Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jen Haines and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Transcribers Note: Spelling variations and colloquial
spellings have been retained as they appear in the
original.
ATHALIE
[Illustration: "'Clive is a good deal of a man.... I never
had a better companion.'" [PAGE 242.]]
ATHALIE
BY
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
FRANK CRAIG
NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1915
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
COPYRIGHT, 1914, 1915, BY THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
TO
MY FRIEND
MESSMORE KENDALL
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"'Clive is a good deal of a man.... I never had a
better companion.'" _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
"'Boy?' inquired Ledlie, resting one soil-incrusted
boot on his spade." 2
"'I'd like to come down here for the summer vacation,'
said the boy, awkwardly." 34
"'I'm glad I saw you,' said the girl; 'I hope you
won't forget me.'" 40
"C. Bailey, Jr., and Athalie Greensleeve ... had
supped together more than once at the Regina." 78
"Beside her, eager, happy, flattered, walked C.
Bailey, Jr., very conscious that he was being
envied." 80
"'I like her,' repeated Clive, Jr., a trifle annoyed." 82
"It was in this place that Clive encountered Cecil
Reeve one stormy midnight." 114
"He rather liked being with his own sort again." 116
"'Wasn't a civil bow enough?'" 126
"One lovely morning in May she arose early in order
to write to Clive." 148
"Mr. Wahlbaum ... was very quiet, very considerate,
very attentive." 150
"Doris continued to haunt agencies and theatrical offices." 154
"With him she visited the various museums and art
galleries." 168
"With a basket containing Hafiz, her suit-case, and a
furled umbrella she started for her new lodgings." 178
"'Wasn't it suicide?' asked Athalie." 180
"She said in a low voice, still watching intently:
'Blue sky, green trees, a snowy shore, and little
azure wavelets....'" 210
"Mrs. Bailey, Jr., looked pale and pretty sitting
there." 232
"During convalescence he read 'Under Two Flags'
and approved the idea." 234
"His theme happened to be his own wonderful trap
record, that evening." 244
"'There is your extra,' she said pleasantly." 266
"Once more, the old happy companionship began." 284
"Finally ... he cut the envelope and seated himself
beside the lamp." 300
"When he saw her he sprang out and came forward." 316
"She suddenly sat upright, resting one slender hand on
his shoulder." 330
"Clive nodded: 'Keep them off the place, Connor.'" 346
"'Sure I was that worritted,' burst out Mrs. Connor." 348
"'Michael,' she said, smiling." 372
"And then her hands were in his and she was looking
into his beloved eyes once more." 378
"Sometimes Athalie lunched there in the garden with
him." 400
ATHALIE
CHAPTER I
When Mrs. Greensleeve first laid eyes on her baby she knew it was
different from the other children.
"What is the matter with it?" she asked.
The preoccupied physician replied that there was nothing the matter.
In point of fact he had been admiring the newly born little girl when
her mother asked the question.
"She's about as perfect as they make 'em," he concluded, placing the
baby beside her mother.
The mother said nothing. From moment to moment she turned her head on
the pillow and gazed down at her new daughter with a curious,
questioning expression. She had never gazed at any of her other
children so uneasily. Even after she fell asleep the slightly puzzled
expression remained as a faint crease between her brows.
Her husband, who had been wandering about from the bar to the office,
from the office to the veranda, and occasionally entirely around the
exterior of the road-house, came in on tiptoe and looked rather
vacantly at them both.
Then he went out again as though he was not sure where he might be
going. He was a little man and mild, and he did not look as though he
had been created for anything in particular, not even for the purpose
of procreation.
It was one of those early April days when birds make a great fuss over
their vocal accomplishments, and the brown earth grows green over
night--when the hot spring sun draws vapours from the soil, and the
characteristic Long Island odour of manure is far too prevalent to
please anybody but a native.
Peter Greensleeve, wandering at hazard around the corner of the
tavern, came upon his business partner, Archer B. Ledlie leisurely
digging for bait in the barn-yard. The latter was in his
shirt-sleeves--always a good sign for continued fair weather.
"Boy?" inquired Ledlie, resting one soil-incrusted boot on his spade.
"Another girl," admitted Greensleeve.
"Gawsh!" After a moment's rumination he picked up a squirming
angle-worm from the edge of the shallow excavation and dropped it into
the empty tomato can.
"Going fishing?" inquired Greensleeve without interest.
"I dunno. Mebbe. Your boy Jack seen a trout into Spring Pond."
Ledlie, who was a large, heavy, red-faced man with a noticeably small
mouth, faded blue eyes, and grey chin whiskers, picked a budding sprig
from a bush, nibbled it, and gravely seated himself on the edge of the
horse-trough. He was wearing a cigar behind his ear which he
presently extracted, gazed at, then reconsidering the extravagance,
replaced.
[Illustration: "'Boy?' inquired Ledlie, resting one soil-incrusted
boot on his spade."]
"Three gals, Pete--that's your record," he remarked, gazing
reproachfully out across the salt meadows beyond the causeway. "They
won't bring you in nothin'," he added, shutting his thin lips.
"I kind of like them," said Greensleeve with a sigh.
"They'll eat their heads off," retorted Ledlie; "then they'll git
married an' go off some'rs. There ain't nothin' to gals nohow. You
oughtn't to have went an' done it."
There seemed to be no further defence for Greensleeve. Ledlie
continued to chew a sprig of something green and tender, revolving it
and rolling it from one side of his small, thin-lipped mouth to the
other. His thin little partner brooded in the sunshine. Once he
glanced up at the sign which swung in front of the road-house: "Hotel
Greensleeve: Greensleeve and Ledlie, proprietors."
"Needs painting, Archie," he volunteered mildly.
"I dunno," said the other. "Since the gunnin' season closed there
ain't been no business except them sports from New York. The bar done
good; that's all."
"There were two commercial men Wednesday week."
"Yes, an' they found fault with their vittles. They can go to the
other place next time," which was as near as Ledlie ever came to
profanity.
After a silence Ledlie said: "Here come your kids, Pete. I guess I'll
let 'em dig a little bait for me."
Down the road they came dancing, and across the causeway over Spring
Pond--Jack, aged four, Doris, three, and Catharine, two; and they
broke into a run when they caught sight of their father, travelling as
fast as their fat little legs could carry them.
"Is there a new baby? Is there a new baby?" shouted Jack, while still
at a distance.
"Is it a boy? I want another brother! Is it a boy?" shrilled Doris as
she and baby Catharine came panting up with flushed and excited faces.
"It's a girl," said Greensleeve mildly. "You'd better go into the
kitchen and wash your faces."
"A girl!" cried Jack contemptuously. "What did mamma do that for?"
"Oh, goodness!" pouted Doris, "I didn't want any more girls around.
What are you going to name her, papa?"
"Athalie, I believe," he said absently.
"Athalie! What kind of name is that?" demanded Jack.
"I dunno. Your mamma wanted it in case the baby was a girl."
The children, breathing hard and rapidly, stood in a silent cluster
looking up at their father. Ledlie yawned frightfully, and they all
instantly turned their eyes on him to discover if possible the
solitary tooth with which rumour credited him. They always gazed
intently into his mouth when he yawned, which irritated him.
"Go on in and wash yourselves!" he said as soon as speech became
possible. "Ain't you heard what your papa told you!"
They were not afraid of Mr. Ledlie; they merely found him
unsympathetic, and therefore concerned themselves with him not at all.
Ignoring him, Jack said, addressing his father: "I nearly caught a
snake up the road. Gee! But he was a dandy."
"He had stripes," said Doris solemnly.
"He wiggled," asserted little Catharine, and her eyes became very
round.
"What kind was he, papa?" inquired Jack.
"Oh, just a snake," replied Greensleeve vaguely.
The eager faces of the children clouded with disappointment; dawning
expectancy faded; it was the old, old tragedy of bread desired, of the
stone offered.
"I liked that snake," muttered Jack. "I wanted to keep him for a pet.
I wanted to know what kind he was. He seemed very friendly."
"Next time," suggested Ledlie, "you pet him on the head with a rock."
"What?"
"Snakes is no good. There's pizen into 'em. You kill every one you see
an' don't ask questions."
In the boy's face intelligence faded. Impulse lay stunned after its
headlong collision with apathy, and died out in the clutch of
ignorance.
"Is that so, papa?" he asked, dully.
"Yes, I guess so," nodded Greensleeve. "Mr. Ledlie knows all about
snakes and things."
"Go on in an' wash!" repeated Ledlie. "You don't git no supper if you
ain't cleaned up for table. Your papa says so, don't you, Pete?"
Greensleeve usually said what anybody told him to say.
"Walk quietly," he added; "your poor mamma's asleep."
Reluctantly the children turned toward the house, gazing inquiringly
up at the curtained window of their mother's room as they trooped
toward the veranda.
Jack swung around on the lower step:
"Papa!" he shouted.
"Well?"
"I forget what her name is!"
"Athalie."