Told in a French Garden / August, 1914

AILWAY

le of

saying that it is so strange to think that we are sitting here so quietly in a country at war, suffering for nothing, very little inconvenienced, even

. "I feel as if I were sitting on a volcano, knowing

what I mean. I meant that, in spite of that feeling which every o

uses were closed, and only here and there a street lamp gleamed, and here and there a ray of light filtered through the shuttered window of some silent house, and to suddenly remember tha

ace at Murren, with the Jungfrau rising in bridal whiteness above the black sides of the Schwarze-Monch, and the moon shining so brightly over the slopes, that I could count any n

he old father suspected this. He had never been happy that his one son married a foreigner. The instant the young wife realized that her man was expected to put love of France before love of her, she began to make every effort to induce him to go out of the country. To make a long story short, the son went to his mother, whom he adored, made a clean breast of the situation, and proposed that, to satisfy his wife, he should start with her for the Spanish frontier, finding means to have her brother meet them there and take her home to her own people. He promised to make no effort to cross the frontier himself, and gave his word of honor to be with his regiment in time. He knew it would not be easy to do, and, in case of accident, he wished his mother to be able to explain to the old veteran. But the lad had counted without the spirit that is dominant in every French woman to-day. The mother listened. She controlled herself. She did not protest. But that night, when the young couple were about to leave the house, carrying the sleeping baby, they found the old man, pistol in hand, with his back against the door. The words were few. The veteran sta

hat," said the Youngster. "So to

he traditional attitude of a monologist, "I regret to inform you that you will be obliged to have a taste o

or

the word, so sharply spoken over

rock, and her short tight jacket of Persian lamb, wit

one it all. But a closer observation convinced one that the strange combination of such hair and such eyebrows was only one of those freaks by which Nature now and then warns the knowing to beware even of mar

the wide doors on the street side to the swing doors

ing the wet pavement, she stepped daintily over the flagging, and so lightly that neither boots nor s

er, for when she stepped into the place she seemed to give a color to the at

rible night

ide, and the wind blew as it can

me, and think pityingly of the unfortunate, while those within doors involuntarily t

y station

people, clerks, and laborers were returning home to the suburbs, and at which the steamboat expr

sed. She was much too early! For a second she hesitated. She glanced about quickly, and the look was not without apprehension. It was evident that she did not see the man w

she was about to enter, the man behind addressed her-and the word was said so low tha

or

only for an instant. She looked alarmed, then perplexed, and

er a clerk nor the follower of any of the unskilled professions. He was surely countrybred, for there was a largeness in his expression as well as his bearing that spoke distinctly of broad vistas and exercise. He was tall and broad-shouldered. He stood well o

broad brow and wide-set eyes. He seemed at this moment to hold himself in check with a rigid stubbornness that answered for his New England origin, and Puritan ancestry! Inde

ing room and, passing through the dense crowd that h

word the m

every side, seemed not to note them. And, if they had, they would have seen nothing more remarkable than an ex

, and then had to pau

ny tongue; swallowed nervously once or twice, before

smile. His eyes were tragic. He seemed to be seeking something

e could not get beyond her name, "I thought you had gon

heard that you were in town this afternoon.

h. Where's the good for you fretting y

you being about in th

abs

times of late-in your eyes. Our i

ke, the

in that tone, D

imself. He was ghastly white about his smooth-shaven, thic

sked nervously. His was not exact

, I reckon. I've been a bit down all day. I really don't know why, myself. I've had a queer pr

ve no occasion to feel

u say so. What tr

hand to take the sm

drew the bag. He must have felt rather

fell to

he pe

, Dora. I need my

e 6.00 train. You've just

ght. Co

had touched her. A frightened look came into her eyes. He did not see it, for he was still avo

hated to be "stirred up." In a childish voice-which only thinly

, as if she were fearful of their effect on

you are there to make me forget. God! What damnable evenings I've spent there-feeling as if you were slipping further and further out of my life-as if you were gone, and I had only the clothes you had worn, an odor about me somewhere to convinc

e of a kind of gratification in stirring this young giant like that-this huge fellow that c

ife-the life before that nonsense-over again. You were like my old Dora all day yesterday! The Dora I loved and courted and married back there in the woods. But I might have known it wasn't finished by th

might have attracted attention, but only a man by the radiator seemed to ha

as a lo

nced nervousl

gain staring

precious minutes were fly

ut it is lucky for women like me-at times! You were determined to force all this out of me, so you may as well hear the whole brutal truth. I'm sick of our stupid ways of life-I have been sick of it for a long time. I've passed all power to pretend any longer. I have learned that there is a great and beautiful world within the reach of women who are clever enough and brave enough to grasp at an opportunity, without looking forward or back. I want to walk boldly to this. I'm not afraid of the stepping-stones! This is really all your fault. When you married me, five years ago, I was only sixteen, and very much in love with you. Now, why didn't you make me do the housework and drudge as all the other women on the farms about yours did? I'd have done it then, and willingly, even to the washing and scrubbing. I had been working in a cotton mill. I didn't know anything better than to drudge. I thought that was a woman's lot. It didn't even seem terrible to me. But no-you set

asculine animal, who seemed to belong to that race which comprehends little of the complex emotions, and looks

at lesson of life-and spelled out painfully the awful truth, that not al

p to you for all the hardships and sorrows of your childhood. I dreamed of being mother and father as well as husband to you. I thought it would make you happy to owe everything

if conscious how ill-timed it was. "I really like to tire my feet," she murmured, and she point

ght his bre

dancing that has

e always told you so. It was you who first

y because it was yours; your pleasures because they gave you pleasure. All my ideas of right and

ly at the clock. T

look at me! Dora-yo

who had foreseen his doom, and only protested

is clenched

suffering, and hated more not having her own way,

rday, only I hated spoiling a nice day. It was a nice day?-with a scene. You'll find a nice long letter at home-it's a sweet one, too-

estrain a sob was terrible-and six feet of American manhood, as fine a specimen of the animal as the soil can show, animated by a spirit which repr

trated another of her

t was evidently the sight of her work, a

"I'm very fond of you-you know that-but I detest the odo

s if she ha

which he took her. A man rarely understands a woman's facul

nt on, "to object to my earning nearly three t

e happy with what

o use to fib about it! It is too

suppose you do find me a queer chap, because I am not willing that my wife-flesh of my flesh-shoul

an't stand-why come, too! I'll soon enough be getting my hundred a week, and mo

that you think, if there were no other reason, I'd pose before the w

rupted hi

t-which of us earns the money? To h

quared his broad shoulders. A

the first time, he spoke with a disregard for s

l husband to you! I shall remain that while I live. I never denied you anything I could get for you! But this I will not put up with! I thought you loved me-even if you were sometimes vain, and now and then cruel. If you're ill-if you disappoint yourse

n me away! I only want to see a little of the world, to get a

t seem to

ve me-I daren't think of this-which has come to me! I dared not! God punishes idolatry! He has punished mine. Be sure you're not making a mistake, Dora! There may be other

ider if I wanted to. It's just seven minutes to train tim

ntense color to go with the marked pallor of the rest of the face, and which surely

decided?

cour

rt.' I'll have no halfway business," and he turned on his heel, and without looking back he pushed hi

ture watched hi

called him-if she ever did! Probably she liked him better at that moment than she had liked him in two years. He

ore important. That train! It was

and pushed her way to the platform, along which she hurried to the parlor car, where she seated

ction rather flattered her, and did not in the least prevent her noticing the looks

rnately expecting and dreading to see her stalwart husband c

dn't

arted-yet she hated to feel he c

ed out into the storm he stood at the end of the station, and watched it slowly round the curve under the bridge and pass out of sight. No one was near to se

e sat

er, "where's the claque?" And

t of us don't need to exert oursel

er the Journalist had made his best b

Doctor, as he lighted a fre

ngster. "I want to know about

d the Journalist. "T

insisted the Youngster

ulptor, "of course he cu

c. "He probably went up to New Yo

, and had him arrested as a com

scope he didn't,"

the Journalist. "He never did a blooming

ed again. I thought that was a simon-pure newspaper

ses are, so is he and her origin, but as for the way she cut him out-well, I had to make that up. It is better than any of the six tales

r, "because if she is, I'll go back and

t will have to be 'after the war,' as you wil

ed the Youngster. "I am go

l jum

d the Divo

e-so did the Doctor, so did the Critic, and so did he, the innocent looking old blackguard," and h

e has seen three wars, one may as well se

g litters, and as for the Journalist-well, I'll bet it's secret service for him! Oh, I know you are not going to tell, but I saw y

," said t

peaks every God-blessed language going, an

ed Nurse, "so that he goes s

exclaimed t

d for this sort of thi

e rest

rs or more earlier than I meant this matter to come up. I

ursting for

are all clear, and it was my idea that we should all start for Paris together early next Tuesday morning. I don't know what the rest of you

dly. "I'd be worse than no good. I'd

I'd be more useless than she would." And h

nd to. Anyway, I'd be an encumbrance h

st. He had been in his favorite attitude by the tree, just as he had been on that evening when it had bee

ed on him, "I am going to London with

I am," was

ropose to be there. I'll be no good at holding a gun-I could never fire one. But if, by some miracle, there comes out of this any c

esit

ountry," shouted the Yo

all events, I'll go back and carry with me all that your count

t. We'll still have one or two, and it may be three days left tog

ely summer we had planne

s summer, I imagine that it has been far finer than what we planned. Anyway, l

ic; "the Doctor is getting sentime

I've seen those that were more sentimental th