Mr. Anderson had finished with women forever. And this resolve gave to
his face a new and not unbecoming sternness; the old ladies noticed it
directly he entered the dining room that evening. Miss Selby noticed it,
too, but pretended not to; she smiled that same chilly, polite smile,
and said never a word--neither did he.
Supper was set before them, and they began to eat, still silent. And
then she spoke suddenly.
“What’s the matter with your hand, Mr. Anderson?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing; thanks!” he answered.
Again a silence. But she could not keep her eyes off that clumsily-tied
bandage on his hand.
“I wish you’d tell me!” she said.
It was an entirely different tone, but he was no longer to be trifled
with like that. He smiled, coldly.
“No doubt you’ll be very much amused,” he remarked, “to learn that I’ve
been bitten by a dog!”
He waited.
“Why don’t you laugh, Miss Selby?” he inquired. “It’s funny enough,
isn’t it? After I said that dogs always know. It’s what you might call
‘biting irony,’ isn’t it?”
“I--don’t want to laugh,” said she. “I’m--just sorry.”
He looked at her.
“Miss Selby!” he cried.
“I took your flowers upstairs,” she said. “I think--they’re the
prettiest--the prettiest flowers--I--ever saw.”
“Miss Selby!” he exclaimed again. “See here! Please! When I thought you
were ill--”
“I only had a little cold.”
“I wrote a note,” he said. “I tore it up. I--I wish I hadn’t.”
Miss Selby was looking down at her plate.
“I wish you hadn’t, too,” she agreed.
The old ladies had all finished their suppers, but not one of them left
the room. They were watching Miss Selby and Mr. Anderson. Surely not a
remarkable spectacle, simply a nice looking young man and a pretty
young girl, sitting, quite speechless, now, at a little table.
Yet one old lady actually wiped tears from her eyes, and every one of
them felt an odd and tender little stir at the heart, as if the perfume
of very old memories had blown in at the opened window.
“Let’s go out on the veranda,” said Mr. Anderson to Miss Selby, and they
did.
The rain was coming down steadily, and the wind sighed in the pines. But
it was a June night, a summer night, a young night.
Not an old lady set foot on the veranda that evening, not another human
being heard what Miss Selby from Boston, and Mr. Anderson from New York
had to say to each other.
Only Mrs. Brown, opening the door for a breath of fresh air, did happen
to hear him saying something about the “best sort of paper for wedding
announcements.”
MUNSEY’S
MAGAZINE
APRIL, 1926
Vol. LXXXVII NUMBER 3
TO OUR READERS--Since Mr. Munsey’s death we have received so many
inquiries for the books of which he was the author, all of which
have been out of print for many years, that in the present number
of the magazine we reprint, complete, this short novel, which was
written in the early part of 1892. We feel sure that our readers
will be greatly interested in the story, not only on account of its
authorship, but because it is a convincing picture of a phase of
American society thirty-five years ago.
Highfalutin’
THE BUNGALOW COLONY WAS A MAELSTROM OF MISUNDERSTANDING, BUT THE SHIP’S
OFFICER ASHORE NEVER LOST HIS BEARINGS