The Rising Tide

nt desire to kick Maitland? He might have gone further in his self-analysis and discovered that, though he wanted to kick Howard, he did not want to haul hi

lf in the affairs of a woman under thirty. The fact was that, though he thought of himself only as her grandfatherly trustee, Frederica Payton was every day taking a larger place in his life. She amused him, and pr

to[Pg 91] apologize for his words in the taxi. But it was not necessary. Fred, in the excitement of

ise in all the daily paper

said; "you take your medi

called me down last night? Bless you,

ough, an impulse of flight, which made him say, abruptly: "I shall probably go abroad i

he said, blankly; "

ured her; but a faint pleas

know how it is. You are the only person who speaks my language. Grandmother talks about my vulgarities, and Aunt Bessie talks about my stom

t warmed into actual happiness. "Pl

g

ct eyes, and nodded. "I know you don'

yebrow, "how shall I make Cousin M

and keeping me in or

; no self-sufficiency; nothing but the old, dependent arrogance that has char

she laid a frankly anxious hand on

ds; if you get married, and shut up sh

ed!" she said, and b

s in love with him. Well, he's a very decent chap; it's an excellent match for her,-Oh," he apologized to the elevator boy, on suddenly

about a telephone call; "I am going to write letters. Don't let any on

g

dy asked herself, idly; then took out her

tter than to take care of Fred. The first thing he would do would be to[Pg 94] shut up that ridiculous plaything of an "office" on the tenth floor. Billy Childs put it just right: "perfec' nonsense!" Then, having removed "F. Payton" from the index of the Sturtevant Building, they-he and Fred-would go off, to Europe. He followed this vagrant thought for a moment, then reddened with impatience at his own folly: "What an idiot I am! I'm not the least in love with her, but I'll miss her like the devil when she marries that cub Maitland. She's a perpetual cocktail! She'd be as mad as a hornet if she knew that I never took her seriously." He laughed, and found himself wishing that he could take her in his arms, and tease her, and scold her, and make her "mad as a hornet." Again the color burned in his cheeks; he would do something else than tease her and scold her; he would most certainly kiss her. "Oh, confound it!" he said to himself, angrily; "I'm getting stale." He did not want to kiss her! He only wanted to make her happy, and be himself amused. "That is the difference between now and ten years ago," he analyzed. "Kate never 'amused' me; oh, how deadly serious it all was!" He speculated about Kate quite comfortably. She was married; very likely she had half a dozen brats. Again he contrasted his feeling for Fred with that brief madness of pain, and was cheered; it was

ugh to cover a five-cent piece!-and in the lower classes pulled down wages in factories and shops. "Amateur Man," he said, sarcastically. "Suppose we tried to do their jobs?" Then he paused to think what Fred's job, for instance, would be. Not discovering it offhand, he told himself again that if[Pg 96] women woul

e the women should suddenly take it into their heads to be domestic, and flock out of the mechanical industries, ba

e I go out to lunch?" a flat voice asked in the outer

me to look them u

Suddenly, with a spring of resolution, he took down the telephone receiver and called up a number. The conversation was brief: "Hello! Jim?... Yes; I'm Arthur. Look here, I want to break away for a week.

g

his part, and then a final, satisfied "Good

egan to bore him. However, he sat there at his desk and made some memoranda, conscious all the time of a nagging self-q

terest" committed him to an affection, tender almost to poignancy. Of course there was nothing to do about it. He must just take his medicine, as Fred took hers, "without making faces." There was nothing to strive for, nothing to avoid, nothing to expect. She was as good as engaged to Howard Maitland, and it would be a very sensible and desirable match;-to marry

g

s Graham's and partaking of a bleakly femin

-table, but old Miss Eliza said, with spirit, that bread and milk would

" he said, raising an annoyed eye

her little neutral voice; "she is certainl

Eliza said, soothingly. "Reformers have no humor, and,

own kind, if conventional, heart made her listen sympathetically eno

on was a comfort to her mother-"though I don't see how she can be, off every day at what she calls her 'office'-a word only to be app

ing for her to do at h

g

in every properly conducted househ

a-closet as that girl! She ought to be

ady was very serious. "I thought her manner to her g

respect!" cried Miss El

Fred's eyes. ("How young she is!" he tho

postulated. "I am not drawn

"and she is so sincere that she shows her feelings

matter of showing one's feelings is as apt to mean crue

as charm," he

about her! Just now she thinks it's smart to put her thumb to her nose an

encer called on us yesterday, and told us a most unpleasant[Pg 100] story about her. She spent the

e town scavenger,"

t think that such a young woman would make any man happy." ("It was difficult to

will be a lucky fello

er," Miss Mary murmured. "I ob

use of the first name is one of the new customs. Everybo

er," said

ble!" said

rrected that "we." He sighed, and went on: "The tide of new ideas is sweeping away a lot of the old landmarks; myself, I think it is better for

like what you call 'new ideas.'

g

elf, once in a while," h

'new' heaven and the 'new' earth

ter lifted disa

t like it any better than you do. In fact, I dis

iss Mary said;-but her sister's aside-"the Other Place, more like

wickeder for a lady to smoke than for a gentleman; but,

, sitting up very straight and rigid. "I do not wish to believe ill of the g

Eliza said, "if h

"However, perhaps she is engaged to this Maitland person, in which case, thoug

will be very soon," Fre

t us hope so, for her sake; althoug

andmother-her powder and false hair; her white veil, her dog-collar-"that's to keep her double chin up," he said. "Yes! She is very lively for her age

abilitated Frederica. "But Cousin Mary feels that she has done her duty in warning me. Cousin Eliza would gamble on it, and give her to me to-morrow," he thought; "game old soul! But