Lemoyne had been heralded as a young man of parts, and as the son of a
family which enjoyed, in Winnebago, some significant share of worldly
prosperity, and, therefore, of social consideration. The simpler Copes,
putting him in the other back bedroom, the ceiling of which sloped the
opposite way, wondered if they were quite giving him his just dues.
When Rosalys came to set away his handbag and to rearrange, next
morning, his brushes on the top of the dresser, she gathered from
various indications supplied by his outfit that the front chamber, at
whatever inconvenience to whomever, would have been more suitable. But,
"Never mind," said her mother; "they'll do very well as they are--side
by side, with the door conveniently between. Then Bert can look after
him a little more and we a little less."
Lemoyne presented himself to the combined family gaze as a young man of
twenty-seven or so, with dark, limpid eyes, a good deal of dark, wavy
hair, and limbs almost too plumply well-turned. In his hands the flesh
minimized the prominence of joints and knuckles, and the fingers
(especially the little fingers) displayed certain graceful, slightly
affected movements of the kind which may cause a person to be
credited--or taxed--with possessing the "artistic temperament." To end
with, he carried two inches of short black stubble under his nose. He
was a type which one may admire--or not. Rosalys Cope found in him a
sort of picturesque allure. Rather liking him herself, she found a
different reason for her brother's liking. "If Bert cares for him," she
remarked, "I suppose it's largely by contrast--he's so spare and
light-colored himself."
It was evident that, on this first meeting, Lemoyne meant to ingratiate
himself--to make himself attractive and entertaining. He had determined
to say a thing or two before he went away, and it would be advantageous
to consolidate his position.
He had had five or six hours of cross-country travel, with some tedious
waits at junctions, and at about ten o'clock, after some showy
converse, he acknowledged himself tired enough for bed. Cope saw him
up, and did not come down again. The two talked till past eleven; and
even much later, when light sleepers in other parts of the house were
awake for a few minutes, muffled sounds from the same two voices
reached their ears.
But Cope's words, many as they were, told Lemoyne nothing that he did
not know, little that he had not divined. The sum of all was this: Cope
did not quite know how he had got into it; but he knew that he was
miserable and wanted to get out of it.
Lemoyne had asked, first of all, to see the letter from Iowa. "Oh,
come," Cope had replied, half-bashful, half-chivalrous, "you know it
wasn't written for anybody but me."
"The substance of it, then," Lemoyne had demanded; and Cope, reluctant
and shame-faced, had given it. "You've never been in anything of this
sort, you know," he submitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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