The evening passed pleasantly enough, and I found Harley’s heroine to be
all that he had told me and a great deal more besides. In fact, so
greatly did I enjoy her society that I intentionally prolonged the
evening to about three times its normal length—which was a very
inartistic bit of exaggeration, I admit; but then I don’t pretend to be a
realist, and when I sit down to write I can make my evenings as long or
as short as I choose. I will say, however, that, long as my evening was,
I made it go through its whole length without having recourse to such
copy-making subterfuges as the description of doorknobs and chairs; and
except for its unholy length, it was not at all lacking in realism. Miss
Andrews fascinated me and seemed to find me rather good company, and I
found myself suggesting that as the next day was Sunday she take me for a
walk. From what I knew of Harley’s experience with her, I judged she’d
be more likely to go if I asked her to take me instead of offering to
take her. It was a subtle distinction, but with some women subtle
distinctions are chasms which men must not try to overleap too
vaingloriously, lest disaster overtake them. My bit of subtlety worked
like a charm. Miss Andrews graciously accepted my suggestion, and I
retired to my couch feeling certain that during that walk to Bald
Mountain, or around the Lake, or down to the Farm, or wherever else she
might choose to take me, I could do much to help poor Stuart out of the
predicament into which his luckless choice of Miss Andrews as his heroine
had plunged him. And I wasn’t far wrong, as the event transpired,
although the manner in which it worked out was not exactly according to
my schedule.
I dismissed the night with a few paragraphs; the morning, with its divine
service in the parlor, went quickly and impressively; for it _is_ an
impressive sight to see gathered beneath those towering cliffs a hundred
or more of pleasure and health seekers of different creeds worshipping
heartily and simply together, as accordantly as though they knew no
differences and all men were possessed of one common religion—it was too
impressive, indeed, for my pen, which has been largely given over to
matters of less moment, and I did not venture to touch upon it, passing
hastily over to the afternoon, when Miss Andrews appeared, ready for the
stroll.
I gazed at her admiringly for a moment, and then I began:
“Is that the costume you wore”—I was going to say, “when you rejected
Parker?” but I fortunately caught my error in time to pass it off—“at
Newport?” I finished, with a half gasp at the narrowness of my escape;
for, it must be remembered, I was supposed as yet to know nothing of that
episode.
“How do you know what I wore at Newport?” she asked, quickly—so quickly
that I almost feared she had found me out, after all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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