New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Women white collar workers -- Fiction
She was dazzled and excited when Mr. Schwirtz took her to the opening of
the Champs du Pom-Pom, the latest potpourri of amusements on Broadway.
All under one roof were a super-vaudeville show, a smart musical comedy,
and the fireworks of one-act plays; a Chinese restaurant, and a Louis
Quinze restaurant and a Syrian desert-caravan restaurant; a ballroom and
an ice-skating rink; a summer garden that, in midwinter, luxuriated in
real trees and real grass, and a real brook crossed by Japanese bridges.
Mr. Schwirtz was tireless and extravagant and hearty at the Champs du
Pom-Pom. He made Una dance and skate; he had a box for the vaudeville;
he gave her caviar canapé and lobster _à la Rue des Trois Soeurs_ in
the Louis Quinze room; and sparkling Burgundy in the summer garden,
where mocking-birds sang in the wavering branches above their table. Una
took away an impressionistic picture of the evening--
Scarlet and shadowy green, sequins of gold, slim shoulders veiled in
costly mist. The glitter of spangles, the hissing of silk, low laughter,
and continual music quieter than a dream. Crowds that were not harsh
busy folk of the streets, but a nodding procession of gallant men and
women. A kindly cleverness which inspirited her, and a dusky perfume in
which she could meditate forever, like an Egyptian goddess throned at
the end of incense-curtained aisles. Great tapestries of velvet and
jeweled lights; swift, smiling servants; and the languorous well-being
of eating strange, delicious foods. Orchids and the scent of poppies and
spell of the lotos-flower, the bead of wine and lips that yearned;
ecstasy in the Oriental pride of a superb Jewess who was singing to the
demure enchantment of little violins. Her restlessness satisfied, a
momentary pang of distrust healed by the brotherly talk of the
broad-shouldered man who cared for her and nimbly fulfilled her every
whim. An unvoiced desire to keep him from drinking so many highballs; an
enduring thankfulness to him when she was back at the flat; a defiant
joy that he had kissed her good-night--just once, and so tenderly; a
determination to "be good for him," and a fear that he had "spent too
much money on her to-night," and a plan to reason with him about whisky
and extravagance. A sudden hatred of the office to which she would have
to return in the morning, and a stronger, more sardonic hatred of
hearing Mr. S. Herbert Ross pluck out his vest-pocket harp and hymn his
own praise in a one-man choir, cherubic, but slightly fat. A descent
from high gardens of moonlight to the reality of the flat, where
Lawrence was breathing loudly in her sleep; the oily smell of hairs
tangled in her old hair-brush; the sight of the alarm-clock which in
just six hours would be flogging her off to the mill. A sudden,
frightened query as to what scornful disdain Walter Babson would fling
at her if he saw her glorying in this Broadway circus with the heavy Mr.
Schwirtz. A ghostly night-born feeling that she still belonged to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account