Chains : $b lesser novels and storiesDreiser, Theodore
General
Chains : $b lesser novels and stories
Dreiser, Theodore
American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, American
But the worst and the most curious thing of all was that last evening
in Bergley Place, the last time she ever saw Mr. Barclay anywhere. That
_was_ odd. She had known by then, of course, that Gil was suspicious
and might be watching her and she hadn’t intended to give him any
further excuse for complaint. But that was his lodge night and he had
never missed a meeting since they had been married—not one. Besides she
had only intended to stay out about an hour and always within range of
the house so that if Gil got off the car or any one else came she would
know of it. She had not even turned out the light in the dining-room,
intending to say if Gil came back unexpectedly or any one else called,
that she had just run around the corner in the next block to see Mrs.
Stofft. And in order that that statement might not be questioned, she
had gone over there for just a little while before Mr. Barclay was due
to arrive with his car. She had even asked Mr. Barclay to wait in the
shadow of the old Dalrymple house in Bergley Place, under the trees,
in order that the car might not be seen. So few people went up that
street, anyhow. And it was always so dark in there. Besides it was near
to raining which made it seem safer still. And yet he had seen her.
And just as she was about to leave. And when she had concluded that
everything had turned out so well.
But how could she have foreseen that a big car with such powerful
lights as that would have turned in there just then. Or that Gil would
step off the car and look up that way? Or that he would be coming home
an hour earlier when he never did—not from lodge meeting. And besides
she hadn’t intended to go out that evening at all until Mr. Barclay
called up and said he must leave the next day, for a few days anyhow,
and wanted to see her before he went. She had thought that if they
stayed somewhere in the neighborhood in a closed car, as he suggested,
it would be all right. But, no. That big car had to turn in there just
when it did, and Gil had to be getting off the car and looking up
Bergley Place just when it did, and she had to be standing there saying
good-bye, just as the lights flashed on that spot. Some people might be
lucky, but certainly she was not one of them. The only thing that had
saved her was the fact that she had been able to get in the house ahead
of Gil, hang up her cape and go in to her room and undress and see if
Tickles was still asleep. And yet when he did burst in she had felt
that she could not face him—he was so desperate and angry. And yet,
good luck, it had ended in his doubting whether he had really seen her
or not, though even to this day he would never admit that he doubted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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