The best short stories of 1917, and the yearbook of the American short story
General
The best short stories of 1917, and the yearbook of the American short story
American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories -- 20th century -- Bibliography; Short stories -- 20th century -- Indexes; Short stories, American
"It was in Morton's last year at Oxford, just before his graduation,
that the second great moment of his life occurred. He had done well at
his college, not a poor college either; and all the while, you must
remember, he was borrowing money and running up bills. But this didn't
bother him. He was perfectly assured in his own mind concerning his
future. He had counted costs. In that May, Bewsher, who from school had
gone to Sandhurst, came up on a visit with two or three other fledgling
officers, and they had a dinner in Morton's rooms. It turned into rather
a 'rag,' as those things do, and it was there, across a flower-strewn,
wine-stained table, that Morton had his second revelation. He wasn't
drunk--he never got drunk; the others were. The thing came in upon him
slowly, warmingly, like the breeze that stirred the curtains. He felt
himself, as never before, a man. You can see him sitting back in his
chair, in the smoke and the noise and the foolish singing, cool, his
eyes a little closed. He knew now that he had passed the level of these
men; yes, even the shining mark Bewsher had set. He had gone on, while
they had stood still. To him, he suddenly realized, and to such as he,
belonged the heritage of the years, not to these men who thought they
held it. These old gray buildings stretching away into the May dusk, the
history of a thousand years, were his. These sprawled young aristocrats
before him--they, whether they eventually came to know it or not, they,
and Bewsher with them--would one day do his bidding: come when he
beckoned, go when he sent. It was a big thought, wasn't it, for a man of
twenty-two?" Sir John paused and puffed at his cigarette.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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