Two Serious Ladies (16 page)

"The house gives me a certain feeling of freedom."

Miss Gamelon looked at him.

"You mean an opportunity to indulge your laziness."

"Now look," said Arnold, "suppose that I am allowed to use the parlor after dinner and in the morning. Then you can use it the rest of the time."

"All right," said Miss Gamelon, "I agree, but see that you don't set your fool in it during the entire afternoon."

On the way home both Miss Gamelon and Arnold seemed quite contented because they had evolved a plan. Each one thought he had got the better of the bargain and Miss Gamelon was already outlining to herself several pleasant ways of spending an afternoon in the parlor.

When they arrived home she went upstairs to bed almost immediately. Arnold lay on the couch, fully dressed, and pulled a knitted coverlet over him. Miss Goering was sitting in the kitchen. After a little while she heard someone sobbing in the parlor. She went inside and found Arnold crying into his sleeve.

"What's the matter, Arnold?"

"I don't know," said Arnold, "it's so disagreeable to have someone hate you. I really think I had perhaps better leave and go back to my house. But I dislike doing that more than anything in the world and I hate the real-estate business and I hate for her to be angry with me. Can't you tell her it's just a period of adjustment for me—to please wait a little bit?"

"Certainly, Arnold, I shall tell her that the very first thing in the morning. Maybe if you went to business tomorrow, she might feel better about you."

"Do you think so?" asked Arnold, sitting bolt upright in his eagerness. "Then I will." He got up and stood by the window with his feet wide apart. "I just can't stand to have anyone hate me during this period of adjustment," he said, "and then of course I'm devoted to you both."

The next evening, when Arnold came home with a box of chocolates apiece for Miss Goering and Miss Gamelon, he was surprised to find his father there. He was sitting in a straight-backed chair next to the fireplace, drinking a cup of tea, and he had on a motoring cap.

"I came out to see, Arnold, how well you were providing for these young ladies. They seem to be living in a dung-heap here."

"I don't see where you have any right to say such a thing as a guest, Father," said Arnold, gravely handing a box of candy to each of the women.

"Certainly, because of age, my dear son, I am allowed to say a great many things. Remember you are all my children to me, including Princess over here." He hooked Miss Goering's waist with the top of his cane and drew her over to him. She had never imagined she would see him in such a rollicking good humor. He looked to her smaller and thinner than on the night they had met.

"Well, where do you crazy bugs eat?" he asked them.

"We have a square table," said Miss Gamelon, "in the kitchen. Sometimes we put it in front of the fireplace, but it's never very adequate."

Arnold's father cleared his throat and said nothing. He seemed to be annoyed that Miss Gamelon had spoken.

"Well, you're all crazy," he said, looking at his son and at Miss Goering, and purposely excluding Miss Gamelon, "but I'm rooting for you."

"Where is your wife?" Miss Goering asked him.

"She's at home, I gather," said Arnold's father, "and as sour as a pickle and just as bitter to taste."

Miss Gamelon giggled at his remark. It was the kind of thing that she found amusing. Arnold was delighted to see that she was brightening up a bit.

"Come out with me," said Arnold's father to Miss Goering, "into the wind and the sunshine, my love, or shall I say into the wind and the moonlight, never forgetting to add 'my love.' "

They left the room together and Arnold's father led Miss Goering a little way into the field.

"You see," he said, "I've decided to go back to a number of my boyish tastes. For instance, I took a certain delight in nature when I was young. I can frankly say that I have decided to throw away some of my conventions and ideals and again get a kick out of nature—that is, of course if you are willing to be by my side. It all depends on that."

"Certainly," said Miss Goering, "but what does this involve?"

"It involves," said Arnold's father, "your being a true woman. Sympathetic and willing to defend all that I say and do. At the same time prone to scolding me just a little." He put his ice-cold hand in hers.

"Let's go in," said Miss Goering. "I want to go inside." She began tugging at his arm, but he would not move. She realized that although he looked terribly old-fashioned and a little ridiculous in his motoring cap, he was still very strong. She wondered why he had seemed so much more distinguished the first night that they had met.

She tugged at his arm even harder, half in play, half in earnest, and in so doing she quite unwittingly scratched the inside of his wrist with her nail. She drew a little blood, which seemed to upset Arnold's father quite a lot, because he began stumbling through the field as quickly as he could towards the house.

Later he announced to everyone his intention of staying the night in Miss Goering's house. They had lighted a fire and they were all seated around it together. Twice Arnold had fallen asleep.

"Mother would be terribly worried," said Arnold.

"Worried?" said Arnold's father. "She will probably die of a heart attack before morning, but then, what is life but a puff of smoke or a leaf or a candle soon burned out anyway?"

"Don't pretend you don't take life seriously," said Arnold, "and don't pretend, just because there are women around, that you are light-hearted. You're the grim, worrying type and you know it."

Arnold's father coughed. He looked a little upset.

"I don't agree with you," he said.

Miss Goering took him upstairs to her own bedroom.

"I hope you will sleep in peace," she said to him. "You know that I'm delighted to have you in my house any time."

Arnold's father pointed to the trees outside the window.

"Oh, night!" he said. "Soft as a maiden's cheek, and as mysterious as the brooding owl, the Orient, the turbaned sultan's head. How long have I ignored thee underneath my reading lamp, occupied with various and sundry occupations which I have now decided to disregard in favor of thee. Accept my apology and let me be numbered among thy sons and daughters. You see," he said to Miss Goering, "you see what a new leaf I have really turned over; I think we understand each other now. You mustn't ever think people have only one nature. Everything I said to you the other night was wrong."

"Oh," said Miss Goering, a little dismayed.

"Yes, I am now interested in being an entirely new personality as different from my former self as A is from Z. This has been a very lovely beginning. It augurs well, as they say."

He stretched out on the bed, and while Miss Goering was looking at him he fell asleep. Soon he began to snore. She threw a cover over him and left the room, deeply perplexed.

Downstairs she joined the others in front of the fire. They were drinking hot tea into which they had poured a bit of rum.

Miss Gamelon was relaxing. "This is the best thing in the world for your nerves," she said, "and also for softening the sharp angles of your life. Arnold has been telling me about his progress in his uncle's office. How he started as a messenger and has now worked his way up to being one of the chief agents in the office. We've had an extremely pleasant time just sitting here. I think Arnold has been hiding from us a very excellent business sense."

Arnold looked a little distressed. He was still fearful of displeasing Miss Goering.

"Miss Gamelon and I are going to inquire tomorrow whether or not there is a golf course on the island. We have discovered a mutual interest in golf," he said.

Miss Goering could not understand Arnold's sudden change of attitude. It was as though he had just arrived at a summer hotel and was anxious to plan a nice vacation. Miss Gamelon also surprised her somewhat, but she said nothing.

"Golf would be wonderful for you," said Miss Gamelon to Miss Goering; "probably would straighten you out in a week."

"Well," said Arnold apologetically, "she might not like it."

"I don't like sports," said Miss Goering; "more than anything else, they give me a terrific feeling of sinning."

"On the contrary," said Miss Gamelon, "that's exactly what they never do."

"Don't be rude, Lucy dear," said Miss Goering. "After all, I have paid sufficient attention to what happens inside of me and I know better than you about my own feelings."

"Sports," said Miss Gamelon, "can never give you a feeling of sinning, but what is more interesting is that you can never sit down for more than five minutes without introducing something weird into the conversation. I certainly think you have made a study of it."

The next morning Arnold's father came downstairs with his shirt collar open and without a vest. He had rumpled his hair up a bit so that now he looked like an old artist.

"What on earth is Mother going to do?" Arnold asked him at breakfast.

"Fiddlesticks!" said Arnold's father. "You call yourself an artist and you don't even know how to be irresponsible. The beauty of the artist lies in the childlike soul." He touched Miss Goering's hand with his own. She could not help thinking of the speech he had made the night he had come into her bedroom and how opposed it had been to everything he was now saying.

"If your mother has a desire to live, she will live, providing she is willing to leave everything behind her as I have done," he added.

Miss Gamelon was slightly embarrassed by this elderly man who seemed to have just recently made some momentous change in his life. But she was not really curious about him.

"Well," said Arnold, "I imagine you are still providing her with money to pay the rent. I am continuing to contribute my share."

"Certainly," said his father. "I am always a gentleman, although I must say the responsibility weighs heavy on me, like an anchor around my neck. Now," he continued, "let me go out and do the marketing for the day. I feel able to run a hundred-yard dash."

Miss Gamelon sat with furrowed brow, wondering if Miss Goering would permit this crazy old man to live on in the already crowded house. He set out towards town a little while later. They called after him from the window, entreating him to return and put on his coat but he waved his hand at the sky and refused.

In the afternoon Miss Goering did some serious thinking. She walked back and forth in front of the kitchen door. Already the house, to her, had become a friendly and familiar place and one which she readily thought of as her home. She decided that it was now necessary for her to take little trips to the tip of the island, where she could board the ferry and cross back over to the mainland. She hated to do this as she knew how upsetting it would be, and the more she considered it, the more attractive the life in the little house seemed to her, until she even thought of it as humming with gaiety. In order to assure herself that she would make her excursion that night, she went into her bedroom and put fifty cents on the bureau.

After dinner, when she announced that she was taking a train ride alone, Miss Gamelon nearly wept with indignation. Arnold's father said he thought it was a wonderful idea to take "a train ride into the blue," as he termed it. When Miss Gamelon heard him encouraging Miss Goering, she could no longer contain herself and rushed up into her bedroom. Arnold hastily left the table and lumbered up the steps after her.

Arnold's father begged Miss Goering to allow him to go with her.

"Not this time," she said, "I must go alone"; and Arnold's father, although he said he was very much disappointed, still remained elated. There seemed to be no end to his good humor.

"Well," he said, "setting out into the night like this is just in the spirit of what I'd like to do, and I think that you are cheating me prettily by not allowing me to accompany you."

"It is not for fun that I am going," said Miss Goering, "but because it is necessary to do so."

"Still, I beg you once more," said Arnold's father ignoring the implications of this remark and getting down on his knees with difficulty, "I beg you, take me with you."

"Oh, please, my dear," said Miss Goering, "please don't make it hard for me. I have a weakish personality."

Arnold's father jumped to his feet. "Certainly," he said, "I would not make anything hard for you." He kissed her wrist and wished her good luck. "Do you think the two turtle doves will talk to me?" he asked her, "or do you think they will remain cooped up together all night? I rather hate to be alone."

"So do I," said Miss Goering. "Bang on their door; they'll talk to you. Good-by. . , ."

Miss Goering decided to walk along the highway, as it was really too dark to walk through the woods at this hour. She had proposed this to herself as a stint, earlier in the afternoon, but had later decided that it was pure folly even to consider it. It was cold and windy out and she pulled her shawl closer around her. She continued to affect woolen shawls, although they had not been stylish for a good many years. Miss Goering looked up at the sky; she was looking for the stars and hoping very hard to see some. She stood still for a long time, but she could not decide whether it was a starlit night or not because even though she fixed her attention on the sky without once lowering her eyes, the stars seemed to appear and disappear so quickly that they were like visions of stars rather than like actual stars. She decided that this was only because the clouds were racing across the sky so quickly that the stars were obliterated one minute and visible the next. She continued on her way to the station.

When she arrived she was surprised to find that there were eight or nine children who had go there ahead of her. Each one carried a large blue and gold school banner. The children weren't saying much, but they were engaged in hopping heavily first on one foot and then on the other. Since they were doing this in unison, the little wooden platform shook abominably and Miss Goering wondered whether she had not better draw the attention of the children to this fact. Very shortly, however, the train pulled into the station and they all boarded it together. Miss Goering sat in a seat across the aisle from a middle-aged stout woman. She and Miss Goering were the only occupants of the car besides the children. Miss Goering looked at her with interest.