2019114006-kneserLM-test.txt

"You mean dream"?	663.7133780042215
"Not exactly.	186.3123578178804
Just see it".	102.81761072895625
Benson grinned and flipped a rock with his thumb like a marble.	113898.62046471954
"Nope, just you, all the time- sometimes I think it's the only way I'll ever get a decent partner".	55605.055876250655
Ramey smiled but he thought to himself, I always see me too.	43349.681940136434
Never Benny.	1329.1902022225224
Whenever he saw someone lying in the dirt, Ramey wondered what the person had been thinking and he would try out thoughts in his own mind.	26326.00701862761
Then he would realize they were really things that only he himself could think.	10072.571722429586
With this realization, sometimes, he saw himself as he looked down.	10020.432107475026
"You seen him yet"?	2853.3429883332856
Benson said, referring to the Indian.	261.531504999002
"He wasn't in the car", Ramey said.	1103.128957709273
"You didn't go clear around", Benson said.	3101.351913381654
"If you want to see something, he's back on the other side by the trunk of the car".	1203.3592294810203
"Too long a waiting line", Ramey answered, pretending to joke.	21917.767836784875
A few minutes later the insurance man, a road checker, drove up in the gray coupe with license plates on it from a far-away state.	29636.624448199083
It was a trick they used to try and conceal their identity when they followed trucks to check their speed.	21811.07828701147
Sometimes they just parked at the side of the road and used radar on the trucks as they passed.	4902.813782477451
All the drivers knew about the plates and they also knew about the big floppy straw hat with shredded edges, the kind natives in travel ads wear when they are out joyfully chopping cane.	161964.5040545414
Horsely, an agent on the east end, wore the hat, trying to look like a tourist.	82327.84415770628
It had always seemed strange to Ramey that to disguise himself as a tourist, an ex-truck driver like Horsely would merely pick something outlandish and put it on his head.	31975.967884988593
The insurance man informed them that he had talked to Crumley who was all right and that he would watch the men's personal effects until they towed the rig back to town.	113224.75999940347
He chatted with Ramey and Benson for a minute or so in the meager shade of the trailer.	55409.702818716294
Every so often the diminishing sound of a car came under the trailer as it slowed down for the wreck then speeded up again as it got clear.	118854.51637252302
When they were ready to leave, Benson and Ramey walked back around the rear of the trailer.	8595.944492008244
"There's a body you won't mind looking at", Benson said and they stopped.	14193.742345736375
She had driven up with her husband in a convertible with Eastern license plates, although the two drivers knew nothing at the moment about that.	30212.274044571997
She wore shorts and a loose terry-cloth shirt.	16915.738938140807
Slender and tanned, her dark brown hair was drawn straight back, simply.	147265.21120275225
"What outfit does she drive for"?	7208.663107151388
Benson said.	1377.4294786082955
Seeing her caused a lurch in Ramey, a recognition.	11555.759267505091
She might have been someone he had once loved.	7127.012385562515
He had never seen her before, but now he thought of the manner in which he and Benson went in and out of the cities, at each end of their run.	1819.3148568773936
The truck routes, the industrial areas with walls grimed with diesel smoke passed briefly through his mind- back alleys were their access to a city and they could never stay.	76781.07607453664
How would you ever see her again?	8634.190754484835
The feeling subsided, it was only a small yearning.	2579.4486856560925
Their work was lonely.	192.66835191977907
"What's she doing in this bunch"?	17073.474374038702
Benson said, and Ramey wondered how close their thoughts might have been.	21914.46156938208
The girl looked around at the countryside.	1979.2600416460389
Her glance swung past the trailer where the two drivers were standing.	42609.50733514908
It made only a tiny bump over the two men like a tire over a piece of gravel then moved on.	20991.17586447529
She began to watch a blonde-haired man, also in shorts, standing right at the rear of the wrecked car in the one spot that most of the crowd had detoured slightly.	48429.849349033866
What had caught his attention was obscured by the car itself, so that neither the girl nor the truck drivers could see, but Benson knew what it was.	67241.70818067642
The girl took a couple of steps toward the man in shorts when Benson, in that barefoot courtliness Ramey could never decide was real, said, "You don't want to go around there, Ma'am".	74938.05639797458
The girl stopped but did not turn her head or acknowledge that someone had spoken to her.	11349.258732824313
The man stood near the bent levi-clad body of the Indian who lay face down almost under the car.	17516.083370938868
The two drivers moved closer.	601.036561560878
"What does he want, a spoon"?	3292.585274525964
Benson said to Ramey.	17777.56563199921
One tiny detail in a happening can clog the memory and stick like meat in a crooked tooth, while the rest of the occurrence will go hazy and uncertain.	52768.40909023051
With Ramey it was a dusty work shoe that was half-off the Indian's foot that he would always remember.	29032.63508658329
The laces were broken at the bottom of the eyelets but there was still a bow knot at the top.	5365.554075917261
The slightest twitch would have parted the shoe entirely from the foot, yet the toes were still inside.	43348.12626860665
The two men in overalls stood just behind the blonde-headed man.	5227.751611011309
He wore tennis shorts and a white sweater with a red V at the neck, the sleeves pushed above the elbows.	43693.92681020943
He turned and looked at them with clear blue eyes, immaculate eyes.	8412.487203101282
He was very tanned- big hands might have torn him from a Coca-Cola poster.	39041.23011799379
"He's dead, isn't he"?	3504.9455257465393
the man said.	312.99079194656224
He turned and bent over the body of the Indian.	339.62947906005337
There was nothing in particular on the man's face.	863.4373279445467
It was simply a matter of curiosity, a natural right to examine.	10070.224379112035
"What's this"?	257.2354289324899
the man said, backing up a step, still looking down.	18410.87408979383
His words were mostly to himself.	112.84590348902283
"Don't".	173.8771536644349
There was a gentle concern in Benson's voice.	904.2822697065351
Ramey looked down and saw the white sneaker at the bottom of the man's tanned leg cautiously nudge a bit of folded, blood-flecked substance lying by itself on the pavement.	130843.75833445895
"But what is it"?	4.320076382895939
the man said with a tone of impatience.	11825.120525070497
But what is it?	4.320076382895939
The man had spoken only once.	227.1655510026507
Ramey heard the words again inside, weakened, the way moving water sounds through a grove of trees, until he was not sure whether it was sound or light-headedness pressing in his ears.	60649.682588500604
The sneaker reached out once more to tap against the mass and Ramey's vision darkened except for an unreasonable clarity of the man's leg.	96708.5534844839
Ramey saw sunlight touch the curly blonde hairs on the brown skin.	54775.454426320925
He stared at the shining, shining circles of hairs and heard the voice of his partner through trees, "Don't do that, fella.	32622.54224103288
Them's brains".	6886.910637010236
The man seemed to sink a little as Ramey brought the tire iron down on his shoulder and it seemed that the blonde head was turning as he hit the man again, with his fist.	52163.408296806876
Ramey swung and caught the man just to the left of his mouth.	11775.393237500373
It was a straight, solid, once-in-a-lifetime shot; he laid all four knuckles in between the man's cheekbone and his chin.	38948.31834849435
Ramey's fist and the air expelled from the man's collapsing cheek made a hollow pop in the air like cupped hands clapping together.	106620.22357798992
The man took two short steps backward then sat down heavily on the pavement.	15613.8918196646
Ramey heard a cry from the girl and felt a slight pain somewhere in his hand.	9987.55704461391
As he watched the man sit suddenly, a detached part of his mind observed how very difficult it was, really, to knock a man off his feet.	16073.66207911498
He hadn't done it this time and he would never again hit anyone so hard.	2875.301182473835
With a thoughtful look, the man sat on the pavement, legs straight out in front of him.	5213.177537198483
His arms hung like empty shirt sleeves, and his mouth was slightly open.	9895.3351321593
After what seemed several seconds, the open mouth grew dark inside then blood began to ooze from it.	26975.08473872822
The man brought one hand up slowly and the fingers fumbled across his face until he touched his mouth.	19387.687715185835
He moaned and pulled the hand away.	5813.376333897715
Even yet there was no realization in his eyes.	1643.1074880340518
Ramey could hear the crowd coming up rapidly behind him and the questioning voices coming over his shoulder had no identity or importance to him.	92441.65166213708
He did not look around.	147.5077903751616
"What happened"?	35.044431519550585
someone said.	911.7403321299438
"He's hurt"!	1164.9773610348632
A woman's voice said, and then he heard a sort of wail from the man's wife.	16658.236119333098
The man on the ground began to move; one of his hands flattened out on the pavement and supported him.	14727.984862614003
Blood dripped down the front of his sweater, soaking into a dark streak of dirt that ran diagonally across the white wool on his shoulder, as though the bright V woven into the neckline had melted, running a darker color.	175647.43466753737
The girl kneeled by her husband with one arm at his back.	9503.562399383698
"Can you hear, can you talk to me"?	2210.3261640592827
she begged.	787.1648881502242
An incoherent, puzzled sound came from the red mouth.	7943.820189505749
The girl looked around quickly at several of the people.	885.1890436416955
None of the crowd had stepped forward to help.	454.6826994212554
Then she saw Ramey and her face was misshapen with bewilderment.	13041.365125331351
"Why did you do it- why did you hit him"?	8572.920772434529
she said, her voice rising.	1163.4710416540765
Ramey said nothing.	688.1431434479489
A shine in her eyes suddenly became tears and she turned back to her husband again.	27838.282344036106
Behind Ramey feet scraped beneath sharp questioning whispers.	26448.464670270376
No one seemed to know for sure what had happened, nor was there any purpose or responsibility in the muttering feet and urgent voices behind the driver, beyond finding out.	24354.21265408497
Ramey looked around and caught sight of his partner near the front end of the wrecked truck talking to the patrolman.	238250.278715795
Benson moved his arms, gesturing with an unfamiliar vigor and talking rapidly.	63634.48954218276
Ramey caught a glimpse of the insurance man.	8477.88972105252
Some of the ruddiness was gone from his face and he stared at Ramey.	7933.421205270369
It's all over now, the driver thought as he saw the patrolman turn and walk rapidly down along the trailer toward them.	43439.98646790398
Ramey watched him coming with a vision as clean as the glare on the metal sides of the trailer.	119354.05800248038
He saw the dark sweat spots flip in and out of sight under the patrolman's swinging arms and in the leather holster that swaggered and rolled at the side of his stocky body, the sun left a smoky shine on the narrow strip of blue metal that ran between the horned handles of his pistol.	161650.97099377407
"All right, step back"!	1226.3699657979791
the patrolman said to no one in particular as he pushed between the fat man in the baseball cap and a young boy in levis.	30137.662992195113
He walked straight up to the man sitting on the ground and bent over to look at him.	4271.791898662749
"You all right"?	3465.6688997357455
"Mough- it's my mough", the man said, trying to talk without moving his lips.	20715.52685201569
His brown face looked gray from dirt streaks where his hand had come off the dusty pavement and rubbed across it.	75952.87642313828
Then he calmly and carefully slugged the remaining five shots into the venomous head- caught in the wicker back of the chair, the eyes dead on him as the life finally went out of the brute.	130977.65650315177
The body continued to lash, but now Keith used the legs of the chair to fork the loathsome, bloody mass out of the bungalow.	106979.45178042547
He slammed the door and listened as his servants ran up, alarmed at the sound of the shots.	67513.0690029569
He heard their chattering, and then the sounds of hacking as they dismembered the snake right on the porch with wood axes.	18948.222907631345
It was only then that he turned to look at Penny.	1179.6715001668445
She was sitting on the edge of the bed again, back in the same position where the snake had found her.	1154.8741807001454
The fear had not entirely gone from her face, but there were some other emotions now, crowding into her eyes and the lines of her mouth.	23184.016358540757
But her hands were calm, now.	480.90831950741665
She's got guts, thought Keith.	9141.830167215892
She's got more guts than any other woman in the world.	1633.0722520093932
"Keith", said Penny, "Keith, you were wonderful.	75808.51182251997
I don't suppose a wife should be grateful to her husband for saving her life, but I am.	3159.3819270378376
Thank you, Keith".	16087.836027622221
He smiled at her sincerity.	452.58079001687145
And for the hundredth time that week, he was startled at her beauty.	1486.7080196121915
Strange.	261.29502691765526
Seven years they'd been married.	631.9109242268003
He knew her mind pretty well, by now, its quick perceptions and sympathies, its painful insistence on truth and directness, its capacity for love almost too deep for a man to reciprocate, even in part.	95802.22340572687
But her beauty always surprised him anew.	4645.546629955472
"I realize that this is hardly the time to say it, Penny", said Keith.	4063.9915566604996
"But knowing you, I know that you're glad to be alive, and grateful- and sorry because I killed the snake, even though I had to.	7380.834972442956
Isn't that so"?	207.10712034712796
Penny lowered her eyes.	1381.107129380431
"Yes", she said, almost in a whisper, as if admitting to a crime.	9477.518939290398
"The snake was beautiful, wasn't it"?	7371.663499152259
asked Keith, his voice getting harsher in spite of himself, as he struggled to control his growing anger.	18697.781343705967
"It was a king cobra, the largest you ever saw, and it deserved to live out its life in the jungle, didn't it?	51202.169357674495
DIDN'T IT? "	48680.26290899099
Penny did not answer.	424.27824192716974
Now, she just sat there looking at him, without an expression except concern for him.	7138.181410175035
"We're all God's creatures, aren't we"?	2187.257783863429
Keith was snarling now.	4890.553653586483
"All of us- every goddam roach and worm and killer in that jungle.	5763.230978124366
You love this village and these stinking brown people because they're God's creatures, too.	18430.112617118717
And you love Ahmiri, that black bastard of a servant even a little more, because he's a beautiful man.	22890.317661471145
And he loves you because you're a beautiful woman.	1250.4323030010166
We're all God's creatures, aren't we, Penny?	4811.8978807600315
All of us, that is, except me.	562.5569557644061
You hate me, you hate my guts, because I like to hunt.	40765.84023406455
You actually hate me- and we both know it- because I killed that filthy snake.	56021.92914325787
h Well, why don't you say something"?	1054.4232237888666
Penny would not rise to his mood.	7133.228988490916
"There isn't anything left to say, is there, Keith"?	33743.43271277045
She softly let herself into the bed, and took her regular side, away from the door, where she slept better because Keith was between her and the invader.	33323.65565297059
He knew she was not sulking, not even angry at him.	2228.9353991501107
Just as he knew that she had stopped loving him.	712.1303824933643
The Brahmaputra has its headwaters in the tableland of the world, the towering white headwalls of the Himalayas that are unknown to man as any other space on the planet.	46488.70208767364
For a brief period each year, the rays of the sun are warm enough to melt some of the snows piled a mile deep at the base of the headwalls, and then the pinnacles glisten in the daytime at high noon, and billions of gallons of water begin their slow seepage under the glaciers and across the rockstrewn hanging valleys on their long, meandering journey to the sea- running east past the sky-carving massifs of Gurla Mandhata and Kemchenjunga, then turning south and curling down through the jungles of Assam, past the Khasi Hills, and into Bengal, past Sirinjani and Madaripur, until the hard water of the melting snows mingles with the soft drainage of fields and at length fans out to meld with the teeming salt depths of the Bay of Bengal.	336760.1149956366
Keith Sterling had looked down on the Brahmaputra more times than he could remember, during the war days when he flew over the Hump of the world, thinking it high adventure in those times before man was guiding himself through outer space.	144027.7070354882
But Keith looked down more than up.	4456.772159051063
He thought of the jungles below him, and of the wild, strange, untracked beauty there and he promised himself that someday he would return, on foot perhaps, to hunt in this last corner of the world where man is sometimes himself the hunted, and animals the lords.	104871.74741619796
At first it had been just a romantic dream of his, the same as the idea of finishing Oxford after the war.	3592.3953812096797
But "after the war" was a luxury of a phrase he did not permit himself.	1484.0268946947917
Wing Commanders in the RAF do not imply survival in the future either in their orders or in their attitudes, to their men or to themselves.	84694.15232393927
And Keith's record of kills made him a man to listen to- a man paradoxically, who might even survive.	24600.439901056285
He became a fighter pilot after the stint over the Hump in the big crates.	24723.879651542455
The RAF was Britain's weapon of attrition, and flying a fighter plane was the way her sons could serve her best at this point in the war.	16997.566995891182
He knew how to shoot down Nazis.	137.15911895791268
And he knew that the men talked about him behind his back, saying that he was one up on everybody else- including the pilot of the plane with the swastika on it- because he was chemically incapable of fear.	15789.171395474637
That was true, but only half the truth.	145.04457636599142
The other half he didn't like to recognize, even to himself.	988.7417906305055
He enjoyed the killing.	905.1239007018131
Not defending England, or being an ace, or fighting for humanity.	28679.447060526618
He enjoyed killing.	432.32777830918553
And he would have enjoyed it just as much if he had been a Nazi.	4221.161840548156
Nowadays, we talk as though the blitz were just a short skirmish.	27419.500322533182
The Nazis bombed Britain, so the RAF retaliated and shot them all down.	31206.75399358416
Not quite.	806.8811518269679
It was a war of nerves, of stamina, of dogged endurance in which the stupid insistence of the British on their right to their own country became ultimately an unsurmountable obstacle to the Nazis, who were better organized and technically superior.	30611.57531123605
It took a long time before the British tipped the balance.	2169.2736592102533
Keith learned too much about air combat, and air killing, to be risked.	118757.42580475056
They grounded him over his protests- not including his true reason for wanting to fly and put him in the Command offices.	76296.30434770834
That was where he met Penny.	2675.841431177723
He was aware of her as a frightfully good-looking American WAC, a second lieutenant assigned to do the paper work, regardless of how important she might have thought she was in the Command offices, but that was all.	18662.662445685284
Penny knew him better, on her part.	6372.383088819175
He had a war reputation, but this was the kind of man women like even without medals.	5297.388230840047
They don't go for bull-like muscle, as a rule.	3057.0999718326793
He had strength in his six-foot frame, but it was like the tensile steel in a rapier.	19023.808560349193
He was on the thin side, with big hands, and the kind of wrists that give away the power in forearm and bicep.	47945.795861393446
His hair was black, already greying at the temples in the classic beauty-idiom, the only one permitted to a man.	41596.42226152845
The pretty little twittering WACS said he had the look of eagles- and Penny, hating the cliche, had to admit that in this case it applied.	12577.705623206772
Keith was an eagle.	17777.56563199921
Penny and Keith had no romance.	35827.71117471326
No dates or hand-holding.	6843.2159414409125
But they met in one searing moment that gave them to one another instantly.	9814.00287527885
The Command offices were in the border country, up north, where the radar systems centralized their intelligence reports, and the fighters were dispatched to harry the enemy.	49739.19823877982
The Nazis knew this, of course, and while their chief quarry was the industrial centers, they let a few drop every time they went over, hoping for a lucky hit.	50069.36978932666
This time, they had been lucky.	64.73587471749647
The Command post was underground, and well camouflaged.	13911.9687561424
But there hadn't been enough time to build it for keeps.	21103.35126590814
There was a measure of protection in its concrete walls and ceiling, but the engineers who hastily installed it were well aware that concrete is not much better than prayer, if as efficacious, when a direct hit comes along.	61818.733334098084
This one was actually more of a "near miss".	985.9833675833607
The bomb plunged into the ground near the Post, but not precisely into the Command room itself.	27045.660693975748
There was a shattering, cracking sound as the concrete started to buckle, the air filled with dust and flying debris, and everyone in the room- men and women hit the floor and used the desks as turtlebacks, as ordered.	57027.34037830533
That is, everyone but Keith and Penny.	2524.52536222548
They stood there, just the two of them, in the rocking, shattering blast.	14674.275462162726
Keith was on his feet because he didn't care at all about life any more Penny on her feet, proudly, because she cared too much.	65171.61634728549
The bomb was a solitary one.	2251.286612800465
The blast damaged, but did not destroy the room.	1713.8070360228958
Keith's eyes met Penny's as they stood there in this strange marriage of destruction.	38100.87159230272
And, as the others began to crawl out from beneath the desks and tend to those wounded, and mark the several killed, he climbed across the debris to Penny and took her hand in his.	78369.40878347392
The chaplain married them, on the next day.	541.5667212780669
After the war, Penny had wanted Keith at least to visit her home with her.	4575.405482768958
She came from Ohio, from what she called a "small farm" of two hundred acres, as indeed it was to farmer-type farmers.	80699.43983382873
But to Keith's London-bred mind, such acreage sounded rather invincible.	35202.17790534582
It wasn't that, however, which decided them not to go to America.	1211.3497367508664
Keith told Penny about his dream to return to India and Burma.	52291.566261860826
He stressed the wild beauty of the mountains, and the jungles.	4496.614576653124
He didn't tell her the truth he now freely admitted to himself.	3911.8527198529055
He couldn't stop killing.	183.83144685029424
That was his true love, not Penny.	2990.978460417746
The terrible power of a gun, the thing that blasted the soul out of a living body, man or beast, was one he never wanted to lose.	28922.276295151656
And in the hunting land, this hunger was considered to be a noble thing.	5473.866971997226
When they got to Shillong, in Assam, he was happy.	1459.7392612483127
This is a paradise for hunters.	324.52032165753553
This was the land of the sladang, the great water buffalo with horns forty inches across the spread.	10156.445238467273
The great black leopards.	889.9345004594095
The sambur buck, the jungle stag that is even more noble than the Scottish elk.	45100.557183250574
He even hunted elephant, although the Asian elephant is not quite as ferocious as his African cousin.	51684.31081215696
But there are big rogues in both countries.	1010.3678693224409
These were the ones Keith sought out- the loners, the ones who killed for the joy of it, like himself.	4982.036727444527
He and Penny would go out on tame elephants, raised from babyhood in the keddah.	39175.87933640463
And while he was ever alert for game, and most particularly a tiger, Penny marvelled at the Eden they were traversing.	17665.521870413366
They came upon cheetal deer at woodland pools.	2199.6248447824564
Peacocks strutted across their path, preening.	46700.52584867062
There were fantastic flowers without perfume, and gaudy birds without song.	10890.419053741456
Mouse deer played around the feet of the elephants, or fled when the mighty legs thrashed too close.	71692.67830241236
Wild boar watched their progress with little pig eyes, and grunted derision when they didn't consider such game worthy of a shot from the .404's.	187300.21272995052
Now, the next morning, they were anchored at The Elbow and the boat was riding directly over the underwater ledge where the green water turned to deepest blue and the cliff dropped straight down 600 fathoms, with the weighted line beside it; and Robinson Roy, who had gone down this line ten minutes before to set a new depth record for the free dive, was already back on the surface.	89341.30002693797
He and his safety man, Herr Schaffner, swam up to the boarding ladder together.	20862.217058548133
The German courteously indicated that Robinson should mount first.	6251.964482987794
Robinson clambered heavily into the boat, sat down, and stripped off his triple-tank assembly.	22046.213513263327
He was frowning.	22.331139642142986
He took his mask from his forehead and threw it, unexpectedly, across the deck.	3669.1715798370506
"Temper, temper", Mrs Forsythe said, laughing uneasily.	85778.98843406259
A phony blonde hanging onto a bygone youth and beauty, but irreparably stringy in the neck, she was already working on her second gin and tonic, though it was not yet ten AM "I loused it", Rob said, with a savage note in his voice.	87212.17212360843
"All I have to do to set the record is to go on down.	1308.5958162932088
So instead I come up".	79.66151439111162
"Was it my equipment"?	1949.2733710871537
the German asked.	363.86684575553664
"Was it something went bad with the breathing"?	13281.358983451924
"The equipment was fine", Rob stated, standing up.	4370.999460712285
He was a huge young man of twenty-four, clothed in muscle, immensely strong, with a habitual gentleness and diffidence of manner that was submerged under his present agitation.	50827.943753982116
He stared stonily at the floor.	210.93977327818993
"I was down to 275.	1499.164209826107
I've been that far half a dozen times.	208.43887970869798
I don't get it why this time I should pull such a stupid trick".	12781.595923739911
"Well, I get it", Artie said, still on the ladder.	3335.4974574099238
"You are a big muscle-bound ape and you got this idea about setting a record.	19722.94968982073
And you also got this little spark in your bird-brain that tells you to turn around before you drown yourself.	45819.75505125711
So you turn around".	79.62585073366819
"No, it wasn't that", Rob said.	1785.6621181432124
A note of awe came into his voice.	1935.2019125007312
"When I came up, damnit, I thought I was going down.	2084.3476514555773
I came up maybe fifty feet before I knew what was happening".	1027.4534330729964
"Pressure-happy", Artie said, and climbed in.	35333.89249808172
"That's right", Robinson said.	1580.3287162720928
"I was expecting it, sure.	1187.0478233573212
But when it happens to you like that, I tell you, and you're a hundred feet from where you thought you were- well, it makes you think.	6723.331764828913
You don't head back down again.	1022.0928743642295
Not me, anyway.	45.917266420735714
Not right away".	388.07720272582054
He had his voice under control again no one became aware that he was terrified by what had just happened to him.	8767.286624408422
Waddell, the newspaperman, was a fellow in his middle forties, with a graying crewcut, heavy-framed glasses, and a large jaw padded with fat.	144385.9296848755
Now he was going to show how much he knew.	299.7493502727181
"Our boy didn't chicken out, no sir.	5825.819503925215
He ran into the rapture of the depths.	2022.4319988090235
Nitrogen narcosis.	6886.910637010236
It makes the diver feel drunk".	600.3595406071511
"Well, that's the only way to be", Mrs Forsythe said, and gave her brassy laugh.	2058.077782824121
"Maybe not, if you're 200 feet under water", Artie said.	7178.629111866117
"Anyway", Waddell went on.	323.3778187696735
"it's nothing to fool with.	5482.540144195404
It can kill you.	230.60390817673198
Personally, I don't blame him for giving up the dive, much as I regret losing the story".	6842.717077439548
"Nobody's giving anything up", Robinson said.	16595.621015574976
He stood there, towering over them all gentle, mighty, determined, the moving force in the group; and yet like a child among adults.	18645.00206659828
"You think I got you and Artie and Herr Schaffner all the way out here just for the boat ride?	88429.85974455922
I'm going down again".	314.863556283963
"That's my boy"!	150.87305837567513
Mr Forsythe exclaimed.	629.5317150894765
"Rob's not going to give up as easy as all that".	8310.137498832377
He was a florid, puffy man in his early sixties, very natty in his yachting cap, striped jacket and white flannels.	58115.850780036846
He went to Key West every fall and winter and was the only man in town who did not know that his title of "Commodore" was never used without irony.	9782.532651235195
Old Commodore Forsythe, who had once lost a fifty-dollar bet on whether he could get both motors started and turn on the running lights without accidentally turning on something else first.	87212.43223255913
Now it did not occur to him even to wonder whether it was wise for Robinson to dive again Rob was his boy, the kid he had rescued from the streets, the object of his pride.	32648.875530316243
"Why", he went on, "when Rob asked me if he could make his dive on this trip, I didn't think twice about it.	2271.4394418486872
I've helped him along ever since he was a youngster hanging around his brother's tackle shop.	10994.954926202876
Hell, I gave him the first decent job he ever had, six, seven- how many years ago was it, Rob"?	59440.46614296644
"Seven years ago, Commodore", Rob said impassively.	8550.802705569433
He was thinking, big deal skipper on his drunken fishing parties for seven years and no better off than when I started.	13306.888403039567
"Excuse me", he said abruptly.	397.00926738138946
He went down the steps to the galley and sleeping quarters; went into the forward stateroom and locked the door behind him.	1426.2935276035619
"When you gotta go, you gotta go", Mrs Forsythe said.	13198.346846318482
Waddell muttered something about taking a look around and climbed up to the flying bridge.	73577.1604669325
He was disturbed by what had happened on the dive and by what he remembered of a conversation he had had the night before with the German, who had come out of the head while he was fixing himself a drink in the galley.	40147.048668212265
"Hi there, Schaffner", he had said.	1915.558322802692
"Can I make you one"?	2768.882496389754
"No thank you very much", Schaffner had answered in his accented English.	31086.612283257742
"I do not drink so much, thank you".	837.7118691562328
Waddell had looked the man over, trying to size him up.	19438.564192424794
He was in his early forties, rather short and very compactly built, and with a manner that was reserved and stiff despite his efforts to adapt himself to American ways.	11922.8910666997
His open face seemed to promise a sort of innocence, until one looked into his eyes, which had no warmth in them but only alert intelligence.	41820.35158790162
Waddell had heard that he had been a commando in Rommel's Afrika Corps, and he said to himself I'd hate to run into him in the desert on a dark night.	36675.75025853193
Aloud he had said, making conversation "Rob tells me he's using your Atlantis equipment on the dive".	105160.22960668981
"Yes", Herr Schaffner had said.	470.53148736128804
"He's one hell of a decent boy.	1813.9123844663213
I like that kid".	579.0125568796134
"I agree, yes".	208.04536717955065
"And if the dive goes OK he has the exclusive import rights to your line for this country, is that right"?	60088.30418335538
"Well, no", Herr Schaffner said.	1277.3880312945494
Waddell turned to face him.	2908.502521203088
"No"?	4.685819497891435
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"But that's what he told me.	64.01466575235692
Why, that's his main reason for making the dive".	12560.67698205784
Shaffner looked at him, altogether without guile, and shrugged his shoulders, making a little spreading gesture with his two hands.	58255.65383190048
"What do you mean"?	3.537686043014895
Waddell asked, frowning.	4890.556039149417
"Please let me explain", the German said earnestly, his face still devoid of deceit.	29881.741953888737
"I have in Europe a gross business of seven million dollars the year.	1845.068010190171
Now I wish to enter the American market, where the competition is very strong.	1412.839625766863
I must have a powerful representative here, a firm with a national distribution and ten, twenty thousand dollars to advertise my products.	8497.288898991164
With all respect to a fine young man, Mr Roy is not able to provide these necessaries".	12797.595436132955
Waddell was not an eminently moral person, but he did not like what he had just heard.	14392.09812915664
"Did you tell him all this"?	533.1859668311658
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"Perhaps not in so many words", the German said.	4099.246772011456
"But surely you have misunderstood Mr Roy.	4063.651238553518
Never, never did I offer him the exclusive rights.	5078.158200893561
We spoke of the need for advertising, and I agreed that the deep dive would be most useful for publicity.	22031.587009389434
He was most eager to make the dive; of course, I was willing.	8613.186968095803
But there was no definite agreement about business arrangements".	791.4610939194105
"Well, damn", Waddell said.	1290.713038182698
There was the end of his front-page feature story, with byline.	2977.394537022752
He started out the door.	113.43919688628343
"One moment"!	214.93988889569357
Herr Schaffner said.	910.3193995585539
"You intend to speak with Mr Roy"?	18327.7311114182
"What else"?	37.79692434263998
Waddell asked.	1377.429532519693
"If you will pardon, I think it would be better if not.	719.2424218493612
Mr Roy is determined to make this dive.	17955.775143862113
Whatever you tell him he will dive.	11002.733896792628
I know this from my talks with him".	402.87008667250325
"Well, let's let him make up his own mind, OK"?	2733.9602716767745
Waddell said.	1377.4294786082955
"On the basis of the facts".	4.374199335486672
"You will make him unhappy and anxious", the German said.	4132.963772803145
"At 200, 300, 400 feet under the water, when he must be paying very much attention, he will be thinking about what you are telling him.	44114.59566319077
It is not good, Mr Waddell you will do him great harm".	2624.4271835397353
There was no doubt that Herr Schaffner meant every word of what he said.	360.016667988449
Waddell came back from the door and sat on a bunk.	6126.692309785793
"I am an honest man", the German said with fervor.	998.696117041348
"I will give Mr Roy his due for this dive.	5446.778416481925
I will make him distributor for all of Florida- a big market.	8228.506274202502
All tourists come to Florida.	1921.614623143343
This will help him to get out of his little tackle shop.	1567.5119780576538
Yes!	4.203504742448025
But there is no use causing him to worry at this time".	388.3850776589305
The German's words worked on the newspaperman like a reprieve from an odious duty.	33545.898255156324
He took a big swig of his drink.	967.6430182110486
It would be a colossal shame to throw away a story like this.	4255.445751324882
"I think maybe you're right, Schaffner", he said.	1654.3686570785317
"He has the distributorship for Florida, you say"?	6350.085428699726
"Yes", the German said.	87.24898141674996
"At least for South Florida".	338.82448935803103
"By God", Waddell said, "we don't want to upset the boy at this time of all times.	3427.1944848569333
I guess you're right".	779.0961344861297
He sloshed his drink around and drained it in a few large gulps.	29705.25246721872
The story was shaping up nicely in his mind the young pioneer, as of old, altruistically braving the unknown; the rewards prompt and juicy in modern big-business America.	67468.65361431341
"Join me in another"?	8496.214198712063
he had asked.	81.94298684349411
"Thank you", the German had said courteously.	21855.39287558585
"I do not drink so much".	412.4442859568665
Now, in that same cabin, Robinson fell to his knees beside a bunk.	7001.2287152113395
Fear and relief mingled in his churning emotions.	5277.152311484121
He pressed his palms together and addressed himself to the patron saint of divers in a hurried and anxious whisper.	45405.82623973418
"Blessed Saint Nicholas, I thank thee for getting me out of that mess and sending me up instead of down when I was bewildered.	252957.12790055483
And when I make the dive again"- He paused; crossed himself; said a Hail Mary, slowly and with understanding.	41138.753151639896
Folding between his hands the cross that hung from his neck, he took his appeal direct to Headquarters.	128683.03942466952
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, Star of the Sea, stay Thou with me on this next dive.	37640.38749804153
Make it come off all right.	737.4532509665585
Let me set the record this time, and let me get back OK, so the German will give me the exclusive.	18969.006020644847
And make my life different and better from this time on.	8463.401862452705
Amen".	302.18513291279015
He crossed himself again and rose.	1051.466757518144
He felt a good deal less shaky.	495.6283818162924
As he reached for the door there was a knock on it and when he opened he found Artie, who came in and sat down on a bunk.	34919.59169674868
Artie had picked up a snorkle and was twirling it on his forefinger.	71234.30316113599
He waited awhile before he said, "Roy, you know your decompression table, don't you"?	44670.52807875405
"You know I know it", Robinson answered warily.	3885.7822019460114
"You came straight up from 275 without a stop", Artie said.	24902.833790373916
"Well, I was a little bit confused.	69.8131124840809
Anyway, I wasn't down long enough to matter.	1536.2473252761604
You don't see me stretched out on the deck, do you"?	4391.258442415751
"You know what they say about two deep dives in one day", Artie went on, still twirling the snorkle and studying it intently.	31432.515908126905
"I don't think you should go down again".	381.6378809242563
EARLY that day Matsuo saw a marine.	11717.980626325942
The enemy came looming around a bend in the trail and Matsuo took a hasty shot, then fled without knowing the result, ran until breath was a pain in his chest and his legs were rubbery.	159407.3644659758
As his feet slowed, he felt ashamed of the panic and resolved to make a stand.	14680.348011773149
He crossed the next meadow and climbed a tree where the jungle trail resumed.	7703.322833109219
In the leafiest part of the tree, straddling a broad horizontal limb, he could see over the meadow.	25461.374785047265
For a while he was content to let events develop in their good time.	3127.033904849307
He had no doubt the marine was the lead scout of a column, and while his shot had probably bred indecision, they would soon come hunting.	51504.405495548686
His superiors had emphasized that marines tortured others for the sheer pleasure.	19129.435963383003
Yesterday; today; tomorrow no surrender.	1894.1554532552784
His remembering the self-dictate brought no peace- only a faint chill of doubt.	13243.608301057351
He murmured to himself, with firmness "No surrender".	6282.750477142259
It was best to die fighting the marines.	1891.7064557352596
His superiors had also preached this, saying it was the way for eternal honor.	16427.750608925995
What if the marines never came?	1065.4080372410122
His comrades were all dead.	1698.7941789256552
He had no rice.	332.61450667791513
Then it would be a choice between starvation and suicide.	1389.4864451864323
Whichever the way, he would rot in this vast choking green, his wife never to receive an urn of his ashes.	126555.76304243547
He sighed and leaned for a moment against the trunk.	25831.922382203957
His fingers touched the bone handle of a knife.	1924.8636871582912
The knife, an ammunition pouch, and a half-filled bottle of purified water hung on his belt.	35998.10722978185
Besides the belt he wore a loin cloth.	2893.3605218046655
As he looked up from picking at a leg ulcer, he saw a marine in the jungle across the clearing.	44499.4564394176
Gloom receded.	6886.910637010236
The marine came to the edge of the green jungle mist and stayed, as though debating whether to brave the sunlight.	24405.679852864483
His fatigues made a streak of almost phosphorescent green in the mist.	10923.73461209131
"Come out, come out in the meadow", Matsuo said under his breath.	23949.547766946747
The man leaned against a tree and wiped a sleeve across his face.	3718.669480177869
A signal?	229.39323141045207
Matsuo lifted his rifle, easing the sling under his left upper arm for steadiness.	145412.82737865724
Fresh on his mind were events of the past day when his whole regiment was destroyed in the hills.	24100.784651021055
They had fought from caves, and the marines resorted to burning them out.	7139.827293770531
Even now, like a ringing in his ears, he heard the wooooosh of flame-throwers squirting great orange billows.	25833.541010372584
A wave of flame rippling through their cave had reached Nagamo, his friend, and with a shriek the man bolted through the entrance, then slowed to the jerky walk of a puppet, his uniform blazing.	168356.08237236494
The marines let him advance.	1644.3827275919841
When he sank on his knees, they had allowed him to char without administering the stroke of mercy.	15667.627943033936
Matsuo had faked death and was pitched on a stack of corpses, both the burned and the unburned, the latter decomposing rapidly under the tropical sun.	183075.3860395221
The callous marines had laughed at each other's retching, while stacking bodies.	23766.631185111164
Matsuo repeatedly choked down his own nausea.	46700.52584867062
At nightfall he had been able to sneak down a hillside and into the jungle, reeking of death.	20070.111039478772
Apprehensively he peered to the left, to the right into the leafy, vine-crisscrossed maze.	33660.41891179327
He decided that the marines must be deploying around the meadow, with the one left to distract him.	32797.23416966387
He strained his hearing.	247.92350346936126
Cautious feet stepping on leafmold; faint creaking of belts and slings; whispers he heard none of these.	40256.5616373879
Only the hum of insects and the distant fluttering call of a bird.	6757.540127248141
Because he couldn't hear them, he was more convinced they were there.	2273.2198764362843
A spectacle occurred across the meadow the lone marine took a seat on the ground; leaning sidewise on a tree trunk, he embraced it.	115809.41392490847
Humiliation made Matsuo tremble.	5020.145524046207
While his comrades cocked the trap, that one behaved as if it was some dull maneuver.	25370.67545820062
Taking aim at the man's face, Matsuo squeezed the trigger up to the point of discharge, and then he changed his mind.	18011.54201710443
He wanted the arrogant marine to know fear, and so he aimed above the head.	4479.732077781492
The shot reverberated in diminishing whiplashes of sound.	5023.4061089500965
Hush followed.	1422.1699273667975
Like a mischievous boy expecting punishment, Matsuo awaited reaction from the jungle.	17251.818714706027
How stupid to give his position away.	3261.8609740634533
The jungle did not retort.	5367.939641888148
The sitter remained seated hugging the tree.	3668.0899137404563
Before long the atmosphere reverted to its old normalcy, and insects hummed and birds occasionally called.	49391.1953410796
Matsuo puzzled and grew anxious over the complete passiveness, concluding that he was the butt of a devilish joke.	85119.86636421358
Five or so minutes later the marine abruptly pulled up and stepped into sunlight, immediately throwing his hands over his eyes.	33756.607262174126
He went into a whirling dance, a sort of blind chasing of the tail.	2586.472917895524
It ended when he tumbled; but jumping right up, he staggered in no particular direction.	45930.73007411133
He wore no head cover of any kind and, more odd, had no visible weapon.	13626.48522374093
With a sudden decisiveness he lurched in Matsuo's direction, crossing the meadow in a zigzagging gallop.	47139.35582602016
When he got closer to the tree, Matsuo noted the wild look on his face.	5741.720057106008
The pockets of his jacket bulged.	7248.191733562827
Hand grenades.	1894.2171873537084
the bobbing head was a poor target, so Matsuo shot him in the upper trunk.	72168.61245851853
The marine spun, clapping a hand high on his chest, and dived forward.	12465.450754308938
In the hush that followed the echoes, Matsuo was tense.	8933.721839790036
They could come on him now without difficulty.	830.781156863968
Gradually he reached a conclusion.	377.07320066614886
The marine was alone, for they were impatient people and by now would have vied to knock him from the tree.	25441.770647387446
Down the tree he scrambled and knelt at the edge of foliage.	18274.228265049194
The marine was sprawled some thirty yards away, one arm extended.	18549.74713462887
Matsuo jumped when the hidden arm flopped out.	22805.18790627038
Reflex?	11318.63465748144
Rifle leveled on the man, he made a rush.	5751.271788056784
Heat, in the sunlight, pressed in like an invisible crowd.	13986.235934658682
He squatted by the head, gently placing the rifle on the ground.	4355.178168233831
With a snakestrike motion he grasped the hair, and, twisting, pulled the marine over on his back.	31354.566358685144
He was bearded.	529.1561244832997
The bullet had penetrated in the area of the right collarbone; around the hole, blood glistened in a little patch.	38048.832222071294
Maintaining his clutch on the hair, Matsuo watched the closed eyes while rummaging in the jacket pockets.	120526.6451513031
In one a package of cigarettes and a tinplated lighter, both sticky from the man's bleeding.	42550.30720403977
In the other a wristwatch with broken crystal wrapped in a dirty handkerchief.	19151.690988571056
One by one he tossed the objects aside.	641.3804780867279
He didn't smoke and could not light fires with a flintless lighter; he had no use any longer for exact time, even had the watch been running.	67381.27944042091
Then there was no saying how many times the marine had blown his nose on the handkerchief.	18432.52054766958
Too bad the marine had no water.	1367.2503116150042
From its holder he took his own canteen.	8337.415290819456
The cap was stuck and made a thin rusty squeaking as he applied pressure.	21096.398894380032
The marine's eyes opened, squeezed shut, then opened squinted in the glare.	62233.93696923307
So, alive.	126.66108014818587
Matsuo put the bottle to his own lips.	20430.434198884464
The marine reached up a hand.	2469.7456875071125
Matsuo shook his head.	386.6440847211236
"None for you".	96.17374386802406
The marine blinked, soon dropping his hand.	2245.6580958759137
Not only had he no canteen, but he lacked even the belt to hang one on.	21474.913907620055
"You came well equipped to die".	2870.661637462185
Some odor made him lean over the man.	2759.1888733707183
He sniffed and recognized it.	2060.876726384804
Sake.	3524.279832361616
So that had been his difficulty.	374.3796331515203
Drunk on sake, he must have wandered off from his bivouac.	68551.29320573964
The marine tried to roll on his right side, and moaned.	45732.46976169092
When he rolled on the left side, propping on his left elbow, Matsuo seized his hair and pulled him back over.	32199.425427261205
"Be a good turtle".	3036.0143969717496
Awkwardly with one hand Matsuo got the cap back on the water bottle.	33776.53921437298
The smell of sake had freshened yesterday's events in his thoughts.	1207.4679449676814
In the caves, with other supplies, they had kept cases of sake.	13596.137100847543
The marine shut his eyes.	444.4014536250193
"Are you a thrower of flame, marine"?	8104.782610497452
Matsuo took the small knife from its scabbard and laid it on the ground, out of the marine's reach and away from their shadows.	70658.69302745016
He waited in his squat, gripping the hair.	3235.4165082658674
Every so often he turned the knife.	1275.979797733421
Its blade was dazzling in the intense sunlight.	7034.137815707413
The sun was noon high and Matsuo perspired until his body was dripping.	17229.46515591064
Wet also were the marine's fatigues and the face had an oily film.	27324.31969224898
The man had thrown the left hand over his eyes.	604.6822208050608
Now and again he murmured something that ended in a giggle.	16952.313876762862
He must have saturated himself in the drink, for the bullet not to shock him out of his drunken haze.	24957.32288839253
Matsuo shook his head.	386.6440847211236
Strange.	261.29502691765526
At last he reached for the knife.	525.0532693044184
Even the bone handle scorched, and he retrieved the marine's handkerchief to wrap it.	11510.404024690184
First he barely touched the blade on the hand which shaded the eyes.	11432.322459924797
The marine yelled and flung the hand away.	5786.103481582498
With a firm grip on the man's hair Matsuo applied the blade flat on a cheek.	32403.56510193431
A shrill yelp, kicked legs, and groping hands that circled Matsuo's wrist.	31035.474077217885
Matsuo wrenched free and burned the hands into retreat; burned the other cheek; burned each hand when they came groping again.	119646.24299415621
The marine commenced to weep and it blighted the sense of enjoyment.	18495.15992061909
Matsuo stood up.	2845.915546024266
"A small measure of payment, marine".	4837.216542613765
He dropped the knife in its scabbard, hung the rifle behind a shoulder.	8843.779402594362
The marine, hands on cheeks, rolled by his unwounded side onto his stomach.	33656.06256282358
He ceased weeping.	496.61407102312177
Matsuo walked toward his tree, once glancing back.	29580.813642782392
The marine was still.	773.5165232163129
He would soon die.	186.8256183601182
As Matsuo climbed by using the vines and kicking his feet against the trunk, a mood of gloom immersed him like a jungle shadow.	147766.80719713404
What now?	4.649030568632785
In the jungle, birds were mute, while insects preserved only the monotony of living.	10652.96017513739
Someone called.	169.10780380102878
It was the marine head lifted, he strained and called.	3917.3176072057813
Then he astonished Matsuo by pushing and dragging himself until he sat.	12287.70023241276
He cupped his mouth and yelled.	11076.158940846051
Matsuo hustled the rifle off his shoulder.	6145.7364542511505
Once and for all he'd finish this marine who would not die.	9609.346973946898
He aimed, but listened.	5768.382686456213
It sounded as if the man were calling him "Hey, Japanese h hey there, Japanese".	17563.06864313231
The man tilted back his head and went through the pantomime of drinking from a container.	13084.397942878022
He performed the act twice more, and the begging in his tone grew more distinct.	26978.802698146817
"Sake"?	11318.63465748144
Matsuo called.	1422.16994808563
The marine nodded vigorously.	2811.7960731305056
Matsuo laughed, slung the rifle.	12020.926574848147
The marine was a winehead.	4735.580763684029
His superiors had said that all marines were depraved.	15952.8543973794
The marine slumped forward into a bow like a priest before an idol.	46933.90928063241
Remembering his own thirst, Matsuo took out his water bottle.	35627.640334555836
One swallow was all he would have; he was very thirsty, but he must observe water discipline.	23184.85617401757
His years of campaigning had taught him the value of water discipline.	6993.436563216343
He began to uncap the bottle, the rusty cap squealing on its threads.	13071.537528596347
Popping upright, the marine waved both hands and shouted.	85778.98843406259
Of course it was water he really craved; down in the broil of the sun he was becoming dried out.	15011.513483730683
The marine shouted for it until it seemed that his voice had to crack.	9368.045174893545
Matsuo shook his head.	386.6440847211236
He had no water for an enemy.	97.39102468797805
And when this was gone, he hadn't even a little bitter tablet to purify other water if he were to discover some stagnant jungle pool.	23466.533346987624
He capped the bottle and replaced it.	5695.137820133076
After all, he had less reason to desire it than the marine.	3849.5512299183742
Before much longer the marine quieted down.	3848.815489630329
His head slumped.	950.0734846674184
The upper part of his packet had stained dark.	1396.7565746794303
"Marine.	290.4768677584362
There is nothing for you", Matsuo said.	925.0820809445747
"Your superiors will certainly beat you for your desertion, besides the dishonor of it.	25778.54371405596
I've nothing for you".	115.92366933496955
From the convulsive quivers of the man's shoulders it was plain he had resumed the weeping.	25281.037834384886
He reminded Matsuo of a similar thing he had witnessed in China.	21202.166328205178
In China it was a baby sitting on a railroad platform, smudged, blood-specked, with the village burning about him and shells exploding.	101019.36512887033
CHAIRS SCRAPED BACK and customers hastily vacated their tables as the tall young buffalo hunter pushed open the swing doors and walked towards the bar.	101379.50044320301
Only Blue Throat and his gang stayed where they were.	3238.519957064995
Blue Throat was slumped with his back against the bar, elbows supporting his massive frame.	63021.25627965557
He leered at the stranger as the distance between them closed.	11501.084576682368
"Since when did they allow beardless kids into the saloon bars of this town, boys"?	116151.19375435745
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"Seems to me I don't remember altering any law about that".	45635.646350903175
He straightened up, alert now as the buffalo hunter came closer.	23654.367023055336
"Stay right here where you are, kid", he called.	14665.817117999215
"I don't aim to have minors breathing down my neck when I'm a-drinking" The stranger ignored him.	26419.768765233443
He didn't stop till he was within three feet of Blue Throat and by that time the gang leader's right hand was on the butt of his revolver.	35101.521926669666
"I'm Billy Tilghman", said the stranger, "and I've come for Pat Conyers' body".	5743.510254019897
"And what makes you think you're going to get it, pretty boy"?	899.110772204031
"Because I'm asking.	4018.6690519168287
Most of the time I get what I ask for".	722.4684157574166
Blue Throat winked at his six cronies.	20226.950592009318
"The kid has no manners, boys.	1645.1092541691114
Shall we teach him some"?	3776.5923272521054
His gun was half drawn when he asked the question, but the weapon never left its holster.	22266.09305879415
Tilghman's clenched fist swept over in a terrific right cross and clipped the big gunfighter on the side of his chin.	55615.616568714446
His head snapped round and he reeled back, crashing into the table where his buddies were sprawling.	75588.5214799681
Tilghman leapt on to him, dragged him upright and hit him again, this time sending him careening against the bar.	48331.62171512615
A bullet gouged into the bar top an inch from Tilghman's stomach as Blue Throat's henchmen started shooting.	44860.429578762036
Tilghman flung himself aside, dropped on one knee and pulled his own gun.	45224.50371122154
The Colt roared twice and two men dropped, writhing.	17581.08377354749
A third shot doused the light.	247.14589965917023
Somewhere at the far end of the room a voice yelled, "You all right, Billy"?	11379.642746663187
"Yes, George, but I ain't got poor old Pat's body yet.	12751.03358571776
And I aim to have it".	162.5680368142266
He fired again, and somewhere in the gloom a man screamed.	9737.670506876098
Another took off his gun belt and flung his weapons to the floor.	5524.322073692811
"OK, Tilghman, I'm quitting".	9855.752931589823
"And me", said another Blue Throat henchman.	12107.042704484193
Somebody brought a light.	1061.4735820660442
Tilghman and his partner, George Rust, herded the men into a corner.	29092.805647325495
"And now", said Tilghman with deadly calm, "I'll repeat what I said.	1970.3418839713977
I've come for Pat Conyers' body".	670.9626937955529
In two minutes the body of Tilghman's former comrade, who had been killed by Blue Throat in a gambling brawl the previous night, was carried into the town's funeral parlor to be prepared for decent burial.	48486.47371027788
Blue Throat, nursing an aching jaw and a collosal dose of wounded pride, rode out of town with the survivors of the fight.	48018.91270086976
"That critter will be back tomorrow", predicted George Rust, "and he'll bring fifty of his kind back with him.	31703.264659429915
Blue Throat won't stand for this.	1638.09135801837
He'll shoot up the town".	277.72658172967925
The prediction was correct.	773.5165425784227
The Reverend James Doran had scarcely completed Pat Conyers' last rites on Boot Hill in the township of Petrie, when shots were heard in the distance.	64495.98191590774
"Amen", said the Reverend Doran, grabbing his rifle propped up against a tombstone, "and now my brethren, it would seem that our presence is required elsewhere".	34319.52798099638
Billy Tilghman and his comrades rode off to the battle.	5811.651537108046
Blue Throat, who had ruled the town with his six-shooter for the last six months, certainly had no intention of relinquishing his profitable dictatorship.	56151.03413832018
It was essential that he should restore his formidable reputation as a rip-roaring, ruthless gun-slinger, and this was the time-honored Wild West method of doing it.	50506.252007935436
He rode in at the head of sixty trigger-happy and liquor-crazed desperadoes and took over a livery barn at the entrance to Main Street.	25175.00731958514
The entire length of the street could be raked with rifle fire from this barn.	19209.32623460111
Any posse riding down the street to demand Blue Throat's surrender would be wiped out with one deadly burst of fire.	11884.737083932934
The law-abiding citizens of Petrie had gathered inside Kaster's Store, halfway down the street.	4861.745543683321
Several were firing into the barn when Billy Tilghman arrived.	7384.105421718368
He sized up the situation and shook his head.	566.9031482414284
"If Blue Throat has his way he'll keep us all cooped up in here for days", he said.	13491.948503307878
"There's only one thing to move him fast, and we have it right here in this very store".	6042.168344480693
He called the store owner and together they went into the stockroom.	3849.9809156178735
Billy returned with six sticks of dynamite.	16411.04903924209
"I'm gonna drop these into Blue Throat's lap", he announced, "and I'd like every gun to be firing into that barn while I get near enough to toss 'em through the window".	19818.80788957521
He slipped outside, hugging the walls of buildings and dodging into doorways.	44025.33601772579
Blue Throat's men spotted him and a hail of bullets splintered the store fronts and board walk as he passed.	61045.495711225885
Fifty yards away from the barn he dodged inside a barber's shop and came out at the back.	14780.041387107114
Here he couldn't be seen by Blue Throat and his gang.	16816.397215842986
All he had to do was light the fuses of the dynamite sticks, run to within ten yards of an open window in the barn and hurl the sticks through.	28633.330280606777
Billy Tilghman did just that.	366.9578802254619
Within seconds the big barn was blasted into smoking splinters, with every outlaw either dead or injured inside.	73253.20842027382
It was the abrupt end of Blue Throat's dictatorship in Petrie.	7087.688114666647
Though only slightly injured himself the big hoodlum never returned to those parts.	22544.836629464822
To Tilghman the incident was just one of a long list of hair-raising, smash-'em-down adventures on the side of the law which started in 1872 when he was only eighteen years old, and did not end till fifty years later when he was shot dead after warning a drunk to be quiet.	33702.091488253645
Of all the rip-roaring two-fisted tough boys of the Old West, "Uncle Billy Tilghman" stands out head and shoulders.	8717.654402511213
He was the lawman who survived more gunfights than any other famous gun-slinging character in the book.	6562.604664817811
He saw the most action, beat up more badmen with his bare fists, broke up the most gangs and sent more murderers to the gallows than any other US marshal who lived before or after him.	65367.55647318292
For fifty years his guns and ham-like fists shot holes through and battered the daylights out of the enemies of law and order in the frontier towns of the West.	38423.40453486942
The deeds of countless western bandits and outlaws have been glorified almost to the point of hero-worship, but because Billy Tilghman remained strictly on the side of the law throughout his action-packed career, his achievements and the appalling risks he took while taming the West have remained almost unsung.	111260.15907898919
Citizens took the view that a lawman was expected to risk his life on the odd occasion anyway, but this fighting fury of a man risked it regularly over a period of half a century.	25340.96993777629
He came within an ace of being riddled with bullets during his long fight with the Doolin gang which terrorized Oklahoma in the 1890's.	45977.07484227166
Led by Bill Doolin, these mobsters specialized in train robberies but as a sideline they looted stores and robbed banks, making liberal use of their guns.	232162.82295673213
Bill Doolin's ambition, it appeared, was to carve out his name with bullets alongside those of Jesse James and Billy the Kid, and Bill Tilghman had sworn he would stop him.	136687.37553410538
Tilghman knew that some ranchers were hand-in-glove with the Doolin gang.	18097.642047912228
They bought rustled cattle from the outlaw, kept him supplied with guns and ammunition, harbored his men in their houses.	80088.64458437414
Billy decided to set an example by arresting one of the ranchers, named Ed Dunn, who lived at Rock Fort.	64150.46808341894
On a bitterly cold day in January, 1895, accompanied only by Neal Brown as his deputy, Tilghman left the township of Guthrie and headed for Rock Fort and Dunn's ranch.	139811.83661879203
It was snowing hard when they got there and they saw no horses outside.	12038.434120708509
The only evidence of occupation came from the chimney, which was belching out thick smoke.	21524.68783756006
The two lawmen halted their wagon about twenty yards from the door.	3068.2419317873055
"Wait here, Neal", said Tilghman.	15448.688754260704
"If I don't come out within half an hour ride back to town and bring out a posse".	11983.476100475173
Leaving his rifle in the wagon, Tilghman walked up to the door and hammered on it.	7044.675775459425
There was no reply so he shoved it open with his foot and stepped inside.	9393.202590123054
Directly opposite the door was a roaring log fire, a welcome sight on that bitterly cold day.	13206.093227112564
Seated near it with his back to the door was the rancher, Ed Dunn.	4891.8191729491045
"Hello, Ed", said Tilghman.	35827.71117471326
The rancher grunted an acknowledgement but didn't move.	3904.0502310652214
Tilghman closed the door behind him and walked towards the fire.	2803.8232834401438
Suddenly he saw something which made his big heart give a sickening lurch and caused the hairs to bristle on the back of his neck.	31291.589412834746
Along each side of the room were six tiered bunks, each one screened off with a curtain.	33438.9140179017
And projecting wickedly through these curtains were the gleaming muzzles of six rifles, all trained on Billy Tilghman.	124229.56693872076
The fighting marshal had walked right into a trap and at any moment six slugs might slam into his hide.	97778.64580718389
Thinking fast, Tilghman never hesitated for one instant.	26552.389890893068
He walked right up to the fire as though blissfully unaware of the guns covering him.	9711.759211946906
The men behind them were Bill Doolin and five of his gang- every man a killer.	25266.046905864718
"Cold day", said Tilghman, placing his hands behind him and casually presenting his backside to the fire.	70164.84055475036
"Just dropped in to ask where Jed Hawkins lives.	10382.045062078332
Can't seem to locate landmarks in this snow".	8158.73346557071
The rancher was trembling.	341.13737454411967
He wouldn't look Tilghman in the face.	919.3683319696488
"Follow the river for five miles", he said hoarsely.	18071.349564496566
"Jed's homestead is on the south bank".	2399.022099320957
Resisting the overwhelming temptation to flng himself out of that bristling death-trap, Tilghman deliberately engaged the nervous rancher in trivial conversation for a good ten minutes.	174149.5904421352
All that time rifle barrels were pointing unwaveringly at his head and body.	4157.063252498988
One false move on his part and he would be a dead man.	2057.66350295193
"Well", he announced, "Guess I'll be going now, Ed, and thanks for the warmup".	20453.768833151942
He strolled back to the door, whistling softly, hands still clasped behind him.	9611.654459486037
He left the house and almost certain death without even increasing his pace and wondered by what remarkable stroke of Providence he had been allowed to come out alive.	49448.343421206504
But he knew well enough that those guns would still be trained on his back as he walked towards the wagon.	8214.369138229626
If he showed signs of collecting his rifle and going back with his deputy to the ranch he would be shot down instantly.	36666.49132831651
Leisurely he climbed on to the wagon next to Neal Brown.	39532.12189430371
"Don't say or do anything", he said softly.	515.9306044736179
"Just get out of here without it looking as though we're in a hurry.	31667.290681775503
That place is crawling with Bill Doolin and his gang".	24905.380016378735
Even as he spoke those words Billy Tilghman's life hung on a thread.	16350.647080963969
Back in the house a hoodlum named Red Buck, sore because Billy had been allowed to leave unscathed, jumped from a bunk and swore he was going after him to kill him right then.	95131.74800461321
"You'll stay right here", commanded Bill Doolin, covering Red with his rifle.	13688.624585392774
"Billy Tilghman is too good a man to shoot in the back.	5966.463614980682
We'll let him go".	13.4463659550094
But the fighting marshal's fifty-year run of immunity from violent death came to a full and final stop one night in a street at Cromwell, Oklahoma, where he had been sent to clean up the gambling and vice rackets.	37301.794524878205
Wiley Lynn, a self-styled prohibition officer, had hit town the previous day and had been drinking ever since.	24621.057535155815
That night he reeled out of Ma Murphy's dance hall and proceeded to disturb the peace by shooting off his revolver.	50366.60996785123
FOR SEVERAL MONTHS now, Jack Carter, a big overgrown boy of fifteen with a fuzzy, pimpled face and greenish catlike eyes with a lot of red in them, had been haunted by a dream, a vision, of a Woman.	191578.13295576946
This Woman had no distinct shape or size and no particular face, but she radiated warmth, a sweet warmth; she would talk to him in a soothing voice about things his mother would have said were not nice and put her hands on him and kiss him passionately.	259594.0513157074
When she would do these things, he would turn blind for an instant and become sick at his stomach.	6063.425610668944
Then he would run to the toilet behind the house.	500.20409015951765
Sometimes he did this three or four times a day, for this Woman was almost always with him.	7743.743340643611
He would feel ashamed each time and wonder whether his mother and father knew- thinking they might see it in his eyes or smell it on him.	27387.903180359473
But they never said anything, so he figured it was all right.	1908.2607341234734
And so when Miss Langford came to teach at the one-room Chestnut school, where Jack was a pupil in the eighth grade, the Woman of Jack's mind assumed the teacher's face and figure.	45331.940149080096
He could not keep his eyes off her when at school; when he went home at night, he took her with him in his mind, and she did the things the anonymous Woman used to do, and he did the thing afterwards each time as he used to do.	4914.379329286775
When he awoke in the mornings, she was in his mind and he could hardly wait to get to school to be near her in the flesh.	3414.3155430697666
Miss Langford her first name was Evelyn was an attractive girl.	22006.90147935519
Tall, blonde, blue-eyes, fair, buxom without being heavy, she cut a fine figure of budding womanhood as she swished among the pupils in her fresh, starched summer dress.	126069.8069215753
Something was beginning to stir and come alive in her, too it may have been there for a good while, since she was twenty now; but if it had been, it had been smothered until now by fear you could tell it by the way she watched the older, bigger boys, like Jack.	48833.547411197374
She would look at Jack, with that hidden something in her eyes, and Jack would see the Woman and become breathless and a little sick.	34401.80541745253
School began in August, the hottest part of the year, and for the first few days Miss Langford was very lenient with the children, letting them play a lot and the new ones sort of get acquainted with one another.	7263.078183645977
The first two or three days they went home early.	282.3106760590421
All, that is, except Jack.	1861.6379065189985
He hung around the schoolhouse, watching through a window from outside while Miss Langford straightened desks and put the room in order.	11262.607947494691
Once this was on the third day of school she kneeled down to pick up some books where they'd dropped on the floor and Jack looked up her dress- at the bare expanse of incredibly white leg.	108717.04885935262
He thought for a moment his heart had stopped beating.	5080.906927883145
About that time Miss Langford straightened up and looked out the window directly at him, he thought, although probably she didn't even see him.	16214.925654520726
He jumped back, ducked and ran, crouching, down the hill away from the school.	7364.011213193332
He didn't look back and he ran until he was out of sight of the schoolhouse and out of breath; then he slowed to a walk.	8148.811321626502
The vision became even stronger now.	1255.4423288133742
"I'll get her yet", he muttered to himself.	616.7223247280988
"I've got to get her".	8.98910065786466
That night he dreamed a dream violent with passion, in which he and the Woman, now the teacher, did everything except engage in the act and this probably only because he had never engaged in the act in reality, and when he awoke the next morning his heart was afire.	53901.91131224779
He ate litle that morning, and his mother became concerned, inasmuch as he usually ate heartily.	39970.94484683372
"What's the matter, honey"?	509.22256867996936
she said, with the solicitude of a middle-aged woman for her only child.	3361.0214084739805
"Aren't you hungry"?	357.5724553542654
"No, I'm not hungry", he said, pushing back the bacon and eggs.	1107.4479906924364
Outside it was already hot at 730 AM, and it was getting hot in the kitchen.	5540.322673609887
He felt a little sick at his stomach.	586.6006277797815
"Are you sick"?	1095.1213631234866
"No", he said.	3.1933343961238
"I'll be all right.	12.568332376145815
I guess it's this hot weather".	1333.56184796074
"Don't you play hard today then.	1120.0701658554565
And if you get sick, ask the teacher to let you come home early.	4786.881701632101
Daddy left the car for me, and I'm going to town this afternoon".	6581.486968728304
"O K, I won't play hard", he promised.	8864.730527492859
Just then Charles Lever yelled, "Hey, Jack", from the quarry road which ran behind the Carter house, and Jack grabbed the lunch from the table and darted out the kitchen door, yelling "Good-bye, Mom" over his shoulder.	148883.14515148237
"Whaddya say, boy"?	48680.26290899099
Charles said, grinning, showing his huge yellow teeth.	8288.866253164428
Charles, also fifteen, was tall and skinny, scraggly, with straight black hair like an Indian's and sharp brown eyes.	82520.10098868472
He considered himself handsome and seemed to think all the girls were after him.	8204.73015561251
"You know what I done last night"?	469.73589157032785
Charles said as they picked their way over the rocky road which led up the hill away from the Dixie Highway, through a corn field and a patch of woods to the school.	49971.794676589285
Jack knew of course that the tale to be unfolded would involve a girl and probably be dirty, because girls were Charles' only apparent interest.	148687.27170693333
But Jack always derived vicarious sensual thrills from Charles' revelations even when he suspected his friend of exaggeration or invention, so he usually invited them, as he did now.	84757.42707956166
"No.	3.297522726426617
What"?	277.23158220897403
"I got Margaret Rider in one of them old box cars down there by the quarry".	33724.434678553516
A nude imaginary picture of Miss Langford flashed across Jack's mind.	15049.179474054412
His heart beat faster.	392.6459679246496
"Hell you say"?	28589.15744217643
he said, lapsing into the profanity he often used when away from his parents and especially when he was with Charles.	12470.915084536513
"How'd you do it"?	4368.064607896839
"Hell, I jist got on top of-" "No, I mean how'd you get her to do it"?	64689.28060521513
"Hell, I jist ask her".	10805.017066842915
"Jist like that"?	1440.6463300059681
"Hell, yes.	599.1876056707282
She's been hangin' around me a lot here lately, and I figgered I might as well's try it.	27951.62454934311
Besides I heard her old uncle that stays there has been doin' it".	30699.927694936236
"I never heard that".	57.17716627043132
"It's all over Branchville.	754.7103938148584
If you'd get out of your back yard once in a while you might even get her your ownself".	3725.5922634286126
"I might try it one of these days", Jack said wonderingly, thinking of Miss Langford.	15711.69523505739
WHEN THEY reached the school, a gang of boys and girls were already there playing "crack the whip" in front of the schoolhouse.	96243.86480351478
Miss Langford, in a fresh white dress and low-heeled white sandals, without socks, was out there with them, trying to get them inside.	29322.824802230432
"Time for books", she yelled, jingling a little five-and-dime store bell in her right hand.	31409.805808002326
"Let's go inside".	160.15456398200558
"Oh, come on Miss Langford, play with us just onct", one of the little girls begged, smiling wistfully.	20584.668588885077
"No, not now", said the teacher.	119.58983328366477
"Maybe at dinner time.	715.2705081139145
Come inside now".	669.4270361913918
The children grudgingly stopped playing then and straggled into the schoolhouse.	23968.212918310088
Jack watched Miss Langford all morning.	4222.077735879334
He could think of nothing else save his mental image of her nude figure and what Charles had said that morning about Margaret Rider.	16242.923503296508
Occasionally he would look across the aisle at Margaret, fourteen and demure in a fresh green organdy dress, sitting in the sixth-grade row, and he coud hardly believe she would do what Charles had said she did.	89145.37236036971
At noontime, remembering what the teacher had said about maybe playing with the kids, Jack stayed close to the schoolhouse while all the other big boys, except Charles, went off out the road to play ball.	168496.62839005364
"Why ain't you playin' ball"?	8413.238390002673
he asked Charles suspiciously as they sat in the well-house shade, watching the girls congregate in front of the schoolhouse.	27958.53601797855
"Miss Langford, come out and play with us like you promised", several of the little girls called.	12659.37657347427
"I'd druther stay here and watch the girls", Charles grinned.	5151.862694261159
"Maybe some of 'em will fall down and we'll see up their dress".	12672.710527838586
"Maybe", Jack said idly, watching for Miss Langford.	14358.378603936673
Presently she came out of the schoolhouse.	6203.088284228663
When she appeared, two or three of the little girls jumped up and down, yelling, "Goody, goody".	13702.193284970946
"Let's play with 'em", Jack said, rising from where he sat on the ground and dusting off his overall pants.	22772.456296523535
"OK" Charles rose also, and the two of them moved over to join the girls.	13146.76856911148
They played crack the whip a few minutes without mishap.	17813.644764982335
Then when Miss Langford was on the end of the line of girls, Jack, in the middle of the line, gave an extra hard pull and the young teacher sprawled backwards, sitting down hard, her dress flying over her head.	14579.53280433229
While she was struggling to get her skirt down and get on her feet again, Jack ran over, offered her his hand and said, "Gosh, I'm sorry, Miss Langford.	61292.93036597783
I didn't mean to pull so hard".	985.0894128862136
"That's all right", she said, tossing her head back to get the hair out of her eyes.	6332.8078121010985
"It was my fault".	363.9363087701277
With one hand she held her skirt down while she took Jack's extended hand with the other.	9685.066852644142
When her hand touched his, fire went through Jack and he felt weak, but he managed somehow to get her on her feet.	25654.228334810123
He thought she gave him that look with the hidden something in it as he let her hand go.	20249.405870467825
"Thank you", she said, dusting herself off.	6381.934539471192
"Will you play with us again, Miss Langford"?	19909.89937697316
one of the little girls said.	733.2039115279383
"No more today.	126.50978843273882
Maybe some other day".	218.67953791009015
"Oh, shucks", the girl said.	920.641445354117
"I don't believe I'll play any more neither".	1031.8138858453738
"Me neither", others said, and soon the game broke up, the children going off in pairs, in larger groups and alone.	62355.53279925867
Jack walked off alone out the road in the searing midday sun, past Robert Allen's three-room, tarpapered house, toward the field where the other boys were playing ball, thinking of what he would do in order to make Miss Langford have him stay in after school- because this was the day he had decided when he thought he saw the look in her eyes.	121786.97579979988
When he came back to the schoolhouse, his mind was made up.	1839.0858440502238
He simply would not work his arithmetic problems when the teacher held his class.	6144.737750009989
That should do it, he thought, because Miss Langford had said she was going to be strict about school work.	3399.501418120411
He had considered throwing erasers or flipping paperwads at someone or pulling the hair of the girl sitting in front of him, but he couldn't take a chance on either of these possibilities the teacher probably would make him stand face-to-wall in a corner instead of stay in after school.	44535.76049797467
The only drawback now to the plan he'd decided on was that someone else might fail to do his work, too, and the teacher would have that person stay late along with Jack.	57235.35677344707
"But I've got to take a chance on it", he told himself desperately.	946.3777055861682
To his surprise his plan worked perfectly.	726.4805016812398
"All right, if you can't do your arithmetic during school hours you can do it after school it out", Miss Langford said firmly, not smiling.	58612.50560618996
"You will stay here thirty minutes after the others go home this afternoon and work your problems".	19709.970678612095
And so when the others stampeded out that afternoon Jack remained docilely in his seat near a window, looking out in what he hoped was a pitiable manner, while the other kids laughed and yelled in at him and made faces as they dispersed, going home.	141663.49621736078
He scarcely saw them.	266.5737060354609
His heart was pounding like a mighty dynamo and he was trying to think, his mind seeming to scream at him like a hurt or frightened child, "How will I do it?	61191.32514989913
On the fringe of the amused throng of white onlookers stood a young woman of remarkable beauty and poise.	45191.76840563713
She munched little ginger cakes called mulatto's belly and kept her green, somewhat hypnotic eyes fixed on a light-colored male who was prancing wildly with a 5-foot king snake wrapped around his bronze neck.	144264.56254484598
The youth with the snake had a natural pride and joy of life which appealed to the woman.	9269.761039092678
Lithe and muscular, he had well-molded features, and his light color told of the European ancestors who had been intimate with the slave women of his family.	84100.76758615299
The haughty white girl turned to a distinguished, hawk-faced man standing at her side and murmured "Look at your watch, Col Garvier.	142744.33860394324
It is almost time for and calinda to begin".	1563.9223427760805
Col Henri Garvier was one of New Orleans' most important and enlightened slave owners.	31676.518907584355
He chuckled and gave the signal for the dance to start.	1141.4108704111216
The slaves ran gaily to the center of Congo Square and gathered around a sweaty youth they called Johnny No-Name.	59780.78212615616
Johnny vigorously pounded two bleached steer bones against the gourd which served as his drum.	43137.742580372564
He showed his gleaming tusks of teeth and bellowed incoherently, his brass earrings jangling discordantly as he shook and trembled in ecstasy.	86787.54702083585
The drummer flogged the gourd with frantic intensity as the dancers began the calinda, a sensual gyration which had long been a favorite of voodoo practitioners and their disciples in the Louisiana slave compounds.	143979.48188880965
The dance was of Haitian origin.	930.8822222757773
The white girl with the penetrating green eyes sipped the lemonade handed to her by a handsome man of about 30, who had coppery skin and beetling eyebrows.	90755.97563718227
He was possessive in his manner and, though a slave, obviously was educated after a fashion and imitated the manners of his owners.	36798.07283247513
He proudly wore the blue livery of her house, for the girl was Madame Delphine Lalaurie, wife of the prominent surgeon, Dr Louis Lalaurie, who bore one of the South's oldest and most cherished names.	92029.67319352737
Delphine was a pace-setter in high society.	12180.382849831589
She was a top horsewoman and one of the city's most gracious hostesses.	1037.8040902070006
Although New Orleans was not to learn of it for a spell, she also was a sadist, a nymphomaniac and unobtrusively mad- the perpetrator of some of the worst crimes against humanity ever committed on American soil.	57839.692728410846
Madame Lalaurie gestured with her riding crop toward the 20-year-old youth who was stomping and writhing with the king snake still draped over his bare shoulders.	66664.78490605942
The slender, handsome fellow was called Dandy Brandon by the other slaves.	21485.5151260866
He was gifted with animal magnetism and a potent allure for women of any race.	9540.444179963832
But Dandy had had little experience with girls on his master's plantation in Bayou St John.	40333.00148763517
Shy, actually, he avoided feminine overtures and seemed truly ignorant of the girls' desires when they sought to make liaisons with him in the open fields, in carriages and in boathouses.	68542.19550452473
This young slave was therefore quite unprepared when Delphine Lalaurie signaled that she wanted him to draw near.	44930.67906310919
The woman eyed the youth with the avidity a coin collector might display toward a rare doubloon which is not yet in his collection.	25865.58709603992
"What is your name, boy?	382.3029854710169
Come a bit closer.	825.1038267957908
I won't bite, you know".	744.1246470176934
He gaped at Madame Lalaurie and sniffed the Paris perfume which emanated from her.	18673.97903141798
Then he smiled shyly.	1226.6867090935482
"My name is Dandy Brandon, missy.	10660.73315370698
I belong to Master Alexander Prieur".	9291.821227814004
She said with intense feeling "Come near, let me feel your arms.	5541.421073782449
You look quite strong and healthy to me, Dandy".	35592.00336425948
Mrs Lalaurie impatiently propelled the slave toward her waiting carriage.	15637.865543921842
Lifting her skirts, she climbed in, never relinquishing her grip on his arm.	44973.321051628554
The woman seemed utterly unafraid of the snake which coiled on the floor in a torpor.	10747.502189504357
Once inside the luxuriosly-upholstered landau, she drew the curtains and proceeded to give the startled youth the kind of physical examination usually reserved for army inductees.	79414.61403781861
Satisfied at last, and after a few amorous gambits on her part which convinced Delphine that Dandy was capable of learning new arts, she opened the window and called to her liveried driver.	105861.37448407647
This was the big man with the proprietory air and the beetling, shaggy eyebrows.	13859.244526768174
"Aristide!	3524.8082516247623
I want you to find Monsieur Prieur at once and give him this money for the boy's purchase.	5569.169533709491
There's $600 in gold in this chamois sack.	20558.184722560636
If the old fool argues about the price, tell him I shall order my husband not to treat him as a patient any longer.	33943.58700577546
Prieur has gout and depends on Louis' pills and bleedings.	100424.7362904434
Besides, he owns 300 slaves.	428.2588434646222
One less shouldn't matter to him".	813.3896516173508
Aristide Devol, the sardonic manservant who had been brought in chains years before from his native Sierra Leone, smiled thinly and touched his well-brushed beaver hat.	216596.7528098022
His bold eyes raked the woman, and a perceptive spectator might sense that there was more to their relationship than that of slave to owner.	38608.60947415209
"Another youth, Madame"?	6677.482667478238
the coachman said softly.	439.40877247767344
"This one is a tender chicken, oui?	10955.530158917098
Such delicate beauty, such fine flesh.	4740.344727281295
It will rip and shred easily for Madame".	9872.914509193053
"Be quiet, Devol!	5167.982412843458
You are forgetting your place".	767.423523004024
The tall coachman walked off briskly in search of Alexander Prieur.	26925.01597600725
Delphine Lalaurie took the reins in her gloved hands and drove Dandy Brandon- cowering in the back seat of the carriage- to her mansion at 677 Perdido Street.	100298.5294065001
Dr Louis Lalaurie stood on the veranda at the head of the driveway and watched his carriage as it approached the pillared mansion.	62818.04260339003
Dandy, curiosity overcoming his apprehensions, peered out at the doctor from the window of the vehicle.	58871.42299536022
He saw a pint-sized man with a graying spade beard and an unusually large head.	23496.382054868114
Dr Lalaurie wore a maroon smoking jacket, and his myopic eyes were blurry and glistened behind thick octagonal lenses.	92322.93062045657
He was about 50 years old.	105.23662447929951
"Another young man, my dear?	8946.385367092013
Really, you are most indiscreet to drive him here yourself", he said, frowning with displeasure.	25589.593126544758
Delphine presented her cheek for a kiss, and the physician pecked it like a timid rooster.	195430.10438044614
"Dandy is to be our house guest, Louis.	32421.687076887007
I want the room in the attic prepared for him He is a most unusual lad, quite precocious in many ways.	8610.505542855608
He deserves a better life than just rotting away on the Prieur plantation".	26287.27261327561
"Quite so, my dear.	4861.16217635745
His room will be ready shortly".	2197.011280110727
The physician led the horses to the stable after a cursory glance at the cringing slave.	13243.44610258819
Had Dandy been older or wiser, instinct might have warned him that he would be well advised to flee from the Lalauries' tender care if he valued his life.	56193.85403753377
But he liked the smell of Delphine's perfume.	4661.164326796778
Besides, her endearments and caresses in the carriage had been new and stirring experiences to the simple youth.	27482.287822995786
Also, he was weary of plantation drudgery and monotony.	3770.0186288835184
So Dandy Brandon trustingly entered the house with Delphine Lalaurie and trudged up the rear steps to the attic room which was to be his new home.	32004.111079753788
Airless and dingy though it was, the attic represented luxury to a slave who had led a wretched life with six brothers and sisters and assorted relatives in a shanty at Bayou St John.	153644.8645792852
He bounced exuberantly on the sagging bed and was even more delighted when Madame Lalaurie- after closing the door- showed the slave that the bed was designed for something other than slumber.	184443.09010964693
It was just as well that the ignorant Dandy enjoyed himself to the hilt that first evening, for the room was to become his prison cell.	8920.066482346989
When he finally left the sinister mansion on Perdido Street, he was carried out in a coroner's basket.	12178.1253336126
JUST six weeks after Dandy Brandon's arrival at the mansion, the little surgeon and his svelte young wife gave their annual open house and ball, to which only New Orleans' oldest and wealthiest families were invited.	184638.9789535528
A stringed orchestra played softly behind the potted palms, and Delphine circulated graciously among her guests, chatting airily of the forthcoming races, the latest fashions from Paris, and Louisiana politics.	123398.61968554808
Suddenly there was a commotion upstairs, a despairing boyish shriek, and the strains of the waltz faltered and died as the musicians and guests gaped at an apparition descending the marble staircase.	113727.52174941135
It was Dandy Brandon, clad only in a bloody loincloth, emaciated and quaking as if the devil were breathing hard on him.	44584.971498164596
The lad's once superb body was a mass of scars and welts.	45763.81533552811
His pinched face showed the ravages of malnutrition.	15210.36442656309
Feebly he pointed an accusing finger at Madame Lalaurie and shouted "Evil woman!	69437.59277947183
You did this h you like to hurt h to beat people h I want h to go home".	17375.17984660116
These were the last words he ever uttered.	1263.045427528601
Convulsively, he spat up some blood and collapsed into the arms of Senator Gaston Berche, crimsoning the frilly shirt and waistcoat the politician wore.	220805.59325922947
Dr Louis Lalaurie examined the inert form of the slave on the parquet dance floor and pronounced him dead.	39606.40893628645
The ball broke up in confusion.	386.8720636548674
Guests stared with horror at Madame Lalaurie and made speedy departures.	45609.16588506674
Delphine stood like stone, her eyes alive with hate as she looked down at the sheeted corpse.	129145.89759494782
But at the coroner's inquest Delphine told a forthright story.	3845.818865662254
"I saw the boy Dandy at the Congo Square festivities and felt sorry for him.	3719.813952777175
It was our hope to educate him and to give him his freedom when the right time came, for he was a bright and friendly youth who seemed worthy of our interest.	24308.892826093484
After I paid Monsieur Prieur for Dandy, I brought him home, but he was ill at ease and ran away the same night.	13797.648512531563
How he returned in such a ghastly condition, or why, I cannot say.	2571.872223997275
Dr Lalaurie and I didn't even know he was in the house until the night of our ball when he came down the stairs".	6745.039577435007
She daubed at her swimming eyes with a lacy handkerchief and said with obvious emotion "That poor boy!	66783.80396785092
He must have fallen in with evil companions, for he was a simple youth and quite trusting and inexperienced.	4084.729468513496
Ruffians must have robbed and beaten him before bringing him back to our house to die.	57183.905213386985
Such a pitiful end"!	1399.6287342184962
Though the slave's dying words about the woman troubled the coroner's panel, Dandy's accusation was adjudged an aberration by the jury and disregarded.	82213.75460544608
The Lalauries were at the top rung of the social ladder, and even a jury didn't feel privileged to doubt the veracity of so illustrious a lady.	43407.09269531642
Moreover, runaway slaves frequently got into serious trouble in New Orleans' dives.	29629.20400047272
So the verict was "death at the hands of a person or persons unknown", and the elite of the city, accepting Delphine's testimony, welcomed her and the doctor back into the fold.	21580.748760541377
Once again life went its serene way- soirees, fox hunts, balls and dinners.	23901.22610691213
The excitement over Brandon's bizarre death abated and Madame Lalaurie's stock soared when she resumed her self-imposed chores of visiting the poor and bringing cakes and comfort to destitute patients in the county hospital.	196112.27840895104
Then, on July 2, there occurred another incident which set tongues to wagging at a furious clip.	19846.49353095143
Mrs Victor Dominique, socially prominent and a neighbor of the Lalauries, chanced to glance out of her parlor window at dusk one evening and beheld an amazing sight.	164150.8903125245
The manservant Devol and his mistress, Delphine Lalaurie, were pursuing a young girl- an octoroon of cameo-like beauty- across the front lawn of the Lalaurie mansion.	209263.46599408344
The girl was not more than 16.	52.04138547902111
She was nude to the waist and her tumbled abundance of black hair did not conceal the knife slashes on her back.	28163.714056563367
The bleeding girl was tiring fast; the coachman and Delphine were gaining on her as she raced down Perdido Street.	67269.60926693371
The fugitive cried out in an oddly sibilant voice "Help me, somebody!	50602.66620231218
They have pulled out all my teeth and now she will carve out my tongue with her hacksaw!	62541.94505545661
"Bastards", he would say, "all I did was put a beat to that Vivaldi stuff, and the first chair clobbered me"!	8292.1128969472
Since then, and since the pure grain had gotten him divorced from every decent- and even indecent- group from Greenwich Village to the Embarcadero, he had become a sucker-rolling freight-jumper.	60550.36961087026
"There ain't nothin' faster, or lonelier, or more direct than a cannonball freight when you wanna go someplace", Feathertop would say.	73734.30851997308
"The accommodations may not be the poshest, but man!	4711.010328727718
there ain't nobody askin' for your ticket stub, neither".	30167.12829803668
He had been conning the freights for a long, long time now.	513.6261056495745
Ever since the hooch, and the trouble with the Quartet, and Midge and the child.	10315.42286874209
Ever since all that.	18.39815503089547
It had been a very long time that had no form and no end.	320.2537551133514
He was- as he told himself in the vernacular of a trade no longer his own- riding the dark train out.	37287.918798034436
Out and out and never to return again.	5849.640964208267
Till one day the last freight had been jumped, the last pint had been killed, the last beat had been rapped.	72484.92149810078
That was the day it ended.	64.66669911499007
THE FREIGHT CAR WAS COLD, early in the morning.	694.2187944984934
He was pressed far back into the corner of the car on his hay sacks, the rattling and tinning of the wheels on the rails almost covering the sound of his ocarina.	46920.38266470661
He held his elbows away from his body, and the little sweet potato trilled neatly and sweetly as he tickled its tune-belly.	64685.920007504996
The train slowed at a road crossing, and the big door slid open; at first gratingly, caught by grains of corn- then with a clash into its slot.	120089.42460024066
The boy lifted the girl by the waist and set her on the lip of the floor.	4450.0323552982245
She pulled her legs up under her, to rise, her full peasant skirt drawing up her thighs, and Feathertop's music pffft-ed away.	95387.99010968245
"Now that is a very nice, a very nice", he murmured to himself, back in his corner.	8667.970325898676
A little thing, but the right twist for the action that counted.	8248.866810832018
Hot, that was the word, hot!	2898.9868909221286
Hair like a morning-frightened sparrow's wings, with the sun shining down over them.	40919.97757092565
A poet, yet!	2573.8484543540567
His thoughts for the swanlike neck, the full, high breasts, the slim waist, and the long legs were less than poetic, however.	55911.12854618349
Zingggg-O!	11771.71631755548
Then the boy straight-armed himself up, twisting at the last moment so he landed sitting.	15237.733054679966
He was less to see, but Feathertop took him in, too, just to keep the records straight.	13914.238015675834
Curly hair, high cheekbones, wide gnomelike mouth, a pair of drummer's blocky hands, and a body that said well, maybe I can wrestle you for ten minutes- but then I'm finished.	163624.13799621628
"We made it, Cappy", the chick said.	1655.5698400958472
"Yeah, seems so, don't it", the boy laughed, hugging her close.	9721.291313823647
"Ah-ah"!	1750.3639438997668
Feathertop interrupted, standing up, brushing the pig offal from his dirty pants.	147265.21120275225
"None of that.	19.010251519855142
We run a respectable house here".	2625.7449311600712
They whirled and saw him, standing there dim in the slatted light from the boarded freight wall.	67077.03005211675
He was big, and filthy, and his toes stuck out of the flapping tops of his shoes.	24170.67133732965
He held the black plastic kazoo lightly.	1307.746175045513
"Come sit", said Feathertop, motioning them toward him.	7146.321166063035
"That crap is softer over here".	3860.881422073924
The girl smiled, and started forward.	363.4646107930944
The boy yanked her back hard, tugging her off her feet, and gathered her into the crook of his arm.	31723.6018522394
"Now stay with me, Kitty", he snapped irritably.	15047.773274487225
"I vowed to take care of you- and that's what I'm gonna do.	7994.277194503637
We don't know this guy".	304.0415670779026
"Oooo, square bit", Feathertop screwed his face up.	37213.046047999924
This guy was strictly from Outsville.	8518.383459487271
But nowhere!	1038.071026827305
"What is with this vow jazz"?	3964.8676270137553
Feathertop inquired, lounging against the freight's vibrating wall.	29580.8141256813
"We- we eloped", Cappy said.	3108.6279333683506
His head came up and he said it defiantly.	7249.227867077827
"Well, congratulations".	680.9764435470578
Feathertop made an elaborate motion with his hand.	3772.945523595766
These two were going to be easy pickins.	1525.5725017621157
They couldn't have much dough, but then none of the freight-bums Feathertop rolled had much.	52517.884695128036
And besides, the chick had a little something the others didn't have.	4127.636051393959
That was gonna be fun collecting!	4154.756915147388
But not just yet.	190.4504275963479
Feathertop was a connoisseur.	18248.6338611592
He liked to savor his meat before he tasted it.	3885.874650601022
"Come sit", he repeated, motioning to the piled hay bags, over the pig leavings.	127657.10000619343
"I'm just a poor ex-jazz man, name of- uh- Boyd Smith".	9336.433279601177
He grinned at them wolfishly.	6447.1735995502095
"That ain't your name, Mister", the boy accused.	30194.8952512385
"And you know- you're right"!	118.057523481126
Feathertop aimed a finger at him.	4033.547351639497
"Oh, come on, Cappy", the girl chided.	11602.65152486783
"He's okay.	1515.252545810456
He's a nice guy".	264.46653045400984
She started to move toward the hay bags, dragging the reluctant Cappy behind her.	18083.722532992284
Feathertop watched the smooth scissoring of her slim, trim legs as she walked to the bags, and tucked them beneath her, smoothing the skirt out in a wide circle.	234900.0949091803
He cleared his throat; it had been a long, hot while since he'd seen anything as nice as this within grabbin' distance.	26240.364376731082
He had it all doped, of course.	315.21748705338365
Slug the kid, grab his dough- at least enough to get to Philadelphia- and then have a rockin' ball with the doll.	67782.40759578226
Hmm- diddle!	11771.71631755548
"Where'd you come from, Mr- uh- Mr Smith"?	76477.89479271953
Kitty inquired politely.	2765.2115896492305
"Where from"?	206.5713633835044
he mused.	1931.338253054294
"Out.	259.19606839854345
I been riding train for a ways now".	4688.571189758078
They lapsed into silence, and the freight wallowed up a hill, scooted down the other side, shaking and clanking to itself.	89715.56134623669
After a while, Kitty murmured something to Cappy, and he held her close, answering, "We'll just have to wait till we pull into Philly, honey".	25494.016275868136
"What's the matter, she wanna go the bathroom"?	3334.3931244410596
Ernie found it immensely funny.	7177.221694228263
The boy scowled at him, and the girl looked shocked.	2425.270542761837
"No!	266.0160940236645
Certainly not, I mean, no that isn't what I said"!	4956.173812473584
she snapped at him.	400.5711490678482
"I only said I was hungry.	2259.2895941533916
We haven't had anything to eat all day".	7455.813721664302
Joviality suffused Feathertop Ernie Cargill's voice as he reached behind him, pulling out a battered carpet bag, with leather handles.	253499.75878819407
"Whyn't ya say so, fellow travelers!	40784.88618621759
Why, we got dinner right here.	420.3551571845226
C'mon, buddy, help me set up the kitchen and we'll have food in a minute or two".	5552.108427060807
Cappy looked wary, but he moved off the floorboards and followed the dirty ex-musician to the center of the refuse-littered boxcar.	125096.155269431
Ernie crouched and opened the carpet bag.	15343.112179609745
He took out a small packet filled with bits of charcoal, a deep pot of thin metal, some sheets of newspaper, a book of matches and a wrinkled and many-times folded piece of tin foil with holes in it.	91044.8505111407
He put the charcoal in the pot, lit the paper with the matches, and carefully stretched the tin foil across the top of the pot.	20671.01824954055
"A charcoal pit, man", he said, indicating the slightly-smoking makeshift brazier.	14030.796882724779
"Fan it", he told Cappy, handing him a sheet of newspaper.	43800.797223432535
"Yeah, but what're we gonna eat?	4334.658670026628
Charcoal"?	11318.63465748144
"Fella", Ernie waggled a dirty finger at the younger man, "you try my ever-lovin' patience".	167284.44894314333
He reached once more into the carpet bag and brought up a package of wieners.	42382.83719306711
"Hot dogs, man.	1214.80276323647
Not the greatest, but they stick to your belly insides".	7589.7415356942265
He ripped down the cellophane carefully, and laid three dogs on the tin foil.	43441.41704225376
Almost immediately they began to sizzle.	8389.48007911788
He looked up and grinned.	256.302429465691
"A Kroger's self-serve", he explained.	1264.8824996759038
"I self served".	408.69246260062937
WHEN THEY HAD LICKED the last of the wieners' taste from their fingers, they settled back, and Cappy offered Ernie a cigarette.	68975.17425190803
Nice kid, Ernie thought, too bad.	9220.576884248683
"How come you're riding the rods, kids like you"?	26499.23075038167
Ernie asked.	1219.1465595465106
Cappy looked down at his wide hands, and did not reply.	8292.42151894219
But surprisingly, Kitty's face came up and she said, "My father.	11087.365795547521
He didn't want us to get married.	212.5463729137753
So we ran away".	205.48085129311326
"Why didn't he want you to get hitched"?	3159.5702066727895
This time even she did not answer.	119.3893805842934
She looked down at her hands, too.	431.1600305397948
After a few seconds, she said, "Dad didn't like Cappy.	2869.3820066851345
It was my fault".	363.9363087701277
Cappy's head came around sharply.	8056.15649938416
"Your fault, hell!	1090.6144108845683
It was all my fault.	620.2998836887272
If I'd been careful it never woulda"- he stopped abruptly.	9936.990869984487
Ernie's eyebrows went up.	5020.143064302134
"What's the matter"?	34.51426969168786
The girl still did not raise her eyes, but she added simply, "I'm pregnant".	12874.315278286464
Cappy raged at himself.	5020.143061093781
"Oh he was stupid, her old man!	5943.2928883680615
You never heard nothin' like it Kitty's gonna go have an abortion, and Kitty's gonna go away to a convent, and Kitty's this and Kitty's that h like he was nuts or somethin', y'know"?	272242.53365006234
Ernie nodded.	1219.1472522308063
This was a slightly different matter.	95.00555375628629
He remembered Midge, and the child.	663.1564462129044
But that had been a time before all this, a time he didn't think about.	3924.0684040550377
A time before the white lightning and the bumming had turned him inside out.	11868.669385408959
But these kids weren't like him.	1179.6478004462513
Oh crap!	1887.6870133771301
he thought, Pull out of it, old son.	1614.7684361313227
These are just another couple of characters to roll.	2755.1840049726984
What they got, you get.	726.9279068676706
Now forget all this other.	1833.1819704869065
"Wanna drink"?	20786.28634948607
Ernie offered, taking the pint of sweet lucy from his jacket pocket.	63578.80418353735
"Yeah.	35.197251894126666
Now that you offer".	185.34089286114536
The answer came from the open door of the boxcar.	9776.671346314213
From the man who had leaped in from the high bank outside, as the train had slowed on the grade.	7879.075457172461
Ernie stared at the man.	482.92259836738964
He was big.	87.13144650069637
Real big, with shoulders out to here, and hair all over him like a grizzly.	189009.4704325527
Road gang, Ernie thought.	6878.104615915209
"You gonna give me a drink, fella"?	40353.588895945446
the big man asked again, taking a step into the boxcar.	30602.138532929126
Ernie hesitated a moment.	1217.5272190507778
This character could break him in half.	1397.4276976573285
"Sure", he said, and lifted the pint to his own lips.	2761.880529401013
He guzzled down three-quarters of the strong home-blend and proffered the remainder.	20470.123951916456
The man stalked toward them, his big boots heavy on the wooden flooring.	19877.978891105668
He took the bottle with undue belligerence, and making sucking noises with his thick lips, drained it completely.	25708.209171054146
He threw his head back, closed his eyes, and belched ferociously.	7605.007876033963
He belched again, and opening his eyes, threw the bottle out the open door.	43063.7424177287
"Well, now", he said, and reached into his pocket.	52.89872598111281
"I didn't know I was gonna have company in this car".	2897.228265692137
"We're going to Philadelphia", Kitty said, pulling her skirt down around her legs all the more.	4287.974529581557
"No, I don't think so", said the big man, and it was the final clincher for Ernie.	2187.871294492128
He had suspected this guy was trouble, and now he was sure of it.	847.972128840066
"Maybe you and me will, girlie, but these two ain't goin' nowhere".	7975.454072841889
He advanced on them, and abruptly there was a shocked electricity in the car.	6173.149517412454
Ernie was screaming inside himself No, damn you, you ain't gonna take my meal ticket away from me!	100878.86196003067
The newcomer stalked toward them, and Kitty shied back, her hand to her mouth.	20246.278243391833
Her scream split up the silence of the car, accompanied by the rattling of the freight, and then Cappy came off the floor, his legs driving him hard.	24817.7206219492
The kid hit the bigger man with an audible thwump!	17053.177643298022
and carried him backward in a footballer's tackle.	15235.243000120907
They went down in a heap and for a long minute there was nothing to see but flailing arms and legs.	3487.80713226039
The kid showed for an instant, and his arm was cocked back.	3148.392432442574
The fist went down into the pile of flesh, and Ernie heard the bigger man's deeper voice go, "Aaawww"!	70223.25412243821
Then they were tumbling again, and the big man reached into the same pocket he had gone for earlier, and came up with a vicious switchblade.	32084.024908801148
He held the knife aloft an instant- an instant enough to press the stud.	14628.199116797852
The blade came out with a snick!	13048.72191430844
He fisted the knife overhand, and drew back to plunge it into the kid's throat.	35780.405716639485
Kitty screamed insanely and her face was white.	22371.9806737499
She grabbed at Feathertop's sleeve and shrieked, "Help him!	14152.771644258317
Help him!	204.20752030860262
Do something"!	917.1921471747033
They neither liked nor disliked the Old Man.	6159.133601302834
To them he could have been the broken bell in the church tower which rang before and after Mass, and at noon, and at six each evening- its tone, repetitive, monotonous, never breaking the boredom of the streets.	46737.605242203936
The Old Man was unimportant.	1242.0425600489136
Yet if he were not there, they would have missed him, as they would have missed the sounds of bees buzzing against the screen door in early June; or the smell of thick tomato paste- the ripe smell that was both sweet and sour- rising up from aluminum trays wrapped in fly-dotted cheesecloth.	56804.95202337919
Or the surging whirling sounds of bats at night, when their black bodies dived into the blackness above and below the amber street lights.	90889.98010493196
Or the bay of female dogs in heat.	1023.1266262927627
They never called him by name, although he had one.	2162.924685660512
Filippo Rossi, that's what he was called in the old country; but here he was just Signore or the Old Man.	37304.30342378083
But this was not unusual, because youth in these quarters was always pushed at a distance from its elders.	23022.44818600682
Youth obeyed when commanded.	1746.0223702587014
It went to church on Sunday and one Saturday a month went to confession.	12547.02876563214
But youth asked nothing of its parents- not a touch of the hand or a kiss given in passing.	32546.70031458146
The only thing unusual about the Old Man had long since happened.	6427.057245039601
But the past was dead here as the present was dead.	2385.6688414217106
Once the Old Man had had a wife.	1536.6136376261375
And once she, too, ignored him.	824.4333733684483
With a tiny fur-piece wrapped around her shoulders, she wiggled her satin-covered buttocks down the street before him and didn't stop.	57960.03945169121
In one hand she clutched a hundred dollar bill and in the other a straw suitcase.	13387.710030376225
The way she strutted down the street, the Old Man would have been blind not to have noticed both.	11803.082546146688
Without looking at him, without looking at anything except Drexel Street directly in front of her, she climbed up into one of those orange streetcars, rode away in it, and never came back.	25971.37239055751
"But she shouldn't have come here in the first place", the women had said.	427.1603172505672
"No, no.	18.309057991667682
Not that one.	70.15225260706197
She thought she was bigger than we are because she came from Torino".	8074.968443546171
"Eh, Torino!	10671.92868501917
She gave herself fancy airs!	2319.9361887117457
Just because she had a part on the stage in the old country, she thought she could carry her head higher than ours".	10716.562086059215
They had slapped their thighs.	2567.805501041275
"It's not for making pretty speeches about Dante those actresses get paid so good".	13526.59260357373
"Henh"!	3524.8082516247623
Calloused fingers, caressed only by the smoothness of polished rosaries, had swayed excitedly beneath puckered chins where tiny black hairs sprouted, never to be tweezed away.	181200.70986012756
Mauve-colored mouths that had never known anything sweeter than the taste of new wine and the passion of man's tongue had not smiled, but had condemned again and again.	55912.45443724389
"Puttana"!	3524.8082516247623
But if the Old Man even thought about his wife now, nobody cared a fig.	15338.677359762305
It was enough for people to know that at one time he had looked down the street at the fleshy suppleness of a woman he had consumed- watching her become thinner and thinner in the distance, as thin as the seams on her stockings, and still thinner.	87782.57325805596
His voice had not commanded her to stop.	2605.8642938010103
It had not questioned why.	339.8363950237269
The women said they had seen him wave an exhausted farewell; but he might have been shooing away the fleas that hopped from his yellow dog onto him.	35810.25745404195
He was never without that dog.	379.0033791652474
And his eyes- those miniature sundials of variegated yellow- had not altered their expression or direction.	15985.55822740684
The Old Man's very soul could have left him and flown down that street, but he wouldn't have had anyone know it.	24389.953539099824
Perhaps he had known then where that hundred dollar bill had come from and where it was taking his wife.	7458.878253024142
But when he called for his withered, wrinkled sister Rose to care for him and the children, had he guessed that all he would remember of his woman was the memory of her climbing into that streetcar?	91868.13621508793
There seemed to be a contemptuous purpose in the way he sat there with his eyes glued to Drexel Street and his back in opposition to the church behind him.	9240.337936347487
For all he saw or cared to see, this could have been a town in Italy, not the outskirts of Philadelphia.	6666.336539026077
It could have been Bari or Chieti for the way it smelled.	4011.0471771882244
What did it matter to him that the park at the foot of Ash Road stretched beneath elevated trains that roared from the stucco station into the city's center at half-hour intervals?	115953.83974319445
Or that the tiny creek spun its silent course toward the Schuylkill?	60869.055844645394
This place was hatred to him, just as hatred was his only companion in his aloneness.	31245.735996205578
To him they were one and the same.	176.70363636248484
Sameness for the Old Man was framed in by a wall of ginkgo trees which divided these quarters from the city.	47806.54634371546
Sameness lined the streets with two-story houses the color of ash.	121429.68865001838
It slashed the sloping manure-scented lawns with concrete steps which climbed upward to white wooden porches.	118081.30916967323
It swayed with the wicker swings and screeched with the rusted hinges of screen doors.	45341.60543240842
Even the stable-garage, which housed nothing now but the scent of rot, had a lawn before it.	27252.459291633622
And the coffee shop on Drexel Street, where the men spent their evenings and Sundays playing cards, had a rose hedge beneath its window.	38091.63356422345
The hedge reeked of coffee dregs thrown against it.	9550.793225033072
Only one house on the street had no lawn before it.	1543.2724678887582
It squatted low and square upon the sidewalk with a heavy iron grating supporting a glass facade.	55866.5165992986
That was Bartoli's shop.	430.1276082317594
Above it, from a second-story showroom, wooden angels surveyed the neighborhood.	9660.203453559121
Did the Old Man remember them there?	5983.35634472952
Yet everywhere else sameness was stucco and wood in square blocks- like fortresses perched against the slant of the hill, rising with the hill to the top where the church was and beyond that to the cemetery.	91253.23315512053
Only paved alleyways tunneled through the walls of those fortresses into the mysterious core of intimacy behind the houses where backyards owned no fences, where one man's property blended with the next to form courtyards in which no one knew privacy.	146023.16030616002
Love and hatred and fear were one here, shaded only by fig trees and grape vines.	84776.21854544592
And the forked tongue of gossip licked its sinister way from back porch to back porch.	28350.817551888667
The Old Man silently fed upon these streets.	5110.230805697469
They kept him alive, waiting.	2568.38649303385
Waiting for what and for whom, only he could tell and would not.	5440.961160562385
It was as though he had made a pact with the devil himself, but it was not yet time to pay the price.	1378.7268573050462
He was holding out for something.	849.8363546347383
He was determined to hold out.	374.2041685780997
2 The Old Man's son threw himself down, belly first, upon a concrete step, taking in the coolness of it, and dreaming of the day he would be rich.	39004.24954769093
At fifteen he didn't care that he had no mother, that he couldn't remember her face or her touch; neither did he care that Aunt Rose provided for him.	56241.25978570335
He was named Pompeii as a tribute to his heritage, and he couldn't have cared less about that either.	17197.849214894424
To him life was a restless boredom that began with the rising sun and ended only with sleep.	17026.473993590414
When he would be a man, he would be a rich man.	145.11969183578088
He would not be like the "rich Americans" who lived in white-columned houses on the other side of the park.	1036.7006832711288
He would not ride the eight-thirty local to the city each morning.	3356.9891831913606
He would not carry a brief case.	660.0507821613378
Nor would he work at all.	325.8908272154114
He would square his shoulders and carry a cane before each step.	9102.239569076757
He would sit inside the coffee shop and pound a gloved fist upon the table and a girl would hear him and come running, bowing with her running, calling out in her bowing, "At your service".	110758.44470454886
He would order her to bring coffee, and would take from his vest pocket a thin black pipe which he would stuff- he would not remove his gloves- and light and smoke.	85418.34285278294
He could do that when he would be a man.	46.68633511205345
"Hey, Laura"!	983.3606223457757
he called to his sister on the porch above the steps.	6719.78673865729
She was only ten months older than he.	4428.6784028375105
"Laura, what would you say if I smoked a pipe"?	49983.74550323645
Laura did not answer him.	58.83374457083068
She leaned unconcerned against the broken porch fence, brushing and drying her wet, gilded hair in the sun.	30808.989005801675
One lithe leg straddled the railing and swung loosely before the creaking, torn pales.	83060.09017277948
Her tanned foot, whose arch swept high and white, pointed artfully toward tapering toes- toes like fingers, whose tips glowed white.	112866.90205910354
All the while she sat there, her sinewy arms swirled before her chest.	15049.114136044995
Her face showed no sign of having heard Pompeii.	20313.766015848625
It was a face that had lost its childlike softness and was beginning to fold within its fragile features a harshness that belied the lyric lines of its contours.	29520.38481973499
The eyes, blue and always somewhat downcast, possessed a sullen quality.	7543.621189392798
Even though the boy could not see them, he knew they were clouded by distance.	2572.3678324692564
He was never sure they fully took him in.	670.804590196688
Pompeii called again, "Laura"!	26301.225313573115
But the only answer that reached him was the screeching of the porch rail from her leg moving against it.	29572.686142790983
"She's in a mood", he thought "There's not a month she doesn't get herself in a mood".	15220.60624656676
Well, what did that matter when the sun was shining and there were dreams to dream about?	19724.684379885734
And as for his pipe, if he wanted to smoke one, nobody would stop him.	3728.361720883357
Not even Laura.	198.66559034333116
Suddenly he was interrupted in his daydreaming by a warm wetness lapping against his chin, and his eyes opened wide and long at the sight of a goat's claret tongue, feasting against the salt taste of him.	43849.30953902239
Above the tongue, an aged yellow eye, sallow and time-cast, encrusted within a sphere of marbleized pink skin, stared unfalteringly at him.	79410.24015064674
"Christ sake, goat, git"!	11989.672253304712
But the goat would not.	668.9800880728404
"You're boiling milk, ain't you"?	2287.8612210014567
soothing it with his hand, knowing the whiskered jowls and the swollen smoothness of teats that wrinkled expectantly to his touch.	74121.30097632697
Pompeii rolled over.	2845.9155910398827
His head undulated gradually, covering space, to come straining beneath the taut belly within the warmth of those teats.	83234.973537229
With his mouth opened wide, he squirted the warm white milk against the roof of his mouth and his tongue savored the light, earthy taste of it.	51606.737973605814
The boy's fingers and mouth operated with the skilled unity of a bagpipe player, pressing and pulling, delighting in what he did.	29505.16165438534
Above him slid the evasive shadow of a storm cloud.	7951.545465745858
Its form was a heavy figure in a fluttering soutane.	21180.467161038523
But the boy could see only the goat's belly.	3828.043423720191
The Old Man near the corner let the shadow pass over him, sensing something portentous in it.	27842.026539784954
He knew it was there, knew also what it was about, but he wouldn't raise a finger except to smooth his yellow dog's back.	22197.256595134684
There would be time enough, perhaps the Old Man reassured himself, to pay the devil his due.	9728.699191392245
Time enough to give up his soul.	191.48254617352984
In the meantime, six sandals, stained an ocher, the same color as Pompeii's shaved hair, edged up close to him.	7633.556740175846
The clapping they made on the concrete interrupted him in the ecstatic pleasure he knew, so that he quickly released his hold on the goat and pretended to be examining its haunches for ticks.	120307.49705872114
He knew at a glance that the biggest sandals belonged to Niobe, the neatest ones to Concetta, and the laced ones to Romeo, Concetta's idiot brother.	100902.34300174889
Pompeii expected Romeo's small body to sink closer and closer to the ground.	2869.28813759393
He expected Concetta's thin hand to reach down to grasp the boy, and her shrill, impetuous voice to sound against the rotundity of his disfigured flesh that was never sure of hearing anything.	94664.3237850731
People came in and out all evening to see the baby and hold it.	20368.737462184334
The room filled with smoke, and Maggie's head throbbed with excitement and fatigue, but Stuart had such a happy, earnest look of proud possession on his face that Maggie couldn't bear to do anything to quench it.	132666.1857007776
Little Anne rapidly outdistanced her mother in recovery.	7596.152768362313
In two months she became a fat highly social baby, with a fuzz of flaxen hair all over her head.	20290.359728062787
She stopped flying into rages and started digesting her food; she developed a peaches and cream complexion and a sunny disposition, and she asked for nothing more of life than that she be kept dry and comfortable and fed huge amounts of food at stated intervals and be carried to where she could watch activity going on around her.	219158.6691245967
She was so heavy that Maggie's arms shook from lifting her and taking care of her.	2860.3905585431617
Maggie couldn't seem to get her strength back or catch up with herself with all she had to do there was the big basket of clothes to be coaxed through the rackety old washer and lugged out and lugged back; there was the daily round of household chores in which Maggie insisted on participating.	283058.06042816886
Worry had a great deal to do with it; Stuart had been laid off at the produce company and had to go back to sitting in his father's office, taking what salary his father could hand out to him.	30984.198647023648
Mr Clifton would have preferred death and bankruptcy to having his son stay with his wife's people without contributing to his and his family's upkeep, and besides that there were the things that had to be bought for the baby, milk and orange juice and vitamins and soap, just plain soap.	139647.50244896562
Maggie and Stuart pored over figures every night, trying to find how they could squeeze out a few pennies more.	81026.41142247437
In desperation Maggie consulted Eugenia one afternoon "Do you think you could find me something I could do here at home to make some money, so I could still watch the baby and do the rest of the things"?	59009.832368740674
"It seems to me you have enough to do as it is", Eugenia said.	925.8129537234344
She had been watching Maggie go from the washing machine to the baby to the stove and back again.	11076.595647948056
"I have plenty of odd moments when I could be doing something", Maggie said.	13730.057348780809
"It would make me feel a lot better, but the Woman's Exchange isn't taking baked goods any more and I can't leave the baby with Grandma because she isn't strong enough and the baby's too young to be put in a nursery".	48338.374797193894
"I should think so", Eugenia said.	1394.841394068057
"For one thing you can stop keeping that child in starched dresses and changed from the skin out nineteen times a day".	8510.030693859364
"She's so beautiful, and I do like to keep her looking nice".	20564.024846616096
Maggie said.	1377.4294786082955
She picked up the baby and nuzzled her fat warm little neck.	6160.6487272380655
"She'll be just as beautiful in something that doesn't have to be ironed", Eugenia said.	2948.4610008532054
"Evadna Mae Evans said she didn't put a thing on her child but a flannel wrapper until it was nine months old".	152291.31269191683
"Evadna Mae Evans got all her baby clothes from Best's Liliputian Bazaar in New York, and I'm sick and tired of hearing about Evadna Mae Evans".	66678.93908176803
"Well now, Maggie, you don't have to snap at me", Eugenia said.	13544.411554230932
"I'm just thinking of a way for you to be sensible".	1082.8613867689237
"I'm sorry.	2.9032465133105947
I do seem to snap at everybody these days, but I would like to think of a way to make a little extra money".	1317.8045349089682
"Well, let's see.	89.28719517723458
Let's make a list of your assets".	2613.388092128747
Maggie started laughing, and she laughed so hard she couldn't stop, and she kept on laughing while she lugged the clothes out to the yard to hang them up while the sun was still shining.	288443.17910320574
When she came back Eugenia was sitting at the kitchen table with a pencil and envelope jotting down words and figures.	24595.401268034362
"I have here that you could run a nursery of your own for working mothers", Eugenia said.	8666.870858654773
"We could put up cribs on the second floor sleeping porch and turn the front bedroom into a playroom where it's nice and sunny, but of course it would entail quite a bit of running up and down stairs and Chris said you were to be careful about that".	79243.13760370616
"What else"?	37.79692434263998
"You might set up a dress shop in the living room".	266.94019887994426
"Every woman in the block has tried that".	1013.8587654625924
"What about a tea room, then?	6230.4380480336495
You could set up tables in the front room and serve salads and your baked beans and brown bread and Grandma could dress like a gypsy and tell fortunes".	93903.37687499475
"It's too elaborate.	186.57690179715766
And Grandma isn't strong enough to take on something like that, and to tell you the truth neither am I".	2282.0722645962496
Eugenia sighed.	1422.1706732466657
She said, "Well, those are the really interesting things, but if you don't like any of those I can turn over some of my extra typing jobs to you, if you think you can type well enough".	8845.699535953298
"Oh, I'm sure I could do that", Maggie said.	641.9449395418735
"But it really wouldn't be fair, taking your jobs away from you".	6629.794180482451
"Don't worry, I can get plenty more", Eugenia said, wondering where in the world she could.	10702.755576219179
Maggie was looking much happier already, clearing a space on the table and chattering about how she could put up a typewriter right there, and be brushing up on her typing so Eugenia wouldn't be ashamed of it.	164503.8201171792
"And then whenever I have a minute I can be working at it, and keep an eye on the baby and the stove at the same time.	4546.20593003985
And I can go back to my contests and be thinking while I'm doing the washing".	16474.417748831667
"What are you going to do with your feet so you don't waste anything"?	2788.962922510977
Maggie laughed.	1377.4296830224566
She said, "Oh Eugenia, I wish h" "What"?	9625.530122739237
"I wish I had three wishes", Maggie said.	3817.305101580216
"All of them for you".	21.33835484715147
It grew bitterly cold toward the end of November, contributing to the miseries of countless numbers of people.	6074.599494902339
The temperature dropped to twenty below at night and stood at zero during the days.	13805.018158412486
The cold settled like a tangible pall over the Mile High City, locking it in an icy grip that harshened its outlines and altered its physical appearance; it had a look of grim stark realism, resembling other cities whose habitual climate was cold, instead of the sprawling bumptious open-handed greedy Western city basking in eternal sunshine at the foot of mountains stored with endless riches and resources.	269535.39874106046
The jobless huddled in the streets outside of employment offices, outside newspaper buildings, in parks, in relief lines, outside government agencies.	69342.62029046485
There weren't facilities to take care of them; there never had been a need felt for such facilities.	24695.89883049706
That kind of poverty was regarded as the exclusive property of the East, which created depressions with their stock markets and their congested populations and their greedy centralization of industries, protected by discriminatory freight rates.	59214.14202798187
The East was popularly supposed to have got the country into war and into depression, dragging the west along; and now the East was creating government agencies for which the West doubtless would have to pay.	32995.16618465446
The government offices were being opened but they weren't being opened fast enough and meanwhile the cold penetrated everything.	34714.703798201546
Shivering, people talked and argued; all this government spending would have to be paid for somehow, but on the other hand desperate circumstances called for desperate remedies and something had to be done.	21433.17899362438
Something had to be done; it was the theme song of millions of American people, their personal problems no less urgent than those of the government.	2849.0224272113783
Something had to be done.	5.260047631827163
The Abernathys said it to each other a dozen times a day.	4096.987802560177
Something had to be done about the furnace, the fuel bills, the washing machine, the doctor and dentist bills, about making money stretch for food, for the mortgage, for taxes, for shoes, for half soles, for overshoes, for clothes, for the new leaks in the roof, for gas and light bills; about keeping warm, about keeping well, about meeting the minor emergencies that came up once, twice, fifty times a day.	88450.31813341533
Just dropping the baby's bottle and breaking it became a catastrophe, and Stuart wore out his shoes so fast that he was termed a major disaster.	111918.48837935802
The Abernathy furnace consumed fuel like a giant ravenous maw that had to be appeased by hurling tons of coal into its evil red depths, and no matter how much coal they put in the house remained cold.	57398.62152132138
Cold came in the innumerable cracks that seemed to have sprung up, under doors, around loosened window frames, from the sleeping porches, the attic, from the widened cracks between shingles on the roof.	200831.57986427416
Presently they had to give up running the furnace at full capacity and depend on the old coal range in the kitchen, which had never been removed when the new gas range was installed, and the fireplaces and an electric heater in Grandma's room.	42464.084888255915
It was so cold and so wretched that a sort of desperate gaiety infected all of them, like people stormbound or shipwrecked or caught in some other freak of circumstance so that time stood still and minor anxieties fell away and the only important thing was to cling together and survive.	141462.94953329914
The pipes burst and they all laughed and stood in ice water to their ankles while they swabbed the bathrooms.	79961.33107087444
They lived mainly in the kitchen; they moved Maggie's bed and the baby's basket there, and the rest of them undressed by the stove and ran groaning and shivering to the upper polar regions and plunged into icy beds.	57183.74420083222
Grandma said it was just like the early mining camp days, and it was the way people ought to live, only she was getting too old to take the pleasure from it that she used to.	16602.129638525264
"You said a mouthful", Eugenia said grimly.	15965.869895549755
Eugenia hated being cold worse than anything, and she was beginning to find the joys of poverty wearing thin.	15652.666723675868
She said to Maggie that it was one thing to meet an emergency and another to wallow in it, and it was beginning to look at if this one was going to last forever.	6713.874480968791
"Plenty of people are poor all their lives".	428.1151533031415
"Plenty of people haven't our brains and talent".	2574.0128571180085
"I know you when you start talking about brains and talent", Maggie said.	1671.4931349183516
"You're working up to something, and if you don't watch out you'll ruin your whole life one of these days just to prove that the Abernathy family is superior to everything, even a depression".	20707.260132257445
"The only thing that worries me is how I'm going to prove it", Eugenia said.	9493.056962660869
They begged Grandma to let them put a bed in the kitchen for her, but Grandma said she was getting too old to sleep in strange beds and be seen with her teeth out, and that she hoped to die in privacy like a Christian and if the Lord willed it to be of pneumonia than it would have to be that way.	37844.994070553155
She didn't want to be the only one with a stove in her room, especially as her life span was nearly run out anyway, and she insisted that Hope have the heater.	20191.942212843835
Hope wouldn't hear of it, and she took the heater back to Grandma's room, and Grandma took it back to Hope's room, and the two of them dragged it back and forth until Grandma tipped it over and almost set her bedspread on fire.	62475.10243393679
She said that proved she wasn't to be trusted with a fire in her room, and she could be burned to a crisp without anybody knowing it.	13871.66661018848
Eugenia suspected her of deliberately overturning the heater because she was getting tired of dragging it back and forth and still wanted her own way, but Hope said if Grandma wouldn't have the heater nobody would have it, so Grandma had to give in.	68410.7167659381
"Thrifty of her to use it up.	3730.467272622872
Unusual in a case like this, but"- "You can joke!	53351.94093685609
Didn't you read it?	2038.6050139450913
She's married that tenant!"	4008.1093381675796
"I read it, yes.	251.3835351258404
This ought to simplify Tolley's life".	2642.702388162375
Laban had more to say.	1260.2183093706362
Tolley had gone to live in California.	674.0568486382707
He'd mentioned it, himself, at church and everybody seemed to have the idea that Tolley had left because Jenny had jilted him for Roy robards.	51760.9433285469
"It was plain as the nose on your face that they're laughing about it, Mamma.	13437.19012705374
Zion stayed to get my pin, but it'll be a cold day in June when I go back".	56808.415570691264
"We will both go back, Laban"!	4129.992369516168
Kizzie turned to go inside.	8056.155795188874
"Let me stay and take the pictures you wanted, Mamma.	6455.561838246985
The sun's right"- "Pictures"?	11718.731651632877
She swung around.	481.9601211902625
"What pictures"?	2099.0188663106046
"In Brace's room!	2703.629057936082
You told me to bring my camera.	1827.8770030938335
I'm not going back"- "Indeed you are!	561.3609028226936
Why should I want pictures of an empty room now?	3456.7026433684496
Tolley had no idea of marrying that sneaky little Jenny!	43297.99622325702
This- trip of his had nothing to do with her consorting with tenants, and I am going to see that everybody at Mt Pleasant understands that simple fact.	15354.213989475844
Wait for me, Laban, I'll be dressed in half a second"!	25115.248551690765
Frank followed her into the bedroom, hooked her dress up the back.	13513.487007954627
"Hurry, Frank!	11771.71631755548
They're not going to laugh at the Fairbrothers and Labans very long!	7855.922476087347
Tolley's going is my fault.	26298.596627531337
I drove him away.	208.49737276142812
You know it and I'll tell everybody exactly how it happened".	1567.3856666393287
She was so beautiful, so valiant, so pitiable.	2022.4581253510712
He kissed her.	139.56654815901732
"Make your confession to God, Kizzie dear, not to the congregation".	2863.470461338859
"I'll decide that when I get there.	1880.1929357218676
I was so cruel to Tolley, so unfair.	2726.2535954058826
But I'll be fair now!	115.01715332227016
He is coming back, isn't he, Frank"?	13756.347189421573
Yes, oh yes.	259.6010672330942
What else was there to say?	4398.290101710214
Returning to the log-house he found some favorite lines from Jonathan Swift on his lips "Under the window in stormy weather I marry this man and woman together.	76922.01199366215
Let none but Him who rules the thunder Put this man and woman asunder".	72033.09709345583
Absolution for his lie?	48680.26290899099
He questioned God's taking time to telegraph the message, but he felt better about Kizzie, and he took the sealed envelope from its pigeonhole, wondering why he had preserved it.	51880.55801319633
If he died before she did, she would never be unable to resist opening it.	6155.544688079616
In any case he would be thrusting a burden on his remaining sons, making them parties to a deception peculiarly his own.	12545.635259158555
It was simply his necessity to confess which had made him write and keep this thing.	18995.21299957274
"You've told God, Frank", he said.	290.51365726002496
"Why lacerate the- congregation"?	20794.77511590763
Reaching for an old clay pot, relic of pioneer days, he tore the envelope in pieces, dropping them into it, touching the little pyre to flame, watching it curl, the red sealing wax melting and bubbling in the feathery ash.	558180.1782042318
Surely now his beloved son could rest in peace.	4457.11293548298
"'And let me go, for the night gathers me, and in the night shall no man gather fruit'".	4807.875353631091
A beautiful and haunting line, a subtle genius, Swinburne, difficult not to envy a gifted man, and perhaps he did h. But there were great satisfactions, even for a small man.	47574.57561074488
Beyond his window were the greening trees, new spring, eternal hope, eternal life.	38742.396247875426
There lay Grand Fair's Quinzaine, his own young parents' graves, but new life and promise for his sons, grandsons.	165654.84756758495
He poured his thimble of wine for the toast he'd made so often.	29837.553871693126
"To absent loved ones".	242.59933374233444
But this last time he drank not to Brace but "To Tolley"!	16800.702777892002
42 MR ROBARDS- Jenny was the only person she knew of in the Mt Pleasant neighborhood who called him that- was kind but too easygoing.	195462.5099665767
It didn't bother him for everybody from the blacksmith to the preacher to say, "Howdy, Miss Jenny", adding a careless "Roy", but it did her.	57786.223665359554
He could put a stop to it, she told him again and again.	226.1364249836451
Simply call Mr Whipsnade Oscar, and Dr Dunne PG, and C'un Major Frank.	36653.948864664846
Mr Robards laughed, said he'd feel a damn fool, plain-out couldn't do that even to please her.	49604.714980475896
"You could try.	131.06321926502233
And if I ever hear you say 'Mist Laban' again I'll scream.	2446.4878139995244
And don't tell me you didn't at church Sunday.	8813.624932454451
I heard you"!	30.38759401497616
He really hadn't meant to, he assured her, but it was plain to her that the importance of these small things was lost on Mr Robards.	29359.372584684905
How strange it was that he could give her this handsome house and carte blanche as to its beautiful furnishings, and fail her in- spiritual ways.	57316.83323799221
Another weakness- far more irritating than his manner of speaking, which he made only token effort to change- was his devotion to that old horse of Tolley's.	92533.42517131429
Her horse, rather.	3148.788978124707
But Mr Robards' now, oh my yes, indeed, yes!	28371.392798267196
He called her "the Mare" much as Mrs Whipsnade spoke of "the Queen, God bless her".	10718.942864543165
h He, with fifteen or twenty horses or mares or geldings or what-nots out there in the barn, was reverent only of "the Mare", "the Racin' Mare", the revolting Gunny.	123936.69980772342
For the first few months of their marriage she had tried to be nice about Gunny, going out with him to watch this pearl without price stamp imperiously around in her stall.	40461.84027498673
And what had happened?	116.48985720425968
Gunny invariably tried to bite her.	12020.921586622486
Nerves, Mr Robards said, just a nip anyway.	37213.04820243412
"Stand back, Miss Jen, she's oneasy of your scarf".	43198.879880829576
Never, "Quit that, you sor'l devil"!	24337.987650499774
Never concern for his wife's nerves, or the danger that the curled lip and big teeth might mark their own dear baby due in January.	37337.055986050305
She musn't annoy Gunny whose foal was due then too!	15617.769597941013
Listening for hours to his laments that the war and "Mist Fair's" poverty afterwards had robbed the mare of many a racing triumph, and to his predictions of greatness for the procession of foals to come, Jenny could look forward to years of conflict with an animal who disliked her intensely and showed it.	318957.016354982
Gunny symbolized so much that was unpleasant- Tolley, the indifference with which the Fairbrothers and indeed the whole neighborhood now treated her and which she would die rather than acknowledge to her husband, his lack of understanding and sympathy in her present condition, her disgusting swollen stomach.	203763.00871733576
Human birth was no novelty to Mr Robards.	20743.946522489277
Tillie was a fine midwife and could get here quick, he suggested.	19183.197618065948
Jenny's aversion to having Dr Dunne, a former admirer, seemed silly to him, but he would humor her, get anybody she wanted, the best never being too good for her.	97537.5466381163
The chances were against his being here to humor her when her time came, she was sure.	15509.92442646916
He would be in the barn, or riding for the veterinarian!	1564.9811841231497
Night after night he stayed with Gunny in the dead of winter, rubbing her with quarts of expensive liniment, fussing over her bran mash as the cook did over charlotte russe, tracking manure on the pretty new carpet when he did come to the house.	104739.99607813563
Yet when the dear baby came, he had Tillie over here in a jiffy, and was as attentive and sweet and worried and happy when it was all over as any husband could have been.	35193.704915264934
Jenny wished now that she had had Dr Dunne, feeling that somehow he wouldn't have allowed the dear baby to turn into triplets.	177464.92501785047
There was something not nice about triplets, though their father seemed pleased, showing no disappointment that they hadn't been the son he wanted, saying, "You don't see triplets trippin' down the pike ever' day, Miss Jen, hon.	145943.80465821014
Rhyme 'em up cute- Arcilla, Flotilla h" Edmonia for her mother, she said firmly, Jennifer, for herself, and- "Kezziah, for Miss Kizzie", he suggested.	88866.76628934794
"She was mighty good to you past times, an' this'll fetch her".	14460.225704636903
Now she must be thinking of a boy-name, something special.	9032.939700555164
Just wait till she saw the Mare's foal.	23188.8736993856
Handsomest colt in all Kentucky.	8056.157115555677
Strong too, up on his legs when he was an hour old.	6319.092220874127
What about Royal Robards?	4942.4641480177115
"Why don't you name him Jesus Christ!"	1894.75340097838
She burst into tears.	83.15711627043419
Roy was deeply distressed.	13316.759038113312
He'd had no idea how unhappy his sweet peach had been.	899.1198129047006
Of course she wasn't herself right now, but as her strength came back her spirits didn't seem to rise with it.	8928.01529907991
He had a good idea why not.	151.15355338645108
Those elegant "At Home" cards she sent out, now she could wear her pretty clothes again, and had the house all trimmed up, hadn't brought many callers in two whole months.	115604.16441810686
Doc Dunne and Miss Sis had come.	6019.976530633871
So had Miss Shawnee Rakestraw, full of criticisms about the changes here, giving thanks that her dear old father had gone to his Heavenly Rest last year, saying how much she enjoyed her boarding house in town in inclement weather, was looking forward to Quinzaine Spa this summer.	155440.0439537984
There was an idea.	17.697511833177263
Miss Kizzie had been right snippy ever since they were married, though you'd have thought a namesake would have brought her round.	77545.61608690428
Oh, she'd come to see them once, left silver teething rings for all of the trips.	4134.63183927048
But when Miss Jen went over right away to return the call, Miss Kiz couldn't have been very cordial, for she'd come back before she hardly had time to get there.	50719.62615466269
More and more, these days, she'd been driving that pretty little mare that looked like her, over to Tillie's and Nick's- his own old square frame box on posts, chickens and cats and pups under the house, everybody friendly inside, making a to-do over the babies dressed like dollies.	132784.87592749318
Though he was glad she got on well with his young folks, she ought to be welcome at the finest house in the land, too.	11064.40217097852
It made him pretty hot under the collar, after the idea Miss Sis had given him, to be told by Miss Kiz that her holy spa was all reserved for this summer and next, if you please, and that much as she regretted it, they would be unable to entertain Mrs Robards and the children.	54977.46343538559
She hoped they were well.	1741.2581875379863
He didn't tell Miss Jen, but she must have got word from the cook or nurse, who of course knew those Quinzaine nigs, and she really took a fit.	68395.33870577224
If he ever did such a thing again she'd die of shame.	9880.29970128196
"Have a party an' leave 'em out, hon", he suggested.	1852.6726077995627
"A swell party, send an invite to ever'body but them- those folks you met at the Galt House, the ones I've got to know in this new Jockey Club affair, the whole dang neighborhood.	72990.26925995844
We'll have oystchers- couple bar'l oystchers'll fetch in a crowd any time.	10518.591219457145
I'll see word gets round".	347.4069200314575
"Don't you dare!"	683.6199472193541
Miss Jen was funny that way, funny that she didn't seem to take to his ideas and perk up.	49290.537310287065
He was downright worried about her, but there was one more thing he could try h. Zion was surprised when Roy's buggy stopped beside her on the pike one early summer day as she was walking home from the country school where she was teaching now that Eph Showers had had a call to preach in some mountain town.	164772.89710843927
Roy smiled- he did have a nice smile- took off his hat most politely, told her to hop in, and he'd give her a lift to Quinzaine.	57146.307623064684
Her hesitation was only momentary and she hoped he didn't notice it, as she settled herself, asked quickly how Miss Jenny and the babies were getting on.	104586.87682769589
"See for yourself, Miss Zion.	6704.993326555218
It won't take a minute".	122.32155827119581
He swung in through his own wide gateway.	17734.493860912127
"Them's the purtiest babes you ever did see, but Miss Jen gets mighty lonesome.	150716.74623403835
She'll relish the sight of a friendly face.	1459.7353136641748
Miss Kiz won't care your comin', will she"?	72725.9546826688
"Why of course not", Zion said uncomfortably.	12356.085834830265
"He must have forgiven me", Henrietta murmured to the room.	1057.423945078427
The absolution of Doaty's last will and testament was proof enough of that; Doaty would never have left her house to a godless woman.	79386.21036310965
She found herself wishing an old wish, that she had told Doaty she was running away, that she had left something more behind her than the loving, sorry note and her best garnet pin.	69915.46312898677
Perhaps Doaty had guessed already and kept her counsel.	13172.433750677917
Henrietta thought, It's extraordinary how much she always knew about both of us.	8809.1421464749
There had been more to know about Hetty, inevitably, and most of it unfavorable.	1215.541451387313
Adelia was the good one, or, if not always good, less frequently tempted.	19593.509656655384
Their childhood would have been quite circumspect without Hetty's flair for drama, especially through the long summers.	73203.91522880862
In winter, in the city, there had been the Maneret School, which taught excellently with a kind of austere passion for knowledge; there had been lessons in French from a small Polish nobleman with a really profound distaste for his pupils; there had been the dancing class- Miss Craddock, thin and tireless, with her supervising wand and her everlasting one-two-three, one-two-three.	71953.48946821556
There had been supper parties and teas, fetes and little balls, Mama small and pretty and gay and Papa enormously jocular, enormously possessive, the sun around which the Blackwell planets revolved.	150583.73932862963
Mama had died before the corruption of the family circle, the interruption of Charles.	8131.0226956253155
It was safe to assume that Papa, sighing heavily, had said many times to his remaining daughter, "Thank God your poor mother was spared this", and indeed it might be true that it had been easier for Henrietta to leave, with her hand in Charles' hand, just because her "poor mother" was gone already and would never know.	89834.76041707586
Mama was vulnerable; one had always felt the need to make a safe world around her.	1868.534497360295
But I would have gone anyway, thought Henrietta.	1742.6065828547787
She had always been able to ignore the moral question because there had been no choice.	1288.4149615242313
Only at this moment- perhaps because it was before dawn and she was lying in Doaty's bed- she found herself examining how others might regard her.	47691.64987510538
Perhaps they would argue that morality consisted just of that ability to see a choice.	13070.985482287435
She turned on her side, finding the idea oppressive.	1522.4999337502559
If Adelia had felt about someone as Henrietta felt about Charles, would she have run away with him?	86422.39907284894
Impossible to imagine Adelia feeling so about anyone.	22805.18918032501
No temptation, no sin.	1936.8908361695094
No temptation, no virtue?	14010.2760097519
A curious thought to end a curious night.	4239.347696444712
The birds were really awake now in a colloquy of music, and light was beginning to creep across the room, touching sill and door, table and chair and all of Doaty's flowers in their artificial blossom and leaf.	111423.06719018107
Before anything else, she would go to Doaty's grave with flowers from Doaty's forgotten garden.	33576.12535913879
Everything must wait upon this mission, this sentimental duty of a pilgrim whose nature avoided graveyards.	38324.86586712305
She closed her eyes, remembering the small French cemetery, enclosed by stone walls.	35759.24099030215
It had always seemed to rain there, and even the grass was gray.	3800.585226718007
After the sad impatient moment, waiting for comfort which could not come, she slipped out of bed and went to the open window.	4991.00563528931
The garden below was lacy with dew and enchanting in its small wildness.	30081.83847559987
Leaning out, she could see a tangle of rosebush and honeysuckle, one not quite come to bloom, one just beyond it.	58521.70518582139
On a thrusting spray thick with thorns and dewdrops and swelling pink buds, like a summer Valentine, a bird balanced and sang, nondescriptly brown and alive with its own music, a little engine of song.	104397.19548293388
It was so pretty and artless that she felt like a child again and would have enjoyed running out barefoot to play on the wet grass with all the growing things, but Doaty never permitted bare feet and she was decidedly not a child but une femme d'un certain age.	211199.3290186103
Feeling suddenly neat and subdued, she dressed quite soberly and went downstairs.	31330.870036013763
Rosa, unbelievably, was not yet up and about, reassurance that Rosa was human.	50834.168170239616
Feeling protective toward this sleeping being, Henrietta found a yesterday bun and milk in a white jug, a breakfast which was somewhat the equivalent of going barefoot.	238905.35376260983
Outside, the garden, the tame wilderness, yielded a patchwork bouquet of daisies, sweet william, scented stock and lady's bedstraw, which she tied with long grasses and took back to show Rosa, who was now stirring about the kitchen and haranguing Folly.	178255.1712499844
The poodle came gleefully to Henrietta and begged for the flowers, supplicating the air with prayerful forepaws.	68647.55118024061
Henrietta held her bouquet out of reach and said it was for Doaty.	41584.74034822754
"Rummaging in the dew", said Rosa coldly.	58759.41312651891
"Go change your shoes before you turn around".	2592.802758512197
She sounded so exactly like Doaty that Henrietta obeyed her under the clear impression that she could either comply or stay home.	82746.78805643682
Folly danced, eager for whatever lay beyond the door.	15873.071268116928
To a Blackwell, there was only one church.	2894.0610339710897
The cemetery slumbered just behind it, and the way lay through the village and close to the sea.	4613.362320796278
For the first time in thirty years, Henrietta walked down the narrow street with its shuttered shops just stirring and its inhabitants eying her with the frankest curiosity.	24798.742047584456
She smiled and bowed, recalling the princess-in-a-carriage feeling she had enjoyed when she was a child.	16461.935239995582
Now, some of the acknowledgments were cautious, but all were interested.	4148.439284230974
An old man, sitting against the wall of a cottage and waiting for the sun to find him, gave her a more than reflective look as she passed, the sap still plainly rising in his branches.	23385.437328652424
On an impulse, she turned back and said good morning.	6638.161145044905
He cupped his ear and shook his head at her repetition, announcing in a nettled way that he had heard her the first time.	19454.955516058817
He then offered his own estimate of the weather, which was unenthusiastic.	16269.134133784668
"Summer's been slow to come", he said.	1954.893166605646
"It's my dryin' out time".	2445.0342185706886
He scowled at her flowers.	2313.256041166268
"I'm taking them to the cemetery", said Henrietta, out of a vague feeling of hospitality.	20835.38377030947
"They'll be takin' me next", he said pleasantly, "but not so soon's they plan.	14867.150518656714
See half of 'em in their graves before I choose my own coffin.	39436.50113017266
It's dryin' myself out that does it".	1452.3915121375176
He regarded her with rising hope.	2768.2381340025236
"You'd like to hear how I go about it".	277.8003602803647
"It's nice of you", Henrietta said doubtfully.	14345.331152997913
"Y're welcome".	79.94033082503194
He straightened himself, soldierly against the wall, and pulled his sprawled feet together so they stood side by side in their old boots.	43410.53653101182
His stick ceased to be a thing to rest his chin on and became a pointer for emphasizing the finer aspects of his text.	46990.649353754656
"Every month, f'r three days", he said happily, "I take no water into my system, no water whatsoever.	38180.128283455895
It rests the tissues".	1162.0850621761472
Henrietta murmured that she could quite see how it would, and he nodded approval of her womanly good sense.	16291.67041292249
"Rests the tissues", he said, "and pacifies the system.	5747.658618158214
My dad did it, and he lived to a great age".	8118.989485287382
He looked up at her sharply.	588.7313530972793
"Don't remember, do you"?	1526.7741736655448
She did suddenly, through the link of memory with his father, old Titus, who must have been in his nineties when Henrietta ran away.	15875.465516722326
Next to the Blackwells, Titus had owned the island most, and she and Adelia had often stood in front of him, silenced by his terrible years- a scanty man with a thin beard and very deep-set blue eyes like a mariner, more aged than possible.	111962.87501813569
He had never spoken once to the awed sisters, but his son had been friendly, a big fellow of fifty or more, a fishing-boat captain and powerful like the sea.	53952.69893431602
It must be that son who sat before her now, shriveled to half his size and half his senses.	5037.033516441792
She said gently, "Of course I remember you".	3232.915445242136
"Not so well's I remember you", he said.	477.3208644272631
"Y're the young Blackwell woman.	808.1008687553424
Ran away on a black night with a lawful wedded man.	51077.174580860294
I know all about you".	58.52730412729328
"You do seem to", said Henrietta, impressed.	5062.674210900401
"Can't blame a man for leavin' his wife", he said quite cheerfully.	44990.846794443605
"Left mine many a time, only she never knew it.	3581.7833869759575
Man in a boat, there's a lot of places he can put in at and a lot of reasons he can be away for a bit.	48933.91424972853
Any harm in that"?	2021.6184134236291
"Probably", said Henrietta dryly.	1474.9864767224701
He gave a short hard laugh and looked at her knowingly.	3212.226778432146
"You'd be the one to say", he observed, and she found herself liking his approval none too well, but she could not defend herself and say that her actions were "different", since all actions had their own laws.	32808.95442006052
Only, this old man's connivance was even less to her taste than Selma Cotter's open censure.	47507.71884318109
Well, she had not come back to Great Island to be understood, praised or condemned.	3921.2109670753225
She had come to make her peace with the past, and of that past this ancient of the earth was only a kind of shadow.	4490.159683552982
She started to move away, just as a woman came out of the cottage, a big-boned, drab-haired figure with a clean apron tied over her limp print dress.	41689.56488622261
She smiled vaguely at Henrietta and spoke to the old man.	5063.1763192005255
"You've not had your breakfast yet, gran'dad".	9070.113939285193
"Y'r dam' porridge is no breakfast", he said.	1752.4250831966879
"Milk and sops"!	1140.9990867916547
He beat the air with his stick, and it fell from his claws and clattered on the stones.	33602.94233388527
"He's owly today", his grand-daughter said wearily, and bent to pick it up.	22080.821968085296
"He's got this idea about drying out h" "It ain't an idea"!	19249.62992558521
"If it ain't an idea", she said, "how comes it you can drink beer but not water"?	42677.395077386405
He looked piously to heaven and said, "Beer don't affect the tissues none", and the ingenious hypocrisy of this defense pleased Henrietta so that she forgave him his stint of malevolence.	256273.07667574077
His grand-daughter sighed.	1504.777713668826
"Come on, do.	925.9063304159743
The children are eating, and Miss Blackwell's on her way somewheres".	16081.52127672005
"To the graveyard.	106.71496678939998
Who ain't"?	3521.3515503170934
"Not me.	23.220046783191247
I've got a day's work to do.- You'll be visiting Miss Doaty, ma'am"?	6011.937748244864
Henrietta nodded.	296.79512675428117
How much they knew about her!	1010.5514810276699
The woman she must have been a tiny baby when Hetty and Delia had stood arm in arm, watching great age grow small answered the nod with her own.	31682.815230134158
"God rest her soul, she was a sweet one.	5896.894219200634
Come on now".	443.25951220120595
She put a strong hand under the old man's arm and lifted him up, patiently, with the gentle cruelty and necessary tyranny that the young show toward the very old.	103150.42443950535
He mumbled at her but let himself be led off inside the house, shuffling mightily to make it clear how weak and aged he was and how he was buffeted about by those who still had their wicked strength.	59733.331581967876
There was a gabble of voices from indoors, young hungry sounds like cats after fish, and a burst of swearing from the old man.	41905.40473851173
Henrietta looked down at her bouquet, still lively with its color and scent, and set her feet on their journey's way again, leaving the village street and crossing the first field, Folly dancing ahead of her.	80623.86187284703
At the edge of the field, the wild rolling land took over, dotted with fat round bushes like sheep.	4991.810776073436
They were covered with tiny white blossoms, their scant roots clawing at the stony ground, and wild birds darted in and about and through them so they were nearly alive with the rustle and cry.	62230.86553824244
The air was full of sounds too but placid ones, a terrestrial humming as much out of the earth as out of the blue sky.	16606.805819244837
She felt mindless, walking, and almost easy until the church spire told her she was near the cemetery, and she caught herself wondering what she would say to Doaty.	128391.95345443088
Both church and graveyard were smaller than she remembered them how many things had lessened while she was gone away but the headstones had grown so thick in thirty years that to find one named "Dorothy Tredding" seemed suddenly impossible.	181255.83156437997
She sat down on the nearest, fallen with age and gray with sea-damp, her fingers tracing the indecipherable carved letters padded with green moss.	90058.05528036907
The day's sun was gathering its strength in gold, and she wished she had brought her parasol, if only to shade Doaty's flowers.	26500.96267826074
A small, rock-carved angel watched her from a nearby tomb, the only angel in the cemetery.	33954.66966269643
She remembered, suddenly, a night of savage moonlight and scudding clouds when she and Adelia, having dared each other, had stolen out of their great safe house and come here, hand in hand, hoping and fearing ghosts.	113622.34520228828
The Momoyama family had come from Miyagi Prefecture, in the northeast of the main Japanese island of Honshu, where there are still traces of the mysterious Ainu strain.	92127.43095829364
The Ainus were a primitive people, already living on the island before the principal ancestors of the Japanese came from Southern Asia.	56197.03787151828
Apparently they were of Caucasian blood.	2375.0651078401957
They had white skins and blue eyes; all their men were bearded, and many of their women were beautiful.	12994.17030448533
A pitiful few of them are left now, to subsist mainly on the tourist trade and to sing their ancient tribal chants, which have the same haunting sadness as the laments of the American Indians.	124673.2708576764
Most of them have been assimilated, but sometimes a man in Miyagi or Akita prefectures is much more hairy than the average Japanese, and occasionally a girl will be strikingly lovely, her coloring warmed and improved by a little of the tawny honey-in-the-sun tint of the invaders from the South.	74672.56571293405
Tommy Momoyama was one of these fortunate occasions.	9876.959403020219
She was taller than most Japanese girls, and had the exquisitely willowy form of the Japanese girl who is lucky enough to be tall.	14150.717524060485
Her nose was higher of bridge, her complexion so pale as to be quite susceptible to sunburn, and the fish and vegetable diet of her forebears had given her teeth that were white and regular and strong.	162179.10485107283
Her mouth, soft and full, was something for any man to dream about.	36755.83633735322
She had black eyes, long and intriguingly tilted, and the way she walked was melody.	18154.428819392062
She had been in Japan just one week.	166.84028857791196
It was an alien land, and she hated it intensely; she was already considering putting in rebellious requests for duty at San Diego, Bremerton, the Great Lakes, Pensacola- any place the Navy had a hospital- with a threat to resign her commission if the request were not granted.	155570.6788559894
Anywhere would be better than the land of her ancestors.	3558.6026777485927
There was nothing wrong with her job.	97.87508535459716
Tommy had been assigned to the psychopathic ward.	10479.974242248854
There were no depressingly serious cases the ward doctor sometimes teamed up with the chaplain to serve as a marriage counselor- sometimes the Navy sent people back to the States to preserve a marriage- but mental health as a rule was very high.	34454.99223995967
At present the doctor's main concern was in seeing to it that Japanese salvage firms were not permitted to operate on the hulks of warships sunk too close inshore, because the work involved setting off nerve-shattering blasts at all hours.	35897.766863529076
Tommy was interested in psychiatry, because there was much an understanding nurse could do to help the patients.	28202.951937634665
But she suffered in her off-duty hours.	3548.340512771013
Such as now, when she sat at a table in the coffee shop at the Officers' Club, having coffee and a hamburger to sustain her until dinnertime.	54879.45662885625
She had changed into a cocktail dress, and the whole evening should have been before her, but already she was beginning to get a tight feeling at the back of her neck.	9680.693366521678
This was one of the Navy's crossroads- you find them all around the world.	460.881035452579
Ships from the West Coast rotated on six-month tours of duty with the Seventh Fleet, and Yokosuka was the Seventh Fleet's principal port for maintenance, upkeep and shore liberty.	143088.60759131375
Sooner or later, all the gray Navy ships came in here; if Tommy sat long enough, she would be sure to see all the young officers she had met in San Diego and Long Beach.	58587.09394283875
And she wanted desperately to see someone she had known back there.	8161.653906538292
She felt, rather than saw, the approach of the good-looking young man.	1363.1925052127938
He came through from the Fleet Bar, which was stag, with the ice cubes tinkling in a glass he carried.	46196.98779298621
When he saw Tommy sitting alone, the tinkling sound stopped.	6654.186649183722
He was perhaps a trifle tipsy, having been long at sea where drinking is not permitted, and consequently out of practice; he wore a brown tweed sports jacket obviously tailored in Hong Kong, and he was of an age that marked him as a lieutenant.	59378.55291120359
Probably off one of the carriers- an aviator.	24799.643187951377
There was a fifty-fifty chance, perhaps, that he would be unmarried, and an even more slender chance that his approach would be different.	10027.711365271141
Japan did something to a man- and it wasn't just Japan, either, because the same thing applied anywhere overseas.	20179.0369204325
It was as if foreign duty implied and excused license; it intimated that the folks at home would never know about it, and, therefore, why not?	5496.764900099108
Then the young man in the brown sports jacket spoke, and it was no different.	996.8166592901083
"Harro, girl-san"!	26301.225313573115
he said, turning on what was meant to be charm.	571.9091780481743
"You catchee boy-furiendo?	21358.337494425043
Maybe you likee date with me"?	1004.0368663109251
"I beg your pardon"!	2761.114575792779
Tommy said out of her cold rage.	12049.74666284542
"I don't believe I know you, and I can't understand your quaint brand of English- it was meant to be English, wasn't it"?	17258.900411391212
The nice-looking young officer fell back on his heels, open-mouthed and blushing.	13981.427108226864
At least, he had the decency to blush, she thought.	1245.065817007659
"Oh- I'm sorry!	271.8731280277248
You see, I thought- I mean I really had no idea"- "Oh, yes- you had ideas"!	20612.80590278758
Tommy interrupted furiously.	9956.067339602198
"All wrong ones"!	1654.371056844331
Then she jerked her thumb toward the door in a very American gesture, and dropped into Navy slang.	46136.70319848871
"Take off, fly-boy"!	1973.420822901988
"Uh- sorry"!	1669.9972040325881
he muttered, and took off, obviously feeling like a fool.	5094.189560562858
The trouble was that there was no lasting satisfaction in this for Tommy.	3007.838696817588
She felt like a fool, too.	704.9189079797166
It hadn't been this way in college, or in nurses' training; it wasn't this way in the hospital at San Diego.	33322.07362170806
Everybody had accepted her for what she was- a very charming girl.	5834.922734565631
Nobody had addressed her in broken English at any of those places, nobody had suggested that she wasn't American.	17138.635431750623
There are Spanish girls who look like Tommy Momoyama, brunettes with a Moorish hint of the Orient in their faces; there are beauties from the Balkan states who are similarly endowed, and- back in the blessed United States- they were regarded simply as pretty women.	181199.3589917979
Now, having been sent halfway around the world on a job she had not asked for, Tommy was being humiliated at every turn.	10255.10329404018
She looked around, self-consciously.	1049.3604062150232
Four little Japanese waitresses were murdering the English language at the counter- Yuki Kobayashi happened to be one of them.	7833.485707277486
Everybody but Tommy seemed to think it was charming when they called, "Bifutek-san"!	38791.101970504315
for a steak sandwich, or "Kohi futotsu"!	31873.30214122892
for one cup of coffee.	384.71314507060686
Two other Japanese girls were sitting at the tables, both quite pretty and well groomed.	21405.68270085184
One was with a whitehaired and doting lieutenant commander; the other was with her American husband and their exceptionally appealing children.	37292.2036766944
Seeing these did nothing for Tommy's mood.	4078.0648147941724
She told herself rebelliously, and with pride, I am an American!	5711.738752191739
And so she was, and would remain.	482.81106630208694
But she was learning that so long as she was in this country, and wore civilian dress in the Club, there would always be transient young men who would approach her with broken English.	18261.780319833742
There had been occasions when some of the more experienced had even addressed her in what might have been perfectly good Japanese.	5686.806865250394
Tommy wouldn't know; after coming to America, her parents had spoken only English.	31943.679932236446
One thing was becoming increasingly sure.	746.9141509429447
She had been sent to the wrong place for duty.	149.83178037604367
There was more to service in the Navy Nurse Corps than the hours in the ward.	16470.361275433388
One had to have friends, and a congenial life in after-duty hours h. Now there was raucous male singing from the Fleet Bar.	42716.77815096957
It was terribly off key, and poorly done, and Tommy could never admit to herself that male companionship was a very natural and important thing, but all at once she felt lonesome and put-upon.	58274.319476995275
She finished her hamburger and drank her coffee and paid her check; she got out of the coffee shop before the incident could be repeated.	25877.54439857779
Eating while angry had given her a slight indigestion.	40604.81211363429
Back in her living quarters at the hospital she took bicarbonate of soda, and sulked.	30974.352060403
Then, after a while, she went to her mirror.	72.35819244662507
It was all true.	99.14258430786299
She certainly looked Japanese, and perhaps she could not really blame the young men.	4968.226028430641
And, still, they did not have to be so crude in their approach h. There was a letter to write to her mother, and she tried to make its tone cheerful.	5713.075888408961
She promised that she would soon take a few day's leave and visit the uncle she had never seen, on the island of Oyajima- which was not very far from Yokusuka.	66981.98327936577
And tomorrow she would take time to shop for the kimono her mother wanted to present to the young wife of a faculty member as a hostess gown.	13777.083475049423
Tommy, of course, had never heard of a kotowaza, or Japanese proverb, which says, "Tanin yori miuchi", and is literally translated as "Relatives are better than strangers".	54220.14919694871
Actually, this is only another way of saying that blood is thicker than water.	1161.01039867121
/2, Doc Doolittle's scheduled appearance at captain's mast was a very unusual thing, because the discipline dispensed there is ordinarily for the young and immature, and a chief is naturally expected to stay off the report.	78274.49774052964
But the beer hall riot in Subic had been unusual, too, and Walt Perry was convinced that Doc had started it through some expert tactics in rabble rousing.	107141.04234917162
Just why anybody should wish to start a riot the executive officer didn't know.	23097.558778166174
In his opinion, Doc had not grown up.	3702.370600477926
The lieutenant was not entirely wrong in the belief.	6872.503085456105
There had never been a good reason for Doc Doolittle to grow up.	1601.334833036714
He had come into the Navy too young, with the image of the fun-loving Guns Appleby before him.	1575.8720635853385
The war found him much too early, and its perils- and especially its awful boredom- were best forgotten in horseplay and elaborate practical jokes, and even now Doc had never found any stabilizing, sobering influence.	141664.33780010845
He remained young at heart, with an overdeveloped sense of humor.	2334.2278103862204
He wisecracked about the captain's indoctrination of new men, took great delight in slaughtering cockroaches with ethyl chloride, and gave no thought for tomorrow.	83690.93183338775
He was doing thirty years, and the Navy would take care of him.	285.75802117140006
The job security enjoyed by Doc Doolittle, and nearly all members of the Armed Forces, is a wonderful thing.	1191.7802913374621
Actually, all a man in uniform has to do is to get by.	1596.5698796361032
He may not rise to the heights, but he can get by, and eventually be retired.	5934.230867692414
Doc had been under restriction to the ship since the Bustard left Subic.	127537.07359599811
This deprived him of liberty in Hong Kong, but he told Boats McCafferty that Hong Kong was a book he had read before, and the Navy would always bring him there again, some day.	83919.13964949963
At Yokosuka he was restricted to the confines of the Base because Walt Perry, being thoughtful, knew that Doc might have to draw some medical supplies from the hospital or the Supply Base.	109847.24971147388
This gave Doc the whole range of the naval establishment, and suited him quite well.	4959.332168285215
There were two things he wanted to do inspect one of the many caves that had been dug into the hills on the Naval Base, and visit an old shipmate.	66860.98241192536
A telephone line had been hooked up to connect the ship with the Base exchange.	32987.20177178831
After supper, Doc called Whitey Gresham, who was now a lieutenant and had a family.	8178.920710056559
"Well, Doc, you old sonofabitch"!	6597.803034179325
Whitey exclaimed, with true affection.	14262.86048462287
"Come over and have a drink.	799.6261060345439
We live down by the Base commissary.	5807.3464160663425
Grab a taxi".	92.40268886527623
"I'll be there, but I'll walk", Doc said.	710.5687827435337
"I've got to run an errand on the way.	154.7866310527424
See you in about an hour".	339.8559089379242
He threw a smart salute at the gangway, went up the dock, and turned down the wide street in front of the Petty Officers' Club.	30220.305637695594
How, he wondered, does one enjoy one's spare time?	9539.453897359032
He considered some interesting excursion but he was on the road every day from dawn to dusk.	20843.249487811074
Then there was exercise, boating and hiking, which was not only good for you but also made you more virile the thought of strenuous activity left him exhausted.	35949.376305381535
Perhaps golf, with a fashionable companion- but he'd lost his clubs, hadn't played in years.	28702.342030179247
There was swimming over at the Riverside Hotel, but his skin was so white he looked like the bottom of a frog.	43590.09734684419
Perhaps a packing trip into the Sierras, let his beard grow- but that was too stark.	33227.044936930055
I could, he thought, take a long walk- but where?	1308.6137060531191
The telephone rang.	931.5220448508991
"You missed it", Buzz's voice said, "You should have gone over to the Pagan Room with us.	16301.88474281306
Wow.	3524.279832361616
Strippers, but scrumptious, and Toodle Williams and her all-lesbian band".	74902.7161369556
"Hi, Buzz", Owen said.	11757.827647979218
"I went over to the Willows and dropped two notes".	2502.2068223379206
"Tough", Buzz said, "Listen, we're having a stag dinner over at the Pagan Room on Friday.	77996.98776167921
Imagine a stag dinner with Toodle Williams".	1786.6600350443794
He laughed and laughed.	43.7019752410686
Owen wanted to be pleasant because Buzz worked the territory next to his, but he hadn't come to Reno for stag dinners.	76841.35379481043
"Thanks", Owen said, "but Friday is a long way off and anything can happen".	19630.484926811045
Buzz was a tireless instigator who never let his victims rest.	45635.647747069226
When Owen was finally rid of him, there was a timid rap at the door.	3276.4678246546673
"Yes", Owen called out.	771.3074655160175
"Yes"?	445.1462543360125
"I'm Mrs Gertrude Parker", a soft voice explained, "And I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes, please".	1319.4141767893977
Ahah, he thought, a lush divorcee at last.	4152.907306342606
Probably saw me in the lobby.	905.6780484160238
He was disappointed to find a nervous, scrawny woman with a big hat standing at the door.	5542.948008253284
She frowned at his green pajamas with the yellow moons.	35147.974917740336
"How do you do"?	92.31125179543167
she said, semi-professionally.	526.4383206828028
"Our church is sponsoring a group of very courageous women up in Alaska.	8521.164511845072
We call them lay-sisters and they go among the Eskimos making friends and bringing the light.	31705.355490294925
They're up there in that freezing climate and all of us have to try and help them".	5120.032845959112
"Oh"?	5.604946306830428
"You see", she said, looking past him into the room, where the highball glasses sparkled dully in the bright light, "you and I can't understand the many hardships they have to undergo".	14202.723905461511
"Why is that"?	136.43272048279718
She apparently wasn't satisfied with his reaction.	4195.822983076831
Smug, Owen thought, smug and sappy.	58759.41312651891
There was a slight nervous twitch in the region of her left eye.	1424.388917764466
It gave her a lewd, winking effect.	2257.4651988148767
"Have you ever tried to reason with an Eskimo"?	3930.090698146687
she asked, winking wildly.	404.34119427570596
"They are a very difficult group of people".	123.0662931271722
"I don't know much about them", Owen admitted, "but I suppose they have their own religion and they probably resent outsiders coming in and telling them what to do and what not to do".	7657.059957363458
She smiled in a sickly-tolerant fashion.	7126.445315321395
"You know, that's very interesting.	322.64748637534007
People don't know how much they give away about themselves by remarks like that.	6196.664692932205
The more canvassing I do, the more I note how far most people are from their personal God".	10400.795001936449
Forebearing, Owen kept his peace.	12020.921991914747
What would happen next?	105.4519198378959
That she was out for a touch was certain, but when did she get to the pitch?	22938.805535744534
Several people passed in the hall and stared as he slowly retreated, trying to close the door a little, and she slowly leaned toward him and raised her voice.	15746.0828488155
"How did you get by the desk"?	987.263537584341
he asked curiously.	803.9260869766398
"I'm sure the hotel doesn't know you're wandering around the corridors, knocking on strangers' doors and talking down Eskimos".	45110.83039734411
"Oh, I just come once a week.	168.38181361276833
Every day I visit a different hotel.	1437.890779616951
I feel it's my duty.	573.1250823227975
I do this work all on my own, because I understand the difficulties and I want to help these lay-sisters.	10702.431427388743
Do you know these women go all through Alaska, and they don't have the proper facilities?	2761.5456597997213
They travel in pairs as much as a hundred-and-fifty miles a day".	5340.322406155987
"Do you have any idea how far I travel every day?	3442.679154915401
I have the whole Pacific Northwest".	79.0891674249017
Owen was aware he was getting overexcited but he couldn't help himself.	49570.38715670099
Mrs gertrude Parker drew back.	2358.997614746358
"That's hardly a Christian approach", she remonstrated.	17851.154645110026
"You're in the secular world".	471.05988055524597
"I didn't say it was Christian.	1063.589146795044
I don't think you'll find many active Christian salesmen.	466.75192407876614
Not that religion isn't big business; those bibles and prayer books make a lot of money for publishing houses, but they don't get top personnel.	27796.81144461816
Our key salesmen are in appliances and cosmetics".	15678.228290503392
"God, I take it, plays no part in this", she said waspishly.	9834.024904962887
"God doesn't have any appliance or cosmetics", he said heatedly before he caught himself.	52677.15043832879
It sounded silly; why go on?	948.3861302005412
More people were passing; he had to find some way to close this impossible conversation.	7314.7136294454485
"And whiskey", she said, smiling and blinking at the highball glasses.	13248.399716882184
"Don't forget whiskey; it's such a big seller".	3376.502634816533
"You know", he said, getting a grip on himself, "I think you're going to have to excuse me.	833.3090043388897
I have an appointment".	538.3302390698173
"I can imagine", she said.	12.749944615394284
"Probably down at the bar.	109.88517123847801
But what do you want to do about the lay-sisters?	967.2859066873156
They must be freezing up there now.	295.84844778865545
Can't you help them"?	1274.685337985996
"Leave a card or something.	1321.1610902941968
I'll think it over".	35.64936766359788
"I have no card", she said bitterly.	3896.6735965232083
"You haven't been listening to what I've been telling you.	842.9307846228329
I only hope my talking to you has helped you a little, anyway, because you need spiritual bucking-up".	32326.16422790766
She looked crestfallen, as if he had somehow disappointed the whole human race.	769.2783100010765
She stood indecisively for a moment, then walked down the hall; he heard her knocking on another door.	13207.694792385373
It took him about fifteen minutes to calm himself; then he realized he was hungry.	9421.074794083526
He showered, shaved, dressed and went down to the dining room for breakfast.	3055.3315817213625
On the way he stopped at the desk to receive his mail.	1139.869674234632
There was a check from his company, and the usual enthusiastic bulletins on new lines they always issued.	9233.916151939959
His lawyer had sent him a statement on his overdue alimony, and there was a letter from the Collector of Internal Revenue asking him to stop in his office and explain last year's exemptions.	24852.113408235877
He ate breakfast in a sullen mood, but afterwards, when he walked out onto Virginia Street, he felt braced.	70993.61357176793
He looked off to the crest of the Sierras, still white-topped; the glisten of the Truckee River made a wide spangle.	68160.62080613131
He felt suddenly elated, adventurous.	3050.2656826965776
With any luck at all he could easily find a flowerpot.	19679.485067895326
Although it was only three o'clock, he stopped in at the Golden Calf.	3180.2855006062964
The tables were all spinning, the dice rattling, the bar crowded.	16890.389183631465
Just to test himself, he played roulette for quarters on his old combination, five and seventeen, and within an hour, he had won, surprisingly, twenty dollars.	32791.49447188366
The way was opening up; when the management brought around champagne, the breakfast settled its whirling around in his stomach.	37636.40896149749
The Golden Calf was dimly lit with shaded neon.	6899.857556086087
There were more women than men in the place, but he couldn't find a flowerpot.	3504.220019938168
They all had the hard look of gamblers who had stopped dreaming, who automatically turned the cards, hardly caring what showed up.	52002.28132672444
The mural around the wall depicted early settlers in covered wagons, who appeared much more animated than the gamblers.	73425.84167857135
The women had a bright shining expectancy as they leaned out from the wall and gazed splendidly into the distance, while the men were stern but hopeful.	36757.27154187096
All, of course, except the Donner party who were bent on starving to death.	4507.5848231607415
"I wonder if they did eat each other at the end", Owen mused.	2754.6492752278587
He sat down next to a heavily-upholstered blonde, but she was cleaned out in twenty minutes.	7193.637656139829
She sighed a dirty word and left.	5153.8629677189
Owen was surprised to see Mrs Gertrude Parker playing the one-arm bandits that were cunningly arranged by the entrance.	67857.31488628717
She sat down and played two slots at once, looking grim, as if bested by mechanical devices, and Owen felt sorry for the lay-sisters depending on her support.	120104.13396007214
A dried-up cowboy sat down next to him in the blonde's place.	8823.638499701497
He was a little more authentic than usual because he smelled slightly of the stables.	8055.526543365506
"What you need is a steady martingale", the cowboy announced after watching Owen play.	18360.667308100125
"You can't build on your hit-and-miss five-seventeen".	5402.84174266395
"What are you playing"?	1623.16436554921
Owen asked.	1151.8768666310839
"I'm just logging", the cowboy explained.	1053.4477120149893
"I keep all these plays in this little black book, and I watch over a twelve-hour period to find out what numbers are repeating.	26857.83472816184
But roulette's not my game.	2486.9017663654067
I'm always trying to find a breaking table in blackjack.	3826.1384979146965
Incidentally, I'm pretty famous in these parts I'm called The Wrangler".	15252.760242294475
"Nice to know you.	731.7675232104752
Don't you have to spend any time on your ranch"?	6391.752723679469
"Well, of course I do.	51.853318526662015
I'm with the Bar-H, pushing a horse called Sparky.	12568.514509962964
He's my own horse, and what I collect from him I use on blackjack.	29166.169270020655
This Sparky can rack and single-foot and he's the fastest thing in Washoe County.	48754.9895533827
I figure if I can get any kind of publicity campaign going, I'll land him on TV- you know, one of those favorite horses for some Western hero.	30111.657127052767
I once trained a horse for Hoot Gibson, but nothing like Sparky.	21121.254284995393
He's a pinto and he photographs wonderfully".	8236.787691342046
Five came up while Owen was listening to The Wrangler and he neglected to play, a loss of ten dollars.	49172.57861321881
This proved conclusively that The Wrangler was a jinx, so he walked on down to Hurrays, an even more glorified gambling den than the Golden Calf.	195066.27161925123
When he looked in the back, Mrs Gertrude Parker was marking keno cards.	5667.918835148034
His adventurous spirit had waned; he studied the pistol exhibition that Hurrays featured as an added attraction.	41135.32251730509
He ogled a long redhead with green eyes, but she was a shill with her money in front of her.	7570.116694295322
He had no great prejudice against shills; it just seemed such a dry run.	6802.359273610002
There was no cash around; everyone was flipping silver dollars.	2557.9682125785216
The management discreetly withdrew the green stuff into the office and gave the customers chips or checks or premium points.	47081.55092580155
He read a special announcement whereby Hurrays would feature a special floorshow at three am starring Adele The Body Brenner and fourteen glamorous schoolgirls.	161860.1429489071
He wondered if he might bag a tourist, but they looked frightened of him.	3688.239843982006
He passed two brides, both wearing orchids, and they made him feel a little sad.	23379.665034585494
Owen found Buzz watching chuck-a-luck.	26183.5350956758
Buzz had on a Hawaiian shirt and was carrying some sun-tan oil and dark glasses.	110377.12567754302
He was shorter and fatter than Owen, who felt good standing next to him.	4169.619520015541
"We're all going over to Lake Tahoe and try our luck at Cal-Neva", Buzz explained, still instigating.	45684.64280161293
"We ran into a guy at the Pagan Room who guarantees we can beat the wheel.	10893.737091859271
He started out as a stickman, then became a pit boss until the Club found him crossroading.	53516.01762976948
He was knocking down checks at faro".	6032.035856912196
"I'm allergic to Tahoe", Owen explained.	2107.2291462992257
"Something about the pollen".	2894.8744453557592
"Well, okay", Buzz said.	1493.507103551692
"We'll see you around later".	236.31301795410263
Owen went over to the crap table and the dice were hot, but he couldn't pyramid with any consecutive success.	84887.40988435959
"How's your luck, honey"?	12575.394206786805
A short platinum blonde in a bursting sun-suit addressed him.	14166.504664881566
She looked well-fed and prosperous, but he didn't get the impression he was being propositioned the way he'd been hoping.	11125.658095152985
"I haven't had any luck since I was a baby".	1902.3869422594273
"Stake me", she said, "and let me at those dice.	6118.975616721916
I'll make them dance the tango.	1004.1554016903334
We'll get it in a hurry and get it out".	122.45797736702535
"Let's have a drink and discuss a merger".	2662.8208008393112
"If you go broke", she said, smiling up at him, "I'll leave you".	2983.2934470864056
"Sounds like real love", Owen said.	5077.316911056755
"It sort of brings a lump to my throat".	9605.93757205804
"My name's Gisele", the blonde said after she ordered a Scotch.	52459.7382521658
"Named after the ballet.	1090.594080779443
My mother wanted to call me Sylphide, but it sounded too affected".	12693.26415925938
Spencer said nothing.	668.6285447468714
"Is there any word you would like to offer in your own defense"?	5581.610903867855
Spencer shook his head.	376.66329680623056
Alexander said, "Answer me properly, Spencer".	16504.287710511308
Spencer was quiet for a moment longer, then he said, "There is nothing I want to say, Captain".	19970.274096824807
"Very well".	23.76813142993625
Alexander walked away.	559.6335547239903
Naval procedure, he thought, had its moments of grim humor.	10370.818569058418
Philip Spencer had cold-bloodedly planned the murder of his captain, yet it seemed in order to chide him for a lapse of proper address.	107107.50737727534
During the morning hours, it became clear that the arrest of Spencer was having no sobering effect upon the men of the Somers.	16248.972103500511
Those named in the Greek paper were manufacturing reasons to steal aft under pretence of some call of duty, so as to be near Spencer, watching an opportunity to communicate with him.	47026.91544137405
Hostile glances were flashed at both Alexander and Gansevoort.	71839.56078117325
The two met in the Captain's cabin.	2068.517558512881
"What is the next step, Captain"?	1104.8074576165548
"More arrests, I fear".	955.539531686885
In your opinion, who is this E Andrews on the 'certain' list"?	26609.033610917922
"Cromwell, of course.	411.27187964305523
He is the oldest and most experienced of the lot.	978.5671545775673
He saw the dangers, not the glories of being identified as a mutineer.	11855.858934375057
Somehow he talked Spencer into letting him use another name".	5524.647616576773
There was a tap at the door and Oliver entered with the word that Heiser wished to see the Captain.	20833.928952888575
"Have him come in".	952.4217773378984
Heiser, breathless and wild-eyed, brought the chilling news that the handspikes, heavers and holystones had been mysteriously removed from their customary places.	186545.62255760963
"And also, sir, two articles which were considered souvenirs now must be regarded in another light entirely.	40492.69592182112
An African knife and battle-ax are at this moment being sharpened by McKinley and Green.	42476.13186385967
McKinley was overheard to say that he would like to get the knife into Spencer's possession and that"- "Where did you gather all this information, Heiser?	138109.90782172888
Who reported to you the disappearance of handspikes and heavers and who"- He was interrupted by a crash from the deck and sprang toward the ladder, with Gansevoort and Heiser behind him.	149539.0525712334
A glance revealed that the main topgallant mast had been carried away.	13465.693335064712
The aimless milling about of what had been a well-trained, well-organized crew struck Alexander with horror.	7364.21882179295
He bellowed orders and watched the alert response of some of his men and watched, too, the way a dozen or more turned their heads questioningly toward the shackled figure as though for further instruction.	62952.91868462885
Adrien Deslonde hastened to Alexander's side.	12020.92167855266
"Small violently jerked the weather-royal brace with full intention to carry away the mast.	112181.03958718629
I saw him myself and it was done after consultation with Cromwell.	7587.578467837646
I swear it, sir".	680.6144878719551
And it was clear that Adrien was not mistaken, for both Small and Cromwell took no step toward aiding in the sending up of the new topgallant mast till Philip Spencer had given the signal to obey.	91855.84605847078
Then, with disappointment evident upon their faces, they moved to the work.	1954.1991781055308
Alexander guessed that they had planned confusion and turmoil, thinking it the ideal climate in which to begin battle and bloodshed.	70907.01114955702
Their strategy was sound enough and, he reasoned, had been defeated only by Philip Spencer's unwillingness to sanction an idea he had not originated.	110148.58364882787
When the mast was raised, Alexander gave the order for Small and Cromwell to be placed under arrest, and now three figures in irons sprawled upon the open deck and terror stalked the Somers.	134797.90953971515
Spencer's potential followers were openly sullen and morose, missing muster without excuse, expressing in ominous tones their displeasure at the prisoners being kept in irons, communicating with the three by glance and signal.	293506.29916289396
One of the missing handspikes came out of its hiding place after Midshipman Tillotson had been insolently disobeyed by Seaman Wilson.	21246.2471543823
Tillotson had reported the man to Gansevoort and an hour later, with back turned, had been attacked by Wilson, brandishing the weapon.	176853.94769259507
Wilson, shackled and snarling, was thrown with the other prisoners and was soon joined by Green, McKee and McKinley.	68085.43111696234
Not a man on the brig, loyal or villainous, could be unaffected by the sight of seven men involved in the crime of mutiny.	41685.313782644815
In the tiny cabin, Alexander met with Gansevoort, Heiser and Wales to speak and to listen.	16361.1440440615
Three days had passed since Spencer's arrest and each day had brought new dangers, new fears.	46921.631572180406
Gansevoort said, "It requires an omniscient eye to select those if any on whom we can now rely.	128961.12015153967
To have the Greek paper is not the great help that at first flush it seemed.	3474.0465879988255
From actions aboard, it is easy to guess that Spencer's boast of twenty staunch followers was a modest estimate".	31589.064523252273
"Well", Heiser ventured, "why don't we hold an investigation with questioning and"- "That would be worse than useless", Alexander broke in.	63215.56248635032
"There is not space to hold or force to guard any increased number of prisoners.	9836.87790274373
Besides, suppose we hold a court of inquiry, then what?	11174.328885894205
Then we have informed a large number of our crew that when they reach the United States, they will be punished but that in the meanwhile, they may run loose and are expected to perform their jobs in good order.	19239.168531779906
Mr Heiser, does this sound like a truly workable plan to you?	25195.210789518267
Do you not think these men might choose the black flag here and now"?	13365.755573779627
Wales said, "Of course they would.	7227.367419128423
They are about to do so at any moment as it is.	262.66469977690997
All that is needed is for one man to feel self-confident enough to take the lead.	4337.980552021055
As soon as that one man is appointed by himself or the others or by a signal from Spencer, we are going to be rushed.	22839.741573138872
We are going to be rushed and murdered".	1991.22640728241
"That is extravagant language, Mr Wales.	2273.136337354778
We are not going to be rushed and murdered", Alexander said.	869.0215944331322
"We are going to bring the Somers into New York harbor safe and sound".	5016.160005108515
"Of course, I agree with the Captain", Gansevoort said thoughtfully, "but the conspiracy is ferocious and desperate.	15034.416779385689
The instinct of discipline has been lost.	1764.317283681723
Anything is possible when anarchy has the upper hand".	8739.04218972549
He paused, then added, "Everything on a ship is a weapon.	6200.717374192507
Implements of wood and iron are available for close and hasty combat no matter where a man stands.	59842.92537974691
And we are positive of so few and suspicious of so many".	4366.329120830901
"We ourselves must stand sentinel".	5528.209332864179
Alexander said.	171.32353055945433
"Under arms day and night, watch and watch about.	6125.268266566734
Those of us present, the Perry brothers, Deslonde and the other midshipmen now have the responsibility of the Somers.	19409.299733367025
A great deal of labor we have as well, for we are too uncertain of where trust may be placed".	4496.444487152653
And when he was alone again in the cabin, Alexander lowered his head into his arms and wept, for he knew full well what must be done, what in the end would be done.	11176.18922918685
With all his heart he had loved the Navy and now he must act in accordance with the Navy's implacable laws.	6840.356356043283
And when he did, when he gave to his ship that protection necessary to preserve her honor, he knew he would lose forever the Navy to which he had dedicated his soul.	9774.761010740847
Where had he failed?	5089.056581156917
How had he failed?	5345.2670771368485
He who had tried so hard, who had yearned so passionately to be a great officer.	15093.665422966205
It came to him as he wept there aboard the Somers that it was as foolish to strive for greatness as to seek to storm the gates of heaven.	26438.66147292274
It was given or it was not given.	425.7186738341775
One did one's best and if fortune smiled, there was a reward.	11435.503657945368
One did one's best and if fortune frowned, an eighteen-year-old boy with murder in his heart sailed aboard one's ship.	35505.13051140068
And Alexander sobbed like a girl for the dreams he had had, and he felt no shame.	9030.587808447703
God knew his tears were his to shed if he so desired, for it had not been with an egotist's rage for fame that he had held precious his naval career.	22869.31266368223
Another field had given him fame enough to satisfy any egotist.	30741.1386703858
It was for love that he had served the Navy.	655.4995640110342
To have someday that love returned was what he had lived for.	4704.594277549565
Now the hope was gone.	134.79865076671032
Yes, he would bring the Somers safely into New York harbor but at a price.	3581.911684848729
Dear God, at what a price.	7605.085224915931
And after a while, he dried his tears and walked the deck as a captain should with assurance and dignity.	18110.026501862132
Stern-faced, he inspected the prisoners, satisfying himself that they were clean, well fed and comfortable within reason.	158633.6046883785
The prisoners averted their eyes but not before he had glimpsed hatred and anger.	15033.519545754489
Only Cromwell, the giant boatswain, was mild-mannered and respectful.	36851.9917829257
He said, "Captain, may I speak, please?	1805.0485114523112
Captain, I am innocent of any plot against you or the ship".	9723.478028593217
"Are you, Cromwell"?	900.3338452193177
"Yes, sir.	23.916104187553298
Before God I swear I am innocent.	4153.7459642680105
I know nothing of any plot, if there is such a thing".	399.4310510355467
"You are the only man aboard who can be in doubt".	450.75506493516576
"I cannot speak for others, sir, but I am innocent".	2107.0601071026044
He leaned closer to Alexander, squinting up at him from the deck.	23459.650725800057
"Surely, Captain, you did not find my name on any suspicious paper or anything".	35265.72086154763
"No, Cromwell, I did not find your name.	4742.6561352335175
You were careful about that".	1455.0739529001628
Now Spencer, seeming with effort to shake himself from lethargy, spoke.	64327.20316872833
He said, "Cromwell is telling you the truth.	416.5189145358187
He is innocent".	131.6878986051183
Alexander shifted his gaze to Spencer.	11392.202107089808
The calmness and detachment of his tone suggested unawareness of how implicit was his own guilt in the words he had used to defend Cromwell.	116250.75603935437
Alexander knew Spencer too well to think him naive or thick-skulled.	53555.29292540846
And in a sudden wave of painful clarity, Alexander recognized a kinship with Spencer.	21557.538860788063
Here was another human who understood the stupidity of quarreling with the inevitable.	1845.5117469166426
There was good fortune and there was bad and Philip Spencer, in handcuffs and ankle irons, knew it to be a truth.	23539.939363850088
He expected nothing for himself but that which naturally follows those marked for misfortune.	19004.54330786809
The red-haired captain, towering above the prisoner as a symbol of decency and authority, was shocked to find himself looking with sympathy upon Philip Spencer.	47877.848395318775
This tragic lad had forged his own shackles.	16002.406369916722
But he could not have done so, could not have found the way, had fortune favored him.	889.5476499544425
And because fortune had favored neither the prisoner nor the red-haired captain, they would be each other's undoing.	53721.90812788286
"Spencer, if there is guilt, if you do not deny your own, how is it possible for Cromwell to be innocent?	64528.89356952593
He was your constant companion".	367.99121025998016
The hazel eyes met Alexander's.	5825.121902093948
"I tell you he is innocent".	404.53114993401744
"And do you think there is a reason why I should accept your word"?	12245.937453491064
"Yes.	3.463452173258582
I have nothing to gain by defending Cromwell".	1362.6847900864059
"Nothing to lose, either, Spencer".	6538.156973334721
"That's true", Spencer agreed and withdrew himself from the conversation.	16014.291899201515
His eyes went back to contemplation of the sea.	803.4401499329476
"I am innocent, Captain", Cromwell said again.	4158.694422708966
"Before God, Captain, I am innocent".	5785.299118009363
And though it was logical that a man who could plot mass murder would not hesitate to speak an untruth, still it was difficult to understand why Spencer spoke only for Cromwell.	23532.408755747314
The boatswain was as guilty as any.	1654.01849347001
No action of his could be interpreted in his favor and four midshipmen, prior to their knowing the significance of the Greek paper, had seen it in Cromwell's hands while Spencer whispered explanations.	29262.072818230874
"I thought", Midshipman Rogers had told Alexander, "that Spencer was teaching him geometry".	16353.595864632116
It was fantastic to turn from the seven men in shackles to the wardroom, where a class of apprentices awaited him.	27479.725079951284
This was a training ship and the training would continue, but there was an element of frightful absurdity here which Alexander recognized.	14935.664396368817
Some of these apprentices were, in physical strength, already men and doubtless a percentage of them were Spencer's followers.	20764.160999594693
Rachel steered me along toward a school for young boys beginning to study the Torah.	81262.47759863209
Bits of trash lay in the roadway.	20816.94509693536
The air smelled warmish and foul.	4867.843340666006
A young man appeared out of a side alley and walked toward us with quick strides.	11165.581822721888
He wore a long double-breasted coat of a heavy material, dark trousers, and black boots with buckles.	29693.559551202197
His black hat with its wide brim, high crown, and fur trim rode high.	36304.2366724018
With his head erect, he approached, not glancing at us, and passed by with his clear eyes raised and fixed straight ahead.	41274.29988490483
He had a pinkish-white complexion, a small straight nose, a short black beard, and tightly curled paot.	56261.95132540612
I was suddenly conscious of my bare arms.	2702.0877184892156
The girls in the market place wore long-sleeved dresses and covered their legs with cloth stockings.	20130.325649616767
I turned and watched him stride down the center of the road.	356.761867109226
His hands were swinging at his sides, and he passed through the dingy market place with his back straight and, pivoting on his heel, he entered an old stone building.	20771.24563584499
Rachel had seen me watching the young man.	377.92578649116746
She smiled.	204.65247328395418
"When your mother was here he must have been a young boy.	1871.8867141605865
Like the ones you will see now".	1102.2032634147988
I swallowed hard and looked down at my feet plodding along beside Rachel.	7591.31228214894
She led me into a twisting side alley.	15797.813049828519
The dirty, discolored buildings looked boarded up, and their few windows stood high above our heads.	17109.48958664714
Rachel said that schools and synagogues occupied most of the buildings.	2120.609170920955
We entered one where the front door stood ajar and climbed a flight of steep steps to the main floor.	44810.83616733236
An old man with a white beard and dressed in a long shabby coat, baggy trousers, and a black skullcap greeted us.	24006.56604420014
Rachel talked to him.	78.620393204901
He nodded, clasping and unclasping his hands over his paunch, and flicked glances at me.	29350.95915936867
I thought he would ask us to leave because Rachel and I were bare-armed, but he looked down into his beard and preceded us down the corridor.	24272.42430912214
His toes pointed out toward the walls.	1589.9390433876274
He stopped in front of a door, placed a finger on his lips, and, still peering down into his beard, pushed open the door to a classroom.	6091.871062897212
We stepped inside.	496.3764042545098
He left us.	18.00248398853993
Little boys crowded together on long wooden benches, and in the center of the room sat the teacher.	4187.046076115863
His black beard dripped down over the front of his coat.	7728.708120488528
One white hand poised a stick above his desk.	8437.064643049749
He turned his surly, half-closed eyes toward us, stared for a second, then shouted in Yiddish, "One, two, three"!	29252.16999477428
rapping the stick against the desk.	12020.924028771009
The little boys shrilled out a Yiddish translation or interpretation of the Five Books of Moses, which they had previously chanted in Hebrew.	33233.591308026844
They chanted a fixed tune in time to the report of the stick.	3456.496606676192
Each boy opened his small mouth wide and rocked back and forth on the bench in the way his grandfather and great-grandfather had studied and prayed in the ghettos of Europe.	52117.33867333798
The boys were tiny.	209.41268922771445
They had large bright eyes, the small upturned noses of all babies everywhere, and hair cropped short except for the long ringlets of paot framing their little white faces.	102963.34216043261
They bent over yellowed prayerbooks and looked up only to watch the teacher.	5060.703357676721
Since they did not glance curiously at us once, I guessed that there was a penalty for distraction.	30799.750642424824
The guttural language from the ghetto stopped.	4338.924223518001
The teacher plunged the children into a new portion, this time in Hebrew, rapping the stick incessantly.	48191.107810289504
One boy who rocked back and forth over his worn book had bright red hair and freckles.	19164.32137630517
His tightly curled paot hung down to his narrow shoulders.	10882.845876277499
In the center of his brilliant curls sat a small black skullcap.	2993.9856825272573
His head barely rose above the table.	563.9952440720359
I stared at him for a long time.	255.2383859907533
He did not return my interest.	332.260209696733
My eyes traveled over the bare walls and up to the one partially open window high above the little figures and back to the boys.	22901.73059312825
Some of them ignored the texts and had apparently memorized the words long ago.	5164.023007428158
They singsonged the portion at the teacher, who accompanied them in an off-key baritone and spurred them on with the stick.	71324.80405328164
The tapping defined the rhythm and kept the boys awake.	5907.105007986408
I could not keep my eyes away from the boy with the red hair.	6444.303583472682
His body pitched back and forth on the bench.	324.37680126508627
His front teeth were missing.	1344.3968610164866
I shuddered and backed out of the room.	739.803446016147
Rachel followed, looked at me, and clucked with her tongue.	7094.514202460639
We walked down the cool hall silently.	271.3637568144632
From behind us came the rapping of the stick and the high-pitched voices of the boys who would grow to devote their lives to rigid study and prayer.	38667.256125303924
I said, "How long do they keep that up"?	4880.509219677911
"All day", she said.	35.95381421256753
"Except for Shabbat, when they are praying all day".	4493.688151413603
I rubbed my hands together.	680.1936235583739
They had turned numb and prickly in the classroom.	1203.8239176225347
The old man in the baggy clothes waited at the foot of the steps.	489.05252100304017
He glanced down into his beard and muttered something in Yiddish.	37079.857199821614
Rachel said, "He asks for money".	715.4541620809752
She passed by him.	53.448439653021595
I reached into the pocket of my skirt, fingered ten pruta, and dropped the coin.	45492.57020973159
Then I picked it up again and handed it to the old man.	517.271444070849
He thanked me.	577.218386907246
I didn't look at him.	137.19253479068954
I grinned at Rachel.	1205.9243190588422
"Does this bother you"?	699.073416436744
I said.	3.6880945733023127
She smiled to herself.	282.7532807240491
"Most of our Sabras think it's horrible.	3005.7047464037046
When we were fighting, a few of our orthodox people were lying down in the roads so we could not pass.	19016.389559617226
They said that we must not fight but wait for the Messiah".	9964.826104348798
I was amazed.	20.387931365545338
You had to have convictions to lie down in the road in all those clothes and appear as though you might wish to turn yourself out of your own home.	11332.768191435793
You had to be stupid or crazy or immortal.	2910.6281053359494
And I wasn't.	89.281209538837
I was American.	92.93618432831822
You had to know, also, that you were going to fail.	178.68796437389494
All of it might have been heroic, but they had done it in the wrong place.	348.26464472012555
I resented them.	582.0605859357371
Rachel faced me.	527.5809765796638
Her bright eyes were twinkling.	5433.887103758298
She said, "Sometimes I think they are keeping religion for us while we play around.	8013.251576131808
Your mother hated this way of life.	617.9140866722388
She wished to change much for the children here".	4825.030768388591
I said quietly, respectfully, "What did she do here?	17795.98974847474
In this section"?	487.70103158494703
Rachel clicked her tongue behind her teeth.	2287.816623351291
"Here, nothing.	89.47336591392771
But when she saw the children you have just visited, she wanted to take them away and put them out in the country, in the kibbutzim.	5025.00289680953
She loved the children.	957.3238978871394
She was a strange woman, your mother.	260.0680615347243
When she loved, it was with a passion that drove her along and carried along with her those things she loved.	27808.702617446903
Nothing was too impossible for her to do when she wanted.	1452.3768169513883
She stayed here to work for Aliah.	14660.896164330943
For many immigrants, for many children, the first thing they knew of Israel and freedom was your mother.	4268.533841153798
Sometimes it was dangerous for her".	166.91432099953315
Rachel grinned slyly.	2692.9990707736747
"But she loved danger.	229.5050889577223
She took it with her wherever she went; she chose it.	6243.055933320843
And I think she sought out danger as much as she sought out helping other people.	4136.581016453443
She was most strange woman.	345.95125683296595
Ready to follow her impulse.	8056.158964073927
It was an impulse when she was here in Me'a She'arim- I was with her- that led her to stay in Israel.	54285.641693867095
Your mother wanted to bring children to Israel so that they could leave their ghettos.	12043.488331301416
Here they did not need to be in ghettos.	213.86568322345497
If she could not take the children out of this section, at least she could take other children out of their countries and put them on the farms.	10236.585447750864
She set out to make sure that no Jewish child anyplace in the world had to live in a place such as this".	6453.932512277666
I said quietly, gaining nerve, ready to ask any question at all, no matter how intimate, ready to be rebuffed, "Then why did she leave Israel?	74735.99258927698
I'd like to know that very much".	31.613762250870522
Rachel clasped her hands together and slowed her pace.	13248.287937482335
The soles of her sandals reported sharply on the cobblestones.	29103.253604326634
She pursed her lips, then clamped them together so tightly that I thought she was angry with me.	19598.74371283541
But she sighed and her face relaxed.	2253.2885577084576
"Trouble came into her life.	638.2850543562345
She had good friends here, people who liked her.	3740.6269439013568
Who loved her.	558.5460593686824
But she had to go out and hurt herself.	244.54672054613872
There was a man here in town.	108.45162697297553
He helped her meet people so she could go out and do the work she wanted.	27151.283892001375
She worked very hard.	319.55550540106583
There was a refugee who was able to come here because of her.	736.2253197766244
He came with his son.	41.53182641363893
At first I thought they were relatives of your mother, but it was not so.	831.5218476188683
This refugee was a middle-aged man, a big, handsome man with a strut to his walk as I have never before seen.	9849.9053861082
He had the black numerals on his arm, so he had been branded in a concentration camp.	6991.705744116499
Yet he walked like a young man.	94.32811853868597
Often he was terribly despondent and talked to no one.	2319.048709992376
Then he would walk off for a few days alone in the direction of Europe.	603.0747674852779
All his family was dead, except for his son.	522.4471111326985
Your mother would always retrieve him when he wandered off, and she would send him home to his son.	6217.352713125117
He loved the son and was always glad to be sent back to him.	2558.272330710671
Then his son did something"- Rachel threw up her hands- "I don't know what, but something, to an official here- it was during the Mandate- and the son was imprisoned.	87206.30589707996
A few hours after the son was arrested, your mother was informed.	5171.398510148409
She ran from a little group of us.	360.8159206400655
We were sitting together, talking.	865.8989100178119
She went to the father and found he had hanged himself".	6096.734616254292
Rachel paused.	1337.5208624784227
It was silent in the stone alley.	3554.6524146638976
Then she continued with energy, "I myself did not see her until a week after she had run off to find the father.	22044.82242691184
No one saw her except the man Reuveni".	6386.59557930957
"Yes", I said.	3.9050363224564846
"I know him".	83.77265338613644
Rachel gave me a direct, bright-eyed look.	6798.9462821476545
She said, "Reuveni wanted your mother to give up her deep interest in this refugee.	18687.96519948636
He said she would only hurt herself.	696.2604387620128
He complained to me once that I must talk to her.	3893.2938522921304
When I did, she shrugged her shoulders and said that Reuveni wanted her to marry him.	17989.5250311527
I asked her if she would, and she said she would not.	213.84667846781954
He had known when he first helped her to meet the right people and work with them that she did not intend to marry him.	3570.126615392462
Anyway, I did not see her until two weeks after the refugee hanged himself.	2882.4213265005396
She came to me one day.	50.650517657206855
She was pale and skinny; she was terribly alone.	3416.6645896261984
And she said that after this man had been dead for a week she had gone to Reuveni and accepted his proposal.	10065.989541505945
He shouted at her and told her he loved her and couldn't understand why she had upset herself.	38588.22123422855
But now he was happy she would let him straighten out her life and take care of her.	815.1115078359761
He would never let her harm herself again.	1805.7625580513934
For one whole week he never let her stay alone.	6980.038775105494
She let him lead her around.	2544.4514731134227
He took her to a doctor, for she was run down, nervous, did not care where she was.	3765.5225762867426
Reuveni took her with him wherever he went.	3788.3176731565773
He did not let her talk to people; he did not let her choose her own food.	3692.5209209776935
She was limp and beaten from her loss; she did not care.	1263.1249984986152
"And I'll take you with me".	195.97660705680315
The two of them against the world.	127.2914394951368
That had been how she imagined it.	3296.82228162059
For when he began to talk and dream all at the same time, making his plans as he went, she had begun dreaming too.	4021.3750887885
But now the dream was over.	68.8602676457284
The big waking up had happened.	429.871588167976
"What did I imagine"?	1217.583985924189
she thought.	160.0064099092561
"Did I see him about to swing low in a chariot?	26809.8229319429
Or maybe poling up the south fork of the Forked Deer River braving the wastes dumped in it?	111050.71284572674
Maybe I saw him on a barge with a gang of Ethiopians poling it".	14972.68592623733
And I'll take you with me.	195.97660705680315
He had taken her all right.	122.59661265738791
Wednesday nights after youth fellowship.	5907.941008792749
Out of the church and into his big car, it tooling over the road with him driving and the headlights sweeping the pike ahead and after he hit college, his expansiveness, the quaint little pine board tourist courts, cabins really, with a cute naked light bulb in the ceiling unfrosted and naked as a streetlight, like the one on the corner where you used to play when you were a kid, where you watched the bats swooping in after the bugs, watching in between your bouts at hopscotch, a room complete with moths pinging the light and the few casual cockroaches cruising the walls, an insect Highway Patrol with feelers waving.	207983.8634548534
And the bed that sagged in a certain place where all the weight had been put too many times before and the walls fine and thin for overhearing talk in the next room when Gratt went out for ice, the sound coming through the walls like something on the other side of the curtain, so you knew they heard you when they were quiet and while you lay wondering what they had heard you listened.	185495.15366671732
And Gratt Shafer would be in Memphis today for the wedding rehearsal and then tomorrow he would marry just like everybody knew he would, just like everybody knew all along.	102704.03197704385
Like Mattie and the mayor up there gripping the microphone and Toonker Burkette back in his office yanking out teeth, like they all knew he would.	79978.16367575664
Just like the balloon would go up and you could sit all day and wish it would spring a leak or blow to hell up and burn and nothing like that would happen.	93388.41101677559
Or you could hope the parachute wouldn't open just so you could say you saw it not open, not because you meant any harm to Starkey Poe in his suit of red underwear, but mainly because you were tired of being an old maid- a thing which cannot admit when it thinks it might be pregnant, but must stand the dizzy feeling all alone and go on like everything is all right instead of being able to say to somebody in a normal voice "I think I'm pregnant".	238768.17907257413
You could wish that.	188.07434222930408
Or you could wish your daddy would really do it- kill Gratt Shafer like he said when you all the time, all along, could feel the nerve draining out of him like air out of a punctured tire when you are on a muddy road alone and it is raining and at night.	86758.75023571575
So you sit in the car and listen to the air run out and listen to the rain and see the mud in front of the headlights, waiting for you, for your new spectator pumps, waiting for you to squat by yourself out there in your tight skirt, crying and afraid and trying to get that damned son-of-a-bitch tire off, because that is being an old maid too, if you happen to drive a car, it is changing the tire yourself in the night, and in the mud and the rain, hating to get out in it but afraid to stay and afraid to try to walk out for help.	62351.171704194545
And every sound that might be the rain also might be the man who thinks after he has raped you he has to beat your brains out with a tire tool so you won't tell, a combination like ham and eggs, rape her and kill her, and that is being an old maid too.	104803.3660776302
It is not having his baby nestled warm and fat against your breast and it is not having somebody that really gives a damn whether some tramp cracks your skull.	61686.58159545697
And most of all it is not having the only man you could love, whether he drives a bread truck or delivers the mail or checks the berry crates down at the sheds, or owns seventeen oil wells and six diamond mines, for if you are anybody what he is or does makes no difference if he is the one.	97100.50132422644
He can even be a mild-voiced little-town guy with big-town ideas and level gray eyes and a heart even Houdini couldn't figure out, how it is unlocked.	100585.4404079337
And he can be on the way to Memphis, your Gratt Shafer can, and you discover you can stay alive and hate him and love him and want him even if it means you want him- really want him- dead.	42063.0322468394
Because if you can't then nobody else can either, nobody else can have him.	35228.375143346595
For you don't share him, not even with God.	1537.4313363048668
If it is love, you don't.	333.6624165242774
And I'll take you with me.	195.97660705680315
Even if that's all the promise he ever gave or ever will give, the giving of it once was enough and you believed it then and you will always believe it, even when it is finally the only thing in the world you have left to believe, and the whole world is telling you that one was a lie.	36653.61739032542
Even when he is on the way to Memphis you will still have the promise resting inside you like a gift, and it is he inside of you.	9180.72341085404
And in a way the promise works out true, for whether he wants you or not, you go with him in your heart.	2405.1519574733493
You feel him every mile further away.	3641.27545425475
You feel where he is and what he sees, and at night you feel when he is asleep or with the other woman, the one that never could love him the way you do, the one who got him because she didn't particularly give a damn whether she got him or didn't.	35355.17875960517
And you know you will always wonder all of your life whether it was because you wanted him so bad that you didn't get him, and you can feel nearly sorry enough to cry when you think of that other guy, the chump who begged you to marry him, the one with the plastered hair and the car he couldn't afford and the too-shiny shoes.	92657.39812850757
You think "Did he feel that way about me"?	4324.34581168522
It comes to you that probably he did feel that way to let you use him like you did when you couldn't have Gratt Shafer; that he must have since he was there like the radio for you to turn on or snap off when you got tired of him, that other guy.	58724.28089353078
It dawns on you that instead of a lump to fill the seat across the bridge table from you, he was a man, and that because Gratt Shafer was making you miserable, you were passing it down to him, to Gratt Shafer's substitute, that other guy.	51474.119930916495
And you wonder if that is why the little man lost his job and his car and stayed drunk about a year before he straightened out and moved to St Louis, where he got to be a big unhappy success.	17355.446818853387
You wonder if he looks at his wife now and thinks of you.	2377.3898372283243
You wonder about the Christmas card with no name on it, and it comes to you that maybe it would have been better to have made somebody else happy if you couldn't be happy yourself, to give somebody else the one they wanted- to give them you.	63631.943961514604
"Damn the world", she thought.	1367.6202650714895
She looked out at the corn field, the great green deep acres of it rolled out like the sea in the field beyond the whitewashed fence bordering the grounds.	45578.19083391924
The mayor envisioned factories there.	969.6201311664182
Homes and factories and schools and a big wide federal highway, instead of peaceful corn to rest your eyes on while you tried to rest your heart, while you tried not to look at the balloon and the bandstand and the uniforms and the flash of the instruments.	182476.25759052392
The bands were impatient, but they were the only ones.	535.2459458232205
The others, the ones in the stands, were spellbound, for hearing the mayor was for them like listening to a symphony was for sophisticated folks in New York City.	11334.34985236055
It was like being in the concert hall in the afternoon and hearing the piano virtuoso rehearsing.	4791.497633265576
He was good and they knew that what he was doing for them he would do all over the United States some day.	7574.558410816789
So they stayed quiet and hung not on what he said but on how he said it, not listening exactly, but rather, feeling.	11821.424145224746
If a man was good, if he was going to be governor, you felt it and you wanted him to go on forever.	3756.7365186309685
You were sorry when he finished talking because while he was up there you were someone else and the world was something else too.	27974.15282667756
It was a place full of courage and hope and you were part of it.	1926.6887101295245
You laughed and then your chest swelled and you felt you could cry for a little bit, and then a feeling hit you like a chill in your stomach and the goose bumps rippled along your arm.	93775.18263741017
He hit the theme about dying to defend your country, and you were ready to do it right then, without a second thought.	15191.66139883728
While he talked you wouldn't trade being a West Tennessee farmer for being anything else in the whole damned world, no matter if it hadn't, in six weeks, rained enough to wet a rat's ass.	89683.66210933214
She glanced at the man nodding beside her, a man with weather cracks furrowed into his lean cheeks, with powdery pale eyes reflecting all the droughts he had seen, reflecting the sky and the drought which must follow now in August- yes, with eyes predicting the drought and here it was only June, only festival time again and thoughts of Gratt Shafer would not leave her.	202110.0049281159
"I should have stayed at the store", she thought.	2076.6776250223907
Back at the Factory-to-You with the other old maids, back there she was the youngest clerk and she was thirty-four, which made her young enough to resent the usual ideal working conditions, like the unventilated toilet with the door you had to hold shut while you sat down.	113842.59286091526
There was no lock because Herman didn't allow a lock.	6184.398302232801
A lock on the toilet would encourage malingering and primping.	26625.250058292364
The toilet hadn't had a sincere scrubbing in years and there were things written on the walls of the little boxed-in place because you couldn't keep the public out- entirely.	68423.16591509733
She could not count the times Herman had rapped on the door, just a couple of bangs that shook the whole damned closet and might, someday, break away the pipe connections from the wall.	60215.64185804629
The two little bangs meant that he was getting impatient to have a crowd of customers waited on and that if he had to he would jerk open the door and drag out, by the opposite door handle which she would be clutching, whichever-the-hell clerk it was who thought she could waste so much store time on the pot.	85472.34920546217
And the hours were six-thirty in the morning until eleven at night on Saturdays and during sales, and there were no chairs and you couldn't smoke and the cooling was overhead fans and there was no porter or janitor.	79812.74191018254
Among us, we three handled quite a few small commissions, from spot drawings for advertising agencies uptown to magazine work and quick lettering jobs.	99297.74043563257
Each of us had his own specialty besides.	3530.8926939046733
George did wonderful complicated pen-and-ink drawings like something out of a medieval miniature hundreds of delicate details crammed into an eight-by-ten sheet and looking as if they had been done under a jeweler's glass.	40604.37935567894
He also drew precise crisp spots, which he sold to various literary and artistic journals, The New Yorker, for instance, or Esquire.	28762.61906116168
I did book jackets and covers for paperback reprints naked girls huddling in corners of dingy furnished rooms while at the doorway, daring the cops to take him, is the guy in shirt sleeves clutching a revolver.	198721.43254557694
The book could be The Brothers Karamazov, but it would still have the same jacket illustration.	8398.573239698828
I remember once I did a jacket for Magpie Press; the book was a fine historical novel about Edward /3,, and I did a week of research to get the details just right the fifteenth-century armor, furnishings, clothes.	56788.59528586224
I even ferreted out the materials from which shields were made- linden wood covered with leather- so I'd get the light reflections accurate.	52713.48244049776
McKenzie, the art editor, took one look at my finished sketch and said, "Nothing doing, Rufus.	148181.3554644896
In the first place, it's static; in the second place, it doesn't look authentic; and in the third place, it would cost a fortune to reproduce in the first place- you've got six colors there including gold".	6949.658931902462
I said, "Mr McKenzie, it is as authentic as careful research can make it".	3064.4403358087843
He said, "That may be, but it isn't authentic the way readers think.	5146.022500784087
They know from their researches into television and the movies that knights in the middle ages had beautiful flowing haircuts like Little Lord Fauntleroy, and only the villains had beards.	83821.67323327197
And girls couldn't have dressed like that- it isn't transparent enough".	18774.586935999894
In the end, I did the same old picture, the naked girl and the guy in the doorway, only I put a Lord Byron shirt on the guy, gave him a sword instead of a pistol, and painted in furniture from the stills of a costume movie.	101382.00011408208
McKenzie was as happy as a clam.	46700.52584867062
"That's authenticity", he said.	83.33915105697527
As for Donald, he actually sold paintings.	3240.5084075630225
We all painted in our spare time, and we had all started as easel painters with scholarships, but he was the only one of us who made any regular money at it.	6939.973024815617
Not much; he sold perhaps three or four a year, and usually all to Joyce Monmouth or her friends.	19059.49143312968
He had style, a real inner vision of his very own.	513.9559688589917
It was strange stuff- it reminded me of the pictures of a child, but a child who has never played with other kids and has lived all its life with adults.	14817.91647166088
There was the freshness of color, the freedom of perception, the lack of self-consciousness, but with a twist that made the forms leap from the page and smack you in the eye.	5015.35232767854
We used to kid him by saying he only painted that way because he was so nearsighted.	14411.648660797553
It may have been true for all I know, because his glasses were like the bottoms of milk bottles, but it didn't prevent the paintings from being exciting.	82900.58425044917
He also had, at times, an uncanny absent-minded air like a sleepwalker; he would look right through you while you were talking to him, and if you said, "For Christ's sake, Donald, you've got Prussian blue all over your shirt", he would smile, and nod, and an hour later the paint would be all over his pants as well.	61095.74926779874
Mrs Monmouth thought of him as her discovery, and she paid two to three hundred dollars for a painting.	12906.522270168998
It was all gravy, and Donald didn't need much to live on; none of us did.	18169.71128452001
We shared the expenses of the studio, and we all lived within walking distance of it, in cheap lodgings of one kind or another.	14602.25702718282
Attending the life class was my idea- or rather, Askington's idea, but I was ripe for it, and the other two wouldn't have gone if I hadn't talked them into it.	46871.23879997509
I wanted to paint again.	166.18572004445411
I hadn't done a serious picture in almost a year.	2227.9898174240398
It wasn't just the pressure of work, although that was the excuse I often used, even to myself.	21662.81441641014
It was the kind of work I was doing, the quality of the ambition it awoke in me, that kept me from painting.	5655.688789484229
I kept saying, "If I could just build up a reputation for myself, make some real money, get to be well known as an illustrator- like Peter Askington, for instance- then I could take some time off and paint".	95028.02547270368
Askington was a kind of goal I set myself; I had admired him long before I talked to him.	47551.92463326561
It looked to me as though he had everything an artist could want, joy in his work, standing in the profession, a large and steady income.	22329.827523521915
The night we first met, at one of Mrs Monmouth's giant parties, he was wearing a brown cashmere jacket with silver buttons and a soft pink Viyella shirt; instead of a necktie he wore a leather bolo drawn through a golden ring in which was set a lump of pale pure jade.	188416.80708452614
This set his tone richness of texture and color, and another kind of richness as well, for his clothing and decorations would have paid the Brush-off's rent for a year.	25710.384389346418
He was fifteen years older than I- forty-four- but full of spring and sparkle.	19052.23256063566
He didn't look like what I thought of as an old man, and his lively and erudite speech made him seem even younger.	4038.1611843154205
He was one of the most prominent magazine illustrators in America; you saw one of his paintings on the cover of one or another of the slick national magazines every month.	6938.2682673806485
Life had included him in its "Modern American Artists" series and had photographed him at his studio in the East Sixties; the corner of it you could see in the photograph looked as though it ought to have Velasquez in it painting the royalty of Spain.	128067.01296658618
I had a long talk with him.	55.148289591357596
We went into Mrs Monmouth's library, which had low bookshelves all along the walls, and above them a Modigliani portrait, a Jackson Pollock twelve feet long, and a gorgeous Miro with a yellow background, that looked like an inscription from a Martian tomb.	107537.87964445527
The fireplace had tiles made for Mrs Monmouth by Picasso himself.	15222.886756916292
Like certain expensive restaurants, just sitting there gave you the illusion of being wealthy yourself.	31911.766330310402
In the course of our talk, Askington mentioned that he spent part of each week studying.	6284.542816855794
"By yourself"?	347.1191441055724
I asked.	2.6665076521639826
"No, I take classes with different people", he said.	297.6416884155217
"I don't think I've reached the point, yet, where I can say I know everything I ought to know about the craft.	2857.2741648471406
Besides, it's important to the way a painter thinks that he should move in a certain atmosphere, an atmosphere in which he may absorb the ideas of other masters, as Durer went to Italy to meet Bellini and Mantegna".	56903.731699795724
He made a circle with his thumb and fingers.	1740.1031745342902
"Painting isn't this big, you know.	1743.8484998043116
It doesn't embrace only the artist, alone before his easel.	23119.237137655815
It is as large as all of art, interdependent, varied, multitudinous".	10394.9489441064
He threw his arms wide, his face shining.	8222.791824487324
"The artist is like a fragment of a mosaic- no, he is more than that, a virtuoso performer in some vast philharmonic.	15319.903122571573
One of these days, I'm going to organize a gigantic exhibition that will span everything that's being painted these days, from extreme abstract expressionism to extreme photorealism, and then you'll be able to see at a glance how much artists have in common with each other.	14357.892579866104
The eye is all, inward or outward.	4955.452642325639
Ah, what a title for the exhibition The Eye is All"!	14451.981555695738
"What do you study"?	21.778799337499795
I asked.	2.6665076521639826
I was fascinated; just listening to him made me feel intelligent.	15825.058124128294
"I'm studying anatomy with Burns", he replied.	560.3361166326531
"Maybe you know him.	178.79027991148044
He teaches at the Manhattan School of Art".	2765.328511678027
I nodded.	239.70418574392565
I had studied with Burns ten years before, during the scholarship year the Manhattan gave me, along with the five-hundred-dollar prize for my paintings of bums on Hudson Street.	37442.56303817579
Burns and I had not loved each other.	4027.8263130747487
"I'm also studying enameling with Hajime Iijima", he went on, "and twice a week I go to a life class taught by Pendleton".	15988.723321681751
"Osric Pendleton"?	20786.28634948607
I said.	3.6880945733023127
"My God, is he still alive?	7387.129565694406
He must be a million years old.	91.33700625315583
I went to a retrospective of his work when I was eighteen, and I thought he was a contemporary of Cezanne's".	8306.466310169913
"Not quite".	806.8811518269679
Askington laughed.	1422.1700206015669
"He's about sixty, now.	428.5339291180902
Still painting, still a kind of modern impressionist, beautiful canvases of mountains and farms.	68860.97863203753
He even makes the city look like one of Thoreau's hangouts.	23334.016657725617
I've always admired him, and when I heard he was taking a few pupils, I went to him and joined his class".	3138.364467225706
"Yes, it sounds great", I said, "but suppose you don't think of yourself as an impressionist painter"?	13289.849718039228
"You're missing the point", he said.	76.96168311358217
"He has the magical eye.	211.06941176043597
And he is a great man.	18.21634912560817
Contact with him is stimulating.	8056.157115555677
And that's the trouble with so many artists today.	2132.6289383294516
They lack stimulation.	1610.779290274643
They sit alone in their rooms and try to paint, and only succeed in isolating themselves still farther from life.	44084.92502978808
That's one of the reasons art is becoming a useless occupation.	5905.7691401281345
In the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance, right up to the early nineteenth century, the painter was a giant in the world.	519.3289552132612
He was an artisan, a man who studied his trade and developed his craftsmanship the way a goldsmith or a wood carver did.	30577.966925775247
He filled a real need, showing society what it looked like, turning it inside out, portraying its wars and its leaders, its ugliness and its beauties, reflecting its profound religious impulses.	136844.07739226214
He was a propagandist- they weren't afraid of the word, then- satirist, nature lover, philosopher, scientist, what you will, a member of every party and of no party.	24529.928304164674
But look at us today!	1566.8854888731494
We hold safe little jobs illustrating tooth-paste ads or the salacious incidents in trivial novels, and most of our easel painting is nothing but picking the fluff out of the navel so it can be contemplated in greater purity.	174472.97398164665
A bunch of amateur dervishes!	893.6489838907471
What we need is to get back to the group, to learning and apprenticeship, to the cafe and the school".	699.3930252277305
He could certainly talk.	274.61201296772106
The upshot of the evening was that I got the address of Pendleton's studio- or rather, of the studio in which he gave his classes, for he didn't work there himself- and joined the life class, which met every Tuesday and Thursday from ten to twelve in the morning.	92909.59629682126
It was an awkward hour, but I didn't have to punch any time clock, and it only meant that sometimes I had to stay a couple of hours later at the drawing board to finish up a job.	48707.3809319943
After a short time, both George and Donald joined the class with me so they wouldn't feel lonely, and we used to hang a sign on the door of the Brush-off reading OUT TO WORK.	42373.705230261396
It was mostly for the benefit of the mailman, because hardly anybody else ever visited us.	10175.474657605992
In a way, Askington was right.	170.6414595431709
"Stimulating" was the word for it.	1584.1055339709753
I don't know that it was always as rewarding as I had expected it to be.	1244.3362937292593
Partly, it was because Pendleton himself wasn't what I anticipated.	10138.188288189815
I had come prepared to worship at the feet of this classic, and he turned out to be a rather bitter old man who smelled of dead cigars.	14590.026655024825
No, that isn't quite fair.	657.1564440480494
Actually, there was a lot of force in him, which is why I kept on in that class instead of quitting after a week.	5004.4407948241
SUCH a little thing to start with- the car registration.	67658.17937493145
"Ida, where is the car license"?	69500.45149626158
she asked.	3.9969589709243873
"I can't find it in the glove compartment".	804.9062254469779
"Via must have it", I answered readily enough, recalling her last visit.	33493.64425187627
"Via", she was frowning.	1411.245206110846
"Why should Via have it"?	1200.230711171756
Had she forgotten she had signed the car away, that whatever they mutually owned had been divided among the children?	118497.08182163876
I was silent.	21.05893919543868
I didn't want to stir things up.	358.601662236469
"I drive my own car by courtesy of Via"?	44930.27736376894
"I'm sure she'd turn it over to you, if you'd rather.	1949.6026581273718
You know that".	4.635423828498229
She looked as if she were accusing me of some fraud.	1573.725860844891
"She must have taken the registration when she went to Walter's.	3232.6522385936037
I'll call her".	184.69319550526586
"No, thank you.	108.99571899886959
I want nothing of Via's".	2365.779400402558
Why should this suddenly assail her?	672.7989245287109
Walter was giving me checks for my pay, the household bills.	20230.51532946075
Had she been in such a turmoil that this had slipped her mind?	30276.286898912076
"What a fool I've been", she said quietly.	2135.784809897392
"I knew all this, but I paid no attention.	971.9009484414897
I don't even own the house I'm standing in.	5608.648598410919
I was so sure it was all temporary h that we would all embrace, and then the lawyer would tear up all those things h "It narrows down down down and finally there is no way out.	44910.94974349246
If I am not to be Mrs Salter I am nothing".	1060.5550222075208
I suppose I should have paid attention to that half-murmured remark, but it seemed one of those extreme statements women under stress indulge in.	17354.874249261604
I love you, I hate you, I feel like killing you and myself, and in the same sequence I love you I think you're the most wonderful the most noble and so on and on, meanwhile eating a good breakfast and dinner and enjoying living.	38469.15179526066
So I went about my business.	341.4227987597702
I made a lemon sponge, a light dessert, roasted a chicken, parboiled some frozen vegetables, so there would be something nice in the icebox for the weekend.	49559.01364795441
"Don't bother, Ida", she said.	168.4550053380114
"I have these appointments in town for Saturday, and I'll probably spend Sunday with Dolly or the Thaxters".	16785.692835769823
At last, I thought, she's recovering her spirits.	501.201451978852
With this movie-to-be in London, and new faces about her there, she would soon be a more tranquil, a wiser person, all the better for her stay out here.	55095.79860653175
I felt more cheerful, as if I had had a part in bringing her through to a greater tolerance of herself.	4059.1659879413032
And I went back to my own cottage to live my own little patch of life.	2502.866222175103
It was foggy that evening, but the path to my house was so well grooved that I could feel my way, accustomed as I was to the dense mists that rise from the sun-warmed palisades of the river and sometimes last for days.	64857.8500724972
In the morning the fog was still thick so that to go to the village I crept along with my headlights full on.	18829.68774943282
I did notice a twinkle of light from the big house through the woods but as I had left a light on in my own house because of the fog I assumed Mrs Salter had done the same before she left for town.	149181.76905333038
I did my shopping, had my dentist appointment, and from there I went to the women's lunch at our parish church where we discussed plans for the annual Christmas bazaar, so that dusk was beginning to gather when I drove home in the late afternoon.	62062.31882768928
But the next day- Sunday.	321.0199668269863
Why, when I drove down to church, didn't it speak to me, seeing the lights still on and the day crisp and clear?	100527.21625168111
Prisoners brought to the dock accused of murder or accident say they cannot remember, and reading the accounts of their testimony you cannot believe that the mind can remove, absent itself, unsee.	286390.3993381546
When I came back from church at noon Mrs Thaxter was turning into the Salter driveway.	6085.109995628923
Even at a car's length I could sense that something was wrong, and so I followed her up to the turnaround in front of the house.	2969.1293724959205
Dolly Engisch was waiting there on the steps and she came running toward us.	61911.96583848909
"She's nowhere, nowhere"!	4568.068934013856
she screamed, and both women ran up to the house, and I followed.	4233.608058370013
The search began, in all the rooms, running upstairs, down, opening closets, talking, exclaiming in rushes and gasps.	72409.3040322994
Everything was as I had left it the night before last- her portfolio and bag for town, her lingerie and dress and shoes laid out h only her mink coat was missing.	99162.67252046283
And she.	111.28404444591987
Then the telephoning began.	398.96815307363465
I, who until that day before had been Mrs Salter's friend, her equal, was the servant now.	33424.23672730546
It was Dolly and Mrs Thaxter who were calling Via, everybody.	12031.028413354397
And when they spoke they spoke to each other and not to me.	937.2518440387938
And after I brought them sandwiches and coffee I had to go back to my place in the kitchen and wait.	2002.5771099436831
Sitting in the kitchen I recalled every word Mrs Salter said that could have been a sign to me.	8708.836566734999
"If I am not to be Mrs Salter then I am nothing".	1551.6825487600358
Why didn't that alarm me then?	1450.0173725092259
And when she returned from taking her guests back to New York she had said, "All they talked about was Harvie h Harvie this, Harvie that h When they know the truth will they drop away from me, will I become a nothing"?	165264.11130618234
And then I remembered a few years before after their return from a short trip to Rome I had heard her boast, over and over again, "On the boat people liked me for myself".	30700.598703479227
I had made a habit of calling her at night from my cottage, just to check.	6659.199565549945
The last night I had called, but the line was always busy and it reassured me.	15375.89585782253
I assumed it was one of those hour-long conversations with Dolly or Constance, she comfortable in bed.	47664.15609101425
But it seemed not from what they were saying.	538.3077583805422
Then was it a final desperate plea from her, to whom?	12083.566674175203
h hanging on and on past any man's patience h some final stab of conclusion?	113174.04775534294
She was found the day after at the bottom of the cliff.	1305.1759007888907
I tried to believe that what must have happened was that, restless, disturbed by this telephone call or whatever, she walked out in the night, as she had a habit of doing.	14203.687818408212
Sometimes she took the path that winds up around my cottage to the walk at the edge of the cliff.	15644.781062579541
It's so romantic up there, she used to say, with the broad river gleaming in its moontrack like an enormous dark mirror and all the sounds of the night, so poetic.	33170.11158931579
With all that warm rain and the fog it might have been as simple as a loosened rock, a misstep.	8851.948125359826
But I didn't really think it was as simple as that, nor did anyone else.	3479.4487427962795
When a fisherman brought her up in his arms, still, small, as if she were a child asleep, I began to shudder with a terrible excitement, almost triumphant, that I still cannot account for.	14904.494267893808
Was it a hysterical release from the long strain of vigilance of those weeks?	40893.68501152849
that at last the vigilance, the will gives way?	19938.413506621677
Or what was it that, before Via, Sonny, Walter and all, I began almost to dance with shuddering and cry out, "I knew she'd do it!	66912.5539684649
I knew"!	186.95924274635973
Everyone stared at me and drew back.	5473.129576380231
Their eyes turned cold and accusing, even Via's.	19446.05330578109
And they have never changed.	21.303890904880245
At the same time that I thought I understood her at long last and pitied her, underneath this knowing had there burned unquenched by my pity a fire of hate, an enduring envy that burst out in that ghastly outcry?	92301.19191705993
Was that what had given way in me?	10634.678515108248
Even now I am appalled at how little anyone knows of what they really are.	1788.9484421409272
It is absurd of course to say that that one exclamation estranged me from the family I considered my very own, but there it hangs, a cooling void that broke our close connection with each other.	35071.26887529791
At the time I was filled with self-pity at this separation, but in the years since I have come to understand that the sight of me was painful to them after that outcry.	14989.843890292283
In my person they would always remember that last long time of me alone with her, so if they told themselves that I could have prevented it, I can understand that by now and love them still, because everyone must justify, have a scapegoat for what is not to be borne.	70552.65336312595
It is not their avoidance that rankles; it is when I meet someone who was a close friend of the family, and therefore of mine, and they nod to me so coolly and walk away, that it hurts.	6704.5862930826215
I could tell them, but no one ever asked, why I had cried out so triumphantly at the sight of her body.	1767.0114058849704
No, I forget Mrs Mathias, who had been away visiting a married daughter when it happened.	4888.056014717583
She haunted me; she persisted in explaining how and why she had advised Mrs Salter to return to the country.	14378.76444576685
"We all feel guilty", I turned away from her coldly.	11796.987928508946
"It was nobody's fault.	1296.6943214600108
She overplayed her hand".	1311.8697557885303
"What do you mean"?	3.537686043014895
she frowned.	323.45802404494
"Why put such a high value on being top dog"?	4297.680815116863
I added.	139.0910016401049
It was coarse, almost insulting, this harsh appraisal, and she has never come to see me since.	9054.455224632522
But suppose she had not taken Mrs Mathias' advice and lived on like thousands of women in towns, dispossessed of love, hanging on to makeshifts, and altogether and finally arid.	141249.70532842615
If she chose, and in that final decision discarded, what, above all, all of us value, life itself, must she not have risen to her fullest height, and transcending her murky self, felt at last the passion of a great moral decision?	106223.26210281345
If they say I could have stopped her it is because they are ignorant of her last weeks of self-examination, her search into herself and its conclusions.	29338.38300268504
Yes, I had cried out that I knew she'd do it, but without my fully realizing it at the time, it was a cry of triumph for her, praise at her deliverance from pettiness and greed- and guilt.	28764.351418438277
She was finally at rest in truth, of her own proud free choice.	3531.912043577897
At rest with my darling Ellen, the first Mrs Salter.	29901.71056284635
MR SALTER came home.	422.01184409023375
The funeral service was in the house, the Methodist minister, how clean and glistening his eyeglasses and his neat body standing beside that coffin with that doll inside, a stranger speaking to strangers the old sacred words, and the rain drumming incessantly in accompaniment, seven days of relentless rain that turned the ground to mud so the burial had to be postponed.	195713.0754672119
I waited.	1045.1374410329126
Then Via called to say they had decided to cremate her- as they had Ellen, the thought leaped to my mind- and did I want to meet her at the funeral home the next morning.	36974.27395092514
The coffin stood on trestles in a corner of the long low dimly lit funeral parlor, on its dark shining surface the sheaf of white roses I had ordered.	52798.7869068626
I knelt, just for decency I thought at the time, but found myself whispering, "Our Father which Art in Heaven h" And it was only after that that something unlocked in me and I felt a grief.	61585.485402253194
Via was in the parking lot when I went outside.	29203.754376390007
Together we waited in her car until the hearse moved out and we followed it down into the heavy traffic of New Jersey.	36134.084515039394
By the time we arrived and entered the building sacred music was already swelling out into the chapel-like auditorium with its discreet symbols of religious faiths.	68363.55167518264
Again I felt impelled to kneel, and reached back and pulled Via down.	27754.243127996735
Something would come into her heart h if nothing else the sounds of Bach would give her some healing.	46894.5779381098
"I had a rather small place of my own.	114.87533194824869
A nice bachelor apartment in a place called the Lancaster Arms".	32523.5314026369
"Uhhu", she said, hardly listening as she studied her left eyelid.	42491.02420360222
"And then I had another place farther downtown I used as a studio".	3532.069129114513
"Uhhu".	3524.279832361616
"I'm not a man who has many close intimate friends, Carla", he said, wanting her to know all about him.	4426.650092855615
"Oh, I'd drink with newspaper people.	1236.343818661412
I think I was what you might call a convivial man, and yet it was when I was alone in my studio, doing my work, that I really felt alive.	18200.04204682452
But I think a man needs at least one intimate friend to communicate with".	7489.303477739187
Pausing, he waited for her to turn, to ask a question.	13402.908220053121
She showed no interest at all in the life he had led back home, and it hurt him a little.	2816.241919728336
"Well, what about you, Carla"?	3512.786985137589
"Me"?	7712.146440173461
she asked, turning slowly.	248.06372535660753
"What about me"?	112.8817864719354
"Did you make friends easily"?	2530.4852886493445
"Umm, uhhu".	11770.304497228983
"Somehow I imagine that as you grew up you were alone a lot.	4418.795610406971
How about it"?	19.89873908518242
"I guess so", she said taking a Kleenex from her purse.	21544.200507224992
When she had wiped some of the lipstick from her mouth, she stared solemnly at her image in the mirror.	23262.917432767463
"Are your people still alive"?	9300.66314904924
he asked, trying to touch a part of her life Alberto hadn't discussed; so he could have something of her for himself.	7009.3524682109055
"You talk so well, Carla", he went on.	1470.4242067741786
"You seem to have read so much, you have a natural gift for words", he added, trying to flatter her vanity.	11728.015145426438
"You must have been good at history at school.	812.6531203483165
Where did you go to school"?	1691.8699144389593
"What is this"?	26.435545218065506
she asked, turning suddenly.	248.06372535660753
"Don't you know all about me by this time?	278.0013165702451
My name's Carla Caneli.	4659.215374023806
This is my town.	174.18429654272188
I sleep with you.	1034.5197000151663
You know something more about me every day, don't you?	7872.378795059857
Would you be happier if I made up some stories about my life, told you some lies?	67384.9565976796
Why are you trying to worry me"?	296.5223845454904
"I'm not trying to worry you".	446.5760785224666
"Well, all right then".	207.70470383716156
The cleansing tissues she had been using had been falling on the floor, and he got up and picked up one, then another, hoping she would notice what he was doing.	6853.9801665539435
At home he had been a clean orderly man, and now he had to hide his annoyance.	2714.7716350203746
Was she just naturally sloppy about everything but her physical appearance?	67538.71322385887
he wondered.	951.0083266645162
Would he have to clean up after her every day, clean the kitchen, the bathroom, and get down on his knees and scrub the kitchen floor, then hang up her dresses, pick up her stockings, make the bed while she lay around?	84247.5671168871
He straightened up, ready to vent his exasperation, then grew afraid.	25887.540345073412
If he dwelt on the indignities he suffered he would lose all respect for her, and without the respect he might lose his view of her, too.	22197.507759843025
"What's the matter"?	34.51426969168786
she asked suddenly.	179.95429120282876
"Nothing.	27.931795689186487
Nothing at all", he said quietly.	822.8438392115189
"Let's go out".	73.93718918755225
"Are those the only shoes you have, Sam"?	36003.264643536815
"What's the matter with them"?	77.77062398631304
"The heavy thick soles.	1202.5167004432274
Look at them".	22.521056661134278
"They're an expensive English shoe for walking around a lot.	1195.6384539827845
I like them".	16.173836137858796
"Sam, no one around here wears such heavy soles.	17366.53904230965
Can't you get another pair"?	8730.6005309723
"Maybe I could", he said, surprised that she could turn from herself and notice anything about him.	9617.936339136539
"I'll get an elegant pair of thin-soled Italian shoes tomorrow, Carla".	11365.444206750302
"And I don't know why you want to go on wearing that outfit", she said, making a face.	3041.242012058766
"What's the matter with it"?	21.366338485488683
He had put on the gray jacket and the dark-gray slacks and the fawn-colored shirt he had worn that first night in Rome when he had encountered her on the street.	35176.55343608901
"Oh, Sam.	448.04883832844496
You look like a tweedy Englishman.	3540.380792374261
Can't you wear something else and look a little more as though you belonged"?	63918.9544916382
"I don't mind at all", he said, delighted with her attention.	907.7828497747162
Changing his clothes, he put on his dark-blue flannel suit, and laid away the gray jacket with the feeling that he might be putting it aside for good.	37185.11255973461
But it was a hopeful sign, he told himself.	526.1760618345535
She no longer wanted anything about him to remind her of the circumstances of their meeting that first night in Parioli.	47042.2956738942
That day they loafed around, just getting the feel of the city.	396.5108419411211
They looked at the ruins of the old Roman wall on the lower Via Veneto, then they went to the Farnese Gardens.	10589.634255946396
She had some amusing scandal about the Farneses in the old days.	957.8082099433583
Then they took a taxi to Trastevere.	892.8994839113865
"There's a church you should see", she said.	585.4751361400442
And when they stood by the fountain in the piazza looking at Santa Maria he had to keep a straight face, not letting on he had been there with Alberto.	31020.860244702784
He let her tell him all about the church.	2228.1531337188253
Then they had dinner.	139.7006652820638
All evening she was eloquent and pleased with herself.	8705.449749573238
When they got home at midnight she was tired out.	668.6007289235366
And in the morning when he woke up at ten the church bells were ringing.	5740.8209362848
He had never heard so many bells, and as he lay there listening, he thought of her scolding him for his remarks when he had looked up at the obelisk and the church at the top of the Spanish Steps.	19334.573494093813
It was a good thing that she clung to her religion, he thought.	243.66989261830568
She might like to take him to St Peter's.	1039.1521597093158
"Carla, wake up", he said shaking her.	17486.36818769634
"It's ten o'clock.	57.014566934660024
Aren't you going out to mass?	4737.372321920181
You could take me to St Peter's".	339.97599590276866
"Uhhu", she muttered.	1855.8899193564696
"Come on, you'll be late".	955.8957278838731
"I think I'll sleep in this morning", she said drowsily, and as she snuggled against him, he wondered if she ever went to church.	8366.956204411164
Why did he want her to go to church?	936.108328247488
he wondered h Probably because it was a place where she might get a feeling of certainty and security.	13093.695665656722
It would be good for her.	43.878377664109365
It was too bad he had no feeling himself for church.	4058.3728535223213
Not his poor mother's fault.	4094.4012271075053
She would have been better off if she had stuck to her Bible.	1789.7141239743144
As for himself, he just didn't have the temperament for it.	388.8659371318598
From the time he had been at college he had achieved a certain tranquility and composure by accepting the fact that there were certain things he could never know.	5911.233393066962
Then he thought of those Old Testament figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.	1408.3154527598383
Just figures out of a tribal folklore.	4220.305309230274
Could he honestly believe it would be good for Carla to have those old prophets gripping her imagination now?	57375.40662565843
Being a woman though, she would take only what she needed from church.	10074.108640542705
It was too bad he wasn't a Catholic himself.	2625.129988197343
Or a Protestant, or one of those amusing dogmatic atheists, or a strict orthodox Communist.	10896.668798502124
What was the matter with him that they all wearied him?	2387.34471196277
It was the times, he was sure.	137.73935659954662
All the ideologies changing from day to day, right under his eyes, so how could a man look to any one of them for an enlargement of his freedom?	28949.596495663987
It was all too wearying.	481.9414655574981
Look somewhere else.	697.7691499099386
But where?	34.56539716835942
Just the same, he thought, pondering over it, it would be a good thing for a girl like Carla if she got up and went to church.	1259.9708072343144
A half hour later he got her up to go out for breakfast so the Ferraros, hearing them hurrying down the stairs, would think they were going to a late mass.	15329.311331734849
It seemed to him that if the Ferraros felt sure of them, could place them, it would help him to feel more sure of himself with Carla.	26455.59737411078
"Since we're having coffee with them this afternoon", he said, "I think I'll ask the daughter if we can pay her to come in every day to clean for us".	4948.631249806811
And he waited for her to say, "Oh, no, I can do it, Sam.	3137.252554092008
There's so little to do".	203.39373762425384
"Why not"?	3.3637455197869603
she said.	3.7489695198761144
"I'm not good at that kind of thing".	226.36806868429915
"This afternoon let's take an air with them.	2312.2066882572453
Let's be fine superior people of great dignity", he said as if he were joking.	20970.76174767778
"If you find it necessary, Sam, go ahead", she said, turning on the stair.	18249.22946597075
"I am what I am.	58.16028530152389
I can't help it".	191.9296875295139
Her words remained with him, worrying him for hours.	2882.4834651009264
He didn't know how she would behave with other people.	265.0152155323816
When they walked into the Ferraro apartment, the old lady, bowing and smiling, said softly.	9545.335052032084
"Ciao," and put out her hand.	2187.108462472814
Her little brown face wrinkled up, her brown eyes gleamed, and with her little gestures she said all the courteous things.	51208.58290491284
Agnese, smiling too, said, "'Ello", and then more slowly, "I am happy".	30776.361124909603
And they sat down and began their little coffee party.	2902.738510043134
The Ferraros offered them biscuits with the coffee.	2650.9430445910352
Acting only as interpreter Carla, her hands folded on her lap, was utterly impersonal.	78227.83659879168
She would turn to them, then turn to him, then turn again.	506.5634298147847
Watching her, he felt like a spectator at a tennis game, with the ball being bounced back and forth.	5307.0616501286795
Signora Ferraro, bobbing her head encouragingly, asked Sam about Canada, having a special interest.	48859.71137590143
Carla translated.	1275.3278967222045
The old woman had a nephew from North Italy, a poor boy from a lumber mill who had got tired of the seasonal unemployment, and who had migrated to Canada to work on the railway.	54390.0395017956
For a year the boy had lived in the bush in a boxcar.	1878.3837327174044
Did many of Sam's countrymen live in boxcars in the bush?	32918.812082286146
Had Sam ever lived in a boxcar?	35370.610972861294
she wanted to know.	27.95856634719915
Regretfully Sam explained that he had no experience with boxcars.	7453.508379215982
Just the same, the old woman said, she would write to her nephew in his boxcar and tell him she had met a nice man from his adopted country.	9677.107320815096
And Sam thanked her, and hoped he might meet her nephew back home, and asked her if she had any further news of the Pope.	13157.405027627157
A very great Pope, this one, the old woman explained, her black eyes sparkling.	7642.780343949797
An intellectual.	150.5934778070006
But very mystical too.	759.253224375503
It was said that he had had a vision.	46.83095483006392
Just as thousands that day in Portugal had seen the sun dancing in the sky, he had seen the same thing later in his own garden, and she turned to Agnese for confirmation.	26536.482780796206
Agnese had been sitting quietly, listening with the serenity of the unaware.	56599.54037780591
Now a little flush came on her pale homely face and enchantment in her eyes.	8374.154369597722
The Holy Father would die soon, she said to Carla, so she could translate for Sam, although he had a brilliant doctor, a man who did not need the assistance of those doctors offered by the great rulers of the world.	20842.73835192551
Yes, the Pope could die and quickly be made a saint.	1939.5074166809814
No, he was indeed a saint now.	327.56312006071033
Nodding approvingly and swelling with importance, the old lady whispered confidentially.	48553.3133280909
There was a certain discontent among the cardinals.	1879.0348140096753
The Pope, in the splendor of his great intellect, had neglected them a little.	8199.815579842008
There would be changes made, and Signor Raymond should understand that when the Pope died it was like the end of a regime in Rome.	6938.045838504118
Jobs would be lost and new faces would become prominent.	20958.408222122314
Did Signor Raymond understand?	3492.864721246664
Indeed he did, Sam said solemnly, trying to get Carla's eye.	14700.60742417558
Surely she could see that these women were her Italians, too, he thought.	3072.042772189082
Devout, orthodox and plain like a family she might meet in Brooklyn or Malta or Ireland.	108615.65442837465
But Carla; eyes were on Agnese whose glowing face and softening eyes gave her a look of warmth and happiness.	97813.19904426303
And Carla, watching in wonder, turned to Sam.	33180.30112543815
"It means so much to her.	340.8863834047909
It's like a flame, I guess", she said in a dreamy tone.	2950.472014648816
But one night Dookiyoon moved in the direction of the women's lodge, where Shades of Night had gone to purify herself.	13171.99425632439
With the blue flesh of night touching him he stood under a gentle hill caressing the flageolet with his lips, making it whisper.	46221.05791961555
He saw her emerge suddenly, coming in her unhesitant fashion, her back stiff, her head erect, facing with contempt the night and whatever she would encounter, as if in her extreme disdain and indifference she would pass by all the outraged looks of those whom she might approach.	226942.8363164794
In her dark, scornful fashion she proceeded to her destination, afraid of nothing, not even the evil spirits which kept her company in her time of bleeding.	73418.68960238081
Seeing her come, he caught his breath, feeling his heart bounce in him, and turned away, afraid now.	43440.91978888356
Even he, wanting her, afraid of her and not knowing how to press his suit, feared the evil presences in her metabolism more.	47913.46020545199
His breath caught, and, trembling, he closed his eyes and stumbled off.	11274.833154147133
Going, he saw as often before some queer, hideous yellow face over his head, shining and weird like the old images which had invested him at other times like those that appear sometimes near the eyeballs when they are perhaps pressed by the thumbs.	226585.18057884552
He cried out to her, his back turned.	4232.10676457083
Then he fled, not waiting to see if she minded him or took notice of his cry.	15125.087457115842
But she heard him go.	269.2642801271404
Yet she did not hesitate and only turned slightly, her neck tall as she looked in his direction, and continued on her way toward the end of the camp.	17455.36565341067
Elsewhere others heard and stopped and waited, the women peering from their lodges then gathering in small, curious clusters.	269103.21195441385
Early Spring came from her bed, from beside her half-drunk husband, Walitzee, and stood at the entrance way to her lodge hearing the mild commotion, the sound of hushed voices.	207295.91273617148
Standing there she saw Shades of Night come through the trees and stop beside the lodge, silent, almost imperious, her body taut, simply standing without speaking or moving while the wife of Walitzee waited, perhaps denying the dread that moved in her.	251482.95883304637
When at last she could suffer the insult no longer, nor face the girl's scorn, she said in a voice overloud "I shall call your father!	60413.561276103464
Go back where you can bring no harm, or I will go and get the old man from his bed so he can see your shame"!	31242.947035823487
But the girl said only, "Tell him I am here, that I have come".	1786.6731668751106
And it was not Pile of Clouds she meant.	1240.2280631414778
But now with real anger at last, something proud and indignant, Early Spring stood like a she wolf before her den and cried, "I will not shriek at you!	51913.95736287702
I will tell you to go, not begging.	2691.3876339934236
Telling you"!	1422.4071475077374
And unsheathing the knife she used for curing hides she stepped away from the lodge, holding the knife at her side.	108868.75468240339
"You bring only wickedness", she said and it was not to a child any longer but to another woman who had come to skirt her lodge with the cunning hunger of a wild animal.	41067.505201575266
Speaking in a low voice of loathing she went up to the girl, who stood with the same upright, scornful bearing and did not even look at the knife.	13713.199005344917
"Go take helsq'iyokom, your evil spirit, to the young boys", the woman said.	27733.09375039264
"They do not have to face battle.	60.629746015908815
I will not let your evil in.	591.8628016208136
I will simply kill you first.	947.0040185006786
Now go"!	743.9246777183822
The other women had come close now, their voices murmuring together until they stood buzzing in an angry knot, their threats mingling, rising, nagging at each other, each trying to make her indignation and anger felt.	112123.55787752657
They picked up sticks and hurled them at the girl.	4091.7150143571885
The sticks fell like a shower around her and she felt them sting her flesh and send tiny points of pain along her thighs.	86494.72848689204
They were all shouting at her as if she were the embodiment of the evil she brought.	3266.811968280308
But she did not move, taking the words and the sticks in that old defiance of her extreme youth until suddenly Pile of Clouds came howling among them, swinging a great bullhide whip.	103464.58933309714
"Go back to your lodges"!	586.9084227365655
he shouted.	140.30564209519096
"A pack of dogs makes less noise"!	11158.710355994086
He made the long whip sing and snap around their heads so that they ran screaming, some tripping over themselves in their flight.	32406.842550311645
And Early Spring seized the whip and said "If you must flog someone, let it be her, your daughter.	44708.656970843025
Drive the demons out of her and teach her to stay away from my husband"!	69127.49141702187
But the old man turned on her, jerking the whip from her hand.	10361.020963792558
"Get into your hovel"!	3062.910722608261
he spat.	1931.338253054294
"Go back to that double-married man of yours who so parades his fine body among the young women.	20210.316964471553
Keep him back, if you must tell me what to do.	3566.4531551787504
I will be the one to confront my daughter, not the wife of him who leads her to sin"!	9737.766831140501
She retreated before the naked shame in the old man and the fury beyond it and sank into the darkness of her lodge where Walitzee stirred, mumbling, sitting up in a half stupor to say "What worrisome thing happens?	177707.37936523394
I thought I dreamed of wolves fighting".	601.4994031591444
But she went to him and pressed herself against his nakedness, smelling the stale odor of the whisky he had stolen from TuHulHulZote.	71755.05138218554
She said, "There is nothing that concerns you here.	761.6499330172581
Lie back and go to sleep.	2618.494043258234
But do not dream.	144.57870771096552
Do not let the wicked spirits enter your brain".	2982.6242428935707
He sank back, sighing, and was soon asleep again.	11902.140226017229
Outside, the old man, beyond all the curses of the spirits his daughter bore, went to her and twisted the gnarled talons of his fingers in her hair and turned her and pushed her rudely ahead of him into the trees where the moon sent out a thousand arms.	81988.78332068233
And, shoving her against a spruce, her back to him, he retreated with the whip and made it whine and crack in the damp air, shortening its arc until it narrowed to her flesh and the sound of it snarled and cracked, settling its own cruel demons on her shoulders while she stood as unchanged, as dark and motionless as ever, her eyes open and staring at the pale delineaments of the bark so close to her face.	220564.74158221102
She said to him, her father, "How was I begotten, in pain or joy?	24133.775315481376
Is it for me to be forbidden the flesh you made grow on me?	10691.176030318094
They all know your foolish name"!	2543.5690884838164
She stared at the pale tracings on the tree, hearing her breath refracted from it, her face close and touching at time the rough edges of the bark.	52662.96104328838
She felt the lash bite and heard her father say in crazed monosyllables words which had no meaning, like, "unnnt!	138389.3275479225
h sssshoo"!	1363.4997131007528
The sounds of an animal in rage and despair.	4346.543110254143
Suddenly the lash stopped fighting the air and she heard Pile of Clouds say in his high, quavering voice "Did you follow me to see my shame?	153009.1823645479
Move from the line or I will settle the whip on you h. Move!	222641.55465177304
Do you hear the anger of the whip's whine"?	13136.431279979171
Turning, the girl saw Dookiyoon standing between, his narrow shoulders unbent, his arms hanging long and resigned.	60760.50187057588
He said, "Let me take her blows, for there are demons in me too".	6244.831958766824
Then, without knowing why, she found herself running from them, fleeing wildly through the trees, dodging her own shadows until she came to a little hollow in the rocky ground with a big stone in the center behind which she knelt and hid, listening to the madness of her heart and wanting for once to cry.	109929.63513056732
/2, For a while the young men waited outside the lodge of Tu Hul Hul Zote, glorying in his harsh language as he talked with himself.	51091.467790726514
He shouted like a hoarse old mastiff, his hair stiff and bristling.	26608.922451590992
He ranted and prophesied the doom of his enemies, walking in circles in and out of his living place, drinking stolen whisky in great, gasping draughts until finally, incoherent and sick, he fell into his own oblivion.	144157.11855546414
He amused the young men who had been silent long enough.	2193.000431048467
But they could taste the appeasement of violence and retribution through his antics.	16366.568952677142
Now they moved, rubbing their flesh alive again, disdaining the gloom they saw in the faces around them.	22969.927113526075
They came out and held their games and races.	2795.4630830009314
It was they who held the future in their hands.	237.14748147174322
They went into the sun together and paraded grandly in their war clothes, painting their faces with the sacred attis dug far off in the cave of skeletons.	86355.35665348558
They danced the paxam wildly at night, the war dance, and dipped their arrowheads in the venom of rattlesnakes and rode their horses in swift maneuvers, firing their few guns in unison at some indeterminate signal.	180372.05384278513
Walitzee was among them, and Sarpsis, and they wore red blankets which flew like broad wings in the air of their passing.	66213.75475535933
And a very young one, Swan Necklace, tried to emulate them and followed timidly.	23680.538371836014
Yellow Wolf was there, nephew of the young chief by an older brother long dead, in whom also the disordered chemistries of youth worked.	137519.31552298652
He would spring bolt upright suddenly after sitting quietly with inaction, because something had boiled over in his fermenting juices.	84145.02838371988
All the young men, Alokut among them, challenged them in matched racing.	8331.681252701315
They raced and maneuvered for war, swinging their horses in single file and then abreast like cavalry.	60726.94980969467
At times they would ride frenziedly through the camp, letting the women see their courage, how handsome they were in their regalia.	67208.42662123243
Then again they would stand in circles making other preparations.	13419.775201474049
They combed their hair and streaked it at the part and greased the bangs so that the hair above their foreheads stood rigid like the tails of sage hens making love.	154172.20666514442
Walitzee whitened his leggings with clay, knowing the girl watched from her place in the trees.	32166.731188015998
He saw himself in a superior reflection, and he was as a speeding arrow from the taut bow, hurtling with a mad grace, his maleness shining and scented with meadow rue.	75745.35404760642
He was always aware of the women's eyes which followed him, admiring him.	6236.981731243153
And the suspicious, envenomed eyes of Pile of Clouds.	12849.474959648593
And those of Early Spring, haunted and now full of hurt and envy.	23423.22571134081
He felt so much like laughing; even like shouting and crying out from the hilltops from which he could descend as an eagle in a mad caper from the cliffs.	129377.78232241882
He and Sarpsis planned a great parade with the young men.	2586.5446605375537
They would give one final testimony of their challenge to let the people see their arrogance.	25542.699261570328
They would ride with streaming amulets, their colors ripening in the sun, shouting the last bellicosity of a nation in the throes of death.	28151.295512960107
And so the sun came up again and for a moment its color was the young men's blood, shifting then into the full heat and outcry which ran with their hearts.	13134.884434536243
They mounted their horses and rode off into the hills.	3101.89612617125
/3, The young chief stared at the wall of his lodge, listening.	1329.703763756204
The sound rose on the other side of the hills, vanished and rose again and he could imagine the mad, disheveled hoofs of the Appaloosas, horses the white men once had called the Dogs of Hell.	100554.78374207026
He saw them in fleet images as they came rolling and now burst across the ridge.	18547.948073584746
Standing then with the others, peering into the sun, he saw the bright, multicolored legion, their hair flying like dark banners, only the thunder, the roll of drums, the mad cacophony of the hoofs accompanying them.	101110.73010688148
They leaned into the wind and seemed like one thousand-legged monster hurtling and plunging until suddenly they rose straight in their saddles and in one terrifying voice shouted, ejaculated their grotesque cry of war.	176987.09869907418
She was moving through a screen of hemlocks, in among the white birch and maples.	27275.38788322912
The sounds from the quarry began to pulse in her ears.	7105.840296854429
She stood, once more listening.	2724.1857628791654
She had never been here at this hour.	87.28293056671092
She felt as if some dark, totally unfamiliar shape would clutch at her arm; but she found the path she always used, the stubs of branches she had broken, those she had pushed aside; and she walked easily now, and more slowly, until she could see the dark glisten of water beneath her.	226807.18747289293
If I ever committed suicide, she thought, I would dive straight down from here- and no one would find me for days.	39752.387702444954
She smiled, and expertly let herself downward, holding this known root or that, her sneakers sliding in the leaves.	63238.74582797338
She jumped out onto the flat expanse of rock and, seating herself, shook her short-cut brown hair and tilted her chin far upward.	104497.82863213033
The reedy music of the frogs had faded, but presently it began again, growing in volume until it was vibrant.	168911.09965390989
Julia felt at peace and drew her legs up and clasped her hands tightly around the bent knees.	117124.01308796565
She had accomplished a miracle.	128.22350047823934
This was her place.	48.746062348136284
The hour couldn't change it h. Only- only- her thoughts were a little strange.	36623.142341762345
They were becoming confused.	250.30122096722053
Perhaps it was because it was so late, and because she had no business to be here now.	1963.5993469252614
She was thinking of Paul a few weeks ago, in the Easter holidays, with her at one of those awful Friday Evening Dancing Class parties her mother had made her attend.	11857.054595314285
"Hello, Julie, how are you"?	19770.799258629304
h And then off he went so casually, to someone else with breasts better developed, more obvious in a lower-cut dress, someone without a mouthful of wire bands and an inability to find words that would hold him.	81251.76642235897
I wish he was with me now, she thought, and that we were both the ages we are and doing what was once only pretense and acute embarrassment.	29515.112004765837
Oh God!	206.54341175458
I wish I were older or younger, Julia Bentley thought.	8071.443966479614
I wish so much someone loved me.	1913.2631589910147
CHAPTER 7 George Rawlings remembered seeing the door open sometime during the night- Millie, in a white robe, standing like a ghost at the threshold.	108742.39236095603
She had vanished; he must have slept again.	3351.446844925661
He was staring at the blue china lamp left on beside him.	10703.634183221564
It seemed too much trouble even to reach for the switch; but of course the impossible effort of leaving would have to be made on this Monday morning.	22728.61819145461
This room was like a prison.	1885.512979431769
He would not be indebted to Sam!	701.8714930170399
Below him, as if at the end of some remote tunnel, he heard the humming of a vacuum cleaner.	16239.659102823678
His fingers fumbled across the bandages.	5661.122714965875
They had left both of his eyes uncovered h. Well, he told himself, let's put the show on the road.	9402.770985529813
He was walking across to the bathroom.	627.886629711809
He drank a glass of water and gripped the sink with both hands.	2307.5295839034516
A fearful pain had come from his head, as if the water were coursing up through the blood vessels and expanding them h. He recognized his jacket and trousers.	35290.45606732988
The fabric was dark; the stains weren't too apparent; and there were his shoes, thank God, but his shirt was one terrible mess.	57537.82106622941
He shivered, and then tore away the blood-soaked parts and wound the rest around his neck like a scarf.	164435.23437677365
Sam would be amazed to find him gone.	4350.690655653505
Millie would have to understand.	343.6381260113805
She must have put his clothes in the closet.	2136.389322764144
He found a lump rising in his throat because of that one simple act of tidiness.	27840.432995475338
He was on the verge of tears.	178.39216487978825
Alex Poldowski- in a fashion he owed a debt to that effete gentleman.	45788.76627133372
At least Alex had told him he wasn't dying.	1099.3321313099557
Perhaps George Rawlings would be better off dead.	2645.267137094385
What time was it?	465.8535107668185
He peered at his wristwatch.	1683.1657001143956
Strange, it was still running.	337.51971759162336
A quarter to seven.	192.7636193443509
Too early for a vacuum cleaner, but probably Sam wanted the whole house in order before he came downstairs.	65746.78878424894
He was kneeling to tie his shoelaces.	5623.899827722337
His fingers felt absurdly thick and clumsy.	8418.644446551953
He rose slowly and looked into the mirror on the inside of the closet door.	1786.1624834583781
He barely knew himself.	963.9936723328235
This was some freak, two strands of adhesive tape across his nose, like ugly roots from the mass of gauze, suddenly moist over his cheekbones.	67928.18354020426
The surface, however, was perfectly white.	732.9496107824946
He was drinking another glass of water.	248.38285985048896
It was after seven o'clock.	66.4433142859151
He was supposed to be in court this afternoon, at City Hall.	569.215654440172
Who would take over?	406.4349144320904
He'd have to think, but the main thing, the imperative necessity, was to leave before Sam Bentley was up and about, and before Millie detained him with sympathy.	15808.827607245843
He entered the hallway.	644.4610107535633
He was actually walking down the stairs.	174.95048755534953
A plane up in the sky, above the clouds, and this freakish wreck of a man desperately trying to get away.	9245.122910844002
"Father, is that you"?	333.47674197564857
The voice issued from the cavern of the hall below.	6402.726628865598
George did not reply.	854.607633362388
"Is that you, Father?	582.7260166931596
h Who's there"?	1288.0923039405714
For a moment he felt like a thief discovered.	650.9787563577117
Then Julia appeared under the arch leading to the dining room.	1505.4346943509088
She stood gazing at him.	494.2310381098514
"Uncle George"!	1113.3979826958428
He was trying to smile at her.	346.1799558988938
"Gosh!	3524.8082516247623
You shouldn't be up, should you"?	11591.004821651746
"I- I was just leaving here, Julie h. I'm all set.	8109.571583415042
Just about to call a taxi".	81.99814018024762
She was wearing some sort of gray blazer.	4848.320189338576
She seemed overly tall, her brow knitted in concern.	7397.677470379481
"Well, at least you won't have to do that", she was saying.	668.1444202923394
"I'm about to leave myself.	418.25631441863936
I'll drop you off".	130.98362998640118
"You're leaving"?	573.3872707292223
"I'm going back to school", she answered.	724.1521840536107
"Pietro's driving me.	2845.9155411740994
I'm just finishing breakfast h. But have you told Mother you were going"?	12942.930873657657
she asked him.	18.49703037150729
"No h. I just don't want anyone disturbed, Julie.	11003.015736090996
That's my wish.	160.27195394130183
It's quite a big one", he added.	114.61665289318961
Her face seemed to float in an implausibly bright shaft of sunlight.	18907.30330832463
"Well, won't you come in then, have a cup of coffee- or something?	12882.449400233683
h Or maybe a drink"?	12078.544556471894
she asked, in a way that seemed oddly sophisticated, considerate, and yet perhaps partly scornful.	8834.822169459192
He tried to see her face more clearly.	107.76150326277894
"No- nothing at all", he said after a moment's hesitation.	4431.966511703488
"I'll just wait for you here".	679.1310656752294
He leaned his head against the wood paneling behind him, but the vivid red images of pain inserted themselves against his eyelids.	65026.420145840835
He raised them.	405.6880935304474
Julia moved past.	2765.2101430163584
"I have to say good-by upstairs.	282.88579559583326
I won't be long".	180.9390779250894
"As a great favor, Julie", he said, "please don't mention you've seen me".	5258.981605750999
"Not to anyone"?	1012.9144708763674
"No- please h. "I'll call your mother as soon as I get home.	3756.877270715073
It'll be so much easier".	14.741880512986901
"All right h" She was staring at him.	941.2948318912296
"I'm fine, Julie h. Please, you just go ahead".	7971.311833971044
She had disappeared.	95.87067730515459
He could feel a pulse pounding against the bandages.	3065.9722946148077
He imagined Sam's voice "George, what the hell goes on"?	10115.805924988901
I wouldn't have the strength to answer, he thought.	327.6172262954131
Maybe I couldn't have called a taxi.	509.87001939016426
He could hear the footsteps overhead.	716.5035866334911
He saw the suitcase, which Julia was holding.	5745.892363084027
He stood up.	18.720330420755094
"I'll take that, Julie- for you".	453.0098330269383
"Oh no", she said.	16.706191886762255
"I can manage".	4.23054967741604
She went ahead of him.	152.28023879618758
Outside the Lincoln was parked.	2152.8075609248563
He could hardly believe he was getting in.	1800.8556553896146
Pietro was gazing at him in an insolent, disdainful fashion; but that didn't matter.	44971.73101473286
We'll drop Mr Rawlings off in Ardmore", Julia said, and for the merest second George was reminded of her father's tone with servants.	15861.125643835916
To the manner born- odd to have such a thought at a time like this; yet her inflection seemed forced or rehearsed.	28976.717825478365
He could not stop to analyze.	848.9204772910584
He had never felt particularly close to her.	264.3426854632949
Carrie seemed more affectionate, but obviously Julia had respected his request.	54775.46236429052
He took her hand.	173.1024869303915
"I wish I didn't have to go back to school", she said, and then, "I wish you lived in New York.	758.4268666828397
That's in the opposite direction".	38.93914527131386
"I wish I did", he responded.	2311.7638592437324
"I wish I wasn't wearing this ridiculous costume, and that we could go to a theater together, or a nice restaurant, forget we knew h" He stopped speaking.	48064.246370912304
"Forget we ever knew what"?	18378.411430030883
"Oh, just sort of everything in general".	810.2120087438544
She said nothing until Pietro had slackened their pace.	3351.64949359298
"I know you feel badly, but that sounds like such a queer thing for you to say".	1686.355685288247
"Does it"?	31.63162434303039
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"Yes, perhaps.	329.6223954079279
I'm supposed to joke about things, aren't I?	928.6145111782174
h But sometimes life can be rather a disappointing business".	7798.569041624094
His voice seemed thick and purposeless.	3638.521654815326
He relinquished her hand.	1134.5279772472327
He could see the stone building where he lived.	797.699398755897
Just a few more steps h. Abruptly he reached into his pocket.	1111.026464201466
Yes, there was the key.	211.23666868211362
"Are you positive you'll be all right by yourself"?	1384.94970060236
she asked him.	18.49703037150729
For a moment he smiled.	132.2334229772671
"Yes, Julie dear.	1534.1899258638684
You've done me the greatest possible service.	1338.3238615594905
By myself I'll be fine".	1337.3094986479757
"Take care of yourself then".	1843.5932555131487
"I will h. you, also h. don't work too hard".	12165.040501347956
It was an automatic phrase; as he crossed through the courtyard he regretted it.	7232.088493040333
He should have discovered a more tender farewell.	2670.05741808363
Someone shouted at him, "Well!	2670.3153307441958
Will you look at George Rawlings!	2048.436504752877
What happened to you"?	23.605922942567467
"I bumped into a door handle", George said.	12493.08232390624
Someone laughed.	254.42708889272916
George walked steadily ahead into his entry.	5020.272636305806
His bandages seemed on fire.	2046.337022301893
He had shut his door with the brass number screwed to it.	5046.489010876482
In the kitchenette the raw whiskey made him gasp.	11469.85084786007
Just one or two swallows, he told himself, enough to lessen some of the pain.	12672.728805139046
He was telephoning.	651.4676064448608
"No, Millie, I'm home h. No, really, right as rain h. Tell Sam not to worry about the car.	14999.948951028948
I'll get it hauled away h. No, please- no visit today- I'll be asleep h. For God's sake, don't worry.	10072.28124910219
That upsets me more than anything h. Yes, sure, I'll see the doctor- this evening, if you insist h".	35456.3452306205
There was one more call to make.	177.6933086915307
"Joan, did I wake you"?	2675.740788846731
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"Yes, I thought you'd probably be up h. Look, sweetheart, some fool was h. happened to be driving somewhat intoxicated last night.	32546.433787472317
Unfortunately it turned out to be me, but I wouldn't quite put it that way to the boss h. Oh hell no, I'm not in a hospital.	6419.636144352925
I won't be in town for a couple of days, though, and there's that case I was supposed to handle this afternoon.	4102.707186448422
Too bad a jury isn't involved.	870.6354470457087
I might struggle in for a jury.	1666.0119904676747
I'd win hands down.	387.5771446787572
But I thought maybe Tony Elliott could pinch-hit for me.	3482.805056639558
He'll understand- you might give him sort of a tactful nudge.	19519.864125281198
He's got all the facts.	47.60076147882839
I wouldn't want to ask for a postponement- it's really just a routine thing h. What?	41576.79661133357
h No, darling I'd rather you didn't come out".	7267.608580557875
A smile pulled at the lower strip of adhesive tape.	10215.340608260589
"Don't even send flowers.	799.9416576508802
I'll see you Wednesday.	120.88085583648075
I'll bribe you with a nice"- He was about to say "double martini" but thought better of it.	6072.913244299083
"I'll take you out to dinner.	150.592989213774
Okay?	492.8135087558592
h" He had put down the receiver.	1304.7646031514162
A strange relationship between Joan Fulbright and himself.	2169.2086789907703
Who knew about it?	182.8400795696168
She lived alone in the older part of the city, in one of those renovated houses whose brick facade some early settler had constructed.	4396.380513436613
She had two tiny rooms on the second floor.	137.92922939008227
She was a clever girl, a most efficient secretary.	1412.177195157696
She let him come and go as he pleased, or as it pleased her.	2036.6030929338356
In the office you might have thought them only casual friends; yet if he said Make an excuse yourself, come out here today, she would have been on the next train- and, similarly, if she had been in need, he would have gone to her.	14397.61787611866
"They make us conformists look good".	834.7443945546443
"That's a peculiar way to think".	319.9741114370871
It wasn't just the obnoxious birds that had ruffled her own feathers, of course; she knew that.	33868.80493767218
It was Jim's "little" sister Myra, the unreliable, irresponsible, forever flyaway, Myra.	51409.69620245053
She's a year older than I am, Lucy told herself.	5736.031069740985
"Come, come", Jim said, jollying Lucy a little.	5891.857226968377
"I love you.	64.88587126974723
Susan ready"?	3251.3215265684125
Lucy listened.	1491.9874919430085
Obviously, Susan was not.	180.7110831038713
Upstairs, busy feet, showering like raindrops, pattered around her room.	31744.12590963272
Susan would be visiting her grandmother for only a few days, but even at seven she was a prudent soul; she always packed for a lifetime, just in case.	22356.71122874775
"Not yet.	26.7192131556379
Every doll in the house must be going with her".	4800.694517904789
"She'd better step on it.	369.76867090938015
It's a long way to Websterville".	880.361640130082
Jim's fine young face was an expressive one, too; as he looked at her, it registered anxiety.	62081.71108298246
"You know", he said.	3.9325568145479686
"Myra wanted me to thank you for taking Cathy.	5979.535707923635
It'll be only a couple of weeks before she finds a home for them in Paris- but even so, she wants you to know that she's awfully grateful".	9633.764539825639
Lucy did not believe him; Myra appreciated nothing.	5153.055417547195
Jim had put the thanks in his sister's mouth.	8590.063312402352
"Darling"- she said, and the single word mingled love and exasperation in an equal blend.	55606.75043131012
"She should have told me herself.	733.4845780296033
And will it be only a couple of weeks?	3263.48145043812
Remember what happened the last time"?	738.4882392665176
Leaving Cathy with them, Myra had gone out to the Coast for a supposedly brief visit; but she had stayed all winter, and Cathy had stayed all winter too- with them.	113908.69811444478
Lucy suspected that Myra would never have come home if Gregg, Myra's husband, hadn't gone out to fetch her.	70346.8412435044
"That was an awfully long two weeks".	400.07473076692315
FOR an otherwise silent moment, Jim's keys jingled nervously in his pocket.	5946.104581909686
"But she promised- This will be different", he said at last.	1393.4347351084423
"You've got to admit she was smart to scare up this fine government job over there- she'll get a home for herself and Cathy in no time.	15344.788090295839
You'll see, Myra's settling down".	143.04519452479204
On the defensive, he added, "I wish you'd think what it must be like for her to be without Greg, to be a new widow, a young widow".	25888.935523642533
"It depends on the widow".	240.1684213760958
Lucy had an idea that Myra loved it.	2423.4318776426817
And not for one moment did she believe that Myra had settled down.	11725.781784936516
It seemed to Lucy that all their married life, she and Jim had been doing nothing but rescue his sister from the constant crises that were her way of life.	24824.250076670414
Remembering that succession of disasters, she now considered Cathy, an ominous child-cloud on her horizon.	63018.53516779732
It was not that she disliked Cathy.	524.2694403602629
The youngster drew her, troubled her depths; whenever Lucy saw her, she tried, without noise or fuss, to give her the warmth she had never had from Myra.	134883.31233940108
But Cathy was Myra's responsibility, not hers.	22509.861982464146
"I wouldn't even be surprised", she said unhappily, "if Myra tried to leave her with us forever".	22065.721068331655
Myra loved big cities; thousands of miles away- in Paris, of all places- she might forget she had ever been a mother.	54334.64199091102
Lucy knew her too well to find it impossible.	7208.214999703683
"That's a horrible thing to accuse her of"!	6796.188050051525
Jim was so indignant it was obvious that no matter what he said, he too had seen the looming specter of a forever-Cathy.	14342.109040899855
He went to the foot of the stairs and shouted up, fiercely, "Susan!	1103.5810706845273
Susan!	469.3588474949627
Get moving"!	1052.720677642637
A startled piping sound returned.	1723.8896309093677
"Don't yell at us", Lucy said.	6092.880549621123
Was it only a few nights ago that they had been standing together in front of the house looking at the moon-washed river?	24828.5982207876
Their arms around each other, they had been talking of the present and the future; their talk and their feeling had been as deep and warm, as steeped in light, as the air around them.	39244.977795152794
Then, from within the still, sleeping house, the telephone had rung; Myra, with her news, was on the other end of the line.	4735.333389825872
Jim turned back from the stairway and looked at her.	746.505539438297
His dark brows, which had been lowered in anger, smoothed.	18326.965198513768
"Please", he said.	17.230258783058673
"There isn't a chance of Myra's letting anything like that happen.	15824.252530401402
Let's stay friends".	533.8113722856493
But they weren't just friends, Lucy thought; they were husband and wife, and Myra had no right muddling and chilling their marriage.	31936.875052144955
The only thing that had ever come between them was that worthless, selfish sister of his.	8790.422000279772
Lucy was sick of it.	176.5267064519775
"Well, at last", she said, because Susan was clattering down the stairs.	1236.2006092497588
SUSAN looked like an overwhelmed baby nurse; her arms were straining with a burden of dolls.	88130.50343920533
"I'm ready", she announced.	600.935667025041
"Do you need that big bundle"?	3666.7842350596516
Jim said.	177.79414400959803
His voice had sharp edges, as though he knew very well Lucy and he were not friends at the moment.	3759.572951933416
"All that junk"?	1657.874912910575
Susan stared at him with hurt blue eyes that gushed an instant grief; to her, each of her dolls was a real person with a living heart.	81387.2565413299
"Now, now", Lucy said, approaching Susan with a handkerchief, mopping skillfully.	26488.69501655741
"Your father didn't mean it, Susan".	8359.364620773924
She gave Jim a quick, shape-up look of warning.	12208.091019210355
"He'll take every one of them".	42.74367455816829
Jim groaned, but he lifted Susan's suitcase and said, in a gentler tone, "Sure- the entire thousand.	56774.53010958631
And when you get back from Grandma's, Cathy will be here to play with you.	5451.721100473359
Nice"?	432.349743081191
"No", Susan said, grappling with her outsized armload of dolls with a Scrooge-like effect.	33612.87584651787
And at this point, Lucy thought, there should be a lecture on little cousins' sharing dolls- but she could sympathize with Susan; there ought to be a limit to sharing, too.	19786.3465654846
That was one more reason she didn't look forward to Cathy's visit, short or long; the last one had been a Lilliputian war.	18576.170144501757
She suspected that Cathy had been competing with Susan for attention that she had never had.	31123.40387948272
"Well", Jim said, out of the silence, "let's get going, dolls and all".	6185.779194721596
When the car, with Susan's hands waving wildly from the rear window, disappeared down the driveway, Lucy stood looking after its pale dust.	42337.88901574733
The day was brilliant around her- flower-scented, crisp with breeze- yet her inner turmoil darkened it.	40743.291642338794
She had let Jim go with a chilly good-by, a chillier kiss.	40277.52159807842
She was sorry, and angry at herself, because never in their life together had she done that.	40527.70851894553
She turned and began to walk toward the house.	889.1027072412093
At the feeding station, the raffish group of cowbirds again bobbed and gobbled over the ground, but now, gorgeous among them, was a beautiful red cardinal, radiant in its feathered vestments.	54969.27477109869
The handsome bird was solitary; its mate must be at home, silently guarding their nest.	74193.6575698707
She had better stay there, Lucy thought; the sly female cowbirds took instant advantage of nests without sentinels.	54664.37321225243
Well, Lucy?	778.1366071372684
she said to herself, abandoning the cardinals and the cowbirds.	13083.599691588392
She had a day of things to do; among them, she had to prepare the guest room.	2871.2970737692835
How long would it be occupied?	4499.707837451268
she wondered, with a baffled feeling of helplessness.	30287.32183635852
As long as the unscrupulous Myra chose?	1141.2131094563465
For a moment, her mind returned again to the strange, flying world of birds, and she said to herself.	5337.416929837208
It isn't only birds that dump their children in other people's nests h. In the sunshine of late afternoon, Lucy stood looking at the ready guest room.	69254.65171128247
There were new yellow curtains, bright as a child's life ought to be, a new bedspread, lively with hopping rabbits, and hanging from the ceiling was an airy Mother Goose Mobile, spinning slowly in the breeze.	115003.87925440693
A row of little hangers waited for a child's clothes in the neatly empty closet; since Myra had always put most of Greg's money on her own back, Lucy suspected that no more than a few of that long row would be needed.	61981.291318392934
The closet was faintly fragrant with lavender, and as Lucy shut the door an unhappy memory slipped into her mind, like a lavender ghost Greg's house, on the day he was buried, and the child, pale, silent, baffled, watching the funeral guests with panicky eyes.	146976.2270390248
Many times since his death that memory had worried and troubled her.	19385.845695447588
Out in the hall, the upstairs phone shrilled, and the small ghost vanished.	14733.576770691983
When she picked up the receiver, her mother's cheerful voice was there.	1866.8307660708592
"Websterville Junction calling", she said.	1433.909517009868
"I just thought I'd let you know.	726.9598828408539
Myra dropped Cathy this morning, and Jim picked Cathy up and left Susan a few hours ago.	22170.683383781816
I'd have phoned sooner but I've been busy".	726.3181701784121
"I can imagine"!	303.11308944945824
Susan was an active character; for Mother to be able to call, Susan must be napping now, surrounded by her multitude of dolls.	74544.85277797934
Lucy drew out the chair and sat down; she relaxed a little, and some of the tension went out of her.	4368.71947420534
You could think yourself as grown up as Methuselah, yet the maternal voice still kept its comforting magic.	39274.52066955793
"How was Cathy"?	2610.719898074797
"Subdued.	3524.279832361616
But Myra was the merriest widow I ever saw".	6475.965809847941
On her way to the airport, on her way to Paris- you bet, Lucy said to herself.	7115.248002152321
"I've been fixing up the guest room for Cathy".	4377.882702238498
There was a momentary pause, and then her mother said, "How long is she supposed to stay"?	55755.787440264394
"Just for a couple of weeks, till Myra finds a place for them".	637.4341366486642
"Well"- This time there was a long silence, while the telephone hummed faintly with a voiceless life.	20718.881092277978
Puzzled, Lucy stared at the flowered wallpaper; her mother was forthright; she was not usually given to mysterious silences.	237043.49959650345
Was she thinking along the same lines Lucy was- that it was quite possible Cathy might be left with her for good?	124165.86703795231
"You mean once Myra gets to Paris"?	20388.42597611087
Once the soft, pretty moth found the bright light she had always wanted?	51470.45960883071
Suddenly, seekingly, Lucy asked, "Mother, do you know something I don't know"?	27810.1567027696
Again there was that curious pause, and then her mother said, "I guess I do.	6133.813373291671
Just before Myra left- She was saying good-by to Cathy, and she didn't realize I was near".	79530.2043868149
She hesitated, as though hunting over words and ways of putting them.	4328.718069494795
"Cathy was in tears, of course, and I heard Myra say, 'Now be good, and at Christmastime I'll send you a wonderful present from Paris'".	53249.406372681704
Shocked speechless, Lucy sat there.	5416.169618290154
Then she jumped to her feet, the elastic phone cord uncoiling like a black snake.	15203.426821183954
"Christmastime!"	3524.8082516247623
Then it was no bogey she had dreamed up; it was only too true.	8486.905357948679
Myra had no intention whatever of sending for Cathy in two weeks.	25981.325417336928
For a moment, anger darkened the hallway about her, and when she found her voice, anger thickened it.	8100.670370757432
"That does it"!	347.7179499395648
she said.	3.7489695198761144
"I'll keep Cathy for two weeks.	178.3065870279603
Then, if Myra does nothing about fetching her, I'll pack her right back to her mother- if I have to take her myself"!	18651.73503388468
Her hand tightened on the receiver.	7345.519099252185
"And that's what I'm going to tell Jim".	683.9716401275656
For Lucy, the day's nagging to-and-fro had come to an abrupt end.	9461.887884131285
As she hung up, she saw through the hall's open window the purple-black flying of the cowbirds' wings, and heard their grotesque singing.	56045.30590333131
Cowbird Myra!	6887.8284972648125
She's not going to get away with it.	65.7249635537941
CATHY is tired, Lucy thought, watching them come slowly up the path.	46762.98415512187
The child's thin legs were plodding.	6764.440759400021
She trudged along slowly, both hands clutching a tired teddy bear.	24807.61515938293
She was at the moment just a small, walking package, being delivered to her aunt's and uncle's house.	19553.762662571222
Unlike Susan, she was traveling light; the worn teddy bear, a tiny suitcase that Jim carried, and the clothes she wore, were all she had.	116072.75382481635
Lucy glancing at the miniature case, knew there would not be enough in it for the shortest of stays; they would have to buy things for her.	25578.972790092514
She opened the door.	3.8511671024667407
Unimpressed, the dog plopped on the sand.	8851.71377733143
Quint couldn't blame Maggie for disbelieving.	35827.71117471326
For eleven days they'd done the same thing, leaving the cottage quietly before breakfast, before Esperanza Beach got jammed with tourists and beach balls and show-offy lifeguards.	135398.71740164925
The swirling sand made Quint's limp more pronounced.	6225.789532194023
They walked slowly past the sherbet-colored cottages- eleven lemon, nine mint, seven orange- around the curve to a deserted stand with an "Eats" sign jiggling in the wind.	100625.20585145715
Now they were in friendly territory.	523.2192551844199
Nobody around.	178.5709906204284
Nothing but sand and a ridge of rocks sloping jaggedly to the water's edge.	7089.042539949159
His rock was to the right of a V-shaped inlet, a big, brown, lumpy rock trailing seaweed whiskers.	9661.340917957701
His rock was special because no one on the beach could see him here.	15019.581568024341
Here he was enclosed and safe.	713.6781203434722
If a dragon or a sea monster came along, didn't he have a red Swiss hunting knife on his belt- ten blades and a corkscrew?	228274.2852633105
Here was a perfect place to lie down and make believe.	1242.7598262985057
He was Canute controlling the waves.	445.08868143317244
He was a knight of the Round Table, "Sir Quintus the Brave", slaying evil spirits and banshees and vampires and witches with warty noses.	83749.14876395644
One good thing about a suit of armor, his leg wouldn't show.	11542.3302351806
He was the first astronaut on the moon, chosen because of his small size and intrepid nature.	4359.437418764293
He was six feet one like his father, with big hands and a hairy chest, a man the weak and persecuted would turn to.	30628.010769603163
Fearless.	3524.279832361616
Every night when he wanted a drink of water, didn't he practice being fearless by not turning on the bathroom light?	140622.51432854924
A dark bathroom can be pretty scary, and he'd creep back to bed, proud of himself, thinking Tomorrow, for sure, I'll go down to the rock and keep my promise to Dad.	51306.27468801712
He hadn't intended to make the promise.	1465.168720725875
It happened two weeks ago, the night before his father left on a business trip to South America.	1855.9873915527373
Every piece of the nightmare was clear, in place; and when he woke up, his father was saying, "Stop screaming, Quint.	77621.57997134217
It's all right.	22.01735292897335
Stop shaking".	1511.6509975668548
He could remember the feel of his father's big hands, the thump of his father's heart sending out signals- regular, like radar.	64075.223212695775
"Let's talk about the beach.	405.26419760152146
Son.	2297.4023611279563
While I'm gone you get brown and fat as a pig, hear?	36987.48834767453
Look, I can put two fingers between the cords in the back of your neck.	2011.1293648288067
Dr Fortman says swimming would help your leg.	8920.47166086568
He says you're limping more than you need to".	1954.8731874601483
"How does he know?	1182.2130756823256
Big dumb nut.	702.0251121723777
He never had polio".	598.7565468828839
In the light from the bedside table his father looked so worried that the promise spilled out.	14292.421152403655
"You just wait, Dad.	5483.678870345287
When you get back I'll probly be swimming better than Victoria.	11277.07434551516
Wait and see, Dad".	5141.125673792615
Victoria was fourteen months younger than Quint, a head taller, and could lick any boy or girl on the beach.	44576.917261714785
He called her "Fatso".	650.8882053386337
She called him "Stuck-up- that's why nobody plays with you, Mister Stuck-up".	32925.1620304426
Or, what was worse, she prayed for him out loud at bedtime "Please, Lord Gord, please give my brother the strength to go swimming like he promised".	58538.48639138298
"She's got a nerve".	3632.3898828892375
Quint said now to the clouds.	2903.787272799103
Strength began to zip up and down his chest.	7337.407662890724
He felt strong as a giant.	726.4245644118864
He unlaced his high brown shoes and took off the metal brace on his leg.	25506.492005285785
He wadded his sweat shirt into a ball and stripped down to his swimming trunks.	13040.700688021434
"Goolick, goooolick", creaked a sea gull.	58759.41312651891
"Aw, shut up", he said.	2416.379423193492
He stood on the rock, a skinny, dignified boy surrounded by the ocean.	11590.964937745272
The wind bored a hole between his shoulder blades, and when he looked at the choppy waves coming and going and crossing each other he could see his head down there, bleeding, wedged between the rocks and the waves.	27616.43374103189
I can't go in.	78.21555729116342
I'm scared of the nightmare.	749.4028956120004
Shivering, he put on his clothes.	3835.2642565750098
And shivering with shame, he crawled to the narrow end of the rock and spat into the water.	24550.064645117418
"Watch it, big shot", a hoarse voice yelled back.	14685.671615985928
She was holding on to his rock with one hand.	5026.663758029017
She smelled of peppermints.	4645.654553027078
She wore a bathing suit like his mother's, no straps on the shouders.	20205.34170017404
"Why didn't you duck"?	1776.901423874185
he snapped.	1603.5433533495195
"This is my rock".	174.18430983050473
"Isn't".	198.5416772652972
"Is".	210.6861080921341
"Isn't".	198.5416772652972
"Is".	210.6861080921341
She was sore as a boil.	391.64397052708057
"Ever hear of squatter's rights"?	4863.4982402647565
"Sure.	219.72205145867906
They started with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of eighteen"- "Mister Big Britches, aren't you"?	9968.35291559486
"I'm Mark Gordon Peters the Fifth.	2894.7275116371297
They call me Quint".	2972.800740046845
"Then why don't you stop squinting"?	4044.4275016425604
"I said Quint.	1107.027110811129
That's short for Quintus.	3275.747077330351
Quintus in Latin means"- "I can speak both kinds of Latin, smart aleck".	163472.10497726692
Her cough sounded like cloth ripping.	11508.338708259613
"You shouldn't smoke so much", he said, unconsciously imitating Victoria's holier-than-thou voice.	3942.020330118135
"I don't smoke".	143.65041957148452
She was horrified.	678.6875663737709
"Do you"?	25.436372769389113
"Hell, yes".	599.1876056707282
Not having said "hell" before, he stumbled a bit before gathering momentum.	53925.06258488671
"Sometimes eleven, fourteen a day".	1118.953896881858
"If I was your mama, I'd wop your tail off".	5767.166614920616
"My mother never wops me.	559.7938958619022
I've got this leg brace".	212.66545188567406
She seemed so unimpressed that he was obliged to roll up his blue jeans so she could see his brace.	13505.535581286116
"Dingy-looking", was what she said.	4894.128152726057
"Why don't you paint it red and white like a barber pole"?	17041.58023151936
"Because maybe I won't have to wear it always.	8554.328600190667
Dr Fortman says if I exercise my leg more, maybe I can use a cane when I'm big".	84582.09855671694
She spouted a mouthful of water into the air.	2171.688898235266
"A cane's mighty handy.	3850.083060758283
Someone's walking past, you want to stop him, zoooop, snag him around the neck with the crook in your cane.	51293.73109315347
Or say a waiter brings you a bowl of soup with a dead fly in it- all you got to do is bannnnnng, stooooomp your cane on the floor h. Hey, will you look at that"?	130309.48559362369
Maggie had shaken himself awake and was licking the sand off his stubby whiskers and his long plume of a tail.	155892.53353117703
"That's some dog.	359.98100396759014
What kind"?	282.6648016656251
"Part collie, part wire-haired terrier".	28129.01210505032
Quint glared.	6886.910637010236
He always did when people asked.	734.6942360611537
"Holy mackerel, that's the most unique dog I ever saw", she said firmly.	39040.32939176368
"His real name's DiMaggio, only we call him Maggie because he has to take tranquilizers.	16804.400529858834
He's braver than he looks.	2526.747802786604
He's been sick lately.	1291.283137638421
Last Tuesday he went on a ham jag".	9291.857069166634
"A what"?	171.42369684015867
He would have told her, but Victoria was yodeling.	4377.023635741018
That meant "Mama wants you Quint.	8258.118107308475
Come home or I'll come find you".	4722.820510138799
"I gotta go.	696.2790581308738
Even though this is my rock, you can use it sometimes.	3159.97109879601
I come early in the morning".	63.44465001287588
"So do I.	336.7190700645417
See you around, Mister Squint".	7642.359079635902
That was how they started being friends.	1331.6995251574579
They met next morning and all the mornings thereafter.	9095.065530345597
Same time, early, before the fog burned off, because she didn't like the sun; it made her blister.	59475.693158712995
Her name was Sabella, and the strip of seaweed around her neck was an emerald necklace the King gave her as a token of his undying love.	74371.83382804121
"You going to marry the King"?	1178.166969136907
"No.	3.297522726426617
He's got a long beard and picks his teeth with a fork.	8882.393348177551
My hair is what he's nuts about.	4332.516603692063
Naturally curly hair runs in my family.	2813.114658849355
Personally, I prefer straight hair like yours, but as they say on the Continent, 'What can one do'"?	18816.608540062112
"Which continent"?	2826.235468635246
"Name one, I been there".	1668.911401144166
Japan, she said, smelled pugh because people let dead fish lie on the beaches till the fish got hard as rocks; then they scraped off the mold and made fish soup.	101546.35222687494
Pugh.	3524.279832361616
Camels in Tripoli had harelips.	26298.596627531337
Near Galway the tinkers drove their caravans down to the beach and sang and drank and fought all night.	45022.493636730476
As for dancing- holy mackerel, he ought to see the gypsies in Jerez; they danced on the sand till your blood got hot and danced with them.	38896.0854766395
"Really".	261.2934819148603
Quint smothered a yawn.	18248.6338611592
She made better pictures than any book he'd read, but he didn't say so.	12134.840586561682
Artfully, as the days went by, he found occasion to tell her that his father had won the Navy Cross in the Korean War; that his baby sister could spit up through her nose when she felt like it; that he personally had an IQ of 141 and was currently reading the Mushr to Ozon volume of the encyclopedia.	269905.11873698694
"Books are for schnooks".	939.2697944373101
She skipped a piece of water at him and laughed, a funny, hoarse laugh he liked to hear.	19774.32826343451
Nobody ever appreciated his jokes as much as Sabella.	27012.227277558777
"What did one tonsil say to the other tonsil?	18956.794685899964
Let's get dressed up- the doctor's taking us out tonight".	16218.26337811205
And "What time did the Chinaman go to the dentist?	41142.45704034352
Tooth-hurty".	1669.7969158219107
Encouraged by her giggles he imitated Maggie who was crazy about ham.	115636.29994098276
He described the ham decorated with pineapple and cherries, cooling on the porch.	17623.551318894275
He snuck up on the ham like Maggie, gumming it with soft, stumpy teeth, then panting with thirst, lapping up the water in the lagoon, swelling up like a balloon, staggering home to be sick, while his mother said, "That does it.	197356.75635537214
That dog has to go".	196.6807199380028
"Say, you're quite a comic", Sabella said admiringly.	5922.225142063312
"Ever thought about going on the stage"?	2642.7503782008785
He hadn't.	108.90529144883071
But it was such a nice thought that he nodded his head.	1632.5696240181328
"Either that or a veterinarian".	4169.943594457524
"Better make up your mind, son", Sabella said.	6007.173500085492
"You can't serve cod and salmon".	3214.250049576273
Sometimes they argued.	22.9917140121194
She said sharks have no bones and shrimp swam backward.	19806.46579811628
His encylopedia agreed with Sabella.	6680.08358300073
Next morning he tied a bunch of sea daisies with string and threw them across the V-shaped inlet to the rock where she was swimming around.	24628.167953392734
Boy, could she catch!	1777.5649782421588
Like Willie Mays in the outfield.	9897.543627275423
"Nobody gave me flowers before.	1759.8166768447422
Thank you, Quint".	16087.836027622221
Her face turned pink with pleasure and a smothered cough.	26126.227894947515
"You can always tell a real gentleman- they got a certain je ne say quok".	25710.358837041764
Sometimes they didn't talk at all.	96.3283457449202
He daydreamed on the rock while she swam and splashed around.	16367.72941820759
Once when she asked why he never went swimming and he answered, "Don't feel like it", he was tempted to tell her about being scared.	48513.451676590055
But Victoria began yodeling just then and he went home, carrying Sabella in the back of his head, not thinking about her, just knowing she was there, smiling, smelling of peppermints.	47835.66942773961
As for his promise- oh, he had plenty of time, buckets of time.	3476.723376898486
Wednesday morning it happened.	984.6705847809899
They were eating breakfast.	277.1440305802844
"We beseech thee, Lord Gord, to bless this food"- that was Victoria saying grace while the baby sprayed raisin toast on her plastic bib.	232836.65568315514
Same old breakfast till the phone rang, making his mother's voice shake with excitement.	29408.006067624625
"Your Daddy's in San Francisco", she told them.	742.7206593474835
"He says he'll be here on the one-o'clock plane.	610.4222892686807
Fifteen days early- isn't that wonderful"?	27219.551532158715
"Yeah, keen".	1039.8352333974863
A cave seemed to be opening in Quint's stomach.	3548.396810746108
"Children, we'll have to get organized.	159.3553197320111
The baby can have an early nap.	10184.710741325689
Victoria, I want you to h" Quint closed the screen door quietly so Maggie wouldn't be scared.	55107.98015412986
"Hurry up, we're late", he said, noticing with a chill how gray the sky was this morning, the fog like a rope along the horizon, the choppy waves sending off sheets of blue and Kool-Aid green.	151340.77356379505
The cave in his stomach hurt.	2583.977140085069
He had to go into the water.	6.075999335249647
He'd tell Sabella about the nightmare.	1177.2894328391378
It had started two years ago when he was in an iron lung.	447.81836363213336
What caused it, he didn't know.	221.54873755447545
The metal collar gagging his neck?	13543.889897066787
Sweating so much?	1533.384123681018
The unbearable weight on his chest?	8275.959621529277
All of it together meant drowning.	2221.8108040819293
The first time the nurse took him out of the lung, she said if he got frightened, she'd put him back for a second.	13849.916676620987
When Bobbie Evans smashed up his car, the Jaguar his wife Linda had given him for his last birthday, and himself quite thoroughly with it, driving back from an afternoon's golf at Oakmont, it seemed to mark the end of a long, miswritten chapter in the social life of the community.	43378.32631707162
Linda looked remote yet lovely in black, and everyone held his or her breath.	65516.77917059521
Not that Linda was heartless, not that she would do anything prematurely or in bad taste any more than John Cooper would.	69566.96815289582
Hadn't Linda been a perfect wife to Bobbie, who was the least bit of a disappointment all these years?	72146.85007402267
Wasn't John Cooper even more attractive at forty-seven than he had been twenty-five years earlier?	37660.59154409316
And wasn't John's wife, Edythe, even more appalling, if possible?	58180.74767456757
Didn't John Cooper, after all this time, deserve something better of life?	6337.172465744445
Wasn't it adult and realistic to look at it that way?	5202.080567842475
And romantic?	2252.139904570705
Everybody knew that John Cooper had married Edythe on the rebound.	36053.42327281759
It was the kind of thing that could ruin a man's life, and it was a tribute to John's strength of character and very real business ability that it hadn't ruined his.	9750.561562367686
"Of course, there was nothing you could do, but you still ought to be ashamed of yourself for letting it happen", Mousie Chandler said to Linda Stuart.	17779.04012022486
"Poor John"!	972.4473682122871
Linda accepted the reproach, which was something she did rarely in all her life and most rarely in that summer of 1936 when she was by all odds the prettiest and brightest young woman west of the Allegheny Mountains, and John was surely one of the handsomer and brighter young men around Pittsburgh.	330833.4739170148
For it had been John and Linda ever since she had come out two seasons before at the Golf Club to the goggle-eyed admiration not only of the stag line but even of her fellow debs.	56458.55174662126
John had claimed her from the stag line, a young man a year out of Dartmouth with skiing crinkles still around his eyes.	25767.40108027117
You saw them always together those years.	4755.912110240955
You talked about John-and-Linda as an entity.	11087.392799166324
John-and-Linda were at Longue Vue last night; John-and-Linda drove to Conneaut in three and a half hours.	70860.92178758854
Then there was a spat over something, as there had been lovers' spats before; only this one didn't heal.	29473.053970409517
You still said "John-and-Linda", but as if you were speaking of a national catastrophe such as the depression or Dillinger.	76785.18301256126
It got worse instead of better.	998.9998272518258
First, it came out after Mr Cooper's will was settled- he had died the year before- that John and his mother weren't rich any more.	17632.55744286205
And then there was Linda's engagement to Bobbie Evans.	3010.884793956507
There was no connection between the two events, because Bobbie wasn't rich, either, though he was more aggressive than John.	9950.308921883387
He was a bright and handsome young man from New York, who worked for the same steel company as John did.	7953.496293226595
Some people said Linda had just announced the engagement to jolt John into some action, but when John came home from a business trip to Cleveland with Edythe, with Edythe his bride, it could no longer be John-and-Linda even to sentimental wishful thinkers.	111800.58742368004
It wasn't even John and Edythe.	2768.211789059454
It was simply Poor John.	353.9016091474893
There was nothing specifically wrong with Edythe, but there was absolutely nothing right about her either.	9895.674902121473
Mousie Chandler had been to school with her someplace near Baltimore and tried to explain rather than defend her to the gang having lunch at Horne's.	105408.30540910334
"Well, you shouldn't underestimate Edythe", Mousie said.	1913.1248501774905
"I know she gives the impression of being shallow and frivolous and scatterbrained.	17409.328891538888
She is frivolous and scatterbrained, but she really isn't shallow"h. Bobbie and Linda looked magnificent at their wedding.	43079.15362516003
John was at the church with Edythe.	1089.870057090438
She giggled during the ceremony, and Mousie Chandler, who was one of Linda's bridesmaids, said John glared black as death at her.	35093.35386201559
"As if he were choking", she said.	288.58289298774093
"Poor John"!	972.4473682122871
Edythe settled down to become a social myth and a horrible example.	9274.470396272653
Her hair never seemed to be in place and her skirts were never quite the correct length.	10298.47507137955
She didn't have a bad shape when you caught her at the pool at Longue Vue, but her bathing suits were far from smart.	42937.0416538412
And you didn't see her much at Longue Vue or anywhere, for John had drifted away from the gang.	72445.37096844739
Mousie said it was because he was too proud to stand pity.	15477.288481030848
Others thought he couldn't stand seeing Linda, Mrs Bobbie Evans, still so beautiful, so much in command of everything.	27604.936783010824
There were less-dramatic reasons too.	1429.2576714298032
John's mother died not long after his marriage, and there was even less Cooper money left.	17548.621032730403
John sold the big old place in Sewickley and bought a smaller house in Fox Chapel.	43645.331420385155
He was not reduced to poverty, but his job at the steel company had become a real job and not a method of passing the day.	13566.568944358354
John was good at his job.	302.87553493169605
It probably wasn't hard for him to keep his nose to the grindstone with nothing but Edythe to come home to.	12814.722382340482
Though that may be unfair since Ben Cooper, John's first son, came along early in 1938, the cutest baby you ever saw and a blessing that he looked all Cooper from fontanel to pink toes, nary a trace of Edythe.	291567.1303123367
But the continuing charm of the other children- Sally in 1940 and Jack in 1944- and all John's success at his work only made Edythe's dizziness and general uselessness more glaring.	66037.0711904008
She never could fit into a crowd which had known, which still knew and admired Linda.	48588.51788096138
When there was bridge at Edythe's house, the cards shuffled like wet graham crackers and the food probably was wet graham crackers.	72805.5594412716
She managed a missionary drive for the church once and got the books so confused that old Mr Webber, the eldest elder, who'd never donated more than five dollars to anything, had to cough up five hundred dollars to avoid a scandal in what Edythe called "the bosoms of the church".	163169.35412980488
John did find the missing checks and money afterward, and the drive was actually oversubscribed, which was a real bit of luck for the missionaries.	109656.69172242992
Being an intelligent man, John must have guessed what everyone thought about Edythe, but he never let on by so much as a brave smile.	51130.61284836729
Poor John was the kind of stock that keeps a bargain without whimpering and maybe bends over backward to keep a bad one.	16770.422216697618
He was an attentive and generous husband, overgenerous, a lot of people felt, because they knew that money must be a problem to him.	4962.337737677171
But he got ahead in business on leave from his job to an important Washington assignment during the war; after the war back to the heir apparency of the steel company.	58145.93216814152
The Coopers saw Bobbie and Linda socially, but no more than was necessary.	7340.846612530385
Bobbie had been successful, too, though he didn't match John's pace, and after all he didn't need to, with all the Stuart money.	24296.24277403713
He and Linda settled down to being social leaders, and Linda managed to look a little more beautiful each year.	32668.86802151419
And then came the hairpin turn, the smashed Jaguar and Linda, mourning alone and lovely.	50633.50138945541
Everyone held his or her breath.	2587.644321581335
"Don't think Linda couldn't have got John back any time, if she'd tried", Mousie Gordon, who had been Mousie Chandler, said between bites of a chicken sandwich at a luncheon table at Le Mont.	109521.94821586969
"Now you know she could've, but she isn't that kind of girl.	14078.83710966626
But now- well, it would be a blessing, I think.	578.5177162858249
Poor John".	200.78689615858073
Linda Evans felt more wretched than she had ever dreamed Bobbie's death could move her to feeling.	84575.50741228496
What she felt was a bone-deep loss with a sense of waste to it, not so much sorrow for handsome, ambitious Bobbie, but for the lost years that had been brought into high relief by his death.	43891.39312458101
She knew what people were thinking; it was what she had been thinking herself.	21652.93784882401
It was up to her to save Poor John, dear John, to undo the wrong she had done, but she trembled at the decision as at the brink of a cold stream.	19977.969810936633
There was no one who would blame her or John; she could be sure of that.	930.3030184736214
It might be rough on Edythe at first, but Linda and John between them could make a settlement handsome enough to soothe her, to send her back to Cleveland or anywhere.	58890.89340344177
And Linda felt capable of capturing the affection of the children, anxious even, since she and Bobbie had had none of their own.	18362.659622538362
It would be good for them to have a mother they need not be ashamed of.	1351.6610751456824
Linda would have to wait, she knew.	1814.42445857539
But what was a decent six months or so after the more than twenty years gone by?	9691.365148681689
Years of watching while Poor John struggled without the help and understanding of the kind of wife a man needed to get ahead.	6278.87398749524
Of course, he had done wonders h. Alloy steels and regular steels had different sales departments at Smith MacIsaacs, where John and Bobbie both worked.	29646.09341464375
Bobbie had been head of the alloy division, while John was just another good salesman in the regular branch.	40524.78685217456
So when old Mr Lovejoy, the company president, talked about putting in a single sales manager for both branches after the head of the regular steels had gone with Carnegie-Illinois, it looked like the perfect chance for Bobbie.	119759.51186790717
For Linda knew how to help her husband, not just the Stuart-family contacts but also the little dinners for Reuben Lovejoy.	33722.41440600687
She was almost sick when Bobbie came home with the news that Poor John had won the job.	15680.246788511677
"What did you do"?	83.57727683717579
she asked Bobbie.	1153.5510571664909
"You must have done something, something wrong.	913.8756891021773
Lord knows I had everything set for you".	6680.726136062263
Bobbie said something about damned Pittsburghers sticking together, and Linda got angry at him.	51420.70436339618
They had their first real fight, and Bobbie went off to get drunk.	8809.348071842065
Linda dragooned her uncle, Donald Murkland, into a lunch the next day to find out what had happened.	10211.558330322447
He was a director of S M and must have been in on the decision.	1657.646325128474
But jolly old Uncle Donald would tell her no more than that Bobbie had certainly been considered for the job, but there were factors in a large company which outsiders and even some insiders couldn't understand.	71279.34814660017
He didn't tell her of the long board meeting where Bobbie and John were weighed one against the other.	8323.860461831557
"I'm behind John Cooper", Mr Lovejoy said finally.	7350.377244182348
"I think we're agreed that he and Evans are equal in ability, so we have to look at the thing in terms of incentive.	14833.752328706436
"Now, I believe Poor John'll work just a little harder.	1690.5959922750965
With that wife of his, I think he feels every chance he gets is his big chance.	8634.266700066264
Bobbie, with Linda behind him, will have plenty of other opportunities.	24434.519150916294
And also, the money can't mean as much to Bobbie.	32489.501724455855
"Bobbie will take the job as his just reward and work hard at it; Poor John will take it as a miracle and have every other independent steel company sitting up nights worrying about us".	186936.3867707085
Most of the directors nodded.	126.080340000965
Uncle Donald Murkland found himself nodding agreement too.	8928.747664225824
After the surprise was over, Linda was almost as pleased as anyone with John's good luck, though she agreed with Bobbie's decision some months later to move to Funk Furnaces.	173520.19264413384
The job at Funk wasn't particularly better, but it got him away from being subordinate to John and assured him steady advancement, since Funk was owned to a large degree by various branches of Linda's family.	135059.07563461812
Poor John's rise continued to be meteoric.	20182.428681030386
When he was made a vice president only a year after the new sales job, a leading business magazine ran his photograph with a brief biography in a series on NATIONAL BUSINESS LEADERS OF THE FUTURE.	61771.505726487194
She called then to say she had a baby-sitter for that night.	7787.622072553037
"Shirley appreciated the chance to make some money.	7282.101283859931
Such a nice little thing- lives right in the building".	1092.1450278494724
"That's swell", I said sweetly.	15936.889655673904
I could get along without that three dollars.	481.0096021931371
In some ways it was worth being out the money- just knowing I was no longer obligated to Nadine!	25483.771004559814
It was past midnight and we were in bed when the phone rang.	5282.015518551054
I stumbled through the hall, wondering who would be calling at this hour.	8398.941683562682
I answered to find Nadine at the other end.	366.84071072985876
"You scared me half to death", I said shakily.	28395.114263845735
"What's wrong"?	2403.3204110654783
"Janice, nobody answers at the apartment"!	45754.602010040755
Her voice came shrill.	3101.6318294071475
"I'm absolutely frantic!	602.6426741802716
That stupid girl might have gone off and left Francie"!	31849.04759916674
"Oh, she wouldn't do that", I said.	128.16931851375227
"She's probably fallen asleep and doesn't hear the phone.	9747.45137117512
But if you're worried you can go home and check"- "I can't leave the party!	14203.828551577932
We're at Ken Thom's apartment, and when one couple leaves early everything falls flat!	12460.508709705366
Old Mr Thom is already down on Wally, and we simply can't afford to get Ken mad at us"- I was all set for what came next.	37456.90257741066
"Janice, could you possibly go over and make sure everything's all right?	247314.91402609186
I'll call you there in ten minutes"- "I can't make it in ten minutes"- Wondering, as I said it, why I should make it at all.	13377.871092703417
Why should I go over at midnight to check on Francie, when her parents didn't care enough to leave a party?	44976.56667902046
"Fifteen minutes, then!	2770.759993366026
Please, Janice.	788.6512855342851
I'll be glad to pay you"- So sure that money could do anything!	9748.253188683504
"All right", I said.	16.936161553711806
I'd do it.	46.73814114753828
Not for the dollar or so Nadine would give me.	3696.7470664060925
But because there was the chance that something had gone wrong at the apartment, and if I didn't go over, who would?	7069.307675551832
CHRIS WAS sound asleep, and I didn't see any sense in waking him.	33377.97470243285
I dressed in the kitchen, then left a note on the table telling him what had happened.	5843.044547536141
I drove off through the cool darkness to Nadine's apartment and rang the bell, and in a few seconds a young girl opened the door.	5343.227247291032
Her face was flushed from sleep.	2539.6318389702906
"It's all right", I said, as she started to look scared.	899.8327807052746
"Mrs Roberts had called, and couldn't wake you.	9757.211369393715
I just came over to make sure everything was all right".	1312.9108384106128
"I'm- hard to wake up", she faltered.	2695.7789152273012
She didn't look over thirteen.	1367.3410400218656
And Nadine insisted that her sitters be reliable!	22751.4716369104
"I have to get up early for church tomorrow", she went on.	305.8793044940253
"I didn't know it was going to be this late"!	1218.0396247415733
The phone started ringing.	2653.8363980818763
"That's Mrs Roberts again", I said.	292.61211406987644
"I'll answer it".	183.5236895037751
I crossed the beautifully furnished living room to the pale yellow phone.	6261.543206407255
I told Nadine everything was fine, and that I'd be getting on home.	1638.4108571470501
"Janice, would you mind staying"?	83815.69680361003
There was a ragged edge to her voice now, as if she'd been crying.	5549.062389201049
"Wally's drunk- I'll get him out of here as soon as I possibly can, but I don't want Shirley to see him like this.	30125.57097348404
You know how gossip of that sort spreads through an apartment building"- Not a word of thanks for what I'd already done.	26968.727833141886
The receiver clicked in my ear.	7594.14725615912
She didn't even give me a chance to refuse.	1600.9958051999567
Well, there wasn't any law that said I had to stay!	4398.7059699394
But then I looked at Shirley and thought that I might as well- the child needed her sleep, and Heaven knew what kind of a mess it would be, with Wally coming home drunk.	42729.4832448077
So I told her Mrs Roberts would pay her in the morning, and she scooted off to her own apartment.	7599.859984458476
After I looked in at Francie, I went into the living room and waited.	4381.198098807777
I must have dozed off, because I came to with a start at the sound of voices.	6335.675988014745
Nadine's, shrill with anger- Wally's loud and thick- As I went to the door I heard the clock strike two.	63908.91613076746
I opened the door, and Wally stumbled in- fast- as if Nadine had pushed him.	22641.042672178053
I had always thought she was so beautiful.	188.186232158379
But now she looked ugly.	218.4404166758253
Her skin was stretched so tight that her cheekbones stuck out, and if looks could kill, Wally would have been dead.	59945.016136678125
"Pack your clothes", she hissed.	35827.71117471326
"Pack- and get out"!	26301.225313573115
"You're crazy", Wally said thickly.	3354.251923769393
He lurched and stumbled to the davenport and sank down on it, and was instantly asleep.	36060.64451166894
Nadine strode over to him, and her pointed nails raked across his face.	6454.981097560955
I grabbed her arm and she turned on me and for a scared second I thought that maybe Wally was right, and she was crazy.	75790.30606271497
"You stay out of this", she spat at me.	1248.501721026108
"He's ruined us- do you hear me- he's ruined us!	16421.78055693457
He insulted Ken Thom"!	4678.5314210819915
Her eyes were wild.	2996.959700031853
"He told Ken to his face that he doesn't have what it takes to get a woman!	15182.388092653617
And the other people there were listening!	2843.9099831961294
We're ruined and he's going to get out if I have to throw him down the stairs"- "YOU'D BETTER simmer down", I said nervously.	28053.124802581835
I was plenty scared.	878.0227240850768
In the state she was in, she could actually kill him!	3813.3520411147774
"Now you just take it easy, and I'll make you some tea"- "Tea," Nadine screeched.	7778.209779096117
"How can you be so damn stupid?	912.8886854613912
Wally's lost his job!	12456.848716890332
Ken will never forgive him- never!	15345.088347468174
And we don't have any money- we don't have a dime!	7618.306789545961
All we own is Francie's bedroom set and the televison-record player and we even owe on them.	22490.574617150916
And we'll be poor and have to live in a grubby little house like yours- and all because of that"- I clamped my hand over her mouth to stop the stream of filth.	57344.429660147325
"Stop that!	701.331593053406
You'll wake up the whole building.	354.3295920911595
Wally can't go any place at this hour"- "Well then, I'll get out"- But she looked uncertain.	35898.521187437545
She was coming to her senses enough to realize that you don't go traipsing off anywhere at two in the morning.	4301.301800222816
"You go to bed", I said curtly.	5705.976789893217
"In the morning you and Wally can talk things out"- She collapsed against me, as if everything inside her snapped.	38790.72323497539
I got her into bed, and sat with her until she had sobbed herself out.	18380.397051118365
It was three o'clock before I figured it was all right to go.	1744.4095239461685
I left her, a limp bundle of self-pity, shivering with terror because her bubble had burst around her.	18222.55634929565
Wally was snoring on the davenport.	33224.02454370001
I had done all I could.	226.5005823262362
I had done all I was going to do.	296.5800624794672
Whether or not Wally lost his job was no concern of mine.	1598.3761068849608
I drove home, found Chris still asleep.	14686.893106051572
I snuggled up close to him- loving him- thankful for a man like him.	14658.426666357664
Thankful I wasn't Nadine.	18248.6338611592
I kept on being thankful.	5490.756270832944
In the afternoon Nadine and Wally came over with Francie.	8277.243382132177
Wally sat in our big chair, his hands between his knees, looking ready to cry.	69505.23084054718
"I'd had all this trouble with the old man, that's why I drank so much.	2534.6844321263243
I- got fired yesterday for not attending to business"- Old Mr Thom himself had stopped at the service station for a grease job, Wally confessed, and couldn't get one because there were cars on the pits waiting to be repaired.	144640.22656826663
Seems that the kid Wally had hired had a repair business of his own going on the side.	49833.496543534915
Mr Thom had gotten Wally on the phone, and fired him.	3195.177164011962
"I thought I'd smooth things over through Ken", Wally said miserably.	11959.047000173356
"But Ken got coy and wouldn't make any promises.	27282.42759178287
And I was plastered and I blew my stack"- "And told him right to his face he'd never slept with a woman"!	58437.420297083125
I tried to quiet Nadine because the children were there.	1237.0977982951315
But she was beyond caring what she said.	398.5262001784854
"Things may smooth over yet", Chris said, his nice lean face grave with honest concern.	45053.39059979062
But I couldn't help thinking that Nadine and Wally were getting just what they deserved.	30833.45927868569
Now maybe they'd realize that life can be tough.	12139.138363155684
WHEN A bubble breaks, there's nothing.	4206.174662646307
Little by little, during the week, Chris and I discovered the crazy unbelievable way Nadine and Wally had lived.	36752.81490598544
They had not only spent every cent- they were in debt up to their necks, owing on everything they owned.	18832.922831357944
On top of everything else they were two months behind on their apartment rent, and the day Wally received written notice that he was fired, they were evicted.	160612.09460482857
Worst of all, Wally had no training for any kind of work.	5248.671125349096
He had fallen into a soft job, and now the job was gone and he was stranded.	4313.45839312403
Chris fretted.	6670.253906581705
"I wish we were in a position to offer a little money to tide them over".	2904.574784060266
I said I wished we were, too.	189.17069109113174
It was easy enough to say it, because of course we couldn't spare a cent.	2250.5210372346883
But Chris brightened up like a candle.	2199.308369573808
"I'm glad you feel that way, honey.	394.3310712828333
There is one big way we can help them.	1669.9838534831015
We can let them move in with us"- Something I had simply never thought of.	20205.82688834164
Something so incredible- I just stared at him.	3181.1708183207306
It was incredible- He gave me an embarrassed, pleading look.	10241.233356580005
"I know we'd be pretty crowded.	1860.9541834900756
But it would only be for a couple of weeks- until they get straightened out".	600.4209579438541
Straightened out- They'd had years of making all that money!	65925.66436135452
"I won't do it", I said flatly.	1156.5278634989465
"Nadine was always too good to live in a little house like this!	27513.549614618543
Well, now she can sleep in the street for all I care"!	8872.553345202921
"That isn't like you, Janice", Chris said uncomfortably.	13686.392217103012
Then I felt uncomfortable, too.	230.49238805514662
I didn't want to be like that, mean and bitter.	483.0281868361968
But, darn it all, why should we help a couple of spoiled snobs who had looked down their noses at us?	52921.68194609703
But, in the end, we did.	15.883402104947802
It just seemed as if there was nothing else to do.	42.7107512786544
The finance company took all their furniture- and they didn't have a cent to their name.	9541.56930635403
Then Wally got sick.	1325.8123060699634
To my way of thinking, he was scared sick.	2814.9978318078756
His luck had failed him, and it was easier to crawl off into bed than to get out and fight the world.	7218.384760455423
Chris made trip after trip in our old car, moving the clothes and dishes and the stock of groceries Nadine had bought on special.	116557.63895440189
At least we'll eat, I thought grimly as I put all the food away.	24671.99307431078
While I worked, Nadine sat and cried.	2370.0789469271604
When she wasn't crying, she was in our bedroom fighting with Wally.	9460.011439844862
"Virus infection nothing", she'd scream at him.	10488.226379393356
"You're too lazy to go out and look for another job.	1814.2551406802447
You're just a no-good bum"!	990.3616638461134
It was a mess, all right.	40.35541563292144
But it couldn't go on forever- A couple of weeks, Chris had said.	4299.519868607326
I figured I could stand practically anything for a couple of weeks.	553.387458620162
But the two weeks dragged into three, and they were still with us.	539.0719592449794
Nadine's constant nagging had finally gotten Wally out of bed.	7671.996694269366
He set out every morning looking for work, and come home around noon, full of alibis and excuses.	32889.134104207915
Wendell Thom had black-balled him.	8448.148297358819
Nobody would even take his application.	2482.2742850712825
"You can get something," Nadine would snap.	1064.178801193789
"You can get a job working in a grocery store, if nothing else".	226.12214271235868
"The high school kids have got everything sewed up", he said, a whine in his voice.	11386.448512092507
"Those damn punks- taking work away from men who need it".	11457.02067702461
"BY FALL they'll be back in school", I'd say, trying to sound encouraging.	10478.481978520416
But this was only the middle of July h. And I couldn't take six more weeks of this.	4525.980482763479
I mentioned it to Chris one stifling hot night, when I had slipped outside for a breath of fresh air.	7073.248885658776
I DON'T really believe in intuition.	6341.555835543532
But I swear to you from the moment I opened my eyes, I knew it was going to be a bad day.	2439.4973117231825
Part of it was the weather, so foggy it would take me twice as long to get to the hospital.	1231.4222104868036
Part of it was being so tired- I'd not only had my usual full day yesterday, but a dinner meeting as well, that kept me up late.	16684.224093111778
But the rest of it, the main part, wasn't based on logic at all.	765.6518033500715
It was just going to be one of those days.	142.31465573655598
For the thousandth time, I wished I'd chosen some nice, nine-to-five, five-days-a-week profession.	23724.240564914755
And for the thousandth time, I answered myself.	2154.324043181721
I hadn't chosen medicine- it had chosen me.	8066.670480768712
Actually, I shouldn't complain, I told myself in the shaving mirror.	10838.878726454068
I had a lot to be thankful for.	449.11322705508564
A profession that brought me as good an income as mine wasn't to be sneezed at.	39375.900175997645
Maybe I didn't see as much of Gladdy as I'd like, but how much worse it would have been if I'd had to board her out somewhere after Alice went- send my daughter to an orphanage or a boarding-home.	52148.69752996292
At least, we were together and we had Mrs Hodges, bless her, to look after us- no mother could be fonder of Gladdy than Mrs Hodges was.	35082.05896852077
I was lucky in lots of ways, no doubt about it.	653.4413215103332
Especially in the way Gladdy had turned out.	3757.8917115059776
Growing up without a mother from the time she was three- it wasn't a good thing for a child, even knowing the kind of mother Alice had been.	14529.87281775954
But I mustn't start on Alice.	4530.205986986206
She is a closed book, a picture I keep on my bureau, but never look at.	12404.741663016826
If she'd kept on as she'd been going, the story I'd told Gladdy would probably have been true by now, anyhow h As usual, Gladdy's bright smile greeted me at the breakfast table.	28827.950607110346
Her first class wasn't until ten, but she always got up to have breakfast with me.	10334.27046886002
It made me feel good and knowing that she'd decided, all on her own, to go to college right here in town made me feel good, too.	11225.440479400542
Oh, I knew that I couldn't give myself all the credit for her decision.	2933.7287253307563
I had a feeling that young Pete Michelson, the most promising intern at Fairview, had something to do with it, too.	2095.8426745122156
She'd been out with Pete the night before and her gay chatter about their date lightened my mood a little.	17879.858672352
But once I was alone again, driving to the hospital, the heaviness returned.	2192.779710729042
If she and Pete were really getting serious, I'd have to do some hard thinking.	2523.470740302632
Should I tell him the truth about Alice?	13338.55588194259
Did he have a right to know the secret I'd kept from Gladdy all these years?	10360.496126200951
The boys were already waiting in the corridor outside my office when I got to Fairview.	39353.31704195807
Two interns and Dick Ishii, the other resident.	28880.955318133747
I'm Chief of Medicine here and this morning would start like all others, with me taking the boys on the rounds.	46034.332332828206
Pete was down on Seven, Dick told me, and he'd meet us there.	6184.120041462686
There wasn't anything of special interest that morning, no one sicker than they should have been.	3314.544235271479
Pete came to meet us when we stepped out of the elevator on Seven- he'd had a case of post-operative shock, but it was all taken care of now.	35452.51925096199
Seven is a women's floor and, as it happened, not very busy right then.	14518.327316258452
When we'd finished our regular rounds, Pete pointed me toward the small ward at the end of the floor.	5017.727906323622
"Got a new one in last night", he said.	2365.6557621354914
"I haven't seen her yet, but I hear she's a lulu"!	9612.126341014213
I wasn't surprised.	181.55748482690748
The ward was a small one, four beds, kept reserved for female alcoholics.	24963.008830022784
We didn't get many at Fairview and they were never pretty sights.	10711.369398638582
It was thought wiser to keep them segregated from the patients in the regular charity ward.	19030.79544902193
The moment I walked in, the whole miserable feeling of the day seemed to focus on the woman in the bed.	7119.726748446165
They'd cleaned her up some, of course, and she'd pretty much slept off her drunk.	8193.45930142457
But there was something about her- and I felt my lips forming a name.	1782.934132732179
Alice h But this woman's name was Rose Bancroft!	63811.93704418734
I looked at the chart for reassurance.	1079.4758273020298
Yes, Rose Bancroft, diagnosis acute alcoholism.	8794.584860706
She looked about sixty, though I recalled that the chart gave her age as forty-four.	9585.015260396161
An ugly scar disfigured the somewhat familiar puffy face, already marred by the tell-tale network of broken red veins that heavy drinkers carry.	119837.38252486591
Her coarse hair was two-colored- bleached blonde and its real, dirty gray.	46637.865150856356
Oh, could it be?	18.822485842808845
No, no h it was an unfortunate resemblance, that was all it was, and I turned to Dick, forcing myself to put my disquiet out of my mind.	10480.901569678803
In a low voice, Dick filled us in h SHE'D BEEN picked up downtown, passed out in the doorway.	32287.157987457318
Although quiet when they brought her in, she'd suddenly turned violent and had to be knocked out.	24512.137997327234
It was the old story.	42.79237142291765
We'd keep her a day or two, and the AA people would talk to her.	1838.6925261024162
But if she wasn't interested, she'd just go back to the same life she'd left.	2452.1304854997143
Turning toward the patient again, I- I can't describe what happened to me then, except to say that I felt sick.	30304.60431495524
I tell you, it took every ounce of control I had to be able to speak.	595.282588845746
"Now, Miss- or is it Mrs Bancroft"?	13957.428117145302
I never liked going straight into an examination with patients- it relaxes them, I've always thought, to chat first.	30057.275333447058
This was one time I'd have gladly broken my own rule, but habit was too strong.	5561.592870375832
"Hey"!	469.3657852978755
Her voice was flat and dull.	2683.5139968754547
But those penetrating eyes- I had to turn my head away.	3398.03031159865
It was then that I saw what the drawn-back covers revealed.	2528.4739845314593
There were bloodspots on the sheet.	1420.307789411726
"What's this"?	257.2354289324899
I asked.	2.6665076521639826
"Your period"?	1680.015808498409
She shook her head.	282.7216618097605
"I been spotting a little now and then", she said quietly, no emotion in her voice.	7415.376486108922
"Have you spoken to a doctor about it"?	1910.3903333882085
Once again, there was a negative shake.	228.10699748092165
I told Miss Groggins to move her down the hall where we had an examining table.	11866.54418049092
"Better do a Papanicolaou", I told Pete.	19371.572451771393
It was only a few moments before Miss Groggins had her in the proper position for a vaginal, but I couldn't see anything wrong on gross examination.	13603.811952316108
Pete stood by with a slide and took the smear, sent it down to the lab with a request for the test.	14013.034410894792
That done, I told Miss Groggins to take her patient back to bed and again put her out of my mind.	4354.418913109687
I was busy the rest of the day.	72.06551104922964
Late in the afternoon, I was up on Seven again.	3181.9497433619204
One of my private patients was being admitted and I went in to see her settled.	9278.94843535229
On my way to the elevator, I ran into Pete.	7101.244450448399
"I've got the results on the Bancroft smear test", he said.	936.7187413624667
"There's something there, all right.	377.4444238990317
Class Three, they said.	1089.39088758788
Do you want to talk to her, doctor"?	376.7869275052978
"Well"- I didn't- I didn't ever want to see that woman again.	6671.704105040696
But that was ridiculous, of course.	161.30294799041832
"All right.	3.8043631555700803
We'll do a D and C and get her permission for a hysterectomy.	9123.85296132746
Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's intraepithelial or in situ- can't take any chances".	20448.31680382731
"If you can keep her here that long", Pete said wryly.	9054.597535723467
"Groggins tells me she's started badgering already, wants to get out.	5042.457955925626
Wants to get to her booze, I guess".	3206.54336178217
I grimaced in distaste.	1432.9169564452607
"Well, better see what I can do".	100.82697696721479
We'd been standing right outside Miss Bancroft's door and as I went to turn the knob to enter, I was surprised to find that the door was slightly ajar.	19334.57286333823
But she seemed to be dozing and in any case, we'd been talking in low tones.	611.8778105529291
Her eyes opened as soon as she heard me, though, and once again, I felt an inward shiver.	12111.032367243963
"I sure can't complain about the service in this place", she said.	2424.490106936071
"I just got through seeing one of you guys.	8677.857911863235
What do you want"?	89.63802828961875
There was something almost insulting in her tone, but I disregarded it.	4412.178254230511
"I've just been talking to Dr Michelson", I said.	204.19254729068115
"We'd like you to have a dilatation and curettage.	860.9475456196092
That's quite minor, nothing to worry about.	458.33866844556604
But we would like your permission to do- that is, to go further if it proves necessary".	4900.633430385008
"No".	3.297522726426617
It was flat, definite.	1675.8646578736873
"Suppose you let me explain.	2004.0253524489005
Actually, I rather doubt that we'll have to do this.	231.9140689409788
Even if we do, you'll be out of here in a week, probably".	168.24204238098764
I was sure that was the difficulty- she just didn't want to stay here, where she couldn't get to the liquor.	11511.061601912419
"No".	3.297522726426617
I looked at her in amazement.	47.593347197965386
I'd had patients who'd refused surgery before, of course, but never one who didn't show, in one way or another, the reason why.	1555.8968881243493
Mostly, it was fear, but this woman's voice didn't tremble and her hands were still on the coverlet.	105775.68122572218
"Will you tell me why"?	2038.2903681190282
I asked.	2.6665076521639826
She smiled, a smile without humor.	3595.8698125447067
"You shouldn't tell your little secrets outside of the patient's door", she said.	3492.2555544098905
"I've got cancer, haven't I"?	862.0731984344264
She went on, disregarding my protests.	9903.842659483611
"I'm not going to be one of your guinea pigs.	75.46145078681302
Let your pupils learn on someone else, doctor.	3909.0376485719244
Just let me die in peace".	490.87726147068116
I stared at her, almost speechless.	6816.9055553400385
Her little speech was totally out of character with the sort of person I thought she was.	4119.62402761424
Even her voice had taken on a more cultivated tone.	10676.895185728281
This was someone who'd come down in the world, I thought.	894.7286194100601
A long, long way down.	311.9021407167048
Again there was something familiar about her, something h "You haven't got cancer", I said as strongly as I could.	25869.145900426476
"I don't know what you heard that would make you think so, but I assure you I don't even know myself, so how can you be so sure?	13834.182522636547
And even if"- "Don't give me a lot of talk, Joe".	2997.704584117037
I gaped at her.	394.19652441709854
She could have found out my first name, of course- that wouldn't be difficult.	11649.468218997083
But there was that something, some echo in the way she spoke h She was watching me intently, a funny little half-smile on her lips.	35179.3695468085
"Surprised, baby?	3207.467812658155
Guess I've changed, haven't I?	41620.752284821516
But you haven't changed much, Joe".	3554.0391224206087
I knew then, knew with a heart-stopping shock.	7222.784372954839
"Alice"- I stammered through dry lips.	14793.370050393767
"Alice, for goodness sake"- "Alice", she echoed mockingly.	52324.23225735616
"What's the matter, Joe, you scared of me?	1496.9563850740599
Think I'm going to make you introduce a drunk as your wife?	57058.679190383526
Well, don't worry.	58.9848777535101
Just let me outta here"- "But why did you come back"?	19177.60094756672
I'd found my voice.	328.84835707576326
"Where have you been all these years"?	3265.876692518265
She shrugged.	247.33167076285108
"Here and there.	75.11525701330243
As for coming back here- well, I'll tell you the truth, I didn't even know where I was when I came to.	1944.6506547120998
The last thing I remember is a bar in San Diego"- The way she spoke, her flat acceptance of her alcoholic blackout, made me shudder.	72362.08479825757
And this was Gladdy's mother!	1139.353213852484
"I never asked you for any favors, Joe", she went on, "but I'm asking one now.	6120.947599618088
Let me outta here!	454.0000327320091
You doctors are all alike- all you want is to cut up people and what's the good?	141842.06161556594
No, I want out, Joe"!	914.6332392861751
I looked at the pathetic wreck of a woman before me.	2725.9731076649614
Let her out, let her out- that would be the solution, wouldn't it?	14208.755933806751
What she'd said was true- in all these years, she'd never asked for anything from me.	7205.20323552028
If I let her go, she'd disappear once more.	1480.466695585208
And Gladdy would be safe!	5442.976361276808
I was slowly swimming down to the bottom of the sea.	136.83042682499416
She made me welcome.	691.2301050365178
Her dark cool caresses were sweeter than any woman's; the many little tricks she knew made her embrace the ultimate one- the ever more fantastic pressures deeper in her body squeezed not me but the air I breathed into a nitrogen anesthetic.	331192.5764074078
Yielding-Mediterranean-woman-flesh-of-water, she soothed me, and drew me deeper into her.	102160.12060027874
I no longer knew how deep I was, somewhere under 230 feet, getting drunker, happier and more contented by the second.	41343.898540682516
The reasons for this dive seemed foolish now.	593.7033833693617
Only the dive itself had any meaning.	2257.377965905312
The metal-tasting nitrogen made me wonder if I should remove the mouthpiece and suck in the sweet water.	60776.60277878321
Perhaps if I took off the aqua-lung I could swim better, love my woman better.	53842.009872211645
I chuckled aloud, and the mouthpiece fell out.	13197.079896411142
While a hazy part of my mind concentrated on swimming down, a clear part sorted over recent events, among them my only positive act in a long time.	19992.22062463756
It was when I packed up what duds I had and went to Paris.	2641.3546199704538
It was no vacation, just me getting out after a bellyfull.	12102.633047291134
I knew it wouldn't be the same.	61.53292614414354
Wild kicks never are, but I hoped to dig up a better frame of mind.	16761.21232246637
Once before I had been to Paris, long before I married Valery.	16186.595118803394
That first time was good and it stuck with me.	3075.2296912616207
I was twenty-one back then, in the army, and fog put our plane down at Orly instead of Rhine-Main.	22984.96944782239
It was a Saturday evening in April with a mist-like rain, and I was a little high on the good taste of life.	4034.2853696087577
I had a pocketful of money, which was unusual when I was in the army, and the plane would be grounded all night.	4035.5536148154442
In less than an hour I had gotten a hotel, showered, shaved and was out on the Champs Elysees in a fresh uniform.	59285.62547466812
I felt like a Hun in Rome.	465.9995074748312
All the women were beautiful, and the men were equal to them; everything was glamorous to my dazzled eyes.	16372.319056537997
There were some sweet machines other than women an old Bugatti, a lean Farina coachwork on an American chassis, a Swallow, a type 540-K Mercedes and lots more.	120515.90786368027
There was the Arc de Triomphe and the Tour d'Eiffel- I was no yokel, but I was young, and this was Paris!	38728.86257317668
I had champagne at Maxim's, then went into a cafe called the Jour et Nuit to ask the way to Montmartre.	62543.03581718301
I never got there.	47.48341707384492
I met Claire, which was better.	780.430846301003
She was eating bread and cheese just as fast as she possibly could, and washing it down with red wine.	25191.739527443417
I stared.	1074.7329634756072
I didn't know a human could feed so fast and still be beautiful.	5207.847331374349
She was blonde, and young, and nice and round in a tight white dress.	13552.493767143564
Maybe her ravenous eating wasn't grotesque because she was so positive about it.	7641.15802671722
When she had drained the last of the bottle and paid her bill, she came directly to my table and said "Handsome soldier, I have assuaged one hunger with food.	53639.10163473573
I feel another of terrible urgency.	2729.2945788082743
Is your evening free"?	2223.7213021117946
"Madame", I said with noblesse oblige because of the "handsome"- "yeah".	9189.399517763602
And so off we went to her apartment.	1546.3556801660895
She was a nymphomaniac, of course, the poor girl.	855.9300787534343
Toward the break of day I waxed philosophical, and drew analogies about her way of eating bread and cheese.	68872.87259179624
Now it was nine years later, and it wasn't spring but winter when I returned.	3828.528504991162
I got there on a Saturday evening.	513.9455669984474
I made the mistake of going to the Jour et Nuit.	2768.9392925792977
The place was busy but I didn't feel like a Hun.	11086.505142185679
I sat waiting for Life to come along and sweep me up.	3376.717632894602
I had part of a bottle of French beer called Panther Pils so help me, then switched to Tuborg.	54463.59017371365
After a few hours, Life hadn't showed, and I was crocked.	2435.860773671479
I went to my hotel and slept.	1497.1330282691617
The next morning a little cognac made me feel better- but what can you do in Paris on Sunday morning?	27087.358597602288
So I drank more cognac.	2919.3498326143103
All that day and Monday I drank just enough to orbit but not make deep space.	18709.33307838274
I read the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.	2684.8220623043208
Elemental, but sex.	1822.295813377246
That's what was on my mind.	129.8349433668198
I was turning over the idea of a good debauchery when I dozed off.	6520.3420101191105
I felt better Tuesday evening when I woke up.	1750.7937049751147
My head was clear, my thinking sober and I was reconciled to this Paris idea as a flop on top of all my others.	59022.141644671574
A good binge has that kind of therapeutic value.	2176.220585307786
Sometime earlier the weather had turned cold and it was snowing.	46338.222412333635
I went out into it.	58.84339004017484
I walked around breathing the cold wine of the air until I found a park, and I sat down on a snowy bench where the light was dim and came from the sky.	23572.677623211963
There was dignity and beauty in the little white flakes falling through the blue night.	15404.239932355009
I had on only a topcoat, but I wasn't cold.	3134.869121676625
I was just miserable.	131.33492129174948
Pretty soon a woman came along carrying a folded umbrella as a walking stick.	18552.627354695083
She saw me and sat down beside me, three feet away.	9017.6632050426
Suddenly I understood why she had the umbrella.	6305.607506354735
It gave her poise and posture.	766.7647274967692
Without it she would have been drab and limp.	3381.502013870067
It gave her propriety.	194.14120517874736
It gave her the right to sit down beside me, back straight, one hand out on the handle.	28479.960931727113
I couldn't imagine her without it.	459.4693318918874
I knew all about her.	50.486253433330326
She was another human being and happened to be a hustler.	6425.683597441293
I didn't much care if she were there or not.	1557.0729728906424
After a while she said with sort of an unuttered laugh, "You have snow in your hair and ears".	21512.81889051067
I didn't have on a hat.	2041.0327739388324
Hardly glancing at her, I smiled a bleak one which said, Thanks, baby, but I'd rather be alone.	20866.14335746855
She was silent for a while, then said, "Why are you so unhappy"?	14647.038148639123
"I'm not unhappy", I lied, staring at the snow.	1801.0891725231402
She was trying to make a hole in my armor, and I didn't want it.	1548.446211218507
"Is it a woman"?	1154.9988066155177
she asked gently.	844.3024620930995
She must have seen the ring on my left hand.	472.4479879738726
"Well- women and unhappiness go together", I observed profoundly, adding, "You can wager your derriere on that".	58168.05319226279
"Ah, monsieur, it is not my business to wager it h" This took me so funny I had to look at her.	6669.36391933375
I felt my frozen sad face crumble, and I grinned a silly one I couldn't have helped.	48324.48838657719
I even snorted a chuckle.	1440.2388311476784
She smiled at me, but it was an awfully sad smile.	2215.262439016029
She was even more miserable than me.	1168.0575028968406
Her eyes were smiling, too, but so sadly, and there was tiredness and infinite wisdom in them.	14459.348440250738
"Now isn't it better to smile"?	14024.381928611585
she asked.	3.9969589709243873
Because I liked this sad person so much, I said, "Will you have a drink with me"?	11489.837845258964
I could see the ancient cynicism reinforce itself in her eyes, and I wondered how many men she had picked up with this same gambit.	25424.573548230866
Anyway, I pulled a bottle of Remy Martin out of my topcoat, drew the cork, and passed it to her.	22074.498304202785
I could see she was shocked.	51.05072985721203
"I'm sorry I haven't got a glass", I said.	269.9214455940557
"Non, non", she said, taking the bottle, "not for that be sorry".	17114.657574495828
She tilted up and drank, and then I drank.	20393.655235281436
It's really rotten to drink good cognac like that, but I hadn't cared before.	9398.751207122237
I wasn't going to lug around a glass.	2708.7796791012374
There wasn't much light in the blue dark, but I could see her well.	5782.589808869235
No child, this tart, she must have been thirty-five or even forty.	9575.890229301738
I couldn't be sure.	59.366239552257355
Somehow she was attractive.	822.3440698257366
Not good looking, but self-confident and wise so that it made her attractive.	5392.367914741999
I liked her, and all at once I was glad she was there.	1906.7628744120245
We finished the bottle- I hadn't had a lot out of it earlier- not speaking much to each other, and we stayed sober.	40506.342411522026
I suppose we were cold, but we didn't feel it.	612.179975638694
We seemed to be drowsing, sadly, soberly, in the cold, cold air while the snow fell.	10089.440076685578
Then she said, "Allons", and we got up and went to my hotel without another word.	2427.500909066605
I sensed no stranger in her.	3504.2313549490914
We undressed and made love with the comfortable acceptance I had once known with Valery.	79638.31073697079
I decided thirty-five was the best estimate of her age.	4408.014955398155
She had a funny little scar on her stomach, on the left side.	2225.7240200421265
I think we were very tired, for we awoke at the same moment, deeply rested, surprised to see the late morning sun on the windows, which were wet where the rime had melted.	65629.9770254012
I felt wonderful, the absolute opposite of last night's melancholy.	20227.727298277267
My head was clear.	156.54762614766187
I was hungry as a wolf, and my body felt lean and vital.	7215.455803448828
"Bon jour", I said brightly, sitting up, which pulled the covers to her hips.	220825.7308911488
She looked good, with her short tousled hair and no make-up.	2118.305495961247
Maybe closer to thirty, I thought.	2362.4000838320962
"Bon jour"!	6887.8284972648125
she exclaimed, smiling.	5186.351128228679
"J'ai faim"!	2912.9353546171196
"Yeah, but breakfast first".	452.2854796737201
With a laugh she beat me to the bathroom.	1661.8410825697256
I called downstairs for food and a toothbrush for her.	2400.2921133483496
She came out pink from a hot bath, and I gave her my robe.	11579.8113632095
I had brushed my teeth, showered, shaved and dressed by the time a waiter wheeled in breakfast.	32751.8679560861
"The toothbrush monsieur", he said, presenting it.	4109.317650750105
I gave it to the woman.	458.66029769645206
"What is this for"?	102.69736419720466
she asked innocently.	1120.8382616149515
"Why, to brush your teeth".	639.0416130109411
"But I already have!	960.3308873130253
I used yours".	182.85434055758125
"Oh"?	5.604946306830428
I said with round eyes.	470.8589063971948
I wondered if I ought to go use the new one myself.	8885.455868704756
But I smelled the coffee, and thinking, What the hell, live dangerously, I decided I would scald my worries away.	27880.1215169121
The coffee wasn't very hot though, made in a filter pot, but it was good.	4236.96194736358
We sent the waiter away and ate a tremendous amount of cold ham, hot hard-boiled eggs and hot garlic bread.	22980.832462705028
As we ate, we talked.	1351.835337056876
Her name was Suzanne, and mine Stephen.	1511.494535891683
We sat back comfortably on the bed with our last cups of coffee.	7727.049570824345
"You are very tactful, do you know, Stephen", she remarked.	495.38224900371955
"Um"?	11318.63465748144
I grunted, sipping.	5074.310120372459
"Yes, because you didn't run off to use that new toothbrush".	12954.620944444472
I raised my eyes to look at her in the mirror.	1288.1993563372373
"I didn't really use yours", she went on.	646.2432740354483
"I carry one in my purse.	8778.378864357535
I know men never kiss les putains".	4433.26843055924
To my immense relief, she changed the subject in the next sentence "Shall we go to the Louvre today"?	50683.489649178075
"All right".	3.8043631555700803
I said with enthusiasm at the idea.	538.8746071198077
"But not immediately".	92.1473785085694
I put aside my empty cup.	2384.407338943362
She smiled all the way to her wise, sad eyes, and drained her own.	21395.84438507263
We were not rushed.	418.91187396201326
"What is this from"?	112.31762579201549
I asked, touching the scar on her stomach.	2091.2156107605288
It was like a long thin line drawn through a pink circle.	1521.0352611360865
"A bullet", she answered.	411.061896539419
The cynicism was back in her eyes, a bitter wisdom, and I wondered if forty were not so far wrong after all.	20091.29284896847
She understood sex anyway, and played at it well.	8093.116850483922
We went to the Louvre for a few hours, then by Metro to a cabaret in Montmartre.	20989.520676747063
It was a nice place, not filled with smoke.	1048.811846135196
We had champagne and steamed mussels.	4117.339157538021
The sommelier brought the wine first, a magnum instead of the bottle I had ordered.	27490.191396239483
He must have thought I was a tourist.	2093.4170760708726
I fixed him with a steely eye and said, "What's this for?	47190.95911557479
I didn't ask for a Jeroboam of champagne".	9444.78330387158
I thought that was pretty humorous, but I didn't laugh.	6733.545632666857
TWO LETTERS HAD ARRIVED FOR MISS THERESA STUBBLEFIELD SHE PUT them in her bag.	30810.287129944147
She would not stop to read them in American Express, as many were doing, sitting on benches or leaning against the walls, but pushed her way out into the street.	21355.081324922252
This was her first day in Rome and it was June.	3668.0837545601016
An enormous sky of the most delicate blue arched overhead.	11316.020466896807
In her mind's eye- her imagination responding fully, almost exhaustingly, to these shores' peculiar powers of stimulation- she saw the city as from above, telescoped on its great bare plains that the ruins marked, aqueducts and tombs, here a cypress, there a pine, and all around the low blue hills.	235997.84085302264
Pictures in old Latin books returned to her the Appian Way Today, the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine.	72134.62402615394
She would see them, looking just as they had in the books, and this would make up a part of her delight.	2159.8037330925417
Moreover, nursing various Stubblefields- her aunt, then her mother, then her father- through their lengthy illnesses everybody could tell you the Stubblefields were always sick, Theresa had had a chance to read quite a lot.	63532.837150122396
England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy had all been rendered for her time and again, and between the prescribed hours of pills and tonics, she had conceived a dreamy passion by lamplight, to see all these places with her own eyes.	46329.61019714708
The very night after her father's funeral she had thought, though never admitted to a soul Now I can go.	39978.46544580309
There's nothing to stop me now.	386.74511371836087
So here it was, here was Italy, anyway, and terribly noisy.	11862.414218491398
In the street the traffic was really frightening.	1818.80895915693
Cars, taxis, buses, and motorscooters all went plunging at once down the narrow length of it or swerving perilously around a fountain.	167879.29314351515
Shoals of tourists went by her in national groups- English school girls in blue uniforms, German boys with cameras attached, smartly dressed Americans looking in shop windows.	201015.12027069993
Glad to be alone, Theresa climbed the splendid outdoor staircase that opened to her left.	45636.103648021584
The Spanish Steps.	1358.1469320604947
Something special was going on here just now- the annual display of azalea plants.	29325.60110584484
She had heard about it the night before at her hotel.	2859.13387083873
It was not yet complete workmen were unloading the potted plants from a truck and placing them in banked rows on the steps above.	33702.594466320574
The azaleas were as large as shrubs, and their myriad blooms, many still tight in the bud, ranged in color from purple through fuchsia and rose to the palest pink, along with many white ones too.	203108.4537016454
Marvelous, thought Theresa, climbing in her portly, well-bred way, for she was someone who had learned that if you only move slowly enough you have time to notice everything.	117526.34498952224
In Rome, all over Europe, she intended to move very slowly indeed.	28056.021840110203
Halfway up the staircase she stopped and sat down.	29580.81366290318
Other people were doing it, too, sitting all along the wide banisters and leaning over the parapets above, watching the azaleas mass, or just enjoying the sun.	49156.20436352616
Theresa sat with her letters in her lap, breathing Mediterranean air.	54775.44717862961
The sun warmed her, as it seemed to be warming everything, perhaps even the underside of stones or the chill insides of churches.	14724.763594197428
She loosened her tweed jacket and smoked a cigarette.	4841.911674509662
Content h excited; how could you be both at once?	174468.4605447297
Strange, but she was.	7.4924862996867585
Presently, she picked up the first of the letters.	94.32133502221406
A few moments later her hands were trembling and her brow had contracted with anxiety and dismay.	39859.93017831109
Of course, one of them would have to go and do this!	580.1880436847651
Poor Cousin Elec, she thought, tears rising to sting in the sun, but why couldn't he have arranged to live through the summer?	86314.8560470903
And how on earth did I ever get this letter anyway?	25180.976478125158
She had reason indeed to wonder how the letter had managed to find her.	6380.466806422847
Her Cousin Emma Carraway had written it, in her loose high old lady's script- t's carefully crossed, but l's inclined to wobble like an old car on the downward slope.	196442.90110726393
Cousin Emma had simply put Miss Theresa Stubblefield, Rome, Italy, on the envelope, had walked up to the post office in Tuxapoka, Alabama, and mailed it with as much confidence as if it had been a birthday card to her next-door neighbor.	64543.36705802358
No return address whatsoever.	827.243864200826
Somebody had scrawled American Express, Piazza di Spagna?, across the envelope, and now Theresa had it, all as easily as if she had been the President of the Republic or the Pope.	19693.949779651466
Inside were all the things they thought she ought to know concerning the last illness, death, and burial of Cousin Alexander Carraway.	47063.55352080284
Cousin Emma and Cousin Elec, brother and sister- unmarried, devoted, aging- had lived next door to the Stubblefields in Tuxapoka from time immemorial until the Stubblefields had moved to Montgomery fifteen years ago.	136130.21192315465
Two days before he was taken sick, Cousin Elec was out worrying about what too much rain might do to his sweetpeas, and Cousin Elec had always preserved in the top drawer of his secretary a mother-of-pearl paper knife which Theresa had coveted as a child and which he had promised she could have when he died.	64466.7202733842
I'm supposed to care as much now as then, as much here as there, she realized, with a sigh.	28407.443225852
This letter would have got to me if she hadn't even put Rome, Italy, on it.	12912.525700490885
She refolded the letter, replaced it in its envelope, and turned with relief to one from her brother George.	123535.41249109806
But alas George, when he had written, had only just returned from going to Tuxapoka to Cousin Elec's funeral.	18824.25784418351
He was full of heavy family reminiscence.	2634.5775147587988
All the fine old stock was dying out, look at the world today.	1895.626143269289
His own children had suffered from the weakening of those values which he and Theresa had always taken for granted, and as for his grandchildren he had one so far, still in diapers, he shuddered to think that the true meaning of character might never dawn on them at all.	29179.613061725147
A life of gentility and principle such as Cousin Elec had lived had to be known at first hand h. Poor George!	83117.52642945157
The only boy, the family darling.	2786.382417616954
Together with her mother, both of them tense with worry lest things should somehow go wrong.	21169.722105795445
Theresa had seen him through the right college, into the right fraternity, and though pursued by various girls and various mammas of girls, safely married to the right sort, however much in the early years of that match his wife, Anne, had not seemed to understand poor George.	129825.34889006251
Could it just be, Theresa wondered, that Anne had understood only too well, and that George all along was extraordinary only in the degree to which he was dull?	38226.37879523799
As for Cousin Alexander Carraway, the only thing Theresa could remember at the moment about him except his paper knife was that he had had exceptionally long hands and feet and one night about one o'clock in the morning the whole Stubblefield family had been aroused to go next door at Cousin Emma's call- first Papa, then Mother, then Theresa and George.	139521.21506296273
There they all did their uttermost to help Cousin Elec get a cramp out of his foot.	23177.654231498927
He had hobbled downstairs into the parlor, in his agony, and was sitting, wrapped in his bathrobe, on a footstool.	75675.79470322338
He held his long clenched foot in both hands, and this and his contorted face- he was trying heroically not to cry out- made him look like a large skinny old monkey.	77176.46151506866
They all surrounded him, the family circle, Theresa and George as solemn as if they were watching the cat have kittens, and Cousin Emma running back and forth with a kettle of hot water which she poured steaming into a white enamelled pan.	104477.71870482778
"Can you think of anything to do"?	348.02319287287315
she kept repeating.	1659.2545893433062
"I hate to call the doctor but if this keeps up I'll just have to!	12852.118486350588
Can you think of anything to do"?	348.02319287287315
"You might treat it like the hiccups", said Papa.	6829.952312938049
"Drop a cold key down his back".	4034.958362204444
"I just hope this happens to you someday", said Cousin Elec, who was not at his best.	27311.3263900356
"Poor Cousin Elec", George said.	3979.407002563419
He was younger than Theresa she remembered looking down and seeing his great round eyes, while at the same time she was dimly aware that her mother and father were not unamused.	59054.90668907305
"Poor Cousin Elec".	2796.6136660117218
Now, here they both were, still the same, George full of round-eyed woe, and Cousin Emma in despair.	53394.65812019068
Theresa shifted to a new page.	9658.634125596467
"Of course George's letter continued, there are practical problems to be considered.	7177.595052898389
Cousin Emma is alone in that big old house and won't hear to parting from it.	31557.13095241463
Robbie and Beryl tried their best to persuade her to come and stay with them, and Anne and I have told her she's more than welcome here, but I think she feels that she might be an imposition, especially as long as our Rosie is still in high school.	17161.897979053865
The other possibility is to make arrangements for her to let out one or two of the rooms to some teacher of good family or one of those solitary old ladies that Tuxapoka is populated with- Miss Edna Whittaker, for example.	47922.848005532964
But there is more in this than meets the eye.	425.0437706333988
A new bathroom would certainly have to be put in.	1097.5290910500498
The wallpaper in the back bedroom is literally crumbling off h".	15320.131156918858
Theresa skipped a page of details about the house.	3488.72108032738
"I hope if you have any ideas along these lines you will write me about them.	5431.036219771873
I may settle on some makeshift arrangements for the summer and wait until you return in the fall so we can work out together the best h".	49315.761099677366
I really shouldn't have smoked a cigarette so early in the day, thought Theresa, it always makes me sick.	19019.37206559754
I'll start sneezing in a minute, sitting on these cold steps.	7168.521646745555
She got up, standing uncertainly for a moment, then moving aside to let go past her, talking, a group of young men.	8375.462620151828
They wore shoes with pointed toes, odd to American eyes, and narrow trousers, and their hair looked unnaturally black and slick.	128908.3995342704
Yet here they were obviously thought to be handsome, and felt themselves to be so.	5763.5116254253535
Just then a man approached her with a tray of cheap cameos, Parker fountain pens, rosaries, papal portraits.	33841.12559100973
"No", said Theresa.	532.3188812464177
"No, no"!	75.72557653648433
she said.	3.7489695198761144
The man did not wish to leave.	179.83696660500232
He knew how to spread himself against the borders of the space that had to separate them.	2480.831152320993
Carrozza rides in the park, the Colosseum by moonlight, he specialized h. Theresa turned away to escape, and climbed to a higher landing where the steps divided in two.	134507.91799250318
There she walked to the far left and leaned on a vacant section of banister, while the vendor picked himself another well-dressed American lady, carrying a camera and a handsome alligator bag, ascending the steps alone.	220547.66001867893
Was he ever successful, Theresa wondered.	11187.178595926132
The lady with the alligator bag registered interest, doubt, then indignation; at last, alarm.	44192.080876561544
She cast about as though looking for a policeman this really shouldn't be allowed!	49197.59838971735
Finally, she scurried away up the steps.	1915.711979013419
Theresa Stubblefield, still holding the family letters in one hand, realized that her whole trip to Europe was viewed in family circles as an interlude between Cousin Elec's death and "doing something" about Cousin Emma.	209935.3761785751
They were even, Anne and George, probably thinking themselves very considerate in not hinting that she really should cut out "one or two countries" and come home in August to get Cousin Emma's house ready before the teachers came to Tuxapoka in September.	98141.12596999506
Of course, it wasn't Anne and George's fault that one family crisis seemed to follow another, and weren't they always emphasizing that they really didn't know what they would do without Theresa?	41292.57865855815
The trouble is, Theresa thought, that while everything that happens there is supposed to matter supremely, nothing here is supposed even to exist.	29425.84085521294
They would not care if all of Europe were to sink into the ocean tomorrow.	2811.257571105344
It never registered with them that I had time to real all of Balzac, Dickens, and Stendhal while Papa was dying, not to mention everything in the city library after Mother's operation.	23864.588114269343
It would have been exactly the same to them if I had read through all twenty-six volumes of Elsie Dinsmore.	10733.177254328477
She arranged the letters carefully, one on top of the other.	309.2655271582376
Then, with a motion so suddenly violent that she amazed herself, she tore them in two.	11594.394921815405
"Signora"?	11318.63465748144
She became aware that two Italian workmen, carrying a large azalea pot, were standing before her and wanted her to move so that they could begin arranging a new row of the display.	106236.45171568703
"Mi diapiace, signora, ma h insomma h".	27821.918066202477
"Oh h put it there"!	1779.981980153778
She indicated a spot a little distance away.	6155.407153994022
I knew it as surely as everybody in Westfield- that Lucille was a husband stealer.	19709.782722053184
You can't keep that kind of information quiet in a town of only 4000-plus.	8371.406424449426
And I've been told that just about every town, no matter what its size, has its Lucille Warren.	9431.537170545707
Just as it has its Susan Dolan, though nobody'd ever bothered to tell me that.	3692.199220245366
Susan Dolan, that's me.	1065.7008600880956
They even talked about Lucille down at the Young Christians' League where I spent a lot of time in Bible classes and helping out with the office work for our foreign mission.	28447.244661991208
I never heard my folks talk about her, though.	1176.9388421498547
They were good-living religious people, and I can truthfully say I never heard them spread any gossip about anybody.	30778.28848655714
Even if they ever did say anything about people like Lucille Warren, I know they wouldn't have dreamed of saying it in front of me.	11657.35941863793
My folks and my faith protected me from things like that.	4123.436390515492
And so I was really upset the first time I discovered that my boy friend Johnnie was seeing Mrs warren.	20957.30628349619
I asked him about it one night while we were sitting in his truck.	3268.6552057849603
I asked him if it was true.	14.372169168646826
He gave me a straight, honest answer.	1209.6408488074396
"Look, Sue baby", he'd said.	1669.068752808094
Much as I love you- well, a guy's a guy and Lucille's willing to- to come across.	33889.41775354484
Honest, kitten, that's all it is- I don't even like Lucille much".	30359.007313056405
I guess it was at that moment that I realized what I was up against in the person of Lucille Warren.	1688.5721055699453
But it didn't seem fair.	91.06262980625122
My love for Johnnie was young and clean- how could I possibly compete with a woman like that, who didn't hesitate to use her sex.	77669.25751695338
Johnnie was a trucker with a small lumber outfit in a town about twenty miles away, and he was also pretty good at anything in the carpentry line.	23435.92333765063
It was a vivid, sharp February morning that Johnnie first made his appearance in my back yard, bringing some stuff Dad had ordered.	39657.722291690276
I wasn't in the habit of batting my eyes at delivery men, but the moment I saw Johnnie, I knew he was different.	11741.799219991664
He wasn't only different- he was it.	1545.288231182983
He had an easy masculine grace about him, the kind that kids don't have, but that I had sometimes admired in other older men.	14634.835429402685
His smile was quick, and his eyes held some promised secret that made my knees go limp.	39829.22325732936
The most unbelievable thing about the chance meeting was that he seemed interested in me, too.	6967.387820494162
I could hardly believe such good luck was mine.	2948.4632107500356
And now Lucille Warren had gotten a look at him.	2165.111472982867
I guess she was between affairs or something, but anyway, she had set her sights on Johnnie, my Johnnie.	43879.2954159936
I didn't like it one bit.	456.6673361112019
But what could I do?	23.149109873962207
A man had to have his release- at least that's what the boys used to say in high school- and I wasn't providing it for Johnnie.	19584.37192933794
Neither was his wife.	54.57177206011716
She wouldn't have, even if he'd asked her.	2182.6648054759903
But he wouldn't ask her- he wasn't the kind of man who would force his wife to submit to him against her will.	22878.905682531476
And he wouldn't leave her either- he'd told me that.	5697.884971145817
He was too honorable to leave his wife penniless and leave those helpless children without their daddy.	26629.70255635437
Johnnie loved me and wanted me.	8087.591330175249
But the only love I was giving him was the pure kind.	4431.818729526831
It was weeks before we even kissed for the first time.	760.3553856872173
Against my folks' wishes, we'd been seeing each other for short rides in the truck.	16486.354567317794
The rides were tame enough- mostly we talked.	8306.389522041734
But by the time the first crackling of spring came around, we both knew we were hopelessly in love.	8176.412461943905
Yet even then we did nothing much but talk, and maybe neck a little.	4977.312221935686
"It's so crazy", I told him once.	979.473963005769
"I always imagined I would probably end up marrying a minister or somebody like that.	15366.110035110218
Somebody with no vices.	2815.4946643300377
You know".	20.747085724664185
"And you fall for a lumber jockey".	1930.7769201804201
"Who drinks far too much".	251.03410106240983
"And smokes too much".	378.65706140977943
"And", I was ticking off the items on my fingers, "swears too much and goes out with the boys, whoever they are, too much, and who never goes to church and won't even listen when I try to persuade him to come back to the fold".	15766.345315878822
He examined his nails carefully.	1277.1299056282617
"I could walk out the door".	308.09767668459375
"Don't you dare".	683.5379584497434
"And never show my face or my truck around here again".	14599.067973613635
He still wasn't looking at me.	474.47135002546935
"You wouldn't".	244.5469240221666
"Or I could visit Lucille Warren".	799.2973630992277
"You wouldn't.	244.5469240221666
Please!	383.8327038131034
You wouldn't".	244.5469240221666
He shrugged noncommittally.	2387.2936764998667
"I might".	30.68038809804206
And now he was seeing her.	171.7021833356269
He'd just admitted it to me.	108.96744574351648
I huddled miserably beside him in the truck.	7490.612788593321
It was all my doing- his seeing her.	1780.3769230425498
Johnnie and I had been innocent in our love, and that was the way I wanted to keep it.	4406.910261862267
At first, Johnnie hadn't understood- how could he, not being a religious person like me?	40028.303202738854
But then he had said, "All right, kid, if that's how you want it, that's how it'll be".	13137.333124546365
But what had I done, trying to keep us pure?	4363.61152064319
I had driven him into the arms of that scheming woman.	5226.504487483149
I had just the same as delivered him into the hands of the Devil!	2694.142572574132
So one week later, I surrendered to him in the little motel on Route 10.	16594.89830588108
My very first time.	192.2342863762797
I was desperate to hold him, to give him whatever in this world he wanted or needed, and to keep him from the clutches of Lucille Warren.	11121.618073160773
And, though at the time I blushed to admit it even to myself, there was in me a growing desire, a sexual awareness, that Johnnie had set in motion, an awareness that no other man had ever triggered.	56919.9516733976
I wanted him, with a terrifying fierceness.	2807.6367024157485
Astonishingly enough, it was my own voice I heard there in the darkness, begging this man to make love to me.	28731.301326719844
"Love me, Johnnie".	312.890423488218
"I will, kitten"!	577.5323638298066
Outside, in the summertime fields behind the motel, a thousand crickets serenaded us.	18545.24569052173
"Will you always love me this way"?	892.791914568682
"Uh huh.	149.62459250681175
Always".	261.2942544059803
"Mmm".	3524.279832361616
And I snuggled closer to the man l loved.	3160.847813431962
It was as blissful and fulfilling a night as any bride ever experienced.	8803.67138940591
I had had no wedding ceremony, no witnesses, no certificate of marriage, but I had all the joy that goes with them.	12878.760963671004
"Johnnie h?	3605.518035295153
"It can't be wrong, can it?	9306.812018213803
Not really".	137.73013456720219
Johnnie rose on one elbow.	25675.624314159144
"Stop worrying.	1904.560911929062
It's never wrong if love is real".	1432.8429168991659
I took great comfort from his words, and smiled to myself in the darkness.	19055.07092585104
Infinite peace, complete contentment.	25675.624314159144
Idiot's delight, I later discovered.	12020.922755735279
I felt no conflict between what I was doing and my strict religious upbringing.	20463.047346697313
I had always resisted the passes made at me by other kids, and many times I had thought about my love for Johnnie who, being thirty, brought a maturity to love that the kids around town could know nothing about.	72441.87495841793
I had also thought a lot about how God must look on true love, and so in a way I was keeping my promise to God, my promise to remain pure until I was married.	43781.7255664314
I was practically a bride, after all.	462.9292187896834
There would have been a ceremony if it had been possible.	358.80354986550094
Of this, I had no doubt.	48.23371074088754
Wouldn't Johnnie do practically anything in the world to insure my happiness?	49494.538540132104
Of course he would.	54.24806261371766
He'd not only told me so, he'd proved it.	2310.067060894883
It wasn't Johnnie's fault that he was hopelessly tied down to that frightful woman who did her best to make his life unbearable.	67213.20439115638
Just because he was honorable enough to want to continue supporting his two children, as any decent man would, that was no reason he should be denied his own small share of happiness too.	48711.2266453318
And if I could contribute to that, I'd do it.	350.05202072779383
The cost didn't matter.	93.43271284722388
No price is too high when true love is at stake.	7002.1268342512685
And I had no doubts about how true this love was.	4976.122437954714
I'd never even petted with a boy, and after I met Johnnie he never touched me for the longest while, not until I all but threw myself at him.	23981.53191557292
He was plenty attentive, all right, but he behaved like a gentleman, and I figured that, emotionally, I was closer to his age than to my own eighteen and a half.	12523.231286545426
What could a mere twelve years matter?	6423.45578889553
It wasn't, I was sure, a difference in age that came between people, but a difference in maturity.	11240.812172334543
And hadn't I rescued him from Lucille Warren?	37271.21106841218
She'd have gotten him, if I hadn't stopped her.	3978.944418877795
After all, Lucille Warren was a husband-stealer from way back.	3377.093157167909
But I'd been a good girl and now God was blessing me with the gift of this magnificent man and the wondrous love we shared.	11993.163301889468
It was only fitting that we seek out whatever joy our union might bring.	14015.773890147233
"Love me"?	459.8751294113017
"Uh-huh.	1669.7969158219107
Love you".	206.84785413392694
"Always and always, Johnnie"?	10435.467550839336
"Always".	261.2942544059803
"Mmm".	3524.279832361616
Convention time in Boston.	1186.1417479887361
A chill wind in the air and the narrow streets packed with snow.	1435.5982132508527
From the entire eastern half of the nation they'd be coming, members of the Young Christians' League, and I'd been chosen to represent our chapter.	9558.840264837387
I had mixed emotions about going.	1124.9967855596738
I'd been seeing Johnnie almost a year now, but I still didn't want to leave him for five whole days.	6600.952401119569
But I had looked forward so much to being with this church group.	6122.067803759718
I hadn't been doing as much work as I used to in Westfield and I felt funny about that and wanted to work harder than ever.	24311.618214621023
I wanted to just throw myself into the good works of this fine group.	8153.42831886562
So I went to Boston.	18.479453821670184
The first meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, a great big place where we were able to meet members from all the other states.	5749.600328833302
My cousin Alma, at whose home I was staying during the convention, introduced me to a group of young people from Rhode Island.	16742.79452861607
One of them was a very friendly, lovely fellow named Ronald, a boy about my age with slick, blond hair and dancing blue eyes.	14446.153548508557
He looked very different from Johnnie- in fact, he looked sort of like me.	1455.4827401785155
I thought so, and he mentioned it, and Alma said so too.	4359.311504656319
After the meeting, there was going to be a party at someone's house.	1638.2251057587184
I assumed Alma would get me there, but in the confusion of the meeting breaking up, we were separated.	16978.893215142067
Outside the hall, I anxiously looked around for her, then all at once there was a hand on my elbow.	17318.47794480521
"Hey, there, beautiful twin of mine", Ronald said.	8189.648521657748
"Need a pumpkin to get to the party"?	3160.900897122179
I couldn't help laughing with him.	395.4630931362727
"Well, I should find Alma"- I began.	741.171088026837
"Alma, Schmalma.	11770.304497228983
Come along with me".	99.64064343448351
I went.	26.950758990300677
By the time we arrived, the party was already going strong.	1420.581078873011
A couple of the girls were laughing rather shrilly and I realized they were drinking.	2165.331932036326
My folks wouldn't dream of having alcohol in the house, so my first taste of it had been- of course- with Johnnie.	28380.271410430458
I hadn't liked it at first- it was bitter and burning.	36924.32576714403
But when Johnnie disguised the taste with ginger ale, I enjoyed it.	16328.860202856493
Of course I enjoyed 'most anything if I did it with Johnnie.	4335.775568427352
Johnnie h I suddenly realized he'd been totally out of my thoughts all evening.	23893.923075625473
But that was only natural, I decided; surely he was still resting snugly in my heart.	5741.939404099999
"I don't see Alma anywhere", I said.	316.7653825737279
"She's invisible tonight.	723.474439072756
C'mon, let's find out where they're keeping the glasses".	4149.507943940463
I drew back.	498.9620591823669
"I- I don't think so, Ronald.	8513.471777047602
Not for me".	3.8818173425138975
"Aw, come on".	5020.143062119587
"No- really".	1031.4029575084612
He shrugged.	241.59224860062338
"Okay.	35.197251894126666
But at least come along while I get lubricated".	4258.712500693615
The kitchen was jammed.	2505.539898579726
Strange faces, most of them, and I wasn't even sure all of them had come from the League meeting.	3984.5956820165547
Under normal circumstances, he had a certain bright-eyed all-American-boy charm, with great appeal for young ladies, old ladies, and dogs.	62645.82674359218
Today, he looked like an Astronaut who had left his vitamin pills on the bureau and spent six months in space hollow eyes, hollow cheeks, hollow stomach.	42410.45818924153
Breakfast, he thought.	66.33940551949395
A shot of orange juice would make everything seem better.	10370.305009326863
He looked around his little Eden bureau, bed, table, chair, two-burner stove.	26054.644846327956
Then he remembered.	81.22208210151332
"You share a refrigerator", Mrs Kirby had said, and somehow, at midnight, after the long drive from New York in pelting rain, that had sounded reasonable.	67352.33823714686
In the cold light of day, it seemed a lunatic arrangement.	2694.8792540978857
Share bath, maybe- but share refrigerator?	120032.58500309603
She had explained it- something about summer people's eating out and not enough space in the units.	27449.972236159272
And where was the thing?	997.8481704697589
He remembered seeing it last night, when he put away his small store of bachelor-type eatables.	17472.76816594054
Ah, yes- his half of a refrigerator stood outside, on the "curving veranda" between Unit Number Three and Unit Number Four.	82537.62659669385
It was still raining, and Mrs Kirby's cottages bloomed through the gray haze like the names they bore, vivid blue and green and magenta.	36774.84143565164
Charlie downed his orange juice and one of the long, skinny green pills, his spirits as damp as the day.	32436.29886668694
This vacation had seemed like a good idea last week, when his doctor had prescribed it.	5138.467690077059
"Take a full month", the doctor had said.	304.13288091551186
"Lots of sun, lots of rest.	814.966991741895
The red pills are a vitamin-and-iron compound.	8043.921118142739
This is a sleeping capsule.	516.6947093016192
The others will make you a little more comfortable until you get it licked.	5024.0817910615515
You young men get to be my age, you won't take flu so lightly".	13476.710519427057
Charlie had accepted the diagnosis without comment.	12406.432316769755
The doctor could call it anything from flu to beriberi; but Charlie knew what was wrong with him and knew, too, that there was no pill to cure it.	8272.59225158613
He had loved and lost Vivian Wayne to somebody else, had watched her marry the somebody else, and had caught a bear of a cold by kissing the bride good-by forever, which was really piling it on.	129554.72450363412
He had caught, too, like an ailment, a confirmed distrust of women.	2687.5889888448182
Once burned- scalded, really, because Vivian had given him every encouragement- forever shy.	63439.45426604929
From now on, his was going to be a man's world the North Woods, duck blinds at dawning, beer and poker and male secretaries.	24850.361293494036
Meanwhile, he had this miserable cold, and as he leaned against the refrigerator, watching the rain make sandy puddles at his feet, the doctor's prescription for lots of sun seemed like a hollow mockery.	51417.89776574676
In these damp circumstances, he was an odds-on bet to develop pneumonia.	26782.24260865165
He looked up to see Mrs Kirby, awesome in a black-and-yellow polka-dotted slicker, bearing down on him.	6160.514199289396
"Three-day blow"!	2122.022126126499
she bellowed triumphantly.	837.7490749569288
He had noticed before that the natives seemed to regard really filthy weather as a kind of Pyhrric victory over the tourists.	21290.792547119854
"Fine, day after tomorrow", she added.	17071.86533756698
"I hope so", he said.	46.72814890848316
"I've got this cold.	107.76285448641634
Thought I'd bake it out in the sun".	6710.510882430881
"Ah".	277.1066271953092
She studied him briefly.	3216.784192984494
"You've got a peaked look.	149.63462804417756
Better get in out of the wet".	1378.1112082712198
Charlie forbore to mention that the wet was somewhat universal, Peony being less than weatherproof.	158847.28430873
As for its being fine, day after tomorrow, he had the unhappy conviction that it would never be fine again, with Vivian lost to him forever.	42762.65029017186
He could imagine her at this minute, honeymooning in Nassau with what's-his-name, lounging on golden sands, looking forward to a life of unalloyed bliss.	81425.47472121437
All Charlie could look forward to was a yellow pill at noon, a salami sandwich for lunch, and a lonely old age- if he lived that long.	53845.64597092602
He leafed through the light reading provided by Mrs Kirby for her guests four separate adventures of the Bobbsey Twins At the Seashore, At the Mountains, On the Farm, and In Danger and several agricultural bulletins on the treatment of hoof-and-mouth disease in cattle, hideously illustrated.	408476.97577259206
He dozed, only to dream of Vivian, and woke, only to crash into the night table, bruising his other shin.	169854.2515632726
He took a yellow pill, only to choke on it, and went for the salami, only to find something alive in the refrigerator- something pink and fuzzy.	38881.4164431946
His first thought was that Mrs Kirby, in her mania for color, had dyed a cat and that cat had somehow managed to open the refrigerator door and climb in; but on further investigation, the thing proved to be a sweater, of the long-hair variety that sheds onto men's jackets- pale, pale pink and, according to the label, size thirty-four.	133246.27076380537
He thought about it for a minute, could find no reasonable explanation for the presence of a sweater in the refrigerator, got the salami, bread, and a Bermuda onion, and put the whole thing out of his mind.	17378.24839593121
Next morning, he found a note in the refrigerator.	826.0030605674999
"Would you mind wrapping your onion"?	6766.493505585638
said this note.	368.22549303138067
"The smell permeates everything"!	1707.1309686002442
Everything being the sweater, a lipstick case, and a squirt bottle of Kissin' Kare pink hand lotion.	87482.75006719626
The note paper was pink, too, and the handwriting small and dainty and utterly feminine.	31332.210074190723
Not that he had supposed, considering the evidence, that he was sharing this refrigerator with a member of the Beach Patrol.	7211.588611872249
He scrawled "Sorry" across the bottom of the note and then, against his better judgment, added "Don't you eat"?	23677.39925658168
He didn't want to encourage anything here; but on the other hand, he didn't want her swiping his salami.	1583.27705349016
"Not onions", came the answer the following day.	303.8036576698618
"Ugh".	3524.279832361616
Must have really smelled up her sweater, he thought, and wondered idly just why she kept the sweater fast-frozen.	41177.39662721934
But then, as he well knew, women are not guided by logic or common sense.	3549.2945253033536
Take Vivian.	1648.8936099642315
Yes, take Vivian.	803.3912389285804
Somebody had.	156.95993090875487
Now, if this were Vivian next door to him and if, for some obscure female reason, she kept her clothes in the refrigerator, they would not be pink.	24572.75248344764
They would be black or white or horse-blanket plaid, chic and splashy, like Vivian herself.	16032.27096536122
Pink, Vivian once had told him, was for baby girls, and grown-up girls who wore pink were subconsciously clinging to their infancy.	131197.51003920205
"Why does this girl keep a sweater in the refrigerator"?	20992.254443907597
he mused aloud.	3748.3333191855268
Eh"?	9838.782635320602
It was Mrs Kirby, making her toilsome way along the veranda, laden with a clattery collection of mops, brushes, and pails.	121527.97365667134
"What's that you say"?	5457.666987046333
"Oh, nothing.	91.33127621785826
Just glad the rain's stopped".	2198.2746837644295
"Oh, yes.	23.805695246202742
Just look at that sky.	1767.3294349910666
Be a scorcher by afternoon".	1556.3664705147
"I hope so.	106.09965208160055
I've got this cold".	107.76285448641634
"So you said".	96.08412481262192
She scrutinized him.	631.8590567385805
"My, you're peaked.	2185.43320400627
You want to watch out that you don't get burned to an ash, first sunny day.	34312.639280637224
I must remember to warn the girl next to you in Larkspur.	13373.774241653779
That pale kind's the worst".	556.018039716984
That pale kind, Charlie thought.	3036.8677604428894
Hardly an inviting description.	776.4994187026447
But then, neither was peaked.	938.8018650797638
He could hear Mrs Kirby now, warning her pale guest against sunburn.	20002.94761364977
"I spoke to the fellow next door, too", she might say.	6511.786657582115
"He's that peaked kind".	625.6596403111972
Surely there was a better word.	266.06987822984905
Charlie looked in the mirror.	1945.983416712736
Run-down, iron-poor.	3504.0976694922547
He looked more closely.	603.7997661575522
Frail, feeble- peaked.	26298.596627531337
Clearly, two damp days with the Bobbsey Twins had done him no good.	4487.594434093908
The sun, blazing hot as prophesied, was far from kind to Mrs Kirby's varicolored properties.	10449.9290552427
When Charlie came up from the beach for his four-o'clock pill, the whole establishment gaudy enough when seen through mist and fog looked like a floodlit modern painting- great blocks of dizzy color, punctuated at regular intervals by the glaring white of five community refrigerators.	212751.87266514197
This weekend, he thought, he would look around for some more subdued retreat, with Cape roses, maybe, at the door.	11444.161151283097
He could not imagine a flower's being brave enough to grow beside Peony, Larkspur, and the rest.	6885.851396848035
The sweater was gone from the refrigerator, and in its place was a large plastic bag, full of wet pink clothes.	20103.785782441766
No wonder she was so pale, wearing all those cold clothes.	9651.40686487093
He got a red pill and a beer and then, on impulse, transferred the rest of his salami to her side of the refrigerator and scrawled "Be my guest" on the wrapping.	28004.956676798254
It gave him a good feeling.	70.14811660539513
"M-m-m.	2942.301567749004
Thanks", was her answer the next day.	690.8781937785575
The note was propped against his pill bottles and bore a postscript "You're not at all well, are you"?	34593.793039566975
"I've got this cold", he wrote.	136.89014442156724
Not that it was any of her business.	510.5486556794694
"It's none of my business", said the next note, "but my aunt Elsie used to take lemon juice and honey in hot water for a cold, and she lived to be ninety-six.	69974.51749621663
I mean, she's still living, and she's ninety-six.	7527.476516142422
Why don't you try that"?	258.97911489482027
"I don't have a lemon".	118.44868473336683
He had to write very small to get it on the bottom of the scrap of paper.	990.1950111135966
By the next morning, she had turned the paper over.	1274.9343772814225
"Gee, neither do I".	7177.21949843931
Charlie grinned.	1035.8530599894546
She didn't sound like a pale girl.	1805.3285674770777
She sounded a little like a redhead.	13346.856009542267
But then, redheads are often pale.	2802.914966985441
He stuck his head in Mrs Kirby's little rental office.	10486.059475715672
"I guess that redhead next to me took your advice.	4106.882944974604
I haven't seen her on the beach".	193.6114533818029
"You won't, if you're looking for a redhead.	9174.509837197566
She's got browny hair".	999.2593606417793
He spent that afternoon on the beach, looking for a pale, browny-haired girl in a pink bathing suit.	18113.358808983776
There were pink bathing suits on blondes, and browny-haired girls in red or black or green bathing suits.	23709.572571465113
There were a sprinkling of daring bikinis and a preponderance of glorified tank suits.	9851.896128420409
Up on a dune, he saw a girl, all by herself, sitting on a camp stool before an easel and absorbed in her painting.	74222.61723899681
He paid little attention to her because she was a redhead and because she was wearing white- one of those bulky, turtle-neck sweaters.	24646.018126587187
On the beach, there were pale girls and not-so-pale girls.	3594.562634374618
And he saw them all as he walked up and down.	698.58143450633
At two that morning, he was still walking- up and down Peony, up and down the veranda, up and down the silent, moonlit beach.	42898.28655370349
Finally, in desperation, he opened the refrigerator, filched her hand lotion, and left a note.	1615.6728443267868
"I've got this sunburn", said the note, "and I used some of your hand lotion.	8430.472846602263
Hope you don't mind".	298.7061208122334
"Of course I don't mind", she answered.	375.0706893169562
"You're having a miserable time, aren't you?	736.4509400058711
Use all the lotion you want, and for goodness' sake, stay in out of the sun for a couple of days".	5923.28785989085
This was a very warm, sympathetic girl, he decided.	334.6099796842141
Sympathy is a fine quality in a woman.	7027.819656881786
Now Vivian, for instance, was not too long on sympathy.	1995.9949235929425
She felt, and said, that sympathy only made people feel sorry for themselves; it was a tough world, and you had to be tough to hold your own.	15915.052868867277
He didn't know what was so tough about Vivian's world, slopping around Nassau with what's-his-name.	10318.398987802428
Suppose what's-his-name got a sunburn?	54426.03668702012
Charlie couldn't see Vivian offering any hand lotion.	48583.109772615666
She might peel him, once the worst of the agony was over.	4466.754474265129
Charlie spent the next two days in his pajama bottoms, waiting for the fire in his back to subside, and used generous quantities of the hand lotion.	48758.312095006935
Correspondence passed back and forth.	930.4775901822827
"How's your sunburn now?	1896.0455382214907
The only thing, this lotion has glycerin in it, and that whitens the skin, so if you're so anxious to get a tan, you may not want to use it".	3017.669877147858
"I'm not that anxious, but maybe that's why you're so fair".	3644.7519639946813
"That Mrs Kirby!	1437.009084753704
I'll bet she told you I was puny, too.	1089.4939443111496
How's your cold"?	950.5777136166853
"Broiled out.	1422.1698156653174
She didn't say you were puny.	2980.288926414028
Are you?	24.988524502362154
What's puny"?	3805.277312715813
"Puny goes with pale and peaked.	35827.71117471326
Do you have anything to read while you're shut up?	8825.727389701718
There are two things here about Surviving in the Wilderness, and a book called 'Tom Swift and His Speedy Canoe'; but the picture of Tom Swift is pretty sinister.	94794.27495870956
Also the canoe".	228.70261305057514
There was a crowd in the stands for a change and the sun was hot.	1319.256223026771
The new Riverside pitcher turned out to have an overhand fast ball that took a hop.	24621.42093067296
For a few innings the Anniston team couldn't figure him out.	2039.9535037914225
Then, in the fifth, Anniston's kid catcher caught onto a curve and smacked the ball into left center field.	13641.823718350743
Eddie Lee, Riverside's redheaded playing manager, ran after the ball but it rolled past him.	99600.98675209504
Phil Rossoff cut over to center from left field to get the relay.	133972.73898572614
Eddie caught up with the ball near the fence and threw it to Phil.	63320.7486467178
"Third!	565.0863077327347
Third base"!	1582.572003433943
Eddie shouted.	5466.144595000513
Phil spun around and made an accurate throw into Mike Deegan's hands on third base.	33839.60491179811
Mike caught the ball just as the catcher slid into the bag.	24165.408551736076
But the Anniston boy had begun his slide too late.	2787.2565004299295
He came into the bag with his body and Mike Deegan brought the ball down full in his face.	5429.853475860435
"You bastard"!	1431.381275501033
the Anniston catcher screamed.	1460.6843817909144
He jumped to his feet and started to throw punches.	695.0416077670017
Mike Deegan tossed his glove away and began to swing at the catcher.	95251.4941135658
This brought in everybody from both sides, while the spectators stood up and added to the uproar.	36419.21496029782
The fighters were separated in a few minutes.	421.8580878531416
The game was resumed.	159.823501228366
But Mike Deegan was boiling mad now.	5179.505457295508
When the inning was over he cursed the Anniston catcher all the way into the dugout.	10715.340240494152
Phil Rossoff, coming in from left field, stopped at the water fountain for a drink.	32907.028354232585
Mike Deegan was standing beside it, facing the field.	13948.549753888065
He was eyeing the Anniston catcher warming up his pitcher before the inning began.	18265.911201800594
"Keep your eyes open, sonny"!	10611.767454851302
Mike yelled to the catcher.	21379.66044220554
"You're in for trouble".	253.75585063630976
The Anniston catcher did not reply with words.	6396.3718012432355
He simply turned to Mike and smiled.	1675.6338661547477
This so infuriated Deegan that he spun around and said "I'll get that little bastard.	11878.325004802893
So help me God, I'll get him".	1612.3778144091214
Phil Rossoff said "Why don't you leave him alone"?	66301.44779459736
"Mind your own goddamn business", Mike Deegan said.	29053.699410234163
Phil shrugged.	1151.877521094658
He stepped into the dugout, wondering why Deegan was always looking for trouble.	21959.198419094464
Maybe the answer was in his eyes.	122.98940931026623
When Deegan smiled his eyes never fit in with his lips.	6352.973181596576
In the last of the sixth inning Mike Deegan got up to bat and hit a fast ball over the left fielder's head.	6541.248108848029
By the time the fielder got his hands on the ball Deegan was rounding third base and heading for home.	5431.609331369694
The left fielder threw and it was a good one.	209.28545535804616
But Mike had no chance of being tagged.	5236.635436803134
The Anniston catcher was straddling home plate.	4338.924735531441
All Deegan had to do was slide, fall away, but instead, he rammed into the catcher.	49462.55419132427
Both fell heavily to the ground.	340.8976014131478
Only Mike got to his feet.	163.22433213380555
He went back to touch home plate, turned and walked to the dugout without looking back.	21066.394139752087
The Anniston players and their manager ran out on the field.	2341.415304774534
They poured water over their catcher's face.	4665.3413291503775
He did not move.	14.465380975012634
Then the manager called for a doctor.	91.78395471052106
The Riverside physician came down to look over the injured ballplayer.	5200.188967294653
Then, quickly, and a little nervously, the doctor ordered a couple of ballplayers to carry the catcher into the dressing room.	37868.697394126655
Mike Deegan was sitting on the bench, watching.	2592.690406017146
When the ballplayers started to carry the catcher off the field he said "That ought to teach the sonofabitch".	62699.54898572423
Phil Rossoff, seated next to Deegan, got up and moved to the other end of the bench.	4957.550919264631
The Anniston manager was coming over to the Riverside dugout.	22377.917811080533
He was followed by four of his men.	151.56017700895362
It began to look as if something was going to happen.	822.4828616431305
Mike sat quitely watching the manager come nearer.	49788.84287625444
Eddie Lee moved over to Mike Deegan's side.	20485.92853581044
No one said a word.	48.958624751320805
The Anniston manager came right up to the dugout in front of Mike.	16653.427200259364
His face was flushed.	479.2702272873318
"Deegan", the manager said, his voice pitched low, quivering.	67957.26604533846
"That was a rotten thing to do".	174.77942590113622
"For God's sake", Mike said, waving the manager away.	6126.255514472413
"Stop it, will you?	567.7632232860298
Tell your guys not to block the plate".	2031.3832800468474
"You didn't have to ram him".	774.9284639314445
"That's what you say".	16.600509403391058
The Anniston manager looked at Eddie Lee.	4338.9244510794215
It was a cold and calculated look.	461.17945021893246
He turned and went back across the field to his dugout.	4251.497566613409
He called in the pitcher who had been pitching, and a big, heavy, powerfully built right hander moved out to the mound for Anniston.	30569.428212585193
The game started again and in the eighth inning Mike Deegan came up to bat.	15521.65839504714
Everyone in the ball park seemed to be standing and shouting.	4493.025159138476
The first ball the hefty pitcher threw came in for Mike's head.	10463.092071636744
Deegan fell into the dirt, the ball going over him.	4993.2286455460635
He arose slowly and brushed himself off.	4741.730440003241
He got back into the batter's box and on the next pitch dropped into the dirt again.	18756.150705890665
"Hit the bum"!	11437.889958683394
somebody yelled from the Anniston bench.	9374.791353213734
In the Riverside dugout Frankie Ricco, shortstop, whispered into Phil's ear "There's gonna be a fight".	31933.380123816838
"Look at those bastards"!	521.0128984287181
Charlie Haydon, a pitcher, said.	13817.393511767856
"They're looking for trouble".	135.34585469709626
Mike was slow getting into the box this time.	7728.10339439576
When he finally did he had to duck his head quickly away as the pitch came in.	11708.325325625023
"Listen"!	180.67265812647761
he shouted to the pitcher.	454.69784050497543
"One more and I'm coming out there"!	2618.8416047007195
"I'll be waiting"!	197.0626864204408
the pitcher yelled back.	975.7372658651226
Mike Deegan pounded the rubber plate with the end of his bat.	26649.66335749769
He stood flat-footed in the box, but not very close to the plate now.	2025.604017557642
The pitcher wound up and the ball came in straight for Mike's head.	13553.277158552866
Deegan dropped, got up, turned and, holding the bat with both hands up against his chest, began to walk slowly out to the mound.	217467.8123767805
The pitcher tossed his glove away and came towards Mike Deegan.	32233.660151685355
They were both walking towards each other, unhurried.	4515.853875997511
Riverside and Anniston players rushed out on the field.	966.7785785030536
In the next moment, it seemed, the infield was crowded with spectators, ballplayers, cops, kids and a dog.	6128.18479197139
There was much shouting and screaming.	1552.0442597495835
Fights sprang up and were quickly squelched.	46700.52584867062
Mike and the Anniston pitcher were pulled away before they even came together.	57013.85685082684
Phil Rossoff and two other Riverside players did not go out on the field when the fighting started.	46231.75307049328
After the game, Phil was taking off his sweatshirt in the dressing room when Mike Deegan came in.	20012.30632560457
"It's a helluva thing", Mike said, looking at Phil, "when a guy's own team-mate won't come out and help him in a fight".	94990.71946709327
Phil sighed and pulled the wet sweatshirt over his head.	6779.9269270605
Frankie Ricco sat down on the bench near Phil.	8542.716444430893
The other players were undressing quietly.	1036.8436992415773
Eddie Lee had not come in yet.	6957.003493715065
Mike went over to Phil and stood over him.	11141.687359975902
"Why the hell didn't you come out when you saw them gang up on me"?	21770.876086206343
"I didn't think it was necessary".	60.63652886579149
"Well!	4.315496961853177
Now that's just fine!	990.7915062940037
You didn't think it was necessary".	68.61629593889117
Mike placed both his hands on his hips.	25950.229594171764
He pushed his jaw forward.	228.45291098958805
"Listen, wise guy, if you think I'm gonna do all the fighting for this ball club you're crazy".	38383.29185980492
Mike had a good two inches over Phil and Phil had to look up into Mike's face.	36906.16439622949
"I didn't ask you to fight for the ball club", Phil said slowly.	3023.735639352977
"Nobody else did, either".	571.677479236981
"You trying to say I started the fight"?	5551.432931268182
"I'm not trying to say anything".	114.95474195568184
Phil turned away and opened his locker, and then he heard Mike Deegan say "You're yellow, Rossoff"!	79424.41980816482
and Phil banged his locker door shut and spun around.	13758.733856261371
But before anything could happen Frankie Ricco was between them and Eddie Lee had come into the dressing room.	21197.189439643702
"Phil, come into my office", Eddie said.	26273.371925518306
Phil followed Eddie into the office and shut the door.	5892.812271338738
He sat down before Eddie's desk.	670.3470386593578
"I'm doing you a favor", Eddie said quickly.	3483.639062926956
"You get your unconditional release as of today".	2556.437287115937
Phil's eyes widened just a trifle.	35827.71117471326
"The best thing for you to do", Eddie said, "is go home.	1431.3737970287118
You don't belong in professional baseball".	670.4015243137536
Phil had to clear his throat.	3485.8189004989636
"Is this because of what happened out there"?	3081.2586240213377
"No", Eddie said.	385.11606884537935
"But it does confirm what I've suspected all along".	2399.579917355836
Phil stood up.	2354.1337516724325
"Listen!	180.67265812647761
This is the second time h" "Sit down, sit down", Eddie said.	1667.5828987714322
"I'm not saying you're yellow.	668.78511322205
I am saying you're not a professional ballplayer".	637.4946209925342
Eddie Lee leaned forward over the desk.	14601.966929350112
"Now listen to me, Phil.	2049.912334031586
I'm not steering you wrong.	307.9157989659304
You haven't got the heart for baseball".	1047.5441790918196
Phil shook his head and Eddie frowned.	6040.670922078875
Suddenly his voice grew hard.	1461.7930804436573
"What the hell do you think baseball is?	1565.0979305775647
You're not in the big leagues, but if you can't give and take down here what the hell do you think it'll be like up there"?	10328.054466647714
Phil started to say something but Eddie cut him short.	23009.560140770733
"Now don't tell me what a good ball player you are.	7168.989438123806
I know you've got talent.	176.56666652203742
But what you haven't got is the heart to back up that talent with.	3757.8427848453825
The heart, Phil.	571.2793036058897
You just haven't got the heart for pro-ball, and that's it".	13617.542383008837
Dazed, Phil said "I don't get it.	8850.956138448628
My batting average h" Eddie stood up abruptly, then sat down just as abruptly.	73108.82510959612
"What difference does your batting average make?	24272.443519265627
Or your fielding average.	776.1336873256299
Or even the way you run bases.	2643.5476176269726
I tell you when it's necessary to hurt in order to win- you won't do it.	7474.670113849513
That's what I mean by no heart for the game.	1182.693966444671
Baseball's no cinch.	11770.304497228983
Deegan had no business ramming into that kid out there.	37213.04600300344
He did it because he knows for each guy he puts out of commission that's one less who might take his job away later on.	14745.255913986995
What the hell do you think baseball is?	1565.0979305775647
A sport?	1682.5880519805582
It's a way of life, goddamit!	659.861437345421
And you've got to be ready to cut to ribbons anybody who want to take your way of life away from you"!	1716.2549416001077
He's wrong!	903.2612162235869
Phil thought.	1151.8768554437038
It's only his opinion.	707.1143919407446
There were other clubs in this league.	2181.698398549837
He stood up slowly.	23.22955068657316
He was a little pale and shaky.	337.767085477471
His lips felt glued together.	1585.7045294270129
"I think you're wrong, Eddie", he said finally.	1086.3192959834544
Eddie nodded.	1128.777611395038
"Okay.	35.197251894126666
You'll get your pay in the morning".	112.73533459822549
Phil turned and left the room, hearing Eddie say "Someday you'll see I was right".	18895.816331052178
Phil shut the door behind him.	218.4108738720075
Outside in the dressing room, Frankie Ricco sat on the bench dressed in his street clothes.	28741.576135749525
"What happened"?	35.044431519550585
Frankie asked.	248.45738793964048
Phil said "I got my release".	10388.679521038739
"You crazy"?	3093.9898284098895
Phil shrugged.	1151.877521094658
"What for"?	203.60227099103872
Phil sighed.	1151.877521094658
Frankie shook his head.	121.18150374326129
"I don't get it".	47.22669289716489
"I don't know", Phil said.	184.63712102949012
They were silent for a few moments.	346.26732226714523
Then Frankie said "What are you gonna do"?	15408.344469950995
Phil started to take his clothes off and Frankie sat down on the bench again.	19854.84220062611
Phil took off one shoe and stared at it.	4944.3720998402705
"Don't take it like this", Frankie said.	6182.647163511743
"Hell, plenty of guys get let out and come back later.	45756.491371217126
The leagues are full of guys like that".	2012.8932369126994
Phil was very quiet.	1162.4181034896567
"What are you gonna do, Phil"?	7804.6517141040795
Phil did not answer.	357.0672065827908
"Why not try another club"?	3040.014530150796
Phil looked up.	2354.1337516724325
What the hell right did Eddie have saying a thing like that?	3670.3486267859857
"Springfield's in tomorrow", Frankie said.	12020.921520702412
"Talk to Whitey Jackson".	2428.353649781381
He just didn't know what he was talking about, saying a thing like that.	578.5481502699971
"Will you do it, Phil"?	4757.321866846998
"Do what"?	305.7303933239257
"Ask Whitey for a job".	331.75064100138377
Phil nodded.	1151.877521094658
"Sure", he said.	16.801614797473352
"Springfield come in tomorrow"?	44132.24716925719
Frankie nodded.	362.17208425739335
"I'll speak to Whitey".	1118.0420886517234
"Atta boy".	1377.4295927207788
"I'll talk to him, all right".	100.1271846351717
"Don't worry", Frankie said.	233.60305046920314
"You'll get a job there.	51.37148444175546
He needs outfielders bad".	608.8024347765212
"I'm not worried about it", Phil said.	1415.4614716761012
"That's the way to talk.	53.819958424957065
What else did Eddie have to say"?	5155.01451370188
"Nothing", Phil said.	493.86310984166266
Richard's next interest seemed the product of his insularity.	34717.29001615972
His broad reading took him into certain by-ways of religion and the subject of religion began to fascinate him.	13660.018957615612
When he was twelve he took to reading St Augustine and Aquinas, then Lao-tse, Confucius, Mencius, Suzuki, Hindu tomes by endless Krishnaists and numerous socio-archaeological papers.	96335.63264881003
For his birthday, because Richard had seen them in a store and asked for them, his mother bought him the Zend-Avesta and a little image of the Indian god, Acala.	103022.03752440777
And one day, on her own, his mother came home with a present entitled The Book of the Dead, which she suspected Richard would enjoy.	10461.48630428822
He was enormously happy with her gift and smiled, then went to his room to read.	4498.815931748581
At dinner one night, when he was fourteen, Richard announced, "There is only one god".	4333.303921301843
"Did you think there were two"?	1758.1870183606663
grinned his father.	569.2408913939125
"You don't understand", Richard said gloomily.	1362.6538738018328
Through quiet laughter his mother said, "Don't speak to your father like that, Richard".	71853.66473123487
Richard seldom spoke anyhow and he didn't speak to his parents about religion again.	23057.087734818335
His interest in the formal study of religion waned when he was sixteen and he substituted for it an interest in Asian affairs.	11274.546199875966
Although he still didn't speak to anyone, he grew fond of saying, "The future lies in Asia", when the opportunity arose, and when he graduated from high school his parents sent him to New York to give him a foundation, they said, for his life in Asian studies.	23897.196480792325
Richard was a solitary student in New York and acquired, in his remoteness, a thorough if bookish knowledge of Asian lore, literature, life, politics and history.	82890.58152113091
He was awarded a fellowship to continue his studies in Tokyo and he packed up his clothes, the biwa upon which he had been practicing and his image of Acala, and left to spend a week at home before leaving the country.	43603.59682293355
The week at home was not comfortable.	646.8139531764859
His mother, who had seen little of him for four years, appeared worried about his sailing off by himself for an Orient which, she herself having slight knowledge of it, had to be distrusted.	42542.85901339313
She seemed to work to grow close to her son in the few days he spent at home, talking to him about some of the more pleasant moments of his childhood and then trying to talk to him about those things in which he alone was interested.	20068.809806022786
"Do you still have The Book of the Dead"?	7682.8242969475
she asked him and, laughing, she added, "I was nervous about buying a book with a title like that, but I knew you'd like it".	11332.664605460937
"Yes", he lied to shorten the conversation, "I still have it".	1602.0081031840762
He was no longer able to relax in the presence of his parents and found it difficult to keep up a conversation with his mother or father, no matter the subject.	1782.7283691827279
As for The Book of the Dead, it along with his other books on religion had been incarcerated in a furnace in the basement of the building in which he had lived in New York.	5534.331307279394
He had dusted each of the books carefully and carried them all to the basement and, trembling at having to open the big furnace, given them up to the flames.	41765.447926970824
Then he sped from the dark basement and returned to his room and cried.	8865.053108956947
Richard left America with his clothes, his biwa and his image of Acala and, on the freighter which took him to Japan, he plucked at the biwa, trying to make the sounds he wrought resemble an ancient Japanese tune he had once heard.	155462.34671180087
During his second week at sea he brought the curious melody out of the instrument and suddenly wanted to force the biwa to remain at just that moment in its history when it had given him pleasure.	58005.82755128747
He stole from his cabin late that night and crept out into a gusty North Pacific wind and dropped the biwa into the water.	49765.82094356648
It was so dark that he didn't see it hit the water and the noisy rush of the ocean kept him from hearing it.	7497.931772287422
It was as though the biwa had been eaten up by the wind.	1021.0618497260468
In Tokyo Richard took up a life similar to that which he had lived in New York, except that he had replaced his biwa with a friend.	9333.360456017133
An American student named Charlotte Adams had refused to take notice of his evident aversion to people and had at last succeeded in getting him to talk to her.	31407.64850096674
He had nothing much to say to her but that he said anything seemed to please her and he accompanied her on some of her unusually searching tours of Tokyo.	33780.509216520244
In Charlotte, Richard saw a frankness and a zest for doing things which, after a fashion, he envied.	28705.80073071173
In time, he grew to depend upon her occasional company and she at length was able to encourage him to participate in more social activity.	31213.845735335628
She convinced him that he ought to be a member of some of the small tea-drinking parties she held at her rooms and in the end he complied with her wishes, although it was only rarely that he added anything to the random conversations.	21836.95210197099
At one such gathering Charlotte announced, "I was at Ryusenji today.	6111.612408663419
Have you ever been to Ryusenji"?	3794.858873127967
No one had.	63.18591979006229
"Well, it's at Fudomae and there was a tan young man, quite naked, taking a shower in the pool.	11487.899574320638
I was thoroughly startled".	1060.263143445677
Richard thought it a more promising remark than any made during the last conversation, but Charlotte's manner during the gatherings was more flippant and superficial than when she was alone with him and he was sure her remark would lead to nothing much better than the pointless words which had preceded it.	100060.03701357989
Three of the four persons present, all foreign students in Tokyo, had been playing a game of judging popular Japanese foods by the In and Out system, an equation in which Zen philosophy was used as the modifier.	64704.335864152046
Soba, udon and tea were In because they could be taken noisily.	94651.74541901669
Sushi was Out because it was pretentious.	50258.88229986302
Sashimi was In, Samuel Burns had suggested, because it was too far Out to stay Out, even if it was a little pretentious.	32698.01132982602
Richard had kept his eyes down throughout the game, the very sound of the chatter nearly painful to his ears.	15095.131057161125
"He wasn't the least bit disturbed by my watching him", said Charlotte.	20325.67438334368
"Did you watch him"?	642.569614966307
asked a red-haired girl named Ceecee Witter.	6476.547191731005
"I shouldn't have been able to do that".	115.02530964675401
"Well I was able to do it", Charlotte said with no sign of irritation.	4693.125590789397
"For a minute, anyhow.	461.1678648461929
I'm surprised no one has been there.	203.18042023073676
I've been there a number of times.	27.40933433263613
Sam, I thought you knew everything about Tokyo.	4724.682073926343
You've never been to Ryusenji"?	345.50826316794183
"I've heard about it", Samuel Burns said.	905.6911557200089
"There's a little place there called Lovers Mound dedicated to Gompachi and Komurasaki".	20012.444833482765
"Yes, a little parkish place", Charlotte said, and concluded, "Anyhow, it's all very nice.	30422.708431418803
And the man who brought sweet potatoes into Kanto is buried there, next to a beautiful seated statue of Fudo.	36167.875877957325
Oh, that's what I meant to tell you.	1031.789781543165
This is the interesting part, Richard", she had a bothersome habit of trying to pull him into the talking.	9048.595869252878
"There was that fellow out there in the bitter cold"- "My God, it was cold today", said Samuel Burns.	61926.03465747203
"Twenty-two or twenty-three".	114.8478827903776
"And the water would be still colder", Ceecee seemed to shiver at the thought of it.	2911.952104691362
"And your golden god", said Samuel Burns, "probably went right home and poured himself into a boiling bath.	113756.90685247476
It would kill one of us".	117.13804204205562
"But the point is", Charlotte said, "there he was, freezing, naked in a little stream of water at Ryusenji, all in worship of Fudo, the god of fire".	32880.32814277961
Richard's dark eyes came up and seemed for the tiniest moment to reflect sharp light.	82001.97474879456
It was true; Fudo, the god of wisdom, was also thought of as the Japanese version of Acala.	17812.83239039496
The conversation went on but Richard stopped listening.	2681.0930436879776
He found himself trying to remember something, but he couldn't decide even the nature of what it was he worked to recall.	8510.277152433804
He had almost given up when he realized that the dropping of his biwa into the icy jowls of the black Pacific was the memory for which he had been searching.	73072.39131485546
Perhaps he sensed some connection between the incident on the freighter and the ascetic at Ryusenji, he was unable to put it together.	20901.665380763254
That night, after leaving Charlotte's apartment, Richard walked about for a time before returning to his room.	17591.426888331454
When he at last did go to his room, he couldn't sleep and instead paced up and down before his little image of Acala, thinking first of Charlotte's tale of the man at Ryusenji, then of his biwa and the invisible Pacific waters.	82286.73563183192
And the next morning, not sure of why he went, he took the train to Fudomae and walked to Ryusenji.	6536.261027370266
He was surprised by the sharp sensation he experienced as he approached the pool which Charlotte had mentioned.	19585.350628544667
He went through a gate to stand at the edge of the water and gazed at the two thin falls which dropped from large spigots high at the back of the pool.	3425.146856189852
On the hillside above was caged what might have been an incarnation of Fudo, or perhaps a demon.	17017.056001439483
The strange creature, housed in wire, made him shudder.	17143.42768251343
The sensation he so overwhelmingly realized was one which told him he had been there before but he knew he had not, and could not recall any place he had visited to be likened to the limpid green water or the little fountain-falls or the green demon imprisoned beyond his reach.	48186.09998349764
He left the pool and climbed the steep stone stairs to the temple, and the sense of familiarity with the place would not leave him.	15892.747297613761
Into a little well before the temple he dropped a hundred-yen coin and then he had an urge to sound the bell before the temple, to take hold of the rope and crash it against the circle of bronze; but the spirit he wished to call out would not, he knew, come in the person of the temple priest.	117246.88665922957
Instead, he walked around the temple and mounted still another flight of stairs and stood before the seated Fudo at their head.	17119.49460373628
The black Fudo seemed to stare rigidly back at him and Richard's eyes were caught by the Fudo's in fascination, and then Richard was shocked as, all at once, flames shot out from the sharp features of Fudo's face and there was a terrible metallic scraping sound, as if the large statue were about to burst from some pressure within it.	170282.56984234028
Then the flames were gone, the stillness fell upon the severe black face and Richard began to tremble violently.	38862.93783275225
Suddenly he emptied his pockets of all his coins and dropped them into the box before the seated Fudo and hurried back down both stairways and away from the temple, never looking back.	101362.73888156931
He walked all the miles back to his room.	2575.183525455022
He seemed to have picked up a virus that day, because the next morning he had a small cough and felt a bit hot.	8437.311721939894
He stayed home, reading and refusing to think about his frightening experience at Ryusenji.	40886.46246683413
But the process of refusing to think about it was an active reminder in itself and he couldn't rid himself of a consciousness of it throughout the day.	16150.117286193363
The cold lingered, making sleep difficult that night, and he remained in bed still the next morning, now unable to keep from thinking about the inexplicable sight of burning metal, the wretched sound, the unbearable feeling of having been to a remote Tokyo temple at some earlier time in his life.	62987.81033069825
All of the elements of the experience were impossible and yet the reality of them was heavy upon him and he resolved never again to visit the temple at Fudomae.	17689.353653259965
I was thinking of the heat and of water that morning when I was plowing the stubble field far across the hill from the farm buildings.	29019.661571244014
It had grown hot early that day, and I hoped that the boy, my brother's son, would soon come across the broad black area of plowed ground, carrying the jar of cool water.	37138.323339707465
The boy usually was sent out at about that time with the water, and he always dragged an old snow-fence lath or a stick along, to play with.	25795.586074079645
He pretended that the lath was a tractor and he would drag it through the dirt and make buzzing, tractor sounds with his lips.	58983.95514902371
I almost ran over the snake before I could stop the tractor in time.	14880.588490813758
I had turned at the corner of the field and I had to look back to raise the plow and then to drop it again into the earth, and I was thinking of the boy and the water anyway, and when I looked again down the furrow, the snake was there.	6835.321500835276
It lay half in the furrow and half out, and the front wheels had rolled nearly up to it when I put in the clutch.	43576.69788870506
The tractor was heavily loaded with the weight of the plow turning the earth, and the tractor stopped instantly.	6541.529091832684
The snake slid slowly and with great care from the new ridge the plow had made, into the furrow and did not go any further.	44824.91467388246
I had never liked snakes much, I still had that kind of quick panic that I'd had as a child whenever I saw one, but this snake was clean and bright and very beautiful.	29937.122905457254
He was multi-colored and graceful and he lay in the furrow and moved his arched and tapered head only so slightly.	61283.30199090039
Go out of the furrow, snake, I said, but it did not move at all.	1666.768651916868
I pulled the throttle of the tractor in and out, hoping to frighten him with the noise, but the snake only flicked its black, forked tongue and faced the huge tractor wheel, without fright or concern.	129342.56726643351
I let the engine idle then, and I got down and went around the wheel and stood beside it.	21658.58846005973
My movement did frighten the snake and it raised its head and trailed delicately a couple of feet and stopped again, and its tongue was working very rapidly.	106514.53269258743
I followed it, looking at the brilliant colors on its tubular back, the colors clear and sharp and perfect, in orange and green and brown diamonds the size of a baby's fist down its back, and the diamonds were set one within the other and interlaced with glistening jet-black.	79296.47541952529
The colors were astonishing, clear and bright, and it was as if the body held a fire of its own, and the colors came through that transparent flesh and skin, vivid and alive and warm.	14975.913531430491
The eyes were clear and black and the slender body was arched slightly.	11045.496321957147
His flat and gracefully tapered head lifted as I looked at him and the black tongue slipped in and out of that solemn mouth.	13007.077609498516
You beauty, I said, I couldn't kill you.	1706.4416372380533
You are much too beautiful.	381.4954045781958
I had killed snakes before, when I was younger, but there had been no animal like this one, and I knew it was unthinkable that an animal such as that should die.	18048.84292678882
I picked him up, and the length of him arched very carefully and gracefully and only a little wildly, and I could feel the coolness of that radiant, fire-colored body, like splendid ice, and I knew that he had eaten only recently because there were two whole and solid little lumps in the forepart of him, like fieldmice swallowed whole might make.	73144.2963816978
The body caressed through my hands like cool satin, and my hands, usually tanned and dark, were pale beside it, and I asked it where the fire colors could come from the coolness of that body.	41899.136261773245
I lowered him so he would not fall and his body slid out onto the cool, newly-plowed earth, from between my pale hands.	106976.29509590584
The snake worked away very slowly and delicately and with a gorgeous kind of dignity and beauty, and he carried his head a little above the rolled clods.	122258.91720084149
The sharp, burning colors of his body stood brilliant and plain against the black soil, like a target.	15052.480878986804
I felt good and satisfied, looking at the snake.	4980.183532717075
It shone in its bright diamond color against the sun-burned stubble and the crumbled black clods of soil and against the paleness of myself.	68525.62031361189
The color and beauty of it were strange and wonderful and somehow alien, too, in that dry and dusty and uncolored field.	23779.02097635401
I got on the tractor again and I had to watch the plow closely because the field was drawn across the long hillside and even in that good soil there was a danger of rocks.	27835.25733253365
I had my back to the corner of the triangular field that pointed towards the house.	3286.078996902215
The earth was a little heavy and I had to stop once and clean the plowshares because they were not scouring properly, and I did not look back towards the place until I had turned the corner and was plowing across the upper line of the large field, a long way from where I had stopped because of the snake.	98597.73532561779
I saw it all at a glance.	3162.636104645044
The boy was there at the lower corner of the field, and he was in the plowed earth, stamping with ferocity and a kind of frenzied impatience.	12581.506539328864
Even at that distance, with no sound but the sound of the tractor, I could tell the fierce mark of brutality on the boy.	6944.37430526875
I could see the hunched-up shoulders, the savage determination, the dance of his feet as he ground the snake with his heels, and the pirouette of his arms as he whipped at it with the stick.	110739.68969167171
Stop it, I shouted, but the lumbering and mighty tractor roared on, above anything I could say.	78528.07599497045
I stopped the tractor and I shouted down to the boy, and I knew he could hear me, for the morning was clear and still, but he did not even hesitate in that brutal, murdering dance.	20396.224424924178
It was no use.	17.33260413571412
I felt myself tremble, thinking of the diamond light of that beauty I had held a few moments before, and I wanted to run down there and halt, if I could, that frenetic pirouette, catch the boy in the moment of his savagery, and save a glimmer, a remnant, of that which I remembered, but I knew it was already too late.	59063.457313933744
I drove the tractor on, not looking down there; I was afraid to look for fear the evil might still be going on.	22624.706215497827
My head began to ache, and the fumes of the tractor began to bother my eyes, and I hated the job suddenly, and I thought, there are only moments when one sees beautiful things, and these are soon crushed, or they vanish.	42136.43124227298
I felt the anger mount within me.	954.6723650396195
The boy waited at the corner, with the jar of water held up to me in his hands, and the water had grown bubbly in the heat of the morning.	4609.925969596002
I knew the boy well.	176.09085636661734
He was eleven and we had done many things together.	3521.320204092474
He was a beautiful boy, really, with finely-spun blonde hair and a smooth and still effeminate face, and his eyelashes were long and dark and brushlike, and his eyes were blue.	53870.17240826313
He waited there and he smiled as the tractor came up, as he would smile on any other day.	6091.1468425704725
He was my nephew, my brother's son, handsome and warm and newly-scrubbed, with happiness upon his face and his face resembled my brother's and mine as well.	76878.72885892143
I saw then, too, the stake driven straight and hard into the plowed soil, through something there where I had been not long before.	36434.90884001057
I stopped the tractor and climbed down and the boy came eagerly up to me.	2695.938532799272
"Can I ride around with you"?	1410.1078174607987
he asked, as he often did, and I had as often let him be on the tractor beside me.	4310.76397391033
I looked closely at his eyes, and he was already innocent; the killing was already forgotten in that clear mind of his.	9647.483975081137
"No, you cannot", I said, pushing aside the water jar he offered to me.	7140.391989593157
I pointed to the splintered, upright stake.	8344.572943523774
"Did you do that"?	312.4080866352174
I asked.	2.6665076521639826
"Yes", he said, eagerly, beginning a kind of dance of excitement.	2144.172487396292
"I killed a snake; it was a big one".	588.8997379418821
He tried to take my hand to show me.	381.27642230459145
"Why did you kill it"?	622.8594413896186
"Snakes are ugly and bad".	8056.155677823076
"This snake was very beautiful.	1752.2092266114817
Didn't you see how beautiful it was"?	7853.480520562183
"Snakes are ugly", he said again.	16551.201411289014
"You saw the colors of it, didn't you?	8672.531155267672
Have you ever seen anything like it around here"?	4890.015731337469
"Snakes are ugly and bad, and it might have bitten somebody, and they would have died".	8223.86507619958
"You know there are no poisonous snakes in this area.	1097.542456997157
This snake could not harm anything".	2940.089732134842
"They eat chickens sometimes", the boy said.	3540.358500075827
"They are ugly and they eat chickens and I hate snakes".	6646.912302987316
"You are talking foolishly", I said.	204.3142204171905
"You killed it because you wanted to kill it, for no other reason".	4228.100170558481
"They're ugly and I hate them", the boy insisted.	7166.491673349803
"Nobody likes snakes".	585.4631152021059
"It was beautiful", I said, half to myself.	1896.5951703490985
The boy skipped along beside me, and he was contented with what he had done.	1485.11222111951
The fire of the colors was gone; there was a contorted ugliness now; the colors of its back were dull and gray-looking, torn and smashed in, and dirty from the boy's shoes.	94688.88573989311
The beautifully-tapered head, so delicate and so cool, had been flattened as if in a vise, and the forked tongue splayed out of the twisted, torn mouth.	193162.05630931232
The snake was hideous, and I remembered, even then, the cool, bright fire of it only a little while before, and I thought perhaps the boy had always seen it dead and hideous like that, and had not even stopped to see the beauty of it in its life.	23202.044190821216
I wrenched the stake out, that the boy had driven through it in the thickest part of its body, between the colored diamond crystals.	26961.453851825187
I touched it and the coolness, the ice-feeling, was gone, and even then it moved a little, perhaps a tiny spasm of the dead muscles, and I hoped that it was truly dead, so that I would not have to kill it.	35814.416154625214
And then it moved a little more, and I knew the snake was dying, and I would have to kill it there.	3317.0558288278075
The boy stood off a few feet and he had the stake again and he was racing innocently in circles, making the buzzing tractor sound with his lips.	44853.43784676642
I'm sorry, I thought to the snake, for you were beautiful.	1425.5204940262458
I took the broken length of it around the tractor and I took one of the wrenches from the tool-kit and I struck its head, not looking at it, to kill it at last, for it could never live.	86990.86052325676
The boy came around behind me, dragging the stake.	5391.599934075394
"It's a big snake, isn't it"?	243.5968605837098
he said.	3.376936803385834
"I'm going to tell everybody how big a snake I killed".	5758.074958067491
"Don't you see what you have done"?	177.31572313431639
I said.	3.6880945733023127
"Don't you see the difference now"?	184.10717939385134
"It's an ugly, terrible snake", he said.	677.4911247880452
He came up and was going to push at it with his heavy shoes.	4766.994476179141
I could see the happiness in the boy's eyes, the gleeful brutality.	3389.3591294540606
"Don't", I said.	44.93147421754956
I could have slapped the boy.	207.69836519220465
He looked up at me, puzzled, and he swayed his head from side to side.	24169.283357304943
I thought, you little brute, you nasty, selfish, little beast, with brutality already developed within that brain and in those eyes.	48596.07851719342
I wanted to slap his face, to wipe forever the insolence and brutal glee from his mouth, and I decided then, very suddenly, what I would do.	21923.82633255365
Cady didn't come unglued easily, but this had not been a day of glad tidings.	36826.67997111955
Tax worries, production worries, personnel worries, and the letter from Hanford College, his own alma mater, a real snapper.	269196.63156549924
Hanford realized he had enrolled his son four years ago.	7759.571199754801
Yes, the boy's credentials were in order- scholastic transcript, character references, picture, health record, successful college boards.	40628.001268120664
But due to the many applicants on file, would he co-operate and write a personal letter giving them his son's motivation, interests and his qualifications for leadership?	155761.81045183926
Cady Partlow lit his pipe with no comfort.	22805.18918032501
This was it.	66.70420333023951
This was the letter which would or would not enroll his son, David, in Hanford.	21408.090661964172
His son who had never held an office in any organization in the eighteen years of his life.	1375.825731650797
His son who did not know whether he wanted to be doctor, lawyer, merchant or chief.	3254.471471161545
He wondered if he had played it wrong.	588.4318535753562
Maybe he should have kept in touch.	476.8041051693955
Gone back for reunions.	4114.445611181807
But he had been busy building a business, being a big man in his own town just as he had been a big man at Hanford, Class of 1935.	5116.41341817381
Besides, Cady Partlow knew he wasn't the old-grad-type.	20214.53114209481
It wouldn't help anyway.	1128.9241722891966
Look at Pete Alcorn, who hadn't missed a Hanford ball game in fifteen years.	12344.877059407154
Pete's son was rejected.	1381.3511867798456
Hanford College, Little Ivy League, had no room for football players with low grades.	67311.56185886433
Cady looked at his own son's scholastic record with pride.	8144.563924005618
Good solid B average with a sprinkling of A's in math and science.	13226.393561556735
Imagine his son being that good in science!	15872.683195631118
Mr Partlow could still feel a cold sweat on his slightly gray temples as he remembered what a near thing chemistry had been for him at Hanford.	96972.42405158126
But then, he hadn't studied very hard.	728.7769609256507
Getting elected president of the student body took a lot of time and politicking.	5396.47082856225
He put down his pipe and started to type.	2875.4295689885003
"In response to your letter, I can in good conscience recommend my son, David, in the field of leadership".	6255.048465798657
He stopped and looked at the picture of his son, the picture on his desk which had changed with the years from a laughing baby to a candidate for Hanford College.	21723.40238720224
He didn't have to be told his son looked like him.	2133.4987905830903
David had the same gray eyes, high cheekbones, dark hair and a certain rugged ugliness.	113074.51040776646
Height, 6'.	418.3996431277595
Weight, 160.	11770.304497228983
Health, excellent.	2109.2071872114316
He turned back to the typewriter with a little more confidence.	1257.4717332670555
"His interests range from astronomy and geology to electronics, tennis and swimming.	10187.205374128505
His chief motivation for enrolling at Hanford is the desire to"- Mr Partlow banged his fist on the keyboard, ruining the letter.	43676.785418674226
He paced to the window and looked at the city he had helped to build.	5429.493593058259
How do you tell a college president that your son doesn't know what he wants to do?	2295.4349801612884
That you have refused to drive him into the family business or push him into a profession so you can say at the club, "Of course David has known since he was twelve he wanted to be an engineer"- or a lawyer, or an editor?	80243.43227160047
How do you tell a college like Hanford that your son has a vast potential, that he will find himself?	11301.13680890327
Just give him time, give him a chance.	2542.6349453578314
Cady snapped the Venetian blind shut and slammed himself down before the typewriter, rolled in a fresh sheet, and gave his letter the same savage attention he bestowed on a salesman who needed to have the bucket taken off his thick head.	238997.87785358934
What a production to make of a letter commending your own son!	6030.5192985817675
His eyebrow went up in amusement at his soul-searching panic.	21891.82379808344
He told Hanford his son wanted to go into the field of electronics.	1684.0156991129427
He told Hanford his son had participated in numerous high-school activities.	14103.826864368019
He belonged to a social club, a civic group, little theater, swimming team, and had been president of the student forum as well as treasurer of the science club.	52623.68323110858
He finished with a flurry of good wishes to Hanford College and signed the letter.	5977.69287541
There, that did it.	112.37313929246469
Then he met the grave eyes of his wife, Anne, from the photograph next to David's.	9871.224379120551
He shoved the unsealed letter into his coat pocket.	10913.373083264172
Better show it to Anne and see if he had omitted anything.	21234.726371655426
After all, his wife had written most of his letters for him in those first lean days of Partlow Products.	5888.907019427963
Anne had a way with words.	3035.874311993724
Half of it was natural, half was Smith College.	1676.8092883519205
Yet the whole of Anne was something she had never learned in any college.	10920.2649601484
A woman had it or she didn't.	1149.8796583131752
Anne had it.	115.00245969130553
She said what she meant and let it be.	497.27689582506696
She never got on his back.	879.6629289590562
He could take the advice or leave it.	336.06193814117006
He whistled as he locked the office and grinned as he got on the elevator.	11374.261503766773
"You look like you just heard a real gasser, Mr Partlow".	44812.61452676596
Cady looked at Tom, who had taken him up and down for fifteen years.	8494.279303282521
"I was just thinking how things have changed.	229.49266952061765
When I went to college they begged you to come.	1342.9579852238585
Be our guest!	2167.8947167582164
It's our pleasure!	1398.6583994629748
Now you have to be well rounded, firm in motivation and pre-packed with knowledge"!	15916.206353528676
Tom slid open the door to the lobby.	518.7334334443896
"That's a fact, Mr Partlow.	2593.215731507543
My John applied to six colleges before he got in".	10851.021074898345
"Going to State"?	3105.2952610584866
"No.	3.297522726426617
He's president of the rocket club here, you know.	3561.1931154237573
Always messing around with science stuff.	5537.353219090454
Real bright along those lines, you might say.	7378.37144673315
He got a science scholarship to Yale".	1732.2401408147332
"Oh", said Mr Partlow, "that's fine, Tom.	11224.659065154918
Just fine".	198.436480370006
As he drove home through the thinning traffic, Cady felt the unease growing.	15430.801077735214
He hadn't told anyone, but he, too, had applied to five colleges for David.	11920.235113919149
They had all turned down his son.	445.45980779214614
Weakness in leadership.	2845.915655153051
So sorry.	217.74424824157032
Limited interests.	278.27657629034627
So sorry.	217.74424824157032
No clear motivation.	382.39784680964345
So sorry.	217.74424824157032
He suddenly realized when he walked into his own pretty darned expensive house that he needed the Martini Anne had waiting for him.	18270.16050456164
But tonight his drink tasted like branch water and even his favorite meal of steak and tossed salad gave no surcease from the growing weight of the letter in his pocket.	47651.58272201529
Nor did looking at Anne ease the tension as it usually did.	7942.569052763982
He liked looking at Anne.	739.1572175993815
Most people did.	117.18830184111012
He liked her blond hair and the sprinkle of freckles across her nose.	3851.9200343942225
From those navy-blue eyes she saw things as clearly and honestly as David did.	25284.74248294237
She always could sense the shag end of a woolly day.	12754.123883550128
"Board meeting tonight, Cady"?	18663.150618595162
"No, I begged off.	300.1567572636285
Work to do".	70.63287550765573
"Can I have the car, dad"?	17050.21057278424
"Why not let him take it, Cady?	10675.067592000843
I know it is midweek, but it's only eight days before commencement.	8166.469742057982
Let's forget the rules".	315.46299541680133
Cady, deep in thought, neither heard nor answered.	27561.13195164899
David grinned.	933.9978269885022
Carefully he put down his steak knife and said loudly, "Mr Chairman"!	131367.76223787575
Cady Partlow's head came up like that of the proverbial fire horse.	26812.91867915683
"I'm sorry, Dave.	122.89103311094726
The car?	178.07849517998665
Of course you can have it".	192.57255988894147
Dave ate two pieces of pie as he did everything else, slowly, methodically and with interest.	57891.375824231945
"Hear anything from Hanford yet, dad"?	106782.4793940837
Cady begged the question.	1381.0387421299442
"Don't worry about it, Dave.	542.5045041497154
Your acceptance will come through".	1734.7164179492531
Dave shrugged on his sports coat and picked up the car keys.	36718.759403485084
"Don't be too sure, dad.	2406.3836875153715
Charles Burke got turned down by Dartmouth and he is a straight-A student".	7739.986921095658
Anne said it wasn't surprising because Charles was antisocial, a lone wolf, and completely one-sided.	82045.00855306892
"I can hardly say the same about you, Dave"!	4658.143785054455
Dave kissed her lightly.	3901.6718923494054
"Girls, my dear parent, are here to stay!	31752.189283263375
Get my old man to bed early.	3067.9240919732815
He looks a little bit frayed".	3017.0515393322626
Anne waited until the door had slammed and picked up the coffeepot.	23782.656806721145
"Let's go into the library.	88.25695303722756
You do seem somewhat tattered".	2498.958075880933
Cady trailed her with the coffee cups and settled into his favorite chair in the comfortable book-lined room.	139684.45645704927
"I didn't know I looked so dilapidated"!	1618.3374540401896
"Wrong word, darling.	18248.6338611592
Your fur has been rubbed the wrong way and you show it.	22629.58586969668
Need any help"?	1116.3351005171264
"In a way, yes.	20.437043202668686
Hanford College hasn't decided on Dave's application yet.	22805.1894594038
They want a letter from me on his motives, interests and leadership.	5908.758595050374
Here's what I wrote".	959.2351097060865
Cady handed her the letter, drank his coffee and waited with what he suddenly realized was belligerence.	198062.95596342123
Already he could feel Anne's questioning eyes.	3636.5300764086605
"I know you wrote this in a hurry, but, Cady, Dave was only acting president of the student forum for a few days.	12253.164464519034
That was when half the school was down with flu".	4651.818851598303
"But he was president".	62.29579972971129
"And he wasn't really elected treasurer of the science club.	3373.361453256692
He just took over the week Bill Daley was in the state basketball play-off".	14100.61442031758
Cady stuck his jaw out.	8056.155320622943
"The fact remains he was treasurer".	779.3359755701608
"And the swimming team.	262.13672008099104
No, Cady, he made second team.	3251.1357935300944
Just missed the first".	130.59593363941266
"A team is a team", insisted Cady.	5912.874515720397
"Anything else"?	558.1932445208632
"Yes", she said quietly.	423.00345688548924
"I don't think you've been quite honest, Cady.	528.353502914561
It isn't like you.	71.91714411549607
David's interests.	1377.4295371505445
Astronomy.	3524.279832361616
He was mad about stars at the age of nine.	1665.9259143490194
Geology, You and Dave used his rock collection for the bottom of the fishpond six years ago!	122287.48852354466
Those aren't his interests now".	1967.2635803083922
"What do you suggest"?	451.3679261052104
"Just say he likes swimming, tennis, chess and music".	18357.19011174558
"Music!	344.40473644280917
He hasn't been to a symphony concert all season".	3281.7909843119664
Anne smiled.	357.5447637807093
"But he plays bass with Chief Crazy Horse and his Five Colts"!	18033.65627526199
"You mean that rock-and-roll combo?	8116.398409452808
Even in that he never solos like Jack on guitar or Rich on sax.	17454.59614004679
He's- he's just there, that's all".	824.6136290037932
"Yes, he's just there.	496.0185816401459
He keeps the beat going.	1812.5982181646275
He likes to play bass because he doesn't have to solo.	17866.03258380772
He doesn't like to rise and shine.	2129.9610815955034
Don't worry, Cady, he'll be back in the Beethoven fold by next year".	1524.619637149961
Cady appeared slightly mollified.	18248.6338611592
"All right.	3.8043631555700803
But I refuse to be brutally honest and mention Chief Crazy Horse and his Five Colts".	34961.65767111396
Anne laughed and Cady felt the tension loosen its grip on the back of his neck.	6083.015723659709
"Maybe I am padding it a bit, Anne", he said.	1043.7069955519712
"But you know how hard it is to get a boy into a good college.	1178.0365635274416
He has to have leadership as well as grades".	1130.2655604654653
Anne folded the worrisome document.	3054.551400025858
"Did you know he is advertising his ham-radio equipment for sale this weekend?	35403.774711022656
He hasn't used it now for several years.	474.4374359485217
Can you really say his motivation for college is electronics"?	19466.103702123644
Cady felt the jolt as though he had stepped off the curb on his heel.	14894.92860834778
"And what would you say he wants to do?	537.1222479129633
Just what"?	42.802298320222654
"It's Dave who is applying to Hanford College.	7403.750014902092
Why don't you ask him"?	409.8292207701476
For once Cady Partlow wished Anne would yell at him so he could yell back.	31374.200860669196
"I have talked to him, but you know I've never tried to push him into any profession.	3120.0856561119567
I won't be guilty of trying to run his life".	561.8982848324855
Anne picked up the towel she was hemming for the hospital guild.	47051.938586672695
"Just because your father tried to make a banker out of you, you've leaned over backward to keep your hands off.	9980.158785307895
But subconsciously you've wanted him to conform to your mold.	5085.18587006553
You want him to be a leader of men, like you".	1514.5288449689763
Cady put the well-worn chip back on his shoulder.	14211.254420267796
"Dave has qualities of leadership.	1958.8685650213017
He just hasn't developed them yet.	1392.6688886147963
Give him time".	412.91660971799087
He never will, Cady.	1256.052630705465
Not the kind of leadership you mean, working with lots of people.	2660.052034858179
All your wishful thinking won't change that.	3628.4603627510805
Remember what you used to say in the Army?	1319.6753035111458
You can't run a war with ninety-nine generals and one private"!	20088.016286917482
Cady walked the block to the mailbox, almost ashamed of himself for arguing with Anne.	61843.18162550866
Martin felt it was incredible that the situation had come to exist at all.	9841.794746416661
And once begun, had grown to such monstrous proportions.	6628.64615799709
The pair of white cotton shorts ruled his life.	3019.9181734402478
Lying awake at night, he could see them, laid out on the floor of his mind.	1532.675096791015
When he rose in the morning, the image was still there.	360.0659627904889
He had always been a messy and negligent man.	608.2610610332954
In his bachelor days, his bedroom had been strewn with clothes which his mother, or later the hotel maid, generally saw fit to put in order.	27644.318108903204
No doubt Dolores resented following in their footsteps.	3697.1426789813127
But it was fun those first days, kidding about the trail of garments he left littered across the rug.	19826.829701739163
There was an assertive maleness in his grinning refusal to pick them up.	1293.7059389935944
Half slyly he enjoyed seeing her stoop to lift the things.	16700.782383807917
He remembered the first time he saw her, standing across the room at a party.	1977.7472521093162
The smooth curve of her neck, very white against hair which curled against it like petals.	43897.48926293279
Her hair was the color of those blooms which in seed catalogues are referred to as "black", but since no flower is actually without color contain always a hint of grape or purple or blue- he wanted to draw the broad patina of hair through his fingers, searching it slowly for a trace of veining which might reveal its true shade beneath the darkness.	240213.67625265845
So he sought her out, and spoke to her, and thought of his hand in her hair.	825.1620940692337
Or against her back, pressed on the column of vertebrae, which held her so magnificently straight and unyielding, until the segments of bone made tiny sharp cracking noises, like the snapped stem of a tulip.	221347.7057083282
But, to put it bluntly, nothing snapped.	431.2837903570034
Yet that had not seriously troubled him, not then.	6258.554413425657
They married.	164.32466086022657
More he could take at leisure.	1296.6639983573511
All Martin thought he needed was time to what better use could time be put?	84208.04971421028
He saw later that they had made their marriage too quickly.	2839.52247876603
There was too little occasion beforehand for resistance, the brave strong delights of emotional clash and meeting.	27722.664755763642
They had left themselves too much to discover.	228.85609038719946
But, at the start, his new life felt invigorating.	3225.916678855586
Good.	165.9377663322197
It was on the tenth day after the wedding how could it have been so soon?	3795.8064176518524
that he dropped the shorts on the floor.	798.8289763847072
"Now, I'm not going to pick up those shorts"!	324.6657031221921
Martin gave her a teasing pat.	10272.073915918587
"I think you'll get tired of them there".	351.1827423638904
In the morning the shorts were where he had left them.	515.9044607279276
He smiled to himself, and decided not to mention them till Dolores did.	4685.575247363544
It was almost too easy.	55.056502840282164
For he had just remembered tonight they were having their first guests.	6244.255399330644
The shorts would not be on the floor when he came home that evening.	1219.7165149731666
He was wrong.	16.780052790464044
The rest of the bedroom had been groomed to a superhuman neatness, but in the middle of the carpet lay the disheveled shorts.	6010.601335859292
They gave the room a strange note of incongruity, like a mole on a beautiful face.	10268.566516443765
He saw that Dolores intended to wait until the last minute, thinking he would get nervous.	5244.169425994597
Quietly he determined to foil her.	11755.728264916204
I can be as stubborn as she can, he thought; my nerves are as strong.	13954.545278408743
She'll rush to the bedroom when the doorbell rings.	6125.590508602068
It rang.	1451.0152339542085
Ten minutes early.	472.72988308639003
Martin was standing a few feet from the front door.	415.8083653708835
He swung around, eyes toward the bedroom, some fifteen feet away.	7345.537881303456
Dolores stood motionless in the doorway.	1311.0227785521208
He could not cross the living room, brush past her, and bend down to retrieve the shorts.	12358.015158739317
Martin turned his back.	377.9904987267493
He strode to answer the bell.	876.2956809107344
Bill's hat was deposited in the hall closet.	14848.510230690656
With the most casual and relaxed manner in the world, Dolores led Anthea to the bedroom.	8949.81194175426
Martin strained his ears.	380.084536889823
At first he could not be sure.	116.92013924523287
Then he caught just enough to know that the shorts were still there.	1301.2713985200085
A glissade of giggles slid over their voices.	2828.0596863980004
All evening Anthea favored him with odd, coy looks.	11768.594643689015
Clearly she had been instructed "not to say a word".	987.7122946348761
For some reason, this ellipsis in the conversation spread until it swallowed up every other topic.	8561.352246459039
At last there was a void no one could fill.	3305.4144663121688
The Brainards went home early.	1784.4339260008162
Martin realized, later on, that he should have "had it out" with Dolores that night.	3328.1775466360536
As violently as possible.	324.2359427583747
But he was so taken aback, he could not believe any rage of his would make her give in.	3773.6263860022295
On the contrary, it would only weaken his position if he fumed, while she stayed calm and adamant.	13673.365925963453
And if he surrendered after raving at her.	592.1828471811184
h He shivered.	875.5027777512906
Suppose he ran up the white flag altogether?	12124.804490590259
At once.	19.448831610841335
He considered the sober possibility.	1506.3631258661974
In his head was the echo of those titters with Anthea.	7483.22228858271
There was something about private feminine whisperings which always made him feel scabrous and unclean.	8470.522526397583
He remembered his mother gossiping with her neighborhood women friends, lowering her voice to a penetrating hoarseness which might be trusted to carry to the head of the stairs, where he crouched listening.	47107.37295709461
He could even recall the last time he sat there.	3157.612737538203
She was talking about him that time, because he had done some bad thing, something she disliked, but "Afterwards Martin said he was sorry.	9978.661260221741
He apologized so sweetly, I couldn't keep being annoyed with him".	7046.434406833795
It wasn't even true that he'd said he was sorry that time; he had in fact said simply that he wished the thing hadn't happened, which was as honest as he could put it.	21599.67379559451
But his mother told the story over and over, till her "Martin said he was sorry" was as much a part of her as the shape of her thin, pallid ears.	8195.880572222277
The battle had to be fought.	254.88606111212906
Let the best sex win.	1062.8768525187547
But his resolution hardly seemed to help.	560.3761291639574
If the situation had been bad, it now got worse.	5514.1188261153975
About this time people began "dropping in", considering that the newly married had been left alone long enough.	26314.122881218496
Angrily Martin wished they had delayed the wedding and gone on a trip- preferably one that lasted months- instead of deciding not to postpone the date until he could get away.	114834.58873800367
Here they were at the mercy of anyone who chose to come by.	738.3981369428517
These stray people nearly always insisted on Dolores showing them around the apartment.	12890.931903268554
Of course, the tours of inspection included the ever-present shorts.	1948.976651803853
It was curious how the different visitors took this.	2928.607246089567
Some tried to ignore the blot on the bedroom's countenance.	10544.528328475002
Others asked.	163.7357627587266
Quite a few laughed.	629.3328209364945
To them all Dolores told a lighthearted and witty tale.	4460.582663245599
"It's a little contest Martin and I have", she would begin gaily, carrying the anecdote through a frothy and deceptive course.	24571.823425049795
While he waited in the living room.	99.37011416748982
Once Martin went along.	1107.1873738090696
They entered the bedroom, and Dolores said nothing.	1765.8478395520915
Then one of the guests showed his merriment.	2327.219424066046
"You were in a hurry, weren't you"?	3322.677065362672
Martin would have liked to break the man's neck.	1828.0294670651908
Dolores smiled; she let the interpretation stand.	6807.988937844921
Now Martin heard himself give a snort of mock good nature.	16981.228157346988
With her eyes Dolores dared him for the truth, ready to begin It's a little contest- Never again did he enter into the ritual of showing the apartment.	40212.699758761395
They kept up a rigid pretense of speaking relations.	7864.980925942364
But Martin seldom felt the impulse to talk about anything.	8949.517147967868
What to talk about?	155.24160220676322
Dolores kept picking up any of his clothes except the fatal shorts which he left about, but he had been robbed of pleasure in scattering his possessions.	61094.44565727304
He fell into the habit of putting his clothes in drawers and closets, so his life might impinge as little as possible on hers.	121628.50850403793
The shorts alone remained.	832.6955676347233
In his moments of worst agony, Martin imagined what his friends were saying.	11377.33645421795
The sound of their amazement.	135.9364654854441
Bizarre He could hear the word.	2416.5158049502797
The most bizarre situation.	354.6801135451495
We were up to visit them and h He had thought her exactly what he wanted.	10575.550871257194
Six weeks of marriage and I'm using the past tense, he told himself furiously.	29601.60290864662
Pursuing his idea, he saw that it would be impossible to leave her now.	486.2144965308027
Everyone would know why; he would cut a supremely ridiculous figure.	14493.313792067433
He was trapped.	583.6879133064857
Day and night Martin could not drag his mind from the dilemma he had made for himself.	14053.39987914033
His mind scurried frantically, seeking an exit.	11861.544940565047
Alternately he had periods of hostile defeatism in which he determined sullenly, morosely, to live out his life in this fashion.	14429.4255619138
Nothing would change, nothing would ever change.	5609.7216576375295
When the solution finally came to him, one night while he was in bed, he was so shaken by its simplicity that he could only wonder why it had not occurred to him before.	6674.786814544257
In a frenzy of excitement, he considered his plan.	4254.226252840905
Beside his shorts, he would place something of hers.	60246.466153175905
Instantaneously he would have won an immeasurable moral victory, for if she picked up, say, a pair of her panties, she might just as well lift his shorts lying alongside- the expenditure of energy was almost the same.	56855.36208341883
He felt that it would be a particular humiliation to Dolores to pick up her own underwear which he had laid on the floor.	2178.9076757548905
Furthermore, he could go on repeating the maneuver endlessly every time he went in the bedroom, he could drop a slip or a brassiere, or maybe a girdle, next to his shorts.	14186.426673189198
Sooner or later, Dolores would crack.	20580.77175210269
On the other hand, if she didn't remove her own things, it would be difficult to explain to the parade of guests which traversed the apartment.	1282.292404898411
Martin guessed that Dolores would not be so eager to tell the next installment of her story.	16885.243083479527
The tale, he thought, would become less gay.	3145.672907523604
She had used his rumpled shorts as the very image of his childishness, his lack of control, his general male looseness, while she remained cool, airy, and untouched, the charming teacher who disciplined an unruly body.	143844.40622121943
To have her underclothes linked with his on the floor would draw her visibly into a struggle both bitter and absurd.	39988.72528833602
Something in the back of his mind was aware that the magnificence of the plan lay in his faith, that the idea would work because he believed in it, since his courage and virility were involved, because it was truly his.	17382.784403567246
The knowledge kept him from analyzing his scheme to death, and took him through the last hours of that night in a peace of exalted fanaticism.	20113.13499828822
The next morning, while Dolores was out of the room, he went to her bureau drawer, took out a pair of nylon lace pants, and tenderly dropped them next to his shorts.	6270.626533865394
He sat down on the bed.	19.682022359240705
In a surprisingly short time, Dolores appeared.	2720.4970002582254
To his delight, her eyes focused at once upon the two garments.	22834.321394723484
Slowly and deliberately she reached down and touched the lace with her fingers, then hesitated for about a second.	48296.23461540001
Ah, he thought, she's going through the chain of reasoning which says she might really just as well pick up my shorts too.	39092.6757307029
He saw that in a moment she had grasped all the implications of a plot which had been weeks in occurring to him.	6988.874220903056
Extending her fingers another inch, she caught up the shorts, and swiftly left the room.	34721.51487454123
She did not look at him, but he noticed that her face was flushed and her eyes unsteady.	11534.289000676878
They breakfasted together, but Martin did not refer to his triumph, and Dolores found a great deal to do in the kitchen, bobbing up and down from the table so that talk was impossible.	29481.086453754084
Well, Martin thought, That'll save.	3188.8504875003537
He left for work in high spirits.	118.51136655471554
As he relaxed that day, Martin realized how tense he had been these past weeks.	18695.91485940124
He found that he no longer hated Dolores he knew how much he had hated her, and he was surprised at a resurgence of an affectionate feeling.	24144.945709956166
"Good old A-Z", Cap said.	2723.1028907006794
"You know, I've got one of your cars at home.	226.4055427031929
as a prominent industrialist, you ought to be interested in his nibs' support group.	8957.1260307009
Isn't his racket down your alley"?	15105.559711463771
Once it was, William thought.	1549.1084514160573
But not any more.	20.87729613534289
A rush of memory swept him back, and he forgot Cap.	10982.917436109958
How did he start on such a ride to brief glory?	19597.9388492416
Simply enough, through the inadvertent agency of his brother-in-law.	2677.261274496749
General Hershey's draft and Doc Eddyman and Cap were responsible for his first eminence, but Fearless Freddy Bryan could take credit, if he cared to and he did, for the second time.	43017.158369546276
Freddy needed a job, having been detached from a rather dangerous career in real estate and skyscraper financing by Gerry, and it was up to Arthur Willis to provide him with one.	81381.9668624618
Mr Willis bought Zenith Plastic Products, a skeleton corporation of sorts which had undergone many vicissitudes and whose principal assets were a couple of electronics plants on Long Island engaged in working out government contracts, and installed Freddy in an executive position.	282911.8121840876
Shortly after, Freddy had his usual proliferation of bold ideas.	6237.9920805599295
Willis listened patiently, and once in a while William was exposed to them at a family gathering; he generally heard Freddy's suggestions without interest, being absorbed by his own prospering concerns.	77153.69399050831
Probably Mr Willis was influenced toward deeper involvement by familial loyalty and a concern for his grandchildren.	32301.093522748244
Gerry began to aid Freddy with her father, prodded, no doubt, by Joan's open contempt for Freddy and William's irritating competency.	97076.07476697127
Another factor must have been the eventual disposal of Willis' fortune; she unquestionably assumed that the more he was entwined with Freddy, the more likely he was to reward Freddy richly upon his death.	54634.40023980918
Whatever the reasons, Willis and Bryan started expanding Zenith.	4336.572215390065
They acquired another electronics factory, a specialized ceramics company, an organization that built- very experimentally- high-speed research calculators.	85482.06977634763
Since they were hunting for national defense contracts, Adam Herberet, a man of surprising resources, entered the combination as a silent partner because of his political connections.	45750.71716969158
Feeling his power, Freddy looked for additional worlds to conquer.	35627.640334555836
Heavy industry, slanted toward inexhaustible government coffers, attracted him.	44912.079320212186
The Allstates Auto Company, a medium-sized firm which manufactured four-wheel-drive vehicles and other off-road equipment, had recently constructed an over-large, modern plant in a burst of misguided optimism.	247097.21146250624
Cursed with a shaky management and dissatisfied stockholders, it was ripe for amalgamation, and Freddy's instinct was to keep growing by stock mergers and small expenditure of cash, and never mind inevitable consequences.	233704.55322433595
With Herberet's blessing, he was convinced that Allstates' Wisconsin folly would be ideal for conversion to airplane sub-assembly, tanks, missiles or ordnance of some kind.	59125.22365871064
At that point William came into the picture.	311.7884599133458
Although not much desiring the account, he had been appointed advertising head of Zenith.	21145.33186882613
Freed of routine by having his own firm and a complaisant partner, his work in New York had given him a broader overall knowledge of business administration and corporate structure; and if he wasn't entirely committed to what he did, he was at least fascinated by the chance of wider opportunities.	31944.727660296845
Mr Willis, eager to have him allied with the family, wanted advice beyond the confines of his field, and William set out on a serious study of the situation, including trips to Wisconsin and Washington.	23802.860126650852
In the end, he said "I'm not enchanted by the proposition, sir.	352.3066785002681
I know a guy named Jack Hamrick, a very bright young engineer who was with Chrysler, and I took him with me to Allstates.	39516.16808271886
It's his expert opinion that the plant isn't well suited to what you have in mind.	2496.8047416938234
The conversion will cost a fortune.	2455.6848055666346
Besides that, I'm acquainted more or less with the defense hardware situation through my contacts in the Air Force.	10842.665393373709
I think Adam Herberet is guilty of being too hopeful and better informed on defense financing than on the technical side.	29334.744717433157
Missiles have thrown everything up for grabs, and nobody seems to be sure where we go from here.	18951.97085023489
The future of manned aircraft is in doubt, which affects government procurement, and jet transports have revolutionized the airline trade- one jet can take the place of three compound-engine planes.	37815.78457411554
This means the aircraft companies are going to tear into the government market, looking for anything they can get and making the competition tough.	41368.07241419892
Here are a few facts and figures I've assembled.	3493.00651221446
Can't you stay with what you have and wait till the dust settles"?	37790.943770566024
Willis glanced at the bound pages given him and shrugged.	34947.50857405108
"Well", he said, "there is Freddy, you know h. And Gerry.	4690.61270927506
Freddy is deeply committed to our plans already.	22805.19197111529
He assures me he has people to handle the money raising, and Ham Richert, my lawyer, says the legal aspects of the wedding of Zenith and Allstates are no problem.	54211.68880391151
I don't like to exhibit the deadly dampening effect of an elderly man's caution".	8136.145366606621
"Yes, I appreciate that.	166.38956690997654
I wish you wouldn't tell Freddy I'm lukewarm; I've caused him trouble before, and he's beginning to resent me.	35545.50811077526
If we don't take care, the sisters will be entering the fray on opposite sides, brandishing their cudgels".	43279.09140244399
"Which is a frightful prospect, Bill".	1148.9593751205416
Willis laughed.	1422.1700206015669
"One shouldn't mix commercial affairs with patriarchy, but in this case I have no choice h. Let me think about it.	8928.149310098364
I'm most grateful to you, so grateful I wish you were my principal aide instead of Freddy".	20919.3734516394
Not to William's surprise, Freddy, Adam and Hamilton Richert prevailed; allied to them was Gerry, devoting much time to swaying her father, and Joan dismissed all thought of the project and William was unwilling to interfere further.	103351.78525657138
Zenith absorbed Allstates, stock transfers were arranged, and Freddy became president of the hyphenated combination.	124490.32668085312
Through Jack Hamrick, William fell into the world of automobile promotion and got several accounts for Shoals and Clay.	54567.25702178088
He forgot about A-Z till, unhappily, he and Hamrick were proved correct.	53415.256508859435
Freddy's backing dropped away from him and Mr Willis was forced to make up the deficit.	14391.260124190301
Adam, beset by changing defense conditions and the open secret that he was part of the new corporation, couldn't deliver from his end.	10204.32004629031
The Wisconsin plant turned out to be a white elephant.	1576.126464209903
Stock Willis held in abundance fell sharply in value.	14615.506716506956
Confronted by a grim future, Freddy lost his nerve and plumped for a drastic liquidation.	39592.28485890433
Once more Willis summoned William.	3289.9433797810125
"You were right", he said- "you and your engineer- and I'm in something of a bind.	13294.386614716095
Freddy's solution doesn't appeal to me.	4033.265599571387
In addition to other defects, I'm a stubborn man and hate to admit to the common garden variety of bad judgment.	11830.672912923641
Will you see if you can help me"?	2165.1430048376606
William spent a long week end closeted with Hamrick.	22954.974130734063
His recent experience in motor car advertising, a love for cars of themselves, the existence of A-Z's useless Wisconsin set-up, exposure to exciting conceptions of Hamrick's that nobody would buy, and the coincidental recent failure of a respected but out-dated small-car manufacturer called Ticonderoga Motors had given him an idea of such dimensions he was almost afraid to broach it.	205323.31019513763
Initially, Hamrick's reaction to A-Z going into the passenger car market was discouraging.	33762.40156278316
He thought the financing, the advertising, the production of new models, the founding of a nationwide chain of dealerships was simply too difficult.	12650.433407093207
Then he caught fire.	304.55526354300366
If A-Z could buy Ticonderoga cheaply and use their presses and dies and other equipment, if William could hit precisely the right promotion note, if the money hurdle was not insurmountable h. They took nearly a month to investigate, marshal statistics, and put their arguments down in black and white.	153128.99973925977
Taking Hamrick with him, William went to Mr Willis.	30688.408413303587
He was surprised and dubious, but impressed by the engineer and the report.	5609.572791255833
"Your alternative is breathtaking", he said, "and, I'm frank in saying, a bit mad.	5535.549250251308
I wish I was younger and less timid h. Well, I can't resolve this myself.	19132.569073894418
I'll have to call in the brain trust.	412.8267015410173
Are you willing to run the gantlet?	11320.465253622273
I can't guarantee you a sympathetic audience".	2152.144638225965
"We'll be in there swinging", William said, "but in a way, sir, you've got to decide it yourself.	1601.6009788958997
You have the controlling interest and the principal expenditure is yours- and, besides, nobody else is going to have the courage.	16262.14097560786
If they follow anyone, it'll have to be you".	2176.953365364703
He paused.	140.53933296830112
"I should explain there's more here for me than advocating my little dream, there's you.	27390.6041753761
You mustn't take a fall, or publicly back away.	17874.25358211394
I hate that.	25.032086788488243
You're- you're Arthur Willis h. Forgive the hearts and flowers theme".	4601.3472168535045
"I rather like the music", Willis replied quietly.	2513.2471698165123
"Thank you".	1219.1465275765602
At the meeting, attended by Freddy, Richert, Herberet and the A-Z executive staff, with Mr Willis presiding, William and Hamrick did indeed run the gantlet.	90290.76453531097
From shock and incredulity, most of the listeners went on to open resistance and animosity.	21064.067971100365
"Oh, my God", Ham Richert said, "a little child shall lead them.	9501.04882074539
Move over, General Motors".	956.7247552801745
"It's absurd, Bill", Freddy said, from a pale face.	21421.89144541753
"You're leading Dad down the garden path".	1842.6579111026128
"Your garden, God damn it"!	1679.6100967417908
William said.	141.928083147903
"I don't enjoy family quarrels", Adam said.	2136.7167484578213
"Nor crazy relatives.	563.7814629019526
We're here to transact business.	58.06913986798777
Can't we put an end to this, Arthur"?	8215.651602315522
"Hear me out, please", William begged.	40804.68824930441
"I'm an advertising hustler, I admit, but I have to get hot once in a larger sphere.	5521.435989415111
Sure, Ticonderoga went broke in the low-priced market bucking the Big Three.	28643.22968529105
Their cars weren't small enough, they didn't have the power, they were old-fashioned.	3587.2552214686384
They tried to sell 'em on economy and simple merit.	3535.588827651975
We've arrived at an age for romance and snobbery.	8490.512483759472
We've all been rich and spoiled long enough to hate the machine age.	8586.754697783981
Look what those little European jobs are doing.	2670.6510300820464
We'll woo the consumer with a product, not bludgeon him with chromed excess length and weight.	12993.541239351953
Let's make it moonlight and the call of far places and a seduction, at reasonable rates.	27129.74536720588
Ticonderoga folded a few minutes too soon, before the tide changed, still honest and stupid- and the network of dealers the company had is around waiting to be signed up again- waiting for us, ready-made.	116095.54453289993
We've got rid of the steam yachts and Georgian houses, and the bloated, too-expensive automobile is next.	9961.619758757337
Why not come down smartly in the world, in a chic fashion, with an Allstates-Zenith"?	26538.291509339
He swayed them somewhat, but the debate raged on.	12188.24405530212
Financing emerged as the main obstacle.	17676.814598491776
Mr Willis made it evident that he had contributed his maximum.	4121.873505490667
"Nobody will underwrite it, I'm telling you", Freddy said.	6051.37650241594
"I know what I'm talking about in that department".	98.67007894714222
"There's plenty of risk money", Ham Richert added, "but not for anything this risky".	27083.63252953163
"All right", William said.	375.64131614975474
"We'll try to swing the deal on that basis.	1299.7112860764635
If we can't raise the capital, we're through.	2112.3811772463405
Nothing has been lost.	26.853243863165307
You're up against it anyhow.	571.0634458390513
Why won't you give me a chance"?	6350.723091560962
A silence fell.	368.2730707868759
Heads instinctively turned in Willis' direction.	16940.16796896881
He smiled at William and slowly rubbed his hands together.	955.481315052067
"I feel I must answer the question", he said, "since the onus later, if any, should fall on me- I don't relish recriminations spread broadcast outside my family h. I'm not giving you a chance, Bill, but availing myself of your generous offer of assistance.	71989.25159949838
Good luck to you".	304.3701082525122
"All the in-laws have got to have their day", Adam said, and glared at William and Freddy in turn.	20686.08004116953
Sweat started out on William's forehead, whether from relief or disquietude he could not tell.	80627.98138471221
Across the table, Hamrick saluted him jubilantly with an encircled thumb and forefinger.	32927.28640542964
Nobody else showed pleasure.	1018.1073161515848
Spike-haired, burly, red-faced, decked with horn-rimmed glasses and an Ivy League suit, Jack Hamrick awaited William at the officers' club.	239739.12274586404
"Hello, boss", he said, and grinned.	5339.480352624666
"I suppose I can never expect to call you 'General' after that Washington episode".	4107.266256058163
"I'm afraid not".	45.349913694879135
It was among these that Hinkle identified a photograph of Barco!	13395.03634397619
For it seems that Barco, fancying himself a ladies' man and why not, after seven marriages?	56311.27554421604
, had listed himself for Mormon Beard roles at the instigation of his fourth murder victim who had said "With your beard, dear, you ought to be in movies"!	162282.87194540817
Mills secured Barco's photograph from the gentleman in charge, rushed to the Hollywood police station to report the theft, and less than five minutes later, detectives with his picture in hand were on the trail of Cal Barco.	166517.92746425275
On their way, they stopped at every gas station along the main boulevards to question the attendants.	15981.731820961744
Finally, at Ye Olde Gasse Filling Station on Avocado Avenue, they learned that their man, having paused to get oil for his car, had asked about the route to San Diego.	73182.92160713606
They headed in that direction and, at San Juan Capistrano by-the-Sea came upon Barco sitting in the quaint old Spanish Mission Drive-in, eating a hot tamale.	97558.51363674812
At the moment, Barco's back was to the road so he didn't see the detectives close in on his convertible which, in their quest for the stolen lap rug, they proceeded to search.	18947.577820678103
The robe, however, was missing, for by that time Barco had disposed of it at a pawnshop in Glendale.	50036.28407851092
The detectives placed Barco under arrest and, without informing him of the nature of the charge, took him back to Hollywood for questioning.	23580.426495958836
Thus it was that Barco, apprehended for mere larceny, now began to suspect that one or another of his murders had been uncovered.	20071.182849292873
During the return trip, Barco kept muttering to himself in meaningless phrases, such as "They're under sand dunes h They're better off, I tell you h I saved their souls".	80564.94675881237
The detective, commenting on Barco's behavior, felt that he merely belonged among the myriad citizens of our community who are mentally unhinged- that he was a more or less harmless "nut"!	86250.96438740348
However while in his cell awaiting trial for theft, Barco, in a fit of apprehension, made an attempt to take his own life.	18825.36675929506
The attempt had failed because, when endeavoring to cut his wrists, this murderer of seven women had fainted at the sight of blood.	27363.279041253125
The jail authorities- attaching no particular significance to the episode- offered Barco whisky to revive him; but the old fellow, a lifelong teetotaler, refused it, and no more was thought of the matter.	49262.67896649548
Then it was that District Attorney Welch entered the case.	1479.0715964770288
A man of vaulting ambition, with one eye on the mayorship of Los Angeles, nothing ever escaped him which might possibly lead to personal publicity.	20181.078290683978
It was reported to Welch's office that a thief in the city jail had attempted suicide.	23471.006351274234
Welch wanted to know why.	453.53941775907657
No one knew.	20.482130585938833
Now Welch had a pet theory that everyone is guilty of breaking more laws than he ever gets caught at.	79295.58905936939
The suicide attempt looked to him like an opportunity to put his theory to the test.	6809.887971168927
So he paid a call on Barco in his cell and began their chat by stating bluntly "Barco, we've got the goods on you!	32797.99210518933
It'll be a lot better if you come clean".	478.1711163784257
At first Barco was evasive and shifty.	7242.365592020516
But with Welch's relentless pursuit of the subject, Barco finally "broke" and started confessing to one murder after another.	18776.49158532844
By the time Barco reached the count of three, the situation seemed to Welch almost too good to be true.	1989.3316257019433
But if true, it was the case of which he had dreamed, the case which would throw him into headlines all over America as the hero of a great murder trial.	11161.114637926108
Welch summoned jail officials to Barco's cell.	16940.169819911098
But to Welch's chagrin, the police captain pooh-poohed Welch's credulity in Barco's confession.	29220.48348269073
Barco was clearly a "nut".	8056.158964073927
It required strength, bravado, daring to commit murder.	6395.243109594284
"That worm a murderer?	10805.188575762613
Ridiculous"!	3524.8082516247623
Then, for the first time since his arrest, a glint of spirit lit Barco's eyes.	1084.794883947066
His manhood had been attacked.	6521.842929244134
He stiffened and rose to his feet.	800.9776240195109
He'd show them!	187.20508795706638
"Is that so"?	212.41100159225914
he queried.	1870.579887901481
"Well, for ten years I've been murdering women.	1967.6703770987706
I can lead you to every one of the bodies, and there ain't four, nor five, nor six of 'em- there's seven!"	68414.44054362466
The next day the police captain, in derision, organized what he termed "Welch's Wild Goose Chase".	28130.60388623964
For indeed it seemed incredible that anyone could go on committing murder for ten years and not get caught at it, even in Hollywood.	23552.915529602546
The searching party consisted of the police captain, Welch, Barco, policemen with shovels, newspaper reporters, and cameramen.	129376.55195586148
Barco, his state of apprehension gone, never to return, had assumed a matter-of-factness which remained his principal attitude from that time on.	242359.65983526342
He directed the cortege of autos to the sand dunes near Santa Monica.	49680.64571935
Stopping the cars at a fork in the road, he got out, paced off a certain distance to a spot between two shrub-covered sand hills, and indicated a location.	140975.24160711374
Orders were given to dig.	5205.079277138945
Nothing was found.	20.194081284159477
Welch was worried.	2845.915904482186
The police captain chortled.	1326.2366317985766
The newspaper boys cracked jokes and again Barco's pride was aroused.	13413.819127885805
With greater precision he again paced off a location, this time a little more to the left.	2696.4288187335333
With quibs and gibes, the policemen again started digging.	37245.73980869031
Welch was on edge.	1381.0955204810473
The captain was remarking that it was a nice day for a picnic when finally one of the shovels struck an object.	10761.392383403598
"There's something here"!	473.070076918835
said the digger.	1057.708192370481
Joking stopped and everyone gathered around.	3990.760465796157
The digger, thrusting about with his shovel, now raised into view a package crudely wrapped in one of the murderer's Hollywood sport shirts.	133426.18913790362
Although it was a mere fragment of the victim's remains, it was enough.	962.8708024391375
Welch was wild with delight.	8056.157115555677
His elation grew as Barco's seven disclosures brought to light one reward after another.	13056.358066787901
Now did Welch truly become the man of the hour, and everything that followed in the procedure of Justice was a new triumph for him.	15490.067027897881
It went to his head, and his ambition increased.	558.947525189896
It was apparent that Welch was in cahoots with Marshall and would use his power as DA to drag every possible sensation into the case.	48701.40111103619
Every new scandal which would provide more "copy" for Marshall's pen would thus mean more publicity for Welch.	63682.44581621289
I knew that both these cynics were waiting with impatience for the dramatic moment when Viola was called to the stand.	6091.702384210993
Once there, the DA with devilish cleverness would provide Marshall with headlines "Viola's Multiple Romances"h "Viola Lake an Addict"h "Downfall of Another Film Idol"!	135382.03338106183
It would be fine publicity for the man who was willing to walk to the mayor's throne over the broken reputation of a helpless girl!	12830.621079348228
I studied Welch closely as the trial progressed for any hint which might give me a lead as to how he might be thwarted.	41038.693454550594
It wasn't long before I sensed that there was something deeper than overvaulting ambition back of his desire for Viola's destruction.	20332.22192295925
He was bitter and resentful toward her, personally resentful.	12726.431553034792
A dreadful fear entered my consciousness that perhaps he had entertained aspirations toward Viola's favors- or, even more serious perhaps, that he had attained a share of them and had then been superseded by some luckier chap.	109231.30387389076
I did not rest until I had tracked the mystery down.	3592.391619266522
Well, here it is.	132.2847902319809
One day over a year before, there had been a cocktail party in an apartment of a downtown hotel.	1433.5021023053898
Viola had been urged to attend, by telephone, and not knowing the host or the character of the party, she had gone.	18806.422539773495
She arrived late and as she entered the party, noted that gentlemen seemed to be in the majority; the air was thick with smoke, empty bottles were in evidence, and several of the guests were somewhat the worse for liquor.	85876.06266877946
Naturally, Viola had no wish to remain, but she felt she couldn't leave so soon after her arrival, in all politeness to her host.	27758.027022059756
And it so happened that adjacent to a couch on which she had taken refuge was a small table on which she noted a vase of red rosebuds; while projecting from beneath the couch were a pair of feet which, as Fate would have it, belonged to District Attorney Welch.	198422.96773309616
As Viola sat there, a playful impulse overcame her to remove the shoes and socks from the unidentified feet and, as a prank, insert rosebuds between the toes.	93222.79480668178
A little later the district attorney woke up, emerged from under the couch, looked at his watch, and realized he had an engagement that very hour to address a meeting of the Culture Forum on "The Civic Spirit of the Southland", in the Byzantine room of the hotel where his wife, as president of the forum, was to preside.	141491.13991548607
He made his way to his host's bedroom where he carefully brushed himself off, neatly arranged his hair, and painstakingly selected his hat from the many on the bed.	16188.071388760938
Then, noting neither the absence of his footwear nor the presence of the rosebuds, he made his way to the Byzantine room and, with his usual dignity, mounted the rostrum.	23278.437149901652
The effect on the intellectuals among his audience may well be imagined.	2348.4232440759297
The incident, aside from reflecting on Welch's political career, had all but wrecked his home life.	27925.791253761585
He never rested until he discovered who the culprit was, and when he did, he vowed vengeance on Viola Lake if ever the chance came his way.	18553.426203534375
And here it was!	223.25260104603308
By such innocent actions are human tragedies sometimes set in motion.	7087.625851818216
During these first days of the trial I didn't have as much time to commiserate with Viola as I should have liked.	13906.876508661466
In the first place, it was difficult for us to meet.	52.51705534843396
We couldn't be seen together, for the tongue of Scandal was ever ready to link our names, and the tongue of Scandal finds but one thing to say of the association of a man with a girl, no matter how innocent.	64244.76432688973
I couldn't invite Viola to our house, for Mother snobbishly refused to receive her.	25667.01270595358
Now the Czarship had not affected my own sense of social values, but Mother had attained a reflected glory through it, which had opened the doors of Los Angeles-Pasadena Society to her.	29470.260037687774
There, Mother was received by the scions of aristocratic lines which are dominated by the Budweisers of beer derivation, the Chalmers of underwear origin, and the Heinzes whose forbears founded a nationally famous trade in pickles.	183782.78942277975
I hated being dragged into the salons of these aristocrats.	13875.044131194765
But Mother insisted, for it is seldom indeed that anyone remotely connected with the cinema is ever received in their exclusive midsts.	98650.97257425668
In fact, it was not until the King of Spain had visited at Pickfair that Mary and Doug were beckoned to cross the sacred barriers which separate Los Angeles and Pasadena from the hoi-polloi.	37821.59462617807
Mother even went so far as to trump up for me matrimonial opportunities with Pasadena debs who had been educated abroad, and with those of the more lenient Los Angeles area where a debutante was a girl who had been to high school.	27971.749262589183
But at long last came a time when I broke away from Mother and her society "chi-chi" in order to spend a cosy evening with Viola and her chaperon at her home.	72645.78578842741
However, such a hotbed of gossip had grown up during the trial, that every precaution had to be taken to keep my visit from being whispered to the world, Society, and even, alas, to my own mother.	16075.911324010596
When I arrived at Viola's I was shown, to my surprise, into the kitchen.	4575.229179835942
Viola greeted me, in checked apron, ladle in hand, and explained it was the cook's night out and that she herself was preparing dinner.	107680.62134557727
I sat and watched proceedings.	480.50808369673297
There was to be roast chicken with dressing, giblet gravy, asparagus, new peas with a sprig of mint, creamed onions, and mashed potatoes- all chosen, prepared, and cooked by Viola herself.	168803.5132513637
I realized that Hamlet was faced with an entirely different problem, but his agony could have been no greater.	3698.2900141552723
The most that was accomplished was adding Mrs Beige's tray to the dish pile, and by means of repeated threats, on an ascending scale, seeing that the girls dressed themselves, after a fashion.	70902.32021848326
I was saved from making the decision as the phone rang, and the girls were upon me instantly.	5672.191453883941
Here's a household hint if you can't find your children, and get tired of calling them, pick up the phone.	14179.36326406791
No matter if your children are at the movies, in school, visiting their grandmother, or on a field trip in some distant city, they will be upon you magically within seconds after you pick up the phone.	48056.69968154015
Jennie and Miranda twined themselves around me, murmuring endearments.	85778.98843406259
Louise climbed onto a stool and clutched the hand with which I was trying to hold the phone, claiming my immediate attention on grounds of extreme emergency.	98159.96239345122
Somehow managing to get out a cool, poised, "Won't you hold on a second, please", I covered up the mouthpiece, and with more warmth and less poise, gave a quick lecture on crime and punishment, mostly the latter, including Devil's Island and the remoter reaches of Siberia.	147560.25881840783
I promised to illustrate the lecture, if they so much as breathed till after the call was completed.	37426.71007684324
Speaking into the phone again and recognizing the caller, I resumed my everyday voice.	34730.60231597386
Soon we were deep in a conversation that was interrupted many times by little things like Jennie's holding her breath and pretending to black out, Miranda's dumping the contents of the sugar bowl on the table, and various screeches, thuds, and giggles.	130504.68034350502
Under the circumstances, I had difficulty keeping up with the conversation on the phone, but when I hung up I was reasonably certain that Francesca had wanted to remind me of our town meeting the next evening, and how important it was that Hank and I be there.	52947.41811490641
I discovered that the girls had shrewdly vacated the kitchen, and were playing quietly in the living room.	1376.6949962066058
It seemed that I would be the gainer if I accepted the peace and quiet, instead of carrying out my threats.	9957.394840700017
Resolving to get something done, I started in on the dishes.	86875.80397579249
No.	3.297522726426617
I'm not saying it right.	255.27719682557958
What I meant to say was that I started to start in on the dishes by gathering them all together in the kitchen sink.	22008.798124674056
They looked so formidable, however, so demanding, that I found myself staring at them in dismay and starting to woolgather again, this time about Francesca and her husband.	18781.504964397882
How about them, I thought.	75.01168350612568
Francesca and Herbert were among the few people we knew in Catatonia.	55481.09334009151
We didn't even know them till about a month after we moved- at that time, they had called on us, after I met Fran at a PTA meeting, and had taken us in hand socially.	89764.1130094237
They had been kind to us and we were indebted to them for one or two pleasant dinners, and for information as to where to shop, which dentist, doctor, plumber, and sitter to call not that there was much of a choice, since Catatonia was just a village; the yellow pages of the telephone book were amazingly thin.	79350.21732456912
They were "personalities".	119.29577351367965
Herb, an expert on narrow ties, thin lapels, and swatches, was men's fashion editor of Parvenu, the weekly magazine with the tremendous circulation.	229113.00297406063
Fran and he had met about two years after she had arrived in Manhattan from Nebraska, or was it Wyoming?	46023.95529431939
She was the daughter and sole heiress of either a cattle baron or an oil millionaire and, having arrived in New York with a big bank roll, became a dabbler in various fields.	27412.396048296723
She patronized Greenwich Village artists for awhile, then put some money into a Broadway show which was successful terrible, but successful.	108129.38166516219
It was during her "writing" period that she and Herb met and decided that they were in love.	3603.85966204179
They were married at a lavish ceremony which was duly recorded in Parvenu and all other magazines and newspapers, and then they honeymooned in Bermuda.	39329.4364040817
No, not Bermuda.	174.53226977656016
Bermuda was not in style that year.	4818.1066813592815
They had honeymooned in Rome; everyone was very high on Rome that year.	7974.097442860011
They had bought their house in Catatonia after investigating all the regions of suburbia surrounding New York; they had chosen Catatonia because of its reputation for excellent schools, beaches, and abundance of names.	101110.44705529649
"You are bound to get involved with people when you have children", Fran had told me at our first meeting, "so it is good to know that those with whom you get involved are not just dreary little housewives and dull husbands, but People Who Do Things".	105499.7812920366
I admired their easy way of doing things but I couldn't escape an uneasiness at their way of always doing the right things.	50491.13591872299
Their house was a centuries-old Colonial which they had had restored guided by an eminent architect and updated, and added on to.	25527.22818026609
It had a gourmet's corner instead of a kitchen, a breakfast room, a luncheon room, a dining room, a sitting room, a room for standing up, a party room, dressing rooms for everybody, even a room for mud.	104328.0377009867
It was all set up so there would be no dust anywhere and so that their children would color in the coloring room, paint in the painting room, play with blocks in the block house, and do all the other things in the proper rooms at exactly the right time.	26525.704331276313
Their two boys were "well adjusted" and, like their parents, always did the right thing at the right time and damn the consequences.	19265.467220190978
Francesca and Herbert considered themselves violently nonconformist and showed the world they were by filling their Colonial house with contemporary furniture and paintings and other art objects expensive, but not necessarily valuable, contemporary things.	230710.69355611908
Fran flaunted her independence by rebelling against the Catatonia uniform of Bermuda shorts and knee-length socks by wearing Bermuda shorts and knee-length socks in color; bright pinks and plaids and vivid stripes.	348744.7486694217
Sometimes she even wore the uniform in solid, unrelieved black, and with her blonde hair cut so closely, wearing this uniform, she strongly resembled a member of the SS.	101771.60452570743
No one could dislike them, I thought.	397.2011267385443
Sometimes, though, they did not seem quite human.	472.74472776096866
It seemed, indeed, that their house was not so much a home, but rather a perfect stage set, and that they were actors who had been handed fat roles in a successful play, and had talent enough to fill the roles competently, with nice understatement.	18259.639843089593
Practically the only enthusiasm they showed was when they were discussing "names"; even brand names.	20531.00370994739
You should hear the reverence in Fran's voice when she said "Baccarat" or "Steuben" or "Madame Alexander".	47858.444038463895
She always let it be known that there was wine in the pot roast or that the chicken had been marinated in brandy, and that Koussevitzky's second cousin was an intimate of theirs.	123725.1418416525
I wouldn't have wasted time puzzling over this couple were it not for my fear that all the other inhabitants of Catatonia were equally unreal.	32743.048115379985
I couldn't feel at home among them.	178.26485387591856
Besides Francesca, there was Blanche.	16250.57000472713
Francesca was pleasant and charming, but Blanche was sweet.	36588.61923560751
Yes, Blanche was very, very sweet- being in her company was like being drowned in warm, melted marshmallows.	99539.56612255311
I had once been a witness when Blanche had smiled and said with only minimum ruefulness, "Oh, my souffle has collapsed".	50535.98749710781
Anyone knows how a real, red-blooded woman would react to such a catastrophe!	69803.67063450423
If Blanche had been honest, she would have yelled, slammed at least a couple of doors, and thrown a few little, valueless things.	35027.9100072233
But dear me, no; not Blanche.	13589.085028493257
After five minutes with Blanche, one might welcome the astringency of Grazie, who was a sort of Gwen Cafritz to Francesca's Perle Mesta.	59713.49357181676
Francesca and Grazie were habitual committee chairmen and they usually managed to be elected co-chairmen, equal bosses, of whatever PTA or civic project was being launched.	276091.4042886725
They were inseparable, not because they were fond of each other, but because they wanted to keep an eye on each other, as they were keen rivals for social leadership.	4935.861740552427
Grazie was mean quietly mean, and bitterly, unfunnily sarcastic.	104489.21834348203
She it was who had looked to see if I was wearing shoes upon learning that I couldn't drive.	36289.460479801346
Grazie had a small, slick head and her hair and skin were the color of golden toast.	81322.27505943476
She lived in an ultra-modern house whose decoration, appointments, paint, and even pets were chosen to complement her coloring; the pets were a couple of Siamese cats.	285839.23673862405
Her uniform was of rich, raw silk, in a shade which matched her hair, skin, housepaint, and cats, and since she was so thin as to be almost shapeless, she rather resembled a frozen fish stick.	114284.52312473174
The husbands of these women and others I had met in Catatonia were distinguished only in that they were, to me at least, indistinguishable.	12208.345721391845
I couldn't tell one from the other.	169.98803462677955
Like Herbert, they were all in communications radio, television, magazines, and advertising.	6337.277695940141
One or two were writers of books; all were fellows of finite charm.	5556.710973887115
Each had developed a hair-trigger chuckle and the habit of saying "zounds"!	23202.509083372155
in deference to country-squirehood.	14640.063628564685
I never thought I'd live to hear people chuckle and say "zounds"!	26324.781895304335
in real life.	27.891954810010123
I wouldn't have missed it for anything.	732.4228885023693
They were "sincere"- men of the too-hearty handclasp and the urgent smile.	15131.419463643922
These boys acknowledged an introduction to anybody by gently pressing one of his hands in both of theirs, while they gazed, misty-eyed with care, into the eyes of the person they were meeting.	55519.996244466165
Could such unadulterated love, for a total stranger, be credited?	46284.17862558288
They were always leaping to light cigarettes, open car doors, fill plates or glasses, and I mistrusted the whole lot of them to the same degree that I mistrusted bake shops that called themselves "Sanitary Bake Shops".	67562.799794484
"O Pioneers!"	2279.0789298519408
I thought, and wondered what kind of homesteads such odd pioneers would establish in this suburban frontier; pioneers who looked like off-duty gardeners even at parent-teacher conferences and who never called the school principal "Mister".	157132.02193308275
I sighed, thinking that among other things, people here seemed to be those who would have to cut down if they earned less than $85,000 yearly; people who would give their teeth for a chance to get on "Person to Person"; people who thought it was nice to be important, but not important to be nice; who were more ingratiating than gracious, more personalities than persons.	46026.745221785844
In my estimation, they were people who read Daphne du Maurier, and discussed Kafka; well, not discussed him exactly, but said, "Kafka"!	25877.382126427776
reverently and raised their eyes, as if they were at a loss to describe how they felt about Kafka, which they were, because they had no opinions about Kafka, not having read Kafka.	31377.981038798374
They were, I felt, people invariably trying to prove not who, but what they were, and trying to determine what, not who, others were.	8931.308856008262
Becoming aware that it was nearly lunchtime, I brought myself back to the tasks at hand.	41169.078446021624
I made plans for the afternoon- doing the breakfast and luncheon dishes all at once, making the beds, and then maybe painting the kitchen.	24923.22082386001
Then, I remembered that the girls had had a banana for dessert every day for the last week.	1563.9471347197475
"BANANAS"!	3524.8082516247623
Jennie had shouted each time.	8056.155293450235
"They're not dessert!	288.65339510280086
They're not even food.	87.73111061077384
They're just something you're supposed to put on cereal for breakfast".	3205.253964243604
I dug around and found a mix, and was able to surprise them with a devil's-food cake with chocolate icing.	72588.8015815504
Sometimes I think you need only one rule for cooking if you can't put garlic in it, put chocolate in it.	18926.458868352118
The cake was received in a stunned silence that was evidence in itself of the dearth of taste thrills Mama had been providing.	117516.86207948043
Then Jennie closed her eyes, stretched forth her arms, and said "Take my hand, Louise; I'm a stranger in paradise".	76170.92636309397
Needless to say, I was furious at this unparalleled intrusion upon free enterprise.	727.76919274948
How dared they demand to "snoop" in private financial records, disbursements, confidential contracts and agreements?	163211.978125963
"It is as though", I said on the historic three-hour, coast-to-coast radio broadcast which I bought following Father Coughlin and pre-empting the Eddie Cantor, Manhattan Merry-go-round and Major Bowes shows "That Man in the White House, like some despot of yore, insisted on reading my diary, raiding my larder and ransacking my lingerie!"	104596.74673756298
My impassioned plea for civil rights created a landslide of correspondence and one sponsor even asked me to consider replacing the Eddie Cantor comedy hour on a permanent basis.	132502.692753627
But what quarter could a poor defenseless woman expect from a dictator who would even make so bold as to close all of the banks in our great nation?	186680.04419414644
The savage barbarian hordes of red Russian Communism descended on the Athens that was mighty Metronome, sacking and despoiling with their Bolshevistic battle cry of "Soak the rich'!	166957.39005694105
After an unspeakable siege, lasting the better part of two months, it was announced that the studio "owed" the government a tax debt in excess of eight million dollars while I, who had always remained aloof from such iniquitous practices as paying taxes on the salary I had earned and the little I legally inherited as Morris' helpless relict, was "stung" with a personal bill of such astronomical proportions as to "wipe out" all but a fraction of my poor, hard-come-by savings.	313823.7643947873
I was also publicly reprimanded, dragged through the mud by the radical press and made a figure of fun by such leftist publications as The New Republic, The New Yorker, Time and the Christian Science Monitor.	89113.13839211398
It was then that I availed myself of the rights of a citizen and declared the income tax unconstitutional.	8168.593644366672
The litigation was costly and seemingly endless.	3817.6831805826314
I fought like a tigress but by the time I appealed my case to the Supreme Court 1937, Mr Roosevelt and his "henchmen" had done their "dirty work" all too well, even going so far as to attempt to "pack" the highest tribunal in the land in order to defeat little me.	85421.2117854454
Presidential coercion had succeeded not only in poisoning the courtiers, "toadies" and sycophants of the "bench" against me, but it had been so far-reaching as to discourage any lawyer in the nation from representing me!	60142.32069244961
I was ready, like Portia, to present my own brief.	13044.599536698595
But the Supreme Court wouldn't even hear my case!	7020.940979358561
My plea was unanimously voted down and "thrown out".	2087.97735024716
Again, my name was on all the front pages.	1751.773679139569
I was, it seemed, persona non grata in every quarter, but not entirely without a staunch following of noted political thinkers and students of jurisprudence.	28420.105600703744
As Charles Evans Hughes said, "Miss Poitrine's limitations as an actress are exceeded only by her logic as a litigant".	110949.08167848705
Albert Einstein was quoted as saying "The workings of the woman's mind amaze me".	34952.04697677116
Henry Ford spoke of me as "utterly astounding".	4752.266067113592
Heywood Broun wrote "Belle Poitrine is the most original thinker since Caligula", and even FDR had to concede that "if the rest of this nation showed the foresight and patriotism of Miss Poitrine, America would rapidly resemble ancient Babylon and Nineveh".	262172.64643534645
Not only were the court costs prohibitive, but I was subjected to crippling fines, in addition to usurious interest on the unpaid "debts" which the governmen claimed that Metronome and I owed- a severe financial blow.	55099.7214979756
Nor, as Manny said, had the notoriety done my career "any good".	8889.209470248692
My enemies were only too anxious to level against me such charges as "reactionary", "robber baroness", and even "traitor"!	144375.5256876379
Traitor indeed!	6887.8284972648125
I point now with pride to the fact that, long ere the Committee on Un-American Activities, the Minute Women, the Economic Council and other such notable "watchdog" organizations were so much as heard of, I was Hollywood's leading bulwark against communism, fighting single-handedly "creeping socialism" against such insuperable odds as the Fascio-Communist troops of the NRA, PWA, WPA, CCC and an army of more than twenty-two million mercenaries whom FDR employed secretly, through the transparent ruse of regular "relief" checks.	210573.73820155868
Needless to say, my art suffered drastically during this turbulent period.	2161.397996539715
Could it do otherwise?	2100.619946983234
Even though I have always had a genius for "throwing myself" into every role and "playing it for all it's worth", no actress can be expected to do her best work when her fortune, her reputation, her livelihood, her home and her nation itself are all imperilled.	118550.92544491353
Such sweeping distractions are hardly conducive to "Oscar" winning performances.	13580.08078620982
I tried my hardest, with little help, may I say, from my husband and leading man, but somehow the outside pressures were too severe.	39257.26205857618
Having through my unflagging effort and devotion achieved stardom, a fortune and a world-renowned wife at an age when most young men are casting their first vote, Letch proceeded to neglect them all.	56915.180949646136
Never a "quick study", he now made no attempt to learn his "lines" and many a mile of film was wasted, many a scene- sometimes involving as many as a thousand fellow thespians- was taken thirty, forty, fifty times because Miss Poitrine's co-star and "helpmate" had never learned his part.	135551.69834891695
Each time Letch "went up" in his "lines", I was the one to be patient, helpful and apologetic while he indulged in outbursts of temperament, profanity and abuse, blaming others, going into "sulks" and, on more occasions than I care to count, storming off the "set" for the rest of the day.	42149.46200265717
As for his finances, I was never privileged to know exactly how much money Letch had "salted away".	22883.985854584014
It was I who paid for our little home, the food, the liquor, the servants- even Letch's bills at his tailor and the Los Angeles Athletic Club.	62801.89697018302
Never once did he buy me a single gift and for our third anniversary he gave me a dislocated jaw.	23327.85208163517
But that is another story.	133.0912845416488
As for his private monies, they were rapidly dissipated in drinking, gaming and carousing.	28081.911130678687
More than once I was confronted by professional gamblers, "bookies", loan "sharks", gangsters, "thugs" and "finger men"- people of a class I did not even know existed- to repay my husband's staggering losses, "or else h" I shuddered to think that someone so dear to me could even associate with such a sinister milieu.	237935.44822082392
And at three different times during our turbulent marriage strange girls, with the commonest of accents, telephoned to announce to me that Letch had sired their unborn children!	152423.6768148226
Having the deepest of maternal instincts, my heart fairly bled when I thought of the darling pink and white "bundles from heaven" I would have proudly given my husband.	109816.84149105541
"Ah, you're too old", was invariably his ungallant and untrue retort whenever I suggested "starting a family".	25401.323925558365
Letch had made it abundantly clear that he did not care for the company of my own precious daughter.	11958.182485885405
I now felt it wiser to keep Baby-dear in school and- during the summers- at a camp run by the Society of Friends all year around.	45516.02243191254
Her presence only made Letch more distant and irritable and, in the hurry of buying Chateau Belletch, I had neglected to consider a room for Baby-dear, so there was no place to put her, anyhow.	82773.23553986696
I sometimes feel that God, in His infinite wisdom, wants us to have these inexplicable little lapses of memory.	67605.1849552063
It almost always works out for the best.	642.5317211503625
Yet I adored this man, Letch Feeley, why, I cannot say.	11452.679007268844
With faint heart and a brave smile, I endured his long absences from Chateau Belletch, his coldness, his indifference, his slights and his abuse.	206540.9497163744
The times I can recall when I was publicly humiliated by him- lovely dinner parties in our Trianon Suite where the collation was postponed and postponed and postponed, only to be served dry and overcooked at a table where the host's chair was vacant; a "splash party" at the new pool, which I had built in the hope of keeping Letch away from public beaches, when Letch and a certain Aquacutie stayed underwater together for the better part of an hour; a lovely Epiphany party at Errol Flynn's, on which sacred occasion Letch stole away with an unknown "starlet", leaving me "high and dry" to get home as best I could.	203674.67001560488
These are but a sampling of the insults I endured.	1596.3859930686428
As Mrs Letch Feeley, was it any wonder that I, once the social arbiter of Filmdom, was excluded from the smart entertainments given by the Astaires, the Coopers, the Gables, the Colmans, the Rathbones, the Taylors, the Thalbergs and such devout, closely knit families as the Barrymores and the Crosbys?	366580.24069494114
As Letch's antisocial conduct increased, our invitations decreased and my heart was in my mouth whenever I played hostess at a fashionable "screenland" gathering.	126249.79384007475
Between 1935 and 1939 Letch and I made ten films together, each less successful, both artistically and commercially, than the one before it.	64071.231324866334
Our last joint venture, Sainted Lady, a deeply religious film based on the life of Mother Cabrini, and timed so that its release date would coincide with the beatification of America's first saint in November, 1938, was a fiasco from start to finish.	117040.39694340747
As I was playing Mother Cabrini, the picture was actually "all mine", with nearly every scene built around me.	20871.232472553715
But in order to keep Letch in the public eye and out of trouble, I wrote in a part especially for him- that of a dashing ruffian who "sees the light" and is saved by the inspiring example of Mother Cabrini.	48721.325001622994
And did he appreciate my efforts on his behalf?	34092.45801116926
Did he trouble to memorize the very small part which I had "tailor-made" to his specifications, a role eventually cut down to three short speeches?	96375.53543012208
Did he show the rest of the cast- numbering four thousand- the consideration of arriving at the studio punctually- or even at all?	26125.421187654596
He did not!	101.965056867031
The "shooting" went on for eight months!	5542.474563701367
Most of our working days were spent on the telephone calling "bookies", illegal gambling dens, a certain "residential club for young actresses", more than a hundred different bars or the steam room of the athletic club.	61634.21943485994
Whenever he deigned to appear at the studio he was "hung over", uncooperative, rude and insulting.	45861.081801059605
He made many tasteless, irreverent and unfunny remarks, not only about me in the title role, but about religion in general.	5726.87672778918
By the time the film was released we were three million dollars over-spent, war was imminent and the public apparently had forgotten all about Mother Cabrini.	65621.09291746488
Thanks to Letch Feeley and the terrible strain he imposed on me, the notices were few and unfavorable.	49846.954001148755
Only George Santayana seemed to understand and appreciate the film when he wrote "Miss Poitrine has perpetrated the most eloquent argument for the Protestant faith yet unleashed by Hollywood".	86471.15532496833
But it was small consolation.	474.32228148643577
In a rare fit of anger and spite, I "farmed out" my own husband to a small and most undistinguished studio to make one picture as a form of punishment.	12993.217182713937
An actor must have discipline.	1691.1559136997791
The film was called The Diet of Worms, which I felt was just what Letch deserved.	25577.292031141817
It turned out to be a life of Martin Luther, of all things!	1329.9438434446638
It was a disaster!	247.49550420161054
In clothes, Letch simply did not project.	5865.30591313735
He was laughed off the screen.	370.9918138070707
At the same time, however, I availed myself of the services of that great English actor and master of make-up, Sir Gauntley Pratt, to do a "quickie" called The Mystery of the Mad Marquess, in which I played a young American girl who inherits a haunted castle on the English moors which is filled with secret passages and sliding panels and, unbeknownst to anyone, is still occupied by an eccentric maniac.	93540.95039503397
It was a "potboiler" made on a "shoestring" and not the sort of film I like, as all I had to do was look blank and scream a great deal.	8636.326504707833
My heart was not in it, but, oddly enough, it remains the most financially successful picture of my career.	7053.819631446105
I watched it on television late one night last week and it "stands up" remarkably well, even twenty years later.	5534.361673869676
Letch had returned from his debacle unrepentant and more badly behaved than before.	30337.771969999238
I really loved that boy, and, in a feverish attempt to preserve our marriage and to try to revive the wonderful, wonderful person Letch had once been, I took my troubles to Momma, hoping that her earthy advice would help me.	80089.61233148635
"If I could only think of something at the studio, near me, to absorb his boundless energy", I said.	12250.7431601205
"What is Letch interested in"?	5606.824443826308
"Bookies, booze and babes", Momma said bluntly.	71839.56078117325
Her reply stung me, but this was too important to let my hurt make any difference.	16987.544824694167
"I can't turn the studio into a gambling hell or a saloon", I said.	5757.320821013886
Up to date, however, his garden was still more or less of a mess, he hadn't even started his workshop and if there was a meadow pond in the neighborhood he hadn't found it.	24941.984591054024
It wasn't his fault that these things were so.	1050.8095756169457
The difficulty was that each day seemed to produce its quota of details which must be cleaned up immediately.	29483.326222495456
As a result, life had become a kind of continuous make-ready.	2144.578052060895
Once he disposed of these items which screamed so harshly for attention, he could undertake the things which really counted.	86820.3128999608
Then, at last, his day would fall into an ordered pattern and he would be free to read, or garden or just wander through the woods in the late afternoon, accompanied by his dogs.	20112.587404683753
His dogs?	1562.7843879478924
He had almost forgotten them, although they had played such an important part in his early dreams.	3502.597981316715
Then they had always been romping around him on these walks, yelping with delight, dashing off into the bushes on fruitless hunting expeditions, returning to jump up on him triumphantly with muddy paws.	138220.3956528723
Dogs did something to one's ego.	2209.946908511051
They were constantly assuring you that you were one of the world's great guys.	4335.21497824091
Regardless of how much of a slob you knew yourself to be, you could be certain they would never find out- and even if they did it would make no difference.	12169.941853760789
Now it became increasingly apparent that there were to be no dogs in the picture.	575.5562566324409
What in the world were you going to do with a lot of dogs when you left for town on Monday afternoons?	6491.754892372553
You certainly couldn't take them into the little apartment and if you tried to farm them out for two or three days every week they would become so confused that they would have nervous breakdowns.	63076.671918903325
Why in the world couldn't he live in one place the way everyone else seemed to?	60470.69137477876
It worried him, this inability to get the simplest things done in the course of a day.	5747.547785578707
He would wake up in the middle of the night and fret about it.	686.803095662687
How in the world had he formerly found time to build up a business, raise a family, be on half a dozen boards, work actively on committees and either go out in the evening or plow through the contents of a bulging brief case?	132529.5073612261
Was it possible that as people grow older the nature of time changed?	15759.042961167883
Could it be that it speeded up for the aged in some mysterious way, as if a bored universe were skipping through the end of the chapter just to get it over with?	13051.215872399878
Or was the answer less metaphysical?	2762.9147900945013
Did older people work more slowly?	2056.1014392687634
Did it take a man of sixty-five longer to write a letter, shave, clean out a barn, read a newspaper, than a man of thirty?	79300.12434514888
Did men become perfectionists as they grew older, polishing, polishing, reluctant to let go?	58398.67771505221
It might be that certain people were born with a compulsion to complicate their lives, while others could live blissfully motionless almost indefinitely, like lizards in the sun, too indolent to blink their eyes.	30273.74344652863
Perhaps it was his misfortune, or good fortune, whichever way one looked at it, to belong to the former group, and he was struggling unconsciously to build up pressure in a world which demanded none, which was positively antagonistic to it.	20383.0988192318
And then again perhaps the reason why he couldn't find time to do any of the things he had planned to do after retirement reading, roaming, gardening, lying on his back and watching the clouds go by, was because he didn't want to do them.	18835.2066802427
There was no compulsion behind them.	138.48735151529237
They could be done or left undone and nobody really gave a damn.	7602.476871608041
During all his busy life he had only done things which had to be done.	1302.5364632407995
This habit had become so fixed over the years that it seemed futile to do anything for which no one was waiting.	5645.157581026657
He looked at the luminous dial of his wrist watch.	1348.370972952327
It was five minutes after four.	739.3701215313991
On some distant farm a rooster crowed and, far down the valley, an associate answered.	18101.51173675596
He turned over impatiently and pulled the sheet over his head against the treacherous encroachment of the dawn.	41660.87941928647
24 AT LEAST HE COULD BUY THE equipment for his workshop.	74100.64226996509
Thus committed, action might follow.	3555.374599808803
He went down to Mills and Bradley's Hardware Store and bought a full set of carpenter's tools, including a rotary power saw and several other pieces of power machinery that Mr Mills said were essential for babbiting and doweling, whatever they were.	51303.19642183482
He also bought a huge square of pegboard for hanging up his tools, and lumber for his workbench, sandpaper and glue and assorted nails, levels and T squares and plumb lines and several gadgets that he had no idea how to use or what they were for.	66314.57138997561
"There", said Mr Mills.	79.29976228416614
"That'll get you started.	164.96961980946426
Best not to get everything at once.	1398.6281430074346
Add things as you find you need 'em".	3668.986010004813
He didn't even ask the cost of this collection.	957.59709381001
After all, if you were going to set up a workshop you had to have the proper equipment and that was that.	1857.9652373436995
When he returned home, the station wagon loaded with tools, Jinny had gone with a friend to some meeting in the village, using the recently purchased second car.	22617.922530435982
He was glad.	90.03290268601084
It gave him a chance to unload the stuff and get it down to the cellar without a barrage of acid comments.	14714.68062143339
He had made such a fuss about buying that second car that he knew he was vulnerable.	5896.210461573866
He piled everything neatly in a corner of the cellar and turned to stare at the blank stone wall.	22826.48735882701
That was where the pegboard would go on which he would hang his hand tools.	4092.475044488228
In front of it would be his workbench.	300.2771656821995
The old nightmare which had caused him so many wakeful hours came charging in on him once more, only this time he couldn't pacify it with a sleeping pill and send it away.	46823.30321910589
How in the world did one attach a pegboard to a stone wall?	36697.21199247111
How did one attach anything to a stone wall, for that matter?	1928.2178835497295
After the pegboard there would be the paneling.	3912.5939465264905
He sat down on an old box and focused on the problem.	801.916214481083
Perhaps one bored holes in the stone with some kind of an electric gadget.	9181.653934340817
But then, when you stuck things into the holes, why didn't they come right out again?	27639.497212286107
It all seemed rather hopeless.	572.2259782737134
He turned his attention to the workbench.	1547.3713117309699
Perhaps that was the first thing to do.	41.77272361539459
A workbench had a heavy top and sturdy legs, but how did you attach sturdy legs to a heavy top so that the whole thing didn't wobble like a newborn calf and ultimately collapse when you leaned on it?	199171.24591565595
Mr Mills had done some figuring on a scrap of paper and given him the various kinds of boards and two-by-fours which, properly handled, would, he had assured him, turn into a workbench.	182521.490954997
They lay on the cellar floor in a disorderly pile.	1328.793093134145
Mr Crombie poked at it gingerly with his foot.	11730.484832250648
How could anyone know what to do with an assortment like that?	1020.2344152177853
Perhaps he had better have someone help him put up the pegboard and build the workbench- someone who knew what he was about.	37761.735168739164
Then at least he would have a place to hang his tools and something to work on.	6020.80981933937
After that everything should be simpler.	1024.3703691617184
He went upstairs to phone Crumb.	4040.011644382858
To his amazement he reached him.	1213.6632266900288
Mr Crumb was laid up with a bad cold.	1368.8643498325202
He didn't seem to think that attaching a pegboard to a stone wall was much of a problem and he tossed off the building of the worktable equally lightly.	16254.06192149621
The only trouble was that he himself was tied up on the school job.	4239.206674817388
That was why he hadn't been able to finish the porch.	861.0182236132106
No, he didn't know of any handyman-carpenter.	1232.8987924467808
There wasn't any such thing any more.	140.35127558871733
Carpenters all wanted steady work and at the moment every mother's son for twenty miles around that could hammer nails for twenty-five dollars a day was working on the school job.	43728.91255097193
There was a fellow named Blatz over Smithtown way.	1378.1307660761472
Nobody liked to hire him because you never could tell when he was going to be taken drunk.	9977.445310143408
Mr Crumb would probably see him at Lodge Meeting the next night.	5663.728217128543
If he was sober, which was doubtful, he'd have him get in touch with Mr Crombie.	6923.96055734522
Mr Blatz had been at least sober enough to remember to telephone and he turned out to be the greatest boon that had come into Mr Crombie's life since he moved to Highfield, in spite of the fact that he didn't work very fast or very long at a time, and he didn't like to work at all unless Mr Crombie hung around and talked to him.	26414.544320500805
He said he was the lonely type and working in a cellar you saw funny things coming out of the cracks in the wall if they wasn't nobody with you.	19405.459281968742
So Mr Crombie sat on a wooden box and talked in order to keep Mr Blatz's mind from funny things.	37152.13983416352
At the same time he watched carefully to see how one attached pegboards to stone walls, but Mr Blatz was usually standing in his line of vision and it all seemed so simple that he didn't like to disclose his ignorance.	28701.768799140293
While Mr Blatz was putting up the pegboards and starting the workbench, Mr Crombie told him of this idea about paneling the whole end of the cellar.	121277.89897308583
Mr Blatz agreed that this would be pretty.	682.5987398190572
Without further discussion he appeared the next morning with a pile of boards sticking over the end of his light truck and proceeded with the paneling, which he then stained and waxed according to his taste.	38875.28104885456
"Now", he said, "we got to put in some outlets for them power tools; then a couple of fluorescent lamps over the workbench an' I guess we're about through down here".	38482.43711500775
It all did look very efficient and shipshape.	6838.985362051802
There was no question of that.	15.323208987591837
"By the way", said Mr Blatz, packing his tools into a battered carrier, "them power tools needs extra voltage.	40599.07911328588
I guess you know about that.	1070.4616781406646
Before you use 'em the light company's got to run in a heavy line and you'll need a new fuse box for the extra circuits.	27463.43523179842
That ain't too bad 'ceptin' the light company's so busy you can't ever get 'em to do nothin'".	71706.63626108896
Instead of being depressed by this news, Mr Crombie was actually relieved.	17111.98094677229
At least the moment was postponed when he had to face the mystery of the power tools.	3507.287665868159
He followed Mr Blatz up the cellar stairs.	6005.520206087139
As usual, Mrs Crombie was standing in the midst of a confusion of cooking utensils.	3481.399410299874
Mr Blatz sat down in the only unoccupied kitchen chair.	5443.219155609836
"Well", he said, "got your man fixed up nice down there.	3760.00889318156
He oughta be able to build a new house with all them contraptions".	6704.31195903473
Mr Crombie watched his wife with an anxious expression.	11730.483262150223
"I was just sayin' to him that I'm all ready now for anything else you want done".	11794.446762639487
Mr Crombie couldn't remember his saying any such thing.	6187.99044983837
"Oh, that's wonderful", cried Mrs Crombie.	6171.651488271526
"I have a thousand things for you to do.	149.93858363572488
Doors that won't open, and doors that won't close and shelves and broken h" "But those are the things I built the workshop for", protested Mr Crombie.	322732.2406342348
"Those are the things I can do, now that I'm set up".	244.07756062324816
"I've been waiting to get these things done for months", she said.	662.4243175398095
"We won't live long enough if I wait for you, besides which you don't need to worry- there'll be plenty more".	68986.5525306219
But the discussion was academic.	397.93521872717
Mr Blatz was already taking measurements for a shelf above the kitchen sink.	30802.371911714898
AMBIGUITY Nothing in English has been ridiculed as much as the ambiguous use of words, unless it be the ambiguous use of sentences.	34730.54854723245
Ben Franklin said, "Clearly spoken, Mr Fogg.	60108.17440928808
You explain English by Greek".	710.6956813944786
Richard Brinsley Sheridan said, "I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of the two".	7291.589623090775
And a witty American journalist remarked over a century ago what is even more true today, "Many a writer seems to think he is never profound except when he can't understand his own meaning".	63147.030806492236
There are many types of ambiguity and many of them have been described by rhetoricians under such names as amphibology, parisology, and other ologies.	16286.0575700618
In common parlance they would be described as misses- misinterpreters, misunderstanders, misdirectors and kindred misdeeds.	74093.47991878071
One species of ambiguity tries to baffle by interweaving repetition.	12684.368728828653
"Did you or did you not say what I said you said, because Jane said you never said what I said"?	54831.131004056726
Another woman, addressing Christmas cards, said to her husband "We sent them one last year but they didn't send us one, so they probably won't send us one this year because they'll think we won't send them one because they didn't last year, don't you think, or shall we"?	175753.6054782419
Such ambiguous exercises compound confusion by making it worse compounded, and they are sometimes expanded until the cream of the jest sours.	58260.5654337982
Ambiguity of a non-repetitious kind describes the dilemma one girl found herself in.	49802.49232235063
"I'm terribly upset", she told a girl-friend.	3174.931659374053
"I wrote Bill in my last letter to forget that I had told him that I didn't mean to reconsider my decision not to change my mind- and he seems to have misunderstood me".	46549.74595293777
Evidently Bill was another of those men who simply don't understand women.	11865.111382731537
Another case involves a newspaper reporter who tripped up a politician.	21627.884646443534
"Mr Jones, you may recall that we printed last week your denial of having retracted the contradiction of your original statement.	50854.36518691657
Now would you care to have us say that you were misquoted in regard to it"?	16427.095964738724
Questions like this, framed in verbal fog, are perhaps the only kind that have ever stumped an experienced politician.	104910.93589745784
They recall Byron's classic comment "I wish he would explain his explanation".	20457.866448943627
Similarly, when a reporter once questioned Lincoln in cryptic fashion, Lincoln refused to make any further statement.	13211.78139498066
"I fear explanations explanatory of things explained", he said, leaving the biter bit- and bitter.	43653.87840877868
The obscurity of politicians may not always be as innocent as it looks.	8076.224956575308
"Senator", said an interviewer, "your constituents can't understand from your speech last night just how you stand on the question".	23582.658171964824
"Good"!	298.07586156902147
replied the Senator.	1932.404847988349
"It took me five hours to write it that way".	384.6775106101526
The misplaced modifier is another species more honored in the observance of obscurity than in the breach.	96198.56319825808
This creates an amusing effect because its position in a sentence seems to make it apply to the wrong word.	17422.57474279288
A verse familiar to all grammarians is the quatrain "I saw a man once beat his wife When on a drunken spree.	108247.30791036402
Now can you tell me who was drunk- The man, his wife, or me"?	7032.438861763203
The "wooden-leg" gag of vaudeville, another standby of this sort, had endless variations.	11432.836700580821
""There's a man outside with a wooden leg named Smith".	3117.8333946235302
"What's the name of his other leg""?	3772.3918405902627
Another stock vaudeville gag ran "Mother is home sick in bed with the doctor".	12322.362809479679
When radio came in, it continued the misplaced modifier in its routines as a standard device.	29718.468993108196
""Do you see that pretty girl standing next to the car with slacks on"?	12661.797345684172
"I see the girl but I don't see the car with slacks on"".	3487.0058581702474
In recent years gagwriters have discovered this brand of blunder and thus the misplaced modifier has acquired a new habitat in the gagline.	60206.18015660081
In one cartoon a family is shown outside a theater with the head of the family addressing the doorman "Excuse me, but when we came out we found that we had left my daughter's handbag and my wife's behind".	38757.83553248431
Journalism supplies us with an endless run of such slips.	60202.91525298395
Not long ago a newspaper advised those taking part in a contest that "snapshots must be of a person not larger than f inches".	11138.42760605869
Classified ads are also chockfull of misrelated constructions.	58759.41312651891
Readers of the Reader's Digest are familiar with such items which often appear in its lists of verbal slips, like the ad in a California paper that advertised "House for rent.	115674.31400637758
View takes in five counties, two bedrooms".	21361.700261904836
Since brevity is the soul of ambiguity as well as wit, newspaper headlines continually provide us with amusing samples.	50541.85876170023
"Officials Meet on Rubbish.	6270.445472521442
Many Shapes in Bathtubs.	5066.546919675432
Son and Daughter of Local Couple Married".	36570.533946589145
Apart from misplaced modifiers and headlinese, journalism contributes a wide variety of comic ambiguities in both editorial and advertising matter.	37822.951896068385
A weekly newspaper reported a local romance "h and the couple were married last Saturday, thus ending a friendship which began in their schooldays".	108827.90953064029
An item in the letters column of a newspaper renewed a subscription, adding "I personally enjoy your newspaper as much as my husband".	63560.565505894934
Then there was the caterer's ad which read "ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED OR HAVING AN AFFAIR?	32696.006132997565
We have complete facilities to accommodate 200 people".	2454.592415137703
The newspaper too is the favorite habitat of the anatomical.	11903.287904241563
This slip is so-called because its semi-ambiguous English always seems to refer to a person's anatomy but never quite means what it seems to say.	30465.405236253922
Samples He walked in upon her invitation.	4827.9525846794995
She kissed him passionately upon his reappearance.	15169.148654326364
He kissed her back.	1177.1275042080636
Not without good reason has the anatomical been called jocular journalese.	33015.22229706392
In news items a man is less often shot in the body or head than in the suburbs.	3567.2534204468507
"While Henry Morgan was escorting Miss Vera Green from the church social last Saturday night, a savage dog attacked them and bit Mr Morgan on the public square".	37354.493283160664
Such items recall the California journalist who reported an accident involving a movie star "The area in which Miss N- was injured is spectacularly scenic".	178324.4906590421
The double meaning in the anatomical made it a familiar vaudeville device, as in the gags of Weber and Fields.	52719.7678127231
When a witness at court was asked if he had been kicked in the ensuing rumpus, he replied, "No, it was in the stomach".	2242.0482297259605
Strangely enough, this always brought the house down.	29580.81366290318
Apart from journalese and vaudeville gags, the anatomical is also found in jocular literature.	16096.791432891296
A conscientious girl became the secretary of a doctor.	2050.3781313237496
Her first day at work she was puzzled by an entry in the doctor's notes on an emergency case.	56891.40467898146
It read "Shot in the lumbar region".	4649.09571965417
After a moment of thought, her mind cleared and, in the interest of clarity, she typed into the record "Shot in the woods".	9903.065241028127
There are many grammatical misconstructions other than dangling modifiers and anatomicals which permit two different interpretations.	8217.553021042373
At the home of a gourmet the new maid was instructed in the fine points of serving.	13501.273431241596
"I want the fish served whole, with head and tail", the epicure explained, "and serve it with lemon in mouth".	49183.53166917068
The maid demurred.	878.8721664909456
"That's silly- lemon in mouth", she said.	2053.831046855053
But since the gourmet insisted that it is done that way at the most fashionable dinners, the girl reluctantly agreed.	14334.854946518477
So she brought the fish in whole, and she carried a lemon in her mouth.	9560.902482996751
Another specimen of such double-entendre is illustrated by a woman in a department store.	6361.381727574769
She said to the saleslady, "I want a dress to put on around the house".	3127.229412089847
The puzzled saleslady inquired, "How large is your house, Madam"?	83147.9401103135
This saleslady was a failure in the dress department and was transferred to the shoe department.	21905.0879319989
When a customer asked for alligator shoes, she said, "What size is your alligator"?	31123.51327570105
The comic indefinite comprises an extensive class of comedy.	8602.051911705286
One species is restricted to statements which are neither explicit nor precise regarding a particular person, place, time or thing.	69852.65510741988
A woman met a famous author at a literary tea.	6136.4450819412705
"Oh, I'm so delighted to meet you", she gushed.	391.6574227593673
"It was only the other day that I saw something of yours, about something or other, in some magazine".	11999.397376893829
This baffling lack of distinct details recalls the secretary whose employer was leaving the office and told her what to answer if anyone called in his absence.	36475.586050855694
"I may be back", he explained, "and then again, I may not".	318.481095874732
The girl nodded understandingly.	1677.1475411997683
"Yes, sir", she said, "is that definite"?	1116.6006053493843
An old-fashioned mother said to her modern daughter, "You must have gotten in quite late last night, dear.	34325.970791756874
Where were you"?	200.83727381169928
The daughter replied, "Oh, I had dinner with- well, you don't know him but he's awfully nice- and we went to a couple of places- I don't suppose you've heard of them- and we finished up at a cute little night club- I forget the name of it.	30841.788861294714
Why, it's all right, isn't it, Mother"?	3633.1741889079317
Her woolly-minded parent agreed.	3580.6719691529506
"Of course, dear", she said.	81.357713779648
"It's only that I like to know where you go".	978.7047199963645
No less ambiguous was the indefinity of a certain clergyman's sermon.	7674.429870101213
"Dearly beloved", he preached, "unless you repent of your sins in a measure, and become converted to a degree, you will, I regret to say, be damned to a more or less extent".	31852.22275157194
This clergyman should have referred to Shakespeare's dictum "So-so is a good, very good, very excellent maxim.	64841.454621850695
And yet it is not.	14.279128348166184
It is but so-so".	139.23912953512405
Indefinite reference also carries double-meaning where an allusion to one person or thing seems to refer to another.	20915.097354336274
A news item described the launching of a ship "Completing the ceremony, the beautiful movie star smashed a bottle of champagne over her stern as she slid gracefully down the ways into the sea".	134357.87263398376
This is not unlike the order received by the sergeant of an army motor pool "Four trucks to Fort Mason gym, 730 tonight, for hauling girls to dance.	57956.30058718394
The bodies must be cleaned and seats wiped off".	7031.270448473608
A politician was approached by a man seeking the office of a minor public official who had just died.	13532.186280392028
"What are my chances for taking Joe's place"?	2896.6781469097104
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"If you can fix it up with the undertaker", returned the politician, "it's all right with me".	6432.164974664589
The manager of a movie theater received a telephone call from a woman who was equally indefinite.	9705.518941135595
"What have you got on today"?	3871.2862480280064
she inquired.	294.3958066847276
"A blue suit", he answered.	2294.318427722282
"Who's in it"?	6188.8140446964835
she continued.	161.26317477453082
"I am", he said.	3.0719232491101973
There was a short pause for reflection.	407.39398015391214
"Oh", said the woman, "I've seen that picture already".	934.7513634628235
Another brand of indefinite reference arises out of the use of the double verb.	4907.0374364345
When a question contains two verbs, the response does not make clear which of them is being answered.	14568.114803505348
The moonlit night was made for romance, and he had been looking at her soulfully for some time.	3353.300976229594
Finally he asked, "Do you object to petting"?	9559.511219285736
"That's one thing I've never done", she said promptly.	4777.672902962983
He thought a moment, then inquired, "You mean petted"?	7666.938001477527
"No", she smiled, "objected".	99.72182969539892
Replies to requests for character reference are notorious for their evasive double-entendre.	147265.21120275225
It would be hard to find anything more equivocal than "I cannot recommend him too highly".	2970.944512226631
Another less ambiguous case read as follows "The bearer of this letter has served me for two years to his complete satisfaction.	22189.82526611475
If you are thinking of giving him a berth, be sure to make it a wide one".	2927.5851566432893
In the comedy of indefinite reference, it-wit occupies a prominent place because of its frequent occurrence.	15875.474623606946
Ambiguity arises when the pronoun it carries a twofold reference.	37213.05181881071
Two friends were talking.	863.478709651138
One said, "When I get a cold I buy a bottle of whiskey for it, and within a few hours it's gone".	12151.248397868518
The speaker referred to the whiskey but his friend thought he meant the cold.	10435.342054330757
It-wit is a misnomer because it covers slips as well as wit.	26171.889658155702
An excited woman was making an emergency call over the phone "Doctor, please come over right away.	54595.00576228921
My husband is in great pain.	653.5067072531332
I CALLED the other afternoon on my old friend, Graves Moreland, the Anglo-American literary critic- his mother was born in Ohio- who lives alone in a fairy-tale cottage on the Upson Downs, raising hell and peacocks, the former only when the venerable gentleman becomes an angry old man about the state of literature or something else that is dwindling and diminishing, such as human stature, hope, and humor.	464348.1450578471
My unscientific friend does not believe that human stature is measurable in terms of speed, momentum, weightlessness, or distance from earth, but is a matter of the development of the human mind.	14878.953014881012
After Gagarin became the Greatest Man in the World, for a nation that does not believe in the cult of personality or in careerism, Moreland wrote me a letter in which he said "I am not interested in how long a bee can live in a vacuum, or how far it can fly.	28969.408323050946
A bee's place is in the hive".	6284.642325268223
"I have come to talk with you about the future of humor and comedy", I told him, at which he started slightly, and then made us each a stiff drink, with a trembling hand.	11567.255165778617
"I seem to remember", he said, "that in an interview ten years ago you gave humor and comedy five years to live.	5705.389970270561
Did you go to their funeral"?	4017.3116998763817
"I was wrong", I admitted.	1140.2471787013599
"Comedy didn't die, it just went crazy.	45266.46849755168
It has identified itself with the very tension and terror it once did so much to alleviate.	21472.128110879134
We now have not only what has been called over here the comedy of menace but we also have horror jokes, magazines known as Horror Comics, and sick comedians.	74030.68808690319
There are even publications called Sick and Mad.	4016.2869331634906
The Zeitgeist is not crazy as a loon or mad as a March hare; it is manic as a man".	27316.224173275714
"I woke up this morning", Moreland said, "paraphrasing Lewis Carroll.	62157.763502447444
Do you want to hear the paraphrase"?	1050.1049772309225
"Can I bear it"?	1451.3547826741851
I asked, taking a final gulp of my drink, and handing him the empty glass.	13294.705365007432
"Just barely", he said, and repeated his paraphrase "The time has come", the walrus said, "To speak of manic things, Of shots and shouts, and sealing dooms Of commoners and kings".	111135.19308858829
Moreland fixed us each another drink, and said, "For God's sake, tell me something truly amusing".	21674.92741002991
"I'll try", I said, and sat for a moment thinking.	1020.2478589854965
"Oh yes, the other day I reread some of Emerson's English Traits, and there was an anecdote about a group of English and Americans visiting Germany, more than a hundred years ago.	8183.133740448791
In the railway station at Berlin, a uniformed attendant was chanting, 'Foreigners this way!	28824.064780374378
Foreigners this way'!	5020.82847847364
One woman- she could have been either English or American- went up to him and said, 'But you are the foreigners'".	19080.849499550342
I took a deep breath and an even deeper swallow of my drink, and said, "I admit that going back to Ralph Waldo Emerson for humor is like going to a modern musical comedy for music and comedy".	53700.18998391852
"What's the matter with the music"?	108.22717825031738
Moreland asked.	1422.1698652103182
"It doesn't drown out the dialogue", I explained.	6571.451828375443
"Let's talk about books", Moreland said.	4938.116220196912
"I am told that in America you have non-books by non-writers, brought out by non-publishers for non-readers.	21056.04909927771
Is it all non-fiction"?	2373.8640947374915
"There is non-fiction and non non-fiction", I said.	2196.584624069072
"Speaking of nonism the other day, in a story about a sit-down demonstration, the Paris Herald Tribune wrote, 'The non-violence became noisier'.	34308.748194793094
And then Eichmann was quoted as saying, in non-English, that Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews was nonsense".	36527.21677805327
"If we cannot tell evil, horror, and insanity from nonsense, what is the future of humor and comedy"?	26684.427403524514
Moreland asked, grimly.	18248.6338611592
"Cryptic", I said.	410.4255056921245
"They require, for existence, a brave spirit and a high heart, and where do you find these?	38689.483139377764
In our present era of Science and Angst, the heart has been downgraded, to use one of our popular retrogressive verbs".	33993.07021794883
"I know what you mean", Moreland sighed.	501.7091714854228
"Last year your Tennessee Williams told our Dilys Powell, in a television program, that it is the task of the playwright to throw light into the dark corners of the human heart.	18529.50547291045
Like almost everybody else, he confused the heart, both as organ and as symbol, with the disturbed psyche, the deranged glands, and the jumpy central nervous system.	109327.07025319207
I'm not pleading for the heart that leaps up when it beholds a rainbow in the sky, or for the heart that with rapture fills and dances with the daffodils.	33151.58536540391
The sentimental pure heart of Galahad is gone with the knightly years, but I still believe in the heart of the George Meredith character that was not made of the stuff that breaks".	57561.91692714092
"We no longer have Tom Moore's and Longfellow's 'heart for any fate', either", I said.	5659.101355849212
"Moore and Longfellow didn't have the fate that faces us", Moreland said.	45798.04007764886
"One day our species promises co-existence, and the next day it threatens co-extinction".	6854.532484872727
We sat for a while drinking in silence.	6647.642149414978
"The heart", I said finally, "is now either in the throat or the mouth or the stomach or the shoes.	18143.592756270085
When it was worn in the breast, or even on the sleeve, we at least knew where it was".	18475.775746880823
There was a long silence.	88.99449922961911
"You have visited England five times in the past quarter-century, I believe", my host said.	5130.429914688646
"What has impressed you most on your present visit"?	25313.886298063124
"I would say depressed, not impressed", I told him.	530.2169611099016
"I should say it is the turning of courts of law into veritable theatres for sex dramas, involving clergymen and parishioners, psychiatrists and patients.	50648.22012048976
It is becoming harder and harder to tell law courts and political arenas from the modern theatre".	5379.119688022589
"Do you think we need a new Henry James to re-explore the Anglo-American scene"?	11734.805413083353
he asked.	2.83163735220959
"Or perhaps a new Noel Coward"?	4413.5003037177685
"But you must have heard it said that the drawing-room disappeared forever with the somnolent years of James and the antic heyday of Coward.	33318.01811275865
I myself hear it said constantly- in drawing-rooms.	8657.21694545246
In them, there is usually a group of Anglo-Americans with tragicomic problems, worthy of being explored either in the novel or in the play or in comedy and satire".	102312.15510898383
I stood up and began pacing.	487.23882248451986
"If you are trying to get us out of the brothel, the dustbin, the kitchen sink, and the tawdry living-room, you are probably wasting your time", Moreland told me.	73057.7626986536
"Too many of our writers seem to be interested only in creatures that crawl out of the woodwork or from under the rock".	9940.141517897286
"Furiouser and furiouser", I said.	1444.644196957845
"I am worried about the current meanings of the word 'funny'.	5896.764819215086
It now means ominous, as when one speaks of a funny sound in the motor; disturbing, as when one says that a friend is acting funny; and frightening, as when a wife tells the police that it is funny, but her husband hasn't been home for two days and nights".	65680.4862896896
Moreland sat brooding for a full minute, during which I made each of us a new drink.	53721.20342695014
He took his glass, clinked it against mine, and said, "Toujours gai, what the hell"!	11098.984687342518
borrowing a line from Don Marquis' Mehitabel.	39752.973529355346
"Be careful of the word 'gay', for it, too, has undergone a change.	1492.9067915797052
It now means, in my country, homosexual", I said.	1207.1786106210034
"Oh, I forgot to say that if one is taken to the funny house in the funny wagon, he is removed to a mental institution in an ambulance.	11887.975228966903
Recently, by the way, I received a questionnaire in which I was asked whether or not I was non-institutionalized".	2848.7413268933688
MY HOST went over and stared out the window at his peacocks; then he turned to me.	10240.690664091466
"Is it true that you believe the other animals are saner than the human species"?	23092.4215018929
"Oh, that is demonstrable", I told him.	266.4915526858587
"Do you remember the woman in the French Alps who was all alone with her sheep one day when the sun darkened ominously?	65338.0575928021
She told the sheep, 'The world is coming to an end'!	5571.011047209357
And the sheep said- all in unison, I have no doubt- 'Ba-a-a'!	20032.49267564115
The sound mockery of sheep is like the salubrious horse laugh".	23230.68698848524
"That is only partly non-nonsense", he began.	1900.859325903982
"If you saw the drama called Rhinoceros", I said, "think of the effect it would have on an audience of rhinos when the actor on stage suddenly begins turning into a rhinoceros.	28509.471275191983
The rhinos would panic, screaming 'Help'!- if that can be screamed in their language".	39682.16633536492
"You think the Russians are getting ahead of us in comedy"?	20362.571179784165
Moreland demanded.	1422.1700206015669
"Non-God, no", I said.	1177.2387223058724
"The political and intellectual Left began fighting humor and comedy years ago, because they fear things they do not understand and cannot manage, such as satire and irony, such as humor and comedy.	105492.00044321084
Nevertheless, like any other human being upon whom the spotlight of the world plays continually, Khrushchev, the anti-personality cultist, has become a comic actor, or thinks he has.	33924.049614210686
In his famous meeting with Nixon a couple of years ago he seemed to believe that he was as funny as Ed Wynn.	7096.747907899661
But, like Caesar, he has only one joke, so far as I can find out.	375.92836429527176
It consists in saying, 'That would be sending the goat to look after the cabbage'.	15789.687451252084
Why in the name of his non-God doesn't he vary it a bit"?	20787.05077507562
"Such as"?	1095.1136317837295
Moreland asked.	1422.1698652103182
"Such as 'sending the cat to guard the mice', or 'the falcon to protect the dove', or most terribly sharp of all, 'the human being to save humanity'".	196062.36645934748
"You and I have fallen out of literature into politics", Moreland observed.	2022.1030158760725
"What a nasty fall was there"!	1438.4905625287079
I said.	3.6880945733023127
Moreland went over to stare at his peacocks again, and then came back and sat down, restively.	158008.5159821543
"The world that was once foot-loose and fancy-free", he said, "has now become screw-loose and frenzy-free.	9039.556751497588
In our age of Science and Angst it seems to me more brave to stay on Earth and explore inner man than to fly far from the sphere of our sorrow and explore outer space".	37302.42024596239
"The human ego being what it is", I put in, "science fiction has always assumed that the creatures on the planets of a thousand larger solar systems than ours must look like gigantic tube-nosed fruit bats.	116865.1631162417
It seems to me that the first human being to reach one of these planets may well learn what it is to be a truly great and noble species".	2976.376430528449
"Now we are leaving humor and comedy behind again", Moreland protested.	14801.218449325805
"Not in the largest sense of the words", I said.	151.2844825243444
"The other day Arnold Toynbee spoke against the inveterate tendency of our species to believe in the uniqueness of its religions, its ideologies, and its virtually everything else.	35361.77897492966
Why do we not realize that no ideology believes so much in itself as it disbelieves in something else?	11744.520230276737
Forty years ago an English writer, W L George, dealt with this subject in Eddies of the Day, and said, as an example, that 'Saint George for Merry England' would not start a spirit half so quickly as 'Strike frog-eating Frenchmen dead'"!	83376.81898366258
"There was also Gott strafe Angleterre", Moreland reminded me, "and Carthago delenda est, or if you will, Deus strafe Carthage.	37598.00080262692
It isn't what the ideologist believes in, but what he hates, that puts the world in jeopardy.	8726.19413791527
This is the force, in our time and in every other time, that urges the paranoiac and the manic-depressive to become head of a state.	9036.910791696198
Complete power not only corrupts but it also attracts the mad.	20091.084928891632
There is a bitter satire for a future writer in that".	2533.8196169372995
"Great satire has always been clearly written and readily understandable", I said.	5735.3354941654925
"But we now find writers obsessed by the nooks and crannies of their ivory towers, and curiously devoted to the growing obscurity and complexity of poetry and non-poetry.	74018.7578879193
I wrote a few years ago that one of the cardinal rules of writing is that the reader should be able to get some idea of what the story is about.	4609.109507799404
One day, the children had wanted to get up onto General Burnside's horse.	1098.5537578123651
They wanted to see what his back felt like- the General's.	14809.670369691165
He looked so comfortable being straight.	879.362758112136
They wanted to touch the mystery.	2581.1691372112814
Arlene was boosting them up when the policeman came by.	12125.867280112987
He was very rude.	545.5151280669002
Arlene had a hard voice, too, this time.	1619.9971354521695
The policeman's eyes rather popped for a second; but then Arlene got another tone in a hurry, and she said, "If it wasn't for these dear children"-.	41563.58221936174
The policeman got a confused, funny look on his face, and he had answered kind of politely, "Now, look here, lady I know you got to entertain these kids and all.	40074.356649392364
But this is a public park and it's a city ordinance that the statues cannot be crawled on".	6685.192179484536
Arlene was so ashamed that she hung her head when she said, "Yes, sir".	13247.114945527932
The policeman walked on, but he looked back once.	6427.151988378429
That had happened on the day when two other unusual things had occurred.	2992.26285252096
Arlene had taught them a new way to have fun in their little private area; and they had told their mother about the tumbles.	98921.93315776157
In matters of exact information, that kept her one step behind developments; and so they were consistently true to their principles.	31928.30640659136
"Never mind", Arlene had said, after the policeman had left, having pursued the usual unco-operative course of grownups.	52637.14219740614
"Never mind.	17.953993677043982
I know something that is much more fun that we can do on our little lawn".	4417.922150263967
"What is it"?	2.9074488611034295
asked the children, whose reflexes and replies were invariably so admirably normal and predictable.	24608.57744660183
Maybe that was why they were cordial and loyal towards the unpredictability of Arlene.	33889.55942968051
"Just you wait", advised Arlene, echoing the dialogue in a recent British movie.	29634.07848254351
And when they had got to their little lawn, they had had a most twirlingly magnificent time.	1940.733957044534
First, Arlene had put them through some rapid somersaults.	14464.240957250478
They had protested that that wasn't any surprise.	8107.824516140062
"Just you wait", said Arlene again, as though she were discovering the pleasantly tingling insinuations of that handy little sturdy statement.	25315.655373266643
"This is a warm-up".	87.64484999419673
"Is it anything like cooked-over oatmeal"?	14059.444363541576
asked one of the children.	299.6932744182527
"Not the least bit", Arlene snapped.	4800.2966058255915
One of the many things that was so nice about her was that she always took your questions seriously, particularly your very, very serious questions.	14468.8398742367
Those were especially the ones that all other grownups laughed at loudest.	11864.524653924147
She would sometimes even get a little hard on you, she took you so seriously.	14598.023136776079
But not hard for very long.	117.61648305436732
Just long enough to make you feel important.	1122.3445402779214
"Now", said Arlene, eventually, making them both sit in formation on a big root of a live oak, the sort of root that divided itself and made their bottoms sag down and feel comfortable.	113900.1820899291
"Now, we're going to be like what General Burnside and his horse make us think of".	1480.4217624006828
The children looked at each other and sagged their bottoms down even more comfortably than ever.	4753.28915885425
Their curiosity went happily out of bounds.	686.4322048345674
Then, Arlene threw herself backwards and wiggled in a way that was just wonderful.	14691.674981589475
She held herself that way and turned her head towards them and laughed and winked.	46442.16308532544
"Imagine being able to laugh and wink when you're like the top part of that picture frame at home", one of them said.	22831.043818738355
They both laughed and winked back.	1390.3918928976266
"I'm General Burnside's horse, upside down", Arlene said, sort of gaspingly, for her even she had to breathe kind of funny when she was in that position.	39048.93125890045
She made General Burnside's horse's belly do so funny when it was upside down.	6866.435208936602
Then, she was back on her feet, winking and smiling that enormous smile she had lots of wonderful big teeth that you never would have suspected she had when she was not smiling.	103363.5547053904
And she would wink and throw kisses.	1131.7544438704238
They both tried to keep smiling and winking for a long time, but it made their lips and eyelids tremble.	7902.091959901113
But they kept on clapping for a long, long time.	216.9826548634163
"This time", Arlene said, and she even kept on wiggling a little bit while she was just talking, "you're going to tell me what I am and what I'm doing.	8634.573282524761
It all has something to do with General Burnside and his horse".	2176.7821801718255
This time, it was so grand; they could tell exactly what it was.	1447.401727195621
It was General Burnside's horse running in a circle.	1640.9342478468247
His legs shook, and the shaking went right on up his body through his hips to his shoulders.	20489.31738364135
"That's the General's horse", one of them cried out.	3708.4741774301256
The other remarked, in a happy laughter, "That's a funny old horse".	13375.266765355635
The first one said, "He sure does shake.	3851.388726057346
He's old".	155.4868758766092
Then there was the General kissing his wife.	185.3416546945371
They had to be told that one.	46.57818007503899
But it was even funnier after they had been told.	352.3747816808655
Their father, when he came back from those many business trips, just bumped their mother on the forehead with his lips and asked if anybody had thought to mix the martinis and put them in the electric icebox.	39656.97951034626
But not General Burnside.	1055.026864543999
He was the funniest man.	275.3577776349277
He never could keep still, even when he didn't move his feet.	1984.2744724718893
Then, they had to get up and be General Burnside.	693.1551354417187
Or his horse.	299.78947615745824
All they could think of was to run around in circles, kicking their legs out.	27395.084467631346
It wasn't very funny.	247.87205218349519
Then, they said General Burnside was going to jump over his horse's head; and they did some somersaults.	32950.14037874343
But that wasn't very funny, either.	569.7113040714597
"You ought to shake", Arlene advised them.	7673.991083257874
And Arlene showed them how to begin.	3778.4390525260687
She also taught them to sing "I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate".	17162.182634486875
That helped a lot.	249.20498127021133
They were clumsy, but they were beginning to catch on.	2316.1836649759443
They also caught on a little bit on how to smile a lot without your lips trembling.	34910.712338108184
"Imagine you won't get your allowance if you're caught not smiling- or smiling with your lips trembling too much", Arlene suggested.	69292.07569159626
That helped a great deal.	190.34325222136852
They were a little late in getting home.	574.8054776405041
"I'm sorry, Mrs Minks", Arlene said in a tone so low you could hardly hear it.	2686.173125851366
My mother constituted herself the voice of all of us.	473.35149768537747
"It's perfectly understandable, Arlene", my mother said in a friendly way.	6472.692875603035
"I suppose you all were playing and forgot"?	4822.61605371132
"Yes, ma'am", the children chorused heartily.	1830.5632704559143
We couldn't help laughing.	3550.612207573218
The children rushed off to get rid of their sweaters; and Arlene began tapping the kitchen door open.	11080.303478237573
"Arlene's a good girl", my uncle remarked to us; but he said it too soon, for it came out just before the tap to which the door responded.	129963.04505940467
That tap had a slight bangish quality.	4840.498491743991
"She really is a dear little thing", my mother agreed.	14873.75542945518
Her upper lip lifted slightly.	1616.9637804350086
She was biting into a small red radish; and that action always caused her to lift her lip from the sting of the thing.	43518.811993971736
Also, she lived in continual fear of finding a white worm curled up in a neat, mean little heap at the white center of the radish.	67491.0708965379
She would try to see over the bulge of her cheeks and somewhat under her teeth to the place where she was biting.	26237.111996197822
It never worked, naturally; but it made her look unusual.	7808.917817603807
Also, when she had bitten off half of the small radish, she found the suspense unbearable; and she would snatch the finger-held half of the radish out to where she could inspect it.	78034.66065926258
One could hear a very faint, ladylike sigh of relief.	799.3591997173918
Actually, it was inaudible to anyone not expecting it.	4735.021399999878
But the warm joy of her brown eyes was open to the general public.	627.8285388984916
Later on, the children told her further about somersaulting.	2281.9683665721745
"It must be awfully good for them.	135.29013136904092
And awfully kind of Arlene", she told us later.	8743.32962084445
"But do you know something curious"?	621.4280677028032
she added.	212.07340183662518
"I reached into that funny little pocket that is high up on my dress.	27704.62842503747
I have no notion why I reached.	321.0006516987985
And I found a radish.	1311.1351330779266
Was it an omen?	1470.4779351979494
I thought for a second.	173.24725929192724
But I would not pamper myself in that silly way.	2171.828172339904
I opened the window and threw the radish out".	6689.300675082733
Then, my mother blushed at this small lie; for she knew and we knew that it was cowardice that had made one more radish that night just too impossible a strain.	74723.18218267431
Arlene became indispensable; nobody could have told why.	8026.968684346517
But she was.	4.402611688530659
It was in the air.	3.8667047510554493
A friend of my father's came to dinner.	401.40921564166024
He was passing through town and phoned to say hello.	6312.833206172394
As a result, he was persuaded out to dinner.	97.16156318642554
As a matter of fact, this happened every four or five months.	157.88323918376693
Sometimes, he coincided with my father's being at home.	1742.268082589886
Sometimes, as at this juncture, he did not.	134.44180876918833
But he was always persuaded out.	212.4220007859691
he liked children, in a loathsome kind of way; the two youngest in our family always had to be brought in and put through tricks for his entertainment.	55230.73473131224
When he had left, I could never remember whether he had poked them in their middles, laughingly, with a thick index finger or whether he was merely so much the sort of person who did this that one assumed the action, not bothering to look.	23731.249749452974
The children loathed him, too.	526.0002568649257
This evening, they were pushed in from the breakfast room, with odds and ends of dessert distributed over them.	21065.365261023842
There had been some coconut in it, for I remember my mother's taking a quick glance at a stringy bit of this nut on the cheek of one of them and then putting down her radish with a shiver.	60014.35613149414
They were pushed gently into the room by Arlene- whose only part appearing were hands that crept quickly back around to the kitchen side of the door.	19579.552952995553
We had just sat down.	368.1929315232998
"Tell Mr Gorboduc what you're doing these days", my mother advised the children, ceremonially.	50135.26581992319
There was an air of revolt about the children- even irreverence for their own principles.	4142.099898784956
This could be told chiefly from a sort of head-tossing and prancing, a horselike balkiness of demeanor.	16446.2013304226
Possibly, the coconut-containing dessert had brought up bitter problems of administration.	12194.990739524836
But, at the beginning, this stayed just in the air.	301.621645888107
"We go to the park with this nice lady", one of them said.	3703.2337112388013
"We have good times".	176.67883719208632
This happy bulletin convulsed Mr Gorboduc.	4785.349710416058
"You do"?	43.51282737143087
he asked, between wheezes of laughter.	709.0025478668189
He was forced to wipe his eyes.	312.68203470797056
"You don't step on the flowers, do you?	1944.9752964100542
Eh"?	9838.782635320602
One of the children maneuvered out of range of the poking index finger.	3328.8891347235426
"No", he said.	3.1933343961238
"We don't".	23.352228425675438
Mr Gorboduc took a swig of his sherry.	21908.044449129582
He was so long thinking that my mother had time to inspect her sherry for dregs.	10501.749953744524
Usually, this was done when attention was diverted by someone else's long, boring story.	15445.51326942529
But this time she was nervous she was open.	1199.993938802177
Mr Gorboduc was finally in command of his mind again.	7553.672512948336
"Tell me- what do you do at the park"?	7869.13613031466
he asked.	2.83163735220959
This was delivered in a forthright way, without coyness and over-pretended interest- an admirable way with children.	22394.00804890506
Only, unfortunately, he could not remove from his voice a nagging insinuation of the direct command.	15142.53443135231
This nettled the children into the revelation of exact truth, a sacrifice of their secret superiority over grown people, but a victory in the wide fields of perpetration and illegitimate accomplishment.	121145.28407901009
"We bump", one said; and the other went on to development of the idea.	8067.113808435206
"We grind, too", he said.	159.54250896628199
My mother was beside herself with curiosity.	892.2831710287173
"Say that again", she pleaded.	2437.6284487016615
She laughed a little and tossed the dregs rakishly around in her glass.	30401.90583819123
"You what"?	306.54778749449065
She could see that Mr Gorboduc was intrigued; the hostess in her took over.	9234.449737559617
She was rollickingly happy.	385.1265575006715
"You what"?	306.54778749449065
My uncle looked at Mr Gorboduc.	9321.9257430373
He read Henry James and used to pretend profundity through eye-beamings at people.	28228.686738068584
Mr Gorboduc looked down.	1307.4756074350298
He would not look up.	178.75120107187655
He was very funny about the whole thing.	816.6405790016867
PUERI AQUAM DE SILVAS AD AGRICOLAS PORTANT, a delightful vignette set in the unforgettable epoch of pre-Punic War Rome.	204949.134309025
Marcellus, the hero, is beset from all sides by the problems of approaching manhood.	27594.739397067868
The story opens on the eve of his fifty-third birthday, as he prepares for the two weeks of festivities that are to follow.	7451.0063943088235
Suddenly, a messenger arrives and, just before collapsing dead at his feet, informs him that the Saracens have invaded Silesia, the home province of his affianced.	81525.87021155976
He at once cancels the celebrations and, buckling on his scimitar, stumbles blindly from the house, where he is hit and killed by a passing oxcart.	45078.18818807573
THE ALBANY CIVIC OPERA's presentation of Spumoni's immortal Il Sevigli del Spegititgninino, with guest contralto Hattie Sforzt.	113303.22567363322
An unusual, if not extraordinary, rendering of the classic myth that involves the rescue of Prometheus from the rock by the US Cavalry was given last week in the warehouse of the Albany Leather Conduit Company amid cheers of "Hubba hubba" and "Yalagaloo pip pip"!	182814.93974205342
After a "busy" overture, the curtain rises on a farm scene- the Ranavan Valley in northern Maine.	31769.603536634288
A dead armadillo, the sole occupant of the stage, symbolizes the crisis and destruction of the Old Order.	20224.164285314044
Old Order, acted and atonally sung by Grunnfeu Arapacis, the lovely Serbantian import, then entered and delivered the well-known invocation to the god Phineoppus, whereupon the stage is quite unexpectedly visited by a company of wandering Gorshek priests, symbolizing Love, Lust, Prudence and General Motors, respectively.	169879.41977128587
According to the myth, Old Order then vanishes at stage left and reappears at extreme stage right, but director Shuz skillfully sidesteps the rather gooshey problem of stage effects by simply having Miss Arapacis walk across the stage.	98357.9130081369
The night we saw it, a rather unpleasant situation arose when the soloist refused to approach the armadillo, complaining- in ad-lib- that "it smelled".	142586.17932503522
We caught the early train to New York.	455.1725696556121
THE DHARMA DICTIONARY, a list of highly unusual terms used in connection with Eurasian proto-senility cults.	69576.24919380869
It's somewhat off the beaten track, to be sure, but therein lies its variety and charm.	6171.957643714196
For example, probably very few people know that the word "visrhanik" that is bantered about so much today stems from the verb "bouanahsha" to salivate.	61311.99917997264
Likewise, and equally fascinating, is the news that such unlikely synonyms as "pratakku", "sweathruna", and the tongue-twister "nnuolapertar-it-vuh-karti-biri-pitknoumen" all originated in the same village in Bathar-on-Walli Province and are all used to express sentiments concerning British "imperialism".	256289.88097144527
The terms are fairly safe to use on this side of the ocean, but before you start spouting them to your date, it might be best to find out if he was a member of Major Pockmanster's Delhi Regiment, since resentment toward the natives was reportedly very high in that outfit.	25058.555125722025
THE BREEZE AND CHANCELLOR NEITZBOHR, a movie melodrama that concerns the attempts of a West German politician to woo a plaster cast of the Apollo Belvedere.	124968.42174369817
As you have doubtless guessed already, the plot is plastered with Freudian, Jungian, and Meinckian theory.	21498.884054457412
For example, when the film is only four minutes old, Neitzbohr refers to a small, Victorian piano stool as "Wilhelmina", and we are thereupon subjected to a flashback that informs us that this very piano stool was once used by an epileptic governess whose name, of course, was Doris the English equivalent, when passed through middle-Gaelic derivations, of Wilhelmina.	136944.4125171904
For the remainder of the movie, Chancellor Neitzbohr proceeds to lash the piano stool with a slat from a Venetian blind that used to hang in the pre-war Reichstag.	50911.01142946804
In this manner, he seeks to expunge from his own soul the guilt pangs caused by his personal assaults against the English at Dunkirk.	16438.656637770662
As we find out at the end, it is not the stool symbolizing Doris, therefore the English that he is punishing but the piece of Venetian blind.	17612.03221785026
And, when the slat finally shatters, we see him count the fragments, all the while muttering, "He loves me, he loves me not".	49953.688071775716
After a few tortuous moments of wondering who "he" is, the camera pans across the room to the plaster statue, and we realize that Neitzbohr is trying to redeem himself in the eyes of a mute piece of sculpture.	48206.59740462031
The effect, needless to say, is almost terrifying, and though at times a bit obscure, the film is certainly a much-needed catharsis for the "repressed" movie-goer.	61322.15639661201
THE MUSIC OF BINI SALFININISTAS, CAPITAL LP 63711-R, one of the rare recordings of this titanic, yet unsung, composer.	62717.1977515181
Those persons who were lucky enough to see and hear the performance of his work at the Brest-Silevniov Festival in August, 1916, will certainly welcome his return to public notice; and it is not unlikely that, even as the great Bach lay dormant for so many years, so has the erudite, ingenious SalFininistas passed through his "purgatory" of neglect.	116448.13591116483
But now, under the guidance of the contemporary composer Marc Schlek, Jr, a major revival is under way.	541.9902384910796
As he leads the Neurenschatz Skolkau Orchestra, Schlek gives a tremendously inspired performance of both the Baslot and Rattzhenfuut concertos, including the controversial Tschilwyk cadenza, which was included at the conductor's insistence.	154042.0556818394
A major portion of the credit should also go to flautist Haumd for his rendering of the almost impossible "Indianapolis" movement in the Baslot.	43513.75389393789
Not only was Haumd's intonation and phrasing without flaw, but he seemed to take every tonal eccentricity in stride.	39879.974417362566
For example, to move as the score requires from the lowest F-major register up to a barely audible N minor in four seconds, not skipping, at the same time, even one of the 407 fingerings, seems a feat too absurd to consider, and it is to the flautist's credit that he remained silent throughout the passage.	50443.77346649037
We would have preferred, however, to have had the rest of the orchestra refrain from laughing at this and other spots on the recording, since it mars an otherwise sober, if not lofty, performance.	35634.576435813055
As Broadway itself becomes increasingly weighted down by trite, heavy-handed, commercially successful musicals and inspirational problem dramas, the American theatre is going through an inexorable renaissance in that nebulous area known as "off-Broadway".	290525.7205477888
For the last two years, this frontier of the arts has produced a number of so-called "non-dramas" which have left indelible, bittersweet impressions on the psyche of this veteran theatregoer.	26031.475054470946
The latest and, significantly, greatest fruit of this theatrical vine is The, an adaptation of Basho's classic frog-haiku by Roger Entwhistle, a former University of Maryland chemistry instructor.	165917.96559810906
Although the play does show a certain structural amateurishness there are eleven acts varying in length from twenty-five seconds to an hour and a half, the statement it makes concerning the ceaseless yearning and searching of youth is profound and worthy of our attention.	28508.84174422718
The action centers about a group of outspoken and offbeat students sitting around a table in a cafeteria and their collective and ultimately fruitless search for a cup of hot coffee.	99868.2564139256
They are relentlessly rebuffed on all sides by a waitress, the police, and an intruding government tutor.	18828.321437804978
The innocence that they tried to conceal at the beginning is clearly destroyed forever when one of them, asking for a piece of lemon-meringue pie, gets a plate of English muffins instead.	30537.93830466682
Leaving the theatre after the performance, I had a flash of intuition that life, after all as Rilke said, is just a search for the nonexistent cup of hot coffee, and that this unpretentious, moving, clever, bitter slice of life was the greatest thing to happen to the American theatre since Brooks Atkinson retired.	103081.352905399
Aging but still precocious, French feline enfant terrible Francoisette Lagoon has succeeded in shocking jaded old Paris again, this time with a sexy ballet scenario called The Lascivious Interlude, the story of a nymphomaniac trip-hammer operator who falls hopelessly in love with a middle-aged steam shovel.	174871.8161733627
A biting, pithy parable of the all-pervading hollowness of modern life, the piece has been set by Mlle Lagoon to a sumptuous score a single motif played over and over by four thousand French horns by existentialist hot-shot Jean-Paul Sartre.	155864.24072514244
Petite, lovely Yvette Chadroe plays the nymphomaniac engagingly.	71839.56078117325
Ever since Bambi, and, more recently, Born Free, there have been a lot of books about animals, but few compare with Max Fink's wry, understated, charming, and immensely readable My Friend, the Quizzical Salamander.	119255.03071001482
Done in the modern style of a "confession", Fink tells in exquisite detail how he came to know, and, more important, love his mother's pet salamander, Alicia.	35409.2196451278
It is not an entirely happy book, as Mrs Fink soon becomes jealous of Alicia and, in retaliation, refuses to continue to scrape the algae off her glass.	56268.10036031005
Max, in a fit of despair, takes Alicia and runs off for two marvelous weeks in Burbank Fink calls it "the most wonderful and lovely fourteen days in my whole life", at the end of which Alicia tragically contracts Parkinson's disease and dies.	120750.40163401673
This brief resume hardly does the book justice, but I heartily recommend it to all those who are engages with the major problems of our time.	23480.93209513176
Opera in the Grand Tradition, along with mah-jongg, seems to be staging a well-deserved comeback.	71010.4293535616
In this country, the two guiding lights are, without doubt, Felix Fing and Anna Pulova.	18059.60634670637
Fing, a lean, chiseled, impeccable gentleman of the old school who was once mistaken on the street for Sir Cedric Hardwicke, is responsible for the rediscovery of Verdi's earliest, most raucous opera, Nabisco, a sumptuous bout-de-souffle with a haunting leitmotiv that struck me as being highly reminiscent of the Mudugno version of "Volare".	295603.3627754066
Miss Pulova has a voice that Maria Callas once described as "like chipping teeth with a screw driver", and her round, opalescent face becomes fascinatingly reflective of the emotions demanded by the role of Rosalie.	249203.70021199674
The Champs Elysees is literally littered this summer with the prostrate bodies of France's beat-up beatnik jeunes filles.	82697.86840889123
Cause of all this commotion squat, pug-nosed, balding, hopelessly ugly Jean-Pierre Bravado, a Bogartian figure, who plays a sadistic, amoral, philosophic Tasti-Freeze salesman in old New-Waver Fredrico de Mille Rossilini's endlessly provocative film, A Sour Sponge.	545365.2193300432
Bravado has been alternately described as "a symbol of the new grandeur of France and myself" De Gaulle and "a decadent, disgusting slob"!	62636.49222268566
Norman Mailer, but no one can deny that the screen crackles with electricity whenever he is on it.	5743.705063778223
Soaring to stardom along with him, Margo Felicity Brighetti, a luscious and curvaceously beguiling Italian starlet, turns in a creditable performance as an airplane mechanic.	386006.5037387382
The battle of the drib-drool continues, but most of New York's knowing sophisticates of Abstract Expressionism are stamping their feet impatiently in expectation of V for Vindication Day, September first, when Augustus Quasimodo's first one-man show opens at the Guggenheim.	149177.9498093673
We have heard that after seeing Mr Quasimodo's work it will be virtually impossible to deny the artistic validity and importance of the whole abstract movement.	29821.145716963812
And it is thought by many who think about such things that Quasimodo is the logical culmination of a school that started with Monet, progressed through Kandinsky and the cubist Picasso, and blossomed just recently in Pollock and De Kooning.	156924.0715541143
Quasimodo defines his own art as "the search for what is not there".	4926.834808505824
"I paint the nothing", he said once to Franz Kline and myself, "the nothing that is behind the something, the inexpressible, unpaintable 'tick' in the unconscious, the 'spirit' of the moment resting forever, suspended like a huge balloon, in non-time".	157953.20945415692
It is his relentlessness and unwaivering adherence to this revolutionary artistic philosophy that has enabled him to paint such pictures as "The Invasion of Cuba".	34418.198832824804
In this work, his use of non-color is startling and skillful.	11099.378021591427
The sweep of space, the delicate counterbalance of the white masses, the over-all completeness and unity, the originality and imagination, all entitle it to be called an authentic masterpiece.	57045.673685790855
I asked Quasimodo recently how he accomplished this, and he replied that he had painted his model "a beautiful shade of red and then had her breathe on the canvas", which was his typical tongue-in-cheek way of chiding me for my lack of sensitivity.	68335.42865685037
DEAR SIRS LET ME BEGIN by clearing up any possible misconception in your minds, wherever you are.	68306.83884484025
The collective by which I address you in the title above is neither patronizing nor jocose but an exact industrial term in use among professional thieves.	120919.84635665193
It is, I am reliably given to understand, the technical argot for those who engage in your particular branch of the boost; ie, burglars who rob while the tenants are absent, in contrast to hot-slough prowlers, those who work while the occupants are home.	69002.89686074441
Since the latter obviously require an audacity you do not possess, you may perhaps suppose that I am taunting you as socially inferior.	48229.61359033949
Far from it; I merely draw an etymological distinction, hoping that specialists and busy people like you will welcome such precision in a layman.	102075.03462914423
Above all, disabuse yourselves of any thought that I propose to vent moral indignation at your rifling my residence, to whimper over the loss of a few objets d'art, or to shame you into rectitude.	195559.29719796177
My object, rather, is to alert you to an aspect or two of the affair that could have the gravest implications for you, far beyond the legal sanctions society might inflict.	40853.59599847403
You have unwittingly set in motion forces so malign, so vindictive, that it would be downright inhumane of me not to warn you about them.	18463.842243194762
Quite candidly, fellows, I wouldn't be in your shoes for all the rice in China.	59233.85658446319
As you've doubtless forgotten the circumstances in the press of more recent depredations, permit me to recapitulate them briefly.	33262.07301200977
Sometime on Saturday evening, August 22nd, while my family and I were dining at the Hostaria dell' Orso, in Rome, you jimmied a window of our home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and let yourselves into the premises.	147094.3757998746
Hastening to the attic, the temperature of which was easily hotter than the Gold Coast, you proceeded to mask the windows with a fancy wool coverlet, some khaki pants, and the like, and to ransack the innumerable boxes and barrels stored there.	133510.16582738847
What you were looking for unless you make a hobby of collecting old tennis rackets and fly screens eludes me, but to judge from phonograph records scattered about a fumed-oak Victrola, you danced two tangos and a paso doble, which must have been fairly enervating in that milieu.	183498.83755216253
You then descended one story, glommed a television set from the music room- the only constructive feature of your visit, by the way- and, returning to the ground floor, entered the master bedroom.	26610.036074866977
From the curio cabinet on its south wall and the bureaus beneath, you abstracted seventeen ivory, metal, wood, and stone sculptures of Oriental and African origin, two snuffboxes, and a jade-handled magnifying glass.	168589.23668237153
Rummaging through a stack of drawers nearby, you unearthed an antique French chess set in ivory and sandalwood, which, along with two box Kodaks, you added to your haul.	305726.1573587197
Then, having wrapped the lot in an afghan my dog customarily slept on, you lammed out the front door, considerately leaving it open for neighbors to discover.	54122.70889496119
So much for the tiresome facts, as familiar to you, I'm sure, as to the constables and state troopers who followed in your wake.	6171.54621411627
The foregoing, aided by several clues I'll withhold to keep you on your toes, will pursue you with a tenacity worthy of Inspector Javert, but before they close in, gird yourselves, I repeat, for a vengeance infinitely more pitiless.	139434.1317771051
Fourteen of the sculptures you took posses properties of a most curious and terrifying nature, as you will observe when your limbs begin to wither and your hair falls out in patches.	64883.501911251515
In time, these minor manifestations will multiply and effloresce, riddling you with frambesia, the king's evil, sheep rot, and clonic spasm, until your very existence becomes a burden and you cry out for release.	182165.31724881966
All this, though, is simply a prelude, a curtain-raiser, for what ensues, and I doubt whether any Occidental could accurately forecast it.	45188.72729553214
If, however, it would help to intensify your anguish, I can delimit the powers of a few of the divinities you've affronted and describe the punishment they meted out in one analogous instance.	30281.288240806876
Hold on tight.	369.04560362315874
First of all, the six figures of the Buddha you heisted- four Siamese heads, a black obsidian statuette in the earth-touching position, and a large brass figure of the Dying Buddha on a teakwood base.	48999.567902464696
Now, you probably share the widespread Western belief that the Lord Buddha is the most compassionate of the gods, much more so than Jehovah and Allah and the rest.	21614.726678809664
'Fess up- don't you?	8676.772624624517
Well, ordinarily he is, except as the Wheel of the Law specifies toward impious folk who steal, disturb, or maltreat the Presence.	87232.79381950355
Very peculiar retribution indeed seems to overtake such jokers.	24963.151472123838
Eight or ten years ago, a couple of French hoods stole a priceless Khmer head from the Musee Guimet, in Paris, and a week later crawled into the Salpetriere with unmistakable symptoms of leprosy.	22827.081813316217
Hell's own amount of chaulmoogra oil did nothing to alleviate their torment; they expired amid indescribable fantods, imploring the Blessed One to forgive their desecration.	339506.4952388047
Any reputable French interne can supply you with a dozen similar instances, and I'll presently recount a case out of my own personal experience, but, for the moment, let's resume our catalogue.	16037.997457698877
Whether the pair of Sudanese ivory carvings you lifted really possess the juju to turn your livers to lead, as a dealer in Khartoum assured me, I am not competent to say.	52342.84217215057
Likewise the ivory Chinese female figure known as a "doctor lady" provenance Honan; a friend of mine removing her from the curio cabinet for inspection was felled as if by a hammer, but he had previously drunk a quantity of applejack.	131657.75534247805
The three Indian brass deities, though- Ganessa, Siva, and Krishna- are an altogether different cup of tea.	53479.16438880635
They hail from Travancore, a state in the subcontinent where Kali, the goddess of death, is worshiped.	77230.81637581646
Have you ever heard of thuggee?	1487.1046140210824
Nuf sed h. But it is the wooden sculpture from Bali, the one representing two men with their heads bent backward and their bodies interlaced by a fish, that I particularly call to your attention.	139856.25138236582
Oddly enough, this is an amulet against housebreakers, presented to the mem and me by a local rajah in 1949.	13615.981584589932
Inscribed around its base is a charm in Balinese, a dialect I take it you don't comprehend.	212671.47864281206
Neither do I, but the Tjokorda Agoeng was good enough to translate, and I'll do as much for you.	2530.5068476365777
Whosoever violates our rooftree, the legend states, can expect maximal sorrow.	109531.87230917357
The teeth will rain from his mouth like pebbles, his wife will make him cocu with fishmongers, and a trolley car will grow in his stomach.	82723.95482570781
Furthermore- and this, to me, strikes an especially warming note- it shall avail the vandals naught to throw away or dispose of their loot.	72588.50868561117
The cycle of disaster starts the moment they touch any belonging of ours, and dogs them unto the forty-fifth generation.	63817.939256739766
Sort of remorseless, isn't it?	2523.360642610043
Still, there it is.	111.13623970715469
Now, you no doubt regard the preceding as pap; you're tooling around full of gage in your hot rods, gorging yourselves on pizza and playing pinball in the taverns and generally behaving like Ubermenschen.	181408.1348360743
In that case, listen to what befell another wisenheimer who tangled with our joss.	34176.955924248665
A couple of years back, I occupied a Village apartment whose outer staircase contained the type of niche called a "coffin turn".	29413.026105295066
In it was a stone Tibetan Buddha I had picked up in Bombay, and occasionally, to make merit, my wife and I garlanded it with flowers or laid a few pennies in its lap.	67152.98473904782
After a while, we became aware that the money was disappearing as fast as we replenished it.	5146.792152818098
Our suspicions eventually centered, by the process of elimination, on a grocer's boy, a thoroughly bad hat, who delivered cartons to the people overhead.	36007.29113345769
The more I probed into this young man's activities and character, the less savory I found him.	18448.53567817533
I learned, for example, that he made a practice of yapping at dogs he encountered and, in winter, of sprinkling salt on the icy pavement to scarify their feet.	10430.03561818996
His energy was prodigious; sometimes he would be up before dawn, clad as a garbage collector and hurling pails into areaways to exasperate us, and thereafter would hurry to the Bronx Zoo to grimace at the lions and press cigar butts against their paws.	179545.92918614153
Evenings, he was frequently to be seen at restaurants like Enrico Paglieri's or Peter's Backyard drunkenly donning ladies' hats and singing "O Sole Mio".	254714.95753167704
In short, and to borrow an arboreal phrase, slash timber.	1490.8158205067355
Well, the odious little toad went along chivying animals and humans who couldn't retaliate, and in due course, as was inevitable, overreached himself.	44987.737676174365
One morning, we discovered not only that the pennies were missing from the idol but that a cigarette had been stubbed out in its lap.	71596.71086453553
"Now he's bought it", said my wife contentedly.	14057.699066684196
"No divinity will hold still for that.	2118.795009689403
He's really asking for it".	183.40226094944072
And how right she was.	164.92034114039689
The next time we saw him, he was a changed person; he had aged thirty years, and his face, the color of tallow, was crisscrossed with wrinkles, as though it had been wrapped in chicken wire.	13282.237832985238
Some sort of nemesis was haunting his footsteps, he told us in a quavering voice- either an ape specter or Abe Spector, a process-server, we couldn't determine which.	236670.75565294203
His eyes had the same dreadful rigid stare as Dr Grimesby Roylott's when he was found before his open safe wearing the speckled band.	41540.2825631458
The grocery the youth worked for soon tired of his depressing effect on customers, most of whom were sufficiently neurotic without the threat of incubi, and let him go.	37893.80838924335
The beautiful, the satisfying part of his disintegration, however, was the masterly way the Buddha polished him off.	20641.77695517876
Reduced to beggary, he at last got a job as office boy to a television producer.	18674.956881317958
His hubris, deficiency of taste, and sadism carried him straightaway to the top.	14091.848245213852
He evolved programs that plumbed new depths of bathos and besmirched whole networks, and quickly superseded his boss.	68450.8325797734
Not long ago, I rode down with him in an elevator in Radio City; he was talking to himself thirteen to the dozen and smoking two cigars at once, clearly a man in extremis.	54607.539505258435
"See that guy"?	1358.5305920568176
the operator asked pityingly.	2909.0504250124086
"I wouldn't be in his shoes for all the rice in China.	3347.16123981929
There's some kind of a nemesis haunting his footsteps".	1918.7675326435071
However one looks at it, therefore, I'd say that your horoscope for this autumn is the reverse of rosy.	31264.25290828511
The inventory you acquired from me isn't going to be easy to move; you can't very well sidle up to people on the street and ask if they want to buy a hot Bodhisattva.	49280.88258114282
Additionally, since you're going to be hors de combat pretty soon with sprue, yaws, Delhi boil, the Granville wilt, liver fluke, bilharziasis, and a host of other complications of the hex you've aroused, you mustn't expect to be lionized socially.	91407.57399382921
My advice, if you live long enough to continue your vocation, is that the next time you're attracted by the exotic, pass it up- it's nothing but a headache.	66627.1725804631
As you can count on me to do the same.	88.18244163548573
compassionately yours, S J PERELMAN REVULSION IN THE DESERT THE DOORS of the D train slid shut, and as I dropped into a seat and, exhaling, looked up across the aisle, the whole aviary in my head burst into song.	280597.0628090556
She was a living doll and no mistake- the blue-black bang, the wide cheekbones, olive-flushed, that betrayed the Cherokee strain in her Midwestern lineage, and the mouth whose only fault, in the novelist's carping phrase, was that the lower lip was a trifle too voluptuous.	201662.54756531035
From what I was able to gauge in a swift, greedy glance, the figure inside the coral-colored boucle dress was stupefying.	63891.06770164794
26457.949957689852