Christian fiction; Domestic fiction; Families -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Maxwell turned toward the elevators, half inclined after all not to
see her. She had not been in such distress but that she could amuse
herself after all. But that was Evadne, of course. He must expect
that. Besides, she was doubtless angry at his delay.
Maxwell got off at the gallery floor expecting to find the lady
seated in one of the little quiet nooks overlooking the gay throng,
but he made the rounds without finding her, and paused at the last
door to look down on the moving, throbbing, colorful life below.
The orchestra was beating out a popular bit of elevated jazz and the
floor below was like a kaleidoscope as the couples wove their many
colored patterns in and out among each other.
Maxwell watched the dancers idly for a moment. He was not a dancer
himself and not particularly interested in it. As he looked he was
suddenly struck with the contrast between this scene and the quiet
little home where he had spent the evening. How hard these people
were trying to enjoy themselves, and how excited and restless and
almost unhappy many of them looked.
A group of ladies seated near the railing quite close to where he
stood were discussing one of the couples on the floor.
“She is disgusting,” said one, “I wonder who she is? How dare she
come to a respectable place and dance in that way?”
His eyes followed their glances and he easily singled out the two who
were under their criticism. The man, a tall, dark, bizarre looking
fellow he knew by sight, with money enough and family irreproachable
enough to get away with anything in these days.
But the woman! Why did there seem to be something familiar about
her? Sleek, black hair wound closely about a small, languid head,
lizard-like body inadequately sheathed in gold brocade, sparkle of
jewels from lazy graceful feet.
A break in the throng as some one went off the floor, and the two
swept around facing him. The woman looked up and met his eyes. _It
was Evadne!_
Something clicked and locked in his soul as if the machinery could
not go on any longer without readjustment. He stood staring down
at her, a growing wonder in his face, aware that she was looking
at him and waving, aware that he was expected to smile. Instead he
felt as if he were glaring. Was this the woman for whom he had spent
two years of agony and struggle? This little empty faced creature
with a smile upon her painted selfish mask? As he stood looking at
her he was struck with a fleeting fancy that she resembled Clytie,
poor featherbrained Clytie trying to exploit her own little self
in the best way she knew, to play the game of life to her own best
advantage. What was the difference between them?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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