Youth and the Bright Medusa

white flannel suit and a panama hat. They had been breakfasting at the Brevoo

ng now. I see a friend of mine over there, and I

p?" the young man glanced toward the seat under a s

's a recluse. Good-bye. I can't be sure about Tuesday. I'll go with you if I have time after my lesson." She nodded,

g to do today? Shampoo t

uired te

g out to Coney Island. One of my models is going up in a balloon this

her earnings in that way. "I believe," he added, "she likes the excitement of it. She's go

e who comes to see you? I can't he

she's a fine girl. I don't supp

ing I'd like to do something different today. It's the first Sunday I've not had to sing in church. I had that enga

to go. It's nice to see all the people; tailors and bar-tenders and prize

e had seen a good deal of him lately, but she kept wanting to know him better, to find out what made him different from men like the one she had just left-whether he

d like to hear him bark at t

disagreeable if he sees you talkin

hat means, and he makes a worse face. He likes Molly W

at twelve o'clock when she and Hedger got on the boat at De

unge of the waves made her very wide awake, and she liked crowds of any kind. They went to the balcony of a big, noisy restaurant and had a shore dinner, with

ing in a hoarse voice and telling the people that if the crowd was good for five dollars more, a beautiful young woman would risk her life for their entertainment. Four little boys in d

s, as he preten

enough if nothing goes

d be all ove

u like to go

I'm not fond of tak

't think sensible risks

shove the other way and shout, "Look out. There she goes

he basket, holding carelessly to one of the ropes with one hand and with the other waving

ough the hole in the basket to a trapeze that hung below, and gracefully descended through the air, holding to the rod with both hands, keeping her body taut and her feet close together. The crowd, which had grown very large by thi

ould look well in that position." Then, for some

hed the ground, and pulled her to one side. The band struck up "Blue Bell" by way of welcome, and one of the sweaty pages ran forward and

or man. I want to meet her." Edging forward, she herself addressed the m

lid and a "make-up" outfit spread upon the tray. She was wiping

said cordially.

endly manner, and there was somethin

tions. "I always want to let go, when I come down on the bar. You d

Welch took a last pull at her cigarette. "Now you'll have to get out, Don. I change for the next ac

Wait for me outside the door.

nd shifted parasols against the sun. When the band began to play a two-step, all the bathers ran up out of the surf to watch the ascent. The second balloon bumped and rose, and the crowd b

d the tent-fly. He was suddenly dripping with cold sweat, his mouth was full of the bitter taste of anger and his tongue felt stiff behind his teeth. Molly Welch, in a shir

u, all right!" Hedger br

ng gum at a high speed as she stood beside him, looking up at the floating silver cone. "Now watch," she exclaimed suddenly. "She's coming down on the bar. I advised her to cut that out, but you see she does it first-rate. And she got rid of the skirt, too. T

ft him standing like a stump, while

, the arrested bathers, standing in the surf, their arms and legs stained red by the dr

the band struck up "Blue Bell." Eden laughed and bowed, took Molly's arm, and ran up the sand in her black tights an

almost deserted. She stepped to her companion's side and said carelessly: "Hadn't we be

, we have fifteen minutes to get

pages ran up panting. "Lady, you're carry

at the bunch of spotty c

for a souvenir. You ga

, but you can't take 'em awa

ays use the

ain't too much mone

er. "I wouldn't have done it if I'd been with some fellows, but I thought yo

o do such a fool thin

, I wanted to try it. It looked exciting.

houlders, but in his

satisfying unless one came back to something after the flight. She wanted to be admired and adored. Though Eden said nothing, and sat with her arms limp on the rail in front of her, looking languidly at the rising silhouette of the city and the bright path of the sun, Hedger felt a strange drawing near to her. If he but brushed her white skirt with his knee, there

osquitoes were not very numerous. A party of South Americans at another table were drinking champagne, and Eden murmured that she thought she would like so

and feathery. She drank most of the wine; her companion was indifferent to it. He was talking more to her tonight than he had ever done before

e rain-fall. They were supposed to control it, somehow, and to be able to find springs, and make moisture come out of the earth. You see I'm trying to

can I

ted a dish of little radishes. "That particular picture I got from a story a Mexican priest told me; he said he found it in an old manuscript book in a monastery down ther

g to tell it to

s. "I don't know if it's the pro

hat! I've been balloon riding t

the boat to come home. He leaned back in his chair, forgot his food, and, looking at her

oldest man could not remember such fertility. When the Princess had counted eighteen summers, her father went to drive out a war party that harried his borders on the north and troubled his prosperity. The King destroyed the invaders and brought home many prisoners. Among the prisoners was a young chief, taller than any of his captors, of such strength and ferocity that the King's people came a day's journey to look at him. When the Princess beheld his great stature, and saw that his arms and breast were covered with the figures of wild animals, bitten into the skin and coloured, she begged his life from her father. She desired that he shoul

nds, and he was gelded, and his tongue was torn out

, sent an embassy to her father, with presents and an offer of marriage. So the Princess went from her father to be the Queen of th

and on the night of the new moon the Queen came to it from the palace. But when the moon waxed and grew toward the round, because the god of Thunder had ha

e jewel, for a sign that he should come to her secretly at the Queen's House upon business concerning the welfare of all. And some, after she had talked with them, she sent away with rewards; and some she took into her chamber and kept them by her for one night or two. Afterward she called the Captive and bade him conduct the youth by the secret way he had come, underneath the chambers of t

often for food and wine, and was greatly content with him. On the fourth day she went to the Captive outsid

ne gods at the gate. On the fifth night that the Queen was with her lover, the Captive took a purple arrow to the King, and the King came secretly and found them together. He killed the Captain with his own hand, but the Queen he brought to public trial.

*

ike his bull-dog's, but tonight his face made Caesar's most savage and determined expression seem an affectation. Now she was looking at the man he really was. Nobody's eyes had ever defied her like this. They were searching

, rising and winding her scarf about her throat. "

reet crossings, and they did not linger in the Square. At her door he tried none of the old devices of the Livingston boys. He stood lik

d flamed all evening in Hedger's eyes. The balloon had been one kind of excitement, the wine another; but the thing that had roused her, as a blow rouses a proud man, was the doubt, the contempt, the sneering hostility with which the painter had looked at her when he told his savage sto

was open, as always on hot nights. When she stepped out on the roof she drew a long breath and walked across it, looking up at the sky. Her foot touched something soft; she heard a low growl, and on the instant Caesar's sharp little te

og toward the manhole and disappeared. When he came back, he found Eden

urse you didn't hear anything; he never whine

skin or not," she answered aggrieve

ke a match to find whether you were hurt, though I know

ppose

ch boy-tricks. If you want the place to yourself, I'll clear out. There are plenty of places where I ca

her they began to talk, both at once, as people do in an opera. The instant avowal brought out a flood of trivial admissions. Hedger

lurred in shadow, but the figures were a man and a woman, and that was their whole concern and their mysterious beauty,-it was the rhythm in which they moved, at last, along the roof and down into the dark hole; he first, drawing her gently after him. She came down very slowly. The excitement and br

*

Eden's music room. They had been watching the pigeons come

tudio so they will open? Then, if I want you, I won't have to go thr

f you wish. The bo

re one on

came in, and the nurse used to have these rooms he

by his head, she struck the bolt a blow with his squatting posteriors. The two doors creaked, sagged, and swung weakly inward a little way, as if they were too old for such escapa

t her arms roughly. "Whoever takes

he only one who knows anything about me. Now I'

. "But I won't always be the only on

carelessly. "But what does t

this invasion of sunlight, and realized that the side of his room was broken open, and his whole world shattered by change. There stood his ma