New York (State) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
If she had loved Jim more truly, or he her, they could have been
blissful in spite of their lack of hardships; but the excitement of
flirtation had gone out of their lives. There seemed to be nothing more
to be afraid of except unhappiness. There seemed to be nothing to be
excited about at all. Time would soon provide them with wild anxieties,
but he withheld his hand for the moment.
Jim saw that Kedzie was growing restless. He dragged himself from his
chair and clasped her in his arms, but the element of pity in his deed
took all the fire out of it. He led her about the house and showed her
the pictures in the art gallery, but she knew nothing about painters
or paintings, and once around the gallery finished that room for her
forever. There were treasures in the library to fascinate a bibliophile
for years, but Kedzie knew nothing and cared less about books as books;
and a glance into the somber chamber where the old people played cards
listlessly drove her from that door.
The dinner had begun at eight and finished at half past nine. It was
ten o'clock now, and too late to go to the theater. The opera season
was over. There would be the dancing-places, but neither of the two felt
vivacity enough for dancing or watching others dance.
For lack of anything better, Jim proposed a drive. He was mad for air
and exercise. He would have preferred a long walk, and so would Kedzie,
but she could not have walked far without changing her costume and her
slippers.
She was glad of the chance to escape from the house. Jim rang for Wotton
and asked to have a car brought round. They put on light wraps and went
down the steps to the limousine.
The Avenue was lonely and the Park was lonelier. And, strangely, now
that they were together in the dark they felt happier; they drew more
closely together. They were common people now, and they had moonlight
and stars, a breeze and a shadowy landscape; they shared them with the
multitude, and they were happy for a while.
Something in Kedzie's heart whispered: “What's the use of being rich?
What's the good of living in a palace with a gang of servants hanging
over your shoulder? Happiness evidently doesn't come from ordering
whatever you want, for by the time somebody brings it to you you don't
want it any longer. Happiness must be the going after something yourself
and being anxious about it.”
If she had listened to that airy whisperer she might have had an inkling
of a truth. But she dismissed philosophy as something stupid. She turned
into Jim's arms like a child afraid and clung to him, moaning:
“Jim, what do I want? Tell me. I'm bluer than blue, and I don't know
why.”
This was sufficiently discouraging for Jim. He had given the petulant
child the half of his kingdom, and she was blue. If anything could have
made him bluer than he was it would have been this proclamation of his
failure. He had done the honorable thing, and it had profited nobody.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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