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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Eve to the Rescue, by Ethel Hueston,
+Illustrated by Dudley Gloyme Summers
+
+
+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: Eve to the Rescue
+
+
+Author: Ethel Hueston
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 24, 2008  [eBook #25892]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVE TO THE RESCUE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      or
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+
+
+
+
+
+EVE TO THE RESCUE
+
+by
+
+ETHEL HUESTON
+
+Author of
+Prudence of the Parsonage,
+Prudence Says So,
+Leave It to Doris, Etc.
+
+Illustrated by Dudley Gloyme Summers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "You get nicer every day of your life."]
+
+
+
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers New York
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+Copyright 1920
+The Bobbs-Merrill Company
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+To Carol
+
+Who came to us in the form of Duty,
+but who has brought us only Pleasure
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                       PAGE
+      I  In Defiance of Duty                    11
+     II  The Cote in the Clouds                 21
+    III  Everybody's Duty                       30
+     IV  The Irish-American League              40
+      V  Her Inheritance                        59
+     VI  A Wrong Adjustment                     84
+    VII  Painful Duty                           98
+   VIII  She Meets a Demonstrator              112
+     IX  Admitting Defeat                      124
+      X  The Original Fixer                    137
+     XI  The Germ Of Duty                      156
+    XII  The Revolt Of The Seventh Step        175
+   XIII  She Finds A Foreigner                 195
+    XIV  New Light On Loyalty                  214
+     XV  Service Of Joy                        226
+    XVI  Marie Encounters The Secret Service   248
+   XVII  Spontaneous Combustion                266
+  XVIII  Converts Of Love                      282
+    XIX  She Doubts Her Theory                 301
+     XX  She Proves Her Principle              312
+    XXI  Her One Exception                     332
+
+
+
+                           EVE TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EVE TO THE RESCUE
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN DEFIANCE OF DUTY
+
+
+"To-morrow being Saturday afternoon," began Eveley, deftly slipping a
+dish of sweet pickles beyond the reach of the covetous fat fingers of
+little niece Nathalie,--"to-morrow being Saturday afternoon--"
+
+"Doesn't to-morrow start at sunrise as usual?" queried her brother-in-law
+curiously.
+
+"As every laborer knows," said Eveley firmly, "Saturday begins with the
+afternoon off. And I am a laborer. Therefore, to-morrow being
+Saturday-afternoon-off, and since I have trespassed on your hospitality
+for a period of two months, it behooves me to find me a home and settle
+down."
+
+"Oh, Eveley," protested her sister in a soft troubled voice, "don't be
+disagreeable. You talk as if we were strangers. Aren't we the only folks
+you have? And aren't you my own and only baby sister? If you can't live
+with us, where can you live?"
+
+"As it says in the Bible," explained Eveley, truthfully if unscripturally,
+"no two families are small enough for one house."
+
+"But who calls you a family?" interrupted the brother-in-law.
+
+"I do. And nice and sweet as you all are, and adorable as I am well aware
+am I, all of you and all of me can not be confined to one house."
+
+"But we have counted on it," persisted Winifred earnestly. "We have
+looked forward to it. We have always said that you would come to us when
+Aunt Eloise died,--and she did--and you must. We--we expect it."
+
+"'England expects every man to do his duty,'" quoted Burton in a
+sepulchral voice.
+
+Then Eveley rose in her place, tall and formidable. "That is it,--duty.
+Then let me announce right now, once and for all, Burton Raines and
+Winifred, eternally and everlastingly, I do not believe in duty. No one
+shall do his duty by me. I publicly protest against it. I won't have it.
+I have had my sneaking suspicions of duty for a long time, and lately I
+have been utterly convinced of the folly and the sin of it. Whenever any
+one has anything hateful or disagreeable to do, he draws a long voice and
+says it is his duty. It seems that every mean thing in the world is
+somebody's duty. Duty has been the curse of civilization for lo, these
+many years!" Then she sat down. "Please pass the jam."
+
+"Oh, all right, all right," said Burton amiably, "have it your own way,
+by all means. Henceforth and forever after, we positively decline to do
+our duty by you. But what is our duty to you? Answer me that, and then I
+guarantee not to do it."
+
+"It is our duty to keep Eveley right here with us and take care of her,"
+said Winifred, with as much firmness as her soft voice could master. "She
+is ours, and we are hers, and it is our duty to stand between her and a
+hard world."
+
+"You can't. In the first place I am awfully stuck on the world, and want
+to get real chummy with it. Any one who tries to stand between it and me,
+shall be fired out bodily, head first."
+
+"Oh, Eveley," came a sudden wail from Winifred, "you can't go off and
+live by yourself. What will people think? They will say we could not get
+along together."
+
+"That is it,--just that and nothing more. It isn't duty that bothers
+you--it is What-will-people-think? An exploded theory, nothing more."
+Then she smiled at her sister winsomely. "You positively are the sweetest
+thing, Winnie. And your Burton I absolutely love. And your babies are the
+most irresistible angels that ever came to bless and--enliven--a sordid
+world. But you are a family by yourselves. You are used to doing what you
+want, and when you want, and how you want. I would be an awful nuisance.
+When Burton would incline to a quiet evening, I should have a party. When
+you and he would like to slip off to a movie, you would have to be polite
+and invite me. Nobody could be crazier about nieces and nephews than I
+am, but sometimes if I were tired from my work their chatter might make
+me peevish. And you would punish them when I thought you shouldn't, and
+wouldn't do it when I thought you should, and think of the arguments
+there would be. And so we all agree, don't we, that it would be more fun
+for me to move off by myself and then come to see you and be
+company,--rather than stick around under your feet until you grow deadly
+tired of me?"
+
+"I do not agree," said Winifred.
+
+"I do," said Burton.
+
+"Then we are a majority, and it is all settled."
+
+"But where in the world will you live, dear? You could not stand a
+boarding-house."
+
+"I could if I had to, but I don't have to. I have been favored with an
+inspiration. I can't imagine how it ever happened, but perhaps it was a
+special dispensation to save you from me. I am going to live in my own
+house on Thorn Street. Of course it will be lonely there at first, since
+Aunt Eloise is gone--but just listen to this. I shall rent the
+down-stairs part to a small family and I shall live up-stairs. Part of
+the furniture I am going to sell, use what I want to furnish my dove cote
+in the clouds, and the rest that is too nice to sell but can't be used I
+shall store in the east bedroom, which I won't use. That will leave me
+three rooms and a bath--bedroom, sitting-room and dining-room. I can fix
+up a corner of the dining-room into a kitchen with my electric percolator
+and grills and things. Isn't it a glorious idea? And aren't you surprised
+that I thought of anything so clever by myself?"
+
+"Not half bad," said Burton approvingly,--for Burton had long since
+learned that the pleasantest way of keeping friends with in-laws is by
+perpetual approval.
+
+"But you can never find a small family to take the down-stairs part of
+the house," came pessimistically from Winifred.
+
+"Oh, but I have found it, and they are in the house already. A bride and
+groom. The cunningest things! She calls him Dody, and they hold hands.
+And I sold part of the furniture yesterday, and had the rest moved
+up-stairs. But there is one thing more."
+
+"I thought so," said Burton grimly. "I remember the Saturday-afternoon-off.
+I thought perhaps you had me in mind for your furniture-heaver. But since
+that is done it is evident you have something far more deadly in store for
+me. Let me know the worst, quickly."
+
+"Well, you know, dearie," said Eveley in most seductively sweet tones,
+"you know how the house is built. There is only one stairway, and it
+rises directly from the west room down-stairs. Unfortunately, my bride
+and groom wish to use that room for a bedroom. Now you can readily
+perceive that a young and unattached female could not in conscience--not
+even in my conscience--utilize a stairway emanating from the boudoir of a
+bridal party. And there you are!"
+
+"I am no carpenter," Burton shouted quickly, when Eveley's voice drifted
+away into an apologetic murmur. "Get that idea out of your head right
+away. I don't know a nail from a hammer."
+
+"No, Burtie, of course you don't," she said soothingly. "But this will be
+very simple. I thought of a rambling, rustic stairway outside the house,
+in the back yard. You know the sun parlor was an afterthought, only one
+story high with a flat roof. So the rustic stairway could go up to the
+roof of the sun parlor, and I could make that up into a sort of roof
+garden. Wouldn't it be picturesque and pretty?"
+
+"But there is no door from your room to the roof of the sun parlor,"
+objected Burton.
+
+"No, but the window is very wide. I will just cover it with portières
+and things, and I am quite active so I can get in and out very nicely.
+And when I get around to it, and have the money, I may have a French
+window put in."
+
+"But, Eveley, I can't build a stairway. I don't know how to build
+anything. I couldn't build a box."
+
+"But you do not have to do this alone, Burtie. Just the foundation, that
+is all I expect of you. You will have lots of assistance. Not experienced
+help perhaps, but enthusiastic, and 'love goes in with every nail,'--that
+sort of thing. I have sent invitations to all of my friends of the
+masculine persuasion, and we have started a competition. Each admirer is
+to build two steps according to his own design and plan, and the one who
+builds most artistically is to receive, not my hand and heart, but a
+lovely dinner cooked on my grill in my private dining-room. I have the
+list here. I figured that twelve steps will be enough. Nolan Inglish,
+two. Lieutenant Ames, two. Captain Hardin, two. Jimmy Weaver, two. Dick
+Fairwether, two. Arnold Bender, two. Arnold is Kitty's beau, but she
+guaranteed two steps for him. Won't it be lovely?"
+
+"To-morrow being Saturday afternoon," said Burton bitterly.
+
+"I ordered the rustic lumber last night, and it was delivered to-day."
+
+"And you consider it my duty as the luckless husband of your
+long-suffering sister, to lay the foundation for the wabbly, rattly
+ramshackle stairs your pet assortment of moonstruck admirers will build
+for you?"
+
+"Not your duty, Burtie, certainly not your duty. But your pleasure and
+your great joy. For without the stairway, I can not live there. And if I
+do not live there, I must live here. And remember. When you want
+vaudeville, I will incline to grand opera. When you would enjoy a movie,
+I shall have a musicale here at home. When you are in the midst of a
+novel, I shall insist on a three-handed game of bridge. When you are
+ready to shave, I shall need the hot water. When your appetite calls for
+corned beef and cabbage, my soul shall require lettuce sandwiches and
+iced tea. Not your duty, dear, by any means. I do not believe in duty."
+
+"Quite right, sweet sister," he said pleasantly. "It shall afford me
+infinite pleasure, I assure you. And to-morrow being Saturday afternoon,
+you shall have your stairway."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE COTE IN THE CLOUDS
+
+
+As Eveley had prophesied, what her carpenters lacked in experience and
+skill was more than compensated by their ambition and their eagerness to
+please. On Saturday afternoon her back yard was a veritable bee-hive of
+industry. The foundation was in readiness for the handiwork of love, for
+Burton Raines, feeling that he could not concentrate on business in such
+sentimental environs, explained patiently that he was only an ordinary
+married man and that love rhapsodies to the tune of temperamental
+hammering upset him. So he had taken the morning off from his own
+business, to lay the foundation for the rustic stairway.
+
+Nolan Inglish, listed first because he was always listed first with
+Eveley, appeared at eleven o'clock, having explained to the lofty members
+of the law firm of which he was a junior assistant, that serious family
+matters required his attention. This enabled him to have the two
+bottom-most steps of the stairway, comprising his portion, erected and
+ready for inspection by the time Eveley arrived home from her work. He
+said he had felt it would be lonely for her to sit around by herself
+while everybody else worked for her, and having provided against that
+exigency by doing his labor in advance, he claimed the privilege of
+officiating as entertainer-in-chief for the entire afternoon.
+
+Arnold Bender appeared next, accompanied by Kitty Lampton, one of
+Eveley's pet and particular friends. Although Kitty was extremely
+generous in proffering the services of her friend in behalf of Eveley's
+stairway, she frankly stated that she was not willing to expose any
+innocent young man of her possession to the wiles and smiles of her
+attractive friend, without herself on hand to counteract any untoward
+influence.
+
+Captain Hardin and Lieutenant Ames came together with striking military
+éclat, accompanied, as became their rank, by two alert enlisted men.
+After introducing their enlisted men in the curt official manner of the
+army and having set them grandly to work on the rustic stairway, Captain
+Hardin and Lieutenant Ames immediately took up a social position in the
+tiny rose-bowered pergola, with Eveley and Kitty and Nolan and the
+lemonade.
+
+A little later, Jimmy Weaver rattled up in his small striped gaudy car,
+followed presently by Dick Fairwether on a noisy motorcycle. They took
+out their personal sets of tools from private recesses of their machines
+and plunged eagerly into the contest.
+
+So the afternoon started most auspiciously and all would doubtless have
+gone well and peacefully, had not Captain Hardin most unfortunately
+selected an exceptionally good-looking young soldier for his service,--a
+tall, slender, dark-skinned youth, with merry melting eyes. Eveley never
+attempted to deny that she could not resist merry melting eyes. So she
+left the young officers and Kitty and Nolan and the lemonade in the
+rose-bowered pergola on the edge of the canyon which sloped down abruptly
+on the east side, and herself went up to superintend the building of her
+stairway.
+
+The handsome one required an inordinate amount of superintending. The
+other soldier detailed by Lieutenant Ames, an ordinary young man with a
+sensible face and eyes that saw only hammer and nails, got along very
+well by himself. But the handsome youth, called Buddy Gillian, required
+supervision on every point. He first consulted Eveley about the design of
+the two steps entrusted to him for construction. He could think of as
+many as two dozen different styles of rustic steps, and he explained and
+illustrated them all to Eveley in great detail, drawing plans in the
+gravel path. It took the two of them nearly an hour to make a selection,
+and then it seemed the style they had chosen was the most difficult of
+the entire assortment, and was practically impossible for any one to
+construct alone. So Eveley perforce assisted, holding the rustic boughs
+while he hammered, carrying the saw, and carefully picking out the proper
+size of nails as he required them.
+
+"Didn't you have more sense than to bring a good-looker?" Nolan asked
+Captain Hardin in a fretful voice. "Don't you know that Eveley can't
+resist good looks?"
+
+"I told him he had no business to bring Gillian," put in the lieutenant.
+"Look at Muggs, whom I brought. Nobody notices that Muggs needs any help.
+See there now, he has finished and is ready to go. Can't you do something
+to stop this, Miss Lampton?" he pleaded, turning to Kitty.
+
+"As long as she leaves my Arnold alone, I shall mind my own business,"
+said Kitty decidedly. "If I cut in on her affair with your Buddy, she
+will try her hand on Arnold to get even. Captain Hardin got you into
+this, it is up to him to get you out."
+
+And Kitty heartlessly left the pergola and went up to the rustic steps to
+hold the hammer for Arnold.
+
+Then Captain Hardin, after rapidly drinking three glasses of iced
+lemonade to drown his chagrin and to strengthen his flagging courage,
+left the cozy pergola which had no attraction for any of them with Eveley
+out at work on the rustic stairway, and went up to the corner where she
+and Buddy Gillian were carefully and conscientiously matching bits of
+rustic lumber.
+
+"I do not think I should keep you any longer, Gillian, since Muggs is
+ready to go," he said kindly. "I can finish this myself now, thank you."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Buddy Gillian courteously, and stood up. Then to Eveley,
+"Shall I gather up the scraps, Miss Ainsworth, and tidy the lawn for you?
+It is pretty badly littered. Only too glad to be of service, if I may."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Mr. Gillian, that is sweet of you," said Eveley
+gratefully. "Suppose we begin down in that corner by the rose pergola,
+and gather up the scraps as we come this way. I'll carry this basket, and
+you can do the picking."
+
+But even this humble field of usefulness was denied Private Gillian, for
+Lieutenant Ames came out from the pergola and said with official
+briskness, "Oh, never mind that, Gillian. I can help Miss Ainsworth with
+it. You'd better run along with Muggs and enjoy your liberty period. Much
+obliged to you, I am sure."
+
+So the handsome Buddy looked deep into Eveley's eyes, and sighed. Eveley
+held out her hand.
+
+"You have done just beautifully," she said, "and helped me so much. And
+when are you coming to tell me the rest of that thrilling story of your
+life in the trenches?"
+
+"The question is, when may I?"
+
+"Well, Tuesday evening? Or can you get off on Tuesday?"
+
+"Oh, yes, since the war is over we can get off any night. Tuesday will
+suit me fine."
+
+"Sorry, Gillian," put in Captain Hardin grimly. "But unfortunately I have
+arranged for a company school on Tuesday night--to be conducted by
+Lieutenant Carston."
+
+Gillian turned his beautiful eyes on Eveley, eyes no longer merry but sad
+and wistful.
+
+"Let me see," puzzled Eveley promptly. "Could you come to-morrow night
+then, Mr. Gillian? Captain won't mind changing with you, I know, and he
+can come on Tuesday. Captains can always get away, can't they? Is that
+all right?--Then to-morrow evening, about eight. And I will have a little
+evening supper all ready for you. Good-by."
+
+After he had gone she said to the captain apologetically, "Hasn't he
+wonderful eyes? And I knew he must be quite all right for me to know, or
+you would never have introduced him."
+
+Taken all in all, only Kitty Lampton and Eveley considered the raising of
+the rustic stairway an entire success, although there was much light talk
+and laughter as they ate the dainty supper the girls had prepared for
+them in the Cloud Cote, as Eveley had already christened her home above
+the earth. But the men, with the exception of Nolan, were doomed to
+disappointment.
+
+When Dick Fairwether asked her to go to a movie with him in the evening,
+and when Jimmy Weaver invited her to go for a night drive with him along
+the beach, and when Captain Hardin suggested that she accompany him to
+the Columbine dance at the San Diego, and when Lieutenant Ames wanted to
+make a foursome with Kitty and Arnold to go boating, she said most
+regretfully to each,--"Isn't it a shame? But my sister is having some
+kind of a silly club there to-night, and I promised to go."
+
+But to Nolan, very secretly she whispered: "Now you trot along to the
+office and work and when I am ready to come home I will phone you to come
+and get me. And we will initiate the Cloud Cote all by ourselves."
+
+So the little party broke up almost immediately after supper, with deep
+avowals of gratitude on the part of Eveley, and equally deep assurances
+of pleasure and good will on the part of the others. After they had gone,
+as Eveley inspected her stairway alone, she was comforted by the thought
+that she could fairly smother it with vines and all sorts of creeping and
+climbing things, and the casual comer would not notice how funny and
+wabbly it was. But as she went gingerly down, clinging desperately to the
+rail on both sides, she determined to take out an accident policy
+immediately, with a special clause governing rustic stairways.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+EVERYBODY'S DUTY
+
+
+Due to the old-fashioned, rambling style of the house, the rustic
+stairway did not really detract from its beauty. And as there were
+already clambering vines and roses in profusion, an extra arbor more or
+less, could, as Eveley claimed, pass without serious comment. Although
+the house was old, it was still exquisitely beautiful, with its cream
+white pillars and columns showing behind the mass of green. And the lawn,
+which was no lawn but only a natural park running riot with foliage
+coaxed into endless lovers' nooks and corners, was a fitting and
+marvelously beautiful setting for it.
+
+The gardens were in the shape of a triangle, with conventional paved
+streets on the north and west, but on the east and south they drifted
+away into the shadowy canyon which stretched down almost to the bay, and
+came out on the lower streets of the water-front.
+
+Eveley stood on her rustic stairway and gloated over it lovingly,--the
+rambling house, the rambling gardens, the beautiful rambling canyon, and
+then on below to the lights on the bay, clustered together in
+companionable groups.
+
+"Loma Portal, Fort Rosecranz, North Island, Coronado, and the boats in
+the bay," she whispered softly, pointing slowly to the separate groups.
+And her eyes were very warm, for she loved each separate light in every
+cluster, and she was happy that she was at home again, in the place that
+had been home to her since the days of her early memory.
+
+Eveley's mother had been born in the house on Thorn Street, as had her
+sister, Eloise, the aunt with whom the girls had lived for many years.
+And after the death of her husband, when Eveley was a tiny baby, Emily
+Ainsworth had taken her two girls and gone back to live with her sister
+in the family home. There a few years later she too had passed away,
+leaving her children in the tender, loving hands of Aunt Eloise. And the
+years had passed until there came a time when Winifred was married, and
+Eveley and her aunt lived on alone, though always happily.
+
+But investments had gone badly, and returns went down as expenses went
+up. So Eveley studied stenography, and took genuine pleasure in her
+career as a business girl. With her salary, and their modest income, the
+two had managed nicely. Then when Aunt Eloise went out to join her
+sister, the Thorn Street house was left to Eveley, and other property
+given to Winifred to compensate. So that to Eveley it was only coming
+home to return to the big house and the rambling gardens. But to meet the
+expenses of maintenance it was necessary that part of the large house
+should be rented.
+
+Eveley, always adaptable, moved serenely into her cote at the head of the
+stairs, and felt that life was still kind and God was good, for this was
+home, and it was hers, and she had come to stay.
+
+She almost regretted the impulsive promise to her sister that drew her
+out of her dwelling on the first night of her tenancy. Not only did she
+begrudge the precious first-night hours away from her pretty cote in the
+clouds, but she was not charmed with the arrangement for the evening. She
+was an ardent devotee of clubs of action, rowing, tennis, country,
+dancing and golf, but for that other type of club, which she described as
+"where a lot of women sit around with their hats on, and drink tea, and
+have somebody make speeches about things," she felt no innate tenderness.
+
+It was really a trick on the part of Winifred that procured the promise
+of attendance. For Eveley had been allowed to believe they were going to
+play cards and that there would be regular refreshments of substance, and
+perhaps a little dancing later on. All this had been submitted to by
+inference, without a word of direct confirmation from Winifred, who had a
+conscience.
+
+So it was that Eveley Ainsworth, irreproachably attired in a new
+georgette blouse and satin skirt, betook herself to her sister's home for
+an evening meeting of the Current Club. And it was a decided shock to
+find that neither a social game nor a soul-restoring midnight supper were
+in store for her, but the proverbial tea and speeches. She resigned
+herself, however, to the inevitable, and shrank back as obscurely as
+possible into a dark corner where she might muse on the charms of Nolan,
+the beauties of the new Buddy Gillian, the martial dignity of Captain
+Hardin, and the appeals of all the rest, to her frivolous heart's
+content.
+
+In this manner, she passed through the first part of the evening very
+comfortably, only dimly aware that she was floundering in the outskirts
+of a perfect maze of big words dealing with Americanization, which Eveley
+vaguely understood to be something on the order of standing up to _The
+Star Spangled Banner_, and marching in parades with a flag and shouting
+"Hurrah for the President," in the presence of foreigners.
+
+The third speaker was a minister, and ministers are accustomed to
+penetrating the blue mazes of mental abstraction. This minister did. He
+began by telling three funny stories, and Eveley, who loved to exercise
+her sense of humor, came back to the Current Club and joined their
+laughter.
+
+In the very same breath with which he ended the last funny story, he
+began breezily discoursing on everybody's duty as a loyal American.
+Eveley, to whom the word "duty" was the original red rag, sniffed
+inaudibly but indignantly to herself. And while she was still sniffing
+the speaker left "duty as American citizens" far behind, and was deep in
+the intricacies of Americanization. Eveley found to her surprise that
+this was something more than saluting the flag and shouting. She grew
+quite interested. It seemed that ordinary, regular people were
+definitely, determinedly working with little scraps of the foreign
+elements, Chinese, Mexican, Russian, Italian, yes, even German,--though
+Eveley considered it asking entirely too much, even of Heaven, to elevate
+shreds of German infamy to American standards. At any rate, people were
+doing this thing, taking the pliant, trusting mind of the foreigner,
+petting it, training it, coaxing it,--until presently the flotsam and
+jetsam of the Orient, of war-torn Europe, of the islands of the sea, of
+all the world, should be Americanized into union, and strength, and
+loyalty, and love.
+
+It fascinated Eveley. She forgot that it was her duty as a patriotic
+American. She forgot that nobody had any business doing anything but
+minding one's own business. She fairly burned to have a part in the work
+of assimilation. Her eyes glowed with eagerness, her cheeks flushed a
+vivid scarlet, her lips trembled with the ecstatic passion of loyalty.
+
+In the open discussion that followed after the last address, Eveley
+suddenly, quite to her own surprise, found that she had something to say.
+
+"But--isn't it mostly talk?" she asked, half shyly, anxious not to
+offend, but unable to repress the doubt in her mind. "It does not seem
+practical. You say we must assimilate the foreign element. But can one
+assimilate a foreign element? Doesn't the fact that it is foreign--make
+it impossible of assimilation? Oh, I know we have to do something, but as
+long as we are foreigners, we to them, and they to us,--what can we do?"
+
+The deadly silence that greeted her words frightened her, yet somehow
+gave her courage to go on. She must be saying something rather sensible,
+or they would not pay attention.
+
+"We can not assimilate food elements that are foreign to the digestive
+organs," she said. "Labor and capital have warred for years, and neither
+can assimilate the other. Look at domestic conditions here,--in the home,
+you know. People get married,--men and women, of opposing types and
+interests and standards. And they can not assimilate each other, and the
+divorce courts are running rampant. It does no good to say assimilation
+is a duty, if it is impossible. And it seems to be."
+
+"Your criticism is destructive, Miss Ainsworth," said a learned professor
+who had spoken first, and Eveley was sorry now that she had not listened
+to him. "Destructive criticism is never helpful. Have you anything
+constructive to offer?"
+
+"Well, maybe it is theoretic, also," said Eveley smiling faintly, and
+although the smile was faint, it was Eveley's own, which could not be
+resisted. "But duty isn't big enough, nor adaptable enough, nor winning
+enough. There must be some stronger force to set in action. Nobody could
+ever win me by doing his duty by me. It takes something very intimate,
+very direct, and very personal really to get me. But if one says a word,
+or gives me a look,--just because he understands me, and likes me,--well,
+I am his friend for life. It takes a personal touch, a touch that is
+guided not by duty but by love. So I think maybe the foreign element is
+the same way. We've got to sort of chum up with it, and find out the nice
+things in it first. They will find the nice things in us afterward."
+
+"But as you say, Miss Ainsworth, isn't this only talk? How would you go
+about chumming up with the foreign element?"
+
+"I do not know, Professor," she said brightly. "But I think it can be
+done. And I think it has to be done, or there can not be any
+Americanization."
+
+"Well, are you willing to try your own plan? We are conducting classes,
+games, studies, among the foreigners, working with them, teaching them,
+studying them. We call this our duty as loyal Americans. You say duty is
+not enough, and you want to get chummy with them. Will you try getting
+chummy and see where you come out?"
+
+Eveley looked fearfully about the room, at the friendly earnest faces.
+"I--I feel awfully quivery in my backbone," she faltered. "But I will try
+it. You get me the foreigners, and I will practise on them. And if I
+can't get chummy with them, and like them, why, I shall admit you are
+right and I will help to teach them spelling, and things."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE IRISH-AMERICAN LEAGUE
+
+
+Several days passed quietly. Eveley went serenely about her work, and
+from her merry manner one would never have suspected the fires of
+Americanization smoldering in her heart ready for any straying breeze of
+opportunity to fan them into service.
+
+She was finding it deliciously pleasant to live in a Cloud Cote above a
+bride and groom. Mrs. Bride, as Eveley fondly called her, was the dainty,
+flowery, fluttery creature that every bride should be. And Mr. Groom was
+the soul of devotion and the spirit of tenderness. To the world in
+general, they were known as Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Severs, but to Eveley,
+they were Mrs. Bride and Mr. Groom. It served to keep their new and
+shining matrimonial halo in mind.
+
+She was newly glad every morning that the young husband had to start to
+his work before she left home for hers. When she heard the front door
+open down-stairs, she ran to her window, often with a roll or her coffee
+cup in her hand, to witness the departure, which to her romantic young
+eyes was a real event. Mrs. Bride always stood on the porch to watch him
+on his way to the car until he was out of sight. Sometimes she ran with
+him to the corner, and always before he made the turn he waved her a
+final good-by.
+
+It was very peaceful and serene. It seemed hard to believe that recently
+there had been a tremendous war, and that even now the world was writhing
+in the throes of political and social upheaval and change. In every
+country, men and women were grappling with great industrial problems, and
+there were ominous rumblings and threatening murmurs from society in
+revolution. But in the rambling white house in the great green gardens at
+the top of the canyon, one only knew that it was springtime in southern
+California, that the world was full of gladness and peace and joy, and
+that love was paramount.
+
+Several days,--and then one evening there came the call of the
+telephone--the reveille of Americanization in the person of Eveley
+Ainsworth. A class of young foreign lads had been gathered and would meet
+Eveley at the Service League that evening. No instructions were given, no
+suggestions were forthcoming. Eveley had asked for foreigners with whom
+she could get chummy and call it love. Here were the foreigners. The rest
+of the plan was Eveley's own.
+
+She was proud of her mature comprehension of the needs of reconstruction,
+and of her utter gladness to assist. She felt that it signified something
+rather fine and worth while in her character, and she took no little
+pleasure in the prospect of active service. She went about her work that
+day wrapped in a veil of mystery, her mind delving deep into the ideals
+of American life. She carefully elaborated several short and spicy
+stories, of strong moral and patriotic tone, emphasizing the nobility of
+love of country. And that evening she stood before her mirror for a long
+time, practising pretty flowery phrases to be spoken with a most winsome
+smile. Remembering that her subjects were boys, and that boys are young
+men in the making, she donned her daintiest, shimmeriest gown, and
+carefully coaxed the enticing little curls into prominence. Then with a
+final patriotic smile at herself in the mirror, she carefully climbed
+through the window and crossed the roof garden to the rustic stairway.
+
+As she walked briskly up Albatross to Walnut, then to Fourth where she
+took the car, and all the way down-town she was carefully rehearsing her
+stories and the most effective modes of presenting them. She knew the
+rooms of the Service League well, having been there on many occasions
+while there was still war and there were service men by the hundreds to
+be danced with. Half a dozen men and boys were lounging at the curbstone,
+and they eyed her curiously, grimly, Eveley thought. She wondered if they
+knew she had come there to inspire them with love of the great America
+which they must learn to call home. She straightened her slim shoulders
+at the thought, and walked into the building with quite a martial air, as
+became one on this high mission bent.
+
+A keen-eyed, quick-speaking woman met her at the elevator, and led her back
+into what she called "your corner" of the room. Evidently the room was
+divided into countless corners, for several groups were clustered together
+in different sections. But Eveley gave them only a fleeting glance. Her
+heart and soul were centered on the group before her, eight boys,
+dark-eyed, dark-skinned, of fourteen years or thereabouts. They looked at
+Eveley appraisingly, as we always look on those who come to do us good.
+Eveley looked upon them with tender solicitude, as philanthropists have
+looked on their subjects since the world was born.
+
+The introductions over, the keen-eyed one hurried away and Eveley faced
+her sub-Americans.
+
+Then she smiled, a winsome smile before which stronger men than they have
+fallen. But they were curiously unsmiling in response. Their eyes
+remained appraising almost to the point of open suspicion. Perhaps her
+very prettiness aroused the inherent opposition of the male creature to
+female uplift.
+
+Eveley began, however, bravely enough, and told them her first and
+prettiest story of sacrifice and country love. They listened gravely, but
+they were not thrilled. Struggling against a growing sense of
+incompetence, Eveley talked on and on, one story after another, pretty
+word following pretty word. But each word fell alike on stony ground.
+They sat like graven images, except for the bright suspicious gleam of
+the dark eyes.
+
+Finally Eveley stopped, and turned to them. "What do you think about it?"
+she demanded. "You want to be Americans, don't you? You want to learn
+what being an American means, don't you?" Her eyes were fastened
+appealingly on a slender Russian lad, slouching in his chair at the end
+of the row. "You want to be an American, I know."
+
+Suddenly the slim lithe figure straightened, and the dark brows drew
+together in a frown. "What are you getting at?" came in a sharp tone.
+"I'm an American, ain't I? You don't take me for no German, do you?"
+
+"No, no, of course not," she apologized placatingly. "Oh, certainly not.
+I mean, you want to learn the things of America, so you can love this
+country, and make it yours. Then you will forget that other land from
+which you came, and know this for your own, now and forever."
+
+Eveley was arrested by the steady gleam of a pair of eyes in the middle
+of the row. There was open denial and disbelief written in every feature
+and line of his face.
+
+"Why?" came the terse query, as Eveley paused.
+
+Eveley gazed upon him in wonderment. "Wh-what did you say?"
+
+"I said, why?"
+
+"Well, why not?" she countered nervously. "This is your country now. You
+must love it best in all the world, and must grow to be like us,--one of
+us,--America for Americans only, you know."
+
+"You tell us to forget the land we came from," he said in an even
+impersonal voice. "Is that patriotism,--to forget the land of your birth?
+I thought patriotism was to remember your home-land,--holding it in your
+heart,--hoping to return to it again,--and make it better."
+
+"But--but that is not patriotism to this country," protested Eveley,
+aghast. "That is--disloyalty. If you wish to be always of your own land,
+and to love it best, you should stay there. If you come here, to get our
+training, our education, our development, our riches,--then this must be
+your country, and no other."
+
+"Why?" he asked again. "Why should we not come here and get all the good
+things you can give us, and learn what you can teach us, and take what
+money we can earn, and then go back with all these good things to make
+our own land bigger and better and richer? That is patriotism, I think."
+
+"No, no," protested Eveley again. "That is not loyalty. If you choose
+this country for your home, it must be first in your heart, and last
+also. This is your home-land now,--the land you believe in, the land of
+your love, America first."
+
+"But America was not first. The home-land was first."
+
+"Yes, it was first," she admitted pacifically. "But America is last.
+America is the final touch. And so now you will learn our language, our
+games, our business, our way of life. You will live here, work here, and
+if war comes again you will die for America."
+
+Then she went on very quickly, fearful of interruptions that were proving
+so disastrous. "That is why we are organizing this little club, you boys
+and I. We are going to talk together. We are going to play together. We
+are going to study together. So you can learn American ways in all
+things. Now what kind of club shall we have? That is the American way of
+doing things. It is not my club, but yours. You are the people, and so
+you must decide."
+
+A long and profound silence followed, evidently indicative of deep
+thought.
+
+"A baseball club," at last suggested a small Jap with a bashful smile.
+
+"That is a splendid idea," cried Eveley brightly. "Baseball is a good
+American sport, a clean, lively game. Now what shall we call our baseball
+club?"
+
+Again deep thought, but in a moment from an earnest Jewish boy came the
+suggestion, "The Irish-American Baseball League."
+
+Eveley searched his face carefully, looking for traces of irony. But the
+pinched thin features were earnest, the eyes alight with pleased
+gratification at his readiness of retort.
+
+A hum of approval indicated that the Irish-American League had met with
+favor. But Eveley wavered.
+
+"Why?" she asked in puzzled tone. "There is not an Irish boy here. You
+are Italians, and Spanish, and Jewish, and Russian, so why call it
+Irish-American?"
+
+"My stepfather is an Irishman, his name is Mike O'Malley," said a small
+Mexican. "So I'll be the captain."
+
+"G'wan, ain't it enough to get the club named for you?" came the angry
+retort. "What you know about baseball, anyhow?"
+
+Eveley silenced them quickly. "Let's just call it the American League,"
+she pleaded.
+
+"The Irish-American League is well known, and gets its name in the
+paper," was the ready argument in its favor.
+
+And this fact, together with the strong appeal the words had made to
+their sense of dignity, proved irresistible. They refused to give it up.
+And when Eveley tried to reason with them, they told her slyly that the
+proper way to decide was by putting it to vote.
+
+Eveley swallowed hard, but conscientiously admitted the justice of this,
+and put the question to vote. And as the club was unanimously in favor of
+it, and only Eveley was opposed, her Americanization baseball club of
+Italians and Mexicans and Orientals went down into history as the
+Irish-American League.
+
+When it came to voting for officers, she again met with scant success.
+They flatly refused to have a president, stating that a captain could do
+all the bossing necessary, and that baseball clubs always had a captain.
+In the vote that followed the result was curiously impartial. Every boy
+in the club voted for himself. Eveley, who had been won by the bright
+face of a young Jewish boy sitting near her with keen eyes intent upon
+her, voted for him, which gave him a fifty per cent. majority over the
+nearest competitor, and Eveley declared him the captain.
+
+A few moments later, Eveley was called away to the telephone by Nolan,
+wishing to know what time he should call for her and the moment she was
+out of hearing, the club went into noisy conference. Upon her return, the
+argumentative Russian announced that the vote had been changed, and he
+was unanimously elected captain.
+
+"But how did that happen?" Eveley demanded doubtfully. "Did the rest of
+you change your votes, and decide he should be captain?"
+
+There was a rustle of hesitation, almost a dissenting murmur.
+
+The newly elected captain lowered his brows ominously. "You did, didn't
+you?" he asked, glaring around on his fellow members.
+
+"Yes," came feebly though unanimously.
+
+"Did--did you vote?" questioned Eveley tremulously.
+
+"Sure, we voted," said the captain amiably. "We decided that I know the
+game better than the rest of the guys, and I can lick any kid in this
+gang with one hand, and we decided that I ought to be the captain. Ain't
+that right?" Again he turned lowering brows on the Irish-American League.
+
+No denial was forthcoming, and although Eveley felt assured that in some
+way the American ideal of popular selection had been violently outraged,
+it seemed the part of policy to overlook what might have occurred. Some
+minor rules were agreed upon, and the club decided to meet for practise
+every evening after school. Eveley could not attend except on Saturdays,
+and a boy near her, whose features had seemed vaguely and bewilderingly
+familiar, announced that he must withdraw as he worked and had no time
+for baseball. The captain professed his ability to fill up the club to
+the required number with exceptional baseball material, and the meeting
+adjourned without further parley.
+
+This one meeting sufficed unalterably to convince Eveley that she was
+totally and helplessly out of her element. She was not altogether sure
+those quick-witted boys needed Americanizing, but she was sure that she
+was not the one to do it if they did require it. She realized that she
+had absolutely no idea how to go about instilling principles of freedom
+and loyalty in the hearts of young foreigners.
+
+It was with great sadness that she began adjusting her hat and collar
+ready to go home, leaving defeat and failure behind her, when a blithe
+voice at her elbow broke into her despair.
+
+"So long, Miss Ainsworth; see you in the morning."
+
+Eveley whirled about and stared into the face of the small lad whose
+features had seemed so curiously familiar.
+
+"To-morrow?" she repeated.
+
+"Surest thing you know, at the office," he said, grinning impishly at her
+evident inability to place him. "I knew all the time you didn't know me.
+I am Angelo Moreno, the Number Three elevator boy at the Rollo Building."
+
+"Do--do you know who I am?"
+
+"Sure, you're Miss Ainsworth, old Jim Hodgin's private secretary."
+
+"How long have you been there?"
+
+"About a year and a half."
+
+"I never noticed," she said, and there was pain in her voice.
+
+"Oh, well," he said soothingly, "there's always a jam going up and down
+when you do, and you are tired evenings."
+
+"But you are in the jam, too, and you are tired as well as I, but you
+have seen."
+
+"That's my job," he said complacently. "I got to know the folks in our
+building."
+
+"How much do you know about me?" she pursued with morbid curiosity.
+
+He grinned at her again, companionably. "You're twenty-five years old,
+and you're stuck on that fellow Inglish, with Morrow and Mayne over at
+the Holland Building. You used to live with your aunt up on Thorn Street,
+but she died and you got the house. B. T. Raines is your brother-in-law,
+and he's got two kids, but his wife is not as good-looking as you are.
+You stayed with them two months after your aunt died, but last week you
+got a bunch of your beaux, soldiers and things, to build you some steps
+up the outside of your house and now you live up there by yourself. Gee,
+I'd think you'd be afraid of pirates and Greasers and things coming up
+that canyon from the bay to rob you--you being just a woman alone up
+there."
+
+Eveley gazed upon him in blank astonishment. "Do--do you know that much
+about everybody in our building?" she asked.
+
+"Well, I know plenty about most of 'em, and some things that some of 'em
+don't know I know, and wouldn't be keen on having talked around among
+strangers. But of course I pays the most attention to the good-lookers,"
+he admitted frankly.
+
+"Thank you," said Eveley, with a faint smile. Then she flushed. "What
+nerve for me to talk of assimilation," she said. "We don't know how to go
+about it. We have been asleep and blind and careless and stupid, but
+you--why, you will assimilate us, if we don't look out. You are a born
+assimilator, Angelo, do you know that?"
+
+"I guess so," came the answer vaguely, but politely. "I live about half a
+mile below you, Miss Ainsworth, at the foot of the canyon on the bay
+front. That's all the diff there is between us and you highbrows in
+Mission Hills--about half a mile of canyon." He smiled broadly, pleased
+with his fancy.
+
+"That isn't much, is it, Angelo? And it will be less pretty soon, now
+that we are trying to open our eyes. Good night, Angelo. I will see you
+to-morrow--really see you, I mean. And please don't assimilate me quite
+so fast--you must give me time. I--I am new to this business and progress
+very slowly."
+
+Then she said good night again, and went away. And Angelo swaggered back
+to his companions. "Gee, ain't she a beaut?" he gloated. "All the swells
+in our building is nuts on that dame. But she gives 'em all the go-by."
+
+Then the Irish-American League, without the assimilator, went into a
+private session with cigarettes and near-beer in a small dingy room far
+down on Fifth Street--a session that lasted far into the night.
+
+But Eveley Ainsworth did not know that. She was sitting in the dark
+beside her window, staring out at the lights that circled the bay. But
+she did not see them.
+
+"Assimilate the foreign element," she whispered in a frightened voice. "I
+am afraid we can't. It is too late. They got started first--and they are
+so shrewd. But we've got to do something, and quickly, or--they will
+assimilate us, beyond a doubt. And weren't they right about it, after
+all? Isn't it patriotism and loyalty for them to go out to foreign
+countries to pick up the finest and best of our civilization and take it
+back to enrich their native land? It is almost--blasphemous--to teach
+them a new patriotism to a new country. And yet we have to do it, to make
+our country safe for us. But who has brains enough and heart enough to do
+it? Oh, dear! And they do not call it duty that brings them here to take
+what we can give them--they call it love--not love of us and of America,
+but love of the little Wops and the little Greasers and the little Polaks
+in their own home-land. Oh, dear, such a frightful mess we have got
+ourselves into. And what a dunce I was to go to that silly meeting and
+get myself mixed up in it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HER INHERITANCE
+
+
+The worries of the night never lived over into the sunny day with Eveley,
+and when she arose the next morning and saw the amethyst mist lifting
+into sunshine, when she heard the sweet ecstatic chirping of little Mrs.
+Bride beneath, she smiled contentedly. The world was still beautiful, and
+love remained upon its throne.
+
+She started a little early for her work as she was curious to see Angelo
+in the broad light of day. It seemed so unbelievable that those bright
+eyes and smiling lips had been in the elevator with her many times a week
+for many months, and that she had never even seen them.
+
+So on the morning after her initiation into the intricacies of
+Americanization, she beamed upon him with almost sisterly affection.
+
+"Good morning, Angelo. Isn't this a wonderful day? Whose secrets have you
+ferreted out in the night while I was asleep?"
+
+Angelo flushed with pleasure, and shoved some earlier passengers back
+into the car to make room for her beside him.
+
+"I thought you'd be too sick to come this morning," he said, with his
+wide smile that displayed two rows of white and even teeth. "I thought it
+would take you twenty-four hours to get over us."
+
+"Oh, not a bit of it," she laughed. "And I am equally glad to see that
+you are recovering from your attack of me."
+
+This while the elevator rose, stopping at each floor to discharge
+passengers.
+
+At the fifth floor Eveley passed out with a final smile and a light
+friendly touch of her hand on Angelo's arm.
+
+This was the beginning of their strange friendship, which ripened
+rapidly. Her memory of that night in the Service League with the
+Irish-American Club was very hazy and dim. Except for the tangible
+presence and person of Angelo, she might easily have believed it was all
+a dream.
+
+In spite of her deep conviction that she was not destined to any slight
+degree of success as an Americanizer, Eveley conscientiously studied
+books and magazines and attended lectures on the subject, only to
+experience deep grief as she realized that every additional book, and
+article, and lecture, only added to her disbelief in her powers of
+assimilation.
+
+So deep and absolute was her absorption, that for some days she denied
+herself to her friends, and remained wrapped in principles of
+Americanization, which naturally caused them no pleasure. And when a
+morning came and she called a hasty meeting of her four closest comrades,
+voicing imperative needs and fervent appeals for help, she readily
+secured four promises of attendance in the Cloude Cote that evening at
+exactly seven-thirty.
+
+At seven-forty-five Eveley sat on the floor beside the window impatiently
+tapping with the absurd tip of an absurd little slipper. Nolan had not
+come.
+
+Kitty Lampton was there, balancing herself dangerously with two cushions
+on the arm of a big rocker. Eveley called Kitty the one drone in her
+circle of friendship, for Kitty was born to golden spoons and lived a
+life of comfort and ease and freedom from responsibility in a great home
+with a doting father, and two attentive maids. Eileen Trevis was there,
+too, having arrived promptly on the stroke of seven-thirty. Eileen Trevis
+always arrived promptly on the stroke of the moment she was expected. She
+was known about town as a successful business woman, though still in the
+early thirties. The third of the group was Miriam Landis, whose
+inexcusable marriage to her handsome husband had seriously deranged the
+morale of the little quartet of comrades.
+
+Eveley looked around upon them. "It is a funny thing, a most remarkably
+funny thing!" she said indignantly. "Every one says that girls are always
+late, and you three, except Eileen, are usually later than the average
+late ones. Yet here you are. And every one says that men are always
+prompt, and Nolan is certainly worse than the average man in every
+conceivable way. But Nolan, where is he?"
+
+"Well, go ahead and tell us the news anyhow," said Kitty, hugging the
+back of the chair to keep from falling while she talked. "But if it is
+anything about that funny Americanization stuff, you needn't tell it. I
+asked father about it, and he explained it fully, only he lost me in the
+first half of the first sentence. So I don't want to hear anything more
+about it. And you don't need to tell me any more ways of not doing my
+duty, either, for I am not doing it now as hard as I can."
+
+Miriam Landis leaned forward from the couch where she was lounging idly.
+"What is this peculiar little notion of yours about duty, Eveley?" she
+asked, smiling. "My poor child, all over town they are exploiting you and
+your silly notions. Even my dear Lem uses your disbelief in duty to
+excuse himself for being out five nights a week."
+
+"That is absurd," said Eveley, flushing. "And they may laugh all they
+like. I do believe that duty has wrecked more homes and ruined more lives
+than--than vampires."
+
+Miriam smiled tolerantly. "Wait till you get married, sweetest," she said
+softly. "If married women did not believe in duty, and do it, no marriage
+would last more than six months."
+
+"Well, I qualify myself, you know," said Eveley excusingly. "I do think
+everybody has one duty--but only one--and it isn't the one most people
+think it is."
+
+"For the sake of my immortal soul, tell me," pleaded Kitty. "It was you
+who led me into the dutiless paths. Now lead me back."
+
+"Get up, Kitty, and don't be silly," said Eveley loftily. "This is not a
+driven duty, but a spontaneous one. And you don't need to know what it
+is, for it comes naturally, or it doesn't come at all. Isn't that Nolan
+the most aggravating thing that ever lived? Eight o'clock. And he
+promised for seven-thirty."
+
+"Go on and tell us, Eveley," said Eileen Trevis. "Maybe somebody is sick,
+and has to make a will, and he won't be here all night."
+
+"Oh, I can't tell it twice. You know how many questions Nolan always
+asks, and besides I want to surprise you all in a bunch. Look, did I show
+you the new blouse I got to-day? I needed a new one to Americanize my
+Irish-Americans Saturday. It cost ten dollars, and perfectly plain--but I
+look like a sad sweet dream in it."
+
+Then the girls were absorbed in a discussion of the utter impossibility
+of bringing next month's allowance or salary within speaking distance of
+last month's bills, a subject which admitted of no argument but which
+interested them deeply. So after all they did not hear the rumble and
+creak of the rustic stairway, nor the quick steps crossing the garden on
+the roof of the sun parlor for Nolan was forgotten until his sharp tap on
+the glass was followed by the instant appearance of his head, and his
+pleasant voice said in tones of friendly raillery:
+
+"Every time I climb those wabbly rattly-bangs that you call rustic
+stairs, I wonder that you have a friend to your name. Hello, Eveley."
+
+"Inasmuch as you made the wabbliest pair of all, and since you climb them
+more than anybody else, you haven't much room to talk," returned Eveley
+tartly, drawing back the portières to admit his entrance, which was no
+laughing matter for a large man.
+
+"You positively are the latest thing that ever was," she went on, as he
+landed with a heavy thud.
+
+"Me? Why, I am the soul of punctuality."
+
+"You may be the soul of it, but punctuality does not get far with a soul
+minus willing feet."
+
+"Anyhow, I am here, and that is something," he said, making the rounds of
+the room to shake hands cordially with the other girls.
+
+Eveley hopped up quickly on to the small desk--shoving the telephone off,
+knowing Nolan would catch it, as indeed he did with great skill, having
+been catching telephones and vases and books for Eveley for five full
+years. She clasped her hands together, glowing, and her friends leaned
+toward her expectantly.
+
+"I have called you together," she began in a high, slightly imperious
+voice, "my four best friends, counting Nolan, because I need advice."
+
+"Do you wish to retain me as counsellor?" asked Nolan, with a strong
+legal accent "My fee--"
+
+"I do not wish to retain you in any capacity," Eveley interrupted
+quickly. "My chief worry is how to dispose of you satisfactorily. And as
+for fees--Pouf! Anyhow, I need advice, good advice, deep advice, loving
+advice. So I have called you into solemn conclave, and because it is a
+most exceptional occasion I have prepared refreshments, good ones,
+sandwiches and coffee and cake--Did you bring the cake, Kit? And
+ice-cream--the drug-store is going to deliver it at ten, only the boy
+won't climb the stairs; you'll have to meet him at the bottom, Nolan. So
+I hope you realize that it is an affair of some moment, and not--Miriam
+Landis, are you asleep?"
+
+Miriam flashed her eyes wide open, denial on her lips, but Kitty
+forestalled her. "That is a pose," she explained. "Billy Ferris said, and
+I told Miriam he said it, that with her eyes closed, she is the loveliest
+thing in the world. And since then she walks around in her sleep half the
+time."
+
+Miriam turned toward her, still more indignant denial clamoring for
+utterance, but Eveley, accepting the explanation as reasonable, went
+quickly on.
+
+"Now I want you to be very serious and thoughtful--can you concentrate
+better in the dark, Kit? Because I know at seances and things they turn
+off the lights, and--"
+
+"Oh, let's do. And we'll all hold hands, and concentrate, and maybe we'll
+scare up a ghost or something." Then she looked around the room--four
+girls and Nolan--Nolan, who had edged with alacrity toward Eveley on the
+telephone desk--and Kitty shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, what's the use?
+Never mind. Go on with the gossip, Eveley. I can think with the lights
+on."
+
+"The ice-cream will be here before we get started," said Eileen Trevis
+suddenly.
+
+Eveley clasped her hands again and smiled. "I have received a fortune.
+Somebody died--you needn't advise me to wear mourning, either, Miriam. I
+never saw him in my life, and never even heard of him, and honestly I
+think he got me mixed up with somebody else and left the fortune to the
+wrong grand-niece, but anyhow it is none of my business, and since he is
+dead and the money is here, I suppose there is no chance of his
+discovering the mistake and making me refund it after it is spent."
+
+"A fortune," gasped Kitty, tumbling off the arm of the chair and rushing
+to fling herself on the floor beside Eveley, warm arms embracing her
+knees.
+
+"Root of all evil," murmured Miriam, gazing into space through
+half-closed lids, and seeing wonderful visions of complexions and
+permanent curls and a manicure every day.
+
+"How fortunate," said Eileen in a voice pleased though still unruffled
+and even. "A fortune means safety and protection and--"
+
+"Who the dickens has been butting into your affairs now?" demanded Nolan
+peevishly, and though the girls laughed, there was no laughter in his
+eyes and no smile on his lips.
+
+"Well, since he calls me his great-niece, I suppose he is my
+grand-uncle."
+
+"How much, lovey, how much?" gurgled Kitty, at her side.
+
+"Twenty-five hundred dollars," announced Eveley ecstatically.
+
+Nolan breathed again. "Oh, that isn't so bad. I thought maybe some simp
+had left you a couple of millions or so."
+
+Eveley fairly glared upon him. "What do you mean by that? Why a simp? Why
+shouldn't I be left a couple of millions as well as anybody else? Maybe
+you think I haven't sense enough to spend a couple of millions."
+
+"And why did you require advice?" Eileen queried.
+
+"Oh, yes." Eveley smiled again. "Yes, of course. Now you must all think
+desperately for a while--I hate to ask so much of you, Nolan--but perhaps
+this once you won't mind--I want you to tell me what to do with the
+money."
+
+This was indeed a serious responsibility. What to do with twenty-five
+hundred dollars?
+
+"You do not feel it is your duty to spend the twenty-five hundred
+pounding Americanism into your Irish-American Wops?" asked Nolan
+facetiously.
+
+Eveley took this good-naturedly. "Oh, I got off from work at four-thirty
+and went down to their field, and we had a celebration. We had ice-cream
+and candy and chewing gum, and I spent twenty-five dollars equipping them
+with balls and bats and since I was with them an hour and a quarter, I
+feel that I am entitled to the rest of the fortune myself."
+
+"Well, dearie," said Eileen, "it is really very simple. Put it in a
+savings account, of course. Keep it for a rainy day. You may be ill. You
+may get married--"
+
+"Can't she get married without twenty-five hundred dollars?" asked Nolan,
+with great indignation. "She doesn't expect to buy her own groceries when
+she gets married, does she?"
+
+"She may have to, Nolan," said Eileen gently. "One never knows what may
+happen after marriage. Getting married is no laughing matter, and Eveley
+should be prepared for any exigency."
+
+"But, Eileen, she won't need her twenty-five hundred to get married. No
+decent fellow would marry a girl unless he could support her, and do it
+well, even luxuriously. You don't suppose I would let my wife spend her
+twenty-five hundred--"
+
+"If you mean me, I shall do whatever I like with my own money when I get
+married," said Eveley quickly. "My husband will have nothing to say about
+it. You needn't think for one minute--"
+
+"I am not your husband, am I? I haven't exactly proposed to you yet, have
+I?"
+
+Eveley swallowed hard. "Certainly not. And probably never will. By the
+time you get around to it, getting married will be out of date, and none
+of the best people doing it any more."
+
+"You may not have asked her, Nolan," said Eileen evenly. "And that is
+your business, of course. She will probably turn you down when you do ask
+her, just as she does everybody else. But--"
+
+"Who has been asking her now?" he cried, with jealous interest.
+
+"But while we are on the subject, I hope you will permit me to say that I
+think your principles are all wrong, and even dangerous. You think a man
+should wait a thousand years until he can keep a wife like a pet dog, on
+a cushion with a pink ribbon around her neck--"
+
+"The dog's neck, or the wife's?"
+
+"The dog's--no, the wife's--both of them," she decided at last, with
+never a ruffle. "You want to wait until she is tired of loving, and too
+old to have a good time, and worn out with work. It isn't right. It is
+not fair. It is unjust both to yourself, and to Eve--to the girl."
+
+"But, my dear child," he said. Eileen was three years older than Nolan;
+but being a lawyer he called all women "child." "My dear child, do you
+realize that my salary is eighteen hundred a year, and I get only a few
+hundred dollars in fees. Think of the cost of food these days, and of
+clothes, and amusements, to say nothing of rent! Do you think I would
+allow Eve--my wife, to go without the sweet things of--"
+
+"You needn't bring me in," said Eveley loftily. "I have never accepted
+you, have I?"
+
+"No, not exactly, I suppose, but--"
+
+"Eveley," said Miriam, suddenly sitting erect on the couch. "I have it."
+
+"Sounds like the measles," said Kitty.
+
+"I mean I know what to do with the money. Listen, dear. You do not want
+to go on slaving in an office until you are old and ugly. And Nolan is
+quite right, you certainly can not marry a grubby clerk in a law office."
+
+Nolan laughed at that, but Eveley sat up very straight indeed and fairly
+glowered at her unconscious friend on the couch.
+
+"You must have the soft and lovely things of life, and the way to get
+them is to marry them. Now, sweet, you take your twenty-five hundred, be
+manicured and massaged and shampooed until you are glowing with beauty,
+buy a lot of lovely clothes, trip around like a lady, dance and play, and
+meet men--men with money--and there you are. You can look like a million
+dollars on your twenty-five hundred--and your looks will get you the
+million by marriage."
+
+"Miriam Landis, that is shameful," said Nolan in a voice of horror. "It
+is disgraceful. I never thought to hear a woman, a married woman, a nice
+woman, utter such low and grimy thoughts. Could any such marriage be
+happy?"
+
+"Well, Nolan," said Miriam sadly, "I am not sure that any marriage can be
+happy, or was ever supposed to be. But women are such that they have to
+try it once. Eveley will be like all the rest. And if she has to try it,
+she had better try it with a million, than with eighteen hundred a year."
+
+"There is something in that, Miriam, certainly," said Eveley
+thoughtfully. "What do you think, Eileen?"
+
+"I think it is absurd. The notion that woman was born for marriage died
+long ago. Ridiculous! Woman is born for life, for service, for action,
+just as man is. Look at the married people you know. How many of them are
+happy? I do not wish to be personal, but I know very few married people,
+either men or women, who would not be glad to undo the marriage knot if
+it could be done easily and quietly without notoriety. They are not
+happy. But we are happy. Why? Because we work, we think, we feel, we
+live. We are not slaves to the contentment of man. Go on working, my
+dear. Keep your independence. But play safe. Put your money in the bank,
+or in some good investment, and let it safeguard your future. Then you
+can go your way serene."
+
+"That is certainly sound. Marriage isn't the most successful thing in the
+world."
+
+"I should say not," chimed Kitty. "Husbands are always tired of wives,
+their own, I mean, inside of five years."
+
+"Well, if it comes to that," said Eveley honestly, "I suppose wives are
+tired of their own husbands, too. But they are so stubborn they won't
+admit it. In their hearts I suppose they are quite as sick of their
+husbands as their husbands are of them."
+
+"Eve," said Nolan anxiously, "where are you getting all these wicked
+notions? Marriage is the most sacred--"
+
+"Institution. I know it. Every one says marriage is a sacred institution,
+and so is a church. But nobody wants to live with one permanently."
+
+"But, Eveley, the sanctity of the--"
+
+"Home. Sure, we know it is sanctified. But monotonous. Deadly
+monotonous."
+
+"Eve," and his voice was quite tragic, "don't you feel that the divine
+sphere of--"
+
+"Woman. You needn't finish it, Nolan; we know it as well as you do. The
+divine sphere of woman is in the sanctified home keeping up the sacred
+institution of marriage while her husband--oh, tralalalalalala."
+
+"Yes, sir, I'll go you," cried Kitty suddenly, leaping up from the floor,
+and waving her hand. "Europe! You and I together."
+
+"She has come to," said Eileen resignedly. "There's an end of sensible
+talk for this evening."
+
+"Yes, Kit, what is it? I knew you would think of something good."
+
+"We'll go to Europe, you and I. I think I can work dad to let me go. I
+can pretend to fall in love with the plumber, or somebody, and he'll be
+glad to trot me off for a while. And he likes you, Eveley. He thinks you
+are so sensible."
+
+"Why, he hardly knows me," cried Eveley, astonished.
+
+"Yes, that is why. I tell him how sensible you are when you are not
+there, and when he gets home I hustle you out of his sight in a hurry. He
+likes me to have sensible friends."
+
+"And what shall we do with the money?"
+
+"Travel, travel, travel, and have a gay good time," said Kitty blithely.
+"All over Europe. We'll get some handsome clothes, and have the time of
+our lives as long as the money lasts, and then marry dukes or princes or
+something like that."
+
+"Two of you," shouted Nolan furiously. "Well, Eve, it is a good thing you
+have one friend to give you really decent advice. Of all idiotic ideas.
+Buy fine clothes and marry a millionaire. Save it to pay for potatoes
+when you get a husband that can't support you. Travel to Europe and marry
+some purple prince."
+
+"Why purple?" asked Eveley curiously.
+
+"Do you mean clothed in purple and fine linen?"
+
+"If you mean blood, it is blue," said Kitty. "Blue-blooded princes.
+Whoever heard of a purple-blooded prince?"
+
+"What did you mean anyhow, Nolan?" asked Eileen.
+
+Driven into a corner, Nolan hesitated. He had said purple on the spur of
+the moment, chiefly because it sounded derogatory and went well with
+prince.
+
+"What I really mean," he began in a dispassionate legislative voice,
+"what I really mean is--purple in the face. You know, purple, splotchy
+skin, caused by eating too much rich food, drinking too much strong wine,
+playing cards and dancing and flirting."
+
+"Does flirting make you purple?" gasped Miriam. "It does not show on Lem
+yet." And then she subsided quickly, hoping they had not noticed.
+
+"Why, Nolan, I have danced for weeks and weeks at a stretch, evenings, I
+mean, when the service men were here," said Kitty, "and I am not purple
+yet."
+
+"Oh, rats," said Nolan. Then he brightened. "You have never seen a
+prince, so of course you do not understand. Wait till you see one. Then a
+purple prince will mean something in your young life."
+
+"I should not like to marry a purple creature," said Eveley, wrinkling
+her nose distastefully. "I am too pink. And my blue eyes would clash with
+a purple husband, too. But maybe the dukes and lords are a different
+shade," she finished hopefully.
+
+Nolan turned his back, and lit a cigarette.
+
+"Yes, you may smoke, Nolan, by all means. I always like my guests to be
+comfortable."
+
+"What is your advice then, Nolan? You are so scornful about our
+suggestions," said Eileen quietly.
+
+"I know what Nolan would like," said Kitty spitefully. "He would advise
+Eveley to give him the money and make him her executor and appoint him
+her guardian. That would suit him to a T."
+
+"My poor infant, Eveley can not use an executor and a guardian at the
+same time. One comes in early youth, or old age, the other after death.
+An executor--" he began, clearing his throat as for a prolonged technical
+explanation.
+
+Kitty plunged her fingers into her ears. "You stop that right now, Nolan
+Inglish. We came here to advise Eveley, not for you to practise on. If
+you begin that I shall go straight home--no, I mean I shall go out on the
+steps and wait for the ice-cream."
+
+"What do you advise, Nolan?" persisted Eileen.
+
+"Well, my personal advice is, and I strongly urge it, and plead it, and
+it will make me very happy, and--?"
+
+"He wants to borrow it," gasped Kitty.
+
+"Go on, Nolan," urged Eveley eagerly.
+
+"Put it in the bank on your checking account."
+
+"Put it--"
+
+"Checking account?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, right in your checking account."
+
+A slow scornful light dawned in Eileen's eyes. "I see," she said coldly.
+"Very selfish, very unprofessional, very unfriendly. He would have his
+lady love absolutely bankrupt, that he may endow her with all the goods
+of life."
+
+"Why, Nolan," said Eveley weakly, lacking Eileen's sharper perception,
+"don't you know me well enough to realize that if I put it into my
+checking account it will be gone, absolutely and everlastingly gone,
+inside of six months, and not a thing to show for it?"
+
+"Yes, I know it," he admitted humbly.
+
+"And still you advise it?"
+
+"I do not advise it--I just want it," he admitted plaintively.
+
+Eveley sat quietly for a while, counting her fingers, her lips moving
+once in a while, forming such words as marriage, travel, princes and
+banks. Then she clapped her hands and beamed upon them.
+
+"Lovely," she cried. "Exquisite! Just what I wanted to do myself! You are
+dear good faithful friends, and wise, too, and you will never know how
+much your advice has helped me. Then it is all settled, isn't it? And I
+shall buy an automobile."
+
+In a flash, she caught up a pillow, holding it out sharply in front of
+her, whirling it around like a steering wheel, while she pushed with both
+feet on imaginary clutches and brakes, and honked shrilly.
+
+But her friends leaned weakly back in their chairs and stared. Then they
+laughed, and admitted it was what they had expected all the time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A WRONG ADJUSTMENT
+
+
+Eveley's resolve to spend her fortune for an auto met with less
+resistance than she had anticipated. It seemed that every one had known
+all along that she would fool the money away on something, and a motor
+was far more reasonable than some things.
+
+"I said travel," said Kitty. "And we can travel in a car as well as on a
+train--more fun, too. And though it may cut us off from meeting a purple
+prince--a pretty girl with a car of her own is a combination no man can
+resist. And maybe if we are very patient and have good luck, we may save
+a millionaire from bandits, or rescue a daring aviator from capture by
+Mexicans."
+
+Miriam nodded, also, her eyes cloudy behind the dark lashes. "Very nice,
+dear. Get a lot of stunning motor things and--irresistible, simply
+irresistible. You must have a red leather motor coat. You will be
+adorable in one. But you'll have to shake Nolan, dear. You stand no
+chance in the world if you are constantly herded by a disagreeable young
+lawyer, guardianing you from every truant glance."
+
+"It isn't at all bad," quickly interposed Eileen. "I believe that more
+than anything else in the world, a motor-car reconciles a woman to life
+without a husband. She gets thrills in plenty, and retains her
+independence at the same time."
+
+"Eileen," put in Nolan sternly, "I am disappointed in you. A woman of
+your ability and experience trying to prejudice a young and innocent girl
+against marriage is--is--"
+
+"You are awfully hard to suit, Nolan," complained Eveley gently. "You
+shouted at Miriam and Kitty for advising a husband, and now you roar at
+Eileen for advising against one."
+
+"It isn't the husband I object to--it is their cold-blooded scheme to go
+out and pick one up. Woman should be sought--"
+
+"Well, when Eveley gets a car she'll be sought fast enough," said Kitty
+shrewdly. "She hasn't suffered from any lack of admirers as it is, but
+when she goes motoring on her own--_ach_, Louie."
+
+"Then you approve of the car, do you, Nolan?"
+
+"Well, since I can not think of any quicker or pleasanter way of spending
+the money," he said slowly, "I may say that I do, unequivocally."
+
+"Why unequivocally?"
+
+"What's it mean, anyhow?" demanded Kitty.
+
+"Can't you talk English, Nolan?" asked Eveley, in some exasperation. "You
+started off as if you were in favor, but now heaven only knows what you
+mean."
+
+"Get your car, my poor child, by all means. Get your car. But a
+dictionary is what you really need."
+
+The rest of the evening they were enthusiastic almost to the point of
+incoherency. Kitty was in raptures over an exquisite red racer she had
+seen on the street. Miriam described Mary Pickford's rose-upholstered
+car, and applied it to Eveley's features. Nolan developed a surprisingly
+intimate knowledge of carburetors, horse-powers and cylinders.
+
+When at last they braved the rustic stairway, homeward bound, with
+exclamatory gasps and squeals, gradually drifting away into silence,
+Eveley sat down on the floor to take off her shoes--a most childish habit
+carried over into the years of age and wisdom--and was immediately
+wrapped in happy thoughts where stunning motor clothes and whirring
+engines and Nolan's pleasant eyes were harmoniously mingled. And when at
+last she started up into active consciousness again, and rushed pellmell
+to bed, mindful of her responsibility as a business girl, sleep came very
+slowly. And when it came at last, it was a chaotic jumble of excited
+dreams and tossings.
+
+The life of the bride and groom in the nest beneath Eveley's Cloud Cote
+had progressed so sweetly and smoothly that Eveley had come to feel it
+was quite a friendly dispensation of Providence that permitted her to
+live one story up from Honeymooning. So the next morning, in the midst of
+the confusion that came from dressing and getting her breakfast and
+reading motor ads in the morning paper at the same time, she was utterly
+electrified to hear a sudden sharp cry of anguish from little Mrs. Bride
+beneath--a cry accompanied by sounds caused by nothing in the world but a
+passionate and hysterical pounding of small but violent feet upon the
+floor.
+
+"Oooooh, oooooh, don't talk to me, Dody, I can't bear it. I can't, I
+can't. Ooooh, I wish I were dead. Go away, go away this instant and let
+me die. Oh, I shall run away, I shall kill myself! Oooooh!"
+
+"Dearie, sweetie, don't," begged Mr. Groom distractedly. "Lovie,
+precious, please." And his voice faded off into tender inarticulate
+whispers.
+
+For a long second Eveley was speechless. Then she said aloud, very
+grimly, "Hum. It has begun. I suppose I may look for flat-irons and
+rolling-pins next. Hereafter they are Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Married
+People."
+
+After long and patient, demonstrative pleading on his part, Mrs. Severs
+was evidently restored to a semblance of reason and content, and quiet
+reigned for a while until the slam of the door indicated that Mr. Severs
+had heeded the call of business.
+
+Almost immediately there came a quick creaking of the rustic stairs and a
+light tap on Eveley's window.
+
+"Come in," she called pleasantly. "I sort of expected you. You will
+excuse me, won't you, for not getting up, but I have only fifteen minutes
+to finish my breakfast and catch the car."
+
+"You are awfully businesslike, aren't you?" asked Mrs. Severs admiringly.
+"Yes, I will have a cup of coffee, thanks. I need all the stimulation I
+can get."
+
+She was pale, and her eyes were red-rimmed, Eveley noted commiseratingly.
+
+"We are expecting an addition to our family this afternoon, Miss
+Ainsworth," she began, her chin quivering childishly.
+
+"Mercy!" gasped Eveley.
+
+"Our father-in-law," added Mrs. Severs quickly. "Dody's father. He is
+coming to live with us."
+
+"Oh!" breathed Eveley. "Won't that be lovely?"
+
+Mrs. Severs burst into passionate weeping. "It won't be lovely," she
+sobbed. "It will be ghastly." She sat up abruptly and wiped her eyes. "He
+is the most heart-breaking thing you ever saw, and he doesn't like me. He
+doesn't approve of dimples, and he says I am soft. And he has the most
+desperate old chum you ever saw, a perfect wreck with red whiskers, and
+they get together every night and play pinochle and smoke smelly old
+pipes, and he won't have curtains in his bedroom, and he is crazy about a
+phonograph, and he won't eat my cooking."
+
+"I should think you would like that," said Eveley. "Maybe he will cook
+for himself."
+
+"That is just it," wailed Mrs. Severs. "He does. He cooks the smelliest
+kind of corn beef and cabbage, and eats liver by the--by the cow, and has
+raw onions with every meal. And he drinks tea by the gallon. And he cooks
+everything himself and piles it on his plate like a mountain and carries
+it to the table and sits there and eats it right before company and
+everybody."
+
+"I don't see how Mr. Severs ever came to have a father like that," said
+Eveley in open surprise.
+
+"Well, the funny thing about it is that he would really be very nice if
+he wasn't so outrageous. And he swears terribly. He says 'Holy Mackinaw'
+at everything. But he loves Dody. They lived together for years, and it
+nearly killed him when Dody got married. And Dody said, 'You will live
+with us of course, father,' and so we expected it. But he went off for a
+visit after we were married--he and the red-whiskered friend, and we sort
+of thought--we kind of hoped--miracles do happen, you know--and so I just
+kept believing that something would turn up to save us. But it didn't.
+Dody got a letter this morning, and he will be here this afternoon. Oh, I
+wish I were dead."
+
+"Is he terribly poor?"
+
+"Mercy, no! He's got plenty of money. Lots more than we have. Enough to
+live anywhere he pleases."
+
+"I see it all," said Eveley ominously. "You won't be happy with him, and
+he won't be happy with you, but you are all putting up with it because it
+is your--duty."
+
+"Yes, that is it, of course."
+
+Eveley poured herself another cup of coffee and drank it rapidly, without
+cream, and only one lump of sugar. "I am upset," she said at last. "This
+has simply shattered the day for me. Excuse me, you'll have to hurry, I
+only have five minutes left. I haven't explained my belief and principles
+to you--you being young and newly married and needing all the illusions
+possible--but I do not believe in duty."
+
+"Gracious," gasped the bride. "You don't?"
+
+"Absolutely not. No human being should do his duty under any conceivable
+circumstances. You see, there are two kinds, the pleasurable ones, and
+the painful ones. Pleasurable duties are done, not because they are
+duties, but because they are pleasurable. So they do not count. And a
+painful duty can not be a duty or it would not be painful. My idea is,
+that there must be a happy adjustment of every necessity, so when a duty
+is painful, it is the wrong adjustment. You and your father-in-law are
+giving yourselves pain because it is the wrong adjustment."
+
+"It sounds very clever."
+
+"It is the only beautiful plan of life," said Eveley modestly.
+
+"And then we would not have to live with father at all?"
+
+"Most certainly not."
+
+"It certainly is a glorious theory," said the bride enthusiastically.
+"You explain it to Dody, will you? He is positively death on duty,
+especially when it is painful. He'd do his duty if it killed him and me,
+burned the house down and started a revolution."
+
+"I have to go now," said Eveley. "Excuse me for rushing you off, but I am
+late already. I'll explain it to you another time."
+
+Very skilfully she piloted her caller out the window and down the rustic
+steps.
+
+"Remember this," she said as they reached the bottom. "As long as duty is
+painful, it is not a duty and can not be. Now find another adjustment.
+That is the end of it." And she started on a quick trot for the corner.
+
+"But father will be here this afternoon just the same," called Mrs.
+Severs after her in mournful tones.
+
+Being very businesslike, Eveley made a set of notes about the case on her
+way down-town.
+
+Liver and cabbage.
+
+Raw onions.
+
+Smelly pipe.
+
+Red-whiskered friend.
+
+Pinochle.
+
+Hates dimples. (I'll keep my left side turned his way.)
+
+Money enough to live on.
+
+Crazy about Dody--christened Andrew.
+
+Dody believes in duty.
+
+"Of course it is up to me to save them," she decided cheerfully, and was
+quite happy at the prospect of an engagement in her campaign. "But I
+can't neglect getting my car, even to save human nature from its duty,"
+she added. And then her mind wandered from the duties of brides, to the
+pleasures of young motorists.
+
+Her plan of expenditure was most lucid. She would invest eighteen hundred
+dollars in a car, and spend two hundred for clothes "to sustain the
+illusion." Nolan did not understand exactly what she meant by that, but
+on general principles was convinced it was something reprehensible and
+sneered at it. The other five hundred was to be deposited in the bank as
+a guarantee for future tires and gasoline and repairs. Nolan said that
+according to his information it would be wiser to buy a second-hand car
+for five hundred, and keep the eighteen hundred for tires and gas and
+repairs.
+
+But Nolan was a struggling young lawyer--even more struggling than
+young--and the girls were accustomed to his pessimistic murmurs, and gave
+them no heed at all.
+
+Although Eveley had determined to confine herself to eighteen hundred
+dollars for the car, she was not morally above accepting demonstrations
+of cars entailing twice, and even thrice, that expenditure. "For," she
+said, "for all I know somebody else may die and leave me some more, and
+then I can get an expensive one. And besides, I feel it is my duty--oh,
+no, I mean I feel it would be lots of fun, as a conscientious and
+enthusiastic motorist to know the good points of every car."
+
+So Nolan assured her of his complete support and assistance in her
+search, even to the detriment of his labors at the law office, where he
+hoped one day to be a member of considerable standing. Nolan had two fond
+dreams--to become a regular member of the firm, and to marry Eveley. They
+were closely related, one to the other. If he could not marry Eveley, he
+had no desire for a partnership nor anything else but speedy death. But
+until he had the partnership, he felt himself morally obligated to deny
+himself Eveley in the flesh. For he was one of those unique,
+old-fashioned creatures who feels that man must offer position and
+affluence as well as love to the lady of his choice. So it was no mere
+mercenary madness on his own account that kept Nolan living a life of
+gentle and economic obscurity, patient struggling for a foothold on the
+ladder of fame in his profession.
+
+He knew better than to propose to Eveley. He realized that if they were
+once formally and blissfully engaged, he, being only mortal man with
+human frailties, could never resist the charm of complete possession, and
+he foresaw that betrothal would end in speedy marriage to the death of
+his determination to bring his goddess glory.
+
+Thus Nolan's lips were sealed--on the subject of marriage. "Though
+goodness knows, he has plenty to say about everything else," Eveley
+sometimes complained rather plaintively. And his attentions took the form
+of a more or less pleasant watch-dog constancy, and an always more and
+never less persistence in warding off other suitors not handicapped by
+his own scruples in regard to matrimony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+PAINFUL DUTY
+
+
+When Eveley arrived home late that night she smiled to observe that all
+the down-stairs windows were wide open to the breeze, and in the corner
+bedroom, apportioned to Father-in-law, the curtains were down. At the
+back of the house she found Father-in-law himself, with the proverbial
+whiskered friend, critically inspecting her rustic steps through the
+clouds of smoke from their pipes which they removed to facilitate their
+interested stares as she approached.
+
+"How do you do?" she cried brightly. "You are Mr. Severs, Senior, aren't
+you? Welcome home! And this is your friend, I know." She shook hands with
+them both, with great cordiality. She must disarm them, before she could
+begin working them into a proper adjustment with life. "I am Eveley
+Ainsworth. Are you admiring my steps? I am very eccentric and
+temperamental and all that, and I have to live alone. I do not like being
+crowded in with other folks. I like to do as I please, and not bother
+with anybody else."
+
+"Very sensible, I'm sure," said Father-in-law.
+
+"Sure," echoed the whiskered one breezily.
+
+"That was the first little seed," she chuckled to herself, as she ran
+blithely up the stairs. Later, when she heard Mrs. Severs in the room
+beneath, she went to the head of the inner stairway and called down to
+her.
+
+"Come up a minute. I want to see you."
+
+Mrs. Severs lost no time. "My husband says it is simply absurd," she
+began breathlessly. "He says people have to do their duty. He says a
+thing is right or wrong, and that settles it. We are all father has in
+the world, and Dody says it is plainly our duty to keep him with us. He
+says a fellow would be taking an awful chance to marry you, if that is a
+sample of your principles. Don't you believe in any duty, Miss
+Ainsworth?"
+
+"Only one," said Eveley with great firmness.
+
+"Oh, what is that?" came the eager query.
+
+"That," was the dignified reply, "is something that doesn't enter into
+this case at all, and doesn't need to be discussed."
+
+"Well, Dody says--"
+
+"Dody may be a very sweet husband, but he is not progressive. His idea is
+old, outworn and antedeluvian. Simply musty. Now, this is my plan--the
+plan of progress according to new ideas which means happiness for all.
+Father-in-law and the whiskered friend are born for each other. They are
+affinities, and soul-mates, and everything. I saw it at the first glance.
+We'll get them a little cottage off somewhere beyond the odor of onions,
+and they can revel in liver and pipes to their hearts' content."
+
+"Impossible! Whiskers has a wife of his own."
+
+"What?" Eveley was much disconcerted. "Well, maybe she will get a divorce
+so her husband can marry your father--I mean--maybe it won't stick, you
+know."
+
+"It's been sticking for forty years, and I suppose it will go on forever.
+You see she doesn't have him around much and so she probably forgets how
+he is. He is always out with father, and she is asleep when he gets
+home."
+
+"Well, don't worry about it. He had no business being married, for it was
+a lovely plan--but it can't be helped now. Never mind."
+
+"Listen," said Mrs. Severs suddenly. "Hear the sizzling. That's onions.
+Didn't I tell you? I was going to have chicken croquettes and creamed
+peas, with lettuce salad and fruit jello. But how can Dody and I sit down
+to a decent meal with the whole house reeking with tobacco and onions?"
+
+"Never mind, dear. We'll find the adjustment in time. Just try to be
+patient."
+
+For another night, and another day, Eveley puzzled and pondered--during
+intervals of studying motor folders and reading advertisements. And the
+next evening she found Mrs. Severs wringing her hands on the front porch.
+
+"What is it?" she asked anxiously. "Did he kill himself?"
+
+"No such luck," wailed Mrs. Severs. "He won't sleep in the bedroom
+because he says it is too shady under all those vines, and he has moved
+himself out into the living-room on the couch. He says there is no sense
+having a house all cluttered up with rooms anyhow, he doesn't believe in
+it. He says two rooms are enough for anybody. You can cook and eat in the
+kitchen, and sit and sleep in the other room, and anything more is just
+plain tony."
+
+"I tell you what," suggested Eveley brightly. "Be mean to him. Be real
+snippy and bossy. Don't let him have his own way. You just fire him right
+back into the bedroom. Tell him you are head of this house, and he's got
+to mind. Then he'll be only too glad to move out and then you'll have
+some peace."
+
+"I can't," moaned Mrs. Severs. "He's really kind of nice if he wasn't so
+awful. I couldn't be mean to Dody's father. And Dody would not let me if
+I wanted to."
+
+"Well, don't worry," said Eveley automatically. "I am still working. We
+will try every different adjustment, and in time we shall hit the right
+one. Just keep happy and--"
+
+"Keep happy," wailed Mrs. Severs. "Don't be sarcastic, Miss Ainsworth,
+please. I never expect to be happy again."
+
+Then she went home, and Eveley called Nolan on the telephone.
+
+"You must come immediately and have supper with me. And stop on the way
+and get a small steak, and ask the drug-store to deliver a pint of
+ice-cream at six-thirty sharp. And you might bring a nice tomato if you
+can remember, and I shall have everything else ready. We won't have much
+to-night, just steak and salad and ice-cream. I need professional
+advice."
+
+Nolan never dreamed of refusing an invitation of any sort whatever from
+Eveley, and he started immediately, gathering up the dinner on his way.
+As he put his foot on the lowest step of the rustic stair, Eveley's head
+thrust itself suddenly from between the curtains.
+
+"There is a proper adjustment," she said, in a stern voice. "Just keep
+your mind on that. Painful duty is no duty, and can not be. There is a
+right adjustment--and we must find it."
+
+Nolan continued warily up the rickety stair, greeting her at the top
+cordially.
+
+"Hello, Eveley. My, the coffee smells good. I am hungry as a bear, too. I
+saw you out last night with that sad-eyed Buddy soldier, and I do not
+approve of it. I shall deem it my duty to administer a proper adjustment
+of his facial characteristics if he doesn't mind his own business. The
+ice-cream will be here at six-thirty sharp. How is Kitty? You have flour
+on your ears. Shall I fix the tomatoes?"
+
+"I did not bring you here in a social capacity to discuss personal
+matters," said Eveley coldly. "I told you yesterday that my home is
+saddened by the grotesque figure of maladjustment stalking in our midst
+under his usual guise of Duty. As I have explained so many times, there
+is bound to be a happy adjustment. But this time I can not figure it out.
+Now I call on you."
+
+"Retainer's fee, one hundreds dollars. Payable, of course, in advance."
+
+"Oh, well, it is not strictly legal. Let's just talk it over nicely as
+dear good friends, and if you have an idea I can absorb it. Nolan, Eileen
+said she saw you at lunch to-day with a woman."
+
+"Eileen? How is Eileen? I haven't seen her for days. Let's have a party
+soon, and invite Kitty and Eileen and Miriam and me, and you give us a
+midnight supper here in the Cote, will you?"
+
+"It was at the Grant."
+
+"I did not see Eileen, but of course I was busy. Was she alone? We had a
+nice luncheon--grilled pork chops and country gravy. The gravy was
+good--no lumps. It made me think of yours."
+
+"My gravy is not always lumpy," she said with a frown. "It just happened
+that way the last two times because I was called to the telephone while I
+was making it."
+
+"Oh, sure, that's all right."
+
+He carefully adjusted her chair at the table, and drew his own close
+beside it, pulling his plate and silverware half-way around the table
+from where Eveley had placed them.
+
+"You look sweeter than ever, to-night, Eve. But I hope the gravy is not
+lumpy."
+
+"She wore a black dress and white gloves, and a black hat."
+
+"Eileen did? Was it a new dress?"
+
+"No, the one with you."
+
+"Sure enough, I believe she did. A georgette dress, beaded in front.
+Quite pretty. But there was a rip in her glove. She showed it to me
+herself. She said she did it on the car, but it looked like an old rip to
+me."
+
+"And after luncheon you went away in her car, didn't you?"
+
+"Her uncle's car. Just for a short run through the park, and then she
+dropped me at the office. Quite a pleasant woman. She was so polite to
+me, and treated me with such gentle deference. It was quite a change. It
+made me think of you."
+
+Eveley put down her fork. "Who was it?"
+
+"Bartlett's niece from San Francisco. Visiting here. He had promised to
+take her for luncheon, but at the last minute Graves came in and they
+were busy, so he turned her over to me."
+
+"I do not see why you are always the one to take their nieces and
+daughters out for luncheon. This is the fourth time in two months. I
+believe you do it on purpose. Why should they always pick on you?"
+
+"Partly because of my beauty, perhaps, and my charming manners as well as
+my generally winsome demeanor in the presence of ladies. I suppose Eileen
+also informed you that this niece is Mrs. Harmon Delavan, and has three
+children in addition to a husband."
+
+"Oh, Nolan, how you do burble along. I didn't bring you here to discuss
+Bartlett's relatives. Now get down to business. How can we adjust the
+honeymooners and the father-in-law--though honestly I think he is great
+fun myself, and would a whole lot rather live with him than with Dody.
+Only he does not fit in with the honeymoon scheme of life."
+
+"Well," said Nolan dreamily, "why don't you marry him, and bring him up
+here?"
+
+"Oh, Nolan, you are clever. I never thought of that."
+
+At the evident delight in her voice, Nolan stared.
+
+"Not to me, goosey, he would never consent, for I have a dimple and he
+does not approve of them. So far I have kept it on the off side, and he
+has not noticed, but I couldn't always turn the left side to a husband,
+could I?"
+
+"Well, then--"
+
+"Marry him to somebody else, of course. I can't just decide who--but
+there will be some one. You are such a help, Nolan. Now let's not bother
+with the duties of our neighbors, but have a good time. To-morrow I shall
+find him a wife." Then she leaned toward Nolan, refilling his cup, and
+said gurglingly, "Was he working awfully hard at the stupid old office?"
+
+"Eveley, just one thing, while we are on our duties," he said, catching
+her hand. "You have made one exception, always, but you have never told
+me what it is. And it is so unlike you to except anything when you get
+started. What is the one duty that is justified and necessary?"
+
+Eveley promptly pulled her hand away. "That," she said, "is purely
+personal. It will not do any one any good to talk about it. So it is all
+sealed up on the inside."
+
+"And I shall never know what your one duty in life is?" he asked, with
+mock pleading, but real curiosity.
+
+"It may hit you sometime--harder than anybody else," she said, laughing.
+"But in the meantime let's talk of other things."
+
+As soon as Mr. Severs had started to work the next morning, without the
+tender farewells, for the presence of Father-in-law placed an instinctive
+veto on such demonstrations--Eveley kicked briskly on the floor as a
+summons, and Mrs. Severs answered.
+
+"Eveley?" she called up to the ceiling.
+
+And Eveley shouted down to the floor of her room, "Come up--I've got it."
+
+At that Mrs. Severs fairly flew up the stairs.
+
+Eveley caught her on the landing, and whirled her around the room in a
+triumphant dance, stopping at last so abruptly that Mrs. Severs was
+almost precipitated to the floor.
+
+"Now listen. I've got it. The proper adjustment, that will make you all
+happy and prove my theory."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," chanted Mrs. Severs ecstatically.
+
+"He must get married."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Now don't interrupt. Let me finish. Of course he has no notion of such a
+thing, but leave it to me. We shall marry him off before he knows it. We
+must find the woman first. Out at Chula Vista there are a lot of
+beautiful elderly ladies in the Home who are all alone and would be only
+too glad to have a cozy home and a--a--pleasant husband and--all that. So
+we'll go out on Saturday afternoon and look them over and pick out a good
+one. Then I'll invite her to visit me for a week, and you and I will both
+be busy so Father-in-law will have to entertain her, and she'll cut out
+old Whiskers in no time at all."
+
+Eveley flung out her hands jubilantly.
+
+Mrs. Severs showed no enthusiasm. "That is what I wanted to tell you. He
+can't. He is already married."
+
+Eveley dropped into a chair. "Married!" she stammered. "You told me
+Dody's mother was dead."
+
+"She is, of course. But what I did not tell you is this. Three years ago
+while Dody was in France, father must have sort of lost his mind or
+something, for without a minute's warning, he up and married somebody--a
+woman, of course. When Dody got home from the war she was not there, and
+when he asked about her, father just sort of laughed and looked sheepish,
+and said, 'Oh, she's gone on a visit.' 'Where to?' Dody asked. 'Oh,
+somewhere around,' said father. 'Is she coming back?' asked Dody. 'Holy
+Mackinaw, I hope not,' said father, and that is the last we ever heard of
+her. But of course he is still married."
+
+It was a hard blow, but Eveley rallied at last, though slowly. "Don't
+worry," she said monotonously. "There is another adjustment. Just keep
+happy--and give me time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SHE MEETS A DEMONSTRATOR
+
+
+"You've simply got to sneak off on some pretext or another, and meet me
+at the Doric agency at three o'clock for a demonstration. They say it is
+perfectly wonderful--why, it hardly takes a look of gas to go a thousand
+miles, and its tires are literally cast iron."
+
+This was her summons by telephone. And Nolan, determined not to desert
+trusting little Eveley to the tender mercies of motor sharks, went to the
+Middle Member, whose position he confidently expected one day to possess,
+and announced that important business of a personal nature required his
+presence that afternoon. And because Nolan never abused privileges--or if
+he did was never detected in the act--and because his firm was composed
+of human beings and not the granite machines common to fiction, Nolan
+encountered no difficulty.
+
+And Eveley went to her own employer, and smiling seductively upon him,
+said vaguely that some awfully important and unexpected things had come
+up, and could she please get off at three, if she would work particularly
+hard in the meantime to make up?
+
+And because Eveley was very pretty, and withal very businesslike, and
+pleasant about trifles like working after hours and special grinds and
+such things, and because her employer was acutely conscious of her soft
+voice and bright eyes, he smiled in return and said:
+
+"Yes, indeed, Miss Ainsworth, I heard you phoning about it. Go, by all
+means, but I do not think you will like the Doric. The tires are all
+right, but the cylinders are under size, and this causes a constant
+friction with the magneto which impairs the efficiency and makes the car
+a poor climber and weak on endurance runs."
+
+That is probably not what he said at all, but it is what Eveley
+understood him to say, and from it she gathered that she might go at
+three, but that there was something perfectly terrible about the Doric
+that made it impossible for her to buy it, but of course she could not
+disappoint the salesman with the deep blue eyes, and so she would have
+the demonstration anyhow.
+
+From three o'clock on, the afternoon was a perfect daze of magnetos and
+batteries and gas feeders and real leather upholstery. But Eveley
+interrupted once, to run into a drug-store to the public telephone, to
+call Kitty, and when she had her friend on the wire she said eagerly:
+
+"Oh, Kit, we are trying out the Doric. It is awfully good some ways, and
+rotten some ways, and so of course I can't buy it, but the salesman has
+the most irresistible eyes you ever saw in your life, and so I am wearing
+my new blue veil, and I look a dream in it. Now you scoot up to the Cote,
+will you, and have supper ready for us at six--Nolan and me. If Nolan
+were not along I might bring the blue-eyed Doric man, but he is so
+overbearing about those things--Nolan, I mean. Get a nice juicy steak, he
+needs nourishment. I think if I could feed him constantly for a month and
+save him from the restaurants he might develop enough animal magnetism
+to--anyhow, he needs the steak, so get a good one at Hardy's and charge
+it to me. And will you go by the cleaners, and get my motor gloves--they
+said it would only be a quarter for the cleaning, so don't pay them a
+cent more. Will you? That's a nice girl."
+
+At six o'clock, wearily, happily, still discoursing earnestly of magnetos
+and batteries, Eveley and Nolan climbed the rickety rustic steps,
+brightening visibly as the odor of broiling steak and frying potatoes was
+wafted out to them. Nolan went in first, carefully stepping out of the
+way before he reached a hand to assist Eveley, for he knew that she would
+fall headlong among the cushions she kept conveniently placed for that
+purpose. "It is easy enough getting in, if you take your time," she
+always said defensively to criticizing friends. "But I am usually in a
+hurry myself, so I keep the cushions handy."
+
+On this evening, being tired, she remained on the floor where she had
+comfortably landed, and lazily removed her hat and veil, tossing them
+lightly into a distant corner.
+
+"If it wasn't for the carburetor rubbing on the spark plugs," she said
+plaintively, "I'd get the Doric in spite of everything. Did you ever see
+such blue eyes in your life, Nolan?"
+
+"The Mason is a better car in every way," he said flatly. "Strongly
+built, low hung, smart-looking, and the engine perfect."
+
+Eveley frowned. "Isn't that like a man? The Mason! I wish you could have
+seen him, Kitty. Fifty years old if he was a day, and bald, and two
+double chins. And talked through his nose. And what do you suppose he
+talked about? His wife--and how she loves the Mason. What do I care what
+his wife thinks about the Mason? I wouldn't have the Mason if he offered
+me one. I'll bet it is so easy riding that it fairly sprouts double
+chins--on the drivers."
+
+"You are buying a car, Eveley--not a driver," Nolan explained.
+
+"But the Doric is rather light in weight, and very high in price. How I
+wish you could have heard him tell about it, Kitty. When he said
+carburetor it was just like running up a scale of music. And his
+fingernails were manicured as nicely as my own."
+
+"Is dinner ready?" Nolan interrupted furiously. "Come and eat. Great
+Scott! That girl would buy a bum car and a costly one, because the
+demonstrator has shined his nails."
+
+"And, Kitty, he said if we could go to-morrow evening at five-thirty he
+would take us to La Jolla to show us how she climbs the grades. She will
+go up on high."
+
+"When did he say that?" interrupted Nolan. "I can not go with you
+to-morrow night. Don't you remember I told you we had a meeting--"
+
+"I know, dear. I am so sorry. But Kitty will go with us, won't you?"
+
+"Will I?" echoed Kitty ecstatically. "Won't I? Do you suppose they have
+another one, with brown eyes, to go along to--to change tires, or
+anything?"
+
+"I don't know, but we can ask. He is going to phone me at the office
+to-morrow to find out where to call for us. He is very respectable. He
+goes to the Methodist Church, and his uncle is a banker in Philadelphia."
+
+"Pass the potatoes, for heaven's sake," urged Nolan. "I feel sick." And
+after a while he went on, persuasively: "There is no use to try that car
+out again, Eveley. It is no good. Or if you insist on it put it off until
+the next night, and I will go with you. We'll all three go. Make a
+foursome if you like, with Kitty and the blue-eyed mutt."
+
+"Kitty does not like blue eyes. And besides, I am the one to be
+demonstrated to. And besides," she winked at Kitty drolly, "I am sure he
+will be busy the rest of the week. For when I mentioned that you had an
+appointment to-morrow he said most particularly that to-morrow was the
+only free evening he had for weeks to come. And that reminds me, Nolan,
+that your advice about Father-in-law was no good. He is married already,
+and it is your fault, getting me buoyed up with hope, all to no purpose."
+
+Nolan was properly regretful.
+
+"Do you think the old man likes to live with them?" he asked.
+
+"No, of course not. He hates it. He almost shudders when I tell him how
+lovely it is to have a son and daughter to live with. But I suppose he
+thinks it is his duty to stick, just as they think it is theirs to make
+him stick. People are so absurd, aren't they?"
+
+"Yes, very," he said soberly, his eyes intent on Eveley's hair curling so
+tenderly about her ears. And he was really thinking how very absurd it
+was that a rising young lawyer should find it so tempting to touch that
+bit of curl, and to kiss it. Very absurd indeed!
+
+"Are you thinking of something?" she asked hopefully, looking into his
+earnest eyes.
+
+"Yes, indeed." And he forced his eyes away from the distracting curls.
+"Yes, indeed I am."
+
+"What is it?" she begged, leaning toward him and slipping her fingers
+with childish eagerness into his hand.
+
+"Why--just tempt him," he stammered.
+
+"Tempt him, Nolan. 'Holy Mackinaw,' as Father-in-law says, what do you
+mean, tempt him?"
+
+In this predicament, Nolan was forced to concentrate. Why in the world
+had he said, "Tempt him?" The temptation of Eveley had nothing whatever
+to do with father-in-laws and the adjustment of duty. But Eveley expected
+him to produce a tangible and reasonable explanation.
+
+"Why, just tempt him, Eveley. You know what temptation is, don't you?
+Then do it." This was merely playing for time, seeking for illumination.
+"Just--keep it always before him, you know--how nice it would be to get
+off alone and be independent." Nolan was a lawyer, and having forced a
+foothold, he made it secure. "Tempt him with freedom, talk to him about
+the joys of privacy, unrestrained intercourse with his whiskered crony,
+the delights of unlimited liver and onions, a bed in the sitting-room,
+meals by the kitchen fire, and a jar of tobacco on every chair. See?
+Tempt him until he can't stand it."
+
+Eveley looked at him appraisingly. "Nolan Inglish, you are a whole lot
+cleverer than I ever thought you were. That is real talent. You have
+found the adjustment this time. I feel it."
+
+Nolan, intoxicated with the warmth of her voice, the subtle flattery of
+word and tone, rushed on.
+
+"Let's find him a house, just a bit of a shack with a little garden and a
+mangy dog, and then razzle him with the vision of independence, and show
+him the house."
+
+Then Eveley stood up. "Will you help me do this, Nolan? You get nicer
+every day of your life."
+
+And Nolan, except for the presence of Kitty, would surely have said what
+he had no earthly business to say to Eveley yet--until circumstances and
+the Senior Member made it justifiable.
+
+He sat glowering and grim at the Important Meeting the next evening, when
+he should have been gratified that his presence was desired--for Maley
+wasn't there, nor Garland, nor Alverson. But in spite of the Honor, and
+the Significance, Nolan's mind was wandering. He lost sight of the Truly
+Greats, and saw only a cloudy picture of Eveley, soft, sweet and dimply,
+sitting rapt by the side of the Darned Blue Eyes. And that night, at
+eleven o'clock, on his way to his modest room, he suddenly started.
+Coming demurely out of the Grant, he saw Eveley and the blue-eyed one,
+and laughing beside them, Kitty and some other equally reprehensible
+being. Nolan could hardly believe the evidence of his own eyes.
+
+He fumed openly while he allowed them a decent interval for reaching
+home, and then called Eveley by telephone.
+
+"Eveley, I thought I saw you and Kitty coming out of the Grant with some
+men a little while ago."
+
+"Oh, did you?" Eveley's voice was vibrant with surprise.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Isn't that funny?" she laughed a little, softly.
+
+"Well, were you?"
+
+"Were we what?"
+
+"Were you there?"
+
+"Why, yes, of course. We stopped for a sandwich. We missed our dinner.
+The engine broke down on the Biological Grade, and held us up for quite a
+while."
+
+"Eveley--"
+
+"Oh, it was perfectly all right. He found out to-day that he had a friend
+who is a life-long friend of Kitty's and he brought him along, and we
+were all nicely introduced and everything was as proper as you please."
+
+"Did you buy the car?" he asked witheringly.
+
+"Oh, no, he advised me, confidentially, not to. He is going to change to
+the Bemis agency to-morrow, and he thinks he will find it much more
+satisfactory. Wasn't it a lovely night? Did you have a nice time with the
+High and Mighties? Kitty is going to stay all night with me, and we are
+just making some hot chocolate. Won't you come for a cup?--Oh, just Kitty
+and I, and it is quite early. Come along, and we'll tell you all the bad
+points about the Doric. But they say the Bemis is a wonder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ADMITTING DEFEAT
+
+
+The first Saturday after the organization of the Irish-American League
+brought a blessed spring rain, especially heaven-sent on her account,
+Eveley felt quite sure, for she was greatly worn from coping with motor
+salesmen and the father-in-law situation. And this was a rain that not
+even boys could stand, so she had a blissful afternoon alone, purring and
+puttering about contentedly in her Cloud Cote.
+
+But on the second Saturday, according to agreement, the League met in the
+appointed field for a game. This was Eveley's first opportunity to
+witness the development of American principles in her chosen flotsam. The
+meeting had been called for one-thirty, and although Eveley arrived
+fifteen minutes early she found the field occupied by fully twenty youths
+of varying sizes, colors and brogues. She gazed upon the motley array in
+helpless horror.
+
+"Ern Swanson is going to be the captain," said John Hop, with his
+ingratiating Oriental smile. "We just had an election and elected him."
+
+"But we already have a captain," protested Eveley, looking not without
+sympathy to the corner where Ivan Kerensky nursed his humiliation.
+
+"We didn't know Ern was coming in," said Alfredo Masseno, who had hurried
+up with half a dozen others to greet her. "Ern, he ought to be the
+captain. He's awful rough; and baseball, why, he eats baseball alive! And
+he won't come in unless he is the captain, and if he don't come with us
+he'll join the Red Dogs on National Avenue, and we want him with us
+because we have challenged them to a game and if they get Ern they'll
+lick us."
+
+Then the newly elected captain sauntered up, his good-natured face
+reflecting the glory of his new command as well as his natural Swedish
+temperament.
+
+"He doesn't look rough," said Eveley critically.
+
+"No'm, not when things suits him, but you ought to see him when he is
+mad. Golly! Why, even the cops lets that kid alone."
+
+"But it isn't parliamentary--I mean, it isn't proper to have one election
+after another like this. We chose one captain, and we ought to stand by
+him."
+
+"That wasn't no quorum what elected him, ma'm," said Ern Swanson, smiling
+broadly. "They was only eight in the club then, and now we got
+twenty-three. That little bunch o' Greasers couldn't represent us. No,
+ma'm. We want regular Americans at the head of this club, and so we had a
+regular election."
+
+Eveley knew this was dead against American principles, and she looked
+once more toward the sulking ex-captain. Then she remembered that he had
+won his own election in her absence by plain coercion, and decided to
+pass this one irregularity, but never again.
+
+"Very well, then," she said weakly, "have it your own way this time. But
+there must be no more elections until the right time. Now, what are you
+going to do? Have a practise game? Then suppose we let Ivan be captain of
+the second team, anyhow, and you can pick your men and have a good game."
+
+This seemed a simple proposition to Eveley in her innocence, but on a
+sudden, pandemonium reigned. The whole crowd of boys propelled itself
+violently into the air, and there was a shrieking of voices and a tossing
+of bats and gloves, and a seemingly endless number of arms flying about.
+From out the clamor Eveley could distinguish repeated hoarse roars of
+"Pi-i-i-i-tcher," "Pi-i-i-i-tcher," "Ca-a-a-a-a-atcher," "Ca-a-a-a-atcher,"
+and she retired to a remote spot to await the proper moment for gathering
+up the remains. Being a lady, she could make no sense at all of the deadly
+uproar, and she was quite thrilled and charmed when of a sudden the tumult
+subsided, and she found that out of that apparently aimless clamor, two
+teams had been selected and the players assigned to their various positions
+on the field. It was black magic to her.
+
+Eveley thought she knew baseball. She knew what a "foul" was, and she
+knew what happened when one passed four balls, and she knew when one was
+out. And she had often said fatuously that she loved baseball, because
+she understood it. But she did not understand it. She understood a mild
+respectable game that was played by scholarly young men in college.
+Baseball as played by the wild creatures on that Saturday afternoon was a
+sealed book to her. And she devoutly hoped and prayed it would remain
+sealed. She felt that death would be preferable to a full working
+knowledge of what went on in the Irish-American Club that afternoon.
+
+For an interval of perhaps three minutes the thing progressed with some
+degree of reason. Then issued a sudden roar from a dozen throats, every
+one came tearing in from his proper location on the field, and there was
+a yelling, huddled group in the center. Then Eveley crept timidly from
+the corner where she was engaging in prayer for the safety of herself and
+her club, and advanced cautiously toward the swaying pile of shrieking
+boys.
+
+She placed soft entreating hands on the outside layer, she even jumped up
+and down and yelled "Boys," at the top of her healthy voice. But she was
+only an atom in a world gone upside down. Presently, however, and from no
+reason she could determine, the mob disentangled itself into distinct
+entities, the roar subsided into a few threatening growls and murmurs,
+and Captain Swanson hitched up his trousers and yelled "Play ball"
+triumphantly. Then the game went on. This identical thing occurred at
+intervals of about eight minutes during the entire afternoon.
+
+Eveley hoped devoutly that she was by her very presence helping to
+Americanize these particular bits of flotsam and jetsam--she trusted so.
+She was quite confident that so much personal agonizing on her part ought
+to be doing something to the wild beings. But there was no apparent
+development.
+
+She stood her ground bravely until four o'clock, and then, thanks to the
+merciful Providence who protects the fools gone in where angels would not
+dare, it seemed the whole club had to set about delivering papers. But as
+there were important details to be attended to, such details as arranging
+for a permanent place to play, and providing protection for the balls and
+bats bought from Eveley's inheritance, and paying dues, it was decided to
+have a meeting in the Service Hall that evening at seven.
+
+Eveley went home, and to bed.
+
+At six-thirty she got up, made a percolator full of strong coffee and
+drank it all.
+
+Then she went to the Service Hall to meet the Irish-American Bloodhounds,
+as she irreverently called them in her inner heart.
+
+Eveley was out of her element, and she knew it.
+
+She was bent on Americanization, but not this kind. She would be glad to
+assist in the development of quick and kind-eyed Angelo at the office, or
+the courteous Jap in the tea garden, but for a baseball club she had no
+talent. She explained her needs and her deficiencies to the manager of
+the Recreation Center, and he finally agreed that the Bloodhounds needed
+a young virile athlete as their director. "And for his own sake," said
+Eveley almost tearfully, "he ought to be a pugilist. I say this for his
+good. We need all our assimilators and should not expose them to sudden
+and violent death."
+
+Then Eveley talked to the boys, and told them how she had enjoyed and
+liked them, but explained that being only a woman she was terribly
+handicapped, and so would leave them to the discretion of one yet to be
+selected. She hoped they would remember they were good Americans, that
+they stood for honor and loyalty and right. Then she thanked God she was
+free, took her coat and hat and went out.
+
+"Why, Miss Ainsworth! Is it really you? What in the world are you doing
+here?"
+
+Eveley, startled on the threshold of the Service Club, looked up into the
+face of the blue-eyed Bemis salesman.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Hiltze," she said mysteriously. "It is a deadly secret. You must
+never breathe a word of it. But since you have caught me in the act, I
+may as well confess. I am an Americanizer."
+
+"Great Scott!"
+
+"You know what that is, don't you? Helping to sort out and assimilate the
+flotsam and jetsam of the foreign element, and imbue it with sturdy
+American principles, and all that."
+
+Mr. Hiltze laughed.
+
+"Perhaps you do not understand the new great movement of Americanization,"
+she said with dignity. "It is the one immense fine movement of the day. It
+is to effect the amalgamation of all the riff-raff of humanity into a new
+America." Eveley did not mention the quotation marks which circled her
+words.
+
+"That is wonderful," he said warmly. "It is a great surprise and a great
+pleasure, to find women of your type taking an interest in this
+progressive movement."
+
+Eveley leaned excitedly toward him. "Oh, Mr. Hiltze, are you interested
+in it, too?"
+
+"None more so, though like yourself I feel the best work is done silently
+and unobtrusively, and I prefer not to be exploited from the housetops."
+
+"Oh, this gives me courage again--and I had nearly lost it. Have you been
+working to-night? Are you through for the evening?"
+
+"Yes, and if your labors have been as exhaustive and soul-wracking as
+mine, perhaps you can spare an hour for nourishment with me at the Grant.
+Of all the jobs in the world! Selling motors is a game beside it."
+
+"We agree again. I think it was rather foolish of me to tackle it in the
+beginning. I haven't brains enough. Those boys may be flotsam and jetsam
+and all that, but they know more about patriotism than I do. Why, one
+little Italian, the cutest thing, with dimples and curly hair, told me
+more about country-love than I could have thought up in a month. He says,
+isn't it patriotic for them to come here and pick up all the good they
+can, and take it back to enrich their own country? And when you come
+right down to it, isn't it? Anyhow, the little Italians and Mexicans and
+Jews and I have organized an Irish-American Baseball Team, and I suppose
+we are amalgamating something into something. I think they are
+amalgamating me. I feel terribly amalgamated right now."
+
+"I am not in sympathy with the club idea," said Hiltze thoughtfully, as
+they turned down Broadway toward the Grant. "It is such a treat to find
+your kind of woman in this--I mean, the womanly kind--I abhor the
+high-brow women that are so full of forward movement they can't settle
+down to pal around comfortably and be human."
+
+Eveley, too, was kindling with the charm of a common interest and
+enthusiasm. Nolan took a very masculine stand on the subject. He said
+bruskly that the growth of Americanization must come from Americans. He
+said you couldn't cram American ideals into the foreign-born until the
+home-born lived them. And he said the way to "teach Americanization was
+by being a darned good American yourself inside and outside and all the
+way through." Which may have been good sense, but was no help in the
+forward movement.
+
+So Eveley looked upon Mr. Hiltze with great friendliness and sympathy,
+though she did glance up at the National Building as they went by,
+noticing the light in Nolan's window, wondering if he was working
+hard--and if the work necessitated the presence of the new, good-looking
+stenographer the firm had lately acquired.
+
+"Now, my idea of Americanization," Mr. Hiltze was saying when she finally
+tore her thoughts away from the National Building, "is pure personal
+effort. You take a club, and mix a lot of nationalities, and types, and
+interests up together--they work upon one another, and work upon you, and
+you get nowhere. But take an individual. Get chummy with him. Be with
+him. Study him. Make him like you--interest him in your work, and your
+sport, and your life--and there you have an American pretty soon. Club
+work is not definite, not decisive. It is the personal touch that counts.
+You could fritter away hours with a baseball club, and end at last just
+where you began. But you put the same time into definite personal contact
+with one individual foreigner--a girl, of course it would be in your
+case--it is young men in mine. You take a girl--a foreigner--win her
+confidence, then her interest, then her love--and you've made an
+American. That is the only Americanization that will stick. Suppose in a
+whole year you have won only one--still see what you have done. That one
+will go out among her friends, her relatives, she will marry and have
+children--and your Americanization is sown and re-sown, and goes on
+multiplying itself--yes, forever."
+
+"You are right," said Eveley. "And you find me a girl, and I will do it."
+
+"It is a bargain," he said quickly, stopping in the street to grasp her
+hand. "You are a little thoroughbred, aren't you? It may take time, but
+as I go about among the young men I work with--well, I am pretty sure to
+find a girl among them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ORIGINAL FIXER
+
+
+"Oh, Nolan," came Eveley's voice over the telephone, in its most
+wheedling accent, "I am so sorry to spoil our little party for to-night,
+but it is absolutely necessary just this once. The most utterly absurd
+case of painful duty you ever heard of. And although you do not exactly
+approve of my campaign, you would simply have to agree with me this time.
+And--"
+
+"Well, since I can't help it, I can stand it," he said patiently. "What
+is it this time? Some silly woman finding it her duty to house and home
+all straying and wounded cats, or a young girl determined to devote her
+life to the salvation of blue-eyed plumbers, or--"
+
+"It is a man," she interrupted, rather acidly.
+
+"Ah," came in guarded accents.
+
+There was silence for a tune.
+
+"A man," he repeated encouragingly, though not at all approvingly.
+
+"Yes. A long time ago he very carelessly engaged himself to a giddy
+little butterfly in Salt Lake City, and he doesn't want to marry her at
+all, but he feels it is his duty because they have been engaged for so
+many years. Isn't it pitiful?"
+
+"But it is none of your business," he began sternly.
+
+"It is another engagement with the enemy in my campaign," she insisted.
+"Oh, just think of it--the insult to love, the profanation of the
+sacrament of marriage--the--the--the insult to womanhood--"
+
+"You said insult before."
+
+"Yes, but just think of it. I feel it is my duty to save him."
+
+"Where did you come across him?"
+
+"He is the new member of our firm. I told you about him long ago. The
+good-looking one. He has been with us six months, but I am just getting
+acquainted with him. We had luncheon together to-day, and he told me
+about it. He doesn't like social butterflies at all, he likes clever,
+practical girls, with high ideals, and--"
+
+"Like you, of course."
+
+"Yes, of course. I explained my theory to him, and he was perfectly
+enchanted with it. But he could not quite grasp it all in those few
+minutes--it is rather deep, you know--and so he is coming up to dinner
+to-night to make a thorough study of it. He feels it is his one last
+hope, and if it fails him, he is lost in the sea of a loveless marriage."
+
+"I do not object to your fishing him out of the loveless sea," Nolan said
+plaintively. "But I do object to his eating the steak you promised me."
+
+"Think of the cause," she begged. "Think of the glory of winning another
+duty-bound soul to the boundless principles of freedom. Think of--"
+
+"I can't think of anything, Eveley," he said sadly, "except that
+good-looking fellow eating my steak, cooked by the hands of my er--girl."
+
+As a matter of fact, he took it very seriously. For while he was still
+firmly wedded to his ideal of fame and fortune, he was unceasingly
+haunted by the fearful nightmare of some interloper "beating his time,"
+as he crudely but patently expressed it.
+
+He spent a long and dreary evening, followed by other evenings equally
+long and dreary, for the Good-Looking Young Member found great difficulty
+in mastering the intricacies of a Dutiless Life, and Eveley continued his
+education with the greatest patience, and some degree of pleasure.
+
+Her interest in the pursuit of motors did not wane, however, and after
+trying every known make of car, and investigating the advance reports of
+all cars designed for manufacture in the early future, she blithely
+invested her fortune in a sturdy blue Rollsmobile, and was immediately
+enraptured with the sensation of absolute control of a throbbing engine.
+
+She found it no trifling matter to attend to her regular duties as
+private secretary, to keep her Cloud Cote dainty and sweet as of yore, to
+be out in her little blue car on every possible occasion, and still not
+neglect the Good-Looking Member and the Father-in-law in her campaign
+against duty.
+
+First of all, she invited the elder Mr. Severs to dinner, and forestalled
+his refusal by saying: "Please. I have a perfectly wonderful calf's
+liver, and I want you to cook it for me. The odor that comes up from the
+kitchen below is irresistible."
+
+No father-in-law who loved calf's liver and a kitchen could withstand
+that invitation and he found he had accepted before he knew it. To his
+boundless delight, the dinner was as though designed in Heaven, for his
+delectation. Clam chowder, calves' liver and sliced onions, watermelon
+preserves, and home made apple pie--made by Kitty, who had received rigid
+orders to provide the richest and juiciest confection possible,
+overflowing with apples and spice.
+
+As they sat chummily together over a red table-cloth, which Eveley had
+bought especially for this occasion, she said thoughtfully:
+
+"I believe I am the only really happy person in the world. Do you know
+why? It is because I am free. I am not dependent on the whims or fancies
+of any one. I eat what I like, go where I like, sleep when I like. It is
+the only life. I often think how remarkable it is that you can be so
+happy living down there with those honeymooners, doing everything to
+please them, eating what they like, going to bed when they get sleepy. It
+is wonderfully unselfish of you--but I couldn't. I have to be free."
+
+"You are a sensible girl," he said thoughtfully. "I never saw any one
+more sensible. Don't you ever get married. You stay like you are. Holy
+Mackinaw! Don't this liver melt in your mouth?"
+
+"I do not really care for an apartment like this," Eveley went on. "I
+prefer a cottage, off by itself, with a little garden, and a few chickens
+in the back yard, just a tiny shack in a eucalyptus grove, a couple of
+rooms where I can eat in the kitchen and sleep in the living-room."
+
+"Oh, mama, it sounds like Heaven," and he rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
+
+"I am looking for a cottage now. If I find exactly what I want, I may
+move. I should think you would prefer something like that yourself--a
+little rusty cot and a garden and a dog, where you could smoke all over
+the house, and have your friend come in for pinochle every night. I do
+not see how you can live as you do cooped up with a bride and groom."
+
+He sighed dolorously.
+
+"But I suppose some people like it. It wouldn't do for me. That is why I
+am looking for a cottage. Do you drive a car?"
+
+"A Ford. I wanted to buy a Ford, but daughter said no, they would not
+have a Ford. They would wait till they could afford an electric. She
+wouldn't let me buy a Ford for myself either. Said it looked too poor."
+
+"Did you ever have one?"
+
+"Me? Sure I did. But I accidentally drove off the road into the sand when
+I was fishing once, and the tide was coming in and it washed the car
+down. And when I got back with another car to tow mine out, it was gone.
+Some said the tide carried it out to sea, and some said a thief stole it,
+but it was gone, so it didn't matter how it went."
+
+Then Eveley was content to talk of other things.
+
+The next day she called up from the office, and asked to speak to
+Father-in-law.
+
+"I am going up to see a little cottage to-night," she said excitedly.
+"And my car is in the garage for adjustment. I unfortunately hit a curb
+and banged my fender. So I have rented a Ford for an hour or so, and want
+you to come along and drive it for me. Will you? Good! I will be there at
+five o'clock."
+
+"She is a sensible girl," he said to his son's wife as he hung up the
+receiver. "A nice sensible girl. She ought to help you a good lot."
+
+Mrs. Severs only sniffed. She knew this was the working out of Eveley's
+plot, though Eveley had not confided in her, knowing instinctively that
+the bride would tell the groom, and that the groom would be sure to stop
+it. So Mrs. Severs saw her father-in-law clamber into the little car at
+five o'clock, with something like hope in her breast.
+
+For a time, he was intensely absorbed in the manipulation of the gears,
+and the brakes, his lower lip clutched tightly between his teeth,
+breathing in full short gusts like a war horse champing for battle. But
+when at last they were fully started and running with reasonable
+smoothness, he said:
+
+"Who says this isn't a car? You talk to daughter about it, will you? You
+explain to her that this is a regular car like anything else."
+
+"Some people are so funny, aren't they? How well you drive it! It is lots
+of sport, isn't it? I should think it would be fine for you to have a car
+to run around in. Then you and your friend could go to Ocean Beach, and
+fish, and up to the mountains and shoot, and have a wonderful time."
+
+"I hadn't thought of that. I--you talk to daughter, will you? Tell her
+she won't have to ride in it."
+
+"Turn to the right here," said Eveley suddenly. "The cottage is the
+cunningest thing you ever saw, just two rooms, high on the hill
+overlooking the bay. I am so tired of being cooped up in a house with a
+whole crowd. I want to be absolutely free to do as I please."
+
+He sighed heavily again. "It is the only life. The only way to live. But
+shucks, folks can't always have what they want."
+
+"There it is, that little white house, third from the corner," she said,
+pointing eagerly, as he drew up the car to a spasmodic halt.
+
+He looked critically at the small lawn and the tiny cottage. "Those
+rose-bushes need trimming," he said, frowning. "There's a loose corner on
+the porch, too. Bet that grass hasn't been watered for three weeks. Why
+folks don't keep up their property is more than I can see."
+
+"Look at the view," said Eveley suddenly. "See the ships out in the bay,
+and the aeroplanes over North Island. Isn't it beautiful? If we had
+field-glasses we could see the people walking around in Tent City, and
+the lemon in the tea on the veranda at Coronado."
+
+"I've got field-glasses at home," he said wistfully. "In my suit-case.
+But I didn't unpack. Daughter does not like a lot of trash around the
+house. I'll bet we could see the gobs on that battle-ship if we had the
+glasses." He turned again to the yard. "It'll take a lot of work keeping
+up this place. And you busy every day wouldn't have much time for it. I
+reckon you'd be afraid alone nights, too. An apartment is better for a
+woman by herself."
+
+"But the freedom--"
+
+"Women hadn't ought to have too much freedom. It spoils 'em. This is the
+born place for a man--and a dog--and field-glasses--and a Ford."
+
+"Let's go inside and look it over," said Eveley. "Did you ever see such a
+place for chickens? Nice clean little coops all ready for them. Wouldn't
+it be a paradise for half a dozen hens?"
+
+"It's a lot of work raising chickens," said the old man. "It's a job for
+a man, really. You wouldn't like it." Then, thoughtfully: "Half a day's
+work would make that place fit for the king's pullets."
+
+"And look at the cunning little garden," urged Eveley.
+
+"Needs hoeing. All run over with weeds. Whole place going to rack and
+ruin. Needs a man around here, anybody can see that."
+
+"Come in, come in," cried Eveley, unlocking the kitchen door. "See the
+little gas stove, and the tiny table--and the cooler. Isn't it fun?
+Couldn't you have the time of your life here, reveling in liver and
+cabbage and pinochle? Wouldn't your friend be crazy about it?"
+
+The old man squirmed restlessly, and passed into the next room. Eveley
+dropped down on the side of the bed, and set the springs bounding.
+
+"It is a good bed. That table seems made for pinochle, doesn't it? I can
+just see this place, with you and your friend, the room thick with
+smoke--and no one to say, 'Oh, father, it's terribly late.'" Eveley put
+up a very fair imitation of Mrs. Severs' ripply, bridal voice.
+
+"A phonograph--there ought to be a phonograph, to play _Bonnie Sweet
+Bessie_, and _Nelly Gray_."
+
+"Just the thing. A phonograph. That is the one thing lacking. I knew
+there was something needed."
+
+Father-in-law was quiet after that. He walked about slowly, peering into
+every nook and corner. But finally he went out to the car, and climbed
+in. Eveley followed silently. He started the car with a bang and a tug,
+and drove home swiftly, speaking not one word on the way. But Eveley was
+content.
+
+Quite late that evening he came up the rustic stairs and knocked on her
+window.
+
+"Say, Miss Ainsworth," he asked anxiously, "did you decide to take that
+cottage and live alone? Pretty risky business, I'm afraid. And it's a
+sight of work keeping up a garden like that--and chickens are a dickens
+of a lot of trouble."
+
+"I am afraid so," said Eveley wistfully. "I believe your advice is good.
+It is a darling little place, but I suspect I'd better give up the idea
+entirely."
+
+"That's right. You're a sensible girl. Very sensible."
+
+And he turned abruptly and went creaking down the stairs once more.
+
+The next evening as she swung her car up to the curb, Eveley found him
+waiting.
+
+"I'm afraid I'll have to give it up," he said, and added apologetically,
+"I thought since you didn't want it, I might take it myself. But if I
+went away they'd think I was dissatisfied, and maybe they hadn't been
+good to me or something. I wouldn't like to hurt their feelings."
+
+"Can't you pretend you hate to leave, but you feel it is your duty?"
+Eveley almost choked on the word, but she knew it would be only folly to
+explain her advanced ideas to this kindly conscientious soul. "You tell
+them that you think it is your solemn duty to go and leave them alone,
+and that you can't be happy unless you are doing your duty. Tell them
+that honeymooners need to be alone."
+
+"That's a good idea. I'll try it on them right away."
+
+When he timidly, then enthusiastically pressed his case, Mrs. Severs,
+seeing in his sudden determination to do his duty the happy fruition of
+Eveley's plan, voiced only a few polite words of mild protest, but her
+husband was flat-footed and vociferous in his objections.
+
+"Just cut out the nonsense, dad, and behave yourself. It is your duty to
+stay here where you belong, and you can stick around and get used to it.
+You can't go off by yourself, and that settles it."
+
+"I wouldn't be lonesome," said his father meekly. "I could get along. And
+I could come and visit you. I think--maybe--I'd like it pretty good."
+
+"Oh, I'm on to you, dad. You just say that because you think it would be
+better for us. Why, you'd be lonely as the deuce." And he went off into
+the other room and considered the subject closed.
+
+Late that night, Mrs. Severs ran up the stairs.
+
+"Eveley, he really asked to go, but Dody wouldn't hear of it. And I do
+feel ashamed of myself. We can't turn the poor old fellow out. It would
+not be right. Just let it go, and I'll try to get used to it. He really
+is a dear old thing."
+
+"Listen here, Mrs. Severs, do you mean that you are selfish enough to
+keep that poor old man here with you spooners when he really wants to be
+off alone where he can fish and cook and roam around to his heart's
+content? Can't you see it is your plain duty to make him go where he can
+live his own life? I--I am surprised at you."
+
+"Oh! You think--you mean--maybe he would be happier?"
+
+"Why, of course he would. And it is your duty to deny yourselves in order
+to make him happy."
+
+"Oh, I see." Mrs. Severs was quite radiant. "Talk to Dody about it, will
+you? He wants to do his duty, but he sees it the other way round."
+
+"Leave him to me."
+
+Some time later, Father-in-law himself crept softly up the stairway and
+tapped on the window.
+
+"Hist," he whispered. "It's no good. Andy won't hear of it. Can't you
+think of something?"
+
+"Leave him to me," she said again. "I am the original little fixer, and
+I'll attend to Andrew Dody."
+
+The next morning, quite willing to sacrifice her last nap in her desire
+to crush all duty, she started for work half an hour earlier than usual,
+and invited Mr. Severs to ride down-town with her. And as they started
+off, Father and Daughter-in-law from separate windows of the house
+watched their departure, and prayed that success might crown her efforts.
+
+"I want to talk to you confidentially, Mr. Severs," she said softly.
+"I--I think you misunderstand some things. I have been with your father
+such a lot, and I have discovered that he really wants to live alone. He
+likes to be free to do things when he likes, and how."
+
+"He can do that in our home, Miss Ainsworth," Andy said stiffly.
+
+"Of course he can, but he thinks he can't. He wants to do as Mrs. Severs
+likes. He is only pretending it is his duty to go, because he thought it
+would hurt your feelings if _you_ knew he wanted to leave you. He is just
+crazy about both of you, but he is so used to doing every little thing in
+his own sweet way. It almost seems your duty fairly to make him go,
+because he would be happier."
+
+"I am not one to shirk my duty, Miss Ainsworth. I will sacrifice anything
+for my father."
+
+"Of course it will be lonely for you when he goes, but think how happy he
+will be following his every desire. I should think you would fairly force
+him to be selfish enough to leave you."
+
+"You may be right. He does not care for our way of living, I know, and he
+does like messing around. And then, too, it upsets our plans a lot having
+him there, but whatever is right for dad, is right for us."
+
+"Then he must certainly have the little shack we saw the other day--he
+adored it. You just tell him how lonely you will be, and how you will
+miss him, Mr. Severs, and then make him take the little cottage."
+
+Talking it over afterward with Nolan, Eveley admitted regretfully that
+she could hardly call this a victory--because Father-in-law only moved to
+do his duty, and the children only allowed him to go for the sake of
+doing theirs--but since everything worked out right, she was satisfied,
+though she alone knew that happiness came to the three because each one
+followed his own desire to the exclusion of other considerations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GERM OF DUTY
+
+
+The case of the Good-Looking Member strained Nolan's patience almost to
+the breaking point, but after many days of fruitless chafing, his
+forbearance was rewarded.
+
+Eveley invited him to dinner.
+
+"Have you rescued the good-looking one from the loveless sea?" he asked
+sarcastically.
+
+"I have sown the good seed," she said amiably.
+
+"I never heard of sowing seeds in a loveless sea," he sneered.
+
+"I have thought up a wonderful scheme. But you will have to help me out.
+I always fall back on you in an emergency, don't I?" Eveley's voice was
+sweetest honey. "So you must come to dinner."
+
+"Is the Handsome Member to be among those present?"
+
+"Oh, Nolan, this is our party--to talk things over all by ourselves. It
+seems such ages since I saw you, and I've been so lonesome."
+
+Nolan was fully aware that this was fabrication, but being totally male,
+he found himself unable to resist.
+
+"You do not know what lonesomeness is, Eveley. I nearly died. I almost
+wished I would die. I shall come early, and please wear the blue dress,
+and be good to me."
+
+That evening, after a long and satisfying preamble, they sat before her
+tiny grate with their coffee, and she broached the wonderful plan.
+
+"He is the most utterly married-to-duty thing you ever saw. He says he
+can not in common decency refuse to marry a girl who has been engaged to
+him for five years. He hasn't even seen her for three, and isn't a bit
+interested in her. Why, they only write once a month, or so. That's no
+love-affair, anybody can see that. But he won't ask her to let him off,
+and so we have thought up the most scientific scheme to work it. He is
+inviting her to come here for a visit, and she is to stay with me. She
+hates sensible businesslike men, and she adores scatter-brain, fussy
+ones. So when she comes, he is going to be as poky as duty itself, and
+wear old grimy clothes, and work day and night, and you are going to don
+your sunshine apparel and blossom out like a rose, and beau her around in
+great style. Result, she will fire him, hoping to ensnare you--but don't
+you make any mistake and get yourself ensnared for keeps, will you?"
+
+"He is going to work evenings, is he?"
+
+"Yes, day times and night times and all times."
+
+"And I am to cavalier the lady?"
+
+"Not the lady," she denied indignantly. "Both of us. You shan't go out
+with her alone. She is a terrible flirt, and very pretty. Where you and
+she goeth, I shall goeth also."
+
+"Well, I can stand it. But what is to become of my own future? Why should
+I neglect my legal interests to beau another fellow's sweetheart about
+the town?"
+
+"Because you always help me out of a tight place," she said wheedlingly.
+"And because you do not approve of my campaign. But if you are nice and
+help me this time, I think I can everlastingly prove that I am right."
+
+"If I do the work, seems to me I do the proving."
+
+"Yes, but it is my theory, so I get the credit. Of course you must be
+very gay and make quite a fuss over Miss Weldon, but don't you carry it
+too far, or you'll be in bad with me."
+
+Anything that meant the eclipse of the Handsome Member could not be other
+than satisfactory to Nolan. He agreed with a great deal of enthusiasm,
+only stipulating that all evenings previous to the arrival of the pretty
+fiancée should be devoted to private rehearsal of his part under the
+personal direction of the Dutiless Theorist.
+
+So it was Nolan and Eveley who met Miss Weldon at the station upon her
+arrival. They stood together beside the white columns, searching the
+faces of the passengers as they alighted. When a slender, fair-haired
+girl swung lightly down, they hurried to greet her.
+
+"Miss Weldon?" asked Eveley, with her friendly smile. "I am Eveley
+Ainsworth, and this is my friend, Mr. Inglish. Mr. Baldwin could not get
+away to-night--'way up to his ears in work. But he is coming up to see
+you later this evening."
+
+If Miss Weldon was disappointed she gave no sign. Instead she turned to
+Nolan with frankly approving eyes, remarking his tall slim build, his
+thin clever face, his bright keen eyes.
+
+"Are you so devoted to business, Mr. Inglish?" she asked, as she opened
+her small bag and took out a solitaire, which she placed on the third
+finger of her left hand. At the smiles in the eyes of Eveley and Nolan,
+she only laughed. "Why flaunt your badge of servitude? But don't tell
+Timmy, will you?"
+
+She was indeed very pretty, with warm shining eyes, and a quick pleasant
+voice. She was full of a bright wit, too, and the drive to Eveley's Cote
+in the Clouds was only marred for Eveley by the fact that she, being
+driver, had to sit in front alone.
+
+"We shall not do much cavaliering in the car," she thought grimly. "Not
+when there are only three of us. We'll walk--three abreast."
+
+Miss Weldon was enchanted with the rustic steps, but a little fearful of
+them as well, and appropriated Nolan as her personal bodyguard and
+support. She squealed prettily at every creak and rumble.
+
+"I shall never try these steps alone, Mr. Inglish," she said, clinging to
+his not-unwilling hand. "I shall always wait for you."
+
+"I'll roll her down, if she begins that," thought Eveley.
+
+But in spite of her disapproval, even to her there was something very
+attractive in the pretty girlish merriment and interest of her young
+guest.
+
+"I do not see why Nolan had to squeeze in on this," she said to herself
+most unfairly.
+
+Miss Weldon was charmed with the dainty apartment, and loved the cunning
+electric fixtures in the tiny dining-room. She tucked an apron under her
+belt, and appointed Nolan her assistant in making toast, while Eveley
+finished the light details of serving dinner.
+
+"It certainly is a silly business all the way around," Eveley decided.
+
+After their coffee, and after Nolan had finished his second cigar, Miss
+Weldon said, "Now since Miss Ainsworth got dinner, we must do the dishes.
+I shall wash, and you must dry them, Mr. Inglish, and be sure you make
+them shine, for I am very fussy about my dishes."
+
+And Eveley had to sit down in a big chair and rest, though she did not
+feel like sitting down and hated resting--and look quietly on while Miss
+Weldon fished each separate dish from the hot suds and held it out
+playfully for Nolan to wipe. It made a long and laborious task of the
+dish washing for Eveley, and she was quite worn out at its conclusion.
+
+"Funny that some people can't do their plain duty without getting the
+whole neighborhood mixed up in it," she thought resentfully.
+
+At nine o'clock, came Timothy Baldwin. Miss Weldon met him at the window,
+looked at him, half curiously, half fearfully, and after lifting her lips
+for a fleeting kiss, backed quickly away from him into a remote corner.
+
+Then Nolan, according to prearranged plan, suggested that he and Eveley
+run down and put the car in the garage. "And if there is a moon, we may
+go for a joy-ride, so don't expect us back too soon."
+
+And as they rode he spoke so unconcernedly of Sally's smiles and curls
+and pretty hands, that Eveley was restored to her original enthusiasm for
+the campaign.
+
+"Won't she be wild?" she chuckled, snuggling close against Nolan's side,
+but never forgetting that she was mistress of the wheel. "Tim is going to
+talk business all the time, and at ten-thirty he is going to say he must
+hurry home to rest up for a hard day's work to-morrow. We are not to get
+in until eleven, so she will be utterly bored to distraction. Isn't it
+fun?"
+
+They drove slowly, happily around the park, over the bridge and under the
+bridge, around the eucalyptus knoll above the lights on the bay, and then
+went down-town for ice-cream. At exactly eleven o'clock, Nolan took her
+hands as she stood on the bottom step of the rustic stair.
+
+"I can't say it is your duty to--be good to me--but I hope it will make
+you happy. And by the rules of your own game, I have a right selfishly to
+insist on your being always sweet and wonderful to me, and to me alone."
+
+"Just what do you mean by that, Nolan?"
+
+"Nothing, of course, but can't you use your imagination?"
+
+"No, I can't. That is for brides and fiancées, not for unattached
+working girls like me."
+
+Then she ran on up the stairs, and Nolan went home.
+
+True to arrangement, Tim had gone at ten-thirty, and Miss Weldon in a
+soft negligee was sitting alone pensively, before the fire.
+
+"Tim has changed," she said briefly. "I think he has more sense, but a
+little less--er--warmth, I might say."
+
+"Do you think so? He works very hard. He is fearfully ambitious and they
+think everything of him at the office."
+
+"Yes? Then he must certainly have changed. He was not keen on business at
+Salt Lake. He lost three jobs in eight weeks. That is why he came west.
+And his father has financed half a dozen ventures for him. But perhaps he
+has settled down, and will do all right. I love your little apartment,
+and it is dear to call it a Cloud Cote, and Mr. Nolan is perfectly
+charming. Timmy asked us to meet him at Rudder's for luncheon, you and me
+and your Mr. Nolan, also."
+
+"Oh, that is nice," said Eveley. "I'll come up for you in the car a few
+minutes earlier. You won't mind being alone most of the day, will you? I
+work, you know."
+
+"No, I rather like being alone. I sew some, and I shall read, and there
+are letters to write. I do not mind being alone."
+
+Eveley found her really very agreeable, quite pleasant to entertain. And
+after all Nolan had only done as she requested, and there was nothing
+personal in it. It was lots of fun, but it must stop before Miss Weldon
+had time to grow really fond of Nolan, for of course she could not have
+him under any circumstances. Eveley absolutely disbelieved in any form of
+duty, still she would not feel justified in carrying her animosity to the
+point of wilfully breaking innocent hearts.
+
+At twelve-thirty the next day, Eveley and Miss Weldon entered the small
+waiting-room of Rudder's café. Nolan was already there. They waited
+fifteen minutes for Timothy, and then a messenger came down to them with
+a note. Mr. Baldwin was so sorry, but business was urgent, and they must
+go right ahead and have luncheon without him. He would telephone them
+later in the evening if he could come up.
+
+Sally Weldon pursed her lips a little, but she smiled at Nolan. "Can you
+beau us both, Mr. Inglish? We think we are mighty lucky to have half a
+beau a piece on working days. Are you the only man in this whole town who
+does not work like a slave?"
+
+So they found a pleasant table in the café, and dawdled long over their
+luncheon, laughing and chatting. Then they took Nolan back to his office,
+and Eveley and Sally went for a drive on the beach to La Jolla.
+
+"But don't you have to work?" asked Sally, observing that it was long
+after two when they finally turned back toward the office.
+
+Eveley shrugged her shoulders prettily.
+
+"Oh, nobody works much but Mr. Baldwin," she said. "He does the grinding
+for the whole force."
+
+Miss Weldon frowned a little, but said nothing.
+
+That evening she had the dinner nicely started when Eveley reached home,
+and Eveley was loud in praise of her guest's skill and cleverness.
+
+"It is just lovely, but you must not work. You are company."
+
+"I rather like to cook. I took a long course in it four years ago when
+Timmy and I were first engaged, and I have done all the housekeeping at
+home since then. Daddy pays me double the salary we used to pay the cook,
+and I provide better meals and more cheaply than she did. Daddy says so
+himself."
+
+"Why, Sally," cried Eveley warmly, "I think that is wonderful. I am
+surprised. I thought--I supposed--"
+
+"Oh, I know what you thought," laughed Sally brightly. "Everybody thinks
+so, and it is true. I am very gay and frivolous. I love to dance and sing
+and play. And I abhor solemn ugly grimy things, and I think the only
+Christian duty in the world is being happy."
+
+Eveley flushed at that, and turned quickly away.
+
+Later Nolan joined them for dinner, and the little party was waxing very
+gay long before Tim called. Then it was only to say that he would be
+working late, but was sending them tickets for the theater and would join
+them afterward for supper at the Grant.
+
+"Does he always work as hard as this?" asked Sally, looking steadily into
+Eveley's face.
+
+"He always works pretty hard," said Eveley truthfully, "but he does seem
+busier than usual right now."
+
+Miss Weldon only laughed, and they talked of other things. Nolan went
+down with them in the car, Eveley driving alone in front, but somehow she
+felt her pretty guest to be less of a menace since she was guilty of
+sensible things like cooking and sewing.
+
+[Illustration: "Just what do you mean by that?"]
+
+Eveley did not explain that Timothy had felt inclined to join them for
+dinner and the show that night after disappointing them at luncheon, but
+she had been firm with him.
+
+"Not to-day," she insisted. "You can only have one hour with us to-night.
+To-morrow you can join us for luncheon and a short drive afterward, if
+you will fix it so I can get off."
+
+He was at the Grant waiting when they arrived, and rather impatient.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant time?" he asked, looking into Sally's bright
+face.
+
+"Lovely. And did you hurry terribly to meet us? We don't want to
+interfere with your work, or bother you."
+
+He searched her face for signs of guile, but her eyes were unclouded, and
+her manner indicated only a friendly concern for his interests.
+
+It was a very happy party that night. Both girls were merry, and Nolan
+was really more solicitously attentive to Sally than was quite necessary
+even in the interests of a campaign directed against her. When at a late
+hour, they trooped out to the car, it was he who helped her carefully
+into the machine, though, with seeming reluctance, he permitted Timothy
+to sit with her while he joined Eveley in the front seat.
+
+"Timmy is good-looking, don't you think?" Sally asked that night, as they
+were preparing for bed.
+
+"Yes, if he did not work so hard. Young men should not kill themselves
+with labor."
+
+"Your Nolan is handsomer, perhaps," said Sally pleasantly.
+
+The next day Timothy did meet them for luncheon, after keeping them
+waiting for twenty minutes, and later they went for a fast ride out Point
+Loma. But that night he did not see them at all, though he told Eveley he
+thought she was rather rubbing it in, cheating him out of so many
+pleasant parties and good times.
+
+"I may not want to marry her, but it is good sport chasing around," he
+protested.
+
+But Eveley was very stern. He had put himself in her hands, and he must
+obey without argument, and that settled it. And when he suggested that it
+would look better if he and Sally had one party by themselves without
+Nolan tagging at their heels, she frowned it down.
+
+"One private party can spoil a whole week of hard work," she decreed.
+
+So the week passed. Once even Eveley pretended business, and Sally and
+Nolan had luncheon together, and a drive later in Eveley's car. But
+Timothy put a stop to that.
+
+"She is my fiancée. And I may have to marry her after all. And if I do,
+hanged if I want everybody in town thinking she was Nolan's sweetheart to
+begin with."
+
+So Eveley waived that part of her plan, and the parties were always of
+three, and sometimes, but infrequently, of four. That Sally accepted
+their arrangements so easily, and took so much pleasure in their
+entertainment, argued well. One night she said:
+
+"Of course, men have to work, but I shouldn't like my husband to dig away
+like a servant, should you, Eveley?"
+
+And Eveley felt the time was ripe. The next day she told Timothy he might
+take Sally out alone in the car for a drive, and ask her if they should
+not be married right away. Eveley was willing to wager that she would
+reject him. Timothy consented with alacrity, seeming to feel the burden
+of his semi-attached state.
+
+That evening at six-thirty, when Nolan came up for dinner, Eveley met him
+on the roof garden over the sun parlor.
+
+"Nolan, something has happened. They went at two o'clock, and they aren't
+home yet. What do you suppose is the matter? Maybe they had an accident.
+Maybe she got mad and wouldn't ride home with him. He wouldn't put her
+out, would he? Shall we notify the police?"
+
+"I should say not. Don't worry. Let's have our dinner. They can eat the
+leavings when they come. He has probably learned, as other and wiser men
+have learned, that a pretty and pleasant girl is not half bad company.
+I'll bet he is having the time of his life. My, it is nice to have you
+alone again. She is very sweet, and it's been lots of fun, but after all
+I am used to you, and this is nicer."
+
+Nolan's prediction proved far from wrong. At ten-thirty, a messenger boy
+shouted up from below, and Nolan ran down. When he came back he carried a
+small yellow slip addressed to Eveley, which he promptly opened. And as
+she peered over his shoulder, they read it aloud, together, in solemn
+chorus.
+
+  "Three cheers and a tiger. She has accepted me, and we were married
+  at Oceanside this afternoon. On our way to Yosemite for honeymoon.
+  I am the happiest man on earth. Tell Nolan to go to the dickens.
+  Love from Sally and Timothy Baldwin."
+
+Nolan lit a cigar and blew reflective rings into the air. "When a man is
+bitten with the germ of duty," he began somberly.
+
+For a moment Eveley was crushed. Then she rallied. "Just as I told you,
+Nolan. As long as it was a painful duty, marriage between them was
+impossible, and would have wrecked both their lives. But our campaign
+brought about the proper adjustment and tuned them to love again. So it
+was not duty, but love, and marriage is a joy. Now I hope you are
+convinced that I am right, and won't argue with me any more. And if I
+ever had any doubts about that one exception I make in regard to duty,
+they are all gone now. I am dead sure of my one exception."
+
+But when Nolan pressed her for an explanation, she begged him to smoke
+again, and let her think.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE REVOLT OF THE SEVENTH STEP
+
+
+The sharp tap on Eveley's window was followed by an impatient brushing
+aside of the curtains, and Miriam Landis swung gracefully over the sill
+in a cloud of chiffon and silk.
+
+"Lem is waiting in the car," she began quickly, "but I came up to show
+you my new gown. Are you nearly ready? Lem is so impatient, you know."
+Fumbling with the fasteners of her wide cape she drew it back and
+revealed a bewilderingly beautiful creation beneath.
+
+Eveley went into instant and honest raptures.
+
+"Do you like it, Eveley? Am I beautiful in it?" There was a curious
+wistfulness in her voice, and Eveley studied her closely.
+
+"Of course you are beautiful in it. You are a dream. You are irresistibly
+heavenly."
+
+"I wonder if Lem thinks so," said Miriam, half breathlessly.
+
+"Why, you little goose," cried Eveley, forcing the laughter. "How could
+he think anything else? There, he is honking for us already. We must
+hurry--Why, Miriam, you silly, how could any one think you anything in
+the world but matchlessly wonderful in anything--especially in a dream
+like that?"
+
+Miriam fastened her wrap again silently, and got carefully out through
+the window.
+
+"Twelve steps," cautioned Eveley. "You'd better count them, it is so
+dark, or you may stumble at the bottom."
+
+Miriam, clinging to the railing on one side, passed slowly down. "One,
+two, three, four, five, six." Then she stopped and turned.
+
+"Seven." Looking somberly up to Eveley, standing above her, her face
+showing pale and sorry in the dim light, she said, "I have been married
+five years, Eve. You do not know what it is to spend five years
+struggling to maintain your charm for your husband. And never knowing
+whether you have failed or won. Always wondering why he finds more
+attraction in other women less beautiful and less clever. Always
+wondering, always afraid, trying to cling to what ought to be yours
+without effort. It isn't funny, Eveley." She turned slowly, to go on
+down, but Eveley laid a restraining hand on her arm.
+
+"Five years? That is a long time," she said in a tender voice. "It must
+almost be his turn now. Five years seems very long to me."
+
+Miriam passed on down the stairs, counting aloud, eight, nine, ten, and
+on to the last. At the last step she turned again.
+
+"He is my husband, Eveley. One must do what is right."
+
+"Yes? Yet five years of duty does not seem to have brought you much
+happiness. At least you should not be selfish. You ought not to deny him
+the pleasure of doing his by you for the next five." Then she added
+apologetically: "Forgive me, Miriam. You know I should never have
+mentioned this if you hadn't spoken."
+
+Miriam clung to her hand as they felt their way carefully around the
+house, Lem in the machine still honking for them to hurry.
+
+At the corner she paused again. "You are very clever, aren't you,
+Eveley?"
+
+"Well, yes, I rather think I am," admitted Eveley.
+
+"How would you go about it?"
+
+"The way Lem does," came the quick retort, and Miriam laughed, suddenly
+and lightly.
+
+She was very quiet as they drove down Fifth Street. Only once she spoke.
+
+"It was the seventh step, wasn't it, Eveley?"
+
+"Yes, the seventh."
+
+"The Revolution of the Seventh Step," she said, laughing again.
+
+This was nonsense to Lem Landis, but he did not ask questions. Women
+always talked such rot to each other. And he was wondering if Mrs. Cartle
+would surely be at the ball?
+
+"The way Lem does."
+
+The words were startlingly sufficient. From five years of painful
+experience, Mrs. Landis knew how Lem did it. And so on this evening, as
+she stood beside him in a corner of the ballroom after their first
+greetings, and looked as he did with eager speculative eyes about the
+wide room, seeking, seeking, she felt a curious sympathy and harmony
+between herself and her husband. She knew without turning her head when
+the sudden brightening in his eyes came; and then he slowly made his way
+to the dim corner where Mrs. Cartle sat waiting.
+
+But Miriam was not so quickly satisfied. There was Dan O'Falley, but his
+was such fulsome effrontery. There was Clifford Eggleton, but he had been
+a sweetheart of Miriam's in the old days before Lem came, and that seemed
+hardly fair. There was Hal Jervis, but he was too utterly wax in woman's
+hands to give her any semblance of thrill. Then her eyes rested on a
+profile in another corner of the room--a dark sleek head, a dark thin
+face, and the clear outline of one merry eye. Miriam appraised the head
+speculatively. Who in the world could it be? That merry eye looked very
+enticing. Ah, now she could see better--he was talking to the Merediths.
+Then the merry-eyed one was a stranger--so much the better, the
+uncertainty of him pleased her. She was very weary of those she knew so
+well. She moved happily that way, suddenly surprised to know that she was
+not at all concerned because her husband sat in the distant corner with
+Mrs. Cartle. She felt for him to-night only a whimsical comradeship.
+Stopping many times on her way to exchange a word and a smile, she
+finally drew near the corner where the sleek dark head and the merry eye
+had drawn her. Mrs. Meredith, seeing her, came to meet her, and drew her
+forward impulsively.
+
+"Oh, Miriam, you must meet our friend, Mr. Cameron. He has only just come
+here to be with my husband in business, and we are going to love him, I
+know." And so immediately Miriam found herself looking directly, and with
+great pleasure, full into the merry eyes. The gown was beautiful upon
+her, she knew it positively, whether Lem had been stirred by the vision
+or not.
+
+"Oh, she is lovely enough," said Billy Meredith plaintively. "But don't
+be lured by her, Cameron. She is still in love with her husband."
+
+Miriam smiled at her victim with disarming friendliness. "But I like to
+be amused," she said. "And I have been married long enough now to feel
+like playing again."
+
+Cameron laughed at that, and the laughter fulfilled the promise of the
+merry eye. Miriam was quite intoxicated with the game her husband had
+taught her. That Eveley was a clever little thing, wasn't she?
+
+"Suppose we dance then," Cameron suggested eagerly. "It is the approved
+method of beginning to play."
+
+"We resign you to your fate," sighed Billy Meredith once more. "I warned
+you, you laughed me to scorn. Now plunge and die."
+
+"He seems to think I am dangerous," said Miriam, as they stepped lightly
+away to the call of the music.
+
+"Well, far be it from me to say he is wrong. But I am sure you will prove
+a charming playfellow. You seem fairly to match my own mood. I suppose we
+can not climb trees and go nutting and fishing and wade in the creek as
+we might have done together years ago, but if you will be patient and
+teach me your way of playing in your ladyhood, I think you will find me
+an apt, and certainly a willing playmate."
+
+"Then let's begin to-morrow night. Come to my house, and let's play pool.
+It is the most reckless thing we can do. I have a sweet little friend and
+she has a deadly admirer, and they will come with us. She is very clever,
+too, and full of fun. See, that is she there, dancing--the one with the
+golden frock. Her name is Eveley Ainsworth and the solemn young man is
+Nolan Inglish, and they are unannounced but accepted sweethearts. You are
+not afraid of Friend Husband, then?"
+
+"Not until Friend Husband gets afraid of me," he said.
+
+Later in the evening, as they were having ices in a wonderful nook in the
+ballroom, he said seriously, and with no laughter in the merry eyes:
+
+"Are you trying to make a truant husband jealous? Just be frank with me,
+and I will do my best. I know you wanted a pal to-night. Do you mind
+telling me why?"
+
+For a moment she hesitated. Then she smiled. "If my frankness loses me a
+pleasant comrade I shall regret my candor. But I do want to play fairly
+with you. So hear then the bitter truth. I have been married five years,
+and I have worked like a common slave to make myself beautiful and
+winsome and irresistible to my husband. And you know that a wife can't do
+it, if the husband isn't in the mind for it. And so to-night I am
+starting a revolution. I do not want to struggle forever. I want to play
+and be happy. I have no notion of making my husband jealous. That has not
+even occurred to me. I just want to be joyful--to learn to be
+joyful--regardless of him."
+
+"Then may I be a disagreeable old preacher, and say one thing? You know
+this may be fun, but sometimes it is dangerous. Human beings are not
+machines, and often they make mistakes and fall in love, when they had
+only meant to play. You would not find it at all pleasant to be married
+to one man, and in love with another. And maybe you would not enjoy
+having a husband and a lover in two persons, I am not trying to foretell
+the future, or make unpleasant predictions--I am only sounding the
+warning note."
+
+Miriam considered this very solemnly. Then she said: "Well, I think I
+should not mind. It does not seem to bother Lem to be married to me, and
+at the same time be involved in stirring friendships with other people."
+
+"Just one more sermon then, and I am through," he said, laughing. "It is
+this. Men and women are very different. A man can play his head off with
+a dozen women, and still stay in love with his wife, and want no one but
+her. But a really nice woman, and you are awfully nice, can not have
+love-affairs without love. When she loves a man, she wants him, and will
+not have any one else. Your husband can have a dozen affairs, and still
+want you. But if you have a pleasant affair--you may not want your
+husband."
+
+"Well, of course, Mr. Preacher, one must take a chance. And it is to be
+only play, you know. That must be understood right in the start. I am
+really not a bit advanced nor modern, nor anything. I have no forward
+ideas in my head. I am just tired of trying to please my husband; I want
+some one to please me. It does not seem to offer you much for your pains,
+does it? But you may find me fairly amusing."
+
+"I am sure of it," he agreed warmly. "And it is all settled, and we are
+going to play together. And if sometimes you get tired of me, and fire me
+off, I shall bob up serenely the next day and start over, just as we
+might have done when we were little children."
+
+When Miriam reported her progress in revolution to Eveley the next day,
+Eveley was greatly perturbed.
+
+"You went too fast," she said with a frown. "And besides--it is not fair.
+He isn't married. He will fall in love with you."
+
+"Oh, no, we have a regular understanding," said Miriam confidently. "It
+is all settled according to rules, and we are only going to play. Lem
+goes to his club to-night, and you and Nolan are to come and play pool
+with us. Doesn't it sound emancipated and free?"
+
+"Almost bolshevistic," said Eveley grimly. "I do not approve of it--not
+exactly--though I do think you are justified. But it is so risky--and
+people talk--"
+
+"Well, Eveley, I think it is better to have people say, 'What do you
+think of the way Miriam Landis is carrying on?' than 'Isn't Miriam Landis
+a little fool not to get next to her husband in all these years?'
+Shouldn't you?"
+
+"Well, we'll be there," said Eveley evasively. "We'll be right there. If
+he just wasn't so good-looking, and sort of--decent? Why didn't you pick
+out a roue? They are lots safer than these decent young chaps."
+
+Nolan, always a willing sacrifice when Eveley bade, joined them without
+demur, and a more rollickingly gay time they had never had. Even Eveley
+admitted that things seemed innocent and harmless enough, but she shook
+her head.
+
+"He is too good," she whispered to Miriam. "When he falls, he will fall
+hard. And if he is once in love, I have a feeling he will work like--like
+the dickens--and you haven't much spinal column yourself, you know. And I
+do not believe in home wreckers, and things."
+
+Nolan, also, frankly disapproved.
+
+"It doesn't make any difference what kind of husband she's got," he said
+decidedly. "As long as he is her husband, it is her duty to stick to him
+and leave other men alone."
+
+"Don't say duty to me," said Eveley crossly. "Five years is long enough
+for any woman to do her duty. I think she is quite justified in giving
+Lem a good scare. Maybe he will wake up, and behave himself. But this
+Gordon is too good-looking, and too desperately nice. How can they play
+together like two children? You know what will happen."
+
+"I think it has already happened. He is head over heels right now, and
+she is not breaking her heart over Lem, either. I give them two weeks to
+develop a first-rate rash."
+
+"But Miriam believes in duty," said Eveley hopefully. "Maybe that will
+save them. She would never elope with him, and I do not think he would
+even ask her, he is so sort of respectable and set."
+
+But Nolan was pessimistic. "Folks talk about duty until they fall in
+love, and then they forget it and everything else. And Lem has acted
+abominably. I thought she did not know it."
+
+"So did I. But--"
+
+"Well, no use to worry. We'll stick around with them and sort of boss the
+job. I am glad you invited them to the Cote to-morrow night."
+
+"And for supper, too. When Lem finds she is coming here for a supper
+party and he is left out, he may begin to think."
+
+"The trouble with Lem is, he can't help himself. He loves Miriam all
+right, but women go to his head. He may get jealous and promise
+everything on heaven and earth, but he can't keep his word."
+
+"Then he shouldn't have married."
+
+"She should never have married him. When women understand that a man who
+can not look at a woman before marriage without making love to her--can't
+do it afterward--they will save themselves a lot of trouble."
+
+"Well," said Eveley hopefully. "No one can say you hurt yourself making
+love."
+
+So the playing went on, Nolan and Eveley acting as constant and merry
+chaperons, and the little grouping grew more and more congenial. Lem
+realized that a convulsion was going on in his home, and reformed
+desperately for days at a time, but a secluded corner and a lovely woman
+invariably set him pleading for forgiveness. Miriam always forgave him
+promptly and said it did not bother her; and was at first frightened, and
+then delighted, to know that it truly did not bother her any more.
+
+Then one evening, Eveley had a mad telephone call from Lem, quickly
+followed by a flying rush to her little Cote.
+
+"See what you've done," he shouted, half-way through the window. "That is
+what comes of your interference. Miriam was the most contented woman on
+earth till you began feeding her up on this notion of revenge."
+
+"You sit down and talk sense, Lem Landis, or get out," said Eveley.
+"Contented! She hasn't known a contented day since she married you. You
+have had five years of jollying with other women. Now because another man
+smiles on her, you go into a rage and tear your hair. You make me sick."
+
+"Look here, Eveley, you got me into this, and you've got to get me out. I
+didn't care how much they smiled. I thought at first it was a put-up job
+to make me jealous, and I laughed at it. But it has gone too far."
+
+"Everything is all right," said Eveley soothingly. "They are just
+playing. Nolan and I are with them all the time. There is nothing serious
+between them."
+
+"Don't be a fool," he said rudely. "You know that men and women can't
+play like kids. Miriam wants a divorce."
+
+Eveley sat down and swallowed hard.
+
+"A divorce," he raged, champing wildly up and down the small room. "She
+says there is nothing between them, and she does not love him, but she
+can't stand me any more. Why can't she stand me? She stood me for five
+years. What's come over her all of a sudden that she says it makes her
+sick to kiss me? She won't even let me hold her hand. She says it is
+blasphemous. Blasphemy to touch my own wife's hand! You know what that
+means, don't you? She is in love with that--that--"
+
+"You can't swear here," Eveley broke in quickly. "I won't have it. I
+think you are mistaken, Lem. She doesn't want a divorce. Not really. She
+wouldn't, you know."
+
+"But she does, I tell you. She says it is sacrilege to live with me, and
+so she is going off by herself to desert me, and says I've got to get a
+divorce on those grounds when the time is up, or heaven only knows what
+she'll do. Now, you got us into this mess, and you've got to stop it."
+
+"I'll do what I can, Lem," she promised. "And so will Nolan. But between
+you and me, I do not blame her. I wouldn't have lived with you two
+months, myself."
+
+"I have never wanted another woman in my life," he said brokenly. "It has
+always been Miriam with me from the very minute I saw her. I have fooled
+around a lot, I know, but it's always been Miriam for serious."
+
+"Yes," she said bitterly. "That is it. It is just as Gordon says. A man
+can fool around and still love his wife. But a nice woman can't. She is
+strong for one man--at a time. When she falls for a new one, it is all
+off with the last. You could love a dozen at a time, but Miriam is too
+nice for that."
+
+"But you promised--"
+
+"Oh, yes, I'll do what I can, and I will advise her to stick it out, but
+I think she will be very foolish if she takes my advice."
+
+Nolan was immediately summoned, and a desperate struggle began with
+Miriam. But it was really no struggle.
+
+"Why, Eveley," she said reproachfully, "I am surprised at you. Can't you
+see that a woman can not live with a man she dislikes? It makes the
+shivers run down my back when he touches me. It--isn't nice. It--makes me
+feel like--well, not at all right. You can see that, can't you, Nolan?"
+
+"I am afraid I can."
+
+"But he is your husband," protested Eveley. "Isn't it your place as his
+wife to--to--"
+
+"Do you mean my duty, dear?" asked Miriam, smiling faintly. "I am surprised
+at you, Eve. No dear, it isn't. Your theory that duty is happiness is half
+right. But a woman has one other duty also--self-respect. I am all packed
+up, dear, and going to-morrow. You do not mind my not leaving my address,
+do you? I want to go off very quietly by myself. I do not want Gordon to
+know. I am afraid he will blame himself for it. You will make him see that
+it was not he, at all, won't you? And after it is all over, I shall write,
+or maybe come to see you. You will ask him not to look for me, won't you?
+There has not been a thing serious between us, Eveley, you believe that,
+don't you?"
+
+"Of course I do. I know it. I've chaperoned you two till I am fairly sick
+of it."
+
+Miriam smiled again. "Be sure to tell him everything I said, will you?"
+
+Nolan and Eveley were very quiet after she had gone. And Eveley cried a
+little.
+
+"I hope she will be happy," she said tearfully.
+
+"She will be. Gordon will wait for her, and not crowd her. He is like me.
+He can talk to a woman without loving her."
+
+"You can, at least."
+
+"At least, I do not talk about it all the time," he amended. "What I mean
+is that his affection is for the one, and not for the sex."
+
+"Do you think she did right, Nolan?"
+
+"I do not think it is my duty to judge," he evaded cleverly. "She had one
+chance for happiness, and she lost. Now she is to have one more. We are
+her friends, and we love her. We can not begrudge her one more
+opportunity, can we?"
+
+"No indeed, and you put it very nicely," she said more comfortably.
+"Isn't it nice that we do not believe in duty? But we shall miss them.
+They were very nice playmates for us, as well as for each other--Nolan,
+there was something sort of sweet about Lem, after all? Something very
+human and lovable and--but of course it was Miriam's duty to be happy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SHE FINDS A FOREIGNER
+
+
+Eveley had very nearly lost faith in assimilation. She had thought it
+over carefully, attempted it conscientiously and decided it could not be
+done.
+
+"One individuality can not be absorbed by another," she would say very
+sagely. "Whether it is husbands and wives, or whether it is nations. The
+theorists are right in stating that America is for Americans only, and
+that it is the patriotic duty of those who come here to be Americanized
+as rapidly as possible, and the duty of the regular Americans to
+Americanize everybody else at top speed--but it can not be done. They are
+they, and we are we. It may be our duty, but we are not big enough."
+
+She did not call her friendship with Angelo Moreno by any such big and
+formal term as assimilation. They had just grown to be enormously good
+friends. She had forgotten about Americanizing him, but she found him
+charming, with the fresh frank abandon of the unspoiled south-European.
+She liked his open admiration, she enjoyed his mature cynicism, she
+reveled in his buoyant enthusiasm. She had not believed that such
+opposing elements could dwell in one small person. In Angelo, she found
+them, and she found the combination good.
+
+He was helpful to Eveley, as well as pleasing. He did endless small jobs
+for her about the car and upon the lawn of her home. And when she noticed
+that he quickly adopted some of her own little customs of speech and
+manner, she was freshly pleased and interested.
+
+Still she could not harden her heart to the clamorous call of the world
+struggle. She lived so happily and so securely in her Cloud Cote, going
+to business by day, doing her small bits of housework in between whiles,
+frolicking with her friends, chumming with Angelo, playing with her
+sister's babies, running about in her pretty car. It was like living in
+the clouds indeed, with the world of chaos beneath. For there was the
+struggle of reconstruction going on, the tremendous heave and pull of
+masses seeking to dominate, the subtle writhe and twist of politics, a
+whole world straining and sinewing to rise dominant out of the molten bed
+of human lava left from the volcanic eruption of war.
+
+And although Eveley still lived serene in her Cloud Cote, it was like
+living on the edge of the crater of a volcano. The eruption would come,
+must come. And when it came, her pretty Cloud Cote might be caught in the
+upheaval. Sometimes in the evening she stood breathless in the little
+pavilion on the edge of the canyon stretching down below her home, and
+looked far into the shadows. Being a vivid imaginer, down in the darkness
+she seemed to see the world in turmoil, and although she stood above it
+on the heights, she knew that when the final reckoning came, there would
+be no heights and no canyon.
+
+"And the only thing that can stop it is Americanization, and it is
+impossible," she would say helplessly. "And there you are."
+
+But being of a light and happy heart, she tried to forget, and plunged
+into her work and her play once more. The consciousness, however, of a
+world in travail was always with her.
+
+This was why, when Amos Hiltze came to her with an appeal for help in a
+new phase of Americanization, he found such prompt and eager interest.
+
+"It is not much, Miss Ainsworth," he said earnestly, "and to you it may
+seem very aimless and trifling indeed. But it is something definite at
+least, a real tangible piece of Americanization, and you are the only
+woman I know who can help us out."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," she cried eagerly. "I will, of course. What is it?"
+
+"It is a girl, a Spanish girl from Mexico. Her relatives joined the
+revolutionists, and pouf,--were blown out. By rare good fortune she
+escaped across the border. But what chance has she? No friends,--no
+training. She has never learned to meet and mingle with people. And now
+after the years of horror, she is afraid. She has lost her nerve. She
+needs a place where she can be alone, and quiet, with no one to observe
+or criticize. I can vouch for the girl, that she is all right. And I
+wondered if your spirit of Americanization would carry you to the point
+of temporarily adopting her."
+
+"Oh, mercy!" gasped Eveley, thinking with great tenderness of her cozy
+little Cloud Cote, her home, and hers alone.
+
+"I know it is asking a great deal, but it will only be for a few weeks.
+Just until some proper arrangements can be made for her. Unless she is
+taken care of, and quickly, she will fall a prey to some anarchistic
+Bolshevik, or something worse. She is living with a bunch of low Mexicans
+away out in the country, and the Greasers come there from all
+around,--and I am afraid for the girl. If she can be taken now, treated
+kindly, shown the charm and wholesomeness of American customs and
+principles, she will be won for America. A beautiful girl, educated,
+talented, charming. Think what a power she can be in the Americanization
+of her people, when she herself has been given love and tenderness and
+confidence."
+
+Eveley decided instantly. "Very well, bring her. I can move the extra
+furniture out of the east bedroom, and store it in the garage, and she
+may have that room. She will be alone and quiet all day. But I hardly
+know a word of Spanish--"
+
+"Oh, she speaks English perfectly. You are a wonderful girl, Miss
+Ainsworth. Not one in a thousand would have risen to such a sacrifice.
+If American women were all like you, there would be no need of
+Americanization. A country stands or falls by its women-kind. And you
+will not find her burdensome. She does not wish to meet people, her only
+desire is to be quiet, and let alone. She will keep your little home tidy
+for you, and she likes to cook and sew. She will not bother you much. How
+soon can you have her come?"
+
+"It will take about two hours to get ready. Can you come and help me
+to-night? Angelo will help, too. We must move the furniture and boxes
+out, and then the room will be ready for her."
+
+"Then suppose we go for her to-night? She is about forty miles out in the
+back country in a little shack a mile off the Viejas grade. If we could
+leave about supper-time, we'd get there a little after dark. She wants to
+slip away without attracting attention. She is a nervous wreck, literally
+scared to death. It will take a long time to give her confidence again,
+but if any one can do it, it is you. Her faith in humankind has been
+bitterly shattered."
+
+Eveley was fairly quivering with excitement and delight. Her faith in
+herself had gone leaping skyward. She was not a slacker, not a quitter.
+She was a regular American after all, making a real sacrifice for a
+principle she believed in,--and oh, how she was going to assimilate this
+pretty little Mexican! Poor child! Of course she was shattered and
+stunned and shocked. Who wouldn't be? Things must have been ghastly in
+Mexico. Eveley herself was rather vague on the subject, because her
+philosophy was one of peace and joy, and she found that reading of
+affairs in Mexico did not tend to increase either peace or joy. But she
+was dimly aware that the spirit of unrest prevailing in all the world had
+risen to open and bloody warfare across the Rio Grande.
+
+Her work suffered very sadly that afternoon, and long before the
+appointed hour she was ringing furiously for the elevator. From her
+incoherent chatter on the way down, Angelo gathered that he was literally
+to fly to her the very minute he was off duty, and then she was
+clambering blindly into the car and rushing around for Mr. Hiltze.
+
+She was quite in an ecstasy as they set about moving out the pieces of
+furniture to be stored in the back of the big garage, and fitting up an
+attractive home for the wounded little Mexican who was to be her
+guest,--and her food for assimilation.
+
+Amos Hiltze was a great help, and worked with enthusiasm.
+
+"I do what I can, but men are helpless when it comes to women. And when I
+knew of this child,--well, I thought of you. If you refused, I had no
+notion where to turn. But you did not refuse."
+
+"No, indeed," chirped Eveley. "I am only too happy. I want to do things,
+real things, and be of use. It--it is right, I suppose, and lots of fun
+besides."
+
+At six o'clock Angelo came, and looked for a moment with speculative eyes
+upon Mr. Hiltze. He was not enthusiastic,--rather he was frankly
+pessimistic.
+
+"Why don't you send her to a hotel?" he demanded aggressively. "You don't
+want a dirty Greaser in here, messing things all up."
+
+"Oh, Angelo, you mustn't," protested Eveley, deeply shocked. "She isn't a
+Greaser. She is a high caste Mexican girl."
+
+"There ain't no such thing," he said gloomily. "You'll see. She'll litter
+the whole place up with a lot of smelly bandits, and they'll cut your
+throat, and steal your money, and then where'll you be?"
+
+Then Amos Hiltze turned on him, with something compelling in his eyes.
+"Cut out that nonsense, and mind your own business. This is not your
+affair."
+
+So Angelo resigned himself to the inevitable, and fell to work, not with
+good will, but with efficiency. And when the room was ready, while the
+man and boy were carrying the extra furniture out to the garage for
+storage, Eveley hastily prepared a light supper for the three of them. It
+was eaten in utter silence. Eveley was excited almost to the point of
+suffocation, and the others were immersed in their own thoughts. She
+hastily cleared the dishes from the table, and put on her heavy coat and
+a small hat.
+
+"Where do you go to get your Spanish queen?" demanded Angelo.
+
+"Oh, a long way out in the country," said Eveley nervously. "We must
+hurry, Angelo. It is getting late."
+
+"Are you going in your car?" he persisted.
+
+"Yes. Now, please, Angelo, I hate to rush you off, but we must go."
+
+"Take me along, Miss Eveley. Please--you've got plenty of room. Won't you
+take me?"
+
+"Nothing doing," cut in Amos Hiltze shortly. "We've got to keep the girl
+quiet, and you would let out some rudeness that would spoil everything."
+
+"Honest I won't, Miss Eveley. G'wan, be a sport. You promised to take me
+for a night ride, and you never have. I won't say a word to the
+Grea--lady, honest I won't. Be a sport, Miss Eveley, sure I can go
+along."
+
+"Let's take him," said Eveley. "He can sit in front with me coming back,
+and you can ride with Marie. He won't say a word, will you, Angelo?"
+
+Mr. Hiltze seemed not altogether satisfied, but Angelo was already
+half-way down the rustic stairs and headed for the garage, so he
+contented himself with one final word of warning.
+
+"Just keep quiet," he said to Angelo. "Do not even look at her. There
+must be no fuss or confusion, or she will be afraid to come."
+
+There was a heavy fog rolling up through the canyons, and Eveley, in her
+state of excitement, found the car prone to leap wildly through the misty
+white darkness. There was a great ringing in her ears, and her pulses
+were pounding. Hiltze at her side was silent and preoccupied, and Angelo
+in the rear sat huddled in a corner, in the rug which Eveley had tucked
+about him.
+
+"We do not want any frozen passengers to bring home," she had said, with
+a smile.
+
+They spun swiftly along University, slowing for East San Diego where
+there were officers with bad reputations among speeders, through La Mesa,
+the cross on Mt. Helix showing faintly in the pale moonlight, through El
+Capon, out beyond Flynn Springs where the pavement left off.
+
+"Are you tired?" asked the man, stirring closer to Eveley's side.
+
+"No," she said, with a laugh that was really a sob. "But I am so out of
+breath, and thrilled, and--all stirred up, like a silly little
+schoolgirl. I believe I am frightened."
+
+"Do not be frightened, Miss Eveley," said Angelo suddenly, reassuringly.
+"I'll look after you. If we do not like the little Greaser, we'll just
+ditch her."
+
+"You must not be afraid," said Hiltze, pressing his arm companionably
+against her elbow. "You know I will take care of you. And you will like
+the girl. She is just a timid, nerve-racked child. You will love her in
+time. But this is not a question of love, only of service,--one phase of
+the scheme of Americanization that is sweeping the country. It has to
+come through the women, Eveley, you know that. It has to be born into the
+babies of the next generation."
+
+An audible sniff came from the back seat, but Angelo was lustily clearing
+his throat.
+
+"You sound like a stump speaker," he said critically. "Did you get that
+way selling autos, or did you used to be an agitator or something?"
+
+Mr. Hiltze made no reply. He was leaning forward now, anxiously scanning
+the road. "We turn soon. Drive slowly, please. I do not know the road
+very well. Oh,--there it is,--I see it now. Just beyond the little clump
+of trees, this side of the big rock. Turn to the right,--the road is safe
+enough, but a little rough. We only go a little farther,--yes, to the
+right a little more,--down-grade, but it is not very steep. Now, pull off
+a little and stop. Yes, you wait here now, will you, while I go on to the
+shack? The road does not lead up to it. You need not be afraid, you are
+close to the main road though you can not see it for the shrubs and
+rocks. She does not want the Mexicans to know where nor how she goes."
+
+"Will you be gone long?" asked Eveley, gazing somewhat fearfully into the
+black shadows about her.
+
+"Oh, just a few minutes. It is only a little bit of a way, and Marie is
+ready to come at once."
+
+"How does she know you are coming after her?" asked Angelo.
+
+"I told her I would come to-night if I could make arrangements for her,
+and she said she would be ready. She has only a small bag, so her
+preparations are simple. Now, don't be frightened, Eveley. You know I
+would not leave you if there were any danger. Angelo will be with you."
+
+"You bet I will. Beat it, Mister, and cop the lady."
+
+Eveley and Angelo listened in silence, as Hiltze strode quickly away.
+When the last sound had echoed to silence, Angelo leaned over the seat,
+his thin dark face close to Eveley's.
+
+"Say, Miss Eveley, where did you pick up that guy?"
+
+"He was the salesman who sold me my car, but he has many friends who are
+my friends also, so I have met him often. He was only selling autos
+temporarily, and is making plans now to go into business for himself."
+
+"I'll bet your friend Inglish ain't stuck on him."
+
+"Not unnaturally," admitted Eveley, laughing. "He is not."
+
+"Well, he's a smart guy, Inglish is," said Angelo shrewdly. "You can
+pretty well put it down he's on the level about folks."
+
+"You do not seem partial to Mr. Hiltze, Angelo. But he is most kind and
+sympathetic, and no one works harder for the Americanization of the
+foreign element than he does."
+
+"Lots of folks work hard for something to keep the real things dark. I
+guess he's got a mash on this dame."
+
+Eveley was silent.
+
+"Don't you think so?"
+
+"No, I hardly think so."
+
+"Oh, you can't tell. Some guys can have mashes on two or three at a time,
+you know."
+
+"Angelo, please, let's not talk this way. I do not like it. And I do not
+wish my friends to criticize my other friends. I know you like Mr.
+Inglish best of all, and that is why you try to underrate the others--but
+please don't."
+
+"Oh, I think he is smart enough," said Angelo ingratiatingly. "It ain't
+that. I just don't like his wishing foreign dames off on to you because
+you are easy and will stand for it."
+
+"Listen--they are coming."
+
+Angelo got out then and clambered in beside her, and they both peered
+into the darkness whence footsteps came. The two were walking slowly,
+Hiltze leading the girl carefully. She walked shrinkingly, her face
+showing deathly pale in the shadowy night.
+
+Eveley got out at once and went to meet them, surprised at the great wave
+of tenderness sweeping over her. She felt somehow that it was a daughter
+of hers, coming back to her out of suffering and sorrow. She put her arms
+protectingly about the girl, and kissed her cheek.
+
+"Marie," she said softly, "you are going to be my sister. I--I think I
+love you already. I felt it when I saw you come out of the darkness."
+
+The girl did not speak, but her slender fingers closed convulsively about
+Eveley's, and there was a catch like a little sob in her throat.
+
+Eveley herself helped her into the car, and pulled the rugs and blankets
+about her.
+
+"It is very foggy, and the air is cold. We do not want a little sick girl
+on our hands. Pull them close about you. Oh, your cape is very light--you
+must take my furs. It is much warmer in front, and I do not need them.
+Now, are you all ready? This is my little pal Angelo Moreno with me, but
+don't pay any attention to him to-night. You will see him again. Now, all
+ready and off we go."
+
+Angelo sat silently musing in his corner during the long ride back to
+town, and Eveley sang softly almost beneath her breath. In the back seat
+there was silence, too. Only once Eveley turned to call to them blithely:
+
+"I was frightened and anxious at first, but now I feel happy and full of
+hope. I think you are going to bring me great good fortune, Sister
+Marie."
+
+"You are--most heavenly kind," said Marie, in slow soft English, with the
+exquisite toning of her Spanish tongue.
+
+"Oh, Marie," cried Eveley rapturously. "Those are the first words I ever
+heard you say--such kind and loving words. I shall never forget them."
+
+The rest of the ride was taken in absolute silence, and at the door of
+her cottage when she ran the car into the garage, Angelo carried Marie's
+bag up the steps silently, and Hiltze helped her, while Eveley ran
+hospitably in front to have the window open and the lights on. She thrust
+out an eager hand to help Marie through the window, and then she gaily
+faced their escorts.
+
+"Not to-night," she cried. "You can not come in even for a minute. Sister
+Marie and I are going to have hot chocolate all by ourselves, and--and
+find out how we like each other's looks. Many thanks--good night."
+
+Then she closed the window and turned to the slender shrinking figure at
+her side, drawing back the heavy hood that shielded the girl's face to
+look into the features of the little foreign waif she had taken to her
+heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+NEW LIGHT ON LOYALTY
+
+
+A quick thrill of pleasure swept over Eveley as she looked into the face
+of her young guest.
+
+"Duty?" No, it would be a joy to teach this soft and lovely creature the
+glorious principles of freedom, justice and equality. This was Eveley's
+sphere--she felt it--she knew it. She took Marie's slender hands in both
+of hers, and squeezed them rapturously.
+
+"Oh, I am so happy," she cried ecstatically. "I think you are adorable."
+
+For Marie's soft dark eyes, the soft waves of dark hair drooping over the
+low forehead, the slender oval of the olive tinted face, the crimson
+curving lips, the shrinking figure presented such a picture of exquisite
+helplessness that Eveley's brave and buoyant soul rose leaping to the
+appeal.
+
+She removed the dark cape from Marie's shoulders, and took her bag,
+leading her into the small east bedroom which had been so charmingly
+dressed for her.
+
+"This is your home now, Marie, I hope for a long, long time. It is your
+home, and you are as free as a bird. You are not my servant, but my
+sister and my friend. I want you to be happy. You are to think as you
+like, do as you like, go or stay as you like. You are mistress of your
+own life, now and all the time."
+
+"It is very lovely," said Marie softly. "And you are an angel from
+Heaven."
+
+"Not a bit of it," laughed Eveley. "You do not know me. I am the humanest
+thing you ever saw in your life." She lifted Marie's bag lightly to a low
+table. "Now, this door opens to the bath--my bedroom door leads into it
+from the opposite side. And this is your closet, and these drawers are
+all empty, so use them as you wish. Why don't you put on a negligee, now,
+and rest? And while you are alone for a minute, to collect yourself and
+unpack your bag, I shall run out and put on the chocolate. We must have a
+hot luncheon after our cold ride. Are you very cold? I think I'd better
+light the fire in your grate--it is all ready. There, that is better now.
+If I ever do get married I must certainly have wonderful luck, if there
+is any faith in signs, for I do build the fieriest fires. Now, do not
+hurry, I'll come back in a few minutes. I think I shall put on a negligee
+too," she added, as Marie drew a silk gown from her bag. "And then we'll
+be surely settled down and right at home together."
+
+With a warm and dazzling smile, she ran out to put the chocolate on the
+grill, and arrange the sandwiches and fruit and cake on the table around
+the bowl of drooping roses, and then, humming blithely, hurried into her
+own room to change from her heavy dress to a soft house gown.
+
+When, a few moments later, she returned to Marie, she found her standing
+pensively in the center of the room, the heavy folds of a dark red gown
+falling about her graceful figure, her head sunk on her breast in
+reverie. Eveley put her arms around her tenderly.
+
+"You are beautiful," she said. "Don't worry, dear. You are going to be
+very happy, even yet. Just trust me--and--do you know the song of the
+Belgian girl--Well, we shall make an American Beauty of you, sure enough.
+Just try to be happy, and have confidence in me, Marie. I shall never go
+back on you. My, how quick you were! Your bag is all unpacked, isn't it?"
+She glanced with quickly appraising eyes at the heavy silver articles of
+toilet laid out on the dressing-table, and at the gowns swinging from the
+pole in the closet.
+
+"Come along, baby sister," she said affectionately, "or the chocolate
+will run all over the grill."
+
+There was deep if unvoiced appreciation in Marie's eyes as she observed
+the fine heavy furniture of the little dining-room, the lace doilies on
+the mahogany table, the fine pieces of china, and the drooping roses.
+Eveley led her gaily to her place at the table, and sat down beside her.
+
+"We really ought to ask a blessing," she said. "I feel such a fountain of
+gratitude inside of me. My own sister was ten years older than I, and
+there were no babies afterward for me to make a fuss over. This is a
+brand-new experience, and I am just bubbling over."
+
+"But I am no baby," said Marie, smiling the wistful smile that suggested
+tears and heartaches. "I think I am quite as old as you."
+
+"Oh, impossible," gasped Eveley. "Why, I am twenty-five years old."
+
+"Really!" mocked Marie, and she laughed--and Eveley realized it was the
+first time Marie had laughed. "Well, I am twenty-three and a half."
+
+"Oh, you can't be. Mr. Hiltze said you were a child, and you are so
+little and slim and young."
+
+"You have been a woman, living a woman's life, with all a woman's
+interests. But our women are sheltered, kept away from life, and that is
+why I am like a child in facing the world--because I have never faced it.
+I look young, and act young, because--well, with us, our women marry
+early. If they do not, they must retain the charm of youth until they do.
+That is what we are taught, it is our business as women to be young and
+lovely until we marry."
+
+"I love to hear you talk," said Eveley irrelevantly. "You are just like a
+chapter out of a new and thrilling story--See, I have let my chocolate
+grow cold just looking at you, and listening. I am very glad you are
+nearly as old as I--we can not only be sisters, but twins if you like."
+
+Marie sipped her chocolate, daintily, dreamily. Then she looked at Eveley
+searchingly.
+
+"Is this your patriotism?" she asked at last. "To throw open your home on
+a moment's notice, to a stranger from a strange land?"
+
+"We call it Americanization," said Eveley. "We call it the assimilation
+of--of--" She hesitated, not wishing to speak of "flotsam and jetsam" to
+this soft and pliant creature. "We call it the assimilation of the whole
+world into American ideals."
+
+"Then," said Marie slowly, dark eyes still searching Eveley's face, "I
+suppose, having this vision of patriotism yourself, you can understand
+patriotism of others from other lands? You can understand why people
+plot, and steal, and kill--for love of country? My own land, for
+instance--so many call us bloody butchers because we fight for our
+country and for freedom. But you--you know what patriotism is. And you
+can understand, can you not?"
+
+"Of course I understand," said Eveley rather confusedly, for the Mexican
+business was a terrible muddle to her. "I understand that your men must
+fight to save their country from the rebels and anarchists who would
+wreck and ruin her."
+
+"Yes, but--it is the rebels and anarchists who would save her," said
+Marie, with childish earnestness. "I--we--I am of the revolutionists. My
+father was killed. My brothers were killed. My sisters were made captive.
+But still the struggle goes on. The best of our men must fight and die.
+Poor Mexico must struggle and blunder on from one disaster to another,
+until at last she rises triumphant and free among the nations of the
+world. It is those in power in her own land from whom Mexico has most to
+fear--those who would sell her, body and soul, land and loyalty, to
+foreign devils for gold. It is not against the outside world we fight--it
+is the vile, the treacherous ones inside our borders."
+
+"But how can you tell who is for, and who against?" asked Eveley
+bewildered. "They all promise so much--and peace is assured--but there is
+no peace. And who can tell where freedom really lies?"
+
+"Alas, it is true," said Marie sadly. "But those with eyes that see and
+hearts that love, know that Mexico is still in the hands of traitors, and
+that the spirit of revolution must live."
+
+"Of course you know more about it than I do," admitted Eveley. "We--we do
+not understand the situation at all. I--think perhaps they are too shrewd
+for us. Let's not talk of it--it excites you, dear. I want you to rest
+and be quiet. I did not know that any one could love--Mexico--like that."
+
+"Have you seen Mexico? Oh, not the dry, barren border country, but my
+Mexico, rich with jewels and gold, studded with magnificent cities,
+flowering with rare fruits and spices, a mellow, golden, matchless land,
+peopled by those who are skilled in arts and science, lovers of beauty,
+and--Ah, you do not know Mexico. You know only the half-breed savages who
+run the borderland, preying on Mexican and American alike. You do not
+know the real Mexico of beautiful women, and brave and gallant men. How
+could you know?"
+
+Then her voice became soft and dreamy again. "I visited here long years
+ago. I was out in your Old Town, where the Indian maid Ramona lived. I
+stood in the square there. Do you know the story, Eveley, of the early
+days when your Captain Fremont and his band of soldiers stood there,
+ready to lower the flag of Mexico and to raise in its place your Stars
+and Stripes? As your soldier stepped forward to tear down our flag, a
+little girl of Mexico, another Marie like me, who was watching with
+aching heart from the window of the 'dobe house on the other side,
+shocked at the outrage, leaped from the casement forgetting her fear of
+the foreign soldiers, and with one tug of her sharp knife cut the rope.
+As the flag of Mexico fell, she caught it in her bare hands, and pressed
+it against her lips, her little form shaken with sobs. 'Forgive me,' she
+said to the soldiers, but it is the flag of my country, I could not see
+it dragged in the dust.'"
+
+Eveley leaned over and put her hand on Marie's arm. "I have heard the
+story many times, but I never caught the glory of it before. It was the
+feeling in her that is in me now--that is in all America--only ours is
+for America, and hers was for Mexico--as yours is."
+
+"When I look at you, and know the tenderness of you, and the great heart
+of you, I feel that America must be the heaven of all the world, and
+Americans the angels." Then Marie's face darkened, and her lips became a
+scarlet line. "But who then has stood heartlessly by, and watched the
+writhing and anguish of my Mexico, withholding the hand of power that
+could bring peace? Who has stood by and smiled while Mexico lay crushed
+and bleeding beneath the heel of despotism and treachery?"
+
+"We haven't understood, Marie," begged Eveley. "We could not understand.
+We--we naturally trust people, we are like that, you know, and--"
+
+"And whom can one trust? My faith has been as my faith in God--yet when
+so many falter, and then turn back in betrayal--how can one trust?
+Perhaps we are all deceived--perhaps every faction in my country is
+seeking only to despoil and enslave." Then her face grew bright and
+luminous as she said, "But there are those who are princes of sacrifice
+and love, risking all their world, their lives, their honor, for my
+Mexico. If there be any faith, it is in them. You call them bandits--Yes?
+I call them sons of God."
+
+Eveley changed the subject as quickly as she could. The bandits who had
+been driven desperately from crag to cranny, berated in the press,
+denounced in the pulpit, deprecated on the platform--were these the
+princes of Marie's Mexico, the idols of their women's hearts, the saviors
+of their faith, their hope of freedom? It was very confusing.
+
+She told Marie how she worked every day down-town, and how the little
+Cloud Cote would be her own all day, how she had friends coming often in
+the evening, friends who would love Marie, but whom she never need to see
+except when her heart desired. And she told of the lovely lawn, with its
+pavilions and pergolas and crevices and vines, and of the canyon drifting
+away down to the bay.
+
+And Marie sat with her chin in her hands, her eyes soft and humble,
+dog-like, on Eveley's face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SERVICE OF JOY
+
+
+It was not often that Eileen Trevis, who was manifestly born for
+business, waxed hysterically enthusiastic. And so one morning a few days
+later, when an incoherent summons came from her over the telephone,
+Eveley was astonished almost to the point of speechlessness.
+
+"What is it?" she gasped. "What has happened? Is it bad news?"
+
+"Good, good, good," exulted Eileen. "Wonderful, delicious, thrilling.
+Please hurry. It is nearly lunch-time, isn't it? I have been trying to
+get you all morning,--come quickly.--Never mind about your luncheon.--Are
+you coming?"
+
+"I am on the way," shouted Eveley, crashing the receiver on to its hook,
+and flying with scant ceremony from the office, hoping it was truly the
+luncheon hour, but scorning to waste the time to look.
+
+"She is in love," she said aloud as she ran down the stairs, spurning a
+tardy elevator. "She is in love, and she is engaged, or maybe she has
+eloped and is already married. Eileen Trevis,--of all people in the
+world. Whoever would have thought it?"
+
+Only the absence of traffic officers in that part of the city kept Eveley
+from arrest that day, and only the protection of Heaven itself saved her
+from total wreckage, for she spun around corners, and dodged traffic
+warts at a rate that was positively neck-breaking. The last block before
+she reached Eileen's home was one long coast, and she drew up sharply
+with a triumphant honk.
+
+Eileen was on the steps before she had time to turn off the engine.
+
+"Is it a husband?" cried Eveley.
+
+"No, babies," chortled Eileen.
+
+Eveley put her fingers over her lips, and swallowed painfully.
+
+"It isn't your turn," she said disapprovingly. "You have to do these
+things in proper order. You can't run backward. It isn't being done."
+
+"Don't be silly," said Eileen. "Hop out, and come in. I am having a
+nursery made out of the maid's bedroom that has never been used. It is
+perfectly dear, with blue Red-Riding-Hoods, and blue wolves and blue
+Jacks-and-Jills on a white background."
+
+"There is something wrong about this," said Eveley solemnly, as she
+followed Eileen into the house, and up the two flights of stairs to her
+apartment.
+
+"It is Ida's babies, stupid," explained Eileen at last. "I am to have
+them after all. Poor Jim's sister is ill, and I must say, it almost
+serves her right,--she was so snippy about the children."
+
+"Oh, Ida's babies! And has the Aunt-on-the-Other-Side-of-the-House had a
+change of heart?"
+
+"Yes, a regular one. Heart failure, they call it. I tried so hard to get
+them when Ida died, but Agnes flatly refused to give them up and since
+her brother was their daddy and he was alive, I could not do much. I
+asked for them again, you know, when Jim died, and she was ruder than
+ever. But since the dispensation of heart failure, she can not keep them.
+I got a letter this morning, and wired for them to start immediately and
+I just got an answer that they will be here to-morrow afternoon. Then I
+sent for the decorators."
+
+"You aren't any mother for small children," protested Eveley, with an
+argumentative wave of her hand. "You are born for business. Everybody
+says so. You do not know anything about babies."
+
+"Oh, yes I do," cried Eileen ecstatically. "They have fat legs and
+dimples, and Betty sucks her thumb and has to be scolded, and Billy
+shouts 'More jam' and smudges it on his knees."
+
+"Are you giving up your position?"
+
+"Oh, mercy, no. We have to live. Poor Jim only left them insurance and
+nothing else, and that did not last very long. I sent the other aunt a
+small check every month to help along and sort of heap coals of fire on
+her head at the same time. No, I shall have to work harder than ever now.
+But I get one seventy-five a month now,--and lots of families live on
+less."
+
+"Who will keep house then--Betty?"
+
+"Don't ask silly questions, Eveley, I am so nervous anyhow I hardly know
+what I am saying. You remember my laundress, don't you? She is so nice
+and motherly and a Methodist and respectable and all that,--only old and
+hard up. She is coming to live with us,--she will have the den for her
+room, and is closing her cottage. She is to keep house and look after the
+babies while I am at work. She only charges twenty-five a month, so I can
+manage. The rent does seem high, fifty dollars,--but we need the room,
+though you all thought it was so extravagant for me to have such a large
+apartment to myself. But you know how I am, Eveley,--I like lots of
+space,--a place for everything, and everything where it belongs. So I was
+willing to stand the expense, and now it is a good thing I did. Come and
+see the baby room."
+
+Eveley duly admired the blue Red-Riding-Hoods and Jacks-and-Jills,
+exclaimed over the tiny white beds, and tiny white tables and chairs, and
+then said:
+
+"You seem to be enjoying this experience, so I suppose you do not feel it
+is your duty, nor anything sordid like that?"
+
+"Oh, no," laughed Eileen. "I am doing it because I am just crazy about
+those babies, and I am sort of lonely, Eveley, though I have never
+realized it before. And when I think of coming home to a frolic with fat
+little babies in white dresses and blue ribbons,--well, I am so happy I
+could fairly cry."
+
+So Eveley put her arms around her, and kissed her, and offered a few
+suggestions about appropriate food for angel babies,--feeling very wise
+from her recent experience with Nathalie and Dan, and invited them all to
+go driving with her on Saturday afternoon, and mentally planned to send
+them an enormous box of candy in the morning after their arrival, and
+then said she must hurry back to work.
+
+"Oh, you poor thing," cried Eileen in contrition. "You did not have any
+luncheon at all, did you? Wait until I fix a sandwich and you can slip
+into the dressing-room and eat it. It will only take a minute. You may
+have some of these animal cookies too,--I got a dollar's worth,--I knew
+the babies would love them. Now, Eveley, won't you come to dinner
+to-morrow night and meet my little blesseds? The train comes at six-ten,
+and Mrs. Allis, I mean, Aunt Martha,--we have decided to call her Aunt
+Martha,--will have dinner all ready for us."
+
+"Certainly I'll come," said Eveley promptly. "I shall love it. And I'll
+come for you in the car and take you to the station."
+
+After work that night, Eveley went into the ten-cent store, and bought a
+startling array of drums and horns and small shovels, and sent them out
+to Eileen's for the babies. And that night she insisted that Nolan must
+come to dinner with her to hear the great good news.
+
+"It is just because she wants to do it," she said happily. "That is why
+she is so full of joy. It is plain selfishness,--she has no thought of
+doing her Christian duty nor any such nonsense. And--well, you would
+hardly know Eileen. Her eyes are like stars, and her voice runs up and
+down stairs in beautiful trills, and she forgot to wear her hair net."
+
+"Wait till Billy gets jam on her lace bedspread, and Betty cuts up her
+new bonnet to get the pretty flowers, and wait till they both get mad and
+yowl at once,--she'll be lucky if she remembers her Christian duty then."
+
+"Isn't he crabbish, Marie?" asked Eveley plaintively. "He doesn't like to
+see people happy and thrilled and throbbing."
+
+"Oh, yes, I do. I am thrilled and happy and throbbing myself right now.
+There is something about this Cote in the Clouds that--"
+
+"And dear Eileen has lived alone so long, poor thing."
+
+"I can sympathize with her all right. I have, too."
+
+"And now she will have a home, a real home--"
+
+"My own dream for years."
+
+"Sweet companionship--"
+
+"Heaven on earth, Eveley, heaven on earth."
+
+"Something to live for--"
+
+"Alas, how I envy her."
+
+"Nolan, if you do not keep still and pay attention, I shall stop talking
+and let you propose,--right before Marie,--and then where will you be?"
+
+"Married, I hope."
+
+So Eveley decided there was no use to try to talk sense with Nolan, but
+she arranged to call for him at eight o'clock the next morning to take
+him to Eileen's and show him the blue Red-Riding-Hoods and the toys.
+
+As she left the house to keep her engagement with Nolan, she was
+surprised to see Mrs. Severs starting out, for Mrs. Severs was not used
+to being out so early.
+
+"Why, little Bride, whither away?" laughed Eveley.
+
+Mrs. Severs flushed. "I am going to spend the day with father," she
+admitted, rather shyly. "It is sort of lonesome here alone all the
+time,--and we have lots of fun in the little cottage on the hill. And
+sometimes we go out on the beach and lie on the sand,--he takes me in his
+jitney. He thinks I need more sunshine and fresh air."
+
+"He is great, isn't he?" said Eveley warmly.
+
+"He is dear," cried Mrs. Severs, the quick color surging her face. "I am
+not very well, and he is so gentle and sweet to me. I--wish I had been
+more patient,--I am very lonely now. But we are great chums. He has
+taught me to play pinochle, and I fill his pipe for him. And onions
+aren't so bad."
+
+"Hum," thought Eveley, as she drove down-town. "You can't suit some
+people, no matter how finely you adjust their difficulties." Then she
+brightened. "Still, it is better to love each other in two houses, than
+to be bad friends in one,--as they were."
+
+That evening, she and Eileen stood at the station impatiently
+waiting,--having arrived at five-thirty, fearing the train might come
+ahead of time.
+
+"Oh, Eveley," Eileen wailed. "Suppose they should not like me?"
+
+Eveley laughed at that. "Suppose you do not like them?" she parried.
+
+"I do. I haven't seen them for over two years, but they are adorable.
+They are seven now. The prettiest things,--long yellow curls, and--"
+
+"Billy will probably be shaved by this time,--I mean barbered."
+
+"Oh, never. No one would cut off curls like his. Their hair will be
+longer I suppose, probably darker,--and Betty lisps and swallows while
+she is talking,--"
+
+"Oh, she will be over that now."
+
+"In two years? Why, certainly not. They will be just the same, only more
+so."
+
+Eveley began to experience a curious internal sinking. Eileen was too
+deliriously optimistic about those children. They were angel babies, of
+course, for Eileen said so, but Eveley remembered Nathalie and Dan,
+angels, too,--but how they shouted and tore through the house. And they
+were always exhibiting fresh cuts and bruises, and Dan had insisted on
+the confiscation of his curls at four years. If Billy was still wearing
+curls at seven, he needed a tonic for he was not regular.
+
+"Eileen," she began very gently, "you--you mustn't expect too many
+dimples and curls. Children are angels,--but they are funny, too. They
+are always bleeding, you know, and--"
+
+"Bleeding!" gasped Eileen. "Agnes never mentioned bleeding! Do they
+always do it?"
+
+"Always. They are always getting themselves smashed and scratched, and
+blood runs all over them, and gets matted in their hair, and their hands
+are constitutionally dirty, and--they always have at least one finger
+totally and irrevocably smashed. Some times it is two fingers, and once
+in a while a whole hand, but the average is one finger."
+
+Eileen looked at her friend in a most professional manner.
+
+"I do not know if you are trying to be insulting, or just amusing, but I
+saw those children. I was right there for three weeks only two years ago,
+and they were always clean, they had curls, and they were certainly not
+smashed or I should have noticed it."
+
+"They shout, too, Eileen," Eveley went on wretchedly, determined to
+prepare Eileen for the shock that was sure to follow. "They--they just
+whoop. And--"
+
+"If you can not be a little pleasanter, dear, suppose you go and wait for
+me in the car. I am too nervous. I simply can not stand it."
+
+"I do not want to be unpleasant, and I shall not say another word. I just
+wanted to remind you of--of the shouting--and the blood."
+
+"One would think they were savages, Eveley, instead of my own sister's
+little babies."
+
+"Here comes the train," cried Eveley, and added in a soft whisper that
+Eileen could not hear, "Oh, please, for Eileen's sake, let 'em have
+dimples and curls, and don't get 'em smashed before the train stops."
+
+Hand in hand, with eager shining eyes, the girls ran along the platform,
+and when the porter put down his stool beneath the steps, the first thing
+that appeared was a small dimpled girl with golden curls, and a
+flower-like face beneath a flower-laden bonnet.
+
+Eileen leaped upon her, catching her in her arms, and in her rapturous
+delight, she did not hear a small brusk voice exclaiming, "Oh, pooh, I
+don't need your old stool."
+
+And she did not notice Eveley's gasp,--for Eveley had seen a small
+sailor-clad form hurtle itself from the step and fall flat upon the
+gravel platform. It was not until a sudden lusty roar went up that Eileen
+remembered she had two babies en route. She dropped Betty like a flash,
+and turned.
+
+The porter very grimly picked up the child, and held him out, and Eileen
+saw with horror that his face was fairly sandpapered from the fall, and
+blood was starting from a dozen tiny pricks.
+
+"If this is yourn, for Gawd's sake, take 'im," begged the porter. "He's
+fell off'n everything and into everything between here and Seattle."
+
+Eileen clung desperately to Betty's moist hand.
+
+"Don't get scared, Auntie," chirped the small bright voice. "Billy always
+falls into things, and he ain't never broke anything yet,--himself, I
+mean, arms or legs or necks,--he breaks lots of dishes and vases and
+things like that."
+
+Eileen was stricken dumb, but Eveley took the writhing roaring boy from
+the porter's hand, and dusted him lightly with her handkerchief.
+
+"Why, where are your curls, Billy?" she demanded, hoping to distract his
+attention. And she succeeded only too well, for he stopped so suddenly in
+the midst of a loud wail that he almost choked. When he finally recovered
+his breath, he snorted derisively.
+
+"Curls! Huh! I ain't no girl. I ain't got any curls. I never did have
+curls."
+
+"Oh, yes, you did," she argued. "Two years ago you had beautiful, long
+golden curls just like Betty's."
+
+Billy hunched up his shoulders and clenched a small brown fist.
+
+"You got to say, 'Excuse me for them words,'" he said belligerently.
+"Ain't so, and you got to say it."
+
+Scenting battle, Eveley hastily muttered the desired words, and passed
+him over to Eileen.
+
+Billy thrust out a sturdy hand, but to Eileen's evident delight he
+refused to be kissed.
+
+"Betty's got to be whipped, Aunt Eileen," he announced. "Aunt Agnes told
+me to tell you all she did on the train, and you would whip her. She
+stuck a pin in a fat man that was asleep,--that's the man right
+there,--Say, didn't Betty stick a pin in you?"
+
+But the fat man gave them a venomous glare, and hurried away. "And she
+pulled the beads off of that blonde lady's coat,--and if you don't
+believe it, you can look in her pocket 'cause she's got 'em yet. And she
+swiped a box of candy from that lady in the yellow suit, and the lady
+said the porter did it, and they had an awful fight. And she sang _The
+Yanks Are Coming_ in the middle of the night and everybody swore
+something awful. And she wouldn't eat anything but ice-cream at the
+table, and one meal she had five dishes."
+
+Eveley and Eileen had listened in fascinated silence during this recital
+of his sister's wrongdoing. But Betty stuck a fat thumb between rosy
+lips, and drooped her eyes demurely behind her curling lashes.
+
+"Did--you do all that, Betty?" demanded Eileen at last, very faintly.
+
+"I did more than that," she said proudly. "I put the pink lady's bedroom
+slippers in a man's traveling bag, and they haven't found it out yet. And
+I slipped Billy's wriggly lizard down the black lady's neck, and she said
+a naughty word. And--"
+
+"And what did Billy do?"
+
+Betty's lips curled with scorn. "Billy? He didn't do anything. He's too
+good. He don't ever do anything."
+
+Billy advanced with the threatening hunch of his shoulders and clench of
+the brown fists.
+
+"You say, 'Excuse me for them words,'" he said in a low voice. "And say
+it quick."
+
+Betty jerked her finger from her mouth and mumbled rapidly in a voice of
+frightened nervousness, "Excuse me for them words, please excuse me for
+them words." And then, as her brother's shoulders relaxed, she sidled up
+to him, rubbing herself affectionately against his arm, and whispered,
+"Aw, Billy, I was only joking. You ain't mad at me, are you?"
+
+"Let's go," said Eileen. "I feel--faint."
+
+"Sticking pins is good for faintness," said Betty hopefully. "I did it to
+Aunt Agnes twice when she nearly fainted, and she came to right away."
+
+"And she gave Betty a good whipping."
+
+"Yes, she did, and I only did it to cure her," said Betty in an aggrieved
+voice.
+
+"Let's go fast," begged Eileen. "Take your handkerchief, Billy, and see
+if you can wipe a little of the dirt and blood off your face."
+
+"He mustn't do that," interrupted Betty promptly. "Handkerchiefs is full
+of germs, and if he gets the germs in his scratches he gets blood poison
+and dies. You got to wait till you get home, Billy, and then lie on your
+back on Aunt Eileen's bed, and she'll take clean gauze and soak 'em off
+in cold water. If you haven't got any gauze handy you can use mine, but
+you'd better buy some. Billy uses as much as a dollar's worth of gauze in
+no time."
+
+Eileen put her hand over her face, and turned away. The children
+followed, looking about them in frank interest and pleasure.
+
+"Is that a palm tree?" asked Betty. "Billy says God never made 'em grow
+like that. He says men just tie those fins on top to make 'em look funny.
+Did God do it, Aunt Eileen? What did He do it for?--Oh, is this your car,
+Aunt Eileen? Billy knows how to start a car so you better not let him in
+it by himself." Then as the small boyish shoulders assumed the dreadful
+hunch, she cried excitedly, "Oh, no, he can't either, honest he can't. He
+doesn't know what to turn, nor anything. I was joking. You ain't mad at
+me, are you, Billy?"
+
+Eveley slipped silently into her place behind the wheel, and Billy opened
+the door for his aunt and sister, banged it smartly after their entrance,
+and climbed in front with Eveley.
+
+"They oughtn't to let women drive cars," he said in a judicial tone.
+"Women is too nervous. There ought to be a law against it."
+
+Eveley laughed. "I think so, too," she agreed pleasantly. "But until
+there is such a law, I think I shall keep on driving."
+
+Billy stared at her suspiciously. "You don't need to agree with me to be
+polite," he said. "It won't hurt my feelings any. I ain't used to it,
+anyhow."
+
+Betty, in the rear seat, cuddled cozily against her rigid aunt and kept
+up a constant flow of conversation in her pretty chirpy voice.
+
+"Are you an old maid? Aunt Agnes said you were. Did you do it on purpose,
+or couldn't you help yourself? I am not going to be an old maid. I am
+engaged now. Billy tried to be engaged, too, but Freckle Harvey cut him
+out."
+
+Billy suddenly squared about in his seat, and Betty shivered into a small
+and terrified heap. "Aw, no, he didn't either. Billy didn't like her
+worth a cent. He thinks she is just hideous, don't you, Billy? You ain't
+mad at me, are you, Billy?"
+
+When Eveley drew the car up before the big apartment-house on Sixth
+Street, Billy forgot his temporary burst of manners. With a hoarse shout
+he slid deftly over the door and dashed up the steps. Shrieking
+gleefully, Betty followed swiftly in his wake.
+
+"Oh, Eveley," faltered Eileen, "I am afraid they scratched the car." She
+got out hastily, and caught her lips between her teeth as she saw the
+long jagged scratch on the door where Betty's sharp heel had passed.
+
+"Never mind," said Eveley bravely. "It doesn't make a bit of difference.
+We all know how children are."
+
+"I--I didn't," said Eileen weakly. "I--guess I am an old maid. I hadn't
+realized it."
+
+In Betty's extravagant delight over the new room, and Billy's quiet but
+equally sincere pleasure, something of Eileen's own enthusiasm returned,
+and although her ministrations upon Billy's marred countenance, performed
+under the critical and painstaking eye of Sister Betty, left her
+weak-kneed and pale, she took her place at the table with something very
+much akin to pleasure, if it were not the jubilant delight she had
+anticipated.
+
+Eveley went home immediately after dinner, stopping on her way for Nolan.
+They spent an uproarious hour over her account of the twins and their
+reception. And at last, weak with laughter, Eveley wiped her eyes, and
+said with deep sympathy:
+
+"Poor Eileen! And the twins are adorable. But I believe one needs to be
+born with children and grow up with them gradually. For when they spring
+upon you full grown they are--well, they are certainly a shock."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MARIE ENCOUNTERS THE SECRET SERVICE
+
+
+In the beginning Eveley had hesitated to leave her newly adopted sister
+alone in the Cloud Cote in the evening, but as Marie seemed absolutely to
+know no fear, and as time did not hang at all heavily upon her hands,
+Eveley was soon running about among her friends as she had always done.
+But with this change: there was always a light in the window at the top
+of the rustic stairs when she came home, and a warm and tender welcome
+awaiting her.
+
+Marie had come to be charmingly useful in the Cloud Cote. She prepared
+breakfast while Eveley dressed, and did the light bit of housework nicely
+and without effort. Eveley usually had her luncheon down-town, but in the
+evening dinner was well started before she reached home. Her mending was
+always exquisitely done, even before she knew that mending was necessary,
+and among her lingerie she often came upon fine bits of lace she had not
+seen before.
+
+After long and loving persuasion, Marie had consented to meet Eveley's
+sister and brother-in-law, and Eveley had them in for dinner. Marie was
+quiet that night, scarcely speaking except now and then to the babies.
+The next week, however, when Winifred asked both girls to dinner, Marie
+went without argument, and seemed to take a great deal of quiet
+satisfaction in the visit.
+
+Kitty and Eileen she met often in the Cloud Cote, but always withdrew as
+quickly as possible to her own room to leave Eveley alone with her
+friends. With Nolan, Eveley openly insisted that Marie should develop a
+friendship.
+
+"Why, he will very likely be my husband one of these days, when he gets
+around to it," she explained frankly.
+
+"Your husband," echoed Marie. "I thought Mr. Hiltze--"
+
+"Oh, no," denied Eveley, flushing a little. "He is just a pleasant
+in-between-whiles. We are fellow-Americanizers, that is all."
+
+"Does Mr. Hiltze know that?" queried Marie.
+
+"Oh, everybody knows that I belong to Nolan when the time comes," said
+Eveley, laughing.
+
+Nolan, urgently warned by Eveley, met Marie with friendly ease and asked
+no questions. He took her hand cordially and said in his pleasant voice.
+"Well, if you are Eveley's sister, I have a half-way claim upon you
+myself, and you must count me in." And then he promptly began mashing
+potatoes for their dinner, and Marie did not mind him at all.
+
+When Amos Hiltze came to the Cloud Cote she joined serenely with them,
+very easy and comfortable, always careful to go to her room before he
+left, that he might have a little while alone with Eveley. For she saw
+plainly that while he interested Eveley only in his enthusiasm for
+Americanization, for him Eveley had a deeper and sweeter charm.
+
+One Saturday afternoon when Nolan was busy, the two girls went out for a
+picnic on the beach, a well-filled basket in the car for their dinner. On
+a sudden impulse, Eveley turned to Marie and cried:
+
+"Oh, little sister, how would you like to learn to drive? Then you can
+take me to the office and have the car yourself to play with while I am
+busy."
+
+"Eveley," came the ecstatic gasp, "would you--let me?"
+
+"Would I let you?" laughed Eveley. "Should you like it? Why, you have
+been wanting to, haven't you? Why didn't you ask me, Marie?"
+
+"Oh, I couldn't."
+
+"Yes, you should have," said Eveley gravely. "I would have told you
+honestly if I did not wish it. I said you must feel free to ask me for
+anything, didn't I. And don't I always mean what I say--to you, at
+least?"
+
+"Does your love for Americanization carry you so far?" asked Marie
+curiously.
+
+Eveley was silent a moment. "I can not exactly count you Americanization,"
+she said honestly. "I do not believe Americanizing you could add anything
+to your sweetness, anyhow. You are just fun, and--You may not believe it,
+Marie," she added rather shyly, for she was not a demonstrative girl, "but
+I--really I love you."
+
+Quick tears leaped to Marie's dark eyes, and she placed her head softly
+against Eveley's shoulder, though she did not speak. Almost instantly
+Eveley brushed away the wave of sentiment and gave her quick bright
+laugh.
+
+"Now listen, sweetness," she said. "It is like this. This is the clutch
+that controls the gears. When it wabbles like this it is in neutral and
+the car will not run. When you shove down with your left foot, and pull
+the clutch to the left and backward, it is in low gear, and the car will
+go forward when you let your foot back. You must do it very slowly, so
+there will be no pull nor jerk. Like this."
+
+So the afternoon wore away, the two girls laughing gaily as Marie made
+her first bungling attempts to drive; but later, Marie was aglow with
+exultation and Eveley with deep pride, because the little foreigner
+showed real aptitude for handling the car.
+
+Then in a lovely quiet part of the beach a little beyond La Jolla, they
+had an early supper and drove home, Eveley at the wheel, singing love
+songs, Marie humming softly with her.
+
+"This is almost like sweethearting, isn't it?" asked Eveley turning to
+look into the dark eyes fixed adoringly upon her. "Next to Nolan you
+satisfy me more than anything else in the world. But don't tell Nolan. He
+is jealous of you,--he thinks I like you better than I do him."
+
+"You say you love me, Eveley. But do you? Is it the kind of love that can
+understand and sympathize and forgive--yes, and keep on loving even
+when--things are wrong?"
+
+"Nothing could change my feeling for you, Marie," said Eveley positively.
+
+"But if things were wrong?" came the insistent query.
+
+"Well, I am no angel myself," answered Eveley, laughing again. "If you
+are a naughty girl, I shall say, 'I will forgive you if you will forgive
+me,' and there you are." She stopped again, to laugh. "But I can't think
+of any wrong you could do, Marie. You just naturally do not associate
+with wrong things."
+
+"And you will always remember, won't you, what you have said about love
+of one's country? That it excuses and glorifies everything in the world?"
+
+But Eveley was singing again.
+
+Eveley had made an arrangement to call for Nolan at the office at eight,
+as they were going to Kitty's for a late supper with her and Arnold
+Bender, so she kissed Marie good night when they reached home, and said:
+
+"Will you be lonesome without your big sister, and boss?"
+
+"I think I shall go down and watch the dark shadows in your beautiful
+canyon," said Marie, clinging to Eveley's hand, and looking deeply into
+her eyes.
+
+"Aren't you afraid down there at night?" wondered Eveley. "I have lived
+on top of the canyon all my life, and we played hide-and-seek there when
+we were children, and I love it,--and yet when night comes, I do not even
+go so far as the rose pergola unless Nolan is there to hold my hand and
+shoo away the ghosts and things."
+
+"That is our difference. You are afraid of the world and the night, I am
+afraid only of men and women. I have lived alone, and have had wide dark
+gardens to wander in. They have never harmed me. Only men have injured
+me, and my family. So I love to slip down into the soft fragrant darkness
+of the canyon and sit on the big stones or on the velvet grass, and see
+my future in the shadows."
+
+"But do not stay long. The whole canyon is yours to dream in, if it makes
+you happy. But wear a heavy wrap and do not get chilled."
+
+Then with a hasty kiss she ran down the steps to the car.
+
+Eveley was tired that night. The first lesson in driving, the lazy supper
+on the beach, and the long ride, left her listless and indolent. So after
+their merry dinner, and a dance or two around the Victrola, she said she
+had a headache and wanted to go home.
+
+They drove very slowly along the winding road, and were quietly content.
+Nolan opened the doors of the garage and Eveley ran the car into place;
+then, as she was really tired, at the foot of the rustic stairs he said
+good night, while she crept slowly up the steps.
+
+For the first time, there was no Marie to welcome her. The room, though
+lighted, looked dreary and forlorn without the pretty adopted girl.
+
+"The little goosie," said Eveley, with a tender smile. "I suppose she is
+still dreaming down in that spooky canyon. Maybe she has fallen asleep. I
+shall have to go after her."
+
+She took a small flash-light, and hurried down the rustic stairs and the
+well-known path beyond the rose pergola, where she hoped to find Marie.
+
+But Marie was not there.
+
+Eveley knew every foot of the canyon by heart; she went surely and
+without hesitation along the twisting, winding, rocky path, half-way down
+the narrow slope.
+
+"Marie," she called softly, "Marie."
+
+But there was no answer.
+
+"Maybe she is behind the live oak in the Rambler's Retreat," she thought,
+and climbed up the steep bank from the path, clinging to bits of
+shrubbery and foliage. But Marie was not there. And then as Eveley
+turned, she heard quick running steps in the pathway under the swinging
+bridge that spanned the canyon lower down.
+
+Eveley sighed aloud in her relief,--then her breath caught in her
+throat,--a gasp of fear.
+
+For sounding clear and distinct above the light steps came a pounding of
+heavier feet. Some one was following Marie up the path,--no, there were
+two for there was another pounding a little fainter, farther away. Now
+Eveley could hear the frightened intake of Marie's breath as she ran. Two
+girls alone in the dark canyon.
+
+Eveley clung desperately to the heavy shrubbery among which she was
+crouching. She was about three feet above the path on the steep bank.
+Clinging for support with one hand, she reached noiselessly about for a
+stone, but there was nothing upon which she could lay her hand.
+
+Below the path, the canyon dropped sharply for a long way, fifty or sixty
+feet perhaps, not a precipice, but with a decided drop that could only be
+descended with care. If Marie would only lie down and roll, she might be
+able to hide among the bushes at the bottom. But Marie did not think of
+that. Her one idea was to run faster and faster, in the hope of escaping
+her pursuers.
+
+"Marie," whispered Eveley sharply as the girl came up the path near her,
+and Marie, hearing the faint sound, stopped suddenly in her tracks,
+swaying, more frightened than ever.
+
+"Lie down, lie down," urged Eveley, but Marie did not hear, and before
+she could gather her wits to run on, a man leaped toward her, both arms
+outstretched.
+
+"I got you," he panted.
+
+Marie, following the terrified instinct of every hunted animal, swung her
+lithe body and ducked beneath his arm. And at that moment, Eveley,
+tightening her hold upon the branches of the bush, drew up her feet,
+braced herself against the bank for a moment, and then sprang heavily
+against the man with both feet and sent him reeling head-first down the
+canyon.
+
+[Illustration: "Marie," whispered Eveley sharply.]
+
+Like a flash, Marie flattened herself against the bank--one more dark
+shadow among the others--and none too soon, for the second man was close
+upon them, so close they could hear the heavy rasp of his breathing.
+Eveley had not time to raise herself for another spring, so she crouched
+against the bank in terror, hoping in his haste that he might pass them
+by. But as he came near he paused suddenly, his attention attracted by
+the sound of tearing brush, and the incoherent cries of his companion as
+he rolled down the canyon. Taking it as an indication that the chase was
+in that direction, he turned blindly to follow, and not knowing the lay
+of the land, lost his footing at once and fell headlong.
+
+Eveley was upon her feet in an instant.
+
+"Run, Marie," she whispered, and in less than a moment they were hurrying
+up the path behind the rose pergola under the magnolias and beneath the
+light from their Cloud Cote.
+
+"Wait," whispered Marie. "Let's hide a moment. They might see us going up
+the stairs. Wait beneath the roses until they are gone."
+
+Only faint sounds came up to them as the two men, bruised and sore,
+painfully picked themselves up from the rocks and the prickly shrubs.
+Evidently they realized there was no hope of further pursuit, for in a
+short while the girls could hear the faint echo of their heavy footsteps
+as they retraced their way down the canyon.
+
+Eveley held Marie in her arms until the last sound had echoed away, and
+then silently they climbed the stairs, crossed the little garden on the
+roof, and crawled through the window into the safety of the Cote.
+
+"Are you hurt, Marie?" asked Eveley, the first to break the tense silence
+that fell upon them when they were conscious of shelter and security.
+
+Marie shook her head. Then she moved one step toward Eveley, and asked in
+a pleading whisper: "Are you angry with me? Do you hate me?"
+
+"Oh, Marie, don't talk so," cried Eveley, nervous tears springing to her
+eyes. "How could I be angry with you? But I was so frightened and
+shocked. I did not know how very much I loved you. You must never go into
+the canyon again at night. Never once,--for one minute. Will you promise
+me?"
+
+"I will promise whatever you wish, Eveley, you know."
+
+Eveley smiled at her weakly, and turning to take off her wraps saw with
+surprise that the sleeves were torn almost from her coat.
+
+"I must have come down with quite a bang," she said faintly, suddenly
+aware that her shoulders were quivering with pain.
+
+With a little cry of pity, Marie ran to her, and tenderly helped to
+remove her blouse. The tears ran down her face when she saw the red and
+swollen shoulders beneath.
+
+"Oh, my poor angel," she mourned. "All bruised and sore like that. For
+me. You never should have done it."
+
+Very sweetly she bathed the shoulders, and when Eveley crept painfully
+into bed, she arranged soft compresses of cotton and oil for her to lie
+upon. And she asked, shyly, if she might sit by the bed.
+
+"Until you fall asleep," she pleaded. "I can not leave you like this,
+when you are in such pain,--for me."
+
+"Come and sleep with me, then," said Eveley. "I do not want to let you go
+off alone, either, when--something so terrible might have happened to
+you."
+
+Eagerly and with great joy Marie availed herself of the privilege, and
+slipped into her place beside Eveley.
+
+"If you suffer in the night, please ask me to help you," she begged. "I
+will not sleep, but I do not wish to speak until I know you are awake."
+
+"You must sleep," said Eveley.
+
+But Marie did not sleep. Sometimes Eveley would moan a little, turning
+heavily, and then, without a sound, Marie was out of bed, replacing the
+bandages with fresh ones, crooning softly over Eveley as a mother over a
+suffering child.
+
+Fortunately the next day was Sunday, and Eveley remained quietly on a
+couch, with Marie waiting upon her like a tender Madonna. Nolan came up,
+too, and insisted upon the full story of what had happened.
+
+"I fell," said Eveley positively.
+
+"You did not fall on your shoulder-blades," he said. "You girls have been
+up to some monkey business, and I want to know."
+
+After long insistence, Eveley told him of the night's adventure, Marie
+sitting erect and rigid during the recital.
+
+"Where did you go, Marie?" he asked, in deep concern.
+
+"I went too far," she confessed regretfully. "But it was an exquisite
+night, and I was happy. I went down farther and farther, and did not
+realize it. Suddenly I looked up, and knew I was far, far down. I turned
+at once.--Then some one called. A man's voice. I ran, and the steps came
+pounding after me."
+
+"You must not go into the canyon at night again, please, Marie. You are
+too young. And--the canyon goes away down to the water-front where there
+are a lot of Greasers and--I mean, half-breeds," he stammered quickly,
+"all kinds of foreigners along the road down there! You must stay on top
+of your canyon and be good."
+
+The next morning, although Eveley knew her arms were too stiff and sore
+for work, she decided to go to the office anyhow to see the day well
+started.
+
+"They will send me home, and I shall be here for luncheon with you. I can
+not drive yet, so I'll just cross the bridge and go on the street-car."
+
+As she stood on the swinging bridge, looking down into the lovely canyon,
+it seemed impossible that there in the friendly shadows such horrible
+dangers had menaced them. Of a sudden impulse, she ran back, and climbed
+carefully down to where she had clung so grimly to the tangled vines and
+had knocked Marie's assailant from the path.
+
+No, it was no dream. The vines were torn and mangled and on the path were
+the marks of trampling feet, and peering down the canyon she could
+discern two distinct trails where the men had tumbled and reeled. She
+slowly followed the trails, picking her way carefully, clinging to bits
+of shrub. Her lips curved into a grim smile as she pictured their
+surprise and pain. At the foot of the canyon she saw something shining
+among the rocks.
+
+She lifted it curiously, and turned it in her hand. It was clean and
+shining,--a small steel badge marked Secret Service.
+
+Eveley's eyes clouded, and her brows took on a troubled frown, as she put
+the badge carefully into her purse.
+
+"I shall never tell Marie," she said. "It would not help much with the
+Americanization of a sweet and trusting foreign girl to know she had been
+followed at night by a steel badge marked Secret Service."
+
+And Eveley followed the path back to the bridge again with a grieved and
+troubled air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
+
+
+As the weeks passed, Eveley noticed a change in the conduct of the
+honeymoon home beneath her. Many times in the early morning, she saw Mrs.
+Severs going out with a covered basket and wearing an old long coat and a
+tight-fitting small hat. And sometimes she met her in the evening, coming
+home, dusty, tired and happy.
+
+"I am going to father's," she would explain lightly. Or, "I have been out
+with father to-day."
+
+And at the quizzical laughter in Eveley's eyes, she would add defiantly:
+"He is a darling, Eveley, and I was very silly. Why didn't you bring me
+to my senses?"
+
+For Mrs. Severs was feeling less well than usual, and in the long absence
+of her husband every day, she was learning to depend on the brusk,
+kindly, capable father-in-law. And many days, when she was not well
+enough to leave home, he came himself, and the girls up-stairs could hear
+him in the kitchen below, preparing dinner for Andy and his ailing bride.
+
+"Whatever should I do without him, Miss Ainsworth?" she sometimes asked.
+"He does everything for me. And I think he likes me pretty well, now he
+is getting used to me. He is good to me,--his little funny ways are not
+really funny any more, but rather sweet. I spoiled everything with my
+selfishness, and he will never try to live with us again."
+
+One evening, when Father-in-law had been particularly tender and helpful,
+she looked at Eveley with brooding eyes, and said, "You are such a nice
+girl, but I sort of blame you because father is not with us. You are so
+much cleverer than I,--couldn't you have opened my eyes before it was too
+late?"
+
+And Eveley ran up the stairs shaking her slender fists in the air.
+"Deliver me from brides," she said devoutly to the rose in the corner of
+her roof garden. "Grooms are bad enough, but brides are utterly
+impossible. I would not live with one for anything on earth. To think of
+the wretched life they were living until I helped them to a proper
+adjustment,--and now she holds me responsible. I always said
+Father-in-law was the most desirable member of the family."
+
+But even he disappointed her.
+
+"Well, are you getting enough freedom?" she asked him pleasantly one
+evening as she met him coming in.
+
+He looked about cautiously before he answered. "Excuse me, miss," he said
+apologetically, "but you are away off on some things. Freedom is all
+right, but a little of it goes a long ways. Sometimes folks like company.
+She," he said, with an explanatory wave of his thumb toward the house,
+"she is a pretty fair sort. I've got so danged sick of having my own way
+that, Holy Mackinaw, I'd try living with an orphan asylum for a change.
+You see, I was just getting used to her, and so I kind of miss her
+cluttering around under foot."
+
+Eveley was quite annoyed at this turn of events, and her feeling of
+perturbation lasted fully half-way up the rustic stairs. But by the time
+she had crossed the roof garden and swung through the window she was
+herself again. She caught Marie about the shoulders and danced her
+through the room with a spinning whirl.
+
+"Such a lark," she cried. "The most fun we are going to have. Listen,
+sweetest thing in the world, we are going to have a party to-night, you
+and I, and Nolan and Jimmy Ames. They are coming here, Jimmy for you of
+course, for I always get Nolan if he is in the party."
+
+"Oh, Eveley," gasped Marie, paling a little. "I can't. I--Mr. Hiltze said
+I should not meet men, you know."
+
+"Well, he is not the head of our family. And besides, he will not know a
+thing about this. You will love Jimmy Ames. I nearly do myself. He is so
+big and blond and boyish,--you know, the slow, good, lovey kind."
+
+"But he'll ask--"
+
+"Don't worry. I know Jimmy Ames. After one look at you, he will not be
+able to ask questions for a month. Come, let's hurry. You must wear that
+exquisite little yellow thing, and I'll wear black to bring you out
+nicely."
+
+"Oh, Eveley, you mustn't--"
+
+"Well, Nolan likes me in black, anyhow. He says it makes me look
+heavenly, and of course one ought to sustain an illusion like that if
+possible. Now do not argue, Marie. We are going to have a perfectly
+wonderful time, and you will be as happy as a lark."
+
+For a moment longer Marie hesitated, frowning into space. Then she
+suddenly brightened, and a wistful eagerness came into her eyes.
+
+"Eveley, I am going to do whatever you tell me. If you wish me to be of
+your party, I will. And if you say, 'Do not tell Mr. Hiltze,' I shall
+never tell him. And if you say, 'Like Mr. Ames,' I shall adore him."
+
+"That's a nice girl," cried Eveley, happily whirling into her chair at
+the table and dropping her hat upon the floor at her side. "I couldn't
+have planned anything nicer than this. Kitty and Arnold often have
+parties with us, but it will be much better having you and Jimmy. He
+looks very smart in his uniform."
+
+"Uniform," faltered Marie suddenly.
+
+"Yes,--Lieutenant Ames, you know,--Jimmy Ames."
+
+"Lieutenant? Oh, Eveley, please, let's not. I--am not fond of the
+military. I am afraid of soldiers. Let me--Have some one else dear,
+please. Get Kitty this time, won't you? I am afraid."
+
+"Wait till you see Jimmy. He isn't the snoopy overbearing kind that you
+are used to. Can't you trust me yet, Marie? I wouldn't have you meet any
+one who would be unpleasant or suspicious. You have found the rest of my
+friends all right, haven't you?"
+
+"Well, never mind," Marie decided suddenly. "I will come to the party,
+but do not ever let Mr. Hiltze know, will you? He would be raging."
+
+"Marie, do you love Amos Hiltze?"
+
+"Love him! I hate him."
+
+"Hate him? Then why in the world are you so afraid of him? You obey every
+word he says, and follow every suggestion he makes. I thought you were
+great friends."
+
+Marie flushed and paled swiftly. "It is because I am grateful to him,"
+she said at last, not meeting Eveley's eyes. "He brought me to you,--and
+he helps me,--and I am, willing to do whatever he tells me except when
+you wish something else. But I do not like him personally by any means,
+and I wish he did not come here so much."
+
+"I thought you were friends," Eveley repeated confusedly.
+
+"He is in love with you--don't you know that?"
+
+"Yes,--perhaps so. But Angelo says men can love two women simultaneously.
+Angelo says there is something strange about his bringing--I mean," she
+interrupted herself quickly, "Angelo wondered where he found you, or--or
+something."
+
+"Angelo is a good friend to you, Eveley. You might pay better heed to his
+suggestions, to your own good," said Marie faintly.
+
+"I thought,--oh, I do not know what I thought. Well, we can shunt Mr.
+Hiltze off a little, if you wish. But you should not dislike him. He is
+greatly interested in you, and so full of enthusiasm and eagerness for
+this Americanization idea. He has been a great help to me, and he is very
+clever. And since he brought us together we should love him a little. Any
+one who struggles with Americanization deserves my patriotic and
+sympathetic interest, at least."
+
+"Yes, I know." And she added slowly: "One can show enthusiasm for the
+things one hates worst in the world,--if there is a secret reason."
+
+"You do not mean Mr. Hiltze, do you?" asked Eveley, with quiet loyalty.
+
+"No, to be sure not. I only said one could."
+
+"Mr. Hiltze is nothing to us. Toss him away. Come now, let's doll up for
+our party."
+
+They were two radiantly lovely girls who stood in the little garden on
+the roof of the sun parlor, waiting for the men who ran up the wavering
+rustic stairs to join them.
+
+"Oh, girls," cried Nolan plaintively, as he saw them in their beauty. "It
+is not fair of you to look like this. Marie, you are exquisite. Eveley,
+you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
+
+"Yes, we are," said Eveley pleasantly. "Jimmy, I want you to meet my
+darling and adorable little friend, Marie Ledesma. This is Lieutenant
+Ames, Marie."
+
+Lieutenant Ames stood very tall and slim and straight as he looked into
+Marie's face. Then he saw the soft appeal in her eyes.
+
+"Be good to me," they seemed to beg, "be generous, and kind."
+
+It was in answer to this plea of the limpid eyes that he held out his
+hand with sudden impulse, and said:
+
+"Miss Ledesma, when Eveley speaks like that, I know your friendship is a
+priceless boon, and I want my share of it. I am receiving a sort of
+psychic message that you and I are destined to be good comrades."
+
+A sudden wave of light swept over her lovely face, and her lips parted in
+a happy smile.
+
+"Lieutenant Ames," she whispered in her soft voice, "do you really feel
+so? And then you also are my friend?"
+
+"Jimmy Ames, you stop that," cried Eveley. "Marie belongs to me, and you
+must not even try to supplant me. I won't have it. Come on in, everybody,
+and let's play, play, play to our heart's content."
+
+Marie went through the window first, with a light slender swing of her
+feet. But Eveley, as always plunging impulsively, lost her balance and
+fell among the cushions. Nolan and the lieutenant followed laughing.
+
+"We must take a day off and teach Eveley the approved method of making
+entrance to a social gathering," said Nolan. "Are you all black and blue,
+you poor child?" he asked, helping her up, for she had waited patiently
+for his assistance.
+
+It was a wonderfully happy party. They played the Victrola, and danced
+merrily through the two rooms, around the reading table, through the
+archway, winding among the chairs in the dining-room. When they were
+tired, Marie brought her mandolin,--for having remarked once idly that
+she could play it, Eveley that night had brought her one as a little gift
+of love. And she played soft Spanish love-songs, singing in her pretty
+lilting voice. Then altogether they prepared their supper and because the
+night was still young and lovely, and they were happy and free from
+pressing care, they decided suddenly for a drive. They crossed the bay on
+the ferry to Coronado, and went down on the sands of the beach for a
+while, standing quietly to watch the silver tips of the waves shining in
+the pale moonlight. Then they drove out the Silver Strand and so home
+once more.
+
+Before they parted, they arranged for another party, two nights later,
+and after long discussion agreed that it should be an evening swimming
+party in the bay at Coronado, with a hot supper afterward in the Cloud
+Cote.
+
+"How did you like our Lieutenant Jimmy?" Eveley demanded, as soon as they
+were alone.
+
+"He is incomparable," said Marie simply.
+
+"I knew it," cried Eveley ecstatically. "Nolan and I both said so.
+Spontaneous combustion, that is what it was. Come and sleep with me again
+to-night. It is such fun to go to bed and turn out the light and talk.
+Did you ever do it?"
+
+"No, my life has not been of that kind."
+
+"But you will learn. I never saw any one learn as quickly as you
+do,--especially things about men.--Now I shall begin by telling you how
+adorable Nolan is, and you must interrupt me to say how wonderful Jimmy
+is.--Did you ever have a sweetheart, Marie?"
+
+Then she added quickly: "Wait, wait. I--I did not mean to ask
+questions,--Excuse me, I am sorry. Let's talk of something else."
+
+"No, let's talk of lovers," said Marie, snuggling close to Eveley, her
+head lying against her shoulder. "I have never had the regular kind of a
+lover,--your kind,--the kind that women want. My life was full of war and
+horrors, and I had not time for the thrills of love. And the men I knew
+were not the men that one would wish to love one."
+
+"Then, this is your chance," said Eveley happily. "Now I am positively
+sure that one of these days you will be a matchless American woman. You
+are just ripe and ready for love. You can't escape it, you sweet thing,
+even if you could wish. War and horrors were left behind in your old
+home. Here in your new home you will know only peace and contentment and
+love. Aren't you glad I adopted you? We must give Mr. Hiltze credit for
+that anyhow, mustn't we?"
+
+There was a sudden tension in the slender figure at her side. "Eveley,
+are you so innocent? Do you never attribute evil motives to any one? Do
+you always believe only good and beautiful and lovely things of those you
+meet?"
+
+"Well, I have no real reason for thinking mean or ugly things of any
+one--not really. I never had any horrors in my life until the war came. I
+have just lived along serenely and contentedly, and being fairly nice and
+kind, I have no guilty conscience to trouble me, and no one has ever been
+hateful or mean to me--not in anything that really counted."
+
+Both were silent a moment, thinking, each in her different way, of the
+contrast in their lives. Then Eveley went on, more slowly:
+
+"I feel sometimes that we are living on the crest of a terrible
+upheaval--that we are on the edge of a seething volcano which is
+threatening and rumbling beneath us, each day growing fiercer and more
+ominous, and that presently may come chaos, and we on the crater of life
+will be dragged down into the furnace with the rest. I suppose," she
+added apologetically, "it is because of the conditions that always follow
+a war, the political unrest, the social chaos, the anarchistic tendencies
+of every one. I am not in the midst of things enough to understand them,
+but even up here on the top of our canyon, we sometimes get a blast of
+the hot air from below, and it troubles us. Then we try to forget, and go
+on with our playing. But the volcano still rumbles beneath."
+
+Eveley slipped her hand out to take Marie's and found it icy cold.
+
+"Did--did you ever feel so before?" asked Marie in a low strange voice.
+"That you were living on the rim of a volcano, ready to catch and crush
+you?"
+
+"No, not before. It is just now--after the war. Conditions were never the
+same before."
+
+Then Marie burst into a passion of tears. "It is my fault," she sobbed.
+"It is because I am here. All my life I have lived in the crater of a
+volcano, and I have brought it upon you. It is a curse I carry with me.
+It is the chaos from which I have come, and to which I must go again when
+I leave you--it is that which destroys your peace."
+
+Frightened and astonished, Eveley soothed her, cradling her in her arms.
+"You little silly," she said tenderly. "You dear little goose. Don't you
+believe any such nonsense as that. We are in a condition of turmoil, our
+United States and all the rest of the world. It is not the affairs of
+your Mexico that worry me--it is the tempest in my own country. And don't
+you ever talk any more about going back. You shall never go back. You are
+to stay here with me forever and ever, world without end, amen. You will,
+won't you?"
+
+Marie only stirred a little, and did not answer.
+
+"Marie," cried Eveley, her voice sharp with fear. "Do you ever think
+really of going back to--that? Answer me." And she gripped Marie's soft
+shoulder with strong fingers.
+
+"I do not think any more," said Marie gently. "But one always has a
+feeling that one must return whence one has come, do you not think? It is
+only that. It seems incredible that I, alone out of our struggling
+thousands, should be let to come away and live serenely in a cloud cote,
+does it not? And the struggle in Mexico goes on."
+
+"The same kind of peace and contentment will come to all your country
+when the world is settled down to law and order once more," said Eveley,
+with the sublime faith of the young and the unsuffering. "It just takes
+time. And God was good enough to carry you away before the end of the
+conflict. Just wait. When our country is thoroughly Americanized, and
+returns to joyful work and love and life again, the contagion will spread
+to your people, and peace will reign there also. So do not talk any more
+nonsense about leaving me. Now let's go back to the beginning, and talk
+about--the men."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+CONVERTS OF LOVE
+
+
+A very warm intimacy developed rapidly between the four friends, and
+every evening for nearly two weeks found them joyfully, even riotously,
+making merry together in the Cloud Cote. As Eveley had prophesied,
+Lieutenant Ames was hopelessly lost from the first, and Marie yielded
+herself very readily to the charm of an ardent wooing.
+
+But with Eveley, Marie was different, more quiet, less demonstrative,
+sometimes plainly listless and absent-minded. Eveley ascribed the change
+to her newly developed interest in Lieutenant Ames, and patiently awaited
+the outcome of the ripening romance. For Eveley had a deep-seated
+sympathy with every appeal of love.
+
+For many weeks she had received no word from Miriam Landis. Although she
+had passed in an hour from all connection with their daily plans, yet she
+was never far from their thought. Even without their tender and
+sympathetic memories, they could not have forgotten her, for her husband
+was a frequent and always tumultuous visitor in the Cote.
+
+He invariably began talking before he was through the window, and his
+first words were unfailingly the same.
+
+"I can't stand it, Eveley, I simply can't stand it. You've got to do
+something about it."
+
+Again and again he came with this appeal, always overlooking the fact
+that Eveley had no faintest idea of Miriam's whereabouts, for, true to
+her word, she had kept her hiding-place unknown to them all.
+
+Then for several weeks he did not come, and Eveley felt that perhaps he
+was reconciled, and had returned to his old pursuit of secluded ballroom
+corners. But Nolan assured her of the injustice of this. Lem had forsaken
+all his former haunts, and had become a recluse, brooding alone in his
+deserted home.
+
+"It will do him good, even if it does not last," Nolan said. "Almost any
+one would grieve for a woman like Miriam for a few months."
+
+"Perhaps it is permanent this time, and there will be a reconciliation,
+and both live happily ever after," said Eveley, with her usual buoyant
+faith in the cheerful outcome.
+
+Gordon Cameron she had seen only once since Miriam's departure, and that
+was when he came at her request to receive Miriam's message. He had
+listened quietly, while she repeated the words of her friend.
+
+"I expected it, of course," he said at last gravely. "The pity of it is
+that her little revolution was so hopeless from the beginning. As long as
+a woman loves her husband, she can not hope for happiness, nor even for
+forgetfulness."
+
+"Oh, she does not love her husband any more," said Eveley confidently.
+"Not a bit. She is over that long ago."
+
+"That was the whole trouble," he insisted. "If she had not loved him, she
+could have stood it and gone her way. But loving him, the situation was
+impossible for a woman of spirit and pride. Well, there is always one to
+pay in every triangle, and this time the bill comes to me. But I had
+anticipated that from the beginning. She is a wonderful woman."
+
+"Do you think she will go back to her husband?" asked Eveley
+breathlessly.
+
+"I hardly think so. She might as well, though; perhaps it would be
+better. She can not be happy without him, and she was certainly not happy
+with him. It is only a choice of miseries. As long as she loves him, she
+will suffer for it. I begin to think that one who loves can not be
+happy."
+
+"Oh, yes, one can. One is," asserted Eveley positively.
+
+"Perhaps I should say, when one is married to it," he added, with a sober
+smile for her assurance.
+
+Then he had gone away, and when Lem's pleadings had suddenly ceased,
+Eveley felt that the little tempest would live its life, and die its
+death, and perhaps Miriam at least would find happiness in the lull that
+followed.
+
+So it was something of a shock to have her pleasant Sunday morning nap
+disturbed by Lem pounding briskly upon her window.
+
+"Get up, immediately," he said in an assertive voice quite different from
+his futile and inane pleadings of a short while before. "Hurry, Eveley, I
+want you. Dress for motoring, my car is here. I shall wait in the
+garden--give you ten minutes."
+
+"He must want me for a bridesmaid for his second wedding," thought Eveley
+resentfully, as she hurriedly dressed. But accustomed to obey the calls
+of friendship, she put on a heavy sport skirt and sweater, and had even
+pulled her soft hat over her curls before she went to the window.
+
+"I am ready, but I do not approve of it," she began rather unpleasantly.
+
+"You'd better take a doughnut, or a roll, or an orange, or something, for
+we have no time for breakfast," he said in the same assertive voice. "She
+will not be back until afternoon, Miss Ledesma. Sorry if it interferes
+with any of your plans, but it can not be helped. Get your coat, quickly,
+Eveley."
+
+"It does interfere with our plans," she said crossly. "We were going up
+to the mountains for a beefsteak fry with Jimmy and Nolan."
+
+"Never mind," said Marie softly. "It may come another Sunday. Mr. Landis
+seems to need you."
+
+"All ready, Eveley? Let me help you. Good-by, Miss Ledesma."
+
+And Eveley found herself marching briskly down the rustic steps away from
+her own plan and her own desire, and with no knowledge of what lay before
+her.
+
+"You might at least tell me where we are going," she said at last, after
+he had hurried her into the car and started away.
+
+"To see Miriam," he answered.
+
+"Oh!" Eveley's voice was a long gasp. She was content to wait after that
+for his explanation, although it was very slow in coming.
+
+"She is at a ranch up in the mountains," he said finally. "About fifty
+miles. We just located her last night. I have been looking, for her all
+the time. You are going to talk to her for me."
+
+"Oh, am I?"
+
+"Yes. I was afraid to come alone for fear she would not see me. She will
+not refuse to see you."
+
+"Do you mind telling me what I am going to say to her?"
+
+He was silent a while, thinking. "She refused to take any money from me,"
+he said, presently. "And she has very little. If she persists in this,
+she will have to work for her living. Miriam can not do that."
+
+"No," said Eveley softly.
+
+"She does not want me for a husband yet," he said humbly. "And that is
+right. But I must have Miriam, and she shall never have any one else but
+me--not that I think she would ever want anybody else. You are to tell
+Miriam she must come home, and live her life just as she wishes and do as
+she pleases in everything, and allow me to be a servant for her, to
+provide what she wants and needs, to take care of her if she is sick.
+Tell her she may have any friends she likes, lovers even if she wishes,
+but that she must let me work for her."
+
+Eveley laid her hand affectionately upon his arm. "I have never done you
+justice, Lem; forgive me. I think Miriam will come home. I hope she
+will."
+
+"She has to. And after a while, when she sees in me what she used to
+think was there, she will love me again. But in the meantime, I shall ask
+nothing and expect nothing. But Miriam has got to be in the house."
+
+Eveley only spoke once after that.
+
+"If she will not come?"
+
+He turned upon her then, a sudden grim smile lighting his face. "I know
+what I shall do then," he said. "But you will think it is madness. If she
+refuses to come, I shall make the necessary arrangements, and kidnap her.
+She's got to come."
+
+Eveley burst into quick laughter at the picture that came to her--a
+picture of the old-time, immaculate Lem of the ballrooms, carrying his
+wife away into the mountains to live a cave-man life.
+
+He laughed with her, but the dead-set of his face remained. "It sounds
+like a joke," he admitted. "But I have made up my mind. Miriam is mine,
+and I am going to have her. We'll just go up into the mountains for a few
+months, and she will see that I am cured."
+
+Mile after mile they drove in silence up the steep mountain grades, and
+after a long time he drew the car off beside the road under a cluster of
+trees.
+
+"That is the ranch, but I will not drive in. If she saw us coming she
+would not talk to us, so you must catch her unawares. I shall wait here
+for you. You'd better not tell her I am going to kidnap her, I think I
+would rather take her by surprise. She has to come, Eve, now make her see
+it. Just a servant that is all I want to be to her for a while. But she
+did love me, and she will again."
+
+So Eveley walked swiftly up the drive to the house, keeping in the shadow
+as much as possible, surprised to know that after all the years of her
+disgust for the husband of her friend, her sympathies now were all with
+him.
+
+At the kitchen door she assumed her most winsome and disarming smile and
+asked for Mrs. Landis.
+
+"She does not wish to see any one," said the woman quickly. "She said
+particularly that she would not see any callers."
+
+"But she will see me, I am sure," said Eveley coaxingly. "You ask her.
+Tell her it is Eveley Ainsworth. She always sees me."
+
+"But she told me particularly," repeated the woman. "And she is not here
+anyhow. She has gone over the hill. She likes to be among the pines. She
+is not well, either. I am sorry, miss, but she is not here, and she would
+not see you if she were."
+
+"How far is it to the hill? And does she stay long?"
+
+"It is not far," said the woman, with a wave of her hand toward the east.
+"But she will not come home for luncheon. She has no appetite. And the
+boys are out, so I have no one to send for her. I am sorry, miss."
+
+"You think there is no use to wait, then?"
+
+"Oh, no use at all, miss. She will be gone for hours, and she would not
+see you if she were here."
+
+"Tell her I came, won't you? Eveley Ainsworth. Thank you."
+
+And with another disarming smile Eveley turned back to the path. But as
+soon as she was out of sight of the house, she slipped off through the
+trees, and started on a light run for the pine grove on the hill to the
+east.
+
+"As Lem says, poor thing, she has to," she said to herself, with a smile.
+And very soon she was among the big pines, looking eagerly back and
+forth, quite determined not to return to Lem until she had seen Miriam
+and talked her into reason. And so at last she came upon her, sitting
+somberly under the big trees, her back against a huge boulder, staring
+away down the mountains into the haze of the sea in the west, where her
+husband lived in the city by the bay.
+
+"Miriam," Eveley called in a ringing voice, and ran joyously down the
+path.
+
+Miriam sprang up to meet her. "Eveley!" she cried, catching her hands
+eagerly. And then, "Have you seen--Lem? Is he--all right?"
+
+Eveley held her hands a moment, looking searchingly into the thin face
+and the shadowy eyes.
+
+"Revolutions are hard work, aren't they?" she asked with deep sympathy.
+
+"Oh, Eveley, they are killing, heart-breaking, soul-wracking," she cried.
+"And yet of course it was right and best for me to come," she added
+gravely. "Does Lem seem to--miss me?" And there was wistfulness in her
+voice.
+
+"He is out there now," said Eveley, waving her hand toward the road. "He
+brought me up."
+
+At the first word, Miriam had turned quickly, ready to run down--not to
+the house for shelter, but to the car for comfort. But she stopped in a
+moment, and came back.
+
+"I shall not see him, of course," she said quietly.
+
+"I brought a message from him. He says you must come home, Miriam, he
+says his madness is all purged away, and that you are his and he must
+have you. But he wants you to come and live your own life and do as you
+wish, only allowing him, to stay in the home not as your husband, but as
+your servant until you learn to love and trust him again. He says you
+must come, and let him work for you, and take care of you."
+
+Miriam's face was very white, and her eyes deep wells of pain.
+
+"Poor Lem!" she said tenderly. "So sweet--and so weak."
+
+"I think he is finding strength," said Eveley.
+
+For a long time, the two girls stood there, side by side, Eveley looking
+into the haze of the sea miles below, Miriam staring down through the
+pines to where she knew a car might be waiting in the shadows.
+
+"We must not keep him waiting," she said at last.
+
+Without a word, they turned, hand in hand and started down to the road
+again. When she saw the little, well-known car beneath the trees, and Lem
+standing rigid beside it, she caught her breath suddenly. Eveley would
+have hung back, to let her greet her husband alone, but Miriam clung to
+her hand and pulled her forward.
+
+He came to meet them, awkwardly, a gleam of hope in his eyes, but
+meekness in his manner. He held out his hand, and Miriam with a little
+flutter dropped her own into it, pulling it quickly away again.
+
+"Are you--all right, Lem? You look--thin," she said with shy solicitude.
+
+"I feel thin," he replied grimly. "Are--you coming with us?"
+
+"Yes, of course," said Eveley.
+
+"Yes, of course," Miriam echoed faintly.
+
+"Shall I drive?" suggested Eveley, anticipating complete reconciliation
+for the two in their first moment of privacy.
+
+"I will drive," said Lem. "You girls sit in the back. Did Eveley explain
+that I only expect to be--your driver, and your valet, and your
+servant--for a while."
+
+Tears brightened in Miriam's eyes. "Oh, Lem," she cried, holding out her
+hands. "How can people talk of servants who have loved--as we have
+loved?"
+
+Eveley immediately went into a deep and concentrated study of the rear
+tires, for Miriam was close in her husband's arms, and his tears were
+falling upon her fragrant curls.
+
+After a while, he held her away from him and looked into her tender face.
+
+"It isn't--you aren't coming, then, just because it is your duty to give
+me every chance," he whispered.
+
+"Oh, no, dear, just because I love you."
+
+Eveley was still utterly immersed in the condition of the tires.
+
+"We'll try it again, Lem--"
+
+"Oh, Miriam," he broke in, "it isn't any trial this time. This is
+marriage."
+
+Eventually they got started toward home and had driven many miles before
+Miriam noticed that her uncovered hair was blowing in the wind, and
+remembered that she had left the ranch without notice and that all her
+things were there. But what were simple things and formal notices when
+human hearts were finding happiness and faith?
+
+In the Cloud Cote, Eve's friends were patiently awaiting her return.
+Nolan was reading poetry aloud to himself in the roof garden, and
+Lieutenant Ames was laboriously picking chords on the piano, with Marie
+near him strumming on the mandolin.
+
+The first creak of the rustic stair brought them all to the landing to
+greet her.
+
+"Reconciliation," shouted Nolan, before she was half-way up. "Miriam is
+home, and they have already lived happily ever after."
+
+Eveley began immediately to give an account of the day's happenings
+standing motionless on the third step from the top until she finished her
+recital.
+
+Then she went back down, and gave an impatient tap on the seventh stair.
+
+"Well, you started something," she said to it solemnly. "And you ought to
+be satisfied now, if anybody is. To-morrow I shall crown you with a
+wreath of laurel."
+
+Then she went up again. "Does this do anything to your theory about
+duty?" asked Nolan. "Does it prove it, or disprove it, or what? I can not
+seem to get any connection."
+
+"But there is a connection," she said, with a smile. "It absolutely and
+everlastingly proves the Exception."
+
+"Eveley Ainsworth, don't ever say exception again until you can explain
+it," cried Nolan. "I dream of exceptions by night, and I legalize them by
+day. Be a nice girl, and do a good deed this Sabbath Day by expounding
+the virtues of the One Exception."
+
+But Eveley was hungry, and said she could not expound anything when her
+system clamored for tea.
+
+Eveley's Sabbath, however, was not yet ended. While she was blissfully
+sipping her tea, the three she loved best in the world about her, there
+came a gentle tap upon her window, and Mrs. Severs walked in.
+
+"So sorry to bother you, Miss Ainsworth," she began apologetically, "but
+I want to ask a favor. Father is moving back with us to-day, and--"
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes, indeed he is," she cried blithely. "I was so lonesome, and some
+days I am so ill, that I asked him as a personal favor if he wouldn't
+come and try me just once more, and he said, Holy Mackinaw! he had been
+aching to do that very thing."
+
+"Well," Eveley said judiciously, "I suppose you will all be satisfied now
+that you are back in your old rut wretchedly doing your duty by each
+other."
+
+"I should say not," denied Mrs. Severs promptly. "I asked father to come
+because I--like him awfully much, and it is so lonely without him, and he
+is coming because he missed us and is fond of us, and there isn't any
+duty about it. You have converted us. We do not believe in duty."
+
+"And the favor?"
+
+"Yes--father is bringing the flivver of course--and the garage is so big.
+Do you mind if we keep it there with your car? We will pay any extra
+rent, of course."
+
+"Keep it there by all means," said Eveley generously. "And there is no
+rent. And when I get stuck anywhere I shall expect you to tow me home for
+love." And when Mrs. Severs had gone, Eveley said: "Make another pot of
+tea, please, Marie. Make two pots--three if you like."
+
+"Pretty hard to keep some people properly adjusted, isn't it?" asked
+Nolan soberly, but with laughter in his eyes.
+
+"What is proved by the case of Father-in-law and the Bride, Eveley?"
+asked Marie with a soft teasing smile as she refilled Eveley's cup.
+
+But Eveley went into a remote corner of the room, and brandished the
+bread knife for protection, before she cried triumphantly:
+
+"The Exception. It is another positive proof of the utter efficacy of my
+One Exception."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+SHE DOUBTS HER THEORY
+
+
+One morning Eveley telephoned from the office to Marie that she would not
+be home for dinner that night, as she was going with Kitty to hear the
+minute details of her engagement, and the plans of her coming marriage
+with Arnold. She assured Marie that she would be home early, begged her
+not to be lonesome, cautioned her once more not to venture into the
+canyon after nightfall, and went serenely on her way.
+
+At ten o'clock that night she guided her car into the garage whistling
+boyishly, and ran up the rustic stairs, stopping with painful suddenness
+on the landing as she observed there was no light in the Cote.
+
+"Marie," she called, "Marie!"
+
+She looked anxiously over the little roof garden, and peered down to the
+canyon. Twice she went up to the window, and each time drew back again,
+afraid to enter.
+
+She leaned over the railing on the roof, calling aimlessly and
+hopelessly.
+
+"Marie, Marie!"
+
+A moment later she heard a light step below, "Oh, Marie," she cried and
+her voice was a sob.
+
+"It's me, Miss Eveley, what's the matter?"
+
+It was only Angelo running up the steps to her.
+
+"Angelo, what are you doing here?" she demanded sharply, her nerves on
+edge.
+
+"Oh, I was just fooling around," he said evasively. "I thought I heard
+you calling."
+
+But Eveley's nerves were too highly strung this night to brook an idle
+answer. She caught him by the shoulder.
+
+"Tell me where you have been and what you were doing," and there was
+something like suspicion in her voice.
+
+And then suddenly the little bit of foreign flotsam became a man, to give
+her courage.
+
+"Come inside and sit down," he said authoritatively. "I'll tell you what
+I've been doing, but don't stand out here like this and get yourself all
+worked up for nothing."
+
+He threw up the window, and went in first, turning on the light, and
+Eveley followed him numbly.
+
+"Now sit down and I'll tell you. I have been sleeping in the garage ever
+since you got mixed up with that bunch of Bolshevists and--er Greasers. I
+thought something might happen and I've sort of stuck around. I had a key
+made to the garage, and I've got a nice bed fixed up in the attic."
+
+Eveley held out her hand with a faint smile. "You are a good friend,
+Angelo, sure enough. But there was no danger. And oh, where can my Marie
+have gone?"
+
+"Are her things here?"
+
+Acting instantly upon the suggestion, Eveley ran into the other room
+followed closely by Angelo. Every slightest scrap and shred that had been
+Marie's had disappeared.
+
+"Maybe she left a note somewhere," said Angelo.
+
+Frantically Eveley flashed through the small rooms, searching eagerly for
+some final word or token. But there was nothing to be found.
+
+"Some one has kidnapped her," she cried, wringing her hands. "We must
+phone the police."
+
+"I wouldn't do that--not yet. I'd phone for Mr. Nolan first. Let me do
+it. And why don't you go down-stairs and ask them if they saw any one
+around here to-day, or saw her leaving?"
+
+"Oh, Angelo, that is fine," she cried. "I'll go--and you phone Nolan
+quickly."
+
+By the time she returned, Nolan was on his way to the Cote.
+
+"She--she left herself--just walked away with her bag--alone," said
+Eveley faintly. "I am afraid she did not--care for me." And there was
+sorrow in her voice.
+
+"Oh, sure she did," said Angela reassuringly. "That's why she left I
+guess. She may be in bad in some way, and so she went off not to get you
+mixed up in it."
+
+"Do you think that, Angelo? Do you really? But she should not have gone
+for that. I would have stood by Marie through any kind of trouble."
+
+Angelo walked impatiently about the room, fingering endless little
+objects, puzzling in his mind what to say and what to do.
+
+"He could be here if he had taken a taxi," he said restlessly. "I told
+him to beat it."
+
+"We might phone Mr. Hiltze," said Eveley suddenly. "He may know where to
+find her."
+
+Angelo smiled scornfully at that. "Aw gee, Miss Eveley, ain't you on to
+them yet? Sure they are working in cahoots."
+
+Eveley sat down at once and folded her hands. "Now, Angelo, tell me
+everything you know, or suspect about them. Begin at the beginning. You
+may be wrong, but let me hear it."
+
+But before Angelo could begin his little story, Nolan came springing up
+the steps, and knew in a word all they had to tell.
+
+"Sit down now, Nolan, and listen. Angelo thinks he knows something."
+
+"Well, when Carranza got in, a lot of Mexicans had to get out. Political
+refugees they call them. Marie is one of them."
+
+"That is no secret," said Eveley. "She told me that herself. And it is
+nothing to her discredit--rather the opposite I should think."
+
+"Yes, but they are looking ahead to the next election. That guy Obregon
+has promised to let all the refugees come back free and easy if he is
+elected, and no questions asked. But they've got such a lot running for
+president, that maybe they won't elect anybody and then Carranza will
+stick on himself. And so the refugees on this side are working up a new
+little revolution of their own, to spring on Carranza the day after the
+election. And that is against the law, and the Secret Service is on to
+it, and after them hot and heavy."
+
+"The Secret Service," said Eveley slowly. "The Secret Service."
+
+She crossed the room, and from her bag took out a small bit of steel
+which she had carried there for weeks.
+
+"The Secret Service," she said again, and held the badge tightly in her
+hand.
+
+"What have you there, Eveley?" asked Nolan.
+
+"Nothing," she said, gripping it so tightly the sharp edges cut into her
+hand. "Just a little souvenir--of Marie. That is all."
+
+"Well, is there anything else, Angelo?"
+
+"That guy Hiltze is a crook, too. He's what you call a Red. He's mixed up
+with all the funny business going on."
+
+"Are you sure, Angelo? You must only tell us what you really know."
+
+"Well, they've got a lot of crazy shacks around town, and they hold
+meetings. My dad goes to 'em. So a few times I went, too. This guy Hiltze
+does the talking. He's got enough money. He don't have to sell autos for
+a living, he does that for a blind, just like he strings Miss Eveley on
+the Americanization hot-air stuff."
+
+"Did you ever hear him speak?" asked Nolan.
+
+"Sure. He says they are chasing him from cellar to garret, from mountain
+to desert. He says they are the damned rich, and they got to keep him
+harried to earth so they can grind the laborers under their heel. He
+gives 'em all money for doing things, and hauling stuff, and getting
+things across the border. I was there. He says they must pray God to
+strengthen them to fight to the last ditch. He says the army and navy are
+the slaves of the God of Money."
+
+"I know he had rather--advanced ideas," said Eveley gravely. "But these
+are such troublous times. Every one feels the lack, and the need in the
+social life. He may have gone too far--but these are the days that try
+one's soul. If it was only talk--"
+
+"Aw gee," interrupted Angelo. "They ain't got no room to talk. I know all
+about that stuff. I was over there with the rest of 'em, and I know. We
+slept on straw, and dressed in rags, and lived like dogs. And they come
+to a decent country, and get soured because they ain't fed up on chicken
+and wine like a lord. It's a darn' sight more than they ever had before,
+and the Secret Service needs to watch 'em. For they're the ones that did
+for Russia--yes, and they're doing it for Germany now, and trying it on
+Italy."
+
+The Secret Service--the diagnostician of social unrest, with professional
+finger on the pulse of the foreign element--had that finger touched the
+wrist of Marie?
+
+"But this isn't finding my Marie," said Eveley. "I want her."
+
+"Let's call Lieutenant Ames," said Nolan suddenly. "I rather imagine this
+will hit him."
+
+"Oh, poor Jimmy," cried Eveley. "He told me he wanted to marry her."
+
+Far into the night, they puzzled and pondered, not knowing which way to
+turn, but all in their love of Marie resolved that she must be found and
+saved again from the chaos. The next day, against the advice of all the
+others, Eveley sent word to Amos Hiltze and seemed to feel some comfort
+in his evident surprise and perturbation.
+
+"I can not understand it," he said. "She was so happy, and loved you so
+much. I will look for her. She may have taken fright at something--but
+what could it possibly have been?"
+
+"Tell her I do not care what has happened, nor what she fears. She must
+come to me and I will help her."
+
+In spite of the insistence of Nolan, Angelo and Jimmy Ames, Eveley would
+have given the matter into the hands of the police, trusting to her own
+promises and her own standing to save Marie from whatever they held
+against her. But at her first suggestion of this to Amos Hiltze, he took
+a most positive stand against it.
+
+"If you do that, you have lost her forever. It is the police she fears.
+She would never forgive you for putting her into their hands, even if you
+could afterward extricate her. You must not dream of such a thing."
+
+So Eveley gave it up and tried to reconcile herself to patient waiting,
+and to prayers of faith, determined to believe that the persistent search
+going on in all sections of the town would be effective, and believing
+still more fervently that God must return to her again the sister she had
+learned to love.
+
+This time, because Eveley was suffering no one connected the
+disappearance of Marie with Eveley's theory of duty. And to herself
+Eveley made no claims, not even for her favorite Exception.
+
+For if Marie had loved her, would she not have left at least one word of
+sympathy, and affection, in farewell? Indeed, if she had loved her, would
+she not have preferred the investigation of the Secret Service to
+separation? For Eveley would have braved every court in the country for
+her little foreign sister.
+
+She tried to interest herself in the affairs of her friends, as of old.
+She tried to return to her old whimsical routine of living alone in her
+Cloud Cote, but from being a little nook of laughter and love, it became
+ineffably dreary and dull. And Eveley was suffering not only because her
+love had been slighted and her hospitality abused, but because everything
+she had undertaken had failed. Americanization--what was it? For to Marie
+she had given every good thing in her power--and Marie had used her as
+long as she could be of service, and then had gone back to her own life,
+to her own people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+SHE PROVES HER PRINCIPLE
+
+
+All of Eveley's friends, realizing the loneliness and the sickness of
+heart which possessed her, united to plan little entertainments and bits
+of amusement for her. And Eveley accepted their plans gratefully, and
+acted upon their suggestions gladly, but the bitterness remained in her
+heart.
+
+"I loved that girl," she would say to herself. "How could she do such a
+thing to any one who loved her? It isn't as if I had only tried to do
+what was right and kind by her. She owed me something for all that love."
+
+One evening she went to Eileen's for a rollicking dinner with the twins
+in clamorous evidence. Eileen's home was a new creation; every day, she
+said frankly, was a new cycle of life. Her years of sober, studied
+business had not at all prepared her for the raptures and the
+uncertainties and the annoyances and the thrills of a household that had
+young twins in it.
+
+"Billy bosses Betty unmercifully, and I do not believe in the dominance
+of men," she told Eveley. "And Betty charms Billy into submission, and I
+do not approve of the blandishments of woman upon man. And yet my
+sympathies are with both of them, and I adore them both. And I can never
+find anything when I want it, and when I do find it there is something
+wrong with it, and they both talk at once and I have to talk at the same
+time or I never get anything said, and yet we have wonderful times."
+
+"You are certainly doing your duty by those babies," said Eveley
+tentatively.
+
+Eileen took it quickly. "Um, not a bit of it. I am just fulfilling the
+desire of my heart. So you may take it that I am proving your theory if
+you like."
+
+"At least you are proving my exception," said Eveley, with a smile.
+
+"What is the exception?" Eileen questioned eagerly. "It seems to get all
+the proving, doesn't it?"
+
+"It used to," said Eveley gravely. "But I have lost faith in it for
+myself. It worked for everybody else, but it failed for me. Now let's
+talk of something else."
+
+They were in the midst of a merry game with the children, when the bell
+rang, and Eveley was called to the door, to look into the face of Amos
+Hiltze.
+
+"You have found Marie," she cried out at once.
+
+"Yes. She is at the ranch in the mountains where we found her first. She
+is in trouble, and sick. I told her I would come for you, but I suppose
+you can not leave yet?"
+
+"Not leave--when Marie is sick and wants me? Wait until I get my wraps.
+Shall we go in my car?"
+
+"Yes, please. I was up at the Cote for you, and Mrs. Severs said you were
+here. I let the taxi go."
+
+Eveley's face was alight with joy, and her heart sang with happiness.
+Marie had been sick--it had not been cold neglect that kept her away and
+silent. And she had sent for Eveley.
+
+"You are certainly a wonder," said Amos Hiltze, as she slipped into her
+place behind the wheel, and he took his seat at her side.
+
+"You do not know how happy I am," she cried, turning the car toward the
+country. "You--do get so awfully fond of a girl like Marie, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Is she very sick?"
+
+"Not very. She will be better when she sees you."
+
+"Why did she really leave me?"
+
+"Oh, she was afraid the Secret Service would locate her, and it would get
+you into trouble."
+
+"I might have known it was her duty. Wait till I get my hands on that
+girl. I'll tell her a few things about duty that will astonish her."
+
+Already they were wheeling rapidly through East San Diego, and when a
+motorcycle pulled up beside them, Eveley stopped with a gasp. Of course
+she had been speeding--a thousand miles an hour, probably, though it had
+seemed like crawling.
+
+"I am so sorry, Officer," she began quickly. "But I have to hurry. I have
+a little friend in the country who is sick and needs me."
+
+"Oh, is it you, Miss Ainsworth?" And the officer smiled. "I did not
+recognize you. That is all right. Your car is a Rolls, isn't it? We are
+looking for a man in a Rolls--but I can hardly hold you." He turned his
+pocket flash upon Amos Hiltze.
+
+"This is my friend, Mr. Hiltze," she explained. "I think you do not want
+him, either."
+
+"No, I think not. Yet our man is supposed to have come this way. If you
+see any men on foot, or any one in trouble, better not stop. We'll have a
+man out that way pretty soon."
+
+"Thank you," said Eveley. "Good night." And again they were on their way.
+
+"Poor Mr. Man in the Rolls," she said after a while. "I wonder what
+mischief he has been into."
+
+"I wonder."
+
+"I hope he gets away. Perhaps he is not so bad as they think, and may do
+better next time. Or maybe he had a reason."
+
+"I am sure of that," said Hiltze with some earnestness. "There is always
+a reason, I think."
+
+Through La Mesa, through El Cajon, they drove in silence as they had
+driven once before, when they went for Marie the first time. Only then
+Eveley had been quivering with anxiety and nervousness--and now it was
+only hope and joy. But was it only hope and joy? For she realized
+suddenly that her hands were gripping the wheel with nervous intensity,
+and that she was shivering.
+
+"Are you cold?"
+
+"I do not know," she faltered.
+
+He turned slightly in his seat, and reached for a rug.
+
+"A disorderly pile on the floor as usual," he said with a slight smile.
+"Don't your friends ever put the rugs back on the rack, Eveley?"
+
+"No, never," she replied, smiling, too, but gravely.
+
+He tucked the rug closely about her, but she still shivered, and a sense
+of dread was heavy upon her.
+
+When they came at last to the branch in the road, he looked carefully
+about in every direction, and then told her to drive quickly. Under his
+direction she took the car far back from the road in a sheltered place,
+and stopped the engine.
+
+"Please hurry, will you? I have not Angelo with me this time, and I am
+afraid."
+
+"Eveley, I must talk to you first. You know I love you, you must know it.
+You have tried to discourage me, but I will not take discouragement. I
+shall never go away without you."
+
+"Are you going away?"
+
+"Yes, to-night. Business takes me away. I am going to South America. I
+have money--lots of money, and we can start afresh and do well. But I can
+not go without you."
+
+"Mr. Hiltze, it is impossible. I do not love you. I told you that
+before."
+
+"But you will love me. If you come away with me, and take time, you can
+love me. I will be good to you, and not hurry you. You must let yourself
+go, and try."
+
+"But I do not wish to. Love should not be forced. It ought to come
+spontaneously of itself. And I love Nolan."
+
+"Damn Nolan! Oh, I don't mean that, but--Eveley, you will forget him.
+Just come with me, and give yourself time. Marie will go with us--"
+
+"Marie."
+
+"Yes, she has promised to go with us, to help make you happy."
+
+"Then she is not sick?"
+
+"No, not sick."
+
+"You only brought me here to--"
+
+"Yes, Eveley. I am sorry, but I had to. We are going out by aeroplane
+to-night, and there is a fishing fleet at sea waiting to pick us up. I
+hated to trick you, but it was my love that forced it. I can not give you
+up. I will not. Did you think I was a fool to be with you, and know your
+loving lovely ways, and--and--"
+
+Suddenly he crushed her in his arms, and for a moment she was helpless.
+Then he released her.
+
+"Your bag is here--yes, in the back of the car."
+
+"My bag?"
+
+"Yes, I took Marie to the Cote this afternoon and she packed it for
+you--things necessary until you can shop again."
+
+"Marie did that?"
+
+"Oh, I told her to. I told her you wished it. Oh, yes, I lied, but I
+would do worse than that for you, yes, I would kill for you. Now be
+reasonable, Eveley, and come with us nicely. You shall have all the time
+you wish. I know you will love me."
+
+"Love you. Love you after this! I hate you, I despise you. Do not say you
+love me."
+
+"Eveley, be quiet, this will do no possible good."
+
+"Then it was you they were looking for, in the car? You are a common
+criminal."
+
+"Not a criminal, no," he cried furiously. "Yes, they wanted me, of
+course. You should have known there was a reason why a man like myself
+should live as I have done here. But we are not criminals--we are advance
+agents of freedom."
+
+"Anarchists," she interrupted, in a cutting voice.
+
+"Some time there must be justice and equality in the world--"
+
+"And you have got rich by preaching lawlessness."
+
+"Eveley, do not talk like that. I--I lose my head--and I do not wish to
+frighten you. Sit quietly, and let me tell you. Peace can come only
+through warfare--and out of the death throes of an old world, a new world
+of peace will--"
+
+"You are traitors."
+
+"Eveley, you know I was in the service, but there must be a union of the
+free men of the world against oppression--"
+
+"Do not make stump speeches to me. I will not stand for it. Justice and
+freedom will come to the world, but not through lying and trickery and
+bloodshed. Justice must come through sympathy and love and comradeship."
+
+"It did not get you far with Marie, though, did it?"
+
+"Marie."
+
+"Certainly. That was my interest in her. Marie was working with us, doing
+what she could for us, for what we could do for her in Mexico. She is a
+regular traitor if you like, putting things over in great style, on you
+and Nolan and Ames--the whole bunch of you. She is a slick little devil.
+But I fell--because I loved you."
+
+Sudden illumination came to Eveley. "Then that is why she left me. When
+she learned to love me, she would not profane our friendship. That is why
+she left."
+
+"She left because the cops were getting wise, and she had to get out in a
+hurry or get pinched."
+
+"And she is going with you--"
+
+"Sure. She will be the idol of the revolutionists for what she has
+done--they will carry her about on a tin platter."
+
+"You will let me go now, Mr. Hiltze, please. But tell Marie that I
+understand everything, and when she wishes to come back to me, the Cote
+is open. It was only a mistaken loyalty to a wrong principle. Please go,
+I want to hurry home."
+
+He laughed a little. "Eveley, you are going to South America with me."
+
+In a sudden panic she turned, flinging open the door of the car, hoping
+to rush away into the darkness, but his arm held her.
+
+"You will love me. I may not care for your Americanization, but I love
+you. I am going to be good to you. Don't be a fool, Eveley, it will do
+you no good. You've got to go."
+
+Struggling was in vain, as Eveley realized at once, and she subsided
+quickly, trying to think. The thing was impossible. It could not be. Such
+things did not happen any more--not in real life in the United States. It
+was cruel, preposterous, unbelievable.
+
+"Please let me go," she pleaded. "I shall not try to report you, you can
+get away without trouble. But let me go home, please. I could never
+change toward you--I am not the kind that changes."
+
+"I shall have to tie you for a few minutes. I am sorry, but I do not wish
+you to go to the shack. I have wasted a lot of time trying to reason with
+you. Put out your hands--yes yes, that way, and let me tie them to the
+wheel. I hate to do this--there is no use for you to yell, Eveley, for no
+one can hear, so I shall not gag you. Let me wrap the blanket about you;
+it is very cold. Sit still, dear, and do not shake it off. I love you
+very much. We are going to start the world afresh with a clean slate, and
+leave the past behind. The future shall be of your choosing, only it must
+be with me."
+
+Then he went away, and Eveley began a valiant tugging on the straps that
+bound her.
+
+"Wait a minute, Eveley, I'll cut them," came a friendly whisper, and
+Eveley with a cry turned to look into Angelo's face.
+
+"Sure, I come along," he said. "I saw him up at the house, and when he
+came down for you, I followed his taxi on my bike. And when he went in to
+get you, I got into the back under the rugs. Lucky he only took one rug
+for you, or he'd got hold of my legs. Gee, he uses good straps."
+
+All this, while Angelo was sawing on the straps with his rusty knife, and
+almost before he finished talking, Eveley was free.
+
+Like a flash she was starting the engine.
+
+"Suppose you get out and hide a while, and let me scout around," he said.
+"I hate to leave a decent sort like your Marie with those cutthroats.
+Maybe I can get hold of her."
+
+"Yes, do try. I'll hide among the bushes for fear they come while you are
+gone. Be careful, Angelo. We are going to need you."
+
+Eveley waited what seemed an endless length of time, crouching almost
+breathless under the shrubs. But finally she heard light running steps,
+and in a moment Marie was in her arms.
+
+"Oh, my poor child, they told me you wanted to go. And did they tie
+you--the cruel straps? You are free now, and you will go back to your
+Cote and be happy. But do not forget your poor Marie. And never play with
+fire again, sweet; in the end it always burns. American women never know
+what a tempest love can be. Now, kiss Marie, and say your forgive her,
+and then go quickly."
+
+"Marie, come with me," begged Eveley, clinging to her. "You must not go
+with them. They are treacherous, selling their honor for money. Do not
+trust them. Come with me. Nolan and I will take care of you, and Nolan
+will straighten out your tangles with the law. And Jimmy is wild for you,
+raging all over town trying to find you. Please, dear, let all the ugly
+past lie dead, and live a new life with us here. Oh, I can not let you
+go."
+
+"For them I care nothing," Marie cried, with a smart snap of her fingers.
+"They are dogs. They only help us for money, and they wish only to
+embroil the world in war. It is no love for us--but they are cheap--we
+buy them. When the time comes, we tramp them under our feet. Eveley, if
+you wish me, I will come."
+
+Then in a moment they were away, the car swinging dizzily down the steep
+grade rocking from side to side.
+
+"How did you get Marie, Angelo--you angel?" asked Eveley, after a while.
+
+"They were all running around moving things, and Marie was helping. So I
+pitched in and helped too. When I walked by Marie she understood and
+came. And they did not notice. There isn't much difference between a Wop
+and a Greaser."
+
+"And you will never leave me again, Marie?"
+
+"I am all through with hatred and strife, now. I want only a home, where
+I can be happy, and live as you and I have lived. That is the only
+Americanization. Talk is nothing. Social service is a game. But when one
+makes living so fine that every one in the world wants to live that
+way--then it is Americanization. I am satisfied now."
+
+"Say, you'd better cut the talk and watch the road," said Angelo
+suddenly. "You've been half over the grade a dozen times."
+
+"Yes, I will," promised Eveley. "But I must hurry. They will follow
+us--will they follow us, Marie?"
+
+"Oh, surely, when they miss us. They have motorcycles. Listen. Hear them
+far back? Of course they would follow."
+
+"Sit tight, Marie, and do not worry. I know this road all right."
+
+"They are gaining on us, dear. Can you do better?"
+
+But Eveley was afraid to go faster on those sharp curves, though she
+strained her eyes to see the road before them.
+
+"We are nearly to Flynn Springs," she said. "We must be. We can stop
+there."
+
+"They will soon be up with us," said Angelo, looking back.
+
+"We must leave the car, and hide in the woods," said Marie.
+
+"Oh, I am afraid to leave the car."
+
+"The woods will not hurt us. It is only men who harm. Come, we must. If
+they catch us, we are lost. Pull out here to the left, and turn off the
+lights. They may pass us in the darkness. Take the key with you. And
+hurry."
+
+Acting upon this plan, they were soon slipping over the small stones and
+pebbles down a shallow gully and up among the rocks and shrubs of a
+little cliff.
+
+Already the tremendous roar of the motorcycles was close upon them.
+
+"Quick, Eveley, behind this bush.--Lie down flat. Yes, all right, Angelo.
+Sh, quiet now."
+
+[Illustration: "Please let me go," she pleaded.]
+
+At that instant the motorcycles whirled past--a sudden call from the
+familiar voice of Amos Hiltze, and with a great tearing and crashing of
+brakes, the cycles stopped and the men ran back to the car.
+
+"It is her car," cried Amos Hiltze. "They have deserted it. They must be
+very close, we shall find them quickly. You go--"
+
+"We can not find them," said a new authoritative voice. "The cops may be
+here any moment. We've got to get away to-night, or it is everlastingly
+too late. You have lost the girl--lost them both. Now make the best of
+it."
+
+And one motorcycle was started again.
+
+"I'll slash their tires for luck," said Amos Hiltze. "And we can send a
+couple of men to look for them. Then we can send back for them later on
+if they find them."
+
+Eveley ground her teeth at the ripping of the tires, for the rubber is to
+a motorist as a baby to a loving mother. But in a moment came the sputter
+and roar of the motors, and the men had gone again back the road they had
+come.
+
+"We'll just have to crawl into Flynn Springs on the rims, and phone for
+Nolan. It can not be far."
+
+But even that was impossible, for with devilish foresight, Amos Hiltze
+had taken the timer from the carburetor, and the little Rolls was
+powerless.
+
+"We'll walk then," said Eveley bravely, and hand in hand, the three of
+them set out on the rocky winding road to Flynn Springs.
+
+"Nolan will not waste any time coming for us," said Eveley confidently.
+
+"And perhaps Lieutenant Ames is in town and can come also," suggested
+Marie softly.
+
+Some time later, wearily, weakly, they limped into Flynn Springs, and
+Eveley hurriedly put in her call.
+
+"Nolan? It is Eveley. I am at Flynn Springs. You must come for me, and
+bring Jimmy Ames. Yes, Marie is with me, and Angelo.--Yes, we are all
+right. And have a man from the garage with extra tires and a timer for
+the carburetor. No, we do not need the police. No guns either. Nolan,
+your voice is sweeter than any angel's."
+
+Then they went into a small room where there was a bed, and Eveley took
+off her ruined pumps, and bathed her burning feet, and they fixed their
+hair, and had hot coffee, always looking at each other with tender eyes.
+
+"Will you never go back on me again, little sister?"
+
+And Marie kissed her in answer.
+
+So they waited patiently for the men breaking all known speed laws to
+come to them, and the time did not seem long, for they lay on the bed
+together, each with an arm across the other's shoulder. And in the small
+dark hallway outside, Angelo sat before their door, his arms clasped
+around his knees, his head sunk upon his breast, sound asleep. But even
+in his sleep keeping guard over his Americanizer and the "little
+Greaser."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+HER ONE EXCEPTION
+
+
+All evening Kitty had been trying to get Nolan by telephone, always being
+told that he was not at the hotel and had gone to the office, and then
+hearing that the office line was busy. It was after eight when she
+finally got him on the wire.
+
+"Nolan, whoever have you been talking to? If it was anybody else besides
+Eveley, I am going to tell. I have been trying to get you all evening. I
+want you to come over here immediately. Something terrible is about to
+happen, and you must stop it."
+
+Nolan hesitated. "I am to be at Eveley's at nine, but if you promise to
+talk fast I will come."
+
+Receiving her fervent assurance, he immediately closed his desk, and in
+ten minutes Kitty was drawing him feverishly into her favorite corner of
+the living-room.
+
+"Nolan, you could never guess what is going on."
+
+"No," he admitted, with a reminiscent smile. "So many odd things have
+been going on lately that I confess my inability as a guesser."
+
+"Listen to this. Eveley's sister has fallen in love with some crazy
+aviator, and is going to elope with him. And she wants Burton to get a
+divorce so she can marry him."
+
+Nolan was plainly dumfounded at this revelation.
+
+"And that is not the worst. She is going to desert those two children,
+and Eveley--You know Eve. She says she will be the willing sacrifice to
+save the honor of the family, and has decided to marry Burton herself, to
+be a mother to Winifred's children."
+
+"Preposterous!" gasped Nolan, looking into her flushed face for symptoms
+of delirium.
+
+"True," came the grim answer. "But we must never allow such a
+bloodcurdling thing to happen. It wouldn't be right. I want you to go
+right over to Eveley's as fast as you can, and make her marry you. You
+can pretend you do not know anything about this, and sweep her right off
+her feet. Get her promise before she knows what is going on, and marry
+her before she realizes it. Then perhaps Winifred will come to her senses
+and not do this outrageous thing."
+
+"But, Kitty--"
+
+"You love Eveley, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, of course, but--"
+
+"Then do you call yourself a man, and yet stand idly by and see the woman
+you love sacrifice her life for her sister's honor--and--er babies--and--"
+
+"And husband," he said gloomily. "I could stand the honor and the babies,
+but I object to the husband."
+
+"Of course you do. I have my car here, and I will take you right over to
+Eveley's and you can settle it immediately."
+
+"I do not believe I could propose before you, Kitty," he objected shyly.
+"I could not think of the words."
+
+"I shall wait in the car until it is over. Then I shall come sauntering
+up later on and wish you joy, etc., and Eveley need not know I had a
+thing to do with it. Just you get her promise, and I shall be witness for
+you. If she tries to back out we shall sue her for breach of promise."
+
+"All right," he decided suddenly. "We certainly can not submit to any
+such nonsense as this. Let's go."
+
+All the way to the Cloud Cote they kept up hearty agreement that the idea
+was utterly wild and preposterous, and that Nolan should never stand for
+it. As she stopped the car, two doors down where Eveley could not see
+from her window, Kitty said:
+
+"Arnold and I want to take a honeymoon trip to Yosemite after we are
+married, and we want you and Eveley to get married in time to go along.
+It is so much more fun when everybody's married."
+
+"Now, you fix it up with Eveley, and when you are through pull back the
+shade in the living-room, and I'll take it for a sign and come up to make
+my call."
+
+So Nolan went up the rustic steps to Eveley, and Kitty settled down in a
+corner of the car. For thirty minutes she chuckled gleefully to herself,
+but after half an hour she began to feel that he was decidedly slow.
+
+"I could be engaged to a dozen people in that time," she thought
+impatiently, "Oh, the poky thing. But I suppose they are waxing
+demonstrative, and he has forgotten me."
+
+She toyed restlessly with the keys and screws on the car, still watching
+the black window in the Cloud Cote with only the faint gleam of light
+from behind.
+
+"An hour," she cried at last furiously. "If that isn't the limit! I have
+a notion to go right home, and let him settle it as best he can--but I do
+want to see how Eveley takes it. Oh, well, I shall give him fifteen
+minutes more, and then if he has not signaled I'll go up and see for
+myself."
+
+So she waited another uneasy quarter of an hour, and then banged stormily
+out of the car and up the rustic steps. Her sharp tap brought a sudden
+scurry and scramble from within, but Kitty did not wait for a summons.
+She drew back the portières and climbed in, uninvited.
+
+Eveley was standing flushed and brilliant in the center of the room,
+trying to tuck up badly straying curls, and Nolan was adjusting himself
+to the davenport with an air of studied ease.
+
+"Well, Kitty," cried Eveley nervously. "Why didn't you phone you were
+coming over?"
+
+"You do not seem any too glad to see me," said Kitty rather peevishly,
+and then at their flushed and shining faces, she laughed. "My, how happy
+you look! Just like newlyweds--or something."
+
+"Yes--something," said Eveley. She flashed a questioning look at Nolan,
+and received a reassuring nod. "Nolan and I are engaged, Kitty."
+
+"Really," cried Kitty. "After all these years. How surprising." She put
+her arms around Eveley lovingly. "When did all this happen?"
+
+"Last night, coming down from Flynn Springs," said Eveley. "We--we had a
+whole car full of it."
+
+"Last night!" Kitty quickly disengaged herself from Eveley's arm and
+looked sharply at Nolan, smiling in great contentment on the davenport.
+"Last night?"
+
+"Yes, last night. It was an awfully big night all around, wasn't it,
+Nolan?"
+
+"It was for me," he said, coming over and taking Eveley's hand in his.
+
+"Last night," Kitty repeated again, glaring intently at Nolan.
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Then you knew I was lying all the time."
+
+"Well, since Eveley and I had luncheon with Winifred and Burton to-day to
+announce our engagement,--yes, I may say that I was fairly well assured
+you were lying. They seemed on their usual tender terms at noon."
+
+"What are you two talking about?" wondered Eveley.
+
+Kitty drew her small hat over her ears with a vicious tug.
+
+"But we shall be glad to motor to Yosemite with you and Arnold this
+summer," Nolan went on pacifically, "we think it will be great sport. We
+asked Marie and Jimmy Ames to go along. They are going to be married
+to-morrow. They are in Marie's room now, so go in and congratulate them
+if you like. But do not bring them out here, because we are a crowd
+already."
+
+"I am going home, anyhow, if you mean me," she said pettishly. She looked
+at Eveley. "I suppose you think it is very clever for you to be engaged
+to Nolan twenty-four hours without notifying me, after all the trouble I
+have taken in the last five years to bring it about. And as for you,
+Nolan, I think you have a lot of courage to marry a woman who openly and
+notoriously refuses to do her duty in any shape, size or form. I call it
+a pretty big risk, myself." She clambered crossly through the window.
+"Congratulations," she called back snappily. And again, from half-way
+down the stairs: "And we shall hold you to the Yosemite bargain, too."
+
+Then Nolan took Eveley in his arms again and kissed her. "It may be
+pretty risky," he said tenderly. "A wife who steels her heart against her
+duty--"
+
+Eveley smiled into his eyes. "Don't worry. The One Exception will save
+you. I still claim that duty isn't the biggest thing in the world. And
+hasn't my theory held good? Patriotic duty could not Americanize Angelo
+nor Marie, nor anybody else. And filial duty could not make the Severs
+live happily with the Father-in-law. And domestic duty could not bring
+Miriam and Lem Landis into harmony. But there was something else big
+enough to work all the miracles, and it was the Big Exception."
+
+"Yes, tell me, Eveley--the Big Exception that is Everybody's Duty--what
+is it?"
+
+"Well," she said, snuggling a little closer into his arms, "I believe it
+is everybody's duty to love somebody else with all his heart and mind and
+soul and body. And that is what has worked all the transformations for
+our friends. And it will protect you, Nolan--for I do."
+
+Nolan kissed her again. "Then it is no risk at all," he whispered,
+laughing tenderly. "Don't try to do your duty by me--just go on loving me
+like this."
+
+THE END
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+                      FLORENCE L. BARCLAY'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER
+
+A novel of the 12th Century. The heroine, believing she had lost her
+lover, enters a convent. He returns, and interesting developments follow.
+
+THE UPAS TREE
+
+A love story of rare charm. It deals with a successful author and his
+wife.
+
+THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE
+
+The story of a seven day courtship, in which the discrepancy in ages
+vanished into insignificance before the convincing demonstration of
+abiding love.
+
+THE ROSARY
+
+The story of a young artist who is reputed to love beauty above all else
+in the world, but who, when blinded through an accident, gains life's
+greatest happiness. A rare story of the great passion of two real people
+superbly capable of love, its sacrifices and its exceeding reward.
+
+THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE
+
+The lovely young Lady Ingleby, recently widowed by the death of a husband
+who never understood her, meets a fine, clean young chap who is ignorant
+of her title and they fall deeply in love with each other. When he learns
+her real identity a situation of singular power is developed.
+
+THE BROKEN HALO
+
+The story of a young man whose religious belief was shattered in
+childhood and restored to him by the little white lady, many years older
+than himself, to whom he is passionately devoted.
+
+THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR
+
+The story of a young missionary, who, about to start for Africa, marries
+wealthy Diana Rivers, in order to help her fulfill the conditions of her
+uncle's will, and how they finally come to love each other and are
+reunited after experiences that soften and purify.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                         ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE LAMP IN THE DESERT
+
+The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the lamp
+of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations to
+final happiness.
+
+GREATHEART
+
+The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul.
+
+THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE
+
+A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth chance."
+
+THE SWINDLER
+
+The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith.
+
+THE TIDAL WAVE
+
+Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the false.
+
+THE SAFETY CURTAIN
+
+A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other
+long stories of equal interest.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                       ELEANOR H. PORTER'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+JUST DAVID
+
+The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the hearts
+of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left.
+
+THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING
+
+A compelling romance of love and marriage.
+
+OH, MONEY! MONEY!
+
+Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his
+relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as plain John
+Smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment.
+
+SIX STAR RANCH
+
+A wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on Six Star
+Ranch.
+
+DAWN
+
+The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of
+despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the service
+of blind soldiers.
+
+ACROSS THE YEARS
+
+Short stories of our own kind and of our own people. Contains some of the
+best writing Mrs. Porter has done.
+
+THE TANGLED THREADS
+
+In these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of all her
+other books.
+
+THE TIE THAT BINDS
+
+Intensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter's wonderful talent for warm
+and vivid character drawing.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                THE NOVELS OF GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE BEST MAN
+
+Through a strange series of adventures a young man finds himself
+propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a strange girl.
+
+A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
+
+On her way West the heroine steps off by mistake at a lonely watertank
+into a maze of thrilling events.
+
+THE ENCHANTED BARN
+
+Every member of the family will enjoy this spirited chronicle of a young
+girl's resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of the "enchanted" barn.
+
+THE WITNESS
+
+The fascinating story of the enormous change an incident wrought in a
+man's life.
+
+MARCIA SCHUYLER
+
+A picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of full skirts and poke
+bonnets.
+
+LO, MICHAEL!
+
+A story of unfailing appeal to all who love and understand boys.
+
+THE MAN OF THE DESERT
+
+An intensely moving love story of a man of the desert and a girl of the
+East pictured against the background of the Far West.
+
+PHOEBE DEANE
+
+A tense and charming love story, told with a grace and a fervor with
+which only Mrs. Lutz could tell it.
+
+DAWN OF THE MORNING
+
+A romance of the last century with all of its old-fashioned charm. A
+companion volume to "Marcia Schuyler" and "Phoebe Deane."
+
+   Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+              JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE RIVER'S END
+
+A story of the Royal Mounted Police.
+
+THE GOLDEN SNARE
+
+Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland.
+
+NOMADS OF THE NORTH
+
+The story of a bear-cub and a dog.
+
+KAZAN
+
+The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn between
+the call of the human and his wild mate.
+
+BAREE, SON OF KAZAN
+
+The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he
+played in the lives of a man and a woman.
+
+THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM
+
+The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his battle
+with Captain Plum.
+
+THE DANGER TRAIL
+
+A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North.
+
+THE HUNTED WOMAN
+
+A tale of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman.
+
+THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH
+
+The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is
+blended with the courtly atmosphere of France.
+
+THE GRIZZLY KING
+
+The story of Thor, the big grizzly.
+
+ISOBEL
+
+A love story of the Far North.
+
+THE WOLF HUNTERS
+
+A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness.
+
+THE GOLD HUNTERS
+
+The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds.
+
+THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE
+
+Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women.
+
+BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
+
+A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made from
+this book.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                        KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street.
+
+The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful story
+of sisterly devotion and sacrifice.
+
+POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs.
+
+A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" and
+"The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures.
+
+JOSSELYN'S Wife. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.
+
+The story of a beautiful women who fought a bitter fight for happiness
+and love.
+
+MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles K. Chambers.
+
+The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions.
+
+THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers.
+
+An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a second
+marriage.
+
+THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.
+
+A sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure and
+lonely, for the happiness of life.
+
+SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes.
+
+Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through sheer
+determination to the better things for which her soul hungered?
+
+MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.
+
+A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of every
+girl's life, and some dreams which came true.
+
+   Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                       BOOTH TARKINGTON'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+SEVENTEEN. Illustrated by Arthur William Brown.
+
+No one but the creator of Penrod could have portrayed the immortal young
+people of this story. Its humor is irresistible and reminiscent of the
+time when the reader was Seventeen.
+
+PENROD. Illustrated by Gordon Grant.
+
+This is a picture of a boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, tragic
+things which are locked secrets to most older folks. It is a finished,
+exquisite work.
+
+PENROD AND SAM. Illustrated by Worth Brehm.
+
+Like "Penrod" and "Seventeen," this book contains some remarkable phases
+of real boyhood and some of the best stories of juvenile prankishness
+that have ever been written.
+
+THE TURMOIL. Illustrated by G. E. Chambers.
+
+Bibbs Sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against his
+father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. The love of a
+fine girl turns Bibb's life from failure to success.
+
+THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. Frontispiece.
+
+A story of love and politics,--more especially a picture of a country
+editor's life in Indiana, but the charm of the book lies in the love
+interest.
+
+THE FLIRT. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood.
+
+The "Flirt," the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's engagement,
+drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of another, leads another to
+lose his fortune, and in the end marries a stupid and unpromising suitor,
+leaving the really worthy one to marry her sister.
+
+   Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                  THE NOVELS OF MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+DANGEROUS DAYS.
+
+A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and stirring
+appeal.
+
+THE AMAZING INTERLUDE. Illustrations by The Kinneys.
+
+The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an interlude--amazing,
+romantic.
+
+LOVE STORIES.
+
+This book is exactly what Its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.
+
+"K." Illustrated.
+
+K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where beautiful
+Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. The joys and
+troubles of their young love are told with keen and sympathetic
+appreciation.
+
+THE MAN IN LOWER TEN. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
+
+An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of the
+"Man in Lower Ten."
+
+WHEN A MAN MARRIES. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.
+
+A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his aunt
+is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family income,
+knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man met the
+situation is entertainingly told.
+
+THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.
+
+The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong on
+the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is announced.
+Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing interest.
+
+THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)
+
+Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious
+doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with world-worn
+Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and slender means.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                           ZANE GREY'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE MAN OF THE FOREST
+THE DESERT OF WHEAT
+THE U. P. TRAIL
+WILDFIRE
+THE BORDER LEGION
+THE RAIBOW TRAIL
+THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT
+RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
+THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS
+THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN
+THE LONE STAR RANGER
+DESERT GOLD
+BETTY ZANE
+
+LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS
+
+The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, with
+Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.
+
+                       ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE
+THE YOUNG LION HUNTER
+THE YOUNG FORESTER
+THE YOUNG PITCHER
+THE SHORT STOP
+THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+             STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+MICHAEL O'HALLORAN. Illustrated by Frances Rogers.
+
+Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern
+Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also assumes the
+responsibility of leading the entire rural community upward and onward.
+
+LADDIE. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer.
+
+This is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The story
+is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large family, but it
+is concerned not so much with childish doings as with the love affairs of
+older members of the family. Chief among them is that of Laddie and the
+Princess, an English girl who has come to live in the neighborhood and
+about whose family there hangs a mystery.
+
+THE HARVESTER. Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs.
+
+"The Harvester," is a man of the woods and fields, and if the book had
+nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would be notable.
+But when the Girl comes to his "Medicine Woods," there begins a romance
+of the rarest idyllic quality.
+
+FRECKLES. Illustrated.
+
+Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which he
+takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great
+Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs to
+the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with "The
+Angel" are full of real sentiment.
+
+A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. Illustrated.
+
+The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type of
+the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and kindness
+towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the sheer beauty of
+her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and
+unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage.
+
+AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. Illustrations in colors.
+
+The scene of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana. The
+story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing love. The
+novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and its
+pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all.
+
+THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL. Profusely illustrated.
+
+A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy and
+humor.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVE TO THE RESCUE***
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+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Eve to the Rescue, by Ethel Hueston</title>
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Eve to the Rescue, by Ethel Hueston,
+Illustrated by Dudley Gloyme Summers</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Eve to the Rescue</p>
+<p>Author: Ethel Hueston</p>
+<p>Release Date: June 24, 2008  [eBook #25892]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVE TO THE RESCUE***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Roger Frank<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+&#8220;You get nicer every day of your life.&#8221;
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class="centerbox bbox">
+
+<p style="font-size:2.2em; margin-bottom:1.5em;">Eve to the Rescue</p>
+<p style="font-size:0.8em; margin:0 auto 1em auto;">BY</p>
+<p style="font-size:1.4em; margin:0 auto 2em auto;">ETHEL HUESTON</p>
+<p style="font-size:0.8em;">AUTHOR OF</p>
+<p style="font-size:0.8em; margin:0 auto 2em auto;">PRUDENCE OF THE PARSONAGE,<br />PRUDENCE SAYS SO,<br />LEAVE IT TO DORIS, <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Etc.</span></p>
+<p style="font-size:0.8em; margin:0 auto 1em auto;">ILLUSTRATED BY</p>
+<p style="font-size:1em; margin:0 auto 2.5em auto;">DUDLEY GLOYME SUMMERS</p>
+<div class='figcenter'><img src='images/illus-emb.png' alt="" /> </div>
+
+<table summary='publisher'>
+<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size:1.3em; letter-spacing:0.11em;">GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align='left' style="font-size:0.8em;">PUBLISHERS</td>
+<td align='right' style="font-size:0.8em;">NEW YORK</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p style='text-align:center; font-size:0.8em;'>Made in the United States of America</p>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Copyright 1920</span></p>
+<p style=' margin-bottom:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Bobbs-Merrill Company</span></p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='text-align: center;'>To Carol</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>Who came to us in the form of Duty,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>but who has brought us only Pleasure</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</p>
+</div>
+
+<table border='0' width='400' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small;'>CHAPTER</span></td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small;'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>I&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>In Defiance of Duty</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#I_IN_DEFIANCE_OF_DUTY'>11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>II&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Cote in the Clouds</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#II_THE_COTE_IN_THE_CLOUDS'>21</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>III&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Everybody&#8217;s Duty</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#III_EVERYBODY_S_DUTY'>30</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>IV&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Irish-American League</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IV_THE_IRISHAMERICAN_LEAGUE'>40</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>V&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Her Inheritance</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#V_HER_INHERITANCE'>59</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>VI&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Wrong Adjustment</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VI_A_WRONG_ADJUSTMENT'>84</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>VII&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Painful Duty</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VII_PAINFUL_DUTY'>98</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>VIII&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>She Meets a Demonstrator</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VIII_SHE_MEETS_A_DEMONSTRATOR'>112</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>IX&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Admitting Defeat</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IX_ADMITTING_DEFEAT'>124</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>X&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Original Fixer</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#X_THE_ORIGINAL_FIXER'>137</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XI&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Germ Of Duty</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XI_THE_GERM_OF_DUTY'>156</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XII&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Revolt Of The Seventh Step</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XII_THE_REVOLT_OF_THE_SEVENTH_STEP'>175</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XIII&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>She Finds A Foreigner</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIII_SHE_FINDS_A_FOREIGNER'>195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XIV&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>New Light On Loyalty</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIV_NEW_LIGHT_ON_LOYALTY'>214</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XV&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Service Of Joy</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XV_SERVICE_OF_JOY'>226</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XVI&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Marie Encounters The Secret Service</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVI_MARIE_ENCOUNTERS_THE_SECRET_SERVICE'>248</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XVII&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Spontaneous Combustion</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVII_SPONTANEOUS_COMBUSTION'>266</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XVIII&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Converts Of Love</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVIII_CONVERTS_OF_LOVE'>282</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XIX&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>She Doubts Her Theory</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIX_SHE_DOUBTS_HER_THEORY'>301</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XX&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>She Proves Her Principle</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XX_SHE_PROVES_HER_PRINCIPLE'>312</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right'>XXI&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Her One Exception</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXI_HER_ONE_EXCEPTION'>332</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.6em;'>EVE TO THE RESCUE</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span></div>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>EVE TO THE RESCUE</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 0em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='I_IN_DEFIANCE_OF_DUTY' id='I_IN_DEFIANCE_OF_DUTY'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<h3>IN DEFIANCE OF DUTY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>&#8220;To-morrow being Saturday afternoon,&#8221;
+began Eveley, deftly slipping a
+dish of sweet pickles beyond the reach of the
+covetous fat fingers of little niece Nathalie,&mdash;&#8220;to-morrow
+being Saturday afternoon&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Doesn&#8217;t to-morrow start at sunrise as
+usual?&#8221; queried her brother-in-law curiously.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;As every laborer knows,&#8221; said Eveley
+firmly, &#8220;Saturday begins with the afternoon
+off. And I am a laborer. Therefore, to-morrow
+being Saturday-afternoon-off, and since
+I have trespassed on your hospitality for a
+period of two months, it behooves me to find
+me a home and settle down.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley,&#8221; protested her sister in a soft
+troubled voice, &#8220;don&#8217;t be disagreeable. You
+talk as if we were strangers. Aren&#8217;t we the
+only folks you have? And aren&#8217;t you my own
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span>
+and only baby sister? If you can&#8217;t live with
+us, where can you live?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;As it says in the Bible,&#8221; explained Eveley,
+truthfully if unscripturally, &#8220;no two families
+are small enough for one house.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But who calls you a family?&#8221; interrupted
+the brother-in-law.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do. And nice and sweet as you all are,
+and adorable as I am well aware am I, all of
+you and all of me can not be confined to one
+house.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But we have counted on it,&#8221; persisted
+Winifred earnestly. &#8220;We have looked forward
+to it. We have always said that you
+would come to us when Aunt Eloise died,&mdash;and
+she did&mdash;and you must. We&mdash;we expect
+it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;England expects every man to do his
+duty,&#8217;&#8221; quoted Burton in a sepulchral voice.
+</p>
+<p>Then Eveley rose in her place, tall and
+formidable. &#8220;That is it,&mdash;duty. Then let me
+announce right now, once and for all, Burton
+Raines and Winifred, eternally and everlastingly,
+I do not believe in duty. No one shall
+do his duty by me. I publicly protest against
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+it. I won&#8217;t have it. I have had my sneaking
+suspicions of duty for a long time, and lately
+I have been utterly convinced of the folly and
+the sin of it. Whenever any one has anything
+hateful or disagreeable to do, he draws a long
+voice and says it is his duty. It seems that
+every mean thing in the world is somebody&#8217;s
+duty. Duty has been the curse of civilization
+for lo, these many years!&#8221; Then she sat
+down. &#8220;Please pass the jam.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, all right, all right,&#8221; said Burton
+amiably, &#8220;have it your own way, by all
+means. Henceforth and forever after, we positively
+decline to do our duty by you. But
+what is our duty to you? Answer me that,
+and then I guarantee not to do it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is our duty to keep Eveley right here
+with us and take care of her,&#8221; said Winifred,
+with as much firmness as her soft voice
+could master. &#8220;She is ours, and we are hers,
+and it is our duty to stand between her and
+a hard world.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t. In the first place I am awfully
+stuck on the world, and want to get real
+chummy with it. Any one who tries to stand
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span>
+between it and me, shall be fired out bodily,
+head first.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley,&#8221; came a sudden wail from
+Winifred, &#8220;you can&#8217;t go off and live by yourself.
+What will people think? They will say
+we could not get along together.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is it,&mdash;just that and nothing more.
+It isn&#8217;t duty that bothers you&mdash;it is What-will-people-think?
+An exploded theory, nothing
+more.&#8221; Then she smiled at her sister
+winsomely. &#8220;You positively are the sweetest
+thing, Winnie. And your Burton I absolutely
+love. And your babies are the most irresistible
+angels that ever came to bless and&mdash;enliven&mdash;a
+sordid world. But you are a family
+by yourselves. You are used to doing what
+you want, and when you want, and how you
+want. I would be an awful nuisance. When
+Burton would incline to a quiet evening, I
+should have a party. When you and he would
+like to slip off to a movie, you would have to
+be polite and invite me. Nobody could be
+crazier about nieces and nephews than I am,
+but sometimes if I were tired from my work
+their chatter might make me peevish. And
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+you would punish them when I thought you
+shouldn&#8217;t, and wouldn&#8217;t do it when I thought
+you should, and think of the arguments
+there would be. And so we all agree, don&#8217;t
+we, that it would be more fun for me to move
+off by myself and then come to see you and
+be company,&mdash;rather than stick around under
+your feet until you grow deadly tired of me?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not agree,&#8221; said Winifred.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do,&#8221; said Burton.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then we are a majority, and it is all
+settled.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But where in the world will you live,
+dear? You could not stand a boarding-house.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I could if I had to, but I don&#8217;t have to. I
+have been favored with an inspiration. I can&#8217;t
+imagine how it ever happened, but perhaps
+it was a special dispensation to save you from
+me. I am going to live in my own house on
+Thorn Street. Of course it will be lonely
+there at first, since Aunt Eloise is gone&mdash;but
+just listen to this. I shall rent the down-stairs
+part to a small family and I shall live
+up-stairs. Part of the furniture I am going
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
+to sell, use what I want to furnish my dove
+cote in the clouds, and the rest that is too
+nice to sell but can&#8217;t be used I shall store in
+the east bedroom, which I won&#8217;t use. That
+will leave me three rooms and a bath&mdash;bedroom,
+sitting-room and dining-room. I can
+fix up a corner of the dining-room into a kitchen
+with my electric percolator and grills
+and things. Isn&#8217;t it a glorious idea? And
+aren&#8217;t you surprised that I thought of anything
+so clever by myself?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not half bad,&#8221; said Burton approvingly,&mdash;for
+Burton had long since learned that the
+pleasantest way of keeping friends with in-laws
+is by perpetual approval.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you can never find a small family to
+take the down-stairs part of the house,&#8221;
+came pessimistically from Winifred.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, but I have found it, and they are in
+the house already. A bride and groom. The
+cunningest things! She calls him Dody, and
+they hold hands. And I sold part of the furniture
+yesterday, and had the rest moved up-stairs.
+But there is one thing more.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought so,&#8221; said Burton grimly. &#8220;I
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
+remember the Saturday-afternoon-off. I
+thought perhaps you had me in mind for your
+furniture-heaver. But since that is done it is
+evident you have something far more deadly
+in store for me. Let me know the worst,
+quickly.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, you know, dearie,&#8221; said Eveley in
+most seductively sweet tones, &#8220;you know how
+the house is built. There is only one stairway,
+and it rises directly from the west room
+down-stairs. Unfortunately, my bride and
+groom wish to use that room for a bedroom.
+Now you can readily perceive that a young
+and unattached female could not in conscience&mdash;not
+even in my conscience&mdash;utilize a stairway
+emanating from the boudoir of a bridal
+party. And there you are!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am no carpenter,&#8221; Burton shouted quickly,
+when Eveley&#8217;s voice drifted away into an
+apologetic murmur. &#8220;Get that idea out of
+your head right away. I don&#8217;t know a nail
+from a hammer.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, Burtie, of course you don&#8217;t,&#8221; she said
+soothingly. &#8220;But this will be very simple.
+I thought of a rambling, rustic stairway outside
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+the house, in the back yard. You know
+the sun parlor was an afterthought, only one
+story high with a flat roof. So the rustic
+stairway could go up to the roof of the sun
+parlor, and I could make that up into a sort
+of roof garden. Wouldn&#8217;t it be picturesque
+and pretty?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But there is no door from your room to
+the roof of the sun parlor,&#8221; objected Burton.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, but the window is very wide. I will
+just cover it with portières and things, and I
+am quite active so I can get in and out very
+nicely. And when I get around to it, and have
+the money, I may have a French window
+put in.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Eveley, I can&#8217;t build a stairway. I
+don&#8217;t know how to build anything. I couldn&#8217;t
+build a box.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you do not have to do this alone,
+Burtie. Just the foundation, that is all I expect
+of you. You will have lots of assistance.
+Not experienced help perhaps, but enthusiastic,
+and &#8216;love goes in with every nail,&#8217;&mdash;that
+sort of thing. I have sent invitations
+to all of my friends of the masculine persuasion,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span>
+and we have started a competition.
+Each admirer is to build two steps according
+to his own design and plan, and the
+one who builds most artistically is to receive,
+not my hand and heart, but a lovely dinner
+cooked on my grill in my private dining-room.
+I have the list here. I figured that twelve
+steps will be enough. Nolan Inglish, two.
+Lieutenant Ames, two. Captain Hardin, two.
+Jimmy Weaver, two. Dick Fairwether, two.
+Arnold Bender, two. Arnold is Kitty&#8217;s beau,
+but she guaranteed two steps for him. Won&#8217;t
+it be lovely?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;To-morrow being Saturday afternoon,&#8221;
+said Burton bitterly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I ordered the rustic lumber last night, and
+it was delivered to-day.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you consider it my duty as the luckless
+husband of your long-suffering sister, to
+lay the foundation for the wabbly, rattly
+ramshackle stairs your pet assortment of
+moonstruck admirers will build for you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not your duty, Burtie, certainly not your
+duty. But your pleasure and your great joy.
+For without the stairway, I can not live there.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span>
+And if I do not live there, I must live here.
+And remember. When you want vaudeville,
+I will incline to grand opera. When you
+would enjoy a movie, I shall have a musicale
+here at home. When you are in the midst of
+a novel, I shall insist on a three-handed game
+of bridge. When you are ready to shave, I
+shall need the hot water. When your appetite
+calls for corned beef and cabbage, my
+soul shall require lettuce sandwiches and
+iced tea. Not your duty, dear, by any means.
+I do not believe in duty.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Quite right, sweet sister,&#8221; he said pleasantly.
+&#8220;It shall afford me infinite pleasure, I
+assure you. And to-morrow being Saturday
+afternoon, you shall have your stairway.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='II_THE_COTE_IN_THE_CLOUDS' id='II_THE_COTE_IN_THE_CLOUDS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h3>THE COTE IN THE CLOUDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>As Eveley had prophesied, what her
+carpenters lacked in experience and
+skill was more than compensated by their
+ambition and their eagerness to please. On
+Saturday afternoon her back yard was a
+veritable bee-hive of industry. The foundation
+was in readiness for the handiwork of
+love, for Burton Raines, feeling that he
+could not concentrate on business in such
+sentimental environs, explained patiently that
+he was only an ordinary married man and
+that love rhapsodies to the tune of temperamental
+hammering upset him. So he had
+taken the morning off from his own business,
+to lay the foundation for the rustic stairway.
+</p>
+<p>Nolan Inglish, listed first because he was
+always listed first with Eveley, appeared at
+eleven o&#8217;clock, having explained to the lofty
+members of the law firm of which he was a
+junior assistant, that serious family matters
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+required his attention. This enabled him to
+have the two bottom-most steps of the stairway,
+comprising his portion, erected and
+ready for inspection by the time Eveley arrived
+home from her work. He said he had
+felt it would be lonely for her to sit around
+by herself while everybody else worked for
+her, and having provided against that exigency
+by doing his labor in advance, he
+claimed the privilege of officiating as entertainer-in-chief
+for the entire afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>Arnold Bender appeared next, accompanied
+by Kitty Lampton, one of Eveley&#8217;s pet and
+particular friends. Although Kitty was extremely
+generous in proffering the services
+of her friend in behalf of Eveley&#8217;s stairway,
+she frankly stated that she was not willing
+to expose any innocent young man of her
+possession to the wiles and smiles of her attractive
+friend, without herself on hand to
+counteract any untoward influence.
+</p>
+<p>Captain Hardin and Lieutenant Ames came
+together with striking military éclat, accompanied,
+as became their rank, by two alert
+enlisted men. After introducing their enlisted
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+men in the curt official manner of the
+army and having set them grandly to work
+on the rustic stairway, Captain Hardin and
+Lieutenant Ames immediately took up a
+social position in the tiny rose-bowered pergola,
+with Eveley and Kitty and Nolan and
+the lemonade.
+</p>
+<p>A little later, Jimmy Weaver rattled up in
+his small striped gaudy car, followed presently
+by Dick Fairwether on a noisy motorcycle.
+They took out their personal sets of
+tools from private recesses of their machines
+and plunged eagerly into the contest.
+</p>
+<p>So the afternoon started most auspiciously
+and all would doubtless have gone well and
+peacefully, had not Captain Hardin most unfortunately
+selected an exceptionally good-looking
+young soldier for his service,&mdash;a tall,
+slender, dark-skinned youth, with merry
+melting eyes. Eveley never attempted to
+deny that she could not resist merry melting
+eyes. So she left the young officers and Kitty
+and Nolan and the lemonade in the rose-bowered
+pergola on the edge of the canyon
+which sloped down abruptly on the east side,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+and herself went up to superintend the building
+of her stairway.
+</p>
+<p>The handsome one required an inordinate
+amount of superintending. The other soldier
+detailed by Lieutenant Ames, an ordinary
+young man with a sensible face and eyes that
+saw only hammer and nails, got along very
+well by himself. But the handsome youth,
+called Buddy Gillian, required supervision on
+every point. He first consulted Eveley about
+the design of the two steps entrusted to him
+for construction. He could think of as many
+as two dozen different styles of rustic steps,
+and he explained and illustrated them all to
+Eveley in great detail, drawing plans in the
+gravel path. It took the two of them nearly
+an hour to make a selection, and then it
+seemed the style they had chosen was the
+most difficult of the entire assortment, and
+was practically impossible for any one to
+construct alone. So Eveley perforce assisted,
+holding the rustic boughs while he
+hammered, carrying the saw, and carefully
+picking out the proper size of nails as he
+required them.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t you have more sense than to bring
+a good-looker?&#8221; Nolan asked Captain Hardin
+in a fretful voice. &#8220;Don&#8217;t you know that
+Eveley can&#8217;t resist good looks?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I told him he had no business to bring
+Gillian,&#8221; put in the lieutenant. &#8220;Look at
+Muggs, whom I brought. Nobody notices that
+Muggs needs any help. See there now, he
+has finished and is ready to go. Can&#8217;t you do
+something to stop this, Miss Lampton?&#8221; he
+pleaded, turning to Kitty.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;As long as she leaves my Arnold alone,
+I shall mind my own business,&#8221; said Kitty
+decidedly. &#8220;If I cut in on her affair with
+your Buddy, she will try her hand on Arnold
+to get even. Captain Hardin got you into
+this, it is up to him to get you out.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Kitty heartlessly left the pergola and
+went up to the rustic steps to hold the hammer
+for Arnold.
+</p>
+<p>Then Captain Hardin, after rapidly drinking
+three glasses of iced lemonade to drown
+his chagrin and to strengthen his flagging
+courage, left the cozy pergola which had no
+attraction for any of them with Eveley out
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
+at work on the rustic stairway, and went up
+to the corner where she and Buddy Gillian
+were carefully and conscientiously matching
+bits of rustic lumber.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not think I should keep you any
+longer, Gillian, since Muggs is ready to go,&#8221;
+he said kindly. &#8220;I can finish this myself now,
+thank you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; said Buddy Gillian courteously,
+and stood up. Then to Eveley, &#8220;Shall I gather
+up the scraps, Miss Ainsworth, and tidy the
+lawn for you? It is pretty badly littered.
+Only too glad to be of service, if I may.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, thank you, Mr. Gillian, that is sweet
+of you,&#8221; said Eveley gratefully. &#8220;Suppose we
+begin down in that corner by the rose pergola,
+and gather up the scraps as we come
+this way. I&#8217;ll carry this basket, and you can
+do the picking.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But even this humble field of usefulness
+was denied Private Gillian, for Lieutenant
+Ames came out from the pergola and said
+with official briskness, &#8220;Oh, never mind that,
+Gillian. I can help Miss Ainsworth with it.
+You&#8217;d better run along with Muggs and enjoy
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span>
+your liberty period. Much obliged to you,
+I am sure.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So the handsome Buddy looked deep into
+Eveley&#8217;s eyes, and sighed. Eveley held out
+her hand.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have done just beautifully,&#8221; she
+said, &#8220;and helped me so much. And when are
+you coming to tell me the rest of that thrilling
+story of your life in the trenches?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The question is, when may I?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Tuesday evening? Or can you get
+off on Tuesday?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, since the war is over we can get
+off any night. Tuesday will suit me fine.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sorry, Gillian,&#8221; put in Captain Hardin
+grimly. &#8220;But unfortunately I have arranged
+for a company school on Tuesday night&mdash;to
+be conducted by Lieutenant Carston.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Gillian turned his beautiful eyes on Eveley,
+eyes no longer merry but sad and wistful.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let me see,&#8221; puzzled Eveley promptly.
+&#8220;Could you come to-morrow night then, Mr.
+Gillian? Captain won&#8217;t mind changing with
+you, I know, and he can come on Tuesday.
+Captains can always get away, can&#8217;t they? Is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span>
+that all right?&mdash;Then to-morrow evening,
+about eight. And I will have a little evening
+supper all ready for you. Good-by.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>After he had gone she said to the captain
+apologetically, &#8220;Hasn&#8217;t he wonderful eyes?
+And I knew he must be quite all right for me
+to know, or you would never have introduced
+him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Taken all in all, only Kitty Lampton and
+Eveley considered the raising of the rustic
+stairway an entire success, although there
+was much light talk and laughter as they ate
+the dainty supper the girls had prepared for
+them in the Cloud Cote, as Eveley had already
+christened her home above the earth.
+But the men, with the exception of Nolan,
+were doomed to disappointment.
+</p>
+<p>When Dick Fairwether asked her to go to
+a movie with him in the evening, and when
+Jimmy Weaver invited her to go for a night
+drive with him along the beach, and when
+Captain Hardin suggested that she accompany
+him to the Columbine dance at the San
+Diego, and when Lieutenant Ames wanted to
+make a foursome with Kitty and Arnold to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
+go boating, she said most regretfully to each,&mdash;&#8220;Isn&#8217;t
+it a shame? But my sister is having
+some kind of a silly club there to-night, and
+I promised to go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But to Nolan, very secretly she whispered:
+&#8220;Now you trot along to the office and work
+and when I am ready to come home I will
+phone you to come and get me. And we will
+initiate the Cloud Cote all by ourselves.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So the little party broke up almost immediately
+after supper, with deep avowals
+of gratitude on the part of Eveley, and
+equally deep assurances of pleasure and good
+will on the part of the others. After they had
+gone, as Eveley inspected her stairway alone,
+she was comforted by the thought that she
+could fairly smother it with vines and all
+sorts of creeping and climbing things, and
+the casual comer would not notice how funny
+and wabbly it was. But as she went gingerly
+down, clinging desperately to the rail on both
+sides, she determined to take out an accident
+policy immediately, with a special clause
+governing rustic stairways.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='III_EVERYBODY_S_DUTY' id='III_EVERYBODY_S_DUTY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h3>EVERYBODY&#8217;S DUTY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Due to the old-fashioned, rambling style
+of the house, the rustic stairway did
+not really detract from its beauty. And as
+there were already clambering vines and
+roses in profusion, an extra arbor more or
+less, could, as Eveley claimed, pass without
+serious comment. Although the house was
+old, it was still exquisitely beautiful, with its
+cream white pillars and columns showing behind
+the mass of green. And the lawn, which
+was no lawn but only a natural park running
+riot with foliage coaxed into endless lovers&#8217;
+nooks and corners, was a fitting and marvelously
+beautiful setting for it.
+</p>
+<p>The gardens were in the shape of a triangle,
+with conventional paved streets on the
+north and west, but on the east and south
+they drifted away into the shadowy canyon
+which stretched down almost to the bay, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
+came out on the lower streets of the water-front.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley stood on her rustic stairway and
+gloated over it lovingly,&mdash;the rambling house,
+the rambling gardens, the beautiful rambling
+canyon, and then on below to the lights on
+the bay, clustered together in companionable
+groups.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Loma Portal, Fort Rosecranz, North Island,
+Coronado, and the boats in the bay,&#8221;
+she whispered softly, pointing slowly to the
+separate groups. And her eyes were very
+warm, for she loved each separate light in
+every cluster, and she was happy that she
+was at home again, in the place that had
+been home to her since the days of her early
+memory.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley&#8217;s mother had been born in the house
+on Thorn Street, as had her sister, Eloise,
+the aunt with whom the girls had lived for
+many years. And after the death of her husband,
+when Eveley was a tiny baby, Emily
+Ainsworth had taken her two girls and gone
+back to live with her sister in the family
+home. There a few years later she too had
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span>
+passed away, leaving her children in the tender,
+loving hands of Aunt Eloise. And the
+years had passed until there came a time
+when Winifred was married, and Eveley and
+her aunt lived on alone, though always
+happily.
+</p>
+<p>But investments had gone badly, and returns
+went down as expenses went up. So
+Eveley studied stenography, and took genuine
+pleasure in her career as a business girl.
+With her salary, and their modest income,
+the two had managed nicely. Then when
+Aunt Eloise went out to join her sister, the
+Thorn Street house was left to Eveley, and
+other property given to Winifred to compensate.
+So that to Eveley it was only coming
+home to return to the big house and the
+rambling gardens. But to meet the expenses
+of maintenance it was necessary that part of
+the large house should be rented.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley, always adaptable, moved serenely
+into her cote at the head of the stairs, and
+felt that life was still kind and God was
+good, for this was home, and it was hers, and
+she had come to stay.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span></p>
+<p>She almost regretted the impulsive promise
+to her sister that drew her out of her
+dwelling on the first night of her tenancy.
+Not only did she begrudge the precious first-night
+hours away from her pretty cote in the
+clouds, but she was not charmed with the
+arrangement for the evening. She was an
+ardent devotee of clubs of action, rowing,
+tennis, country, dancing and golf, but for
+that other type of club, which she described
+as &#8220;where a lot of women sit around with
+their hats on, and drink tea, and have somebody
+make speeches about things,&#8221; she felt
+no innate tenderness.
+</p>
+<p>It was really a trick on the part of Winifred
+that procured the promise of attendance. For
+Eveley had been allowed to believe they were
+going to play cards and that there would be
+regular refreshments of substance, and perhaps
+a little dancing later on. All this had
+been submitted to by inference, without a
+word of direct confirmation from Winifred,
+who had a conscience.
+</p>
+<p>So it was that Eveley Ainsworth, irreproachably
+attired in a new georgette blouse
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span>
+and satin skirt, betook herself to her sister&#8217;s
+home for an evening meeting of the Current
+Club. And it was a decided shock to find that
+neither a social game nor a soul-restoring
+midnight supper were in store for her, but
+the proverbial tea and speeches. She resigned
+herself, however, to the inevitable, and
+shrank back as obscurely as possible into a
+dark corner where she might muse on the
+charms of Nolan, the beauties of the new
+Buddy Gillian, the martial dignity of Captain
+Hardin, and the appeals of all the rest, to her
+frivolous heart&#8217;s content.
+</p>
+<p>In this manner, she passed through the
+first part of the evening very comfortably,
+only dimly aware that she was floundering in
+the outskirts of a perfect maze of big words
+dealing with Americanization, which Eveley
+vaguely understood to be something on the
+order of standing up to <i>The Star Spangled
+Banner</i>, and marching in parades with a flag
+and shouting &#8220;Hurrah for the President,&#8221; in
+the presence of foreigners.
+</p>
+<p>The third speaker was a minister, and ministers
+are accustomed to penetrating the blue
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+mazes of mental abstraction. This minister
+did. He began by telling three funny stories,
+and Eveley, who loved to exercise her sense
+of humor, came back to the Current Club
+and joined their laughter.
+</p>
+<p>In the very same breath with which he
+ended the last funny story, he began breezily
+discoursing on everybody&#8217;s duty as a loyal
+American. Eveley, to whom the word &#8220;duty&#8221;
+was the original red rag, sniffed inaudibly but
+indignantly to herself. And while she was
+still sniffing the speaker left &#8220;duty as American
+citizens&#8221; far behind, and was deep in the
+intricacies of Americanization. Eveley found
+to her surprise that this was something more
+than saluting the flag and shouting. She
+grew quite interested. It seemed that ordinary,
+regular people were definitely, determinedly
+working with little scraps of the foreign
+elements, Chinese, Mexican, Russian,
+Italian, yes, even German,&mdash;though Eveley
+considered it asking entirely too much, even
+of Heaven, to elevate shreds of German infamy
+to American standards. At any rate,
+people were doing this thing, taking the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+pliant, trusting mind of the foreigner, petting
+it, training it, coaxing it,&mdash;until presently the
+flotsam and jetsam of the Orient, of war-torn
+Europe, of the islands of the sea, of all the
+world, should be Americanized into union,
+and strength, and loyalty, and love.
+</p>
+<p>It fascinated Eveley. She forgot that it
+was her duty as a patriotic American. She
+forgot that nobody had any business doing
+anything but minding one&#8217;s own business.
+She fairly burned to have a part in the work
+of assimilation. Her eyes glowed with eagerness,
+her cheeks flushed a vivid scarlet, her
+lips trembled with the ecstatic passion of
+loyalty.
+</p>
+<p>In the open discussion that followed after
+the last address, Eveley suddenly, quite to
+her own surprise, found that she had something
+to say.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But&mdash;isn&#8217;t it mostly talk?&#8221; she asked,
+half shyly, anxious not to offend, but unable
+to repress the doubt in her mind. &#8220;It does
+not seem practical. You say we must assimilate
+the foreign element. But can one assimilate
+a foreign element? Doesn&#8217;t the fact that
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+it is foreign&mdash;make it impossible of assimilation?
+Oh, I know we have to do something,
+but as long as we are foreigners, we to them,
+and they to us,&mdash;what can we do?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The deadly silence that greeted her words
+frightened her, yet somehow gave her courage
+to go on. She must be saying something
+rather sensible, or they would not pay attention.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We can not assimilate food elements that
+are foreign to the digestive organs,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;Labor and capital have warred for years,
+and neither can assimilate the other. Look at
+domestic conditions here,&mdash;in the home, you
+know. People get married,&mdash;men and women,
+of opposing types and interests and standards.
+And they can not assimilate each
+other, and the divorce courts are running
+rampant. It does no good to say assimilation
+is a duty, if it is impossible. And it
+seems to be.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your criticism is destructive, Miss Ainsworth,&#8221;
+said a learned professor who had
+spoken first, and Eveley was sorry now that
+she had not listened to him. &#8220;Destructive
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span>
+criticism is never helpful. Have you anything
+constructive to offer?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, maybe it is theoretic, also,&#8221; said
+Eveley smiling faintly, and although the
+smile was faint, it was Eveley&#8217;s own, which
+could not be resisted. &#8220;But duty isn&#8217;t big
+enough, nor adaptable enough, nor winning
+enough. There must be some stronger force
+to set in action. Nobody could ever win me
+by doing his duty by me. It takes something
+very intimate, very direct, and very personal
+really to get me. But if one says a word, or
+gives me a look,&mdash;just because he understands
+me, and likes me,&mdash;well, I am his
+friend for life. It takes a personal touch, a
+touch that is guided not by duty but by love.
+So I think maybe the foreign element is the
+same way. We&#8217;ve got to sort of chum up with
+it, and find out the nice things in it first.
+They will find the nice things in us afterward.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But as you say, Miss Ainsworth, isn&#8217;t this
+only talk? How would you go about chumming
+up with the foreign element?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not know, Professor,&#8221; she said
+brightly. &#8220;But I think it can be done. And I
+think it has to be done, or there can not be
+any Americanization.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, are you willing to try your own
+plan? We are conducting classes, games,
+studies, among the foreigners, working with
+them, teaching them, studying them. We call
+this our duty as loyal Americans. You say
+duty is not enough, and you want to get
+chummy with them. Will you try getting
+chummy and see where you come out?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley looked fearfully about the room, at
+the friendly earnest faces. &#8220;I&mdash;I feel awfully
+quivery in my backbone,&#8221; she faltered. &#8220;But
+I will try it. You get me the foreigners, and
+I will practise on them. And if I can&#8217;t get
+chummy with them, and like them, why, I
+shall admit you are right and I will help to
+teach them spelling, and things.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='IV_THE_IRISHAMERICAN_LEAGUE' id='IV_THE_IRISHAMERICAN_LEAGUE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h3>THE IRISH-AMERICAN LEAGUE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Several days passed quietly. Eveley
+went serenely about her work, and from
+her merry manner one would never have suspected
+the fires of Americanization smoldering
+in her heart ready for any straying
+breeze of opportunity to fan them into
+service.
+</p>
+<p>She was finding it deliciously pleasant to
+live in a Cloud Cote above a bride and groom.
+Mrs. Bride, as Eveley fondly called her, was
+the dainty, flowery, fluttery creature that
+every bride should be. And Mr. Groom was
+the soul of devotion and the spirit of tenderness.
+To the world in general, they were
+known as Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Severs, but
+to Eveley, they were Mrs. Bride and Mr.
+Groom. It served to keep their new and shining
+matrimonial halo in mind.
+</p>
+<p>She was newly glad every morning that the
+young husband had to start to his work before
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+she left home for hers. When she heard
+the front door open down-stairs, she ran to
+her window, often with a roll or her coffee
+cup in her hand, to witness the departure,
+which to her romantic young eyes was a real
+event. Mrs. Bride always stood on the porch
+to watch him on his way to the car until he
+was out of sight. Sometimes she ran with
+him to the corner, and always before he made
+the turn he waved her a final good-by.
+</p>
+<p>It was very peaceful and serene. It seemed
+hard to believe that recently there had been
+a tremendous war, and that even now the
+world was writhing in the throes of political
+and social upheaval and change. In every
+country, men and women were grappling
+with great industrial problems, and there
+were ominous rumblings and threatening
+murmurs from society in revolution. But in
+the rambling white house in the great green
+gardens at the top of the canyon, one only
+knew that it was springtime in southern California,
+that the world was full of gladness
+and peace and joy, and that love was paramount.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span></p>
+<p>Several days,&mdash;and then one evening there
+came the call of the telephone&mdash;the reveille
+of Americanization in the person of Eveley
+Ainsworth. A class of young foreign lads had
+been gathered and would meet Eveley at the
+Service League that evening. No instructions
+were given, no suggestions were forthcoming.
+Eveley had asked for foreigners with whom
+she could get chummy and call it love. Here
+were the foreigners. The rest of the plan
+was Eveley&#8217;s own.
+</p>
+<p>She was proud of her mature comprehension
+of the needs of reconstruction, and of
+her utter gladness to assist. She felt that it
+signified something rather fine and worth
+while in her character, and she took no little
+pleasure in the prospect of active service.
+She went about her work that day wrapped
+in a veil of mystery, her mind delving deep
+into the ideals of American life. She carefully
+elaborated several short and spicy
+stories, of strong moral and patriotic tone,
+emphasizing the nobility of love of country.
+And that evening she stood before her mirror
+for a long time, practising pretty flowery
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+phrases to be spoken with a most winsome
+smile. Remembering that her subjects were
+boys, and that boys are young men in the
+making, she donned her daintiest, shimmeriest
+gown, and carefully coaxed the enticing
+little curls into prominence. Then with a final
+patriotic smile at herself in the mirror, she
+carefully climbed through the window and
+crossed the roof garden to the rustic stairway.
+</p>
+<p>As she walked briskly up Albatross to Walnut,
+then to Fourth where she took the car,
+and all the way down-town she was carefully
+rehearsing her stories and the most effective
+modes of presenting them. She knew the
+rooms of the Service League well, having
+been there on many occasions while there
+was still war and there were service men by
+the hundreds to be danced with. Half a dozen
+men and boys were lounging at the curbstone,
+and they eyed her curiously, grimly,
+Eveley thought. She wondered if they knew
+she had come there to inspire them with love
+of the great America which they must learn
+to call home. She straightened her slim
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+shoulders at the thought, and walked into the
+building with quite a martial air, as became
+one on this high mission bent.
+</p>
+<p>A keen-eyed, quick-speaking woman met
+her at the elevator, and led her back into
+what she called &#8220;your corner&#8221; of the room.
+Evidently the room was divided into countless
+corners, for several groups were clustered
+together in different sections. But Eveley
+gave them only a fleeting glance. Her heart
+and soul were centered on the group before
+her, eight boys, dark-eyed, dark-skinned, of
+fourteen years or thereabouts. They looked
+at Eveley appraisingly, as we always look
+on those who come to do us good. Eveley
+looked upon them with tender solicitude, as
+philanthropists have looked on their subjects
+since the world was born.
+</p>
+<p>The introductions over, the keen-eyed one
+hurried away and Eveley faced her sub-Americans.
+</p>
+<p>Then she smiled, a winsome smile before
+which stronger men than they have fallen.
+But they were curiously unsmiling in response.
+Their eyes remained appraising almost
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+to the point of open suspicion. Perhaps
+her very prettiness aroused the inherent opposition
+of the male creature to female uplift.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley began, however, bravely enough,
+and told them her first and prettiest story of
+sacrifice and country love. They listened
+gravely, but they were not thrilled. Struggling
+against a growing sense of incompetence,
+Eveley talked on and on, one story
+after another, pretty word following pretty
+word. But each word fell alike on stony
+ground. They sat like graven images, except
+for the bright suspicious gleam of the dark
+eyes.
+</p>
+<p>Finally Eveley stopped, and turned to
+them. &#8220;What do you think about it?&#8221; she demanded.
+&#8220;You want to be Americans, don&#8217;t
+you? You want to learn what being an American
+means, don&#8217;t you?&#8221; Her eyes were fastened
+appealingly on a slender Russian lad,
+slouching in his chair at the end of the row.
+&#8220;You want to be an American, I know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Suddenly the slim lithe figure straightened,
+and the dark brows drew together in a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+frown. &#8220;What are you getting at?&#8221; came in
+a sharp tone. &#8220;I&#8217;m an American, ain&#8217;t I?
+You don&#8217;t take me for no German, do you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no, of course not,&#8221; she apologized
+placatingly. &#8220;Oh, certainly not. I mean, you
+want to learn the things of America, so you
+can love this country, and make it yours.
+Then you will forget that other land from
+which you came, and know this for your own,
+now and forever.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was arrested by the steady gleam
+of a pair of eyes in the middle of the row.
+There was open denial and disbelief written
+in every feature and line of his face.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; came the terse query, as Eveley
+paused.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley gazed upon him in wonderment.
+&#8220;Wh-what did you say?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I said, why?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, why not?&#8221; she countered nervously.
+&#8220;This is your country now. You must love it
+best in all the world, and must grow to be like
+us,&mdash;one of us,&mdash;America for Americans only,
+you know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You tell us to forget the land we came
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+from,&#8221; he said in an even impersonal voice.
+&#8220;Is that patriotism,&mdash;to forget the land of
+your birth? I thought patriotism was to remember
+your home-land,&mdash;holding it in your
+heart,&mdash;hoping to return to it again,&mdash;and
+make it better.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But&mdash;but that is not patriotism to this
+country,&#8221; protested Eveley, aghast. &#8220;That is&mdash;disloyalty.
+If you wish to be always of
+your own land, and to love it best, you should
+stay there. If you come here, to get our
+training, our education, our development,
+our riches,&mdash;then this must be your country,
+and no other.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; he asked again. &#8220;Why should we
+not come here and get all the good things you
+can give us, and learn what you can teach us,
+and take what money we can earn, and then
+go back with all these good things to make
+our own land bigger and better and richer?
+That is patriotism, I think.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no,&#8221; protested Eveley again. &#8220;That is
+not loyalty. If you choose this country for
+your home, it must be first in your heart, and
+last also. This is your home-land now,&mdash;the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+land you believe in, the land of your love,
+America first.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But America was not first. The home-land
+was first.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it was first,&#8221; she admitted pacifically.
+&#8220;But America is last. America is the final
+touch. And so now you will learn our language,
+our games, our business, our way of
+life. You will live here, work here, and if war
+comes again you will die for America.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she went on very quickly, fearful of
+interruptions that were proving so disastrous.
+&#8220;That is why we are organizing this
+little club, you boys and I. We are going to
+talk together. We are going to play together.
+We are going to study together.
+So you can learn American ways in all
+things. Now what kind of club shall we
+have? That is the American way of doing
+things. It is not my club, but yours. You are
+the people, and so you must decide.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>A long and profound silence followed, evidently
+indicative of deep thought.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A baseball club,&#8221; at last suggested a small
+Jap with a bashful smile.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;That is a splendid idea,&#8221; cried Eveley
+brightly. &#8220;Baseball is a good American
+sport, a clean, lively game. Now what shall
+we call our baseball club?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Again deep thought, but in a moment from
+an earnest Jewish boy came the suggestion,
+&#8220;The Irish-American Baseball League.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley searched his face carefully, looking
+for traces of irony. But the pinched thin
+features were earnest, the eyes alight with
+pleased gratification at his readiness of retort.
+</p>
+<p>A hum of approval indicated that the
+Irish-American League had met with favor.
+But Eveley wavered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; she asked in puzzled tone.
+&#8220;There is not an Irish boy here. You are
+Italians, and Spanish, and Jewish, and Russian,
+so why call it Irish-American?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;My stepfather is an Irishman, his name
+is Mike O&#8217;Malley,&#8221; said a small Mexican. &#8220;So
+I&#8217;ll be the captain.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;G&#8217;wan, ain&#8217;t it enough to get the club
+named for you?&#8221; came the angry retort.
+&#8220;What you know about baseball, anyhow?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span></p>
+<p>Eveley silenced them quickly. &#8220;Let&#8217;s just
+call it the American League,&#8221; she pleaded.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Irish-American League is well known,
+and gets its name in the paper,&#8221; was the
+ready argument in its favor.
+</p>
+<p>And this fact, together with the strong
+appeal the words had made to their sense of
+dignity, proved irresistible. They refused to
+give it up. And when Eveley tried to reason
+with them, they told her slyly that the proper
+way to decide was by putting it to vote.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley swallowed hard, but conscientiously
+admitted the justice of this, and put the
+question to vote. And as the club was unanimously
+in favor of it, and only Eveley was
+opposed, her Americanization baseball club
+of Italians and Mexicans and Orientals went
+down into history as the Irish-American
+League.
+</p>
+<p>When it came to voting for officers, she
+again met with scant success. They flatly refused
+to have a president, stating that a captain
+could do all the bossing necessary, and
+that baseball clubs always had a captain. In
+the vote that followed the result was curiously
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+impartial. Every boy in the club voted
+for himself. Eveley, who had been won by
+the bright face of a young Jewish boy sitting
+near her with keen eyes intent upon her,
+voted for him, which gave him a fifty per
+cent. majority over the nearest competitor,
+and Eveley declared him the captain.
+</p>
+<p>A few moments later, Eveley was called
+away to the telephone by Nolan, wishing to
+know what time he should call for her and
+the moment she was out of hearing, the club
+went into noisy conference. Upon her return,
+the argumentative Russian announced
+that the vote had been changed, and he was
+unanimously elected captain.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But how did that happen?&#8221; Eveley demanded
+doubtfully. &#8220;Did the rest of you
+change your votes, and decide he should be
+captain?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>There was a rustle of hesitation, almost a
+dissenting murmur.
+</p>
+<p>The newly elected captain lowered his
+brows ominously. &#8220;You did, didn&#8217;t you?&#8221; he
+asked, glaring around on his fellow members.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; came feebly though unanimously.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Did&mdash;did you vote?&#8221; questioned Eveley
+tremulously.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure, we voted,&#8221; said the captain amiably.
+&#8220;We decided that I know the game better
+than the rest of the guys, and I can lick any
+kid in this gang with one hand, and we decided
+that I ought to be the captain. Ain&#8217;t
+that right?&#8221; Again he turned lowering
+brows on the Irish-American League.
+</p>
+<p>No denial was forthcoming, and although
+Eveley felt assured that in some way the
+American ideal of popular selection had been
+violently outraged, it seemed the part of policy
+to overlook what might have occurred.
+Some minor rules were agreed upon, and the
+club decided to meet for practise every evening
+after school. Eveley could not attend
+except on Saturdays, and a boy near her,
+whose features had seemed vaguely and bewilderingly
+familiar, announced that he must
+withdraw as he worked and had no time for
+baseball. The captain professed his ability
+to fill up the club to the required number
+with exceptional baseball material, and the
+meeting adjourned without further parley.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span></p>
+<p>This one meeting sufficed unalterably to
+convince Eveley that she was totally and
+helplessly out of her element. She was not
+altogether sure those quick-witted boys
+needed Americanizing, but she was sure that
+she was not the one to do it if they did require
+it. She realized that she had absolutely
+no idea how to go about instilling principles
+of freedom and loyalty in the hearts of
+young foreigners.
+</p>
+<p>It was with great sadness that she began
+adjusting her hat and collar ready to go
+home, leaving defeat and failure behind her,
+when a blithe voice at her elbow broke into
+her despair.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;So long, Miss Ainsworth; see you in the
+morning.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley whirled about and stared into the
+face of the small lad whose features had
+seemed so curiously familiar.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;To-morrow?&#8221; she repeated.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Surest thing you know, at the office,&#8221; he
+said, grinning impishly at her evident inability
+to place him. &#8220;I knew all the time you
+didn&#8217;t know me. I am Angelo Moreno, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+Number Three elevator boy at the Rollo
+Building.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do&mdash;do you know who I am?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure, you&#8217;re Miss Ainsworth, old Jim Hodgin&#8217;s
+private secretary.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How long have you been there?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;About a year and a half.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I never noticed,&#8221; she said, and there was
+pain in her voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, well,&#8221; he said soothingly, &#8220;there&#8217;s always
+a jam going up and down when you do,
+and you are tired evenings.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you are in the jam, too, and you are
+tired as well as I, but you have seen.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s my job,&#8221; he said complacently. &#8220;I
+got to know the folks in our building.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How much do you know about me?&#8221; she
+pursued with morbid curiosity.
+</p>
+<p>He grinned at her again, companionably.
+&#8220;You&#8217;re twenty-five years old, and you&#8217;re
+stuck on that fellow Inglish, with Morrow
+and Mayne over at the Holland Building.
+You used to live with your aunt up on Thorn
+Street, but she died and you got the house.
+B. T. Raines is your brother-in-law, and he&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+got two kids, but his wife is not as good-looking
+as you are. You stayed with them
+two months after your aunt died, but last
+week you got a bunch of your beaux, soldiers
+and things, to build you some steps up the
+outside of your house and now you live up
+there by yourself. Gee, I&#8217;d think you&#8217;d be
+afraid of pirates and Greasers and things
+coming up that canyon from the bay to rob
+you&mdash;you being just a woman alone up
+there.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley gazed upon him in blank astonishment.
+&#8220;Do&mdash;do you know that much about
+everybody in our building?&#8221; she asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I know plenty about most of &#8217;em,
+and some things that some of &#8217;em don&#8217;t know
+I know, and wouldn&#8217;t be keen on having
+talked around among strangers. But of
+course I pays the most attention to the good-lookers,&#8221;
+he admitted frankly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221; said Eveley, with a faint
+smile. Then she flushed. &#8220;What nerve for
+me to talk of assimilation,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We
+don&#8217;t know how to go about it. We have
+been asleep and blind and careless and stupid,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+but you&mdash;why, you will assimilate us, if we
+don&#8217;t look out. You are a born assimilator,
+Angelo, do you know that?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I guess so,&#8221; came the answer vaguely, but
+politely. &#8220;I live about half a mile below you,
+Miss Ainsworth, at the foot of the canyon on
+the bay front. That&#8217;s all the diff there is
+between us and you highbrows in Mission
+Hills&mdash;about half a mile of canyon.&#8221; He
+smiled broadly, pleased with his fancy.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That isn&#8217;t much, is it, Angelo? And it
+will be less pretty soon, now that we are trying
+to open our eyes. Good night, Angelo.
+I will see you to-morrow&mdash;really see you, I
+mean. And please don&#8217;t assimilate me quite
+so fast&mdash;you must give me time. I&mdash;I am
+new to this business and progress very slowly.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she said good night again, and went
+away. And Angelo swaggered back to his
+companions. &#8220;Gee, ain&#8217;t she a beaut?&#8221; he
+gloated. &#8220;All the swells in our building is
+nuts on that dame. But she gives &#8217;em all
+the go-by.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then the Irish-American League, without
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span>
+the assimilator, went into a private session
+with cigarettes and near-beer in a small
+dingy room far down on Fifth Street&mdash;a session
+that lasted far into the night.
+</p>
+<p>But Eveley Ainsworth did not know that.
+She was sitting in the dark beside her window,
+staring out at the lights that circled the
+bay. But she did not see them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Assimilate the foreign element,&#8221; she
+whispered in a frightened voice. &#8220;I am afraid
+we can&#8217;t. It is too late. They got started
+first&mdash;and they are so shrewd. But we&#8217;ve
+got to do something, and quickly, or&mdash;they
+will assimilate us, beyond a doubt. And
+weren&#8217;t they right about it, after all? Isn&#8217;t
+it patriotism and loyalty for them to go out
+to foreign countries to pick up the finest and
+best of our civilization and take it back to enrich
+their native land? It is almost&mdash;blasphemous&mdash;to
+teach them a new patriotism
+to a new country. And yet we have to do it,
+to make our country safe for us. But who
+has brains enough and heart enough to do
+it? Oh, dear! And they do not call it duty
+that brings them here to take what we can
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+give them&mdash;they call it love&mdash;not love of us
+and of America, but love of the little Wops
+and the little Greasers and the little Polaks
+in their own home-land. Oh, dear, such a
+frightful mess we have got ourselves into.
+And what a dunce I was to go to that silly
+meeting and get myself mixed up in it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='V_HER_INHERITANCE' id='V_HER_INHERITANCE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<h3>HER INHERITANCE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The worries of the night never lived over
+into the sunny day with Eveley, and
+when she arose the next morning and saw
+the amethyst mist lifting into sunshine, when
+she heard the sweet ecstatic chirping of
+little Mrs. Bride beneath, she smiled contentedly.
+The world was still beautiful, and
+love remained upon its throne.
+</p>
+<p>She started a little early for her work as
+she was curious to see Angelo in the broad
+light of day. It seemed so unbelievable that
+those bright eyes and smiling lips had been
+in the elevator with her many times a week
+for many months, and that she had never
+even seen them.
+</p>
+<p>So on the morning after her initiation into
+the intricacies of Americanization, she
+beamed upon him with almost sisterly affection.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good morning, Angelo. Isn&#8217;t this a wonderful
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+day? Whose secrets have you ferreted
+out in the night while I was asleep?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Angelo flushed with pleasure, and shoved
+some earlier passengers back into the car to
+make room for her beside him.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought you&#8217;d be too sick to come this
+morning,&#8221; he said, with his wide smile that
+displayed two rows of white and even teeth.
+&#8220;I thought it would take you twenty-four
+hours to get over us.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, not a bit of it,&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;And
+I am equally glad to see that you are recovering
+from your attack of me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>This while the elevator rose, stopping at
+each floor to discharge passengers.
+</p>
+<p>At the fifth floor Eveley passed out with a
+final smile and a light friendly touch of her
+hand on Angelo&#8217;s arm.
+</p>
+<p>This was the beginning of their strange
+friendship, which ripened rapidly. Her
+memory of that night in the Service League
+with the Irish-American Club was very hazy
+and dim. Except for the tangible presence
+and person of Angelo, she might easily have
+believed it was all a dream.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span></p>
+<p>In spite of her deep conviction that she was
+not destined to any slight degree of success
+as an Americanizer, Eveley conscientiously
+studied books and magazines and attended
+lectures on the subject, only to experience
+deep grief as she realized that every additional
+book, and article, and lecture, only
+added to her disbelief in her powers of assimilation.
+</p>
+<p>So deep and absolute was her absorption,
+that for some days she denied herself to her
+friends, and remained wrapped in principles
+of Americanization, which naturally caused
+them no pleasure. And when a morning
+came and she called a hasty meeting of her
+four closest comrades, voicing imperative
+needs and fervent appeals for help, she readily
+secured four promises of attendance in the
+Cloude Cote that evening at exactly seven-thirty.
+</p>
+<p>At seven-forty-five Eveley sat on the floor
+beside the window impatiently tapping with
+the absurd tip of an absurd little slipper.
+Nolan had not come.
+</p>
+<p>Kitty Lampton was there, balancing herself
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+dangerously with two cushions on the
+arm of a big rocker. Eveley called Kitty the
+one drone in her circle of friendship, for
+Kitty was born to golden spoons and lived a
+life of comfort and ease and freedom from
+responsibility in a great home with a doting
+father, and two attentive maids. Eileen
+Trevis was there, too, having arrived promptly
+on the stroke of seven-thirty. Eileen
+Trevis always arrived promptly on the stroke
+of the moment she was expected. She was
+known about town as a successful business
+woman, though still in the early thirties.
+The third of the group was Miriam Landis,
+whose inexcusable marriage to her handsome
+husband had seriously deranged the morale
+of the little quartet of comrades.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley looked around upon them. &#8220;It is
+a funny thing, a most remarkably funny
+thing!&#8221; she said indignantly. &#8220;Every one
+says that girls are always late, and you three,
+except Eileen, are usually later than the
+average late ones. Yet here you are. And every
+one says that men are always prompt,
+and Nolan is certainly worse than the average
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
+man in every conceivable way. But
+Nolan, where is he?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, go ahead and tell us the news anyhow,&#8221;
+said Kitty, hugging the back of the
+chair to keep from falling while she talked.
+&#8220;But if it is anything about that funny Americanization
+stuff, you needn&#8217;t tell it. I asked
+father about it, and he explained it fully, only
+he lost me in the first half of the first sentence.
+So I don&#8217;t want to hear anything
+more about it. And you don&#8217;t need to tell me
+any more ways of not doing my duty, either,
+for I am not doing it now as hard as I can.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam Landis leaned forward from the
+couch where she was lounging idly. &#8220;What
+is this peculiar little notion of yours about
+duty, Eveley?&#8221; she asked, smiling. &#8220;My poor
+child, all over town they are exploiting you
+and your silly notions. Even my dear Lem
+uses your disbelief in duty to excuse himself
+for being out five nights a week.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is absurd,&#8221; said Eveley, flushing.
+&#8220;And they may laugh all they like. I do believe
+that duty has wrecked more homes and
+ruined more lives than&mdash;than vampires.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span></p>
+<p>Miriam smiled tolerantly. &#8220;Wait till you
+get married, sweetest,&#8221; she said softly. &#8220;If
+married women did not believe in duty, and
+do it, no marriage would last more than six
+months.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I qualify myself, you know,&#8221; said
+Eveley excusingly. &#8220;I do think everybody
+has one duty&mdash;but only one&mdash;and it isn&#8217;t the
+one most people think it is.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;For the sake of my immortal soul, tell
+me,&#8221; pleaded Kitty. &#8220;It was you who led me
+into the dutiless paths. Now lead me back.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Get up, Kitty, and don&#8217;t be silly,&#8221; said
+Eveley loftily. &#8220;This is not a driven duty,
+but a spontaneous one. And you don&#8217;t need
+to know what it is, for it comes naturally, or
+it doesn&#8217;t come at all. Isn&#8217;t that Nolan the
+most aggravating thing that ever lived?
+Eight o&#8217;clock. And he promised for seven-thirty.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go on and tell us, Eveley,&#8221; said Eileen
+Trevis. &#8220;Maybe somebody is sick, and has to
+make a will, and he won&#8217;t be here all night.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I can&#8217;t tell it twice. You know how
+many questions Nolan always asks, and besides
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+I want to surprise you all in a bunch.
+Look, did I show you the new blouse I got
+to-day? I needed a new one to Americanize
+my Irish-Americans Saturday. It cost ten
+dollars, and perfectly plain&mdash;but I look like a
+sad sweet dream in it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then the girls were absorbed in a discussion
+of the utter impossibility of bringing
+next month&#8217;s allowance or salary within
+speaking distance of last month&#8217;s bills, a subject
+which admitted of no argument but
+which interested them deeply. So after all
+they did not hear the rumble and creak of the
+rustic stairway, nor the quick steps crossing
+the garden on the roof of the sun parlor for
+Nolan was forgotten until his sharp tap on
+the glass was followed by the instant appearance
+of his head, and his pleasant voice said
+in tones of friendly raillery:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Every time I climb those wabbly rattly-bangs
+that you call rustic stairs, I wonder
+that you have a friend to your name. Hello,
+Eveley.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Inasmuch as you made the wabbliest pair
+of all, and since you climb them more than
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+anybody else, you haven&#8217;t much room to
+talk,&#8221; returned Eveley tartly, drawing back
+the portières to admit his entrance, which
+was no laughing matter for a large man.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You positively are the latest thing that
+ever was,&#8221; she went on, as he landed with a
+heavy thud.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Me? Why, I am the soul of punctuality.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You may be the soul of it, but punctuality
+does not get far with a soul minus willing
+feet.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Anyhow, I am here, and that is something,&#8221;
+he said, making the rounds of the
+room to shake hands cordially with the other
+girls.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley hopped up quickly on to the small
+desk&mdash;shoving the telephone off, knowing
+Nolan would catch it, as indeed he did with
+great skill, having been catching telephones
+and vases and books for Eveley for five full
+years. She clasped her hands together, glowing,
+and her friends leaned toward her expectantly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have called you together,&#8221; she began in
+a high, slightly imperious voice, &#8220;my four
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span>
+best friends, counting Nolan, because I need
+advice.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you wish to retain me as counsellor?&#8221;
+asked Nolan, with a strong legal accent
+&#8220;My fee&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not wish to retain you in any capacity,&#8221;
+Eveley interrupted quickly. &#8220;My chief
+worry is how to dispose of you satisfactorily.
+And as for fees&mdash;Pouf! Anyhow, I need advice,
+good advice, deep advice, loving advice.
+So I have called you into solemn conclave,
+and because it is a most exceptional occasion
+I have prepared refreshments, good ones,
+sandwiches and coffee and cake&mdash;Did you
+bring the cake, Kit? And ice-cream&mdash;the
+drug-store is going to deliver it at ten, only
+the boy won&#8217;t climb the stairs; you&#8217;ll have to
+meet him at the bottom, Nolan. So I hope
+you realize that it is an affair of some moment,
+and not&mdash;Miriam Landis, are you
+asleep?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam flashed her eyes wide open, denial
+on her lips, but Kitty forestalled her. &#8220;That
+is a pose,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;Billy Ferris said,
+and I told Miriam he said it, that with her
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+eyes closed, she is the loveliest thing in the
+world. And since then she walks around in
+her sleep half the time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam turned toward her, still more indignant
+denial clamoring for utterance, but
+Eveley, accepting the explanation as reasonable,
+went quickly on.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now I want you to be very serious and
+thoughtful&mdash;can you concentrate better in
+the dark, Kit? Because I know at seances
+and things they turn off the lights, and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, let&#8217;s do. And we&#8217;ll all hold hands,
+and concentrate, and maybe we&#8217;ll scare up a
+ghost or something.&#8221; Then she looked
+around the room&mdash;four girls and Nolan&mdash;Nolan,
+who had edged with alacrity toward
+Eveley on the telephone desk&mdash;and Kitty
+shrugged her shoulders. &#8220;Oh, what&#8217;s the
+use? Never mind. Go on with the gossip,
+Eveley. I can think with the lights on.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The ice-cream will be here before we get
+started,&#8221; said Eileen Trevis suddenly.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley clasped her hands again and smiled.
+&#8220;I have received a fortune. Somebody died&mdash;you
+needn&#8217;t advise me to wear mourning,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+either, Miriam. I never saw him in my life,
+and never even heard of him, and honestly
+I think he got me mixed up with somebody
+else and left the fortune to the wrong grand-niece,
+but anyhow it is none of my business,
+and since he is dead and the money is here,
+I suppose there is no chance of his discovering
+the mistake and making me refund it
+after it is spent.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A fortune,&#8221; gasped Kitty, tumbling off the
+arm of the chair and rushing to fling herself
+on the floor beside Eveley, warm arms embracing
+her knees.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Root of all evil,&#8221; murmured Miriam, gazing
+into space through half-closed lids, and
+seeing wonderful visions of complexions and
+permanent curls and a manicure every day.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How fortunate,&#8221; said Eileen in a voice
+pleased though still unruffled and even. &#8220;A
+fortune means safety and protection and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who the dickens has been butting into
+your affairs now?&#8221; demanded Nolan peevishly,
+and though the girls laughed, there was
+no laughter in his eyes and no smile on his
+lips.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, since he calls me his great-niece, I
+suppose he is my grand-uncle.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How much, lovey, how much?&#8221; gurgled
+Kitty, at her side.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Twenty-five hundred dollars,&#8221; announced
+Eveley ecstatically.
+</p>
+<p>Nolan breathed again. &#8220;Oh, that isn&#8217;t so
+bad. I thought maybe some simp had left
+you a couple of millions or so.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley fairly glared upon him. &#8220;What do
+you mean by that? Why a simp? Why
+shouldn&#8217;t I be left a couple of millions as well
+as anybody else? Maybe you think I haven&#8217;t
+sense enough to spend a couple of millions.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And why did you require advice?&#8221; Eileen
+queried.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes.&#8221; Eveley smiled again. &#8220;Yes, of
+course. Now you must all think desperately
+for a while&mdash;I hate to ask so much of you,
+Nolan&mdash;but perhaps this once you won&#8217;t mind&mdash;I
+want you to tell me what to do with the
+money.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>This was indeed a serious responsibility.
+What to do with twenty-five hundred dollars?
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not feel it is your duty to spend
+the twenty-five hundred pounding Americanism
+into your Irish-American Wops?&#8221; asked
+Nolan facetiously.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley took this good-naturedly. &#8220;Oh, I
+got off from work at four-thirty and went
+down to their field, and we had a celebration.
+We had ice-cream and candy and chewing
+gum, and I spent twenty-five dollars
+equipping them with balls and bats and
+since I was with them an hour and a quarter,
+I feel that I am entitled to the rest of the
+fortune myself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, dearie,&#8221; said Eileen, &#8220;it is really
+very simple. Put it in a savings account, of
+course. Keep it for a rainy day. You may
+be ill. You may get married&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t she get married without twenty-five
+hundred dollars?&#8221; asked Nolan, with great
+indignation. &#8220;She doesn&#8217;t expect to buy her
+own groceries when she gets married, does
+she?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She may have to, Nolan,&#8221; said Eileen gently.
+&#8220;One never knows what may happen
+after marriage. Getting married is no laughing
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
+matter, and Eveley should be prepared
+for any exigency.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Eileen, she won&#8217;t need her twenty-five
+hundred to get married. No decent fellow
+would marry a girl unless he could support
+her, and do it well, even luxuriously.
+You don&#8217;t suppose I would let my wife spend
+her twenty-five hundred&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you mean me, I shall do whatever I
+like with my own money when I get married,&#8221;
+said Eveley quickly. &#8220;My husband will
+have nothing to say about it. You needn&#8217;t
+think for one minute&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am not your husband, am I? I haven&#8217;t
+exactly proposed to you yet, have I?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley swallowed hard. &#8220;Certainly not.
+And probably never will. By the time you
+get around to it, getting married will be out
+of date, and none of the best people doing it
+any more.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You may not have asked her, Nolan,&#8221; said
+Eileen evenly. &#8220;And that is your business,
+of course. She will probably turn you down
+when you do ask her, just as she does everybody
+else. But&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Who has been asking her now?&#8221; he cried,
+with jealous interest.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But while we are on the subject, I hope
+you will permit me to say that I think your
+principles are all wrong, and even dangerous.
+You think a man should wait a thousand
+years until he can keep a wife like a pet dog,
+on a cushion with a pink ribbon around her
+neck&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The dog&#8217;s neck, or the wife&#8217;s?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The dog&#8217;s&mdash;no, the wife&#8217;s&mdash;both of them,&#8221;
+she decided at last, with never a ruffle. &#8220;You
+want to wait until she is tired of loving, and
+too old to have a good time, and worn out
+with work. It isn&#8217;t right. It is not fair.
+It is unjust both to yourself, and to Eve&mdash;to
+the girl.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, my dear child,&#8221; he said. Eileen was
+three years older than Nolan; but being a
+lawyer he called all women &#8220;child.&#8221; &#8220;My
+dear child, do you realize that my salary is
+eighteen hundred a year, and I get only a few
+hundred dollars in fees. Think of the cost of
+food these days, and of clothes, and amusements,
+to say nothing of rent! Do you think
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span>
+I would allow Eve&mdash;my wife, to go without
+the sweet things of&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You needn&#8217;t bring me in,&#8221; said Eveley
+loftily. &#8220;I have never accepted you, have I?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, not exactly, I suppose, but&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley,&#8221; said Miriam, suddenly sitting
+erect on the couch. &#8220;I have it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sounds like the measles,&#8221; said Kitty.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I mean I know what to do with the money.
+Listen, dear. You do not want to go on slaving
+in an office until you are old and ugly.
+And Nolan is quite right, you certainly can
+not marry a grubby clerk in a law office.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan laughed at that, but Eveley sat up
+very straight indeed and fairly glowered at
+her unconscious friend on the couch.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must have the soft and lovely things
+of life, and the way to get them is to marry
+them. Now, sweet, you take your twenty-five
+hundred, be manicured and massaged and
+shampooed until you are glowing with
+beauty, buy a lot of lovely clothes, trip
+around like a lady, dance and play, and meet
+men&mdash;men with money&mdash;and there you are.
+You can look like a million dollars on your
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+twenty-five hundred&mdash;and your looks will get
+you the million by marriage.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Miriam Landis, that is shameful,&#8221; said
+Nolan in a voice of horror. &#8220;It is disgraceful.
+I never thought to hear a woman, a
+married woman, a nice woman, utter such
+low and grimy thoughts. Could any such
+marriage be happy?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Nolan,&#8221; said Miriam sadly, &#8220;I am
+not sure that any marriage can be happy, or
+was ever supposed to be. But women are such
+that they have to try it once. Eveley will
+be like all the rest. And if she has to try it,
+she had better try it with a million, than with
+eighteen hundred a year.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is something in that, Miriam, certainly,&#8221;
+said Eveley thoughtfully. &#8220;What do
+you think, Eileen?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think it is absurd. The notion that
+woman was born for marriage died long ago.
+Ridiculous! Woman is born for life, for service,
+for action, just as man is. Look at the
+married people you know. How many of
+them are happy? I do not wish to be personal,
+but I know very few married people,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span>
+either men or women, who would not be glad
+to undo the marriage knot if it could be done
+easily and quietly without notoriety. They
+are not happy. But we are happy. Why?
+Because we work, we think, we feel, we live.
+We are not slaves to the contentment of man.
+Go on working, my dear. Keep your independence.
+But play safe. Put your money
+in the bank, or in some good investment, and
+let it safeguard your future. Then you can
+go your way serene.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is certainly sound. Marriage isn&#8217;t
+the most successful thing in the world.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I should say not,&#8221; chimed Kitty. &#8220;Husbands
+are always tired of wives, their own,
+I mean, inside of five years.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, if it comes to that,&#8221; said Eveley honestly,
+&#8220;I suppose wives are tired of their own
+husbands, too. But they are so stubborn
+they won&#8217;t admit it. In their hearts I suppose
+they are quite as sick of their husbands
+as their husbands are of them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eve,&#8221; said Nolan anxiously, &#8220;where are
+you getting all these wicked notions? Marriage
+is the most sacred&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Institution. I know it. Every one says
+marriage is a sacred institution, and so is a
+church. But nobody wants to live with one
+permanently.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Eveley, the sanctity of the&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Home. Sure, we know it is sanctified.
+But monotonous. Deadly monotonous.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eve,&#8221; and his voice was quite tragic,
+&#8220;don&#8217;t you feel that the divine sphere of&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Woman. You needn&#8217;t finish it, Nolan; we
+know it as well as you do. The divine sphere
+of woman is in the sanctified home keeping
+up the sacred institution of marriage while
+her husband&mdash;oh, tralalalalalala.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir, I&#8217;ll go you,&#8221; cried Kitty suddenly,
+leaping up from the floor, and waving
+her hand. &#8220;Europe! You and I together.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She has come to,&#8221; said Eileen resignedly.
+&#8220;There&#8217;s an end of sensible talk for this evening.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Kit, what is it? I knew you would
+think of something good.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll go to Europe, you and I. I think I
+can work dad to let me go. I can pretend to
+fall in love with the plumber, or somebody,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
+and he&#8217;ll be glad to trot me off for a while.
+And he likes you, Eveley. He thinks you are
+so sensible.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, he hardly knows me,&#8221; cried Eveley,
+astonished.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that is why. I tell him how sensible
+you are when you are not there, and when he
+gets home I hustle you out of his sight in a
+hurry. He likes me to have sensible friends.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And what shall we do with the money?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Travel, travel, travel, and have a gay good
+time,&#8221; said Kitty blithely. &#8220;All over Europe.
+We&#8217;ll get some handsome clothes, and have
+the time of our lives as long as the money
+lasts, and then marry dukes or princes or
+something like that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Two of you,&#8221; shouted Nolan furiously.
+&#8220;Well, Eve, it is a good thing you have
+one friend to give you really decent advice.
+Of all idiotic ideas. Buy fine clothes and
+marry a millionaire. Save it to pay for potatoes
+when you get a husband that can&#8217;t support
+you. Travel to Europe and marry some
+purple prince.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why purple?&#8221; asked Eveley curiously.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you mean clothed in purple and fine
+linen?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you mean blood, it is blue,&#8221; said Kitty.
+&#8220;Blue-blooded princes. Whoever heard of a
+purple-blooded prince?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What did you mean anyhow, Nolan?&#8221;
+asked Eileen.
+</p>
+<p>Driven into a corner, Nolan hesitated. He
+had said purple on the spur of the moment,
+chiefly because it sounded derogatory and
+went well with prince.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What I really mean,&#8221; he began in a dispassionate
+legislative voice, &#8220;what I really
+mean is&mdash;purple in the face. You know,
+purple, splotchy skin, caused by eating too
+much rich food, drinking too much strong
+wine, playing cards and dancing and flirting.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Does flirting make you purple?&#8221; gasped
+Miriam. &#8220;It does not show on Lem yet.&#8221;
+And then she subsided quickly, hoping they
+had not noticed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Nolan, I have danced for weeks and
+weeks at a stretch, evenings, I mean, when
+the service men were here,&#8221; said Kitty, &#8220;and
+I am not purple yet.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, rats,&#8221; said Nolan. Then he brightened.
+&#8220;You have never seen a prince, so of
+course you do not understand. Wait till you
+see one. Then a purple prince will mean
+something in your young life.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I should not like to marry a purple creature,&#8221;
+said Eveley, wrinkling her nose distastefully.
+&#8220;I am too pink. And my blue
+eyes would clash with a purple husband, too.
+But maybe the dukes and lords are a different
+shade,&#8221; she finished hopefully.
+</p>
+<p>Nolan turned his back, and lit a cigarette.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you may smoke, Nolan, by all means.
+I always like my guests to be comfortable.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is your advice then, Nolan? You
+are so scornful about our suggestions,&#8221; said
+Eileen quietly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know what Nolan would like,&#8221; said Kitty
+spitefully. &#8220;He would advise Eveley to give
+him the money and make him her executor
+and appoint him her guardian. That would
+suit him to a T.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;My poor infant, Eveley can not use an
+executor and a guardian at the same time.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+One comes in early youth, or old age, the
+other after death. An executor&mdash;&#8221; he began,
+clearing his throat as for a prolonged
+technical explanation.
+</p>
+<p>Kitty plunged her fingers into her ears.
+&#8220;You stop that right now, Nolan Inglish.
+We came here to advise Eveley, not for you
+to practise on. If you begin that I shall
+go straight home&mdash;no, I mean I shall go out
+on the steps and wait for the ice-cream.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you advise, Nolan?&#8221; persisted
+Eileen.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, my personal advice is, and I strongly
+urge it, and plead it, and it will make me
+very happy, and&mdash;?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He wants to borrow it,&#8221; gasped Kitty.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go on, Nolan,&#8221; urged Eveley eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Put it in the bank on your checking account.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Put it&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Checking account?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, indeed, right in your checking account.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>A slow scornful light dawned in Eileen&#8217;s
+eyes. &#8220;I see,&#8221; she said coldly. &#8220;Very selfish,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+very unprofessional, very unfriendly. He
+would have his lady love absolutely bankrupt,
+that he may endow her with all the goods of
+life.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Nolan,&#8221; said Eveley weakly, lacking
+Eileen&#8217;s sharper perception, &#8220;don&#8217;t you know
+me well enough to realize that if I put it into
+my checking account it will be gone, absolutely
+and everlastingly gone, inside of six
+months, and not a thing to show for it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I know it,&#8221; he admitted humbly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And still you advise it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not advise it&mdash;I just want it,&#8221; he admitted
+plaintively.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley sat quietly for a while, counting
+her fingers, her lips moving once in a while,
+forming such words as marriage, travel,
+princes and banks. Then she clapped her
+hands and beamed upon them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lovely,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;Exquisite! Just
+what I wanted to do myself! You are dear
+good faithful friends, and wise, too, and you
+will never know how much your advice has
+helped me. Then it is all settled, isn&#8217;t it?
+And I shall buy an automobile.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span></p>
+<p>In a flash, she caught up a pillow, holding
+it out sharply in front of her, whirling it
+around like a steering wheel, while she
+pushed with both feet on imaginary clutches
+and brakes, and honked shrilly.
+</p>
+<p>But her friends leaned weakly back in their
+chairs and stared. Then they laughed, and
+admitted it was what they had expected all
+the time.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VI_A_WRONG_ADJUSTMENT' id='VI_A_WRONG_ADJUSTMENT'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<h3>A WRONG ADJUSTMENT</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Eveley&#8217;s resolve to spend her fortune
+for an auto met with less resistance
+than she had anticipated. It seemed that
+every one had known all along that she would
+fool the money away on something, and a
+motor was far more reasonable than some
+things.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I said travel,&#8221; said Kitty. &#8220;And we can
+travel in a car as well as on a train&mdash;more
+fun, too. And though it may cut us off from
+meeting a purple prince&mdash;a pretty girl with
+a car of her own is a combination no man
+can resist. And maybe if we are very patient
+and have good luck, we may save a millionaire
+from bandits, or rescue a daring aviator
+from capture by Mexicans.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam nodded, also, her eyes cloudy behind
+the dark lashes. &#8220;Very nice, dear. Get
+a lot of stunning motor things and&mdash;irresistible,
+simply irresistible. You must have a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span>
+red leather motor coat. You will be adorable
+in one. But you&#8217;ll have to shake Nolan, dear.
+You stand no chance in the world if you are
+constantly herded by a disagreeable young
+lawyer, guardianing you from every truant
+glance.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t at all bad,&#8221; quickly interposed
+Eileen. &#8220;I believe that more than anything
+else in the world, a motor-car reconciles a
+woman to life without a husband. She gets
+thrills in plenty, and retains her independence
+at the same time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eileen,&#8221; put in Nolan sternly, &#8220;I am disappointed
+in you. A woman of your ability
+and experience trying to prejudice a young
+and innocent girl against marriage is&mdash;is&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are awfully hard to suit, Nolan,&#8221;
+complained Eveley gently. &#8220;You shouted at
+Miriam and Kitty for advising a husband,
+and now you roar at Eileen for advising
+against one.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t the husband I object to&mdash;it is
+their cold-blooded scheme to go out and pick
+one up. Woman should be sought&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, when Eveley gets a car she&#8217;ll be
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+sought fast enough,&#8221; said Kitty shrewdly.
+&#8220;She hasn&#8217;t suffered from any lack of admirers
+as it is, but when she goes motoring
+on her own&mdash;<i>ach</i>, Louie.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then you approve of the car, do you,
+Nolan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, since I can not think of any quicker
+or pleasanter way of spending the money,&#8221;
+he said slowly, &#8220;I may say that I do, unequivocally.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why unequivocally?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s it mean, anyhow?&#8221; demanded
+Kitty.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t you talk English, Nolan?&#8221; asked
+Eveley, in some exasperation. &#8220;You started
+off as if you were in favor, but now heaven
+only knows what you mean.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Get your car, my poor child, by all means.
+Get your car. But a dictionary is what you
+really need.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The rest of the evening they were enthusiastic
+almost to the point of incoherency.
+Kitty was in raptures over an exquisite red
+racer she had seen on the street. Miriam described
+Mary Pickford&#8217;s rose-upholstered car,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+and applied it to Eveley&#8217;s features. Nolan
+developed a surprisingly intimate knowledge
+of carburetors, horse-powers and cylinders.
+</p>
+<p>When at last they braved the rustic stairway,
+homeward bound, with exclamatory
+gasps and squeals, gradually drifting away
+into silence, Eveley sat down on the floor to
+take off her shoes&mdash;a most childish habit carried
+over into the years of age and wisdom&mdash;and
+was immediately wrapped in happy
+thoughts where stunning motor clothes and
+whirring engines and Nolan&#8217;s pleasant eyes
+were harmoniously mingled. And when at
+last she started up into active consciousness
+again, and rushed pellmell to bed, mindful of
+her responsibility as a business girl, sleep
+came very slowly. And when it came at last,
+it was a chaotic jumble of excited dreams
+and tossings.
+</p>
+<p>The life of the bride and groom in the nest
+beneath Eveley&#8217;s Cloud Cote had progressed
+so sweetly and smoothly that Eveley had
+come to feel it was quite a friendly dispensation
+of Providence that permitted her to live
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
+one story up from Honeymooning. So the
+next morning, in the midst of the confusion
+that came from dressing and getting her
+breakfast and reading motor ads in the morning
+paper at the same time, she was utterly
+electrified to hear a sudden sharp cry of
+anguish from little Mrs. Bride beneath&mdash;a
+cry accompanied by sounds caused by nothing
+in the world but a passionate and hysterical
+pounding of small but violent feet upon
+the floor.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oooooh, oooooh, don&#8217;t talk to me, Dody,
+I can&#8217;t bear it. I can&#8217;t, I can&#8217;t. Ooooh, I
+wish I were dead. Go away, go away this instant
+and let me die. Oh, I shall run away,
+I shall kill myself! Oooooh!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dearie, sweetie, don&#8217;t,&#8221; begged Mr. Groom
+distractedly. &#8220;Lovie, precious, please.&#8221; And
+his voice faded off into tender inarticulate
+whispers.
+</p>
+<p>For a long second Eveley was speechless.
+Then she said aloud, very grimly, &#8220;Hum.
+It has begun. I suppose I may look for flat-irons
+and rolling-pins next. Hereafter they
+are Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Married People.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span></p>
+<p>After long and patient, demonstrative
+pleading on his part, Mrs. Severs was evidently
+restored to a semblance of reason and
+content, and quiet reigned for a while until
+the slam of the door indicated that Mr. Severs
+had heeded the call of business.
+</p>
+<p>Almost immediately there came a quick
+creaking of the rustic stairs and a light tap
+on Eveley&#8217;s window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come in,&#8221; she called pleasantly. &#8220;I sort
+of expected you. You will excuse me, won&#8217;t
+you, for not getting up, but I have only fifteen
+minutes to finish my breakfast and
+catch the car.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are awfully businesslike, aren&#8217;t
+you?&#8221; asked Mrs. Severs admiringly. &#8220;Yes,
+I will have a cup of coffee, thanks. I need
+all the stimulation I can get.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She was pale, and her eyes were red-rimmed,
+Eveley noted commiseratingly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We are expecting an addition to our family
+this afternoon, Miss Ainsworth,&#8221; she began,
+her chin quivering childishly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mercy!&#8221; gasped Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Our father-in-law,&#8221; added Mrs. Severs
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+quickly. &#8220;Dody&#8217;s father. He is coming to
+live with us.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; breathed Eveley. &#8220;Won&#8217;t that be
+lovely?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mrs. Severs burst into passionate weeping.
+&#8220;It won&#8217;t be lovely,&#8221; she sobbed. &#8220;It
+will be ghastly.&#8221; She sat up abruptly and
+wiped her eyes. &#8220;He is the most heart-breaking
+thing you ever saw, and he doesn&#8217;t
+like me. He doesn&#8217;t approve of dimples, and
+he says I am soft. And he has the most desperate
+old chum you ever saw, a perfect
+wreck with red whiskers, and they get together
+every night and play pinochle and
+smoke smelly old pipes, and he won&#8217;t have
+curtains in his bedroom, and he is crazy
+about a phonograph, and he won&#8217;t eat my
+cooking.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I should think you would like that,&#8221; said
+Eveley. &#8220;Maybe he will cook for himself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is just it,&#8221; wailed Mrs. Severs. &#8220;He
+does. He cooks the smelliest kind of corn
+beef and cabbage, and eats liver by the&mdash;by
+the cow, and has raw onions with every meal.
+And he drinks tea by the gallon. And he
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span>
+cooks everything himself and piles it on his
+plate like a mountain and carries it to the
+table and sits there and eats it right before
+company and everybody.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see how Mr. Severs ever came to
+have a father like that,&#8221; said Eveley in open
+surprise.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, the funny thing about it is that he
+would really be very nice if he wasn&#8217;t so outrageous.
+And he swears terribly. He says
+&#8216;Holy Mackinaw&#8217; at everything. But he
+loves Dody. They lived together for years,
+and it nearly killed him when Dody got married.
+And Dody said, &#8216;You will live with us
+of course, father,&#8217; and so we expected it. But
+he went off for a visit after we were married&mdash;he
+and the red-whiskered friend, and we
+sort of thought&mdash;we kind of hoped&mdash;miracles
+do happen, you know&mdash;and so I just kept believing
+that something would turn up to save
+us. But it didn&#8217;t. Dody got a letter this
+morning, and he will be here this afternoon.
+Oh, I wish I were dead.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is he terribly poor?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mercy, no! He&#8217;s got plenty of money.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
+Lots more than we have. Enough to live anywhere
+he pleases.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I see it all,&#8221; said Eveley ominously. &#8220;You
+won&#8217;t be happy with him, and he won&#8217;t be
+happy with you, but you are all putting up
+with it because it is your&mdash;duty.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that is it, of course.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley poured herself another cup of coffee
+and drank it rapidly, without cream, and
+only one lump of sugar. &#8220;I am upset,&#8221; she
+said at last. &#8220;This has simply shattered the
+day for me. Excuse me, you&#8217;ll have to hurry,
+I only have five minutes left. I haven&#8217;t explained
+my belief and principles to you&mdash;you
+being young and newly married and needing
+all the illusions possible&mdash;but I do not believe
+in duty.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gracious,&#8221; gasped the bride. &#8220;You
+don&#8217;t?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Absolutely not. No human being should
+do his duty under any conceivable circumstances.
+You see, there are two kinds, the
+pleasurable ones, and the painful ones.
+Pleasurable duties are done, not because they
+are duties, but because they are pleasurable.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span>
+So they do not count. And a painful duty can
+not be a duty or it would not be painful. My
+idea is, that there must be a happy adjustment
+of every necessity, so when a duty is
+painful, it is the wrong adjustment. You and
+your father-in-law are giving yourselves pain
+because it is the wrong adjustment.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It sounds very clever.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is the only beautiful plan of life,&#8221; said
+Eveley modestly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And then we would not have to live with
+father at all?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Most certainly not.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It certainly is a glorious theory,&#8221; said
+the bride enthusiastically. &#8220;You explain it
+to Dody, will you? He is positively death
+on duty, especially when it is painful. He&#8217;d
+do his duty if it killed him and me, burned
+the house down and started a revolution.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have to go now,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;Excuse
+me for rushing you off, but I am late already.
+I&#8217;ll explain it to you another time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Very skilfully she piloted her caller out
+the window and down the rustic steps.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Remember this,&#8221; she said as they reached
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+the bottom. &#8220;As long as duty is painful, it
+is not a duty and can not be. Now find another
+adjustment. That is the end of it.&#8221;
+And she started on a quick trot for the corner.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But father will be here this afternoon
+just the same,&#8221; called Mrs. Severs after her
+in mournful tones.
+</p>
+<p>Being very businesslike, Eveley made a
+set of notes about the case on her way down-town.
+</p>
+<p>Liver and cabbage.
+</p>
+<p>Raw onions.
+</p>
+<p>Smelly pipe.
+</p>
+<p>Red-whiskered friend.
+</p>
+<p>Pinochle.
+</p>
+<p>Hates dimples. (I&#8217;ll keep my left side
+turned his way.)
+</p>
+<p>Money enough to live on.
+</p>
+<p>Crazy about Dody&mdash;christened Andrew.
+</p>
+<p>Dody believes in duty.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course it is up to me to save them,&#8221;
+she decided cheerfully, and was quite happy
+at the prospect of an engagement in her
+campaign. &#8220;But I can&#8217;t neglect getting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span>
+my car, even to save human nature from its
+duty,&#8221; she added. And then her mind wandered
+from the duties of brides, to the pleasures
+of young motorists.
+</p>
+<p>Her plan of expenditure was most lucid.
+She would invest eighteen hundred dollars
+in a car, and spend two hundred for clothes
+&#8220;to sustain the illusion.&#8221; Nolan did not understand
+exactly what she meant by that,
+but on general principles was convinced it
+was something reprehensible and sneered at
+it. The other five hundred was to be deposited
+in the bank as a guarantee for future
+tires and gasoline and repairs. Nolan said
+that according to his information it would be
+wiser to buy a second-hand car for five hundred,
+and keep the eighteen hundred for
+tires and gas and repairs.
+</p>
+<p>But Nolan was a struggling young lawyer&mdash;even
+more struggling than young&mdash;and the
+girls were accustomed to his pessimistic murmurs,
+and gave them no heed at all.
+</p>
+<p>Although Eveley had determined to confine
+herself to eighteen hundred dollars for
+the car, she was not morally above accepting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span>
+demonstrations of cars entailing twice, and
+even thrice, that expenditure. &#8220;For,&#8221; she
+said, &#8220;for all I know somebody else may die
+and leave me some more, and then I can get
+an expensive one. And besides, I feel it is
+my duty&mdash;oh, no, I mean I feel it would be
+lots of fun, as a conscientious and enthusiastic
+motorist to know the good points of
+every car.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Nolan assured her of his complete support
+and assistance in her search, even to the
+detriment of his labors at the law office,
+where he hoped one day to be a member of
+considerable standing. Nolan had two fond
+dreams&mdash;to become a regular member of the
+firm, and to marry Eveley. They were closely
+related, one to the other. If he could not
+marry Eveley, he had no desire for a partnership
+nor anything else but speedy death. But
+until he had the partnership, he felt himself
+morally obligated to deny himself Eveley in
+the flesh. For he was one of those unique,
+old-fashioned creatures who feels that man
+must offer position and affluence as well as
+love to the lady of his choice. So it was no
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+mere mercenary madness on his own account
+that kept Nolan living a life of gentle and
+economic obscurity, patient struggling for a
+foothold on the ladder of fame in his profession.
+</p>
+<p>He knew better than to propose to Eveley.
+He realized that if they were once formally
+and blissfully engaged, he, being only mortal
+man with human frailties, could never resist
+the charm of complete possession, and he
+foresaw that betrothal would end in speedy
+marriage to the death of his determination
+to bring his goddess glory.
+</p>
+<p>Thus Nolan&#8217;s lips were sealed&mdash;on the subject
+of marriage. &#8220;Though goodness knows,
+he has plenty to say about everything else,&#8221;
+Eveley sometimes complained rather plaintively.
+And his attentions took the form of a
+more or less pleasant watch-dog constancy,
+and an always more and never less persistence
+in warding off other suitors not handicapped
+by his own scruples in regard to matrimony.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VII_PAINFUL_DUTY' id='VII_PAINFUL_DUTY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<h3>PAINFUL DUTY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>When Eveley arrived home late that
+night she smiled to observe that all
+the down-stairs windows were wide open to
+the breeze, and in the corner bedroom, apportioned
+to Father-in-law, the curtains were
+down. At the back of the house she found
+Father-in-law himself, with the proverbial
+whiskered friend, critically inspecting her
+rustic steps through the clouds of smoke
+from their pipes which they removed to facilitate
+their interested stares as she approached.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How do you do?&#8221; she cried brightly.
+&#8220;You are Mr. Severs, Senior, aren&#8217;t you?
+Welcome home! And this is your friend, I
+know.&#8221; She shook hands with them both,
+with great cordiality. She must disarm
+them, before she could begin working them
+into a proper adjustment with life. &#8220;I am
+Eveley Ainsworth. Are you admiring my
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+steps? I am very eccentric and temperamental
+and all that, and I have to live alone.
+I do not like being crowded in with other
+folks. I like to do as I please, and not bother
+with anybody else.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very sensible, I&#8217;m sure,&#8221; said Father-in-law.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure,&#8221; echoed the whiskered one breezily.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That was the first little seed,&#8221; she chuckled
+to herself, as she ran blithely up the
+stairs. Later, when she heard Mrs. Severs in
+the room beneath, she went to the head of
+the inner stairway and called down to her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come up a minute. I want to see you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mrs. Severs lost no time. &#8220;My husband
+says it is simply absurd,&#8221; she began breathlessly.
+&#8220;He says people have to do their
+duty. He says a thing is right or wrong,
+and that settles it. We are all father has in
+the world, and Dody says it is plainly our
+duty to keep him with us. He says a fellow
+would be taking an awful chance to marry
+you, if that is a sample of your principles.
+Don&#8217;t you believe in any duty, Miss Ainsworth?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Only one,&#8221; said Eveley with great firmness.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, what is that?&#8221; came the eager query.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That,&#8221; was the dignified reply, &#8220;is something
+that doesn&#8217;t enter into this case at all,
+and doesn&#8217;t need to be discussed.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Dody says&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dody may be a very sweet husband, but
+he is not progressive. His idea is old, outworn
+and antedeluvian. Simply musty.
+Now, this is my plan&mdash;the plan of progress
+according to new ideas which means happiness
+for all. Father-in-law and the whiskered
+friend are born for each other. They
+are affinities, and soul-mates, and everything.
+I saw it at the first glance. We&#8217;ll
+get them a little cottage off somewhere beyond
+the odor of onions, and they can revel
+in liver and pipes to their hearts&#8217; content.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Impossible! Whiskers has a wife of his
+own.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; Eveley was much disconcerted.
+&#8220;Well, maybe she will get a divorce so her
+husband can marry your father&mdash;I mean&mdash;maybe
+it won&#8217;t stick, you know.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been sticking for forty years, and I
+suppose it will go on forever. You see she
+doesn&#8217;t have him around much and so she
+probably forgets how he is. He is always
+out with father, and she is asleep when he
+gets home.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, don&#8217;t worry about it. He had no
+business being married, for it was a lovely
+plan&mdash;but it can&#8217;t be helped now. Never
+mind.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen,&#8221; said Mrs. Severs suddenly.
+&#8220;Hear the sizzling. That&#8217;s onions. Didn&#8217;t I
+tell you? I was going to have chicken croquettes
+and creamed peas, with lettuce salad
+and fruit jello. But how can Dody and I sit
+down to a decent meal with the whole house
+reeking with tobacco and onions?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never mind, dear. We&#8217;ll find the adjustment
+in time. Just try to be patient.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>For another night, and another day,
+Eveley puzzled and pondered&mdash;during intervals
+of studying motor folders and reading
+advertisements. And the next evening she
+found Mrs. Severs wringing her hands on
+the front porch.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221; she asked anxiously. &#8220;Did
+he kill himself?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No such luck,&#8221; wailed Mrs. Severs. &#8220;He
+won&#8217;t sleep in the bedroom because he says
+it is too shady under all those vines, and
+he has moved himself out into the living-room
+on the couch. He says there is no
+sense having a house all cluttered up with
+rooms anyhow, he doesn&#8217;t believe in it. He
+says two rooms are enough for anybody.
+You can cook and eat in the kitchen, and sit
+and sleep in the other room, and anything
+more is just plain tony.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I tell you what,&#8221; suggested Eveley brightly.
+&#8220;Be mean to him. Be real snippy and
+bossy. Don&#8217;t let him have his own way.
+You just fire him right back into the bedroom.
+Tell him you are head of this house,
+and he&#8217;s got to mind. Then he&#8217;ll be only too
+glad to move out and then you&#8217;ll have some
+peace.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t,&#8221; moaned Mrs. Severs. &#8220;He&#8217;s
+really kind of nice if he wasn&#8217;t so awful. I
+couldn&#8217;t be mean to Dody&#8217;s father. And
+Dody would not let me if I wanted to.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, don&#8217;t worry,&#8221; said Eveley automatically.
+&#8220;I am still working. We will try every
+different adjustment, and in time we shall
+hit the right one. Just keep happy and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Keep happy,&#8221; wailed Mrs. Severs. &#8220;Don&#8217;t
+be sarcastic, Miss Ainsworth, please. I never
+expect to be happy again.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she went home, and Eveley called
+Nolan on the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must come immediately and have
+supper with me. And stop on the way and
+get a small steak, and ask the drug-store to
+deliver a pint of ice-cream at six-thirty
+sharp. And you might bring a nice tomato
+if you can remember, and I shall have everything
+else ready. We won&#8217;t have much to-night,
+just steak and salad and ice-cream.
+I need professional advice.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan never dreamed of refusing an invitation
+of any sort whatever from Eveley,
+and he started immediately, gathering up the
+dinner on his way. As he put his foot on
+the lowest step of the rustic stair, Eveley&#8217;s
+head thrust itself suddenly from between the
+curtains.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;There is a proper adjustment,&#8221; she said,
+in a stern voice. &#8220;Just keep your mind on
+that. Painful duty is no duty, and can not
+be. There is a right adjustment&mdash;and we
+must find it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan continued warily up the rickety
+stair, greeting her at the top cordially.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello, Eveley. My, the coffee smells good.
+I am hungry as a bear, too. I saw you out
+last night with that sad-eyed Buddy soldier,
+and I do not approve of it. I shall deem it my
+duty to administer a proper adjustment of his
+facial characteristics if he doesn&#8217;t mind his
+own business. The ice-cream will be here at
+six-thirty sharp. How is Kitty? You have
+flour on your ears. Shall I fix the tomatoes?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not bring you here in a social capacity
+to discuss personal matters,&#8221; said
+Eveley coldly. &#8220;I told you yesterday that my
+home is saddened by the grotesque figure of
+maladjustment stalking in our midst under
+his usual guise of Duty. As I have explained
+so many times, there is bound to be a happy
+adjustment. But this time I can not figure
+it out. Now I call on you.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Retainer&#8217;s fee, one hundreds dollars. Payable,
+of course, in advance.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, well, it is not strictly legal. Let&#8217;s just
+talk it over nicely as dear good friends, and
+if you have an idea I can absorb it. Nolan,
+Eileen said she saw you at lunch to-day with
+a woman.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eileen? How is Eileen? I haven&#8217;t seen
+her for days. Let&#8217;s have a party soon, and
+invite Kitty and Eileen and Miriam and me,
+and you give us a midnight supper here in
+the Cote, will you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was at the Grant.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not see Eileen, but of course I was
+busy. Was she alone? We had a nice luncheon&mdash;grilled
+pork chops and country gravy.
+The gravy was good&mdash;no lumps. It made me
+think of yours.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;My gravy is not always lumpy,&#8221; she said
+with a frown. &#8220;It just happened that way
+the last two times because I was called to the
+telephone while I was making it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, sure, that&#8217;s all right.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He carefully adjusted her chair at the
+table, and drew his own close beside it, pulling
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+his plate and silverware half-way around
+the table from where Eveley had placed them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You look sweeter than ever, to-night,
+Eve. But I hope the gravy is not lumpy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She wore a black dress and white gloves,
+and a black hat.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eileen did? Was it a new dress?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, the one with you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure enough, I believe she did. A
+georgette dress, beaded in front. Quite
+pretty. But there was a rip in her glove.
+She showed it to me herself. She said she
+did it on the car, but it looked like an old
+rip to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And after luncheon you went away in her
+car, didn&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Her uncle&#8217;s car. Just for a short run
+through the park, and then she dropped me
+at the office. Quite a pleasant woman. She
+was so polite to me, and treated me with such
+gentle deference. It was quite a change. It
+made me think of you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley put down her fork. &#8220;Who was it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bartlett&#8217;s niece from San Francisco. Visiting
+here. He had promised to take her for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+luncheon, but at the last minute Graves came
+in and they were busy, so he turned her over
+to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not see why you are always the one
+to take their nieces and daughters out for
+luncheon. This is the fourth time in two
+months. I believe you do it on purpose.
+Why should they always pick on you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Partly because of my beauty, perhaps,
+and my charming manners as well as my
+generally winsome demeanor in the presence
+of ladies. I suppose Eileen also informed you
+that this niece is Mrs. Harmon Delavan, and
+has three children in addition to a husband.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Nolan, how you do burble along. I
+didn&#8217;t bring you here to discuss Bartlett&#8217;s
+relatives. Now get down to business. How
+can we adjust the honeymooners and the
+father-in-law&mdash;though honestly I think he is
+great fun myself, and would a whole lot
+rather live with him than with Dody. Only
+he does not fit in with the honeymoon scheme
+of life.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said Nolan dreamily, &#8220;why don&#8217;t
+you marry him, and bring him up here?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Nolan, you are clever. I never
+thought of that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At the evident delight in her voice, Nolan
+stared.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not to me, goosey, he would never consent,
+for I have a dimple and he does not approve
+of them. So far I have kept it on the
+off side, and he has not noticed, but I
+couldn&#8217;t always turn the left side to a husband,
+could I?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marry him to somebody else, of course.
+I can&#8217;t just decide who&mdash;but there will be
+some one. You are such a help, Nolan. Now
+let&#8217;s not bother with the duties of our neighbors,
+but have a good time. To-morrow I
+shall find him a wife.&#8221; Then she leaned toward
+Nolan, refilling his cup, and said
+gurglingly, &#8220;Was he working awfully hard
+at the stupid old office?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, just one thing, while we are on
+our duties,&#8221; he said, catching her hand.
+&#8220;You have made one exception, always, but
+you have never told me what it is. And it is
+so unlike you to except anything when you
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+get started. What is the one duty that is
+justified and necessary?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley promptly pulled her hand away.
+&#8220;That,&#8221; she said, &#8220;is purely personal. It
+will not do any one any good to talk about
+it. So it is all sealed up on the inside.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I shall never know what your one
+duty in life is?&#8221; he asked, with mock pleading,
+but real curiosity.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It may hit you sometime&mdash;harder than
+anybody else,&#8221; she said, laughing. &#8220;But in
+the meantime let&#8217;s talk of other things.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>As soon as Mr. Severs had started to work
+the next morning, without the tender farewells,
+for the presence of Father-in-law
+placed an instinctive veto on such demonstrations&mdash;Eveley
+kicked briskly on the floor as
+a summons, and Mrs. Severs answered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley?&#8221; she called up to the ceiling.
+</p>
+<p>And Eveley shouted down to the floor of
+her room, &#8220;Come up&mdash;I&#8217;ve got it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At that Mrs. Severs fairly flew up the
+stairs.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley caught her on the landing, and
+whirled her around the room in a triumphant
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+dance, stopping at last so abruptly that Mrs.
+Severs was almost precipitated to the floor.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now listen. I&#8217;ve got it. The proper adjustment,
+that will make you all happy and
+prove my theory.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, yes, yes,&#8221; chanted Mrs. Severs ecstatically.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He must get married.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now don&#8217;t interrupt. Let me finish. Of
+course he has no notion of such a thing, but
+leave it to me. We shall marry him off before
+he knows it. We must find the woman
+first. Out at Chula Vista there are a lot of
+beautiful elderly ladies in the Home who are
+all alone and would be only too glad to have
+a cozy home and a&mdash;a&mdash;pleasant husband
+and&mdash;all that. So we&#8217;ll go out on Saturday
+afternoon and look them over and pick out
+a good one. Then I&#8217;ll invite her to visit me
+for a week, and you and I will both be busy
+so Father-in-law will have to entertain her,
+and she&#8217;ll cut out old Whiskers in no time at
+all.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley flung out her hands jubilantly.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></p>
+<p>Mrs. Severs showed no enthusiasm. &#8220;That
+is what I wanted to tell you. He can&#8217;t. He
+is already married.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley dropped into a chair. &#8220;Married!&#8221;
+she stammered. &#8220;You told me Dody&#8217;s
+mother was dead.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is, of course. But what I did not tell
+you is this. Three years ago while Dody
+was in France, father must have sort of lost
+his mind or something, for without a minute&#8217;s
+warning, he up and married somebody&mdash;a
+woman, of course. When Dody got home
+from the war she was not there, and when
+he asked about her, father just sort of
+laughed and looked sheepish, and said, &#8216;Oh,
+she&#8217;s gone on a visit.&#8217; &#8216;Where to?&#8217; Dody
+asked. &#8216;Oh, somewhere around,&#8217; said father.
+&#8216;Is she coming back?&#8217; asked Dody. &#8216;Holy
+Mackinaw, I hope not,&#8217; said father, and that
+is the last we ever heard of her. But of
+course he is still married.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>It was a hard blow, but Eveley rallied at
+last, though slowly. &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry,&#8221; she
+said monotonously. &#8220;There is another adjustment.
+Just keep happy&mdash;and give me
+time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VIII_SHE_MEETS_A_DEMONSTRATOR' id='VIII_SHE_MEETS_A_DEMONSTRATOR'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<h3>SHE MEETS A DEMONSTRATOR</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve simply got to sneak off on
+some pretext or another, and meet me
+at the Doric agency at three o&#8217;clock for a
+demonstration. They say it is perfectly wonderful&mdash;why,
+it hardly takes a look of gas to
+go a thousand miles, and its tires are literally
+cast iron.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>This was her summons by telephone. And
+Nolan, determined not to desert trusting little
+Eveley to the tender mercies of motor sharks,
+went to the Middle Member, whose position
+he confidently expected one day to possess,
+and announced that important business of a
+personal nature required his presence that
+afternoon. And because Nolan never abused
+privileges&mdash;or if he did was never detected in
+the act&mdash;and because his firm was composed
+of human beings and not the granite machines
+common to fiction, Nolan encountered
+no difficulty.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span></p>
+<p>And Eveley went to her own employer, and
+smiling seductively upon him, said vaguely
+that some awfully important and unexpected
+things had come up, and could she please get
+off at three, if she would work particularly
+hard in the meantime to make up?
+</p>
+<p>And because Eveley was very pretty, and
+withal very businesslike, and pleasant about
+trifles like working after hours and special
+grinds and such things, and because her employer
+was acutely conscious of her soft
+voice and bright eyes, he smiled in return
+and said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, indeed, Miss Ainsworth, I heard you
+phoning about it. Go, by all means, but I do
+not think you will like the Doric. The tires
+are all right, but the cylinders are under
+size, and this causes a constant friction with
+the magneto which impairs the efficiency and
+makes the car a poor climber and weak on
+endurance runs.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>That is probably not what he said at all,
+but it is what Eveley understood him to say,
+and from it she gathered that she might go
+at three, but that there was something perfectly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span>
+terrible about the Doric that made it
+impossible for her to buy it, but of course she
+could not disappoint the salesman with the
+deep blue eyes, and so she would have the
+demonstration anyhow.
+</p>
+<p>From three o&#8217;clock on, the afternoon was
+a perfect daze of magnetos and batteries and
+gas feeders and real leather upholstery. But
+Eveley interrupted once, to run into a drug-store
+to the public telephone, to call Kitty,
+and when she had her friend on the wire she
+said eagerly:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Kit, we are trying out the Doric. It
+is awfully good some ways, and rotten some
+ways, and so of course I can&#8217;t buy it, but the
+salesman has the most irresistible eyes you
+ever saw in your life, and so I am wearing my
+new blue veil, and I look a dream in it. Now
+you scoot up to the Cote, will you, and have
+supper ready for us at six&mdash;Nolan and me.
+If Nolan were not along I might bring the
+blue-eyed Doric man, but he is so overbearing
+about those things&mdash;Nolan, I mean. Get a
+nice juicy steak, he needs nourishment. I
+think if I could feed him constantly for a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
+month and save him from the restaurants he
+might develop enough animal magnetism to&mdash;anyhow,
+he needs the steak, so get a good
+one at Hardy&#8217;s and charge it to me. And
+will you go by the cleaners, and get my motor
+gloves&mdash;they said it would only be a quarter
+for the cleaning, so don&#8217;t pay them a cent
+more. Will you? That&#8217;s a nice girl.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At six o&#8217;clock, wearily, happily, still discoursing
+earnestly of magnetos and batteries,
+Eveley and Nolan climbed the rickety rustic
+steps, brightening visibly as the odor of
+broiling steak and frying potatoes was
+wafted out to them. Nolan went in first,
+carefully stepping out of the way before he
+reached a hand to assist Eveley, for he knew
+that she would fall headlong among the
+cushions she kept conveniently placed for
+that purpose. &#8220;It is easy enough getting in,
+if you take your time,&#8221; she always said defensively
+to criticizing friends. &#8220;But I am
+usually in a hurry myself, so I keep the
+cushions handy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>On this evening, being tired, she remained
+on the floor where she had comfortably
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span>
+landed, and lazily removed her hat and veil,
+tossing them lightly into a distant corner.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If it wasn&#8217;t for the carburetor rubbing
+on the spark plugs,&#8221; she said plaintively, &#8220;I&#8217;d
+get the Doric in spite of everything. Did
+you ever see such blue eyes in your life,
+Nolan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Mason is a better car in every way,&#8221;
+he said flatly. &#8220;Strongly built, low hung,
+smart-looking, and the engine perfect.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley frowned. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t that like a man?
+The Mason! I wish you could have seen him,
+Kitty. Fifty years old if he was a day, and
+bald, and two double chins. And talked
+through his nose. And what do you suppose
+he talked about? His wife&mdash;and how she
+loves the Mason. What do I care what his
+wife thinks about the Mason? I wouldn&#8217;t
+have the Mason if he offered me one. I&#8217;ll
+bet it is so easy riding that it fairly sprouts
+double chins&mdash;on the drivers.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are buying a car, Eveley&mdash;not a
+driver,&#8221; Nolan explained.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But the Doric is rather light in weight,
+and very high in price. How I wish you
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span>
+could have heard him tell about it, Kitty.
+When he said carburetor it was just like
+running up a scale of music. And his fingernails
+were manicured as nicely as my own.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is dinner ready?&#8221; Nolan interrupted furiously.
+&#8220;Come and eat. Great Scott! That
+girl would buy a bum car and a costly one, because
+the demonstrator has shined his nails.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And, Kitty, he said if we could go to-morrow
+evening at five-thirty he would take us
+to La Jolla to show us how she climbs the
+grades. She will go up on high.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;When did he say that?&#8221; interrupted
+Nolan. &#8220;I can not go with you to-morrow
+night. Don&#8217;t you remember I told you we
+had a meeting&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know, dear. I am so sorry. But Kitty
+will go with us, won&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will I?&#8221; echoed Kitty ecstatically. &#8220;Won&#8217;t
+I? Do you suppose they have another one,
+with brown eyes, to go along to&mdash;to change
+tires, or anything?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, but we can ask. He is going
+to phone me at the office to-morrow to find
+out where to call for us. He is very respectable.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+He goes to the Methodist Church, and
+his uncle is a banker in Philadelphia.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pass the potatoes, for heaven&#8217;s sake,&#8221;
+urged Nolan. &#8220;I feel sick.&#8221; And after a
+while he went on, persuasively: &#8220;There is
+no use to try that car out again, Eveley. It
+is no good. Or if you insist on it put it off
+until the next night, and I will go with you.
+We&#8217;ll all three go. Make a foursome if you
+like, with Kitty and the blue-eyed mutt.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Kitty does not like blue eyes. And besides,
+I am the one to be demonstrated to.
+And besides,&#8221; she winked at Kitty drolly,
+&#8220;I am sure he will be busy the rest of the
+week. For when I mentioned that you had
+an appointment to-morrow he said most
+particularly that to-morrow was the only free
+evening he had for weeks to come. And that
+reminds me, Nolan, that your advice about
+Father-in-law was no good. He is married
+already, and it is your fault, getting me
+buoyed up with hope, all to no purpose.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan was properly regretful.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think the old man likes to live
+with them?&#8221; he asked.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No, of course not. He hates it. He almost
+shudders when I tell him how lovely
+it is to have a son and daughter to live with.
+But I suppose he thinks it is his duty to
+stick, just as they think it is theirs to make
+him stick. People are so absurd, aren&#8217;t
+they?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, very,&#8221; he said soberly, his eyes intent
+on Eveley&#8217;s hair curling so tenderly
+about her ears. And he was really thinking
+how very absurd it was that a rising young
+lawyer should find it so tempting to touch
+that bit of curl, and to kiss it. Very absurd
+indeed!
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you thinking of something?&#8221; she
+asked hopefully, looking into his earnest
+eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, indeed.&#8221; And he forced his eyes
+away from the distracting curls. &#8220;Yes, indeed
+I am.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221; she begged, leaning toward
+him and slipping her fingers with childish
+eagerness into his hand.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why&mdash;just tempt him,&#8221; he stammered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tempt him, Nolan. &#8216;Holy Mackinaw,&#8217; as
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span>
+Father-in-law says, what do you mean, tempt
+him?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>In this predicament, Nolan was forced to
+concentrate. Why in the world had he said,
+&#8220;Tempt him?&#8221; The temptation of Eveley had
+nothing whatever to do with father-in-laws
+and the adjustment of duty. But Eveley expected
+him to produce a tangible and reasonable
+explanation.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, just tempt him, Eveley. You know
+what temptation is, don&#8217;t you? Then do it.&#8221;
+This was merely playing for time, seeking
+for illumination. &#8220;Just&mdash;keep it always before
+him, you know&mdash;how nice it would be
+to get off alone and be independent.&#8221; Nolan
+was a lawyer, and having forced a foothold,
+he made it secure. &#8220;Tempt him with freedom,
+talk to him about the joys of privacy,
+unrestrained intercourse with his whiskered
+crony, the delights of unlimited liver and
+onions, a bed in the sitting-room, meals by
+the kitchen fire, and a jar of tobacco on every
+chair. See? Tempt him until he can&#8217;t stand
+it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley looked at him appraisingly. &#8220;Nolan
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+Inglish, you are a whole lot cleverer than I
+ever thought you were. That is real talent.
+You have found the adjustment this time. I
+feel it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan, intoxicated with the warmth of her
+voice, the subtle flattery of word and tone,
+rushed on.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s find him a house, just a bit of a
+shack with a little garden and a mangy dog,
+and then razzle him with the vision of independence,
+and show him the house.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then Eveley stood up. &#8220;Will you help me
+do this, Nolan? You get nicer every day of
+your life.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Nolan, except for the presence of
+Kitty, would surely have said what he had
+no earthly business to say to Eveley yet&mdash;until
+circumstances and the Senior Member
+made it justifiable.
+</p>
+<p>He sat glowering and grim at the Important
+Meeting the next evening, when he
+should have been gratified that his presence
+was desired&mdash;for Maley wasn&#8217;t there, nor
+Garland, nor Alverson. But in spite of the
+Honor, and the Significance, Nolan&#8217;s mind
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+was wandering. He lost sight of the Truly
+Greats, and saw only a cloudy picture of
+Eveley, soft, sweet and dimply, sitting rapt
+by the side of the Darned Blue Eyes. And
+that night, at eleven o&#8217;clock, on his way to
+his modest room, he suddenly started. Coming
+demurely out of the Grant, he saw Eveley
+and the blue-eyed one, and laughing beside
+them, Kitty and some other equally reprehensible
+being. Nolan could hardly believe
+the evidence of his own eyes.
+</p>
+<p>He fumed openly while he allowed them a
+decent interval for reaching home, and then
+called Eveley by telephone.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, I thought I saw you and Kitty
+coming out of the Grant with some men a
+little while ago.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, did you?&#8221; Eveley&#8217;s voice was vibrant
+with surprise.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t that funny?&#8221; she laughed a little,
+softly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, were you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Were we what?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Were you there?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, yes, of course. We stopped for a
+sandwich. We missed our dinner. The engine
+broke down on the Biological Grade,
+and held us up for quite a while.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, it was perfectly all right. He found
+out to-day that he had a friend who is a
+life-long friend of Kitty&#8217;s and he brought him
+along, and we were all nicely introduced and
+everything was as proper as you please.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you buy the car?&#8221; he asked witheringly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no, he advised me, confidentially, not
+to. He is going to change to the Bemis
+agency to-morrow, and he thinks he will find
+it much more satisfactory. Wasn&#8217;t it a lovely
+night? Did you have a nice time with the
+High and Mighties? Kitty is going to stay
+all night with me, and we are just making
+some hot chocolate. Won&#8217;t you come for a
+cup?&mdash;Oh, just Kitty and I, and it is quite
+early. Come along, and we&#8217;ll tell you all the
+bad points about the Doric. But they say the
+Bemis is a wonder.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='IX_ADMITTING_DEFEAT' id='IX_ADMITTING_DEFEAT'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<h3>ADMITTING DEFEAT</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first Saturday after the organization
+of the Irish-American League brought a
+blessed spring rain, especially heaven-sent on
+her account, Eveley felt quite sure, for she
+was greatly worn from coping with motor
+salesmen and the father-in-law situation.
+And this was a rain that not even boys could
+stand, so she had a blissful afternoon alone,
+purring and puttering about contentedly in
+her Cloud Cote.
+</p>
+<p>But on the second Saturday, according to
+agreement, the League met in the appointed
+field for a game. This was Eveley&#8217;s first opportunity
+to witness the development of
+American principles in her chosen flotsam.
+The meeting had been called for one-thirty,
+and although Eveley arrived fifteen minutes
+early she found the field occupied by fully
+twenty youths of varying sizes, colors and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span>
+brogues. She gazed upon the motley array
+in helpless horror.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ern Swanson is going to be the captain,&#8221;
+said John Hop, with his ingratiating Oriental
+smile. &#8220;We just had an election and elected
+him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But we already have a captain,&#8221; protested
+Eveley, looking not without sympathy to the
+corner where Ivan Kerensky nursed his humiliation.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t know Ern was coming in,&#8221; said
+Alfredo Masseno, who had hurried up with
+half a dozen others to greet her. &#8220;Ern, he
+ought to be the captain. He&#8217;s awful rough;
+and baseball, why, he eats baseball alive! And
+he won&#8217;t come in unless he is the captain,
+and if he don&#8217;t come with us he&#8217;ll join the
+Red Dogs on National Avenue, and we want
+him with us because we have challenged them
+to a game and if they get Ern they&#8217;ll lick
+us.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then the newly elected captain sauntered
+up, his good-natured face reflecting the glory
+of his new command as well as his natural
+Swedish temperament.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;He doesn&#8217;t look rough,&#8221; said Eveley critically.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No&#8217;m, not when things suits him, but you
+ought to see him when he is mad. Golly!
+Why, even the cops lets that kid alone.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But it isn&#8217;t parliamentary&mdash;I mean, it
+isn&#8217;t proper to have one election after another
+like this. We chose one captain, and
+we ought to stand by him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That wasn&#8217;t no quorum what elected him,
+ma&#8217;m,&#8221; said Ern Swanson, smiling broadly.
+&#8220;They was only eight in the club then, and
+now we got twenty-three. That little bunch
+o&#8217; Greasers couldn&#8217;t represent us. No, ma&#8217;m.
+We want regular Americans at the head of
+this club, and so we had a regular election.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley knew this was dead against American
+principles, and she looked once more toward
+the sulking ex-captain. Then she remembered
+that he had won his own election
+in her absence by plain coercion, and decided
+to pass this one irregularity, but never
+again.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well, then,&#8221; she said weakly, &#8220;have
+it your own way this time. But there must
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
+be no more elections until the right time.
+Now, what are you going to do? Have a
+practise game? Then suppose we let Ivan be
+captain of the second team, anyhow, and you
+can pick your men and have a good game.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>This seemed a simple proposition to Eveley
+in her innocence, but on a sudden, pandemonium
+reigned. The whole crowd of boys
+propelled itself violently into the air, and
+there was a shrieking of voices and a tossing
+of bats and gloves, and a seemingly endless
+number of arms flying about. From out the
+clamor Eveley could distinguish repeated
+hoarse roars of &#8220;Pi-i-i-i-tcher,&#8221; &#8220;Pi-i-i-i-tcher,&#8221;
+&#8220;Ca-a-a-a-a-atcher,&#8221; &#8220;Ca-a-a-a-atcher,&#8221;
+and she retired to a remote spot to await the
+proper moment for gathering up the remains.
+Being a lady, she could make no sense
+at all of the deadly uproar, and she was
+quite thrilled and charmed when of a sudden
+the tumult subsided, and she found that out
+of that apparently aimless clamor, two teams
+had been selected and the players assigned to
+their various positions on the field. It was
+black magic to her.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span></p>
+<p>Eveley thought she knew baseball. She
+knew what a &#8220;foul&#8221; was, and she knew what
+happened when one passed four balls, and she
+knew when one was out. And she had often
+said fatuously that she loved baseball, because
+she understood it. But she did not understand
+it. She understood a mild respectable
+game that was played by scholarly young
+men in college. Baseball as played by the
+wild creatures on that Saturday afternoon
+was a sealed book to her. And she devoutly
+hoped and prayed it would remain sealed.
+She felt that death would be preferable to a
+full working knowledge of what went on in
+the Irish-American Club that afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>For an interval of perhaps three minutes
+the thing progressed with some degree of
+reason. Then issued a sudden roar from a
+dozen throats, every one came tearing in
+from his proper location on the field, and
+there was a yelling, huddled group in the
+center. Then Eveley crept timidly from the
+corner where she was engaging in prayer for
+the safety of herself and her club, and advanced
+cautiously toward the swaying pile
+of shrieking boys.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span></p>
+<p>She placed soft entreating hands on the
+outside layer, she even jumped up and
+down and yelled &#8220;Boys,&#8221; at the top of her
+healthy voice. But she was only an atom in
+a world gone upside down. Presently, however,
+and from no reason she could determine,
+the mob disentangled itself into distinct entities,
+the roar subsided into a few threatening
+growls and murmurs, and Captain Swanson
+hitched up his trousers and yelled &#8220;Play
+ball&#8221; triumphantly. Then the game went on.
+This identical thing occurred at intervals of
+about eight minutes during the entire afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley hoped devoutly that she was by her
+very presence helping to Americanize these
+particular bits of flotsam and jetsam&mdash;she
+trusted so. She was quite confident that so
+much personal agonizing on her part ought
+to be doing something to the wild beings.
+But there was no apparent development.
+</p>
+<p>She stood her ground bravely until four
+o&#8217;clock, and then, thanks to the merciful
+Providence who protects the fools gone in
+where angels would not dare, it seemed the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
+whole club had to set about delivering papers.
+But as there were important details to be
+attended to, such details as arranging for a
+permanent place to play, and providing protection
+for the balls and bats bought from
+Eveley&#8217;s inheritance, and paying dues, it was
+decided to have a meeting in the Service Hall
+that evening at seven.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley went home, and to bed.
+</p>
+<p>At six-thirty she got up, made a percolator
+full of strong coffee and drank it all.
+</p>
+<p>Then she went to the Service Hall to meet
+the Irish-American Bloodhounds, as she irreverently
+called them in her inner heart.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was out of her element, and she
+knew it.
+</p>
+<p>She was bent on Americanization, but not
+this kind. She would be glad to assist in the
+development of quick and kind-eyed Angelo
+at the office, or the courteous Jap in the tea
+garden, but for a baseball club she had no
+talent. She explained her needs and her deficiencies
+to the manager of the Recreation
+Center, and he finally agreed that the Bloodhounds
+needed a young virile athlete as their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+director. &#8220;And for his own sake,&#8221; said
+Eveley almost tearfully, &#8220;he ought to be a
+pugilist. I say this for his good. We
+need all our assimilators and should not expose
+them to sudden and violent death.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then Eveley talked to the boys, and told
+them how she had enjoyed and liked them,
+but explained that being only a woman she
+was terribly handicapped, and so would
+leave them to the discretion of one yet to be
+selected. She hoped they would remember
+they were good Americans, that they stood
+for honor and loyalty and right. Then she
+thanked God she was free, took her coat and
+hat and went out.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Miss Ainsworth! Is it really you?
+What in the world are you doing here?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley, startled on the threshold of the
+Service Club, looked up into the face of the
+blue-eyed Bemis salesman.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Mr. Hiltze,&#8221; she said mysteriously.
+&#8220;It is a deadly secret. You must never
+breathe a word of it. But since you have
+caught me in the act, I may as well confess.
+I am an Americanizer.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Great Scott!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You know what that is, don&#8217;t you? Helping
+to sort out and assimilate the flotsam
+and jetsam of the foreign element, and imbue
+it with sturdy American principles, and all
+that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mr. Hiltze laughed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps you do not understand the new
+great movement of Americanization,&#8221; she
+said with dignity. &#8220;It is the one immense
+fine movement of the day. It is to effect the
+amalgamation of all the riff-raff of humanity
+into a new America.&#8221; Eveley did not mention
+the quotation marks which circled her
+words.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is wonderful,&#8221; he said warmly. &#8220;It
+is a great surprise and a great pleasure, to
+find women of your type taking an interest
+in this progressive movement.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley leaned excitedly toward him. &#8220;Oh,
+Mr. Hiltze, are you interested in it, too?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;None more so, though like yourself I feel
+the best work is done silently and unobtrusively,
+and I prefer not to be exploited from
+the housetops.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, this gives me courage again&mdash;and I
+had nearly lost it. Have you been working
+to-night? Are you through for the evening?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and if your labors have been as exhaustive
+and soul-wracking as mine, perhaps
+you can spare an hour for nourishment with
+me at the Grant. Of all the jobs in the world!
+Selling motors is a game beside it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We agree again. I think it was rather
+foolish of me to tackle it in the beginning.
+I haven&#8217;t brains enough. Those boys may be
+flotsam and jetsam and all that, but they
+know more about patriotism than I do. Why,
+one little Italian, the cutest thing, with
+dimples and curly hair, told me more about
+country-love than I could have thought up
+in a month. He says, isn&#8217;t it patriotic
+for them to come here and pick up all the
+good they can, and take it back to enrich
+their own country? And when you come
+right down to it, isn&#8217;t it? Anyhow, the little
+Italians and Mexicans and Jews and I have
+organized an Irish-American Baseball Team,
+and I suppose we are amalgamating something
+into something. I think they are
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+amalgamating me. I feel terribly amalgamated
+right now.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am not in sympathy with the club idea,&#8221;
+said Hiltze thoughtfully, as they turned down
+Broadway toward the Grant. &#8220;It is such a
+treat to find your kind of woman in this&mdash;I
+mean, the womanly kind&mdash;I abhor the high-brow
+women that are so full of forward movement
+they can&#8217;t settle down to pal around
+comfortably and be human.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley, too, was kindling with the charm
+of a common interest and enthusiasm. Nolan
+took a very masculine stand on the subject.
+He said bruskly that the growth of Americanization
+must come from Americans. He
+said you couldn&#8217;t cram American ideals into
+the foreign-born until the home-born lived
+them. And he said the way to &#8220;teach Americanization
+was by being a darned good American
+yourself inside and outside and all the
+way through.&#8221; Which may have been good
+sense, but was no help in the forward movement.
+</p>
+<p>So Eveley looked upon Mr. Hiltze with
+great friendliness and sympathy, though she
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
+did glance up at the National Building as
+they went by, noticing the light in Nolan&#8217;s
+window, wondering if he was working hard&mdash;and
+if the work necessitated the presence
+of the new, good-looking stenographer the
+firm had lately acquired.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, my idea of Americanization,&#8221; Mr.
+Hiltze was saying when she finally tore her
+thoughts away from the National Building,
+&#8220;is pure personal effort. You take a club,
+and mix a lot of nationalities, and types, and
+interests up together&mdash;they work upon one
+another, and work upon you, and you get
+nowhere. But take an individual. Get chummy
+with him. Be with him. Study him.
+Make him like you&mdash;interest him in your
+work, and your sport, and your life&mdash;and
+there you have an American pretty soon.
+Club work is not definite, not decisive. It
+is the personal touch that counts. You could
+fritter away hours with a baseball club, and
+end at last just where you began. But you
+put the same time into definite personal contact
+with one individual foreigner&mdash;a girl, of
+course it would be in your case&mdash;it is young
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
+men in mine. You take a girl&mdash;a foreigner&mdash;win
+her confidence, then her interest, then
+her love&mdash;and you&#8217;ve made an American.
+That is the only Americanization that will
+stick. Suppose in a whole year you have won
+only one&mdash;still see what you have done. That
+one will go out among her friends, her relatives,
+she will marry and have children&mdash;and
+your Americanization is sown and re-sown,
+and goes on multiplying itself&mdash;yes, forever.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are right,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;And you
+find me a girl, and I will do it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a bargain,&#8221; he said quickly, stopping
+in the street to grasp her hand. &#8220;You are a
+little thoroughbred, aren&#8217;t you? It may take
+time, but as I go about among the young
+men I work with&mdash;well, I am pretty sure to
+find a girl among them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='X_THE_ORIGINAL_FIXER' id='X_THE_ORIGINAL_FIXER'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<h3>THE ORIGINAL FIXER</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Nolan,&#8221; came Eveley&#8217;s voice over
+the telephone, in its most wheedling
+accent, &#8220;I am so sorry to spoil our little party
+for to-night, but it is absolutely necessary
+just this once. The most utterly absurd case
+of painful duty you ever heard of. And although
+you do not exactly approve of my
+campaign, you would simply have to agree
+with me this time. And&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, since I can&#8217;t help it, I can stand it,&#8221;
+he said patiently. &#8220;What is it this time?
+Some silly woman finding it her duty to house
+and home all straying and wounded cats, or
+a young girl determined to devote her life to
+the salvation of blue-eyed plumbers, or&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a man,&#8221; she interrupted, rather
+acidly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ah,&#8221; came in guarded accents.
+</p>
+<p>There was silence for a tune.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;A man,&#8221; he repeated encouragingly,
+though not at all approvingly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. A long time ago he very carelessly
+engaged himself to a giddy little butterfly in
+Salt Lake City, and he doesn&#8217;t want to marry
+her at all, but he feels it is his duty because
+they have been engaged for so many years.
+Isn&#8217;t it pitiful?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But it is none of your business,&#8221; he began
+sternly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is another engagement with the enemy
+in my campaign,&#8221; she insisted. &#8220;Oh, just
+think of it&mdash;the insult to love, the profanation
+of the sacrament of marriage&mdash;the&mdash;the&mdash;the
+insult to womanhood&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You said insult before.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but just think of it. I feel it is my
+duty to save him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where did you come across him?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is the new member of our firm. I told
+you about him long ago. The good-looking
+one. He has been with us six months, but I
+am just getting acquainted with him. We
+had luncheon together to-day, and he told
+me about it. He doesn&#8217;t like social butterflies
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+at all, he likes clever, practical girls,
+with high ideals, and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Like you, of course.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, of course. I explained my theory to
+him, and he was perfectly enchanted with it.
+But he could not quite grasp it all in those
+few minutes&mdash;it is rather deep, you know&mdash;and
+so he is coming up to dinner to-night to
+make a thorough study of it. He feels it is
+his one last hope, and if it fails him, he is
+lost in the sea of a loveless marriage.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not object to your fishing him out
+of the loveless sea,&#8221; Nolan said plaintively.
+&#8220;But I do object to his eating the steak you
+promised me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Think of the cause,&#8221; she begged. &#8220;Think
+of the glory of winning another duty-bound
+soul to the boundless principles of freedom.
+Think of&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t think of anything, Eveley,&#8221; he said
+sadly, &#8220;except that good-looking fellow eating
+my steak, cooked by the hands of my er&mdash;girl.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>As a matter of fact, he took it very seriously.
+For while he was still firmly wedded
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span>
+to his ideal of fame and fortune, he was unceasingly
+haunted by the fearful nightmare
+of some interloper &#8220;beating his time,&#8221; as he
+crudely but patently expressed it.
+</p>
+<p>He spent a long and dreary evening, followed
+by other evenings equally long and
+dreary, for the Good-Looking Young Member
+found great difficulty in mastering the intricacies
+of a Dutiless Life, and Eveley continued
+his education with the greatest patience,
+and some degree of pleasure.
+</p>
+<p>Her interest in the pursuit of motors did
+not wane, however, and after trying every
+known make of car, and investigating the
+advance reports of all cars designed for manufacture
+in the early future, she blithely invested
+her fortune in a sturdy blue Rollsmobile,
+and was immediately enraptured with
+the sensation of absolute control of a throbbing
+engine.
+</p>
+<p>She found it no trifling matter to attend to
+her regular duties as private secretary, to
+keep her Cloud Cote dainty and sweet as of
+yore, to be out in her little blue car on every
+possible occasion, and still not neglect the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+Good-Looking Member and the Father-in-law
+in her campaign against duty.
+</p>
+<p>First of all, she invited the elder Mr. Severs
+to dinner, and forestalled his refusal by saying:
+&#8220;Please. I have a perfectly wonderful
+calf&#8217;s liver, and I want you to cook it for
+me. The odor that comes up from the
+kitchen below is irresistible.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>No father-in-law who loved calf&#8217;s liver and
+a kitchen could withstand that invitation and
+he found he had accepted before he knew it.
+To his boundless delight, the dinner was as
+though designed in Heaven, for his delectation.
+Clam chowder, calves&#8217; liver and sliced
+onions, watermelon preserves, and home
+made apple pie&mdash;made by Kitty, who had received
+rigid orders to provide the richest and
+juiciest confection possible, overflowing with
+apples and spice.
+</p>
+<p>As they sat chummily together over a red
+table-cloth, which Eveley had bought especially
+for this occasion, she said thoughtfully:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe I am the only really happy person
+in the world. Do you know why? It is
+because I am free. I am not dependent on
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span>
+the whims or fancies of any one. I eat what
+I like, go where I like, sleep when I like. It
+is the only life. I often think how remarkable
+it is that you can be so happy living
+down there with those honeymooners, doing
+everything to please them, eating what they
+like, going to bed when they get sleepy. It
+is wonderfully unselfish of you&mdash;but I
+couldn&#8217;t. I have to be free.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are a sensible girl,&#8221; he said thoughtfully.
+&#8220;I never saw any one more sensible.
+Don&#8217;t you ever get married. You stay like
+you are. Holy Mackinaw! Don&#8217;t this liver
+melt in your mouth?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not really care for an apartment like
+this,&#8221; Eveley went on. &#8220;I prefer a cottage,
+off by itself, with a little garden, and a
+few chickens in the back yard, just a tiny
+shack in a eucalyptus grove, a couple of
+rooms where I can eat in the kitchen and
+sleep in the living-room.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, mama, it sounds like Heaven,&#8221; and
+he rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am looking for a cottage now. If I find
+exactly what I want, I may move. I should
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
+think you would prefer something like that
+yourself&mdash;a little rusty cot and a garden and
+a dog, where you could smoke all over the
+house, and have your friend come in for
+pinochle every night. I do not see how you
+can live as you do cooped up with a bride
+and groom.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He sighed dolorously.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I suppose some people like it. It
+wouldn&#8217;t do for me. That is why I am looking
+for a cottage. Do you drive a car?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A Ford. I wanted to buy a Ford, but
+daughter said no, they would not have a
+Ford. They would wait till they could afford
+an electric. She wouldn&#8217;t let me buy a Ford
+for myself either. Said it looked too poor.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you ever have one?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Me? Sure I did. But I accidentally
+drove off the road into the sand when I was
+fishing once, and the tide was coming in and
+it washed the car down. And when I got
+back with another car to tow mine out, it was
+gone. Some said the tide carried it out to
+sea, and some said a thief stole it, but it was
+gone, so it didn&#8217;t matter how it went.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span></p>
+<p>Then Eveley was content to talk of other
+things.
+</p>
+<p>The next day she called up from the office,
+and asked to speak to Father-in-law.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am going up to see a little cottage to-night,&#8221;
+she said excitedly. &#8220;And my car is
+in the garage for adjustment. I unfortunately
+hit a curb and banged my fender. So I
+have rented a Ford for an hour or so, and
+want you to come along and drive it for me.
+Will you? Good! I will be there at five
+o&#8217;clock.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is a sensible girl,&#8221; he said to his son&#8217;s
+wife as he hung up the receiver. &#8220;A nice
+sensible girl. She ought to help you a good
+lot.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mrs. Severs only sniffed. She knew this
+was the working out of Eveley&#8217;s plot, though
+Eveley had not confided in her, knowing instinctively
+that the bride would tell the
+groom, and that the groom would be sure to
+stop it. So Mrs. Severs saw her father-in-law
+clamber into the little car at five
+o&#8217;clock, with something like hope in her
+breast.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span></p>
+<p>For a time, he was intensely absorbed in
+the manipulation of the gears, and the
+brakes, his lower lip clutched tightly between
+his teeth, breathing in full short gusts like
+a war horse champing for battle. But when
+at last they were fully started and running
+with reasonable smoothness, he said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who says this isn&#8217;t a car? You talk to
+daughter about it, will you? You explain to
+her that this is a regular car like anything
+else.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Some people are so funny, aren&#8217;t they?
+How well you drive it! It is lots of sport,
+isn&#8217;t it? I should think it would be fine for
+you to have a car to run around in. Then
+you and your friend could go to Ocean Beach,
+and fish, and up to the mountains and shoot,
+and have a wonderful time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hadn&#8217;t thought of that. I&mdash;you talk to
+daughter, will you? Tell her she won&#8217;t have
+to ride in it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Turn to the right here,&#8221; said Eveley suddenly.
+&#8220;The cottage is the cunningest thing
+you ever saw, just two rooms, high on the
+hill overlooking the bay. I am so tired of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+being cooped up in a house with a whole
+crowd. I want to be absolutely free to do as
+I please.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He sighed heavily again. &#8220;It is the only
+life. The only way to live. But shucks,
+folks can&#8217;t always have what they want.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;There it is, that little white house, third
+from the corner,&#8221; she said, pointing eagerly,
+as he drew up the car to a spasmodic halt.
+</p>
+<p>He looked critically at the small lawn and
+the tiny cottage. &#8220;Those rose-bushes need
+trimming,&#8221; he said, frowning. &#8220;There&#8217;s a
+loose corner on the porch, too. Bet that grass
+hasn&#8217;t been watered for three weeks. Why
+folks don&#8217;t keep up their property is more
+than I can see.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Look at the view,&#8221; said Eveley suddenly.
+&#8220;See the ships out in the bay, and the aeroplanes
+over North Island. Isn&#8217;t it beautiful?
+If we had field-glasses we could see the people
+walking around in Tent City, and the lemon
+in the tea on the veranda at Coronado.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got field-glasses at home,&#8221; he said
+wistfully. &#8220;In my suit-case. But I didn&#8217;t
+unpack. Daughter does not like a lot of trash
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span>
+around the house. I&#8217;ll bet we could see the
+gobs on that battle-ship if we had the
+glasses.&#8221; He turned again to the yard. &#8220;It&#8217;ll
+take a lot of work keeping up this place. And
+you busy every day wouldn&#8217;t have much time
+for it. I reckon you&#8217;d be afraid alone nights,
+too. An apartment is better for a woman by
+herself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But the freedom&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Women hadn&#8217;t ought to have too much
+freedom. It spoils &#8217;em. This is the born
+place for a man&mdash;and a dog&mdash;and field-glasses&mdash;and
+a Ford.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s go inside and look it over,&#8221; said
+Eveley. &#8220;Did you ever see such a place for
+chickens? Nice clean little coops all ready
+for them. Wouldn&#8217;t it be a paradise for half
+a dozen hens?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a lot of work raising chickens,&#8221; said
+the old man. &#8220;It&#8217;s a job for a man, really.
+You wouldn&#8217;t like it.&#8221; Then, thoughtfully:
+&#8220;Half a day&#8217;s work would make that place fit
+for the king&#8217;s pullets.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And look at the cunning little garden,&#8221;
+urged Eveley.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Needs hoeing. All run over with weeds.
+Whole place going to rack and ruin. Needs
+a man around here, anybody can see that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come in, come in,&#8221; cried Eveley, unlocking
+the kitchen door. &#8220;See the little gas stove,
+and the tiny table&mdash;and the cooler. Isn&#8217;t it
+fun? Couldn&#8217;t you have the time of your
+life here, reveling in liver and cabbage and
+pinochle? Wouldn&#8217;t your friend be crazy
+about it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The old man squirmed restlessly, and
+passed into the next room. Eveley dropped
+down on the side of the bed, and set the
+springs bounding.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a good bed. That table seems made
+for pinochle, doesn&#8217;t it? I can just see this
+place, with you and your friend, the room
+thick with smoke&mdash;and no one to say, &#8216;Oh,
+father, it&#8217;s terribly late.&#8217;&#8221; Eveley put up a
+very fair imitation of Mrs. Severs&#8217; ripply,
+bridal voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A phonograph&mdash;there ought to be a phonograph,
+to play <i>Bonnie Sweet Bessie</i>, and
+<i>Nelly Gray</i>.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just the thing. A phonograph. That is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+the one thing lacking. I knew there was
+something needed.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Father-in-law was quiet after that. He
+walked about slowly, peering into every nook
+and corner. But finally he went out to the
+car, and climbed in. Eveley followed silently.
+He started the car with a bang and a tug,
+and drove home swiftly, speaking not one
+word on the way. But Eveley was content.
+</p>
+<p>Quite late that evening he came up the
+rustic stairs and knocked on her window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, Miss Ainsworth,&#8221; he asked anxiously,
+&#8220;did you decide to take that cottage and
+live alone? Pretty risky business, I&#8217;m afraid.
+And it&#8217;s a sight of work keeping up a garden
+like that&mdash;and chickens are a dickens of a lot
+of trouble.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am afraid so,&#8221; said Eveley wistfully.
+&#8220;I believe your advice is good. It is a darling
+little place, but I suspect I&#8217;d better give up
+the idea entirely.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s right. You&#8217;re a sensible girl. Very
+sensible.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And he turned abruptly and went creaking
+down the stairs once more.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span></p>
+<p>The next evening as she swung her car up
+to the curb, Eveley found him waiting.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid I&#8217;ll have to give it up,&#8221; he said,
+and added apologetically, &#8220;I thought since
+you didn&#8217;t want it, I might take it myself.
+But if I went away they&#8217;d think I was dissatisfied,
+and maybe they hadn&#8217;t been good
+to me or something. I wouldn&#8217;t like to hurt
+their feelings.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t you pretend you hate to leave,
+but you feel it is your duty?&#8221; Eveley
+almost choked on the word, but she knew it
+would be only folly to explain her advanced
+ideas to this kindly conscientious soul. &#8220;You
+tell them that you think it is your solemn
+duty to go and leave them alone, and that
+you can&#8217;t be happy unless you are doing
+your duty. Tell them that honeymooners
+need to be alone.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a good idea. I&#8217;ll try it on them
+right away.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>When he timidly, then enthusiastically
+pressed his case, Mrs. Severs, seeing in his
+sudden determination to do his duty the
+happy fruition of Eveley&#8217;s plan, voiced only
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+a few polite words of mild protest, but her
+husband was flat-footed and vociferous in his
+objections.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just cut out the nonsense, dad, and behave
+yourself. It is your duty to stay here
+where you belong, and you can stick
+around and get used to it. You can&#8217;t go off
+by yourself, and that settles it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t be lonesome,&#8221; said his father
+meekly. &#8220;I could get along. And I could
+come and visit you. I think&mdash;maybe&mdash;I&#8217;d
+like it pretty good.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m on to you, dad. You just say
+that because you think it would be better for
+us. Why, you&#8217;d be lonely as the deuce.&#8221;
+And he went off into the other room and
+considered the subject closed.
+</p>
+<p>Late that night, Mrs. Severs ran up the
+stairs.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, he really asked to go, but Dody
+wouldn&#8217;t hear of it. And I do feel ashamed
+of myself. We can&#8217;t turn the poor old fellow
+out. It would not be right. Just let it go,
+and I&#8217;ll try to get used to it. He really is a
+dear old thing.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen here, Mrs. Severs, do you mean
+that you are selfish enough to keep that poor
+old man here with you spooners when he
+really wants to be off alone where he can fish
+and cook and roam around to his heart&#8217;s content?
+Can&#8217;t you see it is your plain duty to
+make him go where he can live his own life?
+I&mdash;I am surprised at you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! You think&mdash;you mean&mdash;maybe he
+would be happier?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, of course he would. And it is your
+duty to deny yourselves in order to make
+him happy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I see.&#8221; Mrs. Severs was quite radiant.
+&#8220;Talk to Dody about it, will you? He
+wants to do his duty, but he sees it the other
+way round.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Leave him to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Some time later, Father-in-law himself
+crept softly up the stairway and tapped on
+the window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hist,&#8221; he whispered. &#8220;It&#8217;s no good. Andy
+won&#8217;t hear of it. Can&#8217;t you think of something?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Leave him to me,&#8221; she said again. &#8220;I
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span>
+am the original little fixer, and I&#8217;ll attend to
+Andrew Dody.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The next morning, quite willing to sacrifice
+her last nap in her desire to crush all duty,
+she started for work half an hour earlier than
+usual, and invited Mr. Severs to ride down-town
+with her. And as they started off,
+Father and Daughter-in-law from separate
+windows of the house watched their departure,
+and prayed that success might crown
+her efforts.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want to talk to you confidentially, Mr.
+Severs,&#8221; she said softly. &#8220;I&mdash;I think you
+misunderstand some things. I have been
+with your father such a lot, and I have discovered
+that he really wants to live alone.
+He likes to be free to do things when he
+likes, and how.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He can do that in our home, Miss Ainsworth,&#8221;
+Andy said stiffly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course he can, but he thinks he can&#8217;t.
+He wants to do as Mrs. Severs likes. He is
+only pretending it is his duty to go, because
+he thought it would hurt your feelings if <i>you</i>
+knew he wanted to leave you. He is just
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+crazy about both of you, but he is so used to
+doing every little thing in his own sweet
+way. It almost seems your duty fairly to
+make him go, because he would be happier.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am not one to shirk my duty, Miss Ainsworth.
+I will sacrifice anything for my
+father.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course it will be lonely for you when
+he goes, but think how happy he will be
+following his every desire. I should think
+you would fairly force him to be selfish
+enough to leave you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You may be right. He does not care for
+our way of living, I know, and he does like
+messing around. And then, too, it upsets
+our plans a lot having him there, but whatever
+is right for dad, is right for us.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then he must certainly have the little
+shack we saw the other day&mdash;he adored it.
+You just tell him how lonely you will be, and
+how you will miss him, Mr. Severs, and then
+make him take the little cottage.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Talking it over afterward with Nolan,
+Eveley admitted regretfully that she could
+hardly call this a victory&mdash;because Father-in-law
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span>
+only moved to do his duty, and the children
+only allowed him to go for the sake of
+doing theirs&mdash;but since everything worked
+out right, she was satisfied, though she alone
+knew that happiness came to the three because
+each one followed his own desire to the
+exclusion of other considerations.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XI_THE_GERM_OF_DUTY' id='XI_THE_GERM_OF_DUTY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<h3>THE GERM OF DUTY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The case of the Good-Looking Member
+strained Nolan&#8217;s patience almost to the
+breaking point, but after many days of fruitless
+chafing, his forbearance was rewarded.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley invited him to dinner.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have you rescued the good-looking one
+from the loveless sea?&#8221; he asked sarcastically.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have sown the good seed,&#8221; she said
+amiably.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I never heard of sowing seeds in a loveless
+sea,&#8221; he sneered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have thought up a wonderful scheme.
+But you will have to help me out. I always
+fall back on you in an emergency, don&#8217;t I?&#8221;
+Eveley&#8217;s voice was sweetest honey. &#8220;So you
+must come to dinner.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is the Handsome Member to be among
+those present?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Nolan, this is our party&mdash;to talk
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span>
+things over all by ourselves. It seems such
+ages since I saw you, and I&#8217;ve been so lonesome.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan was fully aware that this was fabrication,
+but being totally male, he found himself
+unable to resist.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not know what lonesomeness is,
+Eveley. I nearly died. I almost wished
+I would die. I shall come early, and please
+wear the blue dress, and be good to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>That evening, after a long and satisfying
+preamble, they sat before her tiny grate with
+their coffee, and she broached the wonderful
+plan.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is the most utterly married-to-duty
+thing you ever saw. He says he can not in
+common decency refuse to marry a girl who
+has been engaged to him for five years. He
+hasn&#8217;t even seen her for three, and isn&#8217;t a bit
+interested in her. Why, they only write
+once a month, or so. That&#8217;s no love-affair,
+anybody can see that. But he won&#8217;t ask her
+to let him off, and so we have thought up the
+most scientific scheme to work it. He is inviting
+her to come here for a visit, and she
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span>
+is to stay with me. She hates sensible businesslike
+men, and she adores scatter-brain,
+fussy ones. So when she comes, he is going
+to be as poky as duty itself, and wear old
+grimy clothes, and work day and night, and
+you are going to don your sunshine apparel
+and blossom out like a rose, and beau her
+around in great style. Result, she will fire
+him, hoping to ensnare you&mdash;but don&#8217;t you
+make any mistake and get yourself ensnared
+for keeps, will you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is going to work evenings, is he?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, day times and night times and all
+times.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I am to cavalier the lady?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not the lady,&#8221; she denied indignantly.
+&#8220;Both of us. You shan&#8217;t go out with her
+alone. She is a terrible flirt, and very pretty.
+Where you and she goeth, I shall goeth also.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I can stand it. But what is to become
+of my own future? Why should I
+neglect my legal interests to beau another
+fellow&#8217;s sweetheart about the town?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because you always help me out of a
+tight place,&#8221; she said wheedlingly. &#8220;And because
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+you do not approve of my campaign.
+But if you are nice and help me this time, I
+think I can everlastingly prove that I am
+right.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I do the work, seems to me I do the
+proving.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but it is my theory, so I get the
+credit. Of course you must be very gay and
+make quite a fuss over Miss Weldon, but
+don&#8217;t you carry it too far, or you&#8217;ll be in
+bad with me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Anything that meant the eclipse of the
+Handsome Member could not be other than
+satisfactory to Nolan. He agreed with a
+great deal of enthusiasm, only stipulating
+that all evenings previous to the arrival of
+the pretty fiancée should be devoted to private
+rehearsal of his part under the personal
+direction of the Dutiless Theorist.
+</p>
+<p>So it was Nolan and Eveley who met Miss
+Weldon at the station upon her arrival. They
+stood together beside the white columns,
+searching the faces of the passengers as they
+alighted. When a slender, fair-haired girl
+swung lightly down, they hurried to greet her.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Miss Weldon?&#8221; asked Eveley, with her
+friendly smile. &#8220;I am Eveley Ainsworth, and
+this is my friend, Mr. Inglish. Mr. Baldwin
+could not get away to-night&mdash;&#8217;way up to his
+ears in work. But he is coming up to see you
+later this evening.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>If Miss Weldon was disappointed she gave
+no sign. Instead she turned to Nolan with
+frankly approving eyes, remarking his tall
+slim build, his thin clever face, his bright
+keen eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you so devoted to business, Mr.
+Inglish?&#8221; she asked, as she opened her small
+bag and took out a solitaire, which she placed
+on the third finger of her left hand. At the
+smiles in the eyes of Eveley and Nolan, she
+only laughed. &#8220;Why flaunt your badge of
+servitude? But don&#8217;t tell Timmy, will you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She was indeed very pretty, with warm
+shining eyes, and a quick pleasant voice. She
+was full of a bright wit, too, and the drive
+to Eveley&#8217;s Cote in the Clouds was only
+marred for Eveley by the fact that she, being
+driver, had to sit in front alone.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We shall not do much cavaliering in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span>
+car,&#8221; she thought grimly. &#8220;Not when there
+are only three of us. We&#8217;ll walk&mdash;three
+abreast.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miss Weldon was enchanted with the rustic
+steps, but a little fearful of them as well, and
+appropriated Nolan as her personal bodyguard
+and support. She squealed prettily at
+every creak and rumble.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall never try these steps alone, Mr.
+Inglish,&#8221; she said, clinging to his not-unwilling
+hand. &#8220;I shall always wait for you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll roll her down, if she begins that,&#8221;
+thought Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>But in spite of her disapproval, even to her
+there was something very attractive in the
+pretty girlish merriment and interest of her
+young guest.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not see why Nolan had to squeeze in
+on this,&#8221; she said to herself most unfairly.
+</p>
+<p>Miss Weldon was charmed with the dainty
+apartment, and loved the cunning electric fixtures
+in the tiny dining-room. She tucked
+an apron under her belt, and appointed Nolan
+her assistant in making toast, while Eveley
+finished the light details of serving dinner.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It certainly is a silly business all the way
+around,&#8221; Eveley decided.
+</p>
+<p>After their coffee, and after Nolan had
+finished his second cigar, Miss Weldon said,
+&#8220;Now since Miss Ainsworth got dinner, we
+must do the dishes. I shall wash, and you
+must dry them, Mr. Inglish, and be sure you
+make them shine, for I am very fussy about
+my dishes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Eveley had to sit down in a big chair
+and rest, though she did not feel like sitting
+down and hated resting&mdash;and look quietly on
+while Miss Weldon fished each separate dish
+from the hot suds and held it out playfully
+for Nolan to wipe. It made a long and laborious
+task of the dish washing for Eveley,
+and she was quite worn out at its conclusion.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Funny that some people can&#8217;t do their
+plain duty without getting the whole neighborhood
+mixed up in it,&#8221; she thought resentfully.
+</p>
+<p>At nine o&#8217;clock, came Timothy Baldwin.
+Miss Weldon met him at the window,
+looked at him, half curiously, half fearfully,
+and after lifting her lips for a fleeting kiss,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+backed quickly away from him into a remote
+corner.
+</p>
+<p>Then Nolan, according to prearranged plan,
+suggested that he and Eveley run down and
+put the car in the garage. &#8220;And if there is a
+moon, we may go for a joy-ride, so don&#8217;t
+expect us back too soon.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And as they rode he spoke so unconcernedly
+of Sally&#8217;s smiles and curls and pretty
+hands, that Eveley was restored to her original
+enthusiasm for the campaign.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Won&#8217;t she be wild?&#8221; she chuckled, snuggling
+close against Nolan&#8217;s side, but never
+forgetting that she was mistress of the
+wheel. &#8220;Tim is going to talk business all the
+time, and at ten-thirty he is going to say he
+must hurry home to rest up for a hard day&#8217;s
+work to-morrow. We are not to get in until
+eleven, so she will be utterly bored to distraction.
+Isn&#8217;t it fun?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>They drove slowly, happily around the
+park, over the bridge and under the bridge,
+around the eucalyptus knoll above the lights
+on the bay, and then went down-town for ice-cream.
+At exactly eleven o&#8217;clock, Nolan took
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span>
+her hands as she stood on the bottom step of
+the rustic stair.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say it is your duty to&mdash;be good
+to me&mdash;but I hope it will make you happy.
+And by the rules of your own game, I have
+a right selfishly to insist on your being always
+sweet and wonderful to me, and to me
+alone.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just what do you mean by that, Nolan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing, of course, but can&#8217;t you use your
+imagination?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I can&#8217;t. That is for brides and
+fiancées, not for unattached working girls
+like me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she ran on up the stairs, and Nolan
+went home.
+</p>
+<p>True to arrangement, Tim had gone at
+ten-thirty, and Miss Weldon in a soft negligee
+was sitting alone pensively, before the fire.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tim has changed,&#8221; she said briefly. &#8220;I
+think he has more sense, but a little less&mdash;er&mdash;warmth,
+I might say.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think so? He works very hard.
+He is fearfully ambitious and they think
+everything of him at the office.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes? Then he must certainly have
+changed. He was not keen on business at
+Salt Lake. He lost three jobs in eight weeks.
+That is why he came west. And his father
+has financed half a dozen ventures for him.
+But perhaps he has settled down, and will do
+all right. I love your little apartment, and it
+is dear to call it a Cloud Cote, and Mr. Nolan
+is perfectly charming. Timmy asked us to
+meet him at Rudder&#8217;s for luncheon, you and
+me and your Mr. Nolan, also.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that is nice,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;I&#8217;ll come
+up for you in the car a few minutes earlier.
+You won&#8217;t mind being alone most of the day,
+will you? I work, you know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I rather like being alone. I sew some,
+and I shall read, and there are letters to
+write. I do not mind being alone.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley found her really very agreeable,
+quite pleasant to entertain. And after all
+Nolan had only done as she requested, and
+there was nothing personal in it. It was lots
+of fun, but it must stop before Miss Weldon
+had time to grow really fond of Nolan, for of
+course she could not have him under any
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span>
+circumstances. Eveley absolutely disbelieved
+in any form of duty, still she would not feel
+justified in carrying her animosity to the
+point of wilfully breaking innocent hearts.
+</p>
+<p>At twelve-thirty the next day, Eveley and
+Miss Weldon entered the small waiting-room
+of Rudder&#8217;s café. Nolan was already there.
+They waited fifteen minutes for Timothy, and
+then a messenger came down to them with a
+note. Mr. Baldwin was so sorry, but business
+was urgent, and they must go right ahead
+and have luncheon without him. He would
+telephone them later in the evening if he
+could come up.
+</p>
+<p>Sally Weldon pursed her lips a little, but
+she smiled at Nolan. &#8220;Can you beau us both,
+Mr. Inglish? We think we are mighty lucky
+to have half a beau a piece on working days.
+Are you the only man in this whole town
+who does not work like a slave?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So they found a pleasant table in the café,
+and dawdled long over their luncheon, laughing
+and chatting. Then they took Nolan back
+to his office, and Eveley and Sally went for a
+drive on the beach to La Jolla.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;But don&#8217;t you have to work?&#8221; asked Sally,
+observing that it was long after two when
+they finally turned back toward the office.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley shrugged her shoulders prettily.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, nobody works much but Mr. Baldwin,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;He does the grinding for
+the whole force.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miss Weldon frowned a little, but said
+nothing.
+</p>
+<p>That evening she had the dinner nicely
+started when Eveley reached home, and
+Eveley was loud in praise of her guest&#8217;s skill
+and cleverness.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is just lovely, but you must not work.
+You are company.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I rather like to cook. I took a long course
+in it four years ago when Timmy and I were
+first engaged, and I have done all the housekeeping
+at home since then. Daddy pays me
+double the salary we used to pay the cook,
+and I provide better meals and more cheaply
+than she did. Daddy says so himself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Sally,&#8221; cried Eveley warmly, &#8220;I
+think that is wonderful. I am surprised. I
+thought&mdash;I supposed&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I know what you thought,&#8221; laughed
+Sally brightly. &#8220;Everybody thinks so, and
+it is true. I am very gay and frivolous. I
+love to dance and sing and play. And I abhor
+solemn ugly grimy things, and I think the
+only Christian duty in the world is being
+happy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley flushed at that, and turned quickly
+away.
+</p>
+<p>Later Nolan joined them for dinner, and
+the little party was waxing very gay long
+before Tim called. Then it was only to say
+that he would be working late, but was sending
+them tickets for the theater and would
+join them afterward for supper at the Grant.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Does he always work as hard as this?&#8221;
+asked Sally, looking steadily into Eveley&#8217;s
+face.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He always works pretty hard,&#8221; said
+Eveley truthfully, &#8220;but he does seem busier
+than usual right now.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miss Weldon only laughed, and they talked
+of other things. Nolan went down with them
+in the car, Eveley driving alone in front, but
+somehow she felt her pretty guest to be less
+of a menace since she was guilty of sensible
+things like cooking and sewing.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-168.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+&#8220;Just what do you mean by that?&#8221;
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span></div>
+<p>Eveley did not explain that Timothy had
+felt inclined to join them for dinner and the
+show that night after disappointing them at
+luncheon, but she had been firm with him.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not to-day,&#8221; she insisted. &#8220;You can only
+have one hour with us to-night. To-morrow
+you can join us for luncheon and a short
+drive afterward, if you will fix it so I can get
+off.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He was at the Grant waiting when they
+arrived, and rather impatient.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you have a pleasant time?&#8221; he asked,
+looking into Sally&#8217;s bright face.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lovely. And did you hurry terribly to
+meet us? We don&#8217;t want to interfere with
+your work, or bother you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He searched her face for signs of guile, but
+her eyes were unclouded, and her manner indicated
+only a friendly concern for his interests.
+</p>
+<p>It was a very happy party that night.
+Both girls were merry, and Nolan was really
+more solicitously attentive to Sally than was
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span>
+quite necessary even in the interests of a
+campaign directed against her. When at a
+late hour, they trooped out to the car, it
+was he who helped her carefully into the
+machine, though, with seeming reluctance, he
+permitted Timothy to sit with her while he
+joined Eveley in the front seat.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Timmy is good-looking, don&#8217;t you think?&#8221;
+Sally asked that night, as they were preparing
+for bed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, if he did not work so hard. Young
+men should not kill themselves with labor.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your Nolan is handsomer, perhaps,&#8221; said
+Sally pleasantly.
+</p>
+<p>The next day Timothy did meet them for
+luncheon, after keeping them waiting for
+twenty minutes, and later they went for a
+fast ride out Point Loma. But that night he
+did not see them at all, though he told Eveley
+he thought she was rather rubbing it in,
+cheating him out of so many pleasant parties
+and good times.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I may not want to marry her, but it is
+good sport chasing around,&#8221; he protested.
+</p>
+<p>But Eveley was very stern. He had put
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
+himself in her hands, and he must obey without
+argument, and that settled it. And when
+he suggested that it would look better if
+he and Sally had one party by themselves
+without Nolan tagging at their heels, she
+frowned it down.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;One private party can spoil a whole week
+of hard work,&#8221; she decreed.
+</p>
+<p>So the week passed. Once even Eveley pretended
+business, and Sally and Nolan had
+luncheon together, and a drive later in Eveley&#8217;s
+car. But Timothy put a stop to that.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is my fiancée. And I may have to
+marry her after all. And if I do, hanged if
+I want everybody in town thinking she was
+Nolan&#8217;s sweetheart to begin with.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Eveley waived that part of her plan, and
+the parties were always of three, and sometimes,
+but infrequently, of four. That Sally
+accepted their arrangements so easily, and
+took so much pleasure in their entertainment,
+argued well. One night she said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course, men have to work, but I
+shouldn&#8217;t like my husband to dig away like
+a servant, should you, Eveley?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span></p>
+<p>And Eveley felt the time was ripe. The
+next day she told Timothy he might take
+Sally out alone in the car for a drive, and ask
+her if they should not be married right away.
+Eveley was willing to wager that she would
+reject him. Timothy consented with alacrity,
+seeming to feel the burden of his semi-attached
+state.
+</p>
+<p>That evening at six-thirty, when Nolan
+came up for dinner, Eveley met him on the
+roof garden over the sun parlor.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nolan, something has happened. They
+went at two o&#8217;clock, and they aren&#8217;t home yet.
+What do you suppose is the matter? Maybe
+they had an accident. Maybe she got mad
+and wouldn&#8217;t ride home with him. He
+wouldn&#8217;t put her out, would he? Shall we
+notify the police?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I should say not. Don&#8217;t worry. Let&#8217;s
+have our dinner. They can eat the leavings
+when they come. He has probably learned,
+as other and wiser men have learned, that a
+pretty and pleasant girl is not half bad company.
+I&#8217;ll bet he is having the time of his
+life. My, it is nice to have you alone again.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+She is very sweet, and it&#8217;s been lots of fun,
+but after all I am used to you, and this is
+nicer.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan&#8217;s prediction proved far from wrong.
+At ten-thirty, a messenger boy shouted up
+from below, and Nolan ran down. When he
+came back he carried a small yellow slip addressed
+to Eveley, which he promptly opened.
+And as she peered over his shoulder, they
+read it aloud, together, in solemn chorus.
+</p>
+<div class='blockquot'>
+<p>&#8220;Three cheers and a tiger. She has accepted
+me, and we were married at Oceanside
+this afternoon. On our way to Yosemite
+for honeymoon. I am the happiest man on
+earth. Tell Nolan to go to the dickens. Love
+from Sally and Timothy Baldwin.&#8221;
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Nolan lit a cigar and blew reflective rings
+into the air. &#8220;When a man is bitten with the
+germ of duty,&#8221; he began somberly.
+</p>
+<p>For a moment Eveley was crushed. Then
+she rallied. &#8220;Just as I told you, Nolan. As
+long as it was a painful duty, marriage between
+them was impossible, and would have
+wrecked both their lives. But our campaign
+brought about the proper adjustment and
+tuned them to love again. So it was not duty,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+but love, and marriage is a joy. Now I hope
+you are convinced that I am right, and won&#8217;t
+argue with me any more. And if I ever had
+any doubts about that one exception I make
+in regard to duty, they are all gone now. I
+am dead sure of my one exception.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But when Nolan pressed her for an explanation,
+she begged him to smoke again, and
+let her think.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XII_THE_REVOLT_OF_THE_SEVENTH_STEP' id='XII_THE_REVOLT_OF_THE_SEVENTH_STEP'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<h3>THE REVOLT OF THE SEVENTH STEP</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The sharp tap on Eveley&#8217;s window was
+followed by an impatient brushing aside
+of the curtains, and Miriam Landis swung
+gracefully over the sill in a cloud of chiffon
+and silk.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lem is waiting in the car,&#8221; she began
+quickly, &#8220;but I came up to show you my new
+gown. Are you nearly ready? Lem is so
+impatient, you know.&#8221; Fumbling with the
+fasteners of her wide cape she drew it back
+and revealed a bewilderingly beautiful creation
+beneath.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley went into instant and honest raptures.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you like it, Eveley? Am I beautiful in
+it?&#8221; There was a curious wistfulness in her
+voice, and Eveley studied her closely.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course you are beautiful in it. You are
+a dream. You are irresistibly heavenly.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I wonder if Lem thinks so,&#8221; said Miriam,
+half breathlessly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, you little goose,&#8221; cried Eveley, forcing
+the laughter. &#8220;How could he think anything
+else? There, he is honking for us already.
+We must hurry&mdash;Why, Miriam, you
+silly, how could any one think you anything
+in the world but matchlessly wonderful in
+anything&mdash;especially in a dream like that?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam fastened her wrap again silently,
+and got carefully out through the window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Twelve steps,&#8221; cautioned Eveley. &#8220;You&#8217;d
+better count them, it is so dark, or you may
+stumble at the bottom.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam, clinging to the railing on one side,
+passed slowly down. &#8220;One, two, three, four,
+five, six.&#8221; Then she stopped and turned.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Seven.&#8221; Looking somberly up to Eveley,
+standing above her, her face showing pale
+and sorry in the dim light, she said, &#8220;I have
+been married five years, Eve. You do not
+know what it is to spend five years struggling
+to maintain your charm for your husband.
+And never knowing whether you have
+failed or won. Always wondering why he
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+finds more attraction in other women less
+beautiful and less clever. Always wondering,
+always afraid, trying to cling to what ought
+to be yours without effort. It isn&#8217;t funny,
+Eveley.&#8221; She turned slowly, to go on down,
+but Eveley laid a restraining hand on her
+arm.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Five years? That is a long time,&#8221; she
+said in a tender voice. &#8220;It must almost be
+his turn now. Five years seems very long
+to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam passed on down the stairs, counting
+aloud, eight, nine, ten, and on to the last.
+At the last step she turned again.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is my husband, Eveley. One must do
+what is right.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes? Yet five years of duty does not
+seem to have brought you much happiness.
+At least you should not be selfish. You ought
+not to deny him the pleasure of doing his by
+you for the next five.&#8221; Then she added apologetically:
+&#8220;Forgive me, Miriam. You know
+I should never have mentioned this if you
+hadn&#8217;t spoken.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam clung to her hand as they felt their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span>
+way carefully around the house, Lem in the
+machine still honking for them to hurry.
+</p>
+<p>At the corner she paused again. &#8220;You are
+very clever, aren&#8217;t you, Eveley?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, yes, I rather think I am,&#8221; admitted
+Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How would you go about it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The way Lem does,&#8221; came the quick retort,
+and Miriam laughed, suddenly and
+lightly.
+</p>
+<p>She was very quiet as they drove down
+Fifth Street. Only once she spoke.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was the seventh step, wasn&#8217;t it,
+Eveley?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, the seventh.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Revolution of the Seventh Step,&#8221; she
+said, laughing again.
+</p>
+<p>This was nonsense to Lem Landis, but he
+did not ask questions. Women always talked
+such rot to each other. And he was wondering
+if Mrs. Cartle would surely be at the ball?
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The way Lem does.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The words were startlingly sufficient.
+From five years of painful experience, Mrs.
+Landis knew how Lem did it. And so on this
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span>
+evening, as she stood beside him in a corner
+of the ballroom after their first greetings,
+and looked as he did with eager speculative
+eyes about the wide room, seeking, seeking,
+she felt a curious sympathy and harmony between
+herself and her husband. She knew
+without turning her head when the sudden
+brightening in his eyes came; and then he
+slowly made his way to the dim corner where
+Mrs. Cartle sat waiting.
+</p>
+<p>But Miriam was not so quickly satisfied.
+There was Dan O&#8217;Falley, but his was such
+fulsome effrontery. There was Clifford Eggleton,
+but he had been a sweetheart of
+Miriam&#8217;s in the old days before Lem came,
+and that seemed hardly fair. There was Hal
+Jervis, but he was too utterly wax in woman&#8217;s
+hands to give her any semblance of thrill.
+Then her eyes rested on a profile in another
+corner of the room&mdash;a dark sleek head, a
+dark thin face, and the clear outline of one
+merry eye. Miriam appraised the head speculatively.
+Who in the world could it be?
+That merry eye looked very enticing. Ah,
+now she could see better&mdash;he was talking to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+the Merediths. Then the merry-eyed one
+was a stranger&mdash;so much the better, the uncertainty
+of him pleased her. She was very
+weary of those she knew so well. She moved
+happily that way, suddenly surprised to know
+that she was not at all concerned because
+her husband sat in the distant corner with
+Mrs. Cartle. She felt for him to-night only
+a whimsical comradeship. Stopping many
+times on her way to exchange a word and a
+smile, she finally drew near the corner where
+the sleek dark head and the merry eye had
+drawn her. Mrs. Meredith, seeing her, came
+to meet her, and drew her forward impulsively.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Miriam, you must meet our friend,
+Mr. Cameron. He has only just come here
+to be with my husband in business, and we
+are going to love him, I know.&#8221; And so immediately
+Miriam found herself looking directly,
+and with great pleasure, full into the
+merry eyes. The gown was beautiful upon
+her, she knew it positively, whether Lem had
+been stirred by the vision or not.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she is lovely enough,&#8221; said Billy
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span>
+Meredith plaintively. &#8220;But don&#8217;t be lured by
+her, Cameron. She is still in love with her
+husband.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam smiled at her victim with disarming
+friendliness. &#8220;But I like to be amused,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;And I have been married long
+enough now to feel like playing again.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Cameron laughed at that, and the laughter
+fulfilled the promise of the merry eye.
+Miriam was quite intoxicated with the game
+her husband had taught her. That Eveley
+was a clever little thing, wasn&#8217;t she?
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Suppose we dance then,&#8221; Cameron suggested
+eagerly. &#8220;It is the approved method
+of beginning to play.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We resign you to your fate,&#8221; sighed Billy
+Meredith once more. &#8220;I warned you, you
+laughed me to scorn. Now plunge and die.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He seems to think I am dangerous,&#8221; said
+Miriam, as they stepped lightly away to the
+call of the music.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, far be it from me to say he is
+wrong. But I am sure you will prove a
+charming playfellow. You seem fairly to
+match my own mood. I suppose we can not
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span>
+climb trees and go nutting and fishing and
+wade in the creek as we might have done
+together years ago, but if you will be patient
+and teach me your way of playing in your
+ladyhood, I think you will find me an apt,
+and certainly a willing playmate.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then let&#8217;s begin to-morrow night. Come
+to my house, and let&#8217;s play pool. It is the
+most reckless thing we can do. I have a
+sweet little friend and she has a deadly admirer,
+and they will come with us. She is
+very clever, too, and full of fun. See, that is
+she there, dancing&mdash;the one with the golden
+frock. Her name is Eveley Ainsworth and
+the solemn young man is Nolan Inglish, and
+they are unannounced but accepted sweethearts.
+You are not afraid of Friend Husband,
+then?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not until Friend Husband gets afraid of
+me,&#8221; he said.
+</p>
+<p>Later in the evening, as they were having
+ices in a wonderful nook in the ballroom, he
+said seriously, and with no laughter in the
+merry eyes:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you trying to make a truant husband
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
+jealous? Just be frank with me, and I will
+do my best. I know you wanted a pal to-night.
+Do you mind telling me why?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>For a moment she hesitated. Then she
+smiled. &#8220;If my frankness loses me a pleasant
+comrade I shall regret my candor. But I do
+want to play fairly with you. So hear then
+the bitter truth. I have been married five
+years, and I have worked like a common slave
+to make myself beautiful and winsome and
+irresistible to my husband. And you know
+that a wife can&#8217;t do it, if the husband isn&#8217;t in
+the mind for it. And so to-night I am starting
+a revolution. I do not want to struggle
+forever. I want to play and be happy. I
+have no notion of making my husband jealous.
+That has not even occurred to me. I
+just want to be joyful&mdash;to learn to be joyful&mdash;regardless
+of him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then may I be a disagreeable old preacher,
+and say one thing? You know this may
+be fun, but sometimes it is dangerous. Human
+beings are not machines, and often they
+make mistakes and fall in love, when they
+had only meant to play. You would not find
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+it at all pleasant to be married to one man,
+and in love with another. And maybe you
+would not enjoy having a husband and a
+lover in two persons, I am not trying to
+foretell the future, or make unpleasant predictions&mdash;I
+am only sounding the warning
+note.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam considered this very solemnly.
+Then she said: &#8220;Well, I think I should not
+mind. It does not seem to bother Lem to be
+married to me, and at the same time be involved
+in stirring friendships with other
+people.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just one more sermon then, and I am
+through,&#8221; he said, laughing. &#8220;It is this.
+Men and women are very different. A man
+can play his head off with a dozen women,
+and still stay in love with his wife, and want
+no one but her. But a really nice woman, and
+you are awfully nice, can not have love-affairs
+without love. When she loves a man,
+she wants him, and will not have any one
+else. Your husband can have a dozen affairs,
+and still want you. But if you have a pleasant
+affair&mdash;you may not want your husband.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, of course, Mr. Preacher, one must
+take a chance. And it is to be only play, you
+know. That must be understood right in the
+start. I am really not a bit advanced nor
+modern, nor anything. I have no forward
+ideas in my head. I am just tired of trying
+to please my husband; I want some one to
+please me. It does not seem to offer you
+much for your pains, does it? But you may
+find me fairly amusing.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am sure of it,&#8221; he agreed warmly. &#8220;And
+it is all settled, and we are going to play together.
+And if sometimes you get tired of
+me, and fire me off, I shall bob up serenely
+the next day and start over, just as we might
+have done when we were little children.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>When Miriam reported her progress in revolution
+to Eveley the next day, Eveley was
+greatly perturbed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You went too fast,&#8221; she said with a frown.
+&#8220;And besides&mdash;it is not fair. He isn&#8217;t married.
+He will fall in love with you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no, we have a regular understanding,&#8221;
+said Miriam confidently. &#8220;It is all settled according
+to rules, and we are only going to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+play. Lem goes to his club to-night, and
+you and Nolan are to come and play pool
+with us. Doesn&#8217;t it sound emancipated and
+free?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Almost bolshevistic,&#8221; said Eveley grimly.
+&#8220;I do not approve of it&mdash;not exactly&mdash;though
+I do think you are justified. But it is so
+risky&mdash;and people talk&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Eveley, I think it is better to have
+people say, &#8216;What do you think of the way
+Miriam Landis is carrying on?&#8217; than &#8216;Isn&#8217;t
+Miriam Landis a little fool not to get next to
+her husband in all these years?&#8217; Shouldn&#8217;t
+you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, we&#8217;ll be there,&#8221; said Eveley evasively.
+&#8220;We&#8217;ll be right there. If he just wasn&#8217;t
+so good-looking, and sort of&mdash;decent? Why
+didn&#8217;t you pick out a roue? They are lots
+safer than these decent young chaps.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan, always a willing sacrifice when
+Eveley bade, joined them without demur, and
+a more rollickingly gay time they had never
+had. Even Eveley admitted that things
+seemed innocent and harmless enough, but
+she shook her head.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;He is too good,&#8221; she whispered to Miriam.
+&#8220;When he falls, he will fall hard. And if he
+is once in love, I have a feeling he will work
+like&mdash;like the dickens&mdash;and you haven&#8217;t much
+spinal column yourself, you know. And I do
+not believe in home wreckers, and things.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan, also, frankly disapproved.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t make any difference what kind
+of husband she&#8217;s got,&#8221; he said decidedly. &#8220;As
+long as he is her husband, it is her duty to
+stick to him and leave other men alone.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t say duty to me,&#8221; said Eveley crossly.
+&#8220;Five years is long enough for any woman
+to do her duty. I think she is quite
+justified in giving Lem a good scare. Maybe
+he will wake up, and behave himself. But
+this Gordon is too good-looking, and too desperately
+nice. How can they play together
+like two children? You know what will happen.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think it has already happened. He is
+head over heels right now, and she is not
+breaking her heart over Lem, either. I give
+them two weeks to develop a first-rate rash.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But Miriam believes in duty,&#8221; said Eveley
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span>
+hopefully. &#8220;Maybe that will save them. She
+would never elope with him, and I do not
+think he would even ask her, he is so sort of
+respectable and set.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But Nolan was pessimistic. &#8220;Folks talk
+about duty until they fall in love, and then
+they forget it and everything else. And Lem
+has acted abominably. I thought she did not
+know it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;So did I. But&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, no use to worry. We&#8217;ll stick around
+with them and sort of boss the job. I am
+glad you invited them to the Cote to-morrow
+night.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And for supper, too. When Lem finds
+she is coming here for a supper party and he
+is left out, he may begin to think.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The trouble with Lem is, he can&#8217;t help
+himself. He loves Miriam all right, but women
+go to his head. He may get jealous and
+promise everything on heaven and earth, but
+he can&#8217;t keep his word.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then he shouldn&#8217;t have married.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She should never have married him.
+When women understand that a man who can
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
+not look at a woman before marriage without
+making love to her&mdash;can&#8217;t do it afterward&mdash;they
+will save themselves a lot of trouble.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said Eveley hopefully. &#8220;No one
+can say you hurt yourself making love.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So the playing went on, Nolan and Eveley
+acting as constant and merry chaperons, and
+the little grouping grew more and more congenial.
+Lem realized that a convulsion was
+going on in his home, and reformed desperately
+for days at a time, but a secluded corner
+and a lovely woman invariably set him
+pleading for forgiveness. Miriam always forgave
+him promptly and said it did not bother
+her; and was at first frightened, and then delighted,
+to know that it truly did not bother
+her any more.
+</p>
+<p>Then one evening, Eveley had a mad telephone
+call from Lem, quickly followed by a
+flying rush to her little Cote.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;See what you&#8217;ve done,&#8221; he shouted, half-way
+through the window. &#8220;That is what
+comes of your interference. Miriam was the
+most contented woman on earth till you began
+feeding her up on this notion of revenge.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You sit down and talk sense, Lem Landis,
+or get out,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;Contented! She
+hasn&#8217;t known a contented day since she married
+you. You have had five years of jollying
+with other women. Now because another
+man smiles on her, you go into a rage and
+tear your hair. You make me sick.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Eveley, you got me into this,
+and you&#8217;ve got to get me out. I didn&#8217;t care
+how much they smiled. I thought at first it
+was a put-up job to make me jealous, and I
+laughed at it. But it has gone too far.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Everything is all right,&#8221; said Eveley
+soothingly. &#8220;They are just playing. Nolan
+and I are with them all the time. There is
+nothing serious between them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be a fool,&#8221; he said rudely. &#8220;You
+know that men and women can&#8217;t play like
+kids. Miriam wants a divorce.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley sat down and swallowed hard.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A divorce,&#8221; he raged, champing wildly up
+and down the small room. &#8220;She says there
+is nothing between them, and she does not
+love him, but she can&#8217;t stand me any more.
+Why can&#8217;t she stand me? She stood me for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+five years. What&#8217;s come over her all of a
+sudden that she says it makes her sick to kiss
+me? She won&#8217;t even let me hold her hand.
+She says it is blasphemous. Blasphemy to
+touch my own wife&#8217;s hand! You know what
+that means, don&#8217;t you? She is in love with
+that&mdash;that&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t swear here,&#8221; Eveley broke in
+quickly. &#8220;I won&#8217;t have it. I think you are
+mistaken, Lem. She doesn&#8217;t want a divorce.
+Not really. She wouldn&#8217;t, you know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But she does, I tell you. She says it is
+sacrilege to live with me, and so she is going
+off by herself to desert me, and says I&#8217;ve got
+to get a divorce on those grounds when the
+time is up, or heaven only knows what she&#8217;ll
+do. Now, you got us into this mess, and
+you&#8217;ve got to stop it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do what I can, Lem,&#8221; she promised.
+&#8220;And so will Nolan. But between you and
+me, I do not blame her. I wouldn&#8217;t have lived
+with you two months, myself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have never wanted another woman in
+my life,&#8221; he said brokenly. &#8220;It has always
+been Miriam with me from the very minute
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
+I saw her. I have fooled around a lot, I know,
+but it&#8217;s always been Miriam for serious.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she said bitterly. &#8220;That is it. It is
+just as Gordon says. A man can fool around
+and still love his wife. But a nice woman
+can&#8217;t. She is strong for one man&mdash;at a time.
+When she falls for a new one, it is all off with
+the last. You could love a dozen at a time,
+but Miriam is too nice for that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you promised&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, I&#8217;ll do what I can, and I will advise
+her to stick it out, but I think she will
+be very foolish if she takes my advice.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan was immediately summoned, and a
+desperate struggle began with Miriam. But
+it was really no struggle.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Eveley,&#8221; she said reproachfully, &#8220;I
+am surprised at you. Can&#8217;t you see that a
+woman can not live with a man she dislikes?
+It makes the shivers run down my back when
+he touches me. It&mdash;isn&#8217;t nice. It&mdash;makes
+me feel like&mdash;well, not at all right. You can
+see that, can&#8217;t you, Nolan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am afraid I can.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But he is your husband,&#8221; protested
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span>
+Eveley. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it your place as his wife to&mdash;to&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you mean my duty, dear?&#8221; asked
+Miriam, smiling faintly. &#8220;I am surprised at
+you, Eve. No dear, it isn&#8217;t. Your theory
+that duty is happiness is half right. But a
+woman has one other duty also&mdash;self-respect.
+I am all packed up, dear, and going to-morrow.
+You do not mind my not leaving my
+address, do you? I want to go off very quietly
+by myself. I do not want Gordon to know. I
+am afraid he will blame himself for it. You
+will make him see that it was not he, at all,
+won&#8217;t you? And after it is all over, I shall
+write, or maybe come to see you. You will
+ask him not to look for me, won&#8217;t you? There
+has not been a thing serious between us,
+Eveley, you believe that, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course I do. I know it. I&#8217;ve chaperoned
+you two till I am fairly sick of it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam smiled again. &#8220;Be sure to tell him
+everything I said, will you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan and Eveley were very quiet after
+she had gone. And Eveley cried a little.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope she will be happy,&#8221; she said tearfully.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;She will be. Gordon will wait for her, and
+not crowd her. He is like me. He can talk
+to a woman without loving her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can, at least.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;At least, I do not talk about it all the
+time,&#8221; he amended. &#8220;What I mean is that
+his affection is for the one, and not for the
+sex.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think she did right, Nolan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not think it is my duty to judge,&#8221; he
+evaded cleverly. &#8220;She had one chance for
+happiness, and she lost. Now she is to have
+one more. We are her friends, and we love
+her. We can not begrudge her one more opportunity,
+can we?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No indeed, and you put it very nicely,&#8221;
+she said more comfortably. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it nice
+that we do not believe in duty? But we shall
+miss them. They were very nice playmates
+for us, as well as for each other&mdash;Nolan,
+there was something sort of sweet about
+Lem, after all? Something very human and
+lovable and&mdash;but of course it was Miriam&#8217;s
+duty to be happy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIII_SHE_FINDS_A_FOREIGNER' id='XIII_SHE_FINDS_A_FOREIGNER'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<h3>SHE FINDS A FOREIGNER</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Eveley had very nearly lost faith in assimilation.
+She had thought it over
+carefully, attempted it conscientiously and
+decided it could not be done.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;One individuality can not be absorbed by
+another,&#8221; she would say very sagely. &#8220;Whether
+it is husbands and wives, or whether it is
+nations. The theorists are right in stating
+that America is for Americans only, and that
+it is the patriotic duty of those who come
+here to be Americanized as rapidly as possible,
+and the duty of the regular Americans
+to Americanize everybody else at top speed&mdash;but
+it can not be done. They are they, and
+we are we. It may be our duty, but we are
+not big enough.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She did not call her friendship with Angelo
+Moreno by any such big and formal term as
+assimilation. They had just grown to be
+enormously good friends. She had forgotten
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+about Americanizing him, but she found him
+charming, with the fresh frank abandon of
+the unspoiled south-European. She liked his
+open admiration, she enjoyed his mature cynicism,
+she reveled in his buoyant enthusiasm.
+She had not believed that such opposing elements
+could dwell in one small person. In
+Angelo, she found them, and she found the
+combination good.
+</p>
+<p>He was helpful to Eveley, as well as pleasing.
+He did endless small jobs for her about
+the car and upon the lawn of her home. And
+when she noticed that he quickly adopted
+some of her own little customs of speech and
+manner, she was freshly pleased and interested.
+</p>
+<p>Still she could not harden her heart to the
+clamorous call of the world struggle. She
+lived so happily and so securely in her Cloud
+Cote, going to business by day, doing her
+small bits of housework in between whiles,
+frolicking with her friends, chumming with
+Angelo, playing with her sister&#8217;s babies, running
+about in her pretty car. It was like living
+in the clouds indeed, with the world of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span>
+chaos beneath. For there was the struggle
+of reconstruction going on, the tremendous
+heave and pull of masses seeking to dominate,
+the subtle writhe and twist of politics, a
+whole world straining and sinewing to rise
+dominant out of the molten bed of human
+lava left from the volcanic eruption of war.
+</p>
+<p>And although Eveley still lived serene in
+her Cloud Cote, it was like living on the edge
+of the crater of a volcano. The eruption
+would come, must come. And when it came,
+her pretty Cloud Cote might be caught in the
+upheaval. Sometimes in the evening she
+stood breathless in the little pavilion on the
+edge of the canyon stretching down below
+her home, and looked far into the shadows.
+Being a vivid imaginer, down in the darkness
+she seemed to see the world in turmoil,
+and although she stood above it on the
+heights, she knew that when the final reckoning
+came, there would be no heights and no
+canyon.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the only thing that can stop it is
+Americanization, and it is impossible,&#8221; she
+would say helplessly. &#8220;And there you are.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span></p>
+<p>But being of a light and happy heart, she
+tried to forget, and plunged into her work
+and her play once more. The consciousness,
+however, of a world in travail was always
+with her.
+</p>
+<p>This was why, when Amos Hiltze came to
+her with an appeal for help in a new phase
+of Americanization, he found such prompt
+and eager interest.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is not much, Miss Ainsworth,&#8221; he said
+earnestly, &#8220;and to you it may seem very aimless
+and trifling indeed. But it is something
+definite at least, a real tangible piece of
+Americanization, and you are the only woman
+I know who can help us out.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, yes, yes,&#8221; she cried eagerly. &#8220;I will,
+of course. What is it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a girl, a Spanish girl from Mexico.
+Her relatives joined the revolutionists, and
+pouf,&mdash;were blown out. By rare good fortune
+she escaped across the border. But what
+chance has she? No friends,&mdash;no training.
+She has never learned to meet and mingle
+with people. And now after the years of horror,
+she is afraid. She has lost her nerve.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span>
+She needs a place where she can be alone, and
+quiet, with no one to observe or criticize. I
+can vouch for the girl, that she is all right.
+And I wondered if your spirit of Americanization
+would carry you to the point of temporarily
+adopting her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, mercy!&#8221; gasped Eveley, thinking with
+great tenderness of her cozy little Cloud Cote,
+her home, and hers alone.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know it is asking a great deal, but it
+will only be for a few weeks. Just until some
+proper arrangements can be made for her.
+Unless she is taken care of, and quickly, she
+will fall a prey to some anarchistic Bolshevik,
+or something worse. She is living with a
+bunch of low Mexicans away out in the country,
+and the Greasers come there from all
+around,&mdash;and I am afraid for the girl. If she
+can be taken now, treated kindly, shown the
+charm and wholesomeness of American customs
+and principles, she will be won for
+America. A beautiful girl, educated, talented,
+charming. Think what a power she can be
+in the Americanization of her people, when
+she herself has been given love and tenderness
+and confidence.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span></p>
+<p>Eveley decided instantly. &#8220;Very well, bring
+her. I can move the extra furniture out of
+the east bedroom, and store it in the garage,
+and she may have that room. She will be
+alone and quiet all day. But I hardly know a
+word of Spanish&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she speaks English perfectly. You
+are a wonderful girl, Miss Ainsworth. Not
+one in a thousand would have risen to such a
+sacrifice. If American women were all like
+you, there would be no need of Americanization.
+A country stands or falls by its women-kind.
+And you will not find her burdensome.
+She does not wish to meet people, her only
+desire is to be quiet, and let alone. She will
+keep your little home tidy for you, and she
+likes to cook and sew. She will not bother
+you much. How soon can you have her
+come?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will take about two hours to get
+ready. Can you come and help me to-night?
+Angelo will help, too. We must move the furniture
+and boxes out, and then the room will
+be ready for her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then suppose we go for her to-night? She
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span>
+is about forty miles out in the back country
+in a little shack a mile off the Viejas grade.
+If we could leave about supper-time, we&#8217;d get
+there a little after dark. She wants to slip
+away without attracting attention. She is a
+nervous wreck, literally scared to death. It
+will take a long time to give her confidence
+again, but if any one can do it, it is you. Her
+faith in humankind has been bitterly shattered.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was fairly quivering with excitement
+and delight. Her faith in herself had
+gone leaping skyward. She was not a slacker,
+not a quitter. She was a regular American
+after all, making a real sacrifice for a principle
+she believed in,&mdash;and oh, how she was
+going to assimilate this pretty little Mexican!
+Poor child! Of course she was shattered and
+stunned and shocked. Who wouldn&#8217;t be?
+Things must have been ghastly in Mexico.
+Eveley herself was rather vague on the subject,
+because her philosophy was one of
+peace and joy, and she found that reading of
+affairs in Mexico did not tend to increase
+either peace or joy. But she was dimly aware
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span>
+that the spirit of unrest prevailing in all the
+world had risen to open and bloody warfare
+across the Rio Grande.
+</p>
+<p>Her work suffered very sadly that afternoon,
+and long before the appointed hour she
+was ringing furiously for the elevator. From
+her incoherent chatter on the way down, Angelo
+gathered that he was literally to fly to
+her the very minute he was off duty, and
+then she was clambering blindly into the
+car and rushing around for Mr. Hiltze.
+</p>
+<p>She was quite in an ecstasy as they set
+about moving out the pieces of furniture to
+be stored in the back of the big garage, and
+fitting up an attractive home for the wounded
+little Mexican who was to be her guest,&mdash;and
+her food for assimilation.
+</p>
+<p>Amos Hiltze was a great help, and worked
+with enthusiasm.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do what I can, but men are helpless
+when it comes to women. And when I knew
+of this child,&mdash;well, I thought of you. If you
+refused, I had no notion where to turn. But
+you did not refuse.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, indeed,&#8221; chirped Eveley. &#8220;I am only
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span>
+too happy. I want to do things, real things,
+and be of use. It&mdash;it is right, I suppose, and
+lots of fun besides.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At six o&#8217;clock Angelo came, and looked for
+a moment with speculative eyes upon Mr.
+Hiltze. He was not enthusiastic,&mdash;rather he
+was frankly pessimistic.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why don&#8217;t you send her to a hotel?&#8221; he
+demanded aggressively. &#8220;You don&#8217;t want a
+dirty Greaser in here, messing things all up.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Angelo, you mustn&#8217;t,&#8221; protested Eveley,
+deeply shocked. &#8220;She isn&#8217;t a Greaser.
+She is a high caste Mexican girl.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;There ain&#8217;t no such thing,&#8221; he said gloomily.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ll see. She&#8217;ll litter the whole place
+up with a lot of smelly bandits, and they&#8217;ll
+cut your throat, and steal your money, and
+then where&#8217;ll you be?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then Amos Hiltze turned on him, with
+something compelling in his eyes. &#8220;Cut out
+that nonsense, and mind your own business.
+This is not your affair.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Angelo resigned himself to the inevitable,
+and fell to work, not with good will,
+but with efficiency. And when the room was
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
+ready, while the man and boy were carrying
+the extra furniture out to the garage for
+storage, Eveley hastily prepared a light supper
+for the three of them. It was eaten in
+utter silence. Eveley was excited almost to
+the point of suffocation, and the others were
+immersed in their own thoughts. She hastily
+cleared the dishes from the table, and put on
+her heavy coat and a small hat.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where do you go to get your Spanish
+queen?&#8221; demanded Angelo.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, a long way out in the country,&#8221; said
+Eveley nervously. &#8220;We must hurry, Angelo.
+It is getting late.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you going in your car?&#8221; he persisted.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Now, please, Angelo, I hate to rush
+you off, but we must go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Take me along, Miss Eveley. Please&mdash;you&#8217;ve
+got plenty of room. Won&#8217;t you take
+me?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing doing,&#8221; cut in Amos Hiltze
+shortly. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to keep the girl quiet,
+and you would let out some rudeness that
+would spoil everything.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Honest I won&#8217;t, Miss Eveley. G&#8217;wan, be
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+a sport. You promised to take me for a night
+ride, and you never have. I won&#8217;t say a word
+to the Grea&mdash;lady, honest I won&#8217;t. Be a sport,
+Miss Eveley, sure I can go along.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s take him,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;He can sit
+in front with me coming back, and you can
+ride with Marie. He won&#8217;t say a word, will
+you, Angelo?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mr. Hiltze seemed not altogether satisfied,
+but Angelo was already half-way down the
+rustic stairs and headed for the garage, so
+he contented himself with one final word of
+warning.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just keep quiet,&#8221; he said to Angelo. &#8220;Do
+not even look at her. There must be no fuss
+or confusion, or she will be afraid to come.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>There was a heavy fog rolling up through
+the canyons, and Eveley, in her state of excitement,
+found the car prone to leap wildly
+through the misty white darkness. There
+was a great ringing in her ears, and her
+pulses were pounding. Hiltze at her side was
+silent and preoccupied, and Angelo in the
+rear sat huddled in a corner, in the rug which
+Eveley had tucked about him.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;We do not want any frozen passengers to
+bring home,&#8221; she had said, with a smile.
+</p>
+<p>They spun swiftly along University, slowing
+for East San Diego where there were
+officers with bad reputations among speeders,
+through La Mesa, the cross on Mt.
+Helix showing faintly in the pale moonlight,
+through El Capon, out beyond Flynn Springs
+where the pavement left off.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you tired?&#8221; asked the man, stirring
+closer to Eveley&#8217;s side.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; she said, with a laugh that was
+really a sob. &#8220;But I am so out of breath, and
+thrilled, and&mdash;all stirred up, like a silly little
+schoolgirl. I believe I am frightened.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do not be frightened, Miss Eveley,&#8221; said
+Angelo suddenly, reassuringly. &#8220;I&#8217;ll look
+after you. If we do not like the little Greaser,
+we&#8217;ll just ditch her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must not be afraid,&#8221; said Hiltze,
+pressing his arm companionably against her
+elbow. &#8220;You know I will take care of you.
+And you will like the girl. She is just a timid,
+nerve-racked child. You will love her in time.
+But this is not a question of love, only of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span>
+service,&mdash;one phase of the scheme of Americanization
+that is sweeping the country. It
+has to come through the women, Eveley, you
+know that. It has to be born into the babies
+of the next generation.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>An audible sniff came from the back seat,
+but Angelo was lustily clearing his throat.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You sound like a stump speaker,&#8221; he said
+critically. &#8220;Did you get that way selling
+autos, or did you used to be an agitator or
+something?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mr. Hiltze made no reply. He was leaning
+forward now, anxiously scanning the road.
+&#8220;We turn soon. Drive slowly, please. I do not
+know the road very well. Oh,&mdash;there it is,&mdash;I
+see it now. Just beyond the little clump of
+trees, this side of the big rock. Turn to the
+right,&mdash;the road is safe enough, but a little
+rough. We only go a little farther,&mdash;yes, to
+the right a little more,&mdash;down-grade, but it
+is not very steep. Now, pull off a little and
+stop. Yes, you wait here now, will you, while
+I go on to the shack? The road does not lead
+up to it. You need not be afraid, you are close
+to the main road though you can not see it
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+for the shrubs and rocks. She does not want
+the Mexicans to know where nor how she
+goes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will you be gone long?&#8221; asked Eveley,
+gazing somewhat fearfully into the black
+shadows about her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, just a few minutes. It is only a little
+bit of a way, and Marie is ready to come at
+once.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How does she know you are coming after
+her?&#8221; asked Angelo.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I told her I would come to-night if I could
+make arrangements for her, and she said she
+would be ready. She has only a small bag, so
+her preparations are simple. Now, don&#8217;t be
+frightened, Eveley. You know I would not
+leave you if there were any danger. Angelo
+will be with you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You bet I will. Beat it, Mister, and cop
+the lady.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley and Angelo listened in silence, as
+Hiltze strode quickly away. When the last
+sound had echoed to silence, Angelo leaned
+over the seat, his thin dark face close to
+Eveley&#8217;s.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, Miss Eveley, where did you pick up
+that guy?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He was the salesman who sold me my
+car, but he has many friends who are my
+friends also, so I have met him often. He
+was only selling autos temporarily, and is
+making plans now to go into business for
+himself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll bet your friend Inglish ain&#8217;t stuck on
+him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not unnaturally,&#8221; admitted Eveley, laughing.
+&#8220;He is not.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, he&#8217;s a smart guy, Inglish is,&#8221; said
+Angelo shrewdly. &#8220;You can pretty well put
+it down he&#8217;s on the level about folks.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not seem partial to Mr. Hiltze,
+Angelo. But he is most kind and sympathetic,
+and no one works harder for the
+Americanization of the foreign element than
+he does.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lots of folks work hard for something
+to keep the real things dark. I guess he&#8217;s
+got a mash on this dame.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was silent.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you think so?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I hardly think so.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, you can&#8217;t tell. Some guys can have
+mashes on two or three at a time, you know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Angelo, please, let&#8217;s not talk this way. I
+do not like it. And I do not wish my friends
+to criticize my other friends. I know you
+like Mr. Inglish best of all, and that is why
+you try to underrate the others&mdash;but please
+don&#8217;t.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I think he is smart enough,&#8221; said
+Angelo ingratiatingly. &#8220;It ain&#8217;t that. I just
+don&#8217;t like his wishing foreign dames off on
+to you because you are easy and will stand
+for it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen&mdash;they are coming.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Angelo got out then and clambered in beside
+her, and they both peered into the darkness
+whence footsteps came. The two were
+walking slowly, Hiltze leading the girl carefully.
+She walked shrinkingly, her face
+showing deathly pale in the shadowy night.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley got out at once and went to meet
+them, surprised at the great wave of tenderness
+sweeping over her. She felt somehow
+that it was a daughter of hers, coming
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+back to her out of suffering and sorrow. She
+put her arms protectingly about the girl, and
+kissed her cheek.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie,&#8221; she said softly, &#8220;you are going to
+be my sister. I&mdash;I think I love you already.
+I felt it when I saw you come out of the
+darkness.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The girl did not speak, but her slender fingers
+closed convulsively about Eveley&#8217;s, and
+there was a catch like a little sob in her
+throat.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley herself helped her into the car, and
+pulled the rugs and blankets about her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is very foggy, and the air is cold. We
+do not want a little sick girl on our hands.
+Pull them close about you. Oh, your cape is
+very light&mdash;you must take my furs. It is
+much warmer in front, and I do not need
+them. Now, are you all ready? This is my
+little pal Angelo Moreno with me, but don&#8217;t
+pay any attention to him to-night. You will
+see him again. Now, all ready and off we go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Angelo sat silently musing in his corner
+during the long ride back to town, and Eveley
+sang softly almost beneath her breath. In
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span>
+the back seat there was silence, too. Only
+once Eveley turned to call to them blithely:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was frightened and anxious at first, but
+now I feel happy and full of hope. I think
+you are going to bring me great good fortune,
+Sister Marie.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are&mdash;most heavenly kind,&#8221; said
+Marie, in slow soft English, with the exquisite
+toning of her Spanish tongue.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Marie,&#8221; cried Eveley rapturously.
+&#8220;Those are the first words I ever heard you
+say&mdash;such kind and loving words. I shall
+never forget them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The rest of the ride was taken in absolute
+silence, and at the door of her cottage when
+she ran the car into the garage, Angelo carried
+Marie&#8217;s bag up the steps silently, and
+Hiltze helped her, while Eveley ran hospitably
+in front to have the window open and
+the lights on. She thrust out an eager hand
+to help Marie through the window, and then
+she gaily faced their escorts.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not to-night,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;You can not
+come in even for a minute. Sister Marie and
+I are going to have hot chocolate all by
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+ourselves, and&mdash;and find out how we like each
+other&#8217;s looks. Many thanks&mdash;good night.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she closed the window and turned to
+the slender shrinking figure at her side, drawing
+back the heavy hood that shielded the
+girl&#8217;s face to look into the features of the
+little foreign waif she had taken to her heart.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIV_NEW_LIGHT_ON_LOYALTY' id='XIV_NEW_LIGHT_ON_LOYALTY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<h3>NEW LIGHT ON LOYALTY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>A quick thrill of pleasure swept over
+Eveley as she looked into the face of
+her young guest.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Duty?&#8221; No, it would be a joy to teach
+this soft and lovely creature the glorious principles
+of freedom, justice and equality. This
+was Eveley&#8217;s sphere&mdash;she felt it&mdash;she knew
+it. She took Marie&#8217;s slender hands in both
+of hers, and squeezed them rapturously.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I am so happy,&#8221; she cried ecstatically.
+&#8220;I think you are adorable.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>For Marie&#8217;s soft dark eyes, the soft waves
+of dark hair drooping over the low forehead,
+the slender oval of the olive tinted face, the
+crimson curving lips, the shrinking figure
+presented such a picture of exquisite helplessness
+that Eveley&#8217;s brave and buoyant soul
+rose leaping to the appeal.
+</p>
+<p>She removed the dark cape from Marie&#8217;s
+shoulders, and took her bag, leading her into
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+the small east bedroom which had been so
+charmingly dressed for her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is your home now, Marie, I hope for
+a long, long time. It is your home, and you
+are as free as a bird. You are not my servant,
+but my sister and my friend. I want you
+to be happy. You are to think as you like,
+do as you like, go or stay as you like. You
+are mistress of your own life, now and all
+the time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is very lovely,&#8221; said Marie softly.
+&#8220;And you are an angel from Heaven.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not a bit of it,&#8221; laughed Eveley. &#8220;You do
+not know me. I am the humanest thing you
+ever saw in your life.&#8221; She lifted Marie&#8217;s
+bag lightly to a low table. &#8220;Now, this door
+opens to the bath&mdash;my bedroom door leads
+into it from the opposite side. And this is
+your closet, and these drawers are all empty,
+so use them as you wish. Why don&#8217;t you put
+on a negligee, now, and rest? And while you
+are alone for a minute, to collect yourself
+and unpack your bag, I shall run out and put
+on the chocolate. We must have a hot luncheon
+after our cold ride. Are you very cold? I
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span>
+think I&#8217;d better light the fire in your grate&mdash;it
+is all ready. There, that is better now. If
+I ever do get married I must certainly have
+wonderful luck, if there is any faith in signs,
+for I do build the fieriest fires. Now, do not
+hurry, I&#8217;ll come back in a few minutes. I
+think I shall put on a negligee too,&#8221; she
+added, as Marie drew a silk gown from her
+bag. &#8220;And then we&#8217;ll be surely settled down
+and right at home together.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>With a warm and dazzling smile, she ran
+out to put the chocolate on the grill, and arrange
+the sandwiches and fruit and cake on
+the table around the bowl of drooping roses,
+and then, humming blithely, hurried into her
+own room to change from her heavy dress to
+a soft house gown.
+</p>
+<p>When, a few moments later, she returned
+to Marie, she found her standing pensively in
+the center of the room, the heavy folds of a
+dark red gown falling about her graceful figure,
+her head sunk on her breast in reverie.
+Eveley put her arms around her tenderly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are beautiful,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t
+worry, dear. You are going to be very happy,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span>
+even yet. Just trust me&mdash;and&mdash;do you know
+the song of the Belgian girl&mdash;Well, we shall
+make an American Beauty of you, sure
+enough. Just try to be happy, and have confidence
+in me, Marie. I shall never go back
+on you. My, how quick you were! Your
+bag is all unpacked, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221; She glanced
+with quickly appraising eyes at the heavy
+silver articles of toilet laid out on the dressing-table,
+and at the gowns swinging from
+the pole in the closet.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come along, baby sister,&#8221; she said affectionately,
+&#8220;or the chocolate will run all over
+the grill.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>There was deep if unvoiced appreciation in
+Marie&#8217;s eyes as she observed the fine heavy
+furniture of the little dining-room, the lace
+doilies on the mahogany table, the fine pieces
+of china, and the drooping roses. Eveley led
+her gaily to her place at the table, and sat
+down beside her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We really ought to ask a blessing,&#8221; she
+said. &#8220;I feel such a fountain of gratitude inside
+of me. My own sister was ten years
+older than I, and there were no babies afterward
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+for me to make a fuss over. This is a
+brand-new experience, and I am just bubbling
+over.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I am no baby,&#8221; said Marie, smiling
+the wistful smile that suggested tears and
+heartaches. &#8220;I think I am quite as old as
+you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, impossible,&#8221; gasped Eveley. &#8220;Why,
+I am twenty-five years old.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Really!&#8221; mocked Marie, and she laughed&mdash;and
+Eveley realized it was the first time
+Marie had laughed. &#8220;Well, I am twenty-three
+and a half.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, you can&#8217;t be. Mr. Hiltze said you
+were a child, and you are so little and slim
+and young.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have been a woman, living a woman&#8217;s
+life, with all a woman&#8217;s interests. But our
+women are sheltered, kept away from life,
+and that is why I am like a child in facing
+the world&mdash;because I have never faced it. I
+look young, and act young, because&mdash;well,
+with us, our women marry early. If they
+do not, they must retain the charm of youth
+until they do. That is what we are taught,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+it is our business as women to be young and
+lovely until we marry.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I love to hear you talk,&#8221; said Eveley irrelevantly.
+&#8220;You are just like a chapter out
+of a new and thrilling story&mdash;See, I have let
+my chocolate grow cold just looking at you,
+and listening. I am very glad you are nearly
+as old as I&mdash;we can not only be sisters, but
+twins if you like.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Marie sipped her chocolate, daintily, dreamily.
+Then she looked at Eveley searchingly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is this your patriotism?&#8221; she asked at
+last. &#8220;To throw open your home on a moment&#8217;s
+notice, to a stranger from a strange
+land?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We call it Americanization,&#8221; said Eveley.
+&#8220;We call it the assimilation of&mdash;of&mdash;&#8221; She
+hesitated, not wishing to speak of &#8220;flotsam
+and jetsam&#8221; to this soft and pliant creature.
+&#8220;We call it the assimilation of the whole
+world into American ideals.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then,&#8221; said Marie slowly, dark eyes still
+searching Eveley&#8217;s face, &#8220;I suppose, having
+this vision of patriotism yourself, you can
+understand patriotism of others from other
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+lands? You can understand why people plot,
+and steal, and kill&mdash;for love of country? My
+own land, for instance&mdash;so many call us
+bloody butchers because we fight for our
+country and for freedom. But you&mdash;you
+know what patriotism is. And you can understand,
+can you not?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course I understand,&#8221; said Eveley
+rather confusedly, for the Mexican business
+was a terrible muddle to her. &#8220;I understand
+that your men must fight to save their country
+from the rebels and anarchists who would
+wreck and ruin her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but&mdash;it is the rebels and anarchists
+who would save her,&#8221; said Marie, with childish
+earnestness. &#8220;I&mdash;we&mdash;I am of the revolutionists.
+My father was killed. My brothers
+were killed. My sisters were made captive.
+But still the struggle goes on. The
+best of our men must fight and die. Poor
+Mexico must struggle and blunder on from
+one disaster to another, until at last she rises
+triumphant and free among the nations of the
+world. It is those in power in her own land
+from whom Mexico has most to fear&mdash;those
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span>
+who would sell her, body and soul, land and
+loyalty, to foreign devils for gold. It is not
+against the outside world we fight&mdash;it is the
+vile, the treacherous ones inside our borders.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But how can you tell who is for, and who
+against?&#8221; asked Eveley bewildered. &#8220;They
+all promise so much&mdash;and peace is assured&mdash;but
+there is no peace. And who can tell
+where freedom really lies?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Alas, it is true,&#8221; said Marie sadly. &#8220;But
+those with eyes that see and hearts that love,
+know that Mexico is still in the hands of traitors,
+and that the spirit of revolution must
+live.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course you know more about it than
+I do,&#8221; admitted Eveley. &#8220;We&mdash;we do not
+understand the situation at all. I&mdash;think
+perhaps they are too shrewd for us. Let&#8217;s not
+talk of it&mdash;it excites you, dear. I want you
+to rest and be quiet. I did not know that any
+one could love&mdash;Mexico&mdash;like that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have you seen Mexico? Oh, not the dry,
+barren border country, but my Mexico, rich
+with jewels and gold, studded with magnificent
+cities, flowering with rare fruits and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+spices, a mellow, golden, matchless land, peopled
+by those who are skilled in arts and
+science, lovers of beauty, and&mdash;Ah, you do
+not know Mexico. You know only the half-breed
+savages who run the borderland, preying
+on Mexican and American alike. You do
+not know the real Mexico of beautiful women,
+and brave and gallant men. How could you
+know?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then her voice became soft and dreamy
+again. &#8220;I visited here long years ago. I was
+out in your Old Town, where the Indian maid
+Ramona lived. I stood in the square there.
+Do you know the story, Eveley, of the early
+days when your Captain Fremont and his
+band of soldiers stood there, ready to lower
+the flag of Mexico and to raise in its place
+your Stars and Stripes? As your soldier
+stepped forward to tear down our flag, a little
+girl of Mexico, another Marie like me, who
+was watching with aching heart from the
+window of the &#8217;dobe house on the other side,
+shocked at the outrage, leaped from the casement
+forgetting her fear of the foreign soldiers,
+and with one tug of her sharp knife
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+cut the rope. As the flag of Mexico fell, she
+caught it in her bare hands, and pressed it
+against her lips, her little form shaken with
+sobs. &#8216;Forgive me,&#8217; she said to the soldiers,
+but it is the flag of my country, I could not
+see it dragged in the dust.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley leaned over and put her hand on
+Marie&#8217;s arm. &#8220;I have heard the story many
+times, but I never caught the glory of it before.
+It was the feeling in her that is in me
+now&mdash;that is in all America&mdash;only ours is for
+America, and hers was for Mexico&mdash;as yours
+is.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;When I look at you, and know the tenderness
+of you, and the great heart of you,
+I feel that America must be the heaven of all
+the world, and Americans the angels.&#8221; Then
+Marie&#8217;s face darkened, and her lips became a
+scarlet line. &#8220;But who then has stood heartlessly
+by, and watched the writhing and anguish
+of my Mexico, withholding the hand of
+power that could bring peace? Who has
+stood by and smiled while Mexico lay crushed
+and bleeding beneath the heel of despotism
+and treachery?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t understood, Marie,&#8221; begged
+Eveley. &#8220;We could not understand. We&mdash;we
+naturally trust people, we are like that,
+you know, and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And whom can one trust? My faith has
+been as my faith in God&mdash;yet when so many
+falter, and then turn back in betrayal&mdash;how
+can one trust? Perhaps we are all deceived&mdash;perhaps
+every faction in my country is
+seeking only to despoil and enslave.&#8221; Then
+her face grew bright and luminous as she
+said, &#8220;But there are those who are princes
+of sacrifice and love, risking all their world,
+their lives, their honor, for my Mexico. If
+there be any faith, it is in them. You call
+them bandits&mdash;Yes? I call them sons of
+God.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley changed the subject as quickly as
+she could. The bandits who had been driven
+desperately from crag to cranny, berated in
+the press, denounced in the pulpit, deprecated
+on the platform&mdash;were these the princes of
+Marie&#8217;s Mexico, the idols of their women&#8217;s
+hearts, the saviors of their faith, their hope
+of freedom? It was very confusing.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span></p>
+<p>She told Marie how she worked every day
+down-town, and how the little Cloud Cote
+would be her own all day, how she had friends
+coming often in the evening, friends who
+would love Marie, but whom she never need
+to see except when her heart desired. And
+she told of the lovely lawn, with its pavilions
+and pergolas and crevices and vines, and of
+the canyon drifting away down to the bay.
+</p>
+<p>And Marie sat with her chin in her hands,
+her eyes soft and humble, dog-like, on
+Eveley&#8217;s face.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XV_SERVICE_OF_JOY' id='XV_SERVICE_OF_JOY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<h3>SERVICE OF JOY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was not often that Eileen Trevis, who
+was manifestly born for business, waxed
+hysterically enthusiastic. And so one morning
+a few days later, when an incoherent summons
+came from her over the telephone, Eveley
+was astonished almost to the point of
+speechlessness.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221; she gasped. &#8220;What has happened?
+Is it bad news?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good, good, good,&#8221; exulted Eileen. &#8220;Wonderful,
+delicious, thrilling. Please hurry. It
+is nearly lunch-time, isn&#8217;t it? I have been
+trying to get you all morning,&mdash;come quickly.&mdash;Never
+mind about your luncheon.&mdash;Are
+you coming?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am on the way,&#8221; shouted Eveley, crashing
+the receiver on to its hook, and flying
+with scant ceremony from the office, hoping
+it was truly the luncheon hour, but scorning
+to waste the time to look.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;She is in love,&#8221; she said aloud as she ran
+down the stairs, spurning a tardy elevator.
+&#8220;She is in love, and she is engaged, or maybe
+she has eloped and is already married. Eileen
+Trevis,&mdash;of all people in the world. Whoever
+would have thought it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Only the absence of traffic officers in that
+part of the city kept Eveley from arrest that
+day, and only the protection of Heaven itself
+saved her from total wreckage, for she spun
+around corners, and dodged traffic warts at
+a rate that was positively neck-breaking. The
+last block before she reached Eileen&#8217;s home
+was one long coast, and she drew up sharply
+with a triumphant honk.
+</p>
+<p>Eileen was on the steps before she had
+time to turn off the engine.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is it a husband?&#8221; cried Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, babies,&#8221; chortled Eileen.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley put her fingers over her lips, and
+swallowed painfully.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t your turn,&#8221; she said disapprovingly.
+&#8220;You have to do these things in proper
+order. You can&#8217;t run backward. It isn&#8217;t
+being done.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be silly,&#8221; said Eileen. &#8220;Hop out,
+and come in. I am having a nursery made out
+of the maid&#8217;s bedroom that has never been
+used. It is perfectly dear, with blue Red-Riding-Hoods,
+and blue wolves and blue
+Jacks-and-Jills on a white background.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is something wrong about this,&#8221;
+said Eveley solemnly, as she followed Eileen
+into the house, and up the two flights of
+stairs to her apartment.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is Ida&#8217;s babies, stupid,&#8221; explained Eileen
+at last. &#8220;I am to have them after all. Poor
+Jim&#8217;s sister is ill, and I must say, it almost
+serves her right,&mdash;she was so snippy about
+the children.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Ida&#8217;s babies! And has the Aunt-on-the-Other-Side-of-the-House
+had a change of
+heart?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, a regular one. Heart failure, they
+call it. I tried so hard to get them when Ida
+died, but Agnes flatly refused to give them
+up and since her brother was their daddy and
+he was alive, I could not do much. I asked
+for them again, you know, when Jim died, and
+she was ruder than ever. But since the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+dispensation of heart failure, she can not keep
+them. I got a letter this morning, and wired
+for them to start immediately and I just got
+an answer that they will be here to-morrow
+afternoon. Then I sent for the decorators.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You aren&#8217;t any mother for small children,&#8221;
+protested Eveley, with an argumentative
+wave of her hand. &#8220;You are born for
+business. Everybody says so. You do not
+know anything about babies.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes I do,&#8221; cried Eileen ecstatically.
+&#8220;They have fat legs and dimples, and Betty
+sucks her thumb and has to be scolded, and
+Billy shouts &#8216;More jam&#8217; and smudges it on
+his knees.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you giving up your position?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, mercy, no. We have to live. Poor Jim
+only left them insurance and nothing else,
+and that did not last very long. I sent the
+other aunt a small check every month to help
+along and sort of heap coals of fire on her
+head at the same time. No, I shall have to
+work harder than ever now. But I get one
+seventy-five a month now,&mdash;and lots of families
+live on less.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Who will keep house then&mdash;Betty?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t ask silly questions, Eveley, I am so
+nervous anyhow I hardly know what I am
+saying. You remember my laundress, don&#8217;t
+you? She is so nice and motherly and a Methodist
+and respectable and all that,&mdash;only old
+and hard up. She is coming to live with us,&mdash;she
+will have the den for her room, and is
+closing her cottage. She is to keep house and
+look after the babies while I am at work.
+She only charges twenty-five a month, so I
+can manage. The rent does seem high, fifty
+dollars,&mdash;but we need the room, though
+you all thought it was so extravagant for me
+to have such a large apartment to myself.
+But you know how I am, Eveley,&mdash;I like lots
+of space,&mdash;a place for everything, and everything
+where it belongs. So I was willing to
+stand the expense, and now it is a good thing
+I did. Come and see the baby room.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley duly admired the blue Red-Riding-Hoods
+and Jacks-and-Jills, exclaimed over the
+tiny white beds, and tiny white tables and
+chairs, and then said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You seem to be enjoying this experience,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span>
+so I suppose you do not feel it is your duty,
+nor anything sordid like that?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; laughed Eileen. &#8220;I am doing it because
+I am just crazy about those babies, and
+I am sort of lonely, Eveley, though I have
+never realized it before. And when I think of
+coming home to a frolic with fat little babies
+in white dresses and blue ribbons,&mdash;well, I
+am so happy I could fairly cry.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Eveley put her arms around her, and
+kissed her, and offered a few suggestions
+about appropriate food for angel babies,&mdash;feeling
+very wise from her recent experience
+with Nathalie and Dan, and invited them all
+to go driving with her on Saturday afternoon,
+and mentally planned to send them an enormous
+box of candy in the morning after their
+arrival, and then said she must hurry back to
+work.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, you poor thing,&#8221; cried Eileen in contrition.
+&#8220;You did not have any luncheon at all,
+did you? Wait until I fix a sandwich and
+you can slip into the dressing-room and eat it.
+It will only take a minute. You may have
+some of these animal cookies too,&mdash;I got a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span>
+dollar&#8217;s worth,&mdash;I knew the babies would love
+them. Now, Eveley, won&#8217;t you come to dinner
+to-morrow night and meet my little
+blesseds? The train comes at six-ten, and
+Mrs. Allis, I mean, Aunt Martha,&mdash;we have
+decided to call her Aunt Martha,&mdash;will have
+dinner all ready for us.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly I&#8217;ll come,&#8221; said Eveley promptly.
+&#8220;I shall love it. And I&#8217;ll come for you in the
+car and take you to the station.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>After work that night, Eveley went into
+the ten-cent store, and bought a startling
+array of drums and horns and small shovels,
+and sent them out to Eileen&#8217;s for the babies.
+And that night she insisted that Nolan must
+come to dinner with her to hear the great
+good news.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is just because she wants to do it,&#8221; she
+said happily. &#8220;That is why she is so full of
+joy. It is plain selfishness,&mdash;she has no
+thought of doing her Christian duty nor any
+such nonsense. And&mdash;well, you would hardly
+know Eileen. Her eyes are like stars, and her
+voice runs up and down stairs in beautiful
+trills, and she forgot to wear her hair net.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait till Billy gets jam on her lace bedspread,
+and Betty cuts up her new bonnet to
+get the pretty flowers, and wait till they both
+get mad and yowl at once,&mdash;she&#8217;ll be lucky if
+she remembers her Christian duty then.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t he crabbish, Marie?&#8221; asked Eveley
+plaintively. &#8220;He doesn&#8217;t like to see people
+happy and thrilled and throbbing.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, I do. I am thrilled and happy and
+throbbing myself right now. There is something
+about this Cote in the Clouds that&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And dear Eileen has lived alone so long,
+poor thing.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can sympathize with her all right. I
+have, too.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And now she will have a home, a real
+home&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;My own dream for years.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sweet companionship&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Heaven on earth, Eveley, heaven on
+earth.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Something to live for&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Alas, how I envy her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nolan, if you do not keep still and pay attention,
+I shall stop talking and let you
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+propose,&mdash;right before Marie,&mdash;and then where
+will you be?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Married, I hope.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Eveley decided there was no use to try
+to talk sense with Nolan, but she arranged
+to call for him at eight o&#8217;clock the next morning
+to take him to Eileen&#8217;s and show him the
+blue Red-Riding-Hoods and the toys.
+</p>
+<p>As she left the house to keep her engagement
+with Nolan, she was surprised to see
+Mrs. Severs starting out, for Mrs. Severs was
+not used to being out so early.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, little Bride, whither away?&#8221; laughed
+Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>Mrs. Severs flushed. &#8220;I am going to spend
+the day with father,&#8221; she admitted, rather
+shyly. &#8220;It is sort of lonesome here alone all
+the time,&mdash;and we have lots of fun in the
+little cottage on the hill. And sometimes we
+go out on the beach and lie on the sand,&mdash;he
+takes me in his jitney. He thinks I need more
+sunshine and fresh air.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is great, isn&#8217;t he?&#8221; said Eveley
+warmly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is dear,&#8221; cried Mrs. Severs, the quick
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span>
+color surging her face. &#8220;I am not very well,
+and he is so gentle and sweet to me. I&mdash;wish
+I had been more patient,&mdash;I am very lonely
+now. But we are great chums. He has taught
+me to play pinochle, and I fill his pipe for him.
+And onions aren&#8217;t so bad.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hum,&#8221; thought Eveley, as she drove
+down-town. &#8220;You can&#8217;t suit some people, no
+matter how finely you adjust their difficulties.&#8221;
+Then she brightened. &#8220;Still, it is
+better to love each other in two houses, than
+to be bad friends in one,&mdash;as they were.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>That evening, she and Eileen stood at the
+station impatiently waiting,&mdash;having arrived
+at five-thirty, fearing the train might come
+ahead of time.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley,&#8221; Eileen wailed. &#8220;Suppose they
+should not like me?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley laughed at that. &#8220;Suppose you do
+not like them?&#8221; she parried.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do. I haven&#8217;t seen them for over
+two years, but they are adorable. They are
+seven now. The prettiest things,&mdash;long yellow
+curls, and&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Billy will probably be shaved by this time,&mdash;I
+mean barbered.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, never. No one would cut off curls like
+his. Their hair will be longer I suppose, probably
+darker,&mdash;and Betty lisps and swallows
+while she is talking,&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she will be over that now.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;In two years? Why, certainly not. They
+will be just the same, only more so.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley began to experience a curious internal
+sinking. Eileen was too deliriously optimistic
+about those children. They were
+angel babies, of course, for Eileen said so, but
+Eveley remembered Nathalie and Dan,
+angels, too,&mdash;but how they shouted and tore
+through the house. And they were always
+exhibiting fresh cuts and bruises, and Dan
+had insisted on the confiscation of his curls
+at four years. If Billy was still wearing curls
+at seven, he needed a tonic for he was not
+regular.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eileen,&#8221; she began very gently, &#8220;you&mdash;you
+mustn&#8217;t expect too many dimples and
+curls. Children are angels,&mdash;but they are
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+funny, too. They are always bleeding, you
+know, and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bleeding!&#8221; gasped Eileen. &#8220;Agnes never
+mentioned bleeding! Do they always do it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Always. They are always getting themselves
+smashed and scratched, and blood runs
+all over them, and gets matted in their hair,
+and their hands are constitutionally dirty,
+and&mdash;they always have at least one finger
+totally and irrevocably smashed. Some times
+it is two fingers, and once in a while a whole
+hand, but the average is one finger.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eileen looked at her friend in a most professional
+manner.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not know if you are trying to be insulting,
+or just amusing, but I saw those
+children. I was right there for three weeks
+only two years ago, and they were always
+clean, they had curls, and they were certainly
+not smashed or I should have noticed it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They shout, too, Eileen,&#8221; Eveley went on
+wretchedly, determined to prepare Eileen for
+the shock that was sure to follow. &#8220;They&mdash;they
+just whoop. And&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;If you can not be a little pleasanter, dear,
+suppose you go and wait for me in the car. I
+am too nervous. I simply can not stand it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not want to be unpleasant, and I shall
+not say another word. I just wanted to remind
+you of&mdash;of the shouting&mdash;and the
+blood.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;One would think they were savages, Eveley,
+instead of my own sister&#8217;s little babies.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here comes the train,&#8221; cried Eveley, and
+added in a soft whisper that Eileen could not
+hear, &#8220;Oh, please, for Eileen&#8217;s sake, let &#8217;em
+have dimples and curls, and don&#8217;t get &#8217;em
+smashed before the train stops.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Hand in hand, with eager shining eyes, the
+girls ran along the platform, and when the
+porter put down his stool beneath the steps,
+the first thing that appeared was a small
+dimpled girl with golden curls, and a flower-like
+face beneath a flower-laden bonnet.
+</p>
+<p>Eileen leaped upon her, catching her in her
+arms, and in her rapturous delight, she did
+not hear a small brusk voice exclaiming, &#8220;Oh,
+pooh, I don&#8217;t need your old stool.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And she did not notice Eveley&#8217;s gasp,&mdash;for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span>
+Eveley had seen a small sailor-clad form
+hurtle itself from the step and fall flat upon
+the gravel platform. It was not until a sudden
+lusty roar went up that Eileen remembered
+she had two babies en route. She
+dropped Betty like a flash, and turned.
+</p>
+<p>The porter very grimly picked up the
+child, and held him out, and Eileen saw with
+horror that his face was fairly sandpapered
+from the fall, and blood was starting from a
+dozen tiny pricks.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If this is yourn, for Gawd&#8217;s sake, take
+&#8217;im,&#8221; begged the porter. &#8220;He&#8217;s fell off&#8217;n
+everything and into everything between here
+and Seattle.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eileen clung desperately to Betty&#8217;s moist
+hand.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t get scared, Auntie,&#8221; chirped the
+small bright voice. &#8220;Billy always falls into
+things, and he ain&#8217;t never broke anything
+yet,&mdash;himself, I mean, arms or legs or necks,&mdash;he
+breaks lots of dishes and vases and
+things like that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eileen was stricken dumb, but Eveley took
+the writhing roaring boy from the porter&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span>
+hand, and dusted him lightly with her handkerchief.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, where are your curls, Billy?&#8221; she
+demanded, hoping to distract his attention.
+And she succeeded only too well, for he
+stopped so suddenly in the midst of a loud
+wail that he almost choked. When he finally
+recovered his breath, he snorted derisively.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Curls! Huh! I ain&#8217;t no girl. I ain&#8217;t got
+any curls. I never did have curls.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, you did,&#8221; she argued. &#8220;Two years
+ago you had beautiful, long golden curls just
+like Betty&#8217;s.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Billy hunched up his shoulders and clenched
+a small brown fist.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You got to say, &#8216;Excuse me for them
+words,&#8217;&#8221; he said belligerently. &#8220;Ain&#8217;t so, and
+you got to say it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Scenting battle, Eveley hastily muttered
+the desired words, and passed him over to
+Eileen.
+</p>
+<p>Billy thrust out a sturdy hand, but to
+Eileen&#8217;s evident delight he refused to be
+kissed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Betty&#8217;s got to be whipped, Aunt Eileen,&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
+he announced. &#8220;Aunt Agnes told me to tell
+you all she did on the train, and you would
+whip her. She stuck a pin in a fat man that
+was asleep,&mdash;that&#8217;s the man right there,&mdash;Say,
+didn&#8217;t Betty stick a pin in you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But the fat man gave them a venomous
+glare, and hurried away. &#8220;And she pulled the
+beads off of that blonde lady&#8217;s coat,&mdash;and if
+you don&#8217;t believe it, you can look in her
+pocket &#8217;cause she&#8217;s got &#8217;em yet. And she
+swiped a box of candy from that lady in the
+yellow suit, and the lady said the porter did
+it, and they had an awful fight. And she sang
+<i>The Yanks Are Coming</i> in the middle of the
+night and everybody swore something awful.
+And she wouldn&#8217;t eat anything but ice-cream
+at the table, and one meal she had five
+dishes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley and Eileen had listened in fascinated
+silence during this recital of his sister&#8217;s
+wrongdoing. But Betty stuck a fat thumb
+between rosy lips, and drooped her eyes demurely
+behind her curling lashes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did&mdash;you do all that, Betty?&#8221; demanded
+Eileen at last, very faintly.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I did more than that,&#8221; she said proudly.
+&#8220;I put the pink lady&#8217;s bedroom slippers in a
+man&#8217;s traveling bag, and they haven&#8217;t found
+it out yet. And I slipped Billy&#8217;s wriggly lizard
+down the black lady&#8217;s neck, and she said
+a naughty word. And&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And what did Billy do?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Betty&#8217;s lips curled with scorn. &#8220;Billy? He
+didn&#8217;t do anything. He&#8217;s too good. He don&#8217;t
+ever do anything.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Billy advanced with the threatening hunch
+of his shoulders and clench of the brown fists.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You say, &#8216;Excuse me for them words,&#8217;&#8221; he
+said in a low voice. &#8220;And say it quick.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Betty jerked her finger from her mouth
+and mumbled rapidly in a voice of frightened
+nervousness, &#8220;Excuse me for them words,
+please excuse me for them words.&#8221; And then,
+as her brother&#8217;s shoulders relaxed, she sidled
+up to him, rubbing herself affectionately
+against his arm, and whispered, &#8220;Aw, Billy,
+I was only joking. You ain&#8217;t mad at me, are
+you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s go,&#8221; said Eileen. &#8220;I feel&mdash;faint.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sticking pins is good for faintness,&#8221; said
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+Betty hopefully. &#8220;I did it to Aunt Agnes
+twice when she nearly fainted, and she came
+to right away.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And she gave Betty a good whipping.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, she did, and I only did it to cure her,&#8221;
+said Betty in an aggrieved voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s go fast,&#8221; begged Eileen. &#8220;Take your
+handkerchief, Billy, and see if you can wipe
+a little of the dirt and blood off your face.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He mustn&#8217;t do that,&#8221; interrupted Betty
+promptly. &#8220;Handkerchiefs is full of germs,
+and if he gets the germs in his scratches he
+gets blood poison and dies. You got to wait
+till you get home, Billy, and then lie on your
+back on Aunt Eileen&#8217;s bed, and she&#8217;ll take
+clean gauze and soak &#8217;em off in cold water.
+If you haven&#8217;t got any gauze handy you can
+use mine, but you&#8217;d better buy some. Billy
+uses as much as a dollar&#8217;s worth of gauze in
+no time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eileen put her hand over her face, and
+turned away. The children followed, looking
+about them in frank interest and pleasure.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that a palm tree?&#8221; asked Betty. &#8220;Billy
+says God never made &#8217;em grow like that. He
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span>
+says men just tie those fins on top to make
+&#8217;em look funny. Did God do it, Aunt Eileen?
+What did He do it for?&mdash;Oh, is this your
+car, Aunt Eileen? Billy knows how to start
+a car so you better not let him in it by himself.&#8221;
+Then as the small boyish shoulders assumed
+the dreadful hunch, she cried excitedly,
+&#8220;Oh, no, he can&#8217;t either, honest he can&#8217;t.
+He doesn&#8217;t know what to turn, nor anything.
+I was joking. You ain&#8217;t mad at me, are you,
+Billy?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley slipped silently into her place behind
+the wheel, and Billy opened the door for
+his aunt and sister, banged it smartly after
+their entrance, and climbed in front with
+Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They oughtn&#8217;t to let women drive cars,&#8221;
+he said in a judicial tone. &#8220;Women is too
+nervous. There ought to be a law against it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley laughed. &#8220;I think so, too,&#8221; she
+agreed pleasantly. &#8220;But until there is such a
+law, I think I shall keep on driving.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Billy stared at her suspiciously. &#8220;You don&#8217;t
+need to agree with me to be polite,&#8221; he said.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span>
+&#8220;It won&#8217;t hurt my feelings any. I ain&#8217;t used
+to it, anyhow.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Betty, in the rear seat, cuddled cozily
+against her rigid aunt and kept up a constant
+flow of conversation in her pretty chirpy
+voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you an old maid? Aunt Agnes said
+you were. Did you do it on purpose, or
+couldn&#8217;t you help yourself? I am not going
+to be an old maid. I am engaged now. Billy
+tried to be engaged, too, but Freckle Harvey
+cut him out.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Billy suddenly squared about in his seat,
+and Betty shivered into a small and terrified
+heap. &#8220;Aw, no, he didn&#8217;t either. Billy didn&#8217;t
+like her worth a cent. He thinks she is just
+hideous, don&#8217;t you, Billy? You ain&#8217;t mad at
+me, are you, Billy?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>When Eveley drew the car up before the
+big apartment-house on Sixth Street, Billy
+forgot his temporary burst of manners. With
+a hoarse shout he slid deftly over the door
+and dashed up the steps. Shrieking gleefully,
+Betty followed swiftly in his wake.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley,&#8221; faltered Eileen, &#8220;I am afraid
+they scratched the car.&#8221; She got out hastily,
+and caught her lips between her teeth as she
+saw the long jagged scratch on the door
+where Betty&#8217;s sharp heel had passed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never mind,&#8221; said Eveley bravely. &#8220;It
+doesn&#8217;t make a bit of difference. We all know
+how children are.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&mdash;I didn&#8217;t,&#8221; said Eileen weakly. &#8220;I&mdash;guess
+I am an old maid. I hadn&#8217;t realized it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>In Betty&#8217;s extravagant delight over the
+new room, and Billy&#8217;s quiet but equally sincere
+pleasure, something of Eileen&#8217;s own enthusiasm
+returned, and although her ministrations
+upon Billy&#8217;s marred countenance,
+performed under the critical and painstaking
+eye of Sister Betty, left her weak-kneed and
+pale, she took her place at the table with
+something very much akin to pleasure, if it
+were not the jubilant delight she had anticipated.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley went home immediately after dinner,
+stopping on her way for Nolan. They
+spent an uproarious hour over her account of
+the twins and their reception. And at last,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+weak with laughter, Eveley wiped her eyes,
+and said with deep sympathy:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor Eileen! And the twins are adorable.
+But I believe one needs to be born with children
+and grow up with them gradually. For
+when they spring upon you full grown they
+are&mdash;well, they are certainly a shock.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVI_MARIE_ENCOUNTERS_THE_SECRET_SERVICE' id='XVI_MARIE_ENCOUNTERS_THE_SECRET_SERVICE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+<h3>MARIE ENCOUNTERS THE SECRET SERVICE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the beginning Eveley had hesitated to
+leave her newly adopted sister alone in the
+Cloud Cote in the evening, but as Marie
+seemed absolutely to know no fear, and as
+time did not hang at all heavily upon her
+hands, Eveley was soon running about among
+her friends as she had always done. But with
+this change: there was always a light in the
+window at the top of the rustic stairs when
+she came home, and a warm and tender welcome
+awaiting her.
+</p>
+<p>Marie had come to be charmingly useful
+in the Cloud Cote. She prepared breakfast
+while Eveley dressed, and did the light bit of
+housework nicely and without effort. Eveley
+usually had her luncheon down-town, but in
+the evening dinner was well started before
+she reached home. Her mending was always
+exquisitely done, even before she knew that
+mending was necessary, and among her
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span>
+lingerie she often came upon fine bits of lace
+she had not seen before.
+</p>
+<p>After long and loving persuasion, Marie
+had consented to meet Eveley&#8217;s sister and
+brother-in-law, and Eveley had them in for
+dinner. Marie was quiet that night, scarcely
+speaking except now and then to the babies.
+The next week, however, when Winifred
+asked both girls to dinner, Marie went without
+argument, and seemed to take a great
+deal of quiet satisfaction in the visit.
+</p>
+<p>Kitty and Eileen she met often in the Cloud
+Cote, but always withdrew as quickly as possible
+to her own room to leave Eveley alone
+with her friends. With Nolan, Eveley openly
+insisted that Marie should develop a friendship.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, he will very likely be my husband
+one of these days, when he gets around to it,&#8221;
+she explained frankly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your husband,&#8221; echoed Marie. &#8220;I thought
+Mr. Hiltze&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; denied Eveley, flushing a little.
+&#8220;He is just a pleasant in-between-whiles. We
+are fellow-Americanizers, that is all.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Does Mr. Hiltze know that?&#8221; queried
+Marie.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, everybody knows that I belong to
+Nolan when the time comes,&#8221; said Eveley,
+laughing.
+</p>
+<p>Nolan, urgently warned by Eveley, met
+Marie with friendly ease and asked no questions.
+He took her hand cordially and said
+in his pleasant voice. &#8220;Well, if you are Eveley&#8217;s
+sister, I have a half-way claim upon you
+myself, and you must count me in.&#8221; And then
+he promptly began mashing potatoes for
+their dinner, and Marie did not mind him at
+all.
+</p>
+<p>When Amos Hiltze came to the Cloud Cote
+she joined serenely with them, very easy and
+comfortable, always careful to go to her room
+before he left, that he might have a little
+while alone with Eveley. For she saw plainly
+that while he interested Eveley only in his
+enthusiasm for Americanization, for him
+Eveley had a deeper and sweeter charm.
+</p>
+<p>One Saturday afternoon when Nolan was
+busy, the two girls went out for a picnic on
+the beach, a well-filled basket in the car for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span>
+their dinner. On a sudden impulse, Eveley
+turned to Marie and cried:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, little sister, how would you like to
+learn to drive? Then you can take me to
+the office and have the car yourself to play
+with while I am busy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley,&#8221; came the ecstatic gasp, &#8220;would
+you&mdash;let me?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would I let you?&#8221; laughed Eveley.
+&#8220;Should you like it? Why, you have been
+wanting to, haven&#8217;t you? Why didn&#8217;t you ask
+me, Marie?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I couldn&#8217;t.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you should have,&#8221; said Eveley gravely.
+&#8220;I would have told you honestly if I did
+not wish it. I said you must feel free to ask
+me for anything, didn&#8217;t I. And don&#8217;t I always
+mean what I say&mdash;to you, at least?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Does your love for Americanization carry
+you so far?&#8221; asked Marie curiously.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was silent a moment. &#8220;I can not
+exactly count you Americanization,&#8221; she said
+honestly. &#8220;I do not believe Americanizing you
+could add anything to your sweetness, anyhow.
+You are just fun, and&mdash;You may not
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span>
+believe it, Marie,&#8221; she added rather shyly,
+for she was not a demonstrative girl, &#8220;but I&mdash;really
+I love you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Quick tears leaped to Marie&#8217;s dark eyes,
+and she placed her head softly against Eveley&#8217;s
+shoulder, though she did not speak. Almost
+instantly Eveley brushed away the
+wave of sentiment and gave her quick bright
+laugh.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now listen, sweetness,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is
+like this. This is the clutch that controls the
+gears. When it wabbles like this it is in
+neutral and the car will not run. When you
+shove down with your left foot, and pull the
+clutch to the left and backward, it is in low
+gear, and the car will go forward when you
+let your foot back. You must do it very
+slowly, so there will be no pull nor jerk.
+Like this.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So the afternoon wore away, the two girls
+laughing gaily as Marie made her first
+bungling attempts to drive; but later, Marie
+was aglow with exultation and Eveley with
+deep pride, because the little foreigner
+showed real aptitude for handling the car.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></p>
+<p>Then in a lovely quiet part of the beach a
+little beyond La Jolla, they had an early supper
+and drove home, Eveley at the wheel,
+singing love songs, Marie humming softly
+with her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is almost like sweethearting, isn&#8217;t
+it?&#8221; asked Eveley turning to look into the
+dark eyes fixed adoringly upon her. &#8220;Next to
+Nolan you satisfy me more than anything
+else in the world. But don&#8217;t tell Nolan. He
+is jealous of you,&mdash;he thinks I like you better
+than I do him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You say you love me, Eveley. But do you?
+Is it the kind of love that can understand and
+sympathize and forgive&mdash;yes, and keep on
+loving even when&mdash;things are wrong?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing could change my feeling for you,
+Marie,&#8221; said Eveley positively.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But if things were wrong?&#8221; came the insistent
+query.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I am no angel myself,&#8221; answered
+Eveley, laughing again. &#8220;If you are a
+naughty girl, I shall say, &#8216;I will forgive you
+if you will forgive me,&#8217; and there you are.&#8221;
+She stopped again, to laugh. &#8220;But I can&#8217;t
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span>
+think of any wrong you could do, Marie. You
+just naturally do not associate with wrong
+things.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you will always remember, won&#8217;t you,
+what you have said about love of one&#8217;s country?
+That it excuses and glorifies everything
+in the world?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But Eveley was singing again.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley had made an arrangement to call
+for Nolan at the office at eight, as they were
+going to Kitty&#8217;s for a late supper with her
+and Arnold Bender, so she kissed Marie good
+night when they reached home, and said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will you be lonesome without your big
+sister, and boss?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think I shall go down and watch the
+dark shadows in your beautiful canyon,&#8221; said
+Marie, clinging to Eveley&#8217;s hand, and looking
+deeply into her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Aren&#8217;t you afraid down there at night?&#8221;
+wondered Eveley. &#8220;I have lived on top of the
+canyon all my life, and we played hide-and-seek
+there when we were children, and I love
+it,&mdash;and yet when night comes, I do not even
+go so far as the rose pergola unless Nolan is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span>
+there to hold my hand and shoo away the
+ghosts and things.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is our difference. You are afraid of
+the world and the night, I am afraid only of
+men and women. I have lived alone, and have
+had wide dark gardens to wander in. They
+have never harmed me. Only men have
+injured me, and my family. So I love to slip
+down into the soft fragrant darkness of the
+canyon and sit on the big stones or on the
+velvet grass, and see my future in the
+shadows.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But do not stay long. The whole canyon
+is yours to dream in, if it makes you happy.
+But wear a heavy wrap and do not get
+chilled.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then with a hasty kiss she ran down the
+steps to the car.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was tired that night. The first lesson
+in driving, the lazy supper on the beach,
+and the long ride, left her listless and indolent.
+So after their merry dinner, and a dance
+or two around the Victrola, she said she had
+a headache and wanted to go home.
+</p>
+<p>They drove very slowly along the winding
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span>
+road, and were quietly content. Nolan opened
+the doors of the garage and Eveley ran the
+car into place; then, as she was really tired,
+at the foot of the rustic stairs he said good
+night, while she crept slowly up the steps.
+</p>
+<p>For the first time, there was no Marie to
+welcome her. The room, though lighted,
+looked dreary and forlorn without the pretty
+adopted girl.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The little goosie,&#8221; said Eveley, with a tender
+smile. &#8220;I suppose she is still dreaming
+down in that spooky canyon. Maybe she has
+fallen asleep. I shall have to go after her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She took a small flash-light, and hurried
+down the rustic stairs and the well-known
+path beyond the rose pergola, where she
+hoped to find Marie.
+</p>
+<p>But Marie was not there.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley knew every foot of the canyon by
+heart; she went surely and without hesitation
+along the twisting, winding, rocky path,
+half-way down the narrow slope.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie,&#8221; she called softly, &#8220;Marie.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But there was no answer.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Maybe she is behind the live oak in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+Rambler&#8217;s Retreat,&#8221; she thought, and climbed
+up the steep bank from the path, clinging to
+bits of shrubbery and foliage. But Marie was
+not there. And then as Eveley turned, she
+heard quick running steps in the pathway
+under the swinging bridge that spanned the
+canyon lower down.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley sighed aloud in her relief,&mdash;then
+her breath caught in her throat,&mdash;a gasp of
+fear.
+</p>
+<p>For sounding clear and distinct above the
+light steps came a pounding of heavier feet.
+Some one was following Marie up the path,&mdash;no,
+there were two for there was another
+pounding a little fainter, farther away. Now
+Eveley could hear the frightened intake of
+Marie&#8217;s breath as she ran. Two girls alone
+in the dark canyon.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley clung desperately to the heavy
+shrubbery among which she was crouching.
+She was about three feet above the path on
+the steep bank. Clinging for support with
+one hand, she reached noiselessly about for a
+stone, but there was nothing upon which she
+could lay her hand.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span></p>
+<p>Below the path, the canyon dropped
+sharply for a long way, fifty or sixty feet
+perhaps, not a precipice, but with a decided
+drop that could only be descended with care.
+If Marie would only lie down and roll, she
+might be able to hide among the bushes at
+the bottom. But Marie did not think of that.
+Her one idea was to run faster and faster, in
+the hope of escaping her pursuers.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie,&#8221; whispered Eveley sharply as the
+girl came up the path near her, and Marie,
+hearing the faint sound, stopped suddenly in
+her tracks, swaying, more frightened than
+ever.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lie down, lie down,&#8221; urged Eveley, but
+Marie did not hear, and before she could
+gather her wits to run on, a man leaped toward
+her, both arms outstretched.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I got you,&#8221; he panted.
+</p>
+<p>Marie, following the terrified instinct of
+every hunted animal, swung her lithe body
+and ducked beneath his arm. And at that
+moment, Eveley, tightening her hold upon
+the branches of the bush, drew up her
+feet, braced herself against the bank for
+a moment, and then sprang heavily against
+the man with both feet and sent him reeling
+head-first down the canyon.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-257.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+&#8220;Marie,&#8221; whispered Eveley sharply.
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span></div>
+<p>Like a flash, Marie flattened herself against
+the bank&mdash;one more dark shadow among the
+others&mdash;and none too soon, for the second
+man was close upon them, so close they could
+hear the heavy rasp of his breathing. Eveley
+had not time to raise herself for another
+spring, so she crouched against the bank in
+terror, hoping in his haste that he might pass
+them by. But as he came near he paused
+suddenly, his attention attracted by the sound
+of tearing brush, and the incoherent cries of
+his companion as he rolled down the canyon.
+Taking it as an indication that the chase was
+in that direction, he turned blindly to follow,
+and not knowing the lay of the land, lost his
+footing at once and fell headlong.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was upon her feet in an instant.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Run, Marie,&#8221; she whispered, and in less
+than a moment they were hurrying up the
+path behind the rose pergola under the magnolias
+and beneath the light from their Cloud
+Cote.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait,&#8221; whispered Marie. &#8220;Let&#8217;s hide a
+moment. They might see us going up the
+stairs. Wait beneath the roses until they are
+gone.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Only faint sounds came up to them as the
+two men, bruised and sore, painfully picked
+themselves up from the rocks and the prickly
+shrubs. Evidently they realized there was
+no hope of further pursuit, for in a short
+while the girls could hear the faint echo of
+their heavy footsteps as they retraced their
+way down the canyon.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley held Marie in her arms until the
+last sound had echoed away, and then silently
+they climbed the stairs, crossed the little garden
+on the roof, and crawled through the
+window into the safety of the Cote.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you hurt, Marie?&#8221; asked Eveley, the
+first to break the tense silence that fell upon
+them when they were conscious of shelter
+and security.
+</p>
+<p>Marie shook her head. Then she moved
+one step toward Eveley, and asked in a pleading
+whisper: &#8220;Are you angry with me? Do
+you hate me?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Marie, don&#8217;t talk so,&#8221; cried Eveley,
+nervous tears springing to her eyes. &#8220;How
+could I be angry with you? But I was so
+frightened and shocked. I did not know how
+very much I loved you. You must never go
+into the canyon again at night. Never once,&mdash;for
+one minute. Will you promise me?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will promise whatever you wish, Eveley,
+you know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley smiled at her weakly, and turning
+to take off her wraps saw with surprise that
+the sleeves were torn almost from her coat.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I must have come down with quite a
+bang,&#8221; she said faintly, suddenly aware that
+her shoulders were quivering with pain.
+</p>
+<p>With a little cry of pity, Marie ran to her,
+and tenderly helped to remove her blouse.
+The tears ran down her face when she saw
+the red and swollen shoulders beneath.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, my poor angel,&#8221; she mourned. &#8220;All
+bruised and sore like that. For me. You
+never should have done it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Very sweetly she bathed the shoulders,
+and when Eveley crept painfully into bed, she
+arranged soft compresses of cotton and oil
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
+for her to lie upon. And she asked, shyly, if
+she might sit by the bed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Until you fall asleep,&#8221; she pleaded. &#8220;I can
+not leave you like this, when you are in such
+pain,&mdash;for me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come and sleep with me, then,&#8221; said Eveley.
+&#8220;I do not want to let you go off alone,
+either, when&mdash;something so terrible might
+have happened to you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eagerly and with great joy Marie availed
+herself of the privilege, and slipped into her
+place beside Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you suffer in the night, please ask me
+to help you,&#8221; she begged. &#8220;I will not sleep,
+but I do not wish to speak until I know you
+are awake.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must sleep,&#8221; said Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>But Marie did not sleep. Sometimes Eveley
+would moan a little, turning heavily, and
+then, without a sound, Marie was out of bed,
+replacing the bandages with fresh ones,
+crooning softly over Eveley as a mother over
+a suffering child.
+</p>
+<p>Fortunately the next day was Sunday, and
+Eveley remained quietly on a couch, with
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span>
+Marie waiting upon her like a tender Madonna.
+Nolan came up, too, and insisted upon
+the full story of what had happened.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I fell,&#8221; said Eveley positively.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You did not fall on your shoulder-blades,&#8221;
+he said. &#8220;You girls have been up to some
+monkey business, and I want to know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>After long insistence, Eveley told him of
+the night&#8217;s adventure, Marie sitting erect and
+rigid during the recital.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where did you go, Marie?&#8221; he asked, in
+deep concern.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I went too far,&#8221; she confessed regretfully.
+&#8220;But it was an exquisite night, and I was
+happy. I went down farther and farther, and
+did not realize it. Suddenly I looked up, and
+knew I was far, far down. I turned at once.&mdash;Then
+some one called. A man&#8217;s voice. I
+ran, and the steps came pounding after me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must not go into the canyon at night
+again, please, Marie. You are too young.
+And&mdash;the canyon goes away down to the
+water-front where there are a lot of Greasers
+and&mdash;I mean, half-breeds,&#8221; he stammered
+quickly, &#8220;all kinds of foreigners along the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span>
+road down there! You must stay on top of
+your canyon and be good.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The next morning, although Eveley knew
+her arms were too stiff and sore for work,
+she decided to go to the office anyhow to see
+the day well started.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They will send me home, and I shall be
+here for luncheon with you. I can not drive
+yet, so I&#8217;ll just cross the bridge and go on the
+street-car.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>As she stood on the swinging bridge, looking
+down into the lovely canyon, it seemed
+impossible that there in the friendly shadows
+such horrible dangers had menaced them. Of
+a sudden impulse, she ran back, and climbed
+carefully down to where she had clung so
+grimly to the tangled vines and had knocked
+Marie&#8217;s assailant from the path.
+</p>
+<p>No, it was no dream. The vines were torn
+and mangled and on the path were the marks
+of trampling feet, and peering down the canyon
+she could discern two distinct trails
+where the men had tumbled and reeled. She
+slowly followed the trails, picking her way
+carefully, clinging to bits of shrub. Her lips
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+curved into a grim smile as she pictured their
+surprise and pain. At the foot of the canyon
+she saw something shining among the rocks.
+</p>
+<p>She lifted it curiously, and turned it in her
+hand. It was clean and shining,&mdash;a small
+steel badge marked Secret Service.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley&#8217;s eyes clouded, and her brows took
+on a troubled frown, as she put the badge
+carefully into her purse.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall never tell Marie,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It
+would not help much with the Americanization
+of a sweet and trusting foreign girl to
+know she had been followed at night by a
+steel badge marked Secret Service.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Eveley followed the path back to the
+bridge again with a grieved and troubled air.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVII_SPONTANEOUS_COMBUSTION' id='XVII_SPONTANEOUS_COMBUSTION'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+<h3>SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>As the weeks passed, Eveley noticed a
+change in the conduct of the honeymoon
+home beneath her. Many times in the
+early morning, she saw Mrs. Severs going out
+with a covered basket and wearing an old long
+coat and a tight-fitting small hat. And sometimes
+she met her in the evening, coming
+home, dusty, tired and happy.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am going to father&#8217;s,&#8221; she would explain
+lightly. Or, &#8220;I have been out with father
+to-day.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And at the quizzical laughter in Eveley&#8217;s
+eyes, she would add defiantly: &#8220;He is a darling,
+Eveley, and I was very silly. Why didn&#8217;t
+you bring me to my senses?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>For Mrs. Severs was feeling less well than
+usual, and in the long absence of her husband
+every day, she was learning to depend
+on the brusk, kindly, capable father-in-law.
+And many days, when she was not well
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+enough to leave home, he came himself, and
+the girls up-stairs could hear him in the kitchen
+below, preparing dinner for Andy and
+his ailing bride.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whatever should I do without him, Miss
+Ainsworth?&#8221; she sometimes asked. &#8220;He does
+everything for me. And I think he likes me
+pretty well, now he is getting used to me.
+He is good to me,&mdash;his little funny ways are
+not really funny any more, but rather sweet.
+I spoiled everything with my selfishness, and
+he will never try to live with us again.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>One evening, when Father-in-law had been
+particularly tender and helpful, she looked at
+Eveley with brooding eyes, and said, &#8220;You
+are such a nice girl, but I sort of blame you
+because father is not with us. You are so
+much cleverer than I,&mdash;couldn&#8217;t you have
+opened my eyes before it was too late?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Eveley ran up the stairs shaking her
+slender fists in the air. &#8220;Deliver me from
+brides,&#8221; she said devoutly to the rose in the
+corner of her roof garden. &#8220;Grooms are bad
+enough, but brides are utterly impossible. I
+would not live with one for anything on earth.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span>
+To think of the wretched life they were living
+until I helped them to a proper adjustment,&mdash;and
+now she holds me responsible. I
+always said Father-in-law was the most desirable
+member of the family.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But even he disappointed her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, are you getting enough freedom?&#8221;
+she asked him pleasantly one evening as she
+met him coming in.
+</p>
+<p>He looked about cautiously before he answered.
+&#8220;Excuse me, miss,&#8221; he said apologetically,
+&#8220;but you are away off on some
+things. Freedom is all right, but a little of it
+goes a long ways. Sometimes folks like company.
+She,&#8221; he said, with an explanatory
+wave of his thumb toward the house, &#8220;she is
+a pretty fair sort. I&#8217;ve got so danged sick of
+having my own way that, Holy Mackinaw,
+I&#8217;d try living with an orphan asylum for a
+change. You see, I was just getting used to
+her, and so I kind of miss her cluttering
+around under foot.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was quite annoyed at this turn of
+events, and her feeling of perturbation lasted
+fully half-way up the rustic stairs. But by
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span>
+the time she had crossed the roof garden and
+swung through the window she was herself
+again. She caught Marie about the shoulders
+and danced her through the room with a
+spinning whirl.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Such a lark,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;The most fun we
+are going to have. Listen, sweetest thing in
+the world, we are going to have a party to-night,
+you and I, and Nolan and Jimmy Ames.
+They are coming here, Jimmy for you of
+course, for I always get Nolan if he is in the
+party.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley,&#8221; gasped Marie, paling a little.
+&#8220;I can&#8217;t. I&mdash;Mr. Hiltze said I should not meet
+men, you know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, he is not the head of our family.
+And besides, he will not know a thing about
+this. You will love Jimmy Ames. I nearly do
+myself. He is so big and blond and boyish,&mdash;you
+know, the slow, good, lovey kind.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But he&#8217;ll ask&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t worry. I know Jimmy Ames. After
+one look at you, he will not be able to ask
+questions for a month. Come, let&#8217;s hurry.
+You must wear that exquisite little yellow
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+thing, and I&#8217;ll wear black to bring you out
+nicely.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley, you mustn&#8217;t&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Nolan likes me in black, anyhow. He
+says it makes me look heavenly, and of course
+one ought to sustain an illusion like that if
+possible. Now do not argue, Marie. We are
+going to have a perfectly wonderful time, and
+you will be as happy as a lark.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>For a moment longer Marie hesitated,
+frowning into space. Then she suddenly
+brightened, and a wistful eagerness came into
+her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, I am going to do whatever you
+tell me. If you wish me to be of your party,
+I will. And if you say, &#8216;Do not tell Mr. Hiltze,&#8217;
+I shall never tell him. And if you say, &#8216;Like
+Mr. Ames,&#8217; I shall adore him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a nice girl,&#8221; cried Eveley, happily
+whirling into her chair at the table and dropping
+her hat upon the floor at her side. &#8220;I
+couldn&#8217;t have planned anything nicer than
+this. Kitty and Arnold often have parties
+with us, but it will be much better having
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+you and Jimmy. He looks very smart in his
+uniform.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Uniform,&#8221; faltered Marie suddenly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&mdash;Lieutenant Ames, you know,&mdash;Jimmy
+Ames.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lieutenant? Oh, Eveley, please, let&#8217;s not.
+I&mdash;am not fond of the military. I am afraid
+of soldiers. Let me&mdash;Have some one else
+dear, please. Get Kitty this time, won&#8217;t you?
+I am afraid.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait till you see Jimmy. He isn&#8217;t the
+snoopy overbearing kind that you are used
+to. Can&#8217;t you trust me yet, Marie? I wouldn&#8217;t
+have you meet any one who would be unpleasant
+or suspicious. You have found the rest
+of my friends all right, haven&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, never mind,&#8221; Marie decided suddenly.
+&#8220;I will come to the party, but do not ever
+let Mr. Hiltze know, will you? He would be
+raging.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie, do you love Amos Hiltze?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Love him! I hate him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hate him? Then why in the world are you
+so afraid of him? You obey every word he
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+says, and follow every suggestion he makes.
+I thought you were great friends.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Marie flushed and paled swiftly. &#8220;It is because
+I am grateful to him,&#8221; she said at last,
+not meeting Eveley&#8217;s eyes. &#8220;He brought me
+to you,&mdash;and he helps me,&mdash;and I am, willing
+to do whatever he tells me except when you
+wish something else. But I do not like him
+personally by any means, and I wish he did
+not come here so much.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought you were friends,&#8221; Eveley repeated
+confusedly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is in love with you&mdash;don&#8217;t you know
+that?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&mdash;perhaps so. But Angelo says men
+can love two women simultaneously. Angelo
+says there is something strange about his
+bringing&mdash;I mean,&#8221; she interrupted herself
+quickly, &#8220;Angelo wondered where he found
+you, or&mdash;or something.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Angelo is a good friend to you, Eveley.
+You might pay better heed to his suggestions,
+to your own good,&#8221; said Marie faintly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought,&mdash;oh, I do not know what I
+thought. Well, we can shunt Mr. Hiltze off
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span>
+a little, if you wish. But you should not dislike
+him. He is greatly interested in you, and
+so full of enthusiasm and eagerness for this
+Americanization idea. He has been a great
+help to me, and he is very clever. And since
+he brought us together we should love him a
+little. Any one who struggles with Americanization
+deserves my patriotic and sympathetic
+interest, at least.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I know.&#8221; And she added slowly: &#8220;One
+can show enthusiasm for the things one hates
+worst in the world,&mdash;if there is a secret reason.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not mean Mr. Hiltze, do you?&#8221;
+asked Eveley, with quiet loyalty.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, to be sure not. I only said one could.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Hiltze is nothing to us. Toss him
+away. Come now, let&#8217;s doll up for our party.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>They were two radiantly lovely girls who
+stood in the little garden on the roof of the
+sun parlor, waiting for the men who ran up
+the wavering rustic stairs to join them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, girls,&#8221; cried Nolan plaintively, as he
+saw them in their beauty. &#8220;It is not fair of
+you to look like this. Marie, you are exquisite.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span>
+Eveley, you ought to be ashamed of
+yourself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we are,&#8221; said Eveley pleasantly.
+&#8220;Jimmy, I want you to meet my darling and
+adorable little friend, Marie Ledesma. This is
+Lieutenant Ames, Marie.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Lieutenant Ames stood very tall and slim
+and straight as he looked into Marie&#8217;s face.
+Then he saw the soft appeal in her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Be good to me,&#8221; they seemed to beg, &#8220;be
+generous, and kind.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>It was in answer to this plea of the limpid
+eyes that he held out his hand with sudden
+impulse, and said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Miss Ledesma, when Eveley speaks like
+that, I know your friendship is a priceless
+boon, and I want my share of it. I am receiving
+a sort of psychic message that you and I
+are destined to be good comrades.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>A sudden wave of light swept over her
+lovely face, and her lips parted in a happy
+smile.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lieutenant Ames,&#8221; she whispered in her
+soft voice, &#8220;do you really feel so? And then
+you also are my friend?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Jimmy Ames, you stop that,&#8221; cried Eveley.
+&#8220;Marie belongs to me, and you must not
+even try to supplant me. I won&#8217;t have it.
+Come on in, everybody, and let&#8217;s play, play,
+play to our heart&#8217;s content.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Marie went through the window first, with
+a light slender swing of her feet. But Eveley,
+as always plunging impulsively, lost her
+balance and fell among the cushions. Nolan
+and the lieutenant followed laughing.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We must take a day off and teach Eveley
+the approved method of making entrance to a
+social gathering,&#8221; said Nolan. &#8220;Are you all
+black and blue, you poor child?&#8221; he asked,
+helping her up, for she had waited patiently
+for his assistance.
+</p>
+<p>It was a wonderfully happy party. They
+played the Victrola, and danced merrily
+through the two rooms, around the reading
+table, through the archway, winding among
+the chairs in the dining-room. When they
+were tired, Marie brought her mandolin,&mdash;for
+having remarked once idly that she could
+play it, Eveley that night had brought her
+one as a little gift of love. And she played
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+soft Spanish love-songs, singing in her pretty
+lilting voice. Then altogether they prepared
+their supper and because the night was still
+young and lovely, and they were happy and
+free from pressing care, they decided suddenly
+for a drive. They crossed the bay on the
+ferry to Coronado, and went down on the
+sands of the beach for a while, standing
+quietly to watch the silver tips of the waves
+shining in the pale moonlight. Then they
+drove out the Silver Strand and so home once
+more.
+</p>
+<p>Before they parted, they arranged for another
+party, two nights later, and after long
+discussion agreed that it should be an evening
+swimming party in the bay at Coronado,
+with a hot supper afterward in the Cloud
+Cote.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How did you like our Lieutenant Jimmy?&#8221;
+Eveley demanded, as soon as they were alone.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is incomparable,&#8221; said Marie simply.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I knew it,&#8221; cried Eveley ecstatically.
+&#8220;Nolan and I both said so. Spontaneous combustion,
+that is what it was. Come and sleep
+with me again to-night. It is such fun to go
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+to bed and turn out the light and talk. Did
+you ever do it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, my life has not been of that kind.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you will learn. I never saw any one
+learn as quickly as you do,&mdash;especially things
+about men.&mdash;Now I shall begin by telling you
+how adorable Nolan is, and you must interrupt
+me to say how wonderful Jimmy is.&mdash;Did
+you ever have a sweetheart, Marie?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she added quickly: &#8220;Wait, wait. I&mdash;I
+did not mean to ask questions,&mdash;Excuse me,
+I am sorry. Let&#8217;s talk of something else.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, let&#8217;s talk of lovers,&#8221; said Marie,
+snuggling close to Eveley, her head lying
+against her shoulder. &#8220;I have never had the
+regular kind of a lover,&mdash;your kind,&mdash;the
+kind that women want. My life was full of
+war and horrors, and I had not time for the
+thrills of love. And the men I knew were not
+the men that one would wish to love one.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then, this is your chance,&#8221; said Eveley
+happily. &#8220;Now I am positively sure that one
+of these days you will be a matchless American
+woman. You are just ripe and ready for
+love. You can&#8217;t escape it, you sweet thing,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span>
+even if you could wish. War and horrors
+were left behind in your old home. Here in
+your new home you will know only peace and
+contentment and love. Aren&#8217;t you glad I
+adopted you? We must give Mr. Hiltze credit
+for that anyhow, mustn&#8217;t we?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>There was a sudden tension in the slender
+figure at her side. &#8220;Eveley, are you so innocent?
+Do you never attribute evil motives
+to any one? Do you always believe only good
+and beautiful and lovely things of those you
+meet?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I have no real reason for thinking
+mean or ugly things of any one&mdash;not really.
+I never had any horrors in my life until the
+war came. I have just lived along serenely
+and contentedly, and being fairly nice and
+kind, I have no guilty conscience to trouble
+me, and no one has ever been hateful or mean
+to me&mdash;not in anything that really counted.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Both were silent a moment, thinking, each
+in her different way, of the contrast in their
+lives. Then Eveley went on, more slowly:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I feel sometimes that we are living on the
+crest of a terrible upheaval&mdash;that we are on
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span>
+the edge of a seething volcano which is
+threatening and rumbling beneath us, each
+day growing fiercer and more ominous, and
+that presently may come chaos, and we on the
+crater of life will be dragged down into the
+furnace with the rest. I suppose,&#8221; she added
+apologetically, &#8220;it is because of the conditions
+that always follow a war, the political unrest,
+the social chaos, the anarchistic tendencies
+of every one. I am not in the midst of things
+enough to understand them, but even up here
+on the top of our canyon, we sometimes get
+a blast of the hot air from below, and it
+troubles us. Then we try to forget, and go
+on with our playing. But the volcano still
+rumbles beneath.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley slipped her hand out to take Marie&#8217;s
+and found it icy cold.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did&mdash;did you ever feel so before?&#8221; asked
+Marie in a low strange voice. &#8220;That you
+were living on the rim of a volcano, ready to
+catch and crush you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, not before. It is just now&mdash;after the
+war. Conditions were never the same before.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span></p>
+<p>Then Marie burst into a passion of tears.
+&#8220;It is my fault,&#8221; she sobbed. &#8220;It is because
+I am here. All my life I have lived in the
+crater of a volcano, and I have brought it
+upon you. It is a curse I carry with me. It
+is the chaos from which I have come, and to
+which I must go again when I leave you&mdash;it
+is that which destroys your peace.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Frightened and astonished, Eveley soothed
+her, cradling her in her arms. &#8220;You little
+silly,&#8221; she said tenderly. &#8220;You dear little
+goose. Don&#8217;t you believe any such nonsense
+as that. We are in a condition of turmoil,
+our United States and all the rest of the
+world. It is not the affairs of your Mexico
+that worry me&mdash;it is the tempest in my own
+country. And don&#8217;t you ever talk any more
+about going back. You shall never go back.
+You are to stay here with me forever and
+ever, world without end, amen. You will,
+won&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Marie only stirred a little, and did not answer.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie,&#8221; cried Eveley, her voice sharp with
+fear. &#8220;Do you ever think really of going back
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
+to&mdash;that? Answer me.&#8221; And she gripped
+Marie&#8217;s soft shoulder with strong fingers.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not think any more,&#8221; said Marie gently.
+&#8220;But one always has a feeling that one
+must return whence one has come, do you not
+think? It is only that. It seems incredible
+that I, alone out of our struggling thousands,
+should be let to come away and live serenely
+in a cloud cote, does it not? And the struggle
+in Mexico goes on.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The same kind of peace and contentment
+will come to all your country when the world
+is settled down to law and order once more,&#8221;
+said Eveley, with the sublime faith of the
+young and the unsuffering. &#8220;It just takes
+time. And God was good enough to carry
+you away before the end of the conflict. Just
+wait. When our country is thoroughly Americanized,
+and returns to joyful work and love
+and life again, the contagion will spread to
+your people, and peace will reign there also.
+So do not talk any more nonsense about leaving
+me. Now let&#8217;s go back to the beginning,
+and talk about&mdash;the men.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVIII_CONVERTS_OF_LOVE' id='XVIII_CONVERTS_OF_LOVE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+<h3>CONVERTS OF LOVE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>A very warm intimacy developed rapidly
+between the four friends, and every
+evening for nearly two weeks found them
+joyfully, even riotously, making merry together
+in the Cloud Cote. As Eveley had
+prophesied, Lieutenant Ames was hopelessly
+lost from the first, and Marie yielded herself
+very readily to the charm of an ardent
+wooing.
+</p>
+<p>But with Eveley, Marie was different, more
+quiet, less demonstrative, sometimes plainly
+listless and absent-minded. Eveley ascribed
+the change to her newly developed interest in
+Lieutenant Ames, and patiently awaited the
+outcome of the ripening romance. For Eveley
+had a deep-seated sympathy with every appeal
+of love.
+</p>
+<p>For many weeks she had received no word
+from Miriam Landis. Although she had
+passed in an hour from all connection with
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span>
+their daily plans, yet she was never far from
+their thought. Even without their tender
+and sympathetic memories, they could not
+have forgotten her, for her husband was a
+frequent and always tumultuous visitor in the
+Cote.
+</p>
+<p>He invariably began talking before he was
+through the window, and his first words
+were unfailingly the same.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t stand it, Eveley, I simply can&#8217;t
+stand it. You&#8217;ve got to do something
+about it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Again and again he came with this appeal,
+always overlooking the fact that Eveley had
+no faintest idea of Miriam&#8217;s whereabouts,
+for, true to her word, she had kept her hiding-place
+unknown to them all.
+</p>
+<p>Then for several weeks he did not come,
+and Eveley felt that perhaps he was reconciled,
+and had returned to his old pursuit of
+secluded ballroom corners. But Nolan assured
+her of the injustice of this. Lem had
+forsaken all his former haunts, and had become
+a recluse, brooding alone in his deserted
+home.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It will do him good, even if it does not
+last,&#8221; Nolan said. &#8220;Almost any one would
+grieve for a woman like Miriam for a few
+months.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps it is permanent this time, and
+there will be a reconciliation, and both live
+happily ever after,&#8221; said Eveley, with her
+usual buoyant faith in the cheerful outcome.
+</p>
+<p>Gordon Cameron she had seen only once
+since Miriam&#8217;s departure, and that was when
+he came at her request to receive Miriam&#8217;s
+message. He had listened quietly, while she
+repeated the words of her friend.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I expected it, of course,&#8221; he said at last
+gravely. &#8220;The pity of it is that her little revolution
+was so hopeless from the beginning.
+As long as a woman loves her husband, she
+can not hope for happiness, nor even for forgetfulness.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she does not love her husband any
+more,&#8221; said Eveley confidently. &#8220;Not a bit.
+She is over that long ago.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That was the whole trouble,&#8221; he insisted.
+&#8220;If she had not loved him, she could have
+stood it and gone her way. But loving him,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+the situation was impossible for a woman of
+spirit and pride. Well, there is always one
+to pay in every triangle, and this time the
+bill comes to me. But I had anticipated that
+from the beginning. She is a wonderful woman.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think she will go back to her husband?&#8221;
+asked Eveley breathlessly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hardly think so. She might as well,
+though; perhaps it would be better. She can
+not be happy without him, and she was certainly
+not happy with him. It is only a
+choice of miseries. As long as she loves him,
+she will suffer for it. I begin to think that
+one who loves can not be happy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, one can. One is,&#8221; asserted Eveley
+positively.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps I should say, when one is married
+to it,&#8221; he added, with a sober smile for her
+assurance.
+</p>
+<p>Then he had gone away, and when Lem&#8217;s
+pleadings had suddenly ceased, Eveley felt
+that the little tempest would live its life, and
+die its death, and perhaps Miriam at least
+would find happiness in the lull that followed.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span></p>
+<p>So it was something of a shock to have her
+pleasant Sunday morning nap disturbed by
+Lem pounding briskly upon her window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Get up, immediately,&#8221; he said in an assertive
+voice quite different from his futile
+and inane pleadings of a short while before.
+&#8220;Hurry, Eveley, I want you. Dress for motoring,
+my car is here. I shall wait in the
+garden&mdash;give you ten minutes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He must want me for a bridesmaid for his
+second wedding,&#8221; thought Eveley resentfully,
+as she hurriedly dressed. But accustomed to
+obey the calls of friendship, she put on a
+heavy sport skirt and sweater, and had even
+pulled her soft hat over her curls before she
+went to the window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am ready, but I do not approve of it,&#8221;
+she began rather unpleasantly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better take a doughnut, or a roll,
+or an orange, or something, for we have no
+time for breakfast,&#8221; he said in the same assertive
+voice. &#8220;She will not be back until
+afternoon, Miss Ledesma. Sorry if it interferes
+with any of your plans, but it can not
+be helped. Get your coat, quickly, Eveley.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It does interfere with our plans,&#8221; she said
+crossly. &#8220;We were going up to the mountains
+for a beefsteak fry with Jimmy and Nolan.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never mind,&#8221; said Marie softly. &#8220;It may
+come another Sunday. Mr. Landis seems to
+need you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;All ready, Eveley? Let me help you.
+Good-by, Miss Ledesma.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Eveley found herself marching briskly
+down the rustic steps away from her own
+plan and her own desire, and with no knowledge
+of what lay before her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You might at least tell me where we are
+going,&#8221; she said at last, after he had hurried
+her into the car and started away.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;To see Miriam,&#8221; he answered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; Eveley&#8217;s voice was a long gasp. She
+was content to wait after that for his explanation,
+although it was very slow in coming.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is at a ranch up in the mountains,&#8221;
+he said finally. &#8220;About fifty miles. We just
+located her last night. I have been looking,
+for her all the time. You are going to talk
+to her for me.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, am I?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. I was afraid to come alone for fear
+she would not see me. She will not refuse to
+see you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you mind telling me what I am going
+to say to her?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He was silent a while, thinking. &#8220;She refused
+to take any money from me,&#8221; he said,
+presently. &#8220;And she has very little. If she
+persists in this, she will have to work for her
+living. Miriam can not do that.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; said Eveley softly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She does not want me for a husband yet,&#8221;
+he said humbly. &#8220;And that is right. But I
+must have Miriam, and she shall never have
+any one else but me&mdash;not that I think she
+would ever want anybody else. You are to
+tell Miriam she must come home, and live her
+life just as she wishes and do as she pleases
+in everything, and allow me to be a servant
+for her, to provide what she wants and needs,
+to take care of her if she is sick. Tell her
+she may have any friends she likes, lovers
+even if she wishes, but that she must let me
+work for her.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span></p>
+<p>Eveley laid her hand affectionately upon
+his arm. &#8220;I have never done you justice,
+Lem; forgive me. I think Miriam will come
+home. I hope she will.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She has to. And after a while, when she
+sees in me what she used to think was there,
+she will love me again. But in the meantime,
+I shall ask nothing and expect nothing. But
+Miriam has got to be in the house.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley only spoke once after that.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If she will not come?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>He turned upon her then, a sudden grim
+smile lighting his face. &#8220;I know what I shall
+do then,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But you will think it is
+madness. If she refuses to come, I shall
+make the necessary arrangements, and kidnap
+her. She&#8217;s got to come.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley burst into quick laughter at the picture
+that came to her&mdash;a picture of the old-time,
+immaculate Lem of the ballrooms, carrying
+his wife away into the mountains to
+live a cave-man life.
+</p>
+<p>He laughed with her, but the dead-set of
+his face remained. &#8220;It sounds like a joke,&#8221;
+he admitted. &#8220;But I have made up my mind.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+Miriam is mine, and I am going to have her.
+We&#8217;ll just go up into the mountains for a few
+months, and she will see that I am cured.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Mile after mile they drove in silence up the
+steep mountain grades, and after a long time
+he drew the car off beside the road under a
+cluster of trees.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the ranch, but I will not drive in.
+If she saw us coming she would not talk to us,
+so you must catch her unawares. I shall wait
+here for you. You&#8217;d better not tell her I am
+going to kidnap her, I think I would rather
+take her by surprise. She has to come,
+Eve, now make her see it. Just a servant
+that is all I want to be to her for a while. But
+she did love me, and she will again.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Eveley walked swiftly up the drive to
+the house, keeping in the shadow as much as
+possible, surprised to know that after all the
+years of her disgust for the husband of her
+friend, her sympathies now were all with
+him.
+</p>
+<p>At the kitchen door she assumed her most
+winsome and disarming smile and asked for
+Mrs. Landis.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;She does not wish to see any one,&#8221; said
+the woman quickly. &#8220;She said particularly
+that she would not see any callers.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But she will see me, I am sure,&#8221; said
+Eveley coaxingly. &#8220;You ask her. Tell her
+it is Eveley Ainsworth. She always sees me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But she told me particularly,&#8221; repeated
+the woman. &#8220;And she is not here anyhow.
+She has gone over the hill. She likes to be
+among the pines. She is not well, either. I
+am sorry, miss, but she is not here, and she
+would not see you if she were.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How far is it to the hill? And does she
+stay long?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is not far,&#8221; said the woman, with a
+wave of her hand toward the east. &#8220;But she
+will not come home for luncheon. She has
+no appetite. And the boys are out, so I have
+no one to send for her. I am sorry, miss.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You think there is no use to wait, then?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no use at all, miss. She will be gone
+for hours, and she would not see you if she
+were here.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell her I came, won&#8217;t you? Eveley Ainsworth.
+Thank you.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span></p>
+<p>And with another disarming smile Eveley
+turned back to the path. But as soon as she
+was out of sight of the house, she slipped off
+through the trees, and started on a light run
+for the pine grove on the hill to the east.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;As Lem says, poor thing, she has to,&#8221; she
+said to herself, with a smile. And very soon
+she was among the big pines, looking eagerly
+back and forth, quite determined not to return
+to Lem until she had seen Miriam and
+talked her into reason. And so at last she
+came upon her, sitting somberly under the
+big trees, her back against a huge boulder,
+staring away down the mountains into the
+haze of the sea in the west, where her husband
+lived in the city by the bay.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Miriam,&#8221; Eveley called in a ringing voice,
+and ran joyously down the path.
+</p>
+<p>Miriam sprang up to meet her. &#8220;Eveley!&#8221;
+she cried, catching her hands eagerly. And
+then, &#8220;Have you seen&mdash;Lem? Is he&mdash;all
+right?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley held her hands a moment, looking
+searchingly into the thin face and the
+shadowy eyes.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Revolutions are hard work, aren&#8217;t they?&#8221;
+she asked with deep sympathy.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Eveley, they are killing, heart-breaking,
+soul-wracking,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;And yet of
+course it was right and best for me to come,&#8221;
+she added gravely. &#8220;Does Lem seem to&mdash;miss
+me?&#8221; And there was wistfulness in her
+voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is out there now,&#8221; said Eveley, waving
+her hand toward the road. &#8220;He brought me
+up.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At the first word, Miriam had turned quickly,
+ready to run down&mdash;not to the house for
+shelter, but to the car for comfort. But she
+stopped in a moment, and came back.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall not see him, of course,&#8221; she said
+quietly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I brought a message from him. He says
+you must come home, Miriam, he says his
+madness is all purged away, and that you are
+his and he must have you. But he wants you
+to come and live your own life and do as you
+wish, only allowing him, to stay in the home
+not as your husband, but as your servant
+until you learn to love and trust him again.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span>
+He says you must come, and let him work for
+you, and take care of you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miriam&#8217;s face was very white, and her eyes
+deep wells of pain.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor Lem!&#8221; she said tenderly. &#8220;So sweet&mdash;and
+so weak.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think he is finding strength,&#8221; said
+Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>For a long time, the two girls stood there,
+side by side, Eveley looking into the haze of
+the sea miles below, Miriam staring down
+through the pines to where she knew a car
+might be waiting in the shadows.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We must not keep him waiting,&#8221; she said
+at last.
+</p>
+<p>Without a word, they turned, hand in hand
+and started down to the road again. When
+she saw the little, well-known car beneath the
+trees, and Lem standing rigid beside it, she
+caught her breath suddenly. Eveley would
+have hung back, to let her greet her husband
+alone, but Miriam clung to her hand and
+pulled her forward.
+</p>
+<p>He came to meet them, awkwardly, a gleam
+of hope in his eyes, but meekness in his manner.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span>
+He held out his hand, and Miriam with
+a little flutter dropped her own into it, pulling
+it quickly away again.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you&mdash;all right, Lem? You look&mdash;thin,&#8221;
+she said with shy solicitude.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I feel thin,&#8221; he replied grimly. &#8220;Are&mdash;you
+coming with us?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, of course,&#8221; said Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, of course,&#8221; Miriam echoed faintly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shall I drive?&#8221; suggested Eveley, anticipating
+complete reconciliation for the two in
+their first moment of privacy.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will drive,&#8221; said Lem. &#8220;You girls sit in
+the back. Did Eveley explain that I only expect
+to be&mdash;your driver, and your valet, and
+your servant&mdash;for a while.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Tears brightened in Miriam&#8217;s eyes. &#8220;Oh,
+Lem,&#8221; she cried, holding out her hands.
+&#8220;How can people talk of servants who have
+loved&mdash;as we have loved?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley immediately went into a deep and
+concentrated study of the rear tires, for
+Miriam was close in her husband&#8217;s arms, and
+his tears were falling upon her fragrant
+curls.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span></p>
+<p>After a while, he held her away from him
+and looked into her tender face.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t&mdash;you aren&#8217;t coming, then, just because
+it is your duty to give me every
+chance,&#8221; he whispered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no, dear, just because I love you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was still utterly immersed in the
+condition of the tires.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll try it again, Lem&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Miriam,&#8221; he broke in, &#8220;it isn&#8217;t any
+trial this time. This is marriage.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eventually they got started toward home
+and had driven many miles before Miriam noticed
+that her uncovered hair was blowing in
+the wind, and remembered that she had left
+the ranch without notice and that all her
+things were there. But what were simple
+things and formal notices when human
+hearts were finding happiness and faith?
+</p>
+<p>In the Cloud Cote, Eve&#8217;s friends were patiently
+awaiting her return. Nolan was reading
+poetry aloud to himself in the roof
+garden, and Lieutenant Ames was laboriously
+picking chords on the piano, with
+Marie near him strumming on the mandolin.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span></p>
+<p>The first creak of the rustic stair brought
+them all to the landing to greet her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Reconciliation,&#8221; shouted Nolan, before she
+was half-way up. &#8220;Miriam is home, and they
+have already lived happily ever after.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley began immediately to give an account
+of the day&#8217;s happenings standing motionless
+on the third step from the top until
+she finished her recital.
+</p>
+<p>Then she went back down, and gave an impatient
+tap on the seventh stair.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, you started something,&#8221; she said to
+it solemnly. &#8220;And you ought to be satisfied
+now, if anybody is. To-morrow I shall crown
+you with a wreath of laurel.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then she went up again. &#8220;Does this do
+anything to your theory about duty?&#8221; asked
+Nolan. &#8220;Does it prove it, or disprove it, or
+what? I can not seem to get any connection.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But there is a connection,&#8221; she said, with a
+smile. &#8220;It absolutely and everlastingly proves
+the Exception.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley Ainsworth, don&#8217;t ever say exception
+again until you can explain it,&#8221; cried
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+Nolan. &#8220;I dream of exceptions by night, and
+I legalize them by day. Be a nice girl, and do
+a good deed this Sabbath Day by expounding
+the virtues of the One Exception.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But Eveley was hungry, and said she could
+not expound anything when her system
+clamored for tea.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley&#8217;s Sabbath, however, was not yet
+ended. While she was blissfully sipping her
+tea, the three she loved best in the world
+about her, there came a gentle tap upon her
+window, and Mrs. Severs walked in.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;So sorry to bother you, Miss Ainsworth,&#8221;
+she began apologetically, &#8220;but I want to ask
+a favor. Father is moving back with us to-day,
+and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, indeed he is,&#8221; she cried blithely. &#8220;I
+was so lonesome, and some days I am so ill,
+that I asked him as a personal favor if he
+wouldn&#8217;t come and try me just once more, and
+he said, Holy Mackinaw! he had been aching
+to do that very thing.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; Eveley said judiciously, &#8220;I suppose
+you will all be satisfied now that you are back
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span>
+in your old rut wretchedly doing your duty
+by each other.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I should say not,&#8221; denied Mrs. Severs
+promptly. &#8220;I asked father to come because
+I&mdash;like him awfully much, and it is so lonely
+without him, and he is coming because he
+missed us and is fond of us, and there isn&#8217;t
+any duty about it. You have converted us.
+We do not believe in duty.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the favor?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;father is bringing the flivver of
+course&mdash;and the garage is so big. Do you
+mind if we keep it there with your car? We
+will pay any extra rent, of course.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Keep it there by all means,&#8221; said Eveley
+generously. &#8220;And there is no rent. And
+when I get stuck anywhere I shall expect you
+to tow me home for love.&#8221; And when Mrs.
+Severs had gone, Eveley said: &#8220;Make another
+pot of tea, please, Marie. Make two
+pots&mdash;three if you like.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pretty hard to keep some people properly
+adjusted, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221; asked Nolan soberly, but
+with laughter in his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is proved by the case of Father-in-law
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span>
+and the Bride, Eveley?&#8221; asked Marie
+with a soft teasing smile as she refilled
+Eveley&#8217;s cup.
+</p>
+<p>But Eveley went into a remote corner of
+the room, and brandished the bread knife for
+protection, before she cried triumphantly:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Exception. It is another positive
+proof of the utter efficacy of my One Exception.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIX_SHE_DOUBTS_HER_THEORY' id='XIX_SHE_DOUBTS_HER_THEORY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+<h3>SHE DOUBTS HER THEORY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>One morning Eveley telephoned from the
+office to Marie that she would not be
+home for dinner that night, as she was going
+with Kitty to hear the minute details of her
+engagement, and the plans of her coming
+marriage with Arnold. She assured Marie
+that she would be home early, begged her not
+to be lonesome, cautioned her once more not
+to venture into the canyon after nightfall,
+and went serenely on her way.
+</p>
+<p>At ten o&#8217;clock that night she guided her
+car into the garage whistling boyishly, and
+ran up the rustic stairs, stopping with painful
+suddenness on the landing as she observed
+there was no light in the Cote.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie,&#8221; she called, &#8220;Marie!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She looked anxiously over the little roof
+garden, and peered down to the canyon.
+Twice she went up to the window, and each
+time drew back again, afraid to enter.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span></p>
+<p>She leaned over the railing on the roof, calling
+aimlessly and hopelessly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie, Marie!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>A moment later she heard a light step below,
+&#8220;Oh, Marie,&#8221; she cried and her voice was
+a sob.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s me, Miss Eveley, what&#8217;s the matter?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>It was only Angelo running up the steps
+to her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Angelo, what are you doing here?&#8221; she
+demanded sharply, her nerves on edge.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I was just fooling around,&#8221; he said
+evasively. &#8220;I thought I heard you calling.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But Eveley&#8217;s nerves were too highly strung
+this night to brook an idle answer. She
+caught him by the shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell me where you have been and what
+you were doing,&#8221; and there was something
+like suspicion in her voice.
+</p>
+<p>And then suddenly the little bit of foreign
+flotsam became a man, to give her courage.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come inside and sit down,&#8221; he said authoritatively.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what I&#8217;ve been
+doing, but don&#8217;t stand out here like this and
+get yourself all worked up for nothing.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span></p>
+<p>He threw up the window, and went in first,
+turning on the light, and Eveley followed him
+numbly.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now sit down and I&#8217;ll tell you. I have
+been sleeping in the garage ever since you
+got mixed up with that bunch of Bolshevists
+and&mdash;er Greasers. I thought something
+might happen and I&#8217;ve sort of stuck around.
+I had a key made to the garage, and I&#8217;ve got
+a nice bed fixed up in the attic.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley held out her hand with a faint
+smile. &#8220;You are a good friend, Angelo, sure
+enough. But there was no danger. And oh,
+where can my Marie have gone?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are her things here?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Acting instantly upon the suggestion,
+Eveley ran into the other room followed closely
+by Angelo. Every slightest scrap and
+shred that had been Marie&#8217;s had disappeared.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Maybe she left a note somewhere,&#8221; said
+Angelo.
+</p>
+<p>Frantically Eveley flashed through the
+small rooms, searching eagerly for some final
+word or token. But there was nothing to be
+found.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Some one has kidnapped her,&#8221; she cried,
+wringing her hands. &#8220;We must phone the
+police.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t do that&mdash;not yet. I&#8217;d phone
+for Mr. Nolan first. Let me do it. And why
+don&#8217;t you go down-stairs and ask them if
+they saw any one around here to-day, or saw
+her leaving?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Angelo, that is fine,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;I&#8217;ll
+go&mdash;and you phone Nolan quickly.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>By the time she returned, Nolan was on
+his way to the Cote.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She&mdash;she left herself&mdash;just walked away
+with her bag&mdash;alone,&#8221; said Eveley faintly. &#8220;I
+am afraid she did not&mdash;care for me.&#8221; And
+there was sorrow in her voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, sure she did,&#8221; said Angela reassuringly.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s why she left I guess. She may
+be in bad in some way, and so she went off
+not to get you mixed up in it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think that, Angelo? Do you
+really? But she should not have gone for
+that. I would have stood by Marie through
+any kind of trouble.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Angelo walked impatiently about the room,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span>
+fingering endless little objects, puzzling in his
+mind what to say and what to do.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He could be here if he had taken a taxi,&#8221;
+he said restlessly. &#8220;I told him to beat it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We might phone Mr. Hiltze,&#8221; said Eveley
+suddenly. &#8220;He may know where to find her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Angelo smiled scornfully at that. &#8220;Aw
+gee, Miss Eveley, ain&#8217;t you on to them yet?
+Sure they are working in cahoots.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley sat down at once and folded her
+hands. &#8220;Now, Angelo, tell me everything
+you know, or suspect about them. Begin at
+the beginning. You may be wrong, but let
+me hear it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But before Angelo could begin his little
+story, Nolan came springing up the steps, and
+knew in a word all they had to tell.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sit down now, Nolan, and listen. Angelo
+thinks he knows something.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, when Carranza got in, a lot of Mexicans
+had to get out. Political refugees they
+call them. Marie is one of them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is no secret,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;She told
+me that herself. And it is nothing to her discredit&mdash;rather
+the opposite I should think.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but they are looking ahead to the
+next election. That guy Obregon has promised
+to let all the refugees come back free
+and easy if he is elected, and no questions
+asked. But they&#8217;ve got such a lot running
+for president, that maybe they won&#8217;t elect
+anybody and then Carranza will stick on himself.
+And so the refugees on this side are
+working up a new little revolution of their
+own, to spring on Carranza the day after the
+election. And that is against the law, and
+the Secret Service is on to it, and after them
+hot and heavy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Secret Service,&#8221; said Eveley slowly.
+&#8220;The Secret Service.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She crossed the room, and from her bag
+took out a small bit of steel which she had
+carried there for weeks.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Secret Service,&#8221; she said again, and
+held the badge tightly in her hand.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What have you there, Eveley?&#8221; asked
+Nolan.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; she said, gripping it so tightly
+the sharp edges cut into her hand. &#8220;Just a
+little souvenir&mdash;of Marie. That is all.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, is there anything else, Angelo?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That guy Hiltze is a crook, too. He&#8217;s
+what you call a Red. He&#8217;s mixed up with
+all the funny business going on.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you sure, Angelo? You must only
+tell us what you really know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, they&#8217;ve got a lot of crazy shacks
+around town, and they hold meetings. My
+dad goes to &#8217;em. So a few times I went, too.
+This guy Hiltze does the talking. He&#8217;s got
+enough money. He don&#8217;t have to sell autos
+for a living, he does that for a blind, just
+like he strings Miss Eveley on the Americanization
+hot-air stuff.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you ever hear him speak?&#8221; asked
+Nolan.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure. He says they are chasing him from
+cellar to garret, from mountain to desert.
+He says they are the damned rich, and they
+got to keep him harried to earth so they can
+grind the laborers under their heel. He gives
+&#8217;em all money for doing things, and hauling
+stuff, and getting things across the border.
+I was there. He says they must pray God to
+strengthen them to fight to the last ditch. He
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span>
+says the army and navy are the slaves of the
+God of Money.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know he had rather&mdash;advanced ideas,&#8221;
+said Eveley gravely. &#8220;But these are such
+troublous times. Every one feels the lack,
+and the need in the social life. He may have
+gone too far&mdash;but these are the days that try
+one&#8217;s soul. If it was only talk&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Aw gee,&#8221; interrupted Angelo. &#8220;They
+ain&#8217;t got no room to talk. I know all about
+that stuff. I was over there with the rest
+of &#8217;em, and I know. We slept on straw, and
+dressed in rags, and lived like dogs. And
+they come to a decent country, and get soured
+because they ain&#8217;t fed up on chicken and wine
+like a lord. It&#8217;s a darn&#8217; sight more than they
+ever had before, and the Secret Service needs
+to watch &#8217;em. For they&#8217;re the ones that did
+for Russia&mdash;yes, and they&#8217;re doing it for
+Germany now, and trying it on Italy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The Secret Service&mdash;the diagnostician of
+social unrest, with professional finger on the
+pulse of the foreign element&mdash;had that finger
+touched the wrist of Marie?
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But this isn&#8217;t finding my Marie,&#8221; said
+Eveley. &#8220;I want her.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s call Lieutenant Ames,&#8221; said Nolan
+suddenly. &#8220;I rather imagine this will hit
+him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, poor Jimmy,&#8221; cried Eveley. &#8220;He told
+me he wanted to marry her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Far into the night, they puzzled and pondered,
+not knowing which way to turn, but
+all in their love of Marie resolved that she
+must be found and saved again from the
+chaos. The next day, against the advice of
+all the others, Eveley sent word to Amos
+Hiltze and seemed to feel some comfort in his
+evident surprise and perturbation.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can not understand it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She
+was so happy, and loved you so much. I will
+look for her. She may have taken fright at
+something&mdash;but what could it possibly have
+been?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell her I do not care what has happened,
+nor what she fears. She must come to me
+and I will help her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>In spite of the insistence of Nolan, Angelo
+and Jimmy Ames, Eveley would have given
+the matter into the hands of the police, trusting
+to her own promises and her own standing
+to save Marie from whatever they held
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span>
+against her. But at her first suggestion of
+this to Amos Hiltze, he took a most positive
+stand against it.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you do that, you have lost her forever.
+It is the police she fears. She would never
+forgive you for putting her into their hands,
+even if you could afterward extricate her.
+You must not dream of such a thing.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Eveley gave it up and tried to reconcile
+herself to patient waiting, and to prayers of
+faith, determined to believe that the persistent
+search going on in all sections of the
+town would be effective, and believing still
+more fervently that God must return to her
+again the sister she had learned to love.
+</p>
+<p>This time, because Eveley was suffering
+no one connected the disappearance of Marie
+with Eveley&#8217;s theory of duty. And to herself
+Eveley made no claims, not even for her
+favorite Exception.
+</p>
+<p>For if Marie had loved her, would she not
+have left at least one word of sympathy, and
+affection, in farewell? Indeed, if she had
+loved her, would she not have preferred the
+investigation of the Secret Service to separation?
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span>
+For Eveley would have braved every
+court in the country for her little foreign sister.
+</p>
+<p>She tried to interest herself in the affairs
+of her friends, as of old. She tried to return
+to her old whimsical routine of living alone
+in her Cloud Cote, but from being a little nook
+of laughter and love, it became ineffably
+dreary and dull. And Eveley was suffering
+not only because her love had been slighted
+and her hospitality abused, but because
+everything she had undertaken had failed.
+Americanization&mdash;what was it? For to Marie
+she had given every good thing in her power&mdash;and
+Marie had used her as long as she
+could be of service, and then had gone back
+to her own life, to her own people.
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XX_SHE_PROVES_HER_PRINCIPLE' id='XX_SHE_PROVES_HER_PRINCIPLE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+<h3>SHE PROVES HER PRINCIPLE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>All of Eveley&#8217;s friends, realizing the
+loneliness and the sickness of heart
+which possessed her, united to plan little
+entertainments and bits of amusement for
+her. And Eveley accepted their plans gratefully,
+and acted upon their suggestions
+gladly, but the bitterness remained in her
+heart.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I loved that girl,&#8221; she would say to herself.
+&#8220;How could she do such a thing to any
+one who loved her? It isn&#8217;t as if I had only
+tried to do what was right and kind by her.
+She owed me something for all that love.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>One evening she went to Eileen&#8217;s for a rollicking
+dinner with the twins in clamorous
+evidence. Eileen&#8217;s home was a new creation;
+every day, she said frankly, was a new cycle
+of life. Her years of sober, studied business
+had not at all prepared her for the raptures
+and the uncertainties and the annoyances and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span>
+the thrills of a household that had young
+twins in it.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Billy bosses Betty unmercifully, and I do
+not believe in the dominance of men,&#8221; she
+told Eveley. &#8220;And Betty charms Billy into
+submission, and I do not approve of the blandishments
+of woman upon man. And yet my
+sympathies are with both of them, and I
+adore them both. And I can never find anything
+when I want it, and when I do find it
+there is something wrong with it, and they
+both talk at once and I have to talk at the
+same time or I never get anything said, and
+yet we have wonderful times.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are certainly doing your duty by
+those babies,&#8221; said Eveley tentatively.
+</p>
+<p>Eileen took it quickly. &#8220;Um, not a bit of
+it. I am just fulfilling the desire of my heart.
+So you may take it that I am proving your
+theory if you like.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;At least you are proving my exception,&#8221;
+said Eveley, with a smile.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is the exception?&#8221; Eileen questioned
+eagerly. &#8220;It seems to get all the proving,
+doesn&#8217;t it?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;It used to,&#8221; said Eveley gravely. &#8220;But
+I have lost faith in it for myself. It worked
+for everybody else, but it failed for me. Now
+let&#8217;s talk of something else.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>They were in the midst of a merry game
+with the children, when the bell rang, and
+Eveley was called to the door, to look into the
+face of Amos Hiltze.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have found Marie,&#8221; she cried out at
+once.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. She is at the ranch in the mountains
+where we found her first. She is in trouble,
+and sick. I told her I would come for you,
+but I suppose you can not leave yet?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not leave&mdash;when Marie is sick and wants
+me? Wait until I get my wraps. Shall we
+go in my car?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, please. I was up at the Cote for you,
+and Mrs. Severs said you were here. I let the
+taxi go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley&#8217;s face was alight with joy, and her
+heart sang with happiness. Marie had been
+sick&mdash;it had not been cold neglect that kept
+her away and silent. And she had sent for
+Eveley.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You are certainly a wonder,&#8221; said Amos
+Hiltze, as she slipped into her place behind
+the wheel, and he took his seat at her side.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not know how happy I am,&#8221; she
+cried, turning the car toward the country.
+&#8220;You&mdash;do get so awfully fond of a girl like
+Marie, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, of course.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is she very sick?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not very. She will be better when she
+sees you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why did she really leave me?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, she was afraid the Secret Service
+would locate her, and it would get you into
+trouble.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I might have known it was her duty. Wait
+till I get my hands on that girl. I&#8217;ll tell her
+a few things about duty that will astonish
+her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Already they were wheeling rapidly
+through East San Diego, and when a motorcycle
+pulled up beside them, Eveley stopped
+with a gasp. Of course she had been speeding&mdash;a
+thousand miles an hour, probably,
+though it had seemed like crawling.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_316' name='page_316'></a>316</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I am so sorry, Officer,&#8221; she began quickly.
+&#8220;But I have to hurry. I have a little friend
+in the country who is sick and needs me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, is it you, Miss Ainsworth?&#8221; And
+the officer smiled. &#8220;I did not recognize you.
+That is all right. Your car is a Rolls, isn&#8217;t it?
+We are looking for a man in a Rolls&mdash;but I
+can hardly hold you.&#8221; He turned his pocket
+flash upon Amos Hiltze.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is my friend, Mr. Hiltze,&#8221; she explained.
+&#8220;I think you do not want him,
+either.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I think not. Yet our man is supposed
+to have come this way. If you see any men
+on foot, or any one in trouble, better not stop.
+We&#8217;ll have a man out that way pretty soon.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;Good night.&#8221;
+And again they were on their way.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor Mr. Man in the Rolls,&#8221; she said after
+a while. &#8220;I wonder what mischief he has
+been into.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wonder.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope he gets away. Perhaps he is not so
+bad as they think, and may do better next
+time. Or maybe he had a reason.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_317' name='page_317'></a>317</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I am sure of that,&#8221; said Hiltze with some
+earnestness. &#8220;There is always a reason, I
+think.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Through La Mesa, through El Cajon, they
+drove in silence as they had driven once before,
+when they went for Marie the first time.
+Only then Eveley had been quivering with
+anxiety and nervousness&mdash;and now it was
+only hope and joy. But was it only hope and
+joy? For she realized suddenly that her
+hands were gripping the wheel with nervous
+intensity, and that she was shivering.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you cold?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not know,&#8221; she faltered.
+</p>
+<p>He turned slightly in his seat, and reached
+for a rug.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A disorderly pile on the floor as usual,&#8221;
+he said with a slight smile. &#8220;Don&#8217;t your
+friends ever put the rugs back on the rack,
+Eveley?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, never,&#8221; she replied, smiling, too, but
+gravely.
+</p>
+<p>He tucked the rug closely about her, but
+she still shivered, and a sense of dread was
+heavy upon her.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_318' name='page_318'></a>318</span></p>
+<p>When they came at last to the branch in
+the road, he looked carefully about in every
+direction, and then told her to drive quickly.
+Under his direction she took the car far back
+from the road in a sheltered place, and
+stopped the engine.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Please hurry, will you? I have not Angelo
+with me this time, and I am afraid.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, I must talk to you first. You
+know I love you, you must know it. You have
+tried to discourage me, but I will not take
+discouragement. I shall never go away without
+you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you going away?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, to-night. Business takes me away.
+I am going to South America. I have money&mdash;lots
+of money, and we can start afresh and
+do well. But I can not go without you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Hiltze, it is impossible. I do not love
+you. I told you that before.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you will love me. If you come away
+with me, and take time, you can love me. I
+will be good to you, and not hurry you. You
+must let yourself go, and try.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_319' name='page_319'></a>319</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;But I do not wish to. Love should not
+be forced. It ought to come spontaneously of
+itself. And I love Nolan.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Damn Nolan! Oh, I don&#8217;t mean that, but&mdash;Eveley,
+you will forget him. Just come
+with me, and give yourself time. Marie will
+go with us&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, she has promised to go with us, to
+help make you happy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then she is not sick?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, not sick.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You only brought me here to&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Eveley. I am sorry, but I had to.
+We are going out by aeroplane to-night, and
+there is a fishing fleet at sea waiting to pick
+us up. I hated to trick you, but it was my
+love that forced it. I can not give you up.
+I will not. Did you think I was a fool to be
+with you, and know your loving lovely ways,
+and&mdash;and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Suddenly he crushed her in his arms, and
+for a moment she was helpless. Then he released
+her.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_320' name='page_320'></a>320</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Your bag is here&mdash;yes, in the back of the
+car.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;My bag?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I took Marie to the Cote this afternoon
+and she packed it for you&mdash;things necessary
+until you can shop again.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie did that?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I told her to. I told her you wished
+it. Oh, yes, I lied, but I would do worse than
+that for you, yes, I would kill for you. Now
+be reasonable, Eveley, and come with us
+nicely. You shall have all the time you wish.
+I know you will love me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Love you. Love you after this! I hate
+you, I despise you. Do not say you love me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, be quiet, this will do no possible
+good.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then it was you they were looking for,
+in the car? You are a common criminal.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not a criminal, no,&#8221; he cried furiously.
+&#8220;Yes, they wanted me, of course. You should
+have known there was a reason why a man
+like myself should live as I have done here.
+But we are not criminals&mdash;we are advance
+agents of freedom.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_321' name='page_321'></a>321</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Anarchists,&#8221; she interrupted, in a cutting
+voice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Some time there must be justice and
+equality in the world&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you have got rich by preaching lawlessness.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, do not talk like that. I&mdash;I lose
+my head&mdash;and I do not wish to frighten you.
+Sit quietly, and let me tell you. Peace can
+come only through warfare&mdash;and out of the
+death throes of an old world, a new world of
+peace will&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are traitors.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Eveley, you know I was in the service, but
+there must be a union of the free men of the
+world against oppression&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do not make stump speeches to me. I will
+not stand for it. Justice and freedom will
+come to the world, but not through lying and
+trickery and bloodshed. Justice must come
+through sympathy and love and comradeship.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It did not get you far with Marie, though,
+did it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_322' name='page_322'></a>322</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly. That was my interest in her.
+Marie was working with us, doing what she
+could for us, for what we could do for her
+in Mexico. She is a regular traitor if you
+like, putting things over in great style, on you
+and Nolan and Ames&mdash;the whole bunch of
+you. She is a slick little devil. But I fell&mdash;because
+I loved you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Sudden illumination came to Eveley.
+&#8220;Then that is why she left me. When she
+learned to love me, she would not profane our
+friendship. That is why she left.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She left because the cops were getting
+wise, and she had to get out in a hurry or get
+pinched.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And she is going with you&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure. She will be the idol of the revolutionists
+for what she has done&mdash;they will
+carry her about on a tin platter.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will let me go now, Mr. Hiltze, please.
+But tell Marie that I understand everything,
+and when she wishes to come back to me,
+the Cote is open. It was only a mistaken
+loyalty to a wrong principle. Please go, I
+want to hurry home.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_323' name='page_323'></a>323</span></p>
+<p>He laughed a little. &#8220;Eveley, you are going
+to South America with me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>In a sudden panic she turned, flinging open
+the door of the car, hoping to rush away into
+the darkness, but his arm held her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will love me. I may not care for
+your Americanization, but I love you. I am
+going to be good to you. Don&#8217;t be a fool,
+Eveley, it will do you no good. You&#8217;ve got
+to go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Struggling was in vain, as Eveley realized
+at once, and she subsided quickly, trying to
+think. The thing was impossible. It could
+not be. Such things did not happen any
+more&mdash;not in real life in the United States.
+It was cruel, preposterous, unbelievable.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Please let me go,&#8221; she pleaded. &#8220;I shall
+not try to report you, you can get away without
+trouble. But let me go home, please. I
+could never change toward you&mdash;I am not
+the kind that changes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall have to tie you for a few minutes.
+I am sorry, but I do not wish you to go to
+the shack. I have wasted a lot of time trying
+to reason with you. Put out your hands&mdash;yes
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_324' name='page_324'></a>324</span>
+yes, that way, and let me tie them to the
+wheel. I hate to do this&mdash;there is no use for
+you to yell, Eveley, for no one can hear, so
+I shall not gag you. Let me wrap the blanket
+about you; it is very cold. Sit still, dear,
+and do not shake it off. I love you very
+much. We are going to start the world
+afresh with a clean slate, and leave the past
+behind. The future shall be of your choosing,
+only it must be with me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then he went away, and Eveley began a
+valiant tugging on the straps that bound her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait a minute, Eveley, I&#8217;ll cut them,&#8221;
+came a friendly whisper, and Eveley with a
+cry turned to look into Angelo&#8217;s face.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure, I come along,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I saw him
+up at the house, and when he came down for
+you, I followed his taxi on my bike. And
+when he went in to get you, I got into the
+back under the rugs. Lucky he only took one
+rug for you, or he&#8217;d got hold of my legs. Gee,
+he uses good straps.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>All this, while Angelo was sawing on the
+straps with his rusty knife, and almost before
+he finished talking, Eveley was free.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_325' name='page_325'></a>325</span></p>
+<p>Like a flash she was starting the engine.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Suppose you get out and hide a while, and
+let me scout around,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I hate to
+leave a decent sort like your Marie with those
+cutthroats. Maybe I can get hold of her.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, do try. I&#8217;ll hide among the bushes
+for fear they come while you are gone. Be
+careful, Angelo. We are going to need you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley waited what seemed an endless
+length of time, crouching almost breathless
+under the shrubs. But finally she heard light
+running steps, and in a moment Marie was
+in her arms.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, my poor child, they told me you
+wanted to go. And did they tie you&mdash;the
+cruel straps? You are free now, and you
+will go back to your Cote and be happy. But
+do not forget your poor Marie. And never
+play with fire again, sweet; in the end it always
+burns. American women never know
+what a tempest love can be. Now, kiss Marie,
+and say your forgive her, and then go
+quickly.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Marie, come with me,&#8221; begged Eveley,
+clinging to her. &#8220;You must not go with them.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_326' name='page_326'></a>326</span>
+They are treacherous, selling their honor for
+money. Do not trust them. Come with me.
+Nolan and I will take care of you, and Nolan
+will straighten out your tangles with the
+law. And Jimmy is wild for you, raging all
+over town trying to find you. Please, dear,
+let all the ugly past lie dead, and live a new
+life with us here. Oh, I can not let you go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;For them I care nothing,&#8221; Marie cried,
+with a smart snap of her fingers. &#8220;They are
+dogs. They only help us for money, and they
+wish only to embroil the world in war. It is
+no love for us&mdash;but they are cheap&mdash;we buy
+them. When the time comes, we tramp them
+under our feet. Eveley, if you wish me, I
+will come.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then in a moment they were away, the car
+swinging dizzily down the steep grade rocking
+from side to side.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How did you get Marie, Angelo&mdash;you
+angel?&#8221; asked Eveley, after a while.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They were all running around moving
+things, and Marie was helping. So I pitched
+in and helped too. When I walked by Marie
+she understood and came. And they did not
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_327' name='page_327'></a>327</span>
+notice. There isn&#8217;t much difference between
+a Wop and a Greaser.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you will never leave me again,
+Marie?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am all through with hatred and strife,
+now. I want only a home, where I can be
+happy, and live as you and I have lived. That
+is the only Americanization. Talk is nothing.
+Social service is a game. But when one
+makes living so fine that every one in the
+world wants to live that way&mdash;then it is
+Americanization. I am satisfied now.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, you&#8217;d better cut the talk and watch
+the road,&#8221; said Angelo suddenly. &#8220;You&#8217;ve
+been half over the grade a dozen times.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I will,&#8221; promised Eveley. &#8220;But I
+must hurry. They will follow us&mdash;will they
+follow us, Marie?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, surely, when they miss us. They
+have motorcycles. Listen. Hear them far
+back? Of course they would follow.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sit tight, Marie, and do not worry. I
+know this road all right.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are gaining on us, dear. Can you
+do better?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_328' name='page_328'></a>328</span></p>
+<p>But Eveley was afraid to go faster on
+those sharp curves, though she strained her
+eyes to see the road before them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We are nearly to Flynn Springs,&#8221; she
+said. &#8220;We must be. We can stop there.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They will soon be up with us,&#8221; said
+Angelo, looking back.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We must leave the car, and hide in the
+woods,&#8221; said Marie.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I am afraid to leave the car.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The woods will not hurt us. It is only
+men who harm. Come, we must. If they
+catch us, we are lost. Pull out here to the
+left, and turn off the lights. They may pass
+us in the darkness. Take the key with you.
+And hurry.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Acting upon this plan, they were soon
+slipping over the small stones and pebbles
+down a shallow gully and up among the rocks
+and shrubs of a little cliff.
+</p>
+<p>Already the tremendous roar of the motorcycles
+was close upon them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Quick, Eveley, behind this bush.&mdash;Lie
+down flat. Yes, all right, Angelo. Sh, quiet
+now.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-327.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+&#8220;Please let me go,&#8221; she pleaded.
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_329' name='page_329'></a>329</span></div>
+<p>At that instant the motorcycles whirled
+past&mdash;a sudden call from the familiar voice
+of Amos Hiltze, and with a great tearing and
+crashing of brakes, the cycles stopped and
+the men ran back to the car.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is her car,&#8221; cried Amos Hiltze. &#8220;They
+have deserted it. They must be very close,
+we shall find them quickly. You go&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We can not find them,&#8221; said a new authoritative
+voice. &#8220;The cops may be here any
+moment. We&#8217;ve got to get away to-night,
+or it is everlastingly too late. You have lost
+the girl&mdash;lost them both. Now make the best
+of it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And one motorcycle was started again.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll slash their tires for luck,&#8221; said Amos
+Hiltze. &#8220;And we can send a couple of men
+to look for them. Then we can send back
+for them later on if they find them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley ground her teeth at the ripping of
+the tires, for the rubber is to a motorist as
+a baby to a loving mother. But in a moment
+came the sputter and roar of the motors, and
+the men had gone again back the road they
+had come.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_330' name='page_330'></a>330</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll just have to crawl into Flynn
+Springs on the rims, and phone for Nolan.
+It can not be far.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>But even that was impossible, for with
+devilish foresight, Amos Hiltze had taken the
+timer from the carburetor, and the little Rolls
+was powerless.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll walk then,&#8221; said Eveley bravely,
+and hand in hand, the three of them set out
+on the rocky winding road to Flynn Springs.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nolan will not waste any time coming for
+us,&#8221; said Eveley confidently.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And perhaps Lieutenant Ames is in town
+and can come also,&#8221; suggested Marie softly.
+</p>
+<p>Some time later, wearily, weakly, they
+limped into Flynn Springs, and Eveley hurriedly
+put in her call.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nolan? It is Eveley. I am at Flynn
+Springs. You must come for me, and bring
+Jimmy Ames. Yes, Marie is with me, and
+Angelo.&mdash;Yes, we are all right. And have a
+man from the garage with extra tires and a
+timer for the carburetor. No, we do not need
+the police. No guns either. Nolan, your voice
+is sweeter than any angel&#8217;s.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_331' name='page_331'></a>331</span></p>
+<p>Then they went into a small room where
+there was a bed, and Eveley took off her
+ruined pumps, and bathed her burning feet,
+and they fixed their hair, and had hot coffee,
+always looking at each other with tender
+eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will you never go back on me again, little
+sister?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And Marie kissed her in answer.
+</p>
+<p>So they waited patiently for the men
+breaking all known speed laws to come to
+them, and the time did not seem long, for
+they lay on the bed together, each with an
+arm across the other&#8217;s shoulder. And in the
+small dark hallway outside, Angelo sat before
+their door, his arms clasped around his
+knees, his head sunk upon his breast, sound
+asleep. But even in his sleep keeping guard
+over his Americanizer and the &#8220;little
+Greaser.&#8221;
+</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XXI_HER_ONE_EXCEPTION' id='XXI_HER_ONE_EXCEPTION'></a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_332' name='page_332'></a>332</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+<h3>HER ONE EXCEPTION</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>All evening Kitty had been trying to get
+Nolan by telephone, always being told
+that he was not at the hotel and had gone to
+the office, and then hearing that the office line
+was busy. It was after eight when she finally
+got him on the wire.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nolan, whoever have you been talking to?
+If it was anybody else besides Eveley, I am
+going to tell. I have been trying to get you
+all evening. I want you to come over here
+immediately. Something terrible is about to
+happen, and you must stop it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan hesitated. &#8220;I am to be at Eveley&#8217;s
+at nine, but if you promise to talk fast I will
+come.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Receiving her fervent assurance, he immediately
+closed his desk, and in ten minutes
+Kitty was drawing him feverishly into her
+favorite corner of the living-room.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nolan, you could never guess what is going
+on.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_333' name='page_333'></a>333</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he admitted, with a reminiscent
+smile. &#8220;So many odd things have been going
+on lately that I confess my inability as a
+guesser.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen to this. Eveley&#8217;s sister has fallen
+in love with some crazy aviator, and is going
+to elope with him. And she wants Burton to
+get a divorce so she can marry him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan was plainly dumfounded at this revelation.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And that is not the worst. She is going
+to desert those two children, and Eveley&mdash;You
+know Eve. She says she will be the willing
+sacrifice to save the honor of the family,
+and has decided to marry Burton herself, to
+be a mother to Winifred&#8217;s children.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Preposterous!&#8221; gasped Nolan, looking into
+her flushed face for symptoms of delirium.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;True,&#8221; came the grim answer. &#8220;But we
+must never allow such a bloodcurdling thing
+to happen. It wouldn&#8217;t be right. I want you
+to go right over to Eveley&#8217;s as fast as you
+can, and make her marry you. You can pretend
+you do not know anything about this,
+and sweep her right off her feet. Get her
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_334' name='page_334'></a>334</span>
+promise before she knows what is going on,
+and marry her before she realizes it. Then
+perhaps Winifred will come to her senses and
+not do this outrageous thing.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Kitty&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You love Eveley, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, of course, but&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then do you call yourself a man, and yet
+stand idly by and see the woman you love
+sacrifice her life for her sister&#8217;s honor&mdash;and&mdash;er
+babies&mdash;and&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And husband,&#8221; he said gloomily. &#8220;I could
+stand the honor and the babies, but I object
+to the husband.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course you do. I have my car here,
+and I will take you right over to Eveley&#8217;s
+and you can settle it immediately.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not believe I could propose before
+you, Kitty,&#8221; he objected shyly. &#8220;I could not
+think of the words.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall wait in the car until it is over.
+Then I shall come sauntering up later on and
+wish you joy, etc., and Eveley need not know
+I had a thing to do with it. Just you get her
+promise, and I shall be witness for you. If
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_335' name='page_335'></a>335</span>
+she tries to back out we shall sue her for
+breach of promise.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; he decided suddenly. &#8220;We
+certainly can not submit to any such nonsense
+as this. Let&#8217;s go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>All the way to the Cloud Cote they kept up
+hearty agreement that the idea was utterly
+wild and preposterous, and that Nolan should
+never stand for it. As she stopped the car,
+two doors down where Eveley could not see
+from her window, Kitty said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Arnold and I want to take a honeymoon
+trip to Yosemite after we are married, and
+we want you and Eveley to get married in
+time to go along. It is so much more fun
+when everybody&#8217;s married.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, you fix it up with Eveley, and when
+you are through pull back the shade in the
+living-room, and I&#8217;ll take it for a sign and
+come up to make my call.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Nolan went up the rustic steps to
+Eveley, and Kitty settled down in a corner
+of the car. For thirty minutes she chuckled
+gleefully to herself, but after half an hour she
+began to feel that he was decidedly slow.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_336' name='page_336'></a>336</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I could be engaged to a dozen people in
+that time,&#8221; she thought impatiently, &#8220;Oh,
+the poky thing. But I suppose they are waxing
+demonstrative, and he has forgotten me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She toyed restlessly with the keys and
+screws on the car, still watching the black
+window in the Cloud Cote with only the faint
+gleam of light from behind.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;An hour,&#8221; she cried at last furiously. &#8220;If
+that isn&#8217;t the limit! I have a notion to go
+right home, and let him settle it as best he
+can&mdash;but I do want to see how Eveley takes
+it. Oh, well, I shall give him fifteen minutes
+more, and then if he has not signaled I&#8217;ll
+go up and see for myself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So she waited another uneasy quarter of an
+hour, and then banged stormily out of the car
+and up the rustic steps. Her sharp tap
+brought a sudden scurry and scramble from
+within, but Kitty did not wait for a summons.
+She drew back the portières and
+climbed in, uninvited.
+</p>
+<p>Eveley was standing flushed and brilliant
+in the center of the room, trying to tuck up
+badly straying curls, and Nolan was adjusting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_337' name='page_337'></a>337</span>
+himself to the davenport with an air of
+studied ease.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Kitty,&#8221; cried Eveley nervously.
+&#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you phone you were coming
+over?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not seem any too glad to see me,&#8221;
+said Kitty rather peevishly, and then at their
+flushed and shining faces, she laughed. &#8220;My,
+how happy you look! Just like newlyweds&mdash;or
+something.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;something,&#8221; said Eveley. She
+flashed a questioning look at Nolan, and received
+a reassuring nod. &#8220;Nolan and I are
+engaged, Kitty.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Really,&#8221; cried Kitty. &#8220;After all these
+years. How surprising.&#8221; She put her arms
+around Eveley lovingly. &#8220;When did all this
+happen?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Last night, coming down from Flynn
+Springs,&#8221; said Eveley. &#8220;We&mdash;we had a whole
+car full of it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Last night!&#8221; Kitty quickly disengaged
+herself from Eveley&#8217;s arm and looked sharply
+at Nolan, smiling in great contentment on
+the davenport. &#8220;Last night?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_338' name='page_338'></a>338</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, last night. It was an awfully big
+night all around, wasn&#8217;t it, Nolan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was for me,&#8221; he said, coming over and
+taking Eveley&#8217;s hand in his.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Last night,&#8221; Kitty repeated again, glaring
+intently at Nolan.
+</p>
+<p>He nodded.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then you knew I was lying all the time.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, since Eveley and I had luncheon
+with Winifred and Burton to-day to announce
+our engagement,&mdash;yes, I may say that I was
+fairly well assured you were lying. They
+seemed on their usual tender terms at noon.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What are you two talking about?&#8221; wondered
+Eveley.
+</p>
+<p>Kitty drew her small hat over her ears
+with a vicious tug.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But we shall be glad to motor to Yosemite
+with you and Arnold this summer,&#8221; Nolan
+went on pacifically, &#8220;we think it will be great
+sport. We asked Marie and Jimmy Ames to
+go along. They are going to be married to-morrow.
+They are in Marie&#8217;s room now, so
+go in and congratulate them if you like. But
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_339' name='page_339'></a>339</span>
+do not bring them out here, because we are
+a crowd already.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am going home, anyhow, if you mean
+me,&#8221; she said pettishly. She looked at Eveley.
+&#8220;I suppose you think it is very clever for you
+to be engaged to Nolan twenty-four hours
+without notifying me, after all the trouble I
+have taken in the last five years to bring it
+about. And as for you, Nolan, I think you
+have a lot of courage to marry a woman who
+openly and notoriously refuses to do her duty
+in any shape, size or form. I call it a pretty
+big risk, myself.&#8221; She clambered crossly
+through the window. &#8220;Congratulations,&#8221; she
+called back snappily. And again, from half-way
+down the stairs: &#8220;And we shall hold
+you to the Yosemite bargain, too.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then Nolan took Eveley in his arms again
+and kissed her. &#8220;It may be pretty risky,&#8221; he
+said tenderly. &#8220;A wife who steels her heart
+against her duty&mdash;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Eveley smiled into his eyes. &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry.
+The One Exception will save you. I still
+claim that duty isn&#8217;t the biggest thing in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_340' name='page_340'></a>340</span>
+world. And hasn&#8217;t my theory held good? Patriotic
+duty could not Americanize Angelo
+nor Marie, nor anybody else. And filial duty
+could not make the Severs live happily with
+the Father-in-law. And domestic duty could
+not bring Miriam and Lem Landis into harmony.
+But there was something else big
+enough to work all the miracles, and it was
+the Big Exception.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, tell me, Eveley&mdash;the Big Exception
+that is Everybody&#8217;s Duty&mdash;what is it?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she said, snuggling a little closer
+into his arms, &#8220;I believe it is everybody&#8217;s
+duty to love somebody else with all his heart
+and mind and soul and body. And that is
+what has worked all the transformations for
+our friends. And it will protect you, Nolan&mdash;for
+I do.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Nolan kissed her again. &#8220;Then it is no
+risk at all,&#8221; he whispered, laughing tenderly.
+&#8220;Don&#8217;t try to do your duty by me&mdash;just go
+on loving me like this.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>THE END</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>FLORENCE L. BARCLAY&#8217;S NOVELS</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset
+&amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A novel of the 12th Century. The heroine, believing she
+had lost her lover, enters a convent. He returns, and interesting
+developments follow.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE UPAS TREE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A love story of rare charm. It deals with a successful
+author and his wife.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a seven day courtship, in which the discrepancy
+in ages vanished into insignificance before the
+convincing demonstration of abiding love.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE ROSARY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a young artist who is reputed to love beauty
+above all else in the world, but who, when blinded through
+an accident, gains life&#8217;s greatest happiness. A rare story
+of the great passion of two real people superbly capable of
+love, its sacrifices and its exceeding reward.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The lovely young Lady Ingleby, recently widowed by the
+death of a husband who never understood her, meets a fine,
+clean young chap who is ignorant of her title and they fall
+deeply in love with each other. When he learns her real
+identity a situation of singular power is developed.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE BROKEN HALO</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a young man whose religious belief was
+shattered in childhood and restored to him by the little
+white lady, many years older than himself, to whom he is
+passionately devoted.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a young missionary, who, about to start for
+Africa, marries wealthy Diana Rivers, in order to help her
+fulfill the conditions of her uncle&#8217;s will, and how they finally
+come to love each other and are reunited after experiences
+that soften and purify.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>ETHEL M. DELL&#8217;S NOVELS</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE LAMP IN THE DESERT</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and
+tells of the lamp of love that continues to shine through
+all sorts of tribulations to final happiness.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>GREATHEART</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals
+a noble soul.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A hero who worked to win even when there was only
+&#8220;a hundredth chance.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE SWINDLER</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a &#8220;bad man&#8217;s&#8221; soul revealed by a
+woman&#8217;s faith.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE TIDAL WAVE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Tales of love and of women who learned to know the
+true from the false.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE SAFETY CURTAIN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A very vivid love story of India. The volume also
+contains four other long stories of equal interest.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>ELEANOR H. PORTER&#8217;S NOVELS</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>JUST DAVID</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to
+fill in the hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he
+is left.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A compelling romance of love and marriage.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>OH, MONEY! MONEY!</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions
+of his relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000,
+and then as plain John Smith comes among them to
+watch the result of his experiment.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>SIX STAR RANCH</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer
+on Six Star Ranch.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>DAWN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him
+through the gulf of despair into a final victory gained by
+dedicating his life to the service of blind soldiers.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>ACROSS THE YEARS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Short stories of our own kind and of our own people.
+Contains some of the best writing Mrs. Porter has done.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE TANGLED THREADS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In these stories we find the concentrated charm and
+tenderness of all her other books.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE TIE THAT BINDS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Intensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter&#8217;s wonderful
+talent for warm and vivid character drawing.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>THE NOVELS OF GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE BEST MAN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Through a strange series of adventures a young man finds
+himself propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a
+strange girl.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On her way West the heroine steps off by mistake at a lonely
+watertank into a maze of thrilling events.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE ENCHANTED BARN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Every member of the family will enjoy this spirited chronicle
+of a young girl&#8217;s resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of
+the &#8220;enchanted&#8221; barn.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE WITNESS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The fascinating story of the enormous change an incident
+wrought in a man&#8217;s life.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>MARCIA SCHUYLER</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of full skirts and
+poke bonnets.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>LO, MICHAEL!</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A story of unfailing appeal to all who love and understand boys.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE MAN OF THE DESERT</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>An intensely moving love story of a man of the desert and a
+girl of the East pictured against the background of the Far West.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>PHOEBE DEANE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A tense and charming love story, told with a grace and a fervor
+with which only Mrs. Lutz could tell it.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>DAWN OF THE MORNING</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A romance of the last century with all of its old-fashioned
+charm. A companion volume to &#8220;Marcia Schuyler&#8221; and
+&#8220;Phoebe Deane.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. &amp; D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i></p>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD&#8217;S STORIES OF ADVENTURE</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE RIVER&#8217;S END</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A story of the Royal Mounted Police.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE GOLDEN SNARE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>NOMADS OF THE NORTH</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of a bear-cub and a dog.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>KAZAN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The tale of a &#8220;quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky&#8221; torn
+between the call of the human and his wild mate.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>BAREE, SON OF KAZAN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part
+he played in the lives of a man and a woman.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his
+battle with Captain Plum.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE DANGER TRAIL</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE HUNTED WOMAN</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A tale of a great fight in the &#8220;valley of gold&#8221; for a woman.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of Fort o&#8217; God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness
+is blended with the courtly atmosphere of France.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE GRIZZLY KING</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of Thor, the big grizzly.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>ISOBEL</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A love story of the Far North.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE WOLF HUNTERS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE GOLD HUNTERS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE COURAGE OF MARGE O&#8217;DOONE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>BACK TO GOD&#8217;S COUNTRY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made
+from this book.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>KATHLEEN NORRIS&#8217; STORIES</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>SISTERS.</span> Frontispiece by Frank Street.</p>
+
+<p>The California Redwoods furnish the background for this
+beautiful story of sisterly devotion and sacrifice.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY.</span> Frontispiece by George Gibbs.</p>
+
+<p>A collection of delightful stories, including &#8220;Bridging the
+Years&#8221; and &#8220;The Tide-Marsh.&#8221; This story is now shown in
+moving pictures.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>JOSSELYN&#8217;S Wife.</span> Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.</p>
+
+<p>The story of a beautiful women who fought a bitter fight for
+happiness and love.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED.</span> Illustrated by Charles K. Chambers.</p>
+
+<p>The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE HEART OF RACHAEL.</span> Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers.</p>
+
+<p>An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come
+with a second marriage.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE.</span> Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.</p>
+
+<p>A sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure
+and lonely, for the happiness of life.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>SATURDAY&#8217;S CHILD.</span> Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes.</p>
+
+<p>Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through
+sheer determination to the better things for which her soul
+hungered?
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>MOTHER.</span> Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.</p>
+
+<p>A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background
+of every girl&#8217;s life, and some dreams which came true.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. &amp; D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i></p>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>BOOTH TARKINGTON&#8217;S NOVELS</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>SEVENTEEN.</span> Illustrated by Arthur William Brown.</p>
+
+<p>No one but the creator of Penrod could have portrayed
+the immortal young people of this story. Its humor is irresistible
+and reminiscent of the time when the reader was
+Seventeen.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>PENROD.</span> Illustrated by Gordon Grant.</p>
+
+<p>This is a picture of a boy&#8217;s heart, full of the lovable, humorous,
+tragic things which are locked secrets to most older
+folks. It is a finished, exquisite work.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>PENROD AND SAM.</span> Illustrated by Worth Brehm.</p>
+
+<p>Like &#8220;Penrod&#8221; and &#8220;Seventeen,&#8221; this book contains
+some remarkable phases of real boyhood and some of the best
+stories of juvenile prankishness that have ever been written.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE TURMOIL.</span> Illustrated by G. E. Chambers.</p>
+
+<p>Bibbs Sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts
+against his father&#8217;s plans for him to be a servitor of
+big business. The love of a fine girl turns Bibb&#8217;s life from
+failure to success.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA.</span> Frontispiece.</p>
+
+<p>A story of love and politics,&mdash;more especially a picture of
+a country editor&#8217;s life in Indiana, but the charm of the book
+lies in the love interest.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE FLIRT.</span> Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>The &#8220;Flirt,&#8221; the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl&#8217;s
+engagement, drives one man to suicide, causes the murder
+of another, leads another to lose his fortune, and in the end
+marries a stupid and unpromising suitor, leaving the really
+worthy one to marry her sister.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. &amp; D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i></p>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>THE NOVELS OF MARY ROBERTS RINEHART</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>DANGEROUS DAYS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and
+stirring appeal.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE AMAZING INTERLUDE.</span> Illustrations by The Kinneys.</p>
+
+<p>The story of a great love which cannot be pictured&mdash;an interlude&mdash;amazing,
+romantic.
+</p>
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>LOVE STORIES.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This book is exactly what Its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs&mdash;sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>&#8220;K.&#8221;</span> Illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where
+beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse.
+The joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and
+sympathetic appreciation.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE MAN IN LOWER TEN.</span> Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.</p>
+
+<p>An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death
+of the &#8220;Man in Lower Ten.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>WHEN A MAN MARRIES.</span> Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.</p>
+
+<p>A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that
+his aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the
+family income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the
+young man met the situation is entertainingly told.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE.</span> Illustrated by Lester Ralph.</p>
+
+<p>The occupants of &#8220;Sunnyside&#8221; find the dead body of Arnold
+Armstrong on the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank
+failure is announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of
+absorbing interest.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS.</span> (Photoplay Edition.)</p>
+
+<p>Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young
+ambitious doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together
+with world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their
+love and slender means.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>ZANE GREY&#8217;S NOVELS</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE MAN OF THE FOREST</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE DESERT OF WHEAT</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE U. P. TRAIL</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>WILDFIRE</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE BORDER LEGION</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE RAIBOW TRAIL</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE LONE STAR RANGER</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>DESERT GOLD</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>BETTY ZANE</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The life story of &#8220;Buffalo Bill&#8221; by his sister Helen Cody
+Wetmore, with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>ZANE GREY&#8217;S BOOKS FOR BOYS</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='la'>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE YOUNG LION HUNTER</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE YOUNG FORESTER</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE YOUNG PITCHER</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE SHORT STOP</p>
+<p style=' text-decoration:underline;'>THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' margin-top:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER</p>
+<p style=' font-family:Sans-serif; font-size:smaller; margin-bottom:1em;'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset &amp; Dunlap&#8217;s list.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>MICHAEL O&#8217;HALLORAN.</span> Illustrated by Frances Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern
+Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also assumes
+the responsibility of leading the entire rural community upward
+and onward.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>LADDIE.</span> Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer.</p>
+
+<p>This is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The
+story is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large family,
+but it is concerned not so much with childish doings as with the love
+affairs of older members of the family. Chief among them is that
+of Laddie and the Princess, an English girl who has come to live in
+the neighborhood and about whose family there hangs a mystery.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE HARVESTER.</span> Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Harvester,&#8221; is a man of the woods and fields, and if the
+book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would
+be notable. But when the Girl comes to his &#8220;Medicine Woods,&#8221;
+there begins a romance of the rarest idyllic quality.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>FRECKLES.</span> Illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in
+which he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the
+great Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets
+him succumbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and his
+love-story with &#8220;The Angel&#8221; are full of real sentiment.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST.</span> Illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable
+type of the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and
+kindness towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by
+the sheer beauty of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from
+barren and unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW.</span> Illustrations in colors.</p>
+
+<p>The scene of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana.
+The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing
+love. The novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of
+nature, and its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all.
+</p>
+<p><span style='text-decoration:underline'>THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL.</span> Profusely illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy
+and humor.
+</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVE TO THE RESCUE***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Eve to the Rescue, by Ethel Hueston,
+Illustrated by Dudley Gloyme Summers
+
+
+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: Eve to the Rescue
+
+
+Author: Ethel Hueston
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 24, 2008  [eBook #25892]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVE TO THE RESCUE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 25892-h.htm or 25892-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/9/25892/25892-h/25892-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/9/25892/25892-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+EVE TO THE RESCUE
+
+by
+
+ETHEL HUESTON
+
+Author of
+Prudence of the Parsonage,
+Prudence Says So,
+Leave It to Doris, Etc.
+
+Illustrated by Dudley Gloyme Summers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "You get nicer every day of your life."]
+
+
+
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers New York
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+Copyright 1920
+The Bobbs-Merrill Company
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+To Carol
+
+Who came to us in the form of Duty,
+but who has brought us only Pleasure
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                       PAGE
+      I  In Defiance of Duty                    11
+     II  The Cote in the Clouds                 21
+    III  Everybody's Duty                       30
+     IV  The Irish-American League              40
+      V  Her Inheritance                        59
+     VI  A Wrong Adjustment                     84
+    VII  Painful Duty                           98
+   VIII  She Meets a Demonstrator              112
+     IX  Admitting Defeat                      124
+      X  The Original Fixer                    137
+     XI  The Germ Of Duty                      156
+    XII  The Revolt Of The Seventh Step        175
+   XIII  She Finds A Foreigner                 195
+    XIV  New Light On Loyalty                  214
+     XV  Service Of Joy                        226
+    XVI  Marie Encounters The Secret Service   248
+   XVII  Spontaneous Combustion                266
+  XVIII  Converts Of Love                      282
+    XIX  She Doubts Her Theory                 301
+     XX  She Proves Her Principle              312
+    XXI  Her One Exception                     332
+
+
+
+                           EVE TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EVE TO THE RESCUE
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN DEFIANCE OF DUTY
+
+
+"To-morrow being Saturday afternoon," began Eveley, deftly slipping a
+dish of sweet pickles beyond the reach of the covetous fat fingers of
+little niece Nathalie,--"to-morrow being Saturday afternoon--"
+
+"Doesn't to-morrow start at sunrise as usual?" queried her brother-in-law
+curiously.
+
+"As every laborer knows," said Eveley firmly, "Saturday begins with the
+afternoon off. And I am a laborer. Therefore, to-morrow being
+Saturday-afternoon-off, and since I have trespassed on your hospitality
+for a period of two months, it behooves me to find me a home and settle
+down."
+
+"Oh, Eveley," protested her sister in a soft troubled voice, "don't be
+disagreeable. You talk as if we were strangers. Aren't we the only folks
+you have? And aren't you my own and only baby sister? If you can't live
+with us, where can you live?"
+
+"As it says in the Bible," explained Eveley, truthfully if unscripturally,
+"no two families are small enough for one house."
+
+"But who calls you a family?" interrupted the brother-in-law.
+
+"I do. And nice and sweet as you all are, and adorable as I am well aware
+am I, all of you and all of me can not be confined to one house."
+
+"But we have counted on it," persisted Winifred earnestly. "We have
+looked forward to it. We have always said that you would come to us when
+Aunt Eloise died,--and she did--and you must. We--we expect it."
+
+"'England expects every man to do his duty,'" quoted Burton in a
+sepulchral voice.
+
+Then Eveley rose in her place, tall and formidable. "That is it,--duty.
+Then let me announce right now, once and for all, Burton Raines and
+Winifred, eternally and everlastingly, I do not believe in duty. No one
+shall do his duty by me. I publicly protest against it. I won't have it.
+I have had my sneaking suspicions of duty for a long time, and lately I
+have been utterly convinced of the folly and the sin of it. Whenever any
+one has anything hateful or disagreeable to do, he draws a long voice and
+says it is his duty. It seems that every mean thing in the world is
+somebody's duty. Duty has been the curse of civilization for lo, these
+many years!" Then she sat down. "Please pass the jam."
+
+"Oh, all right, all right," said Burton amiably, "have it your own way,
+by all means. Henceforth and forever after, we positively decline to do
+our duty by you. But what is our duty to you? Answer me that, and then I
+guarantee not to do it."
+
+"It is our duty to keep Eveley right here with us and take care of her,"
+said Winifred, with as much firmness as her soft voice could master. "She
+is ours, and we are hers, and it is our duty to stand between her and a
+hard world."
+
+"You can't. In the first place I am awfully stuck on the world, and want
+to get real chummy with it. Any one who tries to stand between it and me,
+shall be fired out bodily, head first."
+
+"Oh, Eveley," came a sudden wail from Winifred, "you can't go off and
+live by yourself. What will people think? They will say we could not get
+along together."
+
+"That is it,--just that and nothing more. It isn't duty that bothers
+you--it is What-will-people-think? An exploded theory, nothing more."
+Then she smiled at her sister winsomely. "You positively are the sweetest
+thing, Winnie. And your Burton I absolutely love. And your babies are the
+most irresistible angels that ever came to bless and--enliven--a sordid
+world. But you are a family by yourselves. You are used to doing what you
+want, and when you want, and how you want. I would be an awful nuisance.
+When Burton would incline to a quiet evening, I should have a party. When
+you and he would like to slip off to a movie, you would have to be polite
+and invite me. Nobody could be crazier about nieces and nephews than I
+am, but sometimes if I were tired from my work their chatter might make
+me peevish. And you would punish them when I thought you shouldn't, and
+wouldn't do it when I thought you should, and think of the arguments
+there would be. And so we all agree, don't we, that it would be more fun
+for me to move off by myself and then come to see you and be
+company,--rather than stick around under your feet until you grow deadly
+tired of me?"
+
+"I do not agree," said Winifred.
+
+"I do," said Burton.
+
+"Then we are a majority, and it is all settled."
+
+"But where in the world will you live, dear? You could not stand a
+boarding-house."
+
+"I could if I had to, but I don't have to. I have been favored with an
+inspiration. I can't imagine how it ever happened, but perhaps it was a
+special dispensation to save you from me. I am going to live in my own
+house on Thorn Street. Of course it will be lonely there at first, since
+Aunt Eloise is gone--but just listen to this. I shall rent the
+down-stairs part to a small family and I shall live up-stairs. Part of
+the furniture I am going to sell, use what I want to furnish my dove cote
+in the clouds, and the rest that is too nice to sell but can't be used I
+shall store in the east bedroom, which I won't use. That will leave me
+three rooms and a bath--bedroom, sitting-room and dining-room. I can fix
+up a corner of the dining-room into a kitchen with my electric percolator
+and grills and things. Isn't it a glorious idea? And aren't you surprised
+that I thought of anything so clever by myself?"
+
+"Not half bad," said Burton approvingly,--for Burton had long since
+learned that the pleasantest way of keeping friends with in-laws is by
+perpetual approval.
+
+"But you can never find a small family to take the down-stairs part of
+the house," came pessimistically from Winifred.
+
+"Oh, but I have found it, and they are in the house already. A bride and
+groom. The cunningest things! She calls him Dody, and they hold hands.
+And I sold part of the furniture yesterday, and had the rest moved
+up-stairs. But there is one thing more."
+
+"I thought so," said Burton grimly. "I remember the Saturday-afternoon-off.
+I thought perhaps you had me in mind for your furniture-heaver. But since
+that is done it is evident you have something far more deadly in store for
+me. Let me know the worst, quickly."
+
+"Well, you know, dearie," said Eveley in most seductively sweet tones,
+"you know how the house is built. There is only one stairway, and it
+rises directly from the west room down-stairs. Unfortunately, my bride
+and groom wish to use that room for a bedroom. Now you can readily
+perceive that a young and unattached female could not in conscience--not
+even in my conscience--utilize a stairway emanating from the boudoir of a
+bridal party. And there you are!"
+
+"I am no carpenter," Burton shouted quickly, when Eveley's voice drifted
+away into an apologetic murmur. "Get that idea out of your head right
+away. I don't know a nail from a hammer."
+
+"No, Burtie, of course you don't," she said soothingly. "But this will be
+very simple. I thought of a rambling, rustic stairway outside the house,
+in the back yard. You know the sun parlor was an afterthought, only one
+story high with a flat roof. So the rustic stairway could go up to the
+roof of the sun parlor, and I could make that up into a sort of roof
+garden. Wouldn't it be picturesque and pretty?"
+
+"But there is no door from your room to the roof of the sun parlor,"
+objected Burton.
+
+"No, but the window is very wide. I will just cover it with portieres
+and things, and I am quite active so I can get in and out very nicely.
+And when I get around to it, and have the money, I may have a French
+window put in."
+
+"But, Eveley, I can't build a stairway. I don't know how to build
+anything. I couldn't build a box."
+
+"But you do not have to do this alone, Burtie. Just the foundation, that
+is all I expect of you. You will have lots of assistance. Not experienced
+help perhaps, but enthusiastic, and 'love goes in with every nail,'--that
+sort of thing. I have sent invitations to all of my friends of the
+masculine persuasion, and we have started a competition. Each admirer is
+to build two steps according to his own design and plan, and the one who
+builds most artistically is to receive, not my hand and heart, but a
+lovely dinner cooked on my grill in my private dining-room. I have the
+list here. I figured that twelve steps will be enough. Nolan Inglish,
+two. Lieutenant Ames, two. Captain Hardin, two. Jimmy Weaver, two. Dick
+Fairwether, two. Arnold Bender, two. Arnold is Kitty's beau, but she
+guaranteed two steps for him. Won't it be lovely?"
+
+"To-morrow being Saturday afternoon," said Burton bitterly.
+
+"I ordered the rustic lumber last night, and it was delivered to-day."
+
+"And you consider it my duty as the luckless husband of your
+long-suffering sister, to lay the foundation for the wabbly, rattly
+ramshackle stairs your pet assortment of moonstruck admirers will build
+for you?"
+
+"Not your duty, Burtie, certainly not your duty. But your pleasure and
+your great joy. For without the stairway, I can not live there. And if I
+do not live there, I must live here. And remember. When you want
+vaudeville, I will incline to grand opera. When you would enjoy a movie,
+I shall have a musicale here at home. When you are in the midst of a
+novel, I shall insist on a three-handed game of bridge. When you are
+ready to shave, I shall need the hot water. When your appetite calls for
+corned beef and cabbage, my soul shall require lettuce sandwiches and
+iced tea. Not your duty, dear, by any means. I do not believe in duty."
+
+"Quite right, sweet sister," he said pleasantly. "It shall afford me
+infinite pleasure, I assure you. And to-morrow being Saturday afternoon,
+you shall have your stairway."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE COTE IN THE CLOUDS
+
+
+As Eveley had prophesied, what her carpenters lacked in experience and
+skill was more than compensated by their ambition and their eagerness to
+please. On Saturday afternoon her back yard was a veritable bee-hive of
+industry. The foundation was in readiness for the handiwork of love, for
+Burton Raines, feeling that he could not concentrate on business in such
+sentimental environs, explained patiently that he was only an ordinary
+married man and that love rhapsodies to the tune of temperamental
+hammering upset him. So he had taken the morning off from his own
+business, to lay the foundation for the rustic stairway.
+
+Nolan Inglish, listed first because he was always listed first with
+Eveley, appeared at eleven o'clock, having explained to the lofty members
+of the law firm of which he was a junior assistant, that serious family
+matters required his attention. This enabled him to have the two
+bottom-most steps of the stairway, comprising his portion, erected and
+ready for inspection by the time Eveley arrived home from her work. He
+said he had felt it would be lonely for her to sit around by herself
+while everybody else worked for her, and having provided against that
+exigency by doing his labor in advance, he claimed the privilege of
+officiating as entertainer-in-chief for the entire afternoon.
+
+Arnold Bender appeared next, accompanied by Kitty Lampton, one of
+Eveley's pet and particular friends. Although Kitty was extremely
+generous in proffering the services of her friend in behalf of Eveley's
+stairway, she frankly stated that she was not willing to expose any
+innocent young man of her possession to the wiles and smiles of her
+attractive friend, without herself on hand to counteract any untoward
+influence.
+
+Captain Hardin and Lieutenant Ames came together with striking military
+eclat, accompanied, as became their rank, by two alert enlisted men.
+After introducing their enlisted men in the curt official manner of the
+army and having set them grandly to work on the rustic stairway, Captain
+Hardin and Lieutenant Ames immediately took up a social position in the
+tiny rose-bowered pergola, with Eveley and Kitty and Nolan and the
+lemonade.
+
+A little later, Jimmy Weaver rattled up in his small striped gaudy car,
+followed presently by Dick Fairwether on a noisy motorcycle. They took
+out their personal sets of tools from private recesses of their machines
+and plunged eagerly into the contest.
+
+So the afternoon started most auspiciously and all would doubtless have
+gone well and peacefully, had not Captain Hardin most unfortunately
+selected an exceptionally good-looking young soldier for his service,--a
+tall, slender, dark-skinned youth, with merry melting eyes. Eveley never
+attempted to deny that she could not resist merry melting eyes. So she
+left the young officers and Kitty and Nolan and the lemonade in the
+rose-bowered pergola on the edge of the canyon which sloped down abruptly
+on the east side, and herself went up to superintend the building of her
+stairway.
+
+The handsome one required an inordinate amount of superintending. The
+other soldier detailed by Lieutenant Ames, an ordinary young man with a
+sensible face and eyes that saw only hammer and nails, got along very
+well by himself. But the handsome youth, called Buddy Gillian, required
+supervision on every point. He first consulted Eveley about the design of
+the two steps entrusted to him for construction. He could think of as
+many as two dozen different styles of rustic steps, and he explained and
+illustrated them all to Eveley in great detail, drawing plans in the
+gravel path. It took the two of them nearly an hour to make a selection,
+and then it seemed the style they had chosen was the most difficult of
+the entire assortment, and was practically impossible for any one to
+construct alone. So Eveley perforce assisted, holding the rustic boughs
+while he hammered, carrying the saw, and carefully picking out the proper
+size of nails as he required them.
+
+"Didn't you have more sense than to bring a good-looker?" Nolan asked
+Captain Hardin in a fretful voice. "Don't you know that Eveley can't
+resist good looks?"
+
+"I told him he had no business to bring Gillian," put in the lieutenant.
+"Look at Muggs, whom I brought. Nobody notices that Muggs needs any help.
+See there now, he has finished and is ready to go. Can't you do something
+to stop this, Miss Lampton?" he pleaded, turning to Kitty.
+
+"As long as she leaves my Arnold alone, I shall mind my own business,"
+said Kitty decidedly. "If I cut in on her affair with your Buddy, she
+will try her hand on Arnold to get even. Captain Hardin got you into
+this, it is up to him to get you out."
+
+And Kitty heartlessly left the pergola and went up to the rustic steps to
+hold the hammer for Arnold.
+
+Then Captain Hardin, after rapidly drinking three glasses of iced
+lemonade to drown his chagrin and to strengthen his flagging courage,
+left the cozy pergola which had no attraction for any of them with Eveley
+out at work on the rustic stairway, and went up to the corner where she
+and Buddy Gillian were carefully and conscientiously matching bits of
+rustic lumber.
+
+"I do not think I should keep you any longer, Gillian, since Muggs is
+ready to go," he said kindly. "I can finish this myself now, thank you."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Buddy Gillian courteously, and stood up. Then to Eveley,
+"Shall I gather up the scraps, Miss Ainsworth, and tidy the lawn for you?
+It is pretty badly littered. Only too glad to be of service, if I may."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Mr. Gillian, that is sweet of you," said Eveley
+gratefully. "Suppose we begin down in that corner by the rose pergola,
+and gather up the scraps as we come this way. I'll carry this basket, and
+you can do the picking."
+
+But even this humble field of usefulness was denied Private Gillian, for
+Lieutenant Ames came out from the pergola and said with official
+briskness, "Oh, never mind that, Gillian. I can help Miss Ainsworth with
+it. You'd better run along with Muggs and enjoy your liberty period. Much
+obliged to you, I am sure."
+
+So the handsome Buddy looked deep into Eveley's eyes, and sighed. Eveley
+held out her hand.
+
+"You have done just beautifully," she said, "and helped me so much. And
+when are you coming to tell me the rest of that thrilling story of your
+life in the trenches?"
+
+"The question is, when may I?"
+
+"Well, Tuesday evening? Or can you get off on Tuesday?"
+
+"Oh, yes, since the war is over we can get off any night. Tuesday will
+suit me fine."
+
+"Sorry, Gillian," put in Captain Hardin grimly. "But unfortunately I have
+arranged for a company school on Tuesday night--to be conducted by
+Lieutenant Carston."
+
+Gillian turned his beautiful eyes on Eveley, eyes no longer merry but sad
+and wistful.
+
+"Let me see," puzzled Eveley promptly. "Could you come to-morrow night
+then, Mr. Gillian? Captain won't mind changing with you, I know, and he
+can come on Tuesday. Captains can always get away, can't they? Is that
+all right?--Then to-morrow evening, about eight. And I will have a little
+evening supper all ready for you. Good-by."
+
+After he had gone she said to the captain apologetically, "Hasn't he
+wonderful eyes? And I knew he must be quite all right for me to know, or
+you would never have introduced him."
+
+Taken all in all, only Kitty Lampton and Eveley considered the raising of
+the rustic stairway an entire success, although there was much light talk
+and laughter as they ate the dainty supper the girls had prepared for
+them in the Cloud Cote, as Eveley had already christened her home above
+the earth. But the men, with the exception of Nolan, were doomed to
+disappointment.
+
+When Dick Fairwether asked her to go to a movie with him in the evening,
+and when Jimmy Weaver invited her to go for a night drive with him along
+the beach, and when Captain Hardin suggested that she accompany him to
+the Columbine dance at the San Diego, and when Lieutenant Ames wanted to
+make a foursome with Kitty and Arnold to go boating, she said most
+regretfully to each,--"Isn't it a shame? But my sister is having some
+kind of a silly club there to-night, and I promised to go."
+
+But to Nolan, very secretly she whispered: "Now you trot along to the
+office and work and when I am ready to come home I will phone you to come
+and get me. And we will initiate the Cloud Cote all by ourselves."
+
+So the little party broke up almost immediately after supper, with deep
+avowals of gratitude on the part of Eveley, and equally deep assurances
+of pleasure and good will on the part of the others. After they had gone,
+as Eveley inspected her stairway alone, she was comforted by the thought
+that she could fairly smother it with vines and all sorts of creeping and
+climbing things, and the casual comer would not notice how funny and
+wabbly it was. But as she went gingerly down, clinging desperately to the
+rail on both sides, she determined to take out an accident policy
+immediately, with a special clause governing rustic stairways.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+EVERYBODY'S DUTY
+
+
+Due to the old-fashioned, rambling style of the house, the rustic
+stairway did not really detract from its beauty. And as there were
+already clambering vines and roses in profusion, an extra arbor more or
+less, could, as Eveley claimed, pass without serious comment. Although
+the house was old, it was still exquisitely beautiful, with its cream
+white pillars and columns showing behind the mass of green. And the lawn,
+which was no lawn but only a natural park running riot with foliage
+coaxed into endless lovers' nooks and corners, was a fitting and
+marvelously beautiful setting for it.
+
+The gardens were in the shape of a triangle, with conventional paved
+streets on the north and west, but on the east and south they drifted
+away into the shadowy canyon which stretched down almost to the bay, and
+came out on the lower streets of the water-front.
+
+Eveley stood on her rustic stairway and gloated over it lovingly,--the
+rambling house, the rambling gardens, the beautiful rambling canyon, and
+then on below to the lights on the bay, clustered together in
+companionable groups.
+
+"Loma Portal, Fort Rosecranz, North Island, Coronado, and the boats in
+the bay," she whispered softly, pointing slowly to the separate groups.
+And her eyes were very warm, for she loved each separate light in every
+cluster, and she was happy that she was at home again, in the place that
+had been home to her since the days of her early memory.
+
+Eveley's mother had been born in the house on Thorn Street, as had her
+sister, Eloise, the aunt with whom the girls had lived for many years.
+And after the death of her husband, when Eveley was a tiny baby, Emily
+Ainsworth had taken her two girls and gone back to live with her sister
+in the family home. There a few years later she too had passed away,
+leaving her children in the tender, loving hands of Aunt Eloise. And the
+years had passed until there came a time when Winifred was married, and
+Eveley and her aunt lived on alone, though always happily.
+
+But investments had gone badly, and returns went down as expenses went
+up. So Eveley studied stenography, and took genuine pleasure in her
+career as a business girl. With her salary, and their modest income, the
+two had managed nicely. Then when Aunt Eloise went out to join her
+sister, the Thorn Street house was left to Eveley, and other property
+given to Winifred to compensate. So that to Eveley it was only coming
+home to return to the big house and the rambling gardens. But to meet the
+expenses of maintenance it was necessary that part of the large house
+should be rented.
+
+Eveley, always adaptable, moved serenely into her cote at the head of the
+stairs, and felt that life was still kind and God was good, for this was
+home, and it was hers, and she had come to stay.
+
+She almost regretted the impulsive promise to her sister that drew her
+out of her dwelling on the first night of her tenancy. Not only did she
+begrudge the precious first-night hours away from her pretty cote in the
+clouds, but she was not charmed with the arrangement for the evening. She
+was an ardent devotee of clubs of action, rowing, tennis, country,
+dancing and golf, but for that other type of club, which she described as
+"where a lot of women sit around with their hats on, and drink tea, and
+have somebody make speeches about things," she felt no innate tenderness.
+
+It was really a trick on the part of Winifred that procured the promise
+of attendance. For Eveley had been allowed to believe they were going to
+play cards and that there would be regular refreshments of substance, and
+perhaps a little dancing later on. All this had been submitted to by
+inference, without a word of direct confirmation from Winifred, who had a
+conscience.
+
+So it was that Eveley Ainsworth, irreproachably attired in a new
+georgette blouse and satin skirt, betook herself to her sister's home for
+an evening meeting of the Current Club. And it was a decided shock to
+find that neither a social game nor a soul-restoring midnight supper were
+in store for her, but the proverbial tea and speeches. She resigned
+herself, however, to the inevitable, and shrank back as obscurely as
+possible into a dark corner where she might muse on the charms of Nolan,
+the beauties of the new Buddy Gillian, the martial dignity of Captain
+Hardin, and the appeals of all the rest, to her frivolous heart's
+content.
+
+In this manner, she passed through the first part of the evening very
+comfortably, only dimly aware that she was floundering in the outskirts
+of a perfect maze of big words dealing with Americanization, which Eveley
+vaguely understood to be something on the order of standing up to _The
+Star Spangled Banner_, and marching in parades with a flag and shouting
+"Hurrah for the President," in the presence of foreigners.
+
+The third speaker was a minister, and ministers are accustomed to
+penetrating the blue mazes of mental abstraction. This minister did. He
+began by telling three funny stories, and Eveley, who loved to exercise
+her sense of humor, came back to the Current Club and joined their
+laughter.
+
+In the very same breath with which he ended the last funny story, he
+began breezily discoursing on everybody's duty as a loyal American.
+Eveley, to whom the word "duty" was the original red rag, sniffed
+inaudibly but indignantly to herself. And while she was still sniffing
+the speaker left "duty as American citizens" far behind, and was deep in
+the intricacies of Americanization. Eveley found to her surprise that
+this was something more than saluting the flag and shouting. She grew
+quite interested. It seemed that ordinary, regular people were
+definitely, determinedly working with little scraps of the foreign
+elements, Chinese, Mexican, Russian, Italian, yes, even German,--though
+Eveley considered it asking entirely too much, even of Heaven, to elevate
+shreds of German infamy to American standards. At any rate, people were
+doing this thing, taking the pliant, trusting mind of the foreigner,
+petting it, training it, coaxing it,--until presently the flotsam and
+jetsam of the Orient, of war-torn Europe, of the islands of the sea, of
+all the world, should be Americanized into union, and strength, and
+loyalty, and love.
+
+It fascinated Eveley. She forgot that it was her duty as a patriotic
+American. She forgot that nobody had any business doing anything but
+minding one's own business. She fairly burned to have a part in the work
+of assimilation. Her eyes glowed with eagerness, her cheeks flushed a
+vivid scarlet, her lips trembled with the ecstatic passion of loyalty.
+
+In the open discussion that followed after the last address, Eveley
+suddenly, quite to her own surprise, found that she had something to say.
+
+"But--isn't it mostly talk?" she asked, half shyly, anxious not to
+offend, but unable to repress the doubt in her mind. "It does not seem
+practical. You say we must assimilate the foreign element. But can one
+assimilate a foreign element? Doesn't the fact that it is foreign--make
+it impossible of assimilation? Oh, I know we have to do something, but as
+long as we are foreigners, we to them, and they to us,--what can we do?"
+
+The deadly silence that greeted her words frightened her, yet somehow
+gave her courage to go on. She must be saying something rather sensible,
+or they would not pay attention.
+
+"We can not assimilate food elements that are foreign to the digestive
+organs," she said. "Labor and capital have warred for years, and neither
+can assimilate the other. Look at domestic conditions here,--in the home,
+you know. People get married,--men and women, of opposing types and
+interests and standards. And they can not assimilate each other, and the
+divorce courts are running rampant. It does no good to say assimilation
+is a duty, if it is impossible. And it seems to be."
+
+"Your criticism is destructive, Miss Ainsworth," said a learned professor
+who had spoken first, and Eveley was sorry now that she had not listened
+to him. "Destructive criticism is never helpful. Have you anything
+constructive to offer?"
+
+"Well, maybe it is theoretic, also," said Eveley smiling faintly, and
+although the smile was faint, it was Eveley's own, which could not be
+resisted. "But duty isn't big enough, nor adaptable enough, nor winning
+enough. There must be some stronger force to set in action. Nobody could
+ever win me by doing his duty by me. It takes something very intimate,
+very direct, and very personal really to get me. But if one says a word,
+or gives me a look,--just because he understands me, and likes me,--well,
+I am his friend for life. It takes a personal touch, a touch that is
+guided not by duty but by love. So I think maybe the foreign element is
+the same way. We've got to sort of chum up with it, and find out the nice
+things in it first. They will find the nice things in us afterward."
+
+"But as you say, Miss Ainsworth, isn't this only talk? How would you go
+about chumming up with the foreign element?"
+
+"I do not know, Professor," she said brightly. "But I think it can be
+done. And I think it has to be done, or there can not be any
+Americanization."
+
+"Well, are you willing to try your own plan? We are conducting classes,
+games, studies, among the foreigners, working with them, teaching them,
+studying them. We call this our duty as loyal Americans. You say duty is
+not enough, and you want to get chummy with them. Will you try getting
+chummy and see where you come out?"
+
+Eveley looked fearfully about the room, at the friendly earnest faces.
+"I--I feel awfully quivery in my backbone," she faltered. "But I will try
+it. You get me the foreigners, and I will practise on them. And if I
+can't get chummy with them, and like them, why, I shall admit you are
+right and I will help to teach them spelling, and things."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE IRISH-AMERICAN LEAGUE
+
+
+Several days passed quietly. Eveley went serenely about her work, and
+from her merry manner one would never have suspected the fires of
+Americanization smoldering in her heart ready for any straying breeze of
+opportunity to fan them into service.
+
+She was finding it deliciously pleasant to live in a Cloud Cote above a
+bride and groom. Mrs. Bride, as Eveley fondly called her, was the dainty,
+flowery, fluttery creature that every bride should be. And Mr. Groom was
+the soul of devotion and the spirit of tenderness. To the world in
+general, they were known as Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Severs, but to Eveley,
+they were Mrs. Bride and Mr. Groom. It served to keep their new and
+shining matrimonial halo in mind.
+
+She was newly glad every morning that the young husband had to start to
+his work before she left home for hers. When she heard the front door
+open down-stairs, she ran to her window, often with a roll or her coffee
+cup in her hand, to witness the departure, which to her romantic young
+eyes was a real event. Mrs. Bride always stood on the porch to watch him
+on his way to the car until he was out of sight. Sometimes she ran with
+him to the corner, and always before he made the turn he waved her a
+final good-by.
+
+It was very peaceful and serene. It seemed hard to believe that recently
+there had been a tremendous war, and that even now the world was writhing
+in the throes of political and social upheaval and change. In every
+country, men and women were grappling with great industrial problems, and
+there were ominous rumblings and threatening murmurs from society in
+revolution. But in the rambling white house in the great green gardens at
+the top of the canyon, one only knew that it was springtime in southern
+California, that the world was full of gladness and peace and joy, and
+that love was paramount.
+
+Several days,--and then one evening there came the call of the
+telephone--the reveille of Americanization in the person of Eveley
+Ainsworth. A class of young foreign lads had been gathered and would meet
+Eveley at the Service League that evening. No instructions were given, no
+suggestions were forthcoming. Eveley had asked for foreigners with whom
+she could get chummy and call it love. Here were the foreigners. The rest
+of the plan was Eveley's own.
+
+She was proud of her mature comprehension of the needs of reconstruction,
+and of her utter gladness to assist. She felt that it signified something
+rather fine and worth while in her character, and she took no little
+pleasure in the prospect of active service. She went about her work that
+day wrapped in a veil of mystery, her mind delving deep into the ideals
+of American life. She carefully elaborated several short and spicy
+stories, of strong moral and patriotic tone, emphasizing the nobility of
+love of country. And that evening she stood before her mirror for a long
+time, practising pretty flowery phrases to be spoken with a most winsome
+smile. Remembering that her subjects were boys, and that boys are young
+men in the making, she donned her daintiest, shimmeriest gown, and
+carefully coaxed the enticing little curls into prominence. Then with a
+final patriotic smile at herself in the mirror, she carefully climbed
+through the window and crossed the roof garden to the rustic stairway.
+
+As she walked briskly up Albatross to Walnut, then to Fourth where she
+took the car, and all the way down-town she was carefully rehearsing her
+stories and the most effective modes of presenting them. She knew the
+rooms of the Service League well, having been there on many occasions
+while there was still war and there were service men by the hundreds to
+be danced with. Half a dozen men and boys were lounging at the curbstone,
+and they eyed her curiously, grimly, Eveley thought. She wondered if they
+knew she had come there to inspire them with love of the great America
+which they must learn to call home. She straightened her slim shoulders
+at the thought, and walked into the building with quite a martial air, as
+became one on this high mission bent.
+
+A keen-eyed, quick-speaking woman met her at the elevator, and led her back
+into what she called "your corner" of the room. Evidently the room was
+divided into countless corners, for several groups were clustered together
+in different sections. But Eveley gave them only a fleeting glance. Her
+heart and soul were centered on the group before her, eight boys,
+dark-eyed, dark-skinned, of fourteen years or thereabouts. They looked at
+Eveley appraisingly, as we always look on those who come to do us good.
+Eveley looked upon them with tender solicitude, as philanthropists have
+looked on their subjects since the world was born.
+
+The introductions over, the keen-eyed one hurried away and Eveley faced
+her sub-Americans.
+
+Then she smiled, a winsome smile before which stronger men than they have
+fallen. But they were curiously unsmiling in response. Their eyes
+remained appraising almost to the point of open suspicion. Perhaps her
+very prettiness aroused the inherent opposition of the male creature to
+female uplift.
+
+Eveley began, however, bravely enough, and told them her first and
+prettiest story of sacrifice and country love. They listened gravely, but
+they were not thrilled. Struggling against a growing sense of
+incompetence, Eveley talked on and on, one story after another, pretty
+word following pretty word. But each word fell alike on stony ground.
+They sat like graven images, except for the bright suspicious gleam of
+the dark eyes.
+
+Finally Eveley stopped, and turned to them. "What do you think about it?"
+she demanded. "You want to be Americans, don't you? You want to learn
+what being an American means, don't you?" Her eyes were fastened
+appealingly on a slender Russian lad, slouching in his chair at the end
+of the row. "You want to be an American, I know."
+
+Suddenly the slim lithe figure straightened, and the dark brows drew
+together in a frown. "What are you getting at?" came in a sharp tone.
+"I'm an American, ain't I? You don't take me for no German, do you?"
+
+"No, no, of course not," she apologized placatingly. "Oh, certainly not.
+I mean, you want to learn the things of America, so you can love this
+country, and make it yours. Then you will forget that other land from
+which you came, and know this for your own, now and forever."
+
+Eveley was arrested by the steady gleam of a pair of eyes in the middle
+of the row. There was open denial and disbelief written in every feature
+and line of his face.
+
+"Why?" came the terse query, as Eveley paused.
+
+Eveley gazed upon him in wonderment. "Wh-what did you say?"
+
+"I said, why?"
+
+"Well, why not?" she countered nervously. "This is your country now. You
+must love it best in all the world, and must grow to be like us,--one of
+us,--America for Americans only, you know."
+
+"You tell us to forget the land we came from," he said in an even
+impersonal voice. "Is that patriotism,--to forget the land of your birth?
+I thought patriotism was to remember your home-land,--holding it in your
+heart,--hoping to return to it again,--and make it better."
+
+"But--but that is not patriotism to this country," protested Eveley,
+aghast. "That is--disloyalty. If you wish to be always of your own land,
+and to love it best, you should stay there. If you come here, to get our
+training, our education, our development, our riches,--then this must be
+your country, and no other."
+
+"Why?" he asked again. "Why should we not come here and get all the good
+things you can give us, and learn what you can teach us, and take what
+money we can earn, and then go back with all these good things to make
+our own land bigger and better and richer? That is patriotism, I think."
+
+"No, no," protested Eveley again. "That is not loyalty. If you choose
+this country for your home, it must be first in your heart, and last
+also. This is your home-land now,--the land you believe in, the land of
+your love, America first."
+
+"But America was not first. The home-land was first."
+
+"Yes, it was first," she admitted pacifically. "But America is last.
+America is the final touch. And so now you will learn our language, our
+games, our business, our way of life. You will live here, work here, and
+if war comes again you will die for America."
+
+Then she went on very quickly, fearful of interruptions that were proving
+so disastrous. "That is why we are organizing this little club, you boys
+and I. We are going to talk together. We are going to play together. We
+are going to study together. So you can learn American ways in all
+things. Now what kind of club shall we have? That is the American way of
+doing things. It is not my club, but yours. You are the people, and so
+you must decide."
+
+A long and profound silence followed, evidently indicative of deep
+thought.
+
+"A baseball club," at last suggested a small Jap with a bashful smile.
+
+"That is a splendid idea," cried Eveley brightly. "Baseball is a good
+American sport, a clean, lively game. Now what shall we call our baseball
+club?"
+
+Again deep thought, but in a moment from an earnest Jewish boy came the
+suggestion, "The Irish-American Baseball League."
+
+Eveley searched his face carefully, looking for traces of irony. But the
+pinched thin features were earnest, the eyes alight with pleased
+gratification at his readiness of retort.
+
+A hum of approval indicated that the Irish-American League had met with
+favor. But Eveley wavered.
+
+"Why?" she asked in puzzled tone. "There is not an Irish boy here. You
+are Italians, and Spanish, and Jewish, and Russian, so why call it
+Irish-American?"
+
+"My stepfather is an Irishman, his name is Mike O'Malley," said a small
+Mexican. "So I'll be the captain."
+
+"G'wan, ain't it enough to get the club named for you?" came the angry
+retort. "What you know about baseball, anyhow?"
+
+Eveley silenced them quickly. "Let's just call it the American League,"
+she pleaded.
+
+"The Irish-American League is well known, and gets its name in the
+paper," was the ready argument in its favor.
+
+And this fact, together with the strong appeal the words had made to
+their sense of dignity, proved irresistible. They refused to give it up.
+And when Eveley tried to reason with them, they told her slyly that the
+proper way to decide was by putting it to vote.
+
+Eveley swallowed hard, but conscientiously admitted the justice of this,
+and put the question to vote. And as the club was unanimously in favor of
+it, and only Eveley was opposed, her Americanization baseball club of
+Italians and Mexicans and Orientals went down into history as the
+Irish-American League.
+
+When it came to voting for officers, she again met with scant success.
+They flatly refused to have a president, stating that a captain could do
+all the bossing necessary, and that baseball clubs always had a captain.
+In the vote that followed the result was curiously impartial. Every boy
+in the club voted for himself. Eveley, who had been won by the bright
+face of a young Jewish boy sitting near her with keen eyes intent upon
+her, voted for him, which gave him a fifty per cent. majority over the
+nearest competitor, and Eveley declared him the captain.
+
+A few moments later, Eveley was called away to the telephone by Nolan,
+wishing to know what time he should call for her and the moment she was
+out of hearing, the club went into noisy conference. Upon her return, the
+argumentative Russian announced that the vote had been changed, and he
+was unanimously elected captain.
+
+"But how did that happen?" Eveley demanded doubtfully. "Did the rest of
+you change your votes, and decide he should be captain?"
+
+There was a rustle of hesitation, almost a dissenting murmur.
+
+The newly elected captain lowered his brows ominously. "You did, didn't
+you?" he asked, glaring around on his fellow members.
+
+"Yes," came feebly though unanimously.
+
+"Did--did you vote?" questioned Eveley tremulously.
+
+"Sure, we voted," said the captain amiably. "We decided that I know the
+game better than the rest of the guys, and I can lick any kid in this
+gang with one hand, and we decided that I ought to be the captain. Ain't
+that right?" Again he turned lowering brows on the Irish-American League.
+
+No denial was forthcoming, and although Eveley felt assured that in some
+way the American ideal of popular selection had been violently outraged,
+it seemed the part of policy to overlook what might have occurred. Some
+minor rules were agreed upon, and the club decided to meet for practise
+every evening after school. Eveley could not attend except on Saturdays,
+and a boy near her, whose features had seemed vaguely and bewilderingly
+familiar, announced that he must withdraw as he worked and had no time
+for baseball. The captain professed his ability to fill up the club to
+the required number with exceptional baseball material, and the meeting
+adjourned without further parley.
+
+This one meeting sufficed unalterably to convince Eveley that she was
+totally and helplessly out of her element. She was not altogether sure
+those quick-witted boys needed Americanizing, but she was sure that she
+was not the one to do it if they did require it. She realized that she
+had absolutely no idea how to go about instilling principles of freedom
+and loyalty in the hearts of young foreigners.
+
+It was with great sadness that she began adjusting her hat and collar
+ready to go home, leaving defeat and failure behind her, when a blithe
+voice at her elbow broke into her despair.
+
+"So long, Miss Ainsworth; see you in the morning."
+
+Eveley whirled about and stared into the face of the small lad whose
+features had seemed so curiously familiar.
+
+"To-morrow?" she repeated.
+
+"Surest thing you know, at the office," he said, grinning impishly at her
+evident inability to place him. "I knew all the time you didn't know me.
+I am Angelo Moreno, the Number Three elevator boy at the Rollo Building."
+
+"Do--do you know who I am?"
+
+"Sure, you're Miss Ainsworth, old Jim Hodgin's private secretary."
+
+"How long have you been there?"
+
+"About a year and a half."
+
+"I never noticed," she said, and there was pain in her voice.
+
+"Oh, well," he said soothingly, "there's always a jam going up and down
+when you do, and you are tired evenings."
+
+"But you are in the jam, too, and you are tired as well as I, but you
+have seen."
+
+"That's my job," he said complacently. "I got to know the folks in our
+building."
+
+"How much do you know about me?" she pursued with morbid curiosity.
+
+He grinned at her again, companionably. "You're twenty-five years old,
+and you're stuck on that fellow Inglish, with Morrow and Mayne over at
+the Holland Building. You used to live with your aunt up on Thorn Street,
+but she died and you got the house. B. T. Raines is your brother-in-law,
+and he's got two kids, but his wife is not as good-looking as you are.
+You stayed with them two months after your aunt died, but last week you
+got a bunch of your beaux, soldiers and things, to build you some steps
+up the outside of your house and now you live up there by yourself. Gee,
+I'd think you'd be afraid of pirates and Greasers and things coming up
+that canyon from the bay to rob you--you being just a woman alone up
+there."
+
+Eveley gazed upon him in blank astonishment. "Do--do you know that much
+about everybody in our building?" she asked.
+
+"Well, I know plenty about most of 'em, and some things that some of 'em
+don't know I know, and wouldn't be keen on having talked around among
+strangers. But of course I pays the most attention to the good-lookers,"
+he admitted frankly.
+
+"Thank you," said Eveley, with a faint smile. Then she flushed. "What
+nerve for me to talk of assimilation," she said. "We don't know how to go
+about it. We have been asleep and blind and careless and stupid, but
+you--why, you will assimilate us, if we don't look out. You are a born
+assimilator, Angelo, do you know that?"
+
+"I guess so," came the answer vaguely, but politely. "I live about half a
+mile below you, Miss Ainsworth, at the foot of the canyon on the bay
+front. That's all the diff there is between us and you highbrows in
+Mission Hills--about half a mile of canyon." He smiled broadly, pleased
+with his fancy.
+
+"That isn't much, is it, Angelo? And it will be less pretty soon, now
+that we are trying to open our eyes. Good night, Angelo. I will see you
+to-morrow--really see you, I mean. And please don't assimilate me quite
+so fast--you must give me time. I--I am new to this business and progress
+very slowly."
+
+Then she said good night again, and went away. And Angelo swaggered back
+to his companions. "Gee, ain't she a beaut?" he gloated. "All the swells
+in our building is nuts on that dame. But she gives 'em all the go-by."
+
+Then the Irish-American League, without the assimilator, went into a
+private session with cigarettes and near-beer in a small dingy room far
+down on Fifth Street--a session that lasted far into the night.
+
+But Eveley Ainsworth did not know that. She was sitting in the dark
+beside her window, staring out at the lights that circled the bay. But
+she did not see them.
+
+"Assimilate the foreign element," she whispered in a frightened voice. "I
+am afraid we can't. It is too late. They got started first--and they are
+so shrewd. But we've got to do something, and quickly, or--they will
+assimilate us, beyond a doubt. And weren't they right about it, after
+all? Isn't it patriotism and loyalty for them to go out to foreign
+countries to pick up the finest and best of our civilization and take it
+back to enrich their native land? It is almost--blasphemous--to teach
+them a new patriotism to a new country. And yet we have to do it, to make
+our country safe for us. But who has brains enough and heart enough to do
+it? Oh, dear! And they do not call it duty that brings them here to take
+what we can give them--they call it love--not love of us and of America,
+but love of the little Wops and the little Greasers and the little Polaks
+in their own home-land. Oh, dear, such a frightful mess we have got
+ourselves into. And what a dunce I was to go to that silly meeting and
+get myself mixed up in it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HER INHERITANCE
+
+
+The worries of the night never lived over into the sunny day with Eveley,
+and when she arose the next morning and saw the amethyst mist lifting
+into sunshine, when she heard the sweet ecstatic chirping of little Mrs.
+Bride beneath, she smiled contentedly. The world was still beautiful, and
+love remained upon its throne.
+
+She started a little early for her work as she was curious to see Angelo
+in the broad light of day. It seemed so unbelievable that those bright
+eyes and smiling lips had been in the elevator with her many times a week
+for many months, and that she had never even seen them.
+
+So on the morning after her initiation into the intricacies of
+Americanization, she beamed upon him with almost sisterly affection.
+
+"Good morning, Angelo. Isn't this a wonderful day? Whose secrets have you
+ferreted out in the night while I was asleep?"
+
+Angelo flushed with pleasure, and shoved some earlier passengers back
+into the car to make room for her beside him.
+
+"I thought you'd be too sick to come this morning," he said, with his
+wide smile that displayed two rows of white and even teeth. "I thought it
+would take you twenty-four hours to get over us."
+
+"Oh, not a bit of it," she laughed. "And I am equally glad to see that
+you are recovering from your attack of me."
+
+This while the elevator rose, stopping at each floor to discharge
+passengers.
+
+At the fifth floor Eveley passed out with a final smile and a light
+friendly touch of her hand on Angelo's arm.
+
+This was the beginning of their strange friendship, which ripened
+rapidly. Her memory of that night in the Service League with the
+Irish-American Club was very hazy and dim. Except for the tangible
+presence and person of Angelo, she might easily have believed it was all
+a dream.
+
+In spite of her deep conviction that she was not destined to any slight
+degree of success as an Americanizer, Eveley conscientiously studied
+books and magazines and attended lectures on the subject, only to
+experience deep grief as she realized that every additional book, and
+article, and lecture, only added to her disbelief in her powers of
+assimilation.
+
+So deep and absolute was her absorption, that for some days she denied
+herself to her friends, and remained wrapped in principles of
+Americanization, which naturally caused them no pleasure. And when a
+morning came and she called a hasty meeting of her four closest comrades,
+voicing imperative needs and fervent appeals for help, she readily
+secured four promises of attendance in the Cloude Cote that evening at
+exactly seven-thirty.
+
+At seven-forty-five Eveley sat on the floor beside the window impatiently
+tapping with the absurd tip of an absurd little slipper. Nolan had not
+come.
+
+Kitty Lampton was there, balancing herself dangerously with two cushions
+on the arm of a big rocker. Eveley called Kitty the one drone in her
+circle of friendship, for Kitty was born to golden spoons and lived a
+life of comfort and ease and freedom from responsibility in a great home
+with a doting father, and two attentive maids. Eileen Trevis was there,
+too, having arrived promptly on the stroke of seven-thirty. Eileen Trevis
+always arrived promptly on the stroke of the moment she was expected. She
+was known about town as a successful business woman, though still in the
+early thirties. The third of the group was Miriam Landis, whose
+inexcusable marriage to her handsome husband had seriously deranged the
+morale of the little quartet of comrades.
+
+Eveley looked around upon them. "It is a funny thing, a most remarkably
+funny thing!" she said indignantly. "Every one says that girls are always
+late, and you three, except Eileen, are usually later than the average
+late ones. Yet here you are. And every one says that men are always
+prompt, and Nolan is certainly worse than the average man in every
+conceivable way. But Nolan, where is he?"
+
+"Well, go ahead and tell us the news anyhow," said Kitty, hugging the
+back of the chair to keep from falling while she talked. "But if it is
+anything about that funny Americanization stuff, you needn't tell it. I
+asked father about it, and he explained it fully, only he lost me in the
+first half of the first sentence. So I don't want to hear anything more
+about it. And you don't need to tell me any more ways of not doing my
+duty, either, for I am not doing it now as hard as I can."
+
+Miriam Landis leaned forward from the couch where she was lounging idly.
+"What is this peculiar little notion of yours about duty, Eveley?" she
+asked, smiling. "My poor child, all over town they are exploiting you and
+your silly notions. Even my dear Lem uses your disbelief in duty to
+excuse himself for being out five nights a week."
+
+"That is absurd," said Eveley, flushing. "And they may laugh all they
+like. I do believe that duty has wrecked more homes and ruined more lives
+than--than vampires."
+
+Miriam smiled tolerantly. "Wait till you get married, sweetest," she said
+softly. "If married women did not believe in duty, and do it, no marriage
+would last more than six months."
+
+"Well, I qualify myself, you know," said Eveley excusingly. "I do think
+everybody has one duty--but only one--and it isn't the one most people
+think it is."
+
+"For the sake of my immortal soul, tell me," pleaded Kitty. "It was you
+who led me into the dutiless paths. Now lead me back."
+
+"Get up, Kitty, and don't be silly," said Eveley loftily. "This is not a
+driven duty, but a spontaneous one. And you don't need to know what it
+is, for it comes naturally, or it doesn't come at all. Isn't that Nolan
+the most aggravating thing that ever lived? Eight o'clock. And he
+promised for seven-thirty."
+
+"Go on and tell us, Eveley," said Eileen Trevis. "Maybe somebody is sick,
+and has to make a will, and he won't be here all night."
+
+"Oh, I can't tell it twice. You know how many questions Nolan always
+asks, and besides I want to surprise you all in a bunch. Look, did I show
+you the new blouse I got to-day? I needed a new one to Americanize my
+Irish-Americans Saturday. It cost ten dollars, and perfectly plain--but I
+look like a sad sweet dream in it."
+
+Then the girls were absorbed in a discussion of the utter impossibility
+of bringing next month's allowance or salary within speaking distance of
+last month's bills, a subject which admitted of no argument but which
+interested them deeply. So after all they did not hear the rumble and
+creak of the rustic stairway, nor the quick steps crossing the garden on
+the roof of the sun parlor for Nolan was forgotten until his sharp tap on
+the glass was followed by the instant appearance of his head, and his
+pleasant voice said in tones of friendly raillery:
+
+"Every time I climb those wabbly rattly-bangs that you call rustic
+stairs, I wonder that you have a friend to your name. Hello, Eveley."
+
+"Inasmuch as you made the wabbliest pair of all, and since you climb them
+more than anybody else, you haven't much room to talk," returned Eveley
+tartly, drawing back the portieres to admit his entrance, which was no
+laughing matter for a large man.
+
+"You positively are the latest thing that ever was," she went on, as he
+landed with a heavy thud.
+
+"Me? Why, I am the soul of punctuality."
+
+"You may be the soul of it, but punctuality does not get far with a soul
+minus willing feet."
+
+"Anyhow, I am here, and that is something," he said, making the rounds of
+the room to shake hands cordially with the other girls.
+
+Eveley hopped up quickly on to the small desk--shoving the telephone off,
+knowing Nolan would catch it, as indeed he did with great skill, having
+been catching telephones and vases and books for Eveley for five full
+years. She clasped her hands together, glowing, and her friends leaned
+toward her expectantly.
+
+"I have called you together," she began in a high, slightly imperious
+voice, "my four best friends, counting Nolan, because I need advice."
+
+"Do you wish to retain me as counsellor?" asked Nolan, with a strong
+legal accent "My fee--"
+
+"I do not wish to retain you in any capacity," Eveley interrupted
+quickly. "My chief worry is how to dispose of you satisfactorily. And as
+for fees--Pouf! Anyhow, I need advice, good advice, deep advice, loving
+advice. So I have called you into solemn conclave, and because it is a
+most exceptional occasion I have prepared refreshments, good ones,
+sandwiches and coffee and cake--Did you bring the cake, Kit? And
+ice-cream--the drug-store is going to deliver it at ten, only the boy
+won't climb the stairs; you'll have to meet him at the bottom, Nolan. So
+I hope you realize that it is an affair of some moment, and not--Miriam
+Landis, are you asleep?"
+
+Miriam flashed her eyes wide open, denial on her lips, but Kitty
+forestalled her. "That is a pose," she explained. "Billy Ferris said, and
+I told Miriam he said it, that with her eyes closed, she is the loveliest
+thing in the world. And since then she walks around in her sleep half the
+time."
+
+Miriam turned toward her, still more indignant denial clamoring for
+utterance, but Eveley, accepting the explanation as reasonable, went
+quickly on.
+
+"Now I want you to be very serious and thoughtful--can you concentrate
+better in the dark, Kit? Because I know at seances and things they turn
+off the lights, and--"
+
+"Oh, let's do. And we'll all hold hands, and concentrate, and maybe we'll
+scare up a ghost or something." Then she looked around the room--four
+girls and Nolan--Nolan, who had edged with alacrity toward Eveley on the
+telephone desk--and Kitty shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, what's the use?
+Never mind. Go on with the gossip, Eveley. I can think with the lights
+on."
+
+"The ice-cream will be here before we get started," said Eileen Trevis
+suddenly.
+
+Eveley clasped her hands again and smiled. "I have received a fortune.
+Somebody died--you needn't advise me to wear mourning, either, Miriam. I
+never saw him in my life, and never even heard of him, and honestly I
+think he got me mixed up with somebody else and left the fortune to the
+wrong grand-niece, but anyhow it is none of my business, and since he is
+dead and the money is here, I suppose there is no chance of his
+discovering the mistake and making me refund it after it is spent."
+
+"A fortune," gasped Kitty, tumbling off the arm of the chair and rushing
+to fling herself on the floor beside Eveley, warm arms embracing her
+knees.
+
+"Root of all evil," murmured Miriam, gazing into space through
+half-closed lids, and seeing wonderful visions of complexions and
+permanent curls and a manicure every day.
+
+"How fortunate," said Eileen in a voice pleased though still unruffled
+and even. "A fortune means safety and protection and--"
+
+"Who the dickens has been butting into your affairs now?" demanded Nolan
+peevishly, and though the girls laughed, there was no laughter in his
+eyes and no smile on his lips.
+
+"Well, since he calls me his great-niece, I suppose he is my
+grand-uncle."
+
+"How much, lovey, how much?" gurgled Kitty, at her side.
+
+"Twenty-five hundred dollars," announced Eveley ecstatically.
+
+Nolan breathed again. "Oh, that isn't so bad. I thought maybe some simp
+had left you a couple of millions or so."
+
+Eveley fairly glared upon him. "What do you mean by that? Why a simp? Why
+shouldn't I be left a couple of millions as well as anybody else? Maybe
+you think I haven't sense enough to spend a couple of millions."
+
+"And why did you require advice?" Eileen queried.
+
+"Oh, yes." Eveley smiled again. "Yes, of course. Now you must all think
+desperately for a while--I hate to ask so much of you, Nolan--but perhaps
+this once you won't mind--I want you to tell me what to do with the
+money."
+
+This was indeed a serious responsibility. What to do with twenty-five
+hundred dollars?
+
+"You do not feel it is your duty to spend the twenty-five hundred
+pounding Americanism into your Irish-American Wops?" asked Nolan
+facetiously.
+
+Eveley took this good-naturedly. "Oh, I got off from work at four-thirty
+and went down to their field, and we had a celebration. We had ice-cream
+and candy and chewing gum, and I spent twenty-five dollars equipping them
+with balls and bats and since I was with them an hour and a quarter, I
+feel that I am entitled to the rest of the fortune myself."
+
+"Well, dearie," said Eileen, "it is really very simple. Put it in a
+savings account, of course. Keep it for a rainy day. You may be ill. You
+may get married--"
+
+"Can't she get married without twenty-five hundred dollars?" asked Nolan,
+with great indignation. "She doesn't expect to buy her own groceries when
+she gets married, does she?"
+
+"She may have to, Nolan," said Eileen gently. "One never knows what may
+happen after marriage. Getting married is no laughing matter, and Eveley
+should be prepared for any exigency."
+
+"But, Eileen, she won't need her twenty-five hundred to get married. No
+decent fellow would marry a girl unless he could support her, and do it
+well, even luxuriously. You don't suppose I would let my wife spend her
+twenty-five hundred--"
+
+"If you mean me, I shall do whatever I like with my own money when I get
+married," said Eveley quickly. "My husband will have nothing to say about
+it. You needn't think for one minute--"
+
+"I am not your husband, am I? I haven't exactly proposed to you yet, have
+I?"
+
+Eveley swallowed hard. "Certainly not. And probably never will. By the
+time you get around to it, getting married will be out of date, and none
+of the best people doing it any more."
+
+"You may not have asked her, Nolan," said Eileen evenly. "And that is
+your business, of course. She will probably turn you down when you do ask
+her, just as she does everybody else. But--"
+
+"Who has been asking her now?" he cried, with jealous interest.
+
+"But while we are on the subject, I hope you will permit me to say that I
+think your principles are all wrong, and even dangerous. You think a man
+should wait a thousand years until he can keep a wife like a pet dog, on
+a cushion with a pink ribbon around her neck--"
+
+"The dog's neck, or the wife's?"
+
+"The dog's--no, the wife's--both of them," she decided at last, with
+never a ruffle. "You want to wait until she is tired of loving, and too
+old to have a good time, and worn out with work. It isn't right. It is
+not fair. It is unjust both to yourself, and to Eve--to the girl."
+
+"But, my dear child," he said. Eileen was three years older than Nolan;
+but being a lawyer he called all women "child." "My dear child, do you
+realize that my salary is eighteen hundred a year, and I get only a few
+hundred dollars in fees. Think of the cost of food these days, and of
+clothes, and amusements, to say nothing of rent! Do you think I would
+allow Eve--my wife, to go without the sweet things of--"
+
+"You needn't bring me in," said Eveley loftily. "I have never accepted
+you, have I?"
+
+"No, not exactly, I suppose, but--"
+
+"Eveley," said Miriam, suddenly sitting erect on the couch. "I have it."
+
+"Sounds like the measles," said Kitty.
+
+"I mean I know what to do with the money. Listen, dear. You do not want
+to go on slaving in an office until you are old and ugly. And Nolan is
+quite right, you certainly can not marry a grubby clerk in a law office."
+
+Nolan laughed at that, but Eveley sat up very straight indeed and fairly
+glowered at her unconscious friend on the couch.
+
+"You must have the soft and lovely things of life, and the way to get
+them is to marry them. Now, sweet, you take your twenty-five hundred, be
+manicured and massaged and shampooed until you are glowing with beauty,
+buy a lot of lovely clothes, trip around like a lady, dance and play, and
+meet men--men with money--and there you are. You can look like a million
+dollars on your twenty-five hundred--and your looks will get you the
+million by marriage."
+
+"Miriam Landis, that is shameful," said Nolan in a voice of horror. "It
+is disgraceful. I never thought to hear a woman, a married woman, a nice
+woman, utter such low and grimy thoughts. Could any such marriage be
+happy?"
+
+"Well, Nolan," said Miriam sadly, "I am not sure that any marriage can be
+happy, or was ever supposed to be. But women are such that they have to
+try it once. Eveley will be like all the rest. And if she has to try it,
+she had better try it with a million, than with eighteen hundred a year."
+
+"There is something in that, Miriam, certainly," said Eveley
+thoughtfully. "What do you think, Eileen?"
+
+"I think it is absurd. The notion that woman was born for marriage died
+long ago. Ridiculous! Woman is born for life, for service, for action,
+just as man is. Look at the married people you know. How many of them are
+happy? I do not wish to be personal, but I know very few married people,
+either men or women, who would not be glad to undo the marriage knot if
+it could be done easily and quietly without notoriety. They are not
+happy. But we are happy. Why? Because we work, we think, we feel, we
+live. We are not slaves to the contentment of man. Go on working, my
+dear. Keep your independence. But play safe. Put your money in the bank,
+or in some good investment, and let it safeguard your future. Then you
+can go your way serene."
+
+"That is certainly sound. Marriage isn't the most successful thing in the
+world."
+
+"I should say not," chimed Kitty. "Husbands are always tired of wives,
+their own, I mean, inside of five years."
+
+"Well, if it comes to that," said Eveley honestly, "I suppose wives are
+tired of their own husbands, too. But they are so stubborn they won't
+admit it. In their hearts I suppose they are quite as sick of their
+husbands as their husbands are of them."
+
+"Eve," said Nolan anxiously, "where are you getting all these wicked
+notions? Marriage is the most sacred--"
+
+"Institution. I know it. Every one says marriage is a sacred institution,
+and so is a church. But nobody wants to live with one permanently."
+
+"But, Eveley, the sanctity of the--"
+
+"Home. Sure, we know it is sanctified. But monotonous. Deadly
+monotonous."
+
+"Eve," and his voice was quite tragic, "don't you feel that the divine
+sphere of--"
+
+"Woman. You needn't finish it, Nolan; we know it as well as you do. The
+divine sphere of woman is in the sanctified home keeping up the sacred
+institution of marriage while her husband--oh, tralalalalalala."
+
+"Yes, sir, I'll go you," cried Kitty suddenly, leaping up from the floor,
+and waving her hand. "Europe! You and I together."
+
+"She has come to," said Eileen resignedly. "There's an end of sensible
+talk for this evening."
+
+"Yes, Kit, what is it? I knew you would think of something good."
+
+"We'll go to Europe, you and I. I think I can work dad to let me go. I
+can pretend to fall in love with the plumber, or somebody, and he'll be
+glad to trot me off for a while. And he likes you, Eveley. He thinks you
+are so sensible."
+
+"Why, he hardly knows me," cried Eveley, astonished.
+
+"Yes, that is why. I tell him how sensible you are when you are not
+there, and when he gets home I hustle you out of his sight in a hurry. He
+likes me to have sensible friends."
+
+"And what shall we do with the money?"
+
+"Travel, travel, travel, and have a gay good time," said Kitty blithely.
+"All over Europe. We'll get some handsome clothes, and have the time of
+our lives as long as the money lasts, and then marry dukes or princes or
+something like that."
+
+"Two of you," shouted Nolan furiously. "Well, Eve, it is a good thing you
+have one friend to give you really decent advice. Of all idiotic ideas.
+Buy fine clothes and marry a millionaire. Save it to pay for potatoes
+when you get a husband that can't support you. Travel to Europe and marry
+some purple prince."
+
+"Why purple?" asked Eveley curiously.
+
+"Do you mean clothed in purple and fine linen?"
+
+"If you mean blood, it is blue," said Kitty. "Blue-blooded princes.
+Whoever heard of a purple-blooded prince?"
+
+"What did you mean anyhow, Nolan?" asked Eileen.
+
+Driven into a corner, Nolan hesitated. He had said purple on the spur of
+the moment, chiefly because it sounded derogatory and went well with
+prince.
+
+"What I really mean," he began in a dispassionate legislative voice,
+"what I really mean is--purple in the face. You know, purple, splotchy
+skin, caused by eating too much rich food, drinking too much strong wine,
+playing cards and dancing and flirting."
+
+"Does flirting make you purple?" gasped Miriam. "It does not show on Lem
+yet." And then she subsided quickly, hoping they had not noticed.
+
+"Why, Nolan, I have danced for weeks and weeks at a stretch, evenings, I
+mean, when the service men were here," said Kitty, "and I am not purple
+yet."
+
+"Oh, rats," said Nolan. Then he brightened. "You have never seen a
+prince, so of course you do not understand. Wait till you see one. Then a
+purple prince will mean something in your young life."
+
+"I should not like to marry a purple creature," said Eveley, wrinkling
+her nose distastefully. "I am too pink. And my blue eyes would clash with
+a purple husband, too. But maybe the dukes and lords are a different
+shade," she finished hopefully.
+
+Nolan turned his back, and lit a cigarette.
+
+"Yes, you may smoke, Nolan, by all means. I always like my guests to be
+comfortable."
+
+"What is your advice then, Nolan? You are so scornful about our
+suggestions," said Eileen quietly.
+
+"I know what Nolan would like," said Kitty spitefully. "He would advise
+Eveley to give him the money and make him her executor and appoint him
+her guardian. That would suit him to a T."
+
+"My poor infant, Eveley can not use an executor and a guardian at the
+same time. One comes in early youth, or old age, the other after death.
+An executor--" he began, clearing his throat as for a prolonged technical
+explanation.
+
+Kitty plunged her fingers into her ears. "You stop that right now, Nolan
+Inglish. We came here to advise Eveley, not for you to practise on. If
+you begin that I shall go straight home--no, I mean I shall go out on the
+steps and wait for the ice-cream."
+
+"What do you advise, Nolan?" persisted Eileen.
+
+"Well, my personal advice is, and I strongly urge it, and plead it, and
+it will make me very happy, and--?"
+
+"He wants to borrow it," gasped Kitty.
+
+"Go on, Nolan," urged Eveley eagerly.
+
+"Put it in the bank on your checking account."
+
+"Put it--"
+
+"Checking account?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, right in your checking account."
+
+A slow scornful light dawned in Eileen's eyes. "I see," she said coldly.
+"Very selfish, very unprofessional, very unfriendly. He would have his
+lady love absolutely bankrupt, that he may endow her with all the goods
+of life."
+
+"Why, Nolan," said Eveley weakly, lacking Eileen's sharper perception,
+"don't you know me well enough to realize that if I put it into my
+checking account it will be gone, absolutely and everlastingly gone,
+inside of six months, and not a thing to show for it?"
+
+"Yes, I know it," he admitted humbly.
+
+"And still you advise it?"
+
+"I do not advise it--I just want it," he admitted plaintively.
+
+Eveley sat quietly for a while, counting her fingers, her lips moving
+once in a while, forming such words as marriage, travel, princes and
+banks. Then she clapped her hands and beamed upon them.
+
+"Lovely," she cried. "Exquisite! Just what I wanted to do myself! You are
+dear good faithful friends, and wise, too, and you will never know how
+much your advice has helped me. Then it is all settled, isn't it? And I
+shall buy an automobile."
+
+In a flash, she caught up a pillow, holding it out sharply in front of
+her, whirling it around like a steering wheel, while she pushed with both
+feet on imaginary clutches and brakes, and honked shrilly.
+
+But her friends leaned weakly back in their chairs and stared. Then they
+laughed, and admitted it was what they had expected all the time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A WRONG ADJUSTMENT
+
+
+Eveley's resolve to spend her fortune for an auto met with less
+resistance than she had anticipated. It seemed that every one had known
+all along that she would fool the money away on something, and a motor
+was far more reasonable than some things.
+
+"I said travel," said Kitty. "And we can travel in a car as well as on a
+train--more fun, too. And though it may cut us off from meeting a purple
+prince--a pretty girl with a car of her own is a combination no man can
+resist. And maybe if we are very patient and have good luck, we may save
+a millionaire from bandits, or rescue a daring aviator from capture by
+Mexicans."
+
+Miriam nodded, also, her eyes cloudy behind the dark lashes. "Very nice,
+dear. Get a lot of stunning motor things and--irresistible, simply
+irresistible. You must have a red leather motor coat. You will be
+adorable in one. But you'll have to shake Nolan, dear. You stand no
+chance in the world if you are constantly herded by a disagreeable young
+lawyer, guardianing you from every truant glance."
+
+"It isn't at all bad," quickly interposed Eileen. "I believe that more
+than anything else in the world, a motor-car reconciles a woman to life
+without a husband. She gets thrills in plenty, and retains her
+independence at the same time."
+
+"Eileen," put in Nolan sternly, "I am disappointed in you. A woman of
+your ability and experience trying to prejudice a young and innocent girl
+against marriage is--is--"
+
+"You are awfully hard to suit, Nolan," complained Eveley gently. "You
+shouted at Miriam and Kitty for advising a husband, and now you roar at
+Eileen for advising against one."
+
+"It isn't the husband I object to--it is their cold-blooded scheme to go
+out and pick one up. Woman should be sought--"
+
+"Well, when Eveley gets a car she'll be sought fast enough," said Kitty
+shrewdly. "She hasn't suffered from any lack of admirers as it is, but
+when she goes motoring on her own--_ach_, Louie."
+
+"Then you approve of the car, do you, Nolan?"
+
+"Well, since I can not think of any quicker or pleasanter way of spending
+the money," he said slowly, "I may say that I do, unequivocally."
+
+"Why unequivocally?"
+
+"What's it mean, anyhow?" demanded Kitty.
+
+"Can't you talk English, Nolan?" asked Eveley, in some exasperation. "You
+started off as if you were in favor, but now heaven only knows what you
+mean."
+
+"Get your car, my poor child, by all means. Get your car. But a
+dictionary is what you really need."
+
+The rest of the evening they were enthusiastic almost to the point of
+incoherency. Kitty was in raptures over an exquisite red racer she had
+seen on the street. Miriam described Mary Pickford's rose-upholstered
+car, and applied it to Eveley's features. Nolan developed a surprisingly
+intimate knowledge of carburetors, horse-powers and cylinders.
+
+When at last they braved the rustic stairway, homeward bound, with
+exclamatory gasps and squeals, gradually drifting away into silence,
+Eveley sat down on the floor to take off her shoes--a most childish habit
+carried over into the years of age and wisdom--and was immediately
+wrapped in happy thoughts where stunning motor clothes and whirring
+engines and Nolan's pleasant eyes were harmoniously mingled. And when at
+last she started up into active consciousness again, and rushed pellmell
+to bed, mindful of her responsibility as a business girl, sleep came very
+slowly. And when it came at last, it was a chaotic jumble of excited
+dreams and tossings.
+
+The life of the bride and groom in the nest beneath Eveley's Cloud Cote
+had progressed so sweetly and smoothly that Eveley had come to feel it
+was quite a friendly dispensation of Providence that permitted her to
+live one story up from Honeymooning. So the next morning, in the midst of
+the confusion that came from dressing and getting her breakfast and
+reading motor ads in the morning paper at the same time, she was utterly
+electrified to hear a sudden sharp cry of anguish from little Mrs. Bride
+beneath--a cry accompanied by sounds caused by nothing in the world but a
+passionate and hysterical pounding of small but violent feet upon the
+floor.
+
+"Oooooh, oooooh, don't talk to me, Dody, I can't bear it. I can't, I
+can't. Ooooh, I wish I were dead. Go away, go away this instant and let
+me die. Oh, I shall run away, I shall kill myself! Oooooh!"
+
+"Dearie, sweetie, don't," begged Mr. Groom distractedly. "Lovie,
+precious, please." And his voice faded off into tender inarticulate
+whispers.
+
+For a long second Eveley was speechless. Then she said aloud, very
+grimly, "Hum. It has begun. I suppose I may look for flat-irons and
+rolling-pins next. Hereafter they are Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Married
+People."
+
+After long and patient, demonstrative pleading on his part, Mrs. Severs
+was evidently restored to a semblance of reason and content, and quiet
+reigned for a while until the slam of the door indicated that Mr. Severs
+had heeded the call of business.
+
+Almost immediately there came a quick creaking of the rustic stairs and a
+light tap on Eveley's window.
+
+"Come in," she called pleasantly. "I sort of expected you. You will
+excuse me, won't you, for not getting up, but I have only fifteen minutes
+to finish my breakfast and catch the car."
+
+"You are awfully businesslike, aren't you?" asked Mrs. Severs admiringly.
+"Yes, I will have a cup of coffee, thanks. I need all the stimulation I
+can get."
+
+She was pale, and her eyes were red-rimmed, Eveley noted commiseratingly.
+
+"We are expecting an addition to our family this afternoon, Miss
+Ainsworth," she began, her chin quivering childishly.
+
+"Mercy!" gasped Eveley.
+
+"Our father-in-law," added Mrs. Severs quickly. "Dody's father. He is
+coming to live with us."
+
+"Oh!" breathed Eveley. "Won't that be lovely?"
+
+Mrs. Severs burst into passionate weeping. "It won't be lovely," she
+sobbed. "It will be ghastly." She sat up abruptly and wiped her eyes. "He
+is the most heart-breaking thing you ever saw, and he doesn't like me. He
+doesn't approve of dimples, and he says I am soft. And he has the most
+desperate old chum you ever saw, a perfect wreck with red whiskers, and
+they get together every night and play pinochle and smoke smelly old
+pipes, and he won't have curtains in his bedroom, and he is crazy about a
+phonograph, and he won't eat my cooking."
+
+"I should think you would like that," said Eveley. "Maybe he will cook
+for himself."
+
+"That is just it," wailed Mrs. Severs. "He does. He cooks the smelliest
+kind of corn beef and cabbage, and eats liver by the--by the cow, and has
+raw onions with every meal. And he drinks tea by the gallon. And he cooks
+everything himself and piles it on his plate like a mountain and carries
+it to the table and sits there and eats it right before company and
+everybody."
+
+"I don't see how Mr. Severs ever came to have a father like that," said
+Eveley in open surprise.
+
+"Well, the funny thing about it is that he would really be very nice if
+he wasn't so outrageous. And he swears terribly. He says 'Holy Mackinaw'
+at everything. But he loves Dody. They lived together for years, and it
+nearly killed him when Dody got married. And Dody said, 'You will live
+with us of course, father,' and so we expected it. But he went off for a
+visit after we were married--he and the red-whiskered friend, and we sort
+of thought--we kind of hoped--miracles do happen, you know--and so I just
+kept believing that something would turn up to save us. But it didn't.
+Dody got a letter this morning, and he will be here this afternoon. Oh, I
+wish I were dead."
+
+"Is he terribly poor?"
+
+"Mercy, no! He's got plenty of money. Lots more than we have. Enough to
+live anywhere he pleases."
+
+"I see it all," said Eveley ominously. "You won't be happy with him, and
+he won't be happy with you, but you are all putting up with it because it
+is your--duty."
+
+"Yes, that is it, of course."
+
+Eveley poured herself another cup of coffee and drank it rapidly, without
+cream, and only one lump of sugar. "I am upset," she said at last. "This
+has simply shattered the day for me. Excuse me, you'll have to hurry, I
+only have five minutes left. I haven't explained my belief and principles
+to you--you being young and newly married and needing all the illusions
+possible--but I do not believe in duty."
+
+"Gracious," gasped the bride. "You don't?"
+
+"Absolutely not. No human being should do his duty under any conceivable
+circumstances. You see, there are two kinds, the pleasurable ones, and
+the painful ones. Pleasurable duties are done, not because they are
+duties, but because they are pleasurable. So they do not count. And a
+painful duty can not be a duty or it would not be painful. My idea is,
+that there must be a happy adjustment of every necessity, so when a duty
+is painful, it is the wrong adjustment. You and your father-in-law are
+giving yourselves pain because it is the wrong adjustment."
+
+"It sounds very clever."
+
+"It is the only beautiful plan of life," said Eveley modestly.
+
+"And then we would not have to live with father at all?"
+
+"Most certainly not."
+
+"It certainly is a glorious theory," said the bride enthusiastically.
+"You explain it to Dody, will you? He is positively death on duty,
+especially when it is painful. He'd do his duty if it killed him and me,
+burned the house down and started a revolution."
+
+"I have to go now," said Eveley. "Excuse me for rushing you off, but I am
+late already. I'll explain it to you another time."
+
+Very skilfully she piloted her caller out the window and down the rustic
+steps.
+
+"Remember this," she said as they reached the bottom. "As long as duty is
+painful, it is not a duty and can not be. Now find another adjustment.
+That is the end of it." And she started on a quick trot for the corner.
+
+"But father will be here this afternoon just the same," called Mrs.
+Severs after her in mournful tones.
+
+Being very businesslike, Eveley made a set of notes about the case on her
+way down-town.
+
+Liver and cabbage.
+
+Raw onions.
+
+Smelly pipe.
+
+Red-whiskered friend.
+
+Pinochle.
+
+Hates dimples. (I'll keep my left side turned his way.)
+
+Money enough to live on.
+
+Crazy about Dody--christened Andrew.
+
+Dody believes in duty.
+
+"Of course it is up to me to save them," she decided cheerfully, and was
+quite happy at the prospect of an engagement in her campaign. "But I
+can't neglect getting my car, even to save human nature from its duty,"
+she added. And then her mind wandered from the duties of brides, to the
+pleasures of young motorists.
+
+Her plan of expenditure was most lucid. She would invest eighteen hundred
+dollars in a car, and spend two hundred for clothes "to sustain the
+illusion." Nolan did not understand exactly what she meant by that, but
+on general principles was convinced it was something reprehensible and
+sneered at it. The other five hundred was to be deposited in the bank as
+a guarantee for future tires and gasoline and repairs. Nolan said that
+according to his information it would be wiser to buy a second-hand car
+for five hundred, and keep the eighteen hundred for tires and gas and
+repairs.
+
+But Nolan was a struggling young lawyer--even more struggling than
+young--and the girls were accustomed to his pessimistic murmurs, and gave
+them no heed at all.
+
+Although Eveley had determined to confine herself to eighteen hundred
+dollars for the car, she was not morally above accepting demonstrations
+of cars entailing twice, and even thrice, that expenditure. "For," she
+said, "for all I know somebody else may die and leave me some more, and
+then I can get an expensive one. And besides, I feel it is my duty--oh,
+no, I mean I feel it would be lots of fun, as a conscientious and
+enthusiastic motorist to know the good points of every car."
+
+So Nolan assured her of his complete support and assistance in her
+search, even to the detriment of his labors at the law office, where he
+hoped one day to be a member of considerable standing. Nolan had two fond
+dreams--to become a regular member of the firm, and to marry Eveley. They
+were closely related, one to the other. If he could not marry Eveley, he
+had no desire for a partnership nor anything else but speedy death. But
+until he had the partnership, he felt himself morally obligated to deny
+himself Eveley in the flesh. For he was one of those unique,
+old-fashioned creatures who feels that man must offer position and
+affluence as well as love to the lady of his choice. So it was no mere
+mercenary madness on his own account that kept Nolan living a life of
+gentle and economic obscurity, patient struggling for a foothold on the
+ladder of fame in his profession.
+
+He knew better than to propose to Eveley. He realized that if they were
+once formally and blissfully engaged, he, being only mortal man with
+human frailties, could never resist the charm of complete possession, and
+he foresaw that betrothal would end in speedy marriage to the death of
+his determination to bring his goddess glory.
+
+Thus Nolan's lips were sealed--on the subject of marriage. "Though
+goodness knows, he has plenty to say about everything else," Eveley
+sometimes complained rather plaintively. And his attentions took the form
+of a more or less pleasant watch-dog constancy, and an always more and
+never less persistence in warding off other suitors not handicapped by
+his own scruples in regard to matrimony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+PAINFUL DUTY
+
+
+When Eveley arrived home late that night she smiled to observe that all
+the down-stairs windows were wide open to the breeze, and in the corner
+bedroom, apportioned to Father-in-law, the curtains were down. At the
+back of the house she found Father-in-law himself, with the proverbial
+whiskered friend, critically inspecting her rustic steps through the
+clouds of smoke from their pipes which they removed to facilitate their
+interested stares as she approached.
+
+"How do you do?" she cried brightly. "You are Mr. Severs, Senior, aren't
+you? Welcome home! And this is your friend, I know." She shook hands with
+them both, with great cordiality. She must disarm them, before she could
+begin working them into a proper adjustment with life. "I am Eveley
+Ainsworth. Are you admiring my steps? I am very eccentric and
+temperamental and all that, and I have to live alone. I do not like being
+crowded in with other folks. I like to do as I please, and not bother
+with anybody else."
+
+"Very sensible, I'm sure," said Father-in-law.
+
+"Sure," echoed the whiskered one breezily.
+
+"That was the first little seed," she chuckled to herself, as she ran
+blithely up the stairs. Later, when she heard Mrs. Severs in the room
+beneath, she went to the head of the inner stairway and called down to
+her.
+
+"Come up a minute. I want to see you."
+
+Mrs. Severs lost no time. "My husband says it is simply absurd," she
+began breathlessly. "He says people have to do their duty. He says a
+thing is right or wrong, and that settles it. We are all father has in
+the world, and Dody says it is plainly our duty to keep him with us. He
+says a fellow would be taking an awful chance to marry you, if that is a
+sample of your principles. Don't you believe in any duty, Miss
+Ainsworth?"
+
+"Only one," said Eveley with great firmness.
+
+"Oh, what is that?" came the eager query.
+
+"That," was the dignified reply, "is something that doesn't enter into
+this case at all, and doesn't need to be discussed."
+
+"Well, Dody says--"
+
+"Dody may be a very sweet husband, but he is not progressive. His idea is
+old, outworn and antedeluvian. Simply musty. Now, this is my plan--the
+plan of progress according to new ideas which means happiness for all.
+Father-in-law and the whiskered friend are born for each other. They are
+affinities, and soul-mates, and everything. I saw it at the first glance.
+We'll get them a little cottage off somewhere beyond the odor of onions,
+and they can revel in liver and pipes to their hearts' content."
+
+"Impossible! Whiskers has a wife of his own."
+
+"What?" Eveley was much disconcerted. "Well, maybe she will get a divorce
+so her husband can marry your father--I mean--maybe it won't stick, you
+know."
+
+"It's been sticking for forty years, and I suppose it will go on forever.
+You see she doesn't have him around much and so she probably forgets how
+he is. He is always out with father, and she is asleep when he gets
+home."
+
+"Well, don't worry about it. He had no business being married, for it was
+a lovely plan--but it can't be helped now. Never mind."
+
+"Listen," said Mrs. Severs suddenly. "Hear the sizzling. That's onions.
+Didn't I tell you? I was going to have chicken croquettes and creamed
+peas, with lettuce salad and fruit jello. But how can Dody and I sit down
+to a decent meal with the whole house reeking with tobacco and onions?"
+
+"Never mind, dear. We'll find the adjustment in time. Just try to be
+patient."
+
+For another night, and another day, Eveley puzzled and pondered--during
+intervals of studying motor folders and reading advertisements. And the
+next evening she found Mrs. Severs wringing her hands on the front porch.
+
+"What is it?" she asked anxiously. "Did he kill himself?"
+
+"No such luck," wailed Mrs. Severs. "He won't sleep in the bedroom
+because he says it is too shady under all those vines, and he has moved
+himself out into the living-room on the couch. He says there is no sense
+having a house all cluttered up with rooms anyhow, he doesn't believe in
+it. He says two rooms are enough for anybody. You can cook and eat in the
+kitchen, and sit and sleep in the other room, and anything more is just
+plain tony."
+
+"I tell you what," suggested Eveley brightly. "Be mean to him. Be real
+snippy and bossy. Don't let him have his own way. You just fire him right
+back into the bedroom. Tell him you are head of this house, and he's got
+to mind. Then he'll be only too glad to move out and then you'll have
+some peace."
+
+"I can't," moaned Mrs. Severs. "He's really kind of nice if he wasn't so
+awful. I couldn't be mean to Dody's father. And Dody would not let me if
+I wanted to."
+
+"Well, don't worry," said Eveley automatically. "I am still working. We
+will try every different adjustment, and in time we shall hit the right
+one. Just keep happy and--"
+
+"Keep happy," wailed Mrs. Severs. "Don't be sarcastic, Miss Ainsworth,
+please. I never expect to be happy again."
+
+Then she went home, and Eveley called Nolan on the telephone.
+
+"You must come immediately and have supper with me. And stop on the way
+and get a small steak, and ask the drug-store to deliver a pint of
+ice-cream at six-thirty sharp. And you might bring a nice tomato if you
+can remember, and I shall have everything else ready. We won't have much
+to-night, just steak and salad and ice-cream. I need professional
+advice."
+
+Nolan never dreamed of refusing an invitation of any sort whatever from
+Eveley, and he started immediately, gathering up the dinner on his way.
+As he put his foot on the lowest step of the rustic stair, Eveley's head
+thrust itself suddenly from between the curtains.
+
+"There is a proper adjustment," she said, in a stern voice. "Just keep
+your mind on that. Painful duty is no duty, and can not be. There is a
+right adjustment--and we must find it."
+
+Nolan continued warily up the rickety stair, greeting her at the top
+cordially.
+
+"Hello, Eveley. My, the coffee smells good. I am hungry as a bear, too. I
+saw you out last night with that sad-eyed Buddy soldier, and I do not
+approve of it. I shall deem it my duty to administer a proper adjustment
+of his facial characteristics if he doesn't mind his own business. The
+ice-cream will be here at six-thirty sharp. How is Kitty? You have flour
+on your ears. Shall I fix the tomatoes?"
+
+"I did not bring you here in a social capacity to discuss personal
+matters," said Eveley coldly. "I told you yesterday that my home is
+saddened by the grotesque figure of maladjustment stalking in our midst
+under his usual guise of Duty. As I have explained so many times, there
+is bound to be a happy adjustment. But this time I can not figure it out.
+Now I call on you."
+
+"Retainer's fee, one hundreds dollars. Payable, of course, in advance."
+
+"Oh, well, it is not strictly legal. Let's just talk it over nicely as
+dear good friends, and if you have an idea I can absorb it. Nolan, Eileen
+said she saw you at lunch to-day with a woman."
+
+"Eileen? How is Eileen? I haven't seen her for days. Let's have a party
+soon, and invite Kitty and Eileen and Miriam and me, and you give us a
+midnight supper here in the Cote, will you?"
+
+"It was at the Grant."
+
+"I did not see Eileen, but of course I was busy. Was she alone? We had a
+nice luncheon--grilled pork chops and country gravy. The gravy was
+good--no lumps. It made me think of yours."
+
+"My gravy is not always lumpy," she said with a frown. "It just happened
+that way the last two times because I was called to the telephone while I
+was making it."
+
+"Oh, sure, that's all right."
+
+He carefully adjusted her chair at the table, and drew his own close
+beside it, pulling his plate and silverware half-way around the table
+from where Eveley had placed them.
+
+"You look sweeter than ever, to-night, Eve. But I hope the gravy is not
+lumpy."
+
+"She wore a black dress and white gloves, and a black hat."
+
+"Eileen did? Was it a new dress?"
+
+"No, the one with you."
+
+"Sure enough, I believe she did. A georgette dress, beaded in front.
+Quite pretty. But there was a rip in her glove. She showed it to me
+herself. She said she did it on the car, but it looked like an old rip to
+me."
+
+"And after luncheon you went away in her car, didn't you?"
+
+"Her uncle's car. Just for a short run through the park, and then she
+dropped me at the office. Quite a pleasant woman. She was so polite to
+me, and treated me with such gentle deference. It was quite a change. It
+made me think of you."
+
+Eveley put down her fork. "Who was it?"
+
+"Bartlett's niece from San Francisco. Visiting here. He had promised to
+take her for luncheon, but at the last minute Graves came in and they
+were busy, so he turned her over to me."
+
+"I do not see why you are always the one to take their nieces and
+daughters out for luncheon. This is the fourth time in two months. I
+believe you do it on purpose. Why should they always pick on you?"
+
+"Partly because of my beauty, perhaps, and my charming manners as well as
+my generally winsome demeanor in the presence of ladies. I suppose Eileen
+also informed you that this niece is Mrs. Harmon Delavan, and has three
+children in addition to a husband."
+
+"Oh, Nolan, how you do burble along. I didn't bring you here to discuss
+Bartlett's relatives. Now get down to business. How can we adjust the
+honeymooners and the father-in-law--though honestly I think he is great
+fun myself, and would a whole lot rather live with him than with Dody.
+Only he does not fit in with the honeymoon scheme of life."
+
+"Well," said Nolan dreamily, "why don't you marry him, and bring him up
+here?"
+
+"Oh, Nolan, you are clever. I never thought of that."
+
+At the evident delight in her voice, Nolan stared.
+
+"Not to me, goosey, he would never consent, for I have a dimple and he
+does not approve of them. So far I have kept it on the off side, and he
+has not noticed, but I couldn't always turn the left side to a husband,
+could I?"
+
+"Well, then--"
+
+"Marry him to somebody else, of course. I can't just decide who--but
+there will be some one. You are such a help, Nolan. Now let's not bother
+with the duties of our neighbors, but have a good time. To-morrow I shall
+find him a wife." Then she leaned toward Nolan, refilling his cup, and
+said gurglingly, "Was he working awfully hard at the stupid old office?"
+
+"Eveley, just one thing, while we are on our duties," he said, catching
+her hand. "You have made one exception, always, but you have never told
+me what it is. And it is so unlike you to except anything when you get
+started. What is the one duty that is justified and necessary?"
+
+Eveley promptly pulled her hand away. "That," she said, "is purely
+personal. It will not do any one any good to talk about it. So it is all
+sealed up on the inside."
+
+"And I shall never know what your one duty in life is?" he asked, with
+mock pleading, but real curiosity.
+
+"It may hit you sometime--harder than anybody else," she said, laughing.
+"But in the meantime let's talk of other things."
+
+As soon as Mr. Severs had started to work the next morning, without the
+tender farewells, for the presence of Father-in-law placed an instinctive
+veto on such demonstrations--Eveley kicked briskly on the floor as a
+summons, and Mrs. Severs answered.
+
+"Eveley?" she called up to the ceiling.
+
+And Eveley shouted down to the floor of her room, "Come up--I've got it."
+
+At that Mrs. Severs fairly flew up the stairs.
+
+Eveley caught her on the landing, and whirled her around the room in a
+triumphant dance, stopping at last so abruptly that Mrs. Severs was
+almost precipitated to the floor.
+
+"Now listen. I've got it. The proper adjustment, that will make you all
+happy and prove my theory."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," chanted Mrs. Severs ecstatically.
+
+"He must get married."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Now don't interrupt. Let me finish. Of course he has no notion of such a
+thing, but leave it to me. We shall marry him off before he knows it. We
+must find the woman first. Out at Chula Vista there are a lot of
+beautiful elderly ladies in the Home who are all alone and would be only
+too glad to have a cozy home and a--a--pleasant husband and--all that. So
+we'll go out on Saturday afternoon and look them over and pick out a good
+one. Then I'll invite her to visit me for a week, and you and I will both
+be busy so Father-in-law will have to entertain her, and she'll cut out
+old Whiskers in no time at all."
+
+Eveley flung out her hands jubilantly.
+
+Mrs. Severs showed no enthusiasm. "That is what I wanted to tell you. He
+can't. He is already married."
+
+Eveley dropped into a chair. "Married!" she stammered. "You told me
+Dody's mother was dead."
+
+"She is, of course. But what I did not tell you is this. Three years ago
+while Dody was in France, father must have sort of lost his mind or
+something, for without a minute's warning, he up and married somebody--a
+woman, of course. When Dody got home from the war she was not there, and
+when he asked about her, father just sort of laughed and looked sheepish,
+and said, 'Oh, she's gone on a visit.' 'Where to?' Dody asked. 'Oh,
+somewhere around,' said father. 'Is she coming back?' asked Dody. 'Holy
+Mackinaw, I hope not,' said father, and that is the last we ever heard of
+her. But of course he is still married."
+
+It was a hard blow, but Eveley rallied at last, though slowly. "Don't
+worry," she said monotonously. "There is another adjustment. Just keep
+happy--and give me time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SHE MEETS A DEMONSTRATOR
+
+
+"You've simply got to sneak off on some pretext or another, and meet me
+at the Doric agency at three o'clock for a demonstration. They say it is
+perfectly wonderful--why, it hardly takes a look of gas to go a thousand
+miles, and its tires are literally cast iron."
+
+This was her summons by telephone. And Nolan, determined not to desert
+trusting little Eveley to the tender mercies of motor sharks, went to the
+Middle Member, whose position he confidently expected one day to possess,
+and announced that important business of a personal nature required his
+presence that afternoon. And because Nolan never abused privileges--or if
+he did was never detected in the act--and because his firm was composed
+of human beings and not the granite machines common to fiction, Nolan
+encountered no difficulty.
+
+And Eveley went to her own employer, and smiling seductively upon him,
+said vaguely that some awfully important and unexpected things had come
+up, and could she please get off at three, if she would work particularly
+hard in the meantime to make up?
+
+And because Eveley was very pretty, and withal very businesslike, and
+pleasant about trifles like working after hours and special grinds and
+such things, and because her employer was acutely conscious of her soft
+voice and bright eyes, he smiled in return and said:
+
+"Yes, indeed, Miss Ainsworth, I heard you phoning about it. Go, by all
+means, but I do not think you will like the Doric. The tires are all
+right, but the cylinders are under size, and this causes a constant
+friction with the magneto which impairs the efficiency and makes the car
+a poor climber and weak on endurance runs."
+
+That is probably not what he said at all, but it is what Eveley
+understood him to say, and from it she gathered that she might go at
+three, but that there was something perfectly terrible about the Doric
+that made it impossible for her to buy it, but of course she could not
+disappoint the salesman with the deep blue eyes, and so she would have
+the demonstration anyhow.
+
+From three o'clock on, the afternoon was a perfect daze of magnetos and
+batteries and gas feeders and real leather upholstery. But Eveley
+interrupted once, to run into a drug-store to the public telephone, to
+call Kitty, and when she had her friend on the wire she said eagerly:
+
+"Oh, Kit, we are trying out the Doric. It is awfully good some ways, and
+rotten some ways, and so of course I can't buy it, but the salesman has
+the most irresistible eyes you ever saw in your life, and so I am wearing
+my new blue veil, and I look a dream in it. Now you scoot up to the Cote,
+will you, and have supper ready for us at six--Nolan and me. If Nolan
+were not along I might bring the blue-eyed Doric man, but he is so
+overbearing about those things--Nolan, I mean. Get a nice juicy steak, he
+needs nourishment. I think if I could feed him constantly for a month and
+save him from the restaurants he might develop enough animal magnetism
+to--anyhow, he needs the steak, so get a good one at Hardy's and charge
+it to me. And will you go by the cleaners, and get my motor gloves--they
+said it would only be a quarter for the cleaning, so don't pay them a
+cent more. Will you? That's a nice girl."
+
+At six o'clock, wearily, happily, still discoursing earnestly of magnetos
+and batteries, Eveley and Nolan climbed the rickety rustic steps,
+brightening visibly as the odor of broiling steak and frying potatoes was
+wafted out to them. Nolan went in first, carefully stepping out of the
+way before he reached a hand to assist Eveley, for he knew that she would
+fall headlong among the cushions she kept conveniently placed for that
+purpose. "It is easy enough getting in, if you take your time," she
+always said defensively to criticizing friends. "But I am usually in a
+hurry myself, so I keep the cushions handy."
+
+On this evening, being tired, she remained on the floor where she had
+comfortably landed, and lazily removed her hat and veil, tossing them
+lightly into a distant corner.
+
+"If it wasn't for the carburetor rubbing on the spark plugs," she said
+plaintively, "I'd get the Doric in spite of everything. Did you ever see
+such blue eyes in your life, Nolan?"
+
+"The Mason is a better car in every way," he said flatly. "Strongly
+built, low hung, smart-looking, and the engine perfect."
+
+Eveley frowned. "Isn't that like a man? The Mason! I wish you could have
+seen him, Kitty. Fifty years old if he was a day, and bald, and two
+double chins. And talked through his nose. And what do you suppose he
+talked about? His wife--and how she loves the Mason. What do I care what
+his wife thinks about the Mason? I wouldn't have the Mason if he offered
+me one. I'll bet it is so easy riding that it fairly sprouts double
+chins--on the drivers."
+
+"You are buying a car, Eveley--not a driver," Nolan explained.
+
+"But the Doric is rather light in weight, and very high in price. How I
+wish you could have heard him tell about it, Kitty. When he said
+carburetor it was just like running up a scale of music. And his
+fingernails were manicured as nicely as my own."
+
+"Is dinner ready?" Nolan interrupted furiously. "Come and eat. Great
+Scott! That girl would buy a bum car and a costly one, because the
+demonstrator has shined his nails."
+
+"And, Kitty, he said if we could go to-morrow evening at five-thirty he
+would take us to La Jolla to show us how she climbs the grades. She will
+go up on high."
+
+"When did he say that?" interrupted Nolan. "I can not go with you
+to-morrow night. Don't you remember I told you we had a meeting--"
+
+"I know, dear. I am so sorry. But Kitty will go with us, won't you?"
+
+"Will I?" echoed Kitty ecstatically. "Won't I? Do you suppose they have
+another one, with brown eyes, to go along to--to change tires, or
+anything?"
+
+"I don't know, but we can ask. He is going to phone me at the office
+to-morrow to find out where to call for us. He is very respectable. He
+goes to the Methodist Church, and his uncle is a banker in Philadelphia."
+
+"Pass the potatoes, for heaven's sake," urged Nolan. "I feel sick." And
+after a while he went on, persuasively: "There is no use to try that car
+out again, Eveley. It is no good. Or if you insist on it put it off until
+the next night, and I will go with you. We'll all three go. Make a
+foursome if you like, with Kitty and the blue-eyed mutt."
+
+"Kitty does not like blue eyes. And besides, I am the one to be
+demonstrated to. And besides," she winked at Kitty drolly, "I am sure he
+will be busy the rest of the week. For when I mentioned that you had an
+appointment to-morrow he said most particularly that to-morrow was the
+only free evening he had for weeks to come. And that reminds me, Nolan,
+that your advice about Father-in-law was no good. He is married already,
+and it is your fault, getting me buoyed up with hope, all to no purpose."
+
+Nolan was properly regretful.
+
+"Do you think the old man likes to live with them?" he asked.
+
+"No, of course not. He hates it. He almost shudders when I tell him how
+lovely it is to have a son and daughter to live with. But I suppose he
+thinks it is his duty to stick, just as they think it is theirs to make
+him stick. People are so absurd, aren't they?"
+
+"Yes, very," he said soberly, his eyes intent on Eveley's hair curling so
+tenderly about her ears. And he was really thinking how very absurd it
+was that a rising young lawyer should find it so tempting to touch that
+bit of curl, and to kiss it. Very absurd indeed!
+
+"Are you thinking of something?" she asked hopefully, looking into his
+earnest eyes.
+
+"Yes, indeed." And he forced his eyes away from the distracting curls.
+"Yes, indeed I am."
+
+"What is it?" she begged, leaning toward him and slipping her fingers
+with childish eagerness into his hand.
+
+"Why--just tempt him," he stammered.
+
+"Tempt him, Nolan. 'Holy Mackinaw,' as Father-in-law says, what do you
+mean, tempt him?"
+
+In this predicament, Nolan was forced to concentrate. Why in the world
+had he said, "Tempt him?" The temptation of Eveley had nothing whatever
+to do with father-in-laws and the adjustment of duty. But Eveley expected
+him to produce a tangible and reasonable explanation.
+
+"Why, just tempt him, Eveley. You know what temptation is, don't you?
+Then do it." This was merely playing for time, seeking for illumination.
+"Just--keep it always before him, you know--how nice it would be to get
+off alone and be independent." Nolan was a lawyer, and having forced a
+foothold, he made it secure. "Tempt him with freedom, talk to him about
+the joys of privacy, unrestrained intercourse with his whiskered crony,
+the delights of unlimited liver and onions, a bed in the sitting-room,
+meals by the kitchen fire, and a jar of tobacco on every chair. See?
+Tempt him until he can't stand it."
+
+Eveley looked at him appraisingly. "Nolan Inglish, you are a whole lot
+cleverer than I ever thought you were. That is real talent. You have
+found the adjustment this time. I feel it."
+
+Nolan, intoxicated with the warmth of her voice, the subtle flattery of
+word and tone, rushed on.
+
+"Let's find him a house, just a bit of a shack with a little garden and a
+mangy dog, and then razzle him with the vision of independence, and show
+him the house."
+
+Then Eveley stood up. "Will you help me do this, Nolan? You get nicer
+every day of your life."
+
+And Nolan, except for the presence of Kitty, would surely have said what
+he had no earthly business to say to Eveley yet--until circumstances and
+the Senior Member made it justifiable.
+
+He sat glowering and grim at the Important Meeting the next evening, when
+he should have been gratified that his presence was desired--for Maley
+wasn't there, nor Garland, nor Alverson. But in spite of the Honor, and
+the Significance, Nolan's mind was wandering. He lost sight of the Truly
+Greats, and saw only a cloudy picture of Eveley, soft, sweet and dimply,
+sitting rapt by the side of the Darned Blue Eyes. And that night, at
+eleven o'clock, on his way to his modest room, he suddenly started.
+Coming demurely out of the Grant, he saw Eveley and the blue-eyed one,
+and laughing beside them, Kitty and some other equally reprehensible
+being. Nolan could hardly believe the evidence of his own eyes.
+
+He fumed openly while he allowed them a decent interval for reaching
+home, and then called Eveley by telephone.
+
+"Eveley, I thought I saw you and Kitty coming out of the Grant with some
+men a little while ago."
+
+"Oh, did you?" Eveley's voice was vibrant with surprise.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Isn't that funny?" she laughed a little, softly.
+
+"Well, were you?"
+
+"Were we what?"
+
+"Were you there?"
+
+"Why, yes, of course. We stopped for a sandwich. We missed our dinner.
+The engine broke down on the Biological Grade, and held us up for quite a
+while."
+
+"Eveley--"
+
+"Oh, it was perfectly all right. He found out to-day that he had a friend
+who is a life-long friend of Kitty's and he brought him along, and we
+were all nicely introduced and everything was as proper as you please."
+
+"Did you buy the car?" he asked witheringly.
+
+"Oh, no, he advised me, confidentially, not to. He is going to change to
+the Bemis agency to-morrow, and he thinks he will find it much more
+satisfactory. Wasn't it a lovely night? Did you have a nice time with the
+High and Mighties? Kitty is going to stay all night with me, and we are
+just making some hot chocolate. Won't you come for a cup?--Oh, just Kitty
+and I, and it is quite early. Come along, and we'll tell you all the bad
+points about the Doric. But they say the Bemis is a wonder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ADMITTING DEFEAT
+
+
+The first Saturday after the organization of the Irish-American League
+brought a blessed spring rain, especially heaven-sent on her account,
+Eveley felt quite sure, for she was greatly worn from coping with motor
+salesmen and the father-in-law situation. And this was a rain that not
+even boys could stand, so she had a blissful afternoon alone, purring and
+puttering about contentedly in her Cloud Cote.
+
+But on the second Saturday, according to agreement, the League met in the
+appointed field for a game. This was Eveley's first opportunity to
+witness the development of American principles in her chosen flotsam. The
+meeting had been called for one-thirty, and although Eveley arrived
+fifteen minutes early she found the field occupied by fully twenty youths
+of varying sizes, colors and brogues. She gazed upon the motley array in
+helpless horror.
+
+"Ern Swanson is going to be the captain," said John Hop, with his
+ingratiating Oriental smile. "We just had an election and elected him."
+
+"But we already have a captain," protested Eveley, looking not without
+sympathy to the corner where Ivan Kerensky nursed his humiliation.
+
+"We didn't know Ern was coming in," said Alfredo Masseno, who had hurried
+up with half a dozen others to greet her. "Ern, he ought to be the
+captain. He's awful rough; and baseball, why, he eats baseball alive! And
+he won't come in unless he is the captain, and if he don't come with us
+he'll join the Red Dogs on National Avenue, and we want him with us
+because we have challenged them to a game and if they get Ern they'll
+lick us."
+
+Then the newly elected captain sauntered up, his good-natured face
+reflecting the glory of his new command as well as his natural Swedish
+temperament.
+
+"He doesn't look rough," said Eveley critically.
+
+"No'm, not when things suits him, but you ought to see him when he is
+mad. Golly! Why, even the cops lets that kid alone."
+
+"But it isn't parliamentary--I mean, it isn't proper to have one election
+after another like this. We chose one captain, and we ought to stand by
+him."
+
+"That wasn't no quorum what elected him, ma'm," said Ern Swanson, smiling
+broadly. "They was only eight in the club then, and now we got
+twenty-three. That little bunch o' Greasers couldn't represent us. No,
+ma'm. We want regular Americans at the head of this club, and so we had a
+regular election."
+
+Eveley knew this was dead against American principles, and she looked
+once more toward the sulking ex-captain. Then she remembered that he had
+won his own election in her absence by plain coercion, and decided to
+pass this one irregularity, but never again.
+
+"Very well, then," she said weakly, "have it your own way this time. But
+there must be no more elections until the right time. Now, what are you
+going to do? Have a practise game? Then suppose we let Ivan be captain of
+the second team, anyhow, and you can pick your men and have a good game."
+
+This seemed a simple proposition to Eveley in her innocence, but on a
+sudden, pandemonium reigned. The whole crowd of boys propelled itself
+violently into the air, and there was a shrieking of voices and a tossing
+of bats and gloves, and a seemingly endless number of arms flying about.
+From out the clamor Eveley could distinguish repeated hoarse roars of
+"Pi-i-i-i-tcher," "Pi-i-i-i-tcher," "Ca-a-a-a-a-atcher," "Ca-a-a-a-atcher,"
+and she retired to a remote spot to await the proper moment for gathering
+up the remains. Being a lady, she could make no sense at all of the deadly
+uproar, and she was quite thrilled and charmed when of a sudden the tumult
+subsided, and she found that out of that apparently aimless clamor, two
+teams had been selected and the players assigned to their various positions
+on the field. It was black magic to her.
+
+Eveley thought she knew baseball. She knew what a "foul" was, and she
+knew what happened when one passed four balls, and she knew when one was
+out. And she had often said fatuously that she loved baseball, because
+she understood it. But she did not understand it. She understood a mild
+respectable game that was played by scholarly young men in college.
+Baseball as played by the wild creatures on that Saturday afternoon was a
+sealed book to her. And she devoutly hoped and prayed it would remain
+sealed. She felt that death would be preferable to a full working
+knowledge of what went on in the Irish-American Club that afternoon.
+
+For an interval of perhaps three minutes the thing progressed with some
+degree of reason. Then issued a sudden roar from a dozen throats, every
+one came tearing in from his proper location on the field, and there was
+a yelling, huddled group in the center. Then Eveley crept timidly from
+the corner where she was engaging in prayer for the safety of herself and
+her club, and advanced cautiously toward the swaying pile of shrieking
+boys.
+
+She placed soft entreating hands on the outside layer, she even jumped up
+and down and yelled "Boys," at the top of her healthy voice. But she was
+only an atom in a world gone upside down. Presently, however, and from no
+reason she could determine, the mob disentangled itself into distinct
+entities, the roar subsided into a few threatening growls and murmurs,
+and Captain Swanson hitched up his trousers and yelled "Play ball"
+triumphantly. Then the game went on. This identical thing occurred at
+intervals of about eight minutes during the entire afternoon.
+
+Eveley hoped devoutly that she was by her very presence helping to
+Americanize these particular bits of flotsam and jetsam--she trusted so.
+She was quite confident that so much personal agonizing on her part ought
+to be doing something to the wild beings. But there was no apparent
+development.
+
+She stood her ground bravely until four o'clock, and then, thanks to the
+merciful Providence who protects the fools gone in where angels would not
+dare, it seemed the whole club had to set about delivering papers. But as
+there were important details to be attended to, such details as arranging
+for a permanent place to play, and providing protection for the balls and
+bats bought from Eveley's inheritance, and paying dues, it was decided to
+have a meeting in the Service Hall that evening at seven.
+
+Eveley went home, and to bed.
+
+At six-thirty she got up, made a percolator full of strong coffee and
+drank it all.
+
+Then she went to the Service Hall to meet the Irish-American Bloodhounds,
+as she irreverently called them in her inner heart.
+
+Eveley was out of her element, and she knew it.
+
+She was bent on Americanization, but not this kind. She would be glad to
+assist in the development of quick and kind-eyed Angelo at the office, or
+the courteous Jap in the tea garden, but for a baseball club she had no
+talent. She explained her needs and her deficiencies to the manager of
+the Recreation Center, and he finally agreed that the Bloodhounds needed
+a young virile athlete as their director. "And for his own sake," said
+Eveley almost tearfully, "he ought to be a pugilist. I say this for his
+good. We need all our assimilators and should not expose them to sudden
+and violent death."
+
+Then Eveley talked to the boys, and told them how she had enjoyed and
+liked them, but explained that being only a woman she was terribly
+handicapped, and so would leave them to the discretion of one yet to be
+selected. She hoped they would remember they were good Americans, that
+they stood for honor and loyalty and right. Then she thanked God she was
+free, took her coat and hat and went out.
+
+"Why, Miss Ainsworth! Is it really you? What in the world are you doing
+here?"
+
+Eveley, startled on the threshold of the Service Club, looked up into the
+face of the blue-eyed Bemis salesman.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Hiltze," she said mysteriously. "It is a deadly secret. You must
+never breathe a word of it. But since you have caught me in the act, I
+may as well confess. I am an Americanizer."
+
+"Great Scott!"
+
+"You know what that is, don't you? Helping to sort out and assimilate the
+flotsam and jetsam of the foreign element, and imbue it with sturdy
+American principles, and all that."
+
+Mr. Hiltze laughed.
+
+"Perhaps you do not understand the new great movement of Americanization,"
+she said with dignity. "It is the one immense fine movement of the day. It
+is to effect the amalgamation of all the riff-raff of humanity into a new
+America." Eveley did not mention the quotation marks which circled her
+words.
+
+"That is wonderful," he said warmly. "It is a great surprise and a great
+pleasure, to find women of your type taking an interest in this
+progressive movement."
+
+Eveley leaned excitedly toward him. "Oh, Mr. Hiltze, are you interested
+in it, too?"
+
+"None more so, though like yourself I feel the best work is done silently
+and unobtrusively, and I prefer not to be exploited from the housetops."
+
+"Oh, this gives me courage again--and I had nearly lost it. Have you been
+working to-night? Are you through for the evening?"
+
+"Yes, and if your labors have been as exhaustive and soul-wracking as
+mine, perhaps you can spare an hour for nourishment with me at the Grant.
+Of all the jobs in the world! Selling motors is a game beside it."
+
+"We agree again. I think it was rather foolish of me to tackle it in the
+beginning. I haven't brains enough. Those boys may be flotsam and jetsam
+and all that, but they know more about patriotism than I do. Why, one
+little Italian, the cutest thing, with dimples and curly hair, told me
+more about country-love than I could have thought up in a month. He says,
+isn't it patriotic for them to come here and pick up all the good they
+can, and take it back to enrich their own country? And when you come
+right down to it, isn't it? Anyhow, the little Italians and Mexicans and
+Jews and I have organized an Irish-American Baseball Team, and I suppose
+we are amalgamating something into something. I think they are
+amalgamating me. I feel terribly amalgamated right now."
+
+"I am not in sympathy with the club idea," said Hiltze thoughtfully, as
+they turned down Broadway toward the Grant. "It is such a treat to find
+your kind of woman in this--I mean, the womanly kind--I abhor the
+high-brow women that are so full of forward movement they can't settle
+down to pal around comfortably and be human."
+
+Eveley, too, was kindling with the charm of a common interest and
+enthusiasm. Nolan took a very masculine stand on the subject. He said
+bruskly that the growth of Americanization must come from Americans. He
+said you couldn't cram American ideals into the foreign-born until the
+home-born lived them. And he said the way to "teach Americanization was
+by being a darned good American yourself inside and outside and all the
+way through." Which may have been good sense, but was no help in the
+forward movement.
+
+So Eveley looked upon Mr. Hiltze with great friendliness and sympathy,
+though she did glance up at the National Building as they went by,
+noticing the light in Nolan's window, wondering if he was working
+hard--and if the work necessitated the presence of the new, good-looking
+stenographer the firm had lately acquired.
+
+"Now, my idea of Americanization," Mr. Hiltze was saying when she finally
+tore her thoughts away from the National Building, "is pure personal
+effort. You take a club, and mix a lot of nationalities, and types, and
+interests up together--they work upon one another, and work upon you, and
+you get nowhere. But take an individual. Get chummy with him. Be with
+him. Study him. Make him like you--interest him in your work, and your
+sport, and your life--and there you have an American pretty soon. Club
+work is not definite, not decisive. It is the personal touch that counts.
+You could fritter away hours with a baseball club, and end at last just
+where you began. But you put the same time into definite personal contact
+with one individual foreigner--a girl, of course it would be in your
+case--it is young men in mine. You take a girl--a foreigner--win her
+confidence, then her interest, then her love--and you've made an
+American. That is the only Americanization that will stick. Suppose in a
+whole year you have won only one--still see what you have done. That one
+will go out among her friends, her relatives, she will marry and have
+children--and your Americanization is sown and re-sown, and goes on
+multiplying itself--yes, forever."
+
+"You are right," said Eveley. "And you find me a girl, and I will do it."
+
+"It is a bargain," he said quickly, stopping in the street to grasp her
+hand. "You are a little thoroughbred, aren't you? It may take time, but
+as I go about among the young men I work with--well, I am pretty sure to
+find a girl among them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ORIGINAL FIXER
+
+
+"Oh, Nolan," came Eveley's voice over the telephone, in its most
+wheedling accent, "I am so sorry to spoil our little party for to-night,
+but it is absolutely necessary just this once. The most utterly absurd
+case of painful duty you ever heard of. And although you do not exactly
+approve of my campaign, you would simply have to agree with me this time.
+And--"
+
+"Well, since I can't help it, I can stand it," he said patiently. "What
+is it this time? Some silly woman finding it her duty to house and home
+all straying and wounded cats, or a young girl determined to devote her
+life to the salvation of blue-eyed plumbers, or--"
+
+"It is a man," she interrupted, rather acidly.
+
+"Ah," came in guarded accents.
+
+There was silence for a tune.
+
+"A man," he repeated encouragingly, though not at all approvingly.
+
+"Yes. A long time ago he very carelessly engaged himself to a giddy
+little butterfly in Salt Lake City, and he doesn't want to marry her at
+all, but he feels it is his duty because they have been engaged for so
+many years. Isn't it pitiful?"
+
+"But it is none of your business," he began sternly.
+
+"It is another engagement with the enemy in my campaign," she insisted.
+"Oh, just think of it--the insult to love, the profanation of the
+sacrament of marriage--the--the--the insult to womanhood--"
+
+"You said insult before."
+
+"Yes, but just think of it. I feel it is my duty to save him."
+
+"Where did you come across him?"
+
+"He is the new member of our firm. I told you about him long ago. The
+good-looking one. He has been with us six months, but I am just getting
+acquainted with him. We had luncheon together to-day, and he told me
+about it. He doesn't like social butterflies at all, he likes clever,
+practical girls, with high ideals, and--"
+
+"Like you, of course."
+
+"Yes, of course. I explained my theory to him, and he was perfectly
+enchanted with it. But he could not quite grasp it all in those few
+minutes--it is rather deep, you know--and so he is coming up to dinner
+to-night to make a thorough study of it. He feels it is his one last
+hope, and if it fails him, he is lost in the sea of a loveless marriage."
+
+"I do not object to your fishing him out of the loveless sea," Nolan said
+plaintively. "But I do object to his eating the steak you promised me."
+
+"Think of the cause," she begged. "Think of the glory of winning another
+duty-bound soul to the boundless principles of freedom. Think of--"
+
+"I can't think of anything, Eveley," he said sadly, "except that
+good-looking fellow eating my steak, cooked by the hands of my er--girl."
+
+As a matter of fact, he took it very seriously. For while he was still
+firmly wedded to his ideal of fame and fortune, he was unceasingly
+haunted by the fearful nightmare of some interloper "beating his time,"
+as he crudely but patently expressed it.
+
+He spent a long and dreary evening, followed by other evenings equally
+long and dreary, for the Good-Looking Young Member found great difficulty
+in mastering the intricacies of a Dutiless Life, and Eveley continued his
+education with the greatest patience, and some degree of pleasure.
+
+Her interest in the pursuit of motors did not wane, however, and after
+trying every known make of car, and investigating the advance reports of
+all cars designed for manufacture in the early future, she blithely
+invested her fortune in a sturdy blue Rollsmobile, and was immediately
+enraptured with the sensation of absolute control of a throbbing engine.
+
+She found it no trifling matter to attend to her regular duties as
+private secretary, to keep her Cloud Cote dainty and sweet as of yore, to
+be out in her little blue car on every possible occasion, and still not
+neglect the Good-Looking Member and the Father-in-law in her campaign
+against duty.
+
+First of all, she invited the elder Mr. Severs to dinner, and forestalled
+his refusal by saying: "Please. I have a perfectly wonderful calf's
+liver, and I want you to cook it for me. The odor that comes up from the
+kitchen below is irresistible."
+
+No father-in-law who loved calf's liver and a kitchen could withstand
+that invitation and he found he had accepted before he knew it. To his
+boundless delight, the dinner was as though designed in Heaven, for his
+delectation. Clam chowder, calves' liver and sliced onions, watermelon
+preserves, and home made apple pie--made by Kitty, who had received rigid
+orders to provide the richest and juiciest confection possible,
+overflowing with apples and spice.
+
+As they sat chummily together over a red table-cloth, which Eveley had
+bought especially for this occasion, she said thoughtfully:
+
+"I believe I am the only really happy person in the world. Do you know
+why? It is because I am free. I am not dependent on the whims or fancies
+of any one. I eat what I like, go where I like, sleep when I like. It is
+the only life. I often think how remarkable it is that you can be so
+happy living down there with those honeymooners, doing everything to
+please them, eating what they like, going to bed when they get sleepy. It
+is wonderfully unselfish of you--but I couldn't. I have to be free."
+
+"You are a sensible girl," he said thoughtfully. "I never saw any one
+more sensible. Don't you ever get married. You stay like you are. Holy
+Mackinaw! Don't this liver melt in your mouth?"
+
+"I do not really care for an apartment like this," Eveley went on. "I
+prefer a cottage, off by itself, with a little garden, and a few chickens
+in the back yard, just a tiny shack in a eucalyptus grove, a couple of
+rooms where I can eat in the kitchen and sleep in the living-room."
+
+"Oh, mama, it sounds like Heaven," and he rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
+
+"I am looking for a cottage now. If I find exactly what I want, I may
+move. I should think you would prefer something like that yourself--a
+little rusty cot and a garden and a dog, where you could smoke all over
+the house, and have your friend come in for pinochle every night. I do
+not see how you can live as you do cooped up with a bride and groom."
+
+He sighed dolorously.
+
+"But I suppose some people like it. It wouldn't do for me. That is why I
+am looking for a cottage. Do you drive a car?"
+
+"A Ford. I wanted to buy a Ford, but daughter said no, they would not
+have a Ford. They would wait till they could afford an electric. She
+wouldn't let me buy a Ford for myself either. Said it looked too poor."
+
+"Did you ever have one?"
+
+"Me? Sure I did. But I accidentally drove off the road into the sand when
+I was fishing once, and the tide was coming in and it washed the car
+down. And when I got back with another car to tow mine out, it was gone.
+Some said the tide carried it out to sea, and some said a thief stole it,
+but it was gone, so it didn't matter how it went."
+
+Then Eveley was content to talk of other things.
+
+The next day she called up from the office, and asked to speak to
+Father-in-law.
+
+"I am going up to see a little cottage to-night," she said excitedly.
+"And my car is in the garage for adjustment. I unfortunately hit a curb
+and banged my fender. So I have rented a Ford for an hour or so, and want
+you to come along and drive it for me. Will you? Good! I will be there at
+five o'clock."
+
+"She is a sensible girl," he said to his son's wife as he hung up the
+receiver. "A nice sensible girl. She ought to help you a good lot."
+
+Mrs. Severs only sniffed. She knew this was the working out of Eveley's
+plot, though Eveley had not confided in her, knowing instinctively that
+the bride would tell the groom, and that the groom would be sure to stop
+it. So Mrs. Severs saw her father-in-law clamber into the little car at
+five o'clock, with something like hope in her breast.
+
+For a time, he was intensely absorbed in the manipulation of the gears,
+and the brakes, his lower lip clutched tightly between his teeth,
+breathing in full short gusts like a war horse champing for battle. But
+when at last they were fully started and running with reasonable
+smoothness, he said:
+
+"Who says this isn't a car? You talk to daughter about it, will you? You
+explain to her that this is a regular car like anything else."
+
+"Some people are so funny, aren't they? How well you drive it! It is lots
+of sport, isn't it? I should think it would be fine for you to have a car
+to run around in. Then you and your friend could go to Ocean Beach, and
+fish, and up to the mountains and shoot, and have a wonderful time."
+
+"I hadn't thought of that. I--you talk to daughter, will you? Tell her
+she won't have to ride in it."
+
+"Turn to the right here," said Eveley suddenly. "The cottage is the
+cunningest thing you ever saw, just two rooms, high on the hill
+overlooking the bay. I am so tired of being cooped up in a house with a
+whole crowd. I want to be absolutely free to do as I please."
+
+He sighed heavily again. "It is the only life. The only way to live. But
+shucks, folks can't always have what they want."
+
+"There it is, that little white house, third from the corner," she said,
+pointing eagerly, as he drew up the car to a spasmodic halt.
+
+He looked critically at the small lawn and the tiny cottage. "Those
+rose-bushes need trimming," he said, frowning. "There's a loose corner on
+the porch, too. Bet that grass hasn't been watered for three weeks. Why
+folks don't keep up their property is more than I can see."
+
+"Look at the view," said Eveley suddenly. "See the ships out in the bay,
+and the aeroplanes over North Island. Isn't it beautiful? If we had
+field-glasses we could see the people walking around in Tent City, and
+the lemon in the tea on the veranda at Coronado."
+
+"I've got field-glasses at home," he said wistfully. "In my suit-case.
+But I didn't unpack. Daughter does not like a lot of trash around the
+house. I'll bet we could see the gobs on that battle-ship if we had the
+glasses." He turned again to the yard. "It'll take a lot of work keeping
+up this place. And you busy every day wouldn't have much time for it. I
+reckon you'd be afraid alone nights, too. An apartment is better for a
+woman by herself."
+
+"But the freedom--"
+
+"Women hadn't ought to have too much freedom. It spoils 'em. This is the
+born place for a man--and a dog--and field-glasses--and a Ford."
+
+"Let's go inside and look it over," said Eveley. "Did you ever see such a
+place for chickens? Nice clean little coops all ready for them. Wouldn't
+it be a paradise for half a dozen hens?"
+
+"It's a lot of work raising chickens," said the old man. "It's a job for
+a man, really. You wouldn't like it." Then, thoughtfully: "Half a day's
+work would make that place fit for the king's pullets."
+
+"And look at the cunning little garden," urged Eveley.
+
+"Needs hoeing. All run over with weeds. Whole place going to rack and
+ruin. Needs a man around here, anybody can see that."
+
+"Come in, come in," cried Eveley, unlocking the kitchen door. "See the
+little gas stove, and the tiny table--and the cooler. Isn't it fun?
+Couldn't you have the time of your life here, reveling in liver and
+cabbage and pinochle? Wouldn't your friend be crazy about it?"
+
+The old man squirmed restlessly, and passed into the next room. Eveley
+dropped down on the side of the bed, and set the springs bounding.
+
+"It is a good bed. That table seems made for pinochle, doesn't it? I can
+just see this place, with you and your friend, the room thick with
+smoke--and no one to say, 'Oh, father, it's terribly late.'" Eveley put
+up a very fair imitation of Mrs. Severs' ripply, bridal voice.
+
+"A phonograph--there ought to be a phonograph, to play _Bonnie Sweet
+Bessie_, and _Nelly Gray_."
+
+"Just the thing. A phonograph. That is the one thing lacking. I knew
+there was something needed."
+
+Father-in-law was quiet after that. He walked about slowly, peering into
+every nook and corner. But finally he went out to the car, and climbed
+in. Eveley followed silently. He started the car with a bang and a tug,
+and drove home swiftly, speaking not one word on the way. But Eveley was
+content.
+
+Quite late that evening he came up the rustic stairs and knocked on her
+window.
+
+"Say, Miss Ainsworth," he asked anxiously, "did you decide to take that
+cottage and live alone? Pretty risky business, I'm afraid. And it's a
+sight of work keeping up a garden like that--and chickens are a dickens
+of a lot of trouble."
+
+"I am afraid so," said Eveley wistfully. "I believe your advice is good.
+It is a darling little place, but I suspect I'd better give up the idea
+entirely."
+
+"That's right. You're a sensible girl. Very sensible."
+
+And he turned abruptly and went creaking down the stairs once more.
+
+The next evening as she swung her car up to the curb, Eveley found him
+waiting.
+
+"I'm afraid I'll have to give it up," he said, and added apologetically,
+"I thought since you didn't want it, I might take it myself. But if I
+went away they'd think I was dissatisfied, and maybe they hadn't been
+good to me or something. I wouldn't like to hurt their feelings."
+
+"Can't you pretend you hate to leave, but you feel it is your duty?"
+Eveley almost choked on the word, but she knew it would be only folly to
+explain her advanced ideas to this kindly conscientious soul. "You tell
+them that you think it is your solemn duty to go and leave them alone,
+and that you can't be happy unless you are doing your duty. Tell them
+that honeymooners need to be alone."
+
+"That's a good idea. I'll try it on them right away."
+
+When he timidly, then enthusiastically pressed his case, Mrs. Severs,
+seeing in his sudden determination to do his duty the happy fruition of
+Eveley's plan, voiced only a few polite words of mild protest, but her
+husband was flat-footed and vociferous in his objections.
+
+"Just cut out the nonsense, dad, and behave yourself. It is your duty to
+stay here where you belong, and you can stick around and get used to it.
+You can't go off by yourself, and that settles it."
+
+"I wouldn't be lonesome," said his father meekly. "I could get along. And
+I could come and visit you. I think--maybe--I'd like it pretty good."
+
+"Oh, I'm on to you, dad. You just say that because you think it would be
+better for us. Why, you'd be lonely as the deuce." And he went off into
+the other room and considered the subject closed.
+
+Late that night, Mrs. Severs ran up the stairs.
+
+"Eveley, he really asked to go, but Dody wouldn't hear of it. And I do
+feel ashamed of myself. We can't turn the poor old fellow out. It would
+not be right. Just let it go, and I'll try to get used to it. He really
+is a dear old thing."
+
+"Listen here, Mrs. Severs, do you mean that you are selfish enough to
+keep that poor old man here with you spooners when he really wants to be
+off alone where he can fish and cook and roam around to his heart's
+content? Can't you see it is your plain duty to make him go where he can
+live his own life? I--I am surprised at you."
+
+"Oh! You think--you mean--maybe he would be happier?"
+
+"Why, of course he would. And it is your duty to deny yourselves in order
+to make him happy."
+
+"Oh, I see." Mrs. Severs was quite radiant. "Talk to Dody about it, will
+you? He wants to do his duty, but he sees it the other way round."
+
+"Leave him to me."
+
+Some time later, Father-in-law himself crept softly up the stairway and
+tapped on the window.
+
+"Hist," he whispered. "It's no good. Andy won't hear of it. Can't you
+think of something?"
+
+"Leave him to me," she said again. "I am the original little fixer, and
+I'll attend to Andrew Dody."
+
+The next morning, quite willing to sacrifice her last nap in her desire
+to crush all duty, she started for work half an hour earlier than usual,
+and invited Mr. Severs to ride down-town with her. And as they started
+off, Father and Daughter-in-law from separate windows of the house
+watched their departure, and prayed that success might crown her efforts.
+
+"I want to talk to you confidentially, Mr. Severs," she said softly.
+"I--I think you misunderstand some things. I have been with your father
+such a lot, and I have discovered that he really wants to live alone. He
+likes to be free to do things when he likes, and how."
+
+"He can do that in our home, Miss Ainsworth," Andy said stiffly.
+
+"Of course he can, but he thinks he can't. He wants to do as Mrs. Severs
+likes. He is only pretending it is his duty to go, because he thought it
+would hurt your feelings if _you_ knew he wanted to leave you. He is just
+crazy about both of you, but he is so used to doing every little thing in
+his own sweet way. It almost seems your duty fairly to make him go,
+because he would be happier."
+
+"I am not one to shirk my duty, Miss Ainsworth. I will sacrifice anything
+for my father."
+
+"Of course it will be lonely for you when he goes, but think how happy he
+will be following his every desire. I should think you would fairly force
+him to be selfish enough to leave you."
+
+"You may be right. He does not care for our way of living, I know, and he
+does like messing around. And then, too, it upsets our plans a lot having
+him there, but whatever is right for dad, is right for us."
+
+"Then he must certainly have the little shack we saw the other day--he
+adored it. You just tell him how lonely you will be, and how you will
+miss him, Mr. Severs, and then make him take the little cottage."
+
+Talking it over afterward with Nolan, Eveley admitted regretfully that
+she could hardly call this a victory--because Father-in-law only moved to
+do his duty, and the children only allowed him to go for the sake of
+doing theirs--but since everything worked out right, she was satisfied,
+though she alone knew that happiness came to the three because each one
+followed his own desire to the exclusion of other considerations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GERM OF DUTY
+
+
+The case of the Good-Looking Member strained Nolan's patience almost to
+the breaking point, but after many days of fruitless chafing, his
+forbearance was rewarded.
+
+Eveley invited him to dinner.
+
+"Have you rescued the good-looking one from the loveless sea?" he asked
+sarcastically.
+
+"I have sown the good seed," she said amiably.
+
+"I never heard of sowing seeds in a loveless sea," he sneered.
+
+"I have thought up a wonderful scheme. But you will have to help me out.
+I always fall back on you in an emergency, don't I?" Eveley's voice was
+sweetest honey. "So you must come to dinner."
+
+"Is the Handsome Member to be among those present?"
+
+"Oh, Nolan, this is our party--to talk things over all by ourselves. It
+seems such ages since I saw you, and I've been so lonesome."
+
+Nolan was fully aware that this was fabrication, but being totally male,
+he found himself unable to resist.
+
+"You do not know what lonesomeness is, Eveley. I nearly died. I almost
+wished I would die. I shall come early, and please wear the blue dress,
+and be good to me."
+
+That evening, after a long and satisfying preamble, they sat before her
+tiny grate with their coffee, and she broached the wonderful plan.
+
+"He is the most utterly married-to-duty thing you ever saw. He says he
+can not in common decency refuse to marry a girl who has been engaged to
+him for five years. He hasn't even seen her for three, and isn't a bit
+interested in her. Why, they only write once a month, or so. That's no
+love-affair, anybody can see that. But he won't ask her to let him off,
+and so we have thought up the most scientific scheme to work it. He is
+inviting her to come here for a visit, and she is to stay with me. She
+hates sensible businesslike men, and she adores scatter-brain, fussy
+ones. So when she comes, he is going to be as poky as duty itself, and
+wear old grimy clothes, and work day and night, and you are going to don
+your sunshine apparel and blossom out like a rose, and beau her around in
+great style. Result, she will fire him, hoping to ensnare you--but don't
+you make any mistake and get yourself ensnared for keeps, will you?"
+
+"He is going to work evenings, is he?"
+
+"Yes, day times and night times and all times."
+
+"And I am to cavalier the lady?"
+
+"Not the lady," she denied indignantly. "Both of us. You shan't go out
+with her alone. She is a terrible flirt, and very pretty. Where you and
+she goeth, I shall goeth also."
+
+"Well, I can stand it. But what is to become of my own future? Why should
+I neglect my legal interests to beau another fellow's sweetheart about
+the town?"
+
+"Because you always help me out of a tight place," she said wheedlingly.
+"And because you do not approve of my campaign. But if you are nice and
+help me this time, I think I can everlastingly prove that I am right."
+
+"If I do the work, seems to me I do the proving."
+
+"Yes, but it is my theory, so I get the credit. Of course you must be
+very gay and make quite a fuss over Miss Weldon, but don't you carry it
+too far, or you'll be in bad with me."
+
+Anything that meant the eclipse of the Handsome Member could not be other
+than satisfactory to Nolan. He agreed with a great deal of enthusiasm,
+only stipulating that all evenings previous to the arrival of the pretty
+fiancee should be devoted to private rehearsal of his part under the
+personal direction of the Dutiless Theorist.
+
+So it was Nolan and Eveley who met Miss Weldon at the station upon her
+arrival. They stood together beside the white columns, searching the
+faces of the passengers as they alighted. When a slender, fair-haired
+girl swung lightly down, they hurried to greet her.
+
+"Miss Weldon?" asked Eveley, with her friendly smile. "I am Eveley
+Ainsworth, and this is my friend, Mr. Inglish. Mr. Baldwin could not get
+away to-night--'way up to his ears in work. But he is coming up to see
+you later this evening."
+
+If Miss Weldon was disappointed she gave no sign. Instead she turned to
+Nolan with frankly approving eyes, remarking his tall slim build, his
+thin clever face, his bright keen eyes.
+
+"Are you so devoted to business, Mr. Inglish?" she asked, as she opened
+her small bag and took out a solitaire, which she placed on the third
+finger of her left hand. At the smiles in the eyes of Eveley and Nolan,
+she only laughed. "Why flaunt your badge of servitude? But don't tell
+Timmy, will you?"
+
+She was indeed very pretty, with warm shining eyes, and a quick pleasant
+voice. She was full of a bright wit, too, and the drive to Eveley's Cote
+in the Clouds was only marred for Eveley by the fact that she, being
+driver, had to sit in front alone.
+
+"We shall not do much cavaliering in the car," she thought grimly. "Not
+when there are only three of us. We'll walk--three abreast."
+
+Miss Weldon was enchanted with the rustic steps, but a little fearful of
+them as well, and appropriated Nolan as her personal bodyguard and
+support. She squealed prettily at every creak and rumble.
+
+"I shall never try these steps alone, Mr. Inglish," she said, clinging to
+his not-unwilling hand. "I shall always wait for you."
+
+"I'll roll her down, if she begins that," thought Eveley.
+
+But in spite of her disapproval, even to her there was something very
+attractive in the pretty girlish merriment and interest of her young
+guest.
+
+"I do not see why Nolan had to squeeze in on this," she said to herself
+most unfairly.
+
+Miss Weldon was charmed with the dainty apartment, and loved the cunning
+electric fixtures in the tiny dining-room. She tucked an apron under her
+belt, and appointed Nolan her assistant in making toast, while Eveley
+finished the light details of serving dinner.
+
+"It certainly is a silly business all the way around," Eveley decided.
+
+After their coffee, and after Nolan had finished his second cigar, Miss
+Weldon said, "Now since Miss Ainsworth got dinner, we must do the dishes.
+I shall wash, and you must dry them, Mr. Inglish, and be sure you make
+them shine, for I am very fussy about my dishes."
+
+And Eveley had to sit down in a big chair and rest, though she did not
+feel like sitting down and hated resting--and look quietly on while Miss
+Weldon fished each separate dish from the hot suds and held it out
+playfully for Nolan to wipe. It made a long and laborious task of the
+dish washing for Eveley, and she was quite worn out at its conclusion.
+
+"Funny that some people can't do their plain duty without getting the
+whole neighborhood mixed up in it," she thought resentfully.
+
+At nine o'clock, came Timothy Baldwin. Miss Weldon met him at the window,
+looked at him, half curiously, half fearfully, and after lifting her lips
+for a fleeting kiss, backed quickly away from him into a remote corner.
+
+Then Nolan, according to prearranged plan, suggested that he and Eveley
+run down and put the car in the garage. "And if there is a moon, we may
+go for a joy-ride, so don't expect us back too soon."
+
+And as they rode he spoke so unconcernedly of Sally's smiles and curls
+and pretty hands, that Eveley was restored to her original enthusiasm for
+the campaign.
+
+"Won't she be wild?" she chuckled, snuggling close against Nolan's side,
+but never forgetting that she was mistress of the wheel. "Tim is going to
+talk business all the time, and at ten-thirty he is going to say he must
+hurry home to rest up for a hard day's work to-morrow. We are not to get
+in until eleven, so she will be utterly bored to distraction. Isn't it
+fun?"
+
+They drove slowly, happily around the park, over the bridge and under the
+bridge, around the eucalyptus knoll above the lights on the bay, and then
+went down-town for ice-cream. At exactly eleven o'clock, Nolan took her
+hands as she stood on the bottom step of the rustic stair.
+
+"I can't say it is your duty to--be good to me--but I hope it will make
+you happy. And by the rules of your own game, I have a right selfishly to
+insist on your being always sweet and wonderful to me, and to me alone."
+
+"Just what do you mean by that, Nolan?"
+
+"Nothing, of course, but can't you use your imagination?"
+
+"No, I can't. That is for brides and fiancees, not for unattached
+working girls like me."
+
+Then she ran on up the stairs, and Nolan went home.
+
+True to arrangement, Tim had gone at ten-thirty, and Miss Weldon in a
+soft negligee was sitting alone pensively, before the fire.
+
+"Tim has changed," she said briefly. "I think he has more sense, but a
+little less--er--warmth, I might say."
+
+"Do you think so? He works very hard. He is fearfully ambitious and they
+think everything of him at the office."
+
+"Yes? Then he must certainly have changed. He was not keen on business at
+Salt Lake. He lost three jobs in eight weeks. That is why he came west.
+And his father has financed half a dozen ventures for him. But perhaps he
+has settled down, and will do all right. I love your little apartment,
+and it is dear to call it a Cloud Cote, and Mr. Nolan is perfectly
+charming. Timmy asked us to meet him at Rudder's for luncheon, you and me
+and your Mr. Nolan, also."
+
+"Oh, that is nice," said Eveley. "I'll come up for you in the car a few
+minutes earlier. You won't mind being alone most of the day, will you? I
+work, you know."
+
+"No, I rather like being alone. I sew some, and I shall read, and there
+are letters to write. I do not mind being alone."
+
+Eveley found her really very agreeable, quite pleasant to entertain. And
+after all Nolan had only done as she requested, and there was nothing
+personal in it. It was lots of fun, but it must stop before Miss Weldon
+had time to grow really fond of Nolan, for of course she could not have
+him under any circumstances. Eveley absolutely disbelieved in any form of
+duty, still she would not feel justified in carrying her animosity to the
+point of wilfully breaking innocent hearts.
+
+At twelve-thirty the next day, Eveley and Miss Weldon entered the small
+waiting-room of Rudder's cafe. Nolan was already there. They waited
+fifteen minutes for Timothy, and then a messenger came down to them with
+a note. Mr. Baldwin was so sorry, but business was urgent, and they must
+go right ahead and have luncheon without him. He would telephone them
+later in the evening if he could come up.
+
+Sally Weldon pursed her lips a little, but she smiled at Nolan. "Can you
+beau us both, Mr. Inglish? We think we are mighty lucky to have half a
+beau a piece on working days. Are you the only man in this whole town who
+does not work like a slave?"
+
+So they found a pleasant table in the cafe, and dawdled long over their
+luncheon, laughing and chatting. Then they took Nolan back to his office,
+and Eveley and Sally went for a drive on the beach to La Jolla.
+
+"But don't you have to work?" asked Sally, observing that it was long
+after two when they finally turned back toward the office.
+
+Eveley shrugged her shoulders prettily.
+
+"Oh, nobody works much but Mr. Baldwin," she said. "He does the grinding
+for the whole force."
+
+Miss Weldon frowned a little, but said nothing.
+
+That evening she had the dinner nicely started when Eveley reached home,
+and Eveley was loud in praise of her guest's skill and cleverness.
+
+"It is just lovely, but you must not work. You are company."
+
+"I rather like to cook. I took a long course in it four years ago when
+Timmy and I were first engaged, and I have done all the housekeeping at
+home since then. Daddy pays me double the salary we used to pay the cook,
+and I provide better meals and more cheaply than she did. Daddy says so
+himself."
+
+"Why, Sally," cried Eveley warmly, "I think that is wonderful. I am
+surprised. I thought--I supposed--"
+
+"Oh, I know what you thought," laughed Sally brightly. "Everybody thinks
+so, and it is true. I am very gay and frivolous. I love to dance and sing
+and play. And I abhor solemn ugly grimy things, and I think the only
+Christian duty in the world is being happy."
+
+Eveley flushed at that, and turned quickly away.
+
+Later Nolan joined them for dinner, and the little party was waxing very
+gay long before Tim called. Then it was only to say that he would be
+working late, but was sending them tickets for the theater and would join
+them afterward for supper at the Grant.
+
+"Does he always work as hard as this?" asked Sally, looking steadily into
+Eveley's face.
+
+"He always works pretty hard," said Eveley truthfully, "but he does seem
+busier than usual right now."
+
+Miss Weldon only laughed, and they talked of other things. Nolan went
+down with them in the car, Eveley driving alone in front, but somehow she
+felt her pretty guest to be less of a menace since she was guilty of
+sensible things like cooking and sewing.
+
+[Illustration: "Just what do you mean by that?"]
+
+Eveley did not explain that Timothy had felt inclined to join them for
+dinner and the show that night after disappointing them at luncheon, but
+she had been firm with him.
+
+"Not to-day," she insisted. "You can only have one hour with us to-night.
+To-morrow you can join us for luncheon and a short drive afterward, if
+you will fix it so I can get off."
+
+He was at the Grant waiting when they arrived, and rather impatient.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant time?" he asked, looking into Sally's bright
+face.
+
+"Lovely. And did you hurry terribly to meet us? We don't want to
+interfere with your work, or bother you."
+
+He searched her face for signs of guile, but her eyes were unclouded, and
+her manner indicated only a friendly concern for his interests.
+
+It was a very happy party that night. Both girls were merry, and Nolan
+was really more solicitously attentive to Sally than was quite necessary
+even in the interests of a campaign directed against her. When at a late
+hour, they trooped out to the car, it was he who helped her carefully
+into the machine, though, with seeming reluctance, he permitted Timothy
+to sit with her while he joined Eveley in the front seat.
+
+"Timmy is good-looking, don't you think?" Sally asked that night, as they
+were preparing for bed.
+
+"Yes, if he did not work so hard. Young men should not kill themselves
+with labor."
+
+"Your Nolan is handsomer, perhaps," said Sally pleasantly.
+
+The next day Timothy did meet them for luncheon, after keeping them
+waiting for twenty minutes, and later they went for a fast ride out Point
+Loma. But that night he did not see them at all, though he told Eveley he
+thought she was rather rubbing it in, cheating him out of so many
+pleasant parties and good times.
+
+"I may not want to marry her, but it is good sport chasing around," he
+protested.
+
+But Eveley was very stern. He had put himself in her hands, and he must
+obey without argument, and that settled it. And when he suggested that it
+would look better if he and Sally had one party by themselves without
+Nolan tagging at their heels, she frowned it down.
+
+"One private party can spoil a whole week of hard work," she decreed.
+
+So the week passed. Once even Eveley pretended business, and Sally and
+Nolan had luncheon together, and a drive later in Eveley's car. But
+Timothy put a stop to that.
+
+"She is my fiancee. And I may have to marry her after all. And if I do,
+hanged if I want everybody in town thinking she was Nolan's sweetheart to
+begin with."
+
+So Eveley waived that part of her plan, and the parties were always of
+three, and sometimes, but infrequently, of four. That Sally accepted
+their arrangements so easily, and took so much pleasure in their
+entertainment, argued well. One night she said:
+
+"Of course, men have to work, but I shouldn't like my husband to dig away
+like a servant, should you, Eveley?"
+
+And Eveley felt the time was ripe. The next day she told Timothy he might
+take Sally out alone in the car for a drive, and ask her if they should
+not be married right away. Eveley was willing to wager that she would
+reject him. Timothy consented with alacrity, seeming to feel the burden
+of his semi-attached state.
+
+That evening at six-thirty, when Nolan came up for dinner, Eveley met him
+on the roof garden over the sun parlor.
+
+"Nolan, something has happened. They went at two o'clock, and they aren't
+home yet. What do you suppose is the matter? Maybe they had an accident.
+Maybe she got mad and wouldn't ride home with him. He wouldn't put her
+out, would he? Shall we notify the police?"
+
+"I should say not. Don't worry. Let's have our dinner. They can eat the
+leavings when they come. He has probably learned, as other and wiser men
+have learned, that a pretty and pleasant girl is not half bad company.
+I'll bet he is having the time of his life. My, it is nice to have you
+alone again. She is very sweet, and it's been lots of fun, but after all
+I am used to you, and this is nicer."
+
+Nolan's prediction proved far from wrong. At ten-thirty, a messenger boy
+shouted up from below, and Nolan ran down. When he came back he carried a
+small yellow slip addressed to Eveley, which he promptly opened. And as
+she peered over his shoulder, they read it aloud, together, in solemn
+chorus.
+
+  "Three cheers and a tiger. She has accepted me, and we were married
+  at Oceanside this afternoon. On our way to Yosemite for honeymoon.
+  I am the happiest man on earth. Tell Nolan to go to the dickens.
+  Love from Sally and Timothy Baldwin."
+
+Nolan lit a cigar and blew reflective rings into the air. "When a man is
+bitten with the germ of duty," he began somberly.
+
+For a moment Eveley was crushed. Then she rallied. "Just as I told you,
+Nolan. As long as it was a painful duty, marriage between them was
+impossible, and would have wrecked both their lives. But our campaign
+brought about the proper adjustment and tuned them to love again. So it
+was not duty, but love, and marriage is a joy. Now I hope you are
+convinced that I am right, and won't argue with me any more. And if I
+ever had any doubts about that one exception I make in regard to duty,
+they are all gone now. I am dead sure of my one exception."
+
+But when Nolan pressed her for an explanation, she begged him to smoke
+again, and let her think.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE REVOLT OF THE SEVENTH STEP
+
+
+The sharp tap on Eveley's window was followed by an impatient brushing
+aside of the curtains, and Miriam Landis swung gracefully over the sill
+in a cloud of chiffon and silk.
+
+"Lem is waiting in the car," she began quickly, "but I came up to show
+you my new gown. Are you nearly ready? Lem is so impatient, you know."
+Fumbling with the fasteners of her wide cape she drew it back and
+revealed a bewilderingly beautiful creation beneath.
+
+Eveley went into instant and honest raptures.
+
+"Do you like it, Eveley? Am I beautiful in it?" There was a curious
+wistfulness in her voice, and Eveley studied her closely.
+
+"Of course you are beautiful in it. You are a dream. You are irresistibly
+heavenly."
+
+"I wonder if Lem thinks so," said Miriam, half breathlessly.
+
+"Why, you little goose," cried Eveley, forcing the laughter. "How could
+he think anything else? There, he is honking for us already. We must
+hurry--Why, Miriam, you silly, how could any one think you anything in
+the world but matchlessly wonderful in anything--especially in a dream
+like that?"
+
+Miriam fastened her wrap again silently, and got carefully out through
+the window.
+
+"Twelve steps," cautioned Eveley. "You'd better count them, it is so
+dark, or you may stumble at the bottom."
+
+Miriam, clinging to the railing on one side, passed slowly down. "One,
+two, three, four, five, six." Then she stopped and turned.
+
+"Seven." Looking somberly up to Eveley, standing above her, her face
+showing pale and sorry in the dim light, she said, "I have been married
+five years, Eve. You do not know what it is to spend five years
+struggling to maintain your charm for your husband. And never knowing
+whether you have failed or won. Always wondering why he finds more
+attraction in other women less beautiful and less clever. Always
+wondering, always afraid, trying to cling to what ought to be yours
+without effort. It isn't funny, Eveley." She turned slowly, to go on
+down, but Eveley laid a restraining hand on her arm.
+
+"Five years? That is a long time," she said in a tender voice. "It must
+almost be his turn now. Five years seems very long to me."
+
+Miriam passed on down the stairs, counting aloud, eight, nine, ten, and
+on to the last. At the last step she turned again.
+
+"He is my husband, Eveley. One must do what is right."
+
+"Yes? Yet five years of duty does not seem to have brought you much
+happiness. At least you should not be selfish. You ought not to deny him
+the pleasure of doing his by you for the next five." Then she added
+apologetically: "Forgive me, Miriam. You know I should never have
+mentioned this if you hadn't spoken."
+
+Miriam clung to her hand as they felt their way carefully around the
+house, Lem in the machine still honking for them to hurry.
+
+At the corner she paused again. "You are very clever, aren't you,
+Eveley?"
+
+"Well, yes, I rather think I am," admitted Eveley.
+
+"How would you go about it?"
+
+"The way Lem does," came the quick retort, and Miriam laughed, suddenly
+and lightly.
+
+She was very quiet as they drove down Fifth Street. Only once she spoke.
+
+"It was the seventh step, wasn't it, Eveley?"
+
+"Yes, the seventh."
+
+"The Revolution of the Seventh Step," she said, laughing again.
+
+This was nonsense to Lem Landis, but he did not ask questions. Women
+always talked such rot to each other. And he was wondering if Mrs. Cartle
+would surely be at the ball?
+
+"The way Lem does."
+
+The words were startlingly sufficient. From five years of painful
+experience, Mrs. Landis knew how Lem did it. And so on this evening, as
+she stood beside him in a corner of the ballroom after their first
+greetings, and looked as he did with eager speculative eyes about the
+wide room, seeking, seeking, she felt a curious sympathy and harmony
+between herself and her husband. She knew without turning her head when
+the sudden brightening in his eyes came; and then he slowly made his way
+to the dim corner where Mrs. Cartle sat waiting.
+
+But Miriam was not so quickly satisfied. There was Dan O'Falley, but his
+was such fulsome effrontery. There was Clifford Eggleton, but he had been
+a sweetheart of Miriam's in the old days before Lem came, and that seemed
+hardly fair. There was Hal Jervis, but he was too utterly wax in woman's
+hands to give her any semblance of thrill. Then her eyes rested on a
+profile in another corner of the room--a dark sleek head, a dark thin
+face, and the clear outline of one merry eye. Miriam appraised the head
+speculatively. Who in the world could it be? That merry eye looked very
+enticing. Ah, now she could see better--he was talking to the Merediths.
+Then the merry-eyed one was a stranger--so much the better, the
+uncertainty of him pleased her. She was very weary of those she knew so
+well. She moved happily that way, suddenly surprised to know that she was
+not at all concerned because her husband sat in the distant corner with
+Mrs. Cartle. She felt for him to-night only a whimsical comradeship.
+Stopping many times on her way to exchange a word and a smile, she
+finally drew near the corner where the sleek dark head and the merry eye
+had drawn her. Mrs. Meredith, seeing her, came to meet her, and drew her
+forward impulsively.
+
+"Oh, Miriam, you must meet our friend, Mr. Cameron. He has only just come
+here to be with my husband in business, and we are going to love him, I
+know." And so immediately Miriam found herself looking directly, and with
+great pleasure, full into the merry eyes. The gown was beautiful upon
+her, she knew it positively, whether Lem had been stirred by the vision
+or not.
+
+"Oh, she is lovely enough," said Billy Meredith plaintively. "But don't
+be lured by her, Cameron. She is still in love with her husband."
+
+Miriam smiled at her victim with disarming friendliness. "But I like to
+be amused," she said. "And I have been married long enough now to feel
+like playing again."
+
+Cameron laughed at that, and the laughter fulfilled the promise of the
+merry eye. Miriam was quite intoxicated with the game her husband had
+taught her. That Eveley was a clever little thing, wasn't she?
+
+"Suppose we dance then," Cameron suggested eagerly. "It is the approved
+method of beginning to play."
+
+"We resign you to your fate," sighed Billy Meredith once more. "I warned
+you, you laughed me to scorn. Now plunge and die."
+
+"He seems to think I am dangerous," said Miriam, as they stepped lightly
+away to the call of the music.
+
+"Well, far be it from me to say he is wrong. But I am sure you will prove
+a charming playfellow. You seem fairly to match my own mood. I suppose we
+can not climb trees and go nutting and fishing and wade in the creek as
+we might have done together years ago, but if you will be patient and
+teach me your way of playing in your ladyhood, I think you will find me
+an apt, and certainly a willing playmate."
+
+"Then let's begin to-morrow night. Come to my house, and let's play pool.
+It is the most reckless thing we can do. I have a sweet little friend and
+she has a deadly admirer, and they will come with us. She is very clever,
+too, and full of fun. See, that is she there, dancing--the one with the
+golden frock. Her name is Eveley Ainsworth and the solemn young man is
+Nolan Inglish, and they are unannounced but accepted sweethearts. You are
+not afraid of Friend Husband, then?"
+
+"Not until Friend Husband gets afraid of me," he said.
+
+Later in the evening, as they were having ices in a wonderful nook in the
+ballroom, he said seriously, and with no laughter in the merry eyes:
+
+"Are you trying to make a truant husband jealous? Just be frank with me,
+and I will do my best. I know you wanted a pal to-night. Do you mind
+telling me why?"
+
+For a moment she hesitated. Then she smiled. "If my frankness loses me a
+pleasant comrade I shall regret my candor. But I do want to play fairly
+with you. So hear then the bitter truth. I have been married five years,
+and I have worked like a common slave to make myself beautiful and
+winsome and irresistible to my husband. And you know that a wife can't do
+it, if the husband isn't in the mind for it. And so to-night I am
+starting a revolution. I do not want to struggle forever. I want to play
+and be happy. I have no notion of making my husband jealous. That has not
+even occurred to me. I just want to be joyful--to learn to be
+joyful--regardless of him."
+
+"Then may I be a disagreeable old preacher, and say one thing? You know
+this may be fun, but sometimes it is dangerous. Human beings are not
+machines, and often they make mistakes and fall in love, when they had
+only meant to play. You would not find it at all pleasant to be married
+to one man, and in love with another. And maybe you would not enjoy
+having a husband and a lover in two persons, I am not trying to foretell
+the future, or make unpleasant predictions--I am only sounding the
+warning note."
+
+Miriam considered this very solemnly. Then she said: "Well, I think I
+should not mind. It does not seem to bother Lem to be married to me, and
+at the same time be involved in stirring friendships with other people."
+
+"Just one more sermon then, and I am through," he said, laughing. "It is
+this. Men and women are very different. A man can play his head off with
+a dozen women, and still stay in love with his wife, and want no one but
+her. But a really nice woman, and you are awfully nice, can not have
+love-affairs without love. When she loves a man, she wants him, and will
+not have any one else. Your husband can have a dozen affairs, and still
+want you. But if you have a pleasant affair--you may not want your
+husband."
+
+"Well, of course, Mr. Preacher, one must take a chance. And it is to be
+only play, you know. That must be understood right in the start. I am
+really not a bit advanced nor modern, nor anything. I have no forward
+ideas in my head. I am just tired of trying to please my husband; I want
+some one to please me. It does not seem to offer you much for your pains,
+does it? But you may find me fairly amusing."
+
+"I am sure of it," he agreed warmly. "And it is all settled, and we are
+going to play together. And if sometimes you get tired of me, and fire me
+off, I shall bob up serenely the next day and start over, just as we
+might have done when we were little children."
+
+When Miriam reported her progress in revolution to Eveley the next day,
+Eveley was greatly perturbed.
+
+"You went too fast," she said with a frown. "And besides--it is not fair.
+He isn't married. He will fall in love with you."
+
+"Oh, no, we have a regular understanding," said Miriam confidently. "It
+is all settled according to rules, and we are only going to play. Lem
+goes to his club to-night, and you and Nolan are to come and play pool
+with us. Doesn't it sound emancipated and free?"
+
+"Almost bolshevistic," said Eveley grimly. "I do not approve of it--not
+exactly--though I do think you are justified. But it is so risky--and
+people talk--"
+
+"Well, Eveley, I think it is better to have people say, 'What do you
+think of the way Miriam Landis is carrying on?' than 'Isn't Miriam Landis
+a little fool not to get next to her husband in all these years?'
+Shouldn't you?"
+
+"Well, we'll be there," said Eveley evasively. "We'll be right there. If
+he just wasn't so good-looking, and sort of--decent? Why didn't you pick
+out a roue? They are lots safer than these decent young chaps."
+
+Nolan, always a willing sacrifice when Eveley bade, joined them without
+demur, and a more rollickingly gay time they had never had. Even Eveley
+admitted that things seemed innocent and harmless enough, but she shook
+her head.
+
+"He is too good," she whispered to Miriam. "When he falls, he will fall
+hard. And if he is once in love, I have a feeling he will work like--like
+the dickens--and you haven't much spinal column yourself, you know. And I
+do not believe in home wreckers, and things."
+
+Nolan, also, frankly disapproved.
+
+"It doesn't make any difference what kind of husband she's got," he said
+decidedly. "As long as he is her husband, it is her duty to stick to him
+and leave other men alone."
+
+"Don't say duty to me," said Eveley crossly. "Five years is long enough
+for any woman to do her duty. I think she is quite justified in giving
+Lem a good scare. Maybe he will wake up, and behave himself. But this
+Gordon is too good-looking, and too desperately nice. How can they play
+together like two children? You know what will happen."
+
+"I think it has already happened. He is head over heels right now, and
+she is not breaking her heart over Lem, either. I give them two weeks to
+develop a first-rate rash."
+
+"But Miriam believes in duty," said Eveley hopefully. "Maybe that will
+save them. She would never elope with him, and I do not think he would
+even ask her, he is so sort of respectable and set."
+
+But Nolan was pessimistic. "Folks talk about duty until they fall in
+love, and then they forget it and everything else. And Lem has acted
+abominably. I thought she did not know it."
+
+"So did I. But--"
+
+"Well, no use to worry. We'll stick around with them and sort of boss the
+job. I am glad you invited them to the Cote to-morrow night."
+
+"And for supper, too. When Lem finds she is coming here for a supper
+party and he is left out, he may begin to think."
+
+"The trouble with Lem is, he can't help himself. He loves Miriam all
+right, but women go to his head. He may get jealous and promise
+everything on heaven and earth, but he can't keep his word."
+
+"Then he shouldn't have married."
+
+"She should never have married him. When women understand that a man who
+can not look at a woman before marriage without making love to her--can't
+do it afterward--they will save themselves a lot of trouble."
+
+"Well," said Eveley hopefully. "No one can say you hurt yourself making
+love."
+
+So the playing went on, Nolan and Eveley acting as constant and merry
+chaperons, and the little grouping grew more and more congenial. Lem
+realized that a convulsion was going on in his home, and reformed
+desperately for days at a time, but a secluded corner and a lovely woman
+invariably set him pleading for forgiveness. Miriam always forgave him
+promptly and said it did not bother her; and was at first frightened, and
+then delighted, to know that it truly did not bother her any more.
+
+Then one evening, Eveley had a mad telephone call from Lem, quickly
+followed by a flying rush to her little Cote.
+
+"See what you've done," he shouted, half-way through the window. "That is
+what comes of your interference. Miriam was the most contented woman on
+earth till you began feeding her up on this notion of revenge."
+
+"You sit down and talk sense, Lem Landis, or get out," said Eveley.
+"Contented! She hasn't known a contented day since she married you. You
+have had five years of jollying with other women. Now because another man
+smiles on her, you go into a rage and tear your hair. You make me sick."
+
+"Look here, Eveley, you got me into this, and you've got to get me out. I
+didn't care how much they smiled. I thought at first it was a put-up job
+to make me jealous, and I laughed at it. But it has gone too far."
+
+"Everything is all right," said Eveley soothingly. "They are just
+playing. Nolan and I are with them all the time. There is nothing serious
+between them."
+
+"Don't be a fool," he said rudely. "You know that men and women can't
+play like kids. Miriam wants a divorce."
+
+Eveley sat down and swallowed hard.
+
+"A divorce," he raged, champing wildly up and down the small room. "She
+says there is nothing between them, and she does not love him, but she
+can't stand me any more. Why can't she stand me? She stood me for five
+years. What's come over her all of a sudden that she says it makes her
+sick to kiss me? She won't even let me hold her hand. She says it is
+blasphemous. Blasphemy to touch my own wife's hand! You know what that
+means, don't you? She is in love with that--that--"
+
+"You can't swear here," Eveley broke in quickly. "I won't have it. I
+think you are mistaken, Lem. She doesn't want a divorce. Not really. She
+wouldn't, you know."
+
+"But she does, I tell you. She says it is sacrilege to live with me, and
+so she is going off by herself to desert me, and says I've got to get a
+divorce on those grounds when the time is up, or heaven only knows what
+she'll do. Now, you got us into this mess, and you've got to stop it."
+
+"I'll do what I can, Lem," she promised. "And so will Nolan. But between
+you and me, I do not blame her. I wouldn't have lived with you two
+months, myself."
+
+"I have never wanted another woman in my life," he said brokenly. "It has
+always been Miriam with me from the very minute I saw her. I have fooled
+around a lot, I know, but it's always been Miriam for serious."
+
+"Yes," she said bitterly. "That is it. It is just as Gordon says. A man
+can fool around and still love his wife. But a nice woman can't. She is
+strong for one man--at a time. When she falls for a new one, it is all
+off with the last. You could love a dozen at a time, but Miriam is too
+nice for that."
+
+"But you promised--"
+
+"Oh, yes, I'll do what I can, and I will advise her to stick it out, but
+I think she will be very foolish if she takes my advice."
+
+Nolan was immediately summoned, and a desperate struggle began with
+Miriam. But it was really no struggle.
+
+"Why, Eveley," she said reproachfully, "I am surprised at you. Can't you
+see that a woman can not live with a man she dislikes? It makes the
+shivers run down my back when he touches me. It--isn't nice. It--makes me
+feel like--well, not at all right. You can see that, can't you, Nolan?"
+
+"I am afraid I can."
+
+"But he is your husband," protested Eveley. "Isn't it your place as his
+wife to--to--"
+
+"Do you mean my duty, dear?" asked Miriam, smiling faintly. "I am surprised
+at you, Eve. No dear, it isn't. Your theory that duty is happiness is half
+right. But a woman has one other duty also--self-respect. I am all packed
+up, dear, and going to-morrow. You do not mind my not leaving my address,
+do you? I want to go off very quietly by myself. I do not want Gordon to
+know. I am afraid he will blame himself for it. You will make him see that
+it was not he, at all, won't you? And after it is all over, I shall write,
+or maybe come to see you. You will ask him not to look for me, won't you?
+There has not been a thing serious between us, Eveley, you believe that,
+don't you?"
+
+"Of course I do. I know it. I've chaperoned you two till I am fairly sick
+of it."
+
+Miriam smiled again. "Be sure to tell him everything I said, will you?"
+
+Nolan and Eveley were very quiet after she had gone. And Eveley cried a
+little.
+
+"I hope she will be happy," she said tearfully.
+
+"She will be. Gordon will wait for her, and not crowd her. He is like me.
+He can talk to a woman without loving her."
+
+"You can, at least."
+
+"At least, I do not talk about it all the time," he amended. "What I mean
+is that his affection is for the one, and not for the sex."
+
+"Do you think she did right, Nolan?"
+
+"I do not think it is my duty to judge," he evaded cleverly. "She had one
+chance for happiness, and she lost. Now she is to have one more. We are
+her friends, and we love her. We can not begrudge her one more
+opportunity, can we?"
+
+"No indeed, and you put it very nicely," she said more comfortably.
+"Isn't it nice that we do not believe in duty? But we shall miss them.
+They were very nice playmates for us, as well as for each other--Nolan,
+there was something sort of sweet about Lem, after all? Something very
+human and lovable and--but of course it was Miriam's duty to be happy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SHE FINDS A FOREIGNER
+
+
+Eveley had very nearly lost faith in assimilation. She had thought it
+over carefully, attempted it conscientiously and decided it could not be
+done.
+
+"One individuality can not be absorbed by another," she would say very
+sagely. "Whether it is husbands and wives, or whether it is nations. The
+theorists are right in stating that America is for Americans only, and
+that it is the patriotic duty of those who come here to be Americanized
+as rapidly as possible, and the duty of the regular Americans to
+Americanize everybody else at top speed--but it can not be done. They are
+they, and we are we. It may be our duty, but we are not big enough."
+
+She did not call her friendship with Angelo Moreno by any such big and
+formal term as assimilation. They had just grown to be enormously good
+friends. She had forgotten about Americanizing him, but she found him
+charming, with the fresh frank abandon of the unspoiled south-European.
+She liked his open admiration, she enjoyed his mature cynicism, she
+reveled in his buoyant enthusiasm. She had not believed that such
+opposing elements could dwell in one small person. In Angelo, she found
+them, and she found the combination good.
+
+He was helpful to Eveley, as well as pleasing. He did endless small jobs
+for her about the car and upon the lawn of her home. And when she noticed
+that he quickly adopted some of her own little customs of speech and
+manner, she was freshly pleased and interested.
+
+Still she could not harden her heart to the clamorous call of the world
+struggle. She lived so happily and so securely in her Cloud Cote, going
+to business by day, doing her small bits of housework in between whiles,
+frolicking with her friends, chumming with Angelo, playing with her
+sister's babies, running about in her pretty car. It was like living in
+the clouds indeed, with the world of chaos beneath. For there was the
+struggle of reconstruction going on, the tremendous heave and pull of
+masses seeking to dominate, the subtle writhe and twist of politics, a
+whole world straining and sinewing to rise dominant out of the molten bed
+of human lava left from the volcanic eruption of war.
+
+And although Eveley still lived serene in her Cloud Cote, it was like
+living on the edge of the crater of a volcano. The eruption would come,
+must come. And when it came, her pretty Cloud Cote might be caught in the
+upheaval. Sometimes in the evening she stood breathless in the little
+pavilion on the edge of the canyon stretching down below her home, and
+looked far into the shadows. Being a vivid imaginer, down in the darkness
+she seemed to see the world in turmoil, and although she stood above it
+on the heights, she knew that when the final reckoning came, there would
+be no heights and no canyon.
+
+"And the only thing that can stop it is Americanization, and it is
+impossible," she would say helplessly. "And there you are."
+
+But being of a light and happy heart, she tried to forget, and plunged
+into her work and her play once more. The consciousness, however, of a
+world in travail was always with her.
+
+This was why, when Amos Hiltze came to her with an appeal for help in a
+new phase of Americanization, he found such prompt and eager interest.
+
+"It is not much, Miss Ainsworth," he said earnestly, "and to you it may
+seem very aimless and trifling indeed. But it is something definite at
+least, a real tangible piece of Americanization, and you are the only
+woman I know who can help us out."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," she cried eagerly. "I will, of course. What is it?"
+
+"It is a girl, a Spanish girl from Mexico. Her relatives joined the
+revolutionists, and pouf,--were blown out. By rare good fortune she
+escaped across the border. But what chance has she? No friends,--no
+training. She has never learned to meet and mingle with people. And now
+after the years of horror, she is afraid. She has lost her nerve. She
+needs a place where she can be alone, and quiet, with no one to observe
+or criticize. I can vouch for the girl, that she is all right. And I
+wondered if your spirit of Americanization would carry you to the point
+of temporarily adopting her."
+
+"Oh, mercy!" gasped Eveley, thinking with great tenderness of her cozy
+little Cloud Cote, her home, and hers alone.
+
+"I know it is asking a great deal, but it will only be for a few weeks.
+Just until some proper arrangements can be made for her. Unless she is
+taken care of, and quickly, she will fall a prey to some anarchistic
+Bolshevik, or something worse. She is living with a bunch of low Mexicans
+away out in the country, and the Greasers come there from all
+around,--and I am afraid for the girl. If she can be taken now, treated
+kindly, shown the charm and wholesomeness of American customs and
+principles, she will be won for America. A beautiful girl, educated,
+talented, charming. Think what a power she can be in the Americanization
+of her people, when she herself has been given love and tenderness and
+confidence."
+
+Eveley decided instantly. "Very well, bring her. I can move the extra
+furniture out of the east bedroom, and store it in the garage, and she
+may have that room. She will be alone and quiet all day. But I hardly
+know a word of Spanish--"
+
+"Oh, she speaks English perfectly. You are a wonderful girl, Miss
+Ainsworth. Not one in a thousand would have risen to such a sacrifice.
+If American women were all like you, there would be no need of
+Americanization. A country stands or falls by its women-kind. And you
+will not find her burdensome. She does not wish to meet people, her only
+desire is to be quiet, and let alone. She will keep your little home tidy
+for you, and she likes to cook and sew. She will not bother you much. How
+soon can you have her come?"
+
+"It will take about two hours to get ready. Can you come and help me
+to-night? Angelo will help, too. We must move the furniture and boxes
+out, and then the room will be ready for her."
+
+"Then suppose we go for her to-night? She is about forty miles out in the
+back country in a little shack a mile off the Viejas grade. If we could
+leave about supper-time, we'd get there a little after dark. She wants to
+slip away without attracting attention. She is a nervous wreck, literally
+scared to death. It will take a long time to give her confidence again,
+but if any one can do it, it is you. Her faith in humankind has been
+bitterly shattered."
+
+Eveley was fairly quivering with excitement and delight. Her faith in
+herself had gone leaping skyward. She was not a slacker, not a quitter.
+She was a regular American after all, making a real sacrifice for a
+principle she believed in,--and oh, how she was going to assimilate this
+pretty little Mexican! Poor child! Of course she was shattered and
+stunned and shocked. Who wouldn't be? Things must have been ghastly in
+Mexico. Eveley herself was rather vague on the subject, because her
+philosophy was one of peace and joy, and she found that reading of
+affairs in Mexico did not tend to increase either peace or joy. But she
+was dimly aware that the spirit of unrest prevailing in all the world had
+risen to open and bloody warfare across the Rio Grande.
+
+Her work suffered very sadly that afternoon, and long before the
+appointed hour she was ringing furiously for the elevator. From her
+incoherent chatter on the way down, Angelo gathered that he was literally
+to fly to her the very minute he was off duty, and then she was
+clambering blindly into the car and rushing around for Mr. Hiltze.
+
+She was quite in an ecstasy as they set about moving out the pieces of
+furniture to be stored in the back of the big garage, and fitting up an
+attractive home for the wounded little Mexican who was to be her
+guest,--and her food for assimilation.
+
+Amos Hiltze was a great help, and worked with enthusiasm.
+
+"I do what I can, but men are helpless when it comes to women. And when I
+knew of this child,--well, I thought of you. If you refused, I had no
+notion where to turn. But you did not refuse."
+
+"No, indeed," chirped Eveley. "I am only too happy. I want to do things,
+real things, and be of use. It--it is right, I suppose, and lots of fun
+besides."
+
+At six o'clock Angelo came, and looked for a moment with speculative eyes
+upon Mr. Hiltze. He was not enthusiastic,--rather he was frankly
+pessimistic.
+
+"Why don't you send her to a hotel?" he demanded aggressively. "You don't
+want a dirty Greaser in here, messing things all up."
+
+"Oh, Angelo, you mustn't," protested Eveley, deeply shocked. "She isn't a
+Greaser. She is a high caste Mexican girl."
+
+"There ain't no such thing," he said gloomily. "You'll see. She'll litter
+the whole place up with a lot of smelly bandits, and they'll cut your
+throat, and steal your money, and then where'll you be?"
+
+Then Amos Hiltze turned on him, with something compelling in his eyes.
+"Cut out that nonsense, and mind your own business. This is not your
+affair."
+
+So Angelo resigned himself to the inevitable, and fell to work, not with
+good will, but with efficiency. And when the room was ready, while the
+man and boy were carrying the extra furniture out to the garage for
+storage, Eveley hastily prepared a light supper for the three of them. It
+was eaten in utter silence. Eveley was excited almost to the point of
+suffocation, and the others were immersed in their own thoughts. She
+hastily cleared the dishes from the table, and put on her heavy coat and
+a small hat.
+
+"Where do you go to get your Spanish queen?" demanded Angelo.
+
+"Oh, a long way out in the country," said Eveley nervously. "We must
+hurry, Angelo. It is getting late."
+
+"Are you going in your car?" he persisted.
+
+"Yes. Now, please, Angelo, I hate to rush you off, but we must go."
+
+"Take me along, Miss Eveley. Please--you've got plenty of room. Won't you
+take me?"
+
+"Nothing doing," cut in Amos Hiltze shortly. "We've got to keep the girl
+quiet, and you would let out some rudeness that would spoil everything."
+
+"Honest I won't, Miss Eveley. G'wan, be a sport. You promised to take me
+for a night ride, and you never have. I won't say a word to the
+Grea--lady, honest I won't. Be a sport, Miss Eveley, sure I can go
+along."
+
+"Let's take him," said Eveley. "He can sit in front with me coming back,
+and you can ride with Marie. He won't say a word, will you, Angelo?"
+
+Mr. Hiltze seemed not altogether satisfied, but Angelo was already
+half-way down the rustic stairs and headed for the garage, so he
+contented himself with one final word of warning.
+
+"Just keep quiet," he said to Angelo. "Do not even look at her. There
+must be no fuss or confusion, or she will be afraid to come."
+
+There was a heavy fog rolling up through the canyons, and Eveley, in her
+state of excitement, found the car prone to leap wildly through the misty
+white darkness. There was a great ringing in her ears, and her pulses
+were pounding. Hiltze at her side was silent and preoccupied, and Angelo
+in the rear sat huddled in a corner, in the rug which Eveley had tucked
+about him.
+
+"We do not want any frozen passengers to bring home," she had said, with
+a smile.
+
+They spun swiftly along University, slowing for East San Diego where
+there were officers with bad reputations among speeders, through La Mesa,
+the cross on Mt. Helix showing faintly in the pale moonlight, through El
+Capon, out beyond Flynn Springs where the pavement left off.
+
+"Are you tired?" asked the man, stirring closer to Eveley's side.
+
+"No," she said, with a laugh that was really a sob. "But I am so out of
+breath, and thrilled, and--all stirred up, like a silly little
+schoolgirl. I believe I am frightened."
+
+"Do not be frightened, Miss Eveley," said Angelo suddenly, reassuringly.
+"I'll look after you. If we do not like the little Greaser, we'll just
+ditch her."
+
+"You must not be afraid," said Hiltze, pressing his arm companionably
+against her elbow. "You know I will take care of you. And you will like
+the girl. She is just a timid, nerve-racked child. You will love her in
+time. But this is not a question of love, only of service,--one phase of
+the scheme of Americanization that is sweeping the country. It has to
+come through the women, Eveley, you know that. It has to be born into the
+babies of the next generation."
+
+An audible sniff came from the back seat, but Angelo was lustily clearing
+his throat.
+
+"You sound like a stump speaker," he said critically. "Did you get that
+way selling autos, or did you used to be an agitator or something?"
+
+Mr. Hiltze made no reply. He was leaning forward now, anxiously scanning
+the road. "We turn soon. Drive slowly, please. I do not know the road
+very well. Oh,--there it is,--I see it now. Just beyond the little clump
+of trees, this side of the big rock. Turn to the right,--the road is safe
+enough, but a little rough. We only go a little farther,--yes, to the
+right a little more,--down-grade, but it is not very steep. Now, pull off
+a little and stop. Yes, you wait here now, will you, while I go on to the
+shack? The road does not lead up to it. You need not be afraid, you are
+close to the main road though you can not see it for the shrubs and
+rocks. She does not want the Mexicans to know where nor how she goes."
+
+"Will you be gone long?" asked Eveley, gazing somewhat fearfully into the
+black shadows about her.
+
+"Oh, just a few minutes. It is only a little bit of a way, and Marie is
+ready to come at once."
+
+"How does she know you are coming after her?" asked Angelo.
+
+"I told her I would come to-night if I could make arrangements for her,
+and she said she would be ready. She has only a small bag, so her
+preparations are simple. Now, don't be frightened, Eveley. You know I
+would not leave you if there were any danger. Angelo will be with you."
+
+"You bet I will. Beat it, Mister, and cop the lady."
+
+Eveley and Angelo listened in silence, as Hiltze strode quickly away.
+When the last sound had echoed to silence, Angelo leaned over the seat,
+his thin dark face close to Eveley's.
+
+"Say, Miss Eveley, where did you pick up that guy?"
+
+"He was the salesman who sold me my car, but he has many friends who are
+my friends also, so I have met him often. He was only selling autos
+temporarily, and is making plans now to go into business for himself."
+
+"I'll bet your friend Inglish ain't stuck on him."
+
+"Not unnaturally," admitted Eveley, laughing. "He is not."
+
+"Well, he's a smart guy, Inglish is," said Angelo shrewdly. "You can
+pretty well put it down he's on the level about folks."
+
+"You do not seem partial to Mr. Hiltze, Angelo. But he is most kind and
+sympathetic, and no one works harder for the Americanization of the
+foreign element than he does."
+
+"Lots of folks work hard for something to keep the real things dark. I
+guess he's got a mash on this dame."
+
+Eveley was silent.
+
+"Don't you think so?"
+
+"No, I hardly think so."
+
+"Oh, you can't tell. Some guys can have mashes on two or three at a time,
+you know."
+
+"Angelo, please, let's not talk this way. I do not like it. And I do not
+wish my friends to criticize my other friends. I know you like Mr.
+Inglish best of all, and that is why you try to underrate the others--but
+please don't."
+
+"Oh, I think he is smart enough," said Angelo ingratiatingly. "It ain't
+that. I just don't like his wishing foreign dames off on to you because
+you are easy and will stand for it."
+
+"Listen--they are coming."
+
+Angelo got out then and clambered in beside her, and they both peered
+into the darkness whence footsteps came. The two were walking slowly,
+Hiltze leading the girl carefully. She walked shrinkingly, her face
+showing deathly pale in the shadowy night.
+
+Eveley got out at once and went to meet them, surprised at the great wave
+of tenderness sweeping over her. She felt somehow that it was a daughter
+of hers, coming back to her out of suffering and sorrow. She put her arms
+protectingly about the girl, and kissed her cheek.
+
+"Marie," she said softly, "you are going to be my sister. I--I think I
+love you already. I felt it when I saw you come out of the darkness."
+
+The girl did not speak, but her slender fingers closed convulsively about
+Eveley's, and there was a catch like a little sob in her throat.
+
+Eveley herself helped her into the car, and pulled the rugs and blankets
+about her.
+
+"It is very foggy, and the air is cold. We do not want a little sick girl
+on our hands. Pull them close about you. Oh, your cape is very light--you
+must take my furs. It is much warmer in front, and I do not need them.
+Now, are you all ready? This is my little pal Angelo Moreno with me, but
+don't pay any attention to him to-night. You will see him again. Now, all
+ready and off we go."
+
+Angelo sat silently musing in his corner during the long ride back to
+town, and Eveley sang softly almost beneath her breath. In the back seat
+there was silence, too. Only once Eveley turned to call to them blithely:
+
+"I was frightened and anxious at first, but now I feel happy and full of
+hope. I think you are going to bring me great good fortune, Sister
+Marie."
+
+"You are--most heavenly kind," said Marie, in slow soft English, with the
+exquisite toning of her Spanish tongue.
+
+"Oh, Marie," cried Eveley rapturously. "Those are the first words I ever
+heard you say--such kind and loving words. I shall never forget them."
+
+The rest of the ride was taken in absolute silence, and at the door of
+her cottage when she ran the car into the garage, Angelo carried Marie's
+bag up the steps silently, and Hiltze helped her, while Eveley ran
+hospitably in front to have the window open and the lights on. She thrust
+out an eager hand to help Marie through the window, and then she gaily
+faced their escorts.
+
+"Not to-night," she cried. "You can not come in even for a minute. Sister
+Marie and I are going to have hot chocolate all by ourselves, and--and
+find out how we like each other's looks. Many thanks--good night."
+
+Then she closed the window and turned to the slender shrinking figure at
+her side, drawing back the heavy hood that shielded the girl's face to
+look into the features of the little foreign waif she had taken to her
+heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+NEW LIGHT ON LOYALTY
+
+
+A quick thrill of pleasure swept over Eveley as she looked into the face
+of her young guest.
+
+"Duty?" No, it would be a joy to teach this soft and lovely creature the
+glorious principles of freedom, justice and equality. This was Eveley's
+sphere--she felt it--she knew it. She took Marie's slender hands in both
+of hers, and squeezed them rapturously.
+
+"Oh, I am so happy," she cried ecstatically. "I think you are adorable."
+
+For Marie's soft dark eyes, the soft waves of dark hair drooping over the
+low forehead, the slender oval of the olive tinted face, the crimson
+curving lips, the shrinking figure presented such a picture of exquisite
+helplessness that Eveley's brave and buoyant soul rose leaping to the
+appeal.
+
+She removed the dark cape from Marie's shoulders, and took her bag,
+leading her into the small east bedroom which had been so charmingly
+dressed for her.
+
+"This is your home now, Marie, I hope for a long, long time. It is your
+home, and you are as free as a bird. You are not my servant, but my
+sister and my friend. I want you to be happy. You are to think as you
+like, do as you like, go or stay as you like. You are mistress of your
+own life, now and all the time."
+
+"It is very lovely," said Marie softly. "And you are an angel from
+Heaven."
+
+"Not a bit of it," laughed Eveley. "You do not know me. I am the humanest
+thing you ever saw in your life." She lifted Marie's bag lightly to a low
+table. "Now, this door opens to the bath--my bedroom door leads into it
+from the opposite side. And this is your closet, and these drawers are
+all empty, so use them as you wish. Why don't you put on a negligee, now,
+and rest? And while you are alone for a minute, to collect yourself and
+unpack your bag, I shall run out and put on the chocolate. We must have a
+hot luncheon after our cold ride. Are you very cold? I think I'd better
+light the fire in your grate--it is all ready. There, that is better now.
+If I ever do get married I must certainly have wonderful luck, if there
+is any faith in signs, for I do build the fieriest fires. Now, do not
+hurry, I'll come back in a few minutes. I think I shall put on a negligee
+too," she added, as Marie drew a silk gown from her bag. "And then we'll
+be surely settled down and right at home together."
+
+With a warm and dazzling smile, she ran out to put the chocolate on the
+grill, and arrange the sandwiches and fruit and cake on the table around
+the bowl of drooping roses, and then, humming blithely, hurried into her
+own room to change from her heavy dress to a soft house gown.
+
+When, a few moments later, she returned to Marie, she found her standing
+pensively in the center of the room, the heavy folds of a dark red gown
+falling about her graceful figure, her head sunk on her breast in
+reverie. Eveley put her arms around her tenderly.
+
+"You are beautiful," she said. "Don't worry, dear. You are going to be
+very happy, even yet. Just trust me--and--do you know the song of the
+Belgian girl--Well, we shall make an American Beauty of you, sure enough.
+Just try to be happy, and have confidence in me, Marie. I shall never go
+back on you. My, how quick you were! Your bag is all unpacked, isn't it?"
+She glanced with quickly appraising eyes at the heavy silver articles of
+toilet laid out on the dressing-table, and at the gowns swinging from the
+pole in the closet.
+
+"Come along, baby sister," she said affectionately, "or the chocolate
+will run all over the grill."
+
+There was deep if unvoiced appreciation in Marie's eyes as she observed
+the fine heavy furniture of the little dining-room, the lace doilies on
+the mahogany table, the fine pieces of china, and the drooping roses.
+Eveley led her gaily to her place at the table, and sat down beside her.
+
+"We really ought to ask a blessing," she said. "I feel such a fountain of
+gratitude inside of me. My own sister was ten years older than I, and
+there were no babies afterward for me to make a fuss over. This is a
+brand-new experience, and I am just bubbling over."
+
+"But I am no baby," said Marie, smiling the wistful smile that suggested
+tears and heartaches. "I think I am quite as old as you."
+
+"Oh, impossible," gasped Eveley. "Why, I am twenty-five years old."
+
+"Really!" mocked Marie, and she laughed--and Eveley realized it was the
+first time Marie had laughed. "Well, I am twenty-three and a half."
+
+"Oh, you can't be. Mr. Hiltze said you were a child, and you are so
+little and slim and young."
+
+"You have been a woman, living a woman's life, with all a woman's
+interests. But our women are sheltered, kept away from life, and that is
+why I am like a child in facing the world--because I have never faced it.
+I look young, and act young, because--well, with us, our women marry
+early. If they do not, they must retain the charm of youth until they do.
+That is what we are taught, it is our business as women to be young and
+lovely until we marry."
+
+"I love to hear you talk," said Eveley irrelevantly. "You are just like a
+chapter out of a new and thrilling story--See, I have let my chocolate
+grow cold just looking at you, and listening. I am very glad you are
+nearly as old as I--we can not only be sisters, but twins if you like."
+
+Marie sipped her chocolate, daintily, dreamily. Then she looked at Eveley
+searchingly.
+
+"Is this your patriotism?" she asked at last. "To throw open your home on
+a moment's notice, to a stranger from a strange land?"
+
+"We call it Americanization," said Eveley. "We call it the assimilation
+of--of--" She hesitated, not wishing to speak of "flotsam and jetsam" to
+this soft and pliant creature. "We call it the assimilation of the whole
+world into American ideals."
+
+"Then," said Marie slowly, dark eyes still searching Eveley's face, "I
+suppose, having this vision of patriotism yourself, you can understand
+patriotism of others from other lands? You can understand why people
+plot, and steal, and kill--for love of country? My own land, for
+instance--so many call us bloody butchers because we fight for our
+country and for freedom. But you--you know what patriotism is. And you
+can understand, can you not?"
+
+"Of course I understand," said Eveley rather confusedly, for the Mexican
+business was a terrible muddle to her. "I understand that your men must
+fight to save their country from the rebels and anarchists who would
+wreck and ruin her."
+
+"Yes, but--it is the rebels and anarchists who would save her," said
+Marie, with childish earnestness. "I--we--I am of the revolutionists. My
+father was killed. My brothers were killed. My sisters were made captive.
+But still the struggle goes on. The best of our men must fight and die.
+Poor Mexico must struggle and blunder on from one disaster to another,
+until at last she rises triumphant and free among the nations of the
+world. It is those in power in her own land from whom Mexico has most to
+fear--those who would sell her, body and soul, land and loyalty, to
+foreign devils for gold. It is not against the outside world we fight--it
+is the vile, the treacherous ones inside our borders."
+
+"But how can you tell who is for, and who against?" asked Eveley
+bewildered. "They all promise so much--and peace is assured--but there is
+no peace. And who can tell where freedom really lies?"
+
+"Alas, it is true," said Marie sadly. "But those with eyes that see and
+hearts that love, know that Mexico is still in the hands of traitors, and
+that the spirit of revolution must live."
+
+"Of course you know more about it than I do," admitted Eveley. "We--we do
+not understand the situation at all. I--think perhaps they are too shrewd
+for us. Let's not talk of it--it excites you, dear. I want you to rest
+and be quiet. I did not know that any one could love--Mexico--like that."
+
+"Have you seen Mexico? Oh, not the dry, barren border country, but my
+Mexico, rich with jewels and gold, studded with magnificent cities,
+flowering with rare fruits and spices, a mellow, golden, matchless land,
+peopled by those who are skilled in arts and science, lovers of beauty,
+and--Ah, you do not know Mexico. You know only the half-breed savages who
+run the borderland, preying on Mexican and American alike. You do not
+know the real Mexico of beautiful women, and brave and gallant men. How
+could you know?"
+
+Then her voice became soft and dreamy again. "I visited here long years
+ago. I was out in your Old Town, where the Indian maid Ramona lived. I
+stood in the square there. Do you know the story, Eveley, of the early
+days when your Captain Fremont and his band of soldiers stood there,
+ready to lower the flag of Mexico and to raise in its place your Stars
+and Stripes? As your soldier stepped forward to tear down our flag, a
+little girl of Mexico, another Marie like me, who was watching with
+aching heart from the window of the 'dobe house on the other side,
+shocked at the outrage, leaped from the casement forgetting her fear of
+the foreign soldiers, and with one tug of her sharp knife cut the rope.
+As the flag of Mexico fell, she caught it in her bare hands, and pressed
+it against her lips, her little form shaken with sobs. 'Forgive me,' she
+said to the soldiers, but it is the flag of my country, I could not see
+it dragged in the dust.'"
+
+Eveley leaned over and put her hand on Marie's arm. "I have heard the
+story many times, but I never caught the glory of it before. It was the
+feeling in her that is in me now--that is in all America--only ours is
+for America, and hers was for Mexico--as yours is."
+
+"When I look at you, and know the tenderness of you, and the great heart
+of you, I feel that America must be the heaven of all the world, and
+Americans the angels." Then Marie's face darkened, and her lips became a
+scarlet line. "But who then has stood heartlessly by, and watched the
+writhing and anguish of my Mexico, withholding the hand of power that
+could bring peace? Who has stood by and smiled while Mexico lay crushed
+and bleeding beneath the heel of despotism and treachery?"
+
+"We haven't understood, Marie," begged Eveley. "We could not understand.
+We--we naturally trust people, we are like that, you know, and--"
+
+"And whom can one trust? My faith has been as my faith in God--yet when
+so many falter, and then turn back in betrayal--how can one trust?
+Perhaps we are all deceived--perhaps every faction in my country is
+seeking only to despoil and enslave." Then her face grew bright and
+luminous as she said, "But there are those who are princes of sacrifice
+and love, risking all their world, their lives, their honor, for my
+Mexico. If there be any faith, it is in them. You call them bandits--Yes?
+I call them sons of God."
+
+Eveley changed the subject as quickly as she could. The bandits who had
+been driven desperately from crag to cranny, berated in the press,
+denounced in the pulpit, deprecated on the platform--were these the
+princes of Marie's Mexico, the idols of their women's hearts, the saviors
+of their faith, their hope of freedom? It was very confusing.
+
+She told Marie how she worked every day down-town, and how the little
+Cloud Cote would be her own all day, how she had friends coming often in
+the evening, friends who would love Marie, but whom she never need to see
+except when her heart desired. And she told of the lovely lawn, with its
+pavilions and pergolas and crevices and vines, and of the canyon drifting
+away down to the bay.
+
+And Marie sat with her chin in her hands, her eyes soft and humble,
+dog-like, on Eveley's face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SERVICE OF JOY
+
+
+It was not often that Eileen Trevis, who was manifestly born for
+business, waxed hysterically enthusiastic. And so one morning a few days
+later, when an incoherent summons came from her over the telephone,
+Eveley was astonished almost to the point of speechlessness.
+
+"What is it?" she gasped. "What has happened? Is it bad news?"
+
+"Good, good, good," exulted Eileen. "Wonderful, delicious, thrilling.
+Please hurry. It is nearly lunch-time, isn't it? I have been trying to
+get you all morning,--come quickly.--Never mind about your luncheon.--Are
+you coming?"
+
+"I am on the way," shouted Eveley, crashing the receiver on to its hook,
+and flying with scant ceremony from the office, hoping it was truly the
+luncheon hour, but scorning to waste the time to look.
+
+"She is in love," she said aloud as she ran down the stairs, spurning a
+tardy elevator. "She is in love, and she is engaged, or maybe she has
+eloped and is already married. Eileen Trevis,--of all people in the
+world. Whoever would have thought it?"
+
+Only the absence of traffic officers in that part of the city kept Eveley
+from arrest that day, and only the protection of Heaven itself saved her
+from total wreckage, for she spun around corners, and dodged traffic
+warts at a rate that was positively neck-breaking. The last block before
+she reached Eileen's home was one long coast, and she drew up sharply
+with a triumphant honk.
+
+Eileen was on the steps before she had time to turn off the engine.
+
+"Is it a husband?" cried Eveley.
+
+"No, babies," chortled Eileen.
+
+Eveley put her fingers over her lips, and swallowed painfully.
+
+"It isn't your turn," she said disapprovingly. "You have to do these
+things in proper order. You can't run backward. It isn't being done."
+
+"Don't be silly," said Eileen. "Hop out, and come in. I am having a
+nursery made out of the maid's bedroom that has never been used. It is
+perfectly dear, with blue Red-Riding-Hoods, and blue wolves and blue
+Jacks-and-Jills on a white background."
+
+"There is something wrong about this," said Eveley solemnly, as she
+followed Eileen into the house, and up the two flights of stairs to her
+apartment.
+
+"It is Ida's babies, stupid," explained Eileen at last. "I am to have
+them after all. Poor Jim's sister is ill, and I must say, it almost
+serves her right,--she was so snippy about the children."
+
+"Oh, Ida's babies! And has the Aunt-on-the-Other-Side-of-the-House had a
+change of heart?"
+
+"Yes, a regular one. Heart failure, they call it. I tried so hard to get
+them when Ida died, but Agnes flatly refused to give them up and since
+her brother was their daddy and he was alive, I could not do much. I
+asked for them again, you know, when Jim died, and she was ruder than
+ever. But since the dispensation of heart failure, she can not keep them.
+I got a letter this morning, and wired for them to start immediately and
+I just got an answer that they will be here to-morrow afternoon. Then I
+sent for the decorators."
+
+"You aren't any mother for small children," protested Eveley, with an
+argumentative wave of her hand. "You are born for business. Everybody
+says so. You do not know anything about babies."
+
+"Oh, yes I do," cried Eileen ecstatically. "They have fat legs and
+dimples, and Betty sucks her thumb and has to be scolded, and Billy
+shouts 'More jam' and smudges it on his knees."
+
+"Are you giving up your position?"
+
+"Oh, mercy, no. We have to live. Poor Jim only left them insurance and
+nothing else, and that did not last very long. I sent the other aunt a
+small check every month to help along and sort of heap coals of fire on
+her head at the same time. No, I shall have to work harder than ever now.
+But I get one seventy-five a month now,--and lots of families live on
+less."
+
+"Who will keep house then--Betty?"
+
+"Don't ask silly questions, Eveley, I am so nervous anyhow I hardly know
+what I am saying. You remember my laundress, don't you? She is so nice
+and motherly and a Methodist and respectable and all that,--only old and
+hard up. She is coming to live with us,--she will have the den for her
+room, and is closing her cottage. She is to keep house and look after the
+babies while I am at work. She only charges twenty-five a month, so I can
+manage. The rent does seem high, fifty dollars,--but we need the room,
+though you all thought it was so extravagant for me to have such a large
+apartment to myself. But you know how I am, Eveley,--I like lots of
+space,--a place for everything, and everything where it belongs. So I was
+willing to stand the expense, and now it is a good thing I did. Come and
+see the baby room."
+
+Eveley duly admired the blue Red-Riding-Hoods and Jacks-and-Jills,
+exclaimed over the tiny white beds, and tiny white tables and chairs, and
+then said:
+
+"You seem to be enjoying this experience, so I suppose you do not feel it
+is your duty, nor anything sordid like that?"
+
+"Oh, no," laughed Eileen. "I am doing it because I am just crazy about
+those babies, and I am sort of lonely, Eveley, though I have never
+realized it before. And when I think of coming home to a frolic with fat
+little babies in white dresses and blue ribbons,--well, I am so happy I
+could fairly cry."
+
+So Eveley put her arms around her, and kissed her, and offered a few
+suggestions about appropriate food for angel babies,--feeling very wise
+from her recent experience with Nathalie and Dan, and invited them all to
+go driving with her on Saturday afternoon, and mentally planned to send
+them an enormous box of candy in the morning after their arrival, and
+then said she must hurry back to work.
+
+"Oh, you poor thing," cried Eileen in contrition. "You did not have any
+luncheon at all, did you? Wait until I fix a sandwich and you can slip
+into the dressing-room and eat it. It will only take a minute. You may
+have some of these animal cookies too,--I got a dollar's worth,--I knew
+the babies would love them. Now, Eveley, won't you come to dinner
+to-morrow night and meet my little blesseds? The train comes at six-ten,
+and Mrs. Allis, I mean, Aunt Martha,--we have decided to call her Aunt
+Martha,--will have dinner all ready for us."
+
+"Certainly I'll come," said Eveley promptly. "I shall love it. And I'll
+come for you in the car and take you to the station."
+
+After work that night, Eveley went into the ten-cent store, and bought a
+startling array of drums and horns and small shovels, and sent them out
+to Eileen's for the babies. And that night she insisted that Nolan must
+come to dinner with her to hear the great good news.
+
+"It is just because she wants to do it," she said happily. "That is why
+she is so full of joy. It is plain selfishness,--she has no thought of
+doing her Christian duty nor any such nonsense. And--well, you would
+hardly know Eileen. Her eyes are like stars, and her voice runs up and
+down stairs in beautiful trills, and she forgot to wear her hair net."
+
+"Wait till Billy gets jam on her lace bedspread, and Betty cuts up her
+new bonnet to get the pretty flowers, and wait till they both get mad and
+yowl at once,--she'll be lucky if she remembers her Christian duty then."
+
+"Isn't he crabbish, Marie?" asked Eveley plaintively. "He doesn't like to
+see people happy and thrilled and throbbing."
+
+"Oh, yes, I do. I am thrilled and happy and throbbing myself right now.
+There is something about this Cote in the Clouds that--"
+
+"And dear Eileen has lived alone so long, poor thing."
+
+"I can sympathize with her all right. I have, too."
+
+"And now she will have a home, a real home--"
+
+"My own dream for years."
+
+"Sweet companionship--"
+
+"Heaven on earth, Eveley, heaven on earth."
+
+"Something to live for--"
+
+"Alas, how I envy her."
+
+"Nolan, if you do not keep still and pay attention, I shall stop talking
+and let you propose,--right before Marie,--and then where will you be?"
+
+"Married, I hope."
+
+So Eveley decided there was no use to try to talk sense with Nolan, but
+she arranged to call for him at eight o'clock the next morning to take
+him to Eileen's and show him the blue Red-Riding-Hoods and the toys.
+
+As she left the house to keep her engagement with Nolan, she was
+surprised to see Mrs. Severs starting out, for Mrs. Severs was not used
+to being out so early.
+
+"Why, little Bride, whither away?" laughed Eveley.
+
+Mrs. Severs flushed. "I am going to spend the day with father," she
+admitted, rather shyly. "It is sort of lonesome here alone all the
+time,--and we have lots of fun in the little cottage on the hill. And
+sometimes we go out on the beach and lie on the sand,--he takes me in his
+jitney. He thinks I need more sunshine and fresh air."
+
+"He is great, isn't he?" said Eveley warmly.
+
+"He is dear," cried Mrs. Severs, the quick color surging her face. "I am
+not very well, and he is so gentle and sweet to me. I--wish I had been
+more patient,--I am very lonely now. But we are great chums. He has
+taught me to play pinochle, and I fill his pipe for him. And onions
+aren't so bad."
+
+"Hum," thought Eveley, as she drove down-town. "You can't suit some
+people, no matter how finely you adjust their difficulties." Then she
+brightened. "Still, it is better to love each other in two houses, than
+to be bad friends in one,--as they were."
+
+That evening, she and Eileen stood at the station impatiently
+waiting,--having arrived at five-thirty, fearing the train might come
+ahead of time.
+
+"Oh, Eveley," Eileen wailed. "Suppose they should not like me?"
+
+Eveley laughed at that. "Suppose you do not like them?" she parried.
+
+"I do. I haven't seen them for over two years, but they are adorable.
+They are seven now. The prettiest things,--long yellow curls, and--"
+
+"Billy will probably be shaved by this time,--I mean barbered."
+
+"Oh, never. No one would cut off curls like his. Their hair will be
+longer I suppose, probably darker,--and Betty lisps and swallows while
+she is talking,--"
+
+"Oh, she will be over that now."
+
+"In two years? Why, certainly not. They will be just the same, only more
+so."
+
+Eveley began to experience a curious internal sinking. Eileen was too
+deliriously optimistic about those children. They were angel babies, of
+course, for Eileen said so, but Eveley remembered Nathalie and Dan,
+angels, too,--but how they shouted and tore through the house. And they
+were always exhibiting fresh cuts and bruises, and Dan had insisted on
+the confiscation of his curls at four years. If Billy was still wearing
+curls at seven, he needed a tonic for he was not regular.
+
+"Eileen," she began very gently, "you--you mustn't expect too many
+dimples and curls. Children are angels,--but they are funny, too. They
+are always bleeding, you know, and--"
+
+"Bleeding!" gasped Eileen. "Agnes never mentioned bleeding! Do they
+always do it?"
+
+"Always. They are always getting themselves smashed and scratched, and
+blood runs all over them, and gets matted in their hair, and their hands
+are constitutionally dirty, and--they always have at least one finger
+totally and irrevocably smashed. Some times it is two fingers, and once
+in a while a whole hand, but the average is one finger."
+
+Eileen looked at her friend in a most professional manner.
+
+"I do not know if you are trying to be insulting, or just amusing, but I
+saw those children. I was right there for three weeks only two years ago,
+and they were always clean, they had curls, and they were certainly not
+smashed or I should have noticed it."
+
+"They shout, too, Eileen," Eveley went on wretchedly, determined to
+prepare Eileen for the shock that was sure to follow. "They--they just
+whoop. And--"
+
+"If you can not be a little pleasanter, dear, suppose you go and wait for
+me in the car. I am too nervous. I simply can not stand it."
+
+"I do not want to be unpleasant, and I shall not say another word. I just
+wanted to remind you of--of the shouting--and the blood."
+
+"One would think they were savages, Eveley, instead of my own sister's
+little babies."
+
+"Here comes the train," cried Eveley, and added in a soft whisper that
+Eileen could not hear, "Oh, please, for Eileen's sake, let 'em have
+dimples and curls, and don't get 'em smashed before the train stops."
+
+Hand in hand, with eager shining eyes, the girls ran along the platform,
+and when the porter put down his stool beneath the steps, the first thing
+that appeared was a small dimpled girl with golden curls, and a
+flower-like face beneath a flower-laden bonnet.
+
+Eileen leaped upon her, catching her in her arms, and in her rapturous
+delight, she did not hear a small brusk voice exclaiming, "Oh, pooh, I
+don't need your old stool."
+
+And she did not notice Eveley's gasp,--for Eveley had seen a small
+sailor-clad form hurtle itself from the step and fall flat upon the
+gravel platform. It was not until a sudden lusty roar went up that Eileen
+remembered she had two babies en route. She dropped Betty like a flash,
+and turned.
+
+The porter very grimly picked up the child, and held him out, and Eileen
+saw with horror that his face was fairly sandpapered from the fall, and
+blood was starting from a dozen tiny pricks.
+
+"If this is yourn, for Gawd's sake, take 'im," begged the porter. "He's
+fell off'n everything and into everything between here and Seattle."
+
+Eileen clung desperately to Betty's moist hand.
+
+"Don't get scared, Auntie," chirped the small bright voice. "Billy always
+falls into things, and he ain't never broke anything yet,--himself, I
+mean, arms or legs or necks,--he breaks lots of dishes and vases and
+things like that."
+
+Eileen was stricken dumb, but Eveley took the writhing roaring boy from
+the porter's hand, and dusted him lightly with her handkerchief.
+
+"Why, where are your curls, Billy?" she demanded, hoping to distract his
+attention. And she succeeded only too well, for he stopped so suddenly in
+the midst of a loud wail that he almost choked. When he finally recovered
+his breath, he snorted derisively.
+
+"Curls! Huh! I ain't no girl. I ain't got any curls. I never did have
+curls."
+
+"Oh, yes, you did," she argued. "Two years ago you had beautiful, long
+golden curls just like Betty's."
+
+Billy hunched up his shoulders and clenched a small brown fist.
+
+"You got to say, 'Excuse me for them words,'" he said belligerently.
+"Ain't so, and you got to say it."
+
+Scenting battle, Eveley hastily muttered the desired words, and passed
+him over to Eileen.
+
+Billy thrust out a sturdy hand, but to Eileen's evident delight he
+refused to be kissed.
+
+"Betty's got to be whipped, Aunt Eileen," he announced. "Aunt Agnes told
+me to tell you all she did on the train, and you would whip her. She
+stuck a pin in a fat man that was asleep,--that's the man right
+there,--Say, didn't Betty stick a pin in you?"
+
+But the fat man gave them a venomous glare, and hurried away. "And she
+pulled the beads off of that blonde lady's coat,--and if you don't
+believe it, you can look in her pocket 'cause she's got 'em yet. And she
+swiped a box of candy from that lady in the yellow suit, and the lady
+said the porter did it, and they had an awful fight. And she sang _The
+Yanks Are Coming_ in the middle of the night and everybody swore
+something awful. And she wouldn't eat anything but ice-cream at the
+table, and one meal she had five dishes."
+
+Eveley and Eileen had listened in fascinated silence during this recital
+of his sister's wrongdoing. But Betty stuck a fat thumb between rosy
+lips, and drooped her eyes demurely behind her curling lashes.
+
+"Did--you do all that, Betty?" demanded Eileen at last, very faintly.
+
+"I did more than that," she said proudly. "I put the pink lady's bedroom
+slippers in a man's traveling bag, and they haven't found it out yet. And
+I slipped Billy's wriggly lizard down the black lady's neck, and she said
+a naughty word. And--"
+
+"And what did Billy do?"
+
+Betty's lips curled with scorn. "Billy? He didn't do anything. He's too
+good. He don't ever do anything."
+
+Billy advanced with the threatening hunch of his shoulders and clench of
+the brown fists.
+
+"You say, 'Excuse me for them words,'" he said in a low voice. "And say
+it quick."
+
+Betty jerked her finger from her mouth and mumbled rapidly in a voice of
+frightened nervousness, "Excuse me for them words, please excuse me for
+them words." And then, as her brother's shoulders relaxed, she sidled up
+to him, rubbing herself affectionately against his arm, and whispered,
+"Aw, Billy, I was only joking. You ain't mad at me, are you?"
+
+"Let's go," said Eileen. "I feel--faint."
+
+"Sticking pins is good for faintness," said Betty hopefully. "I did it to
+Aunt Agnes twice when she nearly fainted, and she came to right away."
+
+"And she gave Betty a good whipping."
+
+"Yes, she did, and I only did it to cure her," said Betty in an aggrieved
+voice.
+
+"Let's go fast," begged Eileen. "Take your handkerchief, Billy, and see
+if you can wipe a little of the dirt and blood off your face."
+
+"He mustn't do that," interrupted Betty promptly. "Handkerchiefs is full
+of germs, and if he gets the germs in his scratches he gets blood poison
+and dies. You got to wait till you get home, Billy, and then lie on your
+back on Aunt Eileen's bed, and she'll take clean gauze and soak 'em off
+in cold water. If you haven't got any gauze handy you can use mine, but
+you'd better buy some. Billy uses as much as a dollar's worth of gauze in
+no time."
+
+Eileen put her hand over her face, and turned away. The children
+followed, looking about them in frank interest and pleasure.
+
+"Is that a palm tree?" asked Betty. "Billy says God never made 'em grow
+like that. He says men just tie those fins on top to make 'em look funny.
+Did God do it, Aunt Eileen? What did He do it for?--Oh, is this your car,
+Aunt Eileen? Billy knows how to start a car so you better not let him in
+it by himself." Then as the small boyish shoulders assumed the dreadful
+hunch, she cried excitedly, "Oh, no, he can't either, honest he can't. He
+doesn't know what to turn, nor anything. I was joking. You ain't mad at
+me, are you, Billy?"
+
+Eveley slipped silently into her place behind the wheel, and Billy opened
+the door for his aunt and sister, banged it smartly after their entrance,
+and climbed in front with Eveley.
+
+"They oughtn't to let women drive cars," he said in a judicial tone.
+"Women is too nervous. There ought to be a law against it."
+
+Eveley laughed. "I think so, too," she agreed pleasantly. "But until
+there is such a law, I think I shall keep on driving."
+
+Billy stared at her suspiciously. "You don't need to agree with me to be
+polite," he said. "It won't hurt my feelings any. I ain't used to it,
+anyhow."
+
+Betty, in the rear seat, cuddled cozily against her rigid aunt and kept
+up a constant flow of conversation in her pretty chirpy voice.
+
+"Are you an old maid? Aunt Agnes said you were. Did you do it on purpose,
+or couldn't you help yourself? I am not going to be an old maid. I am
+engaged now. Billy tried to be engaged, too, but Freckle Harvey cut him
+out."
+
+Billy suddenly squared about in his seat, and Betty shivered into a small
+and terrified heap. "Aw, no, he didn't either. Billy didn't like her
+worth a cent. He thinks she is just hideous, don't you, Billy? You ain't
+mad at me, are you, Billy?"
+
+When Eveley drew the car up before the big apartment-house on Sixth
+Street, Billy forgot his temporary burst of manners. With a hoarse shout
+he slid deftly over the door and dashed up the steps. Shrieking
+gleefully, Betty followed swiftly in his wake.
+
+"Oh, Eveley," faltered Eileen, "I am afraid they scratched the car." She
+got out hastily, and caught her lips between her teeth as she saw the
+long jagged scratch on the door where Betty's sharp heel had passed.
+
+"Never mind," said Eveley bravely. "It doesn't make a bit of difference.
+We all know how children are."
+
+"I--I didn't," said Eileen weakly. "I--guess I am an old maid. I hadn't
+realized it."
+
+In Betty's extravagant delight over the new room, and Billy's quiet but
+equally sincere pleasure, something of Eileen's own enthusiasm returned,
+and although her ministrations upon Billy's marred countenance, performed
+under the critical and painstaking eye of Sister Betty, left her
+weak-kneed and pale, she took her place at the table with something very
+much akin to pleasure, if it were not the jubilant delight she had
+anticipated.
+
+Eveley went home immediately after dinner, stopping on her way for Nolan.
+They spent an uproarious hour over her account of the twins and their
+reception. And at last, weak with laughter, Eveley wiped her eyes, and
+said with deep sympathy:
+
+"Poor Eileen! And the twins are adorable. But I believe one needs to be
+born with children and grow up with them gradually. For when they spring
+upon you full grown they are--well, they are certainly a shock."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MARIE ENCOUNTERS THE SECRET SERVICE
+
+
+In the beginning Eveley had hesitated to leave her newly adopted sister
+alone in the Cloud Cote in the evening, but as Marie seemed absolutely to
+know no fear, and as time did not hang at all heavily upon her hands,
+Eveley was soon running about among her friends as she had always done.
+But with this change: there was always a light in the window at the top
+of the rustic stairs when she came home, and a warm and tender welcome
+awaiting her.
+
+Marie had come to be charmingly useful in the Cloud Cote. She prepared
+breakfast while Eveley dressed, and did the light bit of housework nicely
+and without effort. Eveley usually had her luncheon down-town, but in the
+evening dinner was well started before she reached home. Her mending was
+always exquisitely done, even before she knew that mending was necessary,
+and among her lingerie she often came upon fine bits of lace she had not
+seen before.
+
+After long and loving persuasion, Marie had consented to meet Eveley's
+sister and brother-in-law, and Eveley had them in for dinner. Marie was
+quiet that night, scarcely speaking except now and then to the babies.
+The next week, however, when Winifred asked both girls to dinner, Marie
+went without argument, and seemed to take a great deal of quiet
+satisfaction in the visit.
+
+Kitty and Eileen she met often in the Cloud Cote, but always withdrew as
+quickly as possible to her own room to leave Eveley alone with her
+friends. With Nolan, Eveley openly insisted that Marie should develop a
+friendship.
+
+"Why, he will very likely be my husband one of these days, when he gets
+around to it," she explained frankly.
+
+"Your husband," echoed Marie. "I thought Mr. Hiltze--"
+
+"Oh, no," denied Eveley, flushing a little. "He is just a pleasant
+in-between-whiles. We are fellow-Americanizers, that is all."
+
+"Does Mr. Hiltze know that?" queried Marie.
+
+"Oh, everybody knows that I belong to Nolan when the time comes," said
+Eveley, laughing.
+
+Nolan, urgently warned by Eveley, met Marie with friendly ease and asked
+no questions. He took her hand cordially and said in his pleasant voice.
+"Well, if you are Eveley's sister, I have a half-way claim upon you
+myself, and you must count me in." And then he promptly began mashing
+potatoes for their dinner, and Marie did not mind him at all.
+
+When Amos Hiltze came to the Cloud Cote she joined serenely with them,
+very easy and comfortable, always careful to go to her room before he
+left, that he might have a little while alone with Eveley. For she saw
+plainly that while he interested Eveley only in his enthusiasm for
+Americanization, for him Eveley had a deeper and sweeter charm.
+
+One Saturday afternoon when Nolan was busy, the two girls went out for a
+picnic on the beach, a well-filled basket in the car for their dinner. On
+a sudden impulse, Eveley turned to Marie and cried:
+
+"Oh, little sister, how would you like to learn to drive? Then you can
+take me to the office and have the car yourself to play with while I am
+busy."
+
+"Eveley," came the ecstatic gasp, "would you--let me?"
+
+"Would I let you?" laughed Eveley. "Should you like it? Why, you have
+been wanting to, haven't you? Why didn't you ask me, Marie?"
+
+"Oh, I couldn't."
+
+"Yes, you should have," said Eveley gravely. "I would have told you
+honestly if I did not wish it. I said you must feel free to ask me for
+anything, didn't I. And don't I always mean what I say--to you, at
+least?"
+
+"Does your love for Americanization carry you so far?" asked Marie
+curiously.
+
+Eveley was silent a moment. "I can not exactly count you Americanization,"
+she said honestly. "I do not believe Americanizing you could add anything
+to your sweetness, anyhow. You are just fun, and--You may not believe it,
+Marie," she added rather shyly, for she was not a demonstrative girl, "but
+I--really I love you."
+
+Quick tears leaped to Marie's dark eyes, and she placed her head softly
+against Eveley's shoulder, though she did not speak. Almost instantly
+Eveley brushed away the wave of sentiment and gave her quick bright
+laugh.
+
+"Now listen, sweetness," she said. "It is like this. This is the clutch
+that controls the gears. When it wabbles like this it is in neutral and
+the car will not run. When you shove down with your left foot, and pull
+the clutch to the left and backward, it is in low gear, and the car will
+go forward when you let your foot back. You must do it very slowly, so
+there will be no pull nor jerk. Like this."
+
+So the afternoon wore away, the two girls laughing gaily as Marie made
+her first bungling attempts to drive; but later, Marie was aglow with
+exultation and Eveley with deep pride, because the little foreigner
+showed real aptitude for handling the car.
+
+Then in a lovely quiet part of the beach a little beyond La Jolla, they
+had an early supper and drove home, Eveley at the wheel, singing love
+songs, Marie humming softly with her.
+
+"This is almost like sweethearting, isn't it?" asked Eveley turning to
+look into the dark eyes fixed adoringly upon her. "Next to Nolan you
+satisfy me more than anything else in the world. But don't tell Nolan. He
+is jealous of you,--he thinks I like you better than I do him."
+
+"You say you love me, Eveley. But do you? Is it the kind of love that can
+understand and sympathize and forgive--yes, and keep on loving even
+when--things are wrong?"
+
+"Nothing could change my feeling for you, Marie," said Eveley positively.
+
+"But if things were wrong?" came the insistent query.
+
+"Well, I am no angel myself," answered Eveley, laughing again. "If you
+are a naughty girl, I shall say, 'I will forgive you if you will forgive
+me,' and there you are." She stopped again, to laugh. "But I can't think
+of any wrong you could do, Marie. You just naturally do not associate
+with wrong things."
+
+"And you will always remember, won't you, what you have said about love
+of one's country? That it excuses and glorifies everything in the world?"
+
+But Eveley was singing again.
+
+Eveley had made an arrangement to call for Nolan at the office at eight,
+as they were going to Kitty's for a late supper with her and Arnold
+Bender, so she kissed Marie good night when they reached home, and said:
+
+"Will you be lonesome without your big sister, and boss?"
+
+"I think I shall go down and watch the dark shadows in your beautiful
+canyon," said Marie, clinging to Eveley's hand, and looking deeply into
+her eyes.
+
+"Aren't you afraid down there at night?" wondered Eveley. "I have lived
+on top of the canyon all my life, and we played hide-and-seek there when
+we were children, and I love it,--and yet when night comes, I do not even
+go so far as the rose pergola unless Nolan is there to hold my hand and
+shoo away the ghosts and things."
+
+"That is our difference. You are afraid of the world and the night, I am
+afraid only of men and women. I have lived alone, and have had wide dark
+gardens to wander in. They have never harmed me. Only men have injured
+me, and my family. So I love to slip down into the soft fragrant darkness
+of the canyon and sit on the big stones or on the velvet grass, and see
+my future in the shadows."
+
+"But do not stay long. The whole canyon is yours to dream in, if it makes
+you happy. But wear a heavy wrap and do not get chilled."
+
+Then with a hasty kiss she ran down the steps to the car.
+
+Eveley was tired that night. The first lesson in driving, the lazy supper
+on the beach, and the long ride, left her listless and indolent. So after
+their merry dinner, and a dance or two around the Victrola, she said she
+had a headache and wanted to go home.
+
+They drove very slowly along the winding road, and were quietly content.
+Nolan opened the doors of the garage and Eveley ran the car into place;
+then, as she was really tired, at the foot of the rustic stairs he said
+good night, while she crept slowly up the steps.
+
+For the first time, there was no Marie to welcome her. The room, though
+lighted, looked dreary and forlorn without the pretty adopted girl.
+
+"The little goosie," said Eveley, with a tender smile. "I suppose she is
+still dreaming down in that spooky canyon. Maybe she has fallen asleep. I
+shall have to go after her."
+
+She took a small flash-light, and hurried down the rustic stairs and the
+well-known path beyond the rose pergola, where she hoped to find Marie.
+
+But Marie was not there.
+
+Eveley knew every foot of the canyon by heart; she went surely and
+without hesitation along the twisting, winding, rocky path, half-way down
+the narrow slope.
+
+"Marie," she called softly, "Marie."
+
+But there was no answer.
+
+"Maybe she is behind the live oak in the Rambler's Retreat," she thought,
+and climbed up the steep bank from the path, clinging to bits of
+shrubbery and foliage. But Marie was not there. And then as Eveley
+turned, she heard quick running steps in the pathway under the swinging
+bridge that spanned the canyon lower down.
+
+Eveley sighed aloud in her relief,--then her breath caught in her
+throat,--a gasp of fear.
+
+For sounding clear and distinct above the light steps came a pounding of
+heavier feet. Some one was following Marie up the path,--no, there were
+two for there was another pounding a little fainter, farther away. Now
+Eveley could hear the frightened intake of Marie's breath as she ran. Two
+girls alone in the dark canyon.
+
+Eveley clung desperately to the heavy shrubbery among which she was
+crouching. She was about three feet above the path on the steep bank.
+Clinging for support with one hand, she reached noiselessly about for a
+stone, but there was nothing upon which she could lay her hand.
+
+Below the path, the canyon dropped sharply for a long way, fifty or sixty
+feet perhaps, not a precipice, but with a decided drop that could only be
+descended with care. If Marie would only lie down and roll, she might be
+able to hide among the bushes at the bottom. But Marie did not think of
+that. Her one idea was to run faster and faster, in the hope of escaping
+her pursuers.
+
+"Marie," whispered Eveley sharply as the girl came up the path near her,
+and Marie, hearing the faint sound, stopped suddenly in her tracks,
+swaying, more frightened than ever.
+
+"Lie down, lie down," urged Eveley, but Marie did not hear, and before
+she could gather her wits to run on, a man leaped toward her, both arms
+outstretched.
+
+"I got you," he panted.
+
+Marie, following the terrified instinct of every hunted animal, swung her
+lithe body and ducked beneath his arm. And at that moment, Eveley,
+tightening her hold upon the branches of the bush, drew up her feet,
+braced herself against the bank for a moment, and then sprang heavily
+against the man with both feet and sent him reeling head-first down the
+canyon.
+
+[Illustration: "Marie," whispered Eveley sharply.]
+
+Like a flash, Marie flattened herself against the bank--one more dark
+shadow among the others--and none too soon, for the second man was close
+upon them, so close they could hear the heavy rasp of his breathing.
+Eveley had not time to raise herself for another spring, so she crouched
+against the bank in terror, hoping in his haste that he might pass them
+by. But as he came near he paused suddenly, his attention attracted by
+the sound of tearing brush, and the incoherent cries of his companion as
+he rolled down the canyon. Taking it as an indication that the chase was
+in that direction, he turned blindly to follow, and not knowing the lay
+of the land, lost his footing at once and fell headlong.
+
+Eveley was upon her feet in an instant.
+
+"Run, Marie," she whispered, and in less than a moment they were hurrying
+up the path behind the rose pergola under the magnolias and beneath the
+light from their Cloud Cote.
+
+"Wait," whispered Marie. "Let's hide a moment. They might see us going up
+the stairs. Wait beneath the roses until they are gone."
+
+Only faint sounds came up to them as the two men, bruised and sore,
+painfully picked themselves up from the rocks and the prickly shrubs.
+Evidently they realized there was no hope of further pursuit, for in a
+short while the girls could hear the faint echo of their heavy footsteps
+as they retraced their way down the canyon.
+
+Eveley held Marie in her arms until the last sound had echoed away, and
+then silently they climbed the stairs, crossed the little garden on the
+roof, and crawled through the window into the safety of the Cote.
+
+"Are you hurt, Marie?" asked Eveley, the first to break the tense silence
+that fell upon them when they were conscious of shelter and security.
+
+Marie shook her head. Then she moved one step toward Eveley, and asked in
+a pleading whisper: "Are you angry with me? Do you hate me?"
+
+"Oh, Marie, don't talk so," cried Eveley, nervous tears springing to her
+eyes. "How could I be angry with you? But I was so frightened and
+shocked. I did not know how very much I loved you. You must never go into
+the canyon again at night. Never once,--for one minute. Will you promise
+me?"
+
+"I will promise whatever you wish, Eveley, you know."
+
+Eveley smiled at her weakly, and turning to take off her wraps saw with
+surprise that the sleeves were torn almost from her coat.
+
+"I must have come down with quite a bang," she said faintly, suddenly
+aware that her shoulders were quivering with pain.
+
+With a little cry of pity, Marie ran to her, and tenderly helped to
+remove her blouse. The tears ran down her face when she saw the red and
+swollen shoulders beneath.
+
+"Oh, my poor angel," she mourned. "All bruised and sore like that. For
+me. You never should have done it."
+
+Very sweetly she bathed the shoulders, and when Eveley crept painfully
+into bed, she arranged soft compresses of cotton and oil for her to lie
+upon. And she asked, shyly, if she might sit by the bed.
+
+"Until you fall asleep," she pleaded. "I can not leave you like this,
+when you are in such pain,--for me."
+
+"Come and sleep with me, then," said Eveley. "I do not want to let you go
+off alone, either, when--something so terrible might have happened to
+you."
+
+Eagerly and with great joy Marie availed herself of the privilege, and
+slipped into her place beside Eveley.
+
+"If you suffer in the night, please ask me to help you," she begged. "I
+will not sleep, but I do not wish to speak until I know you are awake."
+
+"You must sleep," said Eveley.
+
+But Marie did not sleep. Sometimes Eveley would moan a little, turning
+heavily, and then, without a sound, Marie was out of bed, replacing the
+bandages with fresh ones, crooning softly over Eveley as a mother over a
+suffering child.
+
+Fortunately the next day was Sunday, and Eveley remained quietly on a
+couch, with Marie waiting upon her like a tender Madonna. Nolan came up,
+too, and insisted upon the full story of what had happened.
+
+"I fell," said Eveley positively.
+
+"You did not fall on your shoulder-blades," he said. "You girls have been
+up to some monkey business, and I want to know."
+
+After long insistence, Eveley told him of the night's adventure, Marie
+sitting erect and rigid during the recital.
+
+"Where did you go, Marie?" he asked, in deep concern.
+
+"I went too far," she confessed regretfully. "But it was an exquisite
+night, and I was happy. I went down farther and farther, and did not
+realize it. Suddenly I looked up, and knew I was far, far down. I turned
+at once.--Then some one called. A man's voice. I ran, and the steps came
+pounding after me."
+
+"You must not go into the canyon at night again, please, Marie. You are
+too young. And--the canyon goes away down to the water-front where there
+are a lot of Greasers and--I mean, half-breeds," he stammered quickly,
+"all kinds of foreigners along the road down there! You must stay on top
+of your canyon and be good."
+
+The next morning, although Eveley knew her arms were too stiff and sore
+for work, she decided to go to the office anyhow to see the day well
+started.
+
+"They will send me home, and I shall be here for luncheon with you. I can
+not drive yet, so I'll just cross the bridge and go on the street-car."
+
+As she stood on the swinging bridge, looking down into the lovely canyon,
+it seemed impossible that there in the friendly shadows such horrible
+dangers had menaced them. Of a sudden impulse, she ran back, and climbed
+carefully down to where she had clung so grimly to the tangled vines and
+had knocked Marie's assailant from the path.
+
+No, it was no dream. The vines were torn and mangled and on the path were
+the marks of trampling feet, and peering down the canyon she could
+discern two distinct trails where the men had tumbled and reeled. She
+slowly followed the trails, picking her way carefully, clinging to bits
+of shrub. Her lips curved into a grim smile as she pictured their
+surprise and pain. At the foot of the canyon she saw something shining
+among the rocks.
+
+She lifted it curiously, and turned it in her hand. It was clean and
+shining,--a small steel badge marked Secret Service.
+
+Eveley's eyes clouded, and her brows took on a troubled frown, as she put
+the badge carefully into her purse.
+
+"I shall never tell Marie," she said. "It would not help much with the
+Americanization of a sweet and trusting foreign girl to know she had been
+followed at night by a steel badge marked Secret Service."
+
+And Eveley followed the path back to the bridge again with a grieved and
+troubled air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
+
+
+As the weeks passed, Eveley noticed a change in the conduct of the
+honeymoon home beneath her. Many times in the early morning, she saw Mrs.
+Severs going out with a covered basket and wearing an old long coat and a
+tight-fitting small hat. And sometimes she met her in the evening, coming
+home, dusty, tired and happy.
+
+"I am going to father's," she would explain lightly. Or, "I have been out
+with father to-day."
+
+And at the quizzical laughter in Eveley's eyes, she would add defiantly:
+"He is a darling, Eveley, and I was very silly. Why didn't you bring me
+to my senses?"
+
+For Mrs. Severs was feeling less well than usual, and in the long absence
+of her husband every day, she was learning to depend on the brusk,
+kindly, capable father-in-law. And many days, when she was not well
+enough to leave home, he came himself, and the girls up-stairs could hear
+him in the kitchen below, preparing dinner for Andy and his ailing bride.
+
+"Whatever should I do without him, Miss Ainsworth?" she sometimes asked.
+"He does everything for me. And I think he likes me pretty well, now he
+is getting used to me. He is good to me,--his little funny ways are not
+really funny any more, but rather sweet. I spoiled everything with my
+selfishness, and he will never try to live with us again."
+
+One evening, when Father-in-law had been particularly tender and helpful,
+she looked at Eveley with brooding eyes, and said, "You are such a nice
+girl, but I sort of blame you because father is not with us. You are so
+much cleverer than I,--couldn't you have opened my eyes before it was too
+late?"
+
+And Eveley ran up the stairs shaking her slender fists in the air.
+"Deliver me from brides," she said devoutly to the rose in the corner of
+her roof garden. "Grooms are bad enough, but brides are utterly
+impossible. I would not live with one for anything on earth. To think of
+the wretched life they were living until I helped them to a proper
+adjustment,--and now she holds me responsible. I always said
+Father-in-law was the most desirable member of the family."
+
+But even he disappointed her.
+
+"Well, are you getting enough freedom?" she asked him pleasantly one
+evening as she met him coming in.
+
+He looked about cautiously before he answered. "Excuse me, miss," he said
+apologetically, "but you are away off on some things. Freedom is all
+right, but a little of it goes a long ways. Sometimes folks like company.
+She," he said, with an explanatory wave of his thumb toward the house,
+"she is a pretty fair sort. I've got so danged sick of having my own way
+that, Holy Mackinaw, I'd try living with an orphan asylum for a change.
+You see, I was just getting used to her, and so I kind of miss her
+cluttering around under foot."
+
+Eveley was quite annoyed at this turn of events, and her feeling of
+perturbation lasted fully half-way up the rustic stairs. But by the time
+she had crossed the roof garden and swung through the window she was
+herself again. She caught Marie about the shoulders and danced her
+through the room with a spinning whirl.
+
+"Such a lark," she cried. "The most fun we are going to have. Listen,
+sweetest thing in the world, we are going to have a party to-night, you
+and I, and Nolan and Jimmy Ames. They are coming here, Jimmy for you of
+course, for I always get Nolan if he is in the party."
+
+"Oh, Eveley," gasped Marie, paling a little. "I can't. I--Mr. Hiltze said
+I should not meet men, you know."
+
+"Well, he is not the head of our family. And besides, he will not know a
+thing about this. You will love Jimmy Ames. I nearly do myself. He is so
+big and blond and boyish,--you know, the slow, good, lovey kind."
+
+"But he'll ask--"
+
+"Don't worry. I know Jimmy Ames. After one look at you, he will not be
+able to ask questions for a month. Come, let's hurry. You must wear that
+exquisite little yellow thing, and I'll wear black to bring you out
+nicely."
+
+"Oh, Eveley, you mustn't--"
+
+"Well, Nolan likes me in black, anyhow. He says it makes me look
+heavenly, and of course one ought to sustain an illusion like that if
+possible. Now do not argue, Marie. We are going to have a perfectly
+wonderful time, and you will be as happy as a lark."
+
+For a moment longer Marie hesitated, frowning into space. Then she
+suddenly brightened, and a wistful eagerness came into her eyes.
+
+"Eveley, I am going to do whatever you tell me. If you wish me to be of
+your party, I will. And if you say, 'Do not tell Mr. Hiltze,' I shall
+never tell him. And if you say, 'Like Mr. Ames,' I shall adore him."
+
+"That's a nice girl," cried Eveley, happily whirling into her chair at
+the table and dropping her hat upon the floor at her side. "I couldn't
+have planned anything nicer than this. Kitty and Arnold often have
+parties with us, but it will be much better having you and Jimmy. He
+looks very smart in his uniform."
+
+"Uniform," faltered Marie suddenly.
+
+"Yes,--Lieutenant Ames, you know,--Jimmy Ames."
+
+"Lieutenant? Oh, Eveley, please, let's not. I--am not fond of the
+military. I am afraid of soldiers. Let me--Have some one else dear,
+please. Get Kitty this time, won't you? I am afraid."
+
+"Wait till you see Jimmy. He isn't the snoopy overbearing kind that you
+are used to. Can't you trust me yet, Marie? I wouldn't have you meet any
+one who would be unpleasant or suspicious. You have found the rest of my
+friends all right, haven't you?"
+
+"Well, never mind," Marie decided suddenly. "I will come to the party,
+but do not ever let Mr. Hiltze know, will you? He would be raging."
+
+"Marie, do you love Amos Hiltze?"
+
+"Love him! I hate him."
+
+"Hate him? Then why in the world are you so afraid of him? You obey every
+word he says, and follow every suggestion he makes. I thought you were
+great friends."
+
+Marie flushed and paled swiftly. "It is because I am grateful to him,"
+she said at last, not meeting Eveley's eyes. "He brought me to you,--and
+he helps me,--and I am, willing to do whatever he tells me except when
+you wish something else. But I do not like him personally by any means,
+and I wish he did not come here so much."
+
+"I thought you were friends," Eveley repeated confusedly.
+
+"He is in love with you--don't you know that?"
+
+"Yes,--perhaps so. But Angelo says men can love two women simultaneously.
+Angelo says there is something strange about his bringing--I mean," she
+interrupted herself quickly, "Angelo wondered where he found you, or--or
+something."
+
+"Angelo is a good friend to you, Eveley. You might pay better heed to his
+suggestions, to your own good," said Marie faintly.
+
+"I thought,--oh, I do not know what I thought. Well, we can shunt Mr.
+Hiltze off a little, if you wish. But you should not dislike him. He is
+greatly interested in you, and so full of enthusiasm and eagerness for
+this Americanization idea. He has been a great help to me, and he is very
+clever. And since he brought us together we should love him a little. Any
+one who struggles with Americanization deserves my patriotic and
+sympathetic interest, at least."
+
+"Yes, I know." And she added slowly: "One can show enthusiasm for the
+things one hates worst in the world,--if there is a secret reason."
+
+"You do not mean Mr. Hiltze, do you?" asked Eveley, with quiet loyalty.
+
+"No, to be sure not. I only said one could."
+
+"Mr. Hiltze is nothing to us. Toss him away. Come now, let's doll up for
+our party."
+
+They were two radiantly lovely girls who stood in the little garden on
+the roof of the sun parlor, waiting for the men who ran up the wavering
+rustic stairs to join them.
+
+"Oh, girls," cried Nolan plaintively, as he saw them in their beauty. "It
+is not fair of you to look like this. Marie, you are exquisite. Eveley,
+you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
+
+"Yes, we are," said Eveley pleasantly. "Jimmy, I want you to meet my
+darling and adorable little friend, Marie Ledesma. This is Lieutenant
+Ames, Marie."
+
+Lieutenant Ames stood very tall and slim and straight as he looked into
+Marie's face. Then he saw the soft appeal in her eyes.
+
+"Be good to me," they seemed to beg, "be generous, and kind."
+
+It was in answer to this plea of the limpid eyes that he held out his
+hand with sudden impulse, and said:
+
+"Miss Ledesma, when Eveley speaks like that, I know your friendship is a
+priceless boon, and I want my share of it. I am receiving a sort of
+psychic message that you and I are destined to be good comrades."
+
+A sudden wave of light swept over her lovely face, and her lips parted in
+a happy smile.
+
+"Lieutenant Ames," she whispered in her soft voice, "do you really feel
+so? And then you also are my friend?"
+
+"Jimmy Ames, you stop that," cried Eveley. "Marie belongs to me, and you
+must not even try to supplant me. I won't have it. Come on in, everybody,
+and let's play, play, play to our heart's content."
+
+Marie went through the window first, with a light slender swing of her
+feet. But Eveley, as always plunging impulsively, lost her balance and
+fell among the cushions. Nolan and the lieutenant followed laughing.
+
+"We must take a day off and teach Eveley the approved method of making
+entrance to a social gathering," said Nolan. "Are you all black and blue,
+you poor child?" he asked, helping her up, for she had waited patiently
+for his assistance.
+
+It was a wonderfully happy party. They played the Victrola, and danced
+merrily through the two rooms, around the reading table, through the
+archway, winding among the chairs in the dining-room. When they were
+tired, Marie brought her mandolin,--for having remarked once idly that
+she could play it, Eveley that night had brought her one as a little gift
+of love. And she played soft Spanish love-songs, singing in her pretty
+lilting voice. Then altogether they prepared their supper and because the
+night was still young and lovely, and they were happy and free from
+pressing care, they decided suddenly for a drive. They crossed the bay on
+the ferry to Coronado, and went down on the sands of the beach for a
+while, standing quietly to watch the silver tips of the waves shining in
+the pale moonlight. Then they drove out the Silver Strand and so home
+once more.
+
+Before they parted, they arranged for another party, two nights later,
+and after long discussion agreed that it should be an evening swimming
+party in the bay at Coronado, with a hot supper afterward in the Cloud
+Cote.
+
+"How did you like our Lieutenant Jimmy?" Eveley demanded, as soon as they
+were alone.
+
+"He is incomparable," said Marie simply.
+
+"I knew it," cried Eveley ecstatically. "Nolan and I both said so.
+Spontaneous combustion, that is what it was. Come and sleep with me again
+to-night. It is such fun to go to bed and turn out the light and talk.
+Did you ever do it?"
+
+"No, my life has not been of that kind."
+
+"But you will learn. I never saw any one learn as quickly as you
+do,--especially things about men.--Now I shall begin by telling you how
+adorable Nolan is, and you must interrupt me to say how wonderful Jimmy
+is.--Did you ever have a sweetheart, Marie?"
+
+Then she added quickly: "Wait, wait. I--I did not mean to ask
+questions,--Excuse me, I am sorry. Let's talk of something else."
+
+"No, let's talk of lovers," said Marie, snuggling close to Eveley, her
+head lying against her shoulder. "I have never had the regular kind of a
+lover,--your kind,--the kind that women want. My life was full of war and
+horrors, and I had not time for the thrills of love. And the men I knew
+were not the men that one would wish to love one."
+
+"Then, this is your chance," said Eveley happily. "Now I am positively
+sure that one of these days you will be a matchless American woman. You
+are just ripe and ready for love. You can't escape it, you sweet thing,
+even if you could wish. War and horrors were left behind in your old
+home. Here in your new home you will know only peace and contentment and
+love. Aren't you glad I adopted you? We must give Mr. Hiltze credit for
+that anyhow, mustn't we?"
+
+There was a sudden tension in the slender figure at her side. "Eveley,
+are you so innocent? Do you never attribute evil motives to any one? Do
+you always believe only good and beautiful and lovely things of those you
+meet?"
+
+"Well, I have no real reason for thinking mean or ugly things of any
+one--not really. I never had any horrors in my life until the war came. I
+have just lived along serenely and contentedly, and being fairly nice and
+kind, I have no guilty conscience to trouble me, and no one has ever been
+hateful or mean to me--not in anything that really counted."
+
+Both were silent a moment, thinking, each in her different way, of the
+contrast in their lives. Then Eveley went on, more slowly:
+
+"I feel sometimes that we are living on the crest of a terrible
+upheaval--that we are on the edge of a seething volcano which is
+threatening and rumbling beneath us, each day growing fiercer and more
+ominous, and that presently may come chaos, and we on the crater of life
+will be dragged down into the furnace with the rest. I suppose," she
+added apologetically, "it is because of the conditions that always follow
+a war, the political unrest, the social chaos, the anarchistic tendencies
+of every one. I am not in the midst of things enough to understand them,
+but even up here on the top of our canyon, we sometimes get a blast of
+the hot air from below, and it troubles us. Then we try to forget, and go
+on with our playing. But the volcano still rumbles beneath."
+
+Eveley slipped her hand out to take Marie's and found it icy cold.
+
+"Did--did you ever feel so before?" asked Marie in a low strange voice.
+"That you were living on the rim of a volcano, ready to catch and crush
+you?"
+
+"No, not before. It is just now--after the war. Conditions were never the
+same before."
+
+Then Marie burst into a passion of tears. "It is my fault," she sobbed.
+"It is because I am here. All my life I have lived in the crater of a
+volcano, and I have brought it upon you. It is a curse I carry with me.
+It is the chaos from which I have come, and to which I must go again when
+I leave you--it is that which destroys your peace."
+
+Frightened and astonished, Eveley soothed her, cradling her in her arms.
+"You little silly," she said tenderly. "You dear little goose. Don't you
+believe any such nonsense as that. We are in a condition of turmoil, our
+United States and all the rest of the world. It is not the affairs of
+your Mexico that worry me--it is the tempest in my own country. And don't
+you ever talk any more about going back. You shall never go back. You are
+to stay here with me forever and ever, world without end, amen. You will,
+won't you?"
+
+Marie only stirred a little, and did not answer.
+
+"Marie," cried Eveley, her voice sharp with fear. "Do you ever think
+really of going back to--that? Answer me." And she gripped Marie's soft
+shoulder with strong fingers.
+
+"I do not think any more," said Marie gently. "But one always has a
+feeling that one must return whence one has come, do you not think? It is
+only that. It seems incredible that I, alone out of our struggling
+thousands, should be let to come away and live serenely in a cloud cote,
+does it not? And the struggle in Mexico goes on."
+
+"The same kind of peace and contentment will come to all your country
+when the world is settled down to law and order once more," said Eveley,
+with the sublime faith of the young and the unsuffering. "It just takes
+time. And God was good enough to carry you away before the end of the
+conflict. Just wait. When our country is thoroughly Americanized, and
+returns to joyful work and love and life again, the contagion will spread
+to your people, and peace will reign there also. So do not talk any more
+nonsense about leaving me. Now let's go back to the beginning, and talk
+about--the men."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+CONVERTS OF LOVE
+
+
+A very warm intimacy developed rapidly between the four friends, and
+every evening for nearly two weeks found them joyfully, even riotously,
+making merry together in the Cloud Cote. As Eveley had prophesied,
+Lieutenant Ames was hopelessly lost from the first, and Marie yielded
+herself very readily to the charm of an ardent wooing.
+
+But with Eveley, Marie was different, more quiet, less demonstrative,
+sometimes plainly listless and absent-minded. Eveley ascribed the change
+to her newly developed interest in Lieutenant Ames, and patiently awaited
+the outcome of the ripening romance. For Eveley had a deep-seated
+sympathy with every appeal of love.
+
+For many weeks she had received no word from Miriam Landis. Although she
+had passed in an hour from all connection with their daily plans, yet she
+was never far from their thought. Even without their tender and
+sympathetic memories, they could not have forgotten her, for her husband
+was a frequent and always tumultuous visitor in the Cote.
+
+He invariably began talking before he was through the window, and his
+first words were unfailingly the same.
+
+"I can't stand it, Eveley, I simply can't stand it. You've got to do
+something about it."
+
+Again and again he came with this appeal, always overlooking the fact
+that Eveley had no faintest idea of Miriam's whereabouts, for, true to
+her word, she had kept her hiding-place unknown to them all.
+
+Then for several weeks he did not come, and Eveley felt that perhaps he
+was reconciled, and had returned to his old pursuit of secluded ballroom
+corners. But Nolan assured her of the injustice of this. Lem had forsaken
+all his former haunts, and had become a recluse, brooding alone in his
+deserted home.
+
+"It will do him good, even if it does not last," Nolan said. "Almost any
+one would grieve for a woman like Miriam for a few months."
+
+"Perhaps it is permanent this time, and there will be a reconciliation,
+and both live happily ever after," said Eveley, with her usual buoyant
+faith in the cheerful outcome.
+
+Gordon Cameron she had seen only once since Miriam's departure, and that
+was when he came at her request to receive Miriam's message. He had
+listened quietly, while she repeated the words of her friend.
+
+"I expected it, of course," he said at last gravely. "The pity of it is
+that her little revolution was so hopeless from the beginning. As long as
+a woman loves her husband, she can not hope for happiness, nor even for
+forgetfulness."
+
+"Oh, she does not love her husband any more," said Eveley confidently.
+"Not a bit. She is over that long ago."
+
+"That was the whole trouble," he insisted. "If she had not loved him, she
+could have stood it and gone her way. But loving him, the situation was
+impossible for a woman of spirit and pride. Well, there is always one to
+pay in every triangle, and this time the bill comes to me. But I had
+anticipated that from the beginning. She is a wonderful woman."
+
+"Do you think she will go back to her husband?" asked Eveley
+breathlessly.
+
+"I hardly think so. She might as well, though; perhaps it would be
+better. She can not be happy without him, and she was certainly not happy
+with him. It is only a choice of miseries. As long as she loves him, she
+will suffer for it. I begin to think that one who loves can not be
+happy."
+
+"Oh, yes, one can. One is," asserted Eveley positively.
+
+"Perhaps I should say, when one is married to it," he added, with a sober
+smile for her assurance.
+
+Then he had gone away, and when Lem's pleadings had suddenly ceased,
+Eveley felt that the little tempest would live its life, and die its
+death, and perhaps Miriam at least would find happiness in the lull that
+followed.
+
+So it was something of a shock to have her pleasant Sunday morning nap
+disturbed by Lem pounding briskly upon her window.
+
+"Get up, immediately," he said in an assertive voice quite different from
+his futile and inane pleadings of a short while before. "Hurry, Eveley, I
+want you. Dress for motoring, my car is here. I shall wait in the
+garden--give you ten minutes."
+
+"He must want me for a bridesmaid for his second wedding," thought Eveley
+resentfully, as she hurriedly dressed. But accustomed to obey the calls
+of friendship, she put on a heavy sport skirt and sweater, and had even
+pulled her soft hat over her curls before she went to the window.
+
+"I am ready, but I do not approve of it," she began rather unpleasantly.
+
+"You'd better take a doughnut, or a roll, or an orange, or something, for
+we have no time for breakfast," he said in the same assertive voice. "She
+will not be back until afternoon, Miss Ledesma. Sorry if it interferes
+with any of your plans, but it can not be helped. Get your coat, quickly,
+Eveley."
+
+"It does interfere with our plans," she said crossly. "We were going up
+to the mountains for a beefsteak fry with Jimmy and Nolan."
+
+"Never mind," said Marie softly. "It may come another Sunday. Mr. Landis
+seems to need you."
+
+"All ready, Eveley? Let me help you. Good-by, Miss Ledesma."
+
+And Eveley found herself marching briskly down the rustic steps away from
+her own plan and her own desire, and with no knowledge of what lay before
+her.
+
+"You might at least tell me where we are going," she said at last, after
+he had hurried her into the car and started away.
+
+"To see Miriam," he answered.
+
+"Oh!" Eveley's voice was a long gasp. She was content to wait after that
+for his explanation, although it was very slow in coming.
+
+"She is at a ranch up in the mountains," he said finally. "About fifty
+miles. We just located her last night. I have been looking, for her all
+the time. You are going to talk to her for me."
+
+"Oh, am I?"
+
+"Yes. I was afraid to come alone for fear she would not see me. She will
+not refuse to see you."
+
+"Do you mind telling me what I am going to say to her?"
+
+He was silent a while, thinking. "She refused to take any money from me,"
+he said, presently. "And she has very little. If she persists in this,
+she will have to work for her living. Miriam can not do that."
+
+"No," said Eveley softly.
+
+"She does not want me for a husband yet," he said humbly. "And that is
+right. But I must have Miriam, and she shall never have any one else but
+me--not that I think she would ever want anybody else. You are to tell
+Miriam she must come home, and live her life just as she wishes and do as
+she pleases in everything, and allow me to be a servant for her, to
+provide what she wants and needs, to take care of her if she is sick.
+Tell her she may have any friends she likes, lovers even if she wishes,
+but that she must let me work for her."
+
+Eveley laid her hand affectionately upon his arm. "I have never done you
+justice, Lem; forgive me. I think Miriam will come home. I hope she
+will."
+
+"She has to. And after a while, when she sees in me what she used to
+think was there, she will love me again. But in the meantime, I shall ask
+nothing and expect nothing. But Miriam has got to be in the house."
+
+Eveley only spoke once after that.
+
+"If she will not come?"
+
+He turned upon her then, a sudden grim smile lighting his face. "I know
+what I shall do then," he said. "But you will think it is madness. If she
+refuses to come, I shall make the necessary arrangements, and kidnap her.
+She's got to come."
+
+Eveley burst into quick laughter at the picture that came to her--a
+picture of the old-time, immaculate Lem of the ballrooms, carrying his
+wife away into the mountains to live a cave-man life.
+
+He laughed with her, but the dead-set of his face remained. "It sounds
+like a joke," he admitted. "But I have made up my mind. Miriam is mine,
+and I am going to have her. We'll just go up into the mountains for a few
+months, and she will see that I am cured."
+
+Mile after mile they drove in silence up the steep mountain grades, and
+after a long time he drew the car off beside the road under a cluster of
+trees.
+
+"That is the ranch, but I will not drive in. If she saw us coming she
+would not talk to us, so you must catch her unawares. I shall wait here
+for you. You'd better not tell her I am going to kidnap her, I think I
+would rather take her by surprise. She has to come, Eve, now make her see
+it. Just a servant that is all I want to be to her for a while. But she
+did love me, and she will again."
+
+So Eveley walked swiftly up the drive to the house, keeping in the shadow
+as much as possible, surprised to know that after all the years of her
+disgust for the husband of her friend, her sympathies now were all with
+him.
+
+At the kitchen door she assumed her most winsome and disarming smile and
+asked for Mrs. Landis.
+
+"She does not wish to see any one," said the woman quickly. "She said
+particularly that she would not see any callers."
+
+"But she will see me, I am sure," said Eveley coaxingly. "You ask her.
+Tell her it is Eveley Ainsworth. She always sees me."
+
+"But she told me particularly," repeated the woman. "And she is not here
+anyhow. She has gone over the hill. She likes to be among the pines. She
+is not well, either. I am sorry, miss, but she is not here, and she would
+not see you if she were."
+
+"How far is it to the hill? And does she stay long?"
+
+"It is not far," said the woman, with a wave of her hand toward the east.
+"But she will not come home for luncheon. She has no appetite. And the
+boys are out, so I have no one to send for her. I am sorry, miss."
+
+"You think there is no use to wait, then?"
+
+"Oh, no use at all, miss. She will be gone for hours, and she would not
+see you if she were here."
+
+"Tell her I came, won't you? Eveley Ainsworth. Thank you."
+
+And with another disarming smile Eveley turned back to the path. But as
+soon as she was out of sight of the house, she slipped off through the
+trees, and started on a light run for the pine grove on the hill to the
+east.
+
+"As Lem says, poor thing, she has to," she said to herself, with a smile.
+And very soon she was among the big pines, looking eagerly back and
+forth, quite determined not to return to Lem until she had seen Miriam
+and talked her into reason. And so at last she came upon her, sitting
+somberly under the big trees, her back against a huge boulder, staring
+away down the mountains into the haze of the sea in the west, where her
+husband lived in the city by the bay.
+
+"Miriam," Eveley called in a ringing voice, and ran joyously down the
+path.
+
+Miriam sprang up to meet her. "Eveley!" she cried, catching her hands
+eagerly. And then, "Have you seen--Lem? Is he--all right?"
+
+Eveley held her hands a moment, looking searchingly into the thin face
+and the shadowy eyes.
+
+"Revolutions are hard work, aren't they?" she asked with deep sympathy.
+
+"Oh, Eveley, they are killing, heart-breaking, soul-wracking," she cried.
+"And yet of course it was right and best for me to come," she added
+gravely. "Does Lem seem to--miss me?" And there was wistfulness in her
+voice.
+
+"He is out there now," said Eveley, waving her hand toward the road. "He
+brought me up."
+
+At the first word, Miriam had turned quickly, ready to run down--not to
+the house for shelter, but to the car for comfort. But she stopped in a
+moment, and came back.
+
+"I shall not see him, of course," she said quietly.
+
+"I brought a message from him. He says you must come home, Miriam, he
+says his madness is all purged away, and that you are his and he must
+have you. But he wants you to come and live your own life and do as you
+wish, only allowing him, to stay in the home not as your husband, but as
+your servant until you learn to love and trust him again. He says you
+must come, and let him work for you, and take care of you."
+
+Miriam's face was very white, and her eyes deep wells of pain.
+
+"Poor Lem!" she said tenderly. "So sweet--and so weak."
+
+"I think he is finding strength," said Eveley.
+
+For a long time, the two girls stood there, side by side, Eveley looking
+into the haze of the sea miles below, Miriam staring down through the
+pines to where she knew a car might be waiting in the shadows.
+
+"We must not keep him waiting," she said at last.
+
+Without a word, they turned, hand in hand and started down to the road
+again. When she saw the little, well-known car beneath the trees, and Lem
+standing rigid beside it, she caught her breath suddenly. Eveley would
+have hung back, to let her greet her husband alone, but Miriam clung to
+her hand and pulled her forward.
+
+He came to meet them, awkwardly, a gleam of hope in his eyes, but
+meekness in his manner. He held out his hand, and Miriam with a little
+flutter dropped her own into it, pulling it quickly away again.
+
+"Are you--all right, Lem? You look--thin," she said with shy solicitude.
+
+"I feel thin," he replied grimly. "Are--you coming with us?"
+
+"Yes, of course," said Eveley.
+
+"Yes, of course," Miriam echoed faintly.
+
+"Shall I drive?" suggested Eveley, anticipating complete reconciliation
+for the two in their first moment of privacy.
+
+"I will drive," said Lem. "You girls sit in the back. Did Eveley explain
+that I only expect to be--your driver, and your valet, and your
+servant--for a while."
+
+Tears brightened in Miriam's eyes. "Oh, Lem," she cried, holding out her
+hands. "How can people talk of servants who have loved--as we have
+loved?"
+
+Eveley immediately went into a deep and concentrated study of the rear
+tires, for Miriam was close in her husband's arms, and his tears were
+falling upon her fragrant curls.
+
+After a while, he held her away from him and looked into her tender face.
+
+"It isn't--you aren't coming, then, just because it is your duty to give
+me every chance," he whispered.
+
+"Oh, no, dear, just because I love you."
+
+Eveley was still utterly immersed in the condition of the tires.
+
+"We'll try it again, Lem--"
+
+"Oh, Miriam," he broke in, "it isn't any trial this time. This is
+marriage."
+
+Eventually they got started toward home and had driven many miles before
+Miriam noticed that her uncovered hair was blowing in the wind, and
+remembered that she had left the ranch without notice and that all her
+things were there. But what were simple things and formal notices when
+human hearts were finding happiness and faith?
+
+In the Cloud Cote, Eve's friends were patiently awaiting her return.
+Nolan was reading poetry aloud to himself in the roof garden, and
+Lieutenant Ames was laboriously picking chords on the piano, with Marie
+near him strumming on the mandolin.
+
+The first creak of the rustic stair brought them all to the landing to
+greet her.
+
+"Reconciliation," shouted Nolan, before she was half-way up. "Miriam is
+home, and they have already lived happily ever after."
+
+Eveley began immediately to give an account of the day's happenings
+standing motionless on the third step from the top until she finished her
+recital.
+
+Then she went back down, and gave an impatient tap on the seventh stair.
+
+"Well, you started something," she said to it solemnly. "And you ought to
+be satisfied now, if anybody is. To-morrow I shall crown you with a
+wreath of laurel."
+
+Then she went up again. "Does this do anything to your theory about
+duty?" asked Nolan. "Does it prove it, or disprove it, or what? I can not
+seem to get any connection."
+
+"But there is a connection," she said, with a smile. "It absolutely and
+everlastingly proves the Exception."
+
+"Eveley Ainsworth, don't ever say exception again until you can explain
+it," cried Nolan. "I dream of exceptions by night, and I legalize them by
+day. Be a nice girl, and do a good deed this Sabbath Day by expounding
+the virtues of the One Exception."
+
+But Eveley was hungry, and said she could not expound anything when her
+system clamored for tea.
+
+Eveley's Sabbath, however, was not yet ended. While she was blissfully
+sipping her tea, the three she loved best in the world about her, there
+came a gentle tap upon her window, and Mrs. Severs walked in.
+
+"So sorry to bother you, Miss Ainsworth," she began apologetically, "but
+I want to ask a favor. Father is moving back with us to-day, and--"
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes, indeed he is," she cried blithely. "I was so lonesome, and some
+days I am so ill, that I asked him as a personal favor if he wouldn't
+come and try me just once more, and he said, Holy Mackinaw! he had been
+aching to do that very thing."
+
+"Well," Eveley said judiciously, "I suppose you will all be satisfied now
+that you are back in your old rut wretchedly doing your duty by each
+other."
+
+"I should say not," denied Mrs. Severs promptly. "I asked father to come
+because I--like him awfully much, and it is so lonely without him, and he
+is coming because he missed us and is fond of us, and there isn't any
+duty about it. You have converted us. We do not believe in duty."
+
+"And the favor?"
+
+"Yes--father is bringing the flivver of course--and the garage is so big.
+Do you mind if we keep it there with your car? We will pay any extra
+rent, of course."
+
+"Keep it there by all means," said Eveley generously. "And there is no
+rent. And when I get stuck anywhere I shall expect you to tow me home for
+love." And when Mrs. Severs had gone, Eveley said: "Make another pot of
+tea, please, Marie. Make two pots--three if you like."
+
+"Pretty hard to keep some people properly adjusted, isn't it?" asked
+Nolan soberly, but with laughter in his eyes.
+
+"What is proved by the case of Father-in-law and the Bride, Eveley?"
+asked Marie with a soft teasing smile as she refilled Eveley's cup.
+
+But Eveley went into a remote corner of the room, and brandished the
+bread knife for protection, before she cried triumphantly:
+
+"The Exception. It is another positive proof of the utter efficacy of my
+One Exception."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+SHE DOUBTS HER THEORY
+
+
+One morning Eveley telephoned from the office to Marie that she would not
+be home for dinner that night, as she was going with Kitty to hear the
+minute details of her engagement, and the plans of her coming marriage
+with Arnold. She assured Marie that she would be home early, begged her
+not to be lonesome, cautioned her once more not to venture into the
+canyon after nightfall, and went serenely on her way.
+
+At ten o'clock that night she guided her car into the garage whistling
+boyishly, and ran up the rustic stairs, stopping with painful suddenness
+on the landing as she observed there was no light in the Cote.
+
+"Marie," she called, "Marie!"
+
+She looked anxiously over the little roof garden, and peered down to the
+canyon. Twice she went up to the window, and each time drew back again,
+afraid to enter.
+
+She leaned over the railing on the roof, calling aimlessly and
+hopelessly.
+
+"Marie, Marie!"
+
+A moment later she heard a light step below, "Oh, Marie," she cried and
+her voice was a sob.
+
+"It's me, Miss Eveley, what's the matter?"
+
+It was only Angelo running up the steps to her.
+
+"Angelo, what are you doing here?" she demanded sharply, her nerves on
+edge.
+
+"Oh, I was just fooling around," he said evasively. "I thought I heard
+you calling."
+
+But Eveley's nerves were too highly strung this night to brook an idle
+answer. She caught him by the shoulder.
+
+"Tell me where you have been and what you were doing," and there was
+something like suspicion in her voice.
+
+And then suddenly the little bit of foreign flotsam became a man, to give
+her courage.
+
+"Come inside and sit down," he said authoritatively. "I'll tell you what
+I've been doing, but don't stand out here like this and get yourself all
+worked up for nothing."
+
+He threw up the window, and went in first, turning on the light, and
+Eveley followed him numbly.
+
+"Now sit down and I'll tell you. I have been sleeping in the garage ever
+since you got mixed up with that bunch of Bolshevists and--er Greasers. I
+thought something might happen and I've sort of stuck around. I had a key
+made to the garage, and I've got a nice bed fixed up in the attic."
+
+Eveley held out her hand with a faint smile. "You are a good friend,
+Angelo, sure enough. But there was no danger. And oh, where can my Marie
+have gone?"
+
+"Are her things here?"
+
+Acting instantly upon the suggestion, Eveley ran into the other room
+followed closely by Angelo. Every slightest scrap and shred that had been
+Marie's had disappeared.
+
+"Maybe she left a note somewhere," said Angelo.
+
+Frantically Eveley flashed through the small rooms, searching eagerly for
+some final word or token. But there was nothing to be found.
+
+"Some one has kidnapped her," she cried, wringing her hands. "We must
+phone the police."
+
+"I wouldn't do that--not yet. I'd phone for Mr. Nolan first. Let me do
+it. And why don't you go down-stairs and ask them if they saw any one
+around here to-day, or saw her leaving?"
+
+"Oh, Angelo, that is fine," she cried. "I'll go--and you phone Nolan
+quickly."
+
+By the time she returned, Nolan was on his way to the Cote.
+
+"She--she left herself--just walked away with her bag--alone," said
+Eveley faintly. "I am afraid she did not--care for me." And there was
+sorrow in her voice.
+
+"Oh, sure she did," said Angela reassuringly. "That's why she left I
+guess. She may be in bad in some way, and so she went off not to get you
+mixed up in it."
+
+"Do you think that, Angelo? Do you really? But she should not have gone
+for that. I would have stood by Marie through any kind of trouble."
+
+Angelo walked impatiently about the room, fingering endless little
+objects, puzzling in his mind what to say and what to do.
+
+"He could be here if he had taken a taxi," he said restlessly. "I told
+him to beat it."
+
+"We might phone Mr. Hiltze," said Eveley suddenly. "He may know where to
+find her."
+
+Angelo smiled scornfully at that. "Aw gee, Miss Eveley, ain't you on to
+them yet? Sure they are working in cahoots."
+
+Eveley sat down at once and folded her hands. "Now, Angelo, tell me
+everything you know, or suspect about them. Begin at the beginning. You
+may be wrong, but let me hear it."
+
+But before Angelo could begin his little story, Nolan came springing up
+the steps, and knew in a word all they had to tell.
+
+"Sit down now, Nolan, and listen. Angelo thinks he knows something."
+
+"Well, when Carranza got in, a lot of Mexicans had to get out. Political
+refugees they call them. Marie is one of them."
+
+"That is no secret," said Eveley. "She told me that herself. And it is
+nothing to her discredit--rather the opposite I should think."
+
+"Yes, but they are looking ahead to the next election. That guy Obregon
+has promised to let all the refugees come back free and easy if he is
+elected, and no questions asked. But they've got such a lot running for
+president, that maybe they won't elect anybody and then Carranza will
+stick on himself. And so the refugees on this side are working up a new
+little revolution of their own, to spring on Carranza the day after the
+election. And that is against the law, and the Secret Service is on to
+it, and after them hot and heavy."
+
+"The Secret Service," said Eveley slowly. "The Secret Service."
+
+She crossed the room, and from her bag took out a small bit of steel
+which she had carried there for weeks.
+
+"The Secret Service," she said again, and held the badge tightly in her
+hand.
+
+"What have you there, Eveley?" asked Nolan.
+
+"Nothing," she said, gripping it so tightly the sharp edges cut into her
+hand. "Just a little souvenir--of Marie. That is all."
+
+"Well, is there anything else, Angelo?"
+
+"That guy Hiltze is a crook, too. He's what you call a Red. He's mixed up
+with all the funny business going on."
+
+"Are you sure, Angelo? You must only tell us what you really know."
+
+"Well, they've got a lot of crazy shacks around town, and they hold
+meetings. My dad goes to 'em. So a few times I went, too. This guy Hiltze
+does the talking. He's got enough money. He don't have to sell autos for
+a living, he does that for a blind, just like he strings Miss Eveley on
+the Americanization hot-air stuff."
+
+"Did you ever hear him speak?" asked Nolan.
+
+"Sure. He says they are chasing him from cellar to garret, from mountain
+to desert. He says they are the damned rich, and they got to keep him
+harried to earth so they can grind the laborers under their heel. He
+gives 'em all money for doing things, and hauling stuff, and getting
+things across the border. I was there. He says they must pray God to
+strengthen them to fight to the last ditch. He says the army and navy are
+the slaves of the God of Money."
+
+"I know he had rather--advanced ideas," said Eveley gravely. "But these
+are such troublous times. Every one feels the lack, and the need in the
+social life. He may have gone too far--but these are the days that try
+one's soul. If it was only talk--"
+
+"Aw gee," interrupted Angelo. "They ain't got no room to talk. I know all
+about that stuff. I was over there with the rest of 'em, and I know. We
+slept on straw, and dressed in rags, and lived like dogs. And they come
+to a decent country, and get soured because they ain't fed up on chicken
+and wine like a lord. It's a darn' sight more than they ever had before,
+and the Secret Service needs to watch 'em. For they're the ones that did
+for Russia--yes, and they're doing it for Germany now, and trying it on
+Italy."
+
+The Secret Service--the diagnostician of social unrest, with professional
+finger on the pulse of the foreign element--had that finger touched the
+wrist of Marie?
+
+"But this isn't finding my Marie," said Eveley. "I want her."
+
+"Let's call Lieutenant Ames," said Nolan suddenly. "I rather imagine this
+will hit him."
+
+"Oh, poor Jimmy," cried Eveley. "He told me he wanted to marry her."
+
+Far into the night, they puzzled and pondered, not knowing which way to
+turn, but all in their love of Marie resolved that she must be found and
+saved again from the chaos. The next day, against the advice of all the
+others, Eveley sent word to Amos Hiltze and seemed to feel some comfort
+in his evident surprise and perturbation.
+
+"I can not understand it," he said. "She was so happy, and loved you so
+much. I will look for her. She may have taken fright at something--but
+what could it possibly have been?"
+
+"Tell her I do not care what has happened, nor what she fears. She must
+come to me and I will help her."
+
+In spite of the insistence of Nolan, Angelo and Jimmy Ames, Eveley would
+have given the matter into the hands of the police, trusting to her own
+promises and her own standing to save Marie from whatever they held
+against her. But at her first suggestion of this to Amos Hiltze, he took
+a most positive stand against it.
+
+"If you do that, you have lost her forever. It is the police she fears.
+She would never forgive you for putting her into their hands, even if you
+could afterward extricate her. You must not dream of such a thing."
+
+So Eveley gave it up and tried to reconcile herself to patient waiting,
+and to prayers of faith, determined to believe that the persistent search
+going on in all sections of the town would be effective, and believing
+still more fervently that God must return to her again the sister she had
+learned to love.
+
+This time, because Eveley was suffering no one connected the
+disappearance of Marie with Eveley's theory of duty. And to herself
+Eveley made no claims, not even for her favorite Exception.
+
+For if Marie had loved her, would she not have left at least one word of
+sympathy, and affection, in farewell? Indeed, if she had loved her, would
+she not have preferred the investigation of the Secret Service to
+separation? For Eveley would have braved every court in the country for
+her little foreign sister.
+
+She tried to interest herself in the affairs of her friends, as of old.
+She tried to return to her old whimsical routine of living alone in her
+Cloud Cote, but from being a little nook of laughter and love, it became
+ineffably dreary and dull. And Eveley was suffering not only because her
+love had been slighted and her hospitality abused, but because everything
+she had undertaken had failed. Americanization--what was it? For to Marie
+she had given every good thing in her power--and Marie had used her as
+long as she could be of service, and then had gone back to her own life,
+to her own people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+SHE PROVES HER PRINCIPLE
+
+
+All of Eveley's friends, realizing the loneliness and the sickness of
+heart which possessed her, united to plan little entertainments and bits
+of amusement for her. And Eveley accepted their plans gratefully, and
+acted upon their suggestions gladly, but the bitterness remained in her
+heart.
+
+"I loved that girl," she would say to herself. "How could she do such a
+thing to any one who loved her? It isn't as if I had only tried to do
+what was right and kind by her. She owed me something for all that love."
+
+One evening she went to Eileen's for a rollicking dinner with the twins
+in clamorous evidence. Eileen's home was a new creation; every day, she
+said frankly, was a new cycle of life. Her years of sober, studied
+business had not at all prepared her for the raptures and the
+uncertainties and the annoyances and the thrills of a household that had
+young twins in it.
+
+"Billy bosses Betty unmercifully, and I do not believe in the dominance
+of men," she told Eveley. "And Betty charms Billy into submission, and I
+do not approve of the blandishments of woman upon man. And yet my
+sympathies are with both of them, and I adore them both. And I can never
+find anything when I want it, and when I do find it there is something
+wrong with it, and they both talk at once and I have to talk at the same
+time or I never get anything said, and yet we have wonderful times."
+
+"You are certainly doing your duty by those babies," said Eveley
+tentatively.
+
+Eileen took it quickly. "Um, not a bit of it. I am just fulfilling the
+desire of my heart. So you may take it that I am proving your theory if
+you like."
+
+"At least you are proving my exception," said Eveley, with a smile.
+
+"What is the exception?" Eileen questioned eagerly. "It seems to get all
+the proving, doesn't it?"
+
+"It used to," said Eveley gravely. "But I have lost faith in it for
+myself. It worked for everybody else, but it failed for me. Now let's
+talk of something else."
+
+They were in the midst of a merry game with the children, when the bell
+rang, and Eveley was called to the door, to look into the face of Amos
+Hiltze.
+
+"You have found Marie," she cried out at once.
+
+"Yes. She is at the ranch in the mountains where we found her first. She
+is in trouble, and sick. I told her I would come for you, but I suppose
+you can not leave yet?"
+
+"Not leave--when Marie is sick and wants me? Wait until I get my wraps.
+Shall we go in my car?"
+
+"Yes, please. I was up at the Cote for you, and Mrs. Severs said you were
+here. I let the taxi go."
+
+Eveley's face was alight with joy, and her heart sang with happiness.
+Marie had been sick--it had not been cold neglect that kept her away and
+silent. And she had sent for Eveley.
+
+"You are certainly a wonder," said Amos Hiltze, as she slipped into her
+place behind the wheel, and he took his seat at her side.
+
+"You do not know how happy I am," she cried, turning the car toward the
+country. "You--do get so awfully fond of a girl like Marie, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Is she very sick?"
+
+"Not very. She will be better when she sees you."
+
+"Why did she really leave me?"
+
+"Oh, she was afraid the Secret Service would locate her, and it would get
+you into trouble."
+
+"I might have known it was her duty. Wait till I get my hands on that
+girl. I'll tell her a few things about duty that will astonish her."
+
+Already they were wheeling rapidly through East San Diego, and when a
+motorcycle pulled up beside them, Eveley stopped with a gasp. Of course
+she had been speeding--a thousand miles an hour, probably, though it had
+seemed like crawling.
+
+"I am so sorry, Officer," she began quickly. "But I have to hurry. I have
+a little friend in the country who is sick and needs me."
+
+"Oh, is it you, Miss Ainsworth?" And the officer smiled. "I did not
+recognize you. That is all right. Your car is a Rolls, isn't it? We are
+looking for a man in a Rolls--but I can hardly hold you." He turned his
+pocket flash upon Amos Hiltze.
+
+"This is my friend, Mr. Hiltze," she explained. "I think you do not want
+him, either."
+
+"No, I think not. Yet our man is supposed to have come this way. If you
+see any men on foot, or any one in trouble, better not stop. We'll have a
+man out that way pretty soon."
+
+"Thank you," said Eveley. "Good night." And again they were on their way.
+
+"Poor Mr. Man in the Rolls," she said after a while. "I wonder what
+mischief he has been into."
+
+"I wonder."
+
+"I hope he gets away. Perhaps he is not so bad as they think, and may do
+better next time. Or maybe he had a reason."
+
+"I am sure of that," said Hiltze with some earnestness. "There is always
+a reason, I think."
+
+Through La Mesa, through El Cajon, they drove in silence as they had
+driven once before, when they went for Marie the first time. Only then
+Eveley had been quivering with anxiety and nervousness--and now it was
+only hope and joy. But was it only hope and joy? For she realized
+suddenly that her hands were gripping the wheel with nervous intensity,
+and that she was shivering.
+
+"Are you cold?"
+
+"I do not know," she faltered.
+
+He turned slightly in his seat, and reached for a rug.
+
+"A disorderly pile on the floor as usual," he said with a slight smile.
+"Don't your friends ever put the rugs back on the rack, Eveley?"
+
+"No, never," she replied, smiling, too, but gravely.
+
+He tucked the rug closely about her, but she still shivered, and a sense
+of dread was heavy upon her.
+
+When they came at last to the branch in the road, he looked carefully
+about in every direction, and then told her to drive quickly. Under his
+direction she took the car far back from the road in a sheltered place,
+and stopped the engine.
+
+"Please hurry, will you? I have not Angelo with me this time, and I am
+afraid."
+
+"Eveley, I must talk to you first. You know I love you, you must know it.
+You have tried to discourage me, but I will not take discouragement. I
+shall never go away without you."
+
+"Are you going away?"
+
+"Yes, to-night. Business takes me away. I am going to South America. I
+have money--lots of money, and we can start afresh and do well. But I can
+not go without you."
+
+"Mr. Hiltze, it is impossible. I do not love you. I told you that
+before."
+
+"But you will love me. If you come away with me, and take time, you can
+love me. I will be good to you, and not hurry you. You must let yourself
+go, and try."
+
+"But I do not wish to. Love should not be forced. It ought to come
+spontaneously of itself. And I love Nolan."
+
+"Damn Nolan! Oh, I don't mean that, but--Eveley, you will forget him.
+Just come with me, and give yourself time. Marie will go with us--"
+
+"Marie."
+
+"Yes, she has promised to go with us, to help make you happy."
+
+"Then she is not sick?"
+
+"No, not sick."
+
+"You only brought me here to--"
+
+"Yes, Eveley. I am sorry, but I had to. We are going out by aeroplane
+to-night, and there is a fishing fleet at sea waiting to pick us up. I
+hated to trick you, but it was my love that forced it. I can not give you
+up. I will not. Did you think I was a fool to be with you, and know your
+loving lovely ways, and--and--"
+
+Suddenly he crushed her in his arms, and for a moment she was helpless.
+Then he released her.
+
+"Your bag is here--yes, in the back of the car."
+
+"My bag?"
+
+"Yes, I took Marie to the Cote this afternoon and she packed it for
+you--things necessary until you can shop again."
+
+"Marie did that?"
+
+"Oh, I told her to. I told her you wished it. Oh, yes, I lied, but I
+would do worse than that for you, yes, I would kill for you. Now be
+reasonable, Eveley, and come with us nicely. You shall have all the time
+you wish. I know you will love me."
+
+"Love you. Love you after this! I hate you, I despise you. Do not say you
+love me."
+
+"Eveley, be quiet, this will do no possible good."
+
+"Then it was you they were looking for, in the car? You are a common
+criminal."
+
+"Not a criminal, no," he cried furiously. "Yes, they wanted me, of
+course. You should have known there was a reason why a man like myself
+should live as I have done here. But we are not criminals--we are advance
+agents of freedom."
+
+"Anarchists," she interrupted, in a cutting voice.
+
+"Some time there must be justice and equality in the world--"
+
+"And you have got rich by preaching lawlessness."
+
+"Eveley, do not talk like that. I--I lose my head--and I do not wish to
+frighten you. Sit quietly, and let me tell you. Peace can come only
+through warfare--and out of the death throes of an old world, a new world
+of peace will--"
+
+"You are traitors."
+
+"Eveley, you know I was in the service, but there must be a union of the
+free men of the world against oppression--"
+
+"Do not make stump speeches to me. I will not stand for it. Justice and
+freedom will come to the world, but not through lying and trickery and
+bloodshed. Justice must come through sympathy and love and comradeship."
+
+"It did not get you far with Marie, though, did it?"
+
+"Marie."
+
+"Certainly. That was my interest in her. Marie was working with us, doing
+what she could for us, for what we could do for her in Mexico. She is a
+regular traitor if you like, putting things over in great style, on you
+and Nolan and Ames--the whole bunch of you. She is a slick little devil.
+But I fell--because I loved you."
+
+Sudden illumination came to Eveley. "Then that is why she left me. When
+she learned to love me, she would not profane our friendship. That is why
+she left."
+
+"She left because the cops were getting wise, and she had to get out in a
+hurry or get pinched."
+
+"And she is going with you--"
+
+"Sure. She will be the idol of the revolutionists for what she has
+done--they will carry her about on a tin platter."
+
+"You will let me go now, Mr. Hiltze, please. But tell Marie that I
+understand everything, and when she wishes to come back to me, the Cote
+is open. It was only a mistaken loyalty to a wrong principle. Please go,
+I want to hurry home."
+
+He laughed a little. "Eveley, you are going to South America with me."
+
+In a sudden panic she turned, flinging open the door of the car, hoping
+to rush away into the darkness, but his arm held her.
+
+"You will love me. I may not care for your Americanization, but I love
+you. I am going to be good to you. Don't be a fool, Eveley, it will do
+you no good. You've got to go."
+
+Struggling was in vain, as Eveley realized at once, and she subsided
+quickly, trying to think. The thing was impossible. It could not be. Such
+things did not happen any more--not in real life in the United States. It
+was cruel, preposterous, unbelievable.
+
+"Please let me go," she pleaded. "I shall not try to report you, you can
+get away without trouble. But let me go home, please. I could never
+change toward you--I am not the kind that changes."
+
+"I shall have to tie you for a few minutes. I am sorry, but I do not wish
+you to go to the shack. I have wasted a lot of time trying to reason with
+you. Put out your hands--yes yes, that way, and let me tie them to the
+wheel. I hate to do this--there is no use for you to yell, Eveley, for no
+one can hear, so I shall not gag you. Let me wrap the blanket about you;
+it is very cold. Sit still, dear, and do not shake it off. I love you
+very much. We are going to start the world afresh with a clean slate, and
+leave the past behind. The future shall be of your choosing, only it must
+be with me."
+
+Then he went away, and Eveley began a valiant tugging on the straps that
+bound her.
+
+"Wait a minute, Eveley, I'll cut them," came a friendly whisper, and
+Eveley with a cry turned to look into Angelo's face.
+
+"Sure, I come along," he said. "I saw him up at the house, and when he
+came down for you, I followed his taxi on my bike. And when he went in to
+get you, I got into the back under the rugs. Lucky he only took one rug
+for you, or he'd got hold of my legs. Gee, he uses good straps."
+
+All this, while Angelo was sawing on the straps with his rusty knife, and
+almost before he finished talking, Eveley was free.
+
+Like a flash she was starting the engine.
+
+"Suppose you get out and hide a while, and let me scout around," he said.
+"I hate to leave a decent sort like your Marie with those cutthroats.
+Maybe I can get hold of her."
+
+"Yes, do try. I'll hide among the bushes for fear they come while you are
+gone. Be careful, Angelo. We are going to need you."
+
+Eveley waited what seemed an endless length of time, crouching almost
+breathless under the shrubs. But finally she heard light running steps,
+and in a moment Marie was in her arms.
+
+"Oh, my poor child, they told me you wanted to go. And did they tie
+you--the cruel straps? You are free now, and you will go back to your
+Cote and be happy. But do not forget your poor Marie. And never play with
+fire again, sweet; in the end it always burns. American women never know
+what a tempest love can be. Now, kiss Marie, and say your forgive her,
+and then go quickly."
+
+"Marie, come with me," begged Eveley, clinging to her. "You must not go
+with them. They are treacherous, selling their honor for money. Do not
+trust them. Come with me. Nolan and I will take care of you, and Nolan
+will straighten out your tangles with the law. And Jimmy is wild for you,
+raging all over town trying to find you. Please, dear, let all the ugly
+past lie dead, and live a new life with us here. Oh, I can not let you
+go."
+
+"For them I care nothing," Marie cried, with a smart snap of her fingers.
+"They are dogs. They only help us for money, and they wish only to
+embroil the world in war. It is no love for us--but they are cheap--we
+buy them. When the time comes, we tramp them under our feet. Eveley, if
+you wish me, I will come."
+
+Then in a moment they were away, the car swinging dizzily down the steep
+grade rocking from side to side.
+
+"How did you get Marie, Angelo--you angel?" asked Eveley, after a while.
+
+"They were all running around moving things, and Marie was helping. So I
+pitched in and helped too. When I walked by Marie she understood and
+came. And they did not notice. There isn't much difference between a Wop
+and a Greaser."
+
+"And you will never leave me again, Marie?"
+
+"I am all through with hatred and strife, now. I want only a home, where
+I can be happy, and live as you and I have lived. That is the only
+Americanization. Talk is nothing. Social service is a game. But when one
+makes living so fine that every one in the world wants to live that
+way--then it is Americanization. I am satisfied now."
+
+"Say, you'd better cut the talk and watch the road," said Angelo
+suddenly. "You've been half over the grade a dozen times."
+
+"Yes, I will," promised Eveley. "But I must hurry. They will follow
+us--will they follow us, Marie?"
+
+"Oh, surely, when they miss us. They have motorcycles. Listen. Hear them
+far back? Of course they would follow."
+
+"Sit tight, Marie, and do not worry. I know this road all right."
+
+"They are gaining on us, dear. Can you do better?"
+
+But Eveley was afraid to go faster on those sharp curves, though she
+strained her eyes to see the road before them.
+
+"We are nearly to Flynn Springs," she said. "We must be. We can stop
+there."
+
+"They will soon be up with us," said Angelo, looking back.
+
+"We must leave the car, and hide in the woods," said Marie.
+
+"Oh, I am afraid to leave the car."
+
+"The woods will not hurt us. It is only men who harm. Come, we must. If
+they catch us, we are lost. Pull out here to the left, and turn off the
+lights. They may pass us in the darkness. Take the key with you. And
+hurry."
+
+Acting upon this plan, they were soon slipping over the small stones and
+pebbles down a shallow gully and up among the rocks and shrubs of a
+little cliff.
+
+Already the tremendous roar of the motorcycles was close upon them.
+
+"Quick, Eveley, behind this bush.--Lie down flat. Yes, all right, Angelo.
+Sh, quiet now."
+
+[Illustration: "Please let me go," she pleaded.]
+
+At that instant the motorcycles whirled past--a sudden call from the
+familiar voice of Amos Hiltze, and with a great tearing and crashing of
+brakes, the cycles stopped and the men ran back to the car.
+
+"It is her car," cried Amos Hiltze. "They have deserted it. They must be
+very close, we shall find them quickly. You go--"
+
+"We can not find them," said a new authoritative voice. "The cops may be
+here any moment. We've got to get away to-night, or it is everlastingly
+too late. You have lost the girl--lost them both. Now make the best of
+it."
+
+And one motorcycle was started again.
+
+"I'll slash their tires for luck," said Amos Hiltze. "And we can send a
+couple of men to look for them. Then we can send back for them later on
+if they find them."
+
+Eveley ground her teeth at the ripping of the tires, for the rubber is to
+a motorist as a baby to a loving mother. But in a moment came the sputter
+and roar of the motors, and the men had gone again back the road they had
+come.
+
+"We'll just have to crawl into Flynn Springs on the rims, and phone for
+Nolan. It can not be far."
+
+But even that was impossible, for with devilish foresight, Amos Hiltze
+had taken the timer from the carburetor, and the little Rolls was
+powerless.
+
+"We'll walk then," said Eveley bravely, and hand in hand, the three of
+them set out on the rocky winding road to Flynn Springs.
+
+"Nolan will not waste any time coming for us," said Eveley confidently.
+
+"And perhaps Lieutenant Ames is in town and can come also," suggested
+Marie softly.
+
+Some time later, wearily, weakly, they limped into Flynn Springs, and
+Eveley hurriedly put in her call.
+
+"Nolan? It is Eveley. I am at Flynn Springs. You must come for me, and
+bring Jimmy Ames. Yes, Marie is with me, and Angelo.--Yes, we are all
+right. And have a man from the garage with extra tires and a timer for
+the carburetor. No, we do not need the police. No guns either. Nolan,
+your voice is sweeter than any angel's."
+
+Then they went into a small room where there was a bed, and Eveley took
+off her ruined pumps, and bathed her burning feet, and they fixed their
+hair, and had hot coffee, always looking at each other with tender eyes.
+
+"Will you never go back on me again, little sister?"
+
+And Marie kissed her in answer.
+
+So they waited patiently for the men breaking all known speed laws to
+come to them, and the time did not seem long, for they lay on the bed
+together, each with an arm across the other's shoulder. And in the small
+dark hallway outside, Angelo sat before their door, his arms clasped
+around his knees, his head sunk upon his breast, sound asleep. But even
+in his sleep keeping guard over his Americanizer and the "little
+Greaser."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+HER ONE EXCEPTION
+
+
+All evening Kitty had been trying to get Nolan by telephone, always being
+told that he was not at the hotel and had gone to the office, and then
+hearing that the office line was busy. It was after eight when she
+finally got him on the wire.
+
+"Nolan, whoever have you been talking to? If it was anybody else besides
+Eveley, I am going to tell. I have been trying to get you all evening. I
+want you to come over here immediately. Something terrible is about to
+happen, and you must stop it."
+
+Nolan hesitated. "I am to be at Eveley's at nine, but if you promise to
+talk fast I will come."
+
+Receiving her fervent assurance, he immediately closed his desk, and in
+ten minutes Kitty was drawing him feverishly into her favorite corner of
+the living-room.
+
+"Nolan, you could never guess what is going on."
+
+"No," he admitted, with a reminiscent smile. "So many odd things have
+been going on lately that I confess my inability as a guesser."
+
+"Listen to this. Eveley's sister has fallen in love with some crazy
+aviator, and is going to elope with him. And she wants Burton to get a
+divorce so she can marry him."
+
+Nolan was plainly dumfounded at this revelation.
+
+"And that is not the worst. She is going to desert those two children,
+and Eveley--You know Eve. She says she will be the willing sacrifice to
+save the honor of the family, and has decided to marry Burton herself, to
+be a mother to Winifred's children."
+
+"Preposterous!" gasped Nolan, looking into her flushed face for symptoms
+of delirium.
+
+"True," came the grim answer. "But we must never allow such a
+bloodcurdling thing to happen. It wouldn't be right. I want you to go
+right over to Eveley's as fast as you can, and make her marry you. You
+can pretend you do not know anything about this, and sweep her right off
+her feet. Get her promise before she knows what is going on, and marry
+her before she realizes it. Then perhaps Winifred will come to her senses
+and not do this outrageous thing."
+
+"But, Kitty--"
+
+"You love Eveley, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, of course, but--"
+
+"Then do you call yourself a man, and yet stand idly by and see the woman
+you love sacrifice her life for her sister's honor--and--er babies--and--"
+
+"And husband," he said gloomily. "I could stand the honor and the babies,
+but I object to the husband."
+
+"Of course you do. I have my car here, and I will take you right over to
+Eveley's and you can settle it immediately."
+
+"I do not believe I could propose before you, Kitty," he objected shyly.
+"I could not think of the words."
+
+"I shall wait in the car until it is over. Then I shall come sauntering
+up later on and wish you joy, etc., and Eveley need not know I had a
+thing to do with it. Just you get her promise, and I shall be witness for
+you. If she tries to back out we shall sue her for breach of promise."
+
+"All right," he decided suddenly. "We certainly can not submit to any
+such nonsense as this. Let's go."
+
+All the way to the Cloud Cote they kept up hearty agreement that the idea
+was utterly wild and preposterous, and that Nolan should never stand for
+it. As she stopped the car, two doors down where Eveley could not see
+from her window, Kitty said:
+
+"Arnold and I want to take a honeymoon trip to Yosemite after we are
+married, and we want you and Eveley to get married in time to go along.
+It is so much more fun when everybody's married."
+
+"Now, you fix it up with Eveley, and when you are through pull back the
+shade in the living-room, and I'll take it for a sign and come up to make
+my call."
+
+So Nolan went up the rustic steps to Eveley, and Kitty settled down in a
+corner of the car. For thirty minutes she chuckled gleefully to herself,
+but after half an hour she began to feel that he was decidedly slow.
+
+"I could be engaged to a dozen people in that time," she thought
+impatiently, "Oh, the poky thing. But I suppose they are waxing
+demonstrative, and he has forgotten me."
+
+She toyed restlessly with the keys and screws on the car, still watching
+the black window in the Cloud Cote with only the faint gleam of light
+from behind.
+
+"An hour," she cried at last furiously. "If that isn't the limit! I have
+a notion to go right home, and let him settle it as best he can--but I do
+want to see how Eveley takes it. Oh, well, I shall give him fifteen
+minutes more, and then if he has not signaled I'll go up and see for
+myself."
+
+So she waited another uneasy quarter of an hour, and then banged stormily
+out of the car and up the rustic steps. Her sharp tap brought a sudden
+scurry and scramble from within, but Kitty did not wait for a summons.
+She drew back the portieres and climbed in, uninvited.
+
+Eveley was standing flushed and brilliant in the center of the room,
+trying to tuck up badly straying curls, and Nolan was adjusting himself
+to the davenport with an air of studied ease.
+
+"Well, Kitty," cried Eveley nervously. "Why didn't you phone you were
+coming over?"
+
+"You do not seem any too glad to see me," said Kitty rather peevishly,
+and then at their flushed and shining faces, she laughed. "My, how happy
+you look! Just like newlyweds--or something."
+
+"Yes--something," said Eveley. She flashed a questioning look at Nolan,
+and received a reassuring nod. "Nolan and I are engaged, Kitty."
+
+"Really," cried Kitty. "After all these years. How surprising." She put
+her arms around Eveley lovingly. "When did all this happen?"
+
+"Last night, coming down from Flynn Springs," said Eveley. "We--we had a
+whole car full of it."
+
+"Last night!" Kitty quickly disengaged herself from Eveley's arm and
+looked sharply at Nolan, smiling in great contentment on the davenport.
+"Last night?"
+
+"Yes, last night. It was an awfully big night all around, wasn't it,
+Nolan?"
+
+"It was for me," he said, coming over and taking Eveley's hand in his.
+
+"Last night," Kitty repeated again, glaring intently at Nolan.
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Then you knew I was lying all the time."
+
+"Well, since Eveley and I had luncheon with Winifred and Burton to-day to
+announce our engagement,--yes, I may say that I was fairly well assured
+you were lying. They seemed on their usual tender terms at noon."
+
+"What are you two talking about?" wondered Eveley.
+
+Kitty drew her small hat over her ears with a vicious tug.
+
+"But we shall be glad to motor to Yosemite with you and Arnold this
+summer," Nolan went on pacifically, "we think it will be great sport. We
+asked Marie and Jimmy Ames to go along. They are going to be married
+to-morrow. They are in Marie's room now, so go in and congratulate them
+if you like. But do not bring them out here, because we are a crowd
+already."
+
+"I am going home, anyhow, if you mean me," she said pettishly. She looked
+at Eveley. "I suppose you think it is very clever for you to be engaged
+to Nolan twenty-four hours without notifying me, after all the trouble I
+have taken in the last five years to bring it about. And as for you,
+Nolan, I think you have a lot of courage to marry a woman who openly and
+notoriously refuses to do her duty in any shape, size or form. I call it
+a pretty big risk, myself." She clambered crossly through the window.
+"Congratulations," she called back snappily. And again, from half-way
+down the stairs: "And we shall hold you to the Yosemite bargain, too."
+
+Then Nolan took Eveley in his arms again and kissed her. "It may be
+pretty risky," he said tenderly. "A wife who steels her heart against her
+duty--"
+
+Eveley smiled into his eyes. "Don't worry. The One Exception will save
+you. I still claim that duty isn't the biggest thing in the world. And
+hasn't my theory held good? Patriotic duty could not Americanize Angelo
+nor Marie, nor anybody else. And filial duty could not make the Severs
+live happily with the Father-in-law. And domestic duty could not bring
+Miriam and Lem Landis into harmony. But there was something else big
+enough to work all the miracles, and it was the Big Exception."
+
+"Yes, tell me, Eveley--the Big Exception that is Everybody's Duty--what
+is it?"
+
+"Well," she said, snuggling a little closer into his arms, "I believe it
+is everybody's duty to love somebody else with all his heart and mind and
+soul and body. And that is what has worked all the transformations for
+our friends. And it will protect you, Nolan--for I do."
+
+Nolan kissed her again. "Then it is no risk at all," he whispered,
+laughing tenderly. "Don't try to do your duty by me--just go on loving me
+like this."
+
+THE END
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+                      FLORENCE L. BARCLAY'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER
+
+A novel of the 12th Century. The heroine, believing she had lost her
+lover, enters a convent. He returns, and interesting developments follow.
+
+THE UPAS TREE
+
+A love story of rare charm. It deals with a successful author and his
+wife.
+
+THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE
+
+The story of a seven day courtship, in which the discrepancy in ages
+vanished into insignificance before the convincing demonstration of
+abiding love.
+
+THE ROSARY
+
+The story of a young artist who is reputed to love beauty above all else
+in the world, but who, when blinded through an accident, gains life's
+greatest happiness. A rare story of the great passion of two real people
+superbly capable of love, its sacrifices and its exceeding reward.
+
+THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE
+
+The lovely young Lady Ingleby, recently widowed by the death of a husband
+who never understood her, meets a fine, clean young chap who is ignorant
+of her title and they fall deeply in love with each other. When he learns
+her real identity a situation of singular power is developed.
+
+THE BROKEN HALO
+
+The story of a young man whose religious belief was shattered in
+childhood and restored to him by the little white lady, many years older
+than himself, to whom he is passionately devoted.
+
+THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR
+
+The story of a young missionary, who, about to start for Africa, marries
+wealthy Diana Rivers, in order to help her fulfill the conditions of her
+uncle's will, and how they finally come to love each other and are
+reunited after experiences that soften and purify.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                         ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE LAMP IN THE DESERT
+
+The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the lamp
+of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations to
+final happiness.
+
+GREATHEART
+
+The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul.
+
+THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE
+
+A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth chance."
+
+THE SWINDLER
+
+The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith.
+
+THE TIDAL WAVE
+
+Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the false.
+
+THE SAFETY CURTAIN
+
+A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other
+long stories of equal interest.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                       ELEANOR H. PORTER'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+JUST DAVID
+
+The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the hearts
+of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left.
+
+THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING
+
+A compelling romance of love and marriage.
+
+OH, MONEY! MONEY!
+
+Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his
+relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as plain John
+Smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment.
+
+SIX STAR RANCH
+
+A wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on Six Star
+Ranch.
+
+DAWN
+
+The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of
+despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the service
+of blind soldiers.
+
+ACROSS THE YEARS
+
+Short stories of our own kind and of our own people. Contains some of the
+best writing Mrs. Porter has done.
+
+THE TANGLED THREADS
+
+In these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of all her
+other books.
+
+THE TIE THAT BINDS
+
+Intensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter's wonderful talent for warm
+and vivid character drawing.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                THE NOVELS OF GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE BEST MAN
+
+Through a strange series of adventures a young man finds himself
+propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a strange girl.
+
+A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
+
+On her way West the heroine steps off by mistake at a lonely watertank
+into a maze of thrilling events.
+
+THE ENCHANTED BARN
+
+Every member of the family will enjoy this spirited chronicle of a young
+girl's resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of the "enchanted" barn.
+
+THE WITNESS
+
+The fascinating story of the enormous change an incident wrought in a
+man's life.
+
+MARCIA SCHUYLER
+
+A picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of full skirts and poke
+bonnets.
+
+LO, MICHAEL!
+
+A story of unfailing appeal to all who love and understand boys.
+
+THE MAN OF THE DESERT
+
+An intensely moving love story of a man of the desert and a girl of the
+East pictured against the background of the Far West.
+
+PHOEBE DEANE
+
+A tense and charming love story, told with a grace and a fervor with
+which only Mrs. Lutz could tell it.
+
+DAWN OF THE MORNING
+
+A romance of the last century with all of its old-fashioned charm. A
+companion volume to "Marcia Schuyler" and "Phoebe Deane."
+
+   Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+              JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE RIVER'S END
+
+A story of the Royal Mounted Police.
+
+THE GOLDEN SNARE
+
+Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland.
+
+NOMADS OF THE NORTH
+
+The story of a bear-cub and a dog.
+
+KAZAN
+
+The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn between
+the call of the human and his wild mate.
+
+BAREE, SON OF KAZAN
+
+The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he
+played in the lives of a man and a woman.
+
+THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM
+
+The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his battle
+with Captain Plum.
+
+THE DANGER TRAIL
+
+A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North.
+
+THE HUNTED WOMAN
+
+A tale of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman.
+
+THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH
+
+The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is
+blended with the courtly atmosphere of France.
+
+THE GRIZZLY KING
+
+The story of Thor, the big grizzly.
+
+ISOBEL
+
+A love story of the Far North.
+
+THE WOLF HUNTERS
+
+A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness.
+
+THE GOLD HUNTERS
+
+The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds.
+
+THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE
+
+Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women.
+
+BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
+
+A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made from
+this book.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                        KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street.
+
+The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful story
+of sisterly devotion and sacrifice.
+
+POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs.
+
+A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" and
+"The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures.
+
+JOSSELYN'S Wife. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.
+
+The story of a beautiful women who fought a bitter fight for happiness
+and love.
+
+MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles K. Chambers.
+
+The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions.
+
+THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers.
+
+An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a second
+marriage.
+
+THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.
+
+A sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure and
+lonely, for the happiness of life.
+
+SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes.
+
+Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through sheer
+determination to the better things for which her soul hungered?
+
+MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.
+
+A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of every
+girl's life, and some dreams which came true.
+
+   Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                       BOOTH TARKINGTON'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+SEVENTEEN. Illustrated by Arthur William Brown.
+
+No one but the creator of Penrod could have portrayed the immortal young
+people of this story. Its humor is irresistible and reminiscent of the
+time when the reader was Seventeen.
+
+PENROD. Illustrated by Gordon Grant.
+
+This is a picture of a boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, tragic
+things which are locked secrets to most older folks. It is a finished,
+exquisite work.
+
+PENROD AND SAM. Illustrated by Worth Brehm.
+
+Like "Penrod" and "Seventeen," this book contains some remarkable phases
+of real boyhood and some of the best stories of juvenile prankishness
+that have ever been written.
+
+THE TURMOIL. Illustrated by G. E. Chambers.
+
+Bibbs Sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against his
+father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. The love of a
+fine girl turns Bibb's life from failure to success.
+
+THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. Frontispiece.
+
+A story of love and politics,--more especially a picture of a country
+editor's life in Indiana, but the charm of the book lies in the love
+interest.
+
+THE FLIRT. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood.
+
+The "Flirt," the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's engagement,
+drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of another, leads another to
+lose his fortune, and in the end marries a stupid and unpromising suitor,
+leaving the really worthy one to marry her sister.
+
+   Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                  THE NOVELS OF MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+DANGEROUS DAYS.
+
+A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and stirring
+appeal.
+
+THE AMAZING INTERLUDE. Illustrations by The Kinneys.
+
+The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an interlude--amazing,
+romantic.
+
+LOVE STORIES.
+
+This book is exactly what Its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.
+
+"K." Illustrated.
+
+K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where beautiful
+Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. The joys and
+troubles of their young love are told with keen and sympathetic
+appreciation.
+
+THE MAN IN LOWER TEN. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
+
+An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of the
+"Man in Lower Ten."
+
+WHEN A MAN MARRIES. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.
+
+A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his aunt
+is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family income,
+knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man met the
+situation is entertainingly told.
+
+THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.
+
+The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong on
+the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is announced.
+Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing interest.
+
+THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)
+
+Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious
+doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with world-worn
+Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and slender means.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+                           ZANE GREY'S NOVELS
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+THE MAN OF THE FOREST
+THE DESERT OF WHEAT
+THE U. P. TRAIL
+WILDFIRE
+THE BORDER LEGION
+THE RAIBOW TRAIL
+THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT
+RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
+THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS
+THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN
+THE LONE STAR RANGER
+DESERT GOLD
+BETTY ZANE
+
+LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS
+
+The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, with
+Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.
+
+                       ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE
+THE YOUNG LION HUNTER
+THE YOUNG FORESTER
+THE YOUNG PITCHER
+THE SHORT STOP
+THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+             STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER
+  May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.
+
+MICHAEL O'HALLORAN. Illustrated by Frances Rogers.
+
+Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern
+Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also assumes the
+responsibility of leading the entire rural community upward and onward.
+
+LADDIE. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer.
+
+This is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The story
+is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large family, but it
+is concerned not so much with childish doings as with the love affairs of
+older members of the family. Chief among them is that of Laddie and the
+Princess, an English girl who has come to live in the neighborhood and
+about whose family there hangs a mystery.
+
+THE HARVESTER. Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs.
+
+"The Harvester," is a man of the woods and fields, and if the book had
+nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would be notable.
+But when the Girl comes to his "Medicine Woods," there begins a romance
+of the rarest idyllic quality.
+
+FRECKLES. Illustrated.
+
+Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which he
+takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great
+Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs to
+the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with "The
+Angel" are full of real sentiment.
+
+A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. Illustrated.
+
+The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type of
+the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and kindness
+towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the sheer beauty of
+her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and
+unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage.
+
+AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. Illustrations in colors.
+
+The scene of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana. The
+story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing love. The
+novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and its
+pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all.
+
+THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL. Profusely illustrated.
+
+A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy and
+humor.
+
+                 Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
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