"James, the berries, please, and then you may go."
And James told Susan that in his opinion the man that got Miss Gertrude
was going to get the sweetest, simplest, yieldingest girl he ever saw
except one, and Susan vowed she could not guess who that one was.
But apparently James did not wholly believe her, for he essayed to
sportively poke her under the chin with an index finger that very
evidently had seen better days prior to having come into violent contact
with a base-ball, which, having a mind and a curve of its own, had
incidentally imparted an eccentric crook to the unfortunate member.
"Don't you dast t'touch me with that old pot-hook, er I'll scream,"
exclaimed Susan, dodging the caress. "I don't see no sense in a feller
gettin' hisself all broke up that a way," and Susan, from the opposite
side of the butler's table, glanced admiringly at her own shapely hand,
albeit the wrist might have impressed fastidious taste as of too robust
proportions, and the fingers have suggested less of flexibility than is
desirable.
But to James the hand was perfect, and Susan, feeling her power, did not
scruple to use it with brutal directness. She had that shivering dislike
for deformity which, is possessed by the physically perfect, and she
took it as a private grievance that James should have taken the liberty
to break one of his fingers without her knowledge and consent. Until he
had met her, James had carried his distorted member as a badge of honor.
No warrior had worn more proudly his battle scars. For, to James, to be
a catcher in a base-ball club was honor enough for one man, and he had
never dreamed of a loftier ambition. He had grown to keep that mutilated
finger ever to the fore as a retired general might carry an empty
sleeve. It gave distinction and told of brave and lofty achievement, so
James thought.
Susan had modified his pride in the dislocated digit, but he had not yet
learned to keep it always in the background. It had several times before
interfered with his love-making, and James was humble.
"Oh, now, Susie, don't you be so hard on that there old base-ball
finger! I didn't know it was a-going to touch your lovely dimple,"
and he held the offending member behind his back, as he slowly circled
around the table towards the haughty Susan. "By gum! I b'lieve I left a
mark on your chin. Lemme see." She thought she understood the ruse, but
when he kissed her she pretended deep indignation and flounced out of
the room, but the look on her face caused James to drop his left eyelid
over a twinkling orb and shake his sides with satisfaction as he removed
the dishes after Miss Gertrude had withdrawn from the dining-room.