GORDON VACILLATES
It behooved me to waste no time and, as soon as I was ready, I briefly
conferred with Frances, telling her that Gordon would probably be very
glad to employ her for a short time that would tide over the interval
before Felicie would be ready to resume business at the old stand. She
looked at me, rather uncertainly, as if the suggestion were not
altogether a pleasing one. At any rate a tiny wrinkle or two showed for
an instant between her brows.
"Don't you think it is a good idea?" I asked her.
"I--I suppose it is," she answered slowly, and then, impulsively, put
her hand on my arm.
"Of course it is, you dear good friend," she declared. "I am ready to go
there as soon as he may want me. He--he has been so friendly, of late,
bringing us candies and flowers, and chatting with us, that--that it
will seem a little bit harder, but, of course, it will be just the same
as before, and he will think of nothing but his painting."
"I will go and see him at once," I told her, "I may find that he is busy
with a portrait and has no time for other work, but I might as well go
and ascertain."
I was being shot up the elevator towards Gordon's studio when I suddenly
remembered that letter at the consul's. I must confess that it had
altogether escaped my memory. I consoled myself with the idea that my
interview with Gordon would be brief, and that I should immediately
return and tell Frances about it. Perhaps she would allow me to go
downtown with her to obtain it. She must not go alone, of course, since
she would open the thing there and then. I could imagine her in that
office, among indifferent people, weeping and without a friend to take
her arm and lead her out, with not a word of consolation and
encouragement. Yes, I would go with her!
"Hey, Mister! Didn't you say the tenth floor?"
Thus did the elevator boy interrupt my cogitations; but for him I might
have kept on going up and down a dozen times, so busily was I engaged
in picturing to myself the emotions of Frances when she should receive
that letter. I got out of the cage, hurriedly, and rang Gordon's bell,
the Jap opening with a polite grin of recognition.
"Can I go into the studio?" I asked. "Is Mr. McGrath engaged?"
"No, sir, but I tell him."
The man went in, after taking my hat and coat, and Gordon rushed out to
meet me.
"Hello, Dave!" he greeted me. "When you rang the bell, I thought it was
Lorimer--the Lorimer. He told me last night at the Van Rossums that he
would drop in and see me."
"You are certainly making good headway among the millionaires," I told
him.
"They're the fellows I'm gunning for," he answered quietly.
"Look here, Gordon," I began at once. "Frances Dupont is out of a job.
Fire in the shanty next door, and her employer has been flooded out. You
were saying something about wishing to--"
"Yes, I know I was," he replied, staring vaguely at the floor. "I--I'll
have to think about it."
"I suppose you have some other pressing work on hand."
He made no answer, going up to the humidor on the mantel and selecting a
cigar, which he lighted very deliberately.
"Have one?" he asked me.
"No, thanks," I declined. "I'll help myself to a cigarette. One of those
perfectos so early in the morning would set my head whirling."
He looked at me, twirling his fine moustache, without appearing to see
me, and began pacing up and down the wonderful silk rug on the floor,
his cigar in his mouth and his hands deep in his trousers pockets.
"I'll tell you, Dave," he began, but was interrupted by another ring at
the bell. A moment later Mr. Lorimer was admitted, a big man with a
leonine head, strong and rather coarse features and eyes like Toledo
blades, who spoke slowly, weighing his words.
"Good morning, Mr. McGrath," he said. "I shall be obliged, if you will
show me some of your work."
"I want to introduce my friend, David Cole," said Gordon; "he's a writer
of charming novels."
"Always glad to meet any one who can do things, Mr. Cole," said the big
man, putting out his hand. "What have you written?"
Gordon at once came to my rescue, mentioning two or three titles of my
books.
"'The First Million'! You wrote that, did you? Read it on my way to
Europe, three years ago. You're a clever man, Mr. Cole, but it was a
mistake on your part to make a millionaire sympathetic and refined.
Didn't make much out of the book, did you?"
"It only sold about four thousand," I acknowledged.
"Thought so. That fellow Lorgan was neither fish, flesh, fowl or good
red herring. In a novel, a very rich man should be made bearable by
foolishly giving away huge sums of money, or else unbearable in order to
show the contrast offered by the poor, but honest, hero. That's what the
public wants, I should judge. As a simple human being a magnate is
impossible in modern fiction."
"My friend Gordon works from the model and sticks to it," I ventured. "I
have been silly enough to depend altogether on my imagination, Mr.
Lorimer, but I'm getting cured of that failing. In future I will cling
to the people I have an opportunity of studying."
"You'll turn out something pretty good, one of these days," he said.
"And now for the paintings, Mr. McGrath. I have only a few minutes to
spare."
He looked at a few portraits and a still-life or two, resting his square
jaw in the palm of his hand.
"I've been a bit of a doubting Thomas," he suddenly said. "Had an idea
that a chap who goes in so much for society couldn't do very serious
work, but this is first rate. Good, honest stuff, I call it, but I doubt
if you will keep it up. Let's have a look at something else."
He paid not the slightest attention to Gordon, who looked as mad as a
hornet. The Japanese servant lifted up a picture that was turned with
the face against the wall.
"Not that one," directed Gordon, but Lorimer had caught a glimpse of the
canvas as the Japanese turned.
"Oh, yes! Put that on the easel," he said. "That seems to be in a rather
different style. Now, my dear sir, if you keep on all your life working
like that, I'll take back what I said. A man capable of doing that can
take Sargent's place, some day, but he'll have to stick to his last to
keep it up. How much do you want for it?"
"It--it isn't for sale," said Gordon, hesitating.
Lorimer stood before the picture, with his hands clasped behind his
back, for several minutes. Then he turned again to Gordon.
"Already sold, is it?"
"No, Mr. Lorimer, it is not. But it's about the best thing I ever did,
and yet I think I can improve on it. I shall keep it for comparison, as
I intend to try another from the same model, in a somewhat different
manner. After it is finished, I shall be glad to have you look at it
again, and perhaps----"
"I'm afraid that what I said rather sticks in your crop, Mr. McGrath,
but don't be offended. When I began life my knowledge of men was about
the only asset I had. It didn't come by study and I take no credit for
it. I was born with it, as a colt may be born with speed in him. Some
Frenchman has said that the moneymaking instinct is like the talent of
certain pigs for smelling truffles. In Perigord they pay a high price
for a shoat with that kind of a nose. I have learned something about
painting because I love it, and I know how to make money. But if I
stopped for a year, I'd get so rusty I'd be afraid to buy a hundred
shares. Same way with you. If you stop painting and putting in the best
that's in you, then you'll go back. That's the reason I wanted this
picture, but I'm willing to wait and see the other. Let me know when
it's finished. Glad to have met you, Mr. Cole. Thank you for showing me
the pictures, Mr. McGrath. Must run downtown now. Hope to see you again
soon."
He walked off, sturdily, Gordon accompanying him to the door while I sat
down in front of the picture.
Ay, Lorimer was a mighty good judge; of that there could be no doubt. He
had at once appreciated the powerful rendering, the subtle treatment,
the beauty that radiated from the canvas, grippingly.
But I could only see Frances, the woman beautiful, who, unlike most
others, has a soul to illumine her comeliness. I filled my eyes with
her perfection of form, tall, straight and slender, with all the grace
that is hers and which Gordon's picture has taught me to see more
clearly. I felt as if a whiff of scented breeze came to me, wafted
through the glinting masses of her hair. The eyes bent upon the
slumbering child, I felt, might at any moment be lifted to her friend
Dave, the scribbler, who, for the first time in his life, was beginning
to learn that a woman's loveliness may be beyond the power of a poet's
imagining or even the wondrous gift of a painter. The scales had indeed
fallen from my eyes! At first I had thought that Gordon had idealized
her, mingling his fancy with the truth and succeeding in gilding the
lily. But now, I knew that all his art had but limned some of the tints
of her sunshot hair and traced a few points of her beauty.
I did not wonder that he was eager to try again. Wonderful though his
painting was, the man's ambition was surging in him to excel his own
work and attain still greater heights. Could he possibly succeed?
"Well, what do you think of millionaires now that you have met one in
the flesh?" asked Gordon, returning.
"This one is pretty human, it seems to me, and pretty shrewd."
"You're not such a fool as you look, Dave," said my friend quietly, but
with the twinkle in his eyes that mitigates his words. "One moment I
could have clubbed him over the head, if I'd had at hand anything
heavier than a mahlstick, but I daresay he knew what he was talking
about. I'll have to work harder."
"You already toil as hard as a man can, and are doing some great stuff,"
I replied. "The trouble is that you keep altogether too busy. It might
be worth your while to remember that a man who accomplishes so much is
at least entitled to eight hours' sleep a day."
"You're a fine one to preach, you old night owl."
"In the first place, I am only David Cole. Besides, I put in a full
allowance of time in bed. Mrs. Milliken daren't come in before eleven.
Then, I don't smoke strong perfectos, especially in the morning, and I
have a drink of claret perhaps once a week."
"Yes, I'll paint you with a halo around your old bald head, some day,"
he retorted.
"And now, what shall I say to Frances?" I asked, deeming it urgent to
revert to my errand.
"I don't want her! Busy with other things!"
I looked at him, in surprise and disappointment, and walked off towards
the hall where hung my hat and coat.
"Very well," I said, "I shall try and find something else for her to do.
Good-by, Gordon."
"Good-by, Dave. Come in again soon, won't you?"
I made some noncommittal reply and rushed over to the elevator, ringing
several times. When I reached the street I hurried to the cars, thinking
that _la donna_ may be _mobile_, but that as a weathercock Gordon was
the limit. I got out at the Fourteenth Street station and soon reached
home, at the very same time as a big scarlet runabout which I had
noticed in the street, in front of the studio building. It halted with a
grinding of brakes.
"I say, Dave! Tell her to come to-morrow morning. I am off to lunch at
Ardsley. By-by."
It was Gordon, bearing in his pocket a summons for overspeeding, which
he proudly exhibited.
"I got the car this week," he informed me. "It's a bird to go. So long!"
He was off again, skidding around the next corner in such fashion as to
make me sympathize with his life insurance company, and I started up the
stairs to see Frances. I must say that I was rather nervous. The task of
telling her about that letter seemed, now that it was so nearly
impending, a rather tough one to carry out. As usual in such cases, my
footsteps became slow on the last of the stairs.
I knocked at the door, which was opened by Frieda.
"Come in, Dave," she said. "I thought I'd drop in to see that Baby Paul
was none the worse for his experience. I might as well have saved my
breath, as far as I can see. Frances needs a little bracing up; I think
she's rather discouraged this morning."
"One moment," I excused myself. "I forgot a paper I wanted to show her."
My room appeared to have been ransacked, but I saw that Mrs. Milliken,
in spite of my stern commands, had indulged her passionate longing for
putting things in order. A quarter of an hour's arduous searching,
however, revealed the journal I sought. The door had been left open, and
I walked right in.
"Good morning," I said. "I have seen Gordon this morning and he will be
pleased to employ you again, Frances, and--and I have a paper here. It
is yesterday's, and I found something that may perhaps interest you,
and--and----"
But she had risen quickly and took the paper from me, her voice
trembling a little.
"Where--what is it?" she asked eagerly.
It took me a minute to find that column again. When I pointed out the
notice, she took the sheet from me, staring at it as if doubting her
eyes.
"Yes--it is for Madame Paul Dupont. I--I must go there at once! Oh!
Frieda dear, will you mind little Paul for me while I am gone? I will go
and return just as quick as I can and won't keep you very long."
"I will do anything you want me to, Frances, but you are not very
familiar with downtown streets. I had better accompany you there. We can
take little Paul with us."
"I had intended to offer my services as a guide," I put in.
Frances had sunk in her chair and was still looking at the paper, as if,
between the lines, she might have been able to find more than the mere
mention of her name.
"You must let me go, Dave," whispered Frieda to me. "She--she might
faint, poor thing, or feel very badly, and--and a woman is better at
such times. I will try to make her wait until we get back, before she
opens the thing, and you can be here when we return."
Man, that is born of woman, is commonly her humble slave. I could do
nothing but bow to my stout friend's will and retired to my room to
leave their preparations unhampered by my presence. When I propose a
dinner or the moving pictures, they always hurry as fast as they can and
are usually ready in fifteen or twenty minutes. On this occasion, about
ninety seconds seemed to suffice.
"Good-by, Dave," they called out to me, waving their hands and
disappearing down the stairs.
I had any number of important things to do. A fine disorder, said
Boileau, is an effect of art. It behooved me to disturb the beautifully
orderly and thoroughly deplorable piling up of my books indulged in by
Mrs. Milliken. Also, there were separate loose sheets of virginal paper
to be separated from those bearing my written vagaries, for she had
played havoc with them. Moreover, I had been told that my hair ought to
be cut. Then, I ought to have sat down and continued a short story I had
made a fine beginning of, about a poverty-stricken young lady finding an
emerald necklace. The plot was most exciting and the ending possessed
what the editors call a good punch. I had a plethora of things to do,
wherefore I lighted my pipe and pondered upon what to begin with, seated
the while in front of my window and observing the houses opposite.
It took me but a moment to decide that quietude would be wisdom. How
could I accomplish anything requiring judgment and calmness of mind,
while I was so obsessed with problems of many kinds! What would be the
effect of that letter on Frances? Would it make her feel so badly, that
she would be unable to go to Gordon's on the next day? Why had my friend
first manifested eagerness to make another picture of Frances, then
refused to employ her, and, finally, risked breaking his neck in his
haste to have me make an appointment with her?
I have always been a poor hand at riddles and actually resent being
asked why a chicken crosses the road. Such foolish queries constitute a
form of amusement quite unable to appeal to me. I dislike problems and
complicated things that have to be solved. Once, I tried to write a
detective story, but was wise enough to tear up the thing as soon as it
was finished. In the first place, it looked like an effort to encourage
crime, which I abhor, and my detective was so transparent and ingenuous
that an infant would have penetrated his wiles. He was positively
sheeplike in his mansuetude, whereas I had intended to make him a stern
avenger of virtue.
An hour went by, and then another, during which I rushed to the
balustrade on the landing every time I heard the front door opening.
Disappointment came so often that I determined to move no more, until I
could hear their voices. Since the stairs make Frieda quite breathless,
she insists on talking all the time while she climbs them, and her
puffing carries up at least two flights.
Finally, I heard them. For a wonder Frieda was silent, but there was no
mistaking her ponderous step. Frances came behind, carrying Baby Paul.
They came to my room, hurrying across the landing. The young mother
looked at me, one corner of her lips twitching nervously.
"David!" she cried. "Oh, David! There--there are two women called Madame
Paul Dupont and--and the other one got my letter! She came to the
Consulate early this morning."
"But how do you know that it was your letter, then?" I asked.
"Well! Of course, I don't really know, but--but it should have been for
me, of course. They gave me the other woman's address. She lives in
Little Ferry in New Jersey, and I'm going there at once."