Paradise Garden: The Satirical Narrative of a Great ExperimentGibbs, George
General
Paradise Garden: The Satirical Narrative of a Great Experiment
Gibbs, George
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Satire
"Yes--moths--I--I spend a good deal of my time at the Blank Street
Mission."
"And what is that?"
She gazed for a moment at him wide-eyed.
"A home--a refuge," she went on haltingly, "for--for women in trouble.
They're the moths--bewildered by the lights of the town--they--they
singe their wings and then we try to help them."
"It's great of you, Una."
"And what do you do with _your_ time?" she broke in quickly. "Whom
have you met? Is the riddle of existence easier for you in New York
than at Horsham Manor?"
"No," he blurted out. "I don't understand it at all. I'm always making
the most absurd mistakes. I'm fearfully stupid. Do you ever use rouge,
Una?"
The suddenness of the question took her aback, but in a second she
was smiling in spite of herself.
"No, I don't, Jerry. But lots of girls do. It's the fashion."
"I know, but do you approve of it?"
"It's very effective if not overdone," she evaded.
"But do you approve of it?" he insisted.
"There's no harm in it, is there? I'd wear it if I wanted to."
"But you don't want to."
"No. Why do you want to know?"
But he didn't seem to hear her question.
"Do you drink cocktails? Or smoke cigarettes?"
"No. I don't like cocktails. Besides they're not served at the
Mission. We think they might create false notions of the purposes of
the organization."
He didn't laugh.
"But surely you smoke cigarettes!"
"No, I don't smoke. I don't like cigarettes."
"But if you liked them, _would_ you smoke?" he questioned eagerly.
"What a funny boy you are! What difference does it make what I do or
don't do?"
"Would you smoke, if you liked to?" he still insisted.
She was very much amused.
"How can I tell what I'd do if I liked to when I don't like to?"
"Do you approve of them then--for women, I mean?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just because I'd like to know what you think of such things--because
you seem to me to be so calm, so sane in your point of view. You
always impressed me that way--from the very first, even when you were
making fun of me."
"Why do you think I'm sane?" she asked amusedly.
"Because there's no nonsense about you. There are a lot of things I'd
like to talk to you about--things I don't quite understand--if you'd
only let me see you."
"You're seeing me now, aren't you?"
"Yes. But I can't talk about them all--at once."
"You've made a pretty good start, I should say."
Jerry laughed. "I have, haven't I? That's the way I always do when I'm
with you."
"Always?" she inquired, raising her brows with a show of dignity. "Do
you realize that I have only met you once--twice before in my
life--and then _most_ informally?"
"I feel as if I'd known you always."
"But you haven't. And I'm beginning to think I don't know you at all."
"But you do, better than anybody almost. It was awfully good of you to
come here with me today--after my meeting you the way I did. I ought
to apologize. Girls don't like to go with fellows when they come out
of saloons, but I wasn't drinking, you know."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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