“Say, Marion, there’s a hell of a row going on up at my house about you.
Sis kicked up an awful fuss, and they’re all on to my coming to see you.
Sis declared I insulted her friend, because I took you home instead, and
mother is mad, too. They make me sick. Mother asked me where your folks
lived, and what you were living alone like this for, and they
insinuated
[Illustration: He came to me with a kind of rush and said excitedly,
“Marion, I love you! I love you! I love you!”]
some nasty things. Lord! women have rotten minds. I told them that you
were a hard little worker, and then they wanted to know what you did,
and I told them you were a model, and that I was proud of it. But, gosh!
you ought to have heard those women! When I told them that, they almost
burst themselves mouthing about it. I turned on ’em and told them not
one of them could be a model. They didn’t have the looks. But the long
and short of it is that mother has telegraphed for dad, and she says she
won’t give me another cent unless I promise to give you up. As I needed
a ten-spot I said I would, but you better believe I’m not going to do
it.”
I stood up and put my hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. Somehow I felt older
than Jimmy, though we were about of an age. He seemed such a boy, so
wayward and reckless, and there was so much that was lovable about him,
despite his “toughness.”
“Jimmy dear,” I said, “I guess your mother’s right. You’d better give me
up. It’ll only make trouble for you if you keep on coming to see me.”
“Tell you what I’ll do,” said Jimmy. “I’ll quit college, and get a job
of some sort. Then I’ll be independent, and I’ll come to see you all I
damn’ please, and I’m going to marry you whether they want me to or
not.”
I thought of Jimmy’s happy-go-lucky nature and his love of drink, and I
determined the poor fellow should not lose the help of his family if I
could avoid it. We took a little walk around the block, I urging Jimmy
all the time to please do what his people wished, and I even told him
that while I was fond of him I did not love him. He said savagely that
he guessed I had left my heart in Montreal, and then he pulled his cap
down over his eyes, and didn’t say anything for a long time. We just
tramped around, and then Jimmy said suddenly:
“Say, Marion, why doesn’t he come on here and marry you if he loves you?
Is it lack of money prevents him?”