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

to A Chair Sat Down With

A Groan Of Contentment.

 

" Well ? " Cried mrs. Wainwright,  Starting up.

" Well ? "

 

" Well-What ? " He Asked.

 

She Waved her Hand Impatiently. " Harrison,

Don'T Be Absurd. You Know Perfectly Well What I

Mean. It Is A Pity You Couldn'T Think Of The Anxiety

I Have Been In." She Was Going to Weep.

 

"Oh,  I'Ll Tell You After Awhile," He Said Stretching

Out His Legs With The Complacency Of A Rich Merchant

After A Successful Day.

 

"No! Tell Me Now," She Implored him. "Can'T

You See I'Ve Worried myself Nearly To Death?" She

Was Not Going to Weep,  She Was Going to Wax Angry.

 

"Well,  To Tell The Truth," Said The Professor With

Considerable Pomposity,  " I'Ve Arranged it. Didn'T

Think I Could Do It At First,  But It Turned out   "

 

"I Arranged it,"' Wailed mrs. Wainwright. " Arranged what? "

 

It Here Seemed to Strike The Professor Suddenly

That He Was Not Such A Flaming example For

Diplomatists As He Might Have Imagined. " Arranged," He

Stammered. " Arranged ."

 

" Arranged what? "

 

" Why,  I Fixed-I Fixed it Up."

 

" Fixed what Up? "

 

"It-It-" Began The Professor. Then He Swelled

With Indignation. " Why,  Can'T You Understand Anything

At All? I-I Fixed it."

 

" Fixed what? "

 

" Fixed it. Fixed it With Coleman."

 

" Fixed what With Coleman?

 

The Professor'S Wrath Now Took Control Of Him.

"Thunder And Lightenin' ! You Seem To Jump At The

Conclusion That I'Ve Made Some Horrible Mistake. For

Goodness' Sake,  Give Me Credit For A Particle Of Sense."

 

" What Did You Do? " She Asked in a Sepulchral Voice.

 

" Well," Said The Professor,  In a Burning defiance,

" I'Ll Tell You What I Did. I Went To Coleman And

Told Him That Once-As He Of Course Knew-I Had Re-

Fused his Marriage With My Daughter,  But That Now---"

 

" Grrr," Said Mrs. Wainwright.

 

" But That Now-" Continued the Professor,

" I Retracted that Refusal."

 

" Mercy On Us! " Cried mrs. Wainwright,  Throwing

Herself Back In the Chair. " Mercy On Us! What

Fools Men Are!"

 

" Now,  Wait A Minute-"

But Mrs. Wainwright Began To Croon: " Oh,  If

Marjory Should Hear Of This! Oh,  If She Should Hear

Of It! Just Let Her. Hear-"

 

" But She Must Not," Cried the Professor,  Tigerishly.

Just You Dare! " And The Woman Saw Before Her A

Man Whose Eyes Were Lit With A Flame Which Almost

Expressed a Temporary Hatred.

 

The Professor Had Left Coleman So Abruptly That

The Correspondent Found Himself Murmuring half.

Coherent Gratitude To The Closed door Of His Room.

Amazement Soon Began To Be Mastered by Exultation.

He Flung Himself Upon The Brandy And Soda And Nego-

Tiated a Strong Glass. Pacing. The Room With Nervous

Steps,  He Caught A Vision Of Himself In a Tall Mirror.

He Halted before It. " Well,  Well," He Said. " Rufus,

You'Re A Grand Man. There Is Not Your Equal Anywhere.

You Are A Great,  Bold,  Strong Player,  Fit To Sit

Down To A Game With The -Best."

 

A Moment Later It Struck Him That He Had Appropriated

Too Much. If The Professor Had Paid Him A Visit

And Made A Wonderful Announcement,  He,  Coleman,

Had Not Been The Engine Of It. And Then He Enunciated

Clearly Something in his Mind Which,  Even In a

Vague Form,  Had Been Responsible For Much Of His Early

Elation. Marjory Herself Had Compassed this Thing.

With Shame He Rejected a First Wild And Preposterous

Idea That She Had Sent Her Father To Him. He Reflected

That A Man Who For An Instant Could Conceive

Such A Thing was A Natural-Born Idiot. With An Equal

Feeling,  He Rejected also An Idea That She Could Have

Known Anything of Her Father'S Purpose. If She Had

Known Of His Purpose,  There Would Have Been No Visit.

 

What,  Then,  Was The Cause? Coleman Soon Decided

That The Professor Had Witnessed some Demonstration

Of Marjory'S Emotion Which Had Been Sufficiently

Severe In its Character To Force Him To The Extraordinary

Visit. But Then This Also Was Wild And Preposterous.

That Coldly Beautiful Goddess Would Not

Have Given A Demonstration Of Emotion Over Rufus

Coleman Sufficiently Alarming to Have Forced her

Father On Such An Errand. That Was Impossible. No,

He Was Wrong; Marjory Even Indirectly,  Could Not Be

Connected with The Visit. As He Arrived at This Decision,

The Enthusiasm Passed out Of Him And He Wore

A Doleful,  Monkish Face.

 

"Well,  What,  Then,  Was The Cause?" After Eliminating

Marjory From The Discussion Waging in his

Mind,  He Found It Hard To Hit Upon Anything rational.

The Only Remaining theory Was To The Effect That The

Professor,  Having a Very High Sense Of The Correspond.

Ent'S Help In the Escape Of The Wainwright Party,  Had

Decided that The Only Way To Express His Gratitude

Was To Revoke A Certain Decision Which He Now Could

See Had Been Unfair. The Retort To This Theory Seemed

To Be That If The Professor Had Had Such A Fine Conception

Of The Services Rendered by Coleman,  He Had Had

Ample Time To Display His Appreciation On The Road To

Arta And On The Road Down From Arta. There Was

No Necessity For His Waiting until Their Arrival In athens.

It Was Impossible To Concede That The Professor'S

Emotion Could Be Anew One; If He Had It Now,  He

Must Have Had It In far Stronger Measure Directly

After He Had Been Hauled out Of Danger.

 

So,  It May Be Seen That After Coleman Had Eliminated

Marjory From The Discussion That Was Waging in his

Mind,  He Had Practically Succeeded in eliminating the

Professor As Well. This,  He Thought,  Mournfully,  Was

Eliminating with A Vengeance. If He Dissolved all The

Factors He Could Hardly Proceed.

 

The Mind Of A Lover Moves In a Circle,  Or At Least On

A More Circular Course Than Other Minds,  Some Of

Which At Times Even Seem To Move Almost In a Straight

Line. Presently,  Coleman Was At The Point Where He

Bad Started,  And He Did Not Pause Until He Reached

That Theory Which Asserted that The Professor Had

Been Inspired to His Visit By Some Sight Or Knowledge

Of Marjory In distress. Of Course,  Coleman Was Wistfully

Desirous Of Proving to Himself The Truth Of This

Theory.

 

The Palpable Agitation Of The Professor During the

Interview Seemed to Support It. If He Had Come On

A Mere Journey Of Conscience,  He Would Have Hardly

Appeared as A White And Trembling old,  Man. But

Then,  Said Coleman,  He Himself Probably Exaggerated

This Idea Of The Professor'S Appearance. It Might Have

Been That He Was Only Sour And Distressed over The

Performance Of A Very Disagreeable Duty.

 

The Correspondent Paced his Room And Smoked.

Sometimes He Halted at The Little Table Where Was The

Brandy And Soda. He Thought So Hard That Sometimes

It Seemed that Marjory Had Been To Him To Propose

Marriage,  And At Other Times It Seemed that There Had

Been No Visit From Any One At All.

 

A Desire To Talk To Somebody Was Upon Him. He

Strolled down Stairs And Into The Smoking and Reading

Rooms,  Hoping to See A Man He Knew,  Even If It Were

Coke. But The Only Occupants Were Two Strangers,

Furiously Debating the War. Passing the Minister'S

Room,  Coleman Saw That There Was A Light Within,  And

He Could Not Forbear Knocking. He Was Bidden To

Enter,  And Opened the Door Upon The Minister,  Care-

Fully Reading his Spectator Fresh From London.

He Looked up And Seemed very Glad. "How Are

You?" He Cried. "I Was Tremendously Anxious To

See You,  Do You Know! I Looked for You To Dine

With Me To-Night,  But You Were Not Down?"

"No ; I Had A Great Deal Of Work."

 

" Over The Wainwright Affair? By The Way,  I Want

You To Accept My Personal Thanks For That Work. In

A Week More I Would Have Gone Demented and Spent

The Rest Of My Life In some Kind Of A Cage,  Shaking

The Bars And Howling out State Department Messages

About The Wainwrights. You See,  In my Territory

There Are No Missionaries To Get Into Trouble,  And I

Was Living a Life Of Undisturbed and Innocent Calm,

Ridiculing the Sentiments Of Men From Smyrna And

Other Interesting towns Who Maintained that The

Diplomatic Service Was Exciting. However,  When The

Wainwright Party Got Lost,  My Life At Once Became

Active. I Was All But Helpless,  Too; Which Was The

Worst Of It. I Suppose Terry At Constantinople Must

Have Got Grandly Stirred up,  Also. Pity He Can'T See

You To Thank You For Saving him From Probably Going

Mad. By The Way," He Added,  While Looking

Keenly At Coleman,  " The Wainwrights Don'T Seem To

Be Smothering you With Gratitude? "

 

" Oh,  As Much As I Deserve-Sometimes More,"

Answered coleman. " My Exploit Was More Or Less Of

A Fake,  You Know. I Was Between The Lines By Accident,

Or Through The Efforts Of That Blockhead Of A

Dragoman. I Didn'T Intend It. And Then,  In the

Night,  When We Were Waiting in the Road Because Of A

Fight,  They Almost Bunked into Us. That'S All."

 

"They Tell It Better," Said The Minister,  Severely.

" Especially The Youngsters."

 

"Those Kids Got Into A High Old Fight At A Town Up

There Beyond Agrinion. Tell You About That,  Did

They? I Thought Not. Clever Kids. You Have Noted

That There Are Signs Of A Few Bruises And Scratches?"

" Yes,  But I Didn'T Ask-"

" Well,  They Are From The Fight. It Seems The People

Took Us For Germans,  And There Was An Awful Palaver,

Which Ended in a Proper And Handsome Shindig. It

Raised the Town,  I Tell You."

 

The Minister Sighed in mock Despair. " Take These

People Home,  Will You ? Or At Any Rate,  Conduct

Them Out Of The Field Of My Responsibility. Now,

They Would Like Italy Immensely,  I Am Sure."

 

Coleman Laughed,  And They Smoked for A Time.

 

" That'S A Charming girl-Miss Wainwright," Said The

Minister,  Musingly. "And What A Beauty! It Does

My Exiled eyes Good To See Her. I Suppose All Those

Youngsters Are Madly In love With Her ? I Don'T See

How They Could Help It."

 

" Yes," Said Coleman,  Glumly. " More Than Half Of

Them."

 

The Minister Seemed struck With A Sudden Thought.

" You Ought To Try To Win That Splendid Prize Yourself.

The Rescuer ! Perseus! What More Fitting? "

 

Coleman Answered calmly: "Well * * * I Think

I'Ll Take Your Advice."

Chapter 27

The Next Morning coleman Awoke With A Sign Of A

Resolute Decision On His Face,  As If It Had Been A

Development Of His Sleep. He Would See Marjory As Soon

As Possible,  See Her Despite Any Barbed-Wire Entanglements

Which Might Be Placed in the Way By Her

Mother,  Whom He Regarded as His Strenuous Enemy.

And He Would Ask Marjory'S Hand In the Presence Of

All Athens If It Became Necessary.

 

He Sat A Long Time At His Breakfast In order To See

The Wainwrights Enter The Dining room,  And As He Was

About To Surrender To The Will Of Time,  They Came In,

The Professor Placid And Self-Satisfied,  Mrs. Wainwright

Worried and Injured and Marjory Cool,  Beautiful,

Serene. If There Had Been Any Kind Of A Storm There

Was No Trace Of It On The White Brow Of The Girl.

Coleman Studied her Closely But Furtively While His

Mind Spun Around His Circle Of Speculation.

Finally He Noted the Waiter Who Was Observing him

With A Pained air As If It Was On The Tip Of His Tongue

To Ask This Guest If He Was Going to Remain At Breakfast

Forever. Coleman Passed out To The Reading

Room Where Upon The Table A Multitude Of Great Red

Guide Books Were Crushing the Fragile Magazines Of

London And Paris. On The Walls Were Various

Depressing maps With The Name Of A Tourist Agency

Luridly Upon Them,  And There Were Also Some Pictures

Of Hotels With Their Rates-In Francs-Printed beneath.

The Room Was Cold,  Dark,  Empty,  With The Trail Of The

Tourist Upon It.

 

Coleman Went To The Picture Of A Hotel In corfu

And Stared at It Precisely As If He Was Interested. He

Was Standing before It When He Heard Marjory'S Voice

Just Without The Door. "All Right! I'Ll Wait." He

Did Not Move For The Reason That The Hunter Moves

Not When The Unsuspecting deer Approaches His Hiding

Place. She Entered rather Quickly And Was Well

Toward The Centre Of The Room