THE CHIMNEY CORNER
A. Lincoln Pollock was full of news at supper that evening. Courtney,
coming in a little late,--in fact, Miss Margaret Slattery already
had removed the soup plates and was beginning to wonder audibly
whether a certain guy thought she was a truck-horse or something
like that,--found the editor of the Sun anticipating by at least
twelve hours the forthcoming issue of his paper. He was regaling
his fellow-boarders with news that would be off the press the first
thing in the morning,--having been confined to the composing-room
for the better part of a week,--and he was enjoying himself.
Charlie Webster once made the remark that "every time the Sun goes
to press, Link Pollock acts for all the world like a hen that's
just laid an egg, he cackles so."
"I saw Nancy Strong this morning and she was telling me about a
letter she had from David yesterday. He wants her to pack up and
come to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to live with him. He says he'll
take a nice little apartment, big enough for the two of 'em, if
she'll only come. She can't make up her mind what to do. She's so
fond of Alix she don't see how she can desert her,--at least, not
till she gets married,--and yet she feels she owes it to her son
to go and make a home for him. Every once in a while Alix makes
her a present of a hundred dollars or so,--once she gave her three
hundred in cold, clean cash,--and actually loves her as if she was
her own mother. Nancy's terribly upset. She is devoted to Alix,
and at the same time she's devoted to her son. She seemed to want
my advice, but of course I couldn't give her any. It's a thing
she's got to work out for herself. I couldn't advise her to leave
Alix in the lurch and I couldn't advise her to turn her back on
her only son,--could I?"
"How soon does David want her to come?" inquired Miss Molly Dowd.
"Before Christmas, I believe. He wants her to be with him on
Christmas day."
"Well, it would work out very nicely," said Mrs. Pollock, "if Alix
would only get married before that time."
"I guess that's just what Nancy is kind of hoping herself," stated
Mr. Pollock. "It would simplify everything. Of course, when she
told Alix about David's letter and what he wanted her to do, Alix
was mighty nice about it. She told Nancy to go by all means, her
place was with her son if he needed her, and she wouldn't stand in
the way for the world. Nancy says she had about made up her mind
to go, but changed it last night. She was telling me about sneaking
up to Alix's bedroom door and listening. Alix was crying, sort of
sobbing, you know. That settled it with Nancy,--temporarily at any
rate. Now she's up in the air again, and don't know what to do.
She's gone and told Alix she won't leave her, but all the time she
keeps wondering if Davy can get along without her in that great big
city, surrounded by all kinds of perils and traps and pitfalls,--night
and day. Evil women and--"
"Has Alix said anything to you about it, Mr. Thane?" inquired Maude
Baggs Pollock.
"Not a word," replied Courtney, secretly irritated by the discovery
that Alix had failed to take him into her confidence. "She doesn't
discuss servant troubles with me."
"Oh, good gracious!" cried Miss Dowd. "If Nancy Strong ever heard
you speak of her as a servant she'd--".
"She'd bite your head off," put in Miss Margaret Slattery. "Are you
through with your soup, Mr. Thane?" Without waiting for an answer,
she removed the plate with considerable abruptness.
"Are you angry with me, Margaret?" he asked, with a reproachful
smile. His smile was too much for Margaret. She blushed and mumbled
something about being sorry and having a headache.
"Say, Court, do you know this Ambulance feller that's coming to
visit Alix next week?" asked the editor, with interest.
"You mean Addison Blythe? He was up at Pont-a-Mousson for a while,
I believe, but it was after I had left for the Vosges section. I've
heard of him. Harvard man."
"You two ought to have a good time when you get together," said
Doc Simpson.
"I've got an item in the Sun about him this week, and next week
we'll have an interview with him."
The usually loquacious Mr. Webster had been silent since Courtney's
arrival. Now he lifted his voice to put a question to Miss Angie
Miller, across the table.
"Did you write that letter I spoke about the other day, Angie?"
"Yes,--but there hasn't been time for an answer yet."
"Speaking about David Strong," remarked Mr. Pollock, "I'll never
forget what he did when Mr. Windom gave him a silver watch for his
twelfth birthday. Shows what a bright, progressive, enterprising
feller he was even at that age. You remember, Miss Molly? I mean
about his setting his watch fifteen minutes ahead the very day he
got it."
Miss Molly smiled. "It WAS cute of him, wasn't it?"
"What was the idea?" inquired Mr. Hatch.
"So's he would know what time it was fifteen minutes sooner than
anybody else in town," said Mr. Pollock.
"My, what a handsome boy he was," said Miss Angie Miller.
"Do you really think so?" cried Mrs. Pollock. "I never could see
anything good looking about him,--except his physique. He has a
splendid physique, but I never liked his face. It's so--so--well,
so, raw-boned and all. I like smooth, regular features in a man.
I--"
"Like mine," interjected the pudgy Mr. Webster, with a very serious
face.
"David Strong has what I call a very rugged face," said Miss Miller.
"I didn't say it was pretty, Maude."
"He takes a very good photograph," remarked Mr. Hatch. "Specially
a side-view. I've got one side-view of him over at the gallery that
makes me think of an Indian every time I look at it."
"Perhaps he has Indian blood in him," suggested Courtney, who was
tired of David Strong.
"Well, every drop of blood he's got in him is red," said Charlie
Webster; "so maybe you're right."
"The most interesting item in the Sun tomorrow," said Mr. Pollock,
"is the word that young Cale Vick, across the river, has enlisted
in the navy. He leaves on Monday for Chicago to join some sort
of a training school, preparatory to taking a job on one of Uncle
Sam's newest battleships,--the biggest in the world, according
to his grandfather, who was in to see me a day or two ago. I have
promised to send young Cale the Sun for a year without charging him
a cent. Old man Brown says Amos Vick's daughter Rosabel isn't at
all well. Something like walking typhoid, he says,--mopes a good
deal and don't sleep well."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," exclaimed Courtney, real concern in
his voice. "She was such a lively, light-hearted girl when I was
over there. I can't imagine her moping. I hope Amos Vick isn't too
close-fisted to consult a doctor. He's an awful tight-wad--believe
me."
"Doctor can't seem to find anything really the matter ter with
her, so old Cale Brown told me," said Mr. Pollock. "But don't you
think it's fine of young Cale to join the navy, Court? Maybe your
tales about the war put it into his head."
"It's more likely that he'd got fed up with life on a farm," said
Courtney. "He'll find himself longing for the farm and mother a
good many times before he's through with the navy."
Instead of going up to his room immediately after supper, as was
his custom of late, Courtney joined the company in the "lounging
room," so named by Mr. Webster who contended that no first-class
hotel ever had such a thing as a parlour any more. The Misses Dowd,
of course, called it the parlour, but as they continued to refer
to the fireplace as the "chimney corner," one may readily forgive
their reluctance to progress. Smoking was permitted in the "lounging
room" during the fall and winter months only.
A steady rain was beating against the windows, and a rising wind
made itself heard in feeble wails as it turned the dark corners of
the Tavern. Presently it was to howl and shriek, and, as the rain
ceased, to rattle the window shutters and the ancient, creaking
sign that hung out over the porch,--for on the wind tonight came
the first chill touch of winter.
"A fine night to be indoors," remarked Courtney in his most genial
manner as he moved a rocking chair up to the fireplace and gallantly
indicated to old Mrs. Nichols that it was intended for her.
"Ain't you going out tonight, Court?" inquired Mr. Hatch.
"Iron horses couldn't drag me out tonight," he replied. "Sit here,
Mrs. Pollock. Doc, pull up that sofa for Miss Grady and Miss Miller.
Let's have a chimney-corner symposium. Is symposium the right word,
Miss Miller? Ah, I see it isn't. Well, I did my best. I could have
got away with it in New York, but no chance here. And speaking
of New York reminds me that at this very instant the curtains are
going up and the lights are going down in half a hundred theatres,--and
I don't mind confessing I'd like to be in one of them."
"That's one thing I envy New York for," said Mrs. Pollock. "Hand
me my knitting off the table, Lincoln, please. I love the theatre.
I could go every night--"
"You get tired of them after a little while, Maude," said Flora
Grady, a trifle languidly. "Isn't that so, Mr. Thane?"
"Quite," agreed Courtney. "You get fed up with 'em."
"I remember once when I was in New York going six nights in succession,
seeing all the best things on the boards at that time, and I give
you my word," said Miss Grady, "they DID feed me up terribly."
"I know just what you mean, Miss Grady," said Courtney, without
cracking a smile. "One gets so bored with the best plays in town.
What one really ought to do, you know, is to go to the worst ones."
"I've always wanted to see 'The Blue Bird,'" said Miss Miller
wistfully. "It's by Maeterlinck, Mr. Nichols."
Old Mr. Nichols looked interested. "You don't say so," he ejaculated.
"Give me a good minstrel show,--that's what I like. Haverly's or
Barlow, Wilson, Primrose & West, or Billy Emerson's or--say, did
you ever see Luke Schoolcraft? Well, sir, there was the funniest
end man I ever see. There used to be another minstrel man
named,--er--lemme see,--now what was that feller's name? It begin
with L, I think--or maybe it was W. Now--lemme--think. Go on
talkin', the rest of you. I'll think of his name before bedtime."
Whereupon the ancient Mr. Nichols relapsed into a profound state
of thought from which he did not emerge until Mr. Webster shook
his shoulder some fifteen or twenty minutes later and informed him
that if he got any worse Mrs. Nichols would be able to hear him,
and then she couldn't go 'round telling people that he slept just
like a baby.
Courtney was in his element. He liked talking about the stage,
and stage people. And on this night,--of all nights,--he wanted to
talk, he wanted company. The clock on the mantel-piece struck ten
and half-past and was close to striking eleven before any one made
a move toward retiring,--excepting Mr. and Mrs. Nichols who had gone
off to bed at eight-thirty. The Misses Dowd had joined the little
company in the "parlour." He discussed books with Mrs. Pollock
and Miss Miller, fashions with Miss Grady, politics with Mr.
Pollock,--(agreeing with the latter on President Wilson),--art with
Mr. Hatch and the erudite Miss Miller, the drama with every one.
Now, Courtney Thane knew almost nothing about books, and even less
about pictures. He possessed, however, a remarkable facility when
it came to discussing them. He belonged to that rather extensive
class of people who thrive on ignorance. If you wanted to talk
about Keats or Shelley, he managed to give you the impression that
he was thoroughly familiar with both,--though lamenting a certain
rustiness of memory at times. He could talk intelligently about
Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennet, Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy, Walpole,
Mackenzie, Wells and others of the modern English school of
novelists,--that is to say, he could differ or agree with you on
almost anything they had written, notwithstanding the fact that he
had never read a line by any one of them. He professed not to care
for Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," though nothing could have
been more obscure to him than the book itself or the author thereof,
and agreed with the delightful Mrs. Pollock that "The Mayor of
Casterbridge" was an infinitely better piece of work than "Tess
of the D'Urbervilles." As for the American writers, he admitted a
shameful ignorance about them.
"Of course, I read Scott when I was a boy,--I was compelled to do
so, by the way,--but as for the others I am shockingly unfamiliar
with them. Ever since I grew up I've preferred the English novelists
and poets, so I fear I--"
"I thought Scott was an English writer," put in Charlie Webster
quietly.
"What Scott are you referring to, Charlie?" he asked indulgently.
"Why, Sir Walter Scott,--he wrote 'Ivanhoe,' you know."
"Well, I happen to be speaking of William Scott, the American
novelist,--no doubt unknown to most of you. He was one of the
old-timers, and I fancy has dropped out of the running altogether."
"Never heard of him," said Mr. Pollock, scratching his ear
reflectively.
"Indigenous to New England, I fancy,--like the estimable codfish,"
drawled Courtney, and was rewarded by a wholesome Middle West laugh.
"What are those cabarets like?" inquired Mr. Hatch. He pronounced
it as if he were saying cigarettes.
"Pretty rotten," said Thane.
"Are you fond of dancing, Mr. Thane?" inquired Mrs. Pollock. "I
used to love to trip the light fantastic."
"I am very fond of dancing," said he, and then added with a smile:
"Especially since the girls have taken to parking their corsets."
There was a shocked silence, broken by Miss Grady, who, as a
dressmaker, was not quite so finicky about the word.
"What do you mean by parking?" she inquired.
"Same as you park an automobile," said he, enjoying the sensation
he had created. "It's the fashion now, among the best families as
well as the worst, for the girls when they go to dances to leave
their corsets in the dressing rooms. Check 'em, same as you do your
hat."
"Bless my soul," gasped Mr. Pollock. "Haven't they got any mothers?"
"Sure,--but the mothers don't know anything about it. You see, it's
this way. We fellows won't dance with 'em if they've got corsets
on,--so off they come."
"What's the world coming to?" cried the editor.
"You'd better ask where it's going to," said Charlie Webster.
"Do you go to the opera very often?" asked Miss Miller nervously.
He spoke rather loftily of the Metropolitan Opera House, and very
lightly of the Metropolitan Museum,--and gave Charlie Webster a
sharp look when that amiable gentleman asked him what he thought
of the Metropolitan Tower.
But he was at home in the theatre. He told them just what Maude
Adams and Ethel Barrymore were like, and Julia Marlowe, and Elsie
Ferguson, and Chrystal Herne, and all the rest of them. He spoke
familiarly of Mr. Faversham as "Favvy," of Mr. Collier as "Willie,"
of Mr. Sothern as "Ned," of Mr. Drew as "John," of Mr. Skinner as
"Otis," of Mr. Frohman as "Dan."
And when he said good night and reluctantly wended his way to the
room at the end of the hall, round the corner of which the fierce
October gale shrieked derisively, he left behind him a group
enthralled.
"Isn't he a perfect dear?" cried Mrs. Pollock, clasping her hands.
"The most erudite man I have ever met," agreed Miss Miller
ecstatically. "Don't you think so, Mr. Hatch?"
Mr. Hatch was startled. "Oh,--er--yes, indeed. Absolutely!"
he stammered, and then looked inquiringly at his finger nails. He
hoped he had made the proper response.
Charlie Webster ambled over to one of the windows and peered out
into the whistling night.
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," said he sententiously.
"What do you mean by that, Charlie?" inquired Flora Grady, at his
elbow.
"Well, if it had been a pleasant night he'd have been up at Alix
Crown's instead of here," said Charlie.
"I see," said Flora, after a moment. "You mean the ill wind favoured
Alix, eh?"
Charlie's round face was unsmiling as he stared hard at the fire.
"I wonder--" he began, and then checked the words.
"Don't you worry about Alix," said Flora. "She's nobody's fool."
"I wasn't thinking of Alix just then," said Charlie.
II
The following morning, Courtney went, as was his custom, to the
postoffice. He had arranged for a lock-box there. His letters were
not brought up to the Tavern by old Jim House, the handy-man.
The day was bright and clear and cold; the gale had died in the
early morning hours. Alix Crown's big automobile was standing in
front of the post-office, the engine running. Catching sight of it
as he left the Tavern porch, he hastened his steps. He was a good
two hundred yards away and feared she would be off before he could
come up with her. As he drew near, he saw the lanky chauffeur standing
in front of the drug store, chatting with one of the villagers.
Alix was in the post-office. As he passed the car, he slackened
his pace and glanced over his shoulder into the tonneau. The side
curtains were down. A low growl greeted him. He hastened on.
She was at the registry window.
"Hello!" he exclaimed, extending his hand and searching her face
as he did so for signs of a sleepless night.
"Good morning," she responded cheerily. There was nothing in her
voice, her eyes or her manner to indicate an even remotely disturbed
state of mind. Her gaze met his serenely; the colour did not rush
to her cheeks as he had fondly expected, nor did her eyes waver
under the eager, intense gleam in his. He suddenly felt cheated.
"Where are you off to this morning?" he inquired.
"To town for the day. I have some business to attend to and some
shopping to do. Would you like to come along?"
He was in a sulky mood.
"You know I hate the very thought of going to town," he said. Then,
as she raised her eyebrows slightly, he made haste to add: "I'd go
from one end of the desert of Sahara to the other with you, but--"
shaking his head so solemnly that she laughed outright,--"not to
the city. Just ask me to go to the Sahara with you and see how--"
"Haven't you had enough of No-Man's Land?" she cried merrily.
"It depends on what you'd call No-Man's Land," said he, and her gaze
faltered at last. There was no mistaking his meaning. "Sometimes
it is Paradise, you know," he went on softly.
Twice before she had seen the same look in his eyes, and both times
she had experienced a strange sensation, as of the weakness that
comes with ecstasy. There had been something in his eyes that
seemed to caress her from head to foot, something that filled her
with the most disquieting self-consciousness. Strange to say, it
was not the ardent look of the love-sick admirer,--and she had not
escaped such tributes,--nor the inquiring look of the adventurous
married man. It was not soulful nor was it offensive. She reluctantly
confessed to herself that it was warm and penetrating and filled
her with a strange, delicious alarm.
She quickly withdrew her gaze and turned to the little window where
Mrs. Pollock was making out her receipt for a registered package.
She felt that she was cowardly, and the thought made her furious.
"Will it go out today, Mrs. Pollock?" she asked.
"This afternoon," replied the postmaster's wife and assistant.
"Wasn't that a dreadful wind last night, Alix? I thought of you.
You must have been frightened."
"I slept like a log through all of it," said Alix. "I love the
wild night wind. It makes me feel so nice and comfy in bed. I was
awfully tired last night. Thanks." Then turning to Courtney: "Sorry
you will not go with me. I'll bear you in mind if I ever take a
trip to the Sahara. Good-bye."
"Will you be at home tonight?" he asked, holding the door open for
her to pass through.
"Yes," she replied composedly.
"I mean,--to me?"
"If you care to come," she said.
He did not accompany her to the car. The big grey-brown dog with
his paws on the back of the front seat, was eagerly watching her
approach.
She wore a long mole-skin coat and a smart little red turban. She
had never looked so alluring to the young man who waited in the
open door until the car started away.
"Close the door, please," called out Mrs. Pollock. "This isn't
July, you know."
"So she slept like a log, did she?" muttered Courtney as he turned
away from his lockbox with a letter. "Well, that's more than I
did."
He glanced hurriedly through the letter, crumpled it up in his hand,
and went jauntily up the street until he came to Hatch's Photograph
Gallery. Entering, he gave the proprietor a hearty "good morning,"
and then drew a chair up before the low "sheet-iron stove" which
heated the reception-room. Hatch was "printing" behind a partition,
and their conversation was carried on at long range over the top.
Presently the visitor drew the crumpled letter from his pocket,
tore it into tiny pieces and cast it into the fire.
"Well, so long, Hatch. I'm off for a stroll in your crisp October
air."