Active Service - Stephen Crane (librera reader .TXT) 📗

Any Talking it Was Of An

Extremely Local Nature,  Referring principally To The

Floor As Being unsuitable For Beds And Also Referring

From Time To Time To A Real Or An Alleged selfishness

On The Part Of Some One Of The Recumbent Men. Soon

There Was Only The Sound Of Heavy Breathing.

 

When The Professor Had Returned to What He Called the

Wainwright Part Of The House He Was Greeted instantly With The

Question: "What Was It?" His Wife And Daughter Were Up In

Alarm. "What Was It " They Repeated,  Wildly.

 

He Was Peevish. " Oh,  Nothing,  Nothing. But That Young

Coke Is A Regular Ruffian. He Had Gotten Him. Self Into Some

Tremendous Uproar With Coleman. When I Arrived he Seemed

Actually Trying to Assault Him. Revolting! He Had Been Drinking.

Coleman'S Behaviour,  I Must Say,  Was Splendid. Recognised at Once The

Delicacy Of My Position-He Not Being a Student. If I Had Found

Him In the Wrong It Would Have Been Simpler Than Finding him In

The Right. Confound That Rascal Of A Coke." Then,  As He Began A

Partial Disrobing,  He Treated them To Grunted scrap Of Information.

" Coke Was Quite Insane * * * I Feared that I Couldn'T

Control Him * * * Coleman Was Like Ice * * * And As Much As I

Have Seen To Admire In him During the Last Few Days,  This Quiet

Beat It All. If He Had Not Recognised my Helplessness As Far As He

Was Concerned the Whole Thing might Have Been A Most

Miserable Business. He Is A Very Fine Young Man." The

Dissenting voice To This Last Tribute Was The Voice Of Mrs.

Wainwright. She Said: " Well,  Coleman Drinks,  Too-Everybody

Knows That."

 

" I Know," Responded the Professor,  Rather Bashfully,  But I

Am Confident That He Had Not Touched a Drop." Marjory Said

Nothing.

 

The Earlier Artillery Battles Had Frightened most Of The

Furniture Out Of The Houses Of Arta,  And There Was Left In this

Room Only A Few Old Red cushions,  And The Wainwrights Were

Camping upon The Floor. Marjory Was Enwrapped in coleman'S

Macintosh,  And While The Professor And His Wife Maintained

Some Low Talk Of The Recent Incident She In silence Had Turned

Her Cheek Into The Yellow Velvet Collar Of The Coat. She Felt

Something against Her Bosom,  And Putting her Hand

Carefully Into The Top Pocket Of The Coat She Found Three Cigars.

These She Took In the Darkness And Laid Aside,  Telling herself To

Remember Their Position In the Morning. She Had No Doubt That

Coleman: Would Rejoice Over Them,  Before He Could Get Back To,

Athens Where There Were Other Good Cigars.

Chapter 17

The Ladies Of The Wainwright Party Had Not Complained

At All When Deprived of Even Such Civilised advantages As A

Shelter And A Knife And Fork And Soap And Water,  But Mrs.

Wainwright Complained bitterly Amid The Half-Civilisation Of

Arta. She Could See Here No Excuse For The Absence Of Several

Hundred things Which She Had Always Regarded as Essential To

Life. She Began At 8.30 A. M. To Make Both The Professor And

Marjory Woeful With An Endless Dissertation Upon The Beds In

The Hotel At Athens. Of Course She Had Not Regarded them At

The Time As Being exceptional Beds * * * That Was Quite True,  *

* * But Then One Really Never Knew What One Was Really Missing

Until One Really Missed it * * * She Would Never Have Thought

That She Would Come To Consider Those Athenian Beds As

Excellent * * * But Experience Is A Great Teacher * * * Makes-

One Reflect Upon The People Who Year In and Year Out Have No

Beds At All,  Poor Things. * * * Well,  It Made One Glad If One Did

Have A Good Bed,  Even If It Was At The Time On The Other Side Of

The World. If She Ever Reached it She Did Not Know What Could

Ever Induce Her To Leave It Again. * * * She Would Never Be

Induced---

 

"'Induced!'" Snarled the Professor. The Word Represented to

Him A Practiced feminine Misusage Of Truth,  And At Such His

White Warlock Always Arose. "" Induced!' Out Of Four American

Women I Have Seen Lately,  You Seem To Be The Only One Who

Would Say That You Had Endured this Thing because You Had

Been 'Induced' By Others To Come Over Here. How Absurd!"

 

Mrs. Wainwright Fixed her Husband With A Steely Eye. She

Saw Opportunity For A Shattering retort. " You Don'T Mean,

Harrison,  To Include Marjory And I In the Same Breath With

Those Two Women? "

 

The Professor Saw No Danger Ahead For Himself. He Merely

Answered: " I Had No Thought Either Way. It Did Not Seem

Important."

 

" Well,  It Is Important," Snapped mrs. Wainwright.

 

" Do You Know That You Are Speaking in the Same Breath Of

Marjory And Nora Black,  The Actress? "

 

" No," Said The Professor. " Is That So ? " He Was Astonished,

But He Was Not Aghast At All. "Do You Mean To Say That Is Nora

Black,  The Comic Opera Star ? "

 

" That'S Exactly Who She Is," Said Mrs. Wainwright,

Dramatically. " And I Consider That-I Consider That Rufus

Coleman Has Done No Less Than-Misled us."

 

This Last Declaration Seemed to Have No Effect Upon The

Professor'S Pure Astonishment,  But Marjory Looked at Her

Mother Suddenly. However,  She Said No Word,

Exhibiting again That Strange And,  Inscrutable Countenance

Which Masked even The Tiniest Of Her Maidenly Emotions.

 

Mrs. Wainwright Was Triumphant,  And She Immediately Set

About Celebrating her Victory. " Men Never See Those Things,"

She Said To Her Husband. " Men Never See Those Things. You

Would Have Gone On Forever Without Finding out That Your-Your-

Hospitality Was,  Being abused by That Rufus Coleman."

 

The Professor Woke Up." Hospitality ?" He Said,

Indignantly. " Hospitality ? I Have Not Had Any

Hospitality To Be Abused. Why Don'T You Talk Sense?

It Is Not That,  But-It Might-" He Hesitated and

Then Spoke Slowly. " It Might Be Very Awkward. Of

Course One Never Knows Anything definite About Such

People,  But I Suppose * * * Anyhow,  It Was Strange

In Coleman To Allow Her To Meet Us. "

 

"It Was All A Pre-Arranged plan," Announced the

Triumphant Mrs. Wainwright. " She Came Here On Putpose

To Meet Rufus Coleman,  And He Knew It,  And I Should Not

Wonder If They Had Not The Exact Spot Picked out Where

They Were Going to Meet."

 

"I Can Hardly Believe That," Said The Professor,  In distress.

"I Can,  Hardly Believe That. It Does,  Not Seem To Me That

Coleman--"

 

" Oh Yes. Your Dear Rufus Coleman," Cried mrs.

Wainwright. " You Think He Is Very Fine Now. But

I Can Remember When You Didn'T Think---"

 

And The Parents Turned together An Abashed look At Their

Daughter. The Professor Actually Flushed with Shame. It Seemed

To Him That He Had Just Committed an Atrocity Upon The Heart Of

His Child. The Instinct Of Each Of Them Was To Go To Her And

Console Her In their Arms. She Noted it Immediately,  And Seemed

To Fear It. She Spoke In a Clear And Even Voice.  " I Don'T Think,

Father,  That You Should Distress Me By Supposing that I Am

Concerned at All If Mr. Coleman Cares To Get Nora Black Over

Here."

 

" Not At All," Stuttered the Professor. " I---"

 

Mrs. Wainwright'S Consternation Turned suddenly To,  Anger.

" He Is A Scapegrace. A Rascal. A-- A--"

 

" Oh," Said Marjory,  Coolly,  " I Don'T See Why It Isn'T His Own

Affair. He Didn'T Really Present Her To You,  Mother,  You

Remember? She Seemed quite To Force Her Way At First,  And Then

You-You Did The Rest. It Should Be Very Easy To Avoid Her,  Now

That We Are Out Of The Wilderness. And Then It Becomes A Private

Matter Of Mr. Coleman'S. For My Part,  I Rather Liked her. I Don'T

See Such A Dreadful Calamity."

 

"Marjory!" Screamed her Mother. "How Dreadful. Liked her!

Don'T Let Me Hear You Say Such Shocking things."

 

" I Fail To See Anything shocking," Answered marjory,

Stolidly.

 

The Professor Was Looking helplessly From His   

Daughter To His Wife,  And From His Wife To His Daughter,

Like A Man Who Was Convinced that His Troubles

Would Never End. This New Catastrophe Created a

Different Kind Of Difficulty,  But He Considered that The

Difficulties Were As Robust As Had Been The Preceding

Ones. He Put On His Hat And Went Out Of The Room.

He Felt An Impossibility Of Saying anything to

Coleman,  But He Felt That He Must Look Upon Him. He

Must Look Upon This Man And Try To Know From His

Manner The Measure Of Guilt. And Incidentally He

Longed for The Machinery Of A Finished society Which

Prevents Its Parts From Clashing,  Prevents It With Its

Great Series Of I Law Upon Law,  Easily Operative But

Relentless. Here He Felt As A Man Flung Into The Jungle

With His Wife And Daughter,

Where They Could Become The Victims Of Any Sort Of Savagery.

His Thought Referred once More To What He Considered the Invaluable

Services Of Coleman,  And As He Observed them In conjunction

With The Present Accusation,  He Was Simply Dazed. It Was Then

Possible That One Man Could Play Two Such Divergent Parts. He

Had Not Learned this At Washurst. But No; The World Was Not

Such A Bed of Putrefaction. He Would Not Believe It; He Would

Not Believe It.

 

After Adventures Which Require Great Nervous En. Durance,  It

Is Only Upon The Second Or Third Night That The Common Man

Sleeps Hard. The Students Had Expected to Slumber Like Dogs On

The First Night After Their Trials. But None Slept Long,  And Few

Slept.

 

Coleman Was The First Man To Arise. When He Left The Room

The Students Were Just Beginning to Blink. He Took His

Dragoman Among The Shops And He Bought There All The Little

Odds And Ends Which Might Go To Make Up The Best Breakfast In

Arta. If He Had Had News Of Certain Talk He Probably Would Not

Have Been Buying breakfast For Eleven People. Instead,  He

Would Have Been Buying breakfast For One. During his Absence

The Students Arose And Performed their Frugal Toilets.

Considerable Attention Was Paid To Coke By The Others. " He

Made A Monkey Of You," Said Peter Tounley With Unction. " He

Twisted you Until You Looked like A Wet,  Grey Rag. You Had

Better Leave This Wise Guy Alone."

 

It Was Not The Night Nor Was It Meditation That Had Taught

Coke Anything,  But He Seemed to Have Learned something from

The Mere Lapse Of Time. In appearance He Was Subdued,  But He

Managed to Make A Temporary Jauntiness As He Said : " Oh,  I

Don'T Know."

 

" Well,  You Ought To Know," Said He Who Was Called billie.

"You Ought To Know. You Made An Egregious Snark Of

Yourself. Indeed,  You Sometimes Resembled a Boojum. Anyhow,

You Were A Plain Chump. You Exploded your Face About

Something of Which You Knew Nothing,  And I'M Damned if I

Believe You'D Make Even A Good Retriever."

 

"You'Re A Half-Bred water-Spaniel," Blurted peter Tounley.

"And," He Added,  Musingly,  "That Is A Pretty Low Animal."

 

Coke Was Argumentative. "Why Am I? " He Asked,  Turning his

Head From Side To Side. " I Don'T See Where I Was So Wrong."

 

" Oh,  Dances,  Balloons,  Picnics,  Parades And Ascensions,"

They Retorted,  Profanely. " You Swam Voluntarily Into Water That

Was Too Deep For You. Swim Out. Get Dry. Here'S A Towel."

 

Coke,  Smitten In the Face With A Wet Cloth Rolled into A Ball,

Grabbed it And Flung It Futilely At A Well-Dodging

Companion " No," He Cried,  " I Don'T See It. Now Look Here. I

Don'T See Why We Shouldn'T All Resent This Nora Black

Business."

 

One Student Said: "Well,  What'S The Matter With Nora B Lack,

Anyhow ?"

 

Another Student Said "I Don'T See How You'Ve Been Issued

Any License To Say Things About Nora Black."

 

Another Student Said Dubiously: " Well,  He Knows Her Well."

 

And Then Three Or Four Spoke At Once. " He Was Very Badly

Rattled when She Appeared upon The Scene."

 

Peter Tounley Asked: "Well,  Which Of You People Know

Anything wrong About Nora Black? "

 

There Was A Pause,  And Then Coke Said: