sad tale as he halted his + horses on the bridge; and as his passengers looked down the rock-fretted + brown torrent towards the fall, Isabel seized the occasion to shudder that + ever she had set foot on that suspension-bridge below Niagara, and to + prove to Basil's confusion that her doubt of the bridges between the + Three Sisters was not a case of nerves but an instinctive wisdom + concerning the unsafety of all bridges of that design. + </p> + <p> + From the gate opening into the grounds about the fall two or three little + French boys, whom they had not the heart to forbid, ran noisily before + them with cries in their sole English, “This way, sir” and led + toward a weather-beaten summer-house that tottered upon a projecting rock + above the verge of the cataract. But our tourists shook their heads, and + turned away for a more distant and less dizzy enjoyment of the spectacle, + though any commanding point was sufficiently chasmal and precipitous. The + lofty bluff was scooped inward from the St. Lawrence in a vast irregular + semicircle, with cavernous hollows, one within another, sinking far into + its sides, and naked from foot to crest, or meagrely wooded here and there + with evergreen. From the central brink of these gloomy purple chasms the + foamy cataract launched itself, and like a cloud, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.” + </pre> + <p> + I say a cloud, because I find it already said to my hand, as it were, in a + pretty verse, and because I must needs liken Montmorenci to something that + is soft and light. Yet a cloud does not represent the glinting of the + water in its downward swoop; it is like some broad slope of sun-smitten + snow; but snow is coldly white and opaque, and this has a creamy warmth in + its luminous mass; and so, there hangs the cataract unsaid as before. It + is a mystery that anything so grand should be so lovely, that anything so + tenderly fair in whatever aspect should yet be so large that one glance + fails to comprehend it all. The rugged wildness of the cliffs and hollows + about it is softened by its gracious beauty, which half redeems the + vulgarity of the timber-merchant's uses in setting the river at work + in his saw-mills and choking its outlet into the St. Lawrence with rafts + of lumber and rubbish of slabs and shingles. Nay, rather, it is alone + amidst these things, and the eye takes note of them by a separate effort. + </p> + <p> + Our tourists sank down upon the turf that crept with its white clover to + the edge of the precipice, and gazed dreamily upon the fall, filling their + vision with its exquisite color and form. Being wiser than I, they did not + try to utter its loveliness; they were content to feel it, and the + perfection of the afternoon, whose low sun slanting over the landscape + gave, under that pale, greenish-blue sky, a pensive sentiment of autumn to + the world. The crickets cried amongst the grass; the hesitating chirp of + birds came from the tree overhead; a shaggy colt left off grazing in the + field and stalked up to stare at them; their little guides, having found + that these people had no pleasure in the sight of small boys scuffling on + the verge of a precipice, threw themselves also down upon the grass and + crooned a long, long ballad in a mournful minor key about some maiden + whose name was La Belle Adeline. It was a moment of unmixed enjoyment for + every sense, and through all their being they were glad; which + considering, they ceased to be so, with a deep sigh, as one reasoning that + he dreams must presently awake. They never could have an emotion without + desiring to analyze it; but perhaps their rapture would have ceased as + swiftly, even if they had not tried to make it a fact of consciousness. + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{0274}.jpg" alt="{0274}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{0274}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “If there were not dinner after such experiences as these,” + said Isabel, as they sat at table that evening, “I don't know + what would become of one. But dinner unites the idea of pleasure and duty, + and brings you gently back to earth. You must eat, don't you see, + and there's nothing disgraceful about what you're obliged to + do; and so—it's all right.” + </p> + <p> + “Isabel, Isabel,” cried her husband, “you have a + wonderful mind, and its workings always amaze me. But be careful, my dear; + be careful. Don't work it too hard. The human brain, you know: + delicate organ.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you understand what I mean; and I think it's one of the + great charms of a husband, that you're not forced to express + yourself to him. A husband,” continued Isabel, sententiously, + poising a bit of meringue between her thumb and finger,—for they had + reached that point in the repast, “a husband is almost as good as + another woman!” + </p> + <p> + In the parlor they found the Ellisons, and exchanged the history of the + day with them. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said Mrs. Ellison, at the end, “it's + been a pleasant day enough, but what of the night? You've been + turned out, too, by those people who came on the steamer, and who might as + well have stayed on board to-night; have you got another room?” + </p> + <p> + “Not precisely,” said Isabel; “we have a coop in the + fifth story, right under the roof.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ellison turned energetically upon her husband and cried in tones of + reproach, “Richard, Mrs. March has a room!” + </p> + <p> + “A coop, she said,” retorted that amiable Colonel, “and + we're too good for that. The clerk is keeping us in suspense about a + room, because he means to surprise us with something palatial at the end. + It's his joking way.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” said Mrs. Ellison. “Have you seen him since + dinner?” + </p> + <p> + “I have made life a burden to him for the last half-hour,” + returned the Colonel, with the kindliest smile. + </p> + <p> + “O Richard,” cried his wife, in despair of his amendment, + “you wouldn't make life a burden to a mouse!” And having + nothing else for it, she laughed, half in sorrow, half in fondness. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Fanny,” the Colonel irrelevantly answered, “put + on your hat and things, and let's all go up to Durham Terrace for a + promenade. I know our friends want to go. It's something worth + seeing; and by the time we get back, the clerk will have us a perfectly + sumptuous apartment.” + </p> + <p> + Nothing, I think, more enforces the illusion of Southern Europe in Quebec + than the Sunday-night promenading on Durham Terrace. This is the ample + space on the brow of the cliff to the left of the citadel, the noblest and + most commanding position in the whole city, which was formerly occupied by + the old castle of Saint Louis, where dwelt the brave Count Frontenac and + his splendid successors of the French regime. The castle went the way of + Quebec by fire some forty years ago, and Lord Durham leveled the site and + made it a public promenade. A stately arcade of solid masonry supports it + on the brink of the rock, and an iron parapet incloses it; there are a few + seats to lounge upon, and some idle old guns for the children to clamber + over and play with. A soft twilight had followed the day, and there was + just enough obscurity to hide from a willing eye the Northern and New + World facts of the scene, and to bring into more romantic relief the + citadel dark against the mellow evening, and the people gossiping from + window to window across the narrow streets of the Lower Town. The Terrace + itself was densely thronged, and there was a constant coming and going of + the promenaders, who each formally paced back and forth upon the planking + for a certain time, and then went quietly home, giving place to the new + arrivals. They were nearly all French, and they were not generally, it + seemed, of the first fashion, but rather of middling condition in life; + the English being represented only by a few young fellows and now and then + a redfaced old gentleman with an Indian scarf trailing from his hat. There + were some fair American costumes and faces in the crowd, but it was + essentially Quebecian. The young girls walking in pairs, or with their + lovers, had the true touch of provincial unstylishness, the young men the + ineffectual excess of the second-rate Latin dandy, their elders the rich + inelegance of a bourgeoisie in their best. A few, better-figured avocats + or notaires (their profession was as unmistakable as if they had carried + their well-polished brass doorplates upon their breasts) walked and + gravely talked with each other. The non-American character of the scene + was not less vividly marked in the fact that each person dressed according + to his own taste and frankly indulged private preferences in shapes and + colors. One of the promenaders was in white, even to his canvas shoes; + another, with yet bolder individuality, appeared in perfect purple. It had + a strange, almost portentous effect when these two startling figures met + as friends and joined each other in the promenade with linked arms; but + the evening was already beginning to darken round them, and presently the + purple comrade was merely a sombre shadow beside the glimmering white. + </p> + <p> + The valleys and the heights now vanished; but the river defined itself by + the varicolored lights of the ships and steamers that lay, dark, + motionless bulks, upon its broad breast; the lights of Point Lewis swarmed + upon the other shore; the Lower Town, two hundred feet below them, + stretched an alluring mystery of clustering roofs and lamplit windows and + dark and shining streets around the mighty rock, mural-crowned. Suddenly a + spectacle peculiarly Northern and characteristic of Quebec revealed + itself; a long arch brightened over the northern horizon; the tremulous + flames of the aurora, pallid violet or faintly tinged with crimson, shot + upward from it, and played with a weird apparition and evanescence to the + zenith. While the strangers looked, a gun boomed from the citadel, and the + wild sweet notes of the bugle sprang out upon the silence. + </p> + <p> + Then they all said, “How perfectly in keeping everything has been!” + and sauntered back to the hotel. + </p> + <p> + The Colonel went into the office to give the clerk another turn on the + rack, and make him confess to a hidden apartment somewhere, while Isabel + left her husband to Mrs. Ellison in the parlor, and invited Miss Kitty to + look at her coop in the fifth story. As they approached, light and music + and laughter stole out of an open door next hers, and Isabel, + distinguishing the voices of the theatrical party, divined that this was + the sick-chamber, and that they were again cheering up the afflicted + member of the troupe. Some one was heard to say, “Well, 'ow do + you feel now, Charley?” and a sound of subdued swearing responded, + followed by more laughter, and the twanging of a guitar, and a snatch of + song, and a stir of feet and dresses as for departure. + </p> + <p> + The two listeners shrank together; as women they could not enjoy these + proofs of the jolly camaraderie existing among the people of the troupe. + They trembled as before the merriment of as many light-hearted, careless, + good-natured young men: it was no harm, but it was dismaying; and, “Dear!” + cried Isabel, “what shall we do?” + </p> + <p> + “Go back,” said Miss Ellison, boldly, and back they ran to the + parlor, where they found Basil and the Colonel and his wife in earnest + conclave. The Colonel, like a shrewd strategist, was making show of a + desperation more violent than his wife's, who was thus naturally + forced into the attitude of moderating his fury. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Fanny, that's all he can do for us; and I do think it's + the most outrageous thing in the world! It's real mean!” + </p> + <p> + Fanny perceived a bold parody of her own denunciatory manner, but just + then she was obliged to answer Isabel's eager inquiry whether they + had got a room yet. “Yes, a room,” she said, “with two + beds. But what are we to do with one room? That clerk—I don't + know what to call him”—(“Call him a hotel-clerk, my + dear; you can't say anything worse,” interrupted her husband)—“seems + to think the matter perfectly settled.” + </p> + <p> + “You see, Mrs. March,” added the Colonel, “he's + able to bully us in this way because he has the architecture on his side. + There isn't another room in the house.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me think a moment,” said Isabel not thinking an instant. + She had taken a fancy to at least two of these people from the first, and + in the last hour they had all become very well acquainted now she said, + “I'll tell you: there are two beds in our room also; we ladies + will take one room, and you gentlemen the other!” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. March, I bow to the superiority of the Boston mind,” + said the Colonel, while his females civilly protested and consented; + “and I might almost hail you as our preserver. If ever you come to + Milwaukee,—which is the centre of the world, as Boston is,—we—I—shall + be happy to have you call at my place of business.—I didn't + commit myself, did I, Fanny?—I am sometimes hospitable to excess, + Mrs. March,” he said, to explain his aside. “And now, let us + reconnoitre. Lead on, madam, and the gratitude of the houseless stranger + will follow you.” + </p> + <p> + The whole party explored both rooms, and the ladies decided to keep Isabel's. + The Colonel was dispatched to see that the wraps and traps of his party + were sent to this number, and Basil went with him. The things came long + before the gentlemen returned, but the ladies happily employed the + interval in talking over the excitements of the day, and in saying from + time to time, “So very kind of you, Mrs. March,” and “I + don't know what we should have done,” and “Don't + speak of it, please,” and “I'm sure it's a great + pleasure to me.” + </p> + <p> + In the room adjoining theirs, where the invalid actor lay, and where + lately there had been minstrelsy and apparently dancing for his solace, + there was now comparative silence. Two women's voices talked + together, and now and then a guitar was touched by a wandering hand. + Isabel had just put up her handkerchief to conceal her first yawn, when + the gentlemen, odorous of cigars, returned to say good-night. + </p> + <p> + “It's the second door from this, isn't it, Isabel?” + asked her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, the second door. Good-night. Good-night.” + </p> + <p> + The two men walked off together; but in a minute afterwards they had + returned and were knocking tremulously at the closed door. + </p> + <p> + “O, what has happened?” chorused the ladies in woeful tune, + seeing a certain wildness in the face that confronted them. + </p> + <p> + “We don't know!” answered the others in as fearful a + key, and related how they had found the door of their room ajar, and a + bright light streaming into the corridor. They did not stop to ponder this + fact, but, with the heedlessness of their sex, pushed the door wide open, + when they saw seated before the mirror a bewildering figure, with + disheveled locks wandering down the back, and in dishabille expressive of + being quite at home there, which turned upon them a pair of pale blue + eyes, under a forehead remarkable for the straggling fringe of hair that + covered it. They professed to have remained transfixed at the sight, and + to have noted a like dismay on the visage before the glass, ere they + summoned strength to fly. These facts Colonel Ellison gave at the command + of his wife, with many protests and insincere delays amidst which the + curiosity of his hearers alone prevented them from rending him in pieces. + </p> + <p> + “And what do you suppose it was?” demanded his wife, with + forced calmness, when he had at last made an end of the story and his + abominable hypoocisies. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I think it was a mermaid.” + </p> + <p> + “A mermaid!” said his wife, scornfully. “How do you + know?” + </p> + <p> + “It had a comb in its hand, for one thing; and besides, my dear, I + hope I know a mermaid when I see it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Mrs. Ellison, “it was no mermaid, it was a + mistake; and I'm going to see about it. Will you go with me, + Richard?” + </p> + <p> + “No money could induce me! If it's a mistake, it isn't + proper for me to go; if it's a mermaid, it's dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + “O you coward!” said the intrepid little woman to a hero of + all the fights on Sherman's march to the sea; and presently they + heard her attack the mysterious enemy with a lady-like courage, claiming + the invaded chamber. The foe replied with like civility, saying the clerk + had given her that room with the understanding that another lady was to be + put there with her, and she had left the door unlocked to admit her. The + watchers with the sick man next door appeared and confirmed this speech, a + feeble voice from the bedclothes swore to it. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” added the invader, “if I'd known + 'ow it really was, I never would lave listened to such a thing, + never. And there isn't another 'ole in the louse to lay me + 'ead,” she concluded. + </p> + <p> + “Then it's the clerk's fault,” said Mrs. Ellison, + glad to retreat unharmed; and she made her husband ring for the guilty + wretch, a pale, quiet young Frenchman, whom the united party, sallying + into the corridor, began to upbraid in one breath, the lady in dishabille + vanishing as often as she remembered it, and reappearing whenever some + strong point of argument or denunciation occurred to her. + </p> + <p> + The clerk, who was the Benjamin of his wicked tribe, threw himself upon + their mercy and confessed everything: the house was so crowded, and he had + been so crazed by the demands upon him, that he had understood Colonel + Ellison's application to be for a bed for the young lady in his + party, and he had done the very best he could. If the lady there—she + vanished again—would give up the room to the two gentlemen, he would + find her a place with the housekeeper. To this the lady consented without + difficulty, and the rest dispersing, she kissed one of the sick man's + watchers with “Isn't it a shame, Bella?” and flitted + down the darkness of the corridor. The rooms upon it seemed all, save the + two assigned our travellers, to be occupied by ladies of the troupe; their + doors successively opened, and she was heard explaining to each as she + passed. The momentary displeasure which she had shown at her banishment + was over. She detailed the facts with perfect good-nature, and though the + others appeared no more than herself to find any humorous cast in the + affair, they received her narration with the same amiability. They uttered + their sympathy seriously, and each parted from her with some friendly + word. Then all was still. + </p> + <p> + “Richard,” said Mrs. Ellison, when in Isabel's room the + travellers had briefly celebrated these events, “I should think you'd + hate to leave us alone up here.” + </p> + <p> + “I do; but you can't think how I hate to go off alone. I wish + you'd come part of the way with us, Ladies; I do indeed. Leave your + door unlocked, at any rate.” + </p> + <p> + This prayer, uttered at parting outside the room, was answered from within + by a sound of turning keys and sliding bolts, and a low thunder as of + bureaus and washstands rolled against the door. “The ladies are + fortifying their position,” said the Colonel to Basil, and the two + returned to their own chamber. “I don't wish any intrusions,” + he said, instantly shutting himself in; “my nerves are too much + shaken now. What an awfully mysterious old place this Quebec is, Mr. + March! I'll tell you what: it's my opinion that this is an + enchanted castle, and if my ribs are not walked over by a muleteer in the + course of the night, it's all I ask.” + </p> + <p> + In this and other discourse recalling the famous adventure of Don Quixote, + the Colonel beguiled the labor of disrobing, and had got as far as his + boots, when there came a startling knock at the door. With one boot in his + hand and the other on his foot, the Colonel limped forward. “I + suppose it's that clerk has sent to say he's made some other + mistake,” and he flung wide the door, and then stood motionless + before it, dumbly staring at a figure on the threshold,—a figure + with the fringed forehead and pale blue eyes of her whom they had so + lately turned out of that room. + </p> + <p> + Shrinking behind the side of the doorway, “Excuse me, gentlemen,” + she said, with a dignity that recalled their scattered senses, “but + will you 'ave the goodness to look if my beads are on your table—O + thanks, thanks, thanks!” she continued, showing her face and one + hand, as Basil blushingly advanced with a string of heavy black beads, + piously adorned with a large cross. “I'm sure, I'm + greatly obliged to you, gentlemen, and I hask a thousand pardons for + troublin' you,” she concluded in a somewhat severe tone, that + left them abashed and culpable; and vanished as mysteriously as she had + appeared. + </p> + <p> + “Now, see here,” said the Colonel, with a huge sigh as he + closed the door again, and this time locked it, “I should like to + know how long this sort of thing is to be kept up? Because, if it's + to be regularly repeated during the night, I'm going to dress again.” + Nevertheless, he finished undressing and got into bed, where he remained + for some time silent. Basil put out the light. “O, I'm sorry + you did that, my dear fellow,” said the Colonel; “but never + mind, it was an idle curiosity, no doubt. It's my belief that in the + landlord's extremity of bedlinen, I've been put to sleep + between a pair of tablecloths; and I thought I'd like to look. It + seems to me that I make out a checkered pattern on top and a flowered or + arabesque pattern underneath. I wish they had given me mates. It's + pretty hard having to sleep between odd tablecloths. I shall complain to + the landlord of this in the morning. I've never had to sleep between + odd table-cloths at any hotel before.” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel's voice seemed scarcely to have died away upon Basil's + drowsy ear, when suddenly the sounds of music and laughter from the + invalid's room startled him wide awake. The sick man's + watchers were coquetting with some one who stood in the little court-yard + five stories below. A certain breadth of repartee was naturally allowable + at that distance; the lover avowed his passion in ardent terms, and the + ladies mocked him with the same freedom, now and then totally neglecting + him while they sang a snatch of song to the twanging of the guitar, or + talked professional gossip, and then returning to him with some tormenting + expression of tenderness. + </p> + <p> + All this, abstractly speaking, was nothing to Basil; yet he could + recollect few things intended for his pleasure that had given him more + satisfaction. He thought, as he glanced out into the moonlight on the + high-gabled silvery roofs around and on the gardens of the convents and + the towers of the quaint city, that the scene wanted nothing of the proper + charm of Spanish humor and romance, and he was as grateful to those poor + souls as if they had meant him a favor. To us of the hither side of the + foot-lights, there is always something fascinating in the life of the + strange beings who dwell beyond them, and who are never so unreal as in + their own characters. In their shabby bestowal in those mean upper rooms, + their tawdry poverty, their merry submission to the errors and caprices of + destiny, their mutual kindliness and careless friendship, these + unprofitable devotees of the twinkling-footed burlesque seemed to be + playing rather than living the life of strolling players; and their + love-making was the last touch of a comedy that Basil could hardly accept + as reality, it was so much more like something seen upon the stage. He + would not have detracted anything from the commonness and cheapness of the + 'mise en scene', for that, he reflected drowsily and + confusedly, helped to give it an air of fact and make it like an episode + of fiction. But above all, he was pleased with the natural eventlessness + of the whole adventure, which was in perfect agreement with his taste; and + just as his reveries began to lose shape in dreams, he was aware of an + absurd pride in the fact that all this could have happened to him in our + commonplace time and hemisphere. “Why,” he thought, “if + I were a student in Alcala, what better could I have asked?” And as + at last his soul swung out from its moorings and lapsed down the broad + slowly circling tides out in the sea of sleep, he was conscious of one + subtle touch of compassion for those poor strollers,—a pity so + delicate and fine and tender that it hardly seemed his own but rather a + sense of the compassion that pities the whole world. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. HOMEWARD AND HOME. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9290}.jpg" alt="{9290}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9290}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + The travellers all met at breakfast and duly discussed the adventures of + the night; and for the rest, the forenoon passed rapidly and slowly with + Basil and Isabel, as regret to leave Quebec, or the natural impatience of + travellers to be off, overcame them. Isabel spent part of it in shopping, + for she had found some small sums of money and certain odd corners in her + trunks still unappropriated, and the handsome stores on the Rue Fabrique + were very tempting. She said she would just go in and look; and the wise + reader imagines the result. As she knelt over her boxes, trying so to + distribute her purchases as to make them look as if they were old,—old + things of hers, which she had brought all the way round from Boston with + her,—a fleeting touch of conscience stayed her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Basil,” she said, “perhaps we'd better declare + some of these things. What's the duty on those?” she asked, + pointing to certain articles. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. About a hundred per cent. ad valorem.” + </p> + <p> + “C'est a dire—?” + </p> + <p> + “As much as they cost.” + </p> + <p> + “O then, dearest,” responded Isabel indignantly, “it can't + be wrong to smuggle! I won't declare a thread!” + </p> + <p> + “That's very well for you, whom they won't ask. But what + if they ask me whether there's anything to declare?” + </p> + <p> + Isabel looked at her husband and hesitated. Then she replied in terms that + I am proud to record in honor of American womanhood: “You mustn't + fib about—it, Basil” (heroically); “I couldn't + respect you if you did,” (tenderly); “but” (with + decision) “you must slip out of it some way!” + </p> + <p> + The ladies of the Ellison party, to whom she put the case in the parlor, + agreed with her perfectly. They also had done a little shopping in Quebec, + and they meant to do more at Montreal before they returned to the States. + Mrs. Ellison was disposed to look upon Isabel's compunctions as a + kind of treason to the sex, to be forgiven only because so quickly + repented. + </p> + <p> + The Ellisons were going up the Saguenay before coming on to Boston, and + urged our friends hard to go with them. “No, that must be for + another time,” said Isabel. “Mr. March has to be home by a + certain day; and we shall just get back in season.” Then she made + them promise to spend a day with her in Boston, and the Colonel coming to + say that he had a carriage at the door for their excursion to Lorette, the + two parties bade good-by with affection and many explicit hopes of meeting + soon again. + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of them, dearest?” demanded Isabel, as she + sallied out with Basil for a final look at Quebec. + </p> + <p> + “The young lady is the nicest; and the other is well enough, too. + She is a good deal like you, but with the sense of humor left out. You've + only enough to save you.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, her husband is jolly enough for both of them. He's + funnier than you, Basil, and he hasn't any of your little languid + airs and affectations. I don't know but I'm a bit disappointed + in my choice, darling; but I dare say I shall work out of it. In fact, I + don't know but the Colonel is a little too jolly. This drolling + everything is rather fatiguing.” And having begun, they did not stop + till they had taken their friends to pieces. Dismayed, then, they hastily + reconstructed them, and said that they were among the pleasantest people + they ever knew, and they were really very sorry to part with them, and + they should do everything to make them have a good time in Boston. + </p> + <p> + They were sauntering towards Durham Terrace where they leaned long upon + the iron parapet and blest themselves with the beauty of the prospect. A + tender haze hung upon the landscape and subdued it till the scene was as a + dream before them. As in a dream the river lay, and dream-like the + shipping moved or rested on its deep, broad bosom. Far off stretched the + happy fields with their dim white villages; farther still the mellow + heights melted into the low hovering heaven. The tinned roofs of the Lower + Town twinkled in the morning sun; around them on every hand, on that + Monday forenoon when the States were stirring from ocean to ocean in + feverish industry, drowsed the gray city within her walls; from the + flag-staff of the citadel hung the red banner of Saint George in sleep. + </p> + <p> + Their hearts were strangely and deeply moved. It seemed to them that they + looked upon the last stronghold of the Past, and that afar off to the + southward they could hear the marching hosts of the invading Present; and + as no young and loving soul can relinquish old things without a pang, they + sighed a long mute farewell to Quebec. + </p> + <p> + Next summer they would come again, yes; but, ah me' every one knows + what next summer is! + </p> + <p> + Part of the burlesque troupe rode down in the omnibus to the Grand Trunk + Ferry with them, and were good-natured to the last, having shaken hands + all round with the waiters, chambermaids, and porters of the hotel. The + young fellow with the bad amiable face came in a calash, and refused to + overpay the driver with a gay decision that made him Basil's envy + till he saw his tribulation in getting the troupe's luggage checked. + There were forty pieces, and it always remained a mystery, considering the + small amount of clothing necessary to those people on the stage, what + could have filled their trunks. The young man and the two English blondes + of American birth found places in the same car with our tourists, and + enlivened the journey with their frolics. When the young man pretended to + fall asleep, they wrapped his golden curly head in a shawl, and vexed him + with many thumps and thrusts, till he bought a brief truce with a handful + of almonds; and the ladies having no other way to eat them, one of them + saucily snatched off her shoe, and cracked them hammerwise with the heel. + It was all so pleasant that it ought to have been all right; and in their + merry world of outlawry perhaps things are not so bad as we like to think + them. + </p> + <p> + The country into which the train plunges as soon as Quebec is out of sight + is very stupidly savage, and our friends had little else to do but to + watch the gambols of the players, till they came to the river St. Francis, + whose wandering loveliness the road follows through an infinite series of + soft and beautiful landscapes, and finds everywhere glassing in its smooth + current the elms and willows of its gentle shores. At one place, where its + calm broke into foamy rapids, there was a huge saw mill, covering the + stream with logs and refuse, and the banks with whole cities of lumber; + which also they accepted as no mean elements of the picturesque. They + clung the most tenderly to traces of the peasant life they were leaving. + When some French boys came aboard with wild raspberries to sell in little + birch-bark canoes, they thrilled with pleasure, and bought them, but + sighed then, and said, “What thing characteristic of the local life + will they sell us in Maine when we get there? A section of pie poetically + wrapt in a broad leaf of the squash-vine, or pop-corn in its native + tissue-paper, and advertising the new Dollar Store in Portland?” + They saw the quaintness vanish from the farm-houses; first the + dormer-windows, then the curve of the steep roof, then the steep roof + itself. By and by they came to a store with a Grecian portico and four + square pine pillars. They shuddered and looked no more. + </p> + <p> + The guiltily dreaded examination of baggage at Island Pond took place at + nine o'clock, without costing them a cent of duty or a pang of + conscience. At that charming station the trunks are piled + higgledy-piggledy into a room beside the track, where a few inspectors + with stifling lamps of smoky kerosene await the passengers. There are no + porters to arrange the baggage, and each lady and gentleman digs out his + box, and opens it before the lordly inspector, who stirs up its contents + with an unpleasant hand and passes it. He makes you feel that you are once + more in the land of official insolence, and that, whatever you are + collectively, you are nothing personally. Isabel, who had sent her husband + upon this business with quaking meekness of heart, experienced the bold + indignation of virtue at his account of the way people were made their own + baggage-smashers, and would not be amused when he painted the vile terrors + of each husband as he tremblingly unlocked his wife's store of + contraband. + </p> + <p> + The morning light showed them the broad elmy meadows of western-looking + Maine; and the Grand Trunk brought them, of course, an hour behind time + into Portland. All breakfastless they hurried aboard the Boston train on + the Eastern Road, and all along that line (which is built to show how + uninteresting the earth can be when she is 'ennuyee' of both + sea and land), Basil's life became a struggle to construct a meal + from the fragmentary opportunities of twenty different stations where they + stopped five minutes for refreshments. At one place he achieved two cups + of shameless chickory, at another three sardines, at a third a dessert of + elderly bananas. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Home again, home again, from a foreign shore!” + </pre> + <p> + they softly sang as the successive courses of this feast were disposed of. + </p> + <p> + The drouth and heat, which they had briefly escaped during their sojourn + in Canada, brooded sovereign upon the tiresome landscape. The red granite + rocks were as if red-hot; the banks of the deep cuts were like ash heaps; + over the fields danced the sultry atmosphere; they fancied that they + almost heard the grasshoppers sing above the rattle of the train. When + they reached Boston at last, they were dustier than most of us would like + to be a hundred years hence. The whole city was equally dusty; and they + found the trees in the square before their own door gray with dust. The + bit of Virginia-creeper planted under the window hung shriveled upon its + trellis. + </p> + <p> + But Isabel's aunt met them with a refreshing shower of tears and + kisses in the hall, throwing a solid arm about each of them. “O you + dears!” the good soul cried, “you don't know how anxious + I've been about you; so many accidents happening all the time. I've + never read the 'Evening Transcript' till the next morning, for + fear I should find your names among the killed and wounded.” + </p> + <p> + “O aunty, you're too good, always!” whimpered Isabel; + and neither of the women took note of Basil, who said, “Yes, it's + probably the only thing that preserved our lives.” + </p> + <p> + The little tinge of discontent, which had colored their sentiment of + return faded now in the kindly light of home. Their holiday was over, to + be sure, but their bliss had but began; they had entered upon that long + life of holidays which is happy marriage. By the time dinner was ended + they were both enthusiastic at having got back, and taking their aunt + between them walked up and down the parlor with their arms round her + massive waist, and talked out the gladness of their souls. + </p> + <p> + Then Basil said he really must run down to the office that afternoon, and + he issued all aglow upon the street. He was so full of having been long + away and of having just returned, that he unconsciously tried to impart + his mood to Boston, and the dusty composure of the street and houses, as + he strode along, bewildered him. He longed for some familiar face to + welcome him, and in the horse-car into which he stepped he was charmed to + see an acquaintance. This was a man for whom ordinarily he cared nothing, + and whom he would perhaps rather have gone out upon the platform to avoid + than have spoken to; but now he plunged at him with effusion, and wrung + his hand, smiling from ear to ear. + </p> + <p> + The other remained coldly unaffected, after a first start of surprise at + his cordiality, and then reviled the dust and heat. “But I'm + going to take a little run down to Newport, to-morrow, for a week,” + he said. “By the way, you look as if you needed a little change. + Aren't you going anywhere this summer?” + </p> + <p> + “So you see, my dear,” observed Basil, when he had recounted + the fact to Isabel at tea, “our travels are incommunicably our own. + We had best say nothing about our little jaunt to other people, and they + won't know we've been gone. Even if we tried, we couldn't + make our wedding-journey theirs.” + </p> + <p> + She gave him a great kiss of recompense and consolation. “Who wants + it,” she demanded, “to be Their Wedding Journey?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. NIAGARA REVISITED, TWELVE YEARS AFTER THEIR WEDDING JOURNEY. + </h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width:20%;"> <img src="images/{9300}.jpg" alt="{9300}" width="100%" /> <br /> <a href="images/{9300}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </div> + <p> + Life had not used them ill in this time, and the fairish treatment they + had received was not wholly unmerited. The twelve years past had made them + older, as the years must in passing. Basil was now forty-two, and his + moustache was well sprinkled with gray. Isabel was thirty-nine, and the + parting of her hair had thinned and retreated; but she managed to give it + an effect of youthful abundance by combing it low down upon her forehead, + and roughing it there with a wet brush. By gaslight she was still very + pretty; she believed that she looked more interesting, and she thought + Basil's gray moustache distinguished. He had grown stouter; he + filled his double-breasted frock coat compactly, and from time to time he + had the buttons set forward; his hands were rounded up on the backs, and + he no longer wore his old number of gloves by two sizes; no amount of + powder or manipulation from the young lady in the shop would induce them + to go on. But this did not matter much now, for he seldom wore gloves at + all. He was glad that the fashion suffered him to spare in that direction, + for he was obliged to look somewhat carefully after the out-goes. The + insurance business was not what it had been, and though Basil had + comfortably established himself in it, he had not made money. He sometimes + thought that he might have done quite as well if he had gone into + literature; but it was now too late. They had not a very large family: + they had a boy of eleven, who took after his father, and a girl of nine, + who took after the boy; but with the American feeling that their children + must have the best of everything, they made it an expensive family, and + they spent nearly all Basil earned. + </p> + <p> + The narrowness of their means, as well as their household cares, had kept + them from taking many long journeys. They passed their winters in Boston, + and their summers on the South Shore, cheaper than the North Shore, and + near enough for Basil to go up and down every day for business; but they + promised themselves that some day they would revisit certain points on + their wedding journey, and perhaps somewhere find their lost second-youth + on the track. It was not that they cared to be young, but they wished the + children to see them as they used to be when they thought themselves very + old; and one lovely afternoon in June they started for Niagara. + </p> + <p> + It had been very hot for several days, but that morning the east wind came + in, and crisped the air till it seemed to rustle like tinsel, and the sky + was as sincerely and solidly blue as if it had been chromoed. They felt + that they were really looking up into the roof of the world, when they + glanced at it; but when an old gentleman hastily kissed a young woman, and + commended her to the conductor as being one who was going all the way to + San Francisco alone, and then risked his life by stepping off the moving + train, the vastness of the great American fact began to affect Isabel + disagreeably. “Isn't it too big, Basil?” she pleaded, + peering timidly out of the little municipal consciousness in which she had + been so long housed.—In that seclusion she had suffered certain + original tendencies to increase upon her; her nerves were more sensitive + and electrical; her apprehensions had multiplied quite beyond the ratio of + the dangers that beset her; and Basil had counted upon a tonic effect of + the change the journey would make in their daily lives. She looked + ruefully out of the window at the familiar suburbs whisking out of sight, + and the continental immensity that advanced devouringly upon her. But they + had the best section in the very centre of the sleeping-car,—she + drew what consolation she could from the fact,—and the children's + premature demand for lunch helped her to forget her anxieties; they began + to be hungry as soon as the train started. She found that she had not put + up sandwiches enough; and when she told Basil that he would have to get + out somewhere and buy some cold chicken, he asked her what in the world + had become of that whole ham she had had boiled. It seemed to him, he + said, that there was enough of it to subsist them to Niagara and back; and + he went on as some men do, while Somerville vanished, and even Tufts + College, which assails the Bostonian vision from every point of the + compass, was shut out by the curve at the foot of the Belmont hills. + </p> + <p> + They had chosen the Hoosac Tunnel route to Niagara, because, as Basil + said, their experience of travel had never yet included a very long + tunnel, and it would be a signal fact by which the children would always + remember the journey, if nothing else remarkable happened to impress it + upon them. Indeed, they were so much concerned in it that they began to + ask when they should come to this tunnel, even before they began to ask + for lunch; and the long time before they reached it was not perceptibly + shortened by Tom's quarter-hourly consultations of his father's + watch. + </p> + <p> + It scarcely seemed to Basil and Isabel that their fellow-passengers were + so interesting as their fellow passengers used to be in their former days + of travel. They were soberly dressed, and were all of a middle-aged + sobriety of deportment, from which nothing salient offered itself for + conjecture or speculation; and there was little within the car to take + their minds from the brilliant young world that flashed and sang by them + outside. The belated spring had ripened, with its frequent rains, into the + perfection of early summer; the grass was thicker and the foliage denser + than they had ever seen it before; and when they had run out into the + hills beyond Fitchburg, they saw the laurel in bloom. It was everywhere in + the woods, lurking like drifts among the underbrush, and overflowing the + tops, and stealing down the hollows, of the railroad embankments; a snow + of blossom flushed with a mist of pink. Its shy, wild beauty ceased + whenever the train stopped, but the orioles made up for its absence with + their singing in the village trees about the stations; and though + Fitchburg and Ayer's Junction and Athol are not names that invoke + historical or romantic associations, the hearts of Basil and Isabel began + to stir with the joy of travel before they had passed these points. At the + first Basil got out to buy the cold chicken which had been commanded, and + he recognized in the keeper of the railroad restaurant their former + conductor, who had been warned by the spirits never to travel without a + flower of some sort carried between his lips, and who had preserved his + own life and the lives of his passengers for many years by this simple + device. His presence lent the sponge cake and rhubarb pie and baked beans + a supernatural interest, and reconciled Basil to the toughness of the + athletic bird which the mystical ex-partner of fate had sold him; he + justly reflected that if he had heard the story of the restaurateur's + superstition in a foreign land, or another time, he would have found in it + a certain poetry. It was this willingness to find poetry in things around + them that kept his life and Isabel's fresh, and they taught their + children the secret of their elixir. To be sure, it was only a genre + poetry, but it was such as has always inspired English art and song; and + now the whole family enjoyed, as if it had been a passage from Goldsmith + or Wordsworth, the flying sentiment of the railroad side. There was a + simple interior at one place,—a small shanty, showing through the + open door a cook stove surmounted by the evening coffee-pot, with a lazy + + cat outstretched upon the floor in the middle distance, and an old woman + standing just outside the threshold to see the train go by,—which + had an unrivaled value till they came to a superannuated car on a siding + in the woods, in which the railroad workmen boarded—some were + lounging on the platform and at the open windows, while others were + “washing up” for supper, and the whole scene was full of + holiday ease and sylvan comradery that went to the hearts of the + sympathetic spectators. Basil had lately been reading aloud the delightful + history of Rudder Grange, and the children, who had made their secret vows + never to live in anything but an old canal-boat when they grew up, owned + that there were fascinating possibilities in a worn-out railroad car. + </p> + <p> + The lovely Deerfield Valley began to open on either hand, with smooth + stretches of the quiet river, and breadths of grassy intervale and + tableland; the elms grouped themselves like the trees of a park; here and + there the nearer hills broke away, and revealed long, deep, chasmed + hollows, full of golden light and delicious shadow. There were people + rowing on the water; and every pretty town had some touch of + picturesqueness or pastoral charm to offer: at Greenfield, there were + children playing in the new-mown hay along the railroad embankment; at + Shelburne Falls, there was a game of cricket going on (among the English + operatives of the cutlery works, as Basil boldly asserted). They looked + down from their car-window on a young lady swinging in a hammock, in her + door-yard, and on an old gentleman hoeing his potatoes; a group of girls + waved their handkerchiefs to the passing train, and a boy paused in + weeding a garden-bed,—and probably denied that he had paused, later. + In the mean time the golden haze along the mountain side changed to a + clear, pearly lustre, and the quiet evening possessed the quiet landscape. + They confessed to each other that it was all as sweet and beautiful as it + used to be; and in fact they had seen palaces, in other days, which did + not give them the pleasure they found in a woodcutter's shanty, + losing itself among the shadows in a solitude of the hills. The tunnel, + after this, was a gross and material sensation; but they joined the + children in trying to hold and keep it, and Basil let the boy time it by + his watch. “Now,” said Tom, when five minutes were gone, + “we are under the very centre of the mountain.” But the tunnel + was like all accomplished facts, all hopes fulfilled, valueless to the + soul, and scarcely appreciable to the sense; and the children emerged at + North Adams with but a mean opinion of that great feat of engineering. + Basil drew a pretty moral from their experience. “If you rode upon a + comet you would be disappointed. Take my advice, and never ride upon a + comet. I shouldn't object to your riding on a little meteor,—you + wouldn't expect much of that; but I warn you against comets; they + are as bad as tunnels.” + </p> + <p> + The children thought this moral was a joke at their expense, and as they + were a little sleepy they permitted themselves the luxury of feeling + trifled with. But they woke, refreshed and encouraged, from slumbers that + had evidently been unbroken, though they both protested that they had not + slept a wink the whole night, and gave themselves up to wonder at the + interminable levels of Western New York over which the train was running. + The longing to come to an edge, somewhere, that the New England traveler + experiences on this plain, was inarticulate with the children; but it + breathed in the sigh with which Isabel welcomed even the architectural + inequalities of a city into which they drew in the early morning. This + city showed to their weary eyes a noble stretch of river, from the waters + of which lofty piles of buildings rose abruptly; and Isabel, being left to + guess where they were, could think of no other place so picturesque as + Rochester. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said her husband; “it is our own Enchanted City. + I wonder if that unstinted hospitality is still dispensed by the good head + waiter at the hotel where we stopped, to bridal parties who have passed + the ordeal of the haughty hotel clerk. I wonder what has become of that + hotel clerk. Has he fallen, through pride, to some lower level, or has he + bowed his arrogant spirit to the demands of advancing civilization, and + realized that he is the servant, and not the master, of the public? I + think I've noticed, since his time, a growing kindness in hotel + clerks; or perhaps I have become of a more impressive presence; they + certainly unbend to me a little more. I should like to go up to our hotel, + and try myself on our old enemy, if he is still there. I can fancy how his + shirt front has expanded in these twelve years past; he has grown a little + bald, after the fashion of middle-aged hotel clerks, but he parts his hair + very much on one side, and brushes it squarely across his forehead to hide + his loss; the forefinger that he touches that little snapbell with, when + he doesn't look at you, must be very pudgy now. Come, let us get out + and breakfast at Rochester; they will give us broiled whitefish; and we + can show the children where Sam Patch jumped over Genesee Falls, and—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, Basil,” cried his wife. “It would be sacrilege! + All that is sacred to those dear young days of ours; and I wouldn't + think of trying to repeat it. Our own ghosts would rise up in that + dining-room to reproach us for our intrusion! Oh, perhaps we have done a + wicked thing in coming this journey! We ought to have left the past alone; + we shall only mar our memories of all these beautiful places. Do you + suppose Buffalo can be as poetical as it was then? Buffalo! The name doesn't + invite the Muse very much. Perhaps it never was very poetical! Oh, Basil, + dear, I'm afraid we have only come to find out that we were mistaken + about everything! Let's leave Rochester alone, at any rate!” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not troubled! We won't disturb our dream of + Rochester; but I don't despair of Buffalo. I'm sure that + Buffalo will be all that our fancy ever painted it. I believe in Buffalo.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well,” murmured Isabel, “I hope you're + right;” and she put some things together for leaving their car at + Buffalo, while they were still two hours away. + </p> + <p> + When they reached a place where the land mated its level with the level of + the lake, they ran into a wilderness of railroad cars, in a world where + life seemed to be operated solely by locomotives and their helpless + minions. The bellowing and bleating trains were arriving in every + direction, not only along the ground floor of the plain, but stately + stretches of trestle-work, which curved and extended across the plain, + carried them to and fro overhead. The travelers owned that this railroad + suburb had its own impressiveness, and they said that the trestle-work was + as noble in effect as the lines of aqueduct that stalk across the Roman + Campagna. Perhaps this was because they had not seen the Campagna or its + aqueducts for a great while; but they were so glad to find themselves in + the spirit of their former journey again that they were amiable to + everything. When the children first caught sight of the lake's + delicious blue, and cried out that it was lovelier than the sea, they felt + quite a local pride in their preference. It was what Isabel had said + twelve years before, on first beholding the lake. + </p> + <p> + But they did not really see the lake till they had taken the train for + Niagara Falls, after breakfasting in the depot, where the children, used + to the severe native or the patronizing Irish ministrations of Boston + restaurants and hotels, reveled for the first time in the affectionate + devotion of a black waiter. There was already a ridiculous abundance and + variety on the table; but this waiter brought them strawberries and again + strawberries, and repeated plates of griddle cakes with maple syrup; and + he hung over the back of first one chair and then another with an + unselfish joy in the appetites of the breakfasters which gave Basil + renewed hopes of his race. “Such rapture in serving argues a + largeness of nature which will be recognized hereafter,” he said, + feeling about in his waistcoat pocket for a quarter. It seemed a pity to + render the waiter's zeal retroactively interested, but in view of + the fact that he possibly expected the quarter, there was nothing else to + do; and by a mysterious stroke of gratitude the waiter delivered them into + the hands of a friend, who took another quarter from them for carrying + their bags and wraps to the train. This second retainer approved their + admiration of the aesthetic forms and colors of the depot colonnade; and + being asked if that were the depot whose roof had fallen in some years + before, proudly replied that it was. + </p> + <p> + “There were a great many killed, weren't there?” asked + Basil, with sympathetic satisfaction in the disaster. The porter seemed + humiliated; he confessed the mortifying truth that the loss of life was + small, but he recovered a just self-respect in adding, “If the roof + had fallen in five minutes sooner, it would have killed about three + hundred people.” + </p> + <p> + Basil had promised the children a sight of the Rapids before they reached + the Falls, and they held him rigidly accountable from the moment they + entered the train, and began to run out of the city between the river and + the canal. He attempted a diversion with the canal boats, and tried to + bring forward the subject of Rudder Grange in that connection. They said + that the canal boats were splendid, but they were looking for the Rapids + now; and they declined to be interested in a window in one of the boats, + which Basil said was just like the window that the Rudder Granger and the + boarder had popped Pomona out of when they took her for a burglar. + </p> + <p> + “You spoil those children, Basil,” said his wife, as they + clambered over him, and clamored for the Rapids. + </p> + <p> + “At present I'm giving them an object-lesson in patience and + self-denial; they are experiencing the fact that they can't have the + Rapids till they get to them, and probably they'll be disappointed + in them when they arrive.” + </p> + <p> + In fact, they valued the Rapids very little more than the Hoosac Tunnel, + when they came in sight of them, at last; and Basil had some question in + his own mind whether the Rapids had not dwindled since his former visit. + He did not breathe this doubt to Isabel, however, and she arrived at the + Falls with unabated expectations. They were going to spend only half a day + there; and they turned into the station, away from the phalanx of + omnibuses, when they dismounted from their train. They seemed, as before, + to be the only passengers who had arrived, and they found an abundant + choice of carriages waiting in the street, outside the station. The + Niagara hackman may once have been a predatory and very rampant animal, + but public opinion, long expressed through the public prints, has reduced + him to silence and meekness. Apparently, he may not so much as beckon with + his whip to the arriving wayfarer; it is certain that he cannot cross the + pavement to the station door; and Basil, inviting one of them to + negotiation, was himself required by the attendant policeman to step out + to the curbstone, and complete his transaction there. It was an impressive + illustration of the power of a free press, but upon the whole Basil found + the effect melancholy; it had the saddening quality which inheres in every + sort of perfection. The hackman, reduced to entire order, appealed to his + compassion, and he had not the heart to beat him down from his moderate + first demand, as perhaps he ought to have done. They drove directly to the + cataract, and found themselves in the pretty grove beside the American + Fall, and in the air whose dampness was as familiar as if they had + breathed it all their childhood. It was full now of the fragrance of some + sort of wild blossom; and again they had that old, entrancing sense of the + mingled awfulness and loveliness of the great spectacle. This sylvan + perfume, the gayety of the sunshine, the mildness of the breeze that + stirred the leaves overhead, and the bird-singing that made itself heard + amid the roar of the rapids and the solemn incessant plunge of the + cataract, moved their hearts, and made them children with the boy and + girl, who stood rapt for a moment and then broke into joyful wonder. They + could sympathize with the ardor with which Tom longed to tempt fate at the + brink of the river, and over the tops of the parapets which have been + built along the edge of the precipice, and they equally entered into the + terror with which Bella screamed at his suicidal zeal. They joined her in + restraining him; they reduced him to a beggarly account of half a dozen + stones, flung into the Rapids at not less than ten paces from the brink; + and they would not let him toss the smallest pebble over the parapet, + though he laughed to scorn the notion that anybody should be hurt by them + below. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to them that the triviality of man in the surroundings of the + Falls had increased with the lapse of time. There were more booths and + bazaars, and more colored feather fans with whole birds spitted in the + centres; and there was an offensive array of blue and green and yellow + glasses on the shore, through which you were expected to look at the Falls + gratis. They missed the simple dignity of the blanching Indian maids, who + used to squat about on the grass, with their laps full of moccasins and + pin-cushions. But, as of old, the photographer came out of his saloon, and + invited them to pose for a family group; representing that the light and + the spray were singularly propitious, and that everything in nature + invited them to be taken. Basil put him off gently, for the sake of the + time when he had refused to be photographed in a bridal group, and took + refuge from him in the long low building from which you descend to the + foot of the cataract. + </p> + <p> + The grove beside the American Fall has been inclosed, and named Prospect + Park, by a company which exacts half a dollar for admittance, and then + makes you free of all its wonders and conveniences, for which you once had + to pay severally. This is well enough; but formerly you could refuse to go + down the inclined tramway, and now you cannot, without feeling that you + have failed to get your money's worth. It was in this illogical + spirit of economy that Basil invited his family to the descent; but Isabel + shook her head. “No, you go with the children,” she said, + “and I will stay, here, till you get back;” her agonized + countenance added, “and pray for you;” and Basil took his + children on either side of him, and rumbled down the terrible descent with + much of the excitement that attends travel in an open horse-car. When he + stepped out of the car he felt that increase of courage which comes to + every man after safely passing through danger. He resolved to brave the + mists and slippery-stones at the foot of the Fall; and he would have + plunged at once into this fresh peril, if he had not been prevented by the + Prospect Park Company. This ingenious association has built a large + tunnel-like shed quite to the water's edge, so that you cannot view + the cataract as you once could, at a reasonable remoteness, but must + emerge from the building into a storm of spray. The roof of the tunnel is + painted with a lively effect in party-colored stripes, and is lettered + “The Shadow of the Rock,” so that you take it at first to be + an appeal to your aesthetic sense; but the real object of the company is + not apparent till you put your head out into the tempest, when you agree + with the nearest guide—and one is always very near—that you + had better have an oil-skin dress, as Basil did. He told the guide that he + did not wish to go under the Fall, and the guide confidentially admitted + that there was no fun in that, any way; and in the mean time he equipped + him and his children for their foray into the mist. When they issued + forth, under their friend's leadership, Basil felt that, with his + children clinging to each hand, he looked like some sort of animal with + its young, and, though not unsocial by nature, he was glad to be among + strangers for the time. They climbed hither and thither over the rocks, + and lifted their streaming faces for the views which the guide pointed + out; and in a rift of the spray they really caught one glorious glimpse of + the whole sweep of the Fall. The next instant the spray swirled back, and + they were glad to turn for a sight of the rainbow, lying in a circle on + the rocks as quietly and naturally as if that had been the habit of + rainbows ever since the flood. This was all there was to be done, and they + streamed back into the tunnel, where they disrobed in the face of a + menacing placard, which announced that the hire of a guide and a dress for + going under the Fall was one dollar. + </p> + <p> + “Will they make you pay a dollar for each of us, papa?” asked + Tom, fearfully. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, pooh, no!” returned Basil; “we haven't been + under the Fall.” But he sought out the proprietor with a trembling + heart. The proprietor was a man of severely logical mind; he said that the + charge would be three dollars, for they had had the use of the dresses and + the guide just the same as if they had gone under the Fall; and he refused + to recognize anything misleading in the dressing-room placard. In fine, he + left Basil without a leg to stand upon. It was not so much the three + dollars as the sense of having been swindled that vexed him; and he + instantly resolved not to share his annoyance with Isabel. Why, indeed, + should he put that burden upon her? If she were none the wiser, she would + be none the poorer; and he ought to be willing to deny himself her + sympathy for the sake of sparing her needless pain. + </p> + <p> + He met her at the top of the inclined tramway with a face of exemplary + unconsciousness, and he listened with her to the tale their coachman told, + as they sat in a pretty arbor looking out on the Rapids, of a Frenchman + and his wife. This Frenchman had returned, one morning, from a stroll on + Goat Island, and reported with much apparent concern that his wife had + fallen into the water, and been carried over the Fall. It was so natural + for a man to grieve for the loss of his wife, under the peculiar + circumstances, that every one condoled with the widower; but when a few + days later, her body was found, and the distracted husband refused to come + back from New York to her funeral, there was a general regret that he had + not been arrested. A flash of conviction illumed the whole fact to Basil's + guilty consciousness: this unhappy Frenchman had paid a dollar for the use + of an oil-skin suit at the foot of the Fall, and had been ashamed to + confess the swindle to his wife, till, in a moment of remorse and madness, + he shouted the fact into her ear, and then Basil looked at the mother of + his children, and registered a vow that if he got away from Niagara + without being forced to a similar excess he would confess his guilt to + Isabel at the very first act of spendthrift profusion she committed. The + guide pointed out the rock in the Rapids to which Avery had clung for + twenty-four hours before he was carried over the Falls, and to the morbid + fancy of the deceitful husband Isabel's bonnet ribbons seemed to + flutter from the pointed reef. He could endure the pretty arbor no longer. + “Come, children!” he cried, with a wild, unnatural gayety; + “let us go to Goat Island, and see the Bridge to the Three Sisters, + that your mother was afraid to walk back on after she had crossed it.” + </p> + <p> + “For shame, Basil!” retorted Isabel. “You know it was + you who were afraid of that bridge.” + </p> + <p> + The children, who knew the story by heart, laughed with their father at + the monstrous pretension; and his simulated hilarity only increased upon + paying a toll of two dollars at the Goat Island bridge. + </p> + <p> + “What extortion!” cried Isabel, with an indignation that + secretly unnerved him. He trembled upon the verge of confession; but he + had finally the moral force to resist. He suffered her to compute the cost + of their stay at Niagara without allowing those three dollars to enter + into her calculation; he even began to think what justificative + extravagance he could tempt her to. He suggested the purchase of local + bric-a-brac; he asked her if she would not like to dine at the + International, for old times' sake. But she answered, with + disheartening virtue, that they must not think of such a thing, after what + they had spent already. Nothing, perhaps, marked the confirmed husband in + Basil more than these hidden fears and reluctances. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time Isabel ignorantly abandoned herself to the charm of the + place, which she found unimpaired, in spite of the reported ravages of + improvement about Niagara. Goat Island was still the sylvan solitude of + twelve years ago, haunted by even fewer nymphs and dryads than of old. The + air was full of the perfume that scented it at Prospect Park; the leaves + showered them with shade and sun, as they drove along. “If it were + not for the children here,” she said, “I should think that our + first drive on Goat Island had never ended.” + </p> + <p> + She sighed a little, and Basil leaned forward and took her hand in his. + “It never has ended; it's the same drive; only we are younger + now, and enjoy it more.” It always touched him when Isabel was + sentimental about the past, for the years had tended to make her rather + more seriously maternal towards him than towards the other children; and + he recognized that these fond reminiscences were the expression of the + girlhood still lurking deep within her heart. + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. “No, but I'm willing the children should + be young in our place. It's only fair they should have their turn.” + </p> + <p> + She remained in the carriage, while Basil visited the various points of + view on Luna Island with the boy and girl. A boy is probably of + considerable interest to himself, and a man looks back at his own boyhood + with some pathos. But in his actuality a boy has very little to commend + him to the toleration of other human beings. Tom was very well, as boys + go; but now his contribution to the common enjoyment was to venture as + near as possible to all perilous edges; to throw stones into the water, + and to make as if to throw them over precipices on the people below; to + pepper his father with questions, and to collect cumbrous mementos of the + vegetable and mineral kingdoms. He kept the carriage waiting a good five + minutes, while he could cut his initials on a band-rail. “You can + come back and see 'em on your bridal tower,” said the driver. + Isabel gave a little start, as if she had almost thought of something she + was trying to think of. + </p> + <p> + They occasionally met ladies driving, and sometimes they encountered a + couple making a tour of the island on foot. But none of these people were + young, and Basil reported that the Three Sisters were inhabited only by + persons of like maturity; even a group of people who were eating lunch to + the music of the shouting Rapids, on the outer edge of the last Sister, + were no younger, apparently. + </p> + <p> + Isabel did not get out of the carriage to verify his report; she preferred + to refute his story of her former panic on those islands by remaining + serenely seated while he visited them. She thus lost a superb novelty + which nature has lately added to the wonders of this Fall, in that place + at the edge of the great Horse Shoe where the rock has fallen and left a + peculiarly shaped chasm: through this the spray leaps up from below, and + flashes a hundred feet into the air, in rocket-like jets and points, and + then breaks and dissolves away in the pyrotechnic curves of a perpetual + Fourth of July. Basil said something like this in celebrating the display, + with the purpose of rendering her loss more poignant; but she replied, + with tranquil piety, that she would rather keep her Niagara unchanged; and + she declared that, as she understood him, there must be something rather + cheap and conscious in the new feature. She approved, however, of the + change that had removed that foolish little Terrapin Tower from the brink + on which it stood, and she confessed that she could have enjoyed a little + variety in the stories the driver told them of the Indian burial-ground on + the island: they were exactly the stories she and Basil had heard twelve + years before, and the ill-starred goats, from which the island took its + name, perished once more in his narrative. + </p> + <p> + Under the influence of his romances our travelers began to find the whole + scene hackneyed; and they were glad to part from him a little sooner than + they had bargained to do. They strolled about the anomalous village on + foot, and once more marveled at the paucity of travel and the enormity of + the local preparation. Surely the hotels are nowhere else in the world so + large! Could there ever have been visitors enough at Niagara to fill them? + They were built so big for some good reason, no doubt; but it is no more + apparent than why all these magnificent equipages are waiting about the + empty streets for the people who never come to hire them. + </p> + <p> + “It seems to me that I don't see so many strangers here as I + used,” Basil had suggested to their driver. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they haven't commenced coming yet,” he replied, + with hardy cheerfulness, and pretended that they were plenty enough in + July and August. + </p> + <p> + They went to dine at the modest restaurant of a colored man, who + advertised a table d'hote dinner on a board at his door; and they + put their misgivings to him, which seemed to grieve him, and he contended + that Niagara was as prosperous and as much resorted to as ever. In fact, + they observed that their regret for the supposed decline of the Falls as a + summer resort was nowhere popular in the village, and they desisted in + their offers of sympathy, after their rebuff from the restaurateur. + </p> + <p> + Basil got his family away to the station after dinner, and left them + there, while he walked down the village street, for a closer inspection of + the hotels. At the door of the largest a pair of children sported in the + solitude, as fearlessly as the birds on Selkirk's island; looking + into the hotel, he saw a few porters and call-boys seated in statuesque + repose against the wall, while the clerk pined in dreamless inactivity + behind the register; some deserted ladies flitted through the door of the + parlor at the side. He recalled the evening of his former visit, when he + and Isabel had met the Ellisons in that parlor, and it seemed, in the + retrospect, a scene of the wildest gayety. He turned for consolation into + the barber's shop, where he found himself the only customer, and no + busy sound of “Next” greeted his ear. But the barber, like all + the rest, said that Niagara was not unusually empty; and he came out + feeling bewildered and defrauded. Surely the agent of the boats which + descend the Rapids of the St. Lawrence must be frank, if Basil went to him + and pretended that he was going to buy a ticket. But a glance at the agent's + sign showed Basil that the agent, with his brave jollity of manner and his + impressive “Good-morning,” had passed away from the deceits of + travel, and that he was now inherited by his widow, who in turn was + absent, and temporarily represented by their son. The boy, in supplying + Basil with an advertisement of the line, made a specious show of haste, as + if there were a long queue of tourists waiting behind him to be served + with tickets. Perhaps there was, indeed, a spectral line there, but Basil + was the only tourist present in the flesh, and he shivered in his + isolation, and fled with the advertisement in his hand. Isabel met him at + the door of the station with a frightened face. + </p> + <p> + “Basil,” she cried, “I have found out what the trouble + is! Where are the brides?” + </p> + <p> + He took her outstretched hands in his, and passing one of them through his + arm walked with her apart from the children, who were examining at the + news-man's booth the moccasins and the birchbark bric-a-brac of the + Irish aborigines, and the cups and vases of Niagara spar imported from + Devonshire. + </p> + <p> + “My dear,” he said, “there are no brides; everybody was + married twelve years ago, and the brides are middle-aged mothers of + families now, and don't come to Niagara if they are wise.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she desolately asserted, “that is so! Something + has been hanging over me ever since we came, and suddenly I realized that + it was the absence of the brides. But—but—down at the hotels—Didn't + you see anything bridal there? When the omnibuses arrived, was there no + burst of minstrelsy? Was there—” + </p> + <p> + She could not go on, but sank nervelessly into the nearest seat. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said Basil, dreamily regarding the contest of Tom + and Bella for a newly-purchased paper of sour cherries, and helplessly + forecasting in his remoter mind the probable consequences, “there + were both brides and minstrelsy at the hotel, if I had only had the eyes + to see and the ears to hear. In this world, my dear, we are always of our + own time, and we live amid contemporary things. I daresay there were + middle-aged people at Niagara when we were here before, but we did not + meet them, nor they us. I daresay that the place is now swarming with + bridal couples, and it is because they are invisible and inaudible to us + that it seems such a howling wilderness. But the hotel clerks and the + restaurateurs and the hackmen know them, and that is the reason why they + receive with surprise and even offense our sympathy for their loneliness. + Do you suppose, Isabel, that if you were to lay your head on my shoulder, + in a bridal manner, it would do anything to bring us en rapport with that + lost bridal world again?” + </p> + <p> + Isabel caught away her hand. “Basil,” she cried, “it + would be disgusting! I wouldn't do it for the world—not even + for that world. I saw one middle-aged couple on Goat Island, while you + were down at the Cave of the Winds, or somewhere, with the children. They + were sitting on some steps, he a step below her, and he seemed to want to + put his head on her knee; but I gazed at him sternly, and he didn't + dare. We should look like them, if we yielded to any outburst of + affection. Don't you think we should look like them?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Basil. “You are certainly a + little wrinkled, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + “And you are very fat, Basil.” + </p> + <p> + They glanced at each other with a flash of resentment, and then they both + laughed. “We couldn't look young if we quarreled a week,” + he said. “We had better content ourselves with feeling young, as I + hope we shall do if we live to be ninety. It will be the loss of others if + they don't see our bloom upon us. Shall I get you a paper of + cherries, Isabel? The children seem to be enjoying them.” + </p> + <p> + Isabel sprang upon her offspring with a cry of despair. “Oh, what + shall I do? Now we shall not have a wink of sleep with them to-night. + Where is that nux?” She hunted for the medicine in her bag, and the + children submitted; for they had eaten all the cherries, and they took + their medicine without a murmur. “I wonder at your letting them eat + the sour things, Basil,” said their mother, when the children had + run off to the newsstand again. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder that you left me to see what they were doing,” + promptly retorted their father. + </p> + <p> + “It was your nonsense about the brides,” said Isabel; “and + I think this has been a lesson to us. Don't let them get anything + else to eat, dearest.” + </p> + <p> + “They are safe; they have no more money. They are frugally confining + themselves to the admiration of the Japanese bows and arrows yonder. Why + have our Indians taken to making Japanese bows and arrows?” + </p> + <p> + Isabel despised the small pleasantry. “Then you saw nobody at the + hotel?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not even the Ellisons,” said Basil. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, yes,” said Isabel; “that was where we met them. How + long ago it seems! And poor little Kitty! I wonder what has become of + them? But I'm glad they're not here. That's what makes + you realize your age: meeting the same people in the same place a great + while after, and seeing how old—they've grown. I don't + think I could bear to see Kitty Ellison again. I'm glad she didn't + come to visit us in Boston, though, after what happened, she could n't, + poor thing! I wonder if she's ever regretted her breaking with him + in the way she did. It's a very painful thing to think of,—such + an inconclusive conclusion; it always seemed as if they ought to meet + again, somewhere.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe she ever wished it.” + </p> + <p> + “A man can't tell what a woman wishes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, neither can a woman,” returned Basil, lightly. + </p> + <p> + His wife remained serious. “It was a very fine point,—a very + little thing to reject a man for. I felt that when I first read her letter + about it.” + </p> + <p> + Basil yawned. “I don't believe I ever knew just what the point + was.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, you did; but you forget everything. You know that they met + two Boston ladies just after they were engaged, and she believed that he + did n't introduce her because he was ashamed of her countrified + appearance before them.” + </p> + <p> + “It was a pretty fine point,” said Basil, and he laughed + provokingly. + </p> + <p> + “He might not have meant to ignore her,” answered Isabel + thoughtfully; “he might have chosen not to introduce her because he + felt too proud of her to subject her to any possible misappreciation from + them. You might have looked at it in that way.” + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you look at it in that way? You advised her + against giving him another chance. Why did you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” repeated Isabel, absently. “Oh, a woman doesn't + judge a man by what he does, but by what he is! I knew that if she + dismissed him it was because she never really had trusted or could trust + his love; and I thought she had better not make another trial.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, very possibly you were right. At any rate, you have the + consolation of knowing that it's too late to help it now.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it's too late,” said Isabel; and her thoughts went + back to her meeting with the young girl whom she had liked so much, and + whose after history had interested her so painfully. It seemed to her a + hard world that could come to nothing better than that for the girl whom + she had seen in her first glimpse of it that night. Where was she now? + What had become of her? If she had married that man, would she have been + any happier? Marriage was not the poetic dream of perfect union that a + girl imagines it; she herself had found that out. It was a state of trial, + of probation; it was an ordeal, not an ecstasy. If she and Basil had + broken each other's hearts and parted, would not the fragments of + their lives have been on a much finer, much higher plane? Had not the + commonplace, every-day experiences of marriage vulgarized them both? To be + sure, there were the children; but if they had never had the children, she + would never have missed them; and if Basil had, for example, died just + before they were married—She started from this wicked reverie, and + ran towards her husband, whose broad, honest back, with no visible neck or + shirt-collar, was turned towards her, as he stood, with his head thrown + up, studying a time-table on the wall; she passed her arm convulsively + through his, and pulled him away. + </p> + <p> + “It's time to be getting our bags out to the train, Basil! + Come, Bella! Tom, we're going!” + </p> + <p> + The children reluctantly turned from the newsman's trumpery, and + they all went out to the track, and took seats on the benches under the + colonnade. While they waited; the train for Buffalo drew in, and they + remained watching it till it started. In the last car that passed them, + when it was fairly under way, a face looked full at Isabel from one of the + windows. In that moment of astonishment she forgot to observe whether it + was sad or glad; she only saw, or believed she saw, the light of + recognition dawn into its eyes, and then it was gone. + </p> + <p> + “Basil!” she cried, “stop the train! That was Kitty + Ellison!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no, it wasn't,” said Basil, easily. “It looked + like her; but it looked at least ten years older.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course it was! We're all ten years older,” + returned his wife in such indignation at his stupidity that she neglected + to insist upon his stopping the train, which was rapidly diminishing in + the perspective. + </p> + <p> + He declared it was only a fancied resemblance; she contended that this was + in the neighborhood of Eriecreek, and it must be Kitty; and thus one of + their most inveterate disagreements began. + </p> + <p> + Their own train drew into the depot, and they disputed upon the fact in + question till they entered on the passage of the Suspension Bridge. Then + Basil rose and called the children to his side. On the left hand, far up + the river, the great Fall shows, with its mists at its foot and its + rainbow on its brow, as silent and still as if it were vastly painted + there; and below the bridge on the right, leap the Rapids in the narrow + gorge, like seas on a rocky shore. “Look on both sides, now,” + he said to the children. “Isabel you must see this!” + </p> + <p> + Isabel had been preparing for the passage of this bridge ever since she + left Boston. “Never!” she exclaimed. She instantly closed her + eyes, and hid her face in her handkerchief. Thanks to this precaution of + hers, the train crossed the bridge in perfect safety. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITORS BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + All luckiest or the unluckiest, the healthiest or the sickest + All the loveliness that exists outside of you, dearest is little + Amusing world, if you do not refuse to be amused + At heart every man is a smuggler + Beautiful with the radiance of loving and being loved + Bewildering labyrinth of error + Biggest place is always the kindest as well as the cruelest + Brown-stone fronts + Civilly protested and consented + Coldly and inaccessibly vigilant + Collective silence which passes for sociality + Deadly summer day + Dinner unites the idea of pleasure and duty + Dog that had plainly made up his mind to go mad + Evil which will not let a man forgive his victim + Feeblest-minded are sure to lead the talk + Feeling of contempt for his unambitious destination + Feeling rather ashamed,—for he had laughed too + Glad; which considering, they ceased to be + Guilty rapture of a deliberate dereliction + Happiness built upon and hedged about with misery + Happiness is so unreasonable + Headache darkens the universe while it lasts + Heart that forgives but does not forget + Helplessness accounts for many heroic facts in the world + Helplessness begets a sense of irresponsibility + I supposed I had the pleasure of my wife's acquaintance + I want to be sorry upon the easiest possible terms + I'm not afraid—I'm awfully demoralized + Indulge safely in the pleasures of autobiography + It's the same as a promise, your not saying you wouldn't + It had come as all such calamities come, from nothing + Jesting mood in the face of all embarrassments + Long life of holidays which is happy marriage + Married the whole mystifying world of womankind + Muddy draught which impudently affected to be coffee + Never could have an emotion without desiring to analyze it + Nothing so apt to end in mutual dislike,—except gratitude + Nothing so sad to her as a bride, unless it's a young mother + Oblivion of sleep + Only so much clothing as the law compelled + Parkman + Patronizing spirit of travellers in a foreign country + Rejoice in everything that I haven't done + Seemed the last phase of a world presently to be destroyed + Self-sufficiency, without its vulgarity + So hard to give up doing anything we have meant to do + So old a world and groping still + The knowledge of your helplessness in any circumstances + There is little proportion about either pain or pleasure + They can only do harm by an expression of sympathy + Tragical character of heat + Used to having his decisions reached without his knowledge + Vexed by a sense of his own pitifulness + Voice of the common imbecility and incoherence + Weariness of buying + Willingness to find poetry in things around them +</pre> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES + </h2> + <h3> + By William Dean Howells + </h3> + <h4> + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL + </h4> + <p> + The following story was the first fruit of my New York life when I began + to live it after my quarter of a century in Cambridge and Boston, ending + in 1889; and I used my own transition to the commercial metropolis in + framing the experience which was wholly that of my supposititious literary + adventurer. He was a character whom, with his wife, I have employed in + some six or eight other stories, and whom I made as much the hero and + heroine of 'Their Wedding Journey' as the slight fable would + bear. In venturing out of my adoptive New England, where I had found + myself at home with many imaginary friends, I found it natural to ask the + company of these familiar acquaintances, but their company was not to be + had at once for the asking. When I began speaking of them as Basil and + Isabel, in the fashion of 'Their Wedding Journey,' they would + not respond with the effect of early middle age which I desired in them. + They remained wilfully, not to say woodenly, the young bridal pair of that + romance, without the promise of novel functioning. It was not till I tried + addressing them as March and Mrs. March that they stirred under my hand + with fresh impulse, and set about the work assigned them as people in + something more than their second youth. + </p> + <p> + The scene into which I had invited them to figure filled the largest + canvas I had yet allowed myself; and, though 'A Hazard of New + Fortunes' was not the first story I had written with the printer at + my heels, it was the first which took its own time to prescribe its own + dimensions. I had the general design well in mind when I began to write + it, but as it advanced it compelled into its course incidents, interests, + individualities, which I had not known lay near, and it specialized and + amplified at points which I had not always meant to touch, though I should + not like to intimate anything mystical in the fact. It became, to my + thinking, the most vital of my fictions, through my quickened interest in + + the life about me, at a moment of great psychological import. We had + passed through a period of strong emotioning in the direction of the + humaner economics, if I may phrase it so; the rich seemed not so much to + despise the poor, the poor did not so hopelessly repine. The solution of + the riddle of the painful earth through the dreams of Henry George, + through the dreams of Edward Bellamy, through the dreams of all the + generous visionaries of the past, seemed not impossibly far off. That + shedding of blood which is for the remission of sins had been symbolized + by the bombs and scaffolds of Chicago, and the hearts of those who felt + the wrongs bound up with our rights, the slavery implicated in our + liberty, were thrilling with griefs and hopes hitherto strange to the + average American breast. Opportunely for me there was a great street-car + strike in New York, and the story began to find its way to issues nobler + and larger than those of the love-affairs common to fiction. I was in my + fifty-second year when I took it up, and in the prime, such as it was, of + my powers. The scene which I had chosen appealed prodigiously to me, and + the action passed as nearly without my conscious agency as I ever allow + myself to think such things happen. + </p> + <p> + The opening chapters were written in a fine, old fashioned apartment house + which had once been a family house, and in an uppermost room of which I + could look from my work across the trees of the little park in Stuyvesant + Square to the towers of St. George's Church. Then later in the + spring of 1889 the unfinished novel was carried to a country house on the + Belmont border of Cambridge. There I must have written very rapidly to + have pressed it to conclusion before the summer ended. It came, indeed, so + easily from the pen that I had the misgiving which I always have of things + which do not cost me great trouble. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing in the book with which I amused myself more than the + house-hunting of the Marches when they were placing themselves in New + York; and if the contemporary reader should turn for instruction to the + pages in which their experience is detailed I assure him that he may trust + their fidelity and accuracy in the article of New York housing as it was + early in the last decade of the last century: I mean, the housing of + people of such moderate means as the Marches. In my zeal for truth I did + not distinguish between reality and actuality in this or other matters—that + is, one was as precious to me as the other. But the types here portrayed + are as true as ever they were, though the world in which they were finding + their habitat is wonderfully, almost incredibly different. Yet it is not + wholly different, for a young literary pair now adventuring in New York + might easily parallel the experience of the Marches with their own, if not + for so little money; many phases of New York housing are better, but all + are dearer. Other aspects of the material city have undergone a + transformation much more wonderful. I find that in my book its population + is once modestly spoken of as two millions, but now in twenty years it is + twice as great, and the grandeur as well as grandiosity of its forms is + doubly apparent. The transitional public that then moped about in mildly + tinkling horse-cars is now hurried back and forth in clanging trolleys, in + honking and whirring motors; the Elevated road which was the last word of + speed is undermined by the Subway, shooting its swift shuttles through the + subterranean woof of the city's haste. From these feet let the + witness infer our whole massive Hercules, a bulk that sprawls and + stretches beyond the rivers through the tunnels piercing their beds and + that towers into the skies with innumerable tops—a Hercules blent of + Briareus and Cerberus, but not so bad a monster as it seemed then to + threaten becoming. + </p> + <p> + Certain hopes of truer and better conditions on which my heart was fixed + twenty years ago are not less dear, and they are by no means touched with + despair, though they have not yet found the fulfilment which I would then + have prophesied for them. Events have not wholly played them false; events + have not halted, though they have marched with a slowness that might + affect a younger observer as marking time. They who were then mindful of + the poor have not forgotten them, and what is better the poor have not + often forgotten themselves in violences such as offered me the material of + tragedy and pathos in my story. In my quality of artist I could not regret + these, and I gratefully realize that they offered me the opportunity of a + more strenuous action, a more impressive catastrophe than I could have + achieved without them. They tended to give the whole fable dignity and + doubtless made for its success as a book. As a serial it had crept a + sluggish course before a public apparently so unmindful of it that no + rumor of its acceptance or rejection reached the writer during the half + year of its publication; but it rose in book form from that failure and + stood upon its feet and went its way to greater favor than any book of his + had yet enjoyed. I hope that my recognition of the fact will not seem like + boasting, but that the reader will regard it as a special confidence from + the author and will let it go no farther. + </p> + <p> + KITTERY POINT, MAINE, July, 1909. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART1a" id="link2H_PART1a"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART FIRST + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + “Now, you think this thing over, March, and let me know the last of + next week,” said Fulkerson. He got up from the chair which he had + been sitting astride, with his face to its back, and tilting toward March + on its hind-legs, and came and rapped upon his table with his thin bamboo + stick. “What you want to do is to get out of the insurance business, + anyway. You acknowledge that yourself. You never liked it, and now it + makes you sick; in other words, it's killing you. You ain't an + insurance man by nature. You're a natural-born literary man, and you've + been going against the grain. Now, I offer you a chance to go with the + grain. I don't say you're going to make your everlasting + fortune, but I'll give you a living salary, and if the thing + succeeds you'll share in its success. We'll all share in its + success. That's the beauty of it. I tell you, March, this is the + greatest idea that has been struck since”—Fulkerson stopped + and searched his mind for a fit image—“since the creation of + man.” + </p> + <p> + He put his leg up over the corner of March's table and gave himself + a sharp cut on the thigh, and leaned forward to get the full effect of his + words upon his listener. + </p> + <p> + March had his hands clasped together behind his head, and he took one of + them down long enough to put his inkstand and mucilage-bottle out of + Fulkerson's way. After many years' experiment of a mustache + and whiskers, he now wore his grizzled beard full, but cropped close; it + gave him a certain grimness, corrected by the gentleness of his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Some people don't think much of the creation of man nowadays. + Why stop at that? Why not say since the morning stars sang together?” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir; no, sir! I don't want to claim too much, and I draw + the line at the creation of man. I'm satisfied with that. But if you + want to ring the morning stars into the prospectus all right; I won't + go back on you.” + </p> + <p> + “But I don't understand why you've set your mind on me,” + March said. “I haven't had, any magazine experience, you know + that; and I haven't seriously attempted to do anything in literature + since I was married. I gave up smoking and the Muse together. I suppose I + could still manage a cigar, but I don't believe I could—” + </p> + <p> + “Muse worth a cent.” Fulkerson took the thought out of his + mouth and put it into his own words. “I know. Well, I don't + want you to. I don't care if you never write a line for the thing, + though you needn't reject anything of yours, if it happens to be + good, on that account. And I don't want much experience in my + editor; rather not have it. You told me, didn't you, that you used + to do some newspaper work before you settled down?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I thought my lines were permanently cast in those places once. + It was more an accident than anything else that I got into the insurance + business. I suppose I secretly hoped that if I made my living by something + utterly different, I could come more freshly to literature proper in my + leisure.” + </p> + <p> + “I see; and you found the insurance business too many, for you. + Well, anyway, you've always had a hankering for the inkpots; and the + fact that you first gave me the idea of this thing shows that you've + done more or less thinking about magazines.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—less.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, all right. Now don't you be troubled. I know what I + want, generally, speaking, and in this particular instance I want you. I + might get a man of more experience, but I should probably get a man of + more prejudice and self-conceit along with him, and a man with a following + of the literary hangers-on that are sure to get round an editor sooner or + later. I want to start fair, and I've found out in the syndicate + business all the men that are worth having. But they know me, and they don't + know you, and that's where we shall have the pull on them. They won't + be able to work the thing. Don't you be anxious about the + experience. I've got experience enough of my own to run a dozen + editors. What I want is an editor who has taste, and you've got it; + and conscience, and you've got it; and horse sense, and you've + got that. And I like you because you're a Western man, and I'm + another. I do cotton to a Western man when I find him off East here, + holding his own with the best of 'em, and showing 'em that he's + just as much civilized as they are. We both know what it is to have our + bright home in the setting sun; heigh?” + </p> + <p> + “I think we Western men who've come East are apt to take + ourselves a little too objectively and to feel ourselves rather more + representative than we need,” March remarked. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was delighted. “You've hit it! We do! We are!” + </p> + <p> + “And as for holding my own, I'm not very proud of what I've + done in that way; it's been very little to hold. But I know what you + mean, Fulkerson, and I've felt the same thing myself; it warmed me + toward you when we first met. I can't help suffusing a little to any + man when I hear that he was born on the other side of the Alleghanies. It's + perfectly stupid. I despise the same thing when I see it in Boston people.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson pulled first one of his blond whiskers and then the other, and + twisted the end of each into a point, which he left to untwine itself. He + fixed March with his little eyes, which had a curious innocence in their + cunning, and tapped the desk immediately in front of him. “What I + like about you is that you're broad in your sympathies. The first + time I saw you, that night on the Quebec boat, I said to myself: 'There's + a man I want to know. There's a human being.' I was a little + afraid of Mrs. March and the children, but I felt at home with you—thoroughly + domesticated—before I passed a word with you; and when you spoke + first, and opened up with a joke over that fellow's tableful of + light literature and Indian moccasins and birch-bark toy canoes and + stereoscopic views, I knew that we were brothers—spiritual twins. I + recognized the Western style of fun, and I thought, when you said you were + from Boston, that it was some of the same. But I see now that its being a + cold fact, as far as the last fifteen or twenty years count, is just so + much gain. You know both sections, and you can make this thing go, from + ocean to ocean.” + </p> + <p> + “We might ring that into the prospectus, too,” March + suggested, with a smile. “You might call the thing 'From Sea + to Sea.' By-the-way, what are you going to call it?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't decided yet; that's one of the things I + wanted to talk with you about. I had thought of 'The Syndicate'; + but it sounds kind of dry, and doesn't seem to cover the ground + exactly. I should like something that would express the co-operative + character of the thing, but I don't know as I can get it.” + </p> + <p> + “Might call it 'The Mutual'.” + </p> + <p> + “They'd think it was an insurance paper. No, that won't + do. But Mutual comes pretty near the idea. If we could get something like + that, it would pique curiosity; and then if we could get paragraphs afloat + explaining that the contributors were to be paid according to the sales, + it would be a first-rate ad.” + </p> + <p> + He bent a wide, anxious, inquiring smile upon March, who suggested, + lazily: “You might call it 'The Round-Robin'. That would + express the central idea of irresponsibility. As I understand, everybody + is to share the profits and be exempt from the losses. Or, if I'm + wrong, and the reverse is true, you might call it 'The Army of + Martyrs'. Come, that sounds attractive, Fulkerson! Or what do you + think of 'The Fifth Wheel'? That would forestall the criticism + that there are too many literary periodicals already. Or, if you want to + put forward the idea of complete independence, you could call it 'The + Free Lance'; or—” + </p> + <p> + “Or 'The Hog on Ice'—either stand up or fall down, + you know,” Fulkerson broke in coarsely. “But we'll leave + the name of the magazine till we get the editor. I see the poison's + beginning to work in you, March; and if I had time I'd leave the + result to time. But I haven't. I've got to know inside of the + next week. To come down to business with you, March, I sha'n't + start this thing unless I can get you to take hold of it.” + </p> + <p> + He seemed to expect some acknowledgment, and March said, “Well, that's + very nice of you, Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir; no, sir! I've always liked you and wanted you ever + since we met that first night. I had this thing inchoately in my mind + then, when I was telling you about the newspaper syndicate business—beautiful + vision of a lot of literary fellows breaking loose from the bondage of + publishers and playing it alone—” + </p> + <p> + “You might call it 'The Lone Hand'; that would be + attractive,” March interrupted. “The whole West would know + what you meant.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was talking seriously, and March was listening seriously; but + they both broke off and laughed. Fulkerson got down off the table and made + some turns about the room. It was growing late; the October sun had left + the top of the tall windows; it was still clear day, but it would soon be + twilight; they had been talking a long time. Fulkerson came and stood with + his little feet wide apart, and bent his little lean, square face on + March. “See here! How much do you get out of this thing here, + anyway?” + </p> + <p> + “The insurance business?” March hesitated a moment and then + said, with a certain effort of reserve, “At present about three + thousand.” He looked up at Fulkerson with a glance, as if he had a + mind to enlarge upon the fact, and then dropped his eyes without saying + more. + </p> + <p> + Whether Fulkerson had not thought it so much or not, he said: “Well, + I'll give you thirty-five hundred. Come! And your chances in the + success.” + </p> + <p> + “We won't count the chances in the success. And I don't + believe thirty-five hundred would go any further in New York than three + thousand in Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “But you don't live on three thousand here?” + </p> + <p> + “No; my wife has a little property.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, she won't lose the income if you go to New York. I + suppose you pay ten or twelve hundred a year for your house here. You can + get plenty of flats in New York for the same money; and I understand you + can get all sorts of provisions for less than you pay now—three or + four cents on the pound. Come!” + </p> + <p> + This was by no means the first talk they had had about the matter; every + three or four months during the past two years the syndicate man had + dropped in upon March to air the scheme and to get his impressions of it. + This had happened so often that it had come to be a sort of joke between + them. But now Fulkerson clearly meant business, and March had a struggle + to maintain himself in a firm poise of refusal. + </p> + <p> + “I dare say it wouldn't—or it needn't—cost + so very much more, but I don't want to go to New York; or my wife + doesn't. It's the same thing.” + </p> + <p> + “A good deal samer,” Fulkerson admitted. + </p> + <p> + March did not quite like his candor, and he went on with dignity. “It's + very natural she shouldn't. She has always lived in Boston; she's + attached to the place. Now, if you were going to start 'The Fifth + Wheel' in Boston—” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson slowly and sadly shook his head, but decidedly. “Wouldn't + do. You might as well say St. Louis or Cincinnati. There's only one + city that belongs to the whole country, and that's New York.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” sighed March; “and Boston belongs to the + Bostonians, but they like you to make yourself at home while you're + visiting.” + </p> + <p> + “If you'll agree to make phrases like that, right along, and + get them into 'The Round-Robin' somehow, I'll say four + thousand,” said Fulkerson. “You think it over now, March. You + talk it over with Mrs. March; I know you will, anyway; and I might as well + make a virtue of advising you to do it. Tell her I advised you to do it, + and you let me know before next Saturday what you've decided.” + </p> + <p> + March shut down the rolling top of his desk in the corner of the room, and + walked Fulkerson out before him. It was so late that the last of the + chore-women who washed down the marble halls and stairs of the great + building had wrung out her floor-cloth and departed, leaving spotless + stone and a clean, damp smell in the darkening corridors behind her. + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't offer you such swell quarters in New York, March,” + Fulkerson said, as he went tack-tacking down the steps with his small + boot-heels. “But I've got my eye on a little house round in + West Eleventh Street that I'm going to fit up for my bachelor's + hall in the third story, and adapt for 'The Lone Hand' in the + first and second, if this thing goes through; and I guess we'll be + pretty comfortable. It's right on the Sand Strip—no malaria of + any kind.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I'm going to share its salubrity with + you yet,” March sighed, in an obvious travail which gave Fulkerson + hopes. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, you are,” he coaxed. “Now, you talk it over + with your wife. You give her a fair, unprejudiced chance at the thing on + its merits, and I'm very much mistaken in Mrs. March if she doesn't + tell you to go in and win. We're bound to win!” + </p> + <p> + They stood on the outside steps of the vast edifice beetling like a + granite crag above them, with the stone groups of an allegory of + life-insurance foreshortened in the bas-relief overhead. March absently + lifted his eyes to it. It was suddenly strange after so many years' + familiarity, and so was the well-known street in its Saturday-evening + solitude. He asked himself, with prophetic homesickness, if it were an + omen of what was to be. But he only said, musingly: “A fortnightly. + You know that didn't work in England. The fortnightly is published + once a month now.” + </p> + <p> + “It works in France,” Fulkerson retorted. “The 'Revue + des Deux Mondes' is still published twice a month. I guess we can + make it work in America—with illustrations.” + </p> + <p> + “Going to have illustrations?” + </p> + <p> + “My dear boy! What are you giving me? Do I look like the sort of + lunatic who would start a thing in the twilight of the nineteenth century + without illustrations? Come off!” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that complicates it! I don't know anything about art.” + March's look of discouragement confessed the hold the scheme had + taken upon him. + </p> + <p> + “I don't want you to!” Fulkerson retorted. “Don't + you suppose I shall have an art man?” + </p> + <p> + “And will they—the artists—work at a reduced rate, too, + like the writers, with the hopes of a share in the success?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course they will! And if I want any particular man, for a card, + I'll pay him big money besides. But I can get plenty of first-rate + sketches on my own terms. You'll see! They'll pour in!” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, Fulkerson,” said March, “you'd better + call this fortnightly of yours 'The Madness of the Half-Moon'; + or 'Bedlam Broke Loose' wouldn't be bad! Why do you + throw away all your hard earnings on such a crazy venture? Don't do + it!” The kindness which March had always felt, in spite of his wife's + first misgivings and reservations, for the merry, hopeful, slangy, + energetic little creature trembled in his voice. They had both formed a + friendship for Fulkerson during the week they were together in Quebec. + When he was not working the newspapers there, he went about with them over + the familiar ground they were showing their children, and was simply + grateful for the chance, as well as very entertaining about it all. The + children liked him, too; when they got the clew to his intention, and + found that he was not quite serious in many of the things he said, they + thought he was great fun. They were always glad when their father brought + him home on the occasion of Fulkerson's visits to Boston; and Mrs. + March, though of a charier hospitality, welcomed Fulkerson with a grateful + sense of his admiration for her husband. He had a way of treating March + with deference, as an older and abler man, and of qualifying the freedom + he used toward every one with an implication that March tolerated it + voluntarily, which she thought very sweet and even refined. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, now you're talking like a man and a brother,” said + Fulkerson. “Why, March, old man, do you suppose I'd come on + here and try to talk you into this thing if I wasn't morally, if I + wasn't perfectly, sure of success? There isn't any if or and + about it. I know my ground, every inch; and I don't stand alone on + it,” he added, with a significance which did not escape March. + “When you've made up your mind I can give you the proof; but I'm + not at liberty now to say anything more. I tell you it's going to be + a triumphal march from the word go, with coffee and lemonade for the + procession along the whole line. All you've got to do is to fall in.” + He stretched out his hand to March. “You let me know as soon as you + can.” + </p> + <p> + March deferred taking his hand till he could ask, “Where are you + going?” + </p> + <p> + “Parker House. Take the eleven for New York to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought I might walk your way.” March looked at his watch. + “But I shouldn't have time. Goodbye!” + </p> + <p> + He now let Fulkerson have his hand, and they exchanged a cordial pressure. + Fulkerson started away at a quick, light pace. Half a block off he + stopped, turned round, and, seeing March still standing where he had left + him, he called back, joyously, “I've got the name!” + </p> + <p> + “What?” + </p> + <p> + “Every Other Week.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't bad.” + </p> + <p> + “Ta-ta!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + All the way up to the South End March mentally prolonged his talk with + Fulkerson, and at his door in Nankeen Square he closed the parley with a + plump refusal to go to New York on any terms. His daughter Bella was lying + in wait for him in the hall, and she threw her arms round his neck with + the exuberance of her fourteen years and with something of the histrionic + intention of her sex. He pressed on, with her clinging about him, to the + library, and, in the glow of his decision against Fulkerson, kissed his + wife, where she sat by the study lamp reading the Transcript through her + first pair of eye-glasses: it was agreed in the family that she looked + distinguished in them, or, at any rate, cultivated. She took them off to + give him a glance of question, and their son Tom looked up from his book + for a moment; he was in his last year at the high school, and was + preparing for Harvard. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't get away from the office till half-past five,” + March explained to his wife's glance, “and then I walked. I + suppose dinner's waiting. I'm sorry, but I won't do it + any more.” + </p> + <p> + At table he tried to be gay with Bella, who babbled at him with a voluble + pertness which her brother had often advised her parents to check in her, + unless they wanted her to be universally despised. + </p> + <p> + “Papa!” she shouted at last, “you're not + listening!” As soon as possible his wife told the children they + might be excused. Then she asked, “What is it, Basil?” + </p> + <p> + “What is what?” he retorted, with a specious brightness that + did not avail. + </p> + <p> + “What is on your mind?” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know there's anything?” + </p> + <p> + “Your kissing me so when you came in, for one thing.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't I always kiss you when I come in?” + </p> + <p> + “Not now. I suppose it isn't necessary any more. 'Cela + va sans baiser.'” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I guess it's so; we get along without the symbolism now.” + He stopped, but she knew that he had not finished. + </p> + <p> + “Is it about your business? Have they done anything more?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I'm still in the dark. I don't know whether they + mean to supplant me, or whether they ever did. But I wasn't thinking + about that. Fulkerson has been to see me again.” + </p> + <p> + “Fulkerson?” She brightened at the name, and March smiled, + too. “Why didn't you bring him to dinner?” + </p> + <p> + “I wanted to talk with you. Then you do like him?” + </p> + <p> + “What has that got to do with it, Basil?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing! nothing! That is, he was boring away about that scheme of + his again. He's got it into definite shape at last.” + </p> + <p> + “What shape?” + </p> + <p> + March outlined it for her, and his wife seized its main features with the + intuitive sense of affairs which makes women such good business-men when + they will let it. + </p> + <p> + “It sounds perfectly crazy,” she said, finally. “But it + mayn't be. The only thing I didn't like about Mr. Fulkerson + was his always wanting to chance things. But what have you got to do with + it?” + </p> + <p> + “What have I got to do with it?” March toyed with the delay + the question gave him; then he said, with a sort of deprecatory laugh: + “It seems that Fulkerson has had his eye on me ever since we met + that night on the Quebec boat. I opened up pretty freely to him, as you do + to a man you never expect to see again, and when I found he was in that + newspaper syndicate business I told him about my early literary ambitions—” + </p> + <p> + “You can't say that I ever discouraged them, Basil,” his + wife put in. “I should have been willing, any time, to give up + everything for them.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he says that I first suggested this brilliant idea to him. + Perhaps I did; I don't remember. When he told me about his supplying + literature to newspapers for simultaneous publication, he says I asked: + 'Why not apply the principle of co-operation to a magazine, and run + it in the interest of the contributors?' and that set him to + thinking, and he thought out his plan of a periodical which should pay + authors and artists a low price outright for their work and give them a + chance of the profits in the way of a percentage. After all, it isn't + so very different from the chances an author takes when he publishes a + book. And Fulkerson thinks that the novelty of the thing would pique + public curiosity, if it didn't arouse public sympathy. And the long + and short of it is, Isabel, that he wants me to help edit it.” + </p> + <p> + “To edit it?” His wife caught her breath, and she took a + little time to realize the fact, while she stared hard at her husband to + make sure he was not joking. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He says he owes it all to me; that I invented the idea—the + germ—the microbe.” + </p> + <p> + His wife had now realized the fact, at least in a degree that excluded + trifling with it. “That is very honorable of Mr. Fulkerson; and if + he owes it to you, it was the least he could do.” Having recognized + her husband's claim to the honor done him, she began to kindle with + a sense of the honor itself and the value of the opportunity. “It's + a very high compliment to you, Basil—a very high compliment. And you + could give up this wretched insurance business that you've always + hated so, and that's making you so unhappy now that you think they're + going to take it from you. Give it up and take Mr. Fulkerson's + offer! It's a perfect interposition, coming just at this time! Why, + do it! Mercy!” she suddenly arrested herself, “he wouldn't + expect you to get along on the possible profits?” Her face expressed + the awfulness of the notion. + </p> + <p> + March smiled reassuringly, and waited to give himself the pleasure of the + sensation he meant to give her. “If I'll make striking phrases + for it and edit it, too, he'll give me four thousand dollars.” + </p> + <p> + He leaned back in his chair, and stuck his hands deep into his pockets, + and watched his wife's face, luminous with the emotions that flashed + through her mind—doubt, joy, anxiety. + </p> + <p> + “Basil! You don't mean it! Why, take it! Take it instantly! + Oh, what a thing to happen! Oh, what luck! But you deserve it, if you + first suggested it. What an escape, what a triumph over all those hateful + insurance people! Oh, Basil, I'm afraid he'll change his mind! + You ought to have accepted on the spot. You might have known I would + approve, and you could so easily have taken it back if I didn't. + Telegraph him now! Run right out with the despatch—Or we can send + Tom!” + </p> + <p> + In these imperatives of Mrs. March's there was always much of the + conditional. She meant that he should do what she said, if it were + entirely right; and she never meant to be considered as having urged him. + </p> + <p> + “And suppose his enterprise went wrong?” her husband + suggested. + </p> + <p> + “It won't go wrong. Hasn't he made a success of his + syndicate?” + </p> + <p> + “He says so—yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, then, it stands to reason that he'll succeed in + this, too. He wouldn't undertake it if he didn't know it would + succeed; he must have capital.” + </p> + <p> + “It will take a great deal to get such a thing going; and even if he's + got an Angel behind him—” + </p> + <p> + She caught at the word—“An Angel?” + </p> + <p> + “It's what the theatrical people call a financial backer. He + dropped a hint of something of that kind.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, he's got an Angel,” said his wife, promptly + adopting the word. “And even if he hadn't, still, Basil, I + should be willing to have you risk it. The risk isn't so great, is + it? We shouldn't be ruined if it failed altogether. With our stocks + we have two thousand a year, anyway, and we could pinch through on that + till you got into some other business afterward, especially if we'd + saved something out of your salary while it lasted. Basil, I want you to + try it! I know it will give you a new lease of life to have a congenial + occupation.” March laughed, but his wife persisted. “I'm + all for your trying it, Basil; indeed I am. If it's an experiment, + you can give it up.” + </p> + <p> + “It can give me up, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, nonsense! I guess there's not much fear of that. Now, I + want you to telegraph Mr. Fulkerson, so that he'll find the despatch + waiting for him when he gets to New York. I'll take the whole + responsibility, Basil, and I'll risk all the consequences.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + March's face had sobered more and more as she followed one hopeful + burst with another, and now it expressed a positive pain. But he forced a + smile and said: “There's a little condition attached. Where + did you suppose it was to be published?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, in Boston, of course. Where else should it be published?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him for the intention of his question so searchingly that he + quite gave up the attempt to be gay about it. “No,” he said, + gravely, “it's to be published in New York.” + </p> + <p> + She fell back in her chair. “In New York?” She leaned forward + over the table toward him, as if to make sure that she heard aright, and + said, with all the keen reproach that he could have expected: “In + New York, Basil! Oh, how could you have let me go on?” + </p> + <p> + He had a sufficiently rueful face in owning: “I oughtn't to + have done it, but I got started wrong. I couldn't help putting the + best foot, forward at first—or as long as the whole thing was in the + air. I didn't know that you would take so much to the general + enterprise, or else I should have mentioned the New York condition at + once; but, of course, that puts an end to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, of course,” she assented, sadly. “We COULDN'T + go to New York.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I know that,” he said; and with this a perverse desire to + tempt her to the impossibility awoke in him, though he was really quite + cold about the affair himself now. “Fulkerson thought we could get a + nice flat in New York for about what the interest and taxes came to here, + and provisions are cheaper. But I should rather not experiment at my time + of life. If I could have been caught younger, I might have been inured to + New York, but I don't believe I could stand it now.” + </p> + <p> + “How I hate to have you talk that way, Basil! You are young enough + to try anything—anywhere; but you know I don't like New York. + I don't approve of it. It's so big, and so hideous! Of course + I shouldn't mind that; but I've always lived in Boston, and + the children were born and have all their friendships and associations + here.” She added, with the helplessness that discredited her good + sense and did her injustice, “I have just got them both into the + Friday afternoon class at Papanti's, and you know how difficult that + is.” + </p> + <p> + March could not fail to take advantage of an occasion like this. “Well, + that alone ought to settle it. Under the circumstances, it would be flying + in the face of Providence to leave Boston. The mere fact of a brilliant + opening like that offered me on 'The Microbe,' and the halcyon + future which Fulkerson promises if we'll come to New York, is as + dust in the balance against the advantages of the Friday afternoon class.” + </p> + <p> + “Basil,” she appealed, solemnly, “have I ever interfered + with your career?” + </p> + <p> + “I never had any for you to interfere with, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + “Basil! Haven't I always had faith in you? And don't you + suppose that if I thought it would really be for your advancement I would + go to New York or anywhere with you?” + </p> + <p> + “No, my dear, I don't,” he teased. “If it would be + for my salvation, yes, perhaps; but not short of that; and I should have + to prove by a cloud of witnesses that it would. I don't blame you. I + wasn't born in Boston, but I understand how you feel. And really, my + dear,” he added, without irony, “I never seriously thought of + asking you to go to New York. I was dazzled by Fulkerson's offer, I'll + own that; but his choice of me as editor sapped my confidence in him.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't like to hear you say that, Basil,” she + entreated. + </p> + <p> + “Well, of course there were mitigating circumstances. I could see + that Fulkerson meant to keep the whip-hand himself, and that was + reassuring. And, besides, if the Reciprocity Life should happen not to + want my services any longer, it wouldn't be quite like giving up a + certainty; though, as a matter of business, I let Fulkerson get that + impression; I felt rather sneaking to do it. But if the worst comes to the + worst, I can look about for something to do in Boston; and, anyhow, people + don't starve on two thousand a year, though it's convenient to + have five. The fact is, I'm too old to change so radically. If you + don't like my saying that, then you are, Isabel, and so are the + children. I've no right to take them from the home we've made, + and to change the whole course of their lives, unless I can assure them of + something, and I can't assure them of anything. Boston is big enough + for us, and it's certainly prettier than New York. I always feel a + little proud of hailing from Boston; my pleasure in the place mounts the + farther I get away from it. But I do appreciate it, my dear; I've no + more desire to leave it than you have. You may be sure that if you don't + want to take the children out of the Friday afternoon class, I don't + want to leave my library here, and all the ways I've got set in. We'll + keep on. Very likely the company won't supplant me, and if it does, + and Watkins gets the place, he'll give me a subordinate position of + some sort. Cheer up, Isabel! I have put Satan and his angel, Fulkerson, + behind me, and it's all right. Let's go in to the children.” + </p> + <p> + He came round the table to Isabel, where she sat in a growing distraction, + and lifted her by the waist from her chair. + </p> + <p> + She sighed deeply. “Shall we tell the children about it?” + </p> + <p> + “No. What's the use, now?” + </p> + <p> + “There wouldn't be any,” she assented. When they entered + the family room, where the boy and girl sat on either side of the lamp + working out the lessons for Monday which they had left over from the day + before, she asked, “Children, how would you like to live in New + York?” + </p> + <p> + Bella made haste to get in her word first. “And give up the Friday + afternoon class?” she wailed. + </p> + <p> + Tom growled from his book, without lifting his eyes: “I shouldn't + want to go to Columbia. They haven't got any dormitories, and you + have to board round anywhere. Are you going to New York?” He now + deigned to look up at his father. + </p> + <p> + “No, Tom. You and Bella have decided me against it. Your perspective + shows the affair in its true proportions. I had an offer to go to New + York, but I've refused it.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + March's irony fell harmless from the children's preoccupation + with their own affairs, but he knew that his wife felt it, and this added + to the bitterness which prompted it. He blamed her for letting her + provincial narrowness prevent his accepting Fulkerson's offer quite + as much as if he had otherwise entirely wished to accept it. His world, + like most worlds, had been superficially a disappointment. He was no + richer than at the beginning, though in marrying he had given up some + tastes, some preferences, some aspirations, in the hope of indulging them + later, with larger means and larger leisure. His wife had not urged him to + do it; in fact, her pride, as she said, was in his fitness for the life he + had renounced; but she had acquiesced, and they had been very happy + together. That is to say, they made up their quarrels or ignored them. + </p> + <p> + They often accused each other of being selfish and indifferent, but she + knew that he would always sacrifice himself for her and the children; and + he, on his part, with many gibes and mockeries, wholly trusted in her. + They had grown practically tolerant of each other's disagreeable + traits; and the danger that really threatened them was that they should + grow too well satisfied with themselves, if not with each other. They were + not sentimental, they were rather matter-of-fact in their motives; but + they had both a sort of humorous fondness for sentimentality. They liked + to play with the romantic, from the safe vantage-ground of their real + practicality, and to divine the poetry of the commonplace. Their peculiar + point of view separated them from most other people, with whom their means + of self-comparison were not so good since their marriage as before. Then + they had travelled and seen much of the world, and they had formed tastes + which they had not always been able to indulge, but of which they felt + that the possession reflected distinction on them. It enabled them to look + down upon those who were without such tastes; but they were not + ill-natured, and so they did not look down so much with contempt as with + amusement. In their unfashionable neighborhood they had the fame of being + not exclusive precisely, but very much wrapped up in themselves and their + children. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was reputed to be very cultivated, and Mr. March even more so, + among the simpler folk around them. Their house had some good pictures, + which her aunt had brought home from Europe in more affluent days, and it + abounded in books on which he spent more than he ought. They had + beautified it in every way, and had unconsciously taken credit to them + selves for it. They felt, with a glow almost of virtue, how perfectly it + fitted their lives and their children's, and they believed that + somehow it expressed their characters—that it was like them. They + went out very little; she remained shut up in its refinement, working the + good of her own; and he went to his business, and hurried back to forget + it, and dream his dream of intellectual achievement in the flattering + atmosphere of her sympathy. He could not conceal from himself that his + divided life was somewhat like Charles Lamb's, and there were times + when, as he had expressed to Fulkerson, he believed that its division was + favorable to the freshness of his interest in literature. It certainly + kept it a high privilege, a sacred refuge. Now and then he wrote + something, and got it printed after long delays, and when they met on the + St. Lawrence Fulkerson had some of March's verses in his + pocket-book, which he had cut out of astray newspaper and carried about + for years, because they pleased his fancy so much; they formed an + immediate bond of union between the men when their authorship was traced + and owned, and this gave a pretty color of romance to their acquaintance. + But, for the most part, March was satisfied to read. He was proud of + reading critically, and he kept in the current of literary interests and + controversies. It all seemed to him, and to his wife at second-hand, very + meritorious; he could not help contrasting his life and its inner elegance + with that of other men who had no such resources. He thought that he was + not arrogant about it, because he did full justice to the good qualities + of those other people; he congratulated himself upon the democratic + instincts which enabled him to do this; and neither he nor his wife + supposed that they were selfish persons. On the contrary, they were very + sympathetic; there was no good cause that they did not wish well; they had + a generous scorn of all kinds of narrow-heartedness; if it had ever come + into their way to sacrifice themselves for others, they thought they would + have done so, but they never asked why it had not come in their way. They + were very gentle and kind, even when most elusive; and they taught their + children to loathe all manner of social cruelty. March was of so watchful + a conscience in some respects that he denied himself the pensive pleasure + of lapsing into the melancholy of unfulfilled aspirations; but he did not + see that, if he had abandoned them, it had been for what he held dearer; + generally he felt as if he had turned from them with a high, altruistic + aim. The practical expression of his life was that it was enough to + provide well for his family; to have cultivated tastes, and to gratify + them to the extent of his means; to be rather distinguished, even in the + simplification of his desires. He believed, and his wife believed, that if + the time ever came when he really wished to make a sacrifice to the + fulfilment of the aspirations so long postponed, she would be ready to + join with heart and hand. + </p> + <p> + When he went to her room from his library, where she left him the whole + evening with the children, he found her before the glass thoughtfully + removing the first dismantling pin from her back hair. + </p> + <p> + “I can't help feeling,” she grieved into the mirror, + “that it's I who keep you from accepting that offer. I know it + is! I could go West with you, or into a new country—anywhere; but + New York terrifies me. I don't like New York, I never did; it + disheartens and distracts me; I can't find myself in it; I shouldn't + know how to shop. I know I'm foolish and narrow and provincial,” + she went on, “but I could never have any inner quiet in New York; I + couldn't live in the spirit there. I suppose people do. It can't + be that all these millions—' + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not so bad as that!” March interposed, laughing. “There + aren't quite two.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought there were four or five. Well, no matter. You see what I + am, Basil. I'm terribly limited. I couldn't make my sympathies + go round two million people; I should be wretched. I suppose I'm + standing in the way of your highest interest, but I can't help it. + We took each other for better or worse, and you must try to bear with me—” + She broke off and began to cry. + </p> + <p> + “Stop it!” shouted March. “I tell you I never cared + anything for Fulkerson's scheme or entertained it seriously, and I + shouldn't if he'd proposed to carry it out in Boston.” + This was not quite true, but in the retrospect it seemed sufficiently so + for the purposes of argument. “Don't say another word about + it. The thing's over now, and I don't want to think of it any + more. We couldn't change its nature if we talked all night. But I + want you to understand that it isn't your limitations that are in + the way. It's mine. I shouldn't have the courage to take such + a place; I don't think I'm fit for it, and that's the + long and short of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you don't know how it hurts me to have you say that, + Basil.” + </p> + <p> + The next morning, as they sat together at breakfast, without the children, + whom they let lie late on Sunday, Mrs. March said to her husband, silent + over his fish-balls and baked beans: “We will go to New York. I've + decided it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it takes two to decide that,” March retorted. “We + are not going to New York.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we are. I've thought it out. Now, listen.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm willing to listen,” he consented, airily. + </p> + <p> + “You've always wanted to get out of the insurance business, + and now with that fear of being turned out which you have you mustn't + neglect this offer. I suppose it has its risks, but it's a risk + keeping on as we are; and perhaps you will make a great success of it. I + do want you to try, Basil. If I could once feel that you had fairly seen + what you could do in literature, I should die happy.” + </p> + <p> + “Not immediately after, I hope,” he suggested, taking the + second cup of coffee she had been pouring out for him. “And Boston?” + </p> + <p> + “We needn't make a complete break. We can keep this place for + the present, anyway; we could let it for the winter, and come back in the + summer next year. It would be change enough from New York.” + </p> + <p> + “Fulkerson and I hadn't got as far as to talk of a vacation.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter. The children and I could come. And if you didn't + like New York, or the enterprise failed, you could get into something in + Boston again; and we have enough to live on till you did. Yes, Basil, I'm + going.” + </p> + <p> + “I can see by the way your chin trembles that nothing could stop + you. You may go to New York if you wish, Isabel, but I shall stay here.” + </p> + <p> + “Be serious, Basil. I'm in earnest.” + </p> + <p> + “Serious? If I were any more serious I should shed tears. Come, my + dear, I know what you mean, and if I had my heart set on this thing—Fulkerson + always calls it 'this thing' I would cheerfully accept any + sacrifice you could make to it. But I'd rather not offer you up on a + shrine I don't feel any particular faith in. I'm very + comfortable where I am; that is, I know just where the pinch comes, and if + it comes harder, why, I've got used to bearing that kind of pinch. I'm + too old to change pinches.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, that does decide me.” + </p> + <p> + “It decides me, too.” + </p> + <p> + “I will take all the responsibility, Basil,” she pleaded. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes; but you'll hand it back to me as soon as you've + carried your point with it. There's nothing mean about you, Isabel, + where responsibility is concerned. No; if I do this thing—Fulkerson + again? I can't get away from 'this thing'; it's + ominous—I must do it because I want to do it, and not because you + wish that you wanted me to do it. I understand your position, Isabel, and + that you're really acting from a generous impulse, but there's + nothing so precarious at our time of life as a generous impulse. When we + were younger we could stand it; we could give way to it and take the + consequences. But now we can't bear it. We must act from cold reason + even in the ardor of self-sacrifice.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, as if you did that!” his wife retorted. + </p> + <p> + “Is that any cause why you shouldn't?” She could not say + that it was, and he went on triumphantly: + </p> + <p> + “No, I won't take you away from the only safe place on the + planet and plunge you into the most perilous, and then have you say in + your revulsion of feeling that you were all against it from the first, and + you gave way because you saw I had my heart set on it.” He supposed + he was treating the matter humorously, but in this sort of banter between + husband and wife there is always much more than the joking. March had seen + some pretty feminine inconsistencies and trepidations which once charmed + him in his wife hardening into traits of middle-age which were very like + those of less interesting older women. The sight moved him with a kind of + pathos, but he felt the result hindering and vexatious. + </p> + <p> + She now retorted that if he did not choose to take her at her word he need + not, but that whatever he did she should have nothing to reproach herself + with; and, at least, he could not say that she had trapped him into + anything. + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean by trapping?” he demanded. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what you call it,” she answered; “but + when you get me to commit myself to a thing by leaving out the most + essential point, I call it trapping.” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder you stop at trapping, if you think I got you to favor + Fulkerson's scheme and then sprung New York on you. I don't + suppose you do, though. But I guess we won't talk about it any more.” + </p> + <p> + He went out for a long walk, and she went to her room. They lunched + silently together in the presence of their children, who knew that they + had been quarrelling, but were easily indifferent to the fact, as children + get to be in such cases; nature defends their youth, and the unhappiness + which they behold does not infect them. In the evening, after the boy and + girl had gone to bed, the father and mother resumed their talk. He would + have liked to take it up at the point from which it wandered into + hostilities, for he felt it lamentable that a matter which so seriously + concerned them should be confused in the fumes of senseless anger; and he + was willing to make a tacit acknowledgment of his own error by recurring + to the question, but she would not be content with this, and he had to + concede explicitly to her weakness that she really meant it when she had + asked him to accept Fulkerson's offer. He said he knew that; and he + began soberly to talk over their prospects in the event of their going to + New York. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I see you are going!” she twitted. + </p> + <p> + “I'm going to stay,” he answered, “and let them + turn me out of my agency here,” and in this bitterness their talk + ended. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + His wife made no attempt to renew their talk before March went to his + business in the morning, and they parted in dry offence. Their experience + was that these things always came right of themselves at last, and they + usually let them. He knew that she had really tried to consent to a thing + that was repugnant to her, and in his heart he gave her more credit for + the effort than he had allowed her openly. She knew that she had made it + with the reservation he accused her of, and that he had a right to feel + sore at what she could not help. But he left her to brood over his + ingratitude, and she suffered him to go heavy and unfriended to meet the + chances of the day. He said to himself that if she had assented cordially + to the conditions of Fulkerson's offer, he would have had the + courage to take all the other risks himself, and would have had the + satisfaction of resigning his place. As it was, he must wait till he was + removed; and he figured with bitter pleasure the pain she would feel when + he came home some day and told her he had been supplanted, after it was + too late to close with Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + He found a letter on his desk from the secretary, “Dictated,” + in typewriting, which briefly informed him that Mr. Hubbell, the Inspector + of Agencies, would be in Boston on Wednesday, and would call at his office + during the forenoon. The letter was not different in tone from many that + he had formerly received; but the visit announced was out of the usual + order, and March believed he read his fate in it. During the eighteen + years of his connection with it—first as a subordinate in the Boston + office, and finally as its general agent there—he had seen a good + many changes in the Reciprocity; presidents, vice-presidents, actuaries, + and general agents had come and gone, but there had always seemed to be a + recognition of his efficiency, or at least sufficiency, and there had + never been any manner of trouble, no question of accounts, no apparent + dissatisfaction with his management, until latterly, when there had begun + to come from headquarters some suggestions of enterprise in certain ways, + which gave him his first suspicions of his clerk Watkins's + willingness to succeed him; they embodied some of Watkins's ideas. + The things proposed seemed to March undignified, and even vulgar; he had + never thought himself wanting in energy, though probably he had left the + business to take its own course in the old lines more than he realized. + Things had always gone so smoothly that he had sometimes fancied a + peculiar regard for him in the management, which he had the weakness to + attribute to an appreciation of what he occasionally did in literature, + though in saner moments he felt how impossible this was. Beyond a + reference from Mr. Hubbell to some piece of March's which had + happened to meet his eye, no one in the management ever gave a sign of + consciousness that their service was adorned by an obscure literary man; + and Mr. Hubbell himself had the effect of regarding the excursions of + March's pen as a sort of joke, and of winking at them; as he might + have winked if once in a way he had found him a little the gayer for + dining. + </p> + <p> + March wore through the day gloomily, but he had it on his conscience not + to show any resentment toward Watkins, whom he suspected of wishing to + supplant him, and even of working to do so. Through this self-denial he + reached a better mind concerning his wife. He determined not to make her + suffer needlessly, if the worst came to the worst; she would suffer + enough, at the best, and till the worst came he would spare her, and not + say anything about the letter he had got. + </p> + <p> + But when they met, her first glance divined that something had happened, + and her first question frustrated his generous intention. He had to tell + her about the letter. She would not allow that it had any significance, + but she wished him to make an end of his anxieties and forestall whatever + it might portend by resigning his place at once. She said she was quite + ready to go to New York; she had been thinking it all over, and now she + really wanted to go. He answered, soberly, that he had thought it over, + too; and he did not wish to leave Boston, where he had lived so long, or + try a new way of life if he could help it. He insisted that he was quite + selfish in this; in their concessions their quarrel vanished; they agreed + that whatever happened would be for the best; and the next day he went to + his office fortified for any event. + </p> + <p> + His destiny, if tragical, presented itself with an aspect which he might + have found comic if it had been another's destiny. Mr. Hubbell + brought March's removal, softened in the guise of a promotion. The + management at New York, it appeared, had acted upon a suggestion of Mr. + Hubbell's, and now authorized him to offer March the editorship of + the monthly paper published in the interest of the company; his office + would include the authorship of circulars and leaflets in behalf of + life-insurance, and would give play to the literary talent which Mr. + Hubbell had brought to the attention of the management; his salary would + be nearly as much as at present, but the work would not take his whole + time, and in a place like New York he could get a great deal of outside + writing, which they would not object to his doing. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hubbell seemed so sure of his acceptance of a place in every way + congenial to a man of literary tastes that March was afterward sorry he + dismissed the proposition with obvious irony, and had needlessly hurt + Hubbell's feelings; but Mrs. March had no such regrets. She was only + afraid that he had not made his rejection contemptuous enough. “And + now,” she said, “telegraph Mr. Fulkerson, and we will go at + once.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I could still get Watkins's former place,” + March suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Never!” she retorted. “Telegraph instantly!” + </p> + <p> + They were only afraid now that Fulkerson might have changed his mind, and + they had a wretched day in which they heard nothing from him. It ended + with his answering March's telegram in person. They were so glad of + his coming, and so touched by his satisfaction with his bargain, that they + laid all the facts of the case before him. He entered fully into March's + sense of the joke latent in Mr. Hubbell's proposition, and he tried + to make Mrs. March believe that he shared her resentment of the indignity + offered her husband. + </p> + <p> + March made a show of willingness to release him in view of the changed + situation, saying that he held him to nothing. Fulkerson laughed, and + asked him how soon he thought he could come on to New York. He refused to + reopen the question of March's fitness with him; he said they had + gone into that thoroughly, but he recurred to it with Mrs. March, and + confirmed her belief in his good sense on all points. She had been from + the first moment defiantly confident of her husband's ability, but + till she had talked the matter over with Fulkerson she was secretly not + sure of it; or, at least, she was not sure that March was not right in + distrusting himself. When she clearly understood, now, what Fulkerson + intended, she had no longer a doubt. He explained how the enterprise + differed from others, and how he needed for its direction a man who + combined general business experience and business ideas with a love for + the thing and a natural aptness for it. He did not want a young man, and + yet he wanted youth—its freshness, its zest—such as March + would feel in a thing he could put his whole heart into. He would not run + in ruts, like an old fellow who had got hackneyed; he would not have any + hobbies; he would not have any friends or any enemies. Besides, he would + have to meet people, and March was a man that people took to; she knew + that herself; he had a kind of charm. The editorial management was going + to be kept in the background, as far as the public was concerned; the + public was to suppose that the thing ran itself. Fulkerson did not care + for a great literary reputation in his editor—he implied that March + had a very pretty little one. At the same time the relations between the + contributors and the management were to be much more, intimate than usual. + Fulkerson felt his personal disqualification for working the thing + socially, and he counted upon Mr. March for that; that was to say, he + counted upon Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + She protested he must not count upon her; but it by no means disabled + Fulkerson's judgment in her view that March really seemed more than + anything else a fancy of his. He had been a fancy of hers; and the sort of + affectionate respect with which Fulkerson spoke of him laid forever some + doubt she had of the fineness of Fulkerson's manners and reconciled + her to the graphic slanginess of his speech. + </p> + <p> + The affair was now irretrievable, but she gave her approval to it as + superbly as if it were submitted in its inception. Only, Mr. Fulkerson + must not suppose she should ever like New York. She would not deceive him + on that point. She never should like it. She did not conceal, either, that + she did not like taking the children out of the Friday afternoon class; + and she did not believe that Tom would ever be reconciled to going to + Columbia. She took courage from Fulkerson's suggestion that it was + possible for Tom to come to Harvard even from New York; and she heaped him + with questions concerning the domiciliation of the family in that city. He + tried to know something about the matter, and he succeeded in seeming + interested in points necessarily indifferent to him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + In the uprooting and transplanting of their home that followed, Mrs. March + often trembled before distant problems and possible contingencies, but she + was never troubled by present difficulties. She kept up with tireless + energy; and in the moments of dejection and misgiving which harassed her + husband she remained dauntless, and put heart into him when he had lost it + altogether. + </p> + <p> + She arranged to leave the children in the house with the servants, while + she went on with March to look up a dwelling of some sort in New York. It + made him sick to think of it; and, when it came to the point, he would + rather have given up the whole enterprise. She had to nerve him to it, to + represent more than once that now they had no choice but to make this + experiment. Every detail of parting was anguish to him. He got consolation + out of the notion of letting the house furnished for the winter; that + implied their return to it, but it cost him pangs of the keenest misery to + advertise it; and, when a tenant was actually found, it was all he could + do to give him the lease. He tried his wife's love and patience as a + man must to whom the future is easy in the mass but terrible as it + translates itself piecemeal into the present. He experienced remorse in + the presence of inanimate things he was going to leave as if they had + sensibly reproached him, and an anticipative homesickness that seemed to + stop his heart. Again and again his wife had to make him reflect that his + depression was not prophetic. She convinced him of what he already knew, + and persuaded him against his knowledge that he could be keeping an eye + out for something to take hold of in Boston if they could not stand New + York. She ended by telling him that it was too bad to make her comfort him + in a trial that was really so much more a trial to her. She had to support + him in a last access of despair on their way to the Albany depot the + morning they started to New York; but when the final details had been + dealt with, the tickets bought, the trunks checked, and the handbags hung + up in their car, and the future had massed itself again at a safe distance + and was seven hours and two hundred miles away, his spirits began to rise + and hers to sink. He would have been willing to celebrate the taste, the + domestic refinement, of the ladies' waiting-room in the depot, where + they had spent a quarter of an hour before the train started. He said he + did not believe there was another station in the world where mahogany + rocking-chairs were provided; that the dull-red warmth of the walls was as + cozy as an evening lamp, and that he always hoped to see a fire kindled on + that vast hearth and under that aesthetic mantel, but he supposed now he + never should. He said it was all very different from that tunnel, the old + Albany depot, where they had waited the morning they went to New York when + they were starting on their wedding journey. + </p> + <p> + “The morning, Basil!” cried his wife. “We went at night; + and we were going to take the boat, but it stormed so!” She gave him + a glance of such reproach that he could not answer anything, and now she + asked him whether he supposed their cook and second girl would be + contented with one of those dark holes where they put girls to sleep in + New York flats, and what she should do if Margaret, especially, left her. + He ventured to suggest that Margaret would probably like the city; but, if + she left, there were plenty of other girls to be had in New York. She + replied that there were none she could trust, and that she knew Margaret + would not stay. He asked her why she took her, then—why she did not + give her up at once; and she answered that it would be inhuman to give her + up just in the edge of the winter. She had promised to keep her; and + Margaret was pleased with the notion of going to New York, where she had a + cousin. + </p> + <p> + “Then perhaps she'll be pleased with the notion of staying,” + he said. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, much you know about it!” she retorted; and, in view of + the hypothetical difficulty and his want of sympathy, she fell into a + gloom, from which she roused herself at last by declaring that, if there + was nothing else in the flat they took, there should be a light kitchen + and a bright, sunny bedroom for Margaret. He expressed the belief that + they could easily find such a flat as that, and she denounced his fatal + optimism, which buoyed him up in the absence of an undertaking and let him + drop into the depths of despair in its presence. + </p> + <p> + He owned this defect of temperament, but he said that it compensated the + opposite in her character. “I suppose that's one of the chief + uses of marriage; people supplement one another, and form a pretty fair + sort of human being together. The only drawback to the theory is that + unmarried people seem each as complete and whole as a married pair.” + </p> + <p> + She refused to be amused; she turned her face to the window and put her + handkerchief up under her veil. + </p> + <p> + It was not till the dining-car was attached to their train that they were + both able to escape for an hour into the care-free mood of their earlier + travels, when they were so easily taken out of themselves. The time had + been when they could have found enough in the conjectural fortunes and + characters of their fellow-passengers to occupy them. This phase of their + youth had lasted long, and the world was still full of novelty and + interest for them; but it required all the charm of the dining-car now to + lay the anxieties that beset them. It was so potent for the moment, + however, that they could take an objective view at their sitting cozily + down there together, as if they had only themselves in the world. They + wondered what the children were doing, the children who possessed them so + intensely when present, and now, by a fantastic operation of absence, + seemed almost non-existents. They tried to be homesick for them, but + failed; they recognized with comfortable self-abhorrence that this was + terrible, but owned a fascination in being alone; at the same time, they + could not imagine how people felt who never had any children. They + contrasted the luxury of dining that way, with every advantage except a + band of music, and the old way of rushing out to snatch a fearful joy at + the lunch-counters of the Worcesier and Springfield and New Haven + stations. They had not gone often to New York since their wedding journey, + but they had gone often enough to have noted the change from the + lunch-counter to the lunch-basket brought in the train, from which you + could subsist with more ease and dignity, but seemed destined to a + superabundance of pickles, whatever you ordered. + </p> + <p> + They thought well of themselves now that they could be both critical and + tolerant of flavors not very sharply distinguished from one another in + their dinner, and they lingered over their coffee and watched the autumn + landscape through the windows. + </p> + <p> + “Not quite so loud a pattern of calico this year,” he said, + with patronizing forbearance toward the painted woodlands whirling by. + “Do you see how the foreground next the train rushes from us and the + background keeps ahead of us, while the middle distance seems stationary? + I don't think I ever noticed that effect before. There ought to be + something literary in it: retreating past and advancing future and + deceitfully permanent present—something like that?” + </p> + <p> + His wife brushed some crumbs from her lap before rising. “Yes. You + mustn't waste any of these ideas now.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no; it would be money out of Fulkerson's pocket.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + They went to a quiet hotel far down-town, and took a small apartment which + they thought they could easily afford for the day or two they need spend + in looking up a furnished flat. They were used to staying at this hotel + when they came on for a little outing in New York, after some rigid winter + in Boston, at the time of the spring exhibitions. They were remembered + there from year to year; the colored call-boys, who never seemed to get + any older, smiled upon them, and the clerk called March by name even + before he registered. He asked if Mrs. March were with him, and said then + he supposed they would want their usual quarters; and in a moment they + were domesticated in a far interior that seemed to have been waiting for + them in a clean, quiet, patient disoccupation ever since they left it two + years before. The little parlor, with its gilt paper and ebonized + furniture, was the lightest of the rooms, but it was not very light at + noonday without the gas, which the bell-boy now flared up for them. The + uproar of the city came to it in a soothing murmur, and they took + possession of its peace and comfort with open celebration. After all, they + agreed, there was no place in the world so delightful as a hotel apartment + like that; the boasted charms of home were nothing to it; and then the + magic of its being always there, ready for any one, every one, just as if + it were for some one alone: it was like the experience of an Arabian + Nights hero come true for all the race. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, why can't we always stay here, just we two!” Mrs. + March sighed to her husband, as he came out of his room rubbing his face + red with the towel, while she studied a new arrangement of her bonnet and + handbag on the mantel. + </p> + <p> + “And ignore the past? I'm willing. I've no doubt that + the children could get on perfectly well without us, and could find some + lot in the scheme of Providence that would really be just as well for + them.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; or could contrive somehow never to have existed. I should + insist upon that. If they are, don't you see that we couldn't + wish them not to be?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes; I see your point; it's simply incontrovertible.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed and said: “Well, at any rate, if we can't find a + flat to suit us we can all crowd into these three rooms somehow, for the + winter, and then browse about for meals. By the week we could get them + much cheaper; and we could save on the eating, as they do in Europe. Or on + something else.” + </p> + <p> + “Something else, probably,” said March. “But we won't + take this apartment till the ideal furnished flat winks out altogether. We + shall not have any trouble. We can easily find some one who is going South + for the winter and will be glad to give up their flat 'to the right + party' at a nominal rent. That's my notion. That's what + the Evanses did one winter when they came on here in February. All but the + nominality of the rent.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and we could pay a very good rent and still save something on + letting our house. You can settle yourselves in a hundred different ways + in New York, that is one merit of the place. But if everything else fails, + we can come back to this. I want you to take the refusal of it, Basil. And + we'll commence looking this very evening as soon as we've had + dinner. I cut a lot of things out of the Herald as we came on. See here!” + </p> + <p> + She took a long strip of paper out of her hand-bag with minute + advertisements pinned transversely upon it, and forming the effect of some + glittering nondescript vertebrate. + </p> + <p> + “Looks something like the sea-serpent,” said March, drying his + hands on the towel, while he glanced up and down the list. “But we + sha'n't have any trouble. I've no doubt there are half a + dozen things there that will do. You haven't gone up-town? Because + we must be near the 'Every Other Week' office.” + </p> + <p> + “No; but I wish Mr. Fulkerson hadn't called it that! It always + makes one think of 'jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam + to-day,' in 'Through the Looking-Glass.' They're + all in this region.” + </p> + <p> + They were still at their table, beside a low window, where some sort of + never-blooming shrub symmetrically balanced itself in a large pot, with a + leaf to the right and a leaf to the left and a spear up the middle, when + Fulkerson came stepping square-footedly over the thick dining-room carpet. + He wagged in the air a gay hand of salutation at sight of them, and of + repression when they offered to rise to meet him; then, with an apparent + simultaneity of action he gave a hand to each, pulled up a chair from the + next table, put his hat and stick on the floor beside it, and seated + himself. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you've burned your ships behind you, sure enough,” + he said, beaming his satisfaction upon them from eyes and teeth. + </p> + <p> + “The ships are burned,” said March, “though I'm + not sure we alone did it. But here we are, looking for shelter, and a + little anxious about the disposition of the natives.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they're an awful peaceable lot,” said Fulkerson. + “I've been round among the caciques a little, and I think I've + got two or three places that will just suit you, Mrs. March. How did you + leave the children?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how kind of you! Very well, and very proud to be left in charge + of the smoking wrecks.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson naturally paid no attention to what she said, being but + secondarily interested in the children at the best. “Here are some + things right in this neighborhood, within gunshot of the office, and if + you want you can go and look at them to-night; the agents gave me houses + where the people would be in.” + </p> + <p> + “We will go and look at them instantly,” said Mrs. March. + “Or, as soon as you've had coffee with us.” + </p> + <p> + “Never do,” Fulkerson replied. He gathered up his hat and + stick. “Just rushed in to say Hello, and got to run right away + again. I tell you, March, things are humming. I'm after those + fellows with a sharp stick all the while to keep them from loafing on my + house, and at the same time I'm just bubbling over with ideas about + 'The Lone Hand'—wish we could call it that!—that I + want to talk up with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, come to breakfast,” said Mrs. March, cordially. + </p> + <p> + “No; the ideas will keep till you've secured your lodge in + this vast wilderness. Good-bye.” + </p> + <p> + “You're as nice as you can be, Mr. Fulkerson,” she said, + “to keep us in mind when you have so much to occupy you.” + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't have anything to occupy me if I hadn't kept + you in mind, Mrs. March,” said Fulkerson, going off upon as good a + speech as he could apparently hope to make. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Basil,” said Mrs. March, when he was gone, “he's + charming! But now we mustn't lose an instant. Let's see where + the places are.” She ran over the half-dozen agents' permits. + “Capital—first-rate—the very thing—every one. + Well, I consider ourselves settled! We can go back to the children + to-morrow if we like, though I rather think I should like to stay over + another day and get a little rested for the final pulling up that's + got to come. But this simplifies everything enormously, and Mr. Fulkerson + is as thoughtful and as sweet as he can be. I know you will get on well + with him. He has such a good heart. And his attitude toward you, Basil, is + beautiful always—so respectful; or not that so much as appreciative. + Yes, appreciative—that's the word; I must always keep that in + mind.” + </p> + <p> + “It's quite important to do so,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she assented, seriously, “and we must not forget + just what kind of flat we are going to look for. The 'sine qua nons' + are an elevator and steam heat, not above the third floor, to begin with. + Then we must each have a room, and you must have your study and I must + have my parlor; and the two girls must each have a room. With the kitchen + and dining room, how many does that make?” + </p> + <p> + “Ten.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought eight. Well, no matter. You can work in the parlor, and + run into your bedroom when anybody comes; and I can sit in mine, and the + girls must put up with one, if it's large and sunny, though I've + always given them two at home. And the kitchen must be sunny, so they can + sit in it. And the rooms must all have outside light. And the rent must + not be over eight hundred for the winter. We only get a thousand for our + whole house, and we must save something out of that, so as to cover the + expenses of moving. Now, do you think you can remember all that?” + </p> + <p> + “Not the half of it,” said March. “But you can; or if + you forget a third of it, I can come in with my partial half and more than + make it up.” + </p> + <p> + She had brought her bonnet and sacque down-stairs with her, and was + transferring them from the hatrack to her person while she talked. The + friendly door-boy let them into the street, and the clear October evening + air brightened her so that as she tucked her hand under her husband's + arm and began to pull him along she said, “If we find something + right away—and we're just as likely to get the right flat soon + as late; it's all a lottery—we'll go to the theatre + somewhere.” + </p> + <p> + She had a moment's panic about having left the agents' permits + on the table, and after remembering that she had put them into her little + shopping-bag, where she kept her money (each note crushed into a round + wad), and had left it on the hat-rack, where it would certainly be stolen, + she found it on her wrist. She did not think that very funny; but after a + first impulse to inculpate her husband, she let him laugh, while they + stopped under a lamp and she held the permits half a yard away to read the + numbers on them. + </p> + <p> + “Where are your glasses, Isabel?” + </p> + <p> + “On the mantel in our room, of course.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you ought to have brought a pair of tongs.” + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't get off second-hand jokes, Basil,” she said; + and “Why, here!” she cried, whirling round to the door before + which they had halted, “this is the very number. Well, I do believe + it's a sign!” + </p> + <p> + One of those colored men who soften the trade of janitor in many of the + smaller apartment-houses in New York by the sweetness of their race let + the Marches in, or, rather, welcomed them to the possession of the + premises by the bow with which he acknowledged their permit. It was a + large, old mansion cut up into five or six dwellings, but it had kept some + traits of its former dignity, which pleased people of their sympathetic + tastes. The dark-mahogany trim, of sufficiently ugly design, gave a rich + gloom to the hallway, which was wide and paved with marble; the carpeted + stairs curved aloft through a generous space. + </p> + <p> + “There is no elevator?” Mrs. March asked of the janitor. + </p> + <p> + He answered, “No, ma'am; only two flights up,” so + winningly that she said, + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” in courteous apology, and whispered to her husband, as + she followed lightly up, “We'll take it, Basil, if it's + like the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “If it's like him, you mean.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't wonder they wanted to own them,” she hurriedly + philosophized. “If I had such a creature, nothing but death should + part us, and I should no more think of giving him his freedom!” + </p> + <p> + “No; we couldn't afford it,” returned her husband. + </p> + <p> + The apartment which the janitor unlocked for them, and lit up from those + chandeliers and brackets of gilt brass in the form of vine bunches, + leaves, and tendrils in which the early gas-fitter realized most of his + conceptions of beauty, had rather more of the ugliness than the dignity of + the hall. But the rooms were large, and they grouped themselves in a + reminiscence of the time when they were part of a dwelling that had its + charm, its pathos, its impressiveness. Where they were cut up into smaller + spaces, it had been done with the frankness with which a proud old family + of fallen fortunes practises its economies. The rough pine-floors showed a + black border of tack-heads where carpets had been lifted and put down for + generations; the white paint was yellow with age; the apartment had light + at the front and at the back, and two or three rooms had glimpses of the + day through small windows let into their corners; another one seemed + lifting an appealing eye to heaven through a glass circle in its ceiling; + the rest must darkle in perpetual twilight. Yet something pleased in it + all, and Mrs. March had gone far to adapt the different rooms to the + members of her family, when she suddenly thought (and for her to think was + to say), “Why, but there's no steam heat!” + </p> + <p> + “No, ma'am,” the janitor admitted; “but dere's + grates in most o' de rooms, and dere's furnace heat in de + halls.” + </p> + <p> + “That's true,” she admitted, and, having placed her + family in the apartments, it was hard to get them out again. “Could + we manage?” she referred to her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I shouldn't care for the steam heat if—What is the + rent?” he broke off to ask the janitor. + </p> + <p> + “Nine hundred, sir.” + </p> + <p> + March concluded to his wife, “If it were furnished.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course! What could I have been thinking of? We're + looking for a furnished flat,” she explained to the janitor, “and + this was so pleasant and homelike that I never thought whether it was + furnished or not.” + </p> + <p> + She smiled upon the janitor, and he entered into the joke and chuckled so + amiably at her flattering oversight on the way down-stairs that she said, + as she pinched her husband's arm, “Now, if you don't + give him a quarter I'll never speak to you again, Basil!” + </p> + <p> + “I would have given half a dollar willingly to get you beyond his + glamour,” said March, when they were safely on the pavement outside. + “If it hadn't been for my strength of character, you'd + have taken an unfurnished flat without heat and with no elevator, at nine + hundred a year, when you had just sworn me to steam heat, an elevator, + furniture, and eight hundred.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! How could I have lost my head so completely?” she said, + with a lenient amusement in her aberration which she was not always able + to feel in her husband's. + </p> + <p> + “The next time a colored janitor opens the door to us, I'll + tell him the apartment doesn't suit at the threshold. It's the + only way to manage you, Isabel.” + </p> + <p> + “It's true. I am in love with the whole race. I never saw one + of them that didn't have perfectly angelic manners. I think we shall + all be black in heaven—that is, black-souled.” + </p> + <p> + “That isn't the usual theory,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps not,” she assented. “Where are we going + now? Oh yes, to the Xenophon!” + </p> + <p> + She pulled him gayly along again, and after they had walked a block down + and half a block over they stood before the apartment-house of that name, + which was cut on the gas-lamps on either side of the heavily spiked, + aesthetic-hinged black door. The titter of an electric-bell brought a + large, fat Buttons, with a stage effect of being dressed to look small, + who said he would call the janitor, and they waited in the dimly splendid, + copper-colored interior, admiring the whorls and waves into which the + wallpaint was combed, till the janitor came in his gold-banded cap, like a + Continental porker. When they said they would like to see Mrs. Grosvenor + Green's apartment, he owned his inability to cope with the affair, + and said he must send for the superintendent; he was either in the + Herodotus or the Thucydides, and would be there in a minute. The Buttons + brought him—a Yankee of browbeating presence in plain clothes—almost + before they had time to exchange a frightened whisper in recognition of + the fact that there could be no doubt of the steam heat and elevator in + this case. Half stifled in the one, they mounted in the other eight + stories, while they tried to keep their self-respect under the gaze of the + superintendent, which they felt was classing and assessing them with + unfriendly accuracy. They could not, and they faltered abashed at the + threshold of Mrs. Grosvenor Green's apartment, while the + superintendent lit the gas in the gangway that he called a private hall, + and in the drawing-room and the succession of chambers stretching rearward + to the kitchen. Everything had been done by the architect to save space, + and everything, to waste it by Mrs. Grosvenor Green. She had conformed to + a law for the necessity of turning round in each room, and had + folding-beds in the chambers, but there her subordination had ended, and + wherever you might have turned round she had put a gimcrack so that you + would knock it over if you did turn. The place was rather pretty and even + imposing at first glance, and it took several joint ballots for March and + his wife to make sure that with the kitchen there were only six rooms. At + every door hung a portiere from large rings on a brass rod; every shelf + and dressing-case and mantel was littered with gimcracks, and the corners + of the tiny rooms were curtained off, and behind these portieres swarmed + more gimcracks. The front of the upright piano had what March called a + short-skirted portiere on it, and the top was covered with vases, with + dragon candlesticks and with Jap fans, which also expanded themselves bat + wise on the walls between the etchings and the water colors. The floors + were covered with filling, and then rugs and then skins; the easy-chairs + all had tidies, Armenian and Turkish and Persian; the lounges and sofas + had embroidered cushions hidden under tidies. + </p> + <p> + The radiator was concealed by a Jap screen, and over the top of this some + Arab scarfs were flung. There was a superabundance of clocks. China pugs + guarded the hearth; a brass sunflower smiled from the top of either + andiron, and a brass peacock spread its tail before them inside a high + filigree fender; on one side was a coalhod in 'repousse' + brass, and on the other a wrought iron wood-basket. Some red Japanese + bird-kites were stuck about in the necks of spelter vases, a crimson Jap + umbrella hung opened beneath the chandelier, and each globe had a shade of + yellow silk. + </p> + <p> + March, when he had recovered his self-command a little in the presence of + the agglomeration, comforted himself by calling the bric-a-brac + Jamescracks, as if this was their full name. + </p> + <p> + The disrespect he was able to show the whole apartment by means of this + joke strengthened him to say boldly to the superintendent that it was + altogether too small; then he asked carelessly what the rent was. + </p> + <p> + “Two hundred and fifty.” + </p> + <p> + The Marches gave a start, and looked at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you think we could make it do?” she asked him, + and he could see that she had mentally saved five hundred dollars as the + difference between the rent of their house and that of this flat. “It + has some very pretty features, and we could manage to squeeze in, couldn't + we?” + </p> + <p> + “You won't find another furnished flat like it for no + two-fifty a month in the whole city,” the superintendent put in. + </p> + <p> + They exchanged glances again, and March said, carelessly, “It's + too small.” + </p> + <p> + “There's a vacant flat in the Herodotus for eighteen hundred a + year, and one in the Thucydides for fifteen,” the superintendent + suggested, clicking his keys together as they sank down in the elevator; + “seven rooms and bath.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” said March; “we're looking for a + furnished flat.” + </p> + <p> + They felt that the superintendent parted from them with repressed sarcasm. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Basil, do you think we really made him think it was the + smallness and not the dearness?” + </p> + <p> + “No, but we saved our self-respect in the attempt; and that's + a great deal.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I wouldn't have taken it, anyway, with only six + rooms, and so high up. But what prices! Now, we must be very circumspect + about the next place.” + </p> + <p> + It was a janitress, large, fat, with her arms wound up in her apron, who + received them there. Mrs. March gave her a succinct but perfect statement + of their needs. She failed to grasp the nature of them, or feigned to do + so. She shook her head, and said that her son would show them the flat. + There was a radiator visible in the narrow hall, and Isabel tacitly + compromised on steam heat without an elevator, as the flat was only one + flight up. When the son appeared from below with a small kerosene + hand-lamp, it appeared that the flat was unfurnished, but there was no + stopping him till he had shown it in all its impossibility. When they got + safely away from it and into the street March said: “Well, have you + had enough for to-night, Isabel? Shall we go to the theatre now?” + </p> + <p> + “Not on any account. I want to see the whole list of flats that Mr. + Fulkerson thought would be the very thing for us.” She laughed, but + with a certain bitterness. + </p> + <p> + “You'll be calling him my Mr. Fulkerson next, Isabel.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no!” + </p> + <p> + The fourth address was a furnished flat without a kitchen, in a house with + a general restaurant. The fifth was a furnished house. At the sixth a + pathetic widow and her pretty daughter wanted to take a family to board, + and would give them a private table at a rate which the Marches would have + thought low in Boston. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March came away tingling with compassion for their evident anxiety, + and this pity naturally soured into a sense of injury. “Well, I must + say I have completely lost confidence in Mr. Fulkerson's judgment. + Anything more utterly different from what I told him we wanted I couldn't + imagine. If he doesn't manage any better about his business than he + has done about this, it will be a perfect failure.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well, let's hope he'll be more circumspect about + that,” her husband returned, with ironical propitiation. “But + I don't think it's Fulkerson's fault altogether. Perhaps + it's the house-agents'. They're a very illusory + generation. There seems to be something in the human habitation that + corrupts the natures of those who deal in it, to buy or sell it, to hire + or let it. You go to an agent and tell him what kind of a house you want. + He has no such house, and he sends you to look at something altogether + different, upon the well-ascertained principle that if you can't get + what you want you will take what you can get. You don't suppose the + 'party' that took our house in Boston was looking for any such + house? He was looking for a totally different kind of house in another + part of the town.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe that!” his wife broke in. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no matter. But see what a scandalous rent you asked for it.” + </p> + <p> + “We didn't get much more than half; and, besides, the agent + told me to ask fourteen hundred.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm not blaming you, Isabel. I'm only analyzing the + house-agent and exonerating Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't believe he told them just what we wanted; and, + at any rate, I'm done with agents. Tomorrow I'm going entirely + by advertisements.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. March took the vertebrate with her to the Vienna Coffee-House, where + they went to breakfast next morning. She made March buy her the Herald and + the World, and she added to its spiny convolutions from them. She read the + new advertisements aloud with ardor and with faith to believe that the + apartments described in them were every one truthfully represented, and + that any one of them was richly responsive to their needs. “Elegant, + light, large, single and outside flats” were offered with “all + improvements—bath, ice-box, etc.”—for twenty-five to + thirty dollars a month. The cheapness was amazing. The Wagram, the + Esmeralda, the Jacinth, advertised them for forty dollars and sixty + dollars, “with steam heat and elevator,” rent free till + November. Others, attractive from their air of conscientious scruple, + announced “first-class flats; good order; reasonable rents.” + The Helena asked the reader if she had seen the “cabinet finish, + hard-wood floors, and frescoed ceilings” of its fifty-dollar flats; + the Asteroid affirmed that such apartments, with “six light rooms + and bath, porcelain wash-tubs, electric bells, and hall-boy,” as it + offered for seventy-five dollars were unapproached by competition. There + was a sameness in the jargon which tended to confusion. Mrs. March got + several flats on her list which promised neither steam heat nor elevators; + she forgot herself so far as to include two or three as remote from the + down-town region of her choice as Harlem. But after she had rejected these + the nondescript vertebrate was still voluminous enough to sustain her + buoyant hopes. + </p> + <p> + The waiter, who remembered them from year to year, had put them at a + window giving a pretty good section of Broadway, and before they set out + on their search they had a moment of reminiscence. They recalled the + Broadway of five, of ten, of twenty years ago, swelling and roaring with a + tide of gayly painted omnibuses and of picturesque traffic that the + horsecars have now banished from it. The grind of their wheels and the + clash of their harsh bells imperfectly fill the silence that the omnibuses + have left, and the eye misses the tumultuous perspective of former times. + </p> + <p> + They went out and stood for a moment before Grace Church, and looked down + the stately thoroughfare, and found it no longer impressive, no longer + characteristic. It is still Broadway in name, but now it is like any other + street. You do not now take your life in your hand when you attempt to + cross it; the Broadway policeman who supported the elbow of timorous + beauty in the hollow of his cotton-gloved palm and guided its little + fearful boots over the crossing, while he arrested the billowy omnibuses + on either side with an imperious glance, is gone, and all that certain + processional, barbaric gayety of the place is gone. + </p> + <p> + “Palmyra, Baalbec, Timour of the Desert,” said March, voicing + their common feeling of the change. + </p> + <p> + They turned and went into the beautiful church, and found themselves in + time for the matin service. Rapt far from New York, if not from earth, in + the dim richness of the painted light, the hallowed music took them with + solemn ecstasy; the aerial, aspiring Gothic forms seemed to lift them + heavenward. They came out, reluctant, into the dazzle and bustle of the + street, with a feeling that they were too good for it, which they + confessed to each other with whimsical consciousness. + </p> + <p> + “But no matter how consecrated we feel now,” he said, “we + mustn't forget that we went into the church for precisely the same + reason that we went to the Vienna Cafe for breakfast—to gratify an + aesthetic sense, to renew the faded pleasure of travel for a moment, to + get back into the Europe of our youth. It was a purely Pagan impulse, + Isabel, and we'd better own it.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” she returned. “I think we reduce + ourselves to the bare bones too much. I wish we didn't always + recognize the facts as we do. Sometimes I should like to blink them. I + should like to think I was devouter than I am, and younger and prettier.” + </p> + <p> + “Better not; you couldn't keep it up. Honesty is the best + policy even in such things.” + </p> + <p> + “No; I don't like it, Basil. I should rather wait till the + last day for some of my motives to come to the top. I know they're + always mixed, but do let me give them the benefit of a doubt sometimes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well, have it your own way, my dear. But I prefer not to lay + up so many disagreeable surprises for myself at that time.” + </p> + <p> + She would not consent. “I know I am a good deal younger than I was. + I feel quite in the mood of that morning when we walked down Broadway on + our wedding journey. Don't you?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes. But I know I'm not younger; I'm only prettier.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed for pleasure in his joke, and also for unconscious joy in the + gay New York weather, in which there was no 'arriere pensee' + of the east wind. They had crossed Broadway, and were walking over to + Washington Square, in the region of which they now hoped to place + themselves. The 'primo tenore' statue of Garibaldi had already + taken possession of the place in the name of Latin progress, and they met + Italian faces, French faces, Spanish faces, as they strolled over the + asphalt walks, under the thinning shadows of the autumn-stricken + sycamores. They met the familiar picturesque raggedness of Southern Europe + with the old kindly illusion that somehow it existed for their + appreciation, and that it found adequate compensation for poverty in this. + March thought he sufficiently expressed his tacit sympathy in sitting down + on one of the iron benches with his wife and letting a little Neapolitan + put a superfluous shine on his boots, while their desultory comment + wandered with equal esteem to the old-fashioned American respectability + which keeps the north side of the square in vast mansions of red brick, + and the international shabbiness which has invaded the southern border, + and broken it up into lodging-houses, shops, beer-gardens, and studios. + </p> + <p> + They noticed the sign of an apartment to let on the north side, and as + soon as the little bootblack could be bought off they went over to look at + it. The janitor met them at the door and examined them. Then he said, as + if still in doubt, “It has ten rooms, and the rent is twenty-eight + hundred dollars.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn't do, then,” March replied, and left him to + divide the responsibility between the paucity of the rooms and the + enormity of the rent as he best might. But their self-love had received a + wound, and they questioned each other what it was in their appearance made + him doubt their ability to pay so much. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, we don't look like New-Yorkers,” sighed Mrs. + March, “and we've walked through the Square. That might be as + if we had walked along the Park Street mall in the Common before we came + out on Beacon. Do you suppose he could have seen you getting your boots + blacked in that way?” + </p> + <p> + “It's useless to ask,” said March. “But I never + can recover from this blow.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, pshaw! You know you hate such things as badly as I do. It was + very impertinent of him.” + </p> + <p> + “Let us go back and 'ecraser l'infame' by paying + him a year's rent in advance and taking immediate possession. + Nothing else can soothe my wounded feelings. You were not having your + boots blacked: why shouldn't he have supposed you were a New-Yorker, + and I a country cousin?” + </p> + <p> + “They always know. Don't you remember Mrs. Williams's + going to a Fifth Avenue milliner in a Worth dress, and the woman's + asking her instantly what hotel she should send her hat to?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; these things drive one to despair. I don't wonder the + bodies of so many genteel strangers are found in the waters around New + York. Shall we try the south side, my dear? or had we better go back to + our rooms and rest awhile?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March had out the vertebrate, and was consulting one of its + glittering ribs and glancing up from it at a house before which they + stood. “Yes, it's the number; but do they call this being + ready October first?” The little area in front of the basement was + heaped with a mixture of mortar, bricks, laths, and shavings from the + interior; the brownstone steps to the front door were similarly bestrewn; + the doorway showed the half-open, rough pine carpenter's sketch of + an unfinished house; the sashless windows of every story showed the + activity of workmen within; the clatter of hammers and the hiss of saws + came out to them from every opening. + </p> + <p> + “They may call it October first,” said March, “because + it's too late to contradict them. But they'd better not call + it December first in my presence; I'll let them say January first, + at a pinch.” + </p> + <p> + “We will go in and look at it, anyway,” said his wife; and he + admired how, when she was once within, she began provisionally to settle + the family in each of the several floors with the female instinct for + domiciliation which never failed her. She had the help of the landlord, + who was present to urge forward the workmen apparently; he lent a hopeful + fancy to the solution of all her questions. To get her from under his + influence March had to represent that the place was damp from undried + plastering, and that if she stayed she would probably be down with that + New York pneumonia which visiting Bostonians are always dying of. Once + safely on the pavement outside, she realized that the apartment was not + only unfinished, but unfurnished, and had neither steam heat nor elevator. + “But I thought we had better look at everything,” she + explained. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but not take everything. If I hadn't pulled you away + from there by main force you'd have not only died of New York + pneumonia on the spot, but you'd have had us all settled there + before we knew what we were about.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's what I can't help, Basil. It's the + only way I can realize whether it will do for us. I have to dramatize the + whole thing.” + </p> + <p> + She got a deal of pleasure as well as excitement out of this, and he had + to own that the process of setting up housekeeping in so many different + places was not only entertaining, but tended, through association with + their first beginnings in housekeeping, to restore the image of their + early married days and to make them young again. + </p> + <p> + It went on all day, and continued far into the night, until it was too + late to go to the theatre, too late to do anything but tumble into bed and + simultaneously fall asleep. They groaned over their reiterated + disappointments, but they could not deny that the interest was unfailing, + and that they got a great deal of fun out of it all. Nothing could abate + Mrs. March's faith in her advertisements. One of them sent her to a + flat of ten rooms which promised to be the solution of all their + difficulties; it proved to be over a livery-stable, a liquor store, and a + milliner's shop, none of the first fashion. Another led them far + into old Greenwich Village to an apartment-house, which she refused to + enter behind a small girl with a loaf of bread under one arm and a quart + can of milk under the other. + </p> + <p> + In their search they were obliged, as March complained, to the acquisition + of useless information in a degree unequalled in their experience. They + came to excel in the sad knowledge of the line at which respectability + distinguishes itself from shabbiness. Flattering advertisements took them + to numbers of huge apartment-houses chiefly distinguishable from + tenement-houses by the absence of fire-escapes on their facades, till Mrs. + March refused to stop at any door where there were more than six + bell-ratchets and speaking-tubes on either hand. Before the middle of the + afternoon she decided against ratchets altogether, and confined herself to + knobs, neatly set in the door-trim. Her husband was still sunk in the + superstition that you can live anywhere you like in New York, and he would + have paused at some places where her quicker eye caught the fatal sign of + “Modes” in the ground-floor windows. She found that there was + an east and west line beyond which they could not go if they wished to + keep their self-respect, and that within the region to which they had + restricted themselves there was a choice of streets. At first all the New + York streets looked to them ill-paved, dirty, and repulsive; the general + infamy imparted itself in their casual impression to streets in no wise + guilty. But they began to notice that some streets were quiet and clean, + and, though never so quiet and clean as Boston streets, that they wore an + air of encouraging reform, and suggested a future of greater and greater + domesticity. Whole blocks of these downtown cross-streets seemed to have + been redeemed from decay, and even in the midst of squalor a dwelling here + and there had been seized, painted a dull red as to its brick-work, and a + glossy black as to its wood-work, and with a bright brass bell-pull and + door-knob and a large brass plate for its key-hole escutcheon, had been + endowed with an effect of purity and pride which removed its shabby + neighborhood far from it. Some of these houses were quite small, and + imaginably within their means; but, as March said, some body seemed always + to be living there himself, and the fact that none of them was to rent + kept Mrs. March true to her ideal of a fiat. Nothing prevented its + realization so much as its difference from the New York ideal of a flat, + which was inflexibly seven rooms and a bath. One or two rooms might be at + the front, the rest crooked and cornered backward through increasing and + then decreasing darkness till they reached a light bedroom or kitchen at + the rear. It might be the one or the other, but it was always the seventh + room with the bath; or if, as sometimes happened, it was the eighth, it + was so after having counted the bath as one; in this case the janitor said + you always counted the bath as one. If the flats were advertised as having + “all light rooms,” he explained that any room with a window + giving into the open air of a court or shaft was counted a light room. + </p> + <p> + The Marches tried to make out why it was that these flats were so much + more repulsive than the apartments which everyone lived in abroad; but + they could only do so upon the supposition that in their European days + they were too young, too happy, too full of the future, to notice whether + rooms were inside or outside, light or dark, big or little, high or low. + “Now we're imprisoned in the present,” he said, “and + we have to make the worst of it.” + </p> + <p> + In their despair he had an inspiration, which she declared worthy of him: + it was to take two small flats, of four or five rooms and a bath, and live + in both. They tried this in a great many places, but they never could get + two flats of the kind on the same floor where there was steam heat and an + elevator. At one place they almost did it. They had resigned themselves to + the humility of the neighborhood, to the prevalence of modistes and + livery-stablemen (they seem to consort much in New York), to the garbage + in the gutters and the litter of paper in the streets, to the faltering + slats in the surrounding window-shutters and the crumbled brownstone steps + and sills, when it turned out that one of the apartments had been taken + between two visits they made. Then the only combination left open to them + was of a ground-floor flat to the right and a third-floor flat to the + left. + </p> + <p> + Still they kept this inspiration in reserve for use at the first + opportunity. In the mean time there were several flats which they thought + they could almost make do: notably one where they could get an extra + servant's room in the basement four flights down, and another where + they could get it in the roof five flights up. At the first the janitor + was respectful and enthusiastic; at the second he had an effect of + ironical pessimism. When they trembled on the verge of taking his + apartment, he pointed out a spot in the kalsomining of the parlor ceiling, + and gratuitously said, Now such a thing as that he should not agree to put + in shape unless they took the apartment for a term of years. The apartment + was unfurnished, and they recurred to the fact that they wanted a + furnished apartment, and made their escape. This saved them in several + other extremities; but short of extremity they could not keep their + different requirements in mind, and were always about to decide without + regard to some one of them. + </p> + <p> + They went to several places twice without intending: once to that + old-fashioned house with the pleasant colored janitor, and wandered all + over the apartment again with a haunting sense of familiarity, and then + recognized the janitor and laughed; and to that house with the pathetic + widow and the pretty daughter who wished to take them to board. They + stayed to excuse their blunder, and easily came by the fact that the + mother had taken the house that the girl might have a home while she was + in New York studying art, and they hoped to pay their way by taking + boarders. Her daughter was at her class now, the mother concluded; and + they encouraged her to believe that it could only be a few days till the + rest of her scheme was realized. + </p> + <p> + “I dare say we could be perfectly comfortable there,” March + suggested when they had got away. “Now if we were truly humane we + would modify our desires to meet their needs and end this sickening + search, wouldn't we?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but we're not truly humane,” his wife answered, + “or at least not in that sense. You know you hate boarding; and if + we went there I should have them on my sympathies the whole time.” + </p> + <p> + “I see. And then you would take it out of me.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I should take it out of you. And if you are going to be so + weak, Basil, and let every little thing work upon you in that way, you'd + better not come to New York. You'll see enough misery here.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, don't take that superior tone with me, as if I were a + child that had its mind set on an undesirable toy, Isabel.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, don't you suppose it's because you are such a child + in some respects that I like you, dear?” she demanded, without + relenting. + </p> + <p> + “But I don't find so much misery in New York. I don't + suppose there's any more suffering here to the population than there + is in the country. And they're so gay about it all. I think the + outward aspect of the place and the hilarity of the sky and air must get + into the people's blood. The weather is simply unapproachable; and I + don't care if it is the ugliest place in the world, as you say. I + suppose it is. It shrieks and yells with ugliness here and there but it + never loses its spirits. That widow is from the country. When she's + been a year in New York she'll be as gay—as gay as an L road.” + He celebrated a satisfaction they both had in the L roads. “They + kill the streets and avenues, but at least they partially hide them, and + that is some comfort; and they do triumph over their prostrate forms with + a savage exultation that is intoxicating. Those bends in the L that you + get in the corner of Washington Square, or just below the Cooper Institute—they're + the gayest things in the world. Perfectly atrocious, of course, but + incomparably picturesque! And the whole city is so,” said March, + “or else the L would never have got built here. New York may be + splendidly gay or squalidly gay; but, prince or pauper, it's gay + always.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, gay is the word,” she admitted, with a sigh. “But + frantic. I can't get used to it. They forget death, Basil; they + forget death in New York.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know that I've ever found much advantage + in remembering it.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't say such a thing, dearest.” + </p> + <p> + He could see that she had got to the end of her nervous strength for the + present, and he proposed that they should take the Elevated road as far as + it would carry them into the country, and shake off their nightmare of + flat-hunting for an hour or two; but her conscience would not let her. She + convicted him of levity equal to that of the New-Yorkers in proposing such + a thing; and they dragged through the day. She was too tired to care for + dinner, and in the night she had a dream from which she woke herself with + a cry that roused him, too. It was something about the children at first, + whom they had talked of wistfully before falling asleep, and then it was + of a hideous thing with two square eyes and a series of sections growing + darker and then lighter, till the tail of the monstrous articulate was + quite luminous again. She shuddered at the vague description she was able + to give; but he asked, “Did it offer to bite you?” + </p> + <p> + “No. That was the most frightful thing about it; it had no mouth.” + </p> + <p> + March laughed. “Why, my dear, it was nothing but a harmless New York + flat—seven rooms and a bath.” + </p> + <p> + “I really believe it was,” she consented, recognizing an + architectural resemblance, and she fell asleep again, and woke renewed for + the work before them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + Their house-hunting no longer had novelty, but it still had interest; and + they varied their day by taking a coupe, by renouncing advertisements, and + by reverting to agents. Some of these induced them to consider the idea of + furnished houses; and Mrs. March learned tolerance for Fulkerson by + accepting permits to visit flats and houses which had none of the + qualifications she desired in either, and were as far beyond her means as + they were out of the region to which she had geographically restricted + herself. They looked at three-thousand and four-thousand dollar + apartments, and rejected them for one reason or another which had nothing + to do with the rent; the higher the rent was, the more critical they were + of the slippery inlaid floors and the arrangement of the richly decorated + rooms. They never knew whether they had deceived the janitor or not; as + they came in a coupe, they hoped they had. + </p> + <p> + They drove accidentally through one street that seemed gayer in the + perspective than an L road. The fire-escapes, with their light iron + balconies and ladders of iron, decorated the lofty house fronts; the + roadway and sidewalks and door-steps swarmed with children; women's + heads seemed to show at every window. In the basements, over which flights + of high stone steps led to the tenements, were green-grocers' shops + abounding in cabbages, and provision stores running chiefly to bacon and + sausages, and cobblers' and tinners' shops, and the like, in + proportion to the small needs of a poor neighborhood. Ash barrels lined + the sidewalks, and garbage heaps filled the gutters; teams of all trades + stood idly about; a peddler of cheap fruit urged his cart through the + street, and mixed his cry with the joyous screams and shouts of the + children and the scolding and gossiping voices of the women; the burly + blue bulk of a policeman defined itself at the corner; a drunkard + zigzagged down the sidewalk toward him. It was not the abode of the + extremest poverty, but of a poverty as hopeless as any in the world, + transmitting itself from generation to generation, and establishing + conditions of permanency to which human life adjusts itself as it does to + those of some incurable disease, like leprosy. + </p> + <p> + The time had been when the Marches would have taken a purely aesthetic + view of the facts as they glimpsed them in this street of tenement-houses; + when they would have contented themselves with saying that it was as + picturesque as a street in Naples or Florence, and with wondering why + nobody came to paint it; they would have thought they were sufficiently + serious about it in blaming the artists for their failure to appreciate + it, and going abroad for the picturesque when they had it here under their + noses. It was to the nose that the street made one of its strongest + appeals, and Mrs. March pulled up her window of the coupe. “Why does + he take us through such a disgusting street?” she demanded, with an + exasperation of which her husband divined the origin. + </p> + <p> + “This driver may be a philanthropist in disguise,” he + answered, with dreamy irony, “and may want us to think about the + people who are not merely carried through this street in a coupe, but have + to spend their whole lives in it, winter and summer, with no hopes of + driving out of it, except in a hearse. I must say they don't seem to + mind it. I haven't seen a jollier crowd anywhere in New York. They + seem to have forgotten death a little more completely than any of their + fellow-citizens, Isabel. And I wonder what they think of us, making this + gorgeous progress through their midst. I suppose they think we're + rich, and hate us—if they hate rich people; they don't look as + if they hated anybody. Should we be as patient as they are with their + discomfort? I don't believe there's steam heat or an elevator + in the whole block. Seven rooms and a bath would be more than the largest + and genteelest family would know what to do with. They wouldn't know + what to do with the bath, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + His monologue seemed to interest his wife apart from the satirical point + it had for themselves. “You ought to get Mr. Fulkerson to let you + work some of these New York sights up for 'Every Other Week', + Basil; you could do them very nicely.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I've thought of that. But don't let's leave + the personal ground. Doesn't it make you feel rather small and + otherwise unworthy when you see the kind of street these fellow-beings of + yours live in, and then think how particular you are about locality and + the number of bellpulls? I don't see even ratchets and + speaking-tubes at these doors.” He craned his neck out of the window + for a better look, and the children of discomfort cheered him, out of + sheer good feeling and high spirits. “I didn't know I was so + popular. Perhaps it's a recognition of my humane sentiments.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's very easy to have humane sentiments, and to satirize + ourselves for wanting eight rooms and a bath in a good neighborhood, when + we see how these wretched creatures live,” said his wife. “But + if we shared all we have with them, and then settled down among them, what + good would it do?” + </p> + <p> + “Not the least in the world. It might help us for the moment, but it + wouldn't keep the wolf from their doors for a week; and then they + would go on just as before, only they wouldn't be on such good terms + with the wolf. The only way for them is to keep up an unbroken intimacy + with the wolf; then they can manage him somehow. I don't know how, + and I'm afraid I don't want to. Wouldn't you like to + have this fellow drive us round among the halls of pride somewhere for a + little while? Fifth Avenue or Madison, up-town?” + </p> + <p> + “No; we've no time to waste. I've got a place near Third + Avenue, on a nice cross street, and I want him to take us there.” It + proved that she had several addresses near together, and it seemed best to + dismiss their coupe and do the rest of their afternoon's work on + foot. It came to nothing; she was not humbled in the least by what she had + seen in the tenement-house street; she yielded no point in her ideal of a + flat, and the flats persistently refused to lend themselves to it. She + lost all patience with them. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't say the flats are in the right of it,” said + her husband, when she denounced their stupid inadequacy to the purposes of + a Christian home. “But I'm not so sure that we are, either. I've + been thinking about that home business ever since my sensibilities were + dragged—in a coupe—through that tenement-house street. Of + course, no child born and brought up in such a place as that could have + any conception of home. But that's because those poor people can't + give character to their habitations. They have to take what they can get. + But people like us—that is, of our means—do give character to + the average flat. It's made to meet their tastes, or their supposed + tastes; and so it's made for social show, not for family life at + all. Think of a baby in a flat! It's a contradiction in terms; the + flat is the negation of motherhood. The flat means society life; that is, + the pretence of social life. It's made to give artificial people a + society basis on a little money—too much money, of course, for what + they get. So the cost of the building is put into marble halls and idiotic + decoration of all kinds. I don't object to the conveniences, but + none of these flats has a living-room. They have drawing-rooms to foster + social pretence, and they have dining-rooms and bedrooms; but they have no + room where the family can all come together and feel the sweetness of + being a family. The bedrooms are black-holes mostly, with a sinful waste + of space in each. If it were not for the marble halls, and the + decorations, and the foolishly expensive finish, the houses could be built + round a court, and the flats could be shaped something like a Pompeiian + house, with small sleeping-closets—only lit from the outside—and + the rest of the floor thrown into two or three large cheerful halls, where + all the family life could go on, and society could be transacted + unpretentiously. Why, those tenements are better and humaner than those + flats! There the whole family lives in the kitchen, and has its + consciousness of being; but the flat abolishes the family consciousness. + It's confinement without coziness; it's cluttered without + being snug. You couldn't keep a self-respecting cat in a flat; you + couldn't go down cellar to get cider. No! the Anglo-Saxon home, as + we know it in the Anglo-Saxon house, is simply impossible in the + Franco-American flat, not because it's humble, but because it's + false.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” said Mrs. March, “let's look at + houses.” + </p> + <p> + He had been denouncing the flat in the abstract, and he had not expected + this concrete result. But he said, “We will look at houses, then.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. + </h2> + <p> + Nothing mystifies a man more than a woman's aberrations from some + point at which he, supposes her fixed as a star. In these unfurnished + houses, without steam or elevator, March followed his wife about with + patient wonder. She rather liked the worst of them best: but she made him + go down into the cellars and look at the furnaces; she exacted from him a + rigid inquest of the plumbing. She followed him into one of the cellars by + the fitful glare of successively lighted matches, and they enjoyed a + moment in which the anomaly of their presence there on that errand, so + remote from all the facts of their long-established life in Boston, + realized itself for them. + </p> + <p> + “Think how easily we might have been murdered and nobody been any + the wiser!” she said when they were comfortably outdoors again. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, or made way with ourselves in an access of emotional insanity, + supposed to have been induced by unavailing flat-hunting,” he + suggested. She fell in with the notion. “I'm beginning to feel + crazy. But I don't want you to lose your head, Basil. And I don't + want you to sentimentalize any of the things you see in New York. I think + you were disposed to do it in that street we drove through. I don't + believe there's any real suffering—not real suffering—among + those people; that is, it would be suffering from our point of view, but + they've been used to it all their lives, and they don't feel + their discomfort so much.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I understand that, and I don't propose to + sentimentalize them. I think when people get used to a bad state of things + they had better stick to it; in fact, they don't usually like a + better state so well, and I shall keep that firmly in mind.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed with him, and they walked along the L bestridden avenue, + exhilarated by their escape from murder and suicide in that cellar, toward + the nearest cross town track, which they meant to take home to their + hotel. “Now to-night we will go to the theatre,” she said, + “and get this whole house business out of our minds, and be + perfectly fresh for a new start in the morning.” Suddenly she + clutched his arm. “Why, did you see that man?” and she signed + with her head toward a decently dressed person who walked beside them, + next the gutter, stooping over as if to examine it, and half halting at + times. + </p> + <p> + “No. What?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I saw him pick up a dirty bit of cracker from the pavement and + cram it into his mouth and eat it down as if he were famished. And look! + he's actually hunting for more in those garbage heaps!” + </p> + <p> + This was what the decent-looking man with the hard hands and broken nails + of a workman was doing-like a hungry dog. They kept up with him, in the + fascination of the sight, to the next corner, where he turned down the + side street still searching the gutter. + </p> + <p> + They walked on a few paces. Then March said, “I must go after him,” + and left his wife standing. + </p> + <p> + “Are you in want—hungry?” he asked the man. + </p> + <p> + The man said he could not speak English, Monsieur. + </p> + <p> + March asked his question in French. + </p> + <p> + The man shrugged a pitiful, desperate shrug, “Mais, Monsieur—” + </p> + <p> + March put a coin in his hand, and then suddenly the man's face + twisted up; he caught the hand of this alms-giver in both of his and clung + to it. “Monsieur! Monsieur!” he gasped, and the tears rained + down his face. + </p> + <p> + His benefactor pulled himself away, shocked and ashamed, as one is by such + a chance, and got back to his wife, and the man lapsed back into the + mystery of misery out of which he had emerged. + </p> + <p> + March felt it laid upon him to console his wife for what had happened. + “Of course, we might live here for years and not see another case + like that; and, of course, there are twenty places where he could have + gone for help if he had known where to find them.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but it's the possibility of his needing the help so badly + as that,” she answered. “That's what I can't bear, + and I shall not come to a place where such things are possible, and we may + as well stop our house-hunting here at once.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes? And what part of Christendom will you live in? Such things are + possible everywhere in our conditions.” + </p> + <p> + “Then we must change the conditions—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no; we must go to the theatre and forget them. We can stop at + Brentano's for our tickets as we pass through Union Square.” + </p> + <p> + “I am not going to the theatre, Basil. I am going home to Boston + to-night. You can stay and find a flat.” + </p> + <p> + He convinced her of the absurdity of her position, and even of its + selfishness; but she said that her mind was quite made up irrespective of + what had happened, that she had been away from the children long enough; + that she ought to be at home to finish up the work of leaving it. The word + brought a sigh. “Ah, I don't know why we should see nothing + but sad and ugly things now. When we were young—” + </p> + <p> + “Younger,” he put in. “We're still young.” + </p> + <p> + “That's what we pretend, but we know better. But I was + thinking how pretty and pleasant things used to be turning up all the time + on our travels in the old days. Why, when we were in New York here on our + wedding journey the place didn't seem half so dirty as it does now, + and none of these dismal things happened.” + </p> + <p> + “It was a good deal dirtier,” he answered; “and I fancy + worse in every way—hungrier, raggeder, more wretchedly housed. But + that wasn't the period of life for us to notice it. Don't you + remember, when we started to Niagara the last time, how everybody seemed + middle-aged and commonplace; and when we got there there were no evident + brides; nothing but elderly married people?” + </p> + <p> + “At least they weren't starving,” she rebelled. + </p> + <p> + “No, you don't starve in parlor-cars and first-class hotels; + but if you step out of them you run your chance of seeing those who do, if + you're getting on pretty well in the forties. If it's the + unhappy who see unhappiness, think what misery must be revealed to people + who pass their lives in the really squalid tenement-house streets—I + don't mean picturesque avenues like that we passed through.” + </p> + <p> + “But we are not unhappy,” she protested, bringing the talk + back to the personal base again, as women must to get any good out of + talk. “We're really no unhappier than we were when we were + young.” + </p> + <p> + “We're more serious.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I hate it; and I wish you wouldn't be so serious, if + that's what it brings us to.” + </p> + <p> + “I will be trivial from this on,” said March. “Shall we + go to the Hole in the Ground to-night?” + </p> + <p> + “I am going to Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “It's much the same thing. How do you like that for + triviality? It's a little blasphemous, I'll allow.” + </p> + <p> + “It's very silly,” she said. + </p> + <p> + At the hotel they found a letter from the agent who had sent them the + permit to see Mrs. Grosvenor Green's apartment. He wrote that she + had heard they were pleased with her apartment, and that she thought she + could make the terms to suit. She had taken her passage for Europe, and + was very anxious to let the flat before she sailed. She would call that + evening at seven. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Grosvenor Green!” said Mrs. March. “Which of the + ten thousand flats is it, Basil?” + </p> + <p> + “The gimcrackery,” he answered. “In the Xenophon, you + know.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, she may save herself the trouble. I shall not see her. Or yes—I + must. I couldn't go away without seeing what sort of creature could + have planned that fly-away flat. She must be a perfect—” + </p> + <p> + “Parachute,” March suggested. + </p> + <p> + “No! anybody so light as that couldn't come down.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, toy balloon.” + </p> + <p> + “Toy balloon will do for the present,” Mrs. March admitted. + “But I feel that naught but herself can be her parallel for + volatility.” + </p> + <p> + When Mrs. Grosvenor-Green's card came up they both descended to the + hotel parlor, which March said looked like the saloon of a Moorish + day-boat; not that he knew of any such craft, but the decorations were so + Saracenic and the architecture so Hudson Riverish. They found there on the + grand central divan a large lady whose vast smoothness, placidity, and + plumpness set at defiance all their preconceptions of Mrs. Grosvenor + Green, so that Mrs. March distinctly paused with her card in her hand + before venturing even tentatively to address her. Then she was astonished + at the low, calm voice in which Mrs. Green acknowledged herself, and + slowly proceeded to apologize for calling. It was not quite true that she + had taken her passage for Europe, but she hoped soon to do so, and she + confessed that in the mean time she was anxious to let her flat. She was a + little worn out with the care of housekeeping—Mrs. March breathed, + “Oh yes!” in the sigh with which ladies recognize one another's + martyrdom—and Mrs. Green had business abroad, and she was going to + pursue her art studies in Paris; she drew in Mr. Ilcomb's class now, + but the instruction was so much better in Paris; and as the superintendent + seemed to think the price was the only objection, she had ventured to + call. + </p> + <p> + “Then we didn't deceive him in the least,” thought Mrs. + March, while she answered, sweetly: “No; we were only afraid that it + would be too small for our family. We require a good many rooms.” + She could not forego the opportunity of saying, “My husband is + coming to New York to take charge of a literary periodical, and he will + have to have a room to write in,” which made Mrs. Green bow to + March, and made March look sheepish. “But we did think the apartment + very charming”, (It was architecturally charming, she protested to + her conscience), “and we should have been so glad if we could have + got into it.” She followed this with some account of their + house-hunting, amid soft murmurs of sympathy from Mrs. Green, who said + that she had been through all that, and that if she could have shown her + apartment to them she felt sure that she could have explained it so that + they would have seen its capabilities better, Mrs. March assented to this, + and Mrs. Green added that if they found nothing exactly suitable she would + be glad to have them look at it again; and then Mrs. March said that she + was going back to Boston herself, but she was leaving Mr. March to + continue the search; and she had no doubt he would be only too glad to see + the apartment by daylight. “But if you take it, Basil,” she + warned him, when they were alone, “I shall simply renounce you. I + wouldn't live in that junk-shop if you gave it to me. But who would + have thought she was that kind of looking person? Though of course I might + have known if I had stopped to think once. It's because the place + doesn't express her at all that it's so unlike her. It couldn't + be like anybody, or anything that flies in the air, or creeps upon the + earth, or swims in the waters under the earth. I wonder where in the world + she's from; she's no New-Yorker; even we can see that; and she's + not quite a country person, either; she seems like a person from some + large town, where she's been an aesthetic authority. And she can't + find good enough art instruction in New York, and has to go to Paris for + it! Well, it's pathetic, after all, Basil. I can't help + feeling sorry for a person who mistakes herself to that extent.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't help feeling sorry for the husband of a person who + mistakes herself to that extent. What is Mr. Grosvenor Green going to do + in Paris while she's working her way into the Salon?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you keep away from her apartment, Basil; that's all I've + got to say to you. And yet I do like some things about her.” + </p> + <p> + “I like everything about her but her apartment,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “I like her going to be out of the country,” said his wife. + “We shouldn't be overlooked. And the place was prettily + shaped, you can't deny it. And there was an elevator and steam heat. + And the location is very convenient. And there was a hall-boy to bring up + cards. The halls and stairs were kept very clean and nice. But it wouldn't + do. I could put you a folding bed in the room where you wrote, and we + could even have one in the parlor.” + </p> + <p> + “Behind a portiere? I couldn't stand any more portieres!” + </p> + <p> + “And we could squeeze the two girls into one room, or perhaps only + bring Margaret, and put out the whole of the wash. Basil!” she + almost shrieked, “it isn't to be thought of!” + </p> + <p> + He retorted, “I'm not thinking of it, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson came in just before they started for Mrs. March's train, + to find out what had become of them, he said, and to see whether they had + got anything to live in yet. + </p> + <p> + “Not a thing,” she said. “And I'm just going back + to Boston, and leaving Mr. March here to do anything he pleases about it. + He has 'carte blanche.'” + </p> + <p> + “But freedom brings responsibility, you know, Fulkerson, and it's + the same as if I'd no choice. I'm staying behind because I'm + left, not because I expect to do anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that so?” asked Fulkerson. “Well, we must see what + can be done. I supposed you would be all settled by this time, or I should + have humped myself to find you something. None of those places I gave you + amounts to anything?” + </p> + <p> + “As much as forty thousand others we've looked at,” said + Mrs. March. “Yes, one of them does amount to something. It comes so + near being what we want that I've given Mr. March particular + instructions not to go near it.” + </p> + <p> + She told him about Mrs. Grosvenor Green and her flats, and at the end he + said: + </p> + <p> + “Well, well, we must look out for that. I'll keep an eye on + him, Mrs. March, and see that he doesn't do anything rash, and I won't + leave him till he's found just the right thing. It exists, of + course; it must in a city of eighteen hundred thousand people, and the + only question is where to find it. You leave him to me, Mrs. March; I'll + watch out for him.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson showed some signs of going to the station when he found they + were not driving, but she bade him a peremptory good-bye at the hotel + door. + </p> + <p> + “He's very nice, Basil, and his way with you is perfectly + charming. It's very sweet to see how really fond of you he is. But I + didn't want him stringing along with us up to Forty-second Street + and spoiling our last moments together.” + </p> + <p> + At Third Avenue they took the Elevated for which she confessed an + infatuation. She declared it the most ideal way of getting about in the + world, and was not ashamed when he reminded her of how she used to say + that nothing under the sun could induce her to travel on it. She now said + that the night transit was even more interesting than the day, and that + the fleeing intimacy you formed with people in second and third floor + interiors, while all the usual street life went on underneath, had a + domestic intensity mixed with a perfect repose that was the last effect of + good society with all its security and exclusiveness. He said it was + better than the theatre, of which it reminded him, to see those people + through their windows: a family party of work-folk at a late tea, some of + the men in their shirt-sleeves; a woman sewing by a lamp; a mother laying + her child in its cradle; a man with his head fallen on his hands upon a + table; a girl and her lover leaning over the window-sill together. What + suggestion! what drama? what infinite interest! At the Forty-second Street + station they stopped a minute on the bridge that crosses the track to the + branch road for the Central Depot, and looked up and down the long stretch + of the Elevated to north and south. The track that found and lost itself a + thousand times in the flare and tremor of the innumerable lights; the + moony sheen of the electrics mixing with the reddish points and blots of + gas far and near; the architectural shapes of houses and churches and + towers, rescued by the obscurity from all that was ignoble in them, and + the coming and going of the trains marking the stations with vivider or + fainter plumes of flame-shot steam-formed an incomparable perspective. + They often talked afterward of the superb spectacle, which in a city full + of painters nightly works its unrecorded miracles; and they were just to + the Arachne roof spun in iron over the cross street on which they ran to + the depot; but for the present they were mostly inarticulate before it. + They had another moment of rich silence when they paused in the gallery + that leads from the Elevated station to the waiting-rooms in the Central + Depot and looked down upon the great night trains lying on the tracks dim + under the rain of gas-lights that starred without dispersing the vast + darkness of the place. What forces, what fates, slept in these bulks which + would soon be hurling themselves north and south and west through the + night! Now they waited there like fabled monsters of Arab story ready for + the magician's touch, tractable, reckless, will-less—organized + lifelessness full of a strange semblance of life. + </p> + <p> + The Marches admired the impressive sight with a thrill of patriotic pride + in the fact that the whole world perhaps could not afford just the like. + Then they hurried down to the ticket-offices, and he got her a lower berth + in the Boston sleeper, and went with her to the car. They made the most of + the fact that her berth was in the very middle of the car; and she + promised to write as soon as she reached home. She promised also that, + having seen the limitations of New York in respect to flats, she would not + be hard on him if he took something not quite ideal. Only he must remember + that it was not to be above Twentieth Street nor below Washington Square; + it must not be higher than the third floor; it must have an elevator, + steam heat, hail-boys, and a pleasant janitor. These were essentials; if + he could not get them, then they must do without. But he must get them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. March was one of those wives who exact a more rigid adherence to + their ideals from their husbands than from themselves. Early in their + married life she had taken charge of him in all matters which she + considered practical. She did not include the business of bread-winning in + these; that was an affair that might safely be left to his absent-minded, + dreamy inefficiency, and she did not interfere with him there. But in such + things as rehanging the pictures, deciding on a summer boarding-place, + taking a seaside cottage, repapering rooms, choosing seats at the theatre, + seeing what the children ate when she was not at table, shutting the cat + out at night, keeping run of calls and invitations, and seeing if the + furnace was dampered, he had failed her so often that she felt she could + not leave him the slightest discretion in regard to a flat. Her total + distrust of his judgment in the matters cited and others like them + consisted with the greatest admiration of his mind and respect for his + character. She often said that if he would only bring these to bear in + such exigencies he would be simply perfect; but she had long given up his + ever doing so. She subjected him, therefore, to an iron code, but after + proclaiming it she was apt to abandon him to the native lawlessness of his + temperament. She expected him in this event to do as he pleased, and she + resigned herself to it with considerable comfort in holding him + accountable. He learned to expect this, and after suffering keenly from + her disappointment with whatever he did he waited patiently till she + forgot her grievance and began to extract what consolation lurks in the + irreparable. She would almost admit at moments that what he had done was a + very good thing, but she reserved the right to return in full force to her + original condemnation of it; and she accumulated each act of independent + volition in witness and warning against him. Their mass oppressed but + never deterred him. He expected to do the wrong thing when left to his own + devices, and he did it without any apparent recollection of his former + misdeeds and their consequences. There was a good deal of comedy in it + all, and some tragedy. + </p> + <p> + He now experienced a certain expansion, such as husbands of his kind will + imagine, on going back to his hotel alone. It was, perhaps, a revulsion + from the pain of parting; and he toyed with the idea of Mrs. Grosvenor + Green's apartment, which, in its preposterous unsuitability, had a + strange attraction. He felt that he could take it with less risk than + anything else they had seen, but he said he would look at all the other + places in town first. He really spent the greater part of the next day in + hunting up the owner of an apartment that had neither steam heat nor an + elevator, but was otherwise perfect, and trying to get him to take less + than the agent asked. By a curious psychical operation he was able, in the + transaction, to work himself into quite a passionate desire for the + apartment, while he held the Grosvenor Green apartment in the background + of his mind as something that he could return to as altogether more + suitable. He conducted some simultaneous negotiation for a furnished + house, which enhanced still more the desirability of the Grosvenor Green + apartment. Toward evening he went off at a tangent far up-town, so as to + be able to tell his wife how utterly preposterous the best there would be + as compared even with this ridiculous Grosvenor Green gimcrackery. It is + hard to report the processes of his sophistication; perhaps this, again, + may best be left to the marital imagination. + </p> + <p> + He rang at the last of these up-town apartments as it was falling dusk, + and it was long before the janitor appeared. Then the man was very surly, + and said if he looked at the flat now he would say it was too dark, like + all the rest. His reluctance irritated March in proportion to his + insincerity in proposing to look at it at all. He knew he did not mean to + take it under any circumstances; that he was going to use his inspection + of it in dishonest justification of his disobedience to his wife; but he + put on an air of offended dignity. “If you don't wish to show + the apartment,” he said, “I don't care to see it.” + </p> + <p> + The man groaned, for he was heavy, and no doubt dreaded the stairs. He + scratched a match on his thigh, and led the way up. March was sorry for + him, and he put his fingers on a quarter in his waistcoat-pocket to give + him at parting. At the same time, he had to trump up an objection to the + flat. This was easy, for it was advertised as containing ten rooms, and he + found the number eked out with the bath-room and two large closets. + “It's light enough,” said March, “but I don't + see how you make out ten rooms.” + </p> + <p> + “There's ten rooms,” said the man, deigning no proof. + </p> + <p> + March took his fingers off the quarter, and went down-stairs and out of + the door without another word. It would be wrong, it would be impossible, + to give the man anything after such insolence. He reflected, with shame, + that it was also cheaper to punish than forgive him. + </p> + <p> + He returned to his hotel prepared for any desperate measure, and convinced + now that the Grosvenor Green apartment was not merely the only thing left + for him, but was, on its own merits, the best thing in New York. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was waiting for him in the reading-room, and it gave March the + curious thrill with which a man closes with temptation when he said: + “Look here! Why don't you take that woman's flat in the + Xenophon? She's been at the agents again, and they've been at + me. She likes your look—or Mrs. March's—and I guess you + can have it at a pretty heavy discount from the original price. I'm + authorized to say you can have it for one seventy-five a month, and I don't + believe it would be safe for you to offer one fifty.” + </p> + <p> + March shook his head, and dropped a mask of virtuous rejection over his + corrupt acquiescence. “It's too small for us—we couldn't + squeeze into it.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, look here!” Fulkerson persisted. “How many rooms + do you people want?” + </p> + <p> + “I've got to have a place to work—” + </p> + <p> + “Of course! And you've got to have it at the Fifth Wheel + office.” + </p> + <p> + “I hadn't thought of that,” March began. “I + suppose I could do my work at the office, as there's not much + writing—” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course you can't do your work at home. You just come + round with me now, and look at that again.” + </p> + <p> + “No; I can't do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “I—I've got to dine.” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said Fulkerson. “Dine with me. I want to + take you round to a little Italian place that I know.” + </p> + <p> + One may trace the successive steps of March's descent in this simple + matter with the same edification that would attend the study of the + self-delusions and obfuscations of a man tempted to crime. The process is + probably not at all different, and to the philosophical mind the kind of + result is unimportant; the process is everything. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson led him down one block and half across another to the steps of a + small dwelling-house, transformed, like many others, into a restaurant of + the Latin ideal, with little or no structural change from the pattern of + the lower middle-class New York home. There were the corroded brownstone + steps, the mean little front door, and the cramped entry with its narrow + stairs by which ladies could go up to a dining-room appointed for them on + the second floor; the parlors on the first were set about with tables, + where men smoked cigarettes between the courses, and a single waiter ran + swiftly to and fro with plates and dishes, and, exchanged unintelligible + outcries with a cook beyond a slide in the back parlor. He rushed at the + new-comers, brushed the soiled table-cloth before them with a towel on his + arm, covered its worst stains with a napkin, and brought them, in their + order, the vermicelli soup, the fried fish, the cheese-strewn spaghetti, + the veal cutlets, the tepid roast fowl and salad, and the wizened pear and + coffee which form the dinner at such places. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, this is nice!” said Fulkerson, after the laying of the + charitable napkin, and he began to recognize acquaintances, some of whom + he described to March as young literary men and artists with whom they + should probably have to do; others were simply frequenters of the place, + and were of all nationalities and religions apparently—at least, + several were Hebrews and Cubans. “You get a pretty good slice of New + York here,” he said, “all except the frosting on top. That you + won't find much at Maroni's, though you will occasionally. I + don't mean the ladies ever, of course.” The ladies present + seemed harmless and reputable-looking people enough, but certainly they + were not of the first fashion, and, except in a few instances, not + Americans. “It's like cutting straight down through a + fruitcake,” Fulkerson went on, “or a mince-pie, when you don't + know who made the pie; you get a little of everything.” He ordered a + small flask of Chianti with the dinner, and it came in its pretty wicker + jacket. March smiled upon it with tender reminiscence, and Fulkerson + laughed. “Lights you up a little. I brought old Dryfoos here one + day, and he thought it was sweet-oil; that's the kind of bottle they + used to have it in at the country drug-stores.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I remember now; but I'd totally forgotten it,” + said March. “How far back that goes! Who's Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “Dryfoos?” Fulkerson, still smiling, tore off a piece of the + half-yard of French loaf which had been supplied them, with two pale, thin + disks of butter, and fed it into himself. “Old Dryfoos? Well, of + course! I call him old, but he ain't so very. About fifty, or along + there.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said March, “that isn't very old—or + not so old as it used to be.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I suppose you've got to know about him, anyway,” + said Fulkerson, thoughtfully. “And I've been wondering just + how I should tell you. Can't always make out exactly how much of a + Bostonian you really are! Ever been out in the natural-gas country?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said March. “I've had a good deal of + curiosity about it, but I've never been able to get away except in + summer, and then we always preferred to go over the old ground, out to + Niagara and back through Canada, the route we took on our wedding journey. + The children like it as much as we do.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes,” said Fulkerson. “Well, the natural-gas + country is worth seeing. I don't mean the Pittsburg gas-fields, but + out in Northern Ohio and Indiana around Moffitt—that's the + place in the heart of the gas region that they've been booming so. + Yes, you ought to see that country. If you haven't been West for a + good many years, you haven't got any idea how old the country looks. + You remember how the fields used to be all full of stumps?” + </p> + <p> + “I should think so.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you won't see any stumps now. All that country out + around Moffitt is just as smooth as a checker-board, and looks as old as + England. You know how we used to burn the stumps out; and then somebody + invented a stump-extractor, and we pulled them out with a yoke of oxen. + Now they just touch 'em off with a little dynamite, and they've + got a cellar dug and filled up with kindling ready for housekeeping + whenever you want it. Only they haven't got any use for kindling in + that country—all gas. I rode along on the cars through those level + black fields at corn-planting time, and every once in a while I'd + come to a place with a piece of ragged old stove-pipe stickin' up + out of the ground, and blazing away like forty, and a fellow ploughing all + round it and not minding it any more than if it was spring violets. Horses + didn't notice it, either. Well, they've always known about the + gas out there; they say there are places in the woods where it's + been burning ever since the country was settled. + </p> + <p> + “But when you come in sight of Moffitt—my, oh, my! Well, you + come in smell of it about as soon. That gas out there ain't + odorless, like the Pittsburg gas, and so it's perfectly safe; but + the smell isn't bad—about as bad as the finest kind of + benzine. Well, the first thing that strikes you when you come to Moffitt + is the notion that there has been a good warm, growing rain, and the town's + come up overnight. That's in the suburbs, the annexes, and + additions. But it ain't shabby—no shanty-farm business; nice + brick and frame houses, some of 'em Queen Anne style, and all of + 'em looking as if they had come to stay. And when you drive up from + the depot you think everybody's moving. Everything seems to be piled + into the street; old houses made over, and new ones going up everywhere. + You know the kind of street Main Street always used to be in our section—half + plank-road and turnpike, and the rest mud-hole, and a lot of stores and + doggeries strung along with false fronts a story higher than the back, and + here and there a decent building with the gable end to the public; and a + court-house and jail and two taverns and three or four churches. Well, + they're all there in Moffitt yet, but architecture has struck it + hard, and they've got a lot of new buildings that needn't be + ashamed of themselves anywhere; the new court-house is as big as St. Peter's, + and the Grand Opera-house is in the highest style of the art. You can't + buy a lot on that street for much less than you can buy a lot in New York—or + you couldn't when the boom was on; I saw the place just when the + boom was in its prime. I went out there to work the newspapers in the + syndicate business, and I got one of their men to write me a real bright, + snappy account of the gas; and they just took me in their arms and showed + me everything. Well, it was wonderful, and it was beautiful, too! To see a + whole community stirred up like that was—just like a big boy, all + hope and high spirits, and no discount on the remotest future; nothing but + perpetual boom to the end of time—I tell you it warmed your blood. + Why, there were some things about it that made you think what a nice kind + of world this would be if people ever took hold together, instead of each + fellow fighting it out on his own hook, and devil take the hindmost. They + made up their minds at Moffitt that if they wanted their town to grow they'd + got to keep their gas public property. So they extended their corporation + line so as to take in pretty much the whole gas region round there; and + then the city took possession of every well that was put down, and held it + for the common good. Anybody that's a mind to come to Moffitt and + start any kind of manufacture can have all the gas he wants free; and for + fifteen dollars a year you can have all the gas you want to heat and light + your private house. The people hold on to it for themselves, and, as I + say, it's a grand sight to see a whole community hanging together + and working for the good of all, instead of splitting up into as many + different cut-throats as there are able-bodied citizens. See that fellow?” + Fulkerson broke off, and indicated with a twirl of his head a short, dark, + foreign-looking man going out of the door. “They say that fellow's + a Socialist. I think it's a shame they're allowed to come + here. If they don't like the way we manage our affairs let 'em + stay at home,” Fulkerson continued. “They do a lot of + mischief, shooting off their mouths round here. I believe in free speech + and all that; but I'd like to see these fellows shut up in jail and + left to jaw one another to death. We don't want any of their poison.” + </p> + <p> + March did not notice the vanishing Socialist. He was watching, with a + teasing sense of familiarity, a tall, shabbily dressed, elderly man, who + had just come in. He had the aquiline profile uncommon among Germans, and + yet March recognized him at once as German. His long, soft beard and + mustache had once been fair, and they kept some tone of their yellow in + the gray to which they had turned. His eyes were full, and his lips and + chin shaped the beard to the noble outline which shows in the beards the + Italian masters liked to paint for their Last Suppers. His carriage was + erect and soldierly, and March presently saw that he had lost his left + hand. He took his place at a table where the overworked waiter found time + to cut up his meat and put everything in easy reach of his right hand. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Fulkerson resumed, “they took me round + everywhere in Moffitt, and showed me their big wells—lit 'em + up for a private view, and let me hear them purr with the soft accents of + a mass-meeting of locomotives. Why, when they let one of these wells loose + in a meadow that they'd piped it into temporarily, it drove the + flame away forty feet from the mouth of the pipe and blew it over half an + acre of ground. They say when they let one of their big wells burn away + all winter before they had learned how to control it, that well kept up a + little summer all around it; the grass stayed green, and the flowers + bloomed all through the winter. I don't know whether it's so + or not. But I can believe anything of natural gas. My! but it was + beautiful when they turned on the full force of that well and shot a roman + candle into the gas—that's the way they light it—and a + plume of fire about twenty feet wide and seventy-five feet high, all red + and yellow and violet, jumped into the sky, and that big roar shook the + ground under your feet! You felt like saying: + </p> + <p> + “'Don't trouble yourself; I'm perfectly convinced. + I believe in Moffitt.' We-e-e-ll!” drawled Fulkerson, with a + long breath, “that's where I met old Dryfoos.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes!—Dryfoos,” said March. He observed that the + waiter had brought the old one-handed German a towering glass of beer. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Fulkerson laughed. “We've got round to + Dryfoos again. I thought I could cut a long story short, but I seem to be + cutting a short story long. If you're not in a hurry, though—” + </p> + <p> + “Not in the least. Go on as long as you like.” + </p> + <p> + “I met him there in the office of a real-estate man—speculator, + of course; everybody was, in Moffitt; but a first-rate fellow, and + public-spirited as all get-out; and when Dryfoos left he told me about + him. Dryfoos was an old Pennsylvania Dutch farmer, about three or four + miles out of Moffitt, and he'd lived there pretty much all his life; + father was one of the first settlers. Everybody knew he had the right + stuff in him, but he was slower than molasses in January, like those + Pennsylvania Dutch. He'd got together the largest and handsomest + farm anywhere around there; and he was making money on it, just like he + was in some business somewhere; he was a very intelligent man; he took the + papers and kept himself posted; but he was awfully old-fashioned in his + ideas. He hung on to the doctrines as well as the dollars of the dads; it + was a real thing with him. Well, when the boom began to come he hated it + awfully, and he fought it. He used to write communications to the weekly + newspaper in Moffitt—they've got three dailies there now—and + throw cold water on the boom. He couldn't catch on no way. It made + him sick to hear the clack that went on about the gas the whole while, and + that stirred up the neighborhood and got into his family. Whenever he'd + hear of a man that had been offered a big price for his land and was going + to sell out and move into town, he'd go and labor with him and try + to talk him out of it, and tell him how long his fifteen or twenty + thousand would last him to live on, and shake the Standard Oil Company + before him, and try to make him believe it wouldn't be five years + before the Standard owned the whole region. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, he couldn't do anything with them. When a man's + offered a big price for his farm, he don't care whether it's + by a secret emissary from the Standard Oil or not; he's going to + sell and get the better of the other fellow if he can. Dryfoos couldn't + keep the boom out of has own family even. His wife was with him. She + thought whatever he said and did was just as right as if it had been + thundered down from Sinai. But the young folks were sceptical, especially + the girls that had been away to school. The boy that had been kept at home + because he couldn't be spared from helping his father manage the + farm was more like him, but they contrived to stir the boy up—with + the hot end of the boom, too. So when a fellow came along one day and + offered old Dryfoos a cool hundred thousand for his farm, it was all up + with Dryfoos. He'd 'a' liked to 'a' kept the + offer to himself and not done anything about it, but his vanity wouldn't + let him do that; and when he let it out in his family the girls outvoted + him. They just made him sell. + </p> + <p> + “He wouldn't sell all. He kept about eighty acres that was off + in some piece by itself, but the three hundred that had the old brick + house on it, and the big barn—that went, and Dryfoos bought him a + place in Moffitt and moved into town to live on the interest of his money. + Just what he had scolded and ridiculed everybody else for doing. Well, + they say that at first he seemed like he would go crazy. He hadn't + anything to do. He took a fancy to that land-agent, and he used to go and + set in his office and ask him what he should do. 'I hain't got + any horses, I hain't got any cows, I hain't got any pigs, I + hain't got any chickens. I hain't got anything to do from + sun-up to sun-down.' The fellow said the tears used to run down the + old fellow's cheeks, and if he hadn't been so busy himself he + believed he should 'a' cried, too. But most o' people + thought old Dryfoos was down in the mouth because he hadn't asked + more for his farm, when he wanted to buy it back and found they held it at + a hundred and fifty thousand. People couldn't believe he was just + homesick and heartsick for the old place. Well, perhaps he was sorry he + hadn't asked more; that's human nature, too. + </p> + <p> + “After a while something happened. That land-agent used to tell + Dryfoos to get out to Europe with his money and see life a little, or go + and live in Washington, where he could be somebody; but Dryfoos wouldn't, + and he kept listening to the talk there, and all of a sudden he caught on. + He came into that fellow's one day with a plan for cutting up the + eighty acres he'd kept into town lots; and he'd got it all + plotted out so-well, and had so many practical ideas about it, that the + fellow was astonished. He went right in with him, as far as Dryfoos would + let him, and glad of the chance; and they were working the thing for all + it was worth when I struck Moffitt. Old Dryfoos wanted me to go out and + see the Dryfoos & Hendry Addition—guess he thought maybe I'd + write it up; and he drove me out there himself. Well, it was funny to see + a town made: streets driven through; two rows of shadetrees, hard and + soft, planted; cellars dug and houses put upregular Queen Anne style, too, + with stained glass—all at once. Dryfoos apologized for the streets + because they were hand-made; said they expected their street-making + machine Tuesday, and then they intended to push things.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson enjoyed the effect of his picture on March for a moment, and + then went on: “He was mighty intelligent, too, and he questioned me + up about my business as sharp as I ever was questioned; seemed to kind of + strike his fancy; I guess he wanted to find out if there was any money in + it. He was making money, hand over hand, then; and he never stopped + speculating and improving till he'd scraped together three or four + hundred thousand dollars, they said a million, but they like round numbers + at Moffitt, and I guess half a million would lay over it comfortably and + leave a few thousands to spare, probably. Then he came on to New York.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson struck a match against the ribbed side of the porcelain cup that + held the matches in the centre of the table, and lit a cigarette, which he + began to smoke, throwing his head back with a leisurely effect, as if he + had got to the end of at least as much of his story as he meant to tell + without prompting. + </p> + <p> + March asked him the desired question. “What in the world for?” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson took out his cigarette and said, with a smile: “To spend + his money, and get his daughters into the old Knickerbocker society. Maybe + he thought they were all the same kind of Dutch.” + </p> + <p> + “And has he succeeded?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, they're not social leaders yet. But it's only a + question of time—generation or two—especially if time's + money, and if 'Every Other Week' is the success it's + bound to be.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't mean to say, Fulkerson,” said March, with a + half-doubting, half-daunted laugh, “that he's your Angel?” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I mean to say,” returned Fulkerson. “I + ran onto him in Broadway one day last summer. If you ever saw anybody in + your life; you're sure to meet him in Broadway again, sooner or + later. That's the philosophy of the bunco business; country people + from the same neighborhood are sure to run up against each other the first + time they come to New York. I put out my hand, and I said, 'Isn't + this Mr. Dryfoos from Moffitt?' He didn't seem to have any use + for my hand; he let me keep it, and he squared those old lips of his till + his imperial stuck straight out. Ever see Bernhardt in 'L'Etrangere'? + Well, the American husband is old Dryfoos all over; no mustache; and + hay-colored chin-whiskers cut slanting froze the corners of his mouth. He + cocked his little gray eyes at me, and says he: 'Yes, young man; my + name is Dryfoos, and I'm from Moffitt. But I don't want no + present of Longfellow's Works, illustrated; and I don't want + to taste no fine teas; but I know a policeman that does; and if you're + the son of my old friend Squire Strohfeldt, you'd better get out.' + 'Well, then,' said I, 'how would you like to go into the + newspaper syndicate business?' He gave another look at me, and then + he burst out laughing, and he grabbed my hand, and he just froze to it. I + never saw anybody so glad. + </p> + <p> + “Well, the long and the short of it was that I asked him round here + to Maroni's to dinner; and before we broke up for the night we had + settled the financial side of the plan that's brought you to New + York.” + </p> + <p> + “I can see,” said Fulkerson, who had kept his eyes fast on + March's face, “that you don't more than half like the + idea of Dryfoos. It ought to give you more confidence in the thing than + you ever had. You needn't be afraid,” he added, with some + feeling, “that I talked Dryfoos into the thing for my own advantage.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, my dear Fulkerson!” March protested, all the more + fervently because he was really a little guilty. + </p> + <p> + “Well, of course not! I didn't mean you were. But I just + happened to tell him what I wanted to go into when I could see my way to + it, and he caught on of his own accord. The fact is,” said + Fulkerson, “I guess I'd better make a clean breast of it, now + I'm at it, Dryfoos wanted to get something for that boy of his to + do. He's in railroads himself, and he's in mines and other + things, and he keeps busy, and he can't bear to have his boy hanging + round the house doing nothing, like as if he was a girl. I told him that + the great object of a rich man was to get his son into just that fix, but + he couldn't seem to see it, and the boy hated it himself. He's + got a good head, and he wanted to study for the ministry when they were + all living together out on the farm; but his father had the old-fashioned + ideas about that. You know they used to think that any sort of stuff was + good enough to make a preacher out of; but they wanted the good timber for + business; and so the old man wouldn't let him. You'll see the + fellow; you'll like him; he's no fool, I can tell you; and he's + going to be our publisher, nominally at first and actually when I've + taught him the ropes a little.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. + </h2> + <p> + Fulkerson stopped and looked at March, whom he saw lapsing into a serious + silence. Doubtless he divined his uneasiness with the facts that had been + given him to digest. He pulled out his watch and glanced at it. “See + here, how would you like to go up to Forty-sixth street with me, and drop + in on old Dryfoos? Now's your chance. He's going West + tomorrow, and won't be back for a month or so. They'll all be + glad to see you, and you'll understand things better when you've + seen him and his family. I can't explain.” + </p> + <p> + March reflected a moment. Then he said, with a wisdom that surprised him, + for he would have liked to yield to the impulse of his curiosity: “Perhaps + we'd better wait till Mrs. March comes down, and let things take the + usual course. The Dryfoos ladies will want to call on her as the + last-comer, and if I treated myself 'en garcon' now, and paid + the first visit, it might complicate matters.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps you're right,” said Fulkerson. “I + don't know much about these things, and I don't believe Ma + Dryfoos does, either.” He was on his legs lighting another + cigarette. “I suppose the girls are getting themselves up in + etiquette, though. Well, then, let's have a look at the 'Every + Other Week' building, and then, if you like your quarters there, you + can go round and close for Mrs. Green's flat.” + </p> + <p> + March's dormant allegiance to his wife's wishes had been + roused by his decision in favor of good social usage. “I don't + think I shall take the flat,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Well, don't reject it without giving it another look, anyway. + Come on!” + </p> + <p> + He helped March on with his light overcoat, and the little stir they made + for their departure caught the notice of the old German; he looked up from + his beer at them. March was more than ever impressed with something + familiar in his face. In compensation for his prudence in regard to the + Dryfooses he now indulged an impulse. He stepped across to where the old + man sat, with his bald head shining like ivory under the gas-jet, and his + fine patriarchal length of bearded mask taking picturesque lights and + shadows, and put out his hand to him. + </p> + <p> + “Lindau! Isn't this Mr. Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + The old man lifted himself slowly to his feet with mechanical politeness, + and cautiously took March's hand. “Yes, my name is Lindau,” + he said, slowly, while he scanned March's face. Then he broke into a + long cry. “Ah-h-h-h-h, my dear poy! my gong friendt! my-my—Idt + is Passil Marge, not zo? Ah, ha, ha, ha! How gladt I am to zee you! Why, I + am gladt! And you rememberdt me? You remember Schiller, and Goethe, and + Uhland? And Indianapolis? You still lif in Indianapolis? It sheers my + hardt to zee you. But you are lidtle oldt, too? Tventy-five years makes a + difference. Ah, I am gladt! Dell me, idt is Passil Marge, not zo?” + </p> + <p> + He looked anxiously into March's face, with a gentle smile of mixed + hope and doubt, and March said: “As sure as it's Berthold + Lindau, and I guess it's you. And you remember the old times? You + were as much of a boy as I was, Lindau. Are you living in New York? Do you + recollect how you tried to teach me to fence? I don't know how to + this day, Lindau. How good you were, and how patient! Do you remember how + we used to sit up in the little parlor back of your printing-office, and + read Die Rauber and Die Theilung der Erde and Die Glocke? And Mrs. Lindau? + Is she with—” + </p> + <p> + “Deadt—deadt long ago. Right after I got home from the war—tventy + years ago. But tell me, you are married? Children? Yes! Goodt! And how + oldt are you now?” + </p> + <p> + “It makes me seventeen to see you, Lindau, but I've got a son + nearly as old.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, ha, ha! Goodt! And where do you lif?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm just coming to live in New York,” March said, + looking over at Fulkerson, who had been watching his interview with the + perfunctory smile of sympathy that people put on at the meeting of old + friends. “I want to introduce you to my friend Mr. Fulkerson. He and + I are going into a literary enterprise here.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! zo?” said the old man, with polite interest. He took + Fulkerson's proffered hand, and they all stood talking a few moments + together. + </p> + <p> + Then Fulkerson said, with another look at his watch, “Well, March, + we're keeping Mr. Lindau from his dinner.” + </p> + <p> + “Dinner!” cried the old man. “Idt's better than + breadt and meadt to see Mr. Marge!” + </p> + <p> + “I must be going, anyway,” said March. “But I must see + you again soon, Lindau. Where do you live? I want a long talk.” + </p> + <p> + “And I. You will find me here at dinner-time.” said the old + man. “It is the best place”; and March fancied him reluctant + to give another address. + </p> + <p> + To cover his consciousness he answered, gayly: “Then, it's + 'auf wiedersehen' with us. Well!” + </p> + <p> + “Also!” The old man took his hand, and made a mechanical + movement with his mutilated arm, as if he would have taken it in a double + clasp. He laughed at himself. “I wanted to gif you the other handt, + too, but I gafe it to your gountry a goodt while ago.” + </p> + <p> + “To my country?” asked March, with a sense of pain, and yet + lightly, as if it were a joke of the old man's. “Your country, + too, Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + The old man turned very grave, and said, almost coldly, “What + gountry hass a poor man got, Mr. Marge?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you ought to have a share in the one you helped to save for + us rich men, Lindau,” March returned, still humoring the joke. + </p> + <p> + The old man smiled sadly, but made no answer as he sat down again. + </p> + <p> + “Seems to be a little soured,” said Fulkerson, as they went + down the steps. He was one of those Americans whose habitual conception of + life is unalloyed prosperity. When any experience or observation of his + went counter to it he suffered—something like physical pain. He + eagerly shrugged away the impression left upon his buoyancy by Lindau, and + added to March's continued silence, “What did I tell you about + meeting every man in New York that you ever knew before?” + </p> + <p> + “I never expected to meat Lindau in the world again,” said + March, more to himself than to Fulkerson. “I had an impression that + he had been killed in the war. I almost wish he had been.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, hello, now!” cried Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + March laughed, but went on soberly: “He was a man predestined to + adversity, though. When I first knew him out in Indianapolis he was + starving along with a sick wife and a sick newspaper. It was before the + Germans had come over to the Republicans generally, but Lindau was + fighting the anti-slavery battle just as naturally at Indianapolis in 1858 + as he fought behind the barricades at Berlin in 1848. And yet he was + always such a gentle soul! And so generous! He taught me German for the + love of it; he wouldn't spoil his pleasure by taking a cent from me; + he seemed to get enough out of my being young and enthusiastic, and out of + prophesying great things for me. I wonder what the poor old fellow is + doing here, with that one hand of his?” + </p> + <p> + “Not amassing a very 'handsome pittance,' I guess, as + Artemus Ward would say,” said Fulkerson, getting back some of his + lightness. “There are lots of two-handed fellows in New York that + are not doing much better, I guess. Maybe he gets some writing on the + German papers.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope so. He's one of the most accomplished men! He used to + be a splendid musician—pianist—and knows eight or ten + languages.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's astonishing,” said Fulkerson, “how + much lumber those Germans can carry around in their heads all their lives, + and never work it up into anything. It's a pity they couldn't + do the acquiring, and let out the use of their learning to a few bright + Americans. We could make things hum, if we could arrange 'em that + way.” + </p> + <p> + He talked on, unheeded by March, who went along half-consciously tormented + by his lightness in the pensive memories the meeting with Lindau had + called up. Was this all that sweet, unselfish nature could come to? What a + homeless old age at that meagre Italian table d'hote, with that tall + glass of beer for a half-hour's oblivion! That shabby dress, that + pathetic mutilation! He must have a pension, twelve dollars a month, or + eighteen, from a grateful country. But what else did he eke out with? + </p> + <p> + “Well, here we are,” said Fulkerson, cheerily. He ran up the + steps before March, and opened the carpenter's temporary valve in + the door frame, and led the way into a darkness smelling sweetly of + unpainted wood-work and newly dried plaster; their feat slipped on + shavings and grated on sand. He scratched a match, and found a candle, and + then walked about up and down stairs, and lectured on the advantages of + the place. He had fitted up bachelor apartments for himself in the house, + and said that he was going to have a flat to let on the top floor. “I + didn't offer it to you because I supposed you'd be too proud + to live over your shop; and it's too small, anyway; only five rooms.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's too small,” said March, shirking the other + point. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, here's the room I intend for your office,” + said Fulkerson, showing him into a large back parlor one flight up. + “You'll have it quiet from the street noises here, and you can + be at home or not, as you please. There'll be a boy on the stairs to + find out. Now, you see, this makes the Grosvenor Green flat practicable, + if you want it.” + </p> + <p> + March felt the forces of fate closing about him and pushing him to a + decision. He feebly fought them off till he could have another look at the + flat. Then, baked and subdued still more by the unexpected presence of + Mrs. Grosvenor Green herself, who was occupying it so as to be able to + show it effectively, he took it. He was aware more than ever of its + absurdities; he knew that his wife would never cease to hate it; but he + had suffered one of those eclipses of the imagination to which men of his + temperament are subject, and into which he could see no future for his + desires. He felt a comfort in irretrievably committing himself, and + exchanging the burden of indecision for the burden of responsibility. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Fulkerson, as they walked back to + his hotel together, “but you might fix it up with that lone widow + and her pretty daughter to take part of their house here.” He seemed + to be reminded of it by the fact of passing the house, and March looked up + at its dark front. He could not have told exactly why he felt a pang of + remorse at the sight, and doubtless it was more regret for having taken + the Grosvenor Green flat than for not having taken the widow's + rooms. Still, he could not forget her wistfulness when his wife and he + were looking at them, and her disappointment when they decided against + them. He had toyed, in his after-talk to Mrs. March, with a sort of + hypothetical obligation they had to modify their plans so as to meet the + widow's want of just such a family as theirs; they had both said + what a blessing it would be to her, and what a pity they could not do it; + but they had decided very distinctly that they could not. Now it seemed to + him that they might; and he asked himself whether he had not actually + departed as much from their ideal as if he had taken board with the widow. + Suddenly it seemed to him that his wife asked him this, too. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon,” said Fulkerson, “that she could have + arranged to give you your meals in your rooms, and it would have come to + about the same thing as housekeeping.” + </p> + <p> + “No sort of boarding can be the same as house-keeping,” said + March. “I want my little girl to have the run of a kitchen, and I + want the whole family to have the moral effect of housekeeping. It's + demoralizing to board, in every way; it isn't a home, if anybody + else takes the care of it off your hands.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I suppose so,” Fulkerson assented; but March's + words had a hollow ring to himself, and in his own mind he began to + retaliate his dissatisfaction upon Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + He parted from him on the usual terms outwardly, but he felt obscurely + abused by Fulkerson in regard to the Dryfooses, father and son. He did not + know but Fulkerson had taken an advantage of him in allowing him to commit + himself to their enterprise without fully and frankly telling him who and + what his backer was; he perceived that with young Dryfoos as the publisher + and Fulkerson as the general director of the paper there might be very + little play for his own ideas of its conduct. Perhaps it was the hurt to + his vanity involved by the recognition of this fact that made him forget + how little choice he really had in the matter, and how, since he had not + accepted the offer to edit the insurance paper, nothing remained for him + but to close with Fulkerson. In this moment of suspicion and resentment he + accused Fulkerson of hastening his decision in regard to the Grosvenor + Green apartment; he now refused to consider it a decision, and said to + himself that if he felt disposed to do so he would send Mrs. Green a note + reversing it in the morning. But he put it all off till morning with his + clothes, when he went to bed, he put off even thinking what his wife would + say; he cast Fulkerson and his constructive treachery out of his mind, + too, and invited into it some pensive reveries of the past, when he still + stood at the parting of the ways, and could take this path or that. In his + middle life this was not possible; he must follow the path chosen long + ago, wherever, it led. He was not master of himself, as he once seemed, + but the servant of those he loved; if he could do what he liked, perhaps + he might renounce this whole New York enterprise, and go off somewhere out + of the reach of care; but he could not do what he liked, that was very + clear. In the pathos of this conviction he dwelt compassionately upon the + thought of poor old Lindau; he resolved to make him accept a handsome sum + of money—more than he could spare, something that he would feel the + loss of—in payment of the lessons in German and fencing given so + long ago. At the usual rate for such lessons, his debt, with interest for + twenty-odd years, would run very far into the hundreds. Too far, he + perceived, for his wife's joyous approval; he determined not to add + the interest; or he believed that Lindau would refuse the interest; he put + a fine speech in his mouth, making him do so; and after that he got Lindau + employment on 'Every Other Week,' and took care of him till he + died. + </p> + <p> + Through all his melancholy and munificence he was aware of sordid + anxieties for having taken the Grosvenor Green apartment. These began to + assume visible, tangible shapes as he drowsed, and to became personal + entities, from which he woke, with little starts, to a realization of + their true nature, and then suddenly fell fast asleep. + </p> + <p> + In the accomplishment of the events which his reverie played with, there + was much that retroactively stamped it with prophecy, but much also that + was better than he forboded. He found that with regard to the Grosvenor + Green apartment he had not allowed for his wife's willingness to get + any sort of roof over her head again after the removal from their old + home, or for the alleviations that grow up through mere custom. The + practical workings of the apartment were not so bad; it had its good + points, and after the first sensation of oppression in it they began to + feel the convenience of its arrangement. They were at that time of life + when people first turn to their children's opinion with deference, + and, in the loss of keenness in their own likes and dislikes, consult the + young preferences which are still so sensitive. It went far to reconcile + Mrs. March to the apartment that her children were pleased with its + novelty; when this wore off for them, she had herself begun to find it + much more easily manageable than a house. After she had put away several + barrels of gimcracks, and folded up screens and rugs and skins, and + carried them all off to the little dark store-room which the flat + developed, she perceived at once a roominess and coziness in it + unsuspected before. Then, when people began to call, she had a pleasure, a + superiority, in saying that it was a furnished apartment, and in + disclaiming all responsibility for the upholstery and decoration. If March + was by, she always explained that it was Mr. March's fancy, and + amiably laughed it off with her callers as a mannish eccentricity. Nobody + really seemed to think it otherwise than pretty; and this again was a + triumph for Mrs. March, because it showed how inferior the New York taste + was to the Boston taste in such matters. + </p> + <p> + March submitted silently to his punishment, and laughed with her before + company at his own eccentricity. She had been so preoccupied with the + adjustment of the family to its new quarters and circumstances that the + time passed for laying his misgivings, if they were misgivings, about + Fulkerson before her, and when an occasion came for expressing them they + had themselves passed in the anxieties of getting forward the first number + of 'Every Other Week.' He kept these from her, too, and the + business that brought them to New York had apparently dropped into + abeyance before the questions of domestic economy that presented and + absented themselves. March knew his wife to be a woman of good mind and in + perfect sympathy with him, but he understood the limitations of her + perspective; and if he was not too wise, he was too experienced to intrude + upon it any affairs of his till her own were reduced to the right order + and proportion. It would have been folly to talk to her of Fulkerson's + conjecturable uncandor while she was in doubt whether her cook would like + the kitchen, or her two servants would consent to room together; and till + it was decided what school Tom should go to, and whether Bella should have + lessons at home or not, the relation which March was to bear to the + Dryfooses, as owner and publisher, was not to be discussed with his wife. + He might drag it in, but he was aware that with her mind distracted by + more immediate interests he could not get from her that judgment, that + reasoned divination, which he relied upon so much. She would try, she + would do her best, but the result would be a view clouded and discolored + by the effort she must make. + </p> + <p> + He put the whole matter by, and gave himself to the details of the work + before him. In this he found not only escape, but reassurance, for it + became more and more apparent that whatever was nominally the structure of + the business, a man of his qualifications and his instincts could not have + an insignificant place in it. He had also the consolation of liking his + work, and of getting an instant grasp of it that grew constantly firmer + and closer. The joy of knowing that he had not made a mistake was great. + In giving rein to ambitions long forborne he seemed to get back to the + youth when he had indulged them first; and after half a lifetime passed in + pursuits alien to his nature, he was feeling the serene happiness of being + mated through his work to his early love. From the outside the spectacle + might have had its pathos, and it is not easy to justify such an + experiment as he had made at his time of life, except upon the ground + where he rested from its consideration—the ground of necessity. + </p> + <p> + His work was more in his thoughts than himself, however; and as the time + for the publication of the first number of his periodical came nearer, his + cares all centred upon it. Without fixing any date, Fulkerson had + announced it, and pushed his announcements with the shameless vigor of a + born advertiser. He worked his interest with the press to the utmost, and + paragraphs of a variety that did credit to his ingenuity were afloat + everywhere. Some of them were speciously unfavorable in tone; they + criticised and even ridiculed the principles on which the new departure in + literary journalism was based. Others defended it; others yet denied that + this rumored principle was really the principle. All contributed to make + talk. All proceeded from the same fertile invention. + </p> + <p> + March observed with a degree of mortification that the talk was very + little of it in the New York press; there the references to the novel + enterprise were slight and cold. But Fulkerson said: “Don't + mind that, old man. It's the whole country that makes or breaks a + thing like this; New York has very little to do with it. Now if it were a + play, it would be different. New York does make or break a play; but it + doesn't make or break a book; it doesn't make or break a + magazine. The great mass of the readers are outside of New York, and the + rural districts are what we have got to go for. They don't read much + in New York; they write, and talk about what they've written. Don't + you worry.” + </p> + <p> + The rumor of Fulkerson's connection with the enterprise accompanied + many of the paragraphs, and he was able to stay March's thirst for + employment by turning over to him from day to day heaps of the manuscripts + which began to pour in from his old syndicate writers, as well as from + adventurous volunteers all over the country. With these in hand March + began practically to plan the first number, and to concrete a general + scheme from the material and the experience they furnished. They had + intended to issue the first number with the new year, and if it had been + an affair of literature alone, it would have been very easy; but it was + the art leg they limped on, as Fulkerson phrased it. They had not merely + to deal with the question of specific illustrations for this article or + that, but to decide the whole character of their illustrations, and first + of all to get a design for a cover which should both ensnare the heedless + and captivate the fastidious. These things did not come properly within + March's province—that had been clearly understood—and + for a while Fulkerson tried to run the art leg himself. The phrase was + again his, but it was simpler to make the phrase than to run the leg. The + difficult generation, at once stiff-backed and slippery, with which he had + to do in this endeavor, reduced even so buoyant an optimist to despair, + and after wasting some valuable weeks in trying to work the artists + himself, he determined to get an artist to work them. But what artist? It + could not be a man with fixed reputation and a following: he would be too + costly, and would have too many enemies among his brethren, even if he + would consent to undertake the job. Fulkerson had a man in mind, an + artist, too, who would have been the very thing if he had been the thing + at all. He had talent enough, and his sort of talent would reach round the + whole situation, but, as Fulkerson said, he was as many kinds of an ass as + he was kinds of an artist. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Anticipative homesickness + Any sort of stuff was good enough to make a preacher out of + Appearance made him doubt their ability to pay so much + As much of his story as he meant to tell without prompting + Considerable comfort in holding him accountable + Extract what consolation lurks in the irreparable + Flavors not very sharply distinguished from one another + Handsome pittance + He expected to do the wrong thing when left to his own devices + Hypothetical difficulty + Never-blooming shrub + Poverty as hopeless as any in the world + Seeming interested in points necessarily indifferent to him + Servant of those he loved + Sigh with which ladies recognize one another's martyrdom + Sorry he hadn't asked more; that's human nature + That isn't very old—or not so old as it used to be + Tried to be homesick for them, but failed + Turn to their children's opinion with deference + Wish we didn't always recognize the facts as we do +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART2a" id="link2H_PART2a"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART SECOND + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + The evening when March closed with Mrs. Green's reduced offer, and + decided to take her apartment, the widow whose lodgings he had rejected + sat with her daughter in an upper room at the back of her house. In the + shaded glow of the drop-light she was sewing, and the girl was drawing at + the same table. From time to time, as they talked, the girl lifted her + head and tilted it a little on one side so as to get some desired effect + of her work. + </p> + <p> + “It's a mercy the cold weather holds off,” said the + mother. “We should have to light the furnace, unless we wanted to + scare everybody away with a cold house; and I don't know who would + take care of it, or what would become of us, every way.” + </p> + <p> + “They seem to have been scared away from a house that wasn't + cold,” said the girl. “Perhaps they might like a cold one. But + it's too early for cold yet. It's only just in the beginning + of November.” + </p> + <p> + “The Messenger says they've had a sprinkling of snow.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, at St. Barnaby! I don't know when they don't + have sprinklings of snow there. I'm awfully glad we haven't + got that winter before us.” + </p> + <p> + The widow sighed as mothers do who feel the contrast their experience + opposes to the hopeful recklessness of such talk as this. “We may + have a worse winter here,” she said, darkly. + </p> + <p> + “Then I couldn't stand it,” said the girl, “and I + should go in for lighting out to Florida double-quick.” + </p> + <p> + “And how would you get to Florida?” demanded her mother, + severely. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, by the usual conveyance Pullman vestibuled train, I suppose. + What makes you so blue, mamma?” The girl was all the time sketching + away, rubbing out, lifting her head for the effect, and then bending it + over her work again without looking at her mother. + </p> + <p> + “I am not blue, Alma. But I cannot endure this—this + hopefulness of yours.” + </p> + <p> + “Why? What harm does it do?” + </p> + <p> + “Harm?” echoed the mother. + </p> + <p> + Pending the effort she must make in saying, the girl cut in: “Yes, + harm. You've kept your despair dusted off and ready for use at an + instant's notice ever since we came, and what good has it done? I'm + going to keep on hoping to the bitter end. That's what papa did.” + </p> + <p> + It was what the Rev. Archibald Leighton had done with all the consumptive's + buoyancy. The morning he died he told them that now he had turned the + point and was really going to get well. The cheerfulness was not only in + his disease, but in his temperament. Its excess was always a little + against him in his church work, and Mrs. Leighton was right enough in + feeling that if it had not been for the ballast of her instinctive + despondency he would have made shipwreck of such small chances of + prosperity as befell him in life. It was not from him that his daughter + got her talent, though he had left her his temperament intact of his widow's + legal thirds. He was one of those men of whom the country people say when + he is gone that the woman gets along better without him. Mrs. Leighton had + long eked out their income by taking a summer boarder or two, as a great + favor, into her family; and when the greater need came, she frankly gave + up her house to the summer-folks (as they call them in the country), and + managed it for their comfort from the small quarter of it in which she + shut herself up with her daughter. + </p> + <p> + The notion of shutting up is an exigency of the rounded period. The fact + is, of course, that Alma Leighton was not shut up in any sense whatever. + She was the pervading light, if not force, of the house. She was a good + cook, and she managed the kitchen with the help of an Irish girl, while + her mother looked after the rest of the housekeeping. But she was not + systematic; she had inspiration but not discipline, and her mother mourned + more over the days when Alma left the whole dinner to the Irish girl than + she rejoiced in those when one of Alma's great thoughts took form in + a chicken-pie of incomparable savor or in a matchless pudding. The + off-days came when her artistic nature was expressing itself in charcoal, + for she drew to the admiration of all among the lady boarders who could + not draw. The others had their reserves; they readily conceded that Alma + had genius, but they were sure she needed instruction. On the other hand, + they were not so radical as to agree with the old painter who came every + summer to paint the elms of the St. Barnaby meadows. He contended that she + needed to be a man in order to amount to anything; but in this theory he + was opposed by an authority, of his own sex, whom the lady sketchers + believed to speak with more impartiality in a matter concerning them as + much as Alma Leighton. He said that instruction would do, and he was not + only younger and handsomer, but he was fresher from the schools than old + Harrington, who, even the lady sketchers could see, painted in an + obsolescent manner. His name was Beaton—Angus Beaton; but he was not + Scotch, or not more Scotch than Mary Queen of Scots was. His father was a + Scotchman, but Beaton was born in Syracuse, New York, and it had taken + only three years in Paris to obliterate many traces of native and + ancestral manner in him. He wore his black beard cut shorter than his + mustache, and a little pointed; he stood with his shoulders well thrown + back and with a lateral curve of his person when he talked about art, + which would alone have carried conviction even if he had not had a thick, + dark bang coming almost to the brows of his mobile gray eyes, and had not + spoken English with quick, staccato impulses, so as to give it the effect + of epigrammatic and sententious French. One of the ladies said that you + always thought of him as having spoken French after it was over, and + accused herself of wrong in not being able to feel afraid of him. None of + the ladies was afraid of him, though they could not believe that he was + really so deferential to their work as he seemed; and they knew, when he + would not criticise Mr. Harrington's work, that he was just acting + from principle. + </p> + <p> + They may or may not have known the deference with which he treated Alma's + work; but the girl herself felt that his abrupt, impersonal comment + recognized her as a real sister in art. He told her she ought to come to + New York, and draw in the League, or get into some painter's private + class; and it was the sense of duty thus appealed to which finally + resulted in the hazardous experiment she and her mother were now making. + There were no logical breaks in the chain of their reasoning from past + success with boarders in St. Barnaby to future success with boarders in + New York. Of course the outlay was much greater. The rent of the furnished + house they had taken was such that if they failed their experiment would + be little less than ruinous. + </p> + <p> + But they were not going to fail; that was what Alma contended, with a + hardy courage that her mother sometimes felt almost invited failure, if it + did not deserve it. She was one of those people who believe that if you + dread harm enough it is less likely to happen. She acted on this + superstition as if it were a religion. + </p> + <p> + “If it had not been for my despair, as you call it, Alma,” she + answered, “I don't know where we should have been now.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose we should have been in St. Barnaby,” said the girl. + “And if it's worse to be in New York, you see what your + despair's done, mamma. But what's the use? You meant well, and + I don't blame you. You can't expect even despair to come out + always just the way you want it. Perhaps you've used too much of it.” + The girl laughed, and Mrs. Leighton laughed, too. Like every one else, she + was not merely a prevailing mood, as people are apt to be in books, but + was an irregularly spheroidal character, with surfaces that caught the + different lights of circumstance and reflected them. Alma got up and took + a pose before the mirror, which she then transferred to her sketch. The + room was pinned about with other sketches, which showed with fantastic + indistinctness in the shaded gaslight. Alma held up the drawing. “How + do you like it?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton bent forward over her sewing to look at it. “You've + got the man's face rather weak.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's so. Either I see all the hidden weakness that's + in men's natures, and bring it to the surface in their figures, or + else I put my own weakness into them. Either way, it's a drawback to + their presenting a truly manly appearance. As long as I have one of the + miserable objects before me, I can draw him; but as soon as his back's + turned I get to putting ladies into men's clothes. I should think + you'd be scandalized, mamma, if you were a really feminine person. + It must be your despair that helps you to bear up. But what's the + matter with the young lady in young lady's clothes? Any dust on her?” + </p> + <p> + “What expressions!” said Mrs. Leighton. “Really, Alma, + for a refined girl you are the most unrefined!” + </p> + <p> + “Go on—about the girl in the picture!” said Alma, + slightly knocking her mother on the shoulder, as she stood over her. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see anything to her. What's she doing?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, just being made love to, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “She's perfectly insipid!” + </p> + <p> + “You're awfully articulate, mamma! Now, if Mr. Wetmore were to + criticise that picture he'd draw a circle round it in the air, and + look at it through that, and tilt his head first on one side and then on + the other, and then look at you, as if you were a figure in it, and then + collapse awhile, and moan a little and gasp, 'Isn't your young + lady a little too-too—' and then he'd try to get the + word out of you, and groan and suffer some more; and you'd say, + 'She is, rather,' and that would give him courage, and he'd + say, 'I don't mean that she's so very—' + 'Of course not.' 'You understand?' 'Perfectly. + I see it myself, now.' 'Well, then'—-and he'd + take your pencil and begin to draw—'I should give her a little + more—Ah?' 'Yes, I see the difference.'—'You + see the difference?' And he'd go off to some one else, and you'd + know that you'd been doing the wishy-washiest thing in the world, + though he hadn't spoken a word of criticism, and couldn't. But + he wouldn't have noticed the expression at all; he'd have + shown you where your drawing was bad. He doesn't care for what he + calls the literature of a thing; he says that will take care of itself if + the drawing's good. He doesn't like my doing these chic + things; but I'm going to keep it up, for I think it's the + nearest way to illustrating.” + </p> + <p> + She took her sketch and pinned it up on the door. + </p> + <p> + “And has Mr. Beaton been about, yet?” asked her mother. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the girl, with her back still turned; and she + added, “I believe he's in New York; Mr. Wetmore's seen + him.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a little strange he doesn't call.” + </p> + <p> + “It would be if he were not an artist. But artists never do anything + like other people. He was on his good behavior while he was with us, and + he's a great deal more conventional than most of them; but even he + can't keep it up. That's what makes me really think that women + can never amount to anything in art. They keep all their appointments, and + fulfil all their duties just as if they didn't know anything about + art. Well, most of them don't. We've got that new model + to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “What new model?” + </p> + <p> + “The one Mr. Wetmore was telling us about the old German; he's + splendid. He's got the most beautiful head; just like the old + masters' things. He used to be Humphrey Williams's model for + his Biblical-pieces; but since he's dead, the old man hardly gets + anything to do. Mr. Wetmore says there isn't anybody in the Bible + that Williams didn't paint him as. He's the Law and the + Prophets in all his Old Testament pictures, and he's Joseph, Peter, + Judas Iscariot, and the Scribes and Pharisees in the New.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a good thing people don't know how artists work, + or some of the most sacred pictures would have no influence,” said + Mrs. Leighton. + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course not!” cried the girl. “And the influence + is the last thing a painter thinks of—or supposes he thinks of. What + he knows he's anxious about is the drawing and the color. But people + will never understand how simple artists are. When I reflect what a + complex and sophisticated being I am, I'm afraid I can never come to + anything in art. Or I should be if I hadn't genius.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think Mr. Beaton is very simple?” asked Mrs. Leighton. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Wetmore doesn't think he's very much of an artist. + He thinks he talks too well. They believe that if a man can express + himself clearly he can't paint.” + </p> + <p> + “And what do you believe?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I can express myself, too.” + </p> + <p> + The mother seemed to be satisfied with this evasion. After a while she + said, “I presume he will call when he gets settled.” + </p> + <p> + The girl made no answer to this. “One of the girls says that old + model is an educated man. He was in the war, and lost a hand. Doesn't + it seem a pity for such a man to have to sit to a class of affected geese + like us as a model? I declare it makes me sick. And we shall keep him a + week, and pay him six or seven dollars for the use of his grand old head, + and then what will he do? The last time he was regularly employed was when + Mr. Mace was working at his Damascus Massacre. Then he wanted so many Arab + sheiks and Christian elders that he kept old Mr. Lindau steadily employed + for six months. Now he has to pick up odd jobs where he can.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose he has his pension,” said Mrs. Leighton. + </p> + <p> + “No; one of the girls”—that was the way Alma always + described her fellow-students—“says he has no pension. He didn't + apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it + was somethinged—vetoed, I believe she said.” + </p> + <p> + “Who vetoed it?” asked Mrs. Leighton, with some curiosity + about the process, which she held in reserve. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know—whoever vetoes things. I wonder what Mr. + Wetmore does think of us—his class. We must seem perfectly crazy. + There isn't one of us really knows what she's doing it for, or + what she expects to happen when she's done it. I suppose every one + thinks she has genius. I know the Nebraska widow does, for she says that + unless you have genius it isn't the least use. Everybody's + puzzled to know what she does with her baby when she's at work—whether + she gives it soothing syrup. I wonder how Mr. Wetmore can keep from + laughing in our faces. I know he does behind our backs.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton's mind wandered back to another point. “Then if + he says Mr. Beaton can't paint, I presume he doesn't respect + him very much.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he never said he couldn't paint. But I know he thinks so. + He says he's an excellent critic.” + </p> + <p> + “Alma,” her mother said, with the effect of breaking off, + “what do you suppose is the reason he hasn't been near us?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I don't know, mamma, except that it would have been + natural for another person to come, and he's an artist at least, + artist enough for that.” + </p> + <p> + “That doesn't account for it altogether. He was very nice at + St. Barnaby, and seemed so interested in you—your work.” + </p> + <p> + “Plenty of people were nice at St. Barnaby. That rich Mrs. Horn + couldn't contain her joy when she heard we were coming to New York, + but she hasn't poured in upon us a great deal since we got here.” + </p> + <p> + “But that's different. She's very fashionable, and she's + taken up with her own set. But Mr. Beaton's one of our kind.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you. Papa wasn't quite a tombstone-cutter, mamma.” + </p> + <p> + “That makes it all the harder to bear. He can't be ashamed of + us. Perhaps he doesn't know where we are.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you wish to send him your card, mamma?” The girl flushed + and towered in scorn of the idea. + </p> + <p> + “Why, no, Alma,” returned her mother. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” said Alma. + </p> + <p> + But Mrs. Leighton was not so easily quelled. She had got her mind on Mr. + Beaton, and she could not detach it at once. Besides, she was one of those + women (they are commoner than the same sort of men) whom it does not pain + to take out their most intimate thoughts and examine them in the light of + other people's opinions. “But I don't see how he can + behave so. He must know that—” + </p> + <p> + “That what, mamma?” demanded the girl. + </p> + <p> + “That he influenced us a great deal in coming—” + </p> + <p> + “He didn't. If he dared to presume to think such a thing—” + </p> + <p> + “Now, Alma,” said her mother, with the clinging persistence of + such natures, “you know he did. And it's no use for you to + pretend that we didn't count upon him in—in every way. You may + not have noticed his attentions, and I don't say you did, but others + certainly did; and I must say that I didn't expect he would drop us + so.” + </p> + <p> + “Drop us!” cried Alma, in a fury. “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, drop us, Alma. He must know where we are. Of course, Mr. + Wetmore's spoken to him about you, and it's a shame that he + hasn't been near us. I should have thought common gratitude, common + decency, would have brought him after—after all we did for him.” + </p> + <p> + “We did nothing for him—nothing! He paid his board, and that + ended it.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it didn't, Alma. You know what he used to say—about + its being like home, and all that; and I must say that after his + attentions to you, and all the things you told me he said, I expected + something very dif—” + </p> + <p> + A sharp peal of the door-bell thrilled through the house, and as if the + pull of the bell-wire had twitched her to her feet, Mrs. Leighton sprang + up and grappled with her daughter in their common terror. + </p> + <p> + They both glared at the clock and made sure that it was five minutes after + nine. Then they abandoned themselves some moments to the unrestricted play + of their apprehensions. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + “Why, Alma,” whispered the mother, “who in the world can + it be at this time of night? You don't suppose he—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm not going to the door, anyhow, mother, I don't + care who it is; and, of course, he wouldn't be such a goose as to + come at this hour.” She put on a look of miserable trepidation, and + shrank back from the door, while the hum of the bell died away, in the + hall. + </p> + <p> + “What shall we do?” asked Mrs. Leighton, helplessly. + </p> + <p> + “Let him go away—whoever they are,” said Alma. + </p> + <p> + Another and more peremptory ring forbade them refuge in this simple + expedient. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear! what shall we do? Perhaps it's a despatch.” + </p> + <p> + The conjecture moved Alma to no more than a rigid stare. “I shall + not go,” she said. A third ring more insistent than the others + followed, and she said: “You go ahead, mamma, and I'll come + behind to scream if it's anybody. We can look through the + side-lights at the door first.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton fearfully led the way from the back chamber where they bad + been sitting, and slowly descended the stairs. Alma came behind and turned + up the hall gas-jet with a sudden flash that made them both jump a little. + The gas inside rendered it more difficult to tell who was on the + threshold, but Mrs. Leighton decided from a timorous peep through the + scrims that it was a lady and gentleman. Something in this distribution of + sex emboldened her; she took her life in her hand, and opened the door. + </p> + <p> + The lady spoke. “Does Mrs. Leighton live heah?” she said, in a + rich, throaty voice; and she feigned a reference to the agent's + permit she held in her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Mrs. Leighton; she mechanically occupied the + doorway, while Alma already quivered behind her with impatience of her + impoliteness. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said the lady, who began to appear more and more a young + lady, “Ah didn't know but Ah had mistaken the hoase. Ah + suppose it's rather late to see the apawtments, and Ah most ask you + to pawdon us.” She put this tentatively, with a delicately growing + recognition of Mrs. Leighton as the lady of the house, and a humorous + intelligence of the situation in the glance she threw Alma over her mother's + shoulder. “Ah'm afraid we most have frightened you.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not at all,” said Alma; and at the same time her mother + said, “Will you walk in, please?” + </p> + <p> + The gentleman promptly removed his hat and made the Leightons an inclusive + bow. “You awe very kind, madam, and I am sorry for the trouble we + awe giving you.” He was tall and severe-looking, with a gray, + trooperish mustache and iron-gray hair, and, as Alma decided, iron-gray + eyes. His daughter was short, plump, and fresh-colored, with an effect of + liveliness that did not all express itself in her broad-vowelled, rather + formal speech, with its odd valuations of some of the auxiliary verbs, and + its total elision of the canine letter. + </p> + <p> + “We awe from the Soath,” she said, “and we arrived this + mawning, but we got this cyahd from the brokah just befo' dinnah, + and so we awe rathah late.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all; it's only nine o'clock,” said Mrs. + Leighton. She looked up from the card the young lady had given her, and + explained, “We haven't got in our servants yet, and we had to + answer the bell ourselves, and—” + </p> + <p> + “You were frightened, of coase,” said the young lady, + caressingly. + </p> + <p> + The gentleman said they ought not to have come so late, and he offered + some formal apologies. + </p> + <p> + “We should have been just as much scared any time after five o'clock,” + Alma said to the sympathetic intelligence in the girl's face. + </p> + <p> + She laughed out. “Of coase! Ah would have my hawt in my moath all + day long, too, if Ah was living in a big hoase alone.” + </p> + <p> + A moment of stiffness followed; Mrs. Leighton would have liked to withdraw + from the intimacy of the situation, but she did not know how. It was very + well for these people to assume to be what they pretended; but, she + reflected too late, she had no proof of it except the agent's + permit. They were all standing in the hall together, and she prolonged the + awkward pause while she examined the permit. “You are Mr. Woodburn?” + she asked, in a way that Alma felt implied he might not be. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, madam; from Charlottesboag, Virginia,” he answered, with + the slight umbrage a man shows when the strange cashier turns his check + over and questions him before cashing it. + </p> + <p> + Alma writhed internally, but outwardly remained subordinate; she examined + the other girl's dress, and decided in a superficial consciousness + that she had made her own bonnet. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be glad to show you my rooms,” said Mrs. Leighton, + with an irrelevant sigh. “You must excuse their being not just as I + should wish them. We're hardly settled yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't speak of it, madam,” said the gentleman, “if + you can overlook the trouble we awe giving you at such an unseasonable + houah.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah'm a hoasekeepah mahself,” Miss Woodburn joined in, + “and Ah know ho' to accyoant fo' everything.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton led the way up-stairs, and the young lady decided upon the + large front room and small side room on the third story. She said she + could take the small one, and the other was so large that her father could + both sleep and work in it. She seemed not ashamed to ask if Mrs. Leighton's + price was inflexible, but gave way laughing when her father refused to + have any bargaining, with a haughty self-respect which he softened to + deference for Mrs. Leighton. His impulsiveness opened the way for some + confidence from her, and before the affair was arranged she was enjoying + in her quality of clerical widow the balm of the Virginians' + reverent sympathy. They said they were church people themselves. + </p> + <p> + “Ah don't know what yo' mothah means by yo' hoase + not being in oddah,” the young lady said to Alma as they went + down-stairs together. “Ah'm a great hoasekeepah mahself, and + Ah mean what Ah say.” + </p> + <p> + They had all turned mechanically into the room where the Leightons were + sitting when the Woodburns rang: Mr. Woodburn consented to sit down, and + he remained listening to Mrs. Leighton while his daughter bustled up to + the sketches pinned round the room and questioned Alma about them. + </p> + <p> + “Ah suppose you awe going to be a great awtust?” she said, in + friendly banter, when Alma owned to having done the things. “Ah've + a great notion to take a few lessons mahself. Who's yo' + teachah?” + </p> + <p> + Alma said she was drawing in Mr. Wetmore's class, and Miss Woodburn + said: “Well, it's just beautiful, Miss Leighton; it's + grand. Ah suppose it's raght expensive, now? Mah goodness! we have + to cyoant the coast so much nowadays; it seems to me we do nothing but + cyoant it. Ah'd like to hah something once without askin' the + price.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if you didn't ask it,” said Alma, “I don't + believe Mr. Wetmore would ever know what the price of his lessons was. He + has to think, when you ask him.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, he most be chomming,” said Miss Woodburn. “Perhaps + Ah maght get the lessons for nothing from him. Well, Ah believe in my soul + Ah'll trah. Now ho' did you begin? and ho' do you expect + to get anything oat of it?” She turned on Alma eyes brimming with a + shrewd mixture of fun and earnest, and Alma made note of the fact that she + had an early nineteenth-century face, round, arch, a little coquettish, + but extremely sensible and unspoiled-looking, such as used to be painted a + good deal in miniature at that period; a tendency of her brown hair to + twine and twist at the temples helped the effect; a high comb would have + completed it, Alma felt, if she had her bonnet off. It was almost a Yankee + country-girl type; but perhaps it appeared so to Alma because it was, like + that, pure Anglo-Saxon. Alma herself, with her dull, dark skin, slender in + figure, slow in speech, with aristocratic forms in her long hands, and the + oval of her fine face pointed to a long chin, felt herself much more + Southern in style than this blooming, bubbling, bustling Virginian. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” she answered, slowly. + </p> + <p> + “Going to take po'traits,” suggested Miss Woodburn, + “or just paint the ahdeal?” A demure burlesque lurked in her + tone. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I don't expect to paint at all,” said Alma. + “I'm going to illustrate books—if anybody will let me.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah should think they'd just joamp at you,” said Miss + Woodburn. “Ah'll tell you what let's do, Miss Leighton: + you make some pictures, and Ah'll wrahte a book fo' them. Ah've + got to do something. Ali maght as well wrahte a book. You know we + Southerners have all had to go to woak. But Ah don't mand it. I tell + papa I shouldn't ca' fo' the disgrace of bein' poo' + if it wasn't fo' the inconvenience.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it's inconvenient,” said Alma; “but you + forget it when you're at work, don't you think?” + </p> + <p> + “Mah, yes! Perhaps that's one reason why poo' people + have to woak so hawd—to keep their wands off their poverty.” + </p> + <p> + The girls both tittered, and turned from talking in a low tone with their + backs toward their elders, and faced them. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Madison,” said Mr. Woodburn, “it is time we + should go. I bid you good-night, madam,” he bowed to Mrs. Leighton. + “Good-night,” he bowed again to Alma. + </p> + <p> + His daughter took leave of them in formal phrase, but with a jolly + cordiality of manner that deformalized it. “We shall be roand raght + soon in the mawning, then,” she threatened at the door. + </p> + <p> + “We shall be all ready for you,” Alma called after her down + the steps. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Alma?” her mother asked, when the door closed upon + them. + </p> + <p> + “She doesn't know any more about art,” said Alma, + “than—nothing at all. But she's jolly and good-hearted. + She praised everything that was bad in my sketches, and said she was going + to take lessons herself. When a person talks about taking lessons, as if + they could learn it, you know where they belong artistically.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton shook her head with a sigh. “I wish I knew where they + belonged financially. We shall have to get in two girls at once. I shall + have to go out the first thing in the morning, and then our troubles will + begin.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, didn't you want them to begin? I will stay home and + help you get ready. Our prosperity couldn't begin without the + troubles, if you mean boarders, and boarders mean servants. I shall be + very glad to be afflicted with a cook for a while myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; but we don't know anything about these people, or + whether they will be able to pay us. Did she talk as if they were well + off?” + </p> + <p> + “She talked as if they were poor; poo' she called it.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, how queerly she pronounced,” said Mrs. Leighton. “Well, + I ought to have told them that I required the first week in advance.” + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! If that's the way you're going to act!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, of course, I couldn't, after he wouldn't let her + bargain for the rooms. I didn't like that.” + </p> + <p> + “I did. And you can see that they were perfect ladies; or at least + one of them.” Alma laughed at herself, but her mother did not + notice. + </p> + <p> + “Their being ladies won't help if they've got no money. + It'll make it all the worse.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, then; we have no money, either. We're a match for + them any day there. We can show them that two can play at that game.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + Arnus Beaton's studio looked at first glance like many other + painters' studios. A gray wall quadrangularly vaulted to a large + north light; casts of feet, hands, faces hung to nails about; prints, + sketches in oil and water-color stuck here and there lower down; a rickety + table, with paint and palettes and bottles of varnish and siccative tossed + comfortlessly on it; an easel, with a strip of some faded mediaeval silk + trailing from it; a lay figure simpering in incomplete nakedness, with its + head on one side, and a stocking on one leg, and a Japanese dress dropped + before it; dusty rugs and skins kicking over the varnished floor; canvases + faced to the mop-board; an open trunk overflowing with costumes: these + features one might notice anywhere. But, besides, there was a bookcase + with an unusual number of books in it, and there was an open colonial + writing-desk, claw-footed, brass-handled, and scutcheoned, with foreign + periodicals—French and English—littering its leaf, and some + pages of manuscript scattered among them. Above all, there was a sculptor's + revolving stand, supporting a bust which Beaton was modelling, with an eye + fixed as simultaneously as possible on the clay and on the head of the old + man who sat on the platform beside it. + </p> + <p> + Few men have been able to get through the world with several gifts to + advantage in all; and most men seem handicapped for the race if they have + more than one. But they are apparently immensely interested as well as + distracted by them. When Beaton was writing, he would have agreed, up to a + certain point, with any one who said literature was his proper expression; + but, then, when he was painting, up to a certain point, he would have + maintained against the world that he was a colorist, and supremely a + colorist. At the certain point in either art he was apt to break away in a + frenzy of disgust and wreak himself upon some other. In these moods he + sometimes designed elevations of buildings, very striking, very original, + very chic, very everything but habitable. It was in this way that he had + tried his hand on sculpture, which he had at first approached rather + slightingly as a mere decorative accessory of architecture. But it had + grown in his respect till he maintained that the accessory business ought + to be all the other way: that temples should be raised to enshrine + statues, not statues made to ornament temples; that was putting the cart + before the horse with a vengeance. This was when he had carried a plastic + study so far that the sculptors who saw it said that Beaton might have + been an architect, but would certainly never be a sculptor. At the same + time he did some hurried, nervous things that had a popular charm, and + that sold in plaster reproductions, to the profit of another. Beaton + justly despised the popular charm in these, as well as in the paintings he + sold from time to time; he said it was flat burglary to have taken money + for them, and he would have been living almost wholly upon the bounty of + the old tombstone-cutter in Syracuse if it had not been for the syndicate + letters which he supplied to Fulkerson for ten dollars a week. + </p> + <p> + They were very well done, but he hated doing them after the first two or + three, and had to be punched up for them by Fulkerson, who did not cease + to prize them, and who never failed to punch him up. Beaton being what he + was, Fulkerson was his creditor as well as patron; and Fulkerson being + what he was, had an enthusiastic patience with the elusive, facile, + adaptable, unpractical nature of Beaton. He was very proud of his + art-letters, as he called them; but then Fulkerson was proud of everything + he secured for his syndicate. The fact that he had secured it gave it + value; he felt as if he had written it himself. + </p> + <p> + One art trod upon another's heels with Beaton. The day before he had + rushed upon canvas the conception of a picture which he said to himself + was glorious, and to others (at the table d'hote of Maroni) was not + bad. He had worked at it in a fury till the light failed him, and he + execrated the dying day. But he lit his lamp and transferred the process + of his thinking from the canvas to the opening of the syndicate letter + which he knew Fulkerson would be coming for in the morning. He remained + talking so long after dinner in the same strain as he had painted and + written in that he could not finish his letter that night. The next + morning, while he was making his tea for breakfast, the postman brought + him a letter from his father enclosing a little check, and begging him + with tender, almost deferential, urgence to come as lightly upon him as + possible, for just now his expenses were very heavy. It brought tears of + shame into Beaton's eyes—the fine, smouldering, floating eyes + that many ladies admired, under the thick bang—and he said to + himself that if he were half a man he would go home and go to work cutting + gravestones in his father's shop. But he would wait, at least, to + finish his picture; and as a sop to his conscience, to stay its immediate + ravening, he resolved to finish that syndicate letter first, and borrow + enough money from Fulkerson to be able to send his father's check + back; or, if not that, then to return the sum of it partly in Fulkerson's + check. While he still teemed with both of these good intentions the old + man from whom he was modelling his head of Judas came, and Beaton saw that + he must get through with him before he finished either the picture or the + letter; he would have to pay him for the time, anyway. He utilized the + remorse with which he was tingling to give his Judas an expression which + he found novel in the treatment of that character—a look of such + touching, appealing self-abhorrence that Beaton's artistic joy in it + amounted to rapture; between the breathless moments when he worked in dead + silence for an effect that was trying to escape him, he sang and whistled + fragments of comic opera. + </p> + <p> + In one of the hushes there came a blow on the outside of the door that + made Beaton jump, and swear with a modified profanity that merged itself + in apostrophic prayer. He knew it must be Fulkerson, and after roaring + “Come in!” he said to the model, “That'll do this + morning, Lindau.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson squared his feet in front of the bust and compared it by + fleeting glances with the old man as he got stiffly up and suffered Beaton + to help him on with his thin, shabby overcoat. + </p> + <p> + “Can you come to-morrow, Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + “No, not to-morrow, Mr. Peaton. I haf to zit for the young ladties.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said Beaton. “Wetmore's class? Is Miss + Leighton doing you?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know their namess,” Lindau began, when + Fulkerson said: + </p> + <p> + “Hope you haven't forgotten mine, Mr. Lindau? I met you with + Mr. March at Maroni's one night.” Fulkerson offered him a + universally shakable hand. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes! I am gladt to zee you again, Mr. Vulkerson. And Mr. Marge—he + don't zeem to gome any more?” + </p> + <p> + “Up to his eyes in work. Been moving on from Boston and getting + settled, and starting in on our enterprise. Beaton here hasn't got a + very flattering likeness of you, hey? Well, good-morning,” he said, + for Lindau appeared not to have heard him and was escaping with a bow + through the door. + </p> + <p> + Beaton lit a cigarette which he pinched nervously between his lips before + he spoke. “You've come for that letter, I suppose, Fulkerson? + It isn't done.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson turned from staring at the bust to which he had mounted. “What + you fretting about that letter for? I don't want your letter.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton stopped biting his cigarette and looked at him. “Don't + want my letter? Oh, very good!” he bristled up. He took his + cigarette from his lips, and blew the smoke through his nostrils, and then + looked at Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “No; I don't want your letter; I want you.” + </p> + <p> + Beacon disdained to ask an explanation, but he internally lowered his + crest, while he continued to look at Fulkerson without changing his + defiant countenance. This suited Fulkerson well enough, and he went on + with relish, “I'm going out of the syndicate business, old + man, and I'm on a new thing.” He put his leg over the back of + a chair and rested his foot on its seat, and, with one hand in his pocket, + he laid the scheme of 'Every Other Week' before Beaton with + the help of the other. The artist went about the room, meanwhile, with an + effect of indifference which by no means offended Fulkerson. He took some + water into his mouth from a tumbler, which he blew in a fine mist over the + head of Judas before swathing it in a dirty cotton cloth; he washed his + brushes and set his palette; he put up on his easel the picture he had + blocked on the day before, and stared at it with a gloomy face; then he + gathered the sheets of his unfinished letter together and slid them into a + drawer of his writing-desk. By the time he had finished and turned again + to Fulkerson, Fulkerson was saying: “I did think we could have the + first number out by New-Year's; but it will take longer than that—a + month longer; but I'm not sorry, for the holidays kill everything; + and by February, or the middle of February, people will get their breath + again and begin to look round and ask what's new. Then we'll + reply in the language of Shakespeare and Milton, 'Every Other Week; + and don't you forget it.'” He took down his leg and + asked, “Got a pipe of 'baccy anywhere?” + </p> + <p> + Beaton nodded at a clay stem sticking out of a Japanese vase of bronze on + his mantel. “There's yours,” he said; and Fulkerson + said, “Thanks,” and filled the pipe and sat down and began to + smoke tranquilly. + </p> + <p> + Beaton saw that he would have to speak now. “And what do you want + with me?” + </p> + <p> + “You? Oh yes,” Fulkerson humorously dramatized a return to + himself from a pensive absence. “Want you for the art department.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton shook his head. “I'm not your man, Fulkerson,” he + said, compassionately. “You want a more practical hand, one that's + in touch with what's going. I'm getting further and further + away from this century and its claptrap. I don't believe in your + enterprise; I don't respect it, and I won't have anything to + do with it. It would—choke me, that kind of thing.” + </p> + <p> + “That's all right,” said Fulkerson. He esteemed a man + who was not going to let himself go cheap. “Or if it isn't, we + can make it. You and March will pull together first-rate. I don't + care how much ideal you put into the thing; the more the better. I can + look after the other end of the schooner myself.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't understand me,” said Beaton. “I'm + not trying to get a rise out of you. I'm in earnest. What you want + is some man who can have patience with mediocrity putting on the style of + genius, and with genius turning mediocrity on his hands. I haven't + any luck with men; I don't get on with them; I'm not popular.” + Beaton recognized the fact with the satisfaction which it somehow always + brings to human pride. + </p> + <p> + “So much the better!” Fulkerson was ready for him at this + point. “I don't want you to work the old-established racket + the reputations. When I want them I'll go to them with a pocketful + of rocks—knock-down argument. But my idea is to deal with the + volunteer material. Look at the way the periodicals are carried on now! + Names! names! names! In a country that's just boiling over with + literary and artistic ability of every kind the new fellows have no + chance. The editors all engage their material. I don't believe there + are fifty volunteer contributions printed in a year in all the New York + magazines. It's all wrong; it's suicidal. 'Every Other + Week' is going back to the good old anonymous system, the only fair + system. It's worked well in literature, and it will work well in + art.” + </p> + <p> + “It won't work well in art,” said Beaton. “There + you have a totally different set of conditions. What you'll get by + inviting volunteer illustrations will be a lot of amateur trash. And how + are you going to submit your literature for illustration? It can't + be done. At any rate, I won't undertake to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “We'll get up a School of Illustration,” said Fulkerson, + with cynical security. “You can read the things and explain 'em, + and your pupils can make their sketches under your eye. They wouldn't + be much further out than most illustrations are if they never knew what + they were illustrating. You might select from what comes in and make up a + sort of pictorial variations to the literature without any particular + reference to it. Well, I understand you to accept?” + </p> + <p> + “No, you don't.” + </p> + <p> + “That is, to consent to help us with your advice and criticism. That's + all I want. It won't commit you to anything; and you can be as + anonymous as anybody.” At the door Fulkerson added: “By-the-way, + the new man—the fellow that's taken my old syndicate business—will + want you to keep on; but I guess he's going to try to beat you down + on the price of the letters. He's going in for retrenchment. I + brought along a check for this one; I'm to pay for that.” He + offered Beaton an envelope. + </p> + <p> + “I can't take it, Fulkerson. The letter's paid for + already.” Fulkerson stepped forward and laid the envelope on the + table among the tubes of paint. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't the letter merely. I thought you wouldn't + object to a little advance on your 'Every Other Week' work + till you kind of got started.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton remained inflexible. “It can't be done, Fulkerson. Don't + I tell you I can't sell myself out to a thing I don't believe + in? Can't you understand that?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes; I can understand that first-rate. I don't want to buy + you; I want to borrow you. It's all right. See? Come round when you + can; I'd like to introduce you to old March. That's going to + be our address.” He put a card on the table beside the envelope, and + Beaton allowed him to go without making him take the check back. He had + remembered his father's plea; that unnerved him, and he promised + himself again to return his father's poor little check and to work + on that picture and give it to Fulkerson for the check he had left and for + his back debts. He resolved to go to work on the picture at once; he had + set his palette for it; but first he looked at Fulkerson's check. It + was for only fifty dollars, and the canny Scotch blood in Beaton rebelled; + he could not let this picture go for any such money; he felt a little like + a man whose generosity has been trifled with. The conflict of emotions + broke him up, and he could not work. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + The day wasted away in Beaton's hands; at half-past four o'clock + he went out to tea at the house of a lady who was At Home that afternoon + from four till seven. By this time Beaton was in possession of one of + those other selves of which we each have several about us, and was again + the laconic, staccato, rather worldlified young artist whose moments of a + controlled utterance and a certain distinction of manner had commended him + to Mrs. Horn's fancy in the summer at St. Barnaby. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Horn's rooms were large, and they never seemed very full, + though this perhaps was because people were always so quiet. The ladies, + who outnumbered the men ten to one, as they always do at a New York tea, + were dressed in sympathy with the low tone every one spoke in, and with + the subdued light which gave a crepuscular uncertainty to the few objects, + the dim pictures, the unexcited upholstery, of the rooms. One breathed + free of bric-a-brac there, and the new-comer breathed softly as one does + on going into church after service has begun. This might be a suggestion + from the voiceless behavior of the man-servant who let you in, but it was + also because Mrs. Horn's At Home was a ceremony, a decorum, and not + festival. At far greater houses there was more gayety, at richer houses + there was more freedom; the suppression at Mrs. Horn's was a + personal, not a social, effect; it was an efflux of her character, demure, + silentious, vague, but very correct. + </p> + <p> + Beaton easily found his way to her around the grouped skirts and among the + detached figures, and received a pressure of welcome from the hand which + she momentarily relaxed from the tea-pot. She sat behind a table put + crosswise of a remote corner, and offered tea to people whom a niece of + hers received provisionally or sped finally in the outer room. They did + not usually take tea, and when they did they did not usually drink it; but + Beaton was feverishly glad of his cup; he took rum and lemon in it, and + stood talking at Mrs. Horn's side till the next arrival should + displace him: he talked in his French manner. + </p> + <p> + “I have been hoping to see you,” she said. “I wanted to + ask you about the Leightons. Did they really come?” + </p> + <p> + “I believe so. They are in town—yes. I haven't seen + them.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you don't know how they're getting on—that + pretty creature, with her cleverness, and poor Mrs. Leighton? I was afraid + they were venturing on a rash experiment. Do you know where they are?” + </p> + <p> + “In West Eleventh Street somewhere. Miss Leighton is in Mr. Wetmore's + class.” + </p> + <p> + “I must look them up. Do you know their number?” + </p> + <p> + “Not at the moment. I can find out.” + </p> + <p> + “Do,” said Mrs. Horn. “What courage they must have, to + plunge into New York as they've done! I really didn't think + they would. I wonder if they've succeeded in getting anybody into + their house yet?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “I discouraged their coming all I could,” she sighed, “and + I suppose you did, too. But it's quite useless trying to make people + in a place like St. Barnaby understand how it is in town.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Beaton. He stirred his tea, while inwardly he + tried to believe that he had really discouraged the Leightons from coming + to New York. Perhaps the vexation of his failure made him call Mrs. Horn + in his heart a fraud. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she went on, “it is very, very hard. And when + they won't understand, and rush on their doom, you feel that they + are going to hold you respons—” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Horn's eyes wandered from Beaton; her voice faltered in the + faded interest of her remark, and then rose with renewed vigor in greeting + a lady who came up and stretched her glove across the tea-cups. + </p> + <p> + Beaton got himself away and out of the house with a much briefer adieu to + the niece than he had meant to make. The patronizing compassion of Mrs. + Horn for the Leightons filled him with indignation toward her, toward + himself. There was no reason why he should not have ignored them as he had + done; but there was a feeling. It was his nature to be careless, and he + had been spoiled into recklessness; he neglected everybody, and only + remembered them when it suited his whim or his convenience; but he + fiercely resented the inattentions of others toward himself. He had no + scruple about breaking an engagement or failing to keep an appointment; he + made promises without thinking of their fulfilment, and not because he was + a faithless person, but because he was imaginative, and expected at the + time to do what he said, but was fickle, and so did not. As most of his + shortcomings were of a society sort, no great harm was done to anybody + else. He had contracted somewhat the circle of his acquaintance by what + some people called his rudeness, but most people treated it as his oddity, + and were patient with it. One lady said she valued his coming when he said + he would come because it had the charm of the unexpected. “Only it + shows that it isn't always the unexpected that happens,” she + explained. + </p> + <p> + It did not occur to him that his behavior was immoral; he did not realize + that it was creating a reputation if not a character for him. While we are + still young we do not realize that our actions have this effect. It seems + to us that people will judge us from what we think and feel. Later we find + out that this is impossible; perhaps we find it out too late; some of us + never find it out at all. + </p> + <p> + In spite of his shame about the Leightons, Beaton had no present intention + of looking them up or sending Mrs. Horn their address. As a matter of + fact, he never did send it; but he happened to meet Mr. Wetmore and his + wife at the restaurant where he dined, and he got it of the painter for + himself. He did not ask him how Miss Leighton was getting on; but Wetmore + launched out, with Alma for a tacit text, on the futility of women + generally going in for art. “Even when they have talent they've + got too much against them. Where a girl doesn't seem very strong, + like Miss Leighton, no amount of chic is going to help.” + </p> + <p> + His wife disputed him on behalf of her sex, as women always do. + </p> + <p> + “No, Dolly,” he persisted; “she'd better be home + milking the cows and leading the horse to water.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think she'd better be up till two in the morning at + balls and going all day to receptions and luncheons?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, guess it isn't a question of that, even if she weren't + drawing. You knew them at home,” he said to Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember. Her mother said you suggested me. Well, the girl has + some notion of it; there's no doubt about that. But—she's + a woman. The trouble with these talented girls is that they're all + woman. If they weren't, there wouldn't be much chance for the + men, Beaton. But we've got Providence on our own side from the + start. I'm able to watch all their inspirations with perfect + composure. I know just how soon it's going to end in nervous + breakdown. Somebody ought to marry them all and put them out of their + misery.” + </p> + <p> + “And what will you do with your students who are married already?” + his wife said. She felt that she had let him go on long enough. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they ought to get divorced.” + </p> + <p> + “You ought to be ashamed to take their money if that's what + you think of them.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear, I have a wife to support.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton intervened with a question. “Do you mean that Miss Leighton + isn't standing it very well?” + </p> + <p> + “How do I know? She isn't the kind that bends; she's the + kind that breaks.” + </p> + <p> + After a little silence Mrs. Wetmore asked, “Won't you come + home with us, Mr. Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you; no. I have an engagement.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see why that should prevent you,” said Wetmore. + “But you always were a punctilious cuss. Well!” + </p> + <p> + Beaton lingered over his cigar; but no one else whom he knew came in, and + he yielded to the threefold impulse of conscience, of curiosity, of + inclination, in going to call at the Leightons'. He asked for the + ladies, and the maid showed him into the parlor, where he found Mrs. + Leighton and Miss Woodburn. + </p> + <p> + The widow met him with a welcome neatly marked by resentment; she meant + him to feel that his not coming sooner had been noticed. Miss Woodburn + bubbled and gurgled on, and did what she could to mitigate his punishment, + but she did not feel authorized to stay it, till Mrs. Leighton, by studied + avoidance of her daughter's name, obliged Beaton to ask for her. + Then Miss Woodburn caught up her work, and said, “Ah'll go and + tell her, Mrs. Leighton.” At the top of the stairs she found Alma, + and Alma tried to make it seem as if she had not been standing there. + “Mah goodness, chald! there's the handsomest young man asking + for you down there you evah saw. Alh told you' mothah Ah would come + up fo' you.” + </p> + <p> + “What—who is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you know? But bo' could you? He's got the + most beautiful eyes, and he wea's his hai' in a bang, and he + talks English like it was something else, and his name's Mr. Beaton.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he—ask for me?” said Alma, with a dreamy tone. She + put her hand on the stairs rail, and a little shiver ran over her. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't I tell you? Of coase he did! And you ought to go raght + down if you want to save the poo' fellah's lahfe; you' + mothah's just freezin' him to death.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0034" id="link2H_4_0034"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + “She is?” cried Alma. “Tchk!” She flew downstairs, + and flitted swiftly into the room, and fluttered up to Beaton, and gave + him a crushing hand-shake. + </p> + <p> + “How very kind of you to come and see us, Mr. Beaton! When did you + come to New York? Don't you find it warm here? We've only just + lighted the furnace, but with this mild weather it seems too early. Mamma + does keep it so hot!” She rushed about opening doors and shutting + registers, and then came back and sat facing him from the sofa with a mask + of radiant cordiality. “How have you been since we saw you?” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said Beaton. “I hope you're well, + Miss Leighton?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, perfectly! I think New York agrees with us both wonderfully. I + never knew such air. And to think of our not having snow yet! I should + think everybody would want to come here! Why don't you come, Mr. + Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + Beaton lifted his eyes and looked at her. “I—I live in New + York,” he faltered. + </p> + <p> + “In New York City!” she exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Surely, Alma,” said her mother, “you remember Mr. + Beaton's telling us he lived in New York.” + </p> + <p> + “But I thought you came from Rochester; or was it Syracuse? I always + get those places mixed up.” + </p> + <p> + “Probably I told you my father lived at Syracuse. I've been in + New York ever since I came home from Paris,” said Beaton, with the + confusion of a man who feels himself played upon by a woman. + </p> + <p> + “From Paris!” Alma echoed, leaning forward, with her smiling + mask tight on. “Wasn't it Munich where you studied?” + </p> + <p> + “I was at Munich, too. I met Wetmore there.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do you know Mr. Wetmore?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Alma,” her mother interposed again, “it was Mr. + Beaton who told you of Mr. Wetmore.” + </p> + <p> + “Was it? Why, yes, to be sure. It was Mrs. Horn who suggested Mr. + Ilcomb. I remember now. I can't thank you enough for having sent me + to Mr. Wetmore, Mr. Beaton. Isn't he delightful? Oh yes, I'm a + perfect Wetmorian, I can assure you. The whole class is the same way.” + </p> + <p> + “I just met him and Mrs. Wetmore at dinner,” said Beaton, + attempting the recovery of something that he had lost through the girl's + shining ease and steely sprightliness. She seemed to him so smooth and + hard, with a repellent elasticity from which he was flung off. “I + hope you're not working too hard, Miss Leighton?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no! I enjoy every minute of it, and grow stronger on it. Do I + look very much wasted away?” She looked him full in the face, + brilliantly smiling, and intentionally beautiful. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he said, with a slow sadness; “I never saw you + looking better.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor Mr. Beaton!” she said, in recognition of his doleful + tune. “It seems to be quite a blow.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no—” + </p> + <p> + “I remember all the good advice you used to give me about not + working too hard, and probably it's that that's saved my life—that + and the house-hunting. Has mamma told you of our adventures in getting + settled? + </p> + <p> + “Some time we must. It was such fun! And didn't you think we + were fortunate to get such a pretty house? You must see both our parlors.” + She jumped up, and her mother followed her with a bewildered look as she + ran into the back parlor and flashed up the gas. + </p> + <p> + “Come in here, Mr. Beaton. I want to show you the great feature of + the house.” She opened the low windows that gave upon a glazed + veranda stretching across the end of the room. “Just think of this + in New York! You can't see it very well at night, but when the + southern sun pours in here all the afternoon—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I can imagine it,” he said. He glanced up at the + bird-cage hanging from the roof. “I suppose Gypsy enjoys it.” + </p> + <p> + “You remember Gypsy?” she said; and she made a cooing, kissing + little noise up at the bird, who responded drowsily. “Poor old + Gypsum! Well, he sha'n't be disturbed. Yes, it's Gyp's + delight, and Colonel Woodburn likes to write here in the morning. Think of + us having a real live author in the house! And Miss Woodburn: I'm so + glad you've seen her! They're Southern people.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that was obvious in her case.” + </p> + <p> + “From her accent? Isn't it fascinating? I didn't believe + I could ever endure Southerners, but we're like one family with the + Woodburns. I should think you'd want to paint Miss Woodburn. Don't + you think her coloring is delicious? And such a quaint kind of + eighteenth-century type of beauty! But she's perfectly lovely every + way, and everything she says is so funny. The Southerners seem to be such + great talkers; better than we are, don't you think?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Beaton, in pensive discouragement. + He was sensible of being manipulated, operated, but he was helpless to + escape from the performer or to fathom her motives. His pensiveness passed + into gloom, and was degenerating into sulky resentment when he went away, + after several failures to get back to the old ground he had held in + relation to Alma. He retrieved something of it with Mrs. Leighton; but + Alma glittered upon him to the last with a keen impenetrable candor, a + child-like singleness of glance, covering unfathomable reserve. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Alma,” said her mother, when the door had closed upon + him. + </p> + <p> + “Well, mother.” Then, after a moment, she said, with a rush: + “Did you think I was going to let him suppose we were piqued at his + not coming? Did you suppose I was going to let him patronize us, or think + that we were in the least dependent on his favor or friendship?” + </p> + <p> + Her mother did not attempt to answer her. She merely said, “I + shouldn't think he would come any more.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, we have got on so far without him; perhaps we can live + through the rest of the winter.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He was quite + stupefied. I could see that he didn't know what to make of you.” + </p> + <p> + “He's not required to make anything of me,” said Alma. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think he really believed you had forgotten all those things?” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible to say, mamma.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't think it was quite right, Alma.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll leave him to you the next time. Miss Woodburn said you + were freezing him to death when I came down.” + </p> + <p> + “That was quite different. But, there won't be any next time, + I'm afraid,” sighed Mrs. Leighton. + </p> + <p> + Beaton went home feeling sure there would not. He tried to read when he + got to his room; but Alma's looks, tones, gestures, whirred through + and through the woof of the story like shuttles; he could not keep them + out, and he fell asleep at last, not because he forgot them, but because + he forgave them. He was able to say to himself that he had been justly cut + off from kindness which he knew how to value in losing it. He did not + expect ever to right himself in Alma's esteem, but he hoped some day + to let her know that he had understood. It seemed to him that it would be + a good thing if she should find it out after his death. He imagined her + being touched by it under those circumstances. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0035" id="link2H_4_0035"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + In the morning it seemed to Beaton that he had done himself injustice. + When he uncovered his Judas and looked at it, he could not believe that + the man who was capable of such work deserved the punishment Miss Leighton + had inflicted upon him. He still forgave her, but in the presence of a + thing like that he could not help respecting himself; he believed that if + she could see it she would be sorry that she had cut herself off from his + acquaintance. He carried this strain of conviction all through his + syndicate letter, which he now took out of his desk and finished, with an + increasing security of his opinions and a mounting severity in his + judgments. He retaliated upon the general condition of art among us the + pangs of wounded vanity, which Alma had made him feel, and he folded up + his manuscript and put it in his pocket, almost healed of his humiliation. + He had been able to escape from its sting so entirely while he was writing + that the notion of making his life more and more literary commended itself + to him. As it was now evident that the future was to be one of + renunciation, of self-forgetting, an oblivion tinged with bitterness, he + formlessly reasoned in favor of reconsidering his resolution against + Fulkerson's offer. One must call it reasoning, but it was rather + that swift internal dramatization which constantly goes on in persons of + excitable sensibilities, and which now seemed to sweep Beaton physically + along toward the 'Every Other Week' office, and carried his + mind with lightning celerity on to a time when he should have given that + journal such quality and authority in matters of art as had never been + enjoyed by any in America before. With the prosperity which he made attend + his work he changed the character of the enterprise, and with Fulkerson's + enthusiastic support he gave the public an art journal of as high grade as + 'Les Lettres et les Arts', and very much that sort of thing. + All this involved now the unavailing regret of Alma Leighton, and now his + reconciliation with her: they were married in Grace Church, because Beaton + had once seen a marriage there, and had intended to paint a picture of it + some time. + </p> + <p> + Nothing in these fervid fantasies prevented his responding with due + dryness to Fulkerson's cheery “Hello, old man!” when he + found himself in the building fitted up for the 'Every Other Week' + office. Fulkerson's room was back of the smaller one occupied by the + bookkeeper; they had been respectively the reception-room and dining-room + of the little place in its dwelling-house days, and they had been simply + and tastefully treated in their transformation into business purposes. The + narrow old trim of the doors and windows had been kept, and the quaintly + ugly marble mantels. The architect had said, Better let them stay they + expressed epoch, if not character. + </p> + <p> + “Well, have you come round to go to work? Just hang up your coat on + the floor anywhere,” Fulkerson went on. + </p> + <p> + “I've come to bring you that letter,” said Beaton, all + the more haughtily because he found that Fulkerson was not alone when he + welcomed him in these free and easy terms. There was a quiet-looking man, + rather stout, and a little above the middle height, with a full, + close-cropped iron-gray beard, seated beyond the table where Fulkerson + tilted himself back, with his knees set against it; and leaning against + the mantel there was a young man with a singularly gentle face, in which + the look of goodness qualified and transfigured a certain simplicity. His + large blue eyes were somewhat prominent; and his rather narrow face was + drawn forward in a nose a little too long perhaps, if it had not been for + the full chin deeply cut below the lip, and jutting firmly forward. + </p> + <p> + “Introduce you to Mr. March, our editor, Mr. Beaton,” + Fulkerson said, rolling his head in the direction of the elder man; and + then nodding it toward the younger, he said, “Mr. Dryfoos, Mr. + Beaton.” Beaton shook hands with March, and then with Mr. Dryfoos, + and Fulkerson went on, gayly: “We were just talking of you, Beaton—well, + you know the old saying. Mr. March, as I told you, is our editor, and Mr. + Dryfoos has charge of the publishing department—he's the + counting-room incarnate, the source of power, the fountain of corruption, + the element that prevents journalism being the high and holy thing that it + would be if there were no money in it.” Mr. Dryfoos turned his + large, mild eyes upon Beaton, and laughed with the uneasy concession which + people make to a character when they do not quite approve of the character's + language. “What Mr. March and I are trying to do is to carry on this + thing so that there won't be any money in it—or very little; + and we're planning to give the public a better article for the price + than it's ever had before. Now here's a dummy we've had + made up for 'Every Other Week', and as we've decided to + adopt it, we would naturally like your opinion of it, so's to know + what opinion to have of you.” He reached forward and pushed toward + Beaton a volume a little above the size of the ordinary duodecimo book; + its ivory-white pebbled paper cover was prettily illustrated with a + water-colored design irregularly washed over the greater part of its + surface: quite across the page at top, and narrowing from right to left as + it descended. In the triangular space left blank the title of the + periodical and the publisher's imprint were tastefully lettered so + as to be partly covered by the background of color. + </p> + <p> + “It's like some of those Tartarin books of Daudet's,” + said Beacon, looking at it with more interest than he suffered to be seen. + “But it's a book, not a magazine.” He opened its pages + of thick, mellow white paper, with uncut leaves, the first few pages + experimentally printed in the type intended to be used, and illustrated + with some sketches drawn into and over the text, for the sake of the + effect. + </p> + <p> + “A Daniel—a Daniel come to judgment! Sit down, Dan'el, + and take it easy.” Fulkerson pushed a chair toward Beaton, who + dropped into it. “You're right, Dan'el; it's a + book, to all practical intents and purposes. And what we propose to do + with the American public is to give it twenty-four books like this a year—a + complete library—for the absurd sum of six dollars. We don't + intend to sell 'em—it's no name for the transaction—but + to give 'em. And what we want to get out of you—beg, borrow, + buy, or steal from you is an opinion whether we shall make the American + public this princely present in paper covers like this, or in some sort of + flexible boards, so they can set them on the shelf and say no more about + it. Now, Dan'el, come to judgment, as our respected friend Shylock + remarked.” + </p> + <p> + Beacon had got done looking at the dummy, and he dropped it on the table + before Fulkerson, who pushed it away, apparently to free himself from + partiality. “I don't know anything about the business side, + and I can't tell about the effect of either style on the sales; but + you'll spoil the whole character of the cover if you use anything + thicker than that thickish paper.” + </p> + <p> + “All right; very good; first-rate. The ayes have it. Paper it is. I + don't mind telling you that we had decided for that paper before you + came in. Mr. March wanted it, because he felt in his bones just the way + you do about it, and Mr. Dryfoos wanted it, because he's the + counting-room incarnate, and it's cheaper; and I wanted it, because + I always like to go with the majority. Now what do you think of that + little design itself?” + </p> + <p> + “The sketch?” Beaton pulled the book toward him again and + looked at it again. “Rather decorative. Drawing's not + remarkable. Graceful; rather nice.” He pushed the book away again, + and Fulkerson pulled it to his aide of the table. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's a piece of that amateur trash you despise so + much. I went to a painter I know-by-the-way, he was guilty of suggesting + you for this thing, but I told him I was ahead of him—and I got him + to submit my idea to one of his class, and that's the result. Well, + now, there ain't anything in this world that sells a book like a + pretty cover, and we're going to have a pretty cover for 'Every + Other Week' every time. We've cut loose from the old + traditional quarto literary newspaper size, and we've cut loose from + the old two-column big page magazine size; we're going to have a + duodecimo page, clear black print, and paper that'll make your mouth + water; and we're going to have a fresh illustration for the cover of + each number, and we ain't agoing to give the public any rest at all. + Sometimes we're going to have a delicate little landscape like this, + and sometimes we're going to have an indelicate little figure, or as + much so as the law will allow.” + </p> + <p> + The young man leaning against the mantelpiece blushed a sort of protest. + </p> + <p> + March smiled and said, dryly, “Those are the numbers that Mr. + Fulkerson is going to edit himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. And Mr. Beaton, here, is going to supply the floating + females, gracefully airing themselves against a sunset or something of + that kind.” Beaton frowned in embarrassment, while Fulkerson went on + philosophically; “It's astonishing how you fellows can keep it + up at this stage of the proceedings; you can paint things that your + harshest critic would be ashamed to describe accurately; you're as + free as the theatre. But that's neither here nor there. What I'm + after is the fact that we're going to have variety in our + title-pages, and we are going to have novelty in the illustrations of the + body of the book. March, here, if he had his own way, wouldn't have + any illustrations at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Not because I don't like them, Mr. Beacon,” March + interposed, “but because I like them too much. I find that I look at + the pictures in an illustrated article, but I don't read the article + very much, and I fancy that's the case with most other people. You've + got to doing them so prettily that you take our eyes off the literature, + if you don't take our minds off.” + </p> + <p> + “Like the society beauties on the stage: people go in for the beauty + so much that they don't know what the play is. But the box-office + gets there all the same, and that's what Mr. Dryfoos wants.” + Fulkerson looked up gayly at Mr. Dryfoos, who smiled deprecatingly. + </p> + <p> + “It was different,” March went on, “when the + illustrations used to be bad. Then the text had some chance.” + </p> + <p> + “Old legitimate drama days, when ugliness and genius combined to + storm the galleries,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “We can still make them bad enough,” said Beaton, ignoring + Fulkerson in his remark to March. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson took the reply upon himself. “Well, you needn't make + 'em so bad as the old-style cuts; but you can make them unobtrusive, + modestly retiring. We've got hold of a process something like that + those French fellows gave Daudet thirty-five thousand dollars to write a + novel to use with; kind of thing that begins at one side; or one corner, + and spreads in a sort of dim religious style over the print till you can't + tell which is which. Then we've got a notion that where the pictures + don't behave quite so sociably, they can be dropped into the text, + like a little casual remark, don't you know, or a comment that has + some connection, or maybe none at all, with what's going on in the + story. Something like this.” Fulkerson took away one knee from the + table long enough to open the drawer, and pull from it a book that he + shoved toward Beacon. “That's a Spanish book I happened to see + at Brentano's, and I froze to it on account of the pictures. I guess + they're pretty good.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you expect to get such drawings in this country?” asked + Beaton, after a glance at the book. “Such character—such + drama? You won't.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm not so sure,” said Fulkerson, “come to + get our amateurs warmed up to the work. But what I want is to get the + physical effect, so to speak—get that sized picture into our page, + and set the fashion of it. I shouldn't care if the illustration was + sometimes confined to an initial letter and a tail-piece.” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't be done here. We haven't the touch. We're + good in some things, but this isn't in our way,” said Beaton, + stubbornly. “I can't think of a man who could do it; that is, + among those that would.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, think of some woman, then,” said Fulkerson, easily. + “I've got a notion that the women could help us out on this + thing, come to get 'em interested. There ain't anything so + popular as female fiction; why not try female art?” + </p> + <p> + “The females themselves have been supposed to have been trying it + for a good while,” March suggested; and Mr. Dryfoos laughed + nervously; Beaton remained solemnly silent. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” Fulkerson assented. “But I don't + mean that kind exactly. What we want to do is to work the 'ewig + Weibliche' in this concern. We want to make a magazine that will go + for the women's fancy every time. I don't mean with recipes + for cooking and fashions and personal gossip about authors and society, + but real high-tone literature that will show women triumphing in all the + stories, or else suffering tremendously. We've got to recognize that + women form three-fourths of the reading public in this country, and go for + their tastes and their sensibilities and their sex-piety along the whole + line. They do like to think that women can do things better than men; and + if we can let it leak out and get around in the papers that the managers + of 'Every Other Week' couldn't stir a peg in the line of + the illustrations they wanted till they got a lot of God-gifted girls to + help them, it 'll make the fortune of the thing. See?” + </p> + <p> + He looked sunnily round at the other men, and March said: “You ought + to be in charge of a Siamese white elephant, Fulkerson. It's a + disgrace to be connected with you.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems to me,” said Beaton, “that you'd better + get a God-gifted girl for your art editor.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson leaned alertly forward, and touched him on the shoulder, with a + compassionate smile. “My dear boy, they haven't got the genius + of organization. It takes a very masculine man for that—a man who + combines the most subtle and refined sympathies with the most forceful + purposes and the most ferruginous will-power. Which his name is Angus + Beaton, and here he sets!” + </p> + <p> + The others laughed with Fulkerson at his gross burlesque of flattery, and + Beaton frowned sheepishly. “I suppose you understand this man's + style,” he growled toward March. + </p> + <p> + “He does, my son,” said Fulkerson. “He knows that I + cannot tell a lie.” He pulled out his watch, and then got suddenly + upon his feet. + </p> + <p> + “It's quarter of twelve, and I've got an appointment.” + Beaton rose too, and Fulkerson put the two books in his lax hands. “Take + these along, Michelangelo Da Vinci, my friend, and put your multitudinous + mind on them for about an hour, and let us hear from you to-morrow. We + hang upon your decision.” + </p> + <p> + “There's no deciding to be done,” said Beaton. “You + can't combine the two styles. They'd kill each other.” + </p> + <p> + “A Dan'el, a Dan'el come to judgment! I knew you could + help us out! Take 'em along, and tell us which will go the furthest + with the 'ewig Weibliche.' Dryfoos, I want a word with you.” + He led the way into the front room, flirting an airy farewell to Beaton + with his hand as he went. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0036" id="link2H_4_0036"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + March and Beaton remained alone together for a moment, and March said: + “I hope you will think it worth while to take hold with us, Mr. + Beaton. Mr. Fulkerson puts it in his own way, of course; but we really + want to make a nice thing of the magazine.” He had that timidity of + the elder in the presence of the younger man which the younger, + preoccupied with his own timidity in the presence of the elder, cannot + imagine. Besides, March was aware of the gulf that divided him as a + literary man from Beaton as an artist, and he only ventured to feel his + way toward sympathy with him. “We want to make it good; we want to + make it high. Fulkerson is right about aiming to please the women, but of + course he caricatures the way of going about it.” + </p> + <p> + For answer, Beaton flung out, “I can't go in for a thing I don't + understand the plan of.” + </p> + <p> + March took it for granted that he had wounded some exposed sensibility of + Beaton's. He continued still more deferentially: “Mr. + Fulkerson's notion—I must say the notion is his, evolved from + his syndicate experience—is that we shall do best in fiction to + confine ourselves to short stories, and make each number complete in + itself. He found that the most successful things he could furnish his + newspapers were short stories; we Americans are supposed to excel in + writing them; and most people begin with them in fiction; and it's + Mr. Fulkerson's idea to work unknown talent, as he says, and so he + thinks he can not only get them easily, but can gradually form a school of + short-story writers. I can't say I follow him altogether, but I + respect his experience. We shall not despise translations of short + stories, but otherwise the matter will all be original, and, of course, it + won't all be short stories. We shall use sketches of travel, and + essays, and little dramatic studies, and bits of biography and history; + but all very light, and always short enough to be completed in a single + number. Mr. Fulkerson believes in pictures, and most of the things would + be capable of illustration.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know but this is the whole affair,” said March, + beginning to stiffen a little at the young man's reticence. + </p> + <p> + “I understand. Thank you for taking the trouble to explain. + Good-morning.” Beaton bowed himself off, without offering to shake + hands. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson came in after a while from the outer office, and Mr. Dryfoos + followed him. “Well, what do you think of our art editor?” + </p> + <p> + “Is he our art editor?” asked March. “I wasn't + quite certain when he left.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he take the books?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, he took the books.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess he's all right, then.” Fulkerson added, in + concession to the umbrage he detected in March. + </p> + <p> + “Beaton has his times of being the greatest ass in the solar system, + but he usually takes it out in personal conduct. When it comes to work, he's + a regular horse.” + </p> + <p> + “He appears to have compromised for the present by being a perfect + mule,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, he's in a transition state,” Fulkerson allowed. + “He's the man for us. He really understands what we want. You'll + see; he'll catch on. That lurid glare of his will wear off in the + course of time. He's really a good fellow when you take him off his + guard; and he's full of ideas. He's spread out over a good + deal of ground at present, and so he's pretty thin; but come to + gather him up into a lump, there's a good deal of substance to him. + Yes, there is. He's a first-rate critic, and he's a nice + fellow with the other artists. They laugh at his universality, but they + all like him. He's the best kind of a teacher when he condescends to + it; and he's just the man to deal with our volunteer work. Yes, sir, + he's a prize. Well, I must go now.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson went out of the street door, and then came quickly back. “By-the-bye, + March, I saw that old dynamiter of yours round at Beaton's room + yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “What old dynamiter of mine?” + </p> + <p> + “That old one-handed Dutchman—friend of your youth—the + one we saw at Maroni's—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh-Lindau!” said March, with a vague pang of self reproach + for having thought of Lindau so little after the first flood of his tender + feeling toward him was past. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, our versatile friend was modelling him as Judas Iscariot. + Lindau makes a first-rate Judas, and Beaton has got a big thing in that + head if he works the religious people right. But what I was thinking of + was this—it struck me just as I was going out of the door: Didn't + you tell me Lindau knew forty or fifty, different languages?” + </p> + <p> + “Four or five, yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, we won't quarrel about the number. The question is, Why + not work him in the field of foreign literature? You can't go over + all their reviews and magazines, and he could do the smelling for you, if + you could trust his nose. Would he know a good thing?” + </p> + <p> + “I think he would,” said March, on whom the scope of Fulkerson's + suggestion gradually opened. “He used to have good taste, and he + must know the ground. Why, it's a capital idea, Fulkerson! Lindau + wrote very fair English, and he could translate, with a little revision.” + </p> + <p> + “And he would probably work cheap. Well, hadn't you better see + him about it? I guess it 'll be quite a windfall for him.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it will. I'll look him up. Thank you for the suggestion, + Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't mention it! I don't mind doing 'Every + Other Week' a good turn now and then when it comes in my way.” + Fulkerson went out again, and this time March was finally left with Mr. + Dryfoos. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. March was very sorry not to be at home when your sisters + called the other day. She wished me to ask if they had any afternoon in + particular. There was none on your mother's card.” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir,” said the young man, with a flush of embarrassment + that seemed habitual with him. “She has no day. She's at home + almost every day. She hardly ever goes out.” + </p> + <p> + “Might we come some evening?” March asked. “We should be + very glad to do that, if she would excuse the informality. Then I could + come with Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + “Mother isn't very formal,” said the young man. “She + would be very glad to see you.” + </p> + <p> + “Then we'll come some night this week, if you will let us. + When do you expect your father back?” + </p> + <p> + “Not much before Christmas. He's trying to settle up some + things at Moffitt.” + </p> + <p> + “And what do you think of our art editor?” asked March, with a + smile, for the change of subject. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know much about such things,” said the + young man, with another of his embarrassed flushes. “Mr. Fulkerson + seems to feel sure that he is the one for us.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fulkerson seemed to think that I was the one for you, too,” + said March; and he laughed. “That's what makes me doubt his + infallibility. But he couldn't do worse with Mr. Beaton.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dryfoos reddened and looked down, as if unable or unwilling to cope + with the difficulty of making a polite protest against March's + self-depreciation. He said, after a moment: “It's new business + to all of us except Mr. Fulkerson. But I think it will succeed. I think we + can do some good in it.” + </p> + <p> + March asked rather absently, “Some good?” Then he added: + “Oh yes; I think we can. What do you mean by good? Improve the + public taste? Elevate the standard of literature? Give young authors and + artists a chance?” + </p> + <p> + This was the only good that had ever been in March's mind, except + the good that was to come in a material way from his success, to himself + and to his family. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said the young man; and he looked down + in a shamefaced fashion. He lifted his head and looked into March's + face. “I suppose I was thinking that some time we might help along. + If we were to have those sketches of yours about life in every part of New + York—” + </p> + <p> + March's authorial vanity was tickled. “Fulkerson has been + talking to you about them? He seemed to think they would be a card. He + believes that there's no subject so fascinating to the general + average of people throughout the country as life in New York City; and he + liked my notion of doing these things.” March hoped that Dryfoos + would answer that Fulkerson was perfectly enthusiastic about his notion; + but he did not need this stimulus, and, at any rate, he went on without + it. “The fact is, it's something that struck my fancy the + moment I came here; I found myself intensely interested in the place, and + I began to make notes, consciously and unconsciously, at once. Yes, I + believe I can get something quite attractive out of it. I don't in + the least know what it will be yet, except that it will be very desultory; + and I couldn't at all say when I can get at it. If we postpone the + first number till February I might get a little paper into that. Yes, I + think it might be a good thing for us,” March said, with modest + self-appreciation. + </p> + <p> + “If you can make the comfortable people understand how the + uncomfortable people live, it will be a very good thing, Mr. March. + Sometimes it seems to me that the only trouble is that we don't know + one another well enough; and that the first thing is to do this.” + The young fellow spoke with the seriousness in which the beauty of his + face resided. Whenever he laughed his face looked weak, even silly. It + seemed to be a sense of this that made him hang his head or turn it away + at such times. + </p> + <p> + “That's true,” said March, from the surface only. + “And then, those phases of low life are immensely picturesque. Of + course, we must try to get the contrasts of luxury for the sake of the + full effect. That won't be so easy. You can't penetrate to the + dinner-party of a millionaire under the wing of a detective as you could + to a carouse in Mulberry Street, or to his children's nursery with a + philanthropist as you can to a street-boy's lodging-house.” + March laughed, and again the young man turned his head away. “Still, + something can be done in that way by tact and patience.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0037" id="link2H_4_0037"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + That evening March went with his wife to return the call of the Dryfoos + ladies. On their way up-town in the Elevated he told her of his talk with + young Dryfoos. “I confess I was a little ashamed before him + afterward for having looked at the matter so entirely from the aesthetic + point of view. But of course, you know, if I went to work at those things + with an ethical intention explicitly in mind, I should spoil them.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said his wife. She had always heard him say + something of this kind about such things. + </p> + <p> + He went on: “But I suppose that's just the point that such a + nature as young Dryfoos's can't get hold of, or keep hold of. + We're a queer lot, down there, Isabel—perfect menagerie. If it + hadn't been that Fulkerson got us together, and really seems to know + what he did it for, I should say he was the oddest stick among us. But + when I think of myself and my own crankiness for the literary department; + and young Dryfoos, who ought really to be in the pulpit, or a monastery, + or something, for publisher; and that young Beaton, who probably hasn't + a moral fibre in his composition, for the art man, I don't know but + we could give Fulkerson odds and still beat him in oddity.” + </p> + <p> + His wife heaved a deep sigh of apprehension, of renunciation, of monition. + “Well, I'm glad you can feel so light about it, Basil.” + </p> + <p> + “Light? I feel gay! With Fulkerson at the helm, I tell you the rocks + and the lee shore had better keep out of the way.” He laughed with + pleasure in his metaphor. “Just when you think Fulkerson has taken + leave of his senses he says or does something that shows he is on the most + intimate and inalienable terms with them all the time. You know how I've + been worrying over those foreign periodicals, and trying to get some + translations from them for the first number? Well, Fulkerson has brought + his centipedal mind to bear on the subject, and he's suggested that + old German friend of mine I was telling you of—the one I met in the + restaurant—the friend of my youth.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think he could do it?” asked Mrs. March, sceptically. + </p> + <p> + “He's a perfect Babel of strange tongues; and he's the + very man for the work, and I was ashamed I hadn't thought of him + myself, for I suspect he needs the work.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, be careful how you get mixed up with him, then, Basil,” + said his wife, who had the natural misgiving concerning the friends of her + husband's youth that all wives have. “You know the Germans are + so unscrupulously dependent. You don't know anything about him now.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not afraid of Lindau,” said March. “He was + the best and kindest man I ever saw, the most high-minded, the most + generous. He lost a hand in the war that helped to save us and keep us + possible, and that stump of his is character enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you don't think I could have meant anything against him!” + said Mrs. March, with the tender fervor that every woman who lived in the + time of the war must feel for those who suffered in it. “All that I + meant was that I hoped you would not get mixed up with him too much. You're + so apt to be carried away by your impulses.” + </p> + <p> + “They didn't carry me very far away in the direction of poor + old Lindau, I'm ashamed to think,” said March. “I meant + all sorts of fine things by him after I met him; and then I forgot him, + and I had to be reminded of him by Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + She did not answer him, and he fell into a remorseful reverie, in which he + rehabilitated Lindau anew, and provided handsomely for his old age. He got + him buried with military honors, and had a shaft raised over him, with a + medallion likeness by Beaton and an epitaph by himself, by the time they + reached Forty-second Street; there was no time to write Lindau's + life, however briefly, before the train stopped. + </p> + <p> + They had to walk up four blocks and then half a block across before they + came to the indistinctive brownstone house where the Dryfooses lived. It + was larger than some in the same block, but the next neighborhood of a + huge apartment-house dwarfed it again. March thought he recognized the + very flat in which he had disciplined the surly janitor, but he did not + tell his wife; he made her notice the transition character of the street, + which had been mostly built up in apartment-houses, with here and there a + single dwelling dropped far down beneath and beside them, to that + jag-toothed effect on the sky-line so often observable in such New York + streets. “I don't know exactly what the old gentleman bought + here for,” he said, as they waited on the steps after ringing, + “unless he expects to turn it into flats by-and-by. Otherwise, I don't + believe he'll get his money back.” + </p> + <p> + An Irish serving-man, with a certain surprise that delayed him, said the + ladies were at home, and let the Marches in, and then carried their cards + up-stairs. The drawing-room, where he said they could sit down while he + went on this errand, was delicately decorated in white and gold, and + furnished with a sort of extravagant good taste; there was nothing to + object to in the satin furniture, the pale, soft, rich carpet, the + pictures, and the bronze and china bric-a-brac, except that their + costliness was too evident; everything in the room meant money too + plainly, and too much of it. The Marches recognized this in the hoarse + whispers which people cannot get their voices above when they try to talk + away the interval of waiting in such circumstances; they conjectured from + what they had heard of the Dryfooses that this tasteful luxury in no wise + expressed their civilization. “Though when you come to that,” + said March, “I don't know that Mrs. Green's gimcrackery + expresses ours.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Basil, I didn't take the gimcrackery. That was your—” + </p> + <p> + The rustle of skirts on the stairs without arrested Mrs. March in the + well-merited punishment which she never failed to inflict upon her husband + when the question of the gimcrackery—they always called it that—came + up. She rose at the entrance of a bright-looking, pretty-looking, mature, + youngish lady, in black silk of a neutral implication, who put out her + hand to her, and said, with a very cheery, very ladylike accent, “Mrs. + March?” and then added to both of them, while she shook hands with + March, and before they could get the name out of their months: “No, + not Miss Dryfoos! Neither of them; nor Mrs. Dryfoos. Mrs. Mandel. The + ladies will be down in a moment. Won't you throw off your sacque, + Mrs. March? I'm afraid it's rather warm here, coming from the + outside.” + </p> + <p> + “I will throw it back, if you'll allow me,” said Mrs. + March, with a sort of provisionality, as if, pending some uncertainty as + to Mrs. Mandel's quality and authority, she did not feel herself + justified in going further. + </p> + <p> + But if she did not know about Mrs. Mandel, Mrs. Mandel seemed to know + about her. “Oh, well, do!” she said, with a sort of + recognition of the propriety of her caution. “I hope you are feeling + a little at home in New York. We heard so much of your trouble in getting + a flat, from Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, a true Bostonian doesn't give up quite so soon,” + said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “But I will say New York doesn't seem so far away, now we're + here.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm sure you'll like it. Every one does.” Mrs. + Mandel added to March, “It's very sharp out, isn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “Rather sharp. But after our Boston winters I don't know but I + ought to repudiate the word.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, wait till you have been here through March!” said Mrs. + Mandel. She began with him, but skillfully transferred the close of her + remark, and the little smile of menace that went with it, to his wife. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Mrs. March, “or April, either: Talk about + our east winds!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm sure they can't be worse than our winds,” + Mrs. Mandel returned, caressingly. + </p> + <p> + “If we escape New York pneumonia,” March laughed, “it + will only be to fall a prey to New York malaria as soon as the frost is + out of the ground.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, but you know,” said Mrs. Mandel, “I think our + malaria has really been slandered a little. It's more a matter of + drainage—of plumbing. I don't believe it would be possible for + malaria to get into this house, we've had it gone over so + thoroughly.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March said, while she tried to divine Mrs. Mandel's position + from this statement, “It's certainly the first duty.” + </p> + <p> + “If Mrs. March could have had her way, we should have had the + drainage of our whole ward put in order,” said her husband, “before + we ventured to take a furnished apartment for the winter.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Mandel looked discreetly at Mrs. March for permission to laugh at + this, but at the same moment both ladies became preoccupied with a second + rustling on the stairs. + </p> + <p> + Two tall, well-dressed young girls came in, and Mrs. Mandel introduced, + “Miss Dryfoos, Mrs. March; and Miss Mela Dryfoos, Mr. March,” + she added, and the girls shook hands in their several ways with the + Marches. + </p> + <p> + Miss Dryfoos had keen black eyes, and her hair was intensely black. Her + face, but for the slight inward curve of the nose, was regular, and the + smallness of her nose and of her mouth did not weaken her face, but gave + it a curious effect of fierceness, of challenge. She had a large black fan + in her hand, which she waved in talking, with a slow, watchful + nervousness. Her sister was blonde, and had a profile like her brother's; + but her chin was not so salient, and the weak look of the mouth was not + corrected by the spirituality or the fervor of his eyes, though hers were + of the same mottled blue. She dropped into the low seat beside Mrs. + Mandel, and intertwined her fingers with those of the hand which Mrs. + Mandel let her have. She smiled upon the Marches, while Miss Dryfoos + watched them intensely, with her eyes first on one and then on the other, + as if she did not mean to let any expression of theirs escape her. + </p> + <p> + “My mother will be down in a minute,” she said to Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “I hope we're not disturbing her. It is so good of you to let + us come in the evening,” Mrs. March replied. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not at all,” said the girl. “We receive in the + evening.” + </p> + <p> + “When we do receive,” Miss Mela put in. “We don't + always get the chance to.” She began a laugh, which she checked at a + smile from Mrs. Mandel, which no one could have seen to be reproving. + </p> + <p> + Miss Dryfoos looked down at her fan, and looked up defiantly at Mrs. + March. “I suppose you have hardly got settled. We were afraid we + would disturb you when we called.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no! We were very sorry to miss your visit. We are quite settled + in our new quarters. Of course, it's all very different from Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope it's more of a sociable place there,” Miss Mela + broke in again. “I never saw such an unsociable place as New York. + We've been in this house three months, and I don't believe + that if we stayed three years any of the neighbors would call.” + </p> + <p> + “I fancy proximity doesn't count for much in New York,” + March suggested. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Mandel said: “That's what I tell Miss Mela. But she is a + very social nature, and can't reconcile herself to the fact.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I can't,” the girl pouted. “I think it was + twice as much fun in Moffitt. I wish I was there now.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said March, “I think there's a great deal + more enjoyment in those smaller places. There's not so much going on + in the way of public amusements, and so people make more of one another. + There are not so many concerts, theatres, operas—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they've got a splendid opera-house in Moffitt. It's + just grand,” said Miss Mela. + </p> + <p> + “Have you been to the opera here, this winter?” Mrs. March + asked of the elder girl. + </p> + <p> + She was glaring with a frown at her sister, and detached her eyes from her + with an effort. “What did you say?” she demanded, with an + absent bluntness. “Oh yes. Yes! We went once. Father took a box at + the Metropolitan.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you got a good dose of Wagner, I suppose?” said March. + </p> + <p> + “What?” asked the girl. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think Miss Dryfoos is very fond of Wagner's + music,” Mrs. Mandel said. “I believe you are all great + Wagnerites in Boston?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm a very bad Bostonian, Mrs. Mandel. I suspect myself of + preferring Verdi,” March answered. + </p> + <p> + Miss Dryfoos looked down at her fan again, and said, “I like 'Trovatore' + the best.” + </p> + <p> + “It's an opera I never get tired of,” said March, and + Mrs. March and Mrs. Mandel exchanged a smile of compassion for his + simplicity. He detected it, and added: “But I dare say I shall come + down with the Wagner fever in time. I've been exposed to some + malignant cases of it.” + </p> + <p> + “That night we were there,” said Miss Mela, “they had to + turn the gas down all through one part of it, and the papers said the + ladies were awful mad because they couldn't show their diamonds. I + don't wonder, if they all had to pay as much for their boxes as we + did. We had to pay sixty dollars.” She looked at the Marches for + their sensation at this expense. + </p> + <p> + March said: “Well, I think I shall take my box by the month, then. + It must come cheaper, wholesale.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no, it don't,” said the girl, glad to inform him. + “The people that own their boxes, and that had to give fifteen or + twenty thousand dollars apiece for them, have to pay sixty dollars a night + whenever there's a performance, whether they go or not.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I should go every night,” March said. + </p> + <p> + “Most of the ladies were low neck—” + </p> + <p> + March interposed, “Well, I shouldn't go low-neck.” + </p> + <p> + The girl broke into a fondly approving laugh at his drolling. “Oh, I + guess you love to train! Us girls wanted to go low neck, too; but father + said we shouldn't, and mother said if we did she wouldn't come + to the front of the box once. Well, she didn't, anyway. We might + just as well 'a' gone low neck. She stayed back the whole + time, and when they had that dance—the ballet, you know—she + just shut her eyes. Well, Conrad didn't like that part much, either; + but us girls and Mrs. Mandel, we brazened it out right in the front of the + box. We were about the only ones there that went high neck. Conrad had to + wear a swallow-tail; but father hadn't any, and he had to patch out + with a white cravat. You couldn't see what he had on in the back o' + the box, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March looked at Miss Dryfoos, who was waving her fan more and more + slowly up and down, and who, when she felt herself looked at, returned + Mrs. March's smile, which she meant to be ingratiating and perhaps + sympathetic, with a flash that made her start, and then ran her fierce + eyes over March's face. “Here comes mother,” she said, + with a sort of breathlessness, as if speaking her thought aloud, and + through the open door the Marches could see the old lady on the stairs. + </p> + <p> + She paused half-way down, and turning, called up: “Coonrod! Coonrod! + You bring my shawl down with you.” + </p> + <p> + Her daughter Mela called out to her, “Now, mother, Christine 'll + give it to you for not sending Mike.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know where he is, Mely, child,” the + mother answered back. “He ain't never around when he's + wanted, and when he ain't, it seems like a body couldn't git + shet of him, nohow.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you ought to ring for him!” cried Miss Mela, enjoying + the joke. + </p> + <p> + Her mother came in with a slow step; her head shook slightly as she looked + about the room, perhaps from nervousness, perhaps from a touch of palsy. + In either case the fact had a pathos which Mrs. March confessed in the + affection with which she took her hard, dry, large, old hand when she was + introduced to her, and in the sincerity which she put into the hope that + she was well. + </p> + <p> + “I'm just middlin',” Mrs. Dryfoos replied. “I + ain't never so well, nowadays. I tell fawther I don't believe + it agrees with me very well here, but he says I'll git used to it. + He's away now, out at Moffitt,” she said to March, and wavered + on foot a moment before she sank into a chair. She was a tall woman, who + had been a beautiful girl, and her gray hair had a memory of blondeness in + it like Lindau's, March noticed. She wore a simple silk gown, of a + Quakerly gray, and she held a handkerchief folded square, as it had come + from the laundress. Something like the Sabbath quiet of a little wooden + meeting-house in thick Western woods expressed itself to him from her + presence. + </p> + <p> + “Laws, mother!” said Miss Mela; “what you got that old + thing on for? If I'd 'a' known you'd 'a' + come down in that!” + </p> + <p> + “Coonrod said it was all right, Mely,” said her mother. + </p> + <p> + Miss Mela explained to the Marches: “Mother was raised among the + Dunkards, and she thinks it's wicked to wear anything but a gray + silk even for dress-up.” + </p> + <p> + “You hain't never heared o' the Dunkards, I reckon,” + the old woman said to Mrs. March. “Some folks calls 'em the + Beardy Men, because they don't never shave; and they wash feet like + they do in the Testament. My uncle was one. He raised me.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess pretty much everybody's a Beardy Man nowadays, if he + ain't a Dunkard!” + </p> + <p> + Miss Mela looked round for applause of her sally, but March was saying to + his wife: “It's a Pennsylvania German sect, I believe—something + like the Quakers. I used to see them when I was a boy.” + </p> + <p> + “Aren't they something like the Mennists?” asked Mrs. + Mandel. + </p> + <p> + “They're good people,” said the old woman, “and + the world 'd be a heap better off if there was more like 'em.” + </p> + <p> + Her son came in and laid a soft shawl over her shoulders before he shook + hands with the visitors. “I am glad you found your way here,” + he said to them. + </p> + <p> + Christine, who had been bending forward over her fan, now lifted herself + up with a sigh and leaned back in her chair. + </p> + <p> + “I'm sorry my father isn't here,” said the young + man to Mrs. March. “He's never met you yet?” + </p> + <p> + “No; and I should like to see him. We hear a great deal about your + father, you know, from Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I hope you don't believe everything Mr. Fulkerson says + about people,” Mela cried. “He's the greatest person for + carrying on when he gets going I ever saw. It makes Christine just as mad + when him and mother gets to talking about religion; she says she knows he + don't care anything more about it than the man in the moon. I reckon + he don't try it on much with father.” + </p> + <p> + “Your fawther ain't ever been a perfessor,” her mother + interposed; “but he's always been a good church-goin' + man.” + </p> + <p> + “Not since we come to New York,” retorted the girl. + </p> + <p> + “He's been all broke up since he come to New York,” said + the old woman, with an aggrieved look. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Mandel attempted a diversion. “Have you heard any of our great + New York preachers yet, Mrs. March?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I haven't,” Mrs. March admitted; and she tried to + imply by her candid tone that she intended to begin hearing them the very + next Sunday. + </p> + <p> + “There are a great many things here,” said Conrad, “to + take your thoughts off the preaching that you hear in most of the + churches. I think the city itself is preaching the best sermon all the + time.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I understand you,” said March. + </p> + <p> + Mela answered for him. “Oh, Conrad has got a lot of notions that + nobody can understand. You ought to see the church he goes to when he does + go. I'd about as lief go to a Catholic church myself; I don't + see a bit o' difference. He's the greatest crony with one of + their preachers; he dresses just like a priest, and he says he is a + priest.” She laughed for enjoyment of the fact, and her brother cast + down his eyes. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March, in her turn, tried to take from it the personal tone which the + talk was always assuming. “Have you been to the fall exhibition?” + she asked Christine; and the girl drew herself up out of the abstraction + she seemed sunk in. + </p> + <p> + “The exhibition?” She looked at Mrs. Mandel. + </p> + <p> + “The pictures of the Academy, you know,” Mrs. Mandel + explained. “Where I wanted you to go the day you had your dress + tried on.” + </p> + <p> + “No; we haven't been yet. Is it good?” She had turned to + Mrs. March again. + </p> + <p> + “I believe the fall exhibitions are never so good as the spring + ones. But there are some good pictures.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe I care much about pictures,” said + Christine. “I don't understand them.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's no excuse for not caring about them,” said + March, lightly. “The painters themselves don't, half the time.” + </p> + <p> + The girl looked at him with that glance at once defiant and appealing, + insolent and anxious, which he had noticed before, especially when she + stole it toward himself and his wife during her sister's babble. In + the light of Fulkerson's history of the family, its origin and its + ambition, he interpreted it to mean a sense of her sister's folly + and an ignorant will to override his opinion of anything incongruous in + themselves and their surroundings. He said to himself that she was deathly + proud—too proud to try to palliate anything, but capable of anything + that would put others under her feet. Her eyes seemed hopelessly to + question his wife's social quality, and he fancied, with not + unkindly interest, the inexperienced girl's doubt whether to treat + them with much or little respect. He lost himself in fancies about her and + her ideals, necessarily sordid, of her possibilities of suffering, of the + triumphs and disappointments before her. Her sister would accept both with + a lightness that would keep no trace of either; but in her they would sink + lastingly deep. He came out of his reverie to find Mrs. Dryfoos saying to + him, in her hoarse voice: + </p> + <p> + “I think it's a shame, some of the pictur's a body sees + in the winders. They say there's a law ag'inst them things; + and if there is, I don't understand why the police don't take + up them that paints 'em. I hear tell, since I been here, that there's + women that goes to have pictur's took from them that way by men + painters.” The point seemed aimed at March, as if he were personally + responsible for the scandal, and it fell with a silencing effect for the + moment. Nobody seemed willing to take it up, and Mrs. Dryfoos went on, + with an old woman's severity: “I say they ought to be all + tarred and feathered and rode on a rail. They'd be drummed out of + town in Moffitt.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Mela said, with a crowing laugh: “I should think they would! + And they wouldn't anybody go low neck to the opera-house there, + either—not low neck the way they do here, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “And that pack of worthless hussies,” her mother resumed, + “that come out on the stage, and begun to kick.” + </p> + <p> + “Laws, mother!” the girl shouted, “I thought you said + you had your eyes shut!” + </p> + <p> + All but these two simpler creatures were abashed at the indecorum of + suggesting in words the commonplaces of the theatre and of art. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I did, Mely, as soon as I could believe my eyes. I don't + know what they're doin' in all their churches, to let such + things go on,” said the old woman. “It's a sin and a + shame, I think. Don't you, Coonrod?” + </p> + <p> + A ring at the door cut short whatever answer he was about to deliver. + </p> + <p> + “If it's going to be company, Coonrod,” said his mother, + making an effort to rise, “I reckon I better go up-stairs.” + </p> + <p> + “It's Mr. Fulkerson, I guess,” said Conrad. “He + thought he might come”; and at the mention of this light spirit Mrs. + Dryfoos sank contentedly back in her chair, and a relaxation of their + painful tension seemed to pass through the whole company. Conrad went to + the door himself (the serving-man tentatively, appeared some minutes + later) and let in Fulkerson's cheerful voice before his cheerful + person. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, how dye do, Conrad? Brought our friend, Mr. Beaton, with me,” + those within heard him say; and then, after a sound of putting off + overcoats, they saw him fill the doorway, with his feet set square and his + arms akimbo. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0038" id="link2H_4_0038"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + “Ah! hello! hello!” Fulkerson said, in recognition of the + Marches. “Regular gathering of the clans. How are you, Mrs. Dryfoos? + How do you do, Mrs. Mandel, Miss Christine, Mela, Aunt Hitty, and all the + folks? How you wuz?” He shook hands gayly all round, and took a + chair next the old lady, whose hand he kept in his own, and left Conrad to + introduce Beaton. But he would not let the shadow of Beaton's + solemnity fall upon the company. He began to joke with Mrs. Dryfoos, and + to match rheumatisms with her, and he included all the ladies in the range + of appropriate pleasantries. “I've brought Mr. Beaton along + to-night, and I want you to make him feel at home, like you do me, Mrs. + Dryfoos. He hasn't got any rheumatism to speak of; but his parents + live in Syracuse, and he's a kind of an orphan, and we've just + adopted him down at the office. When you going to bring the young ladies + down there, Mrs. Mandel, for a champagne lunch? I will have some + hydro-Mela, and Christine it, heigh? How's that for a little + starter? We dropped in at your place a moment, Mrs. March, and gave the + young folks a few pointers about their studies. My goodness! it does me + good to see a boy like that of yours; business, from the word go; and your + girl just scoops my youthful affections. She's a beauty, and I guess + she's good, too. Well, well, what a world it is! Miss Christine, won't + you show Mr. Beaton that seal ring of yours? He knows about such things, + and I brought him here to see it as much as anything. It's an + intaglio I brought from the other side,” he explained to Mrs. March, + “and I guess you'll like to look at it. Tried to give it to + the Dryfoos family, and when I couldn't, I sold it to 'em. + Bound to see it on Miss Christine's hand somehow! Hold on! Let him + see it where it belongs, first!” + </p> + <p> + He arrested the girl in the motion she made to take off the ring, and let + her have the pleasure of showing her hand to the company with the ring on + it. Then he left her to hear the painter's words about it, which he + continued to deliver dissyllabically as he stood with her under a gas-jet, + twisting his elastic figure and bending his head over the ring. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Mely, child,” Fulkerson went on, with an open travesty + of her mother's habitual address, “and how are you getting + along? Mrs. Mandel hold you up to the proprieties pretty strictly? Well, + that's right. You know you'd be roaming all over the pasture + if she didn't.” + </p> + <p> + The girl gurgled out her pleasure in his funning, and everybody took him + on his own ground of privileged character. He brought them all together in + their friendliness for himself, and before the evening was over he had + inspired Mrs. Mandel to have them served with coffee, and had made both + the girls feel that they had figured brilliantly in society, and that two + young men had been devoted to them. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I think he's just as lovely as he can live!” said + Mela, as she stood a moment with her sister on the scene of her triumph, + where the others had left them after the departure of their guests. + </p> + <p> + “Who?” asked Christine, deeply. As she glanced down at her + ring, her eyes burned with a softened fire. + </p> + <p> + She had allowed Beaton to change it himself from the finger where she had + worn it to the finger on which he said she ought to wear it. She did not + know whether it was right to let him, but she was glad she had done it. + </p> + <p> + “Who? Mr. Fulkerson, goosie-poosie! Not that old stuckup Mr. Beaton + of yours!” + </p> + <p> + “He is proud,” assented Christine, with a throb of exultation. + </p> + <p> + Beaton and Fulkerson went to the Elevated station with the Marches; but + the painter said he was going to walk home, and Fulkerson let him go + alone. + </p> + <p> + “One way is enough for me,” he explained. “When I walk + up, I don't walk down. Bye-bye, my son!” He began talking + about Beaton to the Marches as they climbed the station stairs together. + “That fellow puzzles me. I don't know anybody that I have such + a desire to kick, and at the same time that I want to flatter up so much. + Affect you that way?” he asked of March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, as far as the kicking goes, yes.” + </p> + <p> + “And how is it with you, Mrs. March?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I want to flatter him up.” + </p> + <p> + “No; really? Why? Hold on! I've got the change.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson pushed March away from the ticket-office window; and made them + his guests, with the inexorable American hospitality, for the ride + down-town. “Three!” he said to the ticket-seller; and, when he + had walked them before him out on the platform and dropped his tickets + into the urn, he persisted in his inquiry, “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, because you always want to flatter conceited people, don't + you?” Mrs. March answered, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Do you? Yes, I guess you do. You think Beaton is conceited?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, slightly, Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess you're partly right,” said Fulkerson, with a + sigh, so unaccountable in its connection that they all laughed. + </p> + <p> + “An ideal 'busted'?” March suggested. + </p> + <p> + “No, not that, exactly,” said Fulkerson. “But I had a + notion maybe Beaton wasn't conceited all the time.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” Mrs. March exulted, “nobody could be so conceited + all the time as Mr. Beaton is most of the time. He must have moments of + the direst modesty, when he'd be quite flattery-proof.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's what I mean. I guess that's what makes me + want to kick him. He's left compliments on my hands that no decent + man would.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! that's tragical,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fulkerson,” Mrs. March began, with change of subject in + her voice, “who is Mrs. Mandel?” + </p> + <p> + “Who? What do you think of her?” he rejoined. “I'll + tell you about her when we get in the cars. Look at that thing! Ain't + it beautiful?” + </p> + <p> + They leaned over the track and looked up at the next station, where the + train, just starting, throbbed out the flame-shot steam into the white + moonlight. + </p> + <p> + “The most beautiful thing in New York—the one always and + certainly beautiful thing here,” said March; and his wife sighed, + “Yes, yes.” She clung to him, and remained rapt by the sight + till the train drew near, and then pulled him back in a panic. + </p> + <p> + “Well, there ain't really much to tell about her,” + Fulkerson resumed when they were seated in the car. “She's an + invention of mine.” + </p> + <p> + “Of yours?” cried Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “Of course!” exclaimed her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Yes—at least in her present capacity. She sent me a story for + the syndicate, back in July some time, along about the time I first met + old Dryfoos here. It was a little too long for my purpose, and I thought I + could explain better how I wanted it cut in a call than I could in a + letter. She gave a Brooklyn address, and I went to see her. I found her,” + said Fulkerson, with a vague defiance, “a perfect lady. She was + living with an aunt over there; and she had seen better days, when she was + a girl, and worse ones afterward. I don't mean to say her husband + was a bad fellow; I guess he was pretty good; he was her music-teacher; + she met him in Germany, and they got married there, and got through her + property before they came over here. Well, she didn't strike me like + a person that could make much headway in literature. Her story was well + enough, but it hadn't much sand in it; kind of-well, academic, you + know. I told her so, and she understood, and cried a little; but she did + the best she could with the thing, and I took it and syndicated it. She + kind of stuck in my mind, and the first time I went to see the Dryfooses + they were stopping at a sort of family hotel then till they could find a + house—” Fulkerson broke off altogether, and said, “I don't + know as I know just how the Dryfooses struck you, Mrs. March?” + </p> + <p> + “Can't you imagine?” she answered, with a kindly, smile. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; but I don't believe I could guess how they would have + struck you last summer when I first saw them. My! oh my! there was the + native earth for you. Mely is a pretty wild colt now, but you ought to + have seen her before she was broken to harness. + </p> + <p> + “And Christine? Ever see that black leopard they got up there in the + Central Park? That was Christine. Well, I saw what they wanted. They all + saw it—nobody is a fool in all directions, and the Dryfooses are in + their right senses a good deal of the time. Well, to cut a long story + short, I got Mrs. Mandel to take 'em in hand—the old lady as + well as the girls. She was a born lady, and always lived like one till she + saw Mandel; and that something academic that killed her for a writer was + just the very thing for them. She knows the world well enough to know just + how much polish they can take on, and she don't try to put on a bit + more. See?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I can see,” said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, she took hold at once, as ready as a hospital-trained nurse; + and there ain't anything readier on this planet. She runs the whole + concern, socially and economically, takes all the care of housekeeping off + the old lady's hands, and goes round with the girls. By-the-bye, I'm + going to take my meals at your widow's, March, and Conrad's + going to have his lunch there. I'm sick of browsing about.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. March's widow?” said his wife, looking at him with + provisional severity. + </p> + <p> + “I have no widow, Isabel,” he said, “and never expect to + have, till I leave you in the enjoyment of my life-insurance. I suppose + Fulkerson means the lady with the daughter who wanted to take us to board.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes. How are they getting on, I do wonder?” Mrs. March + asked of Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “Well, they've got one family to board; but it's a small + one. I guess they'll pull through. They didn't want to take + any day boarders at first, the widow said; I guess they have had to come + to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor things!” sighed Mrs. March. “I hope they'll + go back to the country.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. When you've once tasted New York—You + wouldn't go back to Boston, would you?” + </p> + <p> + “Instantly.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed out a tolerant incredulity. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0039" id="link2H_4_0039"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X + </h2> + <p> + Beaton lit his pipe when he found himself in his room, and sat down before + the dull fire in his grate to think. It struck him there was a dull fire + in his heart a great deal like it; and he worked out a fanciful analogy + with the coals, still alive, and the ashes creeping over them, and the + dead clay and cinders. He felt sick of himself, sick of his life and of + all his works. He was angry with Fulkerson for having got him into that + art department of his, for having bought him up; and he was bitter at fate + because he had been obliged to use the money to pay some pressing debts, + and had not been able to return the check his father had sent him. He + pitied his poor old father; he ached with compassion for him; and he set + his teeth and snarled with contempt through them for his own baseness. + This was the kind of world it was; but he washed his hands of it. The + fault was in human nature, and he reflected with pride that he had at + least not invented human nature; he had not sunk so low as that yet. The + notion amused him; he thought he might get a Satanic epigram out of it + some way. But in the mean time that girl, that wild animal, she kept + visibly, tangibly before him; if he put out his hand he might touch hers, + he might pass his arm round her waist. In Paris, in a set he knew there, + what an effect she would be with that look of hers, and that beauty, all + out of drawing! They would recognize the flame quality in her. He imagined + a joke about her being a fiery spirit, or nymph, naiad, whatever, from one + of her native gas-wells. He began to sketch on a bit of paper from the + table at his elbow vague lines that veiled and revealed a level, dismal + landscape, and a vast flame against an empty sky, and a shape out of the + flame that took on a likeness and floated detached from it. The sketch ran + up the left side of the sheet and stretched across it. Beaton laughed out. + Pretty good to let Fulkerson have that for the cover of his first number! + In black and red it would be effective; it would catch the eye from the + news-stands. He made a motion to throw it on the fire, but held it back + and slid it into the table-drawer, and smoked on. He saw the dummy with + the other sketch in the open drawer which he had brought away from + Fulkerson's in the morning and slipped in there, and he took it out + and looked at it. He made some criticisms in line with his pencil on it, + correcting the drawing here and there, and then he respected it a little + more, though he still smiled at the feminine quality—a young lady + quality. + </p> + <p> + In spite of his experience the night he called upon the Leightons, Beaton + could not believe that Alma no longer cared for him. She played at having + forgotten him admirably, but he knew that a few months before she had been + very mindful of him. He knew he had neglected them since they came to New + York, where he had led them to expect interest, if not attention; but he + was used to neglecting people, and he was somewhat less used to being + punished for it—punished and forgiven. He felt that Alma had + punished him so thoroughly that she ought to have been satisfied with her + work and to have forgiven him in her heart afterward. He bore no + resentment after the first tingling moments were past; he rather admired + her for it; and he would have been ready to go back half an hour later and + accept pardon and be on the footing of last summer again. Even now he + debated with himself whether it was too late to call; but, decidedly, a + quarter to ten seemed late. The next day he determined never to call upon + the Leightons again; but he had no reason for this; it merely came into a + transitory scheme of conduct, of retirement from the society of women + altogether; and after dinner he went round to see them. + </p> + <p> + He asked for the ladies, and they all three received him, Alma not without + a surprise that intimated itself to him, and her mother with no + appreciable relenting; Miss Woodburn, with the needlework which she found + easier to be voluble over than a book, expressed in her welcome a + neutrality both cordial to Beaton and loyal to Alma. + </p> + <p> + “Is it snowing outdo's?” she asked, briskly, after the + greetings were transacted. “Mah goodness!” she said, in answer + to his apparent surprise at the question. “Ah mahght as well have + stayed in the Soath, for all the winter Ah have seen in New York yet.” + </p> + <p> + “We don't often have snow much before New-Year's,” + said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Woodburn is wild for a real Northern winter,” Mrs. + Leighton explained. + </p> + <p> + “The othah naght Ah woke up and looked oat of the window and saw all + the roofs covered with snow, and it turned oat to be nothing but + moonlaght. Ah was never so disappointed in mah lahfe,” said Miss + Woodburn. + </p> + <p> + “If you'll come to St. Barnaby next summer, you shall have all + the winter you want,” said Alma. + </p> + <p> + “I can't let you slander St. Barnaby in that way,” said + Beaton, with the air of wishing to be understood as meaning more than he + said. + </p> + <p> + “Yes?” returned Alma, coolly. “I didn't know you + were so fond of the climate.” + </p> + <p> + “I never think of it as a climate. It's a landscape. It doesn't + matter whether it's hot or cold.” + </p> + <p> + “With the thermometer twenty below, you'd find that it + mattered,” Alma persisted. + </p> + <p> + “Is that the way you feel about St. Barnaby, too, Mrs. Leighton?” + Beaton asked, with affected desolation. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be glad enough to go back in the summer,” Mrs. + Leighton conceded. + </p> + <p> + “And I should be glad to go now,” said Beaton, looking at + Alma. He had the dummy of 'Every Other Week' in his hand, and + he saw Alma's eyes wandering toward it whenever he glanced at her. + “I should be glad to go anywhere to get out of a job I've + undertaken,” he continued, to Mrs. Leighton. “They're + going to start some sort of a new illustrated magazine, and they've + got me in for their art department. I'm not fit for it; I'd + like to run away. Don't you want to advise me a little, Mrs. + Leighton? You know how much I value your taste, and I'd like to have + you look at the design for the cover of the first number: they're + going to have a different one for every number. I don't know whether + you'll agree with me, but I think this is rather nice.” + </p> + <p> + He faced the dummy round, and then laid it on the table before Mrs. + Leighton, pushing some of her work aside to make room for it and standing + over her while she bent forward to look at it. + </p> + <p> + Alma kept her place, away from the table. + </p> + <p> + “Mah goodness! Ho' exciting!” said Miss Woodburn. + “May anybody look?” + </p> + <p> + “Everybody,” said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “Well, isn't it perfectly choming!” Miss Woodburn + exclaimed. “Come and look at this, Miss Leighton,” she called + to Alma, who reluctantly approached. + </p> + <p> + “What lines are these?” Mrs. Leighton asked, pointing to + Beaton's pencil scratches. + </p> + <p> + “They're suggestions of modifications,” he replied. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think they improve it much. What do you think, Alma?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know,” said the girl, constraining her + voice to an effect of indifference and glancing carelessly down at the + sketch. “The design might be improved; but I don't think those + suggestions would do it.” + </p> + <p> + “They're mine,” said Beaton, fixing his eyes upon her + with a beautiful sad dreaminess that he knew he could put into them; he + spoke with a dreamy remoteness of tone—his wind-harp stop, Wetmore + called it. + </p> + <p> + “I supposed so,” said Alma, calmly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, mah goodness!” cried Miss Woodburn. “Is that the + way you awtusts talk to each othah? Well, Ah'm glad Ah'm not + an awtust—unless I could do all the talking.” + </p> + <p> + “Artists cannot tell a fib,” Alma said, “or even act + one,” and she laughed in Beaton's upturned face. + </p> + <p> + He did not unbend his dreamy gaze. “You're quite right. The + suggestions are stupid.” + </p> + <p> + Alma turned to Miss Woodburn: “You hear? Even when we speak of our + own work.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah nevah hoad anything lahke it!” + </p> + <p> + “And the design itself?” Beaton persisted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm not an art editor,” Alma answered, with a laugh + of exultant evasion. + </p> + <p> + A tall, dark, grave-looking man of fifty, with a swarthy face and + iron-gray mustache and imperial and goatee, entered the room. Beaton knew + the type; he had been through Virginia sketching for one of the + illustrated papers, and he had seen such men in Richmond. Miss Woodburn + hardly needed to say, “May Ah introduce you to mah fathaw, Co'nel + Woodburn, Mr. Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + The men shook hands, and Colonel Woodburn said, in that soft, gentle, slow + Southern voice without our Northern contractions: “I am very glad to + meet you, sir; happy to make yo' acquaintance. Do not move, madam,” + he said to Mrs. Leighton, who made a deprecatory motion to let him pass to + the chair beyond her; “I can find my way.” He bowed a bulk + that did not lend itself readily to the devotion, and picked up the ball + of yarn she had let drop out of her lap in half rising. “Yo' + worsteds, madam.” + </p> + <p> + “Yarn, yarn, Colonel Woodburn!” Alma shouted. “You're + quite incorrigible. A spade is a spade!” + </p> + <p> + “But sometimes it is a trump, my dear young lady,” said the + Colonel, with unabated gallantry; “and when yo' mothah uses + yarn, it is worsteds. But I respect worsteds even under the name of yarn: + our ladies—my own mothah and sistahs—had to knit the socks we + wore—all we could get in the woe.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and aftah the woe,” his daughter put in. “The + knitting has not stopped yet in some places. Have you been much in the + Soath, Mr. Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + Beaton explained just how much. + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” said the Colonel, “then you have seen a + country making gigantic struggles to retrieve its losses, sir. The South + is advancing with enormous strides, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Too fast for some of us to keep up,” said Miss Woodburn, in + an audible aside. “The pace in Charlottesboag is pofectly killing, + and we had to drop oat into a slow place like New York.” + </p> + <p> + “The progress in the South is material now,” said the Colonel; + “and those of us whose interests are in another direction find + ourselves—isolated—isolated, sir. The intellectual centres are + still in the No'th, sir; the great cities draw the mental activity + of the country to them, sir. Necessarily New York is the metropolis.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, everything comes here,” said Beaton, impatient of the + elder's ponderosity. Another sort of man would have sympathized with + the Southerner's willingness to talk of himself, and led him on to + speak of his plans and ideals. But the sort of man that Beaton was could + not do this; he put up the dummy into the wrapper he had let drop on the + floor beside him, and tied it round with string while Colonel Woodburn was + talking. He got to his feet with the words he spoke and offered Mrs. + Leighton his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Must you go?” she asked, in surprise. + </p> + <p> + “I am on my way to a reception,” he said. She had noticed that + he was in evening dress; and now she felt the vague hurt that people + invited nowhere feel in the presence of those who are going somewhere. She + did not feel it for herself, but for her daughter; and she knew Alma would + not have let her feel it if she could have prevented it. But Alma had left + the room for a moment, and she tacitly indulged this sense of injury in + her behalf. + </p> + <p> + “Please say good-night to Miss Leighton for me,” Beaton + continued. He bowed to Miss Woodburn, “Goodnight, Miss Woodburn,” + and to her father, bluntly, “Goodnight.” + </p> + <p> + “Good-night, sir,” said the Colonel, with a sort of severe + suavity. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, isn't he choming!” Miss Woodburn whispered to Mrs. + Leighton when Beaton left the room. + </p> + <p> + Alma spoke to him in the hall without. “You knew that was my design, + Mr. Beaton. Why did you bring it?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” He looked at her in gloomy hesitation. + </p> + <p> + Then he said: “You know why. I wished to talk it over with you, to + serve you, please you, get back your good opinion. But I've done + neither the one nor the other; I've made a mess of the whole thing.” + </p> + <p> + Alma interrupted him. “Has it been accepted?” + </p> + <p> + “It will be accepted, if you will let it.” + </p> + <p> + “Let it?” she laughed. “I shall be delighted.” She + saw him swayed a little toward her. “It's a matter of + business, isn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “Purely. Good-night.” + </p> + <p> + When Alma returned to the room, Colonel Woodburn was saying to Mrs. + Leighton: “I do not contend that it is impossible, madam, but it is + very difficult in a thoroughly commercialized society, like yours, to have + the feelings of a gentleman. How can a business man, whose prosperity, + whose earthly salvation, necessarily lies in the adversity of some one + else, be delicate and chivalrous, or even honest? If we could have had + time to perfect our system at the South, to eliminate what was evil and + develop what was good in it, we should have had a perfect system. But the + virus of commercialism was in us, too; it forbade us to make the best of a + divine institution, and tempted us to make the worst. Now the curse is on + the whole country; the dollar is the measure of every value, the stamp of + every success. What does not sell is a failure; and what sells succeeds.” + </p> + <p> + “The hobby is oat, mah deah,” said Miss Woodburn, in an + audible aside to Alma. + </p> + <p> + “Were you speaking of me, Colonel Woodburn?” Alma asked. + </p> + <p> + “Surely not, my dear young lady.” + </p> + <p> + “But he's been saying that awtusts are just as greedy aboat + money as anybody,” said his daughter. + </p> + <p> + “The law of commercialism is on everything in a commercial society,” + the Colonel explained, softening the tone in which his convictions were + presented. “The final reward of art is money, and not the pleasure + of creating.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps they would be willing to take it all oat in that if othah + people would let them pay their bills in the pleasure of creating,” + his daughter teased. + </p> + <p> + “They are helpless, like all the rest,” said her father, with + the same deference to her as to other women. “I do not blame them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, mah goodness! Didn't you say, sir, that Mr. Beaton had + bad manners?” + </p> + <p> + Alma relieved a confusion which he seemed to feel in reference to her. + “Bad manners? He has no manners! That is, when he's himself. + He has pretty good ones when he's somebody else.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn began, “Oh, mah—” and then stopped + herself. Alma's mother looked at her with distressed question, but + the girl seemed perfectly cool and contented; and she gave her mind + provisionally to a point suggested by Colonel Woodburn's talk. + </p> + <p> + “Still, I can't believe it was right to hold people in + slavery, to whip them and sell them. It never did seem right to me,” + she added, in apology for her extreme sentiments to the gentleness of her + adversary. + </p> + <p> + “I quite agree with you, madam,” said the Colonel. “Those + were the abuses of the institution. But if we had not been vitiated on the + one hand and threatened on the other by the spirit of commercialism from + the North—and from Europe, too—those abuses could have been + eliminated, and the institution developed in the direction of the mild + patriarchalism of the divine intention.” The Colonel hitched his + chair, which figured a hobby careering upon its hind legs, a little toward + Mrs. Leighton and the girls approached their heads and began to whisper; + they fell deferentially silent when the Colonel paused in his argument, + and went on again when he went on. + </p> + <p> + At last they heard Mrs. Leighton saying, “And have you heard from + the publishers about your book yet?” + </p> + <p> + Then Miss Woodburn cut in, before her father could answer: “The + coase of commercialism is on that, too. They are trahing to fahnd oat + whethah it will pay.” + </p> + <p> + “And they are right—quite right,” said the Colonel. + “There is no longer any other criterion; and even a work that + attacks the system must be submitted to the tests of the system.” + </p> + <p> + “The system won't accept destruction on any othah tomes,” + said Miss Woodburn, demurely. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0040" id="link2H_4_0040"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. + </h2> + <p> + At the reception, where two men in livery stood aside to let him pass up + the outside steps of the house, and two more helped him off with his + overcoat indoors, and a fifth miscalled his name into the drawing-room, + the Syracuse stone-cutter's son met the niece of Mrs. Horn, and + began at once to tell her about his evening at the Dryfooses'. He + was in very good spirits, for so far as he could have been elated or + depressed by his parting with Alma Leighton he had been elated; she had + not treated his impudence with the contempt that he felt it deserved; she + must still be fond of him; and the warm sense of this, by operation of an + obscure but well-recognized law of the masculine being, disposed him to be + rather fond of Miss Vance. She was a slender girl, whose semi-aesthetic + dress flowed about her with an accentuation of her long forms, and + redeemed them from censure by the very frankness with which it confessed + them; nobody could have said that Margaret Vance was too tall. Her pretty + little head, which she had an effect of choosing to have little in the + same spirit of judicious defiance, had a good deal of reading in it; she + was proud to know literary and artistic fashions as well as society + fashions. She liked being singled out by an exterior distinction so + obvious as Beaton's, and she listened with sympathetic interest to + his account of those people. He gave their natural history reality by + drawing upon his own; he reconstructed their plebeian past from the + experiences of his childhood and his youth of the pre-Parisian period; and + he had a pang of suicidal joy in insulting their ignorance of the world. + </p> + <p> + “What different kinds of people you meet!” said the girl at + last, with an envious sigh. Her reading had enlarged the bounds of her + imagination, if not her knowledge; the novels nowadays dealt so much with + very common people, and made them seem so very much more worth while than + the people one met. + </p> + <p> + She said something like this to Beaton. He answered: “You can meet + the people I'm talking of very easily, if you want to take the + trouble. It's what they came to New York for. I fancy it's the + great ambition of their lives to be met.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said Miss Vance, fashionably, and looked down; then + she looked up and said, intellectually: “Don't you think it's + a great pity? How much better for them to have stayed where they were and + what they were!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you could never have had any chance of meeting them,” + said Beaton. “I don't suppose you intend to go out to the gas + country?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Miss Vance, amused. “Not that I shouldn't + like to go.” + </p> + <p> + “What a daring spirit! You ought to be on the staff of 'Every + Other Week,'” said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “The staff—'Every Other Week'? What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “The missing link; the long-felt want of a tie between the Arts and + the Dollars.” Beaton gave her a very picturesque, a very dramatic + sketch of the theory, the purpose, and the personnel of the new + enterprise. + </p> + <p> + Miss Vance understood too little about business of any kind to know how it + differed from other enterprises of its sort. She thought it was + delightful; she thought Beaton must be glad to be part of it, though he + had represented himself so bored, so injured, by Fulkerson's + insisting upon having him. “And is it a secret? Is it a thing not to + be spoken of?” + </p> + <p> + “'Tutt' altro'! Fulkerson will be enraptured to + have it spoken of in society. He would pay any reasonable bill for the + advertisement.” + </p> + <p> + “What a delightful creature! Tell him it shall all be spent in + charity.” + </p> + <p> + “He would like that. He would get two paragraphs out of the fact, + and your name would go into the 'Literary Notes' of all the + newspapers.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, but I shouldn't want my name used!” cried the girl, + half horrified into fancying the situation real. + </p> + <p> + “Then you'd better not say anything about 'Every Other + Week'. Fulkerson is preternaturally unscrupulous.” + </p> + <p> + March began to think so too, at times. He was perpetually suggesting + changes in the make-up of the first number, with a view to its greater + vividness of effect. One day he came and said: “This thing isn't + going to have any sort of get up and howl about it, unless you have a + paper in the first number going for Bevans's novels. Better get + Maxwell to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I thought you liked Bevans's novels?” + </p> + <p> + “So I did; but where the good of 'Every Other Week' is + concerned I am a Roman father. The popular gag is to abuse Bevans, and + Maxwell is the man to do it. There hasn't been a new magazine + started for the last three years that hasn't had an article from + Maxwell in its first number cutting Bevans all to pieces. If people don't + see it, they'll think 'Every Other Week' is some old + thing.” + </p> + <p> + March did not know whether Fulkerson was joking or not. He suggested, + “Perhaps they'll think it's an old thing if they do see + it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, get somebody else, then; or else get Maxwell to write under + an assumed name. Or—I forgot! He'll be anonymous under our + system, anyway. Now there ain't a more popular racket for us to work + in that first number than a good, swinging attack on Bevans. People read + his books and quarrel over 'em, and the critics are all against him, + and a regular flaying, with salt and vinegar rubbed in afterward, will + tell more with people who like good old-fashioned fiction than anything + else. I like Bevans's things, but, dad burn it! when it comes to + that first number, I'd offer up anybody.” + </p> + <p> + “What an immoral little wretch you are, Fulkerson!” said + March, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson appeared not to be very strenuous about the attack on the + novelist. “Say!” he called out, gayly, “what should you + think of a paper defending the late lamented system of slavery'?” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean, Fulkerson?” asked March, with a puzzled + smile. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson braced his knees against his desk, and pushed himself back, but + kept his balance to the eye by canting his hat sharply forward. “There's + an old cock over there at the widow's that's written a book to + prove that slavery was and is the only solution of the labor problem. He's + a Southerner.” + </p> + <p> + “I should imagine,” March assented. + </p> + <p> + “He's got it on the brain that if the South could have been + let alone by the commercial spirit and the pseudophilanthropy of the + North, it would have worked out slavery into a perfectly ideal condition + for the laborer, in which he would have been insured against want, and + protected in all his personal rights by the state. He read the + introduction to me last night. I didn't catch on to all the points—his + daughter's an awfully pretty girl, and I was carrying that fact in + my mind all the time, too, you know—but that's about the gist + of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems to regard it as a lost opportunity?” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly! What a mighty catchy title, Neigh? Look well on the + title-page.” + </p> + <p> + “Well written?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon so; I don't know. The Colonel read it mighty + eloquently.” + </p> + <p> + “It mightn't be such bad business,” said March, in a + muse. “Could you get me a sight of it without committing yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “If the Colonel hasn't sent it off to another publisher this + morning. He just got it back with thanks yesterday. He likes to keep it + travelling.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, try it. I've a notion it might be a curious thing.” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, March,” said Fulkerson, with the effect of taking + a fresh hold; “I wish you could let me have one of those New York + things of yours for the first number. After all, that's going to be + the great card.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't, Fulkerson; I couldn't, really. I want to + philosophize the material, and I'm too new to it all yet. I don't + want to do merely superficial sketches.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course! Of course! I understand that. Well, I don't want + to hurry you. Seen that old fellow of yours yet? I think we ought to have + that translation in the first number; don't you? We want to give + 'em a notion of what we're going to do in that line.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said March; “and I was going out to look up + Lindau this morning. I've inquired at Maroni's, and he hasn't + been there for several days. I've some idea perhaps he's sick. + But they gave me his address, and I'm going to see.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's right. We want the first number to be the + keynote in every way.” + </p> + <p> + March shook his head. “You can't make it so. The first number + is bound to be a failure always, as far as the representative character + goes. It's invariably the case. Look at the first numbers of all the + things you've seen started. They're experimental, almost + amateurish, and necessarily so, not only because the men that are making + them up are comparatively inexperienced like ourselves, but because the + material sent them to deal with is more or less consciously tentative. + People send their adventurous things to a new periodical because the whole + thing is an adventure. I've noticed that quality in all the + volunteer contributions; it's in the articles that have been done to + order even. No; I've about made up my mind that if we can get one + good striking paper into the first number that will take people's + minds off the others, we shall be doing all we can possibly hope for. I + should like,” March added, less seriously, “to make up three + numbers ahead, and publish the third one first.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson dropped forward and struck his fist on the desk. “It's + a first-rate idea. Why not do it?” + </p> + <p> + March laughed. “Fulkerson, I don't believe there's any + quackish thing you wouldn't do in this cause. From time to time I'm + thoroughly ashamed of being connected with such a charlatan.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson struck his hat sharply backward. “Ah, dad burn it! To give + that thing the right kind of start I'd walk up and down Broadway + between two boards, with the title-page of 'Every Other Week' + facsimiled on one and my name and address on the—” + </p> + <p> + He jumped to his feet and shouted, “March, I'll do it!” + </p> + <p> + “What?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll hire a lot of fellows to make mud-turtles of themselves, + and I'll have a lot of big facsimiles of the title-page, and I'll + paint the town red!” + </p> + <p> + March looked aghast at him. “Oh, come, now, Fulkerson!” + </p> + <p> + “I mean it. I was in London when a new man had taken hold of the old + Cornhill, and they were trying to boom it, and they had a procession of + these mudturtles that reached from Charing Cross to Temple Bar. 'Cornhill + Magazine'. Sixpence. Not a dull page in it.' I said to myself + then that it was the livest thing I ever saw. I respected the man that did + that thing from the bottom of my heart. I wonder I ever forgot it. But it + shows what a shaky thing the human mind is at its best.” + </p> + <p> + “You infamous mountebank!”, said March, with great amusement + at Fulkerson's access; “you call that congeries of advertising + instinct of yours the human mind at its best? Come, don't be so + diffident, Fulkerson. Well, I'm off to find Lindau, and when I come + back I hope Mr. Dryfoos will have you under control. I don't suppose + you'll be quite sane again till after the first number is out. + Perhaps public opinion will sober you then.” + </p> + <p> + “Confound it, March! How do you think they will take it? I swear I'm + getting so nervous I don't know half the time which end of me is up. + I believe if we don't get that thing out by the first of February it + 'll be the death of me.” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't wait till Washington's Birthday? I was + thinking it would give the day a kind of distinction, and strike the + public imagination, if—” + </p> + <p> + “No, I'll be dogged if I could!” Fulkerson lapsed more + and more into the parlance of his early life in this season of strong + excitement. “I believe if Beaton lags any on the art leg I'll + kill him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I shouldn't mind your killing Beaton,” said + March, tranquilly, as he went out. + </p> + <p> + He went over to Third Avenue and took the Elevated down to Chatham Square. + He found the variety of people in the car as unfailingly entertaining as + ever. He rather preferred the East Side to the West Side lines, because + they offered more nationalities, conditions, and characters to his + inspection. They draw not only from the up-town American region, but from + all the vast hive of populations swarming between them and the East River. + He had found that, according to the hour, American husbands going to and + from business, and American wives going to and from shopping, prevailed on + the Sixth Avenue road, and that the most picturesque admixture to these + familiar aspects of human nature were the brilliant eyes and complexions + of the American Hebrews, who otherwise contributed to the effect of + well-clad comfort and citizen-self-satisfaction of the crowd. Now and then + he had found himself in a car mostly filled with Neapolitans from the + constructions far up the line, where he had read how they are worked and + fed and housed like beasts; and listening to the jargon of their + unintelligible dialect, he had occasion for pensive question within + himself as to what notion these poor animals formed of a free republic + from their experience of life under its conditions; and whether they found + them practically very different from those of the immemorial brigandage + and enforced complicity with rapine under which they had been born. But, + after all, this was an infrequent effect, however massive, of travel on + the West Side, whereas the East offered him continual entertainment in + like sort. The sort was never quite so squalid. For short distances the + lowest poverty, the hardest pressed labor, must walk; but March never + entered a car without encountering some interesting shape of shabby + adversity, which was almost always adversity of foreign birth. New York is + still popularly supposed to be in the control of the Irish, but March + noticed in these East Side travels of his what must strike every observer + returning to the city after a prolonged absence: the numerical + subordination of the dominant race. If they do not outvote them, the + people of Germanic, of Slavonic, of Pelasgic, of Mongolian stock outnumber + the prepotent Celts; and March seldom found his speculation centred upon + one of these. The small eyes, the high cheeks, the broad noses, the puff + lips, the bare, cue-filleted skulls, of Russians, Poles, Czechs, Chinese; + the furtive glitter of Italians; the blonde dulness of Germans; the cold + quiet of Scandinavians—fire under ice—were aspects that he + identified, and that gave him abundant suggestion for the personal + histories he constructed, and for the more public-spirited reveries in + which he dealt with the future economy of our heterogeneous commonwealth. + It must be owned that he did not take much trouble about this; what these + poor people were thinking, hoping, fearing, enjoying, suffering; just + where and how they lived; who and what they individually were—these + were the matters of his waking dreams as he stared hard at them, while the + train raced farther into the gay ugliness—the shapeless, graceful, + reckless picturesqueness of the Bowery. + </p> + <p> + There were certain signs, certain facades, certain audacities of the + prevailing hideousness that always amused him in that uproar to the eye + which the strident forms and colors made. He was interested in the + insolence with which the railway had drawn its erasing line across the + Corinthian front of an old theatre, almost grazing its fluted pillars, and + flouting its dishonored pediment. The colossal effigies of the fat women + and the tuft-headed Circassian girls of cheap museums; the vistas of + shabby cross streets; the survival of an old hip-roofed house here and + there at their angles; the Swiss chalet, histrionic decorativeness of the + stations in prospect or retrospect; the vagaries of the lines that + narrowed together or stretched apart according to the width of the avenue, + but always in wanton disregard of the life that dwelt, and bought and + sold, and rejoiced or sorrowed, and clattered or crawled, around, below, + above—were features of the frantic panorama that perpetually touched + his sense of humor and moved his sympathy. Accident and then exigency + seemed the forces at work to this extraordinary effect; the play of + energies as free and planless as those that force the forest from the soil + to the sky; and then the fierce struggle for survival, with the stronger + life persisting over the deformity, the mutilation, the destruction, the + decay of the weaker. The whole at moments seemed to him lawless, godless; + the absence of intelligent, comprehensive purpose in the huge disorder, + and the violent struggle to subordinate the result to the greater good, + penetrated with its dumb appeal the consciousness of a man who had always + been too self-enwrapped to perceive the chaos to which the individual + selfishness must always lead. + </p> + <p> + But there was still nothing definite, nothing better than a vague + discomfort, however poignant, in his half recognition of such facts; and + he descended the station stairs at Chatham Square with a sense of the + neglected opportunities of painters in that locality. He said to himself + that if one of those fellows were to see in Naples that turmoil of cars, + trucks, and teams of every sort, intershot with foot-passengers going and + coming to and from the crowded pavements, under the web of the railroad + tracks overhead, and amid the spectacular approach of the streets that + open into the square, he would have it down in his sketch-book at once. He + decided simultaneously that his own local studies must be illustrated, and + that he must come with the artist and show him just which bits to do, not + knowing that the two arts can never approach the same material from the + same point. He thought he would particularly like his illustrator to + render the Dickensy, cockneyish quality of the shabby-genteel + ballad-seller of whom he stopped to ask his way to the street where Lindau + lived, and whom he instantly perceived to be, with his stock in trade, the + sufficient object of an entire study by himself. He had his ballads strung + singly upon a cord against the house wall, and held down in piles on the + pavement with stones and blocks of wood. Their control in this way + intimated a volatility which was not perceptible in their sentiment. They + were mostly tragical or doleful: some of them dealt with the wrongs of the + working-man; others appealed to a gay experience of the high seas; but + vastly the greater part to memories and associations of an Irish origin; + some still uttered the poetry of plantation life in the artless accents of + the end—man. Where they trusted themselves, with syntax that yielded + promptly to any exigency of rhythmic art, to the ordinary American speech, + it was to strike directly for the affections, to celebrate the domestic + ties, and, above all, to embalm the memories of angel and martyr mothers + whose dissipated sons deplored their sufferings too late. March thought + this not at all a bad thing in them; he smiled in patronage of their + simple pathos; he paid the tribute of a laugh when the poet turned, as he + sometimes did, from his conception of angel and martyr motherhood, and + portrayed the mother in her more familiar phases of virtue and duty, with + the retributive shingle or slipper in her hand. He bought a pocketful of + this literature, popular in a sense which the most successful book can + never be, and enlisted the ballad vendor so deeply in the effort to direct + him to Lindau's dwelling by the best way that he neglected another + customer, till a sarcasm on his absent-mindedness stung hint to retort, + “I'm a-trying to answer a gentleman a civil question; that's + where the absent-minded comes in.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed for some reason to be a day of leisure with the Chinese dwellers + in Mott Street, which March had been advised to take first. They stood + about the tops of basement stairs, and walked two and two along the dirty + pavement, with their little hands tucked into their sleeves across their + breasts, aloof in immaculate cleanliness from the filth around them, and + scrutinizing the scene with that cynical sneer of faint surprise to which + all aspects of our civilization seem to move their superiority. Their + numbers gave character to the street, and rendered not them, but what was + foreign to them, strange there; so that March had a sense of missionary + quality in the old Catholic church, built long before their incursion was + dreamed of. It seemed to have come to them there, and he fancied in the + statued saint that looked down from its facade something not so much + tolerant as tolerated, something propitiatory, almost deprecatory. It was + a fancy, of course; the street was sufficiently peopled with Christian + children, at any rate, swarming and shrieking at their games; and + presently a Christian mother appeared, pushed along by two policemen on a + handcart, with a gelatinous tremor over the paving and a gelatinous + jouncing at the curbstones. She lay with her face to the sky, sending up + an inarticulate lamentation; but the indifference of the officers forbade + the notion of tragedy in her case. She was perhaps a local celebrity; the + children left off their games, and ran gayly trooping after her; even the + young fellow and young girl exchanging playful blows in a robust + flirtation at the corner of a liquor store suspended their scuffle with a + pleased interest as she passed. March understood the unwillingness of the + poor to leave the worst conditions in the city for comfort and plenty in + the country when he reflected upon this dramatic incident, one of many no + doubt which daily occur to entertain them in such streets. A small town + could rarely offer anything comparable to it, and the country never. He + said that if life appeared so hopeless to him as it must to the dwellers + in that neighborhood he should not himself be willing to quit its + distractions, its alleviations, for the vague promise of unknown good in + the distance somewhere. + </p> + <p> + But what charm could such a man as Lindau find in such a place? It could + not be that he lived there because he was too poor to live elsewhere: with + a shutting of the heart, March refused to believe this as he looked round + on the abounding evidences of misery, and guiltily remembered his neglect + of his old friend. Lindau could probably find as cheap a lodging in some + decenter part of the town; and, in fact, there was some amelioration of + the prevailing squalor in the quieter street which he turned into from + Mott. + </p> + <p> + A woman with a tied-up face of toothache opened the door for him when he + pulled, with a shiver of foreboding, the bell-knob, from which a yard of + rusty crape dangled. But it was not Lindau who was dead, for the woman + said he was at home, and sent March stumbling up the four or five dark + flights of stairs that led to his tenement. It was quite at the top of the + house, and when March obeyed the German-English “Komm!” that + followed his knock, he found himself in a kitchen where a meagre breakfast + was scattered in stale fragments on the table before the stove. The place + was bare and cold; a half-empty beer bottle scarcely gave it a convivial + air. On the left from this kitchen was a room with a bed in it, which + seemed also to be a cobbler's shop: on the right, through a door + that stood ajar, came the German-English voice again, saying this time, + “Hier!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0041" id="link2H_4_0041"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. + </h2> + <p> + March pushed the door open into a room like that on the left, but with a + writing-desk instead of a cobbler's bench, and a bed, where Lindau + sat propped up; with a coat over his shoulders and a skull-cap on his + head, reading a book, from which he lifted his eyes to stare blankly over + his spectacles at March. His hairy old breast showed through the + night-shirt, which gaped apart; the stump of his left arm lay upon the + book to keep it open. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, my tear yo'ng friendt! Passil! Marge! Iss it you?” + he called out, joyously, the next moment. + </p> + <p> + “Why, are you sick, Lindau?” March anxiously scanned his face + in taking his hand. + </p> + <p> + Lindau laughed. “No; I'm all righdt. Only a lidtle lazy, and a + lidtle eggonomigal. Idt's jeaper to stay in pedt sometimes as to + geep a fire a-goin' all the time. Don't wandt to gome too + hardt on the 'brafer Mann', you know: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Braver Mann, er schafft mir zu essen.” + </pre> + <p> + You remember? Heine? You readt Heine still? Who is your favorite boet now, + Passil? You write some boetry yourself yet? No? Well, I am gladt to zee + you. Brush those baperss off of that jair. Well, idt is goodt for zore + eyess. How didt you findt where I lif? + </p> + <p> + “They told me at Maroni's,” said March. He tried to keep + his eyes on Lindau's face, and not see the discomfort of the room, + but he was aware of the shabby and frowsy bedding, the odor of stale + smoke, and the pipes and tobacco shreds mixed with the books and + manuscripts strewn over the leaf of the writing-desk. He laid down on the + mass the pile of foreign magazines he had brought under his arm. “They + gave me another address first.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I have chust gome here,” said Lindau. “Idt is not + very coy, Neigh?” + </p> + <p> + “It might be gayer,” March admitted, with a smile. “Still,” + he added, soberly, “a good many people seem to live in this part of + the town. Apparently they die here, too, Lindau. There is crape on your + outside door. I didn't know but it was for you.” + </p> + <p> + “Nodt this time,” said Lindau, in the same humor. “Berhaps + some other time. We geep the ondertakers bratty puzy down here.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said March, “undertakers must live, even if the + rest of us have to die to let them.” Lindau laughed, and March went + on: “But I'm glad it isn't your funeral, Lindau. And you + say you're not sick, and so I don't see why we shouldn't + come to business.” + </p> + <p> + “Pusiness?” Lindau lifted his eyebrows. “You gome on + pusiness?” + </p> + <p> + “And pleasure combined,” said March, and he went on to explain + the service he desired at Lindau's hands. + </p> + <p> + The old man listened with serious attention, and with assenting nods that + culminated in a spoken expression of his willingness to undertake the + translations. March waited with a sort of mechanical expectation of his + gratitude for the work put in his way, but nothing of the kind came from + Lindau, and March was left to say, “Well, everything is understood, + then; and I don't know that I need add that if you ever want any + little advance on the work—” + </p> + <p> + “I will ask you,” said Lindau, quietly, “and I thank you + for that. But I can wait; I ton't needt any money just at bresent.” + As if he saw some appeal for greater frankness in March's eye, he + went on: “I tidn't gome here begause I was too boor to lif + anywhere else, and I ton't stay in pedt begause I couldn't haf + a fire to geep warm if I wanted it. I'm nodt zo padt off as + Marmontel when he went to Paris. I'm a lidtle loaxurious, that is + all. If I stay in pedt it's zo I can fling money away on somethings + else. Heigh?” + </p> + <p> + “But what are you living here for, Lindau?” March smiled at + the irony lurking in Lindau's words. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you zee, I foundt I was begoming a lidtle too moch of an + aristograt. I hadt a room oap in Creenvidge Willage, among dose pig pugs + over on the West Side, and I foundt”—Liudau's voice lost + its jesting quality, and his face darkened—“that I was + beginning to forget the boor!” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” said March, with impartial interest, + “that you might have seen poverty enough, now and then, in Greenwich + Village to remind you of its existence.” + </p> + <p> + “Nodt like here,” said Lindau. “Andt you must zee it all + the dtime—zee it, hear it, smell it, dtaste it—or you forget + it. That is what I gome here for. I was begoming a ploated aristograt. I + thought I was nodt like these beople down here, when I gome down once to + look aroundt; I thought I must be somethings else, and zo I zaid I better + take myself in time, and I gome here among my brothers—the becears + and the thiefs!” A noise made itself heard in the next room, as if + the door were furtively opened, and a faint sound of tiptoeing and of + hands clawing on a table. + </p> + <p> + “Thiefs!” Lindau repeated, with a shout. “Lidtle thiefs, + that gabture your breakfast. Ah! ha! ha!” A wild scurrying of feet, + joyous cries and tittering, and a slamming door followed upon his + explosion, and he resumed in the silence: “Idt is the children cot + pack from school. They gome and steal what I leaf there on my daple. Idt's + one of our lidtle chokes; we onderstand one another; that's all + righdt. Once the gobbler in the other room there he used to chase 'em; + he couldn't onderstand their lidtle tricks. Now dot goppler's + teadt, and he ton't chase 'em any more. He was a Bohemian. + Gindt of grazy, I cuess.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's a sociable existence,” March suggested. + “But perhaps if you let them have the things without stealing—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no, no! Most nodt mage them too gonceitedt. They mostn't + go and feel themselfs petter than those boor millionairss that hadt to + steal their money.” + </p> + <p> + March smiled indulgently at his old friend's violence. “Oh, + there are fagots and fagots, you know, Lindau; perhaps not all the + millionaires are so guilty.” + </p> + <p> + “Let us speak German!” cried Lindau, in his own tongue, + pushing his book aside, and thrusting his skullcap back from his forehead. + “How much money can a man honestly earn without wronging or + oppressing some other man?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if you'll let me answer in English,” said March, + “I should say about five thousand dollars a year. I name that figure + because it's my experience that I never could earn more; but the + experience of other men may be different, and if they tell me they can + earn ten, or twenty, or fifty thousand a year, I'm not prepared to + say they can't do it.” + </p> + <p> + Lindau hardly waited for his answer. “Not the most gifted man that + ever lived, in the practice of any art or science, and paid at the highest + rate that exceptional genius could justly demand from those who have + worked for their money, could ever earn a million dollars. It is the + landlords and the merchant princes, the railroad kings and the coal barons + (the oppressors to whom you instinctively give the titles of tyrants)—it + is these that make the millions, but no man earns them. What artist, what + physician, what scientist, what poet was ever a millionaire?” + </p> + <p> + “I can only think of the poet Rogers,” said March, amused by + Lindau's tirade. “But he was as exceptional as the other + Rogers, the martyr, who died with warm feet.” Lindau had apparently + not understood his joke, and he went on, with the American ease of mind + about everything: “But you must allow, Lindau, that some of those + fellows don't do so badly with their guilty gains. Some of them give + work to armies of poor people—” + </p> + <p> + Lindau furiously interrupted: “Yes, when they have gathered their + millions together from the hunger and cold and nakedness and ruin and + despair of hundreds of thousands of other men, they 'give work' + to the poor! They give work! They allow their helpless brothers to earn + enough to keep life in them! They give work! Who is it gives toil, and + where will your rich men be when once the poor shall refuse to give toil? + Why, you have come to give me work!” + </p> + <p> + March laughed outright. “Well, I'm not a millionaire, anyway, + Lindau, and I hope you won't make an example of me by refusing to + give toil. I dare say the millionaires deserve it, but I'd rather + they wouldn't suffer in my person.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” returned the old man, mildly relaxing the fierce glare + he had bent upon March. “No man deserves to suffer at the hands of + another. I lose myself when I think of the injustice in the world. But I + must not forget that I am like the worst of them.” + </p> + <p> + “You might go up Fifth Avenue and live among the rich awhile, when + you're in danger of that,” suggested March. “At any + rate,” he added, by an impulse which he knew he could not justify to + his wife, “I wish you'd come some day and lunch with their + emissary. I've been telling Mrs. March about you, and I want her and + the children to see you. Come over with these things and report.” He + put his hand on the magazines as he rose. + </p> + <p> + “I will come,” said Lindau, gently. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I give you your book?” asked March. + </p> + <p> + “No; I gidt oap bretty soon.” + </p> + <p> + “And—and—can you dress yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “I vhistle, and one of those lidtle fellowss comess. We haf to dake + gare of one another in a blace like this. Idt iss nodt like the worldt,” + said Lindau, gloomily. + </p> + <p> + March thought he ought to cheer him up. “Oh, it isn't such a + bad world, Lindau! After all, the average of millionaires is small in it.” + He added, “And I don't believe there's an American + living that could look at that arm of yours and not wish to lend you a + hand for the one you gave us all.” March felt this to be a fine + turn, and his voice trembled slightly in saying it. + </p> + <p> + Lindau smiled grimly. “You think zo? I wouldn't moch like to + drost 'em. I've driedt idt too often.” He began to speak + German again fiercely: “Besides, they owe me nothing. Do you think I + knowingly gave my hand to save this oligarchy of traders and tricksters, + this aristocracy of railroad wreckers and stock gamblers and mine-slave + drivers and mill-serf owners? No; I gave it to the slave; the slave—ha! + ha! ha!—whom I helped to unshackle to the common liberty of hunger + and cold. And you think I would be the beneficiary of such a state of + things?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm sorry to hear you talk so, Lindau,” said March; + “very sorry.” He stopped with a look of pain, and rose to go. + Lindau suddenly broke into a laugh and into English. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well, it is only dalk, Passil, and it toes me goodt. My parg is + worse than my pidte, I cuess. I pring these things roundt bretty soon. + Good-bye, Passil, my tear poy. Auf wiedersehen!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0042" id="link2H_4_0042"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. + </h2> + <p> + March went away thinking of what Lindau had said, but not for the + impersonal significance of his words so much as for the light they cast + upon Lindau himself. He thought the words violent enough, but in + connection with what he remembered of the cheery, poetic, hopeful + idealist, they were even more curious than lamentable. In his own life of + comfortable reverie he had never heard any one talk so before, but he had + read something of the kind now and then in blatant labor newspapers which + he had accidentally fallen in with, and once at a strikers' meeting + he had heard rich people denounced with the same frenzy. He had made his + own reflections upon the tastelessness of the rhetoric, and the obvious + buncombe of the motive, and he had not taken the matter seriously. + </p> + <p> + He could not doubt Lindau's sincerity, and he wondered how he came + to that way of thinking. From his experience of himself he accounted for a + prevailing literary quality in it; he decided it to be from Lindau's + reading and feeling rather than his reflection. That was the notion he + formed of some things he had met with in Ruskin to much the same effect; + he regarded them with amusement as the chimeras of a rhetorician run away + with by his phrases. + </p> + <p> + But as to Lindau, the chief thing in his mind was a conception of the + droll irony of a situation in which so fervid a hater of millionaires + should be working, indirectly at least, for the prosperity of a man like + Dryfoos, who, as March understood, had got his money together out of every + gambler's chance in speculation, and all a schemer's thrift + from the error and need of others. The situation was not more incongruous, + however, than all the rest of the 'Every Other Week' affair. + It seemed to him that there were no crazy fortuities that had not tended + to its existence, and as time went on, and the day drew near for the issue + of the first number, the sense of this intensified till the whole lost at + moments the quality of a waking fact, and came to be rather a fantastic + fiction of sleep. + </p> + <p> + Yet the heterogeneous forces did co-operate to a reality which March could + not deny, at least in their presence, and the first number was + representative of all their nebulous intentions in a tangible form. As a + result, it was so respectable that March began to respect these + intentions, began to respect himself for combining and embodying them in + the volume which appealed to him with a novel fascination, when the first + advance copy was laid upon his desk. Every detail of it was tiresomely + familiar already, but the whole had a fresh interest now. He now saw how + extremely fit and effective Miss Leighton's decorative design for + the cover was, printed in black and brick-red on the delicate gray tone of + the paper. It was at once attractive and refined, and he credited Beaton + with quite all he merited in working it over to the actual shape. The + touch and the taste of the art editor were present throughout the number. + As Fulkerson said, Beaton had caught on with the delicacy of a + humming-bird and the tenacity of a bulldog to the virtues of their + illustrative process, and had worked it for all it was worth. There were + seven papers in the number, and a poem on the last page of the cover, and + he had found some graphic comment for each. It was a larger proportion + than would afterward be allowed, but for once in a way it was allowed. + Fulkerson said they could not expect to get their money back on that first + number, anyway. Seven of the illustrations were Beaton's; two or + three he got from practised hands; the rest were the work of unknown + people which he had suggested, and then related and adapted with unfailing + ingenuity to the different papers. He handled the illustrations with such + sympathy as not to destroy their individual quality, and that indefinable + charm which comes from good amateur work in whatever art. He rescued them + from their weaknesses and errors, while he left in them the evidence of + the pleasure with which a clever young man, or a sensitive girl, or a + refined woman had done them. Inevitably from his manipulation, however, + the art of the number acquired homogeneity, and there was nothing casual + in its appearance. The result, March eagerly owned, was better than the + literary result, and he foresaw that the number would be sold and praised + chiefly for its pictures. Yet he was not ashamed of the literature, and he + indulged his admiration of it the more freely because he had not only not + written it, but in a way had not edited it. To be sure, he had chosen all + the material, but he had not voluntarily put it all together for that + number; it had largely put itself together, as every number of every + magazine does, and as it seems more and more to do, in the experience of + every editor. There had to be, of course, a story, and then a sketch of + travel. There was a literary essay and a social essay; there was a + dramatic trifle, very gay, very light; there was a dashing criticism on + the new pictures, the new plays, the new books, the new fashions; and then + there was the translation of a bit of vivid Russian realism, which the + editor owed to Lindau's exploration of the foreign periodicals left + with him; Lindau was himself a romanticist of the Victor Hugo sort, but he + said this fragment of Dostoyevski was good of its kind. The poem was a bit + of society verse, with a backward look into simpler and wholesomer + experiences. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was extremely proud of the number; but he said it was too good—too + good from every point of view. The cover was too good, and the paper was + too good, and that device of rough edges, which got over the objection to + uncut leaves while it secured their aesthetic effect, was a thing that he + trembled for, though he rejoiced in it as a stroke of the highest genius. + It had come from Beaton at the last moment, as a compromise, when the + problem of the vulgar croppiness of cut leaves and the unpopularity of + uncut leaves seemed to have no solution but suicide. Fulkerson was still + morally crawling round on his hands and knees, as he said, in abject + gratitude at Beaton's feet, though he had his qualms, his questions; + and he declared that Beaton was the most inspired ass since Balaam's. + “We're all asses, of course,” he admitted, in + semi-apology to March; “but we're no such asses as Beaton.” + He said that if the tasteful decorativeness of the thing did not kill it + with the public outright, its literary excellence would give it the + finishing stroke. Perhaps that might be overlooked in the impression of + novelty which a first number would give, but it must never happen again. + He implored March to promise that it should never happen again; he said + their only hope was in the immediate cheapening of the whole affair. It + was bad enough to give the public too much quantity for their money, but + to throw in such quality as that was simply ruinous; it must be stopped. + These were the expressions of his intimate moods; every front that he + presented to the public wore a glow of lofty, of devout exultation. His + pride in the number gushed out in fresh bursts of rhetoric to every one + whom he could get to talk with him about it. He worked the personal + kindliness of the press to the utmost. He did not mind making himself + ridiculous or becoming a joke in the good cause, as he called it. He + joined in the applause when a humorist at the club feigned to drop dead + from his chair at Fulkerson's introduction of the topic, and he went + on talking that first number into the surviving spectators. He stood treat + upon all occasions, and he lunched attaches of the press at all hours. He + especially befriended the correspondents of the newspapers of other + cities, for, as he explained to March, those fellows could give him any + amount of advertising simply as literary gossip. Many of the fellows were + ladies who could not be so summarily asked out to lunch, but Fulkerson's + ingenuity was equal to every exigency, and he contrived somehow to make + each of these feel that she had been possessed of exclusive information. + There was a moment when March conjectured a willingness in Fulkerson to + work Mrs. March into the advertising department, by means of a tea to + these ladies and their friends which she should administer in his + apartment, but he did not encourage Fulkerson to be explicit, and the + moment passed. Afterward, when he told his wife about it, he was + astonished to find that she would not have minded doing it for Fulkerson, + and he experienced another proof of the bluntness of the feminine + instincts in some directions, and of the personal favor which Fulkerson + seemed to enjoy with the whole sex. This alone was enough to account for + the willingness of these correspondents to write about the first number, + but March accused him of sending it to their addresses with boxes of + Jacqueminot roses and Huyler candy. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson let him enjoy his joke. He said that he would do that or + anything else for the good cause, short of marrying the whole circle of + female correspondents. + </p> + <p> + March was inclined to hope that if the first number had been made too good + for the country at large, the more enlightened taste of metropolitan + journalism would invite a compensating favor for it in New York. But first + Fulkerson and then the event proved him wrong. In spite of the quality of + the magazine, and in spite of the kindness which so many newspaper men + felt for Fulkerson, the notices in the New York papers seemed grudging and + provisional to the ardor of the editor. A merit in the work was + acknowledged, and certain defects in it for which March had trembled were + ignored; but the critics astonished him by selecting for censure points + which he was either proud of or had never noticed; which being now brought + to his notice he still could not feel were faults. He owned to Fulkerson + that if they had said so and so against it, he could have agreed with + them, but that to say thus and so was preposterous; and that if the + advertising had not been adjusted with such generous recognition of the + claims of the different papers, he should have known the counting-room was + at the bottom of it. As it was, he could only attribute it to perversity + or stupidity. It was certainly stupid to condemn a magazine novelty like + 'Every Other Week' for being novel; and to augur that if it + failed, it would fail through its departure from the lines on which all + the other prosperous magazines had been built, was in the last degree + perverse, and it looked malicious. The fact that it was neither exactly a + book nor a magazine ought to be for it and not against it, since it would + invade no other field; it would prosper on no ground but its own. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0043" id="link2H_4_0043"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV. + </h2> + <p> + The more March thought of the injustice of the New York press (which had + not, however, attacked the literary quality of the number) the more + bitterly he resented it; and his wife's indignation superheated his + own. 'Every Other Week' had become a very personal affair with + the whole family; the children shared their parents' disgust; Belle + was outspoken in, her denunciations of a venal press. Mrs. March saw + nothing but ruin ahead, and began tacitly to plan a retreat to Boston, and + an establishment retrenched to the basis of two thousand a year. She shed + some secret tears in anticipation of the privations which this must + involve; but when Fulkerson came to see March rather late the night of the + publication day, she nobly told him that if the worst came to the worst + she could only have the kindliest feeling toward him, and should not + regard him as in the slightest degree responsible. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, hold on, hold on!” he protested. “You don't + think we've made a failure, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course,” she faltered, while March remained gloomily + silent. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I guess we'll wait for the official count, first. Even + New York hasn't gone against us, and I guess there's a + majority coming down to Harlem River that could sweep everything before + it, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean, Fulkerson?” March demanded, sternly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, nothing! Only, the 'News Company' has ordered ten + thousand now; and you know we had to give them the first twenty on + commission.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” March repeated; his wife held her breath. + </p> + <p> + “I mean that the first number is a booming success already, and that + it's going to a hundred thousand before it stops. That unanimity and + variety of censure in the morning papers, combined with the attractiveness + of the thing itself, has cleared every stand in the city, and now if the + favor of the country press doesn't turn the tide against us, our + fortune's made.” The Marches remained dumb. “Why, look + here! Didn't I tell you those criticisms would be the making of us, + when they first began to turn you blue this morning, March?” + </p> + <p> + “He came home to lunch perfectly sick,” said Mrs. March; + “and I wouldn't let him go back again.” + </p> + <p> + “Didn't I tell you so?” Fulkerson persisted. + </p> + <p> + March could not remember that he had, or that he had been anything but + incoherently and hysterically jocose over the papers, but he said, “Yes, + yes—I think so.” + </p> + <p> + “I knew it from the start,” said Fulkerson. “The only + other person who took those criticisms in the right spirit was Mother + Dryfoos—I've just been bolstering up the Dryfoos family. She + had them read to her by Mrs. Mandel, and she understood them to be all the + most flattering prophecies of success. Well, I didn't read between + the lines to that extent, quite; but I saw that they were going to help + us, if there was anything in us, more than anything that could have been + done. And there was something in us! I tell you, March, that + seven-shooting self-cocking donkey of a Beaton has given us the greatest + start! He's caught on like a mouse. He's made the thing + awfully chic; it's jimmy; there's lots of dog about it. He's + managed that process so that the illustrations look as expensive as + first-class wood-cuts, and they're cheaper than chromos. He's + put style into the whole thing.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said March, with eager meekness, “it's + Beaton that's done it.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson read jealousy of Beaton in Mrs. March's face. “Beaton + has given us the start because his work appeals to the eye. There's + no denying that the pictures have sold this first number; but I expect the + literature of this first number to sell the pictures of the second. I've + been reading it all over, nearly, since I found how the cat was jumping; I + was anxious about it, and I tell you, old man, it's good. Yes, sir! + I was afraid maybe you had got it too good, with that Boston refinement of + yours; but I reckon you haven't. I'll risk it. I don't + see how you got so much variety into so few things, and all of them + palpitant, all of 'em on the keen jump with actuality.” + </p> + <p> + The mixture of American slang with the jargon of European criticism in + Fulkerson's talk made March smile, but his wife did not seem to + notice it in her exultation. “That is just what I say,” she + broke in. “It's perfectly wonderful. I never was anxious about + it a moment, except, as you say, Mr. Fulkerson, I was afraid it might be + too good.” + </p> + <p> + They went on in an antiphony of praise till March said: “Really, I + don't see what's left me but to strike for higher wages. I + perceive that I'm indispensable.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, old man, you're coming in on the divvy, you know,” + said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + They both laughed, and when Fulkerson was gone, Mrs. March asked her + husband what a divvy was. + </p> + <p> + “It's a chicken before it's hatched.” + </p> + <p> + “No! Truly?” + </p> + <p> + He explained, and she began to spend the divvy. + </p> + <p> + At Mrs. Leighton's Fulkerson gave Alma all the honor of the success; + he told her mother that the girl's design for the cover had sold + every number, and Mrs. Leighton believed him. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Ah think Ah maght have some of the glory,” Miss + Woodburn pouted. “Where am Ah comin' in?” + </p> + <p> + “You're coming in on the cover of the next number,” said + Fulkerson. “We're going to have your face there; Miss Leighton's + going to sketch it in.” He said this reckless of the fact that he + had already shown them the design of the second number, which was Beaton's + weird bit of gas-country landscape. + </p> + <p> + “Ah don't see why you don't wrahte the fiction for your + magazine, Mr. Fulkerson,” said the girl. + </p> + <p> + This served to remind Fulkerson of something. He turned to her father. + “I'll tell you what, Colonel Woodburn, I want Mr. March to see + some chapters of that book of yours. I've been talking to him about + it.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not think it would add to the popularity of your periodical, + sir,” said the Colonel, with a stately pleasure in being asked. + “My views of a civilization based upon responsible slavery would + hardly be acceptable to your commercialized society.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, not as a practical thing, of course,” Fulkerson + admitted. “But as something retrospective, speculative, I believe it + would make a hit. There's so much going on now about social + questions; I guess people would like to read it.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know that my work is intended to amuse people,” said + the Colonel, with some state. + </p> + <p> + “Mah goodness! Ah only wish it WAS, then,” said his daughter; + and she added: “Yes, Mr. Fulkerson, the Colonel will be very glad to + submit po'tions of his woak to yo' edito'. We want to + have some of the honaw. Perhaps we can say we helped to stop yo' + magazine, if we didn't help to stawt it.” + </p> + <p> + They all laughed at her boldness, and Fulkerson said: “It'll + take a good deal more than that to stop 'Every Other Week'. + The Colonel's whole book couldn't do it.” Then he looked + unhappy, for Colonel Woodburn did not seem to enjoy his reassuring words; + but Miss Woodburn came to his rescue. “You maght illustrate it with + the po'trait of the awthoris daughtaw, if it's too late for + the covah.” + </p> + <p> + “Going to have that in every number, Miss Woodburn!” he cried. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, mah goodness!” she said, with mock humility. + </p> + <p> + Alma sat looking at her piquant head, black, unconsciously outlined + against the lamp, as she sat working by the table. “Just keep still + a moment!” + </p> + <p> + She got her sketch-block and pencils, and began to draw; Fulkerson tilted + himself forward and looked over her shoulder; he smiled outwardly; + inwardly he was divided between admiration of Miss Woodburn's arch + beauty and appreciation of the skill which reproduced it; at the same time + he was trying to remember whether March had authorized him to go so far as + to ask for a sight of Colonel Woodburn's manuscript. He felt that he + had trenched upon March's province, and he framed one apology to the + editor for bringing him the manuscript, and another to the author for + bringing it back. + </p> + <p> + “Most Ah hold raght still like it was a photograph?” asked + Miss Woodburn. “Can Ah toak?” + </p> + <p> + “Talk all you want,” said Alma, squinting her eyes. “And + you needn't be either adamantine, nor yet—wooden.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, ho' very good of you! Well, if Ah can toak—go on, + Mr. Fulkerson!” + </p> + <p> + “Me talk? I can't breathe till this thing is done!” + sighed Fulkerson; at that point of his mental drama the Colonel was + behaving rustily about the return of his manuscript, and he felt that he + was looking his last on Miss Woodburn's profile. + </p> + <p> + “Is she getting it raght?” asked the girl. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know which is which,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Ah hope Ah shall! Ah don't want to go round feelin' + like a sheet of papah half the time.” + </p> + <p> + “You could rattle on, just the same,” suggested Alma. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, now! Jost listen to that, Mr. Fulkerson. Do you call that any + way to toak to people?” + </p> + <p> + “You might know which you were by the color,” Fulkerson began, + and then he broke off from the personal consideration with a business + inspiration, and smacked himself on the knee, “We could print it in + color!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton gathered up her sewing and held it with both hands in her + lap, while she came round, and looked critically at the sketch and the + model over her glasses. “It's very good, Alma,” she + said. + </p> + <p> + Colonel Woodburn remained restively on his side of the table. “Of + course, Mr. Fulkerson, you were jesting, sir, when you spoke of printing a + sketch of my daughter.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I don't know—If you object—? + </p> + <p> + “I do, sir—decidedly,” said the Colonel. + </p> + <p> + “Then that settles it, of course,—I only meant—” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed it doesn't!” cried the girl. “Who's + to know who it's from? Ah'm jost set on havin' it + printed! Ah'm going to appear as the head of Slavery—in + opposition to the head of Liberty.” + </p> + <p> + “There'll be a revolution inside of forty-eight hours, and we'll + have the Colonel's system going wherever a copy of 'Every + Other Week' circulates,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “This sketch belongs to me,” Alma interposed. “I'm + not going to let it be printed.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, mah goodness!” said Miss Woodburn, laughing + good-humoredly. “That's becose you were brought up to hate + slavery.” + </p> + <p> + “I should like Mr. Beaton to see it,” said Mrs. Leighton, in a + sort of absent tone. She added, to Fulkerson: “I rather expected he + might be in to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if he comes we'll leave it to Beaton,” Fulkerson + said, with relief in the solution, and an anxious glance at the Colonel, + across the table, to see how he took that form of the joke. Miss Woodburn + intercepted his glance and laughed, and Fulkerson laughed, too, but rather + forlornly. + </p> + <p> + Alma set her lips primly and turned her head first on one side and then on + the other to look at the sketch. “I don't think we'll + leave it to Mr. Beaton, even if he comes.” + </p> + <p> + “We left the other design for the cover to Beaton,” Fulkerson + insinuated. “I guess you needn't be afraid of him.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it a question of my being afraid?” Alma asked; she seemed + coolly intent on her drawing. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Leighton thinks he ought to be afraid of her,” Miss + Woodburn explained. + </p> + <p> + “It's a question of his courage, then?” said Alma. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't think there are many young ladies that Beaton's + afraid of,” said Fulkerson, giving himself the respite of this + purely random remark, while he interrogated the faces of Mrs. Leighton and + Colonel Woodburn for some light upon the tendency of their daughters' + words. + </p> + <p> + He was not helped by Mrs. Leighton's saying, with a certain anxiety, + “I don't know what you mean, Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you're as much in the dark as I am myself, then,” + said Fulkerson. “I suppose I meant that Beaton is rather—a—favorite, + you know. The women like him.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton sighed, and Colonel Woodburn rose and left the room. + </p> + <p> + In the silence that followed, Fulkerson looked from one lady to the other + with dismay. “I seem to have put my foot in it, somehow,” he + suggested, and Miss Woodburn gave a cry of laughter. + </p> + <p> + “Poo' Mr. Fulkerson! Poo' Mr. Fulkerson! Papa thoat you + wanted him to go.” + </p> + <p> + “Wanted him to go?” repeated Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “We always mention Mr. Beaton when we want to get rid of papa.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it seems to me that I have noticed that he didn't take + much interest in Beaton, as a general topic. But I don't know that I + ever saw it drive him out of the room before!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he isn't always so bad,” said Miss Woodburn. + “But it was a case of hate at first sight, and it seems to be growin' + on papa.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I can understand that,” said Fulkerson. “The + impulse to destroy Beaton is something that everybody has to struggle + against at the start.” + </p> + <p> + “I must say, Mr. Fulkerson,” said Mrs. Leighton, in the tremor + through which she nerved herself to differ openly with any one she liked, + “I never had to struggle with anything of the kind, in regard to Mr. + Beaton. He has always been most respectful and—and—considerate, + with me, whatever he has been with others.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, of course, Mrs. Leighton!” Fulkerson came back in a + soothing tone. “But you see you're the rule that proves the + exception. I was speaking of the way men felt about Beaton. It's + different with ladies; I just said so.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it always different?” Alma asked, lifting her head and her + hand from her drawing, and staring at it absently. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson pushed both his hands through his whiskers. “Look here! + Look here!” he said. “Won't somebody start some other + subject? We haven't had the weather up yet, have we? Or the opera? + What is the matter with a few remarks about politics?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Ah thoat you lahked to toak about the staff of yo' + magazine,” said Miss Woodburn. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I do!” said Fulkerson. “But not always about the + same member of it. He gets monotonous, when he doesn't get + complicated. I've just come round from the Marches',” he + added, to Mrs. Leighton. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose they've got thoroughly settled in their apartment + by this time.” Mrs. Leighton said something like this whenever the + Marches were mentioned. At the bottom of her heart she had not forgiven + them for not taking her rooms; she had liked their looks so much; and she + was always hoping that they were uncomfortable or dissatisfied; she could + not help wanting them punished a little. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes; as much as they ever will be,” Fulkerson answered. + “The Boston style is pretty different, you know; and the Marches are + old-fashioned folks, and I reckon they never went in much for bric-a-brac. + They've put away nine or ten barrels of dragon candlesticks, but + they keep finding new ones.” + </p> + <p> + “Their landlady has just joined our class,” said Alma. “Isn't + her name Green? She happened to see my copy of 'Every Other Week', + and said she knew the editor; and told me.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's a little world,” said Fulkerson. “You + seem to be touching elbows with everybody. Just think of your having had + our head translator for a model.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah think that your whole publication revolves aroand the Leighton + family,” said Miss Woodburn. + </p> + <p> + “That's pretty much so,” Fulkerson admitted. “Anyhow, + the publisher seems disposed to do so.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you the publisher? I thought it was Mr. Dryfoos,” said + Alma. + </p> + <p> + “It is.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + The tone and the word gave Fulkerson a discomfort which he promptly + confessed. “Missed again.” + </p> + <p> + The girls laughed, and he regained something of his lost spirits, and + smiled upon their gayety, which lasted beyond any apparent reason for it. + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn asked, “And is Mr. Dryfoos senio' anything like + ouah Mr. Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “Not the least.” + </p> + <p> + “But he's jost as exemplary?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; in his way.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Ah wish Ah could see all those pinks of puffection togethah, + once.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, look here! I've been thinking I'd celebrate a + little, when the old gentleman gets back. Have a little supper—something + of that kind. How would you like to let me have your parlors for it, Mrs. + Leighton? You ladies could stand on the stairs, and have a peep at us, in + the bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, mah! What a privilege! And will Miss Alma be there, with the + othah contributors? Ah shall jost expah of envy!” + </p> + <p> + “She won't be there in person,” said Fulkerson, “but + she'll be represented by the head of the art department.” + </p> + <p> + “Mah goodness! And who'll the head of the publishing + department represent?” + </p> + <p> + “He can represent you,” said Alma. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Ah want to be represented, someho'.” + </p> + <p> + “We'll have the banquet the night before you appear on the + cover of our fourth number,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “Ah thoat that was doubly fo'bidden,” said Miss + Woodburn. “By the stern parent and the envious awtust.” + </p> + <p> + “We'll get Beaton to get round them, somehow. I guess we can + trust him to manage that.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton sighed her resentment of the implication. + </p> + <p> + “I always feel that Mr. Beaton doesn't do himself justice,” + she began. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson could not forego the chance of a joke. “Well, maybe he + would rather temper justice with mercy in a case like his.” This + made both the younger ladies laugh. “I judge this is my chance to + get off with my life,” he added, and he rose as he spoke. “Mrs. + Leighton, I am about the only man of my sex who doesn't thirst for + Beaton's blood most of the time. But I know him and I don't. + He's more kinds of a good fellow than people generally understand. + He doesn't wear his heart upon his sleeve—not his ulster + sleeve, anyway. You can always count me on your side when it's a + question of finding Beaton not guilty if he'll leave the State.” + </p> + <p> + Alma set her drawing against the wall, in rising to say goodnight to + Fulkerson. He bent over on his stick to look at it. “Well, it's + beautiful,” he sighed, with unconscious sincerity. + </p> + <p> + Alma made him a courtesy of mock modesty. “Thanks to Miss Woodburn!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no! All she had to do was simply to stay put.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you think Ah might have improved it if Ah had looked + better?” the girl asked, gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you couldn't!” said Fulkerson, and he went off + triumphant in their applause and their cries of “Which? which?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton sank deep into an accusing gloom when at last she found + herself alone with her daughter. “I don't know what you are + thinking about, Alma Leighton. If you don't like Mr. Beaton—” + </p> + <p> + “I don't.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't? You know better than that. You know that, you did + care for him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! that's a very different thing. That's a thing that + can be got over.” + </p> + <p> + “Got over!” repeated Mrs. Leighton, aghast. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, it can! Don't be romantic, mamma. People get over + dozens of such fancies. They even marry for love two or three times.” + </p> + <p> + “Never!” cried her mother, doing her best to feel shocked; and + at last looking it. + </p> + <p> + Her looking it had no effect upon Alma. “You can easily get over + caring for people; but you can't get over liking them—if you + like them because they are sweet and good. That's what lasts. I was + a simple goose, and he imposed upon me because he was a sophisticated + goose. Now the case is reversed.” + </p> + <p> + “He does care for you, now. You can see it. Why do you encourage him + to come here?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't,” said Alma. “I will tell him to keep + away if you like. But whether he comes or goes, it will be the same.” + </p> + <p> + “Not to him, Alma! He is in love with you!” + </p> + <p> + “He has never said so.” + </p> + <p> + “And you would really let him say so, when you intend to refuse him?” + </p> + <p> + “I can't very well refuse him till he does say so.” + </p> + <p> + This was undeniable. Mrs. Leighton could only demand, in an awful tone, + “May I ask why—if you cared for him; and I know you care for + him still you will refuse him?” + </p> + <p> + Alma laughed. “Because—because I'm wedded to my Art, and + I'm not going to commit bigamy, whatever I do.” + </p> + <p> + “Alma!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, because I don't like him—that is, I don't + believe in him, and don't trust him. He's fascinating, but he's + false and he's fickle. He can't help it, I dare say.” + </p> + <p> + “And you are perfectly hard. Is it possible that you were actually + pleased to have Mr. Fulkerson tease you about Mr. Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, good-night, now, mamma! This is becoming personal.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Artists never do anything like other people + Ballast of her instinctive despondency + Clinging persistence of such natures + Dividend: It's a chicken before it's hatched + Gayety, which lasted beyond any apparent reason for it + Hopeful recklessness + How much can a man honestly earn without wronging or oppressing + I cannot endure this—this hopefulness of yours + If you dread harm enough it is less likely to happen + It must be your despair that helps you to bear up + Marry for love two or three times + No man deserves to suffer at the hands of another + Patience with mediocrity putting on the style of genius + Person talks about taking lessons, as if they could learn it + Say when he is gone that the woman gets along better without him + Shouldn't ca' fo' the disgrace of bein' poo'—its inconvenience + Timidity of the elder in the presence of the younger man +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART3a" id="link2H_PART3a"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART THIRD + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0045" id="link2H_4_0045"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + The scheme of a banquet to celebrate the initial success of 'Every + Other Week' expanded in Fulkerson's fancy into a series. + Instead of the publishing and editorial force, with certain of the more + representative artists and authors sitting down to a modest supper in Mrs. + Leighton's parlors, he conceived of a dinner at Delmonico's, + with the principal literary and artistic, people throughout the country as + guests, and an inexhaustible hospitality to reporters and correspondents, + from whom paragraphs, prophetic and historic, would flow weeks before and + after the first of the series. He said the thing was a new departure in + magazines; it amounted to something in literature as radical as the + American Revolution in politics: it was the idea of self government in the + arts; and it was this idea that had never yet been fully developed in + regard to it. That was what must be done in the speeches at the dinner, + and the speeches must be reported. Then it would go like wildfire. He + asked March whether he thought Mr. Depew could be got to come; Mark Twain, + he was sure, would come; he was a literary man. They ought to invite Mr. + Evarts, and the Cardinal and the leading Protestant divines. His ambition + stopped at nothing, nothing but the question of expense; there he had to + wait the return of the elder Dryfoos from the West, and Dryfoos was still + delayed at Moffitt, and Fulkerson openly confessed that he was afraid he + would stay there till his own enthusiasm escaped in other activities, + other plans. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was as little likely as possible to fall under a superstitious + subjection to another man; but March could not help seeing that in this + possible measure Dryfoos was Fulkerson's fetish. He did not revere + him, March decided, because it was not in Fulkerson's nature to + revere anything; he could like and dislike, but he could not respect. + Apparently, however, Dryfoos daunted him somehow; and besides the homage + which those who have not pay to those who have, Fulkerson rendered Dryfoos + the tribute of a feeling which March could only define as a sort of + bewilderment. As well as March could make out, this feeling was evoked by + the spectacle of Dryfoos's unfailing luck, which Fulkerson was fond + of dazzling himself with. It perfectly consisted with a keen sense of + whatever was sordid and selfish in a man on whom his career must have had + its inevitable effect. He liked to philosophize the case with March, to + recall Dryfoos as he was when he first met him still somewhat in the sap, + at Moffitt, and to study the processes by which he imagined him to have + dried into the hardened speculator, without even the pretence to any + advantage but his own in his ventures. He was aware of painting the + character too vividly, and he warned March not to accept it exactly in + those tints, but to subdue them and shade it for himself. He said that + where his advantage was not concerned, there was ever so much good in + Dryfoos, and that if in some things he had grown inflexible, he had + expanded in others to the full measure of the vast scale on which he did + business. It had seemed a little odd to March that a man should put money + into such an enterprise as 'Every Other Week' and go off about + other affairs, not only without any sign of anxiety, but without any sort + of interest. But Fulkerson said that was the splendid side of Dryfoos. He + had a courage, a magnanimity, that was equal to the strain of any such + uncertainty. He had faced the music once for all, when he asked Fulkerson + what the thing would cost in the different degrees of potential failure; + and then he had gone off, leaving everything to Fulkerson and the younger + Dryfoos, with the instruction simply to go ahead and not bother him about + it. Fulkerson called that pretty tall for an old fellow who used to bewail + the want of pigs and chickens to occupy his mind. He alleged it as another + proof of the versatility of the American mind, and of the grandeur of + institutions and opportunities that let every man grow to his full size, + so that any man in America could run the concern if necessary. He believed + that old Dryfoos could step into Bismarck's shoes and run the German + Empire at ten days' notice, or about as long as it would take him to + go from New York to Berlin. But Bismarck would not know anything about + Dryfoos's plans till Dryfoos got ready to show his hand. Fulkerson + himself did not pretend to say what the old man had been up to since he + went West. He was at Moffitt first, and then he was at Chicago, and then + he had gone out to Denver to look after some mines he had out there, and a + railroad or two; and now he was at Moffitt again. He was supposed to be + closing up his affairs there, but nobody could say. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson told March the morning after Dryfoos returned that he had not + only not pulled out at Moffitt, but had gone in deeper, ten times deeper + than ever. He was in a royal good-humor, Fulkerson reported, and was going + to drop into the office on his way up from the Street (March understood + Wall Street) that afternoon. He was tickled to death with 'Every + Other Week' so far as it had gone, and was anxious to pay his + respects to the editor. + </p> + <p> + March accounted for some rhetoric in this, but let it flatter him, and + prepared himself for a meeting about which he could see that Fulkerson was + only less nervous than he had shown himself about the public reception of + the first number. It gave March a disagreeable feeling of being owned and + of being about to be inspected by his proprietor; but he fell back upon + such independence as he could find in the thought of those two thousand + dollars of income beyond the caprice of his owner, and maintained an + outward serenity. + </p> + <p> + He was a little ashamed afterward of the resolution it had cost him to do + so. It was not a question of Dryfoos's physical presence: that was + rather effective than otherwise, and carried a suggestion of moneyed + indifference to convention in the gray business suit of provincial cut, + and the low, wide-brimmed hat of flexible black felt. He had a stick with + an old-fashioned top of buckhorn worn smooth and bright by the palm of his + hand, which had not lost its character in fat, and which had a history of + former work in its enlarged knuckles, though it was now as soft as March's, + and must once have been small even for a man of Mr. Dryfoos's + stature; he was below the average size. But what struck March was the fact + that Dryfoos seemed furtively conscious of being a country person, and of + being aware that in their meeting he was to be tried by other tests than + those which would have availed him as a shrewd speculator. He evidently + had some curiosity about March, as the first of his kind whom he had + encountered; some such curiosity as the country school trustee feels and + tries to hide in the presence of the new schoolmaster. But the whole + affair was, of course, on a higher plane; on one side Dryfoos was much + more a man of the world than March was, and he probably divined this at + once, and rested himself upon the fact in a measure. It seemed to be his + preference that his son should introduce them, for he came upstairs with + Conrad, and they had fairly made acquaintance before Fulkerson joined + them. + </p> + <p> + Conrad offered to leave them at once, but his father made him stay. + “I reckon Mr. March and I haven't got anything so private to + talk about that we want to keep it from the other partners. Well, Mr. + March, are you getting used to New York yet? It takes a little time.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes. But not so much time as most places. Everybody belongs more + or less in New York; nobody has to belong here altogether.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that is so. You can try it, and go away if you don't + like it a good deal easier than you could from a smaller place. Wouldn't + make so much talk, would it?” He glanced at March with a jocose + light in his shrewd eyes. “That is the way I feel about it all the + time: just visiting. Now, it wouldn't be that way in Boston, I + reckon?” + </p> + <p> + “You couldn't keep on visiting there your whole life,” + said March. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos laughed, showing his lower teeth in a way that was at once simple + and fierce. “Mr. Fulkerson didn't hardly know as he could get + you to leave. I suppose you got used to it there. I never been in your + city.” + </p> + <p> + “I had got used to it; but it was hardly my city, except by + marriage. My wife's a Bostonian.” + </p> + <p> + “She's been a little homesick here, then,” said Dryfoos, + with a smile of the same quality as his laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Less than I expected,” said March. “Of course, she was + very much attached to our old home.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess my wife won't ever get used to New York,” said + Dryfoos, and he drew in his lower lip with a sharp sigh. “But my + girls like it; they're young. You never been out our way yet, Mr. + March? Out West?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, only for the purpose of being born, and brought up. I used to + live in Crawfordsville, and then Indianapolis.” + </p> + <p> + “Indianapolis is bound to be a great place,” said Dryfoos. + “I remember now, Mr. Fulkerson told me you was from our State.” + He went on to brag of the West, as if March were an Easterner and had to + be convinced. “You ought to see all that country. It's a great + country.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said March, “I understand that.” He + expected the praise of the great West to lead up to some comment on + 'Every Other Week'; and there was abundant suggestion of that + topic in the manuscripts, proofs of letter-press and illustrations, with + advance copies of the latest number strewn over his table. + </p> + <p> + But Dryfoos apparently kept himself from looking at these things. He + rolled his head about on his shoulders to take in the character of the + room, and said to his son, “You didn't change the woodwork, + after all.” + </p> + <p> + “No; the architect thought we had better let it be, unless we meant + to change the whole place. He liked its being old-fashioned.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope you feel comfortable here, Mr. March,” the old man + said, bringing his eyes to bear upon him again after their tour of + inspection. + </p> + <p> + “Too comfortable for a working-man,” said March, and he + thought that this remark must bring them to some talk about his work, but + the proprietor only smiled again. + </p> + <p> + “I guess I sha'n't lose much on this house,” he + returned, as if musing aloud. “This down-town property is coming up. + Business is getting in on all these side streets. I thought I paid a + pretty good price for it, too.” He went on to talk of real estate, + and March began to feel a certain resentment at his continued avoidance of + the only topic in which they could really have a common interest. “You + live down this way somewhere, don't you?” the old man + concluded. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I wished to be near my work.” March was vexed with + himself for having recurred to it; but afterward he was not sure but + Dryfoos shared his own diffidence in the matter, and was waiting for him + to bring it openly into the talk. At times he seemed wary and masterful, + and then March felt that he was being examined and tested; at others so + simple that March might well have fancied that he needed encouragement, + and desired it. He talked of his wife and daughters in a way that invited + March to say friendly things of his family, which appeared to give the old + man first an undue pleasure and then a final distrust. At moments he + turned, with an effect of finding relief in it, to his son and spoke to + him across March of matters which he was unacquainted with; he did not + seem aware that this was rude, but the young man must have felt it so; he + always brought the conversation back, and once at some cost to himself + when his father made it personal. + </p> + <p> + “I want to make a regular New York business man out of that fellow,” + he said to March, pointing at Conrad with his stick. “You s'pose + I'm ever going to do it?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” said March, trying to fall in with + the joke. “Do you mean nothing but a business man?” + </p> + <p> + The old man laughed at whatever latent meaning he fancied in this, and + said: “You think he would be a little too much for me there? Well, I've + seen enough of 'em to know it don't always take a large + pattern of a man to do a large business. But I want him to get the + business training, and then if he wants to go into something else he knows + what the world is, anyway. Heigh?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes!” March assented, with some compassion for the young + man reddening patiently under his father's comment. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos went on as if his son were not in hearing. “Now that boy + wanted to be a preacher. What does a preacher know about the world he + preaches against when he's been brought up a preacher? He don't + know so much as a bad little boy in his Sunday-school; he knows about as + much as a girl. I always told him, You be a man first, and then you be a + preacher, if you want to. Heigh?” + </p> + <p> + “Precisely.” March began to feel some compassion for himself + in being witness of the young fellow's discomfort under his father's + homily. + </p> + <p> + “When we first come to New York, I told him, Now here's your + chance to see the world on a big scale. You know already what work and + saving and steady habits and sense will bring a man, to; you don't + want to go round among the rich; you want to go among the poor, and see + what laziness and drink and dishonesty and foolishness will bring men to. + And I guess he knows, about as well as anybody; and if he ever goes to + preaching he'll know what he's preaching about.” The old + man smiled his fierce, simple smile, and in his sharp eyes March fancied + contempt of the ambition he had balked in his son. The present scene must + have been one of many between them, ending in meek submission on the part + of the young man, whom his father, perhaps without realizing his cruelty, + treated as a child. March took it hard that he should be made to suffer in + the presence of a co-ordinate power like himself, and began to dislike the + old man out of proportion to his offence, which might have been mere want + of taste, or an effect of mere embarrassment before him. But evidently, + whatever rebellion his daughters had carried through against him, he had + kept his dominion over this gentle spirit unbroken. March did not choose + to make any response, but to let him continue, if he would, entirely upon + his own impulse. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0046" id="link2H_4_0046"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + A silence followed, of rather painful length. It was broken by the cheery + voice of Fulkerson, sent before him to herald Fulkerson's cheery + person. “Well, I suppose you've got the glorious success of + 'Every Other Week' down pretty cold in your talk by this time. + I should have been up sooner to join you, but I was nipping a man for the + last page of the cover. I guess we'll have to let the Muse have that + for an advertisement instead of a poem the next time, March. Well, the old + gentleman given you boys your scolding?” The person of Fulkerson had + got into the room long before he reached this question, and had planted + itself astride a chair. Fulkerson looked over the chairback, now at March, + and now at the elder Dryfoos as he spoke. + </p> + <p> + March answered him. “I guess we must have been waiting for you, + Fulkerson. At any rate, we hadn't got to the scolding yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I didn't suppose Mr. Dryfoos could 'a' held + in so long. I understood he was awful mad at the way the thing started + off, and wanted to give you a piece of his mind, when he got at you. I + inferred as much from a remark that he made.” March and Dryfoos + looked foolish, as men do when made the subject of this sort of merry + misrepresentation. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon my scolding will keep awhile yet,” said the old man, + dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, I guess it's a good chance to give Mr. Dryfoos an + idea of what we've really done—just while we're resting, + as Artemus Ward says. Heigh, March?” + </p> + <p> + “I will let you blow the trumpet, Fulkerson. I think it belongs + strictly to the advertising department,” said March. He now + distinctly resented the old man's failure to say anything to him of + the magazine; he made his inference that it was from a suspicion of his + readiness to presume upon a recognition of his share in the success, and + he was determined to second no sort of appeal for it. + </p> + <p> + “The advertising department is the heart and soul of every business,” + said Fulkerson, hardily, “and I like to keep my hand in with a + little practise on the trumpet in private. I don't believe Mr. + Dryfoos has got any idea of the extent of this thing. He's been out + among those Rackensackens, where we were all born, and he's read the + notices in their seven by nine dailies, and he's seen the thing + selling on the cars, and he thinks he appreciates what's been done. + But I should just like to take him round in this little old metropolis + awhile, and show him 'Every Other Week' on the centre tables + of the millionaires—the Vanderbilts and the Astors—and in the + homes of culture and refinement everywhere, and let him judge for himself. + It's the talk of the clubs and the dinner-tables; children cry for + it; it's the Castoria of literature and the Pearline of art, the + 'Won't-be-happy-till-he-gets-it of every enlightened man, + woman, and child in this vast city. I knew we could capture the country; + but, my goodness! I didn't expect to have New York fall into our + hands at a blow. But that's just exactly what New York has done. + 'Every Other Week' supplies the long-felt want that's + been grinding round in New York and keeping it awake nights ever since the + war. It's the culmination of all the high and ennobling ideals of + the past.” + </p> + <p> + “How much,” asked Dryfoos, “do you expect to get out of + it the first year, if it keeps the start it's got?” + </p> + <p> + “Comes right down to business, every time!” said Fulkerson, + referring the characteristic to March with a delighted glance. “Well, + sir, if everything works right, and we get rain enough to fill up the + springs, and it isn't a grasshopper year, I expect to clear above + all expenses something in the neighborhood of twenty-five thousand + dollars.” + </p> + <p> + “Humph! And you are all going to work a year—editor, manager, + publisher, artists, writers, printers, and the rest of 'em—to + clear twenty-five thousand dollars?—I made that much in half a day + in Moffitt once. I see it made in half a minute in Wall Street, sometimes.” + The old man presented this aspect of the case with a good-natured + contempt, which included Fulkerson and his enthusiasm in an obvious + liking. + </p> + <p> + His son suggested, “But when we make that money here, no one loses + it.” + </p> + <p> + “Can you prove that?” His father turned sharply upon him. + “Whatever is won is lost. It's all a game; it don't make + any difference what you bet on. Business is business, and a business man + takes his risks with his eyes open.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but the glory!” Fulkerson insinuated with impudent + persiflage. “I hadn't got to the glory yet, because it's + hard to estimate it; but put the glory at the lowest figure, Mr. Dryfoos, + and add it to the twenty-five thousand, and you've got an annual + income from 'Every Other Week' of dollars enough to construct + a silver railroad, double-track, from this office to the moon. I don't + mention any of the sister planets because I like to keep within bounds.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos showed his lower teeth for pleasure in Fulkerson's fooling, + and said, “That's what I like about you, Mr. Fulkerson—you + always keep within bounds.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I ain't a shrinking Boston violet, like March, here. + More sunflower in my style of diffidence; but I am modest, I don't + deny it,” said Fulkerson. “And I do hate to have a thing + overstated.” + </p> + <p> + “And the glory—you do really think there's something in + the glory that pays?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a doubt of it! I shouldn't care for the paltry return in + money,” said Fulkerson, with a burlesque of generous disdain, + “if it wasn't for the glory along with it.” + </p> + <p> + “And how should you feel about the glory, if there was no money + along with it?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir, I'm happy to say we haven't come to that + yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, Conrad, here,” said the old man, with a sort of pathetic + rancor, “would rather have the glory alone. I believe he don't + even care much for your kind of glory, either, Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson ran his little eyes curiously over Conrad's face and then + March's, as if searching for a trace there of something gone before + which would enable him to reach Dryfoos's whole meaning. He + apparently resolved to launch himself upon conjecture. “Oh, well, we + know how Conrad feels about the things of this world, anyway. I should + like to take 'em on the plane of another sphere, too, sometimes; but + I noticed a good while ago that this was the world I was born into, and so + I made up my mind that I would do pretty much what I saw the rest of the + folks doing here below. And I can't see but what Conrad runs the + thing on business principles in his department, and I guess you'll + find it so if you look into it. I consider that we're a whole team + and big dog under the wagon with you to draw on for supplies, and March, + here, at the head of the literary business, and Conrad in the + counting-room, and me to do the heavy lying in the advertising part. Oh, + and Beaton, of course, in the art. I 'most forgot Beaton—Hamlet + with Hamlet left out.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos looked across at his son. “Wasn't that the fellow's + name that was there last night?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Conrad. + </p> + <p> + The old man rose. “Well, I reckon I got to be going. You ready to go + up-town, Conrad?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, not quite yet, father.” + </p> + <p> + The old man shook hands with March, and went downstairs, followed by his + son. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson remained. + </p> + <p> + “He didn't jump at the chance you gave him to compliment us + all round, Fulkerson,” said March, with a smile not wholly of + pleasure. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson asked, with as little joy in the grin he had on, “Didn't + he say anything to you before I came in?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a word.” + </p> + <p> + “Dogged if I know what to make of it,” sighed Fulkerson, + “but I guess he's been having a talk with Conrad that's + soured on him. I reckon maybe he came back expecting to find that boy + reconciled to the glory of this world, and Conrad's showed himself + just as set against it as ever.” + </p> + <p> + “It might have been that,” March admitted, pensively. “I + fancied something of the kind myself from words the old man let drop.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson made him explain, and then he said: + </p> + <p> + “That's it, then; and it's all right. Conrad 'll + come round in time; and all we've got to do is to have patience with + the old man till he does. I know he likes you.” Fulkerson affirmed + this only interrogatively, and looked so anxiously to March for + corroboration that March laughed. + </p> + <p> + “He dissembled his love,” he said; but afterward, in + describing to his wife his interview with Mr. Dryfoos, he was less amused + with this fact. + </p> + <p> + When she saw that he was a little cast down by it, she began to encourage + him. “He's just a common, ignorant man, and probably didn't + know how to express himself. You may be perfectly sure that he's + delighted with the success of the magazine, and that he understands as + well as you do that he owes it all to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I'm not so sure. I don't believe a man's any + better for having made money so easily and rapidly as Dryfoos has done, + and I doubt if he's any wiser. I don't know just the point he's + reached in his evolution from grub to beetle, but I do know that so far as + it's gone the process must have involved a bewildering change of + ideals and criterions. I guess he's come to despise a great many + things that he once respected, and that intellectual ability is among them—what + we call intellectual ability. He must have undergone a moral + deterioration, an atrophy of the generous instincts, and I don't see + why it shouldn't have reached his mental make-up. He has sharpened, + but he has narrowed; his sagacity has turned into suspicion, his caution + to meanness, his courage to ferocity. That's the way I philosophize + a man of Dryfoos's experience, and I am not very proud when I + realize that such a man and his experience are the ideal and ambition of + most Americans. I rather think they came pretty near being mine, once.” + </p> + <p> + “No, dear, they never did,” his wife protested. + </p> + <p> + “Well, they're not likely to be in the future. The Dryfoos + feature of 'Every Other Week' is thoroughly distasteful to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, but he hasn't really got anything to do with it, has he, + beyond furnishing the money?” + </p> + <p> + “That's the impression that Fulkerson has allowed us to get. + But the man that holds the purse holds the reins. He may let us guide the + horse, but when he likes he can drive. If we don't like his driving, + then we can get down.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was less interested in this figure of speech than in the + personal aspects involved. “Then you think Mr. Fulkerson has + deceived you?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no!” said her husband, laughing. “But I think he has + deceived himself, perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + “How?” she pursued. + </p> + <p> + “He may have thought he was using Dryfoos, when Dryfoos was using + him, and he may have supposed he was not afraid of him when he was very + much so. His courage hadn't been put to the test, and courage is a + matter of proof, like proficiency on the fiddle, you know: you can't + tell whether you've got it till you try.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! Do you mean that he would ever sacrifice you to Mr. + Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “I hope he may not be tempted. But I'd rather be taking the + chances with Fulkerson alone than with Fulkerson and Dryfoos to back him. + Dryfoos seems, somehow, to take the poetry and the pleasure out of the + thing.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was a long time silent. Then she began, “Well, my dear, I + never wanted to come to New York—” + </p> + <p> + “Neither did I,” March promptly put in. + </p> + <p> + “But now that we're here,” she went on, “I'm + not going to have you letting every little thing discourage you. I don't + see what there was in Mr. Dryfoos's manner to give you any anxiety. + He's just a common, stupid, inarticulate country person, and he didn't + know how to express himself, as I said in the beginning, and that's + the reason he didn't say anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't deny you're right about it.” + </p> + <p> + “It's dreadful,” his wife continued, “to be mixed + up with such a man and his family, but I don't believe he'll + ever meddle with your management, and, till he does, all you need do is to + have as little to do with him as possible, and go quietly on your own way.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I shall go on quietly enough,” said March. “I hope + I sha'n't begin going stealthily.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, my dear,” said Mrs. March, “just let me know when + you're tempted to do that. If ever you sacrifice the smallest grain + of your honesty or your self-respect to Mr. Dryfoos, or anybody else, I + will simply renounce you.” + </p> + <p> + “In view of that I'm rather glad the management of 'Every + Other Week' involves tastes and not convictions,” said March. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0047" id="link2H_4_0047"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + That night Dryfoos was wakened from his after-dinner nap by the sound of + gay talk and nervous giggling in the drawing-room. The talk, which was + Christine's, and the giggling, which was Mela's, were + intershot with the heavier tones of a man's voice; and Dryfoos lay + awhile on the leathern lounge in his library, trying to make out whether + he knew the voice. His wife sat in a deep chair before the fire, with her + eyes on his face, waiting for him to wake. + </p> + <p> + “Who is that out there?” he asked, without opening his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, indeed, I don't know, Jacob,” his wife + answered. “I reckon it's just some visitor of the girls'.” + </p> + <p> + “Was I snoring?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit. You was sleeping as quiet! I did hate to have 'em + wake you, and I was just goin' out to shoo them. They've been + playin' something, and that made them laugh.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know but I had snored,” said the old man, + sitting up. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said his wife. Then she asked, wistfully, “Was you + out at the old place, Jacob?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Did it look natural?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; mostly. They're sinking the wells down in the woods + pasture.” + </p> + <p> + “And—the children's graves?” + </p> + <p> + “They haven't touched that part. But I reckon we got to have + 'em moved to the cemetery. I bought a lot.” + </p> + <p> + The old woman began softly to weep. “It does seem too hard that they + can't be let to rest in peace, pore little things. I wanted you and + me to lay there, too, when our time come, Jacob. Just there, back o' + the beehives and under them shoomakes—my, I can see the very place! + And I don't believe I'll ever feel at home anywheres else. I + woon't know where I am when the trumpet sounds. I have to think + before I can tell where the east is in New York; and what if I should git + faced the wrong way when I raise? Jacob, I wonder you could sell it!” + Her head shook, and the firelight shone on her tears as she searched the + folds of her dress for her pocket. + </p> + <p> + A peal of laughter came from the drawing-room, and then the sound of + chords struck on the piano. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! Don't you cry, 'Liz'beth!” said + Dryfoos. “Here; take my handkerchief. I've got a nice lot in + the cemetery, and I'm goin' to have a monument, with two lambs + on it—like the one you always liked so much. It ain't the + fashion, any more, to have family buryin' grounds; they're + collectin' 'em into the cemeteries, all round.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon I got to bear it,” said his wife, muffling her face + in his handkerchief. “And I suppose the Lord kin find me, wherever I + am. But I always did want to lay just there. You mind how we used to go + out and set there, after milkin', and watch the sun go down, and + talk about where their angels was, and try to figger it out?” + </p> + <p> + “I remember, 'Liz'beth.” + </p> + <p> + The man's voice in the drawing-room sang a snatch of French song, + insolent, mocking, salient; and then Christine's attempted the same + strain, and another cry of laughter from Mela followed. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I always did expect to lay there. But I reckon it's all + right. It won't be a great while, now, anyway. Jacob, I don't + believe I'm a-goin' to live very long. I know it don't + agree with me here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I guess it does, 'Liz'beth. You're just a + little pulled down with the weather. It's coming spring, and you + feel it; but the doctor says you're all right. I stopped in, on the + way up, and he says so.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon he don't know everything,” the old woman + persisted: “I've been runnin' down ever since we left + Moffitt, and I didn't feel any too well there, even. It's a + very strange thing, Jacob, that the richer you git, the less you ain't + able to stay where you want to, dead or alive.” + </p> + <p> + “It's for the children we do it,” said Dryfoos. “We + got to give them their chance in the world.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, the world! They ought to bear the yoke in their youth, like we + done. I know it's what Coonrod would like to do.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos got upon his feet. “If Coonrod 'll mind his own + business, and do what I want him to, he'll have yoke enough to bear.” + He moved from his wife, without further effort to comfort her, and + pottered heavily out into the dining-room. Beyond its obscurity stretched + the glitter of the deep drawing-room. His feet, in their broad; flat + slippers, made no sound on the dense carpet, and he came unseen upon the + little group there near the piano. Mela perched upon the stool with her + back to the keys, and Beaton bent over Christine, who sat with a banjo in + her lap, letting him take her hands and put them in the right place on the + instrument. Her face was radiant with happiness, and Mela was watching her + with foolish, unselfish pleasure in her bliss. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing wrong in the affair to a man of Dryfoos's + traditions and perceptions, and if it had been at home in the farm + sitting-room, or even in his parlor at Moffitt, he would not have minded a + young man's placing his daughter's hands on a banjo, or even + holding them there; it would have seemed a proper, attention from him if + he was courting her. But here, in such a house as this, with the daughter + of a man who had made as much money as he had, he did not know but it was + a liberty. He felt the angry doubt of it which beset him in regard to so + many experiences of his changed life; he wanted to show his sense of it, + if it was a liberty, but he did not know how, and he did not know that it + was so. Besides, he could not help a touch of the pleasure in Christine's + happiness which Mela showed; and he would have gone back to the library, + if he could, without being discovered. + </p> + <p> + But Beaton had seen him, and Dryfoos, with a nonchalant nod to the young + man, came forward. “What you got there, Christine?” + </p> + <p> + “A banjo,” said the girl, blushing in her father's + presence. + </p> + <p> + Mela gurgled. “Mr. Beaton is learnun' her the first position.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton was not embarrassed. He was in evening dress, and his face, pointed + with its brown beard, showed extremely handsome above the expanse of his + broad, white shirt-front. He gave back as nonchalant a nod as he had got, + and, without further greeting to Dryfoos, he said to Christine: “No, + no. You must keep your hand and arm so.” He held them in position. + “There! Now strike with your right hand. See?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe I can ever learn,” said the girl, with + a fond upward look at him. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, you can,” said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + They both ignored Dryfoos in the little play of protests which followed, + and he said, half jocosely, half suspiciously, “And is the banjo the + fashion, now?” He remembered it as the emblem of low-down show + business, and associated it with end-men and blackened faces and grotesque + shirt-collars. + </p> + <p> + “It's all the rage,” Mela shouted, in answer for all. + “Everybody plays it. Mr. Beaton borrowed this from a lady friend of + his.” + </p> + <p> + “Humph! Pity I got you a piano, then,” said Dryfoos. “A + banjo would have been cheaper.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton so far admitted him to the conversation as to seem reminded of the + piano by his mentioning it. He said to Mela, “Oh, won't you + just strike those chords?” and as Mela wheeled about and beat the + keys he took the banjo from Christine and sat down with it. “This + way!” He strummed it, and murmured the tune Dryfoos had heard him + singing from the library, while he kept his beautiful eyes floating on + Christine's. “You try that, now; it's very simple.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is Mrs. Mandel?” Dryfoos demanded, trying to assert + himself. + </p> + <p> + Neither of the girls seemed to have heard him at first in the chatter they + broke into over what Beaton proposed. Then Mela said, absently, “Oh, + she had to go out to see one of her friends that's sick,” and + she struck the piano keys. “Come; try it, Chris!” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos turned about unheeded and went back to the library. He would have + liked to put Beaton out of his house, and in his heart he burned against + him as a contumacious hand; he would have liked to discharge him from the + art department of 'Every Other Week' at once. But he was aware + of not having treated Beaton with much ceremony, and if the young man had + returned his behavior in kind, with an electrical response to his own + feeling, had he any right to complain? After all, there was no harm in his + teaching Christine the banjo. + </p> + <p> + His wife still sat looking into the fire. “I can't see,” + she said, “as we've got a bit more comfort of our lives, + Jacob, because we've got such piles and piles of money. I wisht to + gracious we was back on the farm this minute. I wisht you had held out ag'inst + the childern about sellin' it; 'twould 'a' bin the + best thing fur 'em, I say. I believe in my soul they'll git + spoiled here in New York. I kin see a change in 'em a'ready—in + the girls.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos stretched himself on the lounge again. “I can't see as + Coonrod is much comfort, either. Why ain't he here with his sisters? + What does all that work of his on the East Side amount to? It seems as if + he done it to cross me, as much as anything.” Dryfoos complained to + his wife on the basis of mere affectional habit, which in married life + often survives the sense of intellectual equality. He did not expect her + to reason with him, but there was help in her listening, and though she + could only soothe his fretfulness with soft answers which were often wide + of the purpose, he still went to her for solace. “Here, I've + gone into this newspaper business, or whatever it is, on his account, and + he don't seem any more satisfied than ever. I can see he hain't + got his heart in it.” + </p> + <p> + “The pore boy tries; I know he does, Jacob; and he wants to please + you. But he give up a good deal when he give up bein' a preacher; I + s'pose we ought to remember that.” + </p> + <p> + “A preacher!” sneered Dryfoos. “I reckon bein' a + preacher wouldn't satisfy him now. He had the impudence to tell me + this afternoon that he would like to be a priest; and he threw it up to me + that he never could be because I'd kept him from studyin'.” + </p> + <p> + “He don't mean a Catholic priest—not a Roman one, Jacob,” + the old woman explained, wistfully. “He's told me all about + it. They ain't the kind o' Catholics we been used to; some + sort of 'Piscopalians; and they do a heap o' good amongst the + poor folks over there. He says we ain't got any idea how folks lives + in them tenement houses, hundreds of 'em in one house, and whole + families in a room; and it burns in his heart to help 'em like them + Fathers, as he calls 'em, that gives their lives to it. He can't + be a Father, he says, because he can't git the eddication now; but + he can be a Brother; and I can't find a word to say ag'inst + it, when it gits to talkin', Jacob.” + </p> + <p> + “I ain't saying anything against his priests, 'Liz'beth,” + said Dryfoos. “They're all well enough in their way; they've + given up their lives to it, and it's a matter of business with them, + like any other. But what I'm talking about now is Coonrod. I don't + object to his doin' all the charity he wants to, and the Lord knows + I've never been stingy with him about it. He might have all the + money he wants, to give round any way he pleases.” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I told him once, but he says money ain't + the thing—or not the only thing you got to give to them poor folks. + You got to give your time and your knowledge and your love—I don't + know what all you got to give yourself, if you expect to help 'em. + That's what Coonrod says.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I can tell him that charity begins at home,” said + Dryfoos, sitting up in his impatience. “And he'd better give + himself to us a little—to his old father and mother. And his + sisters. What's he doin' goin' off there to his + meetings, and I don't know what all, an' leavin' them + here alone?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, ain't Mr. Beaton with 'em?” asked the old + woman. “I thought I heared his voice.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Beaton! Of course he is! And who's Mr. Beaton, anyway?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, ain't he one of the men in Coonrod's office? I + thought I heared—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, he is! But who is he? What's he doing round here? Is he + makin' up to Christine?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon he is. From Mely's talk, she's about crazy + over the fellow. Don't you like him, Jacob?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know him, or what he is. He hasn't got any + manners. Who brought him here? How'd he come to come, in the first + place?” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fulkerson brung him, I believe,” said the old woman, + patiently. + </p> + <p> + “Fulkerson!” Dryfoos snorted. “Where's Mrs. + Mandel, I should like to know? He brought her, too. Does she go traipsin' + off this way every evening?” + </p> + <p> + “No, she seems to be here pretty regular most o' the time. I + don't know how we could ever git along without her, Jacob; she seems + to know just what to do, and the girls would be ten times as outbreakin' + without her. I hope you ain't thinkin' o' turnin' + her off, Jacob?” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos did not think it necessary to answer such a question. “It's + all Fulkerson, Fulkerson, Fulkerson. It seems to me that Fulkerson about + runs this family. He brought Mrs. Mandel, and he brought that Beaton, and + he brought that Boston fellow! I guess I give him a dose, though; and I'll + learn Fulkerson that he can't have everything his own way. I don't + want anybody to help me spend my money. I made it, and I can manage it. I + guess Mr. Fulkerson can bear a little watching now. He's been + travelling pretty free, and he's got the notion he's driving, + maybe. I'm a-going to look after that book a little myself.” + </p> + <p> + “You'll kill yourself, Jacob,” said his wife, “tryin' + to do so many things. And what is it all fur? I don't see as we're + better off, any, for all the money. It's just as much care as it + used to be when we was all there on the farm together. I wisht we could go + back, Ja—” + </p> + <p> + “We can't go back!” shouted the old man, fiercely. + “There's no farm any more to go back to. The fields is full of + gas-wells and oil-wells and hell-holes generally; the house is tore down, + and the barn's goin'—” + </p> + <p> + “The barn!” gasped the old woman. “Oh, my!” + </p> + <p> + “If I was to give all I'm worth this minute, we couldn't + go back to the farm, any more than them girls in there could go back and + be little children. I don't say we're any better off, for the + money. I've got more of it now than I ever had; and there's no + end to the luck; it pours in. But I feel like I was tied hand and foot. I + don't know which way to move; I don't know what's best + to do about anything. The money don't seem to buy anything but more + and more care and trouble. We got a big house that we ain't at home + in; and we got a lot of hired girls round under our feet that hinder and + don't help. Our children don't mind us, and we got no friends + or neighbors. But it had to be. I couldn't help but sell the farm, + and we can't go back to it, for it ain't there. So don't + you say anything more about it, 'Liz'beth.” + </p> + <p> + “Pore Jacob!” said his wife. “Well, I woon't, + dear.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0048" id="link2H_4_0048"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + It was clear to Beaton that Dryfoos distrusted him; and the fact + heightened his pleasure in Christine's liking for him. He was as + sure of this as he was of the other, though he was not so sure of any + reason for his pleasure in it. She had her charm; the charm of wildness to + which a certain wildness in himself responded; and there were times when + his fancy contrived a common future for them, which would have a + prosperity forced from the old fellow's love of the girl. Beaton + liked the idea of this compulsion better than he liked the idea of the + money; there was something a little repulsive in that; he imagined himself + rejecting it; he almost wished he was enough in love with the girl to + marry her without it; that would be fine. He was taken with her in a + certain measure, in a certain way; the question was in what measure, in + what way. + </p> + <p> + It was partly to escape from this question that he hurried down-town, and + decided to spend with the Leightons the hour remaining on his hands before + it was time to go to the reception for which he was dressed. It seemed to + him important that he should see Alma Leighton. After all, it was her + charm that was most abiding with him; perhaps it was to be final. He found + himself very happy in his present relations with her. She had dropped that + barrier of pretences and ironical surprise. It seemed to him that they had + gone back to the old ground of common artistic interest which he had found + so pleasant the summer before. Apparently she and her mother had both + forgiven his neglect of them in the first months of their stay in New + York; he was sure that Mrs. Leighton liked him as well as ever, and, if + there was still something a little provisional in Alma's manner at + times, it was something that piqued more than it discouraged; it made him + curious, not anxious. + </p> + <p> + He found the young ladies with Fulkerson when he rang. He seemed to be + amusing them both, and they were both amused beyond the merit of so small + a pleasantry, Beaton thought, when Fulkerson said: “Introduce + myself, Mr. Beaton: Mr. Fulkerson of 'Every Other Week.' Think + I've met you at our place.” The girls laughed, and Alma + explained that her mother was not very well, and would be sorry not to see + him. Then she turned, as he felt, perversely, and went on talking with + Fulkerson and left him to Miss Woodburn. + </p> + <p> + She finally recognized his disappointment: “Ah don't often get + a chance at you, Mr. Beaton, and Ah'm just goin' to toak yo' + to death. Yo' have been Soath yo'self, and yo' know ho' + we do toak.” + </p> + <p> + “I've survived to say yes,” Beaton admitted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, now, do you think we toak so much mo' than you do in the + No'th?” the young lady deprecated. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. I only know you can't talk too much for + me. I should like to hear you say Soath and house and about for the rest + of my life.” + </p> + <p> + “That's what Ah call raght personal, Mr. Beaton. Now Ah'm + goin' to be personal, too.” Miss Woodburn flung out over her + lap the square of cloth she was embroidering, and asked him: “Don't + you think that's beautiful? Now, as an awtust—a great awtust?” + </p> + <p> + “As a great awtust, yes,” said Beaton, mimicking her accent. + “If I were less than great I might have something to say about the + arrangement of colors. You're as bold and original as Nature.” + </p> + <p> + “Really? Oh, now, do tell me yo' favo'ite colo', + Mr. Beaton.” + </p> + <p> + “My favorite color? Bless my soul, why should I prefer any? Is blue + good, or red wicked? Do people have favorite colors?” Beaton found + himself suddenly interested. + </p> + <p> + “Of co'se they do,” answered the girl. “Don't + awtusts?” + </p> + <p> + “I never heard of one that had—consciously.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it possible? I supposed they all had. Now mah favo'ite + colo' is gawnet. Don't you think it's a pretty colo'?” + </p> + <p> + “It depends upon how it's used. Do you mean in neckties?” + Beaton stole a glance at the one Fulkerson was wearing. + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn laughed with her face bowed upon her wrist. “Ah do + think you gentlemen in the No'th awe ten tahms as lahvely as the + ladies.” + </p> + <p> + “Strange,” said Beaton. “In the South—Soath, + excuse me! I made the observation that the ladies were ten times as lively + as the gentlemen. What is that you're working?” + </p> + <p> + “This?” Miss Woodburn gave it another flirt, and looked at it + with a glance of dawning recognition. “Oh, this is a table-covah. + Wouldn't you lahke to see where it's to go?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if you'll be raght good I'll let yo' give + me some professional advass about putting something in the co'ners + or not, when you have seen it on the table.” + </p> + <p> + She rose and led the way into the other room. Beaton knew she wanted to + talk with him about something else; but he waited patiently to let her + play her comedy out. She spread the cover on the table, and he advised + her, as he saw she wished, against putting anything in the corners; just + run a line of her stitch around the edge, he said. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fulkerson and Ah, why, we've been having a regular faght + aboat it,” she commented. “But we both agreed, fahnally, to + leave it to you; Mr. Fulkerson said you'd be sure to be raght. Ah'm + so glad you took mah sahde. But he's a great admahrer of yours, Mr. + Beaton,” she concluded, demurely, suggestively. + </p> + <p> + “Is he? Well, I'm a great admirer of Fulkerson,” said + Beaton, with a capricious willingness to humor her wish to talk about + Fulkerson. “He's a capital fellow; generous, magnanimous, with + quite an ideal of friendship and an eye single to the main chance all the + time. He would advertise 'Every Other Week' on his family + vault.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn laughed, and said she should tell him what Beaton had said. + </p> + <p> + “Do. But he's used to defamation from me, and he'll + think you're joking.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah suppose,” said Miss Woodburn, “that he's + quahte the tahpe of a New York business man.” She added, as if it + followed logically, “He's so different from what I thought a + New York business man would be.” + </p> + <p> + “It's your Virginia tradition to despise business,” said + Beaton, rudely. + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn laughed again. “Despahse it? Mah goodness! we want to + get into it and woak it fo' all it's wo'th,' as + Mr. Fulkerson says. That tradition is all past. You don't know what + the Soath is now. Ah suppose mah fathaw despahses business, but he's + a tradition himself, as Ah tell him.” Beaton would have enjoyed + joining the young lady in anything she might be going to say in derogation + of her father, but he restrained himself, and she went on more and more as + if she wished to account for her father's habitual hauteur with + Beaton, if not to excuse it. “Ah tell him he don't understand + the rising generation. He was brought up in the old school, and he thinks + we're all just lahke he was when he was young, with all those + ahdeals of chivalry and family; but, mah goodness! it's money that + cyoants no'adays in the Soath, just lahke it does everywhere else. + Ah suppose, if we could have slavery back in the fawm mah fathaw thinks it + could have been brought up to, when the commercial spirit wouldn't + let it alone, it would be the best thing; but we can't have it back, + and Ah tell him we had better have the commercial spirit as the next best + thing.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn went on, with sufficient loyalty and piety, to expose the + difference of her own and her father's ideals, but with what Beaton + thought less reference to his own unsympathetic attention than to a + knowledge finally of the personnel and materiel of 'Every Other + Week.' and Mr. Fulkerson's relation to the enterprise. “You + most excuse my asking so many questions, Mr. Beaton. You know it's + all mah doing that we awe heah in New York. Ah just told mah fathaw that + if he was evah goin' to do anything with his wrahtings, he had got + to come No'th, and Ah made him come. Ah believe he'd have + stayed in the Soath all his lahfe. And now Mr. Fulkerson wants him to let + his editor see some of his wrahtings, and Ah wanted to know something + aboat the magazine. We awe a great deal excited aboat it in this hoase, + you know, Mr. Beaton,” she concluded, with a look that now + transferred the interest from Fulkerson to Alma. She led the way back to + the room where they were sitting, and went up to triumph over Fulkerson + with Beaton's decision about the table-cover. + </p> + <p> + Alma was left with Beaton near the piano, and he began to talk about the + Dryfooses as he sat down on the piano-stool. He said he had been giving + Miss Dryfoos a lesson on the banjo; he had borrowed the banjo of Miss + Vance. Then he struck the chord he had been trying to teach Christine, and + played over the air he had sung. + </p> + <p> + “How do you like that?” he asked, whirling round. + </p> + <p> + “It seems rather a disrespectful little tune, somehow,” said + Alma, placidly. + </p> + <p> + Beaton rested his elbow on the corner of the piano and gazed dreamily at + her. “Your perceptions are wonderful. It is disrespectful. I played + it, up there, because I felt disrespectful to them.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you claim that as a merit?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I state it as a fact. How can you respect such people?” + </p> + <p> + “You might respect yourself, then,” said the girl. “Or + perhaps that wouldn't be so easy, either.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it wouldn't. I like to have you say these things to me,” + said Beaton, impartially. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I like to say them,” Alma returned. + </p> + <p> + “They do me good.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know that that was my motive.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no one like you—no one,” said Beaton, as if + apostrophizing her in her absence. “To come from that house, with + its assertions of money—you can hear it chink; you can smell the + foul old banknotes; it stifles you—into an atmosphere like this, is + like coming into another world.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” said Alma. “I'm glad there isn't + that unpleasant odor here; but I wish there was a little more of the + chinking.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! Don't say that!” he implored. “I like to + think that there is one soul uncontaminated by the sense of money in this + big, brutal, sordid city.” + </p> + <p> + “You mean two,” said Alma, with modesty. “But if you + stifle at the Dryfooses', why do you go there?” + </p> + <p> + “Why do I go?” he mused. “Don't you believe in + knowing all the natures, the types, you can? Those girls are a strange + study: the young one is a simple, earthly creature, as common as an + oat-field and the other a sort of sylvan life: fierce, flashing, feline—” + </p> + <p> + Alma burst out into a laugh. “What apt alliteration! And do they + like being studied? I should think the sylvan life might—scratch.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Beaton, with melancholy absence, “it + only-purrs.” + </p> + <p> + The girl felt a rising indignation. “Well, then, Mr. Beaton, I + should hope it would scratch, and bite, too. I think you've no + business to go about studying people, as you do. It's abominable.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on,” said the young man. “That Puritan conscience of + yours! It appeals to the old Covenanter strain in me—like a voice of + pre-existence. Go on—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, if I went on I should merely say it was not only abominable, + but contemptible.” + </p> + <p> + “You could be my guardian angel, Alma,” said the young man, + making his eyes more and more slumbrous and dreamy. + </p> + <p> + “Stuff! I hope I have a soul above buttons!” + </p> + <p> + He smiled, as she rose, and followed her across the room. “Good-night; + Mr. Beaton,” she said. + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn and Fulkerson came in from the other room. “What! You're + not going, Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I'm going to a reception. I stopped in on my way.” + </p> + <p> + “To kill time,” Alma explained. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Fulkerson, gallantly, “this is the last + place I should like to do it. But I guess I'd better be going, too. + It has sometimes occurred to me that there is such a thing as staying too + late. But with Brother Beaton, here, just starting in for an evening's + amusement, it does seem a little early yet. Can't you urge me to + stay, somebody?” + </p> + <p> + The two girls laughed, and Miss Woodburn said: + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Beaton is such a butterfly of fashion! Ah wish Ah was on mah + way to a pawty. Ah feel quahte envious.” + </p> + <p> + “But he didn't say it to make you,” Alma explained, with + meek softness. + </p> + <p> + “Well, we can't all be swells. Where is your party, anyway, + Beaton?” asked Fulkerson. “How do you manage to get your + invitations to those things? I suppose a fellow has to keep hinting round + pretty lively, Neigh?” + </p> + <p> + Beaton took these mockeries serenely, and shook hands with Miss Woodburn, + with the effect of having already shaken hands with Alma. She stood with + hers clasped behind her. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0049" id="link2H_4_0049"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + Beaton went away with the smile on his face which he had kept in listening + to Fulkerson, and carried it with him to the reception. He believed that + Alma was vexed with him for more personal reasons than she had implied; it + flattered him that she should have resented what he told her of the + Dryfooses. She had scolded him in their behalf apparently; but really + because he had made her jealous by his interest, of whatever kind, in some + one else. What followed, had followed naturally. Unless she had been quite + a simpleton she could not have met his provisional love-making on any + other terms; and the reason why Beaton chiefly liked Alma Leighton was + that she was not a simpleton. Even up in the country, when she was + overawed by his acquaintance, at first, she was not very deeply overawed, + and at times she was not overawed at all. At such times she astonished him + by taking his most solemn histrionics with flippant incredulity, and even + burlesquing them. But he could see, all the same, that he had caught her + fancy, and he admired the skill with which she punished his neglect when + they met in New York. He had really come very near forgetting the + Leightons; the intangible obligations of mutual kindness which hold some + men so fast, hung loosely upon him; it would not have hurt him to break + from them altogether; but when he recognized them at last, he found that + it strengthened them indefinitely to have Alma ignore them so completely. + If she had been sentimental, or softly reproachful, that would have been + the end; he could not have stood it; he would have had to drop her. But + when she met him on his own ground, and obliged him to be sentimental, the + game was in her hands. Beaton laughed, now, when he thought of that, and + he said to himself that the girl had grown immensely since she had come to + New York; nothing seemed to have been lost upon her; she must have kept + her eyes uncommonly wide open. He noticed that especially in their talks + over her work; she had profited by everything she had seen and heard; she + had all of Wetmore's ideas pat; it amused Beaton to see how she + seized every useful word that he dropped, too, and turned him to technical + account whenever she could. He liked that; she had a great deal of talent; + there was no question of that; if she were a man there could be no + question of her future. He began to construct a future for her; it + included provision for himself, too; it was a common future, in which + their lives and work were united. + </p> + <p> + He was full of the glow of its prosperity when he met Margaret Vance at + the reception. + </p> + <p> + The house was one where people might chat a long time together without + publicly committing themselves to an interest in each other except such as + grew out of each other's ideas. Miss Vance was there because she + united in her catholic sympathies or ambitions the objects of the + fashionable people and of the aesthetic people who met there on common + ground. It was almost the only house in New York where this happened + often, and it did not happen very often there. It was a literary house, + primarily, with artistic qualifications, and the frequenters of it were + mostly authors and artists; Wetmore, who was always trying to fit + everything with a phrase, said it was the unfrequenters who were + fashionable. There was great ease there, and simplicity; and if there was + not distinction, it was not for want of distinguished people, but because + there seems to be some solvent in New York life that reduces all men to a + common level, that touches everybody with its potent magic and brings to + the surface the deeply underlying nobody. The effect for some + temperaments, for consciousness, for egotism, is admirable; for curiosity, + for hero worship, it is rather baffling. It is the spirit of the street + transferred to the drawing-room; indiscriminating, levelling, but + doubtless finally wholesome, and witnessing the immensity of the place, if + not consenting to the grandeur of reputations or presences. + </p> + <p> + Beaton now denied that this house represented a salon at all, in the old + sense; and he held that the salon was impossible, even undesirable, with + us, when Miss Vance sighed for it. At any rate, he said that this turmoil + of coming and going, this bubble and babble, this cackling and hissing of + conversation was not the expression of any such civilization as had + created the salon. Here, he owned, were the elements of intellectual + delightfulness, but he said their assemblage in such quantity alone denied + the salon; there was too much of a good thing. The French word implied a + long evening of general talk among the guests, crowned with a little + chicken at supper, ending at cock-crow. Here was tea, with milk or with + lemon-baths of it and claret-cup for the hardier spirits throughout the + evening. It was very nice, very pleasant, but it was not the little + chicken—not the salon. In fact, he affirmed, the salon descended + from above, out of the great world, and included the aesthetic world in + it. But our great world—the rich people, were stupid, with no wish + to be otherwise; they were not even curious about authors and artists. + Beaton fancied himself speaking impartially, and so he allowed himself to + speak bitterly; he said that in no other city in the world, except Vienna, + perhaps, were such people so little a part of society. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't altogether the rich people's fault,” + said Margaret; and she spoke impartially, too. “I don't + believe that the literary men and the artists would like a salon that + descended to them. Madame Geoffrin, you know, was very plebeian; her + husband was a business man of some sort.” + </p> + <p> + “He would have been a howling swell in New York,” said Beaton, + still impartially. + </p> + <p> + Wetmore came up to their corner, with a scroll of bread and butter in one + hand and a cup of tea in the other. Large and fat, and clean-shaven, he + looked like a monk in evening dress. + </p> + <p> + “We were talking about salons,” said Margaret. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you open a salon yourself?” asked Wetmore, + breathing thickly from the anxiety of getting through the crowd without + spilling his tea. + </p> + <p> + “Like poor Lady Barberina Lemon?” said the girl, with a laugh. + “What a good story! That idea of a woman who couldn't be + interested in any of the arts because she was socially and traditionally + the material of them! We can, never reach that height of nonchalance in + this country.” + </p> + <p> + “Not if we tried seriously?” suggested the painter. “I've + an idea that if the Americans ever gave their minds to that sort of thing, + they could take the palm—or the cake, as Beaton here would say—just + as they do in everything else. When we do have an aristocracy, it will be + an aristocracy that will go ahead of anything the world has ever seen. Why + don't somebody make a beginning, and go in openly for an ancestry, + and a lower middle class, and an hereditary legislature, and all the rest? + We've got liveries, and crests, and palaces, and caste feeling. We're + all right as far as we've gone, and we've got the money to go + any length.” + </p> + <p> + “Like your natural-gas man, Mr. Beaton,” said the girl, with a + smiling glance round at him. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Wetmore, stirring his tea, “has Beaton got a + natural-gas man?” + </p> + <p> + “My natural-gas man,” said Beaton, ignoring Wetmore's + question, “doesn't know how to live in his palace yet, and I + doubt if he has any caste feeling. I fancy his family believe themselves + victims of it. They say—one of the young ladies does—that she + never saw such an unsociable place as New York; nobody calls.” + </p> + <p> + “That's good!” said Wetmore. “I suppose they're + all ready for company, too: good cook, furniture, servants, carriages?” + </p> + <p> + “Galore,” said Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's too bad. There's a chance for you, Miss + Vance. Doesn't your philanthropy embrace the socially destitute as + well as the financially? Just think of a family like that, without a + friend, in a great city! I should think common charity had a duty there—not + to mention the uncommon.” + </p> + <p> + He distinguished that kind as Margaret's by a glance of ironical + deference. She had a repute for good works which was out of proportion to + the works, as it always is, but she was really active in that way, under + the vague obligation, which we now all feel, to be helpful. She was of the + church which seems to have found a reversion to the imposing ritual of the + past the way back to the early ideals of Christian brotherhood. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they seem to have Mr. Beaton,” Margaret answered, and + Beaton felt obscurely flattered by her reference to his patronage of the + Dryfooses. + </p> + <p> + He explained to Wetmore: “They have me because they partly own me. + Dryfoos is Fulkerson's financial backer in 'Every Other Week'.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that so? Well, that's interesting, too. Aren't you + rather astonished, Miss Vance, to see what a petty thing Beaton is making + of that magazine of his?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Margaret, “it's so very nice, every + way; it makes you feel as if you did have a country, after all. It's + as chic—that detestable little word!—as those new French + books.” + </p> + <p> + “Beaton modelled it on them. But you mustn't suppose he does + everything about 'Every Other Week'; he'd like you to. + Beaton, you haven't come up to that cover of your first number, + since. That was the design of one of my pupils, Miss Vance—a little + girl that Beaton discovered down in New Hampshire last summer.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes. And have you great hopes of her, Mr. Wetmore?” + </p> + <p> + “She seems to have more love of it and knack for it than any one of + her sex I've seen yet. It really looks like a case of art for art's + sake, at times. But you can't tell. They're liable to get + married at any moment, you know. Look here, Beaton, when your natural-gas + man gets to the picture-buying stage in his development, just remember + your old friends, will you? You know, Miss Vance, those new fellows have + their regular stages. They never know what to do with their money, but + they find out that people buy pictures, at one point. They shut your + things up in their houses where nobody comes, and after a while they + overeat themselves—they don't know what else to do—and + die of apoplexy, and leave your pictures to a gallery, and then they see + the light. It's slow, but it's pretty sure. Well, I see Beaton + isn't going to move on, as he ought to do; and so I must. He always + was an unconventional creature.” + </p> + <p> + Wetmore went away, but Beaton remained, and he outstayed several other + people who came up to speak to Miss Vance. She was interested in + everybody, and she liked the talk of these clever literary, artistic, + clerical, even theatrical people, and she liked the sort of court with + which they recognized her fashion as well as her cleverness; it was very + pleasant to be treated intellectually as if she were one of themselves, + and socially as if she was not habitually the same, but a sort of guest in + Bohemia, a distinguished stranger. If it was Arcadia rather than Bohemia, + still she felt her quality of distinguished stranger. The flattery of it + touched her fancy, and not her vanity; she had very little vanity. Beaton's + devotion made the same sort of appeal; it was not so much that she liked + him as she liked being the object of his admiration. She was a girl of + genuine sympathies, intellectual rather than sentimental. In fact, she was + an intellectual person, whom qualities of the heart saved from being + disagreeable, as they saved her on the other hand from being worldly or + cruel in her fashionableness. She had read a great many books, and had + ideas about them, quite courageous and original ideas; she knew about + pictures—she had been in Wetmore's class; she was fond of + music; she was willing to understand even politics; in Boston she might + have been agnostic, but in New York she was sincerely religious; she was + very accomplished; and perhaps it was her goodness that prevented her + feeling what was not best in Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” she said, after the retreat of one of the + comers and goers left her alone with him again, “that those young + ladies would like me to call on them?” + </p> + <p> + “Those young ladies?” Beaton echoed. “Miss Leighton and—” + </p> + <p> + “No; I have been there with my aunt's cards already.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said Beaton, as if he had known of it; he admired + the pluck and pride with which Alma had refrained from ever mentioning the + fact to him, and had kept her mother from mentioning it, which must have + been difficult. + </p> + <p> + “I mean the Miss Dryfooses. It seems really barbarous, if nobody + goes near them. We do all kinds of things, and help all kinds of people in + some ways, but we let strangers remain strangers unless they know how to + make their way among us.” + </p> + <p> + “The Dryfooses certainly wouldn't know how to make their way + among you,” said Beaton, with a sort of dreamy absence in his tone. + </p> + <p> + Miss Vance went on, speaking out the process of reasoning in her mind, + rather than any conclusions she had reached. “We defend ourselves by + trying to believe that they must have friends of their own, or that they + would think us patronizing, and wouldn't like being made the objects + of social charity; but they needn't really suppose anything of the + kind.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't imagine they would,” said Beaton. “I + think they'd be only too happy to have you come. But you wouldn't + know what to do with each other, indeed, Miss Vance.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps we shall like each other,” said the girl, bravely, + “and then we shall know. What Church are they of?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe they're of any,” said Beaton. + “The mother was brought up a Dunkard.” + </p> + <p> + “A Dunkard?” + </p> + <p> + Beaton told what he knew of the primitive sect, with its early Christian + polity, its literal interpretation of Christ's ethics, and its + quaint ceremonial of foot-washing; he made something picturesque of that. + “The father is a Mammon-worshipper, pure and simple. I suppose the + young ladies go to church, but I don't know where. They haven't + tried to convert me.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell them not to despair—after I've + converted them,” said Miss Vance. “Will you let me use you as + a 'point d'appui', Mr. Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + “Any way you like. If you're really going to see them, perhaps + I'd better make a confession. I left your banjo with them, after I + got it put in order.” + </p> + <p> + “How very nice! Then we have a common interest already.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean the banjo, or—” + </p> + <p> + “The banjo, decidedly. Which of them plays?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither. But the eldest heard that the banjo was 'all the + rage,' as the youngest says. Perhaps you can persuade them that good + works are the rage, too.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton had no very lively belief that Margaret would go to see the + Dryfooses; he did so few of the things he proposed that he went upon the + theory that others must be as faithless. Still, he had a cruel amusement + in figuring the possible encounter between Margaret Vance, with her + intellectual elegance, her eager sympathies and generous ideals, and those + girls with their rude past, their false and distorted perspective, their + sordid and hungry selfishness, and their faith in the omnipotence of their + father's wealth wounded by their experience of its present social + impotence. At the bottom of his heart he sympathized with them rather than + with her; he was more like them. + </p> + <p> + People had ceased coming, and some of them were going. Miss Vance said she + must go, too, and she was about to rise, when the host came up with March; + Beaton turned away. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Vance, I want to introduce Mr. March, the editor of 'Every + Other Week.' You oughtn't to be restricted to the art + department. We literary fellows think that arm of the service gets too + much of the glory nowadays.” His banter was for Beaton, but he was + already beyond ear-shot, and the host went on: + </p> + <p> + “Mr. March can talk with you about your favorite Boston. He's + just turned his back on it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I hope not!” said Miss Vance. “I can't + imagine anybody voluntarily leaving Boston.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't say he's so bad as that,” said the host, + committing March to her. “He came to New York because he couldn't + help it—like the rest of us. I never know whether that's a + compliment to New York or not.” + </p> + <p> + They talked Boston a little while, without finding that they had common + acquaintance there; Miss Vance must have concluded that society was much + larger in Boston than she had supposed from her visits there, or else that + March did not know many people in it. But she was not a girl to care much + for the inferences that might be drawn from such conclusions; she rather + prided herself upon despising them; and she gave herself to the pleasure + of being talked to as if she were of March's own age. In the glow of + her sympathetic beauty and elegance he talked his best, and tried to amuse + her with his jokes, which he had the art of tingeing with a little + seriousness on one side. He made her laugh; and he flattered her by making + her think; in her turn she charmed him so much by enjoying what he said + that he began to brag of his wife, as a good husband always does when + another woman charms him; and she asked, Oh was Mrs. March there; and + would he introduce her? + </p> + <p> + She asked Mrs. March for her address, and whether she had a day; and she + said she would come to see her, if she would let her. Mrs. March could not + be so enthusiastic about her as March was, but as they walked home + together they talked the girl over, and agreed about her beauty and her + amiability. Mrs. March said she seemed very unspoiled for a person who + must have been so much spoiled. They tried to analyze her charm, and they + succeeded in formulating it as a combination of intellectual + fashionableness and worldly innocence. “I think,” said Mrs. + March, “that city girls, brought up as she must have been, are often + the most innocent of all. They never imagine the wickedness of the world, + and if they marry happily they go through life as innocent as children. + Everything combines to keep them so; the very hollowness of society + shields them. They are the loveliest of the human race. But perhaps the + rest have to pay too much for them.” + </p> + <p> + “For such an exquisite creature as Miss Vance,” said March, + “we couldn't pay too much.” + </p> + <p> + A wild laughing cry suddenly broke upon the air at the street-crossing in + front of them. A girl's voice called out: “Run, run, Jen! The + copper is after you.” A woman's figure rushed stumbling across + the way and into the shadow of the houses, pursued by a burly policeman. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but if that's part of the price?” + </p> + <p> + They went along fallen from the gay spirit of their talk into a silence + which he broke with a sigh. “Can that poor wretch and the radiant + girl we left yonder really belong to the same system of things? How + impossible each makes the other seem!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0050" id="link2H_4_0050"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. Horn believed in the world and in society and its unwritten + constitution devoutly, and she tolerated her niece's benevolent + activities as she tolerated her aesthetic sympathies because these things, + however oddly, were tolerated—even encouraged—by society; and + they gave Margaret a charm. They made her originality interesting. Mrs. + Horn did not intend that they should ever go so far as to make her + troublesome; and it was with a sense of this abeyant authority of her aunt's + that the girl asked her approval of her proposed call upon the Dryfooses. + She explained as well as she could the social destitution of these opulent + people, and she had of course to name Beaton as the source of her + knowledge concerning them. + </p> + <p> + “Did Mr. Beaton suggest your calling on them?” + </p> + <p> + “No; he rather discouraged it.” + </p> + <p> + “And why do you think you ought to go in this particular instance? + New York is full of people who don't know anybody.” + </p> + <p> + Margaret laughed. “I suppose it's like any other charity: you + reach the cases you know of. The others you say you can't help, and + you try to ignore them.” + </p> + <p> + “It's very romantic,” said Mrs. Horn. “I hope you've + counted the cost; all the possible consequences.” + </p> + <p> + Margaret knew that her aunt had in mind their common experience with the + Leightons, whom, to give their common conscience peace, she had called + upon with her aunt's cards and excuses, and an invitation for her + Thursdays, somewhat too late to make the visit seem a welcome to New York. + She was so coldly received, not so much for herself as in her quality of + envoy, that her aunt experienced all the comfort which vicarious penance + brings. She did not perhaps consider sufficiently her niece's + guiltlessness in the expiation. Margaret was not with her at St. Barnaby + in the fatal fortnight she passed there, and never saw the Leightons till + she went to call upon them. She never complained: the strain of + asceticism, which mysteriously exists in us all, and makes us put peas, + boiled or unboiled, in our shoes, gave her patience with the snub which + the Leightons presented her for her aunt. But now she said, with this in + mind: “Nothing seems simpler than to get rid of people if you don't + want them. You merely have to let them alone.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't so pleasant, letting them alone,” said Mrs. + Horn. + </p> + <p> + “Or having them let you alone,” said Margaret; for neither + Mrs. Leighton nor Alma had ever come to enjoy the belated hospitality of + Mrs. Horn's Thursdays. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, or having them let you alone,” Mrs. Horn courageously + consented. “And all that I ask you, Margaret, is to be sure that you + really want to know these people.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't,” said the girl, seriously, “in the usual + way.” + </p> + <p> + “Then the question is whether you do in the unusual way. They will + build a great deal upon you,” said Mrs. Horn, realizing how much the + Leightons must have built upon her, and how much out of proportion to her + desert they must now dislike her; for she seemed to have had them on her + mind from the time they came, and had always meant to recognize any + reasonable claim they had upon her. + </p> + <p> + “It seems very odd, very sad,” Margaret returned, “that + you never could act unselfishly in society affairs. If I wished to go and + see those girls just to do them a pleasure, and perhaps because if they're + strange and lonely, I might do them good, even—it would be + impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “Quite,” said her aunt. “Such a thing would be quixotic. + Society doesn't rest upon any such basis. It can't; it would + go to pieces, if people acted from unselfish motives.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it's a painted savage!” said the girl. “All + its favors are really bargains. It's gifts are for gifts back again.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that is true,” said Mrs. Horn, with no more sense of + wrong in the fact than the political economist has in the fact that wages + are the measure of necessity and not of merit. “You get what you pay + for. It's a matter of business.” She satisfied herself with + this formula, which she did not invent, as fully as if it were a reason; + but she did not dislike her niece's revolt against it. That was part + of Margaret's originality, which pleased her aunt in proportion to + her own conventionality; she was really a timid person, and she liked the + show of courage which Margaret's magnanimity often reflected upon + her. She had through her a repute, with people who did not know her well, + for intellectual and moral qualities; she was supposed to be literary and + charitable; she almost had opinions and ideals, but really fell short of + their possession. She thought that she set bounds to the girl's + originality because she recognized them. Margaret understood this better + than her aunt, and knew that she had consulted her about going to see the + Dryfooses out of deference, and with no expectation of luminous + instruction. She was used to being a law to herself, but she knew what she + might and might not do, so that she was rather a by-law. She was the kind + of girl that might have fancies for artists and poets, but might end by + marrying a prosperous broker, and leavening a vast lump of moneyed and + fashionable life with her culture, generosity, and good-will. The + intellectual interests were first with her, but she might be equal to + sacrificing them; she had the best heart, but she might know how to harden + it; if she was eccentric, her social orbit was defined; comets themselves + traverse space on fixed lines. She was like every one else, a congeries of + contradictions and inconsistencies, but obedient to the general + expectation of what a girl of her position must and must not finally be. + Provisionally, she was very much what she liked to be. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0051" id="link2H_4_0051"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII + </h2> + <p> + Margaret Vance tried to give herself some reason for going to call upon + the Dryfooses, but she could find none better than the wish to do a kind + thing. This seemed queerer and less and less sufficient as she examined + it, and she even admitted a little curiosity as a harmless element in her + motive, without being very well satisfied with it. She tried to add a + slight sense of social duty, and then she decided to have no motive at + all, but simply to pay her visit as she would to any other eligible + strangers she saw fit to call upon. She perceived that she must be very + careful not to let them see that any other impulse had governed her; she + determined, if possible, to let them patronize her; to be very modest and + sincere and diffident, and, above all, not to play a part. This was easy, + compared with the choice of a manner that should convey to them the fact + that she was not playing a part. When the hesitating Irish serving-man had + acknowledged that the ladies were at home, and had taken her card to them, + she sat waiting for them in the drawing-room. Her study of its + appointments, with their impersonal costliness, gave her no suggestion how + to proceed; the two sisters were upon her before she had really decided, + and she rose to meet them with the conviction that she was going to play a + part for want of some chosen means of not doing so. She found herself, + before she knew it, making her banjo a property in the little comedy, and + professing so much pleasure in the fact that Miss Dryfoos was taking it + up; she had herself been so much interested by it. Anything, she said, was + a relief from the piano; and then, between the guitar and the banjo, one + must really choose the banjo, unless one wanted to devote one's + whole natural life to the violin. Of course, there was the mandolin; but + Margaret asked if they did not feel that the bit of shell you struck it + with interposed a distance between you and the real soul of the + instrument; and then it did have such a faint, mosquitoy little tone! She + made much of the question, which they left her to debate alone while they + gazed solemnly at her till she characterized the tone of the mandolin, + when Mela broke into a large, coarse laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's just what it does sound like,” she + explained defiantly to her sister. “I always feel like it was going + to settle somewhere, and I want to hit myself a slap before it begins to + bite. I don't see what ever brought such a thing into fashion.” + </p> + <p> + Margaret had not expected to be so powerfully seconded, and she asked, + after gathering herself together, “And you are both learning the + banjo?” “My, no!” said Mela, “I've gone + through enough with the piano. Christine is learnun' it.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm so glad you are making my banjo useful at the outset, + Miss Dryfoos.” Both girls stared at her, but found it hard to cope + with the fact that this was the lady friend whose banjo Beaton had lent + them. “Mr. Beaton mentioned that he had left it here. I hope you'll + keep it as long as you find it useful.” + </p> + <p> + At this amiable speech even Christine could not help thanking her. “Of + course,” she said, “I expect to get another, right off. Mr. + Beaton is going to choose it for me.” + </p> + <p> + “You are very fortunate. If you haven't a teacher yet I should + so like to recommend mine.” + </p> + <p> + Mela broke out in her laugh again. “Oh, I guess Christine's + pretty well suited with the one she's got,” she said, with + insinuation. Her sister gave her a frowning glance, and Margaret did not + tempt her to explain. + </p> + <p> + “Then that's much better,” she said. “I have a + kind of superstition in such matters; I don't like to make a second + choice. In a shop I like to take the first thing of the kind I'm + looking for, and even if I choose further I come back to the original.” + </p> + <p> + “How funny!” said Mela. “Well, now, I'm just the + other way. I always take the last thing, after I've picked over all + the rest. My luck always seems to be at the bottom of the heap. Now, + Christine, she's more like you. I believe she could walk right up + blindfolded and put her hand on the thing she wants every time.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm like father,” said Christine, softened a little by + the celebration of her peculiarity. “He says the reason so many + people don't get what they want is that they don't want it bad + enough. Now, when I want a thing, it seems to me that I want it all + through.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's just like father, too,” said Mela. “That's + the way he done when he got that eighty-acre piece next to Moffitt that he + kept when he sold the farm, and that's got some of the best + gas-wells on it now that there is anywhere.” She addressed the + explanation to her sister, to the exclusion of Margaret, who, + nevertheless, listened with a smiling face and a resolutely polite air of + being a party to the conversation. Mela rewarded her amiability by saying + to her, finally, “You've never been in the natural-gas + country, have you?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no! And I should so much like to see it!” said Margaret, + with a fervor that was partly, voluntary. + </p> + <p> + “Would you? Well, we're kind of sick of it, but I suppose it + would strike a stranger.” + </p> + <p> + “I never got tired of looking at the big wells when they lit them + up,” said Christine. “It seems as if the world was on fire.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and when you see the surface-gas burnun' down in the + woods, like it used to by our spring-house—so still, and never + spreadun' any, just like a bed of some kind of wild flowers when you + ketch sight of it a piece off.” + </p> + <p> + They began to tell of the wonders of their strange land in an antiphony of + reminiscences and descriptions; they unconsciously imputed a merit to + themselves from the number and violence of the wells on their father's + property; they bragged of the high civilization of Moffitt, which they + compared to its advantage with that of New York. They became excited by + Margaret's interest in natural gas, and forgot to be suspicious and + envious. + </p> + <p> + She said, as she rose, “Oh, how much I should like to see it all!” + Then she made a little pause, and added: + </p> + <p> + “I'm so sorry my aunt's Thursdays are over; she never + has them after Lent, but we're to have some people Tuesday evening + at a little concert which a musical friend is going to give with some + other artists. There won't be any banjos, I'm afraid, but + there'll be some very good singing, and my aunt would be so glad if + you could come with your mother.” + </p> + <p> + She put down her aunt's card on the table near her, while Mela + gurgled, as if it were the best joke: “Oh, my! Mother never goes + anywhere; you couldn't get her out for love or money.” But she + was herself overwhelmed with a simple joy at Margaret's politeness, + and showed it in a sensuous way, like a child, as if she had been tickled. + She came closer to Margaret and seemed about to fawn physically upon her. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't she just as lovely as she can live?” she demanded + of her sister when Margaret was gone. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Christine. “I guess she + wanted to know who Mr. Beaton had been lending her banjo to.” + </p> + <p> + “Pshaw! Do you suppose she's in love with him?” asked + Mela, and then she broke into her hoarse laugh at the look her sister gave + her. “Well, don't eat me, Christine! I wonder who she is, + anyway? I'm goun' to git it out of Mr. Beaton the next time he + calls. I guess she's somebody. Mrs. Mandel can tell. I wish that old + friend of hers would hurry up and git well—or something. But I guess + we appeared about as well as she did. I could see she was afraid of you, + Christine. I reckon it's gittun' around a little about father; + and when it does I don't believe we shall want for callers. Say, are + you goun'? To that concert of theirs?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. Not till I know who they are first.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, we've got to hump ourselves if we're goun' + to find out before Tuesday.” + </p> + <p> + As she went home Margaret felt wrought in her that most incredible of the + miracles, which, nevertheless, any one may make his experience. She felt + kindly to these girls because she had tried to make them happy, and she + hoped that in the interest she had shown there had been none of the poison + of flattery. She was aware that this was a risk she ran in such an attempt + to do good. If she had escaped this effect she was willing to leave the + rest with Providence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0052" id="link2H_4_0052"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. + </h2> + <p> + The notion that a girl of Margaret Vance's traditions would + naturally form of girls like Christine and Mela Dryfoos would be that they + were abashed in the presence of the new conditions of their lives, and + that they must receive the advance she had made them with a certain + grateful humility. However they received it, she had made it upon + principle, from a romantic conception of duty; but this was the way she + imagined they would receive it, because she thought that she would have + done so if she had been as ignorant and unbred as they. Her error was in + arguing their attitude from her own temperament, and endowing them, for + the purposes of argument, with her perspective. They had not the means, + intellectual or moral, of feeling as she fancied. If they had remained at + home on the farm where they were born, Christine would have grown up that + embodiment of impassioned suspicion which we find oftenest in the + narrowest spheres, and Mela would always have been a good-natured + simpleton; but they would never have doubted their equality with the + wisest and the finest. As it was, they had not learned enough at school to + doubt it, and the splendor of their father's success in making money + had blinded them forever to any possible difference against them. They had + no question of themselves in the social abeyance to which they had been + left in New York. They had been surprised, mystified; it was not what they + had expected; there must be some mistake. + </p> + <p> + They were the victims of an accident, which would be repaired as soon as + the fact of their father's wealth had got around. They had been + steadfast in their faith, through all their disappointment, that they were + not only better than most people by virtue of his money, but as good as + any; and they took Margaret's visit, so far as they, investigated + its motive, for a sign that at last it was beginning to get around; of + course, a thing could not get around in New York so quick as it could in a + small place. They were confirmed in their belief by the sensation of Mrs. + Mandel when she returned to duty that afternoon, and they consulted her + about going to Mrs. Horn's musicale. If she had felt any doubt at + the name for there were Horns and Horns—the address on the card put + the matter beyond question; and she tried to make her charges understand + what a precious chance had befallen them. She did not succeed; they had + not the premises, the experience, for a sufficient impression; and she + undid her work in part by the effort to explain that Mrs. Horn's + standing was independent of money; that though she was positively rich, + she was comparatively poor. Christine inferred that Miss Vance had called + because she wished to be the first to get in with them since it had begun + to get around. This view commended itself to Mela, too, but without + warping her from her opinion that Miss Vance was all the same too sweet + for anything. She had not so vivid a consciousness of her father's + money as Christine had; but she reposed perhaps all the more confidently + upon its power. She was far from thinking meanly of any one who thought + highly of her for it; that seemed so natural a result as to be amiable, + even admirable; she was willing that any such person should get all the + good there was in such an attitude toward her. + </p> + <p> + They discussed the matter that night at dinner before their father and + mother, who mostly sat silent at their meals; the father frowning absently + over his plate, with his head close to it, and making play into his mouth + with the back of his knife (he had got so far toward the use of his fork + as to despise those who still ate from the edge of their knives), and the + mother partly missing hers at times in the nervous tremor that shook her + face from side to side. + </p> + <p> + After a while the subject of Mela's hoarse babble and of Christine's + high-pitched, thin, sharp forays of assertion and denial in the field + which her sister's voice seemed to cover, made its way into the old + man's consciousness, and he perceived that they were talking with + Mrs. Mandel about it, and that his wife was from time to time offering an + irrelevant and mistaken comment. He agreed with Christine, and silently + took her view of the affair some time before he made any sign of having + listened. There had been a time in his life when other things besides his + money seemed admirable to him. He had once respected himself for the + hard-headed, practical common sense which first gave him standing among + his country neighbors; which made him supervisor, school trustee, justice + of the peace, county commissioner, secretary of the Moffitt County + Agricultural Society. In those days he had served the public with + disinterested zeal and proud ability; he used to write to the Lake Shore + Farmer on agricultural topics; he took part in opposing, through the + Moffitt papers, the legislative waste of the people's money; on the + question of selling a local canal to the railroad company, which killed + that fine old State work, and let the dry ditch grow up to grass; he might + have gone to the Legislature, but he contented himself with defeating the + Moffitt member who had voted for the job. If he opposed some measures for + the general good, like high schools and school libraries, it was because + he lacked perspective, in his intense individualism, and suspected all + expense of being spendthrift. He believed in good district schools, and he + had a fondness, crude but genuine, for some kinds of reading—history, + and forensics of an elementary sort. + </p> + <p> + With his good head for figures he doubted doctors and despised preachers; + he thought lawyers were all rascals, but he respected them for their + ability; he was not himself litigious, but he enjoyed the intellectual + encounters of a difficult lawsuit, and he often attended a sitting of the + fall term of court, when he went to town, for the pleasure of hearing the + speeches. He was a good citizen, and a good husband. As a good father, he + was rather severe with his children, and used to whip them, especially the + gentle Conrad, who somehow crossed him most, till the twins died. After + that he never struck any of them; and from the sight of a blow dealt a + horse he turned as if sick. It was a long time before he lifted himself up + from his sorrow, and then the will of the man seemed to have been breached + through his affections. He let the girls do as they pleased—the + twins had been girls; he let them go away to school, and got them a piano. + It was they who made him sell the farm. If Conrad had only had their + spirit he could have made him keep it, he felt; and he resented the want + of support he might have found in a less yielding spirit than his son's. + </p> + <p> + His moral decay began with his perception of the opportunity of making + money quickly and abundantly, which offered itself to him after he sold + his farm. He awoke to it slowly, from a desolation in which he tasted the + last bitter of homesickness, the utter misery of idleness and + listlessness. When he broke down and cried for the hard-working, wholesome + life he had lost, he was near the end of this season of despair, but he + was also near the end of what was best in himself. He devolved upon a + meaner ideal than that of conservative good citizenship, which had been + his chief moral experience: the money he had already made without effort + and without merit bred its unholy self-love in him; he began to honor + money, especially money that had been won suddenly and in large sums; for + money that had been earned painfully, slowly, and in little amounts, he + had only pity and contempt. The poison of that ambition to go somewhere + and be somebody which the local speculators had instilled into him began + to work in the vanity which had succeeded his somewhat scornful + self-respect; he rejected Europe as the proper field for his expansion; he + rejected Washington; he preferred New York, whither the men who have made + money and do not yet know that money has made them, all instinctively + turn. He came where he could watch his money breed more money, and bring + greater increase of its kind in an hour of luck than the toil of hundreds + of men could earn in a year. He called it speculation, stocks, the Street; + and his pride, his faith in himself, mounted with his luck. He expected, + when he had sated his greed, to begin to spend, and he had formulated an + intention to build a great house, to add another to the palaces of the + country-bred millionaires who have come to adorn the great city. In the + mean time he made little account of the things that occupied his children, + except to fret at the ungrateful indifference of his son to the interests + that could alone make a man of him. He did not know whether his daughters + were in society or not; with people coming and going in the house he would + have supposed they must be so, no matter who the people were; in some + vague way he felt that he had hired society in Mrs. Mandel, at so much a + year. He never met a superior himself except now and then a man of twenty + or thirty millions to his one or two, and then he felt his soul creep + within him, without a sense of social inferiority; it was a question of + financial inferiority; and though Dryfoos's soul bowed itself and + crawled, it was with a gambler's admiration of wonderful luck. Other + men said these many-millioned millionaires were smart, and got their money + by sharp practices to which lesser men could not attain; but Dryfoos + believed that he could compass the same ends, by the same means, with the + same chances; he respected their money, not them. + </p> + <p> + When he now heard Mrs. Mandel and his daughters talking of that person, + whoever she was, that Mrs. Mandel seemed to think had honored his girls by + coming to see them, his curiosity was pricked as much as his pride was + galled. + </p> + <p> + “Well, anyway,” said Mela, “I don't care whether + Christine's goon' or not; I am. And you got to go with me, + Mrs. Mandel.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, there's a little difficulty,” said Mrs. Mandel, + with her unfailing dignity and politeness. “I haven't been + asked, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what are we goun' to do?” demanded Mela, almost + crossly. She was physically too amiable, she felt too well corporeally, + ever to be quite cross. “She might 'a' knowed—well + known—we couldn't 'a' come alone, in New York. I + don't see why we couldn't. I don't call it much of an + invitation.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose she thought you could come with your mother,” Mrs. + Mandel suggested. + </p> + <p> + “She didn't say anything about mother: Did she, Christine? Or, + yes, she did, too. And I told her she couldn't git mother out. Don't + you remember?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't pay much attention,” said Christine. “I + wasn't certain we wanted to go.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon you wasn't goun' to let her see that we cared + much,” said Mela, half reproachful, half proud of this attitude of + Christine. “Well, I don't see but what we got to stay at home.” + She laughed at this lame conclusion of the matter. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps Mr. Conrad—you could very properly take him without + an express invitation—” Mrs. Mandel began. + </p> + <p> + Conrad looked up in alarm and protest. “I—I don't think + I could go that evening—” + </p> + <p> + “What's the reason?” his father broke in, harshly. + “You're not such a sheep that you're afraid to go into + company with your sisters? Or are you too good to go with them?” + </p> + <p> + “If it's to be anything like that night when them hussies come + out and danced that way,” said Mrs. Dryfoos, “I don't + blame Coonrod for not wantun' to go. I never saw the beat of it.” + </p> + <p> + Mela sent a yelling laugh across the table to her mother. “Well, I + wish Miss Vance could 'a' heard that! Why, mother, did you + think it like the ballet?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I didn't know, Mely, child,” said the old woman. + “I didn't know what it was like. I hain't never been to + one, and you can't be too keerful where you go, in a place like New + York.” + </p> + <p> + “What's the reason you can't go?” Dryfoos ignored + the passage between his wife and daughter in making this demand of his + son, with a sour face. + </p> + <p> + “I have an engagement that night—it's one of our + meetings.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon you can let your meeting go for one night,” said + Dryfoos. “It can't be so important as all that, that you must + disappoint your sisters.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't like to disappoint those poor creatures. They depend + so much upon the meetings—” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon they can stand it for one night,” said the old man. + He added, “The poor ye have with you always.” + </p> + <p> + “That's so, Coonrod,” said his mother. “It's + the Saviour's own words.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, mother. But they're not meant just as father used them.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know how they were meant? Or how I used them?” + cried the father. “Now you just make your plans to go with the + girls, Tuesday night. They can't go alone, and Mrs. Mandel can't + go with them.” + </p> + <p> + “Pshaw!” said Mela. “We don't want to take Conrad + away from his meetun', do we, Chris?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Christine, in her high, fine voice. + “They could get along without him for one night, as father says.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm not a-goun' to take him,” said Mela. + “Now, Mrs. Mandel, just think out some other way. Say! What's + the reason we couldn't get somebody else to take us just as well? + Ain't that rulable?” + </p> + <p> + “It would be allowable—” + </p> + <p> + “Allowable, I mean,” Mela corrected herself. + </p> + <p> + “But it might look a little significant, unless it was some old + family friend.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, let's get Mr. Fulkerson to take us. He's the + oldest family friend we got.” + </p> + <p> + “I won't go with Mr. Fulkerson,” said Christine, + serenely. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I'm sure, Christine,” her mother pleaded, “Mr. + Fulkerson is a very good young man, and very nice appearun'.” + </p> + <p> + Mela shouted, “He's ten times as pleasant as that old Mr. + Beaton of Christine's!” + </p> + <p> + Christine made no effort to break the constraint that fell upon the table + at this sally, but her father said: “Christine is right, Mela. It + wouldn't do for you to go with any other young man. Conrad will go + with you.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not certain I want to go, yet,” said Christine. + </p> + <p> + “Well, settle that among yourselves. But if you want to go, your + brother will go with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, Coonrod 'll go, if his sisters wants him to,” + the old woman pleaded. “I reckon it ain't agoun' to be + anything very bad; and if it is, Coonrod, why you can just git right up + and come out.” + </p> + <p> + “It will be all right, mother. And I will go, of course.” + </p> + <p> + “There, now, I knowed you would, Coonrod. Now, fawther!” This + appeal was to make the old man say something in recognition of Conrad's + sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + “You'll always find,” he said, “that it's + those of your own household that have the first claim on you.” + </p> + <p> + “That's so, Coonrod,” urged his mother. “It's + Bible truth. Your fawther ain't a perfesser, but he always did read + his Bible. Search the Scriptures. That's what it means.” + </p> + <p> + “Laws!” cried Mely, “a body can see, easy enough from + mother, where Conrad's wantun' to be a preacher comes from. I + should 'a' thought she'd 'a' wanted to been + one herself.” + </p> + <p> + “Let your women keep silence in the churches,” said the old + woman, solemnly. + </p> + <p> + “There you go again, mother! I guess if you was to say that to some + of the lady ministers nowadays, you'd git yourself into trouble.” + Mela looked round for approval, and gurgled out a hoarse laugh. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0053" id="link2H_4_0053"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + The Dryfooses went late to Mrs. Horn's musicale, in spite of Mrs. + Mandel's advice. Christine made the delay, both because she wished + to show Miss Vance that she was (not) anxious, and because she had some + vague notion of the distinction of arriving late at any sort of + entertainment. Mrs. Mandel insisted upon the difference between this + musicale and an ordinary reception; but Christine rather fancied + disturbing a company that had got seated, and perhaps making people rise + and stand, while she found her way to her place, as she had seen them do + for a tardy comer at the theatre. + </p> + <p> + Mela, whom she did not admit to her reasons or feelings always, followed + her with the servile admiration she had for all that Christine did; and + she took on trust as somehow successful the result of Christine's + obstinacy, when they were allowed to stand against the wall at the back of + the room through the whole of the long piece begun just before they came + in. There had been no one to receive them; a few people, in the rear rows + of chairs near them, turned their heads to glance at them, and then looked + away again. Mela had her misgivings; but at the end of the piece Miss + Vance came up to them at once, and then Mela knew that she had her eyes on + them all the time, and that Christine must have been right. Christine said + nothing about their coming late, and so Mela did not make any excuse, and + Miss Vance seemed to expect none. She glanced with a sort of surprise at + Conrad, when Christine introduced him; Mela did not know whether she liked + their bringing him, till she shook hands with him, and said: “Oh, I + am very glad indeed! Mr. Dryfoos and I have met before.” Without + explaining where or when, she led them to her aunt and presented them, and + then said, “I'm going to put you with some friends of yours,” + and quickly seated them next the Marches. Mela liked that well enough; she + thought she might have some joking with Mr. March, for all his wife was so + stiff; but the look which Christine wore seemed to forbid, provisionally + at least, any such recreation. On her part, Christine was cool with the + Marches. It went through her mind that they must have told Miss Vance they + knew her; and perhaps they had boasted of her intimacy. She relaxed a + little toward them when she saw Beaton leaning against the wall at the end + of the row next Mrs. March. Then she conjectured that he might have told + Miss Vance of her acquaintance with the Marches, and she bent forward and + nodded to Mrs. March across Conrad, Mela, and Mr. March. She conceived of + him as a sort of hand of her father's, but she was willing to take + them at their apparent social valuation for the time. She leaned back in + her chair, and did not look up at Beaton after the first furtive glance, + though she felt his eyes on her. + </p> + <p> + The music began again almost at once, before Mela had time to make Conrad + tell her where Miss Vance had met him before. She would not have minded + interrupting the music; but every one else seemed so attentive, even + Christine, that she had not the courage. The concert went onto an end + without realizing for her the ideal of pleasure which one ought to find in + society. She was not exacting, but it seemed to her there were very few + young men, and when the music was over, and their opportunity came to be + sociable, they were not very sociable. They were not introduced, for one + thing; but it appeared to Mela that they might have got introduced, if + they had any sense; she saw them looking at her, and she was glad she had + dressed so much; she was dressed more than any other lady there, and + either because she was the most dressed of any person there, or because it + had got around who her father was, she felt that she had made an + impression on the young men. In her satisfaction with this, and from her + good nature, she was contented to be served with her refreshments after + the concert by Mr. March, and to remain joking with him. She was at her + ease; she let her hoarse voice out in her largest laugh; she accused him, + to the admiration of those near, of getting her into a perfect gale. It + appeared to her, in her own pleasure, her mission to illustrate to the + rather subdued people about her what a good time really was, so that they + could have it if they wanted it. Her joy was crowned when March modestly + professed himself unworthy to monopolize her, and explained how selfish he + felt in talking to a young lady when there were so many young men dying to + do so. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, pshaw, dyun', yes!” cried Mela, tasting the irony. + “I guess I see them!” + </p> + <p> + He asked if he might really introduce a friend of his to her, and she + said, Well, yes, if he thought he could live to get to her; and March + brought up a man whom he thought very young and Mela thought very old. He + was a contributor to 'Every Other Week,' and so March knew + him; he believed himself a student of human nature in behalf of + literature, and he now set about studying Mela. He tempted her to express + her opinion on all points, and he laughed so amiably at the boldness and + humorous vigor of her ideas that she was delighted with him. She asked him + if he was a New-Yorker by birth; and she told him she pitied him, when he + said he had never been West. She professed herself perfectly sick of New + York, and urged him to go to Moffitt if he wanted to see a real live town. + He wondered if it would do to put her into literature just as she was, + with all her slang and brag, but he decided that he would have to subdue + her a great deal: he did not see how he could reconcile the facts of her + conversation with the facts of her appearance: her beauty, her splendor of + dress, her apparent right to be where she was. These things perplexed him; + he was afraid the great American novel, if true, must be incredible. Mela + said he ought to hear her sister go on about New York when they first + came; but she reckoned that Christine was getting so she could put up with + it a little better, now. She looked significantly across the room to the + place where Christine was now talking with Beaton; and the student of + human nature asked, Was she here? and, Would she introduce him? Mela said + she would, the first chance she got; and she added, They would be much + pleased to have him call. She felt herself to be having a beautiful time, + and she got directly upon such intimate terms with the student of human + nature that she laughed with him about some peculiarities of his, such as + his going so far about to ask things he wanted to know from her; she said + she never did believe in beating about the bush much. She had noticed the + same thing in Miss Vance when she came to call that day; and when the + young man owned that he came rather a good deal to Mrs. Horn's + house, she asked him, Well, what sort of a girl was Miss Vance, anyway, + and where did he suppose she had met her brother? The student of human + nature could not say as to this, and as to Miss Vance he judged it safest + to treat of the non-society side of her character, her activity in + charity, her special devotion to the work among the poor on the East Side, + which she personally engaged in. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's where Conrad goes, too!” Mela interrupted. + “I'll bet anything that's where she met him. I wisht I + could tell Christine! But I suppose she would want to kill me, if I was to + speak to her now.” + </p> + <p> + The student of human nature said, politely, “Oh, shall I take you to + her?” + </p> + <p> + Mela answered, “I guess you better not!” with a laugh so + significant that he could not help his inferences concerning both + Christine's absorption in the person she was talking with and the + habitual violence of her temper. He made note of how Mela helplessly spoke + of all her family by their names, as if he were already intimate with + them; he fancied that if he could get that in skillfully, it would be a + valuable color in his study; the English lord whom she should astonish + with it began to form himself out of the dramatic nebulosity in his mind, + and to whirl on a definite orbit in American society. But he was puzzled + to decide whether Mela's willingness to take him into her confidence + on short notice was typical or personal: the trait of a daughter of the + natural-gas millionaire, or a foible of her own. + </p> + <p> + Beaton talked with Christine the greater part of the evening that was left + after the concert. He was very grave, and took the tone of a fatherly + friend; he spoke guardedly of the people present, and moderated the + severity of some of Christine's judgments of their looks and + costumes. He did this out of a sort of unreasoned allegiance to Margaret, + whom he was in the mood of wishing to please by being very kind and good, + as she always was. He had the sense also of atoning by this behavior for + some reckless things he had said before that to Christine; he put on a + sad, reproving air with her, and gave her the feeling of being held in + check. + </p> + <p> + She chafed at it, and said, glancing at Margaret in talk with her brother, + “I don't think Miss Vance is so very pretty, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “I never think whether she's pretty or not,” said + Beaton, with dreamy, affectation. “She is merely perfect. Does she + know your brother?” + </p> + <p> + “So she says. I didn't suppose Conrad ever went anywhere, + except to tenement-houses.” + </p> + <p> + “It might have been there,” Beaton suggested. “She goes + among friendless people everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + “Maybe that's the reason she came to see us!” said + Christine. + </p> + <p> + Beaton looked at her with his smouldering eyes, and felt the wish to say, + “Yes, it was exactly that,” but he only allowed himself to + deny the possibility of any such motive in that case. He added: “I + am so glad you know her, Miss Dryfoos. I never met Miss Vance without + feeling myself better and truer, somehow; or the wish to be so.” + </p> + <p> + “And you think we might be improved, too?” Christine retorted. + “Well, I must say you're not very flattering, Mr. Beaton, + anyway.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton would have liked to answer her according to her cattishness, with a + good clawing sarcasm that would leave its smart in her pride; but he was + being good, and he could not change all at once. Besides, the girl's + attitude under the social honor done her interested him. He was sure she + had never been in such good company before, but he could see that she was + not in the least affected by the experience. He had told her who this + person and that was; and he saw she had understood that the names were of + consequence; but she seemed to feel her equality with them all. Her + serenity was not obviously akin to the savage stoicism in which Beaton hid + his own consciousness of social inferiority; but having won his way in the + world so far by his talent, his personal quality, he did not conceive the + simple fact in her case. Christine was self-possessed because she felt + that a knowledge of her father's fortune had got around, and she had + the peace which money gives to ignorance; but Beaton attributed her poise + to indifference to social values. This, while he inwardly sneered at it, + avenged him upon his own too keen sense of them, and, together with his + temporary allegiance to Margaret's goodness, kept him from + retaliating Christine's vulgarity. He said, “I don't see + how that could be,” and left the question of flattery to settle + itself. + </p> + <p> + The people began to go away, following each other up to take leave of Mrs. + Horn. Christine watched them with unconcern, and either because she would + not be governed by the general movement, or because she liked being with + Beaton, gave no sign of going. Mela was still talking to the student of + human nature, sending out her laugh in deep gurgles amid the unimaginable + confidences she was making him about herself, her family, the staff of + 'Every Other Week,' Mrs. Mandel, and the kind of life they had + all led before she came to them. He was not a blind devotee of art for art's + sake, and though he felt that if one could portray Mela just as she was + she would be the richest possible material, he was rather ashamed to know + some of the things she told him; and he kept looking anxiously about for a + chance of escape. The company had reduced itself to the Dryfoos groups and + some friends of Mrs. Horn's who had the right to linger, when + Margaret crossed the room with Conrad to Christine and Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “I'm so glad, Miss Dryfoos, to find that I was not quite a + stranger to you all when I ventured to call, the other day. Your brother + and I are rather old acquaintances, though I never knew who he was before. + I don't know just how to say we met where he is valued so much. I + suppose I mustn't try to say how much,” she added, with a look + of deep regard at him. + </p> + <p> + Conrad blushed and stood folding his arms tight over his breast, while his + sister received Margaret's confession with the suspicion which was + her first feeling in regard to any new thing. What she concluded was that + this girl was trying to get in with them, for reasons of her own. She + said: “Yes; it's the first I ever heard of his knowing you. He's + so much taken up with his meetings, he didn't want to come to-night.” + </p> + <p> + Margaret drew in her lip before she answered, without apparent resentment + of the awkwardness or ungraciousness, whichever she found it: “I don't + wonder! You become so absorbed in such work that you think nothing else is + worth while. But I'm glad Mr. Dryfoos could come with you; I'm + so glad you could all come; I knew you would enjoy the music. Do sit down—” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Christine, bluntly; “we must be going. Mela!” + she called out, “come!” + </p> + <p> + The last group about Mrs. Horn looked round, but Christine advanced upon + them undismayed, and took the hand Mrs. Horn promptly gave her. “Well, + I must bid you good-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, good-night,” murmured the elder lady. “So very kind + of you to come.” + </p> + <p> + “I've had the best kind of a time,” said Mela, + cordially. “I hain't laughed so much, I don't know when.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it,” said Mrs. Horn, in the + same polite murmur she had used with Christine; but she said nothing to + either sister about any future meeting. + </p> + <p> + They were apparently not troubled. Mela said over her shoulder to the + student of human nature, “The next time I see you I'll give it + to you for what you said about Moffitt.” + </p> + <p> + Margaret made some entreating paces after them, but she did not succeed in + covering the retreat of the sisters against critical conjecture. She could + only say to Conrad, as if recurring to the subject, “I hope we can + get our friends to play for us some night. I know it isn't any real + help, but such things take the poor creatures out of themselves for the + time being, don't you think?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” he answered. “They're good in that way.” + He turned back hesitatingly to Mrs. Horn, and said, with a blush, “I + thank you for a happy evening.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I am very glad,” she replied, in her murmur. + </p> + <p> + One of the old friends of the house arched her eyebrows in saying + good-night, and offered the two young men remaining seats home in her + carriage. Beaton gloomily refused, and she kept herself from asking the + student of human nature, till she had got him into her carriage, “What + is Moffitt, and what did you say about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Now you see, Margaret,” said Mrs. Horn, with bated triumph, + when the people were all gone. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I see,” the girl consented. “From one point of + view, of course it's been a failure. I don't think we've + given Miss Dryfoos a pleasure, but perhaps nobody could. And at least we've + given her the opportunity of enjoying herself.” + </p> + <p> + “Such people,” said Mrs. Horn, philosophically, “people + with their money, must of course be received sooner or later. You can't + keep them out. Only, I believe I would rather let some one else begin with + them. The Leightons didn't come?” + </p> + <p> + “I sent them cards. I couldn't call again.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Horn sighed a little. “I suppose Mr. Dryfoos is one of your + fellow-philanthropists?” + </p> + <p> + “He's one of the workers,” said Margaret. “I met + him several times at the Hall, but I only knew his first name. I think he's + a great friend of Father Benedict; he seems devoted to the work. Don't + you think he looks good?” + </p> + <p> + “Very,” said Mrs. Horn, with a color of censure in her assent. + “The younger girl seemed more amiable than her sister. But what + manners!” + </p> + <p> + “Dreadful!” said Margaret, with knit brows, and a pursed mouth + of humorous suffering. “But she appeared to feel very much at home.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, as to that, neither of them was much abashed. Do you suppose + Mr. Beaton gave the other one some hints for that quaint dress of hers? I + don't imagine that black and lace is her own invention. She seems to + have some sort of strange fascination for him.” + </p> + <p> + “She's very picturesque,” Margaret explained. “And + artists see points in people that the rest of us don't.” + </p> + <p> + “Could it be her money?” Mrs. Horn insinuated. “He must + be very poor.” + </p> + <p> + “But he isn't base,” retorted the girl, with a generous + indignation that made her aunt smile. + </p> + <p> + “Oh no; but if he fancies her so picturesque, it doesn't + follow that he would object to her being rich.” + </p> + <p> + “It would with a man like Mr. Beaton!” + </p> + <p> + “You are an idealist, Margaret. I suppose your Mr. March has some + disinterested motive in paying court to Miss Mela—Pamela, I suppose, + is her name. He talked to her longer than her literature would have + lasted.” + </p> + <p> + “He seems a very kind person,” said Margaret. + </p> + <p> + “And Mr. Dryfoos pays his salary?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know anything about that. But that wouldn't + make any difference with him.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Horn laughed out at this security; but she was not displeased by the + nobleness which it came from. She liked Margaret to be high-minded, and + was really not distressed by any good that was in her. + </p> + <p> + The Marches walked home, both because it was not far, and because they + must spare in carriage hire at any rate. As soon as they were out of the + house, she applied a point of conscience to him. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see how you could talk to that girl so long, Basil, + and make her laugh so.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, there seemed no one else to do it, till I thought of + Kendricks.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but I kept thinking, Now he's pleasant to her because he + thinks it's to his interest. If she had no relation to 'Every + Other Week,' he wouldn't waste his time on her.” + </p> + <p> + “Isabel,” March complained, “I wish you wouldn't + think of me in he, him, and his; I never personalize you in my thoughts: + you remain always a vague unindividualized essence, not quite without form + and void, but nounless and pronounless. I call that a much more beautiful + mental attitude toward the object of one's affections. But if you + must he and him and his me in your thoughts, I wish you'd have more + kindly thoughts of me.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you deny that it's true, Basil?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you believe that it's true, Isabel?” + </p> + <p> + “No matter. But could you excuse it if it were?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I see you'd have been capable of it in my place, and you're + ashamed.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” sighed the wife, “I'm afraid that I should. + But tell me that you wouldn't, Basil!” + </p> + <p> + “I can tell you that I wasn't. But I suppose that in a real + exigency, I could truckle to the proprietary Dryfooses as well as you.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no; you mustn't, dear! I'm a woman, and I'm + dreadfully afraid. But you must always be a man, especially with that + horrid old Mr. Dryfoos. Promise me that you'll never yield the least + point to him in a matter of right and wrong!” + </p> + <p> + “Not if he's right and I'm wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't trifle, dear! You know what I mean. Will you promise?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll promise to submit the point to you, and let you do the + yielding. As for me, I shall be adamant. Nothing I like better.” + </p> + <p> + “They're dreadful, even that poor, good young fellow, who's + so different from all the rest; he's awful, too, because you feel + that he's a martyr to them.” + </p> + <p> + “And I never did like martyrs a great deal,” March interposed. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder how they came to be there,” Mrs. March pursued, + unmindful of his joke. + </p> + <p> + “That is exactly what seemed to be puzzling Miss Mela about us. She + asked, and I explained as well as I could; and then she told me that Miss + Vance had come to call on them and invited them; and first they didn't + know how they could come till they thought of making Conrad bring them. + But she didn't say why Miss Vance called on them. Mr. Dryfoos doesn't + employ her on 'Every Other Week.' But I suppose she has her + own vile little motive.” + </p> + <p> + “It can't be their money; it can't be!” sighed + Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. We all respect money.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but Miss Vance's position is so secure. She needn't + pay court to those stupid, vulgar people.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, let's console ourselves with the belief that she would, + if she needed. Such people as the Dryfooses are the raw material of good + society. It isn't made up of refined or meritorious people—professors + and litterateurs, ministers and musicians, and their families. All the + fashionable people there to-night were like the Dryfooses a generation or + two ago. I dare say the material works up faster now, and in a season or + two you won't know the Dryfooses from the other plutocrats. THEY + will—a little better than they do now; they'll see a + difference, but nothing radical, nothing painful. People who get up in the + world by service to others—through letters, or art, or science—may + have their modest little misgivings as to their social value, but people + that rise by money—especially if their gains are sudden—never + have. And that's the kind of people that form our nobility; there's + no use pretending that we haven't a nobility; we might as well + pretend we haven't first-class cars in the presence of a vestibuled + Pullman. Those girls had no more doubt of their right to be there than if + they had been duchesses: we thought it was very nice of Miss Vance to come + and ask us, but they didn't; they weren't afraid, or the least + embarrassed; they were perfectly natural—like born aristocrats. And + you may be sure that if the plutocracy that now owns the country ever sees + fit to take on the outward signs of an aristocracy—titles, and arms, + and ancestors—it won't falter from any inherent question of + its worth. Money prizes and honors itself, and if there is anything it + hasn't got, it believes it can buy it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Basil,” said his wife, “I hope you won't + get infected with Lindau's ideas of rich people. Some of them are + very good and kind.” + </p> + <p> + “Who denies that? Not even Lindau himself. It's all right. And + the great thing is that the evening's enjoyment is over. I've + got my society smile off, and I'm radiantly happy. Go on with your + little pessimistic diatribes, Isabel; you can't spoil my pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + “I could see,” said Mela, as she and Christine drove home + together, “that she was as jealous as she could be, all the time you + was talkun' to Mr. Beaton. She pretended to be talkun' to + Conrad, but she kep' her eye on you pretty close, I can tell you. I + bet she just got us there to see how him and you would act together. And I + reckon she was satisfied. He's dead gone on you, Chris.” + </p> + <p> + Christine listened with a dreamy pleasure to the flatteries with which + Mela plied her in the hope of some return in kind, and not at all because + she felt spitefully toward Miss Vance, or in anywise wished her ill. + “Who was that fellow with you so long?” asked Christine. + “I suppose you turned yourself inside out to him, like you always + do.” + </p> + <p> + Mela was transported by the cruel ingratitude. “It's a lie! I + didn't tell him a single thing.” + </p> + <p> + Conrad walked home, choosing to do so because he did not wish to hear his + sisters' talk of the evening, and because there was a tumult in his + spirit which he wished to let have its way. In his life with its single + purpose, defeated by stronger wills than his own, and now struggling + partially to fulfil itself in acts of devotion to others, the thought of + women had entered scarcely more than in that of a child. His ideals were + of a virginal vagueness; faces, voices, gestures had filled his fancy at + times, but almost passionately; and the sensation that he now indulged was + a kind of worship, ardent, but reverent and exalted. The brutal + experiences of the world make us forget that there are such natures in it, + and that they seem to come up out of the lowly earth as well as down from + the high heaven. In the heart of this man well on toward thirty there had + never been left the stain of a base thought; not that suggestion and + conjecture had not visited him, but that he had not entertained them, or + in any-wise made them his. In a Catholic age and country, he would have + been one of those monks who are sainted after death for the angelic purity + of their lives, and whose names are invoked by believers in moments of + trial, like San Luigi Gonzaga. As he now walked along thinking, with a + lover's beatified smile on his face, of how Margaret Vance had + spoken and looked, he dramatized scenes in which he approved himself to + her by acts of goodness and unselfishness, and died to please her for the + sake of others. He made her praise him for them, to his face, when he + disclaimed their merit, and after his death, when he could not. All the + time he was poignantly sensible of her grace, her elegance, her style; + they seemed to intoxicate him; some tones of her voice thrilled through + his nerves, and some looks turned his brain with a delicious, swooning + sense of her beauty; her refinement bewildered him. But all this did not + admit the idea of possession, even of aspiration. At the most his worship + only set her beyond the love of other men as far as beyond his own. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Affectional habit + Brag of his wife, as a good husband always does + But when we make that money here, no one loses it + Courage hadn't been put to the test + Family buryin' grounds + Homage which those who have not pay to those who have + Hurry up and git well—or something + Made money and do not yet know that money has made them + Society: All its favors are really bargains + Wages are the measure of necessity and not of merit + Without realizing his cruelty, treated as a child +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART4a" id="link2H_PART4a"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART FOURTH + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0055" id="link2H_4_0055"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + Not long after Lent, Fulkerson set before Dryfoos one day his scheme for a + dinner in celebration of the success of 'Every Other Week.' + Dryfoos had never meddled in any manner with the conduct of the + periodical; but Fulkerson easily saw that he was proud of his relation to + it, and he proceeded upon the theory that he would be willing to have this + relation known: On the days when he had been lucky in stocks, he was apt + to drop in at the office on Eleventh Street, on his way up-town, and + listen to Fulkerson's talk. He was on good enough terms with March, + who revised his first impressions of the man, but they had not much to say + to each other, and it seemed to March that Dryfoos was even a little + afraid of him, as of a piece of mechanism he had acquired, but did not + quite understand; he left the working of it to Fulkerson, who no doubt + bragged of it sufficiently. The old man seemed to have as little to say to + his son; he shut himself up with Fulkerson, where the others could hear + the manager begin and go on with an unstinted flow of talk about 'Every + Other Week;' for Fulkerson never talked of anything else if he could + help it, and was always bringing the conversation back to it if it + strayed: + </p> + <p> + The day he spoke of the dinner he rose and called from his door: “March, + I say, come down here a minute, will you? Conrad, I want you, too.” + </p> + <p> + The editor and the publisher found the manager and the proprietor seated + on opposite sides of the table. “It's about those funeral + baked meats, you know,” Fulkerson explained, “and I was trying + to give Mr. Dryfoos some idea of what we wanted to do. That is, what I + wanted to do,” he continued, turning from March to Dryfoos. “March, + here, is opposed to it, of course. He'd like to publish 'Every + Other Week' on the sly; keep it out of the papers, and off the + newsstands; he's a modest Boston petunia, and he shrinks from + publicity; but I am not that kind of herb myself, and I want all the + publicity we can get—beg, borrow, or steal—for this thing. I + say that you can't work the sacred rites of hospitality in a better + cause, and what I propose is a little dinner for the purpose of + recognizing the hit we've made with this thing. My idea was to + strike you for the necessary funds, and do the thing on a handsome scale. + The term little dinner is a mere figure of speech. A little dinner wouldn't + make a big talk, and what we want is the big talk, at present, if we don't + lay up a cent. My notion was that pretty soon after Lent, now, when + everybody is feeling just right, we should begin to send out our + paragraphs, affirmative, negative, and explanatory, and along about the + first of May we should sit down about a hundred strong, the most + distinguished people in the country, and solemnize our triumph. There it + is in a nutshell. I might expand and I might expound, but that's the + sum and substance of it.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson stopped, and ran his eyes eagerly over the faces of his three + listeners, one after the other. March was a little surprised when Dryfoos + turned to him, but that reference of the question seemed to give Fulkerson + particular pleasure: “What do you think, Mr. March?” + </p> + <p> + The editor leaned back in his chair. “I don't pretend to have + Mr. Fulkerson's genius for advertising; but it seems to me a little + early yet. We might celebrate later when we've got more to + celebrate. At present we're a pleasing novelty, rather than a fixed + fact.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you don't get the idea!” said Fulkerson. “What + we want to do with this dinner is to fix the fact.” + </p> + <p> + “Am I going to come in anywhere?” the old man interrupted. + </p> + <p> + “You're going to come in at the head of the procession! We are + going to strike everything that is imaginative and romantic in the + newspaper soul with you and your history and your fancy for going in for + this thing. I can start you in a paragraph that will travel through all + the newspapers, from Maine to Texas and from Alaska to Florida. We have + had all sorts of rich men backing up literary enterprises, but the + natural-gas man in literature is a new thing, and the combination of your + picturesque past and your aesthetic present is something that will knock + out the sympathies of the American public the first round. I feel,” + said Fulkerson, with a tremor of pathos in his voice, “that 'Every + Other Week' is at a disadvantage before the public as long as it's + supposed to be my enterprise, my idea. As far as I'm known at all, I'm + known simply as a syndicate man, and nobody in the press believes that I've + got the money to run the thing on a grand scale; a suspicion of insolvency + must attach to it sooner or later, and the fellows on the press will work + up that impression, sooner or later, if we don't give them something + else to work up. Now, as soon as I begin to give it away to the + correspondents that you're in it, with your untold millions—that, + in fact, it was your idea from the start, that you originated it to give + full play to the humanitarian tendencies of Conrad here, who's + always had these theories of co-operation, and longed to realize them for + the benefit of our struggling young writers and artists—” + </p> + <p> + March had listened with growing amusement to the mingled burlesque and + earnest of Fulkerson's self-sacrificing impudence, and with wonder + as to how far Dryfoos was consenting to his preposterous proposition, when + Conrad broke out: “Mr. Fulkerson, I could not allow you to do that. + It would not be true; I did not wish to be here; and—and what I + think—what I wish to do—that is something I will not let any + one put me in a false position about. No!” The blood rushed into the + young man's gentle face, and he met his father's glance with + defiance. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos turned from him to Fulkerson without speaking, and Fulkerson said, + caressingly: “Why, of course, Coonrod! I know how you feel, and I + shouldn't let anything of that sort go out uncontradicted afterward. + But there isn't anything in these times that would give us better + standing with the public than some hint of the way you feel about such + things. The public expects to be interested, and nothing would interest it + more than to be told that the success of 'Every Other Week' + sprang from the first application of the principle of Live and let Live to + a literary enterprise. It would look particularly well, coming from you + and your father, but if you object, we can leave that part out; though if + you approve of the principle I don't see why you need object. The + main thing is to let the public know that it owes this thing to the + liberal and enlightened spirit of one of the foremost capitalists of the + country; and that his purposes are not likely to be betrayed in the hands + of his son, I should get a little cut made from a photograph of your + father, and supply it gratis with the paragraphs.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess,” said the old man, “we will get along without + the cut.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed. “Well, well! Have it your own way, But the sight + of your face in the patent outsides of the country press would be worth + half a dozen subscribers in every school district throughout the length + and breadth of this fair land.” + </p> + <p> + “There was a fellow,” Dryfoos explained, in an aside to March, + “that was getting up a history of Moffitt, and he asked me to let + him put a steel engraving of me in. He said a good many prominent citizens + were going to have theirs in, and his price was a hundred and fifty + dollars. I told him I couldn't let mine go for less than two + hundred, and when he said he could give me a splendid plate for that + money, I said I should want it cash. You never saw a fellow more + astonished when he got it through him. that I expected him to pay the two + hundred.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed in keen appreciation of the joke. “Well, sir, I + guess 'Every Other Week' will pay you that much. But if you + won't sell at any price, all right; we must try to worry along + without the light of your countenance on the posters, but we got to have + it for the banquet.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't seem to feel very hungry, yet,” said they old + man, dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, 'l'appetit vient en mangeant', as our French + friends say. You'll be hungry enough when you see the preliminary + Little Neck clam. It's too late for oysters.” + </p> + <p> + “Doesn't that fact seem to point to a postponement till they + get back, sometime in October,” March suggested. + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” said Fulkerson, “you don't catch on to + the business end of this thing, my friends. You're proceeding on + something like the old exploded idea that the demand creates the supply, + when everybody knows, if he's watched the course of modern events, + that it's just as apt to be the other way. I contend that we've + got a real substantial success to celebrate now; but even if we hadn't, + the celebration would do more than anything else to create the success, if + we got it properly before the public. People will say: Those fellows are + not fools; they wouldn't go and rejoice over their magazine unless + they had got a big thing in it. And the state of feeling we should produce + in the public mind would make a boom of perfectly unprecedented grandeur + for E. O. W. Heigh?” + </p> + <p> + He looked sunnily from one to the other in succession. The elder Dryfoos + said, with his chin on the top of his stick, “I reckon those Little + Neck clams will keep.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, just as you say,” Fulkerson cheerfully assented. + “I understand you to agree to the general principle of a little + dinner?” + </p> + <p> + “The smaller the better,” said the old man. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I say a little dinner because the idea of that seems to cover + the case, even if we vary the plan a little. I had thought of a reception, + maybe, that would include the lady contributors and artists, and the wives + and daughters of the other contributors. That would give us the chance to + ring in a lot of society correspondents and get the thing written up in + first-class shape. By-the-way!” cried Fulkerson, slapping himself on + the leg, “why not have the dinner and the reception both?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand,” said Dryfoos. + </p> + <p> + “Why, have a select little dinner for ten or twenty choice spirits + of the male persuasion, and then, about ten o'clock, throw open your + palatial drawing-rooms and admit the females to champagne, salads, and + ices. It is the very thing! Come!” + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of it, Mr. March?” asked Dryfoos, on whose + social inexperience Fulkerson's words projected no very intelligible + image, and who perhaps hoped for some more light. + </p> + <p> + “It's a beautiful vision,” said March, “and if it + will take more time to realize it I think I approve. I approve of anything + that will delay Mr. Fulkerson's advertising orgie.” + </p> + <p> + “Then,” Fulkerson pursued, “we could have the pleasure + of Miss Christine and Miss Mela's company; and maybe Mrs. Dryfoos + would look in on us in the course of the evening. There's no hurry, + as Mr. March suggests, if we can give the thing this shape. I will + cheerfully adopt the idea of my honorable colleague.” + </p> + <p> + March laughed at his impudence, but at heart he was ashamed of Fulkerson + for proposing to make use of Dryfoos and his house in that way. He fancied + something appealing in the look that the old man turned on him, and + something indignant in Conrad's flush; but probably this was only + his fancy. He reflected that neither of them could feel it as people of + more worldly knowledge would, and he consoled himself with the fact that + Fulkerson was really not such a charlatan as he seemed. But it went + through his mind that this was a strange end for all Dryfoos's + money-making to come to; and he philosophically accepted the fact of his + own humble fortunes when he reflected how little his money could buy for + such a man. It was an honorable use that Fulkerson was putting it to in + 'Every Other Week;' it might be far more creditably spent on + such an enterprise than on horses, or wines, or women, the usual resources + of the brute rich; and if it were to be lost, it might better be lost that + way than in stocks. He kept a smiling face turned to Dryfoos while these + irreverent considerations occupied him, and hardened his heart against + father and son and their possible emotions. + </p> + <p> + The old man rose to put an end to the interview. He only repeated, “I + guess those clams will keep till fall.” + </p> + <p> + But Fulkerson was apparently satisfied with the progress he had made; and + when he joined March for the stroll homeward after office hours, he was + able to detach his mind from the subject, as if content to leave it. + </p> + <p> + “This is about the best part of the year in New York,” he + said; In some of the areas the grass had sprouted, and the tender young + foliage had loosened itself froze the buds on a sidewalk tree here and + there; the soft air was full of spring, and the delicate sky, far aloof, + had the look it never wears at any other season. “It ain't a + time of year to complain much of, anywhere; but I don't want + anything better than the month of May in New York. Farther South it's + too hot, and I've been in Boston in May when that east wind of yours + made every nerve in my body get up and howl. I reckon the weather has a + good deal to do with the local temperament. The reason a New York man + takes life so easily with all his rush is that his climate don't + worry him. But a Boston man must be rasped the whole while by the edge in + his air. That accounts for his sharpness; and when he's lived + through twenty-five or thirty Boston Mays, he gets to thinking that + Providence has some particular use for him, or he wouldn't have + survived, and that makes him conceited. See?” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said March. “But I don't know how you're + going to work that idea into an advertisement, exactly.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, pahaw, now, March! You don't think I've got that on + the brain all the time?” + </p> + <p> + “You were gradually leading up to 'Every Other Week', + somehow.” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir; I wasn't. I was just thinking what a different + creature a Massachusetts man is from a Virginian. And yet I suppose they're + both as pure English stock as you'll get anywhere in America. Marsh, + I think Colonel Woodburn's paper is going to make a hit.” + </p> + <p> + “You've got there! When it knocks down the sale about + one-half, I shall know it's made a hit.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not afraid,” said Fulkerson. “That thing is + going to attract attention. It's well written—you can take the + pomposity out of it, here and there and it's novel. Our people like + a bold strike, and it's going to shake them up tremendously to have + serfdom advocated on high moral grounds as the only solution of the labor + problem. You see, in the first place, he goes for their sympathies by the + way he portrays the actual relations of capital and labor; he shows how + things have got to go from bad to worse, and then he trots out his little + old hobby, and proves that if slavery had not been interfered with, it + would have perfected itself in the interest of humanity. He makes a pretty + strong plea for it.” + </p> + <p> + March threw back his head and laughed. “He's converted you! I + swear, Fulkerson, if we had accepted and paid for an article advocating + cannibalism as the only resource for getting rid of the superfluous poor, + you'd begin to believe in it.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson smiled in approval of the joke, and only said: “I wish you + could meet the colonel in the privacy of the domestic circle, March. You'd + like him. He's a splendid old fellow; regular type. Talk about + spring! + </p> + <p> + “You ought to see the widow's little back yard these days. You + know that glass gallery just beyond the dining-room? Those girls have got + the pot-plants out of that, and a lot more, and they've turned the + edges of that back yard, along the fence, into a regular bower; they've + got sweet peas planted, and nasturtiums, and we shall be in a blaze of + glory about the beginning of June. Fun to see 'em work in the + garden, and the bird bossing the job in his cage under the cherry-tree. + Have to keep the middle of the yard for the clothesline, but six days in + the week it's a lawn, and I go over it with a mower myself. March, + there ain't anything like a home, is there? Dear little cot of your + own, heigh? I tell you, March, when I get to pushing that mower round, and + the colonel is smoking his cigar in the gallery, and those girls are + pottering over the flowers, one of these soft evenings after dinner, I + feel like a human being. Yes, I do. I struck it rich when I concluded to + take my meals at the widow's. For eight dollars a week I get good + board, refined society, and all the advantages of a Christian home. + By-the-way, you've never had much talk with Miss Woodburn, have you, + March?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so much as with Miss Woodburn's father.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he is rather apt to scoop the conversation. I must draw his + fire, sometime, when you and Mrs. March are around, and get you a chance + with Miss Woodburn.” + </p> + <p> + “I should like that better, I believe,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I shouldn't wonder if you did. Curious, but Miss + Woodburn isn't at all your idea of a Southern girl. She's got + lots of go; she's never idle a minute; she keeps the old gentleman + in first-class shape, and she don't believe a bit in the slavery + solution of the labor problem; says she's glad it's gone, and + if it's anything like the effects of it, she's glad it went + before her time. No, sir, she's as full of snap as the liveliest + kind of a Northern girl. None of that sunny Southern languor you read + about.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose the typical Southerner, like the typical anything else, + is pretty difficult to find,” said March. “But perhaps Miss + Woodburn represents the new South. The modern conditions must be producing + a modern type.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's what she and the colonel both say. They say + there ain't anything left of that Walter Scott dignity and chivalry + in the rising generation; takes too much time. You ought to see her sketch + the old-school, high-and-mighty manners, as they survive among some of the + antiques in Charlottesburg. If that thing could be put upon the stage it + would be a killing success. Makes the old gentleman laugh in spite of + himself. But he's as proud of her as Punch, anyway. Why don't + you and Mrs. March come round oftener? Look here! How would it do to have + a little excursion, somewhere, after the spring fairly gets in its work?” + </p> + <p> + “Reporters present?” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! Nothing of that kind; perfectly sincere and disinterested + enjoyment.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, a few handbills to be scattered around: 'Buy “Every + Other Week”,' 'Look out for the next number of “Every + Other Week,”' 'Every Other Week at all the news-stands.' + Well, I'll talk it over with Mrs. March. I suppose there's no + great hurry.” + </p> + <p> + March told his wife of the idyllic mood in which he had left Fulkerson at + the widow's door, and she said he must be in love. + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course! I wonder I didn't think of that. But + Fulkerson is such an impartial admirer of the whole sex that you can't + think of his liking one more than another. I don't know that he + showed any unjust partiality, though, in his talk of 'those girls,' + as he called them. And I always rather fancied that Mrs. Mandel—he's + done so much for her, you know; and she is such a well-balanced, + well-preserved person, and so lady-like and correct——” + </p> + <p> + “Fulkerson had the word for her: academic. She's everything + that instruction and discipline can make of a woman; but I shouldn't + think they could make enough of her to be in love with.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. The academic has its charm. There are + moods in which I could imagine myself in love with an academic person. + That regularity of line; that reasoned strictness of contour; that + neatness of pose; that slightly conventional but harmonious grouping of + the emotions and morals—you can see how it would have its charm, the + Wedgwood in human nature? I wonder where Mrs. Mandel keeps her urn and her + willow.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think she might have use for them in that family, poor + thing!” said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that reminds me,” said her husband, “that we had + another talk with the old gentleman, this afternoon, about Fulkerson's + literary, artistic, and advertising orgie, and it's postponed till + October.” + </p> + <p> + “The later the better, I should think,” said Mrs. March, who + did not really think about it at all, but whom the date fixed for it + caused to think of the intervening time. “We have got to consider + what we will do about the summer, before long, Basil.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not yet, not yet,” he pleaded; with that man's + willingness to abide in the present, which is so trying to a woman. + “It's only the end of April.” + </p> + <p> + “It will be the end of June before we know. And these people wanting + the Boston house another year complicates it. We can't spend the + summer there, as we planned.” + </p> + <p> + “They oughtn't to have offered us an increased rent; they have + taken an advantage of us.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that it matters,” said Mrs. March. “I + had decided not to go there.” + </p> + <p> + “Had you? This is a surprise.” + </p> + <p> + “Everything is a surprise to you, Basil, when it happens.” + </p> + <p> + “True; I keep the world fresh, that way.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn't have been any change to go from one city to + another for the summer. We might as well have stayed in New York.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I wish we had stayed,” said March, idly humoring a + conception of the accomplished fact. “Mrs. Green would have let us + have the gimcrackery very cheap for the summer months; and we could have + made all sorts of nice little excursions and trips off and been twice as + well as if we had spent the summer away.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! You know we couldn't spend the summer in New York.” + </p> + <p> + “I know I could.” + </p> + <p> + “What stuff! You couldn't manage.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, I could. I could take my meals at Fulkerson's widow's; + or at Maroni's, with poor old Lindau: he's got to dining there + again. Or, I could keep house, and he could dine with me here.” + </p> + <p> + There was a teasing look in March's eyes, and he broke into a laugh, + at the firmness with which his wife said: “I think if there is to be + any housekeeping, I will stay, too; and help to look after it. I would try + not intrude upon you and your guest.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we should be only too glad to have you join us,” said + March, playing with fire. + </p> + <p> + “Very well, then, I wish you would take him off to Maroni's, + the next time he comes to dine here!” cried his wife. + </p> + <p> + The experiment of making March's old friend free of his house had + not given her all the pleasure that so kind a thing ought to have afforded + so good a woman. She received Lindau at first with robust benevolence, and + the high resolve not to let any of his little peculiarities alienate her + from a sense of his claim upon her sympathy and gratitude, not only as a + man who had been so generously fond of her husband in his youth, but a + hero who had suffered for her country. Her theory was that his mutilation + must not be ignored, but must be kept in mind as a monument of his + sacrifice, and she fortified Bella with this conception, so that the child + bravely sat next his maimed arm at table and helped him to dishes he could + not reach, and cut up his meat for him. As for Mrs. March herself, the + thought of his mutilation made her a little faint; she was not without a + bewildered resentment of its presence as a sort of oppression. She did not + like his drinking so much of March's beer, either; it was no harm, + but it was somehow unworthy, out of character with a hero of the war. But + what she really could not reconcile herself to was the violence of Lindau's + sentiments concerning the whole political and social fabric. She did not + feel sure that he should be allowed to say such things before the + children, who had been nurtured in the faith of Bunker Hill and + Appomattox, as the beginning and the end of all possible progress in human + rights. As a woman she was naturally an aristocrat, but as an American she + was theoretically a democrat; and it astounded, it alarmed her, to hear + American democracy denounced as a shuffling evasion. She had never cared + much for the United States Senate, but she doubted if she ought to sit by + when it was railed at as a rich man's club. It shocked her to be + told that the rich and poor were not equal before the law in a country + where justice must be paid for at every step in fees and costs, or where a + poor man must go to war in his own person, and a rich man might hire + someone to go in his. Mrs. March felt that this rebellious mind in Lindau + really somehow outlawed him from sympathy, and retroactively undid his + past suffering for the country: she had always particularly valued that + provision of the law, because in forecasting all the possible mischances + that might befall her own son, she had been comforted by the thought that + if there ever was another war, and Tom were drafted, his father could buy + him a substitute. Compared with such blasphemy as this, Lindau's + declaration that there was not equality of opportunity in America, and + that fully one-half the people were debarred their right to the pursuit of + happiness by the hopeless conditions of their lives, was flattering + praise. She could not listen to such things in silence, though, and it did + not help matters when Lindau met her arguments with facts and reasons + which she felt she was merely not sufficiently instructed to combat, and + he was not quite gentlemanly to urge. “I am afraid for the effect on + the children,” she said to her husband. “Such perfectly + distorted ideas—Tom will be ruined by them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, let Tom find out where they're false,” said March. + “It will be good exercise for his faculties of research. At any + rate, those things are getting said nowadays; he'll have to hear + them sooner or later.” + </p> + <p> + “Had he better hear them at home?” demanded his wife. + </p> + <p> + “Why, you know, as you're here to refute them, Isabel,” + he teased, “perhaps it's the best place. But don't mind + poor old Lindau, my dear. He says himself that his parg is worse than his + pidte, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, it's too late now to mind him,” she sighed. In a + moment of rash good feeling, or perhaps an exalted conception of duty, she + had herself proposed that Lindau should come every week and read German + with Tom; and it had become a question first how they could get him to + take pay for it, and then how they could get him to stop it. Mrs. March + never ceased to wonder at herself for having brought this about, for she + had warned her husband against making any engagement with Lindau which + would bring him regularly to the house: the Germans stuck so, and were so + unscrupulously dependent. Yet, the deed being done, she would not ignore + the duty of hospitality, and it was always she who made the old man stay + to their Sunday-evening tea when he lingered near the hour, reading + Schiller and Heine and Uhland with the boy, in the clean shirt with which + he observed the day; Lindau's linen was not to be trusted during the + week. She now concluded a season of mournful reflection by saying, “He + will get you into trouble, somehow, Basil.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know how, exactly. I regard Lindau as a + political economist of an unusual type; but I shall not let him array me + against the constituted authorities. Short of that, I think I am safe.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, be careful, Basil; be careful. You know you are so rash.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I may continue to pity him? He is such a poor, lonely old + fellow. Are you really sorry he's come into our lives, my dear?” + </p> + <p> + “No, no; not that. I feel as you do about it; but I wish I felt + easier about him—sure, that is, that we're not doing wrong to + let him keep on talking so.” + </p> + <p> + “I suspect we couldn't help it,” March returned, + lightly. “It's one of what Lindau calls his 'brincibles' + to say what he thinks.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0056" id="link2H_4_0056"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + The Marches had no longer the gross appetite for novelty which urges youth + to a surfeit of strange scenes, experiences, ideas; and makes travel, with + all its annoyances and fatigues, an inexhaustible delight. But there is no + doubt that the chief pleasure of their life in New York was from its + quality of foreignness: the flavor of olives, which, once tasted, can + never be forgotten. The olives may not be of the first excellence; they + may be a little stale, and small and poor, to begin with, but they are + still olives, and the fond palate craves them. The sort which grew in New + York, on lower Sixth Avenue and in the region of Jefferson Market and on + the soft exposures south of Washington Square, were none the less + acceptable because they were of the commonest Italian variety. + </p> + <p> + The Marches spent a good deal of time and money in a grocery of that + nationality, where they found all the patriotic comestibles and potables, + and renewed their faded Italian with the friendly family in charge. + Italian table d'hotes formed the adventure of the week, on the day + when Mrs. March let her domestics go out, and went herself to dine abroad + with her husband and children; and they became adepts in the restaurants + where they were served, and which they varied almost from dinner to + dinner. The perfect decorum of these places, and their immunity from + offence in any, emboldened the Marches to experiment in Spanish + restaurants, where red pepper and beans insisted in every dinner, and + where once they chanced upon a night of 'olla podrida', with + such appeals to March's memory of a boyish ambition to taste the + dish that he became poetic and then pensive over its cabbage and carrots, + peas and bacon. For a rare combination of international motives they + prized most the table d'hote of a French lady, who had taken a + Spanish husband in a second marriage, and had a Cuban negro for her cook, + with a cross-eyed Alsation for waiter, and a slim young South-American for + cashier. March held that something of the catholic character of these + relations expressed itself in the generous and tolerant variety of the + dinner, which was singularly abundant for fifty cents, without wine. At + one very neat French place he got a dinner at the same price with wine, + but it was not so abundant; and March inquired in fruitless speculation + why the table d'hote of the Italians, a notoriously frugal and + abstemious people, should be usually more than you wanted at seventy-five + cents and a dollar, and that of the French rather less at half a dollar. + He could not see that the frequenters were greatly different at the + different places; they were mostly Americans, of subdued manners and + conjecturably subdued fortunes, with here and there a table full of + foreigners. There was no noise and not much smoking anywhere; March liked + going to that neat French place because there Madame sat enthroned and + high behind a 'comptoir' at one side of the room, and + everybody saluted her in going out. It was there that a gentle-looking + young couple used to dine, in whom the Marches became effectlessly + interested, because they thought they looked like that when they were + young. The wife had an aesthetic dress, and defined her pretty head by + wearing her back-hair pulled up very tight under her bonnet; the husband + had dreamy eyes set wide apart under a pure forehead. “They are + artists, August, I think,” March suggested to the waiter, when he + had vainly asked about them. “Oh, hartis, cedenly,” August + consented; but Heaven knows whether they were, or what they were: March + never learned. + </p> + <p> + This immunity from acquaintance, this touch-and go quality in their New + York sojourn, this almost loss of individuality at times, after the + intense identification of their Boston life, was a relief, though Mrs. + March had her misgivings, and questioned whether it were not perhaps too + relaxing to the moral fibre. March refused to explore his conscience; he + allowed that it might be so; but he said he liked now and then to feel his + personality in that state of solution. They went and sat a good deal in + the softening evenings among the infants and dotards of Latin extraction + in Washington Square, safe from all who ever knew them, and enjoyed the + advancing season, which thickened the foliage of the trees and flattered + out of sight the church warden's Gothic of the University Building. + The infants were sometimes cross, and cried in their weary mothers' + or little sisters' arms; but they did not disturb the dotards, who + slept, some with their heads fallen forward, and some with their heads + fallen back; March arbitrarily distinguished those with the drooping faces + as tipsy and ashamed to confront the public. The small Italian children + raced up and down the asphalt paths, playing American games of tag and + hide-and-whoop; larger boys passed ball, in training for potential + championships. The Marches sat and mused, or quarrelled fitfully about + where they should spend the summer, like sparrows, he once said, till the + electric lights began to show distinctly among the leaves, and they looked + round and found the infants and dotards gone and the benches filled with + lovers. That was the signal for the Marches to go home. He said that the + spectacle of so much courtship as the eye might take in there at a glance + was not, perhaps, oppressive, but the thought that at the same hour the + same thing was going on all over the country, wherever two young fools + could get together, was more than he could bear; he did not deny that it + was natural, and, in a measure authorized, but he declared that it was + hackneyed; and the fact that it must go on forever, as long as the race + lasted, made him tired. + </p> + <p> + At home, generally, they found that the children had not missed them, and + were perfectly safe. It was one of the advantages of a flat that they + could leave the children there whenever they liked without anxiety. They + liked better staying there than wandering about in the evening with their + parents, whose excursions seemed to them somewhat aimless, and their + pleasures insipid. They studied, or read, or looked out of the window at + the street sights; and their mother always came back to them with a pang + for their lonesomeness. Bella knew some little girls in the house, but in + a ceremonious way; Tom had formed no friendships among the boys at school + such as he had left in Boston; as nearly as he could explain, the New York + fellows carried canes at an age when they would have had them broken for + them by the other boys at Boston; and they were both sissyish and fast. It + was probably prejudice; he never could say exactly what their demerits + were, and neither he nor Bella was apparently so homesick as they + pretended, though they answered inquirers, the one that New York was a + hole, and the other that it was horrid, and that all they lived for was to + get back to Boston. In the mean time they were thrown much upon each other + for society, which March said was well for both of them; he did not mind + their cultivating a little gloom and the sense of a common wrong; it made + them better comrades, and it was providing them with amusing reminiscences + for the future. They really enjoyed Bohemianizing in that harmless way: + though Tom had his doubts of its respectability; he was very punctilious + about his sister, and went round from his own school every day to fetch + her home from hers. The whole family went to the theatre a good deal, and + enjoyed themselves together in their desultory explorations of the city. + </p> + <p> + They lived near Greenwich Village, and March liked strolling through its + quaintness toward the waterside on a Sunday, when a hereditary + Sabbatarianism kept his wife at home; he made her observe that it even + kept her at home from church. He found a lingering quality of pure + Americanism in the region, and he said the very bells called to worship in + a nasal tone. He liked the streets of small brick houses, with here and + there one painted red, and the mortar lines picked out in white, and with + now and then a fine wooden portal of fluted pillars and a bowed transom. + The rear of the tenement-houses showed him the picturesqueness of + clothes-lines fluttering far aloft, as in Florence; and the new + apartment-houses, breaking the old sky-line with their towering stories, + implied a life as alien to the American manner as anything in continental + Europe. In fact, foreign faces and foreign tongues prevailed in Greenwich + Village, but no longer German or even Irish tongues or faces. The eyes and + earrings of Italians twinkled in and out of the alleyways and basements, + and they seemed to abound even in the streets, where long ranks of trucks + drawn up in Sunday rest along the curbstones suggested the presence of a + race of sturdier strength than theirs. March liked the swarthy, strange + visages; he found nothing menacing for the future in them; for wickedness + he had to satisfy himself as he could with the sneering, insolent, + clean-shaven mug of some rare American of the b'hoy type, now almost + as extinct in New York as the dodo or the volunteer fireman. When he had + found his way, among the ash-barrels and the groups of decently dressed + church-goers, to the docks, he experienced a sufficient excitement in the + recent arrival of a French steamer, whose sheds were thronged with hacks + and express-wagons, and in a tacit inquiry into the emotions of the + passengers, fresh from the cleanliness of Paris, and now driving up + through the filth of those streets. + </p> + <p> + Some of the streets were filthier than others; there was at least a + choice; there were boxes and barrels of kitchen offal on all the + sidewalks, but not everywhere manure-heaps, and in some places the stench + was mixed with the more savory smell of cooking. One Sunday morning, + before the winter was quite gone, the sight of the frozen refuse melting + in heaps, and particularly the loathsome edges of the rotting ice near the + gutters, with the strata of waste-paper and straw litter, and egg-shells + and orange peel, potato-skins and cigar-stumps, made him unhappy. He gave + a whimsical shrug for the squalor of the neighboring houses, and said to + himself rather than the boy who was with him: “It's curious, + isn't it, how fond the poor people are of these unpleasant + thoroughfares? You always find them living in the worst streets.” + </p> + <p> + “The burden of all the wrong in the world comes on the poor,” + said the boy. “Every sort of fraud and swindling hurts them the + worst. The city wastes the money it's paid to clean the streets + with, and the poor have to suffer, for they can't afford to pay + twice, like the rich.” + </p> + <p> + March stopped short. “Hallo, Tom! Is that your wisdom?” + </p> + <p> + “It's what Mr. Lindau says,” answered the boy, doggedly, + as if not pleased to have his ideas mocked at, even if they were + second-hand. + </p> + <p> + “And you didn't tell him that the poor lived in dirty streets + because they liked them, and were too lazy and worthless to have them + cleaned?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I didn't.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm surprised. What do you think of Lindau, generally + speaking, Tom?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir, I don't like the way he talks about some things. I + don't suppose this country is perfect, but I think it's about + the best there is, and it don't do any good to look at its drawbacks + all the time.” + </p> + <p> + “Sound, my son,” said March, putting his hand on the boy's + shoulder and beginning to walk on. “Well?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, he says that it isn't the public frauds only that + the poor have to pay for, but they have to pay for all the vices of the + rich; that when a speculator fails, or a bank cashier defaults, or a firm + suspends, or hard times come, it's the poor who have to give up + necessaries where the rich give up luxuries.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well! And then?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then I think the crank comes in, in Mr. Lindau. He says there's + no need of failures or frauds or hard times. It's ridiculous. There + always have been and there always will be. But if you tell him that, it + seems to make him perfectly furious.” + </p> + <p> + March repeated the substance of this talk to his wife. “I'm + glad to know that Tom can see through such ravings. He has lots of good + common sense.” + </p> + <p> + It was the afternoon of the same Sunday, and they were sauntering up Fifth + Avenue, and admiring the wide old double houses at the lower end; at one + corner they got a distinct pleasure out of the gnarled elbows that a + pollarded wistaria leaned upon the top of a garden wall—for its + convenience in looking into the street, he said. The line of these + comfortable dwellings, once so fashionable, was continually broken by the + facades of shops; and March professed himself vulgarized by a want of + style in the people they met in their walk to Twenty-third Street. + </p> + <p> + “Take me somewhere to meet my fellow-exclusives, Isabel,” he + demanded. “I pine for the society of my peers.” + </p> + <p> + He hailed a passing omnibus, and made his wife get on the roof with him. + “Think of our doing such a thing in Boston!” she sighed, with + a little shiver of satisfaction in her immunity from recognition and + comment. + </p> + <p> + “You wouldn't be afraid to do it in London or Paris?” + </p> + <p> + “No; we should be strangers there—just as we are in New York. + I wonder how long one could be a stranger here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indefinitely, in our way of living. The place is really vast, + so much larger than it used to seem, and so heterogeneous.” + </p> + <p> + When they got down very far up-town, and began to walk back by Madison + Avenue, they found themselves in a different population from that they + dwelt among; not heterogeneous at all; very homogeneous, and almost purely + American; the only qualification was American Hebrew. Such a well-dressed, + well-satisfied, well-fed looking crowd poured down the broad sidewalks + before the handsome, stupid houses that March could easily pretend he had + got among his fellow-plutocrats at last. Still he expressed his doubts + whether this Sunday afternoon parade, which seemed to be a thing of + custom, represented the best form among the young people of that region; + he wished he knew; he blamed himself for becoming of a fastidious + conjecture; he could not deny the fashion and the richness and the + indigeneity of the spectacle; the promenaders looked New-Yorky; they were + the sort of people whom you would know for New-Yorkers elsewhere,—so + well equipped and so perfectly kept at all points. Their silk hats shone, + and their boots; their frocks had the right distension behind, and their + bonnets perfect poise and distinction. + </p> + <p> + The Marches talked of these and other facts of their appearance, and + curiously questioned whether this were the best that a great material + civilization could come to; it looked a little dull. The men's faces + were shrewd and alert, and yet they looked dull; the women's were + pretty and knowing, and yet dull. It was, probably, the holiday expression + of the vast, prosperous commercial class, with unlimited money, and no + ideals that money could not realize; fashion and comfort were all that + they desired to compass, and the culture that furnishes showily, that + decorates and that tells; the culture, say, of plays and operas, rather + than books. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the observers did the promenaders injustice; they might not have + been as common-minded as they looked. “But,” March said, + “I understand now why the poor people don't come up here and + live in this clean, handsome, respectable quarter of the town; they would + be bored to death. On the whole, I think I should prefer Mott Street + myself.” + </p> + <p> + In other walks the Marches tried to find some of the streets they had + wandered through the first day of their wedding journey in New York, so + long ago. They could not make sure of them; but once they ran down to the + Battery, and easily made sure of that, though not in its old aspect. They + recalled the hot morning, when they sauntered over the trodden weed that + covered the sickly grass-plots there, and sentimentalized the sweltering + paupers who had crept out of the squalid tenements about for a breath of + air after a sleepless night. Now the paupers were gone, and where the old + mansions that had fallen to their use once stood, there towered aloft and + abroad those heights and masses of many-storied brick-work for which + architecture has yet no proper form and aesthetics no name. The trees and + shrubs, all in their young spring green, blew briskly over the guarded + turf in the south wind that came up over the water; and in the well-paved + alleys the ghosts of eighteenth-century fashion might have met each other + in their old haunts, and exchanged stately congratulations upon its vastly + bettered condition, and perhaps puzzled a little over the colossal lady on + Bedloe's Island, with her lifted torch, and still more over the + curving tracks and chalet-stations of the Elevated road. It is an outlook + of unrivalled beauty across the bay, that smokes and flashes with the + innumerable stacks and sails of commerce, to the hills beyond, where the + moving forest of masts halts at the shore, and roots itself in the groves + of the many villaged uplands. The Marches paid the charming prospects a + willing duty, and rejoiced in it as generously as if it had been their + own. Perhaps it was, they decided. He said people owned more things in + common than they were apt to think; and they drew the consolations of + proprietorship from the excellent management of Castle Garden, which they + penetrated for a moment's glimpse of the huge rotunda, where the + immigrants first set foot on our continent. It warmed their hearts, so + easily moved to any cheap sympathy, to see the friendly care the nation + took of these humble guests; they found it even pathetic to hear the + proper authority calling out the names of such as had kin or acquaintance + waiting there to meet them. No one appeared troubled or anxious; the + officials had a conscientious civility; the government seemed to manage + their welcome as well as a private company or corporation could have done. + In fact, it was after the simple strangers had left the government care + that March feared their woes might begin; and he would have liked the + government to follow each of them to his home, wherever he meant to fix it + within our borders. He made note of the looks of the licensed runners and + touters waiting for the immigrants outside the government premises; he + intended to work them up into a dramatic effect in some sketch, but they + remained mere material in his memorandum-book, together with some quaint + old houses on the Sixth Avenue road, which he had noticed on the way down. + On the way up, these were superseded in his regard by some hip-roof + structures on the Ninth Avenue, which he thought more Dutch-looking. The + perspectives of the cross-streets toward the river were very lively, with + their turmoil of trucks and cars and carts and hacks and foot passengers, + ending in the chimneys and masts of shipping, and final gleams of dancing + water. At a very noisy corner, clangorous with some sort of ironworking, + he made his wife enjoy with him the quiet sarcasm of an inn that called + itself the Home-like Hotel, and he speculated at fantastic length on the + gentle associations of one who should have passed his youth under its + roof. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0057" id="link2H_4_0057"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + First and last, the Marches did a good deal of travel on the Elevated + roads, which, he said, gave you such glimpses of material aspects in the + city as some violent invasion of others' lives might afford in human + nature. Once, when the impulse of adventure was very strong in them, they + went quite the length of the West Side lines, and saw the city pushing its + way by irregular advances into the country. Some spaces, probably held by + the owners for that rise in value which the industry of others + providentially gives to the land of the wise and good, it left vacant + comparatively far down the road, and built up others at remoter points. It + was a world of lofty apartment houses beyond the Park, springing up in + isolated blocks, with stretches of invaded rusticity between, and here and + there an old country-seat standing dusty in its budding vines with the + ground before it in rocky upheaval for city foundations. But wherever it + went or wherever it paused, New York gave its peculiar stamp; and the + adventurers were amused to find One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street + inchoately like Twenty-third Street and Fourteenth Street in its shops and + shoppers. The butchers' shops and milliners' shops on the + avenue might as well have been at Tenth as at One Hundredth Street. + </p> + <p> + The adventurers were not often so adventurous. They recognized that in + their willingness to let their fancy range for them, and to let + speculation do the work of inquiry, they were no longer young. Their point + of view was singularly unchanged, and their impressions of New York + remained the same that they had been fifteen years before: huge, noisy, + ugly, kindly, it seemed to them now as it seemed then. The main difference + was that they saw it more now as a life, and then they only regarded it as + a spectacle; and March could not release himself from a sense of + complicity with it, no matter what whimsical, or alien, or critical + attitude he took. A sense of the striving and the suffering deeply + possessed him; and this grew the more intense as he gained some knowledge + of the forces at work—forces of pity, of destruction, of perdition, + of salvation. He wandered about on Sunday not only through the streets, + but into this tabernacle and that, as the spirit moved him, and listened + to those who dealt with Christianity as a system of economics as well as a + religion. He could not get his wife to go with him; she listened to his + report of what he heard, and trembled; it all seemed fantastic and + menacing. She lamented the literary peace, the intellectual refinement of + the life they had left behind them; and he owned it was very pretty, but + he said it was not life—it was death-in-life. She liked to hear him + talk in that strain of virtuous self-denunciation, but she asked him, + “Which of your prophets are you going to follow?” and he + answered: “All-all! And a fresh one every Sunday.” And so they + got their laugh out of it at last, but with some sadness at heart, and + with a dim consciousness that they had got their laugh out of too many + things in life. + </p> + <p> + What really occupied and compassed his activities, in spite of his + strenuous reveries of work beyond it, was his editorship. On its social + side it had not fulfilled all the expectations which Fulkerson's + radiant sketch of its duties and relations had caused him to form of it. + Most of the contributions came from a distance; even the articles written + in New York reached him through the post, and so far from having his + valuable time, as they called it, consumed in interviews with his + collaborators, he rarely saw any of them. The boy on the stairs, who was + to fence him from importunate visitors, led a life of luxurious + disoccupation, and whistled almost uninterruptedly. When any one came, + March found himself embarrassed and a little anxious. The visitors were + usually young men, terribly respectful, but cherishing, as he imagined, + ideals and opinions chasmally different from his; and he felt in their + presence something like an anachronism, something like a fraud. He tried + to freshen up his sympathies on them, to get at what they were really + thinking and feeling, and it was some time before he could understand that + they were not really thinking and feeling anything of their own concerning + their art, but were necessarily, in their quality of young, inexperienced + men, mere acceptants of older men's thoughts and feelings, whether + they were tremendously conservative, as some were, or tremendously + progressive, as others were. Certain of them called themselves realists, + certain romanticists; but none of them seemed to know what realism was, or + what romanticism; they apparently supposed the difference a difference of + material. March had imagined himself taking home to lunch or dinner the + aspirants for editorial favor whom he liked, whether he liked their work + or not; but this was not an easy matter. Those who were at all interesting + seemed to have engagements and preoccupations; after two or three + experiments with the bashfuller sort—those who had come up to the + metropolis with manuscripts in their hands, in the good old literary + tradition—he wondered whether he was otherwise like them when he was + young like them. He could not flatter himself that he was not; and yet he + had a hope that the world had grown worse since his time, which his wife + encouraged. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was not eager to pursue the hospitalities which she had at + first imagined essential to the literary prosperity of 'Every Other + Week'; her family sufficed her; she would willingly have seen no one + out of it but the strangers at the weekly table-d'hote dinner, or + the audiences at the theatres. March's devotion to his work made him + reluctant to delegate it to any one; and as the summer advanced, and the + question of where to go grew more vexed, he showed a man's base + willingness to shirk it for himself by not going anywhere. He asked his + wife why she did not go somewhere with the children, and he joined her in + a search for non-malarial regions on the map when she consented to + entertain this notion. But when it came to the point she would not go; he + offered to go with her then, and then she would not let him. She said she + knew he would be anxious about his work; he protested that he could take + it with him to any distance within a few hours, but she would not be + persuaded. She would rather he stayed; the effect would be better with Mr. + Fulkerson; they could make excursions, and they could all get off a week + or two to the seashore near Boston—the only real seashore—in + August. The excursions were practically confined to a single day at Coney + Island; and once they got as far as Boston on the way to the seashore near + Boston; that is, Mrs. March and the children went; an editorial exigency + kept March at the last moment. The Boston streets seemed very queer and + clean and empty to the children, and the buildings little; in the + horse-cars the Boston faces seemed to arraign their mother with a + down-drawn severity that made her feel very guilty. She knew that this was + merely the Puritan mask, the cast of a dead civilization, which people of + very amiable and tolerant minds were doomed to wear, and she sighed to + think that less than a year of the heterogeneous gayety of New York should + have made her afraid of it. The sky seemed cold and gray; the east wind, + which she had always thought so delicious in summer, cut her to the heart. + She took her children up to the South End, and in the pretty square where + they used to live they stood before their alienated home, and looked up at + its close-shuttered windows. The tenants must have been away, but Mrs. + March had not the courage to ring and make sure, though she had always + promised herself that she would go all over the house when she came back, + and see how they had used it; she could pretend a desire for something she + wished to take away. She knew she could not bear it now; and the children + did not seem eager. She did not push on to the seaside; it would be + forlorn there without their father; she was glad to go back to him in the + immense, friendly homelessness of New York, and hold him answerable for + the change, in her heart or her mind, which made its shapeless tumult a + refuge and a consolation. + </p> + <p> + She found that he had been giving the cook a holiday, and dining about + hither and thither with Fulkerson. Once he had dined with him at the widow's + (as they always called Mrs. Leighton), and then had spent the evening + there, and smoked with Fulkerson and Colonel Woodburn on the gallery + overlooking the back yard. They were all spending the summer in New York. + The widow had got so good an offer for her house at St. Barnaby for the + summer that she could not refuse it; and the Woodburns found New York a + watering-place of exemplary coolness after the burning Augusts and + Septembers of Charlottesburg. + </p> + <p> + “You can stand it well enough in our climate, sir,” the + colonel explained, “till you come to the September heat, that + sometimes runs well into October; and then you begin to lose your temper, + sir. It's never quite so hot as it is in New York at times, but it's + hot longer, sir.” He alleged, as if something of the sort were + necessary, the example of a famous Southwestern editor who spent all his + summers in a New York hotel as the most luxurious retreat on the + continent, consulting the weather forecasts, and running off on torrid + days to the mountains or the sea, and then hurrying back at the promise of + cooler weather. The colonel had not found it necessary to do this yet; and + he had been reluctant to leave town, where he was working up a branch of + the inquiry which had so long occupied him, in the libraries, and studying + the great problem of labor and poverty as it continually presented itself + to him in the streets. He said that he talked with all sorts of people, + whom he found monstrously civil, if you took them in the right way; and he + went everywhere in the city without fear and apparently without danger. + March could not find out that he had ridden his hobby into the homes of + want which he visited, or had proposed their enslavement to the inmates as + a short and simple solution of the great question of their lives; he + appeared to have contented himself with the collection of facts for the + persuasion of the cultivated classes. It seemed to March a confirmation of + this impression that the colonel should address his deductions from these + facts so unsparingly to him; he listened with a respectful patience, for + which Fulkerson afterward personally thanked him. Fulkerson said it was + not often the colonel found such a good listener; generally nobody + listened but Mrs. Leighton, who thought his ideas were shocking, but + honored him for holding them so conscientiously. Fulkerson was glad that + March, as the literary department, had treated the old gentleman so well, + because there was an open feud between him and the art department. Beaton + was outrageously rude, Fulkerson must say; though as for that, the old + colonel seemed quite able to take care of himself, and gave Beaton an + unqualified contempt in return for his unmannerliness. The worst of it + was, it distressed the old lady so; she admired Beaton as much as she + respected the colonel, and she admired Beaton, Fulkerson thought, rather + more than Miss Leighton did; he asked March if he had noticed them + together. March had noticed them, but without any very definite impression + except that Beaton seemed to give the whole evening to the girl. Afterward + he recollected that he had fancied her rather harassed by his devotion, + and it was this point that he wished to present for his wife's + opinion. + </p> + <p> + “Girls often put on that air,” she said. “It's one + of their ways of teasing. But then, if the man was really very much in + love, and she was only enough in love to be uncertain of herself, she + might very well seem troubled. It would be a very serious question. Girls + often don't know what to do in such a case.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said March, “I've often been glad that I + was not a girl, on that account. But I guess that on general principles + Beaton is not more in love than she is. I couldn't imagine that + young man being more in love with anybody, unless it was himself. He might + be more in love with himself than any one else was.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he doesn't interest me a great deal, and I can't + say Miss Leighton does, either. I think she can take care of herself. She + has herself very well in hand.” + </p> + <p> + “Why so censorious?” pleaded March. “I don't + defend her for having herself in hand; but is it a fault?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March did not say. She asked, “And how does Mr. Fulkerson's + affair get on?” + </p> + <p> + “His affair? You really think it is one? Well, I've fancied so + myself, and I've had an idea of some time asking him; Fulkerson + strikes one as truly domesticable, conjugable at heart; but I've + waited for him to speak.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think so.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He's never opened on the subject yet. Do you know, I + think Fulkerson has his moments of delicacy.” + </p> + <p> + “Moments! He's all delicacy in regard to women.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps so. There is nothing in them to rouse his advertising + instincts.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0058" id="link2H_4_0058"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + The Dryfoos family stayed in town till August. Then the father went West + again to look after his interests; and Mrs. Mandel took the two girls to + one of the great hotels in Saratoga. Fulkerson said that he had never seen + anything like Saratoga for fashion, and Mrs. Mandel remembered that in her + own young ladyhood this was so for at least some weeks of the year. She + had been too far withdrawn from fashion since her marriage to know whether + it was still so or not. In this, as in so many other matters, the Dryfoos + family helplessly relied upon Fulkerson, in spite of Dryfoos's angry + determination that he should not run the family, and in spite of Christine's + doubt of his omniscience; if he did not know everything, she was aware + that he knew more than herself. She thought that they had a right to have + him go with them to Saratoga, or at least go up and engage their rooms + beforehand; but Fulkerson did not offer to do either, and she did not + quite see her way to commanding his services. The young ladies took what + Mela called splendid dresses with them; they sat in the park of tall, slim + trees which the hotel's quadrangle enclosed, and listened to the + music in the morning, or on the long piazza in the afternoon and looked at + the driving in the street, or in the vast parlors by night, where all the + other ladies were, and they felt that they were of the best there. But + they knew nobody, and Mrs. Mandel was so particular that Mela was + prevented from continuing the acquaintance even of the few young men who + danced with her at the Saturday-night hops. They drove about, but they + went to places without knowing why, except that the carriage man took + them, and they had all the privileges of a proud exclusivism without + desiring them. Once a motherly matron seemed to perceive their isolation, + and made overtures to them, but then desisted, as if repelled by Christine's + suspicion, or by Mela's too instant and hilarious good-fellowship, + which expressed itself in hoarse laughter and in a flow of talk full of + topical and syntactical freedom. From time to time she offered to bet + Christine that if Mr. Fulkerson was only there they would have a good + time; she wondered what they were all doing in New York, where she wished + herself; she rallied her sister about Beaton, and asked her why she did + not write and tell him to come up there. + </p> + <p> + Mela knew that Christine had expected Beaton to follow them. Some banter + had passed between them to this effect; he said he should take them in on + his way home to Syracuse. Christine would not have hesitated to write to + him and remind him of his promise; but she had learned to distrust her + literature with Beaton since he had laughed at the spelling in a scrap of + writing which dropped out of her music-book one night. She believed that + he would not have laughed if he had known it was hers; but she felt that + she could hide better the deficiencies which were not committed to paper; + she could manage with him in talking; she was too ignorant of her + ignorance to recognize the mistakes she made then. Through her own passion + she perceived that she had some kind of fascination for him; she was + graceful, and she thought it must be that; she did not understand that + there was a kind of beauty in her small, irregular features that piqued + and haunted his artistic sense, and a look in her black eyes beyond her + intelligence and intention. Once he sketched her as they sat together, and + flattered the portrait without getting what he wanted in it; he said he + must try her some time in color; and he said things which, when she made + Mela repeat them, could only mean that he admired her more than anybody + else. He came fitfully, but he came often, and she rested content in a + girl's indefiniteness concerning the affair; if her thought went + beyond lovemaking to marriage, she believed that she could have him if she + wanted him. Her father's money counted in this; she divined that + Beaton was poor; but that made no difference; she would have enough for + both; the money would have counted as an irresistible attraction if there + had been no other. + </p> + <p> + The affair had gone on in spite of the sidelong looks of restless dislike + with which Dryfoos regarded it; but now when Beaton did not come to + Saratoga it necessarily dropped, and Christine's content with it. + She bore the trial as long as she could; she used pride and resentment + against it; but at last she could not bear it, and with Mela's help + she wrote a letter, bantering Beaton on his stay in New York, and + playfully boasting of Saratoga. It seemed to them both that it was a very + bright letter, and would be sure to bring him; they would have had no + scruple about sending it but for the doubt they had whether they had got + some of the words right. Mela offered to bet Christine anything she dared + that they were right, and she said, Send it anyway; it was no difference + if they were wrong. But Christine could not endure to think of that laugh + of Beaton's, and there remained only Mrs. Mandel as authority on the + spelling. Christine dreaded her authority on other points, but Mela said + she knew she would not interfere, and she undertook to get round her. Mrs. + Mandel pronounced the spelling bad, and the taste worse; she forbade them + to send the letter; and Mela failed to get round her, though she + threatened, if Mrs. Mandel would not tell her how to spell the wrong + words, that she would send the letter as it was; then Mrs. Mandel said + that if Mr. Beaton appeared in Saratoga she would instantly take them both + home. When Mela reported this result, Christine accused her of having + mismanaged the whole business; she quarrelled with her, and they called + each other names. Christine declared that she would not stay in Saratoga, + and that if Mrs. Mandel did not go back to New York with her she should go + alone. They returned the first week in September; but by that time Beaton + had gone to see his people in Syracuse. + </p> + <p> + Conrad Dryfoos remained at home with his mother after his father went + West. He had already taken such a vacation as he had been willing to allow + himself, and had spent it on a charity farm near the city, where the + fathers with whom he worked among the poor on the East Side in the winter + had sent some of their wards for the summer. It was not possible to keep + his recreation a secret at the office, and Fulkerson found a pleasure in + figuring the jolly time Brother Conrad must have teaching farm work among + those paupers and potential reprobates. He invented details of his + experience among them, and March could not always help joining in the + laugh at Conrad's humorless helplessness under Fulkerson's + burlesque denunciation of a summer outing spent in such dissipation. + </p> + <p> + They had time for a great deal of joking at the office during the season + of leisure which penetrates in August to the very heart of business, and + they all got on terms of greater intimacy if not greater friendliness than + before. Fulkerson had not had so long to do with the advertising side of + human nature without developing a vein of cynicism, of no great depth, + perhaps, but broad, and underlying his whole point of view; he made light + of Beaton's solemnity, as he made light of Conrad's humanity. + The art editor, with abundant sarcasm, had no more humor than the + publisher, and was an easy prey in the manager's hands; but when he + had been led on by Fulkerson's flatteries to make some betrayal of + egotism, he brooded over it till he had thought how to revenge himself in + elaborate insult. For Beaton's talent Fulkerson never lost his + admiration; but his joke was to encourage him to give himself airs of + being the sole source of the magazine's prosperity. No bait of this + sort was too obvious for Beaton to swallow; he could be caught with it as + often as Fulkerson chose; though he was ordinarily suspicious as to the + motives of people in saying things. With March he got on no better than at + first. He seemed to be lying in wait for some encroachment of the literary + department on the art department, and he met it now and then with + anticipative reprisal. After these rebuffs, the editor delivered him over + to the manager, who could turn Beaton's contrary-mindedness to + account by asking the reverse of what he really wanted done. This was what + Fulkerson said; the fact was that he did get on with Beaton and March + contented himself with musing upon the contradictions of a character at + once so vain and so offensive, so fickle and so sullen, so conscious and + so simple. + </p> + <p> + After the first jarring contact with Dryfoos, the editor ceased to feel + the disagreeable fact of the old man's mastery of the financial + situation. None of the chances which might have made it painful occurred; + the control of the whole affair remained in Fulkerson's hands; + before he went West again, Dryfoos had ceased to come about the office, as + if, having once worn off the novelty of the sense of owning a literary + periodical, he was no longer interested in it. + </p> + <p> + Yet it was a relief, somehow, when he left town, which he did not do + without coming to take a formal leave of the editor at his office. He + seemed willing to leave March with a better impression than he had + hitherto troubled himself to make; he even said some civil things about + the magazine, as if its success pleased him; and he spoke openly to March + of his hope that his son would finally become interested in it to the + exclusion of the hopes and purposes which divided them. It seemed to March + that in the old man's warped and toughened heart he perceived a + disappointed love for his son greater than for his other children; but + this might have been fancy. Lindau came in with some copy while Dryfoos + was there, and March introduced them. When Lindau went out, March + explained to Dryfoos that he had lost his hand in the war; and he told him + something of Lindau's career as he had known it. Dryfoos appeared + greatly pleased that 'Every Other Week' was giving Lindau + work. He said that he had helped to enlist a good many fellows for the + war, and had paid money to fill up the Moffitt County quota under the + later calls for troops. He had never been an Abolitionist, but he had + joined the Anti-Nebraska party in '55, and he had voted for Fremont + and for every Republican President since then. + </p> + <p> + At his own house March saw more of Lindau than of any other contributor, + but the old man seemed to think that he must transact all his business + with March at his place of business. The transaction had some + peculiarities which perhaps made this necessary. Lindau always expected to + receive his money when he brought his copy, as an acknowledgment of the + immediate right of the laborer to his hire; and he would not take it in a + check because he did not approve of banks, and regarded the whole system + of banking as the capitalistic manipulation of the people's money. + He would receive his pay only from March's hand, because he wished + to be understood as working for him, and honestly earning money honestly + earned; and sometimes March inwardly winced a little at letting the old + man share the increase of capital won by such speculation as Dryfoos's, + but he shook off the feeling. As the summer advanced, and the artists and + classes that employed Lindau as a model left town one after another, he + gave largely of his increasing leisure to the people in the office of + 'Every Other Week.' It was pleasant for March to see the + respect with which Conrad Dryfoos always used him, for the sake of his + hurt and his gray beard. There was something delicate and fine in it, and + there was nothing unkindly on Fulkerson's part in the hostilities + which usually passed between himself and Lindau. Fulkerson bore himself + reverently at times, too, but it was not in him to keep that up, + especially when Lindau appeared with more beer aboard than, as Fulkerson + said, he could manage shipshape. On these occasions Fulkerson always tried + to start him on the theme of the unduly rich; he made himself the champion + of monopolies, and enjoyed the invectives which Lindau heaped upon him as + a slave of capital; he said that it did him good. + </p> + <p> + One day, with the usual show of writhing under Lindau's scorn, he + said, “Well, I understand that although you despise me now, Lindau—” + </p> + <p> + “I ton't desbise you,” the old man broke in, his + nostrils swelling and his eyes flaming with excitement, “I bity you.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it seems to come to the same thing in the end,” said + Fulkerson. “What I understand is that you pity me now as the slave + of capital, but you would pity me a great deal more if I was the master of + it.” + </p> + <p> + “How you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “If I was rich.” + </p> + <p> + “That would tebendt,” said Lindau, trying to control himself. + “If you hat inheritedt your money, you might pe innocent; but if you + hat mate it, efery man that resbectedt himself would haf to ask how you + mate it, and if you hat mate moch, he would know—” + </p> + <p> + “Hold on; hold on, now, Lindau! Ain't that rather un-American + doctrine? We're all brought up, ain't we, to honor the man + that made his money, and look down—or try to look down; sometimes it's + difficult on the fellow that his father left it to?” + </p> + <p> + The old man rose and struck his breast. “On Amerigan!” he + roared, and, as he went on, his accent grew more and more uncertain. + “What iss Amerigan? Dere iss no Ameriga any more! You start here + free and brafe, and you glaim for efery man de right to life, liperty, and + de bursuit of habbiness. And where haf you entedt? No man that vorks vith + his handts among you has the liperty to bursue his habbiness. He iss the + slafe of some richer man, some gompany, some gorporation, dat crindt him + down to the least he can lif on, and that rops him of the marchin of his + earnings that he knight pe habby on. Oh, you Amerigans, you haf cot it + down goldt, as you say! You ton't puy foters; you puy lechislatures + and goncressmen; you puy gourts; you puy gombetitors; you pay infentors + not to infent; you atfertise, and the gounting-room sees dat de + etitorial-room toesn't tink.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we've got a little arrangement of that sort with March + here,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I am sawry,” said the old man, contritely, “I meant + noting bersonal. I ton't tink we are all cuilty or gorrubt, and efen + among the rich there are goodt men. But gabidal”—his passion + rose again—“where you find gabidal, millions of money that a + man hass cot togeder in fife, ten, twenty years, you findt the smell of + tears and ploodt! Dat iss what I say. And you cot to loog oudt for + yourself when you meet a rich man whether you meet an honest man.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Fulkerson, “I wish I was a subject of + suspicion with you, Lindau. By-the-way,” he added, “I + understand that you think capital was at the bottom of the veto of that + pension of yours.” + </p> + <p> + “What bension? What feto?”—The old man flamed up again. + “No bension of mine was efer fetoedt. I renounce my bension, begause + I would sgorn to dake money from a gofernment that I ton't peliefe + in any more. Where you hear that story?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” said Fulkerson, rather + embarrassed. “It's common talk.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a gommon lie, then! When the time gome dat dis iss a + free gountry again, then I dake a bension again for my woundts; but I + would sdarfe before I dake a bension now from a rebublic dat iss bought + oap by monobolies, and ron by drusts and gompines, and railroadts andt oil + gompanies.” + </p> + <p> + “Look out, Lindau,” said Fulkerson. “You bite yourself + mit dat dog some day.” But when the old man, with a ferocious + gesture of renunciation, whirled out of the place, he added: “I + guess I went a little too far that time. I touched him on a sore place; I + didn't mean to; I heard some talk about his pension being vetoed + from Miss Leighton.” He addressed these exculpations to March's + grave face, and to the pitying deprecation in the eyes of Conrad Dryfoos, + whom Lindau's roaring wrath had summoned to the door. “But I'll + make it all right with him the next time he comes. I didn't know he + was loaded, or I wouldn't have monkeyed with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Lindau does himself injustice when he gets to talking in that way,” + said March. “I hate to hear him. He's as good an American as + any of us; and it's only because he has too high an ideal of us—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, go on! Rub it in—rub it in!” cried Fulkerson, + clutching his hair in suffering, which was not altogether burlesque. + “How did I know he had renounced his 'bension'? Why didn't + you tell me?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know it myself. I only knew that he had none, and I + didn't ask, for I had a notion that it might be a painful subject.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson tried to turn it off lightly. “Well, he's a noble + old fellow; pity he drinks.” March would not smile, and Fulkerson + broke out: “Dog on it! I'll make it up to the old fool the + next time he comes. I don't like that dynamite talk of his; but any + man that's given his hand to the country has got mine in his grip + for good. Why, March! You don't suppose I wanted to hurt his + feelings, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course not, Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + But they could not get away from a certain ruefulness for that time, and + in the evening Fulkerson came round to March's to say that he had + got Lindau's address from Conrad, and had looked him up at his + lodgings. + </p> + <p> + “Well, there isn't so much bric-a-brac there, quite, as Mrs. + Green left you; but I've made it all right with Lindau, as far as I'm + concerned. I told him I didn't know when I spoke that way, and I + honored him for sticking to his 'brinciples'; I don't + believe in his 'brincibles'; and we wept on each other's + necks—at least, he did. Dogged if he didn't kiss me before I + knew what he was up to. He said I was his chenerous gong friendt, and he + begged my barton if he had said anything to wound me. I tell you it was an + affecting scene, March; and rats enough round in that old barracks where + he lives to fit out a first-class case of delirium tremens. What does he + stay there for? He's not obliged to?” + </p> + <p> + Lindau's reasons, as March repeated them, affected Fulkerson as + deliciously comical; but after that he confined his pleasantries at the + office to Beaton and Conrad Dryfoos, or, as he said, he spent the rest of + the summer in keeping Lindau smoothed up. + </p> + <p> + It is doubtful if Lindau altogether liked this as well. Perhaps he missed + the occasions Fulkerson used to give him of bursting out against the + millionaires; and he could not well go on denouncing as the slafe of + gabidal a man who had behaved to him as Fulkerson had done, though + Fulkerson's servile relations to capital had been in nowise changed + by his nople gonduct. + </p> + <p> + Their relations continued to wear this irksome character of mutual + forbearance; and when Dryfoos returned in October and Fulkerson revived + the question of that dinner in celebration of the success of 'Every + Other Week,' he carried his complaisance to an extreme that alarmed + March for the consequences. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0059" id="link2H_4_0059"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + “You see,” Fulkerson explained, “I find that the old man + has got an idea of his own about that banquet, and I guess there's + some sense in it. He wants to have a preliminary little dinner, where we + can talk the thing up first—half a dozen of us; and he wants to give + us the dinner at his house. Well, that's no harm. I don't + believe the old man ever gave a dinner, and he'd like to show off a + little; there's a good deal of human nature in the old man, after + all. He thought of you, of course, and Colonel Woodburn, and Beaton, and + me at the foot of the table; and Conrad; and I suggested Kendricks: he's + such a nice little chap; and the old man himself brought up the idea of + Lindau. He said you told him something about him, and he asked why couldn't + we have him, too; and I jumped at it.” + </p> + <p> + “Have Lindau to dinner?” asked March. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly; why not? Father Dryfoos has a notion of paying the old + fellow a compliment for what he done for the country. There won't be + any trouble about it. You can sit alongside of him, and cut up his meat + for him, and help him to things—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but it won't do, Fulkerson! I don't believe Lindau + ever had on a dress-coat in his life, and I don't believe his + 'brincibles' would let him wear one.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, neither had Dryfoos, for the matter of that. He's as + high-principled as old Pan-Electric himself, when it comes to a + dress-coat,” said Fulkerson. “We're all going to go in + business dress; the old man stipulated for that. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't the dress-coat alone,” March resumed. “Lindau + and Dryfoos wouldn't get on. You know they're opposite poles + in everything. You mustn't do it. Dryfoos will be sure to say + something to outrage Lindau's 'brincibles,' and there'll + be an explosion. It's all well enough for Dryfoos to feel grateful + to Lindau, and his wish to honor him does him credit; but to have Lindau + to dinner isn't the way. At the best, the old fellow would be very + unhappy in such a house; he would have a bad conscience; and I should be + sorry to have him feel that he'd been recreant to his 'brincibles'; + they're about all he's got, and whatever we think of them, we're + bound to respect his fidelity to them.” March warmed toward Lindau + in taking this view of him. “I should feel ashamed if I didn't + protest against his being put in a false position. After all, he's + my old friend, and I shouldn't like to have him do himself injustice + if he is a crank.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said Fulkerson, with some trouble in his face. + “I appreciate your feeling. But there ain't any danger,” + he added, buoyantly. “Anyhow, you spoke too late, as the Irishman + said to the chicken when he swallowed him in a fresh egg. I've asked + Lindau, and he's accepted with blayzure; that's what he says.” + </p> + <p> + March made no other comment than a shrug. + </p> + <p> + “You'll see,” Fulkerson continued, “it 'll + go off all right. I'll engage to make it, and I won't hold + anybody else responsible.” + </p> + <p> + In the course of his married life March had learned not to censure the + irretrievable; but this was just what his wife had not learned; and she + poured out so much astonishment at what Fulkerson had done, and so much + disapproval, that March began to palliate the situation a little. + </p> + <p> + “After all, it isn't a question of life and death; and, if it + were, I don't see how it's to be helped now.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's not to be helped now. But I am surprised at Mr. + Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Fulkerson has his moments of being merely human, too.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March would not deign a direct defence of her favorite. “Well, + I'm glad there are not to be ladies.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. Dryfoos thought of having ladies, but it seems + your infallible Fulkerson overruled him. Their presence might have kept + Lindau and our host in bounds.” + </p> + <p> + It had become part of the Marches' conjugal joke for him to pretend + that she could allow nothing wrong in Fulkerson, and he now laughed with a + mocking air of having expected it when she said: “Well, then, if Mr. + Fulkerson says he will see that it all comes out right, I suppose you must + trust his tact. I wouldn't trust yours, Basil. The first wrong step + was taken when Mr. Lindau was asked to help on the magazine.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it was your infallible Fulkerson that took the step, or at + least suggested it. I'm happy to say I had totally forgotten my + early friend.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was daunted and silenced for a moment. Then she said: “Oh, + pshaw! You know well enough he did it to please you.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very glad he didn't do it to please you, Isabel,” + said her husband, with affected seriousness. “Though perhaps he did.” + </p> + <p> + He began to look at the humorous aspect of the affair, which it certainly + had, and to comment on the singular incongruities which 'Every Other + Week' was destined to involve at every moment of its career. “I + wonder if I'm mistaken in supposing that no other periodical was + ever like it. Perhaps all periodicals are like it. But I don't + believe there's another publication in New York that could bring + together, in honor of itself, a fraternity and equality crank like poor + old Lindau, and a belated sociological crank like Woodburn, and a + truculent speculator like old Dryfoos, and a humanitarian dreamer like + young Dryfoos, and a sentimentalist like me, and a nondescript like + Beaton, and a pure advertising essence like Fulkerson, and a society + spirit like Kendricks. If we could only allow one another to talk + uninterruptedly all the time, the dinner would be the greatest success in + the world, and we should come home full of the highest mutual respect. But + I suspect we can't manage that—even your infallible Fulkerson + couldn't work it—and I'm afraid that there'll be + some listening that'll spoil the pleasure of the time.” + </p> + <p> + March was so well pleased with this view of the case that he suggested the + idea involved to Fulkerson. Fulkerson was too good a fellow not to laugh + at another man's joke, but he laughed a little ruefully, and he + seemed worn with more than one kind of care in the interval that passed + between the present time and the night of the dinner. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos necessarily depended upon him for advice concerning the scope and + nature of the dinner, but he received the advice suspiciously, and + contested points of obvious propriety with pertinacious stupidity. + Fulkerson said that when it came to the point he would rather have had the + thing, as he called it, at Delmonico's or some other restaurant; but + when he found that Dryfoos's pride was bound up in having it at his + own house, he gave way to him. Dryfoos also wanted his woman-cook to + prepare the dinner, but Fulkerson persuaded him that this would not do; he + must have it from a caterer. Then Dryfoos wanted his maids to wait at + table, but Fulkerson convinced him that this would be incongruous at a man's + dinner. It was decided that the dinner should be sent in from Frescobaldi's, + and Dryfoos went with Fulkerson to discuss it with the caterer. He + insisted upon having everything explained to him, and the reason for + having it, and not something else in its place; and he treated Fulkerson + and Frescobaldi as if they were in league to impose upon him. There were + moments when Fulkerson saw the varnish of professional politeness cracking + on the Neapolitan's volcanic surface, and caught a glimpse of the + lava fires of the cook's nature beneath; he trembled for Dryfoos, + who was walking rough-shod over him in the security of an American who had + known how to make his money, and must know how to spend it; but he got him + safely away at last, and gave Frescobaldi a wink of sympathy for his shrug + of exhaustion as they turned to leave him. + </p> + <p> + It was at first a relief and then an anxiety with Fulkerson that Lindau + did not come about after accepting the invitation to dinner, until he + appeared at Dryfoos's house, prompt to the hour. There was, to be + sure, nothing to bring him; but Fulkerson was uneasily aware that Dryfoos + expected to meet him at the office, and perhaps receive some verbal + acknowledgment of the honor done him. Dryfoos, he could see, thought he + was doing all his invited guests a favor; and while he stood in a certain + awe of them as people of much greater social experience than himself, + regarded them with a kind of contempt, as people who were going to have a + better dinner at his house than they could ever afford to have at their + own. He had finally not spared expense upon it; after pushing Frescobaldi + to the point of eruption with his misgivings and suspicions at the first + interview, he had gone to him a second time alone, and told him not to let + the money stand between him and anything he would like to do. In the + absence of Frescobaldi's fellow-conspirator he restored himself in + the caterer's esteem by adding whatever he suggested; and Fulkerson, + after trembling for the old man's niggardliness, was now afraid of a + fantastic profusion in the feast. Dryfoos had reduced the scale of the + banquet as regarded the number of guests, but a confusing remembrance of + what Fulkerson had wished to do remained with him in part, and up to the + day of the dinner he dropped in at Frescobaldi's and ordered more + dishes and more of them. He impressed the Italian as an American original + of a novel kind; and when he asked Fulkerson how Dryfoos had made his + money, and learned that it was primarily in natural gas, he made note of + some of his eccentric tastes as peculiarities that were to be caressed in + any future natural-gas millionaire who might fall into his hands. He did + not begrudge the time he had to give in explaining to Dryfoos the relation + of the different wines to the different dishes; Dryfoos was apt to + substitute a costlier wine where he could for a cheaper one, and he gave + Frescobaldi carte blanche for the decoration of the table with pieces of + artistic confectionery. Among these the caterer designed one for a + surprise to his patron and a delicate recognition of the source of his + wealth, which he found Dryfoos very willing to talk about, when he + intimated that he knew what it was. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos left it to Fulkerson to invite the guests, and he found ready + acceptance of his politeness from Kendricks, who rightly regarded the + dinner as a part of the 'Every Other Week' business, and was + too sweet and kind-hearted, anyway, not to seem very glad to come. March + was a matter of course; but in Colonel Woodburn, Fulkerson encountered a + reluctance which embarrassed him the more because he was conscious of + having, for motives of his own, rather strained a point in suggesting the + colonel to Dryfoos as a fit subject for invitation. There had been only + one of the colonel's articles printed as yet, and though it had made + a sensation in its way, and started the talk about that number, still it + did not fairly constitute him a member of the staff, or even entitle him + to recognition as a regular contributor. Fulkerson felt so sure of + pleasing him with Dryfoos's message that he delivered it in full + family council at the widow's. His daughter received it with all the + enthusiasm that Fulkerson had hoped for, but the colonel said, stiffly, + “I have not the pleasure of knowing Mr. Dryfoos.” Miss + Woodburn appeared ready to fall upon him at this, but controlled herself, + as if aware that filial authority had its limits, and pressed her lips + together without saying anything. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” Fulkerson admitted. “But it isn't a + usual case. Mr. Dryfoos don't go in much for the conventionalities; + I reckon he don't know much about 'em, come to boil it down; + and he hoped”—here Fulkerson felt the necessity of inventing a + little—“that you would excuse any want of ceremony; it's + to be such an informal affair, anyway; we're all going in business + dress, and there ain't going to be any ladies. He'd have come + himself to ask you, but he's a kind of a bashful old fellow. It's + all right, Colonel Woodburn.” + </p> + <p> + “I take it that it is, sir,” said the colonel, courteously, + but with unabated state, “coming from you. But in these matters we + have no right to burden our friends with our decisions.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, of course,” said Fulkerson, feeling that he had + been delicately told to mind his own business. + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” the colonel went on, “the relation that + Mr. Dryfoos bears to the periodical in which you have done me the honor to + print my papah, but this is a question of passing the bounds of a purely + business connection, and of eating the salt of a man whom you do not + definitely know to be a gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + “Mah goodness!” his daughter broke in. “If you bah your + own salt with his money—” + </p> + <p> + “It is supposed that I earn his money before I buy my salt with it,” + returned her father, severely. “And in these times, when money is + got in heaps, through the natural decay of our nefarious commercialism, it + behooves a gentleman to be scrupulous that the hospitality offered him is + not the profusion of a thief with his booty. I don't say that Mr. + Dryfoos's good-fortune is not honest. I simply say that I know + nothing about it, and that I should prefer to know something before I sat + down at his board.” + </p> + <p> + “You're all right, colonel,” said Fulkerson, “and + so is Mr. Dryfoos. I give you my word that there are no flies on his + personal integrity, if that's what you mean. He's hard, and he'd + push an advantage, but I don't believe he would take an unfair one. + He's speculated and made money every time, but I never heard of his + wrecking a railroad or belonging to any swindling company or any grinding + monopoly. He does chance it in stocks, but he's always played on the + square, if you call stocks gambling.” + </p> + <p> + “May I think this over till morning?” asked the colonel. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, certainly, certainly,” said Fulkerson, eagerly. “I + don't know as there's any hurry.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn found a chance to murmur to him before he went: “He'll + come. And Ah'm so much oblahged, Mr. Fulkerson. Ah jost know it's + all you' doing, and it will give papa a chance to toak to some new + people, and get away from us evahlastin' women for once.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see why any one should want to do that,” said + Fulkerson, with grateful gallantry. “But I'll be dogged,” + he said to March when he told him about this odd experience, “if I + ever expected to find Colonel Woodburn on old Lindau's ground. He + did come round handsomely this morning at breakfast and apologized for + taking time to think the invitation over before he accepted. 'You + understand,' he says, 'that if it had been to the table of + some friend not so prosperous as Mr. Dryfoos—your friend Mr. March, + for instance—it would have been sufficient to know that he was your + friend. But in these days it is a duty that a gentleman owes himself to + consider whether he wishes to know a rich man or not. The chances of + making money disreputably are so great that the chances are against a man + who has made money if he's made a great deal of it.'” + </p> + <p> + March listened with a face of ironical insinuation. “That was very + good; and he seems to have had a good deal of confidence in your patience + and in your sense of his importance to the occasion—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” Fulkerson protested, “there's none of + that kind of thing about the colonel. I told him to take time to think it + over; he's the simplest-hearted old fellow in the world.” + </p> + <p> + “I should say so. After all, he didn't give any reason he had + for accepting. But perhaps the young lady had the reason.” + </p> + <p> + “Pshaw, March!” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0060" id="link2H_4_0060"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + So far as the Dryfoos family was concerned, the dinner might as well have + been given at Frescobaldi's rooms. None of the ladies appeared. Mrs. + Dryfoos was glad to escape to her own chamber, where she sat before an + autumnal fire, shaking her head and talking to herself at times, with the + foreboding of evil which old women like her make part of their religion. + The girls stood just out of sight at the head of the stairs, and disputed + which guest it was at each arrival; Mrs. Mandel had gone to her room to + write letters, after beseeching them not to stand there. When Kendricks + came, Christine gave Mela a little pinch, equivalent to a little mocking + shriek; for, on the ground of his long talk with Mela at Mrs. Horn's, + in the absence of any other admirer, they based a superstition of his + interest in her; when Beaton came, Mela returned the pinch, but awkwardly, + so that it hurt, and then Christine involuntarily struck her. + </p> + <p> + Frescobaldi's men were in possession everywhere they had turned the + cook out of her kitchen and the waitress out of her pantry; the reluctant + Irishman at the door was supplemented by a vivid Italian, who spoke French + with the guests, and said, “Bien, Monsieur,” and “toute + suite,” and “Merci!” to all, as he took their hats and + coats, and effused a hospitality that needed no language but the gleam of + his eyes and teeth and the play of his eloquent hands. From his + professional dress-coat, lustrous with the grease spotted on it at former + dinners and parties, they passed to the frocks of the elder and younger + Dryfoos in the drawing-room, which assumed informality for the affair, but + did not put their wearers wholly at their ease. The father's coat + was of black broadcloth, and he wore it unbuttoned; the skirts were long, + and the sleeves came down to his knuckles; he shook hands with his guests, + and the same dryness seemed to be in his palm and throat, as he huskily + asked each to take a chair. Conrad's coat was of modern texture and + cut, and was buttoned about him as if it concealed a bad conscience within + its lapels; he met March with his entreating smile, and he seemed no more + capable of coping with the situation than his father. They both waited for + Fulkerson, who went about and did his best to keep life in the party + during the half-hour that passed before they sat down at dinner. Beaton + stood gloomily aloof, as if waiting to be approached on the right basis + before yielding an inch of his ground; Colonel Woodburn, awaiting the + moment when he could sally out on his hobby, kept himself intrenched + within the dignity of a gentleman, and examined askance the figure of old + Lindau as he stared about the room, with his fine head up, and his empty + sleeve dangling over his wrist. March felt obliged to him for wearing a + new coat in the midst of that hostile luxury, and he was glad to see + Dryfoos make up to him and begin to talk with him, as if he wished to show + him particular respect, though it might have been because he was less + afraid of him than of the others. He heard Lindau saying, “Boat, the + name is Choarman?” and Dryfoos beginning to explain his Pennsylvania + Dutch origin, and he suffered himself, with a sigh of relief, to fall into + talk with Kendricks, who was always pleasant; he was willing to talk about + something besides himself, and had no opinions that he was not ready to + hold in abeyance for the time being out of kindness to others. In that + group of impassioned individualities, March felt him a refuge and comfort—with + his harmless dilettante intention of some day writing a novel, and his + belief that he was meantime collecting material for it. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson, while breaking the ice for the whole company, was mainly + engaged in keeping Colonel Woodburn thawed out. He took Kendricks away + from March and presented him to the colonel as a person who, like himself, + was looking into social conditions; he put one hand on Kendricks's + shoulder, and one on the colonel's, and made some flattering joke, + apparently at the expense of the young fellow, and then left them. March + heard Kendricks protest in vain, and the colonel say, gravely: “I do + not wonder, sir, that these things interest you. They constitute a problem + which society must solve or which will dissolve society,” and he + knew from that formula, which the colonel had, once used with him, that he + was laying out a road for the exhibition of the hobby's paces later. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson came back to March, who had turned toward Conrad Dryfoos, and + said, “If we don't get this thing going pretty soon, it + 'll be the death of me,” and just then Frescobaldi's + butler came in and announced to Dryfoos that dinner was served. The old + man looked toward Fulkerson with a troubled glance, as if he did not know + what to do; he made a gesture to touch Lindau's elbow. Fulkerson + called out, “Here's Colonel Woodburn, Mr. Dryfoos,” as + if Dryfoos were looking for him; and he set the example of what he was to + do by taking Lindau's arm himself. “Mr. Lindau is going to sit + at my end of the table, alongside of March. Stand not upon the order of + your going, gentlemen, but fall in at once.” He contrived to get + Dryfoos and the colonel before him, and he let March follow with + Kendricks. Conrad came last with Beaton, who had been turning over the + music at the piano, and chafing inwardly at the whole affair. At the table + Colonel Woodburn was placed on Dryfoos's right, and March on his + left. March sat on Fulkerson's right, with Lindau next him; and the + young men occupied the other seats. + </p> + <p> + “Put you next to March, Mr. Lindau,” said Fulkerson, “so + you can begin to put Apollinaris in his champagne-glass at the right + moment; you know his little weakness of old; sorry to say it's grown + on him.” + </p> + <p> + March laughed with kindly acquiescence in Fulkerson's wish to start + the gayety, and Lindau patted him on the shoulder. “I know hiss + veakness. If he liges a class of vine, it iss begause his loaf ingludes + efen hiss enemy, as Shakespeare galled it.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but Shakespeare couldn't have been thinking of champagne,” + said Kendricks. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose, sir,” Colonel Woodburn interposed, with lofty + courtesy, “champagne could hardly have been known in his day.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose not, colonel,” returned the younger man, + deferentially. “He seemed to think that sack and sugar might be a + fault; but he didn't mention champagne.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he felt there was no question about that,” suggested + Beaton, who then felt that he had not done himself justice in the sally. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder just when champagne did come in,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “I know when it ought to come in,” said Fulkerson. “Before + the soup!” + </p> + <p> + They all laughed, and gave themselves the air of drinking champagne out of + tumblers every day, as men like to do. Dryfoos listened uneasily; he did + not quite understand the allusions, though he knew what Shakespeare was, + well enough; Conrad's face expressed a gentle deprecation of joking + on such a subject, but he said nothing. + </p> + <p> + The talk ran on briskly through the dinner. The young men tossed the ball + back and forth; they made some wild shots, but they kept it going, and + they laughed when they were hit. The wine loosed Colonel Woodburn's + tongue; he became very companionable with the young fellows; with the + feeling that a literary dinner ought to have a didactic scope, he praised + Scott and Addison as the only authors fit to form the minds of gentlemen. + </p> + <p> + Kendricks agreed with him, but wished to add the name of Flaubert as a + master of style. “Style, you know,” he added, “is the + man.” + </p> + <p> + “Very true, sir; you are quite right, sir,” the colonel + assented; he wondered who Flaubert was. + </p> + <p> + Beaton praised Baudelaire and Maupassant; he said these were the masters. + He recited some lurid verses from Baudelaire; Lindau pronounced them a + disgrace to human nature, and gave a passage from Victor Hugo on Louis + Napoleon, with his heavy German accent, and then he quoted Schiller. + “Ach, boat that is a peaudifool! Not zo?” he demanded of + March. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, beautiful; but, of course, you know I think there's + nobody like Heine!” + </p> + <p> + Lindau threw back his great old head and laughed, showing a want of teeth + under his mustache. He put his hand on March's back. “This poy—he + was a poy den—wars so gracy to pekin reading Heine that he gommence + with the tictionary bevore he knows any Grammar, and ve bick it out vort + by vort togeder.” + </p> + <p> + “He was a pretty cay poy in those days, heigh, Lindau?” asked + Fulkerson, burlesquing the old man's accent, with an impudent wink + that made Lindau himself laugh. “But in the dark ages, I mean, there + in Indianapolis. Just how long ago did you old codgers meet there, anyway?” + Fulkerson saw the restiveness in Dryfoos's eye at the purely + literary course the talk had taken; he had intended it to lead up that way + to business, to 'Every Other Week;' but he saw that it was + leaving Dryfoos too far out, and he wished to get it on the personal + ground, where everybody is at home. + </p> + <p> + “Ledt me zee,” mused Lindau. “Wass it in fifty-nine or + zixty, Passil? Idt wass a year or dwo pefore the war proke oudt, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “Those were exciting times,” said Dryfoos, making his first + entry into the general talk. “I went down to Indianapolis with the + first company from our place, and I saw the red-shirts pouring in + everywhere. They had a song, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Oh, never mind the weather, but git over double trouble, + For we're bound for the land of Canaan.” + </pre> + <p> + The fellows locked arms and went singin' it up and down four or five + abreast in the moonlight; crowded everybody else off the sidewalk. + </p> + <p> + “I remember, I remember,” said Lindau, nodding his head slowly + up and down. “A coodt many off them nefer gome pack from that landt + of Ganaan, Mr. Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “You're right, Mr. Lindau. But I reckon it was worth it—the + country we've got now. Here, young man!” He caught the arm of + the waiter who was going round with the champagne bottle. “Fill up + Mr. Lindau's glass, there. I want to drink the health of those old + times with him. Here's to your empty sleeve, Mr. Lindau. God bless + it! No offence to you, Colonel Woodburn,” said Dryfoos, turning to + him before he drank. + </p> + <p> + “Not at all, sir, not at all,” said the colonel. “I will + drink with you, if you will permit me.” + </p> + <p> + “We'll all drink—standing!” cried Fulkerson. + “Help March to get up, somebody! Fill high the bowl with Samian + Apollinaris for Coonrod! Now, then, hurrah for Lindau!” + </p> + <p> + They cheered, and hammered on the table with the butts of their + knife-handles. Lindau remained seated. The tears came into his eyes; he + said, “I thank you, chendlemen,” and hiccoughed. + </p> + <p> + “I'd 'a' went into the war myself,” said + Dryfoos, “but I was raisin' a family of young children, and I + didn't see how I could leave my farm. But I helped to fill up the + quota at every call, and when the volunteering stopped I went round with + the subscription paper myself; and we offered as good bounties as any in + the State. My substitute was killed in one of the last skirmishes—in + fact, after Lee's surrender—and I've took care of his + family, more or less, ever since.” + </p> + <p> + “By-the-way, March,” said Fulkerson, “what sort of an + idea would it be to have a good war story—might be a serial—in + the magazine? The war has never fully panned out in fiction yet. It was + used a good deal just after it was over, and then it was dropped. I think + it's time to take it up again. I believe it would be a card.” + </p> + <p> + It was running in March's mind that Dryfoos had an old rankling + shame in his heart for not having gone into the war, and that he had often + made that explanation of his course without having ever been satisfied + with it. He felt sorry for him; the fact seemed pathetic; it suggested a + dormant nobleness in the man. + </p> + <p> + Beaton was saying to Fulkerson: “You might get a series of sketches + by substitutes; the substitutes haven't been much heard from in the + war literature. How would 'The Autobiography of a Substitute' + do? You might follow him up to the moment he was killed in the other man's + place, and inquire whether he had any right to the feelings of a hero when + he was only hired in the place of one. Might call it 'The Career of + a Deputy Hero.'” + </p> + <p> + “I fancy,” said March, “that there was a great deal of + mixed motive in the men who went into the war as well as in those who kept + out of it. We canonized all that died or suffered in it, but some of them + must have been self-seeking and low-minded, like men in other vocations.” + He found himself saying this in Dryfoos's behalf; the old man looked + at him gratefully at first, he thought, and then suspiciously. + </p> + <p> + Lindau turned his head toward him and said: “You are righdt, Passil; + you are righdt. I haf zeen on the fieldt of pattle the voarst eggsipitions + of human paseness—chelousy, fanity, ecodistic bridte. I haf zeen men + in the face off death itself gofferned by motifes as low as—as + pusiness motifes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Fulkerson, “it would be a grand thing for + 'Every Other Week' if we could get some of those ideas worked + up into a series. It would make a lot of talk.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel Woodburn ignored him in saying, “I think, Major Lindau—” + </p> + <p> + “High brifate; prefet gorporal,” the old man interrupted, in + rejection of the title. + </p> + <p> + Hendricks laughed and said, with a glance of appreciation at Lindau, + “Brevet corporal is good.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel Woodburn frowned a little, and passed over the joke. “I + think Mr. Lindau is right. Such exhibitions were common to both sides, + though if you gentlemen will pardon me for saying so, I think they were + less frequent on ours. We were fighting more immediately for existence. We + were fewer than you were, and we knew it; we felt more intensely that if + each were not for all, then none was for any.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel's words made their impression. Dryfoos said, with + authority, “That is so.” + </p> + <p> + “Colonel Woodburn,” Fulkerson called out, “if you'll + work up those ideas into a short paper—say, three thousand words—I'll + engage to make March take it.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel went on without replying: “But Mr. Lindau is right in + characterizing some of the motives that led men to the cannon's + mouth as no higher than business motives, and his comparison is the most + forcible that he could have used. I was very much struck by it.” + </p> + <p> + The hobby was out, the colonel was in the saddle with so firm a seat that + no effort sufficed to dislodge him. The dinner went on from course to + course with barbaric profusion, and from time to time Fulkerson tried to + bring the talk back to 'Every Other Week.' But perhaps because + that was only the ostensible and not the real object of the dinner, which + was to bring a number of men together under Dryfoos's roof, and make + them the witnesses of his splendor, make them feel the power of his + wealth, Fulkerson's attempts failed. The colonel showed how + commercialism was the poison at the heart of our national life; how we + began as a simple, agricultural people, who had fled to these shores with + the instinct, divinely implanted, of building a state such as the sun + never shone upon before; how we had conquered the wilderness and the + savage; how we had flung off, in our struggle with the mother-country, the + trammels of tradition and precedent, and had settled down, a free nation, + to the practice of the arts of peace; how the spirit of commercialism had + stolen insidiously upon us, and the infernal impulse of competition had + embroiled us in a perpetual warfare of interests, developing the worst + passions of our nature, and teaching us to trick and betray and destroy + one another in the strife for money, till now that impulse had exhausted + itself, and we found competition gone and the whole economic problem in + the hands of monopolies—the Standard Oil Company, the Sugar Trust, + the Rubber Trust, and what not. And now what was the next thing? Affairs + could not remain as they were; it was impossible; and what was the next + thing? + </p> + <p> + The company listened for the main part silently. Dryfoos tried to grasp + the idea of commercialism as the colonel seemed to hold it; he conceived + of it as something like the dry-goods business on a vast scale, and he + knew he had never been in that. He did not like to hear competition called + infernal; he had always supposed it was something sacred; but he approved + of what Colonel Woodburn said of the Standard Oil Company; it was all + true; the Standard Oil has squeezed Dryfoos once, and made him sell it a + lot of oil-wells by putting down the price of oil so low in that region + that he lost money on every barrel he pumped. + </p> + <p> + All the rest listened silently, except Lindau; at every point the colonel + made against the present condition of things he said more and more + fiercely, “You are righdt, you are righdt.” His eyes glowed, + his hand played with his knife-hilt. When the colonel demanded, “And + what is the next thing?” he threw himself forward, and repeated: + “Yes, sir! What is the next thing?” + </p> + <p> + “Natural gas, by thunder!” shouted Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + One of the waiters had profited by Lindau's posture to lean over him + and put down in the middle of the table a structure in white sugar. It + expressed Frescobaldi's conception of a derrick, and a touch of + nature had been added in the flame of brandy, which burned luridly up from + a small pit in the centre of the base, and represented the gas in + combustion as it issued from the ground. Fulkerson burst into a roar of + laughter with the words that recognized Frescobaldi's personal + tribute to Dryfoos. Everybody rose and peered over at the thing, while he + explained the work of sinking a gas-well, as he had already explained it + to Frescobaldi. In the midst of his lecture he caught sight of the caterer + himself, where he stood in the pantry doorway, smiling with an artist's + anxiety for the effect of his masterpiece. + </p> + <p> + “Come in, come in, Frescobaldi! We want to congratulate you,” + Fulkerson called to him. “Here, gentlemen! Here's Frescobaldi's + health.” + </p> + <p> + They all drank; and Frescobaldi, smiling brilliantly and rubbing his hands + as he bowed right and left, permitted himself to say to Dryfoos: “You + are please; no? You like?” + </p> + <p> + “First-rate, first-rate!” said the old man; but when the + Italian had bowed himself out and his guests had sunk into their seats + again, he said dryly to Fulkerson, “I reckon they didn't have + to torpedo that well, or the derrick wouldn't look quite so nice and + clean.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Fulkerson answered, “and that ain't quite + the style—that little wiggly-waggly blue flame—that the gas + acts when you touch off a good vein of it. This might do for weak gas”; + and he went on to explain: + </p> + <p> + “They call it weak gas when they tap it two or three hundred feet + down; and anybody can sink a well in his back yard and get enough gas to + light and heat his house. I remember one fellow that had it blazing up + from a pipe through a flower-bed, just like a jet of water from a + fountain. My, my, my! You fel—you gentlemen—ought to go out + and see that country, all of you. Wish we could torpedo this well, Mr. + Dryfoos, and let 'em see how it works! Mind that one you torpedoed + for me? You know, when they sink a well,” he went on to the company, + “they can't always most generally sometimes tell whether they're + goin' to get gas or oil or salt water. Why, when they first began to + bore for salt water out on the Kanawha, back about the beginning of the + century, they used to get gas now and then, and then they considered it a + failure; they called a gas-well a blower, and give it up in disgust; the + time wasn't ripe for gas yet. Now they bore away sometimes till they + get half-way to China, and don't seem to strike anything worth + speaking of. Then they put a dynamite torpedo down in the well and explode + it. They have a little bar of iron that they call a Go-devil, and they + just drop it down on the business end of the torpedo, and then stand from + under, if you please! You hear a noise, and in about half a minute you + begin to see one, and it begins to rain oil and mud and salt water and + rocks and pitchforks and adoptive citizens; and when it clears up the + derrick's painted—got a coat on that'll wear in any + climate. That's what our honored host meant. Generally get some + visiting lady, when there's one round, to drop the Go-devil. But + that day we had to put up with Conrad here. They offered to let me drop + it, but I declined. I told 'em I hadn't much practice with + Go-devils in the newspaper syndicate business, and I wasn't very + well myself, anyway. Astonishing,” Fulkerson continued, with the air + of relieving his explanation by an anecdote, “how reckless they get + using dynamite when they're torpedoing wells. We stopped at one + place where a fellow was handling the cartridges pretty freely, and Mr. + Dryfoos happened to caution him a little, and that ass came up with one of + 'em in his hand, and began to pound it on the buggy-wheel to show us + how safe it was. I turned green, I was so scared; but Mr. Dryfoos kept his + color, and kind of coaxed the fellow till he quit. You could see he was + the fool kind, that if you tried to stop him he'd keep on hammering + that cartridge, just to show that it wouldn't explode, till he blew + you into Kingdom Come. When we got him to go away, Mr. Dryfoos drove up to + his foreman. 'Pay Sheney off, and discharge him on the spot,' + says he. 'He's too safe a man to have round; he knows too much + about dynamite.' I never saw anybody so cool.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos modestly dropped his head under Fulkerson's flattery and, + without lifting it, turned his eyes toward Colonel Woodburn. “I had + all sorts of men to deal with in developing my property out there, but I + had very little trouble with them, generally speaking.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, ah! you foundt the laboring-man reasonable—dractable—tocile?” + Lindau put in. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, generally speaking,” Dryfoos answered. “They + mostly knew which side of their bread was buttered. I did have one little + difficulty at one time. It happened to be when Mr. Fulkerson was out + there. Some of the men tried to form a union—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” cried Fulkerson. “Let me tell that! I know you + wouldn't do yourself justice, Mr. Dryfoos, and I want 'em to + know how a strike can be managed, if you take it in time. You see, some of + those fellows got a notion that there ought to be a union among the + working-men to keep up wages, and dictate to the employers, and Mr. + Dryfoos's foreman was the ringleader in the business. They + understood pretty well that as soon as he found it out that foreman would + walk the plank, and so they watched out till they thought they had Mr. + Dryfoos just where they wanted him—everything on the keen jump, and + every man worth his weight in diamonds—and then they came to him, + and—told him to sign a promise to keep that foreman to the end of + the season, or till he was through with the work on the Dryfoos and Hendry + Addition, under penalty of having them all knock off. Mr. Dryfoos smelled + a mouse, but he couldn't tell where the mouse was; he saw that they + did have him, and he signed, of course. There wasn't anything really + against the fellow, anyway; he was a first-rate man, and he did his duty + every time; only he'd got some of those ideas into his head, and + they turned it. Mr. Dryfoos signed, and then he laid low.” + </p> + <p> + March saw Lindau listening with a mounting intensity, and heard him murmur + in German, “Shameful! shameful!” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson went on: “Well, it wasn't long before they began to + show their hand, but Mr. Dryfoos kept dark. He agreed to everything; there + never was such an obliging capitalist before; there wasn't a thing + they asked of him that he didn't do, with the greatest of pleasure, + and all went merry as a marriage-bell till one morning a whole gang of + fresh men marched into the Dryfoos and Hendry Addition, under the escort + of a dozen Pinkertons with repeating rifles at half-cock, and about fifty + fellows found themselves out of a job. You never saw such a mad set.” + </p> + <p> + “Pretty neat,” said Kendricks, who looked at the affair purely + from an aesthetic point of view. “Such a coup as that would tell + tremendously in a play.” + </p> + <p> + “That was vile treason,” said Lindau in German to March. + “He's an infamous traitor! I cannot stay here. I must go.” + </p> + <p> + He struggled to rise, while March held him by the coat, and implored him + under his voice: “For Heaven's sake, don't, Lindau! You + owe it to yourself not to make a scene, if you come here.” Something + in it all affected him comically; he could not help laughing. + </p> + <p> + The others were discussing the matter, and seemed not to have noticed + Lindau, who controlled himself and sighed: “You are right. I must + have patience.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton was saying to Dryfoos, “Pity your Pinkertons couldn't + have given them a few shots before they left.” + </p> + <p> + “No, that wasn't necessary,” said Dryfoos. “I + succeeded in breaking up the union. I entered into an agreement with other + parties not to employ any man who would not swear that he was non-union. + If they had attempted violence, of course they could have been shot. But + there was no fear of that. Those fellows can always be depended upon to + cut one another's throats in the long run.” + </p> + <p> + “But sometimes,” said Colonel Woodburn, who had been watching + throughout for a chance to mount his hobby again, “they make a good + deal of trouble first. How was it in the great railroad strike of '77?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I guess there was a little trouble that time, colonel,” + said Fulkerson. “But the men that undertake to override the laws and + paralyze the industries of a country like this generally get left in the + end.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, generally; and up to a certain point, always. But it's + the exceptional that is apt to happen, as well as the unexpected. And a + little reflection will convince any gentleman here that there is always a + danger of the exceptional in your system. The fact is, those fellows have + the game in their own hands already. A strike of the whole body of the + Brotherhood of Engineers alone would starve out the entire Atlantic + seaboard in a week; labor insurrection could make head at a dozen given + points, and your government couldn't move a man over the roads + without the help of the engineers.” + </p> + <p> + “That is so,” said Kendrick, struck by the dramatic character + of the conjecture. He imagined a fiction dealing with the situation as + something already accomplished. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't some fellow do the Battle of Dorking act with that + thing?” said Fulkerson. “It would be a card.” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly what I was thinking, Mr. Fulkerson,” said Kendricks. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed. “Telepathy—clear case of mind transference. + Better see March, here, about it. I'd like to have it in 'Every + Other Week.' It would make talk.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it might set your people to thinking as well as talking,” + said the colonel. + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” said Dryfoos, setting his lips so tightly + together that his imperial stuck straight outward, “if I had my way, + there wouldn't be any Brotherhood of Engineers, nor any other kind + of labor union in the whole country.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” shouted Lindau. “You would sobbress the unionss + of the voarking-men?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I would.” + </p> + <p> + “And what would you do with the unionss of the gabidalists—the + drosts—and gompines, and boolss? Would you dake the righdt from one + and gif it to the odder?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, I would,” said Dryfoos, with a wicked look at him. + </p> + <p> + Lindau was about to roar back at him with some furious protest, but March + put his hand on his shoulder imploringly, and Lindau turned to him to say + in German: “But it is infamous—infamous! What kind of man is + this? Who is he? He has the heart of a tyrant.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel Woodburn cut in. “You couldn't do that, Mr. Dryfoos, + under your system. And if you attempted it, with your conspiracy laws, and + that kind of thing, it might bring the climax sooner than you expected. + Your commercialized society has built its house on the sands. It will have + to go. But I should be sorry if it went before its time.” + </p> + <p> + “You are righdt, sir,” said Lindau. “It would be a bity. + I hobe it will last till it feelss its rottenness, like Herodt. Boat, when + its hour gomes, when it trope to bieces with the veight off its own + gorrubtion—what then?” + </p> + <p> + “It's not to be supposed that a system of things like this can + drop to pieces of its own accord, like the old Republic of Venice,” + said the colonel. “But when the last vestige of commercial society + is gone, then we can begin to build anew; and we shall build upon the + central idea, not of the false liberty you now worship, but of + responsibility—responsibility. The enlightened, the moneyed, the + cultivated class shall be responsible to the central authority—emperor, + duke, president; the name does not matter—for the national expense + and the national defence, and it shall be responsible to the + working-classes of all kinds for homes and lands and implements, and the + opportunity to labor at all times. + </p> + <p> + “The working-classes shall be responsible to the leisure class for + the support of its dignity in peace, and shall be subject to its command + in war. The rich shall warrant the poor against planless production and + the ruin that now follows, against danger from without and famine from + within, and the poor—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, no!” shouted Lindau. “The State shall do that—the + whole beople. The men who voark shall have and shall eat; and the men that + will not voark, they shall sdarfe. But no man need sdarfe. He will go to + the State, and the State will see that he haf voark, and that he haf + foodt. All the roadts and mills and mines and landts shall be the beople's + and be ron by the beople for the beople. There shall be no rich and no + boor; and there shall not be war any more, for what bower wouldt dare to + addack a beople bound togeder in a broderhood like that?” + </p> + <p> + “Lion and lamb act,” said Fulkerson, not well knowing, after + so much champagne, what words he was using. + </p> + <p> + No one noticed him, and Colonel Woodburn said coldly to Lindau, “You + are talking paternalism, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “And you are dalking feutalism!” retorted the old man. + </p> + <p> + The colonel did not reply. A silence ensued, which no one broke till + Fulkerson said: “Well, now, look here. If either one of these + millenniums was brought about, by force of arms, or otherwise, what would + become of 'Every Other Week'? Who would want March for an + editor? How would Beaton sell his pictures? Who would print Mr. Kendricks's + little society verses and short stories? What would become of Conrad and + his good works?” Those named grinned in support of Fulkerson's + diversion, but Lindau and the colonel did not speak; Dryfoos looked down + at his plate, frowning. + </p> + <p> + A waiter came round with cigars, and Fulkerson took one. “Ah,” + he said, as he bit off the end, and leaned over to the emblematic + masterpiece, where the brandy was still feebly flickering, “I wonder + if there's enough natural gas left to light my cigar.” His + effort put the flame out and knocked the derrick over; it broke in + fragments on the table. Fulkerson cackled over the ruin: “I wonder + if all Moffitt will look that way after labor and capital have fought it + out together. I hope this ain't ominous of anything personal, + Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll take the risk of it,” said the old man, harshly. + </p> + <p> + He rose mechanically, and Fulkerson said to Frescobaldi's man, + “You can bring us the coffee in the library.” + </p> + <p> + The talk did not recover itself there. Landau would not sit down; he + refused coffee, and dismissed himself with a haughty bow to the company; + Colonel Woodburn shook hands elaborately all round, when he had smoked his + cigar; the others followed him. It seemed to March that his own good-night + from Dryfoos was dry and cold. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0061" id="link2H_4_0061"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + March met Fulkerson on the steps of the office next morning, when he + arrived rather later than his wont. Fulkerson did not show any of the + signs of suffering from the last night's pleasure which painted + themselves in March's face. He flirted his hand gayly in the air, + and said, “How's your poor head?” and broke into a + knowing laugh. “You don't seem to have got up with the lark + this morning. The old gentleman is in there with Conrad, as bright as a + biscuit; he's beat you down. Well, we did have a good time, didn't + we? And old Lindau and the colonel, didn't they have a good time? I + don't suppose they ever had a chance before to give their theories + quite so much air. Oh, my! how they did ride over us! I'm just going + down to see Beaton about the cover of the Christmas number. I think we + ought to try it in three or four colors, if we are going to observe the + day at all.” He was off before March could pull himself together to + ask what Dryfoos wanted at the office at that hour of the morning; he + always came in the afternoon on his way up-town. + </p> + <p> + The fact of his presence renewed the sinister misgivings with which March + had parted from him the night before, but Fulkerson's cheerfulness + seemed to gainsay them; afterward March did not know whether to attribute + this mood to the slipperiness that he was aware of at times in Fulkerson, + or to a cynical amusement he might have felt at leaving him alone to the + old man, who mounted to his room shortly after March had reached it. + </p> + <p> + A sort of dumb anger showed itself in his face; his jaw was set so firmly + that he did not seem able at once to open it. He asked, without the + ceremonies of greeting, “What does that one-armed Dutchman do on + this book?” + </p> + <p> + “What does he do?” March echoed, as people are apt to do with + a question that is mandatory and offensive. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, what does he do? Does he write for it?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you mean Lindau,” said March. He saw no reason for + refusing to answer Dryfoos's demand, and he decided to ignore its + terms. “No, he doesn't write for it in the usual way. He + translates for it; he examines the foreign magazines, and draws my + attention to anything he thinks of interest. But I told you about this + before—” + </p> + <p> + “I know what you told me, well enough. And I know what he is. He is + a red-mouthed labor agitator. He's one of those foreigners that come + here from places where they've never had a decent meal's + victuals in their lives, and as soon as they get their stomachs full, they + begin to make trouble between our people and their hands. There's + where the strikes come from, and the unions and the secret societies. They + come here and break our Sabbath, and teach their atheism. They ought to be + hung! Let 'em go back if they don't like it over here. They + want to ruin the country.” + </p> + <p> + March could not help smiling a little at the words, which came fast enough + now in the hoarse staccato of Dryfoos's passion. “I don't + know whom you mean by they, generally speaking; but I had the impression + that poor old Lindau had once done his best to save the country. I don't + always like his way of talking, but I know that he is one of the truest + and kindest souls in the world; and he is no more an atheist than I am. He + is my friend, and I can't allow him to be misunderstood.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't care what he is,” Dryfoos broke out, “I + won't have him round. He can't have any more work from this + office. I want you to stop it. I want you to turn him off.” + </p> + <p> + March was standing at his desk, as he had risen to receive Dryfoos when he + entered. He now sat down, and began to open his letters. + </p> + <p> + “Do you hear?” the old man roared at him. “I want you to + turn him off.” + </p> + <p> + “Excuse me, Mr. Dryfoos,” said March, succeeding in an effort + to speak calmly, “I don't know you, in such a matter as this. + My arrangements as editor of 'Every Other Week' were made with + Mr. Fulkerson. I have always listened to any suggestion he has had to + make.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't care for Mr. Fulkerson! He has nothing to do with it,” + retorted Dryfoos; but he seemed a little daunted by March's + position. + </p> + <p> + “He has everything to do with it as far as I am concerned,” + March answered, with a steadiness that he did not feel. “I know that + you are the owner of the periodical, but I can't receive any + suggestion from you, for the reason that I have given. Nobody but Mr. + Fulkerson has any right to talk with me about its management.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos glared at him for a moment, and demanded, threateningly: “Then + you say you won't turn that old loafer off? You say that I have got + to keep on paying my money out to buy beer for a man that would cut my + throat if he got the chance?” + </p> + <p> + “I say nothing at all, Mr. Dryfoos,” March answered. The blood + came into his face, and he added: “But I will say that if you speak + again of Mr. Lindau in those terms, one of us must leave this room. I will + not hear you.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos looked at him with astonishment; then he struck his hat down on + his head, and stamped out of the room and down the stairs; and a vague + pity came into March's heart that was not altogether for himself. He + might be the greater sufferer in the end, but he was sorry to have got the + better of that old man for the moment; and he felt ashamed of the anger + into which Dryfoos's anger had surprised him. He knew he could not + say too much in defence of Lindau's generosity and unselfishness, + and he had not attempted to defend him as a political economist. He could + not have taken any ground in relation to Dryfoos but that which he held, + and he felt satisfied that he was right in refusing to receive + instructions or commands from him. Yet somehow he was not satisfied with + the whole affair, and not merely because his present triumph threatened + his final advantage, but because he felt that in his heart he had hardly + done justice to Dryfoos's rights in the matter; it did not quite + console him to reflect that Dryfoos had himself made it impossible. He was + tempted to go home and tell his wife what had happened, and begin his + preparations for the future at once. But he resisted this weakness and + kept mechanically about his work, opening the letters and the manuscripts + before him with that curious double action of the mind common in men of + vivid imaginations. It was a relief when Conrad Dryfoos, having apparently + waited to make sure that his father would not return, came up from the + counting-room and looked in on March with a troubled face. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. March,” he began, “I hope father hasn't been + saying anything to you that you can't overlook. I know he was very + much excited, and when he is excited he is apt to say things that he is + sorry for.” + </p> + <p> + The apologetic attitude taken for Dryfoos, so different from any attitude + the peremptory old man would have conceivably taken for himself, made + March smile. “Oh no. I fancy the boot is on the other leg. I suspect + I've said some things your father can't overlook, Conrad.” + He called the young man by his Christian name partly to distinguish him + from his father, partly from the infection of Fulkerson's habit, and + partly from a kindness for him that seemed naturally to express itself in + that way. + </p> + <p> + “I know he didn't sleep last night, after you all went away,” + Conrad pursued, “and of course that made him more irritable; and he + was tried a good deal by some of the things that Mr. Lindau said.” + </p> + <p> + “I was tried a good deal myself,” said March. “Lindau + ought never to have been there.” + </p> + <p> + “No.” Conrad seemed only partially to assent. + </p> + <p> + “I told Mr. Fulkerson so. I warned him that Lindau would be apt to + break out in some way. It wasn't just to him, and it wasn't + just to your father, to ask him.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fulkerson had a good motive,” Conrad gently urged. + “He did it because he hurt his feelings that day about the pension.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but it was a mistake. He knew that Lindau was inflexible about + his principles, as he calls them, and that one of his first principles is + to denounce the rich in season and out of season. I don't remember + just what he said last night; and I really thought I'd kept him from + breaking out in the most offensive way. But your father seems very much + incensed.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” said Conrad. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I don't agree with Lindau. I think there are as + many good, kind, just people among the rich as there are among the poor, + and that they are as generous and helpful. But Lindau has got hold of one + of those partial truths that hurt worse than the whole truth, and—” + </p> + <p> + “Partial truth!” the young man interrupted. “Didn't + the Saviour himself say, 'How hardly shall they that have riches + enter into the kingdom of God?'” + </p> + <p> + “Why, bless my soul!” cried March. “Do you agree with + Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + “I agree with the Lord Jesus Christ,” said the young man, + solemnly, and a strange light of fanaticism, of exaltation, came into his + wide blue eyes. “And I believe He meant the kingdom of heaven upon + this earth, as well as in the skies.” + </p> + <p> + March threw himself back in his chair and looked at him with a kind of + stupefaction, in which his eye wandered to the doorway, where he saw + Fulkerson standing, it seemed to him a long time, before he heard him + saying: “Hello, hello! What's the row? Conrad pitching into + you on old Lindau's account, too?” + </p> + <p> + The young man turned, and, after a glance at Fulkerson's light, + smiling face, went out, as if in his present mood he could not bear the + contact of that persiflant spirit. + </p> + <p> + March felt himself getting provisionally very angry again. “Excuse + me, Fulkerson, but did you know when you went out what Mr. Dryfoos wanted + to see me for?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, no, I didn't exactly,” said Fulkerson, taking his + usual seat on a chair and looking over the back of it at March. “I + saw he was on his car about something, and I thought I'd better not + monkey with him much. I supposed he was going to bring you to book about + old Lindau, somehow.” Fulkerson broke into a laugh. + </p> + <p> + March remained serious. “Mr. Dryfoos,” he said, willing to let + the simple statement have its own weight with Fulkerson, and nothing more, + “came in here and ordered me to discharge Lindau from his employment + on the magazine—to turn him off, as he put it.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he?” asked Fulkerson, with unbroken cheerfulness. “The + old man is business, every time. Well, I suppose you can easily get + somebody else to do Lindau's work for you. This town is just running + over with half-starved linguists. What did you say?” + </p> + <p> + “What did I say?” March echoed. “Look here, Fulkerson; + you may regard this as a joke, but I don't. I'm not used to + being spoken to as if I were the foreman of a shop, and told to discharge + a sensitive and cultivated man like Lindau, as if he were a drunken + mechanic; and if that's your idea of me—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, hello, now, March! You mustn't mind the old man's + way. He don't mean anything by it—he don't know any + better, if you come to that.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I know better,” said March. “I refused to receive + any instructions from Mr. Dryfoos, whom I don't know in my relations + with 'Every Other Week,' and I referred him to you.” + </p> + <p> + “You did?” Fulkerson whistled. “He owns the thing!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't care who owns the thing,” said March. “My + negotiations were with you alone from the beginning, and I leave this + matter with you. What do you wish done about Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, better let the old fool drop,” said Fulkerson. “He'll + light on his feet somehow, and it will save a lot of rumpus.” + </p> + <p> + “And if I decline to let him drop?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, come, now, March; don't do that,” Fulkerson began. + </p> + <p> + “If I decline to let him drop,” March repeated, “what + will you do?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll be dogged if I know what I'll do,” said + Fulkerson. “I hope you won't take that stand. If the old man + went so far as to speak to you about it, his mind is made up, and we might + as well knock under first as last.” + </p> + <p> + “And do you mean to say that you would not stand by me in what I + considered my duty—in a matter of principle?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course, March,” said Fulkerson, coaxingly, “I + mean to do the right thing. But Dryfoos owns the magazine—” + </p> + <p> + “He doesn't own me,” said March, rising. “He has + made the little mistake of speaking to me as if he did; and when”—March + put on his hat and took his overcoat down from its nail—“when + you bring me his apologies, or come to say that, having failed to make him + understand they were necessary, you are prepared to stand by me, I will + come back to this desk. Otherwise my resignation is at your service.” + </p> + <p> + He started toward the door, and Fulkerson intercepted him. “Ah, now, + look here, March! Don't do that! Hang it all, don't you see + where it leaves me? Now, you just sit down a minute and talk it over. I + can make you see—I can show you—Why, confound the old Dutch + beer-buzzer! Twenty of him wouldn't be worth the trouble he's + makin'. Let him go, and the old man 'll come round in time.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think we've understood each other exactly, Mr. + Fulkerson,” said March, very haughtily. “Perhaps we never can; + but I'll leave you to think it out.” + </p> + <p> + He pushed on, and Fulkerson stood aside to let him pass, with a dazed look + and a mechanical movement. There was something comic in his rueful + bewilderment to March, who was tempted to smile, but he said to himself + that he had as much reason to be unhappy as Fulkerson, and he did not + smile. His indignation kept him hot in his purpose to suffer any + consequence rather than submit to the dictation of a man like Dryfoos; he + felt keenly the degradation of his connection with him, and all his + resentment of Fulkerson's original uncandor returned; at the same + time his heart ached with foreboding. It was not merely the work in which + he had constantly grown happier that he saw taken from him; but he felt + the misery of the man who stakes the security and plenty and peace of home + upon some cast, and knows that losing will sweep from him most that most + men find sweet and pleasant in life. He faced the fact, which no good man + can front without terror, that he was risking the support of his family, + and for a point of pride, of honor, which perhaps he had no right to + consider in view of the possible adversity. He realized, as every hireling + must, no matter how skillfully or gracefully the tie is contrived for his + wearing, that he belongs to another, whose will is his law. His + indignation was shot with abject impulses to go back and tell Fulkerson + that it was all right, and that he gave up. To end the anguish of his + struggle he quickened his steps, so that he found he was reaching home + almost at a run. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0062" id="link2H_4_0062"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. + </h2> + <p> + He must have made more clatter than he supposed with his key at the + apartment door, for his wife had come to let him in when he flung it open. + “Why, Basil,” she said, “what's brought you back? + Are you sick? You're all pale. Well, no wonder! This is the last of + Mr. Fulkerson's dinners you shall go to. You're not strong + enough for it, and your stomach will be all out of order for a week. How + hot you are! and in a drip of perspiration! Now you'll be sick.” + She took his hat away, which hung dangling in his hand, and pushed him + into a chair with tender impatience. “What is the matter? Has + anything happened?” + </p> + <p> + “Everything has happened,” he said, getting his voice after + one or two husky endeavors for it; and then he poured out a confused and + huddled statement of the case, from which she only got at the situation by + prolonged cross-questioning. + </p> + <p> + At the end she said, “I knew Lindau would get you into trouble.” + </p> + <p> + This cut March to the heart. “Isabel!” he cried, + reproachfully. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know,” she retorted, and the tears began to come. + “I don't wonder you didn't want to say much to me about + that dinner at breakfast. I noticed it; but I thought you were just dull, + and so I didn't insist. I wish I had, now. If you had told me what + Lindau had said, I should have known what would have come of it, and I + could have advised you—” + </p> + <p> + “Would you have advised me,” March demanded, curiously, + “to submit to bullying like that, and meekly consent to commit an + act of cruelty against a man who had once been such a friend to me?” + </p> + <p> + “It was an unlucky day when you met him. I suppose we shall have to + go. And just when we had got used to New York, and begun to like it. I don't + know where we shall go now; Boston isn't like home any more; and we + couldn't live on two thousand there; I should be ashamed to try. I'm + sure I don't know where we can live on it. I suppose in some country + village, where there are no schools, or anything for the children. I don't + know what they'll say when we tell them, poor things.” + </p> + <p> + Every word was a stab in March's heart, so weakly tender to his own; + his wife's tears, after so much experience of the comparative + lightness of the griefs that weep themselves out in women, always seemed + wrung from his own soul; if his children suffered in the least through + him, he felt like a murderer. It was far worse than he could have + imagined, the way his wife took the affair, though he had imagined certain + words, or perhaps only looks, from her that were bad enough. He had + allowed for trouble, but trouble on his account: a svmpathy that might + burden and embarrass him; but he had not dreamed of this merely domestic, + this petty, this sordid view of their potential calamity, which left him + wholly out of the question, and embraced only what was most crushing and + desolating in the prospect. He could not bear it. He caught up his hat + again, and, with some hope that his wife would try to keep him, rushed out + of the house. He wandered aimlessly about, thinking the same exhausting + thoughts over and over, till he found himself horribly hungry; then he + went into a restaurant for his lunch, and when he paid he tried to imagine + how he should feel if that were really his last dollar. + </p> + <p> + He went home toward the middle of the afternoon, basely hoping that + Fulkerson had sent him some conciliatory message, or perhaps was waiting + there for him to talk it over; March was quite willing to talk it over + now. But it was his wife who again met him at the door, though it seemed + another woman than the one he had left weeping in the morning. + </p> + <p> + “I told the children,” she said, in smiling explanation of his + absence from lunch, “that perhaps you were detained by business. I + didn't know but you had gone back to the office.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you think I would go back there, Isabel?” asked March, + with a haggard look. “Well, if you say so, I will go back, and do + what Dryfoos ordered me to do. I'm sufficiently cowed between him + and you, I can assure you.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense,” she said. “I approve of everything you did. + But sit down, now, and don't keep walking that way, and let me see + if I understand it perfectly. Of course, I had to have my say out.” + </p> + <p> + She made him go all over his talk with Dryfoos again, and report his own + language precisely. From time to time, as she got his points, she said, + “That was splendid,” “Good enough for him!” and + “Oh, I'm so glad you said that to him!” At the end she + said: + </p> + <p> + “Well, now, let's look at it from his point of view. Let's + be perfectly just to him before we take another step forward.” + </p> + <p> + “Or backward,” March suggested, ruefully. “The case is + simply this: he owns the magazine.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course.” + </p> + <p> + “And he has a right to expect that I will consider his pecuniary + interests—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, those detestable pecuniary interests! Don't you wish + there wasn't any money in the world?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; or else that there was a great deal more of it. And I was + perfectly willing to do that. I have always kept that in mind as one of my + duties to him, ever since I understood what his relation to the magazine + was.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I can bear witness to that in any court of justice. You've + done it a great deal more than I could, Basil. And it was just the same + way with those horrible insurance people.” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” March went on, trying to be proof against her + flatteries, or at least to look as if he did not deserve praise; “I + know that what Lindau said was offensive to him, and I can understand how + he felt that he had a right to punish it. All I say is that he had no + right to punish it through me.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Mrs. March, askingly. + </p> + <p> + “If it had been a question of making 'Every Other Week' + the vehicle of Lindau's peculiar opinions—though they're + not so very peculiar; he might have got the most of them out of Ruskin—I + shouldn't have had any ground to stand on, or at least then I should + have had to ask myself whether his opinions would be injurious to the + magazine or not.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see,” Mrs. March interpolated, “how they + could hurt it much worse than Colonel Woodburn's article crying up + slavery.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said March, impartially, “we could print a dozen + articles praising the slavery it's impossible to have back, and it + wouldn't hurt us. But if we printed one paper against the slavery + which Lindau claims still exists, some people would call us bad names, and + the counting-room would begin to feel it. But that isn't the point. + Lindau's connection with 'Every Other Week' is almost + purely mechanical; he's merely a translator of such stories and + sketches as he first submits to me, and it isn't at all a question + of his opinions hurting us, but of my becoming an agent to punish him for + his opinions. That is what I wouldn't do; that's what I never + will do.” + </p> + <p> + “If you did,” said his wife, “I should perfectly despise + you. I didn't understand how it was before. I thought you were just + holding out against Dryfoos because he took a dictatorial tone with you, + and because you wouldn't recognize his authority. But now I'm + with you, Basil, every time, as that horrid little Fulkerson says. But who + would ever have supposed he would be so base as to side against you?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said March, thoughtfully, “that we + had a right to expect anything else. Fulkerson's standards are low; + they're merely business standards, and the good that's in him + is incidental and something quite apart from his morals and methods. He's + naturally a generous and right-minded creature, but life has taught him to + truckle and trick, like the rest of us.” + </p> + <p> + “It hasn't taught you that, Basil.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't be so sure. Perhaps it's only that I'm a + poor scholar. But I don't know, really, that I despise Fulkerson so + much for his course this morning as for his gross and fulsome flatteries + of Dryfoos last night. I could hardly stomach it.” + </p> + <p> + His wife made him tell her what they were, and then she said, “Yes, + that was loathsome; I couldn't have believed it of Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he only did it to keep the talk going, and to give the old + man a chance to say something,” March leniently suggested. “It + was a worse effect because he didn't or couldn't follow up + Fulkerson's lead.” + </p> + <p> + “It was loathsome, all the same,” his wife insisted. “It's + the end of Mr. Fulkerson, as far as I'm concerned.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't tell you before,” March resumed, after a + moment, “of my little interview with Conrad Dryfoos after his father + left,” and now he went on to repeat what had passed between him and + the young man. + </p> + <p> + “I suspect that he and his father had been having some words before + the old man came up to talk with me, and that it was that made him so + furious.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but what a strange position for the son of such a man to take! + Do you suppose he says such things to his father?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know; but I suspect that in his meek way Conrad would + say what he believed to anybody. I suppose we must regard him as a kind of + crank.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor young fellow! He always makes me feel sad, somehow. He has + such a pathetic face. I don't believe I ever saw him look quite + happy, except that night at Mrs. Horn's, when he was talking with + Miss Vance; and then he made me feel sadder than ever.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't envy him the life he leads at home, with those + convictions of his. I don't see why it wouldn't be as + tolerable there for old Lindau himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, now,” said Mrs. March, “let us put them all out + of our minds and see what we are going to do ourselves.” + </p> + <p> + They began to consider their ways and means, and how and where they should + live, in view of March's severance of his relations with 'Every + Other Week.' They had not saved anything from the first year's + salary; they had only prepared to save; and they had nothing solid but + their two thousand to count upon. But they built a future in which they + easily lived on that and on what March earned with his pen. He became a + free lance, and fought in whatever cause he thought just; he had no ties, + no chains. They went back to Boston with the heroic will to do what was + most distasteful; they would have returned to their own house if they had + not rented it again; but, any rate, Mrs. March helped out by taking + boarders, or perhaps only letting rooms to lodgers. They had some hard + struggles, but they succeeded. + </p> + <p> + “The great thing,” she said, “is to be right. I'm + ten times as happy as if you had come home and told me that you had + consented to do what Dryfoos asked and he had doubled your salary.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think that would have happened in any event,” + said March, dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no matter. I just used it for an example.” + </p> + <p> + They both experienced a buoyant relief, such as seems to come to people + who begin life anew on whatever terms. “I hope we are young enough + yet, Basil,” she said, and she would not have it when he said they + had once been younger. + </p> + <p> + They heard the children's knock on the door; they knocked when they + came home from school so that their mother might let them in. “Shall + we tell them at once?” she asked, and ran to open for them before + March could answer. + </p> + <p> + They were not alone. Fulkerson, smiling from ear to ear, was with them. + “Is March in?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. March is at home, yes,” she said very haughtily. “He's + in his study,” and she led the way there, while the children went to + their rooms. + </p> + <p> + “Well, March,” Fulkerson called out at sight of him, “it's + all right! The old man has come down.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose if you gentlemen are going to talk business—” + Mrs. March began. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we don't want you to go away,” said Fulkerson. + “I reckon March has told you, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I've told her,” said March. “Don't go, + Isabel. What do you mean, Fulkerson?” + </p> + <p> + “He's just gone on up home, and he sent me round with his + apologies. He sees now that he had no business to speak to you as he did, + and he withdraws everything. He'd 'a' come round himself + if I'd said so, but I told him I could make it all right.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson looked so happy in having the whole affair put right, and the + Marches knew him to be so kindly affected toward them, that they could not + refuse for the moment to share his mood. They felt themselves slipping + down from the moral height which they had gained, and March made a clutch + to stay himself with the question, “And Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Fulkerson, “he's going to leave + Lindau to me. You won't have anything to do with it. I'll let + the old fellow down easy.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean,” asked March, “that Mr. Dryfoos insists on + his being dismissed?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, there isn't any dismissing about it,” Fulkerson + argued. “If you don't send him any more work, he won't + do any more, that's all. Or if he comes round, you can—He's + to be referred to me.” + </p> + <p> + March shook his head, and his wife, with a sigh, felt herself plucked up + from the soft circumstance of their lives, which she had sunk back into so + quickly, and set beside him on that cold peak of principle again. “It + won't do, Fulkerson. It's very good of you, and all that, but + it comes to the same thing in the end. I could have gone on without any + apology from Mr. Dryfoos; he transcended his authority, but that's a + minor matter. I could have excused it to his ignorance of life among + gentlemen; but I can't consent to Lindau's dismissal—it + comes to that, whether you do it or I do it, and whether it's a + positive or a negative thing—because he holds this opinion or that.” + </p> + <p> + “But don't you see,” said Fulkerson, “that it's + just Lindau's opinions the old man can't stand? He hasn't + got anything against him personally. I don't suppose there's + anybody that appreciates Lindau in some ways more than the old man does.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand. He wants to punish him for his opinions. Well, I can't + consent to that, directly or indirectly. We don't print his + opinions, and he has a perfect right to hold them, whether Mr. Dryfoos + agrees with them or not.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March had judged it decorous for her to say nothing, but she now went + and sat down in the chair next her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, dog on it!” cried Fulkerson, rumpling his hair with both + his hands. “What am I to do? The old man says he's got to go.” + </p> + <p> + “And I don't consent to his going,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “And you won't stay if he goes.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson rose. “Well, well! I've got to see about it. I'm + afraid the old man won't stand it, March; I am, indeed. I wish you'd + reconsider. I—I'd take it as a personal favor if you would. It + leaves me in a fix. You see I've got to side with one or the other.” + </p> + <p> + March made no reply to this, except to say, “Yes, you must stand by + him, or you must stand by me.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well! Hold on awhile! I'll see you in the morning. Don't + take any steps—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there are no steps to take,” said March, with a + melancholy smile. “The steps are stopped; that's all.” + He sank back into his chair when Fulkerson was gone and drew a long + breath. “This is pretty rough. I thought we had got through it.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said his wife. “It seems as if I had to make the + fight all over again.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's a good thing it's a holy war.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't bear the suspense. Why didn't you tell him + outright you wouldn't go back on any terms?” + </p> + <p> + “I might as well, and got the glory. He'll never move Dryfoos. + I suppose we both would like to go back, if we could.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I suppose so.” + </p> + <p> + They could not regain their lost exaltation, their lost dignity. At dinner + Mrs. March asked the children how they would like to go back to Boston to + live. + </p> + <p> + “Why, we're not going, are we?” asked Tom, without + enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + “I was just wondering how you felt about it, now,” she said, + with an underlook at her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Well, if we go back,” said Bella, “I want to live on + the Back Bay. It's awfully Micky at the South End.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I should go to Harvard,” said Tom, “and I'd + room out at Cambridge. It would be easier to get at you on the Back Bay.” + </p> + <p> + The parents smiled ruefully at each other, and, in view of these grand + expectations of his children, March resolved to go as far as he could in + meeting Dryfoos's wishes. He proposed the theatre as a distraction + from the anxieties that he knew were pressing equally on his wife. “We + might go to the 'Old Homestead,'” he suggested, with a + sad irony, which only his wife felt. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, let's!” cried Bella. + </p> + <p> + While they were getting ready, someone rang, and Bella went to the door, + and then came to tell her father that it was Mr. Lindau. “He says he + wants to see you just a moment. He's in the parlor, and he won't + sit down, or anything.” + </p> + <p> + “What can he want?” groaned Mrs. March, from their common + dismay. + </p> + <p> + March apprehended a storm in the old man's face. But he only stood + in the middle of the room, looking very sad and grave. “You are + Going oudt,” he said. “I won't geep you long. I haf gome + to pring pack dose macassines and dis mawney. I can't do any more + voark for you; and I can't geep the mawney you haf baid me a'ready. + It iss not hawnest mawney—that hass been oarned py voark; it iss + mawney that hass peen mate py sbeculation, and the obbression off lapor, + and the necessity of the boor, py a man—Here it is, efery tollar, + efery zent. Dake it; I feel as if dere vas ploodt on it.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Lindau,” March began, but the old man interrupted him. + </p> + <p> + “Ton't dalk to me, Passil! I could not haf believedt it of + you. When you know how I feel about dose tings, why tidn't you dell + me whose mawney you bay oudt to me? Ach, I ton't plame you—I + ton't rebroach you. You haf nefer thought of it; boat I have + thought, and I should be Guilty, I must share that man's Guilt, if I + gept hiss mawney. If you hat toldt me at the peginning—if you hat + peen frank with me boat it iss all righdt; you can go on; you ton't + see dese tings as I see them; and you haf cot a family, and I am a free + man. I voark to myself, and when I ton't voark, I sdarfe to myself. + But, I geep my handts glean, voark or sdarfe. Gif him hiss mawney pack! I + am sawry for him; I would not hoart hiss feelings, boat I could not pear + to douch him, and hiss mawney iss like boison!” + </p> + <p> + March tried to reason with Lindau, to show him the folly, the injustice, + the absurdity of his course; it ended in their both getting angry, and in + Lindau's going away in a whirl of German that included Basil in the + guilt of the man whom Lindau called his master. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Mrs. March. “He is a crank, and I think you're + well rid of him. Now you have no quarrel with that horrid old Dryfoos, and + you can keep right on.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said March, “I wish it didn't make me feel + so sneaking. What a long day it's been! It seems like a century + since I got up.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, a thousand years. Is there anything else left to happen?” + </p> + <p> + “I hope not. I'd like to go to bed.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, aren't you going to the theatre?” wailed Bella, + coming in upon her father's desperate expression. + </p> + <p> + “The theatre? Oh yes, certainly! I meant after we got home,” + and March amused himself at the puzzled countenance of the child. “Come + on! Is Tom ready?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0063" id="link2H_4_0063"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + Fulkerson parted with the Marches in such trouble of mind that he did not + feel able to meet that night the people whom he usually kept so gay at + Mrs. Leighton's table. He went to Maroni's for his dinner, for + this reason and for others more obscure. He could not expect to do + anything more with Dryfoos at once; he knew that Dryfoos must feel that he + had already made an extreme concession to March, and he believed that if + he was to get anything more from him it must be after Dryfoos had dined. + But he was not without the hope, vague and indefinite as it might be, that + he should find Lindau at Maroni's, and perhaps should get some + concession from him, some word of regret or apology which he could report + to Dryfoos, and at lest make the means of reopening the affair with him; + perhaps Lindau, when he knew how matters stood, would back down + altogether, and for March's sake would withdraw from all connection + with 'Every Other Week' himself, and so leave everything + serene. Fulkerson felt capable, in his desperation, of delicately + suggesting such a course to Lindau, or even of plainly advising it: he did + not care for Lindau a great deal, and he did care a great deal for the + magazine. + </p> + <p> + But he did not find Lindau at Maroni's; he only found Beaton. He sat + looking at the doorway as Fulkerson entered, and Fulkerson naturally came + and took a place at his table. Something in Beaton's large-eyed + solemnity of aspect invited Fulkerson to confidence, and he said, as he + pulled his napkin open and strung it, still a little damp (as the scanty, + often-washed linen at Maroni's was apt to be), across his knees, + “I was looking for you this morning, to talk with you about the + Christmas number, and I was a good deal worked up because I couldn't + find you; but I guess I might as well have spared myself my emotions.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” asked Beaton, briefly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know as there's going to be any Christmas + number.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” Beaton asked again. + </p> + <p> + “Row between the financial angel and the literary editor about the + chief translator and polyglot smeller.” + </p> + <p> + “Lindau?” + </p> + <p> + “Lindau is his name.” + </p> + <p> + “What does the literary editor expect after Lindau's + expression of his views last night?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what he expected, but the ground he took with + the old man was that, as Lindau's opinions didn't characterize + his work on the magazine, he would not be made the instrument of punishing + him for them the old man wanted him turned off, as he calls it.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems to be pretty good ground,” said Beaton, impartially, + while he speculated, with a dull trouble at heart, on the effect the row + would have on his own fortunes. His late visit home had made him feel that + the claim of his family upon him for some repayment of help given could + not be much longer delayed; with his mother sick and his father growing + old, he must begin to do something for them, but up to this time he had + spent his salary even faster than he had earned it. When Fulkerson came in + he was wondering whether he could get him to increase it, if he threatened + to give up his work, and he wished that he was enough in love with + Margaret Vance, or even Christine Dryfoos, to marry her, only to end in + the sorrowful conviction that he was really in love with Alma Leighton, + who had no money, and who had apparently no wish to be married for love, + even. “And what are you going to do about it?” he asked, + listlessly. + </p> + <p> + “Be dogged if I know what I'm going to do about it,” + said Fulkerson. “I've been round all day, trying to pick up + the pieces—row began right after breakfast this morning—and + one time I thought I'd got the thing all put together again. I got + the old man to say that he had spoken to March a little too + authoritatively about Lindau; that, in fact, he ought to have communicated + his wishes through me; and that he was willing to have me get rid of + Lindau, and March needn't have anything to do with it. I thought + that was pretty white, but March says the apologies and regrets are all + well enough in their way, but they leave the main question where they + found it.” + </p> + <p> + “What is the main question?” Beaton asked, pouring himself out + some Chianti. As he set the flask down he made the reflection that if he + would drink water instead of Chianti he could send his father three + dollars a week, on his back debts, and he resolved to do it. + </p> + <p> + “The main question, as March looks at it, is the question of + punishing Lindau for his private opinions; he says that if he consents to + my bouncing the old fellow it's the same as if he bounced him.” + </p> + <p> + “It might have that complexion in some lights,” said Beaton. + He drank off his Chianti, and thought he would have it twice a week, or + make Maroni keep the half-bottles over for him, and send his father two + dollars. “And what are you going to do now?” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I don't know,” said Fulkerson, + ruefully. After a moment he said, desperately, “Beaton, you've + got a pretty good head; why don't you suggest something?” + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you let March go?” Beaton suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I couldn't,” said Fulkerson. “I got him to + break up in Boston and come here; I like him; nobody else could get the + hang of the thing like he has; he's—a friend.” Fulkerson + said this with the nearest approach he could make to seriousness, which + was a kind of unhappiness. + </p> + <p> + Beaton shrugged. “Oh, if you can afford to have ideals, I + congratulate you. They're too expensive for me. Then, suppose you + get rid of Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed forlornly. “Go on, Bildad. Like to sprinkle a few + ashes over my boils? Don't mind me!” + </p> + <p> + They both sat silent a little while, and then Beaton said, “I + suppose you haven't seen Dryfoos the second time?” + </p> + <p> + “No. I came in here to gird up my loins with a little dinner before + I tackled him. But something seems to be the matter with Maroni's + cook. I don't want anything to eat.” + </p> + <p> + “The cooking's about as bad as usual,” said Beaton. + After a moment he added, ironically, for he found Fulkerson's misery + a kind of relief from his own, and was willing to protract it as long as + it was amusing, “Why not try an envoy extraordinary and minister + plenipotentiary?” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Get that other old fool to go to Dryfoos for you!” + </p> + <p> + “Which other old fool? The old fools seem to be as thick as flies.” + </p> + <p> + “That Southern one.” + </p> + <p> + “Colonel Woodburn?” + </p> + <p> + “Mmmmm.” + </p> + <p> + “He did seem to rather take to the colonel!” Fulkerson mused + aloud. + </p> + <p> + “Of course he did. Woodburn, with his idiotic talk about patriarchal + slavery, is the man on horseback to Dryfoos's muddy imagination. He'd + listen to him abjectly, and he'd do whatever Woodburn told him to + do.” Beaton smiled cynically. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson got up and reached for his coat and hat. “You've + struck it, old man.” The waiter came up to help him on with his + coat; Fulkerson slipped a dollar in his hand. “Never mind the coat; + you can give the rest of my dinner to the poor, Paolo. Beaton, shake! You've + saved my life, little boy, though I don't think you meant it.” + He took Beaton's hand and solemnly pressed it, and then almost ran + out of the door. + </p> + <p> + They had just reached coffee at Mrs. Leighton's when he arrived and + sat down with them and began to put some of the life of his new hope into + them. His appetite revived, and, after protesting that he would not take + anything but coffee, he went back and ate some of the earlier courses. But + with the pressure of his purpose driving him forward, he did not conceal + from Miss Woodburn, at least, that he was eager to get her apart from the + rest for some reason. When he accomplished this, it seemed as if he had + contrived it all himself, but perhaps he had not wholly contrived it. + </p> + <p> + “I'm so glad to get a chance to speak to you alone,” he + said at once; and while she waited for the next word he made a pause, and + then said, desperately, “I want you to help me; and if you can't + help me, there's no help for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Mah goodness,” she said, “is the case so bad as that? + What in the woald is the trouble?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it's a bad case,” said Fulkerson. “I want + your father to help me.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I thoat you said me!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I want you to help me with your father. I suppose I ought to + go to him at once, but I'm a little afraid of him.” + </p> + <p> + “And you awe not afraid of me? I don't think that's very + flattering, Mr. Fulkerson. You ought to think Ah'm twahce as awful + as papa.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I do! You see, I'm quite paralyzed before you, and so I + don't feel anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's a pretty lahvely kyand of paralysis. But—go + on.” + </p> + <p> + “I will—I will. If I can only begin.” + </p> + <p> + “Pohaps Ah maght begin fo' you.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you can't. Lord knows, I'd like to let you. Well, + it's like this.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson made a clutch at his hair, and then, after another hesitation, + he abruptly laid the whole affair before her. He did not think it + necessary to state the exact nature of the offence Lindau had given + Dryfoos, for he doubted if she could grasp it, and he was profuse of his + excuses for troubling her with the matter, and of wonder at himself for + having done so. In the rapture of his concern at having perhaps made a + fool of himself, he forgot why he had told her; but she seemed to like + having been confided in, and she said, “Well, Ah don't see + what you can do with you' ahdeals of friendship except stand bah Mr. + Mawch.” + </p> + <p> + “My ideals of friendship? What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't you suppose we know? Mr. Beaton said you we' + a pofect Bahyard in friendship, and you would sacrifice anything to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that so?” said Fulkerson, thinking how easily he could + sacrifice Lindau in this case. He had never supposed before that he was + chivalrous in such matters, but he now began to see it in that light, and + he wondered that he could ever have entertained for a moment the idea of + throwing March over. + </p> + <p> + “But Ah most say,” Miss Woodburn went on, “Ah don't + envy you you' next interview with Mr. Dryfoos. Ah suppose you'll + have to see him at once aboat it.” + </p> + <p> + The conjecture recalled Fulkerson to the object of his confidences. + “Ah, there's where your help comes in. I've exhausted + all the influence I have with Dryfoos—” + </p> + <p> + “Good gracious, you don't expect Ah could have any!” + </p> + <p> + They both laughed at the comic dismay with which she conveyed the + preposterous notion; and Fulkerson said, “If I judged from myself, I + should expect you to bring him round instantly.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, thank you, Mr. Fulkerson,” she said, with mock meekness. + </p> + <p> + “Not at all. But it isn't Dryfoos I want you to help me with; + it's your father. I want your father to interview Dryfoos for me, + and I—I'm afraid to ask him.” + </p> + <p> + “Poo' Mr. Fulkerson!” she said, and she insinuated + something through her burlesque compassion that lifted him to the skies. + He swore in his heart that the woman never lived who was so witty, so + wise, so beautiful, and so good. “Come raght with me this minute, if + the cyoast's clea'.” She went to the door of the + diningroom and looked in across its gloom to the little gallery where her + father sat beside a lamp reading his evening paper; Mrs. Leighton could be + heard in colloquy with the cook below, and Alma had gone to her room. She + beckoned Fulkerson with the hand outstretched behind her, and said, + “Go and ask him.” + </p> + <p> + “Alone!” he palpitated. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what a cyowahd!” she cried, and went with him. “Ah + suppose you'll want me to tell him aboat it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I wish you'd begin, Miss Woodburn,” he said. + “The fact is, you know, I've been over it so much I'm + kind of sick of the thing.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn advanced and put her hand on her father's shoulder. + “Look heah, papa! Mr. Fulkerson wants to ask you something, and he + wants me to do it fo' him.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel looked up through his glasses with the sort of ferocity + elderly men sometimes have to put on in order to keep their glasses from + falling off. His daughter continued: “He's got into an awful + difficulty with his edito' and his proprieto', and he wants + you to pacify them.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know whethah I understand the case exactly,” said + the colonel, “but Mr. Fulkerson may command me to the extent of my + ability.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't understand it aftah what Ah've said?” + cried the girl. “Then Ah don't see but what you'll have + to explain it you'self, Mr. Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Miss Woodburn has been so luminous about it, colonel,” + said Fulkerson, glad of the joking shape she had given the affair, “that + I can only throw in a little side-light here and there.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel listened as Fulkerson went on, with a grave diplomatic + satisfaction. He felt gratified, honored, even, he said, by Mr. Fulkerson's + appeal to him; and probably it gave him something of the high joy that an + affair of honor would have brought him in the days when he had arranged + for meetings between gentlemen. Next to bearing a challenge, this work of + composing a difficulty must have been grateful. But he gave no outward + sign of his satisfaction in making a resume of the case so as to get the + points clearly in his mind. + </p> + <p> + “I was afraid, sir,” he said, with the state due to the + serious nature of the facts, “that Mr. Lindau had given Mr. Dryfoos + offence by some of his questions at the dinner-table last night.” + </p> + <p> + “Perfect red rag to a bull,” Fulkerson put in; and then he + wanted to withdraw his words at the colonel's look of displeasure. + </p> + <p> + “I have no reflections to make upon Mr. Landau,” Colonel + Woodburn continued, and Fulkerson felt grateful to him for going on; + “I do not agree with Mr. Lindau; I totally disagree with him on + sociological points; but the course of the conversation had invited him to + the expression of his convictions, and he had a right to express them, so + far as they had no personal bearing.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said Fulkerson, while Miss Woodburn perched on + the arm of her father's chair. + </p> + <p> + “At the same time, sir, I think that if Mr. Dryfoos felt a personal + censure in Mr. Lindau's questions concerning his suppression of the + strike among his workmen, he had a right to resent it.” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly,” Fulkerson assented. + </p> + <p> + “But it must be evident to you, sir, that a high-spirited gentleman + like Mr. March—I confess that my feelings are with him very warmly + in the matter—could not submit to dictation of the nature you + describe.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I see,” said Fulkerson; and, with that strange duplex + action of the human mind, he wished that it was his hair, and not her + father's, that Miss Woodburn was poking apart with the corner of her + fan. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Lindau,” the colonel concluded, “was right from his + point of view, and Mr. Dryfoos was equally right. The position of Mr. + March is perfectly correct—” + </p> + <p> + His daughter dropped to her feet from his chair-arm. “Mah goodness! + If nobody's in the wrong, ho' awe you evah going to get the + mattah straight?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you see,” Fulkerson added, “nobody can give in.” + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me,” said the colonel, “the case is one in which + all can give in.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know which 'll begin,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + The colonel rose. “Mr. Lindau must begin, sir. We must begin by + seeing Mr. Lindau, and securing from him the assurance that in the + expression of his peculiar views he had no intention of offering any + personal offence to Mr. Dryfoos. If I have formed a correct estimate of + Mr. Lindau, this will be perfectly simple.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson shook his head. “But it wouldn't help. Dryfoos don't + care a rap whether Lindau meant any personal offence or not. As far as + that is concerned, he's got a hide like a hippopotamus. But what he + hates is Lindau's opinions, and what he says is that no man who + holds such opinions shall have any work from him. And what March says is + that no man shall be punished through him for his opinions, he don't + care what they are.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel stood a moment in silence. “And what do you expect me to + do under the circumstances?” + </p> + <p> + “I came to you for advice—I thought you might suggest——?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you wish me to see Mr. Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's about the size of it,” Fulkerson admitted. + “You see, colonel,” he hastened on, “I know that you + have a great deal of influence with him; that article of yours is about + the only thing he's ever read in 'Every Other Week,' and + he's proud of your acquaintance. Well, you know”—and + here Fulkerson brought in the figure that struck him so much in Beaton's + phrase and had been on his tongue ever since—“you're the + man on horseback to him; and he'd be more apt to do what you say + than if anybody else said it.” + </p> + <p> + “You are very good, sir,” said the colonel, trying to be proof + against the flattery, “but I am afraid you overrate my influence.” + Fulkerson let him ponder it silently, and his daughter governed her + impatience by holding her fan against her lips. Whatever the process was + in the colonel's mind, he said at last: “I see no good reason + for declining to act for you, Mr. Fulkerson, and I shall be very happy if + I can be of service to you. But”—he stopped Fulkerson from + cutting in with precipitate thanks—“I think I have a right, + sir, to ask what your course will be in the event of failure?” + </p> + <p> + “Failure?” Fulkerson repeated, in dismay. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir. I will not conceal from you that this mission is one not + wholly agreeable to my feelings.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I understand that, colonel, and I assure you that I appreciate, + I—” + </p> + <p> + “There is no use trying to blink the fact, sir, that there are + certain aspects of Mr. Dryfoos's character in which he is not a + gentleman. We have alluded to this fact before, and I need not dwell upon + it now: I may say, however, that my misgivings were not wholly removed + last night.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” Fulkerson assented; though in his heart he thought the + old man had behaved very well. + </p> + <p> + “What I wish to say now is that I cannot consent to act for you, in + this matter, merely as an intermediary whose failure would leave the + affair in state quo.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Fulkerson. + </p> + <p> + “And I should like some intimation, some assurance, as to which + party your own feelings are with in the difference.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel bent his eyes sharply on Fulkerson; Miss Woodburn let hers + fall; Fulkerson felt that he was being tested, and he said, to gain time, + “As between Lindau and Dryfoos?” though he knew this was not + the point. + </p> + <p> + “As between Mr. Dryfoos and Mr. March,” said the colonel. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson drew a long breath and took his courage in both hands. “There + can't be any choice for me in such a case. I'm for March, + every time.” + </p> + <p> + The colonel seized his hand, and Miss Woodburn said, “If there had + been any choice fo' you in such a case, I should never have let papa + stir a step with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, in regard to that,” said the colonel, with a literal + application of the idea, “was it your intention that we should both + go?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know; I suppose it was.” + </p> + <p> + “I think it will be better for me to go alone,” said the + colonel; and, with a color from his experience in affairs of honor, he + added: “In these matters a principal cannot appear without + compromising his dignity. I believe I have all the points clearly in mind, + and I think I should act more freely in meeting Mr. Dryfoos alone.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson tried to hide the eagerness with which he met these agreeable + views. He felt himself exalted in some sort to the level of the colonel's + sentiments, though it would not be easy to say whether this was through + the desperation bred of having committed himself to March's side, or + through the buoyant hope he had that the colonel would succeed in his + mission. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not afraid to talk with Dryfoos about it,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “There is no question of courage,” said the colonel. “It + is a question of dignity—of personal dignity.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, don't let that delay you, papa,” said his + daughter, following him to the door, where she found him his hat, and + Fulkerson helped him on with his overcoat. “Ah shall be jost wald to + know ho' it's toned oat.” + </p> + <p> + “Won't you let me go up to the house with you?” + Fulkerson began. “I needn't go in—” + </p> + <p> + “I prefer to go alone,” said the colonel. “I wish to + turn the points over in my mind, and I am afraid you would find me rather + dull company.” + </p> + <p> + He went out, and Fulkerson returned with Miss Woodburn to the + drawing-room, where she said the Leightons were. They, were not there, but + she did not seem disappointed. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Mr. Fulkerson,” she said, “you have got an ahdeal + of friendship, sure enough.” + </p> + <p> + “Me?” said Fulkerson. “Oh, my Lord! Don't you see + I couldn't do anything else? And I'm scared half to death, + anyway. If the colonel don't bring the old man round, I reckon it's + all up with me. But he'll fetch him. And I'm just prostrated + with gratitude to you, Miss Woodburn.” + </p> + <p> + She waved his thanks aside with her fan. “What do you mean by its + being all up with you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, if the old man sticks to his position, and I stick to March, + we've both got to go overboard together. Dryfoos owns the magazine; + he can stop it, or he can stop us, which amounts to the same thing, as far + as we're concerned.” + </p> + <p> + “And then what?” the girl pursued. + </p> + <p> + “And then, nothing—till we pick ourselves up.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean that Mr. Dryfoos will put you both oat of your places?” + </p> + <p> + “He may.” + </p> + <p> + “And Mr. Mawch takes the risk of that jost fo' a principle?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon.” + </p> + <p> + “And you do it jost fo' an ahdeal?” + </p> + <p> + “It won't do to own it. I must have my little axe to grind, + somewhere.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, men awe splendid,” sighed the girl. “Ah will say + it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they're not so much better than women,” said + Fulkerson, with a nervous jocosity. “I guess March would have backed + down if it hadn't been for his wife. She was as hot as pepper about + it, and you could see that she would have sacrificed all her husband's + relations sooner than let him back down an inch from the stand he had + taken. It's pretty easy for a man to stick to a principle if he has + a woman to stand by him. But when you come to play it alone—” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fulkerson,” said the girl, solemnly, “Ah will stand + bah you in this, if all the woald tones against you.” The tears came + into her eyes, and she put out her hand to him. + </p> + <p> + “You will?” he shouted, in a rapture. “In every way—and + always—as long as you live? Do you mean it?” He had caught her + hand to his breast and was grappling it tight there and drawing her to + him. + </p> + <p> + The changing emotions chased one another through her heart and over her + face: dismay, shame, pride, tenderness. “You don't believe,” + she said, hoarsely, “that Ah meant that?” + </p> + <p> + “No, but I hope you do mean it; for if you don't, nothing else + means anything.” + </p> + <p> + There was no space, there was only a point of wavering. “Ah do mean + it.” + </p> + <p> + When they lifted their eyes from each other again it was half-past ten. + “No' you most go,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “But the colonel—our fate?” + </p> + <p> + “The co'nel is often oat late, and Ah'm not afraid of + ouah fate, no' that we've taken it into ouah own hands.” + She looked at him with dewy eyes of trust, of inspiration. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's going to come out all right,” he said. “It + can't come out wrong now, no matter what happens. But who'd + have thought it, when I came into this house, in such a state of sin and + misery, half an hour ago—” + </p> + <p> + “Three houahs and a half ago!” she said. “No! you most + jost go. Ah'm tahed to death. Good-night. You can come in the + mawning to see—papa.” She opened the door and pushed him out + with enrapturing violence, and he ran laughing down the steps into her + father's arms. + </p> + <p> + “Why, colonel! I was just going up to meet you.” He had really + thought he would walk off his exultation in that direction. + </p> + <p> + “I am very sorry to say, Mr. Fulkerson,” the colonel began, + gravely, “that Mr. Dryfoos adheres to his position.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, all right,” said Fulkerson, with unabated joy. “It's + what I expected. Well, my course is clear; I shall stand by March, and I + guess the world won't come to an end if he bounces us both. But I'm + everlastingly obliged to you, Colonel Woodburn, and I don't know + what to say to you. I—I won't detain you now; it's so + late. I'll see you in the morning. Good-ni—” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson did not realize that it takes two to part. The colonel laid hold + of his arm and turned away with him. “I will walk toward your place + with you. I can understand why you should be anxious to know the + particulars of my interview with Mr. Dryfoos”; and in the statement + which followed he did not spare him the smallest. It outlasted their walk + and detained them long on the steps of the 'Every Other Week' + building. But at the end Fulkerson let himself in with his key as light of + heart as if he had been listening to the gayest promises that fortune + could make. + </p> + <p> + By the time he met March at the office next morning, a little, but only a + very little, misgiving saddened his golden heaven. He took March's + hand with high courage, and said, “Well, the old man sticks to his + point, March.” He added, with the sense of saying it before Miss + Woodburn: “And I stick by you. I've thought it all over, and I'd + rather be right with you than wrong with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I appreciate your motive, Fulkerson,” said March. + “But perhaps—perhaps we can save over our heroics for another + occasion. Lindau seems to have got in with his, for the present.” + </p> + <p> + He told him of Lindau's last visit, and they stood a moment looking + at each other rather queerly. Fulkerson was the first to recover his + spirits. “Well,” he said, cheerily, “that let's us + out.” + </p> + <p> + “Does it? I'm not sure it lets me out,” said March; but + he said this in tribute to his crippled self-respect rather than as a + forecast of any action in the matter. + </p> + <p> + “Why, what are you going to do?” Fulkerson asked. “If + Lindau won't work for Dryfoos, you can't make him.” + </p> + <p> + March sighed. “What are you going to do with this money?” He + glanced at the heap of bills he had flung on the table between them. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson scratched his head. “Ah, dogged if I know: Can't we + give it to the deserving poor, somehow, if we can find 'em?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose we've no right to use it in any way. You must give + it to Dryfoos.” + </p> + <p> + “To the deserving rich? Well, you can always find them. I reckon you + don't want to appear in the transaction! I don't, either; but + I guess I must.” Fulkerson gathered up the money and carried it to + Conrad. He directed him to account for it in his books as + conscience-money, and he enjoyed the joke more than Conrad seemed to do + when he was told where it came from. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was able to wear off the disagreeable impression the affair left + during the course of the fore-noon, and he met Miss Woodburn with all a + lover's buoyancy when he went to lunch. She was as happy as he when + he told her how fortunately the whole thing had ended, and he took her + view that it was a reward of his courage in having dared the worst. They + both felt, as the newly plighted always do, that they were in the best + relations with the beneficent powers, and that their felicity had been + especially looked to in the disposition of events. They were in a glow of + rapturous content with themselves and radiant worship of each other; she + was sure that he merited the bright future opening to them both, as much + as if he owed it directly to some noble action of his own; he felt that he + was indebted for the favor of Heaven entirely to the still incredible + accident of her preference of him over other men. + </p> + <p> + Colonel Woodburn, who was not yet in the secret of their love, perhaps + failed for this reason to share their satisfaction with a result so + unexpectedly brought about. The blessing on their hopes seemed to his + ignorance to involve certain sacrifices of personal feeling at which he + hinted in suggesting that Dryfoos should now be asked to make some + abstract concessions and acknowledgments; his daughter hastened to deny + that these were at all necessary; and Fulkerson easily explained why. The + thing was over; what was the use of opening it up again? + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps none,” the colonel admitted. But he added, “I + should like the opportunity of taking Mr. Lindau's hand in the + presence of Mr. Dryfoos and assuring him that I considered him a man of + principle and a man of honor—a gentleman, sir, whom I was proud and + happy to have known.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Ah've no doabt,” said his daughter, demurely, + “that you'll have the chance some day; and we would all lahke + to join you. But at the same tahme, Ah think Mr. Fulkerson is well oat of + it fo' the present.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Anticipative reprisal + Buttoned about him as if it concealed a bad conscience + Courtship + Got their laugh out of too many things in life + Had learned not to censure the irretrievable + Had no opinions that he was not ready to hold in abeyance + Ignorant of her ignorance + It don't do any good to look at its drawbacks all the time + Justice must be paid for at every step in fees and costs + Life has taught him to truckle and trick + Man's willingness to abide in the present + No longer the gross appetite for novelty + No right to burden our friends with our decisions + Travel, with all its annoyances and fatigues + Typical anything else, is pretty difficult to find +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART5a" id="link2H_PART5a"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART FIFTH + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0065" id="link2H_4_0065"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + Superficially, the affairs of 'Every Other Week' settled into + their wonted form again, and for Fulkerson they seemed thoroughly + reinstated. But March had a feeling of impermanency from what had + happened, mixed with a fantastic sense of shame toward Lindau. He did not + sympathize with Lindau's opinions; he thought his remedy for + existing evils as wildly impracticable as Colonel Woodburn's. But + while he thought this, and while he could justly blame Fulkerson for + Lindau's presence at Dryfoos's dinner, which his zeal had + brought about in spite of March's protests, still he could not rid + himself of the reproach of uncandor with Lindau. He ought to have told him + frankly about the ownership of the magazine, and what manner of man the + man was whose money he was taking. But he said that he never could have + imagined that he was serious in his preposterous attitude in regard to a + class of men who embody half the prosperity of the country; and he had + moments of revolt against his own humiliation before Lindau, in which he + found it monstrous that he should return Dryfoos's money as if it + had been the spoil of a robber. His wife agreed with him in these moments, + and said it was a great relief not to have that tiresome old German coming + about. They had to account for his absence evasively to the children, whom + they could not very well tell that their father was living on money that + Lindau disdained to take, even though Lindau was wrong and their father + was right. This heightened Mrs. March's resentment toward both + Lindau and Dryfoos, who between them had placed her husband in a false + position. If anything, she resented Dryfoos's conduct more than + Lindau's. He had never spoken to March about the affair since Lindau + had renounced his work, or added to the apologetic messages he had sent by + Fulkerson. So far as March knew, Dryfoos had been left to suppose that + Lindau had simply stopped for some reason that did not personally affect + him. They never spoke of him, and March was too proud to ask either + Fulkerson or Conrad whether the old man knew that Lindau had returned his + money. He avoided talking to Conrad, from a feeling that if he did he + should involuntarily lead him on to speak of his differences with his + father. Between himself and Fulkerson, even, he was uneasily aware of a + want of their old perfect friendliness. Fulkerson had finally behaved with + honor and courage; but his provisional reluctance had given March the + measure of Fulkerson's character in one direction, and he could not + ignore the fact that it was smaller than he could have wished. + </p> + <p> + He could not make out whether Fulkerson shared his discomfort or not. It + certainly wore away, even with March, as time passed, and with Fulkerson, + in the bliss of his fortunate love, it was probably far more transient, if + it existed at all. He advanced into the winter as radiantly as if to meet + the spring, and he said that if there were any pleasanter month of the + year than November, it was December, especially when the weather was good + and wet and muddy most of the time, so that you had to keep indoors a long + while after you called anywhere. + </p> + <p> + Colonel Woodburn had the anxiety, in view of his daughter's + engagement, when she asked his consent to it, that such a dreamer must + have in regard to any reality that threatens to affect the course of his + reveries. He had not perhaps taken her marriage into account, except as a + remote contingency; and certainly Fulkerson was not the kind of son-in-law + that he had imagined in dealing with that abstraction. But because he had + nothing of the sort definitely in mind, he could not oppose the selection + of Fulkerson with success; he really knew nothing against him, and he + knew, many things in his favor; Fulkerson inspired him with the liking + that every one felt for him in a measure; he amused him, he cheered him; + and the colonel had been so much used to leaving action of all kinds to + his daughter that when he came to close quarters with the question of a + son-in-law he felt helpless to decide it, and he let her decide it, as if + it were still to be decided when it was submitted to him. She was + competent to treat it in all its phases: not merely those of personal + interest, but those of duty to the broken Southern past, sentimentally + dear to him, and practically absurd to her. No such South as he remembered + had ever existed to her knowledge, and no such civilization as he imagined + would ever exist, to her belief, anywhere. She took the world as she found + it, and made the best of it. She trusted in Fulkerson; she had proved his + magnanimity in a serious emergency; and in small things she was willing + fearlessly to chance it with him. She was not a sentimentalist, and there + was nothing fantastic in her expectations; she was a girl of good sense + and right mind, and she liked the immediate practicality as well as the + final honor of Fulkerson. She did not idealize him, but in the highest + effect she realized him; she did him justice, and she would not have + believed that she did him more than justice if she had sometimes known him + to do himself less. + </p> + <p> + Their engagement was a fact to which the Leighton household adjusted + itself almost as simply as the lovers themselves; Miss Woodburn told the + ladies at once, and it was not a thing that Fulkerson could keep from + March very long. He sent word of it to Mrs. March by her husband; and his + engagement perhaps did more than anything else to confirm the confidence + in him which had been shaken by his early behavior in the Lindau episode, + and not wholly restored by his tardy fidelity to March. But now she felt + that a man who wished to get married so obviously and entirely for love + was full of all kinds of the best instincts, and only needed the guidance + of a wife, to become very noble. She interested herself intensely in + balancing the respective merits of the engaged couple, and after her call + upon Miss Woodburn in her new character she prided herself upon + recognizing the worth of some strictly Southern qualities in her, while + maintaining the general average of New England superiority. She could not + reconcile herself to the Virginian custom illustrated in her having been + christened with the surname of Madison; and she said that its pet form of + Mad, which Fulkerson promptly invented, only made it more ridiculous. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson was slower in telling Beaton. He was afraid, somehow, of Beaton's + taking the matter in the cynical way; Miss Woodburn said she would break + off the engagement if Beaton was left to guess it or find it out by + accident, and then Fulkerson plucked up his courage. Beaton received the + news with gravity, and with a sort of melancholy meekness that strongly + moved Fulkerson's sympathy, and made him wish that Beaton was + engaged, too. + </p> + <p> + It made Beaton feel very old; it somehow left him behind and forgotten; in + a manner, it made him feel trifled with. Something of the unfriendliness + of fate seemed to overcast his resentment, and he allowed the sadness of + his conviction that he had not the means to marry on to tinge his + recognition of the fact that Alma Leighton would not have wanted him to + marry her if he had. He was now often in that martyr mood in which he + wished to help his father; not only to deny himself Chianti, but to forego + a fur-lined overcoat which he intended to get for the winter, He postponed + the moment of actual sacrifice as regarded the Chianti, and he bought the + overcoat in an anguish of self-reproach. He wore it the first evening + after he got it in going to call upon the Leightons, and it seemed to him + a piece of ghastly irony when Alma complimented his picturesqueness in it + and asked him to let her sketch him. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you can sketch me,” he said, with so much gloom that it + made her laugh. + </p> + <p> + “If you think it's so serious, I'd rather not.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! Go ahead! How do you want me?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, fling yourself down on a chair in one of your attitudes of + studied negligence; and twist one corner of your mustache with affected + absence of mind.” + </p> + <p> + “And you think I'm always studied, always affected?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't say so.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't ask you what you said.” + </p> + <p> + “And I won't tell you what I think.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I know what you think.” + </p> + <p> + “What made you ask, then?” The girl laughed again with the + satisfaction of her sex in cornering a man. + </p> + <p> + Beaton made a show of not deigning to reply, and put himself in the pose + she suggested, frowning. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's it. But a little more animation— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “'As when a great thought strikes along the brain, + And flushes all the cheek.'” + </pre> + <p> + She put her forehead down on the back of her hand and laughed again. + “You ought to be photographed. You look as if you were sitting for + it.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton said: “That's because I know I am being photographed, + in one way. I don't think you ought to call me affected. I never am + so with you; I know it wouldn't be of any use.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mr. Beaton, you flatter.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I never flatter you.” + </p> + <p> + “I meant you flattered yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “How?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know. Imagine.” + </p> + <p> + “I know what you mean. You think I can't be sincere with + anybody.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no, I don't.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you think?” + </p> + <p> + “That you can't—try.” Alma gave another victorious + laugh. + </p> + <p> + Miss Woodburn and Fulkerson would once have both feigned a great interest + in Alma's sketching Beaton, and made it the subject of talk, in + which they approached as nearly as possible the real interest of their + lives. Now they frankly remained away in the dining-room, which was very + cozy after the dinner had disappeared; the colonel sat with his lamp and + paper in the gallery beyond; Mrs. Leighton was about her housekeeping + affairs, in the content she always felt when Alma was with Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “They seem to be having a pretty good time in there,” said + Fulkerson, detaching himself from his own absolute good time as well as he + could. + </p> + <p> + “At least Alma does,” said Miss Woodburn. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think she cares for him?” + </p> + <p> + “Quahte as moch as he desoves.” + </p> + <p> + “What makes you all down on Beaton around here? He's not such + a bad fellow.” + </p> + <p> + “We awe not all doan on him. Mrs. Leighton isn't doan on him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I guess if it was the old lady, there wouldn't be much + question about it.” + </p> + <p> + They both laughed, and Alma said, “They seem to be greatly amused + with something in there.” + </p> + <p> + “Me, probably,” said Beaton. “I seem to amuse everybody + to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you always?” + </p> + <p> + “I always amuse you, I'm afraid, Alma.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him as if she were going to snub him openly for using her + name; but apparently she decided to do it covertly. “You didn't + at first. I really used to believe you could be serious, once.” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't you believe it again? Now?” + </p> + <p> + “Not when you put on that wind-harp stop.” + </p> + <p> + “Wetmore has been talking to you about me. He would sacrifice his + best friend to a phrase. He spends his time making them.” + </p> + <p> + “He's made some very pretty ones about you.” + </p> + <p> + “Like the one you just quoted?” + </p> + <p> + “No, not exactly. He admires you ever so much. He says” She + stopped, teasingly. + </p> + <p> + “What?” + </p> + <p> + “He says you could be almost anything you wished, if you didn't + wish to be everything.” + </p> + <p> + “That sounds more like the school of Wetmore. That's what you + say, Alma. Well, if there were something you wished me to be, I could be + it.” + </p> + <p> + “We might adapt Kingsley: 'Be good, sweet man, and let who + will be clever.'” He could not help laughing. She went on: + “I always thought that was the most patronizing and exasperating + thing ever addressed to a human girl; and we've had to stand a good + deal in our time. I should like to have it applied to the other 'sect' + a while. As if any girl that was a girl would be good if she had the + remotest chance of being clever.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you wouldn't wish me to be good?” Beaton asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not if you were a girl.” + </p> + <p> + “You want to shock me. Well, I suppose I deserve it. But if I were + one-tenth part as good as you are, Alma, I should have a lighter heart + than I have now. I know that I'm fickle, but I'm not false, as + you think I am.” + </p> + <p> + “Who said I thought you were false?” + </p> + <p> + “No one,” said Beaton. “It isn't necessary, when + you look it—live it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear! I didn't know I devoted my whole time to the + subject.” + </p> + <p> + “I know I'm despicable. I could tell you something—the + history of this day, even—that would make you despise me.” + Beaton had in mind his purchase of the overcoat, which Alma was getting in + so effectively, with the money he ought to have sent his father. “But,” + he went on, darkly, with a sense that what he was that moment suffering + for his selfishness must somehow be a kind of atonement, which would + finally leave him to the guiltless enjoyment of the overcoat, “you + wouldn't believe the depths of baseness I could descend to.” + </p> + <p> + “I would try,” said Alma, rapidly shading the collar, “if + you'd give me some hint.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton had a sudden wish to pour out his remorse to her, but he was afraid + of her laughing at him. He said to himself that this was a very wholesome + fear, and that if he could always have her at hand he should not make a + fool of himself so often. A man conceives of such an office as the very + noblest for a woman; he worships her for it if he is magnanimous. But + Beaton was silent, and Alma put back her head for the right distance on + her sketch. “Mr. Fulkerson thinks you are the sublimest of human + beings for advising him to get Colonel Woodburn to interview Mr. Dryfoos + about Lindau. What have you ever done with your Judas?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't done anything with it. Nadel thought he would take + hold of it at one time, but he dropped it again. After all, I don't + suppose it could be popularized. Fulkerson wanted to offer it as a premium + to subscribers for 'Every Other Week,' but I sat down on that.” + </p> + <p> + Alma could not feel the absurdity of this, and she merely said, “'Every + Other Week' seems to be going on just the same as ever.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, the trouble has all blown over, I believe. Fulkerson,” + said Beaton, with a return to what they were saying, “has managed + the whole business very well. But he exaggerates the value of my advice.” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely,” Alma suggested, vaguely. “Or, no! Excuse + me! He couldn't, he couldn't!” She laughed delightedly + at Beaton's foolish look of embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + He tried to recover his dignity in saying, “He's 'a very + good fellow, and he deserves his happiness.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed!” said Alma, perversely. “Does any one + deserve happiness?” + </p> + <p> + “I know I don't,” sighed Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “You mean you don't get it.” + </p> + <p> + “I certainly don't get it.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but that isn't the reason.” + </p> + <p> + “What is?” + </p> + <p> + “That's the secret of the universe,” She bit in her + lower lip, and looked at him with eyes, of gleaming fun. + </p> + <p> + “Are you never serious?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “With serious people always.” + </p> + <p> + “I am serious; and you have the secret of my happiness—” + He threw himself impulsively forward in his chair. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, pose, pose!” she cried. + </p> + <p> + “I won't pose,” he answered, “and you have got to + listen to me. You know I'm in love with you; and I know that once + you cared for me. Can't that time—won't it—come + back again? Try to think so, Alma!” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said, briefly and seriously enough. + </p> + <p> + “But that seems impossible. What is it I've done what have you + against me?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. But that time is past. I couldn't recall it if I + wished. Why did you bring it up? You've broken your word. You know I + wouldn't have let you keep coming here if you hadn't promised + never to refer to it.” + </p> + <p> + “How could I help it? With that happiness near us—Fulkerson—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's that? I might have known it!” + </p> + <p> + “No, it isn't that—it's something far deeper. But + if it's nothing you have against me, what is it, Alma, that keeps + you from caring for me now as you did then? I haven't changed.” + </p> + <p> + “But I have. I shall never care for you again, Mr. Beaton; you might + as well understand it once for all. Don't think it's anything + in yourself, or that I think you unworthy of me. I'm not so + self-satisfied as that; I know very well that I'm not a perfect + character, and that I've no claim on perfection in anybody else. I + think women who want that are fools; they won't get it, and they don't + deserve it. But I've learned a good. deal more about myself than I + knew in St. Barnaby, and a life of work, of art, and of art alone that's + what I've made up my mind to.” + </p> + <p> + “A woman that's made up her mind to that has no heart to + hinder her!” + </p> + <p> + “Would a man have that had done so?” + </p> + <p> + “But I don't believe you, Alma. You're merely laughing + at me. And, besides, with me you needn't give up art. We could work + together. You know how much I admire your talent. I believe I could help + it—serve it; I would be its willing slave, and yours, Heaven knows!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't want any slave—nor any slavery. I want to be + free always. Now do you see? I don't care for you, and I never could + in the old way; but I should have to care for some one more than I believe + I ever shall to give up my work. Shall we go on?” She looked at her + sketch. + </p> + <p> + “No, we shall not go on,” he said, gloomily, as he rose. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you blame me,” she said, rising too. + </p> + <p> + “Oh no! I blame no one—or only myself. I threw my chance away.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm glad you see that; and I'm glad you did it. You don't + believe me, of course. Why do men think life can be only the one thing to + women? And if you come to the selfish view, who are the happy women? I'm + sure that if work doesn't fail me, health won't, and happiness + won't.” + </p> + <p> + “But you could work on with me—” + </p> + <p> + “Second fiddle. Do you suppose I shouldn't be woman enough to + wish my work always less and lower than yours? At least I've heart + enough for that!” + </p> + <p> + “You've heart enough for anything, Alma. I was a fool to say + you hadn't.” + </p> + <p> + “I think the women who keep their hearts have an even chance, at + least, of having heart—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, there's where you're wrong!” + </p> + <p> + “But mine isn't mine to give you, anyhow. And now I don't + want you ever to speak to me about this again.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there's no danger!” he cried, bitterly. “I + shall never willingly see you again.” + </p> + <p> + “That's as you like, Mr. Beaton. We've had to be very + frank, but I don't see why we shouldn't be friends. Still, we + needn't, if you don't like.” + </p> + <p> + “And I may come—I may come here—as—as usual?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, if you can consistently,” she said, with a smile, and + she held out her hand to him. + </p> + <p> + He went home dazed, and feeling as if it were a bad joke that had been put + upon him. At least the affair went so deep that it estranged the aspect of + his familiar studio. Some of the things in it were not very familiar; he + had spent lately a great deal on rugs, on stuffs, on Japanese bric-a-brac. + When he saw these things in the shops he had felt that he must have them; + that they were necessary to him; and he was partly in debt for them, still + without having sent any of his earnings to pay his father. As he looked at + them now he liked to fancy something weird and conscious in them as the + silent witnesses of a broken life. He felt about among some of the smaller + objects on the mantel for his pipe. Before he slept he was aware, in the + luxury of his despair, of a remote relief, an escape; and, after all, the + understanding he had come to with Alma was only the explicit formulation + of terms long tacit between them. Beaton would have been puzzled more than + he knew if she had taken him seriously. It was inevitable that he should + declare himself in love with her; but he was not disappointed at her + rejection of his love; perhaps not so much as he would have been at its + acceptance, though he tried to think otherwise, and to give himself airs + of tragedy. He did not really feel that the result was worse than what had + gone before, and it left him free. + </p> + <p> + But he did not go to the Leightons again for so long a time that Mrs. + Leighton asked Alma what had happened. Alma told her. + </p> + <p> + “And he won't come any more?” her mother sighed, with + reserved censure. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I think he will. He couldn't very well come the next + night. But he has the habit of coming, and with Mr. Beaton habit is + everything—even the habit of thinking he's in love with some + one.” + </p> + <p> + “Alma,” said her mother, “I don't think it's + very nice for a girl to let a young man keep coming to see her after she's + refused him.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not, if it amuses him and doesn't hurt the girl?” + </p> + <p> + “But it does hurt her, Alma. It—it's indelicate. It isn't + fair to him; it gives him hopes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, mamma, it hasn't happened in the given case yet. If Mr. + Beaton comes again, I won't see him, and you can forbid him the + house.” + </p> + <p> + “If I could only feel sure, Alma,” said her mother, taking up + another branch of the inquiry, “that you really knew your own mind, + I should be easier about it.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you can rest perfectly quiet, mamma. I do know my own mind; + and, what's worse, I know Mr. Beaton's mind.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean that he spoke to me the other night simply because Mr. + Fulkerson's engagement had broken him all up.” + </p> + <p> + “What expressions!” Mrs. Leighton lamented. + </p> + <p> + “He let it out himself,” Alma went on. “And you wouldn't + have thought it was very flattering yourself. When I'm made love to, + after this, I prefer to be made love to in an off-year, when there isn't + another engaged couple anywhere about.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you tell him that, Alma?” + </p> + <p> + “Tell him that! What do you mean, mamma? I may be indelicate, but I'm + not quite so indelicate as that.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't mean you were indelicate, really, Alma, but I wanted + to warn you. I think Mr. Beaton was very much in earnest.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, so did he!” + </p> + <p> + “And you didn't?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes, for the time being. I suppose he's very much in + earnest with Miss Vance at times, and with Miss Dryfoos at others. + Sometimes he's a painter, and sometimes he's an architect, and + sometimes he's a sculptor. He has too many gifts—too many + tastes.” + </p> + <p> + “And if Miss Vance and Miss Dryfoos—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do say Sculpture and Architecture, mamma! It's getting so + dreadfully personal!” + </p> + <p> + “Alma, you know that I only wish to get at your real feeling in the + matter.” + </p> + <p> + “And you know that I don't want to let you—especially + when I haven't got any real feeling in the matter. But I should + think—speaking in the abstract entirely—that if either of + those arts was ever going to be in earnest about him, it would want his + exclusive devotion for a week at least.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know,” said Mrs. Leighton, “that he was + doing anything now at the others. I thought he was entirely taken up with + his work on 'Every Other Week.'” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he is! he is!” + </p> + <p> + “And you certainly can't say, my dear, that he hasn't + been very kind—very useful to you, in that matter.” + </p> + <p> + “And so I ought to have said yes out of gratitude? Thank you, mamma! + I didn't know you held me so cheap.” + </p> + <p> + “You know whether I hold you cheap or not, Alma. I don't want + you to cheapen yourself. I don't want you to trifle with any one. I + want you to be honest with yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, come now, mamma! Suppose you begin. I've been perfectly + honest with myself, and I've been honest with Mr. Beaton. I don't + care for him, and I've told him I didn't; so he may be + supposed to know it. If he comes here after this, he'll come as a + plain, unostentatious friend of the family, and it's for you to say + whether he shall come in that capacity or not. I hope you won't + trifle with him, and let him get the notion that he's coming on any + other basis.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton felt the comfort of the critical attitude far too keenly to + abandon it for anything constructive. She only said, “You know very + well, Alma, that's a matter I can have nothing to do with.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you leave him entirely to me?” + </p> + <p> + “I hope you will regard his right to candid and open treatment.” + </p> + <p> + “He's had nothing but the most open and candid treatment from + me, mamma. It's you that wants to play fast and loose with him. And, + to tell you the truth, I believe he would like that a good deal better; I + believe that, if there's anything he hates, it's openness and + candor.” Alma laughed, and put her arms round her mother, who could + not help laughing a little, too. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0066" id="link2H_4_0066"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + The winter did not renew for Christine and Mela the social opportunity + which the spring had offered. After the musicale at Mrs. Horn's, + they both made their party-call, as Mela said, in due season; but they did + not find Mrs. Horn at home, and neither she nor Miss Vance came to see + them after people returned to town in the fall. They tried to believe for + a time that Mrs. Horn had not got their cards; this pretence failed them, + and they fell back upon their pride, or rather Christine's pride. + Mela had little but her good-nature to avail her in any exigency, and if + Mrs. Horn or Miss Vance had come to call after a year of neglect, she + would have received them as amiably as if they had not lost a day in + coming. But Christine had drawn a line beyond which they would not have + been forgiven; and she had planned the words and the behavior with which + she would have punished them if they had appeared then. Neither sister + imagined herself in anywise inferior to them; but Christine was + suspicious, at least, and it was Mela who invented the hypothesis of the + lost cards. As nothing happened to prove or to disprove the fact, she + said, “I move we put Coonrod up to gittun' it out of Miss + Vance, at some of their meetun's.” + </p> + <p> + “If you do,” said Christine, “I'll kill you.” + </p> + <p> + Christine, however, had the visits of Beaton to console her, and, if these + seemed to have no definite aim, she was willing to rest in the pleasure + they gave her vanity; but Mela had nothing. Sometimes she even wished they + were all back on the farm. + </p> + <p> + “It would be the best thing for both of you,” said Mrs. + Dryfoos, in answer to such a burst of desperation. “I don't + think New York is any place for girls.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, what I hate, mother,” said Mela, “is, it don't + seem to be any place for young men, either.” She found this so good + when she had said it that she laughed over it till Christine was angry. + </p> + <p> + “A body would think there had never been any joke before.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see as it's a joke,” said Mrs. Dryfoos. + “It's the plain truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't mind her, mother,” said Mela. “She's + put out because her old Mr. Beaton ha'r't been round for a + couple o' weeks. If you don't watch out, that fellow 'll + give you the slip yit, Christine, after all your pains.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, there ain't anybody to give you the slip, Mela,” + Christine clawed back. + </p> + <p> + “No; I ha'n't ever set my traps for anybody.” This + was what Mela said for want of a better retort; but it was not quite true. + When Kendricks came with Beaton to call after her father's dinner, + she used all her cunning to ensnare him, and she had him to herself as + long as Beaton stayed; Dryfoos sent down word that he was not very well + and had gone to bed. The novelty of Mela had worn off for Kendricks, and + she found him, as she frankly told him, not half as entertaining as he was + at Mrs. Horn's; but she did her best with him as the only flirtable + material which had yet come to her hand. It would have been her ideal to + have the young men stay till past midnight, and her father come + down-stairs in his stocking-feet and tell them it was time to go. But they + made a visit of decorous brevity, and Kendricks did not come again. She + met him afterward, once, as she was crossing the pavement in Union Square + to get into her coupe, and made the most of him; but it was necessarily + very little, and so he passed out of her life without having left any + trace in her heart, though Mela had a heart that she would have put at the + disposition of almost any young man that wanted it. Kendricks himself, + Manhattan cockney as he was, with scarcely more out look into the average + American nature than if he had been kept a prisoner in New York society + all his days, perceived a property in her which forbade him as a man of + conscience to trifle with her; something earthly good and kind, if it was + simple and vulgar. In revising his impressions of her, it seemed to him + that she would come even to better literary effect if this were recognized + in her; and it made her sacred, in spite of her willingness to fool and to + be fooled, in her merely human quality. After all, he saw that she wished + honestly to love and to be loved, and the lures she threw out to that end + seemed to him pathetic rather than ridiculous; he could not join Beaton in + laughing at her; and he did not like Beaton's laughing at the other + girl, either. It seemed to Kendricks, with the code of honor which he + mostly kept to himself because he was a little ashamed to find there were + so few others like it, that if Beaton cared nothing for the other girl—and + Christine appeared simply detestable to Kendricks—he had better keep + away from her, and not give her the impression he was in love with her. He + rather fancied that this was the part of a gentleman, and he could not + have penetrated to that aesthetic and moral complexity which formed the + consciousness of a nature like Beaton's and was chiefly a torment to + itself; he could not have conceived of the wayward impulses indulged at + every moment in little things till the straight highway was traversed and + well-nigh lost under their tangle. To do whatever one likes is finally to + do nothing that one likes, even though one continues to do what one will; + but Kendricks, though a sage of twenty-seven, was still too young to + understand this. + </p> + <p> + Beaton scarcely understood it himself, perhaps because he was not yet + twenty-seven. He only knew that his will was somehow sick; that it spent + itself in caprices, and brought him no happiness from the fulfilment of + the most vehement wish. But he was aware that his wishes grew less and + less vehement; he began to have a fear that some time he might have none + at all. It seemed to him that if he could once do something that was + thoroughly distasteful to himself, he might make a beginning in the right + direction; but when he tried this on a small scale, it failed, and it + seemed stupid. Some sort of expiation was the thing he needed, he was + sure; but he could not think of anything in particular to expiate; a man + could not expiate his temperament, and his temperament was what Beaton + decided to be at fault. He perceived that it went deeper than even fate + would have gone; he could have fulfilled an evil destiny and had done with + it, however terrible. His trouble was that he could not escape from + himself; and, for the most part, he justified himself in refusing to try. + After he had come to that distinct understanding with Alma Leighton, and + experienced the relief it really gave him, he thought for a while that if + it had fallen out otherwise, and she had put him in charge of her destiny, + he might have been better able to manage his own. But as it was, he could + only drift, and let all other things take their course. It was necessary + that he should go to see her afterward, to show her that he was equal to + the event; but he did not go so often, and he went rather oftener to the + Dryfooses; it was not easy to see Margaret Vance, except on the society + terms. With much sneering and scorning, he fulfilled the duties to Mrs. + Horn without which he knew he should be dropped from her list; but one + might go to many of her Thursdays without getting many words with her + niece. Beaton hardly knew whether he wanted many; the girl kept the charm + of her innocent stylishness; but latterly she wanted to talk more about + social questions than about the psychical problems that young people + usually debate so personally. Son of the working-people as he was, Beaton + had never cared anything about such matters; he did not know about them or + wish to know; he was perhaps too near them. Besides, there was an + embarrassment, at least on her part, concerning the Dryfooses. She was too + high-minded to blame him for having tempted her to her failure with them + by his talk about them; but she was conscious of avoiding them in her + talk. She had decided not to renew the effort she had made in the spring; + because she could not do them good as fellow-creatures needing food and + warmth and work, and she would not try to befriend them socially; she had + a horror of any such futile sentimentality. She would have liked to + account to Beaton in this way for a course which she suspected he must + have heard their comments upon, but she did not quite know how to do it; + she could not be sure how much or how little he cared for them. Some + tentative approaches which she made toward explanation were met with such + eager disclaim of personal interest that she knew less than before what to + think; and she turned the talk from the sisters to the brother, whom it + seemed she still continued to meet in their common work among the poor. + </p> + <p> + “He seems very different,” she ventured. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, quite,” said Beaton. “He's the kind of person + that you might suppose gave the Catholics a hint for the cloistral life; + he's a cloistered nature—the nature that atones and suffers + for. But he's awfully dull company, don't you think? I never + can get anything out of him.” + </p> + <p> + “He's very much in earnest.” + </p> + <p> + “Remorselessly. We've got a profane and mundane creature there + at the office who runs us all, and it's shocking merely to see the + contact of the tyro natures. When Fulkerson gets to joking Dryfoos—he + likes to put his joke in the form of a pretence that Dryfoos is actuated + by a selfish motive, that he has an eye to office, and is working up a + political interest for himself on the East Side—it's something + inexpressible.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think so,” said Miss Vance, with such lofty + disapproval that Beaton felt himself included in it for having merely told + what caused it. He could not help saying, in natural rebellion, “Well, + the man of one idea is always a little ridiculous.” + </p> + <p> + “When his idea is right?” she demanded. “A right idea + can't be ridiculous.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I only said the man that held it was. He's flat; he has + no relief, no projection.” + </p> + <p> + She seemed unable to answer, and he perceived that he had silenced her to + his own, disadvantage. It appeared to Beaton that she was becoming a + little too exacting for comfort in her idealism. He put down the cup of + tea he had been tasting, and said, in his solemn staccato: “I must + go. Good-bye!” and got instantly away from her, with an effect he + had of having suddenly thought of something imperative. + </p> + <p> + He went up to Mrs. Horn for a moment's hail and farewell, and felt + himself subtly detained by her through fugitive passages of conversation + with half a dozen other people. He fancied that at crises of this strange + interview Mrs. Horn was about to become confidential with him, and + confidential, of all things, about her niece. She ended by not having + palpably been so. In fact, the concern in her mind would have been + difficult to impart to a young man, and after several experiments Mrs. + Horn found it impossible to say that she wished Margaret could somehow be + interested in lower things than those which occupied her. She had watched + with growing anxiety the girl's tendency to various kinds of + self-devotion. She had dark hours in which she even feared her entire + withdrawal from the world in a life of good works. Before now, girls had + entered the Protestant sisterhoods, which appeal so potently to the young + and generous imagination, and Margaret was of just the temperament to be + influenced by them. During the past summer she had been unhappy at her + separation from the cares that had engrossed her more and more as their + stay in the city drew to an end in the spring, and she had hurried her + aunt back to town earlier in the fall than she would have chosen to come. + Margaret had her correspondents among the working-women whom she + befriended. Mrs. Horn was at one time alarmed to find that Margaret was + actually promoting a strike of the button-hole workers. This, of course, + had its ludicrous side, in connection with a young lady in good society, + and a person of even so little humor as Mrs. Horn could not help seeing + it. At the same time, she could not help foreboding the worst from it; she + was afraid that Margaret's health would give way under the strain, + and that if she did not go into a sisterhood she would at least go into a + decline. She began the winter with all such counteractive measures as she + could employ. At an age when such things weary, she threw herself into the + pleasures of society with the hope of dragging Margaret after her; and a + sympathetic witness must have followed with compassion her course from + ball to ball, from reception to reception, from parlor-reading to + parlor-reading, from musicale to musicale, from play to play, from opera + to opera. She tasted, after she had practically renounced them, the bitter + and the insipid flavors of fashionable amusement, in the hope that + Margaret might find them sweet, and now at the end she had to own to + herself that she had failed. It was coming Lent again, and the girl had + only grown thinner and more serious with the diversions that did not + divert her from the baleful works of beneficence on which Mrs. Horn felt + that she was throwing her youth away. Margaret could have borne either + alone, but together they were wearing her out. She felt it a duty to + undergo the pleasures her aunt appointed for her, but she could not forego + the other duties in which she found her only pleasure. + </p> + <p> + She kept up her music still because she could employ it at the meetings + for the entertainment, and, as she hoped, the elevation of her + working-women; but she neglected the other aesthetic interests which once + occupied her; and, at sight of Beaton talking with her, Mrs. Horn caught + at the hope that he might somehow be turned to account in reviving + Margaret's former interest in art. She asked him if Mr. Wetmore had + his classes that winter as usual; and she said she wished Margaret could + be induced to go again: Mr. Wetmore always said that she did not draw very + well, but that she had a great deal of feeling for it, and her work was + interesting. She asked, were the Leightons in town again; and she murmured + a regret that she had not been able to see anything of them, without + explaining why; she said she had a fancy that if Margaret knew Miss + Leighton, and what she was doing, it might stimulate her, perhaps. She + supposed Miss Leighton was still going on with her art? Beaton said, Oh + yes, he believed so. + </p> + <p> + But his manner did not encourage Mrs. Horn to pursue her aims in that + direction, and she said, with a sigh, she wished he still had a class; she + always fancied that Margaret got more good from his instruction than from + any one else's. + </p> + <p> + He said that she was very good; but there was really nobody who knew half + as much as Wetmore, or could make any one understand half as much. Mrs. + Horn was afraid, she said, that Mr. Wetmore's terrible sincerity + discouraged Margaret; he would not let her have any illusions about the + outcome of what she was doing; and did not Mr. Beaton think that some + illusion was necessary with young people? Of course, it was very nice of + Mr. Wetmore to be so honest, but it did not always seem to be the wisest + thing. She begged Mr. Beaton to try to think of some one who would be a + little less severe. Her tone assumed a deeper interest in the people who + were coming up and going away, and Beaton perceived that he was dismissed. + </p> + <p> + He went away with vanity flattered by the sense of having been appealed to + concerning Margaret, and then he began to chafe at what she had said of + Wetmore's honesty, apropos of her wish that he still had a class + himself. Did she mean, confound her? that he was insincere, and would let + Miss Vance suppose she had more talent than she really had? The more + Beaton thought of this, the more furious he became, and the more he was + convinced that something like it had been unconsciously if not consciously + in her mind. He framed some keen retorts, to the general effect that with + the atmosphere of illusion preserved so completely at home, Miss Vance + hardly needed it in her art studies. Having just determined never to go + near Mrs. Horn's Thursdays again, he decided to go once more, in + order to plant this sting in her capacious but somewhat callous bosom; and + he planned how he would lead the talk up to the point from which he should + launch it. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time he felt the need of some present solace, such as only + unqualified worship could give him; a cruel wish to feel his power in some + direction where, even if it were resisted, it could not be overcome, drove + him on. That a woman who was to Beaton the embodiment of artificiality + should intimate, however innocently—the innocence made it all the + worse—that he was less honest than Wetmore, whom he knew to be so + much more honest, was something that must be retaliated somewhere before + his self-respect could be restored. It was only five o'clock, and he + went on up-town to the Dryfooses', though he had been there only the + night before last. He asked for the ladies, and Mrs. Mandel received him. + </p> + <p> + “The young ladies are down-town shopping,” she said, “but + I am very glad of the opportunity of seeing you alone, Mr. Beaton. You + know I lived several years in Europe.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Beaton, wondering what that could have to do with + her pleasure in seeing him alone. “I believe so?” He + involuntarily gave his words the questioning inflection. + </p> + <p> + “You have lived abroad, too, and so you won't find what I am + going to ask so strange. Mr. Beaton, why do you come so much to this + house?” Mrs. Mandel bent forward with an aspect of ladylike interest + and smiled. + </p> + <p> + Beaton frowned. “Why do I come so much?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Why do I—Excuse me, Mrs. Mandel, but will you allow me to ask + why you ask?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, certainly. There's no reason why I shouldn't say, + for I wish you to be very frank with me. I ask because there are two young + ladies in this house; and, in a certain way, I have to take the place of a + mother to them. I needn't explain why; you know all the people here, + and you understand. I have nothing to say about them, but I should not be + speaking to you now if they were not all rather helpless people. They do + not know the world they have come to live in here, and they cannot help + themselves or one another. But you do know it, Mr. Beaton, and I am sure + you know just how much or how little you mean by coming here. You are + either interested in one of these young girls or you are not. If you are, + I have nothing more to say. If you are not—” Mrs. Mandel + continued to smile, but the smile had grown more perfunctory, and it had + an icy gleam. + </p> + <p> + Beaton looked at her with surprise that he gravely kept to himself. He had + always regarded her as a social nullity, with a kind of pity, to be sure, + as a civilized person living among such people as the Dryfooses, but not + without a humorous contempt; he had thought of her as Mandel, and + sometimes as Old Mandel, though she was not half a score of years his + senior, and was still well on the sunny side of forty. He reddened, and + then turned an angry pallor. “Excuse me again, Mrs. Mandel. Do you + ask this from the young ladies?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly not,” she said, with the best temper, and with + something in her tone that convicted Beaton of vulgarity, in putting his + question of her authority in the form of a sneer. “As I have + suggested, they would hardly know how to help themselves at all in such a + matter. I have no objection to saying that I ask it from the father of the + young ladies. Of course, in and for myself I should have no right to know + anything about your affairs. I assure you the duty of knowing isn't + very pleasant.” The little tremor in her clear voice struck Beaton + as something rather nice. + </p> + <p> + “I can very well believe that, Mrs. Mandel,” he said, with a + dreamy sadness in his own. He lifted his eyes and looked into hers. + “If I told you that I cared nothing about them in the way you + intimate?” + </p> + <p> + “Then I should prefer to let you characterize your own conduct in + continuing to come here for the year past, as you have done, and tacitly + leading them on to infer differently.” They both mechanically kept + up the fiction of plurality in speaking of Christine, but there was no + doubt in the mind of either which of the young ladies the other meant. A + good many thoughts went through Beaton's mind, and none of them were + flattering. He had not been unconscious that the part he had played toward + this girl was ignoble, and that it had grown meaner as the fancy which her + beauty had at first kindled in him had grown cooler. He was aware that of + late he had been amusing himself with her passion in a way that was not + less than cruel, not because he wished to do so, but because he was + listless and wished nothing. He rose in saying: “I might be a little + more lenient than you think, Mrs. Mandel; but I won't trouble you + with any palliating theory. I will not come any more.” + </p> + <p> + He bowed, and Mrs. Mandel said, “Of course, it's only your + action that I am concerned with.” + </p> + <p> + She seemed to him merely triumphant, and he could not conceive what it had + cost her to nerve herself up to her too easy victory. He left Mrs. Mandel + to a far harder lot than had fallen to him, and he went away hating her as + an enemy who had humiliated him at a moment when he particularly needed + exalting. It was really very simple for him to stop going to see Christine + Dryfoos, but it was not at all simple for Mrs. Mandel to deal with the + consequences of his not coming. He only thought how lightly she had + stopped him, and the poor woman whom he had left trembling for what she + had been obliged to do embodied for him the conscience that accused him of + unpleasant things. + </p> + <p> + “By heavens! this is piling it up,” he said to himself through + his set teeth, realizing how it had happened right on top of that stupid + insult from Mrs. Horn. Now he should have to give up his place on 'Every + Other Week; he could not keep that, under the circumstances, even if some + pretence were not made to get rid of him; he must hurry and anticipate any + such pretence; he must see Fulkerson at once; he wondered where he should + find him at that hour. He thought, with bitterness so real that it gave + him a kind of tragical satisfaction, how certainly he could find him a + little later at Mrs. Leighton's; and Fulkerson's happiness + became an added injury. + </p> + <p> + The thing had, of course, come about just at the wrong time. There never + had been a time when Beaton needed money more, when he had spent what he + had and what he expected to have so recklessly. He was in debt to + Fulkerson personally and officially for advance payments of salary. The + thought of sending money home made him break into a scoffing laugh, which + he turned into a cough in order to deceive the passers. What sort of face + should he go with to Fulkerson and tell him that he renounced his + employment on 'Every Other Week;' and what should he do when + he had renounced it? Take pupils, perhaps; open a class? A lurid + conception of a class conducted on those principles of shameless flattery + at which Mrs. Horn had hinted—he believed now she had meant to + insult him—presented itself. Why should not he act upon the + suggestion? He thought with loathing for the whole race of women—dabblers + in art. How easy the thing would be: as easy as to turn back now and tell + that old fool's girl that he loved her, and rake in half his + millions. Why should not he do that? No one else cared for him; and at a + year's end, probably, one woman would be like another as far as the + love was concerned, and probably he should not be more tired if the woman + were Christine Dryfoos than if she were Margaret Vance. He kept Alma + Leighton out of the question, because at the bottom of his heart he + believed that she must be forever unlike every other woman to him. + </p> + <p> + The tide of his confused and aimless reverie had carried him far + down-town, he thought; but when he looked up from it to see where he was + he found himself on Sixth Avenue, only a little below Thirty-ninth Street, + very hot and blown; that idiotic fur overcoat was stifling. He could not + possibly walk down to Eleventh; he did not want to walk even to the + Elevated station at Thirty-fourth; he stopped at the corner to wait for a + surface-car, and fell again into his bitter fancies. After a while he + roused himself and looked up the track, but there was no car coming. He + found himself beside a policeman, who was lazily swinging his club by its + thong from his wrist. + </p> + <p> + “When do you suppose a car will be along?” he asked, rather in + a general sarcasm of the absence of the cars than in any special belief + that the policeman could tell him. + </p> + <p> + The policeman waited to discharge his tobacco-juice into the gutter. + “In about a week,” he said, nonchalantly. + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter?” asked Beaton, wondering what the + joke could be. + </p> + <p> + “Strike,” said the policeman. His interest in Beaton's + ignorance seemed to overcome his contempt of it. “Knocked off + everywhere this morning except Third Avenue and one or two cross-town + lines.” He spat again and kept his bulk at its incline over the + gutter to glance at a group of men on the corner below: They were neatly + dressed, and looked like something better than workingmen, and they had a + holiday air of being in their best clothes. + </p> + <p> + “Some of the strikers?” asked Beaton. + </p> + <p> + The policeman nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Any trouble yet?” + </p> + <p> + “There won't be any trouble till we begin to move the cars,” + said the policeman. + </p> + <p> + Beaton felt a sudden turn of his rage toward the men whose action would + now force him to walk five blocks and mount the stairs of the Elevated + station. “If you'd take out eight or ten of those fellows,” + he said, ferociously, “and set them up against a wall and shoot + them, you'd save a great deal of bother.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess we sha'n't have to shoot much,” said the + policeman, still swinging his locust. “Anyway, we shant begin it. If + it comes to a fight, though,” he said, with a look at the men under + the scooping rim of his helmet, “we can drive the whole six thousand + of 'em into the East River without pullin' a trigger.” + </p> + <p> + “Are there six thousand in it?” + </p> + <p> + “About.” + </p> + <p> + “What do the infernal fools expect to live on?” + </p> + <p> + “The interest of their money, I suppose,” said the officer, + with a grin of satisfaction in his irony. “It's got to run its + course. Then they'll come back with their heads tied up and their + tails between their legs, and plead to be taken on again.” + </p> + <p> + “If I was a manager of the roads,” said Beaton, thinking of + how much he was already inconvenienced by the strike, and obscurely + connecting it as one of the series with the wrongs he had suffered at the + hands of Mrs. Horn and Mrs. Mandel, “I would see them starve before + I'd take them back—every one of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the policeman, impartially, as a man might whom + the companies allowed to ride free, but who had made friends with a good + many drivers and conductors in the course of his free riding, “I + guess that's what the roads would like to do if they could; but the + men are too many for them, and there ain't enough other men to take + their places.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter,” said Beaton, severely. “They can bring in + men from other places.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they'll do that fast enough,” said the policeman. + </p> + <p> + A man came out of the saloon on the corner where the strikers were + standing, noisy drunk, and they began, as they would have said, to have + some fun with him. The policeman left Beaton, and sauntered slowly down + toward the group as if in the natural course of an afternoon ramble. On + the other side of the street Beaton could see another officer sauntering + up from the block below. Looking up and down the avenue, so silent of its + horse-car bells, he saw a policeman at every corner. It was rather + impressive. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0067" id="link2H_4_0067"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + The strike made a good deal of talk in the office of 'Every Other + Week' that is, it made Fulkerson talk a good deal. He congratulated + himself that he was not personally incommoded by it, like some of the + fellows who lived uptown, and had not everything under one roof, as it + were. He enjoyed the excitement of it, and he kept the office boy running + out to buy the extras which the newsmen came crying through the street + almost every hour with a lamentable, unintelligible noise. He read not + only the latest intelligence of the strike, but the editorial comments on + it, which praised the firm attitude of both parties, and the admirable + measures taken by the police to preserve order. Fulkerson enjoyed the + interviews with the police captains and the leaders of the strike; he + equally enjoyed the attempts of the reporters to interview the road + managers, which were so graphically detailed, and with such a fine feeling + for the right use of scare-heads as to have almost the value of direct + expression from them, though it seemed that they had resolutely refused to + speak. He said, at second-hand from the papers, that if the men behaved + themselves and respected the rights of property, they would have public + sympathy with them every time; but just as soon as they began to interfere + with the roads' right to manage their own affairs in their own way, + they must be put down with an iron hand; the phrase “iron hand” + did Fulkerson almost as much good as if it had never been used before. + News began to come of fighting between the police and the strikers when + the roads tried to move their cars with men imported from Philadelphia, + and then Fulkerson rejoiced at the splendid courage of the police. At the + same time, he believed what the strikers said, and that the trouble was + not made by them, but by gangs of roughs acting without their approval. In + this juncture he was relieved by the arrival of the State Board of + Arbitration, which took up its quarters, with a great many scare-heads, at + one of the principal hotels, and invited the roads and the strikers to lay + the matter in dispute before them; he said that now we should see the + working of the greatest piece of social machinery in modern times. But it + appeared to work only in the alacrity of the strikers to submit their + grievance. The roads were as one road in declaring that there was nothing + to arbitrate, and that they were merely asserting their right to manage + their own affairs in their own way. One of the presidents was reported to + have told a member of the Board, who personally summoned him, to get out + and to go about his business. Then, to Fulkerson's extreme + disappointment, the august tribunal, acting on behalf of the sovereign + people in the interest of peace, declared itself powerless, and got out, + and would, no doubt, have gone about its business if it had had any. + Fulkerson did not know what to say, perhaps because the extras did not; + but March laughed at this result. + </p> + <p> + “It's a good deal like the military manoeuvre of the King of + France and his forty thousand men. I suppose somebody told him at the top + of the hill that there was nothing to arbitrate, and to get out and go + about his business, and that was the reason he marched down after he had + marched up with all that ceremony. What amuses me is to find that in an + affair of this kind the roads have rights and the strikers have rights, + but the public has no rights at all. The roads and the strikers are + allowed to fight out a private war in our midst as thoroughly and + precisely a private war as any we despise the Middle Ages for having + tolerated—as any street war in Florence or Verona—and to fight + it out at our pains and expense, and we stand by like sheep and wait till + they get tired. It's a funny attitude for a city of fifteen hundred + thousand inhabitants.” + </p> + <p> + “What would you do?” asked Fulkerson, a good deal daunted by + this view of the case. + </p> + <p> + “Do? Nothing. Hasn't the State Board of Arbitration declared + itself powerless? We have no hold upon the strikers; and we're so + used to being snubbed and disobliged by common carriers that we have + forgotten our hold on the roads and always allow them to manage their own + affairs in their own way, quite as if we had nothing to do with them and + they owed us no services in return for their privileges.” + </p> + <p> + “That's a good deal so,” said Fulkerson, disordering his + hair. “Well, it's nuts for the colonel nowadays. He says if he + was boss of this town he would seize the roads on behalf of the people, + and man 'em with policemen, and run 'em till the managers had + come to terms with the strikers; and he'd do that every time there + was a strike.” + </p> + <p> + “Doesn't that rather savor of the paternalism he condemned in + Lindau?” asked March. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. It savors of horse sense.” + </p> + <p> + “You are pretty far gone, Fulkerson. I thought you were the most + engaged man I ever saw; but I guess you're more father-in-lawed. And + before you're married, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, the colonel's a glorious old fellow, March. I wish he + had the power to do that thing, just for the fun of looking on while he + waltzed in. He's on the keen jump from morning till night, and he's + up late and early to see the row. I'm afraid he'll get shot at + some of the fights; he sees them all; I can't get any show at them: + haven't seen a brickbat shied or a club swung yet. Have you?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I find I can philosophize the situation about as well from the + papers, and that's what I really want to do, I suppose. Besides, I'm + solemnly pledged by Mrs. March not to go near any sort of crowd, under + penalty of having her bring the children and go with me. Her theory is + that we must all die together; the children haven't been at school + since the strike began. There's no precaution that Mrs. March hasn't + used. She watches me whenever I go out, and sees that I start straight for + this office.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed and said: “Well, it's probably the only + thing that's saved your life. Have you seen anything of Beaton + lately?” + </p> + <p> + “No. You don't mean to say he's killed!” + </p> + <p> + “Not if he knows it. But I don't know—What do you say, + March? What's the reason you couldn't get us up a paper on the + strike?” + </p> + <p> + “I knew it would fetch round to 'Every Other Week,' + somehow.” + </p> + <p> + “No, but seriously. There'll be plenty of news paper accounts. + But you could treat it in the historical spirit—like something that + happened several centuries ago; De Foe's Plague of London style. + Heigh? What made me think of it was Beaton. If I could get hold of him, + you two could go round together and take down its aesthetic aspects. It's + a big thing, March, this strike is. I tell you it's imposing to have + a private war, as you say, fought out this way, in the heart of New York, + and New York not minding it a bit. See? Might take that view of it. With + your descriptions and Beaton's sketches—well, it would just be + the greatest card! Come! What do you say?” + </p> + <p> + “Will you undertake to make it right with Mrs. March if I'm + killed and she and the children are not killed with me?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it would be difficult. I wonder how it would do to get + Kendricks to do the literary part?” + </p> + <p> + “I've no doubt he'd jump at the chance. I've yet + to see the form of literature that Kendricks wouldn't lay down his + life for.” + </p> + <p> + “Say!” March perceived that Fulkerson was about to vent + another inspiration, and smiled patiently. “Look here! What's + the reason we couldn't get one of the strikers to write it up for + us?” + </p> + <p> + “Might have a symposium of strikers and presidents,” March + suggested. + </p> + <p> + “No; I'm in earnest. They say some of those fellows—especially + the foreigners—are educated men. I know one fellow—a Bohemian—that + used to edit a Bohemian newspaper here. He could write it out in his kind + of Dutch, and we could get Lindau to translate it.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess not,” said March, dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Why not? He'd do it for the cause, wouldn't he? Suppose + you put it up on him the next time you see him.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see Lindau any more,” said March. He added, + “I guess he's renounced me along with Mr. Dryfoos's + money.” + </p> + <p> + “Pshaw! You don't mean he hasn't been round since?” + </p> + <p> + “He came for a while, but he's left off coming now. I don't + feel particularly gay about it,” March said, with some resentment of + Fulkerson's grin. “He's left me in debt to him for + lessons to the children.” + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson laughed out. “Well, he is the greatest old fool! Who'd + 'a' thought he'd 'a' been in earnest with + those 'brincibles' of his? But I suppose there have to be just + such cranks; it takes all kinds to make a world.” + </p> + <p> + “There has to be one such crank, it seems,” March partially + assented. “One's enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon this thing is nuts for Lindau, too,” said Fulkerson. + “Why, it must act like a schooner of beer on him all the while, to + see 'gabidal' embarrassed like it is by this strike. It must + make old Lindau feel like he was back behind those barricades at Berlin. + Well, he's a splendid old fellow; pity he drinks, as I remarked once + before.” + </p> + <p> + When March left the office he did not go home so directly as he came, + perhaps because Mrs. March's eye was not on him. He was very curious + about some aspects of the strike, whose importance, as a great social + convulsion, he felt people did not recognize; and, with his temperance in + everything, he found its negative expressions as significant as its more + violent phases. He had promised his wife solemnly that he would keep away + from these, and he had a natural inclination to keep his promise; he had + no wish to be that peaceful spectator who always gets shot when there is + any firing on a mob. He interested himself in the apparent indifference of + the mighty city, which kept on about its business as tranquilly as if the + private war being fought out in its midst were a vague rumor of Indian + troubles on the frontier; and he realized how there might once have been a + street feud of forty years in Florence without interfering materially with + the industry and prosperity of the city. On Broadway there was a silence + where a jangle and clatter of horse-car bells and hoofs had been, but it + was not very noticeable; and on the avenues, roofed by the elevated roads, + this silence of the surface tracks was not noticeable at all in the roar + of the trains overhead. Some of the cross-town cars were beginning to run + again, with a policeman on the rear of each; on the Third Avenge line, + operated by non-union men, who had not struck, there were two policemen + beside the driver of every car, and two beside the conductor, to protect + them from the strikers. But there were no strikers in sight, and on Second + Avenue they stood quietly about in groups on the corners. While March + watched them at a safe distance, a car laden with policemen came down the + track, but none of the strikers offered to molest it. In their simple + Sunday best, March thought them very quiet, decent-looking people, and he + could well believe that they had nothing to do with the riotous outbreaks + in other parts of the city. He could hardly believe that there were any + such outbreaks; he began more and more to think them mere newspaper + exaggerations in the absence of any disturbance, or the disposition to it, + that he could see. He walked on to the East River. + </p> + <p> + Avenues A, B, and C presented the same quiet aspect as Second Avenue; + groups of men stood on the corners, and now and then a police-laden car + was brought unmolested down the tracks before them; they looked at it and + talked together, and some laughed, but there was no trouble. + </p> + <p> + March got a cross-town car, and came back to the West Side. A policeman, + looking very sleepy and tired, lounged on the platform. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you'll be glad when this cruel war is over,” + March suggested, as he got in. + </p> + <p> + The officer gave him a surly glance and made him no answer. + </p> + <p> + His behavior, from a man born to the joking give and take of our life, + impressed March. It gave him a fine sense of the ferocity which he had + read of the French troops putting on toward the populace just before the + coup d'etat; he began to feel like the populace; but he struggled + with himself and regained his character of philosophical observer. In this + character he remained in the car and let it carry him by the corner where + he ought to have got out and gone home, and let it keep on with him to one + of the farthermost tracks westward, where so much of the fighting was + reported to have taken place. But everything on the way was as quiet as on + the East Side. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the car stopped with so quick a turn of the brake that he was + half thrown from his seat, and the policeman jumped down from the platform + and ran forward. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0068" id="link2H_4_0068"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + Dryfoos sat at breakfast that morning with Mrs. Mandel as usual to pour + out his coffee. Conrad had gone down-town; the two girls lay abed much + later than their father breakfasted, and their mother had gradually grown + too feeble to come down till lunch. Suddenly Christine appeared at the + door. Her face was white to the edges of her lips, and her eyes were + blazing. + </p> + <p> + “Look here, father! Have you been saying anything to Mr. Beaton?” + </p> + <p> + The old man looked up at her across his coffee-cup through his frowning + brows. “No.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Mandel dropped her eyes, and the spoon shook in her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Then what's the reason he don't come here any more?” + demanded the girl; and her glance darted from her father to Mrs. Mandel. + “Oh, it's you, is it? I'd like to know who told you to + meddle in other people's business?” + </p> + <p> + “I did,” said Dryfoos, savagely. “I told her to ask him + what he wanted here, and he said he didn't want anything, and he + stopped coming. That's all. I did it myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you did, did you?” said the girl, scarcely less + insolently than she had spoken to Mrs. Mandel. “I should like to + know what you did it for? I'd like to know what made you think I + wasn't able to take care of myself. I just knew somebody had been + meddling, but I didn't suppose it was you. I can manage my own + affairs in my own way, if you please, and I'll thank you after this + to leave me to myself in what don't concern you.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't concern me? You impudent jade!” her father began. + </p> + <p> + Christine advanced from the doorway toward the table; she had her hands + closed upon what seemed trinkets, some of which glittered and dangled from + them. She said, “Will you go to him and tell him that this + meddlesome minx, here, had no business to say anything about me to him, + and you take it all back?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” shouted the old man. “And if—” + </p> + <p> + “That's all I want of you!” the girl shouted in her + turn. “Here are your presents.” With both hands she flung the + jewels-pins and rings and earrings and bracelets—among the + breakfast-dishes, from which some of them sprang to the floor. She stood a + moment to pull the intaglio ring from the finger where Beaton put it a + year ago, and dashed that at her father's plate. Then she whirled + out of the room, and they heard her running up-stairs. + </p> + <p> + The old man made a start toward her, but he fell back in his chair before + she was gone, and, with a fierce, grinding movement of his jaws, + controlled himself. “Take—take those things up,” he + gasped to Mrs. Mandel. He seemed unable to rise again from his chair; but + when she asked him if he were unwell, he said no, with an air of offence, + and got quickly to his feet. He mechanically picked up the intaglio ring + from the table while he stood there, and put it on his little finger; his + hand was not much bigger than Christine's. “How do you suppose + she found it out?” he asked, after a moment. + </p> + <p> + “She seems to have merely suspected it,” said Mrs. Mandel, in + a tremor, and with the fright in her eyes which Christine's violence + had brought there. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it don't make any difference. She had to know, somehow, + and now she knows.” He started toward the door of the library, as if + to go into the hall, where his hat and coat hung. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Dryfoos,” palpitated Mrs. Mandel, “I can't + remain here, after the language your daughter has used to me—I can't + let you leave me—I—I'm afraid of her—” + </p> + <p> + “Lock yourself up, then,” said the old man, rudely. He added, + from the hall before he went out, “I reckon she'll quiet down + now.” + </p> + <p> + He took the Elevated road. The strike seemed a vary far-off thing, though + the paper he bought to look up the stockmarket was full of noisy + typography about yesterday's troubles on the surface lines. Among + the millions in Wall Street there was some joking and some swearing, but + not much thinking, about the six thousand men who had taken such chances + in their attempt to better their condition. Dryfoos heard nothing of the + strike in the lobby of the Stock Exchange, where he spent two or three + hours watching a favorite stock of his go up and go down under the + betting. By the time the Exchange closed it had risen eight points, and on + this and some other investments he was five thousand dollars richer than + he had been in the morning. But he had expected to be richer still, and he + was by no means satisfied with his luck. All through the excitement of his + winning and losing had played the dull, murderous rage he felt toward the + child who had defied him, and when the game was over and he started home + his rage mounted into a sort of frenzy; he would teach her, he would break + her. He walked a long way without thinking, and then waited for a car. + None came, and he hailed a passing coupe. + </p> + <p> + “What has got all the cars?” he demanded of the driver, who + jumped down from his box to open the door for him and get his direction. + </p> + <p> + “Been away?” asked the driver. “Hasn't been any + car along for a week. Strike.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said Dryfoos. He felt suddenly giddy, and he + remained staring at the driver after he had taken his seat. + </p> + <p> + The man asked, “Where to?” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos could not think of his street or number, and he said, with + uncontrollable fury: “I told you once! Go up to West Eleventh, and + drive along slow on the south side; I'll show you the place.” + </p> + <p> + He could not remember the number of 'Every Other Week' office, + where he suddenly decided to stop before he went home. He wished to see + Fulkerson, and ask him something about Beaton: whether he had been about + lately, and whether he had dropped any hint of what had happened + concerning Christine; Dryfoos believed that Fulkerson was in the fellow's + confidence. + </p> + <p> + There was nobody but Conrad in the counting-room, whither Dryfoos returned + after glancing into Fulkerson's empty office. “Where's + Fulkerson?” he asked, sitting down with his hat on. + </p> + <p> + “He went out a few moments ago,” said Conrad, glancing at the + clock. “I'm afraid he isn't coming back again today, if + you wanted to see him.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos twisted his head sidewise and upward to indicate March's + room. “That other fellow out, too?” + </p> + <p> + “He went just before Mr. Fulkerson,” answered Conrad. + </p> + <p> + “Do you generally knock off here in the middle of the afternoon?” + asked the old man. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Conrad, as patiently as if his father had not been + there a score of times and found the whole staff of “Every Other + Week” at work between four and five. “Mr. March, you know, + always takes a good deal of his work home with him, and I suppose Mr. + Fulkerson went out so early because there isn't much doing to-day. + Perhaps it's the strike that makes it dull.” + </p> + <p> + “The strike-yes! It's a pretty piece of business to have + everything thrown out because a parcel of lazy hounds want a chance to lay + off and get drunk.” Dryfoos seemed to think Conrad would make some + answer to this, but the young man's mild face merely saddened, and + he said nothing. “I've got a coupe out there now that I had to + take because I couldn't get a car. If I had my way I'd have a + lot of those vagabonds hung. They're waiting to get the city into a + snarl, and then rob the houses—pack of dirty, worthless whelps. They + ought to call out the militia, and fire into 'em. Clubbing is too + good for them.” Conrad was still silent, and his father sneered, + “But I reckon you don't think so.” + </p> + <p> + “I think the strike is useless,” said Conrad. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you do, do you? Comin' to your senses a little. Gettin' + tired walkin' so much. I should like to know what your gentlemen + over there on the East Side think about the strike, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + The young fellow dropped his eyes. “I am not authorized to speak for + them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed! And perhaps you're not authorized to speak for + yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “Father, you know we don't agree about these things. I'd + rather not talk—” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm goin' to make you talk this time!” cried + Dryfoos, striking the arm of the chair he sat in with the side of his + fist. A maddening thought of Christine came over him. “As long as + you eat my bread, you have got to do as I say. I won't have my + children telling me what I shall do and sha'n't do, or take on + airs of being holier than me. Now, you just speak up! Do you think those + loafers are right, or don't you? Come!” + </p> + <p> + Conrad apparently judged it best to speak. “I think they were very + foolish to strike—at this time, when the Elevated roads can do the + work.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, at this time, heigh! And I suppose they think over there on the + East Side that it 'd been wise to strike before we got the Elevated.” + Conrad again refused to answer, and his father roared, “What do you + think?” + </p> + <p> + “I think a strike is always bad business. It's war; but + sometimes there don't seem any other way for the workingmen to get + justice. They say that sometimes strikes do raise the wages, after a + while.” + </p> + <p> + “Those lazy devils were paid enough already,” shrieked the old + man. + </p> + <p> + “They got two dollars a day. How much do you think they ought to + 'a' got? Twenty?” + </p> + <p> + Conrad hesitated, with a beseeching look at his father. But he decided to + answer. “The men say that with partial work, and fines, and other + things, they get sometimes a dollar, and sometimes ninety cents a day.” + </p> + <p> + “They lie, and you know they lie,” said his father, rising and + coming toward him. “And what do you think the upshot of it all will + be, after they've ruined business for another week, and made people + hire hacks, and stolen the money of honest men? How is it going to end?” + </p> + <p> + “They will have to give in.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, give in, heigh! And what will you say then, I should like to + know? How will you feel about it then? Speak!” + </p> + <p> + “I shall feel as I do now. I know you don't think that way, + and I don't blame you—or anybody. But if I have got to say how + I shall feel, why, I shall feel sorry they didn't succeed, for I + believe they have a righteous cause, though they go the wrong way to help + themselves.” + </p> + <p> + His father came close to him, his eyes blazing, his teeth set. “Do + you dare so say that to me?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I can't help it. I pity them; my whole heart is with + those poor men.” + </p> + <p> + “You impudent puppy!” shouted the old man. He lifted his hand + and struck his son in the face. Conrad caught his hand with his own left, + and, while the blood began to trickle from a wound that Christine's + intaglio ring had made in his temple, he looked at him with a kind of + grieving wonder, and said, “Father!” + </p> + <p> + The old man wrenched his fist away and ran out of the house. He remembered + his address now, and he gave it as he plunged into the coupe. He trembled + with his evil passion, and glared out of the windows at the passers as he + drove home; he only saw Conrad's mild, grieving, wondering eyes, and + the blood slowly trickling from the wound in his temple. + </p> + <p> + Conrad went to the neat-set bowl in Fulkerson's comfortable room and + washed the blood away, and kept bathing the wound with the cold water till + it stopped bleeding. The cut was not deep, and he thought he would not put + anything on it. After a while he locked up the office and started out, he + hardly knew where. But he walked on, in the direction he had taken, till + he found himself in Union Square, on the pavement in front of Brentano's. + It seemed to him that he heard some one calling gently to him, “Mr. + Dryfoos!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0069" id="link2H_4_0069"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + Conrad looked confusedly around, and the same voice said again, “Mr. + Dryfoos!” and he saw that it was a lady speaking to him from a coupe + beside the curbing, and then he saw that it was Miss Vance. + </p> + <p> + She smiled when he gave signs of having discovered her, and came up to the + door of her carriage. “I am so glad to meet you. I have been longing + to talk to somebody; nobody seems to feel about it as I do. Oh, isn't + it horrible? Must they fail? I saw cars running on all the lines as I came + across; it made me sick at heart. Must those brave fellows give in? And + everybody seems to hate them so—I can't bear it.” Her + face was estranged with excitement, and there were traces of tears on it. + “You must think me almost crazy to stop you in the street this way; + but when I caught sight of you I had to speak. I knew you would sympathize—I + knew you would feel as I do. Oh, how can anybody help honoring those poor + men for standing by one another as they do? They are risking all they have + in the world for the sake of justice! Oh, they are true heroes! They are + staking the bread of their wives and children on the dreadful chance they've + taken! But no one seems to understand it. No one seems to see that they + are willing to suffer more now that other poor men may suffer less + hereafter. And those wretched creatures that are coming in to take their + places—those traitors—” + </p> + <p> + “We can't blame them for wanting to earn a living, Miss Vance,” + said Conrad. + </p> + <p> + “No, no! I don't blame them. Who am I, to do such a thing? It's + we—people like me, of my class—who make the poor betray one + another. But this dreadful fighting—this hideous paper is full of + it!” She held up an extra, crumpled with her nervous reading. + “Can't something be done to stop it? Don't you think + that if some one went among them, and tried to make them see how perfectly + hopeless it was to resist the companies and drive off the new men, he + might do some good? I have wanted to go and try; but I am a woman, and I + mustn't! I shouldn't be afraid of the strikers, but I'm + afraid of what people would say!” Conrad kept pressing his + handkerchief to the cut in his temple, which he thought might be bleeding, + and now she noticed this. “Are you hurt, Mr. Dryfoos? You look so + pale.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it's nothing—a little scratch I've got.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, you look pale. Have you a carriage? How will you get home? + Will you get in here with me and let me drive you?” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” said Conrad, smiling at her excitement. “I'm + perfectly well—” + </p> + <p> + “And you don't think I'm foolish and wicked for stopping + you here and talking in this way? But I know you feel as I do!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I feel as you do. You are right—right in every way—I + mustn't keep you—Good-bye.” He stepped back to bow, but + she put her beautiful hand out of the window, and when he took it she + wrung his hand hard. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you, thank you! You are good and you are just! But no one can + do anything. It's useless!” + </p> + <p> + The type of irreproachable coachman on the box whose respectability had + suffered through the strange behavior of his mistress in this interview + drove quickly off at her signal, and Conrad stood a moment looking after + the carriage. His heart was full of joy; it leaped; he thought it would + burst. As he turned to walk away it seemed to him as if he mounted upon + the air. The trust she had shown him, the praise she had given him, that + crush of the hand: he hoped nothing, he formed no idea from it, but it all + filled him with love that cast out the pain and shame he had been + suffering. He believed that he could never be unhappy any more; the + hardness that was in his mind toward his father went out of it; he saw how + sorely he had tried him; he grieved that he had done it, but the means, + the difference of his feeling about the cause of their quarrel, he was + solemnly glad of that since she shared it. He was only sorry for his + father. “Poor father!” he said under his breath as he went + along. He explained to her about his father in his reverie, and she pitied + his father, too. + </p> + <p> + He was walking over toward the West Side, aimlessly at first, and then at + times with the longing to do something to save those mistaken men from + themselves forming itself into a purpose. Was not that what she meant when + she bewailed her woman's helplessness? She must have wished him to + try if he, being a man, could not do something; or if she did not, still + he would try, and if she heard of it she would recall what she had said + and would be glad he had understood her so. Thinking of her pleasure in + what he was going to do, he forgot almost what it was; but when he came to + a street-car track he remembered it, and looked up and down to see if + there were any turbulent gathering of men whom he might mingle with and + help to keep from violence. He saw none anywhere; and then suddenly, as if + at the same moment, for in his exalted mood all events had a dream-like + simultaneity, he stood at the corner of an avenue, and in the middle of + it, a little way off, was a street-car, and around the car a tumult of + shouting, cursing, struggling men. The driver was lashing his horses + forward, and a policeman was at their heads, with the conductor, pulling + them; stones, clubs, brickbats hailed upon the car, the horses, the men + trying to move them. The mob closed upon them in a body, and then a + patrol-wagon whirled up from the other side, and a squad of policemen + leaped out and began to club the rioters. Conrad could see how they struck + them under the rims of their hats; the blows on their skulls sounded as if + they had fallen on stone; the rioters ran in all directions. + </p> + <p> + One of the officers rushed up toward the corner where Conrad stood, and + then he saw at his side a tall, old man, with a long, white beard, who was + calling out at the policemen: “Ah, yes! Glup the strikerss—gif + it to them! Why don't you co and glup the bresidents that insoalt + your lawss, and gick your Boart of Arpidration out-of-toors? Glup the + strikerss—they cot no friendts! They cot no money to pribe you, to + dreat you!” + </p> + <p> + The officer lifted his club, and the old man threw his left arm up to + shield his head. Conrad recognized Lindau, and now he saw the empty sleeve + dangle in the air over the stump of his wrist. He heard a shot in that + turmoil beside the car, and something seemed to strike him in the breast. + He was going to say to the policeman: “Don't strike him! He's + an old soldier! You see he has no hand!” but he could not speak, he + could not move his tongue. The policeman stood there; he saw his face: it + was not bad, not cruel; it was like the face of a statue, fixed, + perdurable—a mere image of irresponsible and involuntary authority. + Then Conrad fell forward, pierced through the heart by that shot fired + from the car. + </p> + <p> + March heard the shot as he scrambled out of his car, and at the same + moment he saw Lindau drop under the club of the policeman, who left him + where he fell and joined the rest of the squad in pursuing the rioters. + The fighting round the car in the avenue ceased; the driver whipped his + horses into a gallop, and the place was left empty. + </p> + <p> + March would have liked to run; he thought how his wife had implored him to + keep away from the rioting; but he could not have left Lindau lying there + if he would. Something stronger than his will drew him to the spot, and + there he saw Conrad, dead beside the old man. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0070" id="link2H_4_0070"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + In the cares which Mrs. March shared with her husband that night she was + supported partly by principle, but mainly by the potent excitement which + bewildered Conrad's family and took all reality from what had + happened. It was nearly midnight when the Marches left them and walked + away toward the Elevated station with Fulkerson. Everything had been done, + by that time, that could be done; and Fulkerson was not without that + satisfaction in the business-like despatch of all the details which + attends each step in such an affair and helps to make death tolerable even + to the most sorely stricken. We are creatures of the moment; we live from + one little space to another; and only one interest at a time fills these. + Fulkerson was cheerful when they got into the street, almost gay; and Mrs. + March experienced a rebound from her depression which she felt that she + ought not to have experienced. But she condoned the offence a little in + herself, because her husband remained so constant in his gravity; and, + pending the final accounting he must make her for having been where he + could be of so much use from the first instant of the calamity, she was + tenderly, gratefully proud of all the use he had been to Conrad's + family, and especially his miserable old father. To her mind, March was + the principal actor in the whole affair, and much more important in having + seen it than those who had suffered in it. In fact, he had suffered + incomparably. + </p> + <p> + “Well, well,” said Fulkerson. “They'll get along + now. We've done all we could, and there's nothing left but for + them to bear it. Of course it's awful, but I guess it 'll come + out all right. I mean,” he added, “they'll pull through + now.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” said March, “that nothing is put on us that + we can't bear. But I should think,” he went on, musingly, + “that when God sees what we poor finite creatures can bear, hemmed + round with this eternal darkness of death, He must respect us.” + </p> + <p> + “Basil!” said his wife. But in her heart she drew nearer to + him for the words she thought she ought to rebuke him for. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know,” he said, “we school ourselves to despise + human nature. But God did not make us despicable, and I say, whatever end + He meant us for, He must have some such thrill of joy in our adequacy to + fate as a father feels when his son shows himself a man. When I think what + we can be if we must, I can't believe the least of us shall finally + perish.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I reckon the Almighty won't scoop any of us,” said + Fulkerson, with a piety of his own. + </p> + <p> + “That poor boy's father!” sighed Mrs. March. “I + can't get his face out of my sight. He looked so much worse than + death.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, death doesn't look bad,” said March. “It's + life that looks so in its presence. Death is peace and pardon. I only wish + poor old Lindau was as well out of it as Conrad there.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Lindau! He has done harm enough,” said Mrs. March. + “I hope he will be careful after this.” + </p> + <p> + March did not try to defend Lindau against her theory of the case, which + inexorably held him responsible for Conrad's death. + </p> + <p> + “Lindau's going to come out all right, I guess,” said + Fulkerson. “He was first-rate when I saw him at the hospital + to-night.” He whispered in March's ear, at a chance he got in + mounting the station stairs: “I didn't like to tell you there + at the house, but I guess you'd better know. They had to take Lindau's + arm off near the shoulder. Smashed all to pieces by the clubbing.” + </p> + <p> + In the house, vainly rich and foolishly unfit for them, the bereaved + family whom the Marches had just left lingered together, and tried to get + strength to part for the night. They were all spent with the fatigue that + comes from heaven to such misery as theirs, and they sat in a torpor in + which each waited for the other to move, to speak. + </p> + <p> + Christine moved, and Mela spoke. Christine rose and went out of the room + without saying a word, and they heard her going up-stairs. Then Mela said: + </p> + <p> + “I reckon the rest of us better be goun' too, father. Here, + let's git mother started.” + </p> + <p> + She put her arm round her mother, to lift her from her chair, but the old + man did not stir, and Mela called Mrs. Mandel from the next room. Between + them they raised her to her feet. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't there anybody agoin' to set up with it?” + she asked, in her hoarse pipe. “It appears like folks hain't + got any feelin's in New York. Woon't some o' the + neighbors come and offer to set up, without waitin' to be asked?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's all right, mother. The men 'll attend to + that. Don't you bother any,” Mela coaxed, and she kept her arm + round her mother, with tender patience. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mely, child! I can't feel right to have it left to + hirelin's so. But there ain't anybody any more to see things + done as they ought. If Coonrod was on'y here—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, mother, you are pretty mixed!” said Mela, with a strong + tendency to break into her large guffaw. But she checked herself and said: + “I know just how you feel, though. It keeps acomun' and agoun'; + and it's so and it ain't so, all at once; that's the + plague of it. Well, father! Ain't you goun' to come?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm goin' to stay, Mela,” said the old man, + gently, without moving. “Get your mother to bed, that's a good + girl.” + </p> + <p> + “You goin' to set up with him, Jacob?” asked the old + woman. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, 'Liz'beth, I'll set up. You go to bed.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I will, Jacob. And I believe it 'll do you good to set + up. I wished I could set up with you; but I don't seem to have the + stren'th I did when the twins died. I must git my sleep, so's + to—I don't like very well to have you broke of your rest, + Jacob, but there don't appear to be anybody else. You wouldn't + have to do it if Coonrod was here. There I go ag'in! Mercy! mercy!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, do come along, then, mother,” said Mela; and she got + her out of the room, with Mrs. Mandel's help, and up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + From the top the old woman called down, “You tell Coonrod—” + She stopped, and he heard her groan out, “My Lord! my Lord!” + </p> + <p> + He sat, one silence in the dining-room, where they had all lingered + together, and in the library beyond the hireling watcher sat, another + silence. The time passed, but neither moved, and the last noise in the + house ceased, so that they heard each other breathe, and the vague, remote + rumor of the city invaded the inner stillness. It grew louder toward + morning, and then Dryfoos knew from the watcher's deeper breathing + that he had fallen into a doze. + </p> + <p> + He crept by him to the drawing-room, where his son was; the place was full + of the awful sweetness of the flowers that Fulkerson had brought, and that + lay above the pulseless breast. The old man turned up a burner in the + chandelier, and stood looking on the majestic serenity of the dead face. + </p> + <p> + He could not move when he saw his wife coming down the stairway in the + hall. She was in her long, white flannel bed gown, and the candle she + carried shook with her nervous tremor. He thought she might be walking in + her sleep, but she said, quite simply, “I woke up, and I couldn't + git to sleep ag'in without comin' to have a look.” She + stood beside their dead son with him, “well, he's beautiful, + Jacob. He was the prettiest baby! And he was always good, Coonrod was; I'll + say that for him. I don't believe he ever give me a minute's + care in his whole life. I reckon I liked him about the best of all the + children; but I don't know as I ever done much to show it. But you + was always good to him, Jacob; you always done the best for him, ever + since he was a little feller. I used to be afraid you'd spoil him + sometimes in them days; but I guess you're glad now for every time + you didn't cross him. I don't suppose since the twins died you + ever hit him a lick.” She stooped and peered closer at the face. + “Why, Jacob, what's that there by his pore eye?” Dryfoos + saw it, too, the wound that he had feared to look for, and that now seemed + to redden on his sight. He broke into a low, wavering cry, like a child's + in despair, like an animal's in terror, like a soul's in the + anguish of remorse. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0071" id="link2H_4_0071"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + The evening after the funeral, while the Marches sat together talking it + over, and making approaches, through its shadow, to the question of their + own future, which it involved, they were startled by the twitter of the + electric bell at their apartment door. It was really not so late as the + children's having gone to bed made it seem; but at nine o'clock + it was too late for any probable visitor except Fulkerson. It might be he, + and March was glad to postpone the impending question to his curiosity + concerning the immediate business Fulkerson might have with him. He went + himself to the door, and confronted there a lady deeply veiled in black + and attended by a very decorous serving-woman. + </p> + <p> + “Are you alone, Mr. March—you and Mrs. March?” asked the + lady, behind her veil; and, as he hesitated, she said: “You don't + know me! Miss Vance”; and she threw back her veil, showing her face + wan and agitated in the dark folds. “I am very anxious to see you—to + speak with you both. May I come in?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly, Miss Vance,” he answered, still too much + stupefied by her presence to realize it. + </p> + <p> + She promptly entered, and saying, with a glance at the hall chair by the + door, “My maid can sit here?” followed him to the room where + he had left his wife. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March showed herself more capable of coping with the fact. She + welcomed Miss Vance with the liking they both felt for the girl, and with + the sympathy which her troubled face inspired. + </p> + <p> + “I won't tire you with excuses for coming, Mrs. March,” + she said, “for it was the only thing left for me to do; and I come + at my aunt's suggestion.” She added this as if it would help + to account for her more on the conventional plane, and she had the + instinctive good taste to address herself throughout to Mrs. March as much + as possible, though what she had to say was mainly for March. “I don't + know how to begin—I don't know how to speak of this terrible + affair. But you know what I mean. I feel as if I had lived a whole + lifetime since it happened. I don't want you to pity me for it,” + she said, forestalling a politeness from Mrs. March. “I'm the + last one to be thought of, and you mustn't mind me if I try to make + you. I came to find out all of the truth that I can, and when I know just + what that is I shall know what to do. I have read the inquest; it's + all burned into my brain. But I don't care for that—for + myself: you must let me say such things without minding me. I know that + your husband—that Mr. March was there; I read his testimony; and I + wished to ask him—to ask him—” She stopped and looked + distractedly about. “But what folly! He must have said everything he + knew—he had to.” Her eyes wandered to him from his wife, on + whom she had kept them with instinctive tact. + </p> + <p> + “I said everything—yes,” he replied. “But if you + would like to know—” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I had better tell you something first. I had just parted + with him—it couldn't have been more than half an hour—in + front of Brentano's; he must have gone straight to his death. We + were talking, and I—I said, Why didn't some one go among the + strikers and plead with them to be peaceable, and keep them from attacking + the new men. I knew that he felt as I did about the strikers: that he was + their friend. Did you see—do you know anything that makes you think + he had been trying to do that?” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry,” March began, “I didn't see him at + all till—till I saw him lying dead.” + </p> + <p> + “My husband was there purely by accident,” Mrs. March put in. + “I had begged and entreated him not to go near the striking + anywhere. And he had just got out of the car, and saw the policeman strike + that wretched Lindau—he's been such an anxiety to me ever + since we have had anything to do with him here; my husband knew him when + he was a boy in the West. Mr. March came home from it all perfectly + prostrated; it made us all sick! Nothing so horrible ever came into our + lives before. I assure you it was the most shocking experience.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Vance listened to her with that look of patience which those who have + seen much of the real suffering of the world—the daily portion of + the poor—have for the nervous woes of comfortable people. March hung + his head; he knew it would be useless to protest that his share of the + calamity was, by comparison, infinitesimally small. + </p> + <p> + After she had heard Mrs. March to the end even of her repetitions, Miss + Vance said, as if it were a mere matter of course that she should have + looked the affair up, “Yes, I have seen Mr. Lindau at the hospital—” + </p> + <p> + “My husband goes every day to see him,” Mrs. March + interrupted, to give a final touch to the conception of March's + magnanimity throughout. + </p> + <p> + “The poor man seems to have been in the wrong at the time,” + said Miss Vance. + </p> + <p> + “I could almost say he had earned the right to be wrong. He's + a man of the most generous instincts, and a high ideal of justice, of + equity—too high to be considered by a policeman with a club in his + hand,” said March, with a bold defiance of his wife's + different opinion of Lindau. “It's the policeman's + business, I suppose, to club the ideal when he finds it inciting a riot.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't blame Mr. Lindau; I don't blame the + policeman; he was as much a mere instrument as his club was. I am only + trying to find out how much I am to blame myself. I had no thought of Mr. + Dryfoos's going there—of his attempting to talk with the + strikers and keep them quiet; I was only thinking, as women do, of what I + should try to do if I were a man. + </p> + <p> + “But perhaps he understood me to ask him to go—perhaps my + words sent him to his death.” + </p> + <p> + She had a sort of calm in her courage to know the worst truth as to her + responsibility that forbade any wish to flatter her out of it. “I'm + afraid,” said March, “that is what can never be known now.” + After a moment he added: “But why should you wish to know? If he + went there as a peacemaker, he died in a good cause, in such a way as he + would wish to die, I believe.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the girl; “I have thought of that. But death + is awful; we must not think patiently, forgivingly of sending any one to + their death in the best cause.”—“I fancy life was an + awful thing to Conrad Dryfoos,” March replied. “He was + thwarted and disappointed, without even pleasing the ambition that + thwarted and disappointed him. That poor old man, his father, warped him + from his simple, lifelong wish to be a minister, and was trying to make a + business man of him. If it will be any consolation to you to know it, Miss + Vance, I can assure you that he was very unhappy, and I don't see + how he could ever have been happy here.” + </p> + <p> + “It won't,” said the girl, steadily. “If people + are born into this world, it's because they were meant to live in + it. It isn't a question of being happy here; no one is happy, in + that old, selfish way, or can be; but he could have been of great use.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he was of use in dying. Who knows? He may have been trying + to silence Lindau.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Lindau wasn't worth it!” cried Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + Miss Vance looked at her as if she did not quite understand. Then she + turned to March. “He might have been unhappy, as we all are; but I + know that his life here would have had a higher happiness than we wish for + or aim for.” The tears began to run silently down her cheeks. + </p> + <p> + “He looked strangely happy that day when he left me. He had hurt + himself somehow, and his face was bleeding from a scratch; he kept his + handkerchief up; he was pale, but such a light came into his face when he + shook hands—ah, I know he went to try and do what I said!” + They were all silent, while she dried her eyes and then put her + handkerchief back into the pocket from which she had suddenly pulled it, + with a series of vivid, young-ladyish gestures, which struck March by + their incongruity with the occasion of their talk, and yet by their + harmony with the rest of her elegance. “I am sorry, Miss Vance,” + he began, “that I can't really tell you anything more—” + </p> + <p> + “You are very kind,” she said, controlling herself and rising + quickly. “I thank you—thank you both very much.” She + turned to Mrs. March and shook hands with her and then with him. “I + might have known—I did know that there wasn't anything more + for you to tell. But at least I've found out from you that there was + nothing, and now I can begin to bear what I must. How are those poor + creatures—his mother and father, his sisters? Some day, I hope, I + shall be ashamed to have postponed them to the thought of myself; but I + can't pretend to be yet. I could not come to the funeral; I wanted + to.” + </p> + <p> + She addressed her question to Mrs. March, who answered: “I can + understand. But they were pleased with the flowers you sent; people are, + at such times, and they haven't many friends.” + </p> + <p> + “Would you go to see them?” asked the girl. “Would you + tell them what I've told you?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March looked at her husband. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see what good it would do. They wouldn't + understand. But if it would relieve you—” + </p> + <p> + “I'll wait till it isn't a question of self-relief,” + said the girl. “Good-bye!” + </p> + <p> + She left them to long debate of the event. At the end Mrs. March said, + “She is a strange being; such a mixture of the society girl and the + saint.” + </p> + <p> + Her husband answered: “She's the potentiality of several kinds + of fanatic. She's very unhappy, and I don't see how she's + to be happier about that poor fellow. I shouldn't be surprised if + she did inspire him to attempt something of that kind.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you got out of it very well, Basil. I admired the way you + managed. I was afraid you'd say something awkward.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, with a plain line of truth before me, as the only possible + thing, I can get on pretty well. When it comes to anything decorative, I'd + rather leave it to you, Isabel.” + </p> + <p> + She seemed insensible of his jest. “Of course, he was in love with + her. That was the light that came into his face when he was going to do + what he thought she wanted him to do.” + </p> + <p> + “And she—do you think that she was—” + </p> + <p> + “What an idea! It would have been perfectly grotesque!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0072" id="link2H_4_0072"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. + </h2> + <p> + Their affliction brought the Dryfooses into humaner relations with the + Marches, who had hitherto regarded them as a necessary evil, as the odious + means of their own prosperity. Mrs. March found that the women of the + family seemed glad of her coming, and in the sense of her usefulness to + them all she began to feel a kindness even for Christine. But she could + not help seeing that between the girl and her father there was an + unsettled account, somehow, and that it was Christine and not the old man + who was holding out. She thought that their sorrow had tended to refine + the others. Mela was much more subdued, and, except when she abandoned + herself to a childish interest in her mourning, she did nothing to shock + Mrs. March's taste or to seem unworthy of her grief. She was very + good to her mother, whom the blow had left unchanged, and to her father, + whom it had apparently fallen upon with crushing weight. Once, after + visiting their house, Mrs. March described to March a little scene between + Dryfoos and Mela, when he came home from Wall Street, and the girl met him + at the door with a kind of country simpleness, and took his hat and stick, + and brought him into the room where Mrs. March sat, looking tired and + broken. She found this look of Dryfoos's pathetic, and dwelt on the + sort of stupefaction there was in it; he must have loved his son more than + they ever realized. “Yes,” said March, “I suspect he + did. He's never been about the place since that day; he was always + dropping in before, on his way up-town. He seems to go down to Wall Street + every day, just as before, but I suppose that's mechanical; he + wouldn't know what else to do; I dare say it's best for him. + The sanguine Fulkerson is getting a little anxious about the future of + 'Every Other Week.' Now Conrad's gone, he isn't + sure the old man will want to keep on with it, or whether he'll have + to look up another Angel. He wants to get married, I imagine, and he can't + venture till this point is settled.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a very material point to us too, Basil,” said Mrs. + March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, of course. I hadn't overlooked that, you may be sure. + One of the things that Fulkerson and I have discussed is a scheme for + buying the magazine. Its success is pretty well assured now, and I shouldn't + be afraid to put money into it—if I had the money.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't let you sell the house in Boston, Basil!” + </p> + <p> + “And I don't want to. I wish we could go back and live in it + and get the rent, too! It would be quite a support. But I suppose if + Dryfoos won't keep on, it must come to another Angel. I hope it won't + be a literary one, with a fancy for running my department.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I guess whoever takes the magazine will be glad enough to keep + you!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think so? Well, perhaps. But I don't believe Fulkerson + would let me stand long between him and an Angel of the right description.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, I believe he would. And you've never seen + anything, Basil, to make you really think that Mr. Fulkerson didn't + appreciate you to the utmost.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I came pretty near an undervaluation in that Lindau + trouble. I shall always wonder what put a backbone into Fulkerson just at + that crisis. Fulkerson doesn't strike me as the stuff of a moral + hero.” + </p> + <p> + “At any rate, he was one,” said Mrs. March, “and that's + quite enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + March did not answer. “What a noble thing life is, anyway! Here I + am, well on the way to fifty, after twenty-five years of hard work, + looking forward to the potential poor-house as confidently as I did in + youth. We might have saved a little more than we have saved; but the + little more wouldn't avail if I were turned out of my place now; and + we should have lived sordidly to no purpose. Some one always has you by + the throat, unless you have some one else in your grip. I wonder if that's + the attitude the Almighty intended His respectable creatures to take + toward one another! I wonder if He meant our civilization, the battle we + fight in, the game we trick in! I wonder if He considers it final, and if + the kingdom of heaven on earth, which we pray for—” + </p> + <p> + “Have you seen Lindau to-day?” Mrs. March asked. + </p> + <p> + “You inferred it from the quality of my piety?” March laughed, + and then suddenly sobered. “Yes, I saw him. It's going rather + hard with him, I'm afraid. The amputation doesn't heal very + well; the shock was very great, and he's old. It'll take time. + There's so much pain that they have to keep him under opiates, and I + don't think he fully knew me. At any rate, I didn't get my + piety from him to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “It's horrible! Horrible!” said Mrs. March. “I can't + get over it! After losing his hand in the war, to lose his whole arm now + in this way! It does seem too cruel! Of course he oughtn't to have + been there; we can say that. But you oughtn't to have been there, + either, Basil.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I wasn't exactly advising the police to go and club the + railroad presidents.” + </p> + <p> + “Neither was poor Conrad Dryfoos.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't deny it. All that was distinctly the chance of life + and death. That belonged to God; and no doubt it was law, though it seems + chance. But what I object to is this economic chance-world in which we + live, and which we men seem to have created. It ought to be law as + inflexible in human affairs as the order of day and night in the physical + world that if a man will work he shall both rest and eat, and shall not be + harassed with any question as to how his repose and his provision shall + come. Nothing less ideal than this satisfies the reason. But in our state + of things no one is secure of this. No one is sure of finding work; no one + is sure of not losing it. I may have my work taken away from me at any + moment by the caprice, the mood, the indigestion of a man who has not the + qualification for knowing whether I do it well, or ill. At my time of life—at + every time of life—a man ought to feel that if he will keep on doing + his duty he shall not suffer in himself or in those who are dear to him, + except through natural causes. But no man can feel this as things are now; + and so we go on, pushing and pulling, climbing and crawling, thrusting + aside and trampling underfoot; lying, cheating, stealing; and then we get + to the end, covered with blood and dirt and sin and shame, and look back + over the way we've come to a palace of our own, or the poor-house, + which is about the only possession we can claim in common with our + brother-men, I don't think the retrospect can be pleasing.” + </p> + <p> + “I know, I know!” said his wife. “I think of those + things, too, Basil. Life isn't what it seems when you look forward + to it. But I think people would suffer less, and wouldn't have to + work so hard, and could make all reasonable provision for the future, if + they were not so greedy and so foolish.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, without doubt! We can't put it all on the conditions; we + must put some of the blame on character. But conditions make character; + and people are greedy and foolish, and wish to have and to shine, because + having and shining are held up to them by civilization as the chief good + of life. We all know they are not the chief good, perhaps not good at all; + but if some one ventures to say so, all the rest of us call him a fraud + and a crank, and go moiling and toiling on to the palace or the + poor-house. We can't help it. If one were less greedy or less + foolish, some one else would have and would shine at his expense. We don't + moil and toil to ourselves alone; the palace or the poor-house is not + merely for ourselves, but for our children, whom we've brought up in + the superstition that having and shining is the chief good. We dare not + teach them otherwise, for fear they may falter in the fight when it comes + their turn, and the children of others will crowd them out of the palace + into the poor-house. If we felt sure that honest work shared by all would + bring them honest food shared by all, some heroic few of us, who did not + wish our children to rise above their fellows—though we could not + bear to have them fall below—might trust them with the truth. But we + have no such assurance, and so we go on trembling before Dryfooses and + living in gimcrackeries.” + </p> + <p> + “Basil, Basil! I was always willing to live more simply than you. + You know I was!” + </p> + <p> + “I know you always said so, my dear. But how many bell-ratchets and + speaking-tubes would you be willing to have at the street door below? I + remember that when we were looking for a flat you rejected every building + that had a bell-ratchet or a speaking-tube, and would have nothing to do + with any that had more than an electric button; you wanted a hall-boy, + with electric buttons all over him. I don't blame you. I find such + things quite as necessary as you do.” + </p> + <p> + “And do you mean to say, Basil,” she asked, abandoning this + unprofitable branch of the inquiry, “that you are really uneasy + about your place? that you are afraid Mr. Dryfoos may give up being an + Angel, and Mr. Fulkerson may play you false?” + </p> + <p> + “Play me false? Oh, it wouldn't be playing me false. It would + be merely looking out for himself, if the new Angel had editorial tastes + and wanted my place. It's what any one would do.” + </p> + <p> + “You wouldn't do it, Basil!” + </p> + <p> + “Wouldn't I? Well, if any one offered me more salary than + 'Every Other Week' pays—say, twice as much—what do + you think my duty to my suffering family would be? It's give and + take in the business world, Isabel; especially take. But as to being + uneasy, I'm not, in the least. I've the spirit of a lion, when + it comes to such a chance as that. When I see how readily the + sensibilities of the passing stranger can be worked in New York, I think + of taking up the role of that desperate man on Third Avenue who went along + looking for garbage in the gutter to eat. I think I could pick up at least + twenty or thirty cents a day by that little game, and maintain my family + in the affluence it's been accustomed to.” + </p> + <p> + “Basil!” cried his wife. “You don't mean to say + that man was an impostor! And I've gone about, ever since, feeling + that one such case in a million, the bare possibility of it, was enough to + justify all that Lindau said about the rich and the poor!” + </p> + <p> + March laughed teasingly. “Oh, I don't say he was an impostor. + Perhaps he really was hungry; but, if he wasn't, what do you think + of a civilization that makes the opportunity of such a fraud? that gives + us all such a bad conscience for the need which is that we weaken to the + need that isn't? Suppose that poor fellow wasn't personally + founded on fact: nevertheless, he represented the truth; he was the ideal + of the suffering which would be less effective if realistically treated. + That man is a great comfort to me. He probably rioted for days on that + quarter I gave him; made a dinner very likely, or a champagne supper; and + if 'Every Other Week' wants to get rid of me, I intend to work + that racket. You can hang round the corner with Bella, and Tom can come up + to me in tears, at stated intervals, and ask me if I've found + anything yet. To be sure, we might be arrested and sent up somewhere. But + even in that extreme case we should be provided for. Oh no, I'm not + afraid of losing my place! I've merely a sort of psychological + curiosity to know how men like Dryfoos and Fulkerson will work out the + problem before them.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0073" id="link2H_4_0073"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + It was a curiosity which Fulkerson himself shared, at least concerning + Dryfoos. “I don't know what the old man's going to do,” + he said to March the day after the Marches had talked their future over. + “Said anything to you yet?” + </p> + <p> + “No, not a word.” + </p> + <p> + “You're anxious, I suppose, same as I am. Fact is,” said + Fulkerson, blushing a little, “I can't ask to have a day named + till I know where I am in connection with the old man. I can't tell + whether I've got to look out for something else or somebody else. Of + course, it's full soon yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” March said, “much sooner than it seems to us. We're + so anxious about the future that we don't remember how very recent + the past is.” + </p> + <p> + “That's something so. The old man's hardly had time yet + to pull himself together. Well, I'm glad you feel that way about it, + March. I guess it's more of a blow to him than we realize. He was a + good deal bound up in Coonrod, though he didn't always use him very + well. Well, I reckon it's apt to happen so oftentimes; curious how + cruel love can be. Heigh? We're an awful mixture, March!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's the marvel and the curse, as Browning says.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, that poor boy himself,” pursued Fulkerson, “had + streaks of the mule in him that could give odds to Beaton, and he must + have tried the old man by the way he would give in to his will and hold + out against his judgment. I don't believe he ever budged a + hairs-breadth from his original position about wanting to be a preacher + and not wanting to be a business man. Well, of course! I don't think + business is all in all; but it must have made the old man mad to find that + without saying anything, or doing anything to show it, and after seeming + to come over to his ground, and really coming, practically, Coonrod was + just exactly where he first planted himself, every time.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, people that have convictions are difficult. Fortunately, they're + rare.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think so? It seems to me that everybody's got + convictions. Beaton himself, who hasn't a principle to throw at a + dog, has got convictions the size of a barn. They ain't always the + same ones, I know, but they're always to the same effect, as far as + Beaton's being Number One is concerned. The old man's got + convictions or did have, unless this thing lately has shaken him all up—and + he believes that money will do everything. Colonel Woodburn's got + convictions that he wouldn't part with for untold millions. Why, + March, you got convictions yourself!” + </p> + <p> + “Have I?” said March. “I don't know what they are.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, neither do I; but I know you were ready to kick the trough + over for them when the old man wanted us to bounce Lindau that time.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said March; he remembered the fact; but he was still + uncertain just what the convictions were that he had been so stanch for. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose we could have got along without you,” Fulkerson + mused aloud. “It's astonishing how you always can get along in + this world without the man that is simply indispensable. Makes a fellow + realize that he could take a day off now and then without deranging the + solar system a great deal. Now here's Coonrod—or, rather, he + isn't. But that boy managed his part of the schooner so well that I + used to tremble when I thought of his getting the better of the old man + and going into a convent or something of that kind; and now here he is, + snuffed out in half a second, and I don't believe but what we shall + be sailing along just as chipper as usual inside of thirty days. I reckon + it will bring the old man to the point when I come to talk with him about + who's to be put in Coonrod's place. I don't like very + well to start the subject with him; but it's got to be done some + time.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” March admitted. “It's terrible to think how + unnecessary even the best and wisest of us is to the purposes of + Providence. When I looked at that poor young fellow's face sometimes—so + gentle and true and pure—I used to think the world was appreciably + richer for his being in it. But are we appreciably poorer for his being + out of it now?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't reckon we are,” said Fulkerson. “And + what a lot of the raw material of all kinds the Almighty must have, to + waste us the way He seems to do. Think of throwing away a precious + creature like Coonrod Dryfoos on one chance in a thousand of getting that + old fool of a Lindau out of the way of being clubbed! For I suppose that + was what Coonrod was up to. Say! Have you been round to see Lindau to-day?” + </p> + <p> + Something in the tone or the manner of Fulkerson startled March. “No! + I haven't seen him since yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” said Fulkerson. “I guess I + saw him a little while after you did, and that young doctor there seemed + to feel kind of worried about him. + </p> + <p> + “Or not worried, exactly; they can't afford to let such things + worry them, I suppose; but—” + </p> + <p> + “He's worse?” asked March. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he didn't say so. But I just wondered if you'd seen + him to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I'll go now,” said March, with a pang at heart. + He had gone every day to see Lindau, but this day he had thought he would + not go, and that was why his heart smote him. He knew that if he were in + Lindau's place Lindau would never have left his side if he could + have helped it. March tried to believe that the case was the same, as it + stood now; it seemed to him that he was always going to or from the + hospital; he said to himself that it must do Lindau harm to be visited so + much. But he knew that this was not true when he was met at the door of + the ward where Lindau lay by the young doctor, who had come to feel a + personal interest in March's interest in Lindau. + </p> + <p> + He smiled without gayety, and said, “He's just going.” + </p> + <p> + “What! Discharged?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no. He has been failing very fast since you saw him yesterday, + and now—” They had been walking softly and talking softly down + the aisle between the long rows of beds. “Would you care to see him?” + </p> + <p> + The doctor made a slight gesture toward the white canvas screen which in + such places forms the death-chamber of the poor and friendless. “Come + round this way—he won't know you! I've got rather fond + of the poor old fellow. He wouldn't have a clergyman—sort of + agnostic, isn't he? A good many of these Germans are—but the + young lady who's been coming to see him—” + </p> + <p> + They both stopped. Lindau's grand, patriarchal head, foreshortened + to their view, lay white upon the pillow, and his broad, white beard + flowed upon the sheet, which heaved with those long last breaths. Beside + his bed Margaret Vance was kneeling; her veil was thrown back, and her + face was lifted; she held clasped between her hands the hand of the dying + man; she moved her lips inaudibly. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0074" id="link2H_4_0074"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. + </h2> + <p> + In spite of the experience of the whole race from time immemorial, when + death comes to any one we know we helplessly regard it as an incident of + life, which will presently go on as before. Perhaps this is an instinctive + perception of the truth that it does go on somewhere; but we have a sense + of death as absolutely the end even for earth only if it relates to some + one remote or indifferent to us. March tried to project Lindau to the + necessary distance from himself in order to realize the fact in his case, + but he could not, though the man with whom his youth had been associated + in a poetic friendship had not actually reentered the region of his + affection to the same degree, or in any like degree. The changed + conditions forbade that. He had a soreness of heart concerning him; but he + could not make sure whether this soreness was grief for his death, or + remorse for his own uncandor with him about Dryfoos, or a foreboding of + that accounting with his conscience which he knew his wife would now exact + of him down to the last minutest particular of their joint and several + behavior toward Lindau ever since they had met him in New York. + </p> + <p> + He felt something knock against his shoulder, and he looked up to have his + hat struck from his head by a horse's nose. He saw the horse put his + foot on the hat, and he reflected, “Now it will always look like an + accordion,” and he heard the horse's driver address him some + sarcasms before he could fully awaken to the situation. He was standing + bareheaded in the middle of Fifth Avenue and blocking the tide of + carriages flowing in either direction. Among the faces put out of the + carriage windows he saw that of Dryfoos looking from a coupe. The old man + knew him, and said, “Jump in here, Mr. March”; and March, who + had mechanically picked up his hat, and was thinking, “Now I shall + have to tell Isabel about this at once, and she will never trust me on the + street again without her,” mechanically obeyed. Her confidence in + him had been undermined by his being so near Conrad when he was shot; and + it went through his mind that he would get Dryfoos to drive him to a + hatter's, where he could buy a new hat, and not be obliged to + confess his narrow escape to his wife till the incident was some days old + and she could bear it better. It quite drove Lindau's death out of + his mind for the moment; and when Dryfoos said if he was going home he + would drive up to the first cross-street and turn back with him, March + said he would be glad if he would take him to a hat-store. The old man put + his head out again and told the driver to take them to the Fifth Avenue + Hotel. “There's a hat-store around there somewhere, seems to + me,” he said; and they talked of March's accident as well as + they could in the rattle and clatter of the street till they reached the + place. March got his hat, passing a joke with the hatter about the + impossibility of pressing his old hat over again, and came out to thank + Dryfoos and take leave of him. + </p> + <p> + “If you ain't in any great hurry,” the old man said, + “I wish you'd get in here a minute. I'd like to have a + little talk with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, certainly,” said March, and he thought: “It's + coming now about what he intends to do with 'Every Other Week.' + Well, I might as well have all the misery at once and have it over.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos called up to his driver, who bent his head down sidewise to + listen: “Go over there on Madison Avenue, onto that asphalt, and + keep drivin' up and down till I stop you. I can't hear myself + think on these pavements,” he said to March. But after they got upon + the asphalt, and began smoothly rolling over it, he seemed in no haste to + begin. At last he said, “I wanted to talk with you about that—that + Dutchman that was at my dinner—Lindau,” and March's + heart gave a jump with wonder whether he could already have heard of + Lindau's death; but in an instant he perceived that this was + impossible. “I been talkin' with Fulkerson about him, and he + says they had to take the balance of his arm off.” + </p> + <p> + March nodded; it seemed to him he could not speak. He could not make out + from the close face of the old man anything of his motive. It was set, but + set as a piece of broken mechanism is when it has lost the power to relax + itself. There was no other history in it of what the man had passed + through in his son's death. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” Dryfoos resumed, looking aside at the + cloth window-strap, which he kept fingering, “as you quite + understood what made me the maddest. I didn't tell him I could talk + Dutch, because I can't keep it up with a regular German; but my + father was Pennsylvany Dutch, and I could understand what he was saying to + you about me. I know I had no business to understood it, after I let him + think I couldn't but I did, and I didn't like very well to + have a man callin' me a traitor and a tyrant at my own table. Well, + I look at it differently now, and I reckon I had better have tried to put + up with it; and I would, if I could have known—” He stopped + with a quivering lip, and then went on: “Then, again, I didn't + like his talkin' that paternalism of his. I always heard it was the + worst kind of thing for the country; I was brought up to think the best + government was the one that governs the least; and I didn't want to + hear that kind of talk from a man that was livin' on my money. I + couldn't bear it from him. Or I thought I couldn't before—before—” + He stopped again, and gulped. “I reckon now there ain't + anything I couldn't bear.” March was moved by the blunt words + and the mute stare forward with which they ended. “Mr. Dryfoos, I + didn't know that you understood Lindau's German, or I shouldn't + have allowed him he wouldn't have allowed himself—to go on. He + wouldn't have knowingly abused his position of guest to censure you, + no matter how much he condemned you.” “I don't care for + it now,” said Dryfoos. “It's all past and gone, as far + as I'm concerned; but I wanted you to see that I wasn't tryin' + to punish him for his opinions, as you said.” + </p> + <p> + “No; I see now,” March assented, though he thought his + position still justified. “I wish—” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know as I understand much about his opinions, anyway; + but I ain't ready to say I want the men dependent on me to manage my + business for me. I always tried to do the square thing by my hands; and in + that particular case out there I took on all the old hands just as fast as + they left their Union. As for the game I came on them, it was dog eat dog, + anyway.” + </p> + <p> + March could have laughed to think how far this old man was from even + conceiving of Lindau's point of view, and how he was saying the + worst of himself that Lindau could have said of him. No one could have + characterized the kind of thing he had done more severely than he when he + called it dog eat dog. + </p> + <p> + “There's a great deal to be said on both sides,” March + began, hoping to lead up through this generality to the fact of Lindau's + death; but the old man went on: + </p> + <p> + “Well, all I wanted him to know is that I wasn't trying to + punish him for what he said about things in general. You naturally got + that idea, I reckon; but I always went in for lettin' people say + what they please and think what they please; it's the only way in a + free country.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid, Mr. Dryfoos, that it would make little difference + to Lindau now—” + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose he bears malice for it,” said Dryfoos, + “but what I want to do is to have him told so. He could understand + just why I didn't want to be called hard names, and yet I didn't + object to his thinkin' whatever he pleased. I'd like him to + know—” + </p> + <p> + “No one can speak to him, no one can tell him,” March began + again, but again Dryfoos prevented him from going on. + </p> + <p> + “I understand it's a delicate thing; and I'm not askin' + you to do it. What I would really like to do—if you think he could + be prepared for it, some way, and could stand it—would be to go to + him myself, and tell him just what the trouble was. I'm in hopes, if + I done that, he could see how I felt about it.” + </p> + <p> + A picture of Dryfoos going to the dead Lindau with his vain regrets + presented itself to March, and he tried once more to make the old man + understand. “Mr. Dryfoos,” he said, “Lindau is past all + that forever,” and he felt the ghastly comedy of it when Dryfoos + continued, without heeding him. + </p> + <p> + “I got a particular reason why I want him to believe it wasn't + his ideas I objected to—them ideas of his about the government + carryin' everything on and givin' work. I don't + understand 'em exactly, but I found a writin'—among—my + son's—things” (he seemed to force the words through his + teeth), “and I reckon he—thought—that way. Kind of a + diary—where he—put down—his thoughts. My son and me—we + differed about a good—many things.” His chin shook, and from + time to time he stopped. “I wasn't very good to him, I reckon; + I crossed him where I guess I got no business to cross him; but I thought + everything of—Coonrod. He was the best boy, from a baby, that ever + was; just so patient and mild, and done whatever he was told. I ought to + 'a' let him been a preacher! Oh, my son! my son!” The + sobs could not be kept back any longer; they shook the old man with a + violence that made March afraid for him; but he controlled himself at last + with a series of hoarse sounds like barks. “Well, it's all + past and gone! But as I understand you from what you saw, when Coonrod was—killed, + he was tryin' to save that old man from trouble?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes! It seemed so to me.” + </p> + <p> + “That'll do, then! I want you to have him come back and write + for the book when he gets well. I want you to find out and let me know if + there's anything I can do for him. I'll feel as if I done it—for + my—son. I'll take him into my own house, and do for him there, + if you say so, when he gets so he can be moved. I'll wait on him + myself. It's what Coonrod 'd do, if he was here. I don't + feel any hardness to him because it was him that got Coonrod killed, as + you might say, in one sense of the term; but I've tried to think it + out, and I feel like I was all the more beholden to him because my son + died tryin' to save him. Whatever I do, I'll be doin' it + for Coonrod, and that's enough for me.” He seemed to have + finished, and he turned to March as if to hear what he had to say. + </p> + <p> + March hesitated. “I'm afraid, Mr. Dryfoos—Didn't + Fulkerson tell you that Lindau was very sick?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, of course. But he's all right, he said.” + </p> + <p> + Now it had to come, though the fact had been latterly playing fast and + loose with March's consciousness. Something almost made him smile; + the willingness he had once felt to give this old man pain; then he + consoled himself by thinking that at least he was not obliged to meet + Dryfoos's wish to make atonement with the fact that Lindau had + renounced him, and would on no terms work for such a man as he, or suffer + any kindness from him. In this light Lindau seemed the harder of the two, + and March had the momentary force to say— + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Dryfoos—it can't be. Lindau—I have just come + from him—is dead.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0075" id="link2H_4_0075"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. + </h2> + <p> + “How did he take it? How could he bear it? Oh, Basil! I wonder you + could have the heart to say it to him. It was cruel!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, cruel enough, my dear,” March owned to his wife, when + they talked the matter over on his return home. He could not wait till the + children were out of the way, and afterward neither he nor his wife was + sorry that he had spoken of it before them. The girl cried plentifully for + her old friend who was dead, and said she hated Mr. Dryfoos, and then was + sorry for him, too; and the boy listened to all, and spoke with a serious + sense that pleased his father. “But as to how he took it,” + March went on to answer his wife's question about Dryfoos—“how + do any of us take a thing that hurts? Some of us cry out, and some of us + don't. Dryfoos drew a kind of long, quivering breath, as a child + does when it grieves—there's something curiously simple and + primitive about him—and didn't say anything. After a while he + asked me how he could see the people at the hospital about the remains; I + gave him my card to the young doctor there that had charge of Lindau. I + suppose he was still carrying forward his plan of reparation in his mind—to + the dead for the dead. But how useless! If he could have taken the living + Lindau home with him, and cared for him all his days, what would it have + profited the gentle creature whose life his worldly ambition vexed and + thwarted here? He might as well offer a sacrifice at Conrad's grave. + Children,” said March, turning to them, “death is an exile + that no remorse and no love can reach. Remember that, and be good to every + one here on earth, for your longing to retrieve any harshness or + unkindness to the dead will be the very ecstasy of anguish to you. I + wonder,” he mused, “if one of the reasons why we're shut + up to our ignorance of what is to be hereafter isn't because if we + were sure of another world we might be still more brutal to one another + here, in the hope of making reparation somewhere else. Perhaps, if we ever + come to obey the law of love on earth, the mystery of death will be taken + away.” + </p> + <p> + “Well”—the ancestral Puritanism spoke in Mrs. March—“these + two old men have been terribly punished. They have both been violent and + wilful, and they have both been punished. No one need ever tell me there + is not a moral government of the universe!” + </p> + <p> + March always disliked to hear her talk in this way, which did both her + head and heart injustice. “And Conrad,” he said, “what + was he punished for?” + </p> + <p> + “He?”—she answered, in an exaltation—“he + suffered for the sins of others.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, well, if you put it in that way, yes. That goes on continually. + That's another mystery.” + </p> + <p> + He fell to brooding on it, and presently he heard his son saying, “I + suppose, papa, that Mr. Lindau died in a bad cause?” + </p> + <p> + March was startled. He had always been so sorry for Lindau, and admired + his courage and generosity so much, that he had never fairly considered + this question. “Why, yes,” he answered; “he died in the + cause of disorder; he was trying to obstruct the law. No doubt there was a + wrong there, an inconsistency and an injustice that he felt keenly; but it + could not be reached in his way without greater wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; that's what I thought,” said the boy. “And + what's the use of our ever fighting about anything in America? I + always thought we could vote anything we wanted.” + </p> + <p> + “We can, if we're honest, and don't buy and sell one + another's votes,” said his father. “And men like Lindau, + who renounce the American means as hopeless, and let their love of justice + hurry them into sympathy with violence—yes, they are wrong; and poor + Lindau did die in a bad cause, as you say, Tom.” + </p> + <p> + “I think Conrad had no business there, or you, either, Basil,” + said his wife. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't defend myself,” said March. “I was + there in the cause of literary curiosity and of conjugal disobedience. But + Conrad—yes, he had some business there: it was his business to + suffer there for the sins of others. Isabel, we can't throw aside + that old doctrine of the Atonement yet. The life of Christ, it wasn't + only in healing the sick and going about to do good; it was suffering for + the sins of others. That's as great a mystery as the mystery of + death. Why should there be such a principle in the world? But it's + been felt, and more or less dumbly, blindly recognized ever since Calvary. + If we love mankind, pity them, we even wish to suffer for them. That's + what has created the religious orders in all times—the brotherhoods + and sisterhoods that belong to our day as much as to the mediaeval past. + That's what is driving a girl like Margaret Vance, who has + everything that the world can offer her young beauty, on to the work of a + Sister of Charity among the poor and the dying.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes!” cried Mrs. March. “How—how did she + look there, Basil?” She had her feminine misgivings; she was not + sure but the girl was something of a poseuse, and enjoyed the + picturesqueness, as well as the pain; and she wished to be convinced that + it was not so. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said, when March had told again the little there + was to tell, “I suppose it must be a great trial to a woman like + Mrs. Horn to have her niece going that way.” + </p> + <p> + “The way of Christ?” asked March, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Christ came into the world to teach us how to live rightly in + it, too. If we were all to spend our time in hospitals, it would be rather + dismal for the homes. But perhaps you don't think the homes are + worth minding?” she suggested, with a certain note in her voice that + he knew. + </p> + <p> + He got up and kissed her. “I think the gimcrackeries are.” He + took the hat he had set down on the parlor table on coming in, and started + to put it in the hall, and that made her notice it. + </p> + <p> + “You've been getting a new hat!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he hesitated; “the old one had got—was + decidedly shabby.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's right. I don't like you to wear them too + long. Did you leave the old one to be pressed?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, the hatter seemed to think it was hardly worth pressing,” + said March. He decided that for the present his wife's nerves had + quite all they could bear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0076" id="link2H_4_0076"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. + </h2> + <p> + It was in a manner grotesque, but to March it was all the more natural for + that reason, that Dryfoos should have Lindau's funeral from his + house. He knew the old man to be darkly groping, through the payment of + these vain honors to the dead, for some atonement to his son, and he + imagined him finding in them such comfort as comes from doing all one can, + even when all is useless. + </p> + <p> + No one knew what Lindau's religion was, and in default they had had + the Anglican burial service read over him; it seems so often the refuge of + the homeless dead. Mrs. Dryfoos came down for the ceremony. She understood + that it was for Coonrod's sake that his father wished the funeral to + be there; and she confided to Mrs. March that she believed Coonrod would + have been pleased. “Coonrod was a member of the 'Piscopal + Church; and fawther's doin' the whole thing for Coonrod as + much as for anybody. He thought the world of Coonrod, fawther did. Mela, + she kind of thought it would look queer to have two funerals from the same + house, hand-runnin', as you might call it, and one of 'em no + relation, either; but when she saw how fawther was bent on it, she give + in. Seems as if she was tryin' to make up to fawther for Coonrod as + much as she could. Mela always was a good child, but nobody can ever come + up to Coonrod.” + </p> + <p> + March felt all the grotesqueness, the hopeless absurdity of Dryfoos's + endeavor at atonement in these vain obsequies to the man for whom he + believed his son to have died; but the effort had its magnanimity, its + pathos, and there was a poetry that appealed to him in the reconciliation + through death of men, of ideas, of conditions, that could only have gone + warring on in life. He thought, as the priest went on with the solemn + liturgy, how all the world must come together in that peace which, + struggle and strive as we may, shall claim us at last. He looked at + Dryfoos, and wondered whether he would consider these rites a sufficient + tribute, or whether there was enough in him to make him realize their + futility, except as a mere sign of his wish to retrieve the past. He + thought how we never can atone for the wrong we do; the heart we have + grieved and wounded cannot kindle with pity for us when once it is + stilled; and yet we can put our evil from us with penitence, and somehow, + somewhere, the order of loving kindness, which our passion or our + wilfulness has disturbed, will be restored. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos, through Fulkerson, had asked all the more intimate contributors + of 'Every Other Week' to come. Beaton was absent, but + Fulkerson had brought Miss Woodburn, with her father, and Mrs. Leighton + and Alma, to fill up, as he said. Mela was much present, and was official + with the arrangement of the flowers and the welcome of the guests. She + imparted this impersonality to her reception of Kendricks, whom Fulkerson + met in the outer hall with his party, and whom he presented in whisper to + them all. Kendricks smiled under his breath, as it were, and was then + mutely and seriously polite to the Leightons. Alma brought a little bunch + of flowers, which were lost in those which Dryfoos had ordered to be + unsparingly provided. + </p> + <p> + It was a kind of satisfaction to Mela to have Miss Vance come, and + reassuring as to how it would look to have the funeral there; Miss Vance + would certainly not have come unless it had been all right; she had come, + and had sent some Easter lilies. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't Christine coming down?” Fulkerson asked Mela. + </p> + <p> + “No, she ain't a bit well, and she ain't been, ever + since Coonrod died. I don't know, what's got over her,” + said Mela. She added, “Well, I should 'a' thought Mr. + Beaton would 'a' made out to 'a' come!” + </p> + <p> + “Beaton's peculiar,” said Fulkerson. “If he thinks + you want him he takes a pleasure in not letting you have him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, goodness knows, I don't want him,” said the girl. + </p> + <p> + Christine kept her room, and for the most part kept her bed; but there + seemed nothing definitely the matter with her, and she would not let them + call a doctor. Her mother said she reckoned she was beginning to feel the + spring weather, that always perfectly pulled a body down in New York; and + Mela said if being as cross as two sticks was any sign of spring-fever, + Christine had it bad. She was faithfully kind to her, and submitted to all + her humors, but she recompensed herself by the freest criticism of + Christine when not in actual attendance on her. Christine would not suffer + Mrs. Mandel to approach her, and she had with her father a sullen + submission which was not resignation. For her, apparently, Conrad had not + died, or had died in vain. + </p> + <p> + “Pshaw!” said Mela, one morning when she came to breakfast, + “I reckon if we was to send up an old card of Mr. Beaton's she'd + rattle down-stairs fast enough. If she's sick, she's + love-sick. It makes me sick to see her.” + </p> + <p> + Mela was talking to Mrs. Mandel, but her father looked up from his plate + and listened. Mela went on: “I don't know what's made + the fellow quit comun'. But he was an aggravatun' thing, and + no more dependable than water. It's just like Air. Fulkerson said, + if he thinks you want him he'll take a pleasure in not lettun' + you have him. I reckon that's what's the matter with + Christine. I believe in my heart the girl 'll die if she don't + git him.” + </p> + <p> + Mela went on to eat her breakfast with her own good appetite. She now + always came down to keep her father company, as she said, and she did her + best to cheer and comfort him. At least she kept the talk going, and she + had it nearly all to herself, for Mrs. Mandel was now merely staying on + provisionally, and, in the absence of any regrets or excuses from + Christine, was looking ruefully forward to the moment when she must leave + even this ungentle home for the chances of the ruder world outside. + </p> + <p> + The old man said nothing at table, but, when Mela went up to see if she + could do anything for Christine, he asked Mrs. Mandel again about all the + facts of her last interview with Beaton. + </p> + <p> + She gave them as fully as she could remember them, and the old man made no + comment on them. But he went out directly after, and at the 'Every + Other Week' office he climbed the stairs to Fulkerson's room + and asked for Beaton's address. No one yet had taken charge of + Conrad's work, and Fulkerson was running the thing himself, as he + said, till he could talk with Dryfoos about it. The old man would not look + into the empty room where he had last seen his son alive; he turned his + face away and hurried by the door. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0077" id="link2H_4_0077"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. + </h2> + <p> + The course of public events carried Beaton's private affairs beyond + the reach of his simple first intention to renounce his connection with + 'Every Other Week.' In fact, this was not perhaps so simple as + it seemed, and long before it could be put in effect it appeared still + simpler to do nothing about the matter—to remain passive and leave + the initiative to Dryfoos, to maintain the dignity of unconsciousness and + let recognition of any change in the situation come from those who had + caused the change. After all, it was rather absurd to propose making a + purely personal question the pivot on which his relations with 'Every + Other Week' turned. He took a hint from March's position and + decided that he did not know Dryfoos in these relations; he knew only + Fulkerson, who had certainly had nothing to do with Mrs. Mandel's + asking his intentions. As he reflected upon this he became less eager to + look Fulkerson up and make the magazine a partner of his own sufferings. + This was the soberer mood to which Beaton trusted that night even before + he slept, and he awoke fully confirmed in it. As he examined the offence + done him in the cold light of day, he perceived that it had not come + either from Mrs. Mandel, who was visibly the faltering and unwilling + instrument of it, or from Christine, who was altogether ignorant of it, + but from Dryfoos, whom he could not hurt by giving up his place. He could + only punish Fulkerson by that, and Fulkerson was innocent. Justice and + interest alike dictated the passive course to which Beaton inclined; and + he reflected that he might safely leave the punishment of Dryfoos to + Christine, who would find out what had happened, and would be able to take + care of herself in any encounter of tempers with her father. + </p> + <p> + Beaton did not go to the office during the week that followed upon this + conclusion; but they were used there to these sudden absences of his, and, + as his work for the time was in train, nothing was made of his staying + away, except the sarcastic comment which the thought of him was apt to + excite in the literary department. He no longer came so much to the + Leightons, and Fulkerson was in no state of mind to miss any one there + except Miss Woodburn, whom he never missed. Beaton was left, then, + unmolestedly awaiting the course of destiny, when he read in the morning + paper, over his coffee at Maroni's, the deeply scare-headed story of + Conrad's death and the clubbing of Lindau. He probably cared as + little for either of them as any man that ever saw them; but he felt a + shock, if not a pang, at Conrad's fate, so out of keeping with his + life and character. He did not know what to do; and he did nothing. He was + not asked to the funeral, but he had not expected that, and, when + Fulkerson brought him notice that Lindau was also to be buried from + Dryfoos's house, it was without his usual sullen vindictiveness that + he kept away. In his sort, and as much as a man could who was necessarily + so much taken up with himself, he was sorry for Conrad's father; + Beaton had a peculiar tenderness for his own father, and he imagined how + his father would feel if it were he who had been killed in Conrad's + place, as it might very well have been; he sympathized with himself in + view of the possibility; and for once they were mistaken who thought him + indifferent and merely brutal in his failure to appear at Lindau's + obsequies. + </p> + <p> + He would really have gone if he had known how to reconcile his presence in + that house with the terms of his effective banishment from it; and he was + rather forgivingly finding himself wronged in the situation, when Dryfoos + knocked at the studio door the morning after Lindau's funeral. + Beaton roared out, “Come in!” as he always did to a knock if + he had not a model; if he had a model he set the door slightly ajar, and + with his palette on his thumb frowned at his visitor and told him he could + not come in. Dryfoos fumbled about for the knob in the dim passageway + outside, and Beaton, who had experience of people's difficulties + with it, suddenly jerked the door open. The two men stood confronted, and + at first sight of each other their quiescent dislike revived. Each would + have been willing to turn away from the other, but that was not possible. + Beaton snorted some sort of inarticulate salutation, which Dryfoos did not + try to return; he asked if he could see him alone for a minute or two, and + Beaton bade him come in, and swept some paint-blotched rags from the chair + which he told him to take. He noticed, as the old man sank tremulously + into it, that his movement was like that of his own father, and also that + he looked very much like Christine. Dryfoos folded his hands tremulously + on the top of his horn-handled stick, and he was rather finely haggard, + with the dark hollows round his black eyes and the fall of the muscles on + either side of his chin. He had forgotten to take his soft, wide-brimmed + hat off; and Beaton felt a desire to sketch him just as he sat. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos suddenly pulled himself together from the dreary absence into + which he fell at first. “Young man,” he began, “maybe I've + come here on a fool's errand,” and Beaton rather fancied that + beginning. + </p> + <p> + But it embarrassed him a little, and he said, with a shy glance aside, + “I don't know what you mean.” “I reckon,” + Dryfoos answered, quietly, “you got your notion, though. I set that + woman on to speak to you the way she done. But if there was anything wrong + in the way she spoke, or if you didn't feel like she had any right + to question you up as if we suspected you of anything mean, I want you to + say so.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton said nothing, and the old man went on. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't very well up in the ways of the world, and I don't + pretend to be. All I want is to be fair and square with everybody. I've + made mistakes, though, in my time—” He stopped, and Beaton was + not proof against the misery of his face, which was twisted as with some + strong physical ache. “I don't know as I want to make any + more, if I can help it. I don't know but what you had a right to + keep on comin', and if you had I want you to say so. Don't you + be afraid but what I'll take it in the right way. I don't want + to take advantage of anybody, and I don't ask you to say any more + than that.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton did not find the humiliation of the man who had humiliated him so + sweet as he could have fancied it might be. He knew how it had come about, + and that it was an effect of love for his child; it did not matter by what + ungracious means she had brought him to know that he loved her better than + his own will, that his wish for her happiness was stronger than his pride; + it was enough that he was now somehow brought to give proof of it. Beaton + could not be aware of all that dark coil of circumstance through which + Dryfoos's present action evolved itself; the worst of this was + buried in the secret of the old man's heart, a worm of perpetual + torment. What was apparent to another was that he was broken by the sorrow + that had fallen upon him, and it was this that Beaton respected and pitied + in his impulse to be frank and kind in his answer. + </p> + <p> + “No, I had no right to keep coming to your house in the way I did, + unless—unless I meant more than I ever said.” Beaton added: + “I don't say that what you did was usual—in this + country, at any rate; but I can't say you were wrong. Since you + speak to me about the matter, it's only fair to myself to say that a + good deal goes on in life without much thinking of consequences. That's + the way I excuse myself.” + </p> + <p> + “And you say Mrs. Mandel done right?” asked Dryfoos, as if he + wished simply to be assured of a point of etiquette. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, she did right. I've nothing to complain of.” + </p> + <p> + “That's all I wanted to know,” said Dryfoos; but + apparently he had not finished, and he did not go, though the silence that + Beaton now kept gave him a chance to do so. He began a series of questions + which had no relation to the matter in hand, though they were strictly + personal to Beaton. “What countryman are you?” he asked, after + a moment. + </p> + <p> + “What countryman?” Beaton frowned back at him. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, are you an American by birth?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I was born in Syracuse.” + </p> + <p> + “Protestant?” + </p> + <p> + “My father is a Scotch Seceder.” + </p> + <p> + “What business is your father in?” + </p> + <p> + Beaton faltered and blushed; then he answered: + </p> + <p> + “He's in the monument business, as he calls it. He's a + tombstone cutter.” Now that he was launched, Beaton saw no reason + for not declaring, “My father's always been a poor man, and + worked with his own hands for his living.” He had too slight esteem + socially for Dryfoos to conceal a fact from him that he might have wished + to blink with others. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's right,” said Dryfoos. “I used to + farm it myself. I've got a good pile of money together, now. At + first it didn't come easy; but now it's got started it pours + in and pours in; it seems like there was no end to it. I've got well + on to three million; but it couldn't keep me from losin' my + son. It can't buy me back a minute of his life; not all the money in + the world can do it!” + </p> + <p> + He grieved this out as if to himself rather than to Beaton, who, scarcely + ventured to say, “I know—I am very sorry—” + </p> + <p> + “How did you come,” Dryfoos interrupted, “to take up + paintin'?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” said Beaton, a little scornfully. + “You don't take a thing of that kind up, I fancy. I always + wanted to paint.” + </p> + <p> + “Father try to stop you?” + </p> + <p> + “No. It wouldn't have been of any use. Why—” + </p> + <p> + “My son, he wanted to be a preacher, and I did stop him or I thought + I did. But I reckon he was a preacher, all the same, every minute of his + life. As you say, it ain't any use to try to stop a thing like that. + I reckon if a child has got any particular bent, it was given to it; and + it's goin' against the grain, it's goin' against + the law, to try to bend it some other way. There's lots of good + business men, Mr. Beaton, twenty of 'em to every good preacher?” + </p> + <p> + “I imagine more than twenty,” said Beaton, amused and touched + through his curiosity as to what the old man was driving at by the quaint + simplicity of his speculations. + </p> + <p> + “Father ever come to the city?” + </p> + <p> + “No; he never has the time; and my mother's an invalid.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Brothers and sisters?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; we're a large family.” + </p> + <p> + “I lost two little fellers—twins,” said Dryfoos, sadly. + “But we hain't ever had but just the five. Ever take + portraits?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Beaton, meeting this zigzag in the queries as + seriously as the rest. “I don't think I am good at it.” + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos got to his feet. “I wish you'd paint a likeness of my + son. You've seen him plenty of times. We won't fight about the + price, don't you be afraid of that.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton was astonished, and in a mistaken way he was disgusted. He saw that + Dryfoos was trying to undo Mrs. Mandel's work practically, and get + him to come again to his house; that he now conceived of the offence given + him as condoned, and wished to restore the former situation. He knew that + he was attempting this for Christine's sake, but he was not the man + to imagine that Dryfoos was trying not only to tolerate him, but to like + him; and, in fact, Dryfoos was not wholly conscious himself of this end. + What they both understood was that Dryfoos was endeavoring to get at + Beaton through Conrad's memory; but with one this was its dedication + to a purpose of self sacrifice, and with the other a vulgar and shameless + use of it. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't do it,” said Beaton. “I couldn't + think of attempting it.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” Dryfoos persisted. “We got some photographs + of him; he didn't like to sit very well; but his mother got him to; + and you know how he looked.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't do it—I couldn't. I can't even + consider it. I'm very sorry. I would, if it were possible. But it + isn't possible.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon if you see the photographs once” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't that, Mr. Dryfoos. But I'm not in the way of + that kind of thing any more.” + </p> + <p> + “I'd give any price you've a mind to name—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it isn't the money!” cried Beaton, beginning to + lose control of himself. + </p> + <p> + The old man did not notice him. He sat with his head fallen forward, and + his chin resting on his folded hands. Thinking of the portrait, he saw + Conrad's face before him, reproachful, astonished, but all gentle as + it looked when Conrad caught his hand that day after he struck him; he + heard him say, “Father!” and the sweat gathered on his + forehead. “Oh, my God!” he groaned. “No; there ain't + anything I can do now.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton did not know whether Dryfoos was speaking to him or not. He started + toward him. “Are you ill?” + </p> + <p> + “No, there ain't anything the matter,” said the old man. + “But I guess I'll lay down on your settee a minute.” He + tottered with Beaton's help to the aesthetic couch covered with a + tiger-skin, on which Beaton had once thought of painting a Cleopatra; but + he could never get the right model. As the old man stretched himself out + on it, pale and suffering, he did not look much like a Cleopatra, but + Beaton was struck with his effectiveness, and the likeness between him and + his daughter; she would make a very good Cleopatra in some ways. All the + time, while these thoughts passed through his mind, he was afraid Dryfoos + would die. The old man fetched his breath in gasps, which presently + smoothed and lengthened into his normal breathing. Beaton got him a glass + of wine, and after tasting it he sat up. + </p> + <p> + “You've got to excuse me,” he said, getting back to his + characteristic grimness with surprising suddenness, when once he began to + recover himself. “I've been through a good deal lately; and + sometimes it ketches me round the heart like a pain.” + </p> + <p> + In his life of selfish immunity from grief, Beaton could not understand + this experience that poignant sorrow brings; he said to himself that + Dryfoos was going the way of angina pectoris; as he began shuffling off + the tiger-skin he said: “Had you better get up? Wouldn't you + like me to call a doctor?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm all right, young man.” Dryfoos took his hat and + stick from him, but he made for the door so uncertainly that Beaton put + his hand under his elbow and helped him out, and down the stairs, to his + coupe. + </p> + <p> + “Hadn't you better let me drive home with you?” he + asked. + </p> + <p> + “What?” said Dryfoos, suspiciously. + </p> + <p> + Beaton repeated his question. + </p> + <p> + “I guess I'm able to go home alone,” said Dryfoos, in a + surly tone, and he put his head out of the window and called up “Home!” + to the driver, who immediately started off and left Beaton standing beside + the curbstone. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0078" id="link2H_4_0078"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV. + </h2> + <p> + Beaton wasted the rest of the day in the emotions and speculations which + Dryfoos's call inspired. It was not that they continuously occupied + him, but they broke up the train of other thoughts, and spoiled him for + work; a very little spoiled Beaton for work; he required just the right + mood for work. He comprehended perfectly well that Dryfoos had made him + that extraordinary embassy because he wished him to renew his visits, and + he easily imagined the means that had brought him to this pass. From what + he knew of that girl he did not envy her father his meeting with her when + he must tell her his mission had failed. But had it failed? When Beaton + came to ask himself this question, he could only perceive that he and + Dryfoos had failed to find any ground of sympathy, and had parted in the + same dislike with which they had met. But as to any other failure, it was + certainly tacit, and it still rested with him to give it effect. He could + go back to Dryfoos's house, as freely as before, and it was clear + that he was very much desired to come back. But if he went back it was + also clear that he must go back with intentions more explicit than before, + and now he had to ask himself just how much or how little he had meant by + going there. His liking for Christine had certainly not increased, but the + charm, on the other hand, of holding a leopardess in leash had not yet + palled upon him. In his life of inconstancies, it was a pleasure to rest + upon something fixed, and the man who had no control over himself liked + logically enough to feel his control of some one else. The fact cannot + other wise be put in terms, and the attraction which Christine Dryfoos had + for him, apart from this, escapes from all terms, as anything purely and + merely passional must. He had seen from the first that she was a cat, and + so far as youth forecasts such things, he felt that she would be a shrew. + But he had a perverse sense of her beauty, and he knew a sort of life in + which her power to molest him with her temper could be reduced to the + smallest proportions, and even broken to pieces. Then the consciousness of + her money entered. It was evident that the old man had mentioned his + millions in the way of a hint to him of what he might reasonably expect if + he would turn and be his son-in-law. Beaton did not put it to himself in + those words; and in fact his cogitations were not in words at all. It was + the play of cognitions, of sensations, formlessly tending to the effect + which can only be very clumsily interpreted in language. But when he got + to this point in them, Beaton rose to magnanimity and in a flash of + dramatic reverie disposed of a part of Dryfoos's riches in placing + his father and mother, and his brothers and sisters, beyond all pecuniary + anxiety forever. He had no shame, no scruple in this, for he had been a + pensioner upon others ever since a Syracusan amateur of the arts had + detected his talent and given him the money to go and study abroad. Beaton + had always considered the money a loan, to be repaid out of his future + success; but he now never dreamt of repaying it; as the man was rich, he + had even a contempt for the notion of repaying him; but this did not + prevent him from feeling very keenly the hardships he put his father to in + borrowing money from him, though he never repaid his father, either. In + this reverie he saw himself sacrificed in marriage with Christine Dryfoos, + in a kind of admiring self-pity, and he was melted by the spectacle of the + dignity with which he suffered all the lifelong trials ensuing from his + unselfishness. The fancy that Alma Leighton came bitterly to regret him, + contributed to soothe and flatter him, and he was not sure that Margaret. + Vance did not suffer a like loss in him. + </p> + <p> + There had been times when, as he believed, that beautiful girl's + high thoughts had tended toward him; there had been looks, gestures, even + words, that had this effect to him, or that seemed to have had it; and + Beaton saw that he might easily construe Mrs. Horn's confidential + appeal to him to get Margaret interested in art again as something by no + means necessarily offensive, even though it had been made to him as to a + master of illusion. If Mrs. Horn had to choose between him and the life of + good works to which her niece was visibly abandoning herself, Beaton could + not doubt which she would choose; the only question was how real the + danger of a life of good works was. + </p> + <p> + As he thought of these two girls, one so charming and the other so divine, + it became indefinitely difficult to renounce them for Christine Dryfoos, + with her sultry temper and her earthbound ideals. Life had been so + flattering to Beaton hitherto that he could not believe them both finally + indifferent; and if they were not indifferent, perhaps he did not wish + either of them to be very definite. What he really longed for was their + sympathy; for a man who is able to walk round quite ruthlessly on the + feelings of others often has very tender feelings of his own, easily + lacerated, and eagerly responsive to the caresses of compassion. In this + frame Beaton determined to go that afternoon, though it was not Mrs. Horn's + day, and call upon her in the hope of possibly seeing Miss Vance alone. As + he continued in it, he took this for a sign and actually went. It did not + fall out at once as he wished, but he got Mrs. Horn to talking again about + her niece, and Mrs. Horn again regretted that nothing could be done by the + fine arts to reclaim Margaret from good works. + </p> + <p> + “Is she at home? Will you let me see her?” asked Beacon, with + something of the scientific interest of a physician inquiring for a + patient whose symptoms have been rehearsed to him. He had not asked for + her before. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, certainly,” said Mrs. Horn, and she went herself to call + Margaret, and she did not return with her. The girl entered with the + gentle grace peculiar to her; and Beaton, bent as he was on his own + consolation, could not help being struck with the spiritual exaltation of + her look. At sight of her, the vague hope he had never quite relinquished, + that they might be something more than aesthetic friends, died in his + heart. She wore black, as she often did; but in spite of its fashion her + dress received a nun-like effect from the pensive absence of her face. + “Decidedly,” thought Beaton, “she is far gone in good + works.” + </p> + <p> + But he rose, all the same, to meet her on the old level, and he began at + once to talk to her of the subject he had been discussing with her aunt. + He said frankly that they both felt she had unjustifiably turned her back + upon possibilities which she ought not to neglect. + </p> + <p> + “You know very well,” she answered, “that I couldn't + do anything in that way worth the time I should waste on it. Don't + talk of it, please. I suppose my aunt has been asking you to say this, but + it's no use. I'm sorry it's no use, she wishes it so + much; but I'm not sorry otherwise. You can find the pleasure at + least of doing good work in it; but I couldn't find anything in it + but a barren amusement. Mr. Wetmore is right; for me, it's like + enjoying an opera, or a ball.” + </p> + <p> + “That's one of Wetmore's phrases. He'd sacrifice + anything to them.” + </p> + <p> + She put aside the whole subject with a look. “You were not at Mr. + Dryfoos's the other day. Have you seen them, any of them, lately?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't been there for some time, no,” said Beaton, + evasively. But he thought if he was to get on to anything, he had better + be candid. “Mr. Dryfoos was at my studio this morning. He's + got a queer notion. He wants me to paint his son's portrait.” + </p> + <p> + She started. “And will you—” + </p> + <p> + “No, I couldn't do such a thing. It isn't in my way. I + told him so. His son had a beautiful face an antique profile; a sort of + early Christian type; but I'm too much of a pagan for that sort of + thing.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Beaton continued, not quite liking her assent after he + had invited it. He had his pride in being a pagan, a Greek, but it failed + him in her presence, now; and he wished that she had protested he was + none. “He was a singular creature; a kind of survival; an exile in + our time and place. I don't know: we don't quite expect a + saint to be rustic; but with all his goodness Conrad Dryfoos was a country + person. If he were not dying for a cause you could imagine him milking.” + Beaton intended a contempt that came from the bitterness of having himself + once milked the family cow. + </p> + <p> + His contempt did not reach Miss Vance. “He died for a cause,” + she said. “The holiest.” + </p> + <p> + “Of labor?” + </p> + <p> + “Of peace. He was there to persuade the strikers to be quiet and go + home.” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't been quite sure,” said Beaton. “But in + any case he had no business there. The police were on hand to do the + persuading.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't let you talk so!” cried the girl. “It's + shocking! Oh, I know it's the way people talk, and the worst is that + in the sight of the world it's the right way. But the blessing on + the peacemakers is not for the policemen with their clubs.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton saw that she was nervous; he made his reflection that she was + altogether too far gone in good works for the fine arts to reach her; he + began to think how he could turn her primitive Christianity to the account + of his modern heathenism. He had no deeper design than to get flattered + back into his own favor far enough to find courage for some sort of + decisive step. In his heart he was trying to will whether he should or + should not go back to Dryfoos's house. It could not be from the + caprice that had formerly taken him; it must be from a definite purpose; + again he realized this. “Of course; you are right,” he said. + “I wish I could have answered that old man differently. I fancy he + was bound up in his son, though he quarrelled with him, and crossed him. + But I couldn't do it; it wasn't possible.” He said to + himself that if she said “No,” now, he would be ruled by her + agreement with him; and if she disagreed with him, he would be ruled still + by the chance, and would go no more to the Dryfooses'. He found + himself embarrassed to the point of blushing when she said nothing, and + left him, as it were, on his own hands. “I should like to have given + him that comfort; I fancy he hasn't much comfort in life; but there + seems no comfort in me.” + </p> + <p> + He dropped his head in a fit attitude for compassion; but she poured no + pity upon it. + </p> + <p> + “There is no comfort for us in ourselves,” she said. “It's + hard to get outside; but there's only despair within. When we think + we have done something for others, by some great effort, we find it's + all for our own vanity.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Beaton. “If I could paint pictures for + righteousness' sake, I should have been glad to do Conrad Dryfoos + for his father. I felt sorry for him. Did the rest seem very much broken + up? You saw them all?” + </p> + <p> + “Not all. Miss Dryfoos was ill, her sister said. It's hard to + tell how much people suffer. His mother seemed bewildered. The younger + sister is a simple creature; she looks like him; I think she must have + something of his spirit.” + </p> + <p> + “Not much spirit of any kind, I imagine,” said Beaton. “But + she's amiably material. Did they say Miss Dryfoos was seriously ill?” + </p> + <p> + “No. I supposed she might be prostrated by her brother's + death.” + </p> + <p> + “Does she seem that kind of person to you, Miss Vance?” asked + Beaton. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. I haven't tried to see so much of them as + I might, the past winter. I was not sure about her when I met her; I've + never seen much of people, except in my own set, and the—very poor. + I have been afraid I didn't understand her. She may have a kind of + pride that would not let her do herself justice.” + </p> + <p> + Beaton felt the unconscious dislike in the endeavor of praise. “Then + she seems to you like a person whose life—its trials, its chances—would + make more of than she is now?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't say that. I can't judge of her at all; but + where we don't know, don't you think we ought to imagine the + best?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” said Beaton. “I didn't know but what I + once said of them might have prejudiced you against them. I have accused + myself of it.” He always took a tone of conscientiousness, of + self-censure, in talking with Miss Vance; he could not help it. + </p> + <p> + “Oh no. And I never allowed myself to form any judgment of her. She + is very pretty, don't you think, in a kind of way?” + </p> + <p> + “Very.” + </p> + <p> + “She has a beautiful brunette coloring: that floury white and the + delicate pink in it. Her eyes are beautiful.” + </p> + <p> + “She's graceful, too,” said Beaton. “I've + tried her in color; but I didn't make it out.” + </p> + <p> + “I've wondered sometimes,” said Miss Vance, “whether + that elusive quality you find in some people you try to paint doesn't + characterize them all through. Miss Dryfoos might be ever so much finer + and better than we would find out in the society way that seems the only + way.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said Beaton, gloomily; and he went away profoundly + discouraged by this last analysis of Christine's character. The + angelic imperviousness of Miss Vance to properties of which his own + wickedness was so keenly aware in Christine might have made him laugh, if + it had not been such a serious affair with him. As it was, he smiled to + think how very differently Alma Leighton would have judged her from Miss + Vance's premises. He liked that clear vision of Alma's even + when it pierced his own disguises. Yes, that was the light he had let die + out, and it might have shone upon his path through life. Beaton never felt + so poignantly the disadvantage of having on any given occasion been + wanting to his own interests through his self-love as in this. He had no + one to blame but himself for what had happened, but he blamed Alma for + what might happen in the future because she shut out the way of retrieval + and return. When he thought of the attitude she had taken toward him, it + seemed incredible, and he was always longing to give her a final chance to + reverse her final judgment. It appeared to him that the time had come for + this now, if ever. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0079" id="link2H_4_0079"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV. + </h2> + <p> + While we are still young we feel a kind of pride, a sort of fierce + pleasure, in any important experience, such as we have read of or heard of + in the lives of others, no matter how painful. It was this pride, this + pleasure, which Beaton now felt in realizing that the toils of fate were + about him, that between him and a future of which Christine Dryfoos must + be the genius there was nothing but the will, the mood, the fancy of a + girl who had not given him the hope that either could ever again be in his + favor. He had nothing to trust to, in fact, but his knowledge that he had + once had them all; she did not deny that; but neither did she conceal that + he had flung away his power over them, and she had told him that they + never could be his again. A man knows that he can love and wholly cease to + love, not once merely, but several times; he recognizes the fact in regard + to himself, both theoretically and practically; but in regard to women he + cherishes the superstition of the romances that love is once for all, and + forever. It was because Beaton would not believe that Alma Leighton, being + a woman, could put him out of her heart after suffering him to steal into + it, that he now hoped anything from her, and she had been so explicit when + they last spoke of that affair that he did not hope much. He said to + himself that he was going to cast himself on her mercy, to take whatever + chance of life, love, and work there was in her having the smallest pity + on him. If she would have none, then there was but one thing he could do: + marry Christine and go abroad. He did not see how he could bring this + alternative to bear upon Alma; even if she knew what he would do in case + of a final rejection, he had grounds for fearing she would not care; but + he brought it to bear upon himself, and it nerved him to a desperate + courage. He could hardly wait for evening to come, before he went to see + her; when it came, it seemed to have come too soon. He had wrought himself + thoroughly into the conviction that he was in earnest, and that everything + depended upon her answer to him, but it was not till he found himself in + her presence, and alone with her, that he realized the truth of his + conviction. Then the influences of her grace, her gayety, her arch beauty, + above all, her good sense, penetrated his soul like a subtle intoxication, + and he said to himself that he was right; he could not live without her; + these attributes of hers were what he needed to win him, to cheer him, to + charm him, to guide him. He longed so to please her, to ingratiate himself + with her, that he attempted to be light like her in his talk, but lapsed + into abysmal absences and gloomy recesses of introspection. + </p> + <p> + “What are you laughing at?” he asked, suddenly starting from + one of these. + </p> + <p> + “What you are thinking of.” + </p> + <p> + “It's nothing to laugh at. Do you know what I'm thinking + of?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't tell, if it's dreadful.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I dare say you wouldn't think it's dreadful,” + he said, with bitterness. “It's simply the case of a man who + has made a fool of himself and sees no help of retrieval in himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Can any one else help a man unmake a fool of himself?” she + asked, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. In a case like this.” + </p> + <p> + “Dear me! This is very interesting.” + </p> + <p> + She did not ask him what the case was, but he was launched now, and he + pressed on. “I am the man who has made a fool of himself—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + “And you can help me out if you will. Alma, I wish you could see me + as I really am.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you, Mr. Beacon? Perhaps I do.” + </p> + <p> + “No; you don't. You formulated me in a certain way, and you + won't allow for the change that takes place in every one. You have + changed; why shouldn't I?” + </p> + <p> + “Has this to do with your having made a fool of yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Then I don't see how you have changed.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed, and he too, ruefully. “You're cruel. Not but what + I deserve your mockery. But the change was not from the capacity of making + a fool of myself. I suppose I shall always do that more or less—unless + you help me. Alma! Why can't you have a little compassion? You know + that I must always love you.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing makes me doubt that like your saying it, Mr. Beaton. But + now you've broken your word—” + </p> + <p> + “You are to blame for that. You knew I couldn't keep it!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I'm to blame. I was wrong to let you come—after + that. And so I forgive you for speaking to me in that way again. But it's + perfectly impossible and perfectly useless for me to hear you any more on + that subject; and so-good-bye!” + </p> + <p> + She rose, and he perforce with her. “And do you mean it?” he + asked. “Forever?” + </p> + <p> + “Forever. This is truly the last time I will ever see you if I can + help it. Oh, I feel sorry enough for you!” she said, with a glance + at his face. “I do believe you are in earnest. But it's too + late now. Don't let us talk about it any more! But we shall, if we + meet, and so,—” + </p> + <p> + “And so good-bye! Well, I've nothing more to say, and I might + as well say that. I think you've been very good to me. It seems to + me as if you had been—shall I say it?—trying to give me a + chance. Is that so?” She dropped her eyes and did not answer. + </p> + <p> + “You found it was no use! Well, I thank you for trying. It's + curious to think that I once had your trust, your regard, and now I haven't + it. You don't mind my remembering that I had? It'll be some + little consolation, and I believe it will be some help. I know I can't + retrieve the past now. It is too late. It seems too preposterous—perfectly + lurid—that I could have been going to tell you what a tangle I'd + got myself in, and to ask you to help untangle me. I must choke in the + infernal coil, but I'd like to have the sweetness of your pity in it—whatever + it is.” + </p> + <p> + She put out her hand. “Whatever it is, I do pity you; I said that.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you.” He kissed the hand she gave him and went. + </p> + <p> + He had gone on some such terms before; was it now for the last time? She + believed it was. She felt in herself a satiety, a fatigue, in which his + good looks, his invented airs and poses, his real trouble, were all alike + repulsive. She did not acquit herself of the wrong of having let him think + she might yet have liked him as she once did; but she had been honestly + willing to see whether she could. It had mystified her to find that when + they first met in New York, after their summer in St. Barnaby, she cared + nothing for him; she had expected to punish him for his neglect, and then + fancy him as before, but she did not. More and more she saw him selfish + and mean, weak-willed, narrow-minded, and hard-hearted; and aimless, with + all his talent. She admired his talent in proportion as she learned more + of artists, and perceived how uncommon it was; but she said to herself + that if she were going to devote herself to art, she would do it at + first-hand. She was perfectly serene and happy in her final rejection of + Beaton; he had worn out not only her fancy, but her sympathy, too. + </p> + <p> + This was what her mother would not believe when Alma reported the + interview to her; she would not believe it was the last time they should + meet; death itself can hardly convince us that it is the last time of + anything, of everything between ourselves and the dead. “Well, Alma,” + she said, “I hope you'll never regret what you've done.” + </p> + <p> + “You may be sure I shall not regret it. If ever I'm + low-spirited about anything, I'll think of giving Mr. Beaton his + freedom, and that will cheer me up.” + </p> + <p> + “And don't you expect to get married? Do you intend to be an + old maid?” demanded her mother, in the bonds of the superstition + women have so long been under to the effect that every woman must wish to + get married, if for no other purpose than to avoid being an old maid. + </p> + <p> + “Well, mamma,” said Alma, “I intend being a young one + for a few years yet; and then I'll see. If I meet the right person, + all well and good; if not, not. But I shall pick and choose, as a man + does; I won't merely be picked and chosen.” + </p> + <p> + “You can't help yourself; you may be very glad if you are + picked and chosen.” + </p> + <p> + “What nonsense, mamma! A girl can get any man she wants, if she goes + about it the right way. And when my 'fated fairy prince' comes + along, I shall just simply make furious love to him and grab him. Of + course, I shall make a decent pretence of talking in my sleep. I believe + it's done that way more than half the time. The fated fairy prince + wouldn't see the princess in nine cases out of ten if she didn't + say something; he would go mooning along after the maids of honor.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leighton tried to look unspeakable horror; but she broke down and + laughed. “Well, you are a strange girl, Alma.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know about that. But one thing I do know, mamma, and + that is that Prince Beaton isn't the F. F. P. for me. How strange + you are, mamma! Don't you think it would be perfectly disgusting to + accept a person you didn't care for, and let him go on and love you + and marry you? It's sickening.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly, Alma. It's only because I know you did care + for him once—” + </p> + <p> + “And now I don't. And he didn't care for me once, and + now he does. And so we're quits.” + </p> + <p> + “If I could believe—” + </p> + <p> + “You had better brace up and try, mamma; for as Mr. Fulkerson says, + it's as sure as guns. From the crown of his head to the sole of his + foot, he's loathsome to me; and he keeps getting loathsomer. Ugh! + Goodnight!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0080" id="link2H_4_0080"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI. + </h2> + <p> + “Well, I guess she's given him the grand bounce at last,” + said Fulkerson to March in one of their moments of confidence at the + office. “That's Mad's inference from appearances—and + disappearances; and some little hints from Alma Leighton.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know that I have any criticisms to offer,” + said March. “It may be bad for Beaton, but it's a very good + thing for Miss Leighton. Upon the whole, I believe I congratulate her.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. I always kind of hoped it would turn out + the other way. You know I always had a sneaking fondness for the fellow.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Leighton seems not to have had.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a pity she hadn't. I tell you, March, it ain't + so easy for a girl to get married, here in the East, that she can afford + to despise any chance.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't that rather a low view of it?” + </p> + <p> + “It's a common-sense view. Beaton has the making of a + first-rate fellow in him. He's the raw material of a great artist + and a good citizen. All he wants is somebody to take him in hand and keep + him from makin' an ass of himself and kickin' over the traces + generally, and ridin' two or three horses bareback at once.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems a simple problem, though the metaphor is rather + complicated,” said March. “But talk to Miss Leighton about it. + I haven't given Beaton the grand bounce.” + </p> + <p> + He began to turn over the manuscripts on his table, and Fulkerson went + away. But March found himself thinking of the matter from time to time + during the day, and he spoke to his wife about it when he went home. She + surprised him by taking Fulkerson's view of it. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it's a pity she couldn't have made up her mind to + have him. It's better for a woman to be married.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought Paul only went so far as to say it was well. But what + would become of Miss Leighton's artistic career if she married?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, her artistic career!” said Mrs. March, with matronly + contempt of it. + </p> + <p> + “But look here!” cried her husband. “Suppose she doesn't + like him?” + </p> + <p> + “How can a girl of that age tell whether she likes any one or not?” + </p> + <p> + “It seems to me you were able to tell at that age, Isabel. But let's + examine this thing. (This thing! I believe Fulkerson is characterizing my + whole parlance, as well as your morals.) Why shouldn't we rejoice as + much at a non-marriage as a marriage? When we consider the enormous risks + people take in linking their lives together, after not half so much + thought as goes to an ordinary horse trade, I think we ought to be glad + whenever they don't do it. I believe that this popular demand for + the matrimony of others comes from our novel-reading. We get to thinking + that there is no other happiness or good-fortune in life except marriage; + and it's offered in fiction as the highest premium for virtue, + courage, beauty, learning, and saving human life. We all know it isn't. + We know that in reality marriage is dog cheap, and anybody can have it for + the asking—if he keeps asking enough people. By-and-by some fellow + will wake up and see that a first-class story can be written from the + anti-marriage point of view; and he'll begin with an engaged couple, + and devote his novel to disengaging them and rendering them separately + happy ever after in the denouement. It will make his everlasting fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you write it, Basil?” she asked. “It's + a delightful idea. You could do it splendidly.” + </p> + <p> + He became fascinated with the notion. He developed it in detail; but at + the end he sighed and said: “With this 'Every Other Week' + work on my hands, of course I can't attempt a novel. But perhaps I + sha'n't have it long.” + </p> + <p> + She was instantly anxious to know what he meant, and the novel and Miss + Leighton's affair were both dropped out of their thoughts. “What + do you mean? Has Mr. Fulkerson said anything yet?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a word. He knows no more about it than I do. Dryfoos hasn't + spoken, and we're both afraid to ask him. Of course, I couldn't + ask him.” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “But it's pretty uncomfortable, to be kept hanging by the + gills so, as Fulkerson says.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we don't know what to do.” + </p> + <p> + March and Fulkerson said the same to each other; and Fulkerson said that + if the old man pulled out, he did not know what would happen. He had no + capital to carry the thing on, and the very fact that the old man had + pulled out would damage it so that it would be hard to get anybody else to + put it. In the mean time Fulkerson was running Conrad's office-work, + when he ought to be looking after the outside interests of the thing; and + he could not see the day when he could get married. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know which it's worse for, March: you or me. I + don't know, under the circumstances, whether it's worse to + have a family or to want to have one. Of course—of course! We can't + hurry the old man up. It wouldn't be decent, and it would be + dangerous. We got to wait.” + </p> + <p> + He almost decided to draw upon Dryfoos for some money; he did not need + any, but, he said maybe the demand would act as a hint upon him. One day, + about a week after Alma's final rejection of Beaton, Dryfoos came + into March's office. Fulkerson was out, but the old man seemed not + to have tried to see him. + </p> + <p> + He put his hat on the floor by his chair, after he sat down, and looked at + March awhile with his old eyes, which had the vitreous glitter of old eyes + stimulated to sleeplessness. Then he said, abruptly, “Mr. March, how + would you like to take this thing off my hands?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand, exactly,” March began; but of + course he understood that Dryfoos was offering to let him have 'Every + Other Week' on some terms or other, and his heart leaped with hope. + </p> + <p> + The old man knew he understood, and so he did not explain. He said: + “I am going to Europe, to take my family there. The doctor thinks it + might do my wife some good; and I ain't very well myself, and my + girls both want to go; and so we're goin'. If you want to take + this thing off my hands, I reckon I can let you have it in 'most any + shape you say. You're all settled here in New York, and I don't + suppose you want to break up, much, at your time of life, and I've + been thinkin' whether you wouldn't like to take the thing.” + </p> + <p> + The word, which Dryfoos had now used three times, made March at last think + of Fulkerson; he had been filled too full of himself to think of any one + else till he had mastered the notion of such wonderful good fortune as + seemed about falling to him. But now he did think of Fulkerson, and with + some shame and confusion; for he remembered how, when Dryfoos had last + approached him there on the business of his connection with 'Every + Other Week,' he had been very haughty with him, and told him that he + did not know him in this connection. He blushed to find how far his + thoughts had now run without encountering this obstacle of etiquette. + </p> + <p> + “Have you spoken to Mr. Fulkerson?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “No, I hain't. It ain't a question of management. It's + a question of buying and selling. I offer the thing to you first. I reckon + Fulkerson couldn't get on very well without you.” + </p> + <p> + March saw the real difference in the two cases, and he was glad to see it, + because he could act more decisively if not hampered by an obligation to + consistency. “I am gratified, of course, Mr. Dryfoos; extremely + gratified; and it's no use pretending that I shouldn't be + happy beyond bounds to get possession of 'Every Other Week.' + But I don't feel quite free to talk about it apart from Mr. + Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, all right!” said the old man, with quick offence. + </p> + <p> + March hastened to say: “I feel bound to Mr. Fulkerson in every way. + He got me to come here, and I couldn't even seem to act without him.” + </p> + <p> + He put it questioningly, and the old man answered: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I can see that. When 'll he be in? I can wait.” + But he looked impatient. + </p> + <p> + “Very soon, now,” said March, looking at his watch. “He + was only to be gone a moment,” and while he went on to talk with + Dryfoos, he wondered why the old man should have come first to speak with + him, and whether it was from some obscure wish to make him reparation for + displeasures in the past, or from a distrust or dislike of Fulkerson. + Whichever light he looked at it in, it was flattering. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think of going abroad soon?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “What? Yes—I don't know—I reckon. We got our + passage engaged. It's on one of them French boats. We're goin' + to Paris.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! That will be interesting to the young ladies.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I reckon we're goin' for them. 'Tain't + likely my wife and me would want to pull up stakes at our age,” said + the old man, sorrowfully. + </p> + <p> + “But you may find it do you good, Mr. Dryfoos,” said March, + with a kindness that was real, mixed as it was with the selfish interest + he now had in the intended voyage. + </p> + <p> + “Well, maybe, maybe,” sighed the old man; and he dropped his + head forward. “It don't make a great deal of difference what + we do or we don't do, for the few years left.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope Mrs. Dryfoos is as well as usual,” said March, finding + the ground delicate and difficult. + </p> + <p> + “Middlin', middlin',” said the old man. “My + daughter Christine, she ain't very well.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said March. It was quite impossible for him to affect a + more explicit interest in the fact. He and Dryfoos sat silent for a few + moments, and he was vainly casting about in his thought for something else + which would tide them over the interval till Fulkerson came, when he heard + his step on the stairs. + </p> + <p> + “Hello, hello!” he said. “Meeting of the clans!” + It was always a meeting of the clans, with Fulkerson, or a field day, or + an extra session, or a regular conclave, whenever he saw people of any + common interest together. “Hain't seen you here for a good + while, Mr. Dryfoos. Did think some of running away with 'Every Other + Week' one while, but couldn't seem to work March up to the + point.” + </p> + <p> + He gave Dryfoos his hand, and pushed aside the papers on the corner of + March's desk, and sat down there, and went on briskly with the + nonsense he could always talk while he was waiting for another to develop + any matter of business; he told March afterward that he scented business + in the air as soon as he came into the room where he and Dryfoos were + sitting. + </p> + <p> + Dryfoos seemed determined to leave the word to March, who said, after an + inquiring look at him, “Mr. Dryfoos has been proposing to let us + have 'Every Other Week,' Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's good; that suits yours truly; March & + Fulkerson, publishers and proprietors, won't pretend it don't, + if the terms are all right.” + </p> + <p> + “The terms,” said the old man, “are whatever you want + 'em. I haven't got any more use for the concern—” + He gulped, and stopped; they knew what he was thinking of, and they looked + down in pity. He went on: “I won't put any more money in it; + but what I've put in a'ready can stay; and you can pay me four + per cent.” + </p> + <p> + He got upon his feet; and March and Fulkerson stood, too. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I call that pretty white,” said Fulkerson. “It's + a bargain as far as I'm concerned. I suppose you'll want to + talk it over with your wife, March?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I shall,” said March. “I can see that it's a + great chance; but I want to talk it over with my wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's right,” said the old man. “Let me + hear from you tomorrow.” + </p> + <p> + He went out, and Fulkerson began to dance round the room. He caught March + about his stalwart girth and tried to make him waltz; the office-boy came + to the door and looked on with approval. + </p> + <p> + “Come, come, you idiot!” said March, rooting himself to the + carpet. + </p> + <p> + “It's just throwing the thing into our mouths,” said + Fulkerson. “The wedding will be this day week. No cards! + Teedle-lumpty-diddle! Teedle-lumpty-dee! What do you suppose he means by + it, March?” he asked, bringing himself soberly up, of a sudden. + “What is his little game? Or is he crazy? It don't seem like + the Dryfoos of my previous acquaintance.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” March suggested, “that he's got money + enough, so that he don't care for this—” + </p> + <p> + “Pshaw! You're a poet! Don't you know that the more + money that kind of man has got, the more he cares for money? It's + some fancy of his—like having Lindau's funeral at his house—By + Jings, March, I believe you're his fancy!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, now! Don't you be a poet, Fulkerson!” + </p> + <p> + “I do! He seemed to take a kind of shine to you from the day you + wouldn't turn off old Lindau; he did, indeed. It kind of shook him + up. It made him think you had something in you. He was deceived by + appearances. Look here! I'm going round to see Mrs. March with you, + and explain the thing to her. I know Mrs. March! She wouldn't + believe you knew what you were going in for. She has a great respect for + your mind, but she don't think you've got any sense. Heigh?” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said March, glad of the notion; and it was really + a comfort to have Fulkerson with him to develop all the points; and it was + delightful to see how clearly and quickly she seized them; it made March + proud of her. She was only angry that they had lost any time in coming to + submit so plain a case to her. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dryfoos might change his mind in the night, and then everything would + be lost. They must go to him instantly, and tell him that they accepted; + they must telegraph him. + </p> + <p> + “Might as well send a district messenger; he'd get there next + week,” said Fulkerson. “No, no! It'll all keep till + to-morrow, and be the better for it. If he's got this fancy for + March, as I say, he ain't agoing to change it in a single night. + People don't change their fancies for March in a lifetime. Heigh?” + </p> + <p> + When Fulkerson turned up very early at the office next morning, as March + did, he was less strenuous about Dryfoos's fancy for March. It was + as if Miss Woodburn might have blown cold upon that theory, as something + unjust to his own merit, for which she would naturally be more jealous + than he. + </p> + <p> + March told him what he had forgotten to tell him the day before, though he + had been trying, all through their excited talk, to get it in, that the + Dryfooses were going abroad. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, ho!” cried Fulkerson. “That's the milk in the + cocoanut, is it? Well, I thought there must be something.” + </p> + <p> + But this fact had not changed Mrs. March at all in her conviction that it + was Mr. Dryfoos's fancy for her husband which had moved him to make + him this extraordinary offer, and she reminded him that it had first been + made to him, without regard to Fulkerson. “And perhaps,” she + went on, “Mr. Dryfoos has been changed—-softened; and doesn't + find money all in all any more. He's had enough to change him, poor + old man!” + </p> + <p> + “Does anything from without change us?” her husband mused + aloud. “We're brought up to think so by the novelists, who + really have the charge of people's thinking, nowadays. But I doubt + it, especially if the thing outside is some great event, something + cataclysmal, like this tremendous sorrow of Dryfoos's.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what is it that changes us?” demanded his wife, almost + angry with him for his heresy. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it won't do to say, the Holy Spirit indwelling. That + would sound like cant at this day. But the old fellows that used to say + that had some glimpses of the truth. They knew that it is the still, small + voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom. I suppose I + should have to say that we didn't change at all. We develop. There's + the making of several characters in each of us; we are each several + characters, and sometimes this character has the lead in us, and sometimes + that. From what Fulkerson has told me of Dryfoos, I should say he had + always had the potentiality of better things in him than he has ever been + yet; and perhaps the time has come for the good to have its chance. The + growth in one direction has stopped; it's begun in another; that's + all. The man hasn't been changed by his son's death; it + stunned, it benumbed him; but it couldn't change him. It was an + event, like any other, and it had to happen as much as his being born. It + was forecast from the beginning of time, and was as entirely an effect of + his coming into the world—” + </p> + <p> + “Basil! Basil!” cried his wife. “This is fatalism!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you think,” he said, “that a sparrow falls to the + ground without the will of God?” and he laughed provokingly. But he + went on more soberly: “I don't know what it all means Isabel + though I believe it means good. What did Christ himself say? That if one + rose from the dead it would not avail. And yet we are always looking for + the miraculous! I believe that unhappy old man truly grieves for his son, + whom he treated cruelly without the final intention of cruelty, for he + loved him and wished to be proud of him; but I don't think his death + has changed him, any more than the smallest event in the chain of events + remotely working through his nature from the beginning. But why do you + think he's changed at all? Because he offers to sell me 'Every + Other Week' on easy terms? He says himself that he has no further + use for the thing; and he knows perfectly well that he couldn't get + his money out of it now, without an enormous shrinkage. He couldn't + appear at this late day as the owner, and sell it to anybody but Fulkerson + and me for a fifth of what it's cost him. He can sell it to us for + all it's cost him; and four per cent. is no bad interest on his + money till we can pay it back. It's a good thing for us; but we have + to ask whether Dryfoos has done us the good, or whether it's the + blessing of Heaven. If it's merely the blessing of Heaven, I don't + propose being grateful for it.” + </p> + <p> + March laughed again, and his wife said, “It's disgusting.” + </p> + <p> + “It's business,” he assented. “Business is + business; but I don't say it isn't disgusting. Lindau had a + low opinion of it.” + </p> + <p> + “I think that with all his faults Mr. Dryfoos is a better man than + Lindau,” she proclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Well, he's certainly able to offer us a better thing in + 'Every Other Week,'” said March. + </p> + <p> + She knew he was enamoured of the literary finish of his cynicism, and that + at heart he was as humbly and truly grateful as she was for the + good-fortune opening to them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0081" id="link2H_4_0081"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII. + </h2> + <p> + Beaton was at his best when he parted for the last time with Alma + Leighton, for he saw then that what had happened to him was the necessary + consequence of what he had been, if not what he had done. Afterward he + lost this clear vision; he began to deny the fact; he drew upon his + knowledge of life, and in arguing himself into a different frame of mind + he alleged the case of different people who had done and been much worse + things than he, and yet no such disagreeable consequence had befallen + them. Then he saw that it was all the work of blind chance, and he said to + himself that it was this that made him desperate, and willing to call evil + his good, and to take his own wherever he could find it. There was a great + deal that was literary and factitious and tawdry in the mood in which he + went to see Christine Dryfoos, the night when the Marches sat talking + their prospects over; and nothing that was decided in his purpose. He knew + what the drift of his mind was, but he had always preferred to let chance + determine his events, and now since chance had played him such an ill turn + with Alma, he left it the whole responsibility. Not in terms, but in + effect, this was his thought as he walked on up-town to pay the first of + the visits which Dryfoos had practically invited him to resume. He had an + insolent satisfaction in having delayed it so long; if he was going back + he was going back on his own conditions, and these were to be as hard and + humiliating as he could make them. But this intention again was inchoate, + floating, the stuff of an intention, rather than intention; an expression + of temperament chiefly. + </p> + <p> + He had been expected before that. Christine had got out of Mela that her + father had been at Beaton's studio; and then she had gone at the old + man and got from him every smallest fact of the interview there. She had + flung back in his teeth the good-will toward herself with which he had + gone to Beaton. She was furious with shame and resentment; she told him he + had made bad worse, that he had made a fool of himself to no end; she + spared neither his age nor his grief-broken spirit, in which his will + could not rise against hers. She filled the house with her rage, screaming + it out upon him; but when her fury was once spent, she began to have some + hopes from what her father had done. She no longer kept her bed; every + evening she dressed herself in the dress Beaton admired the most, and sat + up till a certain hour to receive him. She had fixed a day in her own mind + before which, if he came, she would forgive him all he had made her + suffer: the mortification, the suspense, the despair. Beyond this, she had + the purpose of making her father go to Europe; she felt that she could no + longer live in America, with the double disgrace that had been put upon + her. + </p> + <p> + Beaton rang, and while the servant was coming the insolent caprice seized + him to ask for the young ladies instead of the old man, as he had supposed + of course he should do. The maid who answered the bell, in the place of + the reluctant Irishman of other days, had all his hesitation in admitting + that the young ladies were at home. + </p> + <p> + He found Mela in the drawing-room. At sight of him she looked scared; but + she seemed to be reassured by his calm. He asked if he was not to have the + pleasure of seeing Miss Dryfoos, too; and Mela said she reckoned the girl + had gone up-stairs to tell her. Mela was in black, and Beaton noted how + well the solid sable became her rich red-blonde beauty; he wondered what + the effect would be with Christine. + </p> + <p> + But she, when she appeared, was not in mourning. He fancied that she wore + the lustrous black silk, with the breadths of white Venetian lace about + the neck which he had praised, because he praised it. Her cheeks burned + with a Jacqueminot crimson; what should be white in her face was chalky + white. She carried a plumed ostrich fan, black and soft, and after giving + him her hand, sat down and waved it to and fro slowly, as he remembered + her doing the night they first met. She had no ideas, except such as + related intimately to herself, and she had no gabble, like Mela; and she + let him talk. It was past the day when she promised herself she would + forgive him; but as he talked on she felt all her passion for him revive, + and the conflict of desires, the desire to hate, the desire to love, made + a dizzying whirl in her brain. She looked at him, half doubting whether he + was really there or not. He had never looked so handsome, with his dreamy + eyes floating under his heavy overhanging hair, and his pointed brown + beard defined against his lustrous shirtfront. His mellowly modulated, + mysterious voice lulled her; when Mela made an errand out of the room, and + Beaton crossed to her and sat down by her, she shivered. + </p> + <p> + “Are you cold?” he asked, and she felt the cruel mockery and + exultant consciousness of power in his tone, as perhaps a wild thing feels + captivity in the voice of its keeper. But now, she said she would still + forgive him if he asked her. + </p> + <p> + Mela came back, and the talk fell again to the former level; but Beaton + had not said anything that really meant what she wished, and she saw that + he intended to say nothing. Her heart began to burn like a fire in her + breast. + </p> + <p> + “You been tellun' him about our goun' to Europe?” + Mela asked. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Christine, briefly, and looking at the fan spread + out on her lap. + </p> + <p> + Beaton asked when; and then he rose, and said if it was so soon, he + supposed he should not see them again, unless he saw them in Paris; he + might very likely run over during the summer. He said to himself that he + had given it a fair trial with Christine, and he could not make it go. + </p> + <p> + Christine rose, with a kind of gasp; and mechanically followed him to the + door of the drawing-room; Mela came, too; and while he was putting on his + overcoat, she gurgled and bubbled in good-humor with all the world. + Christine stood looking at him, and thinking how still handsomer he was in + his overcoat; and that fire burned fiercer in her. She felt him more than + life to her and knew him lost, and the frenzy, that makes a woman kill the + man she loves, or fling vitriol to destroy the beauty she cannot have for + all hers, possessed her lawless soul. He gave his hand to Mela, and said, + in his wind-harp stop, “Good-bye.” + </p> + <p> + As he put out his hand to Christine, she pushed it aside with a scream of + rage; she flashed at him, and with both hands made a feline pass at the + face he bent toward her. He sprang back, and after an instant of + stupefaction he pulled open the door behind him and ran out into the + street. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Christine Dryfoos!” said Mela, “Sprang at him + like a wild-cat!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't care,” Christine shrieked. “I'll + tear his eyes out!” She flew up-stairs to her own room, and left the + burden of the explanation to Mela, who did it justice. + </p> + <p> + Beaton found himself, he did not know how, in his studio, reeking with + perspiration and breathless. He must almost have run. He struck a match + with a shaking hand, and looked at his face in the glass. He expected to + see the bleeding marks of her nails on his cheeks, but he could see + nothing. He grovelled inwardly; it was all so low and coarse and vulgar; + it was all so just and apt to his deserts. + </p> + <p> + There was a pistol among the dusty bric-a-brac on the mantel which he had + kept loaded to fire at a cat in the area. He took it and sat looking into + the muzzle, wishing it might go off by accident and kill him. It slipped + through his hand and struck the floor, and there was a report; he sprang + into the air, feeling that he had been shot. But he found himself still + alive, with only a burning line along his cheek, such as one of Christine's + finger-nails might have left. + </p> + <p> + He laughed with cynical recognition of the fact that he had got his + punishment in the right way, and that his case was not to be dignified + into tragedy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0082" id="link2H_4_0082"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII. + </h2> + <p> + The Marches, with Fulkerson, went to see the Dryfooses off on the French + steamer. There was no longer any business obligation on them to be civil, + and there was greater kindness for that reason in the attention they + offered. 'Every Other Week' had been made over to the joint + ownership of March and Fulkerson, and the details arranged with a hardness + on Dryfoos's side which certainly left Mrs. March with a sense of + his incomplete regeneration. Yet when she saw him there on the steamer, + she pitied him; he looked wearied and bewildered; even his wife, with her + twitching head, and her prophecies of evil, croaked hoarsely out, while + she clung to Mrs. March's hand where they sat together till the + leave-takers were ordered ashore, was less pathetic. Mela was looking + after both of them, and trying to cheer them in a joyful excitement. + “I tell 'em it's goun' to add ten years to both + their lives,” she said. “The voyage 'll do their healths + good; and then, we're gittun' away from that miser'ble + pack o' servants that was eatun' us up, there in New York. I + hate the place!” she said, as if they had already left it. “Yes, + Mrs. Mandel's goun', too,” she added, following the + direction of Mrs. March's eyes where they noted Mrs. Mandel, + speaking to Christine on the other side of the cabin. “Her and + Christine had a kind of a spat, and she was goun' to leave, but here + only the other day, Christine offered to make it up with her, and now they're + as thick as thieves. Well, I reckon we couldn't very well 'a' + got along without her. She's about the only one that speaks French + in this family.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March's eyes still dwelt upon Christine's face; it was + full of a furtive wildness. She seemed to be keeping a watch to prevent + herself from looking as if she were looking for some one. “Do you + know,” Mrs. March said to her husband as they jingled along homeward + in the Christopher Street bob-tail car, “I thought she was in love + with that detestable Mr. Beaton of yours at one time; and that he was + amusing himself with her.” + </p> + <p> + “I can bear a good deal, Isabel,” said March, “but I + wish you wouldn't attribute Beaton to me. He's the invention + of that Mr. Fulkerson of yours.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, at any rate, I hope, now, you'll both get rid of him, + in the reforms you're going to carry out.” + </p> + <p> + These reforms were for a greater economy in the management of 'Every + Other Week;' but in their very nature they could not include the + suppression of Beaton. He had always shown himself capable and loyal to + the interests of the magazine, and both the new owners were glad to keep + him. He was glad to stay, though he made a gruff pretence of indifference, + when they came to look over the new arrangement with him. In his heart he + knew that he was a fraud; but at least he could say to himself with truth + that he had not now the shame of taking Dryfoos's money. + </p> + <p> + March and Fulkerson retrenched at several points where it had seemed + indispensable to spend, as long as they were not spending their own: that + was only human. Fulkerson absorbed Conrad's department into his, and + March found that he could dispense with Kendricks in the place of + assistant which he had lately filled since Fulkerson had decided that + March was overworked. They reduced the number of illustrated articles, and + they systematized the payment of contributors strictly according to the + sales of each number, on their original plan of co-operation: they had got + to paying rather lavishly for material without reference to the sales. + </p> + <p> + Fulkerson took a little time to get married, and went on his wedding + journey out to Niagara, and down the St. Lawrence to Quebec over the line + of travel that the Marches had taken on their wedding journey. He had the + pleasure of going from Montreal to Quebec on the same boat on which he + first met March. + </p> + <p> + They have continued very good friends, and their wives are almost without + the rivalry that usually embitters the wives of partners. At first Mrs. + March did not like Mrs. Fulkerson's speaking of her husband as the + Ownah, and March as the Edito'; but it appeared that this was only a + convenient method of recognizing the predominant quality in each, and was + meant neither to affirm nor to deny anything. Colonel Woodburn offered as + his contribution to the celebration of the copartnership, which Fulkerson + could not be prevented from dedicating with a little dinner, the story of + Fulkerson's magnanimous behavior in regard to Dryfoos at that + crucial moment when it was a question whether he should give up Dryfoos or + give up March. Fulkerson winced at it; but Mrs. March told her husband + that now, whatever happened, she should never have any misgivings of + Fulkerson again; and she asked him if he did not think he ought to + apologize to him for the doubts with which he had once inspired her. March + said that he did not think so. + </p> + <p> + The Fulkersons spent the summer at a seaside hotel in easy reach of the + city; but they returned early to Mrs. Leighton's, with whom they are + to board till spring, when they are going to fit up Fulkerson's + bachelor apartment for housekeeping. Mrs. March, with her Boston scruple, + thinks it will be odd, living over the 'Every Other Week' + offices; but there will be a separate street entrance to the apartment; + and besides, in New York you may do anything. + </p> + <p> + The future of the Leightons promises no immediate change. Kendricks goes + there a good deal to see the Fulkersons, and Mrs. Fulkerson says he comes + to see Alma. He has seemed taken with her ever since he first met her at + Dryfoos's, the day of Lindau's funeral, and though Fulkerson + objects to dating a fancy of that kind from an occasion of that kind, he + justly argues with March that there can be no harm in it, and that we are + liable to be struck by lightning any time. In the mean while there is no + proof that Alma returns Kendricks's interest, if he feels any. She + has got a little bit of color into the fall exhibition; but the fall + exhibition is never so good as the spring exhibition. Wetmore is rather + sorry she has succeeded in this, though he promoted her success. He says + her real hope is in black and white, and it is a pity for her to lose + sight of her original aim of drawing for illustration. + </p> + <p> + News has come from Paris of the engagement of Christine Dryfoos. There the + Dryfooses met with the success denied them in New York; many American + plutocrats must await their apotheosis in Europe, where society has them, + as it were, in a translation. Shortly after their arrival they were + celebrated in the newspapers as the first millionaire American family of + natural-gas extraction who had arrived in the capital of civilization; and + at a French watering-place Christine encountered her fate—a nobleman + full of present debts and of duels in the past. Fulkerson says the old man + can manage the debtor, and Christine can look out for the duellist. + “They say those fellows generally whip their wives. He'd + better not try it with Christine, I reckon, unless he's practised + with a panther.” + </p> + <p> + One day, shortly after their return to town in the autumn from the brief + summer outing they permitted themselves, the Marches met Margaret Vance. + At first they did not know her in the dress of the sisterhood which she + wore; but she smiled joyfully, almost gayly, on seeing them, and though + she hurried by with the sister who accompanied her, and did not stay to + speak, they felt that the peace that passeth understanding had looked at + them from her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Well, she is at rest, there can't be any doubt of that,” + he said, as he glanced round at the drifting black robe which followed her + free, nun-like walk. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, now she can do all the good she likes,” sighed his wife. + “I wonder—I wonder if she ever told his father about her talk + with poor Conrad that day he was shot?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. I don't care. In any event, it would be + right. She did nothing wrong. If she unwittingly sent him to his death, + she sent him to die for God's sake, for man's sake.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—yes. But still—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, we must trust that look of hers.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Affected absence of mind + Be good, sweet man, and let who will be clever + Comfort of the critical attitude + Conscience weakens to the need that isn't + Death is an exile that no remorse and no love can reach + Death is peace and pardon + Did not idealize him, but in the highest effect she realized him + Does any one deserve happiness + Does anything from without change us? + Europe, where society has them, as it were, in a translation + Favorite stock of his go up and go down under the betting + Hemmed round with this eternal darkness of death + Indispensable + Love of justice hurry them into sympathy with violence + Married for no other purpose than to avoid being an old maid + Nervous woes of comfortable people + Novelists, who really have the charge of people's thinking + People that have convictions are difficult + Rejoice as much at a non-marriage as a marriage + Respect for your mind, but she don't think you've got any sense + Superstition of the romances that love is once for all + Superstition that having and shining is the chief good + To do whatever one likes is finally to do nothing that one likes + Took the world as she found it, and made the best of it + What we can be if we must + When you look it—live it + Would sacrifice his best friend to a phrase +</pre> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0083" id="link2H_4_0083"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THEIR SILVER WEDDING JOURNEY. + </h2> + <h3> + By William Dean Howells + </h3> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART1b" id="link2H_PART1b"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART I. + </h2> + <p> + [NOTE: Several chapter heading numerals are out of order or missing in + this 1899 edition, however the text is all present in the three volumes. + D.W.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0085" id="link2H_4_0085"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + “You need the rest,” said the Business End; “and your + wife wants you to go, as well as your doctor. Besides, it's your + Sabbatical year, and you, could send back a lot of stuff for the magazine.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that your notion of a Sabbatical year?” asked the editor. + </p> + <p> + “No; I throw that out as a bait to your conscience. You needn't + write a line while you're gone. I wish you wouldn't for your + own sake; although every number that hasn't got you in it is a back + number for me.” + </p> + <p> + “That's very nice of you, Fulkerson,” said the editor. + “I suppose you realize that it's nine years since we took + 'Every Other Week' from Dryfoos?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that makes it all the more Sabbatical,” said Fulkerson. + “The two extra years that you've put in here, over and above + the old style Sabbatical seven, are just so much more to your credit. It + was your right to go, two years ago, and now it's your duty. Couldn't + you look at it in that light?” + </p> + <p> + “I dare say Mrs. March could,” the editor assented. “I + don't believe she could be brought to regard it as a pleasure on any + other terms.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course not,” said Fulkerson. “If you won't + take a year, take three months, and call it a Sabbatical summer; but go, + anyway. You can make up half a dozen numbers ahead, and Tom, here, knows + your ways so well that you needn't think about 'Every Other + Week' from the time you start till the time you try to bribe the + customs inspector when you get back. I can take a hack at the editing + myself, if Tom's inspiration gives out, and put a little of my + advertising fire into the thing.” He laid his hand on the shoulder + of the young fellow who stood smiling by, and pushed and shook him in the + liking there was between them. “Now you go, March! Mrs. Fulkerson + feels just as I do about it; we had our outing last year, and we want Mrs. + March and you to have yours. You let me go down and engage your passage, + and—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” the editor rebelled. “I'll think about + it;” but as he turned to the work he was so fond of and so weary of, + he tried not to think of the question again, till he closed his desk in + the afternoon, and started to walk home; the doctor had said he ought to + walk, and he did so, though he longed to ride, and looked wistfully at the + passing cars. + </p> + <p> + He knew he was in a rut, as his wife often said; but if it was a rut, it + was a support too; it kept him from wobbling: She always talked as if the + flowery fields of youth lay on either side of the dusty road he had been + going so long, and he had but to step aside from it, to be among the + butterflies and buttercups again; he sometimes indulged this illusion, + himself, in a certain ironical spirit which caressed while it mocked the + notion. They had a tacit agreement that their youth, if they were ever to + find it again, was to be looked for in Europe, where they met when they + were young, and they had never been quite without the hope of going back + there, some day, for a long sojourn. They had not seen the time when they + could do so; they were dreamers, but, as they recognized, even dreaming is + not free from care; and in his dream March had been obliged to work pretty + steadily, if not too intensely. He had been forced to forego the + distinctly literary ambition with which he had started in life because he + had their common living to make, and he could not make it by writing + graceful verse, or even graceful prose. He had been many years in a + sufficiently distasteful business, and he had lost any thought of leaving + it when it left him, perhaps because his hold on it had always been rather + lax, and he had not been able to conceal that he disliked it. At any rate, + he was supplanted in his insurance agency at Boston by a subordinate in + his office, and though he was at the same time offered a place of nominal + credit in the employ of the company, he was able to decline it in grace of + a chance which united the charm of congenial work with the solid advantage + of a better salary than he had been getting for work he hated. It was an + incredible chance, but it was rendered appreciably real by the necessity + it involved that they should leave Boston, where they had lived all their + married life, where Mrs. March as well as their children was born, and + where all their tender and familiar ties were, and come to New York, where + the literary enterprise which formed his chance was to be founded. + </p> + <p> + It was then a magazine of a new sort, which his business partner had + imagined in such leisure as the management of a newspaper syndicate + afforded him, and had always thought of getting March to edit. The + magazine which is also a book has since been realized elsewhere on more or + less prosperous terms, but not for any long period, and 'Every Other + Week' was apparently—the only periodical of the kind + conditioned for survival. It was at first backed by unlimited capital, and + it had the instant favor of a popular mood, which has since changed, but + which did not change so soon that the magazine had not time to establish + itself in a wide acceptance. It was now no longer a novelty, it was no + longer in the maiden blush of its first success, but it had entered upon + its second youth with the reasonable hope of many years of prosperity + before it. In fact it was a very comfortable living for all concerned, and + the Marches had the conditions, almost dismayingly perfect, in which they + had often promised themselves to go and be young again in Europe, when + they rebelled at finding themselves elderly in America. Their daughter was + married, and so very much to her mother's mind that she did not + worry about her, even though she lived so far away as Chicago, still a + wild frontier town to her Boston imagination; and their son, as soon as he + left college, had taken hold on 'Every Other Week', under his + father's instruction, with a zeal and intelligence which won him + Fulkerson's praise as a chip of the old block. These two liked each + other, and worked into each other's hands as cordially and aptly as + Fulkerson and March had ever done. It amused the father to see his son + offering Fulkerson the same deference which the Business End paid to + seniority in March himself; but in fact, Fulkerson's forehead was + getting, as he said, more intellectual every day; and the years were + pushing them all along together. + </p> + <p> + Still, March had kept on in the old rut, and one day he fell down in it. + He had a long sickness, and when he was well of it, he was so slow in + getting his grip of work again that he was sometimes deeply discouraged. + His wife shared his depression, whether he showed or whether he hid it, + and when the doctor advised his going abroad, she abetted the doctor with + all the strength of a woman's hygienic intuitions. March himself + willingly consented, at first; but as soon as he got strength for his + work, he began to temporize and to demur. He said that he believed it + would do him just as much good to go to Saratoga, where they always had + such a good time, as to go to Carlsbad; and Mrs. March had been obliged + several times to leave him to his own undoing; she always took him more + vigorously in hand afterwards. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0086" id="link2H_4_0086"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + When he got home from the 'Every Other Week' office, the + afternoon of that talk with the Business End, he wanted to laugh with his + wife at Fulkerson's notion of a Sabbatical year. She did not think + it was so very droll; she even urged it seriously against him, as if she + had now the authority of Holy Writ for forcing him abroad; she found no + relish of absurdity in the idea that it was his duty to take this rest + which had been his right before. + </p> + <p> + He abandoned himself to a fancy which had been working to the surface of + his thought. “We could call it our Silver Wedding Journey, and go + round to all the old places, and see them in the reflected light of the + past.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we could!” she responded, passionately; and he had now + the delicate responsibility of persuading her that he was joking. + </p> + <p> + He could think of nothing better than a return to Fulkerson's + absurdity. “It would be our Silver Wedding Journey just as it would + be my Sabbatical year—a good deal after date. But I suppose that + would make it all the more silvery.” + </p> + <p> + She faltered in her elation. “Didn't you say a Sabbatical year + yourself?” she demanded. + </p> + <p> + “Fulkerson said it; but it was a figurative expression.” + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose the Silver Wedding Journey was a figurative + expression too!” + </p> + <p> + “It was a notion that tempted me; I thought you would enjoy it. Don't + you suppose I should be glad too, if we could go over, and find ourselves + just as we were when we first met there?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I don't believe now that you care anything about it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it couldn't be done, anyway; so that doesn't + matter.” + </p> + <p> + “It could be done, if you were a mind to think so. And it would be + the greatest inspiration to you. You are always longing for some chance to + do original work, to get away from your editing, but you've let the + time slip by without really trying to do anything; I don't call + those little studies of yours in the magazine anything; and now you won't + take the chance that's almost forcing itself upon you. You could + write an original book of the nicest kind; mix up travel and fiction; get + some love in.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's the stalest kind of thing!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, but you could see it from a perfectly new point of view. You + could look at it as a sort of dispassionate witness, and treat it + humorously—of course it is ridiculous—and do something + entirely fresh.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn't work. It would be carrying water on both + shoulders. The fiction would kill the travel, the travel would kill the + fiction; the love and the humor wouldn't mingle any more than oil + and vinegar.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, and what is better than a salad?” + </p> + <p> + “But this would be all salad-dressing, and nothing to put it on.” + She was silent, and he yielded to another fancy. “We might imagine + coming upon our former selves over there, and travelling round with them—a + wedding journey 'en partie carree'.” + </p> + <p> + “Something like that. I call it a very poetical idea,” she + said with a sort of provisionality, as if distrusting another ambush. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't so bad,” he admitted. “How young we + were, in those days!” + </p> + <p> + “Too young to know what a good time we were having,” she said, + relaxing her doubt for the retrospect. “I don't feel as if I + really saw Europe, then; I was too inexperienced, too ignorant, too + simple. I would like to go, just to make sure that I had been.” He + was smiling again in the way he had when anything occurred to him that + amused him, and she demanded, “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. I was wishing we could go in the consciousness of people + who actually hadn't been before—carry them all through Europe, + and let them see it in the old, simple-hearted American way.” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. “You couldn't! They've all been!” + </p> + <p> + “All but about sixty or seventy millions,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, those are just the millions you don't know, and couldn't + imagine.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not so sure of that.” + </p> + <p> + “And even if you could imagine them, you couldn't make them + interesting. All the interesting ones have been, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “Some of the uninteresting ones too. I used, to meet some of that + sort over there. I believe I would rather chance it for my pleasure with + those that hadn't been.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why not do it? I know you could get something out of it.” + </p> + <p> + “It might be a good thing,” he mused, “to take a couple + who had passed their whole life here in New York, too poor and too busy + ever to go; and had a perfect famine for Europe all the time. I could have + them spend their Sunday afternoons going aboard the different boats, and + looking up their accommodations. I could have them sail, in imagination, + and discover an imaginary Europe, and give their grotesque misconceptions + of it from travels and novels against a background of purely American + experience. We needn't go abroad to manage that. I think it would be + rather nice.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think it would be nice in the least,” said Mrs. + March, “and if you don't want to talk seriously, I would + rather not talk at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, let's talk about our Silver Wedding Journey.” + </p> + <p> + “I see. You merely want to tease and I am not in the humor for it.” + </p> + <p> + She said this in a great many different ways, and then she was really + silent. He perceived that she was hurt; and he tried to win her back to + good-humor. He asked her if she would not like to go over to Hoboken and + look at one of the Hanseatic League steamers, some day; and she refused. + When he sent the next day and got a permit to see the boat; she consented + to go. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0087" id="link2H_4_0087"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + He was one of those men who live from the inside outward; he often took a + hint for his actions from his fancies; and now because he had fancied some + people going to look at steamers on Sundays, he chose the next Sunday + himself for their visit to the Hanseatic boat at Hoboken. To be sure it + was a leisure day with him, but he might have taken the afternoon of any + other day, for that matter, and it was really that invisible thread of + association which drew him. + </p> + <p> + The Colmannia had been in long enough to have made her toilet for the + outward voyage, and was looking her best. She was tipped and edged with + shining brass, without and within, and was red-carpeted and white-painted + as only a ship knows how to be. A little uniformed steward ran before the + visitors, and showed them through the dim white corridors into typical + state-rooms on the different decks; and then let them verify their first + impression of the grandeur of the dining-saloon, and the luxury of the + ladies' parlor and music-room. March made his wife observe that the + tables and sofas and easy-chairs, which seemed so carelessly scattered + about, were all suggestively screwed fast to the floor against rough + weather; and he amused himself with the heavy German browns and greens and + coppers in the decorations, which he said must have been studied in color + from sausage, beer, and spinach, to the effect of those large march-panes + in the roof. She laughed with him at the tastelessness of the race which + they were destined to marvel at more and more; but she made him own that + the stewardesses whom they saw were charmingly like serving-maids in the + 'Fliegende Blatter'; when they went ashore she challenged his + silence for some assent to her own conclusion that the Colmannia was + perfect. + </p> + <p> + “She has only one fault,” he assented. “She's a + ship.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said his wife, “and I shall want to look at the + Norumbia before I decide.” + </p> + <p> + Then he saw that it was only a question which steamer they should take, + and not whether they should take any. He explained, at first gently and + afterwards savagely, that their visit to the Colmannia was quite enough + for him, and that the vessel was not built that he would be willing to + cross the Atlantic in. + </p> + <p> + When a man has gone so far as that he has committed himself to the + opposite course in almost so many words; and March was neither surprised + nor abashed when he discovered himself, before they reached home, offering + his wife many reasons why they should go to Europe. She answered to all, + No, he had made her realize the horror of it so much that she was glad to + give it up. She gave it up, with the best feeling; all that she would ask + of him was that he should never mention Europe to her again. She could + imagine how much he disliked to go, if such a ship as the Colmannia did + not make him want to go. + </p> + <p> + At the bottom of his heart he knew that he had not used her very well. He + had kindled her fancy with those notions of a Sabbatical year and a Silver + Wedding Journey, and when she was willing to renounce both he had + persisted in taking her to see the ship, only to tell her afterwards that + he would not go abroad on any account. It was by a psychological juggle + which some men will understand that he allowed himself the next day to get + the sailings of the Norumbia from the steamship office; he also got a plan + of the ship showing the most available staterooms, so that they might be + able to choose between her and the Colmannia from all the facts. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0088" id="link2H_4_0088"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. + </h2> + <p> + From this time their decision to go was none the less explicit because so + perfectly tacit. + </p> + <p> + They began to amass maps and guides. She got a Baedeker for Austria and he + got a Bradshaw for the continent, which was never of the least use there, + but was for the present a mine of unavailable information. He got a + phrase-book, too, and tried to rub up his German. He used to read German, + when he was a boy, with a young enthusiasm for its romantic poetry, and + now, for the sake of Schiller and Uhland and Heine, he held imaginary + conversations with a barber, a bootmaker, and a banker, and tried to taste + the joy which he had not known in the language of those poets for a whole + generation. He perceived, of course, that unless the barber, the + bootmaker, and the banker answered him in terms which the author of the + phrase-book directed them to use, he should not get on with them beyond + his first question; but he did not allow this to spoil his pleasure in it. + In fact, it was with a tender emotion that he realized how little the + world, which had changed in everything else so greatly, had changed in its + ideal of a phrase-book. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March postponed the study of her Baedeker to the time and place for + it; and addressed herself to the immediate business of ascertaining the + respective merits of the Colmannia and Norumbia. She carried on her + researches solely among persons of her own sex; its experiences were alone + of that positive character which brings conviction, and she valued them + equally at first or second hand. She heard of ladies who would not cross + in any boat but the Colmannia, and who waited for months to get a room on + her; she talked with ladies who said that nothing would induce them to + cross in her. There were ladies who said she had twice the motion that the + Norumbia had, and the vibration from her twin screws was frightful; it + always was, on those twin-screw boats, and it did not affect their + testimony with Mrs. March that the Norumbia was a twin-screw boat too. It + was repeated to her in the third or fourth degree of hear-say that the + discipline on the Colmannia was as perfect as that on the Cunarders; + ladies whose friends had tried every line assured her that the table of + the Norumbia was almost as good as the table of the French boats. To the + best of the belief of lady witnesses still living who had friends on + board, the Colmannia had once got aground, and the Norumbia had once had + her bridge carried off by a tidal wave; or it might be the Colmannia; they + promised to ask and let her know. Their lightest word availed with her + against the most solemn assurances of their husbands, fathers, or + brothers, who might be all very well on land, but in navigation were not + to be trusted; they would say anything from a reckless and culpable + optimism. She obliged March all the same to ask among them, but she + recognized their guilty insincerity when he came home saying that one man + had told him you could have played croquet on the deck of the Colmannia + the whole way over when he crossed, and another that he never saw the + racks on in three passages he had made in the Norumbia. + </p> + <p> + The weight of evidence was, he thought, in favor of the Norumbia, but when + they went another Sunday to Hoboken, and saw the ship, Mrs. March liked + her so much less than the Colmannia that she could hardly wait for Monday + to come; she felt sure all the good rooms on the Colmannia would be gone + before they could engage one. + </p> + <p> + From a consensus of the nerves of all the ladies left in town so late in + the season, she knew that the only place on any steamer where your room + ought to be was probably just where they could not get it. If you went too + high, you felt the rolling terribly, and people tramping up and down on + the promenade under your window kept you awake the whole night; if you + went too low, you felt the engine thump, thump, thump in your head the + whole way over. If you went too far forward, you got the pitching; if you + went aft, on the kitchen side, you got the smell of the cooking. The only + place, really, was just back of the dining-saloon on the south side of the + ship; it was smooth there, and it was quiet, and you had the sun in your + window all the way over. He asked her if he must take their room there or + nowhere, and she answered that he must do his best, but that she would not + be satisfied with any other place. + </p> + <p> + In his despair he went down to the steamer office, and took a room which + one of the clerks said was the best. When he got home, it appeared from + reference to the ship's plan that it was the very room his wife had + wanted from the beginning, and she praised him as if he had used a wisdom + beyond his sex in getting it. + </p> + <p> + He was in the enjoyment of his unmerited honor when a belated lady came + with her husband for an evening call, before going into the country. At + sight of the plans of steamers on the Marches' table, she expressed + the greatest wonder and delight that they were going to Europe. They had + supposed everybody knew it, by this time, but she said she had not heard a + word of it; and she went on with some felicitations which March found + rather unduly filial. In getting a little past the prime of life he did + not like to be used with too great consideration of his years, and he did + not think that he and his wife were so old that they need be treated as if + they were going on a golden wedding journey, and heaped with all sorts of + impertinent prophecies of their enjoying it so much and being so much the + better for the little outing! Under his breath, he confounded this lady + for her impudence; but he schooled himself to let her rejoice at their + going on a Hanseatic boat, because the Germans were always so careful of + you. She made her husband agree with her, and it came out that he had + crossed several times on both the Colmannia and the Norumbia. He + volunteered to say that the Colmannia, was a capital sea-boat; she did not + have her nose under water all the time; she was steady as a rock; and the + captain and the kitchen were simply out of sight; some people did call her + unlucky. + </p> + <p> + “Unlucky?” Mrs. March echoed, faintly. “Why do they call + her unlucky?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know. People will say anything about any boat. + You know she broke her shaft, once, and once she got caught in the ice.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March joined him in deriding the superstition of people, and she + parted gayly with this over-good young couple. As soon as they were gone, + March knew that she would say: “You must change that ticket, my + dear. We will go in the Norumbia.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose I can't get as good a room on the Norumbia?” + </p> + <p> + “Then we must stay.” + </p> + <p> + In the morning after a night so bad that it was worse than no night at + all, she said she would go to the steamship office with him and question + them up about the Colmannia. The people there had never heard she was + called an unlucky boat; they knew of nothing disastrous in her history. + They were so frank and so full in their denials, and so kindly patient of + Mrs. March's anxieties, that he saw every word was carrying + conviction of their insincerity to her. At the end she asked what rooms + were left on the Norumbia, and the clerk whom they had fallen to looked + through his passenger list with a shaking head. He was afraid there was + nothing they would like. + </p> + <p> + “But we would take anything,” she entreated, and March smiled + to think of his innocence in supposing for a moment that she had ever + dreamed of not going. + </p> + <p> + “We merely want the best,” he put in. “One flight up, no + noise or dust, with sun in all the windows, and a place for fire on rainy + days.” + </p> + <p> + They must be used to a good deal of American joking which they do not + understand, in the foreign steamship offices. The clerk turned unsmilingly + to one of his superiors and asked him some question in German which March + could not catch, perhaps because it formed no part of a conversation with + a barber, a bootmaker or a banker. A brief drama followed, and then the + clerk pointed to a room on the plan of the Norumbia and said it had just + been given up, and they could have it if they decided to take it at once. + </p> + <p> + They looked, and it was in the very place of their room on the Colmannia; + it was within one of being the same number. It was so providential, if it + was providential at all, that they were both humbly silent a moment; even + Mrs. March was silent. In this supreme moment she would not prompt her + husband by a word, a glance, and it was from his own free will that he + said, “We will take it.” + </p> + <p> + He thought it was his free will, but perhaps one's will is never + free; and this may have been an instance of pure determinism from all the + events before it. No event that followed affected it, though the day after + they had taken their passage on the Norumbia he heard that she had once + been in the worst sort of storm in the month of August. He felt obliged to + impart the fact to his wife, but she said that it proved nothing for or + against the ship, and confounded him more by her reason than by all her + previous unreason. Reason is what a man is never prepared for in women; + perhaps because he finds it so seldom in men. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0089" id="link2H_4_0089"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + During nearly the whole month that now passed before the date of sailing + it seemed to March that in some familiar aspects New York had never been + so interesting. He had not easily reconciled himself to the place after + his many years of Boston; but he had got used to the ugly grandeur, to the + noise and the rush, and he had divined more and more the careless + good-nature and friendly indifference of the vast, sprawling, ungainly + metropolis. There were happy moments when he felt a poetry unintentional + and unconscious in it, and he thought there was no point more favorable + for the sense of this than Stuyvesant Square, where they had a flat. Their + windows looked down into its tree-tops, and across them to the truncated + towers of St. George's, and to the plain red-brick, white-trimmed + front of the Friends' Meeting House; he came and went between his + dwelling and his office through the two places that form the square, and + after dinner his wife and he had a habit of finding seats by one of the + fountains in Livingston Place, among the fathers and mothers of the hybrid + East Side children swarming there at play. The elders read their English + or Italian or German or Yiddish journals, or gossiped, or merely sat still + and stared away the day's fatigue; while the little ones raced in + and out among them, crying and laughing, quarrelling and kissing. + Sometimes a mother darted forward and caught her child from the brink of + the basin; another taught hers to walk, holding it tightly up behind by + its short skirts; another publicly nursed her baby to sleep. + </p> + <p> + While they still dreamed, but never thought, of going to Europe, the + Marches often said how European all this was; if these women had brought + their knitting or sewing it would have been quite European; but as soon as + they had decided to go, it all began to seem poignantly American. In like + manner, before the conditions of their exile changed, and they still pined + for the Old World, they contrived a very agreeable illusion of it by + dining now and then at an Austrian restaurant in Union Square; but later + when they began to be homesick for the American scenes they had not yet + left, they had a keener retrospective joy in the strictly New York sunset + they were bowed out into. + </p> + <p> + The sunsets were uncommonly characteristic that May in Union Square. They + were the color of the red stripes in the American flag, and when they were + seen through the delirious architecture of the Broadway side, or down the + perspective of the cross-streets, where the elevated trains silhouetted + themselves against their pink, they imparted a feeling of pervasive + Americanism in which all impression of alien savors and civilities was + lost. One evening a fire flamed up in Hoboken, and burned for hours + against the west, in the lurid crimson tones of a conflagration as + memorably and appealingly native as the colors of the sunset. + </p> + <p> + The weather for nearly the whole month was of a mood familiar enough in + our early summer, and it was this which gave the sunsets their vitreous + pink. A thrilling coolness followed a first blaze of heat, and in the long + respite the thoughts almost went back to winter flannels. But at last a + hot wave was telegraphed from the West, and the week before the Norumbia + sailed was an anguish of burning days and breathless nights, which fused + all regrets and reluctances in the hope of escape, and made the exiles of + two continents long for the sea, with no care for either shore. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0090" id="link2H_4_0090"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + Their steamer was to sail early; they were up at dawn because they had + scarcely lain down, and March crept out into the square for a last breath + of its morning air before breakfast. He was now eager to be gone; he had + broken with habit, and he wished to put all traces of the past out of + sight. But this was curiously like all other early mornings in his + consciousness, and he could not alienate himself from the wonted + environment. He stood talking on every-day terms of idle speculation with + the familiar policeman, about a stray parrot in the top of one of the + trees, where it screamed and clawed at the dead branch to which it clung. + Then he went carelessly indoors again as if he were secure of reading the + reporter's story of it in that next day's paper which he + should not see. + </p> + <p> + The sense of an inseverable continuity persisted through the breakfast, + which was like other breakfasts in the place they would be leaving in + summer shrouds just as they always left it at the end of June. The + illusion was even heightened by the fact that their son was to be in the + apartment all summer, and it would not be so much shut up as usual. The + heavy trunks had been sent to the ship by express the afternoon before, + and they had only themselves and their stateroom baggage to transport to + Hoboken; they came down to a carriage sent from a neighboring + livery-stable, and exchanged good-mornings with a driver they knew by + name. + </p> + <p> + March had often fancied it a chief advantage of living in New York that + you could drive to the steamer and start for Europe as if you were + starting for Albany; he was in the enjoyment of this advantage now, but + somehow it was not the consolation he had expected. He knew, of course, + that if they had been coming from Boston, for instance, to sail in the + Norumbia, they would probably have gone on board the night before, and + sweltered through its heat among the strange smells and noises of the dock + and wharf, instead of breakfasting at their own table, and smoothly + bowling down the asphalt on to the ferryboat, and so to the very foot of + the gangway at the ship's side, all in the cool of the early + morning. But though he had now the cool of the early morning on these + conditions, there was by no means enough of it. + </p> + <p> + The sun was already burning the life out of the air, with the threat of + another day of the terrible heat that had prevailed for a week past; and + that last breakfast at home had not been gay, though it had been lively, + in a fashion, through Mrs. March's efforts to convince her son that + she did not want him to come and see them off. Of, her daughter's + coming all the way from Chicago there was no question, and she reasoned + that if he did not come to say good-by on board it would be the same as if + they were not going. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you want to go?” March asked with an obscure + resentment. + </p> + <p> + “I don't want to seem to go,” she said, with the calm of + those who have logic on their side. + </p> + <p> + As she drove away with her husband she was not so sure of her satisfaction + in the feint she had arranged, though when she saw the ghastly partings of + people on board, she was glad she had not allowed her son to come. She + kept saying this to herself, and when they climbed to the ship from the + wharf, and found themselves in the crowd that choked the saloons and + promenades and passages and stairways and landings, she said it more than + once to her husband. + </p> + <p> + She heard weary elders pattering empty politenesses of farewell with + friends who had come to see them off, as they stood withdrawn in such + refuges as the ship's architecture afforded, or submitted to be + pushed and twirled about by the surging throng when they got in its way. + She pitied these in their affliction, which she perceived that they could + not lighten or shorten, but she had no patience with the young girls, who + broke into shrieks of nervous laughter at the coming of certain young men, + and kept laughing and beckoning till they made the young men see them; and + then stretched their hands to them and stood screaming and shouting to + them across the intervening heads and shoulders. Some girls, of those whom + no one had come to bid good-by, made themselves merry, or at least noisy, + by rushing off to the dining-room and looking at the cards on the bouquets + heaping the tables, to find whether any one had sent them flowers. Others + whom young men had brought bunches of violets hid their noses in them, and + dropped their fans and handkerchiefs and card-cases, and thanked the young + men for picking them up. Others, had got places in the music-room, and sat + there with open boxes of long-stemmed roses in their laps, and talked up + into the faces of the men, with becoming lifts and slants of their eyes + and chins. In the midst of the turmoil children struggled against people's + feet and knees, and bewildered mothers flew at the ship's officers + and battered them with questions alien to their respective functions as + they amiably stifled about in their thick uniforms. + </p> + <p> + Sailors, slung over the ship's side on swinging seats, were placidly + smearing it with paint at that last moment; the bulwarks were thickly set + with the heads and arms of passengers who were making signs to friends on + shore, or calling messages to them that lost themselves in louder noises + midway. Some of the women in the steerage were crying; they were probably + not going to Europe for pleasure like the first-cabin passengers, or even + for their health; on the wharf below March saw the face of one young girl + twisted with weeping, and he wished he had not seen it. He turned from it, + and looked into the eyes of his son, who was laughing at his shoulder. He + said that he had to come down with a good-by letter from his sister, which + he made an excuse for following them; but he had always meant to see them + off, he owned. The letter had just come with a special delivery stamp, and + it warned them that she had sent another good-by letter with some flowers + on board. Mrs. March scolded at them both, but with tears in her eyes, and + in the renewed stress of parting which he thought he had put from him, + March went on taking note, as with alien senses, of the scene before him, + while they all talked on together, and repeated the nothings they had said + already. + </p> + <p> + A rank odor of beet-root sugar rose from the far-branching sheds where + some freight steamers of the line lay, and seemed to mingle chemically + with the noise which came up from the wharf next to the Norumbia. The mass + of spectators deepened and dimmed away into the shadow of the roofs, and + along their front came files of carriages and trucks and carts, and + discharged the arriving passengers and their baggage, and were lost in the + crowd, which they penetrated like slow currents, becoming clogged and + arrested from time to time, and then beginning to move again. + </p> + <p> + The passengers incessantly mounted by the canvas-draped galleries leading, + fore and aft, into the ship. Bareheaded, blue-jacketed, brass-buttoned + stewards dodged skillfully in and out among them with their hand-bags, + holdalls, hat-boxes, and state-room trunks, and ran before them into the + different depths and heights where they hid these burdens, and then ran + back for more. Some of the passengers followed them and made sure that + their things were put in the right places; most of them remained wedged + among the earlier comers, or pushed aimlessly in and out of the doors of + the promenades. + </p> + <p> + The baggage for the hold continually rose in huge blocks from the wharf, + with a loud clucking of the tackle, and sank into the open maw of the + ship, momently gathering herself for her long race seaward, with harsh + hissings and rattlings and gurglings. There was no apparent reason why it + should all or any of it end, but there came a moment when there began to + be warnings that were almost threats of the end. The ship's whistle + sounded, as if marking a certain interval; and Mrs. March humbly + entreated, sternly commanded, her son to go ashore, or else be carried to + Europe. They disputed whether that was the last signal or not; she was + sure it was, and she appealed to March, who was moved against his reason. + He affected to talk calmly with his son, and gave him some last charges + about 'Every Other Week'. + </p> + <p> + Some people now interrupted their leave-taking; but the arriving + passengers only arrived more rapidly at the gang-ways; the bulks of + baggage swung more swiftly into the air. A bell rang, and there rose women's + cries, “Oh, that is the shore-bell!” and men's protests, + “It is only the first bell!” More and more began to descend + the gangways, fore and aft, and soon outnumbered those who were coming + aboard. + </p> + <p> + March tried not to be nervous about his son's lingering; he was + ashamed of his anxiety; but he said in a low voice, “Better be off, + Tom.” + </p> + <p> + His mother now said she did not care if Tom were really carried to Europe; + and at last he said, Well, he guessed he must go ashore, as if there had + been no question of that before; and then she clung to him and would not + let him go; but she acquired merit with herself at last by pushing him + into the gangway with her own hands: he nodded and waved his hat from its + foot, and mixed with the crowd. + </p> + <p> + Presently there was hardly any one coming aboard, and the sailors began to + undo the lashings of the gangways from the ship's side; files of men + on the wharf laid hold of their rails; the stewards guarding their + approach looked up for the signal to come aboard; and in vivid pantomime + forbade some belated leavetakers to ascend. These stood aside, exchanging + bows and grins with the friends whom they could not reach; they all tried + to make one another hear some last words. The moment came when the saloon + gangway was detached; then it was pulled ashore, and the section of the + bulwarks opening to it was locked, not to be unlocked on this side of the + world. An indefinable impulse communicated itself to the steamer: while it + still seemed motionless it moved. The thick spread of faces on the wharf, + which had looked at times like some sort of strange flowers in a level + field, broke into a universal tremor, and the air above them was filled + with hats and handkerchiefs, as if with the flight of birds rising from + the field. + </p> + <p> + The Marches tried to make out their son's face; they believed that + they did; but they decided that they had not seen him, and his mother said + that she was glad; it would only have made it harder to bear, though she + was glad he had come over to say good-by it had seemed so unnatural that + he should not, when everybody else was saying good-by. + </p> + <p> + On the wharf color was now taking the place of form; the scene ceased to + have the effect of an instantaneous photograph; it was like an + impressionistic study. As the ship swung free of the shed and got into the + stream, the shore lost reality. Up to a certain moment, all was still New + York, all was even Hoboken; then amidst the grotesque and monstrous shows + of the architecture on either shore March felt himself at sea and on the + way to Europe. + </p> + <p> + The fact was accented by the trouble people were already making with the + deck-steward about their steamer chairs, which they all wanted put in the + best places, and March, with a certain heart-ache, was involuntarily + verifying the instant in which he ceased to be of his native shores, while + still in full sight of them, when he suddenly reverted to them, and as it + were landed on them again in an incident that held him breathless. A man, + bareheaded, and with his arms flung wildly abroad, came flying down the + promenade from the steerage. “Capitan! Capitan! There is a woman!” + he shouted in nondescript English. “She must go hout! She must go + hout!” Some vital fact imparted itself to the ship's command + and seemed to penetrate to the ship's heart; she stopped, as if with + a sort of majestic relenting. A tug panted to her side, and lifted a + ladder to it; the bareheaded man, and a woman gripping a baby in her arms, + sprawled safely down its rungs to the deck of the tug, and the steamer + moved seaward again. + </p> + <p> + “What is it? Oh, what is it?” his wife demanded of March's + share of their common ignorance. A young fellow passing stopped, as if + arrested by the tragic note in her voice, and explained that the woman had + left three little children locked up in her tenement while she came to bid + some friends on board good-by. + </p> + <p> + He passed on, and Mrs. March said, “What a charming face he had!” + even before she began to wreak upon that wretched mother the overwrought + sympathy which makes good women desire the punishment of people who have + escaped danger. She would not hear any excuse for her. “Her children + oughtn't to have been out of her mind for an instant.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you want to send back a line to ours by the pilot?” + March asked. + </p> + <p> + She started from him. “Oh, was I really beginning to forget them?” + </p> + <p> + In the saloon where people were scattered about writing pilot's + letters she made him join her in an impassioned epistle of farewell, which + once more left none of the nothings unsaid that they had many times + reiterated. She would not let him put the stamp on, for fear it would not + stick, and she had an agonizing moment of doubt whether it ought not to be + a German stamp; she was not pacified till the steward in charge of the + mail decided. + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't have forgiven myself,” March said, “if + we hadn't let Tom know that twenty minutes after he left us we were + still alive and well.” + </p> + <p> + “It's to Bella, too,” she reasoned. + </p> + <p> + He found her making their state-room look homelike with their familiar + things when he came with their daughter's steamer letter and the + flowers and fruit she had sent. She said, Very well, they would all keep, + and went on with her unpacking. He asked her if she did not think these + home things made it rather ghastly, and she said if he kept on in that way + she should certainly go back on the pilot-boat. He perceived that her + nerves were spent. He had resisted the impulse to an ill-timed joke about + the life-preservers under their berths when the sound of the + breakfast-horn, wavering first in the distance, found its way nearer and + clearer down their corridor. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0091" id="link2H_4_0091"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + In one of the many visits to the steamship office which his wife's + anxieties obliged him to make, March had discussed the question of seats + in the dining-saloon. At first he had his ambition for the captain's + table, but they convinced him more easily than he afterwards convinced + Mrs. March that the captain's table had become a superstition of the + past, and conferred no special honor. It proved in the event that the + captain of the Norumbia had the good feeling to dine in a lower saloon + among the passengers who paid least for their rooms. But while the Marches + were still in their ignorance of this, they decided to get what adventure + they could out of letting the head steward put them where he liked, and + they came in to breakfast with a careless curiosity to see what he had + done for them. + </p> + <p> + There seemed scarcely a vacant place in the huge saloon; through the oval + openings in the centre they looked down into the lower saloon and up into + the music-room, as thickly thronged with breakfasters. The tables were + brightened with the bouquets and the floral designs of ships, anchors, + harps, and doves sent to the lady passengers, and at one time the Marches + thought they were going to be put before a steam-yacht realized to the + last detail in blue and white violets. The ports of the saloon were open, + and showed the level sea; the ship rode with no motion except the tremor + from her screws. The sound of talking and laughing rose with the clatter + of knives and forks and the clash of crockery; the homely smell of the + coffee and steak and fish mixed with the spice of the roses and + carnations; the stewards ran hither and thither, and a young foolish joy + of travel welled up in the elderly hearts of the pair. When the head + steward turned out the swivel-chairs where they were to sit they both made + an inclination toward the people already at table, as if it had been a + company at some far-forgotten table d'hote in the later sixties. The + head steward seemed to understand as well as speak English, but the + table-stewards had only an effect of English, which they eked out with + “Bleace!” for all occasions of inquiry, apology, or + reassurance, as the equivalent of their native “Bitte!” + Otherwise there was no reason to suppose that they did not speak German, + which was the language of a good half of the passengers. The stewards + looked English, however, in conformity to what seems the ideal of every + kind of foreign seafaring people, and that went a good way toward making + them intelligible. + </p> + <p> + March, to whom his wife mainly left their obeisance, made it so tentative + that if it should meet no response he could feel that it had been nothing + more than a forward stoop, such as was natural in sitting down. He need + not really have taken this precaution; those whose eyes he caught more or + less nodded in return. + </p> + <p> + A nice-looking boy of thirteen or fourteen, who had the place on the left + of the lady in the sofa seat under the port, bowed with almost magisterial + gravity, and made the lady on the sofa smile, as if she were his mother + and understood him. March decided that she had been some time a widow; and + he easily divined that the young couple on her right had been so little + time husband and wife that they would rather not have it known. Next them + was a young lady whom he did not at first think so good-looking as she + proved later to be, though she had at once a pretty nose, with a slight + upward slant at the point, long eyes under fallen lashes, a straight + forehead, not too high, and a mouth which perhaps the exigencies of + breakfasting did not allow all its characteristic charm. She had what Mrs. + March thought interesting hair, of a dull black, roughly rolled away from + her forehead and temples in a fashion not particularly becoming to her, + and she had the air of not looking so well as she might if she had chosen. + The elderly man on her right, it was easy to see, was her father; they had + a family likeness, though his fair hair, now ashen with age, was so + different from hers. He wore his beard cut in the fashion of the Second + Empire, with a Louis Napoleonic mustache, imperial, and chin tuft; his + neat head was cropt close; and there was something Gallic in its effect + and something remotely military: he had blue eyes, really less severe than + he meant, though be frowned a good deal, and managed them with glances of + a staccato quickness, as if challenging a potential disagreement with his + opinions. + </p> + <p> + The gentleman on his right, who sat at the head of the table, was of the + humorous, subironical American expression, and a smile at the corner of + his kindly mouth, under an iron-gray full beard cut short, at once + questioned and tolerated the new-comers as he glanced at them. He + responded to March's bow almost as decidedly as the nice boy, whose + mother he confronted at the other end of the table, and with his comely + bulk formed an interesting contrast to her vivid slightness. She was + brilliantly dark, behind the gleam of the gold-rimmed glasses perched on + her pretty nose. + </p> + <p> + If the talk had been general before the Marches came, it did not at once + renew itself in that form. Nothing was said while they were having their + first struggle with the table-stewards, who repeated the order as if to + show how fully they had misunderstood it. The gentleman at the head of the + table intervened at last, and then, “I'm obliged to you,” + March said, “for your German. I left mine in a phrase-book in my + other coat pocket.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I wasn't speaking German,” said the other. “It + was merely their kind of English.” + </p> + <p> + The company were in the excitement of a novel situation which disposes + people to acquaintance, and this exchange of small pleasantries made every + one laugh, except the father and daughter; but they had the effect of + being tacitly amused. + </p> + <p> + The mother of the nice boy said to Mrs. March, “You may not get what + you ordered, but it will be good.” + </p> + <p> + “Even if you don't know what it is!” said the young + bride, and then blushed, as if she had been too bold. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March liked the blush and the young bride for it, and she asked, + “Have you ever been on one of these German boats before? They seem + very comfortable.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear, no! we've never been on any boat before.” She + made a little petted mouth of deprecation, and added, simple-heartedly, + “My husband was going out on business, and he thought he might as + well take me along.” + </p> + <p> + The husband seemed to feel himself brought in by this, and said he did not + see why they should not make it a pleasure-trip, too. They put themselves + in a position to be patronized by their deference, and in the pauses of + his talk with the gentleman at the head of the table, March heard his wife + abusing their inexperience to be unsparingly instructive about European + travel. He wondered whether she would be afraid to own that it was nearly + thirty years since she had crossed the ocean; though that might seem + recent to people who had never crossed at all. + </p> + <p> + They listened with respect as she boasted in what an anguish of wisdom she + had decided between the Colmannia and the Norumbia. The wife said she did + not know there was such a difference in steamers, but when Mrs. March + perfervidly assured her that there was all the difference in the world, + she submitted and said she supposed she ought to be thankful that they, + had hit upon the right one. They had telegraphed for berths and taken what + was given them; their room seemed to be very nice. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Mrs. March, and her husband knew that she was + saying it to reconcile them to the inevitable, “all the rooms on the + Norumbia are nice. The only difference is that if they are on the south + side you have the sun.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not sure which is the south side,” said the bride. + “We seem to have been going west ever since we started, and I feel + as if we should reach home in the morning if we had a good night. Is the + ocean always so smooth as this?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear, no!” said Mrs. March. “It's never so + smooth as this,” and she began to be outrageously authoritative + about the ocean weather. She ended by declaring that the June passages + were always good, and that if the ship kept a southerly course they would + have no fogs and no icebergs. She looked round, and caught her husband's + eye. “What is it? Have I been bragging? Well, you understand,” + she added to the bride, “I've only been over once, a great + while ago, and I don't really know anything about it,” and + they laughed together. “But I talked so much with people after we + decided to go, that I feel as if I had been a hundred times.” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” said the other lady, with caressing intelligence. + “That is just the way with—” She stopped, and looked at + the young man whom the head steward was bringing up to take the vacant + place next to March. He came forward, stuffing his cap into the pocket of + his blue serge sack, and smiled down on the company with such happiness in + his gay eyes that March wondered what chance at this late day could have + given any human creature his content so absolute, and what calamity could + be lurking round the corner to take it out of him. The new-comer looked at + March as if he knew him, and March saw at a second glance that he was the + young fellow who had told him about the mother put off after the start. He + asked him whether there was any change in the weather yet outside, and he + answered eagerly, as if the chance to put his happiness into the mere + sound of words were a favor done him, that their ship had just spoken one + of the big Hanseatic mailboats, and she had signalled back that she had + met ice; so that they would probably keep a southerly course, and not have + it cooler till they were off the Banks. + </p> + <p> + The mother of the boy said, “I thought we must be off the Banks when + I came out of my room, but it was only the electric fan at the foot of the + stairs.” + </p> + <p> + “That was what I thought,” said Mrs. March. “I almost + sent my husband back for my shawl!” Both the ladies laughed and + liked each other for their common experience. + </p> + <p> + The gentleman at the head of the table said, “They ought to have + fans going there by that pillar, or else close the ports. They only let in + heat.” + </p> + <p> + They easily conformed to the American convention of jocosity in their + talk; it perhaps no more represents the individual mood than the + convention of dulness among other people; but it seemed to make the young + man feel at home. + </p> + <p> + “Why, do you think it's uncomfortably warm?” he asked, + from what March perceived to be a meteorology of his own. He laughed and + added, “It is pretty summerlike,” as if he had not thought of + it before. He talked of the big mail-boat, and said he would like to cross + on such a boat as that, and then he glanced at the possible advantage of + having your own steam-yacht like the one which he said they had just + passed, so near that you could see what a good time the people were having + on board. He began to speak to the Marches; his talk spread to the young + couple across the table; it visited the mother on the sofa in a remark + which she might ignore without apparent rejection, and without really + avoiding the boy, it glanced off toward the father and daughter, from whom + it fell, to rest with the gentleman at the head of the table. + </p> + <p> + It was not that the father and daughter had slighted his overture, if it + was so much as that, but that they were tacitly preoccupied, or were of + some philosophy concerning their fellow-breakfasters which did not suffer + them, for the present, at least, to share in the common friendliness. This + is an attitude sometimes produced in people by a sense of just, or even + unjust, superiority; sometimes by serious trouble; sometimes by transient + annoyance. The cause was not so deep-seated but Mrs. March, before she + rose from her place, believed that she had detected a slant of the young + lady's eyes, from under her lashes, toward the young man; and she + leaped to a conclusion concerning them in a matter where all logical steps + are impertinent. She did not announce her arrival at this point till the + young man had overtaken her before she got out of the saloon, and + presented the handkerchief she had dropped under the table. + </p> + <p> + He went away with her thanks, and then she said to her husband, “Well, + he's perfectly charming, and I don't wonder she's taken + with him; that kind of cold girl would be, though I'm not sure that + she is cold. She's interesting, and you could see that he thought + so, the more he looked at her; I could see him looking at her from the + very first instant; he couldn't keep his eyes off her; she piqued + his curiosity, and made him wonder about her.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, look here, Isabel! This won't do. I can stand a good + deal, but I sat between you and that young fellow, and you couldn't + tell whether he was looking at that girl or not.” + </p> + <p> + “I could! I could tell by the expression of her face.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well! If it's gone as far as that with you, I give it up. + When are you going to have them married?” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! I want you to find out who all those people are. How are + you going to do it?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps the passenger list will say,” he suggested. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0092" id="link2H_4_0092"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. + </h2> + <p> + The list did not say of itself, but with the help of the head steward's + diagram it said that the gentleman at the head of the table was Mr. R. M. + Kenby; the father and the daughter were Mr. E. B. Triscoe and Miss + Triscoe; the bridal pair were Mr. and Mrs. Leffers; the mother and her son + were Mrs. Adding and Mr. Roswell Adding; the young man who came in last + was Mr. L. J. Burnamy. March carried the list, with these names carefully + checked and rearranged on a neat plan of the table, to his wife in her + steamer chair, and left her to make out the history and the character of + the people from it. In this sort of conjecture long experience had taught + him his futility, and he strolled up and down and looked at the life about + him with no wish to penetrate it deeply. + </p> + <p> + Long Island was now a low yellow line on the left. Some fishing-boats + flickered off the shore; they met a few sail, and left more behind; but + already, and so near one of the greatest ports of the world, the spacious + solitude of the ocean was beginning. There was no swell; the sea lay quite + flat, with a fine mesh of wrinkles on its surface, and the sun flamed down + upon it from a sky without a cloud. With the light fair wind, there was no + resistance in the sultry air, the thin, dun smoke from the smoke-stack + fell about the decks like a stifling veil. + </p> + <p> + The promenades, were as uncomfortably crowded as the sidewalk of + Fourteenth Street on a summer's day, and showed much the social + average of a New York shopping thoroughfare. Distinction is something that + does not always reveal itself at first sight on land, and at sea it is + still more retrusive. A certain democracy of looks and clothes was the + most notable thing to March in the apathetic groups and detached figures. + His criticism disabled the saloon passengers of even so much personal + appeal as he imagined in some of the second-cabin passengers whom he saw + across their barrier; they had at least the pathos of their exclusion, and + he could wonder if they felt it or envied him. At Hoboken he had seen + certain people coming on board who looked like swells; but they had now + either retired from the crowd, or they had already conformed to the + prevailing type. It was very well as a type; he was of it himself; but he + wished that beauty as well as distinction had not been so lost in it. + </p> + <p> + In fact, he no longer saw so much beauty anywhere as he once did. It might + be that he saw life more truly than when he was young, and that his + glasses were better than his eyes had been; but there were analogies that + forbade his thinking so, and he sometimes had his misgivings that the + trouble was with his glasses. He made what he could of a pretty girl who + had the air of not meaning to lose a moment from flirtation, and was + luring her fellow-passengers from under her sailor hat. She had already + attached one of them; and she was hooking out for more. She kept moving + herself from the waist up, as if she worked there on a pivot, showing now + this side and now that side of her face, and visiting the admirer she had + secured with a smile as from the lamp of a revolving light as she turned. + </p> + <p> + While he was dwelling upon this folly, with a sense of impersonal pleasure + in it as complete through his years as if he were already a disembodied + spirit, the pulse of the engines suddenly ceased, and he joined the + general rush to the rail, with a fantastic expectation of seeing another + distracted mother put off; but it was only the pilot leaving the ship. He + was climbing down the ladder which hung over the boat, rising and sinking + on the sea below, while the two men in her held her from the ship's + side with their oars; in the offing lay the white steam-yacht which now + replaces the picturesque pilot-sloop of other times. The Norumbia's + screws turned again under half a head of steam; the pilot dropped from the + last rung of the ladder into the boat, and caught the bundle of letters + tossed after him. Then his men let go the line that was towing their + craft, and the incident of the steamer's departure was finally + closed. It had been dramatically heightened perhaps by her final + impatience to be off at some added risks to the pilot and his men, but not + painfully so, and March smiled to think how men whose lives are all of + dangerous chances seem always to take as many of them as they can. + </p> + <p> + He heard a girl's fresh voice saying at his shoulder, “Well, + now we are off; and I suppose you're glad, papa!” + </p> + <p> + “I'm glad we're not taking the pilot on, at least,” + answered the elderly man whom the girl had spoken to; and March turned to + see the father and daughter whose reticence at the breakfast table had + interested him. He wondered that he had left her out of the account in + estimating the beauty of the ship's passengers: he saw now that she + was not only extremely pretty, but as she moved away she was very + graceful; she even had distinction. He had fancied a tone of tolerance, + and at the same time of reproach in her voice, when she spoke, and a tone + of defiance and not very successful denial in her father's; and he + went back with these impressions to his wife, whom he thought he ought to + tell why the ship had stopped. + </p> + <p> + She had not noticed the ship's stopping, in her study of the + passenger list, and she did not care for the pilot's leaving; but + she seemed to think his having overheard those words of the father and + daughter an event of prime importance. With a woman's willingness to + adapt the means to the end she suggested that he should follow them up and + try to overhear something more; she only partially realized the infamy of + her suggestion when he laughed in scornful refusal. + </p> + <p> + “Of course I don't want you to eavesdrop, but I do want you to + find out about them. And about Mr. Burnamy, too. I can wait, about the + others, or manage for myself, but these are driving me to distraction. + Now, will you?” + </p> + <p> + He said he would do anything he could with honor, and at one of the + earliest turns he made on the other side of the ship he was smilingly + halted by Mr. Burnamy, who asked to be excused, and then asked if he were + not Mr. March of 'Every Other Week'; he had seen the name on + the passenger list, and felt sure it must be the editor's. He seemed + so trustfully to expect March to remember his own name as that of a writer + from whom he had accepted a short poem, yet unprinted, that the editor + feigned to do so until he really did dimly recall it. He even recalled the + short poem, and some civil words he said about it caused Burnamy to + overrun in confidences that at once touched and amused him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0093" id="link2H_4_0093"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + Burnamy, it seemed, had taken passage on the Norumbia because he found, + when he arrived in New York the day before, that she was the first boat + out. His train was so much behind time that when he reached the office of + the Hanseatic League it was nominally shut, but he pushed in by sufferance + of the janitor, and found a berth, which had just been given up, in one of + the saloon-deck rooms. It was that or nothing; and he felt rich enough to + pay for it himself if the Bird of Prey, who had cabled him to come out to + Carlsbad as his secretary, would not stand the difference between the + price and that of the lower-deck six-in-a-room berth which he would have + taken if he had been allowed a choice. + </p> + <p> + With the three hundred dollars he had got for his book, less the price of + his passage, changed into German bank-notes and gold pieces, and safely + buttoned in the breast pocket of his waistcoat, he felt as safe from + pillage as from poverty when he came out from buying his ticket; he + covertly pressed his arm against his breast from time to time, for the joy + of feeling his money there and not from any fear of finding it gone. He + wanted to sing, he wanted to dance; he could not believe it was he, as he + rode up the lonely length of Broadway in the cable-car, between the wild, + irregular walls of the canyon which the cable-cars have all to themselves + at the end of a summer afternoon. + </p> + <p> + He went and dined, and he thought he dined well, at a Spanish-American + restaurant, for fifty cents, with a half-bottle of California claret + included. When he came back to Broadway he was aware that it was + stiflingly hot in the pinkish twilight, but he took a cable-car again in + lack of other pastime, and the motion served the purpose of a breeze, + which he made the most of by keeping his hat off. It did not really matter + to him whether it was hot or cool; he was imparadised in weather which had + nothing to do with the temperature. Partly because he was born to such + weather, in the gayety of soul which amused some people with him, and + partly because the world was behaving as he had always expected, he was + opulently content with the present moment. But he thought very tolerantly + of the future, and he confirmed himself in the decision he had already + made, to stick to Chicago when he came back to America. New York was very + well, and he had no sentiment about Chicago; but he had got a foothold + there; he had done better with an Eastern publisher, he believed, by + hailing from the West, and he did not believe it would hurt him with the + Eastern public to keep on hailing from the West. + </p> + <p> + He was glad of a chance to see Europe, but he did not mean to come home so + dazzled as to see nothing else against the American sky. He fancied, for + he really knew nothing, that it was the light of Europe, not its glare + that he wanted, and he wanted it chiefly on his material, so as to see it + more and more objectively. It was his power of detachment from this that + had enabled him to do his sketches in the paper with such charm as to lure + a cash proposition from a publisher when he put them together for a book, + but he believed that his business faculty had much to do with his success; + and he was as proud of that as of the book itself. Perhaps he was not so + very proud of the book; he was at least not vain of it; he could, detach + himself from his art as well as his material. + </p> + <p> + Like all literary temperaments he was of a certain hardness, in spite of + the susceptibilities that could be used to give coloring to his work. He + knew this well enough, but he believed that there were depths of + unprofessional tenderness in his nature. He was good to his mother, and he + sent her money, and wrote to her in the little Indiana town where he had + left her when he came to Chicago. After he got that invitation from the + Bird of Prey, he explored his heart for some affection that he had not + felt for him before, and he found a wish that his employer should not know + it was he who had invented that nickname for him. He promptly avowed this + in the newspaper office which formed one of the eyries of the Bird of + Prey, and made the fellows promise not to give him away. He failed to move + their imagination when he brought up as a reason for softening toward him + that he was from Burnamy's own part of Indiana, and was a benefactor + of Tippecanoe University, from which Burnamy was graduated. But they, + relished the cynicism of his attempt; and they were glad of his good luck, + which he was getting square and not rhomboid, as most people seem to get + their luck. They liked him, and some of them liked him for his clean young + life as well as for his cleverness. His life was known to be as clean as a + girl's, and he looked like a girl with his sweet eyes, though he had + rather more chin than most girls. + </p> + <p> + The conductor came to reverse his seat, and Burnamy told him he guessed he + would ride back with him as far as the cars to the Hoboken Ferry, if the + conductor would put him off at the right place. It was nearly nine o'clock, + and he thought he might as well be going over to the ship, where he had + decided to pass the night. After he found her, and went on board, he was + glad he had not gone sooner. A queasy odor of drainage stole up from the + waters of the dock, and mixed with the rank, gross sweetness of the bags + of beet-root sugar from the freight-steamers; there was a coming and going + of carts and trucks on the wharf, and on the ship a rattling of chains and + a clucking of pulleys, with sudden outbreaks and then sudden silences of + trampling sea-boots. Burnamy looked into the dining-saloon and the + music-room, with the notion of trying for some naps there; then he went to + his state-room. His room-mate, whoever he was to be, had not come; and he + kicked off his shoes and threw off his coat and tumbled into his berth. + </p> + <p> + He meant to rest awhile, and then get up and spend the night in receiving + impressions. He could not think of any one who had done the facts of the + eve of sailing on an Atlantic liner. He thought he would use the material + first in a letter to the paper and afterwards in a poem; but he found + himself unable to grasp the notion of its essential relation to the choice + between chicken croquettes and sweetbreads as entrees of the restaurant + dinner where he had been offered neither; he knew that he had begun to + dream, and that he must get up. He was just going to get up, when he woke + to a sense of freshness in the air, penetrating from the new day outside. + He looked at his watch and found it was quarter past six; he glanced round + the state-room and saw that he had passed the night alone in it. Then he + splashed himself hastily at the basin next his berth, and jumped into his + clothes, and went on deck, anxious to lose no feature or emotion of the + ship's departure. + </p> + <p> + When she was fairly off he returned to his room to change the thick coat + he had put on at the instigation of the early morning air. His room-mate + was still absent, but he was now represented by his state-room baggage, + and Burnamy tried to infer him from it. He perceived a social quality in + his dress-coat case, capacious gladstone, hat-box, rug, umbrella, and + sole-leather steamer trunk which he could not attribute to his own + equipment. The things were not so new as his; they had an effect of polite + experience, with a foreign registry and customs label on them here and + there. They had been chosen with both taste and knowledge, and Burnamy + would have said that they were certainly English things, if it had not + been for the initials U. S. A. which followed the name of E. B. Triscoe on + the end of the steamer trunk showing itself under the foot of the lower + berth. + </p> + <p> + The lower berth had fallen to Burnamy through the default of the passenger + whose ticket he had got at the last hour; the clerk in the steamer office + had been careful to impress him with this advantage, and he now imagined a + trespass on his property. But he reassured himself by a glance at his + ticket, and went out to watch the ship's passage down the stream and + through the Narrows. After breakfast he came to his room again, to see + what could be done from his valise to make him look better in the eyes of + a girl whom he had seen across the table; of course he professed a much + more general purpose. He blamed himself for not having got at least a pair + of the white tennis-shoes which so many of the passengers were wearing; + his russet shoes had turned shabby on his feet; but there was a pair of + enamelled leather boots in his bag which he thought might do. + </p> + <p> + His room was in the group of cabins on the upper deck; he had already + missed his way to it once by mistaking the corridor which it opened into; + and he was not sure that he was not blundering again when he peered down + the narrow passage where he supposed it was. A lady was standing at an + open state-room door, resting her hands against the jambs and leaning + forward with her head within and talking to some one there. Before he + could draw back and try another corridor he heard her say: “Perhaps + he's some young man, and wouldn't care.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy could not make out the answer that came from within. The lady + spoke again in a tone of reluctant assent, “No, I don't + suppose you could; but if he understood, perhaps he would offer.” + </p> + <p> + She drew her head out of the room, stepping back a pace, and lingering a + moment at the threshold. She looked round over her shoulder and discovered + Burnamy, where he stood hesitating at the head of the passage. She ebbed + before him, and then flowed round him in her instant escape; with some + murmured incoherencies about speaking to her father, she vanished in a + corridor on the other side of the ship, while he stood staring into the + doorway of his room. + </p> + <p> + He had seen that she was the young lady for whom he had come to put on his + enamelled shoes, and he saw that the person within was the elderly + gentleman who had sat next her at breakfast. He begged his pardon, as he + entered, and said he hoped he should not disturb him. “I'm + afraid I left my things all over the place, when I got up this morning.” + </p> + <p> + The other entreated him not to mention it and went on taking from his + hand-bag a variety of toilet appliances which the sight of made Burnamy + vow to keep his own simple combs and brushes shut in his valise all the + way over. “You slept on board, then,” he suggested, arresting + himself with a pair of low shoes in his hand; he decided to put them in a + certain pocket of his steamer bag. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” Burnamy laughed, nervously: “I came near + oversleeping, and getting off to sea without knowing it; and I rushed out + to save myself, and so—” + </p> + <p> + He began to gather up his belongings while he followed the movements of + Mr. Triscoe with a wistful eye. He would have liked to offer his lower + berth to this senior of his, when he saw him arranging to take possession + of the upper; but he did not quite know how to manage it. He noticed that + as the other moved about he limped slightly, unless it were rather a weary + easing of his person from one limb to the other. He stooped to pull his + trunk out from under the berth, and Burnamy sprang to help him. + </p> + <p> + “Let me get that out for you!” He caught it up and put it on + the sofa under the port. “Is that where you want it?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes,” the other assented. “You're very good,” + and as he took out his key to unlock the trunk he relented a little + farther to the intimacies of the situation. “Have you arranged with + the bath-steward yet? It's such a full boat.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I haven't,” said Burnamy, as if he had tried and + failed; till then he had not known that there was a bath-steward. “Shall + I get him for you?” + </p> + <p> + “No; no. Our bedroom-steward will send him, I dare say, thank you.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Triscoe had got his trunk open, and Burnamy had no longer an excuse + for lingering. In his defeat concerning the bath-steward, as he felt it to + be, he had not the courage, now, to offer the lower berth. He went away, + forgetting to change his shoes; but he came back, and as soon as he got + the enamelled shoes on, and shut the shabby russet pair in his bag, he + said, abruptly: “Mr. Triscoe, I wish you'd take the lower + berth. I got it at the eleventh hour by some fellow's giving it up, + and it isn't as if I'd bargained for it a month ago.” + </p> + <p> + The elder man gave him one of his staccato glances in which Burnamy + fancied suspicion and even resentment. But he said, after the moment of + reflection which he gave himself, “Why, thank you, if you don't + mind, really.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all!” cried the young man. “I should like the + upper berth better. We'll, have the steward change the sheets.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'll see that he does that,” said Mr. Triscoe. + “I couldn't allow you to take any trouble about it.” He + now looked as if he wished Burnamy would go, and leave him to his domestic + arrangements. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0094" id="link2H_4_0094"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. + </h2> + <p> + In telling about himself Burnamy touched only upon the points which he + believed would take his listener's intelligent fancy, and he stopped + so long before he had tired him that March said he would like to introduce + him to his wife. He saw in the agreeable young fellow an image of his own + youth, with some differences which, he was willing to own, were to the + young fellow's advantage. But they were both from the middle West; + in their native accent and their local tradition they were the same; they + were the same in their aspirations; they were of one blood in their + literary impulse to externate their thoughts and emotions. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy answered, with a glance at his enamelled shoes, that he would be + delighted, and when her husband brought him up to her, Mrs. March said she + was always glad to meet the contributors to the magazine, and asked him + whether he knew Mr. Kendricks, who was her favorite. Without giving him + time to reply to a question that seemed to depress him, she said that she + had a son who must be nearly his own age, and whom his father had left in + charge of 'Every Other Week' for the few months they were to + be gone; that they had a daughter married and living in Chicago. She made + him sit down by her in March's chair, and before he left them March + heard him magnanimously asking whether Mr. Kendricks was going to do + something more for the magazine soon. He sauntered away and did not know + how quickly Burnamy left this question to say, with the laugh and blush + which became him in her eyes: + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. March, there is something I should like to tell you about, if + you will let me.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly, Mr. Burnamy,” she began, but she saw that he + did not wish her to continue. + </p> + <p> + “Because,” he went on, “it's a little matter that + I shouldn't like to go wrong in.” + </p> + <p> + He told her of his having overheard what Miss Triscoe had said to her + father, and his belief that she was talking about the lower berth. He said + he would have wished to offer it, of course, but now he was afraid they + might think he had overheard them and felt obliged to do it. + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Mrs. March, and she added, thoughtfully, “She + looks like rather a proud girl.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” the young fellow sighed. + </p> + <p> + “She is very charming,” she continued, thoughtfully, but not + so judicially. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Burnamy owned, “that is certainly one of the + complications,” and they laughed together. + </p> + <p> + She stopped herself after saying, “I see what you mean,” and + suggested, “I think I should be guided by circumstances. It needn't + be done at once, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Burnamy began, and then he broke out, with a laugh of + embarrassment, “I've done it already.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Then it wasn't my advice, exactly, that you wanted.” + </p> + <p> + “No!” + </p> + <p> + “And how did he take it?” + </p> + <p> + “He said he should be glad to make the exchange if I really didn't + mind.” Burnamy had risen restlessly, and she did not ask him to + stay. She merely said: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well, I'm glad it turned out so nicely.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm so glad you think it was the thing to do.” He + managed to laugh again, but he could not hide from her that he was not + feeling altogether satisfied. “Would you like me to send Mr. March, + if I see him?” he asked, as if he did not know on what other terms + to get away. + </p> + <p> + “Do, please!” she entreated, and it seemed to her that he had + hardly left her when her husband came up. “Why, where in the world + did he find you so soon?” + </p> + <p> + “Did you send him for me? I was just hanging round for him to go.” + March sank into the chair at her side. “Well, is he going to marry + her?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you may laugh! But there is something very exciting!” She + told him what had happened, and of her belief that Burnamy's + handsome behavior had somehow not been met in kind. + </p> + <p> + March gave himself the pleasure of an immense laugh. “It seems to me + that this Mr. Burnamy of yours wanted a little more gratitude than he was + entitled to. Why shouldn't he have offered him the lower berth? And + why shouldn't the old gentleman have taken it just as he did? Did + you want him to make a counteroffer of his daughter's hand? If he + does, I hope Mr. Burnamy won't come for your advice till after he's + accepted her.” + </p> + <p> + “He wasn't very candid. I hoped you would speak about that. + Don't you think it was rather natural, though?” + </p> + <p> + “For him, very likely. But I think you would call it sinuous in some + one you hadn't taken a fancy to.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no. I wish to be just. I don't see how he could have come + straight at it. And he did own up at last.” She asked him what + Burnamy had done for the magazine, and he could remember nothing but that + one small poem, yet unprinted; he was rather vague about its value, but + said it had temperament. + </p> + <p> + “He has temperament, too,” she commented, and she had made him + tell her everything he knew, or could be forced to imagine about Burnamy, + before she let the talk turn to other things. + </p> + <p> + The life of the promenade had already settled into seafaring form; the + steamer chairs were full, and people were reading or dozing in them with + an effect of long habit. Those who would be walking up and down had begun + their walks; some had begun going in and out of the smoking-room; ladies + who were easily affected by the motion were lying down in the music-room. + Groups of both sexes were standing at intervals along the rail, and the + promenaders were obliged to double on a briefer course or work slowly + round them. Shuffleboard parties at one point and ring-toss parties at + another were forming among the young people. It was as lively and it was + as dull as it would be two thousand miles at sea. It was not the least + cooler, yet; but if you sat still you did not suffer. + </p> + <p> + In the prompt monotony the time was already passing swiftly. The + deck-steward seemed hardly to have been round with tea and bouillon, and + he had not yet gathered up all the empty cups, when the horn for lunch + sounded. It was the youngest of the table-stewards who gave the summons to + meals; and whenever the pretty boy appeared with his bugle, funny + passengers gathered round him to make him laugh, and stop him from winding + it. His part of the joke was to fulfill his duty with gravity, and only to + give way to a smile of triumph as he walked off. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0095" id="link2H_4_0095"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. + </h2> + <p> + At lunch, in the faded excitement of their first meeting, the people at + the Marches' table did not renew the premature intimacy of their + breakfast talk. Mrs. March went to lie down in her berth afterwards, and + March went on deck without her. He began to walk to and from the barrier + between the first and second cabin promenades; lingering near it, and + musing pensively, for some of the people beyond it looked as intelligent + and as socially acceptable, even to their clothes, as their pecuniary + betters of the saloon. + </p> + <p> + There were two women, a mother and daughter, whom he fancied to be + teachers, by their looks, going out for a little rest, or perhaps for a + little further study to fit them more perfectly for their work. They gazed + wistfully across at him whenever he came up to the barrier; and he feigned + a conversation with them and tried to convince them that the stamp of + inferiority which their poverty put upon them was just, or if not just, + then inevitable. He argued with them that the sort of barrier which here + prevented their being friends with him, if they wished it, ran invisibly + through society everywhere but he felt ashamed before their kind, patient, + intelligent faces, and found himself wishing to excuse the fact he was + defending. Was it any worse, he asked them, than their not being invited + to the entertainments of people in upper Fifth Avenue? He made them own + that if they were let across that barrier the whole second cabin would + have a logical right to follow; and they were silenced. But they continued + to gape at him with their sincere, gentle eyes whenever he returned to the + barrier in his walk, till he could bear it no longer, and strolled off + toward the steerage. + </p> + <p> + There was more reason why the passengers there should be penned into a + little space of their own in the sort of pit made by the narrowing deck at + the bow. They seemed to be all foreigners, and if any had made their + fortunes in our country they were hiding their prosperity in the return to + their own. They could hardly have come to us more shabby and squalid than + they were going away; but he thought their average less apathetic than + that of the saloon passengers, as he leaned over the rail and looked down + at them. Some one had brought out an electric battery, and the lumpish + boys and slattern girls were shouting and laughing as they writhed with + the current. A young mother seated flat on the deck, with her bare feet + stuck out, inattentively nursed her babe, while she laughed and shouted + with the rest; a man with his head tied in a shawl walked about the pen + and smiled grotesquely with the well side of his toothache-swollen face. + The owner of the battery carried it away, and a group of little children, + with blue eyes and yellow hair, gathered in the space he had left, and + looked up at a passenger near March who was eating some plums and cherries + which he had brought from the luncheon table. He began to throw the fruit + down to them, and the children scrambled for it. + </p> + <p> + An elderly man, with a thin, grave, aquiline face, said, “I shouldn't + want a child of mine down there.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” March responded, “it isn't quite what one + would choose for one's own. It's astonishing, though, how we + reconcile ourselves to it in the case of others.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose it's something we'll have to get used to on + the other side,” suggested the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” answered March, “you have some opportunities to + get used to it on this side, if you happen to live in New York,” and + he went on to speak of the raggedness which often penetrated the frontier + of comfort where he lived in Stuyvesant Square, and which seemed as glad + of alms in food or money as this poverty of the steerage. + </p> + <p> + The other listened restively like a man whose ideals are disturbed. + “I don't believe I should like to live in New York, much,” + he said, and March fancied that he wished to be asked where he did live. + It appeared that he lived in Ohio, and he named his town; he did not brag + of it, but he said it suited him. He added that he had never expected to + go to Europe, but that he had begun to run down lately, and his doctor + thought he had better go out and try Carlsbad. + </p> + <p> + March said, to invite his further confidence, that this was exactly his + own case. The Ohio man met the overture from a common invalidism as if it + detracted from his own distinction; and he turned to speak of the + difficulty, he had in arranging his affairs for leaving home. His heart + opened a little with the word, and he said how comfortable he and his wife + were in their house, and how much they both hated to shut it up. When + March offered him his card, he said he had none of his own with him, but + that his name was Eltwin. He betrayed a simple wish to have March realize + the local importance he had left behind him; and it was not hard to + comply; March saw a Grand Army button in the lapel of his coat, and he + knew that he was in the presence of a veteran. + </p> + <p> + He tried to guess his rank; in telling his wife about him, when he went + down to find her just before dinner, but he ended with a certain sense of + affliction. “There are too many elderly invalids on this ship. I + knock against people of my own age everywhere. Why aren't your + youthful lovers more in evidence, my dear? I don't believe they are + lovers, and I begin to doubt if they're young even.” + </p> + <p> + “It wasn't very satisfactory at lunch, certainly,” she + owned. “But I know it will be different at dinner.” She was + putting herself together after a nap that had made up for the lost sleep + of the night before. “I want you to look very nice, dear. Shall you + dress for dinner?” she asked her husband's image in the + state-room glass which she was preoccupying. + </p> + <p> + “I shall dress in my pea-jacket and sea-boots,” it answered. + </p> + <p> + “I have heard that they always dress for dinner on the big Cunard + and White Star boats, when it's good weather,” she went on, + placidly. “I shouldn't want those people to think you were not + up in the convenances.” + </p> + <p> + They both knew that she meant the reticent father and daughter, and March + flung out, “I shouldn't want them to think you weren't. + There's such a thing as overdoing.” + </p> + <p> + She attacked him at another point. “What has annoyed you? What else + have you been doing?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. I've been reading most of the afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “The Maiden Knight?” + </p> + <p> + This was the book which nearly everybody had brought on board. It was just + out, and had caught an instant favor, which swelled later to a tidal wave. + It depicted a heroic girl in every trying circumstance of mediaeval life, + and gratified the perennial passion of both sexes for historical romance, + while it flattered woman's instinct of superiority by the + celebration of her unintermitted triumphs, ending in a preposterous and + wholly superfluous self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + March laughed for pleasure in her guess, and she pursued, “I suppose + you didn't waste time looking if anybody had brought the last copy + of 'Every Other Week'?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I did; and I found the one you had left in your steamer chair—for + advertising purposes, probably.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Burnamy has another,” she said. “I saw it sticking + out of his pocket this morning.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. He told me he had got it on the train from Chicago to see + if it had his poem in it. He's an ingenuous soul—in some ways.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that is the very reason why you ought to find out whether the + men are going to dress, and let him know. He would never think of it + himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Neither would I,” said her husband. + </p> + <p> + “Very well, if you wish to spoil his chance at the outset,” + she sighed. + </p> + <p> + She did not quite know whether to be glad or not that the men were all in + sacks and cutaways at dinner; it saved her, from shame for her husband and + Mr. Burnamy; but it put her in the wrong. Every one talked; even the + father and daughter talked with each other, and at one moment Mrs. March + could not be quite sure that the daughter had not looked at her when she + spoke. She could not be mistaken in the remark which the father addressed + to Burnamy, though it led to nothing. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0096" id="link2H_4_0096"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. + </h2> + <p> + The dinner was uncommonly good, as the first dinner out is apt to be; and + it went gayly on from soup to fruit, which was of the American abundance + and variety, and as yet not of the veteran freshness imparted by the + ice-closet. Everybody was eating it, when by a common consciousness they + were aware of alien witnesses. They looked up as by a single impulse, and + saw at the port the gaunt face of a steerage passenger staring down upon + their luxury; he held on his arm a child that shared his regard with yet + hungrier eyes. A boy's nose showed itself as if tiptoed to the + height of the man's elbow; a young girl peered over his other arm. + </p> + <p> + The passengers glanced at one another; the two table-stewards, with their + napkins in their hands, smiled vaguely, and made some indefinite + movements. + </p> + <p> + The bachelor at the head of the table broke the spell. “I'm + glad it didn't begin with the Little Neck clams!” + </p> + <p> + “Probably they only let those people come for the dessert,” + March suggested. + </p> + <p> + The widow now followed the direction of the other eyes; and looked up over + her shoulder; she gave a little cry, and shrank down. The young bride made + her petted mouth, in appeal to the company; her husband looked severe, as + if he were going to do something, but refrained, not to make a scene. The + reticent father threw one of his staccato glances at the port, and Mrs. + March was sure that she saw the daughter steal a look at Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + The young fellow laughed. “I don't suppose there's + anything to be done about it, unless we pass out a plate.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Kenby shook his head. “It wouldn't do. We might send for + the captain. Or the chief steward.” + </p> + <p> + The faces at the port vanished. At other ports profiles passed and + repassed, as if the steerage passengers had their promenade under them, + but they paused no more. + </p> + <p> + The Marches went up to their steamer chairs, and from her exasperated + nerves Mrs. March denounced the arrangement of the ship which had made + such a cruel thing possible. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” he mocked, “they had probably had a good + substantial meal of their own, and the scene of our banquet was of the + quality of a picture, a purely aesthetic treat. But supposing it wasn't, + we're doing something like it every day and every moment of our + lives. The Norumbia is a piece of the whole world's civilization set + afloat, and passing from shore to shore with unchanged classes, and + conditions. A ship's merely a small stage, where we're brought + to close quarters with the daily drama of humanity.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” she protested, “I don't like being + brought to close quarters with the daily drama of humanity, as you call + it. And I don't believe that the large English ships are built so + that the steerage passengers can stare in at the saloon windows while one + is eating; and I'm sorry we came on the Norumbia.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you think the Norumbia doesn't hide anything,” he + began, and he was going to speak of the men in the furnace pits of the + steamer, how they fed the fires in a welding heat, and as if they had + perished in it crept out on the forecastle like blanched phantasms of + toil; but she interposed in time. + </p> + <p> + “If there's anything worse, for pity's sake don't + tell me,” she entreated, and he forebore. + </p> + <p> + He sat thinking how once the world had not seemed to have even death in + it, and then how as he had grown older death had come into it more and + more, and suffering was lurking everywhere, and could hardly be kept out + of sight. He wondered if that young Burnamy now saw the world as he used + to see it, a place for making verse and making love, and full of beauty of + all kinds waiting to be fitted with phrases. He had lived a happy life; + Burnamy would be lucky if he should live one half as happy; and yet if he + could show him his whole happy life, just as it had truly been, must not + the young man shrink from such a picture of his future? + </p> + <p> + “Say something,” said his wife. “What are you thinking + about?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Burnamy,” he answered, honestly enough. + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking about the children,” she said. “I am + glad Bella didn't try to come from Chicago to see us off; it would + have been too silly; she is getting to be very sensible. I hope Tom won't + take the covers off the furniture when he has the fellows in to see him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I want him to get all the comfort he can out of the place, + even if the moths eat up every stick of furniture.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, so do I. And of course you're wishing that you were + there with him!” March laughed guiltily. “Well, perhaps it was + a crazy thing for us to start off alone for Europe, at our age.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing of the kind,” he retorted in the necessity he + perceived for staying her drooping spirits. “I wouldn't be + anywhere else on any account. Isn't it perfectly delicious? It puts + me in mind of that night on the Lake Ontario boat, when we were starting + for Montreal. There was the same sort of red sunset, and the air wasn't + a bit softer than this.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke of a night on their wedding-journey when they were sill new + enough from Europe to be comparing everything at home with things there. + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps we shall get into the spirit of it again,” she + said, and they talked a long time of the past. + </p> + <p> + All the mechanical noises were muffled in the dull air, and the wash of + the ship's course through the waveless sea made itself pleasantly + heard. In the offing a steamer homeward bound swam smoothly by, so close + that her lights outlined her to the eye; she sent up some signal rockets + that soared against the purple heaven in green and crimson, and spoke to + the Norumbia in the mysterious mute phrases of ships that meet in the + dark. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March wondered what had become of Burnamy; the promenades were much + freer now than they had been since the ship sailed; when she rose to go + below, she caught sight of Burnamy walking the deck transversely with some + lady. She clutched her husband's arm and stayed him in rich + conjecture. + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose he can have got her to walking with him already?” + </p> + <p> + They waited till Burnamy and his companion came in sight again. She was + tilting forward, and turning from the waist, now to him and now from him. + </p> + <p> + “No; it's that pivotal girl,” said March; and his wife + said, “Well, I'm glad he won't be put down by them.” + </p> + <p> + In the music-room sat the people she meant, and at the instant she passed + on down the stairs, the daughter was saying to the father, “I don't + see why you didn't tell me sooner, papa.” + </p> + <p> + “It was such an unimportant matter that I didn't think to + mention it. He offered it, and I took it; that was all. What difference + could it have made to you?” + </p> + <p> + “None. But one doesn't like to do any one an injustice.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know you were thinking anything about it.” + </p> + <p> + “No, of course not.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0097" id="link2H_4_0097"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. + </h2> + <p> + The voyage of the Norumbia was one of those which passengers say they have + never seen anything like, though for the first two or three days out + neither the doctor nor the deck-steward could be got, to prophesy when the + ship would be in. There was only a day or two when it could really be + called rough, and the sea-sickness was confined to those who seemed wilful + sufferers; they lay on the cushioned benching around the stairs-landing, + and subsisted on biscuit and beef tea without qualifying the monotonous + well-being of the other passengers, who passed without noticing them. + </p> + <p> + The second morning there was rain, and the air freshened, but the leaden + sea lay level as before. The sun shone in the afternoon; with the sunset + the fog came thick and white; the ship lowed dismally through the night; + from the dense folds of the mist answering noises called back to her. Just + before dark two men in a dory shouted up to her close under her bows, and + then melted out of sight; when the dark fell the lights of + fishing-schooners were seen, and their bells pealed; once loud cries from + a vessel near at hand made themselves heard. Some people in the + dining-saloon sang hymns; the smoking-room was dense with cigar fumes, and + the card-players dealt their hands in an atmosphere emulous of the fog + without. + </p> + <p> + The Norumbia was off the Banks, and the second day of fog was cold as if + icebergs were haunting the opaque pallor around her. In the ranks of + steamer chairs people lay like mummies in their dense wrappings; in the + music-room the little children of travel discussed the different lines of + steamers on which they had crossed, and babes of five and seven disputed + about the motion on the Cunarders and White Stars; their nurses tried in + vain to still them in behalf of older passengers trying to write letters + there. + </p> + <p> + By the next morning the ship had run out of the fog; and people who could + keep their feet said they were glad of the greater motion which they found + beyond the Banks. They now talked of the heat of the first days out, and + how much they had suffered; some who had passed the night on board before + sailing tried to impart a sense of their misery in trying to sleep. + </p> + <p> + A day or two later a storm struck the ship, and the sailors stretched + canvas along the weather promenade and put up a sheathing of boards across + the bow end to keep off the rain. Yet a day or two more and the sea had + fallen again and there was dancing on the widest space of the lee + promenade. + </p> + <p> + The little events of the sea outside the steamer offered themselves in + their poor variety. Once a ship in the offing, with all its square sails + set, lifted them like three white towers from the deep. On the rim of the + ocean the length of some westward liner blocked itself out against the + horizon, and swiftly trailed its smoke out of sight. A few tramp steamers, + lounging and lunging through the trough of the sea, were overtaken and + left behind; an old brigantine passed so close that her rusty iron sides + showed plain, and one could discern the faces of the people on board. + </p> + <p> + The steamer was oftenest without the sign of any life beyond her. One day + a small bird beat the air with its little wings, under the roof of the + promenade, and then flittered from sight over the surface, of the waste; a + school of porpoises, stiff and wooden in their rise, plunged clumsily from + wave to wave. The deep itself had sometimes the unreality, the + artificiality of the canvas sea of the theatre. Commonly it was livid and + cold in color; but there was a morning when it was delicately misted, and + where the mist left it clear, it was blue and exquisitely iridescent under + the pale sun; the wrinkled waves were finely pitted by the falling spray. + These were rare moments; mostly, when it was not like painted canvas, is + was hard like black rock, with surfaces of smooth cleavage. Where it met + the sky it lay flat and motionless, or in the rougher weather carved + itself along the horizon in successions of surges. + </p> + <p> + If the sun rose clear, it was overcast in a few hours; then the clouds + broke and let a little sunshine through, to close again before the dim + evening thickened over the waters. Sometimes the moon looked through the + ragged curtain of vapors; one night it seemed to shine till morning, and + shook a path of quicksilver from the horizon to the ship. Through every + change, after she had left the fog behind, the steamer drove on with the + pulse of her engines (that stopped no more than a man's heart stops) + in a course which had nothing to mark it but the spread of the furrows + from her sides, and the wake that foamed from her stern to the western + verge of the sea. + </p> + <p> + The life of the ship, like the life of the sea, was a sodden monotony, + with certain events which were part of the monotony. In the morning the + little steward's bugle called the passengers from their dreams, and + half an hour later called them to their breakfast, after such as chose had + been served with coffee by their bedroom-stewards. Then they went on deck, + where they read, or dozed in their chairs, or walked up and down, or stood + in the way of those who were walking; or played shuffleboard and + ring-toss; or smoked, and drank whiskey and aerated waters over their + cards and papers in the smoking-room; or wrote letters in the saloon or + the music-room. At eleven o'clock they spoiled their appetites for + lunch with tea or bouillon to the music of a band of second-cabin + stewards; at one, a single blast of the bugle called them to lunch, where + they glutted themselves to the torpor from which they afterwards drowsed + in their berths or chairs. They did the same things in the afternoon that + they had done in the forenoon; and at four o'clock the deck-stewards + came round with their cups and saucers, and their plates of sandwiches, + again to the music of the band. There were two bugle-calls for dinner, and + after dinner some went early to bed, and some sat up late and had grills + and toast. At twelve the lights were put out in the saloons and the + smoking-rooms. + </p> + <p> + There were various smells which stored themselves up in the consciousness + to remain lastingly relative to certain moments and places: a whiff of + whiskey and tobacco that exhaled from the door of the smoking-room; the + odor of oil and steam rising from the open skylights over the engine-room; + the scent of stale bread about the doors of the dining-saloon. + </p> + <p> + The life was like the life at a sea-side hotel, only more monotonous. The + walking was limited; the talk was the tentative talk of people aware that + there was no refuge if they got tired of one another. The flirting itself, + such as there was of it, must be carried on in the glare of the pervasive + publicity; it must be crude and bold, or not be at all. + </p> + <p> + There seemed to be very little of it. There were not many young people on + board of saloon quality, and these were mostly girls. The young men were + mainly of the smoking-room sort; they seldom risked themselves among the + steamer chairs. It was gayer in the second cabin, and gayer yet in the + steerage, where robuster emotions were operated by the accordion. The + passengers there danced to its music; they sang to it and laughed to it + unabashed under the eyes of the first-cabin witnesses clustered along the + rail above the pit where they took their rude pleasures. + </p> + <p> + With March it came to his spending many hours of each long, swift day in + his berth with a book under the convenient electric light. He was safe + there from the acquaintances which constantly formed themselves only to + fall into disintegration, and cling to him afterwards as inorganic + particles of weather-guessing, and smoking-room gossip about the ship's + run. + </p> + <p> + In the earliest hours of the voyage he thought that he saw some faces of + the great world, the world of wealth and fashion; but these afterward + vanished, and left him to wonder where they hid themselves. He did not + meet them even in going to and from his meals; he could only imagine them + served in those palatial state-rooms whose interiors the stewards now and + then rather obtruded upon the public. There were people whom he + encountered in the promenades when he got up for the sunrise, and whom he + never saw at other times; at midnight he met men prowling in the dark whom + he never met by day. But none of these were people of the great world. + Before six o'clock they were sometimes second-cabin passengers, + whose barrier was then lifted for a little while to give them the freedom + of the saloon promenade. + </p> + <p> + From time to time he thought he would look up his Ohioan, and revive from + a closer study of him his interest in the rare American who had never been + to Europe. But he kept with his elderly wife, who had the effect of + withholding him from March's advances. Young Mr. and Mrs. Leffers + threw off more and more their disguise of a long-married pair, and became + frankly bride and groom. They seldom talked with any one else, except at + table; they walked up and down together, smiling into each others faces; + they sat side by side in their steamer chairs; one shawl covered them + both, and there was reason to believe that they were holding each other's + hands under it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Adding often took the chair beside Mrs. March when her husband was + straying about the ship or reading in his berth; and the two ladies must + have exchanged autobiographies, for Mrs. March was able to tell him just + how long Mrs. Adding had been a widow, what her husband died of, and what + had been done to save him; how she was now perfectly wrapt up in her boy, + and was taking him abroad, with some notion of going to Switzerland, after + the summer's travel, and settling down with him at school there. She + and Mrs. March became great friends; and Rose, as his mother called him, + attached himself reverently to March, not only as a celebrity of the first + grade in his quality of editor of 'Every Other Week', but as a + sage of wisdom and goodness, with whom he must not lose the chance of + counsel upon almost every hypothesis and exigency of life. + </p> + <p> + March could not bring himself to place Burnamy quite where he belonged in + contemporary literature, when Rose put him very high in virtue of the poem + which he heard Burnamy was going to have printed in 'Every Other + Week', and of the book which he was going to have published; and he + let the boy bring to the young fellow the flattery which can come to any + author but once, in the first request for his autograph that Burnamy + confessed to have had. They were so near in age, though they were ten + years apart, that Rose stood much more in awe of Burnamy than of others + much more his seniors. He was often in the company of Kenby, whom he + valued next to March as a person acquainted with men; he consulted March + upon Kenby's practice of always taking up the language of the + country he visited, if it were only for a fortnight; and he conceived a + higher opinion of him from March's approval. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy was most with Mrs. March, who made him talk about himself when he + supposed he was talking about literature, in the hope that she could get + him to talk about the Triscoes; but she listened in vain as he poured + out-his soul in theories of literary art, and in histories of what he had + written and what he meant to write. When he passed them where they sat + together, March heard the young fellow's perpetually recurring I, I, + I, my, my, my, me, me, me; and smiled to think how she was suffering under + the drip-drip of his innocent egotism. + </p> + <p> + She bore in a sort of scientific patience his attentions to the pivotal + girl, and Miss Triscoe's indifference to him, in which a less + penetrating scrutiny could have detected no change from meal to meal. It + was only at table that she could see them together, or that she could note + any break in the reserve of the father and daughter. The signs of this + were so fine that when she reported them March laughed in scornful + incredulity. But at breakfast the third day out, the Triscoes, with the + authority of people accustomed to social consideration, suddenly turned to + the Marches, and began to make themselves agreeable; the father spoke to + March of 'Every Other Week', which he seemed to know of in its + relation to him; and the young girl addressed herself to Mrs. March's + motherly sense not the less acceptably because indirectly. She spoke of + going out with her father for an indefinite time, as if it were rather his + wish than hers, and she made some inquiries about places in Germany; they + had never been in Germany. They had some idea of Dresden; but the idea of + Dresden with its American colony seemed rather tiresome; and did Mrs. + March know anything about Weimar? + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was obliged to say that she knew nothing about anyplace in + Germany; and she explained perhaps too fully where and why she was going + with her husband. She fancied a Boston note in that scorn for the + tiresomeness of Dresden; but the girl's style was of New York rather + than of Boston, and her accent was not quite of either place. Mrs. March + began to try the Triscoes in this place and in that, to divine them and to + class them. She had decided from the first that they were society people, + but they were cultivated beyond the average of the few swells whom she had + met; and there had been nothing offensive in their manner of holding + themselves aloof from the other people at the table; they had a right to + do that if they chose. + </p> + <p> + When the young Lefferses came in to breakfast, the talk went on between + these and the Marches; the Triscoes presently left the table, and Mrs. + March rose soon after, eager for that discussion of their behavior which + March knew he should not be able to postpone. + </p> + <p> + He agreed with her that they were society people, but she could not at + once accept his theory that they had themselves been the objects of an + advance from them because of their neutral literary quality, through which + they were of no social world, but potentially common to any. Later she + admitted this, as she said, for the sake of argument, though what she + wanted him to see, now, was that this was all a step of the girl's + toward finding out something about Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + The same afternoon, about the time the deck-steward was making his round + with his cups, Miss Triscoe abruptly advanced upon her from a neighboring + corner of the bulkhead, and asked, with the air of one accustomed to have + her advances gratefully received, if she might sit by her. The girl took + March's vacant chair, where she had her cup of bouillon, which she + continued to hold untasted in her hand after the first sip. Mrs. March did + the same with hers, and at the moment she had got very tired of doing it, + Burnamy came by, for the hundredth time that day, and gave her a hundredth + bow with a hundredth smile. He perceived that she wished to get rid of her + cup, and he sprang to her relief. + </p> + <p> + “May I take yours too?” he said very passively to Miss + Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + “You are very good.” she answered, and gave it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March with a casual air suggested, “Do you know Mr. Burnamy, + Miss Triscoe?” The girl said a few civil things, but Burnamy did not + try to make talk with her while he remained a few moments before Mrs. + March. The pivotal girl came in sight, tilting and turning in a rare + moment of isolation at the corner of the music-room, and he bowed + abruptly, and hurried off to join her. + </p> + <p> + Miss Triscoe did not linger; she alleged the necessity of looking up her + father, and went away with a smile so friendly that Mrs. March might + easily have construed it to mean that no blame attached itself to her in + Miss Triscoe's mind. + </p> + <p> + “Then you don't feel that it was a very distinct success?” + her husband asked on his return. + </p> + <p> + “Not on the surface,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Better let ill enough alone,” he advised. + </p> + <p> + She did not heed him. “All the same she cares for him. The very fact + that she was so cold shows that.” + </p> + <p> + “And do you think her being cold will make him care for her?” + </p> + <p> + “If she wants it to.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0098" id="link2H_4_0098"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV. + </h2> + <p> + At dinner that day the question of 'The Maiden Knight' was + debated among the noises and silences of the band. Young Mrs. Leffers had + brought the book to the table with her; she said she had not been able to + lay it down before the last horn sounded; in fact she could have been seen + reading it to her husband where he sat under the same shawl, the whole + afternoon. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you think it's perfectly fascinating,” she + asked Mrs. Adding, with her petted mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the widow, doubtfully, “it's nearly a + week since I read it, and I've had time to get over the glow.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I could just read it forever!” the bride exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “I like a book,” said her husband, “that takes me out of + myself. I don't want to think when I'm reading.” + </p> + <p> + March was going to attack this ideal, but he reflected in time that Mr. + Leffers had really stated his own motive in reading. He compromised. + “Well, I like the author to do my thinking for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the other, “that is what I mean.” + </p> + <p> + “The question is whether 'The Maiden Knight' fellow does + it,” said Kenby, taking duck and pease from the steward at his + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “What my wife likes in it is to see what one woman can do and be + single-handed,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “No,” his wife corrected him, “what a man thinks she + can.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” said Mr. Triscoe, unexpectedly, “that we're + like the English in our habit of going off about a book like a train of + powder.” + </p> + <p> + “If you'll say a row of bricks,” March assented, “I'll + agree with you. It's certainly Anglo-Saxon to fall over one another + as we do, when we get going. It would be interesting to know just how much + liking there is in the popularity of a given book.” + </p> + <p> + “It's like the run of a song, isn't it?” Kenby + suggested. “You can't stand either, when it reaches a given + point.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke to March and ignored Triscoe, who had hitherto ignored the rest + of the table. + </p> + <p> + “It's very curious,” March said. “The book or the + song catches a mood, or feeds a craving, and when one passes or the other + is glutted—” + </p> + <p> + “The discouraging part is,” Triscoe put in, still limiting + himself to the Marches, “that it's never a question of real + taste. The things that go down with us are so crude, so coarsely spiced; + they tickle such a vulgar palate—Now in France, for instance,” + he suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” returned the editor. “After + all, we eat a good deal of bread, and we drink more pure water than any + other people. Even when we drink it iced, I fancy it isn't so bad as + absinthe.” + </p> + <p> + The young bride looked at him gratefully, but she said, “If we can't + get ice-water in Europe, I don't know what Mr. Leffers will do,” + and the talk threatened to pass among the ladies into a comparison of + American and European customs. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy could not bear to let it. “I don't pretend to be very + well up in French literature,” he began, “but I think such a + book as 'The Maiden Knight' isn't such a bad piece of + work; people are liking a pretty well-built story when they like it. Of + course it's sentimental, and it begs the question a good deal; but + it imagines something heroic in character, and it makes the reader imagine + it too. The man who wrote that book may be a donkey half the time, but he's + a genius the other half. By-and-by he'll do something—after he's + come to see that his 'Maiden Knight' was a fool—that I + believe even you won't be down on, Mr. March, if he paints a heroic + type as powerfully as he does in this book.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke with the authority of a journalist, and though he deferred to + March in the end, he deferred with authority still. March liked him for + coming to the defence of a young writer whom he had not himself learned to + like yet. “Yes,” he said, “if he has the power you say, + and can keep it after he comes to his artistic consciousness!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Leffers, as if she thought things were going her way, smiled; Rose + Adding listened with shining eyes expectantly fixed on March; his mother + viewed his rapture with tender amusement. The steward was at Kenby's + shoulder with the salad and his entreating “Bleace!” and + Triscoe seemed to be questioning whether he should take any notice of + Burnamy's general disagreement. He said at last: “I'm + afraid we haven't the documents. You don't seem to have cared + much for French books, and I haven't read 'The Maiden Knight'.” + He added to March: “But I don't defend absinthe. Ice-water is + better. What I object to is our indiscriminate taste both for raw whiskey—and + for milk-and-water.” + </p> + <p> + No one took up the question again, and it was Kenby who spoke next. + “The doctor thinks, if this weather holds, that we shall be into + Plymouth Wednesday morning. I always like to get a professional opinion on + the ship's run.” + </p> + <p> + In the evening, as Mrs. March was putting away in her portfolio the + journal-letter which she was writing to send back from Plymouth to her + children, Miss Triscoe drifted to the place where she sat at their table + in the dining-room by a coincidence which they both respected as casual. + </p> + <p> + “We had quite a literary dinner,” she remarked, hovering for a + moment near the chair which she later sank into. “It must have made + you feel very much at home. Or perhaps you're so tired of it at home + that you don't talk about books.” + </p> + <p> + “We always talk shop, in some form or other,” said Mrs. March. + “My husband never tires of it. A good many of the contributors come + to us, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “It must be delightful,” said the girl. She added as if she + ought to excuse herself for neglecting an advantage that might have been + hers if she had chosen, “I'm sorry one sees so little of the + artistic and literary set. But New York is such a big place.” + </p> + <p> + “New York people seem to be very fond of it,” said Mrs. March. + “Those who have always lived there.” + </p> + <p> + “We haven't always lived there,” said the girl. “But + I think one has a good time there—the best time a girl can have. It's + all very well coming over for the summer; one has to spend the summer + somewhere. Are you going out for a long time?” + </p> + <p> + “Only for the summer. First to Carlsbad.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. I suppose we shall travel about through Germany, and then + go to Paris. We always do; my father is very fond of it.” + </p> + <p> + “You must know it very well,” said Mrs. March, aimlessly. + </p> + <p> + “I was born there,—if that means knowing it. I lived there—till + I was eleven years old. We came home after my mother died.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + The girl did not go further into her family history; but by one of those + leaps which seem to women as logical as other progressions, she arrived at + asking, “Is Mr. Burnamy one of the contributors?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March laughed. “He is going to be, as soon as his poem is + printed.” + </p> + <p> + “Poem?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Mr. March thinks it's very good.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought he spoke very nicely about 'The Maiden Knight'. + And he has been very nice to papa. You know they have the same room.” + </p> + <p> + “I think Mr. Burnamy told me,” Mrs. March said. + </p> + <p> + The girl went on. “He had the lower berth, and he gave it up to + papa; he's done everything but turn himself out of doors.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm sure he's been very glad,” Mrs. March + ventured on Burnamy's behalf, but very softly, lest if she breathed + upon these budding confidences they should shrink and wither away. + </p> + <p> + “I always tell papa that there's no country like America for + real unselfishness; and if they're all like that, in Chicago!” + The girl stopped, and added with a laugh, “But I'm always + quarrelling with papa about America.” + </p> + <p> + “We have a daughter living in Chicago,” said Mrs. March, + alluringly. + </p> + <p> + But Miss Triscoe refused the bait, either because she had said all she + meant, or because she had said all she would, about Chicago, which Mrs. + March felt for the present to be one with Burnamy. She gave another of her + leaps. “I don't see why people are so anxious to get it like + Europe, at home. They say that there was a time when there were no + chaperons before hoops, you know.” She looked suggestively at Mrs. + March, resting one slim hand on the table, and controlling her skirt with + the other, as if she were getting ready to rise at any moment. “When + they used to sit on their steps.” + </p> + <p> + “It was very pleasant before hoops—in every way,” said + Mrs. March. “I was young, then; and I lived in Boston, where I + suppose it was always simpler than in New York. I used to sit on our + steps. It was delightful for girls—the freedom.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish I had lived before hoops,” said Miss Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + “Well, there must be places where it's before hoops yet: + Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, for all I know,” Mrs. March + suggested. “And there must be people in that epoch everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + “Like that young lady who twists and turns?” said Miss + Triscoe, giving first one side of her face and then the other. “They + have a good time. I suppose if Europe came to us in one way it had to come + in another. If it came in galleries and all that sort of thing, it had to + come in chaperons. You'll think I'm a great extremist, Mrs. + March; but sometimes I wish there was more America instead of less. I don't + believe it's as bad as people say. Does Mr. March,” she asked, + taking hold of the chair with one hand, to secure her footing from any + caprice of the sea, while she gathered her skirt more firmly into the + other, as she rose, “does he think that America is going—all + wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “All wrong? How?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, in politics, don't you know. And government, and all + that. And bribing. And the lower classes having everything their own way. + And the horrid newspapers. And everything getting so expensive; and no + regard for family, or anything of that kind.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March thought she saw what Miss Triscoe meant, but she answered, + still cautiously, “I don't believe he does always. Though + there are times when he is very much disgusted. Then he says that he is + getting too old—and we always quarrel about that—to see things + as they really are. He says that if the world had been going the way that + people over fifty have always thought it was going, it would have gone to + smash in the time of the anthropoidal apes.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes: Darwin,” said Miss Triscoe, vaguely. “Well, I'm + glad he doesn't give it up. I didn't know but I was holding + out just because I had argued so much, and was doing it out of—opposition. + Goodnight!” She called her salutation gayly over her shoulder, and + Mrs. March watched her gliding out of the saloon with a graceful tilt to + humor the slight roll of the ship, and a little lurch to correct it, once + or twice, and wondered if Burnamy was afraid of her; it seemed to her that + if she were a young man she should not be afraid of Miss Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, just after she had arranged herself in her steamer + chair, he approached her, bowing and smiling, with the first of his many + bows and smiles for the day, and at the same time Miss Triscoe came toward + her from the opposite direction. She nodded brightly to him, and he gave + her a bow and smile too; he always had so many of them to spare. + </p> + <p> + “Here is your chair!” Mrs. March called to her, drawing the + shawl out of the chair next her own. “Mr. March is wandering about + the ship somewhere.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll keep it for him,” said Miss Triscoe, and as + Burnamy offered to take the shawl that hung in the hollow of her arm, she + let it slip into his hand with an “Oh; thank you,” which + seemed also a permission for him to wrap it about her in the chair. + </p> + <p> + He stood talking before the ladies, but he looked up and down the + promenade. The pivotal girl showed herself at the corner of the + music-room, as she had done the day before. At first she revolved there as + if she were shedding her light on some one hidden round the corner; then + she moved a few paces farther out and showed herself more obviously alone. + Clearly she was there for Burnamy to come and walk with her; Mrs. March + could see that, and she felt that Miss Triscoe saw it too. She waited for + her to dismiss him to his flirtation; but Miss Triscoe kept chatting on, + and he kept answering, and making no motion to get away. Mrs. March began + to be as sorry for her as she was ashamed for him. Then she heard him + saying, “Would you like a turn or two?” and Miss Triscoe + answering, “Why, yes, thank you,” and promptly getting out of + her chair as if the pains they had both been at to get her settled in it + were all nothing. + </p> + <p> + She had the composure to say, “You can leave your shawl with me, + Miss Triscoe,” and to receive her fervent, “Oh, thank you,” + before they sailed off together, with inhuman indifference to the girl at + the corner of the music-room. Then she sank into a kind of triumphal + collapse, from which she roused herself to point her husband to the chair + beside her when he happened along. + </p> + <p> + He chose to be perverse about her romance. “Well, now, you had + better let them alone. Remember Kendricks.” He meant one of their + young friends whose love-affair they had promoted till his happy marriage + left them in lasting doubt of what they had done. “My sympathies are + all with the pivotal girl. Hadn't she as much right to him, for the + time being, or for good and all, as Miss Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + “That depends upon what you think of Burnamy.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't like to see a girl have a young man snatched + away from her just when she's made sure of him. How do you suppose + she is feeling now?” + </p> + <p> + “She isn't feeling at all. She's letting her revolving + light fall upon half a dozen other young men by this time, collectively or + consecutively. All that she wants to make sure of is that they're + young men—or old ones, even.” + </p> + <p> + March laughed, but not altogether at what his wife said. “I've + been having a little talk with Papa Triscoe, in the smoking-room.” + </p> + <p> + “You smell like it,” said his wife, not to seem too eager: + “Well?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Papa Triscoe seems to be in a pout. He doesn't think + things are going as they should in America. He hasn't been + consulted, or if he has, his opinion hasn't been acted upon.” + </p> + <p> + “I think he's horrid,” said Mrs. March. “Who are + they?” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't make out, and I couldn't ask. But I'll + tell you what I think.” + </p> + <p> + “What?” + </p> + <p> + “That there's no chance for, Burnamy. He's taking his + daughter out to marry her to a crowned head.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0099" id="link2H_4_0099"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV. + </h2> + <p> + It was this afternoon that the dance took place on the south promenade. + Everybody came and looked, and the circle around the waltzers was three or + four deep. Between the surrounding heads and shoulders, the hats of the + young ladies wheeling and whirling, and the faces of the men who were + wheeling and whirling them, rose and sank with the rhythm of their steps. + The space allotted to the dancing was walled to seaward with canvas, and + was prettily treated with German, and American flags: it was hard to go + wrong with flags, Miss Triscoe said, securing herself under Mrs. March's + wing. + </p> + <p> + Where they stood they could see Burnamy's face, flashing and + flushing in the dance; at the end of the first piece he came to them, and + remained talking and laughing till the music began again. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you want to try it?” he asked abruptly of Miss + Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + “Isn't it rather—public?” she asked back. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March could feel the hand which the girl had put through her arm + thrill with temptation; but Burnamy could not. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it is rather obvious,” he said, and he made a long + glide over the deck to the feet of the pivotal girl, anticipating another + young man who was rapidly advancing from the opposite quarter. The next + moment her hat and his face showed themselves in the necessary proximity + to each other within the circle. + </p> + <p> + “How well she dances!” said Miss Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think so? She looks as if she had been wound up and set + going.” + </p> + <p> + “She's very graceful,” the girl persisted. + </p> + <p> + The day ended with an entertainment in the saloon for one of the marine + charities which address themselves to the hearts and pockets of passengers + on all steamers. There were recitations in English and German, and songs + from several people who had kindly consented, and ever more piano + performance. Most of those who took part were of the race gifted in art + and finance; its children excelled in the music, and its fathers counted + the gate-money during the last half of the programme, with an audible + clinking of the silver on the table before them. + </p> + <p> + Miss Triscoe was with her father, and Mrs. March was herself chaperoned by + Mr. Burnamy: her husband had refused to come to the entertainment. She + hoped to leave Burnamy and Miss Triscoe together before the evening ended; + but Miss Triscoe merely stopped with her father, in quitting the saloon, + to laugh at some features of the entertainment, as people who take no part + in such things do; Burnamy stood up to exchange some unimpassioned words + with her, and then they said good-night. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, at five o'clock, the Norumbia came to anchor in + the pretty harbor of Plymouth. In the cool early light the town lay + distinct along the shore, quaint with its small English houses, and + stately with come public edifices of unknown function on the uplands; a + country-seat of aristocratic aspect showed itself on one of the heights; + on another the tower of a country church peered over the tree-tops; there + were lines of fortifications, as peaceful, at their distance, as the stone + walls dividing the green fields. The very iron-clads in the harbor close + at hand contributed to the amiable gayety of the scene under the pale blue + English sky, already broken with clouds from which the flush of the + sunrise had not quite faded. The breath of the land came freshly out over + the water; one could almost smell the grass and the leaves. Gulls wheeled + and darted over the crisp water; the tones of the English voices on the + tender were pleasant to the ear, as it fussed and scuffled to the ship's + side. A few score of the passengers left her; with their baggage they + formed picturesque groups on the tender's deck, and they set out for + the shore waving their hands and their handkerchiefs to the friends they + left clustering along the rail of the Norumbia. Mr. and Mrs. Leffers bade + March farewell, in the final fondness inspired by his having coffee with + them before they left the ship; they said they hated to leave. + </p> + <p> + The stop had roused everybody, and the breakfast tables were promptly + filled, except such as the passengers landing at Plymouth had vacated; + these were stripped of their cloths, and the remaining commensals placed + at others. The seats of the Lefferses were given to March's old Ohio + friend and his wife. He tried to engage them in the tally which began to + be general in the excitement of having touched land; but they shyly held + aloof. + </p> + <p> + Some English newspapers had come aboard from the tug, and there was the + usual good-natured adjustment of the American self-satisfaction, among + those who had seen them, to the ever-surprising fact that our continent is + apparently of no interest to Europe. There were some meagre New York + stock-market quotations in the papers; a paragraph in fine print announced + the lynching of a negro in Alabama; another recorded a coal-mining strike + in Pennsylvania. + </p> + <p> + “I always have to get used to it over again,” said Kenby. + “This is the twentieth time I have been across, and I'm just + as much astonished as I was the first, to find out that they don't + want to know anything about us here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said March, “curiosity and the weather both come + from the west. San Francisco wants to know about Denver, Denver about + Chicago, Chicago about New York, and New York about London; but curiosity + never travels the other way any more than a hot wave or a cold wave.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but London doesn't care a rap about Vienna,” said + Kenby. + </p> + <p> + “Well, some pressures give out before they reach the coast, on our + own side. It isn't an infallible analogy.” + </p> + <p> + Triscoe was fiercely chewing a morsel, as if in haste to take part in the + discussion. He gulped it, and broke out. “Why should they care about + us, anyway?” + </p> + <p> + March lightly ventured, “Oh, men and brothers, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “That isn't sufficient ground. The Chinese are men and + brothers; so are the South-Americans and Central-Africans, and Hawaiians; + but we're not impatient for the latest news about them. It's + civilization that interests civilization.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope that fact doesn't leave us out in the cold with the + barbarians?” Burnamy put in, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think we are civilized?” retorted the other. + </p> + <p> + “We have that superstition in Chicago,” said Burnamy. He + added, still smiling, “About the New-Yorkers, I mean.” + </p> + <p> + “You're more superstitious in Chicago than I supposed. New + York is an anarchy, tempered by vigilance committees.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't think you can say that,” Kenby cheerfully + protested, “since the Reformers came in. Look at our streets!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, our streets are clean, for the time being, and when we look at + them we think we have made a clean sweep in our manners and morals. But + how long do you think it will be before Tammany will be in the saddle + again?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, never in the world!” said the optimistic head of the + table. + </p> + <p> + “I wish I had your faith; or I should if I didn't feel that it + is one of the things that help to establish Tammanys with us. You will see + our Tammany in power after the next election.” Kenby laughed in a + large-hearted incredulity; and his laugh was like fuel to the other's + flame. “New York is politically a mediaeval Italian republic, and it's + morally a frontier mining-town. Socially it's—” He + stopped as if he could not say what. + </p> + <p> + “I think it's a place where you have a very nice time, papa,” + said his daughter, and Burnamy smiled with her; not because he knew + anything about it. + </p> + <p> + Her father went on as if he had not heard her. “It's as vulgar + and crude as money can make it. Nothing counts but money, and as soon as + there's enough, it counts for everything. In less than a year you'll + have Tammany in power; it won't be more than a year till you'll + have it in society.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no! Oh no!” came from Kenby. He did not care much for + society, but he vaguely respected it as the stronghold of the proprieties + and the amenities. + </p> + <p> + “Isn't society a good place for Tammany to be in?” asked + March in the pause Triscoe let follow upon Kenby's laugh. + </p> + <p> + “There's no reason why it shouldn't be. Society is as + bad as all the rest of it. And what New York is, politically, morally, and + socially, the whole country wishes to be and tries to be.” + </p> + <p> + There was that measure of truth in the words which silences; no one could + find just the terms of refutation. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Kenby at last, “it's a good thing + there are so many lines to Europe. We've still got the right to + emigrate.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but even there we don't escape the abuse of our infamous + newspapers for exercising a man's right to live where he chooses. + And there is no country in Europe—except Turkey, or Spain—that + isn't a better home for an honest man than the United States.” + </p> + <p> + The Ohioan had once before cleared his throat as if he were going to + speak. Now, he leaned far enough forward to catch Triscoe's eye, and + said, slowly and distinctly: “I don't know just what reason + you have to feel as you do about the country. I feel differently about it + myself—perhaps because I fought for it.” + </p> + <p> + At first, the others were glad of this arrogance; it even seemed an + answer; but Burnamy saw Miss Triscoe's cheek, flush, and then he + doubted its validity. + </p> + <p> + Triscoe nervously crushed a biscuit in his hand, as if to expend a violent + impulse upon it. He said, coldly, “I was speaking from that + stand-point.” + </p> + <p> + The Ohioan shrank back in his seat, and March felt sorry for him, though + he had put himself in the wrong. His old hand trembled beside his plate, + and his head shook, while his lips formed silent words; and his shy wife + was sharing his pain and shame. + </p> + <p> + Kenby began to talk about the stop which the Norumbia was to make at + Cherbourg, and about what hour the next day they should all be in + Cuxhaven. Miss Triscoe said they had never come on the Hanseatic Line + before, and asked several questions. Her father did not speak again, and + after a little while he rose without waiting for her to make the move from + table; he had punctiliously deferred to her hitherto. Eltwin rose at the + same time, and March feared that he might be going to provoke another + defeat, in some way. + </p> + <p> + Eltwin lifted his voice, and said, trying to catch Triscoe's eye, + “I think I ought to beg your pardon, sir. I do beg your pardon.” + </p> + <p> + March perceived that Eltwin wished to make the offer of his reparation as + distinct as his aggression had been; and now he quaked for Triscoe, whose + daughter he saw glance apprehensively at her father as she swayed aside to + let the two men come together. + </p> + <p> + “That is all right, Colonel—” + </p> + <p> + “Major,” Eltwin conscientiously interposed. + </p> + <p> + “Major,” Triscoe bowed; and he put out his hand and grasped + the hand which had been tremulously rising toward him. “There can't + be any doubt of what we did, no matter what we've got.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” said the other, eagerly. “That was what I + meant, sir. I don't think as you do; but I believe that a man who + helped to save the country has a right to think what he pleases about it.” + </p> + <p> + Triscoe said, “That is all right, my dear sir. May I ask your + regiment?” + </p> + <p> + The Marches let the old fellows walk away together, followed by the wife + of the one and the daughter of the other. They saw the young girl making + some graceful overtures of speech to the elder woman as they went. + </p> + <p> + “That was rather fine, my dear,” said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. It was a little too dramatic, wasn't + it? It wasn't what I should have expected of real life.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you spoil everything! If that's the spirit you're + going through Europe in!” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't. As soon as I touch European soil I shall reform.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0100" id="link2H_4_0100"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI. + </h2> + <p> + That was not the first time General Triscoe had silenced question of his + opinions with the argument he had used upon Eltwin, though he was seldom + able to use it so aptly. He always found that people suffered, his belief + in our national degeneration much more readily when they knew that he had + left a diplomatic position in Europe (he had gone abroad as secretary of a + minor legation) to come home and fight for the Union. Some millions of + other men had gone into the war from the varied motives which impelled men + at that time; but he was aware that he had distinction, as a man of + property and a man of family, in doing so. His family had improved as time + passed, and it was now so old that back of his grandfather it was lost in + antiquity. This ancestor had retired from the sea and become a merchant in + his native Rhode Island port, where his son established himself as a + physician, and married the daughter of a former slave-trader whose social + position was the highest in the place; Triscoe liked to mention his + maternal grandfather when he wished a listener to realize just how + anomalous his part in a war against slavery was; it heightened the effect + of his pose. + </p> + <p> + He fought gallantly through the war, and he was brevetted + Brigadier-General at the close. With this honor, and with the wound which + caused an almost imperceptible limp in his gait, he won the heart of a + rich New York girl, and her father set him up in a business, which was not + long in going to pieces in his hands. Then the young couple went to live + in Paris, where their daughter was born, and where the mother died when + the child was ten years old. A little later his father-in-law died, and + Triscoe returned to New York, where he found the fortune which his + daughter had inherited was much less than he somehow thought he had a + right to expect. + </p> + <p> + The income from her fortune was enough to live on, and he did not go back + to Paris, where, in fact, things were not so much to his mind under the + Republic as they had been under the Second Empire. He was still willing to + do something for his country, however, and he allowed his name to be used + on a citizen's ticket in his district; but his provision-man was + sent to Congress instead. Then he retired to Rhode Island and attempted to + convert his shore property into a watering-place; but after being + attractively plotted and laid out with streets and sidewalks, it allured + no one to build on it except the birds and the chipmonks, and he came back + to New York, where his daughter had remained in school. + </p> + <p> + One of her maternal aunts made her a coming-out tea, after she left + school; and she entered upon a series of dinners, dances, theatre parties, + and receptions of all kinds; but the tide of fairy gold pouring through + her fingers left no engagement-ring on them. She had no duties, but she + seldom got out of humor with her pleasures; she had some odd tastes of her + own, and in a society where none but the most serious books were ever + seriously mentioned she was rather fond of good ones, and had romantic + ideas of a life that she vaguely called bohemian. Her character was never + tested by anything more trying than the fear that her father might take + her abroad to live; he had taken her abroad several times for the summer. + </p> + <p> + The dreaded trial did not approach for several years after she had ceased + to be a bud; and then it came when her father was again willing to serve + his country in diplomacy, either at the Hague, or at Brussels, or even at + Berne. Reasons of political geography prevented his appointment anywhere, + but General Triscoe having arranged his affairs for going abroad on the + mission he had expected, decided to go without it. He was really very fit + for both of the offices he had sought, and so far as a man can deserve + public place by public service, he had deserved it. His pessimism was + uncommonly well grounded, and if it did not go very deep, it might well + have reached the bottom of his nature. + </p> + <p> + His daughter had begun to divine him at the early age when parents suppose + themselves still to be mysteries to their children. She did not think it + necessary ever to explain him to others; perhaps she would not have found + it possible; and now after she parted from Mrs. Eltwin and went to sit + down beside Mrs. March she did not refer to her father. She said how sweet + she had found the old lady from Ohio; and what sort of place did Mrs. + March suppose it was where Mrs. Eltwin lived? They seemed to have + everything there, like any place. She had wanted to ask Mrs. Eltwin if + they sat on their steps; but she had not quite dared. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy came by, slowly, and at Mrs. March's suggestion he took one + of the chairs on her other side, to help her and Miss Triscoe look at the + Channel Islands and watch the approach of the steamer to Cherbourg, where + the Norumbia was to land again. The young people talked across Mrs. March + to each other, and said how charming the islands were, in their gray-green + insubstantiality, with valleys furrowing them far inward, like airy clefts + in low banks of clouds. It seemed all the nicer not to know just which was + which; but when the ship drew nearer to Cherbourg, he suggested that they + could see better by going round to the other side of the ship. Miss + Triscoe, as at the other times when she had gone off with Burnamy, marked + her allegiance, to Mrs. March by leaving a wrap with her. + </p> + <p> + Every one was restless in breaking with the old life at sea. There had + been an equal unrest when the ship first sailed; people had first come + aboard in the demoralization of severing their ties with home, and they + shrank from forming others. Then the charm of the idle, eventless life + grew upon them, and united them in a fond reluctance from the inevitable + end. + </p> + <p> + Now that the beginning of the end had come, the pangs of disintegration + were felt in all the once-more-repellant particles. Burnamy and Miss + Triscoe, as they hung upon the rail, owned to each other that they hated + to have the voyage over. They had liked leaving Plymouth and being at sea + again; they wished that they need not be reminded of another debarkation + by the energy of the crane in hoisting the Cherbourg baggage from the + hold. + </p> + <p> + They approved of the picturesqueness of three French vessels of war that + passed, dragging their kraken shapes low through the level water. At + Cherbourg an emotional French tender came out to the ship, very different + in her clamorous voices and excited figures from the steady self-control + of the English tender at Plymouth; and they thought the French + fortifications much more on show than the English had been. Nothing marked + their youthful date so much to the Marches, who presently joined them, as + their failure to realize that in this peaceful sea the great battle + between the Kearsarge and the Alabama was fought. The elder couple tried + to affect their imaginations with the fact which reanimated the spectre of + a dreadful war for themselves; but they had to pass on and, leave the + young people unmoved. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March wondered if they noticed the debarkation of the pivotal girl, + whom she saw standing on the deck of the tender, with her hands at her + waist, and giving now this side and now that side of her face to the young + men waving their hats to her from the rail of the ship. Burnamy was not of + their number, and he seemed not to know that the girl was leaving him + finally to Miss Triscoe. If Miss Triscoe knew it she did nothing the whole + of that long, last afternoon to profit by the fact. Burnamy spent a great + part of it in the chair beside Mrs. March, and he showed an intolerable + resignation to the girl's absence. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said March, taking the place Burnamy left at last, + “that terrible patience of youth!” + </p> + <p> + “Patience? Folly! Stupidity! They ought to be together every + instant! Do they suppose that life is full of such chances? Do they think + that fate has nothing to do but—” + </p> + <p> + She stopped for a fit climax, and he suggested, “Hang round and wait + on them?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! It's their one chance in a life-time, probably.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you've quite decided that they're in love?” + He sank comfortably back, and put up his weary legs on the chair's + extension with the conviction that love had no such joy as that to offer. + </p> + <p> + “I've decided that they're intensely interested in each + other.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what more can we ask of them? And why do you care what they do + or don't do with their chance? Why do you wish their love well, if + it's that? Is marriage such a very certain good?” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't all that it might be, but it's all that there + is. What would our lives have been without it?” she retorted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we should have got on. It's such a tremendous risk that + we, ought to go round begging people to think twice, to count a hundred, + or a nonillion, before they fall in love to the marrying-point. I don't + mind their flirting; that amuses them; but marrying is a different thing. + I doubt if Papa Triscoe would take kindly to the notion of a son-in-law he + hadn't selected himself, and his daughter doesn't strike me as + a young lady who has any wisdom to throw away on a choice. She has her + little charm; her little gift of beauty, of grace, of spirit, and the + other things that go with her age and sex; but what could she do for a + fellow like Burnamy, who has his way to make, who has the ladder of fame + to climb, with an old mother at the bottom of it to look after? You wouldn't + want him to have an eye on Miss Triscoe's money, even if she had + money, and I doubt if she has much. It's all very pretty to have a + girl like her fascinated with a youth of his simple traditions; though + Burnamy isn't altogether pastoral in his ideals, and he looks + forward to a place in the very world she belongs to. I don't think + it's for us to promote the affair.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps you're right,” she sighed. “I will + let them alone from this out. Thank goodness, I shall not have them under + my eyes very long.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't think there's any harm done yet,” + said her husband, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + At dinner there seemed so little harm of the kind he meant that she + suffered from an illogical disappointment. The young people got through + the meal with no talk that seemed inductive; Burnamy left the table first, + and Miss Triscoe bore his going without apparent discouragement; she kept + on chatting with March till his wife took him away to their chairs on + deck. + </p> + <p> + There were a few more ships in sight than there were in mid-ocean; but the + late twilight thickened over the North Sea quite like the night after they + left New York, except that it was colder; and their hearts turned to their + children, who had been in abeyance for the week past, with a remorseful + pang. “Well,” she said, “I wish we were going to be in + New York to-morrow, instead of Hamburg.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no! Oh, no!” he protested. “Not so bad as that, my + dear. This is the last night, and it's hard to manage, as the last + night always is. I suppose the last night on earth—” + </p> + <p> + “Basil!” she implored. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I won't, then. But what I want is to see a Dutch + lugger. I've never seen a Dutch lugger, and—” + </p> + <p> + She suddenly pressed his arm, and in obedience to the signal he was + silent; though it seemed afterwards that he ought to have gone on talking + as if he did not see Burnamy and Miss Triscoe swinging slowly by. They + were walking close together, and she was leaning forward and looking up + into his face while he talked. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” Mrs. March whispered, long after they were out of + hearing, “let us go instantly. I wouldn't for worlds have them + see us here when they get found again. They would feel that they had to + stop and speak, and that would spoil everything. Come!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0101" id="link2H_4_0101"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII. + </h2> + <p> + Burnamy paused in a flow of autobiography, and modestly waited for Miss + Triscoe's prompting. He had not to wait long. + </p> + <p> + “And then, how soon did you think of printing your things in a book?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, about as soon as they began to take with the public.” + </p> + <p> + “How could you tell that they were-taking?” + </p> + <p> + “They were copied into other papers, and people talked about them.” + </p> + <p> + “And that was what made Mr. Stoller want you to be his secretary?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe it was. The theory in the office was that he + didn't think much of them; but he knows I can write shorthand, and + put things into shape.” + </p> + <p> + “What things?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh—ideas. He has a notion of trying to come forward in + politics. He owns shares in everything but the United States Senate—gas, + electricity, railroads, aldermen, newspapers—and now he would like + some Senate. That's what I think.” + </p> + <p> + She did not quite understand, and she was far from knowing that this cynic + humor expressed a deadlier pessimism than her father's fiercest + accusals of the country. “How fascinating it is!” she said, + innocently. + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose they all envy your coming out?” + </p> + <p> + “In the office?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I should envy, them—staying.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy laughed. “I don't believe they envy me. It won't + be all roses for me—they know that. But they know that I can take + care of myself if it isn't.” He remembered something one of + his friends in the office had said of the painful surprise the Bird of + Prey would feel if he ever tried his beak on him in the belief that he was + soft. + </p> + <p> + She abruptly left the mere personal question. “And which would you + rather write: poems or those kind of sketches?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Burnamy, willing to talk of himself + on any terms. “I suppose that prose is the thing for our time, + rather more; but there are things you can't say in prose. I used to + write a great deal of verse in college; but I didn't have much luck + with editors till Mr. March took this little piece for 'Every Other + Week'.” + </p> + <p> + “Little? I thought it was a long poem!” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy laughed at the notion. “It's only eight lines.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said the girl. “What is it about?” + </p> + <p> + He yielded to the temptation with a weakness which he found incredible in + a person of his make. “I can repeat it if you won't give me + away to Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no indeed! He said the lines over to her very simply and well. + They are beautiful—beautiful!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think so?” he gasped, in his joy at her praise. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, lovely. Do you know, you are the first literary man—the + only literary man—I ever talked with. They must go out—somewhere! + Papa must meet them at his clubs. But I never do; and so I'm making + the most of you.” + </p> + <p> + “You can't make too much of me, Miss Triscoe,” said + Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + She would not mind his mocking. “That day you spoke about 'The + Maiden Knight', don't you know, I had never heard any talk + about books in that way. I didn't know you were an author then.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm not much of an author now,” he said, + cynically, to retrieve his folly in repeating his poem to her. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that will do for you to say. But I know what Mrs. March thinks.” + </p> + <p> + He wished very much to know what Mrs. March thought, too; 'Every + Other Week' was such a very good place that he could not + conscientiously neglect any means of having his work favorably considered + there; if Mrs. March's interest in it would act upon her husband, + ought not he to know just how much she thought of him as a writer? “Did + she like the poem.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Triscoe could not recall that Mrs. March had said anything about the + poem, but she launched herself upon the general current of Mrs. March's + liking for Burnamy. “But it wouldn't do to tell you all she + said!” This was not what he hoped, but he was richly content when + she returned to his personal history. “And you didn't know any + one when, you went up to Chicago from—” + </p> + <p> + “Tippecanoe? Not exactly that. I wasn't acquainted with any + one in the office, but they had printed somethings of mine, and they were + willing to let me try my hand. That was all I could ask.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course! You knew you could do the rest. Well, it is like a + romance. A woman couldn't have such an adventure as that!” + sighed the girl. + </p> + <p> + “But women do!” Burnamy retorted. “There is a girl + writing on the paper now—she's going to do the literary + notices while I'm gone—who came to Chicago from Ann Arbor, + with no more chance than I had, and who's made her way single-handed + from interviewing up.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Miss Triscoe, with a distinct drop in her + enthusiasm. “Is she nice?” + </p> + <p> + “She's mighty clever, and she's nice enough, too, though + the kind of journalism that women do isn't the most dignified. And + she's one of the best girls I know, with lots of sense.” + </p> + <p> + “It must be very interesting,” said Miss Triscoe, with little + interest in the way she said it. “I suppose you're quite a + little community by yourselves.” + </p> + <p> + “On the paper?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, some of us know one another, in the office, but most of us + don't. There's quite a regiment of people on a big paper. If + you'd like to come out,” Burnamy ventured, “perhaps you + could get the Woman's Page to do.” + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, fashion; and personal gossip about society leaders; and recipes + for dishes and diseases; and correspondence on points of etiquette.” + </p> + <p> + He expected her to shudder at the notion, but she merely asked, “Do + women write it?” + </p> + <p> + He laughed reminiscently. “Well, not always. We had one man who used + to do it beautifully—when he was sober. The department hasn't + had any permanent head since.” + </p> + <p> + He was sorry he had said this, but it did not seem to shock her, and no + doubt she had not taken it in fully. She abruptly left the subject. + “Do you know what time we really get in to-morrow?” + </p> + <p> + “About one, I believe—there's a consensus of stewards to + that effect, anyway.” After a pause he asked, “Are you likely + to be in Carlsbad?” + </p> + <p> + “We are going to Dresden, first, I believe. Then we may go on down + to Vienna. But nothing is settled, yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you going direct to Dresden?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. We may stay in Hamburg a day or two.” + </p> + <p> + “I've got to go straight to Carlsbad. There's a + sleeping-car that will get me there by morning: Mr. Stoller likes zeal. + But I hope you'll let me be of use to you any way I can, before we + part tomorrow.” + </p> + <p> + “You're very kind. You've been very good already—to + papa.” He protested that he had not been at all good. “But he's + used to taking care of himself on the other side. Oh, it's this + side, now!” + </p> + <p> + “So it is! How strange that seems! It's actually Europe. But + as long as we're at sea, we can't realize it. Don't you + hate to have experiences slip through your fingers?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. A girl doesn't have many experiences of + her own; they're always other people's.” + </p> + <p> + This affected Burnamy as so profound that he did not question its truth. + He only suggested, “Well; sometimes they make other people have the + experiences.” + </p> + <p> + Whether Miss Triscoe decided that this was too intimate or not she left + the question. “Do you understand German?” + </p> + <p> + “A little. I studied it at college, and I've cultivated a sort + of beer-garden German in Chicago. I can ask for things.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't, except in French, and that's worse than + English, in Germany, I hear.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you must let me be your interpreter up to the last moment. + Will you?” + </p> + <p> + She did not answer. “It must be rather late, isn't it?” + she asked. He let her see his watch, and she said, “Yes, it's + very late,” and led the way within. “I must look after my + packing; papa's always so prompt, and I must justify myself for + making him let me give up my maid when we left home; we expect to get one + in Dresden. Good-night!” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy looked after her drifting down their corridor, and wondered + whether it would have been a fit return for her expression of a sense of + novelty in him as a literary man if he had told her that she was the first + young lady he had known who had a maid. The fact awed him; Miss Triscoe + herself did not awe him so much. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0102" id="link2H_4_0102"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII. + </h2> + <p> + The next morning was merely a transitional period, full of turmoil and + disorder, between the broken life of the sea and the untried life of the + shore. No one attempted to resume the routine of the voyage. People went + and came between their rooms and the saloons and the decks, and were no + longer careful to take their own steamer chairs when they sat down for a + moment. + </p> + <p> + In the cabins the berths were not made up, and those who remained below + had to sit on their hard edges, or on the sofas, which were cumbered with, + hand-bags and rolls of shawls. At an early hour after breakfast the + bedroom stewards began to get the steamer trunks out and pile them in the + corridors; the servants all became more caressingly attentive; and people + who had left off settling the amount of the fees they were going to give, + anxiously conferred together. The question whether you ought ever to give + the head steward anything pressed crucially at the early lunch, and Kenby + brought only a partial relief by saying that he always regarded the head + steward as an officer of the ship. March made the experiment of offering + him six marks, and the head steward took them quite as if he were not an + officer of the ship. He also collected a handsome fee for the music, which + is the tax levied on all German ships beyond the tolls exacted on the + steamers of other nations. + </p> + <p> + After lunch the flat shore at Cuxhaven was so near that the summer + cottages of the little watering-place showed through the warm drizzle much + like the summer cottages of our own shore, and if it had not been for the + strange, low sky, the Americans might easily have fancied themselves at + home again. + </p> + <p> + Every one waited on foot while the tender came out into the stream where + the Norumbia had dropped anchor. People who had brought their hand-baggage + with them from their rooms looked so much safer with it that people who + had left theirs to their stewards had to go back and pledge them afresh + not to forget it. The tender came alongside, and the transfer of the heavy + trunks began, but it seemed such an endless work that every one sat down + in some other's chair. At last the trunks were all on the tender, + and the bareheaded stewards began to run down the gangways with the + hand-baggage. “Is this Hoboken?” March murmured in his wife's + ear, with a bewildered sense of something in the scene like the reversed + action of the kinematograph. + </p> + <p> + On the deck of the tender there was a brief moment of reunion among the + companions of the voyage, the more intimate for their being crowded + together under cover from the drizzle which now turned into a dashing + rain. Burnamy's smile appeared, and then Mrs. March recognized Miss + Triscoe and her father in their travel dress; they were not far from + Burnamy's smile, but he seemed rather to have charge of the Eltwins, + whom he was helping look after their bags and bundles. Rose Adding was + talking with Kenby, and apparently asking his opinion of something; Mrs. + Adding sat near them tranquilly enjoying her son. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March made her husband identify their baggage, large and small, and + after he had satisfied her, he furtively satisfied himself by a fresh + count that it was all there. But he need not have taken the trouble; their + long, calm bedroom-steward was keeping guard over it; his eyes expressed a + contemptuous pity for their anxiety, whose like he must have been very + tired of. He brought their handbags into the customs-room at the station + where they landed; and there took a last leave and a last fee with + unexpected cordiality. + </p> + <p> + Again their companionship suffered eclipse in the distraction which the + customs inspectors of all countries bring to travellers; and again they + were united during the long delay in the waiting-room, which was also the + restaurant. It was full of strange noises and figures and odors—the + shuffling of feet, the clash of crockery, the explosion of nervous German + voices, mixed with the smell of beer and ham, and the smoke of cigars. + Through it all pierced the wail of a postman standing at the door with a + letter in his hand and calling out at regular intervals, “Krahnay, + Krahnay!” When March could bear it no longer he went up to him and + shouted, “Crane! Crane!” and the man bowed gratefully, and + began to cry, “Kren! Kren!” But whether Mr. Crane got his + letter or not, he never knew. + </p> + <p> + People were swarming at the window of the telegraph-office, and sending + home cablegrams to announce their safe arrival; March could not forbear + cabling to his son, though he felt it absurd. There was a great deal of + talking, but no laughing, except among the Americans, and the girls behind + the bar who tried to understand, what they wanted, and then served them + with what they chose for them. Otherwise the Germans, though voluble, were + unsmiling, and here on the threshold of their empire the travellers had + their first hint of the anxious mood which seems habitual with these + amiable people. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Adding came screaming with glee to March where he sat with his wife, + and leaned over her son to ask, “Do you know what lese-majesty is? + Rose is afraid I've committed it!” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't,” said March. “But it's the + unpardonable sin. What have you been doing?” + </p> + <p> + “I asked the official at the door when our train would start, and + when he said at half past three, I said, 'How tiresome!' Rose + says the railroads belong to the state here, and that if I find fault with + the time-table, it's constructive censure of the Emperor, and that's + lese-majesty.” She gave way to her mirth, while the boy studied + March's face with an appealing smile. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't think you'll be arrested this time, Mrs. + Adding; but I hope it will be a warning to Mrs. March. She's been + complaining of the coffee.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed I shall say what I like,” said Mrs. March. “I'm + an American.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you'll find you're a German, if you like to say + anything disagreeable about the coffee in the restaurant of the Emperor's + railroad station; the first thing you know I shall be given three months + on your account.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Adding asked: “Then they won't punish ladies? There, + Rose! I'm safe, you see; and you're still a minor, though you + are so wise for your years.” + </p> + <p> + She went back to her table, where Kenby came and sat down by her. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I quite like her playing on that sensitive + child,”, said Mrs. March. “And you've joined with her in + her joking. Go and speak, to him!” + </p> + <p> + The boy was slowly following his mother, with his head fallen. March + overtook him, and he started nervously at the touch of a hand on his + shoulder, and then looked gratefully up into the man's face. March + tried to tell him what the crime of lese-majesty was, and he said: “Oh, + yes. I understood that. But I got to thinking; and I don't want my + mother to take any risks.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe she will, really, Rose. But I'll speak + to her, and tell her she can't be too cautious.” + </p> + <p> + “Not now, please!” the boy entreated. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll find another chance,” March assented. He + looked round and caught a smiling nod from Burnamy, who was still with the + Eltwins; the Triscoes were at a table by themselves; Miss Triseoe nodded + too, but her father appeared not to see March. “It's all + right, with Rose,” he said, when he sat down again by his wife; + “but I guess it's all over with Burnamy,” and he told + her what he had seen. “Do you think it came to any displeasure + between them last night? Do you suppose he offered himself, and she—” + </p> + <p> + “What nonsense!” said Mrs. March, but she was not at peace. + “It's her father who's keeping her away from him.” + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't mind that. He's keeping her away from us, + too.” But at that moment Miss Triscoe as if she had followed his + return from afar, came over to speak to his wife. She said they were going + on to Dresden that evening, and she was afraid they might have no chance + to see each other on the train or in Hamburg. March, at this advance, went + to speak with her father; he found him no more reconciled to Europe than + America. + </p> + <p> + “They're Goths,” he said of the Germans. “I could + hardly get that stupid brute in the telegraph-office to take my despatch.” + </p> + <p> + On his way back to his wife March met Miss Triscoe; he was not altogether + surprised to meet Burnamy with her, now. The young fellow asked if he + could be of any use to him, and then he said he would look him up in the + train. He seemed in a hurry, but when he walked away with Miss Triscoe he + did not seem in a hurry. + </p> + <p> + March remarked upon the change to his wife, and she sighed, “Yes, + you can see that as far as they're concerned.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a great pity that there should be parents to complicate + these affairs,” he said. “How simple it would be if there were + no parties to them but the lovers! But nature is always insisting upon + fathers and mothers, and families on both sides.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0103" id="link2H_4_0103"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIX. + </h2> + <p> + The long train which they took at last was for the Norumbia's people + alone, and it was of several transitional and tentative types of cars. + Some were still the old coach-body carriages; but most were of a strange + corridor arrangement, with the aide at the aide, and the seats crossing + from it, with compartments sometimes rising to the roof, and sometimes + rising half-way. No two cars seemed quite alike, but all were very + comfortable; and when the train began to run out through the little + sea-side town into the country, the old delight of foreign travel began. + Most of the houses were little and low and gray, with ivy or flowering + vines covering their walls to their browntiled roofs; there was here and + there a touch of Northern Gothic in the architecture; but usually where it + was pretentious it was in the mansard taste, which was so bad with us a + generation ago, and is still very bad in Cuxhaven. + </p> + <p> + The fields, flat and wide, were dotted with familiar shapes of Holstein + cattle, herded by little girls, with their hair in yellow pigtails. The + gray, stormy sky hung low, and broke in fitful rains; but perhaps for the + inclement season of mid-summer it was not very cold. Flowers were blooming + along the embankments and in the rank green fields with a dogged energy; + in the various distances were groups of trees embowering cottages and even + villages, and always along the ditches and watercourses were double lines + of low willows. At the first stop the train made, the passengers flocked + to the refreshment-booth, prettily arranged beside the station, where the + abundance of the cherries and strawberries gave proof that vegetation was + in other respects superior to the elements. But it was not of the + profusion of the sausages, and the ham which openly in slices or covertly + in sandwiches claimed its primacy in the German affections; every form of + this was flanked by tall glasses of beer. + </p> + <p> + A number of the natives stood by and stared unsmiling at the train, which + had broken out in a rash of little American flags at every window. This + boyish display, which must have made the Americans themselves laugh, if + their sense of humor had not been lost in their impassioned patriotism, + was the last expression of unity among the Norumbia's passengers, + and they met no more in their sea-solidarity. Of their table acquaintance + the Marches saw no one except Burnamy, who came through the train looking + for them. He said he was in one of the rear cars with the Eltwins, and was + going to Carlsbad with them in the sleeping-car train leaving Hamburg at + seven. He owned to having seen the Triscoes since they had left Cuxhaven; + Mrs. March would not suffer herself to ask him whether they were in the + same carriage with the Eltwins. He had got a letter from Mr. Stoller at + Cuxhaven, and he begged the Marches to let him engage rooms for them at + the hotel where he was going to stay with him. + </p> + <p> + After they reached Hamburg they had flying glimpses of him and of others + in the odious rivalry to get their baggage examined first which seized + upon all, and in which they no longer knew one another, but selfishly + struggled for the good-will of porters and inspectors. There was really no + such haste; but none could govern themselves against the general frenzy. + With the porter he secured March conspired and perspired to win the + attention of a cold but not unkindly inspector. The officer opened one + trunk, and after a glance at it marked all as passed, and then there + ensued a heroic strife with the porter as to the pieces which were to go + to the Berlin station for their journey next day, and the pieces which + were to go to the hotel overnight. At last the division was made; the + Marches got into a cab of the first class; and the porter, crimson and + steaming at every pore from the physical and intellectual strain, went + back into the station. + </p> + <p> + They had got the number of their cab from the policeman who stands at the + door of all large German stations and supplies the traveller with a + metallic check for the sort of vehicle he demands. They were not proud, + but it seemed best not to risk a second-class cab in a strange city, and + when their first-class cab came creaking and limping out of the rank, they + saw how wise they had been, if one of the second class could have been + worse. + </p> + <p> + As they rattled away from the station they saw yet another kind of + turnout, which they were destined to see more and more in the German + lands. It was that team of a woman harnessed with a dog to a cart which + the women of no other country can see without a sense of personal insult. + March tried to take the humorous view, and complained that they had not + been offered the choice of such an equipage by the policeman, but his wife + would not be amused. She said that no country which suffered such a thing + could be truly civilized, though he made her observe that no city in the + world, except Boston or Brooklyn, was probably so thoroughly trolleyed as + Hamburg. The hum of the electric car was everywhere, and everywhere the + shriek of the wires overhead; batlike flights of connecting plates + traversed all the perspectives through which they drove to the pleasant + little hotel they had chosen. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0104" id="link2H_4_0104"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XX. + </h2> + <p> + On one hand their windows looked toward a basin of the Elbe, where stately + white swans were sailing; and on the other to the new Rathhaus, over the + trees that deeply shaded the perennial mud of a cold, dim public garden, + where water-proof old women and impervious nurses sat, and children played + in the long twilight of the sour, rain-soaked summer of the fatherland. It + was all picturesque, and within-doors there was the novelty of the meagre + carpets and stalwart furniture of the Germans, and their beds, which after + so many ages of Anglo-Saxon satire remain immutably preposterous. They are + apparently imagined for the stature of sleepers who have shortened as they + broadened; their pillows are triangularly shaped to bring the chin tight + upon the breast under the bloated feather bulk which is meant for + covering, and which rises over the sleeper from a thick substratum of + cotton coverlet, neatly buttoned into the upper sheet, with the effect of + a portly waistcoat. + </p> + <p> + The hotel was illumined by the kindly splendor of the uniformed portier, + who had met the travellers at the door, like a glowing vision of the past, + and a friendly air diffused itself through the whole house. At the dinner, + which, if not so cheap as they had somehow hoped, was by no means bad, + they took counsel with the English-speaking waiter as to what + entertainment Hamburg could offer for the evening, and by the time they + had drunk their coffee they had courage for the Circus Renz, which seemed + to be all there was. + </p> + <p> + The conductor of the trolley-car, which they hailed at the street corner, + stopped it and got off the platform, and stood in the street until they + were safely aboard, without telling them to step lively, or pulling them + up the steps; or knuckling them in the back to make them move forward. He + let them get fairly seated before he started the car, and so lost the fun + of seeing them lurch and stagger violently, and wildly clutch each other + for support. The Germans have so little sense of humor that probably no + one in the car would have been amused to see the strangers flung upon the + floor. No one apparently found it droll that the conductor should touch + his cap to them when he asked for their fare; no one smiled at their + efforts to make him understand where they wished to go, and he did not + wink at the other passengers in trying to find out. Whenever the car + stopped he descended first, and did not remount till the dismounting + passenger had taken time to get well away from it. When the Marches got + into the wrong car in coming home, and were carried beyond their street, + the conductor would not take their fare. + </p> + <p> + The kindly civility which environed them went far to alleviate the + inclemency of the climate; it began to rain as soon as they left the + shelter of the car, but a citizen of whom they asked the nearest way to + the Circus Renz was so anxious to have them go aright that they did not + mind the wet, and the thought of his goodness embittered March's + self-reproach for under-tipping the sort of gorgeous heyduk, with a staff + like a drum-major's, who left his place at the circus door to get + their tickets. He brought them back with a magnificent bow, and was then + as visibly disappointed with the share of the change returned to him as a + child would have been. + </p> + <p> + They went to their places with the sting of his disappointment rankling in + their hearts. “One ought always to overpay them,” March + sighed, “and I will do it from this time forth; we shall not be much + the poorer for it. That heyduk is not going to get off with less than a + mark when we come out.” As an earnest of his good faith he gave the + old man who showed them to their box a tip that made him bow double, and + he bought every conceivable libretto and play-bill offered him at prices + fixed by his remorse. + </p> + <p> + “One ought to do it,” he said. “We are of the quality of + good geniuses to these poor souls; we are Fortune in disguise; we are + money found in the road. It is an accursed system, but they are more its + victims than we.” His wife quite agreed with him, and with the same + good conscience between them they gave themselves up to the pure joy which + the circus, of all modern entertainments, seems alone to inspire. The + house was full from floor to roof when they came ins and every one was + intent upon the two Spanish clowns, Lui-Lui and Soltamontes, whose + drolleries spoke the universal language of circus humor, and needed no + translation into either German or English. They had missed by an event or + two the more patriotic attraction of “Miss Darlings, the American + Star,” as she was billed in English, but they were in time for one + of those equestrian performances which leave the spectator almost + exanimate from their prolixity, and the pantomimic piece which closed the + evening. + </p> + <p> + This was not given until nearly the whole house had gone out and stayed + itself with beer and cheese and ham and sausage, in the restaurant which + purveys these light refreshments in the summer theatres all over Germany. + When the people came back gorged to the throat, they sat down in the right + mood to enjoy the allegory of “The Enchanted Mountain's + Fantasy; the Mountain episodes; the High-interesting Sledges-Courses on + the Steep Acclivities; the Amazing-Up-rush of the thence plunging-Four + Trains, which arrive with Lightnings-swiftness at the Top of the + over-40-feet-high Mountain-the Highest Triumph of the To-day's + Circus-Art; the Sledge-journey in the Wizard-mountain, and the Fairy + Ballet in the Realm of the Ghost-prince, with Gold and Silver, Jewel, + Bloomghosts, Gnomes, Gnomesses, and Dwarfs, in never-till-now-seen + Splendor of Costume.” The Marches were happy in this allegory, and + happier in the ballet, which is everywhere delightfully innocent, and + which here appealed with the large flat feet and the plain good faces of + the 'coryphees' to all that was simplest and sweetest in their + natures. They could not have resisted, if they had wished, that + environment, of good-will; and if it had not been for the disappointed + heyduk, they would have got home from their evening at the Circus Renz + without a pang. + </p> + <p> + They looked for him everywhere when they came out, but he had vanished, + and they were left with a regret which, if unavailing, was not too + poignant. In spite of it they had still an exhilaration in their release + from the companionship of their fellow-voyagers which they analyzed as the + psychical revulsion from the strain of too great interest in them. Mrs. + March declared that for the present, at least, she wanted Europe quite to + themselves; and she said that not even for the pleasure of seeing Burnamy + and Miss Triscoe come into their box together world she have suffered an + American trespass upon their exclusive possession of the Circus Renz. + </p> + <p> + In the audience she had seen German officers for the first time in + Hamburg, and she meant, if unremitting question could bring out the truth, + to know why she had not met any others. She had read much of the + prevalence and prepotence of the German officers who would try to push her + off the sidewalk, till they realized that she was an American woman, and + would then submit to her inflexible purpose of holding it. But she had + been some seven or eight hours in Hamburg, and nothing of the kind had + happened to her, perhaps because she had hardly yet walked a block in the + city streets, but perhaps also because there seemed to be very few + officers or military of any kind in Hamburg. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0105" id="link2H_4_0105"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXI. + </h2> + <p> + Their absence was plausibly explained, the next morning, by the young + German friend who came in to see the Marches at breakfast. He said Hamburg + had been so long a free republic that the presence of a large imperial + garrison was distasteful to the people, and as a matter of fact there were + very few soldiers quartered there, whether the authorities chose to + indulge the popular grudge or not. He was himself in a joyful flutter of + spirits, for he had just the day before got his release from military + service. He gave them a notion of what the rapture of a man reprieved from + death might be, and he was as radiantly happy in the ill health which had + got him his release as if it had been the greatest blessing of heaven. He + bubbled over with smiling regrets that he should be leaving his home for + the first stage of the journey which he was to take in search of strength, + just as they had come, and he pressed them to say if there were not + something that he could do for them. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Mrs. March, with a promptness surprising to her + husband, who could think of nothing; “tell us where Heinrich Heine + lived when he was in Hamburg. My husband has always had a great passion + for him and wants to look him up everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + March had forgotten that Heine ever lived in Hamburg, and the young man + had apparently never known it. His face fell; he wished to make Mrs. March + believe that it was only Heine's uncle who had lived there; but she + was firm; and when he had asked among the hotel people he came back gladly + owning that he was wrong, and that the poet used to live in Konigstrasse, + which was very near by, and where they could easily know the house by his + bust set in its front. The portier and the head waiter shared his ecstasy + in so easily obliging the friendly American pair, and joined him in + minutely instructing the driver when they shut them into their carriage. + </p> + <p> + They did not know that his was almost the only laughing face they should + see in the serious German Empire; just as they did not know that it rained + there every day. As they drove off in the gray drizzle with the unfounded + hope that sooner or later the weather would be fine, they bade their + driver be very slow in taking them through Konigstrasse, so that he should + by no means Miss Heine's dwelling, and he duly stopped in front of a + house bearing the promised bust. They dismounted in order to revere it + more at their ease, but the bust proved, by an irony bitterer than the + sick, heart-breaking, brilliant Jew could have imagined in his cruelest + moment, to be that of the German Milton, the respectable poet Klopstock, + whom Heine abhorred and mocked so pitilessly. + </p> + <p> + In fact it was here that the good, much-forgotten Klopstock dwelt, when he + came home to live with a comfortable pension from the Danish government; + and the pilgrims to the mistaken shrine went asking about among the + neighbors in Konigstrasse, for some manner of house where Heine might have + lived; they would have been willing to accept a flat, or any sort of + two-pair back. The neighbors were somewhat moved by the anxiety of the + strangers; but they were not so much moved as neighbors in Italy would + have been. There was no eager and smiling sympathy in the little crowd + that gathered to see what was going on; they were patient of question and + kind in their helpless response, but they were not gay. To a man they had + not heard of Heine; even the owner of a sausage and blood-pudding shop + across the way had not heard of him; the clerk of a + stationer-and-bookseller's next to the butcher's had heard of + him, but he had never heard that he lived in Konigstrasse; he never had + heard where he lived in Hamburg. + </p> + <p> + The pilgrims to the fraudulent shrine got back into their carriage, and + drove sadly away, instructing their driver with the rigidity which their + limited German favored, not to let any house with a bust in its front + escape him. He promised, and took his course out through Konigstrasse, and + suddenly they found themselves in a world of such eld and quaintness that + they forgot Heine as completely as any of his countrymen had done. They + were in steep and narrow streets, that crooked and turned with no apparent + purpose of leading anywhere, among houses that looked down upon them with + an astonished stare from the leaden-sashed windows of their timber-laced + gables. The facades with their lattices stretching in bands quite across + them, and with their steep roofs climbing high in successions of blinking + dormers, were more richly mediaeval than anything the travellers had ever + dreamt of before, and they feasted themselves upon the unimagined + picturesqueness with a leisurely minuteness which brought responsive + gazers everywhere to the windows; windows were set ajar; shop doors were + darkened by curious figures from within, and the traffic of the tortuous + alleys was interrupted by their progress. They could not have said which + delighted them more—the houses in the immediate foreground, or the + sharp high gables in the perspectives and the background; but all were + like the painted scenes of the stage, and they had a pleasant difficulty + in realizing that they were not persons in some romantic drama. + </p> + <p> + The illusion remained with them and qualified the impression which Hamburg + made by her much-trolleyed Bostonian effect; by the decorous activity and + Parisian architecture of her business streets; by the turmoil of her + quays, and the innumerable masts and chimneys of her shipping. At the + heart of all was that quaintness, that picturesqueness of the past, which + embodied the spirit of the old Hanseatic city, and seemed the expression + of the home-side of her history. The sense of this gained strength from + such slight study of her annals as they afterwards made, and assisted the + digestion of some morsels of tough statistics. In the shadow of those + Gothic houses the fact that Hamburg was one of the greatest coffee marts + and money marts of the world had a romantic glamour; and the fact that in + the four years from 1870 till 1874 a quarter of a million emigrants sailed + on her ships for the United States seemed to stretch a nerve of kindred + feeling from those mediaeval streets through the whole shabby length of + Third Avenue. + </p> + <p> + It was perhaps in this glamour, or this feeling of commercial solidarity, + that March went to have a look at the Hamburg Bourse, in the beautiful new + Rathhaus. It was not undergoing repairs, it was too new for that; but it + was in construction, and so it fulfilled the function of a public edifice, + in withholding its entire interest from the stranger. He could not get + into the Senate Chamber; but the Bourse was free to him, and when he + stepped within, it rose at him with a roar of voices and of feet like the + New York Stock Exchange. The spectacle was not so frantic; people were not + shaking their fists or fingers in each other's noses; but they were + all wild in the tamer German way, and he was glad to mount from the Bourse + to the poor little art gallery upstairs, and to shut out its clamor. He + was not so glad when he looked round on these, his first, examples of + modern German art. The custodian led him gently about and said which + things were for sale, and it made his heart ache to see how bad they were, + and to think that, bad as they were, he could not buy any of them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0106" id="link2H_4_0106"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXII. + </h2> + <p> + In the start from Cuxhaven the passengers had the irresponsible ease of + people ticketed through, and the steamship company had still the charge of + their baggage. But when the Marches left Hamburg for Leipsic (where they + had decided to break the long pull to Carlsbad), all the anxieties of + European travel, dimly remembered from former European days, offered + themselves for recognition. A porter vanished with their hand-baggage + before they could note any trait in him for identification; other porters + made away with their trunks; and the interpreter who helped March buy his + tickets, with a vocabulary of strictly railroad English, had to help him + find the pieces in the baggage-room, curiously estranged in a mountain of + alien boxes. One official weighed them; another obliged him to pay as much + in freight as for a third passenger, and gave him an illegible scrap of + paper which recorded their number and destination. The interpreter and the + porters took their fees with a professional effect of dissatisfaction, and + he went to wait with his wife amidst the smoking and eating and drinking + in the restaurant. They burst through with the rest when the doors were + opened to the train, and followed a glimpse of the porter with their + hand-bags, as he ran down the platform, still bent upon escaping them, and + brought him to bay at last in a car where he had got very good seats for + them, and sank into their places, hot and humiliated by their needless + tumult. + </p> + <p> + As they cooled, they recovered their self-respect, and renewed a youthful + joy in some of the long-estranged facts. The road was rougher than the + roads at home; but for much less money they had the comfort, without the + unavailing splendor, of a Pullman in their second-class carriage. Mrs. + March had expected to be used with the severity on the imperial railroads + which she had failed to experience from the military on the Hamburg + sidewalks, but nothing could be kindlier than the whole management toward + her. Her fellow-travellers were not lavish of their rights, as Americans + are; what they got, that they kept; and in the run from Hamburg to Leipsic + she had several occasions to observe that no German, however young or + robust, dreams of offering a better place, if he has one, to a lady in + grace to her sex or age; if they got into a carriage too late to secure a + forward-looking seat, she rode backward to the end of that stage. But if + they appealed to their fellow-travellers for information about changes, or + stops, or any of the little facts that they wished to make sure of, they + were enlightened past possibility of error. At the point where they might + have gone wrong the explanations were renewed with a thoughtfulness which + showed that their anxieties had not been forgotten. She said she could not + see how any people could be both so selfish and so sweet, and her husband + seized the advantage of saying something offensive: + </p> + <p> + “You women are so pampered in America that you are astonished when + you are treated in Europe like the mere human beings you are.” + </p> + <p> + She answered with unexpected reasonableness: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, there's something in that; but when the Germans have + taught us how despicable we are as women, why do they treat us so well as + human beings?” + </p> + <p> + This was at ten o'clock, after she had ridden backward a long way, + and at last, within an hour of Leipsic, had got a seat confronting him. + The darkness had now hidden the landscape, but the impression of its few + simple elements lingered pleasantly in their sense: long levels, densely + wooded with the precise, severely disciplined German forests, and + checkered with fields of grain and grass, soaking under the thin rain that + from time to time varied the thin sunshine. + </p> + <p> + The villages and peasants' cottages were notably few; but there was + here and there a classic or a gothic villa, which, at one point, an + English-speaking young lady turned from her Tauchnitz novel to explain as + the seat of some country gentleman; the land was in large holdings, and + this accounted for the sparsity of villages and cottages. + </p> + <p> + She then said that she was a German teacher of English, in Hamburg, and + was going home to Potsdam for a visit. She seemed like a German girl out + of 'The Initials', and in return for this favor Mrs. March + tried to invest herself with some romantic interest as an American. She + failed to move the girl's fancy, even after she had bestowed on her + an immense bunch of roses which the young German friend in Hamburg had + sent to them just before they left their hotel. She failed, later, on the + same ground with the pleasant-looking English woman who got into their + carriage at Magdeburg, and talked over the 'London Illustrated News' + with an English-speaking Fraulein in her company; she readily accepted the + fact of Mrs. March's nationality, but found nothing wonderful in it, + apparently; and when she left the train she left Mrs. March to recall with + fond regret the old days in Italy when she first came abroad, and could + make a whole carriage full of Italians break into ohs and ahs by saying + that she was an American, and telling how far she had come across the sea. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” March assented, “but that was a great while ago, + and Americans were much rarer than they are now in Europe. The Italians + are so much more sympathetic than the Germans and English, and they saw + that you wanted to impress them. Heaven knows how little they cared! And + then, you were a very pretty young girl in those days; or at least I + thought so.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she sighed, “and now I'm a plain old woman.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not quite so bad as that.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am! Do you think they would have cared more if it had been + Miss Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so much as if it had been the pivotal girl. They would have + found her much more their ideal of the American woman; and even she would + have had to have been here thirty years ago.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed a little ruefully. “Well, at any rate, I should like to + know how Miss Triscoe would have affected them.” + </p> + <p> + “I should much rather know what sort of life that English woman is + living here with her German husband; I fancied she had married rank. I + could imagine how dull it must be in her little Saxon town, from the way + she clung to her Illustrated News, and explained the pictures of the + royalties to her friend. There is romance for you!” + </p> + <p> + They arrived at Leipsic fresh and cheerful after their five hours' + journey, and as in a spell of their travelled youth they drove up through + the academic old town, asleep under its dimly clouded sky, and silent + except for the trolley-cars that prowled its streets with their feline + purr, and broke at times into a long, shrill caterwaul. A sense of the + past imparted itself to the well-known encounter with the portier and the + head waiter at the hotel door, to the payment of the driver, to the + endeavor of the secretary to have them take the most expensive rooms in + the house, and to his compromise upon the next most, where they found + themselves in great comfort, with electric lights and bells, and a quick + succession of fee-taking call-boys in dress-coats too large for them. The + spell was deepened by the fact, which March kept at the bottom of his + consciousness for the present, that one of their trunks was missing. This + linked him more closely to the travel of other days, and he spent the next + forenoon in a telegraphic search for the estray, with emotions tinged by + the melancholy of recollection, but in the security that since it was + somewhere in the keeping of the state railway, it would be finally + restored to him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0107" id="link2H_4_0107"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXIII. + </h2> + <p> + Their windows, as they saw in the morning, looked into a large square of + aristocratic physiognomy, and of a Parisian effect in architecture, which + afterwards proved characteristic of the town, if not quite so + characteristic as to justify the passion of Leipsic for calling itself + Little Paris. The prevailing tone was of a gray tending to the pale yellow + of the Tauchnitz editions with which the place is more familiarly + associated in the minds of English-speaking travellers. It was rather more + sombre than it might have been if the weather had been fair; but a quiet + rain was falling dreamily that morning, and the square was provided with a + fountain which continued to dribble in the rare moments when the rain + forgot itself. The place was better shaded than need be in that sunless + land by the German elms that look like ours and it was sufficiently + stocked with German statues, that look like no others. It had a monument, + too, of the sort with which German art has everywhere disfigured the + kindly fatherland since the war with France. These monuments, though they + are so very ugly, have a sort of pathos as records of the only war in + which Germany unaided has triumphed against a foreign foe, but they are as + tiresome as all such memorial pomps must be. It is not for the victories + of a people that any other people can care. The wars come and go in blood + and tears; but whether they are bad wars, or what are comically called + good wars, they are of one effect in death and sorrow, and their fame is + an offence to all men not concerned in them, till time has softened it to + a memory + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Of old, unhappy, far-off things, + And battles long ago.” + </pre> + <p> + It was for some such reason that while the Marches turned with instant + satiety from the swelling and strutting sculpture which celebrated the + Leipsic heroes of the war of 1870, they had heart for those of the war of + 1813; and after their noonday dinner they drove willingly, in a pause of + the rain, out between yellowing harvests of wheat and oats to the field + where Napoleon was beaten by the Russians, Austrians and Prussians (it + always took at least three nations to beat the little wretch) fourscore + years before. Yet even there Mrs. March was really more concerned for the + sparsity of corn-flowers in the grain, which in their modern character of + Kaiserblumen she found strangely absent from their loyal function; and + March was more taken with the notion of the little gardens which his guide + told him the citizens could have in the suburbs of Leipsic and enjoy at + any trolley-car distance from their homes. He saw certain of these gardens + in groups, divided by low, unenvious fences, and sometimes furnished with + summer-houses, where the tenant could take his pleasure in the evening + air, with his family. The guide said he had such a garden himself, at a + rent of seven dollars a year, where he raised vegetables and flowers, and + spent his peaceful leisure; and March fancied that on the simple domestic + side of their life, which this fact gave him a glimpse of, the Germans + were much more engaging than in their character of victors over either the + First or the Third Napoleon. But probably they would not have agreed with + him, and probably nations will go on making themselves cruel and tiresome + till humanity at last prevails over nationality. + </p> + <p> + He could have put the case to the guide himself; but though the guide was + imaginably liberated to a cosmopolitan conception of things by three years' + service as waiter in English hotels, where he learned the language, he + might not have risen to this. He would have tried, for he was a willing + and kindly soul, though he was not a 'valet de place' by + profession. There seemed in fact but one of that useless and amusing race + (which is everywhere falling into decay through the rivalry of the + perfected Baedeker,) left in Leipsic, and this one was engaged, so that + the Marches had to devolve upon their ex-waiter, who was now the keeper of + a small restaurant. He gladly abandoned his business to the care of his + wife, in order to drive handsomely about in his best clothes, with + strangers who did not exact too much knowledge from him. In his zeal to do + something he possessed himself of March's overcoat when they + dismounted at their first gallery, and let fall from its pocket his + prophylactic flask of brandy, which broke with a loud crash on the marble + floor in the presence of several masterpieces, and perfumed the whole + place. The masterpieces were some excellent works of Luke Kranach, who + seemed the only German painter worth looking at when there were any Dutch + or Italian pictures near, but the travellers forgot the name and nature of + the Kranachs, and remembered afterwards only the shattered fragments of + the brandy-flask, just how they looked on the floor, and the fumes, how + they smelt, that rose from the ruin. + </p> + <p> + It might have been a warning protest of the veracities against what they + were doing; but the madness of sight-seeing, which spoils travel, was on + them, and they delivered themselves up to it as they used in their + ignorant youth, though now they knew its futility so well. They spared + themselves nothing that they had time for, that day, and they felt falsely + guilty for their omissions, as if they really had been duties to art and + history which must be discharged, like obligations to one's maker + and one's neighbor. + </p> + <p> + They had a touch of genuine joy in the presence of the beautiful old + Rathhaus, and they were sensible of something like a genuine emotion in + passing the famous and venerable university; the very air of Leipsic is + redolent of printing and publication, which appealed to March in his + quality of editor, and they could not fail of an impression of the quiet + beauty of the town, with its regular streets of houses breaking into + suburban villas of an American sort, and intersected with many canals, + which in the intervals of the rain were eagerly navigated by pleasure + boats, and contributed to the general picturesqueness by their frequent + bridges, even during the drizzle. There seemed to be no churches to do, + and as it was a Sunday, the galleries were so early closed against them + that they were making a virtue as well as a pleasure of the famous scene + of Napoleon's first great defeat. + </p> + <p> + By a concert between their guide and driver their carriage drew up at the + little inn by the road-side, which is also a museum stocked with relics + from the battle-field, and with objects of interest relating to it. Old + muskets, old swords, old shoes and old coats, trumpets, drums, + gun-carriages, wheels, helmets, cannon balls, grape-shot, and all the + murderous rubbish which battles come to at last, with proclamations, + autographs, caricatures and likenesses of Napoleon, and effigies of all + the other generals engaged, and miniatures and jewels of their womenkind, + filled room after room, through which their owner vaunted his way, with a + loud pounding voice and a bad breath. When he wished them to enjoy some + gross British satire or clumsy German gibe at Bonaparte's expense, + and put his face close to begin the laugh, he was something so terrible + that March left the place with a profound if not a reasoned regret that + the French had not won the battle of Leipsic. He walked away musing + pensively upon the traveller's inadequacy to the ethics of history + when a breath could so sway him against his convictions; but even after he + had cleansed his lungs with some deep respirations he found himself still + a Bonapartist in the presence of that stone on the rising ground where + Napoleon sat to watch the struggle on the vast plain, and see his empire + slipping through his blood-stained fingers. It was with difficulty that he + could keep from revering the hat and coat which are sculptured on the + stone, but it was well that he succeeded, for he could not make out then + or afterwards whether the habiliments represented were really Napoleon's + or not, and they might have turned out to be Barclay de Tolly's. + </p> + <p> + While he stood trying to solve this question of clothes he was startled by + the apparition of a man climbing the little slope from the opposite + quarter, and advancing toward them. He wore the imperial crossed by the + pointed mustache once so familiar to a world much the worse for them, and + March had the shiver of a fine moment in which he fancied the Third + Napoleon rising to view the scene where the First had looked his coming + ruin in the face. + </p> + <p> + “Why, it's Miss Triscoe!” cried his wife, and before + March had noticed the approach of another figure, the elder and the + younger lady had rushed upon each other, and encountered with a kiss. At + the same time the visage of the last Emperor resolved itself into the face + of General Triscoe, who gave March his hand in a more tempered greeting. + </p> + <p> + The ladies began asking each other of their lives since their parting two + days before, and the men strolled a few paces away toward the distant + prospect of Leipsic, which at that point silhouettes itself in a noble + stretch of roofs and spires and towers against the horizon. + </p> + <p> + General Triscoe seemed no better satisfied with Germany than he had been + on first stepping ashore at Cuxhaven. He might still have been in a pout + with his own country, but as yet he had not made up with any other; and he + said, “What a pity Napoleon didn't thrash the whole + dunderheaded lot! His empire would have been a blessing to them, and they + would have had some chance of being civilized under the French. All this + unification of nationalities is the great humbug of the century. Every + stupid race thinks it's happy because it's united, and + civilization has been set back a hundred years by the wars that were + fought to bring the unions about; and more wars will have to be fought to + keep them up. What a farce it is! What's become of the nationality + of the Danes in Schleswig-Holstein, or the French in the Rhine Provinces, + or the Italians in Savoy?” + </p> + <p> + March had thought something like this himself, but to have it put by + General Triscoe made it offensive. “I don't know. Isn't + it rather quarrelling with the course of human events to oppose + accomplished facts? The unifications were bound to be, just as the + separations before them were. And so far they have made for peace, in + Europe at least, and peace is civilization. Perhaps after a great many + ages people will come together through their real interests, the human + interests; but at present it seems as if nothing but a romantic sentiment + of patriotism can unite them. By-and-by they may find that there is + nothing in it.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said the general, discontentedly. “I don't + see much promise of any kind in the future.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. When you think of the solid militarism of + Germany, you seem remanded to the most hopeless moment of the Roman + Empire; you think nothing can break such a force; but my guide says that + even in Leipsic the Socialists outnumber all the other parties, and the + army is the great field of the Socialist propaganda. The army itself may + be shaped into the means of democracy—even of peace.” + </p> + <p> + “You're very optimistic,” said Triscoe, curtly. “As + I read the signs, we are not far from universal war. In less than a year + we shall make the break ourselves in a war with Spain.” He looked + very fierce as he prophesied, and he dotted March over with his staccato + glances. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll allow that if Tammany comes in this year, we shall + have war with Spain. You can't ask more than that, General Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March and Miss Triscoe had not said a word of the 'battle of + Leipsic', or of the impersonal interests which it suggested to the + men. For all these, they might still have been sitting in their steamer + chairs on the promenade of the Norumbia at a period which seemed now of + geological remoteness. The girl accounted for not being in Dresden by her + father's having decided not to go through Berlin but to come by way + of Leipsic, which he thought they had better see; they had come without + stopping in Hamburg. They had not enjoyed Leipsic much; it had rained the + whole day before, and they had not gone out. She asked when Mrs. March was + going on to Carlsbad, and Mrs. March answered, the next morning; her + husband wished to begin his cure at once. + </p> + <p> + Then Miss Triscoe pensively wondered if Carlsbad would do her father any + good; and Mrs. March discreetly inquired General Triscoe's symptoms. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he hasn't any. But I know he can't be well—with + his gloomy opinions.” + </p> + <p> + “They may come from his liver,” said Mrs. March. “Nearly + everything of that kind does. I know that Mr. March has been terribly + depressed at times, and the doctor said it was nothing but his liver; and + Carlsbad is the great place for that, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I can get papa to run over some day, if he doesn't + like Dresden. It isn't very far, is it?” + </p> + <p> + They referred to Mrs. March's Baedeker together, and found that it + was five hours. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that is what I thought,” said Miss Triscoe, with a + carelessness which convinced Mrs. March she had looked up the fact + already. + </p> + <p> + “If you decide to come, you must let us get rooms for you at our + hotel. We're going to Pupp's; most of the English and + Americans go to the hotels on the Hill, but Pupp's is in the thick + of it in the lower town; and it's very gay, Mr. Kenby says; he's + been there often. Mr. Burnamy is to get our rooms.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose I can get papa to go,” said Miss + Triscoe, so insincerely that Mrs. March was sure she had talked over the + different routes; to Carlsbad with Burnamy—probably on the way from + Cuxhaven. She looked up from digging the point of her umbrella in the + ground. “You didn't meet him here this morning?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March governed herself to a calm which she respected in asking, + “Has Mr. Burnamy been here?” + </p> + <p> + “He came on with Mr. and Mrs. Eltwin, when we did, and they all + decided to stop over a day. They left on the twelve-o'clock train + to-day.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March perceived that the girl had decided not to let the facts betray + themselves by chance, and she treated them as of no significance. + </p> + <p> + “No, we didn't see him,” she said, carelessly. + </p> + <p> + The two men came walking slowly towards them, and Miss Triscoe said, + “We're going to Dresden this evening, but I hope we shall meet + somewhere, Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, people never lose sight of each other in Europe; they can't; + it's so little!” + </p> + <p> + “Agatha,” said the girl's father, “Mr. March tells + me that the museum over there is worth seeing.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” the girl assented, and she took a winning leave of the + Marches, and moved gracefully away with her father. + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought it was Agnes,” said Mrs. March, + following them with her eyes before she turned upon her husband. “Did + he tell you Burnamy had been here? Well, he has! He has just gone on to + Carlsbad. He made, those poor old Eltwins stop over with him, so he could + be with her.” + </p> + <p> + “Did she say that?” + </p> + <p> + “No, but of course he did.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it's all settled?” + </p> + <p> + “No, it isn't settled. It's at the most interesting + point.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, don't read ahead. You always want to look at the last + page.” + </p> + <p> + “You were trying to look at the last page yourself,” she + retorted, and she would have liked to punish him for his complex + dishonesty toward the affair; but upon the whole she kept her temper with + him, and she made him agree that Miss Triscoe's getting her father + to Carlsbad was only a question of time. + </p> + <p> + They parted heart's-friends with their ineffectual guide, who was + affectionately grateful for the few marks they gave him, at the hotel + door; and they were in just the mood to hear men singing in a farther room + when they went down to supper. The waiter, much distracted from their own + service by his duties to it, told them it was the breakfast party of + students which they had heard beginning there about noon. The revellers + had now been some six hours at table, and he said they might not rise + before midnight; they had just got to the toasts, which were apparently + set to music. + </p> + <p> + The students of right remained a vivid color in the impression of the + university town. They pervaded the place, and decorated it with their + fantastic personal taste in coats and trousers, as well as their corps + caps of green, white, red, and blue, but above all blue. They were not + easily distinguishable from the bicyclers who were holding one of the dull + festivals of their kind in Leipsic that day, and perhaps they were + sometimes both students and bicyclers. As bicyclers they kept about in the + rain, which they seemed not to mind; so far from being disheartened, they + had spirits enough to take one another by the waist at times and waltz in + the square before the hotel. At one moment of the holiday some chiefs + among them drove away in carriages; at supper a winner of prizes sat + covered with badges and medals; another who went by the hotel streamed + with ribbons; and an elderly man at his side was bespattered with small + knots and ends of them, as if he had been in an explosion of ribbons + somewhere. It seemed all to be as exciting for them, and it was as tedious + for the witnesses, as any gala of students and bicyclers at home. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March remained with an unrequited curiosity concerning their + different colors and different caps, and she tried to make her husband + find out what they severally meant; he pretended a superior interest in + the nature of a people who had such a passion for uniforms that they were + not content with its gratification in their immense army, but indulged it + in every pleasure and employment of civil life. He estimated, perhaps not + very accurately, that only one man out of ten in Germany wore citizens' + dress; and of all functionaries he found that the dogs of the + women-and-dog teams alone had no distinctive dress; even the women had + their peasant costume. + </p> + <p> + There was an industrial fair open at Leipsic which they went out of the + city to see after supper, along with a throng of Leipsickers, whom an hour's + interval of fine weather tempted forth on the trolley; and with the help + of a little corporal, who took a fee for his service with the eagerness of + a civilian, they got wheeled chairs, and renewed their associations with + the great Chicago Fair in seeing the exposition from them. This was not, + March said, quite the same as being drawn by a woman-and-dog team, which + would have been the right means of doing a German fair; but it was + something to have his chair pushed by a slender young girl, whose stalwart + brother applied his strength to the chair of the lighter traveller; and it + was fit that the girl should reckon the common hire, while the man took + the common tip. They made haste to leave the useful aspects of the fair, + and had themselves trundled away to the Colonial Exhibit, where they + vaguely expected something like the agreeable corruptions of the Midway + Plaisance. The idea of her colonial progress with which Germany is trying + to affect the home-keeping imagination of her people was illustrated by an + encampment of savages from her Central-African possessions. They were + getting their supper at the moment the Marches saw them, and were + crouching, half naked, around the fires under the kettles, and shivering + from the cold, but they were not very characteristic of the imperial + expansion, unless perhaps when an old man in a red blanket suddenly sprang + up with a knife in his hand and began to chase a boy round the camp. The + boy was lighter-footed, and easily outran the sage, who tripped at times + on his blanket. None of the other Central Africans seemed to care for the + race, and without waiting for the event, the American spectators ordered + themselves trundled away to another idle feature of the fair, where they + hoped to amuse themselves with the image of Old Leipsic. + </p> + <p> + This was so faithfully studied from the past in its narrow streets and + Gothic houses that it was almost as picturesque as the present epoch in + the old streets of Hamburg. A drama had just begun to be represented on a + platform of the public square in front of a fourteenth-century beer-house, + with people talking from the windows round, and revellers in the costume + of the period drinking beer and eating sausages at tables in the open air. + Their eating and drinking were genuine, and in the midst of it a real rain + began, to pour down upon them, without affecting them any more than if + they had been Germans of the nineteenth century. But it drove the + Americans to a shelter from which they could not see the play, and when it + held up, they made their way back to their hotel. + </p> + <p> + Their car was full of returning pleasurers, some of whom were happy beyond + the sober wont of the fatherland. The conductor took a special interest in + his tipsy passengers, trying to keep them in order, and genially + entreating them to be quiet when they were too obstreperous. From time to + time he got some of them off, and then, when he remounted the car, he + appealed to the remaining passengers for their sympathy with an innocent + smile, which the Americans, still strange to the unjoyous physiognomy of + the German Empire, failed to value at its rare worth. + </p> + <p> + Before he slept that night March tried to assemble from the experiences + and impressions of the day some facts which he would not be ashamed of as + a serious observer of life in Leipsic, and he remembered that their guide + had said house-rent was very low. He generalized from the guide's + content with his fee that the Germans were not very rapacious; and he + became quite irrelevantly aware that in Germany no man's clothes + fitted him, or seemed expected to fit him; that the women dressed somewhat + better, and were rather pretty sometimes, and that they had feet as large + as the kind hearts of the Germans of every age and sex. He was able to + note, rather more freshly, that with all their kindness the Germans were a + very nervous people, if not irritable, and at the least cause gave way to + an agitation, which indeed quickly passed, but was violent while it + lasted. Several times that day he had seen encounters between the portier + and guests at the hotel which promised violence, but which ended + peacefully as soon as some simple question of train-time was solved. The + encounters always left the portier purple and perspiring, as any agitation + must with a man so tight in his livery. He bemoaned himself after one of + them as the victim of an unhappy calling, in which he could take no + exercise. “It is a life of excitements, but not of movements,” + he explained to March; and when he learned where he was going, he + regretted that he could not go to Carlsbad too. “For sugar?” + he asked, as if there were overmuch of it in his own make. + </p> + <p> + March felt the tribute, but he had to say, “No; liver.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said the portier, with the air of failing to get on + common ground with him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0108" id="link2H_4_0108"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXV. + </h2> + <p> + The next morning was so fine that it would have been a fine morning in + America. Its beauty was scarcely sullied, even subjectively, by the + telegram which the portier sent after the Marches from the hotel, saying + that their missing trunk had not yet been found, and their spirits were as + light as the gay little clouds which blew about in the sky, when their + train drew out in the sunshine, brilliant on the charming landscape all + the way to Carlsbad. A fatherly 'traeger' had done his best to + get them the worst places in a non-smoking compartment, but had succeeded + so poorly that they were very comfortable, with no companions but a mother + and daughter, who spoke German in soft low tones together. Their + compartment was pervaded by tobacco fumes from the smokers, but as these + were twice as many as the non-smokers, it was only fair, and after March + had got a window open it did not matter, really. + </p> + <p> + He asked leave of the strangers in his German, and they consented in + theirs; but he could not master the secret of the window-catch, and the + elder lady said in English, “Let me show you,” and came to his + help. + </p> + <p> + The occasion for explaining that they were Americans and accustomed to + different car windows was so tempting that Mrs. March could not forbear, + and the other ladies were affected as deeply as she could wish. Perhaps + they were the more affected because it presently appeared that they had + cousins in New York whom she knew of, and that they were acquainted with + an American family that had passed the winter in Berlin. Life likes to do + these things handsomely, and it easily turned out that this was a family + of intimate friendship with the Marches; the names, familiarly spoken, + abolished all strangeness between the travellers; and they entered into a + comparison of tastes, opinions, and experiences, from which it seemed that + the objects and interests of cultivated people in Berlin were quite the + same as those of cultivated people in New York. Each of the parties to the + discovery disclaimed any superiority for their respective civilizations; + they wished rather to ascribe a greater charm and virtue to the alien + conditions; and they acquired such merit with one another that when the + German ladies got out of the train at Franzensbad, the mother offered Mrs. + March an ingenious folding footstool which she had admired. In fact, she + left her with it clasped to her breast, and bowing speechless toward the + giver in a vain wish to express her gratitude. + </p> + <p> + “That was very pretty of her, my dear,” said March. “You + couldn't have done that.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she confessed; “I shouldn't have had the + courage. The courage of my emotions,” she added, thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's the difference! A Berliner could do it, and a + Bostonian couldn't. Do you think it so much better to have the + courage of your convictions?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. It seems to me that I'm less and less + certain of everything that I used to be sure of.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed, and then he said, “I was thinking how, on our wedding + journey, long ago, that Gray Sister at the Hotel Dieu in Quebec offered + you a rose.” + </p> + <p> + “Well?” + </p> + <p> + “That was to your pretty youth. Now the gracious stranger gives you + a folding stool.” + </p> + <p> + “To rest my poor old feet. Well, I would rather have it than a rose, + now.” + </p> + <p> + “You bent toward her at just the slant you had when you took the + flower that time; I noticed it. I didn't see that you looked so very + different. To be sure the roses in your cheeks have turned into rosettes; + but rosettes are very nice, and they're much more permanent; I + prefer them; they will keep in any climate.” + </p> + <p> + She suffered his mockery with an appreciative sigh. “Yes, our age + caricatures our youth, doesn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think it gets much fun out of it,” he assented. + </p> + <p> + “No; but it can't help it. I used to rebel against it when it + first began. I did enjoy being young.” + </p> + <p> + “You did, my dear,” he said, taking her hand tenderly; she + withdrew it, because though she could bear his sympathy, her New England + nature could not bear its expression. “And so did I; and we were + both young a long time. Travelling brings the past back, don't you + think? There at that restaurant, where we stopped for dinner—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it was charming! Just as it used to be! With that white cloth, + and those tall shining bottles of wine, and the fruit in the centre, and + the dinner in courses, and that young waiter who spoke English, and was so + nice! I'm never going home; you may, if you like.” + </p> + <p> + “You bragged to those ladies about our dining-cars; and you said + that our railroad restaurants were quite as good as the European.” + </p> + <p> + “I had to do that. But I knew better; they don't begin to be.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps not; but I've been thinking that travel is a good + deal alike everywhere. It's the expression of the common + civilization of the world. When I came out of that restaurant and ran the + train down, and then found that it didn't start for fifteen minutes, + I wasn't sure whether I was at home or abroad. And when we changed + cars at Eger, and got into this train which had been baking in the sun for + us outside the station, I didn't know but I was back in the good old + Fitchburg depot. To be sure, Wallenstein wasn't assassinated at + Boston, but I forgot his murder at Eger, and so that came to the same + thing. It's these confounded fifty-odd years. I used to recollect + everything.” + </p> + <p> + He had got up and was looking out of the window at the landscape, which + had not grown less amiable in growing rather more slovenly since they had + crossed the Saxon bolder into Bohemia. All the morning and early afternoon + they had run through lovely levels of harvest, where men were cradling the + wheat and women were binding it into sheaves in the narrow fields between + black spaces of forest. After they left Eger, there was something more + picturesque and less thrifty in the farming among the low hills which they + gradually mounted to uplands, where they tasted a mountain quality in the + thin pure air. The railroad stations were shabbier; there was an + indefinable touch of something Southern in the scenery and the people. + Lilies were rocking on the sluggish reaches of the streams, and where the + current quickened, tall wheels were lifting water for the fields in + circles of brimming and spilling pockets. Along the embankments, where a + new track was being laid, barefooted women were at work with pick and + spade and barrow, and little yellow-haired girls were lugging large + white-headed babies, and watching the train go by. At an up grade where it + slowed in the ascent he began to throw out to the children the pfennigs + which had been left over from the passage in Germany, and he pleased + himself with his bounty, till the question whether the children could + spend the money forced itself upon him. He sat down feeling less like a + good genius than a cruel magician who had tricked them with false wealth; + but he kept his remorse to himself, and tried to interest his wife in the + difference of social and civic ideal expressed in the change of the + inhibitory notices at the car windows, which in Germany had strongliest + forbidden him to outlean himself, and now in Austria entreated him not to + outbow himself. She refused to share in the speculation, or to debate the + yet nicer problem involved by the placarded prayer in the washroom to the + Messrs. Travellers not to take away the soap; and suddenly he felt himself + as tired as she looked, with that sense of the futility of travel which + lies in wait for every one who profits by travel. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bad wars, or what are comically called good wars + Calm of those who have logic on their side + Decided not to let the facts betray themselves by chance + Explained perhaps too fully + Futility of travel + Humanity may at last prevail over nationality + Impertinent prophecies of their enjoying it so much + Less certain of everything that I used to be sure of + Life of the ship, like the life of the sea: a sodden monotony + Life was like the life at a sea-side hotel, but more monotonous + Madness of sight-seeing, which spoils travel + Night so bad that it was worse than no night at all + Our age caricatures our youth + Prices fixed by his remorse + Recipes for dishes and diseases + Reckless and culpable optimism + Repeated the nothings they had said already + She cares for him: that she was so cold shows that + She could bear his sympathy, but not its expression + Suffering under the drip-drip of his innocent egotism + They were so near in age, though they were ten years apart + Unfounded hope that sooner or later the weather would be fine + Wilful sufferers + Woman harnessed with a dog to a cart + Wooded with the precise, severely disciplined German forests + Work he was so fond of and so weary of +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART2b" id="link2H_PART2b"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART II. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0110" id="link2H_4_0110"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXVI. + </h2> + <p> + They found Burnamy expecting them at the station in Carlsbad, and she + scolded him like a mother for taking the trouble to meet them, while she + kept back for the present any sign of knowing that he had staid over a day + with the Triscoes in Leipsic. He was as affectionately glad to see her and + her husband as she could have wished, but she would have liked it better + if he had owned up at once about Leipsic. He did not, and it seemed to her + that he was holding her at arm's-length in his answers about his + employer. He would not say how he liked his work, or how he liked Mr. + Stoller; he merely said that they were at Pupp's together, and that + he had got in a good day's work already; and since he would say no + more, she contented herself with that. + </p> + <p> + The long drive from the station to the hotel was by streets that wound + down the hill-side like those of an Italian mountain town, between gay + stuccoed houses, of Southern rather than of Northern architecture; and the + impression of a Latin country was heightened at a turn of the road which + brought into view a colossal crucifix planted against a curtain of dark + green foliage on the brow of one of the wooded heights that surrounded + Carlsbad. When they reached the level of the Tepl, the hill-fed torrent + that brawls through the little city under pretty bridges within walls of + solid masonry, they found themselves in almost the only vehicle on a + brilliant promenade thronged with a cosmopolitan world. Germans in every + manner of misfit; Polish Jews in long black gabardines, with tight + corkscrew curls on their temples under their black velvet derbys; Austrian + officers in tight corsets; Greek priests in flowing robes and brimless + high hats; Russians in caftans and Cossacks in Astrakhan caps, accented + the more homogeneous masses of western Europeans, in which it would have + been hard to say which were English, French or Italians. Among the vividly + dressed ladies, some were imaginably Parisian from their chic costumes, + but they might easily have been Hungarians or Levantines of taste; some + Americans, who might have passed unknown in the perfection of their dress, + gave their nationality away in the flat wooden tones of their voices, + which made themselves heard above the low hum of talk and the whisper of + the innumerable feet. + </p> + <p> + The omnibus worked its way at a slow walk among the promenaders going and + coming between the rows of pollard locusts on one side and the bright + walls of the houses on the other. Under the trees were tables, served by + pretty bareheaded girls who ran to and from the restaurants across the + way. On both sides flashed and glittered the little shops full of silver, + glass, jewelry, terracotta figurines, wood-carvings, and all the idle + frippery of watering-place traffic: they suggested Paris, and they + suggested Saratoga, and then they were of Carlsbad and of no place else in + the world, as the crowd which might have been that of other cities at + certain moments could only have been of Carlsbad in its habitual effect. + </p> + <p> + “Do you like it?” asked Burnamy, as if he owned the place, and + Mrs. March saw how simple-hearted he was in his reticence, after all. She + was ready to bless him when they reached the hotel and found that his + interest had got them the only rooms left in the house. This satisfied in + her the passion for size which is at the bottom of every American heart, + and which perhaps above all else marks us the youngest of the peoples. We + pride ourselves on the bigness of our own things, but we are not + ungenerous, and when we go to Europe and find things bigger than ours, we + are magnanimously happy in them. Pupp's, in its altogether different + way, was larger than any hotel at Saratoga or at Niagara; and when Burnamy + told her that it sometimes fed fifteen thousand people a day in the height + of the season, she was personally proud of it. + </p> + <p> + She waited with him in the rotunda of the hotel, while the secretary led + March off to look at the rooms reserved for them, and Burnamy hospitably + turned the revolving octagonal case in the centre of the rotunda where the + names of the guests were put up. They were of all nations, but there were + so many New Yorkers whose names ended in berg, and thal, and stern, and + baum that she seemed to be gazing upon a cyclorama of the signs on + Broadway. A large man of unmistakable American make, but with so little + that was of New England or New York in his presence that she might not at + once have thought him American, lounged toward them with a quill toothpick + in the corner of his mouth. He had a jealous blue eye, into which he + seemed trying to put a friendly light; his straight mouth stretched into + an involuntary smile above his tawny chin-beard, and he wore his soft hat + so far back from his high forehead (it showed to the crown when he took + his hat off) that he had the effect of being uncovered. + </p> + <p> + At his approach Burnamy turned, and with a flush said: “Oh! Let me + introduce Mr. Stoller, Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller took his toothpick out of his mouth and bowed; then he seemed to + remember, and took off his hat. “You see Jews enough, here to make + you feel at home?” he asked; and he added: “Well, we got some + of 'em in Chicago, too, I guess. This young man”—he + twisted his head toward Burnamy—“found you easy enough?” + </p> + <p> + “It was very good of him to meet us,” Mrs. March began. + “We didn't expect—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's all right,” said Stoller, putting his + toothpick back, and his hat on. “We'd got through for the day; + my doctor won't let me work all I want to, here. Your husband's + going to take the cure, they tell me. Well, he wants to go to a good + doctor, first. You can't go and drink these waters hit or miss. I + found that out before I came.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no!” said Mrs. March, and she wished to explain how they + had been advised; but he said to Burnamy: + </p> + <p> + “I sha'n't want you again till ten to-morrow morning. + Don't let me interrupt you,” he added patronizingly to Mrs. + March. He put his hand up toward his hat, and sauntered away out of the + door. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy did not speak; and she only asked at last, to relieve the silence, + “Is Mr. Stoller an American?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I suppose so,” he answered, with an uneasy laugh. + “His people were German emigrants who settled in Southern Indiana. + That makes him as much American as any of us, doesn't it?” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy spoke with his mind on his French-Canadian grandfather, who had + come down through Detroit, when their name was Bonami; but Mrs. March + answered from her eight generations of New England ancestry. “Oh, + for the West, yes, perhaps,” and they neither of them said anything + more about Stoller. + </p> + <p> + In their room, where she found March waiting for her amidst their arriving + baggage, she was so full of her pent-up opinions of Burnamy's patron + that she, would scarcely speak of the view from their windows of the + wooded hills up and down the Tepl. “Yes, yes; very nice, and I know + I shall enjoy it ever so much. But I don't know what you will think + of that poor young Burnamy!” + </p> + <p> + “Why, what's happened to him?” + </p> + <p> + “Happened? Stoller's happened.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, have you seen him, already? Well?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if you had been going to pick out that type of man, you'd + have rejected him, because you'd have said he was too pat. He's + like an actor made up for a Western millionaire. Do you remember that + American in 'L'Etranger' which Bernhardt did in Boston + when she first came? He, looks exactly like that, and he has the worst + manners. He stood talking to me with his hat on, and a toothpick in his + mouth; and he made me feel as if he had bought me, along with Burnamy, and + had paid too much. If you don't give him a setting down, Basil, I + shall never speak to you; that's all. I'm sure Burnamy is in + some trouble with him; he's got some sort of hold upon him; what it + could be in such a short time, I can't imagine; but if ever a man + seemed to be, in a man's power, he does, in his! + </p> + <p> + “Now,” said March, “your pronouns have got so far beyond + me that I think we'd better let it all go till after supper; perhaps + I shall see Stoller myself by that time.” + </p> + <p> + She had been deeply stirred by her encounter with Stoller, but she entered + with impartial intensity into the fact that the elevator at Pupp's + had the characteristic of always coming up and never going down with + passengers. It was locked into its closet with a solid door, and there was + no bell to summon it, or any place to take it except on the ground-floor; + but the stairs by which she could descend were abundant and stately; and + on one landing there was the lithograph of one of the largest and ugliest + hotels in New York; how ugly it was, she said she should never have known + if she had not seen it there. + </p> + <p> + The dining-room was divided into the grand saloon, where they supped amid + rococo sculptures and frescoes, and the glazed veranda opening by vast + windows on a spread of tables without, which were already filling up for + the evening concert. Around them at the different tables there were groups + of faces and figures fascinating in their strangeness, with that + distinction which abashes our American level in the presence of European + inequality. + </p> + <p> + “How simple and unimpressive we are, Basil,” she said, “beside + all these people! I used to feel it in Europe when I was young, and now I'm + certain that we must seem like two faded-in old village photographs. We + don't even look intellectual! I hope we look good.” + </p> + <p> + “I know I do,” said March. The waiter went for their supper, + and they joined in guessing the different nationalities in the room. A + French party was easy enough; a Spanish mother and daughter were not + difficult, though whether they were not South-American remained uncertain; + two elderly maiden ladies were unmistakably of central Massachusetts, and + were obviously of a book-club culture that had left no leaf unturned; some + Triestines gave themselves away by their Venetian accent; but a large + group at a farther table were unassignable in the strange language which + they clattered loudly together, with bursts of laughter. They were a + family party of old and young, they were having a good time, with a + freedom which she called baronial; the ladies wore white satin, or black + lace, but the men were in sack-coats; she chose to attribute them, for no + reason but their outlandishness, to Transylvania. March pretended to + prefer a table full of Germans, who were unmistakably bourgeois, and yet + of intellectual effect. He chose as his favorite a middle-aged man of + learned aspect, and they both decided to think of him as the Herr + Professor, but they did not imagine how perfectly the title fitted him + till he drew a long comb from his waistcoat pocket and combed his hair and + beard with it above the table. + </p> + <p> + The wine wrought with the Transylvanians, and they all jargoned together + at once, and laughed at the jokes passing among them. One old gentleman + had a peculiar fascination from the infantile innocence of his gums when + he threw his head back to laugh, and showed an upper jaw toothless except + for two incisors, standing guard over the chasm between. Suddenly he + choked, coughed to relieve himself, hawked, held his napkin up before him, + and— + </p> + <p> + “Noblesse oblige,” said March, with the tone of irony which he + reserved for his wife's preoccupations with aristocracies of all + sorts. “I think I prefer my Hair Professor, bourgeois, as he is.” + </p> + <p> + The ladies attributively of central Massachusetts had risen from their + table, and were making for the door without having paid for their supper. + The head waiter ran after them; with a real delicacy for their mistake he + explained that though in most places the meals were charged in the bill, + it was the custom in Carlsbad to pay for them at the table; one could see + that he was making their error a pleasant adventure to them which they + could laugh over together, and write home about without a pang. + </p> + <p> + “And I,” said Mrs. March, shamelessly abandoning the party of + the aristocracy, “prefer the manners of the lower classes.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” he admitted. “The only manners we have at + home are black ones. But you mustn't lose courage. Perhaps the + nobility are not always so baronial.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know whether we have manners at home,” she + said, “and I don't believe I care. At least we have decencies.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't be a jingo,” said her husband. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0111" id="link2H_4_0111"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXVII. + </h2> + <p> + Though Stoller had formally discharged Burnamy from duty for the day, he + was not so full of resources in himself, and he had not so general an + acquaintance in the hotel but he was glad to have the young fellow make up + to him in the reading-room, that night. He laid down a New York paper ten + days old in despair of having left any American news in it, and pushed + several continental Anglo-American papers aside with his elbow, as he gave + a contemptuous glance at the foreign journals, in Bohemian, Hungarian, + German, French, and Italian, which littered the large table. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” he said, “how long it'll take'em, + over here, to catch on to our way of having pictures?” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy had come to his newspaper work since illustrated journalism was + established, and he had never had any shock from it at home, but so + sensitive is youth to environment that, after four days in Europe, the New + York paper Stoller had laid down was already hideous to him. From the + politic side of his nature, however, he temporized with Stoller's + preference. “I suppose it will be some time yet.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish,” said Stoller, with a savage disregard of expressed + sequences and relevancies, “I could ha' got some pictures to + send home with that letter this afternoon: something to show how they do + things here, and be a kind of object-lesson.” This term had come up + in a recent campaign when some employers, by shutting down their works, + were showing their employees what would happen if the employees voted + their political opinions into effect, and Stoller had then mastered its + meaning and was fond of using it. “I'd like 'em to see + the woods around here, that the city owns, and the springs, and the + donkey-carts, and the theatre, and everything, and give 'em some + practical ideas.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy made an uneasy movement. + </p> + <p> + “I'd 'a' liked to put 'em alongside of some + of our improvements, and show how a town can be carried on when it's + managed on business principles.” + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you think of it?” + </p> + <p> + “Really, I don't know,” said Burnamy, with a touch of + impatience. + </p> + <p> + They had not met the evening before on the best of terms. Stoller had + expected Burnamy twenty-four hours earlier, and had shown his displeasure + with him for loitering a day at Leipsic which he might have spent at + Carlsbad; and Burnamy had been unsatisfactory in accounting for the delay. + But he had taken hold so promptly and so intelligently that by working far + into the night, and through the whole forenoon, he had got Stoller's + crude mass of notes into shape, and had sent off in time for the first + steamer the letter which was to appear over the proprietor's name in + his paper. It was a sort of rough but very full study of the Carlsbad city + government, the methods of taxation, the municipal ownership of the + springs and the lands, and the public control in everything. It condemned + the aristocratic constitution of the municipality, but it charged heavily + in favor of the purity, beneficence, and wisdom of the administration, + under which there was no poverty and no idleness, and which was managed + like any large business. + </p> + <p> + Stoller had sulkily recurred to his displeasure, once or twice, and + Burnamy suffered it submissively until now. But now, at the change in + Burnamy's tone, he changed his manner a little. + </p> + <p> + “Seen your friends since supper?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Only a moment. They are rather tired, and they've gone to + bed.” + </p> + <p> + “That the fellow that edits that book you write for?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he owns it, too.” + </p> + <p> + The notion of any sort of ownership moved Stoller's respect, and he + asked more deferentially, “Makin' a good thing out of it?” + </p> + <p> + “A living, I suppose. Some of the high-class weeklies feel the + competition of the ten-cent monthlies. But 'Every Other Week' + is about the best thing we've got in the literary way, and I guess + it's holding its own.” + </p> + <p> + “Have to, to let the editor come to Carlsbad,” Stoller said, + with a return to the sourness of his earlier mood. “I don't + know as I care much for his looks; I seen him when he came in with you. No + snap to him.” He clicked shut the penknife he had been paring his + nails with, and started up with the abruptness which marked all his + motions, mental and physical; as he walked heavily out of the room he + said, without looking at Burnamy, “You want to be ready by half past + ten at the latest.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller's father and mother were poor emigrants who made their way + to the West with the instinct for sordid prosperity native to their race + and class; and they set up a small butcher shop in the little Indiana town + where their son was born, and throve in it from the start. He could + remember his mother helping his father make the sausage and head-cheese + and pickle the pigs' feet, which they took turns in selling at as + great a price as they could extort from the townspeople. She was a good + and tender mother, and when her little Yawcup, as the boys called Jacob in + mimicry after her, had grown to the school-going age, she taught him to + fight the Americans, who stoned him when he came out of his gate, and + mobbed his home-coming; and mocked and tormented him at play-time till + they wore themselves into a kindlier mind toward him through the + exhaustion of their invention. No one, so far as the gloomy, stocky, + rather dense little boy could make out, ever interfered in his behalf; and + he grew up in bitter shame for his German origin, which entailed upon him + the hard fate of being Dutch among the Americans. He hated his native + speech so much that he cried when he was forced to use it with his father + and mother at home; he furiously denied it with the boys who proposed to + parley with him in it on such terms as “Nix come arouce in de + Dytchman's house.” He disused it so thoroughly that after his + father took him out of school, when he was old enough to help in the shop, + he could not get back to it. He regarded his father's business as + part of his national disgrace, and at the cost of leaving his home he + broke away from it, and informally apprenticed himself to the village + blacksmith and wagon-maker. When it came to his setting up for himself in + the business he had chosen, he had no help from his father, who had gone + on adding dollar to dollar till he was one of the richest men in the + place. + </p> + <p> + Jacob prospered too; his old playmates, who had used him so cruelly, had + many of them come to like him; but as a Dutchman they never dreamt of + asking him to their houses when they were young people, any more than when + they were children. He was long deeply in love with an American girl whom + he had never spoken to, and the dream of his life was to marry an + American. He ended by marrying the daughter of Pferd the brewer, who had + been at an American school in Indianapolis, and had come home as fragilely + and nasally American as anybody. She made him a good, sickly, fretful + wife; and bore him five children, of whom two survived, with no visible + taint of their German origin. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time Jacob's father had died and left his money to his + son, with the understanding that he was to provide for his mother, who + would gladly have given every cent to him and been no burden to him, if + she could. He took her home, and cared tenderly for her as long as she + lived; and she meekly did her best to abolish herself in a household + trying so hard to be American. She could not help her native accent, but + she kept silence when her son's wife had company; and when her + eldest granddaughter began very early to have American callers, she went + out of the room; they would not have noticed her if she had staid. + </p> + <p> + Before this Jacob had come forward publicly in proportion to his financial + importance in the community. He first commended himself to the Better + Element by crushing out a strike in his Buggy Works, which were now the + largest business interest of the place; and he rose on a wave of municipal + reform to such a height of favor with the respectable classes that he was + elected on a citizens' ticket to the Legislature. In the reaction + which followed he was barely defeated for Congress, and was talked of as a + dark horse who might be put up for the governorship some day; but those + who knew him best predicted that he would not get far in politics, where + his bull-headed business ways would bring him to ruin sooner or later; + they said, “You can't swing a bolt like you can a strike.” + </p> + <p> + When his mother died, he surprised his old neighbors by going to live in + Chicago, though he kept his works in the place where he and they had grown + up together. His wife died shortly after, and within four years he lost + his three eldest children; his son, it was said, had begun to go wrong + first. But the rumor of his increasing wealth drifted back from Chicago; + he was heard of in different enterprises and speculations; at last it was + said that he had bought a newspaper, and then his boyhood friends decided + that Jake was going into politics again. + </p> + <p> + In the wider horizons and opener atmosphere of the great city he came to + understand better that to be an American in all respects was not the best. + His mounting sense of importance began to be retroactive in the direction + of his ancestral home; he wrote back to the little town near Wurzburg + which his people had come from, and found that he had relatives still + living there, some of whom had become people of substance; and about the + time his health gave way from life-long gluttony, and he was ordered to + Carlsbad, he had pretty much made up his mind to take his younger + daughters and put them in school for a year or two in Wurzburg, for a + little discipline if not education. He had now left them there, to learn + the language, which he had forgotten with such heart-burning and shame, + and music, for which they had some taste. + </p> + <p> + The twins loudly lamented their fate, and they parted from their father + with open threats of running away; and in his heart he did not altogether + blame them. He came away from Wurzburg raging at the disrespect for his + money and his standing in business which had brought him a more galling + humiliation there than anything he had suffered in his boyhood at Des + Vaches. It intensified him in his dear-bought Americanism to the point of + wishing to commit lese majesty in the teeth of some local dignitaries who + had snubbed him, and who seemed to enjoy putting our eagle to shame in his + person; there was something like the bird of his step-country in Stoller's + pale eyes and huge beak. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0112" id="link2H_4_0112"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXVIII. + </h2> + <p> + March sat with a company of other patients in the anteroom of the doctor, + and when it came his turn to be prodded and kneaded, he was ashamed at + being told he was not so bad a case as he had dreaded. The doctor wrote + out a careful dietary for him, with a prescription of a certain number of + glasses of water at a certain spring and a certain number of baths, and a + rule for the walks he was to take before and after eating; then the doctor + patted him on the shoulder and pushed him caressingly out of his inner + office. It was too late to begin his treatment that day, but he went with + his wife to buy a cup, with a strap for hanging it over his shoulder, and + he put it on so as to be an invalid with the others at once; he came near + forgetting the small napkin of Turkish towelling which they stuffed into + their cups, but happily the shopman called him back in time to sell it to + him. + </p> + <p> + At five the next morning he rose, and on his way to the street exchanged + with the servants cleaning the hotel stairs the first of the gloomy + 'Guten Morgens' which usher in the day at Carlsbad. They + cannot be so finally hopeless as they sound; they are probably expressive + only of the popular despair of getting through with them before night; but + March heard the salutations sorrowfully groaned out on every hand as he + joined the straggling current of invalids which swelled on the way past + the silent shops and cafes in the Alte Wiese, till it filled the street, + and poured its thousands upon the promenade before the classic colonnade + of the Muhlbrunn. On the other bank of the Tepl the Sprudel flings its + steaming waters by irregular impulses into the air under a pavilion of + iron and glass; but the Muhlbrunn is the source of most resort. There is + an instrumental concert somewhere in Carlsbad from early rising till + bedtime; and now at the Muhlbrunn there was an orchestra already playing; + and under the pillared porch, as well as before it, the multitude shuffled + up and down, draining their cups by slow sips, and then taking each his + place in the interminable line moving on to replenish them at the spring. + </p> + <p> + A picturesque majority of Polish Jews, whom some vice of their climate is + said peculiarly to fit for the healing effects of Carlsbad, most took his + eye in their long gabardines of rusty black and their derby hats of plush + or velvet, with their corkscrew curls coming down before their ears. They + were old and young, they were grizzled and red and black, but they seemed + all well-to-do; and what impresses one first and last at Carlsbad is that + its waters are mainly for the healing of the rich. After the Polish Jews, + the Greek priests of Russian race were the most striking figures. There + were types of Latin ecclesiastics, who were striking in their way too; and + the uniforms of certain Austrian officers and soldiers brightened the + picture. Here and there a southern face, Italian or Spanish or Levantine, + looked passionately out of the mass of dull German visages; for at + Carlsbad the Germans, more than any other gentile nation, are to the fore. + Their misfits, their absence of style, imparted the prevalent effect; + though now and then among the women a Hungarian, or Pole, or Parisian, or + American, relieved the eye which seeks beauty and grace rather than the + domestic virtues. There were certain faces, types of discomfort and + disease, which appealed from the beginning to the end. A young Austrian, + yellow as gold, and a livid South-American, were of a lasting fascination + to March. + </p> + <p> + What most troubled him, in his scrutiny of the crowd, was the difficulty + of assigning people to their respective nations, and he accused his years + of having dulled his perceptions; but perhaps it was from their long + disuse in his homogeneous American world. The Americans themselves fused + with the European races who were often so hard to make out; his + fellow-citizens would not be identified till their bad voices gave them + away; he thought the women's voices the worst. + </p> + <p> + At the springs, a line of young girls with a steady mechanical action + dipped the cups into the steaming source, and passed them impersonally up + to their owners. With the patients at the Muhlbrunn it was often a + half-hour before one's turn came, and at all a strict etiquette + forbade any attempt to anticipate it. The water was merely warm and flat, + and after the first repulsion one could forget it. March formed a childish + habit of counting ten between the sips, and of finishing the cup with a + gulp which ended it quickly; he varied his walks between cups by going + sometimes to a bridge at the end of the colonnade where a group of + Triestines were talking Venetian, and sometimes to the little Park beyond + the Kurhaus, where some old women were sweeping up from the close sward + the yellow leaves which the trees had untidily dropped overnight. He liked + to sit there and look at the city beyond the Tepl, where it climbed the + wooded heights in terraces till it lost its houses in the skirts and folds + of the forest. Most mornings it rained, quietly, absent-mindedly, and + this, with the chili in the air, deepened a pleasant illusion of Quebec + offered by the upper town across the stream; but there were sunny mornings + when the mountains shone softly through a lustrous mist, and the air was + almost warm. + </p> + <p> + Once in his walk he found himself the companion of Burnamy's + employer, whom he had sometimes noted in the line at the Muhlbrunn, + waiting his turn, cup in hand, with a face of sullen impatience. Stoller + explained that though you could have the water brought to you at your + hotel, he chose to go to the spring for the sake of the air; it was + something you had got to live through; before he had that young Burnamy to + help him he did not know what to do with his time, but now, every minute + he was not eating or sleeping he was working; his cure did not oblige him + to walk much. He examined March, with a certain mixture of respect and + contempt, upon the nature of the literary life, and how it differed from + the life of a journalist. He asked if he thought Burnamy would amount to + anything as a literary man; he so far assented to March's faith in + him as to say, “He's smart.” He told of leaving his + daughters in school at Wurzburg; and upon the whole he moved March with a + sense of his pathetic loneliness without moving his liking, as he passed + lumberingly on, dangling his cup. + </p> + <p> + March gave his own cup to the little maid at his spring, and while she + gave it to a second, who dipped it and handed it to a third for its return + to him, he heard an unmistakable fellow-countryman saying good-, morning + to them all in English. “Are you going to teach them United States?” + he asked of a face with which he knew such an appeal would not fail. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” the man admitted, “I try to teach them that + much. They like it. You are an American? I am glad of it. I have 'most + lost the use of my lungs, here. I'm a great talker, and I talk to my + wife till she's about dead; then I'm out of it for the rest of + the day; I can't speak German.” + </p> + <p> + His manner was the free, friendly manner of the West. He must be that sort + of untravelled American whom March had so seldom met, but he was afraid to + ask him if this was his first time at Carlsbad, lest it should prove the + third or fourth. “Are you taking the cure?” he asked instead. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no. My wife is. She'll be along directly; I come down + here and drink the waters to encourage her; doctor said to. That gets me + in for the diet, too. I've e't more cooked fruit since I been + here than I ever did in my life before. Prunes? My Lord, I'm full o' + prunes! Well, it does me good to see an American, to know him. I couldn't + 'a' told you, it you hadn't have spoken.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said March, “I shouldn't have been so sure + of you, either, by your looks.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we can't always tell ourselves from these Dutch. But + they know us, and they don't want us, except just for one thing, and + that's our money. I tell you, the Americans are the chumps over + here. Soon's they got all our money, or think they have, they say, + 'Here, you Americans, this is my country; you get off;' and we + got to get. Ever been over before?” + </p> + <p> + “A great while ago; so long that I can hardly believe it.” + </p> + <p> + “It's my first time. My name's Otterson: I'm from + out in Iowa.” + </p> + <p> + March gave him his name, and added that he was from New York. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I thought you was Eastern. But that wasn't an Eastern + man you was just with?” + </p> + <p> + “No; he's from Chicago. He's a Mr. Stoller.” + </p> + <p> + “Not the buggy man?” + </p> + <p> + “I believe he makes buggies.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you do meet everybody here.” The Iowan was silent for a + moment, as if, hushed by the weighty thought. “I wish my wife could + have seen him. I just want her to see the man that made our buggy. I don't + know what's keeping her, this morning,” he added, + apologetically. “Look at that fellow, will you, tryin' to get + away from those women!” A young officer was doing his best to take + leave of two ladies, who seemed to be mother and daughter; they detained + him by their united arts, and clung to him with caressing words and looks. + He was red in the face with his polite struggles when he broke from them + at last. “How they do hang on to a man, over here!” the Iowa + man continued. “And the Americans are as bad as any. Why, there's + one ratty little Englishman up at our place, and our girls just swarm + after him; their mothers are worse. Well, it's so, Jenny,” he + said to the lady who had joined them and whom March turned round to see + when he spoke to her. “If I wanted a foreigner I should go in for a + man. And these officers! Put their mustaches up at night in curl-papers, + they tell me. Introduce you to Mrs. Otterson, Mr. March. Well, had your + first glass, yet, Jenny? I'm just going for my second tumbler.” + </p> + <p> + He took his wife back to the spring, and began to tell her about Stoller; + she made no sign of caring for him; and March felt inculpated. She + relented a little toward him as they drank together; when he said he must + be going to breakfast with his wife, she asked where he breakfasted, and + said, “Why, we go to the Posthof, too.” He answered that then + they should be sure some time to meet there; he did not venture further; + he reflected that Mrs. March had her reluctances too; she distrusted + people who had amused or interested him before she met them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0113" id="link2H_4_0113"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXIX. + </h2> + <p> + Burnamy had found the Posthof for them, as he had found most of the other + agreeable things in Carlsbad, which he brought to their knowledge one by + one, with such forethought that March said he hoped he should be cared for + in his declining years as an editor rather than as a father; there was no + tenderness like a young contributor's. + </p> + <p> + Many people from the hotels on the hill found at Pupp's just the + time and space between their last cup of water and their first cup of + coffee which are prescribed at Carlsbad; but the Marches were aware + somehow from the beginning that Pupp's had not the hold upon the + world at breakfast which it had at the mid-day dinner, or at supper on the + evenings when the concert was there. Still it was amusing, and they were + patient of Burnamy's delay till he could get a morning off from + Stoller and go with them to the Posthof. He met Mrs. March in the + reading-room, where March was to join them on his way from the springs + with his bag of bread. The earlier usage of buying the delicate pink + slices of Westphalia ham, which form the chief motive of a Carlsbad + breakfast, at a certain shop in the town, and carrying them to the cafe + with you, is no longer of such binding force as the custom of getting your + bread at the Swiss bakery. You choose it yourself at the counter, which + begins to be crowded by half past seven, and when you have collected the + prescribed loaves into the basket of metallic filigree given you by one of + the baker's maids, she puts it into a tissue-paper bag of a gay red + color, and you join the other invalids streaming away from the bakery, + their paper bags making a festive rustling as they go. + </p> + <p> + Two roads lead out of the town into the lovely meadow-lands, a good mile + up the brawling Tepl, before they join on the right side of the torrent, + where the Posthof lurks nestled under trees whose boughs let the sun and + rain impartially through upon its army of little tables. By this time the + slow omnibus plying between Carlsbad and some villages in the valley + beyond has crossed from the left bank to the right, and keeps on past half + a dozen other cafes, where patients whose prescriptions marshal them + beyond the Posthof drop off by the dozens and scores. + </p> + <p> + The road on the left bank of the Tepl is wild and overhung at points with + wooded steeps, when it leaves the town; but on the right it is bordered + with shops and restaurants a great part of its length. In leafy nooks + between these, uphill walks begin their climb of the mountains, from the + foot of votive shrines set round with tablets commemorating in German, + French, Russian, Hebrew, Magyar and Czech, the cure of high-well-borns of + all those races and languages. Booths glittering with the lapidary's + work in the cheaper gems, or full of the ingenious figures of the + toy-makers, alternate with the shrines and the cafes on the way to the + Posthof, and with their shoulders against the overhanging cliff, spread + for the passing crowd a lure of Viennese jewelry in garnets, opals, + amethysts, and the like, and of such Bohemian playthings as carrot-eating + rabbits, worsted-working cats, dancing-bears, and peacocks that strut + about the feet of the passers and expand their iridescent tails in mimic + pride. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy got his charges with difficulty by the shrines in which they felt + the far-reflected charm of the crucifixes of the white-hot Italian + highways of their early travel, and by the toyshops where they had a + mechanical, out-dated impulse to get something for the children, ending in + a pang for the fact that they were children no longer. He waited politely + while Mrs. March made up her mind that she would not buy any laces of the + motherly old women who showed them under pent-roofs on way-side tables; + and he waited patiently at the gate of the flower-gardens beyond the shops + where March bought lavishly of sweetpease from the businesslike + flower-woman, and feigned a grateful joy in her because she knew no + English, and gave him a chance of speaking his German. + </p> + <p> + “You'll find,” he said, as they crossed the road again, + “that it's well to trifle a good deal; it makes the time pass. + I should still be lagging along in my thirties if it hadn't been for + fooling, and here I am well on in my fifties, and Mrs. March is younger + than ever.” + </p> + <p> + They were at the gate of the garden and grounds of the cafe at last, and a + turn of the path brought them to the prospect of its tables, under the + trees, between the two long glazed galleries where the breakfasters take + refuge at other tables when it rains; it rains nearly always, and the + trunks of the trees are as green with damp as if painted; but that morning + the sun was shining. At the verge of the open space a group of pretty + serving-maids, each with her name on a silver band pinned upon her breast, + met them and bade them a 'Guten Morgen' of almost cheerful + note, but gave way, to an eager little smiling blonde, who came pushing + down the path at sight of Burnamy, and claimed him for her own. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Lili! We want an extra good table, this morning. These are some + American Excellencies, and you must do your best for them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” the girl answered in English, after a radiant + salutation of the Marches; “I get you one.” + </p> + <p> + “You are a little more formerly, to-day, and I didn't had one + already.” + </p> + <p> + She ran among the tables along the edge of the western edge of the + gallery, and was far beyond hearing his protest that he was not earlier + than usual when she beckoned him to the table she had found. She had + crowded it in between two belonging to other girls, and by the time her + breakfasters came up she was ready for their order, with the pouting + pretence that the girls always tried to rob her of the best places. + Burnamy explained proudly, when she went, that none of the other girls + ever got an advantage of her; she had more custom than any three of them, + and she had hired a man to help her carry her orders. The girls were all + from the neighboring villages, he said, and they lived at home in the + winter on their summer tips; their wages were nothing, or less, for + sometimes they paid for their places. + </p> + <p> + “What a mass of information!” said March. “How did you + come by it?” + </p> + <p> + “Newspaper habit of interviewing the universe.” + </p> + <p> + “It's not a bad habit, if one doesn't carry it too far. + How did Lili learn her English?” + </p> + <p> + “She takes lessons in the winter. She's a perfect little + electric motor. I don't believe any Yankee girl could equal her.” + </p> + <p> + “She would expect to marry a millionaire if she did. What astonishes + one over here is to see how contentedly people prosper along on their own + level. And the women do twice the work of the men without expecting to + equal them in any other way. At Pupp's, if we go to one end of the + out-door restaurant, it takes three men to wait on us: one to bring our + coffee or tea, another to bring our bread and meat, and another to make + out our bill, and I have to tip all three of them. If we go to the other + end, one girl serves us, and I have to give only one fee; I make it less + than the least I give any three of the men waiters.” + </p> + <p> + “You ought to be ashamed of that,” said his wife. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not. I'm simply proud of your sex, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + “Women do nearly everything, here,” said Burnamy, impartially. + “They built that big new Kaiserbad building: mixed the mortar, + carried the hods, and laid the stone.” + </p> + <p> + “That makes me prouder of the sex than ever. But come, Mr. Burnamy! + Isn't there anybody of polite interest that you know of in this + crowd?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I can't say,” Burnamy hesitated. + </p> + <p> + The breakfasters had been thronging into the grove and the galleries; the + tables were already filled, and men were bringing other tables on their + heads, and making places for them, with entreaties for pardon everywhere; + the proprietor was anxiously directing them; the pretty serving-girls were + running to and from the kitchen in a building apart with shrill, sweet + promises of haste. The morning sun fell broken through the leaves on the + gay hats and dresses of the ladies, and dappled the figures of the men + with harlequin patches of light and shade. A tall woman, with a sort of + sharpened beauty, and an artificial permanency of tint in her cheeks and + yellow hair, came trailing herself up the sun-shot path, and found, with + hardy insistence upon the publicity, places for the surly-looking, + down-faced young man behind her, and for her maid and her black poodle; + the dog was like the black poodle out of Faust. Burnamy had heard her + history; in fact, he had already roughed out a poem on it, which he called + Europa, not after the old fable, but because it seemed to him that she + expressed Europe, on one side of its civilization, and had an authorized + place in its order, as she would not have had in ours. She was where she + was by a toleration of certain social facts which corresponds in Europe to + our reverence for the vested interests. In her history there, had been + officers and bankers; even foreign dignitaries; now there was this sullen + young fellow.... Burnamy had wondered if it would do to offer his poem to + March, but the presence of the original abashed him, and in his mind he + had torn the poem up, with a heartache for its aptness. + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe,” he said, “that I recognize-any + celebrities here.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm sorry,” said March. “Mrs. March would have + been glad of some Hoheits, some Grafs and Grafins, or a few Excellenzes, + or even some mere well-borns. But we must try to get along with the + picturesqueness.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm satisfied with the picturesqueness,” said his wife. + “Don't worry about me, Mr. Burnamy.” + </p> + <p> + “Why can't we have this sort of thing at home?” + </p> + <p> + “We're getting something like it in the roof-gardens,” + said March. “We couldn't have it naturally because the climate + is against it, with us. At this time in the morning over there, the sun + would be burning the life out of the air, and the flies would be swarming + on every table. At nine A. M. the mosquitoes would be eating us up in such + a grove as this. So we have to use artifice, and lift our Posthof above + the fly-line and the mosquito-line into the night air. I haven't + seen a fly since I came to Europe. I really miss them; it makes me + homesick.” + </p> + <p> + “There are plenty in Italy,” his wife suggested. + </p> + <p> + “We must get down there before we go home.” + </p> + <p> + “But why did nobody ever tell us that there were no flies in + Germany? Why did no traveller ever put it in his book? When your + stewardess said so on the steamer, I remember that you regarded it as a + bluff.” He turned to Burnamy, who was listening with the deference + of a contributor: “Isn't Lili rather long? I mean for such a + very prompt person. Oh, no!” + </p> + <p> + But Burnamy got to his feet, and shouted “Fraulein!” to Lili; + with her hireling at her heels she was flying down a distant aisle between + the tables. She called back, with a face laughing over her shoulder, + “In a minute!” and vanished in the crowd. + </p> + <p> + “Does that mean anything in particular? There's really no + hurry.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I think she'll come now,” said Burnamy. March + protested that he had only been amused at Lili's delay; but his wife + scolded him for his impatience; she begged Burnamy's pardon, and + repeated civilities passed between them. She asked if he did not think + some of the young ladies were pretty beyond the European average; a very + few had style; the mothers were mostly fat, and not stylish; it was well + not to regard the fathers too closely; several old gentlemen were clearing + their throats behind their newspapers, with noises that made her quail. + There was no one so effective as the Austrian officers, who put themselves + a good deal on show, bowing from their hips to favored groups; with the + sun glinting from their eyeglasses, and their hands pressing their + sword-hilts, they moved between the tables with the gait of tight-laced + women. + </p> + <p> + “They all wear corsets,” Burnamy explained. + </p> + <p> + “How much you know already!” said Mrs. March. “I can see + that Europe won't be lost on you in anything. Oh, who's that?” + A lady whose costume expressed saris at every point glided up the middle + aisle of the grove with a graceful tilt. Burnamy was silent. “She + must be an American. Do you know who she is?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” He hesitated, a little to name a woman whose tragedy + had once filled the newspapers. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March gazed after her with the fascination which such tragedies + inspire. “What grace! Is she beautiful?” + </p> + <p> + “Very.” Burnamy had not obtruded his knowledge, but somehow + Mrs. March did not like his knowing who she was, and how beautiful. She + asked March to look, but he refused. + </p> + <p> + “Those things are too squalid,” he said, and she liked him for + saying it; she hoped it would not be lost upon Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + One of the waitresses tripped on the steps near them and flung the burden + off her tray on the stone floor before her; some of the dishes broke, and + the breakfast was lost. Tears came into the girl's eyes and rolled + down her hot cheeks. “There! That is what I call tragedy,” + said March. “She'll have to pay for those things.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, give her the money, dearest!” + </p> + <p> + “How can I?” + </p> + <p> + The girl had just got away with the ruin when Lili and her hireling behind + her came bearing down upon them with their three substantial breakfasts on + two well-laden trays. She forestalled Burnamy's reproaches for her + delay, laughing and bridling, while she set down the dishes of ham and + tongue and egg, and the little pots of coffee and frothed milk. + </p> + <p> + “I could not so soon I wanted, because I was to serve an American + princess.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March started with proud conjecture of one of those noble + international marriages which fill our women with vainglory for such of + their compatriots as make them. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, come now, Lili!” said Burnamy. “We have queens in + America, but nothing so low as princesses. This was a queen, wasn't + it?” + </p> + <p> + She referred the case to her hireling, who confirmed her. “All + people say it is princess,” she insisted. + </p> + <p> + “Well, if she's a princess we must look her up after + breakfast,” said Burnamy. “Where is she sitting?” + </p> + <p> + She pointed at a corner so far off on the other side that no one could be + distinguished, and then was gone, with a smile flashed over her shoulder, + and her hireling trying to keep up with her. + </p> + <p> + “We're all very proud of Lili's having a hired man,” + said Burnamy. “We think it reflects credit on her customers.” + </p> + <p> + March had begun his breakfast with-the voracious appetite of an + early-rising invalid. “What coffee!” + </p> + <p> + He drew a long sigh after the first draught. + </p> + <p> + “It's said to be made of burnt figs,” said Burnamy, from + the inexhaustible advantage of his few days' priority in Carlsbad. + </p> + <p> + “Then let's have burnt figs introduced at home as soon as + possible. But why burnt figs? That seems one of those doubts which are + much more difficult than faith.” + </p> + <p> + “It's not only burnt figs,” said Burnamy, with amiable + superiority, “if it is burnt figs, but it's made after a + formula invented by a consensus of physicians, and enforced by the + municipality. Every cafe in Carlsbad makes the same kind of coffee and + charges the same price.” + </p> + <p> + “You are leaving us very little to find out for ourselves,” + sighed March. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know a lot more things. Are you fond of fishing?” + </p> + <p> + “Not very.” + </p> + <p> + “You can get a permit to catch trout in the Tepl, but they send an + official with you who keeps count, and when you have had your sport, the + trout belong to the municipality just as they did before you caught them.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see why that isn't a good notion: the last + thing I should want to do would be to eat a fish that I had caught, and + that I was personally acquainted with. Well, I'm never going away + from Carlsbad. I don't wonder people get their doctors to tell them + to come back.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy told them a number of facts he said Stoller had got together about + the place, and had given him to put in shape. It was run in the interest + of people who had got out of order, so that they would keep coming to get + themselves in order again; you could hardly buy an unwholesome meal in the + town; all the cooking was 'kurgemass'. He won such favor with + his facts that he could not stop in time: he said to March, “But if + you ever should have a fancy for a fish of your personal acquaintance, + there's a restaurant up the Tepl, where they let you pick out your + trout in the water; then they catch him and broil him for you, and you + know what you are eating.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it a municipal restaurant?” + </p> + <p> + “Semi-municipal,” said Burnamy, laughing. + </p> + <p> + “We'll take Mrs. March,” said her husband, and in her + gravity Burnamy felt the limitations of a woman's sense of humor, + which always define themselves for men so unexpectedly. + </p> + <p> + He did what he could to get back into her good graces by telling her what + he knew about distinctions and dignities that he now saw among the + breakfasters. The crowd had now grown denser till the tables were set + together in such labyrinths that any one who left the central aisle was + lost in them. The serving-girls ran more swiftly to and fro, responding + with a more nervous shrillness to the calls of “Fraulein! Fraulein!” + that followed them. The proprietor, in his bare head, stood like one + paralyzed by his prosperity, which sent up all round him the clash of + knives and crockery, and the confusion of tongues. It was more than an + hour before Burnamy caught Lili's eye, and three times she promised + to come and be paid before she came. Then she said, “It is so nice, + when you stay a little,” and when he told her of the poor Fraulein + who had broken the dishes in her fall near them, she almost wept with + tenderness; she almost winked with wickedness when he asked if the + American princess was still in her place. + </p> + <p> + “Do go and see who it can be!” Mrs. March entreated. “We'll + wait here,” and he obeyed. “I am not sure that I like him,” + she said, as soon as he was out of hearing. “I don't know but + he's coarse, after all. Do you approve of his knowing so many people's + 'taches' already?” + </p> + <p> + “Would it be any better later?” he asked in tern. “He + seemed to find you interested.” + </p> + <p> + “It's very different with us; we're not young,” + she urged, only half seriously. + </p> + <p> + Her husband laughed. “I see you want me to defend him. Oh, hello!” + he cried, and she saw Burnamy coming toward them with a young lady, who + was nodding to them from as far as she could see them. “This is the + easy kind of thing that makes you Blush for the author if you find it in a + novel.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0114" id="link2H_4_0114"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXX. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. March fairly took Miss Triscoe in her arms to kiss her. “Do you + know I felt it must be you, all the time! When did you come? Where is your + father? What hotel are you staying at?” + </p> + <p> + It appeared, while Miss Triscoe was shaking hands with March, that it was + last night, and her father was finishing his breakfast, and it was one of + the hotels on the hill. On the way back to her father it appeared that he + wished to consult March's doctor; not that there was anything the + matter. + </p> + <p> + The general himself was not much softened by the reunion with his + fellow-Americans; he confided to them that his coffee was poisonous; but + he seemed, standing up with the Paris-New York Chronicle folded in his + hand, to have drunk it all. Was March going off on his forenoon tramp? He + believed that was part of the treatment, which was probably all humbug, + though he thought of trying it, now he was there. He was told the walks + were fine; he looked at Burnamy as if he had been praising them, and + Burnamy said he had been wondering if March would not like to try a + mountain path back to his hotel; he said, not so sincerely, that he + thought Mrs. March would like it. + </p> + <p> + “I shall like your account of it,” she answered. “But I'll + walk back on a level, if you please.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” Miss Triscoe pleaded, “come with us!” + </p> + <p> + She played a little comedy of meaning to go back with her father so + gracefully that Mrs. March herself could scarcely have told just where the + girl's real purpose of going with Burnamy began to be evident, or + just how she managed to make General Triscoe beg to have the pleasure of + seeing Mrs. March back to her hotel. + </p> + <p> + March went with the young people across the meadow behind the Posthof and + up into the forest, which began at the base of the mountain. At first they + tried to keep him in the range of their talk; but he fell behind more and + more, and as the talk narrowed to themselves it was less and less possible + to include him in it. When it began to concern their common appreciation + of the Marches, they even tried to get out of his hearing. + </p> + <p> + “They're so young in their thoughts,” said Burnamy, + “and they seem as much interested in everything as they could have + been thirty years ago. They belong to a time when the world was a good + deal fresher than it is now; don't you think? I mean, in the + eighteen-sixties.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I can see that.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know why we shouldn't be born older in each + generation than people were in the last. Perhaps we are,” he + suggested. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know how you mean,” said the girl, keeping + vigorously up with him; she let him take the jacket she threw off, but she + would not have his hand at the little steeps where he wanted to give it. + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe I can quite make it out myself. But fancy a + man that began to act at twenty, quite unconsciously of course, from the + past experience of the whole race—” + </p> + <p> + “He would be rather a dreadful person, wouldn't he?” + </p> + <p> + “Rather monstrous, yes,” he owned, with a laugh. “But + that's where the psychological interest would come in.” + </p> + <p> + As if she did not feel the notion quite pleasant she turned from it. + “I suppose you've been writing all sorts of things since you + came here.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it hasn't been such a great while as it's seemed, + and I've had Mr. Stoller's psychological interests to look + after.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes! Do you like him?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. He's a lump of honest selfishness. He isn't + bad. You know where to have him. He's simple, too.” + </p> + <p> + “You mean, like Mr. March?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't mean that; but why not? They're not of the + same generation, but Stoller isn't modern.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very curious to see him,” said the girl. + </p> + <p> + “Do you want me to introduce him?” + </p> + <p> + “You can introduce him to papa.” + </p> + <p> + They stopped and looked across the curve of the mounting path, down on + March, who had sunk on a way-side seat, and was mopping his forehead. He + saw them, and called up: “Don't wait for me. I'll join + you, gradually.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't want to lose you,” Burnamy called back, but he + kept on with Miss Triscoe. “I want to get the Hirschensprung in,” + he explained. “It's the cliff where a hunted deer leaped down + several hundred feet to get away from an emperor who was after him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. They have them everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + “Do they? Well, anyway, there's a noble view up there.” + </p> + <p> + There was no view on the way up. The Germans' notion of a woodland + is everywhere that of a dense forest such as their barbarous tribes + primevally herded in. It means the close-set stems of trees, with their + tops interwoven in a roof of boughs and leaves so densely that you may + walk dry through it almost as long as a German shower lasts. When the sun + shines there is a pleasant greenish light in the aisles, shot here and + there with the gold that trickles through. There is nothing of the + accident of an American wood in these forests, which have been watched and + weeded by man ever since they burst the soil. They remain nurseries, but + they have the charm which no human care can alienate. The smell of their + bark and their leaves, and of the moist, flowerless earth about their + roots, came to March where he sat rich with the memories of his + country-bred youth, and drugged all consciousness of his long life in + cities since, and made him a part of nature, with dulled interests and + dimmed perspectives, so that for the moment he had the enjoyment of + exemption from care. There was no wild life to penetrate his isolation; no + birds, not a squirrel, not an insect; an old man who had bidden him + good-morning, as he came up, kept fumbling at the path with his hoe, and + was less intrusive than if he had not been there. + </p> + <p> + March thought of the impassioned existence of these young people playing + the inevitable comedy of hide and seek which the youth of the race has + played from the beginning of time. The other invalids who haunted the + forest, and passed up and down before him in fulfilment of their several + prescriptions, had a thin unreality in spite of the physical bulk that + prevailed among them, and they heightened the relief that the + forest-spirit brought him from the strenuous contact of that young drama. + He had been almost painfully aware that the persons in it had met, however + little they knew it, with an eagerness intensified by their brief + separation, and he fancied it was the girl who had unconsciously operated + their reunion in response to the young man's longing, her will + making itself electrically felt through space by that sort of wireless + telegraphy which love has long employed, and science has just begun to + imagine. + </p> + <p> + He would have been willing that they should get home alone, but he knew + that his wife would require an account of them from him, and though he + could have invented something of the kind, if it came to the worst, he was + aware that it would not do for him to arrive without them. The thought + goaded him from his seat, and he joined the upward procession of his + fellow-sick, as it met another procession straggling downward; the ways + branched in all directions, with people on them everywhere, bent upon + building up in a month the health which they would spend the rest of the + year in demolishing. + </p> + <p> + He came upon his charges unexpectedly at a turn of the path, and Miss + Triscoe told him that he ought to have been with them for the view from + the Hirschensprung. It was magnificent, she said, and she made Burnamy + corroborate her praise of it, and agree with her that it was worth the + climb a thousand times; he modestly accepted the credit she appeared + willing to give him, of inventing the Hirschensprung. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0115" id="link2H_4_0115"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXI. + </h2> + <p> + Between his work for Stoller and what sometimes seemed the obstructiveness + of General Triscoe, Burnamy was not very much with Miss Triscoe. He was + not devout, but he went every Sunday to the pretty English church on the + hill, where he contributed beyond his means to the support of the English + clergy on the Continent, for the sake of looking at her back hair during + the service, and losing himself in the graceful lines which defined, the + girl's figure from the slant of her flowery hat to the point where + the pewtop crossed her elastic waist. One happy morning the general did + not come to church, and he had the fortune to walk home with her to her + pension, where she lingered with him a moment, and almost made him believe + she might be going to ask him to come in. + </p> + <p> + The next evening, when he was sauntering down the row of glittering shops + beside the Tepl, with Mrs. March, they overtook the general and his + daughter at a place where the girl was admiring some stork-scissors in the + window; she said she wished she were still little, so that she could get + them. They walked home with the Triscoes, and then he hurried Mrs. March + back to the shop. The man had already put up his shutters, and was just + closing his door, but Burnamy pushed in, and asked to look at the + stork-scissors they had seen in the window. The gas was out, and the + shopman lighted a very dim candle, to show them. + </p> + <p> + “I knew you wanted to get them for her, after what she said, Mrs. + March,” he laughed, nervously, “and you must let me lend you + the money.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course!” she answered, joyfully humoring his feint. + “Shall I put my card in for the man to send home to her with them?” + </p> + <p> + “Well—no. No. Not your card—exactly. Or, yes! Yes, you + must, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + They made the hushing street gay with their laughter; the next evening + Miss Triscoe came upon the Marches and Burnamy where they sat after supper + listening to the concert at Pupp's, and thanked Mrs. March for the + scissors. Then she and Burnamy had their laugh again, and Miss Triscoe + joined them, to her father's frowning mystification. He stared round + for a table; they were all taken, and he could not refuse the interest + Burnamy made with the waiters to bring them one and crowd it in. He had to + ask him to sup with them, and Burnamy sat down and heard the concert + through beside Miss Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + “What is so tremendously amusing in a pair of stork-scissors?” + March demanded, when his wife and he were alone. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I was wanting to tell you, dearest,” she began, in a + tone which he felt to be wheedling, and she told the story of the + scissors. + </p> + <p> + “Look here, my dear! Didn't you promise to let this + love-affair alone?” + </p> + <p> + “That was on the ship. And besides, what would you have done, I + should like to know? Would you have refused to let him buy them for her?” + She added, carelessly, “He wants us to go to the Kurhaus ball with + him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, does he!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He says he knows that she can get her father to let her go if + we will chaperon them. And I promised that you would.” + </p> + <p> + “That I would?” + </p> + <p> + “It will do just as well if you go. And it will be very amusing; you + can see something of Carlsbad society.” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm not going!” he declared. “It would + interfere with my cure. The sitting up late would be bad enough, but I + should get very hungry, and I should eat potato salad and sausages, and + drink beer, and do all sorts of unwholesome things.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! The refreshments will be 'kurgemass', of + course.” + </p> + <p> + “You can go yourself,” he said. + </p> + <p> + A ball is not the same thing for a woman after fifty as it is before + twenty, but still it has claims upon the imagination, and the novel + circumstance of a ball in the Kurhaus in Carlsbad enhanced these for Mrs. + March. It was the annual reunion which is given by municipal authority in + the large hall above the bathrooms; it is frequented with safety and + pleasure by curious strangers, and now, upon reflection, it began to have + for Mrs. March the charm of duty; she believed that she could finally have + made March go in her place, but she felt that she ought really to go in + his, and save him from the late hours and the late supper. + </p> + <p> + “Very well, then,” she said at last, “I will go.” + </p> + <p> + It appeared that any civil person might go to the reunion who chose to pay + two florins and a half. There must have been some sort of restriction, and + the ladies of Burnamy's party went with a good deal of amused + curiosity to see what the distinctions were; but they saw none unless it + was the advantages which the military had. The long hall over the + bathrooms shaped itself into a space for the dancing at one end, and all + the rest of it was filled with tables, which at half past eight were + crowded with people, eating, drinking, and smoking. The military enjoyed + the monopoly of a table next the rail dividing the dancing from the dining + space. There the tight-laced Herr Hauptmanns and Herr Lieutenants sat at + their sausage and beer and cigars in the intervals of the waltzes, and + strengthened themselves for a foray among the gracious Fraus and Frauleins + on the benches lining three sides of the dancing-space. From the gallery + above many civilian spectators looked down upon the gayety, and the + dress-coats of a few citizens figured among the uniforms. + </p> + <p> + As the evening wore on some ladies of greater fashion found their way to + the dancing-floor, and toward ten o'clock it became rather crowded. + A party of American girls showed their Paris dresses in the transatlantic + versions of the waltz. At first they danced with the young men who came + with them; but after a while they yielded to the custom of the place, and + danced with any of the officers who asked them. + </p> + <p> + “I know it's the custom,” said Mrs. March to Miss + Triscoe, who was at her side in one of the waltzes she had decided to sit + out, so as not to be dancing all the time with Burnamy, “but I never + can like it without an introduction.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the girl, with the air of putting temptation + decidedly away, “I don't believe papa would, either.” + </p> + <p> + A young officer came up, and drooped in mute supplication before her. She + glanced at Mrs. March, who turned her face away; and she excused herself + with the pretence that she had promised the dance, and by good fortune, + Burnamy, who had been unscrupulously waltzing with a lady he did not know, + came up at the moment. She rose and put her hand on his arm, and they both + bowed to the officer before they whirled away. The officer looked after + them with amiable admiration; then he turned to Mrs. March with a light of + banter in his friendly eyes, and was unmistakably asking her to dance. She + liked his ironical daring, she liked it so much that she forgot her + objection to partners without introductions; she forgot her fifty-odd + years; she forgot that she was a mother of grown children and even a + mother-in-law; she remembered only the step of her out-dated waltz. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to be modern enough for the cheerful young officer, and they + were suddenly revolving with the rest... A tide of long-forgotten girlhood + welled up in her heart, and she laughed as she floated off on it past the + astonished eyes of Miss Triscoe and Burnamy. She saw them falter, as if + they had lost their step in their astonishment; then they seemed both to + vanish, and her partner had released her, and was helping Miss Triscoe up + from the floor; Burnamy was brushing the dust from his knees, and the + citizen who had bowled them over was boisterously apologizing and + incessantly bowing. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, are you hurt?” Mrs. March implored. “I'm sure + you must be killed; and I did it! I don't know, what I was thinking + of!” + </p> + <p> + The girl laughed. “I'm not hurt a bit!” + </p> + <p> + They had one impulse to escape from the place, and from the sympathy and + congratulation. In the dressing-room she declared again that she was all + right. “How beautifully you waltz, Mrs. March!” she said, and + she laughed again, and would not agree with her that she had been + ridiculous. “But I'm glad those American girls didn't + see me. And I can't be too thankful papa didn't come!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March's heart sank at the thought of what General Triscoe would + think of her. “You must tell him I did it. I can never lift up my + head!” + </p> + <p> + “No, I shall not. No one did it,” said the girl, + magnanimously. She looked down sidelong at her draperies. “I was so + afraid I had torn my dress! I certainly heard something rip.” + </p> + <p> + It was one of the skirts of Burnamy's coat, which he had caught into + his hand and held in place till he could escape to the men's + dressing-room, where he had it pinned up so skillfully that the damage was + not suspected by the ladies. He had banged his knee abominably too; but + they did not suspect that either, as he limped home on the air beside + them, first to Miss Triscoe's pension, and then to Mrs. March's + hotel. + </p> + <p> + It was quite eleven o'clock, which at Carlsbad is as late as three + in the morning anywhere else, when she let herself into her room. She + decided not to tell her husband, then; and even at breakfast, which they + had at the Posthof, she had not got to her confession, though she had told + him everything else about the ball, when the young officer with whom she + had danced passed between the tables near her. He caught her eye and bowed + with a smile of so much meaning that March asked, “Who's your + pretty young friend?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that!” she answered carelessly. “That was one of + the officers at the ball,” and she laughed. + </p> + <p> + “You seem to be in the joke, too,” he said. “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, something. I'll tell you some time. Or perhaps you'll + find out.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid you won't let me wait.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I won't,” and now she told him. She had expected + teasing, ridicule, sarcasm, anything but the psychological interest mixed + with a sort of retrospective tenderness which he showed. “I wish I + could have seen you; I always thought you danced well.” He added: + “It seems that you need a chaperon too.” + </p> + <p> + The next morning, after March and General Triscoe had started off upon one + of the hill climbs, the young people made her go with them for a walk up + the Tepl, as far as the cafe of the Freundschaftsaal. In the grounds an + artist in silhouettes was cutting out the likenesses of people who + supposed themselves to have profiles, and they begged Mrs. March to sit + for hers. It was so good that she insisted on Miss Triscoe's sitting + in turn, and then Burnamy. Then he had the inspiration to propose that + they should all three sit together, and it appeared that such a group was + within the scope of the silhouettist's art; he posed them in his + little bower, and while he was mounting the picture they took turns, at + five kreutzers each, in listening to American tunes played by his Edison + phonograph. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March felt that all this was weakening her moral fibre; but she tried + to draw the line at letting Burnamy keep the group. “Why not?” + he pleaded. + </p> + <p> + “You oughtn't to ask,” she returned. “You've + no business to have Miss Triscoe's picture, if you must know.” + </p> + <p> + “But you're there to chaperon us!” he persisted. + </p> + <p> + He began to laugh, and they all laughed when she said, “You need a + chaperon who doesn't lose her head, in a silhouette.” But it + seemed useless to hold out after that, and she heard herself asking, + “Shall we let him keep it, Miss Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy went off to his work with Stoller, carrying the silhouette with + him, and she kept on with Miss Triscoe to her hotel. In turning from the + gate after she parted with the girl she found herself confronted with Mrs. + Adding and Rose. The ladies exclaimed at each other in an astonishment + from which they had to recover before they could begin to talk, but from + the first moment Mrs. March perceived that Mrs. Adding had something to + say. The more freely to say it she asked Mrs. March into her hotel, which + was in the same street with the pension of the Triscoes, and she let her + boy go off about the exploration of Carlsbad; he promised to be back in an + hour. + </p> + <p> + “Well, now what scrape are you in?” March asked when his wife + came home, and began to put off her things, with signs of excitement which + he could not fail to note. He was lying down after a long tramp, and he + seemed very comfortable. + </p> + <p> + His question suggested something of anterior import, and she told him + about the silhouettes, and the advantage the young people had taken of + their power over her through their knowledge of her foolish behavior at + the ball. + </p> + <p> + He said, lazily: “They seem to be working you for all you're + worth. Is that it?” + </p> + <p> + “No; there is something worse. Something's happened which + throws all that quite in the shade. Mrs. Adding is here.” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Adding?” he repeated, with a dimness for names which she + would not allow was growing on him. + </p> + <p> + “Don't be stupid, dear! Mrs. Adding, who sat opposite Mr. + Kenby on the Norumbia. The mother of the nice boy.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes! Well, that's good!” + </p> + <p> + “No, it isn't! Don't say such a thing—till you + know!” she cried, with a certain shrillness which warned him of an + unfathomed seriousness in the fact. He sat up as if better to confront the + mystery. “I have been at her hotel, and she has been telling me that + she's just come from Berlin, and that Mr. Kenby's been there, + and—Now I won't have you making a joke of it, or breaking out + about it, as if it were not a thing to be looked for; though of course + with the others on our hands you're not to blame for not thinking of + it. But you can see yourself that she's young and good-looking. She + did speak beautifully of her son, and if it were not for him, I don't + believe she would hesitate—” + </p> + <p> + “For heaven's sake, what are you driving at?” March + broke in, and she answered him as vehemently: + </p> + <p> + “He's asked her to marry him!” + </p> + <p> + “Kenby? Mrs. Adding?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, now, Isabel, this won't do! They ought to be ashamed of + themselves. With that morbid, sensitive boy! It's shocking—” + </p> + <p> + “Will you listen? Or do you want me to stop?” He arrested + himself at her threat, and she resumed, after giving her contempt of his + turbulence time to sink in, “She refused him, of course!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, all right, then!” + </p> + <p> + “You take it in such a way that I've a great mind not to tell + you anything more about it.” + </p> + <p> + “I know you have,” he said, stretching himself out again; + “but you'll do it, all the same. You'd have been awfully + disappointed if I had been calm and collected.” + </p> + <p> + “She refused him,” she began again, “although she + respects him, because she feels that she ought to devote herself to her + son. Of course she's very young, still; she was married when she was + only nineteen to a man twice her age, and she's not thirty-five yet. + I don't think she ever cared much for her husband; and she wants you + to find out something about him.” + </p> + <p> + “I never heard of him. I—” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March made a “tchck!” that would have recalled the most + consequent of men from the most logical and coherent interpretation to the + true intent of her words. He perceived his mistake, and said, resolutely: + “Well, I won't do it. If she's refused him, that's + the end of it; she needn't know anything about him, and she has no + right to.” + </p> + <p> + “Now I think differently,” said Mrs. March, with an inductive + air. “Of course she has to know about him, now.” She stopped, + and March turned his head and looked expectantly at her. “He said he + would not consider her answer final, but would hope to see her again and—She's + afraid he may follow her—What are you looking at me so for?” + </p> + <p> + “Is he coming here?” + </p> + <p> + “Am I to blame if he is? He said he was going to write to her.” + </p> + <p> + March burst into a laugh. “Well, they haven't been beating + about the bush! When I think how Miss Triscoe has been pursuing Burnamy + from the first moment she set eyes on him, with the settled belief that + she was running from him, and he imagines that he has been boldly + following her, without the least hope from her, I can't help + admiring the simple directness of these elders.” + </p> + <p> + “And if Kenby wants to talk with you, what will you say?” she + cut in eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “I'll say I don't like the subject. What am I in + Carlsbad for? I came for the cure, and I'm spending time and money + on it. I might as well go and take my three cups of Felsenquelle on a full + stomach as to listen to Kenby.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it's bad for you, and I wish we had never seen those + people,” said Mrs. March. “I don't believe he'll + want to talk with you; but if—” + </p> + <p> + “Is Mrs. Adding in this hotel? I'm not going to have them + round in my bread-trough!” + </p> + <p> + “She isn't. She's at one of the hotels on the hill.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, let her stay there, then. They can manage their + love-affairs in their own way. The only one I care the least for is the + boy.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is forlorn for him. But he likes Mr. Kenby, and—No, + it's horrid, and you can't make it anything else!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm not trying to.” He turned his face away. + “I must get my nap, now.” After she thought he must have + fallen asleep, he said, “The first thing you know, those old Eltwins + will be coming round and telling us that they're going to get + divorced.” Then he really slept. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0116" id="link2H_4_0116"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXII. + </h2> + <p> + The mid-day dinner at Pupp's was the time to see the Carlsbad world, + and the Marches had the habit of sitting long at table to watch it. + </p> + <p> + There was one family in whom they fancied a sort of literary quality, as + if they had come out of some pleasant German story, but they never knew + anything about them. The father by his dress must have been a Protestant + clergyman; the mother had been a beauty and was still very handsome; the + daughter was good-looking, and of a good-breeding which was both girlish + and ladylike. They commended themselves by always taking the table d'hote + dinner, as the Marches did, and eating through from the soup and the rank + fresh-water fish to the sweet, upon the same principle: the husband ate + all the compote and gave the others his dessert, which was not good for + him. A young girl of a different fascination remained as much a mystery. + She was small and of an extreme tenuity, which became more bewildering as + she advanced through her meal, especially at supper, which she made of a + long cucumber pickle, a Frankfort sausage of twice the pickle's + length, and a towering goblet of beer; in her lap she held a shivering + little hound; she was in the decorous keeping of an elderly maid, and had + every effect of being a gracious Fraulein. A curious contrast to her + Teutonic voracity was the temperance of a young Latin swell, imaginably + from Trieste, who sat long over his small coffee and cigarette, and + tranquilly mused upon the pages of an Italian newspaper. At another table + there was a very noisy lady, short and fat, in flowing draperies of white, + who commanded a sallow family of South-Americans, and loudly harangued + them in South-American Spanish; she flared out in a picture which nowhere + lacked strong effects; and in her background lurked a mysterious black + face and figure, ironically subservient to the old man, the mild boy, and + the pretty young girl in the middle distance of the family group. + </p> + <p> + Amidst the shows of a hardened worldliness there were touching glimpses of + domesticity and heart: a young bride fed her husband soup from her own + plate with her spoon, unabashed by the publicity; a mother and her two + pretty daughters hung about a handsome officer, who must have been newly + betrothed to one of the girls; and, the whole family showed a helpless + fondness for him, which he did not despise, though he held it in check; + the girls dressed alike, and seemed to have for their whole change of + costume a difference from time to time in the color of their sleeves. The + Marches believed they had seen the growth of the romance which had + eventuated so happily; and they saw other romances which did not in any + wise eventuate. Carlsbad was evidently one of the great marriage marts of + middle Europe, where mothers brought their daughters to be admired, and + everywhere the flower of life was blooming for the hand of love. It blew + by on all the promenades in dresses and hats as pretty as they could be + bought or imagined; but it was chiefly at Pupp's that it flourished. + For the most part it seemed to flourish in vain, and to be destined to be + put by for another season to dream, bulblike, of the coming summer in the + quiet of Moldavian and Transylvanian homes. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps it was oftener of fortunate effect than the spectators knew; but + for their own pleasure they would not have had their pang for it less; and + March objected to having a more explicit demand upon his sympathy. “We + could have managed,” he said, at the close of their dinner, as he + looked compassionately round upon the parterre of young girls, “we + could have managed with Burnamy and Miss Triscoe; but to have Mrs. Adding + and Kenby launched upon us is too much. Of course I like Kenby, and if the + widow alone were concerned I would give him my blessing: a wife more or a + widow less is not going to disturb the equilibrium of the universe; but—” + He stopped, and then he went on: “Men and women are well enough. + They complement each other very agreeably, and they have very good times + together. But why should they get in love?—It is sure to make them + uncomfortable to themselves and annoying to others.” He broke off, + and stared about him. “My dear, this is really charming—almost + as charming as the Posthof.” The crowd spread from the open + vestibule of the hotel and the shelter of its branching pavilion roofs + until it was dimmed in the obscurity of the low grove across the way in an + ultimate depth where the musicians were giving the afternoon concert. + Between its two stationary divisions moved a current of promenaders, with + some such effect as if the colors of a lovely garden should have liquefied + and flowed in mingled rose and lilac, pink and yellow, and white and + orange, and all the middle tints of modern millinery. Above on one side + were the agreeable bulks of architecture, in the buff and gray of + Carlsbad; and far beyond on the other were the upland slopes, with villas + and long curves of country roads, belted in with miles of wall. “It + would be about as offensive to have a love-interest that one personally + knew about intruded here,” he said, “as to have a two-spanner + carriage driven through this crowd. It ought to be forbidden by the + municipality.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March listened with her ears, but not with her eyes, and she + answered: “See that handsome young Greek priest! Isn't he an + archimandrite? The portier said he was.” + </p> + <p> + “Then let him pass for an archimandrite. Now,” he recurred to + his grievance again, dreamily, “I have got to take Papa Triscoe in + hand, and poison his mind against Burnamy, and I shall have to instil a + few drops of venomous suspicion against Kenby into the heart of poor + little Rose Adding. Oh;” he broke out, “they will spoil + everything. They'll be with us morning, noon, and night,” and + he went on to work the joke of repining at his lot. The worst thing, he + said, would be the lovers' pretence of being interested in something + besides themselves, which they were no more capable of than so many + lunatics. How could they care for pretty girls playing tennis on an upland + level, in the waning afternoon? Or a cartful of peasant women stopping to + cross themselves at a way-side shrine? Or a whistling boy with holes in + his trousers pausing from some wayside raspberries to touch his hat and + say good-morning? Or those preposterous maidens sprinkling linen on the + grass from watering-pots while the skies were full of rain? Or that + blacksmith shop where Peter the Great made a horseshoe. Or the monument of + the young warrior-poet Koerner, with a gentle-looking girl and her mother + reading and knitting on a bench before it? These simple pleasures sufficed + them, but what could lovers really care for them? A peasant girl flung + down on the grassy road-side, fast asleep, while her yoke-fellow, the gray + old dog, lay in his harness near her with one drowsy eye half open for her + and the other for the contents of their cart; a boy chasing a red squirrel + in the old upper town beyond the Tepl, and enlisting the interest of all + the neighbors; the negro door-keeper at the Golden Shield who ought to + have spoken our Southern English, but who spoke bad German and was from + Cairo; the sweet afternoon stillness in the woods; the good German mothers + crocheting at the Posthof concerts. Burnamy as a young poet might hate + felt the precious quality of these things, if his senses had not been + holden by Miss Triscoe; and she might have felt it if only he had done so. + But as it was it would be lost upon their preoccupation; with Mrs. Adding + and Kenby it would be hopeless. + </p> + <p> + A day or two after Mrs. March had met Mrs. Adding, she went with her + husband to revere a certain magnificent blackamoor whom he had discovered + at the entrance of one of the aristocratic hotels on the Schlossberg, + where he performed the function of a kind of caryatid, and looked, in the + black of his skin and the white of his flowing costume, like a colossal + figure carved in ebony and ivory. They took a roundabout way through a + street entirely of villa-pensions; every house in Carlsbad but one is a + pension if it is not a hotel; but these were of a sort of sentimental + prettiness; with each a little garden before it, and a bower with an iron + table in it for breakfasting and supping out-doors; and he said that they + would be the very places for bridal couples who wished to spend the + honey-moon in getting well of the wedding surfeit. She denounced him for + saying such a thing as that, and for his inconsistency in complaining of + lovers while he was willing to think of young married people. He contended + that there was a great difference in the sort of demand that young married + people made upon the interest of witnesses, and that they were at least on + their way to sanity; and before they agreed, they had come to the hotel + with the blackamoor at the door. While they lingered, sharing the splendid + creature's hospitable pleasure in the spectacle he formed, they were + aware of a carriage with liveried coachman and footman at the steps of the + hotel; the liveries were very quiet and distinguished, and they learned + that the equipage was waiting for the Prince of Coburg, or the Princess of + Montenegro, or Prince Henry of Prussia; there were differing opinions + among the twenty or thirty bystanders. Mrs. March said she did not care + which it was; and she was patient of the denouement, which began to + postpone itself with delicate delays. After repeated agitations at the + door among portiers, proprietors, and waiters, whose fluttered spirits + imparted their thrill to the spectators, while the coachman and footman + remained sculpturesquely impassive in their places, the carriage moved + aside and let an energetic American lady and her family drive up to the + steps. The hotel people paid her a tempered devotion, but she marred the + effect by rushing out and sitting on a balcony to wait for the delaying + royalties. There began to be more promises of their early appearance; a + footman got down and placed himself at the carriage door; the coachman + stiffened himself on his box; then he relaxed; the footman drooped, and + even wandered aside. There came a moment when at some signal the carriage + drove quite away from the portal and waited near the gate of the + stableyard; it drove back, and the spectators redoubled their attention. + Nothing happened, and some of them dropped off. At last an indescribable + significance expressed itself in the official group at the door; a man in + a high hat and dresscoat hurried out; a footman hurried to meet him; they + spoke inaudibly together. The footman mounted to his place; the coachman + gathered up his reins and drove rapidly out of the hotel-yard, down the + street, round the corner, out of sight. The man in the tall hat and + dress-coat went in; the official group at the threshold dissolved; the + statue in ivory and ebony resumed its place; evidently the Hoheit of + Coburg, or Montenegro, or Prussia, was not going to take the air. + </p> + <p> + “My dear, this is humiliating.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all! I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Think how + near we came to seeing them!” + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't feel so shabby if we had seen them. But to hang + round here in this plebeian abeyance, and then to be defeated and + defrauded at last! I wonder how long this sort of thing is going on?” + </p> + <p> + “What thing?” + </p> + <p> + “This base subjection of the imagination to the Tom Foolery of the + Ages.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what you mean. I'm sure it's very + natural to want to see a Prince.” + </p> + <p> + “Only too natural. It's so deeply founded in nature that after + denying royalty by word and deed for a hundred years, we Americans are + hungrier for it than anybody else. Perhaps we may come back to it!” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” + </p> + <p> + They looked up at the Austrian flag on the tower of the hotel, languidly + curling and uncurling in the bland evening air, as it had over a thousand + years of stupid and selfish monarchy, while all the generous republics of + the Middle Ages had perished, and the commonwealths of later times had + passed like fever dreams. That dull, inglorious empire had antedated or + outlived Venice and Genoa, Florence and Siena, the England of Cromwell, + the Holland of the Stadtholders, and the France of many revolutions, and + all the fleeting democracies which sprang from these. + </p> + <p> + March began to ask himself how his curiosity differed from that of the + Europeans about him; then he became aware that these had detached + themselves, and left him exposed to the presence of a fellow countryman. + It was Otterson, with Mrs. Otterson; he turned upon March with hilarious + recognition. “Hello! Most of the Americans in Carlsbad seem to be + hanging round here for a sight of these kings. Well, we don't have a + great many of 'em, and it's natural we shouldn't want to + miss any. But now, you Eastern fellows, you go to Europe every summer, and + yet you don't seem to get enough of 'em. Think it's + human nature, or did it get so ground into us in the old times that we can't + get it out, no difference what we say?” + </p> + <p> + “That's very much what I've been asking myself,” + said March. “Perhaps it's any kind of show. We'd wait + nearly as long for the President to come out, wouldn't we?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon we would. But we wouldn't for his nephew, or his + second cousin.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, they wouldn't be in the way of the succession.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess you're right.” The Iowan seemed better + satisfied with March's philosophy than March felt himself, and he + could not forbear adding: + </p> + <p> + “But I don't, deny that we should wait for the President + because he's a kind of king too. I don't know that we shall + ever get over wanting to see kings of some kind. Or at least my wife won't. + May I present you to Mrs. March?” + </p> + <p> + “Happy to meet you, Mrs. March,” said the Iowan. “Introduce + you to Mrs. Otterson. I'm the fool in my family, and I know just how + you feel about a chance like this. I don't mean that you're—” + </p> + <p> + They all laughed at the hopeless case, and Mrs. March said, with one of + her unexpected likings: “I understand, Mr. Otterson. And I would + rather be our kind of fool than the kind that pretends not to care for the + sight of a king.” + </p> + <p> + “Like you and me, Mrs. Otterson,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, indeed,” said the lady, “I'd like to see + a king too, if it didn't take all night. Good-evening,” she + said, turning her husband about with her, as if she suspected a purpose of + patronage in Mrs. March, and was not going to have it. + </p> + <p> + Otterson looked over his shoulder to explain, despairingly: “The + trouble with me is that when I do get a chance to talk English, there's + such a flow of language it carries me away, and I don't know just + where I'm landing.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0117" id="link2H_4_0117"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXIII. + </h2> + <p> + There were several kings and their kindred at Carlsbad that summer. One + day the Duchess of Orleans drove over from Marienbad, attended by the Duke + on his bicycle. After luncheon, they reappeared for a moment before + mounting to her carriage with their Secretaries: two young French + gentlemen whose dress and bearing better satisfied Mrs. March's + exacting passion for an aristocratic air in their order. The Duke was fat + and fair, as a Bourbon should be, and the Duchess fatter, though not so + fair, as became a Hapsburg, but they were both more plebeian-looking than + their retainers, who were slender as well as young, and as perfectly + appointed as English tailors could imagine them. + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn't do for the very highest sort of Highhotes,” + March declared, “to look their own consequence personally; they have + to leave that, like everything else, to their inferiors.” + </p> + <p> + By a happy heterophemy of Mrs. March's the German Hoheit had now + become Highhote, which was so much more descriptive that they had + permanently adopted it, and found comfort to their republican pride in the + mockery which it poured upon the feudal structure of society. They applied + it with a certain compunction, however, to the King of Servia, who came a + few days after the Duke and Duchess: he was such a young King, and of such + a little country. They watched for him from the windows of the + reading-room, while the crowd outside stood six deep on the three sides of + the square before the hotel, and the two plain public carriages which + brought the King and his suite drew tamely up at the portal, where the + proprietor and some civic dignitaries received him. His moderated + approach, so little like that of royalty on the stage, to which Americans + are used, allowed Mrs. March to make sure of the pale, slight, + insignificant, amiable-looking youth in spectacles as the sovereign she + was ambuscading. Then no appeal to her principles could keep her from + peeping through the reading-room door into the rotunda, where the King + graciously but speedily dismissed the civic gentlemen and the proprietor, + and vanished into the elevator. She was destined to see him so often + afterwards that she scarcely took the trouble to time her dining and + supping by that of the simple potentate, who had his meals in one of the + public rooms, with three gentlemen of his suite, in sack-coats like + himself, after the informal manner of the place. + </p> + <p> + Still another potentate, who happened that summer to be sojourning abroad, + in the interval of a successful rebellion, was at the opera one night with + some of his faithful followers. Burnamy had offered Mrs. March, who + supposed that he merely wanted her and her husband with him, places in a + box; but after she eagerly accepted, it seemed that he wished her to + advise him whether it would do to ask Miss Triscoe and her father to join + them. + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” she returned, with an arching of the eyebrows. + </p> + <p> + “Why,” he said, “perhaps I had better make a clean + breast of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you had,” she said, and they both laughed, though he + laughed with a knot between his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “The fact is, you know, this isn't my treat, exactly. It's + Mr. Stoller's.” At the surprise in her face he hurried on. + “He's got back his first letter in the paper, and he's + so much pleased with the way he reads in print, that he wants to + celebrate.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Mrs. March, non-committally. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy laughed again. “But he's bashful, and he isn't + sure that you would all take it in the right way. He wants you as friends + of mine; and he hasn't quite the courage to ask you himself.” + </p> + <p> + This seemed to Mrs. March so far from bad that she said: “That's + very nice of him. Then he's satisfied with—with your help? I'm + glad of that.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you. He's met the Triscoes, and he thought it would be + pleasant to you if they went, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, certainly.” + </p> + <p> + “He thought,” Burnamy went on, with the air of feeling his + way, “that we might all go to the opera, and then—then go for + a little supper afterwards at Schwarzkopf's.” + </p> + <p> + He named the only place in Carlsbad where you can sup so late as ten o'clock; + as the opera begins at six, and is over at half past eight, none but the + wildest roisterers frequent the place. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said Mrs. March. “I don't know how a late + supper would agree with my husband's cure. I should have to ask him.” + </p> + <p> + “We could make it very hygienic,” Burnamy explained. + </p> + <p> + In repeating his invitation she blamed Burnamy's uncandor so much + that March took his part, as perhaps she intended, and said, “Oh, + nonsense,” and that he should like to go in for the whole thing; and + General Triscoe accepted as promptly for himself and his daughter. That + made six people, Burnamy counted up, and he feigned a decent regret that + there was not room for Mrs. Adding and her son; he would have liked to ask + them. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March did not enjoy it so much as coming with her husband alone when + they took two florin seats in the orchestra for the comedy. The comedy + always began half an hour earlier than the opera, and they had a five-o'clock + supper at the Theatre-Cafe before they went, and they got to sleep by nine + o'clock; now they would be up till half past ten at least, and that + orgy at Schwarzkopf's might not be at all good for him. But still + she liked being there; and Miss Triscoe made her take the best seat; + Burnamy and Stoller made the older men take the other seats beside the + ladies, while they sat behind, or stood up, when they, wished to see, as + people do in the back of a box. Stoller was not much at ease in evening + dress, but he bore himself with a dignity which was not perhaps so gloomy + as it looked; Mrs. March thought him handsome in his way, and required + Miss Triscoe to admire him. As for Burnamy's beauty it was not + necessary to insist upon that; he had the distinction of slender youth; + and she liked to think that no Highhote there was of a more patrician + presence than this yet unprinted contributor to 'Every Other Week'. + He and Stoller seemed on perfect terms; or else in his joy he was able to + hide the uneasiness which she had fancied in him from the first time she + saw them together, and which had never been quite absent from his manner + in Stoller's presence. Her husband always denied that it existed, or + if it did that it was anything but Burnamy's effort to get on common + ground with an inferior whom fortune had put over him. + </p> + <p> + The young fellow talked with Stoller, and tried to bring him into the + range of the general conversation. He leaned over the ladies, from time to + time, and pointed out the notables whom he saw in the house; she was glad, + for his sake, that he did not lean less over her than over Miss Triscoe. + He explained certain military figures in the boxes opposite, and certain + ladies of rank who did not look their rank; Miss Triscoe, to Mrs. March's + thinking, looked their united ranks, and more; her dress was very simple, + but of a touch which saved it from being insipidly girlish; her beauty was + dazzling. + </p> + <p> + “Do you see that old fellow in the corner chair just behind the + orchestra?” asked Burnamy. “He's ninety-six years old, + and he comes to the theatre every night, and falls asleep as soon as the + curtain rises, and sleeps through till the end of the act.” + </p> + <p> + “How dear!” said the girl, leaning forward to fix the + nonagenarian with her glasses, while many other glasses converged upon + her. “Oh, wouldn't you like to know him, Mr. March?” + </p> + <p> + “I should consider it a liberal education. They have brought these + things to a perfect system in Europe. There is nothing to make life pass + smoothly like inflexible constancy to an entirely simple custom. My dear,” + he added to his wife, “I wish we'd seen this sage before. He'd + have helped us through a good many hours of unintelligible comedy. I'm + always coming as Burnamy's guest, after this.” + </p> + <p> + The young fellow swelled with pleasure in his triumph, and casting an eye + about the theatre to cap it, he caught sight of that other potentate. He + whispered joyfully, “Ah! We've got two kings here to-night,” + and he indicated in a box of their tier just across from that where the + King of Servia sat, the well-known face of the King of New York. + </p> + <p> + “He isn't bad-looking,” said March, handing his glass to + General Triscoe. “I've not seen many kings in exile; a matter + of a few Carlist princes and ex-sovereign dukes, and the good Henry V. of + France, once, when I was staying a month in Venice; but I don't + think they any of them looked the part better. I suppose he has his dream + of recurring power like the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “Dream!” said General Triscoe with the glass at his eyes. + “He's dead sure of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you don't really mean that!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know why I should have changed my mind.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it's as if we were in the presence of Charles II. just + before he was called back to England, or Napoleon in the last moments of + Elba. It's better than that. The thing is almost unique; it's + a new situation in history. Here's a sovereign who has no recognized + function, no legal status, no objective existence. He has no sort of + public being, except in the affection of his subjects. It took an upheaval + little short of an earthquake to unseat him. His rule, as we understand + it, was bad for all classes; the poor suffered more than the rich; the + people have now had three years of self-government; and yet this wonderful + man has such a hold upon the masses that he is going home to win the cause + of oppression at the head of the oppressed. When he's in power + again, he will be as subjective as ever, with the power of civic life and + death, and an idolatrous following perfectly ruthless in the execution of + his will.” + </p> + <p> + “We've only begun,” said the general. “This kind + of king is municipal, now; but he's going to be national. And then, + good-by, Republic!” + </p> + <p> + “The only thing like it,” March resumed, too incredulous of + the evil future to deny himself the aesthetic pleasure of the parallel, + “is the rise of the Medici in Florence, but even the Medici were not + mere manipulators of pulls; they had some sort of public office, with some + sort of legislated tenure of it. The King of New York is sovereign by + force of will alone, and he will reign in the voluntary submission of the + majority. Is our national dictator to be of the same nature and quality?” + </p> + <p> + “It would be the scientific evolution, wouldn't it?” + </p> + <p> + The ladies listened with the perfunctory attention which women pay to any + sort of inquiry which is not personal. Stoller had scarcely spoken yet; he + now startled them all by demanding, with a sort of vindictive force, + “Why shouldn't he have the power, if they're willing to + let him?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said General Triscoe, with a tilt of his head towards + March. “That's what we must ask ourselves more and more.” + </p> + <p> + March leaned back in his chair, and looked up over his shoulder at + Stoller. “Well, I don't know. Do you think it's quite + right for a man to use an unjust power, even if others are willing that he + should?” + </p> + <p> + Stoller stopped with an air of bewilderment as if surprised on the point + of saying that he thought just this. He asked instead, “What's + wrong about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's one of those things that have to be felt, I + suppose. But if a man came to you, and offered to be your slave for a + certain consideration—say a comfortable house, and a steady job, + that wasn't too hard—should you feel it morally right to + accept the offer? I don't say think it right, for there might be a + kind of logic for it.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller seemed about to answer; he hesitated; and before he had made any + response, the curtain rose. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0118" id="link2H_4_0118"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXIV. + </h2> + <p> + There are few prettier things than Carlsbad by night from one of the many + bridges which span the Tepl in its course through the town. If it is a + starry night, the torrent glides swiftly away with an inverted firmament + in its bosom, to which the lamps along its shores and in the houses on + either side contribute a planetary splendor of their own. By nine o'clock + everything is hushed; not a wheel is heard at that dead hour; the few feet + shuffling stealthily through the Alte Wiese whisper a caution of silence + to those issuing with a less guarded tread from the opera; the little + bowers that overhang the stream are as dark and mute as the restaurants + across the way which serve meals in them by day; the whole place is as + forsaken as other cities at midnight. People get quickly home to bed, or + if they have a mind to snatch a belated joy, they slip into the + Theater-Cafe, where the sleepy Frauleins serve them, in an exemplary + drowse, with plates of cold ham and bottles of the gently gaseous waters + of Giesshubl. Few are of the bold badness which delights in a supper at + Schwarzkopf's, and even these are glad of the drawn curtains which + hide their orgy from the chance passer. + </p> + <p> + The invalids of Burnamy's party kept together, strengthening + themselves in a mutual purpose not to be tempted to eat anything which was + not strictly 'kurgemass'. Mrs. March played upon the interest + which each of them felt in his own case so artfully that she kept them + talking of their cure, and left Burnamy and Miss Triscoe to a moment on + the bridge, by which they profited, while the others strolled on, to lean + against the parapet and watch the lights in the skies and the water, and + be alone together. The stream shone above and below, and found its way out + of and into the darkness under the successive bridges; the town climbed + into the night with lamp-lit windows here and there, till the woods of the + hill-sides darkened down to meet it, and fold it in an embrace from which + some white edifice showed palely in the farthest gloom. + </p> + <p> + He tried to make her think they could see that great iron crucifix which + watches over it day and night from its piny cliff. He had a fancy for a + poem, very impressionistic, which should convey the notion of the crucifix's + vigil. He submitted it to her; and they remained talking till the others + had got out of sight and hearing; and she was letting him keep the hand on + her arm which he had put there to hold her from falling over the parapet, + when they were both startled by approaching steps, and a voice calling, + “Look here! Who's running this supper party, anyway?” + </p> + <p> + His wife had detached March from her group for the mission, as soon as she + felt that the young people were abusing her kindness. They answered him + with hysterical laughter, and Burnamy said, “Why, it's Mr. + Stoller's treat, you know.” + </p> + <p> + At the restaurant, where the proprietor obsequiously met the party on the + threshold and bowed them into a pretty inner room, with a table set for + their supper, Stoller had gained courage to play the host openly. He + appointed General Triscoe to the chief seat; he would have put his + daughter next to him, if the girl had not insisted upon Mrs. March's + having the place, and going herself to sit next to March, whom she said + she had not been able to speak a word to the whole evening. But she did + not talk a great deal to him; he smiled to find how soon he dropped out of + the conversation, and Burnamy, from his greater remoteness across the + table, dropped into it. He really preferred the study of Stoller, whose + instinct of a greater worldly quality in the Triscoes interested him; he + could see him listening now to what General Triscoe was saying to Mrs. + March, and now to what Burnamy was saying to Miss Triscoe; his strong, + selfish face, as he turned it on the young people, expressed a mingled + grudge and greed that was very curious. + </p> + <p> + Stoller's courage, which had come and gone at moments throughout, + rose at the end, and while they lingered at the table well on to the hour + of ten, he said, in the sort of helpless offence he had with Burnamy, + “What's the reason we can't all go out tomorrow to that + old castle you was talking about?” + </p> + <p> + “To Engelhaus? I don't know any reason, as far as I'm + concerned,” answered Burnamy; but he refused the initiative offered + him, and Stoller was obliged to ask March: + </p> + <p> + “You heard about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” General Triscoe was listening, and March added for him, + “It was the hold of an old robber baron; Gustavus Adolphus knocked + it down, and it's very picturesque, I believe.” + </p> + <p> + “It sounds promising,” said the general. “Where is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't to-morrow our mineral bath?” Mrs. March + interposed between her husband and temptation. + </p> + <p> + “No; the day after. Why, it's about ten or twelve miles out on + the old postroad that Napoleon took for Prague.” + </p> + <p> + “Napoleon knew a good road when he saw it,” said the general, + and he alone of the company lighted a cigar. He was decidedly in favor of + the excursion, and he arranged for it with Stoller, whom he had the effect + of using for his pleasure as if he were doing him a favor. They were six, + and two carriages would take them: a two-spanner for four, and a + one-spanner for two; they could start directly after dinners and get home + in time for supper. + </p> + <p> + Stoller asserted himself to say: “That's all right, then. I + want you to be my guests, and I'll see about the carriages.” + He turned to Burnamy: “Will you order them?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said the young fellow, with a sort of dryness, “the + portier will get them.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand why General Triscoe was so willing to + accept. Surely, he can't like that man!” said Mrs. March to + her husband in their own room. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I fancy that wouldn't be essential. The general seems to + me, capable of letting even an enemy serve his turn. Why didn't you + speak, if you didn't want to go?” + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you?” + </p> + <p> + “I wanted to go.” + </p> + <p> + “And I knew it wouldn't do to let Miss Triscoe go alone; I + could see that she wished to go.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think Burnamy did?” + </p> + <p> + “He seemed rather indifferent. And yet he must have realized that he + would be with Miss Triscoe the whole afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0119" id="link2H_4_0119"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXV. + </h2> + <p> + If Burnamy and Miss Triscoe took the lead in the one-spanner, and the + others followed in the two-spanner, it was not from want of politeness on + the part of the young people in offering to give up their places to each + of their elders in turn. It would have been grotesque for either March or + Stoller to drive with the girl; for her father it was apparently no + question, after a glance at the more rigid uprightness of the seat in the + one-spanner; and he accepted the place beside Mrs. March on the back seat + of the two-spanner without demur. He asked her leave to smoke, and then he + scarcely spoke to her. But he talked to the two men in front of him almost + incessantly, haranguing them upon the inferiority of our conditions and + the futility of our hopes as a people, with the effect of bewildering the + cruder arrogance of Stoller, who could have got on with Triscoe's + contempt for the worthlessness of our working-classes, but did not know + what to do with his scorn of the vulgarity and venality of their + employers. He accused some of Stoller's most honored and envied + capitalists of being the source of our worst corruptions, and guiltier + than the voting-cattle whom they bought and sold. + </p> + <p> + “I think we can get rid of the whole trouble if we go at it the + right way,” Stoller said, diverging for the sake of the point he + wished to bring in. “I believe in having the government run on + business principles. They've got it here in Carlsbad, already, just + the right sort of thing, and it works. I been lookin' into it, and I + got this young man, yonder”—he twisted his hand in the + direction of the one-spanner! “to help me put it in shape. I believe + it's going to make our folks think, the best ones among them. Here!” + He drew a newspaper out of his pocket, folded to show two columns in their + full length, and handed it to Triscoe, who took it with no great + eagerness, and began to run his eye over it. “You tell me what you + think of that. I've put it out for a kind of a feeler. I got some + money in that paper, and I just thought I'd let our people see how a + city can be managed on business principles.” + </p> + <p> + He kept his eye eagerly upon Triscoe, as if to follow his thought while he + read, and keep him up to the work, and he ignored the Marches so entirely + that they began in self-defence to talk with each other. + </p> + <p> + Their carriage had climbed from Carlsbad in long irregular curves to the + breezy upland where the great highroad to Prague ran through fields of + harvest. They had come by heights and slopes of forest, where the serried + stems of the tall firs showed brown and whitish-blue and grew straight as + stalks of grain; and now on either side the farms opened under a sky of + unwonted cloudlessness. Narrow strips of wheat and rye, which the men were + cutting with sickles, and the women in red bodices were binding, + alternated with ribands of yellowing oats and grass, and breadths of beets + and turnips, with now and then lengths of ploughed land. In the meadows + the peasants were piling their carts with heavy rowen, the girls lifting + the hay on the forks, and the men giving themselves the lighter labor of + ordering the load. From the upturned earth, where there ought to have been + troops of strutting crows, a few sombre ravens rose. But they could not + rob the scene of its gayety; it smiled in the sunshine with colors which + vividly followed the slope of the land till they were dimmed in the + forests on the far-off mountains. Nearer and farther, the cottages and + villages shone in the valleys, or glimmered through the veils of the + distant haze. Over all breathed the keen pure air of the hills, with a + sentiment of changeless eld, which charmed March, back to his boyhood, + where he lost the sense of his wife's presence, and answered her + vaguely. She talked contentedly on in the monologue to which the wives of + absent-minded men learn to resign themselves. They were both roused from + their vagary by the voice of General Triscoe. He was handing back the + folded newspaper to Stoller, and saying, with a queer look at him over his + glasses, “I should like to see what your contemporaries have to say + to all that.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” Stoller returned, “maybe I'll have + the chance to show you. They got my instructions over there to send + everything to me.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy and Miss Triscoe gave little heed to the landscape as landscape. + They agreed that the human interest was the great thing on a landscape, + after all; but they ignored the peasants in the fields and meadows, who + were no more to them than the driver on the box, or the people in the + two-spanner behind. They were talking of the hero and heroine of a novel + they had both read, and he was saying, “I suppose you think he was + justly punished.” + </p> + <p> + “Punished?” she repeated. “Why, they got married, after + all!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but you could see that they were not going to be happy.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it seems to me that she was punished; too.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes; you might say that. The author couldn't help that.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Triscoe was silent a moment before she said: + </p> + <p> + “I always thought the author was rather hard on the hero. The girl + was very exacting.” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” said Burnamy, “I supposed that women hated + anything like deception in men too much to tolerate it at all. Of course, + in this case, he didn't deceive her; he let her deceive herself; but + wasn't that worse?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that was worse. She could have forgiven him for deceiving her.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + “He might have had to do that. She wouldn't have minded his + fibbing outright, so much, for then it wouldn't have seemed to come + from his nature. But if he just let her believe what wasn't true, + and didn't say a word to prevent her, of course it was worse. It + showed something weak, something cowardly in him.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy gave a little cynical laugh. “I suppose it did. But don't + you think it's rather rough, expecting us to have all the kinds of + courage?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is,” she assented. “That is why I say she was + too exacting. But a man oughn't to defend him.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy's laugh had more pleasure in it, now. “Another woman + might?” + </p> + <p> + “No. She might excuse him.” + </p> + <p> + He turned to look back at the two-spanner; it was rather far behind, and + he spoke to their driver bidding him go slowly till it caught up with + them. By the time it did so, they were so close to it that they could + distinguish the lines of its wandering and broken walls. Ever since they + had climbed from the wooded depths of the hills above Carlsbad to the open + plateau, it had shown itself in greater and greater detail. The detached + mound of rock on which it stood rose like an island in the midst of the + plain, and commanded the highways in every direction. + </p> + <p> + “I believe,” Burnamy broke out, with a bitterness apparently + relevant to the ruin alone, “that if you hadn't required any + quarterings of nobility from him, Stoller would have made a good sort of + robber baron. He's a robber baron by nature, now, and he wouldn't + have any scruple in levying tribute on us here in our one-spanner, if his + castle was in good repair and his crossbowmen were not on a strike. But + they would be on a strike, probably, and then he would lock them out, and + employ none but non-union crossbowmen.” + </p> + <p> + If Miss Triscoe understood that he arraigned the morality as well as the + civility of his employer, she did not take him more seriously than he + meant, apparently, for she smiled as she said, “I don't see + how you can have anything to do with him, if you feel so about him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” Burnamy replied in kind, “he buys my poverty and + not my will. And perhaps if I thought better of myself, I should respect + him more.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you been doing something very wicked?” + </p> + <p> + “What should you have to say to me, if I had?” he bantered. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I should have nothing at all to say to you,” she mocked + back. + </p> + <p> + They turned a corner of the highway, and drove rattling through a village + street up a long slope to the rounded hill which it crowned. A church at + its base looked out upon an irregular square. + </p> + <p> + A gaunt figure of a man, with a staring mask, which seemed to hide a + darkling mind within, came out of the church, and locked it behind him. He + proved to be the sacristan, and the keeper of all the village's + claims upon the visitors' interest; he mastered, after a moment, + their wishes in respect to the castle, and showed the path that led to it; + at the top, he said, they would find a custodian of the ruins who would + admit them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0120" id="link2H_4_0120"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXVI. + </h2> + <p> + The path to the castle slanted upward across the shoulder of the hill, to + a certain point, and there some rude stone steps mounted more directly. + Wilding lilac-bushes, as if from some forgotten garden, bordered the + ascent; the chickory opened its blue flower; the clean bitter odor of + vermouth rose from the trodden turf; but Nature spreads no such lavish + feast in wood or field in the Old World as she spoils us with in the New; + a few kinds, repeated again and again, seem to be all her store, and man + must make the most of them. Miss Triscoe seemed to find flowers enough in + the simple bouquet which Burnamy put together for her. She took it, and + then gave it back to him, that she might have both hands for her skirt, + and so did him two favors. + </p> + <p> + A superannuated forester of the nobleman who owns the ruin opened a gate + for the party at the top, and levied a tax of thirty kreutzers each upon + them, for its maintenance. The castle, by his story, had descended from + robber sire to robber son, till Gustavus knocked it to pieces in the + sixteenth century; three hundred years later, the present owner restored + it; and now its broken walls and arches, built of rubble mixed with brick, + and neatly pointed up with cement, form a ruin satisfyingly permanent. The + walls were not of great extent, but such as they were they enclosed + several dungeons and a chapel, all underground, and a cistern which once + enabled the barons and their retainers to water their wine in time of + siege. + </p> + <p> + From that height they could overlook the neighboring highways in every + direction, and could bring a merchant train to, with a shaft from a + crossbow, or a shot from an arquebuse, at pleasure. With General Triscoe's + leave, March praised the strategic strength of the unique position, which + he found expressive of the past, and yet suggestive of the present. It was + more a difference in method than anything else that distinguished the levy + of customs by the authorities then and now. What was the essential + difference, between taking tribute of travellers passing on horseback, and + collecting dues from travellers arriving by steamer? They did not pay + voluntarily in either case; but it might be proof of progress that they no + longer fought the customs officials. + </p> + <p> + “Then you believe in free trade,” said Stoller, severely. + </p> + <p> + “No. I am just inquiring which is the best way of enforcing the + tariff laws.” + </p> + <p> + “I saw in the Paris Chronicle, last night,” said Miss Triscoe, + “that people are kept on the docks now for hours, and ladies cry at + the way their things are tumbled over by the inspectors.” + </p> + <p> + “It's shocking,” said Mrs. March, magisterially. + </p> + <p> + “It seems to be a return to the scenes of feudal times,” her + husband resumed. “But I'm glad the travellers make no + resistance. I'm opposed to private war as much as I am to free + trade.” + </p> + <p> + “It all comes round to the same thing at last,” said General + Triscoe. “Your precious humanity—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't claim it exclusively,” March protested. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, our precious humanity is like a man that has lost his + road. He thinks he is finding his way out, but he is merely rounding on + his course, and coming back to where he started.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller said, “I think we ought to make it so rough for them, over + here, that they will come to America and set up, if they can't stand + the duties.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we ought to make it rough for them anyway,” March + consented. + </p> + <p> + If Stoller felt his irony, he did not know what to answer. He followed + with his eyes the manoeuvre by which Burnamy and Miss Triscoe eliminated + themselves from the discussion, and strayed off to another corner of the + ruin, where they sat down on the turf in the shadow of the wall; a thin, + upland breeze drew across them, but the sun was hot. The land fell away + from the height, and then rose again on every side in carpetlike fields + and in long curving bands, whose parallel colors passed unblended into the + distance. “I don't suppose,” Burnamy said, “that + life ever does much better than this, do you? I feel like knocking on a + piece of wood and saying 'Unberufen.' I might knock on your + bouquet; that's wood.” + </p> + <p> + “It would spoil the flowers,” she said, looking down at them + in her belt. She looked up and their eyes met. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” he said, presently, “what makes us always + have a feeling of dread when we are happy?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you have that, too?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Perhaps it's because we know that change must come, and + it must be for the worse.” + </p> + <p> + “That must be it. I never thought of it before, though.” + </p> + <p> + “If we had got so far in science that we could predict psychological + weather, and could know twenty-four hours ahead when a warm wave of bliss + or a cold wave of misery was coming, and prepare for smiles and tears + beforehand—it may come to that.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope it won't. I'd rather not know when I was to be + happy; it would spoil the pleasure; and wouldn't be any compensation + when it was the other way.” + </p> + <p> + A shadow fell across them, and Burnamy glanced round to see Stoller + looking down at them, with a slant of the face that brought his aquiline + profile into relief. “Oh! Have a turf, Mr. Stoller?” he called + gayly up to him. + </p> + <p> + “I guess we've seen about all there is,” he answered. + “Hadn't we better be going?” He probably did not mean to + be mandatory. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said Burnamy, and he turned to speak to Miss + Triscoe again without further notice of him. + </p> + <p> + They all descended to the church at the foot of the hill where the weird + sacristan was waiting to show them the cold, bare interior, and to account + for its newness with the fact that the old church had been burnt, and this + one built only a few years before. Then he locked the doors after them, + and ran forward to open against their coming the chapel of the village + cemetery, which they were to visit after they had fortified themselves for + it at the village cafe. + </p> + <p> + They were served by a little hunch-back maid; and she told them who lived + in the chief house of the village. It was uncommonly pretty; where all the + houses were picturesque, and she spoke of it with respect as the dwelling + of a rich magistrate who was clearly the great man of the place. March + admired the cat which rubbed against her skirt while she stood and talked, + and she took his praises modestly for the cat; but they wrought upon the + envy, of her brother so that he ran off to the garden, and came back with + two fat, sleepy-eyed puppies which he held up, with an arm across each of + their stomachs, for the acclaim of the spectators. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, give him something!” Mrs. March entreated. “He's + such a dear.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! I am not going to have my little hunchback and her cat + outdone,” he refused; and then he was about to yield. + </p> + <p> + “Hold on!” said Stoller, assuming the host. “I got the + change.” + </p> + <p> + He gave the boy a few kreutzers, when Mrs. March had meant her husband to + reward his naivete with half a florin at least; but he seemed to feel that + he had now ingratiated himself with the ladies, and he put himself in + charge of them for the walk to the cemetery chapel; he made Miss Triscoe + let him carry her jacket when she found it warm. + </p> + <p> + The chapel is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and the Jesuit brother who + designed it, two or three centuries ago, indulged a devotional fancy in + the triangular form of the structure and the decorative details. + Everything is three-cornered; the whole chapel, to begin with, and then + the ark of the high altar in the middle of it, and each of the three + side-altars. The clumsy baroque taste of the architecture is a German + version of the impulse that was making Italy fantastic at the time; the + carving is coarse, and the color harsh and unsoftened by years, though it + is broken and obliterated in places. + </p> + <p> + The sacristan said that the chapel was never used for anything but funeral + services, and he led the way out into the cemetery, where he wished to + display the sepultural devices. The graves here were planted with flowers, + and some were in a mourning of black pansies; but a space fenced apart + from the rest held a few neglected mounds, overgrown with weeds and + brambles: This space, he said, was for suicides; but to March it was not + so ghastly as the dapper grief of certain tombs in consecrated ground + where the stones had photographs of the dead on porcelain let into them. + One was the picture of a beautiful young woman, who had been the wife of + the local magnate; an eternal love was vowed to her in the inscription, + but now, the sacristan said, with nothing of irony, the magnate was + married again, and lived in that prettiest house of the village. He seemed + proud of the monument, as the thing worthiest the attention of the + strangers, and he led them with less apparent hopefulness to the + unfinished chapel representing a Gethsemane, with the figure of Christ + praying and his apostles sleeping. It is a subject much celebrated in + terra-cotta about Carlsbad, and it was not a novelty to his party; still, + from its surroundings, it had a fresh pathos, and March tried to make him + understand that they appreciated it. He knew that his wife wished the poor + man to think he had done them a great favor in showing it; he had been + touched with all the vain shows of grief in the poor, ugly little place; + most of all he had felt the exile of those who had taken their own lives + and were parted in death from the more patient sufferers who had waited + for God to take them. With a curious, unpainful self-analysis he noted + that the older members of the party, who in the course of nature were so + much nearer death, did not shrink from its shows; but the young girl and + the young man had not borne to look on them, and had quickly escaped from + the place, somewhere outside the gate. Was it the beginning, the promise + of that reconciliation with death which nature brings to life at last, or + was it merely the effect, or defect, of ossified sensibilities, of + toughened nerves? + </p> + <p> + “That is all?” he asked of the spectral sacristan. + </p> + <p> + “That is all,” the man said, and March felt in his pocket for + a coin commensurate to the service he had done them; it ought to be + something handsome. + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” said Stoller, detecting his gesture. “Your + money a'n't good.” + </p> + <p> + He put twenty or thirty kreutzers into the hand of the man, who regarded + them with a disappointment none the less cruel because it was so patient. + In France, he would have been insolent; in Italy, he would have frankly + said it was too little; here, he merely looked at the money and whispered + a sad “Danke.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy and Miss Triscoe rose from the grassy bank outside where they were + sitting, and waited for the elders to get into their two-spanner. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, have I lost my glove in there?” said Mrs. March, looking + at her hands and such parts of her dress as a glove might cling to. + </p> + <p> + “Let me go and find it for you,” Burnamy entreated. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she consented, and she added, “If the sacristan + has found it, give him something for me something really handsome, poor + fellow.” + </p> + <p> + As Burnamy passed her, she let him see that she had both her gloves, and + her heart yearned upon him for his instant smile of intelligence: some men + would have blundered out that she had the lost glove in her hand. He came + back directly, saying, “No, he didn't find it.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed, and held both gloves up. “No wonder! I had it all the + time. Thank you ever so much.” + </p> + <p> + “How are we going to ride back?” asked Stoller. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy almost turned pale; Miss Triscoe smiled impenetrably. No one else + spoke, and Mrs. March said, with placid authority, “Oh, I think the + way we came, is best.” + </p> + <p> + “Did that absurd creature,” she apostrophized her husband as + soon as she got him alone after their arrival at Pupp's, “think + I was going to let him drive back with Agatha?” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” said March, “if that's what Burnamy + calls her now?” + </p> + <p> + “I shall despise him if it isn't.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0121" id="link2H_4_0121"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXVII. + </h2> + <p> + Burnamy took up his mail to Stoller after the supper which they had eaten + in a silence natural with two men who have been off on a picnic together. + He did not rise from his writing-desk when Burnamy came in, and the young + man did not sit down after putting his letters before him. He said, with + an effort of forcing himself to speak at once, “I have looked + through the papers, and there is something that I think you ought to see.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” said Stoller. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy laid down three or four papers opened to pages where certain + articles were strongly circumscribed in ink. The papers varied, but their + editorials did not, in purport at least. Some were grave and some were + gay; one indignantly denounced; another affected an ironical bewilderment; + the third simply had fun with the Hon. Jacob Stoller. They all, however, + treated his letter on the city government of Carlsbad as the praise of + municipal socialism, and the paper which had fun with him gleefully + congratulated the dangerous classes on the accession of the Honorable + Jacob to their ranks. + </p> + <p> + Stoller read the articles, one after another, with parted lips and + gathering drops of perspiration on his upper lip, while Burnamy waited on + foot. He flung the papers all down at last. “Why, they're a + pack of fools! They don't know what they're talking about! I + want city government carried on on business principles, by the people, for + the people. I don't care what they say! I know I'm right, and + I'm going ahead on this line if it takes all—” The note + of defiance died out of his voice at the sight of Burnamy's pale + face. “What's the matter with you?” + </p> + <p> + “There's nothing the matter with me.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to tell me it is”—he could not bring + himself to use the word—“what they say?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” said Burnamy, with a dry mouth, “it's + what you may call municipal socialism.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller jumped from his seat. “And you knew it when you let me do + it?” + </p> + <p> + “I supposed you knew what you were about.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a lie!” Stoller advanced upon him, wildly, and + Burnamy took a step backward. + </p> + <p> + “Look out!” shouted Burnamy. “You never asked me + anything about it. You told me what you wanted done, and I did it. How + could I believe you were such an ignoramus as not to know the a b c of the + thing you were talking about?” He added, in cynical contempt, + “But you needn't worry. You can make it right with the + managers by spending a little more money than you expected to spend.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller started as if the word money reminded him of something. “I + can take care of myself, young man. How much do I owe you?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing!” said Burnamy, with an effort for grandeur which + failed him. + </p> + <p> + The next morning as the Marches sat over their coffee at the Posthof, he + came dragging himself toward them with such a haggard air that Mrs. March + called, before he reached their table, “Why, Mr. Burnamy, what's + the matter?” + </p> + <p> + He smiled miserably. “Oh, I haven't slept very well. May I + have my coffee with you? I want to tell you something; I want you to make + me. But I can't speak till the coffee comes. Fraulein!” he + besought a waitress going off with a tray near them. “Tell Lili, + please, to bring me some coffee—only coffee.” + </p> + <p> + He tried to make some talk about the weather, which was rainy, and the + Marches helped him, but the poor endeavor lagged wretchedly in the + interval between the ordering and the coming of the coffee. “Ah, + thank you, Lili,” he said, with a humility which confirmed Mrs. + March in her instant belief that he had been offering himself to Miss + Triscoe and been rejected. After gulping his coffee, he turned to her: + “I want to say good-by. I'm going away.” + </p> + <p> + “From Carlsbad?” asked Mrs. March with a keen distress. + </p> + <p> + The water came into his eyes. “Don't, don't be good to + me, Mrs. March! I can't stand it. But you won't, when you + know.” + </p> + <p> + He began to speak of Stoller, first to her, but addressing himself more + and more to the intelligence of March, who let him go on without question, + and laid a restraining hand upon his wife when he saw her about to prompt + him. At the end, “That's all,” he said, huskily, and + then he seemed to be waiting for March's comment. He made none, and + the young fellow was forced to ask, “Well, what do you think, Mr. + March?” + </p> + <p> + “What do you think yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “I think, I behaved badly,” said Burnamy, and a movement of + protest from Mrs. March nerved him to add: “I could make out that it + was not my business to tell him what he was doing; but I guess it was; I + guess I ought to have stopped him, or given him a chance to stop himself. + I suppose I might have done it, if he had treated me decently when I + turned up a day late, here; or hadn't acted toward me as if I were a + hand in his buggy-works that had come in an hour after the whistle + sounded.” + </p> + <p> + He set his teeth, and an indignant sympathy shone in Mrs. March's + eyes; but her husband only looked the more serious. + </p> + <p> + He asked gently, “Do you offer that fact as an explanation, or as a + justification.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy laughed forlornly. “It certainly wouldn't justify me. + You might say that it made the case all the worse for me.” March + forbore to say, and Burnamy went on. “But I didn't suppose + they would be onto him so quick, or perhaps at all. I thought—if I + thought anything—that it would amuse some of the fellows in the + office, who know about those things.” He paused, and in March's + continued silence he went on. “The chance was one in a hundred that + anybody else would know where he had brought up.” + </p> + <p> + “But you let him take that chance,” March suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I let him take it. Oh, you know how mixed all these things + are!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I didn't think it out at the time. But I don't + deny that I had a satisfaction in the notion of the hornets' nest he + was poking his thick head into. It makes me sick, now, to think I had. I + oughtn't to have let him; he was perfectly innocent in it. After the + letter went, I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't; and then I took + the chances too. I don't believe he could have ever got forward in + politics; he's too honest—or he isn't dishonest in the + right way. But that doesn't let me out. I don't defend myself! + I did wrong; I behaved badly. But I've suffered for it. + </p> + <p> + “I've had a foreboding all the time that it would come to the + worst, and felt like a murderer with his victim when I've been alone + with Stoller. When I could get away from him I could shake it off, and + even believe that it hadn't happened. You can't think what a + nightmare it's been! Well, I've ruined Stoller politically, + but I've ruined myself, too. I've spoiled my own life; I've + done what I can never explain to—to the people I want to have + believe in me; I've got to steal away like the thief I am. Good-by!” + He jumped to his feet, and put out his hand to March, and then to Mrs. + March. + </p> + <p> + “Why, you're not going away now!” she cried, in a daze. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am. I shall leave Carlsbad on the eleven-o'clock + train. I don't think I shall see you again.” He clung to her + hand. “If you see General Triscoe—I wish you'd tell them + I couldn't—that I had to—that I was called away suddenly—Good-by!” + He pressed her hand and dropped it, and mixed with the crowd. Then he came + suddenly back, with a final appeal to March: “Should you—do + you think I ought to see Stoller, and—and tell him I don't + think I used him fairly?” + </p> + <p> + “You ought to know—” March began. + </p> + <p> + But before he could say more, Burnamy said, “You're right,” + and was off again. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how hard you were with him, my dear!” Mrs. March + lamented. + </p> + <p> + “I wish,” he said, “if our boy ever went wrong that some + one would be as true to him as I was to that poor fellow. He condemned + himself; and he was right; he has behaved very badly.” + </p> + <p> + “You always overdo things so, when you act righteously!” + </p> + <p> + “Now, Isabel!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I know what you will say. But I should have tempered + justice with mercy.” + </p> + <p> + Her nerves tingled with pity for Burnamy, but in her heart she was glad + that her husband had had strength to side with him against himself, and + she was proud of the forbearance with which he had done it. In their + earlier married life she would have confidently taken the initiative on + all moral questions. She still believed that she was better fitted for + their decision by her Puritan tradition and her New England birth, but + once in a great crisis when it seemed a question of their living, she had + weakened before it, and he, with no such advantages, had somehow met the + issue with courage and conscience. She could not believe he did so by + inspiration, but she had since let him take the brunt of all such issues + and the responsibility. He made no reply, and she said: “I suppose + you'll admit now there was always something peculiar in the poor boy's + manner to Stoller.” + </p> + <p> + He would confess no more than that there ought to have been. “I don't + see how he could stagger through with that load on his conscience. I'm + not sure I like his being able to do so.” + </p> + <p> + She was silent in the misgiving which she shared with him, but she said: + “I wonder how far it has gone with him and Miss Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, from his wanting you to give his message to the general in + the plural—” + </p> + <p> + “Don't laugh! It's wicked to laugh! It's + heartless!” she cried, hysterically. “What will he do, poor + fellow?” + </p> + <p> + “I've an idea that he will light on his feet, somehow. But, at + any rate, he's doing the right thing in going to own up to Stoller.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Stoller! I care nothing for Stoller! Don't speak to me of + Stoller!” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy fond the Bird of Prey, as he no longer had the heart to call him, + walking up and down in his room like an eagle caught in a trap. He erected + his crest fiercely enough, though, when the young fellow came in at his + loudly shouted, “Herein!” + </p> + <p> + “What do you want?” he demanded, brutally. + </p> + <p> + This simplified Burnamy's task, while it made it more loathsome. He + answered not much less brutally, “I want to tell you that I think I + used you badly, that I let you betray yourself, that I feel myself to + blame.” He could have added, “Curse you!” without change + of tone. + </p> + <p> + Stoller sneered in a derision that showed his lower teeth like a dog's + when he snarls. “You want to get back!” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Burnamy, mildly, and with increasing sadness as he + spoke. “I don't want to get back. Nothing would induce me. I'm + going away on the first train.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you're not!” shouted Stoller. “You've + lied me into this—” + </p> + <p> + “Look out!” Burnamy turned white. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you lie me into it, if you let me fool myself, as you + say?” Stoller pursued, and Burnamy felt himself weaken through his + wrath. “Well, then, you got to lie me out of it. I been going over + the damn thing, all night—and you can do it for me. I know you can + do it,” he gave way in a plea that was almost a whimper. “Look + here! You see if you can't. I'll make it all right with you. I'll + pay you whatever you think is right—whatever you say.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said Burnamy, in otherwise unutterable disgust. + </p> + <p> + “You kin,” Stoller went on, breaking down more and more into + his adopted Hoosier, in the stress of his anxiety. “I know you kin, + Mr. Burnamy.” He pushed the paper containing his letter into Burnamy's + hands, and pointed out a succession of marked passages. “There! And + here! And this place! Don't you see how you could make out that it + meant something else, or was just ironical?” He went on to prove how + the text might be given the complexion he wished, and Burnamy saw that he + had really thought it not impossibly out. “I can't put it in + writing as well as you; but I've done all the work, and all you've + got to do is to give it some of them turns of yours. I'll cable the + fellows in our office to say I've been misrepresented, and that my + correction is coming. We'll get it into shape here together, and + then I'll cable that. I don't care for the money. And I'll + get our counting-room to see this scoundrel”—he picked up the + paper that had had fun with him—“and fix him all right, so + that he'll ask for a suspension of public opinion, and—You + see, don't you?” + </p> + <p> + The thing did appeal to Burnamy. If it could be done, it would enable him + to make Stoller the reparation he longed to make him more than anything + else in the world. But he heard himself saying, very gently, almost + tenderly, “It might be done, Mr. Stoller. But I couldn't do + it. It wouldn't be honest—for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Yah!” yelled Stoller, and he crushed the paper into a wad and + flung it into Burnamy's face. “Honest, you damn humbug! You + let me in for this, when you knew I didn't mean it, and now you won't + help me out because it a'n't honest! Get out of my room, and + get out quick before I—” + </p> + <p> + He hurled himself toward Burnamy, who straightened himself, with “If + you dare!” He knew that he was right in refusing; but he knew that + Stoller was right, too, and that he had not meant the logic of what he had + said in his letter, and of what Burnamy had let him imply. He braved + Stoller's onset, and he left his presence untouched, but feeling as + little a moral hero as he well could. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0122" id="link2H_4_0122"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXXVIII. + </h2> + <p> + General Triscoe woke in the bad humor of an elderly man after a day's + pleasure, and in the self-reproach of a pessimist who has lost his point + of view for a time, and has to work back to it. He began at the belated + breakfast with his daughter when she said, after kissing him gayly, in the + small two-seated bower where they breakfasted at their hotel when they did + not go to the Posthof, “Didn't you have a nice time, + yesterday, papa?” + </p> + <p> + She sank into the chair opposite, and beamed at him across the little iron + table, as she lifted the pot to pour out his coffee. + </p> + <p> + “What do you call a nice time?” he temporized, not quite able + to resist her gayety. + </p> + <p> + “Well, the kind of time I had.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you get rheumatism from sitting on the grass? I took cold in + that old church, and the tea at that restaurant must have been brewed in a + brass kettle. I suffered all night from it. And that ass from Illinois—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, poor papa! I couldn't go with Mr. Stoller alone, but I + might have gone in the two-spanner with him and let you have Mr. or Mrs. + March in the one-spanner.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. Their interest in each other isn't so + interesting to other people as they seem to think.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you feel that way really, papa? Don't you like their being + so much in love still?” + </p> + <p> + “At their time of life? Thank you it's bad enough in young + people.” + </p> + <p> + The girl did not answer; she appeared altogether occupied in pouring out + her father's coffee. + </p> + <p> + He tasted it, and then he drank pretty well all of it; but he said, as he + put his cup down, “I don't know what they make this stuff of. + I wish I had a cup of good, honest American coffee.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there's nothing like American food!” said his + daughter, with so much conciliation that he looked up sharply. + </p> + <p> + But whatever he might have been going to say was at least postponed by the + approach of a serving-maid, who brought a note to his daughter. She + blushed a little at sight of it, and then tore it open and read: + </p> + <p> + “I am going away from Carlsbad, for a fault of my own which forbids + me to look you in the face. If you wish to know the worst of me, ask Mrs. + March. I have no heart to tell you.” + </p> + <p> + Agatha read these mystifying words of Burnamy's several times over + in a silent absorption with them which left her father to look after + himself, and he had poured out a second cup of coffee with his own hand, + and was reaching for the bread beside her before she came slowly back to a + sense of his presence. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, excuse me, papa,” she said, and she gave him the butter. + “Here's a very strange letter from Mr. Burnamy, which I think + you'd better see.” She held the note across the table to him, + and watched his face as he read it. + </p> + <p> + After he had read it twice, he turned the sheet over, as people do with + letters that puzzle them, in the vain hope of something explanatory on the + back. Then he looked up and asked: “What do you suppose he's + been doing?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe he's been doing anything. It's + something that Mr. Stoller's been doing to him.” + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't infer that from his own words. What makes you + think the trouble is with Stoller?” + </p> + <p> + “He said—he said yesterday—something about being glad to + be through with him, because he disliked him so much he was always afraid + of wronging him. And that proves that now Mr. Stoller has made him believe + that he's done wrong, and has worked upon him till he does believe + it.” + </p> + <p> + “It proves nothing of the kind,” said the general, recurring + to the note. After reading it again, he looked keenly at her: “Am I + to understand that you have given him the right to suppose you would want + to know the worst—or the best of him?” + </p> + <p> + The girl's eyes fell, and she pushed her knife against her plate. + She began: “No—” + </p> + <p> + “Then confound his impudence!” the general broke out. “What + business has he to write to you at all about this?” + </p> + <p> + “Because he couldn't go away without it!” she returned; + and she met her father's eye courageously. “He had a right to + think we were his friends; and if he has done wrong, or is in disgrace any + way, isn't it manly of him to wish to tell us first himself?” + </p> + <p> + Her father could not say that it was not. But he could and did say, very + sceptically: “Stuff! Now, see here, Agatha: what are you going to + do?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm going to see Mrs. March, and then—” + </p> + <p> + “You mustn't do anything of the kind, my dear,” said her + father, gently. “You've no right to give yourself away to that + romantic old goose.” He put up his hand to interrupt her protest. + “This thing has got to be gone to the bottom of. But you're + not to do it. I will see March myself. We must consider your dignity in + this matter—and mine. And you may as well understand that I'm + not going to have any nonsense. It's got to be managed so that it + can't be supposed we're anxious about it, one way or the + other, or that he was authorized to write to you in this way—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! He oughtn't to have done so. He was to blame. He + couldn't have written to you, though, papa—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know why. But that's no reason why we + should let it be understood that he has written to you. I will see March; + and I will manage to see his wife, too. I shall probably find them in the + reading-room at Pupp's, and—” + </p> + <p> + The Marches were in fact just coming in from their breakfast at the + Posthof, and he met them at the door of Pupp's, where they all sat + down on one of the iron settees of the piazza, and began to ask one + another questions of their minds about the pleasure of the day before, and + to beat about the bush where Burnamy lurked in their common consciousness. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was not able to keep long from starting him. “You knew,” + she said, “that Mr. Burnamy had left us?” + </p> + <p> + “Left! Why?” asked the general. + </p> + <p> + She was a woman of resource, but in a case like this she found it best to + trust her husband's poverty of invention. She looked at him, and he + answered for her with a promptness that made her quake at first, but + finally seemed the only thing, if not the best thing: “He's + had some trouble with Stoller.” He went on to tell the general just + what the trouble was. + </p> + <p> + At the end the general grunted as from an uncertain mind. “You think + he's behaved badly.” + </p> + <p> + “I think he's behaved foolishly—youthfully. But I can + understand how strongly he was tempted. He could say that he was not + authorized to stop Stoller in his mad career.” + </p> + <p> + At this Mrs. March put her hand through her husband's arm. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not so sure about that,” said the general. + </p> + <p> + March added: “Since I saw him this morning, I've heard + something that disposes me to look at his performance in a friendlier + light. It's something that Stoller told me himself; to heighten my + sense of Burnamy's wickedness. He seems to have felt that I ought to + know what a serpent I was cherishing in my bosom,” and he gave + Triscoe the facts of Burnamy's injurious refusal to help Stoller put + a false complexion on the opinions he had allowed him ignorantly to + express. + </p> + <p> + The general grunted again. “Of course he had to refuse, and he has + behaved like a gentleman so far. But that doesn't justify him in + having let Stoller get himself into the scrape.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said March. “It's a tough nut for the + casuist to try his tooth on. And I must say I feel sorry for Stoller.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March plucked her hand from his arm. “I don't, one bit. + He was thoroughly selfish from first to last. He has got just what he + deserved.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, very likely,” said her husband. “The question is + about Burnamy's part in giving him his deserts; he had to leave him + to them, of course.” + </p> + <p> + The general fixed her with the impenetrable glitter of his eye-glasses, + and left the subject as of no concern to him. “I believe,” he + said, rising, “I'll have a look at some of your papers,” + and he went into the reading-room. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” said Mrs. March, “he will go home and poison that + poor girl's mind. And, you will have yourself to thank for + prejudicing him against Burnamy.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why didn't you do it yourself, my dear?” he + teased; but he was really too sorry for the whole affair, which he + nevertheless enjoyed as an ethical problem. + </p> + <p> + The general looked so little at the papers that before March went off for + his morning walk he saw him come out of the reading-room and take his way + down the Alte Wiese. He went directly back to his daughter, and reported + Burnamy's behavior with entire exactness. He dwelt upon his making + the best of a bad business in refusing to help Stoller out of it, + dishonorably and mendaciously; but he did not conceal that it was a bad + business. + </p> + <p> + “Now, you know all about it,” he said at the end, “and I + leave the whole thing to you. If you prefer, you can see Mrs. March. I don't + know but I'd rather you'd satisfy yourself—” + </p> + <p> + “I will not see Mrs. March. Do you think I would go back of you in + that way? I am satisfied now.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0123" id="link2H_4_0123"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /> + </div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5008}.jpg" alt="{5008}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5008}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5015}.jpg" alt="{5015}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5015}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XXXIX. + </h2> + <p> + Instead of Burnamy, Mrs. Adding and her son now breakfasted with the + Marches at the Posthof, and the boy was with March throughout the day a + good deal. He rectified his impressions of life in Carlsbad by March's + greater wisdom and experience, and did his best to anticipate his opinions + and conform to his conclusions. This was not easy, for sometimes he could + not conceal from himself, that March's opinions were whimsical, and + his conclusions fantastic; and he could not always conceal from March that + he was matching them with Kenby's on some points, and suffering from + their divergence. He came to join the sage in his early visit to the + springs, and they walked up and down talking; and they went off together + on long strolls in which Rose was proud to bear him company. He was + patient of the absences from which he was often answered, and he learned + to distinguish between the earnest and the irony of which March's + replies seemed to be mixed. He examined him upon many features of German + civilization, but chiefly upon the treatment of women in it; and upon this + his philosopher was less satisfactory than he could have wished him to be. + He tried to excuse his trifling as an escape from the painful stress of + questions which he found so afflicting himself; but in the matter of the + woman-and-dog teams, this was not easy. March owned that the notion of + their being yokemates was shocking; but he urged that it was a stage of + evolution, and a distinct advance upon the time when women dragged the + carts without the help of the dogs; and that the time might not be far + distant when the dogs would drag the carts without the help of the women. + </p> + <p> + Rose surmised a joke, and he tried to enjoy it, but inwardly he was + troubled by his friend's apparent acceptance of unjust things on + their picturesque side. Once as they were sauntering homeward by the brink + of the turbid Eger, they came to a man lying on the grass with a pipe in + his mouth, and lazily watching from under his fallen lids the cows grazing + by the river-side, while in a field of scraggy wheat a file of women were + reaping a belated harvest with sickles, bending wearily over to clutch the + stems together and cut them with their hooked blades. “Ah, + delightful!” March took off his hat as if to salute the pleasant + sight. + </p> + <p> + “But don't you think, Mr. March,” the boy ventured, + “that the man had better be cutting the wheat, and letting the women + watch the cows?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. There are more of them; and he wouldn't + be half so graceful as they are, with that flow of their garments, and the + sway of their aching backs.” The boy smiled sadly, and March put his + hand on his shoulder as they walked on. “You find a lot of things in + Europe that need putting right, don't you, Rose?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I know it's silly.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm not sure. But I'm afraid it's useless. + You see, these old customs go such a way back, and are so grounded in + conditions. We think they might be changed, if those who rule could be got + to see how cruel and ugly they are; but probably they couldn't. I'm + afraid that the Emperor of Austria himself couldn't change them, in + his sovereign plenitude of power. The Emperor is only an old custom too, + and he's as much grounded in the conditions as any.” This was + the serious way Rose felt that March ought always to talk; and he was too + much grieved to laugh when he went on. “The women have so much of + the hard work to do, over here, because the emperors need the men for + their armies. They couldn't let their men cut wheat unless it was + for their officers' horses, in the field of some peasant whom it + would ruin.” + </p> + <p> + If Mrs. March was by she would not allow him to work these paradoxes for + the boy's confusion. She said the child adored him, and it was a + sacrilege to play with his veneration. She always interfered to save him, + but with so little logic though so much justice that Rose suffered a + humiliation from her championship, and was obliged from a sense of + self-respect to side with the mocker. She understood this, and + magnanimously urged it as another reason why her husband should not trifle + with Rose's ideal of him; to make his mother laugh at him was + wicked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm not his only ideal,” March protested. “He + adores Kenby too, and every now and then he brings me to book with a text + from Kenby's gospel.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March caught her breath. “Kenby! Do you really think, then, + that she—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, hold on, now! It isn't a question of Mrs. Adding; and I + don't say Rose had an eye on poor old Kenby as a step-father. I + merely want you to understand that I'm the object of a divided + worship, and that when I'm off duty as an ideal I don't see + why I shouldn't have the fun of making Mrs. Adding laugh. You can't + pretend she isn't wrapped up in the boy. You've said that + yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, she's wrapped up in him; she'd give her life for + him; but she is so light. I didn't suppose she was so light; but it's + borne in upon me more and more.” + </p> + <p> + They were constantly seeing Rose and his mother, in the sort of abeyance + the Triscoes had fallen into. One afternoon the Addings came to Mrs. March's + room to look from her windows at a parade of bicyclers' clubs from + the neighboring towns. The spectacle prospered through its first + half-hour, with the charm which German sentiment and ingenuity, are able + to lend even a bicycle parade. The wheelmen and wheelwomen filed by on + machines wreathed with flowers and ribbons, and decked with streaming + banners. Here and there one sat under a moving arch of blossoms, or in a + bower of leaves and petals, and they were all gay with their club costumes + and insignia. In the height of the display a sudden mountain shower + gathered and broke upon them. They braved it till it became a drenching + down-pour; then they leaped from their machines and fled to any shelter + they could find, under trees and in doorways. The men used their greater + agility to get the best places, and kept them; the women made no appeal + for them by word or look, but took the rain in the open as if they + expected nothing else. + </p> + <p> + Rose watched the scene with a silent intensity which March interpreted. + “There's your chance, Rose. Why don't you go down and + rebuke those fellows?” + </p> + <p> + Rose blushed and shrank away without answer, and Mrs. March promptly + attacked her husband in his behalf. “Why don't you go and + rebuke them yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, for one thing, there isn't any conversation in my + phrase-book Between an indignant American Herr and a Party of German + Wheelmen who have taken Shelter from the Rain and are keeping the + Wheelwomen out in the Wet.” Mrs. Adding shrieked her delight, and he + was flattered into going on. “For another thing, I think it's + very well for you ladies to realize from an object-lesson of this sort + what spoiled children of our civilization you are. It ought to make you + grateful for your privileges.” + </p> + <p> + “There is something in that,” Mrs. Adding joyfully consented. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there is no civilization but ours,” said Mrs. March, in a + burst of vindictive patriotism. “I am more and more convinced of it + the longer I stay in Europe.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps that's why we like to stay so long in Europe; it + strengthens us in the conviction that America is the only civilized + country in the world,” said March. + </p> + <p> + The shower passed as quickly as it had gathered, and the band which it had + silenced for a moment burst forth again in the music which fills the + Carlsbad day from dawn till dusk. Just now, it began to play a pot pourri + of American airs; at the end some unseen Americans under the trees below + clapped and cheered. + </p> + <p> + “That was opportune of the band,” said March. “It must + have been a telepathic impulse from our patriotism in the director. But a + pot pourri of American airs is like that tablet dedicating the American + Park up here on the Schlossberg, which is signed by six Jews and one + Irishman. The only thing in this medley that's the least + characteristic or original is Dixie; and I'm glad the South has + brought us back into the Union.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't know one note from another, my dear,” said + his wife. + </p> + <p> + “I know the 'Washington Post.'” + </p> + <p> + “And don't you call that American?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, if Sousa is an American name; I should have thought it was + Portuguese.” + </p> + <p> + “Now that sounds a little too much like General Triscoe's + pessimism,” said Mrs. March; and she added: “But whether we + have any national melodies or not, we don't poke women out in the + rain and keep them soaking!” + </p> + <p> + “No, we certainly don't,” he assented, with such a + well-studied effect of yielding to superior logic that Mrs. Adding + screamed for joy. + </p> + <p> + The boy had stolen out of the room, and he said, “I hope Rose isn't + acting on my suggestion?” + </p> + <p> + “I hate to have you tease him, dearest,” his wife interposed. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” the mother said, laughing still, but with a note of + tenderness in her laugh, which dropped at last to a sigh. “He's + too much afraid of lese-majesty, for that. But I dare say he couldn't + stand the sight. He's queer.” + </p> + <p> + “He's beautiful!” said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “He's good,” the mother admitted. “As good as the + day's long. He's never given me a moment's trouble—but + he troubles me. If you can understand!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I do understand!” Mrs. March returned. “By his + innocence, you mean. That is the worst of children. Their innocence breaks + our hearts and makes us feel ourselves such dreadful old things.” + </p> + <p> + “His innocence, yes,” pursued Mrs. Adding, “and his + ideals.” She began to laugh again. “He may have gone off for a + season of meditation and prayer over the misbehavior of these bicyclers. + His mind is turning that way a good deal lately. It's only fair to + tell you, Mr. March, that he seems to be giving up his notion of being an + editor. You mustn't be disappointed.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be sorry,” said the editor. “But now that you + mention it, I think I have noticed that Rose seems rather more indifferent + to periodical literature. I supposed he might simply have exhausted his + questions—or my answers.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5023}.jpg" alt="{5023}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5023}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “No; it goes deeper than that. I think it's Europe that's + turned his mind in the direction of reform. At any rate he thinks now he + will be a reformer.” + </p> + <p> + “Really! What kind of one? Not religious, I hope?” + </p> + <p> + “No. His reform has a religious basis, but its objects are social. I + don't make it out, exactly; but I shall, as soon as Rose does. He + tells me everything, and sometimes I don't feel equal to it, + spiritually or even intellectually.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't laugh at him, Mrs. Adding!” Mrs. March entreated. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he doesn't mind my laughing,” said the mother, + gayly. Rose came shyly back into the room, and she said, “Well, did + you rebuke those bad bicyclers?” and she laughed again. + </p> + <p> + “They're only a custom, too, Rose,”, said March, + tenderly. “Like the man resting while the women worked, and the + Emperor, and all the rest of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I know,” the boy returned. + </p> + <p> + “They ride modern machines, but they live in the tenth century. That's + what we're always forgetting when we come to Europe and see these + barbarians enjoying all our up-to-date improvements.” + </p> + <p> + “There, doesn't that console you?” asked his mother, and + she took him away with her, laughing back from the door. “I don't + believe it does, a bit!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe she understands the child,” said Mrs. + March. “She is very light, don't you think? I don't + know, after all, whether it wouldn't be a good thing for her to + marry Kenby. She is very easygoing, and she will be sure to marry + somebody.” + </p> + <p> + She had fallen into a tone of musing censure, and he said, “You + might put these ideas to her.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0124" id="link2H_4_0124"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XL. + </h2> + <p> + With the passage of the days and weeks, the strange faces which had + familiarized themselves at the springs disappeared; even some of those + which had become the faces of acquaintance began to go. In the diminishing + crowd the smile of Otterson was no longer to be seen; the sad, severe + visage of Major Eltwin, who seemed never to have quite got his bearings + after his error with General Triscoe, seldom showed itself. The Triscoes + themselves kept out of the Marches' way, or they fancied so; Mrs. + Adding and Rose alone remained of their daily encounter. + </p> + <p> + It was full summer, as it is everywhere in mid-August, but at Carlsbad the + sun was so late getting up over the hills that as people went to their + breakfasts at the cafes up the valley of the Tepl they found him looking + very obliquely into it at eight o'clock in the morning. The yellow + leaves were thicker about the feet of the trees, and the grass was silvery + gray with the belated dews. The breakfasters were fewer than they had + been, and there were more little barefooted boys and girls with cups of + red raspberries which they offered to the passers with cries of “Himbeeren! + Himbeeren!” plaintive as the notes of birds left songless by the + receding summer. + </p> + <p> + March was forbidden the fruit, but his wife and Mrs. Adding bought + recklessly of it, and ate it under his eyes with their coffee and bread, + pouring over it pots of clotted cream that the 'schone' Lili + brought them. Rose pretended an indifference to it, which his mother + betrayed was a sacrifice in behalf of March's inability. + </p> + <p> + Lili's delays in coming to be paid had been such that the Marches + now tried to pay her when she brought their breakfast, but they sometimes + forgot, and then they caught her whenever she came near them. In this + event she liked to coquet with their impatience; she would lean against + their table, and say: “Oh, no. You stay a little. It is so nice.” + One day after such an entreaty, she said, “The queen is here, this + morning.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March started, in the hope of highhotes. “The queen!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; the young lady. Mr. Burnamy was saying she was a queen. She is + there with her father.” She nodded in the direction of a distant + corner, and the Marches knew that she meant Miss Triscoe and the general. + “She is not seeming so gayly as she was being.” + </p> + <p> + March smiled. “We are none of us so gayly as we were being, Lili. + The summer is going.” + </p> + <p> + “But Mr. Burnamy will be returning, not true?” the girl asked, + resting her tray on the corner of the table. + </p> + <p> + “No, I'm afraid he won't,” March returned sadly. + </p> + <p> + “He was very good. He was paying the proprietor for the dishes that + Augusta did break when she was falling down. He was paying before he went + away, when he was knowing that the proprietor would make Augusta to pay.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said March, and his wife said, “That was like him!” + and she eagerly explained to Mrs. Adding how good and great Burnamy had + been in this characteristic instance, while Lili waited with the tray to + add some pathetic facts about Augusta's poverty and gratitude. + “I think Miss Triscoe ought to know it. There goes the wretch, now!” + she broke off. “Don't look at him!” She set her husband + the example of averting his face from the sight of Stoller sullenly pacing + up the middle aisle of the grove, and looking to the right and left for a + vacant table. “Ugh! I hope he won't be able to find a single + place.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Adding gave one of her pealing laughs, while Rose watched March's + face with grave sympathy. “He certainly doesn't deserve one. + Don't let us keep you from offering Miss Triscoe any consolation you + can.” They got up, and the boy gathered up the gloves, umbrella, and + handkerchief which the ladies let drop from their laps. + </p> + <p> + “Have you been telling?” March asked his wife. + </p> + <p> + “Have I told you anything?” she demanded of Mrs. Adding in + turn. “Anything that you didn't as good as know, already?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a syllable!” Mrs. Adding replied in high delight. “Come, + Rose!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I suppose there's no use saying anything,” said + March, after she left them. + </p> + <p> + “She had guessed everything, without my telling her,” said his + wife. + </p> + <p> + “About Stoller?” + </p> + <p> + “Well-no. I did tell her that part, but that was nothing. It was + about Burnamy and Agatha that she knew. She saw it from the first.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought she would have enough to do to look after + poor old Kenby.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not sure, after all, that she cares for him. If she doesn't, + she oughtn't to let him write to her. Aren't you going over to + speak to the Triscoes?” + </p> + <p> + “No, certainly not. I'm going back to the hotel. There ought + to be some steamer letters this morning. Here we are, worrying about these + strangers all the time, and we never give a thought to our own children on + the other side of the ocean.” + </p> + <p> + “I worry about them, too,” said the mother, fondly. “Though + there is nothing to worry about,” she added. + </p> + <p> + “It's our duty to worry,” he insisted. + </p> + <p> + At the hotel the portier gave them four letters. There was one from each + of their children: one very buoyant, not to say boisterous, from the + daughter, celebrating her happiness in her husband, and the loveliness of + Chicago as a summer city (“You would think she was born out there!” + sighed her mother); and one from the son, boasting his well-being in spite + of the heat they were having (“And just think how cool it is here!” + his mother upbraided herself), and the prosperity of 'Every Other + Week'. There was a line from Fulkerson, praising the boy's + editorial instinct, and ironically proposing March's resignation in + his favor. + </p> + <p> + “I do believe we could stay all winter, just as well as not,” + said Mrs. March, proudly. “What does 'Burnamy say?” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know it's from him?” + </p> + <p> + “Because you've been keeping your hand on it! Give it here.” + </p> + <p> + “When I've read it.” + </p> + <p> + The letter was dated at Ansbach, in Germany, and dealt, except for some + messages of affection to Mrs. March, with a scheme for a paper which + Burnamy wished to write on Kaspar Hauser, if March thought he could use it + in 'Every Other Week'. He had come upon a book about that + hapless foundling in Nuremberg, and after looking up all his traces there + he had gone on to Ansbach, where Kaspar Hauser met his death so + pathetically. Burnamy said he could not give any notion of the enchantment + of Nuremberg; but he besought March, if he was going to the Tyrol for his + after-cure, not to fail staying a day or so in the wonderful place. He + thought March would enjoy Ansbach too, in its way. + </p> + <p> + “And, not a word—not a syllable—about Miss Triscoe!” + cried Mrs. March. “Shall you take his paper?” + </p> + <p> + “It would be serving him right, if I refused it, wouldn't it?” + </p> + <p> + They never knew what it cost Burnamy to keep her name out of his letter, + or by what an effort of the will he forbade himself even to tell of his + parting interview with Stoller. He had recovered from his remorse for + letting Stoller give himself away; he was still sorry for that, but he no + longer suffered; yet he had not reached the psychological moment when he + could celebrate his final virtue in the matter. He was glad he had been + able to hold out against the temptation to retrieve himself by another + wrong; but he was humbly glad, and he felt that until happier chance + brought him and his friends together he must leave them to their merciful + conjectures. He was young, and he took the chance, with an aching heart. + If he had been older, he might not have taken it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0125" id="link2H_4_0125"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5034}.jpg" alt="{5034}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5034}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLI. + </h2> + <p> + The birthday of the Emperor comes conveniently, in late August, in the + good weather which is pretty sure to fall then, if ever in the Austrian + summer. For a week past, at Carlsbad, the workmen had been building a + scaffolding for the illumination in the woods on a height overlooking the + town, and making unobtrusive preparations at points within it. + </p> + <p> + The day was important as the last of March's cure, and its pleasures + began for him by a renewal of his acquaintance in its first kindliness + with the Eltwins. He had met them so seldom that at one time he thought + they must have gone away, but now after his first cup he saw the quiet, + sad old pair, sitting together on a bench in the Stadt Park, and he asked + leave to sit down with them till it was time for the next. Eltwin said + that this was their last day, too; and explained that his wife always came + with him to the springs, while he took the waters. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5035}.jpg" alt="{5035}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5035}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “Well,” he apologized, “we're all that's + left, and I suppose we like to keep together.” He paused, and at the + look in March's face he suddenly went on. “I haven't + been well for three or four years; but I always fought against coming out + here, when the doctors wanted me to. I said I couldn't leave home; + and, I don't suppose I ever should. But my home left me.” + </p> + <p> + As he spoke his wife shrank tenderly near him, and March saw her steal her + withered hand into his. + </p> + <p> + “We'd had a large family, but they'd all died off, with + one thing or another, and here in the spring we lost our last daughter. + Seemed perfectly well, and all at once she died; heart-failure, they + called it. It broke me up, and mother, here, got at me to go. And so we're + here.” His voice trembled; and his eyes softened; then they flashed + up, and March heard him add, in a tone that astonished him less when he + looked round and saw General Triscoe advancing toward them, “I don't + know what it is always makes me want to kick that man.” + </p> + <p> + The general lifted his hat to their group, and hoped that Mrs. Eltwin was + well, and Major Eltwin better. He did not notice their replies, but said + to March, “The ladies are waiting for you in Pupp's + readingroom, to go with them to the Posthof for breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + “Aren't you going, too?” asked March. + </p> + <p> + “No, thank you,” said the general, as if it were much finer + not; “I shall breakfast at our pension.” He strolled off with + the air of a man who has done more than his duty. + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose I ought to feel that way,” said Eltwin, + with a remorse which March suspected a reproachful pressure of his wife's + hand had prompted in him. “I reckon he means well.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” March said, with a candor he could + not wholly excuse. + </p> + <p> + On his way to the hotel he fancied mocking his wife for her interest in + the romantic woes of her lovers, in a world where there was such real + pathos as these poor old people's; but in the company of Miss + Triscoe he could not give himself this pleasure. He tried to amuse her on + the way from Pupp's, with the doubt he always felt in passing the + Cafe Sans-Souci, whether he should live to reach the Posthof where he + meant to breakfast. She said, “Poor Mr. March!” and laughed + inattentively; when he went on to philosophize the commonness of the + sparse company always observable at the Sans-Souci as a just effect of its + Laodicean situation between Pupp's and the Posthof, the girl sighed + absently, and his wife frowned at him. + </p> + <p> + The flower-woman at the gate of her garden had now only autumnal blooms + for sale in the vases which flanked the entrance; the windrows of the + rowen, left steeping in the dews overnight, exhaled a faint fragrance; a + poor remnant of the midsummer multitudes trailed itself along to the + various cafes of the valley, its pink paper bags of bread rustling like + sere foliage as it moved. + </p> + <p> + At the Posthof the 'schone' Lili alone was as gay, as in the + prime of July. She played archly about the guests she welcomed to a table + in a sunny spot in the gallery. “You are tired of Carlsbad?” + she said caressingly to Miss Triscoe, as she put her breakfast before her. + </p> + <p> + “Not of the Posthof,” said the girl, listlessly. + </p> + <p> + “Posthof, and very little Lili?” She showed, with one + forefinger on another, how very little she was. + </p> + <p> + Miss Triscoe laughed, not cheerily, and Lili said to Mrs. March, with + abrupt seriousness, “Augusta was finding a handkerchief under the + table, and she was washing it and ironing it before she did bring it. I + have scolded her, and I have made her give it to me.” + </p> + <p> + She took from under her apron a man's handkerchief, which she + offered to Mrs. March. It bore, as she saw Miss Triscoe saw, the initials + L. J. B. But, “Whose can it be?” they asked each other. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Burnamy's,” said March; and Lili's eyes + danced. “Give it here!” + </p> + <p> + His wife caught it farther away. “No, I'm going to see whose + it is, first; if it's his, I'll send it to him myself.” + </p> + <p> + She tried to put it into the pocket which was not in her dress by sliding + it down her lap; then she handed it to the girl, who took it with a + careless air, but kept it after a like failure to pocket it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March had come out in her India-rubber sandals, but for once in + Carlsbad the weather was too dry for them, and she had taken them off and + was holding them in her lap. They fell to the ground when she now rose + from breakfast, and she stooped to pick them up. Miss Triscoe was too + quick for her. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, let me carry them for you!” she entreated, and after a + tender struggle she succeed in enslaving herself to them, and went away + wearing them through the heel-bands like manacles on her wrist. She was + not the kind of girl to offer such pretty devotions, and Mrs. March was + not the kind of woman to suffer them; but they played the comedy through, + and let March go off for his last hill-climb with the promise to meet him + in the Stadt Park when he came to the Kurhaus for his last mineral bath. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March in the mean time went about some final shopping, and invited + the girl's advice with a fondness which did not prevent her + rejecting it in every case, with Miss Triscoe's eager approval. In + the Stadt Park they sat down and talked; from time to time Mrs. March made + polite feints of recovering her sandals, but the girl kept them with + increased effusion. + </p> + <p> + When they rose, and strolled away from the bench where they had been + sitting, they seemed to be followed. They looked round and saw no one more + alarming than a very severe-looking old gentleman, whose hat brim in spite + of his severity was limp with much lifting, as all Austrian hat brims are. + He touched it, and saying haughtily in German, “Something left + lying,” passed on. + </p> + <p> + They stared at each other; then, as women do, they glanced down at their + skirts to see if there was anything amiss with them, and Miss Triscoe + perceived her hands empty of Mrs. March's sandals and of Burnamy's + handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I put it in one of the toes!” she lamented, and she fled + back to their bench, alarming in her course the fears of a gendarme for + the public security, and putting a baby in its nurse's arms into + such doubts of its personal safety that it burst into a desolate cry. She + laughed breathlessly as she rejoined Mrs. March. “That comes of + having no pocket; I didn't suppose I could forget your sandals, Mrs. + March! Wasn't it absurd?” + </p> + <p> + “It's one of those things,” Mrs. March said to her + husband afterwards, “that they can always laugh over together.” + </p> + <p> + “They? And what about Burnamy's behavior to Stoller?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't call that anything but what will come right. Of + course he can make it up to him somehow. And I regard his refusal to do + wrong when Stoller wanted him to as quite wiping out the first offence.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, my dear, you have burnt your ships behind you. My only hope + is that when we leave here tomorrow, her pessimistic papa's poison + will neutralize yours somehow.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0126" id="link2H_4_0126"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5043}.jpg" alt="{5043}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5043}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLII. + </h2> + <p> + One of the pleasantest incidents of March's sojourn in Carlsbad was + his introduction to the manager of the municipal theatre by a common + friend who explained the editor in such terms to the manager that he + conceived of him as a brother artist. This led to much bowing and smiling + from the manager when the Marches met him in the street, or in their + frequent visits to the theatre, with which March felt that it might well + have ended, and still been far beyond his desert. He had not thought of + going to the opera on the Emperor's birthnight, but after dinner a + box came from the manager, and Mrs. March agreed with him that they could + not in decency accept so great a favor. At the same time she argued that + they could not in decency refuse it, and that to show their sense of the + pleasure done them, they must adorn their box with all the beauty and + distinction possible; in other words, she said they must ask Miss Triscoe + and her father. + </p> + <p> + “And why not Major Eltwin and his wife? Or Mrs. Adding and Rose?” + </p> + <p> + She begged him, simply in his own interest, not to be foolish; and they + went early, so as to be in their box when their guests came. The foyer of + the theatre was banked with flowers, and against a curtain of evergreens + stood a high-pedestalled bust of the paternal Caesar, with whose + side-whiskers a laurel crown comported itself as well as it could. At the + foot of the grand staircase leading to the boxes the manager stood in + evening dress, receiving his friends and their felicitations upon the + honor which the theatre was sure to do itself on an occasion so august. + The Marches were so cordial in their prophecies that the manager yielded + to an artist's impulse and begged his fellow-artist to do him the + pleasure of coming behind the scenes between the acts of the opera; he + bowed a heart-felt regret to Mrs. March that he could not make the + invitation include her, and hoped that she would not be too lonely while + her husband was gone. + </p> + <p> + She explained that they had asked friends, and she should not be alone, + and then he entreated March to bring any gentleman who was his guest with + him. On the way up to their box, she pressed his arm as she used in their + young married days, and asked him if it was not perfect. “I wish we + were going to have it all to ourselves; no one else can appreciate the + whole situation. Do you think we have made a mistake in having the + Triscoes?” + </p> + <p> + “We!” he retorted. “Oh, that's good! I'm + going to shirk him, when it comes to going behind the scenes.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, dearest,” she entreated. “Snubbing will only + make it worse. We must stand it to the bitter end, now.” + </p> + <p> + The curtain rose upon another laurelled bust of the Emperor, with a chorus + of men formed on either side, who broke into the grave and noble strains + of the Austrian Hymn, while every one stood. Then the curtain fell again, + and in the interval before the opera could begin, General Triscoe and his + daughter came in. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March took the splendor in which the girl appeared as a tribute to + her hospitality. She had hitherto been a little disappointed of the open + homage to American girlhood which her readings of international romance + had taught her to expect in Europe, but now her patriotic vanity feasted + full. Fat highhotes of her own sex levelled their lorgnettes at Miss + Triscoe all around the horseshoe, with critical glances which fell blunted + from her complexion and costume; the house was brilliant with the military + uniforms, which we have not yet to mingle with our unrivalled millinery, + and the ardent gaze of the young officers dwelt on the perfect mould of + her girlish arms and neck, and the winning lines of her face. The girl's + eyes shone with a joyful excitement, and her little head, defined by its + dark hair, trembled as she slowly turned it from side to side, after she + removed the airy scarf which had covered it. Her father, in evening dress, + looked the Third Emperor complaisant to a civil occasion, and took a chair + in the front of the box without resistance; and the ladies disputed which + should yield the best place to the other, till Miss Triscoe forced Mrs. + March fondly into it for the first act at least. + </p> + <p> + The piece had to be cut a good deal to give people time for the + illuminations afterwards; but as it was it gave scope to the actress who, + 'als Gast' from a Viennese theatre, was the chief figure in + it. She merited the distinction by the art which still lingered, deeply + embedded in her massive balk, but never wholly obscured. + </p> + <p> + “That is grand, isn't it?” said March, following one of + the tremendous strokes by which she overcame her physical disadvantages. + “It's fine to see how her art can undo, for one splendid + instant, the work of all those steins of beer, those illimitable licks of + sausage, those boundless fields of cabbage. But it's rather + pathetic.” + </p> + <p> + “It's disgusting,” said his wife; and at this General + Triscoe, who had been watching the actress through his lorgnette, said, as + if his contrary-mindedness were irresistibly invoked: + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. It's amusing. Do you suppose we + shall see her when we go behind, March?” + </p> + <p> + He still professed a desire to do so when the curtain fell, and they + hurried to the rear door of the theatre. It was slightly ajar, and they + pulled it wide open, with the eagerness of their age and nation, and began + to mount the stairs leading up from it between rows of painted + dancing-girls, who had come out for a breath of air, and who pressed + themselves against the walls to make room for the intruders. With their + rouged faces, and the stare of their glassy eyes intensified by the + coloring of their brows and lashes, they were like painted statues, as + they stood there with their crimsoned lips parted in astonished smiles. + </p> + <p> + “This is rather weird,” said March, faltering at the sight. + “I wonder if we might ask these young ladies where to go?” + General Triscoe made no answer, and was apparently no more prepared than + himself to accost the files of danseuses, when they were themselves + accosted by an angry voice from the head of the stairs with a demand for + their business. The voice belonged to a gendarme, who descended toward + them and seemed as deeply scandalized at their appearance as they could + have been at that of the young ladies. + </p> + <p> + March explained, in his ineffective German, with every effect of + improbability, that they were there by appointment of the manager, and + wished to find his room. + </p> + <p> + The gendarme would not or could not make anything out of it. He pressed + down upon them, and laying a rude hand on a shoulder of either, began to + force them back to the door. The mild nature of the editor might have + yielded to his violence, but the martial spirit of General Triscoe was + roused. He shrugged the gendarme's hand from his shoulder, and with + a voice as furious as his own required him, in English, to say what the + devil he meant. The gendarme rejoined with equal heat in German; the + general's tone rose in anger; the dancing-girls emitted some little + shrieks of alarm, and fled noisily up the stairs. From time to time March + interposed with a word of the German which had mostly deserted him in his + hour of need; but if it had been a flow of intelligible expostulation, it + would have had no effect upon the disputants. They grew more outrageous, + till the manager himself, appeared at the head of the stairs, and extended + an arresting hand over the hubbub. As soon as the situation clarified + itself he hurried down to his visitors with a polite roar of apology and + rescued them from the gendarme, and led them up to his room and forced + them into arm-chairs with a rapidity of reparation which did not exhaust + itself till he had entreated them with every circumstance of civility to + excuse an incident so mortifying to him. But with all his haste he lost so + much time in this that he had little left to show them through the + theatre, and their presentation to the prima donna was reduced to the + obeisances with which they met and parted as she went upon the stage at + the lifting of the curtain. In the lack of a common language this was + perhaps as well as a longer interview; and nothing could have been more + honorable than their dismissal at the hands of the gendarme who had + received them so stormily. He opened the door for them, and stood with his + fingers to his cap saluting, in the effect of being a whole file of + grenadiers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0127" id="link2H_4_0127"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5052}.jpg" alt="{5052}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5052}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLIII. + </h2> + <p> + At the same moment Burnamy bowed himself out of the box where he had been + sitting with the ladies during the absence of the gentlemen. He had + knocked at the door almost as soon as they disappeared, and if he did not + fully share the consternation which his presence caused, he looked so + frightened that Mrs. March reserved the censure which the sight of him + inspired, and in default of other inspiration treated his coming simply as + a surprise. She shook hands with him, and then she asked him to sit down, + and listened to his explanation that he had come back to Carlsbad to write + up the birthnight festivities, on an order from the Paris-New York + Chronicle; that he had seen them in the box and had ventured to took in. + He was pale, and so discomposed that the heart of justice was softened + more and more in Mrs. March's breast, and she left him to the talk + that sprang up, by an admirable effect of tact in the young lady, between + him and Miss Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + After all, she decided, there was nothing criminal in his being in + Carlsbad, and possibly in the last analysis there was nothing so very + wicked in his being in her box. One might say that it was not very nice of + him after he had gone away under such a cloud; but on the other hand it + was nice, though in a different way, if he longed so much to see Miss + Triscoe that he could not help coming. It was altogether in his favor that + he was so agitated, though he was momently becoming less agitated; the + young people were beginning to laugh at the notion of Mr. March and + General Triscoe going behind the scenes. Burnamy said he envied them the + chance; and added, not very relevantly, that he had come from Baireuth, + where he had seen the last of the Wagner performances. He said he was + going back to Baireuth, but not to Ansbach again, where he had finished + looking up that Kaspar Hauser business. He seemed to think Mrs. March + would know about it, and she could not help saying; Oh, yes, Mr. March was + so much interested. She wondered if she ought to tell him about his + handkerchief; but she remembered in time that she had left it in Miss + Triscoe's keeping. She wondered if the girl realized how handsome he + was. He was extremely handsome, in his black evening dress, with his + Tuxedo, and the pallor of his face repeated in his expanse of shirt front. + </p> + <p> + At the bell for the rising of the curtain he rose too, and took their + offered hands. In offering hers Mrs. March asked if he would not stay and + speak with Mr. March and the general; and now for the first time he + recognized anything clandestine in his visit. He laughed nervously, and + said, “No, thank you!” and shut himself out. + </p> + <p> + “We must tell them,” said Mrs. March, rather interrogatively, + and she was glad that the girl answered with a note of indignation. + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly, Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + They could not tell them at once, for the second act had begun when March + and the general came back; and after the opera was over and they got out + into the crowded street there was no chance, for the general was obliged + to offer his arm to Mrs. March, while her husband followed with his + daughter. + </p> + <p> + The facades of the theatre and of the hotels were outlined with thickly + set little lamps, which beaded the arches of the bridges spanning the + Tepl, and lighted the casements and portals of the shops. High above all, + against the curtain of black woodland on the mountain where its skeleton + had been growing for days, glittered the colossal effigy of the + doubleheaded eagle of Austria, crowned with the tiara of the Holy Roman + Empire; in the reflected splendor of its myriad lamps the pale Christ + looked down from the mountain opposite upon the surging multitudes in the + streets and on the bridges. + </p> + <p> + They were most amiable multitudes, March thought, and they responded + docilely to the entreaties of the policemen who stood on the steps of the + bridges, and divided their encountering currents with patient appeals of + “Bitte schon! Bitte schon!” He laughed to think of a New York + cop saying “Please prettily! Please prettily!” to a New York + crowd which he wished to have go this way or that, and then he burned with + shame to think how far our manners were from civilization, wherever our + heads and hearts might be, when he heard a voice at his elbow: + </p> + <p> + “A punch with a club would start some of these fellows along + quicker.” + </p> + <p> + It was Stoller, and March turned from him to lose his disgust in the + sudden terror of perceiving that Miss Triscoe was no longer at his side. + Neither could he see his wife and General Triscoe, and he began to push + frantically about in the crowd looking for the girl. He had an + interminable five or ten minutes in his vain search, and he was going to + call out to her by name, when Burnamy saved him from the hopeless + absurdity by elbowing his way to him with Miss. Triscoe on his arm. + </p> + <p> + “Here she is, Mr. March,” he said, as if there were nothing + strange in his having been there to find her; in fact he had followed them + all from the theatre, and at the moment he saw the party separated, and + Miss Triscoe carried off helpless in the human stream, had plunged in and + rescued her. Before March could formulate any question in his + bewilderment, Burnamy was gone again; the girl offered no explanation for + him, and March had not yet decided to ask any when he caught sight of his + wife and General Triscoe standing tiptoe in a doorway and craning their + necks upward and forward to scan the crowd in search of him and his + charge. Then he looked round at her and opened his lips to express the + astonishment that filled him, when he was aware of an ominous shining of + her eyes and trembling of her hand on his arm. + </p> + <p> + She pressed his arm nervously, and he understood her to beg him to forbear + at once all question of her and all comment on Burnamy's presence to + her father. + </p> + <p> + It would not have been just the time for either. Not only Mrs. March was + with the general, but Mrs. Adding also; she had called to them from that + place, where she was safe with Rose when she saw them eddying about in the + crowd. The general was still, expressing a gratitude which became more + pressing the more it was disclaimed; he said casually at sight of his + daughter, “Ah; you've found us, have you?” and went on + talking to Mrs. Adding, who nodded to them laughingly, and asked, “Did + you see me beckoning?” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, my dear!” March said to his wife as soon as they + parted from the rest, the general gallantly promising that his daughter + and he would see Mrs. Adding safe to her hotel, and were making their way + slowly home alone. “Did you know that Burnamy was in Carlsbad?” + </p> + <p> + “He's going away on the twelve-o'clock train tonight,” + she answered, firmly. + </p> + <p> + “What has that got to do with it? Where did you see him?” + </p> + <p> + “In the box, while you were behind the scenes.” + </p> + <p> + She told him all about it, and he listened in silent endeavor for the + ground of censure from which a sense of his own guilt forced him. She + asked suddenly, “Where did you see him?” and he told her in + turn. + </p> + <p> + He added severely, “Her father ought to know. Why didn't you + tell him?” + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you?” she retorted with great reason. + </p> + <p> + “Because I didn't think he was just in the humor for it.” + He began to laugh as he sketched their encounter with the gendarme, but + she did not seem to think it amusing; and he became serious again. “Besides, + I was afraid she was going to blubber, any way.” + </p> + <p> + “She wouldn't have blubbered, as you call it. I don't + know why you need be so disgusting! It would have given her just the moral + support she needed. Now she will have to tell him herself, and he will + blame us. You ought to have spoken; you could have done it easily and + naturally when you came up with her. You will have yourself to thank for + all the trouble that comes of it, now, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + He shouted in admiration of her skill in shifting the blame on him. + “All right! I should have had to stand it, even if you hadn't + behaved with angelic wisdom.” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” she said, after reflection, “I don't see + what either of us has done. We didn't get Burnamy to come here, or + connive at his presence in any way.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Make Triscoe believe that! He knows you've done all you + could to help the affair on.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, what if I have? He began making up to Mrs. Adding himself as + soon as he saw her, to-night. She looked very pretty.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, thank Heaven! we're off to-morrow morning, and I hope + we've seen the last of them. They've done what they could to + spoil my cure, but I'm not going to have them spoil my aftercure.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0128" id="link2H_4_0128"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5059}.jpg" alt="{5059}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5059}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLIV. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. March had decided not to go to the Posthof for breakfast, where they + had already taken a lavish leave of the 'schone' Lili, with a + sense of being promptly superseded in her affections. They found a place + in the red-table-cloth end of the pavilion at Pupp's, and were + served by the pretty girl with the rose-bud mouth whom they had known only + as Ein-und-Zwanzig, and whose promise of “Komm' gleich, bitte + schon!” was like a bird's note. Never had the coffee been so + good, the bread so aerially light, the Westphalian ham so tenderly pink. A + young married couple whom they knew came by, arm in arm, in their morning + walk, and sat down with them, like their own youth, for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “If you had told them we were going, dear,” said Mrs. March, + when the couple were themselves gone, “we should have been as old as + ever. Don't let us tell anybody, this morning, that we're + going. I couldn't bear it.” + </p> + <p> + They had been obliged to take the secretary of the hotel into their confidence, + in the process of paying their bill. He put on his high hat and came out + to see them off. The portier was already there, standing at the step of + the lordly two-spanner which they had ordered for the long drive to the + station. The Swiss elevator-man came to the door to offer them a + fellow-republican's good wishes for their journey; Herr Pupp himself + appeared at the last moment to hope for their return another summer. Mrs. + March bent a last look of interest upon the proprietor as their + two-spanner whirled away. + </p> + <p> + “They say that he is going to be made a count.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't object,” said March. “A man who can + feed fourteen thousand people, mostly Germans, in a day, ought to be made + an archduke.” + </p> + <p> + At the station something happened which touched them even more than these + last attentions of the hotel. They were in their compartment, and were in + the act of possessing themselves of the best places by putting their + bundles and bags on them, when they heard Mrs. March's name called. + </p> + <p> + They turned and saw Rose Adding at the door, his thin face flushed with + excitement and his eyes glowing. “I was afraid I shouldn't get + here in time,” he panted, and he held up to her a huge bunch of + flowers. + </p> + <p> + “Why Rose! From your mother?” + </p> + <p> + “From me,” he said, timidly, and he was slipping out into the + corridor, when she caught him and his flowers to her in one embrace. + “I want to kiss you,” she said; and presently, when he had + waved his hand to them from the platform outside, and the train had + started, she fumbled for her handkerchief. “I suppose you call it + blubbering; but he is the sweetest child!” + </p> + <p> + “He's about the only one of our Carlsbad compatriots that I'm + sorry to leave behind,” March assented. “He's the only + unmarried one that wasn't in danger of turning up a lover on my + hands; if there had been some rather old girl, or some rather light matron + in our acquaintance, I'm not sure that I should have been safe even + from Rose. Carlsbad has been an interruption to our silver wedding + journey, my dear; but I hope now that it will begin again.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said his wife, “now we can have each other all to + ourselves.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. It's been very different from our first wedding journey + in that. It isn't that we're not so young now as we were, but + that we don't seem so much our own property. We used to be the sole + proprietors, and now we seem to be mere tenants at will, and any + interloping lover may come in and set our dearest interests on the + sidewalk. The disadvantage of living along is that we get too much into + the hands of other people.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is. I shall be glad to be rid of them all, too.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that the drawback is serious enough to make us + wish we had died young—or younger,” he suggested. + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't know that it is,” she assented. She added, + from an absence where he was sufficiently able to locate her meaning, + “I hope she'll write and tell me what her father says and does + when she tells him that he was there.” + </p> + <p> + There were many things, in the weather, the landscape, their sole + occupancy of an unsmoking compartment, while all the smoking compartments + round overflowed with smokers, which conspired to offer them a pleasing + illusion of the past; it was sometimes so perfect that they almost held + each other's hands. In later life there are such moments when the + youthful emotions come back, as certain birds do in winter, and the + elderly heart chirps and twitters to itself as if it were young. But it is + best to discourage this fondness; and Mrs. March joined her husband in + mocking it, when he made her observe how fit it was that their silver + wedding journey should be resumed as part of his after-cure. If he had + found the fountain of youth in the warm, flat, faintly nauseous water of + the Felsenquelle, he was not going to call himself twenty-eight again till + his second month of the Carlsbad regimen was out, and he had got back to + salad and fruit. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5063}.jpg" alt="{5063}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5063}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + At Eger they had a memorable dinner, with so much leisure for it that they + could form a life-long friendship for the old English-speaking waiter who + served them, and would not suffer them to hurry themselves. The hills had + already fallen away, and they ran along through a cheerful country, with + tracts of forest under white clouds blowing about in a blue sky, and gayly + flinging their shadows down upon the brown ploughed land, and upon the + yellow oat-fields, where women were cutting the leisurely harvest with + sickles, and where once a great girl with swarthy bare arms unbent herself + from her toil, and rose, a statue of rude vigor and beauty, to watch them + go by. Hedges of evergreen enclosed the yellow oat-fields, where slow + wagons paused to gather the sheaves of the week before, and then loitered + away with them. Flocks of geese waddled in sculpturesque relief against + the close-cropt pastures, herded by little girls with flaxen pigtails, + whose eyes, blue as corn-flowers, followed the flying train. There were + stretches of wild thyme purpling long barren acreages, and growing up the + railroad banks almost to the rails themselves. From the meadows the rowen, + tossed in long loose windrows, sent into their car a sad autumnal + fragrance which mingled with the tobacco smoke, when two fat smokers + emerged into the narrow corridor outside their compartments and tried to + pass each other. Their vast stomachs beat together in a vain encounter. + </p> + <p> + “Zu enge!” said one, and “Ja, zu enge!” said the + other, and they laughed innocently in each other's' faces, + with a joy in their recognition of the corridor's narrowness as + great as if it had been a stroke of the finest wit. + </p> + <p> + All the way the land was lovely, and as they drew near Nuremberg it grew + enchanting, with a fairy quaintness. The scenery was Alpine, but the scale + was toy-like, as befitted the region, and the mimic peaks and valleys with + green brooks gushing between them, and strange rock forms recurring in + endless caprice, seemed the home of children's story. All the gnomes + and elves might have dwelt there in peaceful fellowship with the peasants + who ploughed the little fields, and gathered the garlanded hops, and lived + in the farmsteads and village houses with those high timber-laced gables. + </p> + <p> + “We ought to have come here long ago with the children, when they + were children,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “No,” his wife returned; “it would have been too much + for them. Nobody but grown people could bear it.” + </p> + <p> + The spell which began here was not really broken by anything that + afterwards happened in Nuremberg, though the old toy-capital was + trolley-wired through all its quaintness, and they were lodged in a hotel + lighted by electricity and heated by steam, and equipped with an elevator + which was so modern that it came down with them as well as went up. All + the things that assumed to be of recent structure or invention were as + nothing against the dense past, which overwhelmed them with the sense of a + world elsewhere outlived. In Nuremberg it is not the quaint or the + picturesque that is exceptional; it is the matter-of-fact and the + commonplace. Here, more than anywhere else, you are steeped in the gothic + spirit which expresses itself in a Teutonic dialect of homely sweetness, + of endearing caprice, of rude grotesqueness, but of positive grace and + beauty almost never. It is the architectural speech of a strenuous, gross, + kindly, honest people's fancy; such as it is it was inexhaustible, + and such as it is it was bewitching for the travellers. + </p> + <p> + They could hardly wait till they had supper before plunging into the + ancient town, and they took the first tram-car at a venture. It was a sort + of transfer, drawn by horses, which delivered them a little inside of the + city gate to a trolley-car. The conductor with their fare demanded their + destination; March frankly owned that they did not know where they wanted + to go; they wanted to go anywhere the conductor chose; and the conductor, + after reflection, decided to put them down at the public garden, which, as + one of the newest things in the city, would make the most favorable + impression upon strangers. It was in fact so like all other city gardens, + with the foliage of its trimly planted alleys, that it sheltered them + effectually from the picturesqueness of Nuremberg, and they had a long, + peaceful hour on one of its benches, where they rested from their journey, + and repented their hasty attempt to appropriate the charm of the city. + </p> + <p> + The next morning it rained, according to a custom which the elevator-boy + (flown with the insolent recollection of a sunny summer in Milan) said was + invariable in Nuremberg; but after the one-o'clock table d'hote + they took a noble two-spanner carriage, and drove all round the city. + Everywhere the ancient moat, thickly turfed and planted with trees and + shrubs, stretched a girdle of garden between their course and the wall + beautifully old, with knots of dead ivy clinging to its crevices, or broad + meshes of the shining foliage mantling its blackened masonry. A + tile-roofed open gallery ran along the top, where so many centuries of + sentries had paced, and arched the massive gates with heavily moulded + piers, where so countlessly the fierce burgher troops had sallied forth + against their besiegers, and so often the leaguer hosts had dashed + themselves in assault. The blood shed in forgotten battles would have + flooded the moat where now the grass and flowers grew, or here and there a + peaceful stretch of water stagnated. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5063}.jpg" alt="{5063}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5063}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The drive ended in a visit to the old Burg, where the Hapsburg Kaisers + dwelt when they visited their faithful imperial city. From its ramparts + the incredible picturesqueness of Nuremberg best shows itself, and if one + has any love for the distinctive quality of Teutonic architecture it is + here that more than anywhere else one may feast it. The prospect of tower + and spire and gable is of such a mediaeval richness, of such an abounding + fulness, that all incidents are lost in it. The multitudinous roofs of + red-brown tiles, blinking browsily from their low dormers, press upon one + another in endless succession; they cluster together on a rise of ground + and sink away where the street falls, but they nowhere disperse or + scatter, and they end abruptly at the other rim of the city, beyond which + looms the green country, merging in the remoter blue of misty uplands. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5069}.jpg" alt="{5069}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5069}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + A pretty young girl waited at the door of the tower for the visitors to + gather in sufficient number, and then led them through the terrible + museum, discanting in the same gay voice and with the same smiling air on + all the murderous engines and implements of torture. First in German and + then in English she explained the fearful uses of the Iron Maiden, she + winningly illustrated the action of the racks and wheels on which men had + been stretched and broken, and she sweetly vaunted a sword which had + beheaded eight hundred persons. When she took the established fee from + March she suggested, with a demure glance, “And what more you please + for saying it in English.” + </p> + <p> + “Can you say it in Russian?” demanded a young man, whose eyes + he had seen dwelling on her from the beginning. She laughed archly, and + responded with some Slavic words, and then delivered her train of + sight-seers over to the custodian who was to show them through the halls + and chambers of the Burg. These were undergoing the repairs which the + monuments of the past are perpetually suffering in the present, and there + was some special painting and varnishing for the reception of the Kaiser, + who was coming to Nuremberg for the military manoeuvres then at hand. But + if they had been in the unmolested discomfort of their unlivable + magnificence, their splendor was such as might well reconcile the witness + to the superior comfort of a private station in our snugger day. The + Marches came out owning that the youth which might once have found the + romantic glories of the place enough was gone from them. But so much of it + was left to her that she wished to make him stop and look at the + flirtation which had blossomed out between that pretty young girl and the + Russian, whom they had scarcely missed from their party in the Burg. He + had apparently never parted from the girl, and now as they sat together on + the threshold of the gloomy tower, he most have been teaching her more + Slavic words, for they were both laughing as if they understood each other + perfectly. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5069}.jpg" alt="{5069}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5069}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + In his security from having the affair in any wise on his hands, March + would have willingly lingered, to see how her education got on; but it + began to rain, The rain did not disturb the lovers, but it obliged the + elderly spectators to take refuge in their carriage; and they drove off to + find the famous Little Goose Man. This is what every one does at + Nuremberg; it would be difficult to say why. When they found the Little + Goose Man, he was only a mediaeval fancy in bronze, who stood on his + pedestal in the market-place and contributed from the bill of the goose + under his arm a small stream to the rainfall drenching the wet wares of + the wet market-women round the fountain, and soaking their cauliflowers + and lettuce, their grapes and pears, their carrots and turnips, to the + watery flavor of all fruits and vegetables in Germany. + </p> + <p> + The air was very raw and chill; but after supper the clouds cleared away, + and a pleasant evening tempted the travellers out. The portier dissembled + any slight which their eagerness for the only amusement he could think of + inspired, and directed them to a popular theatre which was giving a summer + season at low prices to the lower classes, and which they surprised, after + some search, trying to hide itself in a sort of back square. They got the + best places at a price which ought to have been mortifyingly cheap, and + found themselves, with a thousand other harmless bourgeois folk, in a sort + of spacious, agreeable barn, of a decoration by no means ugly, and of a + certain artless comfort. Each seat fronted a shelf at the back of the seat + before it, where the spectator could put his hat; there was a smaller + shelf for his stein of the beer passed constantly throughout the evening; + and there was a buffet where he could stay himself with cold ham and other + robust German refreshments. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5073}.jpg" alt="{5073}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5073}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + It was “The Wedding Journey to Nuremberg” upon which they had + oddly chanced, and they accepted as a national tribute the character of an + American girl in it. She was an American girl of the advanced pattern, and + she came and went at a picnic on the arm of a head waiter. She seemed to + have no office in the drama except to illustrate a German conception of + American girlhood, but even in this simple function she seemed rather to + puzzle the German audience; perhaps because of the occasional English + words which she used. + </p> + <p> + To the astonishment of her compatriots, when they came out of the theatre + it was not raining; the night was as brilliantly starlit as a night could + be in Germany, and they sauntered home richly content through the narrow + streets and through the beautiful old Damenthor, beyond which their hotel + lay. How pretty, they said, to call that charming port the Ladies' + Gate! They promised each other to find out why, and they never did so, but + satisfied themselves by assigning it to the exclusive use of the slim + maidens and massive matrons of the old Nuremberg patriciate, whom they + imagined trailing their silken splendors under its arch in perpetual + procession. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0129" id="link2H_4_0129"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5078}.jpg" alt="{5078}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5078}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLV. + </h2> + <p> + The life of the Nuremberg patriciate, now extinct in the control of the + city which it builded so strenuously and maintained so heroically, is + still insistent in all its art. This expresses their pride at once and + their simplicity with a childish literality. At its best it is never so + good as the good Italian art, whose influence is always present in its + best. The coloring of the great canvases is Venetian, but there is no such + democracy of greatness as in the painting at Venice; in decoration the art + of Nuremberg is at best quaint, and at the worst puerile. Wherever it had + obeyed an academic intention it seemed to March poor and coarse, as in the + bronze fountain beside the Church of St. Lawrence. The water spins from + the pouted breasts of the beautiful figures in streams that cross and + interlace after a fancy trivial and gross; but in the base of the church + there is a time-worn Gethsemane, exquisitely affecting in its + simple-hearted truth. The long ages have made it even more affecting than + the sculptor imagined it; they have blurred the faces and figures in + passing till their features are scarcely distinguishable; and the sleeping + apostles seem to have dreamed themselves back into the mother-marble. It + is of the same tradition and impulse with that supreme glory of the native + sculpture, the ineffable tabernacle of Adam Krafft, which climbs a column + of the church within, a miracle of richly carven story; and no doubt if + there were a Nuremberg sculptor doing great things today, his work would + be of kindred inspiration. + </p> + <p> + The descendants of the old patrician who ordered the tabernacle at rather + a hard bargain from the artist still worship on the floor below, and the + descendants of his neighbor patricians have their seats in the pews about, + and their names cut in the proprietary plates on the pew-tops. The + vergeress who showed the Marches through the church was devout in the + praise of these aristocratic fellow-citizens of hers. “So simple, + and yet so noble!” she said. She was a very romantic vergeress, and + she told them at unsparing length the legend of the tabernacle, how the + artist fell asleep in despair of winning his patron's daughter, and + saw in a vision the master-work with the lily-like droop at top, which + gained him her hand. They did not realize till too late that it was all + out of a novel of Georg Ebers's, but added to the regular fee for + the church a gift worthy of an inedited legend. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5079}.jpg" alt="{5079}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5079}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Even then they had a pleasure in her enthusiasm rarely imparted by the + Nuremberg manner. They missed there the constant, sweet civility of + Carlsbad, and found themselves falling flat in their endeavors for a + little cordiality. They indeed inspired with some kindness the old woman + who showed them through that cemetery where Albert Durer and Hans Sachs + and many other illustrious citizens lie buried under monumental brasses of + such beauty: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “That kings to have the like, might wish to die.” + </pre> + <p> + But this must have been because they abandoned themselves so willingly to + the fascination of the bronze skull on the tomb of a fourteenth-century + patrician, which had the uncommon advantage of a lower jaw hinged to the + upper. She proudly clapped it up and down for their astonishment, and + waited, with a toothless smile, to let them discover the bead of a nail + artfully figured in the skull; then she gave a shrill cackle of joy, and + gleefully explained that the wife of this patrician had killed him by + driving a nail into his temple, and had been fitly beheaded for the + murder. + </p> + <p> + She cared so much for nothing else in the cemetery, but she consented to + let them wonder at the richness of the sculpture in the level tombs, with + their escutcheons and memorial tablets, overrun by the long grass and the + matted ivy; she even consented to share their indignation at the + destruction of some of the brasses and the theft of others. She suffered + more reluctantly their tenderness for the old, old crucifixion figured in + sculpture at one corner of the cemetery, where the anguish of the Christ + had long since faded into the stone from which it had been evoked, and the + thieves were no longer distinguishable in their penitence or impenitence; + but she parted friends with them when she saw how much they seemed taken + with the votive chapel of the noble Holzschuh family, where a line of + wooden shoes puns upon the name in the frieze, like the line of dogs which + chase one another, with bones in their mouths, around the Canossa palace + at Verona. A sense of the beautiful house by the Adige was part of the + pleasing confusion which possessed them in Nuremberg whenever they came + upon the expression of the gothic spirit common both to the German and + northern Italian art. They knew that it was an effect which had passed + from Germany into Italy, but in the liberal air of the older land it had + come to so much more beauty that now, when they found it in its home, it + seemed something fetched from over the Alps and coarsened in the attempt + to naturalize it to an alien air. + </p> + <p> + In the Germanic Museum they fled to the Italian painters from the German + pictures they had inspired; in the great hall of the Rathhaus the noble + Processional of Durer was the more precious, because his Triumph of + Maximilian somehow suggested Mantegna's Triumph of Caesar. There was + to be a banquet in the hall, under the mighty fresco, to welcome the + German Emperor, coming the next week, and the Rathhaus was full of + work-people furbishing it up against his arrival, and making it difficult + for the custodian who had it in charge to show it properly to strangers. + She was of the same enthusiastic sisterhood as the vergeress of St. + Lawrence and the guardian of the old cemetery, and by a mighty effort she + prevailed over the workmen so far as to lead her charges out through the + corridor where the literal conscience of the brothers Kuhn has wrought in + the roof to an exact image of a tournament as it was in Nuremberg four + hundred years ago. In this relief, thronged with men and horses, the + gala-life of the past survives in unexampled fulness; and March blamed + himself after enjoying it for having felt in it that toy-figure quality + which seems the final effect of the German gothicism in sculpture. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0130" id="link2H_4_0130"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5085}.jpg" alt="{5085}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5085}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLVI. + </h2> + <p> + On Sunday Mrs. March partially conformed to an earlier New England ideal + of the day by ceasing from sight-seeing. She could not have understood the + sermon if she had gone to church, but she appeased the lingering + conscience she had on this point by not going out till afternoon. Then she + found nothing of the gayety which Sunday afternoon wears in Catholic + lands. The people were resting from their week-day labors, but they were + not playing; and the old churches, long since converted to Lutheran uses, + were locked against tourist curiosity. + </p> + <p> + It was as it should be; it was as it would be at home; and yet in this + ancient city, where the past was so much alive in the perpetual + picturesqueness, the Marches felt an incongruity in it; and they were fain + to escape from the Protestant silence and seriousness of the streets to + the shade of the public garden they had involuntarily visited the evening + of their arrival. + </p> + <p> + On a bench sat a quiet, rather dejected man, whom March asked some + question of their way. He answered in English, and in the parley that + followed they discovered that they were all Americans. The stranger proved + to be an American of the sort commonest in Germany, and he said he had + returned to his native country to get rid of the ague which he had taken + on Staten Island. He had been seventeen years in New York, and now a talk + of Tammany and its chances in the next election, of pulls and deals, of + bosses and heelers, grew up between the civic step-brothers, and joined + them is a common interest. The German-American said he was bookkeeper in + some glass-works which had been closed by our tariff, and he confessed + that he did not mean to return to us, though he spoke of German affairs + with the impartiality of an outsider. He said that the Socialist party was + increasing faster than any other, and that this tacitly meant the + suppression of rank and the abolition of monarchy. He warned March against + the appearance of industrial prosperity in Germany; beggary was severely + repressed, and if poverty was better clad than with us, it was as hungry + and as hopeless in Nuremberg as in New York. The working classes were + kindly and peaceable; they only knifed each other quietly on Sunday + evenings after having too much beer. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5087}.jpg" alt="{5087}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5087}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Presently the stranger rose and bowed to the Marches for good-by; and as + he walked down the aisle of trees in which they had been fitting together, + he seemed to be retreating farther and farther from such Americanism as + they had in common. He had reverted to an entirely German effect of dress + and figure; his walk was slow and Teutonic; he must be a type of thousands + who have returned to the fatherland without wishing to own themselves its + children again, and yet out of heart with the only country left them. + </p> + <p> + “He was rather pathetic, my dear,” said March, in the + discomfort he knew his wife must be feeling as well as himself. “How + odd to have the lid lifted here, and see the same old problems seething + and bubbling in the witch's caldron we call civilization as we left + simmering away at home! And how hard to have our tariff reach out and + snatch the bread from the mouths of those poor glass-workers!” + </p> + <p> + “I thought that was hard,” she sighed. “It must have + been his bread, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Let's hope it was not his cake, anyway. I suppose,” he + added, dreamily, “that what we used to like in Italy was the absence + of all the modern activities. The Italians didn't repel us by + assuming to be of our epoch in the presence of their monuments; they knew + how to behave as pensive memories. I wonder if they're still as + charming.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” she returned, “nothing is as charming as it + used to be. And now we need the charm more than ever.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed at her despair, in the tacit understanding they had lived into + that only one of them was to be desperate at a time, and that they were to + take turns in cheering each other up. “Well, perhaps we don't + deserve it. And I'm not sure that we need it so much as we did when + we were young. We've got tougher; we can stand the cold facts better + now. They made me shiver once, but now they give me a sort of agreeable + thrill. Besides, if, life kept up its pretty illusions, if it insisted + upon being as charming as it used to be, how could we ever bear to die? We've + got that to consider.” He yielded to the temptation of his paradox, + but he did not fail altogether of the purpose with which he began, and + they took the trolley back to their hotel cheerful in the intrepid fancy + that they had confronted fate when they had only had the hardihood to face + a phrase. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5091}.jpg" alt="{5091}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5091}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They agreed that now he ought really to find out something about the + contemporary life of Nuremberg, and the next morning he went out before + breakfast, and strolled through some of the simpler streets, in the hope + of intimate impressions. The peasant women, serving portions of milk from + house to house out of the cans in the little wagons which they drew + themselves, were a touch of pleasing domestic comedy; a certain effect of + tragedy imparted itself from the lamentations of the sucking-pigs jolted + over the pavements in handcarts; a certain majesty from the long + procession of yellow mail-wagons, with drivers in the royal Bavarian blue, + trooping by in the cold small rain, impassibly dripping from their glazed + hat-brims upon their uniforms. But he could not feel that these things + were any of them very poignantly significant; and he covered his retreat + from the actualities of Nuremberg by visiting the chief book-store and + buying more photographs of the architecture than he wanted, and more local + histories than he should ever read. He made a last effort for the + contemporaneous life by asking the English-speaking clerk if there were + any literary men of distinction living in Nuremberg, and the clerk said + there was not one. + </p> + <p> + He went home to breakfast wondering if he should be able to make his + meagre facts serve with his wife; but he found her far from any wish to + listen to them. She was intent upon a pair of young lovers, at a table + near her own, who were so absorbed in each other that they were proof + against an interest that must otherwise have pierced them through. The + bridegroom, as he would have called himself, was a pretty little Bavarian + lieutenant, very dark and regular, and the bride was as pretty and as + little, but delicately blond. Nature had admirably mated them, and if art + had helped to bring them together through the genius of the bride's + mother, who was breakfasting with them, it had wrought almost as fitly. + Mrs. March queried impartially who they were, where they met, and how, and + just when they were going to be married; and March consented, in his + personal immunity from their romance, to let it go on under his eyes + without protest. But later, when they met the lovers in the street, + walking arm in arm, with the bride's mother behind them gloating + upon their bliss, he said the woman ought, at her time of life, to be + ashamed of such folly. She must know that this affair, by nine chances out + of ten, could not fail to eventuate at the best in a marriage as tiresome + as most other marriages, and yet she was abandoning herself with those + ignorant young people to the illusion that it was the finest and sweetest + thing in life. + </p> + <p> + “Well, isn't it?” his wife asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's the worst of it. It shows how poverty-stricken + life really is. We want somehow to believe that each pair of lovers will + find the good we have missed, and be as happy as we expected to be.” + </p> + <p> + “I think we have been happy enough, and that we've had as much + good as was wholesome for us,” she returned, hurt. + </p> + <p> + “You're always so concrete! I meant us in the abstract. But if + you will be personal, I'll say that you've been as happy as + you deserve, and got more good than you had any right to.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed with him, and then they laughed again to perceive that they + were walking arm in arm too, like the lovers, whom they were insensibly + following. + </p> + <p> + He proposed that while they were in the mood they should go again to the + old cemetery, and see the hinged jaw of the murdered Paumgartner, wagging + in eternal accusation of his murderess. “It's rather hard on + her, that he should be having the last word, that way,” he said. + “She was a woman, no matter what mistakes she had committed.” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I call 'banale',” said Mrs. + March. + </p> + <p> + “It is, rather,” he confessed. “It makes me feel as if I + must go to see the house of Durer, after all.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I knew we should have to, sooner or later.” + </p> + <p> + It was the thing that they had said would not do, in Nuremberg, because + everybody did it; but now they hailed a fiacre, and ordered it driven to + Durer's house, which they found in a remote part of the town near a + stretch of the city wall, varied in its picturesqueness by the + interposition of a dripping grove; it was raining again by the time they + reached it. The quarter had lapsed from earlier dignity, and without being + squalid, it looked worn and hard worked; otherwise it could hardly have + been different in Durer's time. His dwelling, in no way impressive + outside, amidst the environing quaintness, stood at the corner of a narrow + side-hill street that sloped cityward; and within it was stripped bare of + all the furniture of life below-stairs, and above was none the cozier for + the stiff appointment of a show-house. It was cavernous and cold; but if + there had been a fire in the kitchen, and a table laid in the dining-room, + and beds equipped for nightmare, after the German fashion, in the empty + chambers, one could have imagined a kindly, simple, neighborly existence + there. It in no wise suggested the calling of an artist, perhaps because + artists had not begun in Durer's time to take themselves so + objectively as they do now, but it implied the life of a prosperous + citizen, and it expressed the period. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5097}.jpg" alt="{5097}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5097}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The Marches wrote their names in the visitors' book, and paid the + visitor's fee, which also bought them tickets in an annual lottery + for a reproduction of one of Durer's pictures; and then they came + away, by no means dissatisfied with his house. By its association with his + sojourns in Italy it recalled visits to other shrines, and they had to own + that it was really no worse than Ariosto's house at Ferrara, or + Petrarch's at Arqua, or Michelangelo's at Florence. “But + what I admire,” he said, “is our futility in going to see it. + We expected to surprise some quality of the man left lying about in the + house because he lived and died in it; and because his wife kept him up so + close there, and worked him so hard to save his widow from coming to want.” + </p> + <p> + “Who said she did that?” + </p> + <p> + “A friend of his who hated her. But he had to allow that she was a + God-fearing woman, and had a New England conscience.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I dare say Durer was easy-going.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; but I don't like her laying her plans to survive him; + though women always do that.” + </p> + <p> + They were going away the next day, and they sat down that evening to a + final supper in such good-humor with themselves that they were willing to + include a young couple who came to take places at their table, though they + would rather have been alone. They lifted their eyes for their expected + salutation, and recognized Mr. and Mrs. Leffers, of the Norumbia. + </p> + <p> + The ladies fell upon each other as if they had been mother and daughter; + March and the young man shook hands, in the feeling of passengers mutually + endeared by the memories of a pleasant voyage. They arrived at the fact + that Mr. Leffers had received letters in England from his partners which + allowed him to prolong his wedding journey in a tour of the continent, + while their wives were still exclaiming at their encounter in the same + hotel at Nuremberg; and then they all sat down to have, as the bride said, + a real Norumbia time. + </p> + <p> + She was one of those young wives who talk always with their eyes + submissively on their husbands, no matter whom they are speaking to; but + she was already unconsciously ruling him in her abeyance. No doubt she was + ruling him for his good; she had a livelier, mind than he, and she knew + more, as the American wives of young American business men always do, and + she was planning wisely for their travels. She recognized her merit in + this devotion with an artless candor, which was typical rather than + personal. March was glad to go out with Leffers for a little stroll, and + to leave Mrs. March to listen to Mrs. Leffers, who did not let them go + without making her husband promise to wrap up well, and not get his feet + wet. She made March promise not to take him far, and to bring him back + early, which he found himself very willing to do, after an exchange of + ideas with Mr. Leffers. The young man began to talk about his wife, in her + providential, her almost miraculous adaptation to the sort of man he was, + and when he had once begun to explain what sort of man he was, there was + no end to it, till they rejoined the ladies in the reading-room. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0131" id="link2H_4_0131"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5101}.jpg" alt="{5101}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5101}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLVII. + </h2> + <p> + The young couple came to the station to see the Marches off after dinner + the next day; and the wife left a bank of flowers on the seat beside Mrs. + March, who said, as soon as they were gone, “I believe I would + rather meet people of our own age after this. I used to think that you + could keep young by being with young people; but I don't, now. There + world is very different from ours. Our world doesn't really exist + any more, but as long as we keep away from theirs we needn't realize + it. Young people,” she went on, “are more practical-minded + than we used to be; they're quite as sentimental; but I don't + think they care so much for the higher things. They're not so much + brought up on poetry as we were,” she pursued. “That little + Mrs. Leffers would have read Longfellow in our time; but now she didn't + know of his poem on Nuremberg; she was intelligent enough about the place, + but you could see that its quaintness was not so precious as it was to us; + not so sacred.” Her tone entreated him to find more meaning in her + words than she had put into them. “They couldn't have felt as + we did about that old ivied wall and that grassy, flowery moat under it; + and the beautiful Damenthor and that pile-up of the roofs from the Burg; + and those winding streets with their Gothic facades all, cobwebbed with + trolley wires; and that yellow, aguish-looking river drowsing through the + town under the windows of those overhanging houses; and the market-place, + and the squares before the churches, with their queer shops in the nooks + and corners round them!” + </p><div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5103}.jpg" alt="{5103}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5103}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + <p> + “I see what you mean. But do you think it's as sacred to us as + it would have been twenty-five years ago? I had an irreverent feeling now + and then that Nuremberg was overdoing Nuremberg.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes; so had I. We're that modern, if we're not so + young as we were.” + </p> + <p> + “We were very simple, in those days.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if we were simple, we knew it!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; we used to like taking our unconsciousness to pieces and + looking at it.” + </p> + <p> + “We had a good time.” + </p> + <p> + “Too good. Sometimes it seems as if it would have lasted longer if + it had not been so good. We might have our cake now if we hadn't + eaten it.” + </p> + <p> + “It would be mouldy, though.” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” he said, recurring to the Lefferses; “how we + really struck them.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't believe they thought we ought to be travelling + about alone, quite, at our age.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not so bad as that!” After a moment he said, “I + dare say they don't go round quarrelling on their wedding journey, + as we did.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed they do! They had an awful quarrel just before they got to + Nuremberg: about his wanting to send some of the baggage to Liverpool by + express that she wanted to keep with them. But she said it had been a + lesson, and they were never going to quarrel again.” The elders + looked at each other in the light of experience, and laughed. “Well,” + she ended, “that's one thing we're through with. I + suppose we've come to feel more alike than we used to.” + </p> + <p> + “Or not to feel at all. How did they settle it about the baggage?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! He insisted on her keeping it with her.” March laughed + again, but this time he laughed alone, and after a while she said: “Well, + they gave just the right relief to Nuremberg, with their good, clean + American philistinism. I don't mind their thinking us queer; they + must have thought Nuremberg was queer.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. We oldsters are always queer to the young. We're either + ridiculously lively and chirpy, or we're ridiculously stiff and + grim; they never expect to be like us, and wouldn't, for the world. + The worst of it is, we elderly people are absurd to one another; we don't, + at the bottom of our hearts, believe we're like that, when we meet. + I suppose that arrogant old ass of a Triscoe looks upon me as a grinning + dotard.” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” said Mrs. March, “if she's told him + yet,” and March perceived that she was now suddenly far from the + mood of philosophic introspection; but he had no difficulty in following + her. + </p> + <p> + “She's had time enough. But it was an awkward task Burnamy + left to her.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, when I think of that, I can hardly forgive him for coming back + in that way. I know she is dead in love with him; but she could only have + accepted him conditionally.” + </p> + <p> + “Conditionally to his making it all right with Stoller?” + </p> + <p> + “Stoller? No! To her father's liking it.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's quite as hard. What makes you think she accepted + him at all?” + </p> + <p> + “What do you think she was crying about?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I have supposed that ladies occasionally shed tears of pity. + If she accepted him conditionally she would have to tell her father about + it.” Mrs. March gave him a glance of silent contempt, and he + hastened to atone for his stupidity. “Perhaps she's told him + on the instalment plan. She may have begun by confessing that Burnamy had + been in Carlsbad. Poor old fellow, I wish we were going to find him in + Ansbach! He could make things very smooth for us.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you needn't flatter yourself that you'll find him + in Ansbach. I'm sure I don't know where he is.” + </p> + <p> + “You might write to Miss Triscoe and ask.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I shall wait for Miss Triscoe to write to me,” she + said, with dignity. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, she certainly owes you that much, after all your suffering for + her. I've asked the banker in Nuremberg to forward our letters to + the poste restante in Ansbach. Isn't it good to see the crows again, + after those ravens around Carlsbad?” + </p> + <p> + She joined him in looking at the mild autumnal landscape through the open + window. The afternoon was fair and warm, and in the level fields bodies of + soldiers were at work with picks and spades, getting the ground ready for + the military manoeuvres; they disturbed among the stubble foraging parties + of crows, which rose from time to time with cries of indignant protest. + She said, with a smile for the crows, “Yes. And I'm thankful + that I've got nothing on my conscience, whatever happens,” she + added in dismissal of the subject of Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + “I'm thankful too, my dear. I'd much rather have things + on my own. I'm more used to that, and I believe I feel less remorse + than when you're to blame.” + </p> + <p> + They might have been carried near this point by those telepathic + influences which have as yet been so imperfectly studied. It was only that + morning, after the lapse of a week since Burnamy's furtive + reappearance in Carlsbad, that Miss Triscoe spoke to her father about it, + and she had at that moment a longing for support and counsel that might + well have made its mystical appeal to Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + She spoke at last because she could put it off no longer, rather than + because the right time had come. She began as they sat at breakfast. + “Papa, there is something that I have got to tell you. It is + something that you ought to know; but I have put off telling you because—” + </p> + <p> + She hesitated for the reason, and “Well!” said her father, + looking up at her from his second cup of coffee. “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + Then she answered, “Mr. Burnamy has been here.” + </p> + <p> + “In Carlsbad? When was he here?” + </p> + <p> + “The night of the Emperor's birthday. He came into the box + when you were behind the scenes with Mr. March; afterwards I met him in + the crowd.” + </p> + <p> + “Well?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you ought to know. Mrs. March said I ought to tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “Did she say you ought to wait a week?” He gave way to an + irascibility which he tried to check, and to ask with indifference, + “Why did he come back?” + </p> + <p> + “He was going to write about it for that paper in Paris.” The + girl had the effect of gathering her courage up for a bold plunge. She + looked steadily at her father, and added: “He said he came back + because he couldn't help it. He—wished to speak with me, He + said he knew he had no right to suppose I cared anything about what had + happened with him and Mr. Stoller. He wanted to come back and tell me—that.” + </p> + <p> + Her father waited for her to go on, but apparently she was going to leave + the word to him, now. He hesitated to take it, but he asked at last with a + mildness that seemed to surprise her, “Have you heard anything from + him since?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is he?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. I told him I could not say what he wished; that + I must tell you about it.” + </p> + <p> + The case was less simple than it would once have been for General Triscoe. + There was still his affection for his daughter, his wish for her + happiness, but this had always been subordinate to his sense of his own + interest and comfort, and a question had recently arisen which put his + paternal love and duty in a new light. He was no more explicit with + himself than other men are, and the most which could ever be said of him + without injustice was that in his dependence upon her he would rather have + kept his daughter to himself if she could not have been very prosperously + married. On the other hand, if he disliked the man for whom she now hardly + hid her liking, he was not just then ready to go to extremes concerning + him. + </p> + <p> + “He was very anxious,” she went on, “that you should + know just how it was. He thinks everything of your judgment and—and—opinion.” + The general made a consenting noise in his throat. “He said that he + did not wish me to 'whitewash' him to you. He didn't + think he had done right; he didn't excuse himself, or ask you to + excuse him unless you could from the stand-point of a gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + The general made a less consenting noise in his throat, and asked, “How + do you look at it, yourself, Agatha?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe I quite understand it; but Mrs. March—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mrs. March!” the general snorted. + </p> + <p> + “—says that Mr. March does not think so badly of it as Mr. + Burnamy does.” + </p> + <p> + “I doubt it. At any rate, I understood March quite differently.” + </p> + <p> + “She says that he thinks he behaved very nobly afterwards when Mr. + Stoller wanted him to help him put a false complexion on it; that it was + all the more difficult for him to do right then, because of his remorse + for what he had done before.” As she spoke on she had become more + eager. + </p> + <p> + “There's something in that,” the general admitted, with + a candor that he made the most of both to himself and to her. “But I + should like to know what Stoller had to say of it all. Is there anything,” + he inquired, “any reason why I need be more explicit about it, just + now?” + </p> + <p> + “N—no. Only, I thought—He thinks so much of your opinion + that—if—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he can very well afford to wait. If he values my opinion so + highly he can give me time to make up my mind.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course—” + </p> + <p> + “And I'm not responsible,” the general continued, + significantly, “for the delay altogether. If you had told me this + before—Now, I don't know whether Stoller is still in town.” + </p> + <p> + He was not behaving openly with her; but she had not behaved openly with + him. She owned that to herself, and she got what comfort she could from + his making the affair a question of what Burnamy had done to Stoller + rather than of what Burnamy had said to her, and what she had answered + him. If she was not perfectly clear as to what she wanted to do, or wished + to have happen, there was now time and place in which she could delay and + make sure. The accepted theory of such matters is that people know their + minds from the beginning, and that they do not change them. But experience + seems to contradict this theory, or else people often act contrary to + their convictions and impulses. If the statistics were accessible, it + might be found that many potential engagements hovered in a doubtful air, + and before they touched the earth in actual promise were dissipated by the + play of meteorological chances. + </p> + <p> + When General Triscoe put down his napkin in rising he said that he would + step round to Pupp's and see if Stoller were still there. But on the + way he stepped up to Mrs. Adding's hotel on the hill, and he came + back, after an interval which he seemed not to have found long, to report + rather casually that Stoller had left Carlsbad the day before. By this + time the fact seemed not to concern Agatha herself very vitally. + </p> + <p> + He asked if the Marches had left any address with her, and she answered + that they had not. They were going to spend a few days in Nuremberg, and + then push on to Holland for Mr. March's after-cure. There was no + relevance in his question unless it intimated his belief that she was in + confidential correspondence with Mrs. March, and she met this by saying + that she was going to write her in care of their bankers; she asked + whether he wished to send any word. + </p> + <p> + “No. I understand,” he intimated, “that there is nothing + at all in the nature of a—a—an understanding, then, with—” + </p> + <p> + “No, nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Hm!” The general waited a moment. Then he ventured, “Do + you care to say—do you wish me to know—how he took it?” + </p> + <p> + The tears came into the girl's eyes, but she governed herself to + say, “He—he was disappointed.” + </p> + <p> + “He had no right to be disappointed.” + </p> + <p> + It was a question, and she answered: “He thought he had. He said—that + he wouldn't—trouble me any more.” + </p> + <p> + The general did not ask at once, “And you don't know where he + is now—you haven't heard anything from him since?” + </p> + <p> + Agatha flashed through her tears, “Papa!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I beg your pardon. I think you told me.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Americans are hungrier for royalty than anybody else + Effort to get on common ground with an inferior + He buys my poverty and not my will + Honest selfishness + Intrepid fancy that they had confronted fate + Less intrusive than if he had not been there + Monologue to which the wives of absent-minded men resign + Only one of them was to be desperate at a time + Reconciliation with death which nature brings to life at last + Voting-cattle whom they bought and sold + We don't seem so much our own property + We get too much into the hands of other people +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART3b" id="link2H_PART3b"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART III. + </h2> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5114}.jpg" alt="{5114}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5114}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h4> + XLVIII. + </h4> + <p> + At the first station where the train stopped, a young German bowed himself + into the compartment with the Marches, and so visibly resisted an impulse + to smoke that March begged him to light his cigarette. In the talk which + this friendly overture led to between them he explained that he was a + railway architect, employed by the government on that line of road, and + was travelling officially. March spoke of Nuremberg; he owned the sort of + surfeit he had suffered from its excessive mediaevalism, and the young man + said it was part of the new imperial patriotism to cherish the Gothic + throughout Germany; no other sort of architecture was permitted in + Nuremberg. But they would find enough classicism at Ansbach, he promised + them, and he entered with sympathetic intelligence into their wish to see + this former capital when March told him they were going to stop there, in + hopes of something typical of the old disjointed Germany of the petty + principalities, the little paternal despotisms now extinct. + </p> + <p> + As they talked on, partly in German and partly in English, their purpose + in visiting Ansbach appeared to the Marches more meditated than it was. In + fact it was somewhat accidental; Ansbach was near Nuremberg; it was not + much out of the way to Holland. They took more and more credit to + themselves for a reasoned and definite motive, in the light of their + companion's enthusiasm for the place, and its charm began for them + with the drive from the station through streets whose sentiment was both + Italian and French, and where there was a yellowish cast in the gray of + the architecture which was almost Mantuan. They rested their + sensibilities, so bruised and fretted by Gothic angles and points, against + the smooth surfaces of the prevailing classicistic facades of the houses + as they passed, and when they arrived at their hotel, an old mansion of + Versailles type, fronting on a long irregular square planted with pollard + sycamores, they said that it might as well have been Lucca. + </p> + <p> + The archway and stairway of the hotel were draped with the Bavarian + colors, and they were obscurely flattered to learn that Prince Leopold, + the brother of the Prince-Regent of the kingdom, had taken rooms there, on + his way to the manoeuvres at Nuremberg, and was momently expected with his + suite. They realized that they were not of the princely party, however, + when they were told that he had sole possession of the dining-room, and + they went out to another hotel, and had their supper in keeping + delightfully native. People seemed to come there to write their letters + and make up their accounts, as well as to eat their suppers; they called + for stationery like characters in old comedy, and the clatter of crockery + and the scratching of pens went on together; and fortune offered the + Marches a delicate reparation for their exclusion from their own hotel in + the cold popular reception of the prince which they got back just in time + to witness. A very small group of people, mostly women and boys, had + gathered to see him arrive, but there was no cheering or any sign of + public interest. Perhaps he personally merited none; he looked a dull, sad + man, with his plain, stubbed features; and after he had mounted to his + apartment, the officers of his staff stood quite across the landing, and + barred the passage of the Americans, ignoring even Mrs. March's + presence, as they talked together. + </p> + <p> + “Well, my dear,” said her husband, “here you have it at + last. This is what you've been living for, ever since we came to + Germany. It's a great moment.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. What are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “Who? I? Oh, nothing! This is your affair; it's for you to + act.” + </p> + <p> + If she had been young, she might have withered them with a glance; she + doubted now if her dim eyes would have any such power; but she advanced + steadily upon them, and then the officers seemed aware of her, and stood + aside. + </p> + <p> + March always insisted that they stood aside apologetically, but she held + as firmly that they stood aside impertinently, or at least indifferently, + and that the insult to her American womanhood was perfectly ideal. It is + true that nothing of the kind happened again during their stay at the + hotel; the prince's officers were afterwards about in the corridors + and on the stairs, but they offered no shadow of obstruction to her going + and coming, and the landlord himself was not so preoccupied with his + highhotes but he had time to express his grief that she had been obliged + to go out for supper. + </p> + <p> + They satisfied the passion for the little obsolete capital which had been + growing upon them by strolling past the old Resident at an hour so + favorable for a first impression. It loomed in the gathering dusk even + vaster than it was, and it was really vast enough for the pride of a King + of France, much more a Margrave of Ansbach. Time had blackened and + blotched its coarse limestone walls to one complexion with the statues + swelling and strutting in the figure of Roman legionaries before it, and + standing out against the evening sky along its balustraded roof, and had + softened to the right tint the stretch of half a dozen houses with mansard + roofs and renaissance facades obsequiously in keeping with the Versailles + ideal of a Resident. In the rear, and elsewhere at fit distance from its + courts, a native architecture prevailed; and at no great remove the + Marches found themselves in a simple German town again. There they + stumbled upon a little bookseller's shop blinking in a quiet corner, + and bought three or four guides and small histories of Ansbach, which they + carried home, and studied between drowsing and waking. The wonderful + German syntax seems at its most enigmatical in this sort of literature, + and sometimes they lost themselves in its labyrinths completely, and only + made their way perilously out with the help of cumulative declensions, + past articles and adjectives blindly seeking their nouns, to + long-procrastinated verbs dancing like swamp-fires in the distance. They + emerged a little less ignorant than they went in, and better qualified + than they would otherwise have been for their second visit to the Schloss, + which they paid early the next morning. + </p> + <p> + They were so early, indeed, that when they mounted from the great inner + court, much too big for Ansbach, if not for the building, and rung the + custodian's bell, a smiling maid who let them into an ante-room, + where she kept on picking over vegetables for her dinner, said the + custodian was busy, and could not be seen till ten o'clock. She + seemed, in her nook of the pretentious pile, as innocently unconscious of + its history as any hen-sparrow who had built her nest in some coign of its + architecture; and her friendly, peaceful domesticity remained a wholesome + human background to the tragedies and comedies of the past, and held them + in a picturesque relief in which they were alike tolerable and even + charming. + </p> + <p> + The history of Ansbach strikes its roots in the soil of fable, and above + ground is a gnarled and twisted growth of good and bad from the time of + the Great Charles to the time of the Great Frederick. Between these times + she had her various rulers, ecclesiastical and secular, in various forms + of vassalage to the empire; but for nearly four centuries her sovereignty + was in the hands of the margraves, who reigned in a constantly increasing + splendor till the last sold her outright to the King of Prussia in 1791, + and went to live in England on the proceeds. She had taken her part in the + miseries and glories of the wars that desolated Germany, but after the + Reformation, when she turned from the ancient faith to which she owed her + cloistered origin under St. Gumpertus, her people had peace except when + their last prince sold them to fight the battles of others. It is in this + last transaction that her history, almost in the moment when she ceased to + have a history of her own, links to that of the modern world, and that it + came home to the Marches in their national character; for two thousand of + those poor Ansbach mercenaries were bought up by England and sent to put + down a rebellion in her American colonies. + </p> + <p> + Humanly, they were more concerned for the Last Margrave, because of + certain qualities which made him the Best Margrave, in spite of the + defects of his qualities. He was the son of the Wild Margrave, equally + known in the Ansbach annals, who may not have been the Worst Margrave, but + who had certainly a bad trick of putting his subjects to death without + trial, and in cases where there was special haste, with his own hand. He + sent his son to the university at Utrecht because he believed that the + republican influences in Holland would be wholesome for him, and then he + sent him to travel in Italy; but when the boy came home looking frail and + sick, the Wild Margrave charged his official travelling companion with + neglect, and had the unhappy Hofrath Meyer hanged without process for this + crime. One of the gentlemen of his realm, for a pasquinade on the + Margrave, was brought to the scaffold; he had, at various times, + twenty-two of his soldiers shot with arrows and bullets or hanged for + desertion, besides many whose penalties his clemency commuted to the loss + of an ear or a nose; a Hungarian who killed his hunting-dog, he had broken + alive on the wheel. A soldier's wife was hanged for complicity in a + case of desertion; a young soldier who eloped with the girl he loved was + brought to Ansbach from a neighboring town, and hanged with her on the + same gallows. A sentry at the door of one of the Margrave's castles + amiably complied with the Margrave's request to let him take his gun + for a moment, on the pretence of wishing to look at it. For this breach of + discipline the prince covered him with abuse and gave him over to his + hussars, who bound him to a horse's tail and dragged him through the + streets; he died of his injuries. The kennel-master who had charge of the + Margrave's dogs was accused of neglecting them: without further + inquiry the Margrave rode to the man's house and shot him down on + his own threshold. A shepherd who met the Margrave on a shying horse did + not get his flock out of the way quickly enough; the Margrave demanded the + pistols of a gentleman in his company, but he answered that they were not + loaded, and the shepherd's life was saved. As they returned home the + gentleman fired them off. “What does that mean?” cried the + Margrave, furiously. “It means, gracious lord, that you will sleep + sweeter tonight, for not having heard my pistols an hour sooner.” + </p> + <p> + From this it appears that the gracious lord had his moments of regret; but + perhaps it is not altogether strange that when he died, the whole + population “stormed through the streets to meet his funeral train, + not in awe-stricken silence to meditate on the fall of human grandeur, but + to unite in an eager tumult of rejoicing, as if some cruel brigand who had + long held the city in terror were delivered over to them bound and in + chains.” For nearly thirty years this blood-stained miscreant had + reigned over his hapless people in a sovereign plenitude of power, which + by the theory of German imperialism in our day is still a divine right. + </p> + <p> + They called him the Wild Margrave, in their instinctive revolt from the + belief that any man not untamably savage could be guilty of his + atrocities; and they called his son the Last Margrave, with a touch of the + poetry which perhaps records a regret for their extinction as a state. He + did not harry them as his father had done; his mild rule was the effect + partly of the indifference and distaste for his country bred, by his long + sojourns abroad; but doubtless also it was the effect of a kindly nature. + Even in the matter of selling a few thousands of them to fight the battles + of a bad cause on the other side of the world, he had the best of motives, + and faithfully applied the proceeds to the payment of the state debt and + the embellishment of the capital. + </p> + <p> + His mother was a younger sister of Frederick the Great, and was so + constantly at war with her husband that probably she had nothing to do + with the marriage which the Wild Margrave forced upon their son. Love + certainly had nothing to do with it, and the Last Margrave early escaped + from it to the society of Mlle. Clairon, the great French tragedienne, + whom he met in Paris, and whom he persuaded to come and make her home with + him in Ansbach. She lived there seventeen years, and though always an + alien, she bore herself with kindness to all classes, and is still + remembered there by the roll of butter which calls itself a Klarungswecke + in its imperfect French. + </p> + <p> + No roll of butter records in faltering accents the name of the brilliant + and disdainful English lady who replaced this poor tragic muse in the + Margrave's heart, though the lady herself lived to be the last + Margravine of Ansbach, where everybody seems to have hated her with a + passion which she doubtless knew how to return. She was the daughter of + the Earl of Berkeley, and the wife of Lord Craven, a sufficiently + unfaithful and unworthy nobleman by her account, from whom she was living + apart when the Margrave asked her to his capital. There she set herself to + oust Mlle. Clairon with sneers and jests for the theatrical style which + the actress could not outlive. Lady Craven said she was sure Clairon's + nightcap must be a crown of gilt paper; and when Clairon threatened to + kill herself, and the Margrave was alarmed, “You forget,” said + Lady Craven, “that actresses only stab themselves under their + sleeves.” + </p> + <p> + She drove Clairon from Ansbach, and the great tragedienne returned to + Paris, where she remained true to her false friend, and from time to time + wrote him letters full of magnanimous counsel and generous tenderness. But + she could not have been so good company as Lady Craven, who was a very + gifted person, and knew how to compose songs and sing them, and write + comedies and play them, and who could keep the Margrave amused in many + ways. When his loveless and childless wife died he married the English + woman, but he grew more and more weary of his dull little court and his + dull little country, and after a while, considering the uncertain tenure + sovereigns had of their heads since the French King had lost his, and the + fact that he had no heirs to follow him in his principality, he resolved + to cede it for a certain sum to Prussia. To this end his new wife's + urgence was perhaps not wanting. They went to England, where she outlived + him ten years, and wrote her memoirs. + </p> + <p> + The custodian of the Schloss came at last, and the Marches saw instantly + that he was worth waiting for. He was as vainglorious of the palace as any + grand-monarching margrave of them all. He could not have been more + personally superb in showing their different effigies if they had been his + own family portraits, and he would not spare the strangers a single + splendor of the twenty vast, handsome, tiresome, Versailles-like rooms he + led them through. The rooms were fatiguing physically, but so poignantly + interesting that Mrs. March would not have missed, though she perished of + her pleasure, one of the things she saw. She had for once a surfeit of + highhoting in the pictures, the porcelains, the thrones and canopies, the + tapestries, the historical associations with the margraves and their + marriages, with the Great Frederick and the Great Napoleon. The Great + Napoleon's man Bernadotte made the Schloss his headquarters when he + occupied Ansbach after Austerlitz, and here he completed his arrangements + for taking her bargain from Prussia and handing it over to Bavaria, with + whom it still remains. Twice the Great Frederick had sojourned in the + palace; visiting his sister Louise, the wife of the Wild Margrave, and + more than once it had welcomed her next neighbor and sister Wilhelmina, + the Margravine of Baireuth, whose autobiographic voice, piercingly + plaintive and reproachful, seemed to quiver in the air. Here, oddly + enough, the spell of the Wild Margrave weakened in the presence of his + portrait, which signally failed to justify his fame of furious tyrant. + That seems, indeed, to have been rather the popular and historical + conception of him than the impression he made upon his exalted + contemporaries. The Margravine of Baireuth at any rate could so far excuse + her poor blood-stained brother-in-law as to say: “The Margrave of + Ansbach... was a young prince who had been very badly educated. He + continually ill-treated my sister; they led the life of cat and dog. My + sister, it is true, was sometimes in fault.... Her education had been very + bad... She was married at fourteen.” + </p> + <p> + At parting, the custodian told the Marches that he would easily have known + them for Americans by the handsome fee they gave him; they came away flown + with his praise; and their national vanity was again flattered when they + got out into the principal square of Ansbach. There, in a bookseller's + window, they found among the pamphlets teaching different languages + without a master, one devoted to the Amerikanische Sprache as + distinguished from the Englische Sprache. That there could be no mistake, + the cover was printed with colors in a German ideal of the star-spangled + banner; and March said he always knew that we had a language of our own, + and that now he was going in to buy that pamphlet and find out what it was + like. He asked the young shop-woman how it differed from English, which + she spoke fairly well from having lived eight years in Chicago. She said + that it differed from the English mainly in emphasis and pronunciation. + “For instance, the English say 'HALF past', and the + Americans 'Half PAST'; the English say 'laht' and + the Americans say 'late'.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5127}.jpg" alt="{5127}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5127}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The weather had now been clear quite long enough, and it was raining + again, a fine, bitter, piercing drizzle. They asked the girl if it always + rained in Ansbach; and she owned that it nearly always did. She said that + sometimes she longed for a little American summer; that it was never quite + warm in Ansbach; and when they had got out into the rain, March said: + “It was very nice to stumble on Chicago in an Ansbach book-store. + You ought to have told her you had a married daughter in Chicago. Don't + miss another such chance.” + </p> + <p> + “We shall need another bag if we keep on buying books at this rate,” + said his wife with tranquil irrelevance; and not to give him time for + protest; she pushed him into a shop where the valises in the window + perhaps suggested her thought. March made haste to forestall her there by + saying they were Americans, but the mistress of the shop seemed to have + her misgivings, and “Born Americans, perhaps?” she ventured. + She had probably never met any but the naturalized sort, and supposed + these were the only sort. March re-assured her, and then she said she had + a son living in Jersey City, and she made March take his address that he + might tell him he had seen his mother; she had apparently no conception + what a great way Jersey City is from New York. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March would not take his arm when they came out. “Now, that is + what I never can get used to in you, Basil, and I've tried to + palliate it for twenty-seven years. You know you won't look up that + poor woman's son! Why did you let her think you would?” + </p> + <p> + “How could I tell her I wouldn't? Perhaps I shall.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no! You never will. I know you're good and kind, and that's + why I can't understand your being so cruel. When we get back, how + will you ever find time to go over to Jersey City?” + </p> + <p> + He could not tell, but at last he said: “I'll tell you what! + You must keep me up to it. You know how much you enjoy making me do my + duty, and this will be such a pleasure!” + </p> + <p> + She laughed forlornly, but after a moment she took his arm; and he began, + from the example of this good mother, to philosophize the continuous + simplicity and sanity of the people of Ansbach under all their civic + changes. Saints and soldiers, knights and barons, margraves, princes, + kings, emperors, had come and gone, and left their single-hearted, + friendly subjectfolk pretty much what they found them. The people had + suffered and survived through a thousand wars, and apparently prospered on + under all governments and misgovernments. When the court was most French, + most artificial, most vicious, the citizen life must have remained + immutably German, dull, and kind. After all, he said, humanity seemed + everywhere to be pretty safe, and pretty much the same. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that is all very well,” she returned, “and you can + theorize interestingly enough; but I'm afraid that poor mother, + there, had no more reality for you than those people in the past. You + appreciate her as a type, and you don't care for her as a human + being. You're nothing but a dreamer, after all. I don't blame + you,” she went on. “It's your temperament, and you can't + change, now.” + </p> + <p> + “I may change for the worse,” he threatened. “I think I + have, already. I don't believe I could stand up to Dryfoos, now, as + I did for poor old Lindau, when I risked your bread and butter for his. I + look back in wonder and admiration at myself. I've steadily lost + touch with life since then. I'm a trifler, a dilettante, and an + amateur of the right and the good as I used to be when I was young. Oh, I + have the grace to be troubled at times, now, and once I never was. It + never occurred to me then that the world wasn't made to interest me, + or at the best to instruct me, but it does, now, at times.” + </p> + <p> + She always came to his defence when he accused himself; it was the best + ground he could take with her. “I think you behaved very well with + Burnamy. You did your duty then.” + </p> + <p> + “Did I? I'm not so sure. At any rate, it's the last time + I shall do it. I've served my term. I think I should tell him that + he was all right in that business with Stoller, if I were to meet him, + now.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't it strange,” she said, provisionally, “that + we don't come upon a trace of him anywhere in Ansbach?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you've been hoping he would turn up!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I don't deny it. I feel very unhappy about him.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't. He's too much like me. He would have been + quite capable of promising that poor woman to look up her son in Jersey + City. When I think of that, I have no patience with Burnamy.” + </p> + <p> + “I am going to ask the landlord about him, now he's got rid of + his highhotes,” said Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0133" id="link2H_4_0133"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5133}.jpg" alt="{5133}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5133}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + XLIX. + </h2> + <p> + They went home to their hotel for their midday dinner, and to the comfort + of having it nearly all to themselves. Prince Leopold had risen early, + like all the hard-working potentates of the continent, and got away to the + manoeuvres somewhere at six o'clock; the decorations had been + removed, and the court-yard where the hired coach and pair of the prince + had rolled in the evening before had only a few majestic ducks waddling + about in it and quacking together, indifferent to the presence of a yellow + mail-wagon, on which the driver had been apparently dozing till the hour + of noon should sound. He sat there immovable, but at the last stroke of + the clock he woke up and drove vigorously away to the station. + </p> + <p> + The dining-room which they had been kept out of by the prince the night + before was not such as to embitter the sense of their wrong by its + splendor. After all, the tastes of royalty must be simple, if the prince + might have gone to the Schloss and had chosen rather to stay at this + modest hotel; but perhaps the Schloss was reserved for more immediate + royalty than the brothers of prince-regents; and in that case he could not + have done better than dine at the Golden Star. If he paid no more than two + marks, he dined as cheaply as a prince could wish, and as abundantly. The + wine at Ansbach was rather thin and sour, but the bread, March declared, + was the best bread in the whole world, not excepting the bread of + Carlsbad. + </p> + <p> + After dinner the Marches had some of the local pastry, not so incomparable + as the bread, with their coffee, which they had served them in a pavilion + of the beautiful garden remaining to the hotel from the time when it was a + patrician mansion. The garden had roses in it and several sorts of late + summer flowers, as well as ripe cherries, currants, grapes, and a + Virginia-creeper red with autumn, all harmoniously contemporaneous, as + they might easily be in a climate where no one of the seasons can very + well know itself from the others. It had not been raining for half an + hour, and the sun was scalding hot, so that the shelter of their roof was + very grateful, and the puddles of the paths were drying up with the haste + which puddles have to make in Germany, between rains, if they are ever + going to dry up at all. + </p> + <p> + The landlord came out to see if they were well served, and he was + sincerely obliging in the English he had learned as a waiter in London. + Mrs. March made haste to ask him if a young American of the name of + Burnamy had been staying with him a few weeks before; and she described + Burnamy's beauty and amiability so vividly that the landlord, if he + had been a woman, could not have failed to remember him. But he failed, + with a real grief, apparently, and certainly a real politeness, to recall + either his name or his person. The landlord was an intelligent, + good-looking young fellow; he told them that he was lately married, and + they liked him so much that they were sorry to see him afterwards + privately boxing the ears of the piccolo, the waiter's little + understudy. Perhaps the piccolo deserved it, but they would rather not + have witnessed his punishment; his being in a dress-coat seemed to make it + also an indignity. + </p> + <p> + In the late afternoon they went to the cafe in the old Orangery of the + Schloss for a cup of tea, and found themselves in the company of several + Ansbach ladies who had brought their work, in the evident habit of coming + there every afternoon for their coffee and for a dish of gossip. They were + kind, uncomely, motherly-looking bodies; one of them combed her hair at + the table; and they all sat outside of the cafe with their feet on the + borders of the puddles which had not dried up there in the shade of the + building. + </p> + <p> + A deep lawn, darkened at its farther edge by the long shadows of trees, + stretched before them with the sunset light on it, and it was all very + quiet and friendly. The tea brought to the Marches was brewed from some + herb apparently of native growth, with bits of what looked like willow + leaves in it, but it was flavored with a clove in each cup, and they sat + contentedly over it and tried to make out what the Ansbach ladies were, + talking about. These had recognized the strangers for Americans, and one + of them explained that Americans spoke the same language as the English + and yet were not quite the same people. + </p> + <p> + “She differs from the girl in the book-store,” said March, + translating to his wife. “Let us get away before she says that we + are not so nice as the English,” and they made off toward the avenue + of trees beyond the lawn. + </p> + <p> + There were a few people walking up and down in the alley, making the most + of the moment of dry weather. They saluted one another like acquaintances, + and three clean-shaven, walnut-faced old peasants bowed in response to + March's stare, with a self-respectful civility. They were yeomen of + the region of Ansbach, where the country round about is dotted with their + cottages, and not held in vast homeless tracts by the nobles as in North + Germany. + </p> + <p> + The Bavarian who had imparted this fact to March at breakfast, not without + a certain tacit pride in it to the disadvantage of the Prussians, was at + the supper table, and was disposed to more talk, which he managed in a + stout, slow English of his own. He said he had never really spoken English + with an English-speaking person before, or at all since he studied it in + school at Munich. + </p> + <p> + “I should be afraid to put my school-boy German against your + English,” March said, and, when he had understood, the other laughed + for pleasure, and reported the compliment to his wife in their own + parlance. “You Germans certainly beat us in languages.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well,” he retaliated, “the Americans beat us in + some other things,” and Mrs. March felt that this was but just; she + would have liked to mention a few, but not ungraciously; she and the + German lady kept smiling across the table, and trying detached vocables of + their respective tongues upon each other. + </p> + <p> + The Bavarian said he lived in Munich still, but was in Ansbach on an + affair of business; he asked March if he were not going to see the + manoeuvres somewhere. Till now the manoeuvres had merely been the + interesting background of their travel; but now, hearing that the Emperor + of Germany, the King of Saxony, the Regent of Bavaria, and the King of + Wurtemberg, the Grand-Dukes of Weimar and Baden, with visiting potentates + of all sorts, and innumerable lesser highhotes, foreign and domestic, were + to be present, Mrs. March resolved that they must go to at least one of + the reviews. + </p> + <p> + “If you go to Frankfort, you can see the King of Italy too,” + said the Bavarian, but he owned that they probably could not get into a + hotel there, and he asked why they should not go to Wurzburg, where they + could see all the sovereigns except the King of Italy. + </p> + <p> + “Wurzburg? Wurzburg?” March queried of his wife. “Where + did we hear of that place?” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't it where Burnamy said Mr. Stoller had left his + daughters at school?” + </p> + <p> + “So it is! And is that on the way to the Rhine?” he asked the + Bavarian. + </p> + <p> + “No, no! Wurzburg is on the Main, about five hours from Ansbach. And + it is a very interesting place. It is where the good wine comes from.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” said March, and in their rooms his wife got out all + their guides and maps and began to inform herself and to inform him about + Wurzburg. But first she said it was very cold and he must order some fire + made in the tall German stove in their parlor. The maid who came said + “Gleich,” but she did not come back, and about the time they + were getting furious at her neglect, they began getting warm. He put his + hand on the stove and found it hot; then he looked down for a door in the + stove where he might shut a damper; there was no door. + </p> + <p> + “Good heavens!” he shouted. “It's like something + in a dream,” and he ran to pull the bell for help. + </p> + <p> + “No, no! Don't ring! It will make us ridiculous. They'll + think Americans don't know anything. There must be some way of + dampening the stove; and if there isn't, I'd rather suffocate + than give myself away.” Mrs. March ran and opened the window, while + her husband carefully examined the stove at every point, and explored the + pipe for the damper in vain. “Can't you find it?” The + night wind came in raw and damp, and threatened to blow their lamp out, + and she was obliged to shut the window. + </p> + <p> + “Not a sign of it. I will go down and ask the landlord in strict + confidence how they dampen their stoves in Ansbach.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, if you must. It's getting hotter every moment.” + She followed him timorously into the corridor, lit by a hanging lamp, + turned low for the night. + </p> + <p> + He looked at his watch; it was eleven o'clock. “I'm + afraid they're all in bed.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; you mustn't go! We must try to find out for ourselves. + What can that door be for?” + </p> + <p> + It was a low iron door, half the height of a man, in the wall near their + room, and it yielded to his pull. “Get a candle,” he + whispered, and when she brought it, he stooped to enter the doorway. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do you think you'd better?” she hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “You can come, too, if you're afraid. You've always said + you wanted to die with me.” + </p> + <p> + “Well. But you go first.” + </p> + <p> + He disappeared within, and then came back to the doorway. “Just come + in here, a moment.” She found herself in a sort of antechamber, half + the height of her own room, and following his gesture she looked down + where in one corner some crouching monster seemed showing its fiery teeth + in a grin of derision. This grin was the damper of their stove, and this + was where the maid had kindled the fire which had been roasting them + alive, and was still joyously chuckling to itself. “I think that + Munich man was wrong. I don't believe we beat the Germans in + anything. There isn't a hotel in the United States where the stoves + have no front doors, and every one of them has the space of a good-sized + flat given up to the convenience of kindling a fire in it.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0134" id="link2H_4_0134"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5141}.jpg" alt="{5141}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5141}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + L. + </h2> + <p> + After a red sunset of shameless duplicity March was awakened to a rainy + morning by the clinking of cavalry hoofs on the pavement of the + long-irregular square before the hotel, and he hurried out to see the + passing of the soldiers on their way to the manoeuvres. They were troops + of all arms, but mainly infantry, and as they stumped heavily through the + groups of apathetic citizens in their mud-splashed boots, they took the + steady downpour on their dripping helmets. Some of them were smoking, but + none smiling, except one gay fellow who made a joke to a serving-maid on + the sidewalk. An old officer halted his staff to scold a citizen who had + given him a mistaken direction. The shame of the erring man was great, and + the pride of a fellow-citizen who corrected him was not less, though the + arrogant brute before whom they both cringed used them with equal scorn; + the younger officers listened indifferently round on horseback behind the + glitter of their eyeglasses, and one of them amused himself by turning the + silver bangles on his wrist. + </p> + <p> + Then the files of soldier slaves passed on, and March crossed the bridge + spanning the gardens in what had been the city moat, and found his way to + the market-place, under the walls of the old Gothic church of St. + Gumpertus. The market, which spread pretty well over the square, seemed to + be also a fair, with peasants' clothes and local pottery for sale, + as well as fruits and vegetables, and large baskets of flowers, with old + women squatting before them. It was all as picturesque as the markets used + to be in Montreal and Quebec, and in a cloudy memory of his wedding + journey long before, he bought so lavishly of the flowers to carry back to + his wife that a little girl, who saw his arm-load from her window as he + returned, laughed at him, and then drew shyly back. Her laugh reminded him + how many happy children he had seen in Germany, and how freely they seemed + to play everywhere, with no one to make them afraid. When they grow up the + women laugh as little as the men, whose rude toil the soldiering leaves + them to. + </p> + <p> + He got home with his flowers, and his wife took them absently, and made + him join her in watching the sight which had fascinated her in the street + under their windows. A slender girl, with a waist as slim as a corseted + officer's, from time to time came out of the house across the way to + the firewood which had been thrown from a wagon upon the sidewalk there. + Each time she embraced several of the heavy four-foot logs and disappeared + with them in-doors. Once she paused from her work to joke with a + well-dressed man who came by; and seemed to find nothing odd in her work; + some gentlemen lounging at the window over head watched her with no + apparent sense of anomaly. + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of that?” asked Mrs. March. “I think + it's good exercise for the girl, and I should like to recommend it + to those fat fellows at the window. I suppose she'll saw the wood in + the cellar, and then lug it up stairs, and pile it up in the stoves' + dressing-rooms.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't laugh! It's too disgraceful.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know! If you like, I'll offer these + gentlemen across the way your opinion of it in the language of Goethe and + Schiller.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish you'd offer my opinion of them. They've been + staring in here with an opera-glass.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's a different affair. There isn't much going + on in Ansbach, and they have to make the most of it.” + </p> + <p> + The lower casements of the houses were furnished with mirrors set at right + angles with them, and nothing which went on in the streets was lost. Some + of the streets were long and straight, and at rare moments they lay full + of sun. At such times the Marches were puzzled by the sight of citizens + carrying open umbrellas, and they wondered if they had forgotten to put + them down, or thought it not worth while in the brief respites from the + rain, or were profiting by such rare occasions to dry them; and some other + sights remained baffling to the last. Once a man with his hands pinioned + before him, and a gendarme marching stolidly after him with his musket on + his shoulder, passed under their windows; but who he was, or what he, had + done, or was to suffer, they never knew. Another time a pair went by on + the way to the railway station: a young man carrying an umbrella under his + arm, and a very decent-looking old woman lugging a heavy carpet bag, who + left them to the lasting question whether she was the young man's + servant in her best clothes, or merely his mother. + </p> + <p> + Women do not do everything in Ansbach, however, the sacristans being men, + as the Marches found when they went to complete their impression of the + courtly past of the city by visiting the funeral chapel of the margraves + in the crypt of St. Johannis Church. In the little ex-margravely capital + there was something of the neighborly interest in the curiosity of + strangers which endears Italian witness. The white-haired street-sweeper + of Ansbach, who willingly left his broom to guide them to the house of the + sacristan, might have been a street-sweeper in Vicenza; and the old + sacristan, when he put his velvet skull-cap out of an upper window and + professed his willingness to show them the chapel, disappointed them by + saying “Gleich!” instead of “Subito!” The + architecture of the houses was a party to the illusion. St. Johannis, like + the older church of St. Gumpertus, is Gothic, with the two unequal towers + which seem distinctive of Ansbach; at the St. Gumpertus end of the place + where they both stand the dwellings are Gothic too, and might be in + Hamburg; but at the St. Johannis end they seem to have felt the exotic + spirit of the court, and are of a sort of Teutonized renaissance. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5145}.jpg" alt="{5145}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5145}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The rococo margraves and margravines used of course to worship in St. + Johannis Church. Now they all, such as did not marry abroad, lie in the + crypt of the church, in caskets of bronze and copper and marble, with + draperies of black samite, more and more funereally vainglorious to the + last. Their courtly coffins are ranged in a kind of hemicycle, with the + little coffins of the children that died before they came to the knowledge + of their greatness. On one of these a kneeling figurine in bronze holds up + the effigy of the child within; on another the epitaph plays tenderly with + the fate of a little princess, who died in her first year. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + In the Rose-month was this sweet Rose taken. + For the Rose-kind hath she earth forsaken. + The Princess is the Rose, that here no longer blows. + From the stem by death's hand rudely shaken. + Then rest in the Rose-house. + Little Princess-Rosebud dear! + There life's Rose shall bloom again + In Heaven's sunshine clear. +</pre> + <p> + While March struggled to get this into English words, two German ladies, + who had made themselves of his party, passed reverently away and left him + to pay the sacristan alone. + </p> + <p> + “That is all right,” he said, when he came out. “I think + we got the most value; and they didn't look as if they could afford + it so well; though you never can tell, here. These ladies may be the + highest kind of highhotes practising a praiseworthy economy. I hope the + lesson won't be lost on us. They have saved enough by us for their + coffee at the Orangery. Let us go and have a little willow-leaf tea!” + </p> + <p> + The Orangery perpetually lured them by what it had kept of the days when + an Orangery was essential to the self-respect of every sovereign prince, + and of so many private gentlemen. On their way they always passed the + statue of Count Platen, the dull poet whom Heine's hate would have + delivered so cruelly over to an immortality of contempt, but who stands + there near the Schloss in a grass-plot prettily planted with flowers, and + ignores his brilliant enemy in the comfortable durability of bronze; and + there always awaited them in the old pleasaunce the pathos of Kaspar + Hauser's fate; which his murder affixes to it with a red stain. + </p> + <p> + After their cups of willow leaves at the cafe they went up into that nook + of the plantation where the simple shaft of church-warden's Gothic + commemorates the assassination on the spot where it befell. Here the + hapless youth, whose mystery will never be fathomed on earth, used to come + for a little respite from his harsh guardian in Ansbach, homesick for the + kindness of his Nuremberg friends; and here his murderer found him and + dealt him the mortal blow. + </p> + <p> + March lingered upon the last sad circumstance of the tragedy in which the + wounded boy dragged himself home, to suffer the suspicion and neglect of + his guardian till death attested his good faith beyond cavil. He said this + was the hardest thing to bear in all his story, and that he would like to + have a look into the soul of the dull, unkind wretch who had so misread + his charge. He was going on with an inquiry that pleased him much, when + his wife pulled him abruptly away. + </p> + <p> + “Now, I see, you are yielding to the fascination of it, and you are + wanting to take the material from Burnamy!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well, let him have the material; he will spoil it. And I can + always reject it, if he offers it to 'Every Other Week'.” + </p> + <p> + “I could believe, after your behavior to that poor woman about her + son in Jersey City, you're really capable of it.” + </p> + <p> + “What comprehensive inculpation! I had forgotten about that poor + woman.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0135" id="link2H_4_0135"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5151}.jpg" alt="{5151}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5151}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LI. + </h2> + <p> + The letters which March had asked his Nuremberg banker to send them came + just as they were leaving Ansbach. The landlord sent them down to the + station, and Mrs. March opened them in the train, and read them first so + that she could prepare him if there were anything annoying in them, as + well as indulge her livelier curiosity. + </p> + <p> + “They're from both the children,” she said, without + waiting for him to ask. “You can look at them later. There's a + very nice letter from Mrs. Adding to me, and one from dear little Rose for + you.” Then she hesitated, with her hand on a letter faced down in + her lap. “And there's one from Agatha Triscoe, which I wonder + what you'll think of.” She delayed again, and then flashed it + open before him, and waited with a sort of impassioned patience while he + read it. + </p> + <p> + He read it, and gave it back to her. “There doesn't seem to be + very much in it.” + </p> + <p> + “That's it! Don't you think I had a right to there being + something in it, after all I did for her?” + </p> + <p> + “I always hoped you hadn't done anything for her, but if you + have, why should she give herself away on paper? It's a very proper + letter.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a little too proper, and it's the last I shall + have to do with her. She knew that I should be on pins and needles till I + heard how her father had taken Burnamy's being there, that night, + and she doesn't say a word about it.” + </p> + <p> + “The general may have had a tantrum that she couldn't + describe. Perhaps she hasn't told him, yet.” + </p> + <p> + “She would tell him instantly!” cried Mrs. March who began to + find reason in the supposition, as well as comfort for the hurt which the + girl's reticence had given her. “Or if she wouldn't, it + would be because she was waiting for the best chance.” + </p> + <p> + “That would be like the wise daughter of a difficult father. She may + be waiting for the best chance to say how he took it. No, I'm all + for Miss Triscoe, and I hope that now, if she's taken herself off + our hands, she'll keep off.” + </p> + <p> + “It's altogether likely that he's made her promise not + to tell me anything about it,” Mrs. March mused aloud. + </p> + <p> + “That would be unjust to a person who had behaved so discreetly as + you have,” said her husband. + </p> + <p> + They were on their way to Wurzburg, and at the first station, which was a + junction, a lady mounted to their compartment just before the train began + to move. She was stout and middle-aged, and had never been pretty, but she + bore herself with a kind of authority in spite of her thread gloves, her + dowdy gray travelling-dress, and a hat of lower middle-class English + tastelessness. She took the only seat vacant, a backward-riding place + beside a sleeping passenger who looked like a commercial traveller, but + she seemed ill at ease in it, and March offered her his seat. She accepted + it very promptly, and thanked him for it in the English of a German, and + Mrs. March now classed her as a governess who had been teaching in England + and had acquired the national feeling for dress. But in this character she + found her interesting, and even a little pathetic, and she made her some + overtures of talk which the other met eagerly enough. They were now + running among low hills, not so picturesque as those between Eger and + Nuremberg, but of much the same toylike quaintness in the villages dropped + here and there in their valleys. One small town, completely walled, with + its gray houses and red roofs, showed through the green of its trees and + gardens so like a colored print in a child's story-book that Mrs. + March cried out for joy in it, and then accounted for her rapture by + explaining to the stranger that they were Americans and had never been in + Germany before. The lady was not visibly affected by the fact, she said + casually that she had often been in that little town, which she named; her + uncle had a castle in the country back of it, and she came with her + husband for the shooting in the autumn. By a natural transition she spoke + of her children, for whom she had an English governess; she said she had + never been in England, but had learnt the language from a governess in her + own childhood; and through it all Mrs. March perceived that she was trying + to impress them with her consequence. To humor her pose, she said they had + been looking up the scene of Kaspar Hauser's death at Ansbach; and + at this the stranger launched into such intimate particulars concerning + him, and was so familiar at first hands with the facts of his life, that + Mrs. March let her run on, too much amused with her pretensions to betray + any doubt of her. She wondered if March were enjoying it all as much, and + from time to time she tried to catch his eye, while the lady talked + constantly and rather loudly, helping herself out with words from them + both when her English failed her. In the safety of her perfect + understanding of the case, Mrs. March now submitted farther, and even + suffered some patronage from her, which in another mood she would have met + with a decided snub. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5155}.jpg" alt="{5155}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5155}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + As they drew in among the broad vine-webbed slopes of the Wurzburg, hills, + the stranger said she was going to change there, and take a train on to + Berlin. Mrs. March wondered whether she would be able to keep up the + comedy to the last; and she had to own that she carried it off very easily + when the friends whom she was expecting did not meet her on the arrival of + their train. She refused March's offers of help, and remained + quietly seated while he got out their wraps and bags. She returned with a + hardy smile the cold leave Mrs. March took of her; and when a porter came + to the door, and forced his way by the Marches, to ask with anxious + servility if she, were the Baroness von——-, she bade the man + get them. a 'traeger', and then come back for her. She waved + them a complacent adieu before they mixed with the crowd and lost sight of + her. + </p> + <p> + “Well, my dear,” said March, addressing the snobbishness in + his wife which he knew to be so wholly impersonal, “you've + mingled with one highhote, anyway. I must say she didn't look it, + any more than the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, and yet she's only a + baroness. Think of our being three hours in the same compartment, and she + doing all she could to impress us and our getting no good of it! I hoped + you were feeling her quality, so that we should have it in the family, + anyway, and always know what it was like. But so far, the highhotes have + all been terribly disappointing.” + </p> + <p> + He teased on as they followed the traeger with their baggage out of the + station; and in the omnibus on the way to their hotel, he recurred to the + loss they had suffered in the baroness's failure to dramatize her + nobility effectually. “After all, perhaps she was as much + disappointed in us. I don't suppose we looked any more like + democrats than she looked like an aristocrat.” + </p> + <p> + “But there's a great difference,” Mrs. March returned at + last. “It isn't at all a parallel case. We were not real + democrats, and she was a real aristocrat.” + </p> + <p> + “To be sure. There is that way of looking at it. That's rather + novel; I wish I had thought of that myself. She was certainly more to + blame than we were.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0136" id="link2H_4_0136"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5159}.jpg" alt="{5159}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5159}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LII. + </h2> + <p> + The square in front of the station was planted with flag-poles wreathed in + evergreens; a triumphal arch was nearly finished, and a colossal allegory + in imitation bronze was well on the way to completion, in honor of the + majesties who were coming for the manoeuvres. The streets which the + omnibus passed through to the Swan Inn were draped with the imperial + German and the royal Bavarian colors; and the standards of the visiting + nationalities decked the fronts of the houses where their military + attaches were lodged; but the Marches failed to see our own banner, and + were spared for the moment the ignominy of finding it over an apothecary + shop in a retired avenue. The sun had come out, the sky overhead was of a + smiling blue; and they felt the gala-day glow and thrill in the depths of + their inextinguishable youth. + </p> + <p> + The Swan Inn sits on one of the long quays bordering the Main, and its + windows look down upon the bridges and shipping of the river; but the + traveller reaches it by a door in the rear, through an archway into a back + street, where an odor dating back to the foundation of the city is waiting + to welcome him. + </p> + <p> + The landlord was there, too, and he greeted the Marches so cordially that + they fully partook his grief in being able to offer them rooms on the + front of the house for two nights only. They reconciled themselves to the + necessity of then turning out for the staff of the King of Saxony, the + more readily because they knew that there was no hope of better things at + any other hotel. + </p> + <p> + The rooms which they could have for the time were charming, and they came + down to supper in a glazed gallery looking out on the river picturesque + with craft of all fashions: with row-boats, sail-boats, and little + steamers, but mainly with long black barges built up into houses in the + middle, and defended each by a little nervous German dog. Long rafts of + logs weltered in the sunset red which painted the swift current, and + mantled the immeasurable vineyards of the hills around like the color of + their ripening grapes. Directly in face rose a castled steep, which kept + the ranging walls and the bastions and battlements of the time when such a + stronghold could have defended the city from foes without or from tumult + within. The arches of a stately bridge spanned the river sunsetward, and + lifted a succession of colossal figures against the crimson sky. + </p> + <p> + “I guess we have been wasting our time, my dear,” said March, + as they, turned from this beauty to the question of supper. “I wish + we had always been here!” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5161}.jpg" alt="{5161}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5161}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Their waiter had put them at a table in a division of the gallery beyond + that which they entered, where some groups of officers were noisily + supping. There was no one in their room but a man whose face was + indistinguishable against the light, and two young girls who glanced at + them with looks at once quelled and defiant, and then after a stare at the + officers in the gallery beyond, whispered together with suppressed + giggling. The man fed on without noticing them, except now and then to + utter a growl that silenced the whispering and giggling for a moment. The + Marches, from no positive evidence of any sense, decided that they were + Americans. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I feel responsible for them as their + fellow-countryman; I should, once,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't that. It's the worry of trying to make out why + they are just what they are,” his wife returned. + </p> + <p> + The girls drew the man's attention to them and he looked at them for + the first time; then after a sort of hesitation he went on with his + supper. They had only begun theirs when he rose with the two girls, whom + Mrs. March now saw to be of the same size and dressed alike, and came + heavily toward them. + </p> + <p> + “I thought you was in Carlsbad,” he said bluntly to March, + with a nod at Mrs. March. He added, with a twist of his head toward the + two girls, “My daughters,” and then left them to her, while he + talked on with her husband. “Come to see this foolery, I suppose. I'm + on my way to the woods for my after-cure; but I thought I might as well + stop and give the girls a chance; they got a week's vacation, + anyway.” Stoller glanced at them with a sort of troubled tenderness + in his strong dull face. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. I understood they were at school here,” said March, + and he heard one of them saying, in a sweet, high pipe to his wife: + </p> + <p> + “Ain't it just splendid? I ha'n't seen anything + equal to it since the Worrld's Fairr.” She spoke with a strong + contortion of the Western r, and her sister hastened to put in: + </p> + <p> + “I don't think it's to be compared with the Worrld's + Fairr. But these German girls, here, just think it's great. It just + does me good to laff at 'em, about it. I like to tell 'em + about the electric fountain and the Courrt of Lionorr when they get to + talkin' about the illuminations they're goun' to have. + You goun' out to the parade? You better engage your carriage right + away if you arre. The carrs'll be a perfect jam. Father's + engaged ourrs; he had to pay sixty marrks forr it.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5167}.jpg" alt="{5167}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5167}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They chattered on without shyness and on as easy terms with a woman of + three times their years as if she had been a girl of their own age; they + willingly took the whole talk to themselves, and had left her quite + outside of it before Stoller turned to her. + </p> + <p> + “I been telling Mr. March here that you better both come to the + parade with us. I guess my twospanner will hold five; or if it won't, + we'll make it. I don't believe there's a carriage left + in Wurzburg; and if you go in the cars, you'll have to walk three or + four miles before you get to the parade-ground. You think it over,” + he said to March. “Nobody else is going to have the places, anyway, + and you can say yes at the last minute just as well as now.” + </p> + <p> + He moved off with his girls, who looked over their shoulders at the + officers as they passed on through the adjoining room. + </p> + <p> + “My dear!” cried Mrs. March. “Didn't you suppose + he classed us with Burnamy in that business? Why should he be polite to + us?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he wants you to chaperon his daughters. He's probably + heard of your performance at the Kurhaus ball. But he knows that I thought + Burnamy in the wrong. This may be Stoller's way of wiping out an + obligation. Wouldn't you like to go with him?” + </p> + <p> + “The mere thought of his being in the same town is prostrating. I'd + far rather he hated us; then he would avoid us.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he doesn't own the town, and if it comes to the worst, + perhaps we can avoid him. Let us go out, anyway, and see if we can't.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no; I'm too tired; but you go. And get all the maps and + guides you can; there's so very little in Baedeker, and almost + nothing in that great hulking Bradshaw of yours; and I'm sure there + must be the most interesting history of Wurzburg. Isn't it strange + that we haven't the slightest association with the name?” + </p> + <p> + “I've been rummaging in my mind, and I've got hold of an + association at last,” said March. “It's beer; a sign in + a Sixth Avenue saloon window Wurzburger Hof-Brau.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter if it is beer. Find some sketch of the history, and we'll + try to get away from the Stollers in it. I pitied those wild girls, too. + What crazy images of the world must fill their empty minds! How their + ignorant thoughts must go whirling out into the unknown! I don't + envy their father. Do hurry back! I shall be thinking about them every + instant till you come.” + </p> + <p> + She said this, but in their own rooms it was so soothing to sit looking + through the long twilight at the lovely landscape that the sort of bruise + given by their encounter with the Stollers had left her consciousness + before March returned. She made him admire first the convent church on a + hill further up the river which exactly balanced the fortress in front of + them, and then she seized upon the little books he had brought, and set + him to exploring the labyrinths of their German, with a mounting + exultation in his discoveries. There was a general guide to the city, and + a special guide, with plans and personal details of the approaching + manoeuvres and the princes who were to figure in them; and there was a + sketch of the local history: a kind of thing that the Germans know how to + write particularly, well, with little gleams of pleasant humor blinking + through it. For the study of this, Mrs. March realized, more and more + passionately, that they were in the very most central and convenient + point, for the history of Wurzburg might be said to have begun with her + prince-bishops, whose rule had begun in the twelfth century, and who had + built, on a forgotten Roman work, the fortress of the Marienburg on that + vineyarded hill over against the Swan Inn. There had of course been + history before that, but 'nothing so clear, nothing so peculiarly + swell, nothing that so united the glory of this world and the next as that + of the prince-bishops. They had made the Marienburg their home, and kept + it against foreign and domestic foes for five hundred years. Shut within + its well-armed walls they had awed the often-turbulent city across the + Main; they had held it against the embattled farmers in the Peasants' + War, and had splendidly lost it to Gustavus Adolphus, and then got it back + again and held it till Napoleon took it from them. He gave it with their + flock to the Bavarians, who in turn briefly yielded it to the Prussians in + 1866, and were now in apparently final possession of it. + </p> + <p> + Before the prince-bishops, Charlemagne and Barbarossa had come and gone, + and since the prince-bishops there had been visiting thrones and kingdoms + enough in the ancient city, which was soon to be illustrated by the + presence of imperial Germany, royal, Wirtemberg and Saxony, grand-ducal + Baden and Weimar, and a surfeit of all the minor potentates among those + who speak the beautiful language of the Ja. + </p> + <p> + But none of these could dislodge the prince-bishops from that supreme + place which they had at once taken in Mrs. March's fancy. The + potentates were all going to be housed in the vast palace which the + prince-bishops had built themselves in Wurzburg as soon as they found it + safe to come down from their stronghold of Marienburg, and begin to adorn + their city, and to confirm it in its intense fidelity to the Church. + Tiepolo had come up out of Italy to fresco their palace, where he wrought + year after year, in that worldly taste which has somehow come to express + the most sovereign moment of ecclesiasticism. It prevailed so universally + in Wurzburg that it left her with the name of the Rococo City, intrenched + in a period of time equally remote from early Christianity and modern + Protestantism. Out of her sixty thousand souls, only ten thousand are now + of the reformed religion, and these bear about the same relation to the + Catholic spirit of the place that the Gothic architecture bears to the + baroque. + </p> + <p> + As long as the prince-bishops lasted the Wurzburgers got on very well with + but one newspaper, and perhaps the smallest amount of merrymaking known + outside of the colony of Massachusetts Bay at the same epoch. The + prince-bishops had their finger in everybody's pie, and they + portioned out the cakes and ale, which were made according to formulas of + their own. The distractions were all of a religious character; churches, + convents, monasteries, abounded; ecclesiastical processions and + solemnities were the spectacles that edified if they did not amuse the + devout population. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to March an ironical outcome of all this spiritual severity that + one of the greatest modern scientific discoveries should have been made in + Wurzburg, and that the Roentgen rays should now be giving her name a + splendor destined to eclipse the glories of her past. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March could not allow that they would do so; or at least that the + name of Roentgen would ever lend more lustre to his city than that of + Longfellow's Walther von der Vogelweide. She was no less surprised + than pleased to realize that this friend of the birds was a Wurzburger, + and she said that their first pilgrimage in the morning should be to the + church where he lies buried. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0137" id="link2H_4_0137"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5173}.jpg" alt="{5173}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5173}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LIII. + </h2> + <p> + March went down to breakfast not quite so early as his wife had planned, + and left her to have her coffee in her room. He got a pleasant table in + the gallery overlooking the river, and he decided that the landscape, + though it now seemed to be rather too much studied from a drop-certain, + had certainly lost nothing of its charm in the clear morning light. The + waiter brought his breakfast, and after a little delay came back with a + card which he insisted was for March. It was not till he put on his + glasses and read the name of Mr. R. M. Kenby that he was able at all to + agree with the waiter, who stood passive at his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “why wasn't this card sent up + last night?” + </p> + <p> + The waiter explained that the gentleman had just, given him his card, + after asking March's nationality, and was then breakfasting in the + next room. March caught up his napkin and ran round the partition wall, + and Kenby rose with his napkin and hurried to meet him. + </p> + <p> + “I thought it must be you,” he called out, joyfully, as they + struck their extended hands together, “but so many people look + alike, nowadays, that I don't trust my eyes any more.” + </p> + <p> + Kenby said he had spent the time since they last met partly in Leipsic and + partly in Gotha, where he had amused himself in rubbing up his rusty + German. As soon as he realized that Wurzburg was so near he had slipped + down from Gotha for a glimpse of the manoeuvres. He added that he supposed + March was there to see them, and he asked with a quite unembarrassed smile + if they had met Mr. Adding in Carlsbad, and without heeding March's + answer, he laughed and added: “Of course, I know she must have told + Mrs. March all about it.” + </p> + <p> + March could not deny this; he laughed, too; though in his wife's + absence he felt bound to forbid himself anything more explicit. + </p> + <p> + “I don't give it up, you know,” Kenby went on, with + perfect ease. “I'm not a young fellow, if you call thirty-nine + old.” + </p> + <p> + “At my age I don't,” March put in, and they roared + together, in men's security from the encroachments of time. + </p> + <p> + “But she happens to be the only woman I've ever really wanted + to marry, for more than a few days at a stretch. You know how it is with + us.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I know,” said March, and they shouted again. + </p> + <p> + “We're in love, and we're out of love, twenty times. But + this isn't a mere fancy; it's a conviction. And there's + no reason why she shouldn't marry me.” + </p> + <p> + March smiled gravely, and his smile was not lost upon Kenby. “You + mean the boy,” he said. “Well, I like Rose,” and now + March really felt swept from his feet. “She doesn't deny that + she likes me, but she seems to think that her marrying again will take her + from him; the fact is, it will only give me to him. As for devoting her + whole life to him, she couldn't do a worse thing for him. What the + boy needs is a man's care, and a man's will—Good + heavens! You don't think I could ever be unkind to the little soul?” + Kenby threw himself forward over the table. + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow!” March protested. + </p> + <p> + “I'd rather cut off my right hand!” Kenby pursued, + excitedly, and then he said, with a humorous drop: “The fact is, I + don't believe I should want her so much if I couldn't have + Rose too. I want to have them both. So far, I've only got no for an + answer; but I'm not going to keep it. I had a letter from Rose at + Carlsbad, the other day; and—” + </p> + <p> + The waiter came forward with a folded scrap of paper on his salver, which + March knew must be from his wife. “What is keeping you so?” + she wrote. “I am all ready.” “It's from Mrs. + March,” he explained to Kenby. “I am going out with her on + some errands. I'm awfully glad to see you again. We must talk it all + over, and you must—you mustn't—Mrs. March will want to + see you later—I—Are you in the hotel?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes. I'll see you at the one-o'clock table d'hote, + I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + March went away with his head whirling in the question whether he should + tell his wife at once of Kenby's presence, or leave her free for the + pleasures of Wurzburg, till he could shape the fact into some safe and + acceptable form. She met him at the door with her guide-books, wraps and + umbrellas, and would hardly give him time to get on his hat and coat. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5177}.jpg" alt="{5177}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5177}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “Now, I want you to avoid the Stollers as far as you can see them. + This is to be a real wedding-journey day, with no extraneous acquaintance + to bother; the more strangers the better. Wurzburg is richer than anything + I imagined. I've looked it all up; I've got the plan of the + city, so that we can easily find the way. We'll walk first, and take + carriages whenever we get tired. We'll go to the cathedral at once; + I want a good gulp of rococo to begin with; there wasn't half enough + of it at Ansbach. Isn't it strange how we've come round to it?” + </p> + <p> + She referred to that passion for the Gothic which they had obediently + imbibed from Ruskin in the days of their early Italian travel and + courtship, when all the English-speaking world bowed down to him in devout + aversion from the renaissance, and pious abhorrence of the rococo. + </p> + <p> + “What biddable little things we were!” she went on, while + March was struggling to keep Kenby in the background of his consciousness. + “The rococo must have always had a sneaking charm for us, when we + were pinning our faith to pointed arches; and yet I suppose we were + perfectly sincere. Oh, look at that divinely ridiculous Madonna!” + They were now making their way out of the crooked footway behind their + hotel toward the street leading to the cathedral, and she pointed to the + Blessed Virgin over the door of some religious house, her drapery + billowing about her feet; her body twisting to show the sculptor's + mastery of anatomy, and the halo held on her tossing head with the help of + stout gilt rays. In fact, the Virgin's whole figure was gilded, and + so was that of the child in her arms. “Isn't she delightful?” + </p> + <p> + “I see what you mean,” said March, with a dubious glance at + the statue, “but I'm not sure, now, that I wouldn't like + something quieter in my Madonnas.” + </p> + <p> + The thoroughfare which they emerged upon, with the cathedral ending the + prospective, was full of the holiday so near at hand. The narrow sidewalks + were thronged with people, both soldiers and civilians, and up the middle + of the street detachments of military came and went, halting the little + horse-cars and the huge beer-wagons which otherwise seemed to have the + sole right to the streets of Wurzburg; they came jingling or thundering + out of the aide streets and hurled themselves round the corners reckless + of the passers, who escaped alive by flattening themselves like posters + against the house walls. There were peasants, men and women, in the + costume which the unbroken course of their country life had kept as quaint + as it was a hundred years before; there were citizens in the misfits of + the latest German fashions; there were soldiers of all arms in their vivid + uniforms, and from time to time there were pretty young girls in white + dresses with low necks, and bare arms gloved to the elbows, who were + following a holiday custom of the place in going about the streets in ball + costume. The shop windows were filled with portraits of the Emperor and + the Empress, and the Prince-Regent and the ladies of his family; the + German and Bavarian colors draped the facades of the houses and festooned + the fantastic Madonnas posing above so many portals. The modern patriotism + included the ancient piety without disturbing it; the rococo city remained + ecclesiastical through its new imperialism, and kept the stamp given it by + the long rule of the prince-bishops under the sovereignty of its King and + the suzerainty of its Kaiser. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5181}.jpg" alt="{5181}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5181}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The Marches escaped from the present, when they entered the cathedral, as + wholly as if they had taken hold of the horns of the altar, though they + were far from literally doing this in an interior so grandiose. There area + few rococo churches in Italy, and perhaps more in Spain, which approach + the perfection achieved by the Wurzburg cathedral in the baroque style. + For once one sees what that style can do in architecture and sculpture, + and whatever one may say of the details, one cannot deny that there is a + prodigiously effective keeping in it all. This interior came together, as + the decorators say, with a harmony that the travellers had felt nowhere in + their earlier experience of the rococo. It was, unimpeachably perfect in + its way, “Just,” March murmured to his wife, “as the + social and political and scientific scheme of the eighteenth century was + perfected in certain times and places. But the odd thing is to find the + apotheosis of the rococo away up here in Germany. I wonder how much the + prince-bishops really liked it. But they had become rococo, too! Look at + that row of their statues on both sides of the nave! What magnificent + swell! How they abash this poor plain Christ, here; he would like to get + behind the pillar; he knows that he could never lend himself to the + baroque style. It expresses the eighteenth century, though. But how you + long for some little hint of the thirteenth, or even the nineteenth.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't,” she whispered back. “I'm + perfectly wild with Wurzburg. I like to have a thing go as far as it can. + At Nuremberg I wanted all the Gothic I could get, and in Wurzburg I want + all the baroque I can get. I am consistent.” + </p> + <p> + She kept on praising herself to his disadvantage, as women do, all the way + to the Neumunster Church, where they were going to revere the tomb of + Walther von der Vogelweide, not so much for his own sake as for Longfellow's. + The older poet lies buried within, but his monument is outside the church, + perhaps for the greater convenience of the sparrows, which now represent + the birds he loved. The cenotaph is surmounted by a broad vase, and around + this are thickly perched the effigies of the Meistersinger's + feathered friends, from whom the canons of the church, as Mrs. March read + aloud from her Baedeker, long ago directed his bequest to themselves. In + revenge for their lawless greed the defrauded beneficiaries choose to + burlesque the affair by looking like the four-and-twenty blackbirds when + the pie was opened. + </p> + <p> + She consented to go for a moment to the Gothic Marienkapelle with her + husband in the revival of his mediaeval taste, and she was rewarded amidst + its thirteenth-century sincerity by his recantation. “You are right! + Baroque is the thing for Wurzburg; one can't enjoy Gothic here any + more than one could enjoy baroque in Nuremberg.” + </p> + <p> + Reconciled in the rococo, they now called a carriage, and went to visit + the palace of the prince-bishops who had so well known how to make the + heavenly take the image and superscription of the worldly; and they were + jointly indignant to find it shut against the public in preparation for + the imperialities and royalties coming to occupy it. They were in time for + the noon guard-mounting, however, and Mrs. March said that the way the + retiring squad kicked their legs out in the high martial step of the + German soldiers was a perfect expression of the insolent militarism of + their empire, and was of itself enough to make one thank Heaven that one + was an American and a republican. She softened a little toward their + system when it proved that the garden of the palace was still open, and + yet more when she sank down upon a bench between two marble groups + representing the Rape of Proserpine and the Rape of Europa. They stood + each in a gravelled plot, thickly overrun by a growth of ivy, and the vine + climbed the white naked limbs of the nymphs, who were present on a + pretence of gathering flowers, but really to pose at the spectators, and + clad them to the waist and shoulders with an effect of modesty never meant + by the sculptor, but not displeasing. There was an old fountain near, its + stone rim and centre of rock-work green with immemorial mould, and its + basin quivering between its water-plants under the soft fall of spray. At + a waft of fitful breeze some leaves of early autumn fell from the trees + overhead upon the elderly pair where they sat, and a little company of + sparrows came and hopped about their feet. Though the square without was + so all astir with festive expectation, there were few people in the + garden; three or four peasant women in densely fluted white skirts and red + aprons and shawls wandered by and stared at the Europa and at the + Proserpine. + </p> + <p> + It was a precious moment in which the charm of the city's past + seemed to culminate, and they were loath to break it by speech. + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't we have something like all this on our first + wedding journey?” she sighed at last. “To think of our + battening from Boston to Niagara and back! And how hard we tried to make + something of Rochester and Buffalo, of Montreal and Quebec!” + </p> + <p> + “Niagara wasn't so bad,” he said, “and I will + never go back on Quebec.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but if we could have had Hamburg and Leipsic, and Carlsbad and + Nuremberg, and Ansbach and Wurzburg! Perhaps this is meant as a + compensation for our lost youth. But I can't enjoy it as I could + when I was young. It's wasted on my sere and yellow leaf. I wish + Burnamy and Miss Triscoe were here; I should like to try this garden on + them.” + </p> + <p> + “They wouldn't care for it,” he replied, and upon a + daring impulse he added, “Kenby and Mrs. Adding might.” If she + took this suggestion in good part, he could tell her that Kenby was in + Wurzburg. + </p> + <p> + “Don't speak of them! They're in just that besotted + early middle-age when life has settled into a self-satisfied present, with + no past and no future; the most philistine, the most bourgeois, moment of + existence. Better be elderly at once, as far as appreciation of all this + goes.” She rose and put her hand on his arm, and pushed him away in + the impulsive fashion of her youth, across alleys of old trees toward a + balustraded terrace in the background which had tempted her. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't so bad, being elderly,” he said. “By + that time we have accumulated enough past to sit down and really enjoy its + associations. We have got all sorts of perspectives and points of view. We + know where we are at.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't mind being elderly. The world's just as amusing + as ever, and lots of disagreeable things have dropped out. It's the + getting more than elderly; it's the getting old; and then—” + </p> + <p> + They shrank a little closer together, and walked on in silence till he + said, “Perhaps there's something else, something better—somewhere.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5187}.jpg" alt="{5187}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5187}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They had reached the balustraded terrace, and were pausing for pleasure in + the garden tops below, with the flowery spaces, and the statued fountains + all coming together. She put her hand on one of the fat little + urchin-groups on the stone coping. “I don't want cherubs, when + I can have these putti. And those old prince-bishops didn't, either!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose they kept a New England conscience,” he + said, with a vague smile. “It would be difficult in the presence of + the rococo.” + </p> + <p> + They left the garden through the beautiful gate which the old court + ironsmith Oegg hammered out in lovely forms of leaves and flowers, and + shaped laterally upward, as lightly as if with a waft of his hand, in + gracious Louis Quinze curves; and they looked back at it in the kind of + despair which any perfection inspires. They said how feminine it was, how + exotic, how expressive of a luxurious ideal of life which art had purified + and left eternally charming. They remembered their Ruskinian youth, and + the confidence with which they would once have condemned it; and they had + a sense of recreance in now admiring it; but they certainly admired it, + and it remained for them the supreme expression of that time-soul, + mundane, courtly, aristocratic, flattering, which once influenced the art + of the whole world, and which had here so curiously found its apotheosis + in a city remote from its native place and under a rule sacerdotally vowed + to austerity. The vast superb palace of the prince bishops, which was now + to house a whole troop of sovereigns, imperial, royal, grand ducal and + ducal, swelled aloft in superb amplitude; but it did not realize their + historic pride so effectively as this exquisite work of the court + ironsmith. It related itself in its aerial beauty to that of the Tiepolo + frescoes which the travellers knew were swimming and soaring on the + ceilings within, and from which it seemed to accent their exclusion with a + delicate irony, March said. “Or iron-mongery,” he corrected + himself upon reflection. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0138" id="link2H_4_0138"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5192}.jpg" alt="{5192}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5192}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LIV. + </h2> + <p> + He had forgotten Kenby in these aesthetic interests, but he remembered him + again when he called a carriage, and ordered it driven to their hotel. It + was the hour of the German mid-day table d'hote, and they would be + sure to meet him there. The question now was how March should own his + presence in time to prevent his wife from showing her ignorance of it to + Kenby himself, and he was still turning the question hopelessly over in + his mind when the sight of the hotel seemed to remind her of a fact which + she announced. + </p> + <p> + “Now, my dear, I am tired to death, and I am not going to sit + through a long table d'hote. I want you to send me up a simple + beefsteak and a cup of tea to our rooms; and I don't want you to + come near for hours; because I intend to take a whole afternoon nap. You + can keep all the maps and plans, and guides, and you had better go and see + what the Volksfest is like; it will give you some notion of the part the + people are really taking in all this official celebration, and you know I + don't care. Don't come up after dinner to see how I am getting + along; I shall get along; and if you should happen to wake me after I had + dropped off—” + </p> + <p> + Kenby had seen them arrive from where he sat at the reading-room window, + waiting for the dinner hour, and had meant to rush out and greet Mrs. + March as they passed up the corridor. But she looked so tired that he had + decided to spare her till she came down to dinner; and as he sat with + March at their soup, he asked if she were not well. + </p> + <p> + March explained, and he provisionally invented some regrets from her that + she should not see Kenby till supper. + </p> + <p> + Kenby ordered a bottle of one of the famous Wurzburg wines for their + mutual consolation in her absence, and in the friendliness which its + promoted they agreed to spend the afternoon together. No man is so + inveterate a husband as not to take kindly an occasional release to + bachelor companionship, and before the dinner was over they agreed that + they would go to the Volksfest, and get some notion of the popular life + and amusements of Wurzburg, which was one of the few places where Kenby + had never been before; and they agreed that they would walk. + </p> + <p> + Their way was partly up the quay of the Main, past a barrack full of + soldiers. They met detachments of soldiers everywhere, infantry, + artillery, cavalry. + </p> + <p> + “This is going to be a great show,” Kenby said, meaning the + manoeuvres, and he added, as if now he had kept away from the subject long + enough and had a right to recur to it, at least indirectly, “I + should like to have Rose see it, and get his impressions.” + </p> + <p> + “I've an idea he wouldn't approve of it. His mother says + his mind is turning more and more to philanthropy.” + </p> + <p> + Kenby could not forego such a chance to speak of Mrs. Adding. “It's + one of the prettiest things to see how she understands Rose. It's + charming to see them together. She wouldn't have half the attraction + without him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” March assented. He had often wondered how a man + wishing to marry a widow managed with the idea of her children by another + marriage; but if Kenby was honest; it was much simpler than he had + supposed. He could not say this to him, however, and in a certain + embarrassment he had with the conjecture in his presence he attempted a + diversion. “We're promised something at the Volksfest which + will be a great novelty to us as Americans. Our driver told us this + morning that one of the houses there was built entirely of wood.” + </p> + <p> + When they reached the grounds of the Volksfest, this civil feature of the + great military event at hand, which the Marches had found largely set + forth in the programme of the parade, did not fully keep the glowing + promises made for it; in fact it could not easily have done so. It was in + a pleasant neighborhood of new villas such as form the modern quarter of + every German city, and the Volksfest was even more unfinished than its + environment. It was not yet enclosed by the fence which was to hide its + wonders from the non-paying public, but March and Kenby went in through an + archway where the gate-money was as effectually collected from them as if + they were barred every other entrance. + </p> + <p> + The wooden building was easily distinguishable from the other edifices + because these were tents and booths still less substantial. They did not + make out its function, but of the others four sheltered merry-go-rounds, + four were beer-gardens, four were restaurants, and the rest were devoted + to amusements of the usual country-fair type. Apparently they had little + attraction for country people. The Americans met few peasants in the + grounds, and neither at the Edison kinematograph, where they refreshed + their patriotism with some scenes of their native life, nor at the little + theatre where they saw the sports of the arena revived, in the wrestle of + a woman with a bear, did any of the people except tradesmen and artisans + seem to be taking part in the festival expression of the popular pleasure. + </p> + <p> + The woman, who finally threw the bear, whether by slight, or by main + strength, or by a previous understanding with him, was a slender creature, + pathetically small and not altogether plain; and March as they walked away + lapsed into a pensive muse upon her strange employ. He wondered how she + came to take it up, and whether she began with the bear when they were + both very young, and she could easily throw him. + </p> + <p> + “Well, women have a great deal more strength than we suppose,” + Kenby began with a philosophical air that gave March the hope of some + rational conversation. Then his eye glazed with a far-off look, and a + doting smile came into his face. “When we went through the Dresden + gallery together, Rose and I were perfectly used up at the end of an hour, + but his mother kept on as long as there was anything to see, and came away + as fresh as a peach.” + </p> + <p> + Then March saw that it was useless to expect anything different from him, + and he let him talk on about Mrs. Adding all the rest of the way back to + the hotel. Kenby seemed only to have begun when they reached the door, and + wanted to continue the subject in the reading-room. + </p> + <p> + March pleaded his wish to find how his wife had got through the afternoon, + and he escaped to her. He would have told her now that Kenby was in the + house, but he was really so sick of the fact himself that he could not + speak of it at once, and he let her go on celebrating all she had seen + from the window since she had waked from her long nap. She said she could + never be glad enough that they had come just at that time. Soldiers had + been going by the whole afternoon, and that made it so feudal. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he assented. “But aren't you coming up to + the station with me to see the Prince-Regent arrive? He's due at + seven, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “I declare I had forgotten all about it. No, I'm not equal to + it. You must go; you can tell me everything; be sure to notice how the + Princess Maria looks; the last of the Stuarts, you know; and some people + consider her the rightful Queen of England; and I'll have the supper + ordered, and we can go down as soon as you've got back.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0139" id="link2H_4_0139"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5198}.jpg" alt="{5198}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5198}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LV. + </h2> + <p> + March felt rather shabby stealing away without Kenby; but he had really + had as much of Mrs. Adding as he could stand, for one day, and he was even + beginning to get sick of Rose. Besides, he had not sent back a line for + 'Every Other Week' yet, and he had made up his mind to write a + sketch of the manoeuvres. To this end he wished to receive an impression + of the Prince-Regent's arrival which should not be blurred or + clouded by other interests. His wife knew the kind of thing he liked to + see, and would have helped him out with his observations, but Kenby would + have got in the way, and would have clogged the movement of his fancy in + assigning the facts to the parts he would like them to play in the sketch. + </p> + <p> + At least he made some such excuses to himself as he hurried along toward + the Kaiserstrasse. The draught of universal interest in that direction had + left the other streets almost deserted, but as he approached the + thoroughfare he found all the ways blocked, and the horse-cars, ordinarily + so furiously headlong, arrested by the multiple ranks of spectators on the + sidewalks. The avenue leading from the railway station to the palace was + decorated with flags and garlands, and planted with the stems of young + firs and birches. The doorways were crowded, and the windows dense with + eager faces peering out of the draped bunting. The carriageway was kept + clear by mild policemen who now and then allowed one of the crowd to cross + it. + </p> + <p> + The crowd was made up mostly of women and boys, and when March joined + them, they had already been waiting an hour for the sight of the princes + who were to bless them with a vision of the faery race which kings always + are to common men. He thought the people looked dull, and therefore able + to bear the strain of expectation with patience better than a livelier + race. They relieved it by no attempt at joking; here and there a dim smile + dawned on a weary face, but it seemed an effect of amiability rather than + humor. There was so little of this, or else it was so well bridled by the + solemnity of the occasion, that not a man, woman, or child laughed when a + bareheaded maid-servant broke through the lines and ran down between them + with a life-size plaster bust of the Emperor William in her arms: she + carried it like an overgrown infant, and in alarm at her conspicuous part + she cast frightened looks from side to side without arousing any sort of + notice. Undeterred by her failure, a young dog, parted from his owner, and + seeking him in the crowd, pursued his search in a wild flight down the + guarded roadway with an air of anxiety that in America would have won him + thunders of applause, and all sorts of kindly encouragements to greater + speed. But this German crowd witnessed his progress apparently without + interest, and without a sign of pleasure. They were there to see the + Prince-Regent arrive, and they did not suffer themselves to be distracted + by any preliminary excitement. Suddenly the indefinable emotion which + expresses the fulfilment of expectation in a waiting crowd passed through + the multitude, and before he realized it March was looking into the + friendly gray-bearded face of the Prince-Regent, for the moment that his + carriage allowed in passing. This came first preceded by four outriders, + and followed by other simple equipages of Bavarian blue, full of + highnesses of all grades. Beside the Regent sat his daughter-in-law, the + Princess Maria, her silvered hair framing a face as plain and good as the + Regent's, if not so intelligent. + </p> + <p> + He, in virtue of having been born in Wurzburg, is officially supposed to + be specially beloved by his fellow townsmen; and they now testified their + affection as he whirled through their ranks, bowing right and left, by + what passes in Germany for a cheer. It is the word Hoch, groaned forth + from abdominal depths, and dismally prolonged in a hollow roar like that + which the mob makes behind the scenes at the theatre before bursting in + visible tumult on the stage. Then the crowd dispersed, and March came away + wondering why such a kindly-looking Prince-Regent should not have given + them a little longer sight of himself; after they had waited so patiently + for hours to see him. But doubtless in those countries, he concluded, the + art of keeping the sovereign precious by suffering him to be rarely and + briefly seen is wisely studied. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5201}.jpg" alt="{5201}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5201}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + On his way home he resolved to confess Kenby's presence; and he did + so as soon as he sat down to supper with his wife. “I ought to have + told you the first thing after breakfast. But when I found you in that + mood of having the place all to ourselves, I put it off.” + </p> + <p> + “You took terrible chances, my dear,” she said, gravely. + </p> + <p> + “And I have been terribly punished. You've no idea how much + Kenby has talked to me about Mrs. Adding!” + </p> + <p> + She broke out laughing. “Well, perhaps you've suffered enough. + But you can see now, can't you, that it would have been awful if I + had met him, and let out that I didn't know he was here?” + </p> + <p> + “Terrible. But if I had told, it would have spoiled the whole + morning for you; you couldn't have thought of anything else.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know,” she said, airily. “What should + you think if I told you I had known he was here ever since last night?” + She went on in delight at the start he gave. “I saw him come into + the hotel while you were gone for the guide-books, and I determined to + keep it from you as long as I could; I knew it would worry you. We've + both been very nice; and I forgive you,” she hurried on, “because + I've really got something to tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't tell me that Burnamy is here!” + </p> + <p> + “Don't jump to conclusions! No, Burnamy isn't here, poor + fellow! And don't suppose that I'm guilty of concealment + because I haven't told you before. I was just thinking whether I + wouldn't spare you till morning, but now I shall let you take the + brunt of it. Mrs. Adding and Rose are here.” She gave the fact time + to sink in, and then she added, “And Miss Triscoe and her father are + here.” + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter with Major Eltwin and his wife being here, too? + Are they in our hotel?” + </p> + <p> + “No, they are not. They came to look for rooms while you were off + waiting for the Prince-Regent, and I saw them. They intended to go to + Frankfort for the manoeuvres, but they heard that there was not even + standing-room there, and so the general telegraphed to the Spanischer Hof, + and they all came here. As it is, he will have to room with Rose, and + Agatha and Mrs. Adding will room together. I didn't think Agatha was + looking very well; she looked unhappy; I don't believe she's + heard, from Burnamy yet; I hadn't a chance to ask her. And there's + something else that I'm afraid will fairly make you sick.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no; go on. I don't think anything can do that, after an + afternoon of Kenby's confidences.” + </p> + <p> + “It's worse than Kenby,” she said with a sigh. “You + know I told you at Carlsbad I thought that ridiculous old thing was making + up to Mrs. Adding.” + </p> + <p> + “Kenby? Why of co—” + </p> + <p> + “Don't be stupid, my dear! No, not Kenby: General Triscoe. I + wish you could have been here to see him paying her all sort; of silly + attentions, and hear him making her compliments.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you. I think I'm just as well without it. Did she pay + him silly attentions and compliments, too?” + </p> + <p> + “That's the only thing that can make me forgive her for his + wanting her. She was keeping him at arm's-length the whole time, and + she was doing it so as not to make him contemptible before his daughter.” + </p> + <p> + “It must have been hard. And Rose?” + </p> + <p> + “Rose didn't seem very well. He looks thin and pale; but he's + sweeter than ever. She's certainly commoner clay than Rose. No, I + won't say that! It's really nothing but General Triscoe's + being an old goose about her that makes her seem so, and it isn't + fair.” + </p> + <p> + March went down to his coffee in the morning with the delicate duty of + telling Kenby that Mrs. Adding was in town. Kenby seemed to think it quite + natural she should wish to see the manoeuvres, and not at all strange that + she should come to them with General Triscoe and his daughter. He asked if + March would not go with him to call upon her after breakfast, and as this + was in the line of his own instructions from Mrs. March, he went. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5045}.jpg" alt="{5045}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5045}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They found Mrs. Adding with the Triscoes, and March saw nothing that was + not merely friendly, or at the most fatherly, in the general's + behavior toward her. If Mrs. Adding or Miss Triscoe saw more, they hid it + in a guise of sisterly affection for each other. At the most the general + showed a gayety which one would not have expected of him under any + conditions, and which the fact that he and Rose had kept each other awake + a good deal the night before seemed so little adapted to call out. He + joked with Rose about their room and their beds, and put on a comradery + with him that was not a perfect fit, and that suffered by contrast with + the pleasure of the boy and Kenby in meeting. There was a certain question + in the attitude of Mrs. Adding till March helped Kenby to account for his + presence; then she relaxed in an effect of security so tacit that words + overstate it, and began to make fun of Rose. + </p> + <p> + March could not find that Miss Triscoe looked unhappy, as his wife had + said; he thought simply that she had grown plainer; but when he reported + this, she lost her patience with him. In a girl, she said, plainness was + unhappiness; and she wished to know when he would ever learn to look an + inch below the surface: She was sure that Agatha Triscoe had not heard + from Burnamy since the Emperor's birthday; that she was at swords'-points + with her father, and so desperate that she did not care what became of + her. + </p> + <p> + He had left Kenby with the others, and now, after his wife had talked + herself tired of them all, he proposed going out again to look about the + city, where there was nothing for the moment to remind them of the + presence of their friends or even of their existence. She answered that + she was worrying about all those people, and trying to work out their + problem for them. He asked why she did not let them work it out themselves + as they would have to do, after all her worry, and she said that where her + sympathy had been excited she could not stop worrying, whether it did any + good or not, and she could not respect any one who could drop things so + completely out of his mind as he could; she had never been able to respect + that in him. + </p> + <p> + “I know, my dear,” he assented. “But I don't think + it's a question of moral responsibility; it's a question of + mental structure, isn't it? Your consciousness isn't built in + thought-tight compartments, and one emotion goes all through it, and sinks + you; but I simply close the doors and shut the emotion in, and keep on.” + </p> + <p> + The fancy pleased him so much that he worked it out in all its + implications, and could not, after their long experience of each other, + realize that she was not enjoying the joke too, till she said she saw that + he merely wished to tease. Then, too late, he tried to share her worry; + but she protested that she was not worrying at all; that she cared nothing + about those people: that she was nervous, she was tired; and she wished he + would leave her, and go out alone. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5209}.jpg" alt="{5209}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5209}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + He found himself in the street again, and he perceived that he must be + walking fast when a voice called him by name, and asked him what his hurry + was. The voice was Stoller's, who got into step with him and + followed the first with a second question. + </p> + <p> + “Made up your mind to go to the manoeuvres with me?” + </p> + <p> + His bluntness made it easy for March to answer: “I'm afraid my + wife couldn't stand the drive back and forth.” + </p> + <p> + “Come without her.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you. It's very kind of you. I'm not certain that + I shall go at all. If I do, I shall run out by train, and take my chances + with the crowd.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller insisted no further. He felt no offence at the refusal of his + offer, or chose to show none. He said, with the same uncouth abruptness as + before: “Heard anything of that fellow since he left Carlsbad?” + </p> + <p> + “Burnamy?” + </p> + <p> + “Mm.” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Know where he is?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't in the least.” + </p> + <p> + Stoller let another silence elapse while they hurried on, before he said, + “I got to thinking what he done afterwards. He wasn't bound to + look out for me; he might suppose I knew what I was about.” + </p> + <p> + March turned his face and stared in Stoller's, which he was letting + hang forward as he stamped heavily on. Had the disaster proved less than + he had feared, and did he still want Burnamy's help in patching up + the broken pieces; or did he really wish to do Burnamy justice to his + friend? + </p> + <p> + In any case March's duty was clear. “I think Burnamy was bound + to look out for you; Mr. Stoller, and I am glad to know that he saw it in + the same light.” + </p> + <p> + “I know he did,” said Stoker with a blaze as from a + long-smouldering fury, “and damn him, I'm not going to have + it. I'm not going to, plead the baby act with him, or with any man. + You tell him so, when you get the chance. You tell him I don't hold + him accountable for anything I made him do. That ain't business; I + don't want him around me, any more; but if he wants to go back to + the paper he can have his place. You tell him I stand by what I done; and + it's all right between him and me. I hain't done anything + about it, the way I wanted him to help me to; I've let it lay, and I'm + a-going to. I guess it ain't going to do me any harm, after all; our + people hain't got very long memories; but if it is, let it. You tell + him it's all right.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know where he is, Mr. Stoller, and I don't know + that I care to be the bearer of your message,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, for one thing, I don't agree with you that it's + all right. Your choosing to stand by the consequences of Burnamy's + wrong doesn't undo it. As I understand, you don't pardon it—” + </p> + <p> + Stoller gulped and did not answer at once. Then he said, “I stand by + what I done. I'm not going to let him say I turned him down for + doing what I told him to, because I hadn't the sense to know what I + was about.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I don't think it's a thing he'll like to + speak of in any case,” said March. + </p> + <p> + Stoller left him, at the corner they had reached, as abruptly as he had + joined him, and March hurried back to his wife, and told her what had just + passed between him and Stoller. + </p> + <p> + She broke out, “Well, I am surprised at you, my dear! You have + always accused me of suspecting people, and attributing bad motives; and + here you've refused even to give the poor man the benefit of the + doubt. He merely wanted to save his savage pride with you, and that's + all he wants to do with Burnamy. How could it hurt the poor boy to know + that Stoller doesn't blame him? Why should you refuse to give his + message to Burnamy? I don't want you to ridicule me for my + conscience any more, Basil; you're twice as bad as I ever was. Don't + you think that a person can ever expiate an offence? I've often + heard you say that if any one owned his fault, he put it from him, and it + was the same as if it hadn't been; and hasn't Burnamy owned up + over and over again? I'm astonished at you, dearest.” + </p> + <p> + March was in fact somewhat astonished at himself in the light of her + reasoning; but she went on with some sophistries that restored him to his + self-righteousness. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you think he has interfered with Stoller's + political ambition, and injured him in that way. Well, what if he has? + Would it be a good thing to have a man like that succeed in politics? You're + always saying that the low character of our politicians is the ruin of the + country; and I'm sure,” she added, with a prodigious leap over + all the sequences, “that Mr. Stoller is acting nobly; and it's + your duty to help him relieve Burnamy's mind.” At the laugh he + broke into she hastened to say, “Or if you won't, I hope you'll + not object to my doing so, for I shall, anyway!” + </p> + <p> + She rose as if she were going to begin at once, in spite of his laughing; + and in fact she had already a plan for coming to Stoller's + assistance by getting at Burnamy through Miss Triscoe, whom she suspected + of knowing where he was. There had been no chance for them to speak of him + either that morning or the evening before, and after a great deal of + controversy with herself in her husband's presence she decided to + wait till they came naturally together the next morning for the walk to + the Capuchin Church on the hill beyond the river, which they had agreed to + take. She could not keep from writing a note to Miss Triscoe begging her + to be sure to come, and hinting that she had something very important to + speak of. + </p> + <p> + She was not sure but she had been rather silly to do this, but when they + met the girl confessed that she had thought of giving up the walk, and + might not have come except for Mrs. March's note. She had come with + Rose, and had left him below with March; Mrs. Adding was coming later with + Kenby and General Triscoe. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March lost no time in telling her the great news; and if she had been + in doubt before of the girl's feeling for Burnamy she was now in + none. She had the pleasure of seeing her flush with hope, and then the + pain which was also a pleasure, of seeing her blanch with dismay. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know where he is, Mrs. March. I haven't heard a + word from him since that night in Carlsbad. I expected—I didn't + know but you—” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March shook her head. She treated the fact skillfully as something to + be regretted simply because it would be such a relief to Burnamy to know + how Mr. Stoller now felt. Of course they could reach him somehow; you + could always get letters to people in Europe, in the end; and, in fact, it + was altogether probable that he was that very instant in Wurzburg; for if + the New York-Paris Chronicle had wanted him to write up the Wagner operas, + it would certainly want him to write up the manoeuvres. She established + his presence in Wurzburg by such an irrefragable chain of reasoning that, + at a knock outside, she was just able to kelp back a scream, while she ran + to open the door. It was not Burnamy, as in compliance with every nerve it + ought to have been, but her husband, who tried to justify his presence by + saying that they were all waiting for her and Miss Triscoe, and asked when + they were coming. + </p> + <p> + She frowned him silent, and then shut herself outside with him long enough + to whisper, “Say she's got a headache, or anything you please; + but don't stop talking here with me, or I shall go wild.” She + then shut herself in again, with the effect of holding him accountable for + the whole affair. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0140" id="link2H_4_0140"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5217}.jpg" alt="{5217}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5217}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LVI. + </h2> + <p> + General Triscoe could not keep his irritation, at hearing that his + daughter was not coming, out of the excuses he made to Mrs. Adding; he + said again and again that it must seem like a discourtesy to her. She + gayly disclaimed any such notion; she would not hear of putting off their + excursion to another day; it had been raining just long enough to give + them a reasonable hope of a few hours' drought, and they might not + have another dry spell for weeks. She slipped off her jacket after they + started, and gave it to Kenby, but she let General Triscoe hold her + umbrella over her, while he limped beside her. She seemed to March, as he + followed with Rose, to be playing the two men off against each other, with + an ease which he wished his wife could be there to see, and to judge + aright. + </p> + <p> + They crossed by the Old Bridge, which is of the earliest years of the + seventh century, between rows of saints whose statues surmount the piers. + Some are bishops as well as saints; one must have been at Rome in his day, + for he wore his long thick beard in the fashion of Michelangelo's + Moses. He stretched out toward the passers two fingers of blessing and was + unaware of the sparrow which had lighted on them and was giving him the + effect of offering it to the public admiration. Squads of soldiers + tramping by turned to look and smile, and the dull faces of citizens + lighted up at the quaint sight. Some children stopped and remained very + quiet, not to scare away the bird; and a cold-faced, spiritual-looking + priest paused among them as if doubting whether to rescue the + absent-minded bishop from a situation derogatory to his dignity; but he + passed on, and then the sparrow suddenly flew off. + </p> + <p> + Rose Adding had lingered for the incident with March, but they now pushed + on, and came up with the others at the end of the bridge, where they found + them in question whether they had not better take a carriage and drive to + the foot of the hill before they began their climb. March thanked them, + but said he was keeping up the terms of his cure, and was getting in all + the walking he could. Rose begged his mother not to include him in the + driving party; he protested that he was feeling so well, and the walk was + doing him good. His mother consented, if he would promise not to get + tired, and then she mounted into the two-spanner which had driven + instinctively up to their party when their parley began, and General + Triscoe took the place beside her, while Kenby, with smiling patience, + seated himself in front. + </p> + <p> + Rose kept on talking with March about Wurzburg and its history, which it + seemed he had been reading the night before when he could not sleep. He + explained, “We get little histories of the places wherever we go. + That's what Mr. Kenby does, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” said March. + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose I shall get a chance to read much here,” + Rose continued, “with General Triscoe in the room. He doesn't + like the light.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well. He's rather old, you know. And you musn't + read too much, Rose. It isn't good for you.” + </p> + <p> + “I know, but if I don't read, I think, and that keeps me awake + worse. Of course, I respect General Triscoe for being in the war, and + getting wounded,” the boy suggested. + </p> + <p> + “A good many did it,” March was tempted to say. + </p> + <p> + The boy did not notice his insinuation. “I suppose there were some + things they did in the army, and then they couldn't get over the + habit. But General Grant says in his 'Life' that he never used + a profane expletive.” + </p> + <p> + “Does General Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + Rose answered reluctantly, “If anything wakes him in the night, or + if he can't make these German beds over to suit him—” + </p> + <p> + “I see.” March turned his face to hide the smile which he + would not have let the boy detect. He thought best not to let Rose resume + his impressions of the general; and in talk of weightier matters they + found themselves at that point of the climb where the carriage was waiting + for them. From this point they followed an alley through ivied, garden + walls, till they reached the first of the balustraded terraces which + ascend to the crest of the hill where the church stands. Each terrace is + planted with sycamores, and the face of the terrace wall supports a + bass-relief commemorating with the drama of its lifesize figures the + stations of the cross. + </p> + <p> + Monks and priests were coming and going, and dropped on the steps leading + from terrace to terrace were women and children on their knees in prayer. + It was all richly reminiscent of pilgrim scenes in other Catholic lands; + but here there was a touch of earnest in the Northern face of the + worshipers which the South had never imparted. Even in the beautiful + rococo interior of the church at the top of the hill there was a sense of + something deeper and truer than mere ecclesiasticism; and March came out + of it in a serious muse while the boy at his side did nothing to + interrupt. A vague regret filled his heart as he gazed silently out over + the prospect of river and city and vineyard, purpling together below the + top where he stood, and mixed with this regret was a vague resentment of + his wife's absence. She ought to have been there to share his pang + and his pleasure; they had so long enjoyed everything together that + without her he felt unable to get out of either emotion all there was in + it. + </p> + <p> + The forgotten boy stole silently down the terraces after the rest of the + party who had left him behind with March. At the last terrace they stopped + and waited; and after a delay that began to be long to Mrs. Adding, she + wondered aloud what could have become of them. + </p> + <p> + Kenby promptly offered to go back and see, and she consented in seeming to + refuse: “It isn't worth while. Rose has probably got Mr. March + into some deep discussion, and they've forgotten all about us. But + if you will go, Mr. Kenby, you might just remind Rose of my existence.” + She let him lay her jacket on her shoulders before he left her, and then + she sat down on one of the steps, which General Triscoe kept striking with + the point of her umbrella as he stood before her. + </p> + <p> + “I really shall have to take it from you if you do that any more,” + she said, laughing up in his face. “I'm serious.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped. “I wish I could believe you were serious, for a moment.” + </p> + <p> + “You may, if you think it will do you any good. But I don't + see why.” + </p> + <p> + The general smiled, but with a kind of tremulous eagerness which might + have been pathetic to any one who liked him. “Do you know this is + almost the first time I have spoken alone with you?” + </p> + <p> + “Really, I hadn't noticed,” said Mrs. Adding. + </p> + <p> + General Triscoe laughed in rather a ghastly way. “Well, that's + encouraging, at least, to a man who's had his doubts whether it wasn't + intended.” + </p> + <p> + “Intended? By whom? What do you mean, General Triscoe? Why in the + world shouldn't you have spoken alone with me before?” + </p> + <p> + He was not, with all his eagerness, ready to say, and while she smiled + pleasantly she had the look in her eyes of being brought to bay and being + prepared, if it must come to that, to have the worst over, then and there. + She was not half his age, but he was aware of her having no respect for + his years; compared with her average American past as he understood it, + his social place was much higher, but, she was not in the least awed by + it; in spite of his war record she was making him behave like a coward. He + was in a false position, and if he had any one but himself to blame he had + not her. He read her equal knowledge of these facts in the clear eyes that + made him flush and turn his own away. + </p> + <p> + Then he started with a quick “Hello!” and stood staring up at + the steps from the terrace above, where Rose Adding was staying himself + weakly by a clutch of Kenby on one side and March on the other. + </p> + <p> + His mother looked round and caught herself up from where she sat and ran + toward him. “Oh, Rose!” + </p> + <p> + “It's nothing, mother,” he called to her, and as she + dropped on her knees before him he sank limply against her. “It was + like what I had in Carlsbad; that's all. Don't worry about me, + please!” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not worrying, Rose,” she said with courage of the + same texture as his own. “You've been walking too much. You + must go back in the carriage with us. Can't you have it come here?” + she asked Kenby. + </p> + <p> + “There's no road, Mrs. Adding. But if Rose would let me carry + him—” + </p> + <p> + “I can walk,” the boy protested, trying to lift himself from + her neck. + </p> + <p> + “No, no! you mustn't.” She drew away and let him fall + into the arms that Kenby put round him. He raised the frail burden lightly + to his shoulder, and moved strongly away, followed by the eyes of the + spectators who had gathered about the little group, but who dispersed now, + and went back to their devotions. + </p> + <p> + March hurried after Kenby with Mrs. Adding, whom he told he had just + missed Rose and was looking about for him, when Kenby came with her + message for them. They made sure that he was nowhere about the church, and + then started together down the terraces. At the second or third station + below they found the boy clinging to the barrier that protected the + bass-relief from the zeal of the devotees. He looked white and sick, + though he insisted that he was well, and when he turned to come away with + them he reeled and would have fallen if Kenby had not caught him. Kenby + wanted to carry him, but Rose would not let him, and had made his way down + between them. + </p> + <p> + “Yea, he has such a spirit,” she said, “and I've + no doubt he's suffering now more from Mr. Kenby's kindness + than from his own sickness he had one of these giddy turns in Carlsbad, + though, and I shall certainly have a doctor to see him.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I should, Mrs. Adding,” said March, not too gravely, + for it seemed to him that it was not quite his business to alarm her + further, if she was herself taking the affair with that seriousness. He + questioned whether she was taking it quite seriously enough, when she + turned with a laugh, and called to General Triscoe, who was limping down + the steps of the last terrace behind them: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, poor General Triscoe! I thought you had gone on ahead.” + </p> + <p> + General Triscoe could not enter into the joke of being forgotten, + apparently. He assisted with gravity at the disposition of the party for + the return, when they all reached the carriage. Rose had the place beside + his mother, and Kenby wished March to take his with the general and let + him sit with the driver; but he insisted that he would rather walk home, + and he did walk till they had driven out of eight. Then he called a + passing one-spanner, and drove to his hotel in comfort and silence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0141" id="link2H_4_0141"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5226}.jpg" alt="{5226}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5226}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LVII. + </h2> + <p> + Kenby did not come to the Swan before supper; then he reported that the + doctor had said Rose was on the verge of a nervous collapse. He had + overworked at school, but the immediate trouble was the high, thin air, + which the doctor said he must be got out of at once, into a quiet place at + the sea-shore somewhere. He had suggested Ostend; or some point on the + French coast; Kenby had thought of Schevleningen, and the doctor had said + that would do admirably. + </p> + <p> + “I understood from Mrs. Adding,” he concluded, “that you + were going. there for your after-cure, Mr. March, and I didn't know + but you might be going soon.” + </p> + <p> + At the mention of Schevleningen the Marches had looked at each other with + a guilty alarm, which they both tried to give the cast of affectionate + sympathy but she dismissed her fear that he might be going to let his + compassion prevail with him to his hurt when he said: “Why, we ought + to have been there before this, but I've been taking my life in my + hands in trying to see a little of Germany, and I'm afraid now that + Mrs. March has her mind too firmly fixed on Berlin to let me think of + going to Schevleningen till we've been there.” + </p> + <p> + “It's too bad!” said Mrs. March, with real regret. + “I wish we were going.” But she had not the least notion of + gratifying her wish; and they were all silent till Kenby broke out: + </p> + <p> + “Look here! You know how I feel about Mrs Adding! I've been + pretty frank with Mr. March myself, and I've had my suspicions that + she's been frank with you, Mrs. March. There isn't any doubt + about my wanting to marry her, and up to this time there hasn't been + any doubt about her not wanting to marry me. But it isn't a question + of her or of me, now. It's a question of Rose. I love the boy,” + and Kenby's voice shook, and he faltered a moment. “Pshaw! You + understand.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed I do, Mr. Kenby,” said Mrs. March. “I perfectly + understand you.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't think Mrs. Adding is fit to make the journey + with him alone, or to place herself in the best way after she gets to + Schevleningen. She's been badly shaken up; she broke down before the + doctor; she said she didn't know what to do; I suppose she's + frightened—” + </p> + <p> + Kenby stopped again, and March asked, “When is she going?” + </p> + <p> + “To-morrow,” said Kenby, and he added, “And now the + question is, why shouldn't I go with her?” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5209}.jpg" alt="{5209}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5209}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Mrs. March gave a little start, and looked at her husband, but he said + nothing, and Kenby seemed not to have supposed that he would say anything. + </p> + <p> + “I know it would be very American, and all that, but I happen to be + an American, and it wouldn't be out of character for me. I suppose,” + he appealed to Mrs. March, “that it's something I might offer + to do if it were from New York to Florida—and I happened to be going + there? And I did happen to be going to Holland.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course, Mr. Kenby,” she responded, with such + solemnity that March gave way in an outrageous laugh. + </p> + <p> + Kenby laughed, and Mrs. March laughed too, but with an inner note of + protest. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Kenby continued, still addressing her, “what I + want you to do is to stand by me when I propose it.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March gathered strength to say, “No, Mr. Kenby, it's your + own affair, and you must take the responsibility.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you disapprove?” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't the same as it would be at home. You see that + yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Kenby, rising, “I have to arrange about + their getting away to-morrow. It won't be easy in this hurly-burly + that's coming off.” + </p> + <p> + “Give Rose our love; and tell Mrs. Adding that I'll come round + and see her to-morrow before she starts.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I'm afraid you can't, Mrs. March. They're to + start at six in the morning.” + </p> + <p> + “They are! Then we must go and see them tonight. We'll be + there almost as soon as you are.” + </p> + <p> + March went up to their rooms with, his wife, and she began on the stairs: + </p> + <p> + “Well, my dear, I hope you realize that your laughing so gave us + completely away. And what was there to keep grinning about, all through?” + </p> + + <p> + “Nothing but the disingenuous, hypocritical passion of love. It's + always the most amusing thing in the world; but to see it trying to pass + itself off in poor old Kenby as duty and humanity, and disinterested + affection for Rose, was more than I could stand. I don't apologize + for laughing; I wanted to yell.” + </p> + <p> + His effrontery and his philosophy both helped to save him; and she said + from the point where he had side-tracked her mind: “I don't + call it disingenuous. He was brutally frank. He's made it impossible + to treat the affair with dignity. I want you to leave the whole thing to + me, from this out. Now, will you?” + </p> + <p> + On their way to the Spanischer Hof she arranged in her own mind for Mrs. + Adding to get a maid, and for the doctor to send an assistant with her on + the journey, but she was in such despair with her scheme that she had not + the courage to right herself when Mrs. Adding met her with the appeal: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mrs. March, I'm so glad you approve of Mr. Kenby's + plan. It does seem the only thing to do. I can't trust myself alone + with Rose, and Mr. Kenby's intending to go to Schevleningen a few + days later anyway. Though it's too bad to let him give up the + manoeuvres.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm sure he won't mind that,” Mrs. March's + voice said mechanically, while her thought was busy with the question + whether this scandalous duplicity was altogether Kenby's, and + whether Mrs. Adding was as guiltless of any share in it as she looked. She + looked pitifully distracted; she might not have understood his report; or + Kenby might really have mistaken Mrs. March's sympathy for favor. + </p> + <p> + “No, he only lives to do good,” Mrs. Adding returned. “He's + with Rose; won't you come in and see them?” + </p> + <p> + Rose was lying back on the pillows of a sofa, from which they would not + let him get up. He was full of the trip to Holland, and had already pushed + Kenby, as Kenby owned, beyond the bounds of his very general knowledge of + the Dutch language, which Rose had plans for taking up after they were + settled in Schevleningen. The boy scoffed at the notion that he was not + perfectly well, and he wished to talk with March on the points where he + had found Kenby wanting. + </p> + <p> + “Kenby is an encyclopaedia compared with me, Rose,” the editor + protested, and he amplified his ignorance for the boy's good to an + extent which Rose saw was a joke. He left Holland to talk about other + things which his mother thought quite as bad for him. He wished to know if + March did not think that the statue of the bishop with the sparrow on its + finger was a subject for a poem; and March said gayly that if Rose would + write it he would print it in 'Every Other Week'. + </p> + <p> + The boy flushed with pleasure at his banter. “No, I couldn't + do it. But I wish Mr. Burnamy had seen it. He could. Will you tell him + about it?” He wanted to know if March had heard from Burnamy lately, + and in the midst of his vivid interest he gave a weary sigh. + </p> + <p> + His mother said that now he had talked enough, and bade him say good-by to + the Marches, who were coming so soon to Holland, anyway. Mrs. March put + her arms round him to kiss him, and when she let him sink back her eyes + were dim. + </p> + <p> + “You see how frail he is?” said Mrs. Adding. “I shall + not let him out of my sight, after this, till he's well again.” + </p> + <p> + She had a kind of authority in sending Kenby away with them which was not + lost upon the witnesses. He asked them to come into the reading-room a + moment with him, and Mrs. March wondered if he were going to make some + excuse to her for himself; but he said: “I don't know how we're + to manage about the Triscoes. The general will have a room to himself, but + if Mrs. Adding takes Rose in with her, it leaves Miss Triscoe out, and + there isn't a room to be had in this house for love or money. Do you + think,” he appealed directly to Mrs. March, “that it would do + to offer her my room at the Swan?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes,” she assented, with a reluctance rather for the + complicity in which he had already involved her, and for which he was + still unpunished, than for what he was now proposing. “Or she could + come in with me, and Mr. March could take it.” + </p> + <p> + “Whichever you think,” said Kenby so submissively that she + relented, to ask: + </p> + <p> + “And what will you do?” + </p> + <p> + He laughed. “Well, people have been known to sleep in a chair. I + shall manage somehow.” + </p> + <p> + “You might offer to go in with the general,” March suggested, + and the men apparently thought this was a joke. Mrs. March did not laugh + in her feminine worry about ways and means. + </p> + <p> + “Where is Miss Triscoe?” she asked. “We haven't + seen them.” + </p> + <p> + “Didn't Mrs. Adding tell you? They went to supper at a + restaurant; the general doesn't like the cooking here. They ought to + have been back before this.” + </p> + <p> + He looked up at the clock on the wall, and she said, “I suppose you + would like us to wait.” + </p> + <p> + “It would be very kind of you.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's quite essential,” she returned with an airy + freshness which Kenby did not seem to feel as painfully as he ought. + </p> + <p> + They all sat down, and the Triscoes came in after a few minutes, and a + cloud on the general's face lifted at the proposition Kenby left + Mrs. March to make. + </p> + <p> + “I thought that child ought to be in his mother's charge,” + he said. With his own comfort provided for, he made no objections to Mrs. + March's plan; and Agatha went to take leave of Rose and his mother. + “By-the-way,” the general turned to March, “I found + Stoller at the restaurant where we supped. He offered me a place in his + carriage for the manoeuvres. How are you going?” + </p> + <p> + “I think I shall go by train. I don't fancy the long drive.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know that it's worse than the long walk + after you leave the train,” said the general from the offence which + any difference of taste was apt to give him. “Are you going by + train, too?” he asked Kenby with indifference. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not going at all,” said Kenby. “I'm + leaving Wurzburg in the morning.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed,” said the general. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March could not make out whether he knew that Kenby was going with + Rose and Mrs. Adding, but she felt that there must be a full and open + recognition of the fact among them. “Yes,” she said, “isn't + it fortunate that Mr. Kenby should be going to Holland, too! I should have + been so unhappy about them if Mrs. Adding had been obliged to make that + long journey with poor little Rose alone.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes; very fortunate, certainly,” said the general + colorlessly. + </p> + <p> + Her husband gave her a glance of intelligent appreciation; but Kenby was + too simply, too densely content with the situation to know the value of + what she had done. She thought he must certainly explain, as he walked + back with her to the Swan, whether he had misrepresented her to Mrs. + Adding, or Mrs. Adding had misunderstood him. Somewhere there had been an + error, or a duplicity which it was now useless to punish; and Kenby was so + apparently unconscious of it that she had not the heart to be cross with + him. She heard Miss Triscoe behind her with March laughing in the gayety + which the escape from her father seemed to inspire in her. She was + promising March to go with him in the morning to see the Emperor and + Empress of Germany arrive at the station, and he was warning her that if + she laughed there, like that, she would subject him to fine and + imprisonment. She pretended that she would like to see him led off between + two gendarmes, but consented to be a little careful when he asked her how + she expected to get back to her hotel without him, if such a thing + happened. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0142" id="link2H_4_0142"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5238}.jpg" alt="{5238}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5238}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LVIII. + </h2> + <p> + After all, Miss Triscoe did not go with March; she preferred to sleep. The + imperial party was to arrive at half past seven, but at six the crowd was + already dense before the station, and all along the street leading to the + Residenz. It was a brilliant day, with the promise of sunshine, through + which a chilly wind blew, for the manoeuvres. The colors of all the German + states flapped in this breeze from the poles wreathed with evergreen which + encircled the square; the workmen putting the last touches on the bronzed + allegory hurried madly to be done, and they had, scarcely finished their + labors when two troops of dragoons rode into the place and formed before + the station, and waited as motionlessly as their horses would allow. + </p> + <p> + These animals were not so conscious as lions at the approach of princes; + they tossed and stamped impatiently in the long interval before the Regent + and his daughter-in-law came to welcome their guests. All the human + beings, both those who were in charge and those who were under charge, + were in a quiver of anxiety to play their parts well, as if there were + some heavy penalty for failure in the least point. The policemen keeping + the people, in line behind the ropes which restrained them trembled with + eagerness; the faces of some of the troopers twitched. An involuntary sigh + went up from the crowd as the Regent's carriage appeared, heralded + by outriders, and followed by other plain carriages of Bavarian blue with + liveries of blue and silver. Then the whistle of the Kaiser's train + sounded; a trumpeter advanced and began to blow his trumpet as they do in + the theatre; and exactly at the appointed moment the Emperor and Empress + came out of the station through the brilliant human alley leading from it, + mounted their carriages, with the stage trumpeter always blowing, and + whirled swiftly round half the square and flashed into the corner toward + the Residenz out of sight. The same hollow groans of Ho-o-o-ch greeted and + followed them from the spectators as had welcomed the Regent when he first + arrived among his fellow-townsmen, with the same effect of being the + conventional cries of a stage mob behind the scenes. + </p> + <p> + The Emperor was like most of his innumerable pictures, with a swarthy face + from which his blue eyes glanced pleasantly; he looked good-humored if not + good-natured; the Empress smiled amiably beneath her deeply fringed white + parasol, and they both bowed right and left in acknowledgment of those + hollow groans; but again it seemed, to March that sovereignty, gave the + popular curiosity, not to call it devotion, a scantier return than it + merited. He had perhaps been insensibly working toward some such + perception as now came to him that the great difference between Europe and + America was that in Europe life is histrionic and dramatized, and that in + America, except when it is trying to be European, it is direct and + sincere. He wondered whether the innate conviction of equality, the deep, + underlying sense of a common humanity transcending all social and civic + pretences, was what gave their theatrical effect to the shows of deference + from low to high, and of condescension from high to low. If in such + encounters of sovereigns and subjects, the prince did not play his part so + well as the people, it might be that he had a harder part to play, and + that to support his dignity at all, to keep from being found out the sham + that he essentially was, he had to hurry across the stage amidst the + distracting thunders of the orchestra. If the star staid to be scrutinized + by the soldiers, citizens, and so forth, even the poor supernumeraries and + scene-shifters might see that he was a tallow candle like themselves. + </p> + <p> + In the censorious mood induced by the reflection that he had waited an + hour and a half for half a minute's glimpse of the imperial party, + March now decided not to go to the manoeuvres, where he might be subjected + to still greater humiliation and disappointment. He had certainly come to + Wurzburg for the manoeuvres, but Wurzburg had been richly repaying in + itself; and why should he stifle half an hour in an overcrowded train, and + struggle for three miles on foot against that harsh wind, to see a + multitude of men give proofs of their fitness to do manifold murder? He + was, in fact, not the least curious for the sight, and the only thing that + really troubled him was the question of how he should justify his + recreance to his wife. This did alloy the pleasure with which he began, + after an excellent breakfast at a neighboring cafe, to stroll about the + streets, though he had them almost to himself, so many citizens had + followed the soldiers to the manoeuvres. + </p> + <p> + It was not till the soldiers began returning from the manoeuvres, + dusty-footed, and in white canvas overalls drawn over their trousers to + save them, that he went back to Mrs. March and Miss Triscoe at the Swan. + He had given them time enough to imagine him at the review, and to wonder + whether he had seen General Triscoe and the Stollers there, and they met + him with such confident inquiries that he would not undeceive them at + once. He let them divine from his inventive answers that he had not gone + to the manoeuvres, which put them in the best humor with themselves, and + the girl said it was so cold and rough that she wished her father had not + gone, either. The general appeared just before dinner and frankly avowed + the same wish. He was rasping and wheezing from the dust which filled his + lungs; he looked blown and red, and he was too angry with the company he + had been in to have any comments on the manoeuvres. He referred to the + military chiefly in relation to the Miss Stollers' ineffectual + flirtations, which he declared had been outrageous. Their father had + apparently no control over them whatever, or else was too ignorant to know + that they were misbehaving. They were without respect or reverence for any + one; they had talked to General Triscoe as if he were a boy of their own + age, or a dotard whom nobody need mind; they had not only kept up their + foolish babble before him, they had laughed and giggled, they had broken + into snatches of American song, they had all but whistled and danced. They + made loud comments in Illinois English—on the cuteness of the + officers whom they admired, and they had at one time actually got out + their handkerchiefs. He supposed they meant to wave them at the officers, + but at the look he gave them they merely put their hats together and + snickered in derision of him. They were American girls of the worst type; + they conformed to no standard of behavior; their conduct was personal. + They ought to be taken home. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March said she saw what he meant, and she agreed with him that they + were altogether unformed, and were the effect of their own ignorant + caprices. Probably, however, it was too late to amend them by taking them + away. + </p> + <p> + “It would hide them, at any rate,” he answered. “They + would sink back into the great mass of our vulgarity, and not be noticed. + We behave like a parcel of peasants with our women. We think that if no + harm is meant or thought, we may risk any sort of appearance, and we do + things that are scandalously improper simply because they are innocent. + That may be all very well at home, but people who prefer that sort of + thing had better stay there, where our peasant manners won't make + them conspicuous.” + </p> + <p> + As their train ran northward out of Wurzburg that afternoon, Mrs. March + recurred to the general's closing words. “That was a slap at + Mrs. Adding for letting Kenby go off with her.” + </p> + <p> + She took up the history of the past twenty-four hours, from the time March + had left her with Miss Triscoe when he went with her father and the + Addings and Kenby to see that church. She had had no chance to bring up + these arrears until now, and she atoned to herself for the delay by making + the history very full, and going back and adding touches at any point + where she thought she had scanted it. After all, it consisted mainly of + fragmentary intimations from Miss Triscoe and of half-uttered questions + which her own art now built into a coherent statement. + </p> + <p> + March could not find that the general had much resented Burnamy's + clandestine visit to Carlsbad when his daughter told him of it, or that he + had done more than make her promise that she would not keep up the + acquaintance upon any terms unknown to him. + </p> + <p> + “Probably,” Mrs. March said, “as long as he had any + hopes of Mrs. Adding, he was a little too self-conscious to be very up and + down about Burnamy.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you think he was really serious about her?” + </p> + <p> + “Now my dear! He was so serious that I suppose he was never so + completely taken aback in his life as when he met Kenby in Wurzburg and + saw how she received him. Of course, that put an end to the fight.” + </p> + <p> + “The fight?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—that Mrs. Adding and Agatha were keeping up to prevent + his offering himself.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! And how do you know that they were keeping up the fight + together?” + </p> + <p> + “How do I? Didn't you see yourself what friends they were? Did + you tell him what Stoller had, said about Burnamy?” + </p> + <p> + “I had no chance. I don't know that I should have done it, + anyway. It wasn't my affair.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, I think you might. It would have been everything for + that poor child; it would have completely justified her in her own eyes.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps your telling her will serve the same purpose.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I did tell her, and I am glad of it. She had a right to know + it.” + </p> + <p> + “Did she think Stoller's willingness to overlook Burnamy's + performance had anything to do with its moral quality?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March was daunted for the moment, but she said, “I told her you + thought that if a person owned to a fault they disowned it, and put it + away from them just as if it had never been committed; and that if a + person had taken their punishment for a wrong they had done, they had + expiated it so far as anybody else was concerned. And hasn't poor + Burnamy done both?” + </p> + <p> + As a moralist March was flattered to be hoist with his own petard, but as + a husband he was not going to come down at once. “I thought probably + you had told her that. You had it pat from having just been over it with + me. When has she heard from him?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, that's the strangest thing about it. She hasn't + heard at all. She doesn't know where he is. She thought we must + know. She was terribly broken up.” + </p> + <p> + “How did she show it?” + </p> + <p> + “She didn't show it. Either you want to tease, or you've + forgotten how such things are with young people—or at least girls.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it's all a long time ago with me, and I never was a + girl. Besides, the frank and direct behavior of Kenby and Mrs. Adding has + been very obliterating to my early impressions of love-making.” + </p> + <p> + “It certainly hasn't been ideal,” said Mrs. March with a + sigh. + </p> + <p> + “Why hasn't it been ideal?” he asked. “Kenby is + tremendously in love with her; and I believe she's had a fancy for + him from the beginning. If it hadn't been for Rose she would have + accepted him at once; and now he's essential to them both in their + helplessness. As for Papa Triscoe and his Europeanized scruples, if they + have any reality at all they're the residuum of his personal + resentment, and Kenby and Mrs. Adding have nothing to do with their + unreality. His being in love with her is no reason why he shouldn't + be helpful to her when she needs him, and every reason why he should. I + call it a poem, such as very few people have the luck to live out + together.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March listened with mounting fervor, and when he stopped, she cried + out, “Well, my dear, I do believe you are right! It is ideal, as you + say; it's a perfect poem. And I shall always say—” + </p> + <p> + She stopped at the mocking light which she caught in his look, and + perceived that he had been amusing himself with her perennial enthusiasm + for all sorts of love-affairs. But she averred that she did not care; what + he had said was true, and she should always hold him to it. + </p> + <p> + They were again in the wedding-journey sentiment in which they had left + Carlsbad, when they found themselves alone together after their escape + from the pressure of others' interests. The tide of travel was + towards Frankfort, where the grand parade was to take place some days + later. They were going to Weimar, which was so few hours out of their way + that they simply must not miss it; and all the way to the old literary + capital they were alone in their compartment, with not even a stranger, + much less a friend to molest them. The flying landscape without was of + their own early autumnal mood, and when the vineyards of Wurzburg ceased + to purple it, the heavy after-math of hay and clover, which men, women, + and children were loading on heavy wains, and driving from the meadows + everywhere, offered a pastoral and pleasing change. It was always the + German landscape; sometimes flat and fertile, sometimes hilly and poor; + often clothed with dense woods, but always charming, with castled tops in + ruin or repair, and with levels where Gothic villages drowsed within their + walls, and dreamed of the mediaeval past, silent, without apparent life, + except for some little goose-girl driving her flock before her as she + sallied out into the nineteenth century in search of fresh pasturage. + </p> + <p> + As their train mounted among the Thuringian uplands they were aware of a + finer, cooler air through their open window. The torrents foamed white out + of the black forests of fir and pine, and brawled along the valleys, where + the hamlets roused themselves in momentary curiosity as the train roared + into them from the many tunnels. The afternoon sunshine had the glister of + mountain sunshine everywhere, and the travellers had a pleasant + bewilderment in which their memories of Switzerland and the White + Mountains mixed with long-dormant emotions from Adirondack sojourns. They + chose this place and that in the lovely region where they lamented that + they had not come at once for the after-cure, and they appointed enough + returns to it in future years to consume all the summers they had left to + live. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0143" id="link2H_4_0143"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5249}.jpg" alt="{5249}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5249}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LIX. + </h2> + <p> + It was falling night when they reached Weimar, where they found at the + station a provision of omnibuses far beyond the hotel accommodations. They + drove first to the Crown-Prince, which was in a promising state of + reparation, but which for the present could only welcome them to an + apartment where a canvas curtain cut them off from a freshly plastered + wall. The landlord deplored the fact, and sent hospitably out to try and + place them at the Elephant. But the Elephant was full, and the Russian + Court was full too. Then the landlord of the Crown-Prince bethought + himself of a new hotel, of the second class, indeed, but very nice, where + they might get rooms, and after the delay of an hour, they got a carriage + and drove away from the Crown-Prince, where the landlord continued to the + last as benevolent as if they had been a profit instead of a loss to him. + </p> + <p> + The streets of the town at nine o'clock were empty and quiet, and + they instantly felt the academic quality of the place. Through the pale + night they could see that the architecture was of the classic sentiment + which they were destined to feel more and more; at one point they caught a + fleeting glimpse of two figures with clasped hands and half embraced, + which they knew for the statues of Goethe and Schiller; and when they + mounted to their rooms at the Grand-Duke of Saxe-Weimar, they passed under + a fresco representing Goethe and four other world-famous poets, Shakspere, + Milton, Tasso, and Schiller. The poets all looked like Germans, as was + just, and Goethe was naturally chief among them; he marshalled the + immortals on their way, and Schiller brought up the rear and kept them + from going astray in an Elysium where they did not speak the language. For + the rest, the hotel was brand-new, of a quite American freshness, and was + pervaded by a sweet smell as of straw matting, and provided with + steam-radiators. In the sense of its homelikeness the Marches boasted that + they were never going away from it. + </p> + <p> + In the morning they discovered that their windows looked out on the + grand-ducal museum, with a gardened space before and below its + classicistic bulk, where, in a whim of the weather, the gay flowers were + full of sun. In a pleasant illusion of taking it unawares, March strolled + up through the town; but Weimar was as much awake at that hour as at any + of the twenty-four, and the tranquillity of its streets, where he + encountered a few passers several blocks apart, was their habitual mood. + He came promptly upon two objects which he would willingly have shunned: a + 'denkmal' of the Franco-German war, not so furiously bad as + most German monuments, but antipathetic and uninteresting, as all + patriotic monuments are; and a woman-and-dog team. In the shock from this + he was sensible that he had not seen any woman-and-dog teams for some + time, and he wondered by what civic or ethnic influences their + distribution was so controlled that they should have abounded in Hamburg, + Leipsic, and Carlsbad, and wholly ceased in Nuremberg, Ansbach, and + Wurzburg, to reappear again in Weimar, though they seemed as + characteristic of all Germany as the ugly denkmals to her victories over + France. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5251}.jpg" alt="{5251}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5251}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The Goethe and Schiller monument which he had glimpsed the night before + was characteristic too, but less offensively so. German statues at the + best are conscious; and the poet-pair, as the inscription calls them, have + the air of showily confronting posterity with their clasped hands, and of + being only partially rapt from the spectators. But they were more + unconscious than any other German statues that March had seen, and he + quelled a desire to ask Goethe, as he stood with his hand on Schiller's + shoulder, and looked serenely into space far above one of the typical + equipages of his country, what he thought of that sort of thing. But upon + reflection he did not know why Goethe should be held personally + responsible for the existence of the woman-and-dog team. He felt that he + might more reasonably attribute to his taste the prevalence of classic + profiles which he began to note in the Weimar populace. This could be a + sympathetic effect of that passion for the antique which the poet brought + back with him from his sojourn in Italy; though many of the people, + especially the children, were bow-legged. Perhaps the antique had: begun + in their faces, and had not yet got down to their legs; in any case they + were charming children, and as a test of their culture, he had a mind to + ask a little girl if she could tell him where the statue of Herder was, + which he thought he might as well take in on his ramble, and so be done + with as many statues as he could. She answered with a pretty regret in her + tender voice, “That I truly cannot,” and he was more satisfied + than if she could, for he thought it better to be a child and honest, than + to know where any German statue was. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5255}.jpg" alt="{5255}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5255}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + He easily found it for himself in the place which is called the Herder + Platz after it. He went into the Peter and Paul Church there; where Herder + used to preach sermons, sometimes not at all liked by the nobility and + gentry for their revolutionary tendency; the sovereign was shielded from + the worst effects of his doctrine by worshipping apart from other sinners + in a glazed gallery. Herder is buried in the church, and when you ask + where, the sacristan lifts a wooden trap-door in the pavement, and you + think you are going down into the crypt, but you are only to see Herder's + monumental stone, which is kept covered so to save it from passing feet. + Here also is the greatest picture of that great soul Luke Kranach, who had + sincerity enough in his paining to atone for all the swelling German + sculptures in the world. It is a crucifixion, and the cross is of a white + birch log, such as might have been cut out of the Weimar woods, shaved + smooth on the sides, with the bark showing at the edges. Kranach has put + himself among the spectators, and a stream of blood from the side of the + Savior falls in baptism upon the painter's head. He is in the + company of John the Baptist and Martin Luther; Luther stands with his + Bible open, and his finger on the line, “The blood of Jesus + cleanseth us.” + </p> + <p> + Partly because he felt guilty at doing all these things without his wife, + and partly because he was now very hungry, March turned from them and got + back to his hotel, where she was looking out for him from their open + window. She had the air of being long domesticated there, as she laughed + down at seeing him come; and the continued brilliancy of the weather added + to the illusion of home. + </p> + <p> + It was like a day of late spring in Italy or America; the sun in that + gardened hollow before the museum was already hot enough to make him glad + of the shelter of the hotel. The summer seemed to have come back to oblige + them, and when they learned that they were to see Weimar in a festive mood + because this was Sedan Day, their curiosity, if not their sympathy, + accepted the chance gratefully. But they were almost moved to wish that + the war had gone otherwise when they learned that all the public carriages + were engaged, and they must have one from a stable if they wished to drive + after breakfast. Still it was offered them for such a modest number of + marks, and their driver proved so friendly and conversable, that they + assented to the course of history, and were more and more reconciled as + they bowled along through the grand-ducal park beside the waters of the + classic Ilm. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5259}.jpg" alt="{5259}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5259}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The waters of the classic Ilm are sluggish and slimy in places, and in + places clear and brooklike, but always a dull dark green in color. They + flow in the shadow of pensive trees, and by the brinks of sunny meadows, + where the after-math wanders in heavy windrows, and the children sport + joyously over the smooth-mown surfaces in all the freedom that there is in + Germany. At last, after immemorial appropriation the owners of the earth + are everywhere expropriated, and the people come into the pleasure if not + the profit of it. At last, the prince, the knight, the noble finds, as in + his turn the plutocrat will find, that his property is not for him, but + for all; and that the nation is to enjoy what he takes from it and vainly + thinks to keep from it. Parks, pleasaunces, gardens, set apart for kings, + are the play-grounds of the landless poor in the Old World, and perhaps + yield the sweetest joy of privilege to some state-sick ruler, some + world-weary princess, some lonely child born to the solitude of + sovereignty, as they each look down from their palace windows upon the + leisure of overwork taking its little holiday amidst beauty vainly created + for the perpetual festival of their empty lives. + </p> + <p> + March smiled to think that in this very Weimar, where sovereignty had + graced and ennobled itself as nowhere else in the world by the + companionship of letters and the arts, they still were not hurrying first + to see the palace of a prince, but were involuntarily making it second to + the cottage of a poet. But in fact it is Goethe who is forever the prince + in Weimar. His greatness blots out its history, his name fills the city; + the thought of him is its chiefest imitation and largest hospitality. The + travellers remembered, above all other facts of the grand-ducal park, that + it was there he first met Christiane Vulpius, beautiful and young, when he + too was beautiful and young, and took her home to be his love, to the just + and lasting displeasure of Fran von Stein, who was even less reconciled + when, after eighteen years of due reflection, the love of Goethe and + Christiane became their marriage. They, wondered just where it was he saw + the young girl coming to meet him as the Grand-Duke's minister with + an office-seeking petition from her brother, Goethe's brother + author, long famed and long forgotten for his romantic tale of “Rinaldo + Rinaldini.” + </p> + <p> + They had indeed no great mind, in their American respectability, for that + rather matter-of-fact and deliberate liaison, and little as their sympathy + was for the passionless intellectual intrigue with the Frau von Stein, it + cast no halo of sentiment about the Goethe cottage to suppose that there + his love-life with Christiane began. Mrs. March even resented the fact, + and when she learned later that it was not the fact at all, she removed it + from her associations with the pretty place almost indignantly. + </p> + <p> + In spite of our facile and multiple divorces we Americans are worshipers + of marriage, and if a great poet, the minister of a prince, is going to + marry a poor girl, we think he had better not wait till their son is + almost of age. Mrs. March would not accept as extenuating circumstances + the Grand-Duke's godfatherhood, or Goethe's open constancy to + Christiane, or the tardy consecration of their union after the French sack + of, Weimar, when the girl's devotion had saved him from the rudeness + of the marauding soldiers. For her New England soul there were no degrees + in such guilt; and, perhaps there are really not so many as people have + tried to think, in their deference to Goethe's greatness. But + certainly the affair was not so simple for a grand-ducal minister of + world-wide renown, and he might well have felt its difficulties, for he + could not have been proof against the censorious public opinion of Weimar, + or the yet more censorious private opinion of Fran von Stein. + </p> + <p> + On that lovely Italo-American morning no ghost of these old dead + embarrassments lingered within or without the Goethe garden-house. The + trees which the poet himself planted flung a sun-shot shadow upon it, and + about its feet basked a garden of simple flowers, from which the sweet + lame girl who limped through the rooms and showed them, gathered a parting + nosegay for her visitors. The few small livingrooms were above the + ground-floor, with kitchen and offices below in the Italian fashion; in + one of the little chambers was the camp-bed which Goethe carried with him + on his journeys through Italy; and in the larger room at the front stood + the desk where he wrote, with the chair before it from which he might just + have risen. + </p> + + <p> + All was much more livingly conscious of the great man gone than the proud + little palace in the town, which so abounds with relics and memorials of + him. His library, his study, his study table, with everything on it just + as he left it when + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Cadde la stanca mana” + </pre> + <p> + are there, and there is the death-chair facing the window, from which he + gasped for “more light” at last. The handsome, well-arranged + rooms are full of souvenirs of his travel, and of that passion for Italy + which he did so much to impart to all German hearts, and whose modern + waning leaves its records here of an interest pathetically, almost + amusingly, faded. They intimate the classic temper to which his mind + tended more and more, and amidst the multitude of sculptures, pictures, + prints, drawings, gems, medals, autographs, there is the sense of the + many-mindedness, the universal taste, for which he found room in little + Weimar, but not in his contemporaneous Germany. But it is all less keenly + personal, less intimate than the simple garden-house, or else, with the + great troop of people going through it, and the custodians lecturing in + various voices and languages to the attendant groups, the Marches had it + less to themselves, and so imagined him less in it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0144" id="link2H_4_0144"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5266}.jpg" alt="{5266}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5266}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LX. + </h2> + <p> + All palaces have a character of tiresome unlivableness which is common to + them everywhere, and very probably if one could meet their proprietors in + them one would as little remember them apart afterwards as the palaces + themselves. It will not do to lift either houses or men far out of the + average; they become spectacles, ceremonies; they cease to have charm, to + have character, which belong to the levels of life, where alone there are + ease and comfort, and human nature may be itself, with all the little + delightful differences repressed in those who represent and typify. + </p> + <p> + As they followed the custodian through the grand-ducal Residenz at Weimar, + March felt everywhere the strong wish of the prince who was Goethe's + friend to ally himself with literature, and to be human at least in the + humanities. He came honestly by his passion for poets; his mother had + known it in her time, and Weimar was the home of Wieland and of Herder + before the young Grand-Duke came back from his travels bringing Goethe + with him, and afterwards attracting Schiller. The story of that great + epoch is all there in the Residenz, told as articulately as a palace can. + </p> + <p> + There are certain Poets' Rooms, frescoed with illustrations of + Goethe, Schiller, and Wieland; there is the room where Goethe and the + Grand-Duke used to play chess together; there is the conservatory opening + from it where they liked to sit and chat; everywhere in the pictures and + sculptures, the engraving and intaglios, are the witnesses of the tastes + they shared, the love they both had for Italy, and for beautiful Italian + things. The prince was not so great a prince but that he could very nearly + be a man; the court was perhaps the most human court that ever was; the + Grand-Duke and the grand poet were first boon companions, and then monarch + and minister working together for the good of the country; they were + always friends, and yet, as the American saw in the light of the New + World, which he carried with him, how far from friends! At best it was + make-believe, the make-believe of superiority and inferiority, the + make-believe of master and man, which could only be the more painful and + ghastly for the endeavor of two generous spirits to reach and rescue each + other through the asphyxiating unreality; but they kept up the show of + equality faithfully to the end. Goethe was born citizen of a free + republic, and his youth was nurtured in the traditions of liberty; he was + one of the greatest souls of any time, and he must have known the + impossibility of the thing they pretended; but he died and made no sign, + and the poet's friendship with the prince has passed smoothly into + history as one of the things that might really be. They worked and played + together; they dined and danced, they picnicked and poetized, each on his + own side of the impassable gulf; with an air of its not being there which + probably did not deceive their contemporaries so much as posterity. + </p> + <p> + A part of the palace was of course undergoing repair; and in the gallery + beyond the conservatory a company of workmen were sitting at a table where + they had spread their luncheon. They were somewhat subdued by the + consciousness of their august environment; but the sight of them was + charming; they gave a kindly interest to the place which it had wanted + before; and which the Marches felt again in another palace where the + custodian showed them the little tin dishes and saucepans which the German + Empress Augusta and her sisters played with when they were children. The + sight of these was more affecting even than the withered wreaths which + they had left on the death-bed of their mother, and which are still + mouldering there. + </p> + <p> + This was in the Belvedere, the country house on the height overlooking + Weimar, where the grand-ducal family spend the month of May, and where the + stranger finds himself amid overwhelming associations of Goethe, although + the place is so full of relics and memorials of the owners. It seemed in + fact to be a storehouse for the wedding-presents of the whole connection, + which were on show in every room; Mrs. March hardly knew whether they + heightened the domestic effect or took from it; but they enabled her to + verify with the custodian's help certain royal intermarriages which + she had been in doubt about before. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5269}.jpg" alt="{5269}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5269}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Her zeal for these made such favor with him that he did not spare them a + portrait of all those which March hoped to escape; he passed them over, + scarcely able to stand, to the gardener, who was to show them the open-air + theatre where Goethe used to take part in the plays. + </p> + <p> + The Natur-Theater was of a classic ideal, realized in the trained vines + and clipped trees which formed the coulisses. There was a grassy space for + the chorus and the commoner audience, and then a few semicircular gradines + cut in the turf, one alcove another, where the more honored spectators + sat. Behind the seats were plinths bearing the busts of Goethe, Schiller, + Wieland, and Herder. It was all very pretty, and if ever the weather in + Weimar was dry enough to permit a performance, it must have been charming + to see a play in that open day to which the drama is native, though in the + late hours it now keeps in the thick air of modern theatres it has long + forgotten the fact. It would be difficult to be Greek under a German sky, + even when it was not actually raining, but March held that with Goethe's + help it might have been done at Weimar, and his wife and he proved + themselves such enthusiasts for the Natur-Theater that the walnut-faced + old gardener who showed it put together a sheaf of the flowers that grew + nearest it and gave them to Mrs. March for a souvenir. + </p> + <p> + They went for a cup of tea to the cafe which looks, as from another + eyebrow of the hill, out over lovely little Weimar in the plain below. In + a moment of sunshine the prospect was very smiling; but their spirits sank + over their tea when it came; they were at least sorry they had not asked + for coffee. Most of the people about them were taking beer, including the + pretty girls of a young ladies' school, who were there with their + books and needle-work, in the care of one of the teachers, apparently for + the afternoon. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March perceived that they were not so much engaged with their books + or their needle-work but they had eyes for other things, and she followed + the glances of the girls till they rested upon the people at a table + somewhat obliquely to the left. These were apparently a mother and + daughter, and they were listening to a young man who sat with his back to + Mrs. March, and leaned low over the table talking to them. They were both + smiling radiantly, and as the girl smiled she kept turning herself from + the waist up, and slanting her face from this side to that, as if to make + sure that every one saw her smiling. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March felt her husband's gaze following her own, and she had + just time to press her finger firmly on his arm and reduce his cry of + astonishment to the hoarse whisper in which he gasped, “Good + gracious! It's the pivotal girl!” + </p> + <p> + At the same moment the girl rose with her mother, and with the young man, + who had risen too, came directly toward the Marches on their way out of + the place without noticing them, though Burnamy passed so near that Mrs. + March could almost have touched him. + </p> + <p> + She had just strength to say, “Well, my dear! That was the cut + direct.” + </p> + <p> + She said this in order to have her husband reassure her. “Nonsense! + He never saw us. Why didn't you speak to him?” + </p> + <p> + “Speak to him? I never shall speak to him again. No! This is the + last of Mr. Burnamy for me. I shouldn't have minded his not + recognizing us, for, as you say, I don't believe he saw us; but if + he could go back to such a girl as that, and flirt with her, after Miss + Triscoe, that's all I wish to know of him. Don't you try to + look him up, Basil! I'm glad-yes, I'm glad he doesn't + know how Stoller has come to feel about him; he deserves to suffer, and I + hope he'll keep on suffering: You were quite right, my dear—and + it shows how true your instinct is in such things (I don't call it + more than instinct)—not to tell him what Stoller said, and I don't + want you ever should.” + </p> + <p> + She had risen in her excitement, and was making off in such haste that she + would hardly give him time to pay for their tea, as she pulled him + impatiently to their carriage. + </p> + <p> + At last he got a chance to say, “I don't think I can quite + promise that; my mind's been veering round in the other direction. I + think I shall tell him.” + </p> + <p> + “What! After you've seen him flirting with that girl? Very + well, then, you won't, my dear; that's all! He's + behaving very basely to Agatha.” + </p> + <p> + “What's his flirtation with all the girls in the universe to + do with my duty to him? He has a right to know what Stoller thinks. And as + to his behaving badly toward Miss Triscoe, how has he done it? So far as + you know, there is nothing whatever between them. She either refused him + outright, that last night in Carlsbad, or else she made impossible + conditions with him. Burnamy is simply consoling himself, and I don't + blame him.” + </p> + <p> + “Consoling himself with a pivotal girl!” cried Mrs. March. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with a pivotal girl. Her pivotality may be a nervous + idiosyncrasy, or it may be the effect of tight lacing; perhaps she has to + keep turning and twisting that way to get breath. But attribute the worst + motive: say it is to make people look at her! Well, Burnamy has a right to + look with the rest; and I am not going to renounce him because he takes + refuge with one pretty girl from another. It's what men have been + doing from the beginning of time.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I dare say!” + </p> + <p> + “Men,” he went on, “are very delicately constituted; + very peculiarly. They have been known to seek the society of girls in + general, of any girl, because some girl has made them happy; and when some + girl has made them unhappy, they are still more susceptible. Burnamy may + be merely amusing himself, or he may be consoling himself; but in either + case I think the pivotal girl has as much right to him as Miss Triscoe. + She had him first; and I'm all for her.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0145" id="link2H_4_0145"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5277}.jpg" alt="{5277}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5277}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXI. + </h2> + <p> + Burnamy came away from seeing the pivotal girl and her mother off on the + train which they were taking that evening for Frankfort and Hombourg, and + strolled back through the Weimar streets little at ease with himself. + While he was with the girl and near her he had felt the attraction by + which youth impersonally draws youth, the charm which mere maid has for + mere man; but once beyond the range of this he felt sick at heart and + ashamed. He was aware of having used her folly as an anodyne for the pain + which was always gnawing at him, and he had managed to forget it in her + folly, but now it came back, and the sense that he had been reckless of + her rights came with it. He had done his best to make her think him in + love with her, by everything but words; he wondered how he could be such + an ass, such a wicked ass, as to try making her promise to write to him + from Frankfort; he wished never to see her again, and he wished still less + to hear from her. It was some comfort to reflect that she had not + promised, but it was not comfort enough to restore him to such fragmentary + self-respect as he had been enjoying since he parted with Agatha Triscoe + in Carlsbad; he could not even get back to the resentment with which he + had been staying himself somewhat before the pivotal girl unexpectedly + appeared with her mother in Weimar. + </p> + <p> + It was Sedan Day, but there was apparently no official observance of the + holiday, perhaps because the Grand-Duke was away at the manoeuvres, with + all the other German princes. Burnamy had hoped for some voluntary + excitement among the people, at least enough to warrant him in making a + paper about Sedan Day in Weimar, which he could sell somewhere; but the + night was falling, and there was still no sign of popular rejoicing over + the French humiliation twenty-eight years before, except in the multitude + of Japanese lanterns which the children were everywhere carrying at the + ends of sticks. Babies had them in their carriages, and the effect of the + floating lights in the winding, up-and-down-hill streets was charming even + to Burnamy's lack-lustre eyes. He went by his hotel and on to a cafe + with a garden, where there was a patriotic, concert promised; he supped + there, and then sat dreamily behind his beer, while the music banged and + brayed round him unheeded. + </p> + <p> + Presently he heard a voice of friendly banter saying in English, “May + I sit at your table?” and he saw an ironical face looking down on + him. “There doesn't seem any other place.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mr. March!” Burnamy sprang up and wrung the hand held + out to him, but he choked with his words of recognition; it was so good to + see this faithful friend again, though he saw him now as he had seen him + last, just when he had so little reason to be proud of himself. + </p> + <p> + March settled his person in the chair facing Burnamy, and then glanced + round at the joyful jam of people eating and drinking, under a firmament + of lanterns. “This is pretty,” he said, “mighty pretty. + I shall make Mrs. March sorry for not coming, when I go back.” + </p> + <p> + “Is Mrs. March—she is—with you—in Weimar?” + Burnamy asked stupidly. + </p> + <p> + March forbore to take advantage of him. “Oh, yes. We saw you out at + Belvedere this afternoon. Mrs. March thought for a moment that you meant + not to see us. A woman likes to exercise her imagination in those little + flights.” + </p> + <p> + “I never dreamed of your being there—I never saw—” + Burnamy began. + </p> + <p> + “Of course not. Neither did Mrs. Etkins, nor Miss Etkins; she was + looking very pretty. Have you been here some time?” + </p> + <p> + “Not long. A week or so. I've been at the parade at Wurzburg.” + </p> + <p> + “At Wurzburg! Ah, how little the world is, or how large Wurzburg is! + We were there nearly a week, and we pervaded the place. But there was a + great crowd for you to hide in from us. What had I better take?” A + waiter had come up, and was standing at March's elbow. “I + suppose I mustn't sit here without ordering something?” + </p> + <p> + “White wine and selters,” said Burnamy vaguely. + </p> + <p> + “The very thing! Why didn't I think of it? It's a divine + drink: it satisfies without filling. I had it a night or two before we + left home, in the Madison Square Roof Garden. Have you seen 'Every + Other Week' lately?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Burnamy, with more spirit than he had yet shown. + </p> + <p> + “We've just got our mail from Nuremberg. The last number has a + poem in it that I rather like.” March laughed to see the young + fellow's face light up with joyful consciousness. “Come round + to my hotel, after you're tired here, and I'll let you see it. + There's no hurry. Did you notice the little children with their + lanterns, as you came along? It's the gentlest effect that a warlike + memory ever came to. The French themselves couldn't have minded + those innocents carrying those soft lights on the day of their disaster. + You ought to get something out of that, and I've got a subject in + trust for you from Rose Adding. He and his mother were at Wurzburg; I'm + sorry to say the poor little chap didn't seem very well. They've + gone to Holland for the sea air.” March had been talking for + quantity in compassion of the embarrassment in which Burnamy seemed bound; + but he questioned how far he ought to bring comfort to the young fellow + merely because he liked him. So far as he could make out, Burnamy had been + doing rather less than nothing to retrieve himself since they had met; and + it was by an impulse that he could not have logically defended to Mrs. + March that he resumed. “We found another friend of yours in + Wurzburg: Mr. Stoller.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Stoller?” Burnamy faintly echoed. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he was there to give his daughters a holiday during the + manoeuvres; and they made the most of it. He wanted us to go to the parade + with his family but we declined. The twins were pretty nearly the death of + General Triscoe.” + </p> + <p> + Again Burnamy echoed him. “General Triscoe?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, yes: I didn't tell you. General Triscoe and his daughter + had come on with Mrs. Adding and Rose. Kenby—you remember Kenby, On + the Norumbia?—Kenby happened to be there, too; we were quite a + family party; and Stoller got the general to drive out to the manoeuvres + with him and his girls.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5282}.jpg" alt="{5282}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5282}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Now that he was launched, March rather enjoyed letting himself go. He did + not know what he should say to Mrs. March when he came to confess having + told Burnamy everything before she got a chance at him; he pushed on + recklessly, upon the principle, which probably will not hold in morals, + that one may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. “I have a + message for you from Mr. Stoller.” + </p> + <p> + “For me?” Burnamy gasped. + </p> + <p> + “I've been wondering how I should put it, for I hadn't + expected to see you. But it's simply this: he wants you to know—and + he seemed to want me to know—that he doesn't hold you + accountable in the way he did. He's thought it all over, and he's + decided that he had no right to expect you to save him from his own + ignorance where he was making a show of knowledge. As he said, he doesn't + choose to plead the baby act. He says that you're all right, and + your place on the paper is open to you.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy had not been very prompt before, but now he seemed braced for + instant response. “I think he's wrong,” he said, so + harshly that the people at the next table looked round. “His feeling + as he does has nothing to do with the fact, and it doesn't let me + out.” + </p> + <p> + March would have liked to take him in his arms; he merely said, “I + think you're quite right, as to that. But there's such a thing + as forgiveness, you know. It doesn't change the nature of what you've + done; but as far as the sufferer from it is concerned, it annuls it.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I understand that. But I can't accept his forgiveness if + I hate him.” + </p> + <p> + “But perhaps you won't always hate him. Some day you may have + a chance to do him a good turn. It's rather banale; but there doesn't + seem any other way. Well, I have given you his message. Are you going with + me to get that poem?” + </p> + <p> + When March had given Burnamy the paper at his hotel, and Burnamy had put + it in his pocket, the young man said he thought he would take some coffee, + and he asked March to join him in the dining-room where they had stood + talking. + </p> + <p> + “No, thank you,” said the elder, “I don't propose + sitting up all night, and you'll excuse me if I go to bed now. It's + a little informal to leave a guest—” + </p> + <p> + “You're not leaving a guest! I'm at home here. I'm + staying in this hotel too.” + </p> + <p> + March said, “Oh!” and then he added abruptly, “Good-night,” + and went up stairs under the fresco of the five poets. + </p> + <p> + “Whom were you talking with below?” asked Mrs. March through + the door opening into his room from hers. + </p> + <p> + “Burnamy,” he answered from within. “He's staying + in this house. He let me know just as I was going to turn him out for the + night. It's one of those little uncandors of his that throw + suspicion on his honesty in great things.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Then you've been telling him,” she said, with a + mental bound high above and far beyond the point. + </p> + <p> + “Everything.” + </p> + <p> + “About Stoller, too?” + </p> + <p> + “About Stoller and his daughters, and Mrs. Adding and Rose and Kenby + and General Triscoe—and Agatha.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well. That's what I call shabby. Don't ever talk + to me again about the inconsistencies of women. But now there's + something perfectly fearful.” + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “A letter from Miss Triscoe came after you were gone, asking us to + find rooms in some hotel for her and her father to-morrow. He isn't + well, and they're coming. And I've telegraphed them to come + here. Now what do you say?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0146" id="link2H_4_0146"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5287}.jpg" alt="{5287}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5287}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXII. + </h2> + <p> + They could see no way out of the trouble, and Mrs. March could not resign + herself to it till her husband suggested that she should consider it + providential. This touched the lingering superstition in which she had + been ancestrally taught to regard herself as a means, when in a very tight + place, and to leave the responsibility with the moral government of the + universe. As she now perceived, it had been the same as ordered that they + should see Burnamy under such conditions in the afternoon that they could + not speak to him, and hear where he was staying; and in an inferior degree + it had been the same as ordered that March should see him in the evening + and tell him everything, so that she should know just how to act when she + saw him in the morning. If he could plausibly account for the renewal of + his flirtation with Miss Elkins, or if he seemed generally worthy apart + from that, she could forgive him. + </p> + <p> + It was so pleasant when he came in at breakfast with his well-remembered + smile, that she did not require from him any explicit defence. While they + talked she was righting herself in an undercurrent of drama with Miss + Triscoe, and explaining to her that they could not possibly wait over for + her and her father in Weimar, but must be off that day for Berlin, as they + had made all their plans. It was not easy, even in drama where one has + everything one's own way, to prove that she could not without + impiety so far interfere with the course of Providence as to prevent Miss + Triscoe's coming with her father to the same hotel where Burnamy was + staying. She contrived, indeed, to persuade her that she had not known he + was staying there when she telegraphed them where to come, and that in the + absence of any open confidence from Miss Triscoe she was not obliged to + suppose that his presence would be embarrassing. + </p> + <p> + March proposed leaving her with Burnamy while he went up into the town and + interviewed the house of Schiller, which he had not done yet; and as soon + as he got himself away she came to business, breaking altogether from the + inner drama with Miss Triscoe and devoting herself to Burnamy. They had + already got so far as to have mentioned the meeting with the Triscoes in + Wurzburg, and she said: “Did Mr. March tell you they were coming + here? Or, no! We hadn't heard then. Yes, they are coming to-morrow. + They may be going to stay some time. She talked of Weimar when we first + spoke of Germany on the ship.” Burnamy said nothing, and she + suddenly added, with a sharp glance, “They wanted us to get them + rooms, and we advised their coming to this house.” He started very + satisfactorily, and “Do you think they would be comfortable, here?” + she pursued. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, very. They can have my room; it's southeast; I shall + be going into other quarters.” She did not say anything; and “Mrs. + March,” he began again, “what is the use of my beating about + the bush? You must know what I went back to Carlsbad for, that night—” + </p> + <p> + “No one ever told—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you must have made a pretty good guess. But it was a failure. + I ought to have failed, and I did. She said that unless her father liked + it—And apparently he hasn't liked it.” Burnamy smiled + ruefully. + </p> + <p> + “How do you know? She didn't know where you were!” + </p> + <p> + “She could have got word to me if she had had good news for me. They've + forwarded other letters from Pupp's. But it's all right; I had + no business to go back to Carlsbad. Of course you didn't know I was + in this house when you told them to come; and I must clear out. I had + better clear out of Weimar, too.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't think so; I have no right to pry into your + affairs, but—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they're wide enough open!” + </p> + <p> + “And you may have changed your mind. I thought you might, when I saw + you yesterday at Belvedere—” + </p> + <p> + “I was only trying to make bad worse.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I think the situation has changed entirely through what Mr. + Stoller said to Mr. March.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't see how it has. I committed an act of shabby + treachery, and I'm as much to blame as if he still wanted to punish + me for it.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5290}.jpg" alt="{5290}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5290}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “Did Mr. March say that to you?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I said that to Mr. March; and he couldn't answer it, and + you can't. You're very good, and very kind, but you can't + answer it.” + </p> + <p> + “I can answer it very well,” she boasted, but she could find + nothing better to say than, “It's your duty to her to see her + and let her know.” + </p> + <p> + “Doesn't she know already?” + </p> + <p> + “She has a right to know it from you. I think you are morbid, Mr. + Burnamy. You know very well I didn't like your doing that to Mr. + Stoller. I didn't say so at the time, because you seemed to feel it + enough yourself. But I did like your owning up to it,” and here Mrs. + March thought it time to trot out her borrowed battle-horse again. “My + husband always says that if a person owns up to an error, fully and + faithfully, as you've always done, they make it the same in its + consequences to them as if it had never been done.” + </p> + <p> + “Does Mr. March say that?” asked Burnamy with a relenting + smile. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed he does!” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy hesitated; then he asked, gloomily again: + </p> + <p> + “And what about the consequences to the other fellow?” + </p> + <p> + “A woman,” said Mrs. March, “has no concern with them. + And besides, I think you've done all you could to save Mr. Stoller + from the consequences.” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't done anything.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter. You would if you could. I wonder,” she broke off, + to prevent his persistence at a point where her nerves were beginning to + give way, “what can be keeping Mr. March?” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5282}.jpg" alt="{5282}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5282}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Nothing much more important, it appeared later, than the pleasure of + sauntering through the streets on the way to the house of Schiller, and + looking at the pretty children going to school, with books under their + arms. It was the day for the schools to open after the long summer + vacation, and there was a freshness of expectation in the shining faces + which, if it could not light up his own graybeard visage, could at least + touch his heart: + </p> + <p> + When he reached the Schiller house he found that it was really not the + Schiller house, but the Schiller flat, of three or four rooms, one flight + up, whose windows look out upon the street named after the poet. The whole + place is bare and clean; in one corner of the large room fronting the + street stands Schiller's writing-table, with his chair before it; + with the foot extending toward this there stands, in another corner, the + narrow bed on which he died; some withered wreaths on the pillow frame a + picture of his deathmask, which at first glance is like his dead face + lying there. It is all rather tasteless, and all rather touching, and the + place with its meagre appointments, as compared with the rich Goethe + house, suggests that personal competition with Goethe in which Schiller is + always falling into the second place. Whether it will be finally so with + him in literature it is too early to ask of time, and upon other points + eternity will not be interrogated. “The great, Goethe and the good + Schiller,” they remain; and yet, March reasoned, there was something + good in Goethe and something great, in Schiller. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5294}.jpg" alt="{5294}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5294}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + He was so full of the pathos of their inequality before the world that he + did not heed the warning on the door of the pastry-shop near the Schiller + house, and on opening it he bedaubed his hand with the fresh paint on it. + He was then in such a state, that he could not bring his mind to bear upon + the question of which cakes his wife would probably prefer, and he stood + helplessly holding up his hand till the good woman behind the counter + discovered his plight, and uttered a loud cry of compassion. She ran and + got a wet napkin, which she rubbed with soap, and then she instructed him + by word and gesture to rub his hand upon it, and she did not leave him + till his rescue was complete. He let her choose a variety of the cakes for + him, and came away with a gay paper bag full of them, and with the feeling + that he had been in more intimate relations with the life of Weimar than + travellers are often privileged to be. He argued from the instant and + intelligent sympathy of the pastry woman a high grade of culture in all + classes; and he conceived the notion of pretending to Mrs. March that he + had got these cakes from, a descendant of Schiller. + </p> + <p> + His deceit availed with her for the brief moment in which she always, + after so many years' experience of his duplicity, believed anything + he told her. They dined merrily together at their hotel, and then Burnamy + came down to the station with them and was very comfortable to March in + helping him to get their tickets and their baggage registered. The train + which was to take them to Halle, where they were to change for Berlin, was + rather late, and they had but ten minutes after it came in before it would + start again. Mrs. March was watching impatiently at the window of the + waiting-room for the dismounting passengers to clear the platform and + allow the doors to be opened; suddenly she gave a cry, and turned and ran + into the passage by which the new arrivals were pouring out toward the + superabundant omnibuses. March and Burnamy, who had been talking apart, + mechanically rushed after her and found her kissing Miss Triscoe and + shaking hands with the general amidst a tempest of questions and answers, + from which it appeared that the Triscoes had got tired of staying in + Wurzburg, and had simply come on to Weimar a day sooner than they had + intended. + </p> + <p> + The general was rather much bundled up for a day which was mild for a + German summer day, and he coughed out an explanation that he had taken an + abominable cold at that ridiculous parade, and had not shaken it off yet. + He had a notion that change of air would be better for him; it could not + be worse. + </p> + <p> + He seemed a little vague as to Burnamy, rather than inimical. While the + ladies were still talking eagerly together in proffer and acceptance of + Mrs. March's lamentations that she should be going away just as Miss + Triscoe was coming, he asked if the omnibus for their hotel was there. He + by no means resented Burnamy's assurance that it was, and he did not + refuse to let him order their baggage, little and large, loaded upon it. + By the time this was done, Mrs. March and Miss Triscoe had so far detached + themselves from each other that they could separate after one more formal + expression of regret and forgiveness. With a lament into which she poured + a world of inarticulate emotions, Mrs. March wrenched herself from the + place, and suffered herself, to be pushed toward her train. But with the + last long look which she cast over her shoulder, before she vanished into + the waiting-room, she saw Miss Triscoe and Burnamy transacting the + elaborate politenesses of amiable strangers with regard to the very small + bag which the girl had in her hand. He succeeded in relieving her of it; + and then he led the way out of the station on the left of the general, + while Miss Triscoe brought up the rear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0147" id="link2H_4_0147"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5300}.jpg" alt="{5300}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5300}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXIII. + </h2> + <p> + From the window of the train as it drew out Mrs. March tried for a glimpse + of the omnibus in which her proteges were now rolling away together. As + they were quite out of sight in the omnibus, which was itself out of + sight, she failed, but as she fell back against her seat she treated the + recent incident with a complexity and simultaneity of which no report can + give an idea. At the end one fatal conviction remained: that in everything + she had said she had failed to explain to Miss Triscoe how Burnamy + happened to be in Weimar and how he happened to be there with them in the + station. She required March to say how she had overlooked the very things + which she ought to have mentioned first, and which she had on the point of + her tongue the whole time. She went over the entire ground again to see if + she could discover the reason why she had made such an unaccountable + break, and it appeared that she was led to it by his rushing after her + with Burnamy before she had had a chance to say a word about him; of + course she could not say anything in his presence. This gave her some + comfort, and there was consolation in the fact that she had left them + together without the least intention or connivance, and now, no matter + what happened, she could not accuse herself, and he could not accuse her + of match-making. + </p> + <p> + He said that his own sense of guilt was so great that he should not dream + of accusing her of anything except of regret that now she could never + claim the credit of bringing the lovers together under circumstances so + favorable. As soon as they were engaged they could join in renouncing her + with a good conscience, and they would probably make this the basis of + their efforts to propitiate the general. + </p> + <p> + She said she did not care, and with the mere removal of the lovers in + space, her interest in them began to abate. They began to be of a minor + importance in the anxieties of the change of trains at Halle, and in the + excitement of settling into the express from Frankfort there were moments + when they were altogether forgotten. The car was of almost American + length, and it ran with almost American smoothness; when the conductor + came and collected an extra fare for their seats, the Marches felt that if + the charge had been two dollars instead of two marks they would have had + every advantage of American travel. + </p> + <p> + On the way to Berlin the country was now fertile and flat, and now sterile + and flat; near the capital the level sandy waste spread almost to its + gates. The train ran quickly through the narrow fringe of suburbs, and + then they were in one of those vast Continental stations which put our + outdated depots to shame. The good 'traeger' who took + possession of them and their hand-bags, put their boxes on a + baggage-bearing drosky, and then got them another drosky for their + personal transportation. This was a drosky of the first-class, but they + would not have thought it so, either from the vehicle itself, or from the + appearance of the driver and his horses. The public carriages of Germany + are the shabbiest in the world; at Berlin the horses look like old hair + trunks and the drivers like their moth-eaten contents. + </p> + <p> + The Marches got no splendor for the two prices they paid, and their + approach to their hotel on Unter den Linden was as unimpressive as the + ignoble avenue itself. It was a moist, cold evening, and the mean, + tiresome street, slopped and splashed under its two rows of small trees, + to which the thinning leaves clung like wet rags, between long lines of + shops and hotels which had neither the grace of Paris nor the grandiosity + of New York. March quoted in bitter derision: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Bees, bees, was it your hydromel, + Under the Lindens?” + </pre> + <p> + and his wife said that if Commonwealth Avenue in Boston could be imagined + with its trees and without their beauty, flanked by the architecture of + Sixth Avenue, with dashes of the west side of Union Square, that would be + the famous Unter den Linden, where she had so resolutely decided that they + would stay while in Berlin. + </p> + <p> + They had agreed upon the hotel, and neither could blame the other because + it proved second-rate in everything but its charges. They ate a poorish + table d'hote dinner in such low spirits that March had no heart to + get a rise from his wife by calling her notice to the mouse which fed upon + the crumbs about their feet while they dined. Their English-speaking + waiter said that it was a very warm evening, and they never knew whether + this was because he was a humorist, or because he was lonely and wished to + talk, or because it really was a warm evening, for Berlin. When they had + finished, they went out and drove about the greater part of the evening + looking for another hotel, whose first requisite should be that it was not + on Unter den Linden. What mainly determined Mrs. March in favor of the + large, handsome, impersonal place they fixed upon was the fact that it was + equipped for steam-heating; what determined March was the fact that it had + a passenger-office where when he wished to leave, he could buy his + railroad tickets and have his baggage checked without the maddening + anxiety, of doing it at the station. But it was precisely in these points + that the hotel which admirably fulfilled its other functions fell short. + The weather made a succession of efforts throughout their stay to clear up + cold; it merely grew colder without clearing up, but this seemed to offer + no suggestion of steam for heating their bleak apartment and the chilly + corridors to the management. With the help of a large lamp which they kept + burning night and day they got the temperature of their rooms up to sixty; + there was neither stove nor fireplace, the cold electric bulbs diffused a + frosty glare; and in the vast, stately dining-room with its vaulted roof, + there was nothing to warm them but their plates, and the handles of their + knives and forks, which, by a mysterious inspiration, were always hot. + When they were ready to go, March experienced from the apathy of the + baggage clerk and the reluctance of the porters a more piercing distress + than any he had known at the railroad stations; and one luckless valise + which he ordered sent after him by express reached his bankers in Paris a + fortnight overdue, with an accumulation of charges upon it outvaluing the + books which it contained. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5308}.jpg" alt="{5308}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5308}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + But these were minor defects in an establishment which had many merits, + and was mainly of the temperament and intention of the large English + railroad hotels. They looked from their windows down into a gardened + square, peopled with a full share of the superabounding statues of Berlin + and frequented by babies and nurse maids who seemed not to mind the cold + any more than the stone kings and generals. The aspect of this square, + like the excellent cooking of the hotel and the architecture of the + imperial capital, suggested the superior civilization of Paris. Even the + rows of gray houses and private palaces of Berlin are in the French taste, + which is the only taste there is in Berlin. The suggestion of Paris is + constant, but it is of Paris in exile, and without the chic which the city + wears in its native air. The crowd lacks this as much as the architecture + and the sculpture; there is no distinction among the men except for now + and then a military figure, and among the women no style such as relieves + the commonplace rash of the New York streets. The Berliners are plain and + ill dressed, both men and women, and even the little children are plain. + Every one is ill dressed, but no one is ragged, and among the undersized + homely folk of the lower classes there is no such poverty-stricken + shabbiness as shocks and insults the sight in New York. That which + distinctly recalls our metropolis is the lofty passage of the elevated + trains intersecting the prospectives of many streets; but in Berlin the + elevated road is carried on massive brick archways and not lifted upon + gay, crazy iron ladders like ours. + </p> + <p> + When you look away from this, and regard Berlin on its aesthetic, side you + are again in that banished Paris, whose captive art-soul is made to serve, + so far as it may be enslaved to such an effect, in the celebration of the + German triumph over France. Berlin has never the presence of a great + capital, however, in spite of its perpetual monumental insistence. There + is no streaming movement in broad vistas; the dull looking population + moves sluggishly; there is no show of fine equipages. The prevailing tone + of the city and the sky is gray; but under the cloudy heaven there is no + responsive Gothic solemnity in the architecture. There are hints of the + older German cities in some of the remote and observe streets, but + otherwise all is as new as Boston, which in fact the actual Berlin hardly + antedates. + </p> + <p> + There are easily more statues in Berlin than in any other city in the + world, but they only unite in failing to give Berlin an artistic air. They + stand in long rows on the cornices; they crowd the pediments; they poise + on one leg above domes and arches; they shelter themselves in niches; they + ride about on horseback; they sit or lounge on street corners or in garden + walks; all with a mediocrity in the older sort which fails of any + impression. If they were only furiously baroque they would be something, + and it may be from a sense of this that there is a self-assertion in the + recent sculptures, which are always patriotic, more noisy and bragging + than anything else in perennial brass. This offensive art is the modern + Prussian avatar of the old German romantic spirit, and bears the same + relation to it that modern romanticism in literature bears to romance. It + finds its apotheosis in the monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I., a vast + incoherent group of swelling and swaggering bronze, commemorating the + victory of the first Prussian Emperor in the war with the last French + Emperor, and avenging the vanquished upon the victors by its ugliness. The + ungainly and irrelevant assemblage of men and animals backs away from the + imperial palace, and saves itself too soon from plunging over the border + of a canal behind it, not far from Rauch's great statue of the great + Frederic. To come to it from the simplicity and quiet of that noble work + is like passing from some exquisite masterpiece of naturalistic acting to + the rant and uproar of melodrama; and the Marches stood stunned and + bewildered by its wild explosions. + </p> + <p> + When they could escape they found themselves so convenient to the imperial + palace that they judged best to discharge at once the obligation to visit + it which must otherwise weigh upon them. They entered the court without + opposition from the sentinel, and joined other strangers straggling + instinctively toward a waiting-room in one corner of the building, where + after they had increased to some thirty, a custodian took charge of them, + and led them up a series of inclined plains of brick to the state + apartments. In the antechamber they found a provision of immense felt + over-shoes which they were expected to put on for their passage over the + waxed marquetry of the halls. These roomy slippers were designed for the + accommodation of the native boots; and upon the mixed company of + foreigners the effect was in the last degree humiliating. The women's + skirts some what hid their disgrace, but the men were openly put to shame, + and they shuffled forward with their bodies at a convenient incline like a + company of snow-shoers. In the depths of his own abasement March heard a + female voice behind him sighing in American accents, “To think I + should be polishing up these imperial floors with my republican feet!” + </p> + <p> + The protest expressed the rebellion which he felt mounting in his own + heart as they advanced through the heavily splendid rooms, in the + historical order of the family portraits recording the rise of the + Prussian sovereigns from Margraves to Emperors. He began to realize here + the fact which grew open him more and more that imperial Germany is not + the effect of a popular impulse but of a dynastic propensity. There is + nothing original in the imperial palace, nothing national; it embodies and + proclaims a powerful personal will, and in its adaptations of French art + it appeals to no emotion in the German witness nobler than his pride in + the German triumph over the French in war. March found it tiresome beyond + the tiresome wont of palaces, and he gladly shook off the sense of it with + his felt shoes. “Well,” he confided to his wife when they were + fairly out-of-doors, “if Prussia rose in the strength of silence, as + Carlyle wants us to believe, she is taking it out in talk now, and tall + talk.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, isn't she!” Mrs. March assented, and with a + passionate desire for excess in a bad thing, which we all know at times, + she looked eagerly about her for proofs of that odious militarism of the + empire, which ought to have been conspicuous in the imperial capital; but + possibly because the troops were nearly all away at the manoeuvres, there + were hardly more in the streets than she had sometimes seen in Washington. + Again the German officers signally failed to offer her any rudeness when + she met them on the side-walks. There were scarcely any of them, and + perhaps that might have been the reason why they were not more aggressive; + but a whole company of soldiers marching carelessly up to the palace from + the Brandenburg gate, without music, or so much style as our own militia + often puts on, regarded her with inoffensive eyes so far as they looked at + her. She declared that personally there was nothing against the Prussians; + even when in uniform they were kindly and modest-looking men; it was when + they got up on pedestals, in bronze or marble, that they, began to bully + and to brag. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0148" id="link2H_4_0148"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5313}.jpg" alt="{5313}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5313}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXIV. + </h2> + <p> + The dinner which the Marches got at a restaurant on Unter den Linden + almost redeemed the avenue from the disgrace it had fallen into with them. + It was, the best meal they had yet eaten in Europe, and as to fact and + form was a sort of compromise between a French dinner and an English + dinner which they did not hesitate to pronounce Prussian. The waiter who + served it was a friendly spirit, very sensible of their intelligent + appreciation of the dinner; and from him they formed a more respectful + opinion of Berlin civilization than they had yet held. After the manner of + strangers everywhere they judged the country they were visiting from such + of its inhabitants as chance brought them in contact with; and it would + really be a good thing for nations that wish to stand well with the world + at large to look carefully to the behavior of its cabmen and car + conductors, its hotel clerks and waiters, its theatre-ticket sellers and + ushers, its policemen and sacristans, its landlords and salesmen; for by + these rather than by its society women and its statesmen and divines, is + it really judged in the books of travellers; some attention also should be + paid to the weather, if the climate is to be praised. In the railroad cafe + at Potsdam there was a waiter so rude to the Marches that if they had not + been people of great strength of character he would have undone the + favorable impression the soldiers and civilians of Berlin generally had + been at such pains to produce in them; and throughout the week of early + September which they passed there, it rained so much and so bitterly, it + was so wet and so cold, that they might have come away thinking it's + the worst climate in the world, if it had not been for a man whom they saw + in one of the public gardens pouring a heavy stream from his garden hose + upon the shrubbery already soaked and shuddering in the cold. But this + convinced them that they were suffering from weather and not from the + climate, which must really be hot and dry; and they went home to their + hotel and sat contentedly down in a temperature of sixty degrees. The + weather, was not always so bad; one day it was dry cold instead of wet + cold, with rough, rusty clouds breaking a blue sky; another day, up to + eleven in the forenoon, it was like Indian summer; then it changed to a + harsh November air; and then it relented and ended so mildly, that they + hired chairs in the place before the imperial palace for five pfennigs + each, and sat watching the life before them. Motherly women-folk were + there knitting; two American girls in chairs near them chatted together; + some fine equipages, the only ones they saw in Berlin, went by; a dog and + a man (the wife who ought to have been in harness was probably sick, and + the poor fellow was forced to take her place) passed dragging a cart; some + schoolboys who had hung their satchels upon the low railing were playing + about the base of the statue of King William III. in the joyous freedom of + German childhood. + </p> + <p> + They seemed the gayer for the brief moments of sunshine, but to the + Americans, who were Southern by virtue of their sky, the brightness had a + sense of lurking winter in it, such as they remembered feeling on a sunny + day in Quebec. The blue heaven looked sad; but they agreed that it fitly + roofed the bit of old feudal Berlin which forms the most ancient wing of + the Schloss. This was time-blackened and rude, but at least it did not try + to be French, and it overhung the Spree which winds through the city and + gives it the greatest charm it has. In fact Berlin, which is otherwise so + grandiose without grandeur and so severe without impressiveness, is + sympathetic wherever the Spree opens it to the sky. The stream is spanned + by many bridges, and bridges cannot well be unpicturesque, especially if + they have statues to help them out. The Spree abounds in bridges, and it + has a charming habit of slow hay-laden barges; at the landings of the + little passenger-steamers which ply upon it there are cafes and + summer-gardens, and these even in the inclement air of September suggested + a friendly gayety. + </p> + <p> + The Marches saw it best in the tour of the elevated road in Berlin which + they made in an impassioned memory of the elevated road in New York. The + brick viaducts which carry this arch the Spree again and again in their + course through and around the city, but with never quite such spectacular + effects as our spidery tressels, achieve. The stations are pleasant, + sometimes with lunch-counters and news-stands, but have not the + comic-opera-chalet prettiness of ours, and are not so frequent. The road + is not so smooth, the cars not so smooth-running or so swift. On the other + hand they are comfortably cushioned, and they are never overcrowded. The + line is at times above, at times below the houses, and at times on a level + with them, alike in city and in suburbs. The train whirled out of thickly + built districts, past the backs of the old houses, into outskirts thinly + populated, with new houses springing up without order or continuity among + the meadows and vegetable-gardens, and along the ready-made, elm-planted + avenues, where wooden fences divided the vacant lots. Everywhere the city + was growing out over the country, in blocks and detached edifices of + limestone, sandstone, red and yellow brick, larger or smaller, of no more + uniformity than our suburban dwellings, but never of their ugliness or + lawless offensiveness. + </p> + <p> + In an effort for the intimate life of the country March went two + successive mornings for his breakfast to the Cafe Bauer, which has some + admirable wall-printings, and is the chief cafe on Unter den Linden; but + on both days there were more people in the paintings than out of them. The + second morning the waiter who took his order recognized him and asked, + “Wie gestern?” and from this he argued an affectionate + constancy in the Berliners, and a hospitable observance of the tastes of + strangers. At his bankers, on the other hand, the cashier scrutinized his + signature and remarked that it did not look like the signature in his + letter of credit, and then he inferred a suspicious mind in the moneyed + classes of Prussia; as he had not been treated with such unkind doubt by + Hebrew bankers anywhere, he made a mental note that the Jews were politer + than the Christians in Germany. In starting for Potsdam he asked a traeger + where the Potsdam train was and the man said, “Dat train dare,” + and in coming back he helped a fat old lady out of the car, and she + thanked him in English. From these incidents, both occurring the same day + in the same place, the inference of a widespread knowledge of our language + in all classes of the population was inevitable. + </p> + <p> + In this obvious and easy manner he studied contemporary civilization in + the capital. He even carried his researches farther, and went one rainy + afternoon to an exhibition of modern pictures in a pavilion of the + Thiergarten, where from the small attendance he inferred an indifference + to the arts which he would not ascribe to the weather. One evening at a + summer theatre where they gave the pantomime of the 'Puppenfee' + and the operetta of 'Hansel and Gretel', he observed that the + greater part of the audience was composed of nice plain young girls and + children, and he noted that there was no sort of evening dress; from the + large number of Americans present he imagined a numerous colony in Berlin, + where they mast have an instinctive sense of their co-nationality, since + one of them in the stress of getting his hat and overcoat when they all + came out, confidently addressed him in English. But he took stock of his + impressions with his wife, and they seemed to him so few, after all, that + he could not resist a painful sense of isolation in the midst of the + environment. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5316}.jpg" alt="{5316}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5316}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They made a Sunday excursion to the Zoological Gardens in the Thiergarten, + with a large crowd of the lower classes, but though they had a great deal + of trouble in getting there by the various kinds of horsecars and electric + cars, they did not feel that they had got near to the popular life. They + endeavored for some sense of Berlin society by driving home in a drosky, + and on the way they passed rows of beautiful houses, in French and Italian + taste, fronting the deep, damp green park from the Thiergartenstrasse, in + which they were confident cultivated and delightful people lived; but they + remained to the last with nothing but their unsupported conjecture. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0149" id="link2H_4_0149"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5322}.jpg" alt="{5322}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5322}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXV. + </h2> + <p> + Their excursion to Potsdam was the cream of their sojourn in Berlin. They + chose for it the first fair morning, and they ran out over the flat sandy + plains surrounding the capital, and among the low hills surrounding + Potsdam before it actually began to rain. + </p> + <p> + They wished immediately to see Sans Souci for the great Frederick's + sake, and they drove through a lively shower to the palace, where they + waited with a horde of twenty-five other tourists in a gusty colonnade + before they were led through Voltaire's room and Frederick's + death chamber. + </p> + <p> + The French philosopher comes before the Prussian prince at Sans Souci even + in the palatial villa which expresses the wilful caprice of the great + Frederick as few edifices have embodied the whims or tastes of their + owners. The whole affair is eighteenth-century French, as the Germans + conceived it. The gardened terrace from which the low, one-story building, + thickly crusted with baroque sculptures, looks down into a many-colored + parterre, was luxuriantly French, and sentimentally French the colonnaded + front opening to a perspective of artificial ruins, with broken pillars + lifting a conscious fragment of architrave against the sky. Within, all + again was French in the design, the decoration and the furnishing. At that + time there, was in fact no other taste, and Frederick, who despised and + disused his native tongue, was resolved upon French taste even in his + intimate companionship. The droll story of his coquetry with the terrible + free spirit which he got from France to be his guest is vividly reanimated + at Sans Souci, where one breathes the very air in which the strangely + assorted companions lived, and in which they parted so soon to pursue each + other with brutal annoyance on one side, and with merciless mockery on the + other. Voltaire was long ago revenged upon his host for all the + indignities he suffered from him in their comedy; he left deeply graven + upon Frederick's fame the trace of those lacerating talons which he + could strike to the quick; and it is the singular effect of this scene of + their brief friendship that one feels there the pre-eminence of the wit in + whatever was most important to mankind. + </p> + <p> + The rain had lifted a little and the sun shone out on the bloom of the + lovely parterre where the Marches profited by a smiling moment to wander + among the statues and the roses heavy with the shower. Then they walked + back to their carriage and drove to the New Palace, which expresses in + differing architectural terms the same subjection to an alien ideal of + beauty. It is thronged without by delightfully preposterous rococco + statues, and within it is rich in all those curiosities and memorials of + royalty with which palaces so well know how to fatigue the flesh and + spirit of their visitors. + </p> + <p> + The Marches escaped from it all with sighs and groans of relief, and + before they drove off to see the great fountain of the Orangeries, they + dedicated a moment of pathos to the Temple of Friendship which Frederick + built in memory of unhappy Wilhelmina of Beyreuth, the sister he loved in + the common sorrow of their wretched home, and neglected when he came to + his kingdom. It is beautiful in its rococco way, swept up to on its + terrace by most noble staircases, and swaggered over by baroque allegories + of all sorts: Everywhere the statues outnumbered the visitors, who may + have been kept away by the rain; the statues naturally did not mind it. + </p> + <p> + Sometime in the midst of their sight-seeing the Marches had dinner in a + mildewed restaurant, where a compatriotic accent caught their ear in a + voice saying to the waiter, “We are in a hurry.” They looked + round and saw that it proceeded from the pretty nose of a young American + girl, who sat with a party of young American girls at a neighboring table. + Then they perceived that all the people in that restaurant were Americans, + mostly young girls, who all looked as if they were in a hurry. But neither + their beauty nor their impatience had the least effect with the waiter, + who prolonged the dinner at his pleasure, and alarmed the Marches with the + misgiving that they should not have time for the final palace on their + list. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5324}.jpg" alt="{5324}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5324}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + This was the palace where the father of Frederick, the mad old Frederick + William, brought up his children with that severity which Solomon urged + but probably did not practise. It is a vast place, but they had time for + it all, though the custodian made the most of them as the latest comers of + the day, and led them through it with a prolixity as great as their waiter's. + He was a most friendly custodian, and when he found that they had some + little notion of what they wanted to see, he mixed zeal with his + patronage, and in a manner made them his honored guests. They saw + everything but the doorway where the faithful royal father used to lie in + wait for his children and beat them, princes and princesses alike, with + his knobby cane as they came through. They might have seen this doorway + without knowing it; but from the window overlooking the parade-ground + where his family watched the manoeuvres of his gigantic grenadiers, they + made sure of just such puddles as Frederick William forced his family to + sit with their feet in, while they dined alfresco on pork and cabbage; and + they visited the room of the Smoking Parliament where he ruled his + convives with a rod of iron, and made them the victims of his bad jokes. + The measuring-board against which he took the stature of his tall + grenadiers is there, and one room is devoted to those masterpieces which + he used to paint in the agonies of gout. His chef d'oeuvre contains + a figure with two left feet, and there seemed no reason why it might not + have had three. In another room is a small statue of Carlyle, who did so + much to rehabilitate the house which the daughter of it, Wilhelmina, did + so much to demolish in the regard of men. + </p> + <p> + The palace is now mostly kept for guests, and there is a chamber where + Napoleon slept, which is not likely to be occupied soon by any other + self-invited guest of his nation. It is perhaps to keep the princes of + Europe humble that hardly a palace on the Continent is without the chamber + of this adventurer, who, till he stooped to be like them, was easily their + master. Another democracy had here recorded its invasion in the American + stoves which the custodian pointed out in the corridor when Mrs. March, + with as little delay as possible, had proclaimed their country. The + custodian professed an added respect for them from the fact, and if he did + not feel it, no doubt he merited the drink money which they lavished on + him at parting. + </p> + <p> + Their driver also was a congenial spirit, and when he let them out of his + carriage at the station, he excused the rainy day to them. He was a merry + fellow beyond the wont of his nation, and he-laughed at the bad weather, + as if it had been a good joke on them. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5329}.jpg" alt="{5329}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5329}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + His gayety, and the red sunset light, which shone on the stems of the + pines on the way back to Berlin, contributed to the content in which they + reviewed their visit to Potsdam. They agreed that the place was perfectly + charming, and that it was incomparably expressive of kingly will and + pride. These had done there on the grand scale what all the German princes + and princelings had tried to do in imitation and emulation of French + splendor. In Potsdam the grandeur, was not a historical growth as at + Versailles, but was the effect of family genius, in which there was often + the curious fascination of insanity. + </p> + <p> + They felt this strongly again amidst the futile monuments of the + Hohenzollern Museum, in Berlin, where all the portraits, effigies, + personal belongings and memorials of that gifted, eccentric race are + gathered and historically disposed. The princes of the mighty line who + stand out from the rest are Frederick the Great and his infuriate. father; + and in the waxen likeness of the son, a small thin figure, terribly spry, + and a face pitilessly alert, appears something of the madness which showed + in the life of the sire. + </p> + <p> + They went through many rooms in which the memorials of the kings and + queens, the emperors and empresses were carefully ordered, and felt no + kindness except before the relics relating to the Emperor Frederick and + his mother. In the presence of the greatest of the dynasty they + experienced a kind of terror which March expressed, when they were safely + away, in the confession of his joy that those people were dead. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0150" id="link2H_4_0150"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5334}.jpg" alt="{5334}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5334}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXVI. + </h2> + <p> + The rough weather which made Berlin almost uninhabitable to Mrs. March had + such an effect with General Triscoe at Weimar that under the orders of an + English-speaking doctor he retreated from it altogether and went to bed. + Here he escaped the bronchitis which had attacked him, and his + convalesence left him so little to complain of that he could not always + keep his temper. In the absence of actual offence, either from his + daughter or from Burnamy, his sense of injury took a retroactive form; it + centred first in Stoller and the twins; then it diverged toward Rose + Adding, his mother and Kenby, and finally involved the Marches in the same + measure of inculpation; for they had each and all had part, directly or + indirectly, in the chances that brought on his cold. + </p> + <p> + He owed to Burnamy the comfort of the best room in the hotel, and he was + constantly dependent upon his kindness; but he made it evident that he did + not over-value Burnamy's sacrifice and devotion, and that it was not + an unmixed pleasure, however great a convenience, to have him about. In + giving up his room, Burnamy had proposed going out of the hotel + altogether; but General Triscoe heard of this with almost as great + vexation as he had accepted the room. He besought him not to go, but so + ungraciously that his daughter was ashamed, and tried to atone for his + manner by the kindness of her own. + </p> + + <p> + Perhaps General Triscoe would not have been without excuse if he were not + eager to have her share with destitute merit the fortune which she had + hitherto shared only with him. He was old, and certain luxuries had become + habits if not necessaries with him. Of course he did not say this to + himself; and still less did he say it to her. But he let her see that he + did not enjoy the chance which had thrown them again in such close + relations with Burnamy, and he did pot hide his belief that the Marches + were somehow to blame for it. This made it impossible for her to write at + once to Mrs. March as she had promised; but she was determined that it + should not make her unjust to Burnamy. She would not avoid him; she would + not let anything that had happened keep her from showing that she felt his + kindness and was glad of his help. + </p> + <p> + Of course they knew no one else in Weimar, and his presence merely as a + fellow-countryman would have been precious. He got them a doctor, against + General Triscoe's will; he went for his medicines; he lent him books + and papers; he sat with him and tried to amuse him. But with the girl he + attempted no return to the situation at Carlsbad; there is nothing like + the delicate pride of a young man who resolves to forego unfair advantage + in love. + </p> + <p> + The day after their arrival, when her father was making up for the sleep + he had lost by night, she found herself alone in the little reading-room + of the hotel with Burnamy for the first time, and she said: “I + suppose you must have been all over Weimar by this time.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I've been here, off and on, almost a month. It's + an interesting place. There's a good deal of the old literary + quality left.” + </p> + <p> + “And you enjoy that! I saw”—she added this with a little + unnecessary flush—“your poem in the paper you lent papa.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I ought to have kept that back. But I couldn't.” + He laughed, and she said: + </p> + <p> + “You must find a great deal of inspiration in such a literary place.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't lying about loose, exactly.” Even in the + serious and perplexing situation in which he found himself he could not + help being amused with her unliterary notions of literature, her + conventional and commonplace conceptions of it. They had their value with + him as those of a more fashionable world than his own, which he believed + was somehow a greater world. At the same time he believed that she was now + interposing them between the present and the past, and forbidding with + them any return to the mood of their last meeting in Carlsbad. He looked + at her ladylike composure and unconsciousness, and wondered if she could + be the same person and the same person as they who lost themselves in the + crowd that night and heard and said words palpitant with fate. Perhaps + there had been no such words; perhaps it was all a hallucination. He must + leave her to recognize that it was reality; till she did so, he felt + bitterly that there was nothing for him but submission and patience; if + she never did so, there was nothing for him but acquiescence. + </p> + <p> + In this talk and in the talks they had afterwards she seemed willing + enough to speak of what had happened since: of coming on to Wurzburg with + the Addings and of finding the Marches there; of Rose's collapse, + and of his mother's flight seaward with him in the care of Kenby, + who was so fortunately going to Holland, too. He on his side told her of + going to Wurzburg for the manoeuvres, and they agreed that it was very + strange they had not met. + </p> + <p> + She did not try to keep their relations from taking the domestic character + which was inevitable, and it seemed to him that this in itself was + significant of a determination on her part that was fatal to his hopes. + With a lover's indefinite power of blinding himself to what is + before his eyes, he believed that if she had been more diffident of him, + more uneasy in his presence, he should have had more courage; but for her + to breakfast unafraid with him, to meet him at lunch and dinner in the + little dining-room where they were often the only guests, and always the + only English-speaking guests, was nothing less than prohibitive. + </p> + <p> + In the hotel service there was one of those men who are porters in this + world, but will be angels in the next, unless the perfect goodness of + their looks, the constant kindness of their acts, belies them. The Marches + had known and loved the man in their brief stay, and he had been the fast + friend of Burnamy from the moment they first saw each other at the + station. He had tenderly taken possession of General Triscoe on his + arrival, and had constituted himself the nurse and keeper of the irascible + invalid, in the intervals of going to the trains, with a zeal that often + relieved his daughter and Burnamy. The general in fact preferred him to + either, and a tacit custom grew up by which when August knocked at his + door, and offered himself in his few words of serviceable English, that + one of them who happened to be sitting with the general gave way, and left + him in charge. The retiring watcher was then apt to encounter the other + watcher on the stairs, or in the reading-room, or in the tiny, + white-pebbled door-yard at a little table in the shade of the + wooden-tubbed evergreens. From the habit of doing this they one day + suddenly formed the habit of going across the street to that gardened + hollow before and below the Grand-Ducal Museum. There was here a bench in + the shelter of some late-flowering bush which the few other frequenters of + the place soon recognized as belonging to the young strangers, so that + they would silently rise and leave it to them when they saw them coming. + Apparently they yielded not only to their right, but to a certain + authority which resides in lovers, and which all other men, and especially + all other women, like to acknowledge and respect. + </p> + <p> + In the absence of any civic documents bearing upon the affair it is + difficult to establish the fact that this was the character in which + Agatha and Burnamy were commonly regarded by the inhabitants of Weimar. + But whatever their own notion of their relation was, if it was not that of + a Brant and a Brautigam, the people of Weimar would have been puzzled to + say what it was. It was known that the gracious young lady's father, + who would naturally have accompanied them, was sick, and in the fact that + they were Americans much extenuation was found for whatever was phenomenal + in their unencumbered enjoyment of each other's society. + </p> + <p> + If their free American association was indistinguishably like the peasant + informality which General Triscoe despised in the relations of Kenby and + Mrs. Adding, it is to be said in his excuse that he could not be fully + cognizant of it, in the circumstances, and so could do nothing to prevent + it. His pessimism extended to his health; from the first he believed + himself worse than the doctor thought him, and he would have had some + other physician if he had not found consolation in their difference of + opinion and the consequent contempt which he was enabled to cherish for + the doctor in view of the man's complete ignorance of the case. In + proof of his own better understanding of it, he remained in bed some time + after the doctor said he might get up. + </p> + <p> + Nearly ten days had passed before he left his room, and it was not till + then that he clearly saw how far affairs had gone with his daughter and + Burnamy, though even then his observance seemed to have anticipated + theirs. He found them in a quiet acceptance of the fortune which had + brought them together, so contented that they appeared to ask nothing more + of it. The divine patience and confidence of their youth might sometimes + have had almost the effect of indifference to a witness who had seen its + evolution from the moods of the first few days of their reunion in Weimar. + To General Triscoe, however, it looked like an understanding which had + been made without reference to his wishes, and had not been directly + brought to his knowledge. + </p> + <p> + “Agatha,” he said, after due note of a gay contest between her + and Burnamy over the pleasure and privilege of ordering his supper sent to + his room when he had gone back to it from his first afternoon in the open + air, “how long is that young man going to stay in Weimar?” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5339}.jpg" alt="{5339}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5339}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “Why, I don't know!” she answered, startled from her + work of beating the sofa pillows into shape, and pausing with one of them + in her hand. “I never asked him.” She looked down candidly + into his face where he sat in an easy-chair waiting for her arrangement of + the sofa. “What makes you ask?” + </p> + <p> + He answered with another question. “Does he know that we had thought + of staying here?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, we've always talked of that, haven't we? Yes, he + knows it. Didn't you want him to know it, papa? You ought to have + begun on the ship, then. Of course I've asked him what sort of place + it was. I'm sorry if you didn't want me to.” + </p> + <p> + “Have I said that? It's perfectly easy to push on to Paris. + Unless—” + </p> + <p> + “Unless what?” Agatha dropped the pillow, and listened + respectfully. But in spite of her filial attitude she could not keep her + youth and strength and courage from quelling the forces of the elderly + man. + </p> + <p> + He said querulously, “I don't see why you take that tone with + me. You certainly know what I mean. But if you don't care to deal + openly with me, I won't ask you.” He dropped his eyes from her + face, and at the same time a deep blush began to tinge it, growing up from + her neck to her forehead. “You must know—you're not a + child,” he continued, still with averted eyes, “that this sort + of thing can't go on... It must be something else, or it mustn't + be anything at all. I don't ask you for your confidence, and you + know that I've never sought to control you.” + </p> + <p> + This was not the least true, but Agatha answered, either absently or + provisionally, “No.” + </p> + <p> + “And I don't seek to do so now. If you have nothing that you + wish to tell me—” + </p> + <p> + He waited, and after what seemed a long time, she asked as if she had not + heard him, “Will you lie down a little before your supper, papa?” + </p> + <p> + “I will lie down when I feel like it,” he answered. “Send + August with the supper; he can look after me.” + </p> + <p> + His resentful tone, even more than his words, dismissed her, but she left + him without apparent grievance, saying quietly, “I will send August.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0151" id="link2H_4_0151"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5345}.jpg" alt="{5345}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5345}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXVII. + </h2> + <p> + Agatha did not come down to supper with Burnamy. She asked August, when + she gave him her father's order, to have a cup of tea sent to her + room, where, when it came, she remained thinking so long that it was + rather tepid by the time she drank it. + </p> + <p> + Then she went to her window, and looked out, first above and next below. + Above, the moon was hanging over the gardened hollow before the Museum + with the airy lightness of an American moon. Below was Burnamy behind the + tubbed evergreens, sitting tilted in his chair against the house wall, + with the spark of his cigar fainting and flashing like an American + firefly. Agatha went down to the door, after a little delay, and seemed + surprised to find him there; at least she said, “Oh!” in a + tone of surprise. + </p> + <p> + Burnamy stood up, and answered, “Nice night.” + </p> + <p> + “Beautiful!” she breathed. “I didn't suppose the + sky in Germany could ever be so clear.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems to be doing its best.” + </p> + <p> + “The flowers over there look like ghosts in the light,” she + said dreamily. + </p> + <p> + “They're not. Don't you want to get your hat and wrap, + and go over and expose the fraud?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” she answered, as if it were merely a question of the hat + and wrap, “I have them.” + </p> + <p> + They sauntered through the garden walks for a while, long enough to have + ascertained that there was not a veridical phantom among the flowers, if + they had been looking, and then when they came to their accustomed seat, + they sat down, and she said, “I don't know that I've + seen the moon so clear since we left Carlsbad.” At the last word his + heart gave a jump that seemed to lodge it in his throat and kept him from + speaking, so that she could resume without interruption, “I've + got something of yours, that you left at the Posthof. The girl that broke + the dishes found it, and Lili gave it to Mrs. March for you.” This + did not account for Agatha's having the thing, whatever it was; but + when she took a handkerchief from her belt, and put out her hand with it + toward him, he seemed to find that her having it had necessarily followed. + He tried to take it from her, but his own hand trembled so that it clung + to hers, and he gasped, “Can't you say now, what you wouldn't + say then?” + </p> + <p> + The logical sequence was no more obvious than be fore; but she apparently + felt it in her turn as he had felt it in his. She whispered back, “Yes,” + and then she could not get out anything more till she entreated in a + half-stifled voice, “Oh, don't!” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” he panted. “I won't—I oughtn't + to have done it—I beg your pardon—I oughtn't to have + spoken,—even—I—” + </p> + <p> + She returned in a far less breathless and tremulous fashion, but still + between laughing and crying, “I meant to make you. And now, if you're + ever sorry, or I'm ever too topping about anything, you can be + perfectly free to say that you'd never have spoken if you hadn't + seen that I wanted you to.” + </p> + <p> + “But I didn't see any such thing,” he protested. “I + spoke because I couldn't help it any longer.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed triumphantly. “Of course you think so! And that shows + that you are only a man after all; in spite of your finessing. But I am + going to have the credit of it. I knew that you were holding back because + you were too proud, or thought you hadn't the right, or something. + Weren't you?” She startled him with the sudden vehemence of + her challenge: “If you pretend, that you weren't I shall never + forgive you!” + </p> + <p> + “But I was! Of course I was. I was afraid—” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't that what I said?” She triumphed over him with + another laugh, and cowered a little closer to him, if that could be. + </p> + <p> + They were standing, without knowing how they had got to their feet; and + now without any purpose of the kind, they began to stroll again among the + garden paths, and to ask and to answer questions, which touched every + point of their common history, and yet left it a mine of inexhaustible + knowledge for all future time. Out of the sweet and dear delight of this + encyclopedian reserve two or three facts appeared with a present + distinctness. One of these was that Burnamy had regarded her refusal to be + definite at Carlsbad as definite refusal, and had meant never to see her + again, and certainly never to speak again of love to her. Another point + was that she had not resented his coming back that last night, but had + been proud and happy in it as proof of his love, and had always meant + somehow to let him know that she was torched by his trusting her enough to + come back while he was still under that cloud with Mr. Stoller. With + further logic, purely of the heart, she acquitted him altogether of wrong + in that affair, and alleged in proof, what Mr. Stoller had said of it to + Mr. March. Burnamy owned that he knew what Stoller had said, but even in + his present condition he could not accept fully her reading of that + obscure passage of his life. He preferred to put the question by, and + perhaps neither of them cared anything about it except as it related to + the fact that they were now each other's forever. + </p> + <p> + They agreed that they must write to Mr. and Mrs. March at once; or at + least, Agatha said, as soon as she had spoken to her father. At her + mention of her father she was aware of a doubt, a fear, in Burnamy which + expressed itself by scarcely more than a spiritual consciousness from his + arm to the hands which she had clasped within it. “He has always + appreciated you,” she said courageously, “and I know he will + see it in the right light.” + </p> + <p> + She probably meant no more than to affirm her faith in her own ability + finally to bring her father to a just mind concerning it; but Burnamy + accepted her assurance with buoyant hopefulness, and said he would see + General Triscoe the first thing in the morning. + </p> + <p> + “No, I will see him,” she said, “I wish to see him + first; he will expect it of me. We had better go in, now,” she + added, but neither made any motion for the present to do so. On the + contrary, they walked in the other direction, and it was an hour after + Agatha declared their duty in the matter before they tried to fulfil it. + </p> + <p> + Then, indeed, after they returned to the hotel, she lost no time in going + to her father beyond that which must be given to a long hand-pressure + under the fresco of the five poets on the stairs landing, where her ways + and Burnamy's parted. She went into her own room, and softly opened + the door into her father's and listened. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” he said in a sort of challenging voice. + </p> + <p> + “Have you been asleep?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “I've just blown out my light. What has kept you?” + </p> + <p> + She did not reply categorically. Standing there in the sheltering dark, + she said, “Papa, I wasn't very candid with you, this + afternoon. I am engaged to Mr. Burnamy.” + </p> + <p> + “Light the candle,” said her father. “Or no,” he + added before she could do so. “Is it quite settled?” + </p> + <p> + “Quite,” she answered in a voice that admitted of no doubt. + “That is, as far as it can be, without you.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't be a hypocrite, Agatha,” said the general. + “And let me try to get to sleep. You know I don't like it, and + you know I can't help it.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” the girl assented. + </p> + <p> + “Then go to bed,” said the general concisely. + </p> + <p> + Agatha did not obey her father. She thought she ought to kiss him, but she + decided that she had better postpone this; so she merely gave him a tender + goodnight, to which he made no response, and shut herself into her own + room, where she remained sitting and staring out into the moonlight, with + a smile that never left her lips. + </p> + <p> + When the moon sank below the horizon, the sky was pale with the coming + day, but before it was fairly dawn, she saw something white, not much + greater than some moths, moving before her window. She pulled the valves + open and found it a bit of paper attached to a thread dangling from above. + She broke it loose and in the morning twilight she read the great central + truth of the universe: + </p> + <p> + “I love you. L. J. B.” + </p> + <p> + She wrote under the tremendous inspiration: + </p> + <p> + “So do I. Don't be silly. A. T.” + </p> + <p> + She fastened the paper to the thread again, and gave it a little twitch. + She waited for the low note of laughter which did not fail to flutter down + from above; then she threw herself upon the bed, and fell asleep. + </p> + <p> + It was not so late as she thought when she woke, and it seemed, at + breakfast, that Burnamy had been up still earlier. Of the three involved + in the anxiety of the night before General Triscoe was still respited from + it by sleep, but he woke much more haggard than either of the young + people. They, in fact, were not at all haggard; the worst was over, if + bringing their engagement to his knowledge was the worst; the formality of + asking his consent which Burnamy still had to go through was unpleasant, + but after all it was a formality. Agatha told him everything that had + passed between herself and her father, and if it had not that cordiality + on his part which they could have wished it was certainly not hopelessly + discouraging. + </p> + <p> + They agreed at breakfast that Burnamy had better have it over as quickly + as possible, and he waited only till August came down with the general's + tray before going up to his room. The young fellow did not feel more at + his ease than the elder meant he should in taking the chair to which the + general waved him from where he lay in bed; and there was no talk wasted + upon the weather between them. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I know what you have come for, Mr. Burnamy,” said + General Triscoe in a tone which was rather judicial than otherwise, + “and I suppose you know why you have come.” The words + certainly opened the way for Burnamy, but he hesitated so long to take it + that the general had abundant time to add, “I don't pretend + that this event is unexpected, but I should like to know what reason you + have for thinking I should wish you to marry my daughter. I take it for + granted that you are attached to each other, and we won't waste time + on that point. Not to beat about the bush, on the next point, let me ask + at once what your means of supporting her are. How much did you earn on + that newspaper in Chicago?” + </p> + <p> + “Fifteen hundred dollars,” Burnamy answered, promptly enough. + </p> + <p> + “Did you earn anything more, say within the last year?” + </p> + <p> + “I got three hundred dollars advance copyright for a book I sold to + a publisher.” The glory had not yet faded from the fact in Burnamy's + mind. + </p> + <p> + “Eighteen hundred. What did you get for your poem in March's + book?” + </p> + <p> + “That's a very trifling matter: fifteen dollars.” + </p> + <p> + “And your salary as private secretary to that man Stoller?” + </p> + <p> + “Thirty dollars a week, and my expenses. But I wouldn't take + that, General Triscoe,” said Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + General Triscoe, from his 'lit de justice', passed this point + in silence. “Have you any one dependent on you?” + </p> + <p> + “My mother; I take care of my mother,” answered Burnamy, + proudly. + </p> + <p> + “Since you have broken with Stoller, what are your prospects?” + </p> + <p> + “I have none.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you don't expect to support my daughter; you expect to + live upon her means.” + </p> + <p> + “I expect to do nothing of the kind!” cried Burnamy. “I + should be ashamed—I should feel disgraced—I should—I don't + ask you—I don't ask her till I have the means to support her—” + </p> + <p> + “If you were very fortunate,” continued the general, unmoved + by the young fellow's pain, and unperturbed by the fact that he had + himself lived upon his wife's means as long as she lived, and then + upon his daughter's, “if you went back to Stoller—” + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't go back to him. I don't say he's + knowingly a rascal, but he's ignorantly a rascal, and he proposed a + rascally thing to me. I behaved badly to him, and I'd give anything + to undo the wrong I let him do himself; but I'll never go back to + him.” + </p> + <p> + “If you went back, on your old salary,” the general persisted + pitilessly, “you would be very fortunate if you brought your + earnings up to twenty-five hundred a year.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—” + </p> + <p> + “And how far do you think that would go in supporting my daughter on + the scale she is used to? I don't speak of your mother, who has the + first claim upon you.” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy sat dumb; and his head which he had lifted indignantly when the + question was of Stoller, began to sink. + </p> + <p> + The general went on. “You ask me to give you my daughter when you + haven't money enough to keep her in gowns; you ask me to give her to + a stranger—” + </p> + <p> + “Not quite a stranger, General Triscoe,” Burnamy protested. + “You have known me for three months at least, and any one who knows + me in Chicago will tell you—” + </p> + <p> + “A stranger, and worse than a stranger,” the general + continued, so pleased with the logical perfection of his position that he + almost smiled, and certainly softened toward Burnamy. “It isn't + a question of liking you, Mr. Burnamy, but of knowing you; my daughter + likes you; so do the Marches; so does everybody who has met you. I like + you myself. You've done me personally a thousand kindnesses. But I + know very little of you, in spite of our three months' acquaintance; + and that little is—But you shall judge for yourself! You were in the + confidential employ of a man who trusted you, and you let him betray + himself.” + </p> + <p> + “I did. I don't excuse it. The thought of it burns like fire. + But it wasn't done maliciously; it wasn't done falsely; it was + done inconsiderately; and when it was done, it seemed irrevocable. But it + wasn't; I could have prevented, I could have stooped the mischief; + and I didn't! I can never outlive that.” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” said the general relentlessly, “that you have + never attempted any defence. That has been to your credit with me. It + inclined me to overlook your unwarranted course in writing to my daughter, + when you told her you would never see her again. What did you expect me to + think, after that, of your coming back to see her? Or didn't you + expect me to know it?” + </p> + <p> + “I expected you to know it; I knew she would tell you. But I don't + excuse that, either. It was acting a lie to come back. All I can say is + that I had to see her again for one last time.” + </p> + <p> + “And to make sure that it was to be the last time, you offered + yourself to her.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't help doing that.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't say you could. I don't judge the facts at all. + I leave them altogether to you; and you shall say what a man in my + position ought to say to such a man as you have shown yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I will say.” The door into the adjoining room was flung + open, and Agatha flashed in from it. + </p> + <p> + Her father looked coldly at her impassioned face. “Have you been + listening?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “I have been hearing—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” As nearly as a man could, in bed, General Triscoe + shrugged. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I had, a right to be in my own room. I couldn't + help hearing; and I was perfectly astonished at you, papa, the cruel way + you went on, after all you've said about Mr. Stoller, and his + getting no more than he deserved.” + </p> + <p> + “That doesn't justify me,” Burnamy began, but she cut + him short almost as severely as she—had dealt with her father. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it does! It justifies you perfectly! And his wanting you to + falsify the whole thing afterwards, more than justifies you.” + </p> + <p> + Neither of the men attempted anything in reply to her casuistry; they both + looked equally posed by it, for different reasons; and Agatha went on as + vehemently as before, addressing herself now to one and now to the other. + </p> + <p> + “And besides, if it didn't justify you, what you have done + yourself would; and your never denying it, or trying to excuse it, makes + it the same as if you hadn't done it, as far as you are concerned; + and that is all I care for.” Burnamy started, as if with the sense + of having heard something like this before, and with surprise at hearing + it now; and she flushed a little as she added tremulously, “And I + should never, never blame you for it, after that; it's only trying + to wriggle out of things which I despise, and you've never done + that. And he simply had to come back,” she turned to her father, + “and tell me himself just how it was. And you said yourself, papa—or + the same as said—that he had no right to suppose I was interested in + his affairs unless he—unless—And I should never have forgiven + him, if he hadn't told me then that he that he had come back because + he—felt the way he did. I consider that that exonerated him for + breaking his word, completely. If he hadn't broken his word I should + have thought he had acted very cruelly and—and strangely. And ever + since then, he has behaved so nobly, so honorably, so delicately, that I + don't believe he would ever have said anything again—if I hadn't + fairly forced him. Yes! Yes, I did!” she cried at a movement of + remonstrance from Burnamy. “And I shall always be proud of you for + it.” Her father stared steadfastly at her, and he only lifted his + eyebrows, for change of expression, when she went over to where Burnamy + stood, and put her hand in his with a certain childlike impetuosity. + “And as for the rest,” she declared, “everything I have + is his; just as everything of his would be mine if I had nothing. Or if he + wishes to take me without anything, then he can have me so, and I sha'n't + be afraid but we can get along somehow.” She added, “I have + managed without a maid, ever since I left home, and poverty has no terrors + for me!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0152" id="link2H_4_0152"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5359}.jpg" alt="{5359}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5359}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXVIII. + </h2> + <p> + General Triscoe submitted to defeat with the patience which soldiers + learn. He did not submit amiably; that would have been out of character, + and perhaps out of reason; but Burnamy and Agatha were both so amiable + that they supplied good-humor for all. They flaunted their rapture in her + father's face as little as they could, but he may have found their + serene satisfaction, their settled confidence in their fate, as hard to + bear as a more boisterous happiness would have been. + </p> + <p> + It was agreed among them all that they were to return soon to America, and + Burnamy was to find some sort of literary or journalistic employment in + New York. She was much surer than he that this could be done with perfect + ease; but they were of an equal mind that General Triscoe was not to be + disturbed in any of his habits, or vexed in the tenor of his living; and + until Burnamy was at least self-supporting there must be no talk of their + being married. + </p> + <p> + The talk of their being engaged was quite enough for the time. It included + complete and minute auto-biographies on both sides, reciprocal analyses of + character, a scientifically exhaustive comparison of tastes, ideas and + opinions; a profound study of their respective chins, noses, eyes, hands, + heights, complexions, moles and freckles, with some account of their + several friends. + </p> + <p> + In this occupation, which was profitably varied by the confession of what + they had each thought and felt and dreamt concerning the other at every + instant since they met, they passed rapidly the days which the persistent + anxiety of General Triscoe interposed before the date of their leaving + Weimar for Paris, where it was arranged that they should spend a month + before sailing for New York. Burnamy had a notion, which Agatha approved, + of trying for something there on the New York-Paris Chronicle; and if he + got it they might not go home at once. His gains from that paper had eked + out his copyright from his book, and had almost paid his expenses in + getting the material which he had contributed to it. They were not so + great, however, but that his gold reserve was reduced to less than a + hundred dollars, counting the silver coinages which had remained to him in + crossing and recrossing frontiers. He was at times dimly conscious of his + finances, but he buoyantly disregarded the facts, as incompatible with his + status as Agatha's betrothed, if not unworthy of his character as a + lover in the abstract. + </p> + <p> + The afternoon before they were to leave Weimar, they spent mostly in the + garden before the Grand-Ducal Museum, in a conference so important that + when it came on to rain, at one moment, they put up Burnamy's + umbrella, and continued to sit under it rather than interrupt the + proceedings even to let Agatha go back to the hotel and look after her + father's packing. Her own had been finished before dinner, so as to + leave her the whole afternoon for their conference, and to allow her + father to remain in undisturbed possession of his room as long as + possible. + </p> + <p> + What chiefly remained to be put into the general's trunk were his + coats and trousers, hanging in the closet, and August took these down, and + carefully folded and packed them. Then, to make sure that nothing had been + forgotten, Agatha put a chair into the closet when she came in, and stood + on it to examine the shelf which stretched above the hooks. + </p> + <p> + There seemed at first to be nothing on it, and then there seemed to be + something in the further corner, which when it was tiptoed for, proved to + be a bouquet of flowers, not so faded as to seem very old; the blue satin + ribbon which they were tied up with, and which hung down half a yard, was + of entire freshness except far the dust of the shelf where it had lain. + </p> + <p> + Agatha backed out into the room with her find in her hand, and examined it + near to, and then at arm's length. August stood by with a pair of + the general's trousers lying across his outstretched hands, and as + Agatha absently looked round at him, she caught a light of intelligence in + his eyes which changed her whole psychological relation to the withered + bouquet. Till then it had been a lifeless, meaningless bunch of flowers, + which some one, for no motive, had tossed up on that dusty shelf in the + closet. At August's smile it became something else. Still she asked + lightly enough, “Was ist dass, August?” + </p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5365}.jpg" alt="{5365}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5365}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + + <p> + His smile deepened and broadened. “Fur die Andere,” he + explained. + </p> + <p> + Agatha demanded in English, “What do you mean by feardy ondery?” + </p> + <p> + “Oddaw lehdy.” + </p> + <p> + “Other lady?” August nodded, rejoicing in big success, and + Agatha closed the door into her own room, where the general had been put + for the time so as to be spared the annoyance of the packing; then she sat + down with her hands in her lap, and the bouquet in her hands. “Now, + August,” she said very calmly, “I want you to tell me-ich + wunsche Sie zu mir sagen—what other lady—wass andere Dame—these + flowers belonged to—diese Blumen gehorte zu. Verstehen Sie?” + </p> + <p> + August nodded brightly, and with German carefully adjusted to Agatha's + capacity, and with now and then a word or phrase of English, he conveyed + that before she and her Herr Father had appeared, there had been in Weimar + another American Fraulein with her Frau Mother; they had not indeed staid + in that hotel, but had several times supped there with the young Herr + Bornahmee, who was occupying that room before her Herr Father. The young + Herr had been much about with these American Damen, driving and walking + with them, and sometimes dining or supping with them at their hotel, The + Elephant. August had sometimes carried notes to them from the young Herr, + and he had gone for the bouquet which the gracious Fraulein was holding, + on the morning of the day that the American Damen left by the train for + Hanover. + </p> + <p> + August was much helped and encouraged throughout by the friendly + intelligence of the gracious Fraulein, who smiled radiantly in clearing up + one dim point after another, and who now and then supplied the English + analogues which he sought in his effort to render his German more + luminous. + </p> + <p> + At the end she returned to the work of packing, in which she directed him, + and sometimes assisted him with her own hands, having put the bouquet on + the mantel to leave herself free. She took it up again and carried it into + her own room, when she went with August to summon her father back to his. + She bade August say to the young Herr, if he saw him, that she was going + to sup with her father, and August gave her message to Burnamy, whom he + met on the stairs coming down as he was going up with their tray. + </p> + <p> + Agatha usually supped with her father, but that evening Burnamy was less + able than usual to bear her absence in the hotel dining-room, and he went + up to a cafe in the town for his supper. He did not stay long, and when he + returned his heart gave a joyful lift at sight of Agatha looking out from + her balcony, as if she were looking for him. He made her a gay flourishing + bow, lifting his hat high, and she came down to meet him at the hotel + door. She had her hat on and jacket over one arm and she joined him at + once for the farewell walk he proposed in what they had agreed to call + their garden. + </p> + <p> + She moved a little ahead of him, and when they reached the place where + they always sat, she shifted her jacket to the other arm and uncovered the + hand in which she had been carrying the withered bouquet. “Here is + something I found in your closet, when I was getting papa's things + out.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, what is it?” he asked innocently, as he took it from + her. + </p> + <p> + “A bouquet, apparently,” she answered, as he drew the long + ribbons through his fingers, and looked at the flowers curiously, with his + head aslant. + </p> + <p> + “Where did you get it?” + </p> + <p> + “On the shelf.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed a long time before Burnamy said with a long sigh, as of final + recollection, “Oh, yes,” and then he said nothing; and they + did not sit down, but stood looking at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Was it something you got for me, and forgot to give me?” she + asked in a voice which would not have misled a woman, but which did its + work with the young man. + </p> + <p> + He laughed and said, “Well, hardly! The general has been in the room + ever since you came.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. Then perhaps somebody left it there before you had the + room?” + </p> + <p> + Burnamy was silent again, but at last he said, “No, I flung it up + there I had forgotten all about it.” + </p> + <p> + “And you wish me to forget about it, too?” Agatha asked in a + gayety of tone that still deceived him. + </p> + <p> + “It would only be fair. You made me,” he rejoined, and there + was something so charming in his words and way, that she would have been + glad to do it. + </p> + <p> + But she governed herself against the temptation and said, “Women are + not good at forgetting, at least till they know what.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'll tell you, if you want to know,” he said with a + laugh, and at the words she—sank provisionally in their accustomed + seat. He sat down beside her, but not so near as usual, and he waited so + long before he began that it seemed as if he had forgotten again. “Why, + it's nothing. Miss Etkins and her mother were here before you came, + and this is a bouquet that I meant to give her at the train when she left. + But I decided I wouldn't, and I threw it onto the shelf in the + closet.” + </p> + <p> + “May I ask why you thought of taking a bouquet to her at the train?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, she and her mother—I had been with them a good deal, + and I thought it would be civil.” + </p> + <p> + “And why did you decide not to be civil?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't want it to look like more than civility.” + </p> + <p> + “Were they here long?” + </p> + <p> + “About a week. They left just after the Marches came.” + </p> + <p> + Agatha seemed not to heed the answer she had exacted. She sat reclined in + the corner of the seat, with her head drooping. After an interval which + was long to Burnamy she began to pull at a ring on the third finger of her + left hand, absently, as if she did not know what she was doing; but when + she had got it off she held it towards Burnamy and said quietly, “I + think you had better have this again,” and then she rose and moved + slowly and weakly away. + </p> + + <p> + He had taken the ring mechanically from her, and he stood a moment + bewildered; then he pressed after her. + </p> + <p> + “Agatha, do you—you don't mean—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said, without looking round at his face, which she + knew was close to her shoulder. “It's over. It isn't + what you've done. It's what you are. I believed in you, in + spite of what you did to that man—and your coming back when you said + you wouldn't—and—But I see now that what you did was + you; it was your nature; and I can't believe in you any more.” + </p> + <p> + “Agatha!” he implored. “You're not going to be so + unjust! There was nothing between you and me when that girl was here! I + had a right to—” + </p> + <p> + “Not if you really cared for me! Do you think I would have flirted + with any one so soon, if I had cared for you as you pretended you did for + me that night in Carlsbad? Oh, I don't say you're false. But + you're fickle—” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm not fickle! From the first moment I saw you, I never + cared for any one but you!” + </p> + <p> + “You have strange ways of showing your devotion. Well, say you are + not fickle. Say, that I'm fickle. I am. I have changed my mind. I + see that it would never do. I leave you free to follow all the turning and + twisting of your fancy.” She spoke rapidly, almost breathlessly, and + she gave him no chance to get out the words that seemed to choke him. She + began to run, but at the door of the hotel she stopped and waited till he + came stupidly up. “I have a favor to ask, Mr. Burnamy. I beg you + will not see me again, if you can help it before we go to-morrow. My + father and I are indebted to you for too many kindnesses, and you mustn't + take any more trouble on our account. August can see us off in the + morning.” + </p> + <p> + She nodded quickly, and was gone in-doors while he was yet struggling with + his doubt of the reality of what had all so swiftly happened. + </p> + <p> + General Triscoe was still ignorant of any change in the status to which he + had reconciled himself with so much difficulty, when he came down to get + into the omnibus for the train. Till then he had been too proud to ask + what had become of Burnamy, though he had wondered, but now he looked + about and said impatiently, “I hope that young man isn't going + to keep us waiting.” + </p> + <p> + Agatha was pale and worn with sleeplessness, but she said firmly, “He + isn't going, papa. I will tell you in the train. August will see to + the tickets and the baggage.” + </p> + <p> + August conspired with the traeger to get them a first-class compartment to + themselves. But even with the advantages of this seclusion Agatha's + confidences to her father were not full. She told her father that her + engagement was broken for reasons that did not mean anything very wrong in + Mr. Burnamy but that convinced her they could never be happy together. As + she did not give the reasons, he found a natural difficulty in accepting + them, and there was something in the situation which appealed strongly to + his contrary-mindedness. Partly from this, partly from his sense of injury + in being obliged so soon to adjust himself to new conditions, and partly + from his comfortable feeling of security from an engagement to which his + assent had been forced, he said, “I hope you're not making a + mistake.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” she answered, and she attested her conviction by a + burst of sobbing that lasted well on the way to the first stop of the + train. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0153" id="link2H_4_0153"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5372}.jpg" alt="{5372}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5372}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXIX. + </h2> + <p> + It would have been always twice as easy to go direct from Berlin to the + Hague through Hanover; but the Marches decided to go by Frankfort and the + Rhine, because they wished to revisit the famous river, which they + remembered from their youth, and because they wished to stop at + Dusseldorf, where Heinrich Heine was born. Without this Mrs. March, who + kept her husband up to his early passion for the poet with a feeling that + she was defending him from age in it, said that their silver wedding + journey would not be complete; and he began himself to think that it would + be interesting. + </p> + <p> + They took a sleeping-car for Frankfort and they woke early as people do in + sleeping-cars everywhere. March dressed and went out for a cup of the same + coffee of which sleeping-car buffets have the awful secret in Europe as + well as America, and for a glimpse of the twilight landscape. One gray + little town, towered and steepled and red-roofed within its mediaeval + walls, looked as if it would have been warmer in something more. There was + a heavy dew, if not a light frost, over all, and in places a pale fog + began to lift from the low hills. Then the sun rose without dispersing the + cold, which was afterwards so severe in their room at the Russischer Hof + in Frankfort that in spite of the steam-radiators they sat shivering in + all their wraps till breakfast-time. + </p> + <p> + There was no steam on in the radiators, of course; when they implored the + portier for at least a lamp to warm their hands by he turned on all the + electric lights without raising the temperature in the slightest degree. + Amidst these modern comforts they were so miserable that they vowed each + other to shun, as long as they were in Germany, or at least while the + summer lasted, all hotels which were steam-heated and electric-lighted. + They heated themselves somewhat with their wrath, and over their breakfast + they relented so far as to suffer themselves a certain interest in the + troops of all arms beginning to pass the hotel. They were fragments of the + great parade, which had ended the day before, and they were now drifting + back to their several quarters of the empire. Many of them were very + picturesque, and they had for the boys and girls running before and beside + them, the charm which armies and circus processions have for children + everywhere. But their passage filled with cruel anxiety a large old dog + whom his master had left harnessed to a milk-cart before the hotel door; + from time to time he lifted up his voice, and called to the absentee with + hoarse, deep barks that almost shook him from his feet. + </p> + <p> + The day continued blue and bright and cold, and the Marches gave the + morning to a rapid survey of the city, glad that it was at least not wet. + What afterwards chiefly remained to them was the impression of an old town + as quaint almost and as Gothic as old Hamburg, and a new town, handsome + and regular, and, in the sudden arrest of some streets, apparently + overbuilt. The modern architectural taste was of course Parisian; there is + no other taste for the Germans; but in the prevailing absence of statues + there was a relief from the most oppressive characteristic of the imperial + capital which was a positive delight. Some sort of monument to the + national victory over France there must have been; but it must have been + unusually inoffensive, for it left no record of itself in the travellers' + consciousness. They were aware of gardened squares and avenues, bordered + by stately dwellings, of dignified civic edifices, and of a vast and + splendid railroad station, such as the state builds even in minor European + cities, but such as our paternal corporations have not yet given us + anywhere in America. They went to the Zoological Garden, where they heard + the customary Kalmucks at their public prayers behind a high board fence; + and as pilgrims from the most plutrocratic country in the world March + insisted that they must pay their devoirs at the shrine of the + Rothschilds, whose natal banking-house they revered from the outside. + </p> + <p> + It was a pity, he said, that the Rothschilds were not on his letter of + credit; he would have been willing to pay tribute to the Genius of Finance + in the percentage on at least ten pounds. But he consoled himself by + reflecting that he did not need the money; and he consoled Mrs. March for + their failure to penetrate to the interior of the Rothschilds' + birthplace by taking her to see the house where Goethe was born. The + public is apparently much more expected there, and in the friendly place + they were no doubt much more welcome than they would have been in the + Rothschild house. Under that roof they renewed a happy moment of Weimar, + which after the lapse of a week seemed already so remote. They wondered, + as they mounted the stairs from the basement opening into a clean little + court, how Burnamy was getting on, and whether it had yet come to that + understanding between him and Agatha, which Mrs. March, at least, had + meant to be inevitable. Then they became part of some such sight-seeing + retinue as followed the custodian about in the Goethe horse in Weimar, and + of an emotion indistinguishable from that of their fellow sight-seers. + They could make sure, afterwards, of a personal pleasure in a certain + prescient classicism of the house. It somehow recalled both the Goethe + houses at Weimar, and it somehow recalled Italy. It is a separate house of + two floors above the entrance, which opens to a little court or yard, and + gives access by a decent stairway to the living-rooms. The chief of these + is a sufficiently dignified parlor or salon, and the most important is the + little chamber in the third story where the poet first opened his eyes to + the light which he rejoiced in for so long a life, and which, dying, he + implored to be with him more. It is as large as his death-chamber in + Weimar, where he breathed this prayer, and it looks down into the + Italian-looking court, where probably he noticed the world for the first + time, and thought it a paved enclosure thirty or forty feet square. In the + birth-room they keep his puppet theatre, and the place is fairly + suggestive of his childhood; later, in his youth, he could look from the + parlor windows and see the house where his earliest love dwelt. So much + remains of Goethe in the place where he was born, and as such things go, + it is not a little. The house is that of a prosperous and well-placed + citizen, and speaks of the senatorial quality in his family which Heine + says he was fond of recalling, rather than the sartorial quality of the + ancestor who, again as Heine says, mended the Republic's breeches. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5377}.jpg" alt="{5377}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5377}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + From the Goethe house, one drives by the Goethe monument to the Romer, the + famous town-hall of the old free imperial city which Frankfort once was; + and by this route the Marches drove to it, agreeing with their coachman + that he was to keep as much in the sun as possible. It was still so cold + that when they reached the Romer, and he stopped in a broad blaze of the + only means of heating that they have in Frankfort in the summer, the + travellers were loath to leave it for the chill interior, where the German + emperors were elected for so many centuries. As soon as an emperor was + chosen, in the great hall effigied round with the portraits of his + predecessors, he hurried out in the balcony, ostensibly to show himself to + the people, but really, March contended, to warm up a little in the sun. + The balcony was undergoing repairs that day, and the travellers could not + go out on it; but under the spell of the historic interest of the + beautiful old Gothic place, they lingered in the interior till they were + half-torpid with the cold. Then she abandoned to him the joint duty of + viewing the cathedral, and hurried to their carriage where she basked in + the sun till he came to her. He returned shivering, after a half-hour's + absence, and pretended that she had missed the greatest thing in the + world, but as he could never be got to say just what she had lost, and + under the closest cross-examination could not prove that this cathedral + was memorably different from hundreds of other fourteenth-century + cathedrals, she remained in a lasting content with the easier part she had + chosen. His only definite impression at the cathedral seemed to be + confined to a Bostonian of gloomily correct type, whom he had seen doing + it with his Baedeker, and not letting an object of interest escape; and + his account of her fellow-townsman reconciled Mrs. March more and more to + not having gone. + </p> + <p> + As it was warmer out-doors than in-doors at Frankfort, and as the breadth + of sunshine increased with the approach of noon they gave the rest of the + morning to driving about and ignorantly enjoying the outside of many + Gothic churches, whose names even they did not trouble themselves to + learn. They liked the river Main whenever they came to it, because it was + so lately from Wurzburg, and because it was so beautiful with its bridges, + old and new, and its boats of many patterns. They liked the market-place + in front of the Romer not only because it was full of fascinating bargains + in curious crockery and wooden-ware, but because there was scarcely any + shade at all in it. They read from their Baedeker that until the end of + the last century no Jew was suffered to enter the marketplace, and they + rejoiced to find from all appearances that the Jews had been making up for + their unjust exclusion ever since. They were almost as numerous there as + the Anglo-Saxons were everywhere else in Frankfort. These, both of the + English and American branches of the race, prevailed in the hotel + diningroom, where the Marches had a mid-day dinner so good that it almost + made amends for the steam-heating and electric-lighting. + </p> + <p> + As soon as possible after dinner they took the train for Mayence, and ran + Rhinewards through a pretty country into what seemed a milder climate. It + grew so much milder, apparently, that a lady in their compartment to whom + March offered his forward-looking seat, ordered the window down when the + guard came, without asking their leave. Then the climate proved much + colder, and Mrs. March cowered under her shawls the rest of the way, and + would not be entreated to look at the pleasant level landscape near, or + the hills far off. He proposed to put up the window as peremptorily as it + had been put down, but she stayed him with a hoarse whisper, “She + may be another Baroness!” At first he did not know what she meant, + then he remembered the lady whose claims to rank her presence had so + poorly enforced on the way to Wurzburg, and he perceived that his wife was + practising a wise forbearance with their fellow-passengers, and giving her + a chance to turn out any sort of highhote she chose. She failed to profit + by the opportunity; she remained simply a selfish, disagreeable woman, of + no more perceptible distinction than their other fellow-passenger, a + little commercial traveller from Vienna (they resolved from his appearance + and the lettering on his valise that he was no other), who slept with a + sort of passionate intensity all the way to Mayence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0154" id="link2H_4_0154"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5383}.jpg" alt="{5383}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5383}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXX. + </h2> + <p> + The Main widened and swam fuller as they approached the Rhine, and flooded + the low-lying fields in-places with a pleasant effect under a wet sunset. + When they reached the station in Mayence they drove interminably to the + hotel they had chosen on the river-shore, through a city handsomer and + cleaner than any American city they could think of, and great part of the + way by a street of dwellings nobler, Mrs. March owned, than even + Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. It was planted, like that, with double rows + of trees, but lacked its green lawns; and at times the sign of + Weinhandlung at a corner, betrayed that there was no such restriction + against shops as keeps the Boston street so sacred. Otherwise they had to + confess once more that any inferior city of Germany is of a more proper + and dignified presence than the most parse-proud metropolis in America. To + be sure, they said, the German towns had generally a thousand years' + start; but all the same the fact galled them. + </p> + <p> + It was very bleak, though very beautiful when they stopped before their + hotel on the Rhine, where all their impalpable memories of their visit to + Mayence thirty years earlier precipitated themselves into something + tangible. There were the reaches of the storied and fabled stream with its + boats and bridges and wooded shores and islands; there were the spires and + towers and roofs of the town on either bank crowding to the river's + brink; and there within-doors was the stately portier in gold braid, and + the smiling, bowing, hand-rubbing landlord, alluring them to his most + expensive rooms, which so late in the season he would fain have had them + take. But in a little elevator, that mounted slowly, very slowly, in the + curve of the stairs, they went higher to something lower, and the landlord + retired baked, and left them to the ministrations of the serving-men who + arrived with their large and small baggage. All these retired in turn when + they asked to have a fire lighted in the stove, without which Mrs. March + would never have taken the fine stately rooms, and sent back a pretty + young girl to do it. She came indignant, not because she had come lugging + a heavy hod of coal and a great arm-load of wood, but because her sense of + fitness was outraged by the strange demand. + </p> + <p> + “What!” she cried. “A fire in September!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” March returned, inspired to miraculous aptness in his + German by the exigency, “yes, if September is cold.” + </p> + <p> + The girl looked at him, and then, either because she thought him mad, or + liked him merry, burst into a loud laugh, and kindled the fire without a + word more. + </p> + <p> + He lighted all the reluctant gas-jets in the vast gilt chandelier, and in + less than half an hour the temperature of the place rose to at least + sixty-five Fahrenheit, with every promise of going higher. Mrs. March made + herself comfortable in a deep chair before the stove, and said she would + have her supper there; and she bade him send her just such a supper of + chicken and honey and tea as they had all had in Mayence when they supped + in her aunt's parlor there all those years ago. He wished to compute + the years, but she drove him out with an imploring cry, and he went down + to a very gusty dining-room on the ground-floor, where he found himself + alone with a young English couple and their little boy. They were + friendly, intelligent people, and would have been conversable, apparently, + but for the terrible cold of the husband, which he said he had contracted + at the manoeuvres in Hombourg. March said he was going to Holland, and the + Englishman was doubtful of the warmth which March expected to find there. + He seemed to be suffering from a suspense of faith as to the warmth + anywhere; from time to time the door of the dining-room self-opened in a + silent, ghostly fashion into the court without, and let in a chilling + draught about the legs of all, till the little English boy got down from + his place and shut it. + </p> + <p> + He alone continued cheerful, for March's spirits certainly did not + rise when some mumbling Americans came in and muttered over their meat at + another table. He hated to own it, but he had to own that wherever he had + met the two branches of the Anglo-Saxon race together in Europe, the elder + had shown, by a superior chirpiness, to the disadvantage of the younger. + The cast clothes of the old-fashioned British offishness seemed to have + fallen to the American travellers who were trying to be correct and + exemplary; and he would almost rather have had back the old-style bragging + Americans whom he no longer saw. He asked of an agreeable + fellow-countryman whom he found later in the reading-room, what had become + of these; and this compatriot said he had travelled with one only the day + before, who had posed before their whole compartment in his scorn of the + German landscape, the German weather, the German government, the German + railway management, and then turned out an American of German birth! March + found his wife in great bodily comfort when he went back to her, but in + trouble of mind about a clock which she had discovered standing on the + lacquered iron top of the stove. It was a French clock, of architectural + pretensions, in the taste of the first Empire, and it looked as if it had + not been going since Napoleon occupied Mayence early in the century. But + Mrs. March now had it sorely on her conscience where, in its danger from + the heat of the stove, it rested with the weight of the Pantheon, whose + classic form it recalled. She wondered that no one had noticed it before + the fire was kindled, and she required her husband to remove it at once + from the top of the stove to the mantel under the mirror, which was the + natural habitat of such a clock. He said nothing could be simpler, but + when he lifted it, it began to fall all apart, like a clock in the house + of the Hoodoo. Its marble base dropped-off; its pillars tottered; its + pediment swayed to one side. While Mrs. March lamented her hard fate, and + implored him to hurry it together before any one came, he contrived to + reconstruct it in its new place. Then they both breathed freer, and + returned to sit down before the stove. But at the same moment they both + saw, ineffaceably outlined on the lacquered top, the basal form of the + clock. The chambermaid would see it in the morning; she would notice the + removal of the clock, and would make a merit of reporting its ruin by the + heat to the landlord, and in the end they would be mulcted of its value. + Rather than suffer this wrong they agreed to restore it to its place, and, + let it go to destruction upon its own terms. March painfully rebuilt it + where he had found it, and they went to bed with a bad conscience to worse + dreams. + </p> + <p> + He remembered, before he slept, the hour of his youth when he was in + Mayence before, and was so care free that he had heard with impersonal joy + two young American voices speaking English in the street under his window. + One of them broke from the common talk with a gay burlesque of pathos in + the line: + </p> +<p> + “Oh heavens! she cried, my bleeding country save!” + and then with a laughing good-night these unseen, unknown spirits of youth + parted and departed. Who were they, and in what different places, with + what cares or ills, had their joyous voices grown old, or fallen silent + for evermore? It was a moonlight night, March remembered, and he + remembered how he wished he were out in it with those merry fellows. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5389}.jpg" alt="{5389}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5389}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + He nursed the memory and the wonder in his dreaming thought, and he woke + early to other voices under his window. But now the voices, though young, + were many and were German, and the march of feet and the stamp of hooves + kept time with their singing. He drew his curtain and saw the street + filled with broken squads of men, some afoot and some on horseback, some + in uniform and some in civil dress with students' caps, loosely + straggling on and roaring forth that song whose words he could not make + out. At breakfast he asked the waiter what it all meant, and he said that + these were conscripts whose service had expired with the late manoeuvres, + and who were now going home. He promised March a translation of the song, + but he never gave it; and perhaps the sense of their joyful home-going + remained the more poetic with him because its utterance remained + inarticulate. + </p> + <p> + March spent the rainy Sunday, on which they had fallen, in wandering about + the little city alone. His wife said she was tired and would sit by the + fire, and hear about Mayence when he came in. He went to the cathedral, + which has its renown for beauty and antiquity, and he there added to his + stock of useful information the fact that the people of Mayence seemed + very Catholic and very devout. They proved it by preferring to any of the + divine old Gothic shrines in the cathedral, an ugly baroque altar, which + was everywhere hung about with votive offerings. A fashionably dressed + young man and young girl sprinkled themselves with holy water as + reverently as if they had been old and ragged. Some tourists strolled up + and down the aisles with their red guide-books, and studied the objects of + interest. A resplendent beadle in a cocked hat, and with along staff of + authority posed before his own ecclesiastical consciousness in blue and + silver. At the high altar a priest was saying mass, and March wondered + whether his consciousness was as wholly ecclesiastical as the beadle's, + or whether somewhere in it he felt the historical majesty, the long human + consecration of the place. + </p> + <p> + He wandered at random in the town through streets German and quaint and + old, and streets French and fine and new, and got back to the river, which + he crossed on one of the several handsome bridges. The rough river looked + chill under a sky of windy clouds, and he felt out of season, both as to + the summer travel, and as to the journey he was making. The summer of life + as well as the summer of that year was past. Better return to his own + radiator in his flat on Stuyvesant Square; to the great ugly brutal town + which, if it was not home to him, was as much home to him as to any one. A + longing for New York welled up his heart, which was perhaps really a wish + to be at work again. He said he must keep this from his wife, who seemed + not very well, and whom he must try to cheer up when he returned to the + hotel. + </p> + <p> + But they had not a very joyous afternoon, and the evening was no gayer. + They said that if they had not ordered their letters sent to Dusseldorf + they believed they should push on to Holland without stopping; and March + would have liked to ask, Why not push on to America? But he forbore, and + he was afterwards glad that he had done so. + </p> + <p> + In the morning their spirits rose with the sun, though the sun got up + behind clouds as usual; and they were further animated by the imposition + which the landlord practised upon them. After a distinct and repeated + agreement as to the price of their rooms he charged them twice as much, + and then made a merit of throwing off two marks out of the twenty he had + plundered them of. + </p> + <p> + “Now I see,” said Mrs. March, on their way down to the boat, + “how fortunate it was that we baked his clock. You may laugh, but I + believe we were the instruments of justice.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose that clock was never baked before?” asked her + husband. “The landlord has his own arrangement with justice. When he + overcharges his parting guests he says to his conscience, Well, they baked + my clock.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0155" id="link2H_4_0155"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5394}.jpg" alt="{5394}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5394}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXXI. + </h2> + <p> + The morning was raw, but it was something not to have it rainy; and the + clouds that hung upon the hills and hid their tops were at least as fine + as the long board signs advertising chocolate on the river banks. The + smoke rising from the chimneys of the manufactories of Mayence was not so + bad, either, when one got them in the distance a little; and March liked + the way the river swam to the stems of the trees on the low grassy shores. + It was like the Mississippi between St. Louis and Cairo in that, and it + was yellow and thick, like the Mississippi, though he thought he + remembered it blue and clear. A friendly German, of those who began to + come aboard more and more at all the landings after leaving Mayence, + assured him that he was right, and that the Rhine was unusually turbid + from the unusual rains. March had his own belief that whatever the color + of the Rhine might be the rains were not unusual, but he could not gainsay + the friendly German. + </p> + <p> + Most of the passengers at starting were English and American; but they + showed no prescience of the international affinition which has since + realized itself, in their behavior toward one another. They held silently + apart, and mingled only in the effect of one young man who kept the + Marches in perpetual question whether he was a Bostonian or an Englishman. + His look was Bostonian, but his accent was English; and was he a Bostonian + who had been in England long enough to get the accent, or was he an + Englishman who had been in Boston long enough to get the look? He wore a + belated straw hat, and a thin sack-coat; and in the rush of the boat + through the raw air they fancied him very cold, and longed to offer him + one of their superabundant wraps. At times March actually lifted a shawl + from his knees, feeling sure that the stranger was English and that he + might make so bold with him; then at some glacial glint in the young man's + eye, or at some petrific expression of his delicate face, he felt that he + was a Bostonian, and lost courage and let the shawl sink again. March + tried to forget him in the wonder of seeing the Germans begin to eat and + drink, as soon as they came on boards either from the baskets they had + brought with them, or from the boat's provision. But he prevailed, + with his smile that was like a sneer, through all the events of the + voyage; and took March's mind off the scenery with a sudden wrench + when he came unexpectedly into view after a momentary disappearance. At + the table d'hote, which was served when the landscape began to be + less interesting, the guests were expected to hand their plates across the + table to the stewards but to keep their knives and forks throughout the + different courses, and at each of these partial changes March felt the + young man's chilly eyes upon him, inculpating him for the + semi-civilization of the management. At such times he knew that he was a + Bostonian. + </p> + <p> + The weather cleared, as they descended the river, and under a sky at last + cloudless, the Marches had moments of swift reversion to their former + Rhine journey, when they were young and the purple light of love mantled + the vineyarded hills along the shore, and flushed the castled steeps. The + scene had lost nothing of the beauty they dimly remembered; there were + certain features of it which seemed even fairer and grander than they + remembered. The town of Bingen, where everybody who knows the poem was + more or less born, was beautiful in spite of its factory chimneys, though + there were no compensating castles near it; and the castles seemed as good + as those of the theatre. Here and there some of them had been restored and + were occupied, probably by robber barons who had gone into trade. Others + were still ruinous, and there was now and then such a mere gray snag that + March, at sight of it, involuntarily put his tongue to the broken tooth + which he was keeping for the skill of the first American dentist. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5397}.jpg" alt="{5397}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5397}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + For natural sublimity the Rhine scenery, as they recognized once more, + does not compare with the Hudson scenery; and they recalled one point on + the American river where the Central Road tunnels a jutting cliff, which + might very well pass for the rock of the Loreley, where she dreams + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Solo sitting by the shores of old romance' +</pre> + <p> + and the trains run in and out under her knees unheeded. “Still, + still you know,” March argued, “this is the Loreley on the + Rhine, and not the Loreley on the Hudson; and I suppose that makes all the + difference. Besides, the Rhine doesn't set up to be sublime; it only + means to be storied and dreamy and romantic and it does it. And then we + have really got no Mouse Tower; we might build one, to be sure.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, we have got no denkmal, either,” said his wife, meaning + the national monument to the German reconquest of the Rhine, which they + had just passed, “and that is something in our favor.” + </p> + <p> + “It was too far off for us to see how ugly it was,” he + returned. + </p> + <p> + “The denkmal at Coblenz was so near that the bronze Emperor almost + rode aboard the boat.” + </p> + <p> + He could not answer such a piece of logic as that. He yielded, and began + to praise the orcharded levels which now replaced the vine-purpled slopes + of the upper river. He said they put him in mind of orchards that he had + known in his boyhood; and they, agreed that the supreme charm of travel, + after all, was not in seeing something new and strange, but in finding + something familiar and dear in the heart of the strangeness. + </p> + <p> + At Cologne they found this in the tumult of getting ashore with their + baggage and driving from the steamboat landing to the railroad station, + where they were to get their train for Dusseldorf an hour later. The + station swarmed with travellers eating and drinking and smoking; but they + escaped from it for a precious half of their golden hour, and gave the + time to the great cathedral, which was built, a thousand years ago, just + round the corner from the station, and is therefore very handy to it. + Since they saw the cathedral last it had been finished, and now under a + cloudless evening sky, it soared and swept upward like a pale flame. + Within it was a bit over-clean, a bit bare, but without it was one of the + great memories of the race, the record of a faith which wrought miracles + of beauty, at least, if not piety. + </p> + <p> + The train gave the Marches another, and last, view of it as they slowly + drew out of the city, and began to run through a level country walled with + far-off hills; past fields of buckwheat showing their stems like coral + under their black tops; past peasant houses changing their wonted shape to + taller and narrower forms; past sluggish streams from which the mist rose + and hung over the meadows, under a red sunset, glassy clear till the + manifold factory chimneys of Dusseldorf stained it with their dun smoke. + </p> + <p> + This industrial greeting seemed odd from the town where Heinrich Heine was + born; but when they had eaten their supper in the capital little hotel + they found there, and went out for a stroll, they found nothing to remind + them of the factories, and much to make them think of the poet. The moon, + beautiful and perfect as a stage moon, came up over the shoulder of a + church as they passed down a long street which they had all to themselves. + Everybody seemed to have gone to bed, but at a certain corner a girl + opened a window above them, and looked out at the moon. + </p> + <p> + When they returned to their hotel they found a highwalled garden facing + it, full of black depths of foliage. In the night March woke and saw the + moon standing over the garden, and silvering its leafy tops. This was + really as it should be in the town where the idolized poet of his youth + was born; the poet whom of all others he had adored, and who had once + seemed like a living friend; who had been witness of his first love, and + had helped him to speak it. His wife used to laugh at him for his + Heine-worship in those days; but she had since come to share it, and she, + even more than he, had insisted upon this pilgrimage. He thought long + thoughts of the past, as he looked into the garden across the way, with an + ache for his perished self and the dead companionship of his youth, all + ghosts together in the silvered shadow. The trees shuddered in the night + breeze, and its chill penetrated to him where he stood. + </p> + <p> + His wife called to him from her room, “What are you doing?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, sentimentalizing,” he answered boldly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you will be sick,” she said, and he crept back into bed + again. + </p> + <p> + They had sat up late, talking in a glad excitement. But he woke early, as + an elderly man is apt to do after broken slumbers, and left his wife still + sleeping. He was not so eager for the poetic interests of the town as he + had been the night before; he even deferred his curiosity for Heine's + birth-house to the instructive conference which he had with his waiter at + breakfast. After all, was not it more important to know something of the + actual life of a simple common class of men than to indulge a faded fancy + for the memory of a genius, which no amount of associations could feed + again to its former bloom? The waiter said he was a Nuremberger, and had + learned English in London where he had served a year for nothing. + Afterwards, when he could speak three languages he got a pound a week, + which seemed low for so many, though not so low as the one mark a day + which he now received in Dusseldorf; in Berlin he paid the hotel two marks + a day. March confided to him his secret trouble as to tips, and they tried + vainly to enlighten each other as to what a just tip was. + </p> + <p> + He went to his banker's, and when he came back he found his wife + with her breakfast eaten, and so eager for the exploration of Heine's + birthplace that she heard with indifference of his failure to get any + letters. It was too soon to expect them, she said, and then she showed him + her plan, which she had been working out ever since she woke. It contained + every place which Heine had mentioned, and she was determined not one + should escape them. She examined him sharply upon his condition, accusing + him of having taken cold when he got up in the night, and acquitting him + with difficulty. She herself was perfectly well, but a little fagged, and + they must have a carriage. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5401}.jpg" alt="{5401}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5401}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + They set out in a lordly two-spanner, which took up half the little + Bolkerstrasse where Heine was born, when they stopped across the way from + his birthhouse, so that she might first take it all in from the outside + before they entered it. It is a simple street, and not the cleanest of the + streets in a town where most of them are rather dirty. Below the houses + are shops, and the first story of Heine's house is a butcher shop, + with sides of pork and mutton hanging in the windows; above, where the + Heine family must once have lived, a gold-beater and a frame-maker + displayed their signs. + </p> + <p> + But did the Heine family really once live there? The house looked so fresh + and new that in spite of the tablet in its front affirming it the poet's + birthplace, they doubted; and they were not reassured by the people who + half halted as they passed, and stared at the strangers, so anomalously + interested in the place. They dismounted, and crossed to the butcher shop + where the provision man corroborated the tablet, but could not understand + their wish to go up stairs. He did not try to prevent them, however, and + they climbed to the first floor above, where a placard on the door + declared it private and implored them not to knock. Was this the outcome + of the inmate's despair from the intrusion of other pilgrims who had + wised to see the Heine dwelling-rooms? They durst not knock and ask so + much, and they sadly descended to the ground-floor, where they found a + butcher boy of much greater apparent intelligence than the butcher + himself, who told them that the building in front was as new as it looked, + and the house where Heine was really born was the old house in the rear. + He showed them this house, across a little court patched with mangy grass + and lilac-bushes; and when they wished to visit it he led the way. The + place was strewn both underfoot and overhead with feathers; it had once + been all a garden out to the street, the boy said, but from these + feathers, as well as the odor which prevailed, and the anxious behavior of + a few hens left in the high coop at one side, it was plain that what + remained of the garden was now a chicken slaughteryard. There was one + well-grown tree, and the boy said it was of the poet's time; but + when he let them into the house, he became vague as to the room where + Heine was born; it was certain only that it was somewhere upstairs and + that it could not be seen. The room where they stood was the frame-maker's + shop, and they bought of him a small frame for a memorial. They bought of + the butcher's boy, not so commercially, a branch of lilac; and they + came away, thinking how much amused Heine himself would have been with + their visit; how sadly, how merrily he would have mocked at their effort + to revere his birthplace. + </p> + <p> + They were too old if not too wise to be daunted by their defeat, and they + drove next to the old court garden beside the Rhine where the poet says he + used to play with the little Veronika, and probably did not. At any rate, + the garden is gone; the Schloss was burned down long ago; and nothing + remains but a detached tower in which the good Elector Jan Wilhelm, of + Heine's time, amused himself with his many mechanical inventions. + The tower seemed to be in process of demolition, but an intelligent + workman who came down out of it, was interested in the strangers' + curiosity, and directed them to a place behind the Historical Museum where + they could find a bit of the old garden. It consisted of two or three low + trees, and under them the statue of the Elector by which Heine sat with + the little Veronika, if he really did. Afresh gale blowing through the + trees stirred the bushes that backed the statue, but not the laurel + wreathing the Elector's head, and meeting in a neat point over his + forehead. The laurel wreath is stone, like the rest of the Elector, who + stands there smirking in marble ermine and armor, and resting his baton on + the nose of a very small lion, who, in the exigencies of foreshortening, + obligingly goes to nothing but a tail under the Elector's robe. + </p> + <p> + This was a prince who loved himself in effigy so much that he raised an + equestrian statue to his own renown in the market-place, though he + modestly refused the credit of it, and ascribed its erection to the + affection of his subjects. You see him therein a full-bottomed wig, + mounted on a rampant charger with a tail as big round as a barrel, and + heavy enough to keep him from coming down on his fore legs as long as he + likes to hold them up. It was to this horse's back that Heine + clambered when a small boy, to see the French take formal possession of + Dusseldorf; and he clung to the waist of the bronze Elector, who had just + abdicated, while the burgomaster made a long speech, from the balcony of + the Rathhaus, and the Electoral arms were taken down from its doorway. + </p> + <p> + The Rathhaus is a salad-dressing of German gothic and French rococo as to + its architectural style, and is charming in its way, but the Marches were + in the market-place for the sake of that moment of Heine's boyhood. + They felt that he might have been the boy who stopped as he ran before + them, and smacked the stomach of a large pumpkin lying at the feet of an + old market-woman, and then dashed away before she could frame a protest + against the indignity. From this incident they philosophized that the boys + of Dusseldorf are as mischievous at the end of the century as they were at + the beginning; and they felt the fascination that such a bounteous, + unkempt old marketplace must have for the boys of any period. There were + magnificent vegetables of all sorts in it, and if the fruits were meagre + that was the fault of the rainy summer, perhaps. The market-place was very + dirty, and so was the narrow street leading down from it to the Rhine, + which ran swift as a mountain torrent along a slatternly quay. A bridge of + boats crossing the stream shook in the rapid current, and a long + procession of market carts passed slowly over, while a cluster of scows + waited in picturesque patience for the draw to open. + </p> + <p> + They saw what a beautiful town that was for a boy to grow up in, and how + many privileges it offered, how many dangers, how many chances for + hairbreadth escapes. They chose that Heine must often have rushed + shrieking joyfully down that foul alley to the Rhine with other boys; and + they easily found a leaf-strewn stretch of the sluggish Dussel, in the + Public Garden, where his playmate, the little Wilhelm, lost his life and + saved the kitten's. They were not so sure of the avenue through + which the poet saw the Emperor Napoleon come riding on his small white + horse when he took possession of the Elector's dominions. But if it + was that where the statue of the Kaiser Wilhelm I. comes riding on a horse + led by two Victories, both poet and hero are avenged there on the + accomplished fact. Defeated and humiliated France triumphs in the badness + of that foolish denkmal (one of the worst in all denkmal-ridden Germany), + and the memory of the singer whom the Hohenzollern family pride forbids + honor in his native place, is immortal in its presence. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5407}.jpg" alt="{5407}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5407}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + On the way back to their hotel, March made some reflections upon the open + neglect, throughout Germany, of the greatest German lyrist, by which the + poet might have profited if he had been present. He contended that it was + not altogether an effect of Hohenzollern pride, which could not suffer a + joke or two from the arch-humorist; but that Heine had said things of + Germany herself which Germans might well have found unpardonable. He + concluded that it would not do to be perfectly frank with one's own + country. Though, to be sure, there would always be the question whether + the Jew-born Heine had even a step-fatherland in the Germany he loved so + tenderly and mocked so pitilessly. He had to own that if he were a negro + poet he would not feel bound to measure terms in speaking of America, and + he would not feel that his fame was in her keeping. + </p> + <p> + Upon the whole he blamed Heine less than Germany and he accused her of + taking a shabby revenge, in trying to forget him; in the heat of his + resentment that there should be no record of Heine in the city where he + was born, March came near ignoring himself the fact that the poet + Freiligrath was also born there. As for the famous Dusseldorf school of + painting, which once filled the world with the worst art, he rejoiced that + it was now so dead, and he grudged the glance which the beauty of the new + Art Academy extorted from him. It is in the French taste, and is so far a + monument to the continuance in one sort of that French supremacy, of which + in another sort another denkmal celebrates the overthrow. Dusseldorf is + not content with the denkmal of the Kaiser on horseback, with the two + Victories for grooms; there is a second, which the Marches found when they + strolled out again late in the afternoon. It is in the lovely park which + lies in the heart of the city, and they felt in its presence the only + emotion of sympathy which the many patriotic monuments of Germany awakened + in them. It had dignity and repose, which these never had elsewhere; but + it was perhaps not so much for the dying warrior and the pitying lion of + the sculpture that their hearts were moved as for the gentle and mournful + humanity of the inscription, which dropped into equivalent English verse + in March's note-book: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Fame was enough for the Victors, and glory and verdurous laurel; + Tears by their mothers wept founded this image of stone. +</pre> + <p> + To this they could forgive the vaunting record, on the reverse, of the + German soldiers who died heroes in the war with France, the war with + Austria, and even the war with poor little Denmark! + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5411}.jpg" alt="{5411}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5411}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + The morning had been bright and warm, and it was just that the afternoon + should be dim and cold, with a pale sun looking through a September mist, + which seemed to deepen the seclusion and silence of the forest reaches; + for the park was really a forest of the German sort, as parks are apt to + be in Germany. But it was beautiful, and they strayed through it, and + sometimes sat down on the benches in its damp shadows, and said how much + seemed to be done in Germany for the people's comfort and pleasure. + In what was their own explicitly, as well as what was tacitly theirs, they + were not so restricted as we were at home, and especially the children + seemed made fondly and lovingly free of all public things. The Marches met + troops of them in the forest, as they strolled slowly back by the winding + Dussel to the gardened avenue leading to the park, and they found them + everywhere gay and joyful. But their elders seemed subdued, and were + silent. The strangers heard no sound of laughter in the streets of + Dusseldorf, and they saw no smiling except on the part of a very old + couple, whose meeting they witnessed and who grinned and cackled at each + other like two children as they shook hands. Perhaps they were indeed + children of that sad second childhood which one would rather not blossom + back into. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5415}.jpg" alt="{5415}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5415}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + In America, life is yet a joke with us, even when it is grotesque and + shameful, as it so often is; for we think we can make it right when we + choose. But there is no joking in Germany, between the first and second + childhoods, unless behind closed doors. Even there, people do not joke + above their breath about kings and emperors. If they joke about them in + print, they take out their laugh in jail, for the press laws are severely + enforced, and the prisons are full of able editors, serious as well as + comic. Lese-majesty is a crime that searches sinners out in every walk of + life, and it is said that in family jars a husband sometimes has the last + word of his wife by accusing her of blaspheming the sovereign, and so + having her silenced for three months at least behind penitential bars. + </p> + <p> + “Think,” said March, “how simply I could adjust any + differences of opinion between us in Dusseldorf.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't!” his wife implored with a burst of feeling which + surprised him. “I want to go home!” + </p> + <p> + They had been talking over their day, and planning their journey to + Holland for the morrow, when it came to this outburst from her in the last + half-hour before bed which they sat prolonging beside their stove. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5419}.jpg" alt="{5419}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5419}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “What! And not go to Holland? What is to become of my after-cure?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's too late for that, now. We've used up the + month running about, and tiring ourselves to death. I should like to rest + a week—to get into my berth on the Norumbia and rest!” + </p> + <p> + “I guess the September gales would have something to say about that.” + </p> + <p> + “I would risk the September gales.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0156" id="link2H_4_0156"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5424}.jpg" alt="{5424}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5424}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXXII. + </h2> + <p> + In the morning March came home from his bankers gay with the day's + provisional sunshine in his heart, and joyously expectant of his wife's + pleasure in the letters he was bringing. There was one from each of their + children, and there was one from Fulkerson, which March opened and read on + the street, so as to intercept any unpleasant news there might be in them; + there were two letters for Mrs. March which he knew without opening were + from Miss Triscoe and Mrs. Adding respectively; Mrs. Adding's, from + the postmarks, seemed to have been following them about for some time. + </p> + <p> + “They're all right at home,” he said. “Do see what + those people have been doing.” + </p> + <p> + “I believe,” she said, taking a knife from the breakfast tray + beside her bed to cut the envelopes, “that you've really cared + more about them all along than I have.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I've only been anxious to be done with them.” + </p> + <p> + She got the letters open, and holding one of them up in each hand she read + them impartially and simultaneously; then she flung them both down, and + turned her face into her pillow with an impulse of her inalienable + girlishness. “Well, it is too silly.” + </p> + <p> + March felt authorized to take them up and read them consecutively; when he + had done, so he did not differ from his wife. In one case, Agatha had + written to her dear Mrs. March that she and Burnamy had just that evening + become engaged; Mrs. Adding, on her part owned a farther step, and + announced her marriage to Mr. Kenby. Following immemorial usage in such + matters Kenby had added a postscript affirming his happiness in unsparing + terms, and in Agatha's letter there was an avowal of like effect + from Burnamy. Agatha hinted her belief that her father would soon come to + regard Burnamy as she did; and Mrs. Adding professed a certain humiliation + in having realized that, after all her misgiving about him, Rose seemed + rather relieved than otherwise, as if he were glad to have her off his + hands. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said March, “with these troublesome affairs + settled, I don't see what there is to keep us in Europe any longer, + unless it's the consensus of opinion in Tom, Bella, and Fulkerson, + that we ought to stay the winter.” + </p> + <p> + “Stay the winter!” Mrs. March rose from her pillow, and + clutched the home letters to her from the abeyance in which they had + fallen on the coverlet while she was dealing with the others. “What + do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “It seems to have been prompted by a hint you let drop, which Tom + has passed to Bella and Fulkerson.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, but that was before we left Carlsbad!” she protested, + while she devoured the letters with her eyes, and continued to denounce + the absurdity of the writers. Her son and daughter both urged that now + their father and mother were over there, they had better stay as long as + they enjoyed it, and that they certainly ought not to come home without + going to Italy, where they had first met, and revisiting the places which + they had seen together when they were young engaged people: without that + their silver wedding journey would not be complete. Her son said that + everything was going well with 'Every Other Week', and both + himself and Mr. Fulkerson thought his father ought to spend the winter in + Italy, and get a thorough rest. “Make a job of it, March,” + Fulkerson wrote, “and have a Sabbatical year while you're at + it. You may not get another.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I can tell them,” said Mrs. March indignantly, “we + shall not do anything of the kind.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you didn't mean it?” + </p> + <p> + “Mean it!” She stopped herself with a look at her husband, and + asked gently, “Do you want to stay?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” he answered vaguely. The fact was, + he was sick of travel and of leisure; he was longing to be at home and at + work again. But if there was to be any self-sacrifice which could be had, + as it were, at a bargain; which could be fairly divided between them, and + leave him the self and her the sacrifice, he was too experienced a husband + not to see the advantage of it, or to refuse the merit. “I thought + you wished to stay.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she sighed, “I did. It has been very, very + pleasant, and, if anything, I have over-enjoyed myself. We have gone + romping through it like two young people, haven't we?” + </p> + <p> + “You have,” he assented. “I have always felt the weight + of my years in getting the baggage registered; they have made the baggage + weigh more every time.” + </p> + <p> + “And I've forgotten mine. Yes, I have. But the years haven't + forgotten me, Basil, and now I remember them. I'm tired. It doesn't + seem as if I could ever get up. But I dare say it's only a mood; it + may be only a cold; and if you wish to stay, why—we will think it + over.” + </p> + <p> + “No, we won't, my dear,” he said, with a generous shame + for his hypocrisy if not with a pure generosity. “I've got all + the good out of it that there was in it, for me, and I shouldn't go + home any better six months hence than I should now. Italy will keep for + another time, and so, for the matter of that, will Holland.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” she interposed. “We won't give up + Holland, whatever we do. I couldn't go home feeling that I had kept + you out of your after-cure; and when we get there, no doubt the sea air + will bring me up so that I shall want to go to Italy, too, again. Though + it seems so far off, now! But go and see when the afternoon train for the + Hague leaves, and I shall be ready. My mind's quite made up on that + point.” + </p> + <p> + “What a bundle of energy!” said her husband laughing down at + her. + </p> + <p> + He went and asked about the train to the Hague, but only to satisfy a + superficial conscience; for now he knew that they were both of one mind + about going home. He also looked up the trains for London, and found that + they could get there by way of Ostend in fourteen hours. Then he went back + to the banker's, and with the help of the Paris-New York Chronicle + which he found there, he got the sailings of the first steamers home. + After that he strolled about the streets for a last impression of + Dusseldorf, but it was rather blurred by the constantly recurring pull of + his thoughts toward America, and he ended by turning abruptly at a certain + corner, and going to his hotel. + </p> + <p> + He found his wife dressed, but fallen again on her bed, beside which her + breakfast stood still untasted; her smile responded wanly to his + brightness. “I'm not well, my dear,” she said. “I + don't believe I could get off to the Hague this afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “Could you to Liverpool?” he returned. + </p> + <p> + “To Liverpool?” she gasped. “What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Merely that the Cupania is sailing on the twentieth, and I've + telegraphed to know if we can get a room. I'm afraid it won't + be a good one, but she's the first boat out, and—” + </p> + <p> + “No, indeed, we won't go to Liverpool, and we will never go + home till you've had your after-cure in Holland.” She was very + firm in this, but she added, “We will stay another night, here, and + go to the Hague tomorrow. Sit down, and let us talk it over. Where were + we?” + </p> + <p> + She lay down on the sofa, and he put a shawl over her. “We were just + starting for Liverpool.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no we weren't! Don't say such things, dearest! I + want you to help me sum it all, up. You think it's been a success, + don't you?” + </p> + <p> + “As a cure?” + </p> + <p> + “No, as a silver wedding journey?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly howling.” + </p> + <p> + “I do think we've had a good time. I never expected to enjoy + myself so much again in the world. I didn't suppose I should ever + take so much interest in anything. It shows that when we choose to get out + of our rut we shall always find life as fresh and delightful as ever. + There is nothing to prevent our coming any year, now that Tom's + shown himself so capable, and having another silver wedding journey. I don't + like to think of it's being confined to Germany quite.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know. We can always talk of it as our + German-Silver Wedding Journey.” + </p> + <p> + “That's true. But nobody would understand nowadays what you + meant by German-silver; it's perfectly gone out. How ugly it was! A + sort of greasy yellowish stuff, always getting worn through; I believe it + was made worn through. Aunt Mary had a castor of it, that I can remember + when I was a child; it went into the kitchen long before I grew up. Would + a joke like that console you for the loss of Italy?” + </p> + <p> + “It would go far to do it. And as a German-Silver Wedding Journey, + it's certainly been very complete.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “It's given us a representative variety of German cities. + First we had Hamburg, you know, a great modern commercial centre.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! Go on!” + </p> + <p> + “Then we had Leipsic, the academic.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes!” + </p> + <p> + “Then Carlsbad, the supreme type of a German health resort; then + Nuremberg, the mediaeval; then Anspach, the extinct princely capital; then + Wurzburg, the ecclesiastical rococo; then Weimar, for the literature of a + great epoch; then imperial Berlin; then Frankfort, the memory of the old + free city; then Dusseldorf, the centre of the most poignant personal + interest in the world—I don't see how we could have done + better, if we'd planned it all, and not acted from successive + impulses.” + </p> + <p> + “It's been grand; it's been perfect! As German-Silver + Wedding Journey it's perfect—it seems as if it had been + ordered! But I will never let you give up Holland! No, we will go this + afternoon, and when I get to Schevleningen, I'll go to bed, and stay + there, till you've completed your after-cure.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think that will be wildly gay for the convalescent?” + </p> + <p> + She suddenly began to cry. “Oh, dearest, what shall we do? I feel + perfectly broken down. I'm afraid I'm going to be sick—and + away from home! How could you ever let me overdo, so?” She put her + handkerchief to her eyes, and turned her face into the sofa pillow. + </p> + <p> + This was rather hard upon him, whom her vivid energy and inextinguishable + interest had not permitted a moment's respite from pleasure since + they left Carlsbad. But he had been married, too long not to understand + that her blame of him was only a form of self-reproach for her own + self-forgetfulness. She had not remembered that she was no longer young + till she had come to what he saw was a nervous collapse. The fact had its + pathos and its poetry which no one could have felt more keenly than he. If + it also had its inconvenience and its danger he realized these too. + </p> + <p> + “Isabel,” he said, “we are going home.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, then it will be your doing.” + </p> + <p> + “Quite. Do you think you could stand it as far as Cologne? We get + the sleeping-car there, and you can lie down the rest of the way to + Ostend.” + </p> + <p> + “This afternoon? Why I'm perfectly strong; it's merely + my nerves that are gone.” She sat up, and wiped her eyes. “But + Basil! If you're doing this for me—” + </p> + <p> + “I'm doing it for myself,” said March, as he went out of + the room. + </p> + <p> + She stood the journey perfectly well, and in the passage to Dover she + suffered so little from the rough weather that she was an example to many + robust matrons who filled the ladies' cabin with the noise of their + anguish during the night. She would have insisted upon taking the first + train up to London, if March had not represented that this would not + expedite the sailing of the Cupania, and that she might as well stay the + forenoon at the convenient railway hotel, and rest. It was not quite his + ideal of repose that the first people they saw in the coffee-room when + they went to breakfast should be Kenby and Rose Adding, who were having + their tea and toast and eggs together in the greatest apparent + good-fellowship. He saw his wife shrink back involuntarily from the + encounter, but this was only to gather force for it; and the next moment + she was upon them in all the joy of the surprise. Then March allowed + himself to be as glad as the others both seemed, and he shook hands with + Kenby while his wife kissed Rose; and they all talked at once. In the + confusion of tongues it was presently intelligible that Mrs. Kenby was + going to be down in a few minutes; and Kenby took March into his + confidence with a smile which was, almost a wink in explaining that he + knew how it was with the ladies. He said that Rose and he usually got down + to breakfast first, and when he had listened inattentively to Mrs. March's + apology for being on her way home, he told her that she was lucky not to + have gone to Schevleningen, where she and March would have frozen to + death. He said that they were going to spend September at a little place + on the English coast, near by, where he had been the day before with Rose + to look at lodgings, and where you could bathe all through the month. He + was not surprised that the Marches were going home, and said, Well, that + was their original plan, wasn't it? + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Kenby, appearing upon this, pretended to know better, after the + outburst of joyful greeting with the Marches; and intelligently reminded + Kenby that he knew the Marches had intended to pass the winter in Paris. + She was looking extremely pretty, but she wished only to make them see how + well Rose was looking, and she put her arm round his shoulders as she + spoke, Schevleningen had done wonders for him, but it was fearfully cold + there, and now they were expecting everything from Westgate, where she + advised March to come, too, for his after-cure: she recollected in time to + say, She forgot they were on their way home. She added that she did not + know when she should return; she was merely a passenger, now; she left + everything to the men of the family. She had, in fact, the air of having + thrown off every responsibility, but in supremacy, not submission. She was + always ordering Kenby about; she sent him for her handkerchief, and her + rings which she had left either in the tray of her trunk, or on the + pin-cushion, or on the wash-stand or somewhere, and forbade him to come + back without them. He asked for her keys, and then with a joyful scream + she owned that she had left the door-key in the door and the whole bunch + of trunk-keys in her trunk; and Kenby treated it all as the greatest joke; + Rose, too, seemed to think that Kenby would make everything come right, + and he had lost that look of anxiety which he used to have; at the most he + showed a friendly sympathy for Kenby, for whose sake he seemed mortified + at her. He was unable to regard his mother as the delightful joke which + she appeared to Kenby, but that was merely temperamental; and he was never + distressed except when she behaved with unreasonable caprice at Kenby's + cost. + </p> + <p> + As for Kenby himself he betrayed no dissatisfaction with his fate to + March. He perhaps no longer regarded his wife as that strong character + which he had sometimes wearied March by celebrating; but she was still the + most brilliant intelligence, and her charm seemed only to have grown with + his perception of its wilful limitations. He did not want to talk about + her so much; he wanted rather to talk about Rose, his health, his + education, his nature, and what was best to do for him. The two were on + terms of a confidence and affection which perpetually amused Mrs. Kenby, + but which left the sympathetic witness nothing to desire in their + relation. + </p> + <p> + They all came to the train when the Marches started up to London, and + stood waving to them as they pulled out of the station. “Well, I can't + see but that's all right,” he said as he sank back in his seat + with a sigh of relief. “I never supposed we should get out of their + marriage half so well, and I don't feel that you quite made the + match either, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + She was forced to agree with him that the Kenbys seemed happy together, + and that there was nothing to fear for Rose in their happiness. He would + be as tenderly cared for by Kenby as he could have been by his mother, and + far more judiciously. She owned that she had trembled for him till she had + seen them all together; and now she should never tremble again. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” March prompted, at a certain inconclusiveness in her + tone rather than her words. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you can see that it, isn't ideal.” + </p> + <p> + “Why isn't it ideal? I suppose you think that the marriage of + Burnamy and Agatha Triscoe will be ideal, with their ignorances and + inexperiences and illusions.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! It's the illusions: no marriage can be perfect without + them, and at their age the Kenbys can't have them.” + </p> + <p> + “Kenby is a solid mass of illusion. And I believe that people can go + and get as many new illusions as they want, whenever they've lost + their old ones.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but the new illusions won't wear so well; and in + marriage you want illusions that will last. No; you needn't talk to + me. It's all very well, but it isn't ideal.” + </p> + <p> + March laughed. “Ideal! What is ideal?” + </p> + <p> + “Going home!” she said with such passion that he had not the + heart to point out that they were merely returning to their old duties, + cares and pains, with the worn-out illusion that these would be altogether + different when they took them up again. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0157" id="link2H_4_0157"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5438}.jpg" alt="{5438}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5438}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXXIII. + </h2> + <p> + In fulfilment of another ideal Mrs. March took straightway to her berth + when she got on board the Cupania, and to her husband's admiration + she remained there till the day before they reached New York. Her theory + was that the complete rest would do more than anything else to calm her + shaken nerves; and she did not admit into her calculations the chances of + adverse weather which March would not suggest as probable in the last week + in September. The event justified her unconscious faith. The ship's + run was of unparalled swiftness, even for the Cupania, and of unparalled + smoothness. For days the sea was as sleek as oil; the racks were never on + the tables once; the voyage was of the sort which those who make it no + more believe in at the time than those whom they afterwards weary in + boasting of it. + </p> + <p> + The ship was very full, but Mrs. March did not show the slightest + curiosity to know who her fellow-passengers were. She said that she wished + to be let perfectly alone, even by her own emotions, and for this reason + she forbade March to bring her a list of the passengers till after they + had left Queenstown lest it should be too exciting. He did not take the + trouble to look it up, therefore; and the first night out he saw no one + whom he knew at dinner; but the next morning at breakfast he found himself + to his great satisfaction at the same table with the Eltwins. They were so + much at ease with him that even Mrs. Eltwin took part in the talk, and + told him how they had spent the time of her husband's rigorous + after-cure in Switzerland, and now he was going home much better than they + had expected. She said they had rather thought of spending the winter in + Europe, but had given it up because they were both a little homesick. + March confessed that this was exactly the case with his wife and himself; + and he had to add that Mrs. March was not very well otherwise, and he + should be glad to be at home on her account. The recurrence of the word + home seemed to deepen Eltwin's habitual gloom, and Mrs. Eltwin + hastened to leave the subject of their return for inquiry into Mrs. March's + condition; her interest did not so far overcome her shyness that she + ventured to propose a visit to her; and March found that the fact of the + Eltwins' presence on board did not agitate his wife. It seemed + rather to comfort her, and she said she hoped he would see all he could of + the poor old things. She asked if he had met any one else he knew, and he + was able to tell her that there seemed to be a good many swells on board, + and this cheered her very much, though he did not know them; she liked to + be near the rose, though it was not a flower that she really cared for. + </p> + <p> + She did not ask who the swells were, and March took no trouble to find + out. He took no trouble to get a passenger-list, and he had the more + trouble when he tried at last; the lists seemed to have all vanished, as + they have a habit of doing, after the first day; the one that he made + interest for with the head steward was a second-hand copy, and had no one + he knew in it but the Eltwins. The social solitude, however, was rather + favorable to certain other impressions. There seemed even more elderly + people than there were on the Norumbia; the human atmosphere was gray and + sober; there was nothing of the gay expansion of the outward voyage; there + was little talking or laughing among those autumnal men who were going + seriously and anxiously home, with faces fiercely set for the coming + grapple; or necks meekly bowed for the yoke. They had eaten their cake, + and it had been good, but there remained a discomfort in the digestion. + They sat about in silence, and March fancied that the flown summer was as + dreamlike to each of them as it now was to him. He hated to be of their + dreary company, but spiritually he knew that he was of it; and he vainly + turned to cheer himself with the younger passengers. Some matrons who went + about clad in furs amused him, for they must have been unpleasantly warm + in their jackets and boas; nothing but the hope of being able to tell the + customs inspector with a good conscience that the things had been worn, + would have sustained one lady draped from head to foot in Astrakhan. + </p> + <p> + They were all getting themselves ready for the fray or the play of the + coming winter; but there seemed nothing joyous in the preparation. There + were many young girls, as there always are everywhere, but there were not + many young men, and such as there were kept to the smoking-room. There was + no sign of flirtation among them; he would have given much for a moment of + the pivotal girl, to see whether she could have brightened those gloomy + surfaces with her impartial lamp. March wished that he could have brought + some report from the outer world to cheer his wife, as he descended to + their state-room. They had taken what they could get at the eleventh hour, + and they had got no such ideal room as they had in the Norumbia. It was, + as Mrs. March graphically said, a basement room. It was on the north side + of the ship, which is a cold exposure, and if there had been any sun it + could not have got into their window, which was half the time under water. + The green waves, laced with foam, hissed as they ran across the port; and + the electric fan in the corridor moaned like the wind in a gable. + </p> + <p> + He felt a sinking of the heart as he pushed the state-room door open, and + looked at his wife lying with her face turned to the wall; and he was + going to withdraw, thinking her asleep, when she said quietly, “Are + we going down?” + </p> + <p> + “Not that I know of,” he answered with a gayety he did not + feel. “But I'll ask the head steward.” + </p> + <p> + She put out her hand behind her for him to take, and clutched his fingers + convulsively. “If I'm never any better, you will always + remember this happy, summer, won't you? Oh, it's been such a + happy summer! It has been one long joy, one continued triumph! But it was + too late; we were too old; and it's broken me.” + </p> + <p> + The time had been when he would have attempted comfort; when he would have + tried mocking; but that time was long past; he could only pray inwardly + for some sort of diversion, but what it was to be in their barren + circumstance he was obliged to leave altogether to Providence. He + ventured, pending an answer to his prayers upon the question, “Don't + you think I'd better see the doctor, and get you some sort of tonic?” + </p> + <p> + She suddenly turned and faced him. “The doctor! Why, I'm not + sick, Basil! If you can see the purser and get our rooms changed, or do + something to stop those waves from slapping against that horrible blinking + one-eyed window, you can save my life; but no tonic is going to help me.” + </p> + <p> + She turned her face from him again, and buried it in the bedclothes, while + he looked desperately at the racing waves, and the port that seemed to + open and shut like a weary eye. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, go away!” she implored. “I shall be better + presently, but if you stand there like that—Go and see if you can't + get some other room, where I needn't feel as if I were drowning, all + the way over.” + </p> + <p> + He obeyed, so far as to go away at once, and having once started, he did + not stop short of the purser's office. He made an excuse of getting + greenbacks for some English bank-notes, and then he said casually that he + supposed there would be no chance of having his room on the lower deck + changed for something a little less intimate with the sea. The purser was + not there to take the humorous view, but he conceived that March wanted + something higher up, and he was able to offer him a room of those on the + promenade where he had seen swells going in and out, for six hundred + dollars. March did not blench, but said he would get his wife to look at + it with him, and then he went out somewhat dizzily to take counsel with + himself how he should put the matter to her. She would be sure to ask what + the price of the new room would be, and he debated whether to take it and + tell her some kindly lie about it, or trust to the bracing effect of the + sum named in helping restore the lost balance of her nerves. He was not so + rich that he could throw six hundred dollars away, but there might be + worse things; and he walked up and down thinking. All at once it flashed + upon him that he had better see the doctor, anyway, and find out whether + there were not some last hope in medicine before he took the desperate + step before him. He turned in half his course, and ran into a lady who had + just emerged from the door of the promenade laden with wraps, and who + dropped them all and clutched him to save herself from falling. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mr. March!” she shrieked. + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5445}.jpg" alt="{5445}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5445}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + “Miss Triscoe!” he returned, in the astonishment which he + shared with her to the extent of letting the shawls he had knocked from + her hold lie between them till she began to pick them up herself. Then he + joined her and in the relief of their common occupation they contrived to + possess each other of the reason of their presence on, the same boat. She + had sorrowed over Mrs. March's sad state, and he had grieved to hear + that her father was going home because he was not at all well, before they + found the general stretched out in his steamer-chair, and waiting with a + grim impatience for his daughter. + </p> + <p> + “But how is it you're not in the passenger-list?” he + inquired of them both, and Miss Triscoe explained that they had taken + their passage at the last moment, too late, she supposed, to get into the + list. They were in London, and had run down to Liverpool on the chance of + getting berths. Beyond this she was not definite, and there was an absence + of Burnamy not only from her company but from her conversation which + mystified March through all his selfish preoccupations with his wife. She + was a girl who had her reserves, but for a girl who had so lately and + rapturously written them of her engagement, there was a silence concerning + her betrothed that had almost positive quality. With his longing to try + Miss Triscoe upon Mrs. March's malady as a remedial agent, he had + now the desire to try Mrs. March upon Miss Triscoe's mystery as a + solvent. She stood talking to him, and refusing to sit down and be wrapped + up in the chair next her father. She said that if he were going to ask + Mrs. March to let her come to her, it would not be worth while to sit + down; and he hurried below. + </p> + <p> + “Did you get it?” asked his wife, without looking round, but + not so apathetically as before. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. That's all right. But now, Isabel, there's + something I've got to tell you. You'd find it out, and you'd + better know it at once.” + </p> + <p> + She turned her face, and asked sternly, “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + Then he said, with, an almost equal severity, “Miss Triscoe is on + board. Miss Triscoe-and-her-father. She wishes to come down and see you.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March sat up and began to twist her hair into shape. “And + Burnamy?” + </p> + <p> + “There is no Burnamy physically, or so far as I can make out, + spiritually. She didn't mention him, and I talked at least five + minutes with her.” + </p> + <p> + “Hand me my dressing-sack,” said Mrs. March, “and poke + those things on the sofa under the berth. Shut up that wash-stand, and + pull the curtain across that hideous window. Stop! Throw those towels into + your berth. Put my shoes, and your slippers into the shoe-bag on the door. + Slip the brushes into that other bag. Beat the dent out of the sofa + cushion that your head has made. Now!” + </p> + <p> + “Then—then you will see her?” + </p> + <p> + “See her!” + </p> + <p> + Her voice was so terrible that he fled before it, and he returned with + Miss Triscoe in a dreamlike simultaneity. He remembered, as he led the way + into his corridor, to apologize for bringing her down into a basement + room. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we're in the basement, too; it was all we could get,” + she said in words that ended within the state-room he opened to her. Then + he went back and took her chair and wraps beside her father. + </p> + <p> + He let the general himself lead the way up to his health, which he was not + slow in reaching, and was not quick in leaving. He reminded March of the + state he had seen him in at Wurzburg, and he said it had gone from bad to + worse with him. At Weimar he had taken to his bed and merely escaped from + it with his life. Then they had tried Schevleningen for a week, where, he + said in a tone of some injury, they had rather thought they might find + them, the Marches. The air had been poison to him, and they had come over + to England with some notion of Bournemouth; but the doctor in London had + thought not, and urged their going home. “All Europe is damp, you + know, and dark as a pocket in winter,” he ended. + </p> + <p> + There had been nothing about Burnamy, and March decided that he must wait + to see his wife if he wished to know anything, when the general, who had + been silent, twisted his head towards him, and said without regard to the + context, “It was complicated, at Weimar, by that young man in the + most devilish way. Did my daughter write to Mrs. March about—Well it + came to nothing, after all; and I don't understand how, to this day. + I doubt if they do. It was some sort of quarrel, I suppose. I wasn't + consulted in the matter either way. It appears that parents are not + consulted in these trifling affairs, nowadays.” He had married his + daughter's mother in open defiance of her father; but in the glare + of his daughter's wilfulness this fact had whitened into pious + obedience. “I dare say I shall be told, by-and-by, and shall be + expected to approve of the result.” + </p> + <p> + A fancy possessed March that by operation of temperamental laws General + Triscoe was no more satisfied with Burnamy's final rejection than + with his acceptance. If the engagement was ever to be renewed, it might be + another thing; but as it stood, March divined a certain favor for the + young man in the general's attitude. But the affair was altogether + too delicate for comment; the general's aristocratic frankness in + dealing with it might have gone farther if his knowledge had been greater; + but in any case March did not see how he could touch it. He could only + say, He had always liked Burnamy, himself. + </p> + <p> + He had his good qualities, the general owned. He did not profess to + understand the young men of our time; but certainly the fellow had the + instincts of a gentleman. He had nothing to say against him, unless in + that business with that man—what was his name? + </p> + <p> + “Stoller?” March prompted. “I don't excuse him in + that, but I don't blame him so much, either. If punishment means + atonement, he had the opportunity of making that right very suddenly, and + if pardon means expunction, then I don't see why that offence hasn't + been pretty well wiped out. + </p> + <p> + “Those things are not so simple as they used to seem,” said + the general, with a seriousness beyond his wont in things that did not + immediately concern his own comfort or advantage. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0158" id="link2H_4_0158"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5452}.jpg" alt="{5452}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5452}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXXVI. + </h2> + <p> + In the mean time Mrs. March and Miss Triscoe were discussing another + offence of Burnamy's. + </p> + <p> + “It wasn't,” said the girl, excitedly, after a plunge + through all the minor facts to the heart of the matter, “that he + hadn't a perfect right to do it, if he thought I didn't care + for him. I had refused him at Carlsbad, and I had forbidden him to speak + to me about—on the subject. But that was merely temporary, and he + ought to have known it. He ought to have known that I couldn't + accept him, on the spur of the moment, that way; and when he had come + back, after going away in disgrace, before he had done anything to justify + himself. I couldn't have kept my self-respect; and as it was I had + the greatest difficulty; and he ought to have seen it. Of course he said + afterwards that he didn't see it. But when—when I found out + that SHE had been in Weimar, and all that time, while I had been suffering + in Carlsbad and Wurzburg, and longing to see him—let him know how I + was really feeling—he was flirting with that—that girl, then I + saw that he was a false nature, and I determined to put an end to + everything. And that is what I did; and I shall always think I—did + right—and—” + </p> + <p> + The rest was lost in Agatha's handkerchief, which she put up to her + eyes. Mrs. March watched her from her pillow keeping the girl's + unoccupied hand in her own, and softly pressing it till the storm was past + sufficiently to allow her to be heard. + </p> + <p> + Then she said, “Men are very strange—the best of them. And + from the very fact that he was disappointed, he would be all the more apt + to rush into a flirtation with somebody else.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Triscoe took down her handkerchief from a face that had certainly not + been beautified by grief. “I didn't blame him for the + flirting; or not so much. It was his keeping it from me afterwards. He + ought to have told me the very first instant we were engaged. But he didn't. + He let it go on, and if I hadn't happened on that bouquet I might + never have known anything about it. That is what I mean by—a false + nature. I wouldn't have minded his deceiving me; but to let me + deceive myself—Oh, it was too much!” + </p> + <p> + Agatha hid her face in her handkerchief again. She was perching on the + edge of the berth, and Mrs. March said, with a glance, which she did not + see, toward the sofa, “I'm afraid that's rather a hard + seat for you. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, thank you! I'm perfectly comfortable—I like it—if + you don't mind?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March pressed her hand for answer, and after another little delay, + sighed and said, “They are not like us, and we cannot help it. They + are more temporizing.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you mean?” Agatha unmasked again. + </p> + <p> + “They can bear to keep things better than we can, and they trust to + time to bring them right, or to come right of themselves.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think Mr. March would trust things to come right of + themselves!” said Agatha in indignant accusal of Mrs. March's + sincerity. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's just what he would do, my dear, and has done, all + along; and I don't believe we could have lived through without it: + we should have quarrelled ourselves into the grave!” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. March!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed. I don't mean that he would ever deceive me. But + he would let things go on, and hope that somehow they would come right + without any fuss.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean that he would let anybody deceive themselves?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid he would—if he thought it would come right. + It used to be a terrible trial to me; and it is yet, at times when I don't + remember that he means nothing but good and kindness by it. Only the other + day in Ansbach—how long ago it seems!—he let a poor old woman + give him her son's address in Jersey City, and allowed her to + believe he would look him up when we got back and tell him we had seen + her. I don't believe, unless I keep right round after him, as we say + in New England, that he'll ever go near the man.” + </p> + <p> + Agatha looked daunted, but she said, “That is a very different + thing.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't a different kind of thing. And it shows what men + are,—the sweetest and best of them, that is. They are terribly apt + to be—easy-going.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you think I was all wrong?” the girl asked in a tremor. + </p> + <p> + “No, indeed! You were right, because you really expected perfection + of him. You expected the ideal. And that's what makes all the + trouble, in married life: we expect too much of each other—we each + expect more of the other than we are willing to give or can give. If I had + to begin over again, I should not expect anything at all, and then I + should be sure of being radiantly happy. But all this talking and all this + writing about love seems to turn our brains; we know that men are not + perfect, even at our craziest, because women are not, but we expect + perfection of them; and they seem to expect it of us, poor things! If we + could keep on after we are in love just as we were before we were in love, + and take nice things as favors and surprises, as we did in the beginning! + But we get more and more greedy and exacting—” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think I was too exacting in wanting him to tell me + everything after we were engaged?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't say that. But suppose he had put it off till you + were married?” Agatha blushed a little, but not painfully, “Would + it have been so bad? Then you might have thought that his flirting up to + the last moment in his desperation was a very good joke. You would have + understood better just how it was, and it might even have made you fonder + of him. You might have seen that he had flirted with some one else because + he was so heart-broken about you.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you believe that if I could have waited till—till—but + when I had found out, don't you see I couldn't wait? It would + have been all very well if I hadn't known it till then. But as I did + know it. Don't you see?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that certainly complicated it,” Mrs. March admitted. + “But I don't think, if he'd been a false nature, he'd + have owned up as he did. You see, he didn't try to deny it; and that's + a great point gained.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that is true,” said Agatha, with conviction. “I + saw that afterwards. But you don't think, Mrs. March, that I was + unjust or—or hasty?” + </p> + <p> + “No, indeed! You couldn't have done differently under the + circumstances. You may be sure he felt that—he is so unselfish and + generous—” Agatha began to weep into her handkerchief again; + Mrs. March caressed her hand. “And it will certainly come right if + you feel as you do.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” the girl protested. “He can never forgive me; it's + all over, everything is over. It would make very little difference to me, + what happened now—if the steamer broke her shaft, or anything. But + if I can only believe I wasn't unjust—” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. March assured her once more that she had behaved with absolute + impartiality; and she proved to her by a process of reasoning quite + irrefragable that it was only a question of time, with which place had + nothing to do, when she and Burnamy should come together again, and all + should be made right between them. The fact that she did not know where he + was, any more than Mrs. March herself, had nothing to do with the result; + that was a mere detail, which would settle itself. She clinched her + argument by confessing that her own engagement had been broken off, and + that it had simply renewed itself. All you had to do was to keep willing + it, and waiting. There was something very mysterious in it. + </p> + <p> + “And how long was it till—” Agatha faltered. + </p> + <p> + “Well, in our ease it was two years.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said the girl, but Mrs. March hastened to reassure her. + </p> + <p> + “But our case was very peculiar. I could see afterwards that it + needn't have been two months, if I had been willing to acknowledge + at once that I was in the wrong. I waited till we met.” + </p> + <p> + “If I felt that I was in the wrong, I should write,” said + Agatha. “I shouldn't care what he thought of my doing it.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, the great thing is to make sure that you were wrong.” + </p> + <p> + They remained talking so long, that March and the general had exhausted + all the topics of common interest, and had even gone through those they + did not care for. At last the general said, “I'm afraid my + daughter will tire Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't think she'll tire my wife. But do you want + her?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, when you're going down.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I'll take a turn about the deck, and start my + circulation,” said March, and he did so before he went below. + </p> + <p> + He found his wife up and dressed, and waiting provisionally on the sofa. + “I thought I might as well go to lunch,” she said, and then + she told him about Agatha and Burnamy, and the means she had employed to + comfort and encourage the girl. “And now, dearest, I want you to + find out where Burnamy is, and give him a hint. You will, won't you! + If you could have seen how unhappy she was!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think I should have cared, and I'm certainly + not going to meddle. I think Burnamy has got no more than he deserved, and + that he's well rid of her. I can't imagine a broken engagement + that would more completely meet my approval. As the case stands, they have + my blessing.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't say that, dearest! You know you don't mean it.” + </p> + <p> + “I do; and I advise you to keep your hands off. You've done + all and more than you ought to propitiate Miss Triscoe. You've + offered yourself up, and you've offered me up—” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, Basil! I merely used you as an illustration of what men + were—the best of them.” + </p> + <p> + “And I can't observe,” he continued, “that any one + else has been considered in the matter. Is Miss Triscoe the sole sufferer + by Burnamy's flirtation? What is the matter with a little compassion + for the pivotal girl?” + </p> + <p> + “Now, you know you're not serious,” said his wife; and + though he would not admit this, he could not be seriously sorry for the + new interest which she took in the affair. There was no longer any + question of changing their state-room. Under the tonic influence of the + excitement she did not go back to her berth after lunch, and she was up + later after dinner than he could have advised. She was absorbed in Agatha, + but in her liberation from her hypochondria, she began also to make a + comparative study of the American swells, in the light of her late + experience with the German highhotes. It is true that none of the swells + gave her the opportunity of examining them at close range, as the + highhotes had done. They kept to their state-rooms mostly, where, after he + thought she could bear it, March told her how near he had come to making + her their equal by an outlay of six hundred dollars. She now shuddered at + the thought; but she contended that in their magnificent exclusiveness + they could give points to European princes; and that this showed again how + when Americans did try to do a thing, they beat the world. Agatha Triscoe + knew who they were, but she did not know them; they belonged to another + kind of set; she spoke of them as “rich people,” and she + seemed content to keep away from them with Mrs. March and with the shy, + silent old wife of Major Eltwin, to whom March sometimes found her + talking. + </p> + <p> + He never found her father talking with Major Eltwin. General Triscoe had + his own friends in the smoking-room, where he held forth in a certain + corner on the chances of the approaching election in New York, and mocked + their incredulity when he prophesied the success of Tammany and the return + of the King. March himself much preferred Major Eltwin to the general and + his friends; he lived back in the talk of the Ohioan into his own younger + years in Indiana, and he was amused and touched to find how much the + mid-Western life seemed still the same as he had known. The conditions had + changed, but not so much as they had changed in the East and the farther + West. The picture that the major drew of them in his own region was + alluring; it made March homesick; though he knew that he should never go + back to his native section. There was the comfort of kind in the major; + and he had a vein of philosophy, spare but sweet, which March liked; he + liked also the meekness which had come through sorrow upon a spirit which + had once been proud. + </p> + <p> + They had both the elderly man's habit of early rising, and they + usually found themselves together waiting impatiently for the cup of + coffee, ingenuously bad, which they served on the Cupania not earlier than + half past six, in strict observance of a rule of the line discouraging to + people of their habits. March admired the vileness of the decoction, which + he said could not be got anywhere out of the British Empire, and he asked + Eltwin the first morning if he had noticed how instantly on the Channel + boat they had dropped to it and to the sour, heavy, sodden British bread, + from the spirited and airy Continental tradition of coffee and rolls. + </p> + <p> + The major confessed that he was no great hand to notice such things, and + he said he supposed that if the line had never lost a passenger, and got + you to New York in six days it had a right to feed you as it pleased; he + surmised that if they could get their airing outside before they took + their coffee, it would give the coffee a chance to taste better; and this + was what they afterwards did. They met, well buttoned and well mined up, + on the promenade when it was yet so early that they were not at once sure + of each other in the twilight, and watched the morning planets pale east + and west before the sun rose. Sometimes there were no paling planets and + no rising sun, and a black sea, ridged with white, tossed under a low dark + sky with dim rifts. + </p> + <p> + One morning, they saw the sun rise with a serenity and majesty which it + rarely has outside of the theatre. The dawn began over that sea which was + like the rumpled canvas imitations of the sea on the stage, under long + mauve clouds bathed in solemn light. Above these, in the pale tender sky, + two silver stars hung, and the steamer's smoke drifted across them + like a thin dusky veil. To the right a bank of dun cloud began to burn + crimson, and to burn brighter till it was like a low hill-side full of + gorgeous rugosities fleeced with a dense dwarfish growth of autumnal + shrubs. The whole eastern heaven softened and flushed through diaphanous + mists; the west remained a livid mystery. The eastern masses and flakes of + cloud began to kindle keenly; but the stars shone clearly, and then one + star, till the tawny pink hid it. All the zenith reddened, but still the + sun did not show except in the color of the brilliant clouds. At last the + lurid horizon began to burn like a flame-shot smoke, and a fiercely bright + disc edge pierced its level, and swiftly defined itself as the sun's + orb. + </p> + <p> + Many thoughts went through March's mind; some of them were sad, but + in some there was a touch of hopefulness. It might have been that beauty + which consoled him for his years; somehow he felt himself, if no longer + young, a part of the young immortal frame of things. His state was + indefinable, but he longed to hint at it to his companion. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Eltwin, with a long deep sigh. “I feel as if + I could walk out through that brightness and find her. I reckon that such + hopes wouldn't be allowed to lie to us; that so many ages of men + couldn't have fooled themselves so. I'm glad I've seen + this.” He was silent and they both remained watching the rising sun + till they could not bear its splendor. “Now,” said the major, + “it must be time for that mud, as you call it.” Over their + coffee and crackers at the end of the table which they had to themselves, + he resumed. “I was thinking all the time—we seem to think half + a dozen things at once, and this was one of them—about a piece of + business I've got to settle when I reach home; and perhaps you can + advise me about it; you're an editor. I've got a newspaper on + my hands; I reckon it would be a pretty good thing, if it had a chance; + but I don't know what to do with it: I got it in trade with a fellow + who has to go West for his lungs, but he's staying till I get back. + What's become of that young chap—what's his name?—that + went out with us?” + </p> + <p> + “Burnamy?” prompted March, rather breathlessly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Couldn't he take hold of it? I rather liked him. He's + smart, isn't he?” + </p> + <p> + “Very,” said March. “But I don't know where he is. + I don't know that he would go into the country—. But he might, + if—” + </p> + <p> + They entered provisionally into the case, and for argument's sake + supposed that Burnamy would take hold of the major's paper if he + could be got at. It really looked to March like a good chance for him, on + Eltwin's showing; but he was not confident of Burnamy's + turning up very soon, and he gave the major a pretty clear notion why, by + entering into the young fellow's history for the last three months. + </p> + <p> + “Isn't it the very irony of fate?” he said to his wife + when he found her in their room with a cup of the same mud he had been + drinking, and reported the facts to her. + </p> + <p> + “Irony?” she said, with all the excitement he could have + imagined or desired. “Nothing of the kind. It's a leading, if + ever there was one. It will be the easiest thing in the world to find + Burnamy. And out there she can sit on her steps!” + </p> + <p> + He slowly groped his way to her meaning, through the hypothesis of Burnamy's + reconciliation and marriage with Agatha Triscoe, and their settlement in + Major Eltwin's town under social conditions that implied a habit of + spending the summer evenings on their front porch. While he was doing this + she showered him with questions and conjectures and requisitions in which + nothing but the impossibility of going ashore saved him from the instant + devotion of all his energies to a world-wide, inquiry into Burnamy's + whereabouts. + </p> + <p> + The next morning he was up before Major Eltwin got out, and found the + second-cabin passengers free of the first-cabin promenade at an hour when + their superiors were not using it. As he watched these inferiors, + decent-looking, well-clad men and women, enjoying their privilege with a + furtive air, and with stolen glances at him, he asked himself in what sort + he was their superior, till the inquiry grew painful. Then he rose from + his chair, and made his way to the place where the material barrier + between them was lifted, and interested himself in a few of them who + seemed too proud to avail themselves of his society on the terms made. A + figure seized his attention with a sudden fascination of conjecture and + rejection: the figure of a tall young man who came out on the promenade + and without looking round, walked swiftly away to the bow of the ship, and + stood there, looking down at the water in an attitude which was + bewilderingly familiar. His movement, his posture, his dress, even, was + that of Burnamy, and March, after a first flush of pleasure, felt a + sickening repulsion in the notion of his presence. It would have been such + a cheap performance on the part of life, which has all sorts of chances at + command, and need not descend to the poor tricks of second-rate fiction; + and he accused Burnamy of a complicity in the bad taste of the affair, + though he realized, when he reflected, that if it were really Burnamy he + must have sailed in as much unconsciousness of the Triscoes as he himself + had done. He had probably got out of money and had hurried home while he + had still enough to pay the second-cabin fare on the first boat back. + Clearly he was not to blame, but life was to blame for such a shabby + device; and March felt this so keenly that he wished to turn from the + situation, and have nothing to do with it. He kept moving toward him, + drawn by the fatal attraction, and at a few paces' distance the + young man whirled about and showed him the face of a stranger. + </p> + <p> + March made some witless remark on the rapid course of the ship as it cut + its way through the water of the bow; the stranger answered with a strong + Lancashire accent; and in the talk which followed, he said he was going + out to see the cotton-mills at Fall River and New Bedford, and he seemed + hopeful of some advice or information from March; then he said he must go + and try to get his Missus out; March understood him to mean his wife, and + he hurried down to his own, to whom he related his hair-breadth escape + from Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + “I don't call it an escape at all!” she declared. + “I call it the greatest possible misfortune. If it had been Burnamy + we could have brought them together at once, just when she has seen so + clearly that she was in the wrong, and is feeling all broken up. There + wouldn't have been any difficulty about his being in the + second-cabin. We could have contrived to have them meet somehow. If the + worst came to the worst you could have lent him money to pay the + difference, and got him into the first-cabin.” + </p> + <p> + “I could have taken that six-hundred-dollar room for him,” + said March, “and then he could have eaten with the swells.” + </p> + <p> + She answered that now he was teasing; that he was fundamentally incapable + of taking anything seriously; and in the end he retired before the + stewardess bringing her first coffee, with a well-merited feeling that if + it had not been for his triviality the young Lancashireman would really + have been Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0159" id="link2H_4_0159"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5469}.jpg" alt="{5469}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5469}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <h2> + LXXV. + </h2> + <p> + Except for the first day and night out from Queenstown, when the ship + rolled and pitched with straining and squeaking noises, and a thumping of + the lifted screws, there was no rough weather, and at last the ocean was + livid and oily, with a long swell, on which she swayed with no perceptible + motion save from her machinery. + </p> + <p> + Most of the seamanship seemed to be done after dark, or in those early + hours when March found the stewards cleaning the stairs, and the sailors + scouring the promenades. He made little acquaintance with his + fellow-passengers. One morning he almost spoke with an old Quaker lady + whom he joined in looking at the Niagara flood which poured from the + churning screws; but he did not quite get the words out. On the contrary + he talked freely with an American who, bred horses on a farm near + Boulogne, and was going home to the Horse Show; he had been thirty-five + years out of the country, but he had preserved his Yankee accent in all + its purity, and was the most typical-looking American on board. Now and + then March walked up and down with a blond Mexican whom he found of the + usual well-ordered Latin intelligence, but rather flavorless; at times he + sat beside a nice Jew, who talked agreeably, but only about business; and + he philosophized the race as so tiresome often because it seemed so often + without philosophy. He made desperate attempts at times to interest + himself in the pool-selling in the smoking-room where the betting on the + ship's wonderful run was continual. + </p> + <p> + He thought that people talked less and less as they drew nearer home; but + on the last day out there was a sudden expansion, and some whom he had not + spoken with voluntarily addressed him. The sweet, soft air was like + midsummer the water rippled gently, without a swell, blue under the clear + sky, and the ship left a wide track that was silver in the sun. There were + more sail; the first and second class baggage was got up and piled along + the steerage deck. + </p> + <p> + Some people dressed a little more than usual for the last dinner which was + earlier than usual, so as to be out of the way against the arrival which + had been variously predicted at from five to seven-thirty. An + indescribable nervousness culminated with the appearance of the customs + officers on board, who spread their papers on cleared spaces of the + dining-tables, and summoned the passengers to declare that they had + nothing to declare, as a preliminary to being searched like thieves at the + dock. + </p> + <p> + This ceremony proceeded while the Cupania made her way up the Narrows, and + into the North River, where the flare of lights from the crazy steeps and + cliffs of architecture on the New York shore seemed a persistence of the + last Fourth of July pyrotechnics. March blushed for the grotesque splendor + of the spectacle, and was confounded to find some Englishmen admiring it, + till he remembered that aesthetics were not the strong point of our race. + His wife sat hand in hand with Miss Triscoe, and from time to time made + him count the pieces of small baggage in the keeping of their steward; + while General Triscoe held aloof in a sarcastic calm. + </p> + <p> + The steamer groped into her dock; the gangways were lifted to her side; + the passengers fumbled and stumbled down their incline, and at the bottom + the Marches found themselves respectively in the arms of their son and + daughter. They all began talking at once, and ignoring and trying to + remember the Triscoes to whom the young Marches were presented. Bella did + her best to be polite to Agatha, and Tom offered to get an inspector for + the general at the same time as for his father. Then March, remorsefully + remembered the Eltwins, and looked about for them, so that his son might + get them an inspector too. He found the major already in the hands of an + inspector, who was passing all his pieces after carelessly looking into + one: the official who received the declarations on board had noted a Grand + Army button like his own in the major's lapel, and had marked his + fellow-veteran's paper with the mystic sign which procures for the + bearer the honor of being promptly treated as a smuggler, while the less + favored have to wait longer for this indignity at the hands of their + government. When March's own inspector came he was as civil and + lenient as our hateful law allows; when he had finished March tried to put + a bank-note in his hand, and was brought to a just shame by his refusal of + it. The bed-room steward keeping guard over the baggage helped put-it + together after the search, and protested that March had feed him so + handsomely that he would stay there with it as long as they wished. This + partly restored March's self-respect, and he could share in General + Triscoe's indignation with the Treasury ruling which obliged him to + pay duty on his own purchases in excess of the hundred-dollar limit, + though his daughter had brought nothing, and they jointly came far within + the limit for two. + </p> + <p> + He found that the Triscoes were going to a quiet old hotel on the way to + Stuyvesant Square, quite in his own neighborhood, and he quickly arranged + for all the ladies and the general to drive together while he was to + follow with his son on foot and by car. They got away from the scene of + the customs' havoc while the steamer shed, with its vast darkness + dimly lit by its many lamps, still showed like a battle-field where the + inspectors groped among the scattered baggage like details from the + victorious army searching for the wounded. His son clapped him on the + shoulder when he suggested this notion, and said he was the same old + father; and they got home as gayly together as the dispiriting influences + of the New York ugliness would permit. It was still in those good and + decent times, now so remote, when the city got something for the money + paid out to keep its streets clean, and those they passed through were not + foul but merely mean. + </p> + <p> + The ignoble effect culminated when they came into Broadway, and found its + sidewalks, at an hour when those of any European metropolis would have + been brilliant with life, as unpeopled as those of a minor country town, + while long processions of cable-cars carted heaps of men and women up and + down the thoroughfare amidst the deformities of the architecture. + </p> + <p> + The next morning the March family breakfasted late after an evening + prolonged beyond midnight in spite of half-hourly agreements that now they + must really all go to bed. The children had both to recognize again and + again how well their parents were looking; Tom had to tell his father + about the condition of 'Every Other Week'; Bella had to + explain to her mother how sorry her husband was that he could not come on + to meet them with her, but was coming a week later to take her home, and + then she would know the reason why they could not all, go back to Chicago + with him: it was just the place for her father to live, for everybody to + live. At breakfast she renewed the reasoning with which she had maintained + her position the night before; the travellers entered into a full + expression of their joy at being home again; March asked what had become + of that stray parrot which they had left in the tree-top the morning they + started; and Mrs. March declared that this was the last Silver Wedding + Journey she ever wished to take, and tried to convince them all that she + had been on the verge of nervous collapse when she reached the ship. They + sat at table till she discovered that it was very nearly eleven o'clock, + and said it was disgraceful. + </p> + <p> + Before they rose, there was a ring at the door, and a card was brought in + to Tom. He glanced at it, and said to his father, “Oh, yes! This man + has been haunting the office for the last three days. He's got to + leave to-day, and as it seemed to be rather a case of life and death with + him, I said he'd probably find you here this morning. But if you don't + want to see him, I can put him off till afternoon, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + He tossed the card to his father, who looked at it quietly, and then gave + it to his wife. “Perhaps I'd as well see him?” + </p> + <p> + “See him!” she returned in accents in which all the intensity + of her soul was centred. By an effort of self-control which no words can + convey a just sense of she remained with her children, while her husband + with a laugh more teasing than can be imagined went into the drawing-room + to meet Burnamy. + </p> + <p> + The poor fellow was in an effect of belated summer as to clothes, and he + looked not merely haggard but shabby. He made an effort for dignity as + well as gayety, however, in stating himself to March, with many apologies + for his persistency. But, he said, he was on his way West, and he was + anxious to know whether there was any chance of his 'Kasper Hauler' + paper being taken if he finished it up. March would have been a far + harder-hearted editor than he was, if he could have discouraged the + suppliant before him. He said he would take the Kasper Hauler paper and + add a band of music to the usual rate of ten dollars a thousand words. + Then Burnamy's dignity gave way, if not his gayety; he began to + laugh, and suddenly he broke down and confessed that he had come home in + the steerage; and was at his last cent, beyond his fare to Chicago. His + straw hat looked like a withered leaf in the light of his sad facts; his + thin overcoat affected March's imagination as something like the + diaphanous cast shell of a locust, hopelessly resumed for comfort at the + approach of autumn. He made Burnamy sit down, after he had once risen, and + he told him of Major Eltwin's wish to see him; and he promised to go + round with him to the major's hotel before the Eltwins left town + that afternoon. + </p> + <p> + While he prolonged the interview in this way, Mrs. March was kept from + breaking in upon them only by the psychical experiment which she was + making with the help and sympathy of her daughter at the window of the + dining-room which looked up Sixteenth Street. At the first hint she gave + of the emotional situation which Burnamy was a main part of, her son; with + the brutal contempt of young men for other young men's love affairs, + said he must go to the office; he bade his mother tell his father there + was no need of his coming down that day, and he left the two women + together. This gave the mother a chance to develop the whole fact to the + daughter with telegrammic rapidity and brevity, and then to enrich the + first-outline with innumerable details, while they both remained at the + window, and Mrs. March said at two-minutely intervals, with no sense of + iteration for either of them, “I told her to come in the morning, if + she felt like it, and I know she will. But if she doesn't, I shall + say there is nothing in fate, or Providence either. At any rate I'm + going to stay here and keep longing for her, and we'll see whether + there's anything in that silly theory of your father's. I don't + believe there is,” she said, to be on the safe side. + </p> + <p> + Even when she saw Agatha Triscoe enter the park gate on Rutherford Place, + she saved herself from disappointment by declaring that she was not coming + across to their house. As the girl persisted in coming and coming, and at + last came so near that she caught sight of Mrs. March at the window and + nodded, the mother turned ungratefully upon her daughter, and drove her + away to her own room, so that no society detail should hinder the divine + chance. She went to the door herself when Agatha rang, and then she was + going to open the way into the parlor where March was still closeted with + Burnamy, and pretend that she had not known they were there. But a soberer + second thought than this prevailed, and she told the girl who it was that + was within and explained the accident of his presence. “I think,” + she said nobly, “that you ought to have the chance of going away if + you don't wish to meet him.” + </p> + <p> + The girl, with that heroic precipitation which Mrs. March had noted in her + from the first with regard to what she wanted to do, when Burnamy was in + question, answered, “But I do wish to meet him, Mrs. March.” + </p> + <p> + While they stood looking at each other, March came out to ask his wife if + she would see Burnamy, and she permitted herself so much stratagem as to + substitute Agatha, after catching her husband aside and subduing his + proposed greeting of the girl to a hasty handshake. + </p> + <p> + Half an hour later she thought it time to join the young people, urged + largely by the frantic interest of her daughter. But she returned from the + half-open door without entering. “I couldn't bring myself to + break in on the poor things. They are standing at the window together + looking over at St. George's.” + </p> +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/{5475}.jpg" alt="{5475}" width="100%" /><br /> </div> <h5> <a href="images/{5475}.jpg"> <img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> </h5> + + <p> + Bella silently clasped her hands. March gave cynical laugh, and said, + “Well we are in for it, my dear.” Then he added, “I hope + they'll take us with them on their Silver Wedding Journey.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Declare that they had nothing to declare + Despair which any perfection inspires + Disingenuous, hypocritical passion of love + Fundamentally incapable of taking anything seriously + Held aloof in a sarcastic calm + Illusions: no marriage can be perfect without them + Married life: we expect too much of each other + Not do to be perfectly frank with one's own country + Offence which any difference of taste was apt to give him + Passionate desire for excess in a bad thing + Puddles of the paths were drying up with the haste + Race seemed so often without philosophy + Self-sacrifice which could be had, as it were, at a bargain + She always came to his defence when he accused himself +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + PG EDITORS BOOKMARKS FOR THE COMPLETE TRILOGY: + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Affected absence of mind + Affectional habit + All the loveliness that exists outside of you, dearest is little + All luckiest or the unluckiest, the healthiest or the sickest + Americans are hungrier for royalty than anybody else + Amusing world, if you do not refuse to be amused + Anticipative homesickness + Anticipative reprisal + Any sort of stuff was good enough to make a preacher out of + Appearance made him doubt their ability to pay so much + Artists never do anything like other people + As much of his story as he meant to tell without prompting + At heart every man is a smuggler + Bad wars, or what are comically called good wars + Ballast of her instinctive despondency + Be good, sweet man, and let who will be clever + Beautiful with the radiance of loving and being loved + Bewildering labyrinth of error + Biggest place is always the kindest as well as the cruelest + Brag of his wife, as a good husband always does + Brown-stone fronts + But when we make that money here, no one loses it + Buttoned about him as if it concealed a bad conscience + Calm of those who have logic on their side + Civilly protested and consented + Clinging persistence of such natures + Coldly and inaccessibly vigilant + Collective silence which passes for sociality + Comfort of the critical attitude + Conscience weakens to the need that isn't + Considerable comfort in holding him accountable + Courage hadn't been put to the test + Courtship + Deadly summer day + Death is peace and pardon + Death is an exile that no remorse and no love can reach + Decided not to let the facts betray themselves by chance + Declare that they had nothing to declare + Despair which any perfection inspires + Did not idealize him, but in the highest effect she realized him + Dinner unites the idea of pleasure and duty + Disingenuous, hypocritical passion of love + Dividend: It's a chicken before it's hatched + Does any one deserve happiness + Does anything from without change us? + Dog that had plainly made up his mind to go mad + Effort to get on common ground with an inferior + Europe, where society has them, as it were, in a translation + Evil which will not let a man forgive his victim + Explained perhaps too fully + Extract what consolation lurks in the irreparable + Family buryin' grounds + Favorite stock of his go up and go down under the betting + Feeblest-minded are sure to lead the talk + Feeling rather ashamed,—for he had laughed too + Feeling of contempt for his unambitious destination + Flavors not very sharply distinguished from one another + Fundamentally incapable of taking anything seriously + Futility of travel + Gayety, which lasted beyond any apparent reason for it + Glad; which considering, they ceased to be + Got their laugh out of too many things in life + Guilty rapture of a deliberate dereliction + Had learned not to censure the irretrievable + Had no opinions that he was not ready to hold in abeyance + Handsome pittance + Happiness is so unreasonable + Happiness built upon and hedged about with misery + He expected to do the wrong thing when left to his own devices + He buys my poverty and not my will + Headache darkens the universe while it lasts + Heart that forgives but does not forget + Held aloof in a sarcastic calm + Helplessness begets a sense of irresponsibility + Helplessness accounts for many heroic facts in the world + Hemmed round with this eternal darkness of death + Homage which those who have not pay to those who have + Honest selfishness + Hopeful recklessness + How much can a man honestly earn without wronging or oppressing + Humanity may at last prevail over nationality + Hurry up and git well—or something + Hypothetical difficulty + I cannot endure this—this hopefulness of yours + I want to be sorry upon the easiest possible terms + I supposed I had the pleasure of my wife's acquaintance + I'm not afraid—I'm awfully demoralized + If you dread harm enough it is less likely to happen + Ignorant of her ignorance + Illusions: no marriage can be perfect without them + Impertinent prophecies of their enjoying it so much + Indispensable + Indulge safely in the pleasures of autobiography + Intrepid fancy that they had confronted fate + It had come as all such calamities come, from nothing + It must be your despair that helps you to bear up + It don't do any good to look at its drawbacks all the time + It's the same as a promise, your not saying you wouldn't + Jesting mood in the face of all embarrassments + Justice must be paid for at every step in fees and costs + Less intrusive than if he had not been there + Less certain of everything that I used to be sure of + Life was like the life at a sea-side hotel, but more monotonous + Life of the ship, like the life of the sea: a sodden monotony + Life has taught him to truckle and trick + Long life of holidays which is happy marriage + Love of justice hurry them into sympathy with violence + Made money and do not yet know that money has made them + Madness of sight-seeing, which spoils travel + Man's willingness to abide in the present + Married life: we expect too much of each other + Married the whole mystifying world of womankind + Married for no other purpose than to avoid being an old maid + Marry for love two or three times + Monologue to which the wives of absent-minded men resign + Muddy draught which impudently affected to be coffee + Nervous woes of comfortable people + Never-blooming shrub + Never could have an emotion without desiring to analyze it + Night so bad that it was worse than no night at all + No man deserves to suffer at the hands of another + No longer the gross appetite for novelty + No right to burden our friends with our decisions + Not do to be perfectly frank with one's own country + Nothing so apt to end in mutual dislike,—except gratitude + Nothing so sad to her as a bride, unless it's a young mother + Novelists, who really have the charge of people's thinking + Oblivion of sleep + Offence which any difference of taste was apt to give him + Only so much clothing as the law compelled + Only one of them was to be desperate at a time + Our age caricatures our youth + Parkman + Passionate desire for excess in a bad thing + Patience with mediocrity putting on the style of genius + Patronizing spirit of travellers in a foreign country + People that have convictions are difficult + Person talks about taking lessons, as if they could learn it + Poverty as hopeless as any in the world + Prices fixed by his remorse + Puddles of the paths were drying up with the haste + Race seemed so often without philosophy + Recipes for dishes and diseases + Reckless and culpable optimism + Reconciliation with death which nature brings to life at last + Rejoice in everything that I haven't done + Rejoice as much at a non-marriage as a marriage + Repeated the nothings they had said already + Respect for your mind, but she don't think you've got any sense + Say when he is gone that the woman gets along better without him + Seemed the last phase of a world presently to be destroyed + Seeming interested in points necessarily indifferent to him + Self-sufficiency, without its vulgarity + Self-sacrifice which could be had, as it were, at a bargain + Servant of those he loved + She always came to his defence when he accused himself + She cares for him: that she was so cold shows that + She could bear his sympathy, but not its expression + Shouldn't ca' fo' the disgrace of bein' poo'—its inconvenience + Sigh with which ladies recognize one another's martyrdom + So hard to give up doing anything we have meant to do + So old a world and groping still + Society: All its favors are really bargains + Sorry he hadn't asked more; that's human nature + Suffering under the drip-drip of his innocent egotism + Superstition that having and shining is the chief good + Superstition of the romances that love is once for all + That isn't very old—or not so old as it used to be + The knowledge of your helplessness in any circumstances + There is little proportion about either pain or pleasure + They were so near in age, though they were ten years apart + They can only do harm by an expression of sympathy + Timidity of the elder in the presence of the younger man + To do whatever one likes is finally to do nothing that one likes + Took the world as she found it, and made the best of it + Tragical character of heat + Travel, with all its annoyances and fatigues + Tried to be homesick for them, but failed + Turn to their children's opinion with deference + Typical anything else, is pretty difficult to find + Unfounded hope that sooner or later the weather would be fine + Used to having his decisions reached without his knowledge + Vexed by a sense of his own pitifulness + Voice of the common imbecility and incoherence + Voting-cattle whom they bought and sold + Wages are the measure of necessity and not of merit + We get too much into the hands of other people + We don't seem so much our own property + Weariness of buying + What we can be if we must + When you look it—live it + Wilful sufferers + Willingness to find poetry in things around them + Wish we didn't always recognize the facts as we do + Without realizing his cruelty, treated as a child + Woman harnessed with a dog to a cart + Wooded with the precise, severely disciplined German forests + Work he was so fond of and so weary of + Would sacrifice his best friend to a phrase +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The March Family Trilogy, Complete +by William Dean Howells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARCH FAMILY TRILOGY, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 3374-h.htm or 3374-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + 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