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diff --git a/15135.txt b/15135.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76d85c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/15135.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9809 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Black Pennys, by Joseph Hergesheimer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Three Black Pennys + A Novel + +Author: Joseph Hergesheimer + +Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15135] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE BLACK PENNYS *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Images provided +by the Million Book Project. + + + + + + + + + + +THE THREE BLACK PENNYS + + + + +THE THREE BLACK PENNYS + + +A NOVEL + + +JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS + +_By Arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf_ + +COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY + +ALFRED A. KNOPF + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +_A DEDICATION_ + +_Dear John Hemphill_ + +_This is a record and act of memory +of you at Dower House--of June +nights on the porch, with the foliage +of the willow tree powdered against +the stars; the white-panelled hearth +of the yellow room in smouldering +winter dusks; dinner with the candles +wavering in tepid April airs; and +the blue envelopment of late September +noons. A quiet reach like the old +grey house and green fields, the little +valleys filled with trees and placid +town beyond the hill, where the calendar +of our days and companionship is +set._ + +_Joseph Hergesheimer_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I THE FURNACE + +II THE FORGE + +III THE METAL + + + + +I THE FURNACE + + + + +I + + +A twilight like blue dust sifted into the shallow fold of the thickly +wooded hills. It was early October, but a crisping frost had already +stamped the maple trees with gold, the Spanish oaks were hung with +patches of wine red, the sumach was brilliant in the darkening +underbrush. A pattern of wild geese, flying low and unconcerned above +the hills, wavered against the serene, ashen evening. Howat Penny, +standing in the comparative clearing of a road, decided that the +shifting, regular flight would not come close enough for a shot. He +dropped the butt of his gun to the ground. Then he raised it again, +examining the hammer; the flint was loose, unsatisfactory. There was a +probability that it would miss firing. + +He had no intention of hunting the geese. With the drooping of day his +keenness had evaporated; an habitual indifference strengthened, +permeating him. He turned his dark, young face toward the transparent, +green afterglow; the firm eyebrows drawn up at the temples, sombre eyes +set, too, at a slight angle, a straight nose, impatient mouth and +projecting chin. Below him, and to the left, a heavy, dark flame and +silvery smoke were rolling from the stack of Shadrach Furnace. Figures +were moving obscurely over the way that led from the coal house, set on +the hill, to the top and opening of the furnace; finishing, Howat Penny +knew, the charge of charcoal, limestone and iron ore. + +Shadrach Furnace had been freshly set in blast; it was on that account +he was there, to represent, in a way, his father, who owned a half +interest in the Furnace. However, he had paid little attention to the +formality; his indifference was especially centred on the tedious +processes of iron making, which had, at the same time, made his family. +He had gone far out from the Furnace tract into an utterly uninhabited +and virginal region, where he had shot at, and missed, an impressive +buck and killed a small bear. Now, that he had returned, his apathy once +more flooded him; but he had eaten nothing since morning, and he was +hungry. + +He could go home, over the nine miles of road that bound the Furnace to +Myrtle Forge and the Penny dwelling; there certain of whatever supper he +would elect. But, he decided, he preferred something now, less formal. +There were visitors at Myrtle Forge, Abner Forsythe, who owned the other +half of Shadrach, his son David, newly back from England and the study +of metallurgy, and a Mr. Winscombe, come out to the Provinces in +connection with the Maryland boundary dispute, accompanied by his wife. +All this Howat Penny regarded with profound distaste; necessary social +and conversational forms repelled him. And it annoyed his father when he +sat, apparently morose, against the wall, or retired solitary to his +room. + +He would get supper here; they would be glad to have him at the house of +Peter Heydrick, the manager of the Furnace. Half turning, he could see +the dwelling at his back--a small, grey stone rectangle with a narrow +portico on its solid face and a pale glimmer of candles in the lower +windows. The ground immediately about it was cleared of brush and little +trees, affording Peter Heydrick a necessary, unobstructed view of the +Furnace stack while sitting in his house or when aroused at night. The +dwelling was inviting, at once slipping into the dusk and emerging by +reason of the warm glow within. Mrs. Heydrick, too, was an excellent +cook; there would be plenty of venison, roast partridge, okra soup. +Afterwards, under a late moon, he could go back to Myrtle Forge; or he +might stay at the Heydricks all night, and to-morrow kill such a buck as +he had lost. + +The twilight darkened beneath the trees, the surrounding hills lost +their forms, in the east the distance merged into the oncoming night, +but the west was still translucent, green. There was a faint movement +in the leaves by the roadside, and a grey fox crossed, flattened on the +ground, and disappeared. Howat Penny could see the liquid gleam of its +eyes as it watched him. From the hill by the coal house came the heavy +beating of wild turkeys' wings. + +He could go to Peter Heydrick's, where the venison would be excellent, +and Mrs. Heydrick was celebrated for her guinea pickle with cucumbers; +but ... the Heydricks had no daughter, and the Gilkans had. Thomas +Gilkan was only a founderman; his house had one room below and a +partition above; and Mrs. Gilkan's casual fare could not be compared to +Mrs. Heydrick's inviting amplitude. Yet there was Fanny Gilkan, erect +and flaming haired, who could walk as far as he could himself, and carry +her father's clumsy gun all the way. + +His thoughts, deflected by Fanny Gilkan, left the immediate present of +supper, and rested upon the fact that his--his appreciation of her was +becoming known at the Furnace; while Dan Hesa must be circulating it, +with biting comments, among the charcoal burners. Dan Hesa, although +younger than Howat, was already contracting for charcoal, a forward +young German; and, Fanny had said with a giggle, he was paying her +serious attention. Howat Penny had lately seen a new moroseness among +the charcoal burners that could only have come from the association of +the son of Gilbert Penny and the potential owner of Myrtle Forge with +the founderman's daughter. Charcoal burners were lawless men, fugitive +in character, often escaped from terms of indenture; Dan Hesa was, he +knew, well liked by them; and the hazard created by his attraction to +Fanny Gilkan drew Howat Penny irresistibly away from the superior merits +of the Heydrick table. + +That was his character: denial as a child had filled him with +slow-accumulating rage; later discipline at school had found him utterly +intractable. Something deep and instinctive within him resisted every +effort to make him a part of any social organization, however admirable; +he never formed any personal bonds with humanity in particular. He had +grown into a solitary being within whom were immovably locked all the +confidences, the spontaneous expressions of self, that bind men into a +solidarity of common failings and hopes. He never offered, nor, +apparently, required, any marks of sympathy; as a fact, he rarely +expressed anything except an occasional irrepressible scorn lashing out +at individuals or acts that conspicuously displeased him. This had +occurred more than once at Myrtle Forge, when assemblymen or members of +the Provincial Council had been seated at dinner. + +It was after such a scene that his mother had witnessed perhaps his only +attempt at self-explanation. "I am sorry you were disturbed," he had +pronounced, after standing and regarding her for a silent, frowning +space; "but for me there is something unendurable in men herding like +cattle, protecting their fat with warning boards and fences. I can't +manage the fiddling lies that keep up the whole silly pretence of the +stuffy show. If it gets much thicker," he had threatened, waving vaguely +toward the west, "I'll go out to the Ohio, or the French forts." + +That this was not merely a passive but an active state of mind was amply +expressed by his resolute movement toward Thomas Gilkan's house. He had, +ordinarily, an unusual liking for the charcoal burners, and had spent +many nights in their huts, built, like the charring stacks, of mud and +branches. But, organized by Dan Hesa into an opposition, a criticism of +his choice of way, they offered an epitome of the conditions he derided +and assailed. + +His feeling for Fanny Gilkan was in the greater part understood, +measured; there was a certain amount of inchoate, youthful response to +her sheer physical well being, a vague blur of pleasant sensation at her +proximity; but beyond that he felt no attraction except a careless +admiration for her endurance and dexterity in the woods, a certain +relief in the freedom of her companionship. He had never considered her +concretely as a possible source of physical pleasure. He was not easily +excited sexually, and had had few adventures with women; something of +his contempt, his indifference, removed him from that, too. His emotions +were deep, vital; and hid beneath a shyness of habit that had grown into +a suspicious reserve. All bonds were irksome to him, and instinctively +he avoided the greater with the lesser; instinctively he realized that +the admission of cloying influences, of the entanglements of sex, would +more definitely bind him than any generality of society. + +It had, he thought, grown dark with amazing rapidity. He could now see a +feeble light at the Gilkans, ahead and on the right. At the same moment +a brighter, flickering radiance fell upon the road, the thick foliage of +the trees. The blast was gathering at Shadrach Furnace. A clear, almost +smokeless flame rose from the stack against the night-blue sky. It +illuminated the rectangular, stone structure of the coal-house on the +hill, and showed the wet and blackened roof of the casting shed below. +The flame dwindled and then mounted, hanging like a fabulous oriflamme +on a stillness in which Howat Penny could hear the blast forced through +the Furnace by the great leather bellows. + +He turned in, over the littered ground before the Gilkan house. Fanny +was standing in the doorway, her straight, vigorous body sharp against +the glow inside. "Here's Mr. Howat Penny," she called over her shoulder. +"Is everything off the table? There's not much," she turned to him, "but +the end of the pork barrel." A meagre fire was burning in the large, +untidy hearth; battered tin ovens had been drawn aside, and a pair of +wood-soled shoes were drying. The rough slab of the table, pushed back +against a long seat made of a partly hewed and pegged log, was empty +but for some dull scarred pewter and scraps of salt meat. On the narrow +stair that led above, a small, touselled form was sleeping--one of the +cast boys at the Furnace. + +A thin, peering woman in a hickory-dyed wool dress moved forward +obsequiously. "Mr. Penny!" she echoed the girl's announcement; "and here +I haven't got a thing fit for you. Thomas Gilkan has been too busy to +get out, and Fanny she'll fetch nothing unless the mood's on her. If I +only had a fish I could turn over." She brushed the end of the table +with a frayed sleeve. "You might just take a seat, and I'll look +around." + +Fanny Gilkan listened to her mother with a comprehending smile. Fanny's +face was gaunt, but her grey eyes were wide and compelling, her mouth +was firm and bright; and her hair, her father often said, resembled the +fire at the top of Shadrach. Howat knew that she was as impersonal, as +essentially unstirred, as himself; but he had a clear doubt of Mrs. +Gilkan. The latter was too anxious to welcome him to their unpretending +home; she obviously moved to throw Fanny and himself together, and to +disparage such suits as honest Dan Hesa's. He wondered if the older +woman thought he might marry her daughter. And wondering he came to the +conclusion that the other thing would please the mother almost as well. +She had given him to understand that at Fanny's age she would know how +to please any Mr. Howat Penny that chance fortune might bring her. + +That some such worldly advice had been poured into Fanny's ears he +could not doubt; and he admired the girl's obvious scorn of such wiles +and surrenders. She sat frankly beside him now, as he finished a +wretched supper, and asked about the country in regions to which she had +not penetrated. "It's a three days' trip," he finished a recital of an +excursion of his own. + +"I'd like to go," she returned; "but I suppose I couldn't find it +alone." + +He was considering the possibility of such a journey with her--it would +be pleasant in the extreme--when her mother interrupted them from the +foot of the stair. + +"A sensible girl," she declared, "would think about seeing the sights of +a city, and of a cherry-derry dress with ribbons, instead of all this +about tramping off through the woods with a ragged skirt about your +naked knees." + +Fanny Gilkan's face darkened, and she glanced swiftly at Howat Penny. He +was filling a pipe, unmoved. Such a trip as he had outlined, with Fanny, +was fastening upon his thoughts. It would at once express his entire +attitude toward the world, opinion, and the resentful charcoal burners. + +"You wouldn't really go," he said aloud, half consciously. + +The girl frowned in an effort of concentration, gazing into the thin +light of the dying fire and two watery tallow dips. Her coarsely spun +dress, coloured with sassafras bark and darker than the yellow hickory +stain, drew about her fine shoulders and full, plastic breast. "I'd like +it," she repeated; "but afterward. There is father--" + +She had said father, but Howat Penny determined that she was thinking of +Dan Hesa; Dan was as strong as himself, if heavier; a personable young +man. He would make a good husband. But that, he added, was in the +future; Dan Hesa apparently didn't want to marry Fanny to-morrow, that +week. Meanwhile a trip with him to the headwaters of a creek would not +injure her in the least. His contempt of a world petty and iron-bound in +endless pretence, fanning his smouldering and sullen resentment in +general, flamed out in a determination to take her with him if possible. +It would conclusively define, state, his attitude toward "men herding +like cattle." He did not stop to consider what it might define for Fanny +Gilkan. In the stir of his rebellious self there was no pause for +vicarious approximations. If he thought of her at all it was in the +indirect opinion that she was better without such a noodle as Dan Hesa +threatened to become. + +"I'd get two horses from the Forge," he continued, apparently to his +mildly speculative self; "a few things, not much would be necessary. +That gun you carry," he addressed Fanny indirectly, "is too heavy. I'll +get you a lighter, bound in brass." + +She repeated sombrely, leaning with elbows on the table, her chin in her +hands, "And afterwards--" + +"I thought you were free of that," he observed; "it sounds like the +town women, the barnyard crowd. I thought you were an independent +person. Certainly," he went on coldly, "you can't mistake my attitude. I +like you, but I am not in the least interested in any way that--that +jour mother might appreciate. I am neither a seducer nor the type that +marries." + +"I understand that, Howat," she assured him; "and I think, I'm not sure +but I think, that what you mean wouldn't bother me either. Anyhow it +shouldn't spoil the fun of our trip. But no one else in the world would +believe that simple truth. If you could stay there, in those splendid +woods or a world like them, why, it would be heaven. But you have to +come back, you have to live on, perhaps for a great while, in the world +of Shadrach and Myrtle Forge. I'm not sure that I'd refuse if you asked +me to go, Howat. I just don't know if a woman can stand alone, for +that's what it would come to afterward, against a whole lifeful of +misjudgment. It might be better in the end, for everybody, if she +continued home, made the best of things with the others." + +"You may possibly be right," he told her with a sudden resumption of +indifference. After all, it was unimportant whether or not Fanny Gilkan +went with him to the source of the stream he had discovered. Every one, +it became more and more evident, was alike, monotonous. He wondered +again, lounging back against the wall, about the French forts, outposts +in a vast wilderness. There was an increasing friction between the +Province and France, the legacy of King George's War, but Howat Penny's +allegiance to place was as conspicuous by its absence as the other +communal traits. Beside that, beyond Kaskaskia, at St. Navier and the +North, there was little thought of French or English; the sheer problem +of existence there drowned other considerations. He would, he thought, +go out in the spring ... leave Myrtle Forge with its droning anvil, the +endless, unvaried turning of water wheel, and the facile, trivial +chatter in and about the house. David Forsythe, back from England in the +capacity of master of fluxing metals, might acquire his, Howat's, +interest in the Penny iron. + +Fanny Gilkan said, "You'll burn a hole in your coat with that pipe." He +roused himself, and she moved across the room and pinched the smoking +wicks. The embers on the hearth had expired, and the fireplace was a +sooty, black cavern. Fanny, at the candles, was the only thing clearly +visible; the thin radiance slid over the turn of her cheek; her hovering +hand was like a cut-paper silhouette. It was growing late; Thomas Gilkan +would soon be back from the Furnace; he must go. Howat had no will to +avoid Gilkan, but the thought of the necessary conversational exchange +wearied him. + +The sound of footsteps approached the house from without; it was, he +thought, slightly annoyed, the founderman; but the progress deflected +by the door, circled to a window at the side. A voice called low and +urgent, "Seemy! Seemy!" It was repeated, and there was an answering +mutter from the stair, a thick murmur and a deep sigh. + +The cast boy slipped crumpled and silent in bare feet across the floor. +"Yes," he called back, rapidly waking. + +The voice from without continued, "They're going to start up the Oley." + +"What is it?" Fanny demanded. + +"The raccoon dogs," the boy paused at the door. "A lot of the furnacemen +and woodcutters from round about are hunting." + +Fanny Gilkan leaned across the table to Howat, her face glowing with +interest. "Come ahead," she urged; "we can do this anyhow. I like to +hear the dogs yelping, and follow them through the night. You can bring +your gun, I'll leave mine back, and perhaps we'll get something really +big." + +Howat himself responded thoroughly to such an expedition; to the mystery +of the primitive woods, doubly withdrawn in the dark; the calls of the +others, near or far, or completely lost in a silence of stars; the still +immensity of a land unguessed, mythical--endless trees, endless +mountains, endless rivers with their headwaters buried in arctic +countries beyond human experience, and emptying into the miraculous blue +and gilded seas of the tropics. + +Fanny Gilkan would follow the dogs closely, too, with infinite swing +and zest. She knew the country better than himself, better almost than +any one else at the Furnace. He stirred at her urgency, and she caught +his arm, dragging him from behind the table. She tied a linsey-woolsey +jacket by its arms about her waist, and put out the candles. Outside the +blast was steadily in progress at the stack; the clear glow of the flame +shifted over the nearby walls, glinted on the new yellow of more distant +foliage, fell in sharp or blurred traceries against the surrounding +night. + +They could hear the short, impatient yelps of the dogs; but, before they +reached them, the hunt was away. A lantern flickered far ahead, a minute +blur vanishing through files of trees. Fanny turned to the right, +mounting an abrupt slope thickly wooded toward the crown. A late moon, +past full, shed an unsteady light through interlaced boughs, matted +grape vines, creepers flung from tree to tree; it shone on a hurrying +rill, a bright thread drawn through the brush. Fanny Gilkan jumped +lightly from bank to bank. She made her way with lithe ease through +apparently unbroken tangles. It was Fanny who went ahead, who waited for +Howat to follow across a fallen trunk higher than his waist. She even +mocked him gaily, declared that, through his slowness, they were +hopelessly losing the hunt. + +However, the persistent barking of the dogs contrived to draw them on. +They easily passed the stragglers, left a group gathered about a lantern +and a black bottle. They caught up to the body of men, but preferred to +follow a little outside of the breathless comments and main, stumbling +progress. They stirred great areas of pigeons and countless indifferent +coveys of partridges barely moved to avoid the swiftly falling feet. But +no deer crossed near them, and the crashing of a heavy animal through +the bushes diminished into such a steep gulley that they relinquished +thought of pursuit. The chase continued for an unusual distance; the +moon sank into the far, unbroken forest; the stars brightened through +the darkest hour of the night. + +Fanny Gilkan and Howat proceeded more slowly now, but still they went +directly, without hesitation, in the direction they chose. They crossed +a log felled over a shallow, hurrying creek; the course grew steeper, +more densely wooded. "Ruscomb Manor," Fanny pronounced over her +shoulder. "Since a long way back," he agreed. Finally a sharper, +stationary clamour announced that the object of the hunt had been +achieved, and a raccoon treed. They made their way to the dim +illumination cast on moving forms and a ring of dogs throwing themselves +upward at the trunk of a tree. There was a concerted cry for "Ebo," and +a wizened, grey negro in a threadbare drugget coat with a scarlet +handkerchief about his throat came forward and, kicking aside the dogs, +commenced the ascent of the smooth trunk that swept up to the obscure +foliage above. There was a short delay, then a violent agitation of +branches. A clawing shape shot to the ground, struggled to its feet, but +the raccoon was instantly smothered in a snarling pyramid of dogs. + +Howat Penny was overwhelmingly weary. He had tramped all day, since +before morning; while now another dawn was approaching, and the hunters +were at least ten miles from the Furnace. He would have liked to stay, +sleep, where he was; but the labour of preparing a proper resting place +would be as great as returning to Shadrach. Besides, Fanny Gilkan was +with him, with her new, cautious regard for the world's opinion. They +stood silent for a moment, under a fleet dejection born of the hour and +a cold, seeping mist of which he became suddenly conscious. The barrel +of his gun was wet, and instinctively he wiped off the lock. Two men +passing brushed heavily against him and stopped. "Who is it," one +demanded, "John Rajennas? By God, it's a long way back to old Shadrach +with splintering shoes." A face drew near Howat, and then retreated. +"Oh, Mr. Penny! I didn't know you were up on the hunt." It was, he +recognized, one of the coaling men who worked for Dan Hesa. The other +discovered Fanny Gilkan. "And Fanny, too," the voice grew inimical. The +men drew away, and a sharp whispering fluctuated out of the darkness. + +"Come," Howat Penny said sharply; "we must get back or stay out here for +the rest of the night. I don't mind admitting I'd like to be where I +could sleep." She moved forward, now tacitly taking a place behind him, +and he led the return, tramping doggedly in the shortest direction +possible. + +The hollows and stream beds were filled with the ghostly mist, and +bitterly chill; the night paled slightly, diluted with grey; there was a +distant clamour of crows. They entered the Furnace tract by a path at +the base of the rise from where they had started. On the left, at a +crossing of roads, one leading to Myrtle Forge, the other a track for +the charcoal sleds, a blacksmith's open shed held a faint smoulder on +the hearth. The blast from Shadrach Furnace rose perpendicular in the +still air. + +Fanny Gilkan slipped away with a murmur. Howat abandoned all thought of +returning to Myrtle Forge that night. But it was, he corrected the +conclusion, morning. The light was palpable; he could see individual +trees, the bulk of the cast-house, built directly against the Furnace; +in the illusive radiance the coal house on the hill seemed poised on top +of the other structures. A lantern made a reddish blur in the +cast-house; it was warm in there when a blast was in progress, and he +determined to sleep at once. + +Thomas Gilkan, with a fitful light, was testing the sealing clay on the +face of the Furnace hearth; two men were rolling out the sand for the +cast over the floor of the single, high interior, and another was +hammering on a wood form used for stamping the pig moulds. The interior +was soothing; the lights, blurred voices, the hammering, seemed to +retreat, to mingle with the subdued, smooth clatter of the turning wheel +without, the rhythmic collapse of the bellows. Howat Penny was losing +consciousness when an apparently endless, stuttering blast arose close +by. He cursed splenetically. It was the horn, calling the Furnace hands +for the day; and he knew that it would continue for five minutes. + +Others had entered; a little group gathered about Thomas Gilkan's waning +lantern. Far above them a window glimmered against the sooty wall. Howat +saw that Dan Hesa was talking to Gilkan, driving in his words by a fist +smiting a broad, hard palm. The group shifted, and the countenance of +the man who had recognized Howat Penny in the woods swam into the pale +radiance. His lassitude swiftly deserted him, receding before the +instant resentment always lying at the back of his sullen +intolerance--they were discussing him, mouthing some foul imputation +about the past night. Hesa left the cast-house abruptly, followed by the +charcoal burner; and Howat rose, the length of his rifle thrust forward +under his arm, and walked deliberately forward. + +The daylight was increasing rapidly; and, as he approached, Thomas +Gilkan extinguished the flame of the lantern. He was a small man, with a +face parched by the heat of the furnace, and a narrowed, reddened vision +without eyebrows or lashes. He was, Howat had heard, an unexcelled +founder, a position of the greatest importance to the quality of metal +run. There was a perceptible consciousness of this in the manner in +which Gilkan moved forward to meet Gilbert Penny's son. + +"I don't want to give offence," the founderman said, "but, Mr. Penny, +sir--" he stopped, commenced again without the involuntary mark of +respect. "Mr. Penny, stay away from my house. There is more that I could +say but I won't. That is all--keep out of my place. No names, please." + +Howat Penny's resentment swelled in a fiery anger at the stupidity that +had driven Thomas Gilkan into making his request. A sense of humiliation +contributed to an actual fury, the bitterer for the reason that he could +make no satisfactory reply. Gilkan was a freedman; while he was +occupying a dwelling at Shadrach Furnace it was his to conduct as he +liked. Howat's face darkened--the meagre fool! He would see that there +was another head founder here within a week. + +But there were many positions in the Province for a man of Gilkan's +ability, there were few workmen of his sensitive skill with the charge +and blast. Not only Howat's father, but Abner Forsythe as well, would +search to the end all cause for the founderman's leaving. And, in +consequence of that, any detestable misunderstanding must increase. He +determined, with an effort unaccustomed and arduous, to ignore the +other; after all Gilkan was but an insignificant mouthpiece for the +familiar ineptitude of the world at large. Thomas Gilkan might continue +at the Furnace without interference from him; Fanny marry her stupid +labourer. Howat had seen symptoms of that last night. He would no longer +complicate her existence with avenues of escape from a monotony which +she patently elected. + +"Very well, Gilkan," he agreed shortly, choking on his wrath. He turned +and tramped shortly from the interior. A sudden, lengthening sunlight +bathed the open and a sullen group of charcoal burners about Dan Hesa. +Their faces seemed ebonized by the grinding in of particles of blackened +wood. Some women, even, in gay, primitive clothes, stood back of the +men. As Howat passed, a low, hostile murmur rose. He halted, and met +them with a dark, contemptuous countenance, and the murmur died in a +shuffling of feet in the dry grass. He turned again, and walked slowly +away, when a broken piece of rough casting hurtled by his head. In an +overpowering rage he whirled about, throwing his rifle to his shoulder. +A man detached from the group was lowering his arm; and, holding the +sights hard on the other's metal-buttoned, twill jacket, Howat pulled +the trigger. There was only an answering dull, ineffectual click. + +The rifle slid to the ground, and Howat stared, fascinated, at the man +he had attempted to kill. The charcoal burners were stationary before +the momentary abandon of Howat Penny's temper. "Right at me," the man +articulated who had been so nearly shot into oblivion. "--saw the hammer +fall." A tremendous desire to escape possessed Howat; a violent chill +overtook him; his knees threatened the loss of all power to hold him up. +He stepped backward, his gun stock trailing over the inequalities of the +ground; then he swung about, and, in an unbroken silence, stumbled away. + +He was not running from anything the charcoal burner might say, do, but +from a terrifying spectacle of himself; from the vision of a body shot +through the breast, huddled in the sere underbrush. He was aghast at the +unsuspected possibility revealed, as it were, out of a profound dark by +the searing flash of his anger, cold at the thought of such absolute +self-betrayal. Howat saw in fancy the bald triumph of a society to which +his act consummated would have delivered him; a society that, as his +peer, would have judged, condemned, him. Hundreds of faces--faces mean, +insignificant, or pock-marked--merged into one huge, dominant +countenance; hundreds of bodies, unwashed or foul with disease, or +meticulously clean, joined in one body, clothed in the black robe of +delegated authority, and loomed above him, gigantic and absurd and +powerful, and brought him to death. Deeper than his horror, than any +fear of physical consequences, lay the instinctive shrinking from the +obliteration of his individual being, the loss of personal freedom. + + + + +II + + +He was possessed by an unaccustomed desire to be at Myrtle Forge; +usually it was the contrary case, and he was escaping from the +complicated civilisation of his home; but now the well-ordered house, +the serenity of his room, appeared astonishingly inviting. Howat +progressed rapidly past the smithy, and turned to the right, about the +Furnace dam, a placid and irregular reach of water holding the +reflection of the trees on a mirror still dulled by a vanishing trace of +mist, above which the leaves hung in the motionless air, in the aureate +wash of the early sun, as if they had been pressed from gold foil. +Beyond the dam the path--he had left the road that connected Forge and +Furnace for a more direct way--followed the broad, rippling course of +the Canary, the stream that supplied the life of Myrtle Forge. He +automatically avoided the breaks in the rough trail; his mind, a dark +and confused chamber, still lighted by appalling flashes of memory. A +thing as slight, as incalculable, as a loose flint had been all that +prevented.... He wondered if Fanny and Thomas Gilkan were right in their +shared conviction; Fanny half persuaded, but the elder with a finality +stamped with an accent of the heroic. Whether or not they were right +didn't concern him, he decided; his only problem was to keep outside +all such entanglements. And at present he wanted to sleep. + +The path left the creek and joined the road that swept about the face of +the dwelling at Myrtle Forge. The lawn, squarely raised from the public +way by a low brick terrace, showed the length of house behind the +dipping, horizontal branches, the beginning, pale gold, of a widespread +beech. It was a long structure of but two stories, built solidly out of +a dark, flinty stone with an indefinite pinkish glow against the lush +sod and sombre, flat greenery of a young English ivy about a narrow, +stiff portico. + +Howat crossed the lawn above the house, where a low wing, holding the +kitchen and pantries, extended at right angles from the dwelling's +length. A shed with a flagging of broad stones lay inside the angle, +where a robust girl with an ozenbrigs skirt caught up on bare legs and +feet thrust into wooden clogs was scrubbing a steaming line of iron +pots. He quickly entered the centre hall from a rear door, and mounted, +as he hoped, without interruption to his room. That interior was +singularly restful, pleasant, after the confused and dishevelling night. + +The sanded floor, patterned with a broom, held no carpet, nor were the +walls covered, but white and bare save for a number of small, framed +engravings--a view of Boston Harbour, Queene Anne's Tomb, and some black +line satirical portrait prints. A stone fireplace, ready for lighting, +had iron dogs and fender, and a screen lacquered in flowery wreaths on +a slender black stem. At one side stood a hinge-bound chest, its oak +panels glassy with age; on the other, an English set of drawers held a +mirror stand and scattered trifles--razors and gold sleeve-buttons, a +Barcelona handkerchief, candlesticks and flint, a twist of common, +pig-tail tobacco; while from a drawer knob hung a banian of bright +orange Chinese silk with a dark blue cord. + +By the side of his curled black walnut bed, without drapery, and set, +like a French couch, low on three pairs of spiral legs, was a deep +cushioned chair into which he sank and dragged off his sodden buckskin +breeches. The room wavered and blurred in his weary vision--squat, +rush-bottomed Dutch chairs seemed to revolve about a table with +apparently a hundred legs, a bearskin floated across the floor.... He +secured the banian; and, swathing himself in its cool, sibilant folds, +he fell, his face hid in an angle of his arm, into an immediate profound +slumber. + +The shadows of late afternoon were once more gathering when he woke. He +lay, with hands clasped behind his head, watching a roseate glow +disperse from the room. From without came the faint, clear voice of +Marta Appletofft, across the road at the farm, calling the chickens; and +he could hear the querulous whistling of the partridges that invariably +deserted the fringes of forest to join the domesticated flocks at feed +time. A sense of well-being flooded him; the project of St. Xavier, the +French forts, drew far away; never before had he found Myrtle Forge so +desirable. He was, he thought, growing definitely older. He was +twenty-five. + +A light knock fell on his door, and he answered comfortably, thinking +that it was his mother. But it was Caroline, his oldest sister. "How you +have slept," she observed, closing the door at her back; "it was hardly +nine when you came in, and here it is five. Mother heard you." Caroline +Penny was a warm, unbeautiful girl with a fine, slender body, two years +younger than himself. Her colouring was far lighter than Howat's; she +had sympathetic hazel eyes, an inviting mouth, an illusive depression in +one cheek that alone saved her from positive ugliness, and tobacco brown +hair worn low with a long, turned strand. She had on a pewter-coloured, +informal wrap over a black silk petticoat, lacking hoops, with a cut +border of violet and silver brocade; and above low, green kid stays with +coral tulip blossoms worked on the dark velvet of foliage were glimpses +of webby linen and frank, young flesh. + +She came to the edge of the bed, where she sat with a yellow morocco +slipper swinging from a silk clocked, narrow foot. He liked Caroline, +Howat lazily thought. Although she did not in the least resemble their +mother in appearance--she could not pretend to such distinction of +being--Caroline unmistakably possessed something of the other's +personality, far more than did Myrtle. She said generally, patently only +delaying for the moment communications of much greater interest than +himself, "Where were you last night?" He told her, and she plunged at +once into a rich store of information. + +"Did you know that Mr. and Mrs. Winscombe are staying on? It's so, +because of the fever in the city. David and his father stopped all +night, too, and only left after breakfast. He's insane about London, but +I could see that he's glad to get back to the Province. Mr. Forsythe is +very abrupt, but ridiculously proud of him--" + +"These Winscombes," Howat interrupted, "what about them? The Forsythes +are a common occurrence." + +"David's been gone more than three years," she replied. "And you should +hear him talk; he's got a coat with wired tails in his box he's dying to +wear, but is afraid of his father. Oh, the Winscombes! Well, he's rather +sweet, sixty or sixty-five years old; very straight up the back, and +wears the loveliest wigs. His servant fixes them on a stand--he turns +the curls about little rolls of clay, ties them with paper, and then +bakes it in the oven like a pudding. The servant is an Italian with a +long duck's bill of a nose and quick little black eyes. He makes our +negro women giggle like anything. It's evident he is fearfully +impertinent. And, what do you think?--he hooks Mrs. Winscombe into her +stays! Mother says that that isn't anything, really; Mrs. Winscombe is a +lady of the court, and the most extraordinary happenings go on there. +You see, mother knows a lot about her family, and it's very good; she's +part Polish and part English, and her name's Ludowika. She's ages +younger than her husband. + +"Myrtle doesn't like her,--" she stopped midway in her torrent of +information. "I came in to talk to you about Myrtle," she went on in a +different voice; "that is, partly about Myrtle, but more of myself and +of--" + +"How long are the others going to stay?" he cut in heedlessly. + +"I don't know," she again repressed her own desire; "perhaps they will +have to go back to Annapolis--don't ask me why--but they hope to sail +from Philadelphia in a week or so. She has marvellous clothes, and I +asked her if she would send me some babies from London. You know what +they are, Howat--little wooden dolls to show off the fashion; but she +made a harrowing joke, right in front of father and Mrs. Forsythe. The +things she says are just beyond description; it seems that it's all +right to talk anyway now if you call it classic. And she has fans with +pictures and rhymes on, honestly--" words apparently failed her. + +Howat laughed. "Little Innocence," he said. He fell silent, thinking of +their mother. The court, he knew, had been her right, too, by birth; and +he wondered if, with the reminder of Mrs. Winscombe and her reflections +of St. James, she regretted her marriage and removal to the Province. +She was essentially lady, while Gilbert Penny had been the son of a +small country squire. He had seen a profile of his father as a young +man, at the time he had first met Isabel Kingsfrere Howat. It was a +handsome profile, perhaps a shade heavy, but admirably balanced and +stamped with decisive power. He had characteristically invested almost +his last shilling in a tract of eight hundred acres in Pennsylvania and +the passage of himself and his bride to the Province. + +It was natural for men so to adventure, but Howat thought of Isabel +Penny with, perhaps, the only marked admiration he felt for any being. +There had been a period, short but strenuous, of material difficulties, +in which the girl--she had been hardly a woman in years--entirely +unprepared for such a different activity, had been finely competent and +courageous. This had not endured long because Gilbert Penny had been +successful almost from the first day of his landing in a new world. +Chance letters had enlisted the confidence of David Forsythe, a Quaker +merchant of property and increasing importance; the latter became a part +owner of an iron furnace situated not far from the Penny holding; he +assisted Gilbert in the erection of a forge; and in less than twenty +years Gilbert Penny had grown to be a half proprietor in the Furnace, +with-- + +"Howat," Caroline broke in on his thoughts sharply, "I came in, as I +said, to talk about something very important to me, and I intend to do +it." Even after that decided announcement she hesitated, a deeper +colour stained her dear cheeks. "You mustn't laugh at me," she warned +him; "or think I'm horrid. I can talk to you like this because you seem +a--a little outside of things, as if you were looking on at a rather +poorly done play; and you are entirely honest yourself." + +He nodded condescendingly, his interest at last retrieved from the +contemplation of his mother as a young woman. + +"It's about David," Caroline stated almost defiantly. "Howat, I think +I'm very fond of David. No, you mustn't interrupt me. When he went away +I liked him a lot; but now that he is back, and quite grown up, it's +more than liking ... Howat. His father brought him out here right away +he returned, and for a special reason. He was very direct about it; he +wants David to marry--Myrtle. I heard father--yes, I listened--and him +talking it over, and our old darling was pleased to death. It's natural, +Mr. Forsythe is one of the most influential men in the city; and father +adores Myrtle more than anything else in the world." She paused, and he +studied her in a growing wonder; suddenly she seemed older, her mouth +was drawn in a hard line: a new Caroline. "You know Myrtle," she added. + +He did, and considered the youngest Penny with a new objectivity. Myrtle +was an extremely pretty, even a beautiful girl. "You know Myrtle," she +repeated; "and why father is so blind is more than I can understand. +She doesn't care a ribbon for truth, she never thinks of anything but +her own comfort and clothes, and--and she'd make David miserable. Myrtle +simply can't fancy anybody but herself. That's very different from me, +Howat; or yourself. You would be a burning lover." He laughed +incredulously. "And I, well, I know what I feel. + +"It's practically made up for David to marry Myrtle, that is, to urge it +all that's possible; and she will never care for him, while all he +thinks of now is how good looking she is. I want David, terribly," she +said, sitting erect with shut hands; "and I will be expected to step +aside, to keep out of the way while Myrtle poses at him. Oh, I know all +about it. I see her rehearsing before the glass. Or I will be expected +to act as a contrast, a plain background, for Myrtle's beauty. + +"You see, there is no one I can talk to but yourself. Even mother +wouldn't understand, completely; and she couldn't be honest about +Myrtle. The best of mothers, after all, are women; and, Howat, there is +always a curious formality between women, a little stiffness." + +"Well," he demanded, "what do you want me to say, or what did you think +I might do?" + +"I don't know," she admitted, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I +suppose I just wanted a little support, or even some encouragement. I +don't propose to let Myrtle walk off with David and not turn my hand. +Of course I am not a beauty, but then I'm not a ninny, either. And I +have a prettier figure; that is, it will still be pretty in ten or +fifteen years; Myrtle's soft." + +"Good heavens," he exclaimed, half serious, "what Indians you all are!" + +"I'm quite shameless," she admitted, "and this is really what I +thought--you can, perhaps, help me sometimes, I don't know how, but he +will be out here a lot, men talk together--" + +"And I can tell him that Myrtle is an utterly untrustworthy person who +would make him ultimately miserable. I'll remind him that her beauty is +no deeper than he sees it. But that Caroline there, admirable girl, +seething with affection in a figure warranted against time or +accident--" her expression brought his banter to an end. He studied her +seriously, revolved what she had said. She was right about Myrtle, who +was undoubtedly a vain and silly little fish. His father's immoderate +admiration for her had puzzled him as well as the elder sister. He +remembered that never had he heard their mother express a direct opinion +of Myrtle; but neither had Isabel Penny shown the slightest question of +her husband's high regard for their youngest child. She was, he realized +with a warming of his admiration, beautifully cultivated in the wisdom +of the world. + +Caroline was vastly preferable to Myrtle, he felt that instinctively; +and he was inclined to give her whatever assistance he could. But this +would be negligible, and he said so. "You will have to do the trick by +yourself," he advised her. "I wouldn't pretend to tell you how. As you +said, you're not a ninny. And Myrtle's none too clever, although she +will manage to seem so. It's wonderful how she'll pick up a hint or two +and make a show. You see--she will be talking iron to David as if she +had been raised in a furnace." + +"Men are so senseless!" Caroline exclaimed viciously. She rose. "It's +been a help only to talk to you, Howat. I knew you'd understand. Supper +will be along soon. Make yourself into a charmer for Mrs. Winscombe. I'm +certain she thinks the men out here are frightful hobs." The light had +dimmed rapidly in the room, and he moved over to the chest of drawers, +where he lit the candles, settling over them their tall, carved glass +cylinders. + + + + +III + + +He dressed slowly, all that Caroline had said, and he thought, tangling +and disentangling deliberately in his mind. Mrs. Winscombe ... thinking +there were no presentable men in the Provinces. His hand strayed in the +direction of a quince-coloured satin coat; but he chose instead a +commonplace, dun affair with pewter buttons, and carelessly settled his +shoulders in an unremarkable waistcoat. Then, although he could hear a +concerted stir of voices below that announced impending supper, he +slipped into a chair for half a pipe. He was indifferent, not diffident, +and there was no hesitation in the manner in which he finally approached +the company seated at supper. His place was, as usual, at his mother's +side; but opposite him where Myrtle usually sat was a rigid, high +shouldered man in mulberry and silver, jewelled buckles, and a full, +powdered wig. He had thin, dark cheeks, a heavy nose above a firm mouth +with a satirical droop, and small, unpleasantly penetrating eyes. An +expression of general malice was, however, corrected by a high and +serene brow. + +"Mr. Winscombe," Howat Penny's mother said, "my son." The former bowed +with formal civility, but gave a baffling effect of mockery which, +Howat discovered, enveloped practically every movement and speech. He +was, he said, enchanted to meet Mr. Penny; and that extravagant +expression, delivered in a slightly harsh, negligent voice, heightened +the impression of a personality strong and cold; a being as obdurate as +an iron bar masquerading in coloured satin and formulating pretty +phrases like the sheen on the surface of a deep November pool. Gilbert +Penny echoed the introduction at the other end of the table. + +Howat saw, in the yellow candlelight, a woman not, he decided, any +better looking than Caroline, in an extremely low cut gown of scarlet, +with a rigid girdle of saffron brocade, a fluted tulle ruff tied with a +scarlet string about a long, slim neck, and a cap of sheer cambric with +a knot of black ribbons. Her eyes were widely opened and dark, her nose +short, and her mouth full and petulant. She, too, was conventionally +adequate; but her insincerity was clearer than her husband's, it was +pronounced quickly, in an impertinent and musical voice, without the +slightest pretence of the injection of any interest. Howat Penny felt, +in a manner which he was unable to place, that she vaguely resembled +himself; perhaps it lay in her eyebrows slanting slightly toward the +temples; but it was vaguer, more elusive, than that. + +He considered it idly, through the course of supper. At intervals he +heard her voice, a little, high-pitched laugh with a curious, +underlying flatness: not of tone, her modulations were delicate and +exact; but deeper. Again he was dimly conscious of an aspect of her +which eluded every effort to fix and define. He could not even +comprehend his dwelling upon the immaterial traits of a strange and +indifferent woman; he was at a loss to understand how such inquiries +assailed him. He grew, finally, annoyed, and shut his mind to any +further consideration of her. + +Mrs. Penny was talking with charming earnestness to the man on her other +hand. The amber radiance flickered over the beautiful curves of her +shoulders and cast a warm shadow at the base of her throat. She smiled +at her son; and her face, in spite of its present gaiety, held a +definite reminder of her years, almost fifty; but when she turned again +her profile, with slightly tilted nose and delightfully fresh lips and +chin, was that of a girl no older than Caroline. Howat had often noticed +this. It was amazing--with that slight movement she would seem to lose +at once all the years that had accumulated since she was newly married. +In a second she would appear to leave them all, her mature children, the +heavy, palpably aging presence of Gilbert Penny, the house and +obligations that had grown about her, and be remotely young, a stranger +to the irrefutable proof that her youth had gone. At such moments he was +almost reluctant to claim her attention, to bring her again, as it were, +into the present, with so much spent, lapsed: at times he almost +thought, in that connection, wasted. + +She had, in addition to her profile, a spirit of youth that had remained +undimmed; as if there were within her a reserve warmth, a priceless +gift, which life had never claimed; and it was the contemplation of that +which gave Howat the impression that Isabel Penny's life had not fully +flowered. He had never known her to express a regret of the way she had +taken; he had never even surprised her in a perceptible retrospective +dejection; but the conviction remained. Gilbert Penny had been an almost +faultless husband, tender and firm and successful; but his wife had come +from other blood and necessities than domestic felicities; she had been +a part of a super-cultivation, a world of such niceties as the flawless +courtesy of Mr. Winscombe discussing with her the unhappy passion of the +Princess Caroline for Lord Hervey. + +Howat Penny thought sombrely of love, of the emotion that had +brought--or betrayed?--Isabel Howat so far away from her birthright. It +had gripped his sister no less tyrannically; stripping them, he +considered, of their essential liberty. The thing was clear enough in +his mind--nothing more than an animal instinct, humiliating to the human +individual, to breed. It was the mere repetition of nature through the +working of an automatic law. No such obscure fate, he determined, should +overtake, obliterate, him. Yet it had involved his mother, a person of +the first superiority. A slight chill, as if a breath of imminent winter +had touched him, communicated itself to his heart. + +A trivial conversation was in progress across the table between Mrs. +Winscombe and Myrtle. The latter was an embodiment of the familiar Saxon +type of beauty; her hair was fair, infinitely pale gold, her complexion +a delicately mingled crimson and white, her eyes as candidly blue as +flowers. Her features were finely moulded, and her shoulders, slipping +out from azure lutestring, were like smooth handfuls of meringue. Her +voice was always formal, and it sounded stilted, forced, in comparison +with Mrs. Winscombe's easy periods. + +The supper ended, and the company trailed into a drawing room at the +opposite end of the house from the kitchen wing. Howat delayed, and +Caroline, urged forward by Mr. Winscombe's sardonically ubiquitous bow, +half lingered to cast back a glance of private understanding at her +brother. When he decided reluctantly to follow he was kept back by the +sound of a familiar explanation in his father's decisive, full tones. + +"Howat," he pronounced, obviously addressing the elder Winscombe, "is a +black Penny. That is what we call them in our family. You see, the +Pennys, some hundreds of years back, acquired a strong Welsh strain. I +take it you are familiar with the Welsh--a solitary-living, dark lot. +Unamenable to influence, reflect their country, I suppose; but lovers +of music. I have a touch of that. Now any one would think that such a +blood, so long ago, would have spread out, been diluted, in a thick +English stock like the Pennys; or at least that we would all have had a +little, here and there. But nothing of the sort; it sinks entirely out +of sight for two or three and sometimes four generations; and then +appears solid, in one individual, as unslacked as the pure, original +thing. The last one was burned as a heretic in Mary's day; although I +believe he would have equally stayed Catholic if the affair had been the +other way around. Opposition's their breath. This boy--" + +"You must not figure to yourself, Mr. Winscombe," Mrs. Penny's even +voice admirably cut in, "that the black is a word of reproach. I think +we are both at times at a loss with Howat, he is so different from us, +from the girls; but he is truly remarkable. I have an unusual affection +for him; really, his honesty is extraordinary." + +He ought, he knew, either follow the others into the drawing room or +move farther away. His father's explanation repelled him; but his +mother's capital defence--it amounted to that--made it evident to him +that he should, by his presence, give her what support he could. + +At the fireplace Gilbert Penny was lost in conversational depths with +Mr. Winscombe. About the opening, now closed for the introduction of a +hearth stove, were tiles picturing in gay glazes the pastoral history +of Ruth, and above the mantel a long, clear mirror held a similitude of +brilliant colour--the scarlet of Mrs. Winscombe's gown, Myrtle's azure +lutestring on a petticoat of ruffled citron spreading over her hoops and +little white kid slippers with gilt heels, Caroline's flowered Chinese +silk. The room was large and square, with a Turkey floor carpet, and +walls hung with paper printed in lavender and black perspectives from +copper plates. A great many candles had been lighted, on tables and +mantel, and in lacquer stands. One of the latter, at Mrs. Winscombe's +side, showed her features clearly. + +Howat Penny saw that while she was actually no prettier than Caroline +she was infinitely more vivid and compelling. Her face held an +extraordinary potency; her bare arms and shoulders were more insistent +than his sister's; there was about her a consciousness of the allurement +of body, frankness in its employment. She made no effort to mask her +feeling, which at present was one of complete indifference to her +surroundings; and, not talking, a shadow had settled on her vision. +Caroline was seated on a little sofa across from the fireplace, and she +moved her voluminous skirt aside, made a place for him. + +"Almost nothing of Annapolis," Mrs. Winscombe replied to a query of what +she had seen in Maryland. "We were there hardly two weeks, and I hadn't +recovered from the trip across the sea. When I think of returning God +knows I'd almost stay here. You wouldn't suppose one person could vent +so much. I believe Felix went to a Jockey Club, there were balls and +farces; but I kept in bed." Mrs. Penny asked, "And London--how are you +amused there now?" The other retied the bow of a garter. "Fireworks, +Roman candles to Mr. Handel's music, and Italian parties, Villeggiatura. +Covent Garden with paper lanterns among the trees, seductions--" + +Gilbert Penny smote his hands on the chair arms. "This hectoring of our +commerce will have to rest somewhere!" he declared; "taking the duty +from pig iron, and then restricting its market to London, is no +conspicuous improvement. It is those enactments that provide our +currency with Spanish pieces instead of English pounds. The West Indies +are too convenient to be overlooked." Mr. Winscombe replied stiffly, +"The Government is prepared to meet infractions of its law." Mr. Penny +muttered a period about Germany in England, with a more distant echo of +Hanoverian whores and deformed firebrands. His guest sat with a harsh, +implacable countenance framed in the long shadows of his elaborate wig, +his ornate coat tails falling stiffly on either side of his chair. + +Howat, bred in the comparative simplicity of the Province, found the +foppery of the aging man slightly ridiculous; yet he was aware that Mr. +Winscombe's essential character had no expression in his satin and +powder; his will was as rugged and virile as that of any adventuring +frontiersman clad in untanned hides. He was, Howat decided, at little +disadvantage with his young wife. He wondered if any deep bond bound the +two. Their personal feelings were carefully concealed, and in this they +resembled Isabel Howat, rather than Gilbert, her husband. The latter had +a habit of expressing publicly his affectionate domestic relations. And +Howat Penny decided that he vastly preferred the others' reserve. + +An awkward silence had developed on top of the brief political +acerbities. There was no sound but the singing of the wood in the open +stove. Myrtle had an absent, speculative gaze; Caroline was biting her +lip; Mrs. Winscombe yawned in the face of the assembly. Gilbert Penny +suggested cards, but there was no reply. Howat left the room by a door +that opened on a rock threshold set in the lawn. The night was +immaculate, still and cold, with stars brightening in the advance of +winter. He walked about the house. The counting room of the forge was a +separate stone structure back of the kitchen; and to the right, and +farther away, was a second small building. The ground fell rapidly down +to the Forge on the water power below. He could barely discern the +towering bulk of the water wheel and roofs of the sheds. + +He felt uneasy, obscurely and emotionally disturbed. Already Fanny +Gilkan seemed far away, to have dropped out of his life. He would give +some gold to the charcoal burner he had attempted to shoot. Mrs. +Winscombe annoyed him by her attitude toward Myrtle Forge, her +unvarnished air of condescension. How old was she? A few years more than +himself, he decided. The Italian hooked her into her stays. A picture of +this formed in his thoughts and dissolved, leaving behind a faint +stinging of his nerves. He recalled her bare--naked--arms ... the old +man, her husband. + +She had spoken of Italian parties; he had seen a picture on a fan +labelled Villeggiatura--a simpering exquisite in a lascivious embrace +with a frail beauty on the bank of a stream, and a garland of stripped +loves reeling about a slim, diapered Harlequin. It was a different +scene, a different world, from the Province; and its intrusion in the +person of Mrs. Winscombe was like an orris-scented air moving across the +face of great trees sweeping their virginal foliage into the region of +strong and pure winds. + +He was dimly conscious of the awakening in him of undivined pressures, +the stirring of attenuated yet persisting influences. He was saturated +in the space, the sheer, immense simplicity of the wild, hardly touched +by the narrow strip of inhabited coast. He had given his existence to +the woods, to hunting cunning beasts, the stoical endurance of blinding +fatigue; he had scorned the, to him, sophistications of bricks and +civilization. But now, in the length of an evening, something invidious +and far different had become sentient in his being. Italian parties, and +Covent Garden with lanterns among the trees ... Trees clipped and +pruned, and gravel walks; seductions. + +A falling meteor flashed a brilliant arc across the black horizon, +dropping into what illimitable wilderness? Fireworks set to the shrill +scraping of violins. One mingled with the other in his blood, fretting +him, spoiling the serene and sure vigour of youth, binding his feet to +the obscure past. Yet colouring all was the other, the black Welsh blood +of the Pennys. Ever since his boyhood he had heard the fact of his +peculiar inheritance explained, accepted. In the past he had been what +he was without thought, self-appraisal. But now he recognized an +essential difference from his family; it came over him in a feeling of +loneliness, of removal from the facile business of living in general. + +For the first time he wondered about his future. It was unguarded by the +placid and safe engagements of the majority of lives. He would, he knew, +ultimately possess Myrtle Forge, a part of Shadrach, and a considerable +fortune. That was his obvious inheritance. But, suddenly, the material +thing, the actual, grew immaterial, and the visionary assumed a dark and +enigmatic reality. + +Howat abruptly quitted the night of the lawn, his sombre questioning, +for the house. The candles had been extinguished in the drawing room. A +square, glass lamp hung at the foot of the stairs; and there he +encountered a man in a scratch wig, with a long nose flattened at the +end. He bowed obsequiously--a posturing figure in shirtsleeves with a +green cloth waistcoat and black legs. The Italian servant, Howat +concluded. He passed noiselessly, leaving a reek of pomatum and the +memory of a servile smile. Howat Penny experienced a strong sense of +distaste, almost depression, at the other's silent proximity. It +followed him to his room, contaminated his sleep with unintelligible +whispering, oily and disturbing gestures, and fled only at the widening +glimmer of dawn. + + + + +IV + + +The sun had almost reached the zenith before Mrs. Winscombe appeared +from her room. And at the same moment David Forsythe arrived on a spent +grey mare. He had come over the forty rough miles which separated Myrtle +Forge from the city in less than five hours. He was a year older than +Howat, but he appeared actually younger--a candid youth with high colour +and light, simply tied hair. He had, he told Howat, important messages +from his father to Mr. Winscombe. The latter and Gilbert Penny were +conversing amicably in the lower room at the right of the stairway--a +chamber with a bed that, nevertheless, was used for informal assemblage. +Mr. Winscombe wore an enveloping banian of russet brocade with deep +furred cuffs, and a turban of vermilion silk comfortably replacing a +wigged formality. Under that brilliant colour his face was as yellow as +an orange. + +The written messages were delivered, and David returned to the lawn. The +day was superb--a crystal cold through which the sun's rays filtered +with a faintly perceptible glow. Caroline was standing at Howat's side, +and she gave his hand a rapid pressure as David Forsythe approached. +"Where's Myrtle?" the latter asked apparently negligently. Howat +replied, "Still in the agony of fixing her hair--for dinner; she'll be +at it again before supper." David whistled a vague tune. Caroline added, +"You've got fearfully dressy yourself, since London." He replied +appropriately, and then became more serious. "I wish," he told them, +"that we belonged to the church of England; you know the Penns have gone +back. It's pretty heavy at home after--after some other things. The +Quakers didn't use to be so infernally solemn. You should see the swells +about the Court; the greatest fun. And old George with a face like a +plum--" + +"Don't you find anything here that pleases you?" Caroline demanded with +asperity. + +"Myrtle's all right," he admitted; "not many of them are as pretty." + +"I'll tell her you've come," Caroline promptly volunteered; "she won't +keep you waiting. There she is! No, it's Mrs. Winscombe." + +She was swathed in a ruffled lilac cloak quilted with a dull gold +embroidery; satin slippers were buckled into high pattens of black +polished wood; and her head, relatively small with tight-drawn hair, was +uncovered. She was not as compelling under the sun as in candle light, +he observed. Her face, unpainted, was pale, an expression of petulance +discernible. Yet she was more potent than any other woman he had +encountered. "Isn't that the garden?" she asked, waving beyond the end +of the house. "I like gardens." She moved off in the direction +indicated; and--as he felt she expected, demanded--he followed slightly +behind. + +A short, steep terrace descended to a formally planted plot, now +flowerless, enclosed by low privet hedges. There were walks of rolled +bark, and, against a lower, denser barrier, a long, white bench. The +ground still fell away beyond; and there was a sturdy orchard, cleared +of underbrush, with crimson apples among the grey limbs. Beyond, across +a low, tangled wild, an amphitheatre of hills rose against the sky, +drawn from the extreme right about the facade of the dwelling. They +seemed to enclose Myrtle Forge in a natural domain of its own; and, +actually, Gilbert Penny owned most of the acreage within that immediate +circle. + +Mrs. Winscombe sank on the garden bench, where she sat with a hand +resting on either side of her. Above them a column of smoke rose from +the kitchen against the blue. A second, heavier cloud rolled up from the +Forge below. "They have been repairing the forebay," Howat explained; +"the Forge has been closed. I'm supposed to be in the counting house." + +"You work?" she demanded surprised. + +"At the ledger, put things down--what the men are paid, mostly in +tobacco and shoes, ozenbrigs and molasses and rum; or garters and +handkerchiefs for the women. Then I enter the pig hauled from Shadrach, +and the carriage of the blooms." + +"I don't understand any of that," she announced. + +"It probably wouldn't interest you; the pig's the iron cast at the +furnace. It's worked in the forges, and hammered into blooms and +anconies, chunks or stout bars of wrought iron. We do better than two +tons a week." The sound of a short, jarring blow rose from the Forge, it +was repeated, became a continuous part of the serene noon. "That's the +hammer now," he explained. "It goes usually all day and most nights. +We're used to it, don't hear it; but strangers complain." + +"Mr. Forsythe said your father was an Ironmaster, one of the biggest in +the Province, and I suppose you'll become that too." She gazed about at +the hills, sheeted in scarlet and yellow, at the wide sunny hollow that +held Myrtle Forge. "Here," she added in a totally unexpected accent of +feeling, "it is very beautiful, very big. I thought all the world was +like St. James or Versailles. I've never been to Poland, my mother's +family came from there to Paris, but I'm told they have forests and such +things, too. This is different from Annapolis, that is only an echo of +London, but here--" she gazed far beyond him into the profound noon. + +He recovered slowly from the surprise of her unlooked for speech, +attitude. Howat studied her frankly, leaning forward with his elbows on +his knees. Her discontent was paramount. It was deeper than he had +supposed; like his there were disturbing qualities in her blood, +qualities at a variance with the obvious part of her being. A sense of +profound intimacy with her pervaded him. + +"This," she continued, "is like a cure at a Bath, a great bath of air +and light. I should like to stay, I think.... Are you content?" + +"It always seemed crowded to me," he admitted. "Usually I get as far +away as possible, into the woods, the real wilderness. But you heard my +father last night--I'm a black Penny, a solitary, dark lot. You couldn't +judge from what I might feel." + +"Your father and you are not sympathetic," she judged acutely. "He is +practical, solid; but it isn't easy to say, even with an explanation, +what you are. In London--but I'm sick of London. Myrtle Forge. It's +appalling at night. I'd like to go into the real wilderness, leave off +my hoops and stays, and bathe in a stream; a water nymph and you ... but +that's only Watteau again, with a cicisbeo holding my shift and +stockings. In London you'd be that, a lady's servant of love; but, in +the Province, I wonder?" + +He sat half comprehending her words mingling in his brain with the +pounding of the trip hammer at the Forge, one familiar and one +unfamiliar yet not strange sound. Above them, on the lawn, he could see +Myrtle--through the middle of the day the sun had increased its +warmth--with skirts like the petals of a fabulous tea rose. The sun +glinted on the living gold of her hair and bathed an arm white as snow. +David was there no doubt. His thoughts dwelt for a moment on Caroline, +then returned to Mrs. Winscombe, to himself. His entire attitude toward +her, his observations, had been upset, disarmed, by her unexpected air +of soft melancholy. In her lavender wrap she resembled a drooping branch +of flowering lilac. She seemed very young; her air of sophistication, +her sensuality of being, had vanished. Traces of her illness on +shipboard still lingered darkly under her eyes. Asleep, he suddenly +thought, her face would be very innocent, purified. This came to him +involuntarily; there was none of the stinging of the senses she had +evoked in him the night before. His instinct for preservation from any +entanglements with life lay dormant before her surrender to influences +that left her crumpled, without the slightest interest in any exterior +fact. + +A sententious black servant in maroon livery and a bright worsted +waistcoat announced dinner from the foot of the terrace, and they moved +slowly toward the house. There was a concerted interest in the faces +they found already about the table. Howat took his seat at his mother's +side, Gilbert Penny assisted Mrs. Winscombe. David was placed between +Caroline and Myrtle. Mr. Winscombe, again formally wigged and coated, +was absorbed in thought. He said to his hostess, "It's the uncertainty +that puts me in doubt. Ogle thought the thing thoroughly reviewed, when +now Hamilton comes out with his damned Indians and Maryland rum. +Forsythe suggests my presence in Council to-morrow, and it's barely +possible that there will be a return to Annapolis. While Ludowika--" + +"I can't travel another ell over the atrocities they call roads here," +Mrs. Winscombe declared. "I expect to die returning to England as it is, +and I won't put up with any more preliminary torment. You'll have to +leave me." + +"At Myrtle Forge," Gilbert Penny added at once; "at Myrtle Forge as long +as you like. Unless," he added with a smile, "you prefer the gaiety at +Abner Forsythe's." A hot colour suffused David's cheeks. + +Mr. Winscombe bowed over the table, "I am inclined to take advantage of +that. Ludowika would be the better without even Quaker gaiety for a +little." He stopped, turned toward her. "I'd like it immensely," she +replied simply. "I am sure it would give me back all that I've lost in +passage. Perhaps," she leaned forward, smiling at Howat, "I could see +something of what's behind those hills, go into the real Arcadia." + +"Out there," said Mr. Penny, "are the Endless Mountains." + +The faint, involuntary chill again invaded Howat; suddenly an unfamiliar +imagery attached to the commonplace phrase uttered by his father--the +Endless Mountains! It brought back his doubt, his questioning, of life. +It was the inconceivable term endless, without any finality of ultimate +rest, without even the arbitrary peace of death, that appalled him. He +thought of life going on and on, with nothing consummated, nothing +achieved nor final. He thought of the black Penny who had been burned as +a heretic to ashes years before; yet Howat was conscious of the martyr's +bitter stubbornness of soul, alive, still alive and unquenched, in +himself. He wondered about the heritage to come. There was a further +belief that it followed exclusively the male line. The Pennys, like many +another comparatively obscure name, went far back into the primeval soil +of civilization. If he had no issue the endlessness might be confounded; +a fatality in his long, dangerous excursions would have vanquished the +ineradicable Welsh blood. He might have no children; yesterday he would +have made such a decision; but now he was less sure of himself, of his +power to will. He was dimly conscious of vast exterior forces and +traitorous factors within. It was as if momentarily he had been lifted +to a cloud beyond time, from which he saw the entire, stumbling progress +of humanity, its beginning hid in humid mist, moving into a nocturnal +shadow like a thunder bank. + +He sat with chin on breast and sombre eyes until his mother laid her +hand on his shoulder. "Howat," she protested, "you are too glum for the +comfort of any one near you. I think you must make a pose of being +black. I'd almost called one of the servants to fiddle in your ear." + +Howat smiled at her; he returned slowly to the actual, the particular. +Mr. Winscombe had pushed back his chair, excusing himself in the +pressure of necessary preparations. His wife disappeared with him, +leaving behind the echo of a discussion about Cecco, the Italian +servant. The women followed, with David at Myrtle's shoulder, leaving +Howat and Gilbert Penny. + +The latter was still a handsome man, with his own hair silvered on a +ruddy countenance, and a careful taste in clothes. His nose was +predominant, with a wide-cleft mouth above a square chin. "I had +thought," he said deliberately, "that you were employed in the counting +house, but Schwar tells me that it has been a week since you were seen +there." He raised a broad hand to silence Howat's reply. "While I can +afford to keep you merely at hunting, the result to the table is so +meagre that I'm not justified. There is no St. James here, in +Pennsylvania, no gentlemen supported by the Crown for the purpose of +amusement. You will have to sail for England if you expect that sort of +thing." He rose, "You owe an intelligent interest in Myrtle Forge, to +your sisters and mother, toward all that I have accomplished. It's a +rich property, and it's growing bigger. Already young Forsythe has a +list of improvements to be instituted at the Furnace--clerks and a +manager and new system for carrying on the blast." + +"I'm not an iron man," Howat Penny told him, "I'm not a clerk. David +can take all that over for you, particularly if he marries one of the +girls." + +"What are you?" the elder demanded sharply. + +"You ought to know. You explained it fully enough to the Winscombes." + +"If it wasn't for that you'd have been dumping slag five years ago. What +I hoped was that with maturity some sense of obligation would be born +into you. What is this pretended affection for your mother worth if you +are unwilling to conserve, make safe, her future, in case I die?" All +that his father said was logical, just; but it only brought him a +renewed sense of his impotence before very old and implacable inner +forces. + +"I'll try again," he briefly agreed. "But I warn you, it will do little +good. There is no pretence in the affection you spoke of, but--but +something stronger--" he gave up as hopeless the effort to explain all +that had swept through his mind. + +Gilbert Penny abruptly left the room. + +It transpired that the Italian servant was to be left at Myrtle Forge; +he was now assisting the servants in strapping a box behind the chaise +that was to carry Mr. Winscombe and David to the city. Howat pictured +the long, supple hands of the Italian hooking Mrs. Winscombe into her +clothes, and a sudden, hot revulsion clouded his brain. When the +carriage had gone, and he stood in the contracted space of the counting +room, before a long, narrow forge book open on a high desk, he was still +conscious of a strong repulsion. It was idiotic to let such an +insignificant fact as the Winscombes' man persistently annoy him. But, +in a manner entirely unaccountable, this Cecco had become a symbol of +much that was dark, potentially threatening, in his conjectures. + +The hammer fell with a full reiteration through the afternoon; the sun, +at a small window, shifted a dusty bar across inkpots and quills and +desk to a higher corner. He could hear the dull turning of the wheel and +the thin, irregular splash of falling water. Other sounds rose at +intervals--the tramping of mules dragging pig iron from Shadrach, the +rumble of its deposit by the Forge. Emanuel Schwar entered with a piece +of paper in his hand. "Eleven hundred weight of number two," he read; +"at six pounds, and a load of charcoal. Jonas Hupp charged with three +pairs of woollen stockings, and shoes for Minnie, four shillings more." + +Howat mechanically entered the enumerated items, his distaste for such a +petty occupation mounting until it resembled a concrete power forcing +him outside into the mellow end of the day. A figure darkened the +doorway; it was Caroline. "I hardly saw him," she declared hotly. +"Myrtle hung like a sickly flower in his buttonhole." Her hoops +flattened as she made her way through the narrow entrance. "There's one +thing about Myrtle," she continued, "she's frightfully proper in her +narrow little ideas. Myrtle's a prude. And I promise you I won't be if I +get a chance at David." She stood with vivid, parted lips, bright eyes; +almost, Howat thought, charming. Such a spirit in Caroline amazed him; +he hadn't conceived of its presence. He recognized a phase of his own +contempt for customary paths, accepted limitations and proprieties. +"Remember David's Quaker training," he told her in his habitual air of +jest. "David's been to London," she replied. "I saw him pinch the +Appletofft girl at the farm." + +Again in his room, he changed into more formal clothes than on the +evening previous; he did this without a definite, conscious purpose; it +was as if his attitude of mind required a greater suavity of exterior. +He wore a London waistcoat, a gift from his mother, of magenta worked +with black petals and black stone buttons; his breeches were without a +wrinkle, and the tails of his coat, even if they were not wired like +those David was said to have brought from England, had a not +unsatisfactory swing. + +At supper Mrs. Winscombe sat at his left, Caroline and Myrtle had taken +their customary places opposite, the elders had not been disturbed. Mrs. +Winscombe had resumed the animation vanished at noon. She wore green and +white, with plum-coloured ribbons, and a flat shirred cap tied under her +chin. The fluted, clear lawn of her elbow sleeves was like a scented +mist. He was again conscious of the warm seduction, the rare finish, of +her body, like a flushed marble under wide hoops and dyed silk. She was +talking to Myrtle about the Court. "I am in waiting with the Princess +Amelia Sophia," she explained; "I have her stockings. There is a +frightful racket of music and parrots and German, with old Handel +bellowing and the King eternally clinking one piece of gold on another." + +Gilbert Penny listened with a tightening of his well shaped lips. "It's +into that chamber pot we pour our sweat and iron," he asserted. Ludowika +Winscombe studied him. "In England," she said, "the American provinces +are supposed to lie hardly beyond the Channel, but here England seems to +be at the other end of the world." Myrtle added, "I'd like it +immensely." + +And Howat thought of Ludowika--he thought of her tentatively as +Ludowika--in the brilliant setting of tropical silks and birds. + +He considered the change that had overtaken his father, English born, in +the quarter century he had lived in America; the strong allegiance +formed to ideas fundamentally different from those held at St. James; +and he wondered if such a transformation would operate in Ludowika if +she could remain in the Province. It was a fantastic query, and he +impatiently dismissed it, returning to the contemplation of his mother's +problematic happiness. He determined to question the latter if a +permissible occasion arose; suddenly his interest had sharpened toward +her mental situation. He compared the two women, what he could +conjecture about Isabel Howat and Ludowika Winscombe; but something +within him, automatic and certain, whispered that no comparison was +possible. His mother possessed a quality of spirit that he had never +found elsewhere; he could see, in spite of their resemblance of blood +and position, that the elder could never have been merely provocative. +Such distinctions, he divined, were the result of qualities mysterious +and deeply concealed. Love, that he had once dismissed as the principle +of blind procreation, became more complex, enigmatic. He had no +increased desire to experience it, with the inevitable loss of personal +liberty; but he began to be conscious of new depths, unexpected +complications, in human relationship. + +He was not so sure of himself. + +They had moved to the less formal of the rooms used as places of +gathering. The bed in a corner was hung in blue shalloon over ruffled +white muslin, and there was blue at the windows. Against the wall a +clavichord, set aside as obsolete, raised its dusky red ebony box on +grooved legs. Myrtle was seated at it picking out an air from +Belshazzar. She held each note in a silvery vibration that had the +fragility of old age. Ludowika was by the fire, quartered across a +corner; there was no stove, and the wood burning in the opening sent out +frequent, pungent waves of smoke. She coughed and cursed. "Positively," +she declared, "I'll turn salt like a smoked herring." + +She rose, her gaze resting on Howat. "I must go out," she continued; +"breathe." He was strangely reluctant to accompany her, his feet were +leaden. Nevertheless, in a few moments he found himself at her side on +the lawn. Her sophistication had again disappeared, beneath the stars +drawn across the hills, over Myrtle Forge. There was a pause in the +hammering below. "Take me down there," she commanded. + +He led the way on a beaten path that dropped sharply to a bridge of hewn +logs crossing the spent water. The Forge, a long shed following the +stream, was open on the opposite side; an enclosure of ruddy, vaporous +gloom with pools of molten colour, clangorous sounds. The bubbling, +white cores of three raised and hooded hearths were incessantly agitated +with long rods by blackened and glistening shapes. At intervals a +flushing rod was withdrawn from a fire and plunged in a trough of water; +a cloud of ghostly steam arose, a forgeman's visage momentarily +illuminated like a copper mask. A grimy lantern was hung above the +anvil, its thin light falling on the ponderous head of the trip hammer +suspended at right angles from a turning cogged shaft projection through +the wall. + +The hearths, set in a row beyond the anvil, had at their back an +obscure, mechanical stir, accompanied by the audible suction of squat, +drum bellows. The labour was halted at a fire; half naked anatomies, +herculean shoulders and incredible arms, gathered about its mouth with +hooked bars. An incandescent mass was lifted, born, rayed in an +intolerable white heat, into the air. A hammer was swung upon it; and, +as if the metal were sentient, a violet radiance scintillated where the +blow had fallen. The pasty iron was carried to the anvil, the hooks +dropped for wide-jawed tongs; the trip hammer moved up and fell. The +hardening metal darkened to a carnation from which chips scattered like +gorgeous petals. The carnation faded under ringing blows; the petals, +heaping in the penumbra under foot, were as vividly blue as gentians. +The colour vanished from the solidifying bloom ... It was ashen, black. +The hammering continued. + +A sense of the vast and antique simplicity of the forging, a feeling of +hammering the earth itself into the superior purposes of man, enveloped +Howat. He forgot for the moment his companion, lost in a swelling pride +of Myrtle Forge, of his father's fibre--the iron of his character like +the iron he successfully wrought. He could grasp Gilbert Penny's +accomplishment here, take fire at its heroic quality; a thing he found +impossible in the counting room above, recording such trivial details as +wool stockings for Jonas Rupp. He could be a forgeman, he thought, but +never a clerk; and in that limitation he realized that he was inferior +to his father. There were aspects of himself beyond such discipline and +control. + +Ludowika Winscombe grasped his arm. "Come away," she begged; "it's--it's +savage, like Vulcan and dreadful, early legends." She hurried him, +clinging to his arm, over the ascent to the orderly lawn, the tranquil +shine of candle-lit windows. There, with her hood fallen from her head, +she sat on a stone step. + +"You frighten me, a little," she confessed. "Are you at all like--like +that below inside of you? I have a feeling that you might be. If you +were one of the men about Vauxhall you'd be kissing me now ... if I +liked you. But, although I do like you, I wouldn't kiss you for an +emerald buckle." He recognized that she spoke seriously; her voice bore +no connective suggestion. Kisses, it appeared, were no more to her than +little flowers which she dealt out casually where she pleased. Yet the +idea, with its intimate sensual implications, stayed in his thoughts. He +considered kissing her, holding her mouth against his; and he was +conscious of a sharp return of his stinging sense of her bodily +seductiveness. + +At the same time an obscure uneasiness, rebellion, possessed him; it was +the old, familiar feeling of revolt, of distaste for imprisoning +circumstance. It came to him acutely, almost as if a voice had whispered +in his ear, warning him, urging him into the wild, to escape threatening +catastrophe. He determined to leave Myrtle Forge in the morning, to +return to the stream he had followed into the serene heart of the woods. +There he would stay until--until Ludowika Winscombe had gone. Howat had +no especial sense of danger from her; only for the moment she typified +the entire world of trivial artifice. He gazed at her with a conscious +detachment possible because of the rarity in his existence of such +figures as hers. + +She had risen, and her cloak fallen upon the grass. Howat could see her +face beneath hair faintly powdered with silver dust and the ruffled +patch of white tied pertly under her chin. Her smoothly turning +shoulders, filmed in lawn, and low bodice crowned an extravagant +circumference of ruffled silk and rosettes. Against the night of the +Province, the invisible but felt presence of immutable hills, she was +like a puppet, a grotesque figure of comedy. He regarded her sombrely +from the step, his chin cupped in a hand. + +But, again, she surprised him, speaking entirely out of the character he +had assigned her, in a spirit that seemed utterly incongruous, but which +was yet warm with conviction. "I want to explain a great deal to you," +she said, "that really isn't explainable. It isn't sensible, and yet it +is the strongest feeling I remember. It's about here and you and me. You +can't picture my life, and so you don't know how strange this is, how +different from all I've ever lived. + +"I think I told you I was born in Paris--you see some of us came to +France when Louis took a Polish princess, and there my mother married an +English gentleman. Well, it was always the Court, in France and in +England. Always the Court--do you know what that means? It's a place +where women are pretty pink and white candies that men are always +picking over. It's a great bed with a rose silk counterpane and closed +draperies. Champagne and music and scent and masques. Little plays with +the intrigue in the audience; favours behind green hedges. I was in it +when I was fourteen, and I had a lover the first year. He showed me how +to make pleasure. Don't think that I was indifferent to this," she added +directly; "that I wanted to escape it. I wasn't; I didn't. Only beneath +everything I had a feeling of not being completely satisfied; I +wanted--oh, not very strongly--something else, for an hour. At times the +air seemed choking; and inside of me, but not in my body, I seemed +choking too. I used to think about the Polish forests, and that would +help a little." + +She resumed the place at his side, with her silk billowing against his +knee. "This is it," she declared, her face set against the illimitable, +still dark. "I recognized it only a little while ago. I think +unconsciously I came to America hoping to find it; there was nothing at +Annapolis, but here--" she drew a breath as deep, he noted, as her stays +would permit. "It includes you, somehow," she continued; "as if you were +the voice. What I said coming away from the Forge, about dreading you, +was only momentary. I have another feeling, premonition--" she broke +off, her manner changed. "All the Court believes in signs: Protestantism +and vampires. + +"It seems unreal here; I mean St. James and all that was so +tremendously important; incredibly stupid--the Princess Amelia's +stockings. But you can't imagine the jealousy. Every bit of it shall go +out of my thoughts. You'll help me, a harmless magic. I'll be as simple +as that girl across the road, with the red cheeks, in a single slip. You +must call me Ludowika; Ludowika and Howat. I'm not so terribly old, only +twenty-nine." + +"I am going away to-morrow," he informed her; "I won't be back before +you leave." + +A slight frown gathered about her eyes. Her face was very close to his. +"But I don't like that either," she replied. "You were to be a part of +it, its voice; excursions in the woods. Is it necessary, your absence?" + +He knew that it was not; and suddenly he was seized with the conviction +that he would not go. It was as if, again, a voice outside him had +informed him of the fact. But if there were no reason for his going +there was as little for his remaining at Myrtle Forge; that was, so far +as Ludowika Winscombe was concerned. He had been untouched by all that +she had said; untouched except for a faint involuntary shiver as she had +spoken of premonition. And that had vanished instantaneously. There was +his duty in the counting house. But he was forced to admit to himself +the insufficiency of that reason; it was too palpably false. + +He had not been moved by the intent of what she had said, but his +imagination had been stirred, as if by the touch of delicate, pointed +fingers, at her description of Court--a bed with a silk counterpane ... +behind clipped greenery. He recalled the fan with its painted +Villeggiatura, the naked, wanton loves. "Something different," she half +repeated, with a sigh, an accent, of longing. Howat heard her with +impatience; it was absurd to try to picture her tramping in the +wilderness, breaking her way hour after hour through thorned underbrush, +like Fanny Gilkan. She wouldn't progress a hundred yards in her unsteady +pattens and fragile clothes. + +Suddenly the Italian servant appeared absolutely noiselessly at her +side, speaking a ridiculous, oily gibberish. "At once," she replied. She +turned to Howat. "My bed has been prepared. Are you going to-morrow?" + +"No," he answered awkwardly. She turned and left without further words. +The servant walked behind her, resembling an unnatural shadow. + +The metallic clamour at the anvil rose and fell, diminished by the +interposed bulk of the dwellings, ceaselessly forging the Penny iron, +the Penny gold. He thought of himself as metal under the hammer; or +rather ore at the furnace: he hadn't run clear in the casting; there +were bubbles, bubbles and slag. Endless refinements--first the furnace +and then the forge and then the metal. A contempt for the lesser degrees +possessed him, for a flawed or clumsy forging, for weakness of the +flesh, the fatality of easy surrender. An overwhelming, passionate +emotion swept him to his feet, clenched his hands, filled him with a +numbing desire to reach the last purification. + +The mood sank into an inexplicable nostalgia; he dragged the back of a +hand impatiently across his vision. His persistent indifference, the +inhibition that held him in a contemptuous isolation, again possessed +him, Howat, a black Penny. A last trace of his emotion, caught in the +flood of his paramount disdain, vanished like a breath of warm mist. He +entered the house and mounted to his room; the stairs creaked but that +was the only sound audible within. His candles burned without their +protecting glasses in smooth, unwavering flames. When they were +extinguished the darkness flowed in and blotted out familiar objects, +folded him in a cloak of invisibility, obliterated him in sleep. As he +lost consciousness he heard the trip hammer dully beating out Penny +iron, Penny gold; beating out, too, the Penny men ... Slag and metal and +ruffled muslin, roman candles and stars. + + + + +V + + +There came to him in the counting house, the following afternoon, +rumours and echoes of the day's happenings. David Forsythe had arrived +after dinner, and there had been word from Mr. Winscombe; he would be +obliged to return to Maryland, and trusted that Ludowika would not be an +onerous charge. David was to take Myrtle and Caroline back with him to +the city, for an exemplary Quaker party. "There's no good asking you," +he told Howat, lounging in the door of the counting room. David was +flushed, his sleeve coated with dust. "Caroline," he exclaimed, "is as +strong as a forgeman; she upset me on the grass as quickly as you +please, hooked her knee behind me, and there I was. She picked me up, +too, and laughed at me," he stopped, lost in thought. "Myrtle's really +beautiful," he said again; "Caroline's not a thing to look at, and yet, +do you know, a--a man looks at her. She is wonderfully graceful." + +Howat gave Caroline the vigorous stamp of his brotherly approval. "She +understands a lot, for a girl," he admitted. "Of course Myrtle's a +particular peach, but I'd never go to her if a buckle--" he stopped +abruptly as Myrtle appeared at David's side. "Isn't he industrious?" +she said indifferently. "You'd never guess how father's at him. Have you +heard, Howat--Mrs. Winscombe will be here perhaps a month. It's a wonder +you haven't gone away, you are so frightfully annoyed by people. Last +night you were with her over an hour on the lawn. I could see that +father thought it queer; but I explained to him that court women never +thought of little things like, well, husbands." + +Howat gazed at her coldly, for the first time conscious that he actually +disliked Myrtle. He made up his mind, definitely, to assist Caroline as +far as possible. She was absurd, criticizing Mrs. Winscombe. "Where," he +demanded, "did you get all that about courts? And your sudden, tender +interest in husbands? That's new, too. You're not thinking of one for +yourself, are you? He'd never see you down in the morning." + +A bright, angry colour flooded her cheeks. "You are as coarse as +possible," she declared. "I'm sure I wish you'd stay away altogether +from Myrtle Forge; you've never been anything but a bother." She left +abruptly. "Sweet disposition." Howat grinned. "You are seeing family +life as it's actually lived." Later his thoughts returned to what she +had said about Ludowika Winscombe; he recalled the latter's speech, +seated on the doorstep; some stuff about a premonition. Myrtle had +suggested that he was interested in her. What ridiculous nonsense! If +his father said anything on that score the other would discover that he +was no longer a boy. Besides, such insinuations were a breach of +hospitality. How Mrs. Winscombe would laugh at them if she suspected +Myrtle's cheap folly. + +She had asked him to call her Ludowika. He decided that he would; really +he couldn't get out of it now. It would do no harm. Ludowika! It was a +nice name; undoubtedly Polish. He thought again about what she had said +of Polish forests, the dissatisfaction that had followed her for so many +years. A lover at fourteen. A surprising sentence formed of itself in +his brain.--She had never had a chance. That pasty court life had +spoiled her. It had no significance for himself; he was simply revolving +a slightly melancholy fact. + +Felix Winscombe was a sere figure, yet he was extraordinarily full of a +polished virility, rapier-like. Howat could see the dark, satirical face +shadowed by the elaborate wig, the rigid figure in precise, foppish +dress. He heard Winscombe's slightly harsh, dominant voice. His position +in England was, he knew, secure, high. Ludowika had been very sensible +in marrying him. That was the way, Howat Penny told himself, that +marriage should be consummated. He would never marry. David Schwar +appeared with a sheaf of papers, which he himself proceeded to docket, +and Howat left the counting room. + +He met Ludowika almost immediately; she advanced more simply dressed +than he had ever seen her before. She pointed downward to the water +flashing over the great, turning wheel. "Couldn't we walk along the +rill? There's a path, and it's beautiful in the shadow." The stream +poured solid and green through the narrow, masoned course of the +forebay, sweeping in a lucent arc over the lip of the fall. An earthen +path followed the artificial channel through a dense grove of young +maples, seeming to hold the sun in their flame-coloured foliage. Myrtle +Forge was lost, the leaves shut out the sky; underfoot some were already +dead. The wilderness marched up to the edges of the meagre clearings. + +Ludowika walked ahead, without speech; irregular patches of ruddy light +slid over her flared skirt. Suddenly she stopped with an exclamation; +the trees opened before them on the broad Canary sweeping between flat +rocks, banks bluely green. Above, the course was broken, swift; but +where they stood it was tranquil again, and crystal clear. Yellow rays +plunging through the unwrinkled surface gilded the pebbles on the +shallower bottom. A rock, broad and flat, extended into the stream by +the partial, diagonal dam that turned the water into Myrtle Forge; and +Ludowika found a seat with her slippers just above the current. Howat +Penny sat beside her, then dropped back on the rocks, his hands clasped +behind his head. + +A silence intensified by the whispering stream enveloped them. He +watched a hawk, diminutive on the pale immensity above. "Heavens," +Ludowika finally spoke, "how wonderful ... just to sit, not to be +bothered by--by things. Just to hear the water. Far away," she said +dreamily; "girl." + +From where he lay he could see her arms, beautiful and bare, lost in +soft Holland above the elbows; he could see the roundness of her body +above the lowest of stays. Suddenly she fascinated him; he visualized +her sharply, as though for the first time--a warm, intoxicating entity. +He was profoundly disturbed, and sat erect; the stream, the woods, +blurred in his vision. He felt as if his heart had been turned +completely over in his body; the palms of his hands were wet. He had a +momentary, absurd impulse to run, beyond Shadrach Furnace, beyond any +distance he had yet explored, farther even than St. Xavier. Ludowika +Winscombe gazed in serene, unconscious happiness before her. He felt +that his face was crimson, and he rose, moved to the water's edge, his +back toward her. He was infuriated at a trembling that passed over him, +damned it in a savage and inaudible whisper. + +What particularly appalled him was the fact that his overmastering +sensation came without the slightest volition of his own. He had had +nothing to do with it, his will was powerless. He was betrayed like a +fortified city whose gate had been thrown open by an unsuspected, a +concealed, traitor inside. In an instant he had been invaded, his being +levelled, his peculiar pride overthrown. He thought even that he heard a +dull crash, as if something paramount had irremediably fallen, +something that should have been maintained at any cost, until the end of +life. + +Howat felt a sudden hatred of his companion; but that quickly +evaporated; he discovered that she had spread, like a drop of carmine in +a goblet of water, through his every nerve. By God, but she had become +himself! In the space of a breath she was in his blood, in his brain; +calling his hands about her, toward her smooth, beautiful arms. She was +the scent in his nostrils, the sound a breeze newly sprung up stirred +out of the leaves. A profound melancholy spread over him, a deep +sadness, a conviction of loss. Ludowika was singing softly: + +"Last Sunday at St. James's prayers +--dressed in all my whalebone airs." + +He had come on disaster. The realization flashed through his +consciousness and was engulfed in the submerging of his being in the +overwhelming, stinging blood that had swept him from his old security. +Yet he had been so detached from the merging influences about him, his +organization had been so complete in its isolation, his egotism so +developed, that a last trace of his entity lingered sentient, viewing as +if from a careened but still tenable deck the general submergence. His +thoughts returned to the automatic operation of the consummation +obliterating his person, the inexorable blind movement of the thing in +which he had been caught, dragged into the maw of a supreme purpose. It +was, of course, the law of mere procreation which he had before +contemptuously recognized and dismissed; a law for animals; but he was +no longer entirely an animal. Already he had considered the possibility +of an additional force in the directing of human passion, founded on +something beyond the thirst of flesh, founded perhaps on soaring +companionships, on--on--The condition, the term, he was searching for +evaded him. + +He thought of the word love; and he was struck by the vast inaccuracy of +that large phrase. It meant, Howat told himself, literally nothing: what +complex feeling Isabel Penny might have for her husband, Caroline's +frank desire for David Forsythe, Myrtle's meagre emotion, Fanny Gilkan's +sense of Hesa and life's necessary compromises, his own collapse--all +were alike called love. It was not only a useless word but a dangerous +falsity. It had without question cloaked immense harm, pretence; it had +perpetuated old lies, brought them plausibly, as if in a distinguished +and reputable company, out of past superstitions and credulity; the real +and the meaningless, the good and the evil, hopelessly confused. + +They were seated at supper, four of them only; Isabel and Gilbert Penny, +and, opposite him, Ludowika. Occasionally he would glance at her, +surreptitiously; his wrists would pound with an irregular, sultry +circulation; longing would harass him like the beating of a club. She, +it seemed to him, grew gayer, younger, more simple, every hour. +Happiness, peace, radiated in her gaze, the gestures of her hands. Howat +wondered at what moment he would destroy it. Reprehensible. A moment +must come--soon--when emotion would level his failing reserve, his +falling defences. He thrilled at the thought of the inevitable +disclosure. Would she fight against it, deny, satirize his tumult; or +surrender? He couldn't see clearly into that; he didn't care. Then he +wondered about the premonition of which she had spoken, deciding to ask +her to be more explicit. + +An opportunity occurred later. Gilbert Penny had gone down to the Forge +store, his wife had disappeared. Ludowika Winscombe and Howat were +seated in the drawing room. Only a stand of candles was lit at her +elbow; her face floated like a pale and lovely wafer against the +billowing shadows of the chamber. The wood on the iron hearth was +charring without flame. He questioned her bluntly, suddenly, out of a +protracted silence. She regarded him speculatively, delaying answer. +Then, "I couldn't tell you like this, now; it would be too silly; you +would laugh at me. I hadn't meant to say even what I did. I'd prefer to +ignore it." + +"What did you mean, what premonition came to you?" he insisted crudely. + +She seemed to draw away from him, increase in years and an attitude of +tolerant amusement. Only an immediate reply would save them, he +realized. He leaned forward unsteadily, with clenched hands. "I warned +you," she proceeded lightly; "and if you do laugh my pride will suffer." +In spite of her obvious determination to speak indifferently her voice +grew serious, "I had a feeling that you mustn't kiss me, that +this--America, the Province, Myrtle Forge, you, were for something +different. You see, I had always longed for a peculiar experience, +release, and when it came, miraculously, I thought, it must not be +spoiled, turned into the old, old thing. That was all. It was in my +spirit," she added almost defiantly, as if that claim might too be +susceptible of derision. + +He settled back into his chair, turning upon her a gloomy vision. +Whatever penalty threatened them, he knew, must fall. Nothing existing +could keep him from it. He felt a fleet sorrow for her in the inevitable +destruction of the release for which she had so long searched, her new +peace, so soon to be smashed. All sorrow for himself had gone under. +Isabel Penny returned to the drawing room, and moved about, her flowered +silk at once gay and obscure in the semidarkness. "The fire, Howat," she +directed; "it's all but out." He stirred the logs into a renewed blaze. + +A warm gilding flickered over Ludowika; she smiled at him, relaxed, +content. He was surprised that she could not see the tumultuous feeling +overpowering him. He had heard that women were immediately aware of +such emotion. But he realized that she had been lulled into a false +sense of security, of present immunity from "the old, old thing," by her +own placidity. He did not know when his mother left the room. He +wondered continuously when it would happen, when the bolt would fall, +what she would do. Howat was hot and cold, and possessed by a subtle +sense of improbity, a feeling resembling that of a doubtful advance +through the dark, for a questionable end. This was the least part of +him, insignificant; his passion grew constantly stronger, more brutal. +In a last, vanishing trace of his superior consciousness he recognized +that the thing must have happened to him as it did; it was the price of +his more erect pride, his greater contempt, his solitary and unspent +state. + +She rose suddenly and announced that she was about to retire. It saved +them for the moment, for that day; he muttered something +incomprehensible and she was gone. + +Isabel Penny returned and took Mrs. Winscombe's place before the fire. +She spoke trivially, at random intervals. A great longing swept over him +to tell his mother everything, try to find an escape in her wise +counsel; but his emotion seemed so ugly that he could not lay it before +her. Besides, he had a conviction that it would be hopeless: he was +gone. She was discussing Ludowika now. "Really," she said, "they seem +very well matched, a good arrangement." She was referring, he realized, +to the Winscombes' experience. He never thought of Felix Winscombe as +married, Ludowika's husband; he had ceased to think of him at all. The +present moment banished everything else. "She has a quality usually +destroyed by life about a Court," the leisurely voice went on; "she +seems quite happy here, for a little, in a way simple. But, curiously +enough, she disturbs your father. He can't laugh with her as he usually +does with attractive women." + +It was natural, Howat thought, that Gilbert Penny should be uneasy +before such a direct reminder of the setting from which he had taken +Isabel Howat. It was a life, memories, in which the elder had no part; +that consciousness dictated a part of his father's bitterness toward St. +James, the Royal Government. But Gilbert Penny had never had serious +reason to dread it. His wife had left it all behind, permanently, +without, apparently, a regret. He had a sudden, astonishing community of +feeling with the older man; a momentary dislike of St. James, +Versailles, the entire, treacherous, silk mob. A lover at fourteen! +Howat damned such a betrayal with a bitterness whose base lay deeply +buried in sex jealousy. + +"I am glad," the other continued, "that you are not susceptible; I +suppose you'll be off hunting in a day or more; Mrs. Winscombe is bright +wine for a young man. Women like her play at sensation, like eating +figs." He thought contemptuously what nonsense was talked in connection +with feminine intuition; it was nothing more than a polite chimera, +like all the other famous morals and inhibitions supposed to serve and +direct mankind. + +He wondered once more about his mother, what the course of her life had +been--happily occupied, filled, or merely self-contained, hiding much in +a deep, even flow? Her head was turned away from him, and he could see +the girlish profile, the astonishing illusion of youth renewed. Howat +wanted to ask her how she had experienced, well--love, since there was +no other word. It had come to her quickly, he knew; her affair with +Gilbert Penny had been headlong, or else it would not have been at all; +yet he felt she had not been the victim of such a tyranny as mastered +himself. But, perhaps, after all, secretly, every one was--just +animal-like. He repudiated this firmly, at once. He himself had felt +that he was not entirely animal. + +"The girls," Isabel Penny said, "will be gallopading now. Myrtle has a +new dress, her father gave it to her, an apricot mantua." + +"He's really idiotic about Myrtle," Howat declared irritably. His mother +glanced swiftly at him. She made no comment. "Now Caroline! It's +Caroline who ought to marry David Forsythe." + +"Such things must fall out as they will." + +God, that was true enough, terribly true! He rose and strode into the +farther darkness of the drawing room, returning to the fireplace, +marching away again. He saw the white glimmer of Ludowika's arms; he +had a vision of her tying the broad ribbon about her rounded, silken +knee. "... a man now," his mother's voice was distant, blurred. +"Responsibilities; your father--" He had heard this before without being +moved; but suddenly the words had a new actuality; he was a man now, +that was to say he stood finally, irrevocably, alone, beyond assistance, +advice. He had never heeded them; he had gone a high-handed, independent +way, but the others had been there; unconsciously he had been aware of +them, even counted on them. Now they had vanished. + +Caroline and Myrtle, bringing David with them again, returned on the +following morning. It seemed to Howat that the former was almost lovely; +she had a gayer sparkle, a clearer colour, than he had ever seen her +possess before. On the other hand, Myrtle was dull; the dress, it +seemed, had not been the unqualified success she had hoped for. +Something newer had arrived in the meantime from London. Ludowika, it +developed, had one of the later sacques in her boxes; but that, she said +indifferently, must be quite dead now. It seemed to Howat that she too +regarded Myrtle without enthusiasm. Ludowika and Myrtle had had very +little to say to each other; Myrtle studied Mrs. Winscombe's apparel +with a keen, even belligerent, eye; the other patronized the girl in a +species of half absent instruction. + +The sky was flawless, leaden blue; the sunlight fell in an enveloping +flood over the countryside, but it was pale, without warmth. There was +no wind, not a leaf turned on the trees--a sinuous sheeting of the +country-side like red-gold armour. But Howat knew that at the first stir +of air the leaves would be in stricken flight, the autumn accomplished. +Caroline dragged him impetuously down into the garden, among the brown, +varnished stems of the withered roses, the sere, dead ranks of scarlet +sage. "He hugged me," she told him; "I was quite breathless. It was in a +hall, dark; but he didn't say anything. What do you think?" There was +nothing definite that he might express; and he patted her shoulder. He +had a new kinship with Caroline; Howat now understood her tempest of +feeling, concealed beneath her commonplace daily aspect. + +Myrtle and David joined them, and he left, resumed his place at the high +desk in the counting house. Strangely his energy of being communicated +itself to the prosaic work before him. It was, he suddenly felt, +important for him to master the processes of Myrtle Forge; it would not +do for him to remain merely irresponsible, a juvenile appendage to the +Penny iron. He would need all the position, the weight, he could assume; +and money of his own. He found a savage pleasure in recording every +detail put before him. He compared the value of pig metal, the cost of +charcoal, wages, with the return of the blooms and anconies they shipped +to England. Howat experienced his father's indignation at the manner in +which London limited the Province's industries. For the first time he +was conscious of an actual interest in the success of Myrtle Forge, a +personal concern in its output. He had always visualized it as +automatically prosperous, a cause of large, inexact pride; but now it +was all near to him; he considered the competition rapidly increasing +here, and the jealous menace over seas. + +His final trace of careless youth had gone; he felt the advent of the +constant apprehension that underlies all maturity, a sense of the +proximity of blind accident, evil chance, disaster. At last he was +opposed to life itself, with an immense stake to gain, to hold; in the +midst of a seething, treacherous conflict arbitrarily ended by death. +There was no cringing, absolutely no cowardice, in him. He was glad that +it was all immediately about him; he was arrogant in pressing forward to +take what he wanted from existence. He forgot all premonitions, doubt +was behind him; he no longer gauged the value of his desire for Ludowika +Winscombe. She was something he would, had to, have. + +David Forsythe sat across the back of a chair in Howat's room as the +latter dressed in the rapidly failing light. David had smuggled his +London coat with the wired tails out to Myrtle Forge, and had the +stiffened portion now spread smoothly out on either side. His cheerful, +freshly-coloured face was troubled; he seemed constantly on the point of +breaking into speech without actually becoming audible. Howat was +thinking of Ludowika. It would happen to-night, he knew. He was at once +apprehensive and glad. + +"You knew," David ventured finally, "that I'm supposed to ask Myrtle to +marry me. That is, your father and mine hoped I would. Well," he drew a +deep breath, "I don't think I shall. Of course, she is one of the +prettiest girls any one ever saw, and she's quite bright--it's wonderful +what she has picked up about the Furnace, but yet--" his speech suddenly +ran out. With an effort Howat brought himself back from his own vastly +more important concern. "Yes?" he queried, pausing with his fingers in +the buttonholes of a mulberry damask coat. "I have decided to choose, to +act, for myself," David announced; "this is a thing where every man must +be absolutely free.--Caroline can have me if she likes." + +Howat could not avoid a momentary, inward flicker of amusement at David +Forsythe's absolute freedom of choice. He felt infinitely older than the +other, wiser in the circuitous mysteries of being. He pounded David on +the back, exclaimed, "Good!" + +"I don't know whether to speak to Abner," the other proceeded +unfilially, "or the great Penny first. I don't care too much for either +job. It would be pleasanter to go to Caroline. I have an idea she +doesn't exactly dislike me." + +"Perhaps I oughtn't to tell you," Howat replied gravely; "but Caroline +thinks a lot of you. She has admitted it to me--" + +David Forsythe danced agilely about the more serious figure; he kicked +Howat gaily from behind, ironically patted his cheek. "Hell's buttons!" +he cried. "Why didn't you tell me that before? You cast iron ass! I'll +marry Caroline if I have to take her to a charcoal burner's hut. She +would go, too." + +Howat Penny gripped the other's shoulder, faced him with grim +determination. "Do you fully realize that Myrtle Forge, Shadrach, will +be us? They will be ours and our wives' and childrens'. We must stand +together, David, whatever happens, whatever we may, personally, think. +The iron is big now, but it is going to be great. We mustn't fail, fall +apart. We'll need each other; there's going to be trouble, I think." + +David put out his hand. "I didn't know you felt like that, Howat," he +replied, the effervescent youth vanished from him too. "It's splendid. +We'll hammer out some good blooms together. And for the other, nothing +shall ever make a breach between us." + + + + +VI + + +They went down to the supper table silently, absorbed in thought. David +was placed where Mr. Winscombe had been seated, on Mrs. Penny's right, +and next to Myrtle. Gilbert Penny maintained a flow of high spirits; he +rallied every one at the table with the exception of, Howat noted, +Ludowika. Her hair was simply arranged and undecorated, she wore +primrose with gauze like smoke, an apparently guileless bodice with +blurred, warm suggestions of her fragrant body. Howat was conscious of +every detail of her appearance; she was stamped, as she was that +evening, indelibly on his inner being. He turned toward her but little, +addressed to her only the most perfunctory remarks; he was absorbed in +the realization that the most fateful moment he had met was fast +approaching. His father's cheerful voice continued seemingly +interminably; now it was a London beauty to which he affected to believe +David had given his heart. The latter replied stoutly: + +"I brought that back safely enough; it's here the danger lies. +Humiliating to cross the ocean and then be lost in Canary Creek." + +Gilbert Penny shot an obvious, humorous glance at Myrtle. She did not +meet it, but sat with lowered gaze. Caroline made a daring "nose" at +Howat; but he too failed to acknowledge her message. David's affair had +sunk from his thoughts. The drawing room was brilliantly lighted: there +was a constant stir of peacock silk, of yellow and apple green and coral +lutestring, of white shoulders, in the gold radiance of candles like +stiff rows of narcissi. Caroline drifted finally into the chamber back +of the dining room, and they could hear the tenuous vibrations of the +clavichord. Soon David had disappeared. The elder Penny discovered +Myrtle seated sullenly at her mother's side; and, taking her arm, he +escorted her in the direction of the suddenly silenced music. + +Ludowika sat on a small couch away from the fireplace. She smiled at +Howat as he moved closer to her. She never did things with her hands, he +noticed, like the women of his family, embroidery or work on little +heaps of white. She sat motionless, her arms at rest. His mother seemed +far away. The pounding recommenced unsteadily at his wrists, the room +wavered in his vision. Ludowika permeated him like a deep draught of +intoxicating, yellow wine. He had a curious sensation of floating in +air, of tea roses. It was clear that, folded in happy contentment, she +still realized nothing.... She must know now, any minute. Howat saw that +his mother had gone. + +He rose and stood before Ludowika, leaning slightly over her. She +raised her gaze to his; her interrogation deepened. Then her expression +changed, clouded, her lips parted; she half raised a hand. Her breast +rose and fell, sharply, once. Howat picked her up by the shoulders and +crushed her, silk and cool gauze and mouth, against him. Ludowika's +skirts billowed about, half hid, him; a long silence, a long kiss. + +Her head fell back with a sigh, she drooped again upon the sofa. She +hadn't struggled, exclaimed; even now there was no revolt in her +countenance, only a deep trouble. "Howat," she said softly, "you +shouldn't have done that. It was brutal, selfish. You--you knew, after +all that I told you; the premonition--" she broke off, anger shone +brighter in her eyes. "How detestable men are!" She turned away from +him, her profile against the brocade of the sofa. Unexpectedly he was +almost cold, and self-contained; he saw the gilded angle of a frame on +the wall, heard the hickory disintegrating on the hearth. + +He had kissed her as a formal declaration; what must come would come. "I +was an imbecile," she spoke in a voice at once listless and touched with +bitterness; "Arcadia," she laughed. "I thought it was different here, +that you were different; that feeling in my heart--but it's gone now, +dead. I suppose I should thank you. But, do you know, I regret it; I +would rather have stayed at St. James all my life and kept that single +little delusion, longing. The premonition was nonsense, too; nothing +new, unexpected, can happen. Kisses are almost the oldest things in the +world, kisses and their results. What is there to be afraid of? You see, +I learned it all quite young. + +"I am an imbecile; only it came so suddenly. You would laugh at me if +you knew what I was thinking. I can even manage a smile at myself." She +appeared older, the Mrs. Winscombe who had first come to Myrtle Forge; +her mouth was flippant. "The eternal Suzanna," she remarked, "the +monotonous elders or younger." He paid little heed to her words; the +coldness, the indifference, were fast leaving him. His heart was like +the trip hammer at the Forge. Yellow wine. He was still standing above +her, and he took her hands in his. She put up her face with a movement +of bravado, of mockery, which he ignored. + +"I didn't choose it," he told her; "it's ruined all that I was. Now, I +don't care; there is nothing else. One thing you are wrong about--if +there had been another in your life like myself you wouldn't be here +with--as you are. I'm certain of that. It's the only thing I do know. My +feeling may be a terrible misfortune; I didn't make it; I can't see the +end. There isn't any, I think." He pressed her hands to his throat with +a gesture that half dragged her from the sofa. A deeper colour stained +her cheeks, and her breath caught. "Endless," he repeated, losing the +word on her lips. She wilted into a corner of the sofa, and he strode +over to the fire, stood gazing blindly at the pulsating embers. Howat +returned to her almost immediately, but she made no sign of his +nearness. The bitterness had left her face, she appeared weary, pallid; +she sat heedlessly crumpling her flounces, a hand bent back on its +wrist. + +"I think it is something in myself," she said presently; "something a +little wrong that I'm dreadfully tired of. Always men. Out here a Howat +Penny, just like any fribble about the Court. God, I'd like to be that +girl across the road, in the barnyard." He was back at the fire again +when Gilbert Penny entered the room. The latter dropped a palm on +Howat's shoulder. + +"Schwar says the last sow metal was faulty," he declared; "the +Furnace'll need some attention with Abner Forsythe deeper in the +Provincial affairs. Splendid thing David's back. Look for a lot from +David." Howat hoped desperately that Ludowika would not leave, go to her +room, while his father was talking. "David says you have an +understanding, will do great things. I hope so. I hope so. I won't damn +him as an example but he will do you no harm. That is, if he touches +your confounded person at all. A black Penny, Mrs. Winscombe," he said, +turning to the figure spread in pale silk on the sofa. "Fortunate for +you to have no such confounded, stubborn lot on your hands. Although," +he added laughingly, "Felix Winscombe's no broken reed. But this boy of +mine--you might think he had been run out of Shadrach," he tapped a +finger on Howat's back. "Not like those fellows about the Court, anyway. +They tell me he'll go fifty miles through the woods in a day. Now if we +could only keep that at the iron trade--" + +His father went on insufferably, without end. Howat withdrew stiffly +from the other's touch. Irresistibly he drifted back, back to Ludowika. +She had not moved; her bent hand seemed dislocated. An immense +tenderness for her overwhelmed him; his sheer passion vapourized into a +poignant sweetness of solicitous feeling. He was protective; his jaw set +rigidly, he enveloped her in an angry barrier from all the world. He had +a sensation of standing at bay; in his mulberry damask, in brocade and +silver buttons, he had an impression of himself stooped and savage, +confronting a menacing dark with Ludowika flung behind him. Inexplicable +tremors assailed him, vast fears. His father's deliberate voice +destroyed the illusion; he saw the candles about him like white and +yellow flowers, the suave interior. The others had returned. He heard +Ludowika speaking; she laughed. His tension relaxed. Suddenly he was +flooded with happiness, as if he had been drenched in sparkling, +delightful water. He joined in the gay, trivial clamour that arose. +Isabel Penny gazed at him speculatively. + +There would, it appeared, be no other opportunity that evening for him +to declare himself to Ludowika. He was vaguely conscious of his mother's +scrutiny; he must avoid exposing Ludowika to any uncomfortable +surmising. His thoughts leaped forward to a revelation that he began to +feel was inevitable; he got even now a tangible pleasure from the +consideration of an announcement of his passion for Ludowika Winscombe, +a sheer insistence upon it in the face of an antagonistic world. But for +the present he must be careful. This, the greatest event that had +befallen him, summed up all that he innately was; it expressed him, a +black Penny, absolutely; Howat felt the distance between himself, his +convictions, and the convictions of the world, immeasurably widening. +His feeling for Ludowika symbolized his isolation from the interwoven +fabric of the plane of society; it gave at last a tangible bulk to his +scorn. + +As he had feared, presently she rose and went to her room. Myrtle took +her place on the sofa. Gilbert Penny vanished with a broad witticism at +the well known preference of youth, in certain situations, for its own +council. David Forsythe made a wry face at Howat. Caroline gaily laid +her arm across her mother's shoulder and propelled her from the room. +David stood awkwardly in the middle of the floor; and Howat, hardly less +clumsy, took his departure. He found Caroline awaiting him in the shadow +of his door; she followed him and stood silent while he made a light. +Her face was serious, and her hands clasped tightly. "Howat," she said +in a small voice, "it's--it's, that is, David loves me. Whatever do you +suppose father and Myrtle will say?" + +"What do you think David is saying to Myrtle now?" he asked drily. "I am +glad, Caroline; everything worked out straight for you. David is a +damned good Quaker. For some others life isn't so easy." She laid a warm +hand on his shoulder. "I wish you were happy, Howat." A slight +irritation seized him at the facile manner in which she radiated her +satisfaction, and he moved away. "David's going back to-night. I wish he +wouldn't," she said troubled. "That long, dark way. Anything might +happen. But he has simply got to be at his father's office in the +morning. He is going to speak to him first, see what will be given us at +the Furnace." + +"It should be quite a family party at breakfast," Howat predicted. + + + + +VII + + +He was entirely right. Ludowika rarely appeared so early; Myrtle's face +seemed wan and pinched, and her father rallied her on her indisposition +after what should have been an entrancing evening. She declared +suddenly, "I hate David Forsythe!" Gilbert Penny was obviously startled. +Caroline half rose, as if she had finished breakfast; but she sat down +again with an expression of determination. Howat looted about from his +removed place of being. "I do!" Myrtle repeated. "At first he seemed to +like--I mean I liked him, and then everything changed, got horrid. Some +one interfered." Resentment, suspicion, dominated her, she grew shrill +with anger. "I saw him making faces at Howat, as if he and Howat, as if +Howat had, well--" + +"Don't generalize," said Howat coolly; "be particular." + +"As if you had deliberately spoiled any chance, yes," she declared +defiantly, "any chance I had." + +"That's ridiculous," Gilbert Penny declared. "What," he asked his wife, +"are they all driving at?" She professed herself equally puzzled. "Howat +would say nothing disadvantageous to young Forsythe. He knows what we +all hope." Caroline suddenly leaned forward, speaking in a level voice: +"This has nothing to do with Howat, but with me. I am going to tell you +at once, so that you can all say what you wish, get as angry as you +like, and then accept what--what had to be. David and I love each other; +we are going to be married." + +Gilbert Penny's surprise slowly gave place to a dark tide suffusing his +countenance. "You and David," he half stuttered, "getting married--like +that." Myrtle was rigid in an indignation that left her momentarily +without speech. Mrs. Penny, Howat saw, drew into the slight remoteness +from which she watched the conflicts of her family. "I know I'm +fearfully bold, yes, indecent," Caroline went on, "and undutiful, +impertinent. I'm sorry, truly, for that. Perhaps you'll forgive me, +later. But I won't apologize for loving David." + +"Incredible," her father pronounced. "A girl announcing, without the +slightest warrant or authority, that she intends to marry. And trampling +on her sister's heart in the bargain." Howat expostulated, "What does it +matter which he marries? The main affair is to consolidate the +families." The elder glared at him. "Be silent!" he commanded. Howat +Penny's ever present resentment rose to the surface. "I am not a girl," +he stated; "nor yet a nigger. And, personally, I think David was +extremely wise." + +"I was sure of it," Myrtle cried; "he--he has talked against me, helped +Caroline behind my back." She sobbed thinly, with her arm across her +eyes. "If I thought anything like that had occurred," their father +asserted, "Howat would--" he paused, gazing heavily about at his family. + +Howat's ill temper arose. "Yes--?" he demanded with a sharp inflection. +"Be still, Howat," his mother said unexpectedly. "This is all very +regrettable, Gilbert," she told her husband; "but it is an impossible +subject of discussion." Gilbert Penny continued hotly, "He wouldn't stay +about here." She replied equably, "On the contrary, Howat shall be at +Myrtle Forge until he himself chooses to leave." + +Howat was conscious of a surprise almost as moving as that pictured on +his father's countenance. He had never heard Isabel Penny speak in that +manner before; perhaps at last she would reveal what he had long +speculated over--her true, inner situation. But he saw at once that he +was to be again disappointed; the speaker was immediately enveloped in +her detachment, the air that seemed almost one of a spectator in the +Penny household. She smiled deprecatingly. How fine she was, Howat +thought. Gilbert Penny did not readily recover from his consternation; +his surprise had notably increased to that. His mouth was open, his face +red and agitated. "Before the children, Isabel," he complained. "Don't +know what to think. Surely, surely, you don't uphold Howat? Outrageous +conduct if it's true. And Myrtle so gentle, never hurt any one in her +life." Myrtle circled the table, and found a place in his arms. "If they +had only told me," she protested. "If Caroline--" He patted her flushed +cheeks. "Don't give it another thought," he directed; "a girl as pretty +as you! I'll take you to London, where you'll have a string of men, not +Quakers, fine as peacocks." He bent his gaze on his son. + +"Didn't I tell you last evening that the cast metal has been light?" he +demanded. "Must I beg you to go to the Furnace? Or perhaps that too +conflicts with your mother's fears for you. There are stumps in the +road." There was a whisper of skirts at the door, and Ludowika Winscombe +stood smiling at them. Myrtle turned her tear-swollen face upon her +father's shoulder. Howat wondered if Ludowika had slept. He endeavoured +in vain to discover from her serene countenance something of her +thoughts of what had occurred. He had a sudden inspiration. + +"I can go to Shadrach as soon as Adam saddles a horse," he told his +father. "You were curious about the Furnace," he added to Ludowika, +masking the keen anxiety he felt at what was to follow; "it's a sunny +day, a pleasant ride." She answered without a trace of feeling other +than a casual politeness. "Thank you, since it will be my only +opportunity. I'll have to change." She was gazing, Howat discovered, +lightly at Isabel Penny. "I must get the figures from Schwar," his +father said. Before he left the room he moved to his wife's side, rested +his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with a reassuring nod. +Howat saw that, whatever it might be, the bond between them was secure, +stronger than any differences of prejudices or blood, more potent than +time itself. The group, the strain, about the table, broke up. + +The horses footed abreast over the road that crossed the hills and +forded the watered swales between Myrtle Forge and the Furnace. +Ludowika, riding astride, enveloped and hooded in bottle green, had her +face muffled in a linen riding mask. He wondered vainly what expression +she bore. Speech he found unexpectedly difficult. His passion mounted +and mounted within him, all his being swept unresistingly in its tide. +Howat said at last: + +"Are you still so angry at life, at yourself?" + +"No," she replied; "I slept that foolishness away. I must have sounded +like a character in _The Lying Valet._" Her present mood obscurely +troubled him; he infinitely preferred her in the pale crumpled silk and +candle light of the evening before. "I wish I could tell you what I +feel," he said moodily. + +"Why not?" she replied. "It's the most amusing thing possible. You +advance and I seem to retreat; you reach forward and grasp--my fan, a +handful of petticoat; you protest and sulk--" + +"Perhaps in Vauxhall," he interrupted her savagely, "but not here, not +like that, not with me. This is not a gavotte. I didn't want it; I tried +to get away; but it, you, had me in a breath. At once it was all over. +God knows what it is. Call it love. It isn't a thing under a hedge, I +tell you that, for an hour. It's stronger than anything else that will +ever touch me, it will last longer.... Like falling into a river. +Perhaps I'm different, a black Penny, but what other men take like +water, a woman, is brandy for me. I'm--I'm not used to it. I haven't +wanted Kate here and Mary there; but only you. I've got to have you," he +said with a marked simplicity. "I've got to, or there will be a bad +smash." + +Ludowika rode silently, hid in her mask. He urged his horse closer to +her, and laid a hand on her swaying shoulder. "I didn't choose this," he +repeated; "the blame's somewhere else." He felt a tremor run through +her. "Why say blame?" she finally answered. "I hate moralities and +excuses and tears. If you are set on being gloomy, and talking to heaven +about damnation, take it all away from me." A shadow moved across the +countryside, and he saw clouds rising out of the north. A sudden wind +swept through the still forest, and immediately the air was aflame with +rushing autumn leaves. They fell across Howat's face and eddied about +the horses' legs. The grey bank deepened in space, the sun vanished; the +wind was bleak. It seemed to Howat Penny that the world had changed, +its gold stricken to dun and gaunt branches, in an instant. The road +descended to the clustered stone houses about Shadrach Furnace. + +The horses were left under the shed of the smithy at the primitive cross +roads. Thomas Gilkan had gone to the river about a purchase of casting +sand, but expected to be back for the evening run of metal. Fanny was +away, Howat learned, visiting Dan Hesa's family. They would, of course, +have dinner at the Heydricks; and the latter sent a boy home to prepare +his wife. Ludowika and Howat aimlessly followed the turning road that +mounted to the coal house. A levelled and beaten path, built up with +stone, led out to the top of the stack, where a group of sooty figures +were gathered about the clear, almost smokeless flame of the blast. +Below they lingered on the grassy edge of the stream banked against the +hillside and flooding smoothly to the clamorous fall and revolving wheel +by the wood shed that covered the bellows. Pointed downward the latter +spasmodically discharged a rush of air with a vast creasing of their +dusty leather. A procession of men were wheeling and dumping slag into a +dreary area beyond. There was a stir of constant life about the Furnace, +voices calling, the ringing of metal on metal, the creak of barrows, +dogs barking. The plaintive melody of a German song rose on the air. + +Behind a blood red screen of sumach Howat again kissed Ludowika. Her +arms tightened about his neck; she raised her face to him with an +abandon that blinded him to the world about, and his entire being was +drawn in an agony of desire to his lips. She sank limply into his rigid +embrace, a warm sensuous burden with parted lips. + +At the Heydricks he ate senselessly whatever was placed before him. The +house, solidly built of grey stone traced with iron, had two rooms on +the lower floor. The table was set before a fireplace that filled the +length of the wall, its mantel a great, roughly squared log mortared +into the stones on either side. Small windows opened through deep +embrasures, a door bound with flowering, wrought hinges faced the road, +and a narrow flight of stairs, with a polished rail and white post, led +above. Mrs. Heydrick, a large woman in a capacious Holland apron and +worsted shoes, moved about the table with steaming pewter trenchards +while Heydrick and their guests dined. + +Howat Penny's face burned as if from a violent fever; his veins, it +seemed, were channels through which ran burning wine. He was deafened by +the tumult within him. Heydrick's voice sounded flat and blurred. They +were conscious at Shadrach of the thin quality of the last metal. The +charge had been poorly made up; he, Heydrick, had said at once, when the +cinders had come out black, that the lime had been short. His words fled +through Howat's brain like racing birds; the latter's motions were +unsteady, inexact. + +The clouds had now widened in a sagging plain across the sky, some +scattered rain pattered coldly on the fallen leaves. It was pleasant +before the hickory burning in the deep fireplace; the Heydricks had +taken for granted that they would wait there for Thomas Gilkan, and they +protested when Howat and Ludowika moved toward the door. But Howat was +restless beyond any possibility of patiently hearing Mrs. Heydrick's +cheerful, trivial talk. He was so clumsy with Ludowika's cloak that she +took it from him, and, with a careless, feminine scorn in common with +Mrs. Heydrick, got into it without assistance. They stood for a while in +the cast house, watching a keeper rolling and preparing the pig bed for +the evening flow. They were pressed close together in a profound gloom +of damp warmth rising from the wet sand and furnace. An obscure figure +moved a heavy and faintly clanging pile of tamping bars. The sound of +rain on the roof grew louder, continuous. A poignant and then strangling +emotion clutched at Howat Penny's throat. Silently they turned from the +murky interior. + +A grey rain was plastering the leaves on the soggy ground; puddles +accumulated in the scarred road; the smoke from the smithy hung low on +the roof. At the left a small, stone house had a half opened door. +Ludowika looked within. "For storing," Howat told her. Inside were piled +sledges and cinder hooks, bars and moulds, and bales of tanned hides. +Ludowika explored in the shadows. A sudden eddy of wind slammed to the +door through which they had entered. They drew together irresistibly, +and stood for a long while, crushed in each other's arms; then Ludowika +stepped back with her cloak sliding from her shoulders. She rested +against precarious steps leading aloft through a square opening in the +ceiling. "For storage," he said again. He thought his throat had closed, +and that he must suffocate. A mechanical impulse to show her what was +above set his foot upon the lower step, and he caught her waist. "You +see," he muttered; "things for the store ... the men, wool stockings, +handkerchiefs ... against their pay." The drumming rain was scarcely a +foot above their heads; an acrid and musty odour rose from the boxes and +canvas-sewed bales about the walls. "Ludowika," Howat said. He +stopped--she had shut her eyes. All that was Howat Penny, that was +individually sentient, left him with a pounding rush. + +A faint sound, infinitely far removed, but insistent, penetrated his +blurred senses. It grew louder; rain, rain beating on the roof. Voices, +somewhere, outside. Ringing blows on an anvil, a blacksmith, and horses +waiting. Myrtle Forge. Ludowika. Ludowika Winscombe. No, by God, never +that last again! + +He stood outside with his head bare and his face lifted to the cool +shock of the rain. Ludowika was muffled in her cloak. Howat could see a +renewed activity in the cast house; a group of men were gathered about +the furnace hearth, in which he saw Thomas Gilkan. He moved forward to +call the latter; but a tapping was in progress, and he was forced to +wait. Gilkan swung a long bar against a low, clay face, and instantly +the murky interior was ablaze with a crackling radiance against which +the tense figures wavered in magnified silhouettes. The metal poured out +of the furnace in a continuous, blinding white explosion hung with fans +of sparkling gold; the channels of the pig bed rapidly filled with the +fluid iron. + +Finally Howat Penny lifted Ludowika to her saddle and swung himself up +at her side. The rain had stopped; below the eastern rim of cloud an +expanse showed serenely clear. Their horses soberly took the rise beyond +Shadrach Furnace and merged into the gathering dusk of the forest road. +A deep tranquillity had succeeded the tempest of Howat's emotions; it +would not continue, he knew; already the pressure of immense, new +difficulties gathered about him; but momentarily he ignored them. He +searched his feelings curiously. + +The fact that struck him most sharply was that he was utterly without +remorse for what had occurred; it had been inevitable. He experienced +none of the fears against which Ludowika had exclaimed. He lingered over +no self-accusations, the reproach of adultery. He was absolutely unable +then to think of Felix Winscombe except as a person generally +unconcerned. If he repeated silently the term husband it was without +any sense of actuality; the satirical individual in the full bottomed +wig, now absent in Maryland, had no importance in the passionate +situation that had arisen between Ludowika and himself. Felix Winscombe +would of course have to be met, dealt with; but so would a great many +other exterior conditions. + +Ludowika, in her linen mask, was enigmatic, a figure of mystery. A +complete silence continued between them; at times they ambled with his +hand on her body; then the inequalities of the road forced them apart. +The clouds dissolved, the sky was immaculate, green, with dawning stars +like dim white flowers. A faint odour of the already mouldering year +rose from the wet earth. Suddenly Ludowika dragged the mask from her +face. Quivering with intense feeling she cried: + +"I'm glad, Howat! Howat, I'm glad!" + +He contrived to put an arm about her, crush her to him for a precarious +moment. "We have had an unforgettable day out of life," she continued +rapidly; "that is something. It has been different, strangely apart, +from all the rest. The rain and that musty little store house and the +wonderful iron; a memory to hold, carry away--" + +"To carry where?" he interrupted. "You must realize that I'll never let +you go now. I will keep you if we have to go beyond the Endless +Mountains. I will keep you in the face of any man or opposition +created." + +A wistfulness settled upon her out of which grew a slight hope. "I am +afraid of myself, Howat," she told him; "all that I have been, my +life--against me. But, perhaps, here, with you, it might be different. +Perhaps I would be constant. Perhaps all the while I have needed this. +Howat, do you think so? Do you think I could forget so much, drop the +past from me, be all new and happy?" + +He reassured her, only half intent upon the burden of her words. He +utterly disregarded anything provisional in their position; happiness or +unhappiness were unconsidered in the overwhelming determination that she +should never leave him. No remote question of that entered his brain. +The difficulties were many, but he dismissed them with an impatient +gesture of his unoccupied hand. Gilbert Penny would be heavily +censorious; he had, Howat recognized, the moral prejudices of a solid, +unimaginative blood. But, lately, his father had sunk to a place +comparatively insignificant in his thoughts. This was partly due to the +complete manner in which Isabel Penny had silenced the elder at +breakfast. His mother, Howat gladly felt, would give him the sympathy of +a wise, broad understanding. David and Caroline would interpose no +serious objection. Felix Winscombe remained; a virile figure in spite of +his years; a man of assured position and a bitter will. + +He determined to speak on the day that Felix Winscombe returned from +Annapolis; there would be no concealment of what had occurred, and no +hypocrisy. A decent regret at Winscombe's supreme loss. The other would +not relinquish Ludowika without a struggle. Who would? It was +conceivable that he would summon the assistance of the law, conceivable +but not probable; the situation had its centre in a purely personal +pride. Nothing essential could be won legally. A physical encounter was +far more likely. Howat thought of that coldly. He had no chivalrous +instinct to offer himself as a sop to conventional honour. In any +struggle, exchange of shots, he intended to be victorious.... He would +have the naming of the conditions. + +"It's beautiful here," Ludowika broke into his speculations; "the great +forests and Myrtle Forge. I can almost picture myself directing servants +like your mother, getting supplies out of the store, and watching the +charcoal and iron brought down to the Forge. The sound of the hammer has +become a part of my dreams. And you, Howat--I have never before had a +feeling like this for a man. There's a little fear in it even. It must +be stronger than the other, than Europe; I want it to be." They could +see below them the lighted windows at Myrtle Forge. The horses turned +unguided into the curving way across the lawn. A figure stood +obsequiously at the door; it was, Howat saw with deep automatic +revulsion, the Italian servant. He wondered again impatiently at the +persistently unpleasant impression the other made on him. Gilbert Penny +was waiting in the hall, and Howat told him fully the result of his +investigation. + +His father nodded, satisfied. "You are taking hold a great bit better," +he was obviously pleased. "We must go over the whole iron situation with +the Forsythes. It's time you and David stepped forward. I am getting +bothered by new complications; the thing is spreading out so +rapidly--steel and a thousand new methods and refinements. And the +English opposition; I'm afraid you'll come into that." + +Ludowika did not again appear that evening, and Howat sat informally +before a blazing hearth with his mother, Gilbert Penny and Caroline. +Myrtle had retired with a headache. Howat felt pleasantly settled, +almost middle-aged; he smoked a pipe with the deliberate gestures of his +father. He wondered at the loss of his old restlessness, his revolt from +just such placid scenes as the present. Never, he had thought, would he +be caught, bound, with invidious affections, desires. Howat, a black +Penny! He had been subjugated by a force stronger than his rebellious +spirit. Suddenly, recalling Ludowika's doubt, he wondered if he would be +a subject to it always. All the elements of his captivity lay so +entirely outside of him, beyond his power to measure or comprehend, that +a feeling of helplessness came over him. He again had the sense of being +swept twisting in an irresistible flood. But his confusion was dominated +by one great assurance--nothing should deprive him of Ludowika. An +intoxicating memory invaded him, touched every nerve with delight and a +tyrannical hunger. His fibre seemed to crumble, his knees turn to dust. +Years ago he had been poisoned by berries, and limpness almost like this +had gone softly, treacherously, through him. + + + + +VIII + + +They entered into a period of secret contentment and understanding. +Ludowika displayed a grave interest in the details of the house and iron +at Myrtle Forge; he explained the processes that resulted in the wrought +blooms despatched by tons in the lumbering, mule-drawn wagons. They +explored the farm, where she listened approvingly to the changes he +proposed making, kitchen gardens to be planted, the hedges of roses and +gravelled paths to be laid--for her. She suggested an Italian walk, +latticed above, with a stone seat, and was indicating a corner that +might be transformed into a semblance of an angle of Versailles, when, +suddenly, she stopped, and clasped his wrist. + +"No! No!" she exclaimed, with surprising energy. "We'll have no France, +no court, here, but only America; only you and myself, with no past, no +memories, but just the future." How that was to be realized neither of +them considered; they avoided all practical issues, difficulties. They +never mentioned Felix Winscombe's name. However, a long communication +came from him for his wife. She read it thoughtfully, in the drawing +room, awaiting dinner. No one else but Howat was present, and he was +standing with his hand on her shoulder. "Felix hasn't been well," she +remarked presently. "For the first time he has spoken to me of his age. +The Maryland affair drags, and that has wearied him." + +"What does he say about returning?" Howat bluntly asked. + +"Shortly, he hopes; that is, in another ten days. He says there is a +good ship, the _Lindamira_, by the middle of November." Howat said, +"Excellent." Ludowika gazed at him swiftly. "It will be difficult." His +face became grim, but he made no direct reply. A silence fell on the +room through which vibrated the blows of the trip hammer at the Forge. +The day was grey and definitely cold; a small cannon stove glowed in the +counting house; but Ludowika kept mostly to her room. She sent him a +note by the Italian, and Howat eyed the fellow bowing in the doorway. A +flexibility that seemed entirely without bones. His eyes were jet slits, +his lips shaven and mobile; a wig was repulsively saturated with scented +grease. Yet it was not in actual details that he oppressed Howat; but by +the vague suggestion of debasing commendations, of surreptitious +understanding, insinuations. He seemed, absurdly, unreal, a symbol the +intent of which Howat missed; he suppressed an insane movement to touch +the Italian, discover if he was actually before him. + +He reread Ludowika's note whenever he was not actually employed in +recording, until he was obliged to conceal it in the Forge book. + +Later Abner Forsythe arrived with David, and there was a stir of +preparing rooms and communication with the farm. David's mother was +dead, and Abner conducted the wedding negotiations with the Pennys. "I +thought it would be the pretty little one," he said at the table, with a +Quaker disregard of small niceties of feeling; "but, Gilbert, any girl +of yours would be more than the young men of the present deserve." It +was a difficult conversation for every one but Ludowika and Abner +Forsythe. A greater ease appeared after supper. David and Caroline +disappeared in the direction of the clavichord, from which sounded some +scattered, perfunctory measures. The two elder men returned, over a +decanter of French spirits, to the inevitable and engrossing subject of +iron and the Crown regulations; Myrtle sat stiffly before the fireplace +with Isabel Penny; and Howat moved up and across the room, his gaze +lying on Ludowika, spread in an expanse of orange chiffon and bold +silver tracery on the small sofa. + +She smiled at him once, but, for the most part, she was lost in revery. +Ludowika had a fan, to hold against the fire; and her white fingers were +playing with its polished black sticks and glazed paper printed with an +ornamental bar of music. A faint colour stained her cheeks as he watched +her, and set his heart tumultuously beating. He told himself over and +over, with an unabated sense of wonder, that she was his. He longed for +the moment when they could discard all pretence and be frankly, +completely, together. That must happen after Felix Winscombe arrived. +Meanwhile he was forced to content himself with a look, a quick or +lingering contact of fingers, the crush of her body against his +momentarily in a passage. They had returned once to the rock where he +had first been intoxicated by her; in a strangling wave of emotion he +had taken her into his arms; but she had broken away. The width of the +stream and screen of trees had apparently disconcerted Ludowika, and she +contrived to make him feel inexcusably young, awkward. + +But usually he dominated her; there was a depth to his passion that +achieved patience, the calmness of unassailable fortitude. She gazed at +him often with a surprise that bordered on fear; again she would delight +in his mastery, beg him to hold her forever safe against the past. He +reassured her of his ability and determination to accomplish that; there +was not the shadow of a doubt in his own mind. He was more troubled now +than formerly; but he was eager for the climax to pass, impatient to +claim his own. + +As if a dam had been again thrown across the flood of his emotions he +felt them mounting, growing more and more irrepressible. He slept in +feverish snatches, with gaps in which he stared wide-eyed into the dark, +trying to realize his coming joy, visualizing Ludowika, a brilliant +apparition of flowing silk, on the night. He thought of the store house +at the Furnace, of the rain beating on the roof, and Ludowika ... God, +if that old man would only return, go, leave them! The clouds vanished +and left the nights emerald clear, the constellations glittered in +frosty immensities of silence. He stood at the open window with his +shoulders bare, revelling in the cold air that flowed over him, defying +winter, death itself. The moon waned immutably. + +David was now at Shadrach Furnace, living with the Heydricks, and the +necessities that brought him to Myrtle Forge were endless. He was +absolutely happy, and Howat watched him with mingled longing and envy. +His affair, darker, more tragic in spite of a consummation that must be +joyous, seemed infinitely more mature. Caroline was a nice enough girl, +but Ludowika was supremely fascinating. David amused him: + +"Caroline is a miracle. Of course there are prettier, and Mrs. Winscombe +has more air; but none has Caroline's charming manner. Of course, you +have noticed it. Even a thick-headed brother couldn't miss that. We have +plans for you, too. And it's no good your looking glum; we'll glum you." + +The amusement faded from Howat's countenance, and he listened sullenly +to the end of the raillery. His temper was growing daily more uneven, +the delight had largely left his reflections. His passion had become too +insistent for happy conjecturing; the visions of Ludowika now only +tormented him. Her eyes were like burning sapphires, her warm palms +caressed his face; he was increasingly gaunt and shadowed. Once he gave +a note for her to the Italian servant, loathing the hand that adroitly +covered the folded sheet, the other's oblique smile; but she sent back +word that she was suffering from a headache. He began to plan so that he +would intercept her in unexpected places. She, too, was passionate in +her admissions; but, somehow, some one always stumbled toward them, or +they were summoned from beyond. He began to feel that this was not mere +chance, but desired, deliberately courted, by Ludowika. Very well, he +would end it all, as it were, with a shout when Felix Winscombe came +back. + +When Felix Winscombe came back! + +He was, too, increasingly aware of his mother's scrutiny. Howat was +certain that Isabel Penny had surmised a part of his feeling for +Ludowika. He didn't greatly care; any one might know, he thought +contemptuously. It had destroyed his sympathetic feeling for his mother, +the only considerate bond that had existed with his family. +Unconsciously he placed her on one side of a line, the other held only +Ludowika and himself. + +He explained this to her in a sere reach of the garden. It was +afternoon, the sun low and a haze on the hills. Ludowika had on a +scarlet wrap, curiously vivid against the withered, brown aspect of the +faded flower stems. "You and me," he repeated. She gazed, without +answering, at the barrier of hills that closed in Myrtle Forge. From +the thickets came the clear whistling of partridges, intensifying the +unbroken tranquillity that surrounded the habitations. Howat was +suddenly conscious of the pressure of vast, unguessed regions, primitive +forces, illimitable wildernesses. It brought uppermost in him a +corresponding zest in the sheer spaciousness of the land, a feeling +always intensified by the thought of England. "The Province," he said +disjointedly, "a place for men. Did you see those that followed the road +this morning? Perhaps five with their women, some pack horses, kitchen +tins and hide tents. The men wore buckskin, and furred caps, and the +women's skirts were sewed leather. One was tramping along with a feeding +baby. Well, God knows where they have been, how many days they have +walked; their shoes were in shreds. And their faces, thin and serious, +have looked steadily over rifles at death. The women, too. You'll only +get them here, in a big country, a new--" + +"They were terrible," Ludowika declared; "savage. I was glad when they +were by. The baby at the woman's great breast!" she shuddered at the +memory. "Like animals." + +He gazed at her with a slight surprise; he had never heard her speak so +bitterly. He saw her more clearly than ever before; as if her words had +illuminated her extraordinary delicacy of being, had made visible all +the infinite refinements of which she was the result. He had a +recurrence of his sense of her incongruity here, balanced on polished +black pattens, against the darkening hills. The sun disappeared, there +was a cool flare of yellow light, and a feeling of impending evening. +The hills were indigo, the forest a dimmer gold, a wind moved audible in +the dry leaves. + +Ludowika gasped. "It's so--so huge," she said, "all the lonely miles. At +times I can't bear to think of it." A faint dread invaded him. "Last +night, when I couldn't sleep, a thing howled in the woods. And I got +thinking of those naked men at the Forge, with their eyes rimmed in +black, and--and--" + +He disregarded the publicity of their position and put an arm about her +shoulders, in an overwhelming impulse to calm and reassure her; but she +slipped away. "I'll be all right again," she promised; "but I think it's +more cheerful with the candles. We'll get your sister to play Belshazzar +and pretend we're across the green from St. James." + +A mood darker than any he had lately known settled over him. It was +natural for Ludowika to be lonely, at first; but in a little she would +grow to love the wild like himself. She must. The Province was to be her +life. He was standing before the fire in the informal chamber beyond the +dining room, watching his mother's vigorous hands deftly engaged in +embroidery. There was no one present, and a sudden, totally desperate +recklessness possessed him. Isabel Penny said: + +"Mr. Winscombe will be here shortly." + +"I wish it would be to-night," he declared. She raised her calm gaze +with brows arched in inquiry. "There is something--" he broke off. "She +belongs to me," he said in a low, harsh voice, "and not to that old +man." + +Mrs. Penny secured her needle, and put the colourful web aside. She was, +as he had been sure she would be, entirely composed, admirable. Her +questioning look grew keener. "I was afraid of that," she admitted +simply; "after the first. It is very unpleasant and difficult. This is +not London, and your father will make no allowances. You are not any +easier to bend, Howat. With Mrs. Winscombe--" she paused, "I am not +certain. But there is no doubt about the husband." + +"She belongs to me," he reiterated sullenly. + +"There is no need for you to make yourself offensively clear. I know +something of details of that kind. I told you once that they might mean +only a very little to--to certain women. I am not prepared to judge +about that. But I know you, what bitter feeling you are capable of. You +are a very pure man, Howat; and for that reason such an occurrence would +tear you up and across. There is no use in begging you to be cautious, +diplomatic. Mr. Winscombe, too, is very determined; he has many +advantages--maturity, coldness, experience. He won't spare you, either. +It's excessively unfortunate." + +"I'll get it over as quickly as possible. I didn't want the thing to +happen, it wasn't from any choice; it hit me like a bullet. Nothing else +is of the slightest importance. I've gone over this again and again; +I'll tell him and let him try what he can. Ludowika's gone from--from +the fireworks and fiddles and stinking courts; I've got her, and, by +God, I'll keep her!" + +"Talk quietly; you can't shout yourself into this. Are you certain that +Mrs. Winscombe really finds the courts--stinking? I remember, at first," +she stopped. Even in the midst of his passion he listened for what +revelation she might make; but none followed. She was silent for a +minute. "They become a habit," she said finally; "love, loves, become a +habit. Only men brought up in the same atmosphere can understand. At +first Felix Winscombe will be infuriated with you for speaking, then he +will realize more, and the trouble will follow. Are you certain that you +have comprehended? It would be stupid to mistake an episode, you would +succeed only in making yourself ridiculous." + +He lifted up both his hands and closed them with a quivering, relentless +force. + +"Truly," Isabel Penny remarked, "truly I begin to be sorry for her. +There is something she has yet to learn about men. Nothing can be said; +and that is what your father will not penetrate. Howat, I am even a +little afraid ... now. That, I believe, is unusual for me. It's your +blackness, like powder. The explosion can kill. Nothing may be said. +Life drags us along by the hair." + +Her questions about Ludowika joined to the memory of the latter's +revulsion from the primitive conditions of the Province and added to the +heaviness of his heart. He mentally denied his mother's suggestions, +drove them from him, but they left a faint enduring sting, a vague +unrest. His passion for Ludowika swelled, dominated, him; he forgot +everything but his own, supreme desire. Nothing else stood before its +flood; all thought of Ludowika's final happiness was lost with the other +detritus. The tense closing of his hands had symbolized his feeling, his +intent. He held her in a manner as nakedly primitive as the inchoate +sexuality of the emotion that had engulfed him. + +Ludowika did not appear for supper, and he was possessed by a misery of +vague apprehensions. He must know something of her thoughts, have a +token from her of some feeling like his own; and, waiting, he stopped +the Italian on the stairs. The latter knew his purpose immediately, +without a spoken word; and he followed Howat's brusque gesture to his +room. He hastily wrote a note; and the latter brought him back a reply, +only partly satisfactory, with an air of relish. For the first time the +affair had the hateful appearance of an intrigue, like a court +adventure. It was the Italian servant, Howat decided; and immediately he +recognized why he disliked the other--it was because he expressed an +aspect of slyness that lay over Ludowika and himself. He put that from +him, too; but it was like brushing away cobwebs. His hunger for Ludowika +increased all the while; it became more burningly material, insatiable +and concrete. + +On the day following she clung to him, when opportunity offered, with a +desperate energy of emotion. "You must hold me tighter," she told him. +Her mood rapidly changed, and she complained of the eternal, pervasive +fall of the forge hammer. "It will drive me mad," she declared almost +wildly. "I can't bear to think of its going on and on, year after year; +listening to it--" He heard her with sombre eyes. She had come to the +counting house, empty for the moment but for themselves, and stood with +her countenance shadowed by a frown. "If the hammer stops," he replied, +waving his hand largely, "all this, the Pennys, stop, too. I'm afraid +that sound of beating out iron will be always wrought through our lives. +You will get accustomed to it--" + +Her expression grew petulant, resentful. "Do you mean that we couldn't, +perhaps, go to England, if--if I wanted?" He moved closer to her, +brushing the circumference of her skirt. "You asked me to hold you, to +keep you from the past; and I am going to do it. London is all that you +wish to forget; it must go completely out of your life ... never finger +you again." A faint dread that deepened almost to antagonism was +visible on her countenance. "I suppose to men talk like that seems a +sign of strength, of possession; but it doesn't impress women, really. +You see, women give, or else--there is nothing." + +"I had no thought of impressing you," he said simply; "I only repeated +what came into my mind, what I mean. It would be a mistake for me to +take you to England, and make both of us miserable. Beside, there is +more to tend here than I'll ever accomplish." She objected, "But other +people, workmen, will do the actual labour. Surely you are not going to +keep on with anything so vulgar--" she indicated the office and desks. +Her features sharpened with contempt. "I'll not be a clerk," he told her +gravely. "But I am responsible for a great deal. You should understand +that for you showed it to me. Most of what I am now has been you." He +reached out his hands to her in a wave of tenderness, but she evaded +him. She stood irresolute for a moment and then abruptly turned and +disappeared. + +A white rim of new moon grew visible at the edge of dusk, and he stood +gazing at it before he entered the dwelling. A dull unrest had become +part of his inner tumult, a premonition falling over him like an +advancing shadow. But above all his vague fears rose the knowledge that +he would never let Ludowika go from him; that was the root of his being. +Now she could never leave him. It was natural, he assured himself again, +that she should feel doubts at first; everything here was so different +from the life she had known; and women were variable. He would have to +understand that, learn to accommodate himself to changing, surface +moods, immovable underneath. + +She had put on for supper, he saw, a daring dress; and her expression +was that which he had first noted, indifferent, slightly scoffing. Her +shoulders and arms gleamed under fragile gauze, her bodice was hardly +more than a caress of silk. He watched her every movement, and got a +sort of satisfaction from the knowledge that she grew increasingly +disturbed at his unwavering scrutiny. His mother's attitude toward Mrs. +Winscombe had not changed by a shade, an inflection; she was correctly +cordial in her slightly distant manner. + +In the ebb and flow of the evening Howat was left with Ludowika for a +little, and he bent over her, kissing her sharply. She was coldly +unresponsive; and he kissed her again, trying vainly to bring some +warmth to her lips. She did not avoid him actually, but he felt that +something in her, essential, slipped aside from his caress. His emotion +changed to a mounting anger. "You will have to get over this now or +later," he asserted. She said surprisingly, "Felix will be home this +week." He stood with an arm half raised, his head turned, as he had been +arrested by her period. + +"Well?" he demanded stupidly. Her tone had been beyond his +comprehension. "Felix," she went on, apparently at random, "is very +satisfactory." Something of her intent penetrated his stunned faculties. +He advanced toward her dark with rage. "And if he is," he replied, "it +will do him no good. It will do you no good, if you think--" he broke +off from an accession of emotion. "What damned thing are you thinking +of?" + +"The Princess Amelia's stockings," she answered pertly. + +"You'll never put them on her again, like any dirty chamber maid." + +"Felix, the end of this week," she repeated. + +"I'll kill him," Howat whispered; "if he lifts a hand I'll shoot him +through the head. This was forced on me; some one else, responsible, can +pay." Her chin was up, her expression mocking. "Ridiculous, like any +cloddish countryman." She walked deliberately away, seated herself in a +graceful eddy of panniered silk. + +A cold torment succeeded his rage; he had the feeling of being +hopelessly trapped, stifling in his passion. He followed her. "Ludowika, +this is horrible, so soon. I am willing to think that I am to blame; +stupid; no experience. You will have to be patient with me. Naturally +everything, now--" he broke off and wandered to a window, holding aside +the draperies, gazing out into the night. The sky was so luminous that +the barriers of surrounding hills were printed clearly against starry +space. The forest swept about in a dark veil; nowhere could be seen a +glimpse of habitation. He heard the wavering cry of an owl. + +The Province, immense, secretive! Paper lanterns strung in parks, hid +music, provocative smiles only playing with the heart! It was +tremendously unfortunate. Why must they suffer so unreasonably? +Something, he was certain, had gone wrong; it lay both within them and +outside; a force diverted, a purpose unaccomplished. It bent, broke, +them like two twigs; they were no more than two bubbles, momentarily +reflecting the sky, on a profound depth. A wind stirred, oppressed them, +and they were gone. A great pity for Ludowika took its place in his +feelings. He was sorry for himself. Suddenly the rustle of her skirts +approached. + +An infinitely seductive, warm arm crept about his neck; she abandoned +herself to a ruthless embrace. "It's been wonderful, Howat; and--and it +isn't over, yet. Nothing lasts, it's a mistake to demand too much. We +must take what we may. Perhaps, even, later--in London. No, don't +interrupt me. After all, I'm wiser than you are. I was swept away for a +little. Impossibilities. I am what I am. I was always that, inside of +me. If the longing I told you about had been stronger, it, and not the +court, would have made me; but it was no more than a glimpse seen from a +window, a thing far away. I'd never reach it. This, now, has been the +best of me, all." + +He had a mingled sense of the truth and futility of her words. It was +as if his passion stood apart from them, dominating them, lashing him +with desire. Nothing she might say, no necessity nor effort, could free +them. The uselessness of words smote him. She spoke again, an urgent +flow of dulcet sound against his ear; but it was without meaning, lost +in the drumming of his blood. The stir of feet approached, and he +released her, moving to the fireplace. It was Caroline. She stopped +awkwardly, advancing a needless explanation of a trivial errand from the +doorway, and vanished. + +His position at Myrtle Forge was fast becoming impossible. There would +be an explosion now at any moment. He took the fire tongs and idly +rearranged the wood on the hearth. The flames blazed more brightly, +their reflection squirmed over the lacquer frames on the walls, gleamed +richly on polished black walnut, and fell across the Turkey floor +carpet. It even reached through the pale candle light and flickered on +Ludowika's dull red gown, flowered and clouded with blue. She was turned +away from him, against the window; her shoulders drooped in an attitude +of dejection. The flames died away again. + + + + +IX + + +Ludowika's manner toward him became self-possessed, even animated; and, +Howat thought, preoccupied. She was expectant, with a slightly impatient +air, as if she were looking beyond his shoulder. The cause occurred to +him in a flash that ignited his anger like a ready-charged explosive. +She was waiting, desiring, the return of her husband. Felix Winscombe, +she thought, would mean--escape. He used the word deliberately, +realizing that that now expressed her attitude toward the Province, +toward him. It made no difference in his feeling for her, his +determination that nothing should take her from him. His power of +detachment vanished; he became utterly the instrument of his passion. + +He didn't press upon her small expressions of his emotion; somehow, +without struggle, she had made them seem foolish; beyond that they were +inadequate. He was conscious of the approach of a great climax; his +feeling was above the satisfaction of trivial caresses. Soon, he told +himself, soon he would absolutely possess her, for as long as they +lived. Ultimately she must be happy with him. He thought the same things +in a ceaseless round; he walked almost without sight, discharging +mechanically the routine of daily existence; answering inevitable +queries in a perfunctory, dull voice. Myrtle Forge made a distant +background of immaterial colours and sounds for the slightly mocking +figure of Ludowika. + +In mid-afternoon David arrived with a face stung scarlet by beating +wind, and a clatter of hoofs. He immediately found Gilbert Penny, and +the two men sat together with grave faces, lowered voices. Howat, who +had left the counting house at the sound of the hurried approach, caught +a few words as he drew near the others: + +"... a bad attack, crumpled him up. Coming out from the city now." They +were talking about Felix Winscombe, who, it appeared, had been assaulted +by a knife-like pain; and was returning to Myrtle Forge. "Watlow saw no +reason why it should be dangerous," David continued; "he thinks perhaps +it came from unusual exertions, entertaining. A little rest, he says. He +thinks the Winscombes will be able to sail on the _Lindamira_ as they +planned." + +Ludowika listened seriously to Gilbert Penny's few, temperate words of +preparation. "He has had a pain like that before," she told them. "It +always passes away. Felix is really very strong, in spite of his age. He +won't ordinarily go to bed, but I'll insist on that now, simply for +rest." Felix Winscombe appeared at the supper hour. He was helped out +of Abner Forsythe's leather-hung chaise, and assisted into the house. +Howat saw him under the hanging lamp in the hall; with a painful +surprise he realized that he was gazing at the haggard face of an old +man. Before he had never connected the thought of definite age with Mr. +Winscombe. The man's satirical virility had forbidden any of the +patronage unconsciously extended to the aged. + +A trace of his familiar, mocking smile remained, but it was tremulous; +it required, Howat saw, great effort. An involuntary admiration +possessed him for the other's unquenchable courage. The latter protested +vehemently against being led to his room by Ludowika; but she ignored +his determination to go into supper, swept him away with a firm arm +about his waist. + +The house took on the slightly strange and disordered aspect of illness; +voices were grave, low; in the morning Howat learned that Felix +Winscombe had had another vicious attack in the night. Dr. Watlow +arrived, and demanded assistance. Howat Penny, in the room where +Ludowika's husband lay exhausted in a bed canopied and draped in gay +India silk, followed Watlow's actions with a healthy feeling of +revulsion. The doctor bared Winscombe's spare chest, then filled a +shallow, thick glass with spirits; emptying the latter, he set fire to +the interior of the glass; and, when the blue flame had expired, clapped +the cupped interior over the prostrate man's heart. There was, it +seemed, little else that could be done; bleeding was judged for the +once unexpeditious. + +An effort at commonplace conversation was maintained at dinner. Ludowika +openly discussed the arrangements for their return to London. Felix +Winscombe had rallied from the night; his wife said that it was +difficult to restrain him. The most comfortable provisions, she +continued, had been made for their passage on the _Lindamira_. Howat +heard her without resentment. He had no wish to contradict her +needlessly even in thought; he was immovably fixed. Mr. Winscombe's +debilitated return had completely upset his intentions. An entirely +different proceeding would now be demanded, but with an identical end. +What pity he felt for the elder had no power to reach or alter his +passion. + +He returned to the counting house, and worked methodically through the +afternoon, with an increasing sense of being involved in an irresistible +movement. This gave him a feeling almost of tranquillity; from the +beginning he had not been responsible. In the face of illness the +Italian servant proved utterly undependable; he cringed, stricken with +dread, from the spectacle of suffering. And when late in the day Mr. +Winscombe, partially drugged with opium, grew consciously weaker, +Howat's assistance was required. + +Ludowika now remained in the room with her husband, and there was a +discreet movement in and out by various members of the household. +Isabel Penny remained for an hour, Caroline took her place, Myrtle +fluttered uncertainly in the doorway. Through the evening Felix +Winscombe lay propped on pillows, his head covered by a black gros de +Naples cap. His keen personality waned and revived on his long, yellow +countenance. At one side wigs stood in a row on blocks, a brilliant, +magenta coat lay in a huddle on a chair. At intervals he spoke, in a +thinner, higher voice than customary, petulantly uneasy, or with a +familiar, sardonic inflection. At the latter Ludowika would grow +immensely cheered. She entirely ignored Howat on the occasions when he +was in the room. He saw her mostly bent over leather boxes, into which +disappeared her rich store of silk and gold brocades, shoes of purple +morocco, soft white shifts. Howat watched her without an emotion visible +on his sombre countenance. + +Occasionally Mr. Winscombe's tenuous fingers dipped into a snuff box of +black enamel and brilliants, and he lifted his hand languidly. The man's +vitality, his sheer determination, were extraordinary. Even now he was +far from impotence. He had, Howat had learned, completely dominated the +Provincial Councils, forced a mutual compromise and agreement on them. +He spoke of still more complicated affairs awaiting him in England. He +damned the Italian's "white liver," and threatened to leave him in +America. Dr. Watlow had been forced to return to the city. + +Through the unaccustomed stir Howat was ceaselessly aware of his +feeling for Ludowika; he thought of it with a sense of shame; but it +easily drowned all other considerations. He continued to speculate about +their future together. Whatever his father might conclude about his +personal arrangements, the elder would see that he was necessary to the +future of the Penny iron. They might live in one of the outlying stone +dwellings at the Forge ... for the present. He was glad that Gilbert +Penny, that he, was rich. Ludowika could continue to dress in rare +fabrics, to step in elaborate pattens over the common earth. That could +not help but influence, assuage, her in the end. The Pennys' position in +the Province, too, was high; the most exclusive assemblies were open to +them. He regarded his satisfaction in these details with something of +Mr. Winscombe's bitter humour. In the past he had repudiated them with +the utmost scorn. In the past--dim shapes, scenes, that appeared to have +occurred years before, but which in reality reached to last month, +trooped through his mind. Youth had vanished like a form dropping behind +a hill. He looked back; it was gone; his feet hurried forward into the +unguessed future; anxiety joined him; the scent that was Ludowika +accompanied him, an illusive figure. He reached toward it. + +He was standing at the foot of the bed where Felix Winscombe lay. The +latter was restless, and complained of pains in his arms, reaching down +to his fingers. Ludowika bent over him, her face stamped with concern. +She regarded Howat with a new expression--narrowed eyes and a glimmer of +flawless teeth: a look he had never foreseen there; but it was impotent +before the thing that was. It had, however, the effect of intensifying +his desire, his passion for her fragility of silk and flesh. He would +kiss her hate on her mouth. + +She sat by the bedside, and Howat took a place opposite her. Candles +burned on a highboy, on a table at his back; and their auriferous light +flowed in about the bedstead. The latter was draped from the canopy to +the bases of the posts in a bright printing of pheasants and +conventional thickets--cobalt and ruby and orange; and across a heavy +counterpane half drawn up stalked a row of panoplied Indians in clipped +zephyr. It was a nebulous enclosure with the shadows of the hangings +wavering on the coloured wool and cold linen, on the long, seamed +countenance of the prostrate man. + +A clock in the hall struck slowly--it needed winding--ten blurred notes. +Felix Winscombe took a sip of water. A minute snapping sounded from the +hearth. A window stirred, and there was a dry turning of leaves without; +wind. One of the Indians, Howat saw, had his arm raised, flourishing a +blade; a stupid effigy of savage spleen. Beyond the drapery Ludowika's +face was dim and white. It was like an ineffable May moon. Ludowika ... +Penny. For the first time Howat thought of her endowed with his name, +and it gave him a deep thrill of delight. He repeated it with moving but +soundless lips--Ludowika Penny. + +Her husband lay with his eyes closed, his head bowed forward on his +chest, as if in sleep. At irregular intervals small, involuntary +contractions of pain twitched at his mouth. At times, too, he muttered +noiselessly. Extraordinary. Ludowika and Felix Winscombe and himself, +Howat Penny. A world peopled only by them; the silence of the room +dropped into infinite space, bottomless time. A sudden dread of such +vast emptiness seized Howat; he felt that he must say something, +recreate about them the illusion of safe and familiar spaces and walls. +It seemed that he was unable to speak; a leaden inhibition lay on his +power of utterance. He made a harsh sound in his throat, loud and +startling. Felix Winscombe raised his head, and Ludowika cried faintly. +Then silence again folded them. + +Howat fastened his thoughts on trivial and practical affairs--the +furnishing of the house where he would take Ludowika, what David and +himself intended to do with the iron, and then his last, long talk with +his mother. She was astonishingly wise; she had seen far into Ludowika +and himself, but even her vision had stopped short of encompassing the +magnitude of his passion; she had not realized his new patience and +determination. He found himself counting the gorgeous birds in the +bed-hangings--twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, and stopped +abruptly. + +It had grown chilly in the room, and Ludowika had an India cashmere +shawl about her shoulders. The sombre garnets and blues hid the tinsel +gaiety of her gown and her bare shoulders. She appeared older than he +had ever seen her before. Her face, carefully studied, showed no trace +of beauty; her eyes were heavy, her lips dark; any efforts of animation +were suspended. She showed completely the effect of her life in courts +and a careless prodigality of hours and emotions. Howat, seeing all +this, felt only a fresh accession of his hunger for her; she was far +more compelling than when romantically viewed as a moon. + +He sat with his chin propped on a palm; she was rigidly upright with her +arms at her sides; Felix Winscombe moved higher on the pillows. His eyes +glittered in a head like a modelling in clay; his arms stirred +ceaselessly with weaving fingers. Howat could almost feel Ludowika's +hatred striking at him across the bed. He smiled at her, and she faced +him with an expression of stony unresponse. He thought luxuriantly of +her in his arms, with the rain beating on the store house roof; he +caught the odours of the damp, heaped merchandise, the distant clamour +in the casting shed. He had a brutal impulse to lean forward and remind +her of what had occurred, of the fact that she was his; he wanted to +fling it against her present detachment, to mock her with it. Then he +would crush her against his heart. Felix Winscombe raised up on an +elbow, distorting the row of sanguinary Indians. + +Ludowika moved to the edge of the bed, and put a firm, graceful arm +about him. A grey shadow of pain fell on Mr. Winscombe's features. The +silence was absolute. He seemed to be waiting in an attitude of mingled +dread and resolution. He whispered an unintelligible period, the pain on +his face sharpened, and he released himself from Ludowika's support. She +sank back on her chair, gazing at her husband with wide, concerned eyes. + +Slowly the lines in his face deepened, and a fine, gleaming sweat +started out on his brow. His face contorted in a spasm of voiceless +suffering, and he drew a stiff hand down either arm. Howat watched him +in a species of strained curiosity, with a suspension of breath. +Something, he felt, should be done to relieve the oppression of agony +gathering on Felix Winscombe's countenance, but a corresponding sense of +complete helplessness settled like a leaden coffin about him. The other +became unrecognizable; his face seemed to be set in an unnatural grin. +His head drew back on a thin, corded neck, and a faint gasping for air +stirred in the shadows. Even Howat felt the pain to be unendurable, and +Ludowika, white as milk, had risen to her feet. She stood with a hand +half raised beneath a fringed corner of the India shawl. + +It was incredible that the sufferer's agony should increase, but it was +apparent that it did remorselessly. All humanity was obliterated in an +excruciating spasm over which streamed some meagre tears. Mr. +Winscombe's arms raised and dropped; and, suddenly relaxed, he slipped +down upon the pillows. Immediately the torment vanished from his +countenance; it became peaceful, released. The familiar mockery of the +mouth came back. The head, slightly turned, seemed to regard Ludowika +with contentment and interrogation. Howat was conscious of a relief +almost as marked as that on the face before him. He had gripped his +hands until they ached. The tension in the room, too, seemed spent. He +was about to address a reassuring period to Ludowika, when, at a glimpse +of her expression, the words died on his lips. + +He bent over the bed, with his hand on a ridged, still chest; he gazed +down at flaccid eyes, a dropped chin. Felix Winscombe was dead. + +Howat raised up slowly, facing the woman through the draperies. She was +gazing in an incredulous, shocked surprise at the limp, prostrate body +capped in black gros de Naples. A shuddering fear passed over her, and +then her eyes met those of Howat Penny. Even separated from him by the +bed she drew away as if from his touch. He saw that she had forgotten +the dead man in a sharp realization of the portent of the living. She +glanced about the room in the panic of a trapped lark, an abject +fright, searching for an escape. + +He realized that there was none; Ludowika now belonged to him +absolutely; he was as remorseless as the pain that had killed Felix +Winscombe. Below the automatic sensations of the moment Howat was +conscious of utter satisfaction. A miracle had given Ludowika to him; in +the passing of a breath all his difficulty had been ended. She was alone +with him in a province of forests and iron and stars. He would make her +forget the gardens of fireworks and scraping violins; but forget or not +she was his ... Ludowika Penny. + + + + +II THE FORGE + + + + +X + + +Jasper Penny stood at a window of his bed room, his left arm carried in +a black silk handkerchief, gazing down at the long, low roof of Myrtle +Forge, built by his great, great grandfather Gilbert over a hundred and +ten years before. It was February, and he could hear the ringing blows +of axes, cutting the ice out of the forebay to liberate the water power +for the completion of a forging of iron destined to be rolled into +tracks for the slowly lengthening Columbia Steam Railway System. It was +midday, a grey sky held a brighter, diffused radiance where the veiled +sun hung without warmth, and the earth was everywhere frozen +granite-like. He could see beyond the Forge shed heaped charcoal, and +the black mass seemed no more dead than the ground or bare, brittle +trees sweeping down and up to where, on encircling hills, they were +lifted sharply against the cloudy monotony. + +He was ordinarily impervious to the influence of weather, the more +depressing aspects of nature; but now he was conscious of a dejection +communicated, in part at least, he felt, by the bleak prospect without. +Another, and infinitely more arresting, reason for this feeling had just +stirred his thoughts--for the first time he was conscious of the +invidious, beginning weariness of accumulating years. He was hardly past +forty, and he impatiently repudiated the possibility that he was +actually declining; in fact he had not yet reached the zenith of his +capabilities, physical or mental; yet his broken arm, slow in mending, +the pain, had unquestionably depleted him more than a similar accident +ten years ago. Not only this, but, during the forced inaction, his mind +had definitely taken a different cast; considerations that had seemed to +constitute the main business of existence had lately faded before +preoccupations and feelings ignored until now. + +Jasper Penny saw, objectively, not so much the surrounding circumstance +as his own former acts and emotions; detached from his habitual being by +hardly more than a month his past was posed before his critical +judgment. Looked at in this manner his life appeared crowded with +surprisingly meaningless gestures and words, his sheer youth an +incomprehensible revolt. A greater part of that had been lately +expressed by his mother, when he had returned to Myrtle Forge with an +arm broken by a fall in a railroad coach travelling to Philadelphia. She +had said, shaking her head with tightened lips: + +"I warned you plenty against those train brigades. It isn't safe nor +sensible with a good horse service convenient. But then you have always +been a knowing, head-strong boy and man.... A black Penny." + +How she would get along without that last phrase he was at a loss to +conjecture, from his first consciousness he recalled it, now a term of +reproach and now extenuation. Only a few weeks before she had repeated +it in precisely the same tone of mingled admonition and complaint that +had greeted his most boyish mishaps. He had grown so accustomed to it, +not only from Gilda Penny but from every one familiar with the Pennys +and their history, that it had become part of his automatic entity. +Jasper--a black Penny. + +The course of his thoughts turned back to the earliest episodes +remembered in that connection, to a time in which the especial quality +had necessarily freest play. Now he characterized it as mere uninformed +wildness; but he still recalled the tremendous impatience with which he +had met the convenient enclosure of a practicable, organized society. +Even at Myrtle Forge, where--in contrast to dwelling in the confines of +a city--he had had a rare amount of actual freedom, a feeling of +constriction had sent him day after day into the woods, hunting or +merely idle along the upper reaches of still unsullied streams. Yet it +had been an especial kind of wildness; he owed that recognition to his +vanished youth. The term generally included champagne parties and the +companionship of various but similar ladies of the circus or opera +house. But nothing of that had then entered into his deep-rooted +rebellion. He had had merely a curious passion for complete +independence, an innate turning from street-bound affairs and men to the +isolation and physical accomplishment of arduous excursions on horses or +foot. He had, then, avoided, even dreaded, women. And that instinct, he +told himself, shifting his injured arm to a more comfortable position, +had been admirably founded. + +The ax blows ceased; from his position he could just see the top of the +great wheel that drove the Forge trip hammer; and slowly the rim +blurred, commencing to turn. The forebay was open. A pennant of black +smoke, lurid with flaming cinders, twisted up in the motionless air. The +hammer fell once, experimentally, with a faint jar, and a grimy figure +shovelled charcoal into a barrow. + +His mind soon returned to the point where it had been deflected by the +movement at the Forge; he could even visualize his mature boyhood--a +straight, arrogant figure, black certainly, with up-sloping brows and an +outthrust chin. And that, he thought, not without complacency, was not +very far from a description of himself at present. There were, of +course, the whiskers, severely trimmed on his spare face, and showing, +in certain lights, a glimmer of silver; but he was as upright, as +comfortably lean, now as then. He was still capable of prolonged +physical exertion.... It was ridiculous to think of himself as +definitely aging. Yet he was past forty, and the years seemed to go far +more swiftly than at twenty-one. + +Women! The silent pronouncement included the smallest plural +possible--only two; but it seemed to Jasper Penny that they comprised +all the variations, the faults and virtues, of their entire sex. With a +certain, characteristic formality, propriety, he considered his wife +first, now a year dead. He wondered if she had found the orthodox and +concrete heaven in the frequent ecstatic contemplation of which so much +of her life had been spent. It had been that fine superiority to the +material that had first attracted him to her, a quality of shining +enthusiasm, of reflected inspiration from a vision, however trite, of +eternal hymning; and it had been that same essence which finally held +them apart through the greater number of their married years. Phebe's +health, slowly ebbing, had drawn her farther and farther from the known +world in general and the affairs and being of her husband in particular; +her last strength had gone in the hysteria of protracted religious +emotion, during which she had become scarcely more to Jasper Penny than +an attenuated, rapt invalid lingering in his house. + +Her pale, still presence was usurped by a far different, animated and +colourful, figure. He thought of Essie Scofield, of all that she +paramountly held and expressed, with a reluctance that had lately, +almost within the past week, grown to resemble resentment, if not actual +irritation. Yet, however, casting back through the years, in his present +remoteness, he was able to recreate her and his emotions as they had +first, irresistibly moved together. The absolute opposite of Phebe, +already withdrawing into her religious, incorporeal region, Essie +Scofield had immediately swept him into the whirlpool of her vivid, +physical personality. Before her the memory of his wife faded into +insignificance. But there was no mere retrospect in the considering of +Essie; very much alive she presented, outside the Penny iron, the one +serious preoccupation, complication, of his future. + +At the time when he had first admitted, welcomed, her claim on him, he +had felt a sudden energy in which he had recognized a play of the traits +of a black Penny. Here was a satisfactory, if necessarily private, +exercise of his inborn contempt for the evident hypocrisy, the +cowardice, of perfunctory inhibitions and safe morals. That, however, +had been speedily lost in his rocketing passion, flaring out of a quiet +continence into giddy spaces of unrestraint. Essie, after a momentary +surrender, had attempted retreat, expressing a doubt of the durability +of their feeling; she had, in fact, made it painfully clear that she +wished to escape from the uncomfortable volume of his fervour; but he +had overborne her caution--her wisdom, he now expressed it. + +That, more than anything else, brought before him the undeniable passage +of time, the fact that he was rapidly accomplishing middle age--the +total extinguishing of an emotion which he had felt must outlast life. +It had gone, and with it his youth. Of course, he had recognized that he +was no longer thirty; he had been well aware of his years, but only +during the last few weeks had there been the slight, perceptible +dragging down.... On the black walnut dressing stand past the window lay +a letter he had received from Essie that morning; it contained her usual +appeal for an additional sum of money--he gave her, formally, six +thousand dollars a year; and the manner of the demand, for the +necessities of their daughter, showed his sharpened perceptions that she +had never really experienced the blindness of a generous emotion. +Eunice, the child, was incontrovertible proof of that--no more than an +additional lever for her to swing. + +His face darkened, and he moved his shoulder impatiently, as if to throw +off a burden grown unendurable. But it was fastened immovably--his +responsibility was as baldly apparent as the February noon, its greyness +now blotted by a wind-driven, metallic shift of snow. + +He had been criminally negligent of Eunice. This realization was +accompanied by no corresponding warmth of parenthood; there was no +quickening of blood at the thought of his daughter, but only a newborn +condemnation of his neglected, proper pride. He had, thoughtlessly, +descended to a singularly low level of conduct. And it must abruptly +terminate. Jasper Penny had not seen Eunice for seven, nine, months; he +would remedy this at once, supervise advantages, a proper place, for +her. Afterward Essie and himself could make a mutually satisfactory +agreement. + + + + +XI + + +Throughout an excellent dinner, terrapin and bass, wild turkey with +oysters and fruit preserved in white brandy, he maintained a sombre +silence. His mother, on the right, her sister opposite--Phebe's place +seemed scarcely emptier than when she had actually occupied it--held an +intermittent verbal exchange patently keyed to Jasper Penny's mood. They +were women with yellow-white, lace-capped hair, blanched eyebrows and +lashes, and small, quick eyes on hardy, reddened faces. Gilda Penny was +slightly the larger, more definite; Amity Merken had a timid, almost +furtive, expression in the opulence of the Penny establishment, while +Gilda was complacent; but otherwise the two women were identical. Their +dresses were largely similar--Amity's a dun, Gilda Penny's grey, moire +silk, high with a tight lace collar, and bands of jet trimming from +shoulder to waist, there spreading over crinoline to the floor. Lace +fell about their square, capable hands, and Gilda wore broad, locked +bracelets checked in black and gold. + +Sherry, in blue cut decanters stoppered with gilt, gave place to port. +An epergne of glass and burnished ormolu, in the form of supporting oak +leaves, with numerous sockets for candles, was set, filled with fruit, +in the centre of the table; silver lustre plates were laid; but Jasper +Penny heedlessly fingered the stem of a wine glass. He said suddenly, +"I'm going to the city this afternoon." + +"Is it safe yet?" his mother queried doubtfully. "Hadn't you better wait +till to-morrow, when you can drive easily, or without stopping at a +tavern?" + +He looked up impatiently. "I shall go by the railroad," he stated +decisively. "Can't you understand that, with the future of iron almost +dependent on steam, it is the commonest foresight for me to patronize +such customers as the Columbia Railway! I have no intention of adding to +the ignorant prejudice against improved methods of travelling." + +"There's your arm," she insisted with spirit. + +"An untried engine. The Hecla works along smoothly at twenty miles an +hour." Amity cast a glance of swift appeal at her sister, but Gilda +Penny persisted. "Ungodly," was the term she selected. Jasper ignored +her. He had decided to straighten the tangled affair of Eunice at once; +he would see Essie that evening, arrive at an understanding about the +child's future. It would be even more difficult to terminate his +connection with Essie herself. That, he now recognised, was his main +desire. The affair had actually died before Phebe; but its onerous +consequences remained, blighting the future. + +The future! It was that, he now discovered, which occupied him, rather +than the past. A new need had become apparent, a restless desire +analogous to the urge of seeking youth. Jasper Penny was aware of a +great dissatisfaction, a vast emptiness, in his existence; he had a +feeling of waste growing out of the sense of hurrying years. Somehow, +obscurely, he had been cheated. He almost envied the commonality of men, +not, like himself, black Pennys, impatient of assuaging relationships +and beliefs. Yet this, too, turned into another phase of his +inheritance--his need was not material, concrete, it had no worldly, +graspable implications, and his general contempt was not less but +greater. He wished to bring a final justification to his isolation +rather than lose himself in the wide, undistinguished surge of living. + +"You'll stop at the Jannans?" his mother queried. + +"I think not, probably Sanderson's Hotel, Stephen is giving a ball +to-night for Graham and his wife. I have some important transactions." +Not an echo of his affair with Essie Scofield had, he knew, penetrated +to Myrtle Forge. It was a most fortunate accident. The vulgarity +consequent upon discovery would have been unbearable. Stephen Jannan, +his cousin, a lawyer of wide city connections, must have learned +something of the truth; but Stephen, properly, had said nothing; a +comfortable obscurity had hid him from gabbled scandal. Now, soon, it +would all be over. Unconsciously he drew a deeper breath of relief, of +prospective freedom. + +The Hecla, a wooden barrelled engine with a tall, hinged stack, drew its +brigade of canary-coloured chariot cars forward with a rapid bumping +over inequal rails. Jasper Penny's seat, number nineteen, was +fortunately in the centre, close by the stove, where a warmth hung that +failed to reach to the doors. Lost in speculation the journey was both +long and vague. Twilight deepened within the car, and two flickering +candles were lit at either end, their pallid light serving only to cast +thin, climbing shadows over the rocking, box-like interior. At irregular +intervals the train stopped with a succession of subsiding crashes, and +started again at the blowing of a horn; passengers would leave or enter; +or it would prove to be merely a halt to take on cut and piled wood fuel +for the engine. + +Finally the train brigade reached the inclined plane leading to the +river and city; the engine was detached, and the cars, fastened to a +hemp cable, were lowered spasmodically to where a team of mules drew +them through a gloomy, covered bridge echoing to the slow hoof falls and +creaking of loose planks. Jasper Penny fastened the elaborate frogs of +his heavily furred overcoat over his injured arm, and with a florid +bandanna wiped the cinders from his silk hat. + +The coaches rolled into the station shed, where he changed, taking a +swaying Mulberry Street omnibus to Fourth, and Sanderson's Hotel. It was +a towering, square structure of five stories, with a columned white +portico, and high, divided steps. The clerk, greeting him with a precise +familiar deference, directed him to a select suite with a private +parlour, a sombre chamber of red plush, dark walls and thickly draped, +long windows. There he sat grimly contemplating a distasteful prospect. +He knew the casual, ill-prepared dinners presided over by Essie, the +covertly insolent man servant; and an overpowering reluctance came upon +him to sit again at her table. But the confusion of the hotel ordinary +repelled him too: he had seen in passing a number of men who would +endeavour to force his opinion on the specie situation or speculation in +canals. He rose and pulled sharply at the tasselled bell rope, ordering +grilled pheasant, anchovy toast and champagne to be served where he sat. + +Jasper Penny ate slowly, partly distracted by the market reports in the +_U.S. Gazette_. Ninety-two and a half had been offered for Schuylkill +Navigation, only fifteen for the West Chester Railroad, but Philadelphia +and Trenton had gone to ninety-eight; while a three and a half dividend +had been declared on the French Town Turnpike and Railway Company. He +was annoyed afresh by the persistent refusal of the Government to award +the mail to the Reading Steam System. His thoughts returned to Eunice, +his daughter, the coming scene--it would at least be that--with Essie +Scofield. + +It was but a short distance from the hotel to where Essie lived, over +Fourth Street to Cherry; and almost immediately he turned by the three +story brick dwelling at the corner and was at her door. The servant, in +an untidy white jacket, stood stupidly blocking the narrow hall, until +Jasper Penny with an angry impatience waved him aside. There were other +silk hats and coats, and a woman's fringed wrap, on the stand where he +left his stick and outer garments; and from above came a peal of mingled +laughter. The presence of others, now, was singularly inopportune; it +would be no good waiting for their departure--here such gatherings +almost invariably drew out until dawn; and he abruptly decided that, +after a short interval, he would give Essie to understand that he wished +to talk to her privately. + +A young woman with a chalk-white face and oleaginous bandeaux of dead +black hair, in scarlet and green tartan over an extravagant crinoline, +was seated on a sofa between two men, each with an arm about her waist +and wine glasses elevated in their free hands. Essie was facing them +from a circular floor hassock, in a blue satin, informal robe over +mussed cambric ruffles, heelless nonchalants, and her hair elaborately +dressed with roses, white ribbons and a short ostrich feather. Her body, +at once slim and full, was consciously seductive, and her face, slightly +swollen and pasty in the shadows, bore the same, heedless unrestraint. +Her dark, widely-opened eyes, an insignificant nose and shortly curved, +scarlet lips, held almost the fixed, painted impudence of a cynically +debased doll. She turned and surveyed Jasper Penny with a petulant, +silent inquiry, and whatever gaiety was in progress abruptly terminated +as he advanced into the room. + +"You never let me know you'd be here," Essie complained; "but I suppose +I ought to be glad to see you anyway--after four months without a line. +Jasper, Mr. Daniel Culser." The younger of the men on the sofa, a +stolidly handsome individual with hard, blue eyes, rose with an +over-emphasized composure. "Mr. Penny, extremely pleased." Jasper Penny +was irritated by the other's instant identification, and he nodded +bluntly. "Lambert Babb and Myrtilla Lewis," Essie continued +indifferently. Babb, an individual of inscrutable age, with ashen +whiskers and a blinking, weak vision in a silvery face, was audibly +delighted. Myrtilla Lewis smiled professionally over her expanse of +bewildering silk plaid. "Wine in the cooler," Essie added, and Daniel +Culser moved to where a silver bucket reposed by a tray of glasses and +broken, sugared rusks. Jasper Penny refused the offered drink, and found +a chair apart from the others. A moody silence enveloped him which he +found impossible to break, and an increasing uneasiness spread over the +room. + +"Well," Essie Scofield commanded, "say something. You look as black as +an Egyptian. What'll my friends think of you? I suppose it doesn't +matter any more what it is to me; but you might play at being polite." + +"Don't chip at a man like that," Myrtilla advised. "Mr. Penny has a +right to talk or not." She smiled more warmly at him, and he saw that +she had had too much champagne. The room reeked with the thin, acrid +odour of the wine, and a sickly perfume of vanilla essence. Essie, as +usual, had a glass of her favourite drink--orange juice and French +brandy--on the floor beside her, the brandy bottle and fresh oranges +conveniently near. His repulsion for her deepened until it seemed as if +actual fingers were compressing his throat, stopping his breath. He +wondered suddenly how far he was responsible for her possible +degeneration. But he had not been the first; her admission of that fact +had in the beginning attracted him to an uncommon frankness in her +peculiar make-up. He was willing to assume his fault, to pay for it, +whatever payment was possible, and escape.... Not only from her, but +from all that she embodied, from himself--what he had been--as much as +anything else. + +"You are an Ironmaster," Mr. Babb finally announced; "in fact, one of +our greatest manufacturers. Now, Mr. Penny, what is your personal +opinion of engine as against the public coach? Will the railroad survive +the experimental stage, and are such gentlemen as yourself behind it?" + +"I saw in the _Ledger_ some days back," Daniel Culser added, "that your +arm had been broken travelling by steam." + +"One had nothing to do with the other," Jasper stated tersely, ignoring +Babb's query, "but was entirely my own fault." The conversation lagged +painfully again, during which Essie skilfully compounded another mixture +of spirits and thick, yellow juice. She grew sullen with resentment at +Jasper Penny's attitude, and exchanged enigmatic glances with Culser. +The liquor brought a quick flush to her slightly pendulous cheeks, and +she was enveloped in an increasing bravado. "Penny's a solemn old boy," +she announced generally. Lambert Babb attempted to embrace Myrtilla, +but, her gaze on the newcomer, she pushed him away. "You got to be a +gentleman with me," she proclaimed with a patently unsteady dignity. "My +grandfather was a French noble." + +"What I'd like to know," Essie remarked, "is what's his granddaughter?" + +"Better'n you!" Myrtilla heatedly asserted; "one who'd appreciate a real +man, and not be playing about private with a tailor's dummy." Daniel +Culser's face grew noticeably pinker. "I'm going," Myrtilla continued, +rising. "Mr. Penny, I'd be happy to meet you under more social +conditions. Here I cannot remain for--for reasons. I might be tempted +to--" Mr. Babb caught her arm under his, and, at an imperious gesture +from Essie, piloted her from the room. Culser rose. + +"Don't go, Dan," Essie Scofield told him defiantly. But Jasper Penny +maintained a silence that forced the younger man to make a stiff exit. +"Well," Essie demanded, flinging herself on the deserted sofa, "now +you've spoiled my evening. Why did you come at all if you couldn't +behave genteel?" + +"Where, exactly, is Eunice?" he asked abruptly. + +She glanced at him with an instant masking of her resentment. "I've told +you a hundred times--in the house of a very respectable clergyman. My +letter was clear enough; she's had bronchitis, and there's the doctor, +and--" + +"Just where is Eunice?" he repeated, interrupting her aggrieved recital. + +"Where I put her," her voice grew shrill. "You haven't asked to see her +for near a year, you haven't even pretended an interest in--in your own +daughter. I've done the best I could; you know I don't like children +around; but I have attended to as much of my duty as you. Now you come +out and insist on being unpleasant all in an hour. Why didn't you write? +I'd had her here for you. Come back in two or three days." + +"To-morrow," he replied. "I am going to see her in the morning." + +"You just ain't. I did the best I knew, but, if it isn't all roses, +you'll blame everything on me. I will have Eunice fetched--" + +"Where is she?" he asked still again, wearily. + +Every instinct revolted against the degradation into which he had +blindly walked. His youth had betrayed him, involving him, practically a +different man, in a payment which he realized had but commenced.... To +escape. He had first thought of that with the unconscious conviction +that the mere wish carried its fulfilment. In fact, it would be +immensely difficult; a man, he saw, could not sever himself so casually +from the past; it reached without visible demarcation into the present, +the future. All was a piece, one with another; and Essie Scofield was +drawn in a vivid thread through the entire fabric of his being. + +Yet the need, the longing forward, so newly come into his consciousness, +persisted, grew--it had become the predominate design of his weaving. +Through this he recognized a reassertion of his pride, the rigid pride +of a black Penny, which, in the years immediately past, had been +overwhelmed by a temporary inner confusion. Beyond forty men returned to +their inheritance, their blood; this fact echoed vaguely among his +memories of things heard; and he felt in himself its measure of truth. +His distaste for a largely muddled, pandering society, for men huddled, +he thought, like domestic animals, returned in choking waves. In the +maculate atmosphere of flat wine and stale cologne he had a sharp +recurrence of the scent of pines, lifting warmly in sunny space. + +He produced a morocco bound note book, a gold pencil; and, with the +latter poised, directed a close interrogation at Essie. Her face flushed +with an ungovernable anger, and she pressed a hand over her labouring +heart. "Get her then; out Fourth Street, Camden; the Reverend Mr. +Needles. But afterwards don't come complaining to me. You ought to have +seen to her; you've got the money, the influence. And you have done +nothing, beyond some stinking dollars ... wouldn't even name her. Eunice +Scofield, a child without--" + +All that she had said was absolutely true, just. + +"I suppose you'll even think I didn't give her the sums you sent; that +damned Needles has been bleeding me, suspects something." She stopped +from a lack of breath; her darkened face was purplish, in the shadows. +"I haven't been well, either--a fierce pain here, in my heart." + +It was the brandy, he told her; she should leave the city, late wine +parties, go back into the country. "Go back," she echoed bitterly. +"Where? How?" He winced--the past reaching inexorably into the future. +Jasper Penny made no attempt to ignore, forget, his responsibility; he +admitted it to her; but at the same time the tyrannical hunger increased +within him--the mingled desire for fresh paths and the nostalgia of the +old freedom of spirit. But life, that had made him, had in the same +degree created Essie; neither had been the result of the other; they had +been swept together, descended blindly in company, submerged in the +passion that he had thought must last forever, but which had burned to +ashes, to nothing more than a vague sense of putrefaction in life. + +"Thank you," he said formally, putting away the note book. "Something, +of course, must be done; but what, I can only say after I have seen +Eunice. I am, undoubtedly, more to blame than yourself." + +"I suppose, in this holy strain, you'll end by giving her all and me +nothing." + +"... what you are getting as long as you live?" + +"That's little enough, when I hear how much you have, what all that iron +is bringing you. Why, you could let me have twenty, thirty thousand, and +never know it." + +"If you are unable to get on, that too will be rectified." + +"You are really not a bad old thing, Jasper," she pronounced, mollified. +"At one time--do you remember?--you said if ever the chance came you +would marry me. Ah, you needn't fear, I wouldn't have you with all your +iron, gold. I--" she stopped abruptly, uneasily. "Not a bad old thing," +she repeated, moving to secure a half-full glass. + +"Why do you call me old?" he asked curiously. + +"I hadn't thought of it before," she admitted; "but, this evening, you +looked so solemn, and there is grey in your hair, that all at once you +seemed like an old gentleman. Now Dan Culser," she hesitated, and then +swept on, "he's what you'd name young." At Daniel Culser's age, he told +himself, he, Jasper Penny, could have walked the other blind; and now +Essie Scofield was calling him old; she had noticed the grey in his +hair. He rose to go, and she came close to him, a clinging, soft thing +of flesh faintly reeking with brandy. "I have a great deal to pay, where +money goes I don't know, even a little would be a help." He left some +gold in her hand, thankful to purchase, at that slight price, a +momentary release. + +Outside Cherry Street was blackly cold, a gas lamp at the corner shed a +watery, contracted illumination. He made his way back toward the hotel, +but a sudden reluctance to mount to his lonely chambers possessed him. +Before the glimmering marble facade he took out his watch, a pale gold +efflorescence in the gloom, and rang the hour in minute, clear notes. +The third quarter past ten. He recalled the ball, but then commencing, +at Stephen Jannan's; there it would be indescribably gay, a house +flooded with the music of quadrilles, light, polite-chatter; and he +determined to proceed and have a cigar with Stephen. + +He walked briskly up Mulberry Street to Sixth and there turned to the +left. Jasper Penny soon passed the shrouded silence of Independence +Square, with the new Corinthian doorway of the State House showing +vaguely through the irregularly grouped ailanthus trees. Beyond, the +brick wall with its marble coping and high iron fence reached, on the +opposite side, to the Jannan corner. The length of the brick dwelling, +with white arched windows and coursings faced the vague emptiness of +Washington Square, closed for the winter. + +Inside the hall was bright and filled with the pungent warmth of fat +hearth coal. A servant, with a phrase of recognition, directed him +above, to a room burdened with masculine greatcoats and silk hats. There +an attendant told him that Mr. Jannan was below. Jasper Penny had no +intention of becoming a participant in the hall, but neither did he +propose to linger among wraps, listening to the supercilious chatter of +young men in the extreme mode of bright blue coats, painfully tight +black trousers with varnished pumps and expanses of ankle in grey silk. +One, inspecting him through an eyeglass on a woven hair guard, expressed +a pointed surprise at Jasper Penny's informal garb. "Christoval!" he +ejaculated. "It approaches an insult to the da-da-darlings." Another +commenced to sing a popular minstrel air: + +"Blink--a--ho--dink! Ah! Ho! + +"Roley Boley--Good morning Ladies all!" + +Jasper Penny abruptly descended to a small room used for smoking. Young +men, he thought impatiently, could no longer even curse respectably. +They lisped like females at an embroidery frame. When he was young, +younger, he corrected himself, he could have outdrunk, outridden.... His +train of thought was abruptly terminated by a group unexpectedly +occupying the smoking room. He saw Stephen Jannan, his wife Liza, the +newly married young Jannans, and a strange woman in glace muslin and a +black Spanish lace shawl about her shoulders. Stephen greeted him +cordially. "Jasper, just at the moment for a waltz with--with Susan." +The stranger blushed painfully, made an involuntary movement backward, +and Liza Jannan admonished her husband. "Do you know Miss Brundon, +Jasper?" she asked. + +Jasper Penny bowed, and Miss Brundon, with an evident effort, smiled, +her shy, blue eyes held resolutely on his countenance. She at once +slipped into the background, talking in a low, clear voice to Graham +Jannan's wife; while the older men enveloped themselves in a fragrant +veil of cigars. "Come, Mary, Susan," Mrs. Jannan directed, "out of this +horrid, masculine odour." Accompanied by her son the women left, and +Stephen turned to his cousin. "Thought, of course, you knew Susan +Brundon," he remarked. "A school mistress, but superior, and a lady. Has +a place on Spruce Street, by Raspberry Alley, for select younger girls; +unique idea, and very successful, I believe." + +Jasper Penny said comfortably, "Humm!" The other continued, "I want +Graham to get out to Shadrach Furnace as soon as may be. That old stone +house the foremen have occupied is nearly fixed for him. I am very well +content, Jasper, to have him in the iron trade, with you practically at +its head. No deliberate favours, remember, and I have told him to look +for nothing. But, at the same time--you comprehend: folly not to push +the boy on fast as possible. No reason for us all to go through with +the hardships of the first Gilbert and his times. Must have been +fatiguing, the wilderness and English troubles and all that." + +"Splendid, I should say," Jasper Penny replied. He repeated satirically +the conversation he had heard above. "Makes me ill. You will remember +there was a Howat, son of our original settler--now he must have been a +lad! Married some widow or other; wild at first, but made iron in the +end." + +"A black Penny, Jasper; resembled you. Personally, I like it better +now." Jasper Penny surveyed with approbation Stephen's full, handsome +presence. Jannan was a successful, a big, man. Well, so was he too. But +he thought with keen longing of the time when he was twenty-one, and +free, free to roam self-sufficient. He thought of that Howat Penny of +which they had spoken, black as he was black in the family tradition; he +had seen Hesselius's portrait of the other; and, but for the tied hair +and continental buff, it might have been a replica of himself. It was +curious--that dark strain of Welsh blood, cropping out undiminished, +concrete, after generations. The one to hold it before Howat had been +burned in Mary's time, in the sixteenth century, dead almost three +hundred years. Jasper had a sudden, vivid sense of familiarity with the +Howat who had married some widow or other. His mind returned to his own, +peculiar problem, to Essie Scofield, to the burden with which he had +encumbered himself, the payment that faced him for--for his sheer +youth. He said abruptly, belated: + +"You fit the present formal ease of society, Stephen; you like it and it +likes you. In a superficial way I have done well enough, but +underneath--" his voice sank into silence. A profound, familiar +dejection seized him; incongruously he thought of Miss Brundon's +delicate shrinking from the mere contact of the amenities of speech. +Super-sensitive. "I must go," he announced, and refused Stephen Jannan's +invitation for the night. + +"Stay for some supper, anyhow," the other insisted, and, a hand on his +arm, led him past the doors open upon the dancing. + +Chandeliers, great coruscating pendants of glass prisms and candles, +glittered above the expanse of whirling crinoline and blue coats, +vermilion turbans, gilt feathers and flowered hair. The light fell on +shoulders as white and elegantly sloping as alabaster vases, draped in +rose and citron, in blanched illusion frosted and looped with silver; on +bouquets of camellias swinging from jewelled chains against ruffled and +belled skirts swaying about the revealed symmetry of lacy silk stockings +and fragile slippers. "Ah, Jasper," Stephen Jannan said; "in our time, +what! Do you remember your first Wellington boots? The gambling room and +veranda at Saratoga? Tender eyes, old boy, and little tapering hands." +Jasper Penny replied, "It seems my hair is grey." Silence fell on them +as they entered the dining room. A long table was burdened with +elaborate pagodas of spun barley sugar topped with sprigs of orange +blossom, the moulded creams of a Charlotte Polonaise, champagne jelly +valanced with lemon peel, pyramids of glazed fruits on lacquered plates; +with faintly iridescent Belleek and fluted glass and ormolu; and, +everywhere, the pale multitudinous flames of candles and the fuller +radiance of astral lamps hung with lustres. Jasper Penny idly tore open +a bon bon wrapped in a verse on fringed paper, + +"Viens! Viens! ange du ciel, je t'aime! je t'aime! +Et te le dire ici, c'est le bonheur supreme." + +Love and the great hour of life! He had missed both; one, perhaps, with +the other. His marriage to Phebe, except for a brief flare at the +beginning, had been as empty as the affair with Essie Scofield. God, how +hollow living seemed! He had missed something; or else existence was an +ugly deception, the false lure of an incomprehensible jest. The music +beat in faint, mocking waves on his hearing, the lights of the supper +shone in the gold bubbles of his wine glass. He drained it hurriedly. +Outside the night, lying cold on deserted squares, blurred with gas +lamps, was like a vain death after the idle frivolity of Stephen +Jannan's ball. In an instant, in the shutting of a door, the blackness +had claimed him; the gaiety of warm flesh and laughter vanished. Death +... and he had literally nothing in his hands, nothing in his heart. A +duty, Eunice, remained. The sound of his footfalls on the bricks, thrown +back from blank walls, resembled the embodied, stealthy following of the +injustice he had wrought. + + + + +XII + + +The following morning he made his way past the continuous produce arcade +that held the centre of Market Street to the Camden Ferry. At the river +the fish stall, with its circular green roof and cornucopias, reached +almost to the gloomy ferry-house with its heavy odour of wet wood. The +boat clattered through broken ice, by a trim packet ship, the +_Susquehanna_, and into the narrow canal through Windmill Island. Camden +was a depressing region of low, marshy land, its streets unpaved and +without gas, the gutters full of frozen, stagnant water. He inquired the +way to the Reverend Mr. Needles', passed a brick meeting house, and, +turning into Fourth Street, isolated frame dwellings, coming at last to +a dingy wooden house with broken panes in the upper windows and a +collapsing veranda at the edge of a blackened, skeleton wood. + +A tall, gaunt woman in a ravelled worsted shawl answered his summons, +and informed him, interrupted by a prolonged coughing, that Mr. Needles +was away on circuit. "I came for a child staying with you," Jasper Penny +explained shortly, suppressing an involuntary repulsion at the degraded +surroundings. "She's not well," the woman replied, with instant +suspicion. "I don't just like to let a chancy person see her." He +discarded all subterfuge. "I am her father," he stated. The other +shifted to a whining self-defence. "And her in this sink!" she +exclaimed, gazing at Jasper Penny's furred coat, his glossy hat and +gloves and ebony cane. + +"I did all for her I could, considering the small money I was promised, +and then half the time I didn't get that, neither. The lady owes for +three weeks right now. I suppose you'll have to come in," she concluded +grudgingly. They entered a dark hall, clay cold. Beyond, in a slovenly +kitchen hardly warmer, he found Eunice, his daughter; a curiously +sluggish child with a pinched, hueless face and a meagre body in a man's +worn flannel shirt and ragged skirt and stockings. + +"Here's your father," Mrs. Needles ejaculated. + +Eunice stood in the middle of the bare floor, staring with pallid, open +mouth at the imposing figure of the man. She said nothing; and Jasper +Penny found her silence more accusing than a shrill torrent of reproach. +"She's kind of heavy like," Mrs. Needles explained. "I have come to take +you away," Jasper Penny said. Then, turning to the woman: "Are those all +the clothes she has?" She grew duskily red. "There are some others +about, but I don't just know where, and then she spoils them so fast." + +"That's a lie," the child announced, with a faint patch of colour on +either thin cheek. "Mr. Needles sold them." The man decided to ignore +such issues; his sole wish now was to take Eunice away as speedily as +possible. "Well," he directed impatiently, "get a shawl, something to +wrap her in." He regretted vainly that he had not come for the child in +a carriage. He paid without a question what the woman said was owing; +and, with Eunice folded in a ragged plaid, prepared to depart. "I +guess," the child decided, in a strangely mature voice, "we'd better +take my medicine." She turned toward a mantel, Mrs. Needles made a quick +movement in the same direction, but the small shape was before her. +Jasper Penny took a bottle from the diminutive, cold hand. The label had +been obliterated; but, impelled by a distrustful curiosity, he took out +the cork. + +Laudanum! + +He was at the point of an indignant condemnation when the words perished +without utterance--not the haggard woman before him, but himself, Jasper +Penny, was entirely guilty. He, in reality, had given the drug to his +daughter, placed her in this sorry and bitter poverty. "Come, Eunice," +he said, taking her by the hand, his face grey and stony. + +Once more in the city he walked with the child to the ferry and foot of +Chestnut Street, where they found places in The Reaper, a stage brightly +painted with snowy ships and drawn by four sorrel horses. His first +concern was to purchase proper clothes for his daughter; then he would +face the problem of her happier disposal. They passed the columned +facade of the Philadelphia Bank, the Custom House with its wide steps +set back from the street, hedged dwellings, and the United States Hotel +to Independence Square and Sixth Street, where he lifted the child from +the stage. They stopped before an entrance between bowed windows which +had above it the sign, The Misses Dunlop, Millinery. + +Jasper Penny had had no idea that it would be so difficult to procure +clothes for a girl of seven. At first he was told that the necessary +garments could not be furnished, when discussion revealed the fact that +a nearly complete, diminutive wardrobe, especially ordered from Paris +and neglected by the customer, was to be had. In a surprisingly short +while a sentimental saleswoman had apparelled Eunice in black velvet +with rows of small bows and gold buckles and a lace collar, cambric +pantaloon ruffles swinging about her ankles, a quilted pink satin bonnet +tied, like those of her elders', with a bow under her right cheek, and a +muff and tippet of ermine. Other articles--a frock of rose gros de +chine, with a flounced skirt, a drab velvet bonnet turned in green +smocked silk, and sheer underthings--he ordered delivered at Sanderson's +Hotel. + +The effect of what laudanum Eunice had taken faded, and her lethargy was +replaced by an equally still, incredulous amazement. She followed Jasper +Penny about with the mechanical rigidity of a minute sleepwalker. They +went into a jewelry store beyond, with a square low bow window and white +trimming, where he purchased a ring with a ruby, and small gold +bracelets with locks and chains. His restless desire was to clothe +Eunice in money, to overwhelm her with gifts; yet, although an evident +delight struggled through her stupefaction, he failed to get from the +expenditure the release he sought. A leaden sense of blood guiltiness +persisted in him. At Parkinson's, the confectioner opposite the State +House, he bought her syllabubs, a frozen rose cordial and black cake. On +leaving, he paused at the marble steps with a lantern on either side and +awning drawn out over the pavement, considering the next move. It should +be toys--a German doll, slate and coloured crayons and jumping-figures. +Then he took her back to his rooms at the Hotel. + +Sitting in a stiff crimson chair opposite him, the doll clasped in +straining fingers, and a flush of excitement on her sharp features, she +presented an enormous difficulty. What, justly, was he to do with her? +How could he provide for a reasonable happiness, a healthy, normal +existence? He decided coldly that he would prevent Essie Scofield's +influence from ever touching the child again. Essie, he knew, was +utterly without any warmth of motherhood. She had solely and callously +used their daughter to extort money from him. But, he admitted to +himself, neither had he any feeling of parentage for the small, lonely +figure before him; nothing but a burning self-accusation, a lacerated +pride. His act proceeded entirely from his head in place of his heart. +For that very reason, Jasper Penny thought, he could give his daughter a +greater measure of security. He would see Stephen Jannan to-morrow and +with the lawyer's assistance get complete control of Eunice's future. He +must alter his will. + +None of this, however, assisted in solving the actual immediate +necessity. There was, certainly, Myrtle Forge; his mother, however she +might silently suffer, protest, would ultimately accede in his wishes. +But it was a dreary place for a child, with only the companionship of +old women. He was, for the greater part, away in the interest of his +widely scattered activities, forges, furnaces, nail factories and +rolling mills. + +He felt in anticipation the censure of the Penny connections that would +rise like a wall and shut Eunice from the companionship of the other +children, of the family, embittering her at what he had somewhere heard +described as the formative period of growth. His home, he decided, for +the present at least, was an undesirable place for his daughter. + +It was, he discovered, past two, and he remorsefully summoned a servant. +He gazed with bewilderment at the list of dinner dishes tended him; +bear's meat, he felt, canvas back duck or terrapin, was not a diet +proper to seven; but he solved the perplexity by ordering snipe, rolled +and sugared cakes filled with whipped cream and preserved strawberries, +and a deep apple pandowdy. After this, and a block of nougat, Eunice +discovered herself to be sleepy. As she lay with tossed arms and pale +streaming hair under the feather coverlet of a great hotel bed he saw +with a sharp uneasiness that, in a subtle but unmistakable accent, she +resembled her mother, Essie Scofield. + + + + +XIII + + +His thoughts darkened with the falling day; he supposed them to be +solely addressed to the problem of Eunice; but, in reality, they +constantly evaded his will, following countless trivialities, and +returned to his own, peculiar need. He made some small changes of dress +for the evening, replacing brown with glazed black boots, and struggled, +with one hand, through the ordeal of tying a formal neckcloth. He had +purposely left behind his negro servant as a possible source of +unguarded chatter. When Jasper Penny had finished he went in to Eunice +and found her awake. The new clothes lay in their open boxes; and, +lighting candles, he wondered if he had better have some one in to +assist her. "Can you fix yourself up in these?" he asked, indicating the +purchases. + +"Oh, yes," she assured him gravely; "that is except the very backest +buttons." She stood by the folded piles of shirred muslin, the elaborate +velvets and silks and ribbons, obviously at a loss before such an +unparalleled choice; and he was once more disturbed by the attenuation +of her small body. But that could be soon remedied; she had suffered +other, far greater, irremedial, oppressions; her very birth had +confronted her, in the puritanical self-righteousness of his world, with +an almost insuperable barrier to happiness. Still back of that, even +before the birth of himself and Essie Scofield, back, back in the +unguessed past, Eunice had been shaped, condemned. Her fate had only +culminated in his own unbalanced passion, in a desire that had blinded +him like a flash of ignited powder, leaving him with a sense of utter +void, of inexplicable need. "For what?" he demanded unconsciously and +bitterly aloud. + +Eunice, startled, dropped the garment in her hands. She gazed at him +with a shrinking dread. "Come," he told her gently, "that will be very +pretty; and, don't you think, the velvet bonnet with green?" After +supper he questioned her. "What time do you usually go to bed?" She +answered promptly, "When it got too cold to stay up, at Mr. Needles', +but I wouldn't know here." + +"We might go to the Circus," he suggested, half doubtful of the +propriety of such a course. However, they went. She clung tightly to his +sleeve before the illuminated, high-pillared facade of Welches' Circus, +where Jasper took seats in a box. Eunice was breathless before the +gleaming white and gold of the interior, the fabulous, glittering +chandelier, the crimson draperies and great curtain with its +equestrienne on a curvetting steed. The orchestra, with a blare of +trombones, announced the raising of the curtain and appearance of Mr. +John Mays, the celebrated clown. He was followed by Chinese sports, the +Vision of Cupid and Zephyr, and the songs, the programme stated, of +Lowrie and Williams. These gentlemen, in superb yellow satin, emphasized +harmoniously the fact that + +"And joy is but a flower, +The heart with sorrow meeting +Will wither 'neath its power." + +Jasper Penny wondered abstractedly what was to be done with the tense, +excitable child at his side? A voice from the wings announced: "Mouse +and Harebell, the Lilliputian ponies, with Infant Jockies, the smallest +schooled racers in existence." And the word "schooled" recalled to him +the diffident woman he had met at Stephen Jannan's, the night before. +Miss ... Brundon. A place for the education of younger girls. He could +send Eunice there, for the present at any rate; and decide later upon +her ultimate situation. Miss Brundon had a sensitive, yes, distinctly, a +fine face. Her school, he remembered, was at Raspberry Alley, far out +Spruce Street, close to Tenth. He drew a deep breath of relief at this +bridging of the immediate complications the child presented. + +The next morning, again in the Reaper coach, they rolled west over +Chestnut Street, past a theatre with elevated statues of Comedy and +Tragedy, the Arcade with its outside stairs mounting across the front, +stone mansions set back in gardens with gravelled paths, and the Moorish +bulk of Masonic Hall half hid by stores. Beyond the Circus they +proceeded on foot to a four square brick dwelling with weeping willows +and an arched wood sign above the entrance painted with the designation, +"Miss Brundon's Select Academy." + +Jasper Penny found Miss Brundon in a small, bare, immaculate office. She +was sitting at a table; and, as he entered, with Eunice dragging +desperately at his hand, she half rose, with a quick, faint blush. + +"Mr. Penny," she exclaimed, in a low, charming surprise. "I didn't +expect, so soon, to have the pleasure ... here, at my school." He firmly +moved Eunice from her position at his back. "An unexpected pleasure for +me," he replied. "I came to consult with you about this little girl--the +daughter of a friend of mine. A friend, I may add, in difficult +circumstances, and for whom I am prepared to do a great deal. I had +hoped--Stephen Jannan told me about your exceptional establishment--that +you could take her. She needs just the supervision that I am certain you +offer." + +"Of course," she replied immediately, "I'd be glad to have any one +recommended by you. I do think my school is unusual. You see, there is +almost no provision for the supervision of such young ladies. And I have +been very fortunate in my girls; I try not to be snobbish, Mr. Penny; +but, indeed, if a place like this is to be useful, some care is +required. Probably you would like an assurance of their studies and +deportment." + +"No," he stopped her hastily; "it is quite enough to have seen you." A +deeper, painful colour suffused her cheeks. He had, he thought, been +inexcusably clumsy. He had unconsciously given voice to the conviction +that Miss Brundon, like her establishment, was exceptional. She was, +ordinarily, too pale for beauty; her countenance, with high, cheek +bones, was irregular; yet her eyes, tranquil blue, held a steady quality +almost the radiance of an inward light. Her diffidence, it was clear, +co-existed with a firm, inviolable spirit. He said, later: + +"You will discover that there are many things Eunice requires, and I +would be obliged if you would procure them without stint, and send the +accounts to my Philadelphia office. The child has been in circumstances +of considerable poverty; but I wish to give her whatever advantages +money can bring. Yes--Eunice Scofield. And--" he hesitated, "in view of +this...." + +"I understand, oh, completely," Susan Brundon interrupted him warmly. +"You don't wish your charity exposed; and not only on your own account, +but from consideration for the susceptibilities of the parents, +parent--a mother, I gather." + +It had been, he thought, leaving, ridiculously simple. His meeting with +Miss Brundon was a fortunate chance. A fine, delicate, unworldly woman; +a fineness different from Phebe's, submerged in the pursuit of her own +salvation. The former, he realized, was close to forty. If she had been +sympathetic with a strange child such as Eunice how admirably she would +attend any of her own. Unmarried. The blindness of men, their fatuous +choice, suddenly surprised him. + +He determined to proceed directly to Stephen Jannan, and put into motion +at once the solving of his daughter's future. Never, he repeated, should +Eunice fall again into the lax hands of Essie Scofield. Stephen would +advise him shrewdly, taking advantage of the law, or skilfully +overcoming its obstacles. He had unbounded faith in the power of money +where Essie was concerned; at the same time he had no intention of +laying himself open to endless extortion, threats, almost inevitable, +ultimate scandal. What a bog he had strayed into, a quagmire reaching +about him in every direction. He must discover firmer ground ahead, +release from the act of that other man, his youth. The memory of the +serene purity of Miss Brundon's office recurred to him like a breath +from the open spaces where he had first known the deep pleasure of an +utter freedom of spirit. + +Jasper Penny, revolving the complications of his position, made his way +directly over the uneven sidewalk of Spruce Street to Fourth; there, +passing the high, narrow residences of Society Hill, he proceeded to +Stephen's office, beyond Chestnut. It was in a square brick edifice of +an earlier period, with a broad marble step and door and wide windows +coped in scoured white stone. The lawyer's private chamber was bare, +with snowy panelling and mahogany, the high sombre shelves of a +calf-bound law library, a ponderous cabriolet table, sturdy, rush-seated +Dutch chairs, and a Franklin stove with slender brass capitols and +shining hod. + +"A chair, Jasper," Stephen Jannan directed. "You ought to know them, +they came out of Myrtle Forge--some of old Gilbert's. Your mother gave +them to me when she did over the house in this new French fancy." Jasper +Penny was momentarily at a loss for an adequate opening of the subject +that had brought him there. Finally he plunged directly into his +purpose. "You must know, Stephen," he said, "that I am decidedly +obligated to a Mrs. Scofield." Jannan nodded shortly. "The thing dragged +on for a number of years, but is quite dead now; in fact, it has been +for a considerable number of months. That, in itself, doesn't bother me; +it is comparatively simple; but there is a child, a girl, Stephen." + +"I didn't know that," the other acknowledged. "It is an ugly difficulty. +Do you wish to legitimatize your--the child? There is marriage of +course." + +"I have no intention of marrying Essie Scofield," Jasper Penny said +coldly. "And I am almost certain she wouldn't consent if I had. I am +quite willing to assume a proper responsibility; but there is a limit to +my conception of that. There was never any serious question of marriage; +there is none now. I simply wish to get complete control of Eunice; by +adoption, perhaps; she is seven years old." + +"There are no laws of adoption, as such, in Pennsylvania," Jannan told +him. "The only State with that provision is Louisiana; there, by an act +of Legislature, the thing can be legalized. I could arrange it through +correspondence, a certain residence within the State. It would be +cumbersome and expensive, but possible." He paused, frowning. "Devilish +awkward," he muttered; "make a stench in a family such as ours. +However," he added, "a contract practically to the same effect can be +drawn. This, with her consent, would be entirely binding on Mrs. +Scofield. If the child can write it would be well to have her signature +on the deed. Bring them here; she should have counsel." + +"After that, I suppose, the name could be arranged." + +"Exactly. The child, of course, would have no legal status as your heir. +Anything she got would have to be willed direct." The other nodded. It +was all far more simple than he had hoped. He almost saw a definite +lightening of the future. "Is the girl with her mother now?" Jannan +queried. + +"I took her away yesterday," Jasper Penny replied negligently. "We went +to the Circus, and at present she is at Miss Brandon's Academy." He was +surprised by the sudden concern on his cousin's handsome, florid +countenance. "By heaven, Jasper," the lawyer exclaimed, "am I to +understand that you took a--well, an illegitimate child, to Miss +Brundon, left her in the School? It's--it's incredible." + +"Why not?" + +"If such a thing were known it would ruin Susan Brundon over night. +Haven't you a conception of how this is regarded? She would be stripped +of pupils as if the place reeked of malignant fever. A most beastly +egotistical and selfish act." + +"Never thought of that," Jasper Penny admitted. He saw again the fine, +sensitive face of Miss Brundon, presiding over the establishment that +was like an emanation of her diffident and courageous spirit; the last +person alive he would harm. And people were exactly as Stephen had said, +particularly women. They would destroy Susan Brundon ruthlessly, without +a moment's hesitation. He thought of her as suffering incalculably, +betrayed by his implied lie; he saw her eyes stricken with pain, her +hands twisting together.... He rose sharply. + +"A blind, infernal fool!" he ejaculated, grasping his hat. "I'm glad I +saw you when I did. Put it right at once. Obliged, Stephen; come to you +later about changing my will and the rest." + +He was in such haste to remove the danger of Eunice from Susan Brundon +that not until he again stood at the door of the Academy did he realize +what a difficult explanation lay before him. Unconsciously he had +reached a point where he would do his utmost to avoid hurting her. +Already she occupied an unusual elevation in his thoughts, an unworldly +plane bathed in a white radiance. + +She was not in the office, but soon appeared, with a questioning gaze; +and, he felt, an appealing lessening of her reserve. He hesitated, +casting vainly about for an acceptable expression of his errand. Another +lie, he thought, acutely distressed, must be necessary. "I am extremely +sorry, Miss Brandon," he told her, "but unexpected developments in the +last hour make it necessary for me to remove Eunice from your school." + +A slow flush invaded her countenance lifted to meet his troubled gaze. +"Mr. Penny!" she exclaimed, in a faint dismay. "Oh, I hope it is because +of nothing--nothing derogatory you have heard. Please tell me +directly--" + +"Absolutely no," he replied, his voice carrying a vibrating reassurance. +"You are entirely without the need of recommendation, far beyond any +unfavourable report. I am profoundly disturbed by causing you +inconvenience, and I only hope to offer you sufficient apology; but I +shall have to take Eunice away with me, at once." + +"Perhaps her mother can't bear separation." + +"It is not that," he said grimly, a tangible hurt sharpening within; +"but something that cannot be gone into, with you." She turned away +immediately. "I will send for her," she replied. They stood facing but +mutually avoiding each other's gaze while Eunice was being fetched. +"Her things have already come from the hotel," Miss Brundon proceeded. +"Where shall I send them?" Eunice broke in with a shrill protest. "Do I +have to go? I don't want to." Her face was scarlet with revolt. "I can +walk up and down the room with a book on my head, while another little +girl had to be all done with a board to her back." + +Jasper Penny wondered if he would see Miss Brundon again soon. The last +was an afterthought bred by the realization that he could not permit her +to depart absolutely from his life. There was a great deal that he, a +rich and influential man of practical affairs, might do for her. He was +certain that Susan Brundon needed exactly the assistance he could give; +probably people robbed her, traded callously on her unsuspicious nature. +Yet, when the moment came to leave, he could think of nothing to say +beyond the banality of looking for her at the Jannans'. + +"I go out very little," she told him; "the work here absorbs me; and, +unfortunately, my eyes are not strong. They require constant rest." He +expressed regret once more for any disturbance he might have caused; +and, after hesitating awkwardly, left with Eunice hanging fretfully at +his hand. What, in God's name, was he to do with the child? He walked +slowly, his face half lost in the fur of his overcoat, oblivious, in his +concentration on the difficulties of her situation, of Eunice +progressing discontentedly at his side. A petulant complaint rose at +intervals to an audible sob. Looking down, as the sobs threatened to +become a continuous crying, he saw the top of the velvet bonnet and her +diminutive hands in scarlet knitted mitts. He would have to stop +dragging her from place to place; a suitable position for the present +was all he hoped for now. There must be other institutions, larger and +farther away, to which Eunice could be sent. He had a vague memory of +such a place somewhere on the Delaware, was it at Burlington? + +But he could not continue living with his daughter at Sanderson's Hotel. +Jasper Penny decided that he would take her that afternoon to the house +of the head machinist of his nail works at Jaffa, the town that, its +beginning growing largely out of the Penny industries, lay a scant mile +from Myrtle Forge. Speever was a superior man; his wife, a robust +Cornish woman in a crisp apron, would give Eunice an energetic and +proper care. + +A thin, flexible mantle of snow lay over the drab earth, sweeping up to +a Grecian marble edifice, making more dreary the bulk of the Eastern +Penitentiary and foundation of Girard College, and emphasizing the +winter desertion of the reaches of the Fairmount Water Works. She soon +grew absorbed in the various aspects of their transportation--the echo +of the whip cracking over the mules that drew the coaches across the +covered viaduct, the labouring stationary engine and their slow ascent +beyond. They saw, lining the river, a cemetery elevated starkly against +the sky; and followed a canal by a broken, black flood between snowy +banks. + +Past a town with impressive residences and manufactories with low +spreading veils of smoke, they came on a confusion of canals and canal +boats, lock dams and bridges, mules and raffish crews with tanned faces +and brightly coloured jackets and boots. Again crossing the river and a +shallow, tranquil valley, the train brigade rolled into the main street +of Jaffa. It was a town of small brick dwellings, spaced in orderly +yards, echoing to the diminished clamour of the Penny Rolling Mills on +the outskirts. Beyond the walls, starkly red against the snow, the +blackened main street, the river was spotted with ice. + +Edgar Speever's wife accepted Eunice with an immediate and unquestioning +capability, and Jasper Penny turned away with a momentary but immense +relief. In a few days, after the deed for the possession of the child +had been executed, he could place her more permanently. He walked out to +the miscellaneous group of buildings and cluttered yards that held his +inherited activity; and in the small single-roomed building of the main +office discussed with his superintendent the changes, improvements of +process, then under way. The old nail machines, propelled by the feet +and hands of an operator, and producing but one nail at a time, had been +replaced by a high power engine, self-heading machinery. The +superintendent complained of the pig from the new hot blast furnaces. +"Impure," he declared. "And this new stone coal firing, too, makes but +poor stuff. It'll never touch the old charcoal forging. Hammered bar's +at ninety, and I'm glad to get it then. The puddling furnaces will do +something with the grey pig; we have eight in blast now, turning out the +railroad and heavier bars. This year will see forty-five hundred tons of +iron worked, and close to four thousand kegs of nails." + +Jasper Penny listened attentively; it was his intention soon to dispense +entirely with all the time-honoured methods of iron manufacture. Water +power, with its unequal flow, any large employment of charcoal, growing +increasingly expensive with the rapid diminishment of the forests, must +give place to the steam blast machine and anthracite. If his manager was +unable to change, develop, with the changing times he would find +another, more scientific. + +Outside the early twilight made more grey the dingy sheds and buildings, +the heaped slag; the long brick rectangle of the rolling mill, with its +triple imposed, ventilated roof and the high, smoking stacks of the +puddling furnaces, rising four from either length, gave out an +undiminished, deafening uproar, the clamour of the bars falling out from +the rollers, the spatter of hammers and dull dragging of heavy weights. +The engine of the nail works rent all other sound with an unaccustomed, +harsh blast.... Jasper Penny was conscious of a deep, involuntary +relief when he reached the comparative tranquillity, the secession of +vexatious problems, accomplished by Myrtle Forge. + + + + +XIV + + +There was, as always, an elaborate, steaming supper, with his mother, in +a pelisse of black silk ruching, and Amity Merken at their places. He +noted that an empty chair had been put, as customary, at the opposite +end of the table, and with a trace of impatience ordered its removal. He +wondered momentarily at his petty act; and then his thoughts returned to +Susan Brundon. Jasper Penny saw her blue gaze lifted to his face, the +hesitating smile; he felt again the pervading influence of her delicate +yet essentially unshrinking spirit. She would possess an enormous +steadfastness of purpose, he decided; a potentiality of immovable +self-sacrifice. Yet she was the gentlest person alive. An unusual and +resplendent combination of traits, rare possibilities. + +She had told him that she seldom went about--her school absorbed her, +and her eyes needed care, rest. He must ask Stephen Jannan further about +her. They were sitting, Jasper Penny, his mother and her sister, in the +parlour; a large, square chamber hung with dark maroon paper and long, +many tasselled and corniced window curtains in sombre green plush. A +white wedgewood mantel with ornaments in olive and blue, above a +brass-fretted closed stove, supported a high mirror, against which were +ranged a pair of tall astral lamps shining in green and red spars of +light through their pendants, a French clock--a crystal ball in a +miniature Ionic pavilion of gilt--and artificial bouquets of coloured +wax under glass domes. A thick carpet of purplish black velvet pile +covered the floor from wall to wall; stiff Adam chairs and settee with +wheelbacks of black and gold were upholstered in dusky ruby and indigo. +Ebony tables of framed, inlaid onyx held tortoise shell and lacquer +ornaments, an inlaid tulip-wood music-box, volumes in elaborately tooled +morocco, and a globe where, apparently, metallic fish were suspended in +a translucent, green gloom. + +The light from the multiple candelabras of ormolu and cut lustres +streamed from the walls over Jasper Penny, sunk forward in profound +absorption, and his mother's busy, fat hands working with gay worsteds. +At her side a low stand of rubbed Chinese vermilion held her spilling +yarns. Her face was placid, dryly pinkish and full. An irreproachable, +domestic female. Herself the daughter of a successful Pennsylvania +German Ironmaster, her wealth had doubled the Penny successes. There had +been other children; Jasper could only faintly remember two, mostly in +the form of infantile whimpering. + +The inevitable termination of the evening was readied by the appearance +of a pitcher of steaming, spiced mulled wine. A cupful was formally +presented to Amity Merken; Gilda Penny sipped hers with an audible +satisfaction, and Jasper Penny absently drank the fragrant compound of +cinnamon bark and lemon, cloves, sugar and claret. A measure of that, +before retiring, could not but be beneficial to Susan Brundon, fatigued +by the duties of her Academy. He thought of the sharper breath of the +brandy and oranges compounded by Essie Scofield. A thin odour of +foxglove clung to the memory of his wife. + + + + +XV + + +Jasper Penny supplemented Jannan's letter to Essie Scofield, asking for +an appointment with his client at the law office, with a short +communication laying before her the condition in which he had found +Eunice, his knowledge of her neglect to provide their daughter with the +funds he had sent for that purpose, and definite plans for his complete +control of the child. At the despatch of this he felt that his duty, +where Essie as a formal parent resided, was ended. It was now only a +question of an agreement on terms. He got no reply, other than a +notification from Stephen Jannan that a meeting had been arranged for +the following week. And, at eleven o'clock, on a clear, thin blue winter +morning, he mounted, with Eunice, to the entrance of Jannan's offices on +Fourth Street. + +Essie Scofield, in widespread mulberry silk with tight sleeves and broad +steel buttons, a close brimmed blue bonnet filled with lilacs and tied +with an old rose ribbon, was more compelling than Jasper Penny had +remembered her for, actually, years. A coffee-coloured India shawl, with +a deep fringe and trace of a lining checkered in cherry and black +slipping from her shoulders, toned her appearance to a potential +dignity. + +"Eunice," she exclaimed, as the child entered, "do come here at my +side!" A small, cold mouth was silently raised for a straining embrace. +Stephen Jannan proceeded at once, addressing Essie Scofield. "Mr. Penny +informs me that he has written you explaining our purpose. I have +already instructed you of the law in such a connexion, and there remains +only your signatures to these papers. I begged you, if you will +remember, to come with counsel, but since you have not done that it will +be best for you to read this deed, which is quite clear in its intent." + +Essie gazed dramatically at the paper the lawyer tended her. "It means," +she said, "that I am to lose Eunice, and because I cannot offer her any +advantages beyond those of a slim purse. I am a most unfortunate +creature." Jasper Penny scraped his chair back impatiently, but Stephen +enforced his silence with a gesture. "While my client understands that +no monetary consideration can compensate for the breaking of ties of +affection," Stephen Jannan went on smoothly, "and while he offers none +in payment to that end, still we feel that some material recognition +should be due you. Have you anything to say, suggest, at this point?" + +Essie Scofield's arm was about Eunice's waist. "I am to be parted from +my little daughter," she exclaimed; "and my tears are to be stopped with +gold--an affectionate breast, a heart-wrung appeal, stilled by a bribe. +That is the price paid by a trusting, an unsuspicious, female. Long ago, +when a mere girl, dazzled by--" + +"We won't go into that," Jannan interrupted, "but confine ourselves to +the immediate development. By signing the paper in question, and +accepting a sum of money, you surrender all claim to this child, known +as Eunice Scofield." + +"How will that affect my--my position in other ways?" she demanded, in a +suddenly shrewd, suspicious tone. "Not at all," the lawyer assured her. +She sobbed once, emotionally; and Eunice regarded her with a wide, +unsparing curiosity. "A stranger to me," she gasped, with a paper white +face and fluttering eyelids. Jasper Penny ejaculated sharply, "How much, +Essie?" In a moment, he judged, familiar with a potential hysteria, she +might faint, scream; there were clerks, people, in the next rooms. On +the brink of collapse she hesitated, twisting her purple kid gloves. + +"Ten thousand dollars," she said. + +Stephen Jannan glanced swiftly at his cousin, and the latter nodded. +"That is satisfactory," Jannan announced. "A mere formality--witnesses." +Essie Scofield traced her signature in round, unformed characters; +Jasper Penny followed with a hasty, small script; and Eunice, seated at +the impressive table, printed her name slowly, blotting it with a +trailing sleeve. The lawyer swung back the door of a heavy safe, and +took out a package of white bills of exchange on the Bank of +Pennsylvania. Essie counted the notes independently, thrust the money +into a steel-beaded reticule with silk cords, and rose, gathering +together her cashmere shawl. She ignored Eunice totally in the veiled +gaze she directed at Jasper Penny. "It is better," she told him, "if you +write first when you expect to visit me. Really, the last time, with +some friends there, you were impossible." He bowed stiffly. "Don't let a +sense of duty bring you," she concluded boldly. "I get on surprisingly +well as it is, as it is," she reiterated, and, he thought, her voice +bore almost a threat. + +When she had gone the two men sat gazing in a common perplexity at the +child. Stephen Jannan's lips were compressed, Jasper Penny's face was +slightly drawn as if by pain. Eunice was investigating a thick stick of +vermilion sealing wax and a steel die. "Well?" Jannan queried, nodding +toward the table. "I thought something of Burlington," Penny replied, +"but decided to place her in New York. Want to give her all the chance +possible. I intend, at what seems the proper time, to secure her my own +name." He stopped the objection clouding his cousin's countenance. "We +won't argue that, please. Now about the will; the provision must be +explicit and generous. There, at least, I am able to meet a just +requirement." Jasper Penny's will was produced, a codicil projected, +appended, and witnesses recalled. + +"I wanted to inquire about Miss Brundon," Jasper said finally, the +business despatched. "She seems to me very fragile for the conducting of +an Academy. Is there no family, men, to support her? And her +institution--does it continue to progress well?" + +"Very." Jannan replied to the last question first. "Her children come +from the best families in the city; and, under my advice, her charges +are high. She has a brother, I believe, a cotton merchant of New +Orleans, and quite prosperous. But he has a large family, and Susan will +not permit him to deprive it of a dollar for her benefit. As you say, +she is not strong; but in spite of that she needs no man's patronage. +The finest qualities, Jasper, the most elevated spirit. A little too +conscientious, perhaps; and, although she is thirty-nine, curiously +ignorant of the world; but rare ... rare. It almost seems as if there +were a conspiracy to keep ugly truths away from her." + +Truths, Jasper Penny thought bitterly, such as had just been revealed in +Stephen's office. There was, it seemed, nothing he could do for Susan +Brundon. He envied the lawyer his position of familiar adviser, the ease +with which the other spoke her name: Susan. He rose, fumbling with a +jade seal. "Come, Eunice," he said, the lines deepening about his mouth +and eyes. Stephen Jannan assisted him into the heavy, furred coat. +"Well, Jasper," he remarked sympathetically, "if we could but look +ahead, if we were older in our youth, yes, and younger in our increasing +age, the world would be a different place." He held out to Eunice a +newly minted Brazilian goldpiece. "Good-bye," he addressed her; "command +me if I can be of any use." She clutched the gold tightly, and Jasper +Penny led her out into the winter street. "We must have dinner," he said +gravely. "With some yellow rock candy," she added, "and syllabubs." + + + + +XVI + + +He returned to Myrtle Forge from New York with a mingled sense of +pleasure and the feeling that his place was unsupportably empty. The +loneliness of which he had been increasingly conscious seemed to have +its focus in his house. The following morning he walked restlessly down +the short, steep descent to the Forge, lying on its swift water diverted +from Canary Creek. Unlike a great many iron families of increasing +prosperity, the Pennys had not erected the unsightly buildings of their +manufacturing about the scene of their initial activity and mansion. +Jasper's father, Daniel Barnes Penny, under whose hand their success had +largely multiplied, had grouped their first rolling mill and small nail +works by the canal at Jaffa, preserving the pastoral aspect of Myrtle +Forge, with its farmland and small, ancient, stone buildings. + +Jasper had only made some unimportant changes at the Forge itself--the +pigs were subjected to the working of two hearths now, the chafery, +where the greater part of the sulphur was burned out, and the finery. +The old system of bellows had been replaced by a wood cylinder, +compressing air by piston into a chamber from which the blast was +regulated. A blacksmith's shed had been added in the course of time, +and a brick coke oven. He stopped at the Forge shed, filled with ruddy +light and shadow, the ringing of hammers, and silently watched the +malleable metal on the anvil. Flakes of glowing iron fell, changing from +ruby to blue and black. + +The Penny iron! The Forge had been operated continuously since seventeen +twenty-seven, hammering out the foundation of his, Jasper's, position. +He had taken a not inconsiderable place in the succession of the men of +his family; in him the Pennys had reached their greatest importance, +wealth. But after him ... what? He was, now, the last Penny man. The +foothold Gilbert had cut out of the wild, which Howat and Casimir--an +outlandish name obviously traceable to his mother, the foreign +widow--had, in turn, increased for Daniel and Jasper, would be +dissipated. His great, great aunt, Caroline, marrying a solid Quaker, +had contributed, too, to the family stamina; while her granddaughter, +wedding a Jannan, had increased the social prestige and connections of +the family. The Jannans, bankers and lawyers, had already converted the +greater part of their iron inheritance into more speculative finance; +and the burden of the industry rested on Jasper Penny's shoulders. + +At his death the name, the long and faithful labour, the tangible +monument of their endurance and rectitude, except for the tenuous, +momentary fact of Eunice, would be overthrown, forgot. He was conscious +of a strong inner protest against such oblivion. He had, of course, +often before lamented the fact that he had no son; but suddenly his loss +became a hundred times more poignant, regrettable. Jasper Penny caught +again the remembered, oppressive odour of foxglove, the aromatic reek of +brandy and oranges; one, in its implications, as sterile as the other. +He was possessed by an overwhelming sense of essential failure, a +recurrence of the dark mood that had enveloped him in leaving the +Jannans' ball. + +Yet, he thought again, he was still in the midstride of his life, his +powers. His health was unimpaired; his presence bore none of the +slackening aspect of increasing years. These feelings occupied him, +speeding in a single cutter sleigh over the crisp snow of the road +leading from his home to Shadrach Furnace, where Graham Jannan and his +young wife had been newly installed in the foremens' dwelling. There was +a slight uneasiness about Graham's lungs, in consequence of which he had +been taken out of the banking house of an uncle, Jannan and Provost, and +set at the more robust task of picking up the management of an iron +furnace. + +It was early afternoon; the sky was as dryly powdered with unbroken blue +as was the earth with white. The silver bells and scarlet pompons of the +harness crackled in the still, intense cold; and a blanched vapour hung +about the horse's head. Jasper Penny, enveloped in voluminous buffalo +robes and fur, gazed with an increased interest at the familiar, flowing +scene; nearby the forest had been cut, and suave, rolling fields +stretched to a far mauve haze of trees; the ultramarine smoke of +farmhouse chimneys everywhere climbed into the pale wash of sunlight; +orderly fence succeeded fence. How rapidly, and prosperous, the country +was growing! Even he could remember wide reaches of wild that were now +cultivated. The game, quail and wild turkey and deer, was fast +disappearing. The country was growing amazingly, too, extending through +the Louisiana Purchase, State by State, to Mexico and the Texan border. +The era of the greatness of the United States had hardly begun, while it +was more than probable that the greatness, the power, of the Penny +family faced an imminent destruction. His revolt at this, joining the +more personal sense of the emptiness of his existence, filled him with a +bitter energy, a determination to conquer, somehow, the obdurate facts +hemming him in. + +The sleigh dropped over a rise into a shallow fold of hills, with a +collection of structures on a slope, and a number of solid, small grey +stone dwellings. He glanced subconsciously at the stack of Shadrach +Furnace, and saw that it was in blast--a colourless, lively flame, with +a thin, white smoke like crumpled muslin, playing about its base. The +metallic ring of a smithy rose at a crossing of roads, and, from the +cast house, drifted the refrain of a German song. He turned in by the +comparatively long, low facade of the house where the Jannans were +living. + +A negro led the horse and sleigh back to a stable; and, briskly sounding +the polished iron doorknocker, he let himself into the dining room, a +chamber with a wide, pot-hung fireplace and plain mahogany consul tables +with wood chairs brightly painted with archaic flowers and scrolls in +gold. Standing at the far side of the room, delicately outlined against +a low, deeply embrasured window, was Susan Brundon. + +A slow tide of colour rose to her ordinarily pale cheeks, corresponding +with a formless gladness permeating his own being. She wore ruffled +lavender with a clear lace pelerine caught at her breast by a knot of +straw-coloured ribbon and sprig of rose geranium. "Mr. Penny," she said, +with a little gasp of surprise; but her gaze was unwavering, candid. + +"Why not?" he replied lightly. "I have a small interest in Shadrach. You +are surprising--so far from that absorbing Academy." + +"It's my eyes again," she explained. "I am obliged to rest. There is a +very good assistant at the school; and Mary sweetly thought the country +would do me good." + +"It is really miraculous," Mary Jannan stated, entering from the +kitchen; "she'll almost never. Weren't we lucky?" She was a small woman +with smooth brown hair and an air of quiet capability. "And it's +splendid to see you," she continued to Jasper Penny. "Don't for a +minute think you'll get off before to-morrow, perhaps not then. Graham +is out, chop-chopping wood. Actually--the suave Graham." She indicated a +high row of pegs for Jasper Penny's furs. "Everything is terribly +primitive. Most of the furniture was so sound that we couldn't bring +ourselves to discard it all, however old-fashioned. Little by little." +Graham Jannan entered, a tall, thin young man with crisp, pale yellow +hair and a clean shaven, sanguine countenance with challenging light +blue eyes. He greeted the older man with a firm, cold hand clasp. "I +suppose you've come out to discover what I have learned about iron. +Well, I know now that a sow is not necessarily a lady, and that some +blooms have no bouquet. Good rum has, though, after sleighing." + +Upon alternately burning his fingers and throat with a steaming glass of +St. Croix, Jasper Penny and Graham Jannan proceeded to the Furnace +where, in the cast house, they watched the preparations for a flow of +metal. The head founder, McQuatty, bearded to the eyes and swathed in a +hide apron, stood at the Ironmaster's side. "The charcoal you'd get's +not worth a bawbee," he complained; "soft stuff would hardly run lead. +And where they'd cut six thousand cords of wood will no longer show more +than four. Shadrach ought to put out twenty-eight tons of pig in a week; +and you see the statements." + +"Stone coal," Jasper Penny replied; "and a hot blast." He turned to +describe the latter to Jannan. "It'll come," the founder agreed, "and +the quality will go." He went forward to tap the clay-sealed hearth. The +liquid iron poured into the channels of its sand bed, sputtering and +slowly fading to dingy grey. "I'd like you to take hold of this," Jasper +Penny told the younger man; "great changes, improvements, are just over +the hill. I'll miss them--a link between the old and the new. But you +would see it all. The railroad will bring about an iron age; and then, +perhaps, steel. I look for trouble, too--this damned States Rights. The +South has been uneasy since the Carolina Nullification Act. It will be a +time for action." He gazed keenly at Graham Jannan. A promising young +man, he thought, with a considerable asset in his wife. A woman, the +right woman, could make a tremendous difference in a man's capabilities. + +He elaborated this thought fantastically at dinner, sitting opposite +Susan Brundon. Mary Jannan wore orange crepe, with black loops of ball +fringe and purple silk dahlias; and, beside her, Miss Brundon's dress +was noticeably simple. She volunteered little, but, when directly +addressed, answered in a gentle, hesitating voice that veiled the +directness, the conviction, of her replies. The right woman, Jasper +Penny repeated silently. Ten, fifteen, years ago, when he had been free, +he would have acted immediately on the feeling that Susan Brundon was +exactly the wife he wanted. But no such person had appeared at that +momentous period in his life. + +However, then he had been a totally different being; perhaps the +appreciation of Miss Brundon, her actual reality, lay for him entirely +in his own perceptions. But if she would not have been the woman for him +then, by heaven, she was now! He expressed this unaware of its wide +implications, unconscious of the effect it would instantly have. The +thing silently uttered bred an enormously increased need, the absolute +determination that she was necessary to his most perfunctory being. The +thought of her alone, he discovered, had been sufficient to give him a +new energy, a sense of rare satisfaction. + +Shortly expressed, he wanted to marry her; he had not, he told himself +oddly, ever been married. The word had a significance which heretofore +he had completely missed. A strange emotion stirred into being, a +longing thrown out from his new desire, the late-born feeling of +dissatisfaction; it was a wish for something in Susan Brundon which he +experienced but could not name. Roughly stated it was a hunger to +surround her with security, comfort, to fortify the, at best, doubtful +position of life in death for her. Yet he acknowledged to himself that +this regard for her safety was mostly the result of his own inner, blind +striving. Her happiness had magically become his. Beyond that he was +unable to penetrate. + +After supper they gathered in the chamber beyond the dining room. Here +Jasper Penny found an incongruous mingling of old and new furniture. +There was a high, waxed walnut desk and cabinet, severely simple, and +before it a chair with a back of elaborately carved and gilded tulips +tufted in plum-coloured velvet. The thick carpet was a deep rose, and +the drapery of the mantel and windows garnet. A painted hood of +brilliant Chinese colours had been fastened before what was evidently an +open hearth, for which a coal stove was substituted. On the middle of +the floor was an oriental hassock in silver brocade; while a corner held +a spinet-piano decorated in roseate cupids, flower sprays and gold leaf. +Again, an old clock in Spanish mahogany, with a rudely painted glass +door, had been left on the wall. + +Mary Jannan, at the piano, wove a delicate succession of arpeggios. She +sang, in a small and graceful voice, a cavatina, _Tanti Palpiti_. Then, +"Ah, que les amours ... de beaux heurs." Jasper Penny listened with an +unconscious, approving pretence of understanding. But when, in the +course of her repertoire, she reached _Sweet Sister Fay_, and _The Horn +of My Loved One I Hear_, his pleasure became active. Susan Brundon, on +the hassock, lifted her sensitive face to the mild candle light, and its +still pallor gave him a shock of delight. Her hands were folded in the +voluminous sweep of her crinoline; the ribbons at her breast rose and +fell softly. + +Jasper Penny and Graham were smoking long, fragrant cigars that the +former had produced from a lacquered case, and Jannan had the +ingredients of the hot punch at his elbow. It amused the young man to +persuade Susan Brandon to take a sip from his glass; and they all +laughed at her subsequent gasping. Jasper Penny was astoundingly happy; +his being radiated a warmth and contentment more potent than that of the +St. Croix rum. It was accompanied by an extraordinary lightness of +spirit, a feeling of the desirability of life. The memory of his greying +hair had left him; not, it was true, to be replaced by the surging +emotions of youth, but by a deep satisfaction. + +Susan Brundon, Susan ... the right woman. He marvelled again at the +brightness of spirit that shone in her--like a flame through a fine +paper lantern. Susan, at Myrtle Forge. His thought became concrete; he +knew now, definitely, that he had determined to marry her. His peace of +mind increased. There was no need for hurry, the mere idea was +irradiating; yet there must be no unnecessary delay. Incontrovertibly he +had passed forty. The best period in a man's life. They would go to the +West Indies, he decided. A ring with a square emerald, and roses of +pearls. It was, almost immediately, time to retire. His room, narrow +with a sloping wall, had a small window giving on a flawless rectangle +of snow like the purity of Susan Brundon. + +As he lay in bed, staring wakefully against the dark, another memory +crept into his thoughts--the echo of a small, querulous voice, "yellow +rock candy and syllabubs." Eunice! A sudden consternation seized him as +he realized the necessity of telling Susan fully about his daughter. No +escape, evasion, was possible. If she discovered the existence, the +history, of the child afterward--he lingered over the happiness that +term implied--it would destroy her. This, he told himself, was not +merely melodrama; he was thinking of her delicate spirituality, so +completely shielded from the bald fatality of facts. An increasing dread +seized him at the thought of the hurt his revelation would inflict on +her. The interweaving of life in life, consequence on consequence, the +unbroken intricacy of the whole fabric of existence, realized anew, +filled him with bitter rebellion. The blind commitment of a vanished +youth, potent after years, still hung in a dark cloud over Susan +Brundon. He was conscious of the past like an insuperable lead weight +dragging at his attempted progress. The secret errors of all the pasts +that had made him rose in a haggard, shadowy troop about his bed, +perpetuated, multiplied, against his aspirations of tranquil release. + +Yet, he told himself, dressing in the bright flood of morning, if +nothing perished but the mere, shredding flesh, one quality persisted +equally with the other--the symbol of Essie Scofield was no more actual +than Susan. He had breakfast early, with Graham Jannan; and, in a +reviving optimism, arranged for the Jannans to bring Miss Brundon to +Myrtle Forge for a night before her departure. He whirled away, in a +sparkling veil of flung snow crystals, before the women appeared. + +Susan Brundon would, naturally, shrink from what he must tell her; but +he was suddenly confident of his ability to convince her of the superior +importance of the actuality of what they together might make of the +future. He was accustomed to the bending of circumstance to his will; in +the end he would prove stronger than any hesitancy she might, perhaps, +reveal. His desire to have her had grown to such proportions that he +could not, for an instant, think of existence without her as an intimate +part. He even mentally determined when he should go to the city, the +jeweller's, for the square emerald and flowered pearls. He would do over +the rooms where he had lived in the thin formality of his marriage with +Phebe, settle an amount on Essie ... shredding flesh. It would do the +living woman no more injury than the dead. Oranges and brandy, satin and +gold and ease. + +He wrote, through Stephen Jannan, to Essie Scofield that afternoon, +stating the generous terms of his final arrangement with her, making it +plain that all personal contact between them had reached an end. +Hereafter she must exclusively address any unavoidable communications to +Mr. Jannan. She disregarded this in a direct, inevitably complaining, +laborious scrawl. However, he could read through it her obvious relief +at complete independence. She would, she thought, stay where she was for +a little ... a period of perfunctory sentimentality followed. He +destroyed the letter, turning with deep pleasure to the message from +Graham Jannan that he would bring Susan Brundon and Mary to Myrtle Forge +the following day. + +His mother, with Amity Merken like a timid and reduced replica at her +back, greeted the Jannans and Miss Brundon at the door. Jasper Penny +came forward from the smoking room, to the right of the main entrance; +where the men retired for an appetizer of gin and bitters. The older man +was garbed with exact care. His whiskers were closely trimmed on either +side of his severe mouth and shapely, dominant chin; and his sombre +eyes, under their brows drawn up toward the temples, held an unusual +raillery. Amity Merken, he learned, had desired to stay away from the +supper table; but, to her distress, he forced her into a chair set by +himself. Susan sat at the other end of the table, in the place that had +been Phebe's. He gazed at her with a satisfaction without surprise; for +it seemed to him that the woman beyond him had always occupied the fore +of his existence. She wore pale grey, the opening at her neck filled +with soft lace and pinned with a garnet brooch, and a deep-fringed, +white silk shawl. The conversation was ambling, but, to Jasper Penny, +pitched in a key of utter delight. He said little through supper; and, +at its end, with Graham Jannan, immediately followed the others into the +parlour. + +There Mary Jannan repeated her songs, French, English and Italian; and +Jasper Penny listened with a poignant, emotional response. Graham and +his wife had arranged to sleigh back to Shadrach Furnace that evening; +but Susan Brundon was to stay at Myrtle Forge, and take the train from +Jaffa to-morrow. The Jannans, finally, departed; and Jasper Penny, +showing Susan through the chambers of the lower floor, succeeded in +delaying her, seated, in the smoking room. + + + + +XVII + + +Now that the moment which he had so carefully planned had arrived he was +curiously reluctant to precipitate Susan and himself into the future. +The lamps on a mantel, hooded in alabaster, cast a diffused radiance +over Susan's silvery dress, on her countenance faintly flushed above the +white folds of the shawl. "What is that sound?" she suddenly queried. "I +heard it all through supper and before. It seems to live in the walls, +the very air, here." + +"The trip hammer of Myrtle Forge," he replied gravely. "I suppose it +might, fancifully, be called the beating of the Penny heart; it does +pound through every associated stone; and I have a notion that when it +stops we shall stop too. The Penny men have all been faithful to it, and +it has been faithful to us, given us a hold in a new country, a hold of +wrought iron." + +"How beautiful," she murmured; "how strong and safe!" + +"It pleases me that you feel that," he plunged directly into his +purpose; "for I intend to offer you all the strength and safety it +contains." Her hands fluttered to her cheeks; a sudden fear touched +her, yet her eyes found his unwaveringly. "If that were all," he +continued, standing above her, "if I had only to tell you of the iron, +if the metal were flawless, I'd be overwhelmed with gladness. But almost +no iron is perfect, the longest refining leaves bubbles, faults. Men are +like that, too ... Susan." She grew troubled, sensitively following his +mood; her hands were now pressed to her breast, her lips parted. She was +so bewilderingly pure, in her dim-lit, pearly haze of silk, that he +paused with an involuntary contraction of pain at what must follow. + +"The child, Eunice," he struggled on; "I couldn't leave her at the +Academy because it might injure you. I had brought her in a most blind +egotism; and so I took her away. She is my daughter." + +He saw that at first she totally missed the implication of his words. +"But," she stammered, "I was told you had no ... how would that--?" Then +she stopped as sharply as if a hand had compressed her throat. A vivid +mantle of colour rose in her face; she made a motion of rising, of +flight, but sank back weakly. "It is criminally indelicate to speak to +you of this," he said, "but it was absolutely necessary. I want to marry +you; in that circumstance a lie would be fatal, later or sooner." + +She attempted to speak, her lips quivered, but only a low gasp was +audible. It was worse, even, than he had feared. Now, however, that he +had told her, he felt happier, more confident. Surely, after a little, +she would forgive, forget, "I want to marry you," he repeated, torn +with pity at her fragility, her visible suffering. "All that might hurt +you has been put out of my life, out of our future. The way is open +before us, the refining. I would do anything to spare you, believe that; +but the truth, now, best." + +"Always," she said in a faint voice. "I am trying to--to realize. Oh! I +suppose such things do occur; but the child herself, you--don't see how +that, so near--" she broke off, gazing wide-eyed out of her misery. He +was conscious of the dull, regular beat of the Forge hammer. God, how +the imperfections persisted! But, he told himself savagely, in the end +the metal was steadfast. He would, certainly, overcome her natural +revulsion from what she had just heard. The colour had left her cheeks, +violet shadows gathered about her eyes; she seemed more unsubstantial +than ever. He would repay again and again the suffering he had brought +her. Having declared himself he was almost tranquil; there was a total +absence of the impetuous emotionalism of youth, the blind tyranny of +desire. His feeling was deeper, and accompanied by a far more involved +philosophy of self-recognition. At the same time, while acutely +conscious of his absolute need of Susan Brundon, he was at a loss to +discover its essence, shape. Before he had known her he had been +obsessed by a distaste for his existence; he had desperately wanted +something without definition ... And Susan was that desire, delicate, +clear-eyed Susan. Yet, still, the heart of her escaped him. + +Jasper Penny had told himself that his new dissatisfaction was merely +the result of his accumulating years; but, beyond the fact that such an +increase might have brought him different and keener perceptions, that +explanation was entirely inadequate. He wanted a quality beyond his +experience, beyond, he realized, any material condition--Susan Brundon, +yes; but it was no comparatively simple urge of sex, the natural +selection of the general animal creation. There was no question of +passionate importunities; those, here, would be worse than futile; all +that he desired was beyond words, moving in obedience to a principle of +which he had not caught the slightest glimpse. Yet, confident of his +ultimate victory, he maintained the dominating presence of a black +Penny. + +Susan Brundon had sunk back into the depths of her capacious chair; she +seemed utterly exhausted, as if she had been subjected to a prolonged +brutal strain. But still her eyes sought him steady in their hurt +regard. "There is so much that I can give you," he blundered, +immediately conscious of the sterility of his phrase. "I mean better +things--peace and attention and--and understanding. I won't attempt any +of the terms usual, commonplace, at such moments, you must take them, +where they are worthy, for granted. I only tell you a lamentable fact, +and ask you to marry me, promise you the tenderest care--" + +"I know that," she replied, with obvious difficulty, hesitation. "I'll +not thank you. It is terribly difficult for me. I'd like to answer you +as you wish, I mean reply to--to your request. But the other, the child, +dragged about; there was such a distrust, a wariness, in her face." + +"There is no good in thinking of that alone," he stated, with a return +of his customary decision. "No one can walk backwards into the future. +Try to consider only the immediate question, what I have asked you--will +you marry me?" + +"Is that all you have to explain?" she asked. "Is there, now, no one +else that counts?" The edge of a cold dread entered his hopes. "If you +refer to the child's mother," he said stiffly, "she is amply well taken +care of, you need waste no sentimental thoughts on her." + +"Ah!" Susan exclaimed, shrinking. Her hands closed tightly on the wide +silk of her skirt. The fear deepened within him; it would be impossible +to explain Essie to the woman before him. Essie, falsely draped in +conventional attributes, defied him to utter the simple truth. He raged +silently at his impotence, the inhibition that prevented the expression +of what might be said for himself. Essie Scofield had, like every one +else, lived in the terms of her being, attracting to herself what +essentially she was; it was neither bad nor good, but inevitable. His +contact with her had been the result of mutual qualities, qualities that +were no longer valid. Yet to say that would place him in a damnable +light, give him the aspect of the meanest opportunist. Susan breathed, +"That poor woman." It was precisely what he had expected, feared--the +adventitious illusion! He had an impulse to describe to her, even at the +price of his own condemnation, the condition in which he had found +Eunice; but that too perished silently. Jasper Penny grew restive under +the unusual restraint of his position. + +"Do you mind--no more at present." Susan Brundon said. "I am upset; +please, another time; if it is necessary. I feel that I couldn't answer +anything now, I must go up; no, your mother will show me." She rose, and +he realized that she would listen no further. There was an astonishing +strength of purpose behind her deprecating presence. She was more +determined than himself. He watched her walk evenly from the room, heard +the low stir of voices beyond, with a feeling that he had been perhaps +fatally clumsy. All that he had said had been wrong, brutally selfish. +He had deliberately invited failure; he should have been patient, +waited; given her a chance to know and, if possible, value him, come to +depend on him, on his judgment, his ability in her welfare. But, in +place of making himself a necessity, he had launched at once into facts +which she must find hideous. She had said, "another time, if necessary." +His mouth drew into a set line--there would be another and another, +until he had persuaded, gained, her. + +He lit a cigar, and walked discontentedly up and across the room. The +sound of the Forge hammer again crept into his consciousness: the Penny +iron--the fibre, the actuality, of the Penny men! He repeated this +arrogantly; but the declaration no longer brought reassurance; the +certainty even of the iron faded from him; he had failed there, too, +digging a pit of oblivion for all that their generations of toil had +accomplished. The past inexorably woven into the pattern of the future! +Eunice, so soon wary, distrustful, Susan had seen that immediately, +would perpetuate all that he wished dead--Essie and himself bound +together, projected in an undesirable immortality through endless lives +striving, like himself, to escape from old chains. + +If he failed with Susan his existence would have been an unmitigated +evil; the iron, his petty, material triumphs, would rust, but the other +go on and on. His thoughts became a maze of pity for Eunice, infinite +regret of the past, a bitter energy of hope for what might follow. + +He turned with pride to his forging--long-wrought charcoal iron; the +world would know no better. Still, with his penetration of the future, +he realized that the old, careful processes were doomed. He had +difficulty in assembling enough adequate workmen to fill the increasing +contracts for bar iron and rails now; and the demand, with the extension +of steam railways, would grow resistlessly. More wholesale methods of +production were being utilized daily; he was one of the foremost +adherents of "improvement"; but suddenly he felt a poignant regret at +the inevitable passing of the old order of great Ironmasters, the +principalities of furnaces and forges. He was still, he felt, such a +master of his men and miles of forests and clearings, lime pits and ore +banks, coal holes, mills, coke ovens, hearths and manufactories. He +might still drive to Virginia through a continuous line of his +interests; his domination over his labourers, in all their personal and +industrial implications, was patriarchal; he commanded, through their +allegiance and his entire grasp on every iota of their living, their +day's journey; but, he told himself, he was practically the last of his +kind. + +New and different industrial combinations were locking together in great +agglomerations of widely-separated activities; the human was superseded +by the industrial machine, where men were efficient, subservient cogs in +a cold and successful automaton of business. A system of general credit +was springing up; the old, old payments in kind, in iron or even meal +and apparel, or gold, had given place to reciprocal understandings of +deferred indebtedness. The actual thousands of earlier commerce were +replaced by theoretical millions. His own realty, his personal property, +because of such understandings, were outside computation. They were, he +knew, reckoned in surprising figures; but in a wide-spread panic, forced +liquidation, the greater part of his wealth would break like straw. It +was the same with the entire country. + +His thoughts returned to Susan, to the longing for the peace, the +inviolable security, she would bring to the centre, the heart, of his +life. No material catastrophe could shape, deplete, her richness of +spirit. Fragile as she was, with her need of rest, her diffidence and +pallor, she yet seemed to Jasper Penny the most--the only--secure thing +in the world. She defied, he murmured, death itself. Wonderful. + +He moved slowly to his sombre bed room, with its dark velour hangings +and ponderous black walnut furniture, precisely scrolled with gilt. The +interior absorbed the light of a single lamp, robbing it of radiance. A +clock deliberately struck the hour with an audible whirring of the +spring. Jasper Penny took out from a drawer a tall, narrow ledger, its +calf binding powdering in a yellow dust, with a blurring label, +"Forgebook. Myrtle Forge, 1750." He sat, opening it on the arm of an old +Windsor reading chair he had insisted on retaining among the recent +upholstery, and studied the entries, some written in a small script with +ornamental capitals and red lined day headings, others in an abrupt +manner with heavy down strokes. The latter, he knew, had been made by +his great grandfather, Howat. + +"Jonas Rupp charged with three pair of woollen stockings ... shoes for +Minnie." Howat had been young when Minnie's shoes were new; twenty +something--five or six. He must have married not long after. +Howat--like himself--a black Penny. The special interest Jasper Penny +felt for this particular ancestor grew so vivid that he almost felt the +other's presence in the room at his shoulder. He consciously repressed +the desire to turn suddenly and surprise the shadowy and yet clear +figure in the gloom. The features of the youth so long gone, and yet, +too, he felt, the replica of his own young years, were plain; the dark +eyes, slanted brows, the impatient mouth. + +His community of sympathy with the other, who was still, in a measure, +himself, was inexplicable; for obviously Howat had escaped Jasper's +blundering--an early marriage, a son, the son whose name, like his +mother's, made such an exotic note in a long, sound succession of +Isabels and Carolines and Gilberts, was a far different tale from his +own. Yet it persisted. It seemed to him that the silence of the room +grew strained, there was the peculiar tension of a muteness desperately +striving for utterance. He waited, listened, in a rigidity of which he +was suddenly ashamed; ridiculous. He relaxed; the memory of his own +youth flooded back, rapt him in visions, scents, sounds. The premonitory +whirring of the clock spring sounded once more, followed by the slow, +increasing strokes ... Again. His body wavered, on the verge of sleep, +and he straightened himself sharply; then he rose and, putting back the +Forgebook, undressed. + +Susan, at breakfast, her shoulders wrapped in a serious-toned pelerine, +said little. Jasper Penny instinctively excluded her from a trivial +conversation. She was, he decided, paler than usual, the shadows under +her eyes were indigo. He was filled with self-condemnation. Mrs. Penny, +gazing at her with a beady discernment, asked if her rest had been +interrupted. "I am always an indifferent sleeper," Susan Brundon replied +evasively. He followed her into the carriage that was to take her to the +station at Jaffa; and, ignoring her slight gasp of protest, grasped the +reins held by the negro coachman. However, they proceeded over the short +distance to the town without speech. He was torn between a wish to spare +her and the desire to urge his own purpose. But more immediately he +wanted to make secure the near hour of his seeing her again. He asked, +finally, "Will you be at the Jannans' this week, or are visitors +received at the Academy?" + +"No," she replied to the first; "and I have very little time between +classes. You see, they fill the whole day, tasks and pleasures. It is +difficult for me to--to talk on a generality of themes with callers." + +"I have no intention of being diffuse," he replied pointedly. "I could +confine my entire conversation to one request--" + +"Please," she interrupted pitiably. "I am utterly wretched now. The +simplest gentility--" she paused, but her wish was clear. He restrained +himself with difficulty. Drifting slowly across the scattered roofs of +the town was the leaden smoke of his mills and fires; as they drove into +the main street the thin crash of his iron was audible. Men everywhere +bowed to him with marked respect. But the woman at his side sat erect, +drawn away from him, unmoved by all that, to the world, he was. There +was an appalling quality in her aloofness from what, materially, he +might advance in extenuation; the things so generally potent here were +no more than slag. He searched within for what might bend, influence, +her, for whatever he might have of value in her eyes. He found nothing. +It was a novel and painful experience; and it bred in him a certain +anger; he became merely stubborn. He declared to himself, with an oath, +that he would gain her; and he pulled up his horses viciously at the +station rack. This, too, hurt her; she exclaimed faintly at the brutally +drawn bits. A man hurried forward to take her bag, and then, in a +blowing of horn, a harsh exhaust of steam, she was gone. A last, hurried +impression of her delicate profile on a small pane of glass accompanied +him back to Myrtle Forge. There his mother regarded him with an open +concern. "Something's on your mind," she declared. "I passed your door +at midnight, and there was light under it. I've often told you about +sitting up late." + +"I'm getting along," he replied lightly. "You fail to do justice to the +weight of my increasing majority. But, in a little, you'll be astonished +at my renewed youth." He became serious in speaking, conscious of the +new life Susan would, must, bring into his existence. + + + + +XVIII + + +Since he had declared himself so decidedly and at once, no hesitation +was possible; he must, he was aware, move remorselessly forward in +assault. To sweep Susan Brundon into his desire, overwhelm her +defences--he called them prejudices but immediately after withdrew that +term--offered the greatest, the only promise of success. An obliterating +snow fell for the following thirty hours, and a week went by in the +readjustment to ordinary conditions of living and travel. But at the end +of that period Jasper Penny left Myrtle Forge for the city, with a +determined, an almost confident, mouth, and a bright, hard gaze. Late +afternoon, he decided, would be the best time for his appearance at the +Academy. And the western sky was a luminous, bright red when he passed +under the stripped, uneasy branches of the willow trees to the school +door. + +Miss Brundon's office, rigorous as the corridor of a hospital, had a +table and uncompromising wooden chairs on a rectangle of bluish-pink +carpet; a glowing, round stove held a place on a square of gleaming, +embossed zinc, while the remaining surfaces were scrubbed oak flooring +and white calcimine. A large geographer's globe, a sphere of pale, +glazed yellow traced in violet and thin vermilion and cobalt, rested on +an involuted mahogany stand; and a pile of text books covered in gay +muslin made a single, decisive note of colour. + +She kept him waiting, he felt uneasily, a long while; perhaps she had a +class; but he felt that that was not the reason for her delay. When she +finally appeared in soft brown merino, with a deep fichu of old, dark +lace, and black ribbons, she courageously held out a delightfully cool, +smooth hand. "At first," she said directly, "I thought it would be +better not to see you at all. Yet that wasn't genteel; and I felt, too, +that I must speak to you. Even at the danger, perhaps, of trespassing +into your privacy." + +"I have given you the absolute right to do that," he told her. "It will +only bring me pleasure, to--to suppose I interest you enough--" + +"Ah, but you do," she cried with clasping fingers. "It has made my work +here very difficult; the quiet has gone before echoes that I think every +child must hear, echoes from spaces and things that appall me. Here, you +see, I have lived so apart from others, perhaps selfishly, that I had +grown accustomed to a false sense of peace. Only lessons and little +questions, little hands. It seems now that I have been outside of life +itself, in a cowardly seclusion. Yet it had always been that way; I +didn't know." Her face was deeply troubled, the clear depths of her eyes +held a new questioning doubt. + +"It's because of that, mainly, I ask you to marry me," he replied, +standing before the table at which, unconsciously, she had taken her +place; "it is because of your astonishing purity. You are so beautiful; +and this quiet, peace--you must have it all your life; it is the air, +the garden air, for you to flower in. I can give it to you, miles of it, +farther than you can see. All that you care for heaped about you. But +not that only," he insisted, "for I realized that no one lives to whom +such things are less; I can give you something more, not to be talked +about; whatever my life has been it has at least brought me to your +feet. I have learned, for you, that there is a thing men must have, God +knows exactly what--a craving to be satisfied, a--a reaching. And that +itself, the knowledge of such need, is not without value. Because of it +I again, and shall again, if necessary, ask you to marry me." + +She replied in a low voice. "You must marry the child's mother." For the +first time she avoided him; bright blood burned in her cheeks; a hand on +the edge of the table was straining, white. A sudden feeling of +helplessness came over him, with, behind it, the ever-present edge of +anger, of impatience. He took a step forward, as if to crush, by sheer +insistence, her opposition; but he stopped. He lost entirely the sense +of her fragile physical being; she seemed only a spirit, shining and +high, and insuperably lovely. Then all feeling was lost but the +realization that he could not--in any true sense--live without her. +"Susan," he said, leaning forward, "you must marry me. Do you care for +me at all?" + +Her breast rose and fell under the delicate contour of her wool gown. +"The child's mother," she repeated, "you should marry her. How can you +do differently? What can it matter if I care about you?" She raised a +miserable face. "How can I?" she asked. + +He could think of no other answer than to repeat his supreme necessity +for her. He struggled to tell her that this was an altogether different +man from Essie Scofield's companion; but his words were unconvincing, +limited by the inhibition of custom. A transparent dusk deepened in the +room accompanied by a pause only broken by the faint explosions of the +soft coal. The power of persuasion, of speech, appeared to have left +him. There must be some convincing thing to say, some last, +all-powerful, argument. It eluded him. The exasperation returned, +spreading through his being. + +"Surely," she said laboriously, "there is only one course for you, for +us all." + +"I'll never marry Essie Scofield!" he declared bluntly. His voice was +unexpectedly loud, unpleasant; and it surprised him only less than Susan +Brundon. She drew back, and the colour sank from her cheeks; an +increasing fear of him was visible. "In the first place," he continued, +"Essie probably wouldn't hear of it. And if I managed that it would be +only to make a private hell for us both. It would not, it couldn't, last +a month. There is nothing magical in marriage itself, there's no general +salvation in it, nothing to change a man or woman. Why, by heaven, +that's what you have taught me, that is the heart of my wanting you. You +must feel it to understand." He circled the table and laid a hand on the +back of her chair. "Susan." + +Her head was bowed, and he could see only her smooth, dark bands of hair +and the whiteness of her neck. "Susan," he said again. "A second wrong +will not cure the first. If one was inexcusable the other would be +fatal. Married--to some one else, with yourself always before me--surely +you must see the impossibility of that. And am I to come to nothing, +eternally fail, because of the past? Isn't there any escape, any hope, +any possibility? You don't realize how very much will go down with me. I +am a man in the middle of life, and haven't the time, the elasticity, of +youth. A few more years to the descent. But, with you, they could be +splendidly useful, happy; happy, I think, for us both. I know that a +great many people would say as you have, but it is wrong in every +aspect, absolutely hopeless. Essie's values are totally different from +yours; she has her own necessities; one measure will not do for all +women." + +She rose and stood facing him, very near, her crinoline swaying against +him, and said blindly, "You shall marry her." + +"I'll be damned if I do," Jasper Penny asserted. "I will marry you, +you," he whispered, with his lips against the fineness of her ear. Her +hands were on his shoulders; but she neither drew herself into his +embrace nor repulsed him. He wanted to crush her softness in his arms, +to kiss her still face into acquiescence. The quality, the kind, of his +need made it impossible. She slipped back without a sound into her +chair, drooping forward over the table. + +A sharp pity invaded him, holding him back from her, silencing the flow +of his reasoning and appeal. It defeated, in the stirring tenderness of +its consideration, his purpose. He could not continue tormenting her, +racking her delicate, taut sensibilities by a hard insistence. He +withdrew quietly, to where his hat and stick rested on a chair, and +gathered them up. Still she didn't move, raise her head, break the low +fumbling of the soft coal. He could no longer distinguish her clearly, +she was blurring in a dusk deeping so imperceptibly that it seemed a +gradual failing of his vision. The geographer's globe appeared to sway +slightly, like a balloon tied to a string; the gay muslin of the piled +text books had lost their designs. Suddenly the room without motion, the +approaching night, the desirable presence of the woman growing more +immaterial, more shadow-like to elude his reaching hands, presented a +symbol, an epitome, of himself. Day fading swiftly into dark; dissolving +the realities of table and flesh and floor; leaving only the hunger, +the insuperable inner necessity and sense of loss. + +"Good-bye," he breathed. Jasper Penny saw that she raised her head, he +caught the glimmering pallor of her face. But she said nothing, and sank +back into the crumpled position on the table. He went out, closing the +door of the office, shutting her into the loneliness of her resolve, her +insistence. + +In the familiar rooms at Sanderson's Hotel he revolved again and again +all that she had said. For a little he even endeavoured to inspect +calmly the possibility of a marriage with Essie Scofield. Steeped in +Susan's spirit he thought of it as a reparation, to Eunice, perhaps to +Essie, but more certainly to an essence within himself. But immediately +he saw the futility of such a course; the inexorable logic of existence +could not be so easily placated, its rhyming of cause and effect +defeated. All that he had told Susan Brundon recurred strengthened to an +immovable conviction. The thought of marrying Essie was intolerable, +farcical; to the woman herself it would mean utter boredom. Such a thing +must lead inevitably to a greater misfortune than any of the past. +Susan, in her resplendent ignorance of facts, failed to realize the +impossibility of what she upheld. No, no, it was out of the question. + +He wondered if he had progressed in the other, his supreme, wish. And he +felt, with a stirring of blood, that he had. Susan cared for him; her +action had made that plain. That was a tremendous advantage; with +another he would have thought it conclusive; but not--not quite with +Susan Brundon. He had a deep regard for her determination, so surprising +in the midst of her fragility. Yet, if pity had not prevented him, this +afternoon, in her office, he might have forced her to a sharper +realization of a more earthly need, the ache for sympathy, consolation, +the imperative cry of self. That was his greatest difficulty, to +overcome her lifelong habit of thinking of others before herself. Such, +he knew, was the root of her appeal for Essie, rather than a cold, +dogmatic conception. Self-effacement. + +At this a restive state followed; personally he had no confidence in the +sacrifice of individual aims and happiness. Any course of that sort, he +told himself, in the management of his practical affairs, would have +resulted in his failure. There were a hundred men in the country +plotting for his overthrow, anxious to take his position, scheming to +undersell him, to discover the secret of the quality of his iron rails. +Others he had deliberately, necessarily, ruined. No good would have been +served by his stepping aside, allowing smaller men to flourish and annoy +him, cut down his production by inconsiderable sales. He, and his +family, had built a great, yes, and beneficial, industry by ruthlessly +beating out a broad and broader way for their progress. It was needful +to gaze fixedly at the end desirable and move in the straightest line +possible. + +Susan stopped by the way. A thousand little acts of alleviation, at +best temporary, interrupted her living. Children, not hers, dragged at +her skirt. How much better for her to have a child of her own. Their +child! A great deal that had been vague in his thoughts became concrete +at that last period; not only the possible succession of the iron, but +the comprehension that a child now, before the increasing sterility of +multiplying years, would be an image of all his inmost craving and which +must else be lost. + +Eunice was different. Pity, mingled with a rigid sense of his duty and a +faint accent of parenthood, comprehended his feeling for her. He stated +this to himself clearly, admitting what delinquency it carried. It was, +simply, an incontrovertible fact; and it was his habit to meet such +things squarely. A black Penny, he had no impulse to see existence in +imposed sentimental or formally moral conceptions. From all this he +returned with a feeling of delight to his personal longing for Susan +Brundon; he saw her bowed over the table in an exhaustion almost an +attitude of surrender. A slender, pliable figure in soft merino and +lace. He saw her beyond the candles of Graham Jannan's supper table, a +rose geranium at her breast. The motto of the bon bon partially +returned: + +"... ange du ciel ... je t'aime! +... le bon heur supreme!" + + + + +XIX + + +In the morning he walked over to Stephen Jannan's office on Fourth +Street. The day was unexpectedly warm, and a mist rose about the wet +bricks of the city. He proceeded directly into Stephen's private +enclosure. "I was about to write you," the latter stated. "It's well +enough for you to direct Mrs. Scofield to confine her pleas to me, and +comparatively simple to picture her drawing a quarterly sum in an +orderly manner; but how you are going to realize that happy conception +is increasingly beyond me. I have to point out to her daily--a great +nuisance it is--that she cannot have her income before it is due. Heaven +knows what she has done with the other money in so short a while. She +hasn't moved, apparently increased her establishment; at your direction +the bills were settled, and heaven knows she had no reluctance in +presenting all that were permissible and a number doubtful. There is, of +course, one probability." + +Jasper Penny's thoughts returned to the stony, handsome youth he had +seen in the company of Essie's friends, to the insinuations of the woman +who had been removed protesting her superiority and warning him against +a "tailor's dummy." Well, it was no longer his affair what Essie did +with her money, what in her affections remained unimpaired. Rather it +was reassuring that she had so promptly found solace; it enlarged his +own feeling of freedom. "It got worse, yesterday," Stephen Jannan +continued; "she came to the office, insisted on seeing me. Luckily I was +busy with a mastership that kept me over three hours. But she left, I +was told, with the air of one soon to return. She was brandied with +purpose. There is no end, Jasper, to what I am prepared to do for you; +but, my dear fellow, neither of us can have this. She wept. My young +gentlemen were pierced with sympathetic curiosity. You must realize, +Jasper, that you are not a sparrow, to float unnoticed from ledge to +ledge." + +An angry impotence seized Jasper Penny. He was tempted to have Stephen +Jannan turn over to Essie, at once, a conclusive sum of money. That +would put an end to any communication between them, provide her with the +power of self-gratification which for Essie Scofield spelled +forgetfulness.... For a little, he was obliged, wearily, to add. +Together with such a young man as he had seen in her house her capacity +for expenditure would be limitless. She would come back to him with +fresh demands, perhaps at an inconceivably awkward time, in a calculated +hysteria--he had cause to know--surprisingly loud and convincing. Susan +must be absolutely secured against that possibility. He could not help +but think of the latter as yielding in the end, married to him. + +He gazed at Stephen Jannan in a sombre perplexity. "A nuisance," the +other nodded. "Only time, I suppose, and the most rigid adherence to +your statements will convince the lady of what she may expect. In the +meanwhile, frankly, we had better put it in some other hands; not so +much on my account as your own--the sympathetic young gentlemen, you +see. That can be easily arranged." + +Jasper Penny was not thinking of the material Essie, the present, +concrete problem; but he was once more absorbed in the manner in which +her influence followed, apparently shaped, his existence. He was again +appalled by the vitality of the past; the phrase itself was an error, +there was no past. All that had gone, that was to come, met ceaselessly +in the present, a confusion of hope and regret. It was evident that he +would have to see Essie again, and explain that what she had from him +depended entirely on her reciprocal attitude. This could only be +satisfactory in person. He would go to her at once, to-day. An enormous +reluctance to enter her house again possessed him. The mere act had the +aspect of an acknowledgment of her continued potency, her influence over +him. He put it off as long as possible, and it was past five when he +finally walked slowly toward her door. + +She was in; and he saw, on the hall stand, a silk hat and overcoat cut +in an extreme of current fashion. The servant preceded him above, toward +the room usual for casual gatherings; and he heard a sudden low murmur, +expostulation, follow the announcement of his name. Essie Scofield +appeared at the top of the stairs. "Come up," she said in a hesitating, +sullen voice. He mounted without reply. As he had expected Daniel Culser +was present, and rose to greet him negligently, from a lounging attitude +on the sofa. His coat, cut back to the knees, was relentlessly tapered, +the collar enormously rolled and revered, and a white Marseilles +waistcoat bore black spots as large as a Bolivian half dollar; while a +black scarf, it was called the Du Casses, fell in an avalanche of +ruffles. He moved toward the door, fitting his coat carefully about his +slim waist, "I'm away, Essie," he proclaimed. + +"When will you come again, Daniel?" she asked with an oppressive +humility. She gazed at Jasper Penny with a momentary delay; then, with +an utter disregard of his presence, laid her hands on the younger man's +shoulders. "Soon," she begged. Obviously ill at ease he abruptly +released himself. "I don't care," she cried defiantly; "I'll tell the +whole world you are the sweetest man in it. Jasper's nothing to me nor I +to him. And I'm not afraid of him, of what he might threaten, either. +Stay, Daniel, and you'll see. I will look out for us, Dan." + +Her unexpected frankness was inevitably followed by an awkward silence. +Daniel Culser finally cursed below his breath, avoiding Jasper's cold +inquiring gaze. "I'm glad I said it," Essie proceeded; "now he knows how +things are." She went up again to the younger, and laid a clinging arm +about his shoulders. "I'm mad about you, Daniel, you know it; there's +nothing I wouldn't do for you, give you if I could. Isn't he beautiful?" +she fatulously demanded of Jasper Penny. + +"You are making a fool of yourself and me," the subject of her adulation +roughly declared. He removed her arm so forcibly that the scarlet print +of his fingers was visible on her soft, dead white skin. "Probably you +have gone and spoiled everything. And remember what I said. I am a man +of my word." + +Jasper Penny dryly thought that the term man was singularly +inappropriate in any connection with the meticulously garbed figure +before him. Essie would have a difficult time with that stony youth. She +regarded him with eyes of idolatry, drawing her fingers over the sleeve +impatiently held aside from her touch. "I'm going," he stated once more, +impolitely; but she barred him at the door. "I want you to stay," she +cried excitedly; "hear what I am going to say, what I am going to do for +you." She advanced toward Jasper Penny. "I asked that Jannan for more +money because I had given Daniel all I had, and I wanted still more, to +give him. I'll demand things all my life for him; everything I have is +his." She gasped, at the verge of an emotional outburst. Her heart +pounded unsteadily beneath an adventitious lace covering; her face was +leaden with startling daubs of vermilion paint. "Give me a great deal +of money, now, at once ... so that I can go to Daniel with my hands +full." + +"That is why I came here," Jasper Penny replied; "to tell you that you +must not use up your income at once, on the first week, almost, of its +payment; because you will be able to get no more until another +instalment is due. I haven't the slightest interest in where your money +goes, it is absolutely your own; but I cannot have you after it every +second day. The administration will be put in a different quarter, +rigidly dispensed; and any continued inopportunities will only result in +difficulties for yourself." + +She cursed him in a gasping, spent breath. Essie looked ill, he thought. +Daniel Culser, listening at the door, made a movement to leave, but the +woman prevented him, hanging about his neck. "No! No!" she exclaimed. +"It will be all right, I can get it ... more. Be patient." Jasper Penny +walked stiffly to the exit, where he paused at the point of repeating +his warning. Essie Scofield was lifting a quivering, tear-drenched face +to the vexation of the fashionable youth. He was attempting to repulse +her, but she held him with a desperation of feeling. The elder descended +the stairs without further speech. + +Outside, the warmth of the day had continued into dusk. The mist had +thickened, above which, in a momentary rift, he could see the stars +swimming in removed constellations. He was wrapped in an utter loathing +of the scene through which he had passed, his undeniable part in it. It +was all hideous beyond words. His late need, his sense of void and +illimitable longing, tormented him ceaselessly. He was sick with +rebellion against life, an affair of cunning traps and mud and fog. +Above the obscured and huddled odium of the city the distances were +clear, serene. Above the degradation ... Susan. A tyrannical desire to +see her possessed him, an absolute necessity for the purification of her +mere presence. Unconsciously he quickened his step, charged with +purpose; but he couldn't go to the Academy now; it was six o'clock. He +must delay an hour at least. Habit prompted him to a supper which he +left untried on its plates, the lighting of a cigar, quickly cold, +forgot. At seven he hurried resolutely over the dark streets with the +dim luminosity of occasional gas lamps floating on the unstirring white +gloom. The bricks under foot were soggy, and the curved sign above her +entrance, the bare willows, dropped a pattering moisture. + +She saw him immediately, not in the familiar office, but in a hall laid +with cold matting and nearly filled by a stairway, lit with a lamp at +the further end. "I am sorry," she told him; "I have no place to take +you. The rhetoric mistress is correcting papers there," she indicated +the shut door. He made no immediate answer, content to gaze at her +sensitive, appealing countenance. "It is so warm," she said finally, +colouring at his intentness, "and I have been indoors all day. I might +get my things. We could, perhaps ... a walk," she spoke rapidly, her +head bent from him. She drew back, then hesitated. "Very well," he +replied. Susan disappeared, but she quickly returned, in a little violet +bonnet bound and tied with black, and a dark azure velvet cloak furred +at her wrists and throat. She held a muff doubtfully; but, in the end, +took it with her. + +Outside, the mist and night enveloped them in a close, damp veil. They +turned silently to the right, passing the narrow mouth of Currant Alley, +and Quince Street beyond. The bricks became precarious, and gave place +to a walk of boards; the corners about a broad, muddy way were built up; +but farther on the dwellings were scattered--lighted windows showed +dimly behind bare catalpas, iron fences enclosed orderly patches between +sodden flats, gas lamps grew fewer. + +A deep, all-pervading contentment surrounded Jasper Penny, an +unreasoning, happy warmth. He said nothing, his stick now striking on +the boards, now sinking into earth, and gazed down at Susan, her face +hid by the rim of her bonnet. This companionship was the best, all, that +life had to offer. He felt no need to importune her about the future, +their marriage; curiously it seemed as though they had been married, and +were walking in the security, the peace, of a valid and enduring bond. +There was no necessity for talk, laborious explanation, periods +infinitely more empty than this silence. They walked as close to each +other as her skirt would permit; and at times her muff, swinging on a +wrist, would brush softly against him. How strangely different the +actual values of existence were from the emphasized, trite moments and +emotions. In the middle of his life, at the point of his greatest +capability for experience, his most transcendent happiness came from the +present, the deliberate, unquestioning walk with Susan, the aimless +progress through an invisible city and under a masked clear heaven of +stars. No remembered thrill compared with it, reached the same height, +achieved a similar dignity of consummation. + +The way became more uneven; low clustered sheds rose out of the darkness +against a deeper black beyond, and they came to the river. The bank was +marshy, but a track of pounded oyster shells, visible against the mud, +led to a wharf extending into the solid, voiceless flow of the water. +Jasper Penny stood with Susan gazing into the blanketing gloom. A wan, +disintegrated radiance shone from a riding light in the rigging of a +vessel, and a passing warm blur flattened over the wet deck as a lantern +was carried forward. No other lights, and no movement, rose from the +river; no sound was audible at their back. The city, from the evidence +of Jasper Penny's sensibilities, did not exist; it had fallen out of his +consciousness; suddenly its bricked miles, its involved life stilled or +hectic, stealthy in the dark, seemed a thing temporary, adventitious; +he had an extraordinary feeling of sharing in a permanence, a +continuity, outlasting stone, iron, human tradition. He had been swept, +he thought, into a movement where centuries were but the fretful ticking +of seconds. "Outside death," he said fantastically, unconsciously aloud. +A remarkable sentence recurred to him, the most profound, he told +himself, ever written: "Before he was I am." Its vast implications +easily evaded his finite mind, just as the essence of his present +rapture--it was no less--lay beyond his grasp. He lingered over it; gave +it up ... returned to Susan. + +"Wonderful," she said gravely, with a comprehensive wave of her muff. +And her simplicity thrilled him the more with the knowledge that she +shared his feeling. She drew up the fur collar of her cloak, shivered; +and, in the wordless harmony that pervaded them, they turned and +retraced their way. + +The rhetoric mistress had left the office with a low turned lamp, and +Jasper Penny stopped, taking the furred wrap from Susan's shoulders. She +slowly untied the velvet strings of her bonnet, and laid it on the +table. She extended her hands toward him, and, taking their cool +slightness, he drew her to him. She rested with the fragrance of her +cheek against his face, with her hands pressed to his breast. They stood +motionless; he closed his eyes, and she was gone. He was confused in the +dimness empty except for himself, and fumbled with, his gloves. Susan's +wrap lay limply over a chair; the damp bonnet ribbons trailed toward the +floor. He looked slowly about, noting every object--a pile of folded +yellow papers, the stove, the globe bearing a quiver of light on its +varnished surface. + +The willow trees and board above the entrance were dripping ceaselessly; +the lights of the city, increasing at its centre, like the discs of +floating sunflowers. If he slept he was unaware of it, the magic joy so +equally penetrated his waking and subconscious hours, the feeling of an +elevation higher than years and mountains was so strong. The morning, he +found, was again cold, and clear. He must go out to Jaffa, where new +blast machines demanded attention; but, the day after-- + +His thoughts were broken by a sharp rap on the outer door. Mr. Stephen +Jannan was below, and demanded to see him immediately. Stephen's +appearance at the hotel at that early hour, he recognized, was unusual. +But a glance at his cousin's serious aspect showed him at once that the +reason was urgent. Stephen Jannan, as customary, was particularly +garbed; and yet he had an expression of haste, disturbance. He said at +once, in the bedroom where Jasper Penny was folding his scarf. + +"That young waster, Culser, Daniel Culser, was shot and killed in Mrs. +Scofield's house last evening." + +The ends of the scarf fell neglected over the soft, cambric frills of +his shirt. Jasper Penny swallowed dryly. "At what time?" he asked. + +"He was seen in the Old White Bear Tavern at about seven, then +apparently he went back to the woman's. The servant said he found the +body at something past nine, and that there had been no other caller but +yourself." + +His hearer expressed a deep, involuntary relief. "I was there late in +the afternoon," he acknowledged; "but I left around six." Stephen +Jannan, too, showed a sudden relaxation. "I have already sent a message +to the Mayor," he continued; "confident that you would clear yourself +without delay. Mrs. Scofield's history is, of course, known to the +police. You have only to establish your alibi; she, Essie Scofield, +can't be found for the moment. She may have taken an early stage out of +the city; but it is probable that she has only moved into another police +district. Just where were you, Jasper?" + +The latter said stupidly, "Walking with Susan Brundon." + +A swiftly augmented concern gathered on Stephen Jannan's countenance. +"You were walking with Susan," he repeated increduously. "Yes," Jasper +asserted, with a sharp inner dread. "You don't know, but I want to marry +her." Stephen Jannan faced him with an exclamation of anger. "You want +to marry her, and, in consequence, drag her, Susan, into the dirtiest +affair the city is like to know for years. Susan Brundon, with her +Academy; all she has, all her labour, destroyed, ruined, pulled to +pieces by slanderous tongues! By God, Jasper, what a beast you look! The +most delicate woman, alive, the one farthest from just this sort of +muck, being sworn in the Mayor's office, testifying in an obscene murder +case, before the Sheriff and Constable, and heaven knows what police and +vilely curious!" + +A sickening feeling of utter destruction seized on Jasper Penny, a +dropping of his entire being from the heights of yesterday to the last +degradation. He felt the blood leave his heart and pound dizzily in his +brain, and then recede, followed by an icy coldness, a wavering of the +commonplace objects of the room. He raised his fingers to his collar, +stared with burning eyes at Stephen Jannan. "Everything spoiled," the +latter said again; "her pupils will positively be taken from her at once +by all the nice females. Her name will be pronounced, smiled over, in +every despicable quarter of the city, printed in the daily sheets. I--I +can't forgive you for this. Susan, our especial joy!" + +Jasper Penny saw in a flash, as vivid and remorseless as a stab of +lightning, that this was all true. The fatality of the past, sweeping +forward in a black, strangling tide, had overtaken not only himself but +Susan, too; Susan, in soft merino, in an azure velvet cloak; her face +against his. "I shall go away at once," he said hoarsely. "I'll never +appear, and they can think what they will. Then there will be no +necessity for her to come forward. She shall be spared that, no matter +what it costs." + +"Romantic and youthful folly," Jannan declared; "loud-sounding and +useless. How little you understand Susan--immediately it is known Culser +was killed between seven and nine, whether you stay or go, she will come +forward with the truth, free you from any suspicion. I tell you every +detail will be canvassed, familiar to the boys on the street. A man +important as yourself, with all your industries and money, and such +salacity, together with Susan Brundon, will make a pretty story. If I +had a chance, Jasper, I'm almost certain I'd sacrifice you without a +quiver. How could you? Susan Brundon! Never telling her--" + +"On the contrary, she knew everything. I am not so low as you seem to +think." + +"That has no importance now!" Stephen Jannan exclaimed impatiently. "All +that matters is to make it as easy as possible for her, I have, I think, +enough position, influence, to keep the dregs out. But there will be +enough present, even then. Damnable insinuations, winks, +cross-questioning." + +His excitement faded before the exigencies of the unavoidable situation; +he became cold, logical, legal. Jasper Penny listened, standing, to his +instructions, the exact forecasting of every move probable at the +hearing in the Mayor's chamber. "After that," Stephen added, "we can +face the problem of Susan's future. She thinks tremendously of her +school. It will fall to pieces in her hands. There can be no question of +material assistance; refused her own brother. + +"Now, understand--stay in these rooms until I send for you. See no one. +I'll get on, go to Susan. The thing itself should be short; her +character will assist you there. What a mess you have made of living, +Jasper." + + + + +XX + + +In the silence of the sitting room Jasper Penny heard diverse and yet +mingled inner voices: Essie's younger, exuberant periods, her joy at +presents of gold and jewelled trifles; changing, rising shrilly, to her +last imploring sobs, her frantic embrace of the man that, beyond any +doubt, she had herself killed. Running through this were the strains of +a quadrille, the light sliding of dancing feet, and the sound of a low, +diffident voice, Susan Brundon at the Jannans' ball. The voice +continued, in a different surrounding, and woven about it was the thin +complaint of a child, of Eunice, taken against her will from the +Academy. These three, Essie and Susan and Eunice, combined, now one +rising above the other, yet inexplicably, always, the same. Back of them +were other, less poignant, echoes, flashes of place, impressions of +associated heat or cold, darkness or light: + +He saw the features of Howat Penny, in the canvas by Gustavus Hesselius, +regarding him out of a lost youth; he recalled, and again experienced, +the sense of Howat's nearness; integral with himself; merging into his +own youth, no less surely lost, yet enduring. His mother joined the +immaterial company, accents, rigid with pride in him. And penetrating, +binding, all was the dull beat of the trip hammer at Myrtle Forge. He +had mechanically finished dressing, and stood absently twisting the +drapery at a window. A fine tracery of lines had suddenly appeared about +his eyes; the cold rays of the winter sun, streaming over his erect +figure, accentuated the patches of grey plentiful in his hair. + +He saw, on the street below, a parade of firemen, in scarlet tunics and +brass helmets, dragging a glittering engine. The men walked evenly +abreast, at cross ropes. A leader blew a brilliant fanfare on an +embossed, silver horn. Women passed, foreshortened into circular bells +of colour, draped with gay pelerines and rich India shawls. He saw all +and nothing. The horn of the firemen sounded without meaning on his +distracted hearing. The flood of his suffering rose darkly, oppressing +his heart, choking his breath. Perhaps if, as he had desired, he had +gone away, Susan would be spared. But Stephen was right; nothing could +keep her from the pronouncement of the words that would free him and +bind herself in intolerable ill. Her uprightness was terrible. It would +take her fearful but determined into the pits of any hell. His hands +slowly clenched, his muscles tightened, in a spasm of anguish. God, why +hadn't he recognized the desperation in Essie's quivering face! It would +have been already too late, he added in thought; it went back, back-- + +A knock sounded discreetly on the door: and, opening it, he saw a young +man, remembered as a law student in Stephen's office. "They are ready +for you, sir, at the City Hall," he stated, in an over-emphasized, +professional calm. + + + + +XXI + + +The restrained curiosity and inaudible comments which greeted his +passage through the lower floor of the hotel gave place to a livelier +interest when he was readily recognized on the street. The news of the +murder had, evidently, already become city property. He was indicated to +individuals unaware of his identity, with a rapid sketch of the crime, +of fabulous ascribed possessions, and hinted oriental indulgence. He +strode on rapidly, his shoulders squared, his expression contemptuous, +challenging; but within he was possessed by an apprehension increasing +at every step. It was not, fortunately, far from Sanderson's Hotel to +the City Hall; west on Chestnut Street they reached their destination at +the following corner. The loungers from the trees before the State House +had gathered, with an increasing mob aware of the hearing within, at the +entrance to the municipal offices. The windows on either side of the +marble steps were crowded with faces, ribald or blank or censorious, and +Jasper Penny had to force his way into the building. He tried to recall +if there was another, more private, ingress, through which Susan might +be taken; but his thoughts evaded every discipline; they whirled in a +feverish course about the sole fact of the public degradation he had +brought on Susan Brundon. They passed the doors of civic departments, he +saw their signs--Water, City Treasurer, and then entered the Mayor's +chamber. + +The latter was seated at a table facing the room with his back to a wide +window, opening on the blank brick wall of the Philosophical Society +building; and at one side the High Constable of the district in which +the murder had been committed was conversing with the Sheriff. Beside +them, Jasper Penny saw, there were only some clerks present and three +policemen. The Mayor spoke equably to the Ironmaster, directed a chair +placed for his convenience, and resumed the inspection of a number of +reports. He had a gaunt, tight-lipped face framed in luxuriant whiskers, +a severely moral aspect oddly contradicted by trousers of tremendous +sporting plaid, a waistcoat of green buckskin cassimere, while his silk +hat held a rakish, forward angle. The Constable and Sheriff punctuated +their converse by prodigious and dexterous spitting into a dangerously +far receptacle, and the clerks and police murmured together. The Mayor, +finally glancing at a watch enamelled, Jasper Penny saw, with a fay of +the ballet, spoke to the room in general. "Ten and past. Well! Well! +Where are the others? Who is to come still, Hoffernan?" + +"Mr. Jannan, sir; and a witness," a clerk answered. The other gazed at +the paper before him. + +"Susan Brundon," he read in a loud, uncompromising tone. Jasper Penny's +eyes narrowed belligerently; he would see that these pothouse +politicians gave Susan every consideration possible. He was, with +Stephen, a far from negligible force in the city elections. "School +mistress," the Mayor read on. "Never heard of her or her school. Ah--" +Stephen Jannan had entered with Susan. + +Jasper rose as she came forward, and the Mayor had the grace to remove +his hat. She wore, he saw, the familiar dress of wool, with a sober, +fringed black silk mantle, black gloves and an inconspicuous bonnet. She +met his harried gaze, and smiled; but beneath her greeting he was aware +of a supreme tension. There was, however, no perceptible nervousness in +the manner of her accepting an indicated place; she sat with her hands +quietly folded in her lap, the mantle drooping back over the chair. +Stephen Jannan, facing the Mayor, made a concise statement in a cold, +deliberate voice. "I now propose to show your honour," he finished, +"that, between the hours in which Daniel Culser is said to have been +shot to death, my client was peacefully in the company of Miss Brundon, +strolling in an opposite quarter of the city." + +"Hoffernan," the Mayor pronounced, waving toward the seated woman. The +clerk advanced with a Bible; and, rising, Susan followed the words of +the oath in a low, clear voice. To Jasper Penny the occasion seemed +intolerably prolonged, filled with needless detail. Never had Susan +Brundon appeared more utterly desirable, never had his need to protect, +shield, her been stronger. He--protect her, he added bitterly; rather he +had betrayed her, dragged her immaculate sweetness down into the foul +atmosphere of a criminal hearing. His attention, fastening on the +trivialities of the interior, removed him in a species of self-hypnotism +from the actualities of the scene. He heard, as if from a distance, the +questioning of the Mayor, "At what time, exactly, did you say? How did +you know that?" Susan said, "I saw the clock at the back of the hall. I +noticed it because I wondered if the younger children had retired." + +"You say you walked with Mr. Penny--where?... How long did you remain at +the river? No way of knowing. Seemed surprisingly short, I'll venture." +Why didn't Stephen put an end to such ill-timed jocularity? "And Mr. +Penny had spoken to you of his--his relations with Mrs. Scofield, the +woman in whose house Culser was killed. Did he refer to her on this +particular evening, standing by the river's brink?" Susan replied in the +negative. "Did he seem ill at ease, worried about anything? Was he +hurried in manner?" + +To all of this Susan Brundon answered no, in a voice that constantly +grew lower, but which never faltered, hesitated. The Mayor turned aside +for a whispered consultation with the High Constable. The former nodded. +"Have you any--shall we say--proprietary interest in Mr. Penny's +affairs?" Her reply was hardly audible in the room stilled for what +might be revealed. "No," she breathed, her gloved fingers interlacing. +Jasper Penny's lips were drawn in a hard line; Stephen gazed fixedly at +the floor. The Mayor gesticulated affably toward the lawyer. "That'll +do," he declared. "Pleasure, Mr. Penny, to have you so completely +cleared. I shall have to demand your assistance further, +though--knowledge of Mrs. Scofield. And, in the case of her apprehension +and trial, you will, of course, be called. Communication will be made +through Mr. Jannan. No doubt in our mind now of the facts." A policeman +opened the door and a surge of the curious pressed in. "Take her away," +Jasper Penny whispered to Jannan; "this is damnable." + +Susan rose, gathering up her mantle, and moved to Stephen Jannan's side. +He offered his arm with a formal courtesy, and together they made their +way out through the corridor. Jasper, lost in a moody abstraction, +waited until they had vanished; and then, with a lowered head, walked +rapidly over Chestnut Street in the direction of the terminus of the +railroad for Jaffa. A brigade of cars was made up; he took a place and +was immediately dragged on and over the viaduct to the plane and waiting +engine beyond. He could see, from the demeanour of the loungers on the +Jaffa platform, that the news of the murder, his connection with it, had +preceded him. To-morrow's papers would provide them with full accounts, +the name of Susan Brundon among the maculate details.... The meanest +cast boy in his works would regard him, the knowledge of Essie, with a +leer. + +His mother was at the main door of Myrtle Forge, pale but composed. +"Take Mr. Penny's overcoat," she brusquely directed a servant. He had +never seen a more delectable supper than the one awaiting him; and he +tasted most of what found its way to his plate--he owed that to the +maternal solicitude secretly regarding him, hastily masked as he met his +mother's gaze. Sitting later in accustomed formality the dulness of a +species of relief folded him. The minor sounds of his home, the +deliberate loudness of an old clock, the minute warring of his mother's +bone needles, her sister's fits of coughing, painfully restrained, +soothed his harried being; subjected to an intolerable strain his +overwrought nerves had suddenly relaxed; he sank back in a loose, almost +somnolent, state. A mental indolence possessed him; the keen incentives +of life appeared far, unimportant, his late rebellions and desires +inexplicable. Even the iron was a heavy load; the necessity of +constantly meeting new conditions with new processes, of uprooting month +by month most with which the years had made him familiar, seemed beyond +his power. + +A faint dread crept into his consciousness; he roused himself sharply, +straightened his shoulders, glanced about to see if his tacit surrender +had been noticed--this lassitude creeping over him, the indifference, +was, at last, the edge of the authentic shadow of age, of decay; it was +the deadening of the sensibilities preceding death. He banished it +immediately, and all his desire, his need, his sense of the horror of +the past day, surged back, reanimated him, sent the blood strongly to +its furthest confines. But, none the less, a vague, disturbing memory of +the other lingered at the back of his perceptions; he had a fresh +realization of the necessity for him to make haste, to take at +once--before the hateful anodyne of time had betrayed his vigour--what +life still, and so fully, held. + +His desire for Susan increased to an intensity robbing it of a greater +part of the early joy; it had, now, a fretful aspect drawing him into +long and painfully minute rehearsals of his every contact with her, and +of the disgraceful publicity brought upon her by his past. At the usual +hour the hot wine appeared; the glassful was pressed on Amity Merken; +his mother drank hers with the familiar, audible satisfaction. An old +custom, an old compound, brought from Germany many years ago, binding, +in its petty immortality, distant times, places, beings. He saw that his +mother was noticeably less able than she had been the week before; her +hands fumbled at her knitting, shook holding the glass. Her lined face +quivered as she said good night. He bent and kissed a hot, dry brow, +conscious of the blanched skull under her fading colour, her ebbing +warmth. He had done this, too--hastened her death; she must have +suffered inordinately in her prideful affection. She said nothing, +beyond the repeated admonition that he must not sit up into the night. + +The next day he forced himself to read to the end the report of the +murder in the _Gazette_. The references to Susan Brundon were as scant +as, evidently, Stephen Jannan could arrange; but her name, her Academy, +were invested with an odious publicity. Jasper Penny saw again that he +was a person of moment; his part in the affair gave it a greatly +augmented importance. Yet now the worst, he told himself, was at an end; +the publicity would recede; after a decent interval he could see Susan. + +This mood was interrupted by an imperative communication from +Stephen--he must be in the other's office at eleven o'clock to-morrow. +Nothing more definite was said; but Jasper Penny was not wholly +surprised to see Essie Scofield huddled in a chair at the lawyer's +table. She had made an attempt at the bravado of apparel, but it had +evidently failed midway; her hair hung loosely about a damp brow, the +strings of her bonnet were in disarray, a shawl partially hid a bodice +wrongly fastened. Her face was apathetic, with leaden shadows and dark +lips ceaselessly twisting, now drawn into a petulant line, now drooping +in childish impotence. She glanced at him fleetly as he entered, but +said nothing. Robbed of the pretensions of pride, stripped of feminine +subterfuge, she was appalling. He involuntarily recalled the Essie who +had swept him into a riot of emotion--a vivid and palpitating creature +radiating the exuberance of careless health and youth. She could not, he +calculated, be beyond thirty-seven now. He abruptly ceased his +speculation, turned from her, with a feeling of impropriety. Stephen +Jannan said shortly: + +"Al Schimpf will be here. It seemed to me he was the best man to retain. +It's obvious that I can't defend her. You will, of course, require +everything possible done." Essie Scofield shivered. "I don't want to go +into court," she articulated, "and answer all the dreadful questions." +There was a stir without, and a hugely fat man in a black cape fastened +with a silver chain and velvet collar entered. Al Schimpf's face was so +burdened with rolling chins that he disregarded the customary fashion of +whiskers, but a grizzled moustache lay above his well-formed lips, and +an imperial divided his heavy, aggressive chin. He was, evidently, fully +informed of the case before him; for, after saluting Jannan and Jasper +Penny, he, seated himself directly before Essie Scofield, fastening upon +her an unwavering, glacial gaze. + +"Now, pay attention," he proceeded at once. + +"I'll go over a few facts--this Daniel Culser, you were in love with +him; no length you wouldn't go, lost your senses completely; and he--all +he cared about was the money he could wring out of you. As soon as you +were paid the sums that Mr. Penny allowed you, this Culser got it from +you; he took every cent and wanted more. Said he would leave you unless +you got hold of something really worth while. Then, of course, you +carried on, promised to get him more and more; said you could force a +fortune from Mr. Penny, anything to keep the young man. Hey?" he +demanded suddenly. + +The woman looked up with a haggard wonder, an irrepressible shudder; her +hands raised and fell, and she nodded dumbly. + +"Then, while Culser was in the house, Mr. Penny unexpectedly turned up +and said--perhaps before Daniel himself--that you could expect nothing +more, and made it plain that he was not to be intimidated. Daniel Culser +was for leaving you, didn't intend to hang around for a bloody little +quarterly; and, when you realized that he meant, or you thought he +meant, what he said, you went crazy and shot him.... What!" He got no +response from her now; she cowered away from him, hiding behind an +updrawn shoulder, a fold of the shawl. "But listen to this," Al Schimpf +shot at her, leaning forward, "here's what happened, and you must +remember every fact: + +"The fellow had been around the house day after day. You had encouraged +him at first; but then you got frightened; he beat you--hear +that?--struck you with his fist, and threatened worse if you didn't go +through old Penny's pocket for him. He even hinted at something you +might do together, and then get away with a mint. Culser was at it when +Mr. Penny called, and took it up when he left, at about six o'clock. He +said he wanted money bad, debts were hounding him; and he was going to +get it out of Penny, out of you. There's where you said you would warn +Jasper Penny; and remember how he struck you, in the back, because you +turned, and it hurts yet--there up by the left shoulder, the left +shoulder, the left! Then, he had been drinking in your house and at a +tavern, he threatened to kill you if you didn't do what he wanted. You +honestly thought he'd do it, and snatched a pistol out of a table +drawer, and.... Do you understand? That's what happened, and it's all +you know. Said he would kill you, apparently commenced then, and you +acted in self-protection. Now, repeat that." + +She gazed at him in a trembling confusion. "But," she objected, "he was +only--he said. Oh! I was afraid I'd lose him." The lawyer moved closer +to her, his unwinking, grey-green eyes like slate. "He said he'd kill +you," he reiterated; "remember that, if you don't want to hang. He +struck you; where?" After a long pause she replied haltingly, "In the +back." Al Schimpf nodded, "Good. And he said you both were to get away +with a mint. He told you it would be easy; the old man would gladly buy +silence; and, by heaven, if he didn't--" + +Jasper Penny stonily watched the intolerable degradation of the woman +bullied into the safety of a lie. This was worse than anything that had +gone before; he fell deeper and deeper into a strangling, humiliating +self-loathing. Stephen Jannan's handsome countenance was fixed and pale; +one hand lay on the table, empty and still. In the silence between +Schimpf's insistent periods Jasper Penny could hear Essie's sobbing +inspirations; he was unable to keep his gaze from her countenance, +jelly-like and robbed of every trace of human dignity. He wondered +vaguely at an absence of any sense of responsibility for what Essie +Scofield had become; he felt that an attitude of self-accusation, of +profound regret for the way they had taken together, should rest upon +him; but the thought, the effort, were perfunctory, obviously insincere. +If now he had a different, perhaps deeper, sense of responsibility, he +had known nothing of it in the first months of his contact with her.... +A different man, he reiterated; and one as faithfully representative as +he was to-day. But totally another; men changed, evolved, progressed. +Jasper Penny was convinced that it was a progression; but in a broad +manner beyond all hope of his comprehension, and entirely outside +dogmatic good and evil. The germ of it must have been in him from the +first; his burning necessity for Susan, he told himself, had been born +in him, laid dormant until, yes--it had been stirred into activity by +Essie Scofield, by the revulsion which had followed that natural +development. + +He was suddenly conscious that Al Schimpf had ceased domineering Essie. +The lawyer swung about, facing them with an expression of commonplace +satisfaction. "It's all in fine order," he declared. "I want, if +possible, to study our jury through a preliminary case or so. We shall, +of course, surrender our client at once, without making any difficulty +about moving her from one police district to another. I can produce a +witness to the fact that this Culser openly said that he expected +shortly to come into more money. And he had dishonoured debts all about. +You will have to appear, Mr. Penny; no way out of that, but our defence +should go like a song. Now, Mrs. Scofield, I have a carriage outside." + +When they had gone Jasper Penny and Jannan sat in a lengthening silence. +Stephen's hand moved among the papers on the table; the other drew a +deep breath. "I regret this tremendously for you," Stephen Jannan said +at last. He spoke with feeling; his momentary anger at the entanglement +of Susan vanished. "But it will pass, Jasper. You are too solid a man to +be hurt permanently by private scandal. And you have no concrete +political position to invite mud slinging. Yes, it will drop out of +mind, and your iron will continue to support enterprise, extension." + +"But Susan," Jasper Penny demanded, "what about her? Where is she?" + +"With Graham at Shadrach. She was badly torn, and I insisted on her +retreating for a week or more. There is a very capable assistant at the +Academy. It's too early to speak conclusively, but I am afraid that +Susan's usefulness is ended there. Have you seen the cheaper sheets? +Every one, of course, is buying them. Rotten! The assistant, I +understand, is anxious to procure the school, and I am considering +allowing her the capital. Something might be arranged paying Susan an +income.... If she would accept; confoundly difficult to come about." + +"I am going to marry her," Jasper Penny asserted once more. + +"What was the initial trouble?" the other asked, tersely. + +"Essie." Stephen frowned. + +"She would hit on that," he agreed; "stand until the last gasp of some +fantastic conception of right." + +Jasper explained: + +"She thinks I ought to marry Essie, mostly on account of the child. She +likes me, too, Stephen; I think I may tell you that. Well, I'll keep at +her and at her. In the end she will get tired of refusal." The other +shook his head doubtfully. "I've known Susan a good many years, and I +have never seen her lose an ideal, or even an idea, yet." + +Jasper Penny rose. "Meanwhile I'll have to go through with this trial. +Thank God, Susan has no part in it." He warmly gripped Stephen's palm. +"You're worth something in a life, immovable. Thank you, Stephen." + + + + +XXII + + +It was early in April, an insidiously warm morning with the ailanthus +trees in bud before the State House, when Jasper Penny left the court +room where Essie had been freed. Provision had been made for her--she +had had a severe collapse during the trial--and a feeling almost of +renewed liberty of spirit permeated Jasper, as, with his overcoat on an +arm, he turned to the left and walked over the street in the blandly +expanding mildness. A train left shortly for Jaffa, and he was bound +directly home, to Myrtle Forge, anxious to steep himself in the echo of +the trip hammer mingled with the poignant harmony of spring sounds +drifting from the farm and woods. He was possessed by a sharpened hunger +for all the--now recognized--beauty of the place of his allegiance and +birth, the serenity of the acres Gilbert Penny had beaten out of the +wild of the Province. He was astonishingly conscious of himself as a +part of the whole Penny succession, proud of Gilbert, of Howat, who had +always so engaged his fancy, of Casimir, and Daniel, his own father. +Theirs was a good heritage; their part of the earth, the ring of their +iron, his particular characteristic of a black Penny, formed a really +splendid entity. + +The low, horizontal branches of the beech tree on the lawn, older than +the dwelling, opposed a pleasant variety on the long facade, built of +stone with an appearance of dark pinkish malleability masking its +obduracy. His mother was awaiting him on the narrow portico, and he at +once told her of Essie's release. They stood together, gazing out across +the turf, faintly emerald, over the public road, at the grey, solid +group of farm buildings beyond. The farmer's daughter, in a white slip, +emerged against the barnyard, and called the chickens in a high, musical +note, scattering grain to a hysterical feathery mob. The air was still +with approaching twilight; the sun slipped below the western trees and +shadows gathered under the lilac bushes; the sky was April green. + +"Your father has been dead twelve years," Gilda Penny said unexpectedly. +He looked down and saw that she was decrepit, an old woman. Her mouth +had sunken, her ears projected in dry folds from her scant strands of +hair. He recalled Daniel Barnes Penny; the earliest memories of his +mother, a vigorous, brown-faced woman with alert, black eyes, +quick-stepping, dictatorial in the sphere of her house and dependents. +One after the other, like the sun, they were slipping out of the sight +of Myrtle Forge; vanished and remained; passed from falling hand to hand +the unextinguished flame of life. Gilda Penny was merging fast into the +formless dark. She clung with pathetically tense fingers to his arm as +they turned into the house. + +He had ordered a carriage immediately after an early supper; and, +informing his coachman of his wish to proceed alone, drove quickly away +through the dusk. He was going to Shadrach Furnace, to meet Susan for +the first time since the unhappy occasion in the Mayor's chamber. He had +decided, stifling his increasing impatience, not to see her until +Essie's trial was over. Susan had been at Graham Jannan's house for nine +weeks. Her sight, he had learned, had almost completely failed in a +general exhaustion; but, with rigorous care, she had nearly recovered. +The Academy had been sold to the assistant mistress; and there was an +expressed uncertainty about Susan's near future. It had, however, no +existence in Jasper Penny's thoughts, plans--she must marry him; any +other course would now be absurd. The track from Myrtle Forge to the +Furnace was bound into his every thought and association; its +familiarity, he mused, had been born in him; his horses, too, took +correctly, without pressure, every turning of the way. The road mounted, +and then dropped between rounded hills to the clustering buildings, +where lighted, pale yellow windows floated on the dusk, crowned by the +wide-flung radiance of the Furnace stack. The air was potent in the +valley with the indeterminate scent of budding earth--the premonitory +fragrance of blossoms; and, hardly less delicate, stars flowered whitely +in blue space. + +He paused for a moment before entering Graham Jannan's house, saturated +with the pastoral tranquillity, listening to the flutter of wings under +the eaves. Then he went in. They had finished supper, but were lingering +at the table, with the candles guttering in an air from the open door. +His greeting was simple and glad, and without restraint. Susan wore a +dress like a white vapour, sprigged with pale buds, her throat and arms +bare. She smiled the familiar, hesitating smile, met his questioning +gaze with her undeviating courage. Jasper Penny took a chair opposite +her. Little was said. Peace deepened about his spirit. + +Graham, he saw, had a new ruddiness of health; he laid a shawl tenderly +about his wife's shoulders; and Jasper remembered that a birth was +imminent. Later he drifted with Susan to the door, and they passed out +into the obscurity beyond. Even now he was reluctant to speak, to break +with importunities the serene mood. "All the iron making," she spoke at +last, "lovely. I have stood night after night in the cast house watching +the metal pour out in its glorious colours. And, when I wake, I go to my +window and see the reflections of the blast on the trees, on the first +leaves. The charcoal burners come down like giants out of the mythology +of the forest. And, when I first came, there was a raccoon hunt, with a +great stirring of lanterns and barking dogs in the dark ... all lovely." + +"It is yours," he said, bending over her. "You can come here at your +will. A house built. And Myrtle Forge, too; whatever I have, am." He +paused; but, without reply, continued more rapidly. "It's over, the--the +misery of the past weeks; the mistakes are dead; they are paid, Susan. +Now we may take what is left and make it as beautiful as possible. After +suffering, reparation, happiness, is every one's due. And I am certain I +can make you happy." + +A longer pause followed, in which he regarded her with an increasing +anxiety. Her face was turned away, her progress grew slower until they +stood by the shadowy bulk of a small stone structure. The door was open, +and it seemed to him that she looked within. "A store house," he +explained. Nothing was visible in the interior gloom but some obscure +shapes, bales, piled against the walls, and the scant tracery of a rude +stair leading up to a greater blackness above. She stopped, as if +arrested by his period, laying a hand on the door frame. + +"Why don't you answer me, Susan?" he proceeded. "You know that I want to +marry you; surely it is all right now. Everything possible has been +done. A great deal of life remains." Her answer was so low that it +almost escaped him; the faintest breath of pain, of longing and regret. +"I can't," she whispered; "not with her, the child. I can't." + +"That," he replied gently, "is a mistaken idea of responsibility, a +needless sacrifice. I could never urge you into an injustice, a wrong; +at last I have got above that; what I want is the most reasonable thing +imaginable, the best, in every conceivable way, for yourself and--any +other. You are harming, depriving, no one. You are taking nothing but +your own, what has been yours, and only yours, from the first moment I +saw, no--from my birth. What has happened brought me in a straight road +to you, the long road I have never, really, left." + +"I can't," she said still again. "I want to, Jasper. Oh, with a heart +full of longing; I am so tired that I would almost give the rest of my +life for another secure hour with you. And I would pay that to give you +what you want, what you should have. But something stronger than I am, +more than all this, holds me; I can't forget that miserable woman, nor +her child and yours, so thin and suspicious. I am not good enough to be +her mother myself, even if I felt I had the right. Inside of me I am +quite wicked, selfish. I want my own. But not with the other woman +outside. She'd be looking in at the windows, Jasper, looking in at my +heart. I would hear her." She leaned against her arm, her face hid, her +shoulders trembling. + +The musty odour of the stores floated out and enveloped him. He was +suddenly annoyed. Susan herself lost some of her beauty, her radiance. +He muttered that she was merely stubborn, blind to reality, to +necessity. His attitude hardened, and he commenced to argue in a low, +insistent voice. She made no reply, but remained supported in the +doorway, a vague form against the inner dark. + +"You must change your mind," he asserted; "you can't be eternally so +foolish. There is absolutely no question of my marrying Essie Scofield." + +"I don't want you to, really," she admitted in an agonized whisper. "I +shall never again ask you to do that. Ah, God, how low I am." + +He saw, in an unsparing flash of comprehension, that it was useless. She +would never marry him as long as the past stayed embodied, actual, to +peer into their beings. A return of his familiar irritability, spleen, +possessed him. "You are too pure for this world," he said brutally. She +turned and stood facing him, meeting his scorn with an uplifted +countenance. A shifting reflection from the Furnace stack fell over her +in a wan veil, over the vaporous, sprigged white of her dress, her bare +throat and arms, her cheeks wet with tears. Out of it her eyes, wide +with pain, steadily met his angry scrutiny. Out of it she smiled at him +before the reflection died. + + + + +III THE METAL + + + + +XXIII + + +In the warm, subdued light of a double lamp with apricot glass shades +Howat Penny was turning over the pages, stiff with dry paste, of an +album filled with opera programmes. The date of the brief, precisely +penned label on the black cover was 1883-84; it was the first of a +number of such thick, recording volumes he had gathered; and the operas, +the casts, were of absorbing interest. At once a memento of the heroic +period of American music and of his first manhood, the faded crudely +embellished strips of paper, bearing names, lyric tenors and sopranos of +limpid, bird-like song long ago lost in rosy and nebulous clouds of +fable and cherished affection, roused remembered pleasures sharper than +any calm actuality of to-day. He paused with a quiet exclamation, the +single glass adroitly held in his left, astigmatic, eye fastened on the +announcement of a famous evening, a famous name. His sense of the leaf +before him blurred in the vivid memory of Patti, singing Martha in the +campaign brought by Mapleson in the old Academy of Music against the +forces of the new Metropolitan Opera House. He had been one of a +conservative number that had supported the established opera, declaring +heatedly that the Diva and Mapleson were an unapproachable musical +combination, before which the shoddier magnificence of its rival, +erected practically in a few summer months, would speedily fade. + +Nevertheless, he recalled, the widely heralded performance had been +coolly received. Patti, although she had not perceptibly failed in +voice, had been unable to inspire the customary enthusiasm; and the +scene at the evening's end, planned to express her overwhelming triumph +and superiority, when the horses had been taken from her carriage and it +had been dragged by hand to the portal of the Windsor Hotel, had been no +better than perfunctory. The wily Mapleson had arranged that beforehand, +Howat Penny realized, with a faint, reminiscent smile on his severe +lips--the "enthusiastic mob" had been coldly recruited, at a price, from +the choristers. Another memory of Patti, and of that same performance, +flooded back--the dinner given her in the Brunswick. He saw again the +room where, on a divan, she had received her hosts, the seventy or more +men of fashion grouped in irreproachable black and white, with her suave +manager, the inevitable tea rose in his lapel, on a knee before Adelina, +kissing her hand. The dinner had been laid in the ball room, lit with a +multitude of wax candles. The features, appearance, of the more +prominent men, of Mahun Stetson and Daly and William Steinway, were +clear still. The original plan had been to include ladies at the +dinner, but the latter, affecting outrage at the Diva's affair with the +Marquis de Caux, had refused to lend their countenance to the singer's +occasion. His smile broadened--this was so characteristic of New York in +the eighties. How different it had been; but it was no better, he added +silently, now. + +It was mid-August, and the air floating in through an open door was +ladened with the richness of ultra-luxuriant vegetation, the persistent, +metallic whirring of locusts, the mechanical repetition of katydids. One +of the owls that inhabited the old willow tree before the house cried +softly.... How different! He straightened up from the book open on his +knees, and the glass fell with a small clatter over his formal, starched +linen, swinging for an instant on its narrow ribbon. The unwavering lamp +light was deflected in green points through the emeralds of his studs. + +The thought of bygone, gala nights of opera fastened on him with a +peculiar significance--suddenly they seemed symbolic of his lost youth. +Such tides of impassioned song, such poignant, lyric passion, such +tragic sacrifice and death, were all in the extravagant key of youth. +The very convention of opera, the glorified unreality of its language, +the romantic impossibility of its colour, the sparkling dress like the +sparkling voices and blue gardens and gilded halls, were the authentic +expression of the resplendent vagaries of early years. + +The winter of eighty three and four; his first season of New York +music. The autumn before he had returned from the five years spent in +Europe, in Paris practically, with Bundy Provost, related to him by a +marriage in the past generation, through the Jannans. He had gone abroad +immediately after his graduation as a lawyer; and in the indolent +culture of the five Parisian years, he now realized, he had permanently +lost all hold on his profession. At his return he had drifted +imperceptibly into an existence of polite pleasure. It had been +different with Bundy; he had gone into the banking house of Provost, +lately established in New York; and, with the extraordinary pertinacity +and acumen sometimes developed by worldly and rich young men, he had +steadily risen to a place of financial importance. An opening had, of +course, been offered to Howat Penny when he had definitely decided not +to settle in Philadelphia, where the Pennys had always been associated, +and pursue the law. And, at first, he had occupied a desk in the Provost +counting rooms. But he had soon grown discontented, he disliked routine +and a clerk's condition; and, after two years of annoyed effort, +withdrew to lead a more congenial existence on a secure, adequate +income. + +"It was a mistake," he said aloud, in a decided, clearly modulated +voice, gazing blankly into the warm stillness of the room. It had come +partly from his innate impatience with any inferior state whatever, and +part from the old inability to identify himself with the practicalities +of existence. He had always viewed with distaste the apparently +necessary compromises of successful living; the struggle for money, +commercial supremacy, seemed unendurably ugly; the jargon and +subterfuges of financial competition beneath his exacting standard of +personal dignity. That had been his expression at the time--permeated by +an impatient sense of superiority; but now he felt that there was +something essential lacking in himself. An absence of proper balance. +Solely concerned with the appearance, the insignificant surface, of such +efforts as Bundy Provost's, their moving, masculine spirit had evaded +him. Yes, it had been a mistake. He had missed the greatest pleasure of +all, that of accumulating power and influence, of virile achievement. + +Well, it was over now; he was old; his life, his chance, had gone; and +all that remained were memories of Patti smiling disdainfully in the +flare of oil torches about her carriage; the only concrete record of so +many years the scrap books such as that on his knees. + +It had been an error; yet there had been, within him, no choice, no +intimation of a different, more desirable, consummation. Bundy had gone +one way and himself another in obedience to forces beyond their +understanding or control. They had done, briefly, what they were. There +was no individual blame to attach, no applause; spare moralizing to +append. He returned to the pages before him, to the memories of the +radiant Ambre and Marimon, the sylvan echoes of Campanini singing +Elvino. + +Now his recovered glass was intent on a programme of the rapidly +successful Metropolitan forces, of the new German Opera, with +Seidl-Krauss singing Elizabeth, and Brandt in _Fidelio_. Even here, +after so long, he vibrated again to the exquisite beauty of Lenore's +constancy and love. Then Dr. Damrosch dead, the sonorous funeral in the +Opera House ... That had been changed with the rest; the baignoires were +gone, the tiers of boxes newly curved; gone the chandeliers and Turkey +red carpet and gold threaded brocade that had seemed the final +expression of luxury. Lehmann in the premier of _Tristan und Isolde_, +with the vast restrained enthusiasm and tensity when, at the end of the +third act, Niemann bared his wounded breast. Eames' rise; but that, and +what followed, were in successive books. He closed the one under his +hand. + +As the years drew nearer the present their features became larger, more +indistinct, their music grew louder, dissonant. He had retired further +and further from an opera, a life, with which he was increasingly out of +harmony. Or rather, he added, life moved away from the aging. It was as +if the surrounding affair became objective; as if, once a participant in +a cast--a production, however, less than grand--he had been conducted to +a seat somewhere in the midst of a great, shadowy audience, from which +he looked out of the gloom at the brilliant, removed spectacle. The +final fact that had taken him from the setting of so many of his years +had been the increasing expense of a discriminating existence in New +York. Again his distaste for anything short of absolute nicety had +dictated the form and conditions of his living. When the situation of +his rooms had definitely declined, and the cost of possible +locations--he could not endure a club--became prohibitive; when his once +adequate, unaugmented income assumed the limitations of a mere +sufficiency; and when, too, the old, familiar figures, the swells of his +own period and acquaintance had vanished one by one with their vanishing +halls of assembly--he had retreated to the traditional place of his +family. He had gone back to the home of the Pennys in America. + +Not, however, to Myrtle Forge itself, the true centre of his +inheritance. The house there had been uninhabited since his father's +early years; it was a closed and melancholy memento; he had reanimated a +comfortable stone dwelling at Shadrach Furnace; its solid grey facade +drawn out by two happy additions to the original, small square. It had +been, traditionally, at first, the house of the head furnacemen; +sometime after that, perhaps a hundred years, Graham Jannan, newly +married, had lived there while occupied with the active manufacture of +iron; and three summers back he, Howat Penny, the last Penny now, had +returned to the vicinity of Jaffa. + + + + +XXIV + + +The room in which he sat had two windows, set in the deep recesses of +heavy stone walls, and three doors, two leading into opposite rooms and +the third opening without. The double lamp stood on a low, gate-legged +table of fibrous, time-blackened oak, together with an orderly array of +periodicals--the white, typographical page of the _Saturday Review_ +under the dull rose of _The Living Age_ and chocolate-coloured bulk of +the _Unpopular, Gil Blas_, the mid-week _Boston Transcript_ and +yesterday's _New York Evening Post_. The table bore, in addition, a +green morocco case of dominoes; a mahogany box that, in a recess, +mysteriously maintained a visible cigarette; a study of Beethoven, in +French; an outspread volume by Anatole France, _Jacques Tournebroche_, +in a handsome paper cover; a set of copper ash trays; and a dull red +figurine, holding within its few inches the deathless spirit of a heroic +age. An angle of the wall before him was filled by a white panelled +fireplace, the mantel close against the ceiling; and on the other side +of a doorway, through which he could see Rudolph noiselessly preparing +the dinner table, was a swan-like sofa, in olive wood and pale yellow +satin, from the Venice of the _ottocento_. At his right, beyond a +window, mounted a tall, austere secretary in waxed walnut; and behind +him, under the white chair rail, bookcases extended across the width of +the room. Gustavus Hesselius' portrait of the first Howat Penny hung on +a yellow painted wall, his gilt-braided major's facings still vivid, his +dark, perceptible scorn undimmed. There were, too, framed in oak, a +large photograph of Tamagno, as Othello, with a scrawled, cordial +message; another of a graceful woman in the Page's costume of _Les +Huguenots_, signed "Sempre ... Scalchi"; a water colour drawing by Jan +Beers; and a Victorian lithograph in powdery foliage and brick of _The +Penny Rolling Mills. Jaffa_. A black-blue rug, from Myrtle Forge, partly +covered the broad, oak boards of the floor; and there was a comfortable +variety of chairs--sturdy, painted Dutch, winged Windsors and a slatted +Hunterstown rocker. + +Howat Penny's gaze wandered over the familiar furnishing, come to him +surviving the generations of his family, or carefully procured for his +individual dictates. A sense of tranquillity, of haven, deepened about +him. "Rudolph," he inquired, "has Honduras gone for Miss Jannan?" + +The man stopped in the doorway, answering in the affirmative. He was +slight, almost fragile, with close, dark hair that stood up across his +forehead, and dry, high-coloured cheeks. Rudolph hesitated, with a +handful of silver; and then returned to his task. Mariana would be +along immediately, Howat Penny thought. He put the album aside and rose, +moving toward the door that led without. He was a slender, erect figure, +with little to indicate his age except the almost complete silvering of +his hair--it had, evidently, been black--and a rigidity of body only +apparent to a sharp scrutiny. + +A porch followed that length of the house, and doubled the end, where he +stood peering into the gathering dusk. The old willow tree, inhabited by +the owls, spread a delicate, blurred silhouette across a darkened vista +of shorn wheat fields, filled, in the hollows, with woods; and a lamp +glimmered from a farm house on a hill to the left. His lawn dropped to +the public road, the hedged enclosure swimming with fireflies; and +beyond he saw the wavering light shafts of his small motor returning +from the insignificant flag station on the railroad, a mile distant. + +The noise of the engine increased, sliding into a lower gear on the +short curve of the driveway; and he met Mariana Jannan at the entrance +directly into the dining room. She insisted, to his renewed discomfort, +on kissing him. "It's wonderful here, after the city," she proclaimed; +"and I've had to be in town three sweltering days. I'll dress right +away." + +Honduras, his coloured man, as indispensable outside as Rudolph was in, +followed with her bag up the narrow flight of steps to the floor above. +He waited through, he thought, a reasonable interval, and then called. +An indistinguishable reply floated down, mingled with the filling of a +tub; and another half hour passed before Mariana appeared in white +chiffon, securing a broad girdle of silver oak leaves, about her slight +waist. "Do you mind?" she turned before him; and, with an impatience +half assumed and half actual, he fastened the last hooks of her dress. +"As you know," he reminded her, "I don't attempt cocktails. Will you +have a gin and bitters?" + +She wouldn't, frankly; and they embarked on dinner in a pleasant, +unstrained silence. Mariana was, he realized, the only person alive for +whom he had a genuine warmth of affection. She was a first cousin; her +Aunt Elizabeth had married James Penny, his father; but his fondness for +her had no root in that fact. It didn't, for example, extend to her +brother Kingsfrere. He speculated again on the reason for her marked +effect. Mariana was not lovely, as had been the charmers of his own day; +her features, with the exception of her eyes, were unremarkable. And her +eyes, variably blue, were only arresting because of their extraordinary +intensity of vision, their unquenchable and impertinent curiosity. A +girl absolutely different from all his cherished mental images; but, for +Howat Penny, always potent, always arousing a response from his +supercritical being, stirring his aesthetic heart. Everything he +possessed--his pictures, the albums, the moderate income, although she +had little need of that--had been willed to her. It would be hers then +just as it was, practically, now. And he was aware that her feeling +generously equalled his own. + +His speculation, penetrating deeper than customary, rewarded him with +the thought that she was unusual in the courage of her emotions. That +was it--the courage of her emotions! There was a total lack of any +penurious trait, any ulterior thought of appraising herself against a +possible advantageous barter. She was never concerned with a conscious +prudery in the arrangement of her skirt. Mariana was aristocratic in the +correct sense of the term; a sense, he realized, now almost lost. And he +rated aristocracy of bearing higher than any other condition or fact. + +He wondered a little at her patent pleasure in visiting him, an old man, +so frequently. Hardly a month passed but that, announced by telegram, +she did not appear and stay over night, or for a part of the week. She +would recount minutely the current gaiety of her polite existence. He +knew the names of her associates, a number of them had been exhibited to +him at Shadrach; the location of their country places; and what men +temporarily monopolized her interest. None of the latter had been +serious. He was, selfishly, glad of that; and waited uneasily through +her every visit until she assured him that her affections had not been +possessed. However, this condition, he knew, must soon come to an end; +Mariana was instinct with sex; and a short while before he had sent his +acknowledgment of her twenty-sixth birthday. + +She sat occupied with salad against the cavernous depths of a fireplace +that, between the kitchen door and a built-in cupboard, filled the side +of the dining room. The long mantel above her head was ladened with the +grey sheen of pewter, and two uncommonly large, fluted bowls of blue +Stiegel glass. In the centre of the table linen, the Sheffield and +crystal and pictorial Staffordshire, was a vivid expanse of rose +geraniums. She broke off a flower and pinned it with the diamond bar on +her breast. "Howat," she said, "to-morrow's Saturday, and I've asked two +people out until Sunday night. Eliza Provost and a young man. Do you +mind?" + +"Tell Rudolph," he replied. It was not until after dinner, when they +were playing sniff, that he realized that she omitted the young man's +name. He intended to ask it, but, his mind and hand hovering over an +ivory domino, he forgot. "Twenty," he announced, reaching for the +scoring pad. "Oh, hell, Howat!" she protested. "That's the game, +almost." She emptied her coffee cup, and speculatively fingered one of +the thin cigars in the box at his hand. "It's the customary thing in +Peru," she observed, pinching the end from the cigar and lighting it. He +watched her absently, veiled in the fragrant, bluish smoke. +Automatically his thoughts returned to the women that, at a breath of +scandal, had refused to attend the dinner to Patti. So much changed; the +years fled like birds in a mist. + +"I feel like a politician," she told him. "Eliza Provost would pat me on +the back. She's talking from a soap box on the street corners now, +winging men for such trifles as forced birth. I'm fond of Eliza; she's +got a splendid crust. I wish you'd get excited about my rights; but your +interest really goes no further than a hat from Camille Marchais. You +are deleterious, Howat. Isn't that a lovely word! Which was the first +double?" He blocked and won the game. "Fifty-five," she announced; "and +ninety-five before. I owe you a dollar and a half." + +She paid the debt promptly from a flexible gold mesh bag on the table; +then stooped and wandered among his books. Howat Penny turned to +yesterday's _Evening Post_, and Mariana settled beyond the lamp. Outside +the locusts were desperately shrill, and the heavy ticking of an old +clock grew audible. "I don't like George Moore!" she exclaimed. He +raised surprised, inquiring eyebrows. "He is such a taster," she added, +but particularized no more. She sat, with the scarlet bound book clouded +in the white chiffon of her lap, gazing at the wall. Her lips were +parted, and a brighter colour rose in her cheeks. Her attitude, her +expression, vaguely disturbed him; he had never seen her more warmly, +dangerously, alive. A new reluctance stopped the question forming in +his mind; she seemed to have retreated from him. "Moore is a very great +artist," he said instead. + +"That's little to me," she replied flippantly, rising. "I think I'll go +up; and I almost think I will kiss you again." He grumbled a protest, +and watched her trail from the room, the silver girdle and chiffon +emphasizing her thin, vigorous body, the lamplight falling on her bare, +sharp shoulders. Howat Penny had early acquired a habit of long hours, +and it was past one when he put aside his papers, stood for a moment on +the porch. The fireflies were gone, the locusts seemed farther away, and +the soft, heavy flight of an owl rose from the warm grass. + +Below, on the right, he could vaguely see the broken bulk of what had +been Shadrach Furnace, the ruined shape of the past. The Pennys no +longer made iron. His father had marked the last casting. They no longer +listened to the beat of the trip hammer, but to the light rhythm of a +conductor's baton; they heard, in place of ringing metal, a tenor's +grace notes. Soon they would hear nothing. They went out, for all time, +with himself. It was fitting that the last, true to their peculiar +inheritance, should be a black Penny. He, Howat, was that--the ancient +Welsh blood finally gathered in a cup of life before it was spilled. + +Old influences quickened within him; but, attenuated, they were no more +than regrets. They came late to trouble his remnant of living. He was +like the Furnace, a sign of what had been; yet, he thought in +self-extenuation, he had brought no dishonour, no dragging of the +tradition through the muck of a public scandal. Not that ... nor +anything else. Now, when it was absurd, he was resentful of the part he +had played in life; like a minor, cracked voice, he extended a former +figure with a saving touch of humour, importuning the director because +he had not been cast in the great roles. The night mist came up and +brushed him; he was conscious of a sudden chill, an aching of the +wrists. "Cracked," he repeated, aloud, and retreated into the house; +where, Rudolph gone up, he put out the lights and stiffly retired. + + + + +XXV + + +They accomplished little the following morning. Mariana, in a scant +brown linen skirt, a sheer waist through which were visible precarious +incidentals and narrow black ribbon, and the confoundedest green +stockings he had ever seen, lounged indolently in a canvas swing. The +heat increased in a reddish haze through which the sun poured like +molten copper. "You'd better come inside," he said from the doorway; +"the house, shut up, is quite comfortable." Within the damp of the old, +stone walls made a comparative coolness. The shades were drawn down, and +they sat in an untimely twilight. + +"When I think of how energetic Eliza will be," Mariana asserted, "I am +already overwhelmed. But you never look hot, Howat; you are always +beautiful." His flannels and straw-coloured silk coat were crisply +ironed; his hair, his scarf and lustrous yellow shoes, precise. "Howat," +she continued almost anxiously, "you put a lot on, well--good form. You +think that the way a man knots his tie is tremendously significant--" + +"Perhaps," he returned cautiously. "A good many years have shown me that +the right man usually wears the right things." + +"Couldn't that be just the smallest bit unfair? Aren't there, after +all, droves of the right men in rubber collars? I don't know any," she +added hastily; "that is, not exactly the same. But it seems to me that +you have lived so exclusively in a certain atmosphere that you might +have got blinded to--to other things." + +"Perhaps," he said again, complacently. "I can only judge by my own +feeling and experience. Now Mapleson, never was a finer conductor of +opera--you didn't catch him in a pink tie in the evening. And some of +those others, who failed in a couple of weeks, I give you my word, dress +shirts with forgetmenots." + +She regarded him with a frowning, half closed vision. "It sounds wrong," +she commented. "It's been your life, of course." He grew resentful under +her scrutiny, the implied criticism. A sudden suspicion entered his +mind, connected with her expression last evening, the young man whose +name he had omitted to ask. His reluctance to question her returned. But +if Mariana had attached herself to some rowdy, by heaven, he would.... +He fixed the glass in his eye, and, pretending to be occupied with a +periodical, studied her. He realized that he would, could, do nothing. +She was a woman of determination, and, her father dead, a very adequate +income of her own. His fondness for Mariana resided principally in a +wish to see her free from the multitudinous snares that he designated in +a group as common. He was fearful of her entanglement in the cheap +implications of the undistinguished democracy more prevalent every year. +All that was notable, charming, in her, he felt, would be obliterated by +trite connection; he had no more patience for the conventional +fulfilment of her life than he had for the thought of women voting. +Howat Penny saw Mariana complete, fine, in herself, as the _Orpheo_ of +Christopher Gluck was fine and complete. He preferred the contained +artistry of such music to the cruder, more popular and moral, sounds. + +Early in the afternoon she went to her room, although Honduras had no +occasion to go to the station for considerably more than an hour, +explaining that she must dress. Howat Penny sat with his palms on his +white flannelled knees, revolving, now, himself in the light of his +aspirations for Mariana. He wondered if, in the absence of any sympathy +for the mass of sentiment and living, he was blind, too, to her greatest +possibilities; if, in short, he was a vicious influence. Perhaps, as the +old were said to do, he had hardened into a narrow and erroneous +conception of values. Such doubts were both disturbing and unusual; +ordinarily he never hesitated in the exact expression of his vigorously +held opinions and prejudices; he seldom relaxed the critical elevation +of his standards. He was, he thought contemptuously, growing soft; +senility was diluting his fibre, blurring his inner vision. + +Nothing of this was visible as he rose on Mariana's reappearance; there +was not a line relaxed; his handsome, dark profile was as pridefully +clear as if it had been stamped on a bronze coin. Mariana wore, simply, +blue, with an amber veiling of tulle about her shoulders, and a short +skirt that gave her a marked youthful aspect. She seemed ill at ease; +and avoided his gaze, hurrying out to meet the motor as it noisily +turned sharply in at the door. Howat Penny heard Eliza Provost's short, +impatient enunciation, and a rapid, masculine utterance. Eliza entered, +a girl with a decided, evenly pale face and brown eyes, in a severe +black linen suit and a small hat, and extended a direct hand, a slightly +smiling greeting. Mariana followed, for a moment filling the doorway. +"We'll go up, Eliza," she said, moving with the other to the stair, a +few feet distant. A man followed into the house, and Mariana half turned +on the bottom step. "Howat," she proceeded hurriedly, "this is James +Polder." Then she ascended with Eliza Provost. + +An expression of amazement, deepening almost to dismay, was momentarily +visible on Howat Penny's countenance. His face felt hot, and there was +an uncomfortable pressure in his throat, such as might come from shock. +Surely Mariana wouldn't ... without warning him--! He was conscious of +the necessity, facing a tall, spare young man with an intent expression, +of a polite phrase; and he articulated an adequate something in a +noticeably disturbed tone. But, of course, he had made a mistake. James +Polder's intensity increased, concentrated in a gaze at once belligerent +and eager. He said: + +"Then Miss Jannan didn't tell you. It was a mistake. It may be I am not +exactly desirable here," his voice sharpened, and he retreated a step +toward the door. + +"No," Howat Penny replied; "she didn't." He found himself studying a +face at once youthful and lined, a good jaw contradicted by a mouth +already traced with discontent, and yellow-brown eyes kindling with a +surprising energy of resentment. "You are Byron Polder's son?" he said +in a manner that carried its own affirmation. "Eunice Scofield's +grandson." + +"Eunice Penny's," the other interjected. "Your own grandfather saw to +that." His hand rested in the doorway, and he stopped Honduras, carrying +in the guests' bags. Howat Penny's poise rapidly returned. "Go right up, +Honduras," he directed; "the Windmill room, I think. I had never seen +you," he said to James Polder, as if in apology. "But your father has +been pointed out to me." He waved the younger man into the room beyond, +and moved forward the cigarettes. + +James Polder took one with an evident relief in the commonplace act. He +struck a match and lit the cigarette with elaborate care. "Will you sit +for a little?" the elder proceeded. "Or perhaps you'd rather change at +once. I've no doubt it was sticky in the city." + +"Thank you; perhaps I'd better--the last." Rudolph appeared, and +conducted the young man above. Howat Penny sat suddenly, his lips folded +in a stubborn line. Mariana had behaved outrageously; she must be +familiar with the whole, miserable, past episode; she had given him some +very bad moments. He had a personal bitterness toward that old, unhappy +affair, the dereliction of his dead grandfather--it had been, he had +always felt, largely responsible for his own course in life; it had, +before his birth even, formed his limitations, as it had those of his +father. + +The latter had been the child of a dangerously late marriage, a marriage +from which time and delay had stripped both material potency and +sustaining illusion. Jasper Penny had been nearing fifty when his son +was born; and that act of deliberate sacrifice on the part of his wife, +entering middle age, had imposed an inordinate amount of suffering on +her last years. Their child, it was true, had been of normal stature, +and lived to within a short space of a half century. But then he had +utterly collapsed, died in three days from what had first appeared a +slight cold; and, throughout his maturity, he had been a man of feverish +mind. His disastrous, blind struggle against the great, newly discovered +iron deposits of the Middle West was characteristic of his ill balance. +And, in his own, Howat Penny's, successive turn, the latter told himself +again, he had paid part of the price of his grandfather's indulgence. + +It was incorporated in the Penny knowledge that Susan Brundon had +refused to marry Jasper while the other woman was alive. The latter had +died, some years after the disgraceful publicity of the murder and +trial; the wedding had then taken place; but it seemed to Howat Penny to +have been almost perfunctory. Yes, he had paid too, in the negative +philosophy, the critical sterility, of his existence. He recognized this +in one of the disconcerting flashes of perception that lately +illuminated him as if from without. Some essential proportion had been +disturbed. He looked up, at a slight sound, and saw Mariana standing +before him. His expression, he knew, was severe; he had been quite +upset. + +"I can see," she proceeded slowly, "that I have been very wicked. I +didn't realize, Howat, that it might affect you; how real all that old +stir might be. I am tremendously sorry; you must know that I am awfully +fond of you. It was pure, young selfishness. I was afraid that if I +spoke first you wouldn't let him come. And it was important--I must see +him and talk to him and think about it. You can realize mother and +Kingsfrere!" + +"Where did you meet him?" he demanded shortly. + +"With Eliza, at a meeting," she went on more rapidly. "He's terribly +brilliant, and a steel man. Isn't it funny? The Pennys were steel, too; +or iron, and that's the same. I wish you could be nice to him or just +decent, until--until I know." + +"Mariana!" he exclaimed, rising. "You don't mean that you are really--. +That you--" + +"Perhaps, Howat," she answered gravely. "I have only seen him twice; and +he has said nothing; but, you see, I am an experienced young woman. No +other man has made the same impression." + +"That," he declared coldly, "is unthinkable. You can't know all the +facts." + +"I do; but, somehow, I don't care." + +"Everything about him is impossible--his history, family ... Why, Eunice +Scofield, well, Penny, married a man from behind a counter, a fellow who +sold womens' gloves; yes, and more than half Jew. And this man's mother +was Delia Mullen, a daughter of the dirty ward leader. All this aside +from--from his bad blood." + +"It's partly yours, you know," she said quietly. "After all, there are +other places I can see him." She turned away. "Eliza Provost is insane," +he muttered. "No," Mariana returned, "only superior to narrow little +prejudices. She can see life, people, as they are. Jim Polder is one of +the most promising men in the steel mills. He is going up and up. That +is enough for Eliza, it is enough for me; and if it won't do for my +family--" she made an opening gesture with her fingers. Her expression +had hardened; she gazed at him with bright, contemptuous eyes. In a +moment the affectionate bonds between them seemed to have dissolved. +His feeling was one of mingled anger and concern; but he endeavoured to +regain his self-control, conscious that a hasty word more might do +irreparable harm. + +"Of course, I can't have you meeting him about the streets," he stated. +"It is better here, if necessary. I am very much displeased," a note of +complaint appeared, and she immediately returned to him, laid a hand on +his shoulder. "Nothing is certain," she assured him. "I wanted to be +sure, that is all. I don't want to make a mess out of things." + +It was a part of the very quality of emotional courage he had so lately +defined, extolled; a part of her disdain for ordinary prudence and +conventional approbation. A direct dislike for this James Polder invaded +him, a determined attitude of hyper-criticism. When the younger man +reappeared Howat Penny found justification for this attitude. The +details of Polder's apparel, although acceptable in the main, were +without nicety. His shoes were a crude tan, and his necktie from the +outer limbo. His hands, too, had a grimy surface and the nails were +broken, unkempt. + +But it was evident that all the criticism was not to be limited to his +own. James Polder regarded the single glass with a scoffing lip, as if +it were the appendage of a ludicrous Anglomania. He glanced with +indifference at Howat Penny's pictures, books, the collected emblems of +his cultivated years. His brows raised at the photograph of Scalchi in +the Page's trunks--as if, the elder thought, she had been a "pony" in +the _Black Crook_--and was visibly amused at the great Mapleson, posed +in a dignified attitude by a broken column. An irrepressible and biting +scorn, Howat Penny saw, was, perhaps, the young man's strongest +attribute. He had violent opinions expressed in sudden, sharp movements, +gestures with his shoulders, swift frowns and fragmentary sentences. + +Howat Penny had never seen a more ill-ordered youth, and he experienced +an increasing difficulty in keeping a marked asperity from his speech +and conduct. Eliza Provost shortly came down, and the three strolled out +into the ruddy light of late afternoon. Howat Penny consumed a long time +dressing for the evening; and, in the end, irritably summoned Rudolph. +"I can't get these damned studs in," he complained; "whatever do you +suppose women use for starch now?" Rudolph dexterously fixed the +emeralds, then held the black silk waistcoat. "And coats won't hang for +a bawbee," he went on. "Gentlemen like Gary Dilkes used to go regularly +to London, spring and fall, for their things. No doubt then about a man +of breeding. You didn't see the other kind around. Wouldn't have 'em." +Rudolph murmured consolingly. "Sat in the pit but never got into the +boxes," his voice grew thin, querulous. "I'm moving along, Rudolph," he +admitted suddenly; "the manners, and, by thunder, the music too, don't +suit me any more. Give me the old Academy days in Irving Place." He +hummed a bar from _Ernani_. + +Through dinner he maintained a severe silence, listening with a frowning +disapproval to Eliza Provost's tranquil, subversive utterances. Howat +Penny couldn't think what her father was about, permitting her to +harangue loafers by the streets and saloons. She was, in a cold way--she +had Peter Jannan Provost's curious grey colouring--a handsome piece of a +girl, too. "A fine figger," he told himself. + +Later, Mariana and James Polder had gone out on the porch, he faced with +reluctance the task of furnishing her with entertainment; but, to his +extreme relief, she procured a leather portfolio, and addressed herself +to a sheaf of papers. But that, in itself, was a peculiar way for a +young woman to spend an evening. She would have done it, he felt, if he +had been half his actual age. God help the man with a fancy for her! +Charming visions were woven on his memory from the fading skeins of the +past--a ride in a dilapidated, public fiacre after a masked ball in +Paris ... at dawn. Confetti tangled in coppery hair, a wilful mouth, +fragrantly painted, and phantomlike swans on a black lake. His silk hat +had been telescoped in the process of smacking a Frenchman's eye. +Perhaps, they had told each other, there would be cards later in the +day, an affair of honour. He forgot what, exactly, had happened; but +there had been no duel. + +He looked up with a sudden concern, as if his thoughts might have been +clear to Eliza Provost, in irreproachable evening dress and shell rimmed +glasses, intent on statistical pages. Mariana and James Polder appeared; +the former, Howat Penny thought, disturbed. Polder's intense countenance +was sombre, his brow corrugated. Mariana, accompanied by Eliza, soon +after went up; and left the two men facing each other across a neutral +silence. "You manufacture steel, I believe," the elder finally stated. + +"The Company does," Polder replied more exactly. "I've been in the open +hearth since I left school," he went on; "it was born in me, I've never +thought of anything else." His tone grew sharp, as if it might occur to +the other to contradict the legitimacy of his pursuit. "I have done well +enough, too," he said pridefully. "Most of them come on from college. I +went from shovelling slag in the pit, the crane, to second helper and +melter; they gave me the furnace after a year and now I am foreman. It +will be better still if a reorganization goes through. Not many men have +a chance at the superintendent's office under thirty-five." + +"That is very admirable," Howat Penny said formally. He wondered, +privately, at the far channel into which the original Penny ability had +flowed. There could be no doubt, however objectionable, that James +Polder was the present repository of the family tradition. He had had it +from the source; and the iron had not, apparently, been corroded by +tainted blood. He was forced to admit that a coarser strain had, +perhaps, lent it endurance. All this failed to detract from his initial +dislike of young Polder. There was a lack of breeding in the manner in +which he sat in his chair, thrust forward on its edge, in his arrogant +proclamation of ability, success. James Polder was anxious, he realized, +to impress him, Howat Penny, with the fact that he was not negligible. +Such things were utterly unimportant to him. He was unable to justify, +or even explain to himself, his standards of judgment. They were not +founded on admirable conduct, on achievement, what was known as solid +worth; but on vague accents, intuitive attitudes of mind visible in a +hundred trivial, even absurd, signs. The "right things" were more +indispensable to him than the sublimest attributes. + +On the following morning Mariana, Eliza and Polder disappeared in his +car--it seemed that the latter was an accomplished mechanic in addition +to his other qualities--and Howat Penny faced the disagreeable +possibilities of the near future. Mariana would, he knew, meet this +fellow promiscuously if necessary. As she had indicated, it was +impossible to conceive of him in Charlotte Jannan's house. The latter +was a rigidly correct woman. She would, too, and properly, be nasty if +she learned that such meetings had taken place at Shadrach. The only +thing to do was to bring Mariana to what he designated as her senses. +And, at the start, he had a conviction that he might fail. + +She did not accompany Eliza Provost and Polder, when, late Sunday +afternoon, they departed; but sat absorbed in thought through the +evening meal. He found his affection for her increasing to an annoying +degree; he was almost humble in his anxiety not to wound her. + +"Life is so messy," she said with sudden violence. "You can't think, +Howat, how I hate myself; the horridest things go round and round +through my mind. We're all wrong--I'm more like you than I +admitted--born snobs. I mean the kind who look down on people different +from themselves. I can't help being on--on edge. I can tell you this, +though, I care more for Jim Polder than for any other man I've ever met. +I'm mad about him; and yet, somehow, I can't quite think of marrying +him. He's asked me already. But I knew he would." + +"You must wait," he temporized; "such things clear up after a little." + +"And if they don't?" she demanded. "What if they are choked by a hundred +cowardly or selfish thoughts? It can be too late so terribly soon, +Howat. You must know that. You see, I can't decide what really is the +most valuable, what should be held tight on to, or let go. There are two +me's, it seems--one what I want and the other what I am. I want Jim and +I'm Mariana Jannan. All that about Eunice or Essie, or whatever her name +was, doesn't matter a bawbee, as you say. I hate it because I think at +times it makes him unhappy. Really, I believe I am fonder of him because +of it. We owe him something--the superior Jannans and Pennys. Why, +Howat, he's your own blood, and you looked at him as if he were a +grocer's assistant. And I watched hatefully for the little expressions +that seemed common. Of course, out in those mills, he would pick up a +lot that wouldn't touch us; and, after all, he could drop them." + +"If you have any thought of reforming him," he commented dryly, "you +might as well see a wedding stationer." + +"I could influence him," she insisted; "I'd at least count for as much +as those shovellers and furnace men." + +"But not," he proceeded relentlessly, "against the Essie Scofield you +dismissed so easily. I don't doubt for a minute the unhappiness you +spoke of; it would he a part of his inheritance; and you'd never charm +it out of him. Damn it, Mariana," he burst out, "he's inferior! That's +all, inferior." Anger and resentment destroyed his caution, his planned +logic, restraint. "I can see what your life would be, if you can't. You +would live in a no-man's land; and all the clergymen in the world +couldn't make you one." + +"It wouldn't be the clergymen, Howat," she said simply. "And you mustn't +think I am only a silly with her first young man. I have kissed them +before, Howat; yes, and liked it. I am not happy with Jim; it's +something else, like tearing silk. He is so confident and so helpless; +he's drinking now, too." + +"I suppose that is an added attraction," he commented. She chose to +ignore this. "I half promised him," she continued, "to take dinner with +his family. He will be in the city next week. I said I thought you'd +bring me." + +"Well, I won't," he replied in a startled energy. "Mariana, you're out +of your head. Go to Byron Polder's house! Me!" In his excitement he +dropped a lighted cigarette on the Chinese rug. "I have no one else," +she told him. "Perhaps I'll marry Jim, and go away ... I thought you +might want to be with me, at the last." + +He fumbled for his glass, fixed it in his eye, and then dropped it out, +clearing his throat sharply. He rose and crossed the room, and looked +out through the open door at the night. The stars were hazy, and there +was a constant reflection of lightning on the horizon. Howat Penny swore +silently at his increasing softness, his betrayal by his years. Yet it +might be a good thing for her to see the Polder family assembled, +Byron--he was a pretentious looking fool--at one end of the table and +Delia Mullen Polder at the other. There were more children, too. But if +it became necessary, heaven knew how he would explain all this to +Charlotte. "I believe," he said, apparently innocently, "that they live +in the north end of the city." + +"It won't damage you," she replied indirectly. Already, he thought with +poignant regret, a part of the old Mariana had gone; her voice was +older, darker with maturity. + + + + +XXVI + + +Howat Penny arrived in town late on the day when he was to dine with +Mariana at the Polders. He entered a taxicab, and was carried smoothly +through the thick, hot air; open electric cars, ladened with damp, +pallid salespeople, passed with a harsh ringing; and the foliage in +Rittenhouse Square hung dusty and limp and still. The houses beyond, on +Nineteenth Street, where the Jannans' winter dwelling stood, were closed +and blankly boarded. The small, provisional entrance before which he +stopped opened, and a servant, out of livery, appeared. "Shall I tell +the driver to return, sir?" he queried; "the telephone is disconnected." +He issued instructions, and, with Howat Penny's bag, followed him into +the darkened house. + +The windows of a general chamber on the second floor had been thrown +open; and there he found Mariana's brother. Kingsfrere Jannan was a +young man with a broad white face, shadowed in pasty green, and leaden +eyes. His countenance, Howat knew, masked a keen and avaricious +temperament. He did uncommonly well at auction bridge in the clubs. +Kingsfrere, in a grey morning coat with white linen gaiters and a +relentless collar, nodded and lounged from the room; and Mariana soon +appeared. "Perhaps, Howat," she said, "it would be better if you didn't +dress. I have an idea the Polder men don't." + +At the stubborn expression which possessed him she exclaimed sharply, +"If you tell me that the Colonel or Gary Dilkes were always formally +dressed at dinner I think I'll scream." Nevertheless, he had no +intention of relinquishing a habit of years for the Polders, or the +north end of the city; and when, later, he came down into the hall, +where the man stood with his silk hat and cape, Mariana put an arm about +his shoulders. "I wish every one could he as beautiful as yourself," she +told him. They passed the Square, bathed in dusk and the beginning +shimmer of arc lights, went through the flattened and faintly thunderous +arch of a railway, and turned into a broad asphalt street, on which +wide, glistening bulk windows gave place to sombre shops with lurid, +flame-streaked vistas, and continuous residences beyond. Howat Penny +gazed curiously at the tall, narrow dwellings, often a continuous, +similar facade from street corner to corner, then diversified in +elaborate, individual design. All, however, had deep stone steps leading +to the sidewalk, thronged with figures in airy white dresses, coatless +men smoking contentedly; there was a constant light vibration of +laughing voices and subdued calling, and the fainter strains of +mechanical music, the beat of popular marches and attenuated voices of +celebrated singers. + +The motor turned suddenly in to the curb, and they got out. The house +before them, like its fellows, was entered from a high flight of red +sandstone steps, and was built of a smooth, soapy green stone, with red +coursings, an elaborate cornice and tiled Italian roof. No one was +sitting outside, although there was a pile of circular, grass-woven +cushions; and Howat sharply rang the bell. A maid in aproned black +admitted them into a narrow hall, from which stairs mounted with a +carved rail terminating in a newel post supporting an almost life-sized +bronze nymph, whose flowing hair was encircled by a wreath of +electrically lit flowers, and who held a dully shining sheaf of +jonquils. There was no other illumination, and Howat Penny discovered in +the obscurity a high mirror bristling with elk horns, on which hung +various hats and outer garments. He stood helpless, apparently, in an +attitude he found impossible to deny himself, waiting to be relieved of +his coverings, when Mariana whispered angrily, "Don't be so rotten, +Howat." + +Finally the maid secured his cape, and he was conscious of a stir at the +head of the stairs. Immediately after, a shrill, subdued voice carried +to where he stood. "I told you," it said violently, "... dress suit." +There was an answering murmur, in which he could distinguish, James +Polder's impatient tones. The latter descended, and flooded the hall +with, light from a globe in the ceiling. He was garbed in blue serge and +flannels. "Isabella," he stated directly, belligerently even, "thinks we +ought to change our clothes; but we never do, and I wouldn't hear of--of +lying for effect." Howat Penny's dislike for him pleasantly increased. +Mariana, in rose crepe with a soft, dull gold girdle and long, +trumpet-like sleeves of flowered gauze, smiled at him warmly. "It is a +harmless pose of Howat's," she explained: "a concession to the ghosts of +the past." She patted the elder on the shoulder. + +Above, James Polder ushered them into a room hung with crimson and gilt +stamped paper, an elaborately fretted cherry mantel about the asbestos +rectangle of an artificial hearth, and a multitude of chairs and divans +shrouded in linen. There was an upright, ebonized piano draped in a +fringed, Roman scarf and holding a towering jar of roses, a great, +carved easel with a painstaking, smooth oil painting of a dark man in an +attitude of fixed dignity, and an expensively cased talking machine. The +original, evidently, of the portrait, and a small, rotund woman in mauve +brocade, advanced to meet them. Young Polder said, "My mother and +father. This is Miss Jannan and Mr. Howat Penny." + +The latter saw that Mrs. Byron Polder was distinctly nervous; she +twisted the diamonds that occupied a not inconsiderable portion of her +short fingers, and smiled rigidly. "I am very pleased to meet you, Miss +Jannan," she proceeded; "and Mr. Penny too." She held out a hand, then +half withdrew it; but Mariana captured it in her direct palm. "Thank +you," she replied. Byron Polder had a more confident poise; in reality +there was a perceptible chill in his manner. He was a handsome man, with +a cleanly-shaven face, introspective brown eyes and a petulant, drooping +mouth. "You have succeeded in finding your way to my house," he +pronounced enigmatically, gazing at Howat Penny. + +It was, Howat thought, just such an ill-bred utterance as he had looked +for from Byron Polder; and he made no effort to mitigate it. He was +conscious of, and resolutely ignored, Mariana's veiled entreaty. "You +don't know my girls," Mrs. Polder continued rapidly. "Here is Isabella, +and Kate will be along for dinner." A tall, bony woman of, perhaps, +thirty-five, in an appalling complication of ribbons and silk, moved +forward with a conventional sentence. In her, Howat's appraisements went +on, virginity had been perpetuated in a captious obsession. They stood +awkwardly silent until James Polder exclaimed, "Good heavens, this isn't +a wax works! Why don't we sit down?" The older woman glanced with a +consuming anxiety at Isabella, and nodded violently toward an exit, +"It's a quarter after seven," she said in a swift aside. Isabella, +correctly disposed on a chair of muffled and mysterious line, resolutely +ignored the appeal. + +"I didn't suppose you'd be in the city," she addressed Mariana; "I read +in the paper that you had gone to Watch Hill with Mrs. Ledyard B. +Starr." + +"You can see that I'm back," Mariana smiled. "The family, of course, are +at Andalusia, but we have all been in town the past days. I am really +staying with Howat at Shadrach." + +"The former location of Shadrach Furnace, I believe," Byron Polder +stated. "Now in ruins." Howat Penny accurately gathered that the other +inferred the collapse not only of the Furnace. He secured the single +glass in his eye and looked deliberately around. Isabella watched him +with a tense interest. Mrs. Polder gave a short, perturbed giggle. "Just +like George Arliss," she told her son. James Polder, on the edge of a +chair, was twitching with repressed uneasiness; he frowned +antagonistically and then gazed appealingly at Mariana. "I have been +introduced to your cousin, Miss Provost," Isabella again took up her +social thread. "A dear friend of mine, a talented actress, gave a +recitation at Miss Provost's request, for suffrage." + +"Eliza's splendid," Mariana pronounced. + +"Peter Jannan Provost's daughter," Byron Polder added fully. But his +voice indicated that even more, darkly unfavourable, might be revealed. +"Miss Provost has been under arrest." Damn the solemn ass, Howat Penny +thought. "She's been in the jug twice now," Mariana went on cheerfully; +"Kingsfrere had to put up a bond the last time." Mrs. Polder was rapidly +regaining her ease. "Wasn't her mamma scared?" she inquired. "I'd go on +if Isabella was taken up." + +"Imagine Isabella!" Jim Polder exploded. "It's quite the thing," that +individual asserted. "Isabella," her mother declared, "it is twenty-five +past seven. I wish you'd go out and see where dinner is." She rose with +an expression of mingled surprise and pain. "Really, mother," she said, +"that is an extraordinary request." Her brother snorted. There was a +sudden muffled clamour of chimes from below, and Mrs. Polder gave a sigh +of relief. "I didn't want it spoiled," she explained, descending; "Jim +would be wild after all his eagerness to have things nice." + +The dining room, resembling all the interior, was long and narrow, and +had a high ceiling in varnished light wood. Byron Polder faced his wife +at the opposite end of the table. Howat Penny sat beside Mariana, with +Jim Polder across; Isabella was on her mother's right; and a waiting +place was filled by a dark, surprisingly beautiful girl. "This is Kate," +Mrs. Polder said proudly. Howat thought he had not seen such a handsome +female for years. She wore a ruffled, transparent crepe de Chine waist +that clung in frank curves to full, graceful shoulders; her hair was a +lustrous, black coil, and she had sultry, topaz eyes and a mouth +drooping like her father's, but more warmly bowed. Kate Polder met the +direct pleasure of his inspection with a privately conveyed admission +that she understood and subscribed to it. Here, at last, was a girl up +to the standard of old days, the divinity of Scalchi herself. She would +have created a sensation in Delmonico's, the real Delmonico's. Gary and +the Colonel-- + +"We think they're elegant," Mrs. Polder's voice broke in on his revery. +He looked up and saw a great fish on a huge platter before his host, a +fish in surprising semblance to life, had it not been for the rosettes +of lemon, the green bed, which surrounded it. "Gracious, no," she +answered Mariana's query; "we don't do it home. Mr. Polder has them sent +from a Rathskeller down town. He'll make a meal off one." The latter was +plainly chagrined at this light thrown on his petty appetites. He +assumed an air of complete detachment in the portioning of the dish; +but, at the same time, managed to supply himself liberally. The +conversation was sporadic. Howat Penny found the dinner lavish, and +divided his attention between it and Kate Polder. James and Mariana +addressed general remarks to the table at succeeding intervals. Mr. +Polder gloomed, and Isabella went through the gestures, the accents, of +the occasion with utter correctness. Howat studied Mariana, but he was +unable to discover her thoughts; she was smiling and cordial; and +apologized for losing her slipper. "I always do," she explained. James +Polder hastily rose, and came around to assist her. The dinner was at an +end, and she stood with a slim, silken foot outheld for him to replace +the fragile object of search. + +They reassembled above, and Mrs. Polder suggested music. "My son says +you are very fond of good music," she addressed Howat Penny. "I can tell +you it is a lovely taste. We have the prettiest records that come. +Isabella, put on _Hark, Hark, the Lark_." She obediently rose, and, +revolving the handle of the talking machine, fixed the grooved, rubber +disk and needle. Howat listened with a stony countenance to the ensuing +strains. Such instruments were his particular detestation. Mrs. Polder +waved her hand dreamily. "Now," she said, "the _Sextette_, and _The End +of a Perfect Day_. No, Mr. Penny would like to hear _Salome_, I'm sure, +with all those cymbals and creepy Eastern tunes." An orgy of sound +followed, applauded--perversely, he was certain--by Mariana. James, he +saw, was as uneasy as himself; but for a totally different reason. He +gazed at Mariana with a fierce devotion patent to the most casual eye; +his expression was tormented with concern and longing. + +"When do you return to Harrisburg?" Byron Polder inquired. "My son," he +went on to Howat Penny, "is a practical iron man. I say iron, although +that is no longer the phrase, because of natural associations. The +present system of the manufacture of steel, as you doubtless know, +evolved from the old Ironmasters, of whose blood James has a generous +share. We look to him to re-establish, er--a departed importance. I need +say no more." His women's anxiety at this trend of speech became +painful. "Play a right lively piece," Mrs. Polder interjected, and an +intolerable cacophony of banjoes followed, making conversation futile. + +The evening, Howat Penny felt, was a considerable success; by heaven, +Mariana would never get herself into this! Byron Polder's innuendoes +must have annoyed her nicely. When the mechanical disturbance ceased, +Mrs. Polder said, "I believe that's the bell." Evidently she had been +correct, for, immediately after, a young woman with bright gold hair, +and a mobile, pink countenance unceremoniously entered the room. "Oh!" +she exclaimed, in an instinctively statuesque surprise; "I didn't know +you were entertaining company." + +"Come right in, Harriet," Mrs. Polder heartily proclaimed. "Miss Jannan, +Mr. Penny, this is Isabella's friend, Harriet de Barry, a near neighbour +and a sweet girl. She's an actress, too; understudies Vivian Blane; and +is better, lots say, than the lead." + +Harriet de Barry made a comprehensive gesture. "I wanted to say good-bye +to you all," she announced. "I am going on tour. Leave at midnight. Just +had a wire from Mrs. Blane." There were polite Polder exclamations, +regret, congratulations; through which the son of the house moodily +gazed at the carpet. "Haven't you anything to say to Hatty?" his mother +demanded. "And after all the passes she sent you." Howat Penny saw +Mariana's gaze rest swiftly on the latest comer's obvious good looks; +and the scrutiny, he was certain, held a cold feminine appraisal. As +they descended to leave Mariana lingered on the stairs with Jim. The +latter closed the door of the public motor with a low, intense mutter; +and, moving away, Howat Penny lit a cigarette with a breath of audible +relief. + +"I don't know which I detest most," Mariana declared viciously, "you or +myself." + +"You might include that fish," he added plaintively. She gazed at him in +cold contempt, with an ugly, protruding lip. Nothing else was said until +they were in the opened room at the Jannans. Mariana flung herself on a +broad divan, with her narrowed gaze fixed on the points of her slippers. +"Comfortable, isn't it," she addressed him; "this feeling of +superiority?" He placidly nodded, inwardly highly pleased. "I wish I'd +married Jim the first week I knew him, without trying to be so dam' +admirable. Howat, what is it that makes people what they are, and +aren't?" It was, he told her, difficult to express; but it had to do +with inherited associations. "Mrs. Polder is as kind as possible," she +asserted; "and I could see that you were absorbed in Kate." + +"Really, Mariana," he protested, "at times you are a little rough. She +is a very fine girl; in fact, reminds me of Scalchi. Old Byron, though, +what--a regular catafalque!" A blundering step mounted to the stair; +Kingsfrere entered and stood wavering and concerned, the collar wilted +and a gaiter missing. "Ought to do something about the front door," he +asserted; "frightful condition, no paint; and full of splinters. Very +plump splinters," he specified, examining a hand. Mariana surveyed him +coolly, thoroughly. "Sweet, isn't he?" she remarked. "Kingsfrere Gilbert +Todd Jannan." + +"That's absolutely all," that individual assured her. "Except if you +want to add Sturgeon; some do. Hullow, Howat! Grand old boy, Howat," he +told her. "But if he says I'm drunk, I will tell you one of Bundy's +stories about him. This--this elegant deception tremendous noise with +the song birds." He sat abruptly on a providentially convenient chair. +There, limply, he hiccoughed. "Sweet," Mariana repeated. Kingsfrere +finally rose, and, with a friendly wave, wandered from the room. + +"It was good of you to take me, Howat," she told him wearily. "Although, +now, I can see that you went willingly enough. You thought it would cure +me. But of what, Howat--of love? Of a feeling that, perhaps, I'd found a +reason for living?" + +A decidedly uncomfortable feeling, doubt, invaded him. He had an +unjustified sense of meddling, of blundering into a paramount situation +to which he lacked the key. He had done nothing debatable, he assured +himself; Mariana's inherent, well--prejudices, couldn't be charged to +him. In the room where he was to sleep the uneasiness followed him. She +was his greatest, his only concern. Howat Penny reviewed his desire for +her, his preference for a Mariana untouched by the common surge of +living. He recalled the discontent, the feeling of sterility, that had +lately possessed him; the suspicion that his life had been in vain. All +his philosophy, his accumulated convictions, were involved; and, tie in +hand, he sat endeavouring to pierce the confusion of his ideas. + +He was conscious of a slow change gathering within him; and, in itself, +that consciousness was disturbing. It had a vaguely dark, chill aspect. +He shivered, in the room super-heated by summer; his blood ran thinner +and cold. Howat Penny had a sudden, startling sense of his utter +loneliness; there was absolutely no one, now, to whom he could turn for +the understanding born of long and intimately affectionate association. +Mariana was lost to him in her own poignant affair ... No children. So +many, so much, dead. His countenance, however, grew firm with the +determination that age should not find him a coward. He had always been +bitterly contemptuous of the men that, surfeiting their appetites, +showed at the impotent last a cheap repentance. But he had done nothing +pointedly wrong; he had--the inversion repeated itself--done nothing. + + + + +XXVII + + +At Shadrach his customary decision returned; he went about, or sat +reading, well-ordered, cool-appearing, dogmatic. He learned from the +_Evening Post_ that Mariana was at Warrenton. She had carefully +described to him the Virginia country life, the gaiety and hard riding +of the transplanted English colonies; and he pictured her at the +successive horse shows, in the brilliant groups under the Doric columns +of the porticoes. Then, he saw, she had gone north; he found her picture +in a realistic Egyptian costume with bare, painted legs at an +extravagant ball. He studied her countenance, magnifying it with a +reading glass; but he saw nothing beyond a surface enjoyment of the +moment. + +Then, to his utter surprise, on an evening after dinner, when he was +seated in the settling dusk of the porch, intent on the grey movements +of his familiar owls, a quick step mounted the path, and James Polder +appeared. + +"I wanted to ask about Miss Jannan," the latter stated frankly and at +once. Howat Penny cleared his throat sharply. "I believe she is well," +he stated formally. "You will find it cooler here." It struck him that +the young man was not deficient in that particular. More, of still +greater directness, followed. "I suppose you know," Polder stated, "that +I want to marry her ... and she won't." + +"I had gathered something of the sort," the other admitted. "It's +natural, in a way." Polder proceeded gloomily: "I'd take her away from +so much. And, yet, look here--you can shut me up if you like--what's it +all about? Can you tell me that?" Howat Penny couldn't. "I'm not to +blame for that old mess any more than you. And it's not my fault if +something of--of which you think so much came to me by the back door. +I've always wanted what Mariana is," he burst out, "and I have never +been satisfied with what I could get. And when I saw her, hell--what's +the use! + +"Any one in Harrisburg will tell you I am a good man," he reiterated, at +a slightly different angle. "When you kick through out of that racket of +hunkies and steel you've done something. Soon I'll be getting five or +six thousand." He paused, and the other said dryly, "Admirable." The +phrase seemed to him inadequate; it sounded in his ear as unpleasantly +as a false note. Yet he was powerless to alter it, change its brusque +accent. The personal tone of Polder's revelations was inherently +distasteful to him. He said, rising, "If you will excuse me I'll tell +Rudolph you will be here." + +"But I won't," Polder replied; "there's a train back at eleven. I have +to be at the mills for the day shift to-morrow. I came out because I +had to talk a little about Mariana." He had deserted the more formal +address. "And I wanted to tell some one connected with her that I have +gimp of my own. I know why she won't marry me, and it's a small reason; +it would be small in--" + +"Hold up," Howat Penny interrupted, incensed. "Am I to understand that +you came here to complain about Miss Jannan's conduct? That won't do, +you know." + +"It's a small reason," the other insisted hotly. "Hardly more than the +idiotic fact that I'm not in the Social Register. I am ashamed of her, +and I said so. It was so little that I told her I wouldn't argue. She +could go to the devil." + +"Really," the other observed, "really, I shall have to ask you to +control your language or leave." + +"I wonder if she will?" the surprising James Polder sombrely speculated. +"I wonder if I am? But there are other women, with better hearts." + +"Are we to construe this as a threat?" Howat asked in a delicately +balanced tone. + +"For God's sake," he begged, "can't you be human!" The other suddenly +recalled Mariana's imploring anger at the Polders. "Don't be so rotten, +Howat." The confusion of his valuations, his habitual attitudes of +thought, returned. His gaze strayed to the obscured ruin of Shadrach +Furnace, at once a monument of departed vigour and present +disintegration. Perhaps, just as the energy had expired in the Furnace, +it had seeped from him. It might be that he was only a sere husk, a dry +bundle of inhibitions, insensible to the green humanity of life. + +"I couldn't go on my knees to anything," the younger took up his burden. +"Wrong or not it is the way I'm made. I'd not hang about where I wasn't +wanted. Although you mightn't think it. And I am sorry I came here. I do +things like that all the time; I mean I do, say, exactly the opposite of +what I plan. You'll think I am a braying ass, of course." + +"Stop for a breath," Howat Penny recommended; "a breath, and a +cigarette." He extended his case; and, in place of taking a cigarette, +Polder examined the case resentfully. "There is it," he declared; +"correct, like all the rest of you. And it's only old leather. But mine +would be different. I could sink and Mariana wouldn't put out a hand +just on account of that. It's wrong," he insisted. Expressed in that +manner it did seem to Howat Penny a small reason for the withholding of +any paramount salvation. Yet, he told himself, he had no intention, +desire, to undertake the weight of any reformation. A futile effort, he +added, with his vague consciousness of implacable destiny, his dim sense +of man moved from without, in locked progression. Polder was young, +rebellious; but he could grow older; he would grow older and comprehend; +or else beat himself to death on obdurate circumstance. What concerned +Howat was the hope that Mariana would be no further involved in either +process. She too had this to learn--that, in the end, blood was stronger +than will; the dead were terribly potent. He had, even, no inclination +to say any of this to the man frowning in the dusk at his side. It would +be useless, a mere preaching. An expression, too, of a slight but actual +sympathy for James Polder would be misleading. In the main Howat was +entirely careless of what might happen to the other; it was only where, +unfortunately, he touched Mariana that he entered into the elder's +world. He would sacrifice him for Mariana in an instant. Polder rose. + +"I must leave," he announced. Howat Penny expressed no regret, and the +other hesitated awkwardly. "It's no use!" he finally exclaimed. "I can't +reach you; as if one of us spoke Patagonian. Hellish, it seems to me." +He turned and disappeared, as violently as he had come, over the +obscurity of the lawn. A reddish, misshapen moon hung low in the sky, +and gave the aging man an extraordinarily vivid impression of dead +planets, unthinkable wastes of time, illimitable systems and spaces. +James Polder's passionate resentment, his own emotion, were no more +articulate than the thin whirring of the locusts. He went quickly into +the house, to the warm glow of his lamp, the memories of his pictures, +the figurine in baked clay with Hermes' wand of victory. + + + + +XXVIII + + +The heat dragged through the remainder of August and filled September +with steaming days and heavy nights, followed by driving grey storms and +premonitory, chill dawns. A period of sunny tranquillity succeeded, but +crimson blots of sumach, the warmer tone of maples, made it evident that +summer had lapsed. Honduras mulched the strawberries, and set new teeth +in his lawn rakes. The days passed without feature, or word from +Mariana, and Howat Penny fell into an almost slumberous monotony of +existence. It was not unpleasant; occupied with small duties, intent on +his papers, or wandering in a past that seemed to grow clearer, rather +than fade, as time multiplied, he maintained his erect, carefully +ordered existence. Then, among his mail, he found a large, +formal-appearing envelope which he opened with a mild curiosity. His +attitude of detachment was soon dispelled. + +Mrs. Corinne de Barry desired the pleasure of his attendance at the +wedding of her daughter, Harriet, to James Polder. Details, a church and +hour, were appended. The headlong young man, he thought, with a smile, +Mariana was well out of that. He had been wise in saying nothing to +Charlotte; the thing had expired naturally. But, irrationally, he +thought of Polder with a trace of contempt--a man who had, +unquestionably, possessed Mariana Jannan's regard marrying the +pink-faced understudy to a second-rate emotional actress! In a way it +made him cross; the fellow should have shown a--a greater appreciation, +delicacy. "Commonplace," he said decisively, aloud. The following day +Mariana herself appeared, with a touch of sable and a small, wickedly +becoming hat. + +He was at lunch; and, without delay, she took the place smilingly laid +for her by Rudolph. It was characteristic that she made no pretence of +concealing the reason that had brought her to Shadrach. "Jim's going to +marry that Harriet de Barry," she said at once, nicely casual. "I had a +card," he informed her. "It's to be on the thirtieth," Mariana +proceeded, "at eight o'clock and in church. Of course you are going." + +"Not at all of course," he replied energetically. "And you'll stay away +for the plainest decency." + +"We will go together," she proceeded calmly. "I want to see Jim married, +happy." She gazed at him with narrowed eyes. + +"Mariana," he told her, "that's a shameful lie. It is cold, feminine +curiosity. It's worse--the only vulgar thing I can remember your +considering. I won't hear of it." He debated the wisdom of recounting +James Polder's last visit to Shadrach and decided in the negative. "Let +the young man depart with his Harriet in peace." + +"It's sickening, isn't it?" she queried. "And yet it is so like Jim. He +had a very objectional idea of his dignity; he was sensitive in a way +that made me impatient. He couldn't forget himself, you see. That helped +to make it difficult for me; I wasn't used to it; his feelings were +always being damaged." + +Howat Penny nodded. "You'll recall I emphasized that." Mariana looked +worn by her gaiety, he decided, white; for the first time in his memory +she seemed older than her actual years. Her friends, he knew, her +existence, bore the general appellation, fast; Howat had no share in the +condemnatory aspect of the term, but he realized that it had a literal +application. Their pace was feverish, and Mariana plainly showed its +effects. Her voice, already noted as more mature, had, he was sure, +hardened. She dabbled her lips thickly with a rouge stick. "Mariana," he +said querulously, "I wish, you'd stop this puppet dance you're leading. +I wish you would marry." + +"I tried to," she coolly replied, "but you spoiled my young dream of +happiness." + +"That isn't true," he asserted sharply, perturbed. "Anything that +happened, or didn't happen, was only the result of yourself, of what you +are. I am extremely anxious to have you settled, and your legs out of +the Sunday papers. I--I am opposed to your present existence; it's gone +on too long. I believe I'd rather see you orating on the streets, like +Eliza Provost. And, by thunder, I never thought I should come to that! +Champagne and those damnable syncopated tunes played by hysterical +niggers make a poor jig." He spoke impetuously, unconscious of any +reversal of previous judgments, opinions. + +"You are so difficult to please, Howat," she said wearily; "you were +aghast at the thought of my marrying James, and now you are complaining +of the natural alternative. The truth is," she added brutally, "you are +old-fashioned; you think life goes on just as it did when the Academy of +Music was the centre of your world. And nothing is the same." She rose, +and, with a lighted cigarette and half-shut eyes, fell into a rhythmic +step of sensuous abandon. "You see," she remarked, pausing. An +increasing dread for her filled his heart. He felt, in response to her +challenge, a sudden bewilderment in the world of to-day. Things, Howat +Penny told himself, were marching to the devil. He said this irritably, +loud, and she laughed. "I'm going in by an early train," she proceeded. +"We have left the country. Will you stop for me on the thirtieth? Early, +Howat, so we can be sure of a good place." + +His helplessness included the subject of her remarks; he would, he +realized, be at James Polder's wedding, but he persisted in his opinion. +"A low piece of business," Howat declared. When she had gone he felt +that he had not penetrated her actual attitude toward Polder's +deflection. He had not for a moment got beneath her casual manner, her +lightness, pretended or actual. He wished vehemently that he were back +again in the past he comprehended, among the familiar figures that had +thronged the notable dinner to Patti, the women who had floated so +graciously through the poetry of departed waltzes. He got out his albums +once more, scrutinized through his polished glass the programmes of +evenings famous in song. But he went to bed a full two hours earlier +than customary; his feet positively dragged up the stairs; above he sat +strangely exhausted, breathing heavily for, apparently, no reason +whatever. + +He retraced, with Mariana, the course over the broad, asphalt way into +the north end of the city early on the evening of the thirtieth. They +found the church easily, by reason of a striped canvas tunnel stretched +out to the curb; and a young man with plastered hair and a gardenia led +them, Mariana on his arm, to a place on the centre aisle. The church had +a high nave newly vaulted in maple, and stained glass windows draped +with smilax, garish in colour against electric lights. Above the altar a +great illuminated cross maintained an unsteady flickering; and--it was +unseasonably cold--heating steam pipes gave out an expanding racket. + +The pews through the centre filled rapidly; there was a low, excited +chatter of voices, and a spreading tropical expanse of the dyed +feathers and iridescent foliage of womens' hats. An overpowering scent +of mingled perfumes rose and filled the interior. The strains of an +organ grew audible, contesting with the rattle of the steam pipes. Howat +Penny was detached, critical. Mariana, in a dull, black satin wrap of +innumerable soft folds and wide paisley collar slipping from a +sheath-like bodice of gleaming, cut steel beading, was silent, +incurious. He turned to her, to point out an extravagant figure, but he +said nothing. She was, evidently, in no mood for the enjoyment of the +ridiculous. This disturbed him; he had not thought that she would be +so--so concerned. He suppressed an impatient exclamation, and returned +to the scrutiny of the culminating ceremony. + +Here was a sphere, vastly larger than his own, to the habits and +prejudices of which he was complete stranger. It was as James Polder had +said--as if one or the other spoke Patagonian. He had no wish to acquire +the language about him; a positive antagonism to his surrounding +possessed him, beyond reason. He thought--how different Mariana is from +all this, and was annoyed again at her serious bearing. Then he was +surprised by his presence there at all; confound the girl, why didn't +she play with her own kind! Yet only the other day the glimpse she had +given him of her natural associates had filled him with dread. His mind, +striving to encompass the problem of Mariana's existence, failed to +overcome the walls built about him by time, by habit. He gave it up. The +louder pealing of the organ announced immediate developments. + +There was a stir in the front of the church, a clergyman in white +vestment advanced; and, at a sudden murmurous interest, a twisting of +heads, the wedding procession moved slowly up the aisle. The ushers, +painstakingly adopting various lengths of stride to the requirements of +the organ, passed in pairs; then followed an equal number of young +women, among whom he instantly recognized the handsome presence of Kate +Polder, in drooping blue bonnets, with prodigious panniers of +celestial-hued silk, carrying white enamelled shepherd's crooks from +which depended loops of artificial buttercups. An open space ensued, in +the centre of which advanced a child with starched white skirts +springing out in a lacy wheel about spare, bare knees, her pale yellow +hair tied in an overwhelming blue bow; and holding outstretched, in a +species of intense and quivering agony, a white velvet cushion to which +were pinned two gold wedding bands. + +After that, Howat Penny thought, the prospective bride could furnish +only the diminished spectacle of an anti-climax. Led by the virginal +presence of Isabella Polder she floated forward in a foam of white tulle +and dragging satin attached below her bare, full shoulders. A floating +veil, pinned with a wreath of orange blossoms, manifestly wax, covered +the metallic gold of her hair. Her countenance was unperturbed, +statuesque, and pink. As the sentimental clamour of the organ died the +steam pipes took up, with renewed vigour, their utilitarian noise. "Why +don't they turn them off?" Mariana exclaimed in his ear. Personally he +enjoyed such an accompaniment to what he designated as the performance. + +He cast the participants in their inevitable roles--the bride as prima +donna, James Polder the heroic tenor. Mrs. Corinne de Barry, a thin, +concerned figure in glistening lavender, supported a lamenting mezzo, +the bulky, masculine figure at her side, with an imposing diamond on a +hand like two bricks, was beautifully basso-- + +His train of thought was abruptly upset by James Polder's familiar, +staccato utterance. The precipitant young man! It stamped out all Howat +Penny's humorous condescension; his sensitive ear was conscious of a +note, almost, of desperation. He avoided looking at Mariana. Damn it, +the thing unexpectedly cut at him like a knife. James Polder said, "I +will." The clear, studied tones of Harriet de Barry, understudy to +Vivian Blane, were spoiled by the crackling of steam. Howat moved +uneasily; he had an absurd sense of guilt; he hated the whole +proceeding. What was that Polder, whose voice persisted so darkly in his +hearing, about, getting himself into such a snarl? He recalled what the +younger had said on his porch--"women with better hearts." He had +implored him, Howat Penny, to be "more human." The memory, too, of the +shaken tone of that request bothered him. Now it appeared that he might +have been, well, more human. He composed himself, facing such +sentimental illusions, into a savage indifference to what remained of +the ceremony; he ignored the passage of Polder, with Harriet Polder on +his arm; the relief of the unspeakable child carrying the white velvet +cushion no longer in the manner of a hot plate; the united bridesmaids +and ushers. "Thank heaven, that's over!" he ejaculated in the +deeply-comfortable space of the Jannan's motor laundalet. "But it +isn't," Mariana said briefly. She sat silent, with her head turned from +him, through the remainder of the short drive about Rittenhouse Square. +Then she went abruptly to her room. + +Charlotte Jannan and her oldest child, Sophie Lewis, were above in the +living room. The former was handsome in a rigid way; her countenance, +squarely and harshly formed, with grey hair exactly waved and pinned, +had an expression of cold firmness; her voice was assertive and final. +Sophie, apparently midway in appearance between Kingsfrere and Mariana, +was gracefully proportioned, and gave an impression of illusive beauty +by means of a mystery of veils, such as were caught up on her hat now. +They were discussing, he discovered, the family. + +"It's an outrage, Howat," Charlotte told him, "you never married, and +that the name will go. Here's Mariana at twenty-seven, almost, and +nothing in sight; and Sophie flatly refuses, after only one, to have +another child. I wish now I'd had a dozen. It is really the duty of the +proper people. And Eliza Provost won't hear of a man! I tell Sophie it's +their own fault when they complain about society to-day. It's the fault +of this charity work and athletics, too; both extremely levelling. +Hundreds of women wind bandages or go to the hunt races and gabble about +votes for no reason under heaven but superior associates." + +"Howat will feelingly curse the present with you," Sophie said rising. +"I must go. Borrow the motor, if you don't mind. I saw in the paper a +Polder was married." Howat Penny lit a cigarette, admirably stolid. "A +name I never repeat," Charlotte Jannan said when her daughter had left. +He heard again the echo of James Polder's intense voice, "I will." +Something of his dislike for him, he discovered, had evaporated. Howat +thought of Mariana, in her room--alone with what feelings? He realized +that Charlotte would never have forgiven her for any excursion in that +direction. He himself had been, was, entirely opposed to such a +connection. However, he could now dismiss it into the past that held a +multitude of similarly futile imaginings. + +Charlotte, he inferred, had no elasticity; it was a quality the absence +of which he had not before noted. She was a little narrow in her +complacency. Her patent satisfaction in Sophie was a shade too--too +worldly. Sam Lewis was, of course, irreproachably situated; but he was, +at the same time, thick-witted, an indolent appendage for his name. +Suddenly he felt poignantly sorry for Mariana; in a way she seemed to +have been trapped by life. James Polder resembled her in that he had +been caught in an ugly net of circumstance. A great deal had been upset +since his day, when the boxes and pit had been so conveniently +separated; old boundaries no longer defined, limited, their content; +social demarcations were being obliterated by a growing disaffection. It +was very unfortunate, for, as he was seeing, unhappiness ensued. It was +bound to. An irritability seized him at being dragged into such useless +conjecturing; into, at his age, confusing complications; and he greeted +with relief the long, low front of his dwelling at Shadrach, its old +grey stone a seeming outcropping of the old green turf, the aged, +surrounding trees. + + + + +XXIX + + +Mariana, however, followed him almost immediately. She stood before him +in an informal, belted black wool sweater, a ridiculously inadequate +skirt, and the solid shoes he detested on women. But he soon forgot her +garb. + +"Howat," she told him, "I have made a cowardly and terrible mistake. I +was meant to marry Jimmy, and I didn't. Perhaps I have ruined his life. +Mine will be nothing without him." They were in the middle room, and a +fire of hickory was burning in the panelled hearth. She dropped on a +chair, and sat gazing into the singing flames. Here it's all to do over, +he thought, with a feeling of weariness. "He may get along very well +with his Harriet," he remarked, resentful of his dissipated contentment. + +"You know he won't," she replied sharply. "He loves me; and I love him, +Howat. I never knew how much, or how little anything else mattered, +until I was in my room, after his wedding. It wasn't a wedding, really," +she declared. "All that doesn't make one. He'll find it out, too. Jimmy +will be desperate, and I'm afraid he will drink harder. He told me they +were getting frightfully strict about that at the Works. And there's +that reorganization; it will embitter him if he isn't made +superintendent. He has worked splendidly for it. That woman he--he went +off with is a squash," she said vindictively. "She will be in bed when +he goes away in the morning, and in crepe de Chine negligee when he gets +back. Perhaps it won't last," she added thoughtfully. + +The sense of future security generated in Howat Penny by the marriage +abruptly departed. He fumbled with his glass, directed it at Mariana. +"What do you mean by that?" he demanded. "I would go to him like a shot, +if he needed me," she coolly returned. The dreadful part of it was that +he was sure she would. "Nonsense," he asserted, hiding his concern; +"there will be no fence climbing." All this came from the letting down +of conversational bars, the confounded books he found about on tables. +Words, like everything else, had lost their meanings. In his day a bad +woman was bad, a good, likewise, good; but the Lord couldn't tell them +apart now. It was the dancing, too. Might as well be married to a man, +he thought. + +Mariana was haggard, the paint on her face crudely--paint. He saw that +there were tears in her eyes, and he turned away confused, rose. The +slot in his cigarette box refused to open, and he shook it violently, +then put it back with a clatter. "Tell Rudolph you're here," he said +disjointedly; and, miserable, left the room. Dressing he stood at a +window; the west held a narrow strip of crimson light under a windy mass +of cloud. The ruin of Shadrach Furnace was sombre. Within, the room was +almost bare. There was a large, high-posted bed without drapings, a +vermilion lacquered table, dark with age, supporting a glass lamp at its +side; a set of drawers with old brass handles; a pair of stiff Adam +chairs with wheel backs; and a modern mahogany dressing case, variously +and conveniently divided, a clear mirror in the door. + +The day failed rapidly, and he lit a pair of small lamps on the set of +drawers. The sun sank in no time at all. Mariana, crying. The girl ought +to go to her mother, and not come out to him, an old man, with her +intimate troubles. "A name I never repeat," Charlotte had said. That was +just like her. Small sympathy there, and no more understanding. He +knotted his tie hurriedly, askew; and gathered the ends once more. It +tired him a little to dress in the evening; often he longed to stay +relaxed, pondering, until Rudolph called him to dinner. But every day +something automatic, tyrannical, dragged him up to his room, encased him +in rigid linen, formal black. Mariana, against the fireplace, ate +listlessly; and, later, he beat her with shameful ease at sniff. + +"You can't do that," he pointed out with asperity, when she +thoughtlessly joined unequal numbers. "Why not?" she asked. She must be +addled. "It's against the rule." Mariana said, "I'm tired of rules." +She always had put away the dominoes, but to-night she ignored them, and +he returned the pieces to their morocco case. She relapsed into silence +and a chair; and he sat with gaze fixed on the hickory in the fireplace, +burning to impalpable, white ash. + +What a procession of logs had been there reduced to dust, warming +generations of men now cold. The thought of all those lapsed winters and +lives soothed him; the clamour of living seemed to retreat, to leave him +in a grey tranquillity. His head sank forward, and his narrow, dark +hands rested in absolute immobility on the arms of his chair. He roused +suddenly to discover that Mariana had gone up, and that there were only +some fitful, rosy embers of fire left. In November it had been his +custom to go into town for the winter; and it was time for him to make +such arrangement; but, all at once, he was overwhelmingly reluctant to +face the change, the stir, of moving. The city seemed intolerably noisy, +oppressive; the thought of the hurrying, indifferent crowds disconcerted +him. At Shadrach it was quiet, familiar, spacious. He had had enough of +excursions, strange faces, problems.... He would speak to Rudolph. Stay. + + + + +XXX + + +The countryside, it appeared to Howat Penny, flamed with autumn and +faded in a day. Throughout the night he heard the crisp sliding of dead +leaves over the roof, the lash of the wind swung impotently about the +rectangular, stone block of his dwelling. At the closing of shutters the +December gales only penetrated to him in a thin, distant complaint. The +burning hickory curtained the middle room with a ruddy warmth. It was a +period of extreme peace; he slept for long hours in a deep chair, or sat +lost in a simulation of sleep, living again in the past. The present was +increasingly immaterial, unimportant; old controversies occupied him, +long since stilled; and among the memories of opera, of Eames as a +splendid girl, forgotten roles, were other, vaguer associations, +impressions which seemed to linger from actual happenings, but +persistently evaded definition. At times, his eyes closed, the glow of +his fireplace burned hotter, more lurid, and was filled with faintly +clamorous sounds; at times there was, woven through his half-wakeful +dreaming, a monotonous beat ... such as the fall of a hammer. He saw, +too, strange and yet familiar faces--a girl in silk like an extravagant +tea rose; a countenance seamed and glistening with pain floated in +shadow; and then another mocked and mocked him. Once he heard the +drumming of rain, close above; and the illusion was so strong that he +made his way to the door; a black void was glistening with cold and +relentless stars.... Now he was standing by a dark, hurrying river, +nothing else was visible; and yet he was thrilled by a sense of utter +rapture. + +He developed a feeling of the impermanence of life, his hold upon it no +stronger than the tenuous cord of a balloon straining impatiently in +great, unknown currents. The future lost all significance, reality; +there were only memories; the vista behind was long and clear, but the +door to to-morrow was shut. Looking into his mirror the reflection was +far removed; it was hollow-cheeked and silvered, unfamiliar. He half +expected to see a different face, not less lean, but more arrogant, with +a sharply defined chin. The actual, blurred visage accorded ill with his +trains of thought; it was out of place among the troops of gala youth. + +A wired letter, a customary present of cigarettes, came from Mariana on +Christmas, gifts from Charlotte and Bundy Provost. There was champagne +at his place for dinner; and he sealed crisp money in envelopes +inscribed Rudolph, Honduras, and the names of the cook and maid. He +drank the wine solemnly; the visions were gone; and he saw himself as an +old man lingering out of his time, alone. There was, however, little +sentimental melancholy in the realization; he held an upright pride, the +inextinguishable accent of a black Penny. His disdain for the +commonality of life still dictated his prejudices. He informed Rudolph +again that the present opera was without song; and again Rudolph gravely +echoed the faith that melody was the heart of music. + +The winds grew even higher, shriller; the falls of snow vanished before +drenching, brown rains, and the afternoons perceptibly lengthened. There +was arbutus on the slopes, robins, before he recognized that April was +accomplished. A farmer ploughed the vegetable garden behind the house; +and Honduras dragged the cedar bean poles from their resting place. +Mariana soon appeared. + +"I wouldn't miss the spring at Shadrach for a hundred years of +hibiscus," she told him. He gathered that she had been south. She +brought him great pleasure, beat him with annoying frequency at sniff, +and was more companionable than ever before. She had, he thought, forgot +James Polder; and he was careful to avoid the least reference to the +latter. Mariana was a sensible girl; birth once more had told. + +She was better looking than he had remembered her, more tranquil; a +distinguished woman. It was incredible that a man approximately her +equal had not appeared. Then, without warning--they were seated on the +porch gazing through the tender green foliage of the willow at the +vivid young wheat beyond--she said: + +"Howat, I am certain that things are going badly with Jimmy. He wrote to +me willingly in the winter, but twice since then he hasn't answered a +letter." + +He suppressed a sharp, recurrent concern. "It's that Harriet," he told +her, capitally diffident. "You are stupid to keep it up. What chance +would he have had answering her letters married to you?" + +"This is different," she replied confidently. He saw that he had been +wrong--nothing had changed, lessened. Howat swore silently. That +damnable episode might well spoil her entire existence. But he wisely +avoided argument, comment. A warm current of air, fragrant with apple +blossoms, caught the ribbon-like smoke of his cigarette and dissipated +it. She smiled with half-closed eyes at the new flowering of earth. Her +expression grew serious, firm. "I think we'd better go out to +Harrisburg," she remarked, elaborately casual, "and see Jimmy for +ourselves." + +He protested vehemently, but--from experience in that quarter--with a +conviction of futility. "She'll laugh at you," he told Mariana. "Haven't +you any proper pride?" She shook her head. + +"Not a scrap. It's just that quality in Jim that annoyed me, and spoiled +everything. I'd cook for them if it would do any good." Irritation +mastered him. "This is shameful, Mariana," he declared. "Don't your +position, your antecedents, stand for anything? If I had Jasper Penny +here I would tell him what I thought of his confounded behaviour!" He +rose, and walked the length of the porch and back. + +"The first part of next week?" she queried. "I won't go a mile," he +stated, in sheer bravado. "Then," said Mariana, "I must do it alone." He +muttered a period in which the term hussy was solely audible. "Which of +us?" she asked, calmly. "Actually," he exploded, "I feel sorry for that +Harriet. I sympathize with her. She got the precious James fair enough, +and the decent thing for you is to keep away." + +"But I'm not decent either," Mariana continued. "If you could know what +is in my head you'd recognize that. I seem to have no good qualities. I +don't want them, Howat," her voice intensified; "I want Jim." + +He was completely silenced by this desire persisting in spite of every +established obstacle. It summoned an increasing response at the core of +his being. Such an attitude was, more remotely, his own; but in him it +had been purely negative, an inhibition rather than a challenge; he had +kept out of life instead of actively defying it. In him the family +inheritance of blackness was subsiding with the rest. + +Howat maintained until the moment of their departure his protest, his +perverse community with Harriet Polder. "You'll find a happy house," he +predicted, "and come home like a fool. I hope you do. It ought to help +make you more reasonable. She will tell James to give you a comfortable +chair, and apologize for not asking you to dinner." She gazed through +the car window without replying. He realized that he had never seen +Mariana more becomingly dressed--she wore a rough, silver-coloured suit +with a short jacket, a pale green straw hat, like the new willow leaves, +across the blueness of her eyes, and an innumerably ruffled and flounced +waist of thinnest batiste. A square, deep emerald hung from a platinum +chain about her neck; and a hand, stripped of its thick white glove, +showed an oppressive, prismatic glitter of diamonds. + +The morning was filled with dense, low, grey cloud, under which the +river on their left flowed without a glimmer of brightness. Howat was +aware of an increasing sulphurous pall, and suddenly the train was +passing an apparently endless confusion of great, corrugated iron sheds, +rows of towering, smoking stacks, enormous, black cylinders, systems of +tracks over which shrilling locomotives hauled carloads of broken slag, +or bumped strings of trucks, with reckless energy, in and out of the +grimy interiors. The overpowering magnitude of the steel works--Howat +Penny needed no assurance of its purpose--exceeded every preconception. + +Shut between the river and an abrupt hillside, where scattered dwellings +and sparse trees and ground were coated with a soft monotony of +rose-brown dust, the mills were jumbled in mile-long perspectives. +Above the immediate noise of the train he could hear the sullen, blended +roar of an infinity of strident sounds--the screaming of whistles, a +choked, drumming thunder, rushing blasts of air, the shattering impact +of steel rails, raw steam, and a multitudinous clangour of metal and +jolting wheels and connective power. He passed rusting mountains +straddled by giant gantries, the towering lifts of mammoth cranes, banks +of chalk-white stone, dizzy super-structures mounted by spasmodic skips. + +As the train proceeded with scarcely abated speed, and the vast +operation continued without a break, mill on mill, file after file of +stacks, Howat Penny's senses were crushed by the spectacle of such +incredible labour. Suddenly a column of fire, deep orange at the core, +raying through paler yellow to a palpitating white brilliancy, shot up +through the torn vapours, the massed and shuddering smoke, to the +clouds, and was sharply withdrawn in a coppery smother pierced by a +rapid, lance-like thrust of steel-blue flame. + +These stupendous miles were, to-day, the furnaces and forges that +Gilbert Penny had built and operated in the pastoral clearings of the +Province. Howat recalled the single, diminutive shed of Myrtle Forge, +the slender stream, the wheel, its sole power; the solitary stack of +Shadrach Furnace, recreated in his vision, opposed its insignificant +bulk against the living greenery of overwhelming forests. Now the +forests were gone, obliterated by the mills that had grown out of +Gilbert's energy and determination, his pioneer courage. His spirit, the +indomitable will of a handful of men, a small, isolated colony, had +swept forward in a resistless tide, multiplying invention, improvement, +with success until, as Howat had seen, their flares reached to the +clouds, their industry spread in iron cities. James Polder had a part in +this. Here, under the ringing walls of the steel mills, he got a fresh +comprehension of the bitter, restless virility of the younger man. + +Out of the station Mariana furnished the driver of a public motor with +James Polder's address, and they twisted through congested streets, past +the domed Capitol, rising from intense green sod, flanked by involved +groups of sculpture, to a quieter reach lying parallel with the river. +They discovered Polder's house occupying a corner, one of a short row of +yellow brick with a scrap of lawn bound by a low wall, and a porch +continuous across the face of the dwellings. + +The door opened after a long interval, and a woman with bare arms and a +spotted kitchen apron admitted them to an interior faintly permeated +with the odours of cooking. There were redly varnished chairs, upright +piano, a heavily framed saccharine print of loves and a flushed, +sleeping divinity; a table scarred by burning cigarettes, holding cerise +knitting on needles one of which was broken, glasses with dregs of beer, +a photograph in a tarnished silver frame of Harriet de Barry Polder +with undraped shoulders and an exploited dimple, and a copy of a +technical journal. A fretful, shrill barking rose at their heels; and +Howat Penny swung his stick at a diminutive, silky white dog with +matted, pinkish eyes, obsessed by an impotent fury. + +An indolent voice drifted from above. "Cherette!" And a low, masculine +protest was audible. Mariana Jannan's face was inscrutable. The woman +continued audibly, "How can I--like this? You will have to see what it +is." A moment later James Polder, drawing on a coat, descended the +stairs. He saw Mariana at once, and stood arrested with one foot on the +floor, and a hand clutching the rail. A sudden pallor invaded his +countenance and Howat turned away, inspecting the print. But he could +not close his hearing to the suppressed eagerness, the stammering joy, +of Polder's surprise. + +"And you, too," he said to the elder, with a crushing grip. Howat +immediately recognized that the other was marked by an obvious ill +health; his eyes were hung with shadows, like smudges of the iron dust, +and his palm was hot and wet. "Harriet," he called up the stair, "here's +Miss Jannan and Mr. Howat Penny to see us." A complete silence above, +then a sharp rustle, replied to his announcement. "Harriet will be right +down," he continued; "fixing herself up a little first. Have trouble +finding us? Second Street is high for a foreman, but we're moving out +against the future." + +The dog maintained a stridulous barking; and James Polder carried her, +in an ecstasy of snarling ill-temper, out. "Cherette doesn't appreciate +callers," he stated, with an expression that contradicted the mildness +of his words. His gaze, Howat thought, rested on Mariana with the +intensity of a fanatic Arab at the apparition of Mohammed. And Mariana +smiled back with a penetrating comprehension and sympathy. The +proceeding made Howat Penny extremely uncomfortable; it was--was +barefaced. He hoped desperately that something more appropriately casual +would meet the appearance of Harriet. Mariana said: + +"You haven't been well." Polder replied that it was nothing. "I get a +night shift," he explained, "and I've never learned to sleep through the +day. We're working under unusual pressure, too; inhuman contracts, +success." He smiled without gaiety. "You didn't answer my letter," the +outrageous Mariana proceeded. Howat withered mentally at her cool +daring, and Polder, now flushed, avoided her gaze. The necessity of +answer was bridged by the descent of his wife. Her face, as always, +brightly coloured, was framed in an instinctively effective twist of +gold hair; and she wore an elaborately braided, white cloth skirt, a +magenta georgette crepe waist, with a deep, boyish collar, drawn tightly +across her full, soft body. + +"Isn't it fierce," she demanded cheerfully, "with Jim out as many nights +as he's in bed?" She produced a pasteboard package of popular +cigarettes and offered them to Howat Penny and Mariana. "Sorry, I can't +smoke any others," she explained, striking a match. "I heard you saying +he doesn't look right," she addressed Mariana. "And it's certainly the +truth. Who would with what he does? I tell him our life is all broke up. +One night stands used to get me, but they're a metropolitan run compared +with this. Honest to God," she told them good naturedly, "I've +threatened to leave him already. I'd rather see him a property man with +me on the road." + +"It must be a little wearing," Mariana agreed; "but then, you know, your +husband is a steel man. This is his life." Howat Penny could see the +cordiality ebbing from the other woman's countenance. Positively, +Mariana ought to be ... "I can get that," Harriet Polder informed her. +"We are only hanging on till Jim's made superintendent. Then we'll be +regular inhabitants. Any other small thing?" At the sharpening note of +her voice James Polder hurriedly proceeded with general facts. "You'll +want to see the Works, as much as I can show you. Hardly any of the +public are let through now. It will interest you, sir, to see what the +Penny iron trade has become. I can take you down this afternoon. Harriet +will find us some lunch." The latter moved in a sensuous deliberation, +followed by a thin, acidulous trail of smoke, into inner rooms. "When do +you have to go back?" Polder asked. + +"This evening," Howat told him; "we just stopped to--" + +"To see how you were," Mariana interrupted him baldly, studying the +younger man with a concerned frown. "You ought to rest, you know," she +decided. "That's possible," he returned. "I thought of asking for a +couple of weeks. I hurried back right after I was married. They are +coming to me." She enigmatically regarded Howat Penny; he saw that she +was about to speak impetuously; but, to his great relief, she stopped. +"It's been pretty hard on Harriet," he said instead. "After the stage +and audiences, and all that." Mariana's expression was cold. Confound +her, why didn't she help the fellow! Howat Penny fidgeted with his +stick. What a stew Polder had gotten himself into. This was worse, even, +than the marriage threatened. + +Lunch was a spasmodic affair of cutlets hardening in grease, blue boiled +potatoes, sandy spinach and blanched ragged bread. There was more beer; +but Jim, his wife proceeded, liked whiskey and water with his meals. The +former glanced uneasily at Mariana, tranquilly cutting up her cutlet. +The diamonds on her narrow, delicate hand flashed, the emerald at her +throat was superb. Their surroundings were doubly depressing contrasted +with her fastidious dress and person. Before her composure Harriet +Polder seemed over-florid; a woman of trite phrases, commonplace, +theatrical attitudes and emotions. As lunch progressed the latter +relapsed into a sulky silence; she glanced surreptitiously at Mariana's +apparel; and consumed cigarettes with a straining assumption of easy +indifference. + +Howat Penny was acutely uncomfortable, and Polder scowled at his plate. +The whiskey and water shook in a tense, unsteady hand. He rose from the +table with a violent relief. He proposed almost immediately that they go +over to the Works, and Mariana turned pleasantly to his wife. "Shall you +get a hat?" The other hesitated, then asserted defiantly, "I've always +said I wouldn't go into that rackety place, and I won't now. It's bad +enough to have it tramped back over things." Mariana extended a hand. +"Then good-bye," she proceeded. "I think we won't get back here. We're +tremendously obliged for the lunch. It has been interesting to see where +Jim lives." Harriet Polder's cheeks were darker than pink as they moved +out to the sidewalk. "Jim," she called, with an unmistakably proprietary +sounding of the familiar diminution; "don't forget my cigarettes, and a +half pound of liver for Cherette." + + + + +XXXI + + +James Polder conducted them to the river, sweeping away in a wide curve +beneath solid grey stone bridges into a region of towering hills. They +turned to the left, and, walking on a high embankment, passed blocks of +individually pretentious dwellings, edifices of carved granite, +alternating with the simpler brick faces of an older period. A narrow, +whitely dusty sweep of green park was followed by a speedy degeneration +of the riverside; the houses shrunk to rows of wood marked by the grime +of steel mills. Soon after they reached a forbidding fence; and, passing +a watchman's inspection, entered into a clamorous region of sheds, +tracks and confusing levels such as Howat Penny had viewed from the +train. + +"I'm in the open hearth," Polder told them, leading the way over a +narrow boardwalk, still skirting the broad expanse of the river. "It's a +process, really, but the whole mill is called after it. We make steel +from iron scrap; that's our specialty in the Medial Works; and our +stuff's as good as the best. The bigger concerns mostly use pig. Turn in +here." They were facing the towering end of an iron shed, and mounted a +steep ascent to gain the upper entrance. The multiplication of noises +beat in an increasing volume about Howat Penny. Below him a locomotive +screeched with a freight of slag; beyond was a heap of massive, broken +moulds; and a train of small trucks held empty iron boxes beside an +enormous bank of iron scrap dominated by a huge crane swinging a +circular magnet that dispassionately picked up ton loads and bore them +to the waiting cars. + +Inside he gazed through a long vista under a roof lost in tenebrious +shadow. On one side were ranged the furnaces, a continuous bank of brick +bound in iron; each furnace with five doors, closed with black slides in +which a round opening emitted an intolerable, dazzling white glare. But +few men, Howat thought, were visible in proportion to the magnitude of +the work; deliberately engaged, with leather shields hanging from their +wrists and blue spectacles pushed up on their grimy brows. + +A crane advanced with the shrill racket of an electric gong, its +operator caged in midair, and herculean grappling chains swinging. A +grinding truck, filling the width of floor, moved forward to where Howat +stood. It was, Polder told him, the charging machine. An iron beam +projected opposite the furnace doors, and it was locked into one of the +charging boxes, filled with scrap metal, standing on the rails against +the furnaces. A man behind him dragged forward a lever, the slide which +covered a door rose ponderously on a blinding, incandescent core, and +the beam thrust forward into the blaze, turning round and round in the +emptying of the box. It was withdrawn, the slide dropped, and the +machine retreated, its complex movements controlled by a single engineer +at crackling switches where the power leaped in points of light like +violets. + +At another furnace, an opened door, where the heat poured out in a +constricting blast, workmen were shovelling in powdery white stone; +moving up with their heads averted, and quickly retreating with +shielding arms. "That's dolomite," James Polder's explanations went +rapidly forward. "They are banking up the furnace. The other, in the +bins, is ferro manganese." He procured a pair of spectacles; and, with a +protected gaze, Howat looked into a furnace, an appalling space of +apparently bubbling milk over which played sheets of ignited gases. The +skin on his forehead shrivelled like scorching paper. + +"I particularly wanted you to see a heat tapped," Polder told Mariana. +"And they're making a test at number four." They followed him to where a +small ladle of metal had been dipped out of a furnace. It was poured, +with a red-gold shower of sparks, into a mould, then dropped in a trough +of water. The miniature ingot, broken under the wide sweep of a sledge, +was examined by a lean, grizzled workman--"the melter"--who nodded. "We +must get back of the furnace," Polder continued, indicating a narrow +opening between brick walls through the unstopped chinks of which +seethed the scorifying blaze. + +Howat Penny stood at a railing, looking down into an apparent confusion +of slag and cars, pits and gigantic ladles and upright moulds set upon +circular bases. A crane rumbled forward, grappled a hundred-ton ladle, a +fabulous iron pot, and petulantly deposited it under a channel extending +out from the base of the furnace where they had been stationed. A +workman steadied himself below their level and picked with a long iron +bar at a plugged opening. It was, James Polder went on, the most +dangerous moment of the process--"sometimes the furnace blows out." The +labour of tapping was prolonged until Howat was conscious of an +oppressive tension. Workmen had gathered, waiting, in the pit. More +appeared along the railing above. This was, he felt, the supreme, the +dramatic, height of steel making. The men suddenly seemed puny, +insignificant, before the stupendous, volcanic energy they had evoked. +The tapping stopped. Polder commenced, "It will be rammed out from the +front--" + +A stunning white flare filled the far roof with a dazzling illumination; +and, in a dull explosion, a terrific billowing of heat, a cataract of +liquid steel burst out through lambent orange and blue flames. It +poured, searing the vision, into the ladle, over which rosy clouds +accumulated in a bank drifting through the great space of the shed. +Nothing, Howat thought, could contain, control, the appalling expansion, +the furious volume, of seething white metal. He was obliged to turn +away, blinded by sheets of complementary green hanging before his eyes. + +The uproar subsided, the flooding steel became bluer, a solid stream +curving into the black depths of the ladle. Vapours of green and sulphur +and lilac shivered into the denser ruby smoke and rising silver spray. +Polder called a warning into Mariana's ear, they drew back as a lump of +coal was heaved up from the pit, into the ladle. A dull vermilion blaze +followed, and Howat Penny partly heard an explanation--"recarburizing." +He could now see the steel bubbling up to the rim of the container. Men, +Polder said shortly, had fallen in.... Utterly unthinkable. With a +sudorific heat that drove them still farther back the slag boiling on +the steel flowed in a gold cascade over a great lip into a second +receptacle below. That was soon filled, and gorgeous streams and pools +widened across the riven ground. The steel itself escaped in a milky +incandescence. "A wild heat," James Polder told them, pleased. "The +bottom of a furnace may drop out. I was almost caught in the pit at +Cambria." The crane chains swung forward, picked up the ladle of molten +metal, and shifted it through the air to a position over a circular +group of moulds. There, a valve opened, the steel poured into a central +pipe. "Bottom-filled," Polder concluded, assisting Mariana over the +precarious flooring; "the metal rises into the ingot forms." + +They descended again, by the blackened brick, box-like office of the +superintendent, to the level of the pit, retraced the way over the +boardwalk. They passed a cavernous interior, filled with a continuous +crashing, where a great sheet of flushing steel was propelled over a +system of rollers through a black, dripping compression. "I can take you +to the Senate," James Polder told them, once more outside; "or the +Engineers' Society. Dinner will be ready at the club." + +He conducted them into the serious interior of a large, solidly +constructed dwelling that had been transformed into a club. The dining +room was already filling but they secured a small table against the +wall. Across the floor ten or twelve men were gathered in a circle. +Some, Howat thought, were surprisingly young for the evident authority +in their manner, pronouncements; others were grey, weatherworn, men with +immobile faces often lost, in the middle of a gay period, in a sudden +gravity of thought, silent calculation. He saw the smooth, deft hands of +draughtsmen, and scarred, powerful hands that, like James Polder's, had +laboured through apprenticeship in pit and mill shop. + +He recognized that Polder was more drawn than he had first observed. He +was sapped by the crushing entity of the steel works, the enormous heat +and energy and strain of the open hearth. If the younger did not lay off +he would, unquestionably, break. Nevertheless, Howat was totally +unprepared for the amazing suggestion quietly advanced by Mariana. +"Jimmy," she said, "couldn't you come to Shadrach for those two weeks? +You'd find the quiet there wonderful. And any doctor will advise you to +leave your family for a proper rest. I'm certain Howat would be as nice +as possible." + +A sudden, patent longing leaped to James Polder's countenance. Actually +he stuttered with a surprised delight. Damn it, there was nothing for +him, Howat, to do but stare like a helpless idiot. He ought to say +something, second Mariana's impudent invitation, at once. She ignored +him, gazing intently at the younger man. He, too, meeting Mariana's +eyes, had apparently totally forgot the unimportant presence of Howat +Penny. And he had been married to his Harriet for a scant half year! +Howat Penny thought mechanically of the Polders' depressing house, the +odours of old cooking and cheap cigarettes, the feverish yapping of the +silky animal, Cherette, with matted, pinkish eyes. The precipitant, +prideful, young fool! Why hadn't he held onto the merest memory, the +most distant chance in the world, of Mariana, rather than fling himself, +his injured self-opinion, into this stew? + +"Don't say it can't be managed," she persisted. "Anything may. It's +absolutely necessary; you can get a prescription--two weeks of green +valley and robins and country eggs. Howat will take your money from you +at penny sniff, and I'll--I'll come out for dinner." + +"Harriet thought of going back to the family," he replied; "but it +might--" he turned at last to Howat Penny. "Would you have me?" he asked +directly. What, in thunder, choice of reply did he have? Howat couldn't +point out the shamelessness of such an arrangement. Harriet, it seemed, +was not to be considered; just as if she were a merely disinterested +connection. He issued a belated period to the effect that Shadrach was +spacious and Rudolph a capable attendant. It was, he saw, sufficient. +"We can write," said Mariana. She endeavoured to caress Howat's hand, +but he indignantly frustrated her. + +"I'll have to get back to the hearth," James Polder announced +regretfully. "It's been wonderful," he told Mariana Jannan. Howat +scraped his chair at the baldness of Polder's pleasure. "Your work is +tremendous, Jim," she replied; "the only stirring thing I have ever +known in a particularly silly world. But you mustn't let it run you, +too, into steel rails. President Polder," she smiled brilliantly at him. +"Why not?" queried James, the sanguine, at once defiant, haggard and +intense. + + + + +XXXII + + +The following day Howat Penny was both weary and irritable. Mariana +declared, remorsefully, that she had selfishly dragged him away from +Shadrach; and proposed countless trivial amends, which he fretfully +blocked. He had no intention of affording her such a ready escape from a +sense, he hoped, of error and responsibility. Before dinner, however, he +found himself walking with her over the deep green sod that reached to +the public road below. A mock orange hedge enclosed his lawn, bounding +the cross roads, the upper course leading to Myrtle Forge; and beyond +they passed, on the left, the collapsed stone walls and fallen shingles +of what, evidently, had been a small blacksmith's shed. Farther along +they came to the sturdy shell of an old, single-room building, erected, +perhaps, when Shadrach Furnace was new, with weeds climbing through the +rotten floor, and a fragment of steps, rising to the mouldering peak of +a loft, still clinging to a wall. + +Without definite purpose they turned from the public way into an +overgrown path, banked with matted blackberry bushes, and were soon +facing the remains of the Furnace. It had been solidly constructed of +unmasoned stone, bound by iron rods, and its bulk was largely unaffected +by time. The hearth had fallen in, choked by luxuriant greenery; but the +blank sides mounted to meet the walled path reaching out to its top from +the abrupt hill against which it had been placed. Before it foundations +could still be traced; and above, a rectangle of windowless stone walls +survived, roofless and desolate. An abandoned road turned up the hill, +and they followed it to where they could gaze into the upper ruin and +the Furnace top below. Everywhere nature had marked or twisted aside cut +stone and wood with its living greenery. Farther down a pathlike level +followed the side of the hill, ending abruptly in a walled fall, and a +confusion of broken beams, iron braces, and section of a large, +wheel-like circumference. Out beyond were other crumbling remains of old +activity--a stone span across the dried course of a water way, and a +wide bank, showing through a hardy vegetation the grey-brown +inequalities of slag. + +The stillness, broken only by the querulous melody of a robin, and a +beginning, faint piping of frogs, was amazingly profound after the +roaring energy of the Medial Works. The decay of Shadrach Furnace showed +absolute against the crashing miles of industry on the broad river. A +breath of honeysuckle lifted to Howat Penny; the sky was primrose. +Mariana moved closer to him and took his arm. They said nothing. + +A warm light was spilling across the darkening grass from the lower +windows of his dwelling, blurring in a dusk under the high leafage of +aged maples. The white roses were already in bud on the vine climbing +the lattices at his door, and Mariana fixed one in his buttonhole. +"Howat," she said, "it isn't as if you were doing it just for Jim, but +for a man, any man, really sick. I'll not even ask you to think of it +for me. He can sit on the porch and converse with your owls, and poke +about over the hills." + +Howat considered the advisability of attempting to extract a promise +from her that she would stay away from Shadrach if James Polder was +there. He considered it--very momentarily. The possibility, he asserted +to himself, was without any alleviating circumstance. What, in heaven's +name, would Charlotte think if, as it well might, the knowledge came to +her that Mariana and a Polder--that name she never repeated--a married +Polder without his wife, were poking over the hills together at +Shadrach? She would have him, Howat, examined for lunacy. Mariana +demanded too much. He told her this with the dessert. + +"It's only the commonest charity," she repeated. Her attack rapidly +veered. "Howat," she asked, "do you really dislike Jimmy?" Certainly, he +asserted, he--he disapproved of him ... altogether. A headstrong young +donkey who had made a shocking mess of his life. He would have to make +the best of a bad affair for which no one was to blame but himself. "It +is terrific," she agreed, almost cheerfully; and he had a vague sense of +having, somehow, delivered himself into her hands. "Perhaps something +can still be done," she said, frowning, increasing the dangers of his +position. He managed, by a stubborn silence, to check further +conversation in that direction; hoping, vainly, that James Polder +couldn't come, that Harriet, sensibly, would insist on his accompanying +her, or that Byron would solemnly intervene. + +Mariana, later displaying a letter, dispelled his wishes. "It's been +arranged quite easily," she told him. "Harriet will go home. I'd like to +be here when he arrives, but I can't. You'll be a dear, Howat, won't +you?" she begged. "I'm certain James will give you no trouble. And do +send him to bed early." At this he grew satirical, and she laughed in an +unaccustomed, nervous manner that upset him surprisingly. Honduras drove +her to the station the next morning; and, three days later, deposited +James Polder on the worn stone threshold under the climbing rose. + +After dinner the younger man faced him squarely across the apricot glow +of the lamp in the middle room. "This is the third time I've come here +without an invitation from you," he said directly. "It was Mariana this +last. I shut my mouth on what I'd once have crammed down your throat, +and came like any puppy. It wasn't on account of my health, there are +miles of quiet country; it wasn't--" he hesitated, then went +on--"altogether because of Mariana. I wanted to watch you closer; I want +to find out what you are like inside, so I might understand some--some +other things better. I can get out if it's a rank failure." + +Howat issued a polite, general dissent. "Now, right there," Polder +stated; "you don't want me; you'd rather I was a thousand miles away, +dead. Well--why don't you say so?" He had not the least conception of a +decent reticence of address, Howat Penny thought, resentfully, at the +discomfort aroused by the young man's sharp attack. + +"Certain amenities," he observed coldly, "have been accepted as +desirable, as obligations for--" he hesitated, casting about for a +phrase that would not too conspicuously exclude James Polder. "Say it," +the latter burst out rudely, "gentlemen. And you all stand about with +one thing to say and another in your head." + +"A degree of perception is always admirable," Howat Penny instructed +him. "That's a nasty one," Polder acknowledged; "but I got into it +myself. I can see that." His hand, seared with labour, was pressed on +the table; and the elder realized that, since he had witnessed a heat +tapped, he was not so censorious of the broken nails, the lines of +indelible black. He caught James Polder's gaze, and turned from its +intense questioning. Young cheeks had no business to be so gaunt. +Polder picked up the figurine in red clay, studied it with a troubled +brow, and replaced it with a gesture of hopelessness. "Possibly," Howat +Penny unexpectedly remarked, "possibly you find beauty in a piece of +open hearth steel." + +"It's useful," Polder declared; "it has a tensile strength. I know what +it will do. This," he indicated the fragment of a grace razed over +twenty-three hundred years before, "is good for nothing that I see." +Now, Howat told himself, it was merely a question of tensile strength. +His old enthusiasms, his passionate admiration for the operas of +Christopher Gluck, the enthusiasms and admirations of his kind, were +being pushed aside for things of more obvious practicality. The very +term that had distinguished his world, men of breeding, had been +discarded. Individuals like James Polder, blunt of speech, contemptuous, +labour scarred, were paramount to-day. + +His thoughts, he realized, were a part of the questioning thrust on him +by the intrusion of Mariana's unfortunate affair into his old age. She +was always dragging him to a perplexing spectacle for which he had +neither energy nor inclination. But he'd be damned if he would allow the +importunities of the young man beyond the table to complicate further +his difficulties, and he retired abruptly behind the _Saturday Review_. +"You'd better get along up," he said brusquely, after a little. + +Breakfast at an end, they settled into a not uncomfortable, mutual +silence. They smoked; James Polder unfolded newspapers which he +neglected to read; Howat went through the periodicals with audible +expressions of displeasure. He wondered when Mariana would appear. +Mariana made a fool of him, that was evident; however, he would put his +foot on any philandering about Shadrach. He could be as blunt as James +Polder when the occasion demanded. After lunch the latter fell asleep in +his chair on the porch, pallidly insensible of the sparkling flood of +afternoon. Howat rose and went into the house. It was indecent to see a +countenance so wearily unguarded, shorn of all protective aggression. +Mariana walked in unannounced. + +"Why didn't you telephone for Honduras?" he complained. "Always some +infernal difference in what you do." She frowned. "Suddenly," she +admitted, "I wasn't in a hurry to get here. I almost went back. +Idiotic." + +"Sensible, it seems to me," he commented. "That Polder is asleep on the +porch." She nodded, "Splendid. And you needn't try to look fierce. I can +see through you and out the back." He lit a cigarette angrily. "Going to +stay for the night?" he demanded. "Several," she replied coolly. "Three +can play sniff." + +"Look here, Mariana," he proclaimed, "I won't have any nonsense, do you +understand?" + +"We can keep a photograph of Harriet on the table." + +James Polder entered, and put a temporary end to his determined speech. +When the former saw Mariana his shameless pleasure, Howat thought, was +beyond credence. Positively neither of them paid any more attention to +him than they did to Rudolph. His irritation gave place to a deeper +realization that an impossible situation threatened. There was nothing, +obviously, that he could do to-day; but he would speak seriously to +Mariana to-morrow; one or both of them would have to leave Shadrach. +This determination took the present weight from his conscience; and, +pottering about small concerns of his own, he ignored them comfortably. + +They appeared late, dirty and hot, for dinner; and it was eight o'clock +before Mariana came down in a gown like a white-petalled flower. She +wore no rings, but about her throat was a necklace of old-fashioned seed +pearls in loops and rosettes. "It's family," she told them; "it belonged +to Caroline Penny. And she married a Quaker, too; a David Forsythe." She +stopped suddenly, and Howat Penny recalled the tradition that Caroline +Penny, Gilbert's daughter, had appropriated her sister Myrtle's suitor. +Mariana favoured him with a fleet glance, the quiver of a reprehensible +wink. He glared back at her choking with suppressed wrath. "I have a +wonderful idea for to-morrow," she proceeded tranquilly; "we'll take +lunch, and leave Honduras, and go to Myrtle Forge for the day." + +Her design was unfolded so rapidly, her directions to Rudolph so +explicit, that he had no opportunity to oppose his plan of sending her +away in the morning; and his impotence committed him to her suggestion. +She could go in the evening almost as well. After dinner he rattled the +dominoes significantly, but Mariana, smiling at him absently, went +through the room and out upon the porch. Polder, with an obscure +sentence, followed her. A soft rain sounded on the porch roof; but there +was no wind; the night was warm. + +Howat glanced at his watch, after a period of restful ease, and saw that +it was past ten. He moved resolutely outside. Mariana was banked with +cushions in the canvas swing, and Polder sat with his body extended, his +hands clasped behind his head, in a gloomy revery. The night, +apparently, had robbed her countenance of any bloom; more than once in +the past year Howat had seen her stamped with the premonitory scarring +of time. Polder rose as he approached, and Mariana struggled upright. + +"Good night," she said ungraciously, to them both, and flickered away +through the dark. James Polder was savagely biting his lips; his hands, +the elder saw, were clenched. "Your wife," Howat proceeded, "how is +she?" Polder gazed at him stonily, without reply. "I asked after your +wife," Howat repeated irritably. "No," the other at last said, "you +reminded me of her. I suppose you are right." He turned and walked +abruptly from the porch, into the slowly dropping rain. + + + + +XXXIII + + +The road to Myrtle Forge mounted between rolling cultivated fields, the +scattered, stone ruins of walls erected in the earliest iron days; and, +after a pastoral course, came to the Forge dwelling, its shuttered bulk +set in a tangle of bushes and rank grass. An ancient beech tree swept +the ground with smooth, grey limbs, surrounded by long-accumulated dead +leaves. James Polder shut off the motor by the low, stone wall that +supported the lawn from the roadway; he crossed to the farm, where the +house keys were kept, and Howat and Mariana moved slowly forward. A +porch, added, the former said, in Jasper Penny's time, extended at the +left; and they stood on the broken flooring and gazed down at a +featureless tangle once a garden and the gnarled remainder of a small +apple orchard beyond. + +Polder soon returned, and they proceeded to a door on the further side, +where the kitchen angle partly enclosed a flagging of broad stones. +Inside, the house, empty of furnishing, was a place of echoes muffled in +dust; the insidious, dank odours of corrupting wood and plaster; walls +with melancholy, superimposed, stripping papers; older, sombrely +blistered paint and panelled wainscoting varnished in an imitation, +yellow graining. It was without a relic of past dignity. Mariana was +unable to discover a souvenir of the generations of Pennys that had +filled the rooms with the stir of their living. Once more outside they +sat on the stone threshold of an office-like structure back of the main +dwelling and indulged in cigarettes. + +The disturbing tension of last night, Howat thought comfortably, had +vanished. Mariana was flippant, James Polder enveloped in indolent ease. +"The Forge," Howat Penny told them, "was below." A path descended across +a steep face of sparse grass; and, at the bottom, Polder's interest +revived. "It stood there," he indicated a fallen shed beyond a masoned +channel, choked with the broken stones of its walls and tangled +shrubbery. "You don't suppose a joke that size was the great Gilbert's +plant. Here's the drop for the water power; yes, and the iron pinions of +the overshot wheel." He climbed down a precarious wall, and stood +perhaps twelve feet below them. Securing a rough bolt, he brought it up +for their inspection. "Look at that forging," he cried; "after it has +lain around for a century and a half. Like silk. Charcoal iron, and it +was hammered, too. Metal isn't half worked any more. We could turn that +into steel at almost nothing a ton." He showed them in the mouldering +shed the foundation of the anvil, traced the probable shafting of the +trip hammer, marked the location of the hearths. "Three," he decided; +"and a cold trickle of air. A nigger pumping a bellows, probably. No, +they could get that from the wheel," he drew an explanatory diagram in +the blackened dust. + +With the lunch basket on the running board of the motor they ate sitting +on the low boundary wall of the lawn. The heat increased through the +late May noon, and Howat remained while Mariana and James Polder +wandered in the direction of the orchard. Finally the sun forced the +former to move; and he, too, proceeded in a desultory manner, entering +the shade of a grove of old maples. The trees, their earliest red +leafage already emerald, followed the dry channel cut back from Canary +Creek to the Forge, and he soon emerged at the broad, flashing course of +the stream. A flat rock jutted into the hurrying water by an overthrown +dam, its sun-heated expanse now in shadow; and he stayed, listening to +the gurgling flow. Far above him a hawk wheeled in ambient space; a mill +whistle sounded remotely from Jaffa. + +The thought of Mariana hovered at the back of his lulled being; all he +desired, he told himself, was her complete happiness. He might even have +become reconciled to James Polder. His first, unfavourable opinion of +the latter, he realized, had been modified by--by time. He had judged +Polder solely in the light of an old standard. The fellow was painfully +honest; good stuff there, iron ... the iron of the Pennys. But the other +strain had betrayed him. A cursed shame. The material of the present, +moulded, perhaps, into seemingly new forms, was always that of the +past. This Polder was Essie Scofield and Jasper ... Byron. He, Howat +Penny, was Penny and Jannan and Penny--Daniel, James, Casimir, and Howat +once more, the older Howat who had married the widow of Felix Winscombe. +Black again. He wondered what the blackness, not spent like his own, had +brought the other. A headstrong, dark youth with the characteristic +sloping eyebrows and slender, vigorous, carriage. The traditional +rebellious spirit had involved Jasper in disgrace; it had thinned his +own blood. + +Footfalls approached through the trees, and the others joined him. James +Polder extended himself on the rock, and Mariana sat with her hands +clasped about her slim knees. A silence intensified by the whispering +stream enveloped them. The hawk circled above, and Howat had an +extraordinary sense of the familiarity of the bird hanging in limitless +space, of the warm stone and water choking in a smooth eddy. He had, as +a boy, fished there. But his brain momentarily swam with a poignant, +unrecognizable emotion, different from the sensation of childhood. He +rose, confused and giddy. With old age, he muttered. + +Mariana followed. "It's all over," she announced, decisively. "We'll +drive back and leave to-day." She sighed. "That's gone already," James +Polder showed her the sun slipping toward the western hills. She moved +up to him, laid her hand on his arm. Howat Penny went ahead. He must +speak to her after dinner. As the motor slowly gathered momentum he +turned and looked back at the dark, pinkish dwelling in its tangle of +grass and bushes run wild. Dusk appeared to have already gathered over +it, although the sun still shone elsewhere in lengthening dusty gold +bars; the wide-spread beech was sombre against blank shutters, the +chimneys broken and cold. + + + + +XXXIV + + +A letter for James Polder was at Shadrach, and he opened it immediately, +glancing over its scrawled sheet. Howat saw a curious expression +overspread the other's countenance. He called, "Mariana!" in a sharp +tone. She appeared from the foot of the steps. "Harriet never went +home," he told her; "this is from Pittsburgh. She's back on the stage." +A premonitory dread filled Howat Penny. Mariana stood quietly, her gaze +lifted to Polder. "She never went home," he repeated; "but writes that +suddenly she--she didn't want to, and couldn't stand Harrisburg another +week. She saw some one and had a part, that ought to be good, offered to +her; and, so--" + +"Is that all, Jim?" + +"No," he replied; "there is more, absolutely unjustified. I think I'd +like you to read it. It would be best." Mariana took the letter, and +followed its irregular course. "It's true enough," she said quietly, at +the end. "But I don't in the least mind, Jim. She had a perfect right to +something of the sort. That is--I'm not annoyed about what she says of +me, but it will upset you terribly. And it has been my fault, from the +first." He protested vehemently, but she stopped him with a gesture; +then walked to the door opening on the porch; where, her head up, she +stood gazing out into the serene, failing light. + +James Polder followed her, and Howat heard the screen softly close. He +was about to light a cigarette, but, his hand shaking, he laid it on the +table. He put up his glass, without purpose, and then let it drop. +Rudolph was placing the silver for dinner; old forks faintly marked with +a crest that Isabel Howat had brought to her husband. A recurrence of +the afternoon's sense of the continuity of all living flowed over him, +whispering with old voices, old longing and sorrow and regret, mingled +dim features, and the broken clasping of hands. He saw Mariana sweeping +in a pale current--a remote, eternal passion winding through the +transient body of life. She smiled, her subdued, mocking gaiety +infinitely appealing, and vanished. + +They came in to dinner without changing the informal garb of the day. +James Polder was silent, disturbed, but Mariana was serenely +commonplace. Her voice, clear and high, went unimportantly on; until, +turning to Howat Penny, she said without the changing of a tone. "I want +James to take me back to Harrisburg with him, but he won't." Howat +endeavoured to meet this insanity with the silence usually opposed to +Mariana's frequent wildness of statement. His knife scraped sharply +against a plate; but, in the main, he successfully preserved an unmoved +countenance. "Now that Harriet has surrendered Mm," she persisted, "I +don't see why I can't be considered. It is the commonest sense--Jim +can't live alone, properly, in that house; I can't exist properly +without him. You see, Howat, how reasonable it seems." What he did +perceive was that his attitude of inattention must be sharply deserted. + +"Your words, Mariana," he said coldly, "'proper' and 'reasonable,' in +the connection you have used them, would be ridiculous if they weren't +disgraceful. I have been patient with a certain amount of rash talk, +yes--and conduct, but this must be the end. I had intended to have you +leave Shadrach this morning, then later. Either that or I'll be forced +to make my excuses to James Polder." He glanced with a veiled anxiety at +the latter but could read nothing from the lowered, pinched countenance. + +"We could leave together if you are tired of us," Mariana continued. +"It's James, really, who is making all the trouble. He has some stupid +idea about nobility of conduct and my best good. But the real truth is +that he's afraid, for me, of course, and so he won't listen." + +"Won't you show her that it is impossible?" the younger man cried at +Howat Penny. "I can't take advantage of her heavenly courage. She +doesn't realize the weight of opinion. It would make--" + +"Stuff," she interrupted. "You'd make steel, and I would make an +occasional dessert. You must be told, Jimmy, that the afternoon calling +you have confused with life really isn't done any more. You have been +brought up in rather a deadly way. You ought to be saved from yourself. +I am a very mature person, and I am advising you calmly." + +The dinner had come to an end; a decanter, in old-fashioned blue and +gold cutting, of brandy, a silver basket of oranges, the coffee cups and +glasses, were all that remained; and James Polder played with the cut +fruit, the half-full cordial glass before him. "I am going to be +brutally frank, Jimmy," she said again. "You know that is a habit of +mine, too. You are a very brilliant young man, but you are not +omnipotent--you require stiffening, like a collar. And I would be a +splendid laundress for you. Harriet is a long shot too lenient. I might +not be so comfortable to live with, but I'd be bracing. I'd have you in +that dirty little superintendent's box in no time." + +He made no reply; and, obviously tormented, automatically squeezed a +half orange into his goblet. Then he took a sip of brandy. + +"Together, James," Mariana asserted, "we would go up like a kite. By +yourself--forgive me--you haven't enough patience, enough balance; you +wouldn't fly steadily. You might break all your sticks on the ground." +He moodily emptied what remained of his brandy into the goblet and +orange juice, and pushed it impatiently away. "I'd rather do that," he +answered, "than try to carry you with me on such a flight." + +Howat Penny was conscious of a diminution of his fears. He had entirely +underrated James Polder; the latter was an immense sight steadier than +Mariana. His thoughts strayed momentarily to Harriet, back again in her +public orbit. He could imagine that she had found Harrisburg insuperably +dull, the hours with only Cherette empty after the emotional debauches +of the plays elected by Vivian Blane. Yes, this young Polder would stand +admirably firm. Mariana frowned at the cobalt smoke of her cigarette. "I +am in a very bad temper," she told them. "No one for a minute thinks of +what my feeling may be. You are both entirely concerned with your own +nice sense of virtue." + +"Not at all, but of your future," Howat Penny asserted. + +Her lower lip assumed the contempt of which it was pre-eminently +capable. She made no immediate reply. James Polder's fingers absently +clasped the goblet before him; he drew it toward his plate, tipped the +thick liquid it contained. "Just what do you recommend me to do?" +Mariana challenged Howat. "Go through with a lifeful of winters like the +last! Marry another Sam Lewis! I am not celebrated for reliability; it +is only with Jimmy--" she broke off. Howat Penny recalled her callous +expression, photographed in Egyptian dress at a period ball, her +description of the hard riding and reckless parties of the transplanted +English colonies in the south. + +Polder lifted the goblet to his lips, but set it back untasted. Howat +looked away from Mariana's scornful interrogation, unable to reply. +Finally, "I am old, as you once reminded me," he stated; "I'm out of my +time, don't understand, I can only remember, and remembering isn't any +longer of use. The men I knew, the kind, I hope, I was, would ruin +themselves a hundred times before compromising a woman. Polder appears +to understand that. And women I had the privilege of meeting sacrificed +themselves with a smile for what you dismiss as mere stupidity. God +knows which is right. They looked the loveliest of creatures then. There +was a standard, we thought high.... Things a man couldn't do. But I +don't know--it seems so long ago." He stopped to watch James Polder take +a sip of the mixture in his hand. The latter tasted it slowly, and then +emptied the goblet. His face was blank, with eyes nearly closed. + +"I could carry Jimmy up in my hands," Mariana said. "Don't," she added +vaguely, as he squeezed out the remaining half of his orange and poured +fresh brandy into it. "It's curious," he told her; "not at all bad." + +They moved out of the dining room, and Mariana and Polder continued to +the porch. Howat stood with a hand resting on the mahogany cigarette +box; he had the feeling of a man unexpectedly left by a train thundering +into the distance. It would not stop, back, for him now; he was dropped. +He sank relaxed into an accustomed chair; his brain surrendered its +troubling; the waking somnolence settled over him. He was conscious of +his surrounding, recognized its actuality; yet, at the same time, it +seemed immaterial, like the setting of a dream. He roused himself after +a little and smoked, nodding his head to emphasize the points of his +thought. + +This Polder had shown the instinct of breeding; while Mariana was--just +what she was he couldn't for the life of him determine. A hussy, he +decided temporarily. After all, his own time, when black and white had +been distinguishable, was best. Howat Penny relinquished, with a sigh, +the effort to penetrate to-day; he was content to be left behind; out of +the grinding rush, the dizzy speed, of progression. His day, when black +had been black, was immeasurably superior; the women had been more +charming, the men erect, clothed in proper garb and pride. Where, now, +could be seen such an audience as Dr. Damrosch had gathered for his +first season of German opera? Not, certainly, at the performance he had +heard with Mariana two, no--three, winters ago. A vulgarized performance +in the spirit of a boulevard cafe. The whole present air, he told +himself, was wrong. + +He looked at his watch, and was surprised to see that it was past ten. +Not a sound came from the porch; and he determined to go outside, +exercise the discretion which Mariana had cast to the winds. However, he +didn't stir; he could not summon the energy necessary for the combating +of their impetuous youth. He unfolded a paper, but it drooped on his +knees, slid, finally, to the floor. Then Mariana appeared, walked +swiftly, without a word, through the room, and vanished upstairs. Not +even a civil period at the end of the evening. After another, long wait +James Polder entered. The latter stood uneasily by the table, with a +furrowed brow, a ridiculous, twitching mouth. + +Polder went out into the dining room; where, through the doorway, Howat +Penny could see him hovering over the silver basket of oranges, placed +upon the sideboard. "If you don't mind," he called back, and there were +a rattle of knives, a thin ring of glass. The light was dim beyond, and +he stood in the doorway with the brandy decanter and orange juice. He +drained the mixture and leaned, absorbed, against the woodwork. "This is +a hell of a world!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Everything worth having is +fenced off. A woman won't understand. Does any one suppose that I don't +want Mariana! It's the responsibility. She's right--I am afraid of it. +And she laughed at me. Nothing cowardly in her," his voice deepened. + +"It is ignorance," Howat stated. + +"I thought so, for a minute; you are wrong. She's had more experience +than we'd get in a thousand years. The life she knows would fix that. +She talked me into a tangled foolishness in five minutes; made me look +like a whiskered hypocrite. Nothing I said sounded real, and yet I must +be right. Suppose Harriet should turn nasty, suppose--oh, a thousand +things." + +"It isn't arguable," Howat Penny agreed. + +This afforded the other no consolation. "What is she to do?" he +demanded. "Mariana won't settle quietly against a wall. She told you +that. She's full of--of a sort of energy that must be at something. +Mariana hasn't the anchor of most women--respectability." + +"Am I to gather that that is no longer considered admirable?" the elder +inquired. "If you gather anything you are lucky," Polder replied +gloomily. "I'm not sure about my own name. Good-night," he disappeared +abruptly. + +Above, Howat slowly made his preparations for retiring, infinitely +weary. Waking problems fell from him like a leaden weight into the sea +of unconsciousness. He was relieved, at breakfast, to see Mariana come +down in a hat, with the jacket of her suit on an arm. He waited for her +to indicate the train by which she was leaving, so that he could tell +Honduras to have the motor ready; but she sat around in a dragging +silence. Polder walked up and down the room in which they were gathered. +Howat wished he would stop his clattering movement. An expression of +ill-nature deepened in Mariana; she looked her ugliest; and James Polder +was perceptibly fogged from a lack of sleep. Finally he said: + +"Look here, we can't go on like this." He stopped in front of Mariana, +with a quivering face. She raised her eyebrows. "Come outside," he +begged. "What's the use?" she replied; but, at the same time, she rose. +"Don't get desperate, Howat," she said over her shoulder. "Even I can't +do any more; I can only take my shamelessness back to Andalusia." Polder +held open the screen door; and as, without her jacket, she went out, +Howat Penny had a final glimpse of the man bending at her side. Like two +fish in a net, he thought ungraciously. He was worn out by their +infernal flopping. With a determined movement of his shoulders, a fixing +of his glass, he turned to the accumulation of his papers. + +Later he heard the changing gears of a motor. He thought for a moment +that it was Honduras at his own car; then he recognized the stroke of a +far heavier engine. The powerful, ungraceful bulk of an English machine +was stopping at his door. Immediately after he distinguished the +slightly harsh, dominating voice of Peter Provost. The latter entered, +followed by Kingsfrere Jannan. Peter Provost, a member of the New York +family and connection of the Jannans, had, since the elder Jannan's +death, charge of the family's interest in the banking firm of Provost, +Jannan and Provost. He occupied, Howat knew, a position of general +advisor to Charlotte and her children. He was a large man who had never +lost the hardness of a famous university career in the football field, +with a handsome, cold countenance and spiked, grey moustache. He shook +hands with Howat Penny, and plunged directly into his present purpose. + +"Kingsfrere," he said, "has heard some cheap stuff in the city, +principally about that young Polder married last fall. Personally, I +laughed at it, but Charlotte seemed upset. This Polder's wife, an +actress, has left her husband, and gone back to the stage because--so +Byron asserted; you know Byron--Mariana had broken up their home." + +"Old Polder said just that," Kingsfrere affirmed. "And that wasn't +all--he added that Mariana was out here with the fellow." + +Provost laughed. + +"Well," Howat Penny replied, "James Polder is staying at Shadrach. He +was asked here because his health was threatening. He had two weeks +leave; and, although I wasn't really anxious, I said he might recuperate +with me." + +"And Mariana?" Provost inquired. + +"Came out day before yesterday, late; leaving this morning." + +Howat Penny was conscious of a growing anger. There was no reason for +his submitting to an interrogation by Peter Provost; he didn't have to +justify his actions, the selection of his guests; and he had no +intention of explaining his attitude toward Mariana. But Provost, it +became evident, had no inclination to be intrusive. It was, he made that +clear, wholly Charlotte. But Kingsfrere Jannan was increasingly +impatient. "Where is Polder?" he demanded. Howat surveyed him with +neither favour nor reply. Suddenly he understood the feeling of both +men--they considered that he was too old to have any grip or +comprehension of life. They were quietly but obviously relegating him to +the back of the scene. His anger mounted; he was about to make a sharp +reply, when he paused. There was a possibility that they were right; he +was, undoubtedly, old; and he had been unable to influence, turn, +Mariana, in the slightest degree. He didn't approve of her present, +head-strong course ... only a few hours ago he had voluntarily, gladly, +relinquished all effort to comprehend it. + +"Perhaps," Provost suggested, "since we are here we'd better talk to +him. I suppose they're out about the place. You could send Rudolph." +Howat replied that he would find them himself. He wanted, now, to +prepare James Polder for any incidental unpleasantness. The latter, he +knew, had a hasty temper, a short store of patience. After all, he had +acted very well in a difficult situation. It had been Mariana. Howat +Penny was aware of a growing sympathy for young Polder. His was a more +engaging person than Kingsfrere's pasty presence and sharp reputation at +cards. He got his hat, and went out over the thick, smooth sod, into the +slumberous, blue radiance of the early summer noon. + +He found Mariana and James Polder sitting on a bank by the Furnace. +"Peter Provost's here with Kingsfrere," he told them quietly. "They want +to see.... James, about some nonsense bantered around town." Polder +rose quickly, instantly antagonistic. "At the house?" he demanded, +already moving away. Mariana stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. +"Don't pay any attention to what they may say, Jimmy," she commanded. +"It isn't Peter Provost's affair, and Kingsfrere in a fatherly pose is a +scream." They moved forward together. "I'll see them," she added +cuttingly. + +"I will attend to this," James Polder told her. "I don't want any woman +explaining my actions. They haven't a whisper on me. I'm glad enough of +an opportunity to talk to a man." + +"If you lose your temper--" Howat commenced, but Mariana impatiently +interrupted him. "Why shouldn't Jim lose his temper?" she demanded. "I +would. Personally, I'd be glad if he did, although it mightn't be +fortunate for Kingsfrere. He's a good deal of a dumpling. But I will be +furious if you look guilty. Tell them we're mad about each other and +that I am waiting for the smallest encouragement to go with you." + +Howat Penny left Mariana at the door, and went in with Polder. Provost +was seated, with an open paper; Kingsfrere studying the photograph of +Scalchi. "This," said Howat generally, "is my guest, James Polder." +Peter Provost extended his square, powerful hand; but the other, Jannan, +made no movement. "Well?" Polder demanded aggressively. Howat Penny +proceeded through the room to the porch, where he met Mariana. They +walked to the further end and found chairs. "What makes me sick," +Mariana proceeded, "is the way men calmly take everything into their own +hands; as if women were still tied up, naughty bundles. Jim will have +all the fun, and he has only said 'no' in horrified tones." + +Again he could think of no adequate reply. He listened in vain for the +sound of raised voices within. "What, in heaven's name, brought them?" +Howat told her what he had heard. "I'm glad I did break up that mess +they called a home," she asserted. "It was rotten with stale beer and +half pounds of liver for that disgusting animal!" + +The heat increased in waves; a wagon passing on the road below was +enveloped in a cloud of dust. "I wish they'd hurry," Mariana said +sharply. Howat Penny thought he heard Kingsfrere speaking in abrupt +periods. Then a chair scraped, and Peter Provost's deliberate voice +became audible. It was, however, impossible to distinguish his words; +but suddenly Polder exclaimed, "Say something I can pound into you." +Mariana rose, her hands clenched. "Go back to your mouldy little life!" +James Polder continued. "I'm not surprised Miss Jannan wants to get out +of it. I am sorry I hesitated. It seemed to me I couldn't offer her +anything good enough; but that was before I'd listened to you.... And if +you in particular come worming about me again I'll smash your flat +face." The screen door was wrenched violently open, and James Polder +strode up to Mariana. "Suppose we get out of this slag pit," he said, +his chest labouring; "I can't breathe here." + +"I am ready, Jimmy," she replied quietly; "perhaps Howat will look up a +train and let Honduras drive us to the station." She laid her hand on +his arm. "Now we can forget them," she said. They turned, and, together, +vanished into the house. Howat Penny followed them slowly. He found +Peter Provost apparently undisturbed. "Nothing to be done," the latter +commented. "I saw that immediately he turned up. Kingsfrere made a short +effort, but it wasn't conspicuously successful; I imagine it rather +worse than failed. God knows what's getting into these young women, +Howat--Eliza and the rest of 'em--it's a gamble they don't. All right, +Kingsfrere." Jannan lingered with a dark mutter, but the other +unceremoniously drove him into the waiting car. + +Mariana soon descended, with Polder carrying two bags. "One seven," +Howat told them. In the extraordinary situation he found nothing +adequate to say. Mariana might have been going unremarkably to Charlotte +and her home; she was absolutely contained. James Polder had a dazed +expression; without his companion, Howat thought, he would blunder into +the walls. He stood, holding the bags until told to put them down. +Honduras was soon at the door. Mariana moved forward, and mechanically +Howat Penny made his customary pretence of avoiding her kiss. The warm +fragrance of her lips remained long after she had gone. + +A pervasive stillness settled upon Shadrach; outside the sunlight lay on +the hills in a thick, yellow veil; the cool interior held only the +familiar crepitation of the old clock above. Now, he told himself, he +could read the papers peacefully; but he sat with empty hands. Mariana +had gone. "Outrageous conduct," he said aloud, without conviction. His +voice sounded thin, unfamiliar. His dreams of her continued superiority +to the commonplace, of her fine aloofness like the elevation of the +strains of _Orfeo_, had been utterly destroyed. He could not imagine a +greater descent than the one which had overtaken her. As he rehearsed +its details they seemed increasingly disgraceful. He could not forgive +James Polder for his relapse, his shocking failure to maintain the +standards, the obligations, bred into himself, Howat Penny, by so many +years, and by blood. It was that miserable old business of Jasper's once +more, blighting the present, betraying Mariana. + +This wheeled in his brain throughout summer. He had, as he expected, no +word from her. Charlotte, too, sent no line; he was isolated in the +increasing and waning heat, in a sea of greenery growing heavy and grey +with dust, then swept by rain, and touched with the scarlet finality of +frost. Rudolph lit again the hickory fires in the middle hearth; the +days shortened rapidly; sitting before the glow of the logs he could +see, through a western window, the afternoon expiring in a sullen red +flame. The leaves streamed sibilantly by the eaves and accumulated in +dry, russet heaps in angles and hollows; they burned in crackling fires, +filling the air with a drifting haze rich with suggestion and memories. +He saw the first snow on a leaden morning when the flexible and bald +white covering, devoid of charm, held the significance of barrenness, +death. All day this chilling similitude lingered in his mind. He walked +about the house slowly, unpleasantly conscious of the striking of his +feet on the wood floors. + +At Christmas a revival of spirit overtook him; a long letter came from +Mariana, Bundy Provost sent him a tall silver tankard, with a lid, for +his night table. Howat, polishing his glass with a maroon bandanna, read +Mariana's letter in the yellow light of the lamp and burning logs. + +"I have been to see a new steel process," she wrote; "the Duplex, with +immense tilting furnaces and the Bessemer blast. I know a great deal +about iron now; far more than a Howat Penny who should be an authority. +Jim is frightfully busy, but lately he has been able to sleep after the +night shift, which makes it better for every one. He is one of the best +men here, and that comes from the Works, and the reorganization is +slowly but surely progressing, and we are progressing with it. I am not +a particle lonely, with only one servant; really don't want another, +and make a great deal more than desserts. You have no idea how +absorbing it is to have a lot of things that must be done. The days +simply fade. You mustn't worry about me, Howat; I always hated polite +affairs and parties and people; even when I was young as possible I was +more than anything else a Hell in the Corner." + +He smiled, recognizing an old flippant phrase, and let his hand drop +while he recalled Mariana--turning to him to hook her gown, constructing +annoying towers with the dominoes, reprehensible and amusing. He resumed +reading: + +"It would be wonderful if--no, it is wonderful! But Howat, I can tell +only you this, I wish oranges had never been invented." He drew his +mouth into a compressed line. James was drinking. He remembered when the +other first made the concoction of orange juice and brandy; he saw him +clearly, leaning in the doorway to the dining room, with the emptied +goblet, and a curious, introspective expression on his mobile +countenance. "He ought to be hung!" he exclaimed sharply. The fellow +should see himself as a mat for Mariana's feet. But that wasn't life, he +realized; existence seemed to become more and more heedless of the +proprieties, of the simplest concessions to duty. He saw the world as a +ship which, admirably navigated a score or more years ago, had jammed +its rudder. No one could predict what rocks the unmanageable sphere +might be driving for. + +The significance born by that sentence robbed the remainder of the +letter of pleasure. He read that Mariana had ordered the customary gift +of cigarettes, and hoped they would last him longer than everybody knew +they would. The implied affection of all the paragraphs was visible in +the last words. He put the letter carefully away. The cigarettes were +sufficient for a considerable time beyond customary. Something of his +appetite had gone; the periods of half wakeful slumber in his chair drew +out through whole evenings. The actual world retreated; his memories, as +bright as ever, became a little confused; the years, figures, mingled +incongruously; famous arias were transposed to operas in which they had +not been sung. + +Winter retreated, but the latter part of March and April were bitterly +cold; no leaves appeared; the ground remained barren; he seldom got out. + +The albums of programmes were brought from their place on the low +shelves, but now, more than often, they were barely opened, scanned. +Then, on an evening when belated snow was sifting through the cracks of +the solid shutters, he came on an oblong package, wrapped in strong +paper. He opened it, in a momentary revival of interest, of life. It was +a tall ledger, bound in crumbling calf, with stained and wrinkled +leaves. Howat had not seen it for twenty years, but he recalled +immediately that it was a forge book kept in Gilbert Penny's day; then +Myrtle Forge had been new, that other Howat alive. He opened it +carefully, powdered his knees with leather dust, and studied the faded +entries; what flourishing, pale violet initials, what rubicund lines and +endings! + +There were two handwritings, listing commonplace transactions now +invested by time with an accumulated, poignant significance, one smooth +and clerkly, the other abrupt, with heavy, impatient strokes. Youth, +probably, held at an unwelcome task; and, more than likely, Howat ... +October, in seventeen fifty. Years of virility, of struggle and +conquest, of iron--iron, James Polder had shown him, still uncorrupted, +better than the metal of to-day--and iron-like men. The ledger slipped +to the floor, tearing the spongy leather and crumbling the sere leaves. +He recovered it, dismayed at the damage wrought. A sheet apparently had +come loose, and he bent forward with difficulty, a swimming head. Howat +made an attempt to find its place, when he discovered that it was not a +part of the volume. It was, he saw, a note, obliterated by creases but +with some lines still legible, hurriedly scrawled, by a woman: + +"You must be more careful ... Your mother. So hot-headed, Howat. I can't +do what you ask. I have a headache now thinking about Felix and you and +myself. No one must find out." What followed was lost, then came a +signature that, with the aid of a reading glass, he barely +deciphered--"Ludowika." + +That was the name of the woman, a widow, Gilbert's son had married. Her +first husband, Felix Winscombe, had died at Myrtle Forge during a +diplomatic mission from England.... An old man with a young wife! His +confusion, slowly resolving into a comprehension of what the note +implied, filled him with an increasing revolt. The earlier Howat, too, +like Jasper, in the tangle of an intrigue--not a public scandal and +shame, as had been the later, but no less offensive. In a flare of anger +Howat Penny crumpled the paper and flung it into the fire. There it +instantly blackened, burst into flame and wavered, a shuddering cinder, +up the chimney. He put the ledger, loosely wrapped in its covering, on +the table, and sat breathing rapidly, curiously disturbed. The old +fault, projected so unexpectedly out of the faithless burial of the +past, struck at him with the weight of a personal affront. + +The heat subsided in the hearth, with the nightly ebbing of steam in the +radiator; the hickory, disintegrating into blocks, faded from cherry red +to pulsating, and finally dead, ash. Lost in the bitterness of his +thoughts he made no movement to replenish the fire. + +He wondered if the explored histories of other families would show such +scarring records as his own. Were there everywhere, back of each heart, +puddles, sloughs, masked in the deceiving probity maintained for public +view? And now--Mariana! Yet, somehow, her affair did not appear as ugly +as these others. Stated coldly, in conventional terms, it was little +different. Why, in plain words she had ... but Mariana evaded plain +words, her challenging courage forbade them. Here was more than could be +arraigned, convicted, by a stereotyped judgment. Or perhaps this was +only his affection for her, blinding him to the truth. + +The first Howat and Jasper, striking contemptuously across the barriers +of social morals, lived in Mariana, alone with James Polder in +illegitimate circumstance, and in himself--an old man without family, +without the supporting memory of actual achievement; the negative decay +of a negative existence. His mind, confronted by a painful complexity of +unanswerable problems, failed utterly. He was conscious of his impotence +chilling his blood, deadening his nerves. Thin tears fell over his +hollow cheeks; and he rose shakily, fiercely dragging at his bandanna. + +But he discovered that his hand was numb with cold. The fire lay black +and dead. The shrilling wind, ladened with snow, wrenched at the +shutters. The room was bitter. He must get up to bed ... warm blankets. +A chill touched him with an icy breath. It overtook him midway on the +stair, and he clung to the railing, appalled at its violence in his +fragile being. He got, finally, to his room, to the edge of his bed, +where he sat waiting for the assault to subside. He wanted Rudolph, but +the effort to move to the door, call, appeared insuperable. The chill +left him; and blundering, hideously delayed, he wrapped himself in the +bed covering. + +Not all the wool in the world, he thought, would be sufficient to drive +the cold from his body. He fell into a temporary exhaustion of sleep; +but was waked later by sharp and oppressive pains in his chest, +deepening when he breathed. The suffering must be mastered, and he lay +with gripping hands, striving by force of will to overcome what he +thought of as the brutal play of small, sharp knives. He conquered, it +seemed; the pain grew less; but it had left an increasing difficulty in +his breathing; it was a labour to absorb sufficient air even for his +small, aged demands. Sleep deserted him; and he waited through seeming +years for the delayed appearance of dawn. He had hoped that the new day +would be sunny, warm; it was overcast, he could see the snow drifted in +the lower window panes. + +Rudolph usually knocked at the door at half past eight; but, apparently, +to-day he had forgot. Howat Penny's watch lay on the table, at his hand, +yet it was far distant; he couldn't face the heavy effort of its +inspection. At last the man came in with his even morning greeting. +Howat was so exhausted that he could make no reply; and Rudolph moved +silently to the bedside. His expression, for an instant, was deeply +concerned. "I have a cold, or something of the sort," the other said. He +raised his head, but sank back, with a thin, audible inspiration. "It +would be best, sir, to have the doctor from Jaffa," the servant +suggested. Howat, in the midst of protest, closed his eyes; the pain had +returned. When he had again defeated it Rudolph was gone. + +The room blurred, lost its walls, became formless space; out of which, +to his pleasurable surprise, he saw the carefully garbed figure of +Colonel Mapleson walking toward him. He never forgot that tea rose! +Confound him--probably another benefit for one of his indigent song +birds. As Howat was about to speak the Colonel disappeared. It was +Scalchi, in street dress, a yellow fur about her throat, warm, +seductive. He had sent the divine Page the bouquet in paper lace. But +she too vanished. He heard the strains of an orchestra; lingering he had +missed the overture, and it might be the first duet--with Geister in +superb voice. He was waiting for Mariana, that was it ... always late. +Then her hand was under his arm. But it was the doctor from Jaffa. + +Rudolph was at the foot of the bed, and the two men moved aside, +conversed impolitely in hushed tones. I'm sick, he thought lucidly. One +word reached him--oxygen. It all melted away again, into a black lake +with ghostly swans, a painted mouth and showering confetti; one of the +supreme waltzes that Johann Strauss alone could compose. Later a woman +in a folded linen cap was seated beside him, a chimera. But she laid +cool fingers on his Wrist, held a brownish, distasteful mixture to his +lips. A draught of egg nog was better, although it wasn't as persuasive +as some he had had: Bundy Provost's, for example. + +Bundy was a galliard youth, but he was clear as ice underneath. He +wouldn't have let them put that thing over his, Howat's, face. He tried +to turn aside, but a cap of darkness descended upon him. Afterward his +breathing was easier. A blue iron tank was standing nearby, and the +nurse was removing a rubber mask attached to a flexible tube. The latter +led from a glass bottle, with a crystal pipe into the tank; the bottle +held water; and the water was troubled with subsiding, clear bubbles. +More of the dark, unpleasant mixture, more egg nog. Why did they trouble +and trouble him--already he was late getting to Irving Place. + +The opera, as he had feared, had commenced; and it was at once strange +and familiar. The chorus and orchestra were singing in a deep ground +tone; the stage was set with a row of great, seething furnaces; glaring +white bars of light cut through vaporous, yellow gases and showered +steel sparks where coppery figures were labouring obscurely in a flaming +heat that rolled out over the audience. There was a shrilling of +violins, and then a deafening blare of brass, an appalling volume of +sound pouring out like boiling metal.... But here was Rudolph; the +performance was at an end; it was time to go home. + +"I took the liberty of searching for--for Miss Jannan's address," the +other told him. Well, and why not! "Mr. Provost and Mrs. Jannan are away +for a week." Howat hoped that Kingsfrere would not turn up with his +flat face. He was conscious of smiling at a memory the exact shape of +which escaped him--something humorous that had happened to the pasty +youth. A refreshing air came in at the open windows, and he struggled +for a full, satisfying breath. The relief of what he dimly recognized as +oxygen followed. The nurse moved to the door and Mariana entered. + +"Howat," she exclaimed, sitting beside him, "how silly of you! A cold +now with winter done. The snow is running away. And these soda-watery +tanks." He felt a warmth communicated by her actual presence. "It's just +my breathing," he told her; "it gets stopped up. A damned nuisance! Did +Honduras meet you?" + +She assured him that she had been correctly received, and vanished to +remove her hat. Mariana must not sit in here, with the windows open, he +told the nurse; but then, he added, it was no good giving Mariana +advice. She wouldn't listen to it, except to do the opposite. She came +back, in one of her eternal knitted things, this one like a ripe banana, +and sat in the nurse's place. There was a great deal he wanted to know, +in a few minutes, when he felt less oppressed. The night came swiftly, +lit by his familiar lamps; Rudolph moved about in the orderly +disposition of fresh white laundry. A coat needed pressing. It would do +to-morrow. The doctor hurt him with a little scraping stab at the +bottom of his ear. + +"Mariana," he at last made the effort of speech, questioning: "I have +been bothered about your--your temporary arrangement. That Harriet, you +know ... make trouble." + +"Why, Howat," she replied, admirably detached; "you don't read the +important sheets of the papers! Harriet has made a tremendous success +with what was supposed to be a small part. A New York manager has +engaged her in letters of fire, for an unthinkable amount. James and I +sent her our obscure compliments, but we were virtuously rebuked by a +legal gentleman. Harriet, it seems, is going to cast us off." + +Of all that she had said only the word obscure remained in his mind; and +it roused in him an echo of his old, dogmatic pride. "Mariana," he +demanded, "didn't the reorganization come about; isn't James Polder +superintendent?" + +She hesitated, then replied in a low, steady voice. "Yes, Howat, it did; +but they didn't move Jim up. An older, they said steadier, man was +chosen." It was the oranges, he told himself, the oranges and brandy; +the cursed young fool. "You must come away, Mariana," he continued more +faintly; "fair trial, failure--something to yourself, our family." + +"Leave Jimmy because he wasn't made superintendent!" she replied in an +abstracted impatience. Then, "I wonder about a smaller plant? Won't you +understand, Howat," she leaned softly over him; "I need Jim as badly as +he needs me; perhaps more. If I had any superior illusions they have all +gone. I can't tell us apart. Of course, I'd like him to get on, but +principally for himself. Jim, every bit of him, the drinking and +tempers, and tenderness you would never suspect, is my--oxygen. I can +see that you want to know if I am happy; but I can't tell you, Howat. +Perhaps that's the answer, and I am--I have a feeling of being a part of +something outside personal happiness, something that has tied Jim and me +together and gone on about a larger affair. You see, Howat, I wasn't +consulted," she added in a more familiar impudence; "whether I was +pleased or not didn't appear to matter. In a position like that it's +silly to talk about happiness as if it were like the thrill at your +first ball." + +He drifted away from her through the nebulous haze deepening about him. +An occasional, objective buzzing penetrated to his removed place; but +all the while he realized that he was getting farther and farther from +such interruptions of an effort to distinguish a vaguely familiar, +veiled shape. He saw, at last, that it was Howat, a black Penny. It was +at once himself and that other Howat, yes, and Jasper. All three +unremarkably merged into one. And the acts of the first, a dark young +man with an erect, impatient carriage, a countenance and gaze of +vigorous scorn, accumulated in a later figure, hardly less upright, +slender, but touched with grey--a man in the middle of life. He paid +with an anguished spirit for what had taken place; and at last an old +man lingered with empty hands, the husk of a passion that had burned out +all vitality. + +Mariana, too, had been drawn into the wide implications of this mingled +past and present. But now, clearly, he recognized in her the meeting of +spirit and flesh that had been denied to him. That was life, he thought, +that was happiness. In the absence of such consummation he had come to +nothing. In Jasper, in Susan Brundon who had married him over late, the +two had warred. + +Life took the spirit to itself, mysteriously; wove the gold thread into +its design of scarlet and earth and green, or else ... a hearth soon +cold, the walls of a Furnace crumbled and broken, a ruin covered from +memory by growing leafage and grass throbbing with the song of robins, +the shrilling of frogs in the meadow. + +The doctor and nurse, Rudolph and Mariana, moved about him in a far, low +stir. At times they approached on a lighter flood of oxygen. Mariana +wiped his lips--an immaterial red stain. But what was that confounded +opera the name of which he had forgot? It would be in his albums; in the +first, probably. Downstairs. He had a sudden view of Mariana's face as +she returned with the volume. An expression of piercing concern +overwhelmed the reassuring smile she had for him. + +Howat understood at last, he was dying. An instinctive shuddering +seized him; not in fear of the obliterating fact; but from a physical +revulsion bred by his long years of delicate habit. + +Yet it wouldn't do to expose Mariana to the terrors; and, after a sharp, +inward struggle, he said almost fretfully, "Further on." She turned the +pages slowly; but no one could read without a decent light. He moved his +head, in an infinity of labour, toward the clear, grey opening of the +window, and saw a pattern of flying geese wavering across the tranquil +sky. + + + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Three Black Pennys, by Joseph Hergesheimer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE BLACK PENNYS *** + +***** This file should be named 15135.txt or 15135.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/3/15135/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Images provided +by the Million Book Project. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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