Angela's Business

ness at a dim gigantic Citizen, who rose in bronze at the intersection of two wa

t her to name the day; failing that, they were cads. But Charles was resolved to fail that, and he was struggling determinedly not to feel a cad. He simply did no

not well feel more mortified over those unimagined salutes than he, the New Man, did. And it was as if his humiliation had des

'll send her bonbons-flowers-that sort of thing. I'll land Donald for her-that's a thought! I'll get her

N'T MARRY H

an to think how he could go to Berringer's by the Center Street cars, and tak

o him. He was cursed, it seemed, with a fatal fascination. Women might be practically engaged to other men; they might be at the altar's hinges; but he could not stroll among them with his devilish gift without

hat he, Charles, was in love with her. (A stinging thought this, even while it vastly reassured.) Yes, this rudimentary country cousin, whom he had felt sorry for because of her loneliness, whom he had been interested in purely as a Type (he maintai

, the na?ve complacence of the n

reviewed the circumstances with scientific dispassionateness (as he considered). Compulsorily introduced by the firm Mary, he had spoken politely to the girl; kindly presented a s

inveigling him to her home (that was his word now), by the shallow ruse of a bridge-party; and then and there she had (you might say) flung both arms about his neck and kissed him. And by these proceedings, it appeared to her, in that queer world where Nice Girls lived, that she had affixed a claim upon him, fairly bagged his heart, in short. "Wh

Woman as quietly waiting at home to be wooed. It app

trees a yellow light glowed strongly in a lower window. That was Olive Street there; this light shone in the Wings' house. He noted it absently, wond

n a wink, the young man became staggered at himself. For there was nothing he had been thinking just now that he had not seen clearly for many years past. What, then? Had his vision of late been blurred i

o but signify, like her mothers, that she was ready to twine about her oak? So again, Charles saw the girl he had left in tears as a being mysteriously wistful and pathetic. And still she was a type to him, still a symbol of myriads of girls, waiting over the world: Girls brought up by simple parents who ass

omance, after all. And yet it seemed to be settled now, definitely and posi

g from the Green Park, Charles moodily saluted two young men who stood there on a corner; one was his good friend, Talbott Maxon, but the author passed him almost like a str

Wing. Only now Uncle Oliver's large face was faintly flushed, his large felt hat was pulled over his eyes, his very large cigar was rakishly uptilted tow

g, catching stride and slipping his arm through the silent young

Charles replied coldly:

ll I ask about any of 'em is, where's the harm of moving kind of slow, and taking a few good squints around as we go. That'd abo

ill-timed long rigmarole. So convivially windy was Mr. Wing that he had talked steadily through two bl

maybe, or Miss Jane Addams, out to Hull House there. But if you ask me, are they willing to work like men do, just so's not to have you call 'em parasites-well, that's where I say, let's stop and squint around. Of course, now, whenever you see a rich man's daughter refusing to touch her daddy's money, and jumping up mornings by an alarm-clock to catch the 7.42, and when

," replied Charle

an's face, and another ahead as if to measur

s, and smoke their cigarettes, and talk right out, white slave this, and red-light that, and all the time-no more notion!... Why, Charlie, you wouldn't believe the pretty-faced little gal, no more'n twenty-two years old, I

in the filtering snow, knocked the ashes from his cigar wit

andard of courage, miss, or do you hold by the men's rule of the sea and the land, and hop into the lifeboats with the kids? Excuse a plain old fellow from speakin' up this way, miss,' I says, 'but seems to me maybe Godalmighty might have known what he was doing when he gave women more feeling, and men more fighting strength; when he appointed women to give life and men to guard it; when, as you might put it, he appointed some virtues for both to hold in common, and then some for each of 'em to grow and cultivate specially. And maybe, miss,' I says, 'Godalmighty made the distribution fairer than some of our college gals realize.' Well, Charlie, you ought to have heard the hand the crowd gave me, though there was some hissin' by Suffragettes, I own. An

ott's bored eye upon Uncle O

speaking for almost the first ti

preach myself. And when a woman jumps up and hits a crack at marriage, that the rest of us are sacrificin' ourselves to build up for the good of Society, why, she's a bad woman, you can talk till you're black in the face, that had ought to be punished. Yes, and those that help her, they're lending encouragement to the enemies of

g man's face had become rigid. And he was now perfectly aware of the fai

at are you ta

e, you seemed so kind of glum. Why, I thoug

t be expected to stop for further conversation at this late hour.

ed Mary this afternoon. On account of this

ha

"She's sent over as a teacher to Lee Grammar School, reporting Monday. Johnson Geddie's th

ciently strong for a writer, and threw all h

t a growin' daughter in the High School, that's got to be protected and all. 'Twas only Mary's good record saved her b

vanished into the dark cave of his hall. But Charles stood still