Newspapers / Polk County News and … / March 5, 1920, edition 1 / Page 3
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...tfifiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiii i-Mii"" ."""""""iiiiniiiiiiMiuiiiiiiiiiiumiiiiiiuaimiiiiiiiiS ? 3 me I n A T! : . ; us I By BOOTH TARKINGTON 5 Copyright by Doubleday, Kgt Jk Company. iii!iiniiiuiiiiununiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiii:iiiiiniH CHAPTER XX Continued. 15 And if space itself can be haunted, is haunted, then snmp tlm nieuivi.T , , L v, ,.i the space that was Isabel's room !caine to be made into the small bed rooms and "kitchenettes" already de tiori ns its destiny, that space might iii-ii-1- - more of the expenses than 1 would. ! "I lent Uncle George two hundred; I &ne stared at him with such a for lorn blankness as he had never seen. "I'd be paying w she said feebly. Td be paying " "Certainly you would. You'd be using more of your money than " 'My money !" Fanny's chin drooped Kvell be haunted and the new occupants j up0n her thin chest and she laughed icmw to feel at some seemingly i miserably. "I've got twenty-eight dol- Vauseless ueprrs.siuu iiuug aooui n a iars. That's all." Qraith of the passion that filled it Wouchout tne iasr nignt mat ueorge Pinafor spent there. Whatever remnants of the old high handed arrogance were still within C hp did nenance for his deepest illiu, - sin that night and it may be that to this day some impressionable, over- hrorked woman m a "Kitcnenette," after turning out the light, will seem to see a young man kneeling In the "You mean until the interest is due again?" 1 r "I mean that's all," Fanny said. "I mean that's all there is. There won't be any more interest because there isn't any principal." "Why you told" She shook her head. "No. I haven't told you anything." "Then It was Uncle . George. He told me you had enough to fall back gave fifty apiece to old Sam and those two other bid darkies that worked for grandfather so long, and ten to each of the servants here " - "And yon gave me thirty-six, she said r thoughtfully, "for the first month's rent, in advance." "Did I? I'd forgotten. Well, with about a" ihundred and , sixty In bank and our. Expenses a hundred a month, it doesn't seem, as if this new place "Still," she interrupted, "we have paid the first month's rent in advance, and it does seem to be the most prac tical" George rose. "See here, Aunt Fanny," darkness, .shaking convulsively, and, , on That.s just wnat he said: to fall A J A 1 . Am with arms outsireicnea mrougn ine wall, clutching at the covers of a shadowy bed. It may seem to her that she hears the faint cry, over and over : "Mother, forgive mer God, forgive CHAPTER XXI. : At least it may be claimed for Georce that his last night in the house where he had been born was not oc cupied with his own disheartening fu- iilfifjpilL" He Did Penance for His Deepest Sin That Night. tare, but with sorrow for what sac rifices his pride and youth had . de manded of others. And early in the morning he came downstairs and tried to help Fanny make coffee on the kitchen range. -"There was something I wanted to ay to you last night. Aunt Fanny," he said. back on." He said you'd lost more than you should in the headlight com pany, but he'd insisted that you should hold out enough to live on, and you'd very wisely followed his advice." "I know," she said weakly. "I told him so. He didn't know, or else he'd forgotten how much Wilbur's insur ance amounted to, and I oh, it seemed such a sure way to make a real for tune out of a little and I thought I could do something for you, George, If you ever came to need It and it all looked so bright I just thought I'd put it all in. I did every cent except my last interest payment and it's gone." "Good Lord!" George began to pace up and down the worn planks of the bare floor. "Why on earth did you wait till now to tell such a thing as this?" "I couldn't till I had to," she said piteously. It wouldn't do any good not any good on earth." She got out her lace handkerchief and began , to cry. "Nothing does any good, I. guess, in this old world! Oh, how tired of this old world I am ! I didn't know what to do. I just tried to go ahead and be as practical as I could, and ar range some way for us to live. Oh, I knew you didn't Want me, George! I can see that much! You don't sup pose I want tp thrust myself on you, do you? It isn't very pleasant to be thrusting yourself on a person you know doesn't want you but I knew you oughtn't to be left all alone in the world ; It Isn't good. I knew your mother'd want me to watch over you and try to have something like a home for you I knew she'd want me to do what I tried to do!" Fanny's tears were bitter now,: and her voice, hoarse and wet, was tragically sincere. "Oh ' and now you don't want you want you want to leave me In the lurch! You" "Oh, my Lord!" He went to her anl lifted her. "For God's sake get up1! Come, let's take the coffee into the other room and see what's to be done." He got her to her feet; she leaned upon him, already somewhat comfort ed, and, with his arm about her, he he said decisively. "You stay here and look after the moving. Old Frank doesnt expect me until afternoon, this first day, but I'll go, and see him now. ... It was early, and old Frank, just established at his big, flat-topped desk, was surprised when his prospec tive assistant and pupil walked in. He was pleased, as well as surprised, how ever,, and rose, offering a cordial old hand.; "The real flare!" he said. "The real flare for the law.' That's right! Couldn't wait till afternoon to begin! I'm delighted that you" "I wanted to say" George began, but his patron cut him off. "Wait just a minute, my boy. I've prepared a little speech of welcome, and . even though you're five hours ahead of time, I mean to deliver it. First of all, your grandfather was my old war comrade and my best client; for years I prospered through my con nection with his business, and1 his grandson is welcome in my office and to laugh at bis own embarrassment "I suppose I'm about as ignorant of . busi ness as anybody in the world," he said. "But I've heard they pay very high wages to people in dangerous trades; I've always heard they did, and I'm sure it must be true. I mean people that handle touchy chemicals or high explosives--nien in dynamite factories, or who take things of that sort about the country in wagons, and shoot oil wells. I thought I'd see if you couldn't tell me something -more about it, or else introduce me to some one who could, , and then I thought I'd see. if I couldn't get something of the kind to do as soon as possible. I wanted to get started today if I could." v Old Frank gave him a long stare. At first this scrutiny was sharply incred ulous ; then it was grave ; finally it de veloped into a threat of overwhelming laughter a forked vein in his fore head became more visible and his eyes seemed, about to protrude. But he controlled his impulse; and, rising, took up his hat "and overcoat. "All right," he said. "If you'll prom ise not to get blown up, I'll go with you to see if we can find the job. Then," meaning What he said, but amazed that he did mean it, he added : "You certainly are the most practical young man I ever met !? Ki0ryUDd beneath m the quiti dicmlte form m nei own udni PrnnIS10HPhieS f 500 Most . S1 came seldom; this was but the fhTL a,nd familIeS 111 thlrMime that year. and. when she did Hn??t7t l tt C:ty- Ue George was ;not mentioned, glanced at it absently, merely noticing 4 either by her hostess or by herself an the title and subtitle, and wandered oddity contrived between the two v,u 4 uicumo, inimung or other ; ladies without either of them realizing V.Ulllfi31Lf 1 f 1 f 1 1 I : IlllUf I 111 1 I Wl W W l w w vuvi fc. VI Ul At other times Lucy's thoughts ox George were anything but continuous, and weeks w nt by when he was not consciously her mind at all. Her life was a busy one: she had the big house "to keep up;" she had a garden to keep up, too, a large and beautiful ! garden ; she represented her father as the book. But he had thought of it several times since with a faint, vague uneasiness; and now when he entered the lobby he walked directly into the parlor where he had seen the book. The room was empty, as it always was on Sunday mornings, and the flamboy ant volume was still upon the table a n AT , : w:al ' a director for hall a dozen public char fS,'5".fte.ttoitT orgUtoOM. and" did private enlightenment of tenants and boarders. He turned to the index where the names of the five hundred Most Promi nent Citizens and Families in the His tory of the City were arranged in al phabetical order, and ran his finger down the column of A's: Abbett. Ab bott, Abrams, Adams, Adams, Adler, Akers, Albertsmeyer, Alexander, Allen, Ambrose, Ambuhl, Anderson, Andrews, Appenbasch, Archer, Arszman, Ash craft, Austin, Avey. George's eyes remained for some time fixed on the thin space between the names "Allen" and "Ambrose." Then he closed the book quietly, and CHAPTER XXII. They found the job. It needed an apprenticeship of only six weeks, dur lng wThich period George was to re ceive fifteen dollars a week; , after that he would get twenty-eight. This settled the apartment question, and Fanny was presently established in a greater contentment than she had known for a long time. On Sunday mornings Fanny went to church and George took long walks. He explored the new city, and found it hideous, especially in the early spring, before the leaves of the shade trees were out. One of his Sunday walks, that spring, he made into a sour pilgrimage. It was a misty morning of belated snow slush, and suited him to a per fection of miserableness, as he stood before the great dripping department store which now occupied the big plot went up to his own room, agreeing j y0n(jer vm cwrauu uuy me way, 1 . f V.of f tttoo i,afin tv,. ', iNO, .no! charity work of her own, being a proxy mother of several large families; and she had "danced down," as she said, groups from eight or nine classes of new. graduates returned from the uni versities, without marrying any of them, but she still danced and still did not marry. Her father, observing this circum stance happily, yet with some hypo critical concern, spoke of it to her one day as they stood In her garden. "1 suppose I'd. vnt to shoot him," he said, with attentate lightness. "But I mustn't be an old pig. I'd build you a beautiful house close by just over Misty wet and windy day outside. The elevator boy noticed nothing un usual about him and neither did Fanny, when she came in from church with her hat reined, an hour later. And yet something had happened a thing which, years ago, had been the eager est hope of many, many good citizens of the town. They had thought of it, loncpd for it. hnninp1 rnl-1v tVmt thv might live to see the day when it would day" Snglj surrendering her up to my best efforts in his behalf. But I the Amberson hotel and the ' Ainberson nam iu tuuiess, vxeurgie, uiai uurmg your earlier youth I may have had some slight feeling of well, prejudice, not altogether in your favor ; but what ever slight feeling it was, it began to vanish on that afternoon, a good while ago, when you stood up to your Aunt Amelia" Amberson as you did in the Major's library, and talked to her as a man and a gentleman should. I saw then What good stuff was In you and I always wanted to mention it. I think you'll ffind an honest pleasure now in Industry' and frugality that wouldn't have come to you in a more frivolous career. The law is a jealous mistress and a stern mistress, but a- George had stood before him , in great and increasing embarrassment; and he was unable to allow the ad dress to proceed to its conclusion. "I can't do it!" he burst out. can't take her for my mistress." "What?" "I've come to tell you, I've got to find something that's quicker, can't" Old Frank got a little red. "Let's sit down," he said. "What's the trouble?' Georgo told him. The old gentleman listened sympa thetically, only murmuring: "Well, well !" from time to time, and nodding acquiescence. "You see she's set her mind on this conducted her to the dining room and . apartment," George explained. "She's seated her in one of the two kitchen Qt ld cronies there and I guess cnairs wmcn-nau ueen piaceti at uiw That would, be like" ss began impulsively; then checked her self. George Amberson's comparison of the Georgian house to the Amberson mansion had come into her mind, and she thought that another new house, built close by for her, would .be like the house the Major built for Isabel. "Like what?" 7 . "Nothing." She looked serious, and when he reverted to his ilea of "ome come to pass. And now- it had hap-1 pened at last : Georgle Minaf er had got his come-upance. He had got it three times filled and running over. The city had rolled over his heart, burying it under, as It rolled over the Major's and burled.it under. The city had rolled over the Amber sons and buried them under to the last vestige; and it mattered little that George guessed easily enough that most of the five hundred Most Promi nent had paid something substantial "to defray the cost of steel engraving, etc." the Five Hundred had heaved the final shovelful of soot upon that heap of obscurity wherein the Amber sonswere lost forever from sight and history. "Quicksilver in a nest of cracks!" Georgle Mlnafer had got his come upance, but the people who had so longed for it were not there to see it, and they never knew it. Those who were still living had forgotten all about it and all about him. opera house. , From there he drifted to the old "Amberson block," but this was only a shadow. The old structure had not been replaced, but a cavernous en- tryway for trucks had been torn in its front, and upon the cornice, where the old separate metal letters had spelt "Amberson block," there was a long bill board sign: "Doogan Storage." To spare himself, he went out Na tional avenue and saw the piles of slush-covered wreckage where the Mansion and his mother's house had been, and where the Major's ill- fated five "new" houses had stood ; for these were down, too, to make room for the great tenement already shaped in unending lines of foundation. He turned away from the devastated site, thinking bitterly that the only Amberson mark still left upon the town was the name of the boulevard Amberson boulevard. But he had reck oned without the city council of th3 new order, and by an unpleasant coin cidence, while the thought was still in his mind, his eyes fell upon a metal oblong sign upon the lamp-post at the corner. There were two of these little signs upon the lamp-post, at an obtuse angle to each other, one to give pass ersby the name of National avenue, tha other to acquaint them with Am-, had not told him, for she understood berson boulevard. But the one upon j George well enough not to speak to which should have been stenciled ; him of Eugene or Lucy. ' Nowadays "Amberson boulevard" exhibited the;Fannv almost never saw either, of words "Tenth street." to a suitor, she invented a legend. "Did you ever hear the Indian nam for that little grove of beech trees 6a the other side of the house?" sh asked him. "No and you never did either!" h laughed. "Don't be so sure ! I read a great deal more than I used to getting ready for my bookish days when I'll have to do something solid In the eve nings and won't be asked to dance any more, even by the very youngest boys who think it's a sporting event to dance with- the oldest of the 'older I girls.' The name of the grove wa Loma-Nashah and it means 'They-Couldn't-Help-It.' " "Doesn't sound like it." "Indian names don't. There was a bad Indian chief lived In the grove be fore the white settlers came. He was the worst Indian that ever lived, and his name was it was 'Vendonab, That means 'Rides-Down-Every thing.' "I see," said Eugene thoughtfully He gave her a quick look and then. vjeorge nau seen ruugeue ouiy uute i since their calamitous encounter. They street, downtown; each had been aware that the other was aware of him, and yet each kept his eyes straight forward, and neither had shown a perceptible alteration of coun tenance. It seemed to George that he felt emanating from the outwardly Im- fixed his eyes upon the end of the garden path. "Go on." "Vendonah was an unspeakabU case," Lucy continued. "He was so proud-that he wore iron shoes, and he walked over people's faces with them. He was always killing people that, way, and so at last the tribe decided that it wasn't a good enough excus for him that he was young and inex- nprlonnod hoM Vltava tn cm Thor tnsilr perturnable person, of his mother's old , bim dowQ ' ; a canoe, and pushed him out from I shore; and then they ran along the I bank and wouldn't let him land, until friend a hate that was like a hot wind. At his mother's funeral and at the Major's he had been conscious that Eugene was there: though he had aft erward no recollection of seeing him, and, while certain of his presence, was uncertain how he knew of it. Fanny "Why whv " shp stnmmprpd? hnt she knew-what he was going to say, I rouSh taWe- lhere! ne saia, -get and that was why she had been more ' over itr Fanny's spirits revived ap and more nervous. "Hadn't perhaps Pliably : she looked up with a plain- -perhaps we'd better get the the , uve ese A " " ,V things moved to the little new home ! fall clothes. George, she said; tost, George. Let's" - I paId every bin 1 .owed. I don't He interrupted quietly, though at er phrase, nhe little new home," his Pungent impulse was to utter one loud shout and run. "It was about this new Place that I wanted to speak. I've een thinking ltjover and I've decided. J want you to take all the things from mother's room and nse them and ep them for me, and I'm sure the little apartment will be just what you I had bought all my "and I owe a cent for clothes, George.' "That's good," he said wanly, and he had a moment of physical dizziness that decided him to sit dpwn quickly. For an instant it seemed to him that he was not Fanny's nephew, but mar ried to her. He passed his pale hand over his paler forehead. "Well, let's see where we stand," he said feebly. "Let's see . if we can afford this place .you've selected." Fanny continued to brighten. "I'm ?ure it's the most practical plan we could possibly have worked out, George and it is a comfort to be ( among nice people. I think we'll both tne, 80--,, He stopped In amazement : no chair been left in the kitchen, but anny gave a despairing glance around search of one, then sank ab Ewland sat flat upon the floor, nat on earth" George sprang Aer. "Get up, Aunt Fanny!" can't. I'm too weak. Let me ne, George!" And as he released e wrist he had seized to help her she 4 ered the dismal prophecy which for ba Vhe had been matching against hopes: "You're going to leave the lurch!" wny no, Aunt Fanny!" he protest or k flrst rd kftve been something , - "uruen On VOU. I'm tn p-p oljrht e; and with the extra bedroom prob uy you could find some woman "lend to come and live there and ware the expense with .you. But I've eclded on another arrangement for Myself, nnrl an T'r. 4- t .IV. nnit T .,.. a" A1U UUL i. ko truth Is WP've ; suppose you'll mind much, and j " Vrt rnrivps Wt see why you should mind-par- ! been keeping too much to ourselves tlcularly. that is. I can't Imagine you, for f ong while. It-tent good for "r anyone pi - - uiucu aiia.uu .v - ... . , , i n n w X i WUS iu.ili-.iiig nuum t." Aunt Fanny. The rent is thirty-six dollars a month ; the dinner is twenty two and a half for each of us, and we've got to have some provision for other food. i We won't neet any clothes for a year, perhaps-" "Oh. longer!" she exclaimed. "So you. see " I see that forty-five and thirty-six make eighty-one," he said. "At the lowest, we need a hundred dollars a month and I'm going to make thirty two." I thought of that, George," she said confidently, "and I'm sure it will be all right You'll be earning a great deal more than that very soon." l don't see any prospect of itnot till I'm admitted to the bar, and that will be two years at the earliest." "Well, there's the six. hundred, dol iro frnm the sale. Six hundred and month eK anout thirty-two a month The rent'8 thIrty-sIx dollars a run- Qd the table d'hote dinner an,.up to over twenty-two dollars J ' ece, so with my half of the fent nteen dollars tvi io tr, ! twplve dollars it was, lng left out of mv sinrv to nnv I "It isn't six hundred and twelve hare of the groceries for all the Lnow," said George. "It's about "Klagts nn 1 1 ' , J A anA olT-tv. luuLiieous. xou see ' uuuuicu .--v - one J a i not nni i. . uAn.A mnmpnturr dismay. - uoing an tne nouse- ,.. . t anuy wuw ; cooking, but you'd be paying ; "Whv. bow" she's been looking forward to the games of bridge and the kind of harm less gossip that goes on in such places. Really, it's a life she'd like better than anything else better than that she's lived at home, I really believe. It struck me she's just about got to have :t. and after all she could hardly nave anything less." j j "This comes pretty heavily upon me, you know," said old Frank. "I got her Into that headlight company, and she ' fooled me about her resources as much as she did your Uncle George. I was never your father's adviser, if you rer member, and when the insurance was turned over to her some other lawyer arranged it probably your father's. But it comes pretty heavily on me, and I feel a certain responsibility." "Not at all. I'm taking the responsi bility." And George smiled with one corner of his mouth. "I'll tell you how It is, sir." He flushed, and, looking out of the streaked and smoky window be side which he was sitting, spoke with difficulty. "I feel as if as if perhaps I had one or two pretty important things in my life to make up for. Well, I can't. I can't make them up to to i whom I would. It's struck me that. as I couldn't, I might be a little decent to somebody else, perhaps if I could manage it 1 I never have been particu larly decent to poor old Aunt Fanny. "Oty, I don't know : I shouldn't say that. A little youthful teasing I doubt if she's minded so much. It seems to me she's had a fairly com fortable life up to now if she was disposed to take it that way. "But up to now is the important thing,' George said. "Now is now and you see I can't wait two years to be admitted to the bar and begin to practice. I've got to start in at some thing else that pays from . the start, and that's what Tve come to you about. ! I have an idea, you see." "Well, I'm glad of thatl" said old Frank, smiling., "I can't think of any thing just at this minute that pays from the start." "I only know of one thing, myself." . "What is itr ' George flushed again, but managed at last the current carried the canoe out into the middle, and then on down to the ocean, and he never got back. They didn't want him back, of course, and if he'd been able to manage It, they'd have put him In another canoe and shoved him out into the river again. But still, they didn't elect an- George stared at it hard. Then he wTalked quickly along the boulevard to was passing middle age, when old in them and seldom thought of them-so i other cMef , w lace QUl wb siy is uie way oi uiue wiui me.; oUC was CUrious, and won- the next corner and lodged at the little sign thfre. "Tenth street." It had begun to rain, but George stood unheeding, staring at the little tensities and longings grow thin and flatten out, as Fanny herself was thin- dered about it a lot, but finally they came to the conclusion that the beech' i . a - i t . i grove yeopie were airuiu a new cme& g; ' ning and flattening out; and she was -might turn out to be a bad Indian, too. settling down contentedly to ner apart-: ment-house Intimacies. The city was so big, now, that peo ple disappeared into It unnoticed, and the disappearance of Fanny and her tnev couldnt settle down to. anythia neDhew was not exceptional. People and wear iron shoes like Vendonah. But they were wrong, because the real reason was that the tribe had led such an exciting life under Vendonah that no longer knew their neighbors as a matter of course; one lived for years next door to strangers that sharpest of all the changes since the old days and a friend would lose sight of a friend for a year, and not know'it. One May day George thought he had a elimnse of Lucy. He was not cer tain, but he was sufficiently disturbed, j Help-It !' " kept things happening terrible things, of course. They hated him, but they weren't able to discover any other warrior that they wanted to make chief In his place. They couldn't help feeling that way." "I see," said Eugene. "So that's why they named the place They-Couldn't- In spite of his uncertainty. A promo tion in his work now frequently took him out of town for a week, or longer, and it was upon his return from one of these absences that he had the strange "It must have been. "And so you're going to stay here in your garden," he said musingly. "Yon think it's better to keep on walking these sunshiny gravel paths ' between experience. He had walked home from . y6ur flower beds, and growing to look Themr sign. "D them 1" he said finally, and, turning up his coat collar, plodded back through the soggy streets toward "home. The utilitarian Impudence of the city authorities put a thought into his mind. A week earlier, he had happened to stroll into the large parlor of the apartment house, finding It empty, and on the centertable be noticed a large, red-bound, gilt-edged book, newly printed, bearing the title: A Civic the station, and as he turned the cor ner which brought him in sight of the apartment house entrance, though two blocks distant from it, he saw a charm ing little figure come out, get into a shiny landaulet automobile, and drive away. Even at that distance no one could have any doubt that the little figure was charming; and the height, the quickness and decision of motion, even the swift gesture of a white glove toward the chauffeur all were char acteristic of Lucy. George was instant ly subjected to a shock of Indefinable nature, yet definitely a shock: he did not know what he felt but he knew that he felt He went on slowly, his knees shaky. ; But he found Fanny not at home; she had been out all afternoon; and there was . no record of any caller and he began to wonder, then to doubt if the "small lady he had seen in the distance was Lucy. It might as well have been, he said to himself since anyone who looked like her could give him "a Jolt like that 1" t Lucy had not left a card. She never left one when she called on Fanny; though sb did not give her reasons a like a pensive garden lady in a Vic torian engraving." ' j "I suppose I'm like the tribe that lived here, papa. I had too much un pleasant excitement. It was unpleas ant but it was excitement. ; I don't want any more; in fact, I don't want anything but you." "You don't?" He looked at her keen ly, and she laughed and shook bet head ; but he seemed perplexed, rather doubtful. "What was the name of the grove?" be asked. "The Indian name, I mean. "Mola-Haha." i "No, it wasn't ; that wasn't the name you said." "rve forgotten. j "I see you have," he said, hit look of perplexity remaining. "Perhaps yo remember the chief's name better." . She hook her head again. "I don't P (TO BE CONTINUED. ' . : i Her Shoe Hurt Her Fct. j a general thin:. .vhT yon se wemnu hobbling alcn Hip strieet un an agonized xpre :i it 13 a firuthit Pie's g more fool dan i.-d---Dalut News,
Polk County News and The Tryon Bee (Tryon, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 5, 1920, edition 1
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