Castle School - Drawbridge Yearbook (Tarrytown, NY)

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THE DRAWBRIDGE Nineteen-Tfwenly her way in and out among the crowd, prompted only by desire for physical activity as an ease to mental strain. Down one street and up another. lt didn't matter to her if the crowd pushed her on. The contact with this strange, unfamiliar mass of people, the friendly glances she caught occasionally from the careless revelers, seemed soothing. Hardly being aware of what she was doing she went. as one of the moving body in which she had been caught, up some steps through a revolving-door and into an immense, bril- liantly lighted room, where there was dancing, where people were sitting around little tables, talking and eating. She found herself moving aimlessly along an aisle between the tables and a row of little, private dinner booths, most of which were occupied by smiling men and women. intimately conversing or watching the dancers. The music stopped, chatter took its place and the dancers moved off to their tables. One man, pushed against her by the crowd, begged her pardon, looked at her more closely and astonished her by speaking directly to her. X A Say, my lad, you seem lonesome. I'm lonesome, too. Come along and welll talk it over! He took her by the arm and directed her to a seat in one of the booths. USit down, you look half-starvedf' He gave the waiter an order. The girl's mind did some rapid working and the conclusion was, Of course this stranger thinks he is taking pity on a lonesome boy. He doesn't seem vicious. There ean't be any harm in, sitting here for ia whilefl So she stayed. For a moment the two looked across the table at each other. She had the opportunity of observing that the man was well-built, that he had strong feat- ures, dark hair, and sad eyes that seemed to belie the smile on his lips. She found that she was hungry when the waiter brought some sandwiches, so she ate while he talked, which he did asiif he were glad to have a listener. 'lDoes it seem queer to you, laddie-by the way what's your name? Pierre? Great! Gad, that sounds like Paris. I used to have a friend called Pierre over there. Well, Pierre, does it seem queer, my dragging you in here like this ? She nodded. He Went on. I don't exactly know why I did it, but you seem- ed to be rather out of place here and-but what difference does it make? Youlre here and you seem to be enjoying that food. That's enough. He laughed, a mirthless sort of laugh. Truth is I need someone to talk to tonight, so I'll talk to you if you don't mind. You'll at least be unprejudicedf' A vague sort of smile seemed to Hit across his face, making jolly little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. She always had liked eyes like that. She was interested at the thought of hearing a man-to-man talk. So she answered, trying to make her voice as much like a boy's as possible. HPlease talk all you wish. Youlre right in sur- mising that Pm lonesome. I assure you that any- thing will interest mef' Hang it, Pierre, I believe you were sent from-the gods to me as a special confidant. I know you don't tell strangers your troubles in America, but itls dif- ferent in Paris. Let's imagine we're in gay old Paris tonight, shall we ? He didn't seem to expect an answer, but sat staring at the people dancing on the shining dance floor. l wonder how many-of those people are of the aristocracy. Quite a few I suppose. But T'll wager that the ones who are not are just as happy. People are queer beings. Ever thought about just how inconsistent they are, boy? They discover new lands, they settle, establish governments, and consider that they have a model democracy. Dem- ocracyl Bah. Soon the ones among them, who have self-confi- dence enough, form themselves into a sort of so-

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he erfziersigf gf flze mmm 66177 The weird fantasy of the night lured her on- through the crowded streets where the spirit of gaiety seemed to be dominant in the heart of every- one. The celebration was in full force. Hilarity ruled with a high hand. And why not! The city, that living and working place of pulsing masses of humanity, had lived, had struggled, for a hundred years, yet had thrived and its people had prospered. It was fitting that the birthday should be celebrated. But there was one heart that night in the crowds not in tune with the spirit of it all-one heart, in which first Inherent Ambition mocked at Common Sense, Common Sense leered at Ambition and then Duty wedged its way between them and set the tumultuous whole of it into riotous tossing again. That heart belonged to this slender bit of a golden haired girl who was winding her way in and out among the pleasure-makers. Nobody would have known that the figure was that of a girl, for nobody could see the golden hair beneath that tightly drawn hat4-nobody could imagine that a girl's body was concealed by that suit of men's clothes, that a girl's tender feet were almost lost in those heavy menis shoes. , She had clad herself in such clothes in a frantic effort to get away for a brief interval from home, from the preparations going on there for the Wedding, and from the smiling, knowing expressions ofthe servants. At least she thought they were knowing expressions. Such is Imagination! Its power is limitless, its versatility is amazing and it can conjure at a mo- ment's notice all sorts of information and suspicion to the mind over which it terrorizes. Well, it had an easy victim in Anne. Now please allow the humble author, who neces- sarily must know all things and who can, with a per- fect right and unpricked conscience dabble into the secrets of his day-dream people-I say, please al- low him to interrupt the thread of the story just long enough to tell you some secrets, so you will under- stand why Anne was a victim of Imagination. It was like this. Years and years before the two families had begun a friendship, which had grown to be a settled fact, about which there was no more doubt in their social realm than that the sun shines in the daytime and the stars at night. So everyone expected, when a son was born to the Verners and a daughter to the Selwyns, that some day the two would wed and be happy ever after, according to plan. Even the son and the daughter, the principals in this little comedy of ambitions, grew up with the arrangement as a settled thing in their minds. Anne was resigned and Bob was resigned the said in his letters from Parisi so, when they had reached the proper age, wedding plans had been begun by the families. ' ' Oh, foolish mortals! How often We disregard the power and the rights of love in the hearts of a man and a maiden! So these two were to be married in a week, as soon as Bob should return from abroad, where he had spent five years. The bridegroom would return just in time for the wedding. Now you may think that things went on smoothly. Quite the contrary, something happened and that something was Anne's awakening to the fact that she had no real feeling of love for the almost stranger whom she was expected to marry-for instance as Corel, her friend, had for her husband. She hadn't thought much about it before, but now that she had paused in the whirl of society long enough to bother to think seriously about it, the realization had come like a bolt out ofa clear sky. It had turned her state of half-interestedness into onelof dismayed unrest. She hadn't been able to sleep. She had required con- tinuous feverish excitement and it was this that had put the very unconventional idea into her head of go- ing into the streets on this night of celebration. All of which brings us back to the girl wending 5

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f 'W-6. 1:44 . , -- I THE DRAWBRIDGE Nineteen-Twenty ciety, from which the timid commoners are Ibarred. They make tentative, unwritten laws by which they govern themselves socially, and they expect their sons and daughters to intermarry and carry the blue blood unmixed down through the ages. Then where is the true Democracy? I tell you, Pierre, we are getting like that here in the United States. ' That's the general reason for my being bound by my word' of honor to marry the daughter of my Dad's best friend. That that word was given years ago doesn't matter-itls my word and it's the word of a Verner. It's what the dear old mother and Dad have been founding their hopesion' and-well, it must be, I guess. Yet itls devilish hard, Pierre, because I wouldn't know the girl if I should see her now. During this speech Pierre could be seen to be- come much more interested, but he said nothing and finally the man continued. But Paris teaches her adopted sons many things, sonny. One is that this old world is full of things and people worth while. So it seems a stupid trick to marry a girl without any sort of affection on either sidefl And when you think of it, Paris is right, Pierre. I.ife's so short. Why notamake it worth living? Why not get the, vital, big things out of it? WVhy not- Here Pierre broke in. , 'fHave you considered her, the girl, I mean? Per- haps she feels that way. Probably she isn't any more anxious about marrying a stranger than you are. Perhaps, she, too, has changed during the years you havenit seen her. Look at it from her standpoint. You know women are developing in- tellect now. It's the age we're living in. Girls aren't content to sit patiently by and let their famil- ies make matches for them now. But she may be held to the bargain just as you are, by her promise given long ago. The man seemed surprised. You're a bright youngster. I believeiyou really understand what I'm rambling on about. Funny, though, how you seem to understand women. One could almost imagine you as a girl yourself sitting there with your big eyes, talking like a modern Suf- fragistfl - Excuse me, lad, he said as he saw Pierre Hush self-consciously. I didnit mean to call you a girl. But you must have sisters, to know so much about their whims. f'Perhaps you're right, though I never considered that phase of it before. glove, what a conceited fool Iam. 'That girl might be as sick of it as I am. He laughed, but this time it was a happy laugh, like a boy's. Then the frown reappeared. I But why doesn't she say so? Why is she letting it go on? Pierre, although you sound like a modern Solomon and you may beright about some of them, I'm afraid you're all wrong about this one. She could break it off if she wanted to. V Not any more than you could, rememberf' in- terposed Pierre. f'Besides, she's been here probably, and under the influence of the parents. And-and,', she hesitated, and I've read enough about Ameri- can aristocrats to know that they're great on keep- ing their inlluence over their sons and daughters. They might be forcing this girl to marry you. She might have been brought up that way. Oh, she has been, all right. And I've had enough of it instilled into my blood to feel in duty bound to go on with it. But youlve given me a new viewpoint, my young friend. Thanks for that. It will do me good to keep your ideas in my mind. But say, it's getting late. We'd better get out of here, he added abruptly. He rose, paid the check and started off toward the door nodding for the boy to follow him. The boy followed, with a curious mischievous smile on his lips and a glad light in his eyes. They reached the door and went out together into the streets where they parted, and the man walked away wondering at the intelligence and undertsanding of so young a lad.