"You said such lovely, lovely things," she said. "And I"d never known, all this time, how you had been feeling about me, and I"d never dared to let you see how I felt about you. And then last night-oh, Peter dear, I think that taxi ride was the most important thing that ever happened to us in our lives."
"Yes," he said. "I guess it must have been."
"And we"re going to be so happy," she said. "Oh, I just want to tell everybody! But I don"t know-I think maybe it would be sweeter to keep it all to ourselves."
"I think it would be," he said.
"Isn"t it lovely?" she said.
"Yes," he said. "Great."
"Lovely!" she said.
"Look here," he said, "do you mind if I have a drink? I mean, just medicinally, you know. I"m off the stuff for life, so help me. But I think I feel a collapse coming on."
"Oh, I think it would do you good," she said. "You poor boy, it"s a shame you feel so awful. I"ll go make you a whisky and soda."
"Honestly," he said, "I don"t see how you could ever want to speak to me again, after I made such a fool of myself, last night. I think I"d better go join a monastery in Tibet."
"You crazy idiot!" she said. "As if I could ever let you go away now! Stop talking like that. You were perfectly fine."
She jumped up from the couch, kissed him quickly on the forehead, and ran out of the room.
The pale young man looked after her and shook his head long and slowly, then dropped it in his damp and trembling hands.
"Oh, dear," he said. "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear."
The New Yorker, February 23, 1929.
The Cradle of Civilization.
The two young New Yorkers sat on the cool terrace that rose sharp from the Mediterranean, and looked into deep gin fizzes, embellished, in the Riviera manner, with mint. They were dressed, the girl and the young man, in identical garments; but anyone could easily have distinguished between him and her. Their costumes seemed to have been a.s.sembled in compliment to the general region of their Summer visit, lest any one district feel slighted; they wore berets, striped fishing-shirts, wide-legged cotton trousers, and rope-soled espadrilles. Thus, a French-man, summering at an American resort, might have attired himself in a felt sombrero, planter"s overalls, and rubber hip-boots.
A bay of smooth, silent water stretched between their backs and the green and white island where the Man in the Iron Mask had been pris oned, his face shrouded in black velvet and hope in his sick heart. To their right, back of the long rocks, lay the town the Phoenicians founded, and beyond it the four-pointed fort that the wise had proclaimed, when Vauban planned it, would end all war for all time. The mild harbor to which Napoleon had come back from Elba dented the sh.o.r.e to their left. Far in the hills above their lowered eyes hung the little vertical city from the walls of which the last of the relayed signal fires had risen, to flame back to Italy the news of Caesar"s fresh conquests in Gaul. . . .
"Come on, sea-pig," the young man said. "Get rid of that, and we"ll fasten onto another. Oh, garcon. Encore deux jeen feezes, tou de suite."
"Yes, sir," his waiter said.
"And mettez un peu more de jeen in them cette fois, baby," the young man said. "Atta boy. Wonderful little yellow race, these French."
"They"re crazy," the girl said. "You should have seen that poor nut Bill and I crashed into, driving back from the Casino at four o"clock this morning. My G.o.d, all we did was bust his b.u.mper a little, and you"d have thought we"d killed him. He kept screaming all this stuff about why did these Americans come over here, anyway. And there was Bill, so tight he couldn"t see, yelling right back at him, "Yes, and if we hadn"t come over, this would be Germany now." I never laughed so hard in my life."
"Casino any good last night?" he said.
"Oh, it was all right," she said. "Bill lost eighty-five thousand francs."
"How much is that in money?" he said.
"Lord knows," she said. "I can"t be bothered figuring. We didn"t stay long. I was in bed by half-past four."
"I got in at seven," he said. "And woke up at eleven o"clock, still stewed."
"What did you do all evening?" she said.
"I don"t remember much about it," he said. "I must have barged all around. There was one place where I got up and led the orchestra-I guess that must have been at the Splendide. Oh, yes, I remember now. And Bob Weed got this idea in his head he wanted to play a violin, and this Frog violinist they have in the orchestra wouldn"t let him have his, and the thing got broken in the struggle, and the Frog cried. Honestly. Cried his head off. Bob gave him five hundred francs."
"He"s crazy," she said. "A hundred would have been more than enough."
"Well, Bob was drunk," he said.
"I"m crazy about the Splendide," she said. "It"s just like the Desert Club, back in New York."
"There was a good crowd there last night," he said. "Lady Sylvia Goring was giving a big party."
"Was she tight?" she said.
"Oh, sure," he said. "To the eyes. Gosh, she"s an attractive jane. I think I"ll have to go to work on that."
"You haven"t a chance," she said. "She only likes chauffeurs and sailors. Who else was there?"
"Oh, tout le monde," he said. "The whole bunch."
"I wish we"d gone," she said. "But Bill couldn"t have made it. He couldn"t have kept on his feet for the President of France-whoever that may be."
"It"s Poincare or however you say it, isn"t it?" he said. "Or somebody."
"Well, it"s my idea of nothing to worry about," she said. "I"ve got other things to think of. Oh, look. See that girl over there?"
She pointed to a neighboring table where sat four other heirs of the ages, two young women and two young men, all with New York in their voices, all dressed in fishing-shirts and berets and wide trousers.
"The one that forgot her bra.s.siere?" he said.
"No," she said, "the one with her feet in the man"s lap. Well, she"s the one that gave that marvelous party last week, where a lot of people got tight and went in swimming off the rocks with nothing on, and she had big searchlights played on them. Isn"t that the most divine idea?"
"That was before I came down from Paris," he said. "I was still trying to get out of the Ritz bar, last week. Who"s the pansy she"s got her feet on?"
"I think he writes or something," she said. "There"s an awful mob of those kind of people around here. Somebody said What"s-his-name was here last year-you know, writes all those plays. Oh, you know. Shaw."
"He must have looked great," he said, "in swimming with a beard on."
"Oh, they"re all nuts," she said. "I wasn"t here last year. They say there"s a much better crowd this Summer. Did you know Peggy Joyce has taken a villa?"
"This Riviera gets them all," he said. "It"s a darned good little dump. I think I"ll stay another week, if the life doesn"t get me."
"I"m getting sort of fed," she said. "These French people get on my nerves."
"Where did you see any French people?" he said.
"Oh, you can"t help knowing they"re all around," she said. "It gets on your nerves. They"re so d.a.m.n dumb, they make me sick. Why, they don"t even speak English in the post-office."
"They"re a hot lot," he said. "Hey, garcon, you big stiff. Oh, garcon. Encore deux jeen feezes, and vitez it up a little, s" i" vous plait."
He tilted his chair, stretched himself vastly, and yawned in loud arpeggio, his head sliding from side to side to the slow rhythm. The sheet of Mediterranean caught his eye.
"Hey, look at that d.a.m.n mill-pond, will you?" he said. "Blue as a fool. Know what they used to call that puddle? The cradle of civilization, they called it. How"s that-am I educated, or aren"t I?"
"Oh, you"re a knockout in every line," she said. She glanced over her shoulder at the sea. "I don"t think I"ll go in swimming again."
"What?" he said. "Not in the cradle of civilization?"
"Oh, shut up," she said. "I suppose you"ll be pulling that for the next year. No, I"m not going in. The water"s rotten today."
"You"re right, at that," he said. "It"s lousy."
The New Yorker, September 21, 1929.
But the One on the Right.
I knew it. I knew if I came to this dinner, I"d draw something like this baby on my left. They"ve been saving him up for me for weeks. Now, we"ve simply got to have him-his sister was so sweet to us in London; we can stick him next to Mrs. Parker-she talks enough for two. Oh, I should never have come, never. I"m here against my better judgment. Friday, at eight-thirty, Mrs. Parker vs. her better judgment, to a decision. That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment. This is a fine time of the evening to be thinking about tombstones. That"s the effect he"s had on me, already, and the soup hardly cold yet. I should have stayed at home for dinner. I could have had something on a tray. The head of John the Baptist, or something. Oh, I should not have come.
Well, the soup"s over, anyway. I"m that much nearer to my Eternal Home. Now the soup belongs to the ages, and I have said precisely four words to the gentleman on my left. I said, "Isn"t this soup delicious?"; that"s four words. And he said, "Yes, isn"t it?"; that"s three. He"s one up on me.
At any rate, we"re in perfect accord. We agree like lambs. We"ve been all through the soup together, and never a cross word between us. It seems rather a pity to let the subject drop, now we"ve found something on which we harmonize so admirably. I believe I"ll bring it up again; I"ll ask him if that wasn"t delicious soup. He says, "Yes, wasn"t it?" Look at that, will you; perfect command of his tenses.
Here comes the fish. Goody, goody, goody, we got fish. I wonder if he likes fish. Yes, he does; he says he likes fish. Ah, that"s nice. I love that in a man. Look, he"s talking! He"s chattering away like a veritable magpie! He"s asking me if I like fish. Now does he really want to know, or is it only a line? I"d better play it cagey. I"ll tell him, "Oh, pretty well." Oh, I like fish pretty well; there"s a fascinating bit of autobiography for him to study over. Maybe he would rather wrestle with it alone. I"d better steal softly away, and leave him to his thoughts.
I might try my luck with what"s on my right. No, not a chance there. The woman on his other side has him cold. All I can see is his shoulder. It"s a nice shoulder, too; oh, it"s a nice, nice shoulder. All my life, I"ve been a fool for a nice shoulder. Very well, lady; you saw him first. Keep your Greek G.o.d, and I"ll go back to my Trojan horse.
Let"s see, where were we? Oh, we"d got to where he had confessed his liking for fish. I wonder what else he likes. Does he like cuc.u.mbers? Yes, he does; he likes cuc.u.mbers. And potatoes? Yes, he likes potatoes, too. Why, he"s a regular old Nature-lover, that"s what he is. I would have to come out to dinner, and sit next to the Boy Th.o.r.eau. Wait, he"s saying something! Words are simply pouring out of him. He"s asking me if I"m fond of potatoes. No, I don"t like potatoes. There, I"ve done it! I"ve differed from him. It"s our first quarrel. He"s fallen into a moody silence. Silly boy, have I p.r.i.c.ked your bubble? Do you think I am nothing but a painted doll with sawdust for a heart? Ah, don"t take it like that. Look, I have something to tell you that will bring back your faith. I do like cuc.u.mbers. Why, he"s better already. He speaks again. He says, yes, he likes them, too. Now we"ve got that all straightened out, thank heaven. We both like cuc.u.mbers. Only he likes them twice.
I"d better let him alone now, so he can get some food. He ought to try to get his strength back. He"s talked himself groggy.
I wish I had something to do. I hate to be a mere drone. People ought to let you know when they"re going to sit you next to a thing like this, so you could bring along some means of occupation. Dear Mrs. Parker, do come to us for dinner on Friday next, and don"t forget your drawn-work. I could have brought my top bureau drawer and tidied it up, here on my lap. I could have made great strides towards getting those photographs of the groups on the beach pasted up in the alb.u.m. I wonder if my hostess would think it strange if I asked for a pack of cards. I wonder if there are any old copies of St. Nicholas lying about. I wonder if they wouldn"t like a little help out in the kitchen. I wonder if anybody would want me to run up to the corner and get a late paper.
I could do a little drinking, of course, all by myself. There"s always that. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, there"s always that. But I don"t want to drink. I"ll get vin triste. I"m melancholy before I even start. I wonder what this stiff on my left would say, if I told him I was in a fair way to get vin triste. Oh, look at him, hoeing into his fish! What does he care whether I get vin triste or not? His soul can"t rise above food. Purely physical, that"s all he is. Digging his grave with his teeth, that"s what he"s doing. Yah, yah, ya-ah! Digging your grave with your tee eeth! Making a G.o.d of your stommick! Yah, yah, ya-ah!
He doesn"t care if I get vin triste. n.o.body cares. n.o.body gives a d.a.m.n. And me so nice. All right, you baskets, I"ll drink myself to death, right in front of your eyes, and see how you"ll feel. Here I go. . . . Oh, my G.o.d, it"s Chablis. And of a year when the grapes failed, and they used Summer squash, instead. Fifteen dollars for all you can carry home on your shoulder. Oh, now, listen, where I come from, we feed this to the pigs. I think I"ll ask old Chatterbox on my left if this isn"t rotten wine. That ought to open up a new school of dialectics for us. Oh, he says he really wouldn"t know-he never touches wine. Well, that fairly well ends that. I wonder how he"d like to step to h.e.l.l, anyway. Yah, yah, ya-ah! Never touches wi-yine! Don"t know what you"re miss-sing! Yah, yah, ya-ah!
I"m not going to talk to him any more. I"m not going to spend the best years of my life thinking up pearls to scatter before him. I"m going to stick to my Chablis, rotten though it be. From now on, he can go his way, and I"ll go mine. I"m better than anybody at this table. Ah, but am I really? Have I, after all, half of what they have? Here I am lonely, unwanted, silent, and me with all my new clothes on. Oh, what would Louiseboulanger say if she saw her gold lame going unnoticed like this? It"s life, I suppose. Poor little things, we dress, and we plan, and we hope-and for what? What is life, anyway? A death sentence. The longest distance between two points. The bunch of hay that"s tied to the nose of the tired mule. The-- Well, well, well, here we are at the entrecote. b.u.t.ton up your entrecote , when the wind is free-no, I guess not. Now I"ll be d.a.m.ned if I ask old Loquacity if he likes meat. In the first place, his likes and dislikes are nothing to me, and in the second-well, look at him go after it! He must have been playing hard all afternoon; he"s Mother"s Hungry Boy, tonight. All right, let him worry it all he wants. As for me, I"m on a higher plane. I do not stoop to him. He"s less than the dust beneath my chariot wheel. Yah, yah, ya-ah! Less than the du-ust! Before I"d be that way. Yah, yah, ya-ah!
I"m glad there"s red wine now. Even if it isn"t good, I"m glad. Red wine gives me courage. The Red Badge of Courage. I need courage. I"m in a thin way, here. n.o.body knows what a filthy time I"m having. My precious evening, that can never come again, ruined, ruined, ruined, and all because of this Somewhat Different Monologist on my left. But he can"t lick me. The night is not yet dead, no, nor dying. You know, this really isn"t bad wine.
Now what do you suppose is going on with the Greek G.o.d on my right? Ah, no use. There"s still only the shoulder-the nice, nice shoulder. I wonder what the woman"s like, that"s got him. I can"t see her at all. I wonder if she"s beautiful. I wonder if she"s Greek, too. When Greek meets immovable body-you might be able to do something with that, if you only had the time. I"m not going to be spineless any longer. Don"t think for a minute, lady, that I"ve given up. He"s still using his knife and fork. While there"s hands above the table, there"s hope.
Really, I suppose out of obligation to my hostess, I ought to do something about saying a few words to this macaw on my left. What shall I try? Have you been reading anything good lately, do you go much to the play, have you ever been to the Riviera? I wonder if he would like to hear about my Summer on the Riviera; h.e.l.l, no, that"s no good without lantern slides. I bet, though, if I started telling him about That One Night, he"d listen. I won"t tell him-it"s too good for him. Anybody that never touches wine can"t hear that. But the one on the right-he"d like that. He touches wine. Touches it, indeed! He just threw it for a formidable loss.
Oh, look, old Silver Tongue is off again! Why, he"s mad with his own perfume! He"s rattling away like lightning. He"s asking me if I like salad. Yes, I do; what does he want to make of that? He"s telling me about salad through the ages. He says it"s so good for people. So help me G.o.d, if he gives me a talk on roughage, I"ll slap his face. Isn"t that my life, to sit here, all dressed up in my best, and listen to this thing talk about romaine? And all the time, right on my right-- Well, I thought you were never going to turn around. . . . You haven"t? . . . You have? Oh, Lord, I"ve been having an awful time, too. . . . Was she? . . . Well, you should have seen what I drew. . . . Oh, I don"t see how we could. . . . Yes, I know it"s terrible, but how can we get out of it? . . . Well. . . . Well, yes, that"s true. . . . Look, right after dinner, I"ll say I have this horrible headache, and you say you"re going to take me home in your car, and-- The New Yorker, October 19, 1929.
Here We Are.
The young man in the new blue suit finished arranging the glistening luggage in tight corners of the Pullman compartment. The train had leaped at curves and bounced along straightaways, rendering balance a praiseworthy achievement and a sporadic one; and the young man had pushed and hoisted and tucked and shifted the bags with concentrated care.
Nevertheless, eight minutes for the settling of two suitcases and a hat-box is a long time.
He sat down, leaning back against bristled green plush, in the seat opposite the girl in beige. She looked as new as a peeled egg. Her hat, her fur, her frock, her gloves were glossy and stiff with novelty. On the arc of the thin, slippery sole of one beige shoe was gummed a tiny oblong of white paper, printed with the price set and paid for that slipper and its fellow, and the name of the shop that had dispensed them.
She had been staring raptly out of the window, drinking in the big weathered signboards that extolled the phenomena of codfish without bones and screens no rust could corrupt. As the young man sat down, she turned politely from the pane, met his eyes, started a smile and got it about half done, and rested her gaze just above his right shoulder.
"Well!" the young man said.
"Well!" she said.
"Well, here we are," he said.
"Here we are," she said. "Aren"t we?"
"I should say we were," he said. "Eeyop. Here we are."
"Well!" she said.
"Well!" he said. "Well. How does it feel to be an old married lady?"
"Oh, it"s too soon to ask me that," she said. "At least-I mean. Well, I mean, goodness, we"ve only been married about three hours, haven"t we?"
The young man studied his wrist-watch as if he were just acquiring the knack of reading time.
"We have been married," he said, "exactly two hours and twenty-six minutes."
"My," she said. "It seems like longer."