Charles-Norton signed the check, tore it from the book, folded it, and presented it to Pinny, a bit patronizingly. Pinny stuck it into a side pocket without looking at it. He was standing on one leg and seemed in a hurry to get away. Charles-Norton, suddenly, had the same feeling. The sense of comradeship which had been with them for the last hour had abruptly flown with this pa.s.sing of money. Each man was embarra.s.sed, as before a stranger. "So long," said Pinny; "so long," said Charles-Norton.
Pinny, with averted head, turned and walked away.
Charles-Norton pivoted on his heel, and started for the office, worried suddenly by the thought that he was late. He took three long steps, collided with a sodden old gentleman who was just arising from a bench--and then was standing very still, looking about him as in a daze, unconscious of the mutter of apology which, together with an odor of stale beer, was fermenting beneath his nose. The old gentleman, pursuing a ray of sun, slipped on to a farther bench. But Charles-Norton still stood there, gazing about him in a sort of mild astonishment, as if, while he was not looking, the scene about him had been transformed like so much cardboard scenery.
To the shock of the collision, as to the stroke of a finger upon a chemical beaker the reluctant crystallization abruptly takes place, there had come to Charles-Norton the realization _that he did not have to go to the office_.
He did not have to go to the office! Here, against his heart, represented by three black figures within a little yellow book, was eight hundred dollars, practically eight months" salary, the a.s.surance of eight months almost of independence, of freedom!
"And Dolly?"
You will think, perhaps, that Charles-Norton was seized by an ardent desire immediately to run to Dolly, spring up the five flights of stairs, push open the door, catch her by the waist and, seating her on his knees, to pantingly tell her of the wondrous news? You are mistaken.
For with the vision of Dolly, the thought that irresistibly came to Charles-Norton was----
That he didn"t have to go to Dolly.
He didn"t have to go to Dolly and be clipped. He didn"t have to go to the gla.s.s cage, and he didn"t have to go to Dolly. The scissors of Dolly.
Charles-Norton, very pale, his long, strong legs trembling beneath him, sank upon the nearest bench, and tried to catch hold of the world again, of the reality of the world. His hands, unconsciously expressing his mental att.i.tude, held the bench"s rim tight with white knuckles.
Eight hundred dollars was not so much. Besides, it was only seven hundred and eighty now. And Dolly was a good little wife. A good, faithful, loving little wife. In a few months the money would all be gone if he stopped working. If he went back to the office and worked, the eight hundred (minus twenty) could be kept in the savings bank as a precious resource against ill-luck. And some of it could be used to buy things--furs for Dolly, for instance, brave little Dolly. Her household allowance could be increased a bit--brave, cheerful, careful, economical, busy, loving little Dolly!
In the silence of his cogitation, Charles-Norton suddenly heard with great distinctness a furtive creaking within the shoulders of his coat.
"Dear Little Dolly!" he exclaimed ostentatiously, making a brave effort to keep his eyes upon his beacon.
But right from between his feet a sparrow, like a firecracker exploding, sprang and went whirring up in the sky. Charles-Norton followed it with his eyes as it went winging, winging up in a series of lines, each of which ended in a droop, toward the high sky-sc.r.a.per. And when his eyes reached, with the bird, the top of the building, they lit upon a cloud, a great white galleon of a cloud which, with all sails set, flanks opulently agleam with the swell of impalpable freights, went sliding by with streaming pennons, toward the West.
And Charles-Norton felt as though he were going to die. A great, sad yearning seemed to split his breast. He rose to his feet, his eyes upon the cloud. A turbulence now churned within him; his shoulders palpitated within their cloth prison (you see, they had not been sheared for a full twenty-four hours); a wave of madness, of daring, of revolt, rose into the head of Charles-Norton. "No, no, no," he growled. "No more, no more, I can"t, I can"t, no more, no, _no_!"
The last no was as a trumpet note--a defiant negative hurled at the Force of the Universe. And Charles-Norton began to race around the fountain, striking with his right fist his left hand, muttering unintelligible and tremendous protests. You see, his wings had grown altogether too long.
He could feel their ligatures reaching like roots to his soul. When, at the end of the third lap, he came to his bench again, his mind was made up. Only details remained to be determined.
And when he rose for the last time from the bench, these were fixed. His appearance was one of great calmness tense above a suppressed ebullition.
Before him his programme stretched like a broad, clear road. He followed it.
Firstly he went to the bank and drew out three hundred dollars in cash.
With the roll in his breast-pocket, he walked up Broadway till he came to a Cook"s Tourist agency; entering, after a short discussion aided by the perusal of a map, he exchanged part of his roll for a long, green, accordeon-pleated ticket.
Then he went out and bought himself a tawny, creaky suit-case, and then, successively, going from store to store:
Two collars.
A comb.
A neck-tie.
A tooth-brush.
A safety razor.
A little can of tooth-powder.
A shaving brush and a cake of soap.
A cap.
A pair of much abbreviated swimming trunks.
All of which he placed in his new suit-case.
Then after a moment of frowning consideration, he purchased two thick woolen double-blankets which he rolled up and strapped.
After which he boldly strode into the Waldorf-Astoria.
Such affluence, by this time, did his person emanate that four bra.s.s-b.u.t.toned boys simultaneously sprang to their feet and came running up to him. He waved them aside with a commanding gesture and went into the writing-room.
He opened his check-book. "3," he wrote firmly in the right hand corner.
"Pay to the order of," he read; "Dolly Margaret Sims," he wrote, "Four hundred and eighty and no-hundredths dollars."
He signed the check, tore it off, and let the now looted check-book drop negligently to the floor. He placed the folded check in an envelope, wrote a little letter and placed it by the check, sealed the envelope, and wrote upon it,
MRS. CHARLES NORTON SIMS 267 West 129th St.
New York
and rang for a messenger boy, to whom he gave the letter.
Then calling for a taxi-cab, he whizzed away to the Grand Central station.
Ten minutes later, amid a ding-donging of bells and a roaring of steam, a big, luxurious train began to strain at its couplings on its way overland. As it slid slowly out beneath the resonant cupola, Charles-Norton emerged from the rear door and stepped out upon the observation platform.
And there, upon this wide, large platform, which was much like a miniature stage, Charles-Norton appeared for a moment in undignified pantomime. Leaning over the shining rail, chin thrust out, he shook both fists at the receding city, and spit into its face.
CHAPTER VIII
Charles-Norton"s letter came to Dolly in the evening, after a day full of worry. It read:
"DEAR DOLLY:--Enclosed is $480. It"s for you. I"m going away. I simply can"t stand it, that"s all. I think I still love you, Dolly, but I can"t stand the life. I can"t, that"s all. I must have, I must have--well, I can"t stand that clipping business any longer.
"Please don"t grieve. Some day you"ll meet a man who is real fond of you and who will make you happy--one that hasn"t any wings. There are lots of them.
"Yours always (in thought), "CHARLES-NORTON."