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diff --git a/old/52699-h/52699-h.htm b/old/52699-h/52699-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 6d15651..0000000 --- a/old/52699-h/52699-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5170 +0,0 @@ -<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> - -<!DOCTYPE html - PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> - <head> - <title> - The Chinese Coat, by Jennette Lee - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> - - body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} - P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } - H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } - hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} - .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} - blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} - .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} - .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} - .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} - .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} - .x-small {font-size: 75%;} - .small {font-size: 85%;} - .large {font-size: 115%;} - .x-large {font-size: 130%;} - .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} - .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} - .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} - .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} - .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} - .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} - div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } - div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } - .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} - .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} - .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; - font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; - text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; - border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} - .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; - border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; - text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; - font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} - .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; - border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; - font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} - p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} - span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } - pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} - -</style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Chinese Coat, by Jennette Lee - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Chinese Coat - -Author: Jennette Lee - -Release Date: August 2, 2016 [EBook #52699] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHINESE COAT *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - -</pre> - - - <div style="height: 8em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h1> - THE CHINESE COAT - </h1> - <h2> - By Jennette Lee - </h2> - <h4> - New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons - </h4> - <h3> - 1920 - </h3> - <p> - <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> </a> - </p> - <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> - <img src="images/0002.jpg" alt="0002 " width="100%" /><br /> - </div> - <h5> - <a href="images/0002.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> - </h5> - <p> - <br /><br /><a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> </a> - </p> - <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> - <img src="images/0010.jpg" alt="0010 " width="100%" /><br /> - </div> - <h5> - <a href="images/0010.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> - </h5> - <h3> - TO - </h3> - <h3> - GERALD STANLEY LEE - </h3> - <h4> - <i>“I take my way along the island’s edge”</i> - </h4> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p> - <b>CONTENTS</b> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>THE CHINESE COAT</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IV </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> V </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VI </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> VIII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> IX </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> X </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XI </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> XIII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XIV </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XV </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> XVI </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> XVIII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> XIX </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> XX </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> XXI </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> XXII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> XXIII </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> XXIV </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> XXV </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CHINESE COAT - </h2> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - I - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">E</span>leanor MORE walked - away from the coat. She looked back at it across the glass case of fichus - and ribbon bows, and went on down the aisle of show-cases to the coats and - suits at the end. Stewart’s was having a sale of coats and suits, and - Eleanor More was there—not because she could afford to buy anything, - even at a sale, but because she was a woman. - </p> - <p> - She had been passing the store and seen the crowd pressing in through the - wide doors... She had hesitated a minute and gone in. - </p> - <p> - It was nearly six o’clock now, and the crowd had thinned. Here and there a - wandering figure could be seen, half ready for flight, pausing to peck at - some bargain crumb; and helpers with long gray covers were appearing and - shrouding the glass cases and counters for the night. The light in the - shop began to seem gray and a little ghostly; out of it the gold and blue - colors of the Chinese coat gleamed freshly, like a bit of Oriental flame - caught in this dull sale of Western goods and held fast. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More glanced at the coat again—down through the - gray-shrouded counters. Then she turned swiftly and went back. It stood by - itself on its dummy figure at the end of the glass cases; in the fading - light from a window above, the fantastic gold shadows of the dragons - chased each other and played hazily across it. - </p> - <p> - She halted before it, and half reached out her hand to it. - </p> - <p> - A woman with a large bust and paper cuffs on her sleeves came drifting - toward her. “Anything I can show you, madam?” - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More looked up. “I was looking at this coat.” Her hand moved - vaguely to the dragons. - </p> - <p> - The woman’s eyes followed the gesture. “It’s a great bargain!” She put out - her hand to it. - </p> - <p> - “Would you like to slip it on?” - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More drew back. “Oh—I wasn’t thinking of buying. I was - looking. I just happened—to see it——” - </p> - <p> - The woman’s hands were busy with the neck of the coat. She slipped it - deftly from the lay figure and held it up. “No harm in trying,” she said. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More looked at it and drew away—and came back. She held out - her hands with a little laughing gesture. - </p> - <p> - “No—I cannot afford—” She put her hands into the blue sleeves - with the quaint trailing ends and drew it up about her. - </p> - <p> - The woman gave a little pat to the shoulders and smiled, pointing to a - long mirror at the right. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More moved to the mirror; she stood looking at herself. - </p> - <p> - Behind her stretched the gray counters—shrouded in for the night’s - rest. Only a figure here and there was visible in the distance. Her eyes - caught the empty spaces behind her. - </p> - <p> - “It is late!” she said hastily. “I am keeping you!” She looked over her - shoulder at the woman who seemed, in the gray light, receding dimly. - </p> - <p> - But she came forward with a smile. “There is no hurry.” She touched the - coat and adjusted it. - </p> - <p> - “It suits you perfectly!” - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More glanced again into the long mirror. The blue and gold covered - her from head to foot; and above it, her face looked out at her, a little - mistily, and smiled to her. - </p> - <p> - She shook her head and the mirrored lady shook her head—slowly. Then - they both smiled radiantly and the gold dragons crumpled their tails as - the coat was flung swiftly back. - </p> - <p> - “I don’t know why I put it on! I think it bewitched me! Here—take - it! Thank you very much.” She spoke—half under her breath, and the - woman took the coat in her hands. She stood smoothing the folds. - </p> - <p> - “It is a great bargain—marked down for to-day.” She touched the tag - with casual finger, and Eleanor’s eyes followed the motion. - </p> - <p> - “I know—It’s absurdly cheap—and very beautiful! But I simply - cannot afford it! Thank you for showing it to me—so late!” She - moved, a little blindly, toward the stairs. The elevator had ceased to - run. - </p> - <p> - When she was gone the woman stood with the coat in her hand irresolute. A - helper coming by with an armful of gray covers cast a flitting glance at - it. - </p> - <p> - “Want a top?” - </p> - <p> - But she shook her head. “I will put it in the box for to-night.” - </p> - <p> - The helper went on down the aisle. The woman drew a box from beneath the - counter and folded the dragons with careful hand, and smoothed their tails - and placed the coat in its box. Through a bit of tissue-paper across the - top of the blue and gold it gleamed and shimmered softly, and the woman - brushed light finger-tips across it as she pressed the paper down and - tucked it in and set the box aside. - </p> - <p> - Then she went down the room, and disappeared among the shadows of counters - and cases, and the shop was left alone. Darkness slipped in from outside, - and pushed the grayness before it. It clothed the dummy figure in black, - and descended on the box of dragons, blotting it out. It covered the whole - room. - </p> - <p> - In the darkness beneath the counter lay the Chinese coat, with its bit of - tissue-paper lying across the glory of blue and gold, safely tucked away. - </p> - <p> - Only the vast oblongs of windows remained to show faintly, against the - street outside, where the light came in. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - II - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HAT night she - dreamed of the coat. She saw its soft folds descending on her out of the - sky, and she held up her hands to it and caught it to her and wrapped it - about her and ran in the wind, singing. And all the dragons came alive and - pranced beside her—and she threw off the coat and ran with the - dragons, unclothed. And the freedom of it was like life—flooding - down on her out of the sky; and then the dragons moved from her—they - were receding into the distance, their great heads held high; and she ran, - stumbling, after them, alone and naked—and suddenly she was in a - crowded street and the people were looking at her, and shame drew about - her as a vast garment; she shrank back into it, trying to hide—but - there was no cover for her—and she woke with a dry, choking sob. - </p> - <p> - She got carefully out of bed and tiptoed from the room, closing the door - behind her. In the next room, she could see the daylight straggling - through the curtains. She threw up the shades and watched it come. A flush - of light was in the sky over the mean little houses at the rear; even the - houses themselves, not yet touched by the light, had a fresh, waiting - look; and in the chicken-yards the hens ran about busily, pecking at - something, or nothing. In one of the vacant lots a man was hoeing. His - bent back had a look of strength. As she watched him, he stopped his work - a moment and looked up at the sky. Then he went on hoeing, with slow - strokes. - </p> - <p> - The rooms were filled with light when she came from her bath; and she - threw open the windows, and went about getting breakfast with quick steps. - </p> - <p> - She put the plates on the table and paused and went to the door and opened - it. The little porch outside, half-shaded with vines, was streaked with - sunshine along the floor. She stepped out on to it, holding out her hand, - as if to test the warmth. - </p> - <p> - She drew a table from the wall and brought a cloth for it and laid the - table for breakfast on the porch. - </p> - <p> - Presently she looked up. A man in the doorway was surveying her with a - smile. - </p> - <p> - She came across to him and lifted her face. - </p> - <p> - He bent to kiss it. “Up early, weren’t you!” - </p> - <p> - “I couldn’t sleep—Do you like it—out here?” She waved her - hand. - </p> - <p> - “Fine!” He surveyed the table. “Couldn’t be beat! Shall I bring things - out?” - </p> - <p> - “I was afraid you might not like it.” She poured his coffee. “Father never - liked it—eating out-of-doors—at home.” - </p> - <p> - “<i>This</i> is home,” said the man. He was sipping his coffee and looking - contentedly at the vine-shadows on the floor. - </p> - <p> - “My other home, I mean.” - </p> - <p> - “You never had any other home.” - </p> - <p> - “Well—what I <i>called</i> home—till I knew better!” She - laughed the words at him, and he nodded gravely. - </p> - <p> - “Father used to wear his hat—some days his muffler—if we tried - to eat out-of-doors. So we gave it up. I am glad you like it!” - </p> - <p> - She fell silent, watching the shadows; and he watched her face. She was - quiet a long time. - </p> - <p> - The man finished his breakfast—he looked at her. - </p> - <p> - “What are you thinking of?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - She started. “Oh—I—Nothing very much.” She flashed a little - look at him and got up from the table. - </p> - <p> - “Better tell me,” he suggested. - </p> - <p> - “It wasn’t anything—not anything that will ever be—anything.” - She began to gather up dishes. - </p> - <p> - “Made you look pretty happy,” he said. - </p> - <p> - “Did it?” she laughed out. She stood a moment, looking thoughtfully at the - vine-shadows on the cloth.... “It was a coat I saw at Stewart’s, yesterday—a - perfectly absurd coat—for me!” - </p> - <p> - “No coat could be absurd for you—not if you wanted it!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes—I wanted it—I suppose.” She looked again at the white - cloth and waited. “I think it bewitched me.... It was a Chinese coat, you - see!” - </p> - <p> - He looked at her blankly. “A Chinese coat—for <i>you!</i>” - </p> - <p> - She nodded. “I told you it was absurd!” - </p> - <p> - “Well—” He regarded it thoughtfully. “If you want it... But what - could you <i>do</i> with—a Chinese coat?” - </p> - <p> - “That’s what I don’t know.” She was very meek. “I just seemed to think—I - wanted it.” - </p> - <p> - “You couldn’t wear it to church?” - </p> - <p> - “No-o—” She hesitated. “I could wear it to the opera—if we - should go.” - </p> - <p> - He laughed out. “And to the circus!” He came around and touched her hair - where the light fell on it. “How much did it cost—this Chinese - thingumabob?” - </p> - <p> - “Fifty dollars—” It came out slowly—and he whistled softly - between his teeth. - </p> - <p> - “For the opera!” he said. - </p> - <p> - She threw out her hands. “Of course I didn’t mean it! But you asked me—what - I was thinking about——” - </p> - <p> - “Of course I did!” He was prompt. “And I’ll see what we have—to - spare.” - </p> - <p> - He moved toward the door. “Sure you couldn’t use it for anything else”—he - looked back over his shoulder—“except the opera?” - </p> - <p> - “Well—I <i>could</i> make a kimono of it.” She glanced at him - half-pleadingly—then she laughed out. “I don’t want the old thing! I - don’t know <i>why</i> I told you!” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - III - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span>f she thought of - the coat through the day, there was no sign of it in her face. She went - about her work with busy, preoccupied look. She did the dishes, and dusted - and made beds and went to market; and after luncheon, which she had by - herself on the porch, she lay down, a little while, watching the streaks - of light that came through the blind-slats and fell across the matting, - and almost reached to the bed... and when she saw them again, they were - lying along the pillow close to her—and it was five o’clock. - </p> - <p> - She sprang up with a little exclamation and hurried to the kitchen. - </p> - <p> - But, after all, Richard was late, and everything was ready when he came. - </p> - <p> - He cast a happy look about the room, - </p> - <p> - “Nice home!” he said. - </p> - <p> - She smiled and set the dinner on the table. - </p> - <p> - “You were late.” - </p> - <p> - “Well, rather! It’s been a great day—” He looked at her thoughtfully - across the table, and took up the carving-knife and tested it gently on - his thumb. “Martin came in—about the lot, next door!” - </p> - <p> - She glanced quickly at him. “What did he say?” - </p> - <p> - “Said he’s ready—to sell.” - </p> - <p> - They were both silent. - </p> - <p> - Presently she gave a little sigh. “Well, of course we <i>can’t</i>—But - it’s too bad!” - </p> - <p> - He looked at her, smiling. “That’s the queer thing! It’s just possible——” - </p> - <p> - “What do you mean?” - </p> - <p> - “Well—I’d been looking things over—about your Chinese coat, - you know——” - </p> - <p> - “Oh-h!” Her glance held his. - </p> - <p> - He nodded. “I’d made up my mind to get it for you—if it took our - last - </p> - <p> - “But I told you—” - </p> - <p> - He held up a hand. “And I’d just figured out how I could do it—when - Martin came in and offered the lot for three hundred—fifty dollars - down.” - </p> - <p> - Her eyes were on his face. - </p> - <p> - “Of course, yesterday, or day before, I should have said—we couldn’t - do it.... But there was the money—in my hand, practically.” - </p> - <p> - “Did you give it to him?” She leaned forward, a little breathless. - </p> - <p> - He looked at her. “Do you think I did?” - </p> - <p> - “Why—I—don’t know.” - </p> - <p> - He got up and came over to her and bent down. “It is <i>your</i> Chinese - coat!” he said. “You didn’t suppose I was going to mortgage your - possessions—without letting you know!” - </p> - <p> - “You mean I can <i>have</i> it—the coat!” She had clasped her hands—she - was gazing at something far beyond him—far beyond the room, it - seemed. - </p> - <p> - He watched her face a minute. “You sure can have your coat—if you - want it!” he said softly. - </p> - <p> - She drew a long breath and the light ran back into her face, flooding it. - </p> - <p> - “Oh—!” She threw out her hands. “I don’t want it!—I just - wanted to be sure I could want it—if I wanted to!” - </p> - <p> - “I know.” He looked down at her with quiet understanding. - </p> - <p> - “So it is the lot?” he said. - </p> - <p> - “Of course it is the lot! Go and eat your dinner, silly boy!” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - IV - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>hey were not - likely to forget the night they decided to buy the lot next door. It - seemed the beginning of married life together. To be sure, they had been - married nearly a year and they had bought and furnished the house; they - had even bought a strip of land on the other side of the house that had - come into the market soon after they were married—while they still - had a little money to spare. - </p> - <p> - But in all their purchases before, there had been an element that marked - them off by themselves. This new purchase was something different—something - entered into from choice, and with a free heart. - </p> - <p> - They called it the Chinese lot. - </p> - <p> - It was Eleanor who named it and told - </p> - <p> - Richard laughingly. But even to herself it was not a common, every-day - name. It seemed a kind of dream-place, in a faint, happy light, with - Chinese dragons chasing across it. - </p> - <p> - Within twenty-four hours after their decision, the deed for the lot was in - Richard’s pocket; and twenty-four hours later the fence between was torn - down, and builders were at work on a wall that took in the new lot and - made the whole place one. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More watched the men with shining eyes. When her work was done she - took her sewing-basket and went into the sunshine across the yard, and - stepped over the boundary into the new lot. Just beyond the boundary was a - great oak-tree, with wide branches and great roots bulging out of the - ground. As she sat down under the tree, she noted the roots; the happy - thought crossed her mind of children playing there—each great root a - playhouse—with little dishes and mud pies.... Her eyes followed the - dream, as she unfolded her work and sat sewing, with the light flecking - down on her and on the root playhouses and green grass. - </p> - <p> - Richard More found her there when he came home from work. He went across - to see how much had been finished on the wall. Then he came back and stood - and watched her swift needle and the light on her hair. - </p> - <p> - She looked up. - </p> - <p> - “Nice place!” he said approvingly. - </p> - <p> - “Yes—I like the roots!” She patted one of them beside her. - </p> - <p> - He looked at it vaguely. - </p> - <p> - “Fine!” he said. - </p> - <p> - She smiled, but she did not explain. - </p> - <p> - “Why didn’t you ever sit here before?” he demanded, looking about him. - </p> - <p> - The needle paused. “Why—?... We never owned it before!” - </p> - <p> - “You didn’t have to own it—to sit on it.” - </p> - <p> - “Oh, yes I did! Owning it is half the sitting on it!” - </p> - <p> - He threw himself on the ground beside her and looked up into the oak-tree, - throwing back his head. - </p> - <p> - Her puzzled eyes regarded him. - </p> - <p> - “I should never think of coming out here to sit—if we didn’t own it—you - know that.” - </p> - <p> - “Hah! Just like a woman!” - </p> - <p> - She pricked the needle through the muslin in her hand. - </p> - <p> - “There was the fence,” she said. - </p> - <p> - “Climb over!” He had taken a pipe from his pocket. - </p> - <p> - She reached out her hand. “Not before dinner!” decisively. “You’ll spoil - your appetite!” She captured the pipe. - </p> - <p> - “Oh, very well!” He leaned against the tree and watched her. - </p> - <p> - She was folding her sewing neatly. “I should <i>never</i> have climbed - over!” She pinned the work together in a compact roll and nodded to him. - </p> - <p> - “You could have gone round—” he said with a teasing note. - </p> - <p> - “You know what I mean, Dick! I shouldn’t have wanted to sit under a tree - that did not belong to us—and that belonged to the Martins or to the - Suttons, or to anybody—and not in our own yard—nobody would!” - </p> - <p> - “Funny idea!” said Dick slowly. “Same tree, same place, just Ours!” - </p> - <p> - She smiled at him. “Help me up! It’s time for dinner.” - </p> - <p> - He strolled across the grass beside her to the house, and helped set the - table while she was in the kitchen. - </p> - <p> - He did not smoke his pipe. She had laid it on a high shelf over the mantel - as she came in. She had to climb on a chair to reach the mantel. Dick - could have reached it with one lift of his hand. But he only eyed it, - half-humorously, as he set out doilies and finger-bowls and counted - spoons, and called out to the kitchen to know how many forks were needed. - </p> - <p> - Not for worlds would he have taken down the pipe—not for a single - whiff. He had a kind of savage pleasure in it—watching it up there—with - its old familiar brown bowl turned to the wall.... Time had been when that - pipe was his only friend.... He did not own a house and lot then—and - an oak-tree.... - </p> - <p> - He peeped out of the window at the tree, serene in the evening light.... - Suddenly he saw a Chinese Coat—blue and gold, she had said it was; - and the happiness in his face deepened. He whistled softly between his - teeth as he arranged forks and spoons.... “<i>Our</i> forks and spoons!” - he said—and laughed out. - </p> - <p> - She came to the door. “What are you talking about?” - </p> - <p> - “Nothing—my dear—nothing!” and she returned to the kitchen. - </p> - <p> - Richard More had not married until he was thirty-five. Eleanor was - twenty-six. It had not been easy to win her. She had her tutoring to - do.... He took her away from her home town—into his kitchen. But he - knew she was happy—far happier than she had been in her little world - that looked up to her.... As for himself, he felt as if he moved in a new - world—a great world that stretched through leagues—to the moon—or - the sun.... The pipe-dreams of old days seemed like hen-coop dreams in the - spaces in Eleanor’s mind. Each day he began exploration anew; and each - day, in the little circle of her being, he seemed to sweep out into the - world—great cosmic paths, and tracks of stars and shining spaces.... - </p> - <p> - She came from the kitchen, smoothing down the sleeves of her gown and - casting a last look at the table. - </p> - <p> - “Too many forks!” she said. - </p> - <p> - She removed one from each plate, and put it back in its place—neatly - in its compartment in the drawer of the shining sideboard. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - V - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span> MONTH later he - hurried home one day from work. It was Saturday noon, and a half-holiday - for him. - </p> - <p> - She was finishing her luncheon. The light in the half-darkened dining-room - seemed to him mysterious and cool as he came in from the street outside. - </p> - <p> - She looked up in surprise. “You are home early!” - </p> - <p> - He glanced at her plate. “Through luncheon?” - </p> - <p> - “Almost—Do you want something?” - </p> - <p> - “No. I’ve had mine—Let’s go off somewhere!” - </p> - <p> - In ten minutes she was ready and they left the house. He tucked the key in - his vest pocket and they hurried across the lawn to catch an outgoing car. - </p> - <p> - As he passed the oak-tree he glanced at it with a knowing smile. He might - almost have been said to wag his head at it. And he patted the pocket - where the key lay.... Close beside the key were five round golden disks—little - yellow disks that might at any minute turn into great gold dragons. - </p> - <p> - They left the car at a fork in the road and were in the open country; they - climbed a high hill, and a hill behind the high hill, and came out at last - upon a bluff overlooking miles of country. - </p> - <p> - She took off her hat and sat down with a happy sigh, lifting her face to - the breeze that came across the hill. - </p> - <p> - “Isn’t it good!” - </p> - <p> - He nodded, without speaking. His eyes were on the mountains in the - distance. His heart was talking to five gold coins that lay just over it - and caused it to beat in a jolly happy rhythm. - </p> - <p> - He put out a hand and touched hers. - </p> - <p> - “Something nice has happened today!” he said. - </p> - <p> - She turned her eyes to him. - </p> - <p> - “I think this is pretty nice!” Her hand swept all the reach of space about - them. - </p> - <p> - “Guess,” he said teasingly. - </p> - <p> - “Something we want?” - </p> - <p> - “Of course. More than anything in the world,” he said after a minute. - </p> - <p> - She turned her eyes on him gravely. She looked at him a full minute. “How - do you know that?” she said softly. - </p> - <p> - “I know.” He moved nearer to her, and they watched the light change and - sweep in great shadows across the fields below. “You want it—more - than anything in the world,” he said, speaking slowly. “I knew you did—when - I took it for the lot.” - </p> - <p> - She patted the hand that lay beside her own. - </p> - <p> - “I did not want it—not so <i>very</i> much,” she said. “Anyway, I - wanted the lot more.... And, besides, I’ve been so busy getting ready for - Annabel——” - </p> - <p> - “Getting ready for William Archer,” he corrected gravely. - </p> - <p> - “Getting ready for Annabel—” she pursued, “that I have not had time - to think about things—just things for myself.” - </p> - <p> - “This is not just for yourself—it is for me, too.” - </p> - <p> - She turned a startled, half-questioning look at him. - </p> - <p> - He nodded gayly, watching her face. “Did you think <i>I</i> didn’t want - that Chinese coat?” - </p> - <p> - “Oh, did you?” Her face had flushed like a child’s. “I thought I was—just - silly about it!” - </p> - <p> - “So you were. That’s why I wanted it for you.... But, of course, it was - sensible to get the lot.” - </p> - <p> - “Of course!” Her assent was wholehearted and happy. - </p> - <p> - “So now we’re going to get the coat, too—to-day. I had some money - come in”—he patted his pocket—“and there’s enough.” - </p> - <p> - “It may be gone—!” she said quickly. - </p> - <p> - “Don’t think so. I sent over word. They’ve got a Chinese coat.” - </p> - <p> - “Oh, I <i>hope</i> it is the same one—!” She breathed a happy sigh. - </p> - <p> - “We ought to go right away!” She started up. - </p> - <p> - “Time enough.” He spoke lazily. “I told them to hold it—till five - o’clock.” He took out his watch. “Two hours. Plenty of time.” - </p> - <p> - She sank back. Presently she looked at him. - </p> - <p> -“I never guessed how much I wanted it! I did not know!"—after a little pause—"I think I did not let myself know.” - </p> - <p> -Then they talked for a while about Annabel--whose name was William -Archer, he pointed out to her.... -</p> - <p> -And they laid plans that ran far ahead -into the future—almost till Annabel was an old lady and lonely—only -she would have married by that time--and there would be other -Annabels.... It seemed to stretch away infinitely. - </p> - <p> -It was all wonderful—and mysterious. She turned and buried her face in -the moss for a long time and was very quiet. - </p> - <p> - <br /> And overhead a great bird passed by. Richard watched the circling - flight. - </p> - <p> - She patted her hair and began to pin on her hat. - </p> - <p> - He watched her, smiling gravely. - </p> - <p> - “Now we will go and buy the coat,” he said—“that wonderful Chinese - coat—blue and gold, I think you said, my dear—with the great - gold dragons on it!” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - VI - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>s they drew near - the store he became aware that she was deeply excited; there was a little - flush in her face, and she walked with quickened step. He laid his hand on - her arm protectingly. But she did not slow her pace. - </p> - <p> - “Plenty of time,” he said softly in her ear. - </p> - <p> - She only gave him a sidelong glance and hurried on. - </p> - <p> - “It may not be the one!” she murmured as they entered the store. - </p> - <p> - “Then we’ll hunt till we find one like it!” he replied valiantly. - </p> - <p> - Through the elevator grills she recognized the woman who had waited on her - before, and she went swiftly toward her. - </p> - <p> - “We have come to see the coat,” she said simply. - </p> - <p> - The woman looked at her, almost in pity, it seemed. - </p> - <p> - “There’s another party interested in the coat—You mean the Chinese - coat, I suppose?” - </p> - <p> - Eleanor’s face was blank. There was a little catch in her throat. - </p> - <p> - The woman reached down a hand beneath the counter. “We promised to hold it—” - She glanced at the clock, and drew out a box. - </p> - <p> - “The other party said he was pretty sure to take it.” - </p> - <p> - Through the tissue-paper a maze of blue and gold showed dimly. - </p> - <p> - She lifted the paper, throwing it back. - </p> - <p> - “I guess I’m the other party,” said Richard More. He stooped forward, - smiling a little. - </p> - <p> - “Of course you are!” said Eleanor with a breath of relief. “Of course you - are—the ’other party’.” - </p> - <p> - She turned to the woman. “It was my husband wanted to see it,” she said - almost proudly. - </p> - <p> - The woman consulted a slip of paper. “Name of ’More’.” she asked. - </p> - <p> - Richard nodded. “Let’s have a look at it.” - </p> - <p> - The woman lifted the garment from the box and flung it wide on the counter - before them; and all the color in it glowed softly and the colors that lay - on the counter about it glared and seemed hard. - </p> - <p> - “Pretty thing!” said Richard More. He pulled his mustache a little - nervously. - </p> - <p> - The woman lifted the coat and shook it out. - </p> - <p> - “Let madam try it on,” she suggested. - </p> - <p> - She came from behind the counter and placed it on Eleanor’s shoulders, - smoothing the folds. - </p> - <p> - “It’s not a usual garment—Not every one could wear a garment like - that.” She moved back a little, gazing with half-closed eyes. - </p> - <p> - “It suits madam perfectly!” - </p> - <p> - The husband surveyed it. “Turn around,” he commanded. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor turned and moved from him down the cleared space to the mirror. - And he was conscious of something remote in her movements. She seemed to - withdraw, to hold herself removed, wrapped in the blue and gold folds of - the coat. - </p> - <p> - He moved after her and she turned and faced him. - </p> - <p> - “It’s all right!” he said approvingly. - </p> - <p> - He half put out his hand to touch an end of blue sleeve that trailed away - to a tasselled cord.... Then he withdrew his hand. “It’s all right!” he - repeated vaguely. - </p> - <p> - The clerk came forward and lifted the tassel and let it fall in place; her - fingers sprayed over the garment in an easy, official way. - </p> - <p> - “How much is it?” asked Richard More. - </p> - <p> - She consulted the tag hanging on a bit of gold cord in front. She dropped - it. - </p> - <p> - “Ninety-five dollars,” she said indifferently. - </p> - <p> - She stooped to arrange a fold of the coat. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More turned a little. She seemed to gaze down with wide, - reproachful eyes at the woman’s bent form. - </p> - <p> - Her husband’s tone was crisp. “We understood the price was—less than - that,” he said. - </p> - <p> - The woman straightened herself and looked at him. “That was last month—for - the sale. It was marked down.” - </p> - <p> - “And now it’s marked up, is it?” he asked a little cynically. - </p> - <p> - She assented and touched the coat gently with her fingers, stroking it. - “It is a coat Mr. Stewart bought himself,” she said—“in China. He - found it when he was buying goods—and liked it. But we’ve had it in - stock some time, and he told me to mark it down for the sale. After that, - when no one bought it”—she seemed to look at Eleanor almost with - reproachful eyes—“then he told me to put back the original price.... - It’s more than worth it, of course.” - </p> - <p> - “Of course,” said Richard absently. He was wondering how much Eleanor - really wanted the coat. - </p> - <p> - She had not spoken from the moment it was laid on her shoulders. She - seemed to have withdrawn into it—to have become an inaccessible part - of its mystery and charm. - </p> - <p> - “I had not expected—to pay more than fifty dollars,” said Richard - More slowly. “I happen to have that amount with me——-” - </p> - <p> - The woman waited on the suggestion.... She looked at the two people before - her. - </p> - <p> - “I’ll speak to Mr. Stewart—if he hasn’t gone. It’s not like regular - stock. I don’t know whether he would sell it for less——” - </p> - <p> - She moved away from them down the store and they stood, with all the dummy - figures standing around, and waited for her. - </p> - <p> - Richard More did not speak. He longed to ask his wife whether she wanted - it as much as that—as much as ninety-five dollars. But he could not - shape the words that would say it. He almost wondered whether she would - understand—if he asked her. - </p> - <p> - She stood with her hands hanging idle and her eyes looking down. She was - like a prehistoric creature—an Oriental Madonna of ageless form and - beauty.... Almost, he fancied, there were tears in the lidded eyes.... He - started and turned brusquely. - </p> - <p> - The clerk was coming back. He looked at her keenly as she came toward - them. - </p> - <p> - She shook her head. “Ninety-five dollars,” she said. “But you can have a - charge, of course.” - </p> - <p> - His hand moved to his pocket and his eyes were on his wife’s face. - </p> - <p> - She turned, with a shiver of the long silken lines, and she threw back the - coat with a laugh. - </p> - <p> - “How absurd, Richard I—We can’t pay all that money—for a - whim!” - </p> - <p> - His hand stayed itself from the pocket. “Don’t you want it?” he asked - doubt-ingly. - </p> - <p> - “Of course not!” She shook the coat from her and stepped out. - </p> - <p> - The woman caught it with a quick gesture as it fell. - </p> - <p> - His hand waited, fingering the coins in his pocket. “I think we could - manage it——” - </p> - <p> - “Oh—! I don’t want it!” She ignored the woman. She moved swiftly - past her and was half-way to the elevator. He sprang after her, with a - backward glance of apology at the woman, who stood with the coat on her - arm, gazing after them. - </p> - <p> - In the elevator Eleanor shivered a little, and he squeezed her arm in his - in the darkness. - </p> - <p> - “It’s all right!” he said soothingly, beneath his breath. - </p> - <p> - She nodded and pressed a little against him. - </p> - <p> - When they stepped into the light he glanced at her face. It had almost a - tragic look. - </p> - <p> - “Better go back and get it,” he said peremptorily. “Hang the price!” - </p> - <p> - But she shook her head. - </p> - <p> - Half-way to the door, he touched her arm. “Let’s get it!” he said - coax-ingly. - </p> - <p> - “<i>I don’t want it!</i>” She turned a gaze on him—half-tragic, - half-humorous.... “Do you know why I would not get it?” she demanded. - </p> - <p> - “I don’t know anything!” he declared, jostling through the crowd to keep - pace with her. “I’m incapable of knowing—<i>anything!</i>” - </p> - <p> - She smiled—a little wistful smile—up at him. “I wouldn’t get - it.... Can you hear me?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes. I can hear you.” He bent his head to her, and they moved as a unit - through the crowd. “I can hear you. Go ahead!” - </p> - <p> - “I thought suddenly”—she gasped a little—“how <i>awful</i> it - would be if Annabel should ever want to have clothes—things to wear—as - badly as I wanted that coat—and all those dear little beasts winding - around on it!... It wasn’t a coat!” Her lips were close to his ear, a - little smile seemed to run from them to him, and he laughed out. - </p> - <p> - “It wasn’t a coat!” she said fiercely. “It was a blue and gold temptation—with - dragons! I wouldn’t have it—at any price!” - </p> - <p> - “Not for fifty dollars?” he asked—and he bent a keen look at her - unconscious face in the crowd. - </p> - <p> - “Not if they would give it to me!” she said with swift decision. “I want - Annabel to be mild in her nature!” - </p> - <p> - Richard More followed her. Privately he fancied that Annabel would be a - person who would know her own mind. If she wanted a blue and gold coat, - she would have it, he thought; and if she didn’t want a blue and gold - coat, she wouldn’t have it, he thought.... And William Archer—? Well—blue - and gold were not exactly colors to be desired in the case of William - Archer. In any case Annabel and William Archer must look out for - themselves. - </p> - <p> - He was going back to-morrow, or the first chance he could, and buy that - Chinese coat for his wife. He wanted it for her.... As they made their way - out of the store, he saw it again, wrapped about her, and he saw the - down-bent face with its look of mystery, rising above the shimmering - folds. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - VII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">S</span>he seemed to have - brought away with her some secret of the coat—a touch of its mystery - and charm. - </p> - <p> - Richard watched her as she went about the house, occupied with little - things. He fancied there was a look in her face that came and went - shadowily—as if the curtains before a hidden place were swept aside - by an unseen wind.... And before he could look again—it was gone. - </p> - <p> - Her face in repose was very common-place, he knew; it had grown a little - full and there was a humorous, almost conceited, little upward twist to - the mouth, that he found annoying.... And then suddenly, when she was off - guard, the look had fled and he was gazing at the strange face. - </p> - <p> - He found himself growing troubled, driven by a force he did not quite - comprehend—a disbelief in the solid earth and the turning of the - seasons.... He had sown grass-seed in the new lot; the wall was finished - and vines had been planted at its base. But the lot had to his eyes an - unsubstantial look. He had an almost superstitious feeling that it had - been bought with a price. - </p> - <p> - He had gone back for the Chinese coat the Monday morning after they were - there. He was waiting at the door when the store opened and he hurried - directly to the first floor, too impatient to wait for the elevator to - make its trip. - </p> - <p> - The woman saw him coming. She stopped her work and waited.... He fancied - her look was a little startled. - </p> - <p> - He told her he would take the coat. He would pay part on it and have the - rest charged—he would take it with him. - </p> - <p> - Little by little he grasped the fact that the coat was gone. - </p> - <p> - “But we were here late! There was no one else.... You had no <i>chance</i> - to sell it!” He could have believed she was lying to him. - </p> - <p> - But her face was open—and there was unmistakable regret in her - voice. “I would have reserved it for you with pleasure over Sunday, or - longer—if you had told me.... I thought your wife did not care for - it.” - </p> - <p> - “She—she may have thought the price was a little steep,” he - admitted. “But I wanted her to have it—I intended she should have - it.” - </p> - <p> - “I am sorry. A woman came—not two minutes after you left—I - still had the coat on my arm. She must have been in the elevator that came - up as you went down.... And the minute she saw the coat she stopped. She - seemed to know she wanted it. - </p> - <p> - “I tried it on her right there where we stood, and she bought it and paid - for it and took it away.... I don’t think she meant to buy a coat when she - came up. She was looking for something else, I think, and happened to see - the coat and took a fancy to it and bought it. I’m sorry you did not tell - me to save it.... It was much more becoming to your wife. It really seemed - made for your wife.” Her voice was full of interest and a gentle kindness. - </p> - <p> - There were no customers in the store; he felt as if he and the woman were - alone in a vast place. She was not a mere clerk. She seemed linked with - the coat and its destiny, and with their lives. - </p> - <p> - He thanked her and went away. And the next day he went again to see if - they could get him a duplicate of the coat—if he left an order. - </p> - <p> - She looked at him tolerantly. “A coat like that,” her glance seemed to - say, “is to be taken when you have the chance—and not be coming back - for duplicate orders!” - </p> - <p> - “There was not a chance in a thousand,” she told him. - </p> - <p> - “I’ll take your order, of course, and I’ll tell Mr. Stewart. But they - don’t make those coats by the dozen; and, besides, it is very, very old—hundreds - of years, perhaps.” - </p> - <p> - “I know!” He groaned a little. - </p> - <p> - He seemed to see all the mysterious color of the coat and the shimmer of - its folds—and the look in Eleanor’s face. “I hope you can get - something like it for us,” he said inanely. - </p> - <p> - He had not gone back to inquire again. - </p> - <p> - They had his address; they were to send him word if they found anything. - Mr. Stewart was to make a trip to the East very soon. She would send him - word. - </p> - <p> - It was left at that. They would send him word.... He planned, in the back - of his mind, to buy the coat for Eleanor but not to give it to her—not - just yet. He would buy it, he thought, and put it away; and when William - Archer arrived, he would bring it out and throw it about her shoulders. He - liked to fancy her in it and to think how it would help her disappointment - about Annabel.... She could enjoy it to the full. She would not be afraid - of injuring Annabel or her morals—when William Archer was there. - </p> - <p> - But no word came and the months slipped by. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - VIII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HEN, one evening, - Richard More came home from the office and found a new look in his house. - He knew it, even before he caught a glimpse of a nurse’s white cap - hurrying through the lower hall and before the doctor met him at the foot - of the stair. - </p> - <p> - “I am just going,” said the doctor. - </p> - <p> - “Going—?” Richard caught himself. “Has it come?” - </p> - <p> - The doctor smiled at him—at the ignorance and youthful credulity of - it. - </p> - <p> - “I shall be back in an hour or two. Everything is going splendidly. Your - wife has courage!” And he was gone. - </p> - <p> - “Courage—Eleanor? Of course she had courage! She was made of it. - What did the doctor know about Eleanor’s courage?” He hurried up the - stairs... the fleeting sense of life in his quick steps. - </p> - <p> - She turned to him with the little upward twist of her lip. “It’s all - right, Dickie!” - </p> - <p> - There was no mystery, no courage—only Eleanor’s competent look as if - there were dusting to be done, and men-folks were better out of the - way.... And yet, behind it, he had a sense that she withdrew to some high - place, to a remote, inaccessible cliff, and looked down on him with wide - eyes. - </p> - <p> - He wandered miserably about the house; a part of the night he slept, and - part of it he spent at the telephone, sending orders for the doctor and - nurse, and answering the door-bell when the response came.... All through - the early hours he longed fiercely for the arrival of William Archer. - Then, as the night went on, he lost interest in William Archer and his - coming, and would have welcomed Annabel.... And he cast aside even the - thought of Annabel. He longed only for an end to the misery.... And when - at last the doctor said in businesslike tones, “A fine girl, Mr. More!” he - only blinked at him, and his tousled hair took on a more rebellious twist. - </p> - <p> - “A fine girl! What of it!... What had girls to do with this?” - </p> - <p> - “A fine girl” did not connect herself, in any vague way, with Annabel or - with life.... Probably a new girl for the kitchen....! Well, they needed a - girl! They needed a dozen girls! - </p> - <p> - He wandered out miserably—and the doctor followed him with a quick - look and something in a glass. - </p> - <p> - “Here, drink this!” - </p> - <p> - And Richard drank it—and looked at him stupidly. Something was - happening inside his brain—things were growing more settled and - luminous. A smile wreathed his face. - </p> - <p> - “It’s a girl, is it?” he cried jubilantly. - </p> - <p> - The doctor nodded. - </p> - <p> - Richard More clapped him on the shoulder. - </p> - <p> - “Good work!” he said. - </p> - <p> - The doctor removed the shoulder gently. He turned toward Eleanor’s room. - </p> - <p> - “You can stay outside,” he said as he disappeared. “We shall not need you - for a while.” - </p> - <p> - And Richard sat down in his parlor on the small sofa and took his tousled - head in his hands and held it fast. He may have dozed a little. - </p> - <p> - When he got up and straggled to the kitchen, he found a strange woman - making a fire in the range. - </p> - <p> - She had finished polishing off the top of the range and held a black cloth - in her hand. The hand was very black, he noticed. - </p> - <p> - He nodded to her and went past her to the door and opened it. The world - looked very fresh. The earth and the grass on either side the path were - very dark and moist—as if they had been dipped in some curious - fluid, and the sky had a kind of luminous quality—swelling with - fulness and a freshness of light. - </p> - <p> - Richard More looked up at it and drew in a deep breath—and with the - intake he understood, for the first time, that all men see the earth - new-washed one morning in their lives. He had a sense of kinship with the - earth and with every one living on the earth. - </p> - <p> - When he turned back to the kitchen, the woman was putting the black cloth - under the sink. - </p> - <p> - “It’s a girl!” he said. He tried in vain to keep the morning out of his - voice. - </p> - <p> - “Glory be to God!” said the woman. She turned promptly and straightened - her back and beamed on him. - </p> - <p> - He held out his hand to her and grasped the blackened one. He did not - suspect how many young fathers had shaken hands with cooks. - </p> - <p> - His experience was unique. He looked about the kitchen with satisfaction. - </p> - <p> - Ellen Murphy brought some broth and put it on the gas-range. - </p> - <p> - He watched her with kindling eyes. - </p> - <p> - He had been familiar with his kitchen before. But it had not looked to him - just as it looked now.... That broth she was heating was for <i>his wife</i>... - to keep her alive. He looked at a row of saucepans with intelligent gaze. - </p> - <p> - Ellen Murphy tested the broth and went from the room, carrying it with - careful hand. - </p> - <p> - He watched her disappear and looked about the homelike room.... She was - going to feed Eleanor. Just outside the door was the ice-box, where he had - blundered in the night, breaking up the ice, crushing it for the doctor—they - had told him to hurry—hurry!... Ages ago it seemed. And now Eleanor - was to have her broth. She was being fed.... Those stew-pans over there - were for her. Somehow out of this kitchen, she was to be fed, his baby was - being fed—they were all being fed! - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - IX - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">H</span>e thrust his hands - into his pockets and strolled down the back path to the chicken-yard. He - peered through the wire at the strutting fowls. His hair was tousled, - there were red rims about his eyes—and he had never felt so alive. - </p> - <p> - The chicken-yard was close to the back fence; on the other side of the - fence were chicken-yards that belonged to the houses at the rear. - </p> - <p> - They were very common people in the houses at the rear. And the houses - themselves, facing on the parallel street, were unsightly and small. - Richard had taken pains to have no relations with the houses in the rear. - He had an instinctive sense that it might lead to complications. - </p> - <p> - A man was at work in the yard across the fence, digging a post-hole. - Richard’s eye fell on him. He came nearer to the fence and leaned on it - and looked over. The man looked up. - </p> - <p> - Richard nodded. “Fine morning!” he called. - </p> - <p> - The man nodded a reply, and shifted his pipe in his teeth and thrust his - shovel into the ground. His back was very broad, Richard noticed. There - was something mighty in the swing of the great shoulders as they flung up - the earth out of the hole. - </p> - <p> - Richard watched a minute in silence. The man paused and wiped his forehead - with the back of his hand. He spit casually on his palms and took up the - shovel. - </p> - <p> - Richard’s voice halted him and he put down the shovel and came over to the - fence. Richard smiled a little awkwardly. - </p> - <p> - “I didn’t mean to stop your work. I was wondering what you were going to - put there.” He indicated the hole. - </p> - <p> - The man’s face was broad, and a little stupid. It stared at Richard. Then - it looked at the hole. - </p> - <p> - “It’s a new run I’m making for the hens. The old one’s dusty.” - </p> - <p> - “I see!... You’ve got a fine lot of birds!” Richard waved a hand. - </p> - <p> - “Pretty good!” The man eyed them with slow pride. “Got nine eggs - yesterday,” he said. - </p> - <p> - “It’s a great morning!” responded Richard. - </p> - <p> - The man’s gaze lifted itself to the clear, fresh-washed sky, and came back - and rested on the oak-tree across the lot. “<i>You’ve</i> got a pretty - place—nice tree over there!” - </p> - <p> - Richard wheeled and faced it. “I bought that tree last spring—needed - more room—for the children—to play.” He spoke with offhand - fatherhood. - </p> - <p> - “You got children?” said the man. His voice was astonished and a little - pleased. - </p> - <p> - “One,” said Richard. “A little girl.” - </p> - <p> - The man nodded pleasantly. “I never saw her playing round,” he said - simply. - </p> - <p> - “No—well... She was born this morning!” Richard laughed out. - </p> - <p> - The man smiled at him a slow, deep smile.... And all his face changed in - the light. - </p> - <p> - “Say, that’s great!” he exclaimed. - </p> - <p> - “You’re a man now!” he added after a minute. The rough face grew quiet and - strong. And Richard had a sense of something human that stirred in him. - This man digging a post-hole had known! - </p> - <p> - They stood a minute in silence, looking about them at the morning and the - free space of sky and watching the sun that had come over the roofs of the - shabby houses. - </p> - <p> - It shone full in Richard’s eyes. He turned abruptly. - </p> - <p> - “I must go in for breakfast.” - </p> - <p> - The man spat absently on the ground and went back to his shovelling. - </p> - <p> - In the chicken-yard the hens scuttled about, picking up chaff and bits of - grain out of the dust. Over in the corner of Richard More’s yard stood the - great oak-tree spreading its branches wide; and in the lot at the rear the - stolid, unkempt man lifted his shovel and thrust it into the ground and - threw out a handful of earth.... - </p> - <p> - As Richard went up the path, he glanced at the house—The blinds of - the upper window to the east were being drawn carefully together.... She - was lying there in the shaded room. She would be sleeping now.... And - suddenly he saw her in the blue coat, as if she lay wrapped in its folds—in - her slumber. He had a sense of loss—that he had not given it to - her.... Perhaps he should never be able to give it to her now. - </p> - <p> - He glanced at the oak-tree, standing majestic in the lot across the lawn - with its great gnarled roots protruding from the ground. And as he went up - the path he had a sudden blind sense, almost of anger, at the oak-tree and - its strength. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - X - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>he thing that - surprised Richard most was the ease and efficiency with which Eleanor - handled Annabel—she seemed to know by instinct things that Richard - could not understand—and that he could not understand how she came - by. - </p> - <p> - If she reached out her hands to take Annabel, her fingers seemed, of - themselves, to curve into the places where they would fit into the - spineless bundle and give it support. If Richard tried to take up the - bundle, his fingers fell away like the legs of the brittle crab and the - bundle collapsed, incalculable and helpless. - </p> - <p> - “How do you do it?” he would say. And he would right Annabel and try to - still her protests. - </p> - <p> - And Eleanor would only smile gently, and send him on some masculine errand - while she soothed Annabel’s feelings in the proper way. - </p> - <p> - Richard had once watched a cat with her kittens and he had a vivid sense - of the kinship of method—so had kittens always been brought into the - world and tended; so they would always be—likewise babies. - </p> - <p> - It was not something that could be read in a book or taught in a - school.... Eleanor grew very beautiful these days. The little upward twist - left her mouth; and if it grew almost too knowing in its sense of the - boundless and accumulated wisdom of ages as regards babies—that, - Richard decided, was Annabel’s fault.... Really, to know how to manage a - little handful like Annabel might make any one proud. - </p> - <p> - For one thing, Annabel knew exactly what she wanted.... And she usually - got it. She was often disciplined on the way to it, and thwarted—but - in the end she got what she wanted. - </p> - <p> - As Richard More watched Annabel’s progress through life, he thought more - than once of the regal gesture with which Annabel’s mother had thrown back - the Chinese coat and cast it aside for Annabel’s sake.... - </p> - <p> - And now he saw Annabel! Life was often very puzzling. But Richard More had - not time to spend working it out. He was too prosperous to puzzle. - Whatever he put his hand to seemed to flourish. Men came to have faith in - his ventures, and to watch for his investments as pointers to success. His - business increased and his family increased.... William Archer came in due - season, and then Claude, and then Martin, and Christine, and that was the - end. - </p> - <p> - The children grew up healthy and normal, except Claude. There seemed some - obscure trouble with the boy, and before he was six years old it had - declared itself. Within a year, in spite of expensive doctors and care, he - died. That had been their first and their only real sorrow. - </p> - <p> - It was when they came back to the house from the funeral that he told - Eleanor of his second attempt to get the coat for her.... They were alone - in the house. The children had been sent away during the child’s illness - and had not come back. - </p> - <p> - He fancied Eleanor drooped a little as they came into the house; and his - mind went out for something to comfort her.... It encountered the Chinese - coat. - </p> - <p> - So, as they sat together in the house that seemed so curiously desolate - and different from their usual life together, he told her of the morning - he went back to Stewart’s and of his disappointment, and of how he had - never quite given up hope that some day Stewart would send for him and - tell him to come and get the coat. - </p> - <p> - She listened with wide, set eyes—almost like a child to a - fairy-tale. - </p> - <p> - “That was very dear of you, Richard!” she said. And she smiled to him, - almost as she smiled to the children, and he felt the quick tears in his - eyes. - </p> - <p> - And then suddenly she had thrown herself in his arms. - </p> - <p> - “Oh, Dick, I am so lonely!” she cried. - </p> - <p> - And that was the way she came back to him. - </p> - <p> - After that, although she still guided the children and her hand was on the - helm in all decisions, it was to Richard she turned for assurance. - </p> - <p> - She had come apparently to uncharted waters, and she did not try to make - soundings. - </p> - <p> - And Richard More was as puzzled by her reliance on him as he had been by - her wisdom with babies and with life. - </p> - <p> - It did not occur to him that in her reliance, too, there might be a kind - of wisdom—not to be expounded by logic, perhaps—but deep as - life.... For himself, he knew that he had not wisdom to advise any one. He - simply did what he could—and when his advice prospered, he was as - naively and proudly surprised as any one. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XI - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HE children were - brought up in the oak-tree. Richard made a cradle-box at the end of one of - the low boughs that almost swept the ground and there was always one baby - in the box on the bough and one on the ground among the roots—a new - one that had just come down from the bough. - </p> - <p> - And then, presently, one of those on the ground—with the help of - Eleanor and a chair—climbed to the first branches close to the - trunk.... Then another one climbed, and another, till they were all - swarming in the great oak—no longer close to the trunk, but far out - on the branches among the leaves, swinging and lilting in the wind. - </p> - <p> - The boys played they were sailors climbing the masts that swayed giddily - beneath them; they sat on cross-beams and gazed out to sea; or they were - on the scaffolding of tall buildings, hammering great steel beams into - place as the sky-scrapers rose in the air; or they were the advance force - of an army—scouting aeroplanes, swooping toward a besieged town. - </p> - <p> - Between the branches of the great tree and the wind that swayed them or - drove shrilly against them, the boys adventured on life. But Annabel made - of the tree an outdoor home as like the one across the lawn as the leaves - and branches and a great trunk shooting up through the centre would - permit. The tree-trunk was the chimney, of course, and she had roaring - fires in every room, up stairs and down, and cooking and sweeping and - dusting, with lively flourishes and much running up and down stairs. She - was a little lonely at times, because the boys—who did not really - care for the game—would suddenly desert her for excursions in the - aeroplanes, or to shoot arrows from the house-top. She was liable to find - herself, at any moment, with her house swept and dusted, and no one to - live in it with her. Only down from the top among the leaves and the - swaying limbs would come wild growls and quick whispers—intent and - breathless calls to action.... Then Annabel would leave her dust-cloths - and her pots and pans, and creep stealthily up, up, up—till the - topmost branch was reached, and the wind blew in her face, and her little - pigtails stood straight out with delight and she was filled with the glow - of life. For days she would play the game in the top of the tree. And - then, some morning, she would find herself back among her treasures—her - sticks and bits of moss and leaves, close to the trunk of the tree, going - up and down stairs in happy content; and her imagination would grow deep - and intent. Her face, pressed against the bark, seemed no longer to need - the swing of the dangerous branches and the surging of the wind to rouse - it. She would sit close to the trunk of the tree on a solid limb, and play - the great game almost without stirring—a deep silent game that - stirred her to the very core.... The boys were willing to play house with - her and sometimes to sweep and dust a little along the branches, and visit - back and forth, upstairs and down. But as for sitting on a limb, intent - and still, gazing at what went on beneath the line of sight!... They left - her sitting there alone, gazing at nothing, and fled to the top of the - tree and yelled with shrill vacant calls of delight and relief. - </p> - <p> - But when the youngest baby, who proved happily to be a girl, when the time - for climbing came—when this youngest baby had been pulled and - boosted by Annabel up into the tree beside her, and when two of them could - sit happily side by side, looking at each other in silence, then there - seemed a fairer division of forces. - </p> - <p> - Gradually the boys, when they ventured far out on dangerous limbs, would - feel a silent tug pulling them back to the heart of things. - </p> - <p> - And underneath the tree where the children played, Eleanor sat with her - sewing or reading or with the youngest baby on her lap, and sang to it or - played with it till it was time for it to sleep in its cradle-box in the - tree.... - </p> - <p> - And Richard coming home at night, or at noon on half-holidays, would find - his family there, and he would climb with the boys, or sit with Eleanor - under the tree, or play with the youngest baby. Or he would stroll with - his pipe back and forth across the lawn, puffing it and listening to the - voices that came from the tree, or watch his wife, with the sunlight and - the shadow-leaves falling on her work. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes he took them all for excursions into the country—at first - in street-cars, crowding and piling in; and then in the old surrey that - was big enough to carry them all; and at last in the touring-car that - swept up the miles. - </p> - <p> - There was no pause in his prosperity; though the tax of the growing family - made it a little difficult sometimes to adjust business and family - demands.... And then suddenly the money began to come in and pile up - faster than he could use it. He was counted one of the solid men of the - region; and the family life expanded on all sides. The problem now was not - whether the business could afford it, but whether the children’s - characters could afford it. - </p> - <p> - Richard and Eleanor sought for expensive schools that would force a child - to live simply and fare hard and think keen and straight; and when no such - schools were to be found, Richard took William Archer out of the expensive - school that was making a nonentity of him, and put him into the business - and drove him hard. - </p> - <p> - And Annabel was brought home on the plea that her mother needed her. - </p> - <p> - She was not quite strong that year, it seemed. - </p> - <p> - So Annabel took charge of the house—and of Eleanor and Richard, and - of every one in sight. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HAT Annabel knew - her own mind, there was no question; and that Annabel also knew her - mother’s mind, there was no question in Annabel’s mind.... She was not - perhaps altogether responsible for this feeling about her mother. It would - have taken a more astute person than Annabel to discover that all that - went on underneath Eleanor More’s quiet look was not open for the world to - read. - </p> - <p> - Annabel loved her mother and trusted her; and to the best of her ability - she took care of her—though she knew, with a kind of fierce pity, - that her mother could never be of her own generation, and that she could - not know the real nature of the plans and visions that swept before that - generation. - </p> - <p> - “I am a suffragist!” she announced one day in swift assertion. - </p> - <p> - And Eleanor More looked up with a quiet smile. “I am one, too,” she - replied. - </p> - <p> - Annabel stared at her a minute. “I didn’t know you were—a - suffragist!” - </p> - <p> - Then she looked at her with slow suspicion. - </p> - <p> - “You know what a suffragist is, don’t you?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes.” Eleanor went on with her sewing. - </p> - <p> - “Oh—I Well.... am going to march—in the procession!” She was - watching her mother’s face. - </p> - <p> - “When is the procession?” There was a little upward twist to Eleanor’s lip - that might have been amusement at her position, or dismay. “When did you - say the procession is?” - </p> - <p> - “Next week—Monday.... You going to march?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes.” Eleanor threaded her needle and drew in the end and twisted it into - a skilful knot. “Yes—I think I shall march.” It was quite casual, - and she inspected her work. - </p> - <p> - “Well—!” Annabel turned it in her mind. “You’d better get a short - skirt—if you are going to march. You haven’t a thing that clears the - mud!” - </p> - <p> - “Very well.” - </p> - <p> - So Annabel had out her mother’s wardrobe and turned and planned, and had a - woman in to shorten a skirt for her. And all the days before the parade, - she watched her solicitously, and waited on her—as if she were an - invalid. - </p> - <p> - “I can’t bear to have you march in that old parade!” she exclaimed almost - viciously. - </p> - <p> - “I don’t mind it.” - </p> - <p> - “I don’t suppose you do.... But I mind it for you!” She rumpled her hair, - with a quick gesture, like a boy’s. “I’ve no idea what they’ll do. They - may throw sticks at you, or—eggs!” - </p> - <p> - “Well, if it doesn’t hurt you, it won’t hurt me,” said Eleanor placidly. - </p> - <p> - Annabel stared at her. Then she smiled. She shook her head. - </p> - <p> - “It isn’t the same thing,” she declared. “You little know—how much - it isn’t the same thing!” - </p> - <p> - And, after all, the parade was not so terrible. They assembled quietly, - and with importance, at the city hall and marched through the principal - streets, and had speeches; and Eleanor and Annabel marched side by side. - </p> - <p> - And Annabel was so busy guarding her mother from unpleasant experiences, - and looking after her comfort, and providing places for her to sit down - when the procession stopped a minute, that she quite forgot to have - experiences of her own or to be thrilled or frightened at her temerity, or - any of the exciting things that her imagination had cast beforehand. - </p> - <p> - “I call it a rather tame performance!” she declared at dinner that night, - after it was over, “—a rather tame performance!” - </p> - <p> - And Richard, who had stood on the sidewalk and watched his wife and - daughter march past, with a little amused smile, nodded assent. - </p> - <p> - “You made a mistake taking your mother, perhaps?” he suggested mildly. - </p> - <p> - Annabel cast a quick glance at her mother’s unperturbed face, and her look - lightened. - </p> - <p> - “Mother’s a sport!” she declared. “I didn’t take her! She took herself!” - She was silent a minute.... Then—slowly: “I’m not so sure I - shouldn’t have backed out the last minute, you know—if mother hadn’t - been so set on going!” She looked at her meditatively. “You can’t tell - what mother will do!” she declared. “She does the queerest things—queer - for <i>her</i>, I mean!” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XIII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>he next week - Annabel became flitting in her movements. She began to take an interest in - her clothes, and evolved dainty, distracting gowns that made her piquant - face almost beautiful. And she multiplied new ways of doing her hair—a - new way for each new hat—till William Archer declared she might as - well be a week-end visitor. - </p> - <p> - “Don’t you like it?” she demanded. She turned her head for inspection. She - had come down to luncheon in a new hat that defied description. - </p> - <p> - William Archer surveyed it. “Well—it’s different! I can’t say it’s - my idea of a suffragist hat!” - </p> - <p> - “I’m not a suffragist,” said Annabel calmly. - </p> - <p> - “How long since?” asked William Archer. - </p> - <p> - “Oh—quite a while.” - </p> - <p> - Eleanor was looking on with a little, amused smile. - </p> - <p> - “Turncoat!” said William Archer. - </p> - <p> - “I don’t care.... I’d rather be a turncoat than a—frump!” - </p> - <p> - “You don’t have to be——!” - </p> - <p> - “They are—most of them—!” said Annabel viciously. - </p> - <p> - “Why, Annabel—!” It was Eleanor’s voice. “Some of the nicest women - are suffragists. I saw some very fine ones in the parade.” - </p> - <p> - Annabel turned indignant eyes on her. - </p> - <p> - “I saw <i>one</i> there! And I hope never to see her again!” She said it - severely, and the family laughed out. - </p> - <p> - She nodded her head sagely under its tilting hat that came down well over - one eye, and gave her a young and military look—as if she were - winning her spurs. - </p> - <p> - “You may laugh!” she declared. “It’s no place for mother!” - </p> - <p> - “All right for you, I suppose?” suggested her father teasingly. - </p> - <p> - “I told you I’d got over it,” she said firmly. - </p> - <p> - “Like the measles!” said William Archer. - </p> - <p> - She regarded him thoughtfully. “Something like that—you don’t have - it, and you feel well—perfectly well—and then you talk with - some one, or have tea or something, and you get all excited and - uncomfortable——” - </p> - <p> - “And break out—” said William Archer. - </p> - <p> - “Yes—and see your mother walking in the middle of the street—ploughing - along!” Her indignant glance was on Eleanor’s calm face. “I felt just - ashamed!” she declared. - </p> - <p> - “I thought mother walked rather well!” said Richard. - </p> - <p> - “Yes—<i>I</i> was quite proud of mother!” said William Archer. - </p> - <p> - “Well—I hope it’s the last time you’ll have a chance to ’be proud of - mother’—that way!... I never dreamed she would do it!—What - made you?” she asked. She turned an accusing look on her. - </p> - <p> - “Why—I think I—caught it, perhaps,” said Eleanor. “Isn’t your - hat just a little far forward, dear?” - </p> - <p> - Annabel jumped up and went to the glass and adjusted the hat with - conscientious touch. “It looks so simple!” she murmured. “But it really - takes <i>brains!</i>—There—how is that?” She turned for - approval, with serious, intent look. - </p> - <p> - “Just like a French cadet!” said William Archer. He had finished luncheon, - and was standing in the doorway looking back. - </p> - <p> - She made a little mouth at him, and when he had gone she came and stood by - her father’s chair. He looked up. - </p> - <p> - “Where are you off to?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - “There’s the matinee party first; and then Helen’s tea—it’s her day—and - then Harold is going to take me for a spin, if we get out in time.... - Good-by, dear things! I’ll see you at dinner.” - </p> - <p> - She bent and kissed them, and all the elusive perfume and shining color - and the little flitting ends of ribbon fluttered with her from the room. - </p> - <p> - Richard More smiled across at his wife. “Enter <i>Hamlet!</i>” he said. - </p> - <p> - “Yes—It’s all decided!” she added softly. - </p> - <p> - He put down his cup. - </p> - <p> - “When?” - </p> - <p> - “Ages ago—in heaven, I suppose.” She smiled a little wistfully. - </p> - <p> - He looked relieved. “Oh—<i>that</i> kind of deciding!” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XIV - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>hey were alone at - dinner. Annabel came in late and joined them, and there were only the - three of them in the big room. It was very restful—with the shaded - light from the candles; and there was a veiled happiness in the girl’s - smile—a little wistful look that flitted through it when it rested - on her mother’s face. - </p> - <p> - Richard More watched in silence. - </p> - <p> - “Did you have a good time?” he asked abruptly. - </p> - <p> - “Fine!” She crumbled her bread absently. - </p> - <p> - “What make of car is he running now?” - </p> - <p> - “What make—Oh—!” She looked up. “I didn’t notice.” - </p> - <p> - She was scanning her mother’s face—as if she had not quite seen her - before. - </p> - <p> - “I saw the prettiest thing to-day, mother—pretty for you!” She - leaned forward, still gazing at her. “It would just suit you!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes?” Eleanor’s eyes met the look behind the words. “What was it?” - </p> - <p> - “A queer sort of garment—not a kimono exactly, and not a coat—just - a garment.” She threw open her arms with a whimsical gesture. - </p> - <p> - Her mother’s look grew veiled. “Where was it?—where did you see it?” - </p> - <p> - “At Helen’s tea. Mrs. Martin had it.... She helped pour and she had it on - when she came in. She threw it off in the hall—a kind of regal - thing, you know!” She made another gesture and laughed. “And I thought in - a flash of <i>you!</i>” - </p> - <p> - Richard More was looking at his wife—her glance met his. - </p> - <p> - “I am too old to wear a thing like that,” she said tranquilly. - </p> - <p> - The girl shook her head. “It wasn’t old, and it wasn’t young.... It was - just like you!” She said it softly, half to herself under her breath, and - she nodded to her father with a little shy pleasure in the words. “I kept - thinking all the time we were driving—how beautiful you would look - in it.” - </p> - <p> - “What color was it?” asked Richard More. - </p> - <p> - “A sort of blue shade—very deep and rich—and gold things - running all over it—a perfectly stunning thing!” - </p> - <p> - “So you think your mother would look well in something like that?” he said - gravely. - </p> - <p> - His face was turned to his wife. - </p> - <p> - “I should like to see her in it,” said the girl wistfully. “I never - thought before how beautiful mother is! She’s always been—just - mother!... I think she’s growing pretty,” she added reflectively. She was - gazing at her with puzzled eyes. - </p> - <p> - “Go on—tell about the coat!” said Eleanor. - </p> - <p> - “Why—that’s all! I only saw it as she threw it off—and when we - came out, it lay there across a chair and Harold said, ’What a stunning - thing!’ and I said, ’Yes—for mother!’.rdquo; She laughed and Eleanor - smiled faintly. - </p> - <p> - “And then what did he say?” - </p> - <p> - The girl hesitated a minute. - </p> - <p> - “You <i>are</i> growing pretty, you know!” she replied irrelevantly. “And - you’re almost the only woman I know that has wrinkles—nice ones!” - </p> - <p> - “Silly child!” said Eleanor. But her face flushed a little. - </p> - <p> - Annabel nodded. “I’ve been puzzling about it—about faces—lots - of those suffrage women—I didn’t know what it was—I couldn’t - make out! But that’s it—they haven’t any wrinkles!” She said it - triumphantly. - </p> - <p> - “They <i>do</i> keep young,” said Richard More thoughtfully. - </p> - <p> - She turned on him almost fiercely. “It isn’t young! It’s—massage! - I’ve got so I just seem to hate that look—all puffed out and smooth - and softish like putty. It’s a kind of chromo-face,” she said indignantly—“a - just-as-good face, you know!” - </p> - <p> - Her father laughed out. - </p> - <p> - She nodded savagely. “That’s the way I feel, and I didn’t know—till - to-day.” Her voice grew gentle. - </p> - <p> - “When I get old I’m going to have wrinkles—like mother!” - </p> - <p> - “There’s one on your nose, now—where you’re turning it up,” said - Richard. - </p> - <p> - “I don’t care.... Now mother’s wrinkles”—she leaned forward and - touched one lightly with her finger—“mother’s wrinkles are—<i>beautiful!</i>” - </p> - <p> - “You flatter me!” said Eleanor, with a little serene smile mocking the - light in her face. - </p> - <p> - “There—! That’s it! Do you see?” She motioned to her father. “That - little line that makes fun of you!—I’m going to have one just like - that!” She leaned back and looked at the wrinkle with artistic approval. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly she jumped up and came and put her arms around her mother’s neck. - </p> - <p> - “Do you think I would let any one massage that wrinkle off your face—you - dear old thing, you!” She bent and kissed the wrinkle. - </p> - <p> - And Eleanor put up a hand to the smooth cheek, close against her own—with - the little flush coming and going in it. - </p> - <p> - “What did Harold say?” she asked. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XV - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">S</span>O Annabel was - engaged. And then, almost before they knew it, Annabel was married, and - her place was removed from the dining-table, and the circle about the - table closed in a little, and Eleanor looked at it with regretful eyes. - </p> - <p> - But the young people were not far off. And two extra plates had often to - be laid for dinner or luncheon, or even for breakfast; so that the whole - number of plates for the year was perhaps not much reduced. - </p> - <p> - William Archer was paying attention to his neckties and socks, and growing - fussy about the cut of his hair. And the younger children were coming up - with demands for a sensible education that the school system of the - country did not supply. And Richard and Eleanor More still found life a - rich and satisfying adventure. - </p> - <p> - Richard sometimes wondered as he watched her face and the little new - wrinkles coming to it—what life would have been if he had married - some one else—some one besides Eleanor—the Rumley, girl, for - instance.... He was almost engaged to the Rumley girl, at one time, he - remembered.... He had blundered along—and heaven knows, he might - have married the Rumley girl!... The thought always gave him a little - fleeting shiver down his back. And then a sense of strength and well-being - swept over him—of the inevitableness of life. It could not have been - any other way—or any one but Eleanor!... She had said that Annabel’s - engagement was “decided in heaven.”... That was it! - </p> - <p> - People might laugh—and, of course, it was a kind of fatalism—but - things like that had to be.... The sun <i>had</i> to rise in the East - to-morrow morning—that was not fatalism! - </p> - <p> - There was one regret that followed him—though he never mentioned it, - and he seldom thought of it, consciously.... Sometimes a look in Eleanor’s - face would bring it back—and he would wonder why he should mind so - much—that he had not been able to get the coat for her—the - Chinese coat they had seen at Stewart’s that day.... It was not such a - wonderful garment, after all—was it?... He had given her more - expensive things than that—more beautiful things—had he?... - And then he would see her face as she stood for a moment wrapped in its - folds and looking down. - </p> - <p> - The day Annabel mentioned the coat she had seen at the tea he had been - deeply startled. And he wanted to speak to Eleanor about it afterward. But - something held him. Perhaps she had forgotten... perhaps she did not care—so - much as he fancied. - </p> - <p> - Once, when they were going to the opera, he turned in the limousine and - caught a flitting smile on her lips as they flashed by a light and he - asked her what she was thinking about. She laughed out. - </p> - <p> - “The Chinese coat, dear.... I could have worn it to-night.” - </p> - <p> - He could not have told whether there were tears in her voice. He only - thought as she stepped from the car and walked beside him into the lobby - that he had never seen her so beautiful; and he had had the happy sense of - people turning their heads to look at her—stare a little.... - </p> - <p> - There was a kind of radiance about Eleanor sometimes.... He had given her - everything in the world—except the Chinese coat. - </p> - <p> - And the little regret never left him. - </p> - <p> - Later it came to him that Stewart might, after all, have got the coat for - him—and simply be waiting for him to call. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XVI - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">H</span>e went to - Stewart’s that afternoon. The store had been enlarged and greatly changed. - He had not seen it for years—hardly since the day when he arranged, - or thought he arranged, that they were to “send him word.”... Perhaps he - had misunderstood. How foolish he had been not to inquire before.... - Regretting it all these years—and never asking—when perhaps he - had only to walk in and say casually: “You don’t happen to have a coat—a - Chinese coat—that I left an order for—blue and gold, I think - it was—with dragons on it?” - </p> - <p> - But when he asked the casual question, the girl at the counter only shook - her head. She was indifferent. - </p> - <p> - “Was it this week?” she asked. “I’ve only been here a week.” - </p> - <p> - “No—it was... some time ago,” said Richard More. - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps they will know in the buying department. I will ask.” - </p> - <p> - She was gone a long time. And Richard More looked about him. He would not - have known it for the same place—a great skylight had been put in - and the floors cut out from roof to basement, letting down a flood of - light. And the stairs and elevators were changed—they used to be - over there to the left.... It must have been just about here that she - stood when she tried on the coat. He half-closed his eyes and saw her - there—and all the hope and freshness came back to him—and the - look in her face. - </p> - <p> - The girl returned, efficient and indifferent. “They have not had an order. - I can take it again.” She reached for her pad. - </p> - <p> - Richard More looked at it distrustfully. - </p> - <p> - “I think I will see Mr. Stewart himself,” he said slowly. He half-started - to take a card from his pocket. Then he changed the gesture. He was - suddenly thinking of the gold coins he had carried there.... - </p> - <p> - “Tell Mr. Stewart, please, that the gentleman who left an order for a - Chinese coat—several years ago—would like to speak with him - about it.” - </p> - <p> - There was another long wait—then a boy with buttons and a little - proud air escorted him to the top of the building. - </p> - <p> - “Mr. Stewart don’t see many folks,” he volunteered, as they approached a - door. - </p> - <p> - “Doesn’t he? Then I am fortunate.” - </p> - <p> - The boy nodded gravely and rapped. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XVII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HE gray-haired man - at the desk looked up with a sharp line between the bushy eyebrows. He - stared a moment and got up. - </p> - <p> - “Is it <i>you!</i>” He held out a cordial hand. - </p> - <p> - He served on a dozen boards with Robert More—and was proud of it. - </p> - <p> - “I never supposed you were interested in the Chinese coat!” He touched a - paper on the desk. - </p> - <p> - “Sit down. They said the man who left the order was here—and I - happened to have kept the name, ’Richard More.’ But it never occurred to - me it was <i>you!</i>” He was still standing and staring at him as if he - could not quite believe his eyes. - </p> - <p> - “I did not expect you to remember the order,” said Richard. “I merely sent - up word—on the chance.” - </p> - <p> - The other nodded. “Oh, yes. I remember it quite well.... You see I took - personal interest in the coat. I never really meant to sell it.... It was - a curious garment....” - </p> - <p> - The two men of business sat silent—as if seeing it before them. - </p> - <p> - It was Stewart who roused himself first. “I came on it in a town—a - little back in the interior. I was there on other business, - semi-confidential business for the government—and I saw this coat - and liked it, and bought it.... I think I had a half-idea of giving it to - my wife.” He smiled a little absently. - </p> - <p> - “I did not know you were married,” said Richard More politely. He really - knew very little about the man. It did not interest him—except for - politeness. - </p> - <p> - Stewart looked at him keenly a minute. “I am not married,” he said. “I - never have been.... If I had married I should not have let the Chinese - coat go.” He spoke with a certain curious emphasis and Richard glanced at - him. - </p> - <p> - He nodded. “I should have kept it—for her,” he said. “I knew enough - for that!... It gives me a queer kind of feeling to know that you were - interested in it too. I somehow should not have suspected it of you.” He - looked at him thoughtfully. - </p> - <p> - “My wife liked it,” said Richard stiffly. “I wanted it for her.” - </p> - <p> - “Yes—a woman would like it.... I remember the woman that had charge - of the department—she’s been dead a number of years, now—I - remember she always liked it. She would keep it in a box—half the - time. Wouldn’t have it out where people could see it—seemed to be - afraid somebody would buy it!” He chuckled. “If I’d really wanted to sell - that coat I should have been pretty sharp with her.”... He roused himself. - “Well, she’s dead!” - </p> - <p> - “You didn’t find another one, I suppose?” said Richard politely. - </p> - <p> - “No—not exactly.” He seemed to be trying to recall something. - </p> - <p> - “There <i>was</i> one—I got word of one.... But it was far in the - interior—farther in than I’d ever gone, or had time to go. I left - word in a general way for them to negotiate for it.... But they’re slow—the - Chinese.... Ever been there?” - </p> - <p> - Richard shook his head—a sudden intention came to him. - </p> - <p> - “Well, it’s a wonderful country!” said Stewart. “And they’re a wonderful - people. But different—different from us.... That’s where folks have - always made a mistake. They think because the Chinese have heads and legs, - and wear clothes, they are like us.... But they are no more like us than—than - trees are like—lions.... They’re both of ’em alive, and that’s about - all you can say—” He broke off with a laugh. - </p> - <p> - Richard smiled. “You know them pretty well, do you?” - </p> - <p> - “I’ve spent a good deal of time there.... But I don’t know them. Nobody - knows ’em!” He spoke with quiet conviction and something that arrested - Richard’s attention. - </p> - <p> - “I’ve sometimes thought I should like to go there.”... He had thought it - not two minutes ago for the first time—but it seemed to him now that - he had always intended to go—that it was something he had been - moving toward all his life. - </p> - <p> - The other nodded. “You won’t regret it. I mean to go back myself, some - time.” - </p> - <p> - They parted with a kind of friendliness they would not have expected from - their previous knowledge of each other. Richard had in his pocket such - directions as the man could give him. - </p> - <p> - “I can’t tell you precisely where the place is, nor how to get to it. I - never knew, myself.... And it’s a country you have to find your own way - in. Go slow and trust ’em. Don’t hurry them too much.... I wouldn’t be - surprised if you’d find the coat—if there really was one, like the - one we knew—I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d find it just where it - was twenty years ago when they told me about it. They’re a slow-moving - people! But they’ve found out some things... some things we don’t know - yet.... In a sense they’ve forgotten more than we ever knew,” he added - with a smile. - </p> - <p> - “Here, wait a minute!” He went to a cabinet across the room and took from - a pigeonhole a yellow and discolored map. He brought it to the table and - spread it out. - </p> - <p> - “Here is the region I spoke of—up here.... And these red lines show - where I have been myself; and the little blue crosses are places where I - got information—the right sort—where people are friendly and - intelligent... they will not have changed much—” He looked at the - map thoughtfully and took it up and folded it in slow fingers. - </p> - <p> - “I am going to give you this. It may be useful to you, and I may not go - myself—I am an old man now.” - </p> - <p> - So Richard More took the map and went out. He had come expecting to make a - business inquiry, in a businesslike way; and he had encountered something - that was not business—something that the piece of worn and - discolored paper seemed vaguely to whisper as it rustled in his pocket. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XVIII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HE next day he - brought the runabout to the door and honked once—and waited. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor coming down the path stopped—and glanced at the car. She - quickened her steps, a look of happy surprise in her face. - </p> - <p> - “You are going to drive yourself!” - </p> - <p> - “Trust me—can’t you?” said Richard. - </p> - <p> - She got in with a sigh of content. “There are always people!” she said, - “and people and people!—till you can’t think!” She threw out her - hands in a whimsical gesture. - </p> - <p> - “Well—you can think now!... No one to hinder!” - </p> - <p> - They took the road to the open country. And she rested back beside him. He - could feel her quiet contentment—though she did not speak—not - even when they left the open highway and travelled a rougher road that - skirted the hills and came at last to the end of a grass-grown cart-path - half-way up the hill. He turned the nose of the car a little one side. - </p> - <p> - “As far as we go,” he said quietly. - </p> - <p> - She got out with a smile. “Farther than last time—isn’t it?” She - looked about her happily. - </p> - <p> - “You remember then?” he said. He came and stood beside her. - </p> - <p> - “Did you think I could forget?” - </p> - <p> - “It has been a long time——” - </p> - <p> - “Only a minute,” she replied gayly. “Come—are we going up?” - </p> - <p> - “I wonder—?” He looked a little doubtfully at the hill before them—and - there was a hill beyond that, he knew, and another beyond that. - </p> - <p> - “It’s more of a climb than I remembered,” he said thoughtfully. - </p> - <p> - But she was already going on ahead of him, pushing aside the underbrush - and walking with light step.... The birch stems came between them and he - saw her hazily, always a little ahead, ascending the hill.... Then her - pace slowed and he hurried and overtook her. - </p> - <p> - He looked at her sternly. “Sit down!” he said. - </p> - <p> - He spread his coat and she sat down on it almost meekly. She was breathing - fast. There was a little flush of color in her face. - </p> - <p> - She looked about her with happy eyes. “Oh—I am glad you thought of - it!” - </p> - <p> - “You have no sense!” said Richard shortly. - </p> - <p> - “Sense—?... Oh!” - </p> - <p> - “To hurry like that!—We have the day before us!” - </p> - <p> - “Have we?” She looked about with a little puzzled vagueness. “I think I - must have been hurrying—to get back to set the table for dinner!” - She was laughing at him. “It felt like being a girl!” she said. - </p> - <p> - “I shall go ahead after this,” responded Richard. “I’m not going to have - you fainting away or twisting an ankle, or any other silly thing!” - </p> - <p> - “Nonsense!” - </p> - <p> - But when they started again he led the way; and they stopped at judicious - intervals—to look at the view and talk of scenery—and Richard - kept a careful eye on the face with its flitting color, and on her - quickened breath. She leaned a little against him the last part of the - way. Then they came out on the open bluff, with the country lying before - them. - </p> - <p> - She stood gazing down at it with shining eyes. “Nothing has changed!” she - cried after a minute. - </p> - <p> - “Not from up here,” said Richard. “Sit down.” - </p> - <p> - He made a place for her by a birch-tree and she leaned back against it and - they looked out in silence over the wide country. - </p> - <p> - Presently he turned and looked at her. She had fallen asleep. Her head - rested against the birch-tree and her face wore a soft flush in sleep.... - Now that it was quiet and the smile was gone, he could see that it was - very tired. A quick desire seized him—to keep the face—to stay - the change in it. A woman should not grow old!... And then as he looked at - her, he saw that she was more beautiful than she had ever been. - </p> - <p> - She opened her eyes and smiled to him hazily. “Twenty-five years!” she - murmured sleepily, and the eyes closed. He moved a little nearer to her - till her head rested against him and she slept on. - </p> - <p> - When she opened her eyes, the light had changed. She sat up with a swift - look. - </p> - <p> - “How stupid in me—to go to sleep!... But how wonderful it is!” She - was gazing at the darkened light that spread like a veil over the country - below. The grass and trees were misty in it—only a winding river - caught a touch of glamour from an unseen source and glowed through the - dusk. The darkness grew and deepened on the plain, and the sides of the - hill were blurred in it—shadowy shapes crept up. - </p> - <p> - “We must go,” said Richard. “The days are short.” - </p> - <p> - “Yes”—she breathed a little sigh—“yes—we must go.” She - got up. - </p> - <p> - But he stayed her and she stood arrested, looking down at him. - </p> - <p> - “There—was something—I wanted to tell you,” he said. - </p> - <p> - She glanced at the plain—with the little gleaming river shining in - it. “It is late!” she said. - </p> - <p> - “I brought my bug-light.” He touched his pocket. “Sit down.” - </p> - <p> - So she sat down beside him and he told her of the map in his pocket. He - took it out and spread it before her. And she leaned toward it in the dim - light—studying the discolored lines as he explained them to her. - </p> - <p> - “Do you want—to go—so much?” she asked, looking up at last. - </p> - <p> - “If <i>you</i> want to—Yes.” - </p> - <p> - She was silent a minute. - </p> - <p> - “Martin thinks he is going to be an engineer,” she said irrelevantly. - </p> - <p> - He spurned it. “Martin has sense—he doesn’t need his mother—to - have sense for him!” - </p> - <p> - “But an engineer!” she said. - </p> - <p> - “They will lead the world to-morrow,” he responded. - </p> - <p> - “Oh—!” It was a little sigh of surprise and relief. - </p> - <p> - “I didn’t know engineers were anything important!” she added after a - minute. Then she laughed out. - </p> - <p> - The darkness gathered closer—coming up from the plain—and the - little river was only a gleam through its veil of haze. - </p> - <p> - She looked down on it. - </p> - <p> - “Very well,” she said. “We will go. I am ready to go.... Perhaps it will - rest me to go.” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XIX - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>he whole family - was at the station to see them off. Annabel had provided luncheon and a - tea-basket and little pillows and waxed paper and drinking-cups, and she - flitted about her mother with watchful eyes. There was a kind of jealous - loyalty in her, as if she would hold her mother by main force from this - foolish thing she had entered upon.... She went with them into the car and - settled the little pillow in place and stood with her hand on her mother’s - shoulder.... Outside, through the window, she could see the others - laughing and talking. - </p> - <p> - Her mother lifted her face quickly. “You will be carried off!” she said - hurriedly. - </p> - <p> - The younger woman smiled down at her—and her face broke in little, - helpless lines. She bent and kissed her almost fiercely. “You take care of - yourself!... If anything happened to you—!” And she was gone. - </p> - <p> - Outside, the group moved and laughed and waved inane farewells. Annabel - joined it wiping her eyes. She waved her handkerchief at the receding - window and dabbed it swiftly across her eyes. - </p> - <p> - The red light at the end of the rear car receded into a dark tunnel. - </p> - <p> - Annabel caught her breath. “I don’t see why we let her do it!” she said - helplessly. - </p> - <p> - “You couldn’t stop mother!” It was William Archer. He tucked her hand - protectingly in his arm. “She’ll be all right!” he said reassuringly. - </p> - <p> - Annabel shook her head. They had turned away from the blackness of the - tunnel and were walking toward the station. The others had scattered a - little, and gone on ahead. Annabel’s eyes followed them. - </p> - <p> - “She isn’t fit to do it!” she said.... “She’s like a child. I feel as if I - couldn’t—!” Her lip trembled, and she broke off. - </p> - <p> - William Archer smiled down at her. “Mother’s all right! She brought us up—five - of us. And she’s pretty near brought father up—and I guess a few - Chinamen won’t frighten her!” - </p> - <p> - Annabel looked at him absently. - </p> - <p> - “I didn’t tell her where I put the extra flannels—for the steamer. - They say it’s cold—sometimes!” - </p> - <p> - “Telegraph!” replied William Archer promptly. “Want me to go home with - you?” - </p> - <p> - They stood at the corner of the street. Annabel shook her head. “Of course - not! Don’t be silly!... I shall telegraph to-night—a night-letter.” - </p> - <p> - “Whereto?” - </p> - <p> - She looked at him helplessly. “I don’t know.... And she’s always been so - fixed before! Wherever I went, I seemed always just kind of circling - around mother and coming back to her. And now she’s off like that—whirling - into space!” She made a sweeping gesture of her hands and looked up to him - appealingly. - </p> - <p> - The little laugh left William Archer’s face. “There’s no one in the world, - of course, like mother.... Never has been—for me.... I suppose all - men feel that way—about their mothers.” He said it slowly and looked - at her inquiringly. “But it seems somehow as if she were somebody in - particular—and nobody else could know—how we feel about her.” - </p> - <p> - “They can’t—and they don’t!” said Annabel grimly. - </p> - <p> - They stood looking at each other with quiet understanding. They had not - felt so near together in years, not since they played in the branches of - the oak-tree, and William Archer had called down to her from the topmost - branch: “Come on up!” - </p> - <p> - She nodded to him with a little smile of remembrance and affection, and - they turned and went their separate ways. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XX - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">F</span>rom the window of - the train Eleanor More looked out on green fields. They had emerged from - the dark mouth of the tunnel into a spring day. The evening light was on - the fields, and they stretched away to distant woods. The shadows along - the ground caught a glow from the sky. - </p> - <p> - “Looks like a clear day to-morrow,” said Richard. - </p> - <p> - She nodded quietly. Her eyes were on the level green fields that moved - past them, mile after mile. - </p> - <p> - He put out his hand and covered hers where it lay on the seat between - them. - </p> - <p> - “Tired?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - She shook her head. Then she drew a long breath and looked at him with a - smile. - </p> - <p> - “How good it seems!” she said slowly. “How good it seems—to get away - from them all!” - </p> - <p> - “We are beginning all over,” he responded. - </p> - <p> - “Yes.... I can’t seem to worry about what’s happening to them.... Just a - little worry—because I don’t worry—that’s all!” - </p> - <p> - “You’ll get over that in a mile or so,” he replied confidently. - </p> - <p> - It would seem she did get over it—or at least if she did not, she - concealed it skilfully. The little lines in her face smoothed, one by one, - and a tranquil look came to it. - </p> - <p> - She sat for hours as the train moved over the level plain, the look of - abstraction in her eyes and the gentleness and strength in her face - revealing themselves—as the lines of a landscape are sometimes - revealed by a change of light or by the passing of a storm—all the - surface life slipped from it. - </p> - <p> - And Richard More, watching, had a sudden sense of the mysterious force of - very familiar things.... This was Eleanor’s face—that he had known - and loved for years; and it was the face of a strange woman, an unknown - majestic presence who moved beside him always. - </p> - <p> - And then the mask of greatness would slip from her, and she would chatter - for days about nothing, trivial things—delighting like a child in - the discoveries he brought and laid in her lap when he alighted at some - lonely station—a flower or a bit of mineral; and the train would - plunge on again, dipping around the curve of a hill, climbing along a - dizzy cliff, while she sat beside him, her hand a little reached out to - him, her breath half stayed by a glance of delight. - </p> - <p> - “It is a voyage of discovery,” he said in her ear. - </p> - <p> - “How foolish—to want to stay in one place—always!” Her hand - swept up to the piling masses of snow, glacial vastnesses that gleamed - high above them. “How foolish!” she said softly. - </p> - <p> - And the strange look of dignity and strength came swiftly into her face. - </p> - <p> - “A voyage of discovery,” he repeated.... “Do you think we shall find it?” - </p> - <p> - She looked at him with puzzled eyes. - </p> - <p> - “Find—?” she said vaguely. - </p> - <p> - “The Chinese coat?” - </p> - <p> - “Oh—!” she laughed out. “Perhaps so. It doesn’t matter—does - it?” She nodded toward the distant peaks of snow—a faint tinge of - pink was beginning to rest on them.... “It does not matter!” she said - softly. - </p> - <p> - “No—it does not matter.... But I should like to find it—for - you.” - </p> - <p> - When she looked at him her eyes were full of tears. - </p> - <p> - “Foolish boy!” she said, “to care—for that!” - </p> - <p> - “We will go back—if you say so,” he responded. He was watching her - closely. - </p> - <p> - She reached out a quick hand. - </p> - <p> - “No—Oh, no! We must go on!” she cried under her breath. - </p> - <p> - He laughed out. “I thought so! You care for it—as much as I do.... - Only - </p> - <p> - “I want to go on,” she said swiftly. “What would the children say—if - we should come back now?” - </p> - <p> - “They would be a little surprised—to see us walk in,” he admitted. - </p> - <p> - “Very well, madam—to please you, we will go on.” - </p> - <p> - They talked in any foolish way that pleased them, and they did not hurry - on the journey. - </p> - <p> - He had a time-table of the dates of sailing of the Japanese line they were - to travel by, and a stateroom engaged on each boat sailing for the next - month. - </p> - <p> - One after one he relinquished them, by telegraph, as the days slipped by. - </p> - <p> - They stopped off for two weeks at a high mountain inn that they liked; and - several times they rested for days in some spot that pleased her fancy. - </p> - <p> - He watched her face. When it grew fatigued, he gave directions to the - Japanese courier who had joined them at a point on the journey, and they - left the train at the next station. - </p> - <p> - The courier came and went like a shadow along the route—sometimes - ahead of them and sometimes following, but always at hand when he was - needed. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor grew to watch for his face as if he were a kind of meteor that - played a game with them. - </p> - <p> - “There he is!” she would exclaim at some station as she looked out and - caught a glimpse of him. “There he is, Richard!” And if the train went on - without him, she would press her face to the glass and lean forward to - watch till he was out of sight. - </p> - <p> - “What a wonderful people!” she said. “When I see him I seem to understand—almost! - And then he is gone! Is he going with us—all the way?” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps so,” said Richard. “I had arranged with him only to San - Francisco. But we can keep him on if you like.... There will be plenty - like him on the boat. They are all Japs on the boat.” - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XXI - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">O</span>n the steamer they - were, as Richard had predicted, all Japanese. Not only the crew and - attendants, but many of the passengers showed the dark skin and straight - hair of the race to the west. There were Chinese, too, and strange foreign - faces that Richard More did not know. A few Americans were on board—bound - on business or pleasure to China and Japan—but the majority of the - passengers were of alien race. - </p> - <p> - Richard More and his wife sat day after day in their steamer-chairs, - looking out to sea and watching the strange faces drift between them and - the horizon line.... They came and went, dreamlike and vague.... Now a - face would silhouette itself on the sky, turbaned and dark and motionless - against the approaching west; and now gesticulating hands moved swiftly, - and sharp staccatoed words flitted by them along the deck. They were in a - foreign world, a cosmopolite world—a restless, moving strangeness of - life.... It was not possible not to feel, deep underneath, the common tie - of race or nation that made them one.... Only a boat moving to the west—and - the faces moving with it. - </p> - <p> - The courier left them at the dock at San Francisco. Eleanor caught a - glimpse of his face among the crowd as the boat moved out. - </p> - <p> - “There he is!” she cried to Richard, her hand on his arm and her eyes - searching the dock. Then the crowd jostled—and the face was gone. - There were many dark faces along the dock’s edge, watching the boat - recede, and she could not see that one was more familiar than another. - </p> - <p> - She had come to fancy on the journey that she knew the courier a little; - but now she saw that she had known only his strangeness; there were dozens - like him, and he was merged in the deeper alienism of his race. - </p> - <p> - He was replaced by a Chinese interpreter who was to act as guide for the - rest of the journey. Richard More, searching for a courier who was - familiar with the languages and dialects of the different provinces of - China, had come upon Kou Ying, who was contemplating a journey home. For a - consideration, he was willing to go with them into the interior and to - remain with them as long as they wished. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor had seen him only at a distance, leaning against the rail and - looking out to sea, or rolling a cigarette with slow lingering touch in - his yellow hands extending from the wide, silken sleeves. - </p> - <p> - She fancied, once or twice, that a glance from the oblique eyes rested on - her with slow intentness. But when she looked again she saw that the - glance was vacant of meaning and that it slipped past her and gazed out - along the pathless sea to the west. - </p> - <p> - “I cannot make him out!” she said to Richard. - </p> - <p> - “Don’t you like him?” he demanded. “We will exchange him at Shanghai. - There are always plenty to be had, I understand. But I thought the man - seemed intelligent—and the boat gives us a little chance to get - acquainted.” - </p> - <p> - He looked at her keenly. “We don’t need to keep him, you know.” - </p> - <p> - She wrinkled her eyes in a little perplexity, gazing at the figure that - stood well to the front of the boat.... His back was turned to them and - the wind blowing against the boat filled the blue coat and trousers like - little balloons. One could fancy the thin yellow legs inside the balloons, - holding like grim little steel pipes to the deck. There was a wiry - strength in the man and a kind of gripping forcefulness that went oddly - with the placid face and slow figure. - </p> - <p> - “I don’t know what it is,” she said slowly. “I do not dislike him. But he - makes me feel as if the world were queer—a little topsy-turvy, I - think—almost as if I saw a pine-tree lift its roots out of the - ground and go skipping along the grass!” Her husband laughed out. “Kou - Ying doesn’t skip much!” - </p> - <p> - “No.... His soul skips!” - </p> - <p> - “All the better for us, isn’t it?” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps—” Her eyes brooded on the ballooning little figure, - anchored to the deck. - </p> - <p> - “No—Don’t send him away!” She shook her head with decision. - </p> - <p> - “Well, I’m glad you like him. I fancy he’s going to be pretty useful to us - later on.” - </p> - <p> - He got up and strolled over to the man, and Eleanor More watched the two - figures side by side—the tall, well-built American and the thin - little figure of steel in its swelling, puffed-out garments. - </p> - <p> - Presently they moved along the deck and passed out of sight. When they - reappeared, at the other end of the boat, Eleanor was lying half-asleep, - her eyes closed and her face very quiet. - </p> - <p> - She opened her eyes, as they came up. - </p> - <p> - The oblique gaze was looking down on her out of an impassive face. She - smiled dreamily.... Now she understood. The man was journeying too. - </p> - <p> - “This is Kou Ying,” said Richard casually. - </p> - <p> - The Oriental made a gesture of service... and the pine-tree danced hazily - before Eleanor’s eyes. She smiled a little. - </p> - <p> - “You are going with us?” she asked. - </p> - <p> - The stolid face had not changed. But something, far back in the eyes, - responded to the smile. - </p> - <p> - “As long as you need me, madam,” said the man courteously. - </p> - <p> - “We are looking for a coat,” said Richard. - </p> - <p> - “Hadn’t you told him?” asked Eleanor, a little astonished. She sat up in - her chair. - </p> - <p> - “No. I waited—to be sure.” - </p> - <p> - The Chinese eyes regarded him, incurious and quiet. - </p> - <p> - “We saw a coat, several years ago,” said Richard, addressing them. “A coat - that we should like to find—or one like it.” - </p> - <p> - “A mandarin coat?” asked the man quietly. - </p> - <p> - “No-o—I don’t think so. It was longer——” - </p> - <p> - “Blue, with gold things on it—Dragons,” said Eleanor eagerly, “and - marks down the front like this—” She drew a few lines on the paper - beside her. - </p> - <p> - “Ah—!” The man’s breath gave a little whistling sound.... - </p> - <p> - “That is a very old coat,” he said softly. “Hundreds of years—very, - very old.” - </p> - <p> - His face took on a strange, removed look. “It will be difficult to find—I - am afraid.” - </p> - <p> - He spoke the words with a clear, clipping sound, and looked out to the - west, steadying himself to the motion of the boat. - </p> - <p> - “There are not many chances of finding it,” he said at last with grave - accent. “But I will help you—if I can.” - </p> - <p> - “We are depending on you,” said Richard More. - </p> - <p> - The man bowed and walked away. - </p> - <p> - After that Eleanor saw him often, mingling with the different groups of - Chinamen on the deck and talking and laughing with easy familiarity. - </p> - <p> - “He is making inquiries,” said Richard. “He tells me there are people on - board from nearly every province in China. He may find a clew before we - leave the boat.” - </p> - <p> - It might have been only imagination on Eleanor’s part that the groups of - Chinamen began to regard her with interest. As they passed her chair, she - would fancy for a moment she caught a gleam in the opaque black eyes.... - Then, as she looked, it was gone.... A group of them, by the ship’s rail, - talking in clear staccato tones, would give her a sudden sense that she - was closely concerned in what they were saying. But when she looked, the - stolid faces were as impassive as the long black queues depending from - each round hat almost to the ship’s deck and responding in oblique black - lines to the attraction of gravity—as the boat moved up and down.... - After a time she ceased to think of them. She sat in her chair, day after - day, with half-closed eyes, watching the faces drift past and the water - beyond the ship’s rail rise and fall. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XXII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>HEY made no - friends on the boat as they had made none in the train. It had rested her - to leave all social relations behind as the train moved west, and she - showed a strange reluctance to forming new ties. She seemed to have swung - free from the past.... Richard, as he watched her, had a sense that she - gathered herself for something she was journeying to meet.... Her face - against the steamer-chair seemed to absorb light. It held a still look—as - if it waited some signal. - </p> - <p> - But if Eleanor More, lying in her chair, made no acquaintances on the - boat, and if the groups of Chinamen did not seem to observe her as they - passed, there were others on the boat who showed open interest in the - quiet figure that lay day after day looking under lowered lids to the - west. - </p> - <p> - More than one woman slowed her pace as she came near the steamer-chair. - Sometimes they lingered a moment ready to enter into conversation. But it - was always Richard More who spoke to them, and after a minute’s courteous - talk walked on with them, leaving the steamer-chair to its unbroken quiet. - </p> - <p> - His care for his wife, his almost reverent watchfulness for the figure in - the chair, gave it a place apart, an aloofness that no one broke in upon. - </p> - <p> - Yet often they saw her, from a distance, laughing and talking with her - husband like a child. There was something unwarranted in the sweetness and - freshness of her laugh.... It seemed to have left care behind, and yet to - be filled with sympathy that sprang from a deep place. - </p> - <p> - A woman with little fine lines in her face and a quick mobile mouth looked - at her companion and smiled, as the laugh came to them. - </p> - <p> - They had been standing by the boat-rail, looking out to sea, silent for a - long time. - </p> - <p> - He returned the smile. “Well?” - </p> - <p> - “I was only thinking—<i>she knows!</i>” She made a little gesture - toward the steamer-chair. - </p> - <p> - “Knows what?” said the man vaguely. - </p> - <p> - “Everything!” replied the woman. “Things I would give my life for!” She - turned her back on him. Her eyes followed the foam in the boat’s wake. - </p> - <p> - He watched her a minute in silence. Then he moved nearer to her and laid - his hand on hers where it lay on the boat’s rail. “Why not?” he said. - </p> - <p> - She shook her head and smiled. “I cannot be sure!” She faced him. “If I - were sure... I would marry you to-morrow—to-day—any time!” She - threw the words at him. “How can one be <i>sure?</i>” He regarded her - gravely. “Isn’t that what it means?... Isn’t that a part of it—to - take the risk?... Suppose there were no risk... would that be—love?” - </p> - <p> - “Oh—I don’t know!—I don’t know!” She spoke as if urged by - something within. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly she turned to him. “It used to be so simple—to be a - woman.... One loved and married—and there were children—and - then one died. That was all! But now—!” She broke off. - </p> - <p> - “Yes. Now, you are free—and being free, you must choose—And - that means knowledge.” He looked at her narrowly. - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” She moved a little from him. “And I shall know—when I have - made the mistake—perhaps!” - </p> - <p> - “When you take the risk!” he responded cheerfully. “Shall we go for our - walk? That is <i>safe</i>—ten times round the deck—six times a - day!” - </p> - <p> - She smiled and placed her hand in his arm and they swung into the easy - step of the ship’s constitutional. - </p> - <p> - Six times they passed the quiet figure in its chair. Then the woman slowed - her pace a little. - </p> - <p> - “I cannot bear it any longer—not to know!” She lifted her hand to - the figure wrapped in its steamer-rug and lying so still. “When I look at - her—I cannot bear it!... <i>She knows</i>. She has foregathered with - the great—! She knows the secret!” They had come to a stop, and she - turned to him. “If I marry you I shall not be happy—” She seemed to - throw out the words accusingly. - </p> - <p> - “Are you happy now?” he asked gently. - </p> - <p> - “I am free!” she flung back.... “There are things women must do—for - the world!” She looked about her vaguely. - </p> - <p> - “This is one of them—perhaps. But—” He looked at her narrowly. - “Not unless—you love me.” - </p> - <p> - She looked at him and smiled subtly. - </p> - <p> - “I want to do brave things. I want to vote and reform cities and states. I - want to found kingdoms and rule them! But—I am—going to marry - you.” - </p> - <p> - He moved a little toward her. - </p> - <p> - She held up her hand. “I am going to marry you—because you hold the - secret—of the Past.... I cannot live without it.” She caught her - breath and half reached out her hands—as if to a blind god who - demanded sacrifice. There was a wistful look in her face. - </p> - <p> - He regarded it sharply. “You think you will fathom the Past—by - marrying me?... That is why you do it?” - </p> - <p> - She nodded gravely. - </p> - <p> - He turned his back on her and looked over the rail, out to sea. - </p> - <p> - “No woman is going to march through my heart, slamming doors behind her!” - he said under his breath. - </p> - <p> - She regarded the obstinate back a minute and her face grew tender.... She - had become gentle—as if she saw something precious. She put out her - hand and touched his arm. - </p> - <p> - “Don’t be afraid of me, Gordon! I will wait—at the threshold!” - </p> - <p> - He wheeled suddenly and held out his arms. - </p> - <p> - But she glanced over her shoulder. Only the empty decks—a Japanese - sailor lounging by the rail—and the quiet figure of the woman asleep - in her chair. - </p> - <p> - She put up her face with the breath of a kiss and drew near to him.... And - in her half-slumber, beneath lowered lids, Eleanor More dreamed on.... And - the boat moved to the west and to the new world—the old world of the - Past—new with coming life in the cycles of the earth and the sun. - </p> - <p> - At Shanghai there were a few days of delay while Kou Ying arranged for - accommodations on the river-steamer, and telegraphed ahead for runners and - provisions and an escort to be waiting at the various points where they - might wish to stop off. - </p> - <p> - Richard had instructed him to make arrangements that would leave them free - to follow any clew that developed as they went. Strings of cash were - provided and paid out by Kou Ying with judicious, watchful hand; and banks - in the interior received word to hold sums subject to call. The news of - the American who was to follow, penetrated far ahead.... If any help were - to be had from tradition or rumor Kou Ying had set turning the wheels that - would bring it to them as they ascended the long meandering river that - stretches from east to west across the country and forms the waterway and - news route of all upper China. - </p> - <p> - Even in Shanghai the little party became the subject of almost official - interest. Courteous overtures were made to Richard More of information to - be had—at a price. - </p> - <p> - The capacious suite of rooms Kou Ying engaged for them in Shanghai’s - leading hotel became an emporium of silks and stuffs and woven garments of - every shape and kind.... Colored brocades, rich embroideries stiff with - gold and gorgeous designs lay about on chairs and tables; and - yellow-skinned merchants from the native part of the city displayed their - trays and rolls of precious coats and robes for the American lady’s - choice. - </p> - <p> - But she turned from them all with a little smile. “It was much simpler - than any of these, and more beautiful—I think,” she said quietly. - </p> - <p> - And when Kou Ying interpreted her words, to them, they repacked the - garments in their long trays, and saluted her gravely and retired.... Was - it only fancy, or did swift looks cross between the impassive faces as - they moved from her? - </p> - <p> - It was as if she were in a veiled world—tissues of filmy - thinness.... She had only to put out her hand and brush them aside—to - find what she sought—something beautiful and fine and eternal that - waited. - </p> - <p> - Rumors from the old city were brought that Kou Ying sifted with cautious - hand. Of some he made notes on the thin, yellow, rustling paper he always - carried with him; and some he dismissed with a curt wave that swept the - bearers in ignominious retreat from his presence. - </p> - <p> - They fled from the august wrath of this man who had learned American ways, - but who had not forgotten, it would seem, the duplicity and crookedness of - his native land! - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More saw very little of Kou Ying during these days of preparation. - Except when he was acting as interpreter for her, he came and went with - even, inscrutable countenance, arranging details, directing movements—preparing - for the long and difficult journey that lay ahead. - </p> - <p> - Never by word or movement did he indicate other than the most casual - interest in the object of their journey or in his employers. He gave the - service agreed upon and he handled Richard More’s money with scrupulous - exactness; but he showed no other sign of caring for the expedition or of - interest in its success. - </p> - <p> - When the preliminary arrangements were concluded and they sat on the - boat’s deck looking out across the Chinese landscape that the season of - high water made visible on either bank, Kou Ying showed even less interest - in their movements. - </p> - <p> - He sat, or stood, a little distance from them, his gaze resting stolidly - on the level fields and low-lying crops, as they moved past. At a sign - from Richard he would approach and explain some point of interest, or give - information as to the average yield of the fertile soil or the price of - crops. - </p> - <p> - Then, after a courteous moment of silence, he would return to his solitary - watching, and the look of withdrawal would come over his face. - </p> - <p> - Mile after mile they saw the unvarying fields go by, and the multitudinous - boats pass and repass on the great river. - </p> - <p> - For years, it seemed to them, they had been making their way through this - fertile land, plying a steady course up the winding stream that led to the - unknown country they sought. - </p> - <p> - Then one morning Kou Ying came to them. - </p> - <p> - “In a few hours we disembark,” he said courteously. “There is a shop in - Ichang you may wish to visit.” - </p> - <p> - But the shop in Ichang proved only a duplicate of the shops of old - Shanghai, and they returned to the river and moved on—this time in - their own boat, a clumsy, roomy junk that went more slowly and was - propelled by the wind or by stalwart rowers—up through great gorges, - where the river made its tortuous way—up, steadily up, over rapids - or along the smooth-flowing water between gigantic walls. - </p> - <p> - And as Eleanor More watched the muscles in the half-naked backs, bending - to the oars or tugging and straining at the rope that hauled the boat - through swift foaming rapids, she felt as if she ascended some great river - of a dream world.... So Dante may have watched the shades appear and - vanish, or a turn of the journey reveal new and mysterious regions of the - unknown world. - </p> - <p> - Already they had fallen into the habit of saying little. They sat in the - sedan chairs that had been provided for the upper reaches, motionless and - silent. - </p> - <p> - Above them the great walls stretched dizzily or opened out around quiet - waters where the light lay dazzling on distant peaks; or they watched the - water as it broke and swirled about the bow and the boat groaned and - bumped under the tugging strain that brought it at last one reach higher - up. - </p> - <p> - Often the journey was halted for expeditions into the country on one side - or the other as they made their way steadily toward the Thibetan ranges - that stretched to the west. But no clew had been reached.... Always the - courteous reception of Kou Ying’s inquiries—always the spreading - before them of gorgeous robes and flower-embroidered garments—but no - glimpse or hint of a blue coat and shining dragons. - </p> - <p> - “I begin to feel as if it were a dream,” said Eleanor, “we have been - remembering all these years—only a dream-coat. It was so long ago!” - she mused. “And this is another life.” She motioned to the strange fields - about them—the low houses among the trees and the carved, fantastic - temple rising from the grove near by. “Almost another world!” she - murmured. - </p> - <p> - The sedan chairs halted for luncheon. A little distance away, the bearers - sat or lolled at rest. In the distance Kou Ying consulted with a Taoist - priest, who shook his head and turned away. - </p> - <p> - They saw Kou Ying move swiftly after him and press a coin in his hand. The - priest stopped and regarded it with passing motion, and spoke a few words - again, and shook his head and went on to his temple. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying returned to them with the usual formula of failure. He motioned - to the bearers to take up the chairs and continue the journey. - </p> - <p> - But Richard More stayed him. “Wait,” he said. He was searching in his - pocket for something. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying paused without interest. - </p> - <p> - And Richard More took from his pocket a yellow paper, and began to unfold - it with slow, rustling fingers. - </p> - <p> - The Oriental’s face changed subtly. He moved toward it and reached out his - hand. - </p> - <p> - “What is that?” he demanded. - </p> - <p> - Richard More looked up. “I had forgotten—that I had it,” he said - absently. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying reached to it. But Richard held it away. His finger traced a line - along the paper and paused.... - </p> - <p> - “This must be the place—here?” He looked about him, at the - clustering houses and the Taoist temple on the right. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying’s face bent eagerly above the paper. - </p> - <p> - “Where did you get this?” he asked huskily. There was a strange, quiet - gleam in the yellow face. - </p> - <p> - “The man I told you of—Stewart—gave it to me.... I had - forgotten—till now. Will it help, do you think?” - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying looked at him, almost with compassion, it seemed. - </p> - <p> - His finger touched the paper. But he made no further move to take it. - </p> - <p> - “Hold it to the light!” he said. - </p> - <p> - And when Richard More held it against the light they saw, gleaming high, - an imperial dragon and beside it the four strange cabalistic marks. - </p> - <p> - “It is the royal seal,” said Kou Ying quietly—“the seal of a dynasty - long since deposed. Only documents of rare value are inscribed on this - paper.” - </p> - <p> - He waited a moment in silence. “It will tell us the way,” he said - slowly—“Whoever sees that paper must speak true words—on penalty of - death.” - </p> - <p> - He held out his hand. “Give it to me,” he said quietly. - </p> - <p> - And Richard More yielded it without demur. - </p> - <p> - The man’s whole bearing had changed. His face had lost its sullen look. He - gazed down at the yellowed paper with quiet intentness. - </p> - <p> - Presently he looked up. The smile on his face was youthful and full of - light. The antagonism was gone, and the repression and difference of race. - </p> - <p> - “I wish I had known before—that you carried this,” he said gently. - He smoothed it in his yellow fingers. - </p> - <p> - “What would you have done—different?” asked Richard, a little - curious. - </p> - <p> - “I should have served you in spirit,” said Kou Ying. “This is the map of - the spirit country.” He touched it reverently and waited a moment. - </p> - <p> - “I cannot tell you more. My words would not have meaning—for you———” - </p> - <p> - But Eleanor More leaned forward a little, with parted lips. - </p> - <p> - “Tell us,” she said swiftly. - </p> - <p> - And Kou Ying looked at her a moment in grave silence. The paper in his - hand seemed to radiate a kind of light and remove him mistily. - </p> - <p> - “You will know,” he said, “—all that the paper can tell. You will - know—soon.... But I cannot tell you.” - </p> - <p> - He motioned to the bearers and they took up the chairs and moved forward. - </p> - <p> - And wherever the chairs halted and the paper was presented, there was - swift hurrying and obedient response to Kou Ying’s questions and demands. - The little procession became a kind of royal convoy. Each village that was - entered received it with honor and hastened to serve it and to speed it on - its way—almost as if eager to be rid of so fateful a mission. - </p> - <p> - There was no dallying in progress now, and no detours leading to fruitless - results. Each halt found the route ahead prepared and directions ready for - Kou Ying’s hand.... But the end that they sought was always a little - farther on—a day’s journey on. - </p> - <p> - They left the travelled region and ascended into a hilly country where the - road wound constantly up and the bearers were obliged to force their way - through paths that were no longer wide enough for two abreast. At last - only the empty chairs could be carried and they ascended by slow stages, - halting often to rest. - </p> - <p> - “We are near the end now!” Kou Ying looked gravely at Eleanor More. - </p> - <p> - Her face had grown a little tired, but it held a light that scanned each - break in the road with quiet happiness. - </p> - <p> - Richard More watched her uneasily. “You are not tired?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - She shook her head. “I am strangely rested.... I am getting acclimated, - perhaps.” - </p> - <p> - He looked again at the quiet face. It was true that it seemed rested—more - rested than he had ever seen it. But there was a pallor about it that - touched him strangely. - </p> - <p> - He took her hand and held it in his as they ascended the hill, guiding - her, almost carrying her over the rough places, till the path before them - opened out into a little clearing and they stood on the summit of the - mountain. - </p> - <p> - Below them the path wound downward to a valley of trees and little farms - that stretched away to the plain; and in the centre of the valley stood a - walled city.... They noted the circling walls and the gates and towers - that thrust upward. In the midst of the city was a curious and rounded - mountain, and on the summit of the mountain two thin, shining trees and a - temple with little points and peaks glinted in the light.... Below the - temple, shrined in the face of the mountain, something glowed. The light - fell on it and shifted a little and the sun that had been struggling - through gray clouds shone full on the face of the god—hewn from the - ribs of the mountain and gilded till it shone like brass.... Colossal in - dignity and repose, the great face gazed out over the roofs and towers of - the walled city, to the plain beyond. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More caught her breath and leaned forward, gazing with quiet eyes. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying beside her gave a quick cry and flung himself prostrate on his - face.... And all the bearers of the little retinue as they came straggling - into the opening prostrated themselves, with half-uttered sounds of awe. - </p> - <p> - Richard More, standing among the kneeling figures, noted quietly the - distance of the descending path that led to the city. And when Kou Ying - rose and stood beside him, the American motioned with his hand to the - mountain and the god that faced them, rising above the city walls. - </p> - <p> - “From here we go on alone,” he said. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying gazed at him a moment in silence. He seemed weighing something in - his mind. - </p> - <p> - “You will need an interpreter,” he said gravely. - </p> - <p> - Richard More laughed out. He touched the string of cash that hung beneath - his coat. - </p> - <p> - “This will talk!” - </p> - <p> - But Kou Ying shook his head with a smile. - </p> - <p> - “You must go to the temple—not the one above, but below. Beside the - Buddha—can you see it?” - </p> - <p> - Richard More shaded his eyes, and nodded assent. At the base of the - mountain, rising barely to the knees of the great seated figure, he could - see the other temple huddled among the trees. - </p> - <p> - “I can see it,” he said. - </p> - <p> - “Go there—and inquire. Here—take the map. I think we are very - near now. But—” Kou Ying hesitated. “I should feel safer—” he - murmured. Then his eyes fell on Eleanor More standing with relaxed hands, - waiting, and his face lighted and glowed curiously. He drew aside with a - gesture of abnegation. - </p> - <p> - “If you need me, signal from the gate—or from the wall. I shall wait - here with the men—and come if you need me.” He bowed gravely and - motioned to the men. They drew back and watched the two figures descend - the winding path that led to the valley. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes a rock obscured them, and sometimes they passed under - overhanging trees or disappeared beneath the arch of a bridge or fantastic - tower that spanned the way.... Each time a little nearer to the city and - to the great seated figure of the Buddha of the mountain. - </p> - <p> - And when the two figures halted a minute at the gate and disappeared - within the wall Kou Ying made a significant gesture to the men; and the - little retinue in the clearing on the mountain above the valley fell on - their faces in silence.... - </p> - <p> - Across the valley, the great Buddha brooded, and above it rose the temple - and two thin trees, transparent in the gray morning light. - </p> - <p> - And on the high plateau that faced the god, the single figure of Kou Ying - stood erect among the kneeling men and kept watch for a signal from the - gate or the city wall. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XXIII - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>hrough his barred - window, the old priest looked out at them with unseeing eyes. - </p> - <p> - There was an interval and he stood beside them, looking down at their - dusty clothes and travel-stained faces with quiet, understanding gaze. - </p> - <p> - Even before the interpreter came, with his high, sing-song words that - translated their wishes, even before Richard More took from his pocket the - yellow map and laid it in the old priest’s hand, they knew that they were - come to the end of their search. - </p> - <p> - The priest listened with bowed head. Once or twice he nodded assent, and - when the interpreter finished, he looked at Eleanor More with slow, kind - eyes. - </p> - <p> - He folded the map and handed it back and pointed to a little house among - the trees. Then he spoke to the interpreter in a low tone and motioned to - the figure of the god cut in the rock above, and entered the temple. - </p> - <p> - An old man, half-asleep before his door, roused himself. He listened to - the interpreter and shook his head. His face was as motionless as the - plank it leaned against. - </p> - <p> - The interpreter spoke again, sharply, and the old eyes turned to him with - slow, incurious look. - </p> - <p> - The interpreter flung one hand upward, toward the seated Buddha towering - above; and the old gaze followed it unsteadily—up—up to the - great gilded face. - </p> - <p> - For a long minute he gazed at the god in the face of the mountain. Then he - rose slowly and entered the darkened house. - </p> - <p> - They heard a sound of scraping within and a creaking, as if a door opened, - then silence.... The city was very quiet about them—a gentle - intoning from the temple and a rustling of leaves on the mountainside. - </p> - <p> - For a long time they waited in the silence before the half-swung door. The - old man appeared and beckoned to them and they passed into the cool quiet. - </p> - <p> - They traversed a passage and crossed a court and entered a low room. - </p> - <p> - The room was empty except for two objects on the right as they entered—a - shrine to Buddha revealed through the half-open doors the god within; and - across the room on a raised platform facing the shrine stood a - red-and-black lacquered coffin. - </p> - <p> - At the sight of the coffin Eleanor More’s face changed subtly. She turned - to the interpreter. - </p> - <p> - “Why have you brought us to a house of mourning?” Her hand moved toward - the raised platform. - </p> - <p> - The old man at the interpreter’s side spoke a few words.... And the - interpreter translated in his sing-song voice. - </p> - <p> - “It is his son—who is dead. He has no other to do him honor,” he - chanted slowly, as if the words were full of presage. - </p> - <p> - And Eleanor More’s eyes turned to the old man with a quiet look. But the - stolid face gave no response. - </p> - <p> - With a courteous gesture and a low word to the interpreter, the old man - moved toward the shrine across the room and, squatting before it, opened a - drawer beneath the half-open doors and drew out an oblong box. - </p> - <p> - The three people standing by the red-and-black coffin waited quietly as he - lifted it and turned to them. - </p> - <p> - “What is it?” asked Richard More. - </p> - <p> - He had a curious thrill—as if at the end of a long quest he put out - his hand in the dark and touched a human hand like his own. - </p> - <p> - The old man crossed to them in silence, and laying the box on the platform - by the coffin lifted the lid.... A faint scent of spices drifted out; it - floated about them and enveloped them as he took out, one by one, the soft - thin papers that filled the box, and revealed lying at the bottom - something that glowed and shimmered a little. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More leaned forward breathless. Her hands half-reached to the - shimmer of blue and gold as the old man lifted it from the box and opened - it with slow, reverent fingers.... The dragon’s played across the surface, - and on the breast as he held it up were four cabalistic marks—the - signs in the transparent map that guided them on their journey. - </p> - <p> - They stood a moment in silence. All the color of the coat seemed to gather - to a soft intensity, and glow. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More caught her breath with a little sound. “I had forgotten!” she - said. “I had forgotten....!” Her face was filled with light—a look - of happiness pervaded it. - </p> - <p> - Richard More glanced at her. “Ask him how much it is,” he said in a low - voice to the interpreter. - </p> - <p> - The interpreter spoke the words and listened a moment and translated the - answer swiftly: “Money will not buy the coat—not all the gold in all - the world,” he chanted back. - </p> - <p> - Again and again Richard More made his demand.... And again he offered - larger sums. But the old face opposite remained untouched. - </p> - <p> - “Money cannot buy it,” replied the interpreter. - </p> - <p> - It was like a refrain that came and went between the two men, as they - faced each other—Richard More urgent, imperious, and strong; the old - Chinaman impassive and quiet. His face had not changed from its look of - calm endurance. - </p> - <p> - “He will not sell it,” repeated the interpreter. “He only shows it to you - at the priest’s command. It is a legacy—from mother to son.” - </p> - <p> - “His son is dead,” said Richard almost harshly. His hand moved to the - coffin with an abrupt gesture.... “His son is dead——-” - </p> - <p> - The words held themselves on his lips. - </p> - <p> - He was facing a small door across the room. His hand fell to his side in a - gesture of silence. - </p> - <p> - The woman in the doorway stood looking at them with deep, intent gaze. - Then she moved toward them—as one who comes in her own right. - </p> - <p> - She spoke a word to the interpreter. He gave quiet assent and waited while - she spoke. - </p> - <p> - “She says the coat is of royal lineage,” he translated slowly—“a - heritage in her family—since Time.... She is of a dynasty long since - deposed. Only the coat remains. No one remembers whence it came—no - one reads the dragon marks....” He translated the words as they came from - her lips in quaint exact phrasing. “But there is a tradition—” his - voice went on——- - </p> - <p> - He listened again—a half-curious flutter of his lids rested on - Eleanor More’s face. - </p> - <p> - She had withdrawn to one side and stood looking down at the red-and-black - lacquered surface of the coffin.... Her hands were folded quietly. - Something within her seemed to hold itself remote. - </p> - <p> - His gaze ran from her to the woman who stood speaking the words that he - translated, half under his breath——— - </p> - <p> - “There is a tradition—” he repeated softly, “that the coat is - immortal—” - </p> - <p> - They turned to it where it lay beside the coffin. It seemed to shimmer and - gather light. - </p> - <p> - “—a tradition that the coat is immortal,” went on the singing voice - of the interpreter.... “And one day there shall come from the East—a - woman—a woman out of the East.... And her sons shall cherish the - coat!” - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More stirred a little. - </p> - <p> - The voice of the interpreter took on a high sing-song note, alternating - with the low, gentle phrasing of the Chinese woman’s words.... “Her sons - and her sons’ sons—forever.” - </p> - <p> - The voice ceased and the room was very still. From somewhere in the house - came a rustling sound that rose and died away. - </p> - <p> - Eleanor More raised her eyes and looked steadfastly at the other woman. - She moved a step—and half held out her hands. But the other did not - stir and she crossed the space between them.... They were of equal height. - As Richard More turned a startled glance, he was aware of something - curiously alike in the two figures—a lift of the head, an air of - quiet endurance—but more than all, a kind of dignity—something - regal—that stirred vague memories.... When had he stood before and - seen two women thus?... Surely in some other life—in some other age - and time, he had looked on at a supreme moment of joy and abnegation. - </p> - <p> - For a long moment, the two women confronted each other, gazing deep into - the other’s eyes. Then with a little gesture, the Oriental, in her softly - rustling garments, moved to the platform and lifted the Chinese coat in - her hands and placed it in Eleanor More’s. - </p> - <p> - Were there tears in the eyes that gazed... or only a deep, still joy? - </p> - <p> - Before Richard More could question—the look was gone. The Oriental - woman was moving from them and the door closed softly behind her. - </p> - <p> - He watched it swing together, with a sense that something irretrievable - had passed—a mystery and wonder—out of life.... Then he turned - and saw his wife’s face. - </p> - <p> - She was gazing down at the coat with a look almost of fear. “Her sons and - her sons’ sons—forever,” flashed through his mind.... She lifted her - eyes and smiled at him, holding out the coat. - </p> - <p> - “Carry it for me, Dick!” - </p> - <p> - He moved quickly toward her. “You are tired?” he said tenderly. - </p> - <p> - “No—I am not tired!” She looked about her. “I am only glad.... It - was a long journey, wasn’t it?” She spoke with quiet conviction. “But now - it seems short—and easy to find....” - </p> - <p> - She looked about her again. Her eyes rested wonderingly on the shrine of - the Buddha and on the shallow platform with its coffin and the three men - standing by it.... - </p> - <p> - “I have been here before, I think—and yet...” She passed her hand - across her eyes. “I cannot——” - </p> - <p> - “Never mind!” He had taken the coat from her and handed it to the - interpreter, who was folding it in slow, skilful hands. - </p> - <p> - The old Chinaman had not stirred from his place, a little to one side. He - looked on with impassive gaze. - </p> - <p> - Richard More glanced at him and a sense of something wonted came to him... - a sudden vision of the oak-tree with its great roots protruding from the - ground, and the low-swung branches. He moved quickly to the platform. From - about his neck he removed the long strings of cash and placed them beside - the coffin and from his pocket he took handfuls of the Chinese silver - “shoes” that had served them on their journey.... They would not need them - now.... He piled them about the coffin. - </p> - <p> - The old eyes of the Chinaman gazed straight before him. His lips parted in - half-spoken words that the interpreter took up, translating softly. - </p> - <p> - “He will go to the grave of his ancestors.... He is old and his sons are - dead.... He will bury this son, the last of his race—” His hand - touched the lacquered surface gently. “He will offer worship at the sacred - mountain and pay vows before the tomb of his ancestors. The money you have - given shall make glad the hearts of his ancestors.” - </p> - <p> - He ceased. The old man approached the coffin. For a long moment he stood - with hands resting on it—as if he would gather from it something of - the strength of the race that was passing. Then with grave face he lifted - the strings of cash and placed them about his neck and gathered up the - silver shoes from beside the coffin and took from a little shelf by the - platform a red umbrella and a pair of half-worn sandals. With courteous - gesture he passed from the room. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XXIV - </h2> - <h3> - |In the grove outside the city wall they paused to rest. - </h3> - <p> - The interpreter, who had come with them from the house and refused to - leave them till the city gate was reached, had been paid and was returning - to the temple. - </p> - <p> - As they passed through the streets, they had been conscious of curious - whispers, glances from behind opaque windows and rustling from concealed - doorways and passages beyond—so a hive of bees despoiled of its comb - stirs with low-murmured sound and the restless whir of wings.... But no - one had approached them, no one barred passage to the light oblong box - that Richard More carried so carefully in his hand. - </p> - <p> - At the entrance to the grove he glanced at his wife. - </p> - <p> - “We shall rest here,” he said with quiet decision. - </p> - <p> - And she acquiesced—a little smile coming to her lips as they entered - the grove. - </p> - <p> - The green light filtered through the boughs. It touched the twisted trunks - with a still look of mystery and strangeness. - </p> - <p> - “How beautiful!” she said under her breath. - </p> - <p> - He made a place for her to sit down, and as she leaned against the gnarled - trunk, looking up to the boughs where the filtering light came through, he - was struck again by the pallor of her face. - </p> - <p> - “You are tired!” he exclaimed. “I shall signal Kou Ying to bring the - chairs!” He moved to the entrance of the grove—but she stayed him. - </p> - <p> - “No—wait! I like it—to be alone with you.... Don’t call Kou - Ying—yet!” - </p> - <p> - She looked about with dreamy eyes. “It is so beautiful here—and - quiet—I shall rest,” she said slowly. - </p> - <p> - Then her eyes fell on the box and she smiled. - </p> - <p> - “Open it!” she commanded. - </p> - <p> - And as his fingers undid the cord and lifted the thin rustling papers and - drew the coat from its place, she laughed and chatted like a child. And - her laughter, sounding through the grove, had something sweet and strange - in it. - </p> - <p> - He lifted the coat and laid it before her. She looked down at it. She put - out her hand and stroked the dragons, the laughter still in her eyes. - </p> - <p> - “For William Archer,” she said. - </p> - <p> - “And his sons,” responded Richard. - </p> - <p> - “And his sons’ sons forever,” she finished dreamily. - </p> - <p> - Her hand still stroked the dragons. - </p> - <p> - “I did not think you—would get it—for me!” she said. - </p> - <p> - “Of course I should get it—if you wanted it.... You had only to say - you wanted it!” - </p> - <p> - “You knew that!” he added after a minute. - </p> - <p> - “Yes, I knew.” A little sigh touched her lips. - </p> - <p> - They sat a moment in silence. Then he lifted the coat. “Put it on,” he - insisted gently. - </p> - <p> - She lifted her arms to the sleeves and smiled at him as he wrapped it - about her.... Suddenly the look of pallor was in her face. It grew - strangely quiet, and a touch of wistfulness curved the smile of the lips. - </p> - <p> - He looked down at her, startled... the pallor in the quiet face seemed - passed to his own. - </p> - <p> - Hastily he laid down the still figure and ran to the entrance of the - grove.... At the edge of the path he paused and looked up and motioned—gesticulating - swiftly to a single figure on the plateau above. - </p> - <p> - From his post above Kou Ying started. He leaned forward and lifted his - hand in a swift gesture. - </p> - <p> - He gave a harsh call. - </p> - <p> - The men behind him leaped to their feet and ran from the trees. There was - confusion and hurry and a swift chatter of voices, as they seized the - empty sedan chairs and slung them to their shoulders, and moved forward - toward the winding path that led from the hill. - </p> - <p> - From the edge of the hill before he descended Kou Ying looked down again. - </p> - <p> - The valley below was still. No one moved among the trees. - </p> - <p> - From the mountain opposite, the quiet face of the Buddha looked across to - the plain. - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - XXV - </h2> - <p class="pfirst"> - <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span>n the grove he - bent above the deathlike face. A tremor crossed it. - </p> - <p> - She brushed a hand lightly across her eyes, as if visions fled, and sat - up. The color came slowly back to her face. - </p> - <p> - “I had a dream!” she breathed. - </p> - <p> - The green light of the grove shimmered about her softly and touched her - face. - </p> - <p> - “It was William Archer and the coat. But I cannot remember—” She - passed a hand across her forehead. - </p> - <p> - “Never mind,” said Richard. “We are going to take it home to him.” - </p> - <p> - Her hand dropped to the dragons and smoothed them absently. - </p> - <p> - “And to his sons’ sons forever!” she murmured happily. - </p> - <p> - At the entrance to the grove, dark incurious faces peered in at the - blue-robed figure that rested against the gnarled trunk.... The sound of - quick, indrawn breath passed among the leaves. - </p> - <p> - Richard More lifted her to her feet. - </p> - <p> - “Come!” he said. - </p> - <p> - They passed out of the grove where the sedan chairs waited them. The - bearers prone on their faces on the ground uttered low words that rose in - a kind of chant and ended in the long indrawn note of awe. - </p> - <p> - Kou Ying alone stood erect. - </p> - <p> - He held out his hand to the blue-robed figure and escorted it to the sedan - chair and seated it with grave care. - </p> - <p> - Richard More took his place in the chair beside her. - </p> - <p> - “We return by the lower route,” said Kou Ying. - </p> - <p> - He spoke a sharp word to the bearers. They sprang to their feet and - touched the handles of the chairs. - </p> - <p> - “Keep to the lower hill by the spur,” he commanded. - </p> - <p> - The procession moved toward the low hill that edged the plain. And as they - made their way up the long slope at an easy trot Richard More’s eyes - rested on his wife. - </p> - <p> - She sat erect beneath the canopy of the chair, the blue robe with its gold - dragons wrapped about her. Her tranquil face in its white hair looked - across the plain.... She was more beautiful than he had ever known her! A - queen in this robe of the Past! - </p> - <p> - He reached his hand till it touched the one that lay on the arm of the - chair. The face with its tranquil smile turned to him. - </p> - <p> - And he saw with a start that the blue of the eyes and the blue of the coat - were one.... - </p> - <p> - They reached the spur of the hill and Kou Ying gave the signal to halt. - </p> - <p> - Behind them in the face of the cliff the seated Buddha looked across the - plain. - </p> - <p> - And ahead, far beyond them on the plain, a single figure beneath a red - umbrella plodded stolidly on, moving toward the tomb of its ancestors. - </p> - <p> - And as it went the red umbrella bobbed slowly, a spot of color in the - distant far-reaching grayness of the plain. - </p> - <div style="height: 6em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Chinese Coat, by Jennette Lee - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHINESE COAT *** - -***** This file should be named 52699-h.htm or 52699-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/6/9/52699/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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