Poetry -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Short stories -- Periodicals
As the _Albatross_ steamed into the little harbor, I saw Mowbray
Langdon’s _Indolence_ at anchor. I glanced toward Steuben Point--where
his cousins, the Vivians, live--and thought I recognized his launch
at their pier. We saluted the _Indolence_; the _Indolence_ saluted
us. My launch was piped away and took me ashore. I strolled along the
path that wound round the base of the hill toward the kennels. At the
crossing of the path down from the house, I paused and lingered on the
glimpse of one of the corner towers of the great showy palace. I was
muttering something--I listened to myself. It was: “Mulholland, Mrs.
Mulholland and the four little Mulhollands.” And I felt like laughing
aloud, such a joke was it that I should be envying a policeman his
potato patch and his fat wife and his four brats, and that he should be
in a position to pity me.
You may be imagining that, through all, Anita had been dominating my
mind. That is the way it is in the romances; but not in life. No doubt
there are men who brood upon the impossible, and moon and maunder away
their lives over the grave of a dead love; no doubt there are people
who will say that, because I did not shoot Langdon or her or myself,
or fly to a desert, or pose in the crowded places of the world as the
last scene of a tragedy, I therefore cared little about her. I offer
them this suggestion: A man strong enough to give a love worth a
woman’s while is strong enough to live on without her when he finds he
may not live with her.
As I stood there that summer day, looking toward the crest of the
hill, at the mocking mausoleum of my dead dream, I realized what the
incessant battle of the Street had meant to me. “There is peace for
me only in the storm,” said I. “But, thank God, there is peace for me
somewhere.”
Through the foliage I had glimpses of some one coming slowly down the
zigzag path. Presently, at one of the turnings half-way up the hill,
appeared Mowbray Langdon. “What is he doing here?” thought I, scarcely
able to believe my eyes. “Here of all places!” And then I forgot
the strangeness of his being at Dawn Hill in the strangeness of his
expression. For it was apparent, even at the distance which separated
us, that he was suffering from some great and recent blow. He looked
old and haggard; he walked like a man who neither knows nor cares where
he is going.
He had not seen me, and my impulse was to avoid him by continuing on
toward the kennels. I had no especial feeling against him; I had not
lost Anita because she cared for him or he for her, but because she did
not care for me. Simply that to meet would be awkward, disagreeable
for us both. At the slight noise of my movement to go on, he halted,
glanced round eagerly, as if he hoped the sound had been made by some
one he wished to see. His glance fell on me. He stopped short, was for
an instant disconcerted; then his face lighted up with devilish joy.
“You!” he cried. “Just the man!” And he descended more rapidly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account