Reading High School - Arxalma Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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u . LITERARY 11 them. A certain likeness deepened in the two pale faces defying each other. You're going to treat me this way- are you? An ineffectual sob broke on the rush of words. I tell you-no. You've got to marry Lord Poyndale. You must. She held out her hands to him and shook her head slowly. Can't you see, father? It's not enough for you to say 'I must.' It's not enough for me to try to obey you, and say, 'I will.' I can't. I can't. Come my way. It's the right way. You're a. fool, he cried, in his distress and disappointment. Do you think I want to make you miserable? Do you think I don't want every good for you? But I know what I am saying and you don't. You think your silly infatuation for this artist is worth the price? I tell you nothing lasts but the real, big things. Don't you cheat me Elizabeth. I've worked like a navvy to get where I am. You don't know the one-hundredth part of what I've suffered. We have every- thing but social position. I can't get it- you can. A weakness rushed over him. Pm an old man now. Don't you fool' me, Elizabeth. He went out, his head shaking, in a feeble way never seen before. His last words had touched herg her heart yearn- ed over him. He was her father, he adored herg she loved him tenderly. But she could not be true to herself without hurting him. Unconsclously she stood, clasping and unclasping her hands. Weak tears welled up to her wide-open eyes. Her future was balanced on this moment. One word would decide it. - Dan was going away tomorrow morn- ing-if she let him sail without a word,- if she spared her father? That was one way. If she obeyed the tender, whispering voice in her heart-if she went to her lover? That was the other way. Which? There was but one answer. It leaped to her question as inevitably as sparks from an anvil stroke. ' She did not know when the Slavonic was to sailg perhaps very early. She dared not delay until the morning. If she went at once to Dan she could be back within an hour before her father returned from his nightly game of bridge at the club to which he had recently been granted membership. Just to see Dan, confess to him-after that-well, she had no plan. After dismissing her maid for the night, she put on a hat and veil and a long coat over her dinner gown. She paused in the hall and listened. The house was still brilliantly lighted but as silent as if untenanted. No one met her as she went softly and quickly down the stairs, and the heavy street door closed after her with only a smooth click. When she saw the wide, empty avenue and felt the rush of keen air, the last figment of depression faded from her, and she came into her own-a heady, feverish joyg a craving for her lover's eyes, arms and lips: and, oh, for his voice, speaking words that would redeem her as a woman to herself, and blot out those words of the morning. In the whirl of the adventure, she had not considered the possibility of Dan be- ing out. When she arrived at his door, however, and saw a big square of white paper, with words printed in pencil on it, the practical side of the situation dawned on her. With startled eyes she peered in the gas light at this message: Dick: If you come before I get back, you'll find the key in the usual place. DAN. A smile rippled over Elizabeth's face. It all seemedso familiar, like reading a well known story. She knew 'tDick. He was Dan's brother, coming, no doubt, from Boston, to bid him good-bye. She knew, too, where the keys were kept, where she had always kept her own. A thrill of the old happiness went through her, as, reaching to the high ledge above Dan's door, she felt her fingers close around the key. When she crept into Dan's apartment, feeling very much like an intruding mouse, she found the place only dimly lighted, and in such a whimsical disorder as only a man could have evolved. A big trunk stood in the center, half-packed. The smaller one for the steamer was still empty, but with clothes, books, and knick knacks in a heap on the floor beside it. Chairs were overturned, tables littered with a medley of things, some of them' so wildly astray she found herself laughing aloud g for instance, a revolver, a sponge,

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10 THE RED AND BLACK . Yes-his pictures have been making a stir lately. He sails tomorrow morning on the Slavonic. Fine fellow-I like Dan Varick. You know this commission will mean a lot of money, and it's the begin- ning of bigger things for him. , Sails tomorrow morning! Slavonic! Ordinary words, just a collection of syllables, but they flashed like a comet against the horizon, and left Elizabeth shaken. Dan was going from New York just as she had reached lt, and had not told her. His good-by had been final. He had indeed wiped her out with a. flourish forever. She had not been con- scious of hope or expectation regarding him, but the thought of the seas between them put the seal upon her desolation. Some time later she went along the hall to the library, where Lord Poyndale was waiting for her. Her nervousness and absentmlndedness had not escaped him. But she did not know that he had dismissed thought on the subject as un- important. She would become practical enough when she was his wife and had children to give her real anxiety. This white-faced, moody girl was his, though she had not given him one responsive glance. It would be taming her to make her acknowledge this tonight. The mas- ter in him was pleasantly stimulated by the prospect. Elizabeth came in slowly. Her excited eyes and red lips were vivid in her white, still face. She was dream-like, unexpec- tant. She irritated him. He crossed to hcr sharply. You don't seem very glad to see me. But you are-aren't you? His look of ownership as he put his arms about her made an acute repulsion seize her. No, no, no! The words rushed in a shivering way from her averted lips. She hold him back with an angry wildness. He was never so surprised in his life. You won't let me kiss you? I'd-I'd-die first, Elizabeth said, an- guish in the words, Die? This is strange language, he said crisply, his clasp on her arms tight- ening in exasperation. Are you out of your mind? Lord Poyndale, she said piteously, let me go and I'll tell you. His hands fell sharply, and she sank back, leaning on the table to steady her- self. What's the meaning of this-this-er -remarkable conduct? he asked, his light brows twitching. She drew off the ring and placed it on the table between them.. I can't marry you, Lord Poyndale, she said, and went blindly toward the door. One moment, if you please, he said, in a cold voice that conveyed, however, a. deep, shutin wrath. Pray, when did you discover that you could not marry me?l' Today I'm sorry to hurt you. I hope you'll forgive me. And your reason? I don't love you, break in her voice. she repeated, with dull emphasis, and went away. she said, a wild I don't love you, She seemed to have been only a mo- ment in her room, when her father, after an aggressive knock, stepped in. He was ashen from anger. He stared at her in unbelief. What's this Lord Poyndale tells me? he asked. That you've thrown him over? He leaned his fists on the table and brought his face close to hers. I know what's the matter and it's got to stop this minute. I found out from Jack- son where you had him drive you today. You've been with your artistic vagabond friends, and you've come back full of that stuff about aims and ideals that you used to talk. That's what has made you insult a. peer of England tonight. She quailed at his look, but as suddenly rallied, and her words were as surprising as flame darting from ashes. Not that alone, father. I love Dan Varick. I love him with every beat of my heart. I wasn't sure of this when I reached home today. I felt only then that in this life that seems so full of everything a girl could want my soul has been starving, and I began to wonder how Lord Poyn- he tried to I had ever promised to be dale's wife. But-oh, when kiss me, I-I-knew. I knew, father, how a woman must love a man to marry him. Then I knew, too, how I loved Dan-for he kissed me today, father-kissed me to- day- There was a foreboding silence between

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12 THE RED and a bottle of mucilage on an open dic- tionary. Elizabeth flung off her hat and coat and fairly attacked the confusion in a joyous desperation, for at first it seemed a mountainous task. She made a pretty picture with her flimsy diuher gown tuck- ed up and her hair with the forgotten flowers in it lying in a slipped coil on her shoulders. She worked swiftly and cap- ably, cleared the place of the contradic- tory odds and ends, and packed the trunk with intelligent exactness, stopping only for a moment to kiss Dan's tweed cap and calfskin note book. Once finished, she lighted the lamp under the yellow glass shade and the candles in their sconces. The place was restful now, and pretty, only the trunks with shut lids telling of departure. She was standing rosy and breathless, when she heard the key in the lock. This meant that Dan was divided from her on- ly by a door,-would soon stand before her. The thought loomed up overpower- ingly as she slipped behind a screen and sat down on a velvet draped dais. Her heartbeats filled her throat, she felt weak and dizzy. Thehgambler's chance she had taken became startlingly clear to her. What if she had assumed, hoped,-dared too much?-if it were too late? Dickl she heard Dan call as he closed the door. Silence followed. She could fairly feel his amazement as he looked about. Dick! The voice was puzzled. Say-what the deuce- She heard him go into another room and then another. He recrossed the studio, paused halfway, and silence fell again. This lasted so long, a curiosity like hunger made Elizabeth creep along on her knees and peer from behind the screen. Dan was standing in the center of the room, one of the roses that had fallen from her hair in his hand, and staring at it with a look that made a line she had read somewhere leap into her memory: His face had the brightness of a seraplisf' V Dan, she called. The word ended in a sighing sob. He turned slowly, gazed back at her, but did not move. Dan-you might come and speak to me when I've cleaned the place so nicely . AND BLACK -and packed-your trunks, she said, her mouth quivering pitifullyg and to her everlasting amazement she laid her head prone on the dusty dais, and wept only as a woman does when she has lost every- thing, or has seen heaven open before her. Dan was beside her before she was tin- ished speaking. He made a movement as if he 'would pick her up and fold her to him, but.checked it and gazed at her with eyes suffering with pain. It was as un- real as delirium and so sweet that it hurt him to see her crouching there in her dis- heveled loveliness in his studio, the hour almost midnight., But why had she come? A reckless impulsiveness had always been one of her characteristics, and she had followed it tonightg perhaps because he had hurt her this morning, perhaps be- cause she had heard he was leaving New York. He dared not let his leaping heart interpret her presence according to its need. The sobs stopped, and Elizabeth sat for- ward on the dais, her face hidden in her hands. The lamplight made her loosened hair, with the trailing iiowers, luminous in patches, he saw her white bare shoul- ders,' lifted by the little sobs that ran through 'her. She looked very young, pit- ifully astray, and abjectly penitent. Dan, she whispered, without looking at him, do you know why I've come? To say good-bye? You heard I was leaving, I suppose. I-I don't like saying good-bye, Elizabeth. Besides you shouldn't have come-as late as this. It was a reckless thing to do. She stood up, her pale, sweet face lift- ed.. She was longing to creep to his heart. She was anticipating the rapture of feel- ing his arms about her, comforting her. I had to come, Dan, she said simply, and looked at him with a full, soft direct- ness. There is no question of the right or wrong. To keep my heart from break- ing I had to see you t0I1lg1lt.-H She placed her hands upon his should- ers, and her voice in the quiet room made him ache under the new, sure joy creeping through him. You said hard things to me today, and they were all true. But if I were very different from now on, forever, dear- could you love me again?