Newspapers / Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, … / June 26, 1910, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
SURRENDER"! TH D t OSCAR GRAYB fOPHIE WEND EX ftood on the ferryboal'i rear dock of evenings, after her long-inclosed day's work, eager for the air fresh from the sea. And it was here that for the first time in her life a man noticed her. He Hood close beside her the first night the was aware of his presence, occasionally glancing down at her as she leaned on the rail looking up and down the bay spangled with a million lights. She felt his scrutiny, but she thought he stood there by accident. After that however, she noticed that he sought her out to stand Inside her At first, she was frightened, she tried to avoid htm, but later she admitted to herself, reluctantly, that she bad crime to look for and expect him. On nights when he did not come, she wondered, a little vaguely, if he were ill, if anything had hap pened. Then came the night he spoke to her, merely saying: ' Nice evening," or something of the $oiwhich Sophie did not hear. With flaming charts she quickly moved away. The next morning he came to her again and seemed nlxHlt to speak, and again, elbowing her way through a gap in the crowd, she evaded him. She hurrieel a ross the Battery and up along Greenwich Street to the plate where she 'worked a small wholesale hardware bouse. , All the way she wondered if she were glad she had escaped him, if it would not have been !etter to have allowed him to jak to her, not once but many times to be her friend if !he wished, she had so few. She nodded good-morning to her office conpanions, gray ooon Keeper ana toe M'lrvi " and font her seat at ihe desk rradv to begin her work writing bills, c hec king costs and figuring up profits. For five years she had been seated at this desk, six days a week, eight hours each day, doing the same dead clerical work, grown as familiar and uninter esting as the enameled cloth surface of the flat desk before her. Many times, shrink Ingly, she counted up the number of months, of days, even of minutes, that she had spent liere earning just enough to keep herself and tier small brother This morning the work was piled high Awaiting her: letters, bills, memorandums, (but she could not seem to get started. She Isjlanced out of the window. It was raining 'softly, but she did not notice; she was think ing of the man, wondering, hoping. . . . ! All day long the thought of him was with tber. And, suddenly. .a resolution, which at first had shown but a timid hand, stood up right and proclaimed its strength. It was Ibis: She would speak to the man: she was lonely, nd she would try to make him her friend; ihe would dare to step out on dangerous rround, seeking that which all her life had teen denied her; seeking for she knew not rhat! When it came time to go home the rain had Ceased and it had turned cold It was bitter on the outside dee k of the ferryboat. Few Jjeoplc braved it, preferring the warm, stuffy Cabins. Sophie watched for the figure she knew so well. Her mittened hand held her teavy, but not over warm, coat (lose around er. How well, indeed, she knew his figure! Khe could close her eyes and see him clearly In everv detail. Why even his hands, his large capable hinds -she knew how the Mark hair lay against the brown skin; she could iremcmber how the heavy thumb, probably 'Injured in some forgotten accident, bent in ijrrotrsquclv ; where eac h vein rose ... A long breath eseaficd her, he had come out upon the men's deck opposite. He was smoking, but when the cigar was finished he tossed it over the side, its spark marking a thin, fierv line until it fell into the water behind them He was crossing over toward her. Sophie's throat filled so that it hurt her; he Stood close beside her now She wanted to apeak, but she could not. she had the will but not the power She was relieved of the neces gitv abruptly, for he put his hand over hers as it l.iv on the rail '" 1 1 11 soon be too mid for you to stand out ' here," he said. His voice was heavy and mas- culine. Sophie hesitated so long she was afraid he would think she was not going to reply; she had withdrawn her hand from beneath his. Finally the word " Yes." w as all she could manage. The man lauehed easily, and there was , satisfaction in the laugh He plai ed one hand ; on her thin arm ; she shrank a little aw ay from his touch "I want to be your friend," he said; want to know vou rjetter. Sophie looked full into his eyes for the first time. "Oh, I need a friend," she said. "Then, can I call on you ?" She hesitated, but after a moment, an swered in a low voice, " Yes. It's forty-five Narrows Street Ask for Miss Wendel." The boat lurched into the slip and he took her ann and they followed the stragglers they were the last to leave. It was not far from the ferry to Sophie's home. On wet nights she rode, but usually she walked to save ear-fare. To-night the man walked with her, but until he left her at the head of her street neither spoke again. ' My name is Conors, Jim Conors," he said then, " and I'm Jim to you as soon as you want. Ill be around to-night." And then he added, " We've taken long enough to get acquainted; we don't want to lose any time now." Sophie looked up at him with wide eyes; a certain sense of fear came to her. Finally, she smiled in answer to his inquiring look, but she thought there was something in what he said that she would rather he had not said. Just what it was she did not know. The rest of that night was strange to Sophie. It made the day stand out from the rest of her pale, commonplace days as one marked with gold and crossed with scarlet. She was des perately afraid of the consequences of her step and yet she was glad she had taken it. Sophie had boarded in the same plae e ever since her mother died, leaving to her care the new baby. That was not long after her father's death, and his wife was not strong enough to live through the second suffering. She wondered that night if Mrs. Sellers and her boarders, even if little Bobby saw anything unusual in her expression. Ihe same thoughts were so continually in her mind it almost seemed strange ieople could not read them. After arising from the supper table she stopped to speak to Mrs. Sellers. She had waited purposely until the four other boarders had gone upstairs. "Oh, 1 expect company to-night, Mrs Sellers," she said, trying with pour success i i look indillerent. " Shall I send her up to your room ? " asked the landlady. " It's a a gentleman " Mrs. Sellers disguised her astoni: hmcnt with a smile and a shake of her head th.it sent the small duster of false curls bobbing. "Now what do you know :'!. mt that, Bobby?" she said, shaking h"r linger at the Ikjv. Bobby did not i are to le interviewed on l he sub ject, and half hiding behind Sophie's skirt clung close to her. "Then, 1 11 show him into the parlor, of course," said Mrs. Sellers. She seemed to look for further information; hut Sophie, with a " Thanks, " slipped upstairs with Bobby lie fore her. The two had a large room on the top floor. Seven of the twelve dollars Sophie made eac h week went for their board, and, indeed, she knew Mrs. Sel lers would have been justified in asking more from her She had put Bobby to bed when the bell rang, fol lowed by Mrs Seller's ei hoing voice calling her down to the front parlor. Mr. Conors was sitting in the larger plush armchair Sophie entered hesitatingly: she was greatly embarrassed, which he noticed with some attention "Oh, don't get away off there.'" he pro tested, as she took a seat some distance from him. but she did not heed the remonstrance Sophie could never rememlier verv much of that evening's conversation She was won dering what Mrs. Sellers would sav and do if she knew how the had come to meet this man. She was wondering what he thought of her. She was even wondering if she understood herself. It seemed so incredible, so amazing, and yet. . . . She looked across at him and smiled. He was leaning back in the chair, one leg over the other, a short, black cigar in the corner of his mouth, as he talked, his right hand conspicuous with a great diamond on one finger. And, in his way, he was very good indeed to look at. He told her a great deal about himself. He seemed to take great delight in doing so. And Sophie was a good listener. She sat with her vivid red lips slightly parted, a flush had come to her cheeks; she hardly withdrew her eyes from him all evening. Her admiration w as so obvious and so obviously sincere, he would have been a strange man who did not enjoy being its object. " I'm something of a politician, you know," he said. " Down in the Fourth District every man knows who Jim Conorsis." She remem bered that. Before he went, after announcing his inten tion to do so. he came over and took a chair close beside her. "Oh, don't be so frosty," he said, taking one of her hands in his. As she attempted to withdraw it, he seized both, and leaning over, kissed her full on the lips. A startled cry broke from her, and, bending over, she hid her lice in her hands. He arose with a somewhat doubtful expres sion, perhaps rather a contrite one, and patted her gently on the shoulder. "There, there, kid," he said. "Perhaps I did go a little rapid Well, good-night." He waited for her to speak, but she did not look up, so he went out into the hall and let himself out of the front door. Kven after it had slammed behind him, Sophie still sat in the same position, quiver ing and ashamed. After a little while she turned out the gas and went up the stairs to her room, slowly and with one hand on the banisters to steady herself. Nevertheless, after that first evening, which in some ways had been so humiliating, Sophie felt that a new and wonderful interest had entered into her colorless life. She changed gradually in appearance. The pink flushed her cheeks more easily; she learned to dress her hair in a becoming psyche, such as she had seen on a hair-dresser's model in a shop window on Fulton Street; she carried herself in a manner that counteracted some of the cftec t of her cheap clothing. Often in front of her mirror she gazed with startled, some what surprised eyes at the girl she saw there with lips slightly parted and the even teeth showing white in the glass. There was no doubt that Conors admired her. He took her to the theatre; and if they were not exactly the ones she would herself have c hoscn, they were, at least, delightfully entertaining and rven more than that for he was bc.-aele her He met her on the fern boat of evenings and walked home with her. But while he had always treated her with respect and had never again been as familiar as on that first evening, there was at times a certain expression in his eyes and on his lips, a cer tain glance which seemed to question aid consider, that sent her home from an even- "Why, I thought you were a politician!" she exclaimed. "Oh, well," he said easily, "I'm that too " One evening she put on a little dress for which he hid given her the goods some days previously. It was a simple dress, w hie h she and Mrs. Sellers had fashioned between them, but it made her look younger and prettier. She turned from the mirror to Bobby, who was sitting on the floor occupied with a new stepped softly out, went over to the window and knelt there, choking bae k the sobs so that the c hild would not hear . . . Through the w hole of the next day it was in vain that Sophie told herself Jim had given her no right to lie jealous of him Her humil ity, the sense of her own insignificance, van ished Ufore the forked flame that shot through her It was in vain that she told herself that even if she did have the right to J -St 'j 1 , . .iJ, UMW 'ft jp - s, 'rr:T In Sh, did n-1 look t hill ing's excursion trembling and apprehend e Trcsentlv c ame the time when he ottered to ghe her some c lothe'. And after vime per suasion, the princ ipj! argument of whi. h was that he wished her to look nice when she went out with him. she ac ceptcd. Poor Sophie did not know the lure was as old as the ages " It's all right." he explained, with a wave of the hand "I'm in the business, so that makes it different.'' toy presented to him by Mr. Conors. do I look, Bobby?" she asked. Bobby was altogether too busy to bother with anything as uninteresting as clothes. "All right," he said absently. Sophie ran downstairs to see Mrs Sellers. On tjie way clown she looked into the parlor. "Just a minute, Jim," she said "No hurry, kid," he replied cheerfully. He was always c heerful. Mrs Sellers fingered the stuff of the dress for the txxentieth time. "The more 1 see it." she remarked, "the more I think it cost more than it looks." "Mr. Conors has lots of money," Sophie said, apologetically. "Of course, you and him are engaged?" There was a tritle of suspicion in Mrs. Sellcrs's glance. "Of course," said Sophie : but she bent her head and ran quickly upstairs so that Mrs. Sellers should not see her face. In the five years she had lived with the kind old woman it was the first time she had lied to her. Th.-y went to the theatre that ecer.ing On Ihe way home, Conors, as if the remark c ame rcluc tantly, .u'd: " Sophie, I don't think I can go with you Thursday." Thursday would le Thanksgic ing Day, and he had incited Sophie to go to the Bronx Zoological (iarclcns with him a'i I bring Bobbv. Thev were to Siend the entire day and have dinner there. "All right. Jim," Sophie answered. "I'm sorry, of course, doing somewhere el Conors I. Hiked away, "I'll he out of town on business." lie said, and. after an imierc cot ible pause, added. " I won't be able to lie ha' k in time, nd until Friday night. I'll see you then. All right '" "Sure," Sophie nnsncred. Soon Thur-dnv ..he and liobbv dtcided to go to the Zoo anvv.av and take their lunch with them. Sophie went downstairs ii the kitc hen to prepare the ham sandwiches "Oh, come on alon;;. Mis. S Hers." si;- s.ij! "A swell c hance I've got of going." n 'i;ed Mrs. Sellers. "Now. you children be back sharp at six for dinner. You'll be s; r.ed." Sophie and Bobbv started. And v.- kt tainly had a rare c ' y of it. They ; ilv suhn av bai k, grttir g off at the Boro'i;di Hall station. It v. as a quarter of six. s" I." I'.ur ric cl on dun n the Scr.-et. holding Uobl '. !.,ind and pulling the lin'd child alter lie r s,., denb" Bobbv fell her grip on his hand iiidilrn, tighlen so lhat he c ried out wilh the pain: out Sophie did not hear. Thev were in fi.mt ol a restaurant, a "swell" one l which ini had nrer takrn her. and coming mil of it '.cere Jim and a woman, beautifully dressed and very attractive, although a casual glance showed her to le about forty He had bis arm around her shoulders ,-ir! io -ting the Inng. pale-blue upe she wore, and her eyes were smiling into hi? It w as a cerv preltc tableau. Sophie turned, and vith the surprised Bobby still dragging behind her. hurried ha- k and around the corner. She wanted to get away from him as soon as pn-;ihle. and min gled wilh that idea was one oi thankfulness that he had ma seen her She did not eat mu h that ni-hl at supper She complained oi a heada. he. and when Bobbv went to tcd she went with him But after he was aslcTp. she lifted Ihe covers and "lhal'i ttocM of your How be jealous, there was probably no cause But to that came thedoubt: "He lied tome!" That night w hen he came, Conors imme diately felt lhat something was wrong. They stayed home that evening in Mrs. Sellcrs's dull little front parlor. It was not until about ten o'c lock, however, that the climax, whic h lioth felt impending, c ame. Then Sophie plucked at the skirt of her dress, and not looking at Conors said, " Jim, you didn't go out of town." His glance searc hed her face She had turned to meet his gaze. " What do you mean, Sophie?" he asked. " I saw you come out of that restaurant on Fulton Street with a woman." "Well, what if you did?" " Who is she " "That's none of your business " His tone showed lhat he did not rare to be questioned. " You've got to tell me wh she is, Jim " "You got no claim on me, Sophie. Don't ae t this way " " Why did you lie to me?" He arose and went over to the mantel "I'll le damned if you can talk to me I his way," he exclaimed. "You ain't got no right to, vou know." " U ho is he?" Me nailed a moment, and then he swung around, bis sh niMc rs thing hick with his elliows on tiie mantel. "Well, it you must know," he said, "it's the woman I'm going 10 marry " Sophie's hand flew to shield her eyes, she brcalhe-d deeply on e or twice "Then, it's all hut between us, Jitn." she said, after a little while " No. lleii needn't make no ilitierenc e be tween us, Viphie I have lo marry this lady. 11 means a 1 it in me in some ways. But we two . an go on ,'si the same "Why . . . what can you want of me now?" she asked. ",en eved He d.d no' a ,s r. anej as she e e.ntinnee to ga,' sh.- s.iv. ; he expression lhat she haleei and ie-.in'l e-mie- into his ees So the truth c a'lie- to her . . Aflci scriie lane she- sued, ' s,, ih, i ! ii.n's w iiat cu w ant me to be ' " ,;' in ihe " ere sih-n; . flushed, eac h breath j-'r i: r ;! " Aie you mad at me . " lie a-keel "Hull me Ikp i he e ri' 1 e ,ut, " 1 ' an't be ' " i vou .!(,', on ' " he h t to !:ct and re a' hing out for si -te ller Kind She hall r.pene d the door and stepped out " Don t loin h rv shr e.,iie ' I m genng to be good 1 want I" be good Don't come again, m. ' h. leu , plc.isc. don't come again. i " She stumbled up the stairs to her room and fling herself on the bed with Bobbv "Hold mv hand. Bohbi . riear." -he said, waking htm. " Hold il tight, 'tear tse,pbiir-' afraid." The e hild ' lute heel il earnrstlv until very shortly he was ha; k n the land from w hie h be had been so ridel v summoned The days that followed were days of torture to Siphie. She plunged into her work at the nthe e. finishing it up wi;h unacrustomed rapiditv and demanrhng metre, much to the astoni .hment of the old Imokkcctier For the first time since she had lieen there she called her work blessed. At home it was harder. Where's the man ? " Bobby asked. ! " He's gone," she answered, with hght lipa. "Ain't he never coming back?" said Bobby. Conors had been very 1-uid to the child. . " No, never," his sister answered. Mrs. Sellers was not so easily satisfied.' " It seems to me you was foolish, Sophie " I she nodded sagaciously "He was a free spender and had lots of money. I wouldn't ' have let him go so easy." j "Please don't, Mrs. Sellers," Sophie en. treated. "Please don t ever talk to ma about ' him." i Mrs. Sellers persisted, however, In iniiin- j ing the subject, with similar adjcn-aoocia and advice. She spent much time devising sc hemes w hich would bring him back, and j was amaaed Sophie would consider none of I them. j But it was with herself that Sophie stnif-j gled hardest. She had told him she-could not 1 be " mad " at him, and it was true. She loved ; him still. That washer tragedy I There were j times when if he bad come for her, she knew she would have followed hint, to do as be bid, j to work for him, slave for him without condi tion or restriction, merely to be near him, to j be able to touch his hand, feel his ryes upon her. There were even times when she ! prayed he would come. But afterwards, ' when these intervals had passed, the would be thankful and grateful to him for not coming And so, she lived through tha passing dayt. ... j One Sunday morning "he sat at ber win- i dow sewing on some old garments. Shs had put all the things he had given her away I from herwheresherouldnotseeortouch them. 1 She looked down into the street and saw j Mr. Conors walking across in the direction 1 of her door. " Bobby, go down and tell Mrs. Sellers s that I don't want to see Mr. Conors," she ' said to the child sitting at her feet, who was engaged with a pic ture book. But Mrs. Sellers bad already admitted him, -and she railed Sophie. Then the girl could hear his deep voire as be talked to Mrs. Sellers. It transformed her I Bobby was at the door on his way to deliver her message, but she rushed after him and pulled him back . " Never mind, Bobby," she said, "I'll go." All the old wants were clamoring again with ' a hundred new tongues of passion and tender-1 ness All the old seeking desires, seeking In a half blind way for she hardly knew what, were aroused w ithin her. The surge to go to him was as insistent, as irresistible, as that first impulse to speak to him months ago. He bad come and she was conquered. She surren dered utterly. If he bad known how pitifully weak the defenses were, she asked, would be have cared as much? .f tji Ty ''jJ Vt (Off b. k h eelwwerr4 She was descending the last few steps now. At their foot she was consc iousof him waiting, but as vet she had not looked at him Then she saw his fac e, e lear. looking up at her, and it stopjied her abruptly, there on the stairs a few steps above him " Well ?" she asked, held bv that indefinable something from de se ending farther "I've come bark." he answered, and his gaze was steady and clean and wonderfully sweet full into her eyes. " Well ?" she repeated. "I've come back because I had to," be said simplv " Because you're the only one, the onlv " Then he choked and stopped. Then she knew that it was he who had sur rendered and that hers was the victory. And vet. in that passionate moment in which she learned w hat his love really meant to her, she wondered if it mattered. . . . " let's go out and talk it over, Jim," she said prese ntly 1'nnoticed by him, as she passed, she brusheel her lips against his sleeve. "she put on her hat and coat, and so, to gether, they ent out into the bright, early meirning sjnlight.
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 26, 1910, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75