Active Service - Stephen Crane (librera reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Stephen Crane
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The Relations Of Wedlock, Or At Least An Intimate
Resemblance To It, That The Man Snarls Out " What? " To
The Woman. Mere Lovers Say " I Beg Your Pardon ? "
It Is Only Cupid'S Finished product That Spits Like A
Cat. Nora Black Had Called him Like A Wife, And He
Had Answered like A Husband. For His Cause, His
Manner Could Not Possibly Have Been Worse. He Saw
The Professor Stare At Him In surprise And Alarm, And
Felt The Excitement Of The Eight Students. These
Latter Were Diabolic In the Celerity With Which They
Picked out Meanings. It Was As Plain To Them As If
Nora Black Had Said: " He Is My Property."
Coleman Would Have Given His Nose To Have Been
Able To Recall That Single Reverberating word. But He
Saw That The Scene Was Spelling downfall For Him, And
He Went Still More Blind And Desperate Of It. His
Despair Made Him Burn To Make Matters Worse. He
Did Not Want To Improve Anything at All. " What?"
He Demanded. " What Do Ye' Want?"
Nora Was Sweetly Reproachful. " I Left My Jacket
In The Carriage, And I Want You To Get It For Me."
" Well, Get It For Yourself, Do You See? Get It For
Yourself."
Now It Is Plainly To Be Seen That No One Of The
People Listening there Had Ever Heard A Man Speak
Thus To A Woman Who Was Not His Wife. Whenever
They Had Heard That Form Of Spirited repartee It Had
Come From The Lips Of A Husband. Coleman'S Rude
Speech Was To Their Ears A Flat Announcement Of An
Extraordinary Intimacy Between Nora Black And The
Correspondent. Any Other Interpretation Would Not
Have Occurred to Them. It Was So Palpable That It
Greatly Distressed them With Its Arrogance And
Boldness. The Professor Had Blushed. The Very
Milkiest Word In his Mind At The Time Was The Word
Vulgarity.
Nora Black Had Won A Great Battle. It Was Her
Agincourt. She Had Beaten The Clever Coleman In a
Way That Had Left Little Of Him But Rags. However,
She Could Have Lost It All Again If She Had Shown Her
Feeling of Elation. At Coleman'S Rudeness Her Manner
Indicated a Mixture Of Sadness And Embarrassment.
Her Suffering was So Plain To The Eye That Peter
Tounley Was Instantly Moved. " Can'T I Get Your
Jacket For You, Miss Black? " He Asked hastily, And At
Her Grateful Nod He Was Off At Once.
Coleman Was Resolved to Improve Nothing. His
Overthrow Seemed to Him To Be So Complete That He
Could Not In any Way Mend It Without A Sacrifice Of His
Dearest Prides. He Turned away From Them All And
Walked to An Isolated corner Of The Room. He Would
Abide No Longer With Them. He Had Been Made An
Outcast By Nora Black, And He Intended to Be An
Outcast. Therc Was No Sense In attempting to Stem This
Extraordinary Deluge. It Was Better To Acquiesce.
Then Suddenly He Was Angry With Marjory. He
Did Not Exactly See Why He Was Angry At Marjory,
But He Was Angry At Her Nevertheless. He Thought
Of How He Could Revenge Himself Upon Her. He
Decided to Take Horse With His Groom And Dragoman And
Proceed forthwith On The Road, Leaving the Jumble As
It Stood. This Would Pain Marjory, Anyhow, He
Hoped. She Would Feel It Deeply, He Hoped.
Acting upon This Plan, He Went To The Professor.
Well, Of Course You Are All Right Now, Professor, And
If You Don'T Mind, I Would Like To Leave You-Go On
Ahead. I'Ve Got A Considerable Pressure Of Business
On My Mind, And I Think I Should Hurry On To Athens,
If You Don'T Mind."
The Professor Did Not Seem To Know What To Say.
" Of Course, If You Wish It-Sorry, I'M Sure-Of Course
It Is As You Please-But You Have Been Such A Power
In Our Favour-It Seems Too Bad To Lose You-But-If
You Wish It-If You Insist-"
" Oh, Yes, I Quite Insist," Said Coleman, Calmly. "I
Quite Insist. Make Your Mind Easy On That Score,
Professor. I Insist."
"Well, Mr. Coleman," Stammered the Old Man.
" Well, It Seems A Great Pity To Lose You-You Have
Been Such A Power In our Favour-"
"Oh, You Are Now Only Eight Hours From The Rail-
Way. It Is Very Easy. You Would Not Need my As-
Sistance, Even If It Were A Benefit!
" But-" Said The Professor.
Coleman'S Dragoman Came To Him Then And Said:
"There Is One Man Here Who Says You Made To Take
One Rifle In the Fight And Was Break His Head. He
Was Say He Wants Sunthing for You Was Break His
Head. He Says Hurt."
"How Much Does He Want?" Asked coleman, Im-
Patiently.
The Dragoman Wrestled then Evidently With A Desire
To Protect This Mine From Outside Fingers. "I-I Think
Two Gold Piece Plenty."
"Take Them," Said Coleman. It Seemed to Him
Preposterous That This Idiot With A Broken Head
Should Interpolate Upon His Tragedy. " Afterward
You And The Groom Get The Three Horses And We Will
Start For Athens At Once."
"For Athens? At Once? " Said Marjory'S Voice
In His Ear.
Chapter 22"Om," Said Coleman, " I Was Thinking of Starting."
"Why? " Asked marjory, Unconcernedly.
Coleman Shot Her A Quick Glance. " I Believe My
Period Of Usefulness Is Quite Ended," He Said. With Just
A Small Betrayal Of Bitter Feeling.
" It Is Certainly True That You Have Had A Remark-
Able Period Of Usefulness To Us," Said Marjory With A
Slow Smile, "But If It Is Ended, You Should Not Run
Away From Us."
Coleman Looked at Her To See What She Could Mean.
From Many Women, These Words Would Have Been
Equal, Under The Circumstances, To A Command To Stay,
But He Felt That None Might Know What Impulses
Moved the Mind Behind That Beautiful Mask. In his
Misery He Thought To Hurt Her Into An Expression Of
Feeling by A Rough Speech. " I'M So In love With Nora
Black, You Know, That I Have To Be Very Careful Of
Myself."
" Oh," Said Marjory, Never Thought Of That. I
Should Think You Would Have To Be Careful Of Yourself."
She Did Not Seem Moved in any Way. Coleman
Despaired of Finding her Weak Spot. She Was A'Damantine,
This Girl. He Searched his Mind For Something
To Say Which Would Be Still More Gross Than His Last
Outbreak, But When He Felt That He Was About To Hit
Upon It, The Professor Interrupted with An Agitated
Speech To Marjory. "You Had Better Go To Your
Mother, My Child, And See That You Are All Ready To
Leave Here As Soon As The Carriages Come Up."
"We Have Absolutely Nothing to Make Ready," Said
Marjory, Laughing. " But I'Ll Go And See If Mother
Needs Anything before We Start That I Can Get For Her."
She Went Away Without Bidding good-Bye To Coleman.
The Sole Maddening impression To Him Was That The
Matter Of His Going had Not Been Of Sufficient Importance
To Remain Longer Than A Moment Upon Her Mind.
At The Same Time He Decided that He Would Go, Irretrievably Go.
Even Then The Dragoman Entered the Room. " We
Will Pack Everything -Upon The Horse?"
" Everything-Yes."
Peter Tounley Came Afterward. " You Are Not Going to Bolt ? "
" Yes, I'M Off," Answered coleman Recovering him-
Self For Peter'S Benefit. " See You In athens, Probably."
Presently The Dragoman Announced the Readiness Of
The Horses. Coleman Shook Hands With The Students
And The Professor Amid Cries Of Surprise And Polite
Regret. "What? Going, Oldman? Really? What
For ? Oh, Wait For Us. We'Re Off In a Few Minutes.
Sorry As The Devil, Old Boy, To' See You Go." He
Accepted their Protestations With A Somewhat Sour
Face. He Knew Perfectly Well That They Were Thinking
Of His Departure As Something that Related to Nora
Black. At The Last, He Bowed to The Ladies As A
Collection. Marjory'S Answering bow Was Affable; The
Bow Of Mrs. Wainwright Spoke A Resentment For Some-
Thing; And Nora'S Bow Was Triumphant Mockery. As
He Swung Into The Saddle An Idea Struck Him With Over
Whelming force. The Idea Was That He Was A Fool.
He Was A Colossal Imbecile. He Touched the Spur To
His Horse And The Animal Leaped superbly, Making the
Greeks Hasten For Safety In all Directions. He Was Off ;
He Could No More Return To Retract His Devious Idiocy
Than He Could Make His Horse Fly To Athens. What
Was Done Was Done. He Could Not Mend It. And He
Felt Like A Man That Had Broken His Own Heart;
Perversely, Childishly, Stupidly Broken His Own Heart.
He Was Sure That Marjory Was Lost To Him. No
Man Could Be Degraded so Publicly And Resent It So
Crudely And Still Retain A Marjory. In his Abasement
From His Defeat At The Hands Of Nora Black He Had
Performed every Imaginable Block-Headish Act And Had
Finally Climaxed it All By A Departure Which Left The
Tongue Of Nora To Speak Unmolested into The Ear Of
Marjory. Nora'S Victory Had Been A Serious Blow To
His Fortunes, But It Had Not Been So Serious As His Own
Subsequent Folly. He Had Generously Muddled his
Own Affairs Until He Could Read Nothing out Of Them
But Despair.
He Was In the Mood For Hatred. He Hated many
People. Nora Black Was The Principal Item, But He
Did Not Hesitate To Detest The Professor, Mrs. Wain-
Wright, Coke And All The Students. As For Marjory,
He Would Revenge Himself Upon Her. She Had Done
Nothing that He Defined clearly But, At Any Rate, He
Would Take Revenge For It. As Much As Was Possible,
He Would Make Her Suffer. He Would Convince Her
That He Was A Tremendous And Inexorable Person.
But It Came Upon His Mind That He Was Powerless In
All Ways. If He Hated many People They Probably
Would Not Be Even Interested in his Emotion And, As
For His Revenge Upon Marjory, It Was Beyond His
Strength. He Was Nothing but The Complaining victim
Of Nora Black And Himself.
He Felt That He Would Never Again See Marjory, And
While Feeling it He Began To Plan His Attitude When
Next They Met. He Would Be Very Cold And Reserved.
At Agrinion He Found That There Would Be No Train
Until The Next Daybreak. The Dragoman Was Excessively
Annoyed over It, But Coleman Did Not Scold At
All. As A Matter Of Fact His Heart Had Given A Great
Joyus Bound. He Could Not Now Prevent His Being
Overtaken. They Were Only A Few Leagues Away, And
While He Was Waiting for The Train They Would Easily
Cover The Distance. If Anybody Expressed surprise At
Seeing him He Could Exhibit The Logical Reasons.
If There Had Been A Train Starting at Once He Would
Have Taken It. His Pride Would Have Put Up With No
Subterfuge. If The Wainwrights Overtook Him It Was
Because He Could Not Help It. But He Was Delighted
That He Could Not Help It. There Had Been An Inter-
Position By Some Specially Beneficent Fate. He Felt
Like Whistling. He Spent The Early Half Of The Night
In Blissful Smoke, Striding the Room Which The Dragoman
Had Found For Him. His Head Was Full Of Plans
And Detached impressive Scenes In which He Figured
Before Marjory. The Simple Fact That There Was No
Train Away From Agrinion Until The Next Daybreak Had
Wrought A Stupendous Change In his Outlook. He
Unhesitatingly Considered it An Omen Of A Good Future.
He Was Up Before The Darkness Even Contained presage
Of Coming light, But Near The Railway Station Was
A Little Hut Where Coffee Was Being served to Several
Prospective Travellers Who Had Come Even Earlier To
The Rendezvous. There Was No Evidence Of The Wainwrights.
Coleman Sat In the Hut And Listened for The Rumble
Of Wheels. He Was Suddenly Appalled that The Wainwrights
Were Going to Miss The Train. Perhaps They
Had Decided against Travelling during the Night. Perbaps
This Thing, And Perhaps That Thing. The Morning
Was Very Cold. Closely Muffled in his Cloak, He Went
To The Door And Stared at Where The Road Was Whiten-
ing out Of Night. At The Station Stood A Little Spectral
Train, And The Engine At Intervals Emitted a Long, Piercing
Scream Which Informed the Echoing land That, In
All Probability, It Was Going to Start After A Time
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